google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Saturday, October 1, 2011 Barry C. Silk

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Oct 1, 2011

Saturday, October 1, 2011 Barry C. Silk

Theme: None

Words: 70

Blocks: 28

October starts "ORFF" (32D) with a Saturday Silk - and started rough, but ended up-

20A. Not so tough : EASIER

At least for me; lots of 9's, 8's, & 7's, two 12-letter climbers, and two 10's;

35A. Space-saving display : FLATSCREEN - which we had (mostly) yesterday, it's counterpart being;

30A. They fall in war films : PARATROOPS;

which altered my original "SHOOT OUT GOAL" to-

20D. Hockey game clincher : EMPTY NET GOAL - such a huge sigh of relief in a tightly played 3-2 game; it's counterpart being;

5D. Carnegie Deli offering : KOSHER PICKLE - I was thinking pastrami something....never been, but really need to - living 60mi from "the city"

Onward~!

ACROSS:

1. Party leader : HOST - semi-misdirection, but I wasn't fooled

5. ___ Sea, off Siberia : KARA - map

9. Short-necked European fruit : ANJOU - Pear didn't fit, but the "U" from USER IDs made the "brand name" obvious

14. Neutralizer of a sort : ANTI-TOXIN - without this, you'll be sucking the poison out

16. Theater name : LOEWS

17. Ben Franklin, e.g. : STATESMAN

18. City on the Aar : BERNE - Switzerland

19. Solutions for unfair situations? : GALOSHES - We are still in unfair, "not fair" weather conditions here, but I like rainy days

21. Modern address : URL - Uniform Resource Locator

22. "1-2-3" singer Barry : LEN - I had this clue not too long ago

23. Tracker or Canyon : GMC - the automobiles, that is

24. Fifth-century date : CDI - years 401-500, in Roman Numbers; C=100, D=500

25. Haberdashery item : TIEBAR

27. Brand for which Garfield was once spokescat : ALPO

28. Patricia Neal's Oscar film : HUD

29. Fountain output : SODA

33. One may go over your head : HAIRDRYER


38. Brothers : FRAS - the 'order of' type brothers, in Italian

42. Lucy of "Kill Bill" : LIU - her

43. Body protector : SKIN - had S-u-I-t, which helped

44. Worn out : EFFETE

46. Gives a thumbs-up : OKs

47. Antiquity, quaintly : ELD

48. Old televangelism letters : PTL

49. Burden : TAX

50. Adjust at the garage, perhaps : RE-TUNE

52. Composer for whom an annual violin competition is named : PAGANINI - the "rock N roll" start of his time; quote here

54. Nonreactive : INERT

55. Deadpan features : MONOTONES - Steven Wright, e.g.

56. Suit material : SERGE

57. Woman in a tree? : GREAT-AUNT - not fooled, talkin' family tree....

58. Suit material : TWEED

59. Give away : TELL

60. Tablets from docs : MEDS

DOWN:

1. Shows nerve : HAS GUTS

2. London's setting : ONTARIO - map, middle

3. Conked out : STALLED

4. One of the Jacksons : TITO

6. Dismissive sorts? : AXMEN

7. Narrow inlets : RIAS

8. "Barbara __": Beach Boys hit : ANN - I'll leave the links to the commentors

9. White meat source : ALBACORE - Tuna

10. Rejections : NOES

11. Bible's City of Palm Trees : JERICHO - my mother is a teacher-aide at Jericho Elementary School

12. Confessed : OWNED UP

13. They get you in : USER IDs

15. Magnetic induction unit : TESLA

23. Driving problem : GLARE

26. Currency with King Mongkut on the fifty : BAHT - Siam, and the king in "The King and I"

27. "As You Like It" forest : ARDEN - Shakespeare

31. Secret rival : ARRID - Secret and Arrid, two brand-name deodorants

32. "O Fortuna" composer : ORFF - more here

34. Agreed : ASSENTED

35. Wedding arranger? : FLORIST

36. Perfectly restored : LIKE NEW

37. Stark : AUSTERE

39. Attendants : RETINUE

40. Done : AT AN END

41. Many Suffragette opponents : SEXISTS - "what's wrong with being sexy?" -IST

45. Half a legendary bluegrass duo : FLATT - & Scruggs - here

48. Advisory group : PANEL

51. Press : URGE

52. Minute opening : PORE

53. First name in linguistics : NOAM - Chomsky

55. Co. heads : MGT - ManaG"E"menT

Answer grid.

That's how you start the month with Silk and Splynter ~!!!

Splynter

22 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

Rough one for me. Never heard of KARA Sea. Clue for GALOSHES completely flummoxed me. Didn't know that particular definition of EFFETE. Etc., etc., etc. Lots of really nice clues, though, as well as fresh answers, so it was all good.

Argyle said...

19-Across was unfair, down-right foul. Like FLOWER meaning something that flows, UNFAIR clued as bad weather will only exist in crosswordese. Find me a dictionary that has either of those two meanings and I'll eat it...or at least that page.

Anonymous said...

Typical Saturday penciled in northeast and southeast Had to go to blog!!!!! Interesting tho. Aunt in a tree???

Anonymous said...

Always start out Saturday Silkies thinking this will be my first DNF. Then I calm down and make it through and groan at the clever cluing. Went SW to NE to SE to NW. Splinter--loved your film clips and refs. Most hilarious was City Slickers 2. Classic comedy. Thanks for tears of laughter on a Saturday a.m.

HeartRx said...

Good Morning Splynter, C.C. et al.

I didn't start ORFF on the right foot either, Splynter. I finally had to gg ORFF and LEN in order to finish.

I rather enjoyed the misleading clues - it is Saturday, after all... And several learning moments that might actually stick thanks to your links, Splynter. NOAM Chomski always gets me, but I read the entire article today and may actually remember him next time!

Off to help BFF unpack at her new house. Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!

Grumpy 1 said...

Wow! This Silkie Saturday almost became a Saturday Stumper. The first pass through didn't yield many entries that I was sure about, a few that were written in lightly so I could "edit" them, and a vast expanse of white spaces. I finally got a solid toehold in the SW when I guessed SERGE and TWEED in the proper order. That let me crawl up through the middle and branch into the top corners. The SE refused to fall for a long time though, until I finally remembered FLATT and Scruggs.

GREAT AUNT??? Oh, family tree. DOH! ORFF was a total unknown, even with OR_F staring at me. The lightbulb (low wattage, to comply with government standards) finally went on and I realized the brothers weren't sibs.

Definitely a Saturday level. Thanks Barry for the puzzle and Splynter for tying up all of theloose ends.

Husker Gary said...

See Gary. See Gary’s finger. See Gary’s finger almost turn on the computer and give up. See Gary raise finger as #1 solver in his sun room! Ok, the only solver! What a fun trip despite items I didn’t know or ones where alternates seemed to fit! Wow!

Musings
-I had OVERTIMEGOAL. Aarrgghh!
-A snake bite in the butt where you need the poison sucked out. That’s when you find out who your friends are!
-Tin and I might have kin in Berne
-HAIRSTYLE went over my head first
-Why do so many of those TV evangelists wind up in sexual misadventures or with bad eye makeup
-Spriro resurrected nabobs and effete
-London, England? Nope. Jack London novel? Nope. Canada!
-I thought a PIANIST might arrange for a wedding
-A RETINUE is now a posse (usually parasitic!)
-I thought NOAH Webster might be the linguist

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I woke up early this morning and somehow gravitated to Barry Silk's puzzle. Splynter, thanks for the explanations.

I didn't have any idea about TESLA, ORFF or PAGANINI, and I thought EFFETE was more "weak and decadent", rather than "Worn out".

Me too, HG, I really thought I had 53D)"First name in linguistics" as NOAH (Webster). After all, he wrote a dictionary that is still around today.

Another sure thing gone wrong was entering RE-PARK at 50A, instead of RE-TUNE.

How could I have a problem with 2D)London's setting/ONTARIO? I lived there for five years. Oh well, it has been over L years. As you can see, I am trying to master Roman numerals.

Our realtor is showing the house this morning, so we are heading to an early movie matinee. Have a nice day everyone.

Yellowrocks said...

This took a very, very long time, but was fun. HAS GALOSHES really threw me. I doubted it was right, but kept it in. I agree that UNFAIR weather borders on the unfair as a clue. Fun clues for me were white meat- ALBACORE, modern address -URL, and especially, woman in a tree -GREAT AUNT.

O Fortunata is in Carmina Burana by Orff. I saw this impressive ballet which included singing, as well as orchestra and dancing.

JD said...

Good morning all,

Not so silky for me. DNF the SE corner, but then I had spent my hour, so refused to go to G. Looking up Orff would have helped, but reading Splynter is so much better.

Galoshes for that clue does not jive with me...liked "one may go over your head"

Don't get why great aunt works for that clue either. Was on another page for monotones..sigh, and effete was out of my league.

I ALWAYS enjoy the challenge, and Mr. Silk is a master.

Tinbeni said...

Splinter; Thanks for explaining my
INK-BLOT test.

DNF (my nemesis, Silky, got me again).
Oh well, at least I tried.

Husker, BERNE probably has Tinbeni's making lots of chocolate with your relatives. LOL

Argyle, the Yankee's needed GALOSHES as they waited out that "unfair situation" last night.
(I hate "Unfair situation" delays.)

And my PARATROOPS don't "fall" from planes.
They jump!!!

On-the-other-hand, Gal-Pal has gone CRAZY over the Tampa Bay Rays!!!
After our Wednesday Trop-Trip, I should have known ...
Geez, she wants them to prevail even if they meet-up against MY(her?) beloved "Evil-Empire."
Yeah, it is NUTS around here!!!

Cheers for the Rays at Sunset ...

Grumpy 1 said...

It seems that searches for "unfair weather" point to either a Pokemon episode titled "Unfair Weather Friends" or a Garfield episode titled "Unfair Weather". Now the question: which one was Barry's inspiration for this clue?

Argyle said...

Very good, Grumpy 1. Now can you find somewhere, outside of crosswords, the use of FLOWER to mean one that flows?

Jayce said...

All this puzzle succeeded in doing was to make me mad. I get extremely frustrated when, especially after much struggle, solving some entries adds zero help in figuring out the entries that cross them. For example, even after finally getting GREATAUNT, even with PAGANINI already filled, I gained no help whatsoever in figuring out the downs in that corner. It was like that pretty much throughout the whole thing. I have been unable to finish puzzles before, plenty of them, but usually don't feel so angry and frustrated as this one made me feel. But heck, I knew from the beginning it was going to be damn hard. Just not that hard.

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Yep, hard it was. I had to look up a lot. Oh, and what Barry said.

The best learning moment, however, was putting a name at last to that compelling piece of music I've heard in bits and pieces over the years, mostly in movies. Marvelous choral piece, that.

Another gray and soggy day in Mass. Unfair indeed.

Anonymous said...

15-Down is clued incorrectly. The unit of magnetic induction is the HENRY. TESLA is the unit of magnetic field.

Jayce said...

Anonymous at 4:19 PM, you make a good point. I didn't know at first whether the answer they were looking for was going to be HENRY, GAUSS, or TESLA until I filled a perp or two.

Abejo said...

Good Afternoon, folks.Thank you, Barry Silk, for a great Saturday puzzle. It was not easy, but it worked. Thank you, Splynter, for the great write. I was hoping for a song from Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys. I have quite a few here.

Started slowly. Hunted and pecked around the puzzle. got a few words here and there.

I wanted HENRY for 15D, but realized that TESLA was the answer.

Have no idea what a Carnegie Deli is. But, with perps, got the KOSHER PICKLE.

Missed on 53D. Had NOAH (for Webster). I will try to remember NOAM in the future.

I actually got GALOSHES. The clue had a question mark. I had a few of the letters from perps. It fit.

HUD came easily. I remember the movie well.

Not sure about FRAS. Is that an abbreviation? If so, the clue should have indicated that. Still do nlot like foreign words.

I bought my Sunday paper (for the crossword) and am heading for Pennsylvania tonight. Taking the train to Buffalo, then down to PA on a bus. Total cost $85.

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

eddyB said...

Hello.

Wasn't going to do this one until I saw 20D. Turned out ok. Typical Sat.

Watched quals from Kentucky. Power has another P1. Ho-hum.

5 days until regular season starts.
San Jose at Phoenix tonight. XW will have to wait.

One perp told me they wanted Tesla.
Remembered ELI the ICE man.

eddy

Spitzboov said...

Good evening everyone. Just able to post, now.

What a great difficult, ultimately doable and fun puzzle. I am usually in awe when I see the challenge is by Barry, but we've had him enough to know that for the most part the fill is all common stuff. I was delighted to see the KOSHER PICKLE capped by the KARA Sea. Lots of oil being discovered there. Howled with delight when I finally sussed GREAT AUNT. Also liked the clueing for HAIR DRYER, ARRID, and PARATROOPS. WAGS included LIU, BAHT, and ANJOU. Vaguely remembered that BERNE was on the Aar.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

kazie said...

DNF today and yesterday, both impossible. I feel totally ignorant.

Abejo,
FRAS is short for a plural of the Latin FRATER, meaning brother. And therein ends my wisdom on this puzzle.

Lucina said...

Good evening, cyber friends. Thank you, Splynter, for starting October fun.

Very busy day today but I managed to finish 3/4 of this Silkie this morning. Came home late to attack the SE corner and could not conjure PAGANINI; after Googing it the whole section came together though EFFETE was a stretch.

Still I love Barry's misdirection such as 59D, give away, TELL and 57A, woman in a tree, GREATAUNT.

Everyone, I hope your Saturday was delightful! Good night.