Saturday Themeless by Bill Pipal
 |
| Here's Bill carrying Renny on a very hot day |
From Bill: My very first puzzle was published right here in the LA Times 13 months ago, and I am thrilled to be back! Since that time I have had puzzles published in a few other outlets like Universal, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, but this is only my second themeless.
This picture shows Bill and Renny who is a rescue dog who Bill carried on a very hot day. Bill said: We were trying to pick out a name for her we liked Renny as it means "small, but mighty" in Gaelic. She was quite underweight when we rescued her (after being on the streets and then in an animal shelter), but we knew she had a lot of strength in her and that has proven to be very true!
I currently reside in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with my wife. Proud double-Illini working as an in-house attorney for a tech start-up in Chicago. Like many, I started constructing crossword puzzles during the pandemic and was lucky to meet so many kind people in the crosswording 
community who helped me learn from mistakes and improve my construction skills. A big thank you to the test solvers of this puzzle (and all of my puzzles). Specifically, my sister-in law, Alie, and my father-in law, Tom. Most importantly, while not a crossword enthsuiast herself, my wife was incredibly supportive of me in this time consuming hobby and encouraged me to keep trying even after some rejections started coming in on earlier puzzles.
I blogged that first themeless puzzle Bill submitted and I had a good time on it and this one too!
Across:
5. Hides from animals: PELTS.
10. Sanctuary area: APSE.
14. Game time?: TURN - You could lose it 😀
15. "Dances With Wolves" distribution company: ORION.
16. Haunted house sound: MOAN.
17. Raccoon, facetiously: TRASH PANDA - 😀 Bill was very pleased to introduce this phrase to the crossword world.
20. Improvises: AD LIBS - The ten most famous film AD LIBS
21. Minimal-compliance hiring practice: TOKENISM.
23. Google __: DOCS - Google DOCS, Sheets and Slides are Google's version of Office.
26. Low island: CAY - Golding CAY in the Bahamas is for sale
27. Tanzanite and black opal: RARE GEMS - A Trillion Cut Tanzanite & Blue Fire Opal Inlay Solid 925 Sterling Silver Pendant For Necklace - $55.25
31. Out: DATED - These items are OUT, DATED and OUTDATED
33. "Go me!": I'VE DONE IT - Upon reaching the summit of Everest, stoic Sir Edmund Hilary said his thought was, "I can't believe that Eddy Hilary made it up here!" His sherpa Norgay Tensing was much more emotional!
35. Turkish coins: LIRAS - A Big Mac Meal Deal is about 65₺ at this Ankara, Turkey outlet mall
37. Country rock band co-founded by Jim Messina: POCO - I've enjoyed Jim in all of his iterations
38. Fictional Gantry: ELMER - Burt Lancaster as the spell binding ELMER is believable, but Shirley Jones as a revenge-seeking prostitute named Lulu was a little tougher.
40. Sheet of glass: PANE.
41. Breadth: SCOPE.
43. Singular source of dissent: LONE VOICE - The day after the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. House voted 388 - 1 to declare was on Japan. JeanetteRankin of Montana was that lone no vote. She was harassed so severely she had to get to a phone booth to call for an escort out of the chamber. 47. "That explains everything": NO WONDER - She was not reelected.
45. Geometry numbers: AREAS.
48. "How unexpected": ODD.
49. Includes, briefly: CCS - Speaking of OUTDATED, Carbon Copies are a prime example but their idea of getting copies to others lives on.
51. Memorization technique: ROTE.
52. Snarky remarks: POTSHOTS - He made a good living at it.
55. Polymer products: RESINS - Epoxy RESIN poured onto a countertop.
59. Legendary: EPIC.
60. Footwear for a private eye?: TRACK SHOES - 😀 Let's see, a private eye can TRACK people and wears SHOES so...
62. Home to the oldest university in the Americas: LIMA - Chartered in 1551 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
63. Proportional gift: TITHE - 10%
64. Soon, quaintly: ANON.
65. Education acronym: STEM.
66. Base stealer's asset: SPEED.
67. Sits in the sun: TANS.
Down:
1. Flour that's stone ground in a chakki: ATTA - We had just recently. ATTA no longer gets clued as ___ girl!
2. Poutine morsel: CURD - CURDS on French fries? Really?
3. Kazakh/Uzbek border name: ARAL.
4. Skinny, so to speak: INSIDE DOPE.
5. Milieu of Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish: POP SCENE - Okay
6. Detergent brand: ERA.
7. Fuzz: LINT.
8. Chore list items: TO DOS.
9. Unclogged, as a pipe: SNAKED.
10. "Indeed": AMEN.
11. Bust: POLICE RAID.
12. Cuban movement?: SALSA DANCE.
13. Adversary: ENEMY.
18. Phased-out streaming service: HBO GO
22. "There are others" abbr.: ET AL - John Hancock, et al.
24. Get a whiff of: SMELL.
27. Tears (up): RIPS.
28. Seed germinated on toothpicks in some science projects: AVOCADO PIT.
29. Goal for some Olympians: RECORD TIME - The 4-minute mile was a goal until 1954. The current record is held by a Moroccan at 3:43.13
30. "Lost in Yonkers" playwright: SIMON - A playbill signed by the original Broadway cast. Neil SIMON is definitely not an obscure name.
32. Be respectful, in a way: TIP ONE'S HAT - Golfers don't usually TIP the entire HAT until the end of the round but they often touch the bill to acknowledge applause during the round
34. General sense: TENOR.
36. One who looks to the future?: SEER.
39. Edited: REWORKED - When making a presentation multiple times in a day, I REWORKED it constantly
42. Per: EACH.
44. Primary concern: VOTES - They're all cast, the signs are down and the phone calls have quit
46. Turf Builder brand: SCOTTS.
48. German wheels: OPELS - OPEL plans to launch this electric model in 2028
50. Lose one's shirt?: STRIP.
53. Trick: SCAM.
54. Fill and then some: SATE - Two days ago?
56. New Rochelle school designated a university in 2022: IONA - Appropriate for constructor whose puppy has a dog with a Gaelic name.
57. Adjective associated with some 1980s fashion: NEON.
58. IDs since 1936: SSNS.
61. Sara Ramirez's "And Just Like That ... " role: CHE - Sara plays CHE in this HBO Max show but she is better known to me as Dr. Calliope Torres in Grey's Anatomy.
 |
| Happy Birthday Dad. |
