Saturday Themeless by Rafael Musa and Brooke Husic
Rafael and Brooke provided us a real Saturday challenge and I have highlighted my one bad cell here. I had no chance at SAZERACS and I felt SIA would not be correct since Singapore was in the clue. Over the past year or so, I have come to know SIA as a singer with distinctive hair styles but Patti did not use her here.
The long fill was very gettable but did take some finaggling to get the letters lined up correctly. As usual, Brooke, et. al's diabolical cluing was fun after it was frustrating. Even the arcane internet fill went quietly, eventually.
Across:
1. Copywriter?: SCRIBE - If you have ever taken the ride through Spaceship Earth, you have seen this sleeping SCRIBE in one of the tableaus
7. New Orleans cocktails: SAZERACS - Sorry, Big Easy, I had no idea. The classic Sazerac recipe expertly balances whiskey with sugar, bitters and absinthe.
15. Browned, maybe: COOKED.
16. "That was great!": I LOVED IT.
17. Compliment-fisher's question: AREN'T I? - "I'm a good person, AREN'T I?"
18. __ dollar: ALMIGHTY - "When in doubt, follow the money"
19. Osso buco accompaniment: RISOTTO.
21. "Watch this space" letters: TBA.
22. Social reformer Dorothea: DIX.
23. Academy near the Culinary Institute in New York: WEST POINT - I kept fighting WEST POINT because it seemed too easy
26. Winter Palace ruler: TSAR.
28. Mouth part: ROOF.
29. Guys: HES.
32. 24-hour extension period?: LEAP YEAR - ๐. It took a little cogitating!
34. Conceive: IDEATE - Crossword learning
37. Happy characters: SMILEYS - Oh, like these ๐๐๐?
38. Easy way to get a six-pack: BEER RUN - Smokey And The Bandit was about a Coors BEER RUN
39. Like someone glued to a screen for hours, maybe: UP LATE.
40. Timely blessings: GODSENDS - I married mine 56 years ago
41. F1 neighbor: ESC.
42. __ Club: SAM'S.
44. Assist, often: PASS - ๐ I loved this clue (eventually)
45. __ college: ELECTORAL.
48. Irrelevant stat for an EV: MPG - Miles Per Kilowatt?
51. Bird in the bush: EMU - The bush country of Australia ๐
52. Finish with a bang?: MIC DROP - That's all there is to say!
4. Remark from someone with the perfect spot in mind: I KNOW A PLACE.
5. "Actually, it might be more fun if ... ": BETTER YET.
6. Exchanges words?: EDITS ๐
7. Singapore Airlines, for short: SIA - Not the singer Patti has had in a quite a few recent puzzles
8. Exceedingly: ALL TOO.
9. Like someone glued to a screen for hours, jocularly: ZOMBIFIED.
10. "Water the way nature intended" water: EVIAN.
11. Short rule?: REG - Short for REGulation
12. "Driven to Distraction" condition: Abbr.: ADHD.
13. Big Four bank name: CITI.
14. River down under?: STYX - The mythical river between Earth and the Underworld
20. "Others," in Spanish: OTRAS - Puedes inviter a OTRAS personas. (You can invite other people).
24. __ ejemplo: POR - ¿Cuรกl es, POR ejemplo, su soluciรณn? (What, for example, is your solution?)
25. Genuine: THE REAL DEAL.
26. Mesa neighbor: TEMPE - TEMPE hosts the Angels in spring training and Mesa hosts the Cubs
27. Goes where the wind blows: SAILS.
30. Brings home: EARNS.
31. Hunks: STUDS.
32. Sch. that's home to the Golden Band from Tigerland: LSU.
33. Texter's "I need to hear the drama!": EYES EMOJI.
35. Reggaeton megahit whose title means "slowly": DESPACITO
36. Nav. rank: ENS.
38. Bust: BOSOM.
40. BBC clock setting: GMT - No matter where the International Space Station is, the astronauts go by Greenwich Mean Time (zero degrees longitude)
43. Legends, e.g.: ACURAS.
46. "So what if they do?": LET 'EM.
47. Chamillionaire song that starts "They see me rollin'": RIDIN'
48. Certain gender presentation, briefly: MASC.
49. Member of a rap trio with Spinderella: PEPA.
50. Family nickname: GRAN.
53. Play thing: ROLE - Al Pacino was offered the ROLE of Han Solo but turned it down
54. Non-opposing remarks?: OUIS - ๐ Non is the French word for NO and so...
55. Fundraising orgs.: PTAS.
57. Play thing: ACT.
58. Texting letters: SMS - The blue message below indicates it is using the Apple iMessage system and the green message indicates the Short Message System
Today's veteran constructors Rebecca Goldstein and
Rafael Musa (19 & 4 LAT puzzles respectively including today's)
present us with another scrambled word game. Their theme appears at
first to be a bit of a downer, so to clear that up right away, let's start
with the reveal ...
62A. "This doesn't feel right," and what
can be said about some letters in the answers to the starred clues?:
THE VIBES ARE OFF. This phrase generally connotes that the speaker is sensing
BAD VIBES, or an EDGY feeling of unease (e.g. see
69A). Quite honestly when this reviewer realized this he panicked
and started looking around for an antidote. So to calm everyone down
we'll start with some
Now that we've relaxed a bit we can see that reveal doesn't really have
anything to do with emotional turmoil. On the contrary it simply describes the
parsing of four rather innocuous theme clues, each of which has an embedded
acronym of the word VIBE spanning two
words:
16A. *Players who cover wide receivers:
DEFENSIVE BACKS. The timing of
this clue is not so good as
Super Bowl LV was a month and
half ago. The big news that day was that
Rhianna was the first pregnant woman to headline a half-time show. Oh and ICYI the Kansas City Chiefs beat the
Philadelphia Eagles 38 to 35. .
28A. *Film fanatic:
MOVIE BUFF. The news here is not
quite as stale, as the
Oscars were awarded March 12. See 14A for more details.
39A. *Black Friday slogan:
SAVE BIG. Mark your
calendars, the next Black Friday is Fri, Nov 24, 2023. It's never
too early to start getting in shape for that midnight mad dash ...
50A. *Couple in the honeymoon phase:
LOVE BIRDS. One of our nieces
married just this past fall. She's still in the
honeymoon phase. Our nephew, her brother, married about a year
ago. He's now in the parenting phase.
Here's the grid
...
Here's the rest ... Across:
1. Acrobat format: PDF.
4. Mumford & Sons instrument: BANJO.
Mumford & Sons
is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. Here's their
Hopeless Wanderer (lyrics)
9. ____ school: PREP.
13. Non opposite: OUI. Today's French lesson.
14. Burmese or Lao: ASIAN.
Everything Everywhere All at Once
is a 2022 American absurdist comedy-drama film that follows
Evelyn Wang, a Chinese-American immigrant who, while being audited by
the IRS, discovers that she must connect with parallel universe versions of
herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse.
Michelle Yeoh
was the first ASIAN actress to win an OSCAR.
15. Trading floor order: SELL.
16A [Theme clue].
19. Part of a winesap or a wineglass: STEM. Fruity clue.
STEM is also an acronym for "Science Technology Engineering and Math". I would add an E to the end as Geeks should learn proper
English.
20. Major headache: HASSLE.
21. Actress Shawkat: ALIA.
Alia Martine Shawkat
(/หรฆliษ หสษหkรฆt/ AL-ee-ษ SHAW-kat; Arabic: ุนููุง ู ุงุฑุชูู ุดููุช; born April 18,
1989) is an American actress. The big news about Alia is that she's
not dating Brad Pitt. OTOH she has been an actress for over 20 years.
Alia Shawkat
24. Pals: AMIGOS. Today's Spanish lesson.
28A [Theme
clue]
33. Uttered: SPOKE.
34. "... because you don't want to cross me": OR ELSE.
35. Burj Khalifa's fed.: UAE. Here are the 7 federated emirates
of the
United Arab Emirates, the largest being Abu Dhabi:
The United Arab Republic
The
Burj Khalifas
is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the
world's tallest building with a total height of 829.8 m (2,722 ft, or
just over half a mile).
Burj Khalifas
37. Frog's kid-lit friend: TOAD.
Frog and Toad
is a series of easy-reader children's books, written and illustrated by
Arnold Lobel. Each book contains five simple, often humorous, sometimes poignant,
short stories chronicling the exploits of an anthropomorphic frog and toad,
named Frog and Toad respectively.
38. "You're it!": TAG.
[Theme clue]
42. Go green, say?: DYE. As
TOAD's companion might say "It's not easy
bein' green ...". Here's Van
Morrison's cover of the
KERMIT classic (lyrics) ...
43. Gay __: ICON. My two favorite gay ICONS are the English mathematician
Alan Turing and the Russian
composer
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Sadly both of these men took their own lives. In Turing's
case this was doubly sad as he was driven to suicide by people who, due to
the Official Secrets Act, were completely unaware of the critical role he
played in
the breaking of the coding scheme of the Enigma machine
used by the Nazis for secure communications during WWII. In 2021 Great Britain at least partially atoned for this grave injustice by issuing this iconic currency:
On the obverse side of the note is Queen Elizabeth II. Tchaikovsky
is best known for his
symphonies, ballets, and operas, but he also wrote songs. One of his best known songs is
based on a poem by the German polymath
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
called None but the Lonely Heart (Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt,
literally "Only he who knows longing") and expresses the poet's anguish at
unrequited love. As the song has been covered by many different
singers, I'll spare you the German version:
45. GQ or EW: MAG. Gentleman's Quarterly and
Entertainment Weekly. As GQ usually doesn't pass the breakfast
test,
here's what EW is covering as of press time on the Corner
(see also 28A).
46. Pampers product: DIAPER. I'm sure my nephew has been changing
a lot of these lately (see 50A).
48. Chimney ducts: FLUES. [Usually] rectangular fire clay liners
that protect the less heat resistant red brick of the chimney itself.
FLUES also have an additional function in fuel burning
downdraft kilns. They are usually equipped with dampers, which can be partially closed to
temporarily reduce the amount of oxygen in the kiln, making
possible the classic
copper red(Sang de boeuf) and
iron green celadon
glazes developed by the Chinese over a 1000 years ago.
50. [Theme clue]
52. Plays matchmaker for: SETS UP. If I recall correctly both
sets of Love Birds in 50A above
were SET UP.
54. Greek war god: ARES. The antithesis of
EROS, who was undoubtedly involved in the previous comment.
55. 18-Down units: TROOPS. My grandsons' TROOP is
No. 420.
58. Actor Neeson: LIAM.
William John Neeson
OBE (born 7 June 1952) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He has received
several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a British
Academy Film Award, and two Tony Awards. In 2020, he was placed 7th on The
Irish Times list of Ireland's 50 Greatest Film Actors. Neeson was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.
Liam Neeson
62. [Reveal clue]
66. Intense anger: RAGE.
67. Birthplace of the violin: ITALY.
Cremona, ITALY
to be exact. Antonio Stradivari's teacher, Andrea Amati is credited with inventing the modern violin and thus making this possible far in the future: Baltimorean Hilary Hahn performing the 1st movement cadenza to the Beethoven Violin Concerto:
68. Darjeeling, for one: TEA.
69. Neither calm nor collected: EDGY. Someone whose
VIBES ARE OFF.
70. Like some foggy nights: EERIE.
71. Cribside chorus: AWS. I think our new great nephew (see
50A above) has been getting a lot of these lately.
2. Piece for two: DUET. The "Flower Duet" for soprano and mezzo-soprano in the first act of
Lรฉo Delibes' opera Lakmรฉ is sung by the characters Lakmรฉ, daughter of a
Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to gather flowers
by a river. You'll probably recognize it:
3. Marching band pipe: FIFE.
Fifers were non-combatant foot soldiers
who originally played the
FIFE
during combat. When played in its upper register, the fife is loud and
piercing, yet also extremely small and portable. According to some reports, a
band of fifes and drums can be heard up to 3 miles (4.8 km) away over
artillery fire. Because of these qualities, European armies from the
Renaissance on found it useful for signaling on the battlefield ... (click
Watch on YouTube
below to get this started [I thought Google owned both Blogger and YouTube!?]).
4. Block: BAN.
5. Donkey: ASS.
6. Hawaiian island whose population was 84 in the 2020 census:
NIIHAU.
Niสปihau
(you get extra points if you included the apostrophe), anglicized as Niihau
(/หniห(i)haส/ NEE-(ee-)how), is the westernmost main and
seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii.
9. Old Testament collection: PSALMS. In the
Christian Old Testament
and
Hebrew Bible
the PSALMS are a collection of 150 sacred songs and poems meant to be
sung or recited. Tradition has it that many of them were written by
King David,
who was reputed to be a harpist and quite a dancer in his day. They are
used extensively in the liturgies of both Christians and Jews. They are
also the primary prayers in the 4 week Psalter of Catholic
Divine Office,
which is prayed by priests, religious, and laity around the world throughout
each day.
11. Mammals also known as wapiti: ELK. The
ELK (Cervus canadensis), or wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family,
Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of
North America and Central and East Asia.
Bull Elk in Alberta, Canada
12. Letters from a polite texter: PLS. And the polite response is
THX.
17. Message in Outlook: EMAIL. Hand up if you still use this?
18. Org. with sashes and badges: BSA.
Boy Scouts of America. If you (or more likely your Mom) sew
enough badges on those sashes you become an
Eagle Scout. *Hand up if you are an Eagle Scout? I never reached the rank,
but two of my grandsons have. This medal is actually pinned to the
uniform, not the sash ...
22. On sale, say: LESS.
23. Pronoun-shaped girder: I BEAM. Now even girders have
pronouns. What's next?
25. Favorable optics, for short: GOOD PR. Or even poor optic if your PR person is a good enough spinner.
29. Soothsayer: ORACLE.
Pythia (/หpษชฮธiษ/; Ancient Greek: ฮ ฯ ฮธฮฏฮฑ [pyหหtสฐรญaห])
was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.
She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the
Oracle of Delphi. Also a company owned by
Larry Ellison
who also owns
Lanai, the
seventh largest Hawaiian island (see also 6D):
30. Ride the couch: VEG OUT.
31. Fire, in Spanish: FUEGO. A lot of us know this Spanish
word from our high school geography, as the Southern tip of Argentina was
called
Tierra del Fuego
(the "Land of Fire"), by the explorer
Ferdinand Magellan, due to the bonfires kept lit on the shore by the indigenous people.
Since he was actually Portuguese, I wonder why he didn't call it
Terra de Fogo.
32. British Invasion adjective: FAB. As in the
FAB FOUR.
36. Arctic Circle duck: EIDER.
Eiders are large sea ducks in the genus Somateria. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern
Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks, and some other ducks and geese,
are used to fill pillows and quilts—they have given the name to the type of
quilt known as an eiderdown.
Eider Duck
40. 2021 documentary about actor Kilmer: VAL.
Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American actor. Originally a stage actor,
Kilmer found fame after appearances in comedy films, starting with
Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), as well as the
military action film Top Gun (1986), The Doors (1991) and
the fantasy film Batman Forever (1995). Here's a clip from his bio-pic
...
41. Taunt: GIBE.
44. Funds for a rainy day: NEST EGG. IRA was too
short. The ducks in 36A produce NEST EGGS about once a
year, regardless of the weather.
47. Market section: AISLE.
49. Introductory course: SURVEY.
51. Jane Fonda's alma mater: VASSAR.
Vassar College
(/หvรฆsษr/ VASS-ษr) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New
York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the
second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United
States, closely following Elmira College. It became coeducational in
1969 and now has a gender ratio at the national average. The college is one of
the historic Seven Sisters, the first elite women's colleges in the
U.S., and has a historic relationship with Yale University, which
suggested a merger before they both became coeducational.
53. Starchy luau dish: POI.
56. Award related to a Tony: OBIE. A made up homophone for the letters
OB, short for Off Broadway musicals. Here are the winners for
the
66th Annual OBIE Awards
held on February 13, 2023. Years back we saw
The Fantasticks, which holds the record for the longest running
Off Broadway show. You'll probably remember this song ...
57. Slugger Alonso nicknamed "Polar Bear": PETE. Plays 1st Base
for the NY Mets.
A right handed batter he made his MLB debut during the 2019 season and broke
the major league record for the most home runs by a rookie with 53.
He's age 28, 6'3" and weighs 245 pounds.
Here are his stats.
Pete Alonso
59. Whit: IOTA.
60. Not many: A FEW.
61. Degs. for ballerinas: MFAS.
Master of Fine Arts.
You can get one here. Many operas have ballet scenes (they're required in French
operas). We've seen only one full-length ballet and decided that they're
too expensive and too addictive.
62. Uno e uno e uno: TRE. Today's Italian lesson:
THREE. Sorry, no OPERA today.
63. "I've been __!": HAD.
64. "Moonlight" Oscar winner Mahershala: ALI.
Moonlight is a 2016 American coming-of-age drama film
written and directed by Barry Jenkins, based on
Tarell Alvin McCraney's unpublished semi-autobiographical play
In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The film stars
Trevante Rhodes, Andrรฉ Holland, Janelle Monรกe,
Ashton Sanders, Jharrel Jerome, Naomie Harris, and
Mahershala Ali. Here's the trailer:
65. Manhattan liquor: RYE.
*"Once an Eagle Scout, always an Eagle Scout!"
Cheers, Bill
As always, thanks to Teri for proof
reading, for her constructive criticism.
Themeless Saturday by Rafael Musa and Michael Lieberman
I had Rafael's initial LA Times submission last month where he told us he got into constructing because he read that someone had solved a NYT puzzle in under 10 minutes. He set that as a goal and when he reached it, he started submitting.
Mike Lieberman is a litigation partner in Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation.
This is one of those puzzles where I seemed to be on the same wavelength as the two constructors. I did have an issue at REDDITAM_S and RECENCY BI_S but both lent themselves to minimal sussing (explained below)and I took a well-deserved "got 'er done" out of petty cash.
Across:
1. Ice __: BATH - Some trainers believe this really accelerates healing and soreness
5. Ebullience: PEP - Not JOY
8. Helps with checking out, maybe: BAGS - Paper BAGS are making a comeback
12. Calculus calculation: AREA - For us math peeps: calculus can be used to determine the AREA under a curve as the sum of the AREA of rectangles added together gets infinitely close to the actual AREA as the rectangles get infinitely narrower.
13. Internal revolution: PALACE COUP - "Beware the Ides Of March!"
16. Approach: NEAR.
17. Fitness revolutions: ARM CIRCLES which might be done wearing 18. Joggers: GYM PANTS
20. Low-quality: CRUDDY.
21. "Mamma Mia!" song with the lyric "The love you gave me, nothing else can save me": SOS - Any day is better with ABBA in it
22. Mystery writer Josephine: TEY - I had no, uh, clue about mystery writer Josephine
23. Beams: RAYS.
24. Filled in: UP TO SPEED.
27. Infinitive with a circumflex: ETRE - Comment peut-on dรฉjร รTRE en mars? (How can it be March already?)
31. __ pear: ASIAN - The Kimmel Orchards in Nebraska City have many of these trees but you have to get there on the right day as they get picked quickly
32. Penguin hunters: ORCAS.
34. Utter nonsense: ROT.
35. Rush: SURGE.
36. Underground rock?: ORE that can turn into 10. Like some expensive bars: GOLD.
Gold ORE
37. Uses a collection box, say: MAILS - While the use of paper bags is going up, the use of these is going down
42. Be relevant: APPLY - "The fundamental things APPLY, As Time Goes By."
"You played it for her, You can play it for me."
43. Dependents that can't be claimed as tax deductions: PETS - We can't even deduct Lily's houses and perches, but that's okay with us.
45. Little League game ender, perhaps: MERCY RULE - This game was over in 3 1/2 innings
47. Locks: HAIR.
49. Still: YET.
50. Big time: ERA - My mom loved The Big Band ERA
52. Garment traditionally worn with a kebaya: SARONG - The kebayas are the tops worn with these SARONGS. Yeah, I knew that and didn't use all the perps! ๐
55. Court luminaries: NBA STARS.
57. Not set: UP IN THE AIR.
59. Plot line: AXIS.
60. Some online tell-all sessions: REDDIT AMAS - We've seen the website REDDIT that features AMAS (Ask Me AnythingS) in our puzzles
61. Actress Russo: RENE - I really liked some of her movies but she, Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones were a big draw to this "worst movie I ever spent money on" (4% on Rotten Tomatoes).
62. Red and Coral, but not pink: SEAS.
63. Low-__: RES 7. __-Man: PAC - On my Apple IIe
64. Reindeer kin: ELKS.
Down:
1. Loud reports: BANGS.
2. "Final answer?": ARE YOU SURE?
3. Pride of Lions, e.g.: TEAM SPIRIT.
4. Guinness logo: HARP.
5. One who makes everyone get down on the dance floor?: PARTY POOPER ๐
6. Many Central Park trees: ELMS.
8. Juicy fruit: BERRY.
9. Impeach: ACCUSE.
11. Sought redress: SUED.
13. Glazier supply: PANES - Here they're using suction to move a big PANE
14. Summer bug: CICADA - Their song is a sign of late summer around here
15. Humanities subj.: PSY.
19. Does penance (for): ATONES.
23. Tendency to rely on short-term memory: RECENCY BIAS - Some juries can be more swayed by the last closing argument they hear
25. Label: TAG and 55. Moniker: NAME.
26. Catcher's interference, for one: ERROR.
28. Skating feat first performed in competition by Vern Taylor: TRIPLE AXEL - From 44 years ago. It wasn't perfect but it was the first one.
29. Derby place: ROLLER RINK - A different skating activity
30. Site of creation?: ETSY - A popular website for puzzle fill
31. "Need this rn": ASAP.
33. Brains: SMARTS - Poor Fredo
38. "The Problem With __": "The Simpsons" documentary: APU - about Indian stereotypes
41. "We'll see": I MIGHT.
44. Writer/producer Rhimes: SHONDA - Some of her work
46. What dates may end with: YEARS - When I was in the hospital recently, I was asked my date of birth very often and had to rattle it off (9/11/46) over and over
48. Naysayers: ANTIS.
51. Donkeys: ASSES.
52. Big follower in California?: SUR - The Pacific Coast Highway runs through here
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