Saturday Themeless by Joe Deeney
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| Joe and his lovely daughter born in April |
Here we have another challenging Saturday pinwheel-style puzzle consisting of 10-letter troikas by Joe, our Supply Chain Project Manager in Massachusetts.
Here is what Joe had to say about this puzzle:
Hi Gary,
Thanks for reaching out. All is well here, hope the same for you.
This is the same grid layout as my puzzle published in the LA Times July 25, 2020 (hg - both are posted just below). This puzzle originally started life as an offshoot of that puzzle. I submitted that original puzzle to the New York Times and got a polite rejection, noting they especially liked the NE corner. I decided used that corner to design what would become this puzzle and submitted it to them - they passed again. I submitted the original puzzle to
-Joe
Across:
1. Ones who usually know what to do with their hands: CARDSHARPS - This CARD SHARP (SHARK) isn't dealing hands off the top of the deck
11. She taught Butch and Sundance Spanish for their Bolivian robberies: ETTA.
15. Turn yellow: CHICKEN OUT.
16. Level: SHIM - Using a SHIM (noun) to SHIM (verb) up a doorframe to level
17. Italian menu word meaning "hunter": CACCIATORE - I not only got it, I spelled it correctly!
18. Rig: SEMI - "See ya on down the road, Jack!"
19. Spot about being green, for short: PSA - Public Service Announcement telling you to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle so we don't 30. Exhaust: USE UP our natural resources
20. Earthquakes or Fire, briefly: MLS TEAM.
22. Kind of engine: JET.
23. Lhasa __: APSO - Lhasa is the capital of Tibet and APSO is the Tibetan word for hairy
24. Snack chip: DORITO.
26. Row houses?: FRATS - FRAT row in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
29. Agamemnon pair: NUS - Αγαμέμνονα
32. In again: RETRO - 80's? I wore those Converse Chuck Taylor's twenty years before that.
33. Only: LONE.
34. Social science classic: DAS KAPITAL - A rare first edition Marx signed four days after its 1867 publication
36. DEA employee: AGT - We see lots of AGENTS clued here
37. Research Triangle city: RALEIGH.
38. Green of "Casino Royale": EVA - She is wearing a V-NECK like we saw in Jeff Stillman's Thursday puzzle
39. French archipelago: GUADELOUPE - In the Lesser Antilles
41. Cello's lack: FRET.
42. City with a Cleveland Browns training facility: BEREA, Ohio on Lou Groza Boulevard (you have to be a real (old) NFL fan to know of Lou "The Toe" Groza
43. Network operated by the U.S. Space Force: GPS - A GPSIII satellite just before launch by the U.S. Space Force last year
44. Hosiery thread: LISLE - I knew from doing cwd's and Joe said he would not use again.
45. Theater company?: ESCORT.
47. Vet school subj.: ANAT.
49. DIRECTV parent: ATT
50. Hotel convenience: MINIBAR Check out the cost of a Snickers and a Coke
53. Get rid of: AXE.
56. "Kills bugs dead" brand: RAID - My ants seemed to be taking a shower in RAID but this stuff wiped 'em all out in an hour
58. It doesn't affect a starting pitcher's win-loss record: NO DECISION - In this summary below, C. Morton pitched 7.0 innings but did not get the win because R. Osuna was the pitcher of record when the Astros scored the winning run.
60. Permanently mark: ETCH.
61. Hard to follow, facetiously: CLEAR AS MUD - Try to explain baseball's infield fly rule to someone.
62. True: REAL.
63. Trials with blindfolds, perhaps: TASTE TESTS.
1. Soyuz initials: CCCP - Союз Советских Социалистических Республик
2. Revelations: AHAS.
3. Like una heredera: RICA - Heredera means heiress and RICA means rich
4. XXV x XXVIII: DCC - Screenshot of an online Roman numberal calculator I used
5. Cuts corners: SKIMPS - This package SKIMPS on the shrimp
7. Snack with an unappetizing name: ANTS ON A LOG - Celery, peanut butter and raisins. What's not to like?
9. Unmitigated: PURE.
10. Place: STEAD - During the Civil War men could pay someone to go fight in their STEAD
11. Start at the beginning?: ESS - Start
12. Nerves: THE JITTERS - Never had 'em from coffee
13. Cause of many fictional paradoxes: TIME TRAVEL - In Back To The Future Marty McFly meets his mom and dad when he was their age
14. "Did it start already?": AM I TOO LATE.
