google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Advertisements

Mar 15, 2014

Saturday, Mar 15th, 2014, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 72   (missing J,Q)

Blocks: 30

  Today's challenge from Mr. Silk took some intuitive thinking, as quite a few clues gave me fits. With the chunky triple 7-letter corners, I find this type of grid to be the most difficult, especially when you can't get a foothold.  In my case, I struggled a bit in the SW, and bad WAGs made some other spots slow to solve - and I had one wrong letter.  One grid-spanner, and let's hope that it's a thing of the past for the next 12 months~!

35. Winter forecast : FREEZING DRIZZLE - I got the DRIZZLE part from MAZDA, so I tried "--- AND DRIZZLE", but that didn't help

Aw, Dr. NO~!













 ACROSS:

1. Instrument played with mallets : MARIMBA - BAM~! Nailed it, not that I'm saying much - but hey, XYLOPHONE wouldn't fit


8. Pitcher's coup : PICK-OFF - I don't watch baseball, but this is one of those nifty little plays that make the game interesting - along with the "hidden ball" trick



15. Mine carriers : ORE CARS - Funny, ORE CARTS didn't fit, so I skipped it the first time around - and I was 114% correct

16. Orwell superstate : OCEANIA

17. 1980s Hollywood sex symbol : BO DEREK - I was trying to think of a popular male, and when the "K" appeared, I was stumped - oh, her - still looking good

18. Hang : SUSPEND

19. Meas. seen on a tee : YDs - Argh~!  My first thought was golf, but then I thought "nope, he's going with T-shirt here", and tried "XXL"

20. Beguile : TEMPT - not TEASE, not GET AT

22. Warthog features : TUSKS - made the "Top 10 List" for ugliest animal~!


23. Screened conversation? : VIDEO CHAT - I was thinking this could be "CONFESSION", but it's one letter too many

25. 28-Across natives, e.g. : ASIANS - circular clues -->

28. The Mekong flows along its border : LAOS

29. Fighter acronym : MiG - Mikoyan-Gurevich, the Russian military aircraft company

32. Going downhill : WORSE

33. "The __ Affair": Jasper Fforde novel : EYRE - never heard of it; Saturday cluing

34. Lighten : EASE - a burden, for example

38. Servers at affairs : URNS

39. Ballpark figs. : MGRs - Ah, the guy in the dugout, not ESTs

40. Needles : RIDES

41. Food-curing chemical : LYE - not MSG

42. "__ Mia": 1965 hit : CARA - I tried MAMA, and that's 50% right, but I knew the date was wrong

43. Give away : DONATE

44. Funk band instrument : SAXOPHONE - I think this is funky


46. When to see die Sterne : NACHT - 'the star(s)' in German, and 'night'; there's also a band by the same name, so I guess you could see them at night, too

49. Pasta bit : SHELL

50. Card quality : WIT - Card as in ham, clown, cut-up, etc.

53. Odorless fuels : ETHANES - all the light ones are pretty much odorless; the stink from propane is actually ethyl percaptan, which is added to warn you of a leak - it was a gas explosion that leveled the two buildings in Harlem NYC this week.

55. Tennessee neighbor : ALABAMA - GEORGIA fit, too; KENTUCKY, ARKANSAS, MISSOURI, and VIRGINIA are all 8-letters long


57. Zip up : ANIMATE - I was in "winter clothing" mode on this one, so this answer was slow to show

58. Extreme : RADICAL

59. Surfing annoyance : POP-UP AD - tell me about it; I hate that little 'hiccup' you get from ads on computers and mobile devices that shifts everything down one line JUST as you tap to move to the next link

60. Ship maintenance site : DRY DOCK - my Dodge Stratus and Ford Van are in 'dry dock' right now; today will be the first warm, dry day with no snow on the ground, allowing me to finally take a look and see what's wrong

DOWN:

1. Colorado State's __ Arena : MOBY

2. MLB nickname in recent news : A-ROD

3. Cabs, e.g. : REDS - DAH~! Wines, not Taxis

4. Winter coat : ICE - I've seen enough

5. Two-time 1990s A.L. batting champ Edgar : MARTINEZ - C.C. has more (From C.C.: He spent his whole career with the Mariners. He'll remain in the Hall of Fame ballot next year. Look at what I found:)

2-Down, Ken Griffey Jr, 5-Down

6. Procreates : BREEDS - Ah, not the Biblical BEGETS

7. Help desk sign : ASK ME

8. Deltiologist's collection : POSTCARDS - learning moment

9. Post-op area : ICU

10. Basque baskets : CESTAS

11. Shot : KAPUT

12. People : ONES - As in "the ones waiting for spring to arrive"

13. Rat : FINK

14. They come and go : FADS

21. Storyteller? : POLYGRAPH - TATTLE-TALE didn't fit

23. Arrangements may be made in them : VASES

24. Weed killer : HOER - my one missed letter; I had HOAR - hey, that could kill weeds, too - it kills the grass....

25. Horrific : AWFUL - not SCARY

26. Classic board game : SORRY!
 

27. Daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands : IRENE - Saturday cluing for a popular crossword name; this one goes back a bit, as Queen Juliana passed at 94 ten years ago

29. Tribute maker : MAZDA

30. Key : ISLET - ah, not iNSet

31. Inane ones : GEESE - "You silly gooses~!"

33. Absorbed : ENGROSSED - I did NOT try "---- UP" to start, as in "SOAKED"

34. Salon, for one : E-ZINE

36. Big name in movies? : IMAX - yep, that's a big screen

37. Nickname in 20th-century British leadership : IRON LADY - Margaret Thatcher - that's the second "Iron" to come out of Britain - I prefer Iron Maiden....

42. Short time out? : CAT-NAP

43. Word on a Canadian loonie : DOLLAR - no animals were tattooed in the making of this crossword

44. San Diego attraction : SHAMU - not ZOOOO....

45. Picked up : HEARD

46. Tide table term : NEAP

47. Words before time or point : AT NO

48. Wood __ : CHIP - ah, not SHED

50. City on the Brazos : WACO

51. Apple product : iMAC - It's going to be "i" something....

52. Converse : TALK

54. Touchdown info : ETA - airplanes, not football

56. Nod, at times : BID

Splynter