Themeless Saturday by Matthew Stock and Pravan Chakravarthy
Matthew Stock has another collaboration, this time with Pravan Chakravarthy. Matthew is an 8th grade math teacher in Gainesville, FL. and he put me in contact with Pravan who was kind enough to tell us this:
I grew up in New Jersey and am currently a sophomore in college at the University of Chicago, where I’m studying linguistics and physics. Outside of classes I’m on the crossword team of the Chicago Maroon, and like long-distance running and writing/playing music. I’ve been solving crosswords since middle school, but didn’t seriously get into constructing until early 2020. It was around this time I met Matthew, who’s given me an incredible amount of advice on the art and science of puzzlemaking, and without whom this puzzle would not exist!
Across:
1. Works on the margins, perhaps: SAVES PAPER - I thought of page formatters and retail sellers before this:
11. Water color: CYAN.
15. "Were you followed here?": ARE WE ALONE.
16. Hold sway: RULE.
17. Ambitious workers: CAREERISTS - I've never seen it but it makes sense
18. Wasatch Mountains resort: ALTA.
19. Oscar-nominated biopic about a Supreme Court justice: RBG.
32. Change in holiday entertainment?: GELT - Chocolate candy in the shape of coins, usually wrapped in metallic foil, usually eaten on Hanukkah and often used for games of dreidel.
33. "Spring forward" letters: DST.
34. Small wing nut: LEPIDOPTERIST - Getting butterfly "nut" was the key to my completing the puzzle
38. "A __ upon thee!": POX - A first class literary put down
39. Checks: VETS.
40. Sticker in a cushion: PIN.
41. Black Friday exhortation: ACT FAST.
43. Made a course standard: SHOT PAR - Normal for some, a goal for me
47. Burnett who appeared on the final season of "Better Call Saul": CAROL - I can't wait to see how this came about
48. Actress Longoria: EVA.
50. Pink bear in "Toy Story 3": LOTSO - For LOTSO huggin'
51. Of all time: EVER - Candidates for best EVER in their sport
52. Puffed up: PROUD - Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up. 1 Corinthians 13:4
2. Ready for field work: ARABLE - Oh, the ground itself is declared ready for field work
3. Teeters (on): VERGES.
4. Meryl Sheep of "Sesame Street," for one: EWE.
5. Date: SEE.
6. Cut (down): PARE.
7. Outs: ALIBIS
8. Someone who's all style and no substance: POSER
9. French course final?: ENTREMET - It has become a modern French word for a small dessert
10. Musical pause: REST - Do you know what song is being referenced here (*answer at bottom): Phillips said that he wrote the song quickly, in about 20 minutes. The song includes a pregnant pause before the coda, which modulates up a semitone.
11. Necktie: CRAVAT.
12. Icelandic gift-givers of lore: YULE LADS - All you want to know about these creatures of 17th century Iceland.
13. Selfless sort: ALTRUIST.
14. Marie Kondo superlative: NEATEST.
23. With 28-Down, twice-daily occurrences: NEAP and 28. See 23-Down: TIDES.
24. End of a Google Maps route calculation: ARRIVAL my32. Way finder: GPS arrival time is sometimes too late because speed limits are just a suggestion for me sometimes
Theme: ADDED (Parse it as ADD ED) (65. Extra, and a two-word hint to the answers to the starred clues)
17. *Teachers who demand perfect asanas?: YOGA PEDANTS. Yoga pants.
24. *Blogs and newsletters about raising a family?: MAMMA MEDIA. Mamma Mia.
49. *Lion or tiger in the National Zoo?: FEDERAL CAT. Feral cat.
58. *Ocean predator taking whatever comes its way?: MAKEDO SHARK. Mako Shark.
C.C. here. Lemonade had some computer issues and could not access his write-up. When he's back online, I'll copy and paste his writeup here.
If you have any questions, please ask in the Comments section.
Across:
1. Blood relative?: FLESH.
6. Like a WiFi-enabled toaster: SMART.
11. Storage acronym: ROM.
14. "Always Innovating" infomercial brand: RONCO.
15. Pointed, in a way: TINED.
16. AQI monitor: EPA.
19. High pts.: MTS.
20. Acrylic alternative: ENAMEL.
21. California's Big __: SUR.
22. Word with hot or fine: MESS.
23. Semi: RIG.
27. Gets: SEES.
29. Notable time: ERA.
30. Wickerwork: CANING.
31. Fancy-free adventures: LARKS.
33. Willing subject?: ESTATE.
34. City on the Rhine: BASEL.
37. Recital pieces: SOLOS.
38. Confirmed, in a way: UPHELD.
40. Farm machine: BALER.
43. Exactly right: SPOT ON.
44. Mike and __: IKE.
45. Inbox clogger: SPAM.
51. Mendes of "Girl in Progress": EVA.
52. Actress Cheryl: LADD.
53. Hägar creator Browne: DIK.
54. Area that's far from a strike zone: GUTTER.
57. Inventor Whitney: ELI.
60. Summer along the Seine: ETE.
61. "SNL" alum Cheri: OTERI.
62. Nightingale, notably: NURSE.
63. Sci-fi/fantasy publisher whose logo is a mountain peak: TOR.
64. Velvety garden flower: PANSY.
Down:
1. Young chickens: FRYERS.
2. Coin that's for the birds?: LOONIE.
3. Order from Captain Picard: ENGAGE.
4. Many a "We've suspended your account" text: SCAM.
5. Pandora's box remnant: HOPE.
6. Benchmark: Abbr.: STD.
7. Oppressive atmospheres: MIASMAS.
8. Per __: ANNUM.
9. Go back over: RETRACE.
10. XFL scores: TDS.
11. Like some skill-building classes: REMEDIAL.
12. Joins: OPTS INTO.
13. Treatments that many are prone to enjoy?: MASSAGES.
18. Bull on a glue bottle: ELMER.
22. Life guides: MENTORS.
25. Synagogue structure: ARK.
26. Shot not allowed in some pool halls: MASSE.
28. Came down hard?: SLEETED.
32. __ nothing: ALL OR.
34. After-school lineup: BUS FLEET.
35. Entrance: APPEAL TO.
36. Less liable to last: SHODDIER.
39. 23andMe's stock in trade: DNA DATA.
40. Quarrels: BICKERS.
41. Pseudonym letters: AKA.
42. Free: LET GO.
46. "Hoist with his own __": Hamlet: PETARD.
47. Unwilling: AVERSE.
48. Prominent: MARKED.
50. Compare: LIKEN.
55. Sch. where John McCain is buried: USNA.
56. Dull sound: THUD.
58. Custodial need: MOP.
59. Handy initials: DIY.
Happy Birthday toPat and her husband, who were born in
the same day and same year. Here again is the picture of Pat
(right in pink T-shirt) and Java Mama at the shelter where they
volunteer. They met on our blog.
The 5 themers are clued with descriptions of small cities
with some unusual inhabitants, and each is filled with a common town name
suffix, prefixed by a word that results in an idiom or metaphor. As
these cities are not well advertised, I call them QUIET CITIES:
17A. City for delinquent library patrons?:
FINE POINT. Not to put too FINE a
POINT on it, but my
DOWNFALL started when I figured out that
it was cheaper to buy books than to pay all my library fines. My
eventual undoing was the accursed Amazon 1-click.
25A. City for look-alikes?:
DOUBLE PARK. Legendary "look-alikes" even have a name:
doppelgänger,from a German word for a biologically unrelated look-alike, or a
double, of a living person. German composer Franz Schubert wrote
an eerie song about a doppelgänger, but it was way too scary to share. Even some contemporary
physicists wonder
if there is another 'You' out there in a
parallel universe.
53A. City for bank managers?:
SAFE HARBOR. I guess banks are probably the the safest place to
HARBOR SAFES, but a determined specialist still knows where to find them:
63A. City for feather-bed manufacturers?:
DOWN FALLS. In a fictional
FALLScalled BEDFORD, in
the film
It's a Wonderful Life, a man named George Bailey, faces his
DOWN FALL as the result of a mistake
at a BANK, and is saved only through the ministrations of an angel called
Clarence. We'll be seeing it soon.
Christmas is just around the Corner! Here's the grid with all the quiet cities:
Across:
1. Lacking refinement: RAW.
4. __ list: WISH.
8. Young deer: FAWNS. Or its homophone FAUNS. The
ballet
Prelude of the Afternoon of a Faun
put composer Claude Debussy on the map. The role of the FAUN in
this performance was the great
Vaslav Nijinski, born in Kyiv, Ukraine:
13. Comedian Nwodim: EGO.
Egobunma Kelechi "Ego" Nwodim
born March 10, 1988) is an American actress and comedian who is a cast member
on Saturday Night Live, joining in the 44th season in 2018. Of
Nigerian heritage, she hails from Baltimore.
Ego Nwodim
14. "Luther" star Elba: IDRIS.
Idrissa Akuna ElbaOBE
(born 6 September 1972) is an English actor, producer, and musician. An
alumnus of the National Youth Theatre in London, he is known for roles in the
HBO series The Wire, the BBC One series Luther, and as Nelson
Mandela in the biographical film
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013).
Idris Elba
16. Be of use to: AVAIL.
17. [See theme expo]
19. Sturdy fabric: SERGE.
20. "My Cousin Vinny" Oscar winner: TOMEI.
Marisa Tomei
(born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She is the recipient of
various accolades, including an Academy Award, in addition to nominations for
a British Academy Film Award, a Daytime Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards,
and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Marisa Tomei
21. A bit loopy: DAFT. I resemble that remark!
23. "How about that!": GEE. Or partnered with HAW,
voice commands
used to tell a draft horse to turn right or left when pulling a plow or other
farm equipment, or to direct sled dogs pulling a sled or sleigh.
31. Short and snappy: TERSE. I'm short and sometimes snappy, but
I've never been called TERSE.
33. "The Little Mermaid" voice actress Benson: JODI. "Benson"
cues you that it's the 1989 film, not the upcoming 2023 remake starring
Halle Bailey. Here's JODI singing Part of Your World:
And here's JODI live at the Disneyland, Florida:
Jodi Benson
While researching this clue, the plot of the Little Mermaid struck
me as very similar to the plot of the opera
Rusalka
by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak. Through a strange coincidence, I
happened to be listening to a broadcast of Rusalka while working on this
review and the announcer mentioned that the opera plot originated with
Hans Christian Andersen's
Little Mermaid. Like many European fairy tales Andersen's story ends sadly, as does
Rusalka. Disney's version of course is an American fairy tale and thus
has a happy ending. Here's the famous statue of Andersen's Little
Mermaid in the Copenhagen's harbor:
And as an bonus, here's the beautiful
Song to the Moon
from Rusalka (with English subtitles), sung by the divine
Renee Fleming. A CSO to Jayce and OMK.
36. Cook fast, as tuna: SEAR. In Sushi World it's called
Tuna Tataki.
37. [See theme expo]
40. Fruit that lives up to its name: UGLI. I just couldn't bear
to bare a picture of one.
43. Bodega fixtures: ATMS. I don't think this is a first time for this
clue.
44. "Sailing to Byzantium" poet: YEATS.
Sailing to Byzantium
is about end times, our personal end times. My favorite
William Butler Yeats
poem,
The Second Coming, is also about end times, but not necessarily the religious end times
that the title might suggest. Published in 1920, in the aftermath of the
Great War, Yeats seems to be prophesying WWII and it's
aftermath, our times characterized by widespread ANOMIE. The
question raised in the final stanza is one that many of us might be asking at
this critical time in world history.
William Butler Yeats
48. Nucleus particle: PROTON. The positively charged
PROTONS in the atomic nucleus are bound to charge-less
NEUTRONS by the
strong force, which also binds the QUARKS which comprise both particles. And
the composition of Quarks?
Turtles all the way down!
50. Prompt: CUE.
52. "What a lousy play!": BOO. Sports not a drama. But in
Italy you sometimes hear BOOS in
OPERA performances.
53. [See theme expo]
56. Org. that delivers: USPS. They were having a rough time of it
during the pandemic, but seemed to have recovered.
57. __ for tat: TIT. Also a type of bird. Here's the
song of the
great tit, (Parus major) a passerine bird in the tit family
Paridae.
58. Christian with style: DIOR. Fashionable
crosswordese.
59. Creator of many talking animals: AESOP. Here's a
partial list. And here's the story about
the creator. Your grandchildren can keep you awake for hours with these tales.
61. "Dragon Ball Z" genre: ANIME.
Dragon Ball Z
is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part
of the Dragon Ball media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986
Dragon Ball anime series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the
original Dragon Ball manga series (comics) created by
Akira Toriyama. Got that? It later became the basis for a
2022 movie. Here's the trailer:
63. [See theme expo]
66. __ salami: GENOA. GENOA is also famous as the
birthplace of
Christopher Columbus, although he has fallen out of favor in recent years. IMHO it's a pity
that we now hold the past up to our current high standards.
67. Dark beer: STOUT. The essential ingredient of
Guinness Punch.
68. Capital of Vancouver?: VEE. Clever misdirection.
69. "Last Night in Soho" director Wright: EDGAR.
Last Night in Soho
is a 2021 British psychological horror film directed by Edgar Wright and
co-written by Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns. It stars Thomasin McKenzie,
Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Rita Tushingham, Michael Ajao, Terence Stamp and
Diana Rigg. Here's the trailer. I think it's kinda scary ...
70. Gas brand with toy trucks: HESS. For all the
NICE children on Santa's list, here's
this year's model.
71. Inexact fig.: EST.
Down:
1. Call the shots?: REF. To REF, as a verb.
2. Stir up: AGITATE.
3. Brought around: WON OVER.
4. Erase completely: WIPE.
5. Enthusiastic yes: I DO I DO. Also
a 1966 musical by Harvey Schmidt, with lyrics by Tom Jones, about a couple who enthusiastically said
YES:
7. Diwali celebrant: HINDU.
Diwali is a festival of lights
and one of the major festivals celebrated by Hindus, Jains,
Sikhs. The festival usually lasts five days and is celebrated during
the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika (between mid-October and
mid-November). One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, Diwali
symbolizes the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and
knowledge over ignorance".
10. Military exercise: WAR GAME. I wish all WARS ended
like this one:
11. Gulf of Guinea country: NIGERIA. LIBERIA might have also
fit, at least the Southern tip of it:
Gulf of Guinea
12. More streamlined: SLEEKER.
15. Try: STAB. A common strategy for solving
NATICKS.
18. 911 responders, briefly: EMS.
22. Swing wildly: FLAIL. See 15D.
24. Laser pointer chaser: CAT. Does the ASPCA know about
this?
26. __ d'art: OBJET. On Teri's recent birthday we had lunch at
Gertrude's restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art and then
headed upstairs to the
Cone Gallery,
an extraordinary collection of modern art assembled by the independently
wealthy
sisters Claribel and Etta Cone
from the late 19th thru mid 20th century, and later donated to the BMA.
In addition to over 3000 objets d'art collected over 50 years,
the exhibit also has a state-of-the-art interactive touch-screen
computer simulation that enables the viewer to navigate images of the
sisters' Baltimore
apartment and see where many of the objects were first displayed.
27. Western outfit: POSSE.
29. Rosalind Brewer of Walgreens, e.g.:
CEO.Rosalind G. Brewer, also known as "Roz", is an American businesswoman serving as the CEO
of Walgreens Boots Alliance. With her appointment at Walgreens in March 2021,
she is one of only two Black women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (along with
Thasunda Duckett).
Rosalind Brewer
32. Whack, biblically: SMITE.
34. Physicist with a law: OHM.
Georg Simon Ohm
( 16 March 1789 – 6 July 1854) was the physicist and his eponymous law defines
the relationship between the
voltage, amperage, and resistance in electrical circuits.
Georg Simon Ohm
35. Summer songs?: DISCO. "Summer" as in Donna Summer.
LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and
songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became
known as the ""Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global
following. Here's her Last Dance:
38. Open veranda: LANAI. A
lanai or lānai
is a type of roofed, open-sided veranda, patio, or porch originating in
Hawaii. Many homes, apartment buildings, hotels and
restaurants in Hawaii are built with one or more lānais.
Lanai
is also the name of
the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands
and the smallest publicly accessible inhabited island in the chain. It
is colloquially known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an
island-wide pineapple plantation.
Lanai (just West of Maui)
39. Soap chemical: LYE.
40. Steal the spotlight from: UPSTAGE.
41. Ending for coarse and cross: GRAINED. Here are some
definitions of GRAINED. With reference to wood here are six types of grains:
51. First planet discovered using a telescope: URANUS.
William Herschel
(né Frederick William Herschel, 15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822)
is most famous for discovering the planet URANUS, but what is not so
well known is that he was also an accomplished composer of Baroque music, with
over 200 works to his credit. Here's hisFugue in d-minor for forte piano.
William Hershel
54. Some pretzels: RODS.
55. Stock: BROTH.
56. "Latino __": podcast hosted by Maria Hinojosa: USA.
Maria de Lourdes Hinojosa Ojeda (born July 2, 1961) is a
Mexican-American journalist. She is the anchor and executive producer of
Latino USA on National Public Radio, a public radio show devoted to
Latino issues. She is also the founder, president and CEO of
Futuro Media Group, which produces the show. In 2022, Hinojosa
won a Pulitzer Prize.
62. Extinct New Zealand bird: MOA. A lot rarer than EMUS,
although not in crossword puzzles. I believe this is the 3rd or 4th time
I've blogged a MOA.
Trigger warning:
this is way too much information about MOAS.
64. Misfortune: WOE. Well don't say I didn't warn you.
65. Good to go: SET. We're SET. On to the comments!
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading and her constructive criticism.
waseeley
Cheers,
Bill
MaryEllen Uthlaut, you are invited to post anything you'd like to share about this puzzle,
its evolution, the theme, or whatever, in the Comments section below. We'd love to hear from you.
26. Regulations for a big contest: TOURNAMENT RULES.
44. Gradually and reliably: SLOWLY BUT SURELY.
50. Ambiguous outcome, and what the circled letters literally contain: MIXED RESULTS.
Circled letters (in red above) are anagrams of RESULTS. Good morning everyone, Melissa here. A pretty typical Wednesday, I'd say - a handful of gimme's, and only a few (to me) unknowns.
Across:
1. Enthusiast: BUFF.
5. Embarrass: ABASH.
10. Member of an ancient religion that values nonviolence: JAIN. If I've seen this before I've forgotten. Jainism.
14. Like some exams: ORAL.
15. "__ Man": Village People hit: MACHO. The group's name refers to Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Where are they now?
16. High ponytail, e.g.: UPDO. I don't usually think of a ponytail as an updo - but it fits: a type of hairstyle that involves the hair being up and out of the face.
17. WNBA alum Barnes who coaches the Arizona Wildcats: ADIA.
18. Skateboard stunt: OLLIE.
19. Baby bird's home: NEST. Adult bird, too.
23. Bubble tea pearls: BOBA. I've never had this - any fans here?
24. Abu Dhabi's country: Abbr.: UAE. United Arab Emirates.
34. "Tomorrow" musical: ANNIE. Based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie.
35. Branch of Islam: SHIA. The second-largest branch of Islam.
40. Organ component: PIPE. Here is one of the organists from the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto, CA, that shows classic Hollywood movies. From Wikipedia: "Part of the restoration included installing an organ to replace the
original which had been sold as parts. The process took 2 years to
obtain and restore parts which included the 1926 console from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the organ's 1928 pipes from Loew's Theatre." Their current schedule.
41. Note-taking aid: PAD. More paper.
42. Auth. unknown: ANON. Or commenter.
43. Ready to play, in a way: TUNED. Below, tuning a pipe organ.
48. Agree silently: NOD.
49. Units of resistance: OHMS.
57. Dreary and dull: DRAB. BO-ring.
60. Beyond mad: IRATE.
61. Ames's state: IOWA.
62. Coffee, in slang: JAVA.
63. Golf course halves: NINES.
64. Pre-calc math course: TRIG.
65. Petty quarrel: SPAT.
66. Grind, as molars: GNASH.
67. Creator of a Sonic boom?: SEGA
Down:
1. V-shaped sitting pose in yoga: BOAT.
2. Language spoken by Kamala Khan's family on "Ms. Marvel": URDU. Pakistani-American Super Hero.
7. Org. with a Reproductive Freedom Project: ACLU.
8. Knee-to-ankle area: SHIN.
9. Cleared weeds, say: HOED.
10. Capital of Alaska: JUNEAU.
11. Gorilla, e.g.: APE.
12. Cards with pics: IDS.
13. "__ all heroes wear capes": NOT. Sweet song.
21. Sole: LONE.
22. General vibe: AURA.
25. Olympic sprinter Thompson-Herah: ELAINE. Jamaican, six-time medalist, the first female sprinter in history, and the second sprinter after Usain Bolt, to win the "sprint double" at consecutive Olympics.
26. Waterproof covers: TARPS.
27. Oscar winner Tatum: O'NEAL.
28. Eel-and-rice dish: UNADON. Abbreviation for unagi donburi, "eel bowl," is a dish originating in Japan. It consists of a donburi type large bowl filled with steamed white rice, and topped with fillets of eel grilled in a style known as kabayaki, similar to teriyaki.
29. College sports channel: ESPNU. American multinational digital cable and satellite sports television channel owned by ESPN Inc, primarily dedicated to coverage of college athletics
30. Org. with the Blues and the Blue Jackets: NHL. Hockey.
31. Dead heat: TIE.
32. Toss out: EXPEL.
33. Run-down: SEEDY. From etymonline.com: The modern meaning "shabby, no longer fresh or new" is attested by 1739,
probably in reference to the appearance of a flowering plant that has
run to seed; compare figurative expressions go to seed (by 1817), etc., originally of plants, "to cease flowering as seeds develop."
38. "Press __ key to continue": ANY.
39. Crowd around: MOB.
40. Occupations: PURSUITS.
42. Grocery chain based in Germany: ALDI. Sadly, no locations in Oregon, where I am - I hear people love it.
52. "__ Brockovich": ERIN. Brockovich was instrumental in building a case against PG&E, alleging the company contaminated the town’s drinking water. In 1996, the case was settled for $333 million -- the largest ever paid in a direct-action lawsuit at the time.
53. "The X-Files" agent Scully: DANA.
54. Shared stories: LORE. A body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically passed from person to person by word of mouth.
55. Item needed to play Poohsticks: TWIG. All about Poohsticks. Big fan of Winnie, but somehow I didn't know (or remember) this.
56. Story that might take hours to tell: SAGA. I looked up Michener's Centennial - the audio book is 50 hours and 13 minutes.
57. Playlist overseers, for short: DJS.
58. Knock sharply: RAP.
59. Director DuVernay: AVA. Talented filmmaker, known for 13th, Selma, and When They See Us. Wikipedia.
