Saturday, Feb 4th, 2017 David C. Duncan-Dekker

Theme: DCDD

Words: 68 (missing J,X,Z)

Blocks: 33

Well I just about smoked through this puzzle, despite having no answers for the first three long Across fills. A pinwheel grid with triple 10-letter corners meant easier 4-letter fills for crossings, and some of them were too much of a 'gimme' for a Saturday construction.  Hey, they gotta throw us a bone once in a while, no~?  Very few proper names, I knew all of them, and several other clues were in my wheelhouse as well.  One from each corner;

1. Runway covering : TARMACADAM - here I thought this was redundant, as TAR and MACADAM were the same thing, but I went looking and discovered I was wrong

57. Flipper, for one : BOTTLENOSE - I started with "TV----", but 'character' was too long; for some reason, I thought dolphins were "bottleNECK".  Ooops

So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

13. Not yet on the shelves : UNRELEASED - my book is unreleased - and uh, unwritten, right now....

24. 1956 rockabilly hit : BE-BOP-A-LULA - before my time, but the phrase appears in this song, which I have linked before, but I think it's worth hearing again

The Afterlife

Paul SimONWARD~!

ACROSS:

11. Border : ABUT - dah~! Not EDGE

15. Hedge : EQUIVOCATE

16. Mellow, with "down" : TONE

17. Source of sweet-scented spice : NUTMEG TREE

18. Car alarm : HORN

19. What suspects may be charged with : TASERS - suspect or perp~?  One can be a suspect without getting tased in the process - I hope

20. Grease, often : FAT

21. Squeezed (out) : EKED - gimme

22. Something else : LULU

23. First name in legal fiction : ERLE - his Wiki

24. Good yield : BUMPER CROP

Looks like it's gonna be a good year~!

30. Not a good look : LEER - gimme

31. Made possible : ENABLED

32. Pan Am competitor : TWA - ugh.  I tried UAL, then NWA, and finally got it right

34. Darken, in a way : TAN - ooh, I was close with DYE at first

35. Ordered : BOSSED - yesterday my senior boss thought he'd tell me how to load one of my trucks - so I said to him "why don't you just go sit in the office~?"

36. Manage poorly : ILL USE

38. Leftover bit : ORT - gimme

39. Kid's cry : "MOM~!"

41. Dresses : ATTIRES - ah, the verb, not the noun

42. Like some horses : PIED - pondered "ROAN"

44. Hunting dogs : COONHOUNDS

46. Business opening : AGRO - thought it was agrI, but....

47. Letter-shaped fastener : T-NUT

48. Depict artistically : LIMN

49. Certain game extensions, briefly : OTs - the NY Rangers won in OT on Thursday

50. Force user : OBI-WAN - I use the Force - it keeps me sober

56. Hand or foot : UNIT - measures, not "limbs"

59. "Constant Craving" singer : LANG - k.d., and I remembered this song

60. Police may look for one : EYEWITNESS

61. Gucci or Rossi : ALDO - perps

62. Some talk show personalities : RADIO HOSTS

DOWN:

1. Big top, e.g. : TENT - gimme

2. Water color : AQUA

3. Groovy things : RUTS - "LPs" was too short

4. Street performer : MIME - gimme

5. Claim : AVER

6. Minor players : COGS

7. Perform : ACT - gimme

8. War-torn Sudanese region : DARFUR - featured in this song from Thievery Corporation

9. Got stuffed : ATE A LOT

10. Join for a drink, say : MEET UP WITH - only if it's coffee - OK, Diet Coke, too

11. Close behind : AT HEEL

12. Library feature : BOOK RETURN

14. Gentle quality : TENDERNESS

22. Flat-panel TV component : LCD - had in, took it out

25. Hardly fresh : UNORIGINAL

26. Code-breaking game with colored pegs : MASTERMIND - ah, I remember this game, but I never played it

27. __ Kids: "Sesame Street" brand : PBS - perps

28. Am or Fm : ELEMent - almost got me; I went with BAND first, but this is Americium and Fermium

29. Fictional Soviet sub : RED OCTOBER - I can think of a more difficult way to clue this on Saturday - e.g. "sub captained by Ramius"

33. Chorus line? : ALTO

37. Voice of Master Viper in "Kung Fu Panda" films : LIU

40. Flamenco guitarist Carlos : MONTOYA - perps gave me MONT---, and given the occupation/first name....

41. Social worker? : ANT - gimme

43. "What's the rush?" : "DON'T GO...."

