Saturday, May 17th, 2014, Mark Bickham

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,V)

Blocks: 28

  Today's puzzle from Mark had lots of clues that were right up my alley, and I thought I was going to cruise to a quick end - but then the SE corner just wouldn't fill in - and I had to switch to red-letter to see what mistakes I made.  When I did, I was disappointed with myself for not giving it more time....oh well.  Triple-9 pinwheel design with a couple of 10's on the inside, and one grid climber;

8. Inducing a nod, perhaps : DULL AS DISHWATER

and some of the other long fill;

29. Heavy metal band with the album "The Final Frontier" : IRON MAIDEN - One of the first (and best) bands I ever got into; even more interesting is that my favorite guitar player in the band, Adrian Smith, did a solo project, "Adrian Smith & Project", which featured:

38. __ Starkey, longtime drummer for The Who : ZAK - Ringo Starr's son, who appeared on the A.S.a.P. album "Silver & Gold"

38. BOLO clarification, perhaps : Z AS IN ZEBRA - Great fill; two non-connected "Z"s; Police term for "Be On the Look-Out"

Ugh, guess I have to move onward :>( ....

ACROSS:

1. Outlaw : DESPERADO

10. City on the Shatt al-Arab river : BASRA - Educated WAG with a couple of letters in place

15. Lady of the Lake's gift : EXCALIBUR - NAILED it - love this Monty Python scene (@ 1:05)

16. Web-footed animal : OTTER - Tried GOOSE first

17. Term popularized by physicist John Wheeler : BLACK HOLE

18. Spring sound : BOING - A WAG that stayed

19. Fully prepared : RIPE

20. Alice's chronicler : ARLO - The Alice of the 'restaurant', not 'Through the Looking Glass' - Arlo Guthrie

21. Italian nobleman : CONTE

22. Presidential nickname : ABE - Went with "IKE" first

23. Member of a bygone empire : INCA

24. 23-Down competitor : KAL-KAN - X-ref with; 23d. "Home 4 the Holidays" adoption sponsor : IAMS - Dog foods

25. Scottish John : IAN - John, Sean, Ian, Jan, Yanni

26. Sketch : SKIT - anyone else throw in "DRAW"?  Too easy for Saturday

28. Club alternative : BLT - The club sandwich, that is

33. Convergence points : FOCI

34. Some iPods : NANOs - I have a 30GB that I use every morning at UPS

35. It fell in 2001 : MIR - Russian space station

36. Heifetz contemporary : ELMAN - Violinists; more here

37. Old school : ETON - ah, an actual school, not a decription of how one "does things"

40. A, in Austria : EIN

41. Mass producer : BACH - Nice misdirection; mass as in church, not a production company

42. 16-symbol system, for short : HEX - Had no idea; 0-9 + a-f; the Wiki

43. Gets a C, say : DOES OK

45. TV musical host in four decades : WELK - Lawrence~!

47. Like a slim chance, oddly : FAT - Yes, how ironic

50. Egyptian signs of life : ANKHs

51. Latvian, for one : BALT - a bit meh for me

52. Unite by treaty : ALLY

53. Family nicknames : NANAs - I WAG-ed MAMAS, and was 60% right

54. Old Bethlehem sight : STEEL MILL - Ah, Bethlehem PA, that is

56. Coeur d'__ : ALENE - Idaho

57. Where the wild things are : MENAGERIE

58. Forbidden looks : PEEKS - Tried LEERS

59. Gestation period : TRIMESTER

DOWN:

1. "Everybody Loves Raymond" wife : DEBRA - Ray's wife

2. Book inscription abbr. : EX LIB - Latin, Ex Libris - "From the books of..."

3. Dream follower : SCAPE - Not "ALARM"....I am pretty good at recalling my dreams

4. Duel unit : PACE

5. Order member : ELK

6. "Take a Bow" R&B singer : RIHANNA

7. Test options, at times : A, B, OR C - Another great fill

9. Breyers __ Cookies & Cream : OREO

10. Beginning Cub Scout : BOBCAT - Everything you need to know, here;   I was not a Boy Scout, Cub Scout or Bobcat

11. "Tragedy is __ for the living to gain wisdom": RFK : A TOOL

12. Smelly prank : STINK BOMB

13. Airport pickup : RENTAL CAR

14. San Martín was its liberator : ARGENTINA - half perps, half WAG

24. People : KIN

25. Advised of : IN ON

27. Skin lotion brand : KERI - I once dated a Kerry, and I was mocking her with this brand's slogan, which went "Keri, is so very..." and ironically, she threw the next phrase at me, which is "Rich, in emollients" - and Rich is MY name

29. New parent's complaint : I NEED A NAP

30. Thinking : RATIONALE

31. Making a proposal, perhaps : ON ONE KNEE - not any time soon

32. Non-PC purchase : iMAC - I am PC

33. Show off, in a way : FLEX

36. O.T. book before Daniel : EZEKiel


39. Blues or Blue Jackets : NHL TEAM - All me~!  I was hoping the Blue Jackets of Columbus OH would defeat the Penguins, but it didn't matter - my Rangers took care of a second PA team in 7 games.  Montreal next.  LET'S GO RANGERS~!!!

41. Big shots : BOSSES

44. Beef cut : SHANK

46. 1985 Malkovich movie : ELENI - never saw it; IMDb

47. Trifle (with), as an idea : FLIRT - I flirted with an idea for three weeks, and it turned out to be a mistake

48. '80s sitcom title woman : ALLIE - I put in "MAUDE", which ended in '78....oops.  "Kate and Allie", never watched the show

49. Seat of Texas' Smith County : TYLER

51. Realty ad abbr. : BSMT - I require a 'basement' as I carry on my search for my own house - need a place to play the drums

52. City near Des Moines : AMES - Name two cities in Iowa....

55. T size : LGE - T-shirt

Splynter