Saturday, Apr 16th, 2016, Debbie Ellerin

Theme: Debut~!

Words: 70 (missing F,J,Q,Z)

Blocks: 31

  This is Debbie Ellerin's debut Saturday puzzle for the LA Times, as far as I can tell.  She has had two other puzzles, one duo with Jeff Chen on a Sunday, and a solo effort on a Monday - which to me seems to be the hardest day to construct a puzzle; there has to be a simple theme, simple answers, and simple clues.  I have tried my hand at construction; it's a lot harder than you think earlier in the week.  This one looked a bit daunting at the outset, but then a few solid fills led me to finish in half my personal allotted time.  A pretty pinwheel grid today with triple 9's and almost triple 9's - and nothing longer than that.  And a gratuitous shout-out to yours truly at 46d.~!  Debbie is already in my good books~!

17a. Agitated : STIRRED UP - I had stEAMed up at first

13d. They're turnoffs : EXIT LANES - oooh, so close with EXIT RAMPS

52a. Vanity case? : EGOMANIAC

28d. Sci-fi emergency vehicle : ESCAPE POD - my first experience with an 'escape pod';

oNEW-WARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Ring pairs : TAG TEAMS - on the first pass, I was not sure if this was wedding rings or boxing rings - turned out to be wrestling

9. Result of hitting the bar? : SPACE - I thought we might be looking for something like DRUNK

14. Some strays : ALLEY CATS

16. Plant from the Greek for "flame" : PHLOX - the clue led me to discover this interesting reading

18. Garlicky sauce : AIOLI - my first fill; crossword staple

19. Present, say : TENSE - ah.  Took too long to see this definition of "present"

20. One to keep closer? : ENEMY - one only keeps the friends "close"

22. Setting for a Det. Tigers game : EDT - Went with CST - central standard time; of course, the baseball season is only during Daylight time, and Detroit is not that far from the east coast, really

23. Designer of many Harper's Bazaar covers : ERTE

24. Golden Horde members : TATARS - learning moment for me

25. Dancer Chmerkovskiy of "Dancing With the Stars" : VAL

26. Rutabagas, e.g. : TUBERS - nailed it

27. Chicago Cubs' spring training city : MESA - filled via perps

28. Squired : ESCORTED

32. Lethal phosphorus compound : SARIN

one can just look this up these days

33. Lose control, in a way : SPIN OUT

34. Grind : RAT RACE

36. Evasive : CAGEY

37. Epitome of slowness : MOLASSES - "AS A SNAIL" did cross my mind

38. Parted sea : ARAL - I thought it was the "RED" sea, but in today's geography, this sea has split

39. "Rent" Pulitzer-winning dramatist : LARSON - half crossings, half WAG

41. __ se : PER 

42. Fortune : KISMET - ah, fate, not riches

43. Private dining room? : MESS - clever

47. "Yada yada yada" letters : etc.

48. Place to get clean : REHAB - BT, DT.

49. "Affliction" Oscar nominee : NOLTE - did not see the movie

50. Key location : PIANO - I was trying to be overly clever and pondered Florida; it was only after I came here that I see the answer filled itself in

54. Bean seen on-screen : ORSON

55. "Aha!" : "NOW I GET IT~!"

56. Many a combine model : DEERE

57. Some seniors : OLDSTERS

DOWN:       

1. Kind of buds? : TASTE - I tried BOSOM to start

2. Size up, maybe? : ALTER - tailoring humor

3. Sparkle : GLINT

4. Far from flowery : TERSE

5. Title narrator in an 1847 novel : EYRE

6. Deck top : ACE - ah.  Cards, not carpentry

7. Entered the pool? : MADE A BET

8. Hindered the development of : STUNTED

9. Fixes : SPAYS

10. Golden ratio symbol : PHI - φ

11. Some succulents : ALOE VERAS

12. Frigid : COLD AS ICE - look away Tin~!  Look away~!

15. Stick a fork in : SPEAR - "me...I'm done"

21. "__ Robinson" : MRS.

24. Peace Nobelist of 1984 : TUTU - Desmond

26. Metal-measure word : TROY - precious metals; the Wiki

27. Men's home? : MARS - the women from Venus

29. Fifth wheel : SPARE TIRE - ah, the actual definition, not the guy who tags along on a double date

30. Cuban home? : CIGAR CASE - I'm a cigar smoker ( not Cubans, mind you ), and so this one was sort of a gimme

31. Law school newbie : ONE-L

32. Kenton of jazz : STAN - filled via perps

34. Bruins' home : ROSE BOWL - I was of course, in an NHL Boston Bruin's mindset - this is UCLA

35. Beaucoup, with "of" : A LOT - "I made beaucoup bucks betting on the game last night"

37. Onetime Sterling Optical spokesman : Mr. MAGOO - seemed logical to me

39. Piece of fiction : LIE

40. Beyond the pale? : ASHEN - cute.  Skin tone

42. Scandinavian capital : KRONE - dah~!  Fell into the trap; not Oslo, Stockholm, nor Helsinki - the money kind of capital

43. "Bouquet of Sunflowers" painter : MONET - I had the "M", so it was an "A" or "O" WAG for the artist - I got it

44. Choice : ELITE

45. Flight segment : STAIR - my lovely Siberian friend got sticker shock when she discovered how much it would cost to come to America

46. Splinter groups : SECTS - I am a part of a lot of groups; this blog is one (LOL)

49. Badgers or hounds : NAGS

51. Negative link : NOR

53. Prefix with life or wife : MID - mid-life, midwife

Splynter