Theme: Saturday Silkie
Words: 68
Blocks: 29
Welcome
to October's Saturday Silkie....this one seemed to have a 50/50 split
between very clever, and very obscure. A deceiving grid that looks like
a mid-week themed, but still offering a few ornery spots. Two
14-letter crossings:
19. Power source : NUCLEAR REACTOR - Here on Long Island, we have a fully constructed unit in Shoreham on the north shore - but it's non-operational,
because too many people feared we'd all be trapped in a melt-down; me
personally, I think it's unlikely....besides, we already have the Montauk Monster
46. Shades-wearing drummer : ENERGIZER BUNNY - Way too annoying for me - I'll take the Geico gecko over this corporate mascot any day.
LOTS
of names and places today, too, and if that frustrates you, then this
one was a bear - but then again, were there just enough perps to make a
WAG? There's a " * " next to the proper names today.
Onward~!
ACROSS:
1. Island witchcraft : OBEAH - never heard of this -the Wiki
6. On The Border restaurant offering : TACO - had it in, took it out, put it back in
10*. Fabian, for one : POPE
14*. "La donna è mobile" composer : VERDI
15. Harmonics : OVERTONES - for me, a harmonic is that high-pitched "whistle" that you get from touching the guitar strings in just the right way; this song has an outro solo that it based on "pinch" harmonics where you use the pick thumb to 'pinch' the string for that extra overtone
17. Storyteller's admission : I LIED
18. Symbolic honor : RED CARPET
21. Ab __: absent : ESSE
22. Statistical calculations : MEANS
23. High order : FIAT
25. "__ 'nuff!" : SHO' - slang for "Sure Enough"
26. Practice grounder, say : FUNGO
- well, a total learning moment for me, since I con- sidered this a
"FUN GO", but looked it up in the dictionary - and it's exactly what the
clue says; (in practice sessions) a ball tossed into the air by the
batter and struck as it comes down. Baseball watchers might know this;
me, I just watched one game this year - the one where the Yankees got
SWEPT
28. How a lot of bad decisions are made : IN HASTE
30. Sift : FILTER
31. Nails down : ICES
32. __ sci : POLI - Political Science
33*. The River Foyle runs through it : ULSTER - map, near Londonderry
36*. Gulf of Guinea island : SÃO TOMÉ - map
39. Energy acronym : NI-CAD - Nickel Cadmium, as in batteries
40. Rolls and binds : FURLS
41. Derisive call : YAH
43*. "Diplomacy for the Next Century" author : EBAN
44. Mosey : AMBLE
45. Maintenance : CARE
49*. Pittsburgh Steelers' founder : ART ROONEY
50. Dangerous, probably : ARMED
51. Argentite, e.g. : SILVER ORE
- the "ite" gave me a hint that we're looking for an ore of some sort,
but I am disappointed that I didn't try Silver off the top, since I know
the symbol for the element is "Ag", from the Latin for silver, Argentum
52. Type of crown : TIARA
53*. Host of the 24th Academy Awards : KAYE - we're at the 85th next year, so I knew we had to go back a ways - what was the best film that year?
54*. '90s Mariners star : A-ROD - "Nuff said"
55. Equine : HORSY
- Well, I put in horse, and then the "Y" had to be right from HEY DAY,
so I thought maybe this was totally wrong; now I am wondering if a "?"
is missing
DOWN:
1. Sheep : OVINES - nailed it
2*. "Animal House" actor : BELUSHI - "I'm a zit~!!!"
3*. Swedish jazz trumpeter Rolf : ERICSON
4*. 2008 Best New Artist Grammy winner : ADELE
5. Tepee material : HIDE - animal hide, that is - more here
6. Cloudbursts : TORRENTS
7. Run : AVERAGE - "run of the mill" kind of average
8*. Five-time 1970s Gold Glove winner César : CEDENO - HEY~! C.C., can you tell us about C.C.??? (From C.C.: Seen might know him. I have no memeory of this guy. This pose reminds me of Billy Ripken's error card.)
9. Sea predators : ORCAS
10. Stock pile? : PORTFOLIO - good one
11. Relevant : ON POINT
12. Nobility : PEERAGE
13. Cape May hrs. : EST - Eastern Standard Time - oh yeah, here
16. Tic follower : TAC - and TOE
20. Court jester, e.g. : AMUSER
24. __ paper : TAR - yeah, I know this stuff
26. Stood up to : FACED
27. Inclines : TILTS
29. Mentioned something sensitive : HIT A NERVE
30. Good counterfeit, say : FOOLER - had FoRGer to start, but that required an "-er"
32. Discussed : PARLEYED
33. Article in Le Monde? : UNE
34. Its flag resembles the U.S. flag but with only one star : LIBERIA
35. Barely sufficiently : SCANTLY - I prefer "Scant-I-ly"
36. Arctic : SUB-ZERO
37*. Where kyat are spent : MYANMAR
38. Tax targets : EARNERS
40. Key of Brahms's Piano Sonata No. 3 : F MINOR - of course, I had the -M---R parts already, so there was not much more to do than wait....
42. Golden age : HEYDAY
44. Old marketplace : AGORA - Greek market
45. Flea market pickup : CURIO
- our host is a huge Flea Market fan - found some excellent NY Rangers
cards for me (oh how I reminisce about the days of hockey); I prefer
yard sales
47. Shad output : ROE
48. __ mat : BATH - yesterday it was YOGA
49. Pop the question : ASK
HeY~!!! The Ramp at the church is finally finished, got paid yesterday. I have this image here; I have not gotten around to filling in the blog. More to come ~!
