Friday, September 5, 2014

Saturday, Sep 6th, 2014, Don Gagliardo

Theme: DonG~!

Words: 70 (missing X)

Blocks: 26

  Half of our Dynamic Duo makes his first Saturday appearance for the LAT, to the best of my knowledge, with an impressive low block count of only 26, no less.  Big chunky 8x5- and 9x6-letter corners, two 10-letter fills in the middle, and one 15-letter climber, which I did not see at first glance.  Have to admit, had to cheat with red-letters for ONE lousy cell, and it was NOT in the SE corner, I might add.  Still, there was a gratuitous shoutout to yours truly, and so I am pretty happy overall.  The longer answers;

7. Flying cartoon hero, formally : ROCKET J. SQUIRREL - Before my time; must be hard up for work these days as he's appearing in Geico commercials now

31. Gang leader of old comics : BAZOOKA JOE - The Joe that you will no longer find in the comics wrapped around your Bazooka Bubblegum; the Wiki

43. Stewed : LIQUORED UP - ah, now this is a phrase that I AM familiar with....

10d.~!!!!!

ACROSS:

1. Some daily activities : HABITS - Let's see; coffee, cigars, Monster energy, cursing, bathing, brushing teeth - but I did not drink, just for today - but there's a toast to all at sundown, right Tin~!?

7. Restored vigor to, in a way : REPOTTED - Maybe for the marijuana plant, but most of the people I know who get "re-potted" don't usually show much vigor

15. Big Sur retreat : ESALEN - Sounds like a place I might like to visit; spirituality, holistic healing, and education - more from their website

16. Chef's assortment : OVENWARE - because CUTLERY was too short

17. Philosopher de Beauvoir : SIMONE

18. 1992 Michelle Pfeiffer role : CATWOMAN

19. Wright-Patterson, e.g.: Abbr. : AFB - Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio

20. Certain laundry load : DARKS - my first fill

22. "This is just __" : A TEST

23. Titicaca feeders : RIOs - Educated WAG; lake in South America

25. Forest mom : DOE

26. Turning points : CRISES

27. __ Lodge : ECONO - who else went with MOTOR~?

29. "Fats" Waller piano style : STRIDE


33. Trick : RUSE

37. Goethe's "The __-King" : ERL - I think I have seen this before in crosswords, but it was all perps today

38. To begin with : FIRSTLY

40. Yvette, e.g. : NOM - Frawnche

41. Soup vegetable : LEEK - My first guess, but I left it blank

45. "Free," in "land of the free" : ADNOUN - New to me - the Wiki says it's an adjective used as a noun

47. Wheat used in health food : SPELT - Nailed it

48. Gets clean : BATHES - nothing to do with "sobriety" getting clean

51. 19th/20th-century civil rights leader __ B. Wells : IDA

53. Marching band? : ARMY - har-har....could've flown without the "?", too, IMO

54. On the wrong side (of) : AFOUL - "He ran afoul of the law."

55. Ceremonial lineup : GRADs - meh

57. Disallow : BAN

58. Common ore of mercury : CINNABAR - My high school paper was called this; not sure picking an ore of a poisonous metal is such a good choice in terms of 'what's good for you'

60. Pin down : LOCATE

62. Form a union : ORGANIZE - Nailed it; but then again, I'm at UPS....

63. Sees the light, maybe : AWAKES - Sorry, but a BIG MEH here - either WAKES, or AWAKENS, but halfway in between~? meh.

64. Like many sales : SEASONAL - Like "Peeps" half off the day after Easter

65. Devote, as time : INVEST

DOWN:

1. 1962 Crystals album with cover art of a biker : HE'S A REBEL - The REBEL part came from perps; the rest was an educated WAG - before my time

2. "Whatever" : "AS IF I CARE"

3. Hoodwink : BAMBOOZLE - Got it with "---OO-E" in place

4. Workers' rights gp. since 1919 : ILO - Dah~! I tried CIO, then AFL; we are looking for the International Labour Organization

5. Look after : TEND

6. Three-time Masters winner : SNEAD - Sam, of golfing fame

8. Some NASA missions : EVAs  - Extra-Vehicular Activities; in other words, space walks ( I know, it's more than just that, HuskerG)

9. Favorite : PET

10. Ahead : ONWARD~! - Thank you, kind sir~!!!

11. Wedding cake specification : TWO-TIER

12. Tones down : TAMES

13. Backspace, usually : ERASE

14. Reasons for as-is sales : DENTS

21. Actress Dawson of "Men in Black II" : ROSARIO - Good movie, but not as good as the first Men In Black - and I am ashamed to admit I have NOT seen "III" yet

24. Wintry commercial prefix : SNO - Sno-Cat, e.g.

26. Spanish sky : CIELO

28. Doubled-over reaction : "`OOF`!"

30. Capitol center : ROTUNDA - Nice slight mis-direction

32. Where some artists' firings occur : KILNs

34. Cook poorly, in a way : UNDERBAKE

35. Ideal pairing : SOULMATES - I sometimes think I have already met her....now for the next step

36. 1980s-'90s Richard Mulligan sitcom : EMPTY NEST - I liked him in "SOAP", and this show was pretty good, too - featuring Kristy McNicol and "Isuzu Joe"


39. Age abbr. : YRs

42. Hawaiian priests : KAHUNAs - I must link Pulp Fiction~!


44. AQI monitor : EPA - Air Quality Index, and the Enviromental Protection Agency

46. California city near Bakersfield : DELANO


48. Salad bar items : BACOs - Mmmm, Baco's....did anyone else try TONGS, and then get to 50D~?

49. Burning : AFIRE

50. Pacific island nation : TONGA

52. Grover's 1890s vice president : ADLAI - Stevenson, the "I"; I am more familiar with "II", who was 20th century

55. Troubled Mideast region : GAZA - Timely

56. Ready to grow : SOWN - It's harvest time for the sod farms here on L.I.

59. Garbage holder : BIN

61. James, again, briefly : CAV - this one was super MEH - I had to dig deep to get the reference, which is LeBron James, who played for the Cleveland CAValiers, twice - with a stop in Miami in between - and I do NOT like Basketball~!

Splynter

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