Husker Gary LA Times Cwd: June 2021

Saturday, June 19, 2021

Saturday, June 19, 2021, Pawel Fludzinski

Saturday Themeless by Pawel Fludzinski

I had a run of Pawel's wonderful themeless Saturday entries in 2019 and now I am so pleased to see him back again. His last Saturday puzzle that I blogged was on May 14, 2019 but in some correspondence we have had since then he said he had received notice on 1/1/21 that he had had a themeless accepted and figured with the usual six month lag time it would be a summer puzzle. Well, here it is, two days before the first day of summer.

Pawel did his doctorate and post doctorate work in organic chemistry and retired to Santa Fe, NM after 31 years of working for Eli Lilly in Pharmaceutical R and D. Eight of those years included stints in England and Japan. Since then Pawel has moved to Denver to be closer to his new work in Boulder.

Here are his gracious and informative comments on this puzzle:

Hi Gary,

Thanks for reaching out - always enjoy your commentaries on Saturday puzzles! Appreciate the time and effort you put into them.

Regarding the puzzle - I seem to have gravitated towards creating themeless puzzles - about 1/2 my overall effort, and probably 80% of recent efforts. I went through a period of trying to create puzzles with rotational symmetry - the puzzle today was the 9th such effort, but the first one accepted anywhere. Not surprising - the pandemic has led to a whole new group of excellent constructors, so the likelihood of acceptance, especially for a themeless, is pretty low. I am pleased/humbled that this puzzle made the grade.

In constructing themeless puzzles, I build around seed entries. Given the symmetry of this puzzle, I had a seed for each quadrant - INDEXCASE, AREWECOOL, SILENCERS and WORMHOLES - and then I completed the construction around them. My only regret is that my favorite clue for these four seed entries is the only one that the editor did not keep - I suggested "Librarians, at times" for SILENCERS. Perhaps my clue was too easy - I am happy to defer to the judgement of the editor.

Across:

1. Epidemiologist's "ground zero": INDEX CASE - Also called:

10. Swiss city that hosts the World Economic Forum annual meeting: DAVOS - Here ya go

15. Tourist income source for some farmers: CORN MAZES - A high tech GPS device and a low tech mower made this famous Spanish artist into a CORN MAZE

16. Isfahan inhabitant: IRANI - A 4+ hr drive south of Tehran.

17. Emphasized: IN ITALICS.

18. Big name in skin care: ARPEL.

19. Is sweet on: LOVES.

20. Field fare, briefly: MRE - My WWII dads and uncles would probably have preferred these Meals Ready to Eat to K-Rations.

21. Mother __: GOOSE.

22. River through Flanders: YSER - A 48 mile long river that empties into the North Sea that saw violent fighting in WWI.

23. Good, to Guillermo: BUENO - ¡Este rompecabezas es muy bueno! (This puzzle is very good!)

25. Wee warbler: WREN.

26. Grumps: MUTTERS - The verb not the noun

28. Mil. group integrated with male units in 1978: WAC.

29. Eli of "The Magnificent Seven": WALLACH - Eli got second billing but played the bad guy in this 1960 classic.

33. Fill: SATIATE.

35. El __ Pacífico: OCEANO.

s36. Shredder: TEARER.

37. Sells to consumers: RETAILS.

39. Projecting architectural features: DORMERS - From the inside

40. Ed.'s inbox fillers: MSS - ManuScriptS (any port in a storm)

41. Genuine: SINCERE.

43. Cease: HALT.

45. Father-and-son actors: CAANS - Here is dad James working on Hawaii 5-0 as a guest star where son Scott has a role

James Caan Scott Caan

46. Vertical actions: BOBS - Ali BOBS and weaves

50. Chiwere speakers: OTOES

52. Many a GI: PVT

53. Solitaire measure: CARAT - About .007 oz for a solitaire diamond

54. "Glassheart" singer Lewis: LEONA - Her IMDB

55. Many a recital piece: PIANO SOLO.

57. Twain's "Taming the Bicycle," e.g.: ESSAY - A fun read

58. Depleted: EATEN INTO - Niagara Falls

59. Flute features: STEMS - Oh those flutes!

60. "All good?": ARE WE COOL?

Down:

1. How an archrival might be greeted: ICILY - Brrr

2. Faux pas: NONO'S.

3. Initiative: DRIVE.

4. Log: ENTER.

5. 'Tis the season: XMAS - XMAS ads usually start running around Labor Day

6. __ Poly Pomona: CAL.

