"Joint Ventures"
18. Joint venture?: ORTHOPEDIC OFFICE.
28. Joint venture?: PRIVATE PRISON.
47. Joint venture?: MARIJUANA SHOP.
62. Joint venture?: FURNITURE FACTORY.
Four types of joints.
Two maintenance guys were smoking a joint and offered to share some of it with me. I don't partake, so I declined. Besides, I really don't care to be around high maintenance people.
Across:
1. They may be counted: SHEEP. A study by Oxford showed that counting sheep doesn't help you fall asleep. It has the opposite effect. So unless you are a worried shepherd...
6. "Masterpiece" airer: PBS. Home of Dour Downton Abbey.
9. Hideaway: LAIR.
13. Disinclined: LOATH. Inclined: Predisposed.
14. One in the script: LINE.
16. Tribal leader: ELDER.
21. Neon tips?: ENs. "N or n is the fourteenth letter in the modern English alphabet. Its name in English is en (pronounced /ˈɛn/), plural ens." - Wikipedia.
22. "C'mon, play along": BE A SPORT. As in, "C'mon, play along. Be a sport, and quit the crabbing every day about the clues and answers."
23. A toddler may be put down for one: NAP.
24. Curtails, with "in": REINS.
26. Of inferior quality: EL CHEAPO. Pseudo Spanish.
31. Winter Olympics event: LUGE. "Luge is one of the most dangerous sports in the Olympic games, and the athletes who race down an icy, high-banked track at speeds typically up to 90 mph are a special breed." daredevils ! Most of us won't drive that fast in a vehicle equipped with airbags.
32. Programming pioneer Lovelace: ADA. Nailed it. Her mother believed in rigorous study. Her father was a poet. Read all about it at Biography.com by clicking her name.
33. Hustle: MOTOR. Verb. Informal. Run or move as fast as possible.
37. Combustion residue: ASH. Combustion fuel: Ash. Or Oak, Hickory, Elm etc.
38. Like the object of an "Aww!": ADORABLE. So passé. Now it's totes adorbs ! If you wanna be a cool cat daddy-o, you gotta dig the new kings jive. Can the lip and focus your audio, or you'll be swinging in squaresville. Totes = totally. Adorbs = adorable. YMMV.
42. U.K. singer Rita __: ORA. Would you like a frozen margaRITA ORA classic margarita ? Wait, never mind. I was channeling Boomer there for a moment. Anyway, from what I read, she's very popular in the U.K.
43. Food packaging abbr.: NET WT. Net weight.
45. Cause of some royal sleeplessness: PEA. Just add another mattress.
46. Salt Lake City team: UTEs. The college team. The professional basketball team in Salt Lake City is the Jazz.
52. Coastal evergreen: SAND PINE. Pinus clausa Florida, and a little bit of coastal Alabama.
55. Character usually seen in 41-Down (LA NIÑA): TILDE. An image of an adorable little Latina ? No, the diacritical mark to tell you how to pronounce a letter.
56. Nail: ACE.
57. Pink drink: ROSÉ WINE. There's another of those accent marks.
59. "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very __ Day": 2014 film: BAD. A Disney film. Anyone see it ?
65. Trauma pro: ER DOC. Emergency Room Doctor. With just the D in place, I tested for medic. No go. Don't know why I was thinking about the battlefield.
66. Timbuktu's land: MALI.
67. "Stronger" rapper West: KANYE.
68. 1975 Wimbledon winner: ASHE. Arthur.
69. Coddling, briefly: TLC.
70. Place: STEAD.
Down:
1. Plum used to flavor spirits: SLOE.
2. Jazz band staple: HORN. The Utah Jazz periodically play the Charlotte HORNets in pro basketball. In fact, the Jazz will be hosting the Hornets tonight at the Vivant Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City.
3. Adheres to a healthy diet: EATS RIGHT.
4. E. African land: ETH. iopia. The capital of Ethiopia is Addis Ababa. You will be tested on this in a future crossword puzzle. The currency is the Birr, just in case that comes up some time.
5. It commonly involves spiders: PHOBIA.
- Arachnophobia – The fear of spiders.
- Ophidiophobia – The fear of snakes.
- Acrophobia – The fear of heights.
- Agoraphobia – The fear of open or crowded spaces.
- Cynophobia – The fear of dogs.
