Saturday, November 23, 2019, Kevin Christian and Brad Wilber

Themeless Saturday by Kevin Christian and Brad Wilber

Today we have a worthy Saturday challenge from two veterans of the crossword wars - Kevin Christian and Brad Wilber.

Kevin Christian interview with C.C.

Brad Wilber interview with C.C.

The SW corner was a real struggle for me with TRIGRAM, MAZIER and RAGAS in one area but I just had to

1. "Dust yourself off and hang tough!": COWBOY UP  and get through it. Good advice to all puzzle solvers!

Let's see what else these two masters have concocted:

Across:

9. Ford muscle cars, familiarly: STANGS - Hmmm... Do I really need the 700+ HP in this street-legal 2019 MUSTANG?

15. Reluctant acquiescence: OKAY SURE - "Look, we can get by with a Ford Probe"

16. Walk-off hit situation, perhaps: TWO OUT - A walk-off occurs when the home team ends the game by taking the lead in the bottom of the last inning irrespective of the number of OUTS at the time

17. Note-taking aid: LEGAL PAD.

18. Country by the River Shribble: NARNIA - It's on the northern border of this literary country

19. "Hands off!" in an ad slogan: L'EGGO - A natural tie-in

20. "Hamburger Hill" setting, briefly: NAM.

22. Clue room: STUDY - "Professor Plum in the STUDY with a revolver?"

23. For __: not gratis: A FEE - I swear my lawyer would want a FEE to tell me the time of day

24. Had to miss school, perhaps: AILED - After many kids were missing school thursday, my school canceled for Friday

26. All over: ANEW - We Husker fans have been waiting for 20 years to start ANEW

27. Rare color: RED - I'm a medium kind of guy and would gladly send it back if the meat is brown all the way through

28. Bismarck's realm: PRUSSIA 

30. Sworn statement: I DO.

31. Fit: TRIM.

32. Having memorized the script, in theater lingo: OFF BOOK - Brando could not go OFF BOOK as he did not memorize his lines. Here you see Robert Duvall holding the lines for Marlon in The Godfather

34. "Funky Monkeys" musical: THE WIZ - The Funky Monkeys in the original Broadway production of THE WIZ. 

37. Pipe edge: FLANGE - Six FLANGES bolted together

38. Was unmanageable: RAN AMOK - Black Friday norm

40. Schnitzel meat: VEAL.

41. "__ seen better": I'VE.

42. Ready: ON ALERT.

44. __ pocket: HIP - Al Capone had many police officials and politicians in his HIP pocket

47. Start of something: GERM and 24. Brand that sells Arnold Palmers: ARIZONA - "Hey, somebody put lemonade in my iced tea! Wait a minute..."

49. More than fishy: AMISS.

50. Traje de __: Seville swimsuit: BANO - Spanish to English translation - bathing suit, swimming suit, bathing shorts, swim suit, swimming costume... including a 61. Small suit maker: SPEEDO 

51. Indian improvisations: RAGAS - Here ya go

53. __-country: music genre: ALT - Somewhere between Hank Williams and Brittney Spears

54. Boston and Chicago, but not San Francisco: BANDS.

55. Negative feeling: ANIMUS - Speaking of politics...


57. Triumphant GIF phrase: KILLIN' IT - She seems to think she's all that and a bag 'o chips

59. More intricate: MAZIER - One of my COWBOY UP moments

60. "Hate to run, but ... ": I GOTTA GO.

62. Suit seller: MEN'S SHOP.


Down:

1. Priesthood symbol: COLLAR.

2. Michael of "Caddyshack": O'KEEFE - Michael getting advice from Chevy Chase

3. Went back and forth: WAGGED - Dikembe Mutombo wagged his finger back and forth when he blocked a shot implying, "Don't try that against me!"

4. How a sommelier might sort wine: BY AGE.

5. Peace Prize city: OSLO.

6. "You betcha!": YUP.

