Welcome back, NYT Crossword Saturday warriors.  This one wasn’t a deadly as Friday’s, though it also has a long answer that only a few people will know and nobody could easily guess.  Themeless, of course.

The clue I’m talk about is the Hip-hop producer.  I guess some solvers follow such things.  Not I.  The person’s first name is short and common.  If you don’t know it, you’ll have to get the last name from the crosses.  Not a person, as I thought for a little while, who’s famous for his animated features.

More hints:

Highway sections:  This is a more generic word than you might be considering.  The answer could even be, in a totally different context, clued as a verb:  Something one does before aerobic exercise or during yoga.

Figure in a beret:  Commonly found on tee shirts, particularly a few decades ago.

Word appearing 39 times in the King James Version of Matthew 1:  Someone actually counts the number of times a given word appears in a particular part of the Bible?   If the clue was 38 times, then I’d know it immediately!   Anyway, I would have thought you’d find this word a lot in Genesis.  Maybe even more than 39 times.

HanesBrands brand:  Seems like Michael Jordan’s all over crosswords this week.  Who knew his underwear was rubbery plastic?

They bite but don’t have teeth:  Not a riddle, just a variety of animal that can give you a nasty bite without using any teeth, which, apparently, it doesn’t have.

Bygone 20-Across fashion magazine…whose grown up mommy is still going strong.

Mythical predator of elephants:  It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a crossword puzzle favorite!  If you didn’t know this one, learn it, it’s very popular to crossword writers.  It’s an anagram of Bilbo’s least favorite species.

Composure:  More commonly found ending in ED as an adjective.  As a noun, it’s two words.

Musical intensifier:  No, it’s not a drug or a piece of stereo equipment.  Psst: It’s one of those musical terms derived from Latin.

Genre of the double-platinum box set “Songs of Freedom”:  Is “double-platinum” supposed to tell us were completely out of it not to know it?  Can’t see how else it helps.  Anyway, don’t be scared if the last two letters look like more Latin, you’ll discover this kind of music in a different sea than the Adriatic.

Another cruel Friday.   As you might tell by when I’m posting, here I am at nearly 2 in the morning trying to give you a few hints to make a Friday challenge a little more achievable.   Themeless (Fri/Sat are always themeless).

It is possible to solve the puzzle without knowing who the 2011 Emmy-winning MSNBC host was, ’cause I didn’t know it either and I made it through.  First and last name.  Woman.   First name Biblical.   Second name unguessable.  Could it be an angry variation of a grassy valley?

Two Absent without leave? clues.  The long one’s just what it says, so I’m not sure why there’s a question mark at the end.  I wanted to put an “E” in the second word of this two word answer which it made it not fit.

Works on a plot:  The plot isn’t an acre or a play.  Unless the play’s a thriller.

If you don’t know who the Emmy nominee for Newhart is and can’t spell the “kind of artery or vein” that crosses it, let me ease your pain:  It’s a vowel and it isn’t A E I or U.  Hope that doesn’t give it away!

Semi-opponent:  The is a portmanteau word:  two words crunched together to from a new word that has a meaning that combines the two words that make it.  Must come from having too many Facebook contacts who keep sending you updates on things you have no desire to know.

Sturdy as  _______:  no, not A ROCK, apparently,  not A anything, yet close.

Time-traveling 1980’s film character:  No, his name wasn’t Calvin Klein despite product placement.

Decrees:   Plural yes,  “S” at the end, no.

Common soap ingredient:  Think television, not wash basins.

Strange puzzle, though of course Thursday NYT crossword puzzles are all about being unique.  Today’s NYT crossword hint is tat this one’s “trick” or theme is that the theme doesn’t relate to any of the clues/answers.  So that makes solving 23-down (“This puzzle’s theme”) useless in solving the rest of the puzzle and a minor challenge of its own.    For a while, I thought it was about a super-big wave, but that was only true in the  beginning.

So it’s otherwise all about solving the grid.

Specific hints:

1-Across Toon/live action film of 1996:  2 words and it starred a man who was later famous for his underwear.

