Saturday, Mar 5th, 2016, Barry C. Silk

Theme: Saturday Silkie~!

Words: 70 (missing J,V,X,Z)

Blocks: 27

Always a pleasure to see we are getting to work a Saturday Silkie.  I found the grid to be on the chunky side, with another low block count, but several more three-letter words than last week's puzzle.  Still, a pretty good challenge, a little on the tough side for a Silkie, but always solvable as far as I am concerned - though I did have to check the dictionary twice.  Triple 5/8 and 9/6 corners, and nothing longer than those answers;

1d. Discontinue : BREAK OFF - I tried PHASE OUT, such as a car model; "---OUT" showed up later (see 37d.)  This discontinue has more of a "relationship" definition

6a. Software developers' get-together : HACKATHON - Actually a word (term)

39d. Firth of Forth outlet : NORTH SEA

62a. One looking up to his listener? : SERENADER - for the ladies

 

 he is wearing pants....

yONder windoWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Metaphorically dull : BEIGE - these are never dull

15. Attack : RUN AT

16. One with a tender heart? : ARTICHOKE

17. Brother competitor : EPSON - put it in, took it out....printer makers

18. Precedent sources : TEST CASES

19. "Can't fool me!" : "A-HA~!"

20. How some myths are taken : AS FACT - some of the lesser myths addressed on Mythbusters are actually quite interesting to me; e.g., a "bull in a china shop" turned out to be less of a mess than expected.  Last season this year

22. Losing scheme : DIET - Nailed it

23. Skull Island notable : KONG - just caught a few minutes of the 1976 remake of King Kong.  Good way to clue it would be 'star' of films released in 1933, 1976 & 2005 (excluding the "son of Kong" type movies, of course)

25. Deli request : NO MAYO - I prefer mayo over ketchup - sort of a "Pulp Fiction" kind of thing

27. Where ends may meet?: Abbr. : NFL - I enjoy watching football, and the chess-like strategies employed, but I don't get too involved with teams, players or positions

28. Dairy Queen Blizzard option : OREO

29. City between Algiers and Casablanca : ORAN - filled via perps (for those who inquired last week, the crossing answers in crosswordese are 'perpendiculars')

30. "Shucks!" : "AW GEE"

32. Handshake relative : FIST BUMP

34. No. : QTY - the period (.) might have been hard to see on paper

35. Influential capitalists : FAT CATS

36. WWII correspondent Reynolds : QUENTIN - no clue, but with half the perps in place, the most logical answer; clued as 'director of such films as....' and I would have nailed it

40. Comprises : HAS

41. FBI Academy site : QUANTICO - remembered this from seeing "The Silence of the Lambs" - the Wiki

42. Parade honoree, briefly : ST. PAT - almost timely

45. Accommodate : SUIT

46. Certain retiree's title: Abbr. : EMERitus, and I got it

47. __-Magnon : CRO

48. More mawkish : HOKIER - mawkish being one of the two words I had to look up

50. Sq., e.g. : RECTangle - all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares

51. File system's master directory : ROOT

53. Kid : BANTER - the verb

55. Theater warning : "SHH~!"

56. Like most circus performers : ACROBATIC

58. March winds, perhaps : OBOES - good WAG

60. They're observed : PHENOMENA - HOLIDAYS was too short

61. Tiny sucker : LOUSE - dah~! Not LEECH

63. Gene Vincent's "__ Lovin'" : LOTTA - my generation knows "Whole Lotta Love" or "Whole Lotta Rosie"

DOWN:

2. High state : EUPHORIA

3. Most senseless : INSANEST

4. Fed. auditing agency : GAO - Government Accountability Office - I think we've seen this before, but I didn't recall; I went with IRS - bzzzt~!

5. Mount __ Nicolosi, Italian ski area : ETNA

6. Millinery blocks : HAT FORMS - millinery was the other word I had to look up

7. GPS display : AREA MAP - ROAD map was not working

8. Source of inside info? : CT SCAN - cute

9. Pool : KITTY - I went with the verb, and tried AMASS

10. Virginia Cavaliers' org. : ACC

11. Longtime Mississippi senator Cochran : THAD - since I did not know this name, nor 6a., I thought it could be C-had

12. Scam : HOSING - Mr. Silk is good to me - two chances to add leggy pics~!

13. Michael of "Michael Clayton" : O'KEEFE - this guy; his IMDb - I recognize him from parts in Law & Order, CSI, and House, M.D. epsiodes

14. Poland Spring parent : NESTLÉ - I knew this

21. Prominent elephant seal features : SNOUTS

24. "Can't fool me!" : "GOTCHA~!"

26. Like granola : OATEN

31. Dana __, co-star of the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" : WYNTER - this movie scared the sleep out of me for about a year when I was 10 yrs old.  So now I had to research the film, and it led me to this 'disorder'

33. Mideast party : BA'ATH - never heard of it - the Wiki

34. Six minus deux : QUATRE - Frawnche

36. Amtrak unwinding area : QUIET CAR - I once rode the train from Ronkonkoma station on LI all the way to Seattle, WA.  I stopped in Minot, ND, but alas, I did not know I would find friends in MN years later~!

37. Ends unsuccessfully, as a computer search : TIMES OUT

38. Beer container : ICE CHEST

41. Tonic component : QUININE

42. Tosses : SCRAPS - another good WAG

43. Lozenge : TROCHE - rhymes with HOKEY (see 48a.)

44. Worse : POORER

45. Proceeded in a carefree manner : SKATED

49. Hawaiian-born head of state : OBAMA

52. Voice mail sound : TONE - Dah~! Not BEEP

54. Plane's longitudinal rotation : ROLL - I am familiar with how planes fly, but not quite as much as Dudley

57. "__ appétit!" : BON

59. Discontented cry : BOO

Splynter

Note from C.C.:

Here are a few pictures from JD's trip to Maui last week.  She said "My favorite picture was one up at the volcano. If you can see it full screen, the colors were amazing. We were above the clouds." She also said that the lady in mermaid costume has "3 of those tails and this is her hobby".

Bob and JD

 

 

 

Click here for whales and a few more stunning pictures JD took.