Theme: Play Ball!
18A: Not in working order, informally: OUT OF WHACK
23A: Crook who doesn't need the combination: SAFE CRACKER
36A: Union benefit during a walkout: STRIKE PAY
42A: Everything, informally: BALL OF WAX
47A: Promising picnic forecast: FAIR WEATHER
60A: Tendency to anger easily: FOUL TEMPER
(Note from C.C.: Argyle blogged today's post. Our editor Rich Norris seems to pick different alias name for himself according to the difficulty of the puzzle. All the Gia Christian and Lila Cherry puzzles we've solved are Monday's. Nora Pearlstone authored a hard Friday. Quite scrabbly puzzle today. Loved the OUT/SAFE, STRIKE/BALL & FAIR/FOUL order. Wish SHAG (54A: Thick carpet) were clued as baseball related too. )
Back to Argyle.
OUT OF WHACK. When a hitter is in a slump.
SAFECRACKER. Also known as a yegg or yeggman.
STRIKE PAY. Did ball players get any when they went on strike?
BALL OF WAX. Usually known as the whole BALL OF WAX.
FAIR WEATHER. Domed statiums don't worry about the weather.
FOUL TEMPER. None of that in baseball, is there?
Lest we forget: George Carlin's Baseball vs Football.
Across:
5A: Quick __ flash: AS A.
8A: Open, as a gate: UNBOLT.
15A: Dickens pen name: BOZ. Sketches by Boz was Dickens's first work.
16A: Connect, as a stereo: HOOK UP.
17A: Kind of party torch: TIKI. If you have watched "Survivor", you've seen these torches.
28A: Las Vegas's desert : MOJAVE. Most of it is in California.
33A: Shooter's aiming aid: SIGHT. Telescopic optic mounted on rifles.
41A: Shredded: TORE.
44A: Annual athletic awards: ESPYS. Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards from ESPN (Entertainment Sports Programming Network). If you would like to see the Best Major League Baseball Player ESPY Awards since 1993, go here. A-Rod won last year.
45A: Vote out: UNSEAT.
46A: Hip-hop Dr.: DRE.
54A: Thick carpet: SHAG. Also, a baseball term: shagging flies (to throw back fly balls during batting practice).
58A: Point on a wire fence: BARB. You won't find any barb wire fences on horse farms.
63A: Mrs. Peel of "The Avengers": EMMA. EMMA is due for a vacation.
64A: Regional dialect: PATOIS. Origin: 1635–45.
65A: Grammar best-seller "Woe __:: IS I. Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better to better English by Patricia T O Conner, an editor at the New York Times Book Review.
67A: Start to nod off: DROWSE. As at a four hour ball game.
68A: Souse's woe: DTS. We sure have a lot of drunk references lately.
69A: Full of pep: SPRY.
Down:
1D: Madrid misses: Abbr.: SRTAS. Spainish senoritas.
2D: Boxer Ali: LAILA. Laila Ali with father Muhammed Ali. She probably "floats like a butterfly but stings like a bee".
3D: Request from: ASK OF.
4D: Moby Dick, notably: WHITE WHALE. From the book by Herman Melville.
6D: Composer of marches: SOUSA. Might hear one in a parade today.
7D: Early Mexican: AZTEC.
8D: TV dial letters: UHF. VHF/UHF Very high frequency/Ultra high frequency. This will have to be clued as former TV dial letters after next month.
10D: Quantum physicist Niels: BOHR. Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist who worked on the Manhatten Project and a frequent answer in crossword puzzles.
11D: "Works for me": OKAY.
12D: Time co-founder Henry: LUCE. Time Magazine co-founders Briton Hadden and Henry Luce were classmates at Yale University: more Eli's to remember.
13D: Toll rds.: TPKS. Turnpikes: don't like 'em, take the shunpike!
24D: Maine coon, for one: CAT. I had a cat that had some Maine Coon Cat in her. And 62D: Suffix with Siam: ESE. Siamese cat.
26D: Soldier of Seoul: ROK. We learned they fought on our side in Vietnam and earned Dennis' respect.
29D: Fashionable fliers: JET SETTERS.
30D: Per unit: A POP.
31D: Fluctuate: VARY.
33D: Child star of "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940): SABU. Sabu Dastagir, 1924 – 1963, was a film actor of Indian (South Asian) origin. Credited only by his first name, Sabu, for his role as Abu. movie poster As Abu, the thief , son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief, he helps the real Prince escape prison.
37D: Hijack-prevention gp.: TSA. Transportation Security Administration
38D: "Oedipus __": REX.
40D: Old Spice alternative: AFTA.
46D: Explosion remains: DEBRIS.
48D: "Big Blue": IBM. International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" (for its official corporate color).
49D: Fast: RAPID.
50D: Obtain using force: WREST.
51D: Overplay: HAM UP.
52D: Wascally Wabbit hunter: ELMER. Elmer Fudd, hunter.
54D: Bay Area enforcers, initially: SFPD. San Francisco Police Department.
57D: Vibrant look: GLOW.
It was a fun Monday puzzle. Everybody have a reverent Memorial Day and I don't believe today's honorees would mind if you watched a baseball game; it was one of the things they were fighting for.
Answer grid.
Argyle
18A: Not in working order, informally: OUT OF WHACK
23A: Crook who doesn't need the combination: SAFE CRACKER
36A: Union benefit during a walkout: STRIKE PAY
42A: Everything, informally: BALL OF WAX
47A: Promising picnic forecast: FAIR WEATHER
60A: Tendency to anger easily: FOUL TEMPER
(Note from C.C.: Argyle blogged today's post. Our editor Rich Norris seems to pick different alias name for himself according to the difficulty of the puzzle. All the Gia Christian and Lila Cherry puzzles we've solved are Monday's. Nora Pearlstone authored a hard Friday. Quite scrabbly puzzle today. Loved the OUT/SAFE, STRIKE/BALL & FAIR/FOUL order. Wish SHAG (54A: Thick carpet) were clued as baseball related too. )
Back to Argyle.
OUT OF WHACK. When a hitter is in a slump.
SAFECRACKER. Also known as a yegg or yeggman.
STRIKE PAY. Did ball players get any when they went on strike?
BALL OF WAX. Usually known as the whole BALL OF WAX.
FAIR WEATHER. Domed statiums don't worry about the weather.
FOUL TEMPER. None of that in baseball, is there?
Lest we forget: George Carlin's Baseball vs Football.
Across:
5A: Quick __ flash: AS A.
8A: Open, as a gate: UNBOLT.
15A: Dickens pen name: BOZ. Sketches by Boz was Dickens's first work.
16A: Connect, as a stereo: HOOK UP.
17A: Kind of party torch: TIKI. If you have watched "Survivor", you've seen these torches.
28A: Las Vegas's desert : MOJAVE. Most of it is in California.
33A: Shooter's aiming aid: SIGHT. Telescopic optic mounted on rifles.
41A: Shredded: TORE.
44A: Annual athletic awards: ESPYS. Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards from ESPN (Entertainment Sports Programming Network). If you would like to see the Best Major League Baseball Player ESPY Awards since 1993, go here. A-Rod won last year.
45A: Vote out: UNSEAT.
46A: Hip-hop Dr.: DRE.
54A: Thick carpet: SHAG. Also, a baseball term: shagging flies (to throw back fly balls during batting practice).
58A: Point on a wire fence: BARB. You won't find any barb wire fences on horse farms.
63A: Mrs. Peel of "The Avengers": EMMA. EMMA is due for a vacation.
64A: Regional dialect: PATOIS. Origin: 1635–45.
65A: Grammar best-seller "Woe __:: IS I. Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better to better English by Patricia T O Conner, an editor at the New York Times Book Review.
67A: Start to nod off: DROWSE. As at a four hour ball game.
68A: Souse's woe: DTS. We sure have a lot of drunk references lately.
69A: Full of pep: SPRY.
Down:
1D: Madrid misses: Abbr.: SRTAS. Spainish senoritas.
2D: Boxer Ali: LAILA. Laila Ali with father Muhammed Ali. She probably "floats like a butterfly but stings like a bee".
3D: Request from: ASK OF.
4D: Moby Dick, notably: WHITE WHALE. From the book by Herman Melville.
6D: Composer of marches: SOUSA. Might hear one in a parade today.
7D: Early Mexican: AZTEC.
8D: TV dial letters: UHF. VHF/UHF Very high frequency/Ultra high frequency. This will have to be clued as former TV dial letters after next month.
10D: Quantum physicist Niels: BOHR. Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist who worked on the Manhatten Project and a frequent answer in crossword puzzles.
11D: "Works for me": OKAY.
12D: Time co-founder Henry: LUCE. Time Magazine co-founders Briton Hadden and Henry Luce were classmates at Yale University: more Eli's to remember.
13D: Toll rds.: TPKS. Turnpikes: don't like 'em, take the shunpike!
24D: Maine coon, for one: CAT. I had a cat that had some Maine Coon Cat in her. And 62D: Suffix with Siam: ESE. Siamese cat.
26D: Soldier of Seoul: ROK. We learned they fought on our side in Vietnam and earned Dennis' respect.
29D: Fashionable fliers: JET SETTERS.
30D: Per unit: A POP.
31D: Fluctuate: VARY.
33D: Child star of "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940): SABU. Sabu Dastagir, 1924 – 1963, was a film actor of Indian (South Asian) origin. Credited only by his first name, Sabu, for his role as Abu. movie poster As Abu, the thief , son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief, he helps the real Prince escape prison.
37D: Hijack-prevention gp.: TSA. Transportation Security Administration
38D: "Oedipus __": REX.
40D: Old Spice alternative: AFTA.
46D: Explosion remains: DEBRIS.
48D: "Big Blue": IBM. International Business Machines Corporation, abbreviated IBM and nicknamed "Big Blue" (for its official corporate color).
49D: Fast: RAPID.
50D: Obtain using force: WREST.
51D: Overplay: HAM UP.
52D: Wascally Wabbit hunter: ELMER. Elmer Fudd, hunter.
54D: Bay Area enforcers, initially: SFPD. San Francisco Police Department.
57D: Vibrant look: GLOW.
It was a fun Monday puzzle. Everybody have a reverent Memorial Day and I don't believe today's honorees would mind if you watched a baseball game; it was one of the things they were fighting for.
Answer grid.
Argyle
