Saturday, July 23, 2016

Saturday, Jul 23rd, 2016, Ed Sessa

Theme: None

Words: 68 (missing F,J,Q,X,Y)

Blocks: 28

     A little over a month since we had a puzzle from Mr. Sessa, and I reviewed that construction after I completed this one.  Similar solving experience, again, with getting a few of the long fills quick, but struggling with the proper names, again.  I did find some of the "definition" clues to be somewhat off-base, but I let them slide, and finished under my personal time.  Grids were very similar, too - triple 9's in the across, and paired 11- and 10-letter fills on the 'inside' downs.  The 11-letter answers;

11. Informal talk : BULL SESSION


22. Plane lane : AIR CORRIDOR - I learned there were "lanes" when I went flying with the architect I used to work for; we flew out of ISP (MacArthur airport, Islip, LI, NY) and being so close to JFK and LGA, you really had to stay in "your" lane....


Winona, MN -> Wales, AK -> Rincón de los Sauces, Argentina~!

ACROSS:

1. One not to upset? : APPLE CART - my first pass I read this as "too"; with some crossings filled in, I realized the difference

10. Title from the Aramaic for "father" : ABBOT - seen this before in crosswords, but it didn't come to me without some crossings first

15. Subject of the 2015 Erik Larson nonfiction bestseller "Dead Wake" : LUSITANIA
 

16. Hurricane peril : SURGE - thought there might be a slight deception with singular/plural, and pondered WINDS

17. Perilous situation : PRECIPICE

18. Water park attraction : SLIDE - Splish Splash is right around the corner from my place, and I have been, but only once


19. Saruman soldier in "The Lord of the Rings" : ORC - this or ENT, so I left it blank

20. Guttural utterance : CROAK - not GROAN; that shows up later at 40a.

21. Bygone : OLDEN - made me change my "ASSIGNS" to ASSORTS

22. Similar : AKIN

23. Goes downhill : WORSENS - I had LESSENS at first

25. Flat-bottomed boats : DORIES - this came to mind, but I hesitated to fill it in

28. 19th-century dancer Lola : MONTEZ - no clue; this middle right section had me baffled for too long

29. Still : INERT

30. Takeout order? : MINUS SIGN

33. Poolroom powder : TALC

34. Capital of South Africa : RANDS - OK, I cheated - I have a 'money' chart in my dictionary

35. Fizz flavoring : SLOE

36. Used in an undignified way : STOOPED TO - eh.  Around here, it's more like "behaved" than "used"

38. Test on the air : PILOT - always reminds me of the post-titles scene from Pulp Fiction


39. Hags : CRONES

40. Pained reactions : GROANS

41. Four-time Depp role : SPARROW - Captain Jack, of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films

43. Either 2010 "True Grit" director : COEN - didn't see the movie, but this was a good WAG

44. Musical instruction : "HIT IT~!"

45. Even slightly : AT ALL

47. Justice Fortas : ABE - filled via perps

50. Indicator of a private thought : ASIDE

51. Riddick portrayer : VIN DIESEL - Pitch Black was a great movie; the Chronicles not so much; did not see "Riddick" from 2013

53. __ house : MANOR - oops, not OPERA

54. They often precede garage sales : ESTIMATES - I threw in "CLEAN OUTS"; but this is the 'other' reason for emptying the garage - the future man-cave

55. Some RPI grads : ENGRs - a Spitz and Splynter shout-out

56. Fitting place for sneaks : SHOE STORE - there's a "friend of Bill W." I know who calls the last row of chairs at a 12-step meeting the "Shoe Store" - sneakers, loafers and slippers; I went on to add flip-flops

DOWN:

1. Maker of TBONZ treats : ALPO - oops, not IAMS

2. Run well : PURR

3. Minute part of a minute, for short : PSEC - I tried NSEC; a picosecond falls between a nanosecond and a femtosecond; billionth, trillionth and quadrillionth of a second

4. ID with a photo : LICense

5. iPhone movie purchase : eTICKET

6. Garb named for an island : CAPRIS - somewhere between short and pants, and now like this~!

Wolford Bella Capri

7. Cation's opposite : ANION - way too easy, so I filled it in and expected it to be wrong

8. Costa __ : RICA

9. Art form offering plenty of kicks? : TAEKWONDO - the Wiki

10. Puts into groups : ASSORTS

12. Wedding planner's nightmare : BRIDEZILLA

13. City near the Great Salt Lake : OGDEN

14. Many Beliebers : TEENS - Justin Bieber fans

24. Sisyphus' stone, e.g. : ONUS - a "pointless task" just came up in a conversation recently, and I was curious to know where the story originated - this is why I do crosswords~!  The Wiki

25. Morse "H" quartet : DITS

26. Go __ great length : ON AT

27. Changing places : RELOCATING

28. They may be thin : MINTS - red lines didn't fit

30. Stirred things up : MADE WAVES

31. "And?" : GO ON....

32. Realizes : NETS - another "eh" - I prefer GETS or SEES; 'realizes' was a s-t-r-e-t-c-h in another recent puzzle

34. First female attorney general : RENO - WAG, had the "O"

37. Pub orders : PORTERS - semi-referential to; 48d. 37-Down, e.g. : BEER

38. Minor matches : PRELIMS - funny - I switched "CLEAN OUTS" to "ESTATE---", which left the "T" at the end of this answer - and I thought a prelit match was sort of dangerous....

oh, that kind of match....

40. Best Supporting Actress two years before Cloris : GOLDIE - clues phrased like this, which are great if you know the answers, are useless if you don't - like I was.  The movie was Cactus Flower from 1969 - I'm from 1971.  IMDb

41. Disgrace : SHAME

42. Fibonacci or Galileo : PISAN - from this city....


43. Poem division : CANTO

46. Mrs. Addams, to Gomez : 'TISH - Morticia

Tish, that's Frawnche~!

47. Concerning : AS TO

49. Besides that : ELSE

52. Parental encouragement : "EAT~!!!"

Splynter

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