Saturday, December 19, 2020, Brian Paquin

 Saturday Themeless by Brian E. Paquin

Here's another fun puzzle from our great cadre of Canadian constructors. Today Brian Paquin, who lives on the north shores of Lake Ontario in Kingston, Ontario, provides a fun and challenging puzzle. He graciously shared these thoughts:

Hi again Gary,

I think that this is one of the cleanest grids that I've ever produced.   I kind of like the long entries, especially 5D AMENTOTHAT and 42A TIPPYTOES. Of the not-so-long entries, 11D BROHUGS and 38D AMILATE are kind of sparkly, I think.

There are more black squares and cheaters than I normally use in a themeless, but there is nothing especially obscure to be found in the grid.    

41A SAMI is tough: I had it clued as "___-Am" from Dr. Seuss, but that might be too much of a gimme.  I managed to avoid everything from my list 

of dreaded tiresome entries, like AREA, EKE, ONO, etc.  You know the ones.

I didn't remember that 30D TROI was partially 31D TELEPATHIC, so that was a good catch by the editors.

In terms of stats: Of the 68 entries, 27 of the clues were changed significantly, so about 60% of mine survived (16 exactly the same, 25 fairly close). The only new clue that I found to be strange was for 45D EATEN ("Taken in").  It didn't quite click with me, but I will be interested to hear what others thought of it.

I hope that everyone will have a good holiday season.  Let's hope that the next one will be back to normal!

Brian

Across:

1. Kitten cry: MEWL - I don't know when a kitten's MEWL turns into 

a cat's MEOW

5. Top-notch: A-PLUS.

10. "Fawlty Towers" network: BBC - A hilarious vehicle for John Cleese, et al

13. Not a brick-and-mortar operation: E-SHOP 

15. Squirrel's pal, to Boris: MOOSE and 22. Boris' sidekick: NATASHA.

16. Mess up: ERR.

17. Cone topper: SCOOP 

18. Send: ELATE - Here's some ear candy for your Saturday using this 50's slang! 

19. Surname suggesting anonymity: DOE.

20. Ride __: SHOTGUN - Below is the genesis of that phrase. I rode SHOTGUN (sat in the front passenger seat) many times but never with a firearm    

24. Agent taking a cut?: REPresenative 

25. '70s-'80s televangelist show "The __ Club": PTL - They had a lot of 'splainin' to do when they got charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud with their Praise The Lord Ministries

27. Disgust: ODIUM - See above

28. Endures anxiously: SWEATS OUT - Might make you 32. Not at all cool: EDGY.

33. Assets of KFC and Coca-Cola, e.g.: SECRET RECIPES

36. Relentlessly: TO THE LAST - Prepare to be moved

37. Classic '60s hit that mentions a roller coaster: PALISADES PARK - A hit for Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon 

41. Nordic language: SAMI.

42. Much ballet dancing is done on them: TIPPY TOES - This lovely seasonal music is from my favorite ballet, ok, the only I've ever seen but the music - это так красиво (it is so beautiful)

44. Kid's transport: TRIKE.

46. Inverness objection: NAE - The Loch Ness is just SW of Inverness, Scotland. I suspect if you asked most residents if they have 48. As a minimum: AT LEAST seen the monster, they would reply, "NAE!"

47. White or Black: SEA.

 

51. Upper arm muscle: TRICEPS - Biceps flex the lower arm and the TRICEPS extend it

54. Genetic messenger: RNA - Messenger in the clue signals RNA not DNA

55. Tusk, in fact: TOOTH.

57. Has status: RATES - "Hey, how do you RATE going first?"

58. Examine carefully: VET - Failure to VET an prospective employee or candidate can lead to real embarrassment  

59. Same old same old feeling: ENNUI - L'ennui by Mireille Potvin. I wonder if our art curator Jeffrey Wechsler is familiar with this piece.

60. __ nous: ENTRE - S'il vous plaît, gardez cette histoire ENTRE nous (Please keep this story between us)

61. "... __ the set of sun": "Macbeth": ERE - "Receiveth out of Stratford On Avon ERE the set of the sun" said Shire Reeve Bill. 😊

62. '90s-'00s band with a star in its logo: NSYNC.

63. Hardy girl: TESS - Thomas Hardy's TESS of the d'Urbervilles Read a squashed version in 50 minutes

                                    
Down:

1. Mr. and Mr.: MESSRS - An 1917 ad for a Standard Dictionary by MESSRS Funk and Wagnalls 

2. Shuns: ESCHEWS.

3. "Yay!": WHOOPEE - The Newlywed Game changed the sense of the word

4. Haul: LOOT - Not the verb but the noun

5. "I couldn't agree more": AMEN TO THAT.

6. Campaign pro: POL - "I have had my fill of campaigns!" See fill above!

7. Grant alternative: LOAN.

8. Court org.: USTA.

9. Address: SEE TO - or...

10. __ manner: BEDSIDE.

11. Guy greetings: BROHUGS.

12. Like bisque: CREAMY 

Lobser Bisque

14. NBA scoring stat: PPG.

21. Riles: UPSETS.

23. Able to do well: ADEPT AT.

26. Cleverly attracted: LURED IN.

29. Do an impersonation of: ACT LIKE.

30. Half-Betazoid aboard the Enterprise: TROI and 31. Like 30-Down, to an extent: TELEPATHIC - Listed sixth on her card

34. Wyoming's "Oil City": CASPER.

35. Guessing game for a road trip: I SPY with my little eye a black and white car with a flashing red light coming up quickly behind us. Any guesses?

37. Associate: PARTNER.

38. Comment from one hurrying in: AM I LATE - Couldn't resist this 2020 school cartoon 

39. Floral cake decoration: ROSETTE - Wow!

40. Fish that measure up: KEEPERS.

41. Fast to the extreme: STARVE - I told Brian I struggled with this until I finally saw Fast as "not eating".

43. Acts smart with: SASSES.

45. Taken in: EATEN - I wasn't taken in by the alternate meaning of this phrase.

49. Word in family business names: SONS - The Don's SONS went into the family business 

50. One of Tommy Tune's ten: TONY - He has won TONY awards for acting, directing, choreography and lifetime achievement. Yes, that's his real name, he was born Thomas James Tune in Wichita Falls, TX.

52. Steam: IRE.

53. Is unable to: CAN'T.

56. Vineyard vessel: TUN - As you can clearly see, a TUN is equal to four Hogsheads or 252 gallons