Saturday Themeless by Ryan Patrick Smith
Ryan Patrick Smith lives in Austin, TX and is a writer, editor, gamer and frequent moviegoer who has been constructing word puzzles for over a decade. He says he is pleased to be making his LAT debut today. His work has previously appeared in the NYT and other venues. He and I have been visiting via FaceBook messaging and he is a very nice guy.
The northeast corner was a real struggle for me as you can see above which occupied my screen for a long time although I had HANS and ALOE tentatively. After nice explanations from Ryan and some research, I acquired some learning and relief from my completion anxiety! As I've said before, I am smart enough to know how little I know.
1. Like some windows: ONE WAY - Windows on your house can become these as well.
7. Notes app?: SHAZAM - I have SHAZAM on my phone and have used it many times but took "Notes app." to be an app for note taking! 😑 Any time I hear music I don't know, I run it thorough Shazam and after a few notes, it gives me the song, the artist, the lyrics and a chance to play the whole thing.
13. Sotomayor alma mater: YALE LAW.
15. Gap: LACUNA - Ryan told me that as a film nerd, he wanted to use LACUNA because it was a NYC firm in the movie Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind that creates gaps in memories. I had no idea but my brilliant solver/constructor friend from Lincoln knew it immediately but had never seen or heard of the movie.
18. GM system: ON STAR - I have it in my new car for "free" for three years but I do everything on my iPhone anyway
19. Pub fixture: TAP.
20. Motion-sensing Xbox peripherals: KINECTS.
22. Tender robot?: ATM 😀 and 42. 22-Across figs.: AMTS.
23. Disney heroine whose sister is beguiled by 8-Down: ELSA and 8. See 23-Across: HANS - From Frozen
25. Texas MLBers: STROS.
26. Smoothie option: ALOE - I did not know our cwd favorite ALOE was edible!
27. Instagram feature since 2020: REELS - More
29. Pedant's preoccupation: NIT 😀
30. Small garden party?: GNOME 😀
31. Subject with strange attractors: CHAOS THEORY - I got it but here is the complicated explanation. I would have gotten "Idea posited by Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park."
34. "Speak of the devil": LOOK WHO IT IS.
35. Contribute to: HAVE A HAND IN - What I do here every Saturday for this wonderful blog
36. Gambits: RUSES.
37. Wane: EBB.
38. Features of some classic coupes: T-TOPS.
43. French multimedia artist who refers to her work as "carnal art": ORLAN - Perps took care of this name
45. Put out: SORE - I warned Ryan that some solvers might be "put out" by his puzzle.
46. Voyage opener: BON 😀
47. Hazardous 55-Across maneuver: WHEELIE and 55. Moped kin: SCOOTER.
47. Hazardous 55-Across maneuver: WHEELIE and 55. Moped kin: SCOOTER.
49. Actress Tyler: LIV - I really enjoyed her in the That Thing You Do that Tom Hanks wrote, directed and starred in.
50. Muscular: BRAWNY.
52. Trip down a hill: SLED RIDE.
54. Repetitive Black Eyed Peas hit: IMMA BE - I got the idea in the first ten seconds and then shut it down! It's the first and last time I'll listen to it.
56. Taken for: SEEN AS - I might be SEEN AS not liking the song above. Ya think?
57. War reporters, often: EMBEDS.
Down:
1. Peacemaker po'boy morsel: OYSTER - I've never had/seen one. You?
2. Celebrazione religiosa a dicembre: NATALE -Translation from Italian: Religious celebration in December - Christmas
3. Pass: ELAPSE - I am going to let my newspaper subscription ELAPSE.
4. Not yet set: WET - The man is standing on cement that has already set to work with cement that is not set and is still WET
5. Model Wek who was appointed a goodwill ambassador for UNHCR in 2013: ALEK.
6. Longtime Toyota subcompact: YARIS.
7. Mirage enticement: SLOTS - OASIS left quickly and I caught onto the Mirage hotel/casino in Las Vegas
9. Cooling systs.: ACS.
10. "SacrÈ bleu!": ZUT ALORS - No chance for me! I knew of Sacre Bleu but my French-major granddaughter, who lived in Grenoble for a while, said ZUT ALORS is a cruder form of "Oh My" and is not often heard in America. Marcel Duchamp is an avant-garde artist and some his works include bicycle parts as you see below.
11. Gray area?: ANATOMY - My favorite clue! The TV show is Grey's Anatomy
12. Role for Laura in 2019's "Little Women": MARMEE - I had no idea about Alcott's characters
14. Never got off the ground: WENT NO WHERE.
17. Things that may take a turn for the worse: PERISHABLES.
21. Medicine cabinet supply: COTTON BALLS.
24. Mosques' mihrabs, e.g.: ALCOVES.
21. Medicine cabinet supply: COTTON BALLS.
24. Mosques' mihrabs, e.g.: ALCOVES.
26. Rubs the rite way?: ANOINTS 😀
28. Low pair?: SHOES 😀
30. Question after a moment of silence: GET IT?
32. Dossier letters: AKA.
33. Screened: HID.
34. Uniform feature, often: LAST NAME.
35. "I know, but please try": HUMOR ME - I suppose someone said that to Justin Bieber
36. Some wedding parties: RABBIS 😀
39. Rock whose name means "egg stone": OOLITE.
40. __ oneself on: PRIDED.
41. Cuts off: SEVERS.
43. "And how!": OH YES.
44. One who might have a grand opening?: NIECE - We have several grandNIECES
47. A'ja Wilson's org.: WNBA.
48. Ancient Dead Sea kingdom: EDOM.
51. Ashy: WAN.
53. Take badly?: ROB 😀
