Saturday, December, 28, 2019, Christopher Adams

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Christopher Adams

Our constructor Christopher Adams is currently a graduate student in mathematics at the University of Iowa. He graduated in 2014 from Cornell University, with a major in mathematics and minors in physics and creative writing, after which he spent a year abroad teaching physics at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.


The NW corner of Christopher's lovely puzzle drove me crazy but finally yielded to persistence. Seeing a Q, X, J and Z in close proximity made me think this might be a pangram. Sure enough, it is!

My challenges were something old, something new and something blue (POUTER). Here were my issues in the starting blocks:

1. Bay of __, which includes the Cantabrian Sea: BISCAY - The Cantabarian Sea was not familiar to me but the Bay Of Biscay soon became obvious

15. Odysseus' kingdom: ITHACA - _ T H _ _ _  gave me ATHENS first

17. Cuts off contact with: GHOSTS - Uh, dude, you're so being GHOSTED!

19. Makes a long face: POUTS - _ O U _ _ gave me MOUES first

1. Rap hit heard in the 2009 biopic "Notorious": BIG POPPA - I had no idea on this song or stomach for the lyrics

6. "__, queen!": slangy celebratory words: YAS - A 1:45 explanation of this "too hip for me" meme 

Now let's see what else Christopher has for us today as I start my third year as your Saturday docent:

Across:

7. Port captured in Sherman's March to the Sea: SAVANNAH - Christmas present to President Lincoln

16. Regional birds: AVIFAUNA - AVI - Bird, FAUNA - Animal, so... 

18. Sense organ: RECEPTOR.

20. Kingston address: MON.

21. Site with "Living Healthy" guides: WEB MD - Uh, you might still want to consult a doctor 😏

22. Alibis: OUTS - OJ's didn't hold up but he was still found not guilty (as opposed to innocent)

23. Two-faced god: JANUS - JANUS was the Roman god of doors, choices, beginnings and endings. The first month of the year is called January after him. Got those resolutions ready?

25. Breeze (through): SAIL.

26. Family-friendly ratings: PG'S - 1996 was a strange year for Oscar. Three nominees for best picture were rated PG - Apollo 13, Il Postino and Sense and Sensibility and one was rated G - Babe.

27. Smooth operator, one would hope: SURGEON 

29. "The Last Jedi" heroine: REY - Here 'ya go

REY played 
by Daisy Ridley

30. Tight military formation: PHALANX and 34. Charge: ATTACK!!

32. Makeup kit item: Q-TIP - My ENT and audiologist emphatically say, "Keep 'em out of your ears!"

35. Monopoly pieces: HOUSES - Landing on Boardwalk with four HOUSES will run you $1,700

39. Expert: WHIZ - Some of us baseball 23. Buffs: JUNKIES  remember this 1950 team that had Richie Ashburn (middle of this picture) from Tilden, NE on it

41. Florida's first two-term Republican governor: JEB BUSH.

42. Black __: OPS - The one that killed Bin Laden

45. "Listen to me ... ": SEE HERE.

47. Early GE subsidiary: RCA.

48. Down times: NAPS.

50. Sound from one who's out: SNORE - My wife and my heart are glad I now use a CPAP

51. Bird's-eye view?: BEAK 

52. Minor arguments: SPATS - "We had a quarrel, a lover's SPAT, I write I'm sorry but my letter keeps coming back"

54. Black Hills terr.: DAK. 

55. Biathlete's need: RIFLE - Canadian Mackenzie Turner competing carrying hers

56. Apparent displacement due to perspective: PARALLAX - The stellar background can change from season to season

58. Some cells: NOKIAS - Today this vintage one would be called a brick

59. Agreeable way of seeing: EYE TO EYE.

60. Go too far: OVERDO - Don't start a vigorous exercise program on January First if you're not ready!

61. Oopsy or Funshine, e.g.: CARE BEAR - Okay

62. "Pippin" Tony winner: VEREEN.

