Saturday Themeless by Adrian Johnson
This is AJ's fourth solo themeless I have blogged and it was a delight to solve. Our Minnesota native is now doing great work for a startup group called BetterFi who are engaged in rural Tennessee helping residents with payday loan problems. Very cool!
Nice to hear from you again. I first filled this puzzle a little more than a year and a half ago, in September 2020. It was one of the first solo themeless grids I’ve ever put together. The thought process behind this one was simple, because I love pinwheel designs and wanted to make an aesthetically pleasing grid to challenge myself and see how well I could fill it. My favorite entry is GO NUCLEAR at 1A, a fortuitous, rather than intentional, find since the top was not where I began writing this puzzle. From there, the rest of the pinwheel you see here came to life . Once people are done with this one, I hope you check out the universal crossword freestyle that’s out today, also by me :)
Thanks for your time,
Adrian
1. Lose it: GO NUCLEAR - This was my first thought but, as it turned out, twenty minutes later it was my last fill
10. Malleable: BENDY.
15. One of two in a historic 1869 Utah meeting: IRON HORSE - One of them was from the U.P.'s eastern terminus of Omaha
16. Desensitize: INURE.
17. Coloring of some papers?: MEDIA BIAS - Mere facts take too little time, so BIASED yammering fills the rest of the 24-hr news cycle
18. Former birds only found on Mauritius: DODOS.
20. In this way: THUS - Booth may or may not have said this motto of the State of Virginia on that night in 1865
22. French military cap: KEPI.
23. Projection, e.g.: Abbr.: EST - A projection can be called an ESTimate
24. Fancy, in slang: PRIMO.
25. One-named fashion icon: IMAN - She frequently sashays across crossword runways
26. Lunar dark spot: MARE - This 2021 photograph shows Apollo 11's descent stage casting a shadow in the MARE Tranquillatatis (Sea Of Tranquility) where it landed in July of 1969.
28. 1930s J.B. Rhine coinage, briefly: ESP - Oh, now I get it, J.B. coined the word.
30. Uncanny: ODD.
31. Branch-dwelling rainforest reptile: TREE BOA - Not poisonous but still...
34. Eleventh-hour: DO OR DIE - In football it is sometimes called a Hail Mary pass play as time runs out. This one was successful.
36. Hardly reputable: SEAMY.
37. Defiant admission: SUE ME.
38. Proves: ATTESTS - I can ATTEST that this is the correct fill
41. Kept on riding: HASSLED
43. Lab sound: ARF.
44. Quote qualifier: SIC.
45. 2021 Pac-12 champs: UTES - UCLA fit but wasn't right
46. Muck: GOOP.
48. Word before hack or jack: PHONE.
50. "Never to suffer would never to have been blessed" writer: POE.
53. French for "unbleached": ECRU - Saturday cluing for a crossword favorite
54. Spill the beans: SING and 13. Rat (on): DROP A DIME - Henry Hill SANG and DROPPED A DIME on a lot of racketeers who subsequently went to jail. Henry had to go into witness protection in Omaha and other cities.
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Henry Hill and Ray Liotta who portrayed him in the movie Goodfellas |
55. Herringbone, e.g.: TWILL - The video you see below
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59. Required network announcement: STATION ID.
61. Dwarf, with "over": TOWER.
62. Presidential carrier that flew with an all-women crew for the first time in 2009: MARINE ONE - Major Jennifer Grieves can be seen in the cockpit.
64. Intelligence boss: SPYMASTER - Surprise!
1. Very short putt, in golf lingo: GIMME - TAP IN overstayed its welcome
2. Snack brand with a 2012 100th-anniversary "Daily Twist" campaign: OREOS - What a hoot!
4. Class division: UNIT - Samples
5. Cartoonist Addams: CHAS - Any idea what TV series his work inspired?
6. Throw to a tot: LOB.
7. Horn of Africa country: ERITREA - As you can see there was another 7-letter candidate
8. Tokyo brewer: ASAHI and 11. Ramen morsel: ENOKI - Some Japanese cuisine
9. Picked up: RESUMED - One amazing thing about Netflix is that it RESUMES a show right where I left off a day, a week or a month ago.
10. Raise a paddle, perhaps: BID.
12. Uncovered subject: NUDE MODEL - What did Picasso's model look like?
21. Passable: SO SO.
24. Country club employee: PRO.
26. Social media spreader: MEME - I liked this one
29. Group that follows a star?: POSSE - Aha, THAT star (look closely)!
31. Users of travelers' checks?: TSA AGENTS - This group that checks travelers, coupled with POSSE just above, took some time but AJ had two fun clues in a row.
32. Back in after going out: RETROCOOL - Bell-bottoms are back!
33. Dine expectantly?: EAT FOR TWO - Oh, expectant mothers!
35. Actor William of "Boy Meets World": RUSS - The dad
39. Informed advice: TIPS - The great Stubby Kaye, et al.
40. Great divides: SCHISMS.
41. Liszt's homeland: HUNGARY - His birthplace was here in what is now Raiding, Austria which was in HUNGARY until after WWI.
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42. Had a fast break?: ATE - Breakfast literally means breaking a night fast
47. Blender button: PUREE.
49. Coming up soon: ON TAP
50. Cab alternative: PINOT - Cabernet Sauvignon versus Pinot Noir: Which Is Better?
51. QB protectors, in football lingo: O-LINE - It is the job of the Offensive LINE of the KC Chiefs to keep Patrick Mahomes protected
52. Senior: ELDER.
55. Amy's mid-2000s "Weekend Update" partner: TINA - TINA Fey and Amy Pohler
56. Burdens: WOES.
58. TV drama settings: ERS.
60. South Carolina senator Scott: TIM.
