Theme: Go directly to JAIL - The last word in each theme answer is a slang word for JAIL.
17A. Song involving body parts : HOKEY POKEY. That's what it's all about.
25A. Driveshaft component : UNIVERSAL JOINT
41A. Gulped-down Mexican cocktail : TEQUILA SLAMMER
55A. Marker : FELT TIP PEN
48A. Synonym for the ends of 17-, 25-, 41- and 55-Across : JAIL
Melissa bee here.
We've seen this theme before, but it's always fun. Other possibilities: clink, can, cooler. Without googling, what is a prisoner's favorite punctuation mark?
Felt more like a Monday/Tuesday level to me, breezed right through it. Like i had one of these.
Across:
1. Lots of plots : ACRES
6. Blue : GLUM. I guess that's why they call it the blues.
10. Memo abbr. : ATTN. Attention.
14. Lewis's partner : CLARK
15. "Mona __ Smile": 2003 film : LISA. Starring Julia Roberts.
16. Actress Perlman : RHEA. Wife of Danny Devito, best known as Carla Tortelli on Cheers.
19. One of two on some wedding cakes : TIER
20. View : EYE
21. English Channel port : DOVER. Claims to be the worlds busiest passenger port. Surrounded by chalk cliffs known as The White Cliffs of Dover. Inspired both a song and a movie.
22. Particular : FUSSY
23. Staff addition : HIRE. Employee.
24. Business : FIRM
31. McQueen or Martin : STEVE
32. "The Bridge on the River __": 1957 Best Picture : KWAI
33. "Rather not!" : NAH.
34. Quote : CITE. Verb.
35. __ light: moviemaker's tool : KLIEG. Intense lamp used in film making, named after inventor John H. Kliegl and his brother Anton Tiberius Kliegl.
37. Hardy's "obscure" stonemason : JUDE. The last of Thomas Hardy's novels, tells the story of Jude Frawley, who longs to be a scholar. Inspired a tv mini-series in 1971, and a film in 1996 starring Kate Winslet.
38. Husband of Fatima : ALI. Fatima (or Fatimah) was the fourth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad's daughters. Ali was Muhammad's cousin.
39. Mottled : PIED. Having sections or patches colored differently and usually brightly.
40. "Gymnopédies" composer : SATIE. The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888, are three piano compositions written by French composer and pianist Erik Satie. Very familiar.
45. "For __ us a child is born" : UNTO. Lyrics from Handel's Messiah.
46. Spoonbill's kin : IBIS. Scarlet Ibis.
47. Leave the cockpit suddenly : EJECT
49. Fawlty Towers, for one : HOTEL. British sitcom, i've never seen it.
51. Tabloid craft, briefly : UFO. Unidentified Flying Object.
54. Sports page info, e.g. : DATA. Specific clue for a non-specific answer.
57. Quibbles : NITS
58. Like some hygiene : ORAL. Yesterday it was clued as 'Word-of-mouth.'
59. Lasso feature : NOOSE
60. Sheltered, on a ship : ALEE
61. Hereditary unit : GENE
62. Ladies' men : GENTS
Down:
1. Dull pain : ACHE. Mainiac, still aching?
2. Be overly sweet : CLOY
3. Golfer's need, at times : RAKE. To rake the sand traps. And 12. Pro shop bagful : TEES
4. Poetic preposition : ERE
5. Execute a high jump? : SKY DIVE
6. "Lethal Weapon" co-star : GLOVER. Danny Glover. Also could have been Gibson.
7. Valley girl word : LIKE
8. Microsoft customer : USER
9. Kentucky Derby time : MAY
10. Maestro Toscanini : ARTURO. Finally have this one memorized.
11. "Now!" : THIS MINUTE
13. __ a soul : NARY. No one.
18. Small opening : PORE
22. Island country since 1970 : FIJI
23. Swarm's home : HIVE. Bees.
24. Standard : FLAG. Standard = any distinctive flag.
25. Functional : UTILE.
26. Avoiding off-topic posting, say : NETIQUETTE. Portmanteau of "network etiquette" or "Internet etiquette."
27. Path to ruin, with "the" : SKIDS
28. Dazzle : AWE
29. Low point : NADIR. Not sure i've heard this word before, the definition is simply the lowest point. Or, in Astronomy, the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith and vertically downward from the observer.
30. You, in a classic E.B. Browning poem : THEE
31. Sing like Satchmo : SCAT. Satchmo was Louis Armstrong's nickname. And 37. Jazz sessions : JAMS
35. Metric weight, for short : KILO. Kilogram.
36. Grazing field : LEA
39. Aniston's ex : PITT. Jennifer and Brad.
40. Like the Cheshire Cat : SMILING. From Alice in Wonderland.
42. Remove from its box : UNCASE
43. Chicken __ : LITTLE. The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
44. Help to perpetrate : ABET
47. "Show Boat" author Ferber : EDNA
49. __ and now : HERE
50. "The Good Earth" heroine : OLAN. Pulitzer prize winning novel by Pearl S. Buck.
51. Shortly following : UPON
52. Suffix with slug : FEST. Slugfest. Not my favorite -fest.
53. Breakfast tip components, usually : ONES. I suppose it depends on where you eat.
55. Brit's pea-souper : FOG. Not sure why the er is needed.
56. "Lenore" poet : POE
Answer grid.
Melissa
Answer grid.
Melissa
