Friday, August 16, 2019 Bruce Haight

Workwear

17. Railway inspector's attire?: TRACK SHOES. 

22. Blackjack dealer's attire?: DECK PANTS.  

33. Corporate director's attire?: BOARD SHORTS.

49. Toothpaste maker's attire?: TUBE SOCKS.

57. Roadside mechanic's attire?: FLARE JEANS.

Bruce suggests seemingly appropriate pieces of attire for various occupations.   Funny.   I got them all easily enough, but I don't know what deck pants are, and never heard the term before.  Regardless, solving the puzzle was good Friday fun, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. 

Across:

1. Congress, with "the": HILL.  Because of Capitol Hill of course.   Like saying the Oval Office or the White House when figuratively referring to the executive office / presidency.

5. Bashes: GALAS.  The fun kind of bashes, rather than verbal or physical attacks.

10. Whistle blower: COP.  Not ref(eree).

13. Burden: ONUS.  

14. It often follows an overture: OPERA.   For example, the overture from the Barber of Seville.


15. "That's not good": OH NO.  If you concatenate those two little words you get OHNO,  the last name of Winter Olympics great Apolo.   He was good !

 Apolo Ohno Physics

16. Help during spelling: WAND.    Saurcerus.  Soarcirrus.  Sorersirus.   Sorceress.

19. 60 minuti: ORA.   Minuti definitely sounded Italian.   Rossini would have got that ORA quicker than I did.   Maybe not though, because he was too busy writing operas to do crossword puzzles.   I read he was prolific.

20. Oodles: A TON.

21. San Jose skaters: SHARKS.   My nephew is a huge fan.   Huge I tell you.   He gets season tickets and walks to the SAP Center for games.   He took us to a nearby restaurant that had great steaks and ribs.   For you locals, I think it was Henry's World Famous Hi-Life.

25. With 18-Down, '30s-'40s band leader: ARTIE, and 18. See 25-Across: SHAW.    ARTIE SHAW.

Leader of Bands

26. Israeli military hero: DAYAN.  Moshe.

27. Writer born Herbert George: HG WELLS.   Did not know his first and middle names, but had H-W--L- at the time, and the answer popped out.    HG is a seen here at the Crossword Corner as an abbreviation of Husker Gary, our Saturday sherpa.

29. Floor support?: YEA.

31. Leader who was painted by Warhol: MAO.

"In this example from his Mao series, Warhol melded his signature style with the scale of totalitarian propaganda to address the cult of personality surrounding the Chinese ruler Mao Zedong (1893–1976). Nearly fifteen feet tall, this towering work mimics the representations of the political figure that were ubiquitously displayed throughout China. Warhol’s looming portrait impresses us with the duality of its realistic qualities and its plastic artificiality."   Mao - The Art Institute of Chicago

32. Canon model: EOS.

You would probably have to be a serious shutterbug or a professional to shell out the dinero to purchase one of these jewels.  For instance, the EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR Camera (body only) would set you back ~ $2800.  Add a lens such as the EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM for ~ $2100,  a memory card ~ $65, and a few other accessories, and you've spent some serious coin.   

37. Disneyland's Main Street, __: USA.  I've never been to Disneyland, but I've been to Disneyworld a couple of times.  Disneyworld also has a Main Street, USA.

39. Lead-in to X, Y or Z: GEN.  List Of Generations    Millenials seem to be the subject of so much flak.  It seems to me that members of every generation bash subsequent generations, as their generation was bashed by those prior.  "What's the matter with kids these days ?!?"    

40. West Bank gp.: PLO.

41. Word with jam or joint: SESSION.  Or when plural, with Jeff.

44. Wipe off: ERASE.

48. Equalizes: EVENS.

53. Crude, as humor: RIBALD.

55. Deduce, with "out": SUSS.   A skill used by solvers. 

56. Sea-__: TAC.   I believe that if Sea-Tac is hyphenated, it is a reference to the airport, which has been around since the 1940s.    If it is not hyphenated, it is a reference to the city, which has only been around since 1990. 

