Saturday, August 7, 2021, Brian E. Paquin

 Saturday Themeless by Brian E. Paquin 

Two weeks in a row with a Canadian constructor. Last week it was Craig Stowe and today it is Brian Paquin, who lives on the north shores of Lake Ontario in Kingston, Ontario. Here are Brian's very interesting comments about this puzzle:

Hi Gary,

Nice to hear from you again!  I hope that all is well.

I was kind of sloppy with this puzzle, and only 15 of my clues survived unchanged (some others were close).

I might have fallen into the trap of thinking that since a lot of clues are changed anyway, I wouldn't put so much effort into them.  Of course, that results in more clues being changed.

Also, I had submitted 10D as ALOT, but that duplicates 29D LOTSIZE.  Missed that one!

On the subject of duplication: the revised clue for 1A BOP is "Jazz genre".  I would have thought that that would duplicate the JAZZ part of 43A.  That's OK with me though:  I think that concerns about duplication are overdone to the point of obsession.

I often include a lot of proper names, but there are 6 more of them than I submitted.  For example, I clued 4A BEAKER as a thing, and 26A NOR as a word.  And a reworking of the S/E corner added some.  I think that Rich must be an even bigger fan of proper names than I am, which is also OK with me.  I hope that it sits well with solvers!

Brian

Across:

1. Jazz genre: BOP - My grandson Parker's namesake

4. Muppet assistant of Dr. Bunsen Honeydew: BEAKER - Not the lab glassware Brian submitted 

10. About: AS TO.

14. Award-winning sportswriter Berkow: IRA 

15. Words often following "head over heels": IN LOVE - I'll bet you can find it below:

16. Pub order: BEER.

17. Negroni component: GIN.

18. Asian island capital: TAIPEI - Every red symbol below is a McDonalds in Taipei (Population 2.6M)

19. Bowie's bride: IMAN - Singer David Bowie and his model wife IMAN. My first thought was of the veteran of The Alamo Jim Bowie who was married to Ursula Maria de Veramendi. Yeah, I knew that! 😁

20. Has another look at: RECHECKS - What we bloggers do over and over

22. Spot: NOTICE, I've heard a lot of reasons why the lookouts didn't NOTICE the 28. Arctic hazards: BERGS - The most famous BERG in history

24. Too quickly: IN HASTE.

25. Cone producer: FIR.

26. Rus. neighbor: NOR.

27. Early muscle cars: GTO'S - Pontiac's entry into this genre

28. Indolent: BONE-LAZY - Or LAZY BONES or BONE-IDLE

30. One-time renown: FORMER GLORY - Norma Desmond's renown was far behind her and there would be no more 57. Movie parts: SCENES with close-ups fo Mr. DeMille

34. Some street performers: MIME ARTISTS - or not

35. Causes of color blindness: MUTANT GENES - Color blindness in men is around 8% and in women is around .4%

36. Unpleasant digs: POTSHOTS - Don Rickles made a living doing these but would not be able to today

37. "I hate the Moor" speaker: IAGO

41. Balderdash: ROT.

42. Bygone greeting: AVE.

43. Top 10 Carole King song of 1974: JAZZMAN - Featuring the instrument Charlie Parker was famous for

46. Onetime Texas home of both Bushes: ODESSA.

48. Creek traveler: CANOEIST.

49. Catalan surrealist: MIRO - The obvious name for this work is El Sol (The Sun)

50. Neckwear accessory: TIE PIN.

52. Printer resolution spec.: DPI.

53. Made a case: PLED

54. Protect, as a museum exhibit: ENCASE - Buzz, Michael and Neil peruse an ENCASED Moon Rock they brought back on Apollo 11

55. Frodo's sidekick: SAM.

56. Banks on a runway: TYRA.

58. Green Day drummer __ Cool: TRE. - His IMDB

Down:

1. Many a semi: BIG RIG - Driven by concrete cowboys

2. Acquaint: ORIENT.

3. Mexican Villa: PANCHO - Blackjack Pershing chased PANCHO until WWI called him away

4. Quick meals: BITES.

5. Legally establish: ENACT.

6. Similar: ALIKE.

7. "Keystone" klutzes: KOPS.

8. Time to start celebrating, maybe: EVE.

9. Bringing under control: REINING IN - Government spending?

10. -ish: A BIT.

11. Advanced study groups: SEMINARS.

12. Pot cover: TEA COZY - Not a cooking pot or a big belly

13. Cantankerous: ORNERY.

21. Wigs out: HAS FITS.

23. "... and you know what happens if you don't!": OR ELSE.

25. Score direction: FORTE.

29. Home buyer's concern: LOT SIZE.

31. Midwestern natives: OMAHAS - During my Legion Baseball days, we would always travel an hour north to play in Macy, NE during the OMAHA Tribal Pow-Wow 

32. Overhauls: RENOVATES.

33. Lacking in luster: MATTE.

34. One speaking indistinctly: MUTTERER - One of my first bosses was a MUTTERER and delighted in yelling at us kids when we asked him to repeat what he said

35. How teens often act up: MOODILY - I have been 38. In the thick of: AMIDST teens for over 50 years and have seen this only occasionally. 😆

36. Cue: PROMPT - Antony's cue

39. One of the Magi: GASPAR  - "We really don’t know the names of the Magi because the Bible doesn’t tell us. In fact, the Bible is silent on how many wise men visited Jesus. However, tradition has it that the three wise men who came to seek and honor the infant Jesus were named GASPAR (or Caspar or Jaspar), Balthasar, and Melchior." You're welcome.

40. Flight board status: ON TIME.

43. Kyoto's country: JAPAN - In 1868 the capital of JAPAN was moved from Kyoto to Edo (which was renamed Tokyo)

44. Sambuca flavoring: ANISE Sambuca is a colourless liqueur made from anise and has its origin in Italy. The liqueur contains distillates of green anise and star anise. Sambuca has high sugar content (350 g/litre) and an alcohol content of 38 percent by volume

45. Partitions: ZONES - We live in ZONE 5 which limits plants we can use

47. Ice cream treat: SODA.

48. "Finally" singer Peniston: CECE.

51. Co. follower, perhaps: INC.