Words: 68
Blocks: 38
So it's a Silkie Saturday serving~! Psyched myself for such a puzzle, and was rewarded with a great looking spiral of four asymmetrical "pinwheel pluses" grid. Destroyed two of the corners, but the other two destroyed me. Proper names/titles/ foreign words were the culprits, but it was worth the totally DF grouping of the longest entries:
35A. Model first appearing in 1954 : PLAYBOY PLAYMATE - I still have a box floating around somewhere with the Vanna White issue in it; I really did read the articles....one for some of the ladies - I know C.C. will enjoy
6D. It involves the study of cleavage : MINERALOGY - oh, he means the science of rock fractures, of course....not the "other" cleavage found in the grid-spanner above....
27. Physiologist who won a 1904 Nobel Prize : IVAN PAVLOV - Some interesting stuff I did NOT know about his work; more to be found here; all I know is, mention pictures of semi-naked ladies, and I start to drool....
Onward, Ornery Orthorunicans~!
ACROSS:
1. Basketball center, at times : PIVOT MAN - so not interested in basketball; TIP OFF GUY did not fit
9. Navigates : STEERS
15. How beef tips may be served : OVER RICE
16. Touchdown locale : TARMAC - got it first time; no football confusion for me
17. Not brush off : LISTEN TO
18. More work : UTOPIA - ah, the author Sir Thomas More - I put in HARDER; hey, it means "more" work, right?
19. "You betcha!" : YEP - not YES
20. Deposit site : VEIN - not MINE or BANK
21. Give it up : DESIST - not ACCEDE
22. 32-Down, e.g. : PDA - Personal Data Assistant; 32D. Organizer introduced in 1996 : PALM PILOT - smart phone precursor - image
23. Journalist Kupcinet : IRV
24. Mus. direction often followed by "a tempo" : RIT
25. Bother : AIL
27. Santa Ana neighbor : IRVINE - map
30. 9, in many cases: Abbr. : SEPtember, like the month we're in
33. Type of trombone : ALTO - huh, not JZB'S~?!?!?
34. Mel Blanc, e.g. : VOICER
38. North Sea sight : OIL RIG
39. Times, in poems : E'ENS
40. It was dropped in the '60s : LSD - "Acid"; none for me, thanks - look what it did to Syd Barrett
41. Jazz pianist Lewis : RAMSEY
42. Electrical sound : ZAP - eh, not HUM
43. Kitchen meas. : TSP - teaspoon
44. German article : DAS - not DER
46. Member of the fam : SIB - Take your pic; BRO, SIS, MOM, POP, "unc"....
49. Protect : SHIELD - nailed it
53. Busy home : HIVE - Busy as a bee ~!!!
54. Completely : ALL
55. Border guard? : COLLIE - didn't fool me here, either
56. Volunteer : ENLISTEE
58. Roused : AWOKEN
59. Some English students : ETONIANS - dah~!! I kept thinking this was about foreign folk who are learning a language here in the US of A....nope - English students that might attend Eton college - like James Bond ~! See this in crosswords all the time, but I have never actually seen the 'campus', so to speak
60. Makeup of a sort : RE-TEST - Did you ever party so hard you missed an exam, and had to take the "makeup"~???
61. 1967 Nancy Sinatra hit : LOVE EYES - totally did me in - before my time, but I am sure we have plenty of people who will link to this. All I could get was LOVE - - ES
DOWN:
1. Medusa relative : POLYP - learning moment for me - the WIki
2. __ halls: academic symbol : IVIED - hence the "Ivy League" schools; here's a list Hey - I went to Cornell; got drunk there on a road trip....
3. Piaggio transport : VESPA - I thought this was an Italian town; check this model out ~!!!
4. Scrap : ORT
5. Historic Umbria town : TREVI - tourism info
7. What's going on : ACTIVITY - great clue/ans
8. Chemical discovery of 1898 : NEON - didn't think it was IRON; that's been around since, well, the Iron Age....
9. Wall support : STUD - Here's a stud with a stud (C.C.: Hello, is that you?)
10. Westminster gallery : TATE
11. Son of Aphrodite : EROS
12. Not theoretical : EMPIRICAL
13. Movie snack : RAISINETS - I don't like to eat in the theater, and I don't much care for people who chew like cows around me, too....
14. Disorganized : SCATTERED
26. Ruy __: chess opening : LOPEZ - here it is....did you get all that? OK, try #2
28. Bean and others : ROYS - this guy
29. Energy : VIM
30. It's usually a two-seater : SPORTS CAR - my new favorite
31. 2004 National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee : ELIAS HOWE - Got it with very few perps - always good to see full names in grids
33. Nichols title hero of the '20s : ABIE
36. Sentence units: Abbr. : YRs - Prison sentence, that is
37. Provide a segue for : LEAD INTO
45. Marne outlet : SEINE
46. Thai appetizer : SATAY - looks good~!!!
47. Actress Graff : ILENE
48. Sanctify : BLESS
50. Paul's "The Prize" co-star : ELKE
51. More than stretches : LIES
52. Bit of progress : DENT - at 52 Down, I have made a pretty big dent in the blog
53. Scoundrel : HEEL
57. "__ liebt dich": German version of a Beatles hit : SIE - I don't know German, so this got me - but I recognize it now ~!!!
Answer grid.
Splynter
