Theme: Set In
17A: 1988 biopic about Dian Fossey, literally: THE GORILLAS MIST (Gorillas in the Mist)
27A: It's too important to ignore, literally: THE ELEPHANT ROOM (Elephant in the Room)
49A: Kids' ball game, literally: THE MONKEY MIDDLE (Monkey in the Middle)
65A: Metaphorical philosophical conflict used as an album title by The Police, literally: THE GHOST MACHINE (Ghost in the Machine)
Difficult puzzle for me. I did not get the theme until I cheated and solved the grid. I had only noticed the THE in front of each theme answer.
Out of the four theme entries, "elephant in the room" is the only familiar phrase to me. Then I realized the constructor simply changed the order of the phrase and literally placed ELEPHANT in THE ROOM.
The last one is a bit odd. Maybe Jeff Chen could not find a 15-letter "Animal in the __" phrase. Can you?
Quite a few clever clues. My favorite is ADS (67D: Pitches between innings?). Excellent sales pitch.
Across:
1A: Powerful court opponent: ACER. Tennis court.
5A: Remote location?: SOFA. Remote control.
9A: City near Syracuse: UTICA. And DOME (42D: Carrier __: Syracuse stadium). Very interesting, Wikipedia says there is no airconditioning in the Carrier DOME due to the weather.
14A: Bay relative: COVE
15A: Surefooted goat: IBEX. The wild mountain goat with recurved horns. Why "surefooted"?
16A: Frigid: POLAR. STIFF would be a great answer too.
20A: Navigational aid: SONAR
22A: Oenophile's word: OAKY. Oeno is goddess of wine. I like how it crosses CASK (12D: Large container). Wish it clued as "Wine vessel".
23A: Race unit: LAP. And EAR (25A: Corn unit). Nice consecutive "unit" clues. Then TOE (45D: Corn site). A pair of different corns.
37A: Barber's device: STROP
38A: "Sicko" filmmaker Michael: MOORE. "Sicko" is too negative. Dcumentaries are supposed to be objective.
39A: Commotion: STIR. And SIRED (41A: Brought into being) & WHIR (43A: Blender sound). Three IR answers in this row (#8).
44A: Acclaim: ECLAT. Thought of WM (Kathleen Wolf). Eager to see her interview next week. What she has achieved is stunning.
46A: Kind of drive: CD-ROM. I was in the golf drive direction.
52A: __ green: PEA. Isn't strange that pea coat is always navy blue color?
53A: Source of low-fat meat: EMU. My goodness, I did not know EMU is a source of food.
54A: Pop: SODA. Sounds silly, but I really did not know what POP is when I first arrived in Minnesota.
57A: Chuck: TOSS
61A: Not happy: IRKED
68A: Archer, at times: AIMER. Not fond of the er repetition. "To love, in Paris" is much better. AIMER is French for "love", verb. Je t'aime, mon amour.
69A: Musician's forte?: LOUD. Musical "forte", as opposed to piano (soft).
71A: Subject of a promise to deliver, with "the": GOODS. Deliver the GOODS. I kept thinking of Exodus.
73A: Lion's share: MOST. So much power is concentrated in the hands of so few.
Down:
1D: John follower: ACTS. Books of Bible. I can never remember the order.
2D: Small salmon: COHO
3D: Fifty-fifty: EVEN. What was I thinking? I wanted HALF, which is 50%.
4D: Wine and dine: REGALE
5D: Paul McCartney, e.g.: SIR. Nick Faldo is now a SIR too.
6D: Decorative Eastern accessories: OBIS. Loved "Band from Asia" (OBI) clue last time.
7D: Experienced: FELT
8D: Hot rod rod: AXEL. Saw identical clue before. Still like it.
9D: Bulls' predictions: UPS. "Bears' predictions" is DOWNS.
10D: Song that begins "The sun'll come out": TOMORROW. The only "Annie" song that I know.
11D: Pelvic bones: ILIA
13D: Affectedly cultural: ARTY
18D: Hurdles for would-be doctors: ORALS. Oh, doctor degree. I was thinking of physicians.
24D: Guinea pigs, maybe: PETS
26D: Green dispenser: ATM. Green is slang for money.
27D: Tube, so to speak: TV SET
28D: Thumb: HITCH. Short for hitchhike?
29D: Novelist Zola: EMILE. "J'accuse".
30D: Blood test feature: PRICK. Ouch!
31D: Throng: HORDE
32D: Impressionist's skill: APERY. And MIMIC (47D: Copy)
33D: Marveled audibly: OOHED. Aahed too.
34D: Projecting window: ORIEL
35D: Country Music Hall of Famer ___ Travis: MERLE. No idea. What's his most famous song?
40D: Rushed violently: RAMPAGED
50D: Alb. and Cros. joined in 4/1/2009: NATO. Nailed it.
51D: North Carolina college town: DURHAM. Duke University.
54D: Alone: STAG
55D: Home to Columbus: OHIO. I used to confuse Buckeye with Hawkeye.
56D: Audition handout: DEMO
58D: 1952 Olympics host: OSLO. Formerly Christiania.
59D: Knock off: STOP
60D: Blue books?: SMUT. We call off-color books "yellow books" in China.
63D: Son of Seth: ENOS. Or "Slaughter in Cooperstown".
64D: Debugging application?: DEET. D'oh, the real bug.
66D: Store posting: Abbr.: HRS
Answer grid.
