Saturday Themeless by Beth Rubin and Brad Wilber
Hi Gary,
BRAD: When I connected with Beth, I was excited to be collaborating with another librarian. Lots of common ground emerged between us, and not only were we well-matched in puzzle making, Beth became an empathetic sounding board for pandemic life in general.
BETH: Thank you for inviting us to the L.A. Times Crossword Corner! Originally from New York (where Brad now lives - hg), I am a librarian, crossword constructor, writer, and artist living in Los Angeles. My puzzles have been published by Universal, Crosswords Club, and Spyscape. This is my Los Angeles Times debut and my first themeless.
I was fortunate to connect to Erik Agard and Facebook's Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory community just a few weeks into learning how to construct a puzzle. The guidance and mentorship has been stellar. The generosity, humor and creativity of the crossword community continues to inspire me.
It’s been wonderful learning the basics from someone of Brad’s expertise and lovely getting to know him as well. Thanks to Rich for his excellent edits. Hope that you all enjoy the puzzle!
BRAD: When I connected with Beth, I was excited to be collaborating with another librarian. Lots of common ground emerged between us, and not only were we well-matched in puzzle making, Beth became an empathetic sounding board for pandemic life in general. I gave Beth a starting corner with a seed entry from academia (which I'm keeping under wraps--sorry, themelesses are a cutthroat business!). But when she came back with this beautiful corner with DIPLOMA MILL, I wasn't that interested in doing a collegiate minitheme, so we ditched my corner and re-evaluated. Beth did lots of wonderful experimentation in the middle of the puzzle as we struggled with the joinery of the two stacks of 11s. She brought in the novelist Carl HIAASEN and that proved
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| Checking Out With Beth and Brad |
quite important to a clean, fresh grid fill. Librarians for the win! We really tried to get a whimsical verbal expression in the spot where PILED IT ON is (we may try it again next time we work together), but that had to be shelved.
We ended up being quite proud of our work on the clueing: new takes on MUTTS and ION, ETTU, and SIDE ONE. It's such a pleasure being back in the L.A. Times again! Enjoy…
1. Some chocolate purchases: ASSORTMENTS - If you order from See's Candies you can make your own ASSORTMENT
12. Inflation fig.: PSI - How much air is in your tires?
15. Purveyor of fraudulent credentials: DIPLOMA MILL - An exposé in the St. Louis Star in 1923
´16. Bit of positivity?: ION - a crossword staple
17. Hair, in many cases: DNA EVIDENCE - "Uh, number 3, can we have a word?"
19. Climber's rest stop: LEDGE.
20. Poetic indicator of relative time: ERE.
21. Juice extractor: PRESS.
23. Pasture palindrome: EWE.
24. Wouldn't share: BOGARTED - Named for BOGART, of whom it is said never took a cigarette out of his mouth. It's when marijuana smokers accusing others of not passing around a joint.
24. Wouldn't share: BOGARTED - Named for BOGART, of whom it is said never took a cigarette out of his mouth. It's when marijuana smokers accusing others of not passing around a joint.
26. Imperious dismissal: LEAVE ME.
28. Surfboard damage: DING.
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| Before. and After |
31. Shocked big-time: APPALLED.
34. Official who sings in Hebrew: CANTOR - This movie in all its iterations is about a boy who did not want to be a CANTOR like his father
36. Leverage provider: CROWBAR.
37. Where to find "Octopus's Garden" on "Abbey Road": SIDE ONE.
38. Utah Jazz center Whiteside: HASSAN
39. Ran into trouble: HIT A SNAG - in 1865, the steamboat Bertrand HIT A SNAG in the Missouri River an hour east of me. It was rediscovered one hundred years later and now its cargo is on display in this beautiful museum
40. Shakespearean last gasp: ET TU and 49. When 40-Across was spoken: IDES - Shakespeare 101
41. Neologists: COINERS - People who invent/coin new words like webinar, malware, blogosphere, etc.
43. Zoom frustrations: TIME LAGS - The TV broadcast of Husker FB games is 10 seconds later than the local radio broadcast.
45. __ rule: MOB.
48. Love of collectibles: VIRTU.
50. "__ Kapital": DAS - Marks and Engels 101
51. Succumbed to stage fright: FROZE.
53. Brown or Rice ending: EDU - Brown (brown.EDU) and Rice (rice.EDU) University web sites
54. '90s-'00s HBO series with lots of therapy sessions: THE SOPRANOS - Lorraine Bracco played Dr. Jennifer Melfi who was conflicted in trying to counsel Tony Soprano.
57. Comprehend: GET.
58. Impresario's contact: TALENT AGENT - A TALENT AGENT's job is to hound impresarios (people who put on shows, etc.) to get jobs for their clients
59. Hibachi waste: ASH.
60. Election focuses: SWING STATES - Candidates spend more time in "toss up" states rather than states that are solidly blue or red.
Down:
1. Disorient: ADDLE.
2. Power cord?: SINEW - One use of the SINEW (tendon/ligament) of the Bison was used to make the bowstring to power a bow and arrow
3. Club relative: SPADE - Also hearts and diamonds
4. First name in film designers: OLEG - OLEG Cassini
5. Wander: ROVE.
6. "Eww! Say no more!": TMI.
7. Redesigned: MADE OVER 8. Popped up: EMERGED - A new Lidia EMERGED below
9. Common starting hr.: NINE AM - Not at any job I ever had
10. "I Am Jazz" cable channel: TLC - This reality series focuses on Jazz "Jennings" who was identified as having gender dysphoria and the show follows Jazz's life as a transgender girl
11. Took a day to consider, with "on": SLEPT.
12. Faulted to excess: PILED IT ON - "I heard you the fourth time!"
13. __-chef: SOUS - Literally "under chief/chef". Here are three SOUS Chefs in training.
14. "Need You Tonight" band: INXS - If you'd really like to hear that
22. Dermatological symptom: REDNESS.
24. Yoga asset: BALANCE - I can see that
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Dancers Pose/Natarajasana |
25. Reels off: RECITES - "Fourscore and seven years ago..."
26. Premise in many John Grisham novels: LAWSUIT - Mr. Grisham was named in a LAWSUIT for libel in 2007 for a non-fiction book he wrote.
27. Idris of "The Jungle Book": ELBA.
26. Premise in many John Grisham novels: LAWSUIT - Mr. Grisham was named in a LAWSUIT for libel in 2007 for a non-fiction book he wrote.
27. Idris of "The Jungle Book": ELBA.
29. Actress Gaye of "Ali": NONA.
30. Novelist Iles: GREG.
31. Reason to call a chiropractor: ACHE.
32. Nit, to a Brit: PRAT - and 51. Alpha Phi Alpha, e.g.: FRAT - What would you call a FRAT PRAT?
33. Like a situation in which emotional persuasion trumps factual accuracy: POST TRUTH.
35. Purim month: ADAR.
37. Voice used for "Humpty Dumpty," say: SING SONG.
39. Crime novelist Carl: HIAASEN - I've never heard of Carl but I read a snippet from this fun book that is illustrated by a crossword friend of ours and I might buy it!
42. Yale sobriquet: OLD ELI.
44. Crosses at obedience school?: MUTTS
45. "Rouen Cathedral" painter: MONET - He did over thirty of them
46. Thinning layer: OZONE.
47. Tops: BESTS.
48. Chevy named for a star: VEGA - This lightweight, rear-wheel-drive vehicle would not fare well in the snow we got last night.
52. Sitar sequence: RAGA - A pattern of notes, rhythms, etc. in Indian music
55. Hem partner: HAW - Derivation
56. NBA stat: PTS - Here are the all time leaders. Notice the #1 scorer only made one 3-pointer in his entire career.
FWIW: Today I start my fifth year of writing up the Saturday puzzles for C.C.'s wonderful site. In so doing, I have gained so much knowledge from the puzzles themselves and the wonderful band of bloggers who post here!
