Theme: Pