Saturday, Dec 14th, 2013, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,X,Z)


Blocks: 34

     I really like the look of this labyrinthine grid - I hope it was not as hard for you to work through as it was for me - but I might just be tired.  I got blanked in the NE, had to Google a couple of things in order to get anything at all.  One grid climber today:

6. The Falcons of the Mountain West Conference : AIR FORCE ACADEMY - Colorado Springs, CO

and some of the two pairs of 10's and 9's in the corners;

17. Honda CRF, e.g. : TRAIL BIKE - one I had to look up; I pondered ELECTRIC CAR, but it ran out of juice

28. Its English version has more than 3.5 million entries : WIKTIONARY - Started with DICtionary, and that was close enough

3. Silly goose or sitting duck : NOUN-PHRASE - learning moment for me - the Wiki

54. Loretta Lynn's father was one : COAL MINER - is a child who was bad this year going to be a "COAL MINOR" at Christmas?

ward on~!

ACROSS:

1. Fiji neighbor : TONGA

6. Round server? : ALEHOUSE - DAH~! I tried BARMAID, too short, BARTENDER, too long....

14. Cutter cousin : SLOOP - boats - or should I say, ships

15. Research activity : FIELD TRIP - I took a "field trip" this week; UPS sent me to Queens for two days to deliver - what a completely different operation~!  I spent my 10-hours yesterday on FOUR blocks, period, delivering 300 packages.

16. Hot-and-cold feelings : AGUES - meh

18. Cost : RAN TO - this one still gets me; needed some perps to remind me

19. Honda et al.: Abbr. : MFRs - slight clecho from 17A; manufacturers

20. 1969 Tommy James and the Shondells hit : "SHE" - The other one I needed to look up

21. Canadian road sign letters : KPH - Kilometres per hour - no, wait that's British....Columbia???

22. Recent delivery : NEONATE - I just couldn't think of anything but NEWBORN

25. Architect Mies van der __ : ROHE

26. Cellphone display : BARS - signal strength

27. Midwestern tribe : IOWAs

31. Like some discount mdse. : IRRegular

32. "Powerage" band : AC/DC - going with a gratuitous Hard Rock music link from their previous album

33. Go away : VANISH

34. Org. led by David Stern : NBA - All perps; don't follow basketball

35. Infuse with : STEEP IN

37. The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf. : KSU - A bit of a redundancy with the grid climber

38. Composer Holst : GUSTAV - English composer, famous for "The Planets"; his "Mars" piece was the inspiration for this number from the godfathers of Heavy Metal

40. Is not misused? : AIN'T - Isn't, misused

41. Noir protagonist : TEC - Detective, from the genre

42. Power : STEAM

43. Troubling spots : ACNE

44. Drop : SINK

45. Haberdashery items : TIETACS

47. On a roll : HOT

48. Devil : IMP

51. Bank deposit : LODE

52. Philatelist's purchases : PANES - of stamps

57. Get around : EVADE

58. "Li'l Abner" Tony winner, 1956 : EDIE ADAMS

59. iComfort maker : SERTA - hey~! NOT an Apple product~!

60. With equanimity : SEDATELY

61. "Shame __!" : ON YOU

DOWN:

1. Peter the Great, e.g. : TSAR

2. First International Gymnastics Hall of Fame inductee : OLGA KORBUT - seemed like the best WAG money could buy

4. "Faust" author : GOETHE

5. It roughly translates to "bearded" in Tibet : APSO

7. Picks up : LEARNS

8. Woman in a "Paint Your Wagon" song : ELISA

9. Aerobic exercise can raise it, briefly : HDL - ah, not BPM (heart-rate)

10. Wagering option, briefly : OTB - Dah~! not I.O.U.?

11. "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" screenwriter : URIS

12. Punjab sect member : SIKH

13. It's almost pointless : EPEE - tough way to clue a crossword staple - I could think of so many items without a point - even considered "KNEE" for a moment

15. NSA headquarters site : Ft. MEADE

22. "Grimm" network : NBC-TV - I WAGed ABC-TV, and was 80% right

23. Red Sox Hall of Fame pitcher Luis : TIANT - I defer to our C.C., who is proabably jonesing for some baseball these days

24. Forever and a day : EON

25. Gymnastic event : RINGS

29. Gave the go-ahead for : ASSENTED TO - started with SAID ---- TO

30. Peel off : SHUCK - not SHAVE - that showed up at 44D

32. "Same here" : AS AM I - what's an "asami"?

33. Jungle features : VINES

36. Grasping organ : PINCERS - not very useful on those VINES in the Jungle, though.   Some singular/plural deception

39. Bit of ink : TATtoo

43. Like some Hindemith works : ATONAL - If Mr. Silk says so....

44. Cut off : SHAVEN

46. Fail to say : ELIDE

48. Secures : ICES

49. Way : MODE

50. Took care of, in a way : PAID

52. Chilean cabbage? : PESO

53. Junior on the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team : SEAU

55. Rural area : LEA

56. Door closer? : MAT - Doormat - I've seen some funny ones at work (some harsh language on a few of these)

Splynter