Theme: None
Words: 72 (missing F,Q,X)
Blocks: 29
Wow
- I find it hard to believe that we have not had a Saturday Ed Sessa
puzzle in over a year - I went looking for his last Saturday
construction in 2017, and didn't find one. Huh. Anyway, today's
contribution was an easy one, for me, with only one small area that had
triple crossing proper names which slowed me down - WAG to the rescue~!
A triple axis symmetrical grid, with 7x7 corners and nothing longer
than 7 letters;
17. Dryer component : AIR VENT - TUMBLER fit, too. As a Home Inspector, I strongly suggest cleaning out your dryer hose and vent....
Which can lead to this
12. Rodents on wheels, perhaps : PET MICE - it was hamsters for
me when I was a "ute". Pet mice became the feed for the ball python
snake that we had later on....I have already been called a "ghoul" for
sharing this info in previous blogs
38. Brought down a Giant, say : TACKLED
- the capital "G" made me think this was a SF baseball "strike out"
reference, but no~! - it's football, and right in my neighborhood - the
NY Giants
how it feels to know the Jets have a better record
66. Hooks or lures : TEASERS - ah, this kind of lure....
beyONdWARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Get lovey-dovey : SNUGGLE - makes me think of the George Thorogood song and his land lady
8. Ramble : TRAIPSE - I like using the word traipse
15. Fertilizes, in a way : MANURES - as a verb~? Meh. Just go with fertilizeRs....
16. Spousal consent : YES, DEAR
18. Creamy rice dish : RISOTTO
19. Tiruchirappalli title : SRI
20. California region named for a literary hero : TARZANA - part of the three-crossing proper name section that had me stumped at the very end; great WAG going with a "Z" on my part
22. It can lead into day or night : MID - mid-day, midnight
23. Shade-loving plant : HOSTA - my first thought, but I waited
25. Big chunk of time : EON
26. State probably named for a French province : MAINE - could only be this, IDAHO or TEXAS - and I am pretty sure that last one is not Frawnche
28. Mobile app? : UBER - part of last week's Sat blog, too
29. Relay settings : MEETS
31. Object of veneration : ICON - dah~! Not iDoL
32. Edible conifer seed : PINE NUT - got it
34. Part : SEGMENT - pondered SECTION
36. Many an IKEA buy : KIT - isn't all their furniture "ready to assemble"~? I have not been there in a decade
37. Slangy refusal : NAH
42. Arrivals : COMINGS
46. Kyrgyzstan range : ALAI - oops, not aRaL
47. Interior design : DECOR
- one of my responsibilities at the new job is maintaining the owner's
house, which is this spread right down the road from the warehouse
nestled among the vines - but the original owner's decor choices are,
um, shocking; I'll see about getting a pic
49. Glitzy affair : GALA
50. Informed, with "in" : CLUED
52. Sound heard going up a mountain, maybe : POP - think inner ear
53. Film in which the title character says, "I don't permit the suffering. You do" : OH, GOD! - this movie; IMDb
54. Yoga class syllables : OMs
55. "Please, please ... " : "I BEG YOU..."
58. Half-hearted : WAN - that's half-Ben, too - OBI Kenobi, that is
59. Asphalt : BITUMEN - nope, not MACADAM
61. Prevailing conditions : CLIMATE - oooh~! Good guess for me
63. Absinthe flavoring : ANISEED - I thought it was ANISE, but the "SEED" part didn't come to mind right off
64. Solemnly commands : ADJURES
65. Gets new players for : RECASTS - I was thinking DRAFTS, but this is stage, not sport
DOWN:
1. Road wreck : SMASH UP
2. Capital south of Addis Ababa : NAIROBI - I had the ---BI part, so this is what I figured it had to be
3. Not yet up : UNRISEN - I still get up at "UPS time", but now I use that 2-3 hours for my own enjoyment
4. Bloke's address : GUV - British slang, which I was familiar with from watching BBC shows growing up
5. Actress Scacchi : GRETA
- I knew the actress' name, but couldn't recall anything that she
starred in - until I looked at her film credits; the one movie I saw
that was a real thriller was "Shattered"
6. Siberian river to the Arctic Ocean : LENA - one of the three proper name crossings; the "LEN-" part filled via perps, but the last letter was going to have to be a WAG
7. Where the Boss' band once rehearsed : E STREET
8. Hard heads : TYRANTS
9. Buttermilk holder? : REIN
- I had no idea what this was getting at, until I had the "REI-" filled
in, and then I figured Buttermilk must have been a popular horse - can
you tell how young I am~? I had to look up who made Buttermilk
'famous'....the Wiki
10. Indian tea region : ASSAM - I just had to fill in the "A"s
11. Bachelor's last words? : "I DO."
13. Attended informally : SAT IN ON
14. Like the wind : ERODENT - a force which erodes, not an online PET MOUSE (e-rodent~? C'mon, that's funny)
21. Muppet friend of Elmo : ZOE - third proper name crossing, no clue.
24. Any one of the male "Big Bang Theory" main characters : TREKKIE - I cannot stand the show - not even the commercials featuring the
characters - but I did tune into "The Orville" on demand, and I like it -
total Star Trek TNG rip-off, but with that Seth McFarlane twist.
27. Shoot for the moon : AIM HIGH
29. Softened : MUTED - like colors
30. Man of La Mancha : SEÑOR
33. Nada : NIL
35. Whale group : GAM - I had the "A", and thought the answer was "POD", but no - here's a list of animal group names. When I punched in "whale gam", I got "game" instead - and this was interesting to read....
38. Buffet featuring tortillas and fixings : TACO BAR
39. Hog's call? : "ALL MINE~!" - at the taco bar~?
40. Biting : CAUSTIC
41. Conditioned response? : "DEPENDS."
42. Repro man? : COPYCAT - har-har
43. Source of some annoying online messages : NAGWARE - I tried MaLware
44. Crowing type : GLOATER
45. The blues : SADNESS
48. Gear tooth : COG - I thought this was synonymous with "gear", but it is actually the tooth OF a gear
51. Mercury money : DIMES
- I did not understand the clue, so I went to Google after the fact and
found out that we had a different coin prior to 1945 - which makes
sense, now; the Wiki
53. Medium board : OUIJA - ah. The carpenter in me wondered what size lumber is a "medium" board....duh. Oh, that medium
56. Source of folic acid : BEET
57. Quaint retail adjective : OLDE - Ye Olde Croffwerde Blogge
60. Letters on some tee tags : USA
62. Ancient Greek statuary site: Abbr. : MUSeum
Splynter
