Saturday, May 4, 2019, Pawel Fludzinski

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Pawel Fludzinski

This first Saturday in May marks the 145th Run For The Roses in Louisville, Kentucky. Not only is it a showcase for beautiful 3 year-old thoroughbreds competing to don the famous wreath of roses, it also a opportunity to imbibe mint juleps and display charming millinery. The favorite Omaha Beach has been withdrawn from the race and so I am rooting for the new favorite Game Winner who is owned by an Omaha couple. The Derby proclaims itself to be "The most exciting two minutes in sports".

The constructor today is our retired organic chemist, now living in New Mexico - Pawel Fludzinski. Here you see him with his lovely 12 year-old daughter in Hawaii last Christmas. 

I asked Pawel for some inside info on this challenging puzzle and he was very generous in his response: In constructing a themeless, I always start with 2 or 3 seed entries.  In this case, I very much wanted to use PERFECT CRIME and FARM TO TABLE.  I had those "in pocket" for a while, and were in several puzzles attempts that were rejected - not because of the seeds, but the rest of the fill. I then found 2 other 11-letter entries that would work in the puzzle, and then spent a great deal of time working on creating 9-stacks that are interesting.  I thought HEDGE FUND and WOLVERINE were interesting enough to justify ANTIVENIN (not a first choice), and HERBARIA was the only thing that would work as I was getting close to the end in the fill.  Not an obvious answer, but perhaps a good challenge for a Saturday.

He added: PS - I always look forward to seeing which of my clues survive - especially for the seed entries and longer entries (i.e. 9-stacks).  I never see the final clues until the puzzle is published.

Now let's get in the starting gate (flamboyant headware optional) for our run for linguistic roses:

Across:

1. One of the X-Men: WOLVERINE - Front and center

10. Prior's superior: ABBOT - ABBOT Michael is on the right. Prior Delisi is on the left in this Georgia monastery 

15. Essential supply for an ophiologist: ANTIVENIN - Alternate name for ANTIVENOM which I first wrote in and which Pawel said was not his first choice 55. Less-common spelling: Abbr.: VAR - ANTIVENIN for ANTIVENOM?

16. Home of Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights": PRADO - Madrid, Spain's famous art museum

17. Vehicle in the 2012 film "Arbitrage": HEDGE FUND - Rotten Tomatoes opinion

18. New Mexico school athletes: LOBOS - In his last puzzle Pawel referenced Alamogordo, N.M. and today he uses the mascot of his now home state, The University of New Mexico

19. Italy's equivalent of the BBC: RAI - Radio Audizioni Italiane is the national public broadcasting company of Italy

20. Some necklaces: CHOKERS - Also athletes who fail at the end of a game

22. Its solution refutes its existence: PERFECT CRIME - The man on the bed (and his girlfriend in the background) thought they had committed the PERFECT CRIME. The man tried to cover up the murder by shooting himself, but Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov to the left) saw right through them in Death On The Nile

27. Not on edge: AT EASE.

28. Collections of plant specimens: HERBARIA and 31. Canonized Archbishop of Canterbury: ANSELM were my downfall as I chose an "E" at their confluence

32. Flow __: CHART.

33. Fill a hold: LADE.

34. Ireland's __ Féin: SINN - English: "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves") is a political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Wikipedia) 

35. Follower of the old school?: MARM - Here's a School MARM and her charges on the treeless prairie near Dundy, NE

36. Favor, slangily: SOLID - "Hey buddy, would you do me a SOLID (favor)?"

37. Jokers: WAGS.

38. "Everybody Loves __": Johnny Cash novelty song: A NUT - Here sung with 3/4 of the Monkees

39. Pound, e.g.: POET - Ezra. UNIT felt the fury of my delete key! Do you think Pawel did that on purpose? 😏

40. Brawl: MELEE.

41. One with a family practice?: NEPOTIST - An interesting take on the word

43. Gap-related: HIATAL.

44. Becomes an overnight sensation in: TAKES BY STORM - Yeah, I'd say they did!

46. Department store staple: APPAREL.

49. Names: IDS.

50. "Grand Hotel" star (1932): GARBO - Yes, Rotten Tomatoes reviews older movies too

51. Like 24/7 news channels: ITERATIVE - Over and over and over...

57. Listing: ATILT - Leaning like a boat

58. Erin Brockovich, for one: PARALEGAL - real and reel versions 

59. Classic battlers: SEXES.

60. Reacts to a blow: SEES STARS - A comic book staple

And down the stretch we come... 

Down:

1. Nursery noise: WAH.

2. White Monopoly bill: ONE.

3. Inc., in Ipswich: LTD.

4. Bookie's cut: VIG - Wazzat?

5. High point of Hillary's career: EVEREST - Sir Edmund and his sherpa Tenzig Norgay 

6. Put a new front on, as a building: REFACE - Voila!

7. Nunavut native: INUIT.

8. "Under a Glass Bell" author: NIN.

9. Where a gaffer or grip is recognized: END CREDIT - From the funniest movie ever made - Airplane.  Who is that worst boy?

10. Equanimity: APLOMB.

11. Started to perspire: BROKE A SWEAT - 

12. Diamond immortal, with "The": BABE - Last Saturday it was Babe Ruth Day

13. Fridge-cleaning motivation: ODOR - This milk smell bad to you?

14. Not sleep well: TOSS - Let Bobby Lewis tell the melodic tale

21. Took on: HIRED.

22. Iconic dot-eater: PACMAN - Trapped!

23. Flammable gas: ETHANE.

24. Rise on hind legs: REAR UP - Hi Yo Silver!

25. "Knowing where your food comes from" movement: FARM TO TABLE - Info

26. Aspen abodes: CHALETS - Not A-FRAMES as it turns out

29. Grand Canal span: RIALTO - Our gondolier took us under the famous RIALTO Bridge in Venice 

30. Ready to roll: IN GEAR.

33. Part of a blabbing metaphor: LOOSE LIPS - "LOOSE LIPS might sink ships" from WWII

36. Abrupt increase: SPIKE - Have you bought gas lately?

40. Prayer books: MISSALS - Our paper MISSALettes are now both in English and Spanish 

42. Occult decks: TAROTS.

43. Hard-to-overcome evils: HYDRAS 

45. Brew in Brest: BIERE - How BEER is spelled in this French city that is 400 miles west of Paris

46. Ottoman officers: AGAS - Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini became the Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims or Aga Khan IV in 1957. Here he is shown in the celebration of his 60th yr in that capacity 

47. Crown: PATE.

48. Grand __: PRIX.

52. Inventor's monogram: TAE - The Wizard Of Menlo Park

53. Hanoi holiday: TET 

54. Franchise-based supermarket chain: IGA - Here is an Independent Grocery Association store in Nyah West, Victoria, Australia (pop. 552)

56. Local boundaries?: ELS - Yup, LocaL starts with an "L" and ends with an "L". No Ernie Els for our friend Pawel! (Jeffrey had 62. Divided trio?: DEES yesterday)

Now it's time to comment and have a mint julep! 

Saturday, April 27, 2019, Joe Deeney

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Joe Deeney

Seventy-two years ago on April 27, 1947 Yankee Stadium was filled with fans who were there to pay tribute to the orphan from Baltimore who grew up to be the greatest Yankee of them all - Babe Ruth. Today we commemorate Babe Ruth Day on the date that memorial service was held.

The ceremony was held twelve years after George Herman Ruth was an active player and was fighting the cancer that would claim his life the next year. The wizened Sultan of Swat proclaimed, “There’s been so many lovely things said about me, I’m glad I had the opportunity to thank everybody.”

The Babe at Biography.com

Today appears to be Joe Deeney's fifth visit to our little word curiosity shop and his first on a Saturday.

I hope he checks in with us to explain what he has attached to his head in this picture and why he has that unusual smile on his face!

Now let's circle the bases on Joe's puzzle:

Across:

1. Venue for seven Verdi premieres: LA SCALA - Teatro alla Scala (Italian: “Theatre at the Stairway”). This is a poster from the premiere of Verdi's Otello in Milan in 1887

8. Savannah grazer: ORIBI - My Okapi (O _ _ _ I) had to be taken back to the zoo for this animal

An ORIBI

13. Mesmerize: ENTHRALL.

15. Sudoku skill: LOGIC - Basic Sudoku strategy tells you what number has to go in the red square (*answer at the bottom)

16. 1982 bestseller using Milne characters, with "The": TAO OF POOH - A lovely explanation and synopsis 

18. Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum town: STOWE.

19. Leaning: BIAS - News outlets these days seem to have their own thinly (or not so thinly veiled) BIAS

20. Unchecked: DESELECTED - This elevator allows you to DESELECT selections

22. Will of "Blue Bloods": ESTES - His IMDB

24. Tide may wash it away: STAIN.

25. When one might eat bánh chung: TET - Sticky rice cake traditionally served during the lunar new year of TET celebration in Vietnam

26. See 2-Down: NIN and 2. With 26-Across, "Delta of Venus" author: ANAIS - A crossword stalwart

28. Act addition?: IVE - C.C. would call this fill "gluey". I'd prefer 28. Jim Croce tune _ _ _  Got A Name

29. Fashion: MAKE - Last weekend I had my SIL fashion/MAKE a repair for my screen door with a screw, a washer and 5 toothpicks

