Theme: None
Total blocks: 30
Total words: 72
A quintessential LAT Saturday themeless. Multiple words abound. Some are short (I HAD, I CAN'T, I LOST, HIT AT, IT BE, etc), some are long, such as the triple-stacked 10's in upper left/lower right as well as the four long Downs. Total 20 (excluding the proper nouns), if I counted correctly, a few of them are sports related.
What's your entry point today? Mine was INS (19A), which proved to be quite important in my overall solving. Cheated big and earlier on JIM BACKUS. Had a total mess in that J area.
Across:
1. Hide: KEEP SECRET. Rarely does 1A come to me immediately, today was no exception.
11. Video CD file format: MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). I can never remembe what it stands for.
15. "Land sakes alive!": I DO DECLARE. Both the clue and the answer are new exclamations to me.
16. Hipbone prefix: ILIO. Filled in the hipbone ILIA first.
17. Overdid it: WENT TOO FAR
18. Woodworking groove: DADO. Like this, the receiving end.
19. Helpful contacts: INS. Helped me nail down the intersecting KIWI (1D. Flightless bird).
20. Hares' tails: SCUTS. New word to me as well. Dictionary says it's also the short tail for deer.
21. Brickell and Falco: EDIES. The former is a singer, latter an actress.
22. "__ no idea!": I HAD
23. Cooperative after-dinner offer: I'LL DRY. Not from my husband.
24. One in a hole: DEBTOR. In a hole = in debt. I kept picturing hole in one and the golf ball.
27. Does over, as an ascot: RETIES
29. Player's lament: I LOST. Toughie for me. Player can lament anything. I wonder if I was the only one who thought of golf Hall-of-Famer Gary Player first.
30. Voice of Mr. Magoo: JIM BACKUS. Did not ring a bell. He looks like a whiner.
33. Island off the Tuscany coast: ELBA. Where Napoleon was exiled.
34. Artificial movie background: MATTE. Not familiar with the film term "matte shot".
35. Old Italian capital: LIRE. The singular is lira. Old capital/bread always refers to money on late weekday puzzles.
36. French capital?: DES MOINES. Capital of Iowa. Literally "of the monks" in French. The clever clue fails to impress me.
38. Jeep in the movie "Cars": SARGE. No idea. Have never seen "Cars".
39. Department store section: LINENS
40. Fit one within another: NESTED. Got the intersecting SEED (32D. Nutmeg or sesame) early on, so I knew fit is past tense here. The E from SEED also prevented me from wobbling between LIRA and LIRE.
41. Rapid river thaw: ICE RUN. Spring is such a long way to go.
43. Lukas of "Witness": HAAS. I simply forgot. Here is a picture of him as a kid.
44. Score settlers?: CODAS. D'oh, musical score. Clever play on "settle the score".
45. Like a cool fall morning: BRISK
47. Rx amt.: TSP. And our old pal TER (10D. Rx specification). Barry G probably still wants TID.
50. "High Voltage" rock band: AC/DC
51. West Coast racing venue: SANTA ANITA. Another unknown to me. Wikipedia says its parent company filed for Chapter 11 in March.
53. Carolers' offering: NOEL
54. Shaq, 15 times: NBA ALL-STAR. Kept thinking of his NBA championship rings.
55. Shipping deduction: TARE. The empty truck's weight. Don't forget the waste allowance TRET.
56. Like Hail Mary passes: LAST- SECOND. I like how a football reference is placed under a basketball fill.
Down:
2. Steinbeck title site: EDEN. "East of Eden". The movie (with James Dean) is pretty good.
3. Hundreds of centuries: EONS
4. Nevada summer hrs.: PDT
5. Basketball two-hander: SET SHOT. Not a basketball fan. Free throw is a "two-hander" too, isn't it?
6. Green vehicle: ECOCAR
7. Sun screen?: CLOUD. Great clue.
8. Pond floater: RAFT. Thought of SCUM. Do you like "On Golden Pond"?
9. Diamond stats: ERAS. I gambled on RBI first.
11. Large group with upper and lower segments: MIDDLE CLASS. Did not come to me readily.
12. Many a kilt, essentially: PLAID SKIRT. Essentially yes.
13. Down source: EIDER. From eider duck.
14. Foolish: GOOSY. New word to me. I felt goosy not knowing the English word for plunger yesterday.
21. "Popular Fallacies" essayist: ELIA. From "Essays of Elia". Unknown to me also.
