Husker Gary LA Times Cwd

Saturday, December 20, 2025

Saturday, December 20, 2025, Rafael Musa

Saturday Themeless by Rafael Musa

Rafael is a frequent constructor from Patti's coterie (how 'bout that word?) and is often seen paired with Rebecca Goldstein. Rafa is a software engineer for Airbnb in San Francisco.

I could stare at that red cell below until the proverbial cows come home and would never get it, so I'll take one bad cell and, as Taylor Swift would sing, Shake It Off.

Across:

1. Florentine political dynasty: MEDICI - The MEDICI family were the main patrons of Galileo and supported much of his work.

7. Posters that are usually ignored: SPAMBOTS.

15. Transfer: IRON ON - Mom IRONED ON a big Superman IRON transfer for 10-yr-ole me and it was my favorite shirt for many years.

16. Music genre that originated in 1930s Shanghai: MANDO POP - ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ A mix of Mandarin and Western music. Origin and an example of it today.

17. Confection: BONBON.

18. Cold look: ICY STARE.

19. Put away: STOW.

20. Bajo opposite: ALTO - I always think of Baj(a) California (lower california) and Palo ALTO (tall stick), CA.

21. Meathead: CLOD.

22. Federal holiday since 2021: JUNETEENTH.

25. Secondary account, informally: FINSTA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You might create a FINSTA (fake instagram account) along with your RINSTA (real instagram account) to share more freely with a small group of friends. It's a way to post silly memes, inside jokes, and unfiltered thoughts without worrying about your public image.

26. Revolutionary outcomes, often: NEW ERAS - Mao's Cultural Revolution brought a NEW ERA to China and he tried hard to eliminate Mandopop and other "Western cultural trash". BTW, Taylor Swift has a huge following in China today.

30. Stick around the TSA line: WAND 😀

31. Meddle: PRY.

33. In profile: SIDE ON - You might have some miles on your tires to recognize this famous profile. (answer at bottom of write-up.

34. Cancel: NIX.

35. Vegan baking ingredient made with ground seeds: CHIA EGG ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Egg substitutes

37. __ Jayawardenepura Kotte: urban area near Colombo: SRI - This suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka is usually just referred to as Kotte. Be sure to get a tee shirt at the gift shop.

38. Scrub Daddy competitor: BRILLO.

40. Greeting often followed by "Como vai?": OLA - "How are you?" and "Hello" in Portugese

41. Smith of "House of the Dragon": MATT - I wonder if Rafa even knows the name MATT Dillon

42. Flabbergast: ASTOUND.

44. Tame __: "The Slow Rush" band: IMPALA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but it just kept filling itself in

46. Find peace: FEEL AT EASE.

48. Abbr. in some titles: ASST.

51. Workers' residence: HIVE 😀

52. Crash site org.: NTSB - The National Transportation Safety Board examines a damaged aircraft in Philadelphia

54. Like some hair products: TWO IN ONE.

56. Amused sound: TEE HEE.

58. Thing that's handled badly: MISNOMER - A handle can be called a name for something so a misnomer could be Koala Bear (is a marsupial not a bear), a peanut is a legume (not a nut), lead pencils (they use graphite), etc.

59. Wading birds with powder down: HERONS - Not EGRETS this time

60. Exhaustive analysis?: SMOG TEST.

61. New money?: CRYPTO - 😀 What I know about CRYPTO could be written in this box

Down:

1. Sci-fi franchise starring Will Smith: MIB - Men In Black

2. Cherubic deity: EROS.

3. "You'll bring us bad luck!": DONT JINX IT - Don't tell a cast have a great show.

4. Like some rush-hour traffic: INBOUND.

5. Shares responsibility, in a way: COOWNS.

6. Stonewall __: INN - The site of a 1969 riot that launched the gay rights movement

7. Katy Perry album with the single "Cry About It Later": SMILE.

8. Old name of a gp. that now has two members: PAC TEN - All the schools moved adn only left Oregon State and Washington State. Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA joined the The Big "Ten" and have made transcontinental travel a necessity for some games.

