Words: 70 (missing F,J,V,X)
Blocks: 26
Now
that's what I call a Saturday grid~! Triple 8's and 6's in the across
AND down corners, with a grid spanner, AND a grid climber, to boot~!
Mr. Thompson was last seen here over a year ago with his "Box Set"; I
have not had the "39A". Completely intimidating, but with a few
educated fills from crossword experience and a lot of WAGs, I did get this one done, and in a relatively short time. Here's the 15-letter answers:
35A. Film based on junk science, say : SCHLOCKUMENTARY - anyone think of an example~?
8D. Biased interview features : LOADED QUESTIONS
And some of the others;
36D. Licorice stick in a pit : CLARINET - HA~! I get it~!
And some of the others;
36D. Licorice stick in a pit : CLARINET - HA~! I get it~!
And I am guessing some of you are wondering what happened with miss Home Depot?
63A. Premature plot giveaways, e.g. : SPOILERS - can't tell you now....have to wait to the end~!
Oscar-November-Whiskey-Alfa-Romeo-Delta~!
63A. Premature plot giveaways, e.g. : SPOILERS - can't tell you now....have to wait to the end~!
Oscar-November-Whiskey-Alfa-Romeo-Delta~!
ACROSS:
1. Onetime college All-Star football game : HULA BOWL - Once I had HU--, I WAGed the rest
9. "Hasn't scratched yet!" cleanser : BON AMI
15. Song played at the 1920 Olympics when music for the Italian national anthem could not be found : "O SOLE MIO" - one of the educated crossword fills
16. Enmity : ANIMUS
17. Colorful headwear : BANDANNA - the second (er, third) "N" got me; I went with BANDANAS, since headwear could be plural
18. Sorbetto alternative : GELATO - oops~! put in GelatI
19. Sister : NUN - I have a friend, Sister Barbara, in the "Friends of Bill W." clan - she is a character, let me tell you; I used to joke that she could get thru the "Third Step" (the one about God) easier, because she has the 'hot-line' somewhere in the nuns' Villa....
20. Blitzes, in old football lingo : RED DOGS - I did not know this; it was mostly perps for me
22. RSA neighbor, in the Olympics : ZIMbabwe - map
23. Grizzlies, in Granada : OSOs
25. Not at all swank : SEEDY
26. "He who hath many friends hath __": Aristotle : NONE - this is my take on people who go around claming they have 763 "friends" on Facebook - I am probably the last 42yr-old who still does not have a presence there; I am trying to get my H.I. business a page - anyone help me with that?
27. Did some farm work : BALED
29. "Crusade in Europe" memoirist, initially : DDE - Dwight David Eisenhower, seemed like a good choice to me (I also had D-E....)
30. "Bouquet of Sunflowers" painter : MONET
31. Have a life : ARE
33. More unsettled : QUEASIER - as in one's stomach
39. Delight : PLEASURE
40. Czech sci-fi play : RUR - Nailed it, but not saying much; crossword standard
41. Pulls down : EARNS
42. Fire proof : ASH - had a bonfire while the English family was here; the next day the neighbor complained the smoke was getting in his house; too bad his windows are closed with the A/C units runnning....
44. Like infant fingers : PUDGY
48. First Nations tribe : CREE
49. Skirts that come in bell and pancake styles : TUTUs - not my kind of skirt, as you know
51. Insignificant : MERE
52. Rx instruction : t.i.d. - ter in die, Three Times a Day
53. Pros : ARTISTS
55. Decline : SAG
56. Strand, in a way : ENISLE
58. "Absolutely!" : "OH YES I DO~!" - ooh, four-word answer~!
60. Wrap again, as an ankle : RETAPE - ah, I had REBAND, and I knew it wasn't quite right
61. Cared for : NURTURED
62. Cut and dried? : STYLED - hair-dos; Lilia had a ponytail today....
DOWN:
1. Mingle (with) : HOB-NOB - and I did so with her last evening....
2. 1992 Dream Team chant : USA~! USA~!
