SaturdayThemeless by Wendy L. Brandes and John Lieb
Wendy is a lawyer, professor and children’s book author. Her puzzles have appeared in the Inkubator, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Boswords and Universal Crosswords. When she is not thinking about crosswords, she can be found knitting, engaging in vicious games ofCatan, or rooting on the Yankees, Rangers, Giants and Swarthmore Garnet. John is from Philadelphia but nowlives in West Roxbury, MA. where heteaches mathat Roxbury Latin School.He attended The Haverford School in Haverford, PA and studied math at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. His FaceBook page contains personal information and this wonderful picture. As for the picture, John was kind enough to write:The story of the outfit is that at my school, the day before Spring Break is a dress down/costume day, and the Elvis costumewas my outfit a few years back. Fun to walk around as the King for a day...
I made good time solving Wendy and John's puzzle. I found very little drek and skated around very nicely and I'll point out some of my favs. I think our friend Irish will like the dearth of 3-letter fill:COTEOSSATSRSSUETEMTKO
Across:
1. __ board:ABOVE- Here it is and its opposite
6. Crab organ:GILL.
14. 24/7, say:RATIO-The RATIO of women to men public schoolteachers isapproximately 3:1
10. Rumple:MUSS.
15. One of the Three Rivers Stadium rivers:OHIO-The stadium was named in February 1969 for its location at the confluence of theAllegheny River and Monongahela River, which forms the Ohio River. It has since been torn down.
17. Like the lines in a Mondrian painting:CRISS CROSS- PietMondrian's works have sold for $50M. No, really!!
16. Opposing:ANTI.
19. "Sourced from the same material" abbr.:IBID- I loathed typing footnotes and bibliographies. Word makes it easier I'm told.
21. McIntosh product:APPLESAUCE- I filled in APPLESAUCE and then had to see that an "a" was not in the name of the product. 🙄
20. Baseball family name:ALOU.
23. Make potable, as seawater:DESALT- The Carlsbad DESALt plant near San Diego makes 50 millions gallons of water per day.
26. Letters that end a fight:TKO 😀
25. "Buona __":SERA- Good evening in Italian
27. Small holes:EYELETS.
29. Cholesterol drug:STATIN.
34. Bread in a skillet:PONE- Corn PONE bread
31. Spotted:CALICO.
35. Reluctant agreement:YOU'RE NOT WRONG- I'll bet the next word in this dialogue is "but"
39. Sumptuous:LUXE- I've never used it or heard it used
41. Actress Milano:ALYSSA. 44. One who may taunt "Mom loves me best":SIBLING- Remember the recent word ofnibling?
48. Pro __:TEM- Translation: "For the time being". The Vice President is the president of the Senate but in his or her absence there is a president PRO TEM. The current one is Patty Murray of Washington state.
49. Diamond appraisers?:UMPS 😀
53. "Sesame Street" song that's complete rubbish?:I LOVE TRASH.
52. Waver:TEETER.
57. Added amount:MORE. 58. Threat to global stability:ROGUE STATE.
56. __ latte:CHAI- We see CHAI so often here that I will stop adding that it is Chinese for tea
60. Viola Davis achievement, in brief:EGOT.
62. Reduces to tiny bits:RICES. 63. Some tax IDs:SSNS. 64. Big name in salad dressing:KEN'S- We like KEN'S but weloveDorothy Lynch Dressing that is made in Columbus, NE
61. "Now!":ASAP.
65. __ quotes:SCARE-quotation marks used around a word or phrase when they are not required, therebyelicitingattention ordoubts.
I'm not sure Dave did
such a great job!
Down:
1. Boardwalk business:ARCADE.
2. Grain used in animal feed:BARLEY.
3. Useless:OTIOSE.
4. Red and green lights, e.g.:VISUAL CUES- Some people don't pay all that much attention to those cues
6.Fuel for climbers:GORPMost recognize gorp to be an acronym for its four main ingredients, "granola, oats, raisins, and peanuts.
5. Aurora's counterpart:EOS- Godesses of Dawn
7. Places with stacks of silver dollars:I HOPS 😀- Here's five of them
 |
| From the 1920's |
9. Second-person plural?:LOSERS😀 Yes, the second place person is "the first LOSER" 10. Mother of Hermes:MAIA- It (had to) filled itself in
11. Begin to open up?:UNBUTTON. 12. Gecko's specialty:STICKING.
13. Focus of some record keepers?:SIDE ONE- It could be an alternate for A-SIDE and B-SIDE but I like this:
SIDE ONE is playing below in this two-record set with side two on the top of the upper record. When Side two finishes playing, the two records are flipped over and side three will now play which is on the back of the upper record. Side four is on the back of the lower record.
18. Source of the Dutton family's wealth on "Yellowstone":CATTLE.
24. Part of a billionaire's jet set?:LEAR -10 billionaires with jets more expensive than LEARS 28. Trespasses:SINS- We Congregationalists asked to have our "debts forgiven" while the Methodists across the street were doing the same with their "trespasses". 30. Furious and then some:APOPLECTIC.
22. Didn't play:SAT.
32. Help in turning a double into a triple:COT 😀We used a rollaway.
33. Beverly Cleary's "__ Spofford":OTIS.
35. Treats baked in Swiss roll pans:YULE LOGS.
36. Element in "Night of the Living Dead":OXYMORON.
38. __ Goldberg machine:RUBE- You figure out what it does. 😀
37. Squirm:WRITHE.
39. W. Coast daily:LA TIMES. 42. Jane's "Glee" role:SUE- Jane Lynch as the P.E. teacher
 |
43. Sunset Limited operator:AMTRAK. 45. End of a course in Greek literature?:ITHACA-ITHACA is the home and kingdom of Odysseus, and it is the place he most desires to return to. It represents Odysseus' love for his home, family, and an end to his long and arduous journey.Yeah, I knew that. 😗
46. More like a Marie Kondo disciple:NEATER- An organizer guru
47. Quarterback Bob who won two Super Bowls with the Dolphins:GRIESE- Bob led the only team to win a Super Bowl by going undefeated in the 1972 season, 17 - 0. The Dolphins also won the next year going 15 - 2.
51. Carl who said, "We are made of star-stuff":SAGAN.
50. Essay text:PROSE.
54. Checks out:VETS.
59. Sch. team captains, often:SRS.
55. Takes late courses:SUPS 😀Uh, that's meal courses.
