Saturday January 29, 2022, Brian E. Paquin

 Saturday Themeless by Brian E. Paquin 

Brian has produced yet another Saturday source of entertainment from the shores of Lake Ontario. I had some very nice exchanges with Brian and on the write-up I will point out some of Brian's original clues and Rich's where our editor attempts to "Saturdayize" our puzzle. Here are Brian's comments: 

Hi Gary,

Nice to hear from you, as always!  

I submitted this puzzle in May of 2020, almost 2 years ago.   It got lost in the machinery for a long time, but finally found its way to the paper.   As with many of my puzzles, I worked on getting sparkly entries that pass through the center, then worked on the corners.   One might think that I built the puzzle around 7D MindOnesPsAndQs, but that was kind of an offshoot from the three long Across entries in the middle, which came first.   Sometimes you get lucky that way.

I used more black squares than normal, but I think that I just needed them to make the puzzle work.   I'm thinking particularly about the two cheater squares in each of the NE and SW corners.   I figure that extra black squares are better than gluey, obscure fill entries.

I hope that you and your readers are riding out the pandemic safely.  This should be the last year of it, one hopes!

Brian

The Shoal Tower built in the 1840's by the 
British to protect the Kingston Harbor against 
a feared attack by the Americans 

Across:

1. Biography beginning?: AUTO - The difference?

5. Energy: VIM.

8. It may be fictional: ALIBI.

13. Works on walls: GRAFFITI - The Berlin Wall has been called the world's longest art gallery and the more conventional 17. Works on walls: PAINTS 

15. Where "Madama Butterfly" premiered: MILAN - A 1904 poster for Puccini's Madam Butterfly premiering at The Teatro alla Scala in Milan

16. What spies often do: LISTEN IN.

19. Cereal bit: OAT.

20. Prisoner's place, in an 1894 adventure novel: ZENDA - This first edition, first issue can be purchased for $3,125

22. Most coins have them: RADII - All round coins have RADII. Brian's clue was "Circle parts"

23. Make sharp: WHET - When I worked at the nursery, we all carried these WHET stones in our pockets

25. 2004 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Isao __: AOKI - Our frequent crossword visitor should go into the Vowel Hall Of Fame.

27. Titled woman: DAME - The spouse of a DAME does not have a title. That spouse is simply Mr. or Mrs. or whatever works today

28. Radiation Protection Program org.: EPA - In yesterday's puzzle they were monitoring our water

31. Las Palmas lad: NINO - Las Palmas is a Spanish city in the Canary Islands and a boy there would be a NIÑO

33. Badger: NAG.

34. Celebrity's arrival, perhaps: GRAND ENTRANCE.

37. In the negative, unlikely to be fooled: BORN YESTERDAY - Judy Holliday plays a naive woman in this great movie. With a little education, she soon discovers that she was not BORN YESTERDAY (97% on Rotten Tomatoes)

38. Bet, in a way: PLAY THE PONIES - Don't quit your day job

39. "Alley __": OOP.

40. Works on, as a lawn: SODS.

41. Five mL, in medicine: TSP.

42. Is beholden to: OWES - This solver/blogger OWES a lot to a lovely Asian lady in Minneapolis

44. __ sauce: WEAK - A slang insult for a person or an item shown here by the inverted syntax of our crossword friend YODA

46. Oodles: TONS.

50. Musical skill: CHOPS - From the word EMBOUCHURE. It has progressed from the skill of wind instrument players to manipulate their mouth and lips to other musicians and even other disciplines. Brian definitely has crossword CHOPS

52. Sign up, in Salisbury: ENROL - The Salisbury Plain in England has Stonehenge but no use for another L in ENROL.

55. Zilch: NIL.

56. Wanting success?: HAVING - Brian's clue was "Dining on". He and I discussed our take for Rich's cluing here and arrived at: Wanting something means you don't have it and HAVING it is a successful outcome of the wanting. 

58. Assign responsibility: DELEGATE.

60. Summary: RECAP.

61. Serious predicament: QUAGMIRE.

62. Wine residue: DREGS - A poignant look at a life from "the brim to the DREGS"

63. Modern marshal's milieu: SKY - Now they must also deal with mask issues

64. Text translation: TROT - Saturdayizing to the max: Brian had "Jog along" for the clue but Rich came up with something a little farther down the list of definitions 

Down:

1. Radiant: AGLOW.

2. First name in a Dickens classic: URIAH.

3. Preference: TASTE.

4. "For the apparel __ proclaims the man": Polonius: OFT - Hamlet, Act I, Scene III

Polonius advises his son to buy clothes ("habits") which are as good as he can afford but to avoid buying clothes that are showy ("gaudy"). The phrase "the apparel oft proclaims the man" means that the type of clothes one wears tell a lot about the wearer; showy clothes may suggest that the wearer is a superficial type of person.

5. Wisteria, e.g.: VINE.

6. Memoir that led to the movie "What's Love Got to Do With It": I TINA - All you need to know

7. Act mannerly: MIND ONE'S P'S AND Q'S - Brian said this long fill just happened to work out with his long horizontal middle fill

8. Music box, maybe: AMP - What roadies have to move

9. Yarn spinner: LIAR.

10. Homeric epic: ILIAD.

11. Versatile head-neck garb: BANDANNAS - Talk about yer versatility!

12. Getting very close: INTIMACY.

14. Tasseled hat: FEZ.

18. Extended attack: SIEGE - Grant's successful SIEGE of Vicksburg,MS and Meade's win at Gettysburg both occurred around the Fourth of July, 1863.  Vicksburg did not celebrate Independence Day again until 1945,

21. Like: AKIN TO.

24. Looped fabric: TERRY - TERRY Looping

26. Strongly focused: INTENT.

29. What a hot dog or 38. Dog: POOCH.does?: PANTS.

30. "But I digress ... ": ANYHOW.

32. Root in perfumery: ORRIS.

Worth The Wait

Iris is a beautiful flower with origins in Italy and Morocco. It takes on all the colours of the rainbow but is most commonly known for it’s purple and blue petals. The flower itself actually carries little scent. It is the roots (ORRIS) that hold the scented magic but only one species is used in fragrance – Iris pallida. When the iris is picked, it is left to dry for up to 6 years! In our opinion, it’s well worth the wait. Like a fine wine, the scent of iris gets better with age.

34. Wig out about: GO APE OVER.

35. Clinton press secretary Myers: DEE DEE - The first woman to get that job

36. Crackerjack: ADEPT.

37. Windbag: BLOWHARD 

43. Food flavoring: SPICE.

45. "Smallville" actress Kristin: KREUK 

47. Studio sign: ON AIR.

48. Explosive, briefly: NITRO.

49. Letter carrier's challenge: SLEET.

51. Catch-22: SNAG

53. Skin care brand: OLAY

54. Relay part: LEG - When Usain Bolt is running anchor (the last LEG), ya gotta like your chances to win.

57. Family docs: GP'S.

59. Clock-setting std.: GMT - The International Space Station passes over each time zone 16 times/day. Therefore they simply use Greenwich Mean Time for their schedules. The Current GMT