"A Classic to Start the Year"
21. With 27-Across, 50-Across classic: THE CATCHER.
27. See 21-Across: IN THE RYE.
45. 50-Across work featuring the two youngest Glass siblings: FRANNY AND ZOOEY.
50. Author born 1/1/1919: JD SALINGER.
68. Title heroine in one of 50-Across' "Nine Stories": ESME.
Great start to the New Year ! It is also the 100th anniversary of the JD Salinger's birth.
I must admit that I've never read The Catcher In The Rye, nor any other of JD Salinger's work. I knew of Catcher, and have learned that the main character was Holden Caulfield, but that was about it. I learned of Esme as a crossword staple, but never heard of Franny and Zooey.
See where The Catcher In The Rye ranks on various Ranker listings. You can add your vote on the various lists.
Across:
1. Language of southern Africa: BANTU.
6. City west of Tulsa: ENID.
10. Gas station machines: PUMPS. Fuel dispensers. Tokheim was a leading manufacturer of fuel dispensing systems and point of sale (pay at the pump) that began in Cedar Rapids, grew to dominance while based in Ft Wayne, and fell to bankruptcy in the early 2000s.
15. Bran benefit: FIBER.
16. Traditional teachings: LORE.
17. Undersea WWII threat: U-BOAT. English for the German U-boot. Undersea boat. On June 4, 1944, the first enemy warship captured by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812 was the German U-boat 505. She was captured off the coast of West Africa and towed to Bermuda. The U-505 is on display at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. There are also some neat videos on YouTube such as showing her being moved into her final resting place, as well as a video tour taken by someone that visited the museum and the U-505 exhibit. Spitzboov might have read about this before, given his background and interests.
18. Pre-euro coin: FRANC. As in France, Belgium, Luxembourg. The Swiss franc, not the Euro, is still the official monetary unit of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Fair warning: Euros will be accepted, but your change will be given in francs, and you probably won't get a favorable exchange rate.
19. Historical times: ERAs.
20. Email back: REPLY.
24. "Star Trek" captain Jean-__ Picard: LUC, looking exasperated here. Maybe Data just told him he did a Reply All, rather than a Reply. Crossword shout out to Santa Barbara Picard.
28. Dean's list no.: GPA. I'd wager there were some pretty high ones by the regulars here.
31. Number that's a square of itself: ONE. Squaring a number means multiplying that number by itself. The result of squaring is a square. For example, squaring 2 (2x2) is 4. 4 is the square of 2. Squaring 1 would be (1x1) which results in a square of 1. One is the loneliest number.
Let's do a little more algebra. Cubing a number means to multiply a number by its square or to multiply a number by itself twice. So, 2x2x2=8. Let's try it with a larger number, say 26. 26x26x26=17,576. Not coincidentally, that result represents the finite number of all possible letter combinations in an English language non-Rebus crossword puzzle three-letter answer. All you have to do is remember all 17,576 three letter abbreviations and words from AAA to ZZZ, and you'll be on your way to crossword solving stardom. Or maybe not.
(Fermatprime and Bill G subconsciously checked my math on that one.)
32. "Neither snow __ rain ... ": NOR will keep C.C.s blogging team from blogging the daily puzzle. An occasional mental lapse or technical difficulty might, but not snow nor rain nor holiday.
33. Tags on bags: IDs. We know that Steve's luggage tags are current.
34. Fishy bagel topper: LOX.
35. Play sections: ACTS. Hahtoolah is a patron of the arts, enjoying the opera and the theater.
37. Words repeated after "Whatever" in a Doris Day song: WILL BE. The lovely Doris Day sings Que Sera Sera
40. Halloween garb: CAPE. Supeman and Batman weren't as big this year, and there were a few other caped characters that sadly I did not recognize, yet still so cute !
41. Because of: DUE TO. I guess it was due to not having any big Batman or Superman blockbusters in the last few years.
43. With 59-Across, liver delicacy: FOIE.
59. See 43-Across: GRAS.
44. Tear up: SHRED. Dash T would have wanted me to embed a video of Alex Lifeson of Rush shredding his guitar playing Working Man, but I'd already channeled CrossEyedDave.
48. "La Cage aux Folles," for one: FARCE. A musical play and movie. Never heard of it. Just learned that it was the basis of the American remake, The Birdcage, starring Robin Williams.
49. Come up: ARISE.
55. "Assuming that's true ... ": IF SO.
58. John Roberts' group: Abbr.: SCOTUS. Supreme Court Of The United States.
63. Having regrets about: RUING.
65. Corn cover: HUSK. Once dried, the traditional wrapping for Mexican style tamales. I believe Lucina and family use these. On Saturday, my friend that hails from Honduras brought us some of his mother's Honduran style tamales wrapped in banana leaves. Chicken and rice and an olive encased in the masa. So good !
