17-Across. Heavyweight who dethroned Sonny Liston : CASSIUS CLAY. First you take some CLAY,
25-Across. The London Eye, for one : FERRIS WHEEL...throw it on a WHEEL,
36-Across. Zesty meat coating : ORANGE GLAZE...coat it with a GLAZE,
50-Across. Beer-making device : BREWERS KILN...and cook it in a KILN.
And the reveal:
59-Across. Fictional wizard, and a hint to who would use the ends of 17-, 25-, 36- and 50-Across : HARRY POTTER. If you manage to come out with something useful or pretty, you are a POTTER! I liked the logical progression in the theme entries. Well done.
Across
1. Los Alamos projects : A-BOMBS.
7. "A Jug of Wine ... " poet : OMAR. Khayyám.
11. Shelter acquisition : PET. Oh, one acquired from a shelter...I thought it was something acquired for shelter, like a tent or an IRA.
14. Hat with a brim : FEDORA.
15. Sport for heavyweights : SUMO.
16. Fertility lab supply : OVA. Plural of ovum.
19. NASA transport : LEM. Lunar Excursion Module.
20. Attacks : SETS AT.
21. Other, to Orlando : OTRA.
22. Happy hour site : PUB. "Bar" also fit.
28. Exception lead-in : UNLESS...
30. Memorable "Richard III" words : A HORSE, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!
31. Disadvantaged : POOR.
32. One of the Mountain States : IDAHO.
35. Some hot rods : GTs. From the Italian Gran Turismo, they are not just hot rods. True "grand touring" cars have specific attributes to go along with the name.
40. Roulette option : ODD. "Red" also fit.
42. "Sorry" : I CAN'T.
43. Land of the banshee : EIRE.
46. Home of the NCAA's Wolf Pack : NEVADA.
48. "Tess" Golden Globe winner : KINSKI. Nastassja played the role so well.
54. Slew : TON.
55. Level, in London : RASE. Those Brits, I wish they'd learn to spell... ;-)
56. Spelunkers : CAVERS.
58. Dash widths : ENs. Half as wide as an EM dash.
64. __ limit : AGE.
65. Assist badly? : ABET.
66. Words before "Happy New Year!" : ...TWO, ONE.
67. Kenan's TV pal : KEL. "Kenan and Kel" ran for four years on Nickelodeon. It was cancelled in 2000. Never saw it.
68. Chats : JAWS.
69. New York county on Lake Ontario : OSWEGO. That sounds like an Air Force song: "Oswego, into the wild blue yonder..."
Down
1. Browns' gp. : AFC. American Football Conference. The AFC and the NFC are the two conferences which make up the NFL.
2. Cole Porter's "__ Clown" : BE A. What movie was it from?
3. Takes too much, briefly : ODs. Overdoses.
4. Peat component : MOSS.
5. Legal filings : BRIEFS.
6. Browns, perhaps : SAUTÉS.
7. Word before nod or buzz : OSCAR.
8. Millionaire starter? : MULTI. Because "mega"-millionaire was too short.
9. Org. with a monthly Journal of Ethics : AMA. American Medical Association.
10. Kevin's "Tin Cup" role : ROY. Not one of Kevin Costner's finest movies.
11. Disruptive spirit : POLTERGEIST.
12. Tibetans call it Chomolungma : EVEREST. Learning moment, but easily inferable.
13. They may be hot : TAMALES. Nailed it!
18. Belarus or Ukr., once : SSR. Soviet Socialist Republic.
21. "Looky here!" : OHO.
22. Small seal : PUP.
23. Low número : UNO.
24. Circulation need : BLOOD VESSEL. I briefly toyed with a "publication."
26. Humorist Mort : SAHL.
27. "Hold it!" : WHOA.
29. Bobble the ball : ERR.
32. Market chain based in Chicago : IGA. With the red and white logo.
33. Room with a recliner : DEN.
34. Insurance fig. : AGT. Insurance agent.
37. Helper : AIDE.
38. Site of Mt. Mitchell, highest Appalachian peak : N. CAR. Did you skip over the abbr. of "Mt." in the clue?
39. __ master : ZEN.
40. Taking five or ten : ON BREAK.
41. Drive up the wall : DERANGE. and 53-Down. One climbing the walls : IVY.
44. "King Kong" studio : RKO.
45. Cologne article : EIN. It can mean "one" or "a/an." It can be easily confused with "eins," which is the number "one."
47. Blow away : AWE.
48. Heavy lifter, for short? : KLEPTO.maniac.
49. Aligned : IN ROWS.
51. Head-turner's hardware? : SCREW. I had a hard time aligning the clue with the answer, since I feel it's the screwdriver that does the head turning, not the screw.
52. Super Mario racers : KARTS.
57. Stash : STOW.
59. Uris novel, with "The" : HAJ. I read it when it first came out, so this was a gimme.
60. Old sports org. with a red-white-and-blue ball : ABA. American Basketball Association. It merged with the NBA in 1976.
61. Piggy : TOE.
62. Writer's coll. major, often : ENG.lish
63. Vintage auto : REO.
And my work here is done...
Marti
Note from C.C.
Our California Coven & Lucina had their annual get-together yesterday. JD said:
"Here
we are today in Pleasanton, CA: Chickie, JD, Garlic Gal and Lucina. Chris (Garlic Gal)
read a sweet email that she had received from Dodo (wish I had brought
some of mine too). Then we toasted her and a life well lived."
Left to Right: Chickie, JD, Garlic Gal and Lucina.
June 3, 2015
40 comments:
Not too bad for a Thursday. I guessed the theme after getting the first two entries, and even that HARRY POTTER would be coming up, though I didn't expect it to be the reveal. BLOOD VESSEL I got on the first pass, and expected it to be part of the theme, but I was mystified how its reflection at POLTERGEIST would fit.
The bottom third took MULTIple passes tho, as RED instead of ODD had a high certainty value, while NEVADA (as clued), KINSKI, and BREWERS KILN were all unknown. For a while I tried ARVADA instead of NEVADA, and the double entendre for 51d had me questioning that one. The clues for KLEPTO and TWO ONE fooled me for some time, too. But I prevailed at last!
The POTTER with CLAY would wrestle
Trying to make an elegant VESSEL.
His WHEEL he would spin
And GLAZE in his KILN,
But what came out still looked like a pretzel!
The CAVERS milieu gives me a scare!
Climb EVEREST? I would rather have air!
Let me wield my pen
In my cozy DEN,
Where crosswords take me everywhere!
Morning, all!
Pretty smooth solve today. I didn't pay much attention to the theme until I got to the reveal, but was then able to fill in HARRY POTTER without needing any perp help. Hand up for not knowing BREWERS KILN. Isn't that what crosswords usually call an oast?
Hit a minor speed bump when I entered IN A ROW instead of IN ROWS, but CAVERS disabused me of that pretty quickly. Also, hand up for RED before ODD, but that lasted even less time than IN A ROW.
I guess I am the odd man out as RED did not occur to me. The rest is once again what marti said.
It was nice to be reminded of Ms Kinski and the wonderful PHOTO by Richard Avedon. Still hard to relate to the fact her father was Nosferatu.
Thanks
Good morning!
Nice puzzle. Got thrown by the "Head turner" clue. I quickly wrote WRENC...and ran out of spaces. Splynter would probably say that I was 80% correct. Nice shoutout to Lucina's TAMALES. And, yes, there's an inkblot where RED used to be. Dewey like the puzzle? Yes, we do.
Good Morning, Marti and friends. Fun and easy Thursday puzzle. HARRY POTTER is part of our culture, but I have never read any of the books, nor have I seen any of the movies.
Hand up for Red before ODD. I also toyed with Bar before PUB and Resting before ON BREAK.
Anyone else think of Wait before WHOA!?
My favorite clue was Assist Badly = ABET.
QOD: Make bold choices and make mistakes. It’s all those things that add up to the person you become. ~ Angelina Jolie (June 4, 1975)
Good morning everyone,
Another dicey offering today, but eventually made it thru and there is enough eraser left for another day.
Yes, I went Red too. The theme meant nothing to me because I've never read one line of a HARRY POTTER story. Turns out it was POTTER, not HARRY I should have picked up on. Well I didn't, so I had a tougher grind.
The NE was almost my downfall. Like Marti, I was thinking IRA for 11A. Also wanted Led instead of LEM and OVA hadn't registered. Chomolungma meant nothing to me & POLTERGEIST took a while to appear.
Couldn't decide if it was a C or a K for KLEPTO. Coin flip got me the K.
Liked 66A TWO ONE before Happy New Year. Nowadays, my utterances are ZZZZZZZZZZ!
It's going to be a top ten spring day today. Good time to start serious obedience training for my avatar.
IMO the head turner is the screw driver and its hardware is the screw.
Hello Puzzlers -
Hand up for Red before Odd too.
I paused at "head turner's hardware" like the rest of you, but then decided it works if the head turner is a person, with a pocketful of screws.
Hahtoolah, I'm with you. HARRY POTTER may be big elsewhere but not in my life. Mr. Dewey had me wondering if I could finish this thing. The top was easy with my BE A clown as my only unknown. I liked the cross of HORSE and WHOA and IDAHO.
But the bottom half had me spinning. North Carolina State and Loyola N.O. are 'wolf packs' but NEVADA-Carson City I did not know. 'Kenan and KEL'-new to me as was KINSKI. I loved the KLEPTOmaniac clue and the TWO ONE clue was different. I wanted GABS or YAKS but my mind was thinking differently on head-turner, as in women, and SCREW ( not a freudian slip) finally came around, allowing JAWS and HAJ.
As embarrassing as it is to admit, HARRY POTTER was all perps. My neighbors got back yesterday from a trip to Universal Studios and were talking about the Harry Potter world. Just not in my wheelhouse.
Too much pop culture for my liking. DNF.
I enjoyed the theme and once I got Potter I could go back and put in CASSIUS CLAY - I had Nbombs crossed with NFL, so had been hung up there. Had WAIT before WHOA and BLOOD SUPPLY before VESSEL, but perps corrected.
Cole Porter was well known for reusing songs in different movies -- he took the tune from "Be A Clown" and changed the words for "Make 'em Laugh" sung by Donald O'Connor in another famous movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SND3v0i9uhE
Off to work, thanks Marti and Michael!
I CAN'T STAND IC AN TINA TURNER
Good Morning:
After some minor hiccups, (bar/pub, red/odd, Atests/Abombs) all fell into place. Caught the theme after glaze. I, too, haven't read or seen any Harry Potter tales. Not my cup of tea. Nice CSO's to Lucina (tamales), Tin and Steve (pub), Steve (Eire), and to all of the dog/cat lovers (pet and pup). Oswego was a gimme.
Nicely done, Michael, and brava to Miss M, as well.
Thanks for sharing the lovely photo of the California Coven. Ladies, you all look very happy and "in the moment."
Have a great day.
Yes, I forgot to congratulate the California Coven on a great photo. I wish I were closer to some others here to be able to meet in person too.
I just returned from my morning walk, and the heat has already set in for today. It's supposed to reach 82, which it got to briefly yesterday too. I suppose to some of you that isn't too hot, but it's a first for us here so far this year.
Musings
-I had never heard of The Pirate Marti. Ya got me!
-I had SCRE_ and still ran the alphabet for this reference
-Ernie Terrell refused to call CLAY Muhammad Ali and so every time Ali hit him, he yelled, “What’s my name?”
-Our Lily came from the Lincoln Humane Society Shelter
-The Apollo 13 LEM served as a “lifeboat” to get those three men home
-I was disadvantaged as a kid but didn’t know it
-RED not ODD messed up the SW for a while. YAKS/WAY not helpful either
-During the grueling teaching, Liza would scream at Prof. Higgins, “I CAN’T”
-NC State is the more familiar NCAA Wolfpack
-Spelunkers - Even just this picture makes my claustrophobia kick up
-TWO, ONE, - Great clue!
-Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Baltimore left the NFL for the AFC when the two leagues merged
-Being a blockbuster does not guarantee OSCAR buzz
-The odds of dying while climbing EVEREST are 1 in 61.4
-Basketball fans will know this ZEN Master
-What a lovely snap of the coven!
Well I "got 'ER done" today. Thanks for the fun Michael and Marti.
Hand up for red before ODD, resting for AT BREAK, bar before PUB, and I went from Ntests to bombs before getting NTESTS.
SETSAT today not SETS TO!
I got the theme early which helped the solve but the SW was the last to fall.
I noted all the CSOs.
Great photo of the ladies.
Enjoy the day all.
I did finally get to ABOMBS!
Very nice, clever puzzle. Like Marti, liked the progression of the theme words. Thank you Michael!
Another great review, Marti. Thanks!
Great pic of the California Coven, ladies!
CED, from last night - I got a real kick out of the graffiti links you posted @ 4:11. The jazz hands and "Push Button - Get Bacon" ones were hilarious!!
HG, what pirate?
The Pirate
TWO-ONE ... ugh, the score of the Hockey game last night.
I probably would have clued SCREW differently.
Nice Coven pic.
Cheers!
NWBS (Not What Barry Said...)
My "in a row" stayed there for the longest time, and I was not sure of "cavers" because that whole section was white. The only Wizard I could think of was OZ! Did he have a name?!?!
Turns out that he did.
Red b/4 odd made me put "resting" for 40D, taking 5 or ten.
I finally straightened everything out piece by piece when the "W" in "in a row" made me think the county in 69A was Oswego, but the "W" was in the wrong place.
If it wasn't for that misplaced "W" this might have been a DNF.
In a nutshell, this puzzle was a bit hairy...
Oh, HeartRx, one I forgot from yesterday is probably the only way I finished this puzzle...
HG- odd ob Big Easy and the rest of everybody on this blog dying on Everest-ZERO
I was also 'disadvantaged' as a kid, knew it, but it didn't bother me. Tried to be nice to everybody, and hung out with my poor friends, who also didn't have cars or the latest fashion. The football and track teams were great equalizers.
But I am sure C.C. grew up with a lot less than any of us. She turned out okay and so did I.
Argyle, thanks! I always thought it was from "Singin' In the Rain"...
ok, I thought it was from "Gigi".
Oh man, is my face red! The LW just got a big laugh at my expense: I'm hurrying to get a check in the mail, and carefully licked the flap on the envelope to seal it. Trouble is, it's self adhesive. D'oh!
Good afternoon everyone.
Bevy of beauties at the Coven confab. Thanks for posting.
Got Michael's puzzle done after a few stumbles. Had resting before ON BREAK. Therefore @ 55a, had tier before RASE. Sigh.
Theme came easily. OSCAR clue was obscure, but 'got it' after completion.
German articles can be elusive, partly for reasons Marti described.
ENS, KEL and HAJ came from perps.
OSWEGO - A gimme for an upstate N Yorker. Had the same earworm as Marti.
Have a great day.
Clever cluing!
Yeah, I made all the first run mistakes that everyone else did. Still, got 'em all by the end. Glad to learn of "Chomolungma"!
This was a real challenge for me today.
Had the same RED/ODD... RESTING/ONBREAK error. Also had GABS instead of JAWS.
As for HARRY POTTER, I saw the first movie but for some reason it didn't "do it" for me. Never read the books. My son, however, is a hugh fan, and can practically quote chaper and verse.
However, Uris' book, "The Haj" is another story. My favorite of his works. A historical novel, spanning decades, about Palestinian Arab/Jewish relations before the state of Israel was formed, and specifically about the interaction of two men and their families, on opposite sides. Facinating and educational.
The picture of the "California Coven" showed some beautiful ladies.
Who watches "America's Got Talent?" That program really has evolved. They show a minimum of stupid acts now. The performers are, for the most part, very entertaining. I enjoy watching it.
Nothing else of note to comment on. Be happy and safe until tomorrow.
Like the Browns clecho.
Could have been a couple more...
30a Big Brown's manifestation: A HORSE
31a Browns Super Bowl chances: POOR
40a Like Browns draft day choices: ODD
66a Browns wins this season?: TWO, ONE?
Btw, AFC, in this instance, may be a different acronym? America's Football Cluster@#k
Interesting puzzle today. Hands up for red before odd. I also thought shelter was a ask for so my first wrong letter was C for cot but that was a red letter. Filled pet in later. For millionaire I was thinking penny, but put multi and that worked. Thought slew was sTew so that had me stumped. I agree with the cluing on screw.
Hahtoola when I saw your QOD and seen the date I was thinking wow was she even born then. Googled it and seen it's her birthday today. Stay dry. looks like it;s gonna storm here in Eunice !!
Greetings!
Nice puzzle, Michael! Great expo, Marti!
Cute theme!
Enjoyed all Harry Potter books and movies. Especially liked the steam train. A gentleman friend got me started on the books eons ago. (Don't knock 'em if you haven't tried 'em!)
