Saturday, September 23, 2023 by Matthew Stock and Caitlin Reid

Saturday Themeless by Matthew Stock and Caitlin Reed

Matthew gave me a jolt of déjà vu when he informed me he has taken a step back from teaching 8th grade math in Gainesville, FL and is going to pursue a degree in counseling. I kept teaching but did get a Masters degree in counseling after teaching math a few dozen years ago! He said he reached out to Caitlin, who lives in Santa Ana, CA, online and they have collaborated on several puzzles. Matthew said she is a joy to work with.

I had a pleasant journey around Matthew and Caitlin's puzzle and finished up in the NW corner where UPDO (not chic), SLOW LORIS (such a common adjective), LIKE SO (wrong demonstration idea by me) and PLAICE (??) just wouldn't come to me. We were at a concert and I had a picture of the grid on my phone and UPDO hit me out of nowhere while waiting for the curtain. I rushed home afterwards and got a satisfying "got 'er done!"

Across:

1. High fashion?: UPDO.

5. Gramps alternative: PAPA - My proudest alias!

9. Scratches, e.g.: FLAWS - Claws works as a verb but this called for a noun

14. Large-eyed primate with a toxic bite: SLOW LORIS.

16. Medium for delivering course corrections: RED INK - Some want to banish RED INK for grading because it is threatening and intimidating. 

18. Look: FACIAL EXPRESSION.

20. Phrase heard during a demonstration: LIKE SO.

21. Frozen drinks: ICEES.

22. Hip-hop pioneer Kool __ Dee: MOE.

23. Tops: ACES.

24. Quite a lot: HEAPS.

25. "The thing with feathers," per Dickinson: HOPE.

26. Come into: GET.

27. Ready to play: CUED - Dr. Johnny Fever getting a song CUED up on a turntable on WKRP

29. Percocet, codeine, etc.: OPIATES.

31. Cry for attention?: TEN-HUT.

33. "That wasn't exactly honest": I LIED.

34. Working capital, in a way: TRADE SECRETS 

                     

 

36. Get new life out of: REUSE.

37. Tarator ingredient: TAHINI.

38. Clouseau player: SELLERS - Ya gotta love this clip! 

40. Hudson of "Glass Onion": KATE - Lower left

41. Kitty: POT 😀 Two names for money that has been bet

44. Like some holiday sweaters: UGLY.

45. Pocket protector?: MISER 😀

47. Rebecca in the Basketball Hall of Fame: LOBO.

48. Furrow: RUT - RUTS from the Oregon Trail in western Nebraska

49. Could or could not: MIGHT.

50. Goes around in circles: TWIRLS.

52. Snack with which one could be caught red-handed?: FLAMIN' HOT CHEETOS.

55. __ solution: SALINE.

56. Happy place: CLOUD NINE.

57. Show again: RE-AIR - I love these RE-AIRING of this show. It is like a time capsule.

58. Spare __: KEYS - Ours are hidden where no one can find them. 😙

59. Yields to gravity: SAGS.

Down:

1. Symbol on a space suit, for short: US FLAG - These 12 wore that symbol on the Moon.

2. "The carp play the harp / The __ play the bass": "Under the Sea" lyrics: PLAICE - I have never heard of this fish but it is pronounced "plays" which rhymes with bass and so...

3. List for a trial period?: DOCKET 😀

4. Baby bumps?: OWIES 😀

5. Sport that's a lot of horsing around: POLO 😀

6. Is for two: ARE.

7. Part of a fictional flight plan: PIXIE DUST.

8. Rescue org.: ASPCA.

9. Nonconformist: FREE SPIRIT - As a student, they can be a delight or a nightmare for a teacher

10. Not so much: LESS.

11. Subway car decor: ADS.

12. Handheld Nintendo devices: WIIMOTES - I laughed out loud when I said this out loud and finally saw the pun for a WII remote!!

13. Did some digging: SNOOPED.

15. "__ Mañanitas": Mexican birthday song: LAS.

17. Strike zone bottom: KNEES.

19. Credit report blot: REPO.

24. "lol": HE HE.

25. Tortuga's country: HAITI.

27. Cut off: CEASE.

28. "The Incredibles" villain likely inspired by Marvel Comics' Mole Man: UNDERMINER - A clever name.

