Words: 70 (missing Q,X,Z)
Blocks: 32
Upon
review of the years gone by, I see that Mr. Johnson has been a
consistent Tuesday contributor to the LA Times crosswords - but today
he's given us a great challenge for a Saturday. Non-standard grid,
nicely symmetrical, with triple 7-letter corners. I picked my way through this
one clue by clue, and I eventually got a foothold in some places, and
that allowed me to WAG a few. Alas, I ran into one cell that just
wouldn't fill in, and that was because of "spelling" mistakes on my part
- so I went red-letter to see where I went astray. Anyway, we had two
spanners, and one 11-letter climber;
17a. Remote setting : MIDDLE OF NOWHERE
58a. Spanish-style home decor : TERRACOTTA TILES
18d. 1995 film in which Sean Connery played King Arthur : FIRST KNIGHT - good movie - and Julia Ormond is beautiful
'Tis the seas-on-ward~!
ACROSS:
1. Furniture support : SOFA LEG - he means this kind of leg....
8. Hard-to-find hardware? : SPY-CAMS
15. Learned : ERUDITE - the adjective, not the verb
16. Side trip guide : AREA MAP
19. __-Pak subcontinent: Asian region : INDO
20. Homework initials? : DIY - Do It Yourself; Home Depot has Do-It-HERself classes; we are about one day away from finishing up the house project - did the siding today
21. Like some backup files : ON CD
22. Top dog : NUMERO UNO
27. Cutesy plea for affection : KISS, KISS
30. Eye site : POTATO
34. Bird that will swim but not fly : EMU
35. Pound, e.g. : UNIT - dah~! Not POET - 25% correct
36. Upset state : DISMAY
37. Letters associated with z's? : REM - Rapid Eye Movement sleep; I had a full-on sensory dream of a cat pawing me and then lying down on my back one afternoon while I napped; I asked my room-mate, and he said there was never a cat in the house - I looked it up on the dream interpretations site, and it's associated with feminine sexuality - damn, I hope so~!
38. Tetanus symptom : LOCKJAW
40. Former "NFL Today" sportscaster Cross : IRV
41. Train for firefighting : RAPPEL
43. 2014 Wales summit host : NATO
44. Iowa campus : COE
45. Refusal of hospitality, often : INSULT
46. Thief's target : IDENTITY
48. Literary legionnaire : BEAU GESTE - frequently in crosswords, but I did not know much more about the story until today - more here
50. Salinger heroine : ESME - Nailed it - but again, seen in a lot of crosswords
53. Golden ratio symbol : PHI - ah, like "Pi" for, well, 3.14159....in this case, it's 1.61803 - more here
54. It may be crunched : DATA - my one corner that messed me up
63. Treaty topic : TEST BAN
64. Dress uniform adornment : EPAULET
65. Reuse productively, as trash : UPCYCLE - new word for me - and my spell-check; the word "repurposed" has gained some traction around here
66. Dish from the Italian for "foam" : SPUMONI - Dah~!! I put in spumATi, so I was all screwed up down here
DOWN:
1. Trailer leader : SEMI - the tractor part
2. "Out __?" : OR IN
3. Hunter with a distinctive laugh : FUDD - Elmer, that is
4. Supplements : ADD-ONS
5. Small in a small way : L'IL
6. Juillet's time : ÉTÉ - Frawnche
7. Like the Spaceship Earth sphere : GEODESIC
8. Panasonic subsidiary : SANYO
9. Supporting : PRO
10. "Dismal" tree in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus" : YEW
11. Partnership : CAHOOTS
12. "You said it!" : "AMEN~!"
13. Standup comic Maron : MARC
14. Earned a citation? : SPED - har-har
23. Lute family member : UKULELE
24. Company that merged with Konica : MINOLTA
25. Screen alert subjects : UPDATES - always seems to be Adobe Flash Player
26. Firm denial : NO, I WON'T
27. Gymnast Strug : KERRI
28. "Let me explain ..." : "I MEAN..."
29. Collection areas : SUMPS - oops, not Dumps - but that was 80% correct
31. Firenze friends : AMICI
32. Typically 78-card deck : TAROT - I have a deck, but have not looked at it in years
33. Exasperated cry : "OY VEY~!"
39. Burmese gems : JADEITES
42. Time for significant changes : PUBERTY
47. Yawn inducer : TEDIUM
49. Barely ahead : UP ONE - oops, not ONE UP
50. Incredulous accusation : ET TU - Brute~?
51. Flow slowly : SEEP
52. Richie's mom, to Fonzie : Mrs. C
55. Téléphone greeting : 'ALLO
56. Mock election voter : TEEN
57. Product of white Muscat grapes : ASTI
59. Easy as __ : ABC - oops, not PIE
60. "East of Eden" son : CAL
61. Galaxy download : APP - Galaxy, the Samsung Smart Phone (or tablet; I have one)
62. Two before 53-Across : TAU
Thanks
to all who comment, especially for those who comment on my
Saturday postings. Thank you, too, to C.C. for the opportunity to be
able to blog here in the first place~!!!
Splynter
