Theme:
OM .... G! (Cue crying).
61A. Scream-evoking horror film technique ... and a hint to what's hiding in five puzzle rows:
JUMP SCARE
This is one of those puzzles which I call an "aftertheme" - there is no way that the reveal helps you solve the puzzle, especially in this case as it comes pleasingly-placed at the end. Instead you solve the puzzle, find the reveal and then go back theme-hunting to make sense of it.
In my case, I'd never heard of the phrase "jump scare", and with the "J" crossing the unknown "AJA" it took me a WAG to go for the only letter which vaguely made sense and with that I finished the puzzle.
Per our friends at Wikipedia
"A jump scare (often shortened to jumpscare) is a technique often used in horror films, haunted houses, video games, and Internet screamers, intended to scare the audience by surprising them with an abrupt change in image or event, usually co-occurring with a frightening sound, mostly loud screaming".
So now I went back to look for the five puzzle rows, and discovered "TERROR", "FRIGHT", "ALARM", "START" and "PANIC", all synonyms for SCARE and find that they "jump" across a black square in the grid.
Thanks to Alan for treasure hunt!
So there we are. I think it's nice that Rich seems to have abandoned the "circles" gimmick in the puzzles - this is a great example where there could have been circles to point up where the theme entries are. I find the detective work after the fact much more satisfying than being led to water and told to drink.
I don't do scary movies. I snuck into "The Exorcist" at 14 and couldn't sleep without the light on for a month. "The Omen" and "Carrie" didn't do a whole lot to settle my nerves either. Many years later I decided that I was old enough to watch "The Ring" and regretted it for days afterwards. I've cried in all the "Toy Story" movies, what chance do I have with the scary stuff?
So let's go and explore the rest of today's topics:
Across:
1. Egyptian god with an ibis head:
THOTH. I thought I knew this one, but I stumbled and stuttered until eventually the crosses helped me out.
6. One who crosses the line:
SCAB. Picket lines. I've never been a militant, but I did join a picket line last year and I was cold, wet, mostly miserable but felt I was doing something very right.
10. Blight-stricken tree:
ELM. We had three gorgeous elm trees behind my childhood house in England. One year they didn't leaf in the spring. The next year they were dead and gone. They were more than 100 years old.
13. "Donnie Brasco" actress Anne:
HECHE
14. Flap:
TO-DO
15. Corp. leaders:
CEOS
17. Lay to rest:
INTER
18. With 42-Across, part of a psychologist's battery:
RORSCHACH. Part of the theme. A poll - how many people knew how to spell this right off the bat? I didn't, I had ROR, a blank bit and "ACH". The middle was eventually filled in, but that was a toughie.
20. Seven-time Wimbledon winner:
GRAF. Steffie. A class act.
21. Wisconsin city on the Mississippi:
LA CROSSE
22. HDTV part, for short:
HI-DEF. This was a tricky clue, as HI-DEF forms two parts of "HDTV".
24. They may be civil:
RIGHTS. Wars, ceremonies and law didn't fit, so I was left with rights. And right I was.
25. Singing stars:
DIVAS
27. "60 Minutes" regular:
STAHL
31. Strong brew:
ALE. It can be strong, but doesn't need to be. IPA is strong as it was brewed to transport to India in the 1850's and needed hops and alchohol to preserve it in the kegs on the way. The British soldiers didn't object.
34. Deadly:
LETHAL
37. West Point team:
ARMY. I oddly tried to force "USMA" in here before I saw sense.
38. Prom adornment:
CORSAGE
40. Hear about:
LEARN OF
42. See 18-Across:
TEST
43. Stella __: Belgian beer:
ARTOIS. STELLA! The logo is a star - hence Stella - the Star of Artois. I like beer trivia.
45. Düsseldorf direction:
OST. Damn. I jumped the gun with EST and then suffered when ARNE didn't look right. I could have helped myself by looking two clues down, and realizing that EASTS and EST probably wouldn't work together in a quality puzzle.
46. Hard work:
SWEAT
48. Bridge seats:
EASTS
50. __ Zee: Hudson River area:
TAPPAN. I was tempted by "ZUIDER" thinking that the Dutch would transport their native names (New Amsterdam, Harlem being anglicised examples) then recalled the bridge. Which I spelt as TEPPAN, I must have had teppanyaki food on the brain.
53. Divine fluid:
ICHOR. A completely new one for me. This was my second-to-last entry - ICHOR crossing OSIER was another near-Natick.
57. Laszlo Kreizler, in a Caleb Carr novel:
ALIENIST
60. Nylons:
HOSE
63. Broadway orphan:
ANNIE
64. US Open stadium namesake:
ASHE
65. Surrealist Paul:
KLEE. He didn't stick to one thing, there's the hand of Mondrian, Picasso and other influences in his paintings.
66. Paragon:
MODEL
67. It may be gross:
TON
68. Barrie pirate:
SMEE. "Peter Pan".
69. Leaders of industry:
CZARS. TSARS/CZARS - wait for the crosses.
