Saturday, August 2, 2025, Adrian Johnson and Will Nediger

Saturday August 2, 2025 by Adrian Johnson & Will Nediger

 

Adrian

Will

I had a collaborative puzzle from these two constructors back in February. As you can see by the colorful grid, there was a lot of "Unique" fill in this one! I had to work around some alternate fills that I love to do and, of course, the long horizontal and vertical fills were the real key. This was about a 40-minute excursion to get to an unassisted "got 'er done" 

Across:

1. Strategic chess move, casually: SAC - SACrificing a piece so that you can gain an advantage

4. Vegetable in Nigerian cuisine: TARO.

8. 41-Across developer: SALK and 41. Major medical breakthrough of the 1950s: POLIO 

VACCINE - Some of us stood in lines just like this

12. Thin reed: OBOE.

14. Each: A POP.

15. Home of the Nubian Pyramids: SUDAN.

16. Handy navigational aids: ARROW KEYS 😀

18. Came to the surface: AROSE.

19. Chap with chaps, perhaps: RANCHER 😀 - RODEOER? seemed right to me in this part of the world. Yeah, spell checker didn't think much of it either.

20. "Let's meet up then": I'M FREE.

21. Cold draft in the winter, say: SEASONAL BEER.

24. Not altogether in the altogether: SCANTILY CLAD 😀 Not quite naked!

26. Least sanguine: PALEST.

27. Niger neighbor: CHAD - It's a 26-hr drive between their capital cities 

28. Opposite of fore: AFT.

31. Org. that accepts returns: IRS 😀 - Amazon does a good job too.

32. Ballpark souvenir: CAP - When we were in D.C. this hat was $29.95 at the Pentagon Mall. I got it for $9.95 from a kiosk across the street from Ford's Theater.

34. Spanish pronoun: ESA - ESA pista para el número 19 fue inteligente (That clue for 19 Across was clever)

35. Opposing vote: NAY.

36. Brew that might have ice or spice in it: TEA.

37. "Glad and big" protagonist of an e.e. cummings poem: OLAF.

Sunday Sermon: "i sing of Olaf, glad and big"

XXX (by E.E. Cummings)

i sing of OLAF glad and big

whose warmest heart recoiled at war:

a conscientious object-or

39. Tie: KNOT UP - If your team is behind 1 - 0 but then hits a solo home run, that will KNOT UP the score.

43. Places for puffers: SMOKING AREAS - Here's one at Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. I can't imagine...

45. Shell casing?: PIE TIN 😀

46. Tidbits: MORSELS.

49. City west of the Wasatch Mountains: OGDEN.

50. Salvadoran eatery: PUPUSERIA - I had my first PUPUSA in a great El Salvadoran restaurant here in town. PUPUSARIA made sense to me at first.

52. Area of expertise, casually: THING.

53. Brownie point?: OVEN.

54. Home of many a steppe family: YURT 😀 - Home, home on the steppe

55. Fantasy football datum: STAT - Top 10 Fantasy Football Points for running backs for 2024

56. "Charlie's Angels" star Cheryl: LADD.

Cheryl    Farrah         Kate

57. Astronaut Jemison: MAE.

Down:

1. Reach great heights: SOAR.

2. Pokémon that ultimately evolves into Alakazam: ABRA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

3. Summery dip: CORN SALSA.

4. Savors the moment: TAKES IT ALL IN.

5. Liqueur similar to Campari: APEROL ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

6. Dodgers legend Campanella: ROY - A man discovered this decades old program in his basement. It was signed by Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella. Branch made Jackie and ROY the first and sixth black men to play MLB baseball in 1948.

7. Covert __: OPS.

8. Enjoyed the motion of the ocean: SURFED.

9. Crush on: ADORE - Modern slang for "have a crush on"

10. Element of a security grid in many an action film: LASER.

11. Arthroscopy target: KNEE - I have many friends who have gotten relief with this procedure 

13. Epoch that produced the earliest primate fossils: EOCENE.

15. Carnival performers: SAMBA DANCERS - I felt so comfortable with GANDY DANCERS but I needed to think of Rio de Janeiro!

17. "Something smells good in here!": WHAT'S COOKING.

20. "Someone in my circle probably knows the answer": I'LL ASK AROUND.

22. Loc. of an annual November marathon: NYC 

23. Need kneading, maybe: ACHE 😀

24. Bar tended to at a cookout: SPIT.

25. __ package: CARE. They were a vital operation just after WWII. It is what we used to call "stuff" we sent to our girls when they were in college.

28. Source of immunity: ANTISERUM.

29. Satyr kin: FAUN.

30. "Just My __: A Book About Fonts": TYPE 😀

33. Annoyance: PAIN.

38. Concert stage effect: FOG or other occasions 

40. "Juno and the Paycock" playwright: O'CASEY - Set in the 1922 Irish Civil War. Juno is the wife of Captain Boyle who she calls a paycock (Irish for peacock) because he struts around all day.

41. Heady: POTENT - The early 1970's and middle 1990's were heady days for Husker FB

42. Took off at a jazz club: VAMPED - Herbie Hancock's piece to use an intro or to fill time (left, then right and then both hands)

43. Spectacle: SIGHT.

44. __ fast: MEDIA - I could not give up all my media for 21 days.

45. Kitchen stack: POTS.

47. Source of some Turkish delight?: LIRA.

48. Fully appease: SATE.

50. D.C. insider: POL.

51. Cavaliers sch.: UVA.

Notes from C. C.:

 

Today we celebrate the 71st Birthday of Subgenius (Darryl), who is often the very first to post on the blog each morning. Wishing you a beautiful day, Darryl!

Saturday, July 26, 2025, Malaika Handa

 Saturday Themeless by Malaika Handa

This is my third themeless puzzle by Brooklyn resident Malaika Handa. Malaika is a software engineer who has been making puzzles for three years. You can see an archive of all her puzzles on her website: https://www.girlbosswords.com/ 

Here is a link to a playful but instructive interview with Malaika that includes this wonderful quote from her: 

Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test.

Across:

1. Healing process: AFTER CARE - My DW is as good as you can get!

10. Wedding traditions that involve rings: HORAS - Ah, rings of people not metal

15. Participated in a group ride: CAR POOLED.

16. Not sneaky: OVERT.

17. Shape that might resemble a hexagon sliced in half: TRAPEZOID - Slicing this hexagon yielded a TRAPEZOID, a parallelogram and a triangle. This math guy loved this idea!

18. Shelf: LEDGE.

19. Goddess believed to be the divine mother of the pharaoh: ISIS.

20. Part of JPY: YEN - You have to look very carefully to see the symbol for the JaPanese YEN ¥ in the picture to the left of the number. Security measures on these notes

       

21. Fund: ENDOW.

22. Zip around a soccer field?: NIL - NIL and zip are euphemisms for zero.

23. Texting tech: SMS - We do a lot of Short Message Service text for personal and professional contacts. Here, my grandson and I set up a golf date.

24. Some characters on the U.K. show "The Thick of It": MPS - Members of Parliament ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

26. "Entertaining Is Fun!" columnist Garten: INA.

27. Not likely to enjoy icebreakers: SHY.

28. Actress Issa: RAE - A regular in our crossword cast

29. Asterisk: STAR.

30. 1960s hit covered by Salt-N-Pepa: TWIST AND SHOUT - I'm sure Salt-N-Pepa did just fine, but c'mon...

33. Gradually losing a connection: DRIFTING APART.

34. Bases for some sandwiches: TOASTED BAGELS.

35. Homey lodgings: INNS.

36. "Star Wars" heroine who inspired an Ali Hazelwood romance novel: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ REY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

  

37. Bird associated with Athena: OWL.

38. Qt. halves: PTS.

39. __ admin: SYS.

40. Some TVs: LGS - We have several 

41. Key ring attachment: FOB - It took me a while to realize I don't have to insert or remove a key from the ignition to start my car.

44. Dessert brand with the early slogan "Delicate. Delightful. Dainty.": JELLO - From 1873 -  1932

46. Golden ratio symbol: PHI - More

47. Country name that has an accent called a síneadh fada: EIRE.

48. To no __: AVAIL.

49. Sauce made with a molcajete y tejolote: GUACAMOLE - Molcajete y tejolote is Spanish for mortar and pestle. Here is the cooking version made of volcanic rock where grinding ingredients  brings out more of the flavor.

51. Host of HGTV's "Ugliest House in America": RETTA - She's a hoot.

52. Age-old navigation aid: URSA MINOR - The end star of URSA MINOR (tail of the small bear) is the North Star. It is the one point in the sky that is in the same position all night and every night and you can always tell which direction in North. The "pointer" stars in the Ursa Major always point to the North Star.

53. Cynical look: SNEER.

54. HelloFresh options: MEAL PLANS.

Down:

1. Cellular protein in microfilaments: ACTIN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ More than anyone wants to know

2. Language of the Asghar Farhadi film "The Salesman": FARSI.

                 

3. Lag: TRAIL.

4. Actor Omar: EPPS.

5. Spherical garnish: ROE.

6. Lilian Jackson Braun genre: COZY MYSTERY - These books are known for their lighthearted tone, focus on a small-town setting, and the absence of graphic violence or explicit content

7. Some xeriscaping plants: ALOES - Xeriscaping plants need very little water. Can you see some of our crossword ALOES in this landscape?

8. Pull (in): REIN.

9. "Double D" in a Cartoon Network trio: EDD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Supposedly the "brains" of this group 

10. Features of many well-loved sweatshirts: HOLES.

11. Pizza place: OVEN.

12. Social media users who celebrate an annual "cake day": REDDITORS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

13. Sailor on Jason's quest: ARGONAUT.

14. "Twilight" star: STEWART.

Robert Pattison.   Kristen STEWART

 
23. Loose dress: SHIFT.

24. Anime source, often: MANGA - MANGA are Japanese comic books from which anime (animated versions) are made.

25. Related to teaching: PEDAGOGICAL - A well-known word to this educator 

27. Like fondue: SWISS.

28. Passed: RAN BY.

29. Formal will: SHALL - SHALL and will are alternate form of a future tense verbs. SHALL is more formal and less used. SHALL is much better in this instance.

30. Decode: TRANSLATE - I think we all know that some of the most important decoding in human history happened in this building in Bletchley Park, England during WWII.

31. Nautical table data: TIDES - When I used to take kids to Cocoa Beach, FL we would arrive around 3:30 pm. If you look at the chart. below, you can see we would be there at a very low TIDE if we were there today at that time. There would be a lot of beach showing and a lot of shells would be taken back to the bus.

32. Shoots out: SPEWS.

33. Stop order?: DON'T EVEN - Back off Cowboy!

34. Change places?: TIP JARS.

39. __ plexus: SOLAR.

40. __ apso: LHASA - For you Irish!

41. "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" singer Apple: FIONA - Lyrically, Apple reaches into her past to confront middle-school bullies and looks into her future for an imaginary lover. Wanna listen to this sad/angry song?

42. Acrylic material: ORLON.

43. Heady stuff?: BEERS 😀

45. Lo-cal: LITE.

46. Name of LaCroix's unflavored sparking water: PURE.

47. Track legend Zátopek: EMIL - A Czech runner who won three gold medals in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

 

49. Extra, e.g.: GUM - I chew Mentos sugar-free GUM

50. Concert piece: AMP.

Irish Miss sent me a lovely note asking me to share this with you and of course I am happy to do so.

As RCA appears so often in our puzzles and Nipper is so well known, I thought this article would be of interest to the Cornerites. It has special meaning to me as I worked for RTA (Radio Television Appliance) which was a distributor for RCA appliances for 16 years in this building in Albany . This iconic RCA Records dog is now a symbol of New York's capital city. More information.