Themeless by Annemarie Brethauer
Note from Husker Gary: Due to a change in policy, this will be the last puzzle write-up that includes comments from the constructor.
This marks Annemarie's eighth LA Times published puzzle but her first themeless Saturday.
Annemarie worked for twenty years at a local government access channel as a writer/director/producer and was also used to being strictly behind the camera (Documentaries like "Know Your Zoning Code."). She is now retired and freelancing as a puzzle creator.
Annemarie is the third person from the left in this group of her group of "Wild Women Writing".
Here's what Annemarie has to tell us about the puzzle:
Dear Gary,
Here’s some information on the themeless crossword puzzle with LAMB in the upper lefthand corner.
I started with three phrases which I felt were lively: WE ARE NOT AMUSED, RARIN’ TO GO and UNICORN START-UP. I then filled around these entries with an eye toward balancing lexicon with pop culture references, abbreviations, proper names, etc., like in a themed puzzle.
I did have some back and forth with the editors until we got what they needed. I am embarrassed to admit that there was some duplication, such as WE ARE NOT AMUSED and later on, AMUSE, but it was handled. Enough said.
I was asked to redo the NE corner of the grid, to include more “Scrabble-y” letters, which I did: the puzzle now has JARS, JANUS, AXIS and AXEL.
I was also asked to increase the difficulty of the clues, since this was a Saturday puzzle. I am under the impression that these changes were accepted. Examples include changing “Brainwave type” to “Leader of the pack” for ALPHA and “Guitar virtuoso Paul” to “Fewer finishing early?” for LES.
I hope that helps your blog.
Sincerely,
Annemarie Brethauer
Across:
1. Rogan josh meat: LAMB - No idea but "meat" in the clue indicated LAMB might work. I looked up rogan josh: "Indian lamb curry with a heady combination of intense spices in a creamy tomato curry sauce."
5. Considerable care: PAINS - We bloggers take great PAINS to make these write-ups informative and entertaining.
10. Tipping points?: JARS - It had to be JARS but it took a while to decipher it.
14. Vinaigrette acronym: EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
15. "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" writer Bender: AIMEE.
16. Olympic leap: AXEL - Ice Skating
17. Centerpiece of a Hogwarts ceremony: SORTING HAT - Benign cross cluing gave me this esoteric answer.
19. First digit in a California ZIP code: NINE.
20. "Do you see me smiling?": WE ARE NOT AMUSED - This use of the royal "WE" is attributed to Queen Victoria in response to a risqué joke.
22. Khartoum waterway: NILE - Today I learned the White and Blue NILE converge at Khartoum, Sudan and become simply the NILE that flows north to Cairo
23. Mid-month day: IDES.
24. Sullivan of "This Is Us": CHRIS - He's on the right
24. Sullivan of "This Is Us": CHRIS - He's on the right
27. Weather bureau tool: RADAR - Here Omaha RADAR shows a possible tornado near Lincoln
29. Calendar col.: FRI.
32. Marla who plays second base for the Peaches in "A League of Their Own": HOOCH - When scouting Marla, they saw an athletically talented girl who did not fit their appearance criteria. (A favorite movie of mine about baseball and sibling relationships.)
33. "Give it all you've got!": LET 'ER RIP and 34. All fired up: RARIN' TO GO - two examples of eliding (elidin')
35. Brut alternative: AFTA - Did anyone else think of champagne first?
36. Butterflies-to-be: PUPAE.
38. Tony-winning role for Heather Headley: AIDA - In Elton John's and Tim Rice's AIDA
39. Like most dog parks: OFF LEASH - Unfettered doggy playground
41. Sharp scarps: CRAGS.
42. Paradise in literature: SAL - Aha, a character I know! SAL Paradise is the narrator in Jack Kerouac's On The Road
43. Javelin, essentially: SPEAR.
45. Dad's rival: HIRES - Root beers
46. Trick ending?: STER - Loki is a mythological TRICKSTER
47. "A Visit From the Goon Squad" novelist: EGAN.
49. Venture capitalist's dream: UNICORN STARTUP - A privately held company worth more than $1B. Named for their rarity.
55. Surf sound: ROAR.
56. Psychological horror series starring Vera Farmiga: BATES MOTEL - No idea about this series or Vera but the fill became pretty obvious for us fans of Hitchcock's 1960 movie Psycho.
58. Site for finding home services: ANGI - Formerly Angie's List
59. Gather: AMASS.
60. Part of one's inheritance?: GENE.
61. "The Lady of Shalott" device: LOOM - An Elizabeth Siddal illustration for Tennyson's poem
62. Eponymous museum founder: GETTY - Our skilled bus driver got us up here from the 405 Fwy in Los Angeles
63. __ buco: OSSO - A cwd favorite
Down:
1. __ Fauves: Matisse group: LES - LES Fauves is French for "The Beasts". The phrase was coined by a critic about artists inspired by Matisse and others. It appears that neither of Annemarie's clues of "Guitar virtuoso" nor "Fewer finishing early" made it in.
2. Swear: AVOW.
3. "We're Going to Need __ Wine": Gabrielle Union memoir: MORE.
4. Like herbal remedies: BOTANICAL.
5. Advisory group: PANEL.
6. Designer Etienne: AIGNER - I remembered this from Gary Laron's and Amy Enz's May 27, 2022 puzzle. Shop for one of his bags
7. Online qualifier: IMHO - In My Humble Opinion and 26. "omg 2 funny": ROTFL - Rolling On The Floor Laughing
8. "I like the way you think!": NEAT IDEA.
9. Say when?: SET A DATE.
10. Roman god associated with doors: JANUS - Here ya go
11. Graph line: AXIS - x, y or z AXIS
12. Glassmaker Lalique: RENE - Bio
13. Blair Braverman vehicle: SLED - A female "musher" who has been in an Iditarod. Exhibit A for Saturday cluing.
18. Like most of the cast of "Derry Girls": IRISH - A Netflix series set during the troubled times of Northern Ireland in the early 1990's
21. Slight: MERE.
24. Pandemonium: CHAOS.
25. Pacino's "The Irishman" role: HOFFA.
 |
| Jimmy HOFFA Al Pacino as HOFFA |
28. Dominant: ALPHA.
29. Man on a mission: FRIAR.
31. "No thanks": I PASS.
36. Cheap cover for a textbook: PAPER BAG
37. Handle online: USER NAME
40. Spanish pronoun: ESTO ESTO es un pronombre
41. Win over: CHARM - "You CHARM the husk right off of the corn, Mame"
44. Double-check: RETEST - An axiom of science: RETEST to see if you get the same result
46. Curtain material: SCRIM - A seemingly blank wall can become an eerie scene behind a SCRIM curtain when it is lit
48. Full of hot air: GASSY.
49. Eurasian range: URAL.
50. Pitching gem: NO NO - Slang for a baseball no-hitter generated by sports writers who constantly look for a cute/novel phrase during a 162 game schedule.
51. "Thus do I ever make my fool my purse" speaker: IAGO - IAGO is manipulating Roderigo for "fun and profit"
52. DraftKings factoid: STAT.
53. Four Corners people: UTES.
54. Writes: PENS.
57. A fire sign: LEO.
We do welcome all constructors to comment, if they wish to do so, using our comment link below.
