17. Drove by the campsite?: PASSED TENTS. Past
Tense
25. Johann Sebastian and Johann Christian?:
MALE BACHS. Mailbox
35. Carpenter's work station?: PLANE SITE. Plain
Sight
49. Bird popularity surveys?: FOWLPOLLS. Foul Poles
58. Wildebeests coming to a screeching halt?:
BRAKING GNUS. Breaking News
This answer was flat out funny to me. Couldn't find a suitable
picture of gnus braking, but did find this happy boy.
Jerry should win a pullet surprise for creating these new homophones and
definitions.
Across:
1. Peak on the 1,000-yen note: FUJI.
5. Kicked: BOOTED.
11. __ bod: DAD. Here's the blog post that went
viral in 2015 and brought national attention to the term dad bod:
Why Girls Love The Dad Bod
14. Sign not always recognized: OMEN.
15. "Sanford and Son" son: LAMONT. I loved that
show. Aunt Esther was always sticking her nose in Fred and
Lamont's business. Lamont would try keep the peace, but Fred
always had some funny reply to get her even more fired up.
22. Winery sight: CASK. If the answer was only three
letters, we would most likely answer "tun". A tun is 252
gallons. That's the largest cask shown below.
If you look closely at this graphic, you'll see that the name for the cask
that holds half of a tun is called a butt.
So if it was fully loaded with wine, you would have a buttload.
Who knew that a buttload was a real measurement ?
23. It may be proven in court: GUILT.
27. Soap opera plot staple: AMNESIA.
29. Kemper who plays Kimmy Schmidt: ELLIE. No idea, but the
perps were kind.
30. Car stat: MPG.
31. Buckle: GIVE. Buckle as a verb rather than as a
noun. As in, buckle under pressure. But if you buckle down,
you are not giving in. And if you buckle up, the life you save may
be your own.
34. Big game, say: EVENT.
38. Scotch-Brite cleaning product: DOBIE.
41. 9, at times: Abbr.: SEPT. ember.
42. Race unit: LAP.
45. First name on a 1945 bomber: ENOLA. Second name on a
1945 bomber: Gay.
46. Polite response: YES MAAM.
53. Presidents take them: OATHs.
54. Song and dance: ARTs. As are Carney and Linkletter.
55. Pod resident?: PEA.
56. "Picnic" dramatist: INGE. A 1953 play written by
William Inge. Paul Newman had his Broadway debut in this play.
57. Fifth-century date: CDI. 401 in Roman
numerals. About the time of the beginning of the fall of the Roman
Empire. (I like looking things up)
62. Get ready to drive, with "up": TEE.
63. Place for a shot: TAVERN.
64. Distasteful: ICKY.
65. Surg. facilities: ORs.
66. Location query opener: "WHERE'S the beef ?", asked
Clara Peller.
67. Viewed warily: EYED.
Down:
1. Dandy: FOP. A Beau Brummell.
2. Thurman of the 2005 film "Prime": UMA. I
watched most of this movie sometime in the last six months. Uma
played a newly divorced 37 year old that falls in love with a 22 year old
recent graduate. She is seeing a therapist to help her deal with
her divorce. She confides to her therapist about her young lover.
The therapist soon realizes the young lover is her son. Her
therapist is played by Meryl Streep.
The film started strong and hooked me in, but the story line quickly grew
weak and somewhat dragged. The only thing that kept me from turning
it off earlier was watching Meryl Streep. Love her subtle
expressions of emotions.
3. Having fun: JESTING. WGN anchors Robert Jordan and
Jackie Bange having some fun during a commercial break back in 2009.
Jerry Seinfeld has a collection of Breitling watches.
8. Relating to pitches: TONAL. There are four tones in
Mandarin Chinese, with a fifth neutral tone. Kevin
Salat, the constructor that introduced us to the word tauromachy on Saturday,
August 1st, speaks Mandarin.
9. Between, in Brest: ENTRE. For those of us that
do not parlay voo French but do solve crosswords, it's just a matter of
remembering some of the common phrases we see in clues and answers.
e.g., entr'acte (between the acts) and
entre nous (just between us).
Of course you would have to assume we are talking about Brest, France
and not Brest, Belarus. In Belarusian, between would
be паміж.
10. Drying-out hurdle: DTs. Delirium Tremens.
11. Total disaster: .
12. Loaded with: AWASH IN.
13. It might contain an inbox: DESK SET. Not related to
the clue, but I thought of Desk Set, starring Katherine Hepburn and
Spencer Tracy. IMO, it was one of their better movies.
The screenplay was written by Phoebe and Henry Ephron. Harry was
also the producer. Yes, you are correct. They
are the parents of Nora. We often see her here with clues
related to her RomComs Sleepless in Seattle and
When Harry Met Sally.
18. Tolkien creatures: ENTs.
22. Have a cow: CALVE. This fun clue did not fool
PK or Spitzboov. I would not be surprised to learn that she
helped deliver a few.
23. School of whales: GAM. Sometimes it is a pod.
24. Foul line watcher, at times: UMP. Sometimes with ire.
Double entendre. Umpire and ump
ire :>)
25. Water conduits: MAINS.
26. Red-rooted plant, usually: BEET.
28. Food chain letters: IGA. "Hometown Proud"
32. Flying formation: VEE.
33. Athletic awards: ESPYs. Excellence in
Sports Performance Yearly awards.
35. Some tablets: PILLs.
36. It may be quantum: LEAP.
37. Resident's suffix: ITE.
38. In reality: DE FACTO.
39. Awaiting shipment: ON ORDER.
40. Donald Duck and Winston Churchill wear them:
BOW TIEs.
42. Bulbs' pre-bloom condition: LATENCY.
43. Sound of delight: AAH.
44. U.K. leaders: PMs.
47. Musical number: SONG.
48. Smith who played Violet on "Downton Abbey": MAGGIE. I
was clueless. The answer perped in.
50. Part of OWN: OPRAH. The Oprah Winfrey
Network.
51. Go: LEAVE.
52. James, since 2018: LAKER. Lebron James, NBA
superstar playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
56. 1,000+ Holidays: INNs. Tricky clue, easy
answer. Just looked it up to get a real count. As of Sept
2018, there were 1173 Holiday Inns.
58. Texter's "just so you know": BTW.
By The Way.
59. Wrath: IRE. Sometimes directed at umps.
60. Hawaiian strings: UKE. Ukulele. Spelled
out to reinforce the spelling.
61. Barrett of Pink Floyd: SYD. A founding member of the
English band before they became really popular.
28. Advanced degree for a gemologist?: DOCTOR OF FLAWS.
47. Metropolis, thanks to Superman?: CITY OF FLIGHTS.
57. Flunk out ... and what three long answers do?: GET STRAIGHT FS.
Editor Rich tossed us a softball today by scheduling this puzzle of Mark's puzzle for a Friday. Don't get me wrong. I always enjoy solving Mark's puzzles. He's definitely in my top 5 favorite constructors. But IMHO, this was way, way too easy for a Friday.
I loved each of the the three theme answers, but was perplexed about the answer to 9D, IN A HUFF. It obviously doesn't fit with the theme answers in the sense of a known phrase that changes meaning because of the added F, but the 2 efs in huff gave pause.
Across:
1. President before Wilson: TAFT.
5. Sign of shock: GASP.
9. Classical inspiration for the 2004 film "Troy": ILIAD. Troy ? Hello, Irish Miss ! Hope you are feeling a little better.
14. Another, in Mexico: OTRO. Fill in OTR and check the perp to decide if it will be A (feminine) or O (masculine). Oh no ! The perp is also Spanish. Good thing we all know the Spanish word for bullfighter.
15. __ ID: USER. You can make your USERIDs complex, but there's no need. Keep them simple. Make your passwords complex, and change them frequently.
16. Chip in a bowl: NACHO. Doritos Nacho Cheese are favored chips in this casa.
17. Almost at: NEAR.
18. Long vehicle: LIMO. A conversation starter for your Limo driver ? It's derived from Limousine. From Limousin, a region in France. A Gallic tribe (Celtics on the continent) lived there in the time of Caesar. They were known as Lemovices, which means "those who vanquish by the elm." Lemo - elm, and uices - victors. In the end, their elm bows and lances were no match as Caesar's armies laid siege. Even though the Roman Army was outnumbered 4 to 1, they won the battle and claimed Gaul once and for all as a Roman province. If you driver has no interest, just talk about the weather.
19. It has no subs: A TEAM. Loved this clue.
23. Like a disciplinarian: STERN.
24. Torque symbol, in mechanics: TAU.
25. RV chain: KOA.
33. Ominous: DIRE.
34. Destinies: FATEs. There were three Goddesses of Fates, as we learned in Steve's write up on June 18th. They were Clotho the Spinner, Lachesis the Alloter, and Atropos the Inflexible. Speaking of destinies, the all girl group Destiny's Child consisted of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams.
35. Push-up targets: PECs. Pectoral muscles.
39. Not against the rules: LEGAL. Licit.
42. Like a hairpin: BENT.
43. Stretched circles?: OVALs.
45. Brewpub array: ALEs.
52. Corrida cheer: OLE. For the torero.
53. Waze suggestion: Abbr.: RTE. Waze is a GPS app from Google.
54. Estée Lauder subsidiary: AVEDA. Never heard of it until solving C.C.'s "Back to Basics" crossword puzzle last Sunday. She remarked in the review that it is a Minnesota based company owned by Estee Lauder.
62. Problematic bacterium: E. coli.
64. The Mississippi forms its eastern border: IOWA. And the Missouri forms most of its western border.
65. Northern European capital: OSLO.
66. Singer nicknamed "The Velvet Fog": TORME. I read that at age 19 he composed the music and co-wrote the lyrics for this song made famous by Nat King Cole.
67. Visible pollution: SMOG. Fog and then smog ? And ice crystals in the air forming a sundog ?
68. Comics icon Lee: STAN. Marvel Comics.
69. Vast chasm: ABYSS.
70. Sun dog, e.g.: HALO. I believe you pretty much have to be in a colder climate like the northern states or Canada to see these when the sun is at the horizon.
7. Big rig: SEMI. One of my "other duties" in the Army was driving one of these M818 5 ton tractor trucks. Mine was a -A2 multifuel with a ragtop and a semi trailer rather than the lowboy pictured. 10 wheels on 3 driven axles with a lot of torque, and no creature comforts in the cab.
8. Stat relative: PRONTO.
9. Highly annoyed: IN A HUFF.
10. Having missed the deadline: LATE.
11. Item of hockey equipment: ICE SKATE. Like some potato chips, one is usually not enough.
12. Cry of discovery: AHA.
13. Champagne title: DOM.
21. Like much '80s-'90s music: ON CD.
22. Half-__: coffee order: CAF.
26. Wilson who voiced Lightning McQueen in "Cars" films: OWEN. Also the first name of our resident poet and host of Jumblehints Blogspot
27. A new exec may hire one: ASST. The position title is usually ...
29. Shop __ you drop: 'TIL. "Honey, look how much money I saved !"
32. Yellow __: LAB. The most popular dog in the United States is the Labrador.
35. Somewhat, to Schubert: POCO. When it came to music, he was anything but poco. One of the most prolific composers of all time. Schubert only lived to age 31. Steve had poco yesterday in Joe Denney's puzzle yesterday with the clue [Slightly, in scores].
36. Villainous: EVIL.
37. One in a Trivial Pursuit sextet: CATEGORY.
38. Slick: SLY.
40. Big name in Islam: ALI.
41. KFC selection: LEG.
44. Military pilot's missions: SORTIEs.
46. Heavy carpet: SHAG.
48. NBA foul shots: FTs. Free throws.
49. Magic charm: FETISH. 1. any object believed by some person or group to have magic power
2. any thing or activity to which one is irrationally devoted to make a fetish of sports
3. Psychiatry any nonsexual object, such as a foot or a glove, that abnormally excites erotic feelings
50. Jay Leno, for many years: TV HOST.
51. Starts: SETS TO.
55. Key of Chopin's "Minute Waltz": D FLAT.
56. In concert: AS ONE. Harmony, unity, accord
58. "Slippery" trees: ELMs.
59. Capital SSE of Firenze: ROMA. Florence / Rome in Italian.
29. Reaction to an impressive flower?: GREENHOUSE GASP.
37. Summer getaway for a young Peter Parker?: WEBCAMP.
45. Waterproofer's guarantee?: LONG TIME NO SEEP.
60. Part of a bad restaurant review on Yelp?: DINING CARP.
68. Remain unsettled, or, read as two words, what five of this puzzle's long answers have: P END.
How fun was that ? The theme answers, esp. Dining Carp, made me laugh.
You probably got an idea of what to look for after seeing the ending P in a couple of those answers, didn't you ? Knowing that the P was coming helped me with the others. I really liked the way David tied them all together with PEND as the reveal.
It was interesting to see consecutive answers at 29 and 30 Down both end with the ING suffix. David handled the consecutive letters in the crossing answers skillfully.
BTW, David offers both old novels and crosswords for you to download at his blog. In the "About" tab, David writes, "You can find reviews and All the crosswords here have themes involving modifications either in language or its interpretation. Their purpose is rather to amuse than to baffle. I care nothing for hipness; I make no effort to include the latest neologism, celebrity, or TV series."
Sounds to me like that would be a great source of crosswords for the solvers who don't care for all of the pop culture clues and answers. And as you'll notice when you review the clues and answers for today's crossword, there's a scarcity of them. For the few that do exist, I wonder if they are David's clues or the editor's clues.
Moving on. Let's check it out:
Across:
1. Thing with three feet: YARD. First thought was tripod. Too many letters.
5. Mucho: LOTSA. As in the expression, lotsa gusto.
10. Life __ know it: AS WE. has changed for most of us. Mind your three W's.
14. On the quiet side: ALEE.
15. Has a go: TRIES.
16. Steady guy: BEAU.
19. __'acte: ENTR'. "Between the acts". Last Saturday, the clue was 52. Entr'__: ACTE.
20. Hardy: STOUT.
21. Makes blue, maybe: DYEs. Dye, Green and Brown were cousin's surnames in my family. No Blues.
43. Game with a "Moo!" version for preschoolers: UNO. U no I didn't know, but it was an easy guess.
44. Future atty.'s hurdle: LSAT.
49. Rio Grande city: LAREDO. About a 300 mile drive for Dash T. We normally get Marty Robbins singing Streets of Laredo, but how about some Jim Reeves this time ?
50. Env. directive: ATTN. Envelope / Attention
51. Short-order order: BLT. Abejo would order his BLT sans mayo. Abejo, I hope you are able to harvest some home grown tomatoes. We did not plant any this year. My error.
52. Ceremony: RITE.
54. Beasts of burden: ASSES.
58. "How the Other Half Lives" author Jacob: RIIS. "...a pioneering work of photojournalism by Jacob Riis, documenting the squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s" - Amazon Book review.
63. Cornerstone word: ANNO. Latin for year.
64. In need of a sweep: SOOTY. Like the chimney or hearth of a wood burning fireplace.
65. French friend: AMIE. Vince Gill, with long hair in 1979:
That guy can hit some high notes. Shades of Roy Orbison.
66. Like custard: EGGY.
67. Beginning: ONSET. From the get go. Jump street. Square one.
This song has an instantaneously recognizable beginning:
Down:
1. Shaggy beasts: YAKs. Goes on and on.
2. Came to rest: ALIT.
3. Pull up stakes for one's co.: RELO. cate. Happened to me. Houston to Chicago. From the 5th largest city in North America to the 3rd largest.
4. Played for a chump: DELUDED.
5. Env. insert: LTR. Envelope / Letter
6. Eye, to a bard: ORB.
"Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is grey is yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion"
Graham Edge of The Moody Blues - A modern bard.
7. Headed for extra innings: TIED. Major League Baseball is back !
Did you hear about the lineup that Toronto (North America's 4th largest city) had in their opening game of the season ?
The Blue Jays had Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Vlad Guerrero, Jr. and Travis Shaw batting one through four. Those first four batters are all sons of retired MLB players. A first in ML history.
8. "Bye now": SEE YOU. Later, alligator. After while, crocodile.
9. Shivering trees: ASPENs. Quakers.
10. Japanese prime minister since 2012: ABE. Two syllables in Abe. Shinzō Abe.
11. Dakar residents: SENEGALESE. Immediately keyed in Sengallis and almost just as quickly corrected it. Why in the world I tried Sengallis or where it came from is unknown.
12. What prevents time from slipping away?: WATCH STRAP. Loved the clue.
13. German capital: EURO. Gee.
18. Raison d'__: ETRE. The most important reason.
22. One of the Stooges: SHEMP. Chairman Moe is a fan, as his avatar of Larry, Moe and Curly would suggest. Shemp was an original stooge but went solo, and was replaced by Curly. Curly had a stroke in 1946. Shemp returned to make the trio of stooges complete again.
25. Penny-__: ANTE. Often meaning petty. At other times, a poker game that won't break the bank.
26. Fish used for bait: CHUB. Now this was tricky for me, because chum is fish parts and blood used to attract other fish, typically predator fish like sharks (as in that scene from Jaws). Chub are freshwater fish, and are commonly used as bait for other larger fish such as bass and catfish. SansBeach, and other fishing aficionados, please chime in.
28. Supermarket franchise initials: IGA. Independent Grocers Alliance. With the slogan, "Hometown proud." Not International Grocers Association, even though they are also in Canada, Australia and the Philippines.
29. Initiate: GET ROLLING. Rock. Get it ? You know, Rolling Rock Beer, the beer that made Latrobe famous ? Or was it Arnold Palmer that made Latrobe famous ? Do you know who else was from Latrobe ? Fred Rogers. Yes, Mr. Rogers ! Plus, there was an apprentice pharmacist from Latrobe that is credited as the inventor of the banana split. Now where was I ? Oh, the review. Time to get rolling.
30. Striking a chord (with): RESONATING. My first thought. Funny how some word associations are so strong. Like Rolling Rock, and the Laurel Highlands. It just seems to resonate.
You don't usually see words like resonating in crosswords. Surely someone somewhere has used it, but I've never seen it. (I think Lemonade has some tools to check these kind of things.) But having only about eight years of solving history, I don't have a great purview.
31. As prompted: ON CUE.
32. Hair line: PART. Two words in the clue. Cute word play by David. Hairline (one word) would be the edge of one's hair, or a very thin or fine line.
33. Old TV control: DIAL. They used to have these on old phones, too. Most readers here should have a good visual image of both of those dials.
37. Word with buffalo or wings: WATER.
38. "Frozen" sister: ANNA. Knew it had to be Elsa or Anna, so I looked to confirm with a perp. The first one I got was the last A.
39. Academic: MOOT.
"Whatever was done is done
I just can't recall
It doesn't matter at all" - Greg Lake.
42. Dept. head: MGR.
44. Shot spoiler: LENS CAP.
46. "You couldn't have!" retort: I DID SO.
47. Security lighting trigger: MOTION.
48. Deer sir: STAG.
51. Highlands hillside: BRAE.
53. Short-lived spinoff of "The Dukes of Hazzard": ENOS. I wonder if this was David's clue ? Doubtful, given his predisposition to "...make no effort to include the latest neologism, celebrity, or TV series." He probably had something like "Grandson of Eve".
55. Identical: SAME.
56. Sportscaster Andrews: ERIN. I wonder if this was David's clue ? Doubtful, given his predisposition to "...make no effort to include the latest neologism, celebrity, or TV series." He probably had something like "Welsh name for Ireland".
57. Went fast: SPED. Answers flowed today. Got the scheme early. Never saw the reveal until starting the write up. Shame on me. Then realized how clever it was.
59. __ sauce: SOY.
61. Mineral suffix: ITE. A few examples would be jerrygibbsite, jimthompsonite and joesmithite.
62. Paper read on the LIRR or Metro-North, perhaps: NYT. Long Island RR, and the common abbr for the New York Times.
Learning moments: Cotton Mather and his father Increase Mather, and then reading various articles about the film Imitation of Life.
Across:
1. Sticking point?: CRAW.
5. Mixed __: MEDIA. " The term “mixed media art” is a broad definition that covers many arts and crafts, including collage, assemblage (both 2D and 3D), altered objects, including books and boxes, handmade greeting cards, artist trading cards (ATCs) and tags, art journalling and book making.
The “mixed media” used includes paints, papers and board of all descriptions, glues, buttons, fabrics, found objects, photos, metal bits, fibres, things from nature, inks, pencils, crayons, markers, pastels and polymer clays, to name a few." - Mixed Media Art . Net
10. Surveillance network, briefly: CCTV. Closed Circuit TV
14. Adonis: HUNK.
15. Finals, e.g.: EXAMs.
16. Vibe: AURA.
20. Plunging neckline type: DEEP V.
21. Island chain: LEI.
22. Annoying: PESKY.
23. Not an exact fig.: EST.
25. __ King Cole: NAT.
36. Panache: ELAN.
37. Número after cero: UNO. Numbers zero and one, in Spanish.
38. "Gypsy" (2008) Tony winner: LUPONE. At the point in time, I was missing the last two vowels, so I and O went in. Fortunately worked out Lupone instead of Lupino.
39. Airs: SONGs. Back in the early days of my solving experiences, we had a clue Troubador' s offering and the answer was AIRS. Here are the responses in the blog comments that day.
44. Code prohibiting singing?: OMERTA. The Mafia code of silence, to anyone outside of the organization, but especially to authorities.
46. Trashy newspaper: RAG.
48. Hard to find: RARE.
52. Old records: LPs.
53. Bobs and weaves: DOs. Female hairstyles. Butches and flattops for males.
54. Eye color: HAZEL.
58. "Barry" channel: HBO. No idea, but the O was in place, so it was probable that it would be SHO or HBO.
"Barry follows Barry Berkman, a former Marine from Ohio who works as a hitman. Lonely and dissatisfied with life, he travels to Los Angeles to kill a target and ends up "finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the L.A. theater scene"
60. Major religion of Indonesia: ISLAM.
68. Rackets: DINs. My father nicknamed my niece Rachael "Racket" when she was about two.
When Madame Defarge referred to her granddaughter as "The Blonde Tornado" back in 2016, I immediately understood.
69. Yankee Candle emanation: AROMA.
70. Retailer with a meatball recipe to make at "höme": IKEA.
OK, then let us translate from Finnish as well:
The Swedish version sounds more appealing.
71. Nervous: EDGY.
72. Frisky swimmer: OTTER.
73. Whimper: MEWL.
Down:
1. Libya neighbor: CHAD. Testing your geography knowledge, as well as country names.
2. Deceptive ploy: RUSE.
3. Poker entry fee: ANTE. "Feed the kitty" followed by "Pot's right. Deal."
4. Sitcom radio station: WKRP. The show was inspired by a Harry Chapin song.
34. __ nous: ENTRE. Listen, do you want to know a secret ? Do you promise not to tell ?
35. Discourage: DETER.
40. Designer McCartney: STELLA. Daughter of Paul and Linda McCartney. She was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2013 for services to fashion.
51. "That'll be the day!": AS IF. "You have to be kidding me !"
54. Conceal: HIDE.
55. Surrounded by: AMID.
56. "Oh snap!": ZING.
57. Handmade goods website: ETSY.
59. Abrupt dismissal: BOOT.
61. __ to none: bad odds: SLIM. Muhammad Ali famously quipped about Joe Frazier's chances, "Frazier's got two chances. Slim, and none. And Slim just left town."
62. Go for: LIKE.
63. Several: A FEW.
64. Event with courses: MEAL. No-brainer, but my mind strayed to golf. Specifically, The Pebble Beach Pro-Am, played on three different courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill Golf Course, and Monterey Peninsula Country Club.
17. Magazine for masseuses?: ROLF DIGEST. GOLF DIGEST
21. Magazine for nurses?: IV GUIDE. TV GUIDE
26. Magazine for golfers?: PAR AND DRIVER. CAR AND DRIVER
44. Magazine for crossword constructors?: PUNNERS WORLD. RUNNER'S WORLD
38. Magazine for beekeepers?: HONEY. MONEY
51. Magazine for pharmacists?: MEDBOOK. REDBOOK
60. Magazine for farmers?: HEN'S HEALTH. MEN'S HEALTH
We have another debut at the LA Times and Crossword Corner. Welcome, Stu Agler !
Rolf Digest was the first themer to fill, but I had never heard of Rolfing. Wikipedia tells me "Rolfing is a form of alternative medicine originally developed by Ida Rolf as Structural Integration. It is typically delivered as a series of ten hands-on physical manipulation sessions sometimes called "the recipe" Who knew ?
Consistency in changing only the first letter of the existing magazines may have made this puzzle a bit easier to solve, but it's still funny and punny. Excepting IV / TV, they all also rhyme.
Stu probably had more choices and could probably have created a Sunday sized grid with this theme. How about "Magazine for helicopter designers? Rotor Trend. Or, "Magazine for practitioners of animal husbandry ?" Sired. Maybe, "Magazine for Lumberyard professionals ? Wood Housekeeping.
I'll stop now and leave it to the professionals. Great job, Stu. We're now going to explore that which remains. And pardon me while I wander and reminisce.
Across:
1. Cook Islands language: MAORI. The Cook Islands are in the South Pacific ocean with 15 islands having a combined total land area of about 93 square miles. For perspective, the city of Chicago covers about 234 sq. miles. Los Angeles 469, and Houston 600 sq. miles. The land area of the Cook Islands is about the size of Milwaukee (96), Sacramento (98), Lincoln, NE (89) or Tallahassee (100 sq. mi.).
Spanish explorers visited the islands in the late 1500s and named one of the islands St. Bernard. British Navigator James Cook came to the islands in the 1770s, and named one of the islands Hervey Island. The name "Cook Islands" first appeared on a Russian naval chart in the 1820s.
78 % of the people on the island nation are Māori and another 7.8 % are part Māori. The official languages are English and Cook Islands Māori. The capital (and largest city) is Avarua, which might be a good answer in a crossword puzzle.
6. Place for mascara: LASH.
10. Rims: LIPs.
14. Ray __, NBAer with the most regular season 3-point field goals: ALLEN. Retired HOF'er with 18 years in the NBA making 40 % of his attempts from beyond the line for 2973 buckets. Active player Stephen Curry has hit 43.5 % of his 3-pointers during his 11 year NBA career, and is about 500 makes behind. Note the consistency in the non-shooting hand.
15. Northern Oklahoma city: ENID. Known as the "Wheat Capital" of Oklahoma for its immense grain storage capacity. It has the third-largest grain storage capacity in the world. Yes, that is a line of rail cars in the foreground. The place is huge.
There were some great shots on The Smithsonian Channel's Aerial America - Oklahoma the other day. If you don't get that channel, watch for it to be shown on The Smithsonian's Aerial America YouTube channel.
16. Legal memo phrase: INRE.
19. Campus area: QUAD.
20. Place with shells: SEASIDE.
23. Informal negative: AIN'T. Isn't wrong.
25. Chopper topper: ROTOR. One of my part time military jobs (ODAA - other duties as assigned)) was working as part of the team at the "Can Point" when I was assigned to Coleman Army Airfield, Coleman Barracks, 70th AVIM (aviation intermediate maintenance) Battalion, 1st Support Brigade (later, 21st Support Command), USAEUR (US Army Europe) at Sandhofen (Mannheim), Germany.
My real job was in the computer vans, 3rd shift, feeding stack after stack of 80 column cards into a card reader, and then inserting magnetic ledger stock into the platen feed of an NCR 500 computer system.
It was all part of the inventory control system used to keep track of orders and disbursements and stock on hand. Occasionally keypunching new cards to replace mangled cards, and running the 088 card sorter from time to time after dropping a tray full of cards. Tray after tray, night after night, week after week. So monotonous. I digress.
Any rotor wing aircraft that went down in USAEUR were transported to the cannibalization point for selected salvage. Rotor wings could not be salvaged for re-use, but were in demand by Air Cavalry battalions and companies around the country. They would be used as art on the hangars or as gate toppers at entrances to Kasernes that housed rotor wing companies.
Most impressive and awe inspiring was when the heavy lift helicopters came in for inspection and maintenance. The roar of the engines and sound of the rotors pounding the air was thunderous as the beasts approached and landed on the tarmac.
CH-47 "Chinook" on the left and CH-54 "Tarhe" (Skycrane) on the right. The Skycranes were being phased out of military service in Europe in the late '70s when I was there, and many passed through our airfield on their way back to the U.S.
32. Salchow relatives: AXELs. Figure skating.
33. __-deucey: ACEY. A card game or a backgammon game.
34. Hook partner: JAB. Boxing.
37. Gobble (down): WOLF.
40. Coke __: ZERO. Zero calorie, sugar free version of Coca-Cola. Artificially sweetened. I've never had one.
41. __-Caps: SNO. Semi-sweet chocolates topped with nonpareils. White ones, of course.
42. "Be there in __": A SEC. What my wife says 10 minutes before she gets to the door as we are preparing to leave.
54. Pal of Barbarino in "Welcome Back, Kotter": EPSTEIN.
59. Afterthoughts: ANDs. Oh, and the guy in the lower left is Barbarino and the guy in the top right is Epstein.
62. Leave in: STET. Don't dele. Obelisms. A proofreader knows these symbols.
63. Half of Mork's sign-off: NANU. Mork was the ET from the planet Ork on the sitcom Mork and Mindy.
64. Brew hue: AMBER.
65. __ d'oeuvres: HORS.
66. First column to add, usually: ONEs. Units. The first column of whole numbers to be added in a place-value numbering system. Typically in base-10 (decimal) for most people, and the second column would be tens, the third hundreds and so on. I know you knew that, but I'm building here.
Programmers and others in technology use other place-value numbering systems, such as in base-8 (octal) where the columns would be units, eights, sixty-fours and so on, and in base-16 (hexadecimal) they would be units, sixteens, and the third column two hundred fifty-sixes.
Quick, what's the first numbering system that comes to mind that is not place-value ?
67. Funny Anne: MEARA. So many roles, but perhaps best known as one half of the Stiller and Meara comedy team.
Down:
1. Second-smallest of eight: MARS. Our solar system's planets. The "Red Planet", fourth from the sun. Mercury is the smallest.
4. Works the game: REFs. Referees the game or bout.
5. Team with the longest World Series drought (71 years): INDIANS. Should be championship drought. They were in the 2016 World Series, and they were leading it 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series over the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs won the next two games, evening the series at 3 each.
In the seventh and deciding game that many pundits have called one of the greatest game 7s (and series) in MLB history, the teams were tied at 6 runs each after 9 innings. Then the skies opened up with a sudden downpour. After the rain delay play resumed, and the Cubs scored two to take an 8-6 lead in the top of the tenth inning. In the bottom of the tenth, the home field Indians plated one run with two out before the Tribe's loyal fans had their hopes squashed on a weak grounder to third baseman Kris Bryant.
It was only the fifth time in World Series history that a Game 7 went to extra innings, and it was the first time the extra inning Game 7 was won by a road team. The series and Game 7 were both dubbed "instant classics".
The Cubs won and ended a 108 year championship drought of their own; the longest in professional sports history.
6. Folklore tale: LEGEND. An example of early American literature was Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleep Hollow, but what inspired the work ?
7. Suffix with hex-: ANE.
8. "Absolutely!" in Madrid: SI SI.
9. Best Buy purchase: HDTV.
10. __ license: LIQUOR.
11. Greenland language: INUIT.
12. Madrid museum: PRADO.
13. Where the same questions are asked annually: SEDER.
18. "__ it my way": I DID.
22. Ethically uncertain, in Sussex: GREY. I loved Dash-T's explanation a few weeks ago that, "Gray is a color, while grey is a colour".
24. Spells: TRANCEs.
26. Treat holders: PAWs.
27. Nerve impulse carrier: AXON.
28. HR dept. concern: RELO. United Van Lines packed up my belongings and car when I was relocated from Houston to Chicago in late '87. The company footed the bill for my relocation moving and living expenses. Actually lived for almost two months in a new Holiday Inn that was still in the process of being constructed.
Then January came, and I learned fast that my southeast Texas blood and wardrobe was ill-equipped to deal with Chicago's biting cold and gusting winds that would shiver your bones. I ran to the mall and bought thermal underwear and the heaviest lined Burberry style trench coat I could find. I didn't bother to ask HR to foot the bill on those items. I know'd the answer was NO !
29. Alien from Melmac: ALF. Another extraterrestrial from TV land. Anne Meara played the grandmother in occasional appearances on the sitcom.
30. __ dancing: ICE. Like figure skating, but more freeform and interpretive.
31. "Oy __!": VEY. Oy vey ! This crossword puzzle review has gone on too long. But wait, there's more !
34. Boo: JEER. Please. Bear with me, it'll be over soon.
35. Seed covering: ARIL.
36. M's favorite agent: BOND. James Bond's boss and head of MI6, portrayed by Dame Judy Dench in eight of the movies.
38. 24 hrs.-per-day retail channel: HSN. Home Shopping Network
39. Wine: Pref.: OEN. From the ancient Greek word oinos. "The translators of the KJV, by uniformly rendering the Greek word oinos as wine, replicated the Greek word’s reference to both fermented and unfermented juice with an English word that, in their day, was similarly general in reference."
40. Wild place: ZOO. The nickname for Gerszewski Barracks in Knielingen (Karlsruhe) Germany, my second station while serving there. The Zoo had an entirely different atmosphere than Coleman. Still the military, but significantly fewer officers and Warrant Officers (mostly helicopter pilots at Coleman) and MPs than Coleman. Definitely more relaxed.
Coleman was the home to the USAEUR Confinement Facility, where soldiers in serious trouble awaited trial, were serving sentences up to a year, or for the most serious offenses, were awaiting orders for transportation back to the U.S. to serve extended time at Ft Leavenworth, KA.
42. Jam component: AUTO. Seriously, was I the only one that first thought of pectin ?
43. Type of fastball grip: TWO SEAM. Baseball. Even ardent fans may not be aware of the arsenal that Yu Darvish brings to the mound.
44. Blue Ribbons, e.g.: PABSTs. PBRs, for short. Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. Not my cuppa, but it'll do in a pinch.
45. Monkey used in research: RHESUS.
46. Future junior: SOPH.
47. Big hit: SMASH. As in an exceptionally popular TV, movie or stage show, or for tennis fans such as Sandyanon, the return shot answer to a poorly placed near-net lob shot.
48. :50, another way: TEN TO. Me: "It's ten to five. Are you ready yet ? Are you coming ?" Her: "I'll be there in a sec."
49. Stranger: ODDER.
52. "That's awful!": OH NO.
53. New Jersey university: KEAN. Not familiar. About Yellowrocks, is that near you ?
55. Domesticate: TAME.
56. People Magazine's 2018 Sexiest Man Alive: ELBA. Idris. Hi, Lucina !
57. Old Roman road: ITER.
58. Dragster's org.: NHRA. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) and International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) are the two largest sanctioning bodies for drag racing. The Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, Wisconsin is still going strong. The "Sunday, Sunday, Sunday" radio commercials for drag racing events can still be heard on radio stations across the country. Well, maybe not right now, but they'll be back.
61. Austin-to-Dallas dir.: NNE. For some, I-35 is known as Main Street, Texas. Almost half of the Texas population (and most of my siblings and extended family) lives along this central artery that starts in Laredo, Texas near the Rio Grande, and exits the state just north of Gainseville at the Red River. From there I-35 travels generally NNE all the way to Duluth, Minnesota, comparatively just shy of the border with Canada.
The reconstruction and widening of I-35 that started in 2012 is the second largest infrastructure project in the history of the state for TxDOT, the state's Department of Transportation. The first ? Building I-35 in the first place, which started in the '50s as part of Eisenhower's Interstate System. It will be nice, and much safer when it it finally done.
Use the Zoom In, Zoom Out buttons on the map to view greater detail or a wider view, and use your mouse to move around. "Ain't Isn't wrong" technology grand ?
If you are a top to bottom solver, or happened to hit one of those three clues early, you may have looked to 71A to figure out what the clue should be. Average didn't immediately come to mind for Garden-variety. At least it didn't for me. Horticulture came to mind. Outdoor plants versus indoor plants.
And Brian and Jeff didn't exactly make solving the reveal at 71A easy. Grid spanners hiding the theme answers, no circles to help you find them, and perhaps not-so-easy perps crossing the reveal.
Adam Savage I knew.
Super star ? A famous person ? Idol ? No, it was noVa. So a literal super star.
Bartleby left me clueless, and I had no idea that he or she was a scrivenEr.
Angle and athlete prefix tRi came easily enough.
