Saturday, Aug 12th, 2017, Doug Peterson & Patti Varol

Theme: DP & PV ( or Tony and Sony~?)

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

Blocks: 29

It's been over a year since we have had this duo of constructors on a Saturday.  This week's contribution was a bit lumpy for me, as I butchered the NW corner and had to cave in to red-letters for my mistakes.  On the flip side, it was an enjoyable solve, with some tricky cluing that I was able to get past, and proper names that slowed me down, but only slightly.  Friendly corners with two 14-letter spanners, a pair of 11's in the Down, and paired 10s in the Down corners;

5. "Candida" singer : TONY ORLANDO - as with most of the proper names, I had no idea about this one to start, but the perp(endicular)s and the familiar, "not-so-vague" personality helped

26. Pioneering music player : SONY WALKMAN - I thought we were looking for an actual person, and when I first filled this DOWN in, thought it was a guy named "Sonny" something....

35. Friend of the Fry Kids : RONALD McDONALD - had no clue, but when the perps started filling in, I shoulda known - I didn't remember the "fry kids" until I saw this image, and now I think of them as a bit creepy

42. It's generally celebrated on the same day as Tet : CHINESE NEW YEAR - nailed it.  Happy Year of the Rooster ( or Cock, if you prefer....) - I was born in the year of the Pig

Thank you all for your compliments on Wednesday about our debut puzzle - it's a bittersweet success for me - I guess you could say when it comes to published crosswords, I "don't have a clue."

Word N/A~?

ACROSS:

1. Modern categorizing aid : HASHTAG - I have mentioned before that I do not Facebook nor Twitter - but I do see this "#" symbol on TV and in advertising frequently - have you seen the promos for "Garage Rehab" on Discovery Channel~?  I am friends with Russell, one of the hosts of the new show

8. Sign of stress : ALL CAPS - I DON"T LIKE DATING PROFILES TYPED LIKE THIS~!

15. Pennsylvania home of the world's oldest operating wooden roller coaster : ALTOONA - I tried HERSHEY, even though I knew it was wrong.  The famous ride which I have not heard of - but I am not a roller-coaster fan - is the Leap-The-Dips

16. "All will be well" : FEAR NOT - got it on the second pass from the "F"

17. Homophonically named '60s sitcom lady : JEANNIE - funny, I just linked this two weeks ago - I dream of "Genie"

18. Steel work : ROMANCE - knew it was author Danielle on the first pass, went with "FICTION"

19. It's cut and dried : JERKY - I'd like to try making my own some day

20. Fish-eating bird : LOON - not TERN

22. Really feel the heat : BAKE - ah, not MELT

23. Coast Guard pickup : S.O.S

25. Wave function symbols : PSIs - care to melt your brain~? Try to understand this

27. Night spot : BED - huh.  I wonder where my head is - I went with BAR - but I prefer BED these days

28. Financial pg. debut : IPO - a good WAG

31. "The __ of King William": Old English poem : RIME - dah~!  Should have known this from one of Iron Maiden's classics, the re-telling of the story "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

With a little of the poem narrated in at 7:50

33. "Golden Boy" dramatist : ODETS - perps

39. Place to buy a landscape : ART SALE - I filled in the "ART" part and waited

40. Unspoiled : IDYLLIC

44. Per person : A HEAD

45. __ con gas: Spanish soda water : AGUA - oh, duh.  I had no idea on the first pass

46. Nevada copper town : ELY - filled via perps

47. Troubling bank msg. : NSF - thankfully, I have not had a Non-Sufficient Funds message in a long time

48. Cutlass, e.g. : OLDSmobile - I had one, a '77 Supreme Brougham.  Clecho with 55a. Cutlass, e.g. : AUTO

Got about 8 gallons to the mile

51. Angels' org. : MLB - Anaheim from Major League Baseball

53. Peabody-winning journalist Ifill : GWEN - half perps, half WAG

57. Buckwheat porridge : KASHA

61. Waiting to get in, say : LINED UP - ah.  ON/IN LINE was too short

63. Studio mascot : MGM LION

65. Cover, as a cover charge : INCLUDE

66. __ glass : STAINED

67. Like most cartoon characters : AGELESS

68. Only president to win a Pulitzer Prize : KENNEDY

DOWN:

1. Pillar of Islam : HAJJ

2. Nautical direction : ALEE - not PORT, not AHOY

3. Michelin unit : STAR - ah, not TIRE 

4. Traffic chorus : HONKS

6. "The Phantom Menace" boy : ANI - Anakin Skywalker, a.k.a Darth Vader

7. Certain Celt : GAEL

8. High dos : AFROS

9. "Madam Secretary" actress : LEONI

10. Flee : LAM - oops, not RUN

11. Word with grass : CRAB - there's no crab grass on the golf courses I play - but there's a lot of "crabbing" - I was so angry with my game last Sunday I pitched my putter....at a tree.  I did buy a pull cart from eBay, only $42.  Now I need a new putter. 

12. Poe classic : ANNABEL LEE - Edger Allan's last complete poem

13. Make an unexpected connection with : POCKET DIAL - or BUTT dial, your cel phone - mine has a two-piece case, so there is little chance of me making this blunder

14. Stable population : STEEDS

21. Org. Indonesia left in 2008 : OPEC - ah, not NATO

24. Edge furtively : SIDLE

28. Radio host Glass : IRA

29. Rocker alternative : PORCH SWING - I had P-RC-, so I was not fooled by the "alternative" kind of rocker - like the ones in Iron Maiden

30. Torn : ON THE FENCE - again, because of perps, I was not thinking "ripped" for torn

32. Fr. titles : MMES - Dah~! Not STES

34. "The Voice" host Carson : DALY

36. Section in Disney's Animal Kingdom : ASIA - wow, vague.  Never been to Disney

37. "Correct!" sound : DING~!!!

38. Greek theater : ODEUM - oops, I had odeON

41. Word with war or far : CRY

43. Point in the right direction? : EAST - a weather vane/compass point to the right

44. Old name for England : ANGLIA

49. Praises : LAUDS

50. Con targets : DUPES

52. Dwarf who traveled with Bilbo : BALIN - despite my D & D upbringing, I never got into The Lord of the Rings

54. "The Old Curiosity Shop" girl : NELL - perps

56. Trans-Siberian Railway city : OMSK

58. __ wave : SINE

59. Broke ground : HOED

60. Red's pal in "The Shawshank Redemption" : ANDY

62. Expected : DUE - speaking of porch swings, you know this is "expected"

64. Former AT&T rival : GTE

Splynter

Saturday, Dec 10th, 2016, Doug Peterson & Patti Varol

Theme: DP & PV

Words: 72 (missing J,Q,Z)

Blocks: 30

The return of a Saturday duo - the last time we saw these two constructors was back in April of this year. That puzzle featured a 15-letter spanner with a central climber of 13 letters. Today we have 9-letter corners in the across, a pair of 10-letter climbers in the down, and a smattering of 8-letter fill elsewhere. I moved through this grid as smoothly as the one from April, did not get stalled on the proper names, but I have to admit I did not get my "ta-DA~!" - turns out I went with BETAS and not BETHS, and should have known better with the crossing down. Oh well. Some of the longer fill;

15. Only pitcher whose jersey number was retired by the Mets : TOM SEAVER - I'm from L.I., NY, so I had a pretty good idea who this was

12. 2013 literature Nobelist : ALICE MUNRO - her Wiki

66. Bright one in a school : NEON TETRA

27. Smartphone notification : EMAIL ALERT

How 'bout this one~?

ONWARD@Splynter.com~!

ACROSS:

1. Sole proprietor? : SHOE STORE - since I was 'hip' to the "?", it would have been in my best interest to try filling in SHOE somewhere, but I left it blank on the first past

10. Spiffy : SMART

16. Certain internet chatter : AOLer

17. Headache source : EYESTRAIN

18. Lopez who played Jiminez in "The Dirty Dozen" : TRINI - got it from perps, but should have been a logical guess in the first place - so would that be a L.A.G.~? The "Logical-Ass Guess"~?

19. Bear fruit : PAN OUT - watermelon didn't fit....

Get it~? "Bear" fruit~? C'mon, that's funny

20. Company whose old factory had a water tower shaped like the company's product : DIXIE CUP - I tried HERSHEY'S, thinking a "Kiss" would be a pretty cool water tower

22. One of the gang : PAL

24. Get the word out? : ERASE - har-har

25. "Wrong call, I suppose" : "GUESS NOT."

30. Test ban subjects : A-BOMBS - I dropped an "A" bomb at 18a.

33. Coloratura Gluck : ALMA

34. Crow heard on tracks : SHERYL - not fooled - I know who Sheryl Crow is

36. Keats wrote on one : URN - "Ode on a Grecian..." I believe

37. Mount, as a comeback : STAGE

39. Santa __ winds : ANA

40. The blahs : ENNUI

42. New England sch. in Kingston : URI - University of Rhode Island

43. 1980 film with the #1 hit "Magic" : XANADU - I remember the title track from star Olivia Newton-John, but never saw the movie - it was a flop, but the soundtrack did well

46. Like the Kara Kum : ARID - a WAG, but it sounded like a desert

47. Goddess on whose bust Poe's raven perched : PALLAS - mostly perps

49. Droning : MONOTONE

51. Target : AIM AT

53. Bad check letters : NSF - @#$Z&%~! I paid Geico on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, got email confirmation, then paid my credit card bill in full on Black Friday - and received notice from my bank Saturday that I had -$147 in my checking account - Geico posted late. The negative balance included the Non-Sufficient Fund charge of $38. Like they don't have enough of my money....

54. It takes a licking : LOLLIPOP - There's a girl at UPS who used to come by with a big bag of lollipops for me once a month. (lollipops is a word you can type with one finger in the top right of the keyboard - try it.)

Umm, not the girl from UPS

57. Bargain for : PLAN ON - I plan on getting a cel phone remote car starter, but wanted to ask those here at the blog for any input they can offer on best brands or functions

62. Canceled a reservation, maybe : ATE IN

63. Tossing and turning : WIDE AWAKE - I hear all the rookies at UPS complaining about trying to get to sleep for a 12am-10am shift for the Christmas peak season. If I have to, I will take some non-alcoholic night-time sleep aid, just to get over the "switch"

65. Death in Venice : MORTE - I figured it was Italian for "death", but was not sure of the spelling

67. Hebrew letters : BETHs - Dah~! Not BETAs

68. Montana's has a plow, a pick and a shovel : STATE SEAL - oops, I went with STATE FLAG

- shout out~!

DOWN:

1. Pedometer unit : STEP - I used to have a step-counter on my cel phone, and it recorded something like 20,000 steps while working at UPS one morning - and I got nowhere; I was still standing between the slide and four trucks....

2. Georgetown newspaper, with "The" : HOYA

3. Sign : OMEN

4. Brand on the Alcan Highway : ESSO

5. Stings : SET-UPS

6. Tam patterns : TARTANS

7. Some gametes : OVA

8. Journalist Whitelaw __ : REID

9. Orange half of a comic duo : ERNIE - Bert and Ernie




10. Like some appetites : SATIABLE - reminds me of that funny story with the "prefix-less" words; see here

11. To a greater extent : MORE SO

13. Eye care brand : RE۰NU

14. Touch off : TRIP

21. Letter between Whiskey and Yankee : X-RAY - I once worked for an architect who owned his own 4-seater plane (Dudley~!), so know my pilot's alphabet, which may be why I screwed up my Hebrew one

23. "Herbie: Fully Loaded" star : LOHAN

25. Get ready to hit the road : GAS UP - had the "S", so this worked for me

26. Modern opening? : ULTRA
28. Sink : SAG

29. Latish wake-up time : TEN AM

31. TD Garden skater : BRUIN - I know my hockey teams

32. Snarky : SNIDE

35. Odorless gas : RADON

38. Scrutinizes : EXAMINES

41. Styron's Turner : NAT - nearly duplicated at; 59d. Electoral analyst Silver : NATE

44. Hustler's request : ASAP

45. Still saved : UNSPENT
48. Demon of Semitic lore : LILITH

50. In recent times : OF LATE

52. Stops on a commuter train : TOWNS

54. Souvlaki choice : LAMB

55. Plains native : OTOE

56. Painter Mondrian : PIET

58. Dazzles : AWES

60. Cajun staple : OKRA

61. Sci-fi author Stephenson : NEAL

64. 1988 film noir remake : D.O.A. - well, I looked at both films (1950)-(1988), and they do not feature the same characters, nor the same plot, so I am not wholly convinced that the later one could be considered a "remake". Besides, I would have gone with the Van Halen song....


For the guitar players out there try this link,
watch the fills & the whammy bar work -
the player in this video hits the mark -
and they're not easy

Y'all tried the "LOLLIPOP" thing, didn't you....

Splynter  

Thursday, October 13th 2016 Doug Petersen & Patti Virol

Theme: Three-Ring Themer: Circus-related entries for the three long acrosses ..

20A. Circus barker turned hurler known for brushbacks? : INSIDE PITCHMAN. The inside pitch in baseball is to encourage the batter to stop encroaching on the strike zone. Also known as "buzzing the lighthouse" when the ball comes close to the batter's head.

40A. Circus emcee turned fry cook? : ONION RING MASTER. I've never cooked onion rings. I've got a feeling that I never will.

55A. Circus performer turned gardener? : DANDELION TAMER. The only "added" word that isn't a word in and of itself. We loved dandelions as kids, but drove our Dad mad when we blew the seeds all over the lawn.

Hi all! This is going to be a little brief today - I'm running up against the deadline to get this published so I'll stick to the salient points. In the wonderful words of Douglas Adams: "I like deadlines, I love the sound of them rushing by". I'm in Jacksonville, just missed the hurricane rushing by too. Phew.

Three weighty theme entries in this one from Doug and Patti. Add to the start of a circus-related person and you get a whole new profession.

Really clean fill in the rest of the puzzle, not much to even think about wincing at. Great stuff.

Have at it if you see anything you want to link!

Across:

1. "__ Secretary": CBS drama : MADAM. Never saw it, but didn't hesitate with this one.

6. Tense period? : PAST. Past tense. Very nice.

10. Studio payment : RENT. Residual didn't fit

14. Anaheim's Honda Center, e.g. : ARENA

15. West Coast sch. : UCLA. Down the street from me in Westwood. Nice campus.

16. Harbinger : OMEN

17. Woody Woodpecker's creator : LANTZ. Crosses, thanks.

18. Commuter option : RAIL

19. Skip over : OMIT

23. Auditorium : HALL

24. Sound sometimes choked back : SOB

25. Harvest-ready : RIPE

28. Wooded valley : DELL

31. Olympics volleyball great Kerri __ Jennings : WALSH Beach volleyball great with Misty May-Trainor. She was still competing in this year's Summer Games in Rio after goodness knows how long in the sport.

35. Like fans after a tough win, probably : HOARSE

37. Pro words : YEAS

39. 29-Down's rock gp. : E.L.O. Jeff Lynne makes an appearance in the downs. Nice.

43. Reason to wear earplugs : DIN. Not E.L.O.

44. A, in many orgs. : ASSN.

45. Saws : ADAGES

46. Emmy contender : ACTOR

48. French cathedral city : METZ. The "TZ" might make you think German or Belgian. Close to the Germany border, but solidly French.

50. "Not gonna happen" : NOPE

51. With 27-Down, sign on a damp bench : WET. Cue groans from the cross-referential clue haters.

53. Party leader : HOST

62. Disturbs : JARS

63. Button on some remotes : MENU. I tried MUTE briefly, but I think they all have those

64. Family name in a 1936 classic : O'HARA

65. Dramatic accusation : ET TU

66. Send a quick message to : PING

67. Contribute, as to a kitty : PAY IN

68. Stinging insect : WASP. I got one of these little buggers inside my shirt once and got about 20 stings before I could get my shirt off.

69. Merit badge holder : SASH

70. Baton, say : STICK

Down:

1. West African country : MALI

2. Ireland's __ Islands : ARAN. Not to be confused with Scotland's Arran Island.

3. Lairs : DENS

4. Film noir protagonist : ANTI HERO

5. Miata maker : MAZDA

6. Prince's "__ Rain" : PURPLE. Live performance from 2007

7. Berry at health food stores : ACAI

8. Narrow cut : SLIT

9. Soft minerals : TALCS

10. Disc-shaped robotic vacuum : ROOMBA. Don't read the articles about what happens if your pet leaves a "present" when you're out and Roomba is around.

