Monday Puzzle #32 or "Freckle Juice"

Went on a field trip with the kid’s summer day camp today. 16 five and six year olds. Invariably when I chaperone these things, no exceptions, I get asked the question. "What are those (fill in either 'things,' 'spots,' or 'dots' - sometimes add brown or black first - and occasionally 'that dirt') on your skin?" Today it was "What are those things on your skin?" Last field trip, it was “What are those black spots on your skin?” I then get to say that they are freckles (today got some follow up questions – what are freckles? what is pigment?) and have a lot of fun watching their eyes get really big when I show them that I have freckles on my fingers, toes, lips, and eyelids. The kid’s mom is pretty cool after that.

Puzzle #32 was great if only because it had, “Fencing weapons” as a clue. EPEES! However, I was unable to complete the puzzle. These are the clues I could not answer:

14 across, “Geometry calculation.” Have I mentioned that I haven’t taken a math class since sophomore year of high school? That would be over 20 years ago. I had A_EA. The answer is AREA.

17 across, “Laurel or Musial.” STAN. (I had S_AN). Stan Laurel is the Laurel & Hardy guy. Stan Musial was a baseball player. I should have gotten this clue because I know Laurel’s first name is Stan and Puzzle #20 had, “Stan’s partner in old comedy” as a clue. Also, Puzzle #19 and “Baseball’s Musial” as a clue.

(But, I know I am learning some stuff because this puzzle had “Draft org.” as a clue and I knew it was SSS – thanks to Puzzle #26.)

2 down, “But is it ____?” ART. I only had the A.

16 across, “Asia’s ____ Sea.” I had the ARA of ARAL. (also should have known because of previous puzzle)

13 down, “Omits, in pronunciation.” ELIDES. MW tells me that elide means, “to suppress or alter (as a vowel or syllable) by elision.”

Answers I got, but don’t really know are:

23 across, “Giant Hall-of-Famer.” OTT. Name sounds familiar. WikiP tells me this is Mel Ott, aka “Master Melvin.” He was the first National League player to surpass 500 home runs.

42 down, “____ the Hyena.” LENA. Lena the Hyena was a character in the Lil’ Abner cartoon. It’s a pretty interesting story, which you can learn about here.

67 down, “Cakes and ____, Maugham novel.” ALE. I have added this to my reading list. My very long reading list.