Saturday, Sep 30th, 2017, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: None

Words: 66 (missing J,K,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 34

Last puzzle of the month, and I expected it to be a rough one, and Mr Fludzinski did not disappoint.  Virtually blank on the first pass, both across and down, but I was able to break open the SE corner before I caved in to red-letters, and then Googled for one answer.  I refrained from STOG, but I needed some help in the NW - just too many proper names today.  Oh well.  Two 13-letter spanners and one 15-letter climber in a sort of pretzel-like grid;

30a. Wikipedia is an example of it : CROWDSOURCING

33a. Kind of response to mortal danger : FIGHT OR FLIGHT

7d. Reunion discovery : LONG LOST FRIENDS - or sometimes this old farm....

lyric @ 1:30

jOhNWARDenver~!

ACROSS:

1. MTV toon teen : BEAVIS - argh~! So ashamed I didn't recall this right away

7. Sings the blues : LAMENTS

14. Planned city in California's Orange County : IRVINE - I'm East coast - I hear "planned", and I think Levittown and Hicksville here on Long Island

15. Conquered : OVERCAME - I tried overTOOK, but this is like a more personal conquering; I overcame my anxiety this week when I interviewed well on Monday, then had to wait until yesterday to find out I got the job.  So I am "retiring" from UPS as of the end of next week.  Seven years.  That's a good run for me.

 

17. General courses : TRENDS

18. "Could be worse" : "NOT SO BAD."

19. __ talks : MONEY - I pondered PEACE first

20. Ones in a mess, briefly : GIs

21. Celestial body : ORB - crossword staple, poetic "planet"

22. Chug-__ : A-LUG

23. Persuaded : SOLD

25. Instrument dating to the Paleolithic age : FLUTE - ah, an actual instrument; I was thinking along the lines of knife/axe/spade "tool" kind of instrument

27. "Go ahead" : "PLEASE DO."

29. One determining 17-Across : POLLER

32. Like most capital costs : ONE-TIME

39. Brody who was the youngest Best Actor Oscar winner : ADRIEN - I spelled it with two "A"s first

40. Contingency plan : RECOURSE

43. Double-check : RE-ADD

44. Old Italian capital : LIRE - and again, spelled it with an "A"

45. "__ oui!" : MAIS - Frawnche - but I have to let on, I have had a new handyman client who is French, and he's pretty cool - a little hard to understand at times, but....

46. Provoke : FAN - as in fanning the flames

47. San Francisco's __ Valley : NOE - perps; more West coast geography

48. Presages : BODES

49. Symbolic attitude? : EMOTICON - 😀

52. Star close to Venus? : SERENA - the tennis stars, that is - didn't fool me, got me a start in this corner

53. Field of dreams? : LA-LA LAND

54. Pucker-inducing : LEMONY

55. Denies : NAYSAYS

56. Parks with games : ARENAS

DOWN:

1. Digital image format : BITMAP

2. Jazz virtuoso Garner : ERROLL - my Google for the day; his Wiki

3. Street in Manhattan's Alphabet City : AVENUE C - in hindsight, filling in "AVENUE" and then waiting seemed like a good idea for getting a toe-hold

4. Salad bar item : VINEGAR

5. __ 500 : INDY

6. His, to Henri : SES - oui

8. Bypass : AVOID - there was no avoiding traffic last weekend out here - a holiday weekend that had all three routes to the North Fork jammed up - I got in and got out before the chaos ensued.  Apple pickers.  >:-P 😝

9. Last team to play in the Polo Grounds : METS - and back to the East coast; more here

10. Sounds from the stumped : Ers....

11. Base fig. : NCO - dah~!  Army base; I was thinking EST, NTH, etc.

12. Bulgur salad : TABOULI - no clue, filled via perps - the Wiki

13. Spruce (up) : SMARTEN

16. Swedish tennis great : EDBERG - seeing how I screwed up SAM BERG a few weeks ago, I looked this up just to be sure it was not "ED BERG"

23. Like some patches : SEWN-ON - I had this one on the back of my denim jacket in high school

ah, the youth of 1985

24. Harder to explain : ODDER

25. Precede : FOREGO

26. Inc. kin : LLC - oops, not LTD

28. Blackened from combustion : SOOTED - meh.  I went with SEARED

29. Exfoliation material : PUMICE

31. NFL Titan, once : OILER - from Houston

33. Pasta pellets in Jewish cuisine : FARFEL

34. Thoughtful guy? : IDEA MAN

35. Breakfast bar : GRANOLA

36. Sought anonymity : HID

37. "Just play along, okay?" : "HUMOR ME."

38. Exploit : TRADE ON

41. "Burnt" crayon color : SIENNA

42. Prose pieces : ESSAYS

44. More than a little foolish : LOONY

47. BCS org. : NCAA - Bowl Championship Series of the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc.

48. It's often tapped out : BEER

50. North Sea feeder : TAY - the longest river up in Scotland

51. They, in Tours : ILS - oui oui~!

52. Radical '70s org. : SLA

Splynter

Notes from C.C.:

1) Congrats on the new job, Splynter!

