Good Morning, Curciverbalists! Malodorous Manatee here along with a semi-aquatic-mammalian friend to wish everyone a positively special Thursday. Today, our puzzle setter is Parikshit S. Bhat, a veteran of at least two other previously-published L.A Times puzzles, who seems to have riffed on his own initials with today's very straight-forward theme. P. S. Bhat has taken five common word pairs that begin with the letter P and added his middle initial, S, at the beginning to create new, amusing word pairs that all start with SP.
Today, The SP awards go to:
17 Across: Fish eggs seller?: SPAWN SHOP. Or, perhaps, baby salmon hit the mall?
25 Across: Command to Siri to read the clock?: SPEAK TIME. It sounds like Tonto is making the request of Apple.
PEAK TIME Energy Pricing
35 Across: Public relations fund?: SPIN MONEY. Pin MONEY is a small sum used to pay for incidentals and SPIN doctors, a slang term for public relations professionals, mold public images of persons and events.
50 Across: Recreational libation?: SPORT WINE. A SPORT is a form of recreation and port wine is a Portuguese fortified WINE.
59 Across: Music for a feisty orator?: SPUNK ROCK. . . . . and a previously-thought-of riff, apparently.
Unless this madescent marine mammal missed something more, that's it for the uncomplicated, yet clever, theme.
Now, with a nod to Paul Harvey, for the rest of the story:
Across:
1. Multiple choice test options, often: ABCD.
5. Researched item: FACT. Isn't it a FACT only after the research confirms it?
9. It may be knitted: BROW.
13. "Mississippi Masala" filmmaker __ Nair: MIRA.
14. Many a map dot: ISLE. Sometimes, the same clue is used for TOWN.
15. Skirmish: RUN IN. There are several ways this might have been clued but the puzzle setter went the argument, or dispute, route.
19. Delete: ERASE.
20. Admit a mistake: OWN IT.
20. Admit a mistake: OWN IT.
21. City ESE of Phoenix: MESA. MESA, Arizona
23. Morning drops: DEW
.
Grateful Dead - Morning DEW
24. Tim who voiced Buzz Lightyear: ALLEN. That's Tim ALLEN on the right, below.
27. Arranged: LAID OUT.
29. "You're on the right track": WARMER
.
30. North end?: ERN North end. South end. East end. West end. F end.
31. Golf date ruiner: RAIN. Or not.
31. Golf date ruiner: RAIN. Or not.
Swinging In The Rain
34. She played Thelma in "Thelma & Louise": GEENA. GEENA Davis
38. One of a 15th-century seagoing trio: PINTA. In fourteen hundred and ninety-two Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
41. Soft drink nut: KOLA. In the 1880's, a pharmacist in Georgia, John Pemberton, took caffeine extracted from KOLA nuts and cocaine-containing extracts from coca leaves and mixed them with sugar, other flavorings, and carbonated water to invent Coca Cola.
42. Clamorous sound: DIN.
42. Clamorous sound: DIN.
45. "Let me rephrase that ... ": I MEANT.
47. How Clint Eastwood usually delivers his lines: TERSELY
.
53. Copious: AMPLE. I think of copious as being more than AMPLE. Abundant, if you will.
54. Top __: TEN.
55. "Too great a burden to bear": M.L. King Jr.: HATE.
56. Food recall reason: E COLI.
57. Address with style: ORATE. Not a calligraphy reference.
62. Drag racer's fuel, briefly: NITRO. NITROmethane.
63. Word repeated in a combat term: MANO. In this case, MANO A MANO - meaning hand to hand combat.
64. Scary-sounding lake: ERIE. Right now, everyone in Cleveland is taking social distancing very seriously. Even the walkway by the lake is deserted. It's ERIE.
65. Tend: LEAN.
66. Hebrew for "skyward": EL AL.
67. __ date: SET A.
Down:
Down:
1. Early hrs.: AMS. Ante Meridian, although everyone just uses AM.
2. Like Earth: BIPOLAR. The earth is indeed BIPOLAR. But it's not a disorder." Neil deGrasee Tyson
3. Enter on hands and knees: CRAWL IN.
4. Finally occurred to, with "on": DAWNED.
MST3k
6. Stuff in a tray: ASH. Remember ASH trays?
7. Tread noisily: CLOMP.
8. Tent made of skins: TEPEE. Also spelled TEEPEE.
9. Fragile goods concern: BREAKAGE.
10. Play that gave us the word "robot": R.U.R. Rossumovi Univerzalni Roboti (Rossum's Universal Robots).
11. Instantly: ON A DIME.
12. Biblical trio: WISE MEN. The Three Wise Men.
Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar
16. Exclusive MLB cap supplier: NEW ERA. The NEW ERA Cap Company, founded in 1920, is headquartered in Buffalo, NY.
18. Boy of la casa: NINO. NINO is, of course, Spanish for boy.
22. Spotted: SAW. A tool for cutting. An old saying.
24. Golden brew: ALE.
25. Smelled really bad: STANK.
The Grinch's Take On Last Year
26. Three-pointer, in hoops lingo: TREY.
28. Ocean State sch.: URI.
32. Texter's "I feel": IMO. In My Opinion
33. "Tropic Thunder" actor Nick: NOLTE.
33. "Tropic Thunder" actor Nick: NOLTE.
Down and Out in the Golden Triangle
35. Rating unit: STAR. Often, one to five STARs.
36. Temple of the gods: PANTHEON.
The PANTHEON, Rome - Photo by MM
37. Scot's refusal: NAE.
38. Moving engine part: PISTON.
39. Leave vulnerable: IMPERIL.
40. Recent delivery: NEONATE.
42. Regret strongly: DEPLORE.
43.Under-the-table: ILLICIT
.
44. Bill promoting science?: NYE. Not an act by the legislature.
46. Defunct flier: TWA.
48. Bike storage aid: RACK.
49. Marshmallow treats: SMORES.
51. Response at the door: IT'S ME.
52. Site of many a climber's goal: NEPAL.
52. Site of many a climber's goal: NEPAL.
56. Hydroxyl compound: ENOL. The name is a contraction derived from alkene alcohol. More formally, Alkenol.
58. La-la preceder: TRA.
58. La-la preceder: TRA.
60."Sonata Quasi __ Fantasia": Beethoven's "Moonlight": UNA My mother's favorite pianist was Murray Perahia.
.
Moonlight Sonata - 3rd Movement Murray Perahia
61. New Zealand parrot: KEA. Alternatively, a bird sometimes seen in crossword puzzles.
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