22. Revival meeting shout: IT'S A MIRACLE. Wish it were a gimme to me.
23. "Never let __ said ...": IT BE. Is this an idiom?
24. Stopped running: DIED
25. That femme: ELLE. French for "her".
26. Winter Olympics competitor: BOB SLEDDER. Just learned that bob sled was invented by an Englishman called Robert Sleigh. Always wondered why it's not called mary or judy sled.
27. Church practices: RITES
28. 9-1-1 respondents, briefly: EMTS
30. Rolling Stone co-founder Wenner: JANN. Unknown figure to me also. Mick Jagger seems to have been on the cover of "Rolling Stone" a lot.
31. Push for: URGE
34. Bearing: MIEN. This word always bring to mind the Marlboro marine. Gritty mien.
37. Unpleasant duty: ONUS
38. Coastal plant with collard-like leaves: SEA KALE. Of mustard family. Looks like real kale. Is it edible?
40. French "gn" sounds, e.g.: NASAL
41. "Out of the question": I CAN'T. I always have trouble with I CAN'T, regardless of how it's clued.
42. Warming drink: COCOA. Sweet!
43. Try to strike: HIT AT. Baseball. I was in the "stop working" direction.
45. Cake with a kick: BABA. The kick comes from the rum.
46. Protein-building polymers: RNAS
47. Longtime Yugoslav president: TITO. Long time indeed. Tito was very well respected in China when I grew up. He was defiant to Stalin.
48. Laurel in films: STAN. Of Laurel and Hardy.
49. Ranch chum: PARD. Bet this makes Melissa groan again.
51. NBC show that began its 35th season in Sep. 2009: SNL
52. Defense advisory gp.: NSC (National Security Council)
Answer grid.
C.C.
Total blocks: 30
Total words: 72
A quintessential LAT Saturday themeless. Multiple words abound. Some are short (I HAD, I CAN'T, I LOST, HIT AT, IT BE, etc), some are long, such as the triple-stacked 10's in upper left/lower right as well as the four long Downs. Total 20 (excluding the proper nouns), if I counted correctly, a few of them are sports related.
What's your entry point today? Mine was INS (19A), which proved to be quite important in my overall solving. Cheated big and earlier on JIM BACKUS. Had a total mess in that J area.
Across:
1. Hide: KEEP SECRET. Rarely does 1A come to me immediately, today was no exception.
11. Video CD file format: MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). I can never remembe what it stands for.
15. "Land sakes alive!": I DO DECLARE. Both the clue and the answer are new exclamations to me.
16. Hipbone prefix: ILIO. Filled in the hipbone ILIA first.
17. Overdid it: WENT TOO FAR
18. Woodworking groove: DADO. Like this, the receiving end.
19. Helpful contacts: INS. Helped me nail down the intersecting KIWI (1D. Flightless bird).
20. Hares' tails: SCUTS. New word to me as well. Dictionary says it's also the short tail for deer.
21. Brickell and Falco: EDIES. The former is a singer, latter an actress.
22. "__ no idea!": I HAD
23. Cooperative after-dinner offer: I'LL DRY. Not from my husband.
24. One in a hole: DEBTOR. In a hole = in debt. I kept picturing hole in one and the golf ball.
27. Does over, as an ascot: RETIES
29. Player's lament: I LOST. Toughie for me. Player can lament anything. I wonder if I was the only one who thought of golf Hall-of-Famer Gary Player first.
30. Voice of Mr. Magoo: JIM BACKUS. Did not ring a bell. He looks like a whiner.
33. Island off the Tuscany coast: ELBA. Where Napoleon was exiled.
34. Artificial movie background: MATTE. Not familiar with the film term "matte shot".
35. Old Italian capital: LIRE. The singular is lira. Old capital/bread always refers to money on late weekday puzzles.
36. French capital?: DES MOINES. Capital of Iowa. Literally "of the monks" in French. The clever clue fails to impress me.
