Friday, December 21, 2012

Saturday, Dec 22nd, 2012, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 70

Blocks: 33


  I am guessing Mr. Silk and Mr. Norris were expecting today to arrive after all....or at least hoping so~!!!  I enjoyed working this offering from our regular constructor - most of it did not come easily, but I had the time to ponder, since I am working again today, but not until late AM.  A string of names and places* today, which made it that much harder, but then again, I had heard of them.   Twin 10-letter answers paired in each pinwheel corner, including -

18. Layer on many pies : MOZZARELLA - ah, I got fooled again, for a moment - was thinking "OREO CRUST", and dessert pies, not pizza pies; and with the next across;

21. Frequent flier's distraction, maybe : PUZZLE BOOK - made for a block of ZZZZ, giving us soZZled and piZZa.

47. Rodeo highlight : CALF ROPING - see, now, BULL RIDING fit, too, which perplexed me for the longest time - then the clue for 48D finally hit me, and the V-8 can sailed....

54. Mariana Islands region : MICRONESIA - map; I knew it was in the Pacific....

o-n-w-a-r-d ~!!!

ACROSS:

1. Org. Indonesia left in 2008 : OPEC - yeah, I was gonna fill this in to start, but waited til I had the "-P-C"

5. Lid fastener : HASP - lids on hatches, I am thinking

9. Either of two "Matter of Fact" columnists : ALSOP - Joseph and Stewart.  Before my time, a column from the 40's and 50's; the former would have participated with 52D.

14. Galileo's birthplace : PISA - I knew this, but again didn't hit me til I had "-I-A"

15. Weena's people, in a Wells novel : ELOI - new way to clue our old favorite

16. Dickensian holiday meal : GOOSE - not FEAST, not ROAST

17. Spade et al., briefly : TECS - Detectives, that is -we've seen it before

20. Letters from Athens : ETAs - the Greek alphabet letters

22. Was plucky enough : DARED

24. How workaholics often work : LATE

25. "Hallelujah!" : "PRAISE BE~!"

28. Dutch engineering feat : DIKE

32. Break room postings : MEMORANDA - where I work, the break room has a framed set of pictures of the construction of our UPS facility, which was finished in 1991, I believe, but the pictures look like they were taken with a 60's camera - I was 'shocked' to find out the place was that "new".

34. More balanced : SANER

35. Sweet girl? : ADELINE

36. Close in on the answer : GET WARM - I had the "M" from Erma, and knew that was right, but couldn't think of a word that ended in "M"

38. Closet stuff : LINEN

39. Edward VII's queen : ALEXANDRA - I was curious, went looking

41. Permits : LETS - the verb, as in allows

42. Hot tub site, maybe : SKI LODGE - I threw in BATHROOM, since that's where I want my hot tub to go; I have had the pleasure of sitting in a hot tub at a ski lodge when I was in college - after skiing, we came back to the house, got 7D., and enjoyed the jacuzzi - which was located OUTSIDE on the porch~!

43. 1977 ELO hit : DO YA - cool, a laser show~!!

44. Chef's wear : TOQUE - the hat

53. Bee's address? : AUNT - I tried "HIVE", since it's the bee's home....but this is something else

55. City on the Brazos : WACO

56. Not standard : ADD-ON - like car accessories

57. Upscale : TONY - British, like here

58. __ impasse : AT AN

59. Eponymous trailblazer Chisholm : JESSE - more on the trail here


60. 1961 space chimp : ENOS

 

61. Slangy approvals : YEPS

DOWN:

1. Was decisive : OPTED

2. Artistic representation of the Lamentation of Christ : PIETA

3. Cliff : ESCARPMENT - nice fat word

4. Potluck array : CASSEROLES - 'tis the season

5. Environmentally friendly crop : HEMP - um, yep, the fibers are quite useful (too).

6. Giants manager before Bochy : ALOU - crossword standard, with Saturday cluing

7. More than buzzed : SOZZLED - how many adjectives can you come up with?  Don't ask me, I used ALL of them prior to 8 years ago....

8. Toaster oven treat : PIZZA BAGEL - so good, I wolf them down.  I have even made my own, not the frozen treats you can get. 

9. Line up : AGREE

10. Singer with the children's album "Camp Lisa" : LOEB - She's cute

11. Big moment on stage : SOLO - and its anagram; 12. Kon-Tiki Museum city : OSLO

13. Optimum selling point : PEAK - which creates peak UPS volume....

19*. Der __: Adenauer epithet : ALTE - the "Old Man"

23*. Singer portrayed by Spacey in "Beyond the Sea" : DARIN

26*. "Sweet Tooth" writer McEwan : IAN

27*. Cheap wine : SNEAKY PETE - I have only heard of the cue stick - I have one; for the drink, there's Night Train, Mad Dog 20/20, Thunderbird....

28*. 4 Seasons title line preceding "I'm no good for you" : DAWN GO AWAY - Dawn is my senior supervisor's name

29. Not up to snuff : INADEQUATE - another $5 word in the grid; left us with just the "V" missing for a pangram

30*. LPGA star Cristie : KERR

31*. Humorist Bombeck : ERMA

32. Washington attraction : MALL

33*. Falco of "Nurse Jackie" : EDIE

34*. German town : STADT

37. Skeleton opening : EXO - Exoskeleton; I had to think for a while, because I really, really wanted "KEY"

40. Tryst : LIAISON

42. Delaying tactic word : SOON

43. He bee : DRONE - har-har


45. Open, in a way : UNCAP

46. Waist-length jackets : ETONs

47. Key of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 : C MAJ - fill in the "M" for Major/Minor, and wait....

48. Lieutenant : AIDE - tough cluing, but it makes sense; had to wait until I had -IDE, which made me change my BULL RIDING

49. Some TV screens : LCDs - mine is an HDTV, but not the Liquid Crystal Display type

50. Big dos : 'FROS - "I.M. Fletcher, 6'-5", with the 'Fro 6'-9"...."

51. El __ : NINO - the ocean phenomena

52. Some civil rights activists : GAYS

Splynter

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