Saturday, April 12, 2025, Hoang-Kim Vu

  Saturday Themeless by Hoang-Kim Vu

 Posted in 2021: Hoang-Kim Vu works on a global malaria research project in Washington, D.C. His crosswords have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today. When he's not solving or constructing, Kim enjoys collecting passport stamps, spending too much money on pet nats, and trying his best to raise a one-year-old daughter and a pitbull with bad knees with his wife/co-constructor/forever editor Jess.

The left half of the puzzle went very quickly and then I made the right side more difficult by misreading some clues and entering incorrect alternate fills. I really enjoyed the solve and to quote my friend Irish Miss: "The juice was worth the squeeze!"

Across:

1. Having the wrong profile, in a way: CATFISHING - Catfishing means someone is using a fake identity to trick you into believing you’re in a real online friendship or romance with them. 

11. Dark cloud: PALL - Omen looked good for a long time.

15. "Grateful that you'd think of me!": IT'S AN HONOR.

16. __ vera: ALOE - Don't you hate when you see versa and put in VICE? 🤨

17. Class of talking heads and pundits: CHATTERATI - I had never heard of it but I liked it and it became pretty obvi obvious.

18. A principal deity of Hinduism: SIVA.

19. __ Lingus: AER.

20. Like some hygiene: ORAL.

21. Where one might let sleeping dogs lie: PET BED - Sleep over!

23. Ideal location for speakers: DAIS.

25. Word in a Samin Nosrat title: ACID.

27. Hibachi part: GRATE - Not GRILL

28. Lucie who was an executive producer on the film "Being the Ricardos": ARNAZ - Lucie said she was glad that Nicole Kidman was not a doppelgänger for her mother as it would have too emotional for her.

Lucie ARNAZ     Nicole Kidman

30. Racer's boost: ENERGY BAR.

32. Warded (off): STAVED - I have managed to STAVE off maturity for quite a while

34. Spanish pronoun: ESA - "ESA casa es muy grande" I'll bet you can translate this by yourself but if you can't see it below *

35. Lids: CAPS.

36. Use a red pen, say: EDIT.

38. Kin kin: KITH - Origin

Friends                           Family

40. Assessment for many jrs.: PSAT.

43. Only defenseman to lead the NHL in points: ORR - Bobby first did this in 1969. His Bruins also won the The Stanley Cup that year and Bobby celebrated with his famous leap which is immortalized in this statue.

45. One cutting back: DIETER 😀

49. In transit: ON THE ROAD - How 'bout a sing-a-long...

52. Earlier, in the past: AFORE.

Afore the Storm

The sun, a weary, fading gold,

Afore the storm, the story's told.

The wind begins to softly sigh,

Afore the rain, the clouds roll nigh.

The world holds breath, a silent plea,

Afore the storm, wild and free.

53. Sauna amenity: TOWEL.

54. Just so cute: TWEE - I remember first seeing this word on the bottom line of a Sunday LA Puzzle many years ago.

56. Lend, as money: SPOT - "I'll SPOT you some money to get started"

57. Ma Rainey's "Louisiana __ Blues": HOO DOO.

59. Place for multiple outlets: MALL  😀

61. Stage name of South Korean rapper Park Jae-sang: PSY - His Gangnam Style made him fabulously wealthy. For what it's worth, Gangnam is a very stylish, hip part of Seoul. 

62. Staple of southern cuisine: OKRA.

63. Feature of some Gothic facades?: PIERCED LIP - Uh, not Gothic buildings.

66. "__ we forget": LEST.

67. First mates?: ADAM AND EVE 😀

68. Art Deco designer: ERTE - The Fashion illustrator Erté was originally named Roman Petrovich Tyrtov but went by Romain de Tirtoff in France. Erté was his pseudonym, the French phonetic spelling of his initials, R.T.

69. Parts of overdue explanations?: LATE PASSES - I've looked at thousands of these over my career.

Down:

1. Insects whose broods emerge at regular 13- or 17-year intervals: CICADAS.

2. Fundamentally: AT HEART.

3. Catherine the Great, e.g.: TSARINA.

4. Word in a Samin Nosrat title: FAT.

5. Getting a kick out of: INTO.

6. Cartoondom's "Princess of Power": SHE-RA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

7. "Carmen Saeculare" poet: HORACE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

8. Standing together: IN A LINE.

9. "__ for me": NOT.

10. Strong hold: GRIP.

11. Those who can provide the latest dish?: PASTRY CHEFS - Yes, a PASTRY is usually the last (latest) dish served. 😀

12. Chinese e-commerce giant: ALIBABA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

13. Little bump: LOVE TAP.

14. Up-front people: LEADERS.

22. Key ingredient in pastel de nata: EGG ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

24. Card with pre-assembly information: SAVE THE DATE - 😀 If you are going to tell people when they are to requested to assemble, you must tell them the date 

26. Computer platform?: DESK 😀

29. Feature of the London Zoo: ZED - In London zebra starts with the letter Z which they pronounce ZED and not ZEE. Also, in the London Zoo zebra is pronounced zeb ruh not zee buh.

31. Debugging agent?: RAID.

33. Designer Christian: DIOR.

37. Equestrian gait: TROT.

39. Spanish aunt: TIA.

40. Cause of some misalignment: POTHOLE 😀 

41. Hoodwink: SNOOKER - He SNOOKERED a lot of 'em

42. Under the poorest conditions: AT WORST.

44. Hot pot fodder: RAW MEAT.

46. Comes crashing down: TOPPLES.

47. Marked by decay: EROSIVE - Very visible from your gondola in Venice

48. Enters once more: RETYPES.

50. Jeff Lynne's gp.: ELO - A frequent visitor to the cwd bandstand 

51. "Oh my stars!": DEAR ME.

55. "Free Solo" locale, familiarly: EL CAP - EL CAPitan is in Yosemite 

58. Pearlescent shade: OPAL.

OPAL Craft Beads

60. Writer/producer Waithe: LENA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

64. Journalist Tarbell: IDA.

65. Canine care deg.: DDS - A veterinarian with a DVM might work on the canine teeth of an animal but a dentist with a DDS degree works on human canine teeth

*Translation - That house is very big

FWIW - Did anyone else catch that fact that PALL and MALL were in the same puzzle? The cigarettes were named for a famous street in London.