Saturday, Oct 14th, 2017, Jim Quinlan

Theme: None

Words: 70 (missing J,Q,X)

Blocks: 34

Another new constructor for our Saturday - Jim Quinlan has 2 other LA Times puzzles under his belt, a Friday and a Sunday.  A very satisfying puzzle, I must say - no Google, no red-letters, and when I didn't get my ta-DA~!, I had the patience to go through the grid to find my error.  A spiral grid with a lot of three-letter words, triple 10-letter corners in the across, 8-, 9-,10-letter stacks in the down, and a group of three answers with a central 15- letter spanner;

34. Samoa or Caramel deLite : GIRL SCOUT COOKIE

15. Offer a libation (for) : POUR ONE OUT - The winery/vineyard I now work for offers bottles, of course, but also boxes, and recently kegs - next year, they introduce wine in a can; my thought was that it sounds like this 'cheapens' the whole wine thing.  We'll see.

12. Pot without speed : SLOW COOKER - oh, that kind of pot.  Somehow, I managed to think of a joint not laced with speed....

26. Sometime substitute for bread crumbs : CORNFLAKES

57. Experience for Marty McFly : TIME TRAVEL - right up my alley

The flux capacitor is...fluxing

 WARD~!


ACROSS:

1. Floors : ASTONISHES - ah, then verb, not the noun

11. Beliefs : ISMS - Crosswordese

16. Polar explorer's concern : FLOE - I figured SNOW was too easy

17. President leaving office, perhaps : END OF AN ERA

18. Commercial name abbr. : CORPoration

19. Redden, say : DYE - I pondered "IRK" here, but waited; then it appeared at 53d.

20. William Tell Monument city : ALTDORF - I know of the "apple on the head" shot, but didn't know the whole story - here's the Wiki on it

22. Venus is in it: Abbr. : WTA - I went with ATP, the Association of Tennis Professionals, but that's a "men's club"; we're looking for the Women's Tennis Association

23. "S" on an invitation : S'IL - Frawnche; réspondez s'il vous plait, or RSVP

24. Vehicle-sharing company : ZIPCAR - I know about Uber, but never heard of this; their website er, explains it all

26. "Born on the Bayou" band, briefly : CCR

27. __ bar : WET - there's a Tasting Room at the front of the vineyard office/warehouse, but really it's a wine bar - it's like upscale happy hour

30. It's tuned an octave higher than a cello : VIOLA

31. 1988 noir remake : DOA

32. Unconcealed enmity : NO LOVE LOST

36. Certain baron : LANDHOLDER

37. King's value, at times : TEN - as in cards

38. Gather : INFER - D'oh~!  Not AMASS

39. Sch. period : SEMester

40. Backwoods preposition : FER

41. Combined : MELDED

43. King or queen : BED - ah, good clue, since the previous 'regal' clue (37a.) had me thinking along the lines of "REX"

44. Chinese military gp. : PLA - filled via perps

45. Grew : WIDENED - my only bad cel; I had WIDE FED

49. Pipe in a song : COB - corn cob, Frosty the Snowman

52. Pen name that sounds like a drink : SAKI - technically, Sake IS a drink

54. Cry at the craps table : COME TO PAPA

56. U.S. dept. with a bolt on its seal : ENERgy - nailed it

58. Classroom fixture : DESK

59. Unable to continue : AT A DEAD END

DOWN:

1. Did : APED

2. Pioneer in portable music : SONY - and the company who gave us Betamax; see 33d.

3. Arrogant manner, slangily : TUDE

4. Top medalla : ORO

5. "You peeked!" : "NO FAIR~!"

6. Totally : IN ALL

7. Heaven-__ : SENT - I'll let you know if this one ever stops in for a glass....

8. Helped make a bed : HOED - a garden bed

9. Mark's replacement : EURO

10. Premium movie channel that dropped its "!" in 2005 : STARZ

11. "Portlandia" airer : IFC

13. Serious transgression, in Catholicism : MORTAL SIN

14. Split : SEPARATE

21. Coppers : FIVE-O - one of my top TV show themes; I'm glad the re-make of the show didn't go with something different

23. Burned with steam : SCALDED

25. Led : PILOTED

27. Some sweaters : WOOLS - I tried KNITS

28. Get by : ELUDE

29. Venerated symbol : TOTEM

31. Martha Kent portrayer in recent Superman films : DIANE LANE - I had no idea, tried a total WAG, and it worked

32. Barracks VIP : NCO

33. Betamax player : VCR - at first I thought this was a huge gaffe, but then I realized the fierce (according to Wiki) format war was between VHS and Betmax; both tape formats played on a "Video Cassette Recorder"

34. Barely caught : GLIMPSED

35. Mole-like mammal : SHREW

40. Hat for Indiana Jones : FEDORA - Raiders of the Lost Ark might be my favoritest movie of all time

42. Decrees : DICTA - argh~!  I threw "S" in there for plural, and tried WRITS

43. 2017 Dolly portrayer on Broadway : BETTE

46. "Finish the job!" : "DO IT~!"

47. "Handsome, clever, and rich" Austen character : EMMA

48. Food or water : NEED - I had fEED, which made sense to me if you "feed" a plant with water....

49. Finally give : CAVE

50. Tournament format : OPEN

51. Likely to skid : BALD - I need to get tires before the end of the month in order to pass inspection; however, I'd like to get white letter tires, and the only way to do that on my vehicle is to buy larger rims for that particular size tire - I'm willing to go sporty on the minivan~!

53. Get to : IRK

55. Enhance, as a résumé : PAD - no need to pad my résumé, there was barely space to list my qualifications for the new job - but I listed enough

Thanks for all the positive support - I especially appreciate those who know me and are 'concerned' about the "vocation" of my new employer~!

Splynter