Theme: None
Total words: 66 (Four intersecting grid-spanners)
Total blocks: 30
No theme today, Saturdays are themeless, although I think the answer for 8D. Educated Guesses was a good name for this puzzle. There were a lot of initial fill-ins that I wasn't entirely sure of, but they just felt right somehow.
Al here today, killing time while waiting for some off-hours processing to finish for work.
Total words: 66 (Four intersecting grid-spanners)
Total blocks: 30
No theme today, Saturdays are themeless, although I think the answer for 8D. Educated Guesses was a good name for this puzzle. There were a lot of initial fill-ins that I wasn't entirely sure of, but they just felt right somehow.
Al here today, killing time while waiting for some off-hours processing to finish for work.
Across:
1. McCarthy era phenomenon: RED SCARE. Technically, the second one, from 1947-1957 in which the Cincinnati Reds temporarily renamed themselves the “Cincinnati Redlegs” to avoid the money-losing and career-ruining connotations inherent in being ball-playing “Reds”. The first Red Scare was from 1917-1920.
9. Trysting relationship: AFFAIR. What one "has to do" from Old French à faire "to do".
15. Flattered, in a way: IMITATED. Imitation is the sincerest of flattery -- Charles Caleb Colton.
16. Grand Canal span: RIALTO. Contracted from Rivoalto and named for the canal (Latin rivus altus "deep stream") which it crosses.
17. 1985 John Irving best-seller: CIDERHOUSE RULES. Made into a movie starring Spiderman (Tobey Maguire) and the latest Alfred (Batman's butler) Michael Caine, who also was the lead in a movie called Alfie.
19. Architect Saarinen: ELIEL. And his son EERO (who designed the Gateway Arch among other structures). If you don't know these two names by now, just resolve to commit them to memory if you're planning on doing more crosswords.
20. Baby's asset: CUTENESS.
21. Goes back: RETROGRADES. Straight from the Latin: retro- backwards, Gradus: steps.
24. "Shucks!": RATS. An interjection. Remember Schoolhouse Rock?
25. Displays, with "out": TROTS. Originally connected with showing off horses in 1838, it was recorded as slang later by 1845. A recorded connection with "the runs" precedes both of those by 30 years.
30. Rested: TOOK FIVE. Roughly the amount of time it takes to smoke a cigarette. Here's a better use of your five minutes.
35. Frequent saver: GOALIE. Hurling, association football, Gaelic football, International Rules Football, handball, ice hockey, field hockey, netball, water polo, bandy, lacrosse, floorball.
36. Medical malpractice issue: INFORMED CONSENT. For instance, if someone says OK to having a procedure done, but only because they felt intimidated, whether by the influence of the practitioner's strong expression of convictions, or they were cowed by the perceived difference in education on the subject, then it's an issue.
38. Naval construction worker: SEABEE. CB, Construction Battalions.
39. Garden entrance component, perhaps: GATEPOST.
40. Beefy-T maker: HANES. Tee shirt manufacturer.
41. A psychic may see one: AURA. When there is "a certain air" around someone. From Greek aura: gentle breeze
42. It's right before the end: HOME STRETCH. The straightaway from the last turn to the finish line on a horse racetrack.
49. Goes before: PRECEDES.
53. "Corporations have been enthroned and ___ of corruption in high places will follow": Lincoln: AN ERA.
54. Cryptozoologist's subject: LOCH NESS MONSTER. Crypto: hidden. Zoology: animal studies. (Zoo from Greek zoion, a living being)
57. Celebrate a promotion, maybe: EAT OUT. There was probably a raise involved as well...
58. Grin measure?: EAR TO EAR. A creepy Cheshire cat.
59. Shows exhaustion: DROOPS.
60. Aviation pioneer: SIKORSKY. Igor. A Russian immigrant, he designed the first multi-engine fixed-wing aircraft, the first airliner, Pan-am flying boats, and the first viable American helicopter.
Down:
1. Sous chef's gadget: RICER.
2. '60s boxing champ Griffith: EMILE. Not a boxing fan, unknown to me.
3. Finished the job: DID IT.
4. Guide: STEER. The verb, not a Sherpa.
5. Swindler Ponzi, at birth: CARLO. The Ponzi Scheme.
6. Sports fig.: ATH. Figure and Athlete, both abbr.
7. Popular '20s auto: REO. Educated Guess, three letters, old car, that had to be it.
8. They're not wild: EDUCATED GUESSES. Intuition isn't entirely psychic...
9. Narrow ridge: ARETE. From Latin "arista": ear of grain. OK, that's what it says, but I don't see the connection.
10. Early Ford supplier: FIRESTONE.
11. Woodland spirit: FAUN. Latin Faunus, Greek Pan. A goat-man/god similar to a satyr. A faun is man still in intimate communion with Nature, a satyr is a man still swayed by bestial passions.
12. Everyone, in Essen: ALLE. alles alles auch sind frei.
13. Suburban followers?: ITES. Suburbanites. A suffix clue made a bit trickier by the plural phrasing, so the sense of individual letters, not the whole syllable.
14. 18th-century sewer: ROSS. Betsy Ross. Sewer = One who sews. Not something with a manhole cover... There is some debate about the story of the flag origin, but the lack of actual records either way makes it difficult or even impossible to prove or disprove.
18. Brewski: SUDS. Beer slang. Using compressed nitrogen instead of carbon dioxide makes the "SUDS" richer, and more aromatic.
22. Ugly buildup: GRIME. from Middle English "grim": dirt, filth.
23. Show approval, or disapproval: RAVE. A rave review, or to show signs of delirium, i.e. rant.
26. Grating sound: RASP. Wolfman Jack comes to mind.
27. It's sold in bars: OLEO. Sticks, maybe. I've never heard of them as bars... Unless maybe as the contents in baked goods...
28. Pie containers: TINS. The origin of the frisbee.
29. Paving stone: SETT. Quarried or shaped to have square edges, cobblestones are natural shapes.
30. Mrs. Addams, to Gomez: TISH. He became especially amorous whenever she spoke French. I wonder if that wasn't put in there to slip something past the censors.
31. Service rank: ONE-A.
32. "Confessions __ English Opium-Eater": 1821 De Quincey work: OF AN.
33. Capital of Hyogo Prefecture: KOBE. Or a dishonored Basketball player. Settled out of court, and is playing again.
34. Shower and change, say: FRESHEN UP.
35. Touched: GOT AT. I thought maybe got "to", got at sounds like more than just touching.
37. Traffic units: CARS. Could have been vans.
41. "Life With Father" co-star Leon: AMES. Before my time.
43. "Night Music" playwright: ODETS. Also before my time.
44. Sought aid from: RAN TO. Frankly Scarlett...
45. "Christ's Entry Into Brussels in 1889" artist: ENSOR. James. Lots of names today, it seems.
46. Beans of Paris?: TETES. French for "heads".
47. Reason to lubricate: CREAK. I'll put oil on my floor then?
48. Potter of fiction: HARRY.
49. Asked in earnest: PLED.
50. Jungle warning: ROAR.
51. Plasm lead-in: ECTO. Prefix, ectoplasm. Also called the cortex, the outer smooth part of a cell's cytoplasm. Unless you're one of the ghostbusters, that is, then it's just slime from paranormal activity.
52. Half a track sound: CHOO. And the other half is AH. (Correction: The track sound is choo-choo. Thanks, Anonymous @6:54am.)
55. It follows April in Paris: MAI. French for May.
56. Where "Shazbot!" is a curse: ORK. From Mork and Mindy, an alien who reported back to Ork how badly we humans treat each other for very silly reasons. The show jumped the shark when they added Jonathan Winters as a very large baby. Because that just wasn't believable.
Answer grid.
Al
