Saturday, Mar 4th, 2017, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 28

Another Saturday struggle from Pawel, but unlike his construction from Jan of this year, I did not succeed without a fair amount of cheating - but then again, I am also in the middle of a lot of projects, so my mind was not entirely focused on the puzzle.  One too many proper names, normal for the author, as well.  Today's grid, somewhat like a snake, is another example of how to make it difficult to work one area with no hope of getting in to another - for me, I could not get anything going in the NW.  Triple 9- and 10-letter corners, the longest answers in the grid;

15. Land across the Baltic from Sweden : LITHUANIA - OK, cheated - I looked at a map of Europe

14. Federal subsidy : GRANT-IN-AID - never heard the term before

53. Crash and burn : HIT BOTTOM

26. Nevada's Area 51, notably : OPEN SECRET

The

Files~!

ACROSS:

1. Picture with a surprise ending? : PHOTO BOMB

10. Cheaply, with "for" : A SONG

16. Organ __ : DONOR 

17. Burden to bear : ALBATROSS - Iron Maiden turned a classic poem into a 13minute song;

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

18. Lead-in for here or nowhere : OUTTA - outta here, outta nowhere

19. Much data: Abbr. : NOs - technically, it's just "two" numbers; 1, and 0

20. River of Tuscany : ARNO

21. Oliver Twist, for one : ORPHAN

22. Architectural molding : OGEE - I have not seen this in a Saturday puzzle for a while

23. Cut twice, perhaps : TRISECT - I was thinking someone measured wrong in the first place....

24. Clear of snow : PLOWED - my "private road" does not get plowed

27. The King's middle name : ARON - Elvis, thank you, thank you very much

28. McBride of "Draft Day" : CHI

29. Metz meal : REPAS - too much Frawnche for me today

30. __ vote : SWING

31. Wi-Fi relative : LAN

32. Eisner's successor at Disney : IGER - filled via perps

33. Org. formed in Manila in 1954 : SEATO - good WAG

34. Pulitzer poet Van Duyn : MONA - filled via perps

35. With 22-Down, immortal 20th-century racer : MAN circumreferential to; 22. See 35-Across : O' WAR - dah~! I was looking for someONE, like Richard Petty, not a horse....

36. British county : SHIRE - generic, not specific

37. Spherical bacteria : COCCI - perps got me --CCI

38. Racing Unsers : ALs

39. Make sound : MEND

40. Quenched : SLAKED

41. Downwind current : LEE TIDE

43. Improvisational style : SCAT

44. Aspects : FACETS

45. Sainted pope called "the Great" : LEO I - LEO (Roman numeral), JOHN or PIUS~? Had to wait

46. Masterpiece : GEM

49. Heron relative : EGRET

50. Product announced but never produced or canceled : VAPORWARE - I finally caved in to peer pressure and bought a vaporizer, so I can hang with the "cool" kids at UPS - they're all half my age anyway, so I find it all amusing.  I do however, think there's a chance I might quit smoking with this thing - I like the ash-less,no-more-stank-in-the-car 'just like smoking candy' aspects of the thing....

52. Coeur d'__ : ALENE

54. Treat again, as leather : RE-TAN - my preferred kind of "tan"

55. Relax : STAY LOOSE

DOWN:

1. Work on one's vacation, say : PLAN - oh, like booking a room and a flight - I am on "vacation" from UPS, but for me, it meant putting in 40+ hours at both restaurants to get them back into shape - one from the fireproofing mess, the other for grand re-opening in two weeks

2. Hawaii's __ Bay : HILO - good WAG

3. Places with indoor windows, briefly : OTBs - ah.  Filled via perps; clever, though

4. Rap article : THA'

5. Storm problems : OUTAGES - SURGES was too short

6. Kept out : BARRED - dah~! Not baNNed

7. Two __: fast-break advantage : ON-ONE - love them in hockey; I finally saw a three-on-three OT game - and I like the fact that a 2-on-1 or breakaway is always imminent

8. Protein-rich paste : MISO - not TOFU

9. Humanities degs. : BAs

10. Like most grandparents : ADORING

11. Stock options? : SOUPS

12. Facing a deadline : ON THE CLOCK

13. "In your dreams!" : NOT A CHANCE

21. College town about 100 miles NE of Portland : ORONO - seen this in enough crosswords

23. Hackneyed : TRITE

24. 1993 William Diehl thriller on which a 1996 film was based : PRIMAL FEAR

25. Formidable court figure : LEGAL EAGLE - also a movie, but it was "eagleS"

27. Agatha or Edgar : AWARD - nailed it, but then again, I had A-A--

30. The Pont Neuf spans it : SEINE - Frawnche

33. Molts : SHEDS

34. Defense that may be all wet : MOAT - my dream home has a moat

36. Gaga : SMITTEN

37. "Does she ... or doesn't she?" brand : CLAIROL

40. Part of a fictional dog name inspired by Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" : SCOOBY

42. R&B singer __ Marie : TEENA

43. Dividing walls : SEPTA - biology

45. Café supply : LAIT - Frawnche, again

46. León relative : GATO - Frawnche, encore

47. Piccadilly Circus statue : EROS

48. Hand raiser's attention-getter : ME~! ME~!

50. Beta rival : VHS

51. Org. that complements the IMF : WTO - oh.  The International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization - I was stuck on "Impossible Mission Force....

Splynter

Saturday, Feb 25th, 2017, Julian Lim

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing Q)

Blocks: 29

I always cringe when I see Julian Lim as the constructor for Saturday's puzzles, and it was looking pretty bleak at the beginning.  I did manage to get some solid fill in all the corners, was able to work through this challenge with only a half-cheat (I have the periodic chart app on my phone, so I looked that one up) and then it was just a matter of some healthy Wild-Ass Guesses.  Just a few too many proper names in the puzzle for me, but then again, they all filled with the crossings.   Not a terribly intimidating grid, two 9-letter fills on the inside and 8-letter corners

16. One way to serve fowl : À L'ORANGE - We have a duck farm near my place, and it's a stop on my UPS "Q" truck ( the town is Aquebogue )

 39. Herbal beverage : ANISE TEA

65. Name on many bars : HERSHEY'S

 3. Pepper with punch : JALAPEÑO - D'oh~!! Spelled it with an "H" to start

 And there you have a four-course meal....

Vay-Cay-ShON-WARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Muslim veils : HIJABS

7. Curly's dad on "Sesame Street" : PAPA BEAR - I don't remember him

15. "For unto us a child is born" source : ISAIAH

17. "See?!" : "TOLD YA~!"

18. Counterbalanced, say : WEIGHTED - I had all but the first two letters, and tried "AR-ighted"....

19. Penn., for one : STA - I passed through Pennsylvania Station last weekend; came this close to staying for the Rangers/Capitals game in the Garden right above.  I love going in to New York City.

20. Thing to do with your fingers : SNAP - my first thought, but I hesitated

22. Attain, as great heights : SOAR TO

23. Brewmaster's need : HOPS

25. Plenty of horn? : KLAXON - got it off the "X", but went with a "C" and not a "K"

27. Payless box letters : EEE - Saturday cluing for a common fill

28. It often follows 12 : ONE PM - nailed it, tho I had AM, not PM

30. "Anthem for Doomed Youth" poet Wilfred __ : OWEN - the "W" was my last fill

31. Thirsts : YENS

32. Structure from the Arabic for "lighthouse" : MINARET - learning moment

34. Low bar? : DIVE - I was in one on Thursday to see a friend do her stand-up routine, but she went on too late - UPS comes early.  I did get to shoot some pool with a guy from one of the restaurants - man am I out of practice

36. Green machine : ECO-CAR - PRIUS did not fit

37. Some timeshares : VILLAS - I am friends with the nuns in my area, and they live at a "Villa"; there's usually a 12-step retreat there each spring and fall

41. Poet friend of author Ernest : EZRA - filled via perps

43. Point of view? : EYE LINE

44. Downtime? : FUNK

47. Like some ukuleles : OVAL

49. Many a group vacation photo, in slang : WEFIE - the expanded "Selfie"

50. 2008-'09 Japanese prime minister Taro __ : ASO - perps

51. __ chief : TRIBAL

53. Urquhart Castle's loch : NESS - four letters~? Good WAG

Hey, what's that in the lake~?

54. Created with : MADE OF

56. Ran : BLED

58. Cool : HEP

59. Rule broken by deities? : I BEFORE E - nailed it

61. Target of a whacking : PIÑATA

63. "Mad Men" actor John : SLATTERY - half perps, half WAG

64. Elicits : EDUCES

66. Acknowledge subtly : WINK AT

DOWN:

1. Strikes a chord : HITS HOME - ah, not a guitar clue; I love the chords of this song

And for the guitar players, a lesson

2. Kind of muscle contraction : ISOTONIC

4. First __ : AID

5. Canine sounds : BAYS - not ARFS

6. Osso buco cut : SHANK

7. Tree with green-skinned fruit : PAWPAW

8. Maugham's "Cakes and __" : ALE

9. Irritating growth : POISON IVY - oh, it's irritating alright

10. Chlorine's periodic table follower : ARGON - cheatcheatcheat

11. __ Men: one-hit wonders of 2000 : BAHA - vague recollection of this band

12. Carte part : ENTRÉE

13. Tatum O'Neal received her Oscar at it : AGE TEN - got it off ----EN

14. Overhauls : RE-DOES

21. Seas : A LOT

24. Best Actress after Field : SPACEK - made me change my AM to PM @28a.

26. Struck (out) : X-ed

29. "Yes!" singer Jason : MRAZ - another one up from the dredges

31. #3 on the 2016 Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women" list : YELLEN - of the Federal Reserve - her Wiki.  There's a Ms. Yellen on one of my UPS trucks who gets at least a box a day; Hey - we're going drone~!

33. Like 100 on most tests : ERROR FREE

35. Mountaineer's expectation : VIEW

Hey now....

38. Productivity-increasing trick, in modern parlance : LIFE HACK

40. Overlooks, as a fault : SEES PAST

42. Prefix with fauna : AVI

43. Airline to Eilat : EL AL

44. Starve, to Shakespeare : FAMISH

45. Worth keeping : USABLE

46. Tender turndown : NO, DEAR

48. Some retreats : ABBEYS

51. Sweet __ : TOOTH

52. Toon pursuing l'amour : Le PEW

55. Small salamanders : EFTS

57. Conn of "Grease" : DIDI

60. Trick ending? : ERY - trickery

62. One in an order : NUN - and a villa~!

Splynter

Saturday, Feb 18th, 2017, Craig Stowe

Theme: None

Words: 68 (missing Q,X)

Blocks: 30

  First Saturday LA Times crossword for Mr. Stowe, as far as I can tell; his other constructions have made it on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Three more for the "complete set".  I did quite well with this one, just one cheat for a proper name in the NE so I could get started up in that corner.  Lots of "nailed it" answers for me today, and they're especially pleasing when the crossings jibe.  Triple 10-letter Across corners, two 11-letter climbers and a 13-letter spanner;

10. Rectangular Manhattan attraction : CENTRAL PARK - I really need to see more of this place; all I really know about the spot is what I have seen in TV shows ( Law & Order, e.g. ), and this great scene from the movie "Die Hard with a Vengeance"

23. Conversational softener : JUST KIDDING

Raymond was "just kidding"

33. Its Gold Medal features a profile of Franklin : PULITZER PRIZE - learning moment for me

Game-ON-WARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Neutral : ACHROMATIC - with regard to color; in music, a 'chromatic' scale includes all twelve notes of a scale - which reminds me of this 'song'; if you grew up with "Headbanger's Ball", you might recognize it

And here's a clip on how to play the song

11. Farm animals : EWES - I tried SOWS first

15. Reacts to staying up, perhaps : SLEEPS LATE - I gotta sleep late Sunday, have a semi-overnight at the restaurant to prep for fireproofing the ceiling

16. "St. Matthew and the Angel" painter Guido : RENI - my cheat

17. The Hugo Awards are presented at one : CONVENTION - I am in New York City today - my buddy Mike with the games company has a booth at the Javits Center for the Toy/Games Convention, and I am going to bring two of the three board games I 'invented'

18. What hearts may do : RACE - 2017 is off to a good start - someone new makes my heart race

19. Queen __ Revenge: Blackbeard's ship : ANNE'S - good WAG

20. Reams : A LOT

21. Mil. addresses : APOs

22. Tree in a carol : PEAR - you'll find the Partridge there

23. Some subordinates: Abbr. : JRs

24. Turn in : RAT OUT - ah. Not RETIRE

26. __-chef : SOUS - I know the guys who fill this role at the restaurants

28. Home to many warthogs : SAVANNA - that's the area of Africa, not the state of Georgia (OK, different spelling, but I thought it was funny )

29. Eastern servants : AMAHs - couldn't remember this at first

31. Store accessibly : FILE

32. With 37-Across, "No problem" : IT'S - circumreferential to; 37. See 32-Across : OKAY

36. Vintage tape format : VHS

38. Moore co-star : ASNER - another WAG

39. Like thou, say : ARCHAIC - nailed it, and spelled it correctly

41. Three-time Tour de France champion LeMond : GREG

42. See 48-Across : POLAND - partial referential clue to; 48. __-Neisse Line, western border of 42-Across : ODER

43. Albanian currency : LEK

44. Traipse : ROAM

49. Two-point contest? : DUEL - har-har

51. 122-square-mile republic : MALTA

52. "Green Mansions" heroine played by Audrey Hepburn : RIMA - I tried riTa, did not get my ta-DA~!; checked the crossing, and oops

53. Plus : IN ADDITION - nailed it

55. 1860s-'70s Black Hawk War combatants : UTES

56. Digital emergency signal : NINE-ONE-ONE

57. Uncle __ : BEN'S - another shot in the dark that was correct

58. Become decent? : GET DRESSED - nailed it - hah~!

DOWN:

1. Songwriters' org. : ASCAP - American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

2. Knockoff : CLONE - makes me think of the street vendors in NYC - wow, that's a good price for a Rolex~!

3. Salon coloring : HENNA

4. U-turn : REVERSAL

5. "... the morning __ her golden gates": Shakespeare : OPES

6. Yahoo! alternative : MSN - dah, not AOL

7. Rite sites : ALTARS

8. Apes' lack : TAILS - humans, too

9. "__, Sing America": Hughes : I, TOO

11. Improved book list? : ERRATA

12. Adapt in a dangerous way : WEAPONIZE

13. Come across : ENCOUNTER

14. Naps : SIESTAS

25. Not inclined : AVERSE

27. Toledo native : OHIOAN - I was an Ohioan for two and a half years - worked on a made-for-TV movie there

28. Military address : SIR

29. Venus counterpart : APHRODITE - nailed it from --RH--E

30. Goons : MUSCLEMEN - "goon" is the affectionate name for the fighters in hockey games, too

31. "Bossypants" memoirist : FEY - Tina, of SNL fame

34. Efron who voiced Ted in "The Lorax" : ZAC

35. Thankless bunch : INGRATES

36. Product originally called Croup and Pneumonia Salve : VAPO-RUB - this reminds me of SNL, too

40. Give a hard time : HARASS

41. Fixed, in a way : GELDED - oh, that kind of fix

43. Rested (against) : LEANT

45. Hodgepodges : OLIOs - making a return on Saturdays recently

46. Fix things : ATONE - oh, that kind of fix

47. Shaggy : MANED - I was "maned" back in my Headbanger's Ball days

50. Together, in Toulouse : UNIE - Frawnche

51. Vein locale : MINE

54. "L'Âge __": Buñuel-Dalí surrealist film : DOR - perps

Splynter

Saturday, Feb 11th, 2017, C.C. Burnikel

Theme: C.C.C.W.~!

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,V,X,Z)

Blocks: 31

   First things first - I wanted to say thank you for all the Birthday comments on Thursday - I had the time to review them because I was buried under 8" of snow - I always get snow on my Birthday, but I have had better Feb 9ths.  And I have an answer to a question from one of the comments at 5d today.  Anyway, on to today's puzzle - another from our gracious host, C.C., and for the second week in a row, a pretty easy one for me.  I did not get my "ta-DA~!" because of one crossing, but I found it without having to cheat.  Odd looking grid with two black corners, leaving us with triple 10s in the Across, and almost triple 9s in the Down;

 1. Bar line : "WHAT'S ON TAP~?" - because "What's your sign~?" didn't fit

12. Poker telecast equipment : POCKET CAM - none of these at our table 

32. They're high on the Scoville scale : HABANEROS - nailed it.  The pungency 'hotness' scale of chilis

63. "That'll never work!" : "ROTTEN IDEA~!"

oh, it'll work alright....

lONleyWARD~

ACROSS:

11. They're sometimes black : OPerationS

14. Question at an alumni gathering : "REMEMBER ME~?"

15. Word with leg or elbow : ROOM - planes and trains

17. "Looking at all sides ... " : "IN FAIRNESS..."

18. Real estate unit : ACRE

19. Tijuana addr. : SRA

20. Nada : Nogales :: __ : Reims : RIEN - some alliteration, too

21. Phone user : TALKER - oops, not CALLer

23. County in Ulster : TYRONE

 

in the middle of the yellow

25. Some broken pegs, or where they're found : TEES - clever; I had no clue to start with

27. Multi-purpose shortening : ETC.

28. Cooler tenant : CON - cooler as in jail, the clink, ETC. - although ICE was a good thought; straight clecho with 31. Cooler tenant : THIEF

29. Crew tools : OARS - got it

30. 4-Down in France : THE - circumreferential with; 4. 30-Across in America : TEA

34. Pot addition : ANTE - two weeks in a row I'm in the black at the poker table~! I pulled four 6's in one hand - and nothing wild

35. Patriot target : SCUD

36. Went berserk : HAD A FIT - oops, I filled in HAD AT IT

38. Sushi bar appetizer : EDAMAME

40. "... crafty seer, with __ wand": Pope : EBON

41. "__ Yankees" : DAMN - such language~!

43. Feet in a meter? : IAMBS - I tried BEATS

44. Title of respect, in Tokyo : SAN - ah, yes, Daniel-san

45. Bug zappers? : SERA - the stomach and flu kind of bugs

46. Ed. basics : RRR - the three "R"s; reading, (w)riting, 'rithmetic

47. "Major Crimes" network : TNT

48. Green Smoke product : eCIG - I think I'll get one with the money from my B-day; the new car stinks of cigar with the windows closed in the winter

49. Misbehaves : ACTS UP

53. Take back : RECALL - here's my mistake; I had recaNT, which messed up my SW

55. Mark for good : ETCH

57. Old televangelism letters : PTL

58. Second-largest Middle East country : IRAN - behind Saudi Arabia, but I was surprised to see Yemen at #3 - I guess Turkey is not considered part of the area

59. Wipe out : ANNIHILATE

62. Scrapple ingredient : PORK

64. Waves home : SEA - and another pure clecho with; 24. Waves home : OCEAN

65. Cell notice : EMAIL ALERT - my first thought, but I hesitated

DOWN:

1. Slap spot : WRIST

2. Edsel's father : HENRY - Ford Motor Company men

3. "Making AIDS History" org. : amfAR - american foundation for AIDS Research

5. Brand in many a Moscow mule : SMIRNOFF - I got it, but I didn't know why - turns out, it's a drink
Hey - Wilber Charles, that's "Sloth", from Bill W., St 6, 12 & 12~!
 

6. "The Barefoot Contessa" Oscar winner Edmond : O'BRIEN

7. Island goose : NENE - official bird of the state of Hawaii

8. 1776 battleground : TRENTON - got it from half perps

9. Morning hrs. : AMs - my AM yesterday was not a good one - my 'private' road did not get plowed, and I could not get to UPS. 

10. Bugged : PESTERED

11. Like some wills : ORAL

16. Car in a King title : MERCEDES - Ah, this book, from Stephen King.  I thought it was a reference to "Lord Won't You Buy Me", but that's Joplin

22. Biblical beast : ASS

26. All gone : EATEN

31. Busy Las Vegas area : THE STRIP

33. "Whatever" : "I DON'T CARE."

34. Arcade giant : ATARI - I had two memorable Birthdays - the first one being back in Fifth Grade, when I had just two friends come over - but it snowed as bad that night as it did this year; thought it was canceled, but the moms brought them over in the storm, and we played Atari 2600 all.  night.  long.

35. Sting : SMART

37. "Well, well!" : "I DECLARE~!"

39. Carrier to Beijing : AIR CHINA - semi-shout out to our host~!

42. Fuchsia cousin : MAGENTA

 

45. Pommes frites seasoning : SEL - salt

46. Weisz of "The Constant Gardener" : RACHEL - I liked her in "Constantine"
 

50. Soil mover : SPADE

51. Absolute : UTTER

52. Kilt fold : PLEAT

54. "My Way" lyricist : ANKA

56. Arboreal Amazon monkey : TITI

 

This is what I did on my Birthday

60. Georges, par exemple : NOM - Frawnche, name

61. Tiny, in a tiny way : LI'L

Splynter

Saturday, Feb 4th, 2017 David C. Duncan-Dekker

Theme: DCDD

Words: 68 (missing J,X,Z)

Blocks: 33

Well I just about smoked through this puzzle, despite having no answers for the first three long Across fills. A pinwheel grid with triple 10-letter corners meant easier 4-letter fills for crossings, and some of them were too much of a 'gimme' for a Saturday construction.  Hey, they gotta throw us a bone once in a while, no~?  Very few proper names, I knew all of them, and several other clues were in my wheelhouse as well.  One from each corner;

1. Runway covering : TARMACADAM - here I thought this was redundant, as TAR and MACADAM were the same thing, but I went looking and discovered I was wrong

57. Flipper, for one : BOTTLENOSE - I started with "TV----", but 'character' was too long; for some reason, I thought dolphins were "bottleNECK".  Ooops

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

13. Not yet on the shelves : UNRELEASED - my book is unreleased - and uh, unwritten, right now....

24. 1956 rockabilly hit : BE-BOP-A-LULA - before my time, but the phrase appears in this song, which I have linked before, but I think it's worth hearing again

The Afterlife

Paul SimONWARD~!

ACROSS:

11. Border : ABUT - dah~! Not EDGE

15. Hedge : EQUIVOCATE

16. Mellow, with "down" : TONE

17. Source of sweet-scented spice : NUTMEG TREE

18. Car alarm : HORN

19. What suspects may be charged with : TASERS - suspect or perp~?  One can be a suspect without getting tased in the process - I hope

20. Grease, often : FAT

21. Squeezed (out) : EKED - gimme

22. Something else : LULU

23. First name in legal fiction : ERLE - his Wiki

24. Good yield : BUMPER CROP

 

Looks like it's gonna be a good year~!

30. Not a good look : LEER - gimme

31. Made possible : ENABLED

32. Pan Am competitor : TWA - ugh.  I tried UAL, then NWA, and finally got it right

34. Darken, in a way : TAN - ooh, I was close with DYE at first

35. Ordered : BOSSED - yesterday my senior boss thought he'd tell me how to load one of my trucks - so I said to him "why don't you just go sit in the office~?"

36. Manage poorly : ILL USE

38. Leftover bit : ORT - gimme

39. Kid's cry : "MOM~!"

41. Dresses : ATTIRES - ah, the verb, not the noun

42. Like some horses : PIED - pondered "ROAN"

44. Hunting dogs : COONHOUNDS

46. Business opening : AGRO - thought it was agrI, but....

47. Letter-shaped fastener : T-NUT

48. Depict artistically : LIMN

49. Certain game extensions, briefly : OTs - the NY Rangers won in OT on Thursday

50. Force user : OBI-WAN - I use the Force - it keeps me sober

56. Hand or foot : UNIT - measures, not "limbs"

59. "Constant Craving" singer : LANG - k.d., and I remembered this song

60. Police may look for one : EYEWITNESS

61. Gucci or Rossi : ALDO - perps

62. Some talk show personalities : RADIO HOSTS

DOWN:

1. Big top, e.g. : TENT - gimme

2. Water color : AQUA

3. Groovy things : RUTS - "LPs" was too short

4. Street performer : MIME - gimme

5. Claim : AVER

6. Minor players : COGS

7. Perform : ACT - gimme

8. War-torn Sudanese region : DARFUR - featured in this song from Thievery Corporation

9. Got stuffed : ATE A LOT

10. Join for a drink, say : MEET UP WITH - only if it's coffee - OK, Diet Coke, too

11. Close behind : AT HEEL

12. Library feature : BOOK RETURN

 

14. Gentle quality : TENDERNESS

22. Flat-panel TV component : LCD - had in, took it out

25. Hardly fresh : UNORIGINAL

26. Code-breaking game with colored pegs : MASTERMIND - ah, I remember this game, but I never played it

27. __ Kids: "Sesame Street" brand : PBS - perps

28. Am or Fm : ELEMent - almost got me; I went with BAND first, but this is Americium and Fermium

29. Fictional Soviet sub : RED OCTOBER - I can think of a more difficult way to clue this on Saturday - e.g. "sub captained by Ramius"

33. Chorus line? : ALTO

37. Voice of Master Viper in "Kung Fu Panda" films : LIU

40. Flamenco guitarist Carlos : MONTOYA - perps gave me MONT---, and given the occupation/first name....

41. Social worker? : ANT - gimme

43. "What's the rush?" : "DON'T GO...."

45. Kicked to the curb : OUSTED

50. A little of this, a little of that : OLIO - I have not seen this in a puzzle for a long time - but I don't get to the weekday puzzles much

51. One of the March sisters : BETH - I had the -ET-, so I figured BETH was a good choice

52. __ time : IN NO

53. Tribulations : WOES

54. No. 2 : ASST. - Always reminds me of Dr. Evil

55. Headland : NESS - new definition for me

58. Light head? : TWI - twilight; second "lead-in" clue in the grid (46a.), which is unusual

Splynter

Saturday, Jan 28th, 2017, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: "hashtag"

Words: 70 (missing Q,W,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

HA~!!!  This one was looking bleak for the longest time, with a lot of proper names and vague clues, but I surprised myself by getting it done with nary a single cheat, Google, or red-letter peek.  And within my personal allotted time, as well.  The puzzle itself had to be a truly difficult one to construct, with triple spanners crossing triple climbers, in a "#"-like pattern.  Very clever.  I have to admire constructors who can pull this off without "meh" fill.  In retrospect there was a lot of 'crosswordese' which I have seen before, including a repeat of last week's 'keeping it real'.  The long fills;

20. Quantum mechanics symbol : SCHRODINGER'S CAT - I've posted a link to this before, and the more I try to understand it, the more my brain hurts.  I get it, but the more I read, the more I don't get it

37. Herbie and Christine : SELF-DRIVING CARS - one friendly, one no so friendly; Christine was one of the first 'adult' books I ever read, and as a result, the Buick Cutlass Supreme Brougham that I was driving at the time earned the name "Christine"; the new Dodge is "Daphne"

52. Game with a disc : ULTIMATE FRISBEE - my first thought was Frisbee, but the 'ultimate' part eluded me

4. Like the Toyota Prius : ENERGY EFFICIENT - a"repeat" from last week

7. Gadget affected by waves : SOUND LEVEL METER

10. Like some aquariums : CLOSED ECOSYSTEM

ACROSS:

1. Spent : JADED - there are days when I am definitely "jaded" at UPS

6. Wine city SSE of the Matterhorn : ASTI - looking back, I shoulda recognized this as merely Saturday cluing for a common crossword fill

10. Pasta alle vongole ingredient : CLAM - no clue; had two crossings, and the other two letters were WAGs

14. 1955 Dior innovation : A LINE - I remembered this from previous puzzles, too, but I needed two crossings to jog my memory

15. Create, in a way : COIN - one of the line supervisors claims to have "coined" the term DERP, which ended up being the route name of one of my UPS trucks - until the driver looked it up, and said he didn't like the name anymore; so we changed the name of the route to DOUG

16. Actress Loughlin : LORI - I thought it was SARA - and of course, I had the "R" in place

17. Plague : BESET - "beset" always reminds me of the Pulp Fiction scene where Jules recites Ezekiel 25:17 - with a little embellishment from Quentin, naturally

18. Vintage vessels : TUNS - dah~!  Not URNS nor TUGS

19. Silver sources : ORES

23. __ wire : GUY - the sound effects guys on Star Wars used one to create the sound of the lasers in the movie

24. "Piece of cake!" : "DEAD EASY~!"

25. Be true to oneself : STAY REAL - another 'repeat' from last week

29. Poor, as an excuse : SAD

30. Roast runner : EMCEE

31. Dramatic start? : MELO - melodramatic

33. Place with Sundance : ETTA - crafty - I did not know Etta Place was Sundance Kid's wife - the Wiki

40. Adequate, in texts : ENUF

41. Tablet operator : USER

42. Capital at the foot of Vitosha Mountain : SOFIA - Saturday cluing

43. Network with a lot of reruns : ION - they started running Burn Notice, which I got hooked on - glad I have a Firestick so I can watch the episodes in sequence now

Love the sunglasses

45. End of the line : LAST STOP

47. Shore scavenger : BEACH BUM - I was thinking "birds" for some reason

51. Crowbar, e.g. : PRY

57. Architect Mies van der __ : ROHE - knew it, just couldn't remember how to spell it

58. Big name in credit : CITI

59. It's quite a blast : N-TEST

60. Reinterpret : SPIN

61. "Ad Parnassum" painter : KLEE - again, no clue.  WAG

uh-huh....

62. Pass without flying colors : GET a C

63. __ dress : TENT - not as appealing as an A LINE dress, IMHO

64. Vassal : SERF  semi-clecho with; 53d. Vassal's venue : FIEF

65. Line drive, say : SMASH - baseball

DOWN:

1. Sharp criticisms : JABS

2. Smart guy? : ALEC - har-har

3. Bobby Flay creation : DISH - a blank WAG on my part, and clearly a good one

5. Avoided traffic, perhaps : DETOURED

6. When Valjean is released from prison : ACT I - I have learned how to interpret clues like this; fill in "ACT" and wait; it was most likely going to be "I".  From Les Misérables, which I know little about

8. Soupçon : TINGE

9. Like Halloween pumpkins : IN SEASON

11. "Oda a Salvador Dalí" poet García __ : LORCA - no clue again

12. Domains : AREAS

13. Indistinct : MISTY

21. Batik need : DYE

22. Dietary no. : RDA

25. Zaire's Mobutu __ Seko : SESE - got it because it's crosswordese again

26. Counterfeit cops? : T-MEN - Treasury agents

27. Scopes Trial gp. : ACLU

28. Nice friends : AMIs - Frawnche

32. Late Ottoman currency : LIRA - I first read this as "LIKE", not "LATE", so I didn't get it

34. Chief justice before Hughes : TAFT

35. Small club group : TRIO

36. "Pronto!" : ASAP

38. Football plays with special teams : RUNBACKS

39. D neighbors on most guitars : G-STRINGS - because the "other" G-string definition is unacceptable here

44. Bit of resistance : OHM - unit of measure for resistance

46. Easter time: Abbr. : SPRing

47. Star or cloud follower : BURST -Starburst, cloudburst; we had plenty of that here Tuesday

48. Cut out for a union? : ELOPE - ah, that kind of union

49. Walk __ line : A THIN

50. Handy : UTILE

54. Test release : BETA

55. Those, in Tenerife : ESAS

56. Permanently mark : ETCH - oops, not SCAR

Splynter

Saturday, Jan 21st, 2017, Neville Fogarty

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing F,J,Q,X,Y)

Blocks: 30

Well it's about time I smoked through a Saturday puzzle; I was starting to wonder if the difficulty level was ever going to come down.  I recognized the constructor's name, and I sensed that I had struggled with his grids in the past - but I was wrong.  It has been over four years since he last gave us a Saturday challenge, and that one was a fun romp, too - my words.  Six ten-letter answers in today's grid, with triple 8- and 6-letter corners;

 4. Some breaks in the NFL action : TV TIMEOUTS

20. Biting criticism : ACID TONGUE

12. Fruity chip go-with : MANGO SALSA

29. Contemporary "Be yourself" : KEEP IT REAL - I liked Dave Chapelle's "when Keeping it Real goes wrong", but due to the "adult content", I must refrain from posting it here  :7))

50. Dark personification : GRIM REAPER

27. Goes wild : WHOOPS IT UP

ON❤ARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Robin on '60s TV : BURT WARD - oh so proud of myself for filling in SIDEKICK, and it worked well with my 15a, too

9. Mischievous kids : SCAMPS

15. What one taking a flight doesn't use? : ELEVATOR - a flight of stairs, and it didn't fool me

16. Mustang rival : CAMARO - I'll take the Mustang every day of the week, twice on Sunday

17. Abomination : ANATHEMA

18. Common soccer result : ONE-NIL - hockey games that end 1-0 are boring

19. Coach Eric Taylor's wife on "Friday Night Lights" : TAMI - perps

22. Hardboard brand : MASONITE - at first I was ashamed that I couldn't nail this one, but then when the crossings filled in, I realized "hardboard" is not the same in different places - for me, hardboard is the compressed sheets of wood fibers that pegboard is made from.  Masonite is a dense form of cardboard for model making and notice boards  - and like "Q-tip" and "Band-Aid"; it's a brand name that has become synonymous with the product

24. William Donovan's WWII org. : OSS

25. Dropped jaws : WOWED 'EM

28. Computer media : DISKS - perps got me all but the "K", and I wondered if it might be "C"

30. Cold sound? : "ACHOO~!"

31. "Star Trek" rank: Abbr. : ENS. - the one I can think of is Ro, from The Next Generation

32. __ St. Louis : EAST - vague, but it's Saturday

35. Exodus pronoun : THOU - THEE or THOU~? Had to wait

36. Liquid diet component : BROTH - my liquid diet of some years ago did NOT consist of broth....

38. "The Time Machine" race : ELOI - Crosswordese

39. Traffic sound : TOOT - dah~! Not HONK

40. Jethro Tull frontman Anderson : IAN - I knew this - but I am not a fan; Iron Maiden covered Cross-eyed Mary

Note the Grim Reaper on the card

41. Big name in printers : EPSON - CANON~? XEROX~?  Ugh.  Had to wait

42. Library exchanges : PSSTs - BOOKS fit, but I doubted it was the answer; my last fill was the "S", tho I had "A" there first - hey PSATS sounded reasonable - but no ta-DA~!

44. Drea de Matteo's role on "The Sopranos" : ADRIANA - did not watch the show, filled via perps

46. Sources of remote power : AAs - TV remotes, etc.

48. Balderdash : UTTER ROT - ever play Balderdash~? Great board game

52. Speeds (up) : REVS

56. More affected, in a way : ARTIER

Black & White - I'm getting "artier"

57. More than familiar with : INURED TO - my "SAGAS" at 49d. led me to GEARED TO

59. Arrive copiously : POUR IN

60. Some summer homes : COTTAGES

61. Toll road convenience : E-Z PASS - word is, NY State is going total E-Z Pass and unmanned booths; cameras will catch those who don't play well with others.  I already have my tags

62. Site of Napoleon's last exile : St. HELENA

DOWN:

1. Overpower : BEAT

2. Radius neighbor : ULNA

3. Office quantity : REAM

5. Nursery noise : WAH - guitar noise, too, for those who know

6. Base command : AT EASE

7. "Think Like a Man Too," e.g. : ROM-COM

8. Exhaust : DRAIN

9. Terrier type : SCOTTISH

10. Participates in a camp activity : CANOES

11. Grace closing : AMEN

Amen~!

13. Hybrid hatchback : PRIUS - there are two kinds of Prius owners - either the ones who drive so slow that they never use the gasoline engine, or the other ones, who should have never invested in a hybrid in the first place - a Mustang would have been cheaper for these leadfoots

14. They may leave prints : SOLES

21. "We __ Start the Fire": Billy Joel : DIDN'T - great song; much of the history pre-dates me, and being the curious type, had to find out more

I arrived during "punk rock" @ 3:25

23. Shakespearean title word : ADO

25. Power eponym : WATT - James Watt, who made the first major improvement to the steam engine - the Wiki

26. Dos cubed : OCHO - 2³, in Spanish

31. Great spell : EON - spell as in stretch of time

33. "Are we there yet?" reply : SOON

34. Brown of publishing : TINA - no clue, all perps and WAG

36. Marshland waders : BITTERNS - had some of the crossings, and this rose up from the depths of my mind

37. Dreaded figure? : RASTA

41. "__ e Leandro": Handel cantata : ERO

43. "Yup!" : "SURE IS~!" - followed by:

44. "Nope!" : "ARE NOT~!"

45. Longtime "Sexually Speaking" host : Dr. RUTH - had it, took it out with SAGAS being wrong

46. Catching flies, so to speak : AGAPE

47. Pollo partner : ARROZ - Chicken and rice

49. Sweeping stories : EPICS - SAGAS~? Bzzzt~!

51. "Look, amigo!" : "MIRA~!" - rockin' the Spanish today; I need to learn more - it's the dominant language in the kitchens where I work

53. One of a cube's dozen : EDGE - so proud of myself for figuring this out

54. Engine with a lot of juice : V-TEN - pondered V-tec, from Honda, but V-10 makes more sense; popular in the Dodge Viper - check out this Viper~!

55. Slugger who began and ended his career as a Texas Ranger : SOSA - Good WAG for me

58. Hwy., e.g. : RTE

Splynter