Theme: None
Words: 70
Blocks: 33
Saturday
Silk~! This one was 'overdue' according to my schedule, but always a
pleasure to see. Deceptively "easy" looking grid without that
"whitewash" look to it, with what I would call manageable 6- and
8-letter corners, and two 14-letter near spanners, sort of related:
27A. Rocket scientist's calculation: ESCAPE VELOCITY
- Husker Gary probably nailed this one; the thrust needed to overcome
gravity; since the passing of Neil Armstrong, AMC has been showing
Apollo 13 frequently, and I love that movie
44A. 1979 Einstein Medal recipient: STEPHEN HAWKING - we just had a "PH" Steve on Thursday. This one became obvious after I got the "K" from the Star Trek clue
Lots of proper names had me worried, but in the end, they filled via perps~!
On-WORD ~!
ACROSS:
1) Heavy D, e.g.: RAPPER - I am familiar with the name, but my crossings weren't cooperating at first
7) Herb related to oregano: MARJORAM -
Did not know this, but then the "J" appeared, and strangely, the last
tenant in my apartment put up 'herb' wallpaper in the kitchen, and marjoram is on there
- so I am glad I still haven't gotten around to painting over it~!
15) 1960s-'70s San Fransisco mayor: ALIOTO - filled with perps; this guy
16) Natural soother: ALOE VERA - good to see the whole thing; got it right away
17) Suit portmanteau: HAZMAT - I keep forgetting what portmanteau means; once I had ---MAT, I figured it out. Short for "HAZardous MATerials"
- we have a department at UPS dedicated to coming around to collect
damaged packages; so far, all I have ever seen are leakers, and it's
usually Mop N' Glo - the containers are a bit flimsy....
18) Scraps: REMNANTS - the noun, not the verb
19) French naturalism pioneer: ZOLA - this guy; once I read this I said "yeah, OK....I'll get back to it"
20) Fury: IRE
21) Without hope: LOST - FUTILE didn't fit
22) Withdraw: WEAN
24) Philosophy that influenced Buddhism: TANTRA
32) Acre's land; Abbr.: ISRael
33) Burst of bad temper: HISSY - usually seen with "FIT", and usually seen at bedtime with 5-yr olds....
34) 2012 Angels rookie standout Mike: TROUT - See here.
36) Purple Label designer: LAUREN - Ralph
38) React when the brass walks in: SNAP TO - not SALUTE; we have some military here at the blog; probably did both with a "snap to and salute"
39) Janitor's supply: LYSOL - brand name, was not looking for that
40) Invention credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori circa 1700 - PIANO - a lot of clue for a little answer, I had --ANO, and the light came on....
43) Block: BAN
47) Infected: SEPTIC
48) 10th-century Russian Orthodox saint: OLGA - I WAGed OLAF, just because....
49) Modern code letters: HTML - once I had HT--, I confidently put in HTTP, and BZZZZT~!!
53) Make fun of: APE - not RIB
54) Big name in music compilations: K-TEL - oh yeah, I remember them ; - Wow~!!! that's a bargain~!
56) Principal McGee portrayer in the "Grease" films: EVE ARDEN - never watched it all the way through; just not my thing
58) Five-time all-star catcher Santiago: BENITO - C.C., anything to add? (From C.C.: I was surprised to find out that he's National League's Rookie of the Year in 1987. Mark McGwire for American League the same year. Jose Conseco AL 1986? Wow. * & *.)
61) Suppresses: SMOTHERS - and I had FIRE HOSE at 63A to start, too....
62) Put in a row: ALINED - it's a word, and I wanted the "G" in there, too
63) Crowd-control device: SAW HORSE - oh, uh, yeah, that, too - not what I use them for
64) Ska kin: REGGAE - nailed it
DOWN:
1) Stadium backing: RAH - oh, not the company that owns the place....
2) As per: Á LA
3) Place for toppings: PIZZA CRUST - was thinking Ice Cream parlor
4) City mentioned in the 1964 hit "G.T.O.": POMONA - OK, so I cheated and went to the lyrics on Google to verify that PEORIA was wrong
5) Citation ender, perhaps: ET AL. - Latin, et alia (alii) for "and other(s)"
6) Gradually substitute: ROTATE IN - used to rotate stock at the hardware stores I worked at, too.
7) "Battle Cry" squad members: MARINES
8) With awareness: ALERTLY
9) Guitarist Ángel or Pepe: ROMERO - I know Cesar....
10) Actress famous for "The Rachel" hairstyle, familiarly: JENnifer Aniston - one of my personal favorites
11) Cricket infield shape: OVAL
12) Western city with an annual balloon race: RENO - just missed it; next September
13) NEA part: ARTS - we've had this discussion before; it's either the National Endowment for the Arts, or the National Education Association
14) Spar: MAST - meh, I know this was intended to be a misdirection, but I always thought of a 'spar' as a cross-member TO a mast....image
22) 1947 Tony-winning composer for "Street Scene": WEILL (Kurt) - I had "-EILL", and I put in "N" which made sense, but then I had "NEAN", and that couldn't be right....
23) Lamb treats: ESSAYS - HA~!!! Did not fool me - looking for this guy, not the meat
25) Colorado skaters, in sports reports: AVs - who? what? come again?...not familiar with this organization....oh, those people
26) Ad directive: ACT NOW ~!!! - see 54A
28) Impossible Missions Force leader Jim: PHELPS - earworm~!!! dun dun dun da da
29) After-work plan, for short: IRA - I missed the "-" in the clue, so I was thinking about "a toast to all at sunset"
30) What starts get: TOP BILLING
31) Chinese author Lin ___: YUTANG - this guy
35) Kingdom called the Friendly Islands: TONGA - travel guide
37) Sturgeon yield: ROE - hey~! I got one~!
38) Theater feature: SNACK BAR
40) 3-Down topping: PEPPERS - I prefer meat toppings, but not lamb....
41) Strong: INTENSE
42) Hawaiian tuna: AHI
45) Shot from the top?: HEADER - as in soccer, knocking it home with one's noggin
46) Chekov portrayer in "Star Trek": KOENIG -
Walter, the Russian character who, along with Uhura and Spock, were
part of Gene Roddenberry's vision of a 'unified' future - although the
"bad guys" in the original series, the Klingons, were clearly a variation on the 1960's "Commie" threat
49) Name on a collectible toy truck: HESS -
I pretty much got one every Christmas, until they started getting silly
with jet fighters and such; I still have the '30s tanker truck that was
also a coin bank - I'll have to go look and see where I put it
50) "Rescue Me" rating: TV MA
- Mature Audiences, along with L, S, D & V - can you name them
without looking them up? ( the "D" is the odd one ). I know ferm was a
big fan of this show
51) "Got milk?": MEOW - cute
52) Wood strip: LATH - messed up my FIRE HOSE
55) Marketing leader?: TELE-marketing
57) Density symbol, in physics: RHO - I had -HH from my HOSE, so I was thinking lead pencil hardness, which could be HHH - although it is referred to as 3H
59) Party serving: TEA - not KEG
60) Dedicated work: ODE
Answer grid.
Did not have the website to download the puzzle, and subsequently had no way to "properly" analyze it - sorry for any screw ups ~!
Splynter
