Saturday, Jan 11th, 2014, Timothy, L. Meaker

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing J,K,Q,V,W,Z)

Blocks: 37

   I have not had the opportunity to blog a puzzle from Mr. Meaker, and I did not see an interview from our "11d.", C.C.  I did review his other LAT contributions, and there seems to be a consistency in his cluing and answers.  I have to admit, this one was a pretty smooth solve for a Saturday, with an odd, patchy grid, and few long stacks; there were several unique answers, plus a generous amount of three-letter words.  Some of the longer fill for today;

12A. 1964 Glenn Ford/Geraldine Page romantic comedy : DEAR HEART - I started with DEATHTRAP, which fit, but was a 1982 film with Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve

54A. Ben & Jerry's, e.g. : TRADE NAME - IMHO, the best flavor, and not because I'm in NY

9D. Focus of a 1990 psychology best-seller : INNER CHILD - more here

25D. Idaho/Wyoming landscape : TETON RANGE - run with the buffaloes here~!

ONWARD~!!!!

ACROSS:

1. '70s quartet consisting of two married couples : ABBA - Well, how many 4-letter 70's groups were there with two men, and two women?

5. Wall St. strategy : LBO - Leveraged Buy-Out

8. Addams family nickname : TISH - Gomez's nickname for the 'wifey' Morticia

15. Seek protection from : RUN TO (you)

16. Cub leader : DEN MOTHER - I had DEN MASTER first - close enough to get a start in the NW

17. Laura of "ER" : INNES

18. Wait : STAY PUT - STAND BY fit, too

19. All thumbs : UNADEPT - my 'meh' word

21. See 59-Across : BOP; 59. With 21-Across, Cyndi Lauper hit : SHE - there was some controversy over this song, as it refers to masturbation....

22. Sequence often seen above WXYZ : MNO - I semi-cheated; I knew it was letters on the phone, but I had to look

23. Training systs. : RRs - um, not really sure; I believe this is about the P/RR/S weight training system, but it could also be about RailRoad trains, really....

24. Words with end or angle : AT AN

26. Get real : FACE FACTS

29. They may be tapped : ALES - had KEGS

30. __-Turkish War : ITALO

31. __ polloi : HOI - Greek for "majority", it now carries a pejorative sense of "commoners"

32. Portable storage container : TOTE BOX

35. 1948 Literature Nobelist : T.S. ELIOT

37. "Well, well!" : O-HO~!!

38. Actress Ryan : IRENE

40. Paris pronoun : ELLE

41. Complex : MANY-SIDED

43. They're not gentlemen : CADS

44. Letters concerning available space : SRO - Standing Room Only; I thought it might be S.FT, or SQ.I, as in square feet/inches

45. Eye : ORB - Poetry and crossword standard

46. Sci-fi escape craft : POD - ah, the escape pod - Star Wars, Alien, The Fifth Element...

47. "All greased up and ready to sing" '70s-'80s TV hosts : SHA-NA-NA - Osmonds fit, too, but they weren't 'greased up' - at least, not ON TV....

49. Early NASA probe : MARINER - The Venus missions

53. Delhi tongue : HINDI

56. Advocated : URGED

57. Deadlock breaker : EXTRA TIME

58. Road to the Forum : ITER - Straight Latin for road

60. More than just thought-over : ORAL - I don't really understand this clue/answer, but you should try putting the whole thing into Google - BE WARNED~!!!

DOWN:

1. Puts in : ADDS

2. Red shade : BEET

3. "Hulk" star Eric : BANA

4. Where to see major decisions? : ARMY BASE - major as in the rank and officer

5. Slacken : LET UP

6. 100 satang : BAHT - Thailand

7. No ordinary rock : ORE - No ORE-dinary rock?

8. Much of Siberia : TUNDRA - I didn't know there were that many Toyotas in Russia - oh, wait, never mind....

10. Reach extenders : STEP STOOLS - mini-ladders with no hand-rails, essentially

11. Party person : HOST - Splynter has a new interest in the hostess at the Italian restaurant - don't worry, C.C., I don't think she's Russian.... (From C.C.: Sweet!)

13. Hayride invite : HOP ON - uh, yeah, hayrides....

14. Shortened : TRUNCATED - maybe Owen can come up with a DF poem using a great many of the clue/answers of today's puzzle

15. Narrow inlet : RIA

20. Much December radio fare : NOELS - not for another 11 months

22. Showerside item : MAT

24. Colorful top : ALOHA SHIRT - What I call a Hawaiian shirt, learned from doing crosswords

26. Loan offer : FIXED RATE

27. Opponent : FOE

28. Web extension? : SITE - Website

29. Energy source : ATOM

33. Start of an early Grafton title : B IS - for Burglar

34. Victim of Artemis : ORION - I love the time of year when Orion, the constellation, is visible, roughly Sept to March; the story goes that Orion was bitten and killed by Scorpio, and therefore in the 'other half' of the night sky

36. Provide a segue for : LEAD INTO

39. Great Plains st. : NEBraska - Hmmm, I think there's one or two guys from the blog there

42. Over there : YONDER

43. Jazz contemporary of Hancock and Jarrett : COREA - Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and the one I had not heard of, Keith Jarrett - a little piano piece from him

46. 1998 World Series player : PADRE - San Diego - beaten by the damn Yankees

47. Feng __ : SHUI - With the limited space I have, I try and practice this art; however, I do have a mirror and a flat-screen TV (both about the same size and shape) in the bedroom, and both face the bed - this is not good feng shui, tho I did know this, and could possibly hang a curtain in front of the mirror

48. Support : AID

49. Fermat's forte : MATH - another semi-shout-out to a blog regular

50. Hair-removal brand : NAIR

51. 1815 title character who "thought a little too well of herself" : EMMA - I tried EYRE, but that left me with TRADE NAYE and EXTRA TIRE - well, the latter could have been clued as "SPARE"

52. Stagger : REEL

55. Med. orders : RXs - Prescriptions

Splynter