Saturday, February 19, 2022, Evan Kalish

 Themeless Saturday by Evan Kalish

I had to walk away several times to get this one to unfold corner by corner. I'll tell you where I struggled as I go through the write-up. Here are Evan's generous comments:

Hey Gary, 

When I first developed this puzzle in May 2020 I thought this grid was a great for developing interesting—and intersecting—stacks. The seed was the final across entry (clued as: [A masterpiece!]), which was a fairly novel entry at the time and, in my mind, perfectly placed. I always try to incorporate as many unique answers as possible in my themeless grids without sacrificing fill quality. While this 66-word grid meant I couldn’t include as many novel entries from my personal word list as I might like, I was pleased by XWord Info's Freshness Factor analysis of the grid!Clue-wise I was pleased that my proposals for COMING OUT, MOUNT SINAI, and EMPTY NESTS made the cut. Re: the latter, while I’m not a parent I’ve found that I often try to incorporate some aspect of the parenting experience into my cluing. I was a bit sad that a couple of my other angles didn’t make the cut, but that comes with the territory. Rejected clues included:

— Figures considered nobility in “Flatland” (OCTAGONS)

— Sources of unattended towels, to some hotel "souvenir” seekers (POOL AREAS)

— Occasions for some high-profile appearances? (BAD HAIR DAYS)

Finally, I liked the mirroring clues of BLEH and ICK, as well as the reference to “Arrival” for ETs.

Thank you for all for solving. I hope you enjoyed the puzzle!

Evan

As many of you will remember, Evan's hobby is collecting photos of post office around the country and he has visited over 10,000 of them. Here's his website: Postlandia. 

CBS recently did a CBS Morning piece of disappearing post offices which included a lovely interview with Evan.

Answer

Across:

1. Store sign words suggesting longevity: OPEN SINCE - This clothing store in our town just closed last December after having been OPEN SINCE 1925.

10. Confess: OWN UP.

15. Ellen Morgan's revelation in a 1997 episode of "Ellen," e.g.: COMING OUT - Hilariously!

16. Awesome relative: NEATO - NEATO seems a little less emotional and more dated than the much-overused Awesome

17. The blue ribbon: TOP HONORS - Not always

18. Activation key: ENTER.

19. Genre qualifier: ALT - My dad and his brothers loved Country Music growing up. ALTernate Country of today would not work for them

20. New __: drink that made a comeback in 2019: COKE - It was reintroduced in limited quantities to support its use in the Netflix series Stranger Things

21. Chem class measuring technique: PH TEST - New Coke has a pH of approximately 2.5

22. New Orleans' Cafe Lafitte in Exile is one of the oldest of these still operating: GAY BARS.

24. Fiddler, for one: CRAB.

25. Baroque: ORNATE - GILDED? Nope.

26. Aleichem who created Tevye: SHOLEM - Aleichem SHOLEM's stories of Tevye And His Daughters formed the basis for the very successful play and film Fiddler On The Roof. More background

28. Obligations: NEEDS.

29. Surpass by skipping: LEAP FROG 

31. Badge holder: SASH.

He has all 135 Merit Badges

32. Sheds: MOLTS.

33. Bottom lines, often: SUMS - The SUM for our 55th anniversary dinner Thursday night was $91 with no appetizers and a free dessert

35. Big parks: STADIUMS.

37. Apt rhyme for "cents": PENCE - A British PENCE = $0.0138

38. Time out: SIESTA.

39. Role played by a sufferer, maybe: MARTYR.

40. "Phooey!": RATS

41. Adds to the cost of: MARKS UP.

42. Hardly lasting: SHODDY - A SHODDY Nebraska soddy. 

45. Paycheck signer: BOSS.

46. #34, familiarly: IKE - Between HST and JFK

47. Notes featuring Atatürk: LIRAS - This drove me crazy until it dawned on me.

200 Turkish LIRA is about $14.80

48. Threaten to isolate: CLOSE IN ON.

50. Terse farewell: OK BYE 

51. Drying agent: DESICCANT.

52. Thompson of "Westworld": TESSA.

53. Satisfied cook's gesture: CHEF'S KISS 

Taylor must have really
liked something

Down:

1. Stop signs, usually: OCTAGONS.

Even in Montreal
and Paris

2. Places where you might see butterflies: POOL AREAS - Oh, that butterfly!

3. Sources of some college-years woes: EMPTY NESTS - Oh, from the parent's point of view. 

4. Bethesda research org.: NIH and 48. Org. in much recent news: CDC are searching for a 8. Solution: CURE for Covid

5. Arctic travelers: SNOCATS.

6. Mute, say: IGNORE - Find it

7. Secluded spots: NOOKS.

9. Arrivals in "Arrival" (2016): ETS - Can Professor Louise Banks communicate with the ETS and save the world?

10. Fair share, at times: ONE HALF.

11. Wigged out: WENT BERSERK.

12. "Mom" actor Corddry: NATE - His IMDB

13. Colorado tribe: UTES - Were they all underage?

14. Left on a liner: PORT - Not starboard

21. Respect, in slang: PROPS - Proper respect

23. Personal management problems: BAD HAIR DAYS 

24. Text exchanges, say: CHATS 

26. Film that ends with a King's speech: SELMA.

27. Big name in tablets?: MOUNT SINAI - Oh, those tablets! No electronics or pills.

29. Big lugs: LOUTS.

30. Chevy Tahoe counterparts: GMC YUKONS - They're both huge

32. Like eyes betraying nostalgia: MISTY.

34. Caduceus pair: SERPENTS - Hawkeye hardly ever wore his

36. Israeli border lake: DEAD SEA.

37. Interstellar measures: PARSECS - What is a PARSEC?

39. Mountain formation: MASSIF - What is a MASSIF?

41. Bullwinkle J. __: MOOSE - Best friend of Rocket J. Squirrel

42. __ car: toy racer: SLOT - A SLOT for every car and every car in its SLOT

43. Raise: HIKE 

44. Travelers in distant circles: ORBS - We are finding out that some of those distant travelers are Earth-like ORBS going around distant suns. 

45. "Keep that away from me!": BLEH.

49. "Keep that away from me!": ICK.