Theme: Fish Tale - An extra syllable is added to the monosyllable first word of a common phrase to form a fish pun.
17A. Price decrease for a stout-bodied fish?: GROUPER DISCOUNT. Group Discount.
25A. Habitat for orange fish?: ROUGHY HOUSING. Roughhousing. The only theme entry whose base phrase is one word. I've never heard of roughy fish, What a strange orange color!
45A. Road for Minnesota's state fish?: WALLEYE STREET. Wall Street. Minnesota has the best walleye. Delicious!
57A. Verdict for a tropical fish?: SNAPPER JUDGMENT. Snap Judgment.
We also have a bit of a Greek myth undertone:
44A. Ship of Greek myth: ARGO. "Jason and the Argonauts".
38D. Greek sea god: POSEIDON. The guy with a trident. What's that stuff under his right foot? The Roman equivalent is Neptune. He'd probably eat up this fish puzzle.
44D. Huntress daughter of Zeus and Leto: ARTEMIS. The Greek goddess of the moon. Diana for the Romans.
Must be Nathan Miller's debut. I don't remember seeing his name before. Lovely theme. I liked the two 8-letter & six 7-letter non-theme entries too. Several outstanding clues. My favorite is NOUN (11D. Pencil, pen, or quill). Tricky!
Across:
1. Cooling units, briefly: BTUS
5. Center of Cleveland?: O'NEAL (Shaq). Cleveland Cavaliers' center. Got me. I only saw letter E in the very center of Cleveland.
10. Tolstoy's Karenina: ANNA
14. Musical with the song "Another Pyramid": AIDA. Well, four letter musical with "pyramid" as hint, what else could be?
15. Pat's partner: VANNA (White). "Wheel of Fortune".
16. Somber film genre: NOIR
20. Part of ESP: SENSORY
21. 2000 Olympics city: SYDNEY. Kazie should arrive there tomorrow.
22. A smoker may flick it off: ASH. Nice "it".
23. Black wood: EBONY
30. Skunk moniker: PEPE. Pepe Le Pew.
31. Manhattan's __ Station: PENN
32. Text receivers: CELLS
35. 1997 Smith/Jones film, briefly: MIB (Men in Black)
36. __ Lingus: AER
37. TomTom or Magellan unit, for short: GPS
39. ISP featuring CBS Radio stations: AOL
40. Oscar Madison et al.: SLOBS
42. Muffin topper: OLEO. Al will never put oleo on top of his muffin. Real butter!
48. "Enough!": CEASE
49. Put away the groceries?: EAT. Nice clue. We also have BAGS (1D. "Paper or plastic?" items).
50. CNBC weekday crawl: TICKER
53. Movie venues: CINEMAS
60. Boy leader? ATTA. Attaboy!
61. On account of: DUE TO
62. Minuscule bit: IOTA
63. Promising: ROSY
64. First name in humorous poetry: OGDEN (Nash)
65. Big gulp: SWIG. "Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker".
Down:
2. Spare for a change: TIRE. I just could not keep coin out of my mind.
3. Japanese noodle: UDON. Love seafood udon.
4. McMuffin meat, maybe: SAUSAGE. Oh, did not know this.
5. Promote to excess: OVERHYPE
6. Not any: NARY
7. Means justifier: END. The end justifies the means.
8. Feminist musician DiFranco: ANI. Learned her name from doing Xword.
9. Lariats: LASSOS
10. Pain reliever: ANODYNE. New word to me.
12. Whom "seven ate," in a joke: NINE. "Why is number six afraid of seven?" Because "Seven eight (ate) nine.
13. Like some museumgoers: ARTY
18. Luxurious: POSH
19. Disbelievers: CYNICS
23. About 525 trillion minutes, in astronomy: EON. Barry G/Jerome can confirm the exact minutes.
24. Jumper cable?: BUNGEE. Awesome clue.
25. 45 and 78, e.g.: Abbr.: RPMS
26. Versailles eye: OEIL. As in the art illusion "Trompe L'oeil", literally "fool the eye".
27. Violin stroke: UP-BOW. Guitar stroke also, Al/Jazzbumpa?
28. Medal recipients: HEROES. Dennis has a Purple Heart. Jeannie too, since she loves the Vikings.
29. Downside of sailing off into the sunset?: GLARE
33. Mezzanine cousin: LOGE. Mezzanine is another new word to me.
34. Coin collector?: SLOT. Can't fool me. Nailed it.
36. Zonked: ASLEEP
41. Past due wages: BACKPAY. With the B already in place, I carelessly penned in BONUSES.
43. Drano ingredient: LYE
46. Texas border city: LAREDO. The U.S./Mexico border city
47. Citrus drink used by NASA: TANG
50. Bygone ruler: TSAR
51. "__ the Woods": INTO. Sondheim's musical.
52. Broadway's second-longest-running show: CATS. And MEOW (54D. Call from 52-Down MEOW). A bit of musical undercurrent in this puzzle also.
53. Darling: CUTE
55. Opposition member: ANTI
56. All-male party: STAG. Is there a word for "All-female party"?
58. Hairpiece: RUG
59. Martin's role in "The West Wing": JED
Answer grid.
C.C.
17A. Price decrease for a stout-bodied fish?: GROUPER DISCOUNT. Group Discount.
25A. Habitat for orange fish?: ROUGHY HOUSING. Roughhousing. The only theme entry whose base phrase is one word. I've never heard of roughy fish, What a strange orange color!
45A. Road for Minnesota's state fish?: WALLEYE STREET. Wall Street. Minnesota has the best walleye. Delicious!
57A. Verdict for a tropical fish?: SNAPPER JUDGMENT. Snap Judgment.
We also have a bit of a Greek myth undertone:
44A. Ship of Greek myth: ARGO. "Jason and the Argonauts".
38D. Greek sea god: POSEIDON. The guy with a trident. What's that stuff under his right foot? The Roman equivalent is Neptune. He'd probably eat up this fish puzzle.
44D. Huntress daughter of Zeus and Leto: ARTEMIS. The Greek goddess of the moon. Diana for the Romans.
Must be Nathan Miller's debut. I don't remember seeing his name before. Lovely theme. I liked the two 8-letter & six 7-letter non-theme entries too. Several outstanding clues. My favorite is NOUN (11D. Pencil, pen, or quill). Tricky!
Across:
1. Cooling units, briefly: BTUS
5. Center of Cleveland?: O'NEAL (Shaq). Cleveland Cavaliers' center. Got me. I only saw letter E in the very center of Cleveland.
10. Tolstoy's Karenina: ANNA
14. Musical with the song "Another Pyramid": AIDA. Well, four letter musical with "pyramid" as hint, what else could be?
15. Pat's partner: VANNA (White). "Wheel of Fortune".
16. Somber film genre: NOIR
20. Part of ESP: SENSORY
21. 2000 Olympics city: SYDNEY. Kazie should arrive there tomorrow.
22. A smoker may flick it off: ASH. Nice "it".
23. Black wood: EBONY
30. Skunk moniker: PEPE. Pepe Le Pew.
31. Manhattan's __ Station: PENN
32. Text receivers: CELLS
35. 1997 Smith/Jones film, briefly: MIB (Men in Black)
36. __ Lingus: AER
37. TomTom or Magellan unit, for short: GPS
39. ISP featuring CBS Radio stations: AOL
40. Oscar Madison et al.: SLOBS
42. Muffin topper: OLEO. Al will never put oleo on top of his muffin. Real butter!
48. "Enough!": CEASE
49. Put away the groceries?: EAT. Nice clue. We also have BAGS (1D. "Paper or plastic?" items).
50. CNBC weekday crawl: TICKER
53. Movie venues: CINEMAS
60. Boy leader? ATTA. Attaboy!
61. On account of: DUE TO
62. Minuscule bit: IOTA
63. Promising: ROSY
64. First name in humorous poetry: OGDEN (Nash)
65. Big gulp: SWIG. "Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker".
Down:
2. Spare for a change: TIRE. I just could not keep coin out of my mind.
3. Japanese noodle: UDON. Love seafood udon.
4. McMuffin meat, maybe: SAUSAGE. Oh, did not know this.
5. Promote to excess: OVERHYPE
6. Not any: NARY
7. Means justifier: END. The end justifies the means.
8. Feminist musician DiFranco: ANI. Learned her name from doing Xword.
9. Lariats: LASSOS
10. Pain reliever: ANODYNE. New word to me.
12. Whom "seven ate," in a joke: NINE. "Why is number six afraid of seven?" Because "Seven eight (ate) nine.
13. Like some museumgoers: ARTY
18. Luxurious: POSH
19. Disbelievers: CYNICS
23. About 525 trillion minutes, in astronomy: EON. Barry G/Jerome can confirm the exact minutes.
24. Jumper cable?: BUNGEE. Awesome clue.
25. 45 and 78, e.g.: Abbr.: RPMS
26. Versailles eye: OEIL. As in the art illusion "Trompe L'oeil", literally "fool the eye".
27. Violin stroke: UP-BOW. Guitar stroke also, Al/Jazzbumpa?
28. Medal recipients: HEROES. Dennis has a Purple Heart. Jeannie too, since she loves the Vikings.
29. Downside of sailing off into the sunset?: GLARE
33. Mezzanine cousin: LOGE. Mezzanine is another new word to me.
34. Coin collector?: SLOT. Can't fool me. Nailed it.
36. Zonked: ASLEEP
41. Past due wages: BACKPAY. With the B already in place, I carelessly penned in BONUSES.
43. Drano ingredient: LYE
46. Texas border city: LAREDO. The U.S./Mexico border city
47. Citrus drink used by NASA: TANG
50. Bygone ruler: TSAR
51. "__ the Woods": INTO. Sondheim's musical.
52. Broadway's second-longest-running show: CATS. And MEOW (54D. Call from 52-Down MEOW). A bit of musical undercurrent in this puzzle also.
53. Darling: CUTE
55. Opposition member: ANTI
56. All-male party: STAG. Is there a word for "All-female party"?
58. Hairpiece: RUG
59. Martin's role in "The West Wing": JED
Answer grid.
C.C.
