Sunday September 7, 2025 Chandi Deitmer

Theme: "SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERIES" - A chemical element is added to each common phrase. This element pairs nicely with the following word to form a valid phrase also. 

22. *Cowardly Lion or Scarecrow, probably?: TIN MAN'S BEST FRIEND. Tin Man. Man's best friend. 

33. *Question on a history test about westward migration in the 1840s?: WHY THE BIG GOLD RUSH. Why the big rush. Gold rush. 

49. *Surviving Victorian society, for a Dickens character?: COPPERFIELD GOAL. Copperfield. Field goal. 

65. *Useful download for archaeologists?: CARBON DATING APP.  Carbon dating. Dating app. 

87. *Plea for a way to advertise a business that is open all night?: GIVE ME A NEON SIGN. Give me a sign. Neon sign. 

100. *Primate habitat banner when the zoo acquires a new gorilla?: WELCOME SILVERBACK. Welcome back. Silverback. 

Reveal:

112. Unexpected twist, or what's found in the answers to the starred clues: ELEMENT OF SURPRISE.

Husker Gary mentioned a while ago that Chandi is a full-time puzzler out of Cambridge, MA. Her puzzles are always fun and witty. 

Have any of you solved the Slate crosswords? Chandi is one of the regular constructors there. 

Across:

1. Climb: ASCENT.

7. Fancy car upgrades: RIMS.

11. One who's crossed a line?: SCAB. Picket line.

15. Old AOL missives: IMS.

18. How crêpe suzette is served: FLAMBE.

19. Stew-thickening pod: OKRA.

20. __ platter: PU PU. Never heard of this until I started solving crosswords.

21. Wray of "King Kong": FAY.

26. Feminine concept in Taoism: YIN. I eat a ton of Yin food in the summer: cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. Time for Yang food now: sweet potatoes, kabocha squash, etc.  

27. Whirling water: EDDY.

28. MMA decision: TKO.

29. Hit the jackpot: WIN.

30. Kevlar creator: DUPONT.

32. Marina del __, California: REY.

38. Surface: ARISE.

40. Solemnly swear: AVOW.

41. Cease and __: DESIST.

42. Used a "Safe!" word?: UMPED. Also loved this clue: 59. Square figure?: AREA. 

44. Kapoor of Hindi cinema: ANIL. Wikipedia says he has appeared in more than 100 films. 

45. Membership fees: DUES.

47. Actress Kate or Rooney: MARA.

53. Tinkered (with): TOYED.

54. Laze about: LOLL.

55. Stately 110-Downs: ELMS. 110. Shade provider: TREE.

56. Words of warning: OR ELSE.

58. __ trombone: SAD.

60. __ check: GUT.

61. Some critical care pros: EMTS.

63. Witch costume props: BROOMS. I saw a few guys digging stuff near our post office. The company is called "Ditch Witch".

70. Eager student's cry: ME ME ME.

73. Preternatural glow: AURA.

74. Poetic preposition: O'ER. This is the only word where V's is contracted, right?

75. Parliament members?: OWLS.

79. Language suffix: ESE.

80. Font option: ITALIC.

83. Cat's "Thanks for petting me": PURR.

84. Mule, e.g.: SHOE.

85. Group of eight: OCTAD.

91. "Storage __": reality TV show: WARS.

92. Document option: SAVE.

93. Omar of "House": EPPS.

94. Exposed: OUTED.

95. Many a soda can: POP TOP.

97. Without charge: FREE.

98. Tundra or taiga: BIOME.

104. Scot's denial: NAE.

107. Glinda portrayer: ARIANA. Ariana Grande. Ethereal. 

108. Savings option, for short: IRA.

109. Computing pioneer Lovelace: ADA.

110. Word in sloth names: TOED. Three-toed sloth. 

111. Peyton or Eli, to Archie: SON. Time for Arch to shine.

118. "Lenore" poet: POE.

119. Shortcut image: ICON.

120. One who's really trying?: BRAT. Stressful "trying".

121. Applies to: USES ON.

122. Texting tech: SMS.

123. High-grade: A ONE.

124. Organization that chases Carmen Sandiego: ACME.

125. Makes tea: STEEPS.

Down:

1. Renovation photo caption: AFTER.

2. Waterpark feature: SLIDE.

3. Sticky carnival treat: CANDY APPLE. We eat candied hawthorns during Chinese New Year. 

4. Primetime award: EMMY.

5. Org. for James and Durant: NBA.

6. Dimes, to dollars: TENTHS.

7. Alicia Vikander's "Ex Machina" role: ROBOT. Learning moment for me. 

8. 1950s prez: IKE.

9. "And here's to you, __ Robinson": MRS.

10. Parked it: SAT.

11. Bit of thyme: SPRIG.

12. Prompting an actor: CUING.

13. Chimp, e.g.: APE.

14. Heaps: BUNDLES.

15. "Suuuuure": IF YOU SAY SO. And 16. Opposite of indie: MAINSTREAM.  71. Activity where people are really locked in?: ESCAPE ROOM. 72. Subway network: METRO LINES. Two pairs of paralleled 10's. Amazing grid work. 

17. EDM instrument: SYNTH.

23. Inner Hebrides isle: SKYE.

24. Texter's "This might be useful": FWIW. For What It's Worth. 

25. Getup: DUDS.

31. Top-ranked: PRIMO.

33. Like a panoramic view: WIDE.

34. Fruit of the Loom rival: HANES.

35. Very bad: EVIL.

36. Font option: BOLD.

37. NFL star __ Beckham Jr.: ODELL.

39. Swap out: REPLACE.

42. Jackie Robinson Stadium sch.: UCLA.

43. Tie up, as a boat: MOOR.

44. Have the objective of: AIM TO.

45. Latissimus __: back muscle: DORSI.

46. Fed. with artificial archipelagos known as the Palm Islands: UAE. This looks surreal.

48. Contributes: ADDS.

50. Feel sorry for: REGRET.

51. Drop the ball: FLUB.

52. "You __ try this!": GOTTA.

53. U. of Maryland athlete: TERP.

57. Food court pizza chain: SBARRO.

61. Evoke: EDUCE.

62. Make a dent in: MAR.

64. American marsupial: OPOSSUM.

66. Among: AMID.

67. Not world-weary: NAIVE.

68. People, places, things, etc.: NOUNS.

69. "Sommersby" star: GERE. Not familiar with the movie.

70. Cat's "Please pet me": MEOW.

76. Neutral sound that may be a sleep aid: WHITE NOISE. Been a blissful few months. No weed. No noise. The company that owns 5501 decided to sell the house. Pending right now.

77. Theater section: LOGE.

78. Chat box button: SEND.

81. Visibly shocked: AGAPE.

82. Actress Tyler: LIV.

83. Rock, __, Scissors: PAPER.

86. Rescue rehoming org.: ASPCA.

88. Game show creator Griffin: MERV.

89. Fencing option: EPEE. The pride of Hong Kong: Vivian Kong. She won gold in women's epee in Paris.

90. Cozy reading spot: NOOK.

92. Kenya neighbor: SOMALIA.

96. "Don't you take that __ with me!": TONE.

97. Custard dessert: FLAN.

98. Singer Erykah: BADU.

99. High-flying guy of myth: ICARUS. His wings melted. 

100. Winged stingers: WASPS.

101. Pegg of "The Boys": SIMON.

102. Sherlock adversary Adler: IRENE.

103. Roast turkey instruction: BASTE.

105. Greek fabulist: AESOP.

106. Unblemished spots: EDENS.

113. Green prefix: ECO.

114. Abbr. on an unfinished schedule: TBA.

115. Hobbit enemy: ORC.

116. Nearest and dearest, colloquially: FAM.

117. Oregon hrs.: PST.

C.C.

Saturday, September 6, 2025, Rafael Musa, Geoffrey Schorkopf

 Themeless Saturday by Rafael Musa & Geoffrey Schorkopf 

BRICK went in immediately and then I raced down the eastern seaboard with just Florida to fill in. That did take a little doing but I came back and finished there. Cutesy cluing and modern slang provided some speed bumps but I did get a satisfying Congratulations message when I "got 'er done". 

As the graphic shows, Rafael (A software engineer for Airbnb in S.F.)  and Geoffrey (a software engineer at Fastly in Atlanta) had a lot of unique fill including all of a triple horizontal stack of 9's in the NW. Its matching triple stack in the SE had one unique fill and the symmetric double vertical 10's each had one. 

Rafael

Geoffrey

 

Across:

1. Showers with affection in a manipulative way: LOVE BOMBS - I was happy to learn this. It seems to be an example of "too much, too soon".

10. Classic surface for the Indy 500: BRICK - My first confident fill. The last vestige of the old brick surface is a strip just after the finish line.

15. Option at a Mediterranean bakery: OLIVE ROLL - Unknown to me but makes perfect sense.

16. Art print, for short: LITHO - A very nice one minute video about the LITHO (rock) GRAPHY (picture) process. 

17. Hero in a 2018 Thai rescue operation: CAVE DIVER.

18. Photographer Adams: ANSEL.

19. Fertility clinic donations: OVA.

20. Piggy back?: LOIN - I had _ O I N and thought GO IN as you piggy back on someone else's idea or gift purchase and GO IN on it. 😀

21. Not spotted: UNSEEN.

22. People taking steps together: LINE DANCERS 😀

24. Pro pitcher, perhaps: AD MAN - Pitcher is one of those clue words that warn you this is might not be a baseball player or a container of lemonade.

27. Symbol of statistical deviation: SIGMA - Yes, 𝛔 is a lower case SIGMA. 𝜇 is the mean or average.

28. One who might run a Lab's labs: VET. 😀

30. Host who fielded many, many questions: TREBEK - It just ain't the same without him

32. New beginning?: NEO.

33. Aura: VIBE.

34. Water under the bridge: BYGONES.

36. Medium for pop art?: SODA CAN - Andy Warhol's Campbell's SOUP CAN came to me first

38. Cracked: AJAR - This door can be said to be slightly cracked or AJAR

39. Long-nosed fish: GAR.

41. Fights off: REPELS.

42. Primary ingredient in the Nigerian dish āmālā: YAM - When I saw it wasn't OCA I entered YAM

43. Conceive: BEGET - The Book Of Matthew chronicles 40 generations of BEGETTING! 

45. Church walkway: AISLE.

46. Butler honor: NEBULA AWARD.

49. Arm-twisting: DURESS.

50. Coin featuring Hagia Sophia: LIRA.

51. Interior designer's deg.: BFA - This is the degree my youngest granddaughter is currently pursuing 

54. Parties hearty: RAGES.

55. One-in-a-million personality: RARE BREED.

57. Goddess of peace: IRENE.

58. Departing words: ALL ABOARD before they 21. Cast off: UNMOOR.

59. Guy Fawkes Night structures: PYRES - What is this all about?

60. Updos that might be carefully arranged to appear casual: MESSY BUNS.

Down:

1. Set into -motion?: LOCO - I never miss a chance for some great 60's rock 'n roll!

2. Norwegian ruler known as Folkekongen, "the people's king": OLAV.

3. " ¡__ la fiesta!": VIVA - "Long live the party!" or "Hooray for the festival!" 

5. Set for retirement?: BED LINEN 😀 Set is a noun

6. Spacecraft of NASA's Artemis program: ORION - Yeah, I knew it! The ORION spacecraft that will carry astronauts sits high atop this massive rocket. The vast majority of rocket below the ORION craft simply carries fuel and two boosters.

 

7. Things pushed by trailers: MOVIES. 😀

8. Become one with the crowd: BLEND IN.

Hint to find Waldo at bottom of write-up

9. Snap decision, for short?: SLR - Yes, you can use a Single Lens Reflex camera to take a snap (photo)

10. Bahía __: city whose name means "White Bay": BLANCA.

11. Dishwasher setting: RINSE.

12. Field for one with their head in the cloud?: IT SERVICES - Uh, the virtual cloud (singular in the clue)

13. Lacking taste: CHEESE BALL - He is so CHEESE BALL

14. City on the Rhein: KOLN - In Germany they say KURN in English we say Kuh LOWN. Koln or Cologne?

22. When one might hope for same-day delivery?: LABOR 😀

23. Quite a stretch: AGES.

24. No longer dangerous: AT BAY.

25. Nondrinking age?: DRY JANUARY.

26. Very big deal: MEGA MERGER.

29. All knotted up: TENSE.

31. Pelvic exercises: KEGELS.

33. Jejune: VAPID.

35. Hardly a digest: SAGA.

37. Advice column with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: DEAR ABBY.

40. Cask beer in traditional British pubs: REAL ALE.

43. Kisses: BUSSES.

44. Shows off a new dress, say: TWIRLS 47. Geoffrey of fashion: BEENE. Here is a TWIRL in a Geoffrey Beene dress.

ee

48. Fields: AREAS.

49. Stalactite origin: DRIP  - The DRIP can make them grow as fast as 1" per 100 years.

51. Main squeeze: BEAU.

52. Scottish comedian Brady: FERN - She's a hoot who says, "I am an intelligent woman trapped in a Scottish accent". Here's a 29 second clip.

53. Does the math: ADDS.

55. Mac spec: RAM.

56. Hold up: ROB.

Here's Waldo!