11. Austen classic : EMMA

12. Nuremberg no : NEIN

13. Blasted stuff : TNT

21. Respected tribe members : ELDERS

22. Tearful words : HOW SAD

25. Sitcom with a 1974 wedding episode : RHODA. Guessed. Guessed right!

26. Greek column style : IONIC

27. See 51-Across : PAINT

29. Jeff of 39-Across : LYNNE

30. Chair part : LEG

32. Release : LET GO

33. "To __: perchance to dream": Hamlet : SLEEP

34. Epsom Downs racer : HORSE

36. Caught : SNARED

38. __ Prime : AMAZON. Great deal if you're a regular Amazon shopper. Prime membership costs around $80/year and gets you free two-day delivery on many items.

41. Ideology : ISM

42. Red-and-white topper : SANTA HAT

47. Admits (to) : OWNS UP

49. Yet : THOUGH

52. Estimates on weather maps : TEMPS

54. Dots on a subway map : STOPS

55. Excel input : DATA. I've been doing a lot of that over the last couple of weeks, hence the late deadline.

56. Graphic __ : ARTS

57. General Organa in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" : LEIA

58. Days and Holiday : INNS

59. Permission-seeking phrase : MAY I

60. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" writer Carle : ERIC. A wonderful book that I remember reading to my young daughter.

61. Military status : RANK

62. Hanukkah celebrator : JEW

And here's the grid!


Apologies again for the brevity this week!

Steve

Saturday, Apr 23rd, 2016, Doug Peterson & Patti Varol

Theme: DP & PV

Words: 70 (missing J,Q,V,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

  It's like déjà vu all over again~!  This duo had a Saturday offering just three weeks ago.  When it came up today, I thought I signed in to the wrong date.  Unlike that last grid, this has only one spanner, plus a 13-letter climber, four 10-, and two 9-letter fills as well.  I also smoked through this one in near record time, and without any look-ups or red-letter cheats.  The long answers;

35a. Side with waves : CRINKLE-CUT FRIES - I like my fries close to burned

15d. Bug on the road : CLASSIC BEETLE

sha-na-nOn-WARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Loves to solve, say? : ANAGRAM - excellent way to start off a crossword puzzle - we all loves to solve, don't we~?  I got the misdirection immediately

8. Mavens : SHARKS

14. Sudden and swift : METEORIC - like a rise to fame

16.* Company that annually honors "Women of Worth" : L'OREAL

17. Batter's dream : MEAT BALL - never heard the term; I am sure C.C. knows all about this

18.* 2015 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee : O'MEARA

19. Action figures? : ODDS - har-har

20. 1954 film based on the short story "It Had to Be Murder" : REAR WINDOW

22. Four-time Australian Open winner : AGASSI

24.* LBJ theater : 'NAM - a few apostrophe answers this week *

25. Key of Mozart's Symphony No. 39 : E FLAT - ha-HA~!  I put in " _ FLAT" and waited on perps~!

27. Fix, as a toy : SPAY - oh, clever.  I went with MEND, but this refers to the 'toy' dog

29. Kisser : YAP - not GOB

32. Weapon with a nock : ARROW

33. Subatomic particle : PION - I WAGed MUon, and that was 100% 50% correct

34. Former Italian statesman Moro : ALDO - perps and WAGs

38. Rapper Nate : DOGG - According to Wiki, he's a cousin of "Snoop"

39. Obligation : DEBT

40. Copious : AMPLE

41. Second-century date : CLI - well, I threw in "C", and waited

42. Sister of Dakota : ELLE - filled in via perps; I know Dakota was the little girl in the remake of "War of the Worlds", but forgot she was the little girl in "Man on Fire", too.  She's grown up....

43. Got up : AROSE

44. Dig for hard-to-get clams? : DUN - I gotta tell ya, I just don't get this.  I thought "ATM" was a clever answer, but no

46. Harder to hold : EELIER - and then I nailed this one

48. "Ocean's 11" co-star : DEAN MARTIN - ah, the original.  I am a big fan of the remake, personally

51. Dog with a typically blue-black tongue : CHOW - I knew this because my room-mate in Cincinnati Ohio had one - the dog, that is....

55. They often drive people home : RBI MEN - more baseball

56. Leave alone : LET SLIDE - I parsed this as Lets Lide, and it didn't jive

58. Check : ARREST

59. Tangled up : ENSNARED - clecho with; 42. Tangle up : ENMESH - having the answers both be "EN" words seems a bit borderline

60. Sturm und Drang novelist : GOETHE - I was curious; the Wiki

61. Fusible alloys : SOLDERS - I am constructing a bathroom in the house, complete with Jacuzzi.  Nice.  I am going to build a copper manifold - using solder.  After I install that in the crawlspace, I'm running PEX to the fixtures.  So far, so good.

Not me

DOWN:

1. Shell collection : AMMO - well, I had the "A", so I went with this, tho I do not see an abbrvtn in the clue

2. Grant factor : NEED

3. Ever so slightly : A TAD

4. Plays nice : GETS ALONG

5. Deprive : ROB

6. Dormant Turkish volcano : ARARAT - I knew it was the landing site of Noah's Ark, but not that it was a volcano

7. Quite a distance : MILES - great name for your chauffeur, too

8. Yawn-inducing : SLOW

9. Corny stuff : HOMINY

10. Staples Center, e.g. : ARENA - home of the LA Kings from the NHL

11. Statement before taxes are dealt with? : READ MY LIPS - and a direct quote in this song from Megadeth;

George Bush @ 2:42

12. Pecan pie syrup : KARO - I got this - and I don't bake

13. Popular side : SLAW

21. Remove roughly : RIP OUT - like, say, splynters~!!!

23. Rubberneck : GAWK - viz. 15d.

25. Tasmanian-born Flynn : ERROL - first Flynn I thought of

26. Appliance brand owned by Electrolux : FRIGIDAIRE - didn't know this fact, but the word fit....

28. Pangolin snack : ANT - whoa~!  I have never heard of or seen this animal before - now I want one - and we have an ant problem in the house, too

30. Oscar winner for "Skyfall" : ADELE - gratuitous image for C.C.

31. Ask : POSE

32. "Rock or Bust" band : AC/DC - perps got me A - - C; pretty much a gimme for me

33. Kitchen tool : PEELER

34. Like jousters : ARMOR-CLAD

36. Cholesterol letters : LDL

37. What's on the menu : FARE

43.* "You're lyin'!" : AIN'T SO

45. Yet to be fulfilled : UNMET

47. Legal claims : LIENS

48. Main __ : DRAG - Squeeze and Street didn't fit

49. The Aragón feeds it : EBRO - see map, below

50. It may precede a deal : ANTE

52. Bring on : HIRE

53. River to the Baltic : ODER - see map, below

 and nearly another anagram, too

54. Forms a union : WEDS

57. Show with Kenan Thompson, briefly : SNL

Splynter

Wednesday, April 2nd 2014 Doug Peterson and Patti Varol

Theme: Inspired Thinking - Adding a space after "in" creates a two-word phrase from the original singleton.

17A. How poets write? : IN VERSES. This one gave me pause until I remembered "function inverses" in algebra.

21A. How moonshine is made? : IN STILLS. "Pinch" would be a better clue for this blog, eh Tinbeni?

33A. How parts of a whole can be written? : IN FRACTIONS. Math day today.

44A. How a priest preaches? : IN VESTMENTS. Fire, brimstone and what-not.

57A. How kangaroos travel? : IN BOUNDS. Timely March Madness basketball reference.

62A. How some paper is packaged? : IN QUIRES. My favorite, I like to see these old measurements or quantities being kept alive. If our priest above addresses 24 sheets of paper, is he preaching to the quire?

Welcome to Wednesday everyone. Steve here with what looks to be the first collaboration between Doug and Patti and a fun one at that. Six theme entries and no reveal - it's up to us solvers to figure it out. We're only a Z short of a pangram too. Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. "That's enough from you!" : SHH

4. City whose tower's construction began in 1173 : PISA. It began tilting during the first phase of construction. Wouldn't you fix it before things got out of hand?

8. Pops out of the cockpit : EJECTS. "Pops" sounds very gentle for a maneuver in which the rocket-propelled seat subjects the occupant to between 14 and 22 gs of force and compression fractures of the vertebrae are not uncommon.

14. Seoul-based automaker : KIA

15. Bulky boats : ARKS. The British Navy's aircraft carrier Ark Royal certainly fits the "bulky" adjective.

16. Hit one's limit, in slang : MAX OUT

19. Like a classic French soup : ONIONY

20. Tree of Knowledge locale : EDEN

23. Quick summary : RUNDOWN

26. Learned : WISE

27. Actress Thurman : UMA. Shown below in "Pulp Fiction" - one of my favorite movies.

28. Bath bathroom : LOO. Understanding that "Bath" refers to the spa city in the west of England is the key to this clue/answer combo.

29. Go to the bottom : SINK

38. Middling grade : CEE

39. "Doctor Who" actress Gillan : KAREN. Crosses all the way for me here. The good Doctor has been waging war against various space aliens since 1963. I used to hide behind the sofa when the Daleks appeared.

Exterminate! Exterminate!

40. Taylor of fashion : ANN

41. Strong glue : EPOXY

43. Lyrical preposition : ERE

47. Electrically flexible : AC/DC. A device that can run on either alternating or direct current.

49. Lyrical preposition : O'ER

50. Feel crummy : AIL

51. World power until 1991: Abbr. : U.S.S.R.

53. Spirits brand with a Peppar variety : ABSOLUT. It's spicy in the chili pepper fashion.

60. Former Cubs slugger : SOSA. Sammy's appearance is appropriate for this week of Opening Days, except that the Dodgers and D-backs had Opening Day in Sydney, Australia last week for no good reason that I can tell.

61. Meadow lows : MOOING. Low is to moo as bleat is to baa. I think.

65. Land on two continents : RUSSIA. Europe and Asia. And a member of the 51A union.

66. Squeaker in Stuttgart : MAUS. The world's most famous rodent is spelt without an "E" in Germany.

67. Big fan : NUT

68. 1987 Beatty flop : ISHTAR. It was a box office flop, but maybe not an outright bomb. Even with estimated losses of $48m, it doesn't crack the top 50 world's worst, which is some consolation for Warren.

69. Freelancer's detail : SPEC

70. Big primate : APE

Down:

1. One going downhill fast : SKIER. "To turn is to admit defeat" - the downhiller's mantra.

2. __ Kush mountains : HINDU. The range dividing Afghanistan from Pakistan.

3. Port in a storm, so to speak : HAVEN

4. Score to shoot for : PAR. A pipe-dream for most golfers for an entire round of 18 holes.

5. Taxing initials : I.R.S. It's that month again.

6. Knitter's coil : SKEIN. Another great word. Some nice stuff today.

7. Part of LPGA: Abbr. : ASSN. The association for lady professional golfers. They don't pipe-dream about par.

8. What the cold-blooded don't feel : EMOTION

9. She performed between Creedence and Sly at Woodstock : JANIS. This song was part of her encore after the main set.

10. Sends away : EXILES

11. Aloof : COOL

12. Napa vessels : TUNS

13. Piggery : STY

18. Last : ENDURE

22. Needs a fainting couch : SWOONS

24. Saudi neighbor : OMANI

25. WWII female : W.A.C. The Women's Army Corps.

28. Hard-hit ball : LINER. Sammy Sosa hammered quite a number of these in his time.

30. Clickable image : ICON

31. Coming up : NEXT

32. Florida __ : KEYS

33. Blue-and-yellow megastore : IKEA

34. Stash finder : NARC. Narcotics.

35. Willard of "Best in Show" : FRED

36. Brewpub : TAVERN. Hmmm. To me, a brewpub is a pub that brews its own beer (like the Gordon Biersch chain). A tavern is a place that serves drink, whether it's made there or not. A minor distinction.

37. Pre-final rounds : SEMIS

42. Speaker between Hastert and Boehner : PELOSI. Nancy is the only woman to have served as Speaker of the House.

45. Coffee order : NO SUGAR. No milk in mine either.

46. Pickup at a 36-Down : TAB. Oh. I was thinking of something else.

48. Picasso, for one : CUBIST

52. Justice Sotomayor : SONIA. Another notable high-ranking female.

53. "Easy-peasy!" : A SNAP

54. Fictional Doone : LORNA. The novel was published in 1869, I guess it's about time I got around to reading it.

55. Go through entirely : USE UP

56. Small bite : TASTE

57. Short notes? : IOUs

58. Small bite : NOSH. Clecho with 56D.

59. Lowers, as lights : DIMS

61. X-ray kin : MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging if we're going to be formal about it.

63. Ont. neighbor : QUE. CanadianEh could probably draw this map with his eyes closed. I needed the atlas though.

64. L.A. campus : U.S.C.

That's about it from me, or as they might say in Toledo - "Es una envoltura".

Steve