google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

Advertisements

Mar 16, 2019

Saturday, March 16, 2019, Samuel A. Donaldson and Eric Agard

Saturday Themeless Puzzle by Samuel E. Donaldson and Eric Agard


Today's celebration involves my passion for rockets and space flight - National Goddard Day. On March 16, 1926, Dr. Robert Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rocket. It burned liquid oxygen and gasoline to lift his crude rocket 41 feet into the air reaching a speed of 60 mph. This pre-flight picture is the only one taken on this historic day as his wife had run out of film in her camera before liftoff

Dr. Goddard paved the way for rockets to go into space, where there is no air to support oxidation, as they carry their own oxygen with them. 


My lesson on space flight always began with the difference between jet flight and space flight where jets need air in the atmosphere for combustion but the rockets carry their own oxygen with them for use in the vacuum of space.

This program shown here was signed on this day in 1965 by General Bernard A. Schriever, USAF, Commander of Air Force Systems Command and Dr. Goddard's widow Esther.


Today's constructors are Samuel E. Donaldson and Eric Agard whose last collaboration I blogged on Cinco de Mayo of last year.

You may remember that earlier this year I blogged a puzzle Erik created with Andy Kravis which had a picture of Erik  recoiling from a pie about to be thrown by Alex Trebek on the Jeopardy set. Erik had created a puzzle that had frustrated the host who is also a big crossword fan. 

The word play on this puzzle was devilish and amazing, e.g. 45. Montana team in the '80s: NINERS - It was Joe Montana not the state!

Triple 10-letter horizontal stacks in the corners (the upper stack more "gettable" than the bottom) and double vertical 10-letter stacks amaze me. 

For Dr. Goddard, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 blast off!

Across:

1. Some halftime performers: MAJORETTES - Talking heads have replaced them on TV

11. Galaxy array: APPS APPS for your Android phone

15. Home to Gotham City, Metropolis, etc.: DC UNIVERSE - Fictional home for some big comic book characters

16. Persian for "king": SHAH.

17. Technology term from the Greek for "far sight": TELEVISION  “TELEVISION won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night,” Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century Fox, 1946.

18. Rhode Island's motto: HOPE - Right on their State Flag



19. Factory problems: RECALLS 

20. Maintained: STATED.

22. Queen who sings, "The cold never bothered me anyway": ELSA - It takes seven seconds to say it


23. Holy one?: TERROR - I have never had a student I would call a Holy TERROR and they are all 54. Hardly a lost cause: CORRIGIBLE.

24. Church marriage notice: BANNS - These used to be in our church bulletin but not any longer



27. Red head of the 20th century: MAO - What? The Chinese leader and not Lucille Ball

29. Cut off: APART "Isabel stepped away from Joanna and stood APART"

31. Fathom, e.g.: UNIT - Below is as low as you can go in the ocean in fathoms and feet



32. Old-timey proof of purchase: BOXTOP - 25¢ and one Grape-Nuts Flakes box top for this! 


34. Hawaiian for "long": LOA - Moana LOA (Long Mountain) runs for about 74 miles on the Big Island

36. Slangy "Please call": HIT ME UP - My use of this phrase is "It was not good when my relatives HIT ME UP for money"

37. Rough case: BUR - SaneBURS can be a challenge to remove



38. "The More You Know" segment, briefly: PSA - Public Service Announcement - Here's one



39. Tribute opening: A TOAST

40. Green roller: PUTT - Golf courses roll the greens with machines like this so your PUTT will roll nicely



41. "What a tragedy": SO SAD - This befits the horrible flooding that is going on in Eastern Nebraska right now

43. Messenger substance: RNA - Ribonucleic Acid is a frequent visitor

44. Play __: GAMES Google Play GAMES Services

47. Subject of the 1975 film "Overlord": D-DAY - I better remember The Longest Day

49. Triangular pastry: SAMOSA - One of South Africa’s favorite treats, as popular as bobotie, boerewors and biltong. No, really!



50. Fair treat: CORN DOG - Featured at this Lincoln, NE eatery



53. Walk with effort: PLOD.

57. Pine product: CONE.

58. Jicama or rutabaga: EDIBLE ROOT - Them and more


59. Gets on: AGES.

60. Parts of a bigger picture: SUBSYSTEMS.

Down:

1. Colo. summer setting: MDT and 35. 1-Down part: Abbr.: MTN - MounTaiN Daylight Time

2. Dell alternative: ACER.

3. "Three Coins in the Fountain" composer Styne: JULE Young Julius Kerwin Stein (he later changed the spelling of the last name and the pronunciation of the first to "Julie") 


4. The slightest change: ONE CENT - Very cute guys!

5. Watterson's Calvin and Susie, at times: RIVALS.



6. What Pandora released: EVILS.

7. Model X maker, before 2017: TESLA MOTORS - Samuel told me via email, 

"I think it’s because “Tesla Motors” formally shortened its name to “Tesla” in February, 2017."

8. "Divergent" heroine __ Prior: TRIS All you need to know

9. Spanish "that": ESO ¡ESO está en rompecabezas muy a menudo! (ESO is in puzzles very often!)


10. Contextual meaning: SENSE 

11. Note near B: A SHARP - A SHARP is a half step below B

12. Facebook upload: PHOTO ALBUM - Sometimes that album is TMI

13. One way to spread the news: PAPER ROUTE - This was a great way for me to learn about responsibility and capitalism

14. Lose: SHED

21. "The Sound of Music" name: TRAPP - These are the kids who played The Trapp Family Singers on Broadway in 1960 appearing on What's My Line. Arlene Francis correctly guessed who they were.



23. Squee-worthy: TOTES ADORBS - These three words will never pass my lips but here ya go: Squee is slang for squeal which is an expression of great joy, TOTES is Totally and ADORBS is Adorable. Thus something that is Squeal-worthy is TOTALLY ADORABLE. Constructor Samuel wrote, "Gary, For better or worse, I think I came up with this clue"

24. Goose __: BUMPS.

25. Snack that doesn't sound very appetizing: ANTS ON A LOG - There are several "ants" surrounding the log  here



26. "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" singer: NINA SIMONE Her Bio

28. Guitarist, slangily: AXMAN - A guitar is called an AX slangily thus... 

30. Wonderland trial evidence: TARTS - Of course, the Knave Of Hearts stole them!



32. Was fooled by the fake: BIT - Several defender "BIT" on these moves



33. Unsafe?: OUT - The baseball umpires decision 

36. Underworld: HADES.

40. Prospector's prize: PAYDIRT - Those 49er's looking for PAYDIRT in California mostly enriched only the suppliers 

42. Cell terminals: ANODES - An interesting way to connect an ANODE and a cathode



44. Sacred Indian river: GANGES.

46. Runs: RACES 

48. Deadpan: DRILY 20 great ones from the master of deadpan

49. Spot saver?: Abbr.: SPCA - Here, Sally is saving Spot from Dick and Jane not the SPCA


50. Nursery item: CRIB.

51. Wind in a pit: OBOE - Fabulous clue! The OBOE is the wind instrument in the orchestra pit starts everyone off on with an A. (:23)



52. Grab (onto): GLOM.

55. Norfolk sch.: ODU - Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA

56. Search subjects for 100+ yrs.: ETS - Nevada has a good sense of humor about all this



Now you can rocket off to the comment section: