Theme Wildlife Safari - as the reveal across the center tells us what to look for:
36A. Tot's plaything ... and a feature of 17-, 25-, 48- and 59-Across: STUFFED ANIMAL
We're looking for an animal "stuffed" into the theme entries, to wit:
36A. Tot's plaything ... and a feature of 17-, 25-, 48- and 59-Across: STUFFED ANIMAL
We're looking for an animal "stuffed" into the theme entries, to wit:
17A. Tackled the job: HAD A GO AT IT. Goat. Personally, I'd clue this as "Tried to tackle the job". If you have a go at something, you try it, it's moot whether the attempt was successful or not. Minor quibble.
25A. Range for a manhunt: SEARCH AREA. Hare. There was a great "hare hunt" in Britain in the late 70's. Author and artist Kit Williams created a jeweled, golden hare and buried it, and then published a picture book, "Masquerade" , which he said contained all the clues necessary to find the piece. It caused quite a stir and sparked a huge treasure hunt. which lasted quite some time before the jewelry was found. As time went on and the hare still hadn't been located, a canny West End theatre producer adapted the book into a stage play starring Roger Rees. People flocked to the performances hoping to gain extra clues or insight into the secret location. They didn't, but the producer made a lot of money (and yes, some of it was mine!).
48A. Intercepting, as at the pass: HEADING OFF. Dingo.
59A. Ready to start the day: UP AND ABOUT. I wanted "Up and at 'em" right until it didn't fit, and there was no stuffed animal. Cue rethink.
Straightforward enough theme from Bruce, I call this kind of theme a bonus - you don't need the theme to solve the puzzle, and, really, it's just a nice after-party treasure hunt to find the prizes. I do like when the circles don't make an appearance when not needed (unlike these kind of theme puzzles where the "treasure" skips up and down between rows).
And so let's continue the journey:
Across:
1. Play with strings: STRUM
6. Blubber: FLAB. Possibly the result of eating too much ....
10. __ buco: OSSO. Food! The classic recipe calls for veal shanks which are not to some people's taste. I make a version with beef shank, the all-important marrow is there.
16. Place to talk shop?: MALL. Fun clue.
19. Passionate: AVID
20. Second sequel's number: III. Unless you're a Star Wars fan, in which case I believe the second sequel was the fifth in the trilogy, of course none of that makes sense.
21. Sacred chests: ARKS
22. Thrash: WHOMP. Fun word.
23. Winter coat?: SNOW
28. Arizona landforms: MESAS
30. TourBook-issuing org.: AAA
31. Designer monogram: YSL. Yves St. Laurent. He has one of those names which you can't imagine being attached to anything other than his profession. Do you see your tax guy or your mechanic being called Yves St. Laurent?
32. "Hasta la vista": SEE YA!
33. Comic strip frames: PANELS
40. Forklift load: PALLET
41. Stuffy-sounding: NASAL
43. Many AARP mems.: SRS. Seniors. I started getting AARP membership invitations when I turned 50. There didn't seem to be a lot of upside to membership, I got the same discounts with AAA or just turning up. It was when I started getting mailers from Forest Lawn Cemeteries that I started feeling a little old. I got over that.
46. Issa of "The Hate U Give": RAE. Thank you, crosses.
47. Dire: GRAVE
53. Christmas poem opener: 'TWAS
54. "Hasta la vista": ADIOS! This is a Corner-coined "clecho" - same clue, echoed for a different entry.
55. "The Daily Show" host: NOAH. Trevor. He took over from Jon Stewart after being a writer on the show.
57. Nos. on driver's licenses: HTS. Heights. At least they aren't prone to change as much as WTS.
58. Sharp turns: ZAGS. Can you zag before you zig? Or zag and zag again? We should be told.
62. Succulent plant genus: ALOE
63. Gumption: GRIT
64. __ toast: MELBA. How do you know you've made it as an opera singer? You have toasted bread named for you. It seems a stretch, but Dame Nellie Melba should be proud. (Her real name was Helen Porter Mitchell, but "Mitchell Toast" didn't catch on in the Melbourne diners).
