Happy Monday, everyone! sumdaze here with a puzzle whose gimmick was easy to PIN down.
Theme: PIN DROP
Veteran constructor Catherine Cetta quietly drops four types of PINS into today's grid. We will look at those clues first:
18 Across. Cautious person's motto: SAFETY FIRST. 
24 Across. Like many ignition switches: PUSH BUTTON. 
36 Across. Trios of goals: HAT TRICKS. A HAT TRICK is three successes of the same kind. The term is often used in hockey or soccer to refer to three goals in a game by one player. It was first used in 1869 in reference to cricket.
51 Across. Anklets worn with a poodle skirt: BOBBY SOCKS. 
Then the reveal:
57. "Come back to that later," and an apt title for this puzzle: PUT A PIN IN IT.
The first word of each of the themed answers is a type of PIN, as illustrated below.
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| l to r: SAFETY PIN, PUSH PIN, HAT PIN, and BOBBY PIN |
Works for me! Now let's explore the rest of the puzzle....
1. Took a chair: SAT.
4. Small tool in a knife block: PARER.
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| The three knives (l to r) are chef's, utility, and paring. |
14. Forensic series with the theme song "Who Are You": CSI.
Who Are You by The Who is featured in the opening credits for the TV show CSI.
15. Trumpet sound: BLARE.
16. Dress with a flared skirt: A-LINE.
17. One who might say, "I like ewe!": RAM.
20. Neck of the woods: AREA.
22. Indigenous Canadians: CREE.
23. OR professionals: RNS. Registered Nurses work in Operating Rooms.
28. Ghostly sound effect: MOAN.
16. Dress with a flared skirt: A-LINE.
17. One who might say, "I like ewe!": RAM.
22. Indigenous Canadians: CREE.
23. OR professionals: RNS. Registered Nurses work in Operating Rooms.
28. Ghostly sound effect: MOAN.
Cab Calloway ~ The Ghost of Smokey Joe ~ 1939
29. Guest's guest: PLUS ONE. If you are invited to an event and if your invitation says you can bring a date then you are the guest and your date is your guest -- also called your PLUS ONE. 
30. Food court pizzeria: SBARRO. Carmela and Gennaro Sbarro opened their first restaurant in Brooklyn in 1956. Today Sbarro has grown to 630 locations in 28 countries. That-sa lotta pizza!
32. Snappy agreement: YEP.
33. Heart of the matter: GIST. In a nutshell, GIST crossed over to common use from the legal world.
35. Positive: ASSET. An ASSET is in the positive column so I suppose one could say these words are connected.
39. Early anesthetic: ETHER. ETHER was replaced by other substances in the 1960s.
42. The Bulldogs of the Ivy League: YALE. I knew this one because the Friday before last MalMan told us that the mascot of YALE university is a bulldog named Handsome Dan. He posted this adorable pic.
43. Snatch: NAB.
46. Primitive shelter: LEAN-TO. I learned this word when I read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as a girl. Pa built a LEAN-TO outside their cabin's door.
48. Tenon's partner: MORTISE. I bet our builders on the blog knew this one. Learning moment for me. Now I know what to call the pieces of my coffee table that come apart every time I move it to vacuum the area rug.
50. Science centers: LABS.
54. Here, in Paris: ICI. I used this comic for Catherine's August 19th puzzle.
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| Translation: You Are Here (ICI) and: Your shoelace is untied. |
55. Diabolical: EVIL.
56. Gnat or mosquito: PEST. To understand this 49 sec. scene from Lilo & Stitch (2002), you need to know that Pleakley is an alien Professor of Earth Studies who thinks that mosquitoes are an endangered species. This is his first encounter with an actual mosquito on Earth. His professional excitement soon turns to ... well, you'll see.
62. Headsail on a sloop: JIB.
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| You can read more about this sloop and see a larger diagram here. |
63. Flurry: SPATE. 
64. Rogue: KNAVE. Def: (noun) a tricky, deceitful fellow.
65. One of five principal resources in the game Catan: ORE. Last month the board game Catan was in the news because of the Buffalo Bills football team. link to ESPN article
66. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTÉE. (1908-2004) She was an American businesswoman who entered the cosmetic field when she helped her uncle sell his beauty products. She has been quoted as saying, "I never dreamed about success. I worked for it."
64. Rogue: KNAVE. Def: (noun) a tricky, deceitful fellow.
65. One of five principal resources in the game Catan: ORE. Last month the board game Catan was in the news because of the Buffalo Bills football team. link to ESPN article
66. Cosmetician Lauder: ESTÉE. (1908-2004) She was an American businesswoman who entered the cosmetic field when she helped her uncle sell his beauty products. She has been quoted as saying, "I never dreamed about success. I worked for it."
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| There are many beautiful photos of her. |
67. Shooting sport: SKEET. Here is a 2:14 min. how-to video:
68. Iota: BIT.
Down:
68. Iota: BIT.
Down:
1. Feisty: SCRAPPY.
2. In most cases: AS A RULE. for the most part; generally
3. "Pencils down!": TIME'S UP. Think of a written exam.
4. "Finding Your Roots" airer: PBS. This is a TV show where Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. guides influential guests into their roots, uncovering deep secrets, hidden identities, and lost ancestors. Here is a list of the guests queued up for Season 10.
5. Brownie __ mode: A LA.
6. U.K. fliers: RAF. Royal Air Force
7. Standing up straight: ERECT.
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| He still isn't wearing socks. |
8. Back in fashion: RETRO. RETRO was first used as an adjective in 1972. I would have guessed it harkened back further than that.
9. Barista employer: CAFE. Barista was first used to mean "a person who makes and serves coffee to the public" in 1982. (I am not as surprised by that.) Barista is gender-neutral in English.
10. Boxer who said, "The will must be stronger than the skill": ALI. Muhammad ALI (1942-2016), among other things, was a boxer with a 3-letter name who gave the press rhyming quotes.
11. Self-reflection aids?: MIRRORS. Cute clue! "Diaries" also has seven letters.
13. "Better we skip it": LET'S NOT. ...and say we did.
19. Hankerings: YENS.
21. Satisfied sounds: AHS.
25. Four-time Bacall co-star: BOGART. Here is a timeline of their relationship from People Magazine.
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| Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall |
26. Meter, e.g.: UNIT. UNIT of measurement
27. Challenge: TEST. This clue works if they are both verbs ... or nouns.
28. __ transit: MASS. Mass transit is "the transportation of large numbers of people by means of buses, subway trains, etc., especially within urban areas".
31. Cookie-makers: BAKERS.
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| Everyone loves a cookie-maker! |
36. Small chicken tenders?: HENS. I did not understand this one. I know that a HEN is a female chicken but a HEN is full grown, not small. Maybe it means that chicken tenders used to be HENS??? I am sure one of you will be able to explain it to me.
37. Two-syllable foot: IAMB. An IAMB is "a metrical foot consisting of one short syllable followed by one long syllable or of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable."
38. Be sickly sweet: CLOY.
39. Earth's orbit around the sun, e.g.: ELLIPSE.
40. Where to leave leaves: TEA CUPS.
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| Some people leave the Disneyland TEA CUPS ride feeling quite dizzy. Hey, was that Santa?! |
41. Savanna woodlands, to a giraffe: HABITAT.
43. "Well done!": NICE JOB. Catherine's grid has 14 seven-letter answers (2 horizontal and 12 vertical). NICE JOB!!
44. "Maybe your iPhone can answer that": ASK SIRI. SIRI is the digital assistant on iThings.
47. Terse "Well, duh!": OBVI. OBVIously!
49. Outdo: TOP. This one made me think of Hahtoolah because she always outdoes herself with her blogs. They're TOPs!
52. Sty sounds: OINKS.
53. Lose a staring contest: BLINK.
Also, Blink-182 is an American rock band from southern California.
They formed in 1992. Here is their story of triumphs and tragedies over the years.
Reading that article explains this song, One More Time (2023).
#It'sNotTooLateToTellThePeopleAroundYouThatYouLoveThem
55. Pentathlon sword: EPEE. This 2 min. video gives a quick run down of the five events.
58. Had a bagel, say: ATE. What's your bagel order? I'll take a toasted pumpernickel, please.
59. Scot's denial: NAE.
60. "Eh, __ seen enough": I'VE. Well, just one more....
61. Vietnamese spring festival: TET. Tết, short for Tết Nguyên Đán, is the annual Vietnamese New Year celebration. It's date changes each year because it begins on the second new moon after winter. In 2025, it will be on January 29.
58. Had a bagel, say: ATE. What's your bagel order? I'll take a toasted pumpernickel, please.
59. Scot's denial: NAE.
60. "Eh, __ seen enough": I'VE. Well, just one more....
61. Vietnamese spring festival: TET. Tết, short for Tết Nguyên Đán, is the annual Vietnamese New Year celebration. It's date changes each year because it begins on the second new moon after winter. In 2025, it will be on January 29.
The grid: 
That's all from me. PINNY for your thoughts?
10 comments:
There were very few “head scratchers” in this puzzle. In fact, I would say it was another Monday “walk in the park.” FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
My only stumble was TEA bagS, but I quickly caught my balance. Had ETHER when my tonsils were yanked as a wee laddie. Nice one, Catherine. Enjoyed your expo, sumdaze. (Hens tend the chicks [small chickens].)
FIR without erasure.
Sailors sometimes say "I like the cut of your JIB," similar to "I like your style."
I always thought MASS transit was how Catholics got to church on Sunday.
DNK that HAT TRICKS applied to anything but hockey.
In my meetings I usually had an easel with a flip chart labeled "Parking Lot." When something came up that wasn't part of the agenda or that was going to take a lot of time, I would move it to the parking lot and get on with the meeting. Usually those topics only required a couple of people, and were easily handled afterwards while allowing the meeting to end on time. DNK about the removable pins, but I used a variation of that knot to secure dock lines. (You can always spot someone who doesn't know how to tie it correctly - they substitute a bunch of wraps for an actual knot. The extra wraps don't make it more secure.)
Thanks to CC(2) for the fun puzzle. My favorite was "small chicken tenders" for HENS. And thanks to sumdaze for another fine review, especially the touching Bogie/Bacall story.
Took 5:28 for me to get done wrestling this one.
Think of "tender" as "one who tends".
In my opinion, ici and obvi are both ici.
I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with this site. Only three people had chimed in, and it was past. 9:00. But then SS chimed in, so perhaps people are just “sleeping late” today.
FIR. This was an extremely easy puzzle even for a Monday. My only nit was with obvi. That just seemed out of place in this puzzle, or any puzzle for that matter.
But that aside, the theme was clever, the cluing straightforward, and overall, it was an enjoyable solve.
Good Morning:
Catherine gave us an easy-peasy offering this morning with a cute theme and clever reveal. I saw the Pin connection after filling in Bobby Socks, but the reveal was still a surprise. The grid was clean and junk free, although I could do without such silly expressions like Obvi. Nae, as always, brings dear Wilbur to mind. The best C/A, IMO, was Small chicken tenders?=Hens.
Thanks, Catherine, for starting the week off so pleasantly and thanks, sumdaze, for the fun and facts, especially the comics relating to Safety First, Ram, and Oinks. Your signature word-play talents add an extra layer of enjoyment to your reviews!
Have a great day.
Smooth CW this morning. I didn’t get the theme until the reveal, but had a nice surprise going back over the OBVI (groan) long answers.
Easy as this CW was, it still contained lots of clever and fun clues like PLUS ONE, HENS, MIRRORS.
Sumdaze, nice recap and loved that lab in the lab.
Catherine never disappoints, she has a knack for authoring the early week grids, a creative style reminiscent of the late Gail Grabowski. FIR in under 9 minutes, nice breezy solve to start the week, thanks Catherine!
sumdaze ~ you never disappoint either with your Monday reviews, always an enjoyable read, thank you!
I noticed Lucina has been absent for over a week, I know she’s busy lots of times but don’t recall her saying she was taking a hiatus.
36Down, A hen tends to her small chickens. So, a hen is a "small chicken" tender.
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