9-Across Typewriter’s spot:  Maybe this is one that’s hard for younger solvers who’ve never seen a writing device that won’t sit on you lap or in your palm.  Don’t over-think it, the obvious answer is correct.

9-Down Ten-spots and such:  Especialmente en Mexico!

31-Down Toned quality: I’m not sure I buy this clue/answer combo.  Anyway, people who are toned are usually this, but some toned people are anything but.

26-Down Turn a blind eye, say:  3 words…or monkeys.

52-Across Thing that’s highly explosive:  Another not quite right clue/answer.   This burns like heck, but won’t necessarily explode.

50-Down Took (out):  Think editing especially with a pen or pencil

Every day I give a few hints for those who want to see how far one can go without googling, checking Rex Parker’s blog, or hitting “Reveal” in Across Lite.  

Something a little different for today’s hints and tips:  Each hint or tip as I go through the puzzle.  I’m going through in my usual way:  Doing all the acrosses first and then the down clues rather than solving an area of the puzzle at a time.  But first, a quick look at all the clues to see if there’s a hint at the the “theme” (In case you’re new to NYT puzzles:  Monday through Thursday NYT puzzles have a particular wordplay that the long answers  have in common.  Occasionally, a different means is used to identify the theme answers.  Yesterday’s puzzle used asterisks, for example.)

The first long answer (17-Across,  Coming on to a patient, perhaps?) ends in a question mark.  This tells it’s some kind of joke, usually a pun.   So the answer is a phrase that’s commonly used with a completely different meaning from the clue that’s given.  36-Across “Dictator’s directive at a dance club?”  and  59-Across “Strive for medium quality on this one”?  fit this same pattern.  It’s rare that you can guess these right off.  I suggest a once-through of all the clues before zeroing in on the theme answers.  (21-Across and 55-Across are also theme answers.  Note that the long Down clues are not theme clues.)

Going through the puzzle filling in what we can guess quickly:

1-Across Muscles strengthened by squats: Here’s one where it’s safe to conclude this plural will end in “S”.  Probably true of 6-Across also, but if you know the word Shul,you should get the answer quickly, otherwise, put in the S and move on.  10-Across “Easy to spread cheese”:  French cheese that comes from a large wheel and sounds like a character in Desperate Housewives.

15-Across “Don’t worry about me”:  If you remember Eric Berne, then you know the answer to this one.  If you don’t, think of how much can be squeezed into four letters if you work at it.

29-Across Cyberspace ‘zine:  Remember NYT #1 rule:  The form of the clue matches the form of the answer.  ‘zine is internet slang;  so is the answer.

31-Across Less-than sign’s key mate:  Go ahead, peak at your keyboard, you know you want to!

34-Across “Make my ______!”:  He was so much more fun when he was blowing people’s heads off instead of talking to a chair!

42-Across Seek pocket change, say:  Dogs do this also;  Cats just make a nuisance of themselves until you give them what they want.

44-Across Close to closed:  When a door isn’t?

64-Across Cheese that doesn’t spoil:  Really?  Never?  Must be the red wrapper.

67-Across Idiot:  …or 48-Across, to some

Enough acrosses, on to the downs:

1-Down Proof letters:  No, not VSO, like Brandy, think geometry, not booze

2.-Down Area 51 letters, supposedly:  What’s he mean, “supposedly,”  why I read about ’em when I’m on line at the supermarket every day!

8-Down “Hit the jackpot”:  2 words

After you’ve gotten through 9-Down, check out 17-Across, the first theme clue.  Can you guess it?  If so, you can imagine the others are going to work pretty much the same way.  It’s a very familiar phrase (name of a film featuring a “shaken, not stirred” martini drinker) plus a couple predictable letters.

24-Nat or Natalie:  Or that “Merry old soul”

36-Across Theme clue:  Dictator’s directive at a dance club?:  Wait a minute, isn’t this what one says to a dictator, not what the dictator says???

48-Down Amnesiac’s question: Only 6 letters, but 3 words.

And in case the bottom right is giving you fits because you’ve forgotten of the Hades river of forgetfulness and don’t know what a muslim woman’s veil is called, so their point of intersection is killin’ ya:  The river sounds like someone with a lisp.   A Spanish eye’s middle letter isn’t H even though it sounds like one.  And the things Geisha’s wear sounds like the first name of a famous Jedi warrior.

