Saturday Themeless by Andy Wang and C.C. Burnikel
C.C. and her brother Andy had a Monday puzzle on July 5th of this year and have followed that up with a Saturday themeless. C.C. last saw her brother in 2002 but keeps in frequent contact with him via WeChat (see some random Chinese screen shots below*). He is a logistics supervisor for an electronic commerce company in Xi'an, China. C.C. said, "We learned English in high school. His spoken English is not good. But his written English is not bad."
C.C. wrote to show me their first puzzle which you see at the left below. She said Rich changed the red area SHEN -> THEN and she and Andy changed the green area SOMEN -> RAMEN. SHEN Yun is returning to Omaha in February and this is SOMEN . We have seen SHEN Yun advertised a lot around here and I think I would have sussed out SOMEN eventually but Rich's changes made things much easier. It seems to me that Rich let some harder words go by in Stella's puzzle of last week but I enjoyed both of them.
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| Andy and C.C.'s submission Rich's edited version |
1. Chinese New Year tradition: LION DANCE - Appropriate
10. They may be inflatable: RAFTS.
15. Over and over and over ...: AD NAUSEAM - Car insurance commercials
16. Plugged in: AWARE.
17. Leads: GOES FIRST - Traffic is stopped for this leader
18. Degas contemporary: MONET - Do you know which is which? You connoisseurs will know but I will put the answer at the bottom **
19. Mel who gave Archie a batting tip in "Field of Dreams": OTT - Here is young Archie Graham batting in the uniform of Mel OTT's Giants.
20. Top choice: FAVE.
21. Called out: YELLED.
22. Momentarily: SOON.
24. Hold in a match: NELSON - It's been around for a quite a while.
26. Like: ALA.
27. "I got this": ON IT - I'm ON IT not It's ON ME
29. Cartoon shopkeeper: APU - The cast of The Simpsons are crossword staples
30. Help on the job: ABET.
31. "What a relief!": THAT WAS CLOSE - but he kept taking pictures!
27. "I got this": ON IT - I'm ON IT not It's ON ME
29. Cartoon shopkeeper: APU - The cast of The Simpsons are crossword staples
30. Help on the job: ABET.
31. "What a relief!": THAT WAS CLOSE - but he kept taking pictures!
35. __ Slam: tennis coup: SERENA - SERENA Williams has twice held all four major tennis championships but not in the same calendar year.
37. Puts on again: REAIRS - It cost Netflix $500,000,000 to REAIR these episodes
38. Product whose proteins are aligned in manufacturing: STRING CHEESE - New to me but easy to fill
40. Bust maker: NARC - Oh, bust as in arrest
41. Scrape (out): EKE - You just 42. Recognize: KNOW EKE will show up often in cwds
45. Before now: AGO.
46. 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup champions: FLYERS.
49. Korean jjigae, e.g.: STEW - A Korean stew usually served from a communal pot Pronounciation
51. Where Alexander the Great overthrew Darius III: PERSIA.
53. Thailand neighbor: LAOS.
55. Stick in the water: OAR - as opposed to being a "stick in the mud". Fun!
56. Plant from the Greek for "flame": PHLOX - Word derivation
59. Free: LOOSE.
60. Cloud content: DATA FILES - My DATA FILES are saved on iCloud
61. Convenient breakfast choice: EGGOS.
62. Complex unit: APARTMENT.
Down:
1. Nigerian National Museum site: LAGOS.
2. "Same here!": I DO TOO.
3. Pickup capacity: ONE TON.
4. Rapper who co-founded Mass Appeal Records: NAS - Google if you must
5. Rear end: DUFF - Hillary DUFF and her...
6. Georgian, e.g.: ASIAN - A state that really doesn't give a hoot that the Atlanta Braves won the World Series
7. __ ending: NERVE.
8. Basis for legal precedent: CASE LAW - Case law is law that is based on judicial decisions rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. A famous one:
9. CPR pro: EMT.
10. Budget noodle dish: RAMEN - As you read, Andy and C.C. replaced SOMEN with RAMEN and altered the corner
11. Nowhere to be seen: AWOL.
12. Creative works by devoted followers: FAN LABOR.
13. Like steppes, mostly: TREELESS - What is now downtown Lincoln, Nebraska in 1868, long before Arbor Day
14. It's fixed: SET DATE - My granddaughter's wedding day was a SET DATE and then Covid hit...
21. "Here's the thing ... ": YOU SEE.
23. Kind of acid: NITRIC - NITRIC acid can react with toluene to form a familiar crossword substance
21. "Here's the thing ... ": YOU SEE.
23. Kind of acid: NITRIC - NITRIC acid can react with toluene to form a familiar crossword substance
25. Alley pickup: SPARE - Boomer prefers "lane" to "alley"
28. In that case: THEN - Rich took issue with SHEN and redid this area
30. Scary 1986 sequel: ALIENS - A sequel to 1979's Alien
32. "Women, Race & Class" author Davis: ANGELA - I also remember her famous hairdo that we see frequently in crosswords
33. In poor taste: TACKY.
34. Brewery sight: CASK.
35. Improv spotlight usurper: STAGE HOG - Many say Jerry Lewis was a big one
35. Improv spotlight usurper: STAGE HOG - Many say Jerry Lewis was a big one
36. Techie's diagnostic list: ERROR LOG - I called Spectrum with a problem getting a picture on my MacBook. I took a screen shot of the ERROR message I was getting and we worked it out.
38. "Made from the Best Stuff on Earth" drink brand: SNAPPLE.
39. Shoe lift: HEEL TAP.
43. "Becket" star: OTOOLE.
38. "Made from the Best Stuff on Earth" drink brand: SNAPPLE.
39. Shoe lift: HEEL TAP.
43. "Becket" star: OTOOLE.
44. Sap: WEAKEN.
46. Tight spots: FIXES.
47. Follower of Jah: RASTA - Jah is the Rastafarian name for God
48. Sub system: SONAR.
50. Yank: WREST - Football tacklers are always looking to yank/WREST the ball away from the ball carrier
52. Fair: SO SO.
54. Like silken tofu: SOFT.
57. Civil rights pioneer __ B. Wells: IDA - Listen to her speech
58. "Mad Money" host Cramer: JIM - On his Daily Show, Jon Stewart aggressively scolded JIM Cramer for giving lousy investment advice during the 2008 mortgage crisis on his show Mad Money
*Screen shots of WeChat in Chinese
** Degas is on the right
Notes from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to Big Easy (George)! Here he is with his wife Diane, the Louisiana
Tennis Hall of Famer.