7. Heaviest naturally occurring element: URANIUM.

8. They often get depressed: PEDALS - Ford's Model A had a lot of them

9. Stop on a line: Abbr.: STN - On 81 days/baseball season, the Addison St. STN on the Red Line in Chicago gets a lot of activity

10. "__ wondrous pitiful": "Othello": TWAS - The full quote

11. Vital supply line: AORTA.

12. Unorganized, in a way: NON-UNION - When Hormel's went NON-UNION in our town, wages dropped precipitously

13. Unticketed plane passenger: GUIDE DOG - This one got to visit the cockpit

14. Be sensitive to social injustice, in slang: STAY WOKE.

21. Middle: Pref.: MESO.

25. Holds another view: DIFFERS.

28. Top-drawer: PRIMO.

29. Key of Chopin's first Opus 25 étude: A-FLAT - Winter Wind!!

31. Flier for 71 years: TWA - More if you're interested

33. Acct. amount: BAL(ance)

34. Most phone button groupings: TRIGRAMS - Groups of three consecutive letters, numbers or symbols. I had to COWBOY UP HERE too but it makes sense

35. Drop off midday, say: HAVE A NAP 

36. Fill with life: ENERGIZE.

39. Hindu god of desire: KAMA - KAMA Sutra, hmmm...

40. Trace: VESTIGE - You know that tail bone that you have...

43. Notorious B.I.G. discovered her in 1994: L'IL KIM - I googled her lyrics and,  yes, she can be as profane and violent as the male rappers.

44. Storm on ESPN: HANNAH.

45. Purplish blue: INDIGO - Listening to Duke Ellington's Mood INDIGO will be a welcome addition to your day

46. After surg.: POST OP.

48. Bess, __, Jackie ...: MAMIE - One of these women had an unquestionably faithful husband

50. Pushes the buttons of: BAITS - Nobody did it better!

52. Started an action: SUED.

54. Layered lunches: BLTS - You had me at Bacon

56. Sign of being packed?: SRO - Standing Room Only tickets for the Washington Nationals World Series Games last month cost hundreds of dollars

58. Actor Chaney: LON - The man of a thousand faces

Now COWBOY UP and share your thoughts with us:

Saturday, November 16, 2019, Debbie Ellerin

Themeless Saturday by Debbie Ellerin

Another fun trip with Debbie Ellerin. The southwest corner took some effort. MT FUJI finally dropped with an non-indicated abbreviation and TROCHE came from somewhere although I had to learn how to pronounce it

Across:

1. Celebrate Black Friday, say: SHOP - There is no item for which I'm willing to risk life and limb to save $100

5. Data transmission unit: BAUD - If you're interested

9. Jets: SPEWS - Here are various SPEW patterns including Jet but not a 21. Windex unit: SPRITZ.

14. TV show set in a theme park: WEST WORLD - If you're interested

16. Island along the Au'au Channel: LANAI - There's the channel and the island

17. Scheming: IN CAHOOTS - He may have this all wrong

18. Red Sox slugger David: ORTIZ - "Big Papi" in the news this year

19. Spears label: RCA.

20. Epps of "House": OMAR - I wonder if this name was ever clued as "The Tentmaker" before House

22. Noble title: LORD.

24. Nickname for "The King of Clay": RAFA.

26. Goofy image?: CEL - This Disney CEL recently sold for over $33,000 at auction. Is that goofy? 

27. California wine region: SONOMA - Charred vineyards in Sonoma from the Kincade fire last month

30. Tchotchke holder: ETAGERE - Yeah, sure, I knew this word and needed no perps. 😏 Looks like shelves to me 

33. Beyoncé and Jay-Z, e.g.: POWER COUPLE and 62. Tabloid twosomes: ITEMS 

36. Symbolic gift, often: DIAMOND RING.

38. Corporate espionage target: TRADE SECRET - Roger Easton (right), KFC's CEO, moves the Colonel Sanders' handwritten secret recipe into a newer, more secure safe

40. Swamp gas, essentially: METHANE.

43. Watch closely: PEER AT - Intently watching a colleague fish? PEERING at your PEER on the PIER

45. The "black" in black ice: TAR - A scary driving problem in our part of the country

46. Worshipper's subject: IDOL.

49. "The Open Window" author: SAKI - Pen name for Hector Hugh Munro

50. Coat-like garments: FROCKS 

53. Collars: NABS.

56. It can be risky to work without one: NET - Here's how you train to do that

57. "I surrender!": UNCLE.

58. Place to get some culture?: PETRI DISH - Some faculty lounge refrigerators contain unintended examples of one of these

60. Arabic for "struggle": JIHAD.

61. Repurposed railway, perhaps: BIKE ROUTE - Part of the 195 mile long Cowboy Trail (abandoned Chicago and Northwestern RR line) in northern Nebraska 

63. Lot: SLEW.

64. Bruise-resistant potatoes, say, briefly: GMOS - Very interesting reading about Genetically MOdified potatoeS. 


Down:

1. Some cake decorations: SWIRLS.

2. House with many layers: HEN COOP - HEN house? Yes! Chicken COOP? - Yes. HEN COOP? and 6. Cheering loudly: AROAR - Constructors hafta to do what constructors hafta do.


3. Character recognition?: OSCAR NOD - There are those who feel John Wayne could have gotten the OSCAR NOD for playing John Stryker, Sean Thornton, Tom Doniphon, et al and not necessarily for playing Rooster Cogburn in 1969  

4. Bk. fair organizer: PTA.

5. Good time: BOOM - My farmer friends all say you'd better put some money away during a BOOM because a bust is sure to follow

7. __ running: more-than-a-marathon race: ULTRA - Various definitions of ULTRA Running

8. Driller's deg.: DDS - Last week we had the ROTC drilling and in the past we have had OPEC drilling

9. Farm fare: SLOP.

10. Henry VIII's sixth: PARR

11. Sweet-talk: ENTICE.

12. One needing orders: WAITER - Doing so electronically 

13. Pizzazz: SIZZLE.

15. "Don't know her": WHO

21. Course for H.S. exam takers: SAT PREP - Sample question: (math haters move on). Answer at the bottom *

23. Benefit by: DO WITH - I could DO WITH losing more weight

25. Longstanding disputes: FEUDS - They headed up a famous one

28. Funny Anne: MEARA - Jerry Stiller's wife Anne

29. Fancy suits: ARMANIS.

31. "... a grin without a cat!" thinker: ALICE.

32. Action and adventure: GENRES - Prounced [dZSH]AWN-ruh with the Z, d, and SH all combined into one sound.

34. Produced some Java: CODED - Computer CODE not 54. Produce some java: BREW coffee

35. x/x: ONE - Only we math peeps know/care that x ≠ 0

37. Garden favorite also known as cranesbill: GERANIUM - A very distinctive scent

39. Becomes fond of: TAKES TO - I have really TAKEN TO golf now that I have time to play a lot

40. Peak that last erupted in 1707-'08: MT FUJI - MT FUJI in winter from the International Space Station. The Hoei crater was the site of the last eruption

41. Be deserving: EARN IT - Hmmm...

42. Cough drop: TROCHE - Didn't know the word or its pronunciation 

44. Donates, in a way: TITHES.


47. First African-American major-league coach Buck: O'NEIL - In the sea of Royal Blue seats in Kansas City, a red chair is the Buck O'NEIL legacy chair that honors people who have done outstanding things in the K.C. area. Buck was a star for the KC Monarchs in the old Negro League but his trail-blazing coaching job was with the Cubs

48. Hanukkah dinner staple: LATKE - One potato dish I have never had

51. Chowder morsel: CLAM.

52. Some kicks, so to speak: KEDS - I knew this was slang for shoes but put EEE'S first

55. It may precede and follow yes: SIR - As Emma Stone says here

58. "Finding Your Roots" airer: PBS 

59. __ days: DOG - The DOG Days of summer are long gone here on the prairie 

On a personal note, I want to show you the picture of my wife opening her birthday present last Sunday. It was a painting I had done of her kitty Lily. I finally got something right!

All comments welcome:

*Answer to 21 Down: w + (w + 6) + w + (w + 6) = 4w + 12 (Answer B)