59. Don Corleone: VITO.

60. W competitor: ELLE.   Did not know of W magazine.

61. Gloss over: ELIDE.

1.  transitive verb
   If you elide something, especially a distinction, you leave it out or ignore it.
   [formal]
2.  transitive verb
   In linguistics, if you elide a word, you do not pronounce or write it fully.
   [technical]
   COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers

62. Finished: OVER.

63. You might be shocked to meet one: EEL.   Never had eel.   C.C. taught me last Sunday that it must be cooked and never eaten raw as the blood is highly toxic.   I don't think I was the only one.  Hi Lucina !

64. Things to avoid: DON'TS.

65. __ Point: WEST.

Down:

1. "Strange ... ": HOW ODD.

2. Measured two-dimensionally: IN AREA.

3. Madness: LUNACY.

4. Trip provider: LSD. 

And there ain't no road just like it
Anywhere I found
Running south on Lake Shore Drive heading into town
Just slippin' on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound

I know, but I like the song...

5. Must, informally: GOTTA.  On another day or in other parts of the country, hafta or havta. 

6. It has strings attached: APRON.

7. Relied (on) for support, to a Brit: LEANT.   Someone should create a puzzle with these American English and British English variants, a la "Relieved wheat ?" with Spelled Spelt as the answer.  Or not.

8. Basketball's three-point line, for one: ARC.

9. Nordstrom competitor: SAKS.    Had a card for shopping at Saks in the Galleria Houston.   Bought a few suits and ties there.  Have never been in a Nordstrom.

10. Laughs gleefully: CHORTLES.  A word that seems to be gaining in popularity.

11. About 2.2 lbs.: ONE KILO.

12. Do demons' work: POSSESS. 

15. Midwestern hub: O'HARE.   The primary hub for United Airlines, and the third largest hub for American Airlines. 

20. Sleep disorder: APNEA.

23. Floor: KAYO.  Knock Out to K.O. to kayo.  That's my guess.

24. Bygone Mideast sovereign: SHAH.

28. Sticky stuff: GOOP.

30. Ship that survived the Clashing Rocks: ARGO. From the 1963 Movie.  Hey !   There's Jason ! CSO !    And Triton to save the Argo.

According to someone named Datsmaharse who posted at Funtrivia.com:

The original Argonautica passage by Apollonius Rhodius:
"Then a vaulted billow rushed upon them, and the ship like
a cylinder ran on the furious wave plunging through the hollow sea. And the eddying current held her between the clashing rocks; and on each side they shook and thundered; and the ship's timbers were held fast.
Then Athena with her left hand thrust back one mighty rock and with her right pushed the ship through"

31. AOL rival: MSN.   Two of the web's oldest content providers with AOL in 1989 and MSN in 1995.  CompuServe and Prodigy were a couple of others.

33. Game involved in several Costner films: BASEBALL.   Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, For Love of the Game.

34. Bad impression: DENT.   Chicago Bear HOF'er Richard Dent made a great impression in that magical 1985 season and in Super Bowl XX.   Longtime Bears fan Madame Defarge had season tickets for years and years.  Through thick and thin.  No fair weather fan, she.


35. Like four midyear months: R LESS.   You are supposed to do something with oysters in these months.  Or maybe not do something.   Anyway, May, June, July and August.

36. Snapper rival: TORO.   Lawn products companies named after animals.   No thanks.  I'll stick to my Deere and Scag which were named after people.  OK,  people are animals too.  

37. Access charge: USER FEE. 

38. Figaro's hometown: SEVILLE.  Wow !   Small world.  We were just discussing Rossini's "Il barbiere di Siviglia"  above at Overture / Opera.

42. Capture: SNARE.

43. Man, for one: ISLE.

45. Like some volcanoes and military personnel: ACTIVE.

46. Hockey gear: SKATES.

47. Go along with: ESCORT.

50. Bolt with great speed: USAIN.  He's fast at ~ 28 mph.

51. __ cake: BUNDT.  DW used to make the best rum cakes. 

52. Word containing three of itself: ESSES. 

54. Worked a party, briefly: DJ'ed.   Disc Jockeyed.   Part of desper-otto's past.  At a radio station.  Maybe spun a platter at a party or two...  Who knows ?  Maybe he'll tell us. 

58. "Xanadu" rock gp.: ELO.   Electric Light Orchestra.   Here's a version of the song from the soundtrack of the movie:


I wonder if desper-otto ever DJ'ed any ELO...

59. Promise: VOW.