And remember:  Learning to solve is a matter of successive approximations.  If you could zip through them every time with no problem, what point would there be to doing them?

And while you’re here.  Check out the photos of a frozen stream in Vermont on the site’s main blog.

Welcome back solvers who want hints and not direct answers!   Tuesday NYT are a step harder than Mondays, but just a small step.  No reason not to give it a shot without googling for answers!

The theme:  Ok, what do we see?  Asterisks.  So we know that the theme answers are identified specifically rather than just being all the long answers in the puzzle.  Next look to see if there’s a “key,” a specific answer that gives us a hint to rest.   Ah, yes, here it is.  Take a look at 40-Across. And they’re all films.  For me, at least, all relatively obscure ones.  So this means we’ll need to get some down clues (all the starred clues are across clues) before we’ll have a shot at the theme.   But, hint, don’t worry about it too much, getting the theme isn’t a huge help at knowing the movie names.  Actually, it works a little the other way around, once you get a couple movie names, you’ll be able to get 40-Across and that gives you a lot!  A lot!! A lot!!!

Let’s go to some specific hints, then take a look at the theme again.

Letter-shaped support:  These are always single letters followed by a common three letter word.  Here’s a hint to that:  Mars isn’t always a planet, sometimes it’s a ____.

Emulated a lamb:  Nothing tricky here, just a word you never see spelled out.  This word (the answer) is almost always used in the present tense, that’s why it looks so funny in the past tense.  (In case you didn’t know:  NYT puzzles are very careful about matching the tense, plural/singular, slang/normal speech, etc. between clue and answer.

Here’s a small hint to one of the theme answers — 17. *1952 Marlon Brando film:  Che Guevara would have been proud of him.

12-Across “Connector of stories”:  No, not the kind of stories you find in a book.  Look somewhere else in your house…if it’s a tall one.

51-Down “Loud, as a crowd”:  Another word no one ever says or writes.  What does a crowd when the home team scores?  It _____.  So suppose you wanted to use that as an adjective rather than a verb?

50-Down “A ring bearer”:  Well, not just any ring bearer, a very particular who’s the central character of recent film that might be called a prequel.

29-Down “Watt’s equivalent”:  This word is essentially a portmanteau word:  Two words put together to mean something that’s like a combination of the two.  Both parts are common electrical terms you’re likely to know.

For NYT Monday fans, go down to the blog entry below this one…

BEQ gives us a challenging puzzle each Monday.   This one isn’t authored by him, but by guest puzzle creators, the young marvels  Joel Fagliano and Caleb Madison.

Themeless, as always.

Discovery channel programming block that included ‘Ocean of Fear’:  Thinks orcas not global warning

Topic for Alan Turing:  I thought only English people pluralized this word.   Well, Alan Turing was English, so I guess it’s ok.

“Schnellboot” of WWII:  And you thought those nasty Nazis only used one kind of boat, when, in fact, they were, way ahead of the game, letter-wise.

National Federation of Independent Businesses vs. Sibelius matter:  And what was the big issue in the last election?

Mythical inventor of the kithara,  Kithara an early spelling of Guitar.  Here’s the inventor:  

Her name sounds like a mistake, but poets love her anyway.

Inner weirdness, metaphorically:  Thing 1960’s.  Think of flying.

Ok, back to Monday.  The theme isn’t very exciting here.  You can figure out all the long across clues without the “key” clue (35-Across “Common put-down that hints at the ends…”).  In fact you’re more likely to get at least one of the long clues before 35-Across will come into shape.  It’s 3 words by the way.  More an adult than a playground put-down.   But once you do get the idea, it’ll make some of the other long answers come into focus easier.

5 Monday hints:

1.  52-Across “‘Aha!'”  –  3 word phrase.  Alternative clue:  Answer to “Darn, where’s the apartment key?”

2.  58-Across “Safety exercise prompted by an alarm”:  Admit, you were disappointed when it turned out not to be real!