Down:

3. Gives an earful: SHOUTS AT.

4. Groups of players: CASTS - TEAMS or 2. "... or so __": I THOUGHT.

5. What many a player does: ACTS.

7. It's a wrap: SARONG - Dorothy Lamour's signature outfit

8. Tony-winning musical that draws inspiration from "Sesame Street": AVENUE Q - "A musical with humans and foul-mouthed puppets"

9. Ford's Crown __: VIC - An alternate steed for the RCMP

10. Not many: A FEW 

11. Shaving spots: NAPES - Also where our cat carried her little ones

12. Nature Valley offering: NUT BAR.

13. Breakdown of social norms: ANOMIE - Anyone else think of this?

14. Barely: HARDLY - A 13-second use of the double negative NOT HARDLY

20. Chico was the first-born one: MARX.

 Groucho, Gummo, Minnie (mother), Zeppo,
 Sam (father), Chico, and Harpo.

24. "Neener neener!": SO THERE - A familiar taunt on playgrounds of my yute

27. Big name in investment banking: SACHS - Too big to fail?

28. Mythical weeper: NIOBE - Aptly named

31. Bar subject: LAW.

33. Bar: PUB - A very different bar

36. Guaranteed: SURE FIRE.

37. Cadillac SUV: ESCALADE - Click arrows for a tour of a $99,230 ESCALADE

38. Agrees to, in a way: SHAKES ON.

40. Singer/actress who voices Meechee in "Smallfoot": ZENDAYA 

41. Soda __: JERK.

42. How much freelance work is done: ON SPEC.

43. Tropical fruit: PAPAYA - Everything you could possibly want to know

44. More scant: SPARER

46. Charlatan: HOAXER.

49. Condition: STATE.

51. Hog owner: BIKER.

53. Disorderly sort: SLOB.

55. Gad about: ROVE.

57. Author Harper: LEE - 55 years between publication dates

58. 11, at times: Abbr.: NOV.

YAS QUEEN, what fun (I really can't pull that off can I?)  Comment at will:

Christmas update: This year the grandkids had to find envelopes of cash I hid around the neighborhood using a GPS device from my physics lab on a lovely early winter's day.

Saturday, December 21, 2019, Brian E. Paquin

Saturday Themeless by Brian E. Paquin

Happy Winter Solstice! Today at 10:19 p.m. CST, the Sun will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn and therefore those of us north of the equator will have our fewest hours of daylight. It is called the first day of winter for us and  the first day of summer for our friends south of the equator. 

Brian Paquin presents us a puzzle (with parallel vertical grid spanners) that you may have to finish in a hurry as there will be a minimum of daylight to guide your solve. 

Let's see what we have on this auspicious astronomical day:


Across:

1. Swagger: BRAVADO shown by someone who 1. Crows: BRAGS - An interesting cross

8. Elite list: WHO'S WHO - As a high school senior I remember getting a flattering letter that I had been chosen to be in the WHO'S WHO book for outstanding students. My balloon burst when I saw that I had to send them $50 to see my name in print.

15. Tent event: REVIVAL - Elmer Gantry's REVIVAL tent was home to a charlatan hustler 

16. "Get going!": HOP TO IT 

17. No longer happening: AT AN END - Today? Autumn!

18. Its namesake, a former Surveyor General of India, objected to having it named for him: EVEREST - The world's highest peak is called Chomolungma by the Tibetans and Sagarmatha by the Nepalese 

19. Hip-hop subgenre: GANGSTA - Google if you must

20. '20s tennis star Lacoste: RENE - How his shirt with the crocodile came to be

21. Convene: SIT.

22. De bene __: literally, of well-being: ESSE - In law

24. Exchanges: SWAPS - Judge James H. Wilkerson SWAPPED juries for Al Capone after he found out the original panel had been bribed

28. Old Messina money: LIRA.

31. __ operandi: MODI - Plural of Modus Operandi (M.O.)