Hand up for "red" and "bar." Scratched head at SCREW. No cheats, but took a while. Puzzle Society site went down again last night. Getting to be a habit.
Managed to give away a huge amount of beautiful (organic) squash. One lady came back with several things for me (her mother had recently died).
Great pic, gals! Wish there were a So. Cal. group!
Cheers!
Cool puzzle. Went through similar processes to get it solved as many of you did.
Saw the first Harry Potter movie; didn't like it. Never read any of the books. Good cartoon of a hairy potter, though.
Wonderful photo of the California coven.
Now I have a hankering to read The Haj.
Best wishes to you all.
I thought this was much easier than a typical Thursday. Granted, I started off with NFL and NTESTS for 1d and 1a, but after correcting that everything fell into place.
Haven't watched hockey in a few decades but figured I'd check out last night's game to watch our local team (the Lightning). I learned that the Blackhawks look like a very good hockey team.
Not bad for Thursday at all. Wait before whoa, nstate before Nevada, gabs before jaws, all fixed by crosses. If Thursday is easy, is Friday going to be a bear? Stay tuned!
I'm late posting today. Like others, I had RED and it totally messed up the SW corner until later in the afternoon when I finally tried ODD and everything fell into place. Great relief, thanks, Michael, and you too, Marti, always.
Loved the photo of the Coven and their tribute to Dodo. Makes me happy and proud to belong to the Corner.
Have a great weekend, everybody!
Coneyro, I enjoy America's Got Talent too for the reasons you gave. I like the judges also. Several of the acts were very good. That dance duo with the CGI was amazing!
I liked what everybody (and especially Misty) said about the nice photo of the California Coven. Very thoughtful.
Hola Everyone, I was so busy today I didn't have a chance to finish the puzzle, but I've read the blog and wanted to thank everyone for their kind words about our little lunch group. We have met now for 5 years and we always have a gab fest and a wonderful time enjoying each other's company.
If it hadn't been for Dodo and Lucina wanting to meet everyone this wouldn't have happened. Now, we have lovely friends from the blog we wouldn't have known except for C.C. and the Crossword Corner.
When I tell people I'm having lunch or coffee with my blog friends, they are astounded. Kazie we are indeed fortunate to all live here within a few miles of each other, except for Lucina, and she comes to visit a dear friend every year who lives about 50 miles from the rest of us. We wish you were closer. We would welcome you with open arms. JD, Garlic Gal and I get together for coffee several times a year.
Because I am the tallest, (and the oldest) in the group I can speak for the rest of us in thanking this blog, and C.C. for bring us together.
Hi All!
Hand up for wasting ink in the SW. reD/resting. Thank goodness for BREW (in general and for) fixing that corner's ERRs or a big-fat TWO TON DNF.
Instead, I get an itty-bitty DNF. Unlike Hondo, I picked tails - cLEPTO. Oh well, it was a fun (if a bit messy) puzzle. Thanks Mr. Dewey! Thanks too to Marti for a great write-up. Finally, thanks to C.C. for the pic of the cute coven. [sound like an OSCAR speech yet?]
Fav - Sorry, I CAN'T name ONE so here's TWO: 55a & 65a.
The clue for 56a brought back Boy Scout memories of spelunking in S. IL. Now I just Splunk > data.
We weren't POOR, per se, but w/ 5 kids, we were'n MULTI-hundredaires either. Dad would JAW at us re: electricity use / turning off the TV. This POLTERGEIST convinced me.
BRIEFS, SCREW, I DA HO... WHOA! - there's a joke there somewhere. Who will AIDE & ABET? (bonus if TAMALES are included) :-)
Cheers, -T
Good Friday morning, folks. Thank you, Michael Dewey, for a fine puzzle. Thank you, Marti, for a fine review.
Well, I finished this morning. If I had written in ODD instead of RED, I would have finished yesterday. Oh well.
Puzzle was easier than a typical Thursday. Liked the theme.
Had NFL for a while before AFC became obvious. I was a Browns fan all my early life, growing up 100 miles from Cleveland.
Tried AGE before AGT for 34D. Fixed that.
Liked TWO ONE for 66A. Very clever.
No idea who KEL is for 67A.
POLTERGEIST was with perps.
See you again today if I get today's done.
Abejo
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