- Astraphobia – The fear of thunder and lightning.
- Claustrophobia – The fear of small spaces.
- Mysophobia – The fear of germs.
- Aerophobia – The fear of flying.
- Trypophobia – The fear of holes.
6. "I'd love that!": PLEASE DO.
7. Auction action: BIDS.
8. Last-second online auction participant: SNIPER. New to me. A brief article from eBay.
9. Moved out: LEFT HOME.
10. Furry TV ET: ALF. Alf (né Gordon Shumway; b. October 28, 1756) is the nickname (based on Alien Life Form) of an extra planetary visitor who followed an amateur radio signal to Earth from the planet Melmac. Be careful WikWak !
The series lasted about 4 years. It was very popular in Germany. During the series run, a place in Germany named Alf had municipal signs stolen so many times they had to have extras made and stored in reserve. The municipality also created replicas and offered them for sale to curb the thefts.
11. Tony winner Menzel: IDINA. Thrice nominated. She won in 2004 for her role in Wicked. DW saw it in Chicago with her gal pals. I tended the farm. I best know Idina Menzel from crosswords and for the Top 10 song, "Let It Go" from the Disney animated film, Frozen, in which she voiced the character of Queen Elsa.
12. Summarize: RECAP. As a speaker, tell them what you told them. As a listener, tell them what you heard. Key takeaways.
15. Food recall cause: E. coli. Escherichia coli.
17. Auctioned wheels: REPO. Repossessed automobiles sold at auction. You don't actually own the automobile until you get clear title. Lenders have repo clauses in the loan agreements to reclaim the asset for payment failure and loan default. Some lenders may repo for failure to provide adequate insurance.
19. Fivesome: PENTAD. This pentad is known as the Greek Church. It's said to be the hardest of all splits to pick up. As all bowlers know, splits happen.
20. Tolkien brutes: ORCs.
25. Halloween __: EVE. I've never heard of Halloween Eve as a thing. Heard of Halloween. Heard of All Hallow's Eve. Different names for the eve of All Saint's Day, right ? Halloween Eve would be like eve of the eve. Is it a thing ? Oh well, it's a crossword puzzle, and it perped right in.
27. "Reflection" musician Brian: ENO. Understanding The Importance Of Brian Eno
28. Map out: PLAN.
29. Subterfuge: RUSE.
30. It's expected: PAR. On the golf course. It's incredibly easy to get par and more on every single hole, but the goal is to get par or less.
34. As much as possible: TO THE BONE. Very much, or thoroughly. "I couldn't get to the clubhouse in time; I got soaked to the bone from the sudden downpour. "
35. "Wonderfilled" cookie: OREO.
36. Coarse file: RASP. Coarse voice: Coach Orgeron of the LSU Bayou Bengals has one.
38. Not without ramifications: AT A PRICE. "Yes, we can add those additional features", the project executive said. He quickly added, "At a price", knowing full well that this customer had a history of using "unclear communications" and "customer satisfaction" complaints to get more than was bargained for. PEs and PMs call it scope creep. Contract terms and conditions need specificity, with special focus on deliverables. Ask Jinx. He teaches this stuff.
39. "The Problem with __": 2017 documentary about racial stereotypes: APU.
40. Blissful: BEATIFIC. Wanted Edenlike, but quickly ruled it out.
44. Iraq war issue, briefly: WMD. Weapons of Mass Destruction.
46. Currency mkt. money: USD. United States Dollar.
48. Real hoot: RIOT.
49. "To recap ... ": IN SUM. Didn't we just have that word in an answer ?
50. Boo: JEER AT. Increasingly common fan interaction with players, coaches, owners and teams.
51. Smart set?: ALECKS. Loved this clue / answer.
52. Cautious: SAFE.
53. Automaker whose current models end in X: ACURA. Fooled me. The Tesla Model X came to mind.
54. "The Big Bang Theory" crowd: NERDs.
58. "Actually ... ": WELL.
60. "Game of Thrones" girl __ Stark: ARYA. As Abejo would say, "Four perps and I had it." I never watched Hunger Games of Thrones.
61. Turned green, say: DYED.
63. Japanese drama: NOH.
64. Skin pic: TAT. Picture / tattoo.
Here's the grid so you can check your answers:
Wrong grid. Here's the real grid so you can check your answers: