She and this website has been an invaluable addition to my life after retirement. We have collaborated on a few puzzles but I really value our exchanges about themes, fill and titles plus events in our private lives.
C.C. also has served as a portal for me to make contact with the wonderful 35. Buddies, in slang: PEEPS who frequent this site. I am honored she has trusted me to take over the Saturday blogging. You can not imagine how patient she was with me when I started. She had more faith in my abilities than I did.
When I asked her about this puzzle and its seemingly random long fill, she replied, "I don't have any note for the puzzle. Sorry. The long fill for themeless are always random, unless there's a mini theme where two entries are placed symmetrically. The goal is just to get the smoothest fill possible."
Let's see what Zhouqin has for us today:
Across:
7. Rose's record 14,053: AT BATS - Every major league dugout has Rule 21, which you see below, posted in it. Among other things Rule 21 forbids betting on games. Pete walked past it on his way to every one of the AT BATS but he not only bet on games, he lied about it for years and so The Hall Of Fame continues to deny him entrance.
13. Dessert for one, maybe: MINI PIE.
15. Cotton farm threat: WEEVIL - Brook Benton's distinctive voice gives us a song about the Boll WEEVIL
16. Handlers for a mixologist: ICE TONGS - We tend to use our hands here at home
18. Joey of *NSYNC: FATONE - Any real fan would know which one he is. Uh, I don't, but will identify him at the bottom * if you're interested
19. Liquid meas.: GAL.
20. Mythical mount that flies: PEGASUS - A real find on American Pickers features this mythical mount
22. '90s sitcom "__ and Stacey": NED - It ran for a year and a half
23. Maintained: HELD - Some views pols HELD years ago have come back to haunt them
25. Invalid: NULL and void
26. Steep projection: CRAG - Would you walk out on a CRAG like this?
27. Shocker on a cop's belt: TASER.
29. High words: ODE - Words of high praise
30. "All done!": THERE.
31. Light lunch choices: VEGGIE WRAPS
34. Pinkish nail polish shade: CORAL - Redux from last Saturday
36. "That could work": NOT A BAD IDEA - 59. Sent revealing messages: SEXTED - Not so much!
38. Sheets, e.g.: LINEN and 45. One might be fit for a king: SHEET - Ah yes, we honor presidents with SHEET and LINEN sales in February
39. Score half: TEN - Honest Abe is the only reason we know that a "score" is 20.
40. Stadium souvenirs: STUBS - The average cost of Super Bowl ticket STUBS over the years
44. Some are random and kind: ACTS.
45. Alone, in a way: STAG - Going STAG is pretty rare for me now
46. Maui, for one: ISLE - I'd better take along a Snickers Bar
47. "Told ya!": SEE.
48. Hillary aides: SHERPAS - Five days after New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and his SHERPA Tenzig Norgay reached the crown of Mt. Everest in 1953, another crown was in the UK news
51. Springfield small business owner: MOE - Moe's Bar and not Apu's convenience store
52. Taste test need: TONGUE - that middle area sees playing time in our puzzles
54. Sun spot?: SOLARIUM 8. Hot spots?: TEAS - I suspect C.C. might have a spot of TEA daily in a Sun Spot SOLARIUM
56. Major course: ENTREE - My birthday ENTREE is a filet at Brother Sebastians in Omaha
57. Team on a football field: DEFENSE - "Push 'em back! Push 'em back! Waaay back!"
58. About 25% of California: DESERT.
Down:
1. "Maybe": I MIGHT.
2. City for which a creed is named: NICAEA - Constantine got Christian leaders together in 325 A.D. and they mostly agreed on the Nicene Creed. Dissenters were exiled.
3. Solemn sounds: KNELLS - Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard - The curfew tolls the KNELL of parting day," Thomas Gray
4. Date center: PIT - Same for a peach, apricot, et al
5. Each: A POP - The Michelin tires I bought last week were around $200 A POP
6. It goes with wine: DINE - I have never been wined and dined. I got a Big Mac once...
7. Really bad: AWFUL.
9. Get in the pool: BET - Pools like this were very common in our teacher's lounge
10. Sellers of some beauty products: AVON REPS
11. Problems for ones making notes?: TIN EARS - An observation from our crossword friend Ari I've used before
12. Heavy hitter: SLEDGE.
14. Starbucks holiday drink: EGGNOG LATTE - Yikes!
17. Many an Arab News reader: SAUDI.
21. Capsule for a nap: SLEEPING POD - Students at the British Columbia Institute of Technology can catch a safe and secure nap between classes in these PODS. I'll bet last week's constructor Julian Lim has studied the effectiveness of this practice
24. Allocates: DEVOTES.
26. Flatbread similar to naan: CHAPATI - CHAPATI and Keema curry
28. Showed over: RERAN - When Sienfeld episodes are RERAN, Jerry and Larry David make millions
30. According to the poet's oldest son, it was written "by a window looking down a wooded hill": TREES - Alfred Joyce Kilmer's poem
32. Shoot the breeze: GAB.
33. Unite: WED - An "L" can be inserted and the clue would still work
34. What's inside: CONTENTS - Do you really want that Hungry Man Breakfast?
36. "Impressive!": NICE ONE.
37. Sweeties: DEARS.
38. Went the distance: LASTED.
41. Where a lot of money is made: U.S. MINT - Will/should they quit minting pennies?
42. Top: BLOUSE 43. Appeared: SEEMED - It SEEMED Jerry agreed to wear this Pirate BLOUSE when he couldn't hear the "low talker" who asked him to
48. Litigant: SUER.
49. Bass and such: ALES - A 1953 vintage ad for Bass50. Call at a base: SAFE - Some umpires maintain there is no such thing as "Tie goes to the runner". You're either SAFE or out
53. Hurdle for srs.: GRE - The Graduate Record Exam shows up here with the LSAT, PSAT, ACT, et al
55. Dog in the Reagan White House: REX - Cavalier King Charles Spaniel REX, takes first couple for a walk
Any comments for our Minneapolis sister?
*Joey is the second from the right on Justin Timberlake's right side