3. Cambodian leader ousted by the Khmer Rouge : LON NOL
4. City pol. : ALD. - This filled in via perps; I have never heard this term, either
5. Support : BEAR - Could have been beaM, too, which is what I had
6. Exeunt __: stage direction : OMNES - All go off stage - hey~! my high school Latin came in handy~!
7. Breathless : WINDED
9. Like some jeans : BAGGY - not FADED, like Lilia's....
10. People : ONES - the "ones" over there
11. Cipher : NIL - well, it's a stretch, but with the absence of "0" in Roman times....more here
12. Vast rainforest : AMAZONIA - AMAZON was too short; then the -IA filled, and the V-8 can flew....
13. Bounty rebel : MUTINEER - Mutiny on the Bounty - not the paper towel
14. Equality of measure : ISOMETRY
21. Concert hall : ODEUM
24. Pirate's hunting ground : SEA LANE
26. Medicine show elixir : NOSTRUM - "a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but usually without scientific proof of its effectiveness" - Merriam Webster
28. Refuse : DROSS - Ooh, I was close - I went with DREGS - a noun and not a verb
30. Put on one's big-boy pants : MAN-UP - Like this commercial~?
32. Old coin with an accented first letter : ÉCU - another "educated crossword experience"
34. Poetic adverb : E'ER - went with o'er first
35. Haunting images : SPECTERS - here's a song from "Spectres", Blue Öyster Cult
37. Trait determinant : HEREDITY
38. Brat topper : KRAUT - ah, the food; I was thinking "TIARA", as in Toddlers & Tiaras
43. Keep under wraps : HUSH UP
45. Really fancy : DESIRE - the verb, to fancy - as I do Lilia
46. Teacher, during exam week : GRADER
47. "Mercy me!" : YE GODS~! - so? so? what happened at HD~?....
49. Stuck up? : TREED - stuck, UP, in a tree~!
50. Prefix in a Dow trademark : STYRO - Dow the chemical company, and their extruded polystyrene foam
53. Suisse peak : ALPE - just the "European" spelling for Alp
54. "Contact" acronym : SETI - Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence - and another BÖC song~!
57. Baseball's Bando : SAL - I leave it to you, C.C. (Wiki talks. He let Paul Molitor go!)
59. Oporto-to-Lisbon direção : SUL - straight up Portuguese for south
OK - Home Depot & Lilia....Um, well, the conversation went really well, and while Lilia was mixing my paint, she was telling me all about being Russian, and living in New York....so when I asked if she would like to carry on this conversation over coffee, she said....
she was married.
DAH~! I couldn't believe it. Two years. BUT - then she says, "give me your number, and when I go out with my friends, I'll call you" - apparently, her hubby is not much of a party guy. We will see....
Splynter
9. "Hasn't scratched yet!" cleanser : BON AMI
15. Song played at the 1920 Olympics when music for the Italian national anthem could not be found : "O SOLE MIO" - one of the educated crossword fills
16. Enmity : ANIMUS
17. Colorful headwear : BANDANNA - the second (er, third) "N" got me; I went with BANDANAS, since headwear could be plural
18. Sorbetto alternative : GELATO - oops~! put in GelatI
19. Sister : NUN - I have a friend, Sister Barbara, in the "Friends of Bill W." clan - she is a character, let me tell you; I used to joke that she could get thru the "Third Step" (the one about God) easier, because she has the 'hot-line' somewhere in the nuns' Villa....
20. Blitzes, in old football lingo : RED DOGS - I did not know this; it was mostly perps for me
22. RSA neighbor, in the Olympics : ZIMbabwe - map
23. Grizzlies, in Granada : OSOs
25. Not at all swank : SEEDY
26. "He who hath many friends hath __": Aristotle : NONE - this is my take on people who go around claming they have 763 "friends" on Facebook - I am probably the last 42yr-old who still does not have a presence there; I am trying to get my H.I. business a page - anyone help me with that?
27. Did some farm work : BALED
29. "Crusade in Europe" memoirist, initially : DDE - Dwight David Eisenhower, seemed like a good choice to me (I also had D-E....)