65. Sew a patch on, perhaps: MEND
66. Possessive pronoun: HERS
67. Roundup critter: STEER. Rawhide!
Down:
1. Deep rifts: SCHISMS. Mostly religious, I think.
2. New recruits: TRAINEES
3. Hobbyist's contraption: RADIO SET. Did anyone build their own short-wave radio set and transmit to the great beyond? The Internet has mostly replaced the thrill of hearing a Russian sea captain reply from his
4. Sch. founded by Jefferson: U.VA.
5. Prefix with bytes or bucks: MEGA. A megabyte of storage used to cost megabucks. Those days are long gone.
6. Oddball: FLAKE
7. Tons o': LOTSA'
8. "The Rookie" actress Larter: ALI. Again, crosses, I thank you.
9. Club alternative: BLT. More Food! If you've ever had a BLT with a slice of bread in the middle, you've got a crossover club/BLT - the middle slice of bread is what defines a club - which makes a Big Mac a club sandwich.
10. Home of Minor League Baseball's Storm Chasers: OMAHA. What a great name. The minor league teams in all sports have the best names. Who wouldn't root for the Alberquerque Isotopes, the Hartford Yard Goats or the
11. Cooking show adjective: SAVORY
12. Covers with goop: SLIMES
13. Bud from way back: OLD PAL. Slap on the back, old mate, old pal, old buddy. Wait, what's with the "old"?
18. "Grey's Anatomy" settings, for short: O.R'S. First instinct was E.R's, then ah! Surgery!
22. 33-Down's purview: WHALING. Cross-reference clue, but not far to look for the second part.
24. Path to the top: WAY UP
26. Charged: RAN AT
27. Normandy city: CAEN
29. Trips where big cats are spotted: SAFARIS. Here we are mid-Bruce safari. How apt.
33. Ship owner who described Ahab as "ungodly, god-like": PELEG. I remember him by "Peg Leg" and forget the "G". Has anyone actually read Moby Dick? I'm currently working my way though "The Gormenghast Trilogy" which I abandoned some many years ago. I'm not sure I'm going to get through it this time.
34. Stand buy: ADE
35. "Good thinking!": SMART
37. Custard dessert: FLAN
38. Considering everything: AS A WHOLE
39. Conduit created by volcanic activity: LAVA TUBE. Is this a thing? I guess vulcanologists would say so. Yellowstone National Park is one enormous caldera, so when that lava tube goes rogue, hello Idaho!
42. Cigarette ad claim: LESS TAR. Amazing to think that you could still post ads claiming your cigarettes were "cleaner", although we don't seemed to have learned a whole lot if the vaping ads and businesses are anything to go by.
43. Superhero acronym involving Hercules, Zeus, Achilles and three others: SHAZAM. No clue. Researching "Shazam superhero" I find a lot of names that don't add up to an acronym. So I'll thank the crosses, and move on, wondering why "Oggo" didn't make it into the mix.
44. Killian's, originally: RED ALE
45. Former Southeast Asian capital: SAIGON. Now Ho Chi Minh City. Do the residents still call it "Saigon"? I wonder. On my bucket list for the food!
49. Gave a shot, say: DOSED
50. Studio sign: ON AIR
51. Formatting menu list: FONTS
52. It's not hot long: FAD
56. Ones acting badly: HAMS
59. "So gross!": UGH!
60. Ante-: PRE- This was a little tricky, the clue seems to want you to find a word which would fit after "Ante-" - bellum, diluvian, one of those - but when you look closely you see you need to find a prefix, and lo, there is "Pre-". Great cluing for what might be brushed off as throwaway fill. I love these little gems.
61. Exacta or trifecta: BET. I famously bet a trifecta at Santa Anita on the wrong race - my friend and I arrived a little later than planned and we'd unknowingly missed the first race. I confidently consulted the daily racing form, wagered a two-dollar trifecta on the (already run) first race and my numbers 3-1-6 came up in what was actually race two. I didn't recognize the horse's names on the way round, but I was wasn't complaining when I cashed in the ticket.
And that is the secret to sports betting! Bet the wrong race!
Thanks to Bruce for an entertaining zoological journey. Here's the grid and I'm off to get some much-needed beauty sleep! (I need sleep, but beauty would be a bonus!)
Steve
