Words: 70
Blocks: 31
I was expecting a Barry Silk puzzle this week~! A deceptively simple-looking grid with nothing longer than these two 11-letter entries;
6D. Whiteout cause : SNOW SQUALL - well, I knew it was a winter weather wonder, but SNOWSTORM wasn't long enough
26D. Patriot who led the capture of Fort Ticonderoga : ETHAN ALLEN - like most of the proper names in today's puzzle, I WAG-ed this one - but it made sense, and fit, so....
- and some other 8- and 9-letter fill worth a mention;
32. Ellis Bell, to Emily Brontë : PSEUDONYM - just a great word, and unique to the world of orthorunic construction; I had the 'Y' down at the end, and thought "that has to be wrong", but then the 'PS' arrived, and the V-8 can came flying
39D. Guitarists' buys : B-STRINGS - well, I had a one-in-five chance at this, so I filled in "STRINGS" and waited ( there are two E-strings on a standard tuned guitar )
18A. Maryland beach town : OCEAN CITY - also unique, which seems odd, due to its collection of friendly letters - hey - WHAT'S the name of that body of water~!?!?! (map)
OnwarD ~!!!
ACROSS:
1. Buckle : CLASP - Two lines of thought - a bridge buckle, or a buckled bridge ~???
6. Countertop section : SLAB - yep, overthought this one - I had LEAF, which made sense to this carpenter, but....
10. Biodiverse habitat : REEF - I had the ---F at the end, but this didn't come to me right away
14. Funnyman with a horn : HARPO - before my time - I was stuck on Henny Youngman, even though I knew his prop was a violin
15. Spot of wine? : NAPA - cute; wine region of California
16. Pioneering pollster Roper : ELMO - all perps for me
17. Listing : ATILT
20. Press and such : MEDIA
21. Good location for a fault finder? : WEST COAST - who here at the blog lives closest to the San Andreas fault?
22. Paula of "He & She" : PRENTISS - another "Wild-Ass Guess"; TV before my time as well, but I find this kind of thing interesting
24. Carol opener : HARK - usually we see "ADESTE" and "O COME"; this is from "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" which did not start out as "lilting" as we know it today - Wiki
25. Rotational force : TORQUE - the guys on Top Gear UK are prone to cutting corners by referring to the 'pounds-foot' rating of an auto's engine as "torques"
27. Saw : ADAGE - despite being a carpenter, I did not fall for the 'tool' definition here
30. Mobile __ : APP
33. Loses control : ERUPTS - I had DRIFTS to start; guess I was thinking of my 42D watercraft after the engine has died
35. Book before Nehemiah : EZRA - Ha-HA~! Did not have to cheat using my "Bible Book" web page link~! Thank you perps~!
36. Waters near the South Pole : ROSS SEA - S, S, S - and three vowels, too - map
38. Like the Talmud : HEBRAIC - well, OK, I figured as much, but hesitated filling this in
40. Wingless parasite : FLEA
41. Dances in the end zone, maybe : GLOATS - and penalties are issued on the kick-off; hockey celebrations are usually accepted, unless you "shoot the goalie" (@2:19) - or this one
43. Ultimate : NTH - crosswordese
44. __ cabbage : SKUNK - for the green thumbs of the blog - link
46. Woolly : LANATE - straight from the Latin; covered in wool
48. A lot of noise : DINS
50. Stressful lifestyles : RAT RACES
54. Brightness detector : PHOTOCELL
57. 1986 rock memoir : I, TINA - Tina Turner, never read it
58. Uncovered, in a way : AU NATUREL - loved this fill; I had the "-UREL" and thought 'huh?' - but then it "revealed" itself to me; in the buff, stark naked, wearing the birthday suit....
59. Santa-tracking org. : NORAD - Keep this link as a future reference for kids and grand-kids; Santa is busy at work right now - got less than half a year to go...
61. Low : BASE
62. Fashion giant with headquarters in Florence : GUCCI
63. "Lost in Space" child actor Billy : MUMY - another WAG; had to plug in some vowels before my "Ta-Da~!" moment arrived; again, just before my time - I am a Star Wars child
64. Common-purpose gp. : ASSN
65. Aver : STATE
DOWN:
1. Contender's target : CHAMP
2. "Hasta la vista!" : "LATER~!"
3. Bad thing to be taken for : A RIDE - not "A FOOL"
4. Support piece : SPLINT - a semi-shout-out to yours, truly~??? My buddy Bob, who is going to be my apprentice on an upcoming job, usually refers to me as "Splynt"
5. Fries, say : POTATOES
7. Prepares to take the ice : LACES UP - I am a deck-hockey goalie; I lace up my bowling booties ( yes, Boomer, I have an alternative use for the smooth soled shoes~! ) for better side-to-side movement on the "Sport Court" tiles
8. Barbary beasts : APES
9. Party whose name means "renaissance" in Arabic : BA'ATH - political party; Wiki for those who care to read more
10. TiVo, e.g. : RECORDER
11. Co-founder of the Actors Studio : ELIA KAZAN - full name is always good to see; plus we get a "K" and a "Z"
12. Lifesavers, briefly : EMTs
13. Four-time Indy 500 winner : FOYT - another WAG; can't think of any other 4-letter racer names
19. Nonprofit sports org. with $846 million in revenue in 2010-'11 : NCAA - I had the --AA, so....
23. Discount rack abbr. : IRREGular
28. Moxie : GRIT
29. Every partner : EACH - Each and Every time I do the Saturday blog, I learn something new~!
30. Lab sounds : ARFs - again, not fooled by this reference to Labrador dogs
31. President who oversaw the issuance of the first U.S. postage stamp : POLK - yet another WAG, but I surmised that the idea of postage arose somewhere in the 19th century, so I just went down my mental list of 4-letter presidents - so it wasn't "TAFT", "FORD" or "BUSH"
34. Assailed : SET AT
37. Antiseptic : SANITARY - ah, the adjective, not the noun....
42. Like a motorboat : OARLESS
45. Massage target : KNOT - not ACHE
47. Avoid dishes, in a way : EAT OUT
49. Gear for shipwreck hunters : SCUBA
51. Dating qualifier : CIRCA
52. Pass : ENACT - more vagueness: the mountain route? the sporting move? the driving maneuver? oh, the political performance
53. "Sexy" Beatles woman : SADIE - a little song history - some strong language
54. Where to get a date : PALM - not the internet, for socializing, but the tree, for the fruit
55. Rwanda native : HUTU - new to me; I had HUT_, so maybe Jabba the HUTT and his race were from somewhere near the area....
56. They may span decades : ERAS
Answer grid.
Hey ~! I finally got the first check for a huge new project, which should afford me the ability to start the Home Inspection business; it's a handicap ramp for a church in Riverhead - check out my blog to see the progress~! (From C.C.: Huge congratulations! Click here to see Splynter's progress.)
Splynter
Morning, all!
ReplyDeleteAs with yesterday's puzzle, this one took a lot of chipping away until finally getting the job done.
I struggled to most in the SW section. Mobile APP didn't exactly spring to mind, so I went with Mobile GAS at first. I got the tricky cluing for 30D, but with GAS in place at 30A, I went with GRRS, which seemed to fit nicely with ROSS SEA at 36A.
32D took awhile because (a) I've never heard of Ellis Bell and (b) I refused to accept that 48A could be DINS, even after getting __NS.
I finally cleared the board in that section and grudgingly put in DINS. That let me get PSEUDONYM and SANITARY. Everything else fell into place soon thereafter.
On the bright side, I got MUMY right off the bat. Loved him in "Lost in Space" and "Babylon 5" many years later.
Good morning Splynter, C.C. et al.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your new project, "Splynt"!! I don't know why they didn't go with your original specs and build a hot-pink ramp?
Super smooth Saturday Silkie, with nary a nit in sight. Loved the clues for NAPA ("Spot of wine?") and WEST COAST ("Good place for a fault-finder").
I didn't know the BA'ATH party, but when it filled with perps, it seemed right. Same with MUMY. I really wanted 39D to be "g" STRINGS, but 'twas not to B !
Doesn't AUNA_____ seem like an unlikely beginning for a correct answer? It made me pause for a while in the SW. But I finally got 'er done with no lookups - yay!
Greetings, Saturday soldiers!
