Saturday, February 8, 2025, Amie Walker & Matthew Stock

 

Themeless Saturday by Amie Walker & Matthew Stock

  

We have escaped blizzards this winter on the Great Plains but Amie and Matt provided a blizzard of proper names. However, after getting through the grid I had only one empty cell at #51 where I did know Ms. _UGH or what a _IPINGBAG was (My lovely bride did!). After a run through the alphabet, I tried a "P" and was pleasantly surprised when I got the Congratulations message for a hard-earned "got 'er done!"

Across

1. Arno city: PISA - The Arno's headwaters are up in the Apennines and then the river meanders through Florence and PISA on the way to the Ligurian Sea.

5. Let up: ABATE.

10. Ontario, for one: LAKE - The "O" of the mnemonic HOMES for the Great Lakes

14. Sticks around at lunch, say: ANTS ON A LOG 😀

16. "Pssh": I BET.

17. Awards show extra: SEAT FILLER.

18. Sushi sometimes served with ponzu: TORO - Saturday cluing for TORO!

19. Here and there?: SPLIT 😀

20. Second-worst possible "Wheel of Fortune" spin: LOSE A TURN - I'll bet you can also see the worst wedge in this picture 

22. "One, two, __": hide-and-seek cheater's count: TEN. 😀

23. Get off the road: TOW 😀

24. Lean: TILT.

25. Trounce: WHOMP.

27. "We'll take care of that": LET US - Yeah, I'm old enough to remember these ads

30. Time of self-prioritization and boundary setting, colloquially: VILLAIN ERA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

35. "This is bad!": OH NO.

36. "Have a guess?": ANY IDEA.

37. Anthem officially adopted on Dominion Day in 1980: O CANADA - My favorite national anthem!

39. Home __: TURF - Here's the Sharks and Jets defending theirs in West Side Story

40. "Start again": FROM THE TOP.

42. One who makes tracks: SKIER 😀

44. "Qismat" actress: TANIA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

45. Escape room find: CLUE.

47. Mark, as a box: X IN.

48. Civil rights law, for short: ADA - Americans with Disability Act

51. It might have frosted tips: PIPING BAG.

54. Oatmeal __: STOUT.

56. Soup noodle: UDON.

57. Soiree whose invite might say "Let's get nauty": 😀 YACHT PARTY.

59. Sue Sylvester series: GLEE - I did not know of Ms. Sylvester but did know of GLEE

60. Cover of knight: PLATE ARMOR.

61. Outskirts?: HEMS 😀

62. Imperfect, e.g.: TENSE The imperfect tense is used to describe an action that is unfinished or that happened regularly in the past. Here is an example of the imperfect tense in English and 

• "John was eating breakfast when the telephone rang". "Was eating" is in the imperfect tense. 

63. Actress Rae: ISSA - ISSA's vowel-rich name has made her a frequent cwd entry

Down:

1. "Nah": PASS.

2. Lacking the knack: INEPT.

3. Uninspired: STALE.

4. Skylar of "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend": ASTIN.

       Skylar Astin   Rachel Bloom

5. Singer DiFranco: ANI.

6. Party favor with a twist?: BALLOON ART.

7. "I'll take care of that": ALLOW ME or...

8. Emu's six: TOES - Three and three

9. Bird in the National Audubon Society logo: EGRET.

10. Tot: LITTLE ONE.

11. Start of a delicate conversation: ABOUT THAT.

12. Australian soccer star Sam: KERR - Samantha ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

13. Place-name that means "River-Town" in Old English: ETON - The name derives from Old English Ēa-tūn, meaning “River-Town”, a reference to Eton's proximity to the River Thames. Now that's some serious Saturday cluing for an old standard.

15. Poetic adverb: OFT.

21. Trouble: AIL.

23. Porch pirate, e.g.: THIEF - Ten ways to thwart them

25. Thick bundle: WAD.

26. When court dates are scheduled: PROM NIGHTS - Ah, paradise on the court in the gym/

28. Mac user's command+Z: UNDO.

29. Wet bar?: SOAP 😀

30. Brewery sights: VATS.

31. Native north of the Arctic timberline: INUK - An INUK is a single person of the Inuit people

32. Dickinson's "The Heart Asks Pleasure First," for one: LYRIC POEM - A poetic look at the cycle of life

33. Traces of interest in the future: LIFELINES 😀

34. Muscle protein: ACTIN - Now I remember why I didn't like biology 

38. "Eureka!": AHA.

41. Like many who celebrate the Guelaguetza: OAXACAN - More

43. Get on track?: RUN.

46. Country whose national bird is the endangered steppe eagle: EGYPT ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

48. Arcade pioneer: ATARI.

49. Digs for archaeology majors?: DORMS - I'm not sure Morey Hall, my old DORM, had any archaeology majors.

Morey Hall Wayne State College, Wayne NE

50. Wheels: AUTOS.

51. "Dune: Part Two" star Florence: PUGH ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

52. Not busy: IDLE.

53. Hayride perch: BALE.

54. Self-care spot: SPA.

55. Banks who coined the words "flawsome" and "smize": TYRA - Awesome with a flaw and Smile with your eyes

58. Gym top: TEE - Kids wear most anything in P.E. today.

Notes from C.C.:

 

1) Happy 56th Anniversary to our Thursday Sherpa Bill and his wife Teri!

 

2) Looks who Big Easy bumped into yesterday?