33. Aromatic garland: LEI - I wonder if ONO ever wore a LEI and shared an OREO with an EMU at a game where 14. Giants legend: OTT was playing in Crosswordland

34. More than is tolerable: ONCE TOO OFTEN 

38. Charles, until he's in charge: HEIR TO THE THRONE - Prince Andrew was 8th in line for being HEIR TO THE THRONE but now it seems his mother has "fired" him

41. Doesn't evolve: STAYS THE SAME - Like these guys

The Luddites

42. Area of interest: BAG - Papa's got a "brand new one" according to the "hardest working man in show business"

43. Cold War leader Andropov: YURI - YURI was head of the KGB for fifteen years before being the head of the Soviet state for fifteen months 

44. Longbow wood sources: YEWS.

47. Lumps: CLODS - Breaking them up to make a seed bed

50. Places where shooting occurs: SETS - They can be deceptive 

52. Like aspirin, briefly: OTC - Certain meds like these are not Over The Counter any more

54. Sermon ender?: ETTE.

56. Spot for a bowler: HAT TREE - Not where you would find our blogging, bowling friends 

59. Kerosene cousin: COAL OIL - The difference 

62. Like some light, fruity wines: UNOAKED  - American Chardonnays are almost always oaked, which is why they're known for that buttery creaminess, and European Chardonnays are steel-aged and tend towards those bright apple and citrus flavors. A new word for me and my spell checker

63. Annual February race site: DAYTONA 500

64. Croc or cobra: REPTILE.

65. Cat's asset: STEALTH - My first thought

66. Like some lumber: TREATED - Our deck made of pressure TREATED lumber lasted ten years and now we have a composite deck




Down:

2. Sell at the mall, say: RETAIL - Less and less so

3. Italian "forward": AVANTI - The 1963 Studebaker AVANTI. If you thought the Edsel looked odd... How the AVANTI came to be

4. "Pulp Fiction" actor Rhames: VING - Theories abound about why Ving had a band-aid on his neck

5. City rtes.: AVES.

6. Boccaccio added "Divina" to the title of his masterpiece: DANTE Alighieri originally called his work simply Commedia 

7. Ancient: OLD AS METHUSELAH - it took a lot of crosses to get the spelling correct

8. Response to a wince: WHERE DOES IT HURT?

9. __ to: halted, nautically: HOVE - He HOVE to when the pirate told him to

10. Debuts: OPENS - Phantom Of The Opera OPENED at The Majestic Theater of Broadway January 26, 1988 and has been playing there ever since 

11. Scatter: STREW.

12. Anguish: WOE.

13. Part of HMS, at times: HIS - His/Her Majesty's Ship and 61. Word of obedience: AYE - A word often heard on board

23. "Told you!": SO THERE.

25. Glee club voice: ALTO.

26. Rounded tool part: PEEN - Claw and ball PEEN hammers

27. Trig function: SINE.

29. Rival of Tiger: RORY - McIlroy today. The golf media actually tried to make Phil Mickelson his rival but Tiger in his prime had no peer

30. Giants in the 1954 horror film "Them!": ANTS - None named OTT

32. Smidgen: IOTA.

35. Owner of Clairol and CoverGirl: COTY.

36. "Goodness!": OH MY - Look at the size of those ANTS!

37. Let out: FREE.

38. London-based financial corp. founded in Hong Kong: HSBC - Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation

39. Short space saver: ET AL.

40. "It is the green-eyed monster ... " speaker: IAGO - The passage in original and modern text

45. Exercise prompt: WORK IT.

46. Brosnan role in '80s TV: STEELE - We had his co-star in the Friday the 13th puzzle this month

48. Yazoo region: DELTA.

49. One without arms: STOOL.

51. More lucid: SANER.

53. Turned over: CEDED.

55. Decorator's subtlety: TINT - Quick, what is the color of your living room wall? I have no idea about ours.

57. Drink copiously: TOPE - From French toper to keep an agreement, from Spanish topar to take a bet; probably because a wager was generally followed by a drink. You're welcome

58. "Ciao!": TATA.

59. Streaming alternatives: CD'S - Our Mannheim Steamroller and Trans Siberia Orchestra CD'S get a workout this time of year

60. Meal starter?: OAT - A cheap ($0.98) and convenient version of a childhood favorite of mine

Go ahead and comment with a light heart as our darkest days will now start to get longer      and Spring is coming. Calculate the time until spring

Notes from C.C.:

Happy fifth wedding annversary to Oo and Lemonade. How time flies!