Theme: TIE-IN - (69A. Marketing ploy, and a hint to this puzzle's theme) - TIE is inserted into different part of each two-word familiar phrase.
20A. Ones wearing designer hospital gowns?: FANCY PATIENTS. Fancy Pants. Fun clue/answer.
32A. Massive marina protectors?: JUMBO JETTIES. Jumbo Jets. With two expensive letters Js.
42A. Plaza with many levels?: TIERED SQUARE. Red Square. Central square in Moscow. Another expensive letter Q.
55A. More passionate language?: SWEATIER WORDS. Swear Words. Vivid image.
Two of the TIE additions are in second word, two first word. I liked the variety.
Nice pangram. All 26 letters are used at least once. The below two non-theme 10-letter answers are great (normally they are split into two slots to make the construction easier):
17A. "M" star: PETER LORRE. Rare to see his full name.
61A. Heavily favored squads: DREAM TEAMS
My favorite clue today is EDS (31A. Recipients of authors' gratitude, briefly). Editors. I gather it's Doug's original clue? I am sure it brought a smile to Rich's face.
Across:
1. Watch for: AWAIT. As in "Watch for an opportunity". I wanted ALERT.
6. "Big Brother" host Julie: CHEN. Very pretty. Chen = Chan (as in Jackie Chan). Former is Mandarin, latter is Cantonese.
10. Zinger: BARB
14. Extremely, in slang: MONDO. Not familiar with this slang.
15. Likely to loaf: LAZY. Alliteration.
16. Like zero: OVAL. Oh, shape.
19. Princess who battled Callisto: XENA. Played by Lucy Lawless.
22. Petting zoo sound: BAA. Sheep.
24. Some quick pitches: ADS. Of course I thought of baseball.
25. Salad oil pourer: CRUET
26. Pungent: ACRID
28. Out of the woods: SAFE
36. Basilica section: APSE
37. Three-time Clooney title role: OCEAN. Danny Ocean. I liked "Ocean's Eleven" the best.
38. Slender wind: OBOE
45. Tape deck button: REC
48. Disparage: SLUR
49. "Family Matters" misfit: URKEL (Steve). Beat me. Have never seen "Family Matters".
50. Deck out: ADORN
52. Genetic ID: DNA. Always have to waffle between DNA & RNA.
54. Accident scene initials: EMS
60. Arrange logically: SORT
64. Nuts: LOCO
65. Disney president Robert: IGER. He succeeded Michael Eisner in 2005. Quite articulate.
66. __ Island: NY/NJ landmark: ELLIS
67. Starting place?: EDEN. Can't fool me any more.
68. Play a round: GOLF. Felt stupid not nailing it immediately. Who's your pick for US Open?
Down:
1. Band booster: AMP
2. Distress: WOE
3. Colonies with tunnels: ANT FARMS. Awesome fill.
4. Brainchild: IDEA
5. Supercell product: TORNADO. Our local meteorologist is obsessed with tornado, but I don't remember he mentioned supercell.
6. Is too sweet: CLOYS
7. Emblem of Ireland: HARP. Man, I never knew this. It's on the cover of Irish passports. On the obverse of Irish Euro coins also.
8. Book before Nehemiah: EZRA. Needed crossing help. The name means "Help" in Hebrew.
9. Uh-uh, in Ufa: NYET. Russian for "No" (Da is "Yes"). Ufa is a city of west-central Russian in the Southern Ural Mountain. Doug picked Ufa for alliteration purpose. My first encounter with this name.
10. Ring competitor: BOXER
11. One of 17 Monopoly properties: AVENUE
12. Blustered: RANTED
13. Great times: BLASTS
18. Type of screen, briefly: LCD. Several abbreviated answers in this puzzle. None obscure.
21. Frozen drink brand: ICEE
22. Tijuana's region: BAJA. Is it short for Baja California?
23. Lingerie size: A CUP. First time I saw A CUP in a LAT.
27. Skeptical comment: I BET
28. Direct: STEER
29. Not much: A TAD
30. Underwater directors: FINS. "Director" made me think of a person.
33. "Just the Way You Are" singer: JOEL (Billy). Great song.
34. Stationery shade: ECRU. Alliteration.
35. Grumpy: SOUR
39. Popular fund raiser: BAKE SALE
40. Central Utah city: OREM. And Provo. Learned both from doing Xword.
41. They may be shockers: EELS. We've seen similar clue before.
43. Fails to be: ISN'T
44. Many a pop group: QUARTET
45. Grapple with, in the sticks: RASSLE. Wrestle.
46. "Plan 9 From Outer Space" director: ED WOOD. The name faintly rings a bell. Also a title of a Johnny Depp movie.
47. Put the squeeze on: COERCE
51. Inform against: RAT ON
52. Khuzdul speaker, in Tolkien: DWARF. Khuzdul is a fictional language spoken by the Dwarfs. Stumped me.
53. Metz moniker: NOM. Metz is a city in NE France. Another alliteration.
56. "Cool, man!": I DIG. I totally dig Jazzbumpa's theme title the other day "Music, Man". Mondo cool!
57. So: ERGO
58. Line holder: REEL. Oh, fishing line.
59. Ham salad seller: DELI
62. DI doubled: MII. 51X2= 1002. (Correction: It's 501X2= 1002).
63. Three-part fig.: SSN
Answer grid.
Thanks for the concern and understanding of my recent absence, everyone. I've been very busy and am always behind in catching up with the comments/emails. Dennis is the designated host in my absence, and he will (he has been) answer any question that needs to be addressed.
Additionally, I feel the quality and fun/education factor of the blog write-up have been improved considerably with regular contributions from our dedicated team of Argyle, Al, Melissa Bee, Jazzbumpa and Lemonade. They add distinctive style and flavor to our blog and I love looking at the puzzles through their eyes.
So don't worry about my diminished blogging. I assure you that a carefully written post will appear every morning at 5:30am Central Time. Just enjoy the write-up & have fun!
C.C.
20A. Ones wearing designer hospital gowns?: FANCY PATIENTS. Fancy Pants. Fun clue/answer.
32A. Massive marina protectors?: JUMBO JETTIES. Jumbo Jets. With two expensive letters Js.
42A. Plaza with many levels?: TIERED SQUARE. Red Square. Central square in Moscow. Another expensive letter Q.
55A. More passionate language?: SWEATIER WORDS. Swear Words. Vivid image.
Two of the TIE additions are in second word, two first word. I liked the variety.
Nice pangram. All 26 letters are used at least once. The below two non-theme 10-letter answers are great (normally they are split into two slots to make the construction easier):
17A. "M" star: PETER LORRE. Rare to see his full name.
61A. Heavily favored squads: DREAM TEAMS
My favorite clue today is EDS (31A. Recipients of authors' gratitude, briefly). Editors. I gather it's Doug's original clue? I am sure it brought a smile to Rich's face.
Across:
1. Watch for: AWAIT. As in "Watch for an opportunity". I wanted ALERT.
6. "Big Brother" host Julie: CHEN. Very pretty. Chen = Chan (as in Jackie Chan). Former is Mandarin, latter is Cantonese.
10. Zinger: BARB
14. Extremely, in slang: MONDO. Not familiar with this slang.
15. Likely to loaf: LAZY. Alliteration.
16. Like zero: OVAL. Oh, shape.
19. Princess who battled Callisto: XENA. Played by Lucy Lawless.
22. Petting zoo sound: BAA. Sheep.
24. Some quick pitches: ADS. Of course I thought of baseball.
25. Salad oil pourer: CRUET
26. Pungent: ACRID
28. Out of the woods: SAFE
36. Basilica section: APSE
37. Three-time Clooney title role: OCEAN. Danny Ocean. I liked "Ocean's Eleven" the best.
38. Slender wind: OBOE
45. Tape deck button: REC
48. Disparage: SLUR
49. "Family Matters" misfit: URKEL (Steve). Beat me. Have never seen "Family Matters".
