Saturday, November 29, 2025, Joe Marangell

Saturday Themeless by Joe Marangell

Joe Marangell is the social studies instructional leader for East Haven Public Schools in East Haven, Connecticut, where he has worked since 2001 focused on inquiry-based learning, literacy, and student engagement. He has an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction and is a Crossword puzzle constructor!

I made what I think is an intelligent mistake at 64. Across. I thought Melodramatic movie scenes might have LENTO MUSIC and MOIRA ROLE (no idea) and TANS (they end at cuffs and sleeves sometimes), but not so much. Couple that with some "new to me" fill made for some skating around to finish.

Joe was nice enough to make tell me this: Yes, that's me! My name is pronounced with a soft g, like Mare-an-jell. My favorite entries in the puzzle were VIBE CODING and MOIRA ROSE. I was in a meeting about artificial intelligence at school, and the tech director told us about vibe coding, which I had never heard of before that point. I made a note of the phrase since I thought it was an interesting-sounding one. Moira Rose is the hilarious character portrayed by Catherine O'Hara on the TV show Schitt's Creek, so when I saw that fit in the grid, I had to keep it.

My favorite clues were [Cave man?] for Plato and [Pop of vibrant color?] for ORANGE SODA. (The clues in the actual puzzle may have been changed from these since that happens with some of them during the editing process.) Also, I completely agree with Malaika's advice! I look up things all the time when I do crosswords, and I have no shame in doing that!

Across:

1. "Cav/Pag" opera combination, notably: DOUBLE BILL - What a start! 

"Cav/Pag" is the common pairing of two Italian

 operas: Mascagni's Cavallerie Rusticana and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, presented together as a "double bill". The tradition began in 1893 at the Metropolitan Opera and continues today because the two operas, despite being by different composers, share a similar style of intense, realistic, and often violent, stories about common people. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Going to one opera would be hard enough for me, so two, I don't think so but I did suss this out.

11. Electrical carriers: IONS.

15. Indignant denial: IT'S ALL A LIE.

16. Surface crack: CHAP - Like on your lips

17. App development using A.I. and natural language: VIBE CODING ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

18. New Age singer from Donegal: ENYA - A hit song by an Irish girl with a South American River in the title. Enjoy:

19. Braying animal: ASS.

20. Cave man?: PLATO - Explanation

21. Designer Hugo: BOSS.

22. Cookie with 90 ridges per wafer: OREO.

24. Title for a fictional rabbit: BRER.

26. Limited offer: PROMO.

29. Way of checking lines after they're cast?: TABLE READ - The cast of Seinfeld goes through the next script

34. Two-wheel carriage: HANSOM.

36. Sporting phrase: GOOD GAME.

good game, good game, good game
good game, good game, good game...

37. Loving poem: ODE.

38. Taylor Swift, typically: SOLO ACT - She is a SOLO ACT but it takes a huge crew and a convoy of semis to set her up.

40. [Error in original]: SIC.

41. Comparatively cozy: TOASTIER.

43. Seijin-shiki garment: KIMONO - Seijin-shiki is a "coming of age" ceremony in Japan

45. Traveling: ON THE ROAD - Didn't you think of this?

47. Generous one: DONOR.

48. Atmosphere: AURA - Not VIBE this time 

49. Steve of "Peacemaker": AGEE ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

51. Power unit: WATT.

53. Expression of probability: RATIO.

56. __ name: PET.

59. Drama honor: OBIE - This is what our frequent cwd visitor looks like

60. Pop of vibrant color?: ORANGE SODA - My fav drink 70 years ago

63. "Ratatouille" culinary genius: REMY.

64. Like melodramatic movie scenes: SET TO MUSIC.

65. "Twittering Machine" artist: KLEE.

66. "Annie" song that's a counterpoint to "It's the Hard-Knock Life": EASY STREET.

Down:

1. Demanding star: DIVA.

2. Los Angeles Times co-founder Eliza Ann __: OTIS. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

3. Some PC ports: USBS.

4. Boo: BAE - Not a fan of either term of endearment 

5. Business letters: LLC.

6. Participate in a secret exchange: ELOPE 😀 - I learned that this is the term nursing homes use for resident's leaving without permission.

7. Scoundrel: BAD LOT - 

"He's a bad lot" means he is a bad, untrustworthy or unpleasant person. 

The phrase is often used in British English and is considered old-fashioned. It describes someone who is morally bad, a troublemaker, or unreliable. You're Welcome. 

8. Pelvic bones: ILIA.

9. __ roller: LINT.

10. Construction piece: LEGO BLOCK 😀

11. Wedge salad base: ICEBERG - A crunchy offering made with ICEBERG lettuce

12. "Just curious": OH NO REASON - Yeah, right!

13. Votes against: NAYS.

14. Restorative sites: SPAS.

22. Chanting syllables: OMS.

23. Low-tech alarm: ROOSTER 😀

25. Harmful algal bloom: RED TIDE.

26. Common ID component: PHOTO.

27. Element considered in a home inspection: RADON.

28. Admonishment to waiters: ONE AT A TIME - Not for servers but for people waiting in line

30. Ancient assembly space: AGORA.

31. Drag strip?: BOA.

32. __ acids: AMINO.

33. Home magazine topic: DECOR.

35. "Schitt's Creek" character who tells her son to "stop acting like a disgruntled pelican": MOIRA ROSE. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There's even merch! I would have fared better if I had done the 11/21/25 puzzle first.

39. Summer sign: LEO - Astrology: Leo is a summer sign. Astronomy: Leo is a winter constellation. Guess to which one I give one the most credence.

42. Rest: SHUT EYE.

44. Springfield barkeep: MOE - Another member of the Simpson cast.

46. Delicate: DAINTY.

50. "Our Lips Are Sealed" band: GOGOS - A hit from 44 years ago.

51. Succeed: WORK.

52. Second son of Adam and Eve: ABEL.

54. Field of study: AREA.

55. Some sleeves and cuffs: TATS - These are $13.95 online

56. Put forward: POSE.

57. Actress/model Sedgwick: EDIE. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

58. Conflict resolution skill: TACT.

61. Defib expert: EMT - Here an EMT is training to use an Automated External Defibrillator

62. Begin to charge?: SUR - Some businesses assess a SURCHARGE for paying by credit card.

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.