Saturday, March 22, 2014

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

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