Husker Gary LA Times Cwd

Saturday, July 26, 2025

Saturday, July 26, 2025, Malaika Handa

Saturday Themeless by Malaika Handa

This is my third themeless puzzle by Brooklyn resident Malaika Handa. Malaika is a software engineer who has been making puzzles for three years. You can see an archive of all her puzzles on her website: https://www.girlbosswords.com/

Here is a link to a playful but instructive interview with Malaika that includes this wonderful quote from her:

Also, when you’re solving, look up entries that you don’t know! It’s a game, not a test.

Across:

1. Healing process: AFTER CARE - My DW is as good as you can get!

10. Wedding traditions that involve rings: HORAS - Ah, rings of people not metal

15. Participated in a group ride: CAR POOLED.

16. Not sneaky: OVERT.

17. Shape that might resemble a hexagon sliced in half: TRAPEZOID - Slicing this hexagon yielded a TRAPEZOID, a parallelogram and a triangle. This math guy loved this idea!

18. Shelf: LEDGE.

19. Goddess believed to be the divine mother of the pharaoh: ISIS.

20. Part of JPY: YEN - You have to look very carefully to see the symbol for the JaPanese YEN ¥ in the picture to the left of the number. Security measures on these notes

21. Fund: ENDOW.

22. Zip around a soccer field?: NIL - NIL and zip are euphemisms for zero.

23. Texting tech: SMS - We do a lot of Short Message Service text for personal and professional contacts. Here, my grandson and I set up a golf date.

24. Some characters on the U.K. show "The Thick of It": MPS - Members of Parliament ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

26. "Entertaining Is Fun!" columnist Garten: INA.

27. Not likely to enjoy icebreakers: SHY.

28. Actress Issa: RAE - A regular in our crossword cast

29. Asterisk: STAR.

30. 1960s hit covered by Salt-N-Pepa: TWIST AND SHOUT - I'm sure Salt-N-Pepa did just fine, but c'mon...

33. Gradually losing a connection: DRIFTING APART.

34. Bases for some sandwiches: TOASTED BAGELS.

35. Homey lodgings: INNS.

36. "Star Wars" heroine who inspired an Ali Hazelwood romance novel: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ REY ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

37. Bird associated with Athena: OWL.

38. Qt. halves: PTS.

39. __ admin: SYS.

40. Some TVs: LGS - We have several

41. Key ring attachment: FOB - It took me a while to realize I don't have to insert or remove a key from the ignition to start my car.

44. Dessert brand with the early slogan "Delicate. Delightful. Dainty.": JELLO - From 1873 - 1932

46. Golden ratio symbol: PHI - More

47. Country name that has an accent called a síneadh fada: EIRE.

48. To no __: AVAIL.

49. Sauce made with a molcajete y tejolote: GUACAMOLE - Molcajete y tejolote is Spanish for mortar and pestle. Here is the cooking version made of volcanic rock where grinding ingredients brings out more of the flavor.

51. Host of HGTV's "Ugliest House in America": RETTA - She's a hoot.

52. Age-old navigation aid: URSA MINOR - The end star of URSA MINOR (tail of the small bear) is the North Star. It is the one point in the sky that is in the same position all night and every night and you can always tell which direction in North. The "pointer" stars in the Ursa Major always point to the North Star.

53. Cynical look: SNEER.

54. HelloFresh options: MEAL PLANS.

Down:

1. Cellular protein in microfilaments: ACTIN ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ More than anyone wants to know

2. Language of the Asghar Farhadi film "The Salesman": FARSI.

3. Lag: TRAIL.

4. Actor Omar: EPPS.

5. Spherical garnish: ROE.

6. Lilian Jackson Braun genre: COZY MYSTERY - These books are known for their lighthearted tone, focus on a small-town setting, and the absence of graphic violence or explicit content

7. Some xeriscaping plants: ALOES - Xeriscaping plants need very little water. Can you see some of our crossword ALOES in this landscape?

