Our professional poker player/author and crossword constructor from Calgary gives us a very doable Saturday themeless puzzle.
Advice on gaming can be found in his book Ready, Bet, Go
Odds are always good that Michael will deal us a fun puzzle and he has done so on this Leap Day:
Across:
1. Baseball warm-up word: SHAG - In 2012, Mariano Rivera tore his ACL while SHAGGING fly balls before a game in Kansas City. What's SHAGGING in baseball, Gary?
5. Brazilian music genre word meaning "trend": BOSSA - In 1963 Eydie Gorme sang Blame It On The Bossa Nova (New Trend) or in Spanish:
10. Secured: ICED and 15. Nailing, in a way: ACING - Steph Curry NAILED this three-point shot to ICE the game
14. Ebb: WANE.
16. Weather __: VANE.
17. Kitchen fixture: OVEN.
18. Mountain slope debris: SCREE - SCREE skiing in Austria - Yikes!
19. Welder's output: ARCS - Not quite the same
20. Home improvement team: REMODELERS.
22. One of two sts. admitted to the Union 11/2/1889: N DAK - The map the year before:
23. Elder of an '80s-'90s country duo: NAOMI JUDD (corrected picture)
25. Formed by solidified magma: IGNEOUS - Uh, I'd try to keep my car out of the path of magma before it solidifies into that IGNEOUS rock
26. Is __: imminently will: SOON TO.
27. Turndowns: NOES.
28. Perceived Cold War weapons disparity: MISSILE GAP.
31. Propelled, as a raft: POLED - In Sweden you can sign up for a five-day "Huckleberry Finn" adventure to POLE down the Klarälven River
32. Words preceding an important reminder: PLEASE NOTE - PLEASE NOTE: today would be Leap-Day-Baby Dinah Shore's 26th birthday as she was born on this day in 1916.
37. Power eponym: WATT - James
41. Antagonism: RANCOR.
42. Amazon, notably: E-TAILER - I tried to shop local but getting a taillight on Amazon saved me $500
44. Singer for whom Bernie wrote lyrics: ELTON - This movie told the story of ELTON John and his longtime lyricist Bernie Taupin
45. Remit, nowadays: PAY ON LINE - My wife/bookkeeper of 53 years insists on checks, stamps and envelopes
47. "Contact" author Sagan: CARL - I loved the first half of this movie and then it fell apart.
48. Comes to terms: MAKES A DEAL - this 1963 pilot is like a time capsule with pre-costume contestants, very small prizes and modestly dressed models
49. "I'll do it": OKAY - The last line in this hilarious Seinfeld scene is spoken by Marlee Matlin
50. Formal "Who's there?" response: IT IS I - A grammatically correct but perhaps slightly pretentious reply
51. Letter-bottom abbr.: ENCLosure
52. Bit of progress: DENT - Beetle Bailey is often shown trying make a DENT in the pile of potatoes
53. Atlantic food fish: SCROD - On a Boston picnic, one might eat SCROD in someone's yahd after pahking the cah
54. Pak of the LPGA: SE RI - One of many fabulous Asian players on the tour
55. Artist's pseudonym formed from the French pronunciation of his initials: ERTE - Romain de Tirtoff a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté, from the French pronunciation of his initials (pronounced [ɛʁ.te], AIR TAY)
56. 1953 Ladd classic: SHANE.
57. Casual wear: TEES.
Down:
1. Like court witnesses: SWORN IN - Putting your hand on a Bible is not required these days and the witness can AFFIRM and not SWEAR to tell the truth
2. Try it: HAVE A GO.
3. Buttercup family member: ANEMONE - Buttercup seems like a apt name to me
4. Biological mapping subjects: GENOMES - Here ya go!
5. Parachutist using low-altitude starting points: BASE JUMPER - BASE stands for jumping from Building, Antenna, Span, or Earth (cliff). Here's an Earth jumper shown in stop motion photography
6. Blockage: OCCLUSION - The repair of two coronary OCCLUSIONS
7. Brought into being: SIRED.
8. Dummy Mortimer: SNERD - I never thought Bergen was a very good ventriloquist and perhaps Mortimer would not be accepted today
9. Quite a while: AGES.
10. Rowena's lover: IVANHOE - All you wanna know
11. Bouncer's job: CARDING - Hand up if you had a fake ID!
12. Early Wikipedia competitor: ENCARTA - 1993 - 2009
13. Icon locale: DESKTOP - The one on my MacBook Pro is very cluttered
21. Giovanni's god: DIO - The Italian song DIO, come ti amo means "God How I Love You"
24. Roman sun god: SOL - One of many in the deity array
26. Like a pendulum's movement: SIDE TO SIDE - Galileo used his pulse to time how long it took for the side-to-side swings of a pendulum (chandelier) in a Pisa Cathedral
29. __-mo: SLO.
30. Saw: SET EYES ON - Doing this with Lady Liberty is a highlight for many entering N.Y. Harbor
32. Like Hollywood films before censorship guidelines were introduced: PRE-CODE - Ten PRE-CODE movies that pushed the envelope
33. LeBron, since Jul. 2018: LA LAKER - Cavalier, Heat, Cavalier, Laker
34. One in a 1K, say: ENTRANT - That 1-Kilometer ENTRANT would have to run/walk about .62 miles
35. Follower: ACOLYTE - Usually young people who help in religious services
36. Certain youngster's nickname: SON - Something I can't call anyone
37. Least civilized: WILDEST.
38. Property recipient, in law: ALIENEE - Here ya go
39. Like a good-sized farm: TEN ACRE - C'mon, TEN ACRES? Around here that's barely a good-sized sweet corn patch
40. Plant support: TRELLIS - In the background you can see my wife's Clematis starting to bloom on its TRELLIS
43. Santa follower: ANA.
45. Cabbage site: PATCH.
46. "Ran" director Kurosawa: AKIRA - His IMDB
48. Wish were here: MISS - My wife would write that to our kitty
Feel free to ante up an opinion.
