Saturday, Jan 26th, 2013, Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Words: 68

Blocks: 28

  Oh Wilber~!!  Another solid offering from one of our steady Saturday constructors, with little in the way of obscure proper names, places and foreign words (OK, one), and LOTS of hyphenated words/phrases.  Triple 10's in the across, and triple 8's in the down corners with a couple of climbers of note:

28D. "Act naturally" : BE YOURSELF - which reminds me of this song, with the lyric at 1:35

33D. Italian Baroque painter known for ceiling frescoes : GUIDO RENI - A proper name and foreign, too~!  Some history, here at the Wiki

And one spanner:

34A. Alloy used to make knives : MOLYBDENUM STEEL - Oddly, Tungsten Carbide fit, too; anyone who has bought a circular saw blade or drill bit is familiar with the latter; guess what I put in first....

o-N^w-A-r_D ~!~!

ACROSS:

1. Scrapped, at NASA : NO-GO - because "aborted" didn't fit

5. Way to get in : ACCESS CODE

15. Zipped through : ACED

16. Like the cap worn by Annette : MOUSE-EARED - nailed it; Annette Funicello

17. One piggy's portion : NONE

18. Reducing : CURTAILING

19. Big blast : N-TEST - paired with 44D

21. Come down hard : TEEM

22. Smidge : IOTA

23. Sound from your favorite toy? : YIP - small dogs, referred to as "toys" by the AKC

24. Beguile : AMUSE

26. Less clumsy : ABLER

27. Trounce : CLOBBER

29. Unoriginal : TIRED

30. Botanical balm : ALOE

31. It may make honeymooners a bit misty : NIAGARA - HAR-HAR, but I wasn't misled; one of the most famous honeymoon spots is Niagara Falls, here in NY (OK, and Canada, too) where the air is constantly misty; even the tour boats are in on the appeal

39. Throw money around, in a way : OVER-TIP - are you an over-tipper?  I am when we go to eat out as a family

40. Jane Austen's aspiring matchmaker : EMMA

41. Gives kudos : LAUDS

43. Hard to read : DEADPAN

45. Becomes disillusioned : SOURS

46. Jumper cable connection point : ANODE - nipple didn't fit

48. "Moreover ..." : AND

49. A passel : TONS - a passel is an indeterminate amount of something, sort of like a small "gazillion", as in  "I have (insert here) of paperwork to do~!"

50. Lead : STAR - that's l-EE-d, not LeD

51. Navigational aid : CANAL - so is part of your ear an "auditory navigational aid"?

53. Net : AFTER TAXES

56. "Ciao!" : TA-TA

57. Some 19th-century industrialists : RAIL BARONS - I watched "Ultimate Guide to the Presidents" this week; fascinating how the stuff I was taught in high school bored me then, and intrigues me now.

58. Picked out of a lineup : IDed

59. "They've rigged this whole thing!" : "THE FIX IS IN~!"

60. Cushy : EASY

DOWN:

1. Device hidden by a concerned parent : NANNY-CAM

2. Red-flowering desert shrub : OCOTILLO

3. Heredity source : GENE POOL

4. Tributes in verse : ODES

5. Old Gremlin maker : AMC - I had the Sportabout Wagon that my father gave me in 1988; it had huge potential that I couldn't see at 17yrs old; 258 straight six

6. High-end fashion designer : COUTURIER

7. Fixes : CURES

8. Name on many compacts : ESTEE

9. Baseball feature : SEAM

10. Twice tre : SEI

11. Fine-tuned : CALIBRATED - I did some searching on the origin; seems to be from the Arabic "qalib", the cast for a bullet

12. Bird that builds hanging nests : ORIOLE - and the bird in Baltimore, too

13. Subject to a trade-in reduction : DENTED - I think the 227,800 miles on my car will put a "dent" in my trade-in value

14. Guest in a library : EDGAR - Nice misdirection; this man, here, and not "user", "reader", "student" - I couldn't think of a 5-letter word

20. Q's neighbor : TAB - on the keyboard, not the phone pad

25. Brasil '66 leader : MENDES

26. What social climbers may put on? : AIRS

29. Patted down : TAMPED - tamped to me sounds "heavier" than patted; I usually tamp the ground before a concrete pour.  What would the cement guy say if I told him I "patted" it down???

32. Tiny colonist : ANT

35. Briefs not seen in court, hopefully : BVDs - tightie-whities~!

36. Mexican stuffed pastry : EMPANADA

37. Gives off : EMANATES

38. Mrs. Hudson, to Sherlock Holmes : LANDLADY

41. Bath scrubber : LOOFAH

42. Em's title : AUNTIE - Wizard of Oz

44. Erstwhile 19-Across overseer: Abbr. : AEC - Atomic Energy Commission; I know it as Architecture, Engineering, & Construction

45. "Boo!" reaction : START

46. Space Invaders platform : ATARI

47. Largest island in the Cyclades : NAXOS - map, in the middle

50. Pringles competitor : STAX - I have had this one on Saturday before; workable "X"

52. "__ is like kissing your sister": sports chestnut : A TIE

54. You usually don't get one when you ground into a DP : RBI - by grounding into a double play for the first two outs of the inning with a man on third who crosses home and scores does not get you a "run batted in" - uh, right, C.C.??

55. Nine-digit fig. : SSN - Crossword standard, the Social Security Number

Splynter