Saturday, October 12 2024, Bettina Elias Siegel, Dan Elias

Saturday Themeless by Bettina Elias Siegel & Dan Elias

This is a puzzle where I had to struggle. The cluing was too clever by half in some places but I persevered. I use Across Lite to solve these puzzles in advance and in this one I used the Check Word function a few times and every time, it said the word or partial word was correct and so I soldiered on. 

I got SIDE HUSTLES right away and I fought CAREER COACH's cluing and was told AMUSE BOUCHE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ was right as I slowly filled in the crossers there.  ECHOLESS and SHE GOAT were, uh, "out there"! I'll point some out some other head scratchers as we progress through the grid. The pinwheel 11-letter triple stacks are noteworthy. 

Across:

1. Extra work: SIDE HUSTLES - Like most other starting teachers, I had several of these - Bricklayer, landscaper, retail salesperson, train brakeman and anything else I could do to bring in some cash.

12. Historic period: AGE - Erasing ERA and starting over opened up this entire corner. 

15. Path finder: CAREER COACH.

16. Aloha nui __: affectionate Hawaiian phrase: LOA - "All my love:\"

17. Special bite: AMUSE BOUCHE - An AMUSE BOUCHE (amuses the mouth in French) is a single, bite-sized hors d'œuvre. Once again ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

18. D.C. United's org.: MLS.

19. Enhancer of soups or venue for hoops: MSG 😀

 

   


20. Bar fly-er?: DART - Saturday cluing! 

21. Gail of "NYPD Blue": O'GRADY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

23. Eat: DINE.

24. 19th century women's rights advocate Amelia: BLOOMER - Yup, that's where that item of apparel originated.

25. Much-feared natural disaster: BIG ONE.

28. Wildflower once thought to repel pests: FLEABANE - Those words make sense

29. Strip, as a ship: UNRIG - DERIG had the same sense but didn't work

30. Super time: BLAST.

31. Singing syllable: TRA.

32. John Swinney, for one: SCOT.

33. Nudges: PRODS.

34. Enduring dispute: FEUD - Joan and Betty had a famous one

35. Go off course: YAW - I have said many times in this forum that a plane can YAW (crab) and stay on course. 

36. Verse inverse: PROSE.

37. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" writer/illustrator: CARLE - The "C" at CARLE/CASSAT ws my last fill.

38. Kelp and nori: SEAWEEDS.

40. One who may be sacked: PASSER 😀 Even Patrick Mahomes 

41. Diplomatic mission: EMBASSY - Here are some of the 177 in D.C.

42. Old book collection?: DUST 😀

43. Tops: APEXES.

44. Cooks (up): GINS Etymology  I was always amused at excuses kids can GIN UP to explain whey they don't have an assignment done. 

45. Wit: WAG.

48. "Chandelier" singer: SIA - Entertainers are always looking for a way to stand out from the crowd.

49. Adapt quickly: TURN ON A DIME - Oh did I say "against"? I meant "for".

52. "Catch-22" pilot played by Bob Balaban: ORR - Bob played ORR in the 1970 movie but is probably better remembered for playing Russell Dalrymple in Seinfeld 19 years later

     
 

53. Pay-to-play need: ARCADE TOKEN.

54. Connecticut governor Lamont: NED.

55. Spine-opening yoga pose: SEATED TWIST.

Down:

1. Phishing hook: SCAM - My "grandson" has called me three times for cash bail money. Uh, I was born at night, but not last night!

2. Animal nutritionist who founded a pet food company in 1946: IAMS - Paul IAMS invented his dog food in 1950 and called it 999.

3. Pharmacopeia entry: DRUG.

An 1868 edition

4. Some MIT grads: EES.

5. Following: HEEDING - I know who I need to be HEEDING in this house 😀

6. Suave: URBANE.

7. Williams work: SCORE - Nobody does it better than John

8. Promote: TOUT.

9. Switzerland's __ Léman: LAC.

10. Still waiting for a callback?: ECHOLESS- 😀 Okay...

11. Picasso sculpture subject: SHE GOAT - 70-yr-old Pablo made this in 1950, the same year Paul Iams made his dog food. 

12. School songs: ALMA MATERS - A touching scene from Grey's Anatomy as college kids gather and sing their ALMA MATER outside the hospital after a mass shooting at their school.

13. Words to live by: GOLDEN RULE.

14. Beginner's book: EASY READER - Did anyone else read about Dick, Jane and Spot?

My EASY READER

22. Comedian Delaney: ROB.

23. "Yes!": DO IT.

24. Propeller part: BLADE.

25. Summer on Cape Cod, e.g.: BUSY SEASON.

26. South American domain name: INCA EMPIRE.

27. Election advice from young Grace Bedell to Mr. Lincoln: GROW A BEARD - On his way to his inauguration, Abe stopped in Grace's hometown of Westfield to thank her personally. A statue is there now to commemorate that meeting.

28. Fairy __: cotton candy, in Australia: FLOSS.

30. "The Pianist" Oscar winner: BRODY.

