Saturday, Sep 10th, Brad Wilber

Theme: None


Words: 70


Blocks: 31

My second Brad WilbEr in a month (August 6th), which offered us "This Is Spinal Tap";
this puzzle's movie is-
 62A. 1988 film set in a New England pie maker's shop : MYSTIC PIZZA - which I know stars whats-her-name, but not one I have seen; moving around our 11-letter pinwheel grid, we have -

15A. Pompous : OVERWEENING - a new word for me - I had over-BEARing to start

18A. Risky telecast : LIVE EPISODE - like much of early TV, but before my time

58A. Tenant, say : LEASE HOLDER - this whole block came easily for me, but I did have to dip into Red-letter for the first time in a while to get this one done - PHEW~!

Onward~!


ACROSS:

1. Charade : ACT - don't get the opening three-letter word right away?  Not a good sign

4. Range barrier : BARBED WIRE - at one point, I thought this might be a firing range clue; looking for "cement wall"

14. Roller coaster part : CAR

17. Link between handles? : A.K.A. - "Also Known As" from police reports, a very misleading clue.  I had CBs

19. Reduced in status : DECLASSE

21. Gave away : LET ON

22. Some Olympians' tools : EPEES - not Fencing blade

23. Movement traced to an ancient flower sermon : ZEN

26. Dean's reality TV partner : TORI - complete unknown to me; this show

27. Hall of Fame NFL owner Wellington __ : MARA

28. Natural history museum attractions : T-REXES - had the "X" from eXcuses

31. Divided country : USA - believe it or not, this was my first guess at a three-letter country, but I couldn't commit to it; divided into states, that is, not 'Nam (N & S Vietnam)

32. Sucker : ENSNARE - ah, the verb

34. Court address : COUNSEL

36. 1998 Apple rollout : IMAC - not a Mac person, and I am disappointed with my iPhone, too - only my iPod still works, and that was my first fill

37. Sch. whose students have won more than 200 Olympic medals : UCLA

38. Reach equilibrium : EVEN OUT

41. Steamy container : SOUP POT

45. When the French Open starts : MAY

46. Cymbeline's daughter, in Shakespeare : IMOGEN

48. Japanese script : KANA

49. Botched : BLEW

51. Palindromic Altar : ARA

52. 2008 Palin counterpart : BIDEN - as in "potential" VP status

53. Mystery middle name : ALLAN - Edgar ALLEN Poe

55. "Dead Man Walking" Oscar winner : SARANDON - Spelled it wrong, had -AN, and One-a-Cat sounded good enough for me

61. Yegg's haul : ICE - as in diamonds

63. Hammer site : EAR - misdirection to the three little bones in the ear

64. Cut with the tenderloin removed : SHELL STEAK

65. Oink spot : STY - cute clue for the day

DOWN:

1. Egghead's environs : ACADEME - WAGed at AV ROOMS, and left the "S" in place; didn't help

2. Where the batter goes : CAKE PAN - I know C.C. was not thinking this batter

3. Shipping inquiries : TRACERS - tracking number was too long

4. Corded weapons : BOLAs - this weapon

5. Alamo rival : AVIS - they try harder

6. Tach count : REVs

7. Succeed without difficulty, with "in" : BREEZE

8. Romano source, usually : EWE - sheep's milk cheese?

9. ATM transaction : DEPosit

10. "Gravity and Grace" writer Simone : WEIL

11. Cartographic closeup : INSET - like this

12. Uninhibited : RIOTOUS

13. Stand behind : ENDORSE

16. Good-natured : GENIAL

20. Sit angularly, as a wall : LEAN IN - if your wall is starting to "lean in", better call someone fast; I had Bend in, which seems to make a more artistic impression

24. "My alarm didn't go off," e.g. : EXCUSE

25. One who's now right-brained? : NEOCON - extremist political term - more here

28. Therapist's concern : TRAUMA

29. Parish leader : RECTOR

30. Sci-fi character named for an Asian sea : SULU - of Star Trek fame; still riding the popularity wave after having come out of the closet






33. Mine, in Metz : AMOI - this would be French, non?

35. You'll need more than one in a rib joint : NAPKIN - the ones around here leave you a roll of paper towel

38. Insulate from change : EMBALM - oh, so cool for a clue

39. Big dips : VALLEYS - had plunges at first

40. Very slim margin : EYELASH

42. Rice fields : PADDIES

43. Baseball-like game with two bases : ONEOCAT

44. Leather maker : TANNERY - the shop, not the person

47. Like many Sherlock Holmes settings : GAS-LIT

50. Profligacy : WASTE

52. 2000 Camp David summit attendee : BARAK

54. Diamond in music : NEIL

56. Bladed tool : ADZE

57. Two-time Tony-winning playwright Yasmina __ : REZA

59. Strong acid, chemically : HCL - HydroChLoric Acid

60. Black __: spy doings : OPs - this and OXO are getting to be popular

Well, not much for me to link today, mostly words of a self-explaining nature - see you next Saturday~!





 Splynter