Saturday, May 25, 2024, Zhoquin Burnikel

Saturday Themeless by Zhoquin Burnikel 

C.C.'s 380th puzzle is rife with wit, learning and her trademark devious cluing along with two 11-letter stacks! Of all her pictures, this is one of my very favorites! It was taken on 8/16/10 soon after she had become a citizen. Our old friend Spitzboov got her the flag from the Navy.

Across:

1. Signs of recognition: NODS - Around here, this usually accompanies that NOD

5. Goddess symbolized by the peacock: HERA.

9. Folks who are totes inseparable: BFFS - Totes and BFF in the same clue/fill? How hip!

13. Ropeless climbs: FREE SOLOS.

15. Horn blast: BLARE.

16. Drift apart: LOSE TOUCH - Our 60th anniversary of high school graduation is this spring but we have LOST many members and LOST TOUCH with most all others and so no one is left to organize anything.

17. Apt name for an optimist: ROSIE.

18. "The Secret Life of Bees" novelist: KIDD.

19. Nonsense: BLATHER - I try not to but the best laid plans of men and mice...

21. Times Square abundance: ADS - For $40 you can get a 15-second video to run in Times Square 

24. Hides: LIES LOW - Mrs. Thomsen, my sophomore English instructor would be aghast if she knew I put LAYS LOW first! 🤨

26. Cards: IDS - Card and IDS as verbs

27. Bug: NETTLE.

29. Inner ear?: CORN COB 😀 Ya gotta love that one!

31. Starchy roots: TAROS.

32. Element in some textured paint: SAND.

33. Ortiz of "Love, Victor": ANA - Santa ANA winds or Santa ANA, CA were eschewed for a Saturday puzzle.

34. Perfect spot?: EDEN.

35. Hole number?: YARDS 😀

Yikes! 
841 YARDS/Par 6

36. Ferret kin: MINK.

38. "The Marvels" actor Park __-joon: SEO - Two of C.C.'s 11-letter fills helped here.

39. "Allow Me to Retort" writer Mystal: ELIE.

40. Alabama's state nut: PECAN - Your pronunciation: puh KAHN or PEE can?

41. Words of admission: IT WAS ME - Mrs. Thomsen would be aghast yet again seeing ME instead of I after a linking verb! 😀

43. Post in a studio: MALONE - New to me but filled itself. "Danson's Cheer's character" would be better for me. 

44. Club alternative: BLT - Two of my fave sammiches!

45. Inspiring device: SNORKEL 😀 Inspiring here means to breathe in! No one wore one better:

47. "Uh-uh": NAW.

48. Jumps aboard: LEAPS ON - Our school system LEAPT ON the "Open Concept Classroom" and LEAPT OFF soon after. 

50. Somewhat: A TAD.

52. Pained cry: UNCLE - My uncles used to delight in making my brother and me cry UNCLE!

53. Sought-after change: RARE COINS 😀 I loved this one!

58. "To Kill a Mockingbird" narrator: SCOUT - SCOUT and the first line

              

 

59. PEBKAC issue: USER ERROR 😀

60. Gas company known for its toy trucks: HESS - This 50+ year old model is worth $900

61. Sisters with similar habits: NUNS 😀

62. Staff note: MEMO.

Down:

1. Commanders' org.: NFL - To diehards, they'll always be the Redskins

2. Word in Montana's motto: ORO.

Gold and Silver

3. From overseas?: DES - DES is a French word (thus overseas) that is always followed by a plural noun, and can be used as a preposition to mean "of", "from," or "by." 

4. Go after: SEEK.

5. Cozy top: HOODIE.

6. Get by: ELUDE.

7. Skin care brand started in Paris in 1957: ROC - My DW has used their products for years

8. Salon selection: ASH BLONDE 😀

9. Dab dry: BLOT.

10. Style guide?: FASHION ICON - The 20 greatest of all time. FWIW, Princess Diana is listed as #1.

11. Treat similar to tostones: FRIED BANANA - Tostones are fried plantains.

  

12. Forward thinkers?: SEERS 😀

14. Film studio stock: STILLS - I thought I was so smart for putting in B ROLL

15. Beefiness: BRAWN.

20. Ones with very good manors: LORDS 😀

21. Front money: ANTE 😀 Ya gotta pay to play

22. Unsettling stillness: DEAD SILENCE - A comedian's worst enemy

23. Food truck fare: STREET TACOS.

25. More alarming: SCARIER.

28. So far: TO NOW - Up TO NOW, how have you liked this write-up? 🤔

30. Brown hue: CAMEL.

32. Food source for grizzly bears: SALMON RUN.

35. Like some questions: YES NO.

37. Taylor Swift's "I __ You Were Trouble": KNEW.

40. Residence that's fit for a queen: PALACE - QEII having a few people over at Buckingham PALACE

42. Desirable trait: ASSET.

43. Olympic units: METERS - I suspect the Paris Olympics will use METRES 😀

44. Red state: BLUSH.

46. Carpenter with pipes: KAREN - Karen's musical career started as a teenage drummer in her brother's group, The Richard Carpenter Trio. He was on keyboards.

49. Positive sign: PLUS.  😀

51. Quarters near a quad: DORM 😀 A drone's eye view at UNL

54. Sparky the Sun Devil's sch.: ASU.

55. Red state: IRE 😀

56. Adèle ou Céline: NOM - Adèle ou Céline sont des noms. (Adele or Celine are names)

57. Cheap tix option: SRO - Standing Room Only tix at Yankee Stadium are $62.50.

Saturday, March 2, 2024, Stella Zawistowski

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.

Across:

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.

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

37. Region of Chile used by NASA to test equipment for Mars missions: ATACAMA.

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).