Saturday, November 6, 2021, Stella Zawistowski

 Saturday Themeless by Stella Zawistowski 

Those of you who are familiar with our Renaissance woman, Stella, should recognize the flavor of her diverse puzzles. Here are her comments:

It shouldn't be too hard to guess one of my two seeds: DEADLIFT, which is the lift I'm performing in my Twitter profile photo (@stellaphone) (shown below). That is 325 pounds I had just pulled in the photo! Unfortunately lack of access to gyms during NYC lockdowns means I've lost a lot of posterior chain strength and would not be able to pull even close to that today, but it remains one of the achievements I'm proudest of. The other seed for this themeless was BRUNOISE, because I enjoy cooking very much.

 

If you look at the two red cells in the puzzle, you will see where I failed. If you knew that music term, that cooking term and Julie DELPY, you're a better man than I am, Charlie Brown! No matter how long I stared, I could not come with any fill for those cells. I still had fun and appreciate the uniqueness that Stella brings to our puzzles as I have not been vaccinated against learning. 😊

Across:

1. A little of this, a little of that: GRAB BAG - Stella's trademark

8. Common packing list item: ADAPTER - The rest of the world plugs in differently

15. Transpose: REVERSE - When I want to sing a song in a different key, I transpose the music to guitar chords that are more to my liking using this iPhone app. Changing but not REVERSING them.

16. Italian music festival city that inspired Eurovision: SAN REMO.

17. Twist expert?: IRONIST - When I think of IRONY experts,  O. Henry and  his Gift Of The Magi spring to my mind. You?

18. Gets off the fence: CHOOSES and 6. Buridan's __: philosophical paradox: ASS - More learning for your humble reviewer 

19. Gets down?: LANDS - An Apollo capsule LANDS but not on, uh,  land

20. Expert: ACE.

22. Votre et ma: NOTRE - From my granddaughter: Votre et ma classe de Français est très interessant (Yours and my French class is very interesting) and NOTRE professeur explique la grammaire tres bien. (Our professor explains grammar very well.) 

23. She's Frankie on "Grace and Frankie": LILY - Jane Fonda and LILY Tomlin

24. Shepard and Bean: ALANS - They are the first and third moonwalkers in the second row of this poster

26. Don't stay in one place: FLIT.

27. Jargon suffix: ESE - We often speak CROSSWORDESE here

28. Dazzled: BLINDED.

30. QB effort: ATT - NFL Pass ATTEMPT leaders

31. Weight training exercise: DEAD LIFT - The lift Stella is doing at the first of this writeup and a seed entry for her

33. Oil-rich peninsula: ARABIA.

35. Hardly symbiotic: DOG EAT DOG - Every woman for herself

37. Financier Edward Francis __: HUTTON - Their classic commercial 

40. Culinary knife cut producing tiny cubes: BRUNOISE - New to me and another seed entry for Stella. I thought of Julienne but that would only be the first step.

44. Repulsed reaction: UGH - Adrian Johnson had GAH last Saturday    

45. Stray: DEVIATE.

47. Snow: CON 

48. Snow traveler: SLED.

50. Julie of the "Before" film trilogy: DELPY - No chance for me

51. Half up front?: HEMI - HEMI "up front" in a word means half

52. Spent: TIRED.

54. Act for, for short: REP - I substitute for teachers and am a SUB for short

55. Material for "Suits": CASES - These TV lawyers have CASES. (Suits is capitalized and in quotes)

56. Current with the wind: LEE TIDE - A tide that is moving in the same direction as the wind which can be dangerous for small craft

58. "How stupid of me!": I'M A FOOL.

60. Magazine that annually runs the Black Women in Hollywood Awards: ESSENCE.

61. Last of eight: NEPTUNE - Sorry Pluto

62. Pick a fight: START IN.

63. Unceremoniously dropped nowadays: GHOSTED or 41. Treats in an unfriendly way: ICES OUT.

Down:

1. More than just questioned: GRILLED - Gibbs' specialty at NCIS

2. Bold poker move: RERAISE.

3. Fictional Prince Edward Island community: AVONLEA.

4. __ straw: BENDY - Its invention was in 1947

5. Ritual for some eight-day-olds: BRIS - No image from me for this Jewish ritual 

7. "Surely you can do better things with your time!": GET A LIFE.

8. Rise: ASCEND.

9. Code word: DAH - Gary in Morse code is DAH-DAH-DIT   DIT-DAH   DIT-DAH-DIT   DAH-DIT-DAH-DAH

10. Sans attribution, for short: ANON.

11. Jury swayer: PROOF - Perry Mason often waited until the very end of the trial

12. Destination of many a tube: TEST LAB.

13. Honored retirees: EMERITI - Indiana University has a house for EMERITI, retired faculty, so they can keep in touch with the university and provide their many talents as a resource

14. Stone home: ROSETTA - It was found near ROSETTA, Egypt

21. Singingly, in music: CANTABILE - More learning for this blogger

24. Joined (with): ALIGNED -  or not

25. Navy tour, e.g.: SEA DUTY.

28. Vein flower: BLOOD - Stella didn't get me on this where a flower is something that flows and not a plant 

29. Spy in the air, maybe: DRONE - Here is an eight minute narrated DRONE flight over my golf course. 

32. EPA-banned insecticide: DDT.

34. Long tail?: AGO - It was long AGO that Husker football was great 

36. Blocking the escape routes of: TRAPPING - TRAPPING is also done in football. In this picture, #90 in white is allowed through and then trap blocked by #77 in maroon so he can't escape

37. "Side" jobs: HUSTLES - Starting teachers sometimes have/need the "side HUSTLE" of tutoring

38. Most frightful: UGLIEST.

39. "Long Island Medium" star __ Caputo: THERESA.

42. Unspecified soul: SOMEONE.

43. Isolated, in a way: ENISLED - Napoleon was ENISLED on Elba 

46. "Pippin" Tony winner: VEREEN.

49. Turn aside: DETER.

51. Sword handles: HAFTS - Not HILTS it seems

53. Force: DINT - Online discussion went between answer (A) and (D)

55. The "C" in the musical instruction "D.C. al fine": CAPO - Repeat from the beginning (CAPO/head) to to finish (FINE/end).

57. 601, to Virgil: DCI - Crossword solving is greatly facilitated by knowledge of Roman numerals 

59. Unenthusiastic review: MEH - Never on a Stella puzzle!