30. 1987 film loosely based on "Cyrano de Bergerac": ROXANNE - A 1:30 trailer for this sweet movie Rotten Tomatoes gave an 89%

32. Gugino of "Wayward Pines": CARLA -  Her IMDB

33. "C'mon, man!": DON'T BE THAT GUY 

35. Daughter of Billy Ray: MILEY - The Cyrus'

36. Respond to a pledge drive: PHONE IN.

37. Star qualities: EGOS.

38. Portuguese saint: SAO -  SAO Paulo (Saint Paul), Brazil is 3x larger than the capital of Brasília 

39. Sea follower?: TAC - SEA-TAC (Seattle Tacoma Airport) to the Space Needle is a 23 min drive (uh, not at rush hour)

40. Small amount: TAD.

41. Get ready to compete, bodybuilder-style: OIL UP - I didn't feel like posting pix of BEACH BODS last week nor OILED UP bodybuilders this week. You're on your own.

43. Low-pay position: MCJOB - I've had many McJOBS (starting with a paper route) and learned valuable lessons from each

47. Antic: SHENANIGAN.

50. Merrie Monarch Festival celebration: HULA - It celebrates the legacy of Hawaiian King David Kalalakua 

51. Cunning canines: FOXES - A fox is of the species vulpine in the family of canines, therefore a cousin of dogs

52. "Glass" director: SHYAMALAN - Rotten Tomatoes - Critics - 37%, Moviegoers - 73%

54. Soccer Hall of Famer __ Lalas: ALEXI - His IMDB

55. Teaching a lesson, perhaps: TUTORING - A MCJOb for some new teachers 

56. Emulates a matryoshka doll, save one: NESTS.

57. Rx's from vets: PET MEDS 


Down:

1. Do not disturb: LET BE - My colleague always told kids to, "Leave it be"!

3. Short-tailed weasel: STOAT - Any animal with these friendly letters is welcome in our cwd zoo

4. Slayers, in the Buffyverse: CHOSEN ONES.

5. Husky's hello: ARF.

6. "Training Day" law org.: LAPD -  A trailer for this 2001 movie

7. Soothing succulents: ALOES.

8. Fictional photojournalist: OLSEN - Jack Larson's portrayal of Superman's early TV buddy Jimmy (far left) OLSEN is my favorite 

9. Drilling org.: ROTC - Close order drill

10. "Later": I GOTTA RUN.

11. 100 times a year, roughly: BIWEEKLY - It can be twice a week OR every two weeks (approximately 26 times a year) according to Merriam Webster

12. Sipped cooler: ICED TEA.

14. Daydreaming: LOST IN THOUGHT.

17. No-nonsense dismissal: HEAVE HO - If USC determines that Lori Loughlin's daughters knew of the fraudulent scheme to get them into school, they will be given the HEAVE HO

21. Factor in golf club selection: LIE - This LIE calls for hitting down with a more lofted club than usual

23. It's often done on highways: SIXTY -  A patrolman might 27. Pull in: NAB you if the speed limit is thirty

29. Fetish: MAGIC CHARM - Superstitious ball players consider their dirty caps a MAGIC CHARM and so they don't clean or replace their old ones

30. Obsolete organizers: ROLODEXES.

31. Highly populated people?: NEPALIS - Nepal has many high places to populate 

32. Third-stringers: C-TEAM - Nowadays it's not A-TEAM, B-TEAM, C-TEAM, it's Varsity, JV and Reserves. A 3rd stringer by any other name...

33. Excavate, with "in": DIG A HOLE - Or maybe you should quit

34. Hill worker: ANT.

35. Often not a Yankee supporter: MET'S FAN - My dad's hatred of the Yankees stemmed from being a Brooklyn FAN.

38. Sunday subject: SIN.

41. Spot for a drink: OASIS.

42. Satisfy a debt: PAY UP.

44. Andrews with an Oscar, two Emmys and three Grammys: JULIE - She won a Tony for My Fair Lady but Jack Warner wanted the better known Audrey Hepburn for Liza in the movie. Julie then took the role of Mary Poppins instead and beat out Audrey for the Oscar in 1964

45. Warner __, '20s-'30s portrayer of Dr. Fu Manchu: OLAND - Some now consider Warner's portrayal stereotypical and racist

46. Forehead covering: BANGS - Selena Gomez with and without

48. "I'm done with this one": NEXT.

49. Silver of FiveThirtyEight: NATE - His statistical site is named for the 538 electors for American presidents. On the eve of the 2016 election he predicted Hillary had a 71% chance of winning and Donald Trump a 29% chance

53. Bon __: MOT - Literally Good Word from the French

Raise a glass to the Old Bambino today!

That Sudoku square must have a 3