Saturday, March 21, 2026, Kyle Dolan

 Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

I liked Dr. Dolan's puzzle and never felt I was not going to solve it. My issue became trying to decipher what Kyle meant by his "off-the-wall"cluing. My experience was the frequent recitation of 48. Exasperated cry: DOH! once I saw what he intended, the fill was fun to enter and also unlocked big sections of the puzzle. Today's exercise had only 28 blocks which gave us 103 open squares and only six three-letter words. I'll share with you some of the circuitous thinking that I used to cut through Dr. Dolan's obfuscations. :-)  As has become my custom, I did have a one-cell problem where you see the red cell in the grid, but I'll get over it. I thought ARE WE OK/ALAIK worked.

Across:

1. Shell station?: PASTA BAR - Just when I thought of every shell I could...

                  

9. Yet: IN TIME.

15. The 24 Hours of Le Mans, e.g.: AUTO RACE - This great movie is about personal rivalries and corporate machinations but the climax is The 24 Hours Of Le Mans.

16. Networking aid: ROUTER - If we need a generator after a power loss, the order for plugging in would be fridge/freezers and then the modem and ROUTER. 😀

17. Exams with answers provided by parents: DNA TESTS 😀

18. World capital named for a river: OTTAWA - fun to learn

19. Headgear that sparked a riot in 1922 New York City: STRAW HAT - Really? Talk about your fashion police.

20. Christmas delivery?: NOEL 😀

21. Floral gifts for some graduates: LEIS - Three-letter (plural) floral gift? Ya gotta go Hawaiian! 

22. American painter James __ Whistler: MCNEILL - Of course his famous work below was entitled Arrangement In Gray And Black No. 1 which we all know by its more famous name. A fascinating bio

25. Chef's coat?: TEFLON 😀 Well actually, Kyle, the coat is on the pan.

28. Is revealing: TELLS ALL.

29. Harlem Renaissance writer Locke: ALAIN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

30. Waiter's annoyance: DELAY - I never even thought it might be about a food server. The DELAY waiting in the line at Space Mountain was always very long and annoying.

31. Bucket brigade?: NBA Groan. A made basket in basketball is also called a bucket.

32. Flooring option: TILE - My first two floor coverings  were

C

A

R U G S

P

E

T

33. Unbroken?: FIXED - Now that's funny!

34. "Estoy __": Spanish "I'm doing all right": BIEN. 

35. Joint-stabilizing band, for short: ACL.

36. Gold __: PLATE - Sometimes all that glitters is not gold, it's gold PLATED

37. Tree cultivated for its seeds more than 5,000 years ago: CACAO.

38. Magic City residents: MIAMIANS - Not Orlandoans 😀

40. Grows darker: LATENS - If spellcheck is all right with this, so am I

41. Offer to treat: IT'S ON ME - A phrase a friend of mine never uttered

42. "The Leavers" novelist Ko: LISA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

43. Marvel hero Cage: LUKE  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

44. Lines from the heart: LOVE NOTE - Ketty Lester had a beautiful 1962 song with this theme

48. Exhausts: DOES IN 

50. Basis of some ratings: AGE LEVEL.

51. "Nearly there": ONE SEC - A familiar phrase I heard waiting for three women in the car

52. Reef denizen: MORAY EEL - Yikes!

53. "Knock on wood": HOPE SO.

54. "I won't ask again!": ANSWER ME.

Down:

1. Exaggerates, in a way: PADS - I had an expense account once that may have not been all that accurate 😁

2. Family member: AUNT.

3. Outstanding: STAR.

4. Blatant fabrication: TOTAL LIE - This is one of the worst.

5. Confirmation question: ARE WE ON.

6. Open, as a piñata: BASH IN.

7. Represent: ACT AS.

8. Musical pause: REST.

9. Battleship precursor: IRONCLAD - The Civil Wr featured the battle of the IRONCLADS, the Monitor and the Merrimac.

10. More than: NOT ONLY.

11. Contracted pupils, perhaps: TUTEES - Wow! I suppose a tutor would have a contract with TUTEES who are also pupils. No eyes involved!

12. Granita kin: ITALIAN ICE.

A Sicilian treat

13. Bit of Persian language?: MEW 😀

14. Young fig.: ERA - The winner of MLB's Cy Young Award usually has a low Earned Run Average.

22. Rumble: MELEE.

23. Outfitter with signature boots: L.L. BEAN.

24. Grassy plains: LLANOS - Pampas or LLANOS coin flip

25. Flooring option: TATAMI.

26. Bring out: ELICIT.

27. Go out: FALL ASLEEP 😀

28. Scholarship materials: TEXTS - As a teacher since 1968 I can tell you just seeing a student with a TEXT does not guarantee any scholarship is going on.

30. Designer von Furstenberg: DIANE.

33. Spanish steps?: FLAMENCO 😀

34. React: BAT AN EYE.

36. Small digits: PINKIES.

37. Guide for future rulings: CASE LAW - Not the actual law or statute but a compilation of how different jurisdictions have applied laws.

39. Do stuff?: MOUSSE - Oh, that kind of "do".

40. Natural detox centers: LIVERS.

42. Access, in a way: LOG ON - Remembering User Names and Passwords can be a real chore

44. Eastern priest: LAMA.

45. Simple wager choice: OVER  - The OVER/Under for the recent Super Bowl was 45.5 points. The final score was 29 - 13 which adds up to 42 and that means you'd be a loser if you bet the OVER.

46. Swarm (with): TEEM.

49. Chef Jiro of the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi": ONO - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Jiro ONO is in the middle below

Saturday, March 14, 2026, Erik Agard

Saturday Themeless by Erik Agard

Erik Agard (born 1993) is a crossword solver, constructor, and editor. He is the winner of the 2016 Lollapuzzoola Express Division, the 2018 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (ACPT), a frequent contributor to the New York Times crossword puzzle, a crossword constructor for The New Yorker, the former USA Today crossword editor, and a former Jeopardy!contestant. He is currently a crossword editor at Apple News+.

This was a very Agardian puzzle as Erik pulled a lot of rabbits out of his cluing hat. I acquired a very hard earned "got 'er done"!

Across:

1. Coagulate: CLOT.

5. Batter's boxful?: CAT TOYS - That's taking a lot of latitude with the noun batter!

12. Not giving anything away: MUM.

15. Rather blue: RACY - The old blue laws banned controversial items such as RACY ones.

16. Puzzle out: UNRAVEL - A skill all of us solvers need

17. One-on-one play in a five-on-five b-ball game: ISO - In the play diagrammed below, the red team has moved all but one player to the left side. They then get the ball to #2 to ISOlate him to make a play by himself.

18. Say too much?: OVERESTIMATE 

20. Actor Beatty: NED.

21. "They had our number": WE LOST.

22. Mani-pedi option: GEL.

23. April option: E-FILE - I E-FILED my tax returns and got my refunds a month ago

25. Mile High horses?: BRONCOS.

27. Jerk components: SPICES. 😀

28. Up-front stake: ANTE.

29. In descending order: MOST TO LEAST.

33. Hi-__: RES - We who have been around computers a long time remember the early Lo-RES games

34. Targets of biannual battery replacements: SMOKE ALARMS - It's recommended they be changed when we change from and to daylight savings.

35. Flash the Dolphin or Splash the Whale: BEANIE BABY.

 

36. High-flying Iñupiat tradition: BLANKET TOSS - Originally, this practice was used to boost scouts high enough to spot whale migrations or other game over sea ice.

38. Significant figure: VIP.

41. Jab in a one-two combo?: BOOSTER SHOT 😀 - Ya got me at first Erik, but I had a DOH! moment when I saw this had nothing to do with boxing.

42. Bona __: FIDE - Latin for "in good faith"

43. Releases, in a way: UNTIES 😀

44. Reduced: SMALLER - I enjoyed the 1966 movie Fantastic Voyage where a four-person vessel was reduced to travel through the human body. 

46. "A Master of __": P. Djèlí Clark novel inspired by Islamic mythology: DJINN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

47. Basis of some protein powders: PEA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  This is bona fide Saturday cluing for PEA

50. Unit left after a white flag in NASCAR: ONE LAP on any NASCAR 9. Like some tracks: OVAL

51. Scooby-__: DOO.

52. Structure that's built to scale: CLIMBING WALL - Gotta love this use of the word scale.

55. Head up: RUN - If you head up an organization, you can be said to RUN it

56. Box on a table: ELEMENT - The table of ELEMENTS

57. Mahjong piece: TILE.

58. Timeline divs.: YRS.

59. Starting point: SCRATCH 😀

60. Translucent chalcedony: ONYX - This is the stone I chose for my high school ring.

Down:

1. Source of leverage: CROWBAR.

2. Actress Cox: LAVERNE - Yeah, I thought of Courtney first

3. Animals with spots: OCELOTS.

4. Erykah Badu's signature song: TYRONE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. Builds specially: CUSTOM MAKES.

6. Insect in the family Formicidae: ANT - Formica is the Latin word for ANT

7. Calc prerequisite: TRIG.

8. Get under control: TAME.

10. "However ... ": YET.

11. Places where days of rest are observed?: SLEEP LABS.

12. Device in a TV news van: MINICAM.

13. No help: USELESS.

14. "Don't be so __": MODEST - What we all say to C.C.!

19. Letters above a tilde: ESC.

24. Passionate: FIERY.

26. Later alternative: SOONER.

27. A few weeks out?: SO LAST MONTH 😀 Things can fall out of fashion in a hurry

30. Interludes on some hip-hop albums: SKITS - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ SKITS are short, often humorous or narrative-driven interludes on hip-hop albums that enhance thematic atmosphere, deepen storytelling and provide brief, conversational respites between songs. You're welcome.

31. Enforceability metaphor: TEETH - Talk's cheap, there needs to be some TEETH in the enforcement 

32. Social prohibitions: TABOOS.

34. "No." and others: SENTENCES - Wow!

35. Nevada's Great __ National Park: BASIN.

36. Cannes opener: BONJOUR 😀 I really liked this when it hit me!

37. Ash removers: LOTIONS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  I had to look this one up after it filled. The ash is an ingredient in the LOTION used to remove blemishes not the substance being removed. 😳

38. Heavy: VILLAIN - Claude Akins came to my mind

39. If all goes well: IDEALLY.

40. Throw: PERPLEX - Erik has a real talent trying to throw solvers

41. "Why ask why?" beer: BUD DRY - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯  Only in production from 1990 to 2010 when it was losing money. It was brewed using a special fermentation method designed to let the yeast consume more sugars for a "drier" profile, rather than just watering it down. You're welcome.

42. Reached by air: FLEW TO - The Earth is not flat and the shortest distance between two points might take you in what seems to be an odd route on a flat map.

45. "Lust, Caution" director Lee: ANG ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

47. Docking station: PIER 😀

48. 1815 novel set in Highbury: EMMA - A first-edition of this novel that shares my granddaughter's name would run me about $1,700.

49. Support: ABET.

53. Business letters: LLC  and 54. Business letters: INC.