Theme: PALLING AROUND (34A: Out with the guys, and an apt title for this puzzle)
17A: City Slicker's getaway: DUDE RANCH
19A: Like some sharks: MAN-EATING
27A: Honoree in Don McLean's song "American Pie": BUDDY HOLLY
43A: Kraft Dinner contents, familiarly: MAC 'N CHEESE
55A: Maker of Flava-Craze lip balm: CHAPSTICK
58A: Casual wear item: SPORTCOAT
All synonyms for PAl, hence PALLING AROUND. I've never heard of SPORT used in such a way before.
Pal is originated in the Gypsy word for "brother". FELLOW is missing, so are LAD, MATE, BLOKE, or are they too British/Australian?
I only learned DUDE RANCH a few months ago. Madonna's "American Pie" was very popular in China around 2000. I liked its rhythm, but did not really understand the lyrics and its coded references until after I came to the US. I've never had MAC 'N CHEESE. Love strawberry CHAPSTICK.
Great puzzle, seven theme answers, heavy themage in Dan Naddor's own term, nice overlapping of the first two theme answers and the last two. I really liked PALLING AROUND. Always nice to have a unifying answer spelled out clearly in the grid.
Across:
1A: Products sold with earbuds: IPODS. Now I don't miss any "Fresh Air" interview any more, thanks to IPOD & podcast.
6A: Rudiments: ABCS
10A: Four-time ABA/NBA MVP familiarly: DR. J. Nickname for Julius Erving. I had no idea that he once played for ABA, which was merged with NBA in 1976.
13A: As yet: TO NOW
14A: City where "The Night Café" was painted: ARLES. Van Gogh did over 300 paintings and drawings while staying in ARLES. "Bedroom" is my favorite. Here is "The Night Café".
15A: Fair-hiring letters: EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity). Sometimes the answer is EOE (Equal-Opportunity Employer).
16A: Emulate Sarah Palin, nuptially: ELOPE. Wow, I did not know this fact. What a strange conservative she has been!
21A: Griffin's rear: LION. Someone mentioned Griffin the fabled monster on the blog before. But I forgot. It has head and wings of an eagle and the body of a LION. Griffins are used to guard treasure.
22A: LAX: Los Angeles:: __: Chicago: ORD. I forgot also. It's the code for the O’Hare Airport, which was known as Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field (hence ORD) during WWII.
24A: Annoying spot: STAIN
31A: Highest-ranking Boy Scout: EAGLE
33A: Basie's "__'Clock Jump": ONE O. No idea. See this clip. Count Basie.
41A: Prepare for a dubbing: KNEEL. Dub here means to "confer knighthood".
49A:: He sang of Alice: ARLO. "Alice's Restaurant".
50A: Drawn-out substance: EDUCT. New word to me. Looks like a verb, doesn't it? So close to EDUCE.
51A: Tall runner: EMU. Yep, they are tall and they can run (but can't fly).
53A: Divine one, to da Vinci: DIO. Italian for "God". DIOS in Spanish.
54A: California county or its seat: NAPA. Wine, wine, wine.
62A: N.L. East city: ATL. Atlanta Braves.
63A: Part of a TV feed: AUDIO. Literally "I hear" in Latin.
64A: Édouard's exploit: GESTE. No idea. Dictionary defines GESTE as "a notable adventure or exploit". Why Édouard then?
65A: Govt. deciphers: NSA. And CODE (55D: Cracker's target). Had problem interpreting cracker, one who cracks.
66A: Cold one, so to speak: BEER
67A: First name in cosmetics: ESTEE
Down:
1D: Agenda opener: ITEM ONE
2D: High-latitude formation: POLAR CAP. Misread the clue as "High altitude".
3D: Six Nations tribe: ONONDAGA. Literally "on the hill". I can never remember this tribe name.
4D: Info: DOPE. Wrote DATA first.
5D: Incense the censor: SWEAR
6D: Score __: A RUN. And YER 30: "__ out!". Baseball.
7D: Skyline part: Abbr.: BLDG
8D: Clamp shape: CEE
9D: Ukr., once: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)
10D: Common defense mechanism: DENIAL. I was in the military defense direction.
11D: Display horror, perhaps: RECOIL
12D: Host before Jay: JOHNNY (Carson)
14D: Continental farewell: ADIEU. The other French fill is TRES (57D: "__ chic!").
18D: Prefix with cumulus: ALTO. Gimme for Lois, I hope. She played with this word "cumulus" before. I was stumped. Cumulus is Latin for "mass"/ "pile". ALTO/Alti is "high".
20D: Scow: TUB. Clumsy boat.
24D: Offered a paw: SHOOK. So simple, yet I struggled. Did not think of paw as human "hand".
26D: SNAFU part: ALL. SNAFU = Situation) Normal) All F***ed Up. Another military acronym is FUBAR - F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition. Have not seen our fellow solver Miss Fubar for a long time.
28D: Roper's target: DOGIE
29D: Chain letters?: DNA. Lovely clue. I got D easily, then I filled in EF immediately, the DEF alphabet string.
32D: Fall bumper sticker word: ELECT
35D: Suffix with bull or bear: ISH. Great clue too.
36D: "Go jump in the loch!": NAE. Scottish for "No". Loch is "lake".
37D: Acapulco article: UNA
38D: Least cool: NERDIEST. The nerds might disagree.
39D: Easily broken: DELICATE. Glasses.
42D: Gander: LOOK SEE
43D: Certain brainic: MENSAN. Oh, Dennis is one. I only know the word MENSA, which means "stupid" in Spanish. Tonto means "stupid" too.
44D: Changes, in a Darwinian sense: ADAPTS. Thought of EVOLVES.
45D: Feature of many a capitol: CUPOLA. We've seen OLA clued as "Cup suffix" before, haven't we? But this CUPOLA feature completely escaped me earlier.
46D: Tenn. neighbor: N CAR. The Tar Heel State. Thanks for the origin, Katy/Hahtool.
47D: Cold War acronym: SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). 1954-1977.
48D: Old Mex. ruler: EMP (Emperor)
52D: Copy editor's concern: USAGE
56D: "Aquarius" musical: HAIR. I guessed. Not familiar with "Aquarius".
59D: PC key with two arrows: TAB. Nice new clue.
Answer grid.
C.C.
17A: City Slicker's getaway: DUDE RANCH
19A: Like some sharks: MAN-EATING
27A: Honoree in Don McLean's song "American Pie": BUDDY HOLLY
43A: Kraft Dinner contents, familiarly: MAC 'N CHEESE
55A: Maker of Flava-Craze lip balm: CHAPSTICK
58A: Casual wear item: SPORTCOAT
All synonyms for PAl, hence PALLING AROUND. I've never heard of SPORT used in such a way before.
Pal is originated in the Gypsy word for "brother". FELLOW is missing, so are LAD, MATE, BLOKE, or are they too British/Australian?
I only learned DUDE RANCH a few months ago. Madonna's "American Pie" was very popular in China around 2000. I liked its rhythm, but did not really understand the lyrics and its coded references until after I came to the US. I've never had MAC 'N CHEESE. Love strawberry CHAPSTICK.
Great puzzle, seven theme answers, heavy themage in Dan Naddor's own term, nice overlapping of the first two theme answers and the last two. I really liked PALLING AROUND. Always nice to have a unifying answer spelled out clearly in the grid.
Across:
1A: Products sold with earbuds: IPODS. Now I don't miss any "Fresh Air" interview any more, thanks to IPOD & podcast.
6A: Rudiments: ABCS
10A: Four-time ABA/NBA MVP familiarly: DR. J. Nickname for Julius Erving. I had no idea that he once played for ABA, which was merged with NBA in 1976.
13A: As yet: TO NOW
14A: City where "The Night Café" was painted: ARLES. Van Gogh did over 300 paintings and drawings while staying in ARLES. "Bedroom" is my favorite. Here is "The Night Café".
15A: Fair-hiring letters: EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity). Sometimes the answer is EOE (Equal-Opportunity Employer).
16A: Emulate Sarah Palin, nuptially: ELOPE. Wow, I did not know this fact. What a strange conservative she has been!
21A: Griffin's rear: LION. Someone mentioned Griffin the fabled monster on the blog before. But I forgot. It has head and wings of an eagle and the body of a LION. Griffins are used to guard treasure.
22A: LAX: Los Angeles:: __: Chicago: ORD. I forgot also. It's the code for the O’Hare Airport, which was known as Orchard Place Airport/Douglas Field (hence ORD) during WWII.
24A: Annoying spot: STAIN
31A: Highest-ranking Boy Scout: EAGLE
33A: Basie's "__'Clock Jump": ONE O. No idea. See this clip. Count Basie.
41A: Prepare for a dubbing: KNEEL. Dub here means to "confer knighthood".
49A:: He sang of Alice: ARLO. "Alice's Restaurant".
50A: Drawn-out substance: EDUCT. New word to me. Looks like a verb, doesn't it? So close to EDUCE.
51A: Tall runner: EMU. Yep, they are tall and they can run (but can't fly).
53A: Divine one, to da Vinci: DIO. Italian for "God". DIOS in Spanish.
54A: California county or its seat: NAPA. Wine, wine, wine.
62A: N.L. East city: ATL. Atlanta Braves.
63A: Part of a TV feed: AUDIO. Literally "I hear" in Latin.
64A: Édouard's exploit: GESTE. No idea. Dictionary defines GESTE as "a notable adventure or exploit". Why Édouard then?
65A: Govt. deciphers: NSA. And CODE (55D: Cracker's target). Had problem interpreting cracker, one who cracks.
66A: Cold one, so to speak: BEER
67A: First name in cosmetics: ESTEE
Down:
1D: Agenda opener: ITEM ONE
2D: High-latitude formation: POLAR CAP. Misread the clue as "High altitude".
3D: Six Nations tribe: ONONDAGA. Literally "on the hill". I can never remember this tribe name.
4D: Info: DOPE. Wrote DATA first.
5D: Incense the censor: SWEAR
6D: Score __: A RUN. And YER 30: "__ out!". Baseball.
7D: Skyline part: Abbr.: BLDG
8D: Clamp shape: CEE
9D: Ukr., once: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)
10D: Common defense mechanism: DENIAL. I was in the military defense direction.
11D: Display horror, perhaps: RECOIL
12D: Host before Jay: JOHNNY (Carson)
14D: Continental farewell: ADIEU. The other French fill is TRES (57D: "__ chic!").
18D: Prefix with cumulus: ALTO. Gimme for Lois, I hope. She played with this word "cumulus" before. I was stumped. Cumulus is Latin for "mass"/ "pile". ALTO/Alti is "high".
20D: Scow: TUB. Clumsy boat.
24D: Offered a paw: SHOOK. So simple, yet I struggled. Did not think of paw as human "hand".
26D: SNAFU part: ALL. SNAFU = Situation) Normal) All F***ed Up. Another military acronym is FUBAR - F***ed Up Beyond All Recognition. Have not seen our fellow solver Miss Fubar for a long time.
28D: Roper's target: DOGIE
29D: Chain letters?: DNA. Lovely clue. I got D easily, then I filled in EF immediately, the DEF alphabet string.
32D: Fall bumper sticker word: ELECT
35D: Suffix with bull or bear: ISH. Great clue too.
36D: "Go jump in the loch!": NAE. Scottish for "No". Loch is "lake".
37D: Acapulco article: UNA
38D: Least cool: NERDIEST. The nerds might disagree.
39D: Easily broken: DELICATE. Glasses.
42D: Gander: LOOK SEE
43D: Certain brainic: MENSAN. Oh, Dennis is one. I only know the word MENSA, which means "stupid" in Spanish. Tonto means "stupid" too.
44D: Changes, in a Darwinian sense: ADAPTS. Thought of EVOLVES.
45D: Feature of many a capitol: CUPOLA. We've seen OLA clued as "Cup suffix" before, haven't we? But this CUPOLA feature completely escaped me earlier.
46D: Tenn. neighbor: N CAR. The Tar Heel State. Thanks for the origin, Katy/Hahtool.
47D: Cold War acronym: SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization). 1954-1977.
48D: Old Mex. ruler: EMP (Emperor)
52D: Copy editor's concern: USAGE
56D: "Aquarius" musical: HAIR. I guessed. Not familiar with "Aquarius".
59D: PC key with two arrows: TAB. Nice new clue.
Answer grid.
C.C.
