Ryan Patrick Smith says he's a frequent moviegoer, and that may be his impetus for creating today's theme.
20. Cinematographer's assignment?: SHOOT YOUR SHOT. The cinematographer is the director of photography, and he tells the camera crew what to shot to shoot.
32. Screenwriter's assignment?: FORM A LINE. A screenwriter forms the actor's lines in screenplays for movies.
44. Costume designer's assignment?: PITCH A FIT. A costume designer pitches an idea, then creates the clothes that are custom fit to the actors.
56. Director's assignment?: GET THE PICTURE. The director manages the entire creative and narrative vision of a motion picture, and gets it all on film.
This was a fun one, although I initially thought the themers might have something to do with ball-playing (SHOOT... and PITCH...). Instead, they are all common phrases clued as assignments for a movie crew. My only nit was their order - I'd like writing first, then costumes, followed by filming and the final picture. But I have some OCD tendencies, so take that with a grain of salt...and some butter!
That was Take 1. Here are the rest of the shots:
Across:
1. Like a specialized committee: AD HOC. AD HOC is a Latin phrase meaning "for this." In English, it describes a solution or committee created for a specific, short-term purpose.
6. Qualified: ABLE.
10. Sheer delight: GLEE.
14. Ready to drop: WEARY.
15. Squander: BLOW.
16. Wet and squirmy: EELY.
17. Springsteen portrayer Jeremy __ White: ALLEN. The Boss personally handpicked Jeremy for the lead role, and approved his singing on all of the songs. I recently enjoyed him the in the final season of The Bear about a restaurant in Chicago.
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| Bruce Springsteen and Jeremy Allen White |
18. __ carotene: BETA. I prefer alpha carotene, it's one better.
19. Athletic brand: NIKE. In 1971, NIKE co-founder Bill Bowerman famously invented the innovative "waffle sole" by pouring liquid urethane directly into his wife's waffle iron. She hit him with a frying pan, and he's been running ever since.
20. [theme]
23. Short greetings: HIS.
24. Straight, for short: HET. HETerosexual.
25. Make an alliance: TEAM UP.
28. Novel that inspired "There Will Be Blood": OIL. Another great book about how OIL became king is The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin, the Pulitzer Prize winning history of the global petroleum industry from the 1850s to 1990. Although written decades ago, it is still considered the definitive history of Big Oil.
29. Opposite of sans: AVEC. Sans = without; AVEC = with. From the French describing whether to add ketchup to fries or not.
31. Many a Chiwere language student: OTO.
32. [theme]
36. Toys with tails: KITES. Toys with tails: PEKES.
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| Pekingese flying a colorful tail |
38. Nutrient in spinach: IRON. That's why Popeye was strong to the finich.
39. "Srsly!?": OMG NO. Seriously!? This piece of text-speak is dead center in the puzzle!? Oh, My God, No!
41. iPhone helper: SIRI. iPhone spy: Also SIRI.
42. "Ghostbusters" actor Harold: RAMIS. Harold also co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Aykroyd.
44. [theme]
46. Question in reply to "omw," maybe: ETA. "On My Way." "What's your Estimated Time of Arrival?"
47. "Anyone __?": ELSE.
49. Detroit labor org.: UAW. United Auto Workers.
50. Town in Ontario County, New York: SENECA.
52. The works: ALL.
53. Aves. and blvds.: RDS. Avenues and boulevards are ROADS...but I wrote STS (streets) first.
56. [theme]
60. Low on dough: POOR. Since RightBrain started making sourdough bread, we're never low on dough...except after shopping for it.
62. Zither kin: HARP. On a zither, the 4 to 5 strings nearest to the player run over a fretted fingerboard and are played like on a guitar to create notes. The remaining 25 to 35 un-fretted accompanying strings stretch across the rest of the soundbox and are plucked by the fingers of the right hand to provide chords and bass.
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| I think I'll stick to guitar. |
63. Sound that comes from on high: YODEL. In 1968, NBC higher-ups famously interrupted an exciting AFL football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets to air Heidi. While the Alpine movie ran, the Raiders scored two stunning touchdowns in the final minute to win the game. Oh boy, did the fans YODEL! Afterwards, networks were contractually stipulated to show all game telecasts to their conclusion.
