Saturday, September 4, 2021, Kyle Dolan

 Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan

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We last saw Kyle on Boxing Day at his British Consulate (12/26/2010) and not only does he have a fine puzzle for us today, he has included a new picture! Now once again Kyle has supplied a Saturday themeless challenge for us. I struggled in the NW corner and had an issue spelling PATISSERIE. Other spots were an issue too but the long fills took care of those concerns.

Here are Kyle's comments:

Hi Gary,

Good to hear from you and I hope all's well. Notes for this puzzle below:

This is my 13th LA Times themeless puzzle. I began construction on themeless grids seeded with QUANTUM COMPUTER in September 2020, working through several iterations of various fills and black square arrangements. My fourth grid is the one I ultimately submitted to Rich, in November 2020. Rich liked the puzzle but asked for some changes in the fill in the NE corner, which originally included the iffy entry LALOPHOBIA (I felt I had to put in a graphic for this word I did not know but that Kyle said he came across somewhere - HG)

as well as CORPSE POSE  which he (Rich) felt, though valid (it's a yoga term) was a bit too dark (Rich must have relented because C.C. used CORPSE POSE two weeks ago. Kyle later wrote to say Rich must have allowed it in C.C.'s cluing but not in his fill- HG ).  The puzzle you see is my revised grid. Rich also kept about 50 of my original clues as is or with minor changes, including a couple of my favorites: ASTOR Piazzolla, the EGGO/Kellogg's letter bank clue, LYCRA for Olympic champion swimmer Katie Ledecky, and the trickier clues for DEER and MESS. 

--

Best,

Kyle

Across:

1. "Yours truly" alternative: BEST.

5. Impulsively: HALF COCKED.

15. They may not want to run into each other: EXES 

16. It's 60 in the current Congress: AVERAGE AGE.

17. What Sicilians call "Muncibeddu": ETNA - Mount Etna (Aetna in Latin, also known as Muncibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello in Italian, a combination of Latin mons and Arabic gibel, both meaning mountain) is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania.

18. Flaunted one's wealth, perhaps: LIVED LARGE.

19. __ Angelico: Renaissance artist: FRA 

The Annunciation - 1440

20. Karaoke selection: OLDIE.

21. Tango composer __ Piazzolla: ASTOR - Saturday cluing by Kyle

22. The Ig Nobel Prize, e.g.: SATIRE - 2020 Winners

24. Time for cuts: SALE.

26. NBA's Nikola Jokic, e.g.: SERB - Никола такође игра за Денвер Нуггетс у НБА (Nikola also plays for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA)

27. Parting of the Pacific: ALOHA - Clever - what one might say when parting Hilo or Kona

29. Spitz toy, briefly: POM - The word "toy" should set off your crossword spidey sense that a dog is being referenced

32. "__ say ... ": DARE I that 33. Lovett with Grammys: LYLE with Julia was a mystery

34. One-liner: JAPE - Yeah, I was the only one who put JOKE...

35. It calculates using qubits: QUANTUM COMPUTER - Here ya go

38. Latin "behold": ECCE - Antonio Ciseri - circa 1860

ECCE Homo - Behold The Man

40. Array with two guards, in football lingo: O-LINE - Offensive LINE

41. Dead end?: DEE - DEE is the end of DEAD as well as END

42. "Oh, no!": SO SAD.

43. Loving touch: KISS.

44. Suggestion: HINT.

A HINT Of Autumn

45. Coming attraction, say: TEASER- Sometimes it contains the only funny scene in the movie

47. Voiced: ALOUD.

50. Tries out: DEMOS.

53. L.A. to Palm Springs dir.: ESE.

54. Resulted in fighting: BOILED OVER.

56. Have on the run: GRAB.

57. One using a lot of hot air: BALLOONIST - Kids always had trouble accepting the fact that the flame pushes something out of the balloon (hot air) and does not put something in it.`

58. Freezing fog consequence: RIME.

59. Request for more input: ANYONE ELSE.

60. Stagger: REEL 

Down:

1. Grievances: BEEFS.

2. Pizzeria request: EXTRA SAUCE - Turns out that the adjective was not a proper noun 

3. Biannual political event: SENATE RACE - Approximately 1/3 of the SENATE has to stand for election every two years.

4. Agts. outside gates: TSA.

5. Berry with awards: HALLE - Her IMDB

6. Way more than casual: AVID.

7. "The Periodic Table" author Primo __: LEVI - In his native Italian 

8. Climbed without ropes or harness: FREE SOLOED - It's just the climber, the mountain and gravity 

9. Despicable one: CAD.

10. Lakota tribe: OGLALA - The most famous member of the OGLALA band of the Lakota Sioux Nation

11. Stop: CEASE.

12. Small racer: KART.

13. Kellogg's brand that can be spelled from "Kellogg's": EGGO and 56. "I'm losing it!": GRR.

                   

14. Fawning parents?: DEER.

20. Realm of influence: ORBIT - These countries were once said to be Soviet satellites or in the Soviet ORBIT of influence

23. She outwitted Sherlock: IRENE.

25. "I'm standing right here": AHEM.

27. Close to getting through: ALMOST DONE.

28. Material for Katie Ledecky: LYCRA.

29. 45-Down seller: PATISSERIE and 45. Fancy cake: TORTE. Is 29 Down used in American spelling bees?

30. Kool & the Gang hit with the repeated line, "Get down with the genie": OPEN SESAME.

31. Trifling: MERE.

32. Barred from further rounds, briefly: DQ ED - The girl in Lane 6 started too soon which got her DisQualifiED. In trying to stop herself she also did a face plant. 

34. Child cooking: JULIA - JULIA Child 

36. Part of some riverside toponyms: UPON - Besides being the birthplace of Shakespeare, it appears that Stratford-UPON-Avon has a golf course. (Toponym is a name of a place)

37. Facebook attention-getters: POKES.

42. Not face-to-face, in a way: SIDE ON - Tim Tebow's (#85) pathetic SIDE ON block helped get him cut from the Jacksonville Jaguars.

44. Brit's greeting: HULLO - or 'ELLO

46. Defy authority: REBEL - A REB el can re BEL

47. 1974 Eurovision champion: ABBA - Could I have ABBA in a puzzle and not play a video? Not likely! Here is the song for which they won the 1974 Eurovision Competition.

48. Library offering: LOAN.

49. Full of smarm: OILY - In My Fair Lady, Henry Higgins sang of Zoltan Karpathian: "Oozing charm from every 39. Sweat spot: PORE. He oiled his way around the floor"

51. No good: EVIL.

52. Private dining room: MESS - Also used by corporals, sergeants, et al (#6 below)

55. Female rabbit: DOE.