21. Transmute: MORPH - Sir Isaac Newton's notes for transmuting lead into gold with the "philosopher's stone"
23. Put away the dishes?: ATE.
25. Portuguese royal: REI - Across the Pyrenees in Spain it is REY
26. Olympics opening ceremony VIP: FLAG BEARER - Soviet weightlifter Yury Vaslov carried the 35-lb flag with one hand for a full five minutes
27. Threat to world peace: ROGUE STATE and people who 37. Provide new pieces for?: REARM them
28. Ross Sea locale: ANTARCTICA - About 3,000 miles south of Melbourne
31. Flutters with excitement: SKIPS A BEAT - There was this JH dance once...
34. Indian lentil stew: DAL All you want to know
35. Spend time in a cellar, perhaps: AGE - I'm seem to be doing that above ground
40. __ juvante: with God's help: DEO - Latin
44. Roundup tool: LARIAT - Unlike a lasso, a LARIAT is made of stiffer rope so that the noose stays open when it is thrown
46. Bit of color: TINCT.
48. Mother-of-pearl: NACRE - A familiar cwd substance
51. Pelican St. city: NOLA - New Orleans LA
52. Shakespearean warning word: IDES - Beware the IDES of March: Soothsayer warning Julius Caesar of the Ides of March - the day on which he was assassinated. Illustration for Julius Caesar from an edition of William Shakespeare's works published 1858.
53. Designs: AIMS.
54. Cancel: X-OUT - Also a golf ball that has a slight cosmetic defect is sold for much less is called an X-OUT
55. The odds are with them: ENDS - Every house has a drawer full of odds and ENDS
57. UPS alternative: DHL and...
59. Seattle-to-Reno dir.: SSE.
Rich which he accepted. At that point I rebuilt the NW corner of today's puzzle, since it was the same as the original, and sent that on to Rich as well, and was very happy to get the thumbs up from him on it.
As I look at the puzzle today, LISLE and BEREA stick out as fill I wouldn't tolerate anymore, but I hope there is enough fun among the long answers to make up for those clunkers.
-Joe
Today's grid and Joe's identical 7/20/20 grid
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| Let's Take Off! |
1. Ones who usually know what to do with their hands: CARDSHARPS - This CARD SHARP (SHARK) isn't dealing hands off the top of the deck
11. She taught Butch and Sundance Spanish for their Bolivian robberies: ETTA.
15. Turn yellow: CHICKEN OUT.
16. Level: SHIM - Using a SHIM (noun) to SHIM (verb) up a doorframe to level
17. Italian menu word meaning "hunter": CACCIATORE - I not only got it, I spelled it correctly!
18. Rig: SEMI - "See ya on down the road, Jack!"
19. Spot about being green, for short: PSA - Public Service Announcement telling you to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle so we don't 30. Exhaust: USE UP our natural resources