3.  60-Across “Laura and Bruce of the silver screen”:  Alternate clue:  Expressions used by  backwoods folks when they stub their toes.

4.  55-Down “Opera with a slave girl”:  Set in Egypt and somehow turned into a musical by Disney corp.

5.  11-Down “Produce, as page layouts for a printer”:  Alternative clue:  Refuse to answer any questions when interrogated by the police.

Interesting theme this week.  More challenging than most.  Clever, too.  I’d suggest filling in as much of the puzzle as you can before trying to work out the theme.  For that reason, I’ve reversed my usual order and put a few specific hints first:

It may be spotted in a pet store:  “spotted” isn’t exactly what these animals are.  Think common house pet, not exotic animal.

Hinders:  It’s a legal term for it, though it sounds like something that would definitely slow you down.

Wife of Woody:  Allen, not Guthrie

Fancy Flower holders:  they can also hold coffee or your great great grandfather

Biblical resting place:  Two words, the first is an abbreviation

Without any oomph:  I was thinking TEPID, but it’s even more exhausted than that.

Well-rounded:  This kind of well-roundedness isn’t the kind that makes you attractive to grad schools.

Old barnstorming needs:  How’d these folks get to one out-of-the-way place to another quickly?  2 words

Really hurts:  And causes some lasting damage.  Literally hurts, not figuratively.

Something media execs have their eye on?:  The key word in the clue is “eye.”  Note the question mark indicating that it’s a bit of a “wink, wink”

Source of talk often:  Two letters followed by a word.

Theme:

We have a bunch of dashes with no clues. Hmmm.  By doing the “crosses” (words that transect the “dashed” clues), eventually we get some words that don’t seem to have much to do with each other (and, don’t sweat it, they don’t have anything to do with each other, at least not [the answer to 108-Across].   But what else is strange about the puzzle.  Well, let’s take 6-Down (“The Pied Piper of Hamelin, e.g.”) Hmmm.    Can you think of any three-letter word to describe the Pied Piper?  No, I can’t either.  So let’s look at the crosses:  “Break in poetry.”  If you don’t know poetry that might be difficult, but it’s some kind of gap and probably Latin.  Maybe you can guess a few letters.  Then check out “The hare, notably.”  Well, compared to the tortoise, what was the hare.  Well, the LOSER doesn’t fit, but there’s a two-word phrase that means more or less the same thing.  “Allowed aboard” is another two word answer that’s pretty straightforward.

So now do you have 6-down?  If not, here’s a hint:  If the Pied Piper were one of these, he would be renowned as the greatest traitor of all times.  Now notice that you have one of those dash clues just below it.  And what does a dash do?  Maybe everything’s not hunky-dory or easy-to-answer, but you get the idea.  Ok.  Now go for a few of the letters of 42-Down.   So what was the Pied Piper?  And what’s the theme title?

Got it? If not, try work around the other “plus signs” found in the design of the puzzle itself.   As soon as you get one, the rest will fall nicely in place.

Ok, before the hints, an admission that this one killed me.  I don’t think it’s just cause I started late in the evening.  I just don’t know who the “Monkey launched in 1958”, what Mercutio cried repeatedly, who was in Unfaithful or the name of the announcer in, what was it, Let’s Make a Deal?  So I have to admit, I went into a pure guess & check mode with those four squares.   Maybe because folks can google answers so easily, it does feel to me that Friday and Saturday puzzles are getting more combo obscure answers.   So I, the hint giver, must cry, “Gimme a hint!”

Ok, finally done, though with far too many wrong guesses before the denouement. Painful after all these years.  Oh, well.

Hints:

Rainbow event:  On the street, not in the sky.

It includes the extradition clause:  Think very important document with roman numerals attached

It’s between Laredo and Nuevo Laredo:  Well, BORDER WITH MEXICO won’t fit, so what else is in between the two countries?