45. Kicked to the curb : OUSTED

50. A little of this, a little of that : OLIO - I have not seen this in a puzzle for a long time - but I don't get to the weekday puzzles much

51. One of the March sisters : BETH - I had the -ET-, so I figured BETH was a good choice

52. __ time : IN NO

53. Tribulations : WOES

54. No. 2 : ASST. - Always reminds me of Dr. Evil

55. Headland : NESS - new definition for me

58. Light head? : TWI - twilight; second "lead-in" clue in the grid (46a.), which is unusual

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, Jan 21st, 2017, Neville Fogarty

Theme: None

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

Blocks: 30

Well it's about time I smoked through a Saturday puzzle; I was starting to wonder if the difficulty level was ever going to come down.  I recognized the constructor's name, and I sensed that I had struggled with his grids in the past - but I was wrong.  It has been over four years since he last gave us a Saturday challenge, and that one was a fun romp, too - my words.  Six ten-letter answers in today's grid, with triple 8- and 6-letter corners;

 4. Some breaks in the NFL action : TV TIMEOUTS

20. Biting criticism : ACID TONGUE

12. Fruity chip go-with : MANGO SALSA

29. Contemporary "Be yourself" : KEEP IT REAL - I liked Dave Chapelle's "when Keeping it Real goes wrong", but due to the "adult content", I must refrain from posting it here  :7))

50. Dark personification : GRIM REAPER

27. Goes wild : WHOOPS IT UP

ON❤ARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Robin on '60s TV : BURT WARD - oh so proud of myself for filling in SIDEKICK, and it worked well with my 15a, too

9. Mischievous kids : SCAMPS

15. What one taking a flight doesn't use? : ELEVATOR - a flight of stairs, and it didn't fool me

16. Mustang rival : CAMARO - I'll take the Mustang every day of the week, twice on Sunday

17. Abomination : ANATHEMA

18. Common soccer result : ONE-NIL - hockey games that end 1-0 are boring

19. Coach Eric Taylor's wife on "Friday Night Lights" : TAMI - perps

22. Hardboard brand : MASONITE - at first I was ashamed that I couldn't nail this one, but then when the crossings filled in, I realized I was thinking Homasote, and not Hardboard.  Fake 6-panel doors are made with hardboard, and cheaper

24. William Donovan's WWII org. : OSS

25. Dropped jaws : WOWED 'EM

28. Computer media : DISKS - perps got me all but the "K", and I wondered if it might be "C"

30. Cold sound? : "ACHOO~!"

31. "Star Trek" rank: Abbr. : ENS. - the one I can think of is Ro, from The Next Generation

32. __ St. Louis : EAST - vague, but it's Saturday

35. Exodus pronoun : THOU - THEE or THOU~? Had to wait

36. Liquid diet component : BROTH - my liquid diet of some years ago did NOT consist of broth....

38. "The Time Machine" race : ELOI - Crosswordese

39. Traffic sound : TOOT - dah~! Not HONK

40. Jethro Tull frontman Anderson : IAN - I knew this - but I am not a fan; Iron Maiden covered Cross-eyed Mary

Note the Grim Reaper on the card

41. Big name in printers : EPSON - CANON~? XEROX~?  Ugh.  Had to wait

42. Library exchanges : PSSTs - BOOKS fit, but I doubted it was the answer; my last fill was the "S", tho I had "A" there first - hey PSATS sounded reasonable - but no ta-DA~!

