Saturday, December 8, 2018, C.C. Burnikel

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by C.C. Burnikel

December 8 is Be A Time Traveler Day. Most would first think of Back To The Future for a reference but for me, I think of a little movie called Peggy Sue Got Married. 

While Marty was delivered to his parents' high school days by Doc Brown's Delorean he was forbidden to do anything that might effect the "time-space continuum". However, Peggy Sue passed out at a class reunion and traveled back to her adolescence and wound up as an actual participant in her own high school days. 

That is the one time of my life I would like to have a "do over". Peggy Sue knew how the blowhards, science geeks, et al turned out and she got to interact with them with an adult perspective. Wouldn't you like another shot?

I could also have picked to be at Ford's Theater the night of April 14, 1865... 

Our blog mistress and puzzle master has provided us with a lovely weekend diversion. Her triple stacks of 11's in the NE and SW corner and layers of triple 8's in the NW and SE were wonderful.  She never fails to amaze but NE corner took me quite a lot of time.

Here she is at the Treasure Island Casino and Bowling Lanes where Boomer was in a tournament. I'm sure she was there to support Boomer's competitive bowling  just as she is now supporting him with his health issues.

Those flowers make me long for spring which is still quite a ways away. Sigh...

Now lets see what our maven from Minneapolis has for us today.

Across:

1. Top that turns: SCREW CAP - An eponymous John Mason Jar who pioneered the SCREW CAP jar in the 1850's

9. Fictional brother with a green hat: LUIGI - Mario's sibling. How does a girl from China know this stuff?

14. Like some snowsuits: ONE PIECE.

15. Lacks the wherewithal to: CAN NOT 

16. Vacant, as positions: UNFILLED - When substitute teaching jobs go UNFILLED, the staff has to take those classes during the times they are not scheduled with kids. 

17. Sets free: LOOSES - "He has LOOSED the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword"

18. General who's the subject of the 2012 biography "All In": PETRAEUS - An affair with his co-biographer Paula Broadwell led to a series of events that forced him to resign as the head of the CIA. Did he 24. State (verb) secrets: BLAB to her?

20. Org. whose employees may have to lift 70-lb. bags: TSA - Handling heavy baggage and surly customers all day is not my idea of a ideal job.

21. Country star at age 13: RIMES - LeAnn was the little girl with the big voice

25. "Va-va-__!": VOOM - A catchphrase for Ed Norton on The Honeymooners

26. "You got that right!": AMEN.

27. Puck, say: DISC  - How 'bout shooting that DISC for big money

46. 1983 Mr. T comedy: D.C. CAB - Is that Mr. T wearing the hockey jersey above with his name on the back? 

28. Bouquet __: GARNI - Literally garnished bouquet - "A bunch of herbs typically encased in a cheesecloth bag, used for flavoring a stew or soup"

29. Resting place: BED - Our Lily's perch, scratch pad, bird lookout and sometimes BED

30. Raymond James Stadium pro: BUC - Tampa Bay BUCaneers of the NFL

31. Some stingers: HORNETS - Their sting might necessitate using an 4. Camp nurse's item: EPIPEN (EPI nehprin PEN)

33. Took off, slangily: BAILED - BAILED out of a perfectly good airplane

35. Nice, for one: RESORT - I assume all 25 of these things are, uh, nice

36. Holy smoke: INCENSE - Fun clue! This smell seems acrid to me

38. Lines of thought?: Abbr.: EEG.

39. Long on-screen: NIA - Perhaps best known as Will's girlfriend in Fresh Prince

40. Feature: TRAIT - My kids hate it when they detect a TRAIT of my wife or me in their behavior

41. Hits hard: RAMS.

43. Bad thing to catch: FLAK - "Oh, getting too close to the truth!"

44. Mirror image: SELF.

45. Have trouble with chess?: LISP - We Big Bang fans immediately think of Kripke 

46. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact" author: DOYLE - Prepare for a 3 minute blizzard of deductive reasoning by DOYLE's Sherlock Holmes

47. Gain competitor: FAB - Laundry detergents

48. Frequent Robert De Niro co-star: JOE PESCI - Google the pen scene from Casino if you don't mind graphic violence

50. Bar supply: OLIVES.

52. Portrayer of Nero in "Star Trek" (2009): ERIC BANA - If you're interested

56. Skateboard moves: OLLIES  - No skateboard? No problem. Ollie on your friend  

57. Bright lipstick color: CORAL RED.

58. President who had 15 children: TYLER - Tyler men had children late in life. President Tyler fathered Lyon when he was 63 and Lyon had Lyon Jr. when he was 71 and Harrison when he was 75. As of 2017, both Lyon Jr. and Harrison survived over 200 years after  their grandfather President John was born.

59. Subarus named for a NYC area: TRIBECAS - TRIangle BElow CAnal St. in NYC and yet another look-alike car of today


Down:

1. Measly amount: SOU - French coins of little value when minted

2. Jake Tapper's channel: CNN.

3. Court official: REF - This show-boating REF is emphatically calling blocking  

5. Cunning: WILES - 28. Maddux in Cooperstown: GREG was a Hall Of Fame pitcher who survived on his WILES, not his fastball that was 10 mph slower than the one that most have today.

6. Gael or Breton: CELT.

7. Tart: ACERBIC

8. Piano trio: PEDALS - What the PEDALS do

9. The elephant is its national animal: LAOS - Seems right

10. Game with a colorful deck: UNO.

11. Marketing limitation: IN-STORE ONLY  - One way to get 'em off the computer and into your brick and mortar facility 

12. Faces a jury: GOES ON TRIAL 

13. Alleged perp's denial: IT'S A MISTAKE - The San Quentin Theme Song

15. Driver, e.g.: CLUB - Even in this 100-yr-old hickory set, the driver is the biggest CLUB

19. Pricing word: EACH - "Oh my word! I thought that was per dozen!"

21. Furry talisman: RABBIT'S FOOT.

22. "Seriously?!": I MEAN REALLY, did you think I'd fall for that?

23. Insurance may cover one: MEDICAL BILL - BC/BS Medicare has me covered!

25. Handymen's transports: VANS  - Ya gotta love this one!

27. Lemons: DUDS.

30. Like paper clips: BENT.

32. Valuable rocks: ORES and 37. Lake in four states and Canada: ERIE - Two cwd stalwarts

34. First name in early exploring: LEIF - Christopher who?

38. Chinese ruler until 1912: EMPEROR - China's last EMPEROR was Pyui who was overthrown and Sun Yet-sen was installed as the provisional president of the new Republic Of China 

42. Facet: ASPECT.

43. Minor flaw: FOIBLE - All mine seem to be fairly major

45. Perfect season spoiler: LOSS - The New England Patriots went 18 - 1 in the 2007 season and their only loss was in the Super Bowl by this highly improbable finish!

48. Raspberry: JEER.

49. Multilingual assistant: SIRI - She demands precise language

51. Compete: VIE.

53. Parabolic path: ARC - The ARC of a home run Mickey Mantle hit in 1960 over the right field roof in Detroit. The landing spot was found and measured to be 643' and is listed by Guinness as the longest homer in MLB regular season history.

54. "Read Across America" org.: NEA - I see the next day for this National Education Association event  is Saturday, March 2, 2019 and I will mention that on my blog that day (If C.C. let's me keep blogging!)

55. Showstoppers?: ADS - For $9/month I get an incredible selection of options and no TV ADS with Netflix!

Now let's look to the future, not the past and carry on a conversation about C.C.'s offering today:

Note from C.C.:

Happy birthday to dear Jazzbumpa (Ron), our cool Wednesday guide. Ron never fails to entertain us with his humor and wits. He and I worked a few puzzles in the past, and I know how much time and attention he gave to each clue, always trying to amuse and tickle.