Theme: None
Total words: 68
Total blocks: 30
Terrific pair of grid-spanning 15-letter Down entries:
3D. "You may be asking too much": THAT'S A TALL ORDER. Me finish a Barry Silk themeless sans cheating? That's a tall order!
12D. Leader played by Rod Steiger in the 1981 Libyan film "Lion of the Desert": BENITO MUSSOLINI. Nickname Il Duce ('The Leader"), which appears as a crossword fill sometimes. But never his full name. Refreshing! I've never seen the movie. But Libya was an Italian colony during WWII.
Both of them intersect with what I think the seed entry of this puzzle: WAXING GIBBOUS (36A. Phase in which the moon's right half is mostly visible in the Northern Hemisphere). See this sequential order.
Except the lower left corner, the triple stacks of 7s in other three quadrants all posed various troubles for me. As the norm with Barry Silk puzzle, there are always new words/names for me to learn. And the clues. Tricky clues. I've now fully realized how it's the cluing that makes a puzzle more difficult. Misdirections aplenty.
Across:
1. Where some colonies are studied: ANT FARM. Ant colonies. I was thinking of the political colonies.
8. Milky Way cousin: MARS BAR. The chocolate bar. Of course, I fell into the Milky Way galaxy trap.
15. "Ditto": SO HAVE I. One letter too short for MOI AUSSI.
16. Eisenhower library site: ABILENE (AB-uh-leen). In central Texas. Where Eisenhower attended high school. Stumper for me. (Corrected later: It's Abilene, Kansas. Thanks, Windhover).
17. Turkish travel shelters: IMARETS (i-MAHR-et). No idea. It's Turkish for "building".
18. Año's 52: SEMANAS. Spanish for "weeks". New word to me also.
19. Final touch on a letter?: DOT. This letter refers to i, right?
20. Stretched: CRANED. Stretched the neck.
22. Weaken: WILT
23. While beginning: ERST. Erstwhile.
25. River to the Baltic: ODER. The German/Polish border river.
26. TV host Pennington et al.: TYS. Host of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". Unknown figure to me.
27. Mail-order pioneer: SEARS
29. "Sands of Iwo Jima" director Allan: DWAN. I wanted ALDA.
31. Creep: BOZO. "Creep" has a pervert meaning to me. Not bozo though.
32. Word with bar or god: TIKI. Funny clue.
34. Carnegie associates: STEELMEN
38. "Franny and Zooey" author: SALINGER. Timely entry. So many curses in "Catcher in the Rye".
39. Scraps: ROWS. Put down ORTS.
40. Energy company founder Halliburton: ERLE. Who knows? OK, Dick Cheney!
41. Initial step, metaphorically: A TO B
43. Passover month: NISAN. The Seder month.
46. Old Eastern capital: EDO. Tokyo, before 1868. Why is Eastern capitalized?
47. Genre of the 1963 hit "Wipe Out": SURF. Here is a clip. Barry loves "The Beach Boys".
49. Extent of damage: TOLL
50. Hair line?: PART. The clue works well without the question mark too.
52. Auto debut of 1958: IMPALA. And MASERATI (8D. Luxury car with a trident emblem). The latter is alien to me. Owned by Fiat.
54. Practiced profession: LAW. Alliteration.
55. Pyrenees republic: ANDORRA. The tiny Tiny country between France and Spain.
57. Cold War link: HOT LINE. "13 Days" is a great movie about Cuban Missile Crisis. The hot line worked!
59. Emblem of power: SCEPTER
60. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" star: MORANIS (Rick). Nope. His face does looks familiar though.
61. Most clipped: TERSEST
62. T.E. Lawrence, for one: ARABIST. A specialist in Arabic culture. T.E. Lawrence is of "Lawrence of Arabia" fame. I confused him with D. H. Lawrence.
Down:
1. Spoken thoughts, in a way: ASIDES. I don't quite get the clue.
2. "Enough!": NO MORE
4. Successful way to go?: FAR. "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
5. Paris preposition: AVEC. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?
6. In again: RETRO. Like baseball jerseys.
7. Get a wrong number: MIS-ADD. Not telephone number!
9. Retired: ABED. Retired to bed! Man, sure need to have a different mind to solve a Saturday.
10. Volcano part: RIM. Clueless. All I know about volcano is the Holy Hotwick hot flow-er lava.
11. Potluck dish: SLAW
13. Breaks down: ANALYZES
14. Leans against, perhaps: RESTS ON
21. Usenet message repository: NEWSGROUP. Usernet newsgroup.
24. "The Honeymooners" role: TRIXIE. Could only think of Ralph/Alice.
28. Pelt: SKIN
Total words: 68
Total blocks: 30
Terrific pair of grid-spanning 15-letter Down entries:
3D. "You may be asking too much": THAT'S A TALL ORDER. Me finish a Barry Silk themeless sans cheating? That's a tall order!
12D. Leader played by Rod Steiger in the 1981 Libyan film "Lion of the Desert": BENITO MUSSOLINI. Nickname Il Duce ('The Leader"), which appears as a crossword fill sometimes. But never his full name. Refreshing! I've never seen the movie. But Libya was an Italian colony during WWII.
Both of them intersect with what I think the seed entry of this puzzle: WAXING GIBBOUS (36A. Phase in which the moon's right half is mostly visible in the Northern Hemisphere). See this sequential order.
Except the lower left corner, the triple stacks of 7s in other three quadrants all posed various troubles for me. As the norm with Barry Silk puzzle, there are always new words/names for me to learn. And the clues. Tricky clues. I've now fully realized how it's the cluing that makes a puzzle more difficult. Misdirections aplenty.
