Husker Gary LA Times Cwd: October 2023

Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan and Jennifer Marra

Today, Kyle Deal, a regular Saturday constructor and sometime collaborator from Chicago teams up with Jennifer Marra to present us with a real challenge. I worked this one from the SE up to the NW and earned a nice "got 'er done!"

Jennifer lives in Connecticut with her husband following the defection of their grown children. She worked as an electrical engineer wrangling numbers and retired early to take on words. When she’s not writing fiction, she can be found constructing crosswords. Jennifer met Kyle through a Facebook puzzle site after stalking him through his numerous publications and this is here initial entry at the LA Times.. Kyle is a great teacher and won’t let a puzzle leave the safety of his computer until it’s ready for the world.

Across:

1. Long-distance relationship?: STAR SYSTEM. This one took this amateur astronomer awhile but it simply refers to a star and all the heavenly bodies that orbit about it.

11. "bfn" alternative: TTYL - Bye For Now and Talk To You Later. There are hundreds of these.

15. Overwhelmed by mosquitoes: EATEN ALIVE - This swarm is in Arctic Alaska

16. "Easy now": WHOA.

17. Landmark whose address is 768 Fifth Avenue in New York City: PLAZA HOTEL 😳

18. Flooring trees: OAKS.

19. Character: TENOR - The TENOR of many political debates these days is very unpleasant

20. __ favor: POR - and 34. "Don't mention it," in Spanish: DE NADA. "POR favor, tráeme una bebida". "¡Gracias!" "DE NADA." (Please get me a drink. Thank you. You're welcome.)

21. Foundation options: TONES - Oh that foundation

22. MLB playoff round: NLCS - We followed our cousin Alec Bohm in the National League Championship Series last year.

24. "Is that how you see it?": THINK SO - Yup!

26. Saltimbocca herb: SAGE.

29. Made oneself scarce: HID.

31. "Ocean to Ocean" singer Tori: AMOS.

32. Equal: ARE 😀

33. Palme d'Or field: CINE.

37. Chill: SIT BACK AND RELAX.

40. Desert of the Maghreb: SAHARA.

41. Gifts that may be made from pupu shells: LEIS.

42. Number of players needed to play Klondike: ONE - Hence the name Solitaire

43. Monopoly token until 2013: IRON.

A vintage set

44. Paragraph opener: TAB.

45. Vintage Pontiacs: GTOS.

46. Isn't really hot?: ACTS MAD 😀

49. Old autocrat: TSAR.

51. Some fundraisers: RACES.

52. Lithium-__ battery: ION.

54. "I Just Can't Wait To Be King" singer: SIMBA.

58. Whistleblower-protecting org.: OSHA.

59. Comprehensively defeated: TAKEN APART - Sports slang

61. Heated contest?: MEET - Some track MEETS have preliminary races called heats that determine the final contestants.

62. Local number, at times: ANESTHESIA - 😀 This number rhymes with summer and numbs you for a medical procedure. My dentist uses a local and I just can't talk for a few hours afterward.

63. Makes sense, with "up": ADDS.

64. Practiced but did not compete: REDSHIRTED - A common procedure in college athletics. Here ya go.

Down:

1. National Teddy Bear Day mo.: SEPT - Okay

2. Narrative: TALE - Morgan Freeman does a great job doing the narration in this wonderful movie.

3. __ end: AT AN - 100F days are AT AN end here.

4. Go to commercial, say: REZONE 😀 You might not like it if land next to you get REZONED from residential to commercial.

5. Jam: SNARL.

6. "Boo-__!": YAH.