9. Impossible to call: ANYONE'S GAME - Tie score in the ninth inning...

10. Physical performers, for short: MDS 😀

11. Made a mess of: BOTCHED.

12. Gem for a Libra: OPAL - Ruby is the only other 4-letter birthstone I could find

13. Sushi bar cut: TORO.

14. Tore: SPED.

20. Game company that released a 50th anniversary bundle in 2022: ATARI.

23. Classic movie line uttered while pointing out the window: ET PHONE HOME.

24. Bit of kindling: TWIG.

25. The Big E et al.: FAIRS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

27. Old stock market: RESALE SHOP.

28. Left ventricle outlet: AORTA.

29. Foul mood: SNIT.

30. Dream realm?: WNBA.

32. Former Rocket Ming: YAO - His wife is 6' 3" but he is 7' 6"

35. Fingerprint, maybe: CLUE.

36. Select few: ELITE.

39. Hitting up: LOFTING - That'll get them away from the net

41. Proficiency: MASTERY.

43. Tackling groups, for short: D-LINES - a famous one played in Pittsburgh in the 70's

45. Saag __: spinach dish with cheese: PANEER ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'll bet you can get this in Jayawardenepura Kotte

47. Stave off: AVERT.

48. PIN-points: ATMS.

49. Make waves, say: SWIM.

50. Shrugworthy: SO SO.

53. Dog-eared, say: BENT - Don't let the librarian catch you 😊

55. "__ cool!": NOT.

56. Compound in some edibles: THC - The hilarious day everyone in Grey's Anatomy ate marijuana-laced cookies. (5:58)

57. Spanish pronoun: ESO - Paul Anka's ESO Besso (Ooo That Kiss) always saves me. here.

*That famous SIDE ON profile is of Alfred Hitchcock and was used at the start of his 60's TV

show

Jess Rucks, a crossword constructor, whose puzzles I have blogged many times, contacted me via FaceBook to meet in Lincoln for dinner as she was driving from Colorado Springs to her hometown in Minnesota. We met at Lazlo’s Restaurant and had a very pleasant evening. Here is a picture of me and Jess. As you might imagine from the picture, she played D1 volleyball at New Mexico but not so obviously she later served as an Urdu translator for the Air Force. Besides being brilliant, she also has a wonderful sense of humor! An extensive interview with Jess

Saturday, November 29, 2025

Saturday, November 29, 2025, Joe Marangell

Saturday Themeless by Joe Marangell

Joe Marangell is the social studies instructional leader for East Haven Public Schools in East Haven, Connecticut, where he has worked since 2001 focused on inquiry-based learning, literacy, and student engagement. He has an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction and is a Crossword puzzle constructor!

I made what I think is an intelligent mistake at 64. Across. I thought Melodramatic movie scenes might have LENTO MUSIC and MOIRA ROLE (no idea) and TANS (they end at cuffs and sleeves sometimes), but not so much. Couple that with some "new to me" fill made for some skating around to finish.

Joe was nice enough to make tell me this: Yes, that's me! My name is pronounced with a soft g, like Mare-an-jell. My favorite entries in the puzzle were VIBE CODING and MOIRA ROSE. I was in a meeting about artificial intelligence at school, and the tech director told us about vibe coding, which I had never heard of before that point. I made a note of the phrase since I thought it was an interesting-sounding one. Moira Rose is the hilarious character portrayed by Catherine O'Hara on the TV show Schitt's Creek, so when I saw that fit in the grid, I had to keep it.

My favorite clues were [Cave man?] for Plato and [Pop of vibrant color?] for ORANGE SODA. (The clues in the actual puzzle may have been changed from these since that happens with some of them during the editing process.) Also, I completely agree with Malaika's advice! I look up things all the time when I do crosswords, and I have no shame in doing that!

Across:

1. "Cav/Pag" opera combination, notably: DOUBLE BILL - What a start!

"Cav/Pag" is the common pairing of two Italian

operas: Mascagni's Cavallerie Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, presented together as a "double bill". The tradition began in 1893 at the Metropolitan Opera and continues today because the two operas, despite being by different composers, share a similar style of intense, realistic, and often violent, stories about common people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Going to one opera would be hard enough for me, so two, I don't think so but I did suss this out.

11. Electrical carriers: IONS.

15. Indignant denial: IT'S ALL A LIE.

16. Surface crack: CHAP - Like on your lips

17. App development using A.I. and natural language: VIBE CODING ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

18. New Age singer from Donegal: ENYA - A hit song by an Irish girl with a South American River in the title. Enjoy:

19. Braying animal: ASS.

20. Cave man?: PLATO - Explanation

21. Designer Hugo: BOSS.

22. Cookie with 90 ridges per wafer: OREO.

24. Title for a fictional rabbit: BRER.

26. Limited offer: PROMO.

29. Way of checking lines after they're cast?: TABLE READ - The cast of Seinfeld goes through the next script

34. Two-wheel carriage: HANSOM.

36. Sporting phrase: GOOD GAME.

good game, good game, good game
good game, good game, good game...

37. Loving poem: ODE.

38. Taylor Swift, typically: SOLO ACT - She is a SOLO ACT but it takes a huge crew and a convoy of semis to set her up.

40. [Error in original]: SIC.

41. Comparatively cozy: TOASTIER.

43. Seijin-shiki garment: KIMONO - Seijin-shiki is a "coming of age" ceremony in Japan

45. Traveling: ON THE ROAD - Didn't you think of this?

47. Generous one: DONOR.

48. Atmosphere: AURA - Not VIBE this time

49. Steve of "Peacemaker": AGEE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

51. Power unit: WATT.

53. Expression of probability: RATIO.

56. __ name: PET.

59. Drama honor: OBIE - This is what our frequent cwd visitor looks like

60. Pop of vibrant color?: ORANGE SODA - My fav drink 70 years ago

63. "Ratatouille" culinary genius: REMY.

64. Like melodramatic movie scenes: SET TO MUSIC.

65. "Twittering Machine" artist: KLEE.

66. "Annie" song that's a counterpoint to "It's the Hard-Knock Life": EASY STREET.

Down:

1. Demanding star: DIVA.

2. Los Angeles Times co-founder Eliza Ann __: OTIS. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3. Some PC ports: USBS.

4. Boo: BAE - Not a fan of either term of endearment

5. Business letters: LLC.

6. Participate in a secret exchange: ELOPE 😀 - I learned that this is the term nursing homes use for resident's leaving without permission.

7. Scoundrel: BAD LOT -

"He's a bad lot" means he is a bad, untrustworthy or unpleasant person.

The phrase is often used in British English and is considered old-fashioned. It describes someone who is morally bad, a troublemaker, or unreliable. You're Welcome.

8. Pelvic bones: ILIA.

9. __ roller: LINT.

10. Construction piece: LEGO BLOCK 😀

11. Wedge salad base: ICEBERG - A crunchy offering made with ICEBERG lettuce

12. "Just curious": OH NO REASON - Yeah, right!

13. Votes against: NAYS.

14. Restorative sites: SPAS.

22. Chanting syllables: OMS.

23. Low-tech alarm: ROOSTER 😀

25. Harmful algal bloom: RED TIDE.

26. Common ID component: PHOTO.

27. Element considered in a home inspection: RADON.

28. Admonishment to waiters: ONE AT A TIME - Not for servers but for people waiting in line

30. Ancient assembly space: AGORA.

31. Drag strip?: BOA.

32. __ acids: AMINO.

33. Home magazine topic: DECOR.

35. "Schitt's Creek" character who tells her son to "stop acting like a disgruntled pelican": MOIRA ROSE. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There's even merch! I would have fared better if I had done the 11/21/25 puzzle first.

39. Summer sign: LEO - Astrology: Leo is a summer sign. Astronomy: Leo is a winter constellation. Guess to which one I give one the most credence.

42. Rest: SHUT EYE.

44. Springfield barkeep: MOE - Another member of the Simpson cast.

46. Delicate: DAINTY.

50. "Our Lips Are Sealed" band: GOGOS - A hit from 44 years ago.