Saturday, September 14, 2019, Greg Johnson

Saturday Themeless Puzzle by Greg Johnson 

Today we celebrate an item that goes by many different names depending on where you live. Around here we call this a sub sandwich but I know it is also called a hoagie, grinder, poor boy, hero or what have you. I really like them but when I get one for my lovely bride and I to split, I can only have black olives put on my end.

Today's constructor is our old Saturday friend Greg Johnson. I include his grid at the top of the write-up because two triple-stack grid spanners looks pretty cool to me! Those ninety cells filled in pretty quickly and gave me a fast finish time when coupled with what seemed to be a lot of familiar fill for this solver.

O.K. let's see what Greg, like Jimmy Johns, has delivered for us today:

Across:

1. Suggestion for stress relief: TAKE SOME TIME OFF - Coupled with the next clue



16. Enjoying a solo walk in the woods: AT ONE WITH NATURE - I never felt this more than in the Oregon Redwoods, some of which have been growing for thousands of years

17. It makes a good point: PENCIL SHARPENER - One Redwood can make 50,000,000 pencils to be sharpened

18. Big boat: ARK - The bible said Noah used gopherwood not redwood

19. Needs to remit: OWES - Thus endeth the redwood references 

20. Trick: CON.

21. Yellowy insides: YOLKS.

24. Farm structures: PENS - My wife lived on a farm where the pigs' quarters were call a PEN, never a sty

25. Enters unnoticed: SLIPS IN.

28. Paratha roti ingredient: GHEE (highly clarified butter) - What is the difference between a roti, naan, paratha and chapati?

31. Showed joy, ironically: WEPT - An emotional response either way

32. Tricky hoops move that's often an assist: NO LOOK PASS - More commonly seen in basketball (hoops) but Patrick Mahommes uses this in football. 58. Super Bowl IV MVP Dawson: LEN - Was not as exciting as Patrick but started for the 1969 Super Bowl Champs in K.C. and was the MVP of that game.

37. In the past: AGO.

38. Supporters: RETINUE - He always had a lovely one

39. Summary usually including a photo: BIO.

40. Treatment for dry skin: BODY BUTTER - There doesn't seem to be any in my medicine cabinet

42. It's just above street level: CURB - I just loved this clue

43. Road game: I SPY - with my little eye...

44. Ancient French region: ALSATIA (old name for Alsace) - For more than 300 years, from the Thirty Years' War to World War II, the political status of Alsace was heavily contested between France and various German states in wars and diplomatic conferences.

46. Summer hire: TEMP - I hired over 300 "TEMPS" in the summer to work in the cornfields for 23 years

49. Check for fit: TRY ON.

50. Chemical suffix: IDE.

51. Vegas hotel with an operatic name: ARIA - I had A _ _ _  and AIDA neither worked for fill nor existed as a hotel

54. Hosp. tubes: IVS.

56. Pasta for vegetarians: MEATLESS LASAGNA 

62. "Pass": I'M NOT INTERESTED - At one time I had several "friends" try to get me into Amway

63. Scopes Trial site: DAYTON TENNESSEE - Like me, John Scopes was a substitute teacher and he wasn't sure he even taught evolution but agreed to be a test case for the ACLU. He was prosecuted by Nebraska's most famous politician William Jennings Bryan, was found guilty and fined $100 (which was later reversed on a technicality).

Restored Court Room In DAYTON, TENNESSEE
Now A Tourist Attraction

Down:

1. Dancing suitable for radio: TAP - Cool clue! I can at least hear the rhythm which I lack.

2. Put away: ATE.

3. Hawaiian coffee district: KONA - This part of the Big Island has many coffee growing areas that offer tours and tastings not far from our cwd friend Mauna Loa.

4. Protect from theft, in a way: ENCRYPT - If somebody wants to break your code badly enough...

5. High-end watches: SEIKOS.

6. Barn __: OWL - A woman put on a show from a raptor recovery program and told my kids, "A raptor can never be your friend!"

