Saturday, Jun 14th, 2014, Mark Bickham

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing Q,W,X,Z )

Blocks: 36

    I usually cringe when I see Mark's name on the title of a Saturday LAT puzzle, but my first pass garnered some results, so I was encouraged and kept going.  The SW corner, however, did me in, and I had to use red-letters to find my mistake.  Oh well.  Awkward set of blocks today, left us with a stair pattern in the middle, and the SW and NE corners dangling from just two crossings.  Triple 10's and 9's, and two 10-letter climbers on the inside;

10. High-flying group : JET-SETTERS

27d. Classic spy comedy : MEN IN BLACK - Um, spy comedy?  I guess the comic book might have been more of a spy comedy, but I really love the movies with Tommy Lee Jones & Will Smith.  My personal favoritest scene below; Vincent D'Onofrio should have gotten an Oscar for playing a "bug" wearing an "Edgar suit".  Brilliant.

31d. Early invasion participant : THE STONES - Argh~!  Now I get it - British Invasion; I was thinking it was THISTINES, and was going to Google if there was even a tribe or civilization of that name; PHILIstines, yes, but.... I think I would have tied it to the next clue/answer, too

32d. Dive : HONKY-TONK - Musical interlude - and I am NOT a Stones fan, but I just learned how to play this riff on the guitar while looking for the link; it's a pain because it's open G tuning, not standard

ONWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Screwdriver parts : VODKA AND O.J. - as a carpenter, I was curious to know if this was going to be the drink or the tool

11. __ Dea: Roman fertility goddess : BONA

15. Like John Cage's music : AVANT GARDE - Don't know John Cage, but I do know what Avant Garde means - Frawnche

16. Numerical column : ONES - tried TENS to start

17. Order with hot milk : CAFE AU LAIT - Straight up Frawnche, "coffee with milk"

18. Off-rd. rides : ATVs

19. Sour fruit : SLOE - LIME, UGLI(?)

20. Eponymous furniture designer : EAMES - Some design and creativity here

21. Cassowary cousin : RHEA

22. Frequent service station attendant? : SELF - there are a few places around here where they pump gas for me, and I actually don't care for it; I like to try for the 'perfect pump'

24. Some council members : ELDERS - WAG

26. South Pacific island nation : SAMOA - another WAG

30. Sweet and sour : TASTES - and yet a third WAG

31. Article in some modern music : THA' - I went with "TRA", and that got me started; can't say I know anything with "Tha" in the song or the group's name

34. 15-Across Irish playwright : BECKETT - the only Beckett I know is Det. Kate Beckett, from "Castle" - love that show

36. Prefix with fauna : AVI

37. Vert. opposite : HORizontal

38. Artless : NAIVE

39. Boy toy? : KEN - HAR-HAR~!!!

40. Student of Elves, in Tolkien : ENT - Three letters?  Tolkien?  Go with ORC or ENT

41. Twins, at times : SISTERS

43. Vocal stumbles : ERs....

44. View from a lodge : SKI RUN - I knew we were looking for some sort of snow reference

46. __ Adams Wilderness: Sierra Nevada region : ANSEL - educated WAG

48. Georgia-born Hall of Famer : TY COBB - the last "B" filled, and that gave it away for me

49. Shooter's ammo : PEAS

52. Emperor before Vitellius : OTHO - Short-lived reign; the Wiki

53. Pliés may precede them : LEAPS - Ballet/dance moves

58. Mountain transport : T-BAR - I tried TRAM, was 50% correct

60. Breakfast __ : NOOK

61. Write tongue twisters, perhaps : ALLITERATE - Owen, if you would, please~!

63. 1980s speed skating gold medalist Karin : ENKE - Link

64. San José resident : COSTA RICAN - took a second to parse this; the capital city of the Meso-American nation, not the city in Cali

65. Tube lineup : SKED - Tube short for television, SKED short for Schedule

66. Rustic building material : KNOTTY PINE - I dig castles and the look of stone; some wood is nice, but overdone it reminds me too much of a coffin

1. Short suckers? : VACs - Vacuums; I tried LOLS for lollipop first

2. Places to run : OVALS

3. "Platoon" Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actor : DAFOE

4. Prepares for an engagement? : KNEELS

5. One-time bridge : AT A - One AT A time kind of bridge.  V-8 can, duck~!!!

6. Feverish chills : AGUE

7. "The Lion King" character : NALA

8. Nip at a bar : DRAM - A SHOT is a bit more than a 'nip', I guess

9. Dog of comics : ODIE - Garfield's drooling buddy

11. College __ : BOARDS

12. Crooked : ON THE TAKE

13. Not once : NEVER EVER

14. Ninjas, perhaps : ASSASSINS

23. Swell : FAB - I tried FAT first

25. Short muscle? : LATissimus dorsi

28. Tuberous Andean plants : OCAs - Learned from doing crosswords

29. Guard dog breed : AKITA

33. Edible thistle : ARTICHOKE - Did not know it was a "thistle"

35. Not odd : EVEN - gimme

41. Nautilus, e.g. : SUBmarine

42. Michaelmas mo. : SEP

45. Cheated : ROOKED - new to me

47. Deliver a rant : LET RIP

50. Eastern adders? : ABACI - we've seen this before; abacus pluralized, and ADD-ers

51. Black Mass idol : SATAN - I had a package yesterday for one of my UPS trucks, and its shelf No. was 6666 - I told the driver he had to go to hell to deliver it; he said he was already there....

54. North Carolina school : ELON

55. And : ALSO

56. Pennsylvania school : PITT

57. "Now!" : STAT - Dah, not ASAP

59. Peace Nobelist Cassin : RENE - filled in with Perps

62. Brew finish : ERY - BREWery - I went to the Brickhouse Brewery last night with my buddies, and then dinner at Bobbiques

Splynter