Saturday Themeless by Matthew Sewell
Hello Gary,
Thanks for inviting me to send some comments on this puzzle. My chief memory of its construction is of torturing myself over the SE; looking at my files, I see six different versions of that section (and those are just the ones I felt worth saving for consideration), each with its own balance of pros and cons. In a perverse way, that sifting process -- going through scores of options to find the one that's just marginally better than the rest -- is a part of the craft that I really enjoy. Or at least I figure I *must* enjoy it, because I keep doing it! The puzzles I most admire are the ones where you can tell that the constructor never settled for 'good enough,' and that's what I strive for in my own. I hope solvers enjoy this one.
I'm grateful to Rich and the editing team for their improvements. Wish I'd thought of that clue for 56 Across!
Matt
Matt and I were on the same wavelength as I kept up a very good 61. Clip: PACE and finished in record time for a Saturday.
1. From __: faintly: AFAR.
5. Demanding quality: RIGOR - Talk about requiring RIGOR
10. Yamaha's Grizzly and Kodiak, briefly: ATVS - Here's a $10,000 Grizzly
14. Francis used a Jeep Wrangler as one in 2015: POPE MOBILE.
16. Creep up on: NEAR.
17. Distortion for a cause: PROPAGANDA - Goebbels was a master at it
19. Cloud-based access provider?: ST PETER - In the song Sixteen Tons Tennessee Ernie Ford sang, "SAINT PETER doncha call me cause I can't go. I owe my soul to the company store"
20. Silver Spring, Md., is part of it: DC AREA - It's a half-hour drive north of the Washington Monument
22. Places to learn perspective: ART SCHOOLS - I remember my art teacher showing how Brunelleschi made a drawing of the Dumo in Florence with perspective
25. "Given what we know ... ": AS IT IS.
28. Likely to carry: LOUD
28. Likely to carry: LOUD
29. Sanctions: OKS - Sanctions is a contronym because it can also mean to not OK
32. Its co-founder said, "I do get disappointed that so many members spend so much time solving puzzles": MENSA - Cool clue
33. French toast word: SANTE.
34. Dandy: FOP.
35. Irregular, as a job: ODD - ODD Job was Auric Goldfinger's servant
35. Irregular, as a job: ODD - ODD Job was Auric Goldfinger's servant
36. Most provocative: RACIEST.
38. Unsettle: JAR.
39. Backpacker's chain: REI - Recreational Equipment Incorporated will sell you this Rooftop Sparrow for 3,000 40. Bucks: CLAMS
43. Often eponymous period: ERA - Baseball had a "Dead Ball ERA" from 1900 - 1919 where the ball was much softer and one ball lasted the whole game. Then along came this guy named Ruth...
44. Engage: HIRE.
45. Feign interest in: PLAY AT - Joann watching TV golf with me
46. Pick-up artists?: NEAT FREAKS - Oscar got so mad at NEAT FREAK Felix he threw his pasta against the wall
49. Dish from Valencian for "frying pan": PAELLA Here ya go!
51. To whom Brando said, "I coulda been a contender": STEIGER - Rod
55. Longtime morning host: RIPA.
56. One of several coming out together: LITTER MATE - How's this for a box 'o cute?
59. Fix, in a way: EDIT.
60. Arch supports: INNER SOLES - These $9 Wal~Mart INNER SOLES got rid of my plantar fasciitis just as well as the $50 pair a physical therapy place sold me
62. Gets in the game: ANTES - Wednesday ANTE was clued as "Stud fee"
63. Sprawling: VAST - Boeing's assembly plant north of Seattle is the largest building on Earth. Workers use bicycles to get around
Down:
1. Cell lineup: APPS - I have a great, free golf APP on my iPhone cell
2. Stronghold: FORT.
3. Per: A POP - Mother-in-law's Eliquis costs $500 A POP. She has to pay for the first scrip every January
4. Wins again: REPEATS - Not so for the KC Chiefs
5. Writer's resource: ROGETS - Really, you can't think of another adjective for this overworked word?
6. Bridge beams: I-BARS - A condensed I-BEAM
7. Negroni need: GIN and...
8. Worn out: OLD.
9. Screen displays: READOUTS - When the service module on Apollo 13 blew up 200,000 miles from Earth, the NASA flight controllers couldn't believe their READOUTS showing triple failures
10. Year's record: ANNAL - Tom Brady, shown here with 11. Emotional oxymoron: TEARS OF JOY, will go down in the ANNALs of football history as the Greatest Of All Time.
12. Pottery wheel product: VASE - Name this movie (*answer below)
13. Mex. title: SRTA.
15. Like Amazonian society: MATRIARCHAL - China's last surviving MATRIARCHAL society
23. Certain horse race: CLAIMER - Races for second line horses
24. Tweaks: HONES - What a blogger does before they post
25. It may lead to un matrimonio: AMORE - Italian for matrimony. "Quando la luna incontra i tuoi occhi come un grande pezzo di pizza, questo è AMORE" (When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's AMORE)
26. Ritual Jewish feast: SEDER - A common feast for us crossworders to fill in
27. The Mahabharata, e.g.: INDIAN EPIC - It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kaurava and the Pāṇḍava princes and their successors. Oh, that Mahabharata!
31. Sail-extending pole: SPRIT.
33. Red Baron attire, Snoopy-style: SCARF.
37. Carrier to Malta: ALITALIA.
37. Carrier to Malta: ALITALIA.
42. 1994 sci-fi memoir: I ASIMOV - A clever play on his first initial
48. Cosmetic counter name: ESTEE.
49. Make ready: PREP - Lee Marvin's famous scene as Kid Shelleen
50. Musical with the song "Another Pyramid": AIDA - Here ya go!
52. Bash: GALA.
53. Seine summers: ETES - Any guesses on what classic song would have this first line in French: L'ETE et la vie est facile? **Answer below
53. Seine summers: ETES - Any guesses on what classic song would have this first line in French: L'ETE et la vie est facile? **Answer below
54. Catch one's breath: REST.
57. Overnight spot: INN.
58. March Madness network: TNT - The NCAA knows that betting on the March Madness basketball tournament is essentially illegal but they love how it drives the TV ratings.
58. March Madness network: TNT - The NCAA knows that betting on the March Madness basketball tournament is essentially illegal but they love how it drives the TV ratings.
* Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze are the potters in the movie Ghost
** Summer time and the living is easy