30. "The Handmaid's Tale" executive producer Chaiken: ILENE - Her IMDB entry

31. White Claw rival: TRULY.

32. Whistler on the range: TEA KETTLE 😀

34. Clear sign: TELLTALE - When Aaron Rodgers had to be carted off the field after the third play of the game this year, it was a TELLTALE sign he was severely injured.

35. Arctic __: CHAR.

36. Frequent patron: REGULAR.

38. Goes over board?: SURFS 😀 Two words for over board indicates someone who is over a board and not overboard. 

39. Eye roll accompanier, maybe: SIGH.

41. "The Merchant of Venice" heroine: PORTIA - The traditional PORTIA and an updated one set in Las Vegas

42. Like most mozzarella sticks: OBLONG.

43. Flings: TOSSES.

46. Flabbergast: SHOCK.

47. Bank claims: LIENS.

49. __ fridge: MINI.

50. Q.E.D.: THUS - THUS we are done.

51. Unite beneath a chuppah, e.g.: WED.

53. Emma's "La La Land" role: MIA - Ms. Stone

54. Demure: COY.

Saturday, August 5, 2023, Kyle Dolan and Dylan Schiff

Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan and Dylan Schiff

Kyle

Dylan

Kyle is a science and tech consultant at the British consulate in Chicago and I have

blogged many of his themeless Saturday puzzles. Today he teams up with Dylan Schiff, who is a middle school science teacher like I was for 42 years. This was a big test for this solver and I enjoyed it immensely as I never felt I was out of it (except for two cells!). My issues were the two cells you see highlighted here in the grid. I had never heard of BOSS FIGHTS and so I had BOSS HIGHS? where HEAT was a possible Guiness record data and SASHA could have been a character in a TV show. Buzz, we have some lovely parting gifts for you, Gary.

Across:

1. Next-level experience?: BOSS FIGHT Boss Fight Entertainment is an American video game development company based in Allen, TX. 

10. "The Hobbit" figure: DWARF.

15. Around: IN THE AREA - Middle infielders used to only have to be "IN THE AREA" at second base and not tag the base to have the runner called out. Not so any more after new rules make the fielders safer by making it illegal to "go after" the infielder.

16. Registration info: OWNER - I always intend to fill those out...

17. Strips at a party: STREAMERS 😀

18. Emma Roberts, to Julia Roberts: NIECE.

Emma, Julia and Lisa who is
Emma's mother and Julia's sister

19. Raises: HOISTS - A double HOIST

20. London institution with a Los Angeles namesake, familiarly: THE TIMES - For a price you can get this London TIMES edition proclaiming a 54-year-old event. Addendum: The British Open simply calls itself The Open Championship and The London Times simply calls itself THE TIMES

22. Drop (out): OPT.

23. Industry titan: CZAR.

24. Chichi: POSH - A POSH stateroom on the Titanic that could have hosted John Jacob Astor and his wife. Astor made a huge fortune in 29. Hides: SKINS but it didn't save him from drowning on that April night in 1912.

25. High wind: PICCOLO - A stirring patriotic John Phillips Sousa song with a famous PICCOLO descant that starts at 2:00.

31. Technical drawing: SCHEMATIC - Beautiful movie star Hedy Lamarr famously drew up a schematic on a cocktail napkin. Her device helped in the WWII effort and was the forerunner for a lot of modern technology. All you'd like to know

34. Boddingtons, e.g.: ALE.

35. Doesn't surprise, in a way: LIVES UP TO - LaBron James skipped his last two years of high school playing for the Irish of St. Mary's in Akron, Ohio. He has LIVED UP TO every expectation.

37. Allow: LET.

38. Place where stuff sells left and right: SHOE STORE 😀

42. Coastal habitat: MARSH.

44. Carry a torch for: CRUSH ON - to have a feeling of romantic love for someone. She is  CRUSHING ON him.

45. Like many of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's jabots: LACY - Jabot (zha bō or ja bō): a pleated frill of cloth or lace attached down the center front of a woman's blouse or dress, from the French for bird's crop. You're welcome.

46. "Now, about ... ": AS TO - RGB might have written, "This is unconstitutional, now AS TO what we are going to do about it..."