44. Drea de Matteo's role on "The Sopranos" : ADRIANA - did not watch the show, filled via perps

46. Sources of remote power : AAs - TV remotes, etc.

48. Balderdash : UTTER ROT - ever play Balderdash~? Great board game

52. Speeds (up) : REVS

56. More affected, in a way : ARTIER

Black & White - I'm getting "artier"

57. More than familiar with : INURED TO - my "SAGAS" at 49d. led me to GEARED TO

59. Arrive copiously : POUR IN

60. Some summer homes : COTTAGES

61. Toll road convenience : E-Z PASS - word is, NY State is going total E-Z Pass and unmanned booths; cameras will catch those who don't play well with others.  I already have my tags

62. Site of Napoleon's last exile : St. HELENA

DOWN:

1. Overpower : BEAT

2. Radius neighbor : ULNA

3. Office quantity : REAM

5. Nursery noise : WAH - guitar noise, too, for those who know

6. Base command : AT EASE

7. "Think Like a Man Too," e.g. : ROM-COM

8. Exhaust : DRAIN

9. Terrier type : SCOTTISH

10. Participates in a camp activity : CANOES

11. Grace closing : AMEN

Amen~!

13. Hybrid hatchback : PRIUS - there are two kinds of Prius owners - either the ones who drive so slow that they never use the gasoline engine, or the other ones, who should have never invested in a hybrid in the first place - a Mustang would have been cheaper for these leadfoots

14. They may leave prints : SOLES

21. "We __ Start the Fire": Billy Joel : DIDN'T - great song; much of the history pre-dates me, and being the curious type, had to find out more

I arrived during "punk rock" @ 3:25

23. Shakespearean title word : ADO

25. Power eponym : WATT - James Watt, who made the first major improvement to the steam engine - the Wiki

26. Dos cubed : OCHO - 2³, in Spanish

31. Great spell : EON - spell as in stretch of time

33. "Are we there yet?" reply : SOON

34. Brown of publishing : TINA - no clue, all perps and WAG

36. Marshland waders : BITTERNS - had some of the crossings, and this rose up from the depths of my mind

37. Dreaded figure? : RASTA

41. "__ e Leandro": Handel cantata : ERO

43. "Yup!" : "SURE IS~!" - followed by:

44. "Nope!" : "ARE NOT~!"

45. Longtime "Sexually Speaking" host : Dr. RUTH - had it, took it out with SAGAS being wrong

46. Catching flies, so to speak : AGAPE

47. Pollo partner : ARROZ - Chicken and rice

49. Sweeping stories : EPICS - SAGAS~? Bzzzt~!

51. "Look, amigo!" : "MIRA~!" - rockin' the Spanish today; I need to learn more - it's the dominant language in the kitchens where I work

53. One of a cube's dozen : EDGE - so proud of myself for figuring this out

54. Engine with a lot of juice : V-TEN - pondered V-tec, from Honda, but V-10 makes more sense; popular in the Dodge Viper - check out this Viper~!

55. Slugger who began and ended his career as a Texas Ranger : SOSA - Good WAG for me

58. Hwy., e.g. : RTE

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Our blog turns 9-year-old today! Among regulars,  Argyle is probably with me the longest. Do you all still remember the first time you visited our blog?

Saturday, Jan 14th, 2017 Roland Huget

Theme: None

Words 68 (missing B,F,J,K,Q,Z)

Blocks: 25 

A perfectly symmetrical construction with chunky corners and no way to get from one to the other without going through 15-letter spanners and climbers makes this possibly the most difficult grid to work with;  I have to own up to one Google cheat, but other than that, I call this one a win - no fun-sponge answers, and solid fill throughout.  The last Saturday puzzle from Mr. Huget was nearly an identical grid, and I re-read my write-up and it was a struggle then as well.  Still, I liked the challenge, and I was within my personal allotted time, so one cheat is fair, right~?  Anyway, the four spanners and climbers;

31a. Classic children's story about healing : THE SECRET GARDEN - I'd heard of it, but knew nothing about it, so I went to the the Wiki

36a. '60s TV sidekick : AGENT NINETY-NINE - from Get Smart - one of my favorite openings for a show and theme song - here's the 60's Agent 99; I liked Anne Hathaway in the 2008 movie myself

GET SMART

7d. Find the weakness of : HIT WHERE IT HURTS

8d. Accessory for FDR : CIGARETTE HOLDER - see also 55d. for a WWII contemporary

bONnieWARD~!

ACROSS: 

1. "Yikes!" : "OMIGOSH~!"

