Saturday, October 20, 2012

Saturday, Oct 20th, 2012, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 68

Blocks: 29

Welcome to October's Saturday Silkie....this one seemed to have a 50/50 split between very clever, and very obscure.  A deceiving grid that looks like a mid-week themed, but still offering a few ornery spots.  Two 14-letter crossings:

19. Power source : NUCLEAR REACTOR - Here on Long Island, we have a fully constructed unit in Shoreham on the north shore - but it's non-operational, because too many people feared we'd all be trapped in a melt-down; me personally, I think it's unlikely....besides, we already have the Montauk Monster

46. Shades-wearing drummer : ENERGIZER BUNNY - Way too annoying for me - I'll take the Geico gecko over this corporate mascot any day.
LOTS of names and places today, too, and if that frustrates you, then this one was a bear - but then again, were there just enough perps to make a WAG?  There's a " * " next to the proper names today.

Onward~!

ACROSS:

 1. Island witchcraft : OBEAH - never heard of this -the Wiki

6. On The Border restaurant offering : TACO - had it in, took it out, put it back in

10*. Fabian, for one : POPE

14*. "La donna è mobile" composer : VERDI

15. Harmonics : OVERTONES - for me, a harmonic is that high-pitched "whistle" that you get from touching the guitar strings in just the right way; this song has an outro solo that it based on "pinch" harmonics where you use the pick thumb to 'pinch' the string for that extra overtone

17. Storyteller's admission : I LIED

18. Symbolic honor : RED CARPET

21. Ab __: absent : ESSE

22. Statistical calculations : MEANS

23. High order : FIAT

25. "__ 'nuff!" : SHO' - slang for "Sure Enough"

26. Practice grounder, say : FUNGO - well, a total  learning  moment  for me, since I con- sidered this a "FUN GO", but looked it up in the dictionary - and it's exactly what the clue says;   (in practice sessions)  a ball tossed into the air by the batter and struck as it comes down.  Baseball watchers might know this;  me, I just watched one game this year  -  the one where the Yankees got SWEPT

27*. Pacific island nation : TONGA

28. How a lot of bad decisions are made : IN HASTE

30. Sift : FILTER

31. Nails down : ICES

32. __ sci : POLI - Political Science

33*. The River Foyle runs through it : ULSTER - map, near Londonderry

36*. Gulf of Guinea island : SÃO TOMÉ - map

39. Energy acronym : NI-CAD - Nickel Cadmium, as in batteries

40. Rolls and binds : FURLS

41. Derisive call : YAH

43*. "Diplomacy for the Next Century" author : EBAN

44. Mosey : AMBLE

45. Maintenance : CARE

49*. Pittsburgh Steelers' founder : ART ROONEY

50. Dangerous, probably : ARMED

51. Argentite, e.g. : SILVER ORE - the "ite" gave me a hint that we're looking for an ore of some sort, but I am disappointed that I didn't try Silver off the top, since I know the symbol for the element is "Ag", from the Latin for silver, Argentum

52. Type of crown : TIARA

53*. Host of the 24th Academy Awards : KAYE - we're at the 85th next year, so I knew we had to go back a ways - what was the best film that year?

54*. '90s Mariners star : A-ROD - "Nuff said"

55. Equine : HORSY - Well, I put in horse, and then the "Y" had to be right from HEY DAY, so I thought maybe this was totally wrong; now I am wondering if a "?" is missing

DOWN:

1. Sheep : OVINES - nailed it

2*. "Animal House" actor : BELUSHI - "I'm a zit~!!!"

3*. Swedish jazz trumpeter Rolf : ERICSON

4*. 2008 Best New Artist Grammy winner : ADELE

5. Tepee material : HIDE - animal hide, that is - more here

6. Cloudbursts : TORRENTS

7. Run : AVERAGE - "run of the mill" kind of average

8*. Five-time 1970s Gold Glove winner César : CEDENO - HEY~! C.C., can you tell us about C.C.???

9. Sea predators : ORCAS

10. Stock pile? : PORTFOLIO - good one

11. Relevant : ON POINT

12. Nobility : PEERAGE

13. Cape May hrs. : EST - Eastern Standard Time - oh yeah, here

16. Tic follower : TAC - and TOE

20. Court jester, e.g. : AMUSER

24. __ paper : TAR - yeah, I know this stuff

26. Stood up to : FACED

27. Inclines : TILTS

29. Mentioned something sensitive : HIT A NERVE

30. Good counterfeit, say : FOOLER - had FoRGer to start, but that required an "-er"

32. Discussed : PARLEYED

33. Article in Le Monde? : UNE

34. Its flag resembles the U.S. flag but with only one star : LIBERIA



35. Barely sufficiently : SCANTLY - I prefer "Scant-I-ly"

36. Arctic : SUB-ZERO

37*. Where kyat are spent : MYANMAR

38. Tax targets : EARNERS

40. Key of Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 3 : F MINOR - of course, I had the -M---R parts already, so there was not much more to do than wait....

42. Golden age : HEYDAY

44. Old marketplace : AGORA - Greek market

45. Flea market pickup : CURIO - our host is a huge Flea Market fan - found some excellent NY Rangers cards for me (oh how I reminisce about the days of hockey); I prefer yard sales

47. Shad output : ROE

48. __ mat : BATH - yesterday it was YOGA

49. Pop the question : ASK


HeY~!!! The Ramp at the church is finally finished, got paid yesterday. I have this image here;  I have not gotten around to filling in the blog.  More to come ~!

Splynter

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