Wednesday, October 8, 2014 Jeff Stillman

Theme: Dark Matters - or who turned the light out?

17A. Rooftop energy generators : SOLAR PANELS. If there's one part of the country where it should be a no-brainer installing these it's where I live, Southern California.

27A. Removable denture : PARTIAL PLATE. You probably don't want to go and Google the images of one of these.

43A. Apollo 11 achievement : LUNAR LANDING. This was the first time that BBC Television broadcast live at night in the UK, so huge excitement for us kids. It was about 4AM GMT that Neil Armstrong stepped down the ladder.

58A. Eidetic memory : TOTAL RECALL. A phrase-learning moment for me. Eidetic: "relating to or denoting mental images having unusual vividness and detail, as if actually visible.". I'd resolve to use it in a sentence today but that's probably going to be a bit of a stretch.

35D. 17-, 27-, 43- and 58-Across begin with types of them : ECLIPSES

Oh wait - wrong kinds of Eclipse!

There, that's better.

Morning all - Steve here, with the pleasure of introducing Jeff's own "Game of Shadows". It took me a little longer than usual - I had to leave the NW corner alone and go back to it at the end. The "1919" reference at 1A had me thinking of the World Series scandal for some reason and it took every cross to stop me trying to shoehorn (!) "Shoeless Joe" in there somehow. Eventually sanity prevailed, but it wasn't an eidetic moment.

Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Subject of a historic 1919 sports deal, with "The" : BABE. The beginning of "The Curse" for the Red Sox.

5. Type of large TV : PLASMA. It's funny how quickly "hot" technology is superseded these days. Panasonic are closing their last plasma TV production facility this year.

11. Pre-LCD screen : CRT. Coincidence? It's LCD technology that's putting plasma out to grass.

14. Enthusiastic : AVID. TV tech mini-theme. Avid is also one of the world's leading manufacturers of TV post-production editing equipment.

15. Virgil epic : AENEID. Nailed it!

16. Informal greeting : HEY

19. Hieroglyphics snake : ASP. New-to-me clue which is much fresher than the "Nile biter" of yore.

20. Standard deviation symbol : SIGMA. Had to dig into my statistics class memory for this one.

21. Picked-up pickup, perhaps : REPO. Crosses filled this, I didn't see the cute clue until just now.

22. On the level : TRUE

23. Keats' "__ to a Nightingale" : ODE. The nightingale's song is a lovely part of the dawn chorus

24. Hopper : BIN

26. Markets : SELLS

31. Marseille menu : CARTE. Food! You'll find bouillabaisse on a Marseille menu. Now there's a handy crossword word, no?

33. College Football Playoff gp. : NCAA. We've seen a lot of this recently. It is a darn handy abbreviation though.

34. Image on a 42-Down, briefly : TAT. "If you're getting one, I'll get a tat too".

35. TV hillbilly __ May Clampett : ELLY. Thank you crosses. Before my (USA) time.

36. Looks toward : FACES

38. Opening night nightmares : PANS. Not bouillabaisse cook pots? Darn!

39. Lovey-dovey murmur : COO

40. Surrounding glow : AURA. The corona around a full solar eclipse could be described as an aura.

41. Peter or Paul : SAINT

46. Latin clarifier : ID EST. i.e. an additional explanation.

47. Fearful squeal : EEK

48. Dr.'s group : A.M.A. American Medical Association.

51. Medium rare : PINK. Food! You order a steak medium-rare, you order your lamb pink. Why? Because! If you're in Marseille you'd call it "à point". If you want to get thrown out of the restaurant and chased down the street by the chef brandishing a sharp knife, you'd order it well-done ("bien cuit") and then ask for ketchup.

52. Farrier's file : RASP

55. Restrict : LIMIT

57. Witness : SEE

60. Kin of -trix : ESS. I was trying to think of how to explain this to a family audience and decided I can't. So I'm left with "Dominatrix Goddess" which I think sums it up rather nicely.

61. Geometric figure with equal angles : ISOGON. I think I learned this today. I don't think I ever knew there was a word to describe a regular polygon beyond an equilateral triangle.

62. Sicilian rumbler : ETNA

63. AL and MO : STS. I've visited the fine states of both Missouri and Alabama.

64. Tropical fruit : PAPAYA. Food! I like Jeff's puzzles.

65. Peters out : DIES

Down:

1. Opera villain, often : BASSO. If he's deeply villainous, is he a basso profondo?

2. Skirt : AVOID

3. Poppycock : BILGE

4. Dutch export : EDAM. And a mighty fine export it is.

5. Mushy food : PAP. Aaaw, burst my Food! bubble. I put POI first.

6. Absorbed, as lessons : LEARNT. I think this is much more elegant than LEARNED, in a similar way that I prefer DREAMT to DREAMED.

7. Ill-fated Boleyn : ANNE

8. Ooze : SEEP

9. "Bloom County" reporter : MILO

10. They often adorn city buses : ADS

11. Fraud : CHARLATAN. Great word.

12. Consequential : RESULTANT

13. Prepares for printing : TYPESETS. Does anyone actually typeset any more with the disappearance of hot metal, or is the process of computer-based layout design still called typesetting?

18. Morocco's capital : RABAT. A short ocean voyage through the Straits of Gibraltar and a scenic cruise off the south-east coast of Spain and before you know it you'll be waving at Les Marseillaises eating bouillabaisse.

22. __ Aviv : TEL. At the opposite end of the Mediterranean from Marseille.

25. Filled with rage : IREFUL. Hmmm. Not convinced about this one.

26. Relaxing getaway : SPA

27. Get too personal : PRY

28. Peruvian of yore : INCAN

29. Big shot in the sky : ACE.  A fighter ace, like this one:

30. Glasgow gal : LASSIE

31. Least fair, in a way : CLOUDIEST. Weather-related.

32. State of seclusion : ALONENESS. Had ANONYMITY first, which fit with the A**N* that was already there.

37. Constellation near Scorpius : ARA. Parseghian has a star cluster named after him? Awesome! Go Irish! :)

38. Oinker : PIG

40. Museum filler : ART. I think the artists might be miffed to discover their masterworks are mere "filler".

42. Common 34-Across site : ANKLE

44. Query : ASK

45. Position strategically : DEPLOY

48. Cremona craftsman : AMATI. One day, I'm going to be able to unerringly fill this one in without waiting for perps, nor wondering if I'm confusing it with that darn bell town.

49. "Now We Are Six" author : MILNE. I will never forgive Disney for what they did to A.A.Milne's wonderful prose and verse and E.H.Shepard's whimsical illustrations.

50. Geography volume : ATLAS

52. Santa __: Sonoma County seat : ROSA. I'm heading up north for a few days of food and wine tasting at the Santa Barbara Vintner's Festival of Harvest in Santa Ynez this weekend. Food! Wine! Yay!

53. At the apex of : ATOP

54. The "Star Wars" films, e.g. : SAGA

56. Like most cupcakes : ICED. Tinbeni - call it "frosting" and you'll be fine

58. Helpful hint : TIP

59. Messenger __ : RNA

That's me done - hope you enjoyed the puzzle as much as I did. See you all next time!

Steve

Notes from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear Jayce, whose presence here on the blog is a huge comfort to me. Jayce speaks Mandarin Chinese and is married to a lovely lady from Hong Kong where Cantonese is spoken. 

Jayce is super observant and caring. His comment yesterday "You, Ron, great job again!" is a good example. Ron likes to write "I, Ron" when he sees IRON in a puzzle.

Click here for a few more photos of Jayce and his wife, both serious foodies like our Steve. Something is going on in Marseille :-)

Wedding Day