Across:
1. Where some colonies are studied: ANT FARM. Ant colonies. I was thinking of the political colonies.
8. Milky Way cousin: MARS BAR. The chocolate bar. Of course, I fell into the Milky Way galaxy trap.
15. "Ditto": SO HAVE I. One letter too short for MOI AUSSI.
16. Eisenhower library site: ABILENE (AB-uh-leen). In central Texas. Where Eisenhower attended high school. Stumper for me. (Corrected later: It's Abilene, Kansas. Thanks, Windhover).
17. Turkish travel shelters: IMARETS (i-MAHR-et). No idea. It's Turkish for "building".
18. Año's 52: SEMANAS. Spanish for "weeks". New word to me also.
19. Final touch on a letter?: DOT. This letter refers to i, right?
20. Stretched: CRANED. Stretched the neck.
22. Weaken: WILT
23. While beginning: ERST. Erstwhile.
25. River to the Baltic: ODER. The German/Polish border river.
26. TV host Pennington et al.: TYS. Host of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". Unknown figure to me.
27. Mail-order pioneer: SEARS
29. "Sands of Iwo Jima" director Allan: DWAN. I wanted ALDA.
31. Creep: BOZO. "Creep" has a pervert meaning to me. Not bozo though.
32. Word with bar or god: TIKI. Funny clue.
34. Carnegie associates: STEELMEN
38. "Franny and Zooey" author: SALINGER. Timely entry. So many curses in "Catcher in the Rye".
39. Scraps: ROWS. Put down ORTS.
40. Energy company founder Halliburton: ERLE. Who knows? OK, Dick Cheney!
41. Initial step, metaphorically: A TO B
43. Passover month: NISAN. The Seder month.
46. Old Eastern capital: EDO. Tokyo, before 1868. Why is Eastern capitalized?
47. Genre of the 1963 hit "Wipe Out": SURF. Here is a clip. Barry loves "The Beach Boys".
49. Extent of damage: TOLL
50. Hair line?: PART. The clue works well without the question mark too.
52. Auto debut of 1958: IMPALA. And MASERATI (8D. Luxury car with a trident emblem). The latter is alien to me. Owned by Fiat.
54. Practiced profession: LAW. Alliteration.
55. Pyrenees republic: ANDORRA. The tiny Tiny country between France and Spain.
57. Cold War link: HOT LINE. "13 Days" is a great movie about Cuban Missile Crisis. The hot line worked!
59. Emblem of power: SCEPTER
60. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" star: MORANIS (Rick). Nope. His face does looks familiar though.
61. Most clipped: TERSEST
62. T.E. Lawrence, for one: ARABIST. A specialist in Arabic culture. T.E. Lawrence is of "Lawrence of Arabia" fame. I confused him with D. H. Lawrence.
Down:
1. Spoken thoughts, in a way: ASIDES. I don't quite get the clue.
2. "Enough!": NO MORE
4. Successful way to go?: FAR. "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
5. Paris preposition: AVEC. Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?
6. In again: RETRO. Like baseball jerseys.
7. Get a wrong number: MIS-ADD. Not telephone number!
9. Retired: ABED. Retired to bed! Man, sure need to have a different mind to solve a Saturday.
10. Volcano part: RIM. Clueless. All I know about volcano is the Holy Hotwick hot flow-er lava.
11. Potluck dish: SLAW
13. Breaks down: ANALYZES
14. Leans against, perhaps: RESTS ON
21. Usenet message repository: NEWSGROUP. Usernet newsgroup.
24. "The Honeymooners" role: TRIXIE. Could only think of Ralph/Alice.
28. Pelt: SKIN
30. First st. to join the Union after the end of the Civil War": NEBR. New trivia to me.
31. Mess up: BLOW IT. I did, with this puzzle. However, there's some greatness in my wrongness.
33. Co-worker of Igor and Frau Blücher in "Young Frankenstein": INGA. No idea. Played by Teri Garr.
35. Dark, in verse: EBON. Black, poetically.
36. Pre-combat ritual: WAR DANCE
37. 2008 Steve Carell film based on a '60s sitcom: GET SMART. Nailed it. Silly movie.
38. Overlook, as a fault: SEE PAST
42. Hindu god of creation: BRAHMA. The Hindu "Creator". Vishnu is the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer.
44. Self-titled 1991 debut album: ALANIS. From Alanis Morissette.
45. Padres' div.: NL WEST. National League West. Always prepared to have a baseball or Philadelphia reference in Barry's puzzle.
48. Stun: FLOOR
51. Lids: TOPS
52. Gets hot: IRES. Ire is always a noun to me.
53. Popular blade: ATRA. The Gillette razor.
58. Research facility: LAB. A rare "honest" and straightforward clue.
31. Mess up: BLOW IT. I did, with this puzzle. However, there's some greatness in my wrongness.
33. Co-worker of Igor and Frau Blücher in "Young Frankenstein": INGA. No idea. Played by Teri Garr.
35. Dark, in verse: EBON. Black, poetically.
36. Pre-combat ritual: WAR DANCE
37. 2008 Steve Carell film based on a '60s sitcom: GET SMART. Nailed it. Silly movie.
38. Overlook, as a fault: SEE PAST
42. Hindu god of creation: BRAHMA. The Hindu "Creator". Vishnu is the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer.
44. Self-titled 1991 debut album: ALANIS. From Alanis Morissette.
45. Padres' div.: NL WEST. National League West. Always prepared to have a baseball or Philadelphia reference in Barry's puzzle.
48. Stun: FLOOR
51. Lids: TOPS
52. Gets hot: IRES. Ire is always a noun to me.
53. Popular blade: ATRA. The Gillette razor.
58. Research facility: LAB. A rare "honest" and straightforward clue.