Down:
1. Fried chicken choice:
THIGH. My favorite, not just for fried chicken. The best flavor and easy to cook. I use thigh meat more than any other cut of chicken, when I get my boning knife out, stand back, I can skin and debone 10lbs of chicken thighs in five minutes flat.
2. Painter __ de Toulouse-Lautrec:
HENRI. He was nicknamed "Teapot" by the good ladies of the Pigalle and the Moulin Rouge. He was not very tall, but had, allegedly, an impressive "spout".
3. Two quartets:
OCTAD. Tried OCTET, didn't work, changed it.
4. Jay Powell chairs it:
THE FED
5. That girl:
HER
6. Orchestra sect.:
STR. I'm never a big fan of this when I see it. Would you know how to shorten woodwinds, brass or percussion? No, and neither would anyone else. Let's consign this to the dustbin of desperate crossword fill.
7. Not very friendly:
COOLISH
8. "What __": "Ho-hum":
A DRAG
9. Amazon crime series based on Michael Connelly novels:
BOSCH. Thank you, crosses.
10. Satellite communications giant:
ECHOSTAR
11. Grazing sites:
LEAS
12. Soft shoes:
MOCS
16. That girl:
SHE. SHE and HER today.
19. Old PC monitors:
CRT'S. Cathode Ray Tubes, I hate to think how many of these ended up in landfills.
23. Adidas rival:
FILA. I think Adidas might look down their nose at Fila being described as a rival. Nike for sure, Puma probably in soccer equipment, maybe New Balance for running shoes. Fila? That's a stretch. How do you pronounce Adidas? It depends where you come from, and Adidas doesn't have a published company "standard" unlike Nike (NYK-ee). If you're from these shores, then you're likely to say "a-DEE-das". If you're from Europe, mostly "ADD-EE-DAS".
24. Yelp user, say:
RATER. HATER would equally fit here. How many Yelp reviews have you read with One Star because the restaurant wasn't equipped with ESP and didn't know that the reviewer was recently vegan, even when she ordered the medium-rare rib-eye and IT WAS MY FIANCES B-DAY AND THEY DIN LET US SIT AT THE TABLE I WANTED BCOS S/O ELSE HAD BOOKED IT AND THEN CHARG US 4 THE CAKE I BOUGHT IN AND FEED ME STAKE WHEN I TURNED VEAGAN ON FRIDAY. THEY ARE LIARS. I WON GO BACK LOL". I feel sorry for restauranteurs the world over.
26. Brightest star in Lyra:
VEGA
28. River of Pisa:
ARNO. Yeah, me ARNE looked odd when I goofed on OST/EST
29. Gps. with copays:
HMO'S
30. Ride-sharing option:
LYFT. I do wonder why Uber and Lyft are always described as "ride-sharing" services? I know you can share a ride with them, but I wonder what proportion of their revenue comes from ride-share? They were never touted as ride-share services, they were launched as alternatives to calling your local taxi firm for a ride, getting stuck on hold, then being told "15-to-45 minutes" and riding in a rattletrap that stank of cigarettes and a driver that refused to take credit cards and complained he wasn't getting enough tips. Uber and Lyft are not perfect, but they are a hell of an improvement over the "service" before.
31. Ballet divisions:
ACTS
32. Early movie mogul:
LOEW
33. Gaelic language:
ERSE
35. Take out __:
A LOAN
36. Island rings:
LEIS
39. Fox River, in TV's "Prison Break":
STATE PEN
41. Spot of wine?:
ASTI
44. Source of a homeopathic oil:
TEA TREE. I've used this to cure sporadic outbreaks of dry skin. I'll abide by the "breakfast test" and won't gross you out with more graphic descriptions.
47. They may be fake:
TANS
49. Slangy nose:
SCHNOZ. I have a friend who is an animation artist. I don't drink any alcohol in January; he drew a caricature of me the day I stepped down from the wagon one February 1st on a bar napkin with a crayon. I never thought I had a schnoz, but the artist doesn't lie!
51. Chooses:
PICKS
52. Church song:
PSALM
54. Passport producer:
HONDA
55. Willow twig:
OSIER
56. Lively dances:
REELS
57. "The Birth of a Nation" actress __ Naomi King:
AJA
58. A deadly sin:
LUST. These are tricky waters to navigate. As well as the Ten Commandments, you have the Seven Deadly Sins, the Eternal Sins against the Holy Ghost and the Sins that Cry to Heaven for Vengeance. It seemed like every theologian worth his salt came up with a new list. I think we should just be nice to each other and leave it at that.
59. "If u ask me":
IMHO
62. Shoebox letters:
EEE
63. "Breaking Bad" network:
AMC
That pretty much wraps up this Thursday. I hope you're all taking care of yourselves and being extremely careful in these unusual times. If you're starting to get a little stir-crazy and want to talk to someone other than the walls or the dog, please don't hesitate give me or any of the bloggers a shout and we'll be happy to talk crosswords, or anything else. You can zing me an email through my blog link to keep your personal information secure and I'll be in touch. I'm not sure I'll talk any more sense than the dog, but at least the accent might entertain you.
And .... drum roll ... here's the grid!
Steve