Receipt to redeem a credit:  Often considered close to worthless

Place of imprisonment…:  Think Prisoner of _______

One who snaps:  Especially on Sundays, Mondays, and occasional Saturdays

Medieval love poem:  Or a present to you in Hawaii by someone who spells phonetically

Ensure: 2 words

Sounds that make frogs disappear?:  pssst.  the ones you sometimes get in your throat

Military hut:  These are pretty big huts.  There’s no question mark and no joke, just a particular kind of hut used by military personnel

Signs of Spring:  Signs, yes, S at the end, no.  What other letter can indicate it’s a plural?

Non-profit concerns:  After this puzzle, I definitely had to count mine.  2 words.

Here we are at Friday.   So no more themes, probably no more tricks.  A possible strategy:  Go straight through the acrosses  relatively quickly in pencil inserting words or individual letters that seem probable but not definite.  Ink in only those words you’re pretty sure of.  Do all the acrosses with barely a peek at the downs and then all the downs.  In doing the downs,  put in a probable even if it conflicts with an across you’ve written in pencil.  Leave the crossing square with the letter of the word that seems more likely.   If something seems to confirm another guess,  mark both in ink.  If something seems to make a previously penciled answer very unlikely, erase the penciled answer.

Now that you’ve done the acrosses once through and the downs also, look for the area you have the most inked in and start from there to see if you can get anything more.  (In the early days of doing Friday puzzles, don’t be surprised if there’s very little you feel sure about, but start in areas of the puzzle where you have the most.)   Don’t belabor an area.  If nothing’s coming, try another.  Again, use pencil unless you’re confident about the specific answers you’re adding.

After you’ve done as much as you can in this manner.  Take a break.  Do something else for a few minutes or hours.  Come back and look at the puzzle again.  Try a few spots again.  Check your answers next.  Are there some that might be wrong and misleading you?  Take ’em down a grade (from ink to pencil in Across Lite;  erase penciled in answers that look likely to be wrong as you look at the puzzle again.

If there’s a space with only one or two letters missing, you may want to run the alphabet through your head to consider possibles.  Don’t do this too quickly or you may skip over a correct answer.

When you’ve filled in as much as you can and you’re getting more frustrated than it’s worth, start checking answers (this assumes you’re using Across Lite).   This is much better than googling.  Googling often tells you more than you wanted to know.   When you do check, try checking a single letter, rather than a whole word.  Then words if you’re still stuck and, finally, the whole puzzle.  Now you know where you’ve gone wrong.    The goal is not to try to solve the puzzle with as few checked letters being wrong as possible, but more importantly to have fun.

Specific Hints for this Friday:

Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson.   Not LEFTIES.  Baseball was their game and  the _______ were their team.

Sawbuck:  Slang for an amount of money.  Less than a CNOTE a more than a FIN.

Candle-lighting occasion:  There’s misdirection by the puzzle-maker here.  It’s not a rite, but a completely different reason to light a candle.

To come:  3 words

Game with forks and pins:  No, not bowling.  And not something really tricky like a roast wild duck, that would require a question mark in the clue.  You know this game.

Goes out, in a card game:  You know this game, too.  You may not know this word as a verb, but it’s how one wins the game of the same name.

Giant of legend:  Poor Mr. OTT, our xword favorite, is too short for this one.   It’s in a different category altogether from the most common denominator in the puzzle.

_____ – pop:  You can’t drink this kind.

Hit accidentally:   But…you’re only hurting yourself!

If you’re familiar with the NY Times’ puzzles, you expect Thursdays to have the trickiest themes.  Not this one.  There is something in common among the two long across and two long downs, but, at least as far as I can tell, nothing fancy.  Most often you’d see one clue that ties the theme answers together.  Not here.  So I’ll give you one:  99-Across:  A commonly sung syllable…and a hint to each of the four long answers.   There’s two more letters that the four long answers have in common, but I’m not going to say any more about it in this article.

Five specific hints:

1.  1-Across  “Chiquita import”:  It is the first thing you associate with Chiquita;  remember how some plurals don’t end in “s,”  well some singular clues…

2.  30-Across “Word before and after “yeah”:  Not a phrase you want to hear, particular if it’s a cop saying it!

3.  49-Down “You’re welcome, amigo”:  The “amigo” part tells you it’s Spanish.  It’s two words.  You don’t have to thank me, it’s nothing.

