Theme: LET'S DANCE (58A: Ball offer, and a hint to this puzzle's theme)
18A: Good horse for a kid: WELSH PONY
23A: Fiery chip dip: RED HOT SALSA
37A: Pete Rose nickname: CHARLIE HUSTLE
51A: Dickens orphan: OLIVER TWIST
Not familiar with HUSTLE dance. But CHARLIE HUSTLE was a gimme. I probably have over 100 Pete Rose baseball cards.
This puzzle really dances, rhythmic in each word, none feels forced or made-up. Scrabbly too. One more letter Z, we would have had a pangram.
I was confused by the clue for WORD (44D: Sponsor's offering?). Then a big V-8 moment: "And now, a WORD from our sponsor".
Across:
6A: Doorway part: JAMB. I wonder if letter B is just like K (knife/knock), which was pronounced 500 years ago.
14A: Not quite a liter: QUART. Oh, I did not know a QUART is only 0.946 liters.
15A: Most draftable: ONE A
20A: Land in la mer: ILE
21A: 35mm camera type: SLR
22A: From Buffalo to Boston: EAST. French for EAST is EST. Spanish is ESTE.
27A: Where Mork and Mindy honeymooned: ORK. Learned from doing Xword. Old TV shows are definitely my weakest link in solving Xword. What's yours?
30A: Online investing service: E*TRADE. They offer savings/checking account as well.
32A: Org. in the 2008 film "Burn After Reading": CIA. I've yet to see this Coen brother film.
33A: Big name in yellow journalism: HEARST. Wiki says the term "yellow journalism" originated during the American Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century with the circulation battles (peaked from 1895 to about 1898) between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randoph HEART's New York Journal.
41A: Monk monikers: FRAS
44A: WWII female: WAC (Women's Army Corps). Our fellow solver Southern Belle was one during the Korean War.
50A: Tree toppler: AXE
54A: Lobbying group for 50-and-over folks: AARPS. Who is the most powerful lobbying group in the US? NRA?
56A: Helpful contacts: INS
57A: Title Pontiac of song: GTO. "Little GTO".
63A: Rara __: AVIS. Sade is one.
64A: "Mask" actress: CHER. She looks amazing in the video. I also like her "Believe".
65A: Achilles, for one: GREEK. Brad Pitt played Achilles in "Troy".
68A: Howard Hughes's phobia: GERMS. Donald Trump's too.
Down:
1D: Escort: SQUIRE
2D: Young hen: PULLET. Wish EGG (61D: Fabergé treasure) clued as "Hen product" to pair up with PULLET.
3D: Like many violent films: RATED R
4D: Bobble the ball, e.g.: ERR. Baseball & alliteration. Lovely ERR clue.
5D: O'Hare approx.: ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival)
6D: Prominent bulldog features: JOWLS
7D: End of __: AN ERA
10D: "Klutzy me": OOPS
11D: Diplomatic etiquette: PROTOCOL. No such thing for the mad man Kim Jong-il. About 21% of Koreans have Kim as their surname.
12D: Salon offering: TAN
19D: Lukas of "Mars Attacks!": HAAS. Got his name from Across fills. Not familiar with the movie neither.
25D: Poland-Germany border river: ODER. Same pronunciation as odor. Here is the map. It begins in Czech Republic and flows into the Baltic Sea.
34D: Christina of "Black Snake Moan": RICCI. Know her name. Have never heard of the movie. Looks awful.
35D: Neptune's realm: SEA. Neptune is the Roman god of sea. The Greek equivalent is Poseidon.
37D: Heart: CRUX. As in "The CRUX/heart of the matter...".
38D: "Dig in": HAVE AT IT. Here we go again, AT IT.
41D: Hialeah's home Abb.: FLA. Wiki says Hialeah is literally "pretty prairie". And it has the second highest percentage of Cuban and Cuban American residents of any city in the US. After Miami I suppose.
45D: Poncho wool: ALPACA. LLAMA can be clued as "Poncho wool" too.
47D: Pooh Corner cat: TIGGER. Again, I obtained the answer from Across fills. I think I am going to confuse him with the "Buster Brown dog" TIGE. Are these two both playing on the word "tiger"?
49D: Baby birds?: STORK
52D: Immoral practices: VICES
53D: Month in el invierno: ENERO. Easy guess. I don't know "invierno" is "winter" in Spanish.
55D: Man Fri.: ASST. "Robinson Cruso". Man Friday. Nice clue.
