Saturday, March 25, 2017

Saturday, Mar 25th, 2017, Greg Johnson

Theme: None

Words: 66 (missing J,Q,U,X)

Blocks: 32

   This is Saturday puzzle number three from Constructor Greg, and I looked at my review from his last contribution, and fared better this week than on that one back in Oct of last year.  As usual, it did not look good on the first Across pass, but there were some winning moments in the Down run, and then little by slowly the rest filled in, with a few missteps, and a few WAGs.  Though I did notice a healthy lack of proper names - the ones that were in the crossword I knew.  Odd looking grid with a low word count, crossing 11- and 9-letter words with two 10-letter words in there, too;

10d. Conventional : STEREOTYPIC - I'm looking for the "-AL" on the end, still

28a. Firebrick cooker : PIZZA OVEN - there's a stack of  two sitting out back of the restaurant waiting to get cleaned up for sale

24d. When needed : AS NECESSARY

40a. Points at and yells, perhaps : THREATENS


O N (W) bo A R D game S ~ !

ACROSS:

1. Hot-button subject in journalism : MEDIA BIAS - it's all biased, as far as I can tell - I don't watch the news

10. It may be on a dog : SLAW

14. Sacred Aboriginal landmark : AYERS ROCK - knew what we were looking for, took a moment to remember the name of the "rock"


15. Tendency : TIDE

16. Like a meeting of the minds? : TELEPATHIC - har-har

18. "__ so ... " : EVEN

19. Jefferson Davis' org. : CSA

20. "Barefoot Contessa" host Garten : INA

21. Still : AT REST - I got caught in a "still....(and yet....)" loop, so I went with "AT BEST"

23. Best Director between Soderbergh and Polanski : HOWARD - once "-OW---" filled in, I took a guess;  he won for "A Beautiful Mind" in 2001 (or 2002, depending on the source)


25. Unnatural register : FALSETTO - the Bee Gees, and this group's lead singer....caution; "raunchy~!"

 I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness

27. Remove : ERASE - I hesitated, thought this was too easy
 

29. "Nebraska" star : DERN - filled via perps

30. Become twisted : CONTORT

31. "Told you" : "SEE~?"

32. Bygone : OLDEN

33. Congressional approval : YEA

36. Ceremonial cup : CHALICE - Stanley fit, too


38. Settled : PAID

43. Petrol purchase : LITRE

44. White wine grape : RIESLING - dah~!  I see this enough at the restaurants to have gotten it without crossings, you'd think

45. Looked good on : BECAME - yes, the sweater  looks good on her

very becoming

46. Attaches, as a new deck : ADDS ON
 
47. Costumer's suggestion : WIG

48. Edge : LIP - or RIM~?

49. Land shaped by erosion : MESA

50. Fall behind : GET IN A HOLE

54. It sticks out in the water : PIER - FIN was too short


55. Model rocket components : NOSECONES

56. Order to stop : STAY - not HALT

57. Common college consequence : EMPTY NEST

DOWN:       

1. __ set : MATCHED - the "C" was in there from CSA, and so I proudly entered ereCtor.  Bzzzt~!

2. Demolition candidates : EYESORES

3. Its only counties are Kent, New Castle and Sussex : DELAWARE - well, this is embarrassing - I was thinking somewhere in Britain, and it turns out to be the US state I just visited last weekend....I was, uh, in, uh, New Castle, I think....

4. Steaming state : IRE - ah, state of mind, not US state

5. Hopeful's term : ASPIRE

6. Ford or Chevy : BRAND - SEDAN~?  Too many "wait and see" clues today

7. Ninth in a series : IOTA - figured it was Greek, good WAG

8. Cry over spilled Milch? : ACH - Das German for milk

9. Waxed sports equipment : SKI - equipment and singular 'ski' doesn't quite jibe for me

11. NFL games, e.g. : LIVE TV

12. Holiday hymn opener : ADESTE - Fidelis

13. Took place : WENT ON - as a show/performance

17. Folded Italian fare : CALZONE - spell check does not like this word....

22. Pre-revolution bigwig : TSAR - oddly, this one, too

25. Bit of successful research : FINDING - used as a noun in this case - I believe that's called a gerund

26. Ancient pyramid builders : AZTECS

28. Wind-borne grains : POLLEN

30. An inch of snow, e.g. : COATING - oops, not DUSTING - that's being from NY, I think

34. What one might do after a broken date : EAT ALONE - I always eat alone - don't need a broken date for that

35. Credit card bonus : AIR MILES - I drove to Delaware - 239 miles, and at one point was getting 26.1mpg in the Dodge Grand Caravan - I didn't think the computer could calibrate that high....

37. Light ring : HALO

39. Superior, of all five : DEEPEST - I had one of the "E"s, so a good WAG

40. Walks heavily : TRAMPS

41. "Quick, get that out of sight!" : "HIDE IT~!"

42. Indian Ocean arm : RED SEA

43. What's left : LEGACY

45. Stanford-__ test : BINET - the Wiki

47. Fleeting puff : WISP

51. Storm dir. : ENE - healthy WAG - can only be a certain grouping of N,E,S,W

52. Pig thief of rhyme : TOM

53. Sweetie : HON

Splynter

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