Saturday, April 27, 2019, Joe Deeney

Themeless Saturday Puzzle by Joe Deeney

Seventy-two years ago on April 27, 1947 Yankee Stadium was filled with fans who were there to pay tribute to the orphan from Baltimore who grew up to be the greatest Yankee of them all - Babe Ruth. Today we commemorate Babe Ruth Day on the date that memorial service was held.

The ceremony was held twelve years after George Herman Ruth was an active player and was fighting the cancer that would claim his life the next year. The wizened Sultan of Swat proclaimed, “There’s been so many lovely things said about me, I’m glad I had the opportunity to thank everybody.”

The Babe at Biography.com

Today appears to be Joe Deeney's fifth visit to our little word curiosity shop and his first on a Saturday.

I hope he checks in with us to explain what he has attached to his head in this picture and why he has that unusual smile on his face!

Now let's circle the bases on Joe's puzzle:

Across:

1. Venue for seven Verdi premieres: LA SCALA - Teatro alla Scala (Italian: “Theatre at the Stairway”). This is a poster from the premiere of Verdi's Otello in Milan in 1887

8. Savannah grazer: ORIBI - My Okapi (O _ _ _ I) had to be taken back to the zoo for this animal

An ORIBI

13. Mesmerize: ENTHRALL.

15. Sudoku skill: LOGIC - Basic Sudoku strategy tells you what number has to go in the red square (*answer at the bottom)

16. 1982 bestseller using Milne characters, with "The": TAO OF POOH - A lovely explanation and synopsis 

18. Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum town: STOWE.

19. Leaning: BIAS - News outlets these days seem to have their own thinly (or not so thinly veiled) BIAS

20. Unchecked: DESELECTED - This elevator allows you to DESELECT selections

22. Will of "Blue Bloods": ESTES - His IMDB

24. Tide may wash it away: STAIN.

25. When one might eat bánh chung: TET - Sticky rice cake traditionally served during the lunar new year of TET celebration in Vietnam

26. See 2-Down: NIN and 2. With 26-Across, "Delta of Venus" author: ANAIS - A crossword stalwart

28. Act addition?: IVE - C.C. would call this fill "gluey". I'd prefer 28. Jim Croce tune _ _ _  Got A Name

29. Fashion: MAKE - Last weekend I had my SIL fashion/MAKE a repair for my screen door with a screw, a washer and 5 toothpicks

30. 1987 film loosely based on "Cyrano de Bergerac": ROXANNE - A 1:30 trailer for this sweet movie Rotten Tomatoes gave an 89%

32. Gugino of "Wayward Pines": CARLA -  Her IMDB

33. "C'mon, man!": DON'T BE THAT GUY 

35. Daughter of Billy Ray: MILEY - The Cyrus'

36. Respond to a pledge drive: PHONE IN.

37. Star qualities: EGOS.

38. Portuguese saint: SAO -  SAO Paulo (Saint Paul), Brazil is 3x larger than the capital of Brasília 

39. Sea follower?: TAC - SEA-TAC (Seattle Tacoma Airport) to the Space Needle is a 23 min drive (uh, not at rush hour)

40. Small amount: TAD.

41. Get ready to compete, bodybuilder-style: OIL UP - I didn't feel like posting pix of BEACH BODS last week nor OILED UP bodybuilders this week. You're on your own.

43. Low-pay position: MCJOB - I've had many McJOBS (starting with a paper route) and learned valuable lessons from each

47. Antic: SHENANIGAN.

50. Merrie Monarch Festival celebration: HULA - It celebrates the legacy of Hawaiian King David Kalalakua 

51. Cunning canines: FOXES - A fox is of the species vulpine in the family of canines, therefore a cousin of dogs

52. "Glass" director: SHYAMALAN - Rotten Tomatoes - Critics - 37%, Moviegoers - 73%

54. Soccer Hall of Famer __ Lalas: ALEXI - His IMDB

55. Teaching a lesson, perhaps: TUTORING - A MCJOb for some new teachers 

56. Emulates a matryoshka doll, save one: NESTS.

57. Rx's from vets: PET MEDS 


Down:

1. Do not disturb: LET BE - My colleague always told kids to, "Leave it be"!

3. Short-tailed weasel: STOAT - Any animal with these friendly letters is welcome in our cwd zoo

4. Slayers, in the Buffyverse: CHOSEN ONES.

5. Husky's hello: ARF.

6. "Training Day" law org.: LAPD -  A trailer for this 2001 movie

7. Soothing succulents: ALOES.

8. Fictional photojournalist: OLSEN - Jack Larson's portrayal of Superman's early TV buddy Jimmy (far left) OLSEN is my favorite 

9. Drilling org.: ROTC - Close order drill

10. "Later": I GOTTA RUN.

11. 100 times a year, roughly: BIWEEKLY - It can be twice a week OR every two weeks (approximately 26 times a year) according to Merriam Webster

12. Sipped cooler: ICED TEA.

14. Daydreaming: LOST IN THOUGHT.

17. No-nonsense dismissal: HEAVE HO - If USC determines that Lori Loughlin's daughters knew of the fraudulent scheme to get them into school, they will be given the HEAVE HO

21. Factor in golf club selection: LIE - This LIE calls for hitting down with a more lofted club than usual

23. It's often done on highways: SIXTY -  A patrolman might 27. Pull in: NAB you if the speed limit is thirty

29. Fetish: MAGIC CHARM - Superstitious ball players consider their dirty caps a MAGIC CHARM and so they don't clean or replace their old ones

30. Obsolete organizers: ROLODEXES.

31. Highly populated people?: NEPALIS - Nepal has many high places to populate 

32. Third-stringers: C-TEAM - Nowadays it's not A-TEAM, B-TEAM, C-TEAM, it's Varsity, JV and Reserves. A 3rd stringer by any other name...

33. Excavate, with "in": DIG A HOLE - Or maybe you should quit

34. Hill worker: ANT.

35. Often not a Yankee supporter: MET'S FAN - My dad's hatred of the Yankees stemmed from being a Brooklyn FAN.

38. Sunday subject: SIN.

41. Spot for a drink: OASIS.

42. Satisfy a debt: PAY UP.

44. Andrews with an Oscar, two Emmys and three Grammys: JULIE - She won a Tony for My Fair Lady but Jack Warner wanted the better known Audrey Hepburn for Liza in the movie. Julie then took the role of Mary Poppins instead and beat out Audrey for the Oscar in 1964

45. Warner __, '20s-'30s portrayer of Dr. Fu Manchu: OLAND - Some now consider Warner's portrayal stereotypical and racist

46. Forehead covering: BANGS - Selena Gomez with and without

48. "I'm done with this one": NEXT.

49. Silver of FiveThirtyEight: NATE - His statistical site is named for the 538 electors for American presidents. On the eve of the 2016 election he predicted Hillary had a 71% chance of winning and Donald Trump a 29% chance

53. Bon __: MOT - Literally Good Word from the French

Raise a glass to the Old Bambino today!

That Sudoku square must have a 3