49. Yoga roll: MAT 😀

50. Onetime carrier based in Cairo: AIR SINAI - Air Egypt also fit and I found out AIR SINAI was a subsidiary of Air Egypt

52. "The Crown" role, familiarly: LADY DI - Actual and images from The Crown 

55. Short-tailed weasel: STOAT.

56. Taboo gathering?: GAME NIGHT - 😀 Can you make your partner say the top word on the card?

Saying the word or the other five words is Taboo

                            

 

   

58. Flip side?: TAILS - This choice starts every Super Bowl

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

60. Diamond Jubilee number: SIXTY - QEII on her 60th year of rein. It's also used for 75th year.

61. Beach club?: SAND WEDGE 😀 - If someone lands in a sand trap, others are likely to say kiddingly, "Hey, you're on the beach!"

Down:

1. Chess pieces known as elephants in Russia: BISHOPS - Yes, Castles (yeah, I know it's rooks) fit too.

2. Focused: ON TOPIC 

3. Elaine who had a recurring role as Jack's mother on "30 Rock": STRITCH.

4. First word of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'": SHE'S.

She's a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She's a good girl, is crazy 'bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too

5. Potential Guinness entry, say: FEAT - Cycling backwards on a bike for 60km in 5hrs.

6. Perfect Portions brand: IAMS - I wonder what our Lily would think

7. Test with a max verbal reasoning score of 170: GRE - Sample

6. Since she believed him to be both candid and trustworthy, she refused to consider the possibility that his statement had been __________.

   A irrelevant 

   B facetious 

   C mistaken 

   D critical

   E insincere

8. Enterprise rival: HERTZ.

9. Smith of TV's "Empire": TASHA.

10. "That's a bad idea": DON'T.

11. O'Hare and Bush, for two: WWII PILOTS - O'Hare had the Chicago Airport named for him. George H.W. Bush was also a hero and our 41st president 

 

12. Sea __: ANEMONE - A clownfish with a symbiotic relationship with a Sea ANEMONE 

13. Nook: RECESS.

14. Straight from the garden: FRESH.

21. Unsure sounds: ERS.

23. __ du Rhône: COTES - Literally "the hillsides of Rhone" that is the home of great wines

26. Seasoning on a Chicago-style hot dog: CELERY SALT - I never ask my lovely bride for her input but on a whim, I asked Joann if she knew a 10-letter seasoning for a Chicago-style hot dog. After ten seconds she gave me the correct answer!

27. Forgets, maybe: OMITS.

28. Heathrow facilities: LAV - LAV or LOO?

30. Japanese cutlet: KATSU - Another name for something I have never heard of.

32. "Roughly": ISH.

33. "The Flight Attendant" star: CUOCO - Of course we know Kayley broke through in Big Bang Theory

36. What "p" may stand for: PER - I'm probably the only person thought of how p resembles the Greek letter rho ⍴

37. Brand with a Pamplemousse flavor: LACROIX - Pamplemousse is French for grapefruit. La Croix is French for the cross and was founded in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

39. "What?!": OH MY GOD.

40. One who crosses the line?: ROADHOG - Our new car gives a slight tug in the opposite direction and gives the warning you see here on the dash if you hit the dividing line.

41. Warrant: ENTITLE.

42. Cocktail flavored with orgeat syrup: MAI TAI - Full recipe

43. "Always and Forever, Lara Jean" novelist Jenny: HAN.

45. Holds up: LASTS.

47. Long-term investment accounts?: SAGAS - I wrote to Kyle about this clue/fill. I told him I thought it was about stories (accounts) told to people who a real interest (investment) in a common history (long-term). Kyle said that I did have it right he was glad I wrote both of which made me very happy.

48. Pageant prize: TIARA - I'm not sure if this a TIARA or a crown but it is picture of a lovely girl I had in class fifty years ago. She is the same girl that I told you  about that now raises Alpacas in the highlands of Colorado and makes hats out of their hair.

51. Minute: ITSY.

52. Blue: LEWD - The girl with the TIARA/crown above said she would look for a picture with a TIARA but felt she do better with this clue! She's a hoot.

53. Again: ANEW.

54. Boggle pieces: DICE.

57. All U.S. vice presidents until 2021: MEN.