Saturday, July 7, 2012

Saturday, Jul7th, 2012, Victor Fleming

Theme: None

Words: 70

Blocks: 32

  Lots of proper names*, and only 6 3-letter words today, but enough clues where I found a foothold, and then gradually worked the puzzle from there.  Very little in the way of vagueness, and just a couple of write-overs for me, as well.
 
One 15-letter grid spanner;

36. "Got it?" : DO YOU UNDERSTAND? - I had an inkling about where this was going; just had to wait on a few perps - forced me to change my shirt from a POLO to a "KNIT" (see 34D.)

and one 15-letter climber;

8. Frustrated cry from an experienced pro : I'M TOO OLD FOR THIS - a five-word answer, (well, 6 technically), and like our Thursday "C", "E" and "T" puzzle, we had a run of 3 "O"s.  Like Indiana Jones said in Raiders of the Lost Ark - "It's not the years, it's the mileage".

On w-a-r-d-s ~!!!

ACROSS:

1. Military motto, familiarly : SEMPER FIdelis, the US Marines

9. '90s-'00s Lifetime sitcom in which viewers chose the name of the title character : OH BABY - never heard of it, but easy enough to get; not a "Lifetime" person, you could say

15. Site of noisy games, perhaps : PLAYROOM

16. Country estates : VILLAS - Not MANORS

17. Making with difficulty : EKING OUT - I tried winging this by filling in ------ING, but I was wrong

18. Slip away : ELAPSE

19. Chat up : COME ONTO - How come no women ever try to chat me up? - oh, that's right, I don't go to bars anymore....

20. Breakfast serving : RASHER - new word for me; had to look it up - my parents are both born and raised in England, but we always had BACON, never "rashers" - bangers and mash, that's different

21. That, to Teresa : ESO - Spanish

22. Many a S.A. miss : SRTA - and again

23. Adjective often used with skepticism : LIKELY - Tried RARELY first; turned out it was not LIKELY the answer

28. Do as expected : OBEY

30. 38-Down, e.g. : SCHool

33. Its production ended in 2004 with a Final 500 Edition : ALERO - Oldsmobile's last car

34.* "Around the Fish" artist : KLEE - Paul, with a little about the painting here


35. Time spent : STAY

39. Dismayed utterances : YOWs  - not really a "dismayed" sound for me; more of a startled response

40. Baking instruction : SIFT

41. Mum : MATER - I am guessing that this is "Brit-speak" for mom - "mum" I get, but I had to look up Mater.  If you ask me, Mater is this guy

42. Winter track maker : SKI

43. Pi opening? : OCTO - Ugh ( that's dismayed ) OCTOPI - more than one octopus. The "?" needed....

44. Oscar night sight : TUXEDO - not TROPHY

45. Staples array : TAPE - Strange - I tried PENS again, two weeks in a row.  I was in Office Max a month ago - they DO have an array of pens to choose from, I must say

47. Brief way? : RTE

49. Opt for home cooking : DINE IN

51. Sin : TRESPASS - Growing up, I knew that I was not allowed to "trespass" on Selden campus property, but I never quite understood why GOD was unhappy about this....

57. Swatch Group products : OMEGAs - Watches - found here

58. Vote : HAVE A SAY

59. Undisturbed : IN SITU

60. What you might get from a jerk : ICE CREAM - Tried BACK ACHE, but we are looking for a soda jerk, a malted, and so on....

61. Flings : TOSSES

62. Reel from a shot : SEE STARS

DOWN:

1. What some build on : SPEC - this discussion came up earlier in the week


2. "The Heart of Northeast Nevada" : ELKO - More here

3. Do mayhem to : MAIM - meh on this

4.* In-your-face '50s-'60s talk show host Joe : PYNE

5. Hence : ERGO

6.* Longtime "60 Minutes" regular : ROONEY

7.* Hall of Fame Chargers quarterback Dan : FOUTS

9. Superintendent : OVERSEER

10.* Swank of Hollywood : HILARY

11. Siren sound : BLAST

12. Meditation goal : ALPHA STATE - I have a meditation group Wednesdays at 11am

13. General headquarters? : BASE - not sure about the "?"

14. Belgian river : YSER - four letters....

23. __ man : LADY'S

24. "__ to You": Whitney Houston's last album : I LOOK

25. Case maker : KEY WITNESS - I was looking for someone who "makes" cases; not this legal version of the person who takes the stand in court

26. Bow wielder of myth : EROS

27.* Journalist Dobbs : LOU

29. Root vegetable : BEET - huh - I WAGed this, and never looked back

31. Like rattan chairs : CANED

32. Plane opening? : HYDRO - Hydroplane, doesn't need the "?", I think

34. Golf shirt, e.g. : KNIT - not POLO

35. Pringles-like Lay's product : STAX


37. Decennial govt. activity : U.S. CENSUS - I knew this, but the "U.S." part messed me up

38. Home of the NCAA's Mustangs : SMU - Southern Methodist University team

43. Relaxant : OPIATE

44. Rabbit ears sporter, once : TEE-VEE - the long abbreviation for Television

46. Zeus' shield : AEGIS

48. Slight sign : TRACE

49. "Now!" : DO IT~!- Makes me think of AHHHnold in Predator

50. "__ expert, but ..." : "I'M NO..." - two answers with "I'm" in them

52. "Just a coupla __" : SECS

53. Split : PART - Irony is that today marks what would have been my 5-year wedding anniversary - but we did 53D three years ago....

54. Like Columbus, much of the time : ASEA

55. Moselle tributary : SAAR - those four-letter Euro rivers; map

56. R. Schumann wrote four : SYMS - as in  Symphony?  eh, OK - I checked to be sure here

Splynter

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