Saturday, May 18, 2024, Parker Higgins

  Themeless Saturday by Parker Higgins

Parker is a Brooklyn-base artist and activist.  This construction has a whopping 101 open squares which makes for a lot of white space with multiple stacks of 9!

The top third of the puzzle had some interesting fill as I did not know EDGE CASES, GIBED (shoulda knowed how to spell it!), DEREN, TROLL (as clued), ESOS, THIRST TRAP and SANSA. I fought my way through and will take only two bad (stupid error) cells and try to make a coherent blog.

Across

1. Results of unpredictable user behavior, perhaps: EDGE CASES. Events that occur only under extreme conditions. An example I saw was sound distortion when a stereo is turned up to max. 

10. Older daughter of Winterfell: SANSA - SANSA Stark from Game Of Thrones. Crosses got it, so no complaints.

15. Unhurried: LEISURELY.

16. Patent __: TROLL.

17. Branch location?: ARBORETUM - Lauritzen Gardens is located in Omaha just above the Missouri River. It has a 100 acre ARBORETUM and has added a $21M conservatory.

18. Did a dress rehearsal: RAN IT. - Places everyone! We'll have an audience tomorrow!

19. Sets (up): TEES.

20. Off-target, in a way: WIDE.

21. Domicile: ABODE.

22. See 27-Across: END and 27. With 22-Across, message before credits: THE 😀

23. __ splicing: GENE - I filled it easily but here is the explanation. Yikes!

24. Many a bridesmaid: SISTER.

25. Tax law pros: CPAS.

26. Mild rebuke: TUT - TUT, TUT, tsk, tsk.

28. Hot shots?: THIRST TRAPS - New to me: A thirst trap is a type of social media post intended to entice viewers sexually. It refers to a viewer's "thirst", a colloquialism likening sexual frustration to dehydration, implying desperation, with the afflicted individual being described as "thirsty" It had to fill itself in.

32. Whole __: HOG.

33. Optimistic: ROSY.

34. English scientist who coined the term "cell" in his 1665 work "Micrographia": HOOKE.

35. Pattern that's often pixelated, for short: CAMO - Can you see the soldier in a  pixelated CAMO uniform on this couch?

36. Singer Garfunkel: ART - The voice of an angel

37. In-person appointments that require an online application?: TINDER DATES - Swipe left or swipe right.

39. See to one's seat, slangily: USH 😀

40. WSW opposite: ENE.

41. "Cut that out!": STOP.

42. Riffing on, online: MEMING.

44. College figs.: GPAS.

45. Knicks spot, briefly: MSG - The third Madison Square Garden was built in 1925 and became the home of the NY Knicks NBA team the year I was born (1946).

48. Flowering plants native to the Mediterranean: ARUMS.

49. Slicks back, maybe: GELS.

50. Fabrication specialist?: LIAR 😀

51. "For the love of good food" cereal brand: KASHI.

52. Dazed: IN A TRANCE.

54. "You should get a cold pack on that sprain": ICE IT.

55. Ingratiatingly friendly: NICEY NICE.

56. Short-tempered: TESTY.

57. Come to one's senses: SEE REASON.


Down:

1. Absolutely delight: ELATE.

2. "Meshes of the Afternoon" director Maya: DEREN - Maya was a Ukrainian-born American experimental filmmaker and an important part of the avant-garde in the 1940's and 1950's. 

3. Called mean names, say: GIBED - My alternate spelling of JIBE didn't work out.

4. Spanish "those": ESOS - ¡Me encantan ESO Cornhuskers! (I love those Cornhuskers!)

5. Mutt: CUR - A flag on the play for me! Many mutts are lovable and not a CUR

6. Defining question?: ARE WE A THING.

7. Unchangeable: SET IN STONE - A favorite poem of mine contradicts this.

8. Get around: ELUDE.

9. Culture writer Rachel: SYME - Okay...

10. Narrow channels: STRAITS.

11. Many Maghrebis: ARABS - The Maghrebi

12. "Anything but!": NO NOT THAT - Sometimes it's just a trick

13. Dirty a plate?: SLIDE HOME 😀 - I got this one right away.

14. Extra lives?: ALTER EGOS - Sometimes when I praised a child at a Parent/Teacher conference, parents would reply they are nothing like that at home.

23. Rte. finder: GPS.

24. One with many good buds: SUPER TASTER - TASTER filled first and eventually SUPER made sense

25. Shout: CRY.

26. Occurs: TAKES PLACE.

28. First responder's pack: TRAUMA KIT.

29. Derby, e.g.: HORSE RACE.

30. Landmasses with two coasts: ISTHMUSES.

31. Dowsing tool: ROD.

35. Limit: CAP.

37. Stretched-ness: TENSITY.

38. Bobs and weaves: DOS.

43. "They got me!": I'M HIT.

44. "Aladdin" figure: GENIE - This Jeannie was told by NBC to keep her belly button hidden, but her high waisted pants sometimes slipped but no one said anything.

45. "The Italian Job" vehicles: MINIS - The MINI Coopers were a big part of this heist film

46. Anarchist convicted with Vanzetti in a 1921 murder trial: SACCO.

47. Not yet ripe, maybe: GREEN.

49. Stirs (up): GINS - Agents are constantly trying to GIN UP interest in their clients for them to get hired. Definition and several etymologies 

50. "Summertime Sadness" singer Del Rey: LANA.

53. Pastrami bread: RYE.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022, Parker Higgins

Theme: THAT'S A NO NO

12. With 12-Down, mantra on embracing difficulty: NO PAIN.
12D. See 12-Across: NO GAIN.

22. With 22-Down, idiom meaning "easy peasy": NO MUSS.
22D. See 22-Across: NO FUSS.

30. With 30-Down, aphorism excusing misconduct that didn't cause damage: NO HARM.
30D. See 30-Across: NO FOUL.

44. With 44-Down, expression describing an absence without leave: NO CALL.
44D. See 44-Across: NO SHOW.

I love theme-heavy puzzles, and this one is pretty great. The the across and down companion clues have the same number, all six theme answers begin with NO and are six letters long. I don't remember seeing anything like this before. The chevron pattern formed the the theme answers is pretty groovy. The last phrase "No call no show," was not as familiar to me as the others. Wiki says it is an American term for absence from the workforce without notifying the employer. So the civilian version of AWOL.

Melissa here. This appears to be Parker Higgins's debut at the corner, although his puzzles have appeared in the NYT and other publications. Congratulations, Parker, we hope you drop in and share your inspiration for this one.

Across:

1. One-named "Baby Beluga" singer: RAFFI. He's still performing. My kids and now grandkids love him, as do I.

6. EMT skill: CPR.

9. Longtime ThinkPad maker: IBM.

13. Bun holder: HAIR TIE. Oooh, good one.

15. Incentives: MOTIVES.

16. "It's curtains for me!": I'M TOAST.

17. Río contents: AGUA. Non-Spanish speakers may have struggled with this one. Río is the Spanish (also Portuguese, Italian, and Maltese) word for "river," and agua is Spanish for "water."

18. __ roast: Sunday entrée: RUMP. Does anyone still have Sunday night family dinners? My former in-laws hosted spaghetti dinner every Sunday. A nice tradition.

20. Grace of "Will & Grace": ADLER. I know the show and actress, but would never have known the character's last name.

21. __ Andreas Fault: SAN. Even though I lived near the fault for many years, this is what rings in my head when I see the phrase. Stevens was silly, but brilliant. Looks a bit like Raffi, too.

24. Party coolerful: ICE. "That's great, you probably never run out of ice your whole life."

25. Young'uns: KIDDOS. Curtain-climbers. Rugrats.

27. Lizzo genre: RAP. Nice to see her getting some love lately. Interesting factoid: Lizzo got her big break from singer Prince, who "co-signed" her music and even got to perform on his 2014 song, 'Boy Trouble.' "Prince was the first person to really make me feel validated as an artist when I heard that track," the singer told NPR.

28. Exams for srs.: SATS. Srs = seniors (as in high school).

29. Gobble (up): SNARF.

32. Simple camera setting: AUTO.

34. McFlurry cookies: OREOS.

36. Sleeping sickness carrier: TSETSE FLY. Nice to see both words.

40. __ bene: NOTA. Latin phrase meaning "note well."

42. Part of a schmear campaign?: LOX. Hee.

43. __ gin fizz: SLOE. From Wiki: Sloe gin is a British red liqueur made with gin and sloes. Sloes are the fruit (drupe) of Prunus spinosa, the blackthorn plant, a relative of the plum. I adore gin, but don't think I've ever had sloe gin. Gin vs. Sloe Gin - What's The Difference?

46. Baseball hats: CAPS. Here's another one for parents, remember this?

48. Golden Rule preposition: UNTO. Do unto others. Then split.

50. Jekyll's alter ego: HYDE. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The book was published in 1886, with over 120 stage and film versions alone, including a 1999 musical.

51. Unopened: NEW. Not necessarily. But okay.

52. Most aged: OLDEST.

54. Barnyard bird: HEN.

55. Floppy successors: CD ROMS. Haha. Many (most?) of us used floppy discs. I remember my daughter's confusion when I used the term "carriage return."

57. Members of a cabal, maybe: SCHEMERS. A cabal is a secret plot, or a small group of people who create such a plot.

59. __ projection: ASTRAL. The supposed act of leaving your body while sleeping. But is it real?

60. Acts like a helicopter parent: HOVERS.

61. Get beaten by: LOSE TO.

62. Worker's hourly pay: WAGE.

Down:

1. Domed building: ROTUNDA. Nitpick: I always thought the rotunda was the domed room, not the whole building. According to Capitol Hill Facts (scroll to bottom) it is a circular room in the center of the building beneath the Capitol dome. It is 96 feet in diameter and rises 180 feet from the floor to the canopy, with a volume of approximately 1.3 million cubic feet. So beautiful - an interior view to the rotunda of the US Capitol.

2. Samoan capital: APIA.

3. Best-liked, in texts: FAV.

4. 1980s Pontiacs: FIEROS. Oh yeah.

5. "Long story short ... ": IN SUM.

6. Nabisco brand: CHIPS AHOY.

7. Tennis pundit Shriver: PAM. Fourth cousin of Maria Shriver.

8. Poet Dove: RITA. She served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress From 1993 to 1995, and was the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

9. Home of Firenze: ITALIA. The Name of Florence – Firenze.

10. Halve: BISECT.

11. Scotland yards?: METRES. Metric. Nice clue.

14. __ and reel: ROD. Fishing.

15. Mardi Gras accessories: MASKS.

19. Wall, in Spanish: MURO.

23. Practice boxing: SPAR.

26. "Dang!": DRAT.

28. Kiss: SMOOCH.

31. Silver State city: RENO.

33. __ Aviv: TEL.

35. "Don't move!": STAY HERE.

36. "No Scrubs" pop trio: TLC.

37. Real blankety-blank: SO AND SO.

38. Aces: EXPERTS. Noun  not verb.

39. Takes interest, maybe: LENDS. GREAT clue.

41. Catkin trees: ALDERS.

45. Fresnel __: lighthouse installation: LENS.

47. Promised: SWORE.

49. Part of STEM, briefly: TECH. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics is a broad term used to group together several academic disciplines.

52. Home of the Munch Museum: OSLO.

53. Brand of sport sandals: TEVA. Never heard of these.

55. Baseball's "Iron Man" Ripken: CAL. Anyone notice this grid is light on sports?

56. Bath rug: MAT.

58. "The Princess Diaries" novelist Cabot: MEG.

 

Notes from C.C.:

Thank you so much for your sweet messages and memories of Boomer. They touched and comforted me greatly.  

His obit is here.