Saturday, May 30th, 2015, Barry C.Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 72 (missing J)

Blocks: 30

   This was a great puzzle - I could have been done in 5 minutes if I had gone with my original thoughts, but there were so many places where I hesitated and did the 'in-and-out' routine that I ended up closer to 25mins.  In fact, I was cruising so well at the end that I got the "Ta-DA~!" and wasn't expecting it.  No intimidating corners, and just two 13-letter spanners with two 14-letter climbers.  The longer fill:

25a. Assigning responsibility by committee, in modern lingo : BLAMESTORMING - I had the BLAME part, then the ST---, and this just seemed "logical"

40a. Where Langley is : FAIRFAX COUNTY - I tried "--- VIRGINIA" to start; Bzzzt. 

9d. Zinc compound : CALAMINE LOTION - I had "---LOTION", but SUNSCREEN didn't fit

15d. Many wallets contain one : DRIVER'S LICENSE

Down Jar~!

ACROSS:

1. Org. whose website has a Track & Manage option : USPS - because neither UPS nor FedEx would fit

5. Ending sound : Pfft - usually associated with a 'lame' ending

9. Checked out : CASED - Think Private Eye

14. Copper mine? : SQUAD ROOM - Har-har.  Policemen cop-pers

16. Floral perfume : ATTAR - thought it, put it in, took it out

17. Predictable patterns : SYNDROMES - I always think of this word as medical related

18. Imprecise : LOOSE - like, say, an interpretation

19. Map lines: Abbr. : RDs

20. Clinches : ICES - I need to see the Rangers ice their run to the Stanley Cup

21. Some Buffalo wings : SABRES - DAH~!  I totally should have known this - NHL hockey clue about the 'other' NY team

Lindy Ruff, player and former coach

22. Subway device : OVEN - Subway, the sa'mich restaurant, that is

23. Like bodegas, to Span. speakers : FEMinine - I believe the term is 'declension'

24. Pitches : ADS

30. Facial cosmetics : LINERS - I like make-up on a girl, but it needs to be subtle

31. Like the Southeast, vis-à-vis other U.S. regions : RAINIEST - Odd; I would have thought the NW was the rainiest

34. Assume the role of : ACT AS

35. Put down : LAY

36. Camp sight : EMBER

37. Thing handed down : HEIRLOOM

39. Moby-Dick, e.g. : ALBINO - ah, not a drum solo reference; John Bonham was melodic and dynamic, which you don't hear in a lot of drum solos that followed - I tried to find a clip that was under 11+ minutes....

John Bonham - Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick

42. Jug part : EAR

44. Critter in a clowder : CAT

45. Small songbirds : TITS - Mr. Silk, did Mr. Norris change your original clue~?

46. Title heroine in a Humperdinck opera : GRETEL

48. Start to cure? : PEDI - had MANI, and that worked with "Avalon" at 41d. - but that's a Toyota model

49. Marker, e.g. : PEN - yup, first thought, but seemed too simple

52. Inexperienced : GREEN - not NAIVE

53. Two-time winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar : MARIO PUZO

55. Runs slowly : OOZES

56. Allied : PARTNERED

57. Angström, e.g. : SWEDE

58. Aptly named Civil War general Henry : GRAY - yes, that is convenient; would have taken a drubbing being on the blue North side

59. Fake : DEKE - DAH~!  My first thought, and I hesitated.  Another hockey reference, as in feint

DOWN:   

1. BOAC flier's destination in a 1968 song : USSR - The Beatles - The Wiki

2. Carpeting unit: Abbr. : SQ. YD. - Square Yard

3. "Alice in Wonderland" features : PUNS

4. Blue : SAD

5. Work through : PROCESS

6. Incite : FOMENT

7. They aren't behind you : FOES

8. Corp. symbols : TMs - like this one

10. Narrow range : A TO B

11. Flier's convenience : STORAGE BIN

12. Let up : EASED

13. Adorn : DRESS

21. Rig : SEMI - the truck.  I was thinking "fix",  as in temporarily

22. 1998 Masters champion : O'MEARA - total WAG

23. Wear : FRAY

25. Lackluster : BLAH - ah, not DULL

26. Tiny parasites : LICE

27. Engine protector : ANTI-FREEZE

28. Slangy event suffix : O-RAMA - like, say, a "Sale-O-Rama"

29. Halo : NIMBUS - not "AREOLA", and crossing 45a.....

32. On the way : SENT

33. Home to Paris : TROY - the epic story character Paris

35. Tall story? : LOFT - not "TALE" - a story, as in a building

38. Like some history : ORAL

39. Bite : ACIDITY

41. Nissan whose last model year is 2015 : XTERRA - as far as SUVs go, this was probably my favorite style

42. "Some things are too delicious to share" food : EGGOs - I noticed they've moved away from "Leggo my Eggo"

43. Hood defense : ARROW - Robin Hood, that is

47. Started a hole : TEED - golf

48. Allen's successor : PAAR - TV's 'The Tonight Show' hosts

49. Sheer : PURE - aw, you know what I was thinking when I saw "sheer"

(God, she is stunning)

50. O.T. book : EZEKiel - well, I have to add my favorite reading of "25:17"

51. Networking connection point : NODE

53. Odometer stat. : MPG - meh.  My odometer tells me I have 267,200 "MIs" on the car; I suppose some newer cars have a odometer that features a Miles Per Gallon calculator

54. Crossing party, briefly : PED - I am thinking Mr. Silk was not happy with PEDI and PED(estrian) together in one grid

Splynter

Saturday, May 23rd, 2015, Tim Croce and Alex Vratsanos

Theme: None

Words: 68 (missing J)

Blocks: 29

  Well this one was just a complete "Fun Sponge".  I was just about blank on the first few passes, across and down, but then I was able to break through in some areas - but I could get nowhere in the NW, and the combined foreign words/proper names vagueness just dragged this one out way past my personal time, so off to Google I went.  Such a shame, really, but there's got to be one or two puzzles that just beat me up and take my lunch money, or I would not learn anything by trying.  Big, chunky quad-6- and 8-letter corners with two climbers;

3. Eagle touchdown site : TRANQUILITY BASE

12. It might make you comfortable : SOUND INVESTMENT

unward  :7(

ACROSS:

1. Strips near the water : ISTHMI - ugh.  strips of land, as in "isthmuses"- so I had an "S" in there for the longest time

7. One giving you a pointer? : UNCLE SAM - he wants you

15. Tire tube, e.g. : TOROID

16. New York racing venue : SARATOGA - horse racing in Argyle's neck of the woods.  I needed the first two "A"s before I remembered this - and I lived in Albany for a few years

17. Sycophantic : SMARMY

18. Skiing maneuver : STEM TURN - did not know this, but I am sure HeartRx did

19. Strands in a tree : TINSEL - Dah~!  I was thinking strands as in "abandons", not strands of silvery metal Christmas decorations

20. Wincing words : I HOPE NOT - "you gonna spend $15K to get your roof fixed~?"

21. Ques. : INQuiry - my first thought, but it seemed a bit of a s-t-r-e-t-c-h

22. Jerry who was head coach of the Utah Jazz for 23 seasons : SLOAN - just the "L" was a WAG; the rest, perps

24. Over the limit, on the rd. : DUI - .08 is the limit here; my first "infraction" was almost 3X that

25. Verdun's river : MEUSE - UGH.  Frawnche.

28. Dominate, in slang : OWN - The NY Rangers 'owned' the TB Lightning last night, winning 5-1; going back to MSG tied 2 games a piece

29. Mighty efforts : PAINS

31. What one might need to leave : EXIT VISA

33. Buff : FIEND - you know what I am a fiend of....the summer is officially kicking in this weekend, and the summer staff has returned to the restaurants - some familiar faces again, and some new cute ones~!

34. Shuttle sites : LOOMS - I took a moment to consider the Space shuttle, or a weaving shuttle - ah ha~!

35. "The Simpsons" shower : FOX TV

36. Drops : SINKS

37. Cuban genre also called the "contradanza" : HABANERA

40. Belgian-born artist with the 2012 Grammy-winning album "Making Mirrors" : GOTYE - total fun sponge

41. Slangy "No reason" : "CUZ" - because.  If I'm writing  dialogue, I spell it " 'cos "

42. Flattened, as a flat : RASED - the flat reference to an apartment building should have clued me into the British spelling of raZed

43. Kid with a trombone : ORY - Did not know this guy

44. Start of a wistful remark : "AH YES...."

46. ID checker : TSA - part of Homeland Security

47. Tiger Electronics' Poo-Chi, for one : ROBOT DOG - I was thinking "robo-pet" at first

50. Give nothing away : CLAM UP; and clecho at 26d. Giving nothing away : STONY

53. Pal of Beegle Beagle : GRAPE APE - I did watch this, I think

54. '60s defense secretary McNamara : ROBERT - I did actually recall this proper name

55. Entering with care : EASING IN - huh - last week, we had Eased Out

56. Right, in a way : AVENGE

57. Smooths : SLEEKENS

58. Liquidated? : MELTED

DOWN:       

1. "Let's go" : IT'S TIME

2. ZzzQuil alternative : SOMINEX - eh, I spelled it wrong; happens in the 'down'

4. __-la-loi: outlaw : HORS - more F'n Frawnche

5. Art with no lines : MIME

6. Theocritus works : IDYLS

7. It carried FDR to a 1943 "Big Three" meeting : USS IOWA - I had the first "S" and the last "A", and this was a pretty good WAG

8. Lane on Broadway : NATHAN - Clever clue, but didn't fool me; this guy

9. Theban ruler in "Antigone" : CREON - had to Google

10. Standing __ : LAMP - Ugh, really~?  I mean, I get it, but....

11. Novel ending : ETTE - meh.  I thought it was NoveLLA

13. Not a good way to run : AGROUND - Ooops~!

14. Short prayer? : MANTIS - the bug, that is

23. It may be insured : LOSS

27. Draw out : EVOKE

29. "Cars" studio : PIXAR

30. "Building a healthier world" sloganeer : AETNA

32. Virtual chats : IMs

33. Time keeper? : FOB - I was trying to come up with a magazine Time collector, but it's just the watch chain we're looking for

35. Trouble : FAZE - as in "that did not --- me"

36. Sisterly : SORORAL - ah - the other kind of sister

37. Christiaan who invented the pendulum clock : HUYGENS - this guy

38. Rise again : RESURGE

39. Modified : ADAPTED

40. Indulges and then some : GORGES

41. Most of his works were for solo piano : CHOPIN - a WAG having just the "I"

44. Bit of grandmotherly advice : ADAGE

45. Ejection interjection : "SCRAM~!"

48. Tyke of vintage TV : OPIE

49. Quite a run : TEN-K

51. "A temporary insanity curable by marriage," per Ambrose Bierce : LOVE - cute

52. Explorer Tasman : ABEL

Splynter

Saturday, May 16th, 2015, Gareth Bain

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

  Oh, I was so close on this one - but I had to cheat, just once, and then I peeked at the red-letters to see where I was wrong - silly mistake on my part.  Great puzzle, had my brain going, and a decent mix of clues both obscure/vague and "oh, I know this".  Why, I do believe this is Gareth's first Saturday offering, too~!  We just had him on Thursday, May 7th with his anagram puzzle.  A climber crossing a spanner today, with clever pairings of 11-letter answers in the Down, and 9-letter ones in the Across, plus two 12-letter names rounding out our long fills;

19. "Let Sleeping Vets Lie" author : JAMES HERRIOT - this should have been a gimme, but instead I got the V-8 can; growing up, my mother always loved the PBS presentation of the "All Creatures Great an Small" TV show  Such a "feel good" theme song - I still love it

"Piano Parchment" - J Pearson

47. Subject of the biopic "I Saw the Light" : HANK WILLIAMS - biography clue #2 - I did not know this was a Hank Williams song

George Thorogood

Move it ON-oh-waRD~!

ACROSS:

1. Crowd in Berlin? : DREI - always good to start off with an "I know this~!" - German for three, as in "Three's a Crowd"

5. Baptizes, say : WETS

9. Ever so slightly : A TAD

13. "Handsomest of all the women," in an 1855 epic : MINNEHAHA - From this poem; there's a Minnehaha Blvd in one of my Southold trucks, off Hiawatha's Path - I always think "little laugh"; get it~?  Also a very popular name in MN

15. What a "B" may mean : BORON - didn't come to me immediately; was thinking "C Flat"

17. Modern mining targets : DATABASES

18. U Nu's country : BURMA - My one cheat.  Forgot about this man

 21. Like the ruins of Chichén Itzá : MAYAN

24. Back-to-back contests? : DUELS - har-har

25. Large vessel : VAT

26. Bibliography note : IDEM - Latin for "the same", as in citation

27. 410-year-old Siberian city : TOMSK - um, OK.  perps.

28. Ever so : VERY - I went with MERE, then NARY.  Drat.

29. __ de canard: duck feathers used to tie fishing flies : CUL

30. Fertilization target : OVUM

31. "__ but known ... " : HAD I - this borders on 'fun sponge'

32. Ready signal : ALL SYSTEMS ARE GO

37. Level, e.g. : TOOL - I hesitated to put this in, but it was my first thought

38. Life-of-the-party type : RIOT

39. More than cool : RAD - ah.  Not ICY

40. Stitches : SEWS

41. 1990 film that featured "Unchained Melody" on its soundtrack : GHOST

43. Four times duo : OCTO

44. Genesis 6 creation : ARK - The boat Ark, not the Covenant one

45. Psalm 23 comforter : STAFF - I did not get this until I looked it up afterwards.  When I typed "psalm" into Google, it suggested "23" right away

46. __ ring : ONION

50. Autobiography whose first chapter is "Nut Bush" : I, TINA

51. Rent : TORE APART - I had a feeling this did not have to do with "leases"

55. Suit : BEFIT

56. Always prepared : EVER READY

57. Film crew locales : SETS

58. Edit menu option : REDO

59. Blackened surface : CHAR

DOWN:   

1. Drill user, briefly : DMD - ah, Doctor of Medical Dentistry, not DDS - Doctor of Dental Sciences

2. River inlet : RIA - knew this, but spelled it rYa first

3. Endoscope user, briefly : ENT - Ear, Nose, Throat

4. Stuck : IN A JAM

5. '80s pop duo with an exclamation point in its name : WHAM!

Everything She Wants

 6. Removed with finesse : EASED OUT - you mean, like a Splynter~?

7. Hippie phenomenon : THE SUMMER OF LOVE

This AIN'T The Summer of Love

8. Scouts' accessories : SASHES

9. Some dict. entries : ABBRs

10. Overseas vacation, perhaps : TOUR - clecho #1

11. Overseas farewell : ARRIVEDERCI - clecho #2

12. Overseas thanks : DOMO ARIGATO - clecho #3

14. South African-born Middle East diplomat : EBAN - perps

16. Smart : NATTY

20. __ crossing: Canadian sign warning : ELK

21. Mineral whose name is Latin for "crumb" : MICA

22. Doctors : ADULTERATES

23. Canadian territorial capital : YELLOWKNIFE - Northwest Territories, to be specific

27. Sports bar array : TVs - the NY Rangers edged out the Capitals and start the Eastern Conference Finals vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning today....anyone in Fla a fan~?  I know that half the Rangers from last year went to TB as free agents, including my guy Brian Boyle - should make for a cool series

28. Dict. spelling tag : VARiations

30. Thimble Theatre name : OYL

31. Job, metaphorically : HAT - I wear about three these days; pre-load at UPS, "property maintenance director" both at aMano and A Lure restaurants, and still doing side work

