Theme: "Interview Day"- as I was very excited to wear my new DRESS SHIRT and tie two weeks ago; I have been told round two of the interviews just started this week. Thanks to those who said good luck to me~!
Each of the four theme answers are parts of a DRESS SHIRT, the unifier at 58A, Item featuring the ends of 17-, 24-, 36- and 48-Across:
17A. One of a pool table pair : SIDE POCKET - and, uh, some other thoughts occurred to me, too....
24A. Illegal football tackle involving grabbing the inside of the shoulder pads from behind or the side : HORSE COLLAR (never heard this in any game I have ever watched, tho)
36A. Album holders : RECORD SLEEVES
48A. Seafood entrée : LOBSTER TAIL
Simple theme, and some corners a little tougher than I expected for a Wednesday, but a good challenge.
And away we GO ~!
ACROSS:
1. Stinging : ACRID
6. Texas Rangers CEO Nolan : RYAN - baseball, I knew him as the pitcher a long time ago....
10. Go, as through mud : SLOG - and Crossword Corner Blog jargon for wading through a tough puzzle
15. Billion add-on : BillionAIRE
16. Hobbler's support : CANE
19. Take the stage first : OPEN
20. Franken and Gore : ALs
21. Old-fashioned wedding vow pronoun : THEE
22. Inhabited, with "in" : DWELT
23. Final: Abbr. : ULT - ultimate
27. Prevaricators : LIARS
29. Trick : CON
30. Bond, for one : SPY - Bond, James Bond
31. Head, to Cécile : TETE - French
32. M16 attachment : BAYONET - M16 machine gun
40. Practiced with the platoon : DRILLED - the analyzer says this word has never been in a NYT puzzle - I find that shocking....
43. That, to Tomás : ESO - Spanish
46. Citrus drink : ADE - like our LemonADE ~!
47. Big name in stationery : EATON - new to me; here's a bit from Wiki
53. Shipping lane milieu : SEA - must be too early; this one got me, and I know what milieu means - despite being French
54. Foaming at the mouth, so to speak : IRATE
55. Prefix with sphere : HEMIsphere
56. Sot's syndrome, briefly : DTs - oh yeah, been there, done that - not pretty, but six years ago, now - Delirium Tremens
57. Moore of "Ghost" : DEMI
61. Airline to Eilat : ELAL - a WAG, but not a hard one - map
62. Major-__ : DOMO - n. pl. ma·jor-do·mos. The head steward or butler in the household of a sovereign or great noble.
63. "__ Go Again": Whitesnake #1 song : "HERE I" - OK, I'll link it - but not the "Tawny" video
64. Part of SSS: Abbr. : SYST - Selective Service System - military
65. Part of a process : STEP
66. Star-like flower : ASTER
DOWN:
1. Battery partner : ASSAULT & Battery, the crime(s)
2. More in need of a sweater, say : CHILLIER
3. Voting map designation : RED STATE - map #2
4. Infuriation : IRE
5. Ocean-bottom areas : DEPTHS
6. Indy entrant : RACER - Indianapolis 500
7. "Uh-oh!" : YIKES
8. "__ you for real?" : ARE
9. Court divider : NET - tennis was not my first thought - I watch a lot of "Law & Order"
10. Displeased look : SCOWL
11. Jacket features : LAPELS
12. Quarter-mile, maybe : ONE LAP
13. Aristocracy : GENTRY - from the French, meaning "high-born"
18. "Gotcha!" : O-HO
22. Charity, e.g. : DONEE - as opposed to the DonOR
25. Where to study mathématiques : ECOLE - ah, French....and the C was the last letter I had to fix - thought it was ETOLE at first, but "Ton" made no sense for "Trick".
26. Funnel-shaped : CONED - tried CONIC at first, didn't sound right
28. Stamp for an incoming pkg. : REC'D - received - all this information is encoded at my part-time job, UPS
32. One walking in front of a train : BRIDE - interesting visual if you don't think bride first....just rented "Unstoppable", thought it was pretty good.
33. Freud contemporary : Alfred ADLER
34. Fashion monogram : YSL - Yves Saint Laurent - here - a crossword standard
35. Like "Nip/Tuck," rating-wise : TVMA - short for TV Mature Audiences; some others are L - language, S - sex, V - violence, and D for "suggestive dialogue"; our little corner has a LOT of this ~!
37. Get on the soapbox : ORATE
38. Humbly takes the blame : EATS DIRT
39. Shape-maintaining insert : SHOE TREE
42. Agitated : IN A STIR had in a SNIT first
43. Skips over in pronunciation : ELIDES - as in "gonna" for "going to"
44. Extremely : SORELY - as in "I sorely missed her"
45. First family : OBAMAs
47. Inventor Otis : ELISHA - did not know his first name; usually clued with elevator
49. Clown heightener : STILT
50. Most crosswords have one : THEME - yes they do ~!
51. Fabulous fellow? : AESOP - not my first thought; see 60D
52. AOL communications : IMs - Instant Messages
58. Bridge installer's deg. : DDS - got me, I was thinking civil engineer; this is the dentist's degree "Doctor of Dental Surgery"
59. Rubbish : ROT
60. "For __ a jolly ..." : HE'S - yes, the "fellow" of 51D made this song pop into my head
Splynter
