Saturday Themeless by John Guzzetta
I blogged John's first LA Times Themeless a year ago and now he is back. He has had eleven other weekday LA puzzles. In his puzzle from last year, he told me he was a minister in the Tampa Bay area. This one tried my patience but worked itself out. My only real issue was a correct spin of the vowel wheel at MIR_/M_DDER.
1. With 40-Across, juice choice: SOLAR 40. See 1-Across: POWER.😀. Ah, electric juice! This solar farm is a quarter mile south of our house and you can see our coal-burning "juice" plant in the upper left.
6. Tesla, for one: SERB - A statue of Nikola Tesla in front of this birthplace in Smiljan, Serbia.
10. Bands on the radio: AM/FM - We also have XM
14. Shady spot for a stroll: WOODED AREA.
16. Disney Junior's "Royal Detective": MIRA - I suppose former NFL quarterback George MIRA was out of the question.
17. Tenochtitlan, e.g.: AZTEC RUINS.
18. Mocha option: ICED.
19. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" band: YES - Here ya go
20. Yang counterpart: YIN - and you are...
21. Got to the point?: TAPERED 😀
23. Verses versus verses: MC BATTLE - MC Battle rap is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults and wordplay. Battle rap is often performed or freestyled spontaneously in live battles, "where MCs will perform on the same stage to see who has the better verses". Very big in Japan. Yeah, I knew that 😗
25. "Set __ the doors O soul": Whitman: OPE - From Walt's The Imprisoned Soul
At the last, tenderly,
From the walls of the powerful, fortress'd house,
From the clasp of the knitted locks--from the keep of the well-closed
doors,
Let me be wafted.
Let me glide noiselessly forth;
With the key of softness unlock the locks--with a whisper
Set OPE the doors, O soul!
26. Void: ANNUL.
29. Rooftop amenity for some travelers: HOTEL BAR.
31. Almost ready for the tooth fairy: LOOSE 😀
32. Does well: PROSPERS.
33. Colosseum feature: ARCH - I think the shades that could be unfurled were very nice for spectators
34. Quarrel: ROW.
37. Netflix series whose fifth season concludes with the election of Tony Blair: THE CROWN - I got hooked on this look into the quirkiness of this institution.
41. "None of this looks familiar": WHERE AM I - "We're not in Kansas anymore!"
42. Charlotte __: RUSSE.
43. Alternative introduction: AKA.
44. Unimpressive ride, in '70s slang: ECONOBOX.
47. "Can you talk?": GOT A SEC?
49. Gibberish: ROT.
50. "Yes?": AND.
53. Lindros in the Hockey Hall of Fame: ERIC.
54. One with artistic training?: BONSAI TREE 😀 Mr. Miagi is teaching Daniel how to train his tree
57. Philosopher Descartes: RENE - We math teachers remember him for the Cartesian plane
58. Really hard to mess up: IDIOT PROOF.
59. Sinks: SAGS.
60. Feijoada morsel: BEAN - Saturday cluing! Brazilian black bean stew.
61. Like a south-facing room, perhaps: SUNNY.
Down:
1. Rock and roll: SWAY - "Earthquake-proof" building SWAY much less
2. Primordial stuff: OOZE or soup
3. Plenty: LOTS.
4. Lemon finish: ADE.
5. Use color-coded bins, say: RECYCLE.
6. Box at the gym?: SAUNA - A noun not a verb 😀
7. Airport north of PIT: ERI - Pittsburgh, PA International to Erie, PA International
8. Option for some tenants: RENT TO OWN.
9. Stones that make up Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway, e.g.: BASALTS - Hexagonal columns formed by cooling lava
10. Nice friend: AMIE - The French city doesn't trap good solvers
11. Many kombuchas: MICROBREWS.
12. Radio station prizes, often: FREE PASSES.
13. Rose in a King title: MADDER - A signed, first edition for $1,250
15. Little bit: DRIB.
22. Chirp: PEEP.
23. Iditarod figure: MUSHER.
24. Bonus: THROW IN.
26. Based on: ALA.
27. Birth country of "The Girl With Seven Names" memoirist Hyeonseo Lee: NORTH KOREA.
28. "Let's keep it clean!": NO CHEATING - If you're a fan of Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, you know how this scene ends.
30. "The Phantom of the Opera" author: LEROUX - Andrew Lloyd WEBBER based his stage play on this novel.
32. Characters that take off online?: PROMO CODE 😀 - If you enter a PROMO CODE with an online order, the characters you enter usually allow you a modest amount you can take off.
36. Italy's __ Cime di Lavaredo: TRE - Three Peaks of Lavaredo. The most familiar group of peaks in the Italian alps.
38. Soccer center?: CEES - A meta reference - soCCer
39. Marathoner's wear: RACE BIB - Katherine Switzer ran in the 1967 Boston Marathon when no women were allowed. Below you can see a race official trying to pull her off the course. She broke away and finished the race to make a point. She became a cause célèbre and her BIB #261 has been retired to honor her.
40. Life hacks from experts: PRO TIPS - I kept fighting DIY TIPS
41. Stakes: WAGERS.
45. Welles who narrates "The Magnificent Ambersons": ORSON - He also wrote, produced and directed this 1942 movie.
46. Launch, e.g.: BOAT.
48. Unbeatable services: ACES - A very unusual one
50. __ Ha-qodesh: Hebrew for "holy ark": ARON - The cabinet that holds the sacred scrolls of the Torah
51. Focus of an art museum in Las Vegas: NEON.
52. Buck: DEFY - I did buck the system several times and it was not worth it
55. Actress Long: NIA - In a movie with another crossword favorite
56. Play about Capote: TRU.
