Theme: Track Bets - The start of the first word of each two-word familiar phrase is a bet on horse race finish, in win, place & show order.
20A. Cellarmaster's vessel : WINE DECANTER. Win. Finish first. Can you think of any other "win" containing phrase?
36A. Response to sugar pills, perhaps : PLACEBO EFFECT. Place. Finish second. My favorite theme entry.
53A. It might have a massage setting : SHOWER NOZZLE. Show. Finish third. Scrabbly entry. Letters JQ are missing in this grid.
64. With 65-Across, what the starts of 20-, 36- and 53-Across are : TRACK
65. See 64-Across : BETS
Tight theme. Each bet word is contained in the first word of its mother phrase. The unifier TRACK BETS is placed at the bottom edge. Clear enough for solvers to identify.
Ideally the split unifying words should be placed symmetrically, but TRACK and BETS do not have identical number of letters.
Lovely long Downs (a pair of 8s and 9s) to cross all the Across theme answers. Quite a few multi-word none-theme entries too.
Across:
1. Seize : GRAB
5. Wife of Jacob : LEAH. Rachel's sister, and the real name of our Chickie (in powder blue).
9. Center of Florida? : EPCOT. Epcot Center. I knew it's not Shaq. Thought it's playing on letter R in the very middle of Florida.
14. Move to a new city, briefly : RELO
15. Down-home music venue, familiarly : OPRY. The Grand Ole Opry.
16. Dutch cheese : GOUDA. Edam too.
17. "The Good Earth" heroine : OLAN. "The Good Earth" is the best book I've read about pre-1949 China.
18. Nasty habit : VICE
19. 20 Mule Team cleanser : BORAX
23. Small-screen heartthrob : TV IDOL
24. American or Continental : AIRLINE. Were you thinking of breakfast?
28. Cock and bull : HES. This kind of clue used to trick me.
29. Wedding symbol : RING. No wedding ring for me.
32. In the warehouse : STORED
33. Like many wallets : BIFOLD
35. Farm females : SOWS. I really liked the pigtail clue last time.
40. Wiener schnitzel meat : VEAL
41. __-faire: tact : SAVOIR. Literally "knows what to do".
42. Wan : PALLID
45. Inflection : TONE. Mandarin has four tones. Cantonese nine. Crazy.
46. Ukr. neighbor : RUS
49. Finished, as a deck : STAINED. Unexpected clue for me.
51. Imagined : DREAMT. The only English word that ends in mt, Linda said.
56. Expand, as a collection : ADD TO. Sure need some autographed baseball cards to add to my collection.
59. Author Wiesel : ELIE
60. Colorful horse : ROAN
61. Lose one's cool : PANIC
62. Those, in Tijuana : ESOS
63. Mired, after "in" : A RUT
66. Past fast fliers: Abbr. : SSTS
Down:
1. Investor's concern : GROWTH. Nice cluster of consonants.
2. Go through again : RELIVE
3. "Hand in My Pocket" singer Morissette : ALANIS. She dated Ryan Reynolds for a few years.
4. Like a fillet : BONED
5. Cosmo topic : LOVE LIFE. Cosmo magazine.
6. Grand in scope : EPIC
7. Medieval Spanish chest : ARCA. Is it Spanish for "ark"?
8. Shenzi or Banzai in "The Lion King" : HYENA.Easy guess.
9. __ Sousé, W.C. Fields's "The Bank Dick" role : EGBERT. No idea. Dictionary says the name is from old English, meaning "bright sword".
10. Bad sport : POOR LOSER. And GLOAT (31. Be a bad sport). Clue echo.
11. Mangy mutt : CUR. Alliteration.
12. Harem room : ODA. "Room" in Turkish.
13. Penultimate line on most bills : TAX. Phone/gas bill. The last item before the Total.
21. Greek architectural order : DORIC
22. "My country __ of thee ..." : 'TIS
25. __-Z: classic Camaro : IROC. Just remember it as I Rock
26. Ex-Speaker Gingrich : NEWT
27. Mag masthead names : EDS
30. Wealthy Londoners : NOBS. New meaning to me.
33. Irrational way to go : BALLISTIC. Go ballistic.
34. "Whip It" band : DEVO. Just learned that Devo comes from de-evolution (backward evolution).
36. Bog fuel : PEAT
37. Singer's syllables : LA LA
38. Affection : FONDNESS
39. '80s Pontiac : FIERO. It means "proud" in Italian and "wild", "fierce" or "ferocious" in Spanish, a la Wikipedia.
40. Biden and Bush: Abbr. : VPS
43. At the pawn shop : IN HOCK
44. "Gloria in Excelsis __" : DEO. Latin for "Glory to God in the highest".
46. Five o'clock shadow removers : RAZORS
47. German diacritical : UMLAUT. German men are hard to understand (and date).
48. Surgical blockage relievers : STENTS
50. Nerd : DWEEB
52. Poet Pound et al. : EZRAS
54. Apart from this : ELSE
55. Urban uprising : RIOT
56. Liable : APT
57. __ es Salaam : DAR. Largest city in Tanzania. Arabic for "house of Peace". I can never remember the name.
58. Genetic letters : DNA
Answer grid.
Here are the last pictures from Gunghy's bike trip. Thanks for the awesome pictures and wonderful captions, Punk! I bet you solved at least one crossword along the road, no?
C.C.
20A. Cellarmaster's vessel : WINE DECANTER. Win. Finish first. Can you think of any other "win" containing phrase?
36A. Response to sugar pills, perhaps : PLACEBO EFFECT. Place. Finish second. My favorite theme entry.
53A. It might have a massage setting : SHOWER NOZZLE. Show. Finish third. Scrabbly entry. Letters JQ are missing in this grid.
64. With 65-Across, what the starts of 20-, 36- and 53-Across are : TRACK
65. See 64-Across : BETS
Tight theme. Each bet word is contained in the first word of its mother phrase. The unifier TRACK BETS is placed at the bottom edge. Clear enough for solvers to identify.
Ideally the split unifying words should be placed symmetrically, but TRACK and BETS do not have identical number of letters.
Lovely long Downs (a pair of 8s and 9s) to cross all the Across theme answers. Quite a few multi-word none-theme entries too.
Across:
1. Seize : GRAB
5. Wife of Jacob : LEAH. Rachel's sister, and the real name of our Chickie (in powder blue).
9. Center of Florida? : EPCOT. Epcot Center. I knew it's not Shaq. Thought it's playing on letter R in the very middle of Florida.
14. Move to a new city, briefly : RELO
15. Down-home music venue, familiarly : OPRY. The Grand Ole Opry.
16. Dutch cheese : GOUDA. Edam too.
17. "The Good Earth" heroine : OLAN. "The Good Earth" is the best book I've read about pre-1949 China.
18. Nasty habit : VICE
19. 20 Mule Team cleanser : BORAX
23. Small-screen heartthrob : TV IDOL
24. American or Continental : AIRLINE. Were you thinking of breakfast?
28. Cock and bull : HES. This kind of clue used to trick me.
29. Wedding symbol : RING. No wedding ring for me.
32. In the warehouse : STORED
33. Like many wallets : BIFOLD
35. Farm females : SOWS. I really liked the pigtail clue last time.
40. Wiener schnitzel meat : VEAL
41. __-faire: tact : SAVOIR. Literally "knows what to do".
42. Wan : PALLID
45. Inflection : TONE. Mandarin has four tones. Cantonese nine. Crazy.
46. Ukr. neighbor : RUS
49. Finished, as a deck : STAINED. Unexpected clue for me.
51. Imagined : DREAMT. The only English word that ends in mt, Linda said.
56. Expand, as a collection : ADD TO. Sure need some autographed baseball cards to add to my collection.
59. Author Wiesel : ELIE
60. Colorful horse : ROAN
61. Lose one's cool : PANIC
62. Those, in Tijuana : ESOS
63. Mired, after "in" : A RUT
66. Past fast fliers: Abbr. : SSTS
Down:
1. Investor's concern : GROWTH. Nice cluster of consonants.
2. Go through again : RELIVE
3. "Hand in My Pocket" singer Morissette : ALANIS. She dated Ryan Reynolds for a few years.
4. Like a fillet : BONED
5. Cosmo topic : LOVE LIFE. Cosmo magazine.
6. Grand in scope : EPIC
7. Medieval Spanish chest : ARCA. Is it Spanish for "ark"?
8. Shenzi or Banzai in "The Lion King" : HYENA.Easy guess.
9. __ Sousé, W.C. Fields's "The Bank Dick" role : EGBERT. No idea. Dictionary says the name is from old English, meaning "bright sword".
10. Bad sport : POOR LOSER. And GLOAT (31. Be a bad sport). Clue echo.
11. Mangy mutt : CUR. Alliteration.
12. Harem room : ODA. "Room" in Turkish.
13. Penultimate line on most bills : TAX. Phone/gas bill. The last item before the Total.
21. Greek architectural order : DORIC
22. "My country __ of thee ..." : 'TIS
25. __-Z: classic Camaro : IROC. Just remember it as I Rock
26. Ex-Speaker Gingrich : NEWT
27. Mag masthead names : EDS
30. Wealthy Londoners : NOBS. New meaning to me.
33. Irrational way to go : BALLISTIC. Go ballistic.
34. "Whip It" band : DEVO. Just learned that Devo comes from de-evolution (backward evolution).
36. Bog fuel : PEAT
37. Singer's syllables : LA LA
38. Affection : FONDNESS
39. '80s Pontiac : FIERO. It means "proud" in Italian and "wild", "fierce" or "ferocious" in Spanish, a la Wikipedia.
40. Biden and Bush: Abbr. : VPS
43. At the pawn shop : IN HOCK
44. "Gloria in Excelsis __" : DEO. Latin for "Glory to God in the highest".
46. Five o'clock shadow removers : RAZORS
47. German diacritical : UMLAUT. German men are hard to understand (and date).
48. Surgical blockage relievers : STENTS
50. Nerd : DWEEB
52. Poet Pound et al. : EZRAS
54. Apart from this : ELSE
55. Urban uprising : RIOT
56. Liable : APT
57. __ es Salaam : DAR. Largest city in Tanzania. Arabic for "house of Peace". I can never remember the name.
58. Genetic letters : DNA
Answer grid.
Here are the last pictures from Gunghy's bike trip. Thanks for the awesome pictures and wonderful captions, Punk! I bet you solved at least one crossword along the road, no?
C.C.