8. Pull (in): REIN.

9. "Double D" in a Cartoon Network trio: EDD ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Supposedly the "brains" of this group

10. Features of many well-loved sweatshirts: HOLES.

11. Pizza place: OVEN.

12. Social media users who celebrate an annual "cake day": REDDITORS ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

13. Sailor on Jason's quest: ARGONAUT.

14. "Twilight" star: STEWART.

Robert Pattison. Kristen STEWART

23. Loose dress: SHIFT.

24. Anime source, often: MANGA - MANGA are Japanese comic books from which anime (animated versions) are made.

25. Related to teaching: PEDAGOGICAL - A well-known word to this educator

27. Like fondue: SWISS.

28. Passed: RAN BY.

29. Formal will: SHALL - SHALL and will are alternate form of a future tense verbs. SHALL is more formal and less used. SHALL is much better in this instance.

30. Decode: TRANSLATE - I think we all know that some of the most important decoding in human history happened in this building in Bletchley Park, England during WWII.

31. Nautical table data: TIDES - When I used to take kids to Cocoa Beach, FL we would arrive around 3:30 pm. If you look at the chart. below, you can see we would be there at a very low TIDE if we were there today at that time. There would be a lot of beach showing and a lot of shells would be taken back to the bus.

32. Shoots out: SPEWS.

33. Stop order?: DON'T EVEN - Back off Cowboy!

34. Change places?: TIP JARS.

39. __ plexus: SOLAR.

40. __ apso: LHASA - For you Irish!

41. "Fetch the Bolt Cutters" singer Apple: FIONA - Lyrically, Apple reaches into her past to confront middle-school bullies and looks into her future for an imaginary lover. Wanna listen to this sad/angry song?

42. Acrylic material: ORLON.

43. Heady stuff?: BEERS 😀

45. Lo-cal: LITE.

46. Name of LaCroix's unflavored sparking water: PURE.

47. Track legend Zátopek: EMIL - A Czech runner who won three gold medals in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

49. Extra, e.g.: GUM - I chew Mentos sugar-free GUM

50. Concert piece: AMP.

Irish Miss sent me a lovely note asking me to share it with you and of course I am happy to do so.

As RCA appears so often in our puzzles and Nipper is so well known, I thought this article would be of interest to the Cornerites. It has special meaning to me as I worked for RTA (Radio Television Appliance) which was a distributor for RCA appliances for 16 years in this building in Albany . This iconic RCA Records dog is now a symbol of New York's capital city. More information.

Saturday, June 21, 2025

Saturday, June 21, 2025, Alan Massengill, Doug Peterson

Themeless Saturday by Alan Massengill & Doug Peterson

Today is the first day of Summer as the Solstice occurred last night when the sun was directly over the Tropic of Cancer. We will have the greatest time of daylight and, as you see at the left, you will see the sunrise of this day at Stonehenge. For us here in Nebraska, the grackles will soon be moving on from our feeders and will not be missed.

Today's puzzle by Alan and Doug has a nice wide-open grid with only 27 blocks and also had 102 open squares. The long grid-spanners were very "gettable" and clever fill added to the fun. Hanging on to LEGIT too long was a speed bump. My potential Natick was at _AVI/_ONCE and for some reason, NONCE made some success for one-off and the Congratulations window came up.

Across:

1. Ocean spray?: SEA SALT.

8. Sings the blues: ACTS SAD - I chose Buck's version over Ringo's.

15. Flurry: HUSTLE AND BUSTLE.

17. Particulars from behind closed doors: INTIMATE DETAILS - She should know.

18. Capital of Cambodia: RIELS - A Big Mac in Phnom Penh, the uh, capital of Cambodia, costs 23,938 REILS

19. States: AVERS 20. __ service: LIP - He AVERS that he will back me up but it just turned out to be LIP service when I needed him.

21. Space that may be kind of a lot: ACRE 😀

22. Signs: OMENS - Get to the basement!

23. Numbers game: KENO.

24. Really chill: ZEN.

25. Highlands estate owner: LAIRD.

26. One duo and two trios: OCTET 😀 (1 x 2) + (2 x 3) = 2 + 6 = 8

27. Works from home?: BATS 😀

28. Command performances?: SALUTES.

QEII and and the lads

30. Nancy, to Fritzi Ritz: NIECE - 1944 edition

32. Surveyor's support: BIPOD.

33. Game for pick-y people: LOTTERY.

35. CLE team: CAVS.

36. Final challenge, perhaps: ESSAY 😀 I always liked multiple choice better-

37. Spark joy in: ELATE.

39. NL players since 2022: DH'S - The National League finally started using it 49 years later.

42. Groks: GETS - We solvers grok and suss

43. No-hit performance?: B-SIDE 😀 - Hanging onto LEGIT too long and not knowing BRITE left me starting at _ S E D E for a while. Richie Valens' La Bamba was once a B-SIDE.

44. Drink choice: NEAT - We veterans here remember Tinbeni who refused to have ice in his scotch

45. "How To Triumph Like a Girl" poet Limón: ADA ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The poem

46. New York minute: TRICE.

47. One-off: NONCE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

48. "It came back to me so easily!": LIKE RIDING A BIKE.

51. "Let me worry about that": IVE GOT IT COVERED.

52. Signified: DENOTED.

53. Text-style workers: EDITORS - A fun play on the word textile

Down:

1. Red selection: SHIRAZ - I pick up on the clue for red wine but this wine naif needed a lot of help for the variety

2. Carol Burnett character: EUNICE - Eunice and her Mama had issues

3. Toward a paddle wheel: ASTERN.

4. Steps over a wall: STILE.

5. Element of the Third Pillar of Islam: ALMS.

6. Green span: LEA.

7. Tea ceremony surfaces: TATAMIS.

The mat is called a TATAMI

8. Plus ones?: ADDENDS - This math teacher deserves a time out for trying to see this as someone who is taken as date to an event instead of...

9. Many semi pros: CBERS - I saw semi as a truck and not 1/2

10. Sounds of contempt: TUTS.

11. Retirement income org.: SSA.

12. Lift provider on a runway: STILETTO - I'll admit my first thought was of supportive underwear.

Can be hazardous

13. Only Top 40 hit for actor/singer Jack Wagner: ALL I NEED - It reached #2 behind Madonna's Like A Virgin

14. Tyrants: DESPOTS.

16. "Give up?" comeback: NEVER - General McAuliffe had a different way to respond to a German demand to give up in 1944.

22. Western: OATER.

23. Trademarked pods: K CUPS - I use them everyday but can't find any strong enough

25. Chabert of "Mean Girls": LACEY - She's on the left below. I did not know her name but her face was instantly familiar as my lovely bride is a big fan of her much different persona as Hallmark's Queen Of Christmas.

26. Fruit in caponata: OLIVE - Yeah, I guess it is a fruit but I had never thought of it as one.

27. Almost-ready versions: BETAS.

29. Ease up: ABATE.

30. Plummet: NOSEDIVE.

31. "Don't sit there": IT'S TAKEN - Not a pleasant chore

33. Passport, for one: LEGAL ID.

34. "Guilty as charged": YES I DID - I made a harmless decision to not doing what I was told and the principal called me in. I fessed up and simply said, "Guilty as charged" and it was all over.

35. Rhythmic flow: CADENCE.

38. Permissible: LICIT - As I said, I had LEGAL here for way too long.

39. "Taxi Driver" Oscar nominee: DENIRO - His famous line from that movie

40. Cyberwarrior, sometimes: HACKER.

41. Lipizzans, e.g.: STEEDS - Horse lover General George Patton was instrumental in saving a large number of Lipizzans from the advancing Russians in 1945.