Husker Gary here reporting from the site of a wonderful Wednesday puzzle authored by our lovely blogmistress! Not only has she given us a fun theme but has remarkably thrown in four, count 'em, four ten-letter down fills at a midweek level. Wow!
C.C. has taken four familiar phrases and tweaked them slightly to give us a different meaning with no reveal necessary
THEME ENTRIES
16. Inc. and LLC? : BUSINESS LETTERS - These are abbreviations you might find in a, uh, BUSINESS LETTER
22. Beaming and shining? : GLOWING WORDS - Not merely words that express a positive feeling but words that actually Beam and Shine
53. "What are you in for?" and "I was framed"? : PRISON SENTENCES - Years to be served or this great dialogue from Jack McCoy
Now for some Beaming, Shining fill:
Across
1. Ballet divisions : ACTS - In the second ACT of the Nutcracker, we get to see the wonderful Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
5. Crank (up) : REV
8. Hunchbacked lab assistant : IGOR - Marty Feldman insisted on being called EYE GORE if Gene Wilder was insisting on being FRAHNK EN STEEN.
12. Un-fizzy : FLAT - Don't leave your Pepsi out with the lid off
13. PGA Tour golf course near Miami : DORAL
15. Fish in salade niçoise : TUNA - A salad 25. Styled after, on a menu : A LA Nice, France. Julia Child's version:
19. "No fighting!" : BE NICE - Not to be confused with NICE above
20. Self-worth : EGO
21. Gym unit : REP - No pain, no gain is nonsense. Listen to your body.
25. Jibe grammatically : AGREE - "C.C. is a fabulous constructor" or "C.C. are a fabulous constructor" Hmmm...
28. Come-__: enticements : ONS - Spectrum advertises $29.95/mo. for internet, phone and cable (for new subscribers and only for 12 months)
29. Covent Garden highlight : ARIA - Tonight at 7:30 pm, Covent Garden will be presenting Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) where one of the ARIAs is O zittre night, men limber Sohn (O Tremble Not My Dear Son). Yeah, I knew that.
30. Wolfish look : LEER
31. Pal of Pooh : ROO
32. Green shampoo : PRELL - Seinfeld, "I use the hard stuff - PRELL"
33. Ranking org. for court players : ATP - You've got to go down to #15 to get to an American man
34. Google operating system : ANDROID
36. "Never __ Me Go": Kazuo Ishiguro novel : LET
38. Blue Cross rival : AETNA
40. Dr. with Grammys : DRE - There's no way I could quote any of those lyrics
41. Managed __ : CARE
42. Donkey sound : BRAY
43. Tie the knot : WED - Fewer are
44. Socialite Perle : MESTA
48. Hassle : ADO
49. Tic-tac-toe win : OOO
50. "Green Eggs and Ham" opening : I AM SAM
57. Like the T206 Honus Wagner baseball card : RARE - Ever wonder what a $3M baseball card looks like? Collector C.C. would.
58. Eats by candlelight : DINES
59. Not in favor of : ANTI
60. Summit : APEX
61. Affirmative action : NOD - Be careful at an baseball card auction!
62. Drain slowly : SEEP
Down
1. Langley, e.g.: Abbr. : AFB - Next door at the Langley Research Center, NASA tested the Lunar Excursion Model
2. Driver or putter : CLUB - The 200 yd shot with the Driver counts the same as the 2 inch shot with the putter
3. Subdue with a charge : TASE
4. Cocktail made with brandy and crème de menthe : STINGER
5. Timber often used for guitar fretboards : ROSEWOOD - Maybe the guy who bought the Honus Wagner baseball card would pony up $25,000 for this Fender ROSEWOOD Telecaster
6. Triage locales, briefly : ERS
7. "La Bamba" singer Ritchie : VALENS
8. Addams family cousin : ITT
9. Military rebels : GUERRILLAS - I suppose our Minuteman could have been so classified
10. Ready for the worst : ON RED ALERT - In the movie War Games it was called Def Con 1
11. Speaks with a scratchy voice : RASPS - Bonnie Tyler used her characteristic RASPY voice to sing Total Eclipse Of The Heart onboard a cruise ship on the day of the eclipse.
13. Geometric art style : DECO
14. __ Mason: asset management giant : LEGG - That's LEGG MASON INC. in BUSINESS LETTERS
17. Aswan Dam site : NILE
18. In the direction of : TOWARD
23. Properly arranged : IN ORDER - I'm not OCD, but...
24. Underground find : ORE
26. Be judged unfairly : GET A BAD RAP
27. Performer's array : REPERTOIRE
31. Genetic code transmitter : RNA
32. Often fruity dessert : PIE - Coincidence or not?
34. Slangy "Let's move on ... " : ANYHOO
35. Like priests : ORDAINED
37. What some caddies carry : TEA - A lovely Chinese TEA Caddy
39. The Northwest's Sea-__ Airport : TAC - Seattle/TAComa
41. Private jet choices : CESSNAS - Headquartered in Wichita, KS
43. "Any volunteers?" : WHO'S IN?
44. Cultural pic that may go viral : MEME
45. Oscar-winning director Frank : CAPRA - There are so many but these are some sterling examples
46. Frog habitat : POND
47. Pre-coll. exams : SATS
51. Spots to conceal : ACNE
52. Dole (out) : METE
54. Kinsey research focus : SEX - Hugh Hefner said he was profoundly affected by Kinsey's research
55. Producer of some Talking Heads albums : ENO
56. Sample : SIP
Now, how 'bout some GLOWING words for C.C.'s puzzle:
The Grid