33. Desperate letters : S.O.S.

34. Didn't go off : MISFIRED

35. Barfly : SOT

36. Take to excess : O.D. ON

40. Indian title : SAHIB

41. Sporty Golf : GTI - Volkwagen, that is

42. Bikini option : HALTER - show me YOUR choice of pics; I prefer the "bottom half", if you know what I mean

43. How much freelance work is done : ON SPEC

45. Goes for flies : SWATS

46. Acting brother of Cuba Gooding Jr. : OMAR

48. Grow together : KNIT

49. Sol lead-in : AERO - Aerosol....D'oh~! I went with "mi fa", as in do re mi fa SOL la ti do

52. Patient remark? : AAH - Open wide, I have my endoscope

53. Nutritional stat. : RDA

54. One-handed Norse god : TYR

Splynter

Saturday, May 9th, 2015, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 70 (missing J,X)

Blocks: 30

Dammit~!  I was doing so well with this one, but the NE corner had too many proper names for me to get any kind of start, and therefore, I had to cheat - and still struggled.  Oh well.  What a shame, too, because the SW corner had such a warm, fuzzy* feel to it.  I was feeling pretty sure we were getting a Silkie, and I did well on the last one, so I was overly confident today.  Triple 10-letter corners across, and triple 8-letter downs.  Two 12-letter spanners;

30a. Character in "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" : QUESTION MARK - I got this via perps, but I got fooled by the "?" in the title - not the name of a person from the film....

39a*. Pie order : ANCHOVY PIZZA - I do love pizza, but have to admit, I have not had anchovy

Delaward~!

ACROSS:

1. Grooming tool : RAZOR BLADE - I let this one go to start; my friend Heather is a very popular dog groomer here on the North Fork of L.I., and so I was "sorta" stuck in that frame of mind

11. Holding pattern nos. : ALTs - Altitudes, the height in feet that a plane 'holds' over an airport - who else went with "ETAs"~?

15. Disappears : EVAPORATES - like my confidence in finishing without a cheat

16. 1974 N.L. batting champ Ralph : GARR - baseball for C.C.

17. Huge success : MONSTER HIT - Everything seems to be a 'monster hit' today

18. Morales of "Criminal Minds" : ESAI - doubled up from yesterday

19. In Paris, in Paris : ICI - Frawnche for "here"

20. For whom New York's Queensboro Bridge was renamed : ED KOCH - took me a second to remember this

21. Diamond discovered in the '60s : NEIL - ugh.  duped.  big time. 

22. Tight ends? : TEES - T ighT, get it~?

24. Weather report abbr. : SSE

25. Casual qualifier : SORTA

26. Child player : STREEP - oh.  JULIA Child, got it.  IMDb

29. "Camelot" Tony winner, 1961 : BURTON - OK, I cheated.  Shoulda known this

34*. Try to win : WOO - I tried to win the blue-eyed beauty who worked at the 39a. restaurant

37. Do a fixer-upper job : REPAINT - I am done with the repaint job at aMano restaurant, but there's more to be done at A Lure

38. Fed. property overseer : GSA - General Services Administration - the Wiki - I was thinking "HUD", but was pretty sure the "U" was not going to work

42. Family secret, perhaps : RECIPE

43. Best in a restaurant : OUTEAT

47. Creator of Heffalumps : MILNE - Winnie the Pooh

48. Fighter acronym : MIG - and more Cold War initials at 53d. Sputnik letters : CCCP

51. "M*A*S*H" actor : FARR - I think HuskerG is a big fan of "Klinger"

52. Surfeit : GLUT

53. Warning : CAVEAT - Latin "let him beware"

56. Realize : SEE

57. Bonanza : LODE

58. Capital on I-77 : CHARLESTON - West Virginia; takes me about 7mins to do the I-70 thru Wheeling on my way to Cinncinati

60. Through : OVER

61. Term coined by Hugh Hefner : CENTERFOLD - I did not know this

62*. Bonds : WEDS

63. Winnings : PRIZE MONEY

DOWN:

1. Pays : REMITS

2. Relative of a stilt : AVOCET - this bird has legs; and this one; and this one

3. Comparatively kooky : ZANIER

4. Photo __ : OPs - "opportunities"; I so hesitated to put this in, but it was correct

5. Learning method : ROTE

6. Gave rise to : BRED

7. Literary symbols of daybreak : LARKS - ah, not "COCKS"

8. One of a literary trio : ATHOS - The Three Musketeers

9. Prepare for takeoff, maybe : DE-ICE

10. O.T. book : ESTHer

11. 18 for graduating high school, e.g. : AGE NORM - today's "fun sponge"; I get it, but it just would not come to me, being in the 'down'

12. Combat game : LASER TAG - I have played the game in a local arena, played it in the woods with friends, but I find paintball to be a lot more exciting

13. Quislings : TRAITORS - Cheated.  I did, however, use the actual dictionary, and not Google

14. Colombo's country : SRI LANKA - Dah~!  I was stuck in South America for too long

23. Et __ : SEQ - more Latin, used in law, "and the following"

25. "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak" writer : SUN-TZU

27. Atlas section : EUROPE

28. Bug : PEEVE

29. 1951 Reagan co-star : BONZO

31. Mole, maybe : SPY

32. 31-Down strategy : TAP - Wiretap, e.g.

33. Only Super Bowl won by the Jets : III

34*. Virtuous feeling : WARM GLOW

35*. R.E.M. hit, with "The" : "ONE I LOVE"

36. Blocked : OCCLUDED - like clouds

40. Ones saying "warmer," perhaps : HINTERS - "you're getting cold, colder, ice cold, warm, warmer, warmer...."

41. Justice Dept. agency : ATF

44. City near Bethlehem : EASTON

45. Specialized cactus branch : AREOLE

46. In : TRENDY

48. "Real Time" host : MAHER

49. 14th-century Russian prince : IVAN I

50. "Still Standing" co-star Jami : GERTZ

54. Sailor's direction : ALEE

55. Time spent in one's seat : TERM - political term

59. It's nearly 700 mi. south of Sea-Tac : SFO - Nailed it, but I knew Sea-Tac is the airport in Washington state

Splynter

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015, C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Altered States

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

Blocks: 33

   Nice - A Saturday solve from our blog host C.C.~!  Of course, it would not be a C.C. Saturday puzzle unless it had a theme, which I got right away - but had one answer in the wrong position.  Have to say, it was looking pretty grim after the first pass; too many proper names, and some properly vague clues made my grid very blank.  I'll have to call out a few "fun sponge" answers*.  Triple 6- and 8-letter corners, two 10-letter climbers, and the 11-letter themes.  Let's take a look at the theme answers:

27. Capital that starts with a month : JUNEAU ALASKA - June - oh.  So cool how both answers had the same # of letters

45. Capital that starts with a month : AUGUSTA MAINE - August - a . Very proud for thinking of this one right away, but I put it in the 27a. spot.  Oh well.

~!

ACROSS:

1. Caret-shaped letter : LAMBDA - ah, Greek letter                    

=      ^

7. Entertainer whose name is Spanish for "churches" : IGLESIAS - I cheated; Helen at the restaurant helped me out with this, and 28d.

15. Film set in 2035 : I,ROBOT - I thought "I Am Legend", also with Will Smith, was better

16. Connected with : TRACED TO - I had "LEANEST" at 9d., which messed me up

17. Chinese discipline : TAI-CHI - not taOISM

18. Hood : GANGSTER - I was looking for the place, not the person

19. Duke collaborator : ELLA - Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald (p.s., Helen tells me "ella" is "she" in Spanish; I need to learn the language)

20. Sign of a spill : SLICK - Oil spills; think BP

22.* __ Chicago : EAST - fun sponge~!  Not too vague....

23. Torments : MISERIES - the noun, in this case

26. Fast sports cars : GTs

31. Lacking heat? : UNARMED - har-har~!  Gun = 'heat' in the gangster 'hood

32. 2009 MTV Generation Award winner : STILLER - Ben - I don't watch the MTV awards, so this was unknown

36. Carol kings : MAGI - I was thinking of the people who sing at your doorstep, not the subject of the song itself (oh, and har-har on your pun, C.C.)

37. Stud site : LOBE - earring reference; not "wall"

38. Medium : PSYCHIC - we have a famous one, right here on L.I.

42. Desert : ABANDON - ah, the verb, not the place

47. Pay stub? : OLA - payola

50. Common knowledge : NO SECRET - it's common knowledge what image I am thinking of for 9d.

51. "__ again?" : COME

53. One of four Holy Roman emperors : OTTO I

54. "A Few Good Men" gp. : USMC - Did you hear what the toll collector's supervisor told him the day he got fired~? "You can't handle the booth~!"

58. Item required to be included on Nutrition Facts labels since 2006 : TRANSFAT - nailed it

60. Predicament : SCRAPE - I am still trying to solve my little "predicament"; C.C. knows why "Alexa" was only 55.5% correct in last week's puzzle

62. Walter White on "Breaking Bad," for one : ANTI-HERO - never watched, but I am told I need to - that and "Dexter"

63. Rode : TEASED

64. Placed a confident bet : LAID ODDS

65. Claim : ALLEGE

DOWN:

1. Like some salad dressing : LITE

2. Sea ruined by extensive irrigation projects : ARAL

3. Work like a dog : MOIL - not Toil; not to be confused with a Jewish 'mohel'

4. "Doctor Who" airer : BBC AMERICA - also carries Top Gear, but I am no longer watching due to the firing of Mr. Clarkson

5. "Am I an idiot!" : D'OH~!

6. Debatable : AT ISSUE

7. Certain media darling : "IT" GIRL

8. Word of thanks : GRACIAS - and yet more Spanish

9. Most long and slender : LANKEST - I don't associate "lank" with sexy, so I'm gonna pass on a gratuitous legs image

10. Hosp. readout : ECG

11. Zaire's Mobutu __ Seko : SESE - Popular in crosswords, but it took me a minute to commit to "Sese"; didn't seem right

12. Security aid : ID TAG

13. Blast from the past : A-TEST - nuclear blast, that is

14. Thing that's no fun to be out of : SORTS - toyed with "Synch"; out of sorts, out of sync(h)

21. Pet controller : LEAD - I think this is more British than America's "leash"

24. Sum, to Claudius : I AM - not the adding 'sum', just straight up Latin

25*. Footwear item for Bode Miller : SKI

27. __ shot : JUMP - Could have been "LONG", too.  The third verse in this song mentions 'jump shot'

Paul Simon - Boy in the Bubble

28. Article in El Sol : UNAS - Helen tells me it's "some"; ergo a part of speech found in the local Latino paper

29. '90s Cleveland Indians pitching standout Charles : NAGY - no C.C. crossword would be complete without a baseball clue.  In the Stanley Cup playoffs, my NY Rangers blew their first game against Washington; better hope they pull back tonight

30. Label on some whole foods : ALL NATURAL

33. California's self-proclaimed "Zinfandel Capital of the World" : LODI - toyed with Napa, but that's the valley; both are towards the top of CA

34. "... crafty seer, with __ wand": Pope : EBON - Alexander Pope, poet

35. Kevin's "Tin Cup" co-star : RENE - I loved her in this movie; great, great story

39. Horde member : HUN - not "ORC"

40. Embarrassed admission : "I GOOFED"

41. Tart filling : CUSTARD

42. Early Bee Gees label : ATCO - 50% perps, 50% WAG

43. Bean expert : BARISTA - coffee bean, and I was not fooled

44. Soul, to Sartre : ÂME - Frawnche; in Latin, we have Sum, Esse ( Fui, Futurus ) - "to be"

46. Dustups : SET TOs

47. In base eight : OCTAL

48. Daughter of Lady Dugal, as it turns out, in an 1869 novel : LORNA - perps

49. Violin pioneer : AMATI

52*. Two-part poem in "Idylls of the King" : ENID - the Wiki

55. Convenient encl. : S.A.S.E.- self-addressed, stamped envelope

56. Video file format : MPEG

57. Turn over : CEDE

59. "Homeland" sta. : SHO

61. Dopey picture? : CEL - Dopey, the dwarf, from the animated movie "Snow White"

Splynter