4.  54-Down “Consistent with”:  2 words.   Alternative clue:  “According to…”

5.  64-Across “Pair”:  Just a pair, but it takes 3 words to say it.

I don’t assume you’ll instantly go from struggling through an early-in-the-week puzzle to being able to sail though them by reading these hints and tips.   The idea here is only to make progress.   So each day I give a few hints that might help you with an answer you were struggling with and make the process more fun.

The idea here is to avoid just telling you straight out what the answer is.   There a lot better alternatives to mine, easily googled, once you’ve stopped trying to solve the puzzle yourself and just want to know what an answers or what all the answers are.

I give a few hints a day.   An occasional tip.  I do repeat myself because I can see how many folks are finding this site for the first time or coming back to it.  So you will sometimes say to yourself, “yeh, he already said that” or “I’ve known that factoid forever,”  but, forgive me, not everyone does.   But over time, you’ll find your facility increase.  You’ll see you’re solving more of the puzzle yourself and that’s always a good feeling!   That’s the idea.

I hope to also give you an occasional chuckle.

And it’s designed with the thought that you’ll sometimes poke around and read what else I’ve written on “myriad and sundry” topics.

Since it’s Wednesday, we know it will be themed, a bit more difficult (only a couple gimme/crossword-ese answers) than a Monday or Tuesday and not as tricky a theme as a Thursday.  This is one of those themes where you can’t possibly figure out the theme answers 19-, 29-, 35-, 42- and 52-Across without getting a number of the letters from the crossing down clues.  In fact, none of the theme answers is obvious, but the idea the same for all of them.  One hint is that once you get one of them, you’ll instantly know at least the first letter of all the other clues.  All are two words.  What kinds of things always have (except for xword favorites like ENYA) at least two words?

The answers have nothing, so far as I can tell, to do with each other besides the basic pattern.  Note the ? at the end of each telling you it’s some kind of play on words.  Maybe it would be easier if you thought that It girl? could have been clued as IT girl?  Nothing to do with Information Technology, nor does Po boy have anything to do with either food or poverty.  The P.R. man isn’t from Puerto Rico either.   It’s simpler than that.    Speaking of the P.R. man:  The answer to this clue would be a lot more on people’s tongues on today’s historic date had things gone differently a couple months ago.

5 specific clues:

1. 21-Down (Pickled Delicacy):  Commonly found in sushi bars.

2.  26-Down (Way in the distance):  Two words.  Not way like TAO but way like away from where you are.

3.  46-Down (Cell body):  Really should have a question mark at the end to warn you that the kind of cell they’re talking about isn’t about an organism even if the “body” part is.

4.  14-Down (Like many éclairs):  Despite the accent aigu over the e, the answer is not en français.  And, just to save you a misstep I made, it doesn’t end in e, though it could.

5.  Give or take:  1 word, though you might think more easily of a two word answer that’s a common answer to this clue. Note there’s no, e.g. at the end so it’s not something really generic like VERBS.  Nor does it have anything to do with bargaining.

This Tuesday’s hints and tips are particularly for relatively new solvers.   In case you’re new to the NYT puzzles, Mondays are the easiest and build up through to Saturday.  Tuesday’s always have a “theme.”  This is simply a common idea that runs through (generally) the longest answers in the puzzle, in this case, a serious of plays-on-words (the question mark tells you that a play on words is going on).  A very common phrase is found once one solves the literal clue that’s given.

In 17-Across, for example, (“Byproduct of a sad dairy cow?”) the answer is a two word phrase that is (1) a word meaning “sad” follow by  (2) a product of a dairy cows.  The common two-word phrase is very familiar. 25-Across (“Byproduct of a homely dairy cow?”) follows exactly the same patter (1) a word meaning “homely,” (or at least not strikingly pretty) and (2) an ordinary dairy product.  37-Across is the same, but the word synonymous with “exhausted” is a little slangy.  52-Across and 61-Across likewise.

A couple of other hints and tips:

1-Across “Part of WWW”:  Note that it doesn’t say Abbr. (abbreviation), so this has to be one of those famous three letters that is, itself, only three letters long.

28-Across “Oman man”:  Or Qatar man, or Egyptian woman, for that matter.

30-Across “Capote, to pals”:  “to pals” means it’s a nickname.  Do you know Capote’s first name?  This is a short version of it.  Also the name of a Broadway play about Capote.

6-Down “Attacks”: 2 words.   This and variations, e.g. RUNS ___ are very frequently seen in early week NYT puzzles.

8-Down “Start of a Cheer”:  A cheer that sometimes ends with “Hit ’em again! hit ’em again! Harder! Harder!”   Or it could be what you call a female sibling.

40-Down “Shade of White”:  2 words.  Or: Something you may have to throw out after you eat breakfast.

68-Across “Does a fantastic stand-up”:  Similar to SLAYS.

67-Across “Band in Road Runner cartoons”: Or:  Where you are when you’re at the top.

70-Across: “Film _____ “:  Well, these aren’t comedies, not even if they’re “black” comedies.

So maybe because it’s MLK Day and you have the time off, for once, you’ve decided to try Brendan Emmet Quigley’s Monday puzzle.  Always themeless, nearly always labeled “Hard.”

Today’s is no exception.

With Quigley we can expect:

1.   Some clues that are much easier for people familiar with current pop culture.  These words are sometimes “logical” enough in their own way, that you can sometimes figure out all or part of the answer by a reasonable guess about what it might be.  Unless you’re a champion solver (in which case, you surely don’t need my hints!), I’d strongly suggest using the Pencil mode in Across Lite or an object commonly known as a pencil in the “analog” or “real” world.    (Isn’t amazing, to anyone over forty, that we now hear  normal wristwatches described as being  “analog” wristwatches, as opposed to digital watches.  Analog?  What is it analogous to???  But I digress.)

2.  Names of people you never heard of and whose names can’t be spelled by those who have heard of them.   Whether it’s to top hip hop star, rock icon, actor, sports figure, part in a movie, award winner, etc., etc., Quigley will always have one that you don’t know and can’t really “guess.”  (Today’s, for me, was Wu-Tang Clan member.   Hint:  an odd name;  the last three letters of which suggest aspirations to the Highest Power.

3.  Words or phrases you often hear spoken, but rarely see written down.  (8-Across Cold drink bought at gas stations).  Hint:  Perhaps more associated with 7-Elenvens.

So Use pencil.   Move one if you have no idea who someone is.  Wonder about it if you think you might be able to guess part of the answer.

1-Across is a perfect case of that last idea.  Portmanteau is a word all puzzlers have to learn how to use in a sentence.  In this case, defining portmanteau isn’t giving away the answer, you still have to figure that out.  (And now that I’ve got the answer, I’m still going to have to look up exactly why it is.)  A portmanteau was originally kind of all purpose suitcase (You’ll note I’ m not shuffling you off to Wikipedia as if you were a hyperactive puppy!)  that “gentlemen” and “ladies” used to carry various and sundry things that felt they needed while away from their home for an extended period.  It had drawers in it and so might contain an unlikely combination of the things, from clothes, say, to a cherished toy from childhood.  And so the portmanteau as it is used today: a single word that merges the letters of two other words to form a combination that makes logical sense.   So what would have to combine to get a “larger than-average mobile device”?   So if you didn’t know this current jargon, once you’ve solved it, you do.

Commuter Rail terminus:  Well, it’s not GRAND CENTRAL STATION ! (for a moment I tried: BIG CITY, but that didn’t pan out.  The suburbs won’t fit.  Where the heck could you being going?  It’s a less familiar word for it, but it’s in this same category.

They keep bugs out:  This time, note the lack of a question mark.  This is just simple and literally what these things do.

48-Across;  Ah, yes, did I forget to mention that BEQ, as he’s called by all his close friends, likes to throw in a movie with a famous star that you’ve never heard of or vice versa.   Big hint:  Two words.  First word:  Little word.

It’s good in Latin class:  Yeh, da Romans.  Well, the Italians still same da same ting.

French Game with a 32-card deck:  Not ECARTE, apparently.  Hmm.   It’s a portmanteau describing a “proper” outdoor game, in this case played by mathematicians.

Blubber spot