30. "Bouquet of Sunflowers" painter : MONET
31. Have a life : ARE
33. More unsettled : QUEASIER - as in one's stomach
39. Delight : PLEASURE
40. Czech sci-fi play : RUR - Nailed it, but not saying much; crossword standard
41. Pulls down : EARNS
42. Fire proof : ASH - had a bonfire while the English family was here; the next day the neighbor complained the smoke was getting in his house; too bad his windows are closed with the A/C units runnning....
44. Like infant fingers : PUDGY
48. First Nations tribe : CREE
49. Skirts that come in bell and pancake styles : TUTUs - not my kind of skirt, as you know
51. Insignificant : MERE
52. Rx instruction : t.i.d. - ter in die, Three Times a Day
53. Pros : ARTISTS
55. Decline : SAG
56. Strand, in a way : ENISLE
58. "Absolutely!" : "OH YES I DO~!" - ooh, four-word answer~!
60. Wrap again, as an ankle : RETAPE - ah, I had REBAND, and I knew it wasn't quite right
61. Cared for : NURTURED
62. Cut and dried? : STYLED - hair-dos; Lilia had a ponytail today....
DOWN:
1. Mingle (with) : HOB-NOB - and I did so with her last evening....
2. 1992 Dream Team chant : USA~! USA~!
3. Cambodian leader ousted by the Khmer Rouge : LON NOL
4. City pol. : ALD. - This filled in via perps; I have never heard this term, either
5. Support : BEAR - Could have been beaM, too, which is what I had
6. Exeunt __: stage direction : OMNES - All go off stage - hey~! my high school Latin came in handy~!
7. Breathless : WINDED
9. Like some jeans : BAGGY - not FADED, like Lilia's....
10. People : ONES - the "ones" over there
11. Cipher : NIL - well, it's a stretch, but with the absence of "0" in Roman times....more here
12. Vast rainforest : AMAZONIA - AMAZON was too short; then the -IA filled, and the V-8 can flew....
13. Bounty rebel : MUTINEER - Mutiny on the Bounty - not the paper towel
14. Equality of measure : ISOMETRY
21. Concert hall : ODEUM
24. Pirate's hunting ground : SEA LANE
26. Medicine show elixir : NOSTRUM - "a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but usually without scientific proof of its effectiveness" - Merriam Webster
28. Refuse : DROSS - Ooh, I was close - I went with DREGS - a noun and not a verb
30. Put on one's big-boy pants : MAN-UP - Like this commercial~?
32. Old coin with an accented first letter : ÉCU - another "educated crossword experience"
34. Poetic adverb : E'ER - went with o'er first
35. Haunting images : SPECTERS - here's a song from "Spectres", Blue Öyster Cult
37. Trait determinant : HEREDITY
38. Brat topper : KRAUT - ah, the food; I was thinking "TIARA", as in Toddlers & Tiaras
43. Keep under wraps : HUSH UP
45. Really fancy : DESIRE - the verb, to fancy - as I do Lilia
46. Teacher, during exam week : GRADER
47. "Mercy me!" : YE GODS~! - so? so? what happened at HD~?....
49. Stuck up? : TREED - stuck, UP, in a tree~!
50. Prefix in a Dow trademark : STYRO - Dow the chemical company, and their extruded polystyrene foam
53. Suisse peak : ALPE - just the "European" spelling for Alp
54. "Contact" acronym : SETI - Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence - and another BÖC song~!
57. Baseball's Bando : SAL - I leave it to you, C.C. (Wiki talks. He let Paul Molitor go!)
59. Oporto-to-Lisbon direção : SUL - straight up Portuguese for south
OK - Home Depot & Lilia....Um, well, the conversation went really well, and while Lilia was mixing my paint, she was telling me all about being Russian, and living in New York....so when I asked if she would like to carry on this conversation over coffee, she said....
she was married.
DAH~! I couldn't believe it. Two years. BUT - then she says, "give me your number, and when I go out with my friends, I'll call you" - apparently, her hubby is not much of a party guy. We will see....
Splynter
