Saturday, Jun 6th, 2015, Pawel Fludzinski

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing Q,X,Z)

Blocks: 32

  I was about to throw in the towel on this one, as the north refused to turn any color other than white....so I cheated; I changed to red-letter and discovered I had the wrong "Arabic word".  Figures.  But it at least gave me a chance to rethink the NE, and then it was a matter of Wild-Ass Guessing to get the NW to cooperate.  All in all, I thought the puzzle was a good challenge, though the proper names did throw a bit of a fun sponge into the mix.  I finished at exactly my personal allotted time, too.  Paired 9- and 10-letter corners, and two 11-letter spanners;

33. Quadrennial winter event since 1976 : PARALYMPICS - made me change some DOWN answers when "-LYMPICS" seemed more logical; more from the Wiki

40. Metaphorical target of a fruitless pursuit : SHINY OBJECT - the more I looked, the more it seems this is less of a "pursuit" and more of distraction; the reference is more like the phrase "curiosity killed the cat"; see the psychology here

o-n-
       Ooooh~!  Shiny~!

ACROSS:

1. "... and hid his face __ a crowd of stars": Yeats : AMID - starting off with a relatively vague quotation seems cruel and unusual

5. Farrier's tool : RASP - I know what a farrier does, but anvil and hammer didn't fit; SNIP did, tho

9. Word derived from the Aramaic for "my father" : ABBOT - dah~!  I figured it might be RABBI - and the "BB"s were right, but only one in the correct location - what is that, 20% or 40%, D-Otto~?

14. Whirl : PIROUETTE - thankfully, the letters the perps filled in made the spelling of this easier - I had --R-UE--E

16. Place, as cloth before surgery : DRAPE - I did consider this at first, but this is a really round-about clue for a 5-letter word

17. Talk big : BLOW SMOKE

18. Zealand natives : DANES - I tried MAORI

19. "Candy-colored clown" in Roy Orbison's "In Dreams," with "the" : SANDMAN

20. Butler, e.g. : SERVANT - the household position - not the character from Gone With The Wind

22. Cézanne's "Boy in __ Vest" : A RED - um, sure, OK

24. Isn't quite neutral : LEANS - different from yesterday's definition

25. Business : AFFAIR

29. Manchego sources : EWES - I was 100% positive about "WIRY", so this made for a sensible WAG

31. Copacetic : A-OK

35. "Piano is not my forte," e.g. : PUN - har-har

36. Orgs. with class issues? : PTAs

37. Command ender : EER - commandeer

38. Meter starter : PERI - I had PEDO-, and that was definitely 50% right; perimeter

39. Wi-Fi relative : LAN

44. Wapiti : ELK - knew this from doing crosswords

45. Dick Grayson, to Bruce Wayne : WARD - I grew up with the 60's campy version, but I did like the re-makes with Christian Bale; well, the first two

46. Sites of some runners : AISLES - I did consider SLEIGHS, but it didn't fit

47. Goaded, with "on" : EGGED - had it, changed it to URged, changed it back

49. '60s-'70s Japanese leader : SATO - perps

51. Prepare for baking : PRE-HEAT

53. Jeopardize : IMPERIL

58. Nirvana attainer : ARHAT - straight up definition; new word to me

59. Ace : HOLE-IN-ONE

61. Blue books? : PORNO - if this is the case, I like my entertainment to be "navy"

62. Opening numbers? : AREA CODES - very good; should have figured it out sooner

63. Indo-__ languages : ARYAN

64. Pastoral poem : IDYL

65. Indianapolis-to-Springfield direction : WEST - were you shocked to see FOUR letters in the answer~?  Narrowed down the choices, tho

DOWN:       

1. They may include yrs. and models : APBs - took too long to make the connection, but I was thinking about cars.  An "All Points Bulletin" - although I think a "BOLO" is more appropriate - "Be On the Look Out for a 2000 Dodge Status, license plate XYZ-1234~!"

2. "__ 18": Uris novel : MILA - I have seen this before, but my head was stuck on "Stalag 17" - both are stories of people and their Nazi Germany foes

3. Food Network's "__ Chef America" : IRON

4. Columnist Maureen : DOWD - 50% perps, 50% WAG

5. Emulate Liz Taylor ... regularly : REMARRY - Ironic that DIVORCE fit, too

6. Square things : ATONE - ah, the verb, not the adjective

7. NASDAQ unit : STK - meh.

8. Pepper trio? : PEES - PePPer

9. Deal with : ADDRESS

10. Price support? : BRAVA - the only thing that makes sense is this person; "BRAVO~!" for females

11. Stereotypical slipper? : BANANA PEEL

12. Like some software : OPEN SOURCE

13. Measuring device : TEST

15. FedEx competitor : US MAIL - OK, I did a UPS shout-out last week

21. What a conductor may conduct: Abbr. : ELECtricity - I wanted "ORCH"

23. "We'll see" : DEPENDS

25. Brandy flavor : APPLE

26. A virus may cause one : FATAL ERROR - in the world of computers

27. Walt Disney Concert Hall architect : FRANK GEHRY - I am familiar with this name, so the spelling did not bother me

28. Small power sources : AAs - batteries

30. Like an Irish wolfhound's coat : WIRY

32. Furrows : KNITS - think eyebrows

34. Israel's Iron Lady : MEIR

38. Retirement outfit? : PJs - good clue; I was in "IRA" mode

40. Smitten with : SWEET ON - I am still smitten by the blue-eyed girl; some day....

41. Words with baby or bad day : HAD A - I regularly have the "bad day" version - hopefully the "baby" part is in my future

42. Breakfast choice : OATMEAL

43. "Ed Wood," e.g. : BIOPIC

48. Kofi Annan's birthplace : GHANA

50. 1976 Spingarn Medal recipient : AILEY - never heard of this award, nor this person

51. Literary sobriquet : PAPA - that author dude, uh, what's his name, Ernest

52. Golden Triangle native : THAI

54. "There are liars ... __ to beat the honest men": "Macbeth" : ENOW - poetic "enough"

55. Tormented : RODE

56. Supermodel Sastre : INÉS - hey, two birds with one stone - her image and her legs - or is that one bird with two stones~?

Inés Sastre

ooh~! shiny~!

57. "__ we forget" : LEST

60. Chicago airport code : ORD - O'Hare, which was originally Orchard Field Airport; now I can see where they get code

Splynter