Saturday, Nov 28th, 2015, Greg Johnson

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

Upon review of the years gone by, I see that Mr. Johnson has been a consistent Tuesday contributor to the LA Times crosswords - but today he's given us a great challenge for a Saturday.  Non-standard grid, nicely symmetrical, with triple 7-letter corners.  I picked my way through this one clue by clue, and I eventually got a foothold in some places, and that allowed me to WAG a few.  Alas, I ran into one cell that just wouldn't fill in, and that was because of "spelling" mistakes on my part - so I went red-letter to see where I went astray.  Anyway, we had two spanners, and one 11-letter climber;

17a. Remote setting : MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

58a. Spanish-style home decor : TERRACOTTA TILES

18d. 1995 film in which Sean Connery played King Arthur : FIRST KNIGHT - good movie - and Julia Ormond is beautiful

'Tis the seas-on-ward~!

ACROSS:

1. Furniture support : SOFA LEG - like this....no, wait, he means this kind of leg....

8. Hard-to-find hardware? : SPY-CAMS

15. Learned : ERUDITE - the adjective, not the verb

16. Side trip guide : AREA MAP

19. __-Pak subcontinent: Asian region : INDO

20. Homework initials? : DIY - Do It Yourself; Home Depot has Do-It-HERself classes; we are about one day away from finishing up the house project - did the siding today

21. Like some backup files : ON CD

22. Top dog : NUMERO UNO

27. Cutesy plea for affection : KISS, KISS

30. Eye site : POTATO

34. Bird that will swim but not fly : EMU

35. Pound, e.g. : UNIT - dah~!  Not POET - 25% correct

36. Upset state : DISMAY

37. Letters associated with z's? : REM - Rapid Eye Movement sleep; I had a full-on sensory dream of a cat pawing me and then lying down on my back one afternoon while I napped; I asked my room-mate, and he said there was never a cat in the house - I looked it up on the dream interpretations site, and it's associated with feminine sexuality - damn, I hope so~!

38. Tetanus symptom : LOCKJAW

40. Former "NFL Today" sportscaster Cross : IRV

41. Train for firefighting : RAPPEL

43. 2014 Wales summit host : NATO

44. Iowa campus : COE

45. Refusal of hospitality, often : INSULT

46. Thief's target : IDENTITY

48. Literary legionnaire : BEAU GESTE - frequently in crosswords, but I did not know much more about the story until today - more here

50. Salinger heroine : ESME - Nailed it - but again, seen in a lot of crosswords

53. Golden ratio symbol : PHI - ah, like "Pi" for, well, 3.14159....in this case, it's 1.61803 - more here

54. It may be crunched : DATA - my one corner that messed me up

63. Treaty topic : TEST BAN

64. Dress uniform adornment : EPAULET

65. Reuse productively, as trash : UPCYCLE - new word for me - and my spell-check; the word "repurposed" has gained some traction around here

66. Dish from the Italian for "foam" : SPUMONI - Dah~!!  I put in spumATi, so I was all screwed up down here

DOWN:   

1. Trailer leader : SEMI - the tractor part

2. "Out __?" : OR IN

3. Hunter with a distinctive laugh : FUDD - Elmer, that is

4. Supplements : ADD-ONS

5. Small in a small way : L'IL 

6. Juillet's time : ÉTÉ - Frawnche

7. Like the Spaceship Earth sphere : GEODESIC

8. Panasonic subsidiary : SANYO

9. Supporting : PRO

10. "Dismal" tree in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" : YEW

11. Partnership : CAHOOTS

12. "You said it!" : "AMEN~!"

13. Standup comic Maron : MARC

14. Earned a citation? : SPED - har-har

23. Lute family member : UKULELE

24. Company that merged with Konica : MINOLTA

25. Screen alert subjects : UPDATES - always seems to be Adobe Flash Player

26. Firm denial : NO, I WON'T

27. Gymnast Strug : KERRI

28. "Let me explain ..." : "I MEAN..."

29. Collection areas : SUMPS - oops, not Dumps - but that was 80% correct

31. Firenze friends : AMICI

32. Typically 78-card deck : TAROT - I have a deck, but have not looked at it in years

33. Exasperated cry : "OY VEY~!"

39. Burmese gems : JADEITES

42. Time for significant changes : PUBERTY

47. Yawn inducer : TEDIUM

49. Barely ahead : UP ONE - oops, not ONE UP

50. Incredulous accusation : ET TU - Brute~?

51. Flow slowly : SEEP

52. Richie's mom, to Fonzie : Mrs. C

55. Téléphone greeting : 'ALLO

56. Mock election voter : TEEN

57. Product of white Muscat grapes : ASTI

59. Easy as __ : ABC - oops, not PIE

60. "East of Eden" son : CAL

61. Galaxy download : APP - Galaxy, the Samsung Smart Phone (or tablet; I have one)

62. Two before 53-Across : TAU

Thanks to all who comment, especially for those who comment on my Saturday postings.  Thank you, too, to C.C. for the opportunity to be able to blog here in the first place~!!!

Splynter