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.

 

Tuesday July 11, 2023 Stella Zawistowski

 Happy 11th of July!  With words like POP, BLOW, BURST, and GO OFF, this puzzle would have been appropriate for the 4th of July.

16-Across. Stop by briefly: POP IN TO SAY HELLO.

23-Across. Make a rude noise: BLOW A RASPBERRY.

41-Across. Be extremely self-satisfied: BURST WITH PRIDE.

56-Across. Digress from the main topic: GO OFF ON A TANGENT.

Across:

1. Cardi B genre: RAP.  [Name # 1.]  //  I liked how 1-Across crossed with 1-Down. Thoroughly engrossed: RAPT.  

Cardi B (née Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus; b. Oct. 11, 1992)

4. Sneaky ploys: RUSES.

9. Fashion-forward: CHIC.

13. Boxing family name: ALI.  We often see Laila Ali (née Laila Amaria Ali; b. Dec. 30, 1977), who is the daughter of Muhammad Ali (né Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; Jan. 17, 1942 ~ June 3, 2016), in the puzzles.  [Name # 2.]

14. Permit: ALLOW.

15. Transaction in a barter economy: TRADE.

19. YA fiction, e.g., familiarly: TEEN LIT.  YA = Young Adult.

20. Chews out: BERATES.

21. First name of actors Holland and Hollander: TOM.  Tom Holland (né Thomas Stanley Holland; b. June 1, 1996) and Tom Hollander (né Thomas Anthony Hollander; b. Aug. 25, 1967) are both English actors.  They are not household names, at least not in my house.  Together, they become Tom Hollandest.  [Name # 3.]

22. Auction unit: LOT.

31. Positive result at the gym: GAIN.

32. Item on a to-do list: TASK.

33. "I figured it out!": AHA!

34. "The Favourite" queen: ANNE.  The movie The Favourite was about Anne, Queen of Great Britain (Feb. 6, 1665 ~ Aug. 1714).  She ruled as Queen from 1702 until her death 9 years later.  She began her rule as Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland.  In May 1707, the Acts of Union united the kingdoms of England and Scotland as a single sovereign state that became known as Great Britain.  [Name # 4.]

35. Belgian surrealist painter James: ENSOR.  James Ensor (né James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor; Apr. 13, 1860 ~ Nov. 19, 1949) is known for expressionism and surrealism.  He is not as well known as some of the other painters of his genre.  A lot of his work is a bit morbid.  [Name # 5.]

37. Freight barge: SCOW.  This has become a crossword staple.

38. Way to go: Abbr.: RTE.  As in Route.

39. Lydic of "The Daily Show": DESI.  Desi Lydic was a correspondent on The Daily Show.  [Name # 6.]

40. Big name in canvas shoes: KEDS.   [Name adjacent.]

46. Precursor to overtime: TIE.

47. Yellowfin tuna: AHI.  Yummers!

48. Shops at Goodwill, perhaps: THRIFTS.

52. Lose control, in a way: SPIN OUT.

58. Much-admired celebrities: IDOLS.  //  And 11-Down. Go nowhere with the engine on: IDLE.  Can an Idol be Idle?

59. Italian herbal liqueur whose name means "bitter": AMARO.

60. Assent from a bride or groom: I DO.

61. Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of __": FATE.

62. Huffs and puffs: PANTS.

63. Sever, with "off": LOP.

Down:

2. After-sun gel ingredient: ALOE.  A crossword staple for both clue and image ...

3. Speak (up) or quiet (down): PIPE.

4. Got close to empty: RAN LOW.  

5. Disc-tossing team sport: ULTIMATE.  I have a friend whose husband is big on Ultimate (formerly known as Ultimate Frisbee).  He travels all over the country for competitions.

6. Schedule opening: SLOT.

7. Lip balm brand in spherical containers: EOS.  Short for Evolution of Smooth.

8. Clear the deck?: SWAB.  Cute clue.

9. Be inventive: CREATE.

10. Sentry's shout: HALT.

12. Leaders at the top of most corp. hierarchies: CEOs.  As in Chief Executive Officers.

15. Beat strongly: THROB.

17. Recite in a singsong voice: IN TONE.

18. Cry of pain: YELP.

23. __ knots: intricate Black hairstyle: BANTU.  I was not aware of the name of this hairstyle.

24. Sharply hit baseball: LINER.

25. Magician/skeptic The Amazing __: RANDI.  The Amazing Randi was the alter-ego of Canadian-born     (né Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; Aug. 7, 1929 ~ Oct. 20, 2020).  He was known for challenging paranormal and pseudoscientific claims.  [Name # 7.]

26. Informant, in spy lingo: ASSET.

27. Teensy bit: SKOSH.  The word Skosh is derived from the Japanese word Sukoshi which means “a little”.

28. Played Mario Kart, perhaps: RACED.

29. __ Island Red: RHODE.  The Rhode Island Red is the State bird of Rhode Island.  The eggs of the Rhode Island Red are brown.

30. Swerves at sea: YAWS.

31. Attire: GARB.

36. Tear to shreds: RIP A PART.

37. Enjoying Aspen, perhaps: SKIING.

42. Suppress: STIFLE.

43. Squabbles: TIFFS.

44. "Who are __ judge?": WE TO.

45. Safari herbivores: RHINOS.

48. "Bring on the weekend!" letters: TGIF.  Thank Goodness It's Friday.  Also the name of a restaurant chain.

49. Kotb of "Today": HODA.  Hoda Kotb (née Hoda Catherine Kotb; b. Aug. 9, 1964) appeared in a recent Tuesday puzzle.  [Name # 8.]

50. Part of a hair or a tooth: ROOT.

51. Lose control, in a way: SNAP.

52. "South Park" kid in a blue-and-red hat: STAN.  Did you know his last name is Marsh?  [Name # 9.]

53. Trompe l'__: eye-fooling art: OEIL.  Today's French lesson.  For more examples, check out this site.

54. Ctrl-Z, on a PC: UNDO.

55. Sporty car option: T-TOP.

57. Reddit Q&A: AMA.  Ask Me Anything.

Here's the Grid:

חתולה

 

Notes from C.C.:

 

Happy birthday to CanadianEh!, who's been with our blog since 2012. Always enjoy your informative and observant posts, Eh!