Saturday, Nov 11th, 2017, Kristian House

Theme: Eleven-eleven~!

Words: 68 (missing J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 30

Good day and a salute to all Veterans.  I did not recognize the constructor's name, but he has three puzzles under his LA Times belt, his last being two years ago.  Today's offering was a smooth one, done in half my personal allotted time, with a lot of proper names that filled via perp(endiculars).  Just one bad cel that I should have recognized as being wrong, but had to change to red-letters to find it.  A hashtag pattern of 15-letter spanners and climbers, with 9- and 10-letter fills paired to them;

20. Unplanned acquisition : IMPULSE PURCHASE - that's why the candy is at the register

10. Dreaming, at times : WISHFUL THINKING - most people say "Eleven-eleven, make a wish~!" - I change it to 'say a prayer'
 
50. Litmus test for fun? : BARREL OF MONKEYS - here's a barrel that does not look like fun;

Note the forklift

4. Statement after an ordeal : "I COULD USE A DRINK" - this sometimes slips past my lips, even though I have been in a 12-step program for some 12+ years; good thing I read "24 Hours A Day" every morning;  Nov 8th had this quote -

Philippians 3:13~!

ACROSS:

1. It sold its mobile phone business to Microsoft in 2014 : NOKIA - When I first read this, I thought it said mobile HOME business - and I thought "what would Microsoft need that for~?"

6. Econ. numbers : GDPs - Gross Domestic Product; I tried GNP, that which I learned way back in economics - the Gross National Product

10. Beverage sometimes boxed : WINE - oh yes it is~!  In fact, it is rather popular among our clientele - we are down to the last of last year's supply in boxed wine.

 The Tasting Room in front of the office/warehouse

14. Build : ERECT

15. Square calculation : AREA

16. Title type: Abbr. : ITAL - TYPE type I get, but Title type, not so much.  It crossed "IT'S A SECRET", but mine started with "I'VE" - thus my bad cel

17. Serf of Sparta : HELOT - filled via perps, but now that I see it, I have heard the term before

18. Backstage accesses : VIP PASSES

22. Kylo's mom in "The Force Awakens" : LEIA - And Han is daddy - er, or, was - should I have called spoiler alert~!?

23. Hairdos made popular by Marie Antoinette : POUFS

24. Home to the National Gandhi Museum : NEW DELHI

28. Showing faith in : TRUE TO

31. Jesus on a diamond : ALOU - my first thought, but I waited; baseball reference

32. __ Linda, Calif. : LOMA - I'm East Coast - filled via perps

34. Metal giant : ALCOA

35. Kia subcompacts : RIOS - knew this

36. Smartphone downloads : SONGS

38. "Divergent" heroine __ Prior : TRIS - never heard of the novel/movie, so I didn't know this character; 

sounds a little like "The Hunger Games", which I have read, 

but only attempted to watch; I just don't care for the casting.

39. Trainee : CADET

41. Zoomed : TORE - SPED did not work

42. Prefix with ski or pad : HELI - heli'pad', yes, heli'ski' - not in my vernacular.  I had to look it up - oh, now I recall the "spoRt", not the "spot"

43. John Williams quintet : OSCARS - I wanted VOWELS, but he's only got four (o,i,i,a), not five

45. Ones eating on the house? : TERMITES - cute. and clever.

47. "You've got __" : A DEAL

49. Novelist Hunter : EVAN

56. Judicious : ADVISABLE

57. "But wait! There's more!" knife : GINSU - "and if you act now, we'll throw in an additional set of knives for JUST the shipping and handling~!!!".  Handling~?  I don't recall getting any extra money for "handling" a Ginsu knife package....

58. Property attachment : LIEN - almost too easy for Saturday

59. Campus official : DEAN - same here

60. Tatted up : INKED - not for me, yet, but I have a design idea

61. Sting target : MARK - "The Sting" - great movie

"The Entertainer"

62. USMC rank : SSGT - staff sergeant

63. New __ : AGERS

DOWN:

1. Radar's pop : NEHI - oh, duh, his soda pop, not his DAD pop

2. Where Utah's minor league Owlz play : OREM - four letters and Utah~? Try OREM

3. Wet forest growth : KELP - forest~?  I just learned that "forest" is an underwater area with a high density of said kelp

5. Churchill's 1945 successor : ATTLEE

6. Cared : GAVE A HOOT

7. Worn-out washer result : DRIP - had my share at the restaurants; in fact, I think I have replaced every faucet in both places after four years of working at the locations

8. Invigorate : PEP-UP

9. Fungal disease affecting 40-Down : SAP ROT

11. "Shh! Don't tell anyone!" : "IT'S A SECRET~!"

12. Scottish resistance : NAEs

13. Otherwise : ELSE

19. Legend maker : ACURA - crossword foolery - this car

21. Spots for flowers : SILLS - delicate flowers~!

Is that toile~?

24. DEA employee : NARCO - I prefer "NARC" to the added "O"

25. Literature Nobelist Canetti : ELIAS

26. Geppetto, for one : WOODCARVER - I tried wood WORKER, which was a big help

27. "__ kidding!" : "I'M NOT..."

29. Decorative curtain fabric : TOILE

30. Source of relief : OASIS - I needed some serious relief yesterday; got sawdust in my eye, and I tolerated it for half the day - then I tried to drive, and that exacerbated the irritation like I could not believe

33. Accord : AGREEMENT - HONDA didn't fit (har-har)

37. Electronic control mechanism : SERVO - funny how a word is common, and can be used in conversation, but when you get right down to it, I could not tell you exactly what a servomechanism really was, so I went to Wiki; their example suggests that a power window control is not, but cruise-control is. 

40. Pines, say : TREES - ah, this time, it's the noun, not the verb; 9d. should have clued me in

44. Menu heading : SALADS - ah, restaurants, not computers

46. Italian "Eat!" : "MANGIA~!" - my mom used to say this at dinner - and she is 100% English

48. Frontal and temporal : LOBES

50. Lip application : BALM

51. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit : ADIA - vowel friendly crossword staple

52. Mark for attention : FLAG - Mark's a popular guy in the is crossword - see 61a.

53. Three-time speed skating gold medalist Karin : ENKE

54. 1914 battle river : YSER - I'm reading a book from Christopher Reich called "The Runner", set immediately after WWII, and he mentions the ISAR river; seems odd that a man named Reich would be writing about post-war Germany

55. Kegger quaff : SUDS - A quote from one of my favorite movies;

we have kegs of wine at Lieb, too

Splynter