November 24 also marks Evolution Day, the anniversary of the 1859 publication of Darwin's On The Origin Of Species. Mixing the two thoughts together might give rise to contemplating the evolution of shopping in recent years and where it might be headed in the future.
Clever, fair Saturday cluing also made for a tough but fun excursion for this solver.
Now let's see what the good doctor has for us before we head out to Mom and Pop's store.
Across:
1. Fitness trend that involves kids?: GOAT YOGA - A pretty obscure jumping off point but it is a real activity as you can see at the Denver County Fair in Colorado where the "kids" are two and four-legged.
9. "... but we're not done yet": SO FAR
14. Arcade bonus: EXTRA BALL - I remember getting five pinballs for a nickel as a yute and an extra game at 300 points.
16. Old market for olive oil: AGORA - Speaking of shopping, Trajan's Market was a huge AGORA in ancient Rome where I'd bet you could get some olive oil. Our guide called it the world's first shopping mall.
17. Setting for Dante's "Divine Comedy": AFTER LIFE
18. "Impractical Jokers" network: TRUTV - truTV
19. Something to try out for: ROLE - Tom Selleck did audition for the ROLE of Indiana Jones but Magnum PI came up...
20. Shelved, for now: ON ICE.
22. "What __?": ELSE - California has had about every tragedy possible this year. This is a question they could be asking themselves
23. Drei, in the Apennines: TRE - What famous song/movie would be called TRE monete nella fontana in Italy and DREI münzen im brunnen north of the Alps in Germany? *Answer at bottom
24. Cries from sties: SQUEALS - What they are SQUEALING for in the sty
26. Mate: PAL - Sunday solvers will remember C.C.'s wonderful Bro Hug puzzle from last weekend which had: 23A. Corporate criminal's undoing: PAPER TRAIL. PAL and Oh yeah, she also had 39A. Sparty's school: MICHIGAN STATE. MATE.
27. Neruda wrote one about the sea: ODE - Pablo Neruda wrote, "I need the sea because it teaches me"
28. Frequent adoptee: PUP
29. Dirty digs: RAT HOLE
31. Local politician's goal, perhaps: MAYOR - Our town's MAYOR has been instrumental in getting a $400M chicken plant and massive new low cost housing developments here in our little town of 26,000. Approval is far from unanimous.
34. Bit of bedroom decor: SHAM - Pillow covers at our house
36. When tripled, "Yum!": NOM - We went with NUM, NUM, NUM with our kids
38. Dates: SEES.
39. Cover stories?: BLURBS - The start of a BLURB from our crossword friend TRU
41. Some lab workers: TECHS - Here's a kitty wearing a Lab Coat
43. Perform energetically: ROCK OUT.
45. "__ & Him": Zooey Deschanel duo: SHE - A seasonal offering from Her and Him
46. Prefix with gender: CIS.
49. Polly's call: AWK - or Salty's and 5. Pirate's cry: YAR - Although Popeye is not a pirate and the parrot is not Polly, still...
50. Bound: TRUSSED - A treatment your turkey may have had two days ago
52. Elect: OPT.
53. Ziggy Stardust genre: GLAM - A character created by David Bowie
55. Pitch-lowering symbols: FLATS - Down a musical half step
56. Jaunty greeting: HI HO - Which of these used the greeting, "HI HO, Steverino!"
57. Country on the Gulf of Guinea: GABON - If you know where it is, you're a better man than I am, Charlie Brown. The answer
59. "That makes much more sense!": I GET IT NOW - Yeah, I do, but I still won't be able to pick out Gabon in a few days
61. Summer month in Santiago: ENERO - On the chart below, ENERO is JANuary and the height of Chile's summer
62. Italian bread often served at Christmastime: PANETTONE - Last Saturday was National Homemade Bread Day
63. Particulars, informally: DEETS - I guess the "Dev is in the DEETS". Yuck!
64. Wanting: STRAPPED - STRAPPED for cash leaps to mind
Down:
1. Customize for: GEAR TO - As an educator, you are obligated to GEAR your lessons TO your kids
2. 3-Down's alma mater: OXFORD - and 3. Churchill's 1945 successor: ATTLEE. Clement ATTLEE was in the class of 1904 where he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts with second-class honours in modern history.
4. Family shower: TREE - Not the questionable context you first thought. The Family TREE shows your ancestry
6. Public humiliation: OBLOQUY - A new word for me
7. Start to overtake: GAIN UPON.
8. 2004 remake starring Jude Law: ALFIE - What's It All About, ALFIE?
9. Posed: SAT - FDR SAT for this portrait in April of 1945 in Warm Springs, GA but it went unfinished as he died while the water color was in progress
10. Brutish one: OGRE.
11. Ball field marker: FOUL POLE - This famous Carlton Fisk homer hit the FOUL POLE (FAIR POLE?) to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series.
12. Gallery news: ART SALES.
13. Disentangled: RAVELED - RAVELED : Unraveled = Furled : Unfurled
15. '70s-'80s Rabbit competitor: LE CAR - VW's Rabbit vs Renault's LE CAR
21. Panache: ELAN.
24. One may be foiled by a captcha: SPAMBOT - This "Captcha" program asks you to type in the distorted screen characters to prove you are not a robot/SPAMBOT which could then send SPAM email to as many addresses as it can harvest
25. Put away: STASHED.
30. Makes haste: HIES - HIE, thou art an olde word
31. Euro forerunner: MARK - Not LIRA it turns out, 32. Tommy add-on: ROT - Not GUN it turns out and 44. Spring bloom: TULIP- Not LILAC it turns out
34. Provision for trucks: SLOW LANE.
35. Two-time Republican presidential candidate: HUCKABEE - and his daughter
37. Camp gathering place: MESS TENT - A famous one
39. Talked big: BRAGGED.
40. Waves: SURF.
42. Grover's predecessor: CHESTER - CHESTER A. Arthur became president when President James Garfield was assassinated. Since there was no mechanism to name a new VP, he served his four years without one.
46. Like classic gumball machines: COIN OP - In my misspent yute, it was the answer to the burning question, "What can you buy for a penny""
47. Apple's X, e.g.: IPHONE - My 6S is doing great but the battery might be heading south
48. Put under a seat, say: STOWED.
51. Elaborate tales: SAGAS - An excellent list of movie SAGAS
54. Cartoonist Walker: MORT - A mashup of his two most famous strips
56. Letters in an internet bar: HTTP - The HyperTextTransfer Protocol address of this blog: https://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com
58. Opposed words: NOS- The number of NOS cast can change greatly when a secret ballot is used
60. Spanish diminutive ending: ITA - Chica - Girl. ChiquITA - Little Girl affectionately in Spanish. Also a chance to post a song from one of my favorite groups
Now before you go out and skip the Big Box Stores to shop, how 'bout a comment:
*That song would be Three Coins In The Fountain
