Friday, May 30 – 24:42

I initially thought I was going to be stumped by this themeless Friday.  I got stuck in the NE corner about 20 minutes into it.  It was late though and I decided to sleep on it and resume in the morning.  I went back to it a few minutes ago and zip zip zip, the corner fell into place.  I never feel as good about my times on puzzles solved that way, but then again, it feels better than not finishing it at all.

I initially tried to put RIGAMAROLE in for 1A, “Elaborate procedure”, but of course that’s too long, and I left it blank.  When I finally got some letters, I realized it was RIGMAROLE, d’oh!  I love 16A, “Living end” – BEESKNEES.  Also 21A, “”The Big Lebowski” director” – COEN.  Joel and Ethan Coen are one of my favorite movie makers, so this was a total gimme.  30A, “Something to take in court” – I had FIFTH originally, but it turned out to be STAND.  Another initial wrong guess was NEVA for “Orsk is on it”, instead of URAL.  I liked TETRAD for “The classical elements, e.g.”.  You know, earth, air, fire, water.

I learned where rabbit punches go, the NAPE, not the CHIN.  And that LOKI is a shape-shifting giant.  I knew the shape-shifting part, but not the giant part.  Didn’t know ORYX was where the unicorn myth might have come from.  And it’s CHICO, not HARPOMARX who’s the piano-playing brother.  Of course I knew that, but I just wasn’t thinking.  I have no idea who actor ILEM is, from “The Sopranos”.  Hopefully that answer’s not wrong, since I’ve never even heard than name before.  ANABOLISM is the process of molecular synthesis.

I thought “Call in the game Battleship”, DTEN was kind of weak, since it’s a bit random.  I had MISS there.  But the answer could be any number of board positions without a way to know which one.  I also didn’t like OCEANAUTS for “Sealab inhabitants”.  Perhaps it’s just ignorance on my part about the official term for Sealab workers, but it sounds like a fake word to me.

So the NE corner.  I had 10D, JIMIHENDRIX as the follower of Sha Na Na at Woodstock, and everything below and including 22A, LETHE, river in Hades (not STYX, the other one).  But the rest of the corner wasn’t coming.  I tried LIVES for “Settles” at 20A.  Bzzt.  And I could not think of a 4-letter “Creep” that starts with J (JERK).  I had ___TE for “Belt”, but couldn’t figure that out either.  And “Flames shoot in it”?  Forget about it.  I probably should have been able to figure out 11D, EXONERATES for “Clears”, since I had ____ERATES, but nope.  After my nap, I was able to figure out AMONG for “In with”, which gave me PASTE for “Belt”.  I think I got EXONERATES about the same time.  Then came SINKS for “Settles”, PIXIE for “Playful trickster”, and JERK for “Creep”.  I guess Flames must be a hockey team, since the answer comes out RINK.