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, February 3, 2018, Pawel Fludzinski

DR. FLUDZINSKI IS ON CALL TODAY

After having Alex Bajcz Ph.D. as our constructor two weeks ago, our Saturday environs today are blessed with Pawel Fludzinski Ph.D (Pah' vel   Flu gin' ski). After some pleasant email exchanges I found  his doctorate and post doctorate work was in organic chemistry and he has just 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. 
He had a friend who knew Will Shortz, introduced Pawel to Will and after that Dr. Fludzinski took up the challenge of constructing crosswords with his first one being a 9/18/11 Sunday LA Times puzzle. Pretty impressive.

Pawel's license plate tells you both where he lives and about what one of his passions is.

I earned a "got 'er done" in Pawel's challenging weekend offering but those of you familiar with The Family Circus, might recognize that the path I took resembled this circuitous route as the boys in the cartoon frequently take in getting from point A to point B. BTW, this also resembles my path in the grocery store.

Pawel's puzzle was anything but a, uh, bitter pill to swallow and I am going to start with his long fills which were so helpful once a few of their cells were filled.

19. Jesse Owens, e.g. : OLYMPIC ATHLETE - HOAX ALERT! Hitler never did congratulate Jesse for his 1936 Olympic wins, as Jesse expected, but this 2013 photoshopped image made the internet rounds. Jesse did feel snubbed in that FDR never contacted him in any way to acknowledge his tremendous accomplishments. 

50. Canine epithet : MAN'S BEST FRIEND - 'Nuff said! 😀

5. Real estate investment strategy : FLIPPING HOUSES - Tarek and Christina starred in Flip or Flop on HGTV. His job was negotiations and labor and hers was some decorating but mainly simply looking photogenic. They're divorced but are still on the show together.

16. Voting bloc term used by Nixon and Trump : SILENT MAJORITY - Howard Beale's fabulous call to arms for this group in 1976's Network

Now let's see what Dr. Fludzinski has prescribed for us in the balance of his puzzle:

Across

1. Bundles together, as wheat : SHEAFS - One SHEAFS wheat into SHEAVES

7. EPA concern : AQI - Air Quality Index Check the AQI where you live now

10. Cab alternative : UBER - I've sung their praises here 

14. Field meeting : HUDDLE - "Okay guys, 3 OUT, SLOT HAT - 73 GHOST TOSSER ON SET. BREAK!"

15. Choral extreme : BASS NOTE - The E♭Paul Robeson hits in Old Man River on the word "jail" is listed as a "Notable low note"

17. Predestine : ORDAIN - ...do ORDAIN and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

18. Countermeasure : ANTIDOTE - Milking venomous snakes is the first step to producing an ANTIDOTE

21. Advance : SPOT - Look kid, I'll SPOT you 10 points

22. Part of NAFTA: Abbr. : AMER - North AMERican Free Trade Agreement

23. Rats along the Rhine? : ACH - ACH du lieber! Ich habe gerade eine Ratte gesehen! (Oh my God, I just saw a rat!)

26. Rage : IRE

27. Where snowbirds flock in winter? : SUNBELT

31. Feller's tool? : CHAINSAW - Here's a pretty good feller!

34. Cheap smoke : STOGIE

35. Stick : CLING

36. Hamm from Alabama : MIA - An all time great soccer player born in Selma, AL

38. Windows predecessor : MS-DOS - Tedious forerunner of icons (GUI - Graphic User Interface)

39. Five-book collections : TORAHS - The first 5 books of the Jewish Bible are such a collection

41. Serious betrayals : TREASONS - Here is a famous group committing TREASON

 43. Henry VIII's third : SEYMOUR - Jane SEYMOUR came between Anne Boleyn and Ann of Cleves but died with her head intact.

45. Kunal Nayyar's role in "The Big Bang Theory" : RAJesh Koothrapali - You either know this or don't care 

46. Ultra-secret org. : NSA - National Security Agency

47. River to the Seine : AUBE - In the same vein as Where's Waldo, can you find the AUBE?

48. Winged figure of myth : EROS

56. Monthly subtitled "The Magazine of Maine" : DOWN EAST - Ya gotta love this cover and the topics

57. Portugal's capital, locally : LISBOA - Easier to find than the AUBE

a

58. Having an accent : STRESSED - "CON flict" is mostly a noun while "con FLICT" is mostly a verb

59. Speedily : AT A RUN

60. Astronomical dist. : LT YR  - LighT YeaR

61. Slight opening? : ESS - Slight

62. End zone quartet : PYLONS - If the ball is inside or touches one of the PYLONS at the corners of the end zone, it's six points!

Down

1. Wave off : SHOO

2. Fling : HURL

3. Result of pulling the plug? : EDDY - Circling the drain

4. __ apple : ADAM'S  

6. Year-ending ceremony participants : SENIORS 

7. Quatrain rhyme scheme : ABAA - Dylan Thomas's final stanza

8. Airline with a kangaroo on its logo : QANTAS - QANTAS on the left and on the right...? *Answer at the bottom of the write-up.

9. Common canal site : ISTHMUS 

10. Position near the top of some organizational structures : UNDER BOSS - Sotto Capo

11. Spare tyre site : BOOT - A spare TYRE (tire) in a Land Rover BOOT (trunk). Oh so British!

12. Kitchen finish? : ETTE

13. "Pioneer Woman" cookbook writer Drummond : REE - Ree's show is a favorite of my wife's

20. Backups' backups : C-TEAM

23. Bank nos. : ACCTS

24. Techie on "24" : CHLOE - Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajskub) and Jack (Kiefer Sutherland seem to be having a hard day on "24"

25. Hirsute : HAIRY

28. __ Heath: Thomas Hardy setting : EGDON - It is said that EGDON Heath was as much a part of The Return Of The Native as the characters

29. They have their pride : LIONS

30. Championship ice dancer __ Virtue : TESSA - Along with her partner Scott Moir 

32. So to speak : IN A MANNER

33. Verbal deftness : WIT

37. Rue stop? : ARRET - Here's an ARRET sign where Rue De Buade crosses Rue Jardins

40. Naval fortification : SUB BASE - The Nazi U-boat SUB BASE in occupied France

42. Winter cap feature : EAR FLAP - Found on a certain hunter of a "cwazy wabbit" 

44. Piece maker : REESES - M & M's turned down being in ET and REESES pieces cashed in 

49. Twine fiber : SISAL - 50# bales tied with SISAL twine - $6 apiece

50. Suffragist who co-founded Swarthmore : MOTT - A powerful trio

51. Off the mark : AWRY - Where best laid plans of men and mice can go

52. EPA issuances : STDS - STanDardS

53. Iberian river : EBRO - For 32€, you can be outfitted to do this on a five mile stretch of the EBRO River in northern Spain

54. Truth or consequences, e.g. : NOUN - Pretty tricky, Pawel!

55. Aykroyd and Patrick : DANS

56. Broadband choice, briefly : DSL - Digital Subscriber Line. Usually the slowest connection

If the puzzle made you uneasy, I'll bet Pawel can hook you up with an ANTIDOTE! 😀 Now tell us your symptoms by commenting:

DA GRID

*The logo on the right is from Alaska Airlines