C.C.
17A: 1988 biopic about Dian Fossey, literally: THE GORILLAS MIST (Gorillas in the Mist)
27A: It's too important to ignore, literally: THE ELEPHANT ROOM (Elephant in the Room)
49A: Kids' ball game, literally: THE MONKEY MIDDLE (Monkey in the Middle)
65A: Metaphorical philosophical conflict used as an album title by The Police, literally: THE GHOST MACHINE (Ghost in the Machine)
Difficult puzzle for me. I did not get the theme until I cheated and solved the grid. I had only noticed the THE in front of each theme answer.
Out of the four theme entries, "elephant in the room" is the only familiar phrase to me. Then I realized the constructor simply changed the order of the phrase and literally placed ELEPHANT in THE ROOM.
The last one is a bit odd. Maybe Jeff Chen could not find a 15-letter "Animal in the __" phrase. Can you?
Quite a few clever clues. My favorite is ADS (67D: Pitches between innings?). Excellent sales pitch.
Across:
1A: Powerful court opponent: ACER. Tennis court.
5A: Remote location?: SOFA. Remote control.
9A: City near Syracuse: UTICA. And DOME (42D: Carrier __: Syracuse stadium). Very interesting, Wikipedia says there is no airconditioning in the Carrier DOME due to the weather.
14A: Bay relative: COVE
15A: Surefooted goat: IBEX. The wild mountain goat with recurved horns. Why "surefooted"?
16A: Frigid: POLAR. STIFF would be a great answer too.
20A: Navigational aid: SONAR
22A: Oenophile's word: OAKY. Oeno is goddess of wine. I like how it crosses CASK (12D: Large container). Wish it clued as "Wine vessel".
23A: Race unit: LAP. And EAR (25A: Corn unit). Nice consecutive "unit" clues. Then TOE (45D: Corn site). A pair of different corns.
37A: Barber's device: STROP
38A: "Sicko" filmmaker Michael: MOORE. "Sicko" is too negative. Dcumentaries are supposed to be objective.
39A: Commotion: STIR. And SIRED (41A: Brought into being) & WHIR (43A: Blender sound). Three IR answers in this row (#8).
44A: Acclaim: ECLAT. Thought of WM (Kathleen Wolf). Eager to see her interview next week. What she has achieved is stunning.
46A: Kind of drive: CD-ROM. I was in the golf drive direction.
52A: __ green: PEA. Isn't strange that pea coat is always navy blue color?
53A: Source of low-fat meat: EMU. My goodness, I did not know EMU is a source of food.
54A: Pop: SODA. Sounds silly, but I really did not know what POP is when I first arrived in Minnesota.
57A: Chuck: TOSS
61A: Not happy: IRKED
68A: Archer, at times: AIMER. Not fond of the er repetition. "To love, in Paris" is much better. AIMER is French for "love", verb. Je t'aime, mon amour.
69A: Musician's forte?: LOUD. Musical "forte", as opposed to piano (soft).
71A: Subject of a promise to deliver, with "the": GOODS. Deliver the GOODS. I kept thinking of Exodus.
73A: Lion's share: MOST. So much power is concentrated in the hands of so few.
Down:
1D: John follower: ACTS. Books of Bible. I can never remember the order.
2D: Small salmon: COHO
3D: Fifty-fifty: EVEN. What was I thinking? I wanted HALF, which is 50%.
4D: Wine and dine: REGALE
5D: Paul McCartney, e.g.: SIR. Nick Faldo is now a SIR too.
6D: Decorative Eastern accessories: OBIS. Loved "Band from Asia" (OBI) clue last time.
7D: Experienced: FELT
8D: Hot rod rod: AXEL. Saw identical clue before. Still like it.
9D: Bulls' predictions: UPS. "Bears' predictions" is DOWNS.
10D: Song that begins "The sun'll come out": TOMORROW. The only "Annie" song that I know.
11D: Pelvic bones: ILIA
13D: Affectedly cultural: ARTY
18D: Hurdles for would-be doctors: ORALS. Oh, doctor degree. I was thinking of physicians.
24D: Guinea pigs, maybe: PETS
26D: Green dispenser: ATM. Green is slang for money.
27D: Tube, so to speak: TV SET
28D: Thumb: HITCH. Short for hitchhike?
29D: Novelist Zola: EMILE. "J'accuse".
30D: Blood test feature: PRICK. Ouch!
31D: Throng: HORDE
32D: Impressionist's skill: APERY. And MIMIC (47D: Copy)
33D: Marveled audibly: OOHED. Aahed too.
34D: Projecting window: ORIEL
35D: Country Music Hall of Famer ___ Travis: MERLE. No idea. What's his most famous song?
40D: Rushed violently: RAMPAGED
50D: Alb. and Cros. joined in 4/1/2009: NATO. Nailed it.
51D: North Carolina college town: DURHAM. Duke University.
54D: Alone: STAG
55D: Home to Columbus: OHIO. I used to confuse Buckeye with Hawkeye.
56D: Audition handout: DEMO
58D: 1952 Olympics host: OSLO. Formerly Christiania.
59D: Knock off: STOP
60D: Blue books?: SMUT. We call off-color books "yellow books" in China.
63D: Son of Seth: ENOS. Or "Slaughter in Cooperstown".
64D: Debugging application?: DEET. D'oh, the real bug.
66D: Store posting: Abbr.: HRS
Answer grid.
C.C.
