Today's puzzle is by Roland Huget and it appears to be his first LA Times Saturday effort. He has had puzzles on every day but Saturday and Sunday here. Melissa Bee blogged his last LA puzzle sixteen days ago which had a clever GEAR shift gimmick.
Roland has had eight NY Times puzzles and the grids were amazing. I have no personal info on him but I enjoyed scaling his literary hill once I got some toeholds.
Across:
1. Island top: ALOHA SHIRT and 67. Island bottom: GRASS SKIRT. These were very fun top and bottom horizontal clues once I sussed where they were going. Hawkeye's ALOHA (Hawaiian) SHIRT is at the Smithsonian's National Museum Of American History but not currently on display.
11. Beaver young: KITS
15. Dreamer of Greek myth: LOTUS EATER - A member of this classic mythological race ate the fruit of the LOTUS tree which made them dreamy and indifferent (stoned?)
16. Short race, briefly: ONE-K - Redux from last week - a ONE Kilometer (.67 mile) race
17. Celebrated 1981 bride: PRINCESS DI - In The Crown it is stated that Charles was always deeply in love with Camilla but was forced to marry Dianna. Timeline
18. Kyrgyzstan range: ALAI - Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott trekking in the "otherworldly" ALAI Mt. range in south Kyrgyzstan.
19. Italian sonnet closing: SESTET - The Italian or Petrachian sonnet starts with eight lines and ends with six lines. A famous such sonnet is The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus whose closing is this SESTET
20. One may be mounted close to a grille: FOG LAMP -
22. Never encountered before: NOVEL.
25. Sleeper's path: RAILS - The famous Sleeper Car scene in Some Like It Hot. Fun cluing.
26. Didn't lose at all: SWEPT - Winning all the games of a series
30. Athlete's best effort: A-GAME - The Astros always brought their A-GAME but also cheated
32. "Breaking Bad" org.: DEA - I've known many chemistry teachers but none that cooked meth
33. City on the Arno: PISA - The Arno flows west through Florence and then to PISA where it empties into the Ligurian Sea. Several dams on it make it non-navigable by boat
34. Hardly the best smoke: STOGIE - Roger Miller sang of a King Of The Road who smoked "Old STOGIES I have found"
35. Filing aid: TAB - At the top of a cardboard folder or at the bottom of an Excel spreadsheet
36. Item on many a diner check: ENTREE
38. Jazz piano style: STRIDE - The fabulous Oscar Peterson teaching Dick Cavett about jazz piano The first 1:20 explains STRIDE Piano
40. Greek letter: ETA.
41. White water: RAPIDS
45. Early philosophical hot spot: ELEA - Interested?
46. Columbo, for one: Abbr.: DETective47. Point of view: ANGLE
48. Sidestep: AVERT - AVOID? EVADE? Nope...
49. Formal wear: DRESS.
51. One way to think: ALOUD
53. Experiment with Zener cards: ESP TEST.
55. Tree with green-skinned fruit: PAW PAW - Mr. Green Jeans sang Way Down Yonder In The PAW PAW Patch on Captain Kangaroo
60. Opposite of bueno: MALO - ¡Fumar es MALO para tu salud! (Smoking is bad for your health)
61. United Nations goal: WORLD PEACE.
64. King Harald's father: OLAV.
65. Obsolescent media: AUDIO TAPES - This used to be as good as it got for portable music
66. Flier over Hawaii: NENE - State bird that frequently roosts in crosswords
Down:
1. Jungfrau setting: ALPS - Tourist books recommend you make an 5. Trip up: ASCENT and then ride a velogmel down the slope while you are in the Jungfrau area
2. Stuff of legends: LORE.
3. Name you might see while listening to Muzak: OTIS - Now that's a cool clue!4. Follow the game?: HUNT Tracking
6. Address: SEE TO.
7. Dines on: HAS.
8. Part of TGIF: IT'S.
9. Sign of trouble: RED FLAG - Smoke pouring out from under the hood?
10. Beaux Arts __: longtime chamber music group: TRIO.
11. Arboreal marsupial: KOALA - Arboreal? ✔ Joey in marsupial pouch? ✔ KOALA? ✔
12. Countertop option: INLAID TILE.
13. Captain, say: TEAM LEADER.
14. Stops pumping momentarily?: SKIPS A BEAT - Also called a palpitation
21. Receive with a shake, maybe: GREET - No shaking hands by GREETERS at our church these days
23. Brewery fixture: VAT.
24. Narcissist's issue: EGO.
26. One flying without a plane?: SPEED DEMON - This one went 462 mph
27. January clearance: WINTER SALE - Lots of nice clothes are on sale but they are all Smalls and Mediums
28. Where there's a will, usually: ESTATE PLAN
29. Equal footing: PAR - My getting a PAR is a 31. Hit opposite: MISS proposition
37. Make room on a drive: ERASE - On your computer hard drive
39. Gun in neutral: REV - Stoplight theatrics
42. Org. that runs the FedEx Cup Playoffs: PGA TOUR - Here 'ya go!
43. Misfortune: ILL.
44. __ volente: DEO - God Willing - This year, DEO volente, the floods will not return to our town
48. Makes adjustments: ADAPTS.
50. Hot spot: STOVE.
52. Beehives, e.g.: UPDOS - The product given credit for making these UPDOS possible like the one we see on Annette Funicello below.
54. Promotional handouts: SWAG - All actors, actresses and directors nominated for an Oscar this year got a SWAG Bag with $225,000 worth of gifts
56. Watered down: WEAK.
57. Longtime MLB star Big __: PAPI - David "Big PAPI" Ortiz got hit with a bullet intended for the man seated next to him last year in the Dominican Republic . He has recovered
58. HP rival: ACER.
59. Old U.S. region?: WEST - How the West was spun
62. Nutritional abbr.: RDA.
63. Fleur-de-__: LIS - Proudly displayed on the New Orleans football helmet
What say you?
