Saturday, Mar 28th, 2015, Kevin Christian and Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Words: 72 (missing V, X, Z)

Blocks: 33

  Man, I thought this one was going to crush me.  In the end, I had to cheat - two items, but it was worth it.  The SE corner had some genuine screw-ups on my part, which slowed me down something fierce.  Lots of white-wash in the top half as well, which left me discouraged - but then, a glimmer of hope~!  Triple 9-letter corners made up the longest answers; 

15a. Spider producer : ALFA ROMEO - lots of car manufacturers make a "spider", but this company seems to be most closely associated with the style.  Did you hear about the UK Top Gear presenter getting fired~?  I'm not sure I'm watching next year....

17. 54-Down cause, in modern jargon : FAT FINGER - Funny.  This should have clued me in that my 54d. "MEMO" was wrong

 58a. Little League game ender, perhaps : MERCY RULE - Some "baseball" for C.C.; I had "--- BUNT", and that wasn't making any sense - the Wiki

32d. Where billabongs flow : AUSTRALIA - not the clothing line - a new word for me; the Wiki

oh, and -

44a. What some authority figures wear? : THE PANTS - "Let me tell you, I'm the one who wears the pants around here~!

Game - ON -ward~!

ACROSS:

1. Discouraged : SCARED OFF

10. Father of Reuben, in Genesis : JACOB - OK, I cheated.  I had to look this one up.

16. __ Bowl: Boston College won the last one in 2000 : ALOHA

18. Samurai without a master : RONIN - I recalled this from an "X-Files" episode

19. Sell the scene : EMOTE

20. __ Air : BEL

22. Have more than enough : O.D.  ON

23. Mtge. application datum : SSN

24. Hayek of "Frida" : SALMA

26. Meld : FUSE

27. Shafts, so to speak : RAW DEALS - as in "they gave me the shaft"

30. Court pos. : CTR - meh.

31. Hillshire Brands predecessor : SARA LEE

34. "Bad idea" : "NAH"

35. Skosh : TAD

36. High-protein grain : QUINOA - OK.  I cheated here, too - I was pretty sure "QUINCE" was wrong, but the "OA" was not coming to me

37. Great Plains tribe : LAKOTA - oops, not Dakota

39. Sch. whose marching band played on Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" : USC

40. Spray-making co. : FTD - ah.  I did not know these arrangements were called "sprays"

42. Golden Globe nominee for "Tommy" : DALTREY - Roger, from The Who

43. Second-most populous Afr. country : ETHiopia

46. God in 56-Across : ARES

48. Past : OF OLD

49. K.C. setting : CST - OK, I thought Kansas City was in MDT; sorry, my mid-west friends, I thought you were further west....

52. Item on a carhop's tray : MALT

53. Fox's leg? : GAM - my kind of clue~!

54. Reno-__ Intl. Airport : TAHOE

56. It concludes with Hector's funeral : ILIAD

61. __ mentality : SIEGE - I am familiar with "herd" mentality, but I have not "heard" this phrase

62. Yosemite attraction : EL CAPITAN - Old Faithful did not fit; besides, it's in Yellowstone....

63. "Blade Runner" actor Rutger __ : HAUER

64. "Days," for one : SOAP OPERA - my mom calls her favorite daytime drama "Days", in reference to "Days of Our Lives"

DOWN:       

1. Gun holders : SAFES - ugh, took W-A-A-A-Y too long to figure out the "F"

2. Bucks : CLAMS - money slang

3. River in a Burns poem : AFTON - mostly perps

4. Great quantity : RAFT - r-aft and aft-on

5. City with a Penn State campus : ERIE - educated WAG

6. Get into : DON - Pondered "DIG" here, but we're talking clothes, not 'style'

7. Surprise letters : OMG - Text-speak for "Oh My God~!"

8. Ineffective : FEEBLE

9. Court leader : FOREMAN

10. Shake up : JAR - I got jarred in my hockey game this past Wednesday; I made the save on the guy who crashed the net, but I still have the headache

11. Hard to reach : ALOOF

12. Copper, notably : CONDUCTOR - the "T" from TAD led me to try "---- METAL" - bzzzt~!

13. Jack Nicklaus Museum campus : OHIO STATE - I WAGed "STATE" from TAD as well, and this worked

14. Time to celebrate : BANNER DAY - WAGed "DAY" from TAD, too~!

21. Dream state? : LA-LA LAND - shout-out, Linda~!

24. Misfit '70s sitcom character : SWEATHOG - Mista Kotter~!

25. Power chaser? : ADE - Powerade, the sports drink

27. Bolted : RAN

28. Up : ALOFT - ugh.  RISEN~? AWAKE~? ALIVE~? Nope.

29. Old will? : SHALT - Thou will not covet...

31. Easily appalled : SQUEAMISH - BANG~! Got it with just "---M--H"

33. "The Three Musketeers" antagonist : RICHELIEU - mostly perps

38. Ring concerns: Abbr. : KTS - dah~!  I had KOs, the boxing kind of ring, not the engagement type

41. Vilifies : DEFAMES - ooops, not ASHames

42. Indian lentil dish : DAL - all perps; last week, we had VORTEX cross with TEX; this week, it's DAL and DALtrey

45. Asian citrus fruit : POMELO

47. Part of a process : STAGE

49. Drag racing safety feature : CHUTE

50. __ system : SOLAR - DAH~!! Put in HONOR, and that blew up the whole corner; I was 40% correct

51. "Lovergirl" vocalist __ Marie : TEENA - WAG & perps

54. Paper slip : TYPO - Dah-dah-dah~!  Not MEMO; should have known it was wrong with the cross-referenced 17a.

55. "What __!": "I've been swindled!" : "A RIP~!"

57. Aachen article : DER

59. Onetime Hertz owner : RCA

60. Tube top : CAP - ah, not the clothing

Splynter