Saturday, Oct 5th, 2013, Mark Bickham

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing Q,V)

Blocks: 32

   This was one of those puzzles where perseverance wins the day.  Many proper names had me stumped for a while, with that creeping feeling that I was gonna give in to Google - BUT - a few Wild-Ass Guesses (WAGs) and some slight changes to my first guesses, and Ta-Da~!!  We had us a grrreat grid spanner today, with a little mis-direction:

35A. At sea : DISCOMBOBULATED - I so wanted "ON THE BOUNDING MAIN", but I needed two more spaces; I like this word; I have not gotten discombobulated on my first UPS driving route - but wait til they move me to a different one for Christmas, when I'm looking for house numbers in the dark....

And some tricky triple 10-letter corners;

5A. Site of many rolls : CRAPS TABLE - bakery? fat farm? oh, got it

16A. One of Sophocles' Theban plays : OEDIPUS REX

57. Showmanship : RAZZMATAZZ - ZZ's~!!!

61. Trooper relative : ISUZU RODEO - not a state trooper; we've had this automotive ruse before....note the License Plate~!

ON WAAG~!

ACROSS:

1. "The Matrix Reloaded" actress Pinkett Smith : JADA - even though I have not seen the movie, there's not too many "Pinkett Smiths" that I know of....

15. Asian sea : ARAL - crossword staple

17. Brought up : BRED - I was stuck on REARED, SIRED, and then tried BORE

18. "Been there" : "I CAN RELATE"

19. Walked to the gangplank, say : SAW OFF - past tense of SEE off - and if you're on the gangplank, I hope it doesn't get SAWN OFF

21. One in a rack, maybe : SKI - um, yeah, one of these can be found in a rack, too....

22. Edible Andean tubers : OCAs

23. Cindy Bear's boyfriend : YOGI - DAH~!  I did not know this

24. It may be thrown in : THE TOWEL

26. Less enthused : SOURER

28. Strauss' "__ Rosenkavalier" : DER

29. Toss up : LOB

31. Duke Frederick's daughter in "As You Like It" : CELIA - OK then

33. Bowl, e.g. : ARENA

40. Nerdy : UNHIP - ah, not WEIRD

41. 1978 LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year : LOPEZ - Nancy Lopez, once married to baseballer Ray Knight

42. Ristorante suffix : INI - RotINI, LinguINI, etc.

43. N.C. State is in it : ACC - the Atlantic Coast Conference - sports

46. Former Prussian province : SAXONY

49. "Give me a break!" : "OH PLEASE~!"

52. Buck back? : AROO - BuckAROO

53. When Annie sings "Maybe" : ACT I - Put in "ACT", and wait; in truth, it can really only be "I" - maybe "V"; ever seen "X"?

54. Skit site, for short : SNL - I put this in, then took it out; my last fill via perps

55. Saturate : IMBRUE

60. "__ girl!" : ATTA

62. Common subject in "The Far Side" : COWS - here's one, and a link to more

63. Bit of bun flavoring : SESAME SEED

64. Granny __ : KNOT - Dah~!  I was stuck on "SMITH"

DOWN:

1. Short blows : JABS

2. Decks out : ARRAYS - I put in ARORNS, not realizing that this is NOT how you spell ADORNS

3. Dismantled Korean automaker : DAEWOO - every now and then I see this logo on cars; some Wiki on the company

4. Older brother of designers Vasco and Rodolfo : ALDO GUCCI - Once I had ALDO ---CI, the V-8 can flew

5. Lock arrangement : COIF - Hair locks; didn't fool me, but I tried UPDO to start

6. Cam button : RECord - on your camcorder

7. Recipe phrase : A DASH - DAR~! an "A" phrase; I was looking for BLEND, SAUTÉ, etc.

8. Edged with shears, as cloth : PINKED - Nailed it - mom is a seamstress, and owns PINKING shears

9. Elf : SPRITE

10. Calendar abbr. : TUEsday - take your pic; seven days, twelve months; or wait for perps; when the "E" showed, that narrowed it down a LOT

11. Comparatively base : AS LOW

12. Place for an allergy alert : BRACELET - ah, and a good one, as well

13. Not to mention : LET ALONE

14. They used to be together : EXES

20. Warm-colored gem : FIRE OPAL

24. Oakland paper, familiarly : TRIBune - a WAG

25. Degree hurdle : ORAL EXAM

27. Titular Wes Craven street : ELM - The TITLE "A Nightmare on Elm Street"; titular had me thinking about "racks" again

30. Harmful : BAD

32. 2011 Huffington Post acquirer : AOL - America OnLine, once part of Time Warner - more here

34. Fayetteville athlete : RAZORBACK - Arkansas

35. SADD focus : DUI - not DWI - not "while intoxicated", but "under the influence"

36. Never : IN NO CASE

37. Noble pets of imperial China : SHIH TZUs - looks funny in the DOWN

38. Admired speaker : BOSE - I thought this might be a mis-direction; not an orator, but a woofer/tweeter; could have been POLK, too

39. __ tree : UP A

44. Brother of Lucrezia Borgia : CESARE

45. Epic poem divisions : CANTOS

47. Antiviral brand : NORTON - Computer virus software

48. Couple's address : YOU TWO - "Oh, you two, get a room~!"

50. Pie not served for dessert : PIZZA - dinner last night

51. Noddy Holder's rock group : SLADE

53. Onassis et al. : ARIs

55. __ Center: former N.J. Nets home : IZOD

56. Word with Side or End : EAST - EAST side, EAST end

58. Ornamental flower : MUM - I thought this might be the answer, but it filled via perps anyway

59. Series finale : ZEE - EX, WYE, ZEE - what a great way to finish~!

Splynter

  For those who are wondering, I did three days of UPS driver training with a supervisor last week, and then this week my first day was TUEsday - and they sent me out, alone, with 162 stops.  Most seasoned guys go out with that many this time of year.  Not a good day.  But the rest of the week the stops came down, and I got better with the names and numbers.  However, there was an 'incident' about 4 stops from the end of today's run; a woman mowing her grass next to the stop sign I was at chipped up a rock, and it shattered the glass of the open door on the right side of the truck - four inches to the right and it could have beaned me; had to drive back to the center with a thousand shards of safety glass falling to the floor.