Themeless Saturday by Lewis Rothlein
Tonight is International Observe The Moon Night sponsored by NASA. This NASA educator and you are all encouraged to go out and look at the second brightest object in our sky and Earth's only natural satellite. Here in Eastern Nebraska the Moon will rise shortly after 5 pm tonight and should be a magnificent sight after the Sun has set. I invite you to identify as many features of the lunar surface as you can, including, but not limited to, the magnificent Tycho crater and the Sea Of Tranquility that was visited by Neal and Buzz on July 20, 1969 - Houston, Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed.
Today's constructor is Lewis Rothlein whose last puzzle appeared on August 28 of this year and was well-blogged by Steve. Lewis currently lives in Asheville, N.C. and teaches this course at UNC-Asheville. I wonder if I could take it online?
In a lovely note to me Lewis said he started doing crosswords a dozen years ago and constructing four years ago. His vocations include having been a magazine editor, a syndicated newspaper columnist (SF Chronicle) and an elementary school teacher. He added that he owned a yoga studio for 10 years and decided to stretch his mind with crosswords the way he was stretching his body with yoga.
Lewis's offering today stretched me especially in the SW. I will explain my perils with those fills as I blog this wonderful puzzle and prepare to look at the Moon tonight:
1. Name derived from a Kyrgyz word meaning "sea of islands": ARAL - A "big boy" clue for our old friend ARAL. The Kyrgyz word for sea of islands is "Aral-denghiz" which has lost much of its water between 1989 to 2014 as shown below
9. Food quality: SAPOR - A quality perceptible to the sense of taste
14. Makes a play for: MOVES IN ON - You'd have to be my age to remember the Everly Brothers lyrics, "Johnny is a joker that's a'tryin' to steal my baby" and the title of the song.
16. Patriotic nickname: U.S. OF A
17. Start of many a puzzle: ONE ACROSS - I commented there already
18. Enjoys a course: GOLFS - Just a minute, I have a tap in
19. Stopped using: KICKED THE HABIT
21. Addie's husband in "As I Lay Dying": ANSE.
22. "Our acts make or __ us": Victor Hugo: MAR, "we are the children of our own deeds"
23. Fee: Abbr.: CHG - I wonder if Lewis has a Lab CHG for supplying crosswords for his class
25. "The Night They Invented Champagne" musical: GIGI.
27. Curved sword, to Brits: SABRE.
29. Elver, e.g.: EEL - At the bottom right of this cycle
30. Bug: DEFECT - _ _ _ E C T cried out for INSECT and was my first roadblock.
32. In a happy place: GLAD.
33. __ Fridays: TGI - We drive by one on our way to our favorite restaurants
34. "Seriously?": IT IS - IT IS? is synonymous and IT IS answers the question
35. Hard-to-find items, to collectors: RARES - Do you really think this RARE, an 1895 Morgan Silver Dollar, just happened to walk into a Las Vegas Pawn shop?
37. Teller's output: YARN - Yeah my first teller first output was CASH. 40. "No more!": STOP IT, Lewis! 😉
38. Sydney's st.: NSW - The state of New South Wales is in Australia not Sydney in NEBraska's panhandle
39. Strong reaction: RISE - Some kids just want to get a RISE out of a teacher. Good teachers follow the advice below
42. First cloned mammal: EWE - We all remember Dolly and I propose we clone C.C.
45. Shaded: HUED - I have had a rose-HUED face from embarrassment on occasion
46. Noël Coward, for one: SIR - S _ _ cried out for SPY which SIR Noël was during WWII. Churchill fought granting him a knighthood.
47. Proverbial team feature?: NO I
48. Where Zeno taught: ELEA - On the west coast of current day Italy
50. Experimental vehicle: SELF DRIVING CAR - Hmmm...
56. "Twilight" author Stephenie: MEYER - No idea, which did not help my SW ills
57. "Nurse Jackie" Emmy winner: EDIE FALCO - A lovely harvest of vowels
58. Compensate (for): ATONE - A _ _ _ _ is not ALLOW. More SW issues!
60. Wet: DOUSE - There was a time when this was a habit at Husker games
61. Spotted: SEEN - Not PIED
62. Refusals: NOES - They all mean NO
Down:
1. Out of control: AMOK - Always sounds like AMUK to me
2. Pasta __: food brand: RONI - Rice-a-RONI was introduced in 1958, Noodle-RONI in 1964 and became Pasta-RONI in 1995
3. "__ plaisir!": AVEC - J'ai blogué ce puzzle avec plaisir (I blogged this puzzle with pleasure)
4. Auto fluid problems: LEAKAGES - What fluid is that on your garage floor?
5. Braces (oneself): GIRDS - Florida has had to GIRD their loins twice this hurricane season
6. Online reminders: E-NOTES.
7. It can tide you over: NOSH - How 'bout 9. Like many donuts: SUGARED.
8. Harmonious outfit: ENSEMBLE - Pronunciation?
10. Tell __ story: elicit sympathy: A SOB - "Tell me again why you don't have your project done that I assigned 10 weeks ago"
11. Legal barrier: POLICE TAPE - You can have your own 1,000' for $19.29
12. How some survivalists live: OFF THE GRID - OFF THE LAND didn't cut it!
13. __ al-Khaimah: UAE emirate: RAS - In a very strategic location
15. __ route: SCENIC
20. Hound: HARASS - A questionable joke comes to my mind but I'll spare you.
24. Sparkle: GLINT - John Marshall forever changed the west when he saw the GLINT of gold flakes in a creek named for his boss John Sutter on January 24, 1848
25. Sees through: GETS WISE TO - Too late, you voted for him/her
26. "Here's my advice ... ": IF I WERE YOU - A British comedy about a man and wife who change bodies and get a different 51. Viewpoint, metaphorically: LENS in the second act
28. Go along: AGREE - It's usually not a hill worth dying on!
30. Patronizes, with "at": DINES
31. Word from the Greek for "three-footed": TRIPOD - I first learned this word in P.E. class
36. Wannabes: ASPIRERS
37. "I thought we were done": YOU AGAIN - Some in the above crowd follow the auditions from city-to-city despite being rejected
39. What animals do in the wild: RUN FREE - No more train rides for this elephant as Ringling Bros. retired all of them in 2015
41. Roger Goodell's gp.: THE NFL - The $30M dollar man who has tried to 44. Work out: DEVISE ways to keep players safer
49. Protest where people do and don't take a stand?: LIE IN - Ah, the 60's with John and Yoko
52. One from a penseur: IDEE - L'IDEE de Rodin était de faire une sculpture appelée "Le Penseur" (Rodin's idea was to make a sculpture called "The Thinker")
53. "Pinocchio" goldfish: CLEO - A charming example of Disney anthropomorphism starring CLEO and Figaro
54. Often embarrassing outbreak: ACNE.
55. Doesn't keep: ROTS
56. __ money: MAD - He's not right all the time!
DA GRID