7. Surveyor's measurement: AZIMUTH - Astronomer's too

8. Like Superman's alter ego: SECRET - Man! The glasses really fooled me!

9. Early Judaic sect: ESSENES - Do the Dead Sea Scrolls of the ESSENES mention Jesus?

10. Laptop screen meas.: DIAG - A woman here in town bought her husband a 50" DIAG TV and then put the old TV in the new box and set it out on her porch. Some porch pirate got a big surprise!

11. Feathered flier: ARROW - There's an ARROW in there somewhere!

12. Highly touted computer product we're still waiting for: VAPORWARE - Computer hardware or software that are announced but are not and may never be available. Bluetooth was VAPORWARE for quite a while

13. Kayak, typically: ONE SEATER - This one comes with a tightly fitted "spray skirt" to keep water out of the kayak

14. Brits' mufflers: SILENCERS - In America we call that tank on the right a muffler. The Brits call it a SILENCER

23. Pastoral: BUCOLIC.

24. Figures of speech?: ORATORS - My chem teacher's lab sign

26. Salon treatments: MANIS and pedis

27. Firewood measure: STERE.

29. Sci-fi passages: WORM HOLES - Remember the Michael Paleos' puzzle with these passages in the grid?

30. Nails the exam: ACES A TEST.

31. Unties, maybe: LETS LOOSE - What's in the box Pandora?

32. Trout's team, on scoreboards: LAA - LA Angle Mike Trout is proof that one very highly paid superstar can not win a baseball championship

34. 2007 Will Smith film "__ Legend": I AM - Meh...

38. Veggie with an edible pod: SNAP PEA.

39. Like many hibiscus leaves: DENTATE - Leaves that have a dental margin

42. Blini topper: CAVIAR - Blini (Russian pancake) topped with Crème Fraîche, smoked salmon and Hackleback CAVIAR

44. Common brunch hr.: TEN AM.

46. Simple: BASIC - Also "Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code". My first programming language

47. University town near Bangor: ORONO.

48. Heroic 1920s sled dog: BALTO - BALTO got the most credit because he arrived in Nome with the serum but the real hero was the lead dog Togo who ran much further in much worse conditions.

49. Potter's perch: STOOL.

51. Word before or after "who": SAYS - or SEZ

53. Geometric solid: CONE - We math teachers taught about CONES and Conic sections

56. Untested: NEW.

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Saturday, June 12, 2021, Kurt Krauss

Saturday Themeless by Kurt Krauss

A nice note from Kurt about himself and this puzzle: I am a retired business executive. I had a very successful career as a management consultant - first as a partner at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and then as the founder and Managing Partner of my own firm, The Mead Point Group, where I served a number of large, national and multinational corporations. I ended my professional career as the Chief Financial Officer of Burson-Marsteller, the then largest public relations and marketing communications firm in the world. I retired at fifty (it's better to be lucky than good) and have spent the past twenty years serving on company boards of directors, writing, constructing crossword puzzles and enjoying life. My first puzzle was published in the New York Times in 2010. Since then, I have had forty-nine puzzles published in the NYT, LAT & WSJ. This will be #50!

This is my first themeless puzzle. They are tough to construct. Rich Norris gave me some help and coaching and I was able to get one over the finish line. Finally!

Kurt's cluing and word selection made for a fun puzzle for me but, as you can see below, I had two vowel coin flips and below the grid you see the one I guessed wrong.

26. Palmer of "The Boys From Brazil": LILLI - As mentioned above, the I or Y coin flip came

up wrong for me

AND

5. Monetary unit of The Gambia: DALASI - You could get in your 2¢ worth with a DALASI because that is what it is worth in US money. The bill below would pay for a McDonalds combo meal in Banjul, Gambia and you'd get 60 GMD in change

Across:

1. Made a seat-of-the-pants mistake?: BUTT DIALED - What a fun kickoff clue!

11. Spunkmeyer of cookie fame: OTIS - OTIS has a fundraiser program where school clubs start baking cookies in ovens they provide an hour before dismissal and let the aroma waft through the hallways and then sell them when school lets out. Talk about "fish in a barrel!"

15. As it happens: IN REAL TIME

16. "Hmm ... don't think so": UH NO.

17. It's undeliverable: DEAD LETTER.

18. Tibiae supporters: TALI - The talus (pl. TALI) is shown here below the tibia (pl. tibia)

19. "Done!": TADA.