64. Volkswagen Group subsidiary: AUDI. The VW Group includes AUDI and ten other brands, as well as Ducati motorcycles and some truck lines. Due to marketing pressures, they recently announced plans to cut their global vehicle lineup by 50%.
65. Like supervillains: EVIL.
66. Hall of Famer Shaquille: ONEAL. The little fella has 12-inch wide hands that dwarf a water bottle.
67. Get out of bed: RISE.
68. French jeweler and glassmaker Lalique: RENE. RENE may not be familiar to you as he died 80 years ago, but his pieces reside in museums around the world. Let me rephrase that: his creations reside in museums...
69. Bookish sorts: NERDS.
Down:
1. Teeming (with): AWASH.
2. Metropolis in north-central India: DELHI.
3. The MLB's Angels, to fans: HALOS. Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels.
4. Cookie with a limited-edition BTS collaboration: OREO. These OREOS feature purple wafer cookies with a brown sugar pancake flavor inspired by Korean street food (hotteok). And they have 13 different designs! They sound awful, the cookies, not the band.
 |
| Collect (but do not eat) them all! |
5. "Harriet" and "Wicked" Oscar nominee Erivo: CYNTHIA. The British actress and singer has been nominated for the complete EGOT set, and has won all but the Oscar so far. She only 39, so I'm sure she'll get there.
6. Monastery leader: ABBOT. Although sometimes Costello took the lead.
7. Veal cordon __: BLEU.
8. Tolkien saga, briefly: LOTR. The epic trilogy Lord Of The Rings.
9. Old mice and such: EWASTE. "What did you whippersnappers call us?"
 |
| We're not EWASTE! |
10. Italian salami city: GENOA. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...seeking a shorter route to DELHI for some lunch meat.
11. Recurring melodic phrase: LEITMOTIF. A LEITMOTIF is usually associated with a specific person, place or thing - like the menacing two-note "shark theme" from Jaws.
12. Big grazer: ELK.
13. Cornea locale: EYE.
21. Mello __ soda: YELLO.
 |
| With apologies to Donovan. |
22. "Dang!": HECK.
26. Gestation sites: UTERI.
27. Put forth: POSIT.
28. High-end hotel chain: OMNI.
29. "Concrete Rose" novelist Thomas: ANGIE. ANGIE started by writing lists before becoming a bestselling author.
30. Dryer outlet: VENT.
32. S'mores cookers: FIRES.
33. Speak from a rostrum: ORATE. "Friends, ROMANs, countrymen..."
34. Namesakes of most planets: ROMAN GODS. The word "planet" comes from the ancient Greek word for "wanderer." This was later changed to Roamin'.
35. Little devils: IMPS.
37. "That didn't escape my notice": I SAW. I spy through my OCULI...
40. Windows shaped like 13-Downs: OCULI. "Oculus" is a Latin word that translates to "eye". OCULI are circular or oval windows, or a circular opening at the top of a dome. Keep an eye out for one when in Rome.
 |
| The Pantheon |
43. Product of a schism: SECT.
45. Golden, as bygone days: HALCYON. HALCYON means calm, peaceful, and happy, often used to describe an idyllic time in the past.
48. Foam: LATHER.
51. Otherworldly: EERIE.
52. Waldorf salad fruit: APPLE. Here's a hilarious scene from
53. Less polite: RUDER. RUDER looks wrong for some reason.
54. Trepidation: DREAD.
55. Exchanges for money: SELLS. As opposed to bartering, which is the direct exchange of goods or services without using money. Having my own business, I've occasionally bartered my services for things such as kitchen counter tops, a new garage door, and even Dolphin football tickets.
57. Order at a restaurant: HAVE.
58. CNN anchor Burnett: ERIN. The news veteran has been at CNN for 15 years.
60. Target score in disc golf: PAR. Just like regular golf.
61. "Bien sûr": OUI. "Bien sûr" is French for "Of course!" as when asked if you want ketchup on your fries.
And that's a wrap.
Be good. RB
