Saturday, May 25th, 2013, Steven J. St. John

Theme: SJSJ

Words: 70 (missing B,K,Q)

Blocks: 28

  My last SJSJ puzzle was back in January - and today's looked deceptively simple, starting with a 3-letter word, which I got, but then I stared at a wash of white for the longest time; I got a break "spang" in the center with 33A., and it all filled in from there - save ONE letter.  Oh well.  We had crossing 10-letter entries today:

31. Not likely to fall : SURE-FOOTED

8. Intensified : HEIGHTENED

35. Road hog? : GAS-GUZZLER

27. Ponder : PUZZLE OVER - so true~!

O         N         W         A         R         D         ~         !

ACROSS:

1. Bug spray target : ANT - I don't mind ants and spiders; every other insect and arachnid creeps me out

4. Hospital bug : STAPH - I had STREP, and I knew that wasn't quite right

9. They're usually password-protected: Abbr. : ACCTs

14. Where the buck stops? : DOE - I am still looking for the doe that stops me; I don't usually go for blondes, but....mini-story @ 11D.

15. Opening of a memorable walrus song : I AM HE - "I am the Walrus", The Beatles

16. F follower in vintage TV : TROOP - F-Troop, which I watched in re-runs as a kid

 

 

17. Pius XII's successor : JOHN XXIII - listed as "blessed", crossing;  4D. One of five popes, ironically : SIXTUS - #5 1585-90; here's the list of them all

19. Totaled : RAN TO

20. Trailer caution : UNRATED - Motion Picture trailers, that is

21. Breaks down slowly : GNAWS AT - meh, yeah, I guess

23. "Beowulf" translator Heaney : SEAMUS

24. John of "Harold & Kumar" movies : CHO

25. Confused : LOST - ah, not ASEA

26. Firms : TONES - as one's body

27. __ melt : PATTY - not BACON....

29. USPS assignment : RTE - U P S, too; I was out with my buddy Jim tonight - he has a postal route

30. Huff : SNIT

33. Mesa natives : ARIZONANS - I read this as "relatives" first, so I was thinking "BUTTE"

38. Magic power : MOJO - reminds me of Austin Powers - "yeah, baby, yeah~!"

42. Material flaw : RIP - Fabric

43. Laid the groundwork for? : TILED - I did some tiling in the rental apartment at mom's house; I really need to update my blog

44. Didn't quite expect : HOPED

45. God that leaves one smitten : EROS

47. Insurance salesman Ryerson in "Groundhog Day" : NED

48. Stephen King classic : MISERY - Not "CARRIE"

49. In a single effort : AT ONE GO - I had IN one go to start; missed the "in" in the clue

51. Lore components : SAYINGS

52. Capital near the Red Sea : SANA'A - map

53. Celebrity perks : V.I.P. PASSES - makes me think of another music link

55. Employ with vigor : EXERT

56. Dr. Dean __ of talk radio : EDELL

57. Somme one : UNE - Frawnch

58. They might be hitched : RIDES

59. Spur part : ROWEL - new word for me; I had RODEL; see 51D.

60. Humanities dept. : PSYchology

DOWN:

1. Fiddles with : ADJUSTS

2. Situation when the first pitch is thrown : NO ONE ON - Baseball for C.C.; I wanted "opening day", then I stared at NOON -ON for a long time

3. Like many "Argo" militants : TEHRANI - those in Tehran, Iran

5. Mortgage payment component : TAXES - not here on Long Island; the tax bill comes separately twice a year

6. "__ the Falling Snow": Enya song : AMID

7. Golden ratio symbol : PHI - I know what this means, but I have a hard time describing it to others; Wiki does a pretty good job

9. Blade brand : ATRA

10. __ space : CRAWL - NYS cashed my check for filing to be a Home Inspector; going to be seeing my share of crawl spaces soon, I hope

11. Hang out (with) : CONSORT - SO - I was consorting with George, Jim, Bob, Kev, Mark, Jack and Chris tonight, downtown Patchogue....

12. Cookbook phrase : TO TASTE - ...speaking of which, there were some ladies....

13. Laid eyes on : SPOTTED - I "laid eyes" on a cute blonde at the club tonight; reminded me of Taylor Swift....

18. Ice-breaking aid : NAME TAG - ...the blonde did not have one....

22. Over the hill, say : NOT FAR - distance, not age - which is how we felt in the club tonight....

24. Saw your breath while singing, maybe : CAROLED - ...her name could have been Carol....

28. Quaint pointing word : YON - ...YON blonde....

31. Giving a once-over, with "up" : SIZING - and yes, I was sizing her up~!

32. Subtle absorption : OSMOSIS

34. Symbol of tiredness : RUT - I tried ZZZ first, since I considered there may be "ZZ" with SiZing - I was one square off

35. Pompadour sporter : GREASER - This guy?

36. One way to Martha's Vineyard : AIR TAXI

37. Showed affection for, in a way : SPOONED

39. Begins to share : OPENS UP - in a counseling session

40. Maker of Natural Glow lotions : JERGENS - um, don't go there....

 

41. Meandering journey : ODYSSEY

44. Georgian greeting : HI, Y'ALL - I lived in Jacksonville, Fla - they speak Georgian there, too~!

46. Catch : SNARE

48. Butcher block wood : MAPLE - I knew this, made me change my "Carrie"

50. Vittles : EATS

51. Jet : SPEW - Got me; I had SPED first

54. Swear words : I DO

Splynter

Saturday, May 18th, 2013, Julian Lim

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing Q,V,Z)

Blocks: 34

   We have us a non-Saturday looking grid today - but there was a grid climber in the center, which I did not see at first glance.  I actually worked this one faster than yesterday's, which is unusual, since I have been historically stumped by Mr. Lim's end-of-week bruisers.  So, to the long fills;

7D. Words of dread : I SHUDDER TO THINK

26A. Impatient cry : I CAN HARDLY WAIT

42A. Order in an oater : REACH FOR THE SKY - Oater being a Western "shoot 'em up" flick

On-Ward~!

