Saturday, March 2, 2024, Stella Zawistowski

Themeless Saturday by Stella Zawistowski

The look the face of our weightlifting constructor Stella reflects some of the anguish I felt as I worked my way through the latest of her always always challenging puzzles. After bobbing and weaving through the grid, I had enough letters to start to make sense of her ten-letter fills and finish up. Her top two ten-letter fills were fun to learn. 

As you can see in the grid, I did have one cell where my coin flip failed. My lack of knowledge of three-string Japanese instruments and Rhianna's music was my undoing.

Across:

1. Unplanned adoption: FOSTER FAIL - FAILING at being a FOSTER parent for a pet and then falling in love with and adopting that pet hardly seems like a FAILING to me. 😀

11. Adoption org.: SPCA.

15. Intended to prevent a torrent, perhaps: ANTI-PIRACY - As usual, Stella has a term I have never encountered that fell into place: Torrenting is a term used for distributing and downloading unusually large files like those for movies using the BitTorrent protocol. More

16. Name on the highest-grossing concert film in history: ERAS - It has grossed over $250M in gross sales against a $15M budget

17. Certain Central American: SALVADORAN - The lovely custodian at our school is COSTA RICAN and that name went in first.

18. Natural traps: WEBS.

19. Olympic badminton team, e.g.: DUO.

20. Victor Hugo's world: MONDE - MONDE is French for world

22. Sea bream, in a sushi bar: TAI - ... and my culinary education continues

23. Sushi bar list: SAKES - As long as we're at the sushi bar...

25. Snooty creatures?: ANTEATERS. 😀

27. Divine: PREDICT - Carnac's gift was to be able to divine the answers without first seeing the questions.

29. "Awesome!": SWEET  and 30. "Awesome!": YES.

31. Cheer (up): BUOY.

33. Working days?: STINTS.

34. Practitioner of traditional medicine: HERBALIST.

36. Burlesque: SATIRE - A BURLESQUE is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

39. Smallest ratite: KIWI - Ratite: A bird having a flat breastbone without a keel, and so unable to fly.

40. Elle King's "Ex's & __": OHS - A Top Ten album

43. Subject of the 2014 documentary "Game Over": ATARI.

44. Jam: BAD SPOT.

46. Get rich: MAKE A PILE.

50. Melancholy work: ELEGY - I wasn't all that melancholy when dirge didn't work 😀

51. Salt target: ICE.😀

52. Levi's Stadium player: NINER.

53. Word with Days and Holiday: INN. 😀 Motels 

54. Well-thought-out: SANE.

56. "Hubba hubba!": VA VA VA VOOM - We had this recently with only two VA's but I remember it better with three

60. Let out: EMIT.

61. Feature of non-eco-friendly containers: ONE TIME USE - Why our landfills get full

62. Syllables in Rihanna's "What's My Name?": NANA If you need some raunchy lyrics

63. Moved mindfully?: TELEPORTED - Star Trek did this a lot. Kirk never actually said, "Beam me up Scotty." Teleporting by mind

Down:

1. Scale tones: FAS - Do, Re, Me, FA, So, La, Ti, Do

2. Rashly: ON A DARE.

3. Name on some church-run hospitals: ST LUKES.

4. Saved to watch later: TIVOED.

5. Org. that regulates HFCs: EPA.

6. Free (of): RID.

7. Step one: FROM A TO B. 😀

8. Noted New York Judge: AARON - Judge is capitalized so...

9. "It's all too much": I CAN'T.

10. Paul of "Hollywood Squares": LYNDE - One of his many zingers: Peter Marshall: According to Tony Randall, “Every woman I’ve been intimate with in my life has been…” What?

Paul Lynde: Bitterly disappointed.

11. Compete on "Project Runway," say: SEW.

12. Many a fan of "The Baby-Sitters Club": PRE-TEEN.

13. "Willkommen" musical: CABARET.

14. Sue Bird's WNBA record 3,234: ASSISTS.

21. Home of New York's Museum Mile: EAST SIDE.

23. Northern __ apples: SPY - Here ya go

24. Like the Chukchi people of Russia: SIBERIAN.

26. Fool: TWIT.

28. Fix: CURE.

32. Yona of "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic," for one: YAK - No idea.

33. Media personality JoJo: SIWA - No idea.

34. Bring on: HIRE.

35. Let out: LIBERATE.

36. Instrument played with a bachi: SAMISEN - A one minute sample

37. Region of Chile used by NASA to test equipment for Mars missions: ATACAMA.

38. Fooled: TAKEN IN.

40. Expand, in a way: OPEN OUT.

41. Upturned feature of some snakes: HOG NOSE.

42. Pen: STY.

45. Shard: SLIVER.

47. Pirouette, essentially: PIVOT.

48. Unworthy of consideration: INANE.

49. Tool box item: LEVEL.

55. Text to someone who's late: ETA.

57. Velvet rope crosser: VIP.

58. "O Deus ego __ te": Catholic hymn: AMO - My God, I love Thee, 

59. Scrip spec: MED.

BTW, our newspaper carries the LA puzzle and a second puzzle they call The Daily (Commuter) Crossword that is much easier. For years this puzzle has had Jacqueline Mathews listed as the constructor. Ms. Mathews of Spokane has retired and now the daily constructor has been Stella Zawistowski for several weeks (see "Created by" under the puzzle). Looks like Stella has a steady gig.

 

Saturday, February, 17, 2024, Joe Deeney

Saturday Themeless by Joe Deeney

This is my eighth Joe Deeney Saturday Themeless puzzle and I had a lovely 16 minute solving experience! His impressive pinwheeled stacks of ten letter fills resulted in having only 68 blocks and a lot of wide-open  spaces. Wow! 

Joe has left the corporate world and is now freelancing at home while he figures out what is next for him. Above is a lovely picture of Joe doing an LA Times puzzle on his tablet while his daughter is offering her assistance.

Across:

1. Takes badly?: ROBS 😀

5. Leroy Anderson holiday tune that includes a trumpet "whinny": SLEIGH RIDE - That seasonal song also uses these percussion instruments.

15. Possibly a lot?: ACRE 😀

Before                                 After

16. Sphynx producer: CAT BREEDER 40. Litter peeps: MEWS - I'm sure Mama SPHYNX is hearing a lot of MEWS from her litter.

17. Top suits: CEO'S - Recently we saw that they belong in the C Suites with the CFO, COO, et al.

18. Natalie Dormer's "Elementary" role: IRENE ADLER - An adversary for Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes in this BBC series.

19. New Zealand birds also known as owl parrots: KAKAPOS - Also called the world's fattest parrot.

21. Glue brand that owns X-Acto: ELMERS.

22. Show leader?: ONE MAN - A great one!

23. Toot: SPREE - As in "on a toot!"

25. Take a __: FLIER - The Jets did just that on Aaron Rodgers and he got hurt on the season's first series and was lost for the year.

26. "J to __ L-O!": 2002 remix album: THA.

27. Knock on: RAP AT 

While I nodded, nearly napping, 

suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently RAPping, 

RAPping AT my chamber door.

31. Civil Rights Memorial architect: LIN - Her work has such grace and elegance

Located in Montgomery, Alabama

32. Crash support: IT HELP -

35. Fatty tuna, to a sushi chef: TORO.

36. Social insect: ANT.

37. Like some store-bought nuts: SHELLED.

39. Ready for the dryer: WET.

42. Museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria: UFFIZI.

43. Member of a peer group?: EYE 😀

44. French physician for whom a part of the brain is named: BROCA.

46. Offer: BID.

47. Oft-burned medium: CD ROM - Burning a CD used to be very common

49. 2004 remake starring Jude Law: ALFIE - What's it all about, ALFIE?

51. Prepares for a drive: TEES UP- If you can't bend over, this device will help you TEE UP the ball and take it out of the hole. Not for me yet.

52. "Fly!": BE FREE.

55. Stayed home: DIDN'T GO - They had tickets for the Titanic but didn't make it onboard 

Milton Hershey  J Pierpont Morgan Henry Clay Frick

56. "No need to wait": I'LL CATCH UP.

59. Central Asia's North __ Sea: ARAL.

60. Nickelodeon show with a paw print logo: BLUES CLUES - We watched a lot of BLUES CLUES with the original host Steve.

61. Cost of a dozen?: DIME 😀

62. Time for happy hour?: BEER THIRTY 😀

63. Gibbons, e.g.: APES.

Down:

1. Crown roast half: RACK OF LAMB and 11. 1-Down, e.g.: RED MEAT.

 

2. Carnival ride: OCEAN LINER - Their ships have grown considerably

 

3. Halved: BROKE IN TWO - Speaking of the Titanic

4. __ oil: SESAME.

5. Heir: SCION.

6. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS - Don't know the man but he's here in cwds a lot 

7. Bastille Day saison: ETE.

  

       

8. Arabic for "son of": IBN.

9. "Archer" voice actress Judy: GREER.

10. Shaman: HEALER - In an episode of Grey's Anatomy, a Hmong father would not let the surgeons operate until the Shaman arrived.

12. Run in place: IDLE - I can start my car from any where in the world with this iPhone app. The car will IDLE for 15 minutes while running the heater or a/c and then shut off unless someone with the key fob gets into the car to finish the starting process.

13. Does: DEER - We had Does cluing SHES recently 

14. Does wrong: ERRS.

20. "Ratatouille" city: PARIS.

23. Photo that speaks volumes?: SHELFIE - Below is one of mine. Send me a picture of your SHELFIE at gschlapfer@gmail.com and I'll post them next week.

24. Wan: PALLID - I have no idea why I remember this from Mrs. Thomsen's 11th grade English Class.

Why so pale and wan fond lover? 

      Prithee why so pale? 

Will, when looking well can’t move her, 

      Looking ill prevail? 

      Prithee why so pale? 

26. DOJ division: THE FBI.

28. Juice bar?: POWER STRIP 😀 This might be drawing too much juice

29. In question?: ARE YOU GAME? - Do you think these peeps asked this of each other in Pamplona? 

30. Pacific Northwest tribal carvings: TOTEM POLES.

33. Pt. of the week: THU.

34. __ dispenser: PEZ.

38. Like the ingredients in pico de gallo (translates to rooster's beak - hg), typically: DICED.

41. Harder to come by: SCARCER.

45. Div. that has produced 16 World Series champs since 1969: AL EAST - The Yankees have the most (7) but haven't won in 14 years. Chart 

48. "Gracias" response: DE NADA.

50. Go get: FETCH - I remember FETCH from my early Macs.

51. Buzzed: TIPSY.

52. Salad option: BIBB.

 
 

53. Catherine portrayer in "The Great": ELLE.

An interesting picture!

54. Exhaust pipe: FLUE.

55. Tune two croon: DUET - Not only were their DUETs my favorite but The Beatles and many others patterned themselves after them.

57. 10% of MDX: CLI - I'm surprised Joe didn't use X% of MDX (10% of 1510 = 151)

58. "Ben-__": HUR - Hollywood made versions in 1907, 1925, 1959 and 2016. The 1959 version starring Charlton Heston was the most successful version. I saw it on the Cinema 70 Big Screen as a 13-yr-old when it came out.

                      

 

Notes from C.C.:

1) Happy 71st birthday to our witty Chairman Moe (Chris). Here is a picture of Chris, his girlfriend Margaret, MM and MM's girlfriend Valerie. They finally met last August. Chris travels extensively every summer. Hope he can meet more of our blog regulars in the future.

 

Margaret, Chris,  Joseph and Valerie

2) Happy 58th anniversary to the sweetest couple I've ever met: Husker Gary and his wife Joann. Here's a picture of us from 2014 when Gary attended a wedding here in Minnesota. 

Left to Right: Boomer, Gary, C.C. & Joann