Words: 72 (missing F,J,Q)
Blocks: 30
Mr. Peterson is flying solo this
Saturday, and while this was a challenging and solvable puzzle, there
were too many proper nouns crossing people and places, which takes the
enjoyment out of it, at least for me. Heavy corners today with triple 7's, and
triple 6's on the walls. In the middle we have two 12-letter and 2
9-letter spanners;
19A. Sub : HERO SANDWICH -
slightly redundant in my neck of the woods; if I said I was "going for a
hero sandwich", my friend's would ask me if I was OK.
34A. "Arrow-maker's daughter" in a Longfellow poem : MINNEHAHA - I had no clue, but once I had MINNE----, I recalled hearing this name somewhere. According to Wiki, she's 'another' popular individual in MN
44A. Subject of weekly ratings : TV PROGRAM
55A. Where Superman made his debut : ACTION COMICS
- well, I started with MARVEL COMICS, and I am sure aficionados would
cringe at the thought - Action was originally published under Detective Comics;
it's how we come to have DC Comics today
onward~!
ACROSS:
1. Sign with a sting? : SCORPIO
- I gave this one a moment, considered "road" signs, then decided to
move on - and just as I clicked to the next clue, the astrology meaning
popped into my head, and the V-8 can flew
8. Anatomical blade : SCAPULA - I gave no moment to this one - had to wait on perps; oddly, there were quite a few answers that eluded me this week, and looking back, I am ashamed to admit it.
15. Key keys for many secretaries : HOME ROW - A,S,D,F <-> J,K,L,; - my typing skills have come from AutoCAD, and keeping a daily journal on the computer for the last 9 years; on my laptop, there's literally an indent on the left end of my space bar, the "A" has worn off its key, and I still have trouble hitting comma, period, colons and quotes
16. "Guess again!" : NO SIREE~! - well then, I'll choose HOSIERY~!
8. Anatomical blade : SCAPULA - I gave no moment to this one - had to wait on perps; oddly, there were quite a few answers that eluded me this week, and looking back, I am ashamed to admit it.
15. Key keys for many secretaries : HOME ROW - A,S,D,F <-> J,K,L,; - my typing skills have come from AutoCAD, and keeping a daily journal on the computer for the last 9 years; on my laptop, there's literally an indent on the left end of my space bar, the "A" has worn off its key, and I still have trouble hitting comma, period, colons and quotes
18. Free-spirited locale? : OPEN BAR - free = open, spirits = alcohol; the local locale of the blog is Villa Incognito
21. Yahoo! rival : MSN - Microsoft Network - Internet and Email providers; yep, I went with AOL to start.
22. Bar order : RYE - Dah~! Went with ALE first
23. Certain tributes : ODES
27. Fitness brand : AVIA - my first instinct was this fill, but I had AOL in already; this meant "AA" for 4d., and that looked wrong
30. Big name in Tinseltown tittle-tattle : TMZ - Again, this was my first fill instinct; I call it 'hype' news; I can't stand the commercials, never mind the show. Learning moment; TMZ stands for Thirty-Mile Zone, the 'studio zone' of Hollywood.
32. Soften : RELENT - neatly followed by:
37. Score directive : LENTO - If the next word was ENTOMB, that'd be really cool. Well....
38. __ Arizona : USS - I stared at this way too long; it took the middle "S" before the "Duh" hit me
41. Like the vb. "have" : IRRegular - that's strange; I use the word "have" pretty regularly (From C.C.: Irregular conjugation here.)
42. Loser's metaphor : SHIRT - "lost my shirt when the market crashed"
46. Make lovable : ENDEAR
48. Bolted down : ATE
49. Well-sinewed : ROPY - I went with WIRY to start
50. Face-to-face contest : DUEL - meh, not really - they're about 20 paces apart, at least using pistols. I can see getting in close using swords, but my mind was stuck on boxing, and even chess
51. Cousin of com : ORG - DAH~! I put in EDU, since NET wasn't going to work, nor BIZ, but for some reason, ORG completely eluded me. When I first read the clue, I thought it said c o r n , not com
53. Bud abroad : AMI - Frawnch
61. Red wood, perhaps : HOT COAL - I can walk on hot coals - of course, my shoes are ON
64. Asana accessory : YOGA MAT - I had --AT at the end, was thinking "asada", or grilled "meat", so this one took a while to appear
65. Martha's Vineyard paper since 1846 : GAZETTE
66. Train : EDUCATE
67. Like some Thanksgiving turkeys : TRUSSED - ah, not STUFFED
68. Old-fashioned messages : TELEXES
DOWN:
1. With 63-Down, toy from Tibet : SHIH ; 63. See 1-Down : TZU - First and last; paired clues for bookends
2. Froyo holder : CONE - we have a Frozen Yogurt place in town, but in my head, I see it as "Fro-Yo" ; froyo looks like the Spanish word for a kitchen accessory
3. Old Persian poet : OMAR
4. Pro with a tow truck : REPO MAN
5. Uptight type : PRISS - D'oh, I went with PRUDE, slowed me down
6. Gilbert and Sullivan operetta that satirizes Parliament : IOLANTHE - Never heard of this, so after I filled it in using perps, I went to Wiki
7. "Children of Men" star Clive : OWEN
8. White : SNOWY - This was just a downright awesome one-word Saturday clue/answer
9. Staples staple : COPIER - TONER, PAPER, PENCILS didn't fit, and I was AT Staples today - again, the obvious did not occur to me
10. "Hold on __!" : A SEC
11. Source of a slow leak, perhaps : PINHOLE
12. Sub finisher? : URB - SubURB - I went with ARU first - SubARU
13. Bucolic spot : LEA
14. __ Arann: Irish carrier : AER - Again, seems obvious now that I am done
20. Physician married to Tonya Gromeko : DR. ZHIVAGO
24. "A Bronx Tale" director : DE NIRO
25. Lead on : ENTRAP
26. Dark 'n' __ (rum and ginger beer cocktail) : STORMY
27. Kept occupied : AMUSED
28. Four-armed deity : VISHNU
29. Favorable track position : INSIDE - I'm on the inside track to being recalled to drive for UPS; I've been back on the pre-load side since Jan 10th.
31. Outlet : MART
33. Nevada city : ELKO
35. Verb in first-year Spanish : ESTA
36. Patient request: Abbr. : APPT
40. Trio preceding an exchange : AREA CODE
43. Tightens, as a corset : RELACES
45. Sign of displeasure : GRIMACE - I put GRUMBLE in first; 57% correct
47. Take a turn : ROTATE
52. Beside oneself : RILED
54. Heavy hitter : MOGUL
56. Storable sacks : COTS - ah, that kind of sack
57. It may be heard in Orel arguments : NYET - Russia, that is; I was stuck on the OrAl we had Wednesday, and thought it was a biblical reference
58. Theater giant? : IMAX
59. " The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" co-star Blanchett : CATE
60. Some Fr. martyrs : STEs
61. Lic. number : HGT - I started with D.O.B., which didn't help. The abbr in the clue told me it couldn't be AGE, then a-ha~! either WGT or HGT
62. Shell mover : OAR - dah~! that kind of shell
Splynter(ed), from Wednesday's 11d.