8. Whitewash : COVER-UP

15. Ancient Roman coins : DENARII - I took Latin for four years in school, so the couble "I-I" at the end was acceptable

16. "It's not an option for me" : "I HAVE TO." - I have to add a leg image - it's not an option for me

17. Court exhibit, perhaps : DNA TEST

18. Squared up : GOT EVEN - I was not sure if this was a carpentry clue, or an "I.O.U." one

19. Customs : MORES - dah~! Not NorMs

20. '70s org. for 21-Down : WHA - I immediately filled in NHL, as I knew who we were looking for at 21d - and I was wrong~!  The WHA was the World Hockey Association, a league I had never heard of - I grew up with the NY Rangers, the team my dad followed before the birth of the Islanders - who got their start from the legal battles of the NHL with the WHA - the Wiki
 

22. Viking family dog of comics : SNERT - Hägar the Horrible

23. Notable periods : ERAS - a gimme for Saturday

24. Side issue? : THORN - a "thorn in one's side" - har-har

26. Piano __ : TRIO - yeah, this one was vague, at best; I pondered LEGS

27. Hound : NAG - oops, not the 'other' hound - DOG - I have an idea for a new board game that I have been working on all week, and there's a good chance I can produce it if the prototype is good - my friend Mike works with China to produce backyard games and such

28. Little ones : PEE-WEES

30. "Microsoft sound" composer : ENO - perps

34. "What's Hecuba to him, __ to Hecuba": Hamlet : OR HE - OK, the only fill that was "meh", but not too bad when you quote Shakespeare

35. St Ives gallery : TATE - a WAG off  '--TE'

43. Discount tag abbr. : IRRegular

44. One giving a thumbs-up? : HITCHER - Always makes me think of the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

45. Put the kibosh on : NIX - ARGH~! not HEX, not POX

46. Actors Glass and Silver : RONs - both have died; I knew Ron Silver - he was a lawyer on Law & Order, but I had to look up Ron Glass - ah, from Barney Miller, just before my time

48. Total confusion : CHAOS - I mentioned this word last week - and KAOS was in Get Smart, too

49. High seas adverb : THAR - she blows~!

50. Creamer of the LPGA : PAULA - perps and WAG

52. Search result : URL - oops, not HIT

53. "Rocky IV" antagonist Ivan : DRAGO - this was "my time", but Rocky movies were not my thing; 1985 was a good movie year - Back to the Future, A View to A Kill, and a tie-in to 28a. - see here

54. Being tracked, in a way : ON RADAR

56. Think it likely : DARESAY - I pondered DEEMS SO

58. Reference : RESPECT - should this have been reVerence~?  I'm calling blooper

59. Hyundai 1990 launch : ELANTRA - Nailed it, even if it was a WAG

60. Locks : TRESSES

61. Unfair treatment : RAW DEAL 

 DOWN:

1. Leftover : ODDMENT

2. Festival of Lights symbol : MENORAH - big help in the NW

3. Really ticked : IN A RAGE

4. 36-Down areas : GATES - did not work with my NorMs

5. They may be picked out : ORES - ah, a fresh clue for an old fill

6. Family nickname : SIS

9. "Look what I found!" : "O HO~!"

10. Brewery fixtures : VATS

11. What happened : EVENT

12. Venerated : REVERED - still calling blooper at 58a.

13. Womb-related : UTERINE

14. Floatplane feature : PONTOON

21. Six-time Hart Trophy winner : HOWE - either HOWE or HULL

24. Lego line that may include gears and motors : TECHNIC - my favorite collection of Lego sets; I have several kits still in a closet at mom's house, including the "old" helicopter set - here's the latest helicopter, but all the new kits have pre-molded parts that take some of the fun out of building

25. Countermands : NEGATES

28. Capital of Western Australia : PERTH - ooh, good WAG off just the "H"

29. Faun look-alike : SATYR

32. Male issue : SON

33. Cartoon canine : REN

36. Site with scanners : AIRPORT

37. It usually doesn't get a laugh : GROANER

38. Hospital triage pro : ER NURSE

39. Mayberry's home: Abbr. : N. CARolina

40. At the last minute, say : IN HASTE

41. New York county north of Erie : NIAGARA - my one cheat - and living in NY, I shoulda known....

NW corner - polar opposites; I'm in Suffolk, SE

42. 2016 World Series MVP Ben Zobrist, e.g. : EX-ROYAL - hockey is my thing, not baseball