50. Deck out: ADORN
52. Genetic ID: DNA. Always have to waffle between DNA & RNA.
54. Accident scene initials: EMS
60. Arrange logically: SORT
64. Nuts: LOCO
65. Disney president Robert: IGER. He succeeded Michael Eisner in 2005. Quite articulate.
66. __ Island: NY/NJ landmark: ELLIS
67. Starting place?: EDEN. Can't fool me any more.
68. Play a round: GOLF. Felt stupid not nailing it immediately. Who's your pick for US Open?
Down:
1. Band booster: AMP
2. Distress: WOE
3. Colonies with tunnels: ANT FARMS. Awesome fill.
4. Brainchild: IDEA
5. Supercell product: TORNADO. Our local meteorologist is obsessed with tornado, but I don't remember he mentioned supercell.
6. Is too sweet: CLOYS
7. Emblem of Ireland: HARP. Man, I never knew this. It's on the cover of Irish passports. On the obverse of Irish Euro coins also.
8. Book before Nehemiah: EZRA. Needed crossing help. The name means "Help" in Hebrew.
9. Uh-uh, in Ufa: NYET. Russian for "No" (Da is "Yes"). Ufa is a city of west-central Russian in the Southern Ural Mountain. Doug picked Ufa for alliteration purpose. My first encounter with this name.
10. Ring competitor: BOXER
11. One of 17 Monopoly properties: AVENUE
12. Blustered: RANTED
13. Great times: BLASTS
18. Type of screen, briefly: LCD. Several abbreviated answers in this puzzle. None obscure.
21. Frozen drink brand: ICEE
22. Tijuana's region: BAJA. Is it short for Baja California?
23. Lingerie size: A CUP. First time I saw A CUP in a LAT.
27. Skeptical comment: I BET
28. Direct: STEER
29. Not much: A TAD
30. Underwater directors: FINS. "Director" made me think of a person.
33. "Just the Way You Are" singer: JOEL (Billy). Great song.
34. Stationery shade: ECRU. Alliteration.
35. Grumpy: SOUR
39. Popular fund raiser: BAKE SALE
40. Central Utah city: OREM. And Provo. Learned both from doing Xword.
41. They may be shockers: EELS. We've seen similar clue before.
43. Fails to be: ISN'T
44. Many a pop group: QUARTET
45. Grapple with, in the sticks: RASSLE. Wrestle.
46. "Plan 9 From Outer Space" director: ED WOOD. The name faintly rings a bell. Also a title of a Johnny Depp movie.
47. Put the squeeze on: COERCE
51. Inform against: RAT ON
52. Khuzdul speaker, in Tolkien: DWARF. Khuzdul is a fictional language spoken by the Dwarfs. Stumped me.
53. Metz moniker: NOM. Metz is a city in NE France. Another alliteration.
56. "Cool, man!": I DIG. I totally dig Jazzbumpa's theme title the other day "Music, Man". Mondo cool!
57. So: ERGO
58. Line holder: REEL. Oh, fishing line.
59. Ham salad seller: DELI
62. DI doubled: MII. 51X2= 1002. (Correction: It's 501X2= 1002).
63. Three-part fig.: SSN
Answer grid.
Thanks for the concern and understanding of my recent absence, everyone. I've been very busy and am always behind in catching up with the comments/emails. Dennis is the designated host in my absence, and he will (he has been) answer any question that needs to be addressed.
Additionally, I feel the quality and fun/education factor of the blog write-up have been improved considerably with regular contributions from our dedicated team of Argyle, Al, Melissa Bee, Jazzbumpa and Lemonade. They add distinctive style and flavor to our blog and I love looking at the puzzles through their eyes.
So don't worry about my diminished blogging. I assure you that a carefully written post will appear every morning at 5:30am Central Time. Just enjoy the write-up & have fun!
C.C.
