Themeless Saturday by Parker Higgins
Parker is a Brooklyn-base artist and activist. This construction has a whopping 101 open squares which makes for a lot of white space with multiple stacks of 9!
The top third of the puzzle had some interesting fill as I did not know EDGE CASES, GIBED (shoulda knowed how to spell it!), DEREN, TROLL (as clued), ESOS, THIRST TRAP and SANSA. I fought my way through and will take only two bad (stupid error) cells and try to make a coherent blog.
Across
1. Results of unpredictable user behavior, perhaps: EDGE CASES. Events that occur only under extreme conditions. An example I saw was sound distortion when a stereo is turned up to max.
10. Older daughter of Winterfell: SANSA - SANSA Stark from Game Of Thrones. Crosses got it, so no complaints.
15. Unhurried: LEISURELY.
16. Patent __: TROLL.
17. Branch location?: ARBORETUM - Lauritzen Gardens is located in Omaha just above the Missouri River. It has a 100 acre ARBORETUM and has added a $21M conservatory.
18. Did a dress rehearsal: RAN IT. - Places everyone! We'll have an audience tomorrow!
19. Sets (up): TEES.
20. Off-target, in a way: WIDE.
21. Domicile: ABODE.
22. See 27-Across: END and 27. With 22-Across, message before credits: THE 😀
23. __ splicing: GENE - I filled it easily but here is the explanation. Yikes!
24. Many a bridesmaid: SISTER.
25. Tax law pros: CPAS.
26. Mild rebuke: TUT - TUT, TUT, tsk, tsk.
28. Hot shots?: THIRST TRAPS - New to me: A thirst trap is a type of social media post intended to entice viewers sexually. It refers to a viewer's "thirst", a colloquialism likening sexual frustration to dehydration, implying desperation, with the afflicted individual being described as "thirsty" It had to fill itself in.
32. Whole __: HOG.
33. Optimistic: ROSY.
34. English scientist who coined the term "cell" in his 1665 work "Micrographia": HOOKE.
35. Pattern that's often pixelated, for short: CAMO - Can you see the soldier in a pixelated CAMO uniform on this couch?
37. In-person appointments that require an online application?: TINDER DATES - Swipe left or swipe right.
39. See to one's seat, slangily: USH 😀
40. WSW opposite: ENE.
41. "Cut that out!": STOP.
42. Riffing on, online: MEMING.
45. Knicks spot, briefly: MSG - The third Madison Square Garden was built in 1925 and became the home of the NY Knicks NBA team the year I was born (1946).
49. Slicks back, maybe: GELS.
50. Fabrication specialist?: LIAR 😀
51. "For the love of good food" cereal brand: KASHI.
52. Dazed: IN A TRANCE.
54. "You should get a cold pack on that sprain": ICE IT.
55. Ingratiatingly friendly: NICEY NICE.
56. Short-tempered: TESTY.
57. Come to one's senses: SEE REASON.
Down:
1. Absolutely delight: ELATE.
2. "Meshes of the Afternoon" director Maya: DEREN - Maya was a Ukrainian-born American experimental filmmaker and an important part of the avant-garde in the 1940's and 1950's.
3. Called mean names, say: GIBED - My alternate spelling of JIBE didn't work out.
4. Spanish "those": ESOS - ¡Me encantan ESO Cornhuskers! (I love those Cornhuskers!)
5. Mutt: CUR - A flag on the play for me! Many mutts are lovable and not a CUR
6. Defining question?: ARE WE A THING.
6. Defining question?: ARE WE A THING.
7. Unchangeable: SET IN STONE - A favorite poem of mine contradicts this.
9. Culture writer Rachel: SYME - Okay...
10. Narrow channels: STRAITS.
11. Many Maghrebis: ARABS - The Maghrebi
12. "Anything but!": NO NOT THAT - Sometimes it's just a trick
13. Dirty a plate?: SLIDE HOME 😀 - I got this one right away.
14. Extra lives?: ALTER EGOS - Sometimes when I praised a child at a Parent/Teacher conference, parents would reply they are nothing like that at home.
23. Rte. finder: GPS.
24. One with many good buds: SUPER TASTER - TASTER filled first and eventually SUPER made sense
25. Shout: CRY.
26. Occurs: TAKES PLACE.
28. First responder's pack: TRAUMA KIT.
29. Derby, e.g.: HORSE RACE.
30. Landmasses with two coasts: ISTHMUSES.
31. Dowsing tool: ROD.
35. Limit: CAP.
37. Stretched-ness: TENSITY.
38. Bobs and weaves: DOS.
43. "They got me!": I'M HIT.
44. "Aladdin" figure: GENIE - This Jeannie was told by NBC to keep her belly button hidden, but her high waisted pants sometimes slipped but no one said anything.
45. "The Italian Job" vehicles: MINIS - The MINI Coopers were a big part of this heist film
46. Anarchist convicted with Vanzetti in a 1921 murder trial: SACCO.
47. Not yet ripe, maybe: GREEN.
49. Stirs (up): GINS - Agents are constantly trying to GIN UP interest in their clients for them to get hired. Definition and several etymologies
50. "Summertime Sadness" singer Del Rey: LANA.
53. Pastrami bread: RYE.
