Theme: 1A. Squish: MASHed up city names. The middle city name uses parts of the end of the first city name and the beginning of the last city name without adding any extra letters. Of all the cities presented, Pierre, SD and Annapolis, MD, and Concord NH are the only ones that are state capitals.
20A. Iowa/Arizona/Maryland tri-city area?: AMES ANNAPOLIS. AMES MESA ANNAPOLIS.
32A. Washington/Georgia/ New Hampshire tri-city area?: TACOMA CONCORD. TACOMA MACON CONCORD.
40A. South Dakota/Nevada/ Virginia tri-city area?: PIERRE NORFOLK. PIERRE RENO NORFOLK.
55A. California/Alaska/ Tennessee tri-city area?: FRESNO MEMPHIS.
Al here.
What a puzzle. I can't imagine what it must have taken to get all four theme entries to all be 13 letters each with overlapping names, and then fit them symmetrically into a grid with eight other non-theme answers having 9 to 10 letters in them, and 6 of them crossing 3 theme entries each.
I needed the short ones today just to get enough traction to get started. The crossing of Narz and Lai was just a guess, and the NW and SE corners did not come easily. Lots of music again today.
ACROSS:
5. Flintstone word: DABBA. Yabba dabba doo. Song written and performed by Hoagy Carmichael on the show.
10. Bairn, e.g.: SCOT. Scottish for baby.
14. Pick of the litter?: ALPO. (Dog food) Trademark applied for by Alpo circa 1985: IT'S THE PICK OF VETERINARIANS AND THE PICK OF THE LITTER
15. Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie __": AMOUR.
16. Horse around: PLAY.
17. Zoo retreat: LAIR. The root is in "lie", as "to lie down".
18. Red and yellow but not green: WARM COLORS. This had me thinking about sea names at first.
22. Sing like Slim Clark: YODEL. Not my favorite kind of music, but hey, to each their own. I had never heard of him, but with a name similar to Slim Whitman, it had to be yodeling.
23. Cut from the staff: AXE.
24. Arterial implant: STENT. A rigid tube implanted to hold a (weakened) passageway open.
27. "__ Town Too": 1981 hit: HER. James Taylor.
29. The Concord Sage's monogram: RWE. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
31. My __, Vietnam: LAI. The mass murder conducted by a unit of the U.S. Army on March 16, 1968 of 347–504 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam, all of whom were civilians and a majority of whom were women, children (including babies) and elderly people. While 26 U.S. soldiers were initially charged with criminal offenses for their actions at My Lai, only William Calley was convicted. He served only three years of an original life sentence, spent on house arrest.
36. K-12: EL-HI. Elementary - High School.
38. It may be precious: METAL.
39. Percolate: OOZE. I don't usually think of upwards percolation, but it does happen, and can cause sinkholes.
43. Like some outlet mall mdse.: IRR. Irregular.
44. Quite a long time: EON.
45. Announcer Hall: EDD. Replaced Ed McMahon on the Tonight Show after Johnny Carson retired and Jay Leno took over.
46. Alberta natives: CREES.
48. Anesthesiologists' work sites, briefly: ORS. Had to wait to see whether it would be ERs.
51. Neapolitan song starter: O SOLE. Mio.
58. Soldier who has completed most of his tour of duty: SHORT TIMER. Or an employee who has given two week's notice. Just wishful thinking these days.
60. Drops off: EBBS.
61. Saarinen who designed the Gateway Arch: EERO.
62. Even a little: AT ALL.
63. Passed-down tales: LORE. Related to "learn".
64. Skating maneuver: AXEL. Named for Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen.
65. Broadway matchmaker: YENTE. Fiddler on the Roof.
66. Oven cleaner chemicals: LYES. Also Butane, Monoethanolamine, Diethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether, and Diethanolamine. Wear a mask and don't breathe any of the vapors...
DOWN:
1. Asia's __ Peninsula: MALAY. Southwest of Vietnam.
2. 2007 Enterprise acquisition: ALAMO. (Rent-a-car companies) Enterprise's slogan: "We'll pick you up."
3. Spotted: SPIED.
4. Paintbrush material: HORSE HAIR. Also sable, squirrel, hog, ox, and goat.
5. Become clear to, with "on": DAWN. It took a while for this answer to, um, come to mind.
6. Radarange maker: AMANA. Now owned by Whirlpool.
7. Cleansing agent: BORAX. Anti-microbial, basic pH, buffer, dispersant. But also toxic, especially if ingested, so use it carefully if you choose to do so.
8. Crash course vehicle?: BUMPER CAR.
9. Not pizzicato: ARCO. Return to the usual smooth method of play.
10. Cheerleader's feat: SPLIT. Ouch!
11. More than a glance: CLOSE LOOK.
12. Crew tool: OAR.
13. Cobb et al.: TYS.
19. "The Daily Planet" reporter: OLSEN. Jimmy, Superman's pal.