7. Appropriate prefix for an embezzler?: MIS - MISappropriation is a fancy euphemism for what Bernie Madoff did.

8. Guiding beliefs: ETHOS.

9. Spring harbinger: THAW 

10. Memo opener: IN RE - The "IN" is omitted but the sentiment is real below

11. Guides with scales: MAPS - If you look carefully below, you can see the scale for how far it is from Xi'an where C.C. was born to Guangzhou where she worked before coming to America

12. Tanning time on the Riviera: ETE - Knowing the French word for summer is de rigueur  in Crosswordland

13. Smidgen: OUNCE - A smidgen of prevention is worth a lot of cure

14. Trademarked refrigerant: FREON - The EPA has mandated that the manufacture of FREON must be halted by 2020

15. Decorative greenery: FERNS.

22. Pregame managerial decision: LINEUP - This 1961 LINEUP was powerful. Can you name the Yankees pictured here with the number of HR's they hit that year? (*Answer at bottom of write-up)

23. Complicated: KNOTTY - Along with being Dr. Seuss, Theodore Geisel was also a political cartoonist as seen in this 1942 example

24. Cheerleader's asset: PEP.

25. Makeup-applying aid: SWAB.

26. Toy brand with a Taj Mahal set: LEGO - $370 at Amazon

27. 2001 Apple debut: I POD - I still have mine but don't 28. Approach: GO NEAR it anymore 

29. Like most labor rates: HOURLY.

30. Squeak (out): EKE.

33. Short stories?: LIT.

34. Border on: ABUT.

35. "Hey" assistant: SIRI - I could say this into my iPhone, "Hey, SIRI, what's the name for a four-letter Japanese noodle?" She would probably suggest UDON or SOBA

36. Polite-to-slurp Japanese noodle: SOBA - All you need to know

38. NFL ball carriers: RBS - Besides Running Backs, the NFL has QBs, FBs, HBs, DBs and CBs (Pluralizing acronyms)

41. Pup squeak: YIP.

42. Solicit support from, as voters: CANVASS - Part of my granddaughter's job

45. "Indeed": SO I SEE.

46. Hardly outgoing: TIMID.

47. Swelling: EDEMA - Is using ice to reduce EDEMA the wrong thing to do?

48. Not-so-nice sort: MEANY.

49. Sample: TASTE - Don Fanucci had a different way of saying he wanted a TASTE of illegal activity 

51. Vocal range: ALTO.

52. Bit strap: REIN 

53. "And __ it ironic": Alanis Morissette lyric: ISN'T - A fun listen!

55. Mil. ranks: SGTS - From the world of fiction: Friday, Bilko, Schultz, Snorkel, Stryker...

57. Day care attendee: TOT - Day care is a cash cow for many churches in our town

59. Valiant's boy: ARN.

60. Formerly named: NEE.

61. Drink suffix with Power: ADE.

Order a sub to be delivered and then comment on Greg's puzzle. 

*Yankee LINEUP (l to r) was Roger Maris, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Elston Howard, Moose Skowren, and Johnny Blanchard.

Saturday, September 7, 2019, Erik Agard

Themeless Saturday by Erik Agard

Perhaps you remember constructor Evan Kalish and his Postlandia web site from August 9. Evan's hobby of collecting pictures of post office from all over this country has amassed him over 30,000 pix.

Today we honor the men and women who staff those facilities and deliver our mail faithfully despite any and all weather conditions. Our carrier is a hard working woman whose muffler announces her arrival two blocks away. She even gets out of her truck and puts the mail in our box when it is blocked by vehicles who should not be there.

Today's constructor is Erik Agard. I have wrestled with Erik's incredibly tough puzzles at his website - Glutton For Pun and thought today's offering would equally tough but I did manage a fairly fast (22 min) journey and had a good time in the process. I also had some electronic exchanges with Erik about the contents of this puzzle and delighted in his mostly terse but pithy replies to me.

Enjoy this fun exchange between Erik as a Jeopardy champion and Alex Trebek.

There's no jeopardy involved if you tried Erik's clever puzzle:

Across:

1. Peak of early 2000s cinema: BROKEBACK - The "Peak" Erik was referencing was the Mountain in the title of what some called a groundbreaking movie 

10. Martin Sheen's first name at birth: RAMON.

15. Doesn't honor: RENEGES ON - Native Americans were familiar with this idea

16. Blow away: AMAZE.


17. "Let's rock and roll!": IT'S GO TIME - When Jerry Seinfeld upset Lloyd Bridges as Izzy Mandlebaum, this was Lloyd's response:

18. Actor Max von __: SYDOW - His IMDB

19. Verb that sounds like a letter: ARE.

20. Holders of leaves: TEABAGS which might hold 29. Contents of some 20-Across: CHAI tea

22. Rank aboard the Enterprise: Abbr.: ENS - ENSign Pavel Chekov was a navigator on Captain Kirk's Enterprise

23. Turbine blade: ROTOR - Wind turbine ROTORS being transported are a common sight on our highways

25. Moved, as a movie camera: DOLLIED - 

27. "Claws" star __ Nash: NIECY - Yikes!

31. Get choppers: TEETHE - This time of an infant's life can make a parent a 32. One up, barely: SLEEPY HEAD.

36. Oozy substances: GOOS.

37. Prefix for "six": HEXA - These HEXAgon tiles can make for a lovely 2. Nostalgi-cool?: RETRO look

38. Class with no struggles: EASY A - Football players populated these classes when I was in college

39. Unwieldy thing: HULK 

40. British boxer Khan: AMIR - Here 'ya go

41. Album info: LINER NOTES - The LINER NOTES on this album by these four lads has a price tag well into five figures

43. Talking points?: ROSTRA - The point at which FDR delivered his "Day Of Infamy" speech was from behind one of the more famous ROSTRA in history

45. Role for which Liam got an Oscar nod: OSKAR 

46. Show ardor: ENTHUSE.

48. Occupied: IN USE - When in Rome...

52. IPA, say: ALE.

53. About 5, for coffee: PH LEVEL.

57. Humanities degs.: BA'S.

58. Enjoy a season in a day, perhaps?: BINGE - Can you watch an entire season of The Sopranos in a day?

60. Therapy subjects: AVERSIONS - No therapy will cure my lovely bride of her AVERSION to her 6. __ noire: BETE  (a thing thoroughly detested) - roller coasters

62. Run onstage?: EMCEE - I have run many a program as an EMCEE

63. Wrap up: TERMINATE.

64. Judges: DEEMS.

65. Duty for the bereaved: ESTATE TAX


Down:

1. Patch plant: BRIAR - Please don't throw me in!

3. Beginning: ONSET.

4. Pabst dispenser: KEG - My TAP proved to be dry


5. Journey with strokes?: EGO TRIP - Everyone who provided Johnny Manziel with strokes for his EGO TRIP as a college quarterback quickly abandoned him when he was an NFL flop

7. Gobi locale: ASIA - In China and Mongolia

8. Search high and low: COMB 

9. Apt eye rhyme for "bread": KNEAD - An "eye rhyme" is two words that are spelled similarly but pronounced differently. Bread and KNEAD meet that criteria and since you obviously must KNEAD bread dough the "eye rhyme" is apt. When I asked Erik if that was his clue or Rich's, he responded ‾\_(ツ)_/‾

10. Fight in the sticks: RASSLE

11. 2019 Emmy nominee Adams: AMY.

12. Escaped: MADE IT OUT - Many athletes have MADE IT OUT of horrible home lives via sports

13. Polar environmental concern: OZONE HOLE - Is it healing?

14. Paper departments: NEWS DESKS.

21. Approached nightfall: GOT DARK.

24. In the world: ON EARTH

26. Looney Tunes surname: LEGHORN - Foghorn was modeled after this fictional Southern politician from the Fred Allen Show. This pretend Senator refused to ever wear a "Union suit" or drive through the Lincoln Tunnel when he visited New York City and he claimed to drink only out of Dixie cups.

28. Metaphorical margin of victory: EYELASH.

30. Having only two answers: YES NO - Many a fragile adolescent psyche hung in the balance with this YES/NO questionnaire 

32. Fight over covers, perhaps?: SHARE A BED - I've done this for over 52 years with equitable cover sharing

33. Citrusy flavor: LEMON LIME 

34. "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very __ is an act of rebellion": Camus (attributed): EXISTENCE - A credo for many a revolutionary

35. Votes for: AYES.

42. Succeeds to the max: NAILS IT.

44. Sri Lankan currency: RUPEES - This house in Sri Lanka can be yours for Rs. 37,000,000 (Rupees) or $206,000

47. Send to cloud nine: ELATE.

49. WWII sub: U-BOAT - Pole Marian Rejewski, Brit Alan Turing, and others at Bletchley Park, broke the Nazi Enigma code to help shut down the horrible U-BOAT damage 

50. Gift list addressee: SANTA.

51. Cape Ann's county: ESSEX - Cape Ann is a rocky cape with towns Rockport and Gloucester about 40 miles NE of Boston 

54. Nights before: EVES.

55. Rapper Lil Uzi __: VERT - If you feel your life is bereft of vulgarity, violence and misogyny, google his lyrics

56. Singer Franklin, Aretha's elder sister: ERMA - The Franklin girls and their Dad

    ERMA                       C.L.                        ARETHA 

59. Opal, for one: GEM.

61. Suffix with salt: INE.

Try to remember to say something nice to your postal carrier today or this week.

Saturday, August 31, 2019, Neville Fogarty and Paolo Pasco

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Neville Fogarty and Paolo Pasco

I celebrate two special days today - International Bacon Day and the first game of the FB season for the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

As the saying goes, there are two types of people: 1) Those who love bacon and 2) those that are wrong. From midsummer BLT's are a staple in our household. The wonderful bacon can be had year round but garden fresh tomatoes are the perfect complement in this. Okay, it really is important in a club sandwich as well but let's not belabor the point!

Today's constructors are Neville Fogarty and Paolo Pasco

Across:

1. Literary reminder: BOOKMARK.

9. Mideast presidential name since 1971: ASSAD - He has presided over a lot of misery

14. Dutch treat?: APPLE PIE - Is it really Dutch or Deutsch? Oh well, it's delicious even without bacon 😙

15. More green: LUSHER.

17. Regular order: THE USUAL - At the DQ, mine was a raspberry malt

18. Hoped-for airport monitor update: ON TIME - Two weeks ago my granddaughter's Newark to Omaha flight was two hours late. Bad weather over WVA force her plane's route north to fly 27. Routing preposition: VIA the Great Lakes instead. 

19. Word preceding an opinion: CENTS - "My two CENTS worth..."

20. Chided: TSKED - Hmmm... 

22. Base used often: TEN - Your computer would see 22 in base 10 as 10110 in base two

23. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" playwright: ALBEE and 34. "Gone Girl" girl: AMY - Two movies that are unnerving portrayals of marriage

24. Longtime ISP: AOL - Not MSN it turns out

25. Common picture postcard color: AZURE - An AZURE sky on a postcard from the Cote d'Azur (the French Riveria)

28. Ones bringing charges, briefly: DA'S

30. "Gotcha": I SEE NOW - "Gotcha" as in "I understand" not "I fooled you"

32. Canal speaker: EARBUD - My bluetooth enabled hearing aids preclude the use of ear buds which I was always losing anyway

35. Buds: PALS - Non-auricular buds

36. Limit-enforcing tactic: SPEED TRAP - One site rates Sarasota, FL as the worst in the country


39. Consort of Shiva: KALI - Continuing our mini theme of unhappy couples, KALI is shown standing on Shiva's chest

42. Vientiane people: LAO - Vientiane is the capital of Laos

43. Story collection including "Robbie": I ROBOT - Isaac Asimov's nine short stories including one entitled Robbie

47. Trying to lose: ON A DIET - I am down 21 lbs but have hit a plateau 

49. Comics fight sound: BAM.

50. Blackjack component: ACE - You can have 21 without an ACE but it's not a blackjack

51. Asian noodle dish: RAMEN - 48 pkgs for $9.89

52. UFC sport: MMA - Mixed Martial Arts. About anything goes

54. Philosophical principle that rules out unlikely explanations: RAZOR.

56. 48-Down victim: EGO - A fragile EGO can be hurt by a careless 48. 56-Across damager: INSULT.

57. Diamond ploy: STEAL - A polite end to a failure to STEAL. Definitely not a 62. "Whew!" evoker: CLOSE ONE.

59. Preppy collars: ETONS.

60. Garfield's successor: ARTHUR - Chester helped make merit rather than patronage a basis for government jobs

64. Vacanza a dicembre: NATALE - Italian - NATALE è una vacanza a dicembre (Christmas is a holiday in December) 

65. Quick, provocative reactions, as to current news: HOT TAKES - Often wrong with no apologies later

66. Finish choice: MATTE.

67. Hoodwink: OUTSMART.


Down:

1. Robin's milieu: BAT CAVE.

2. Laertes' sister: OPHELIA 

3. Place for free rounds: OPEN BAR.

4. 1971 title detective: KLUTE.

5. Wack: MESSED UP - Judge Judy would say this but would omit the "H"

6. Toon storekeeper: APU - A Simpson's character

7. Vaqueros' props: RIATAS - Lasso to a cowboy

8. Kutcher's "That '70s Show" role: KELSO - Typical dialogue

9. Moisturizer ingredient: ALOE 

10. Sweet treat: SUNDAE - Religious blue laws were circumvented by changing the Y to E

11. Mach 1 flier: SST - The "Mach Meter" at the front of the cabin told passengers how fast the SST was traveling relative to the speed of sound (Mach 1). This meter shows the plane is going 2.02 times the speed of sound (about 1,300 mph)

12. Yellowfin: AHI TUNA - Know your tuna

13. Analgesic brand: DEMEROL - Another pain reliever in the opioid family

16. Starts over: RENEWS.

21. Artist who influenced Schiele: KLIMT - I learned of KLIMT in this movie

26. Marx Brothers straight man: ZEPPO.

29. Youngest to win six Grammys in one night: ADELE.

31. Its flag has two green stars: SYRIA - The left flag represents Assad's current gov't and the right one is the one that preceded Assad and is flown by those who want to overthrow him

33. 45 half: B-SIDE - I read that clue until it made sense. Oh, 45 rpm records.

34. Excitement: ADO.

37. Fictional invitation written in currants: EAT ME.

38. Seat sides: ARM RESTS - Solution for arm rest issues?

39. Hangul alphabet user: KOREAN - Gary comes out something like 게리

40. "Lolita" character Vivian Darkbloom, to Vladimir Nabokov: ANAGRAM - I wonder when Vladimir discovered that

41. Rival of boxer Robinson: LAMOTTA - Jake (The Raging Bull) LAMOTTA fought Sugar Ray Robinson six times and only won once

Jake Lamotta            Sugar Ray Robinson

44. Arm on a shoulder: BAZOOKA - A BAZOOKA is certainly classified as an ARMament and it is indeed placed on a shoulder to fire. (All right, Neville, Paolo or Rich, who came up with this clue?)

45. "Woe Is I" author Patricia: O'CONNER - $12 at Random House and grammatically correct 

46. Least gassy: TERSEST - Long-winded people can be called gassy

49. "Cat __": Jane Fonda film: BALLOU - Lee Marvin was the stole this movie and won an academy award in the process! 

53. Like action heroes: MACHO.

55. Prioritized players: A-TEAM.

58. Evolutionary diagram: TREE - A modified family tree for Henry Fonda that begins in Nebraska

61. Overhead expense?: HAT - The "overhead" expense for this HAT was $24.99 at the Pentagon Mall. It was $8.00 at the kiosk across the street from Ford's Theater.

63. Slugger Mel: OTT.

Have yourself a BLT while fresh T's are still around and don't scrimp on the B. Then leave us some pertinent or impertinent comments: