Monday April 22, 2019 C.C. Burnikel

Theme: SCREEN TIME (55A. Amount of TV watching limited by parents, and a hint to the last word of the answers to starred clues) - Last word is a type of screen.

16A. *Last bit of decoration: FINAL TOUCH. Touchscreen.

34A. *Coastal wetland often exposed at low tide: MUD FLAT. Flat screen.

 

10D. *Talks big: BLOWS SMOKE. Smoke screen.

26D. *Lone Ranger's shout: HI YO SILVER. Silver screen.

Boomer here.

Hello everyone. I seem to have another C.C. puzzle to review. I certainly hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter.  Our snow is all gone, and I hope it stays that way. I had an opportunity to prepare our garden area on Saturday and I'm looking forward to getting a few flowers in the ground before Mother's Day.  We also keep a small plot in our back yard for a few vegetables.  Tomatoes work very well and I hope to revive the green beans which failed last year.

Across:

1. River-end formation: DELTA.  Not Sun Country.

6. Sprinted: RAN.

9. "Dancing Queen" group: ABBA. Or - "Take a Chance on me".

13. Disney mermaid: ARIEL.  Walt Disney was amazing!

14. "A Doll's House" heroine: NORA.

15. Snow remover: PLOW. All winter they came. Now in the spring I found little pieces of driveway on the lawn.

18. "Dirty Jobs" host Mike: ROWE.  I remember Dad taking me fishing, and my dirty job was to "Rowe" the boat.

19. Casual tops: TEES.  Interesting clue, because these are the things I will be putting in the ground shortly to make the ball easier to hit.  I will be wearing a tee shirt when I play.

20. Pressure cooker sound: HISS.  Just remember this, a hiss is just a hiss, a snake is just a snake.

21. New Zealand fruits: KIWIS.  Available in a six pack at Aldi.  C.C. likes them, I'd rather not, thank you.

22. Standing tall: ERECT.  Made me think of the Erector set I had.  I could not build a windmill though because my set did not have a motor.

24. Off the leash: LOOSE.

25. Sentence part: PHRASE.  Needs a subject and a predicate.  What the heck is a predicate??

27. Ones gathering for a will reading: HEIRS. This is a bit of a morbid clue. How about "Ones gathering for Easter?"

28. Kimono-clad entertainer: GEISHA.

29. Droop: SAG.  Keep from drooping. Step on the GAS.

30. Little devils: IMPS.

33. Pony up: PAY.  The Kentucky Derby is in the near future.  I believe you need to pony up at the betting window there.  Lotsa Luck.

37. Corrida cry: OLE. Ole went up to his boss Sven and asked for a day off to attend a Norwegian wedding.  Sven granted the day off, but Ole did not return for three days.  "Vhere da heck haff you been barked Sven.  "Vell", Ole said "At da vedding, I won second prize at the banquet, Three days and nights vit da bride."  "Holy smoke!" uttered Sven." Vhat da heck vas first prize then?"  Ole replied, "Twenty pounds of Lutefisk !"

   

38. Moving like sloths: SLOW.  "Slow down, you move too fast, Ya got to make the morning last!"  Simon and Garfunkel, "Feelin' Groovy"

40. Spanish river: RIO.  There were a few questionable things going on there three years ago at the Summer Games. 

41. Heart-shaped photo holder: LOCKET.  Rhymes with "Davy Crockett", king of the wild frontier.

43. Suddenly became attentive: SAT UP.

45. Beat the goalie: SCORED. There have been many hockey and soccer announcers that take several minutes to say this word.

46. Rural storage buildings: SILOS.  We have many of these in Minnesota.  Sadly this year they are full of unsold soybeans.

47. Serta alternative: SEALY.  I remember visiting a San Francisco beach that was very sealy.

48. Church ringers: BELLS.  "There were bells, on the hill, but I never heard them ringing."  Professor Harold Hill's on hand and River City's Gonna have a boys band !  "CASH for the chickens and the pickens and the flypaper."  You can talk, you can bicker !

49. Gives a hand: AIDS.

50. Religious subdivision: SECT.

54. Like many ESPN broadcasts: LIVE.  "From New York, It's Saturday Night!!"

57. "__-doke!": OKEY.  I think the clue should be ____dokey.  But what do I know.

58. Harbor structure: PIER.

59. Slugger Judge: AARON.  I think he joined a dozen Yankees on the DL this week.  "Slugger Hank" would be a better clue.  Probably too easy.

60. Party pooper: BORE.

61. Pop-up annoyances: ADS.  Especially on Pogo games.  Also annoying on TV but I suppose the money moves the world.  I noticed during the Final Four, there we none of the annoying "Ask your doctor" ads.  Clever ones about Larry BIRD and Charles BARKley .

62. Mix: BLEND.

Down:

1. Nutty: DAFT.  I try.

2. Only Great Lake that borders Pennsylvania: ERIE.  I believe I have said enough about this wet clue.  Since it is C.C.'s puzzle, I am trying to be nice.

3. Ticket booth annoyance: LINE.  Let me tell you -- Sun Country check in LINE is the world record annoyance.

4. Commercial lures: TEASERS.  I am still trying to figure out how EVERY company can save you money on car insurance.

5. Every bit (of): ALL.  I think there's a laundry detergent that can clean ALL of your clothes.

6. Awaken rudely: ROUST.  Reminded me of Basic Training at Fort Campbell.

7. Fly ball trajectories: ARCS.  Goi, Goin, Going, GONE !!

8. "Don't think so": NAH. Nah Nah Nah Nah Hey ay ay, Good bye !

9. Presupposed by experience: A PRIORI.

11. "Space Oddity" rocker David: BOWIE.  I don't think he made the knife used at the Alamo.

12. Fills with wonder: AWES.

14. "Hold the rocks": NO ICE.  Reason to cancel the January outdoor fishing contest.

17. Synonym-loaded reference: THESAURUS.

21. Zen garden fish: KOI.  Would not have caught any of these at the fishing contest anyway.

23. __ Emanuel, Obama's first Chief of Staff: RAHM.  There is also a PGA pro named Jon Rahm who is pretty good.

24. Attorney's job: LEGAL CASE.   24 bottles of Bud I suppose.

25. Gong sound: PEAL.  Sadly, there was no peal of chimes at Notre Dame Cathedral yesterday.

27. "2001" computer: HAL.

28. Rte.-finding aid: GPS.

29. Bay Area airport letters: SFO.  Tony Bennett left his heart there.

31. Implored: PLED.

32. Good to go: SET.  At least six volleys in a tennis match.  About 650 baseball cards.

35. Guacamole, e.g.: DIP. 

36. Jack or hammer: TOOL.

39. State fish of South Dakota: WALLEYE. Wow, I would think C.C. would clue this as "Every holiday meal in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota".  I know South Dakota stole the State Fish moniker from us.  Wikipedia lists about 400 lakes in South Dakota.  We have over 10,000.  Where do most of the Walleyes call home ? 

42. Seer's __ ball: CRYSTAL.  If you have a crystal ball, you may see Billy Crystal.

44. How-__: DIY guides: TOS.

45. Meal at Passover: SEDER. And a blessed Passover to my Jewish friends on this blog.

46. Fancy watch brand: SEIKO.  I have my Mom's Seiko in a drawer.  Works fine.

47. Stable studs: SIRES.  Are they too old to participate in Louisville in a couple of weeks ?

48. Gooey mass: BLOB.

49. Etching fluid: ACID.

51. County Kerry country: EIRE.  This is Gaelic for Ireland or for people who do not wish to spend three extra letters of ink. 

52. "Let's do it!": C'MON.  I went to Billings, Montana several times for business and once to bowl in the USBC National tournament.  On all trips I stayed at the C'mon INN.  Nice place.

53. Take care of: TEND.  This could be the start of Ten Dollars.  Pay me.

55. Place for a massage: SPA.

56. Arrest, as a perp: NAB.

Boomer