ReplyDeleteWe got another dose of BS (Barry Silk) today, and this one proved easier than most -- at least for me.
I had a few left turns -- ADIOS / LATER, ARAMAIC / HEBRAIC, SONAR / SCUBA, SWEAR / STATE, but still finished in faster-than-normal Saturday time.
Whazzaa body (of water)? ASSAWOMAN. Whazzaa mountain? MASSANUTTEN.
Time for that 10-mile pedal around the 'hood...
Hello Puzzlers -
ReplyDeleteBlazed through today's Silkie at warp speed for some reason, with a one-letter exception: the P in NAPA. For some reason I couldn't see that one answer, until the D'oh! moment.
Cross Eyed Dave from yesterday - yup, that's the right bot. In that episode, Sheldon's friends first meet the machine in the apartment, then comes the driving scene you linked, then Sheldon's office, and finally a scene at Penny's restaurant. The bot wears a coordinated T shirt at each place, of course. One of the top episodes!
Good morning all. I found this one a little easier than most Silkies, but it was still a real slog. First fill was Elmo, second Foyt and third Sadie. Final cell was that B above strings. I too wanted it to be a G, but of the 7 choices, the B seemed to be the best fit (I know, there's only 4 choices, but my knowledge of guitar strings ends at the 2 E's.)
ReplyDeleteHad a writeover at the end of au naturel, changing to an E from an A. I know the phrase, but the A looked correct. Thankfully Oarless would have no part of it.
So, another challenge met. Better get to work now.
Good morning everyone. Good commenting, Splynter.
ReplyDeleteA Silkie Saturday. Always a pleasure. Start out daunting, sync the wave length, and it becomes a bearable challenge. A few mis-steps: had 'adios' before LATER, and 'icemelt' before ROSS SEA. WTH it had 7 letters. Didn't know LANATE but it seemed right since we get lanolin from wool. ETHAN ALLEN was a gimme, and SNOW SQUALL came easily for us upstate New Yorkers. Other good fill included WEST COAST and PHOTO CELL. ELIA KAZAN was a WAG. Favorite fill was AU NATUREL No lookups and no extra time needed, unusual for a Saturday. Somewhat D-O's experience.
Tampagirl, welcome aboard.
We got 1" of rain yesterday. Yay!
Have a great day.
Veni, vidi, contendi, vici, delecti! What a great way to spend time before I have to mow this morning. A Saturday Silkie requires you to find a toehold and then go from there. Paula PRENTISS was my jumping off point and off I went – the west fell before the east.
ReplyDeleteMusings
-Driving to Omaha in a SNOW SQUALL is scary if you are the only one on the road. Add the idiots who still drive the speed limit and it’s “hang on Sloopy!”
-Ethan never made a stick of furniture
-Great Bay Splynter!
-The distance between the holes and the CLASP in my belts seems to be increasing. Too many POTOATOES!
-Joann wants to get two SLABS of granite for our bathrooms
-Pollsters are getting caught with their data down these days as more people are messin’ with ‘em.
-A friend of mine once said, “My boat is LISTING to the left” and I said, “Oh, I thought that was a communist real estate agent”. Yeah, I know, keep my day job.
-The TORQUE in a golf swing can really hurt your back
-I downloaded a Charmin App that locates SANITARY public restrooms near you. Splynter, you’d love this this app. I used it on my bird bath last night.
-I don’t know much about hockey but if GLOATing similar to that happens in baseball, you’d soon find yourself with a fastball in your ear.
-Track star Lolo Jones is getting attacked by the NY Times for saying she will remain a virgin until marriage but posing au naturel for ESPN
-I would never buy any clothing because it said GUCCI on it
-Ahhnold’s good name? Hasta la vista, baby.
-Oh, that saw, that horn, that lab, that lifesaver, that pass,… That Barry!
Unbelievable—I completed it! I often do not even try Saturday puzzles.
ReplyDeleteI read the first nine clues and thought I should quit, but kept reading and got TORQUE. I went back to the down clues and got SNOWSQUALL. That inspired me to keep at it. I skipped around down and across and eventually ended up with all but the SE corner filled in. I had EATOUT, SADIE, and NORAD but the rest had me stumped. I reread the clues and saw that 39D should be plural. Put an S at the end, realized STATE was the answer and all the rest appeared with perps. Did WAG at the B, but heBraic seemed most likely.
What a great start to a ‘hot’ Saturday,
(Weatherman says cool front from Alaska is on its way next week)
Montana
Good morning:
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw who the constructor was, I thought, "Uh-oh, I'm in for a toughie." Au contraire! Not that it was a walk in the park, but for a Silky, it was just right. No look-ups but a few write-overs: swear for state, clamp for clasp, and sonar for scuba.
Liked snow squall and pseudonym. Also, Elia Kazan and Ethan Allen. Thanks, Barry, for a nice ending to a good week of puzzles, and to Splynter for a fine expo. Congrats, Splynt, on your new project.
Happy Saturday to all.
Hello, Splynter and peeps.
ReplyDeleteWhat seemed formidable turned out quite doable especially since I knew Ellis Bell was a PSEUDONYM for Emily Bronte. Learned that from crosswords.
That enabled me to fill the SW corner but had GO NATURAL at first until OARLESS make me think otherwise.
GUCCI's prevalence in Florence leaves no doubt of its origins. It is loudly and widely publicized.
Paula PRENTISS came so quickly it startled me though HARPO was slower. Finally I met my Waterloo in the center and had to look up BA'ATH then all fell in place.
Loved the cluing for PALM.
Nice job, Splynter, thank you and enjoyed the PHOTOs.
Have a spectacular Saturday, everyone!
Well, I'm so scared of Silkies that after the first run-through I thought I might as well cheat and took SNOWSQUALL from Splynter's write-up. And then, a miracle--slowly, slowly everything fell into place with just one exception--PALM and MUMY.
ReplyDeleteI feel really stupid not to have gotten PALM, and there's a story behind this. When I first came to California, I heard that the city of Indio was "the date capital of the world." Since I was single then, I asked friends whether I should head out there and see if I could hook up with a date. They roared with laughter. Years later my husband and I drove out to Indio to check out the date palms.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Hello everybody. What a pleasant way to start the day! A typically tough but deliciously doable Silkie puzzle and an interesting and insightful writeup by Splynter.
ReplyDeleteA little here and little there, and pretty soon you have a whole puzzle solved. I felt exactly as HeartRx did upon seeing AUNA as the start of an answer, and then the L from ALLEN rang the bell. Since I had WARMSUP instead of LACESUP at first, the WRS start to the "fault finder" clue looked equally weird. Putting in WORM for "wingless parasite" led me to fill BOWS (as in bow-wow) for 30D, but I couldn't think of a 4-letter president's name that ended with OK. I now have learned that a FLEA has no wings. Those suckers sure can jump, though! Also, I entered AFOOL for 3D at first and CLOWN (with his little squeeze-bulb beep-beep horn) for 16A.
Loved the 3 S's in ROSS SEA.
Mucho congratulations to you, Splynter! In answer to your San Andreas fault question, we live about 12 miles east of it.
Best wishes to you all.
Wow,I cannot believe I got 88% (by counting when I got stuck) of a Silky. I usually don't get 10%.
ReplyDeleteMisty, we drive through Indio each year on our way to and from Phoenix when we visit our kids. It, or rather Coachella, actually, is our favorite place to stop for gas. Definitely lots of date palms! The drive between Indio and points south, such as Brawley and El Centro, used to be lined with roadside stands selling the local date and almond crops. It used to be a fun, albeit hotter'n'heck drive in the summertime, until the freeway was built. I think that area comprises the Imperial Valley; a lot of crops come from there! Lucina, if you think Phoenix is hot ...
ReplyDeleteJohn28man, nice going!
ReplyDeleteDennis, thanks for the link to that USB turntable last night. The local Best Buy sells it, as well as some other models including the Sony that caught my eye last year.
PSEUDONYM is such a cool word. So is TORQUE.
Hi all, a really fun and fast Silkie Saturday; I did the first half on paper with no pencil and then when I got something to write with I got going well, my only hangup was putting in ZULU and know the Us were correct, but PHOTO corrected that. Some excellent clues, as already mentioned. Time to get ready for a big multi-family gathering for the impending first grandchild.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the writeup; the puzzle was maybe a little less than the usual Saturday struggle for me, well-constructed though it was.
