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Aug 25, 2018

Saturday, August 25, 2018, Patti Varol and Doug Peterson

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Patty Varol and Doug Peterson



What could be a better followup to yesterday's ICE CREAM puzzle by Jeffrey Wechsler than a day that celebrates one of the true delights made with it? 

Latrobe, PA is famous for being the home of golfing legend Arnold Palmer but in 1904 an apprentice pharmacist in Latrobe, David Strickland, invented a banana triple ice cream sundae that sold for a dime which was twice the price of other sundaes and it was a huge hit. Strickler bought the drug store and although his invention endures, the building was torn down years ago.

Latrobe is celebrating The Great American Banana Split Festival yesterday, today and tomorrow with many events. I wonder if anyone washes down a banana split with an Arnold Palmer? 

On this day celebrating this legendary sweet treat, Patty Varol and Doug Peterson have concocted this lovely puzzle that entertained me greatly but took 23 minutes before I could put the cherry on top! Patty is our esteemed editor Rich's very able assistant as well as being a constructor herself and I have received some great feedback from her and some "thanks, but no thanks" notes as well. I blogged a puzzle Doug constructed with Neville Fogarty this past February.
Patty Varol                    Doug Peterson
Let's see what else Patty and Doug have for us today as this (soda) jerk tries to make sense of it:


Across:

1. Knot remover: NECK RUB 



8. Not pointless?: ON TOPIC - Politicians always steer debate back to their talking points rather than staying ON TOPIC

15. Took too many courses?: OVER ATE - We had Thanksgiving FOOD COMA recently which could include the portmanteau 21. Hybrid roast: TURDUCKEN (a deboned chicken stuffed into a deboned duck stuffed into a turkey)

16. "Marvelous": HOW NICE.

17. Sent along: RELAYED - Norman Rockwell captures Americana as well as anyone



18. One pulling his weight around Christmas: BLITZEN  - But neither he nor his friends would let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games

19. Caper: ANTIC.

20. Stuff on the deck: STAIN - After 15 years we have given up on STAINING and a 37. House coat: PAINT JOB and so we are installing a synthetic deck this week



22. Proactiv target: ZIT.

23. European underground nickname: THE TUBE.



25. Forbids: BANS.

26. Flood insurance, once upon a time: ARK - Professor Paul Esperante and others believe this could be the remains of Noah's ARK in Eastern Turkey near Mt. Ararat



29. Copycat's talent: APERY - I suppose... 

30. Alley goop: TAR - I like the play on Alley Oop! 



31. Toasting candidate: RYE BREAD

33. Grizabella the Glamour Cat's solo: MEMORY - It is the show stopper from Andrew Lloyd Weber's Cats



36. Single from Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks": TANGLED UP IN BLUE - Has never crossed my turntable, CD player or MP3 device



38. Some navels: INNIES.

39. Puerto Rico's __ de Morro: CASTILLO - CASTILLO (San Felipe) de Morro 


40. Hosp. sections: ERS where they are prepared to 58. Do an inside job?: OPERATE if need be

41. Warehouse supplies: SKIDS.



42. Darn things: SEW.

43. Vince with 18 CMA Awards: GILL - Not familiar with any of Vince's work that got him those Country Music Awards

45. Lacking versatility: ONE NOTE - Can you decipher this equivalent phrase? (* answer below grid at end of blog)



47. Raised eyebrow, e.g.: ARC.

48. Nine Inch Nails founder Reznor: TRENT - Okay

49. Stomach: ABIDE - Do you, like me, no longer ABIDE things you did years ago?

53. Brewery sugar: MALTOSE.


55. Where old records may be kept: JUKEBOX - Five plays for a quarter in my 6. Sporty truck, briefly: UTE (Yeah, I know it's a Utility Vehicle but I couldn't resist)

57. Congo line?: EQUATOR - Here are people in the Democratic Republic Of Congo (formerly Zaire and Belgian Congo) standing on said line




59. Fair rewards: RIBBONS - Granddaughter got many purples at the Lancaster County Fair this year

60. Small restaurants: BISTROS.


Down:

1. "Brothers & Sisters" matriarch: NORA - NORA is played by...



2. Square: EVEN - Game sevens are played when the series is EVEN at three games apiece 

3. Gael, for one: CELT



4. Nocturnal Asian snake: KRAIT - India's deadliest, 10X more poisonous than a cobra



5. Singer ranked #10 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time: RAY CHARLES - Too many hits to pick a favorite but this one always moves me



7. Framework for retiring: BED STEAD - No IRA here

8. "Yowza!": OH BABY - Sounds like a Ray Charles lyric to me

9. "Honestly!": NO LIE - Truman won??

10. Matching: TWIN - The TWINS and their mother - Joyce, Martha and my bride  Joann



11. Toronto's prov.: ONT - Would you do The Edge Walk from the 1800' foot tall Toronto, ONTARIO CN tower?



12. Party bites from the toaster oven: PIZZA ROLLS - A fav around here

13. Maroon at a chalet, maybe: ICE IN - A meteorological event not a color scheme 

14. Coppers: CENTS  - A man in England was not allowed to pay a £800 debt using 166 kg (365 lbs) of these 1 cent coppers




24. Olympic gear: EPEES.

25. Film fawn: BAMBI - Disney refused to let the National Forest Service use BAMBI in their anti-fire PDA's after one year and so Smokey the Bear was invented in 1944

26. Basic studio class: ART I - My college class so-named was boring beyond belief because all we did was take notes

27. "Deadpool" actor Reynolds: RYAN Deadpool is the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time

28. Group concerned with good breeding: KENNEL CLUB - Looking like your owner is not necessary 



30. Camper's anchors: TENT STAKES - Not quite enough here. Definitely a 33. Bungle: MISDO.



32. Speakeasy circulator: B-GIRL - Father Mulcahy, "Why Hawkeye, I earned my way through divinity school as a B-GIRL in San Francisco!"

34. Word with home or slide: RULE - I might as well show my math students a buggy whip as much as a slide RULE. 

35. Stinging response: YEOW.

41. Ugly looks: SNEERS.

43. Xbox devotee: GAMER - How many hours/day is too many?

44. Kirkuk native: IRAQI - McDonalds is not allowed in Northern Iraq so... 



45. Name on "The Magnificent Ambersons" theater poster: ORSON - Mercury Players ORSON Wells, Agnes Morehead, Joseph Cotten, et al moved on to this project after Citizen Kane.



46. Pulitzer-winning film critic: EBERT - Of the above movie, EBERT wrote, "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942, a masterpiece with its ending hacked to pieces by the studio...)


48. Terry's role in the original "Wizard of Oz": TOTO - Terry/TOTO's memorial at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (dog picture for our Irish Miss)



50. Structural beam: I-BAR - A baby I-BEAM?

51. Inflict on: DO TO - "What did you DO TO your hair?"

52. They're split: EXES - George Strait sings that all his EXES live in Texas while he hangs his hat in Tennessee. 

54. Check for drinks: TAB = Jay Z's bar TAB that included an $11,000 tip. I've never heard of Ace Of Spades Champagne. 




56. Org. with an "Odd News" web page: UPI - They recently led with a Calgary Museum that says it now has the world's largest working Rubik's Cube

If you can't get away to Latrobe, PA for the festivities today, why not leave a comment:

DA GRID:


*45 Across deciphered is "One Trick Pony"