2) Happy Birthday to dear Pat and her husband! They were born in the same day & same year. Pat was born in the morning, her husband in the afternoon. Pat loves dogs and has been volunteering in a animal shelter for many years.   

Thursday July 6th 2017 Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: Love Thy Neighbor - The neighboring states are so close that they're practically sitting in each other's lap, as the reveal neatly sums up:

47A. What the answers to three "pair" clues share, both in this grid and in reality : STATE BORDERS

19A. Midwestern pair : NEBRASKANSAS

26A. Northeastern pair : MAINEWHAMPSHIRE

42A. Southwestern pair : NEWMEXICOLORADO

Nice puzzle from Pawel. I tumbled the theme after seeing COLORADO emerging from the crosses and things were pretty plain sailing after that. A very clean grid with the two pairs of stacked 9's and a lot of solid white areas. The fill had some really nice stuff - those aforementioned 9's and some tricky partials in the downs.

Let's see what jumps out:

Across:

1. Many opera villains : BASSI. Really deep-voiced. I can spoof a basso profundo speaking voice, but as I can't sing a note that's about as far as I get. I have to channel my inner Paul Robeson. Come back and watch this great piece of history from 1949.

6. Georgia __ : TECH

10. '70s Israeli prime minister : MEIR

14. Ration out : ALLOT.

15. Antioxidant-rich fruit in smoothies : ACAI BERRY. Goji berries fit the bill too, so you need to wait for the crosses.

17. Some earrings : HOOPS

18. Celestial explosion : SUPERNOVA. This was a tough corner. If you don't know MEIR, I'm not sure you'd be able to unpick the triple three-letter downs.

21. Japanese prime minister since 2012 : ABE. Shinzo. Is he "honest" too?

22. Cold War weapons : ICBMS. Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. They pack quite an unpleasant punch.

33. Ready followers? : OR NOT. I tried SET-GO first, which caused some problems later.

34. Jumper cable connection : ANODE

35. Did lunch, say : ATE

36. Morse clicks : DITS. D--S and wait for the crosses.

37. Fly catchers : MITTS. Nice one. Fly ball in baseball. Some of the catches can be pretty spectacular:

38. Corp. money execs : C.F.O.S

39. Puerto Rican pronoun : ESO. That.

40. Bandleader's cry : HIT IT!

41. Ring figure? : CARAT. Nice.

45. Queen __ lace : ANNE'S. Also known as the wild carrot. The roots, leaves and flowers are all edible. I'll leave the eats, roots, leave humor to the peanut gallery, tempted as I am.

46. Lode load : ORE

55. Soldier of Fortune subject : MERCENARY

58. D-sharp equivalent : E FLAT

59. Grifter : CON ARTIST. Do any of you watch the "Cooks vs. Cons" on the Food Network? I enjoy the show, but have you noticed that most of the "pros" who lose out are personal chefs, not restaurant chefs? Big difference in standards. One of the winning contestants who had me totally fooled appeared in one of the early episodes - she was French, and turned out to be a barber in New York City.

60. __ del Sol : COSTA. On the Spanish Mediterranean. One of my favorite soccer players, Diego Costa, looks like he might be leaving my club Chelsea, and returning to his old one, Atletico Madrid. Hasta luego, y gracias Diego! Of course, there's also this:

61. Prepare for mailing : SEAL

62. On the less windy side : ALEE. I learned the lesson early - if you're at sea and you experience what is kindly known as reverse peristalsis, then you'd better be on this side of the ship when you start to feed the fishes.

63. Woods components : TREES

Down:

1. Automobil route : BAHN. It can also be a rail route: Deutsche Bahn AG is the company that operates Germany's rail networks, among others.

2. Healing salve : ALOE

3. Frustrating roommate for a neatnik : SLOB

4. Many opera heroines : SOPRANOS. Nice tie-in with BASSI at the top.

5. "I'll take that action" : IT'S A BET

6. Checklist item : TASK

7. Galápagos locale: Abbr. : ECUA. Ecuador. I stumbled around here a little, I tried AGUA which caused me some confusion for a while, and made no sense whatsoever given that we are told we need an abbreviation.

8. Bos'n's boss : CAP'N

9. Hustles : HIES

10. Stand-up sort : MENSCH

11. Mancinelli opera "__ e Leandro" : ERO This trilogy at 11D, 12D and 13D would have been a total bust for me if I didn't know Golda MEIR. I'd have WAG'ed at ARO, ERV and NO IDEA which would have left me looking at MAE-

12. Robbins of Baskin-Robbins : IRV

13. Shaggy Scandinavian rug : RYA

16. Slow-cook, in a way : BRAISE

20. Give a darn? : SEW

23. Former African secessionist territory : BIAFRA

24. "The Wind in the Willows" character : MR. TOAD. It's a fun book. I never understood how Mr. Toad could escape from jail, go home to reclaim Toad Hall, and the police never bothered to come over and pick him up.