ReplyDeleteSplynter, I'm one of several people on the blog who lives kinda near the San Andreas Fault. Going by the map, it's about 30 miles northeast of us. BTW, we had about a 3.5 magnitude earthquake this morning about five miles offshore. It rattled the windows and shook me up a bit.
It was fun to see Ocean City in a puzzle. That was THE place to go for a summer fling. I would go for a weekend or more with a high school buddy or two. Anticipation was always better than the reality.
My two kids in the area want to go out to a local Thai restaurant for lunch to celebrate Barbara's birthday and Bonnie's (daughter) upcoming one this week. So we're outta here in a couple of minutes.
Wow, the Silkie did me in. Felt like a ignoramus. It's amazing when your brain comes up with a snippet of information from a long time ago. A voila moment. Thanks for the welcome, Spitzboov. Hope to get to know yall as well.
ReplyDeleteI zipped throught this puzzle at record speed. Still presented a challenge, though. After the insane puzzle last week, it was a nice break. Liked the clue "good location for a fault finder".
ReplyDeleteI'm never on a Silk wave length so I just get what I can and don't worry about it. Always have to have Splynter's hints. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI was so proud to get ELIAKAZAN & FOYT and the NE 2/3 of the puzzle. But put in 5a Sink and couldn't get NAPA. Got OCEAN CITY & WESTCOAST.
Jayce, isn't what you do sorta "fault finding", at least fault movement finding?
Confidently put in "Nathan Hale" instead of Ethan Allen. I always get those two mixed up. Then I looked at it later and knew it was wrong but....
In the NE the only funny man with a horn I could think of was Louie Armstrong. For 1D I wanted "medal" then "title".
We never call them SNOW SQUAlls here--just "storms". ROSS SEA isn't on my atlas map. Hmm!
Well, I wanted mental gymnastics & I got 'em!
PK, it used to be the Ross ice shelf and then it started melting. ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreetings all, Long time no "see." I've been lurking, but just haven't had time to comment. Something to do with losing both parents, organizing a big memorial, being burglarized, selling my house and continuing a divorce that started 2 years ago. (It's no longer friendly.) If anyone knows any of the Mayans that predicted the end of the world, warn them that I'm looking for payback. Oh, I'm also spending about 1/2 my time now in an area without internet. (Yes, some still exist.)
ReplyDeleteI found the puzzle today to be much easier than yesterday's. Of course, I did try to solve that one after 12 hours of travel returning to Fresno from Guelph, Ont. PRENTISS was an unknown and I was stuck on these guys. But Zooey Deschanel didn't fit.
My parent's had a vacation home in Bolinas, CA. It's the brown spot in the center just above town. The San Andreas is in the water just below. It's now the center of a family fight which I hope is settled before the fault settles it for us.
Skunk Cabbage. We don't have it, but I'm one of those that thought this was it.
I'm probably over size, so I'll sign off, but I'll try to stay around a bit more.
I am so tickled to have finished this Silkie with no help. I did have to take a break though. After food and drink, answers started coming again. Loved "spot of wine" and "dating qualifier" as clues. (Education, job, car, living in his own place-all good dating qualifiers in my opinion.)
ReplyDeleteELMO and LANATE were totally perped. Never heard of LANATE, but knew that lanolin is derived from wool, so it kinda made sense.
Had WARMSUP for 7D, which kind of goofed me up for a while.
That kid on the bridge is strong!
ReplyDeleteGunghy, darn good to 'see' you, too! Man oh man, sounds like life has been slamming you around quite a bit. I hope and trust you will come through it all okay, and soon.
ReplyDeletePK, yep, fault finding is sort of in my line of work. Actually, we pretty well know where the faults are already; what we're trying to do is figure out the meaning of all the geophysical activity that is constantly going on down there inside and nearby them.
Qli, I meant to comment on "dating qualifier" as well. "Money" fit, but wouldn't work with the perps. But my first thought, "Big t---s", was too long, so I knew that couldn't be right. :-)
ReplyDeleteJayce, you're in Palo Alto, right? One of my twin sons lives there.
Gunghy! Sounds like you have a lot of other things going on that have kept you from us. No matter, remember how the prodigal son was welcomed home? I am preparing the fattened calf for you, even as we speak...
ReplyDeleteAvg Joe, You have twin sons, eh? I work in Palo Alto (when I'm not working at home, which is most of the time) and live in San Jose. Where does your other twin son live?
ReplyDeleteSorry, but that makes me think of, "Hi, I'm Larry. This is my brother Daryl and this is my other brother Daryl."
Well, that's 5 posts. G'night, all.
lemonade, you did the 1st half of the puzzle in your head??? Wow, i wish! I could not do it at all without red letter help. Luckily my bad memory enables me to enjoy the puzzle twice! I just did it again, & only "dins" came out in red letters!
ReplyDeleteHello, again. I just had to tell you all what an enjoyable movie is "Hope Springs." Of course, you can't go wrong with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as well as Steve Carrel. In many places it is knee slapping, laugh out loud funny. Highly recommended for couples to go together.
ReplyDeletetampagirL
Welcome! I know you'll enjoy it here.
Gunghy:
Welcome back. You have been missed and I'm so sorry about your woeful experiences. I hope things improve for you and very soon.
Argyle, thanks for the answer about the ROSS SEA. Makes sense. My atlas was printed before we started hearing about climate change.
ReplyDeleteWhat if the melting is caused by undersea volcanic action and not anything we are doing on the surface?
Gunghy: With all that bad luck, things can only improve, one would think! I went through a similar siege a few years back and was forever changed. It kinda skews one's sense of humor.
Jayce 12:36--how nice to hear from someone else who likes Indio. Our favorite part of our visit there was a short film at the visitor center about the complicated pollination required to produce the dates. Every time I see a date palm now, I'm impressed! Just hope it doesn't get hotter and hotter over time, what with our growing weather crises. Again, thanks for your post.
ReplyDeleteLucina, Have you seen "It's Complicated" which is another Meryl Streep relationship comedy that I found very hilarious. I'm looking forward to "Hope Springs."
ReplyDeleteEvening all,
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy a Silky puzzle.
Hesitated on a lot of answers thou thinking way too easy for a Sat. Ross Sea was a gimmie since I got hooked on Whale Wars a while back. Not a fan of reality shows but this one was/is interesting.
Avg Joe I wanted Tight a$$ for qualifer but it didn' fit also.
Anyways, Got it done with no cheats or help.
Oh, my! Where are my manners.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Tampagirl. You will not find a better group of people here as I have recently. You learn a lot about the constructors here and that makes the puzzles so much more enjoyable in the solving experience.
I did Google a few names, but I can't believe I can actually finish a Silkie. On Saturday. Everyone here is saying it was an easy one, but it's nice to be on his wave-length for once.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I had to Google for Prentiss, and it seems her sister, Ann Ragusa Prentiss, also an actress, died in prison while serving a 19 year sentence for trying to kill their father, her husband and their child. Weird.
Good Sunday morning, folks. Thank you, Barry Ilk, for a great puzzle. Thank you, Splynter, for the great write-up.
ReplyDeleteThis is a day late, and I am sure no one will read it for that reason. However, I wanted to finish. I had a very busy day on Saturday in Virginia.
Splynter: Liked the presentation of your new projects. Excellent. Good luck with all of that.
Fermatprime: Where are you?
My first answer was EZRA for 35A. That was easy.
Bounced around. The Name Silk kind of scared me for a while. However, slowly I was able to get a bunch of words. Finished the SW first. Worked my way East and then North.
Only a couple Imneeded perps for: MUMY, ITINA, LANATE.
ELMO was easy. We get that every couple years or so.
This was easier than most Saturday Silkies. Nice to get a break.
See you tomorrow, which is today. I will now start the Sunday puzzle.
Abejo
Fermatprime is a day ahead of you!
ReplyDeleteCorrect me if I'm wrong but Harpo Marx was called Harpo because he played the harp, not a horn. If anyone played the horn it was Chico but I have no specific recollection of him having done so.
ReplyDeleteFunnyman with a horn doesn't say he played a horn; he squeezed it. The bicycle horn he honked all the time.
ReplyDeleteIt got me, too.