Saturday, Nov 1st, 2014, Victor Barocas

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing F,J,Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 29

  Today marks Victor's Saturday themeless debut - as far as I can tell - for the LAT.  I just dove right in, not having had any experience with this constructor on the weekend; his last LAT contribution was almost a year ago - Nov 20th, a Wednesday.  Got to talking to the waitress about her costume, with the cat ears and the tail...WHERE WAS I~? - Oh, yes - Nothing terribly obscure, a few witty clues, and alas, one bad cell, so no "Ta-DA~!"  Two triple 9-letter corners, a pair of 9-letter downs, and two 8-letter acrosses intersecting a pair of 8-letter downs;

3d. Blue wall decorations : EROTIC ART - Hmmm, let me see if I can find any - I really like the implication in this piece - sort of M.C. Escher

Julian Murphy art

32d. Salad ingredients : SCALLIONS - I like to read about how friends here at the blog trade food advice and recipes - just not in the place to try them myself - yet

Asian Scallion Salad

O-rabbit N-rabbit W-rabbit ARD~!

ACROSS:

1. End of a digression : "WHERE WAS I~?" - as I was saying....

10. Christmas flier : COMET - Ah....SLED and SLEIGH did not fit; then the V-8 can flew....and then a clecho, to boot; 42d. Christmas flier : DASHER - Reindeer~!  This Christmas season is a 'short' one at UPS; just 3 weeks, 3 days between Thanksgiving and Dec. 25th - I already know I am working a full 8hrs on Black Friday - at triple time.  Nice~!

15. Like Gene Kelly's dancing : ACROBATIC

16. Ski resort north of Mount Snow : OKEMO

17. Pollster's challenge : CLOSE RACE

18. Stand in for : ACT AS

19. Wear out : TIRE - FLAG, FAIL, WANE

20. Haywire : KABLOOIE - Odd spelling, but the "word" is common enough

22. Circus prop : STILT - because tent pole was too long ( get it~?)

24. Lyra's brightest star : VEGA - Nailed it - but I am a big fan of astronomy

25. Rosencrantz or Guildenstern : ROLE - Shakespeare characters; DANE anyone~?

26. Netlike : LACY - I threw in "HOLY", but I knew it should have been HOLEY

27. Cabs may be lined up at one : WINE BAR - HAR-HAR~!!! Cabernets - but then again, I would hope to see taxis, too....

29. After : A LA - "in style of", "modeled after"

30. Soaks (up) : SOPS

31. Like some bread : YEASTY

35. Reasons for some low scores : BIRDIES - Ah, golf; I was thinking FICO scores ( I am having an issue with mine right now ), and then SAT/school test scores

37. Handy thing to have when you need a break? : POOL CUE - Har-har~!!  I have two pool cues; a Sneaky Pete for playing, and another for the break - usually puts a lot of stress on the stick

38. Zen awakening : SATORI

39. Arabian checker : REIN - Clever misdirection; I was thinking of some type of Middle Eastern game piece - but we're looking for the Arabian, as in the horse, and the check-er

40. Turkish honorific : AGA

41. Expose a card, say : MIS-DEAL

43. Narrow strip : SLAT

44. Cuisine with a condiment called nam pla : THAI - WAG

47. Body __ : MASS

48. Attacks, as with snowballs : PELTS

49. Campaign fund : WAR CHEST

51. Vier minus eins : DREI - German, 4 minus 1

52. Sundance showing : INDIE - I tried MOVIE, knew it was too simple for Saturday; still, I was 40% right, right?

53. It's usually an eagle : HOLE IN ONE - Here I was on the golf wavelength, but I couldn't s-t-r-e-t-c-h TWO UNDER to fit; on a par-3, a two-under would be a "one"

57. "A Confederacy of Dunces" author : TOOLE - learning moment for me; published after the author's suicide

58. Clinton had a big role in its construction : ERIE CANAL - ah, that Clinton - a little history

59. Begat : SIRED

60. Held in : REPRESSED - I will refrain from my favorite Monty Python movie....um, no, I won't....see it @2:00

DOWN:

1. WWII female : WAC - Women's Army Corps

2. Digestive aid, to chemists : HCl - Hydrochloric Acid

4. How a pollyanna sees the world : ROSILY

5. "I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie" author : EBERT - Roger's take on the movie "North", and how it went on to become more

6. Hard or soft finish? : WARE - HardWARE,  SoftWARE

7. __ loss : AT A

8. Nauseates : SICKENS

9. Glaciation period : ICE AGE

10. Combustible rock : COAL

11. 1881 trouble spot : O.K. CORRAL

12. "I'm with you" : "ME TOO~!" - also the name of Luke Skywalker's other, self-centered, R2 unit

13. Outlook service : E-MAIL

14. "__ a world in a grain of sand": Blake : TO SEE - I could not parse this in the 'down', and having it cross OKEMO did not help

21. Nursery bottle contents : BABY OIL

22. Hunks : SLABS

23. Shire in films : TALIA

24. Limo riders : VIPs

27. "Alack!" : "WOE IS ME~!"

28. Many millennia : AEON - I had EONS first

30. iPhone speaker : SIRI - I have an Android phone and tablet; did you hear that Apple is working on a vacuum to compete with the Dyson?  It's called the "i-Suck"

33. Try to dislodge, perhaps : TUG AT

34. "Leda and the Swan" poet : YEATS

36. Home : DOMICILE

37. Pod occupants : PEAS

39. Make whole again : RESTORE

43. Perceived to be : SEEN AS

44. Ridicules : TWITS - I do not know why I went with twiPs, and Poole, especially with POOL CUE in the puzzle and my mother's favorite insult for the Rangers when they're losing ( "those twits" ) - but I did....

45. Asian capital : HANOI

46. Zeal : ARDOR

48. Haggler's target : PRICE

50. Mind : HEED

51. Roebuck, but not Sears : DEER - nyuck-nyuck-nyuck

54. Word with stick or service : LIP - Lipstick, Lip Service; the smell of some lipsticks is very erotic; see 3d.

55. "Auld Scotland wants __ skinking ware": Burns : NAE

56. Days of yore, in days of yore : ELD

Splynter