Saturday, October 29, 2016

Saturday, Oct 29th, 2016, Peter Wentz

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing J,Q,Z)

Blocks: 28

We have not seen Mr. Wentz since I last blogged his Saturday contribution back in Jan of 2012.  Today's grid is different from that puzzle, having the two 15-letter entries crossing in the center, with triple 8's and almost triple 10's in the corners.  Looked bleak at the beginning for me, but then a few answers fell into place, with some beneficial WAGs, and only one instance of cheating - I red-lettered to see why the SW corner was not working out.  Oh well.  Still, a fun solve.  The long answers;

35. "Pretty much goes without saying" : IT'S ALMOST A GIVEN

8. Hotel dining room option : BREAKFAST BUFFET - dah~!  I had -- -- BOOTHS, and it was good for a while....

'OlloweeNWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Lie quietly? : PLAY DUMB

9. 1996 gold medalist in men's singles : AGASSI

15. Chipped in from off the green, perhaps : SAVED PAR - I filled in MADE PAR, and it wasn't long enough

16. Picture appropriate for Valentine's Day : ROM-COM - my personal favorite - also the only one I own; Rotten Tomatoes has a better summary than IMDb


17. "You can trust me" : I DON'T LIE

18. Nursery purchase : MANURE

19. Closes a hole, say : SEWS

20. Snowman in "Frozen" : OLAF - saw this movie not long ago on regular TV

22. Like most ears : LOBED

23. Marx work : DAS KAPITAL

25. What adults with youthful faces often get : CARDED

29. Something on a disk : FILE

30. Symbol that increases a musical note's duration : DOT - nailed it, since I play guitar


32. In conflict with, with "of" : AFOUL 

33. Nape covering : MANE - dah~! Not HAIR; 100% 25% correct

34. Sage : WISE - oops, the adjective, not the noun; I had GURU to start

38. Hose holder : REEL - my preferred "hose holder"



39. Leavers of pheromone trails : ANTS

40. Bowl sections : TIERS - not fooled, I knew this was the sporting arena

41. Star, in verse : ORB - I thought it was just planets that got the poetic 'orb'

42. Roman commoner : PLEB - got it; short form of plebeian

43. Series of classes : COURSE - my first thought, but I hesitated

44. Marked by uproar : TUMULTUOUS

47. Ristorante herb : BASIL - filled via perps

48. "Murder in the First" gp. : SFPD - not familiar with this show, on TNT, and I see it was just canceled

49. Home of A. Wyeth's "Christina's World" : MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art; I did not know this was a painting, so the answer was not forthcoming; I have to say, I am moved by this artwork; can't say why, and I guess that's why it's considered "art"

53. Yoga command : EXHALE

55. Couldn't remain still : FIDGETED

57. Wobble : TEETER

58. Volunteered : ENLISTED

59. Tests : ASSAYS

60. Drives : TEE SHOTS - more golf, but my parse was TEES ---, and I was not making the connection; this is the noun, not the verb

DOWN:

1. Penultimate Greek letters : PSIs - those last three three-letter letters always get me; PHI, CHI, PSI - but I guessed correctly this time - I should remember "fee-cheap-sigh"

2. Prepare for a crossing, perhaps : LADE - dah~!  I tried PACK, but I was 100% 25% correct

3. Put out in the open : AVOW

4. Hungers : YENS

5. Banned pesticide : DDT

6. Send to the cloud : UPLOAD - the internet cloud, and I do not store anything there - it's not part of my daily routine for the kind of work I do, nor do I care to have my personal items out in the open, so to speak

7. Posts : MAILS

9. Quarterback's asset : ARM

10. Shot stopper : GOALIE - KEVLAR was not working; I shoulda known this one....


11. Childish rebuttal : AM NOT - ARE SO~?  AM TOO~?  bzzt.

12. Certain explorer : SCUBA DIVER

13. They may be upset about being upset : SORE LOSERS

14. Chatted with, briefly : IMed

21. Blacks out : FAINTS - oh, that kind of black out; I was familiar with the non-sober kind

23. Texas-based tech giant : DELL

24. Urgent call : PLEA - oops, not NEED (I had the "E")

25. 2011 revolution locale : CAIRO

26. Net : AFTER TAXES - I figured it was something like "TAKE HOME" and pay-related

27. Sight from the Oval Office : ROSE BUSHES - I put in GARDEN, and that made all the sense in the world, but did not get me anywhere with the crossings

28. __ citizenship : DUAL - both my parents had DUAL citizenship, here and the United Kingdom, their birthplace

31. Future, e.g. : TENSE

33. Musée de l'Orangerie collection : MONETS - or MANETS~?  I'm never sure - a quote from the remake of Ocean's Eleven

34. 2012 Nintendo debut : WII U - one of those fills which would never stand a chance in a crossword were it not for the way technology moves forward - the Wiki

36. Place to see Santa : MALL

37. Cutlass competitors : GTOs - muscle cars - I am going to pick up my new minivan today~!

42. Weight machine feature : PULLEY - not PLATES, which contributed to my mess in the corner


 43. Get very close : CUDDLE - tried NESTLE first

45. Mazda sports car : MIATA

46. Put forward : OPINE

47. __ testing : BETA

49. Open-textured fabric : MESH - oops, not LACE

50. One of the Ringling brothers : OTTO

51. Conform to : MEET

52. Goes on to say : ADDS

54. Stumbling sounds : ers....

56. Company makeup, largely : GIs - Ah, the military type of company

Splynter  

No comments:

Post a Comment