38. Jeep in the movie "Cars": SARGE. No idea. Have never seen "Cars".
39. Department store section: LINENS
40. Fit one within another: NESTED. Got the intersecting SEED (32D. Nutmeg or sesame) early on, so I knew fit is past tense here. The E from SEED also prevented me from wobbling between LIRA and LIRE.
41. Rapid river thaw: ICE RUN. Spring is such a long way to go.
43. Lukas of "Witness": HAAS. I simply forgot. Here is a picture of him as a kid.
44. Score settlers?: CODAS. D'oh, musical score. Clever play on "settle the score".
45. Like a cool fall morning: BRISK
47. Rx amt.: TSP. And our old pal TER (10D. Rx specification). Barry G probably still wants TID.
50. "High Voltage" rock band: AC/DC
51. West Coast racing venue: SANTA ANITA. Another unknown to me. Wikipedia says its parent company filed for Chapter 11 in March.
53. Carolers' offering: NOEL
54. Shaq, 15 times: NBA ALL-STAR. Kept thinking of his NBA championship rings.
55. Shipping deduction: TARE. The empty truck's weight. Don't forget the waste allowance TRET.
56. Like Hail Mary passes: LAST- SECOND. I like how a football reference is placed under a basketball fill.
Down:
2. Steinbeck title site: EDEN. "East of Eden". The movie (with James Dean) is pretty good.
3. Hundreds of centuries: EONS
4. Nevada summer hrs.: PDT
5. Basketball two-hander: SET SHOT. Not a basketball fan. Free throw is a "two-hander" too, isn't it?
6. Green vehicle: ECOCAR
7. Sun screen?: CLOUD. Great clue.
8. Pond floater: RAFT. Thought of SCUM. Do you like "On Golden Pond"?
9. Diamond stats: ERAS. I gambled on RBI first.
11. Large group with upper and lower segments: MIDDLE CLASS. Did not come to me readily.
12. Many a kilt, essentially: PLAID SKIRT. Essentially yes.
13. Down source: EIDER. From eider duck.
14. Foolish: GOOSY. New word to me. I felt goosy not knowing the English word for plunger yesterday.
21. "Popular Fallacies" essayist: ELIA. From "Essays of Elia". Unknown to me also.
22. Revival meeting shout: IT'S A MIRACLE. Wish it were a gimme to me.
23. "Never let __ said ...": IT BE. Is this an idiom?
24. Stopped running: DIED
25. That femme: ELLE. French for "her".
26. Winter Olympics competitor: BOB SLEDDER. Just learned that bob sled was invented by an Englishman called Robert Sleigh. Always wondered why it's not called mary or judy sled.
27. Church practices: RITES
28. 9-1-1 respondents, briefly: EMTS
30. Rolling Stone co-founder Wenner: JANN. Unknown figure to me also. Mick Jagger seems to have been on the cover of "Rolling Stone" a lot.
31. Push for: URGE
34. Bearing: MIEN. This word always bring to mind the Marlboro marine. Gritty mien.
37. Unpleasant duty: ONUS
38. Coastal plant with collard-like leaves: SEA KALE. Of mustard family. Looks like real kale. Is it edible?
40. French "gn" sounds, e.g.: NASAL
41. "Out of the question": I CAN'T. I always have trouble with I CAN'T, regardless of how it's clued.
42. Warming drink: COCOA. Sweet!
43. Try to strike: HIT AT. Baseball. I was in the "stop working" direction.
45. Cake with a kick: BABA. The kick comes from the rum.
46. Protein-building polymers: RNAS
47. Longtime Yugoslav president: TITO. Long time indeed. Tito was very well respected in China when I grew up. He was defiant to Stalin.
48. Laurel in films: STAN. Of Laurel and Hardy.
49. Ranch chum: PARD. Bet this makes Melissa groan again.
51. NBC show that began its 35th season in Sep. 2009: SNL
52. Defense advisory gp.: NSC (National Security Council)
Answer grid.
C.C.
