Words: 72
Blocks: 30
I was mighty tired when I started this puzzle, so I was probably not as sharp as I could have been - but still finished in my allotted time, with only one sneak peak to check if I had a letter correct; I did notice that NONE of the clues were punctuated with a question mark, meaning that there were no "punny" or tongue-in-cheek mis-directing clues today. I thought it was about time we had a puzzle from Barry, too. Quite the "regular" grid, too, only a couple of triple stacks of nines, but four "bears" of (tough to fit) twelve-letter answers, two Across, and two Down, with two 10's as well;
25A. Literally, "may you have the body" : HABEAS CORPUS - legal term; I will let the lawyers handle this one
42A. Last man* to walk on the moon : EUGENE CERNAN - When I saw "GENE", I thought it was the Flight Director of Apollo 13, but he is GENE KRANZ; I'll bet this one was a gimme for Husker Gary
6D. Subject of the 2004 documentary "American Beer" : CRAFT BREWERY - in college, my roommate tried brewing his own; looked scary, but was super strong; two bottles and you were stumbling about
21. Evert* specialty : BACKHAND SHOT - Chris Evert, tennis star
11. Indication that money is involved : DOLLAR SIGN - This "$" thing, not the look on some competitor's faces who are about to lose their shirts.
25D. David* with the autobiography "Making Waves" : HASSELHOFF - "The Hoff" - I grew up with him as "Michael Knight", the man who drove K.I.T.T. - that talking Trans Am of the mid-80's, not the lifeguard dude of Baywatch (gag). The Hoff is big in Germany, and he gained some notoriety with his drunken off-camera behavior; also had a stint as a judge on America's Got Talent.
Mr. Silk gave us just enough to finish the puzzle, but there were a LOT of names in this one, both in the clues and answers (*), and I figure you either know them, or you don't
Onward~!
1. Black-and-white prowlers : SQUAD CARS - I knew this was a police reference, but we don't call them "squad" cars; here they're Cruisers, so this took longer than needed
10. Hit the hay, say : IDIOM - I had AXIOM, but a 12-letter word starting with "X" ??
15. Summons : MUSTERS UP
16. George Jetson's boss* __ G. Spacely : COSMO
17. Southern Christian Leadership Conference president* after King : ABERNATHY
18. Perry* of fashion : ELLIS
19. Alcopop beverage : ZIMA - This drink came out a year after it was legal for me to drink; it was good, but quickly got a 'girl's drink' image
20. Pelt : FUR - dah~! Thought we might be going with the verb here; I tried HIT
21. Wind ensembles usually tune to them : B FLATS
22. Août's season : ETE - if it looks foreign, has three letters, and refers to season, it's this French word for summer - and that's all I'm sayin'
23. 1951 Cooperstown inductee* : OTT - Cooperstown, the baseball Hall of Fame; hence, a three-letter WAG of "OTT" is a good bet
24. Refrain from singing : LA LA - the 'actual' refrain, not the verb to hold back....
30. "Tortilla Flat" co-star* : LAMARR - Hedy, and not "Hedly", from Blazing Saddles
33. See to it : MAKE SURE
34. Delivery gp. : USPS - Yeah, but UPS is better (U.S. Postal Service)
35. Head* of Hollywood : EDITH
37. 1974 Asian Games host : IRAN
38. Risks a court-martial, perhaps : GOES AWOL - Nailed It
40. Brats' opposites : ANGELS
44. 34-Across concerns : LTRs - ah, see, UPS handles Parcels....not letters (well, actually...)
45. Va. summer hours : EDT - Virginia, and Eastern Daylight Time
46. Energy Reorg. Act of 1974 creation : NRC - Nuclear Regulatory Commission
49. Glide : SASHAY - The answer is such a "visual" word; if onomatopoeia is the "imitation of word sound", what do you call the imitation of word image? Onomatoblepsia ??
52. Guff : GAS
53. Miss __: perfume brand : DIOR
54. 25-Down, for one : ACTOR
55. Like most web designers : TECH SAVVY - Can you think of any other "V V" words?
57. Surgical tool : KNIFE - well, duh, I made this too hard for myself
58. Past the point of no return : IN TOO DEEP
59. Helots : SERFS
60. North Carolina locale : EAST COAST - OUTER BANK fit, too, but needs an "S"
DOWN:
1. Pollution portmanteau : SMAZE - Smoke and Haze
2. Unit of quantum information : QUBIT - for the next generation of computers; more here
3. "I'm available" : USE ME - I had "SEE" and "ASK" at first
4. Razor handle : ATRA - a little deflection by calling it the "handle", and not the whole thing, but this is very Crosswordese
5. Scout group : DEN
7. Keen : ASTUTE
8. River originating near Winterberg : RUHR
9. Caleb*, for one : SPY - not a Bible person; more here
10. Arctic sighting : ICE FLOE
12. Ibiza, por ejemplo : ISLA
13. Cut, perhaps : OMIT
14. Matted growth : MOSS
23. Part of a crew : OAR
24. Bar aspirant's hurdle, briefly : LSAT - more legalese
26. Miss by __ : A MILE - I was thinking it was "close", like "A HAIR", or "A NOSE" - nope, a really bad shot
27. Immaculate : PURE
28. Orsk's river : URAL
29. Hatch* and others: Abbr. : SENatorS
30. Feet-first Olympic event : LUGE - looks terrifying (she's doing 74.07mph), but I would love to try it; recall the fatal accident at the Vancouver Olympics. I am planning on a mini-vacation to Frost Valley next weekend; if there is snow, I will go "tubing" - the last time I went, the top layer of snow had frozen, and you could generate quite a lot of speed
31. Not worth __ : A SOU - French coin, 'nuff said
32. Compressed video file format : MPEG
36. HMO members : DOCtorS
39. Brightest star in Scorpius : ANTARES - I got this one; I love studying the stars. This refers to the fact that it rivals the redness of the planet Mars, which in Greek is "ARES"
41. Highly hyped N.L. pitcher Stephen Strasburg*, for one : NATional - I defer to our C.C.
43. Changes chemically : REACTS
46. "100 years of skin care for life" brand : NIVEA
47. Drifts : ROVES - the verb, not the noun - I could go for some snow drifts; doesn't feel like winter to me
48. Eerie meeting site : CRYPT - I read this as ERIE, and tried CANAL at first....
49. It has a separate men's store opposite its main store in Chicago : SAKS
50. Juvenile outbreak : ACNE
51. Move : STIR
52. Paranormal author* Showalter : GENA
53. Woodworker's groove : DADO
55. Connection : TIE
56. A behavioral sci. : SOCiology
I counted 12 names in the clues/answers - did you see any I missed ~?
Splynter
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