Saturday Themeless by Guilherme Gilioli
Guilherme is from Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil which is 930 miles SW of Rio de Janeiro as you can see on the map.says, "Mostly I create crosswords in Portuguese for magazines and my personal website, but lately I've been trying to create puzzles in English and it's going pretty good, learning a lot."
This grid is very striking with 12, 13 and 14 stair-stepped cells at the top and mirrored at the bottom. I struggled mightily, finished the bottom first and then the top after taking some educated guesses.
Across:
1. "If memory serves ... ": LAST I CHECKED.
13. Particles in the Fermi theory of beta decay: ANTI NEUTRINOS - If you're really that interested - This filled in pretty easily for this physics guy.
15. Rent, pension, etc.: UNEARNED INCOME. It's still taxable.
17. "There's no wrong way to eat a __": candy tagline: REESES.
15. Rent, pension, etc.: UNEARNED INCOME. It's still taxable.
17. "There's no wrong way to eat a __": candy tagline: REESES.
18. Madness, e.g.: SKA BAND - Uber obscure fill for a common word
20. Bandmate of Dizzy and Duff: AXL - Saturday cluing for AXL Rose of Guns n Roses who is in the middle below. I have no idea who the other two are but they must be in this picture somewhere.
21. Functions: USES - How many can you count?
24. Comedian Radner: GILDA - Part of the SNL Not Ready For Prime Time Players. One iteration is below: Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin, John Belushi, Larraine Newman, Dan Aykroyd, GILDA Radner and Bill Murray.
25. Nectar eaters: WASPS.
27. Skinned: PEELED - Softball is played on a skinned infield where the grass has been PEELED off.
28. Prep for a bout: SPAR.
30. Actress Jessica: ALBA - Ms. ALBA is on our crossword marquee frequently
32. N-everlasting thing: FAD - N has become slang for no, not, etc. FADS are certainly not everlasting.
33. Ishikawa __: visual component of root-cause analysis: DIAGRAM - Okay....
35. "Come again?": I'M SORRY.
38. __ Souls College, Oxford: ALL.
39. Shortly, shortly: ASAP.
41. Vegan-friendly organic brand: AMY'S.
42. Responds to 52-Across: REACTS.
45. Durable garb: JEANS.
47. Forest moon where C-3PO was worshipped as a god: ENDOR.
48. Pub pals: LADS.
49. Walks, in stats: BBS - "A walk's (Base On Balls) as good as a hit"
52. Cues: STIMULI - Natural STIMULI are telling many thousands of Sandhill Cranes to return to the Platte River in Central Nebraska this time of year as a stop on their migration north.
54. Straight: IN A ROW.
57. "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles," for one: MNEMONIC DEVICE - ...My Very Excellent Mother Served Us Nine Pizzas had to be edited when Pluto was demoted.
60. Star quality: STAGE PRESENCE.
61. Comfortable: ON EASY STREET.
57. "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Noodles," for one: MNEMONIC DEVICE - ...My Very Excellent Mother Served Us Nine Pizzas had to be edited when Pluto was demoted.
60. Star quality: STAGE PRESENCE.
61. Comfortable: ON EASY STREET.
Down:
1. "The Glass Menagerie" girl: LAURA - Laura Wingfield, the withdrawn high school dropout who passes her days listening to old phonograph records and caring for her collection of glass animals while the world closes in around her.
2. Add-on: ANNEX.
3. __ drum: STEEL
4. Mulheres da família: TIAS - Our Brazilian constructor gives us the Brazilian words for women as a clue and TIAS for aunts as fill.
5. About: IN RE.
6. 2030 event: CENSUS - Article 1 Section 2 of The American Constitution
7. Peach or plum: HUE.
8. Weather-sensitive fig.: ETD - Changing ETA to ETD was my last fill.
9. "Mindfreak" magician Angel: CRISS.
 |
| "Levitating" on the beach |
10. Idiosyncrasy: KINK.
11. Put behind bars: ENCAGE.
12. The __ Brothers: "Listen to the Music" band: DOOBIE - A great musical interlude
14. Shaver: SMALL FRY - The fish version
 |
| Stocking a lake with SMALL FRY |
16. Creates a soft spot?: ENDEARS.
19. Pops: DADDY In Japan it is 36. Japanese title of respect: SAN - Papa SAN
22. Abuses an email list, say: SPAMS.
23. Continuing ed course: ESL.
25. Go to and fro: WAG.
26. Flight board abbr.: ARRivals
27. Muñoz Ryan who wrote the Newbery Honor Book "Echo": PAM.
28. Part of 57-Across: SILENT M -
29. Legendary attendants of Charlemagne: PALADINS - Yeah, I thought of this too.
31. Yeti, e.g.: BIPED - Not the first characteristic I think of.
33. Doesn't want the truth, say: DARES - Game
34. Juice sources?: AA'S 😀
37. Chanting sounds: OMS.
40. 2023 WNBA Finals MVP Wilson: AJA.
43. Arrive at: COME TO.
44. Pulitzer-winning McCullough presidential biography: TRUMAN - It's on one of my, uh, shelfs.
46. Muttered remarks: ASIDES - Ferris Bueller's ASIDES broke the fourth wall quite often during his Day Off.
48. Form opener: LINE A.
49. Preservative: BRINE - The basic ingredients are water, vinegar, sugar and salt.
50. Bowling game: BOCCE.
51. "Cool!": SWEET.
53. Seating level: LOGE - If you want to see Hamilton in Atlanta tonight, here is what the LOGE seat below will set you back.
55. Shape of a baklava, sometimes: NEST.
56. Profess: AVER.
58. IDs of PCs: IPS - The IDentificationS of Personal ComputerS are their Internet ProtocolS.
59. Let it out, in a way: CRY.
Notes from C.C.:
Voting is now open until March 1 for the 12th ORCA Awards – the annual celebration of creativity in crosswords! Winners will be announced on March 6 during a livestream filled with games and prizes. Five long-time solvers will receive special awards. For
each day of their streak, solvers can receive a chance to win crossword
memorabilia inscribed to them and signed by Will Shortz. Need not be
present to win. Details and voting info can be found at Diary of a Crossword Fiend.