21. Pianist Templeton: ALEC. Composer, satirist, popularizer of classical music with a jazz feel. Also blind. Died in 1963, and yet there's a Youtube clip...
25. '70s "Concentration" host Jack: NARZ. Former daytime game show host. Needed all perps for this.
26. Ocean phenomenon: TIDE. From Old English tid, a marking unit of time, in the sense of high water time. To "tide you over" is the sense of "to carry, as the tide does". Also tidings, as news, carried on the tide.
28. Lover boy: ROMEO. Always with the male bias. Why isn't there a term for a lover girl called Juliet?
30. Stout hero Nero: WOLFE. Rex Stout, but as played by Robert Conrad, also stout in stature.
32. Start of a conclusion: THEREFORE. Good play on words for the clue.
33. Anabaptist denomination: MENNONITE. All I got out of researching this was they believed in baptizing adults, not babies, then I lost interest.
34. "From __ Zinc": vitamin slogan: A TO. Centrum brand. Do your own research, but you won't catch me taking these.
35. Time to bundle up: COLD SPELL.
36. Like some proportions: EPIC.
37. NYC commuter line: LIRR. Long Island Rail Road.
41. Odometer button: RESET.
42. Blue Moon of '60s-'70s baseball: ODOM. Apparently was round-faced as a child, he got the nickname in grade school from a friend, Joe Morris.
47. Swashbuckler Flynn: ERROL. I can never remember if this is ERROL or EROLL.
49. __ candle: ROMAN. Fireworks, because scented doesn't fit.
50. Silver fish: SMELT. I remember these. Three scoopfuls with a net to fill a wash bucket, 10 minutes tops. Two hours driving round trip. Hours and hours cleaning and bagging to freeze. Pan-fried in oil with flour, salt, and pepper. They were good, but I was kind of glad the run only happened once per year.
52. "Whoopee!": OH BOY.
53. Vers __: free verse: LIBRE. French.
54. Switchback features: ESSES. Hilly roads.
56. Layover: STAY.
57. Contemporary of Rex and Agatha: ERLE. Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner. Mystery/murder writers.
58. Something fishy: SEA. Until about 2048 or even sooner, unless commercial fishing is controlled and dumping garbage is stopped.
59. Give the evil eye: HEX. Both hag and hex are shortenings of the same words in Old English: hægtesse or Old High German hagazussa.
Answer Grid.
Al
20A. Iowa/Arizona/Maryland tri-city area?: AMES ANNAPOLIS. AMES MESA ANNAPOLIS.
32A. Washington/Georgia/ New Hampshire tri-city area?: TACOMA CONCORD. TACOMA MACON CONCORD.
40A. South Dakota/Nevada/ Virginia tri-city area?: PIERRE NORFOLK. PIERRE RENO NORFOLK.
55A. California/Alaska/ Tennessee tri-city area?: FRESNO MEMPHIS.
Al here.
What a puzzle. I can't imagine what it must have taken to get all four theme entries to all be 13 letters each with overlapping names, and then fit them symmetrically into a grid with eight other non-theme answers having 9 to 10 letters in them, and 6 of them crossing 3 theme entries each.
I needed the short ones today just to get enough traction to get started. The crossing of Narz and Lai was just a guess, and the NW and SE corners did not come easily. Lots of music again today.
ACROSS:
5. Flintstone word: DABBA. Yabba dabba doo. Song written and performed by Hoagy Carmichael on the show.
10. Bairn, e.g.: SCOT. Scottish for baby.
14. Pick of the litter?: ALPO. (Dog food) Trademark applied for by Alpo circa 1985: IT'S THE PICK OF VETERINARIANS AND THE PICK OF THE LITTER
15. Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie __": AMOUR.
16. Horse around: PLAY.
17. Zoo retreat: LAIR. The root is in "lie", as "to lie down".
18. Red and yellow but not green: WARM COLORS. This had me thinking about sea names at first.
22. Sing like Slim Clark: YODEL. Not my favorite kind of music, but hey, to each their own. I had never heard of him, but with a name similar to Slim Whitman, it had to be yodeling.
23. Cut from the staff: AXE.
24. Arterial implant: STENT. A rigid tube implanted to hold a (weakened) passageway open.
27. "__ Town Too": 1981 hit: HER. James Taylor.
29. The Concord Sage's monogram: RWE. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
31. My __, Vietnam: LAI. The mass murder conducted by a unit of the U.S. Army on March 16, 1968 of 347–504 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam, all of whom were civilians and a majority of whom were women, children (including babies) and elderly people. While 26 U.S. soldiers were initially charged with criminal offenses for their actions at My Lai, only William Calley was convicted. He served only three years of an original life sentence, spent on house arrest.
36. K-12: EL-HI. Elementary - High School.
38. It may be precious: METAL.
39. Percolate: OOZE. I don't usually think of upwards percolation, but it does happen, and can cause sinkholes.
43. Like some outlet mall mdse.: IRR. Irregular.
44. Quite a long time: EON.
45. Announcer Hall: EDD. Replaced Ed McMahon on the Tonight Show after Johnny Carson retired and Jay Leno took over.
46. Alberta natives: CREES.
48. Anesthesiologists' work sites, briefly: ORS. Had to wait to see whether it would be ERs.
51. Neapolitan song starter: O SOLE. Mio.
58. Soldier who has completed most of his tour of duty: SHORT TIMER. Or an employee who has given two week's notice. Just wishful thinking these days.
60. Drops off: EBBS.
61. Saarinen who designed the Gateway Arch: EERO.
62. Even a little: AT ALL.
63. Passed-down tales: LORE. Related to "learn".
64. Skating maneuver: AXEL. Named for Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen.
65. Broadway matchmaker: YENTE. Fiddler on the Roof.
66. Oven cleaner chemicals: LYES. Also Butane, Monoethanolamine, Diethylene Glycol Monobutyl Ether, and Diethanolamine. Wear a mask and don't breathe any of the vapors...
DOWN:
1. Asia's __ Peninsula: MALAY. Southwest of Vietnam.
2. 2007 Enterprise acquisition: ALAMO. (Rent-a-car companies) Enterprise's slogan: "We'll pick you up."
3. Spotted: SPIED.
4. Paintbrush material: HORSE HAIR. Also sable, squirrel, hog, ox, and goat.
5. Become clear to, with "on": DAWN. It took a while for this answer to, um, come to mind.
6. Radarange maker: AMANA. Now owned by Whirlpool.
7. Cleansing agent: BORAX. Anti-microbial, basic pH, buffer, dispersant. But also toxic, especially if ingested, so use it carefully if you choose to do so.
8. Crash course vehicle?: BUMPER CAR.
9. Not pizzicato: ARCO. Return to the usual smooth method of play.
10. Cheerleader's feat: SPLIT. Ouch!
11. More than a glance: CLOSE LOOK.
12. Crew tool: OAR.
13. Cobb et al.: TYS.
19. "The Daily Planet" reporter: OLSEN. Jimmy, Superman's pal.
21. Pianist Templeton: ALEC. Composer, satirist, popularizer of classical music with a jazz feel. Also blind. Died in 1963, and yet there's a Youtube clip...
25. '70s "Concentration" host Jack: NARZ. Former daytime game show host. Needed all perps for this.
26. Ocean phenomenon: TIDE. From Old English tid, a marking unit of time, in the sense of high water time. To "tide you over" is the sense of "to carry, as the tide does". Also tidings, as news, carried on the tide.
28. Lover boy: ROMEO. Always with the male bias. Why isn't there a term for a lover girl called Juliet?
30. Stout hero Nero: WOLFE. Rex Stout, but as played by Robert Conrad, also stout in stature.
32. Start of a conclusion: THEREFORE. Good play on words for the clue.
33. Anabaptist denomination: MENNONITE. All I got out of researching this was they believed in baptizing adults, not babies, then I lost interest.
34. "From __ Zinc": vitamin slogan: A TO. Centrum brand. Do your own research, but you won't catch me taking these.
35. Time to bundle up: COLD SPELL.
36. Like some proportions: EPIC.
37. NYC commuter line: LIRR. Long Island Rail Road.
41. Odometer button: RESET.
42. Blue Moon of '60s-'70s baseball: ODOM. Apparently was round-faced as a child, he got the nickname in grade school from a friend, Joe Morris.
47. Swashbuckler Flynn: ERROL. I can never remember if this is ERROL or EROLL.
49. __ candle: ROMAN. Fireworks, because scented doesn't fit.
50. Silver fish: SMELT. I remember these. Three scoopfuls with a net to fill a wash bucket, 10 minutes tops. Two hours driving round trip. Hours and hours cleaning and bagging to freeze. Pan-fried in oil with flour, salt, and pepper. They were good, but I was kind of glad the run only happened once per year.
52. "Whoopee!": OH BOY.
53. Vers __: free verse: LIBRE. French.
54. Switchback features: ESSES. Hilly roads.
56. Layover: STAY.
57. Contemporary of Rex and Agatha: ERLE. Rex Stout, Agatha Christie, Erle Stanley Gardner. Mystery/murder writers.
58. Something fishy: SEA. Until about 2048 or even sooner, unless commercial fishing is controlled and dumping garbage is stopped.
59. Give the evil eye: HEX. Both hag and hex are shortenings of the same words in Old English: hægtesse or Old High German hagazussa.
Answer Grid.
Al
