Theme: None
Words: 72 - Pangram~!
Blocks: 33
Kevin Christian has had a steady run of mostly Monday and Tuesday level
puzzles for the LAT, though he does have a Thursday and a Friday among
the 11 grids that have been reviewed on this blog - and today's themeless has
a gratuitous self shout-out at one across~! A true pinwheel design with
all four corners consisting of triple-9 letter chunks, and a
mini-pinwheel of eight-letter entries in the center, too - that made for
tough going, but I did finish, but with a red-letter cheat to see what I
had wrong - no Ta-DA~! for me :7( I had two squares wrong; see
below. Some of the longer fill;
15a. Poe title locale : RUE MORGUE - Oh, I am so disappointed with myself; this should have been a gimme, since Iron Maiden has a song by the same title - "Murders in the Rue Morgue"
12d. One in a bar lineup : VODKA SHOT - I don't do vodka; the night would get started with one bourbon, one scotch, one beer....and then I would do this song, by request, for karaoke
58a. Cyan relative : TURQUOISE
32d. Garden color : TOMATO RED
(must go) o-n-w-a-r-d- - - - - - - ~!
ACROSS:
1. Bounty mutineer : CHRISTIAN - Fletcher vs. Bligh - the Wiki
10. __ ordo seclorum: Great Seal words : NOVUS
16. Words of refusal : I DON'T
17. Versatile seasoning : ONION SALT
18. Singer's better half? : SIDE A - Har-har~!!!
19. Screwball : WACKY - not KOOKY
20. Mariner's direction : AFT
22. Game similar to pinochle : SKAT
23. Letters after Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's name : D NH - Democrat, New Hampshire; this was a bit of a stretch for me; more about this history-making woman here
24. Spend leisurely, with "away" : WHILE
26. Zap, in a way : TASE
27. __ Provinces : MARITIME
30. __ tight : SIT - Dah~! Went with AIR first
31. Informer : STOOLIE - my "E-magazine" made this slow to appear
34. Chose, in a way : X'ED
35. "On __ Majesty's Secret Service" : HER - James Bond #6, 1969, George Lazenby's only stint as our favorite British Spy
36. Fighting : COMBAT
37. Nucleic acid sugar : RIBOSE
39. She played Mia in "Pulp Fiction" : UMA
40. '90s-'00s reliever Robb : NEN - Baseball; C.C. nailed it, I am sure
42. Kitchen set : DINETTE - my little table project has run into a slight snag; more below
43. Base : BAG - Baseball; did you get it, C.C.~? Only when doing the write-up did I get brained by the V-8 can
44. Pretax figure : SUBTOTAL - I had "suM total", and that didn't help with trying to figure out what "Jordan" we were talking about
46. Rat-__ : A-TAT - not just a sound effect, but a NYC musical duo, too
48. Kind of line : PARTY
49. 2000 Richard Gere role : DR. T
52. Nodding : DOZY
53. FICA benefit : SSI - Social Security Insurance - OOPS~! Supplemental Security Income (Splynter)
54. Madewell parent company : J.CREW
56. Like rock's U2 : IRISH
61. Cobra feature : VENOM
62. Credit card charge, perhaps : ANNUAL FEE
63. Utopias : EDENS
64. Rang true : RESONATED
DOWN:
1. Game attendees : CROWD - Dah~! I threw in an "S", for the plural nature of the clue, and that screwed me
2. Province of southern China : HUNAN - A gimme for our blog host
3. Clinton Labor secretary Robert : REICH
4. "Nothing's broken!" : I'M OK - how you explained to mom that
time when you built a ramp out of plywood and milk crates, then tried to
jump over all the toys you could find in the yard - and didn't quite
make it....
5. "Spider-Man" movie company : SONY - Somehow, I knew this
6. __-80: old computer : TRS
7. Grocery chain initials : IGA
8. Starbucks request : AU LAIT
9. Big name in streaming : NETFLIX - I tried it, but they had nothing I wanted to see; I just end up buying the Blu-rays or DVDs
10. "__ for Noose": Grafton novel : N IS
11. Horace, for one : ODIST
13. Most restless : UNEASIEST
14. Growing symbol : STATE TREE - Well, it is growing, and it is a symbol
21. Recklessness : TEMERITY
24. Reports : WRITE-UPS - Like those here at the blog
25. Get going : HIE
27. Soprano group : MOB - I think this would have been better clued as "THE Sopranos", but it is Saturday
28. Graphic novelist Moore et al. : ALANs - Perps and WAGs
29. Twin Cities suburb : EDINA - Boy, C.C., this one has you all over it~!
31. Explore with a tank : SCUBA DIVE
33. Women's issue, familiarly : O MAGAZINE - bit of misdirection, as the capital "W" made me think we were talking about the actual magazine, Women
38. Where Antwerp is: Abbr. : BELgium
41. Jordan, e.g. : NBA STAR - The river, the country~? Then I got the "STAR" part, but still, I was not sure if this was the British model "--- star" Jordan; ah, the basketball star, Michael
42. Common Internet symbol : DOT - yup, pretty common
45. Three in one : TRIUNE
47. Holyfield rival : TYSON
49. Go with the flow : DRIFT
50. Take in again : RESEE
51. Coarse cloth : TWEED
54. California's San __ Capistrano : JUAN
55. Part of a fast-food meal, maybe : COLA
57. __ Pinafore : HMS
59. "ER" extras : RNs
60. Status chaser? : QUO
Splynter
My idea of doing a "stone" finish on the rook table has been compromised by the fact that Home Depot does not carry a stone finish paint in a "Stone" color; really~??? Two stores carry brown, beige, and light beige ( light beige~?). Michaels art store was no help; I will have to try A.C. Moore, or just go with plan B; a faux marble finish using a sponge. I have done it before, and it does look pretty cool.