66. Kitchen strainer: SIEVE.
67. Come to terms: AGREE. Fair enough.
69. Trip around the sun: ORBIT.
70. Adventurous expedition: QUEST.
71. Like pink hair: DYED.
72. And/or divider: SLASH. Guns N' Roses guitarist: SLASH.
Down:
1. Bud 4 life: BFF. Buddy for life / Best Friend Forever.
2. Broadcast: AIR. Not sure what genre of music aired at KHAK in Cedar Rapids when Desper-otto worked there, but it is now "#1 In Country". JzB wouldn't be a fan. He doesn't care for Country music.
3. Cavs' org.: NBA. The Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association. Not getting as much national broadcast air time now that LeBron has packed his bags and moved to L.A. PK is an NBA fan.
4. Camp shelter: TENT. Yellowrocks said she is now past her tent pitching days. Me too. A cabin with a fireplace and a comfortable bed appeals to my older bones.
5. Sea __: spiny critter: URCHIN. Seems that puffer fish can be spiny as well. See 56D.
6. Really amaze: ELECTRIFY.
7. "CBS This Morning" co-anchor O'Donnell: NORAH
8. Infuriated: IRATE. I know of a certain thespian who has been infuriated with the recent delivery performances of the Los Angeles Times.
9. Gave details of: DESCRIBED. Remember when Dudley described one of his contractors as "Ed the Enthusiastic Blaster" ?
10. Baby food options: PUREES. Oas traveled last week to see his newest grandchild.
11. Ride-sharing app: UBER. Husker Gary is a satisfied user of this app, based on his comments upon returning from his trip to Washington D.C.
12. Messy hairdo: MOP.
13. Bud: PAL. Clecho w/ 1D. Gal Pal: Tinbeni's significant other.
14. Farmyard pen: STY.
22. Plenty, in old poems: ENOW. This means ASAP in the internet era, along w/ email, e-tail, eCommerce...
23. Jekyll's bad side: HYDE.
24. "Get a __ of this!": LOAD.
25. Release from shackles: UNCUFF.
26. Part of etc.: CETERA. Et's brother Peter was a singer, songwriter and bassist for the rock band Chicago, before launching his solo career. Here's Peter singing a song he wrote when he was still with Chicago:
28. If-looks-could-kill looks: GLARES. I'd probably be a goner from all the glares of the Peter Cetera fans.
29. Olive Oyl's guy: POPEYE. They were played by Shelly Duvall and Robin Williams in the 1980 musical comedy.
30. Used a hatchet on: AXED.
36. Original co-host of "The View": STAR JONES.
38. Hawaii's Mauna __: LOA. Michael Sherline can probably see it from his lanai.
39. "Mary Poppins Returns" actor __-Manuel Miranda: LIN. inanehiker will have have nailed this one. She wrote on Sunday that she saw it last week ! BTW, Miranda is also the name of one of Uranus' 27 moons. Miranda means "worthy of admiration."
40. Miss singing on Sunday?: CHOIR GIRL. Boomer sang in the church choir, but as a choir boy.
42. Like some audiobooks: ON CD.
44. Irritated: SORE. I think Irish Miss was irritated when she discovered her Discover Card had a fraudulent charge for a airline flight. An unneeded hassle, for sure.
46. Bitter end?: NESS. Canadian end ?: Eh. She's never shown any bitterness.
47. Turns abruptly: ZAGS. Some of OKL's lines take abrupt zags that I didn't see coming !
51. Throbbed: ACHED. Long suffering Red Sox fans like Wilbur Charles ached for a World Series Championship ring, and were finally rewarded in 2004.
52. Crummy: LOUSY. Wally, Beaver and Eddie Haskell used the word crummy quite often.
53. "I'm here": IT'S ME. Pretty song. Love the piano and horns.
54. Microwaved: NUKED.
55. Baghdad's country: IRAQ. Abejo worked next door in Iran.
56. Japanese pufferfish: FUGU. Almost looks unreal. Jinx, what say you ?
57. Colt's father: SIRE.
60. Country's McEntire: REBA. If you look at that graphic of Oklahoma above, she was born and raised southwest of Lake Eufala and northeast of Lake Texoma. The city of McAlester and town of Kiowa respectively.
61. Rental car choice: AVIS. Their catchphrase was, "We try harder." I had a Hertz gold card. It was really nice when flying into Minneapolis or New York in the winter months. The car was always warmed up and running. Their motto was "Hertz puts you in the driver's seat." After Hertz failed me, I started renting from Enterprise. "We'll pick you up" is their slogan.
62. Actor Rogen: SETH.
64. Understand: GET.
66. Distress letters: SOS. Save Our Souls (or Ship). If you didn't care for Reba above, perhaps Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid are more to your liking ?
Here's the grid.
