Saturday, MAY 11, 2024, Rich Norris

Saturday Themeless by Rich Norris 

Our former editor Rich returns with a Saturday offering. 

Across:

1. Loaf traditionally made with clabbered milk: SODA BREAD. Authentic Irish soda bread is made with sour (clabbered) milk, not buttermilk, or milk soured by adding vinegar or lemon juice.

10. Dismiss: LET GO - He wasn't fired, he was, uh, LET GO.

15. New and improved, say: TWO POINT O 😀 

16. Slim young swimmer: ELVER - A young eel is called an ELVER

17. Decreases: RAMPS DOWN - Parka sales started to RAMP DOWN recently.

18. Mookie who was the 2018 AL MVP: BETTS - He won the MVP with the Boston Red Sox. Today he plays for the LA Dodgers.

19. Miner concern: ORE 😀

20. "Law & Order" actor Jeremy: SISTO.

Jeremy SISTO and Jesse L. Martin

21. Catalan artist Joan: MIRO - Señor MIRO has been a frequent visitor here of of late

22. Cry after seeing a good drawing?: GIN 😀

GIN!

23. Airport safety gp.: TSA - Yeah, I put FAA first too.

26. "Mad __": MEN - This 3:25 video is one of the finest TV scenes I have ever seen.

27. Precipitation that can hurt: HAIL - A 2014 HAIL storm in Blair, NE.

29. Knockoffs of the 1980s and 1990s: PC CLONES.

32. Brand that sponsored early soap operas: CAMAY - Proctor and Gamble used its line of soaps in the 1920's to sponsor these radio serials which became known as, uh, Soap Operas

33. About as bad as it gets: ATROCIOUS.

35. Bleak: GRIM.

36. "One L" author: TUROW - A signed first edition goes for $150

37. __ and void: NULL.

38. Journalist who co-founded the NAACP: IDA B WELLS.

40. __ cash: PETTY.

41. Beanies: KNIT CAPS.

42. Young lady: LASS.

43. Violinist Kavafian: ANI - Not the Cuckoo of long ago crosswords 

44. "I get it!": AHA.

45. Block: DAM - The Hoover DAM has blocked the Colorado River in Black Canyon for decades.

46. City southwest of Warsaw: LODZ - An hour-and-a-half drive on E30 across Poland

48. Hitchcock motel: BATES - The famous Bates Motel shower scene from Psycho took 78 Shots and 52 Cuts

51. Food __: DYE - A necessity for Easter eggs 

54. Even more distant: ICIER.

56. Hereditary chain: DNA STRAND.

58. Summer Daze cologne brand: CK ONE - Calvin Klein ONE

59. Generously given: UNSTINTED.

60. Bar: ESTOP  - In the field of contract law, promissory estoppel estops parties from claiming that no contract exists when another party was harmed through the reasonable reliance upon a promise by the first party. 🤔

61. Without restraint: LIKE CRAZY - The tornados blew LIKE CRAZY in Omaha on April 29th.

Down:

1. H-Town ALer: STRO - Eliding a Houston ASTRO baseball player. Some Nebraska fans wanted to use Skers for Huskers. Thankfully, it never caught on.

2. Preakness winner Man __: O'WAR.

3. Capitol cap: DOME.

4. Tablet program: APP.

5. Word in a Tom Swifty about Bruce Springsteen: BOSSILY - Bruce is known as The Boss, so...

6. Chamillionaire song with the lyrics "They see me rollin' / They hatin'": RIDIN - Like Diogonese searching for an honest man, my search continues for a rapper who lyrics I can print.

7. "The Killing" actress Mireille: ENOS.

8. Chem class fig.: AT. WT.

9. Taped message from the police?: DO NOT CROSS 😀 

10. Isr. neighbor: LEB.

11. Sch. type: ELEM.

12. Some NFL breaks: TV TIMEOUTS - The man on the sidelines with the orange sleeves raises his hand to signal the referees when to call a TV TIMEOUT and then lowers his arm when play should resume. 

13. Succeed: GET RESULTS - The debate rages about whether Kelly Clarkson ever used these 

14. Director Welles: ORSON.

22. Jason who was the 2000 AL MVP: GIAMBI.

24. Road warning sign: SLOW.

25. NYC rep since 2019: AOC.

27. Rough treatment: HARD KNOCKS - Your first thought too?

28. Self-critical evaluation: AM I AN IDIOT?

29. Singer who was one of the original judges on "American Idol": PAULA ABDUL - Randy and Paula tried to be nice in those early auditions but Simon changed TV forever.

30. Post-doc combo?: CTRL P. 😀 Post document for printing not post doctoral

31. Starting hour, perhaps: NINE A.M - I've never had a job that started that late!

32. Sci-fi FX: CGI - Computer Generated Imagery 

34. Calculated: SLY.

36. Stock sector: TECH.

39. Org. founded by Billie Jean King: WTA - I did a double take when I saw her playing a judge in an episode of Law And Order

40. Artificial: PLASTIC.

43. "... a grin without a cat" observer: ALICE.

45. Italy's Villa __: D'ESTE - The Villa d'Este (summer villa) is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains.

47. Philosopher known for "reductio ad absurdum" arguments: ZENO - Math students know of this famous paradox

49. Years in old Rome: ANNI - Villa d'Este fu costruita 550 anni fa (Villa d'Este was built 550 years ago)

50. Undertaking: TASK.

51. Focus of much analysis: DATA.

52. Santa __ Valley: California setting of "Sideways": YNEZ.

53. Current subject: EDDY 😀

55. Single situp, say: REP.

57. Prescription to fight stress, briefly: RNR - Rest (a)N(d) Relaxation. Characters in M*A*S*H usually went to Tokyo. 

BONUS: My granddaughter at her graduation party last night in Lincoln along with me, my wife, her twin and her twin's husband.

Saturday, November 11, 2023, Rich Norris

 

Saturday Themeless by Rich Norris

It's old home week as the former LA Times puzzle editor makes yet another triumphal return. I was so surprised when the "Congratulations" window came up and I will point out some of my rough spots as I blog here. However, if  you look at the puzzle graphic, you can see where my last fill was a desperate guess at the Natick Rich planted at the conjunction of ABUJA and JANIE. I'll take a "got 'er done" out of petty cash.

Across:

1. Stop for an assessment: TAKE STOCK - A lot of NFL teams have doing that as we are near the halfway point of the season.

10. Reverence: PIETY.

15. Brown group: IVY LEAGUE 😀 Cleveland fit but...

16. "Mad TV" alum Lange: ARTIE.

         

17. Shade named for a river: NILE GREEN.

18. Callas title role: NORMA.

19. "Aww!": SO CUTE.

20. Outdoor: OPEN AIR - Junkstock is a huge OPEN AIR craft show 15 minutes from us

22. Occasion to eat bánh chu'ng: TET.

23. 2019 Tyler, the Creator album: IGOR.

24. Bridge installer's deg.: DDS 😀 My dentist has not installed any bridges for me but has crowned me several times.

25. Feature of an Oscar statuette: SWORD.

28. Rose __: PARADE - It was on our bucket list and we were not disappointed!

30. Syrup brand since 1902: KARO.

31. "__ here": SAME.

32. Gender reveal words: A BOY.

35. Singing competition, familiarly: IDOL - The first winner

36. Dominated, in gaming: PWNED - Leetspeak is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. 

37. Indian royal: RAJA.

38. Handout to the hungry: MENU 😀

39. Winery discard: LEES - All you want to know

40. Old ski lift: J-BAR.

41. Pair with quite a lot of pull: OX TEAM 😀

43. Type: KEY IN - Demonstrated by a very famous keyboarder!

44. Branch: ARM - The FBI is an ARM of the justice department 

46. Pro __: RATA.

47. Rival: VIE.

48. All smiles, in a Carroll poem: BEAMISH - The poem was never meant to make sense!

50. Soap named for a city: DALLAS 😀

53. Yupik craft: UMIAK - an open boat made of animal hide stretched over a wooden frame, traditionally rowed by Inuit women. Yeah, I knew that 😗

54. Kitchen counter: OVEN TIMER.

57. "Their Eyes Were Watching God" protagonist Crawford: JANIE.

58. Keyboard ornament: GRACE NOTE - an extra note added as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony of melody. My music teacher colleague's immediate first thought was of Patsy Cline singing Crazy.

59. Figure skating leaps: AXELS.

60. Word from the Greek for "working together": SYNERGISM - If everybody does their job, this could be a huge gain.

Down:

1. Solder element: TIN - If you know chemical symbols, you can see this is 60% Tin and 40% Lead

2. Zipcar parent: AVIS - What is Zipcar?

3. Luke's nephew: KYLO.

4. Whirlpool alternative: ELECTROLUX.

5. Proceeded without pause: SEGUED - The Beatles rocked the house on the Ed Sullivan Show and then Ed had to SEGUE to a magician named Fred Kaps. 

6. "The Goldfinch" Pulitzer winner: TARTT.

7. Pointed arch: OGEE.

8. Stick on a table: CUE 😀

9. Contests with numbered balls: KENO GAMES.

10. "Let's get toasty" fast-casual chain: PANERA.

11. Tend to a pressing task?: IRON 😀

12. Super Bowl debut of 2008 revived in 2022: E-TRADE BABY.

13. Hardly bold: TIMID.

14. Junior and senior: YEARS.

21. Mulled (over): PORED.

23. Rio region: IPANEMA - Tall and tan and young and lovely...

25. Take off the top: SKIM.

26. 13-time All-Star inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2023: WADE.

27. University town northeast of Augusta: ORONO MAINE - Hmmm, now what university is close to Augusta, GA? Oops...

A popular cwd city

29. Indian district known for a beverage: DARJEELING.

31. Crew taught by Gabe Kotter: SWEATHOGS.

33. California classical music festival city: OJAI - 82 miles WNW of LA

34. Story: YARN.

36. Court answers: PLEAS - A PLEA of "Not Guilty" isn't always the same as "Innocent"

42. Short rides?: TRIKES 😀

43. Off-__: KILTER - The Canadian Pavilion at EPCOT had a band called OFF KILTER who featured a bagpipe in their rock and roll show.

44. Nigerian capital: ABUJA - Yeah, I had LAGOS first too. The capital was moved from there to ABUJA over thirty years ago.

45. Century 21 rival: REMAX.

47. "Lovecraft Country" Emmy winner Courtney B. __: VANCE - One of those clues where you wonder whether the clue was Rich's or Patti's

49. Send: MAIL.

50. Campus figure: DEAN.

51. French mine: A MOI So cette maison est À MOIS (This house belongs to me)

52. Court units: SETS - In volleyball teams used to have to win five games to win a match. Games has now been changed to SETS like tennis. Last month, #2 Huskers beat the then #1 Badgers 3 SETS to 2 SETS.

55. Texter's emphasis: VRY.

56. __ sleep: REM.