20. Earthquakes or Fire, briefly: MLS TEAM.
22. Kind of engine: JET.
23. Lhasa __: APSO - Lhasa is the capital of Tibet and APSO is the Tibetan word for hairy
24. Snack chip: DORITO.
26. Row houses?: FRATS - FRAT row in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
29. Agamemnon pair: NUS - Αγαμέμνονα
32. In again: RETRO - 80's? I wore those Converse Chuck Taylor's twenty years before that.
33. Only: LONE.
34. Social science classic: DAS KAPITAL - A rare first edition Marx signed four days after its 1867 publication
36. DEA employee: AGT - We see lots of AGENTS clued here
37. Research Triangle city: RALEIGH.
38. Green of "Casino Royale": EVA - She is wearing a V-NECK like we saw in Jeff Stillman's Thursday puzzle
39. French archipelago: GUADELOUPE - In the Lesser Antilles
41. Cello's lack: FRET.
42. City with a Cleveland Browns training facility: BEREA, Ohio on Lou Groza Boulevard (you have to be a real (old) NFL fan to know of Lou "The Toe" Groza
43. Network operated by the U.S. Space Force: GPS - A GPSIII satellite just before launch by the U.S. Space Force last year
44. Hosiery thread: LISLE - I knew from doing cwd's and Joe said he would not use again.
45. Theater company?: ESCORT.
47. Vet school subj.: ANAT.
49. DIRECTV parent: ATT
53. Get rid of: AXE.
56. "Kills bugs dead" brand: RAID - My ants seemed to be taking a shower in RAID but this stuff wiped 'em all out in an hour
60. Permanently mark: ETCH.
61. Hard to follow, facetiously: CLEAR AS MUD - Try to explain baseball's infield fly rule to someone.
62. True: REAL.
63. Trials with blindfolds, perhaps: TASTE TESTS.
Down:
1. Soyuz initials: CCCP - Союз Советских Социалистических Республик
2. Revelations: AHAS.
3. Like una heredera: RICA - Heredera means heiress and RICA means rich
4. XXV x XXVIII: DCC - Screenshot of an online Roman numberal calculator I used
5. Cuts corners: SKIMPS - This package SKIMPS on the shrimp
6. Recovers: HEALS.
7. Snack with an unappetizing name: ANTS ON A LOG - Celery, peanut butter and raisins. What's not to like?8. Square __: ROOT - My online Roman Numeral calculator does not appear to do square ROOTS.
9. Unmitigated: PURE.
10. Place: STEAD - During the Civil War men could pay someone to go fight in their STEAD
11. Start at the beginning?: ESS - Start
12. Nerves: THE JITTERS - Never had 'em from coffee
13. Cause of many fictional paradoxes: TIME TRAVEL - In Back To The Future Marty McFly meets his mom and dad when he was their age
14. "Did it start already?": AM I TOO LATE.
21. Transmute: MORPH - Sir Isaac Newton's notes for transmuting lead into gold with the "philosopher's stone"
23. Put away the dishes?: ATE.
25. Portuguese royal: REI - Across the Pyrenees in Spain it is REY
26. Olympics opening ceremony VIP: FLAG BEARER - Soviet weightlifter Yury Vaslov carried the 35-lb flag with one hand for a full five minutes
27. Threat to world peace: ROGUE STATE and people who 37. Provide new pieces for?: REARM them
28. Ross Sea locale: ANTARCTICA - About 3,000 miles south of Melbourne
34. Indian lentil stew: DAL All you want to know
35. Spend time in a cellar, perhaps: AGE - I'm seem to be doing that above ground
40. __ juvante: with God's help: DEO - Latin
41. Honda subcompact: FIT - Their 5-door subcompact
44. Roundup tool: LARIAT - Unlike a lasso, a LARIAT is made of stiffer rope so that the noose stays open when it is thrown
46. Bit of color: TINCT.
51. Pelican St. city: NOLA - New Orleans LA
52. Shakespearean warning word: IDES - Beware the IDES of March: Soothsayer warning Julius Caesar of the Ides of March - the day on which he was assassinated. Illustration for Julius Caesar from an edition of William Shakespeare's works published 1858.
53. Designs: AIMS.
54. Cancel: X-OUT - Also a golf ball that has a slight cosmetic defect is sold for much less is called an X-OUT
55. The odds are with them: ENDS - Every house has a drawer full of odds and ENDS
57. UPS alternative: DHL and...
59. Seattle-to-Reno dir.: SSE.