ACROSS:

1. Faraday's field: Abbr. : ELECtricity - Good start, if you knew the scientist; I bought one of these flashlights for Christmas - no batteries~!

5. Paris is in it : ILIAD - Not France, or any other location; the character

10. __ champêtre: garden party : FETE - seems logical, now that the perps filled it in

14. Love letters? : XOXO - Found at the bottom of Valentine's cards, etc

15. Exploits : CASHES IN ON

17. Bali specification : C-CUP - Nailed it - even the cup size, for some reason

18. It's more acceptable when it's self-mocking : ETHNIC JOKE - "How do you get a...." -HEY- not here....

19. Danish director von Trier : LARS - IMDb

20. NBC's usual "Must See TV" night : THUrsday

21. Flight segment : RISER - stairs, that is - the vertical board between treads

22. Clerical garment : ALB

23. Way to spread the green? : SEEDAGE - yeah, but I wanted SEEDING

31. Green : MONEY

32. Shade tree : ELM

33. About, legally : IN RE

35. Single __: tournament type : ELIMination - It's best-of-seven in the NHL

36. Kinky dos : AFROs

38. LaBeouf of "Holes" : SHIA - Didn't see this movie, but I did like Eagle Eye

39. Mollycoddle, with "on" : DOTE

40. Code word : DIT

41. United nations, perhaps : BLOCS - meh

46. Bleep, say : EDIT OUT

47. Stew staple : PEA - any other three-letter ingredients you can think of?

48. 5-Across poet : HOMER

52. "... by good __, yonder's my lord": "Timon of Athens" : HAP

53. Isn't serious : KIDS

54. Started to shoot : OPENED FIRE

57. Crowning : ATOP

58. Conversation barrier : BUSY SIGNAL

59. Hana Airport's island : MAUI - detailed map; airport code HNM

60. Federal inspection org. : OSHA - Occupational Safety and Health Administration

61. Invite for : ASK TO

62. Old, in Oldenburg : ALTE

DOWN:

1. Hollered : EXCLAIMED

2. Regional asset : LOCAL COLOR

3. One with a long commute, probably : EXURBANITE

4. Arresting characters : COPS

5. Poolside refresher : ICE TEA - not gonna say it....

6. Form foam : LATHER - DAH~!  I plan to build my own home using Insulated Concrete Forms, and so I was stuck in that frame of mind to start

8. Philip __, first Asian-American film actor with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star : AHN - IMDb #2

49. With 9-Down, conspiratorial group in "The Da Vinci Code" : OPUS  9. See 49-Down : DEI - you either knew this, or you did not read Dan Brown; when his next book, "Angels & Demons", again with 'Robert Langdon' as the main character came out, I made this; there is another movie coming out for "Lost Symbol"

10. Vanua Levu's archipelago : FIJI - map

11. Slaughter with a bat : ENOS

12. Vegas tip : TOKE - straight up definition, but not the one I'M familiar with

13. Cabinet dept. with an Office of Science : ENERgy - WAG

16. Bad thing to have loose : SCREW - Thought about "CANNON", too

23. Recoil : SHY

24. Prefix meaning "other" : ALLO - we just had Allosaurus

25. Treadmill settings : GYMS - ah, not RPMs, which didn't seem 'right' to me; we need the actual setting for the piece of equipment

27. Valley where Hercules slew a lion : NEMEA

28. Where fliers walk : AISLE - the aisle in an airplane, that is

29. Recuperating at the Royal London : IN HOSPITAL - my mom was just "in hospital", as she had a stomach virus, and needed IV FLUIDS - hey, that would make a good fill....

30. Covered in bling, say : TRICKED OUT - usually in reference to one's 'ride'

34. "No sweat!" : EASY AS PIE - lots of multi-word answers today

36. Child psychologist's concern, briefly : ADHD - here's the Wiki; if you ask me, this modern sound-byte, smart phone, subliminal advertising, video game world we live in is the direct cause of the 'disease'

37. Minnie Mouse's peke : FIFI

41. Antioxidant food preservative : BHT -for the scientific mind

43. Demeter's Roman counterpart : CERES - Goddess of agriculture/grain crops - hence, 'cereal'

44. Find hilarious : ROAR AT

45. Swamp tree : TUPELO - here I thought it was a city in Mississippi

48. Down Under swagman, in the States : HOBO - learning moment for me

50. Fit well : MESH - I had MELD to start

51. "Oíche Chiún" singer : ENYA - upon re-reading the clue, with EN-A filled in, seems pretty obvious now

53. Hindu god of desire : KAMA - as in the Kama Sutra - and C-cups....

55. Miércoles, por ejemplo : DIA - Spanish "day", Wednesday, by example

56. Three-pt. plays : FGs - Field Goals, and if I am not mistaken, this is in both football and basketball

Splynter