Saturday, Jul 25th, 2015, Gail Grabowski

Theme: GG~!!

Words: 72 (missing K,Q,Z)

Blocks: 30

 Gail Grabowski is back for another LAT Saturday - her last one was March of this year.  I was able to work out the bottom half of this one no problem, but the NE corner was slow to concede, so I did a "half" cheat and looked up the river near Aberdeen (half because it was 3-letters, OK~?).  After that went in, the rest seemed obvious.  I closed out in good time, and so I consider this one a success; I reviewed that puzzle from March and it was a "fail".   Gail's constructions are pretty fair - no fun sponge clues, and some clever ones, to boot.  A not so intimidating grid with triple 9- and 10-letter corners, plus another pair of nines in the across as well.  In the corners;

2d. WWII fighter : AXIS POWER- I was looking for something like P51 MUSTANG

that's me at MacArthur airport

16a. Wedding to-do list item : ORDER A LIMO - INVITATION fit, too

56a. Place for good dishes : CHINA HUTCH

33d. Added up : MADE SENSE - not TABULATED

DE-LI on ward~!

ACROSS:

1. WWII support gp. : WAAC - Women's Army Auxiliary Corps

5. Driving hazard : ROAD DEBRIS - I did not see any road debris on my trip back from Delaware Thu morning, but I did hit the drawbridge on the Belt Parkway with my rental car so hard the wipers got knocked on - the roads around NYC are brutal....

15. Linchpin location : AXLE - ....had I been driving my Dodge, I would have sheared an axle, I am sure; the rental car was a 2014 Hyundai Elantra GT - it had its flaws, but when I got back in the Dodge, I realized how badly I need a new car

17. 2007 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee : GILL - Vince; not a country fan - link away~!

18. Grand : MAJESTICAL

19. Jargon ending : ESE - e.g. if you're a lawyer, it's legalese

20. Buffs : FANS

21. Complicated account : SAGA

22. Group that might bug you : SPY RING - har-har;  eavesdropping bug

24. Actor/director with two Emmys and two Razzies : SHATNER - William; I was just watching Airplane 2 - the sequel in DE

"No tower~?"

27. Winter warmers : COCOAS

28. Thirteenth Amendment beneficiary : SLAVE

29. Be ready for : AWAIT

30. 1935 FDR dedication : HOOVER DAM

34. Net grazer : LET - tennis

35. Body style : COUPE - SEDAN fit, too - 20% correct-ish; another 'ansecho' with
49. Overthrow : COUP - meh.  I think of this as the group, not the act

36. Raised-barn connection : IN A - Were you raised in a barn or what~?

37. Former : ERSTWHILE

40. Member of a strict Jewish sect : HASID

42. "Not interested" : I PASS - the trip to DE was so much faster with EZ Pass

43. Give up : VACATE

44. Grotte de Cussac attraction : CAVE ART - Frawnche art; reminds me of this Steely Dan song

Caves of Altamira

 47. Xenon, e.g. : RARE GAS - well, I knew it was "a" gas, but NOBLE and INERT did not fit

48. Urgent letters : A.S.A.P.

50. Scoreboard letters : R H E - baseball for C.C.; Runs, Hits, Errors - I had the "H", thought it might be CHI for the white sox or cubs

51. Anticipatory reaction : SALIVATING

55. It pulls a bit : REIN - literally; very clever

57. They're trapped in pots : EELS

58. Endurance event facility : AID STATION

59. Unoccupied : IDLE

DOWN:

1. Union concern : WAGE SCALE - the UPS union is giving me grief right now

3. Some strays : ALLEY CATS

4. "Snow White" collectible : CEL

5. Many Shakespearean characters : ROMANS

6. Malaysian native : ORANG

7. Short and sweet, e.g.: Abbr. : ADJectiveS

8. River to Aberdeen : DEE - cheeeeted~!

9. Their offices often have small rms. : DRs

10. Down : EAT - ah, not the "SAD" kind

11. Marathoner's misfortune : BLISTER - I get blisters raking in the fall

12. Costa __ : RICAN - nice misdirection with the "N"

13. Picture : IMAGE - wouldn't be Saturday without a gratuitous image

 14. __ year : SOLAR

20. Royal decree : FIAT

23. French royal : ROI - dammit~! can't escape the Frawnche

24. Skiing need : SLOPE

25. Give birth to : HAVE

26. Boston's Mass __ : AVE

28. People : SOULS

30. Lift up : HOIST

31. Differed : DISAGREED

32. Witness in 1991 Senate hearings : ANITA HILL

35. Burn slightly : CHAR

38. Haberdashery supply : TIEPINS

39. Employment org. created in 1935 : WPA

40. Dwell (on) : HARP

41. It's not returned : ACE - more net sport 'jargon'

43. Orchestra leader Billy : VAUGHN

44. "Speak, hands, for me!" speaker : CASCA - Et tu, Brute~? is the "next" line in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

45. Japanese beer brand : ASAHI - got it because it was in a recent puzzle

46. Legitimate : VALID

47. "But wait! There's more!" company : RONCO - the Wiki

49. Bank opening? : CITI - Citibank - in the news this week; ordered to pay out $700mil

52. Storage unit : VAT

53. Triumphant reaction : "A-HA~!"

54. Mild rebuke : TUT

55. "Get outside yourself" company : REI - had this some Saturdays ago - not that I remembered this outdoor company

Splynter