Hi Gary,
I'm excited to make my LAT debut with a themeless puzzle! I'm an MD/PhD student based in St. Louis, MO and I've been constructing crossword puzzles for a couple of years. This was one of the first themeless grids I ever successfully built, though it went through several revisions before submission. I initially constructed this in the midst of the 2018-19 NFL season, so I started in the center with a football-shaped collection of black squares [NOW I SEE IT! hg] and the football-related entry CALLED AN AUDIBLE. After filling the center (anchored by the fun stack of READS PALMS / GREEN ROOF / MAKE IT RAIN), I tackled the NW/SE corners, and finally the NE/SW corners. I'm happy with the stack of K-CUP POD / BE ASSURED / RELAY RACES, although STOPPED in the opposite corner isn't quite as sparkly.
I can definitely say that my themeless constructing philosophy has changed since when I made this puzzle, as evidenced by the themeless puzzles I've since published for free on my indie blog, Sid's Grids. Nowadays, I try to maximize the number of long slots (8+ letters) in my themeless grids, and find juicy entries for each of them, while keeping the short fill clean. This LAT grid has only twelve long slots, and many 7-letter slots with neutral entries like IMPINGE and RESEALS — I don't think I would submit it today. But I hope there is enough color in the longer entries here to make for an entertaining solve. (I'm at least glad that the short fill is reasonably smooth.)
Hope solvers enjoy the puzzle!
- Sid
Across:
1. Stress marks: ACCENTS - These ACCENT marks show to place the stress on the penultimate syllable
8. Result of melted crust: MAGMA.
13. Kind of cable: COAXIAL - Our city is trenching everywhere to replace the old copper COAXIAL cable
14. Little one on a slide: AMOEBA.
16. Make an impression (on): IMPINGE - Flooding definitely did IMPINGE on my golfing last summer
17. Nephrology focus: KIDNEYS - My nephrologist friend Dr. Lund has established his practice on the ground floor of an historical house here in town. He and his family live in the fully remodeled upstairs
19. "Mind your own business": DON'T JUDGE - Walk a mile in their shoes
21. "Immediately!": STAT.
22. Poppycock: PAP.
23. Split between personalities: RIFT - A ten-year RIFT developed between Don and Phil and then they had a reunion concert in England in 1983
26. First woman to land a triple axel in competition: ITO - Regular and slo-mo with Japanese commentary
27. Super Mario __: BROS
29. Back in: RETRO - These are the same shoes I wore when Eisenhower was president except girls wear them now
30. Sponge (up): SOP.
31. Shipbuilder's starting point: KEEL - Laying the KEEL for the Titanic in 1909 in Belfast, Ireland
32. Heckled: JEERED.
33. The Zugspitze, e.g.: ALP - Germany's highest mountain
34. Changed plans at the last second: CALLED AN AUDIBLE - Sid's seed entry. Peyton Manning famously yelled OMAHA before he CALLED AN AUDIBLE
37. Ryder Cup team: USA - Current players for 2020
38. Iberia hub: MADRID - Non-stops out of MADRID
39. Renaissance faire quaff: MEAD - The majority of its fermentable sugar comes from honey
40. "Gentleman" singer: PSY - Korean techno-pop song with a lot of tasteless pranks. Google if you must
41. "Challenge accepted!": IT'S ON.
42. Proving field?: MATH - What we MATH peeps did to get degrees
43. Brita competitor: PUR
44. Defaulter's risk: REPO.
45. A, in the key of D: SOL - Here 'ya go, sing it with me: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, SOL, La, Ti, Do
46. Kind of will: ORAL - It's better in writing
48. Subject in the film "Ghost": AFTER LIFE - A fun movie speculating about the AFTER LIFE
53. Sound measure: DECIBEL - Some claim K.C. Arrowhead Stadium is the loudest NFL stadium at 142.2 DECIBELS
56. Sun-on-skin concern: AGE SPOT - Last Saturday, Michael Wiesenberg had "50. Too much sun, they say: AGER"
57. Warp, e.g.: DEFORM.
58. Zips again, as a Ziploc bag: RESEALS - I prefer the ones with a slide
59. Night lights: STARS.
60. Foe of Stalin: TROTSKY - Stalin's simple solution was to send a member of his secret police to kill TROTSKY who was in exile in Mexico
Down:
Sid's mini-theme: ROCK
1. __ rock: ACID.
45. "Like a Rock" rocker: SEGER - Chevy Truck's anthem
51. __ rock: FOLK - A prime purveyor this genre is next:
8. Repeated phrase in the coda of James Taylor's "Shower the People": MAKE IT RAIN.
2. Perry with five Emmys: COMO - Mellow, non-rocker Perry COMO won five in the late 50's
3. Commander in brief?: CAP'N.
4. It's taken on the way out: EXIT POLL
5. Deadly agents: NINJAS.
6. Prepare to go after a fly: TAG UP - You can TAG UP and try to go after a fly ball is caught but don't do it on Bo Jackson! Bo wags his finger at the guy who tried it!
7. Downhill traveler: SLED.
9. "What __ missing?": AM I.
10. Krishna, e.g.: GOD - All you need to know
11. __ room: MEN'S
12. "We did wager, didn't we?": A BET IS A BET - Derek Jeter paid off a $100 lost bet in pennies
15. Islamic leader: AYATOLLAH Khomeni Some say his hostage taking 18. Prevented: STOPPED Jimmy Carter from being reelected
20. Eco-friendly housetop: GREEN ROOF - University of Nebraska professor Richard Sutton tending his GREEN ROOF in Lincoln
24. Neurologist who redefined "libido" to fit his theories: FREUD Here 'ya go!
25. Broadway barber: TODD - Sweeney TODD
27. "I promise you ... ": BE ASSURED - "You will not have lunchroom duty for more than one year." Yeah, right!
28. Contests with four legs: RELAY RACES - When you're handing off to Usain Bolt for the last leg, you're in pretty good shape
29. What a chiromancer does: READS PALMS - New word for me
31. Single-serve coffee container: K-CUP POD.
32. Singles network logo with a partly outlined Star of David: JDATE - Mazel Tov
35. Islamic leader: EMIR
36. "Ready!": I'M ALL SET
42. Beyond that: MORE SO.
47. Raise: LIFT.
49. Sharp-tasting: TART.
50. Pub orders: IPAS.
52. E-tailer with a "Vintage" category: ETSY - Here 'ya go
54. Feathers on a runway: BOA.
Comments for Sid?