33. Word with blood or water: PRESSURE 😀

34. Firmly fixed: FAST.

36. Pre-euro Spanish coins: PESETAS.

37. Impressionist painter born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania: CASSATT.

39. Surfer's need: WAX - We're WAXIN' down our surf boards, Can't wait 'til June...

40. Was fully groan?: PUNNED 😀

42. Electronics component: DIODE - When I got my physics training, solid state DIODES were just  starting to replace vacuum tubes.

44. Swarming pest: GNAT.

45. Site that may host an edit war: WIKI.

46. Iowa college town: AMES.

47. Chap: GENT.

50. TV pioneer: RCA.

51. DJIA part: DOW.

Saturday, July 13, 2024, Ricky Sirois

Thursday Themeless by Ricky Sirois

This is my second Ricky Sirois  Saturday themeless  (first one was 1/14/23) and I gotta tell you, it was a breezy 20-minute exercise that was a lot of fun. My fav had to be the Brady Bunch misdirection! 😀

Across:

1. Part of the healing process: SCAB.

5. Hiss source: LEAK - If you spray the tire with water, bubbles will tell you the source of the LEAK

9. Network, say: CLAN.

13. Giant automaton of Greek mythology: TALOS.

15. French pronoun: ELLE - ELLE est belle (She is beautiful) 

16. Number two: AIDE - Ulysses S. Grant and his AIDE-de-camp, Orville Babcock.

17. Lingo: ARGOT and 50. Raise: HOIST - The STS-79 orbiter being HOISTED from the ET/SRB stack on the MLP in KSC's  VAB - NASA ARGOT

18. Animal in the creation myth of the Achomawi people of Northern California: SILVER FOX.

20. Hybrid pastries: CRONUTS  A portmanteau: A ring-shaped fried pastry made from croissant dough. 

22. Hazelnut: FILBERT - Two names for the same nut. 

23. Range rovers?: HERD 😀

24. Coastal birds: HERONS.

26. Stable diet: HAY 😀

27. Revelation: EYE OPENER.

29. Sheepherder in a 1995 Oscar-nominated film: BABE 31. 29-Across, for one: PIG.

30. Yak: GAB.

33. Sch. with the second-most NCAA team championships: UCLA.

34. One who spends a lot of time in cabs: LONG HAUL TRUCKER 😀

39. Like a roller derby track: OVAL.

40. Cellular messenger: RNA - A very frequent cwd messenger

41. Letter abbr.: ENC.

42. Shape-shifting prefix: WERE - The prefix "were-" comes from the Old English word for "man".

43. Prevents an actor from getting a breakthrough role, perhaps: TYPECASTS = Speaking of werewolves and typecasting, here's Lon Chaney

48. Demonstrate one's humanity: ERR.

49. Pursued: CHASED.

51. Comedian Trevor: NOAH - His big break

52. Turns the page?: READS ON 😀

54. Result of a successful collaboration: SYNERGY.

56. Conan O'Brien's first talk show: LATE NIGHT.

58. End: CEASE.

59. Avoids injury: IS OK.

60. Gin berry: SLOE.

61. Root used in perfumery: ORRIS - Rootstock of the Iris

     

62. Wicker man, for one: PYRE - More

63. Spree: TEAR - Some athletes who are doing very well at some point can be said to be "on a TEAR".

64. Email folder: SENT.

Down:

1. Soup strainer, informally: STACHE.

2. "Dumb and Dumber" star: CARREY.

3. "An Inconvenient Truth" writer: AL GORE.

4. Wasteful project: BOONDOGGLE - This word's interesting derivation

5. Reduce: LESSEN.

6. Yale student: ELI.

7. Completely on board: ALL FOR IT - Where'd everybody go?

8. Flightless bird in "Up": KEVIN.

9. Low-__ diet: CARB.

10. Shortcut, of sorts: LIFE HACK - They are ubiquitous on the internet

11. Precious: ADORABLE.

12. Foo Fighters power ballad that was the theme song for the NBC sitcom "Ed": NEXT YEAR - It's not the theme from Hawaii 5-0 but it's okay.

14. R-V connection?: STU - Disco STU gets the day off for this alphabet progression

19. Raised trains: ELS.

21. Legal exam, familiarly: THE BAR - Chuck McGill's reaction to his little brother Jimmy (soon to be Saul Goodman) on Better Call Saul 

25. Do-overs: REPLAYS.

28. Tuba sound: PAH.

29. Brady bunch, once: BUCCANEERS 😀 Gotta love this!

32. Like Midas: GREEDY.

34. Labium inferius oris: LOWER LIP - Labium/LIP, Inferius/LOWER

35. Breakfast specification: OVER EASY - Recently I had OVER HARD as a scrambled alternative

36. David Attenborough, for one: NARRATOR - A hilarious AI application 

37. Straighten out: UNTANGLE.

38. Cousin's dad, casually: UNC.

44. Nag: PESTER.

45. 1957 Jimmy Dorsey hit: SO RARE - Dedicated to my Mom

46. Takes over: TAGS IN.

47. Most reserved: SHYEST.

49. "Marrakesh Express" band, for short: CSN - Crosby, Stills and Nash are the 3-letter abbr. group today.

53. Football : juke :: hockey : __: DEKE - DECOY

55. Many a PX shopper: NCO - Every branch of the service has NCO's these are in the U.S. Army

57. Residential community org.: HOA.