59D: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" girl: EVA
Answer grid.
C.C.
18A: Good horse for a kid: WELSH PONY
23A: Fiery chip dip: RED HOT SALSA
37A: Pete Rose nickname: CHARLIE HUSTLE
51A: Dickens orphan: OLIVER TWIST
Not familiar with HUSTLE dance. But CHARLIE HUSTLE was a gimme. I probably have over 100 Pete Rose baseball cards.
This puzzle really dances, rhythmic in each word, none feels forced or made-up. Scrabbly too. One more letter Z, we would have had a pangram.
I was confused by the clue for WORD (44D: Sponsor's offering?). Then a big V-8 moment: "And now, a WORD from our sponsor".
Across:
6A: Doorway part: JAMB. I wonder if letter B is just like K (knife/knock), which was pronounced 500 years ago.
14A: Not quite a liter: QUART. Oh, I did not know a QUART is only 0.946 liters.
15A: Most draftable: ONE A
20A: Land in la mer: ILE
21A: 35mm camera type: SLR
22A: From Buffalo to Boston: EAST. French for EAST is EST. Spanish is ESTE.
27A: Where Mork and Mindy honeymooned: ORK. Learned from doing Xword. Old TV shows are definitely my weakest link in solving Xword. What's yours?
30A: Online investing service: E*TRADE. They offer savings/checking account as well.
32A: Org. in the 2008 film "Burn After Reading": CIA. I've yet to see this Coen brother film.
33A: Big name in yellow journalism: HEARST. Wiki says the term "yellow journalism" originated during the American Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century with the circulation battles (peaked from 1895 to about 1898) between Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randoph HEART's New York Journal.
41A: Monk monikers: FRAS
44A: WWII female: WAC (Women's Army Corps). Our fellow solver Southern Belle was one during the Korean War.
50A: Tree toppler: AXE
54A: Lobbying group for 50-and-over folks: AARPS. Who is the most powerful lobbying group in the US? NRA?
56A: Helpful contacts: INS
57A: Title Pontiac of song: GTO. "Little GTO".
63A: Rara __: AVIS. Sade is one.
64A: "Mask" actress: CHER. She looks amazing in the video. I also like her "Believe".
65A: Achilles, for one: GREEK. Brad Pitt played Achilles in "Troy".
68A: Howard Hughes's phobia: GERMS. Donald Trump's too.
Down:
1D: Escort: SQUIRE
2D: Young hen: PULLET. Wish EGG (61D: Fabergé treasure) clued as "Hen product" to pair up with PULLET.
3D: Like many violent films: RATED R
4D: Bobble the ball, e.g.: ERR. Baseball & alliteration. Lovely ERR clue.
5D: O'Hare approx.: ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival)
6D: Prominent bulldog features: JOWLS
7D: End of __: AN ERA
10D: "Klutzy me": OOPS
11D: Diplomatic etiquette: PROTOCOL. No such thing for the mad man Kim Jong-il. About 21% of Koreans have Kim as their surname.
12D: Salon offering: TAN
19D: Lukas of "Mars Attacks!": HAAS. Got his name from Across fills. Not familiar with the movie neither.
25D: Poland-Germany border river: ODER. Same pronunciation as odor. Here is the map. It begins in Czech Republic and flows into the Baltic Sea.
34D: Christina of "Black Snake Moan": RICCI. Know her name. Have never heard of the movie. Looks awful.
35D: Neptune's realm: SEA. Neptune is the Roman god of sea. The Greek equivalent is Poseidon.
37D: Heart: CRUX. As in "The CRUX/heart of the matter...".
38D: "Dig in": HAVE AT IT. Here we go again, AT IT.
41D: Hialeah's home Abb.: FLA. Wiki says Hialeah is literally "pretty prairie". And it has the second highest percentage of Cuban and Cuban American residents of any city in the US. After Miami I suppose.
45D: Poncho wool: ALPACA. LLAMA can be clued as "Poncho wool" too.
47D: Pooh Corner cat: TIGGER. Again, I obtained the answer from Across fills. I think I am going to confuse him with the "Buster Brown dog" TIGE. Are these two both playing on the word "tiger"?
49D: Baby birds?: STORK
52D: Immoral practices: VICES
53D: Month in el invierno: ENERO. Easy guess. I don't know "invierno" is "winter" in Spanish.
55D: Man Fri.: ASST. "Robinson Cruso". Man Friday. Nice clue.
59D: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" girl: EVA
Answer grid.
C.C.
