Saturday, March 14, 2020, Debbie Ellerin

Themeless Saturday by Debbie Ellerin


This is my fifth Saturday with a Debbie Ellerin puzzle. Debbie was nice enough to answer my email that I sent to her via an address she had completely forgotten. I reminded her that in her previous Saturday puzzle she used HEN COOP as fill and that that phrase had generated some discussion in this forum (Chicken Coop and Hen House? Ok, but...). Debbie said she was going to revisit that clue/fill and read the comments. She's a great sport! 

Debbie is a retired computer programmer who has made stops at The University of Michigan, Boston for 30 years and, after tiring of winter weather, now lives in Los Angeles. She wrote to me that she likes constructing themeless puzzles and of this one she wrote: I wrote this puzzle back in April of 2019 so my memory is a bit hazy on how it came to be. Pretty sure that JACUZZI was my seed entry because of the collection of interesting letters. I then got the center area to work and from there worked on each corner.  I like the entries BIGASK, ZENSTATE, and ROBOCALL (although not receiving them!)

Let's see what the former Michigan Wolverine has for us today:

Across:

1. Hardly a routine favor: BIG ASK - Are you more likely to make a BIG ASK or receive a BIG ASK

7. Rubs out: BUMPS OFF - Think mobster not marker board

15. Project that led to the first moonwalk: APOLLO - If you need a presentation about this, email me!

16. "And how!": IS IT EVER 

17. Rounds of shots: SALVOS - A painting of one battleship firing SALVOS onto Iwo Jima before the 1945 invasion

18. Meditation goal: ZEN STATE - In the words Paul McCartney, Let It Be

19. Money in music: EDDIE - Here 'ya go

20. "__: a Dog": 1962 film based on a 1919 novel: LAD - Wanna read it online for free?

21. Fruit with a Medjool variety: DATES - This company sells Jumbo Medjool DATES but also have Halawi, Khadrawy and Thoory varieties.

22. Fathers and sons: MEN and 26. Fathers and sons, say: KIN.

23. Portable Asian dwellings: YURTS - Jane Fonda helped finance the building of YURTS near Canon Ball, North Dakota where the Standing Rock Sioux are protesting an oil pipeline

25. "Live at Red Rocks" musician John: TESH - A sample

27. Tiny resistance unit: MICROHM - A portmanteau for MICRO-OHM (a millionth of an OHM)

29. Petrol measure: ONE LITRE - These fuel prices in Euros/LITRE can be changed to dollars/gallon by multiplying them by 4.56

31. Start of a Seuss classic: I AM SAM.

36. Galleria degli Uffizi city: FIRENZE - We visited that museum in Florence, Italy. Besides FIRENZE we also went to Roma, Venezia and Napoli and others 

37. Range in which 7 is neutral: PH SCALE - Didn't we all have this in H.S. Chem? If not...

38. "Swords into plowshares" prophet: ISAIAH - 27 versions of this passage

39. Had difficulty: HIT A SNAG - What the 2020 run for the presidential candidacy did for most of the original Democrats 

40. Maker of many jets: JACUZZI - This looks very pleasant.

42. Fields of cookies: MRS.

43. __ entry: DATA.

47. Plant that has become invasive in much of the Eastern U.S.: KUDZU - When we took a tour of the south, the guides pointed out the KUDZU invasion 

48. One acting badly: HAM.

49. "Swan Lake" maiden: ODILE - Ballet's bad girl. Hmmm... I wonder which one she is in this picture?

51. Vitamin bottle abbr.: RDA.

52. Marathoners' sources of energy: CARBS.

54. Telemarketing tactic: ROBO CALL - My lovely bride has given to some charities online and now... "No good deed goes unpunished"

56. "Scream" scream: SHRIEK.


57. Rule that keeps you from spelling weirdly?: I BEFORE E - Hmmm...Read the print on this mug

58. With great intensity: KEENLY.

59. Colonists: SETTLERS.

60. Dr. Scholl's product: INSOLE - Took care of my plantar fasciitis 


Down:

1. Stalwart political group: BASE- Pols can't win without theirs.

2. Apples since 2012: IPAD MINIS - Now it supports the Apple Pencil

3. The best of times: GOLDEN ERA - Health-wise for me it was when I was young. Intellectually it is now (hard as that is to believe) 

4. Harmonica-playing chipmunk: ALVIN - David Seville got the Chipmunk voices by recording at half-speed and then playing back at normal speed. He did this first when he sang OO-EE-OO-AH-AH for his song Witch Doctor

5. Gin flavoring: SLOE.

6. Ring decisions: KO'S.

7. Off-the-wall: BIZARRE - Cross Eyed Dave's, uh, unique links!

8. No longer fazed by: USED TO 

9. Time meas.: MIN.

10. VA concern: PTSD.

11. Mount an attack on: SET AT.

12. Kiwi-shaped: OVATE - Some tomatoes as well

13. Bashes: FETES - Big parties not big strikes 

14. Just baked, say: FRESH.

20. Riches: LUCRE - Biblical use

23. 1994 co-Nobelist with Yasser and Shimon: YITZHAK.

Yasser Arafat          Shimon Peres      YITZHAK Rabin

24. Fluffy toy: SHIH TZU - Toy dogs don't fool me anymore (much)

26. Ex-U.N. chief Annan: KOFI.

27. "Anaconda" rapper Nicki: MINAJ - If you think female rappers can't also have filthy lyrics, Google her

28. Kenyan tribe: MASAI - Cody Willnerd from the University of Nebraska (note the N on the hat) interviewing members of the MASAI tribe in front of one of their homes (boma)

30. Worn welcome symbol: LEI.

32. Game show VIPs: MC'S - We here are all thinking of Alex Trebek 

33. Enclave in Italy: SAN MARINO - It takes over 4 hours to drive between Italy's two sovereign countries within its borders

34. Warning signal: ALARM BELL 

35. High-tech capacity units: MEGS.

37. Pie sometimes topped with pineapple: PIZZA - An acquired taste?

39. Gatherings before snaps: HUDDLES - Players now wear wristbands like this to make calling plays in the HUDDLE easier

41. Salon device: CURLER.

43. Day of films: DORIS - America's sweetheart at 20 and 90

44. Brick of the Southwest: ADOBE.

45. High land: TIBET - The route from Lhasa, TIBET to Everest Base Camp 

46. Up in the air: ALOFT.

48. Long-eared critters: HARES.

50. Biol. branch: ECOL.

52. "Big Brother" host Julie __ Moonves: CHEN - The wife of former CBS president Les Moonves and host of a show that holds no interest for me

53. Terrier breed from Scotland: SKYE.

55. "What __ the odds?!": ARE.

56. Go downhill fast: SKI - The record is 158 mph!

Now, how about some comments for Debbie:

Saturday, March 7, 2020 Roland Huget

Themeless Saturday By Roland Huget


Today's puzzle is by Roland Huget and it appears to be his first LA Times Saturday effort. He has had puzzles on every day but Saturday and Sunday here. Melissa Bee blogged his last LA puzzle sixteen days ago which had a clever GEAR shift gimmick.

Roland has had eight NY Times puzzles and the grids were amazing. I have no personal info on him but I enjoyed scaling his literary hill once I got some toeholds.

Across:

1. Island top: ALOHA SHIRT and 67. Island bottom: GRASS SKIRT. These were very fun top and bottom horizontal clues once I sussed where they were going. Hawkeye's ALOHA (Hawaiian) SHIRT is at the Smithsonian's National Museum Of American History but not currently on display.

11. Beaver young: KITS 

15. Dreamer of Greek myth: LOTUS EATER - A member of this classic mythological race ate the fruit of the LOTUS tree which made them dreamy and indifferent (stoned?)

16. Short race, briefly: ONE-K - Redux from last week - a ONE Kilometer (.67 mile) race

17. Celebrated 1981 bride: PRINCESS DI - In The Crown it is stated that Charles was always deeply in love with Camilla but was forced to marry Dianna. Timeline

18. Kyrgyzstan range: ALAI - Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott trekking in the "otherworldly" ALAI Mt. range in south Kyrgyzstan. 

19. Italian sonnet closing: SESTET - The Italian or Petrachian sonnet starts with eight lines and ends with six lines. A famous such sonnet is The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus whose closing is this SESTET 

20. One may be mounted close to a grille: FOG LAMP - 

22. Never encountered before: NOVEL.

25. Sleeper's path: RAILS - The famous Sleeper Car scene in Some Like It Hot. Fun cluing.

26. Didn't lose at all: SWEPT - Winning all the games of a series

30. Athlete's best effort: A-GAME - The Astros always brought their A-GAME but also cheated

32. "Breaking Bad" org.: DEA - I've known many chemistry teachers but none that cooked meth

33. City on the Arno: PISA - The Arno flows west through Florence and then to PISA where it empties into the Ligurian Sea. Several dams on it make it non-navigable by boat

34. Hardly the best smoke: STOGIE - Roger Miller sang of a King Of The Road who smoked "Old STOGIES I have found"

35. Filing aid: TAB - At the top of a cardboard folder or at the bottom of an Excel spreadsheet  

36. Item on many a diner check: ENTREE 

38. Jazz piano style: STRIDE - The fabulous Oscar Peterson teaching Dick Cavett about jazz piano The first 1:20 explains STRIDE Piano   

40. Greek letter: ETA.

41. White water: RAPIDS 

45. Early philosophical hot spot: ELEA - Interested?

46. Columbo, for one: Abbr.: DETective

47. Point of view: ANGLE

48. Sidestep: AVERT - AVOID? EVADE? Nope...

49. Formal wear: DRESS.

51. One way to think: ALOUD 

53. Experiment with Zener cards: ESP TEST.

55. Tree with green-skinned fruit: PAW PAW - Mr. Green Jeans  sang Way Down Yonder In The PAW PAW Patch on Captain Kangaroo 

60. Opposite of bueno: MALO - ¡Fumar es MALO para tu salud! (Smoking is bad for your health)

61. United Nations goal: WORLD PEACE.

64. King Harald's father: OLAV.

65. Obsolescent media: AUDIO TAPES - This used to be as good as it got for portable music

66. Flier over Hawaii: NENE - State bird that frequently roosts in crosswords

Down:

1. Jungfrau setting: ALPS - Tourist books recommend you make an 5. Trip up: ASCENT and then ride a velogmel down the slope while you are in the Jungfrau area

2. Stuff of legends: LORE.

3. Name you might see while listening to Muzak: OTIS - Now that's a cool clue!

4. Follow the game?: HUNT Tracking

6. Address: SEE TO.

7. Dines on: HAS.

8. Part of TGIF: IT'S.

9. Sign of trouble: RED FLAG - Smoke pouring out from under the hood?

10. Beaux Arts __: longtime chamber music group: TRIO.

11. Arboreal marsupial: KOALA - Arboreal? ✔ Joey in marsupial pouch? ✔ KOALA? ✔ 

12. Countertop option: INLAID TILE.

13. Captain, say: TEAM LEADER.

14. Stops pumping momentarily?: SKIPS A BEAT - Also called a palpitation 

21. Receive with a shake, maybe: GREET - No shaking hands by GREETERS at our church these days

23. Brewery fixture: VAT.

24. Narcissist's issue: EGO.

26. One flying without a plane?: SPEED DEMON - This one went 462 mph

27. January clearance: WINTER SALE - Lots of nice clothes are on sale but they are all Smalls and Mediums

28. Where there's a will, usually: ESTATE PLAN 

29. Equal footing: PAR - My getting a PAR is a 31. Hit opposite: MISS proposition

34. Bean of "Game of Thrones": SEAN - I finally remembered where I had seen his face. He was the villain in National Treasure with Nicolas Cage

37. Make room on a drive: ERASE - On your computer hard drive

39. Gun in neutral: REV - Stoplight theatrics 

42. Org. that runs the FedEx Cup Playoffs: PGA TOUR - Here 'ya go!

43. Misfortune: ILL.

44. __ volente: DEO - God Willing - This year, DEO volente, the floods will not return to our town

48. Makes adjustments: ADAPTS.

50. Hot spot: STOVE.

52. Beehives, e.g.: UPDOS - The product given credit for making these UPDOS possible like the one we see on Annette Funicello below.

54. Promotional handouts: SWAG - All actors, actresses and directors nominated for an Oscar this year got a SWAG Bag with $225,000 worth of gifts 

56. Watered down: WEAK.

57. Longtime MLB star Big __: PAPI - David "Big PAPI" Ortiz got hit with a bullet intended for the man seated next to him last year in the Dominican Republic . He has recovered

58. HP rival: ACER.

59. Old U.S. region?: WEST - How the West was spun

62. Nutritional abbr.: RDA.

63. Fleur-de-__: LIS - Proudly displayed on the New Orleans football helmet 

What say you?