Noir weapon could have been rod, but this time it was gAt.
Then we get to: Spanish soccer association that means "the league": La LiGa. Did you know this ?
Then an easy E in gavEl.
Thus, AVERAGE. So "Below average" as the clue for 22, 47 and 72 across.
I have to admit that after solving the mini-theme test and then completing the grid, I almost forgot to look for the hidden words in the spanners. Mean, Median and Mode explained.
Across:
1. 35th pres.: JFK. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
4. Smaller-than-life depiction: ICON.
8. Larger-than-life creations: COLOSSI.
15. Spleen: IRE.
16. Hilo shindig: LUAU.
17. Put into play: ENACTED.
21. Construction __: SITE.
23. "Frontline" network: PBS. A favorite PBS program. Thought provoking.
24. What a pursuer seeks to narrow: THE GAP.
28. Evergreen shrubs: ERICAs. Oops. Make that three words that had to be corrected. Had yuccas. Bzzt ! The Genus Erica You may know it as heath or heather.
31. Meat on a stick: KEBAB. Key in a K (skip a cell), Key in a B (skip a cell), Key in a B and then check perps.
33. English "L'chaim!": TO LIFE. Hebrew translated to English. A toast.
36. Pack animal: ASS.
39. "Gimme the skinny!": TELL IT. TELL me went in. It wasn't until I got the second grid spanner that I saw that it should be IT.
Cue up Aaron Neville. He wants to know if she's just playing with his emotions in this 1966 song:
42. Stiff: RIGID.
46. Northern Iraqis: KURDS.
48. Virtual-city denizen: SIM. A simulated person.
49. __ column: SPINAL.
51. Cabbage in a French café?: EUROs. Usually, slang in the clue would require slang in the answer, but it is Friday.
Google Translate tells me the French word for the vegetable cabbage is chou, and sounds something like shoe.
Chou looks like a Chinese word. It sounds something like cho, rhyming with show. Chou seems to mean draw, or pump, or take out, or pick out, or shrink, or quilt, or flagellate. Must be about the tone.
Many Asian languages (exempli gratia, Chinese) are tonal, so in addition to having vowels and consonants, tones can change the meaning of words. I read that some Chinese dialects can have as many as 12 tones.
I also read that in some other languages (e.g. Japanese, Hebrew, Norwegian, et al.) that pitch accent can change the meanings of words by stressing different syllables.
Where was I ? Cue up Styx - Too Much Time On My Hands:
53. Long trip: VOYAGE.
56. Old tankard metal: PEWTER.
59. Suffix for but-: ANE. Butane. "Man, that's cold !"
5. Numberless type of ball: CUE. My first thought was gum.
6. Pole in a lock: OAR.
7. Indifferent: NUMB. Apathetic.
8. Chest material: CEDAR.
9. Like some wonders: ONE HIT. nh
10. LeBron's team, on scoreboards: LAL. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
11. World Series mo.: OCT. ober.
12. Corner quartet, perhaps: STOP SIGNS. The town we moved to when I was eleven had no 4-way stop signs. There was only one traffic light, with a constant flashing yellow in one direction, and a flashing red in the other. Two churches, a hardware store, a pharmacy, a one pump gas station, a bar, a post office and our high school. Cue up John Mellencamp.
13. Balkan native: SERB. ian.
14. Altar words: I DOs.
19. Welsh national emblem: LEEK. Wait, what ? Why ? Let's check with Wales Online
20. Cheer for a banderillero: OLE. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de banderillear.
25. Have one's chance to speak: GET A SAY.
26. Genesis victim: ABEL. For some inexplicable reason, I keyed in Cain rather than ABEL, but fixed that two words later when I got to KEBAB.
27. Conceals, in a way: PALMS. Sleight of hand.
29. Stylist's braid: CORN ROW. Versus a farmer's rows of corn.
30. Others, in Latin: ALII. As in Et (and) al. (others). "... the phrase in Latin could be written three different ways, depending on whether the other things one referred to were masculine (et alii), feminine (et aliae), or neuter (et alia)." - Merriam-Webster
32. French flag couleur: BLEU.
34. Island nation whose flag has a Union Jack on it: FIJI.
44. License fig.: I.D. NO.. I remitted the fees to have my driver's license renewed for another 4 years via the online portal for the Secretary of State. Didn't expect to get it back for awhile, but it came back within a few weeks. Real ID can wait.
45. Swiss river: AARE.
50. Spanish soccer association that means "the league": LA LIGA. Am familiar with some of the teams like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, but not familiar enough to know the association name.
52. Command to Fido: STAY.
54. Bench mallet: GAVEL. The piece of wood struck by the gavel is known as a sounding block.
55. Christmas __: EVE.
57. Conspicuous display: ECLAT.
58. Hold sway: REIGN.
59. Savage of "MythBusters": ADAM. This program fist aired in 2003 and immediately captured my interest. Myths weren't always busted. Sometimes they held true.
60. Super star: NOVA.
62. Roadie's haul: AMPs.
64. Stain: SPOT.
66. Prefix with angle or athlete: TRI.
67. Noir weapon: GAT.
68. Fair-hiring initials: EOE.
69. Co. that bought Netscape in 1999: AOL.
70. Food service trade org.: NRA. The annual National Restaurant Association was scheduled for May 16th to May 19th at McCormick Place in Chicago but North America's largest convention center has been turned into a medical facility.