20. Symbol on a Heineken label: RED STAR.

22. Request sweetener: PLEASE.

25. Word of agreement: LIKEWISE.

27. Electric __: EEL - Yikes!

28. Refuse: WASTE - Lines 10 and 11 in Emma Lazarus' The New Colussus, "Give me your tired , your poor, your huddles masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched REFUSE of your teeming shore."

29. Crazily: AMOK.

30. Filling material: AMALGAM - Some countries have banned this substance because it contains some mercury. The ADA has not banned it in America.

32. Appetite: YEN.

33. Keyboard in a Bach title: CLAVIER - A fun video of the playing of The Well-Tempered Clavier and the memories it might inspire. BTW, CLAVIER is French for keyboard.

34. Besides: TOO - If someone gets TOO tired to continue compressions in 54. Hosp. areas: ERS., they might ask someone to 37. Spell: RELIEVE him as she 45. Breaks: RESTS.

38. Soul singer Franklin: ERMA - Aretha, with her sisters ERMA and Carolyn on backup, singing Respect

ERMA, Carolyn and Aretha Franklin

39. Hog's little cousin: MOPED - I'm not sure if a MOPED rider would get the motorcycle "wave" from a rider on a Harley (called a Hog).

42. More than a stretch: LIE - Don't stretch out a LIE, just tell the truth and get it over with

43. Depressing: BLEAK.

44. Showing ingenuity in: CLEVER AT - I could list all our wonderful constructors

46. Queen of fiction: ELLERY - ELLERY Queen is the main fictional character created in 1929 by Manfred Lee and his first cousin Frederic Dannay. Queen helps his police inspector father solve baffling murders.

47. The Acropolis, in its time: CITADEL - A CITADEL is the core, fortified part of a city. While many Greek cities had one, the most famous CITADEL is here on the Acropolis (high point) at Athens. The Parthenon is one of the surviving structures on it.

48. California city name meaning "tar": BREA - The smell of the Tar Pits when we got of the car was overwhelming.

49. Female gamete: OVUM.

50. Tentacled marine creature: SEA ANEMONE - Most stay attached catching passing food in their tentacles but some can move to escape danger.

55. TripAdvisor rival: YELP - A YELP review of our fav small town steakhouse

56. Industry-specific publication: TRADE PAPER - Also called TRADE Journals

57. Span. titles: SRAS.

58. Responds to anxiety, in a way: STRESS EATS - Did you put on the COVID 15?

Down:

1. Nod, maybe: BID.

2. Nice article: UNE - Un chapeau (a hat) is correct because un is used before masculine nouns in French. UNE chapeau would not be right because UNE is used for feminine nouns. You have to memorize the differences.

3. Song syllable: TRA.

4. Address limited to 18 minutes: TED TALK - Choose one from this list

6. __-France: Paris region: ILE DE - Literally Island Of France but no one knows exactly why. It is the most populous of the 18 regions of France.

7. Encouraging start?: ATTA - "ATTA Boys/Girls" are nice but they don't buy any groceries

8. Started burning: LIT.

9. Old cooking show that often had a Creole theme: EMERIL LIVE - EMERIL and his famous catchphrase

10. Literature Nobelist Walcott: DEREK - Here ya go. Is he more obvious to you than NY Yankee DEREK Jeter?

11. Lapped, perhaps: OUT SWAM - Getting lapped means that not only is a swimmer ahead of you but that they have caught and passed you

12. In other words: THAT IS.

13. Having the worst record: IN LAST - Where Boomer says you can find his Twins

14. Evening do: SOIREE - Here is a place you could celebrate a SOIREE in Paris

21. Big name in Scotch: DEWAR.

22. Latitude: PLAY - Politicians try to leave some PLAY in their positions so as to not get pinned down to specifics

23. Key __: LIME - A pound of conventional LIMES compared to a pound of Key LIMES. Key LIMES take their name from being grown in the Florida Keys but since hurricane wiped them out, Key LIMES are now mostly grown in Mexico.

24. Tar Heel State university: ELON - Last month, ELON University grad Joe West broke the record for most MLB games umpired at 5.376.

25. "Don't bother": LEAVE IT - Not Rover!

27. What an online beep may signify: EMAIL ALERT - Unless you mute it at bedtime and forget to "unmute" it

30. Bar none: ALL.

31. "Fancy that!": GEE.

33. Relinquished: CEDED - Wally!

34. Ring bearer: TREE - This tree lived from 550 A.D. to 1891 A.D. when it was cut down

35. "The Wire" antihero __ Little: OMAR - Here ya go.

36. Oenophile's adjective: OAKY - Wine aged in OAK barrels take some characteristics from the OAK