Saturday, September 3, 2022, Brooke Husic and Michael Lieberman

Saturday Themeless by Brooke Husic and Michael Lieberman 

Today we continue our run of brilliant young constructors. It is Brooke's initial appearance here and Michael's third after Monday and Sunday solo appearances. 

Brooke Husic is from Glastonbury, CT and is currently doing post doc work in Berlin computational chemistry and machine learning work on molecular kinetics.

Mike Lieberman is a litigation partner in Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. 

I had my usual Saturday experience as I came upon some fun fill where the bedeviling cluing first gave me fits but then  generated a very satisfying shout of, Voila! The NE corner seemed to be rife with subtle clues. Decoding that Silver was actually Long John Silver led to my conquering of that area.

I will address the clues where I had similar experiences in the write-up as they are numerous. I enjoyed the puzzle but would not want to work something this complex all day as indicated in the graphic below:  

Across:

1. "That ... can't be right": WAIT REALLY - More like, "WAIT, REALLY?"

11. Kitty: POT - Usually the amount in play in a poker game. Did you ever play Monopoly where all fines were put in a "kitty" on the Free Parking square where the next person to land there got the money?

14. Cuisine that may be served on banana leaves: INDIAN FOOD.

15. Shawarma bread: PITA - If you're ever in Omaha...

16. Nickname for fans of Instagram's most-followed musician: SELENATORS - The 1940's might have had a band of SINATRATORS.

17. Orsk river: URAL - The Ural flows through Orsk and then down to the Caspian Sea

18. Shepherd's charge: EWE and 34. 18-Across call: BAA.

19. Revise: AMEND.

20. Responsibility: BLAME and 35. Accepts responsibility for: OWNS.

21. Michelangelo's milieu: SEWER - In my deepest memory I dredged up that this was a Mutant Ninja Turtle and I guess he surfs in the SEWER. Anyone else think of STONE (marble) for that "other" Michelangelo?

23. Nap: SIESTA.

25. __ Ocho: Little Havana's main drag: CALLE - I knew Ocho is eight and CALLE is street, so...

 
27. Snack puff: CHEETO.

29. Needle: ANNOY - How Don Rickles made. his living. He'd be out of work today.

32. Hit a bunch of keys?: ISLAND HOP - Island keys finally occurred to me after struggling with computer, piano and door keys!

35. At a high frequency: OFTEN.

36. Farm critter: ANT - 28. Goes (for): OPTS gave me the last letter of T, so, this was not a cow, pig or hen.

37. Provide real-time commentary on social media: LIVE TWEET - All you need to know

40. "__ Dragon": PETE'S - Original movie was released in 1977

42. Only two-digit number spelled without the letter "T": ELEVEN - This math major learned this today!

43. 49-Down choice: ESSIE - and 30. Digital service provider: NAIL SALON and 49. 30-Down treatment, for short: PEDI. Not in my vocabulary but it filled itself in

45. Most artful: SLIEST.

47. Dull and dirty: DINGY.

49. Divides: PARTS.

50. Swiftly: APACE - Work on the bypass that will take 10 minutes off our drive to Lincoln continues APACE

52. "There you __!": ARE.

55. Fashion designer Saab: ELIE - If you'd like to see some of his $2,000+ items

56. Real or faux expression of gratitude: THANKS A LOT.

58. Opposite of doffs: DONS - We will soon be told to "Deck the halls and DON our gay apparel" 

59. Goofy-sounding person?: VOICE ACTOR - Nobody did it better or more OFTEN

60. Gerund ending: ING.

61. Symbolic centerpiece at Passover: SEDER PLATE.

Down:

1. Well-suited to be a mentor: WISE.

2. From scratch: ANEW - "Come on baby, let's start ANEW, Cause Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"

3. Remains neutral?: IDLES.

4. Deuce, e.g.: TIE - Part of tennis's screwy unique scoring system

5. Took off: RAN AWAY - A recurring issue at Boy's Town

6. Crown topper: ENAMEL - Oh, that crown

7. Realm of the "Divine Comedy": AFTER LIFE - Not exactly for reading at the beach

8. Diving bird: LOON - The TERN also dives but not today

9. Time __: fictional alien race: LORDS.

10. Units for Newton: Abbr.: YDS - Oh, that Newton! Fiendish indeed.

11. Silver adornment?: PIRATE HAT - Oh, Long John Silver. Fiendish too.

12. Electronic synthesizer whose name comes from the Japanese for "tadpole": OTAMATONE - Here's this weird looking, sounding instrument playing a song (1:12). New to me.

13. Account: TALE.

15. Had rhythm: PULSED - My rhythm is around 52 beats/minute

20. Restoration playwright Aphra __: BEHN - The first English woman to make living by being an author. I had no idea of who, what, when, why or where.

22. Friendly introduction?: ECO.

24. Words from the willing: I CAN.

26. Name on many a foundation: ESTEE - Oh, makeup foundation.

29. An end to reason?: ABLE - That seems to be, uh, REASONABLE

31. Center piece?: NAVEL RING.

33. 1983 album with the hits "China Girl" and "Modern Love": LET'S DANCE - Had to be

38. Internet company solicitations?: E-VITES - This completely works for me

39. Basic tops: TEES.

40. Conifer goo: PINE SAP.

41. Sleep lab test: Abbr.: EEG - My test showed I was having 33 apnea events/hr. CPAP has that down to an average of 4/hr.

44. Feeling worse: SICKER.

46. Lake whose name means "the lake" in Washo: TAHOE - The Washo people lived on the border of CA and NV mainly around what is now Lake TAHOE

48. "Big Three" summit site where Chekhov wrote "Three Sisters": YALTA - A 1900 picture of Chekov's dacha in YALTA, the town where FDR, Stalin and Churchill met in 1945.

112 Kirova St., Yalta, Crimea

51. No longer due: PAID.

53. Ginger or ginseng: ROOT.

54. Peut-__: French "perhaps": ETRE - Il était peut-ÈTRE malade (He may have been ill).

56. Sharp products: TV'S.

57. Knee part studied in an MRI: ACL - Tearing an Anterior Cruciate Ligament has ended many an athletic career.