47. Sharp rebukes : SLAPS

49. General direction : TREND

51. Citrus coolers : ADES

53. Main attraction : DRAW

55. Dogfight participant : ACE - Iron Maiden's Aces High

57. Like : À LA

Splynter 

Note from C.C.:

Happy Birthday to dear JD, who joined our blog after she retired in 2008. Below is the first picture JD shared with us back when her daughter Shelby got married. Truman was only a baby then. How time flies. You can click here for many beautiful pictures JD shared with us over the years.

Saturday, Jan 7th, 2017, David Steinberg

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,X)

Blocks: 27

  Ouch.  Not a good way to start this year's Saturday puzzling.  I had a nearly blank grid after the first Across and Down passes, with "MOET" and BIC" my only fills; then I tried a few WAGs, and the bottom started to fill in.  Worked my way up the sides, where MAESTRO got me into the NE, but 24d. was a total blank - and so on came the red letters, and I have to call Fun SPONGE on too many answers - even ones I got ( I am looking at you, 55a.).  Argh~! - yet ironic that I finished within my personal time.  Oh - and one Google cheat - might as well own up to a complete crash and burn....Near perfect symmetry in the grid spoiled by fill that carried a cringe factor (*) too high.  Nothing longer than 8 letters;

2*. "100% juice smoothie" brand : ODWALLA - not a chance in millions was I getting this - California west coast thing, I guess

14. Investor's concern, familiarly : P/E RATIO - thought it was "----TAX" at first

39. Club attention-getter : PERFUME - ah that kind of club - there was once a fragrance named "Escape" that made me swoon; it's not the scent or the liquor that gets my attention now....

 43. CIA nickname : LANGLEY - Just finished "The Broker", John Grisham, featuring his CIA director Teddy Maynard, who's home base was frequently referred to as "Langley"

ONWARD~!
(redacted)

ACROSS:

1. "Easy!" : "NO SWEAT~!"

8. Scary high : BAD TRIP

15. Facebook co-founder Saverin : EDUARDO - my Google cheat; I am not on Facebook, and don't "tweet" either

16. Come by : ACQUIRE

17*. Soccer blunder : OWN GOAL - my dad would be so upset - he lived for soccer, and I never heard this phrase before

18. Arabian matchmaker : BREEDER - argh~!  Horse talk

19. Site of many '60s tours : 'NAM - ah, not a musical tour, as I was thinking

20. Spread out : SPLAYED - dah~!  Not ARRayed

22. MPG-estimating org. : EPA - I pondered this, and left it blank

23. Kiddie lit count : OLAF - not in my 'ute' - the Wiki

25. Provisions : TERMS

26. Eponymous 18th-century wine trader Claude : MOËT

27. Story featuring Paris : ILIAD - ah, the character, not the city

29. Govt. agency with domestic field divisions in 15 states : DEA - perps left me with D - A

30. Pacific island overrun by wild chickens : KAUA'I - I figured it was Hawaiian, but LANA'I was all I could think of

31. Original "SNL" cast member : RADNER - Gilda - got it once I had the --D--R

33. Godfather cocktail ingredient : AMARETTO - never had one; my first attempt had "----MIX"

35. Lump : GLOB - dah~! Not Blob

37. Wally who played himself in the "Taxi" episode "Latka's Cookies" : AMOS - never watched, but I can see the "Famous Amos" connection

38. Wine drink : SPRITZER

42. Forest weapon : ANTLER

46. Social group : PEERS - I tried CASTE

47. Wite-Out maker : BIC

49. Do away with : ERASE - hesitated on the first pass with this inkling

50. __ health : ORAL - I take good care of my teeth, but my gum is starting to bother me between my last two molars

51. Inexpensive vodka : POPOV - vodka was never my drink, so I pondered STOLI - 12 year anniversary tomorrow

53. Currently playing : ON TV

54. Draft letters : NFL - argh~! football sports draft

55*. Acid test supply : pH PAPER - I filled this in and said "no way"

57. "Wow!" : "GEE~!"

58. Colorful holiday candy : GUMDROP

60. First name in dognapping : CRUELLA - 101 Dalmatians

62. Stem (from) : EMANATE

63. Get gray gracefully : AGE WELL

64. Old Roman adviser : SENATOR

65. Early arrivals : RED-EYES

DOWN:

1*. "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" genre : NEO-NOIR - got the NOIR from perps, but nothing made any sense

3. Raisin brand : SUN-MAID - ah, this company I know of

4. Reaction to a treat, maybe : WAG - oops, not "ARF"

5. Lover of Psyche : EROS

6. One way to cope : ADAPT

7. Sounded : TOLLED - I had ---LED; Called, Yelled~?

8. 2008 Poehler/Fey comedy : BABY MAMA

9. Real estate measures : ACRES - clecho with; 21d. Real estate measure : AREA - one outdoor, one indoor

10. Removed for a rules violation, briefly : DQ'ed - my online search pulled up dq'd, no "E" - short for disqualified

11. Day of the wk. : TUEsday - blank, I had a one-in-seven shot; give me a "U" and....

12. Weather : RIDE OUT - the verb, not the noun

13. Emphatic words : "I REPEAT"

24*. Obsessive young devotee : FAN GIRL - ugh.  Never heard the term - but it was a movie from last year

26. Baton holder : MAESTRO

WTF~?

28. Benching targets, briefly : DELTS

30. Greenland currency : KRONE

32. Waitress in the comic strip "Shoe" : ROZ

34. Doctors' org. : AMA - oooh~! A gimme~!

36. Certain jazzman : BE-BOPPER

38. They hold water : SPONGES - FUN Sponges do not

40. Quiche shunner, in an '80s best-seller : REAL MAN - ah, did not know it was a book - the Wiki

41. Longtime morning host : RIPA - made me take out STOLI

44. One-named "American Boy" singer : ESTELLE - almost all perps

45. Lets out : REVEALS

48. Wheels of justice? : COP CAR - har-har

51. A filter may be used to produce it : PHOTO

52. Edge : VERGE

55. Start to fall? : PRAT

56. Regretted : RUED

59. Some trial evidence : DNA

61. Rebus animal : EWE

Splynter

Saturday, Dec 31st, 2016, Patti Varol & Doug Peterson

Theme: PV & DP

Words: 70 (missing K,Q)

Blocks: 30

Our third installment from this duo to close out 2016, and this time Patti gets 'top billing'.  A smattering of fills on my first pass, a few gaffes, a few WAGs, and I called it done - but no ta-DA~!  So I had to go back and check where I went wrong, though I was fairly certain it was in the spanner at 34a.; turned out I had another mistake at the proper name for 42a.   Oh well.  Finished within my personal allotted time, and now I am freezing as I compose the write-up; see 31a.  One 15-letter spanner, one 15-letter climber, two 12-letter fills, and paired 10s in the down corners;

34. First volume of a Beverly Cleary series : BEEZUS AND RAMONA - I recognized the author's name, but only the "Ramona" part from any titles

8. "You're skating on thin ice" : DON'T EVEN GO THERE - I had "eveR", since I had no idea about the 15-letter spanner crossing here

23. They're hard to put down : PAGE TURNERS - nailed it.  The last Page Turner I read was "The Racketeer" from John Grisham - now I am on to "The Broker".  I was reluctant to read his stuff because I knew the books revolved around lawyers (and frequently jails/prisons, too) the way Crichton's revolves around genetics, Patterson & Kellerman around murder mystery, etc. - but I am glad I started with "The Litigators", which was quite humorous

43. Comedy team staples : STRAIGHT MEN - I have heard this phrase, but couldn't think of an example - and then I read the list here at the Wiki, and I see quite a few I recognize - which includes James May from the British Top Gear series

2O1seveNWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Not much : JUST A TAD

9. "__ Weeks": classic Van Morrison album : ASTRAL

15. Caravaggio masterpiece that pictures Pontius Pilate with Jesus : ECCE HOMO - the painting

16. Raise : PARENT

17. Iconic building with "point" offices : FLATIRON - dah~! Not PENTAGON, tho I realize there would need to be the phrase "with THE" in the clue

18. Market array : BRANDS

19. What stars have : FAME - I tried EGOS

20. Specialty docs : ENTs

22. In order : TIDY

26. Dauntless : STOUT

29. Spray holder : VASE - ah - I forgot that a "spray" is kind of floral arrangement

30. Site of monkey business : ZOO

31. Get a winter coat? : ICE UP - I am afraid my apartment will ICE UP this weekend - we lost the furnace, which includes the hot water, and won't get repaired until Tuesday.  Always on a holiday weekend....

32. Part of an inheritance : GENE - ah, that kind of inheritance

33. River to the Severn : AVON - another good WAG

37. Cornerstone word : ANNO - I figured EST'D was not going to last

38. Hauls : LUGS - I had TOWS to start

39. 2009 A.L. MVP Joe : MAUER - filled via perps

40. Spectrum band : RED

41. 1969-'70 Broadway musical that ends with a fashion show : COCO

42. Brandt of "Breaking Bad" : BETSY - beSsy seemed just as likely - I have not watched a single episode of this show, but I got a Firestick for Christmas from my landlord, so I can watch everything now - but first I am making my way through "Burn Notice"

46. Benjamin portrayer : HAWN - Goldie, as in Private Benjamin; I was thinking BRAD or PITT, for Benjamin Button

47. Cries of surprise : O-HOs - oops, went with A-HAs

48. John follower : ACTS - Bible chapters

52. Fleet destroyed by the Protestant Wind : ARMADA

54. Ovid, for one : EPIC POET

56. More expensive : DEARER - started as DEEPER

57. Bought back : REDEEMED - Blue Öyster Cult song, too

Redeemed

58. Joshua tree habitat : DESERT - as for what got filled in first, I WILL NOT EVEN GO THERE

59. Tests using Snellen charts : EYE EXAMS

I can read line 7

DOWN:

1. Bridges of Los Angeles County : JEFF - once I changed my "building", this actor's name (and not a structure) occurred to me

2. Home of the Herb Alpert Sch. of Music : UCLA - I had the U and A

3. Hustle : SCAM - ah, the noun, not the verb

4. Head of the Sorbonne? : TÊTE - Frawnche

5. Sushi choice : AHI - made my PENTAGON wrong

6. Eagerly unwrapped : TORE AT - Not even a week ago - I got a Millennium Falcon Bluetooth music player

7. In with : AMONG

9. SFPD alert : APB

10. "Nausea" novelist : SARTRE - I recognize the name, but not much else - the Wiki

11. Express, say : TRAIN

12. Orbital maneuver : RENDEZVOUS - learned this word from reading the 'adapted' novel of The Empire Strikes Back - but I was about 9, and read it literally as ren-dez-vows

13. "Years of Minutes" author : ANDY ROONEY - good WAG with the "OO" in place

14. SFPD ranks : LTs

21. Resolute policies : STANDS

23. __ platter : PU PU

24. One working on keys : USER - computer keys

25. Wreck locator : SONAR - shipwrecks

26. When, in Act IV, Juliet drinks the potion : SCENE THREE

27. "The O.C." and "Gossip Girl" : TEEN DRAMAS - never watched any of them

28. Taverna liqueur : OUZO

31. Structural pieces : I-BARS

32. Riata twirler : GAUCHO

33. Basic Latin word : AMAT - ah.  I had AMAS

35. Rough going : SLOG - popular Saturday Crossword descriptor

36. "Yes!" : AMEN

41. __ block : CINDER

42. Next to : BESIDE - the blue-eyed girl from some time back sat BESIDE me yesterday - my heart was galloping in my chest....

44. Clued in : AWARE

45. Glum : MOPEY

48. Crown : APEX

49. Food __: after-eating drowsiness : COMA - did not suffer this on either holiday this year

50. Come down hard : TEEM - like rain

51. FDA output : STDs - Tried RDAs first

52. Throw into the mix : ADD

53. "The lie that enables us to realize the truth": Picasso : ART - I think I just read this in a book on novel writing

Cubism, get it~?

55. Volcano center? : CEE - VolCano

Splynter