25. Handles : SEES TO

26. Italian headquarters of Maserati : MODENA. Also Ferrari's HQ. Lamborghini had a factory there too, but forget all about that. Balsamic vinegar! Yay!

27. Out of the sack : ARISEN

28. Around, so to speak : IN TOWN

29. French-speaking republic : HAITI

30. Escapade : ANTIC

31. "Crossroads of America" in Indiana, e.g. : MOTTO

32. Law-and-order gps. : P.D.S Police Departments.

37. Pancake-making aid : MIX.

38. Nurtured : CARED FOR

40. Mother of Pearl, in an 1850 novel : HESTER. Hester Prynne, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".

41. PC part? : CORRECT

43. Cantina quaff : MESCAL

44. Head of England? : LOO

48. Masonry support : ANTA. The support between the pillar and the roof. Here's one at the Athenian Treasury:

49. Word with coat or shirt : TAIL.I still have my tailcoat, formal wedding-wear in the UK. I haven't worn it for 30-odd years though.

50. Gaelic tongue : ERSE

51. Bunch of bits : BYTE. Nice

52. "What __ could I say?" : ELSE

53. Evaluate : RATE

54. D.C. Metro stops : STAS. Stations on the Washington D.C. transit.

55. Escher and Hammer : M.C.S. The rapper and the graphic artist come together harmoniously.

56. Fair-hiring letters : EOE Equal Opportunity Employer.

57. Protein-building molecule : RNA

I've been in San Antonio for a couple of days and went to check out the Alamo. Everyone tells you it's not as big as you expect and they're right!

Here's the grid, and I'm heading out to the airport!

Steve

Note from C.C..:

Here are three sweet pictures of Bill G's new granddaughter Bella. Bill said she is about 5 weeks old now.

Saturday, Jun 3rd, 2017, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing Q,V,X)

Blocks: 34

 Yet another Saturday perplexity from Mr. Fludzinski - the hardest name to spell in the title bar~!  Today's puzzle was slow to start, but then a few spots opened up, and I was able to nearly get it finished without help - one cel was just not making any sense to me, and so I had to cheat with red-letters for that one crossing.  Oh well.  A triple stack of staggered 11-letter fills in the center, and triple 10-letter corners as well;

16a. Conforming phrase : WHEN IN ROME....

30a. Rouen Cathedral series painter : CLAUDE MONET

34a. So-called "Nobel Prize of Mathematics" : FIELDS MEDAL - more here

35a. Event for disabled athletes : PARALYMPICS

Winter 2018 - Korea

 56a. Strong six-pack : ABS OF STEEL

onDElaWARed~!

ACROSS:

1. Pine : ACHE - I had "LONG" to start - so I was on the 'verb' wavelength to start

5. Educational : SCHOLASTIC

15. Lump : GLOB

17. Not like in any way : HATE - filled via perps; I was thinking the opposite of "akin", not the emotional definition of "like"

18. Obsolescent book alternatives : AUDIO TAPES - now it's audio MP3s

19. Off the mark : ASTRAY - my first guess, but I hesitated

21. Like the title girl in a 2014 David Fincher film : GONE - IMDb

22. Further south of the border? : MAS - the Spanish adjective for more, over, beyond, further, etc.

23. Before Phelps, he held the record for most golds in a single Olympics : SPITZ - vaguely recalled his name, threw the "Z" in and that helped bridge the NW corner, literally

24. Govt. leaders : SENators

25. 1969 World Series MVP Clendenon : DONN - the crossing of 25d. led me to either "M", "D" or "R", but only the "R" and "D" worked here - I do not know much about baseball, even if I am from NY and our Mets won the Series that year - his Wiki

26. Rx amt. : TSP - I put in "TER", which is wrong, but got me further in the NW

27. QB's stat : ATTempts - not TDs, and not INT, either....

29. Stumping sites : PODIA - ah.  I knew what we needed here, but this 'plural of podium' had me fooled

36. Fact and fiction and flora and fauna, e.g. : PAIRS - oh, OK. 

37. Part of a chorus line? : TRA-la-la-lala, and so on

38. Include covertly, briefly : BCC - I saw 'covertly' and started thinking "OPS" - just your everyday "Blind Carbon Copy"

41. Calvary inscription : INRI - learned from doing crosswords

42. Cabinet mem. : SEC'Y

45. __ wind : SOLAR

47. Indian bread : NAN

48. Updike title character : BECH - new to me - now I feel like looking for Updike books at my library.  The Wiki

49. View from Tokyo, on clear days : Mt. FUJI - nailed it

50. "Is it safe to talk?" : "ARE WE ALONE~?"

53. Tag line? : FROM - I tried "I'm IT"

54. Fashion VIP : TASTEMAKER - well, that's the word, and the actual definition - one who decides what will be fashionable; my spellcheck doesn't like it, and I'm not much of a fan, either

55. First name in mystery : ERLE

57. Bar array : RYES - rather specific

DOWN:

1. Appalled : AGHAST

2. Necklace holders : CLASPS - my 12-step necklace broke Thursday AM, in my man-cave - the second time it's happened, both times right before I went to UPS - otherwise, if it fell off there, it would have gotten lost forever

3. Lead on a horse? : HOT TIP

4. Pulitzer-winning film critic : EBERT - made me concede that "LONG" may be wrong

5. Clout : SWAY

6. Physics Nobelist Steven in Obama's Cabinet : CHU - filled via perps

7. Equivocate : HEDGE

8. Ring material : ONION - ugh.  Got me.

9. They have their pride : LIONS - I got this one

10. Pay to play : ANTE - no paying, no playing this week - I'm down in Delaware again, for a BBQ and some more game development

11. Title for 25-Down: Abbr. : SRA

12. Tyra Banks reality show, familiarly : TOP MODEL - never watched it, but I did recall the name

13. "No joke!" : "I MEAN IT~!"

14. Wichita-based aviation company : CESSNA - it fit, and it worked, so....

20. Showy shrubs : AZALEAS

24. Burn the midnight oil : STUDY - made me change my "TDs" at 27a.

25. Some European women : DONAS - MONAS would have worked for me, but not with the crossing

28. Starbucks order : TALL - I don't 'do' Starbucks - I'll take 7-11 coffee, thanks

29. Online entertainment : PODCAST

30. Clouds from the Latin for "curls" : CIRRI - I once owned a Dodge Stratus, Plymouth made the "Breeze", and Chrysler's version was the "Cirrus" - yet two distinctly different clouds

31. Mil. decoration : DSM - the Distinguished Service Medal

32. Like some promises : EMPTY

33. Israel's Iron Lady : MEIR

34. Impartiality : FAIRNESS

35. For Mideast unity : PAN-ARAB

36. Thing to bash at a bash : PIÑATA

38. Not sharp : BLURRY - I had CLUMSY in there to start, since I wrongly filled in CC'd instead of BCC

39. Coax : CAJOLE - with the "J" from FuJi in place, I got this

40. Thefts, e.g. : CRIMES - oops, not HEISTS

42. Coal sources : SEAMS - I like these seams better

43. Bravura : ÉCLAT

44. Hold (back), as tears : CHOKE

46. Put forth : OFFER

48. Quarrel : BEEF

49. Crossword legend Reagle : MERL

51. GATT successor : WTO - no clue. I never heard of either (more here), and so it was an alphabet run, and I didn't know if 54a. was a proper name, so I was basically screwed. 

52. Once called : NÉE

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear Owen, our talented and hardworking wordsmith. Thanks for being part of our family, Owen!

 

Owen & his wife Brenda (Feb 28, 2009)

Saturday March 4, 2017 Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: None

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

Blocks: 28

Another Saturday struggle from Pawel, but unlike his construction from Jan of this year, I did not succeed without a fair amount of cheating - but then again, I am also in the middle of a lot of projects, so my mind was not entirely focused on the puzzle.  One too many proper names, normal for the author, as well.  Today's grid, somewhat like a snake, is another example of how to make it difficult to work one area with no hope of getting in to another - for me, I could not get anything going in the NW.  Triple 9- and 10-letter corners, the longest answers in the grid;

15. Land across the Baltic from Sweden : LITHUANIA - OK, cheated - I looked at a map of Europe

14. Federal subsidy : GRANT-IN-AID - never heard the term before

53. Crash and burn : HIT BOTTOM

26. Nevada's Area 51, notably : OPEN SECRET

The

Files~!

ACROSS:

1. Picture with a surprise ending? : PHOTO BOMB

10. Cheaply, with "for" : A SONG

16. Organ __ : DONOR 

17. Burden to bear : ALBATROSS - Iron Maiden turned a classic poem into a 13minute song;

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

18. Lead-in for here or nowhere : OUTTA - outta here, outta nowhere

19. Much data: Abbr. : NOs - technically, it's just "two" numbers; 1, and 0

20. River of Tuscany : ARNO

21. Oliver Twist, for one : ORPHAN

22. Architectural molding : OGEE - I have not seen this in a Saturday puzzle for a while

23. Cut twice, perhaps : TRISECT - I was thinking someone measured wrong in the first place....

24. Clear of snow : PLOWED - my "private road" does not get plowed

27. The King's middle name : ARON - Elvis, thank you, thank you very much

28. McBride of "Draft Day" : CHI

29. Metz meal : REPAS - too much Frawnche for me today

30. __ vote : SWING

31. Wi-Fi relative : LAN

32. Eisner's successor at Disney : IGER - filled via perps

33. Org. formed in Manila in 1954 : SEATO - good WAG

34. Pulitzer poet Van Duyn : MONA - filled via perps

35. With 22-Down, immortal 20th-century racer : MAN circumreferential to; 22. See 35-Across : O' WAR - dah~! I was looking for someONE, like Richard Petty, not a horse....

36. British county : SHIRE - generic, not specific

37. Spherical bacteria : COCCI - perps got me --CCI

38. Racing Unsers : ALs

39. Make sound : MEND

40. Quenched : SLAKED

41. Downwind current : LEE TIDE

43. Improvisational style : SCAT

44. Aspects : FACETS

45. Sainted pope called "the Great" : LEO I - LEO (Roman numeral), JOHN or PIUS~? Had to wait

46. Masterpiece : GEM

49. Heron relative : EGRET

50. Product announced but never produced or canceled : VAPORWARE - I finally caved in to peer pressure and bought a vaporizer, so I can hang with the "cool" kids at UPS - they're all half my age anyway, so I find it all amusing.  I do however, think there's a chance I might quit smoking with this thing - I like the ash-less,no-more-stank-in-the-car 'just like smoking candy' aspects of the thing....

52. Coeur d'__ : ALENE

54. Treat again, as leather : RE-TAN - my preferred kind of "tan"

55. Relax : STAY LOOSE

DOWN:

1. Work on one's vacation, say : PLAN - oh, like booking a room and a flight - I am on "vacation" from UPS, but for me, it meant putting in 40+ hours at both restaurants to get them back into shape - one from the fireproofing mess, the other for grand re-opening in two weeks

2. Hawaii's __ Bay : HILO - good WAG

3. Places with indoor windows, briefly : OTBs - ah.  Filled via perps; clever, though

4. Rap article : THA'

5. Storm problems : OUTAGES - SURGES was too short

6. Kept out : BARRED - dah~! Not baNNed

7. Two __: fast-break advantage : ON-ONE - love them in hockey; I finally saw a three-on-three OT game - and I like the fact that a 2-on-1 or breakaway is always imminent

8. Protein-rich paste : MISO - not TOFU

9. Humanities degs. : BAs

10. Like most grandparents : ADORING

11. Stock options? : SOUPS

12. Facing a deadline : ON THE CLOCK

13. "In your dreams!" : NOT A CHANCE

21. College town about 100 miles NE of Portland : ORONO - seen this in enough crosswords

23. Hackneyed : TRITE

24. 1993 William Diehl thriller on which a 1996 film was based : PRIMAL FEAR

25. Formidable court figure : LEGAL EAGLE - also a movie, but it was "eagleS"

27. Agatha or Edgar : AWARD - nailed it, but then again, I had A-A--

30. The Pont Neuf spans it : SEINE - Frawnche

33. Molts : SHEDS

34. Defense that may be all wet : MOAT - my dream home has a moat

36. Gaga : SMITTEN

37. "Does she ... or doesn't she?" brand : CLAIROL

40. Part of a fictional dog name inspired by Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" : SCOOBY

42. R&B singer __ Marie : TEENA

43. Dividing walls : SEPTA - biology

45. Café supply : LAIT - Frawnche, again

46. León relative : GATO - Frawnche, encore

47. Piccadilly Circus statue : EROS

48. Hand raiser's attention-getter : ME~! ME~!

50. Beta rival : VHS

51. Org. that complements the IMF : WTO - oh.  The International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization - I was stuck on "Impossible Mission Force....

Splynter

Saturday, Jan 28th, 2017, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: "hashtag"

Words: 70 (missing Q,W,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

HA~!!!  This one was looking bleak for the longest time, with a lot of proper names and vague clues, but I surprised myself by getting it done with nary a single cheat, Google, or red-letter peek.  And within my personal allotted time, as well.  The puzzle itself had to be a truly difficult one to construct, with triple spanners crossing triple climbers, in a "#"-like pattern.  Very clever.  I have to admire constructors who can pull this off without "meh" fill.  In retrospect there was a lot of 'crosswordese' which I have seen before, including a repeat of last week's 'keeping it real'.  The long fills;

20. Quantum mechanics symbol : SCHRODINGER'S CAT - I've posted a link to this before, and the more I try to understand it, the more my brain hurts.  I get it, but the more I read, the more I don't get it

37. Herbie and Christine : SELF-DRIVING CARS - one friendly, one no so friendly; Christine was one of the first 'adult' books I ever read, and as a result, the Buick Cutlass Supreme Brougham that I was driving at the time earned the name "Christine"; the new Dodge is "Daphne"

52. Game with a disc : ULTIMATE FRISBEE - my first thought was Frisbee, but the 'ultimate' part eluded me

4. Like the Toyota Prius : ENERGY EFFICIENT - a"repeat" from last week

7. Gadget affected by waves : SOUND LEVEL METER

10. Like some aquariums : CLOSED ECOSYSTEM

ACROSS:

1. Spent : JADED - there are days when I am definitely "jaded" at UPS

6. Wine city SSE of the Matterhorn : ASTI - looking back, I shoulda recognized this as merely Saturday cluing for a common crossword fill

10. Pasta alle vongole ingredient : CLAM - no clue; had two crossings, and the other two letters were WAGs

14. 1955 Dior innovation : A LINE - I remembered this from previous puzzles, too, but I needed two crossings to jog my memory

15. Create, in a way : COIN - one of the line supervisors claims to have "coined" the term DERP, which ended up being the route name of one of my UPS trucks - until the driver looked it up, and said he didn't like the name anymore; so we changed the name of the route to DOUG

16. Actress Loughlin : LORI - I thought it was SARA - and of course, I had the "R" in place

17. Plague : BESET - "beset" always reminds me of the Pulp Fiction scene where Jules recites Ezekiel 25:17 - with a little embellishment from Quentin, naturally

18. Vintage vessels : TUNS - dah~!  Not URNS nor TUGS

19. Silver sources : ORES

23. __ wire : GUY - the sound effects guys on Star Wars used one to create the sound of the lasers in the movie

24. "Piece of cake!" : "DEAD EASY~!"

25. Be true to oneself : STAY REAL - another 'repeat' from last week

29. Poor, as an excuse : SAD

30. Roast runner : EMCEE

31. Dramatic start? : MELO - melodramatic

33. Place with Sundance : ETTA - crafty - I did not know Etta Place was Sundance Kid's wife - the Wiki

40. Adequate, in texts : ENUF

41. Tablet operator : USER

42. Capital at the foot of Vitosha Mountain : SOFIA - Saturday cluing

43. Network with a lot of reruns : ION - they started running Burn Notice, which I got hooked on - glad I have a Firestick so I can watch the episodes in sequence now

Love the sunglasses

45. End of the line : LAST STOP

47. Shore scavenger : BEACH BUM - I was thinking "birds" for some reason

51. Crowbar, e.g. : PRY

57. Architect Mies van der __ : ROHE - knew it, just couldn't remember how to spell it

58. Big name in credit : CITI

59. It's quite a blast : N-TEST

60. Reinterpret : SPIN

61. "Ad Parnassum" painter : KLEE - again, no clue.  WAG

uh-huh....

62. Pass without flying colors : GET a C

63. __ dress : TENT - not as appealing as an A LINE dress, IMHO

64. Vassal : SERF  semi-clecho with; 53d. Vassal's venue : FIEF

65. Line drive, say : SMASH - baseball

DOWN:

1. Sharp criticisms : JABS

2. Smart guy? : ALEC - har-har

3. Bobby Flay creation : DISH - a blank WAG on my part, and clearly a good one

5. Avoided traffic, perhaps : DETOURED

6. When Valjean is released from prison : ACT I - I have learned how to interpret clues like this; fill in "ACT" and wait; it was most likely going to be "I".  From Les Misérables, which I know little about

8. Soupçon : TINGE

9. Like Halloween pumpkins : IN SEASON

11. "Oda a Salvador Dalí" poet García __ : LORCA - no clue again

12. Domains : AREAS

13. Indistinct : MISTY

21. Batik need : DYE

22. Dietary no. : RDA

25. Zaire's Mobutu __ Seko : SESE - got it because it's crosswordese again

26. Counterfeit cops? : T-MEN - Treasury agents

27. Scopes Trial gp. : ACLU

28. Nice friends : AMIs - Frawnche

32. Late Ottoman currency : LIRA - I first read this as "LIKE", not "LATE", so I didn't get it

34. Chief justice before Hughes : TAFT

35. Small club group : TRIO

36. "Pronto!" : ASAP

38. Football plays with special teams : RUNBACKS

39. D neighbors on most guitars : G-STRINGS - because the "other" G-string definition is unacceptable here

44. Bit of resistance : OHM - unit of measure for resistance

46. Easter time: Abbr. : SPRing

47. Star or cloud follower : BURST -Starburst, cloudburst; we had plenty of that here Tuesday

48. Cut out for a union? : ELOPE - ah, that kind of union

49. Walk __ line : A THIN

50. Handy : UTILE

54. Test release : BETA

55. Those, in Tenerife : ESAS

56. Permanently mark : ETCH - oops, not SCAR

Splynter

Saturday, Aug 27th, 2016, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: None

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

Blocks: 28

  Mr. Fludzinski returns with another Saturday LA Times grid, a little over a month since his last construction.  I re-read that blog, and had a repeat solving experience - switching between across and down.  In fact, I was so eager to switch back to across from the down that I never actually read the last two 'Down' clues; when it came to the write up, I didn't recognize the entries at all....Relatively smooth solve, under my personal time, with the proper names were helped along by the perps.  Triple and almost-triple 10-letter corners, plus four 8-letter answers on the inside;

 1. Parent of 66-Across : BABY BOOMER - ugh, a circumreferential clue to start; it was the second half that got me the answer here

66. Child of 1-Across : MILLENNIAL

26. Ramshackle : DECREPIT - the image this word conjures up

48. Iconic Ansel Adams photograph shot in Hernandez, New Mexico : MOONRISE

moONWARD~>!

ACROSS:

11. Jobs creation : IMAC - I tried iPod; not fooled by the reference to Steve Jobs

15. As it happens : IN REAL TIME

16. It can tide you over : NOSH

17. Exercise regimen : DAILY DOZEN

18. Ending to avoid? : ANCE - avoidance

19. Commemorative pillar : STELA - pondered TOTEM, but that was in last week's puzzle - and then it appeared here anyway @ 29d.  I did however, fill in STELE at first

20. Accords : ENTENTES - oops, I had DEtentes at first

22. Piccadilly Circus statue : EROS - dredged this one up from the depths of my crossword solving brain

25. Anesthetizes : DEADENS

30. Refuse : DROSS

31. Link letters : URL - ah.  I tried PGA for golf links

32. Thin feathered flier : ARROW - at first I thought we were looking for some sort of bird; got it after some thought

34. Pop music sleepyhead : SUSIE - I still have no clue what this refers to; I found a Susie Sleepyhead teddy bear....the second "S" was the only non-crossing unfilled

36. Youngest player to join the 600-HR club : A-ROD

38. Snowmen? : YETIs

40. Trade staple : TOOL - I am looking into refrigeration classes this coming winter/spring, as it's the only industry area I am unfamiliar with at the restaurants.  There are some specific tools for this trade, too, and I don't own them - yet

41. Sore __ : LOSER - had it, put it in, took it out because of 26d.

43. Teeth in Torino : DENTI

45. ICU VIPs : RNs

46. Transplant, in a way : REPOT

50. Preserves flavor : APRICOT - Dah~!  preserves the noun, not the verb

52. Part of a Simon & Garfunkel quartet? : SAGE - clever; the others being parsley, rosemary and thyme

53. Railroad worker : TRACKMAN

55. Pass a second time : RELAP

59. Custom : WONT - I tried NORM

60. Olympics event since 2000 : TRAMPOLINE

63. Seraph, to Sylvie : ANGE

64. "The Decay of Lying" author : OSCAR WILDE

65. Swamp thing : REED - not this Swamp Thing

DOWN:

1. Contractors' proposals : BIDS - part of my business also, and the hardest for me - getting the right number for both myself and the client/customer

2. Body lang. : ANATomy - I pondered ASL, American Sign Language, but it didn't jibe - or fit

3. French wheel : BRIE - ah.  Roue is Frawnche for wheel; cheesy reference....

4. See 6-Down : YELLER - paired with; 6. With 4-Down, Fred Gipson book that won a 1957 Newbery Honor : OLD

5. Region including Napa : BAY AREA

7. Tribe that met with Lewis and Clark in 1804 : OTO

8. 1987 Masters champ Larry : MIZE

9. Polish, in a way : EMEND

10. Let : RENTED

11. "It was a very brief visit" : IN AND OUT

12. Education innovator : MONTESSORI - big help in the NE - my friend from Ohio was once a participant of this system

13. Climbs : ASCENSIONS - makes me think of a Blue Öyster Cult song

lyric @ 0:24

14. Mating game : CHESS - D'oh~! couldn't think of any "dating game"....

oh, this kind of mate

21. Canal zones : EARS - clever

23. Country music venue : OPRY

24. Brought into being : SIRED

26. Part of DINK : DUAL - I was told it was "Double Income, No Kids", which meant the answer was "KIDS"; so that messed me up for a long time

27. Likely to be off : ERROR PRONE

28. A short distance : CLOSE RANGE

29. Venerated symbol : TOTEM - here it is again~!

33. Skid row figures : WINOS - I never made it to "Skid Row"....but damn close

35. Ultimatum end : ELSE - "or else~!!!"

37. Portrayed : DEPICTED

39. Old portico : STOA - another one I dredged up

42. __ bottom : ROCK

44. Like some hairs : INGROWN

47. Drum kit component : TOM-TOM - Pawel likes his drums - he had a snare drum reference in the last Sat puzzle

49. Catch at the shore : REEL IN - wasn't sure about this answer; you would still reel in from a boat, right~?

50. Openly hostile : AT WAR

51. Low bones : TARSI

54. Substance in the sea's H2O : NaCL

56. Taylor of "Say Anything..." : LILI - I thought it was LORI, but the last "I" helped - 100% 50% correct

57. Time-half link : AND A - time-and-a-half, which I get after 5hrs at UPS - each day, and I pretty much go over every day during the summer - and now I am on vacation until after Labor Day - yay~!

58. Outer cover : PEEL

61. __ du pays: homesickness : MAL - never even saw this clue....

62. Historic leader? : PRE - nor this one; Pre-historic

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to Lemonade (Jason), who's been guiding us with the Friday puzzles since March 2010. So much has changed the past 6 years:: Charlotte was born. He had a health scare. He was remarried. Harper was born. But Lemonade's dedication to this blog and his passion for blogging remains unchanged.  Thanks for always being here for us, Lemonade!

Lemonade and his lovely wife Oo, Dec 21, 2014

Charlotte, Dad, Harper & Grandpa Lemonade

Saturday, Jul 9th, 2016, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: None

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

Blocks: 28

Our last Saturday puzzle from Mr. Fludzinski was over a year ago, though he did drop in with a couple of Wednesday grids for the LA Times in between.  I filled in 1-across straight away ( wrongly, I might add ), and thought we might do alright today - especially when some of the longer fill went right in.  Sort of a strange solving style for me today; I seemed to switch back and forth between across and down; one letter giving me enough to work with 'orthogonally'.  This one moved along at a brisk pace, so when I got stumped in the NW, I didn't hesitate and just cheated - ah, Wisconsin.  10-letter fill all over the place;

33a. 1996 Richard Gere thriller : PRIMAL FEAR - I managed to see the last 5mins of the movie, so I pretty much failed my own 19across....

38a. Premium Scotch choice : SINGLE MALT 

6d. Percussion staples : SNARE DRUMS - I have one, it's steel, and I'd like a wood one

29d. Detect vulnerability : SMELL BLOOD

 ON

    NW

       WA

           AR

              RD

                 D~!

ACROSS:

1. Splitting target : ATOM - Well, OK then, it's not "HAIR"; semi-clecho with 14a.

5. Taqueria adjective : ASADA

10. Heavy wind? : TUBA - I sensed the misdirection, but "BASSOON" was all I could think of; also semi-clecho with; 49d. High wind? : OBOE

14. Splitting : BREAKING UP

16. Author Blyton : ENID - I knew this proper name

17. Degree seekers : CANDIDATES

18. Hendrix hairdo : AFRO - I'm a lefty guitar player - four of mine are still upside down righties

19. Alert follower, perhaps : SPOILER

20. They may be spilled : SECRETS - BEANS and GUTS weren't long enough

22. Reason for many a school absence : STREP

24. "In __, I know not why I am so sad": "The Merchant of Venice" : SOOTH

25. '90s Philippine president Fidel : RAMOS - WAGed the vowels

28. JAMA subscribers : DRs

30. It merged with SAG in 2012 : AFTRA - I knew this one, too

32. Cal's "East of Eden" brother : ARON

35. Nigerian native : IBO - the Wiki

36. Some vents : LOUVERS

37. GPS suggestion : RTE

40. Enthusiastic : KEEN - ah, not AVID - but I am keen on this

I'm an "avid" reader, too~!

41. Flummoxed : AT SEA

42. Blues with sticks: Abbr. : STL - hockey reference; the St. Louis Blues

43. Performed, in Shakespeare : DIDST

44. __ scheme : RHYME - dah~! Not PONZI

46. "The Other Side of Oz" autobiographer : EBSEN

48. Buddy : PAISANO

50. Sticks around : LINGERS - not REMAINS

54. Eclectic magazine : UTNE

55. Hardly a light six-pack? : ABS OF STEEL

57. Staple in 48-Down : BEER - circumreferential to; 48d. 57-Across sellers : PUBS

58. NYC saloon featured in a 2000 film : COYOTE UGLY

59. The Stans were among them: Abbr. : SSRs

 

60. Ministers : TENDS

61. Chinese menu possessive : TSO'S

DOWN:

1. Essentials : ABCs

2. Corner : TRAP

3. Santa Ynez Valley prefix : OENO - "wine"; we have a burgeoning wine country on the North Fork of LI, too

4. Badger State city : MADISON - here's why the state got the nickname

5. Help, in Le Havre : AIDER - Frawnche

7. G-man : AGT - dah~! Not FED

8. Union requirement : DUES - I know this firsthand

9. Church areas : APSES

10. Detach, in a way : TEAR OFF

11. Free : UNFETTERED - nailed it

12. Demographers' concerns : BIRTH RATES

13. Flaps : ADOS

15. Highland attire : KILTS

 There can be only one

21. Barbecue supply : COALS - dah~!  Not SAUCE, MEATS, or CLAMS

23. Like much property : PRIVATE

25. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA

26. Resolves, as a contract dispute : ARBITRATES

27. Still runner : MOONSHINER

31. Isn't for you? : AREN'T

33. Baltimore bard : POE

34. Wall adornment : ART - I have this print - I think it's awesome

Gargoyles - Michael Parkes

36. Beast of burden : LLAMA

39. Springs with steam : GEYSERS

40. 18th-dynasty Egyptian pharaoh : KING TUT

43. Crowded : DENSE

45. Make official : ENACT

47. Goes through carefully : SIFTS

51. Lines of thought? : EEGs - har-har

52. Pull up stakes, informally : RELOcate

53. Stone and others : SLYs

56. Preserves, for keeps: Abbr. : SYNonym

Splynter

 Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear Tony (Anon-T), our always caring & attentive friend. Is your mother-in-law visiting today, Tony?