Saturday, November 7, 2015

Saturday, Nov 7th, 2015, Ed Sessa

Theme - What cracker~?

Words: 70 (missing Q)

Blocks: 27

UGH~! - I was so pleased with myself for getting 80% of this beast solved without any cheating - no Google, no red-letter, despite some very clever cluing that did NOT get past me.  I was plugging away, one cel at a time, and making my way from the bottom up - but the NW corner was just not giving in, and once I caved and checked my 1a. answer, I realized it was never going to work out.  Oh well.  Big chunky 9x6 corners, and triple 8's in the down;

1. Four Corners collectible : NAVAJO RUG - *%$&^#@~!  I was so, so pleased I came up with NEVADA FLAG, as the Four Corners consist of the four US States that meet at a single point; however, NEVADA is not among Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado - duh.


57. Strips at a party : STREAMERS - oh, uh, the um, noun, not the verb. Right.  Maybe the anons are right about me....


13. 1964 World's Fair giant tire Ferris wheel creator : UNIROYAL - a major flub as far as I am concerned - at the fair  in Queens, NY, the one with the Unisphere, the wheel was U.S. Royal; maybe all the same company, but it doesn't jibe with me


32. Colorful fall tree : RED MAPLE


ACROSS:

10. Edit, as a soundtrack : RE-DUB

15. "Be right there" : ONE MINUTE - I considered this, but because I had FLAG, I put in FAIR for "Just" @ 6d.

16. Dior style : A-LINE - dress style; at least Mr. Sessa was on my "fashion wavelength" today

17. Window-adjusting tool : SCROLL BAR - the doohickey on the side of your screen;

18. Sheep or goat : BOVID - Someone correct me - this is totally wrong; I thought this category of animals was O-vine; BO-vine is cattle; cows, bison, buffalo, etc.

19. Two after love? : THIRTY - I knew this was going to be tennis scoring;  0-30 or 30-0 is two points scored after the opening of a game

20. Aria from "Carmen" : HABANERA - perps and a WAG

22. Some drills : ROTES - meh.  period.

23. Champagne toast : SALUT - I had saluD; close enough, and 100% 80% correct

24. English lit pseudonym : BOZ - perps - learning moment for me; the Wiki

25. Father of Phobos : ARES

26. Bounty maker, briefly : P AND G - think "P&G" - Proctor and Gamble, the makers of the paper towel


27. R&B's __ II Men : BOYZ - they were popular when I was in school - but not with me

28. Murky milieus : FENS - Ugh.  SEAS was my thought

29. __ cracker : ANIMAL - # 1

31. Facing dauntlessly : BRAVING

35. Like sparkling wine : ABUBBLE - crossed with another "A-" clue

36. Real estate pioneer with a Long Island town named for him : LEVITT - Nailed it - but that's not saying much - I live on Long Island

37. Clan member : SCOT - dah~!  Not CELT

38. Ruler of Asgard : ODIN

39. American Leaguer since 2013 : ASTRO - I thought this was wrong, too - but then I remembered that they were once a National League team

41. Ray : BEAM

45. 1975 ABC debut, for short : GMA - Good Morning America

46. Like music to one's ears? : ON KEY

47. Skater Harding : TONYA

48. Best ever : CAT'S MEOW - the Bee's Knees

50. Evil : ROTTEN

51. Splatter catcher : APRON - catcher~? deflector or collector maybe

52. will.i.am, for one : RAP ARTIST - from the Black-eyed Peas.  Sorry, but I think their stuff is at best amateur

54. Baggage carousel feeder : SLIDE - we have lots of slides at UPS - here's a pic of my "office"


55. Eatery serving 47-Downs : TRATTORIA - this  week is "restaurant week", and the Italian one I work at, aMano, was jimm-jamming on the frim-fram last night

56. State with a red, white and blue flag : TEXAS

DOWN:

1. Pisan possessive : NOSTRA - I WAGed from my understanding of "Cosa Nostra"

2. It's dropped on purpose : ANCHOR

3. Cinema __ : VERITE - dredged up from somewhere deep in my brain; "truth in cinema", or documentary style - I found a great list on IMDb - some titles you have heard

4. Ovid work : AMORES - written in 16BC; love stories are eternal

5. Dumps : JILTS - with my "NEVADA", DIVES worked here.  Talk about a cluster***k

6. Just : ONLY - not FAIR, nor EVEN; this is the "I was just going to eat one piece of candy"

7. Prepare for a grilling : RUB - BBQ related

8. Jazz followers : UTAHANS - gave myself a big pat on the back for NOT confusing this basketball team Jazz with musical jazz

9. Memorable '70s Ford : GERALD - ha HA~! - not TORINO; in fact not even a car....

10. Capital SSW of Tangier : RABAT


11. Tar Heel State campus : ELON - half perps; a little misdirection here, as the Tar Heels of UNC are sports foes of the college at Elon

12. Attack from above : DIVE BOMB

14. Enchant : BEDAZZLE

21. Cause of worry : BUGABOO - think "boogeyman"; there's also a stroller of the same name - sort of paradoxical, if you think about it

23. Blabbed : SANG

26. Compound with five carbon atoms : PENTANE - formula C₅H₁₂ ; C₅H₁₀ is pentEne

27. Crab house accessory : BIB

28. In good shape : FIT

30. Fruit served with a cracker? : NUT - # 2

31. Online clip : BLOGCAST - I filled in BLOG----, the rest was perps; is this post a blogcast, or just a blog~?

33. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, but not Charles : AVIATRIX - clever; only women can be the -TRIXes

34. Café quaff : VIN

35. "__ in the Dark": 1988 Neill/Streep film : A CRY

37. Noah's predecessor : STEWART - not a clue; turns out, Trevor Noah replaced Jon Steward on the Daily Show

40. Hybrid apparel : SKORTS - I love them; the looks of a skirt, the fit of shorts - and followed up with 41d.~?  Mr. Sessa, you're the man~!


41. Rear end : BOTTOM


42. Complete : ENTIRE

43. Bos'n's response : AYE, SIR - sailing term; a boatswain is a crewman

44. Large rays : MANTAS - this time, MANTA was correct

46. Exeunt __: all go out : OMNES - straight Latin

47. 55-Across dessert : TORTA

49. __ cracker : SODA - # 3

50. Assign value to : RATE

53. Four on Augusta's fifth : PAR - the golf course, and it's 'Magnolia' hole

Splynter - # 4, former "cracker" from Jacksonville, FL

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