Saturday, Mar 29th, 2014, Julian Lim

Theme: None

Words: 64* (missing J,X,Z)

Blocks: 36

     In a word, this one was 'brutal'.  Period.  Feels like someone used a 15a. on me.... three-fifths of the grid filled, but the NE and SE corners were still blank when I reached my personal allotted time, so I caved and turned on red-letter; still had to play the letter-at-a-time guessing game.  Took the fun out of doing the puzzle, for me.  I like the challenge, but if you get nothing, then you have nothing to work with.  There were answers that were utterly unknown (e.g. 56a.), and others that were vague, but mostly, I just wasn't on Mr. Lim's wavelength - and he is probably the only constructor who has consistently stymied me.  Chunky corners of QUAD 8's, which I think led to the very short word count(*) for today, along with a staggered triple 11-letter stack in the middle;

31a. Real time news source : TWITTER FEED - I don't "tweet"

34a. Many a Saudi : SUNNI MUSLIM

35a. Quickly cooked cut : MINUTE STEAK - started with RIB EYE, which was not working with my downs

dOwN ward  ;7(

ACROSS:

1. Lunch To-Go maker : STARKIST - Stuck on "Lunchables" from Oscar Mayer for the longest time, and that didn't fit; so I took a total (but sensible, considering recent puzzles) W.A.G. at "KITH", which gave me the "K", and an 'a-ha' moment

 9. Espresso feature : CREMA

14. Inherit : COME INTO

15. Boring tool : TREPAN - the pressure-on-the-brain type - not auger or drill, both too short; more on the process here - if you dare~!

16. A vacation often involves one : ROAD TRIP

17. State birds of Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin : ROBINs

18. Tony Soprano, for one : ANTI-HERO

19. Navajo relative : APACHE

20. Super Smash Bros. Brawl console : Wii

21. Pole, for one : SLAV - followed up with -->

23. Party person : POL - although this is päl, as in politician

24. Building owner, often : LESSOR - I may be a new "building" owner, if all goes well this summer - my first house~!

28. Air traveler's concern : LEG ROOM - Started with "LAG TIME", but that's not jet-lag; it's the difference between lightning and thunder; primary and secondary earthquake waves, etc.

36. Seawater evaporation site : SALT PIT

37. Brand no one wants : STIGMA - branded as in labeled, not 'name-brand' or 'store-brand'

41. Time of existence : AGE - so my time of existence is 43yrs....

42. "__ chance!" : "NOT A"

45. Poppycock : ROT

46. Prevails in : WINS AT

49. Listing : AT A SLANT - I knew where this was going, but could not get past AT A TILT, which was too short

53. Ocean floor dwellers : OCTOPI - if I had a large aquarium, I'd have me an octopus

54. Payback : REQUITAL - Long "I" sound

55. Like some angels : FALLEN - Blue Öyster Cult has a song by this name

56. Slow-cooking method involving plastic bags : SOUS-VIDE - Here's the Wiki; never heard this Frawnche term for "under vacuum"; I was stuck on "Bag N' Season", and even Shake N' Bake - can you tell I'm a bachelor?

57. Circular : FLYER - ah, not ROUND

58. Not entirely : IN A SENSE - ugh, I get it, but....

DOWN:

1. Rough writer's output : SCRAWL - I've asked this before, I think; who here is LEFT-handed~!??

2. Multimetallic Canadian coin : TOONIE - tried LOONIE, so good - 86% good

3. Guarneri relatives : AMATIs - two families of luthiers

4. Insta- relative : REDI- 

5. Cultural group : KITH - OK, who's the person who decided this was the word-of-the-month?

6. Words before a subject : IN RE - Latin, for "in the matter (of)"

7. Arouses : STIRS

8. One-named Tevye portrayer : TOPOL

9. Frame in a photo lab : CROP - frame as a verb here


10. 2000s sitcom set in Houston : REBA - I have seen it in syndication

11. Spenser's "The Faerie Queene," for one : EPIC POEM

12. Its arrival is often celebrated in ritual : MANHOOD - know what I got for my arrival into manhood?  Acne.

13. 11th-century Benedictine philosopher : ANSELM - dredged up from the depths of my mind, only after the "----LM" appeared

15. Crosses : TRAVERSES - like an ocean

22. Pribilof Islands native : ALEUT - a W.A.G. that really helped me in the middle

25. Action movie staple : STUNT - I had BOMBS, which worked with my RIB EYE

26. Cop (to) : OWN UP - had ADMIT, worked well with my RIB EYE

27. Shepherd memorably rescued during WWI : RIN-TIN-TIN - ate my RIB EYE

29. F neighbor : G FLAT - music; the "kith" here is D sharp, E, F, G flat

30. Japanese hands-on healing practice : REIKI - there are some classes I know about in my "kith"

32. Pair with : TIE TO

33. Reg. symbols : TMs - registered TradeMarks

34. Without a peep : SILENTLY

35. Like love potions : MAGICAL

36. Shorten, in a way : SAW OFF - Like a shot gun

38. Cooking crust : GRATIN - learning moment; I thought 'au gratin' meant topped with cheese....you could say I was right, 58a-ish

39. One-celled organisms : MONADs - so tempted to go with AMEBAs, but I was too happy with STIGMA to change it

40. Truman's U.K. counterpart : ATTLEE - right name, but I spelled it with a "Y" at the end, which didn't help

43. Tibia neighbors : TARSI  (tarsals in the image)

44. Used to hold food : ATE ON

47. Only : SOLE

48. Many an "SNL" performer : APER

50. Color slightly darker than electric blue : AQUA - I found one chart with both colors listed -->

51. Work (out) : SUSS - I did not "SUSS" out enough of this puzzle

52. "To travel is to __": Hans Christian Andersen : LIVE

Splynter

Saturday, Mar 22nd, 2014, Ed Sessa

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,Q, 2wks in a row)

Blocks: 34

Mr. Sessa is another dreaded Saturday constructor for me, and today was just what I expected from him.  To be fair, this one had an even distribution of "dig down deep", vagueness, proper names, and letter-count entries - two near-spanners of 14, two 11- letters, four 9's, two 8's, and six 7's.  Some of the longer answers;

20a. Whistle-accompanying words : GET A LOAD OF THAT - the wolf whistle comes to mind

30a. Create norms for : STANDARDIZE

39a. They're undeveloped : BLANK SLATES

52a. 1998 Coen brothers comedy : THE BIG LEBOWSKI - IMDb - gotta admit, I have not seen it, and I have heard it's great - didn't know it was the Coen Bros.

Ow, da R.N.~?

ACROSS:

1. 1953 comeback hero? : SHANE - before my time; "Come back" refers to the closing scene

6. Blood __ : CLOT - ah, not "TYPE"

10. Stare : GAWP - my only WTF moment today; I have heard of gawK, not this -  but KAR (13d.) made no sense to me

14. China from America : LENOX - an "educated WAG"

15. Mishmash : HASH - rhyme time

16. Historic act signed by Pres. Nixon : OSHA - the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration

17. Gut feeling : AGITA - I considered "HUNCH", but I sensed it wasn't playing nice with my other answers

18. Gardner with plots : ERLE - learned from doing crosswords

19. Peterhof Palace resident : TSAR - my first inkling, but CZar, or TSar?

23. Marble counter feature : SLAB TOP - meh, a marble counter IS a slab top, no?  maybe it's my construction background....

24. Bearish? : URSINE

26. Yet, poetically : E'EN - 'PC' for "even" - that is, Poetically Correct

27. Woodworking tool : ADZE - nailed it; but it was a bit of a WAG

29. "Solaris" author Stanislaw __ : LEM - His 1961 book became a 1972 movie, and then it was remade in 2002 with George Clooney

34. Strengthen, in a way : ARM

35. Window component : PANE - we've been "vagued" by this before; HEAD, RAIL, JAMB, SASH, SILL, an STOP would all work

36. It's at eye level : EAR - drawing instruction lesson #1 - I like when the proportions are distorted in caricatures

37. A deadly sin : ENVY - ah, not LUST

38. Tedious : OLD

43. "King Kong" studio : RKO

44. "Symphonie espagnole" composer : LALO

45. Experiences : HAS

46. Chocolate-covered candy : KIT-KAT - I can't stand their TV commercials at all

48. Assigned work : SET TASK - ROUTINE fit, too

55. __ Southwest Grill: restaurant chain : MOE'S

56. "Movies You Grew Up With" channel : FLIX

57. Get behind, as a desk : SIT AT

58. Fix : CURE - not MEND, DARN, HEAL

59. Topnotch : A-ONE

60. Where to find Independence Hall? : C NOTE - very good - the image on the back of a $100 bill

61. Wee : ITSY - not TINY or IOTA

62. Medicare Advantage gps. : HMOs

63. Keats' "The Eve of St. __" : AGNES

DOWN:

1. Converts into metallic waste : SLAGs - doesn't sound right, but it's the back-formed verb from the word for the by-product of ore smelting

2. German idealism pioneer : HEGEL - I tried HESSE first

3. Baker with Grammys : ANITA

4. "Pay attention," in legal papers : NOTA BENE - Latin for "note well"

5. Lofty : EXALTED

6. For peanuts : CHEAP

7. Pastry maker's ingredient : LARD

8. Munch Museum city : OSLO

9. Gangsters' foes, in old films : "THE FUZZ", the heat, Five-O

10. Fourth-century Germanic invaders : GOTHS

11. Cop's quarry : ASSAILANT

12. "Of all the gall!" : "WHAT NERVE~!"

13. Course number : PAR - Golf Course

21. O'Neill's daughter : OONA - another crossword learned name

22. One leaving in spring? : TREE - LEAF-ing, that is

25. Woman-holding-an-atom statuettes : EMMYs - some history

27. Hersey bell town : ADANO

28. Clive Cussler hero Pitt : DIRK - anyone recall who DIRK DIGGLER was?

30. Foon's cousin : SPORK - oh, duh - my first thought was that a "Foon" was a type of bird, and STORK was looking pretty good....

31. Chat to settle a spat : TALK IT OUT

32. Inclusive phrase : AND OTHERS - nice to see "et alia" spelled out

33. Utter : REAL

37. White House theater location : EAST WING

39. Yak : BLAB

40. Queen born Dana Owens : LATIFAH - Rapper/songwriter turned movie and TV star

41. Cowboy singer Wooley : SHEB - Learning moment - I have heard of THIS song, but not its performer

42. Play that inspired Puccini : La TOSCA

47. Nurse Ratched creator : KESEY - "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", Ken Kesey's 1962 novel, and the great 1975 film - one of three to take all 5 major awards

48. Classifies, as kittens : SEXES

49. __ Martin : ASTON - James Bond's DB-5 was in "Goldfinger", which reappeared in "Skyfall"; the latest model was the DBS in Quantum of Solace - more here

50. Blade holder, maybe : SKATE

51. Wingless fliers : KITES - Great, more kites

53. Latch (onto) : GLOM

54. Start to type? : LINO - a LINOtype machine was used in printing

55. 2006 Verizon acquisition : MCI

Splynter

Saturday, Mar 15th, 2014, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 72   (missing J,Q)

Blocks: 30

  Today's challenge from Mr. Silk took some intuitive thinking, as quite a few clues gave me fits. With the chunky triple 7-letter corners, I find this type of grid to be the most difficult, especially when you can't get a foothold.  In my case, I struggled a bit in the SW, and bad WAGs made some other spots slow to solve - and I had one wrong letter.  One grid-spanner, and let's hope that it's a thing of the past for the next 12 months~!

35. Winter forecast : FREEZING DRIZZLE - I got the DRIZZLE part from MAZDA, so I tried "--- AND DRIZZLE", but that didn't help

Aw, Dr. NO~!

 ACROSS:

1. Instrument played with mallets : MARIMBA - BAM~! Nailed it, not that I'm saying much - but hey, XYLOPHONE wouldn't fit

8. Pitcher's coup : PICK-OFF - I don't watch baseball, but this is one of those nifty little plays that make the game interesting - along with the "hidden ball" trick

15. Mine carriers : ORE CARS - Funny, ORE CARTS didn't fit, so I skipped it the first time around - and I was 114% correct

16. Orwell superstate : OCEANIA

17. 1980s Hollywood sex symbol : BO DEREK - I was trying to think of a popular male, and when the "K" appeared, I was stumped - oh, her - still looking good

18. Hang : SUSPEND

19. Meas. seen on a tee : YDs - Argh~!  My first thought was golf, but then I thought "nope, he's going with T-shirt here", and tried "XXL"

20. Beguile : TEMPT - not TEASE, not GET AT

22. Warthog features : TUSKS - made the "Top 10 List" for ugliest animal~!

23. Screened conversation? : VIDEO CHAT - I was thinking this could be "CONFESSION", but it's one letter too many

25. 28-Across natives, e.g. : ASIANS - circular clues -->

28. The Mekong flows along its border : LAOS

29. Fighter acronym : MiG - Mikoyan-Gurevich, the Russian military aircraft company

32. Going downhill : WORSE

33. "The __ Affair": Jasper Fforde novel : EYRE - never heard of it; Saturday cluing

34. Lighten : EASE - a burden, for example

38. Servers at affairs : URNS

39. Ballpark figs. : MGRs - Ah, the guy in the dugout, not ESTs

40. Needles : RIDES

41. Food-curing chemical : LYE - not MSG

42. "__ Mia": 1965 hit : CARA - I tried MAMA, and that's 50% right, but I knew the date was wrong

43. Give away : DONATE

44. Funk band instrument : SAXOPHONE - I think this is funky

46. When to see die Sterne : NACHT - 'the star(s)' in German, and 'night'; there's also a band by the same name, so I guess you could see them at night, too

49. Pasta bit : SHELL

50. Card quality : WIT - Card as in ham, clown, cut-up, etc.

53. Odorless fuels : ETHANES - all the light ones are pretty much odorless; the stink from propane is actually ethyl percaptan, which is added to warn you of a leak - it was a gas explosion that leveled the two buildings in Harlem NYC this week.

55. Tennessee neighbor : ALABAMA - GEORGIA fit, too; KENTUCKY, ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, and VIRGINIA are all 8-letters long

57. Zip up : ANIMATE - I was in "winter clothing" mode on this one, so this answer was slow to show

58. Extreme : RADICAL

59. Surfing annoyance : POP-UP AD - tell me about it; I hate that little 'hiccup' you get from ads on computers and mobile devices that shifts everything down one line JUST as you tap to move to the next link

60. Ship maintenance site : DRY DOCK - my Dodge Stratus and Ford Van are in 'dry dock' right now; today will be the first warm, dry day with no snow on the ground, allowing me to finally take a look and see what's wrong

DOWN:

1. Colorado State's __ Arena : MOBY

2. MLB nickname in recent news : A-ROD

3. Cabs, e.g. : REDS - DAH~! Wines, not Taxis

4. Winter coat : ICE - I've seen enough

5. Two-time 1990s A.L. batting champ Edgar : MARTINEZ - C.C. has more

6. Procreates : BREEDS - Ah, not the Biblical BEGETS

7. Help desk sign : ASK ME

8. Deltiologist's collection : POSTCARDS - learning moment

9. Post-op area : ICU

10. Basque baskets : CESTAS

11. Shot : KAPUT

12. People : ONES - As in "the ones waiting for spring to arrive"

13. Rat : FINK

14. They come and go : FADS

21. Storyteller? : POLYGRAPH - TATTLE-TALE didn't fit

23. Arrangements may be made in them : VASES

24. Weed killer : HOER - my one missed letter; I had HOAR - hey, that could kill weeds, too - it kills the grass....

25. Horrific : AWFUL - not SCARY

26. Classic board game : SORRY!
 

27. Daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands : IRENE - Saturday cluing for a popular crossword name; this one goes back a bit, as Queen Juliana passed at 94 ten years ago

29. Tribute maker : MAZDA

30. Key : ISLET - ah, not iNSet

31. Inane ones : GEESE - "You silly gooses~!"

33. Absorbed : ENGROSSED - I did NOT try "---- UP" to start, as in "SOAKED"

34. Salon, for one : EZINE

36. Big name in movies? : IMAX - yep, that's a big screen

37. Nickname in 20th-century British leadership : IRON LADY - Margaret Thatcher - that's the second "Iron" to come out of Britain - I prefer Iron Maiden....

42. Short time out? : CAT-NAP

43. Word on a Canadian loonie : DOLLAR - no animals were tattooed in the making of this crossword

44. San Diego attraction : SHAMU - not ZOOOO....

45. Picked up : HEARD

46. Tide table term : NEAP

47. Words before time or point : AT NO

48. Wood __ : CHIP - ah, not SHED

50. City on the Brazos : WACO

51. Apple product : iMAC - It's going to be "i" something....

52. Converse : TALK

54. Touchdown info : ETA - airplanes, not football

56. Nod, at times : BID

Splynter

Saturday, Mar 8th, 2014, Brad Wilber

Theme: BW

Words: 70 ( Pangram~!)

Blocks: 31

   Another solo effort in this year from one of our regular Saturday contributors, Brad is keeping pace with Mr. Silk.  This one made my brain hurt, mostly due to the proper name references, but in terms of geographic obscurity, we did get somewhat of a reprieve.  A 'reverse' pinwheel, with the 11-letter triple stacks towards the right, and 9-letter triples to start the Down clues.  Some of the longer fill we have;

2d. A woodpile may be under it : TARPAULIN - I tried ---- TARP, and that wasn't working

4. Teddy Roosevelt sobriquet : TRUSTBUSTER - I tried "SPEAK SOFTLY", because I was thinking sobriquet was a catchphrase, not a nickname

33a. 19th-century bat-and-ball game : ONE OLD CAT - learned this from crosswords, altho I was looking to fit One O' Cat, and it wasn't working

57a. Delta Tau Chi, familiarly : ANIMAL HOUSE - ah, I did not recall their Greek name - it's up on the second floor railing, askew

onward - by skipping an hour tonight~!

ACROSS:

1. Leavenworth and McHenry: Abbr. : FTs - Forts

15. Medium evocation : RAP - "I see...." did not fit; this is the knock on the table while everyone is (supposedly) holding hands

16. Like evergreens : WINTER HARDY - this took too long for me to see, especially since I had "RENO" and not "RICE" in the downs

17. "... __ the hot sun count / His dewy rosary ...": Keats : ERE

18. "I Hope I Get It" musical : A CHORUS LINE

19. Clinking currency : SPECIE - straight up definition - money in coin


21. __ judicata: decided case : RES

22. "Sorry to say ..." : ALAS

23. Sported : HAD ON

24. Mineral in pumpkin seeds : ZINC - OK, so I threw in IRON to start - the garden (24d.) fixed that

25. __ Toy Barn: "Toy Story 2" setting : AL'S

26. Prepare for a poster tube : FURL - Dah~!  not "ROLL"

27. London Philharmonic co-founder Sir Thomas __ : BEECHAM - nearly all perps, this was one of those proper name stumbling points

29. Sailor's direction : ALEE - I was fairly certain that on Saturday, it would not be EAST or WEST

30. Hidden : UNSEEN

31. Prefix with scope : OTO - an OTOscope is used to look very closely at the Indian tribes of the plains....no, actually, it's for an ENT - no, not the tree, the doctor who looks in your ears

34. KGB agent's foe : CIA SPY - Oddly, I threw in CIA MAN to start, then I figured it had to be wrong with the next clue/answer being --->

36. Beatles song with the line "There's one for you, nineteen for me" : TAXMAN - "yeah, I'm the taxman" - in 1966, the Beatle's tax bracket had them paying 95%, which makes this math correct - ouch.  We're getting closer to April 15th; I was pleasantly surprised when my "taxman" got me some money back - I had not filed for 4 years, due to low income, but I did pay for Home Inspection school, and that was my big write-off

38. Wrap : END - Pretty sure BOA was not the answer; this is the verb, not the noun

39. Like many French Quarter streets : GAS-LIT

43. Goalie's undoing : DEKE - You can say that again~!

44. Sextet at Woodstock : SANTANA - I liked his Supernatural album

45. Dairy aisle tub : OLEO

46. Start to amble? : PRE - Preamble, as in "WE, the People..."

48. Film villain in a Nehru jacket : DR. NO - Because Dr. Evil did not fit

49. Stifle : QUELL

50. Women : SHEs

51. Keep to oneself : HOG

52. Stuck (out) : JUTTED

53. Spaghetti sauce ingredient : TOMATO PUREE - I went with pASTe, and that was a whopping 72% correct

56. Lobbying gp. : PAC - Political Action Committee

58. Kate's role in "The Aviator" : AVA

59. Maple leaf eater : BOXELDER BUG

60. Make : NET - ah, as in the financial sense; I was trying "FIX", and "SET"

DOWN:

1. Talent scout discovery : FRESH FACE - I was looking for a high school/college sports player being found, not a singer/dancer/artist/movie star

3. Whiz through, in a way : SPEED-READ

4. He said, "Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to" : TWAIN

5. Powell's successor : RICE - oops, Condoleezza, not Janet; the Secretary of State, not the Attorney General

6. New England sch. with a wildcat mascot : UNH - University of New Hampshire, so we had some geography

7. They need connecting flights : STORIES - I knew this was a stairs reference, but I was stuck on FLOORS

8. Playwright Rattigan : TERENCE

9. Grilled-bread appetizer : BRUSCHETTA

10. Uncertain sounds : UHs - not UMs or ERs

11. Deep bow : SALAAM

12. Clarinetist's effect : TRILL - Guitar, too - and probably easier on the guitar

13. Author Ferber et al. : EDNAs

14. Distillery output : RYES

20. "Unforgettable" duet partners : COLES

24. __ garden : ZEN

27. Long-term investment strategy : BUY AND HOLD - great fill

28. The Ducks, on an ESPN ticker : ANAheim

31. Breakfast buffet utensil : OMELET PAN - is a pan a utensil?  Not in my house - pots & pans are cookware; the implements used in preparation and consumption are the utensils

32. Depart : TAKE LEAVE - I had mAKE, which gave me an OMOscope - which is used to...oh, never mind

35. Org. that keeps driving stats : PGA - anyone go with AAA~?

37. Marked for deletion : X'D OUT - the 'meh' fill for the day

40. Greek poetic stanza : STROPHE - a rhythmic system composed of two or more lines repeated as a unit - online dictionary

41. Lassitude : LANGUOR - listless lack of liveliness

42. Italian diminutive suffix : INO

44. Bagel selection : SESAME

46. Button on some receivers : PHONO

47. Dance version of a pop hit, often : REMIX

49. Literary captain : QUEEG

50. Skewer : STAB

52. "__, meine Freude": Bach motet : JESU - I have a few Bach Pipe Organ CDs, so I have seen this

54. __ vez: maybe, in Pamplona : TAL - Spanish

55. Abrade : RUB - fixed my PASTE to PUREE

Splynter

Saturday, Mar 1st, 2014, Mark Bickham

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,Z)

Blocks: 30

    Eerie - I sensed we were getting a Mark Bickham puzzle yesterday....and he did not disappoint~!  This one was another white-wash to start (and hopefully not an omen to us NE dwellers come Monday), but in the 'hunt and peck' style of crossword solving, I got through to the "Ta-DA~!" in just over my allotted time.  Two grid-climbers paired with two 11-letter climbers, two triple-10 corners, and two inner triple 10's, to boot~!   Phew~!  Some of our longer fill:

1a. Title puppet dragon of '60s-'70s kids' TV : H.R. PUFNSTUF - a children's show just before my time, from Sid & Marty Krofft; they also produced the Krofft Supershow, which IS what I watched on Satuday mornings; it featured a segment called Wonderbug, which featured a character named C.C.~! (OK, it was a guy, but....)

3d. Chevrolet Camaro cousin : PONTIAC FIREBIRD - the Flaming Chicken, and one of my all-time favorite cars - the '77 version - I think it had the coolest rims, ever. And I grew up with Knight Rider, not Smokey and the Bandit~!

11d. Party person : POLITICAL LEADER - ah, not the "PAR-TAY" kind of party

12d. To summarize : IN A NUTSHELL

22d. It precedes the late news : PRIME-TIME TV

29d. Fictional threat to secret-keeping : X-RAY VISION - I did not give enough weight to the "fictional" part of the clue; I stared at -RAY-ISION (and in the down, it's even harder) for way too long; it's only when I tried TEX at 28a. that the V-8 can nearly clubbed me

63a. Highly rated individuals? : LOAN SHARKS - HAR-HAR~!! - I've seen enough TV crime drama to know that the interest is usually usury

ONWARD  rabbit  ONWARD  rabbit  ONWARD  rabbit  ONWARD
bunny bunny foot foot ONWARD

ACROSS:

11. Trading place : PIT

14. Supercilious : ABOVE IT ALL

15. Angular : BONY - I was going to link a picture of a skinny model, but they're too disturbing, even for me

16. Ristorante offering : MINESTRONE

17. Words after take or gain : A LAP - my first guess, but "take a lap" didn't seem right to me

18. Experience slightly : TASTE

19. Senseless : ASININE

21. Bee: Pref. : API - as in APIarists, also known as a beekeepers

23. One-eighties : UIES - short for U-Turns, but oh, which spelling to go with? I tried UEYS to start - BZZZT~!

25. Back porch luxury : HOT-TUB - I have been in a back porch hot tub; the porch was part of a house on a ski resort; quite an experience to relax outside at night surrounded by snow AND in your swim suit

26. Lady's love : TRAMP - the Disney movie

28. Bandleader Beneke : TEX - I went down the alphabet list; teD, tiM, toM, but stopped....

30. Ravel's "Gaspard de la __" : NUIT

31. Tiny parasites : LICE - nice - the plural got me; I went with NITS, but that's a crossword parasite

32. Alarms : SCARES

34. Oshkosh hrs. : CST - Winnebago county, Wisconsin and Central Standard Time - for another week, then it's CDT

36. Alternative to satellite : AM/FM

37. Name of eight popes : URBAN - and one New Zealand-born country music star

38. Lionized actor? : LAHR - Bert Lahr, who portrayed The Cowardly Lion

39. 30% of venti : SEI - A WAG, but I did know it was foreign numbers

40. Characteristic of some jacks : ONE-EYE

41. Zeno's home : ELEA

42. Hunter's setting : TRAP

44. "Slumdog Millionaire" star __ Patel : DEV - the "V" was my last fill

45. Comeback : RALLY

46. Frank : WIENER

48. In __: unmoved : SITU

50. 2002 British Open champion : ELS

51. Words spoken while stretching, perhaps : I'M BORED - ah, that type of stretching; I do healthy stretches before work and playing hockey

53. Old Toyota model : SUPRA

55. Tara of "American Pie" : REID - I thought it was this girl, but she's Alyson Hannigan

56. Great Plains dweller : PRAIRIE DOG - all I needed was the "G" at the end to make an 'educated' WAG

60. Raison d'__ : ÊTRE

61. Historical transition point : END OF AN ERA

62. Movie format : DVD

DOWN:

1. Omelet ingredient : HAM - Mark BickHAM~?!?

2. Diamond stat : RBI - for some reason, I was looking for a pitcher's stat on this clue, but 'diamond' refers to anything baseball; I know there are a few of you out there who are keyed up for the new season

4. Iris holder : UVEA - DAH~!!! The eye part, not a VASE for the flowers (and that's fl-OW-ers, not Fl-OH-ers)

5. Spill the beans : FESS UP

6. Tucci's "Road to Perdition" role : NITTI - all PERPS

7. Rep in the city : STREET CRED - REPutation, and CREDibility

8. Eastern path : TAO

9. Prismatic bone : ULNA

10. Bygone Crayola shade : FLESH

13. Laid-back : TYPE-B - I'm OK with NOT being "Type-A"

15. Xhosa's language group : BANTU - complete WAG; well, I did have the "T"

20. Accelerator particles : IONS

21. Country album? : ATLAS - cute; no music here

24. "Can Do!" group : SEABEES - from the US Navy's Construction Battalion, or "CB"s

27. Part of an org. : MEM

32. Overhead light? : SUN - D-oh~!!! This took WAY too long for me to fill in


33. From Okla. City to Tulsa : ENE

35. Airline conveniences : TRAYS

38. Pastoral place : LEA

40. Letters under TUV, perhaps : OPERator, on the old dial phones

43. Battery post : ANODE

45. Indonesian currency : RUPIAH - OK, I cheated - I have a MONEY table in my dictionary, and since I had R-P--H, I looked, and there it was - and yes, from Indonesia, no less~!

46. Condé Nast technology magazine : WIRED

47. Sicken : REPEL

49. Bailiwicks : TURFS - my one 'meh' answer for the day; I would have preferred some vague clue about artificial grass

52. Popular 1958 spy novel : DR. NO

54. "General Hospital" Emmy winner Sofer : RENA

57. Nabokov novel : ADA

58. Where "Shazbot!" is a curse : ORK - from the TV show Mork & Mindy

59. Natural __ : GAS

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