Saturday Themeless Puzzle by Gail Grabowski
Today is a big holiday for us addicts, uh, aficionados of a certain brew. My daughter has had a heart issue and so is restricted to de-caf and I have cut my consumption to one and only one cup per day, but boy do I enjoy it while savoring my LA Times puzzle!
Kids where I sub come in with cups of "coffee" from some frou-frou emporiums that are so loaded with milk, sugar and various other ingredients that I just think, "What's the point?" However they all think of themselves as hard core consumers of the beverage.
Me? I'll take mine straight up and if there is a "too strong" variety, I have yet to encounter it!
Now let's see what our prodigious constructor has for us today:
1. Garden lure: SPIDER WEB - Eh, never mind, we'll trick or treat down the street.
10. Prefix meaning "coil": SPIRO - I'll bet even SPIRO Agnew had a SPIROGRAPH
15. It straddles the border of two western states: LAKE TAHOE - The site of Fredo's last fishing expedition in The Godfather
17. Closing question: ARE WE DONE? - Sometimes an ill-advised question to your spouse during a disagreement
18. Subjects for reviewers: FILMS - Rotten Tomatoes is a pretty good site for a compilation of reviewers
19. Kind of gravel: PEA - Used a lot at our house where flora is not desired
20. What some glasses lack: RIMS.
21. Observed visiting: SEEN AT - When I was growing up, teachers and coaches knew they were not to be SEEN AT local bars
22. Break off loudly: SNAP - Good celery test
23. Write the wrong number on, perhaps: MISDATE - "What? I put September 31 on that check?"
24. Legal option: APPEAL - If you've got enough money...
27. Warning after using an iron: FORE - A funky clue that is yelled even by Tiger
28. A.L. East squad: TOR - TORonto Blue Jays
29. __ space: CRAWL - Not for people with claustrophobia
30. Glove material: LATEX - Not welcome in some places
31. Speech interruptions: UMS - Um, I, um, don't know, um, what to, um, say about, um this
32. Work to get: EARN.
33. Support on the way up: PITON - a carbiner with a rope will soon be attached to the PITON he is pounding into the cliff crack
34. Cookout choice: BRATwurst
35. Modicum: BIT - Liza's Doolittle's dad sang "with a little BIT of luck" someone else will do the blinkin' work
36. One of a nursery rhyme trio: BAKER - Rub-a-dub-dub, I'll bet you know the other two passengers in the tub
37. Most successful African-American PGA golfer before Woods: PEETE - Lee Elder leapt to my mind
38. Custom finish?: ARY - What's reasonable and CUSTOMARY in Nebraska may not be so in your neck of the woods
39. Made it up: LIED - Oh yeah, elections are coming up...
40. Follow: SHADOW - An alternate meaning to a film noir activity
41. Armadas on the road: NISSANS - That's three Saturdays in a row (and ISUZU on Thursday) where the constructor has used car names for misleading cluing. I reluctantly had to give up on CONVOYS
43. Turnovers, e.g.: STAT - Here's a turnover caused by good linebacker play44. Take out: DELETE.
45. Shot in the dark: STAB.
46. Clicking sound?: AHA - When a clue clicks with me, I might utter an AHA
49. "Battlestar Galactica" commander: ADAMA - William ADAMA is played by Edward James Olmos in the show
50. One who's no fun to play with: POOR LOSER - Here's two minutes worth of one of the worst who was/is also 12. Sulky: ILL-NATURED
52. Showed up: GOT IN - My daughters GOT IN before midnight at our house even while they were in college or...
53. Bicycle tire feature: VALVE STEM - This biker carries a pressurized air tank to service the VALVE STEM you see in the back ground
54. Discharge: EGEST - A polite word for a necessary/disgusting body function
55. Tiny arboreal amphibians: TREE TOADS.
Down:
1. Indication of an offense: SLAP.
2. Take a little off: PARE.
3. Many of its products are named for Scandinavian places: IKEA - You mean like the Dagstorp couch?
4. Mountain __: DEW - I prefer my caffeine delivered without sugar or fizz
5. Hardly transitory: ETERNAL.
6. Like much flower symmetry: RADIAL.
7. Defeat decisively: WHOMP - I suppose
8. Quite a stretch: EONS.
9. One who does a waggle dance: BEE - I learned in an ethology class that the waggling BEE is telling the distance, direction and quality of available food
10. Sensitive health class subject: SAFE SEX
11. Practiced diligently: PLIED - I have PLIED my trade for 50 years
13. It's often used to make paste: ROMA TOMATO
14. Traditional Christmas Eve dish for some: OYSTER STEW - That and potato soup were staples of our Christmas Eve
21. Traffic stopper, at times: SIREN - Not always
22. Tailored: SEWN.
23. Power source: MOTOR - Football players that play with a lot of energy are said to have a great MOTOR
24. Elastic wrap brand: ACE BANDAGE - This self-adhereing version is easier to use than the version having to use metal clips
25. Herbivore named for its habitat: PRAIRIE DOG
26. List on a ticket: PARTY SLATE - This facilitates things on this Michigan ballot
27. In the cards: FATED.
30. Takes an interest in: LIKES - Facebook admiration
33. Revolutionary pamphleteer: PAINE - "These are the times that try men's souls"
34. Top: BEAT - As of this afternoon, the Huskers have failed to top/BEAT any team
36. Far from subtle: BLATANT.
37. High-tech communications portmanteau: PHABLET.
40. Feel a strong need (for): STARVE.
42. Rest area array: SEMIS - The yellow tubes connected to the window openings of these SEMIS provide heat/ac/wifi/TV, etc
43. Made off with: STOLE.
45. Use an updraft, say: SOAR.
46. Old movie dog: ASTA - Nick and Nora's pooch
47. Be mindful of: HEED - Or not...
48. Administrative branches: ARMS.
50. Low mil. rank: PVT.
51. Granada bear: OSO - La cama del OSO papá era demasiado dura (The papa bear's bed was too hard)
DA GRID:
