Themeless Saturday by Stella Zawistowski
The look the face of our weightlifting constructor Stella reflects some of the anguish I felt as I worked my way through the latest of her always always challenging puzzles. After bobbing and weaving through the grid, I had enough letters to start to make sense of her ten-letter fills and finish up. Her top two ten-letter fills were fun to learn. As you can see in the grid, I did have one cell where my coin flip failed. My lack of knowledge of three-string Japanese instruments and Rhianna's music was my undoing.
1. Unplanned adoption: FOSTER FAIL - FAILING at being a FOSTER parent for a pet and then falling in love with and adopting that pet hardly seems like a FAILING to me. 😀
11. Adoption org.: SPCA.
15. Intended to prevent a torrent, perhaps: ANTI-PIRACY
16. Name on the highest-grossing concert film in history: ERAS.
17. Certain Central American: SALVADORAN - The lovely custodian at our school is COSTA RICAN and that went in first.
18. Natural traps: WEBS.
19. Olympic badminton team, e.g.: DUO.
20. Victor Hugo's world: MONDE - MONDE is French for world
22. Sea bream, in a sushi bar: TAI - ... and my culinary education continues
23. Sushi bar list: SAKES - As long as we're here...
25. Snooty creatures?: ANTEATERS. 😀
27. Divine: PREDICT - Carnac's gift was to be able to divine the answers without first seeing the questions.
29. "Awesome!": SWEET.
30. "Awesome!": YES.
31. Cheer (up): BUOY.
33. Working days?: STINTS.
34. Practitioner of traditional medicine: HERBALIST.
36. Burlesque: SATIRE - A BURLESQUE is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.
39. Smallest ratite: KIWI - Ratite: A bird having a flat breastbone without a keel, and so unable to fly.
40. Elle King's "Ex's & __": OHS - A Top Ten album
43. Subject of the 2014 documentary "Game Over": ATARI.
44. Jam: BAD SPOT.
46. Get rich: MAKE A PILE.
50. Melancholy work: ELEGY - Sadly, dirge didn't work
51. Salt target: ICE.😀
52. Levi's Stadium player: NINER.
53. Word with Days and Holiday: INN. 😀 Motels
54. Well-thought-out: SANE.
56. "Hubba hubba!": VA VA VA VOOM - We had this recently with only two VA's but I remember it better with three
60. Let out: EMIT.
61. Feature of non-eco-friendly containers: ONE TIME USE - Why our landfills get full
62. Syllables in Rihanna's "What's My Name?": NANA If you need some raunchy lyrics
63. Moved mindfully?: TELEPORTED - Star Trek did this a lot. Kirk never actually said, "Beam me up Scotty."
Down:
1. Scale tones: FAS - Do, Re, Me, FA, So, La, Ti, Do
2. Rashly: ON A DARE.
3. Name on some church-run hospitals: ST LUKES.
4. Saved to watch later: TIVOED.
5. Org. that regulates HFCs: EPA.
6. Free (of): RID.
7. Step one: FROM A TO B. 😀
8. Noted New York Judge: AARON - Judge is capitalized so...
9. "It's all too much": I CAN'T.
10. Paul of "Hollywood Squares": LYNDE - The center square
11. Compete on "Project Runway," say: SEW.
12. Many a fan of "The Baby-Sitters Club": PRE-TEEN.
13. "Willkommen" musical: CABARET.
14. Sue Bird's WNBA record 3,234: ASSISTS.
21. Home of New York's Museum Mile: EAST SIDE.
23. Northern __ apples: SPY - Here ya go
24. Like the Chukchi people of Russia: SIBERIAN.
26. Fool: TWIT.
28. Fix: CURE.
32. Yona of "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic," for one: YAK - No idea.
28. Fix: CURE.
32. Yona of "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic," for one: YAK - No idea.
33. Media personality JoJo: SIWA - No idea.
34. Bring on: HIRE.
35. Let out: LIBERATE.
36. Instrument played with a bachi: SAMISEN - A one minute sample
38. Fooled: TAKEN IN.
40. Expand, in a way: OPEN OUT.
41. Upturned feature of some snakes: HOG NOSE.
42. Pen: STY.
45. Shard: SLIVER.
47. Pirouette, essentially: PIVOT.
48. Unworthy of consideration: INANE.
49. Tool box item: LEVEL.
55. Text to someone who's late: ETA.
57. Velvet rope crosser: VIP.
58. "O Deus ego __ te": Catholic hymn: AMO - My God, I love Thee,
59. Scrip spec: MED.
BTW, our newspaper carries this puzzle and a second puzzle they call The Daily Commuter Crossword that is much easier. For years this puzzle has had Jacqueline Mathews listed as the constructor. Ms. Mathews of Spokane has retired and now the daily constructor has been Stella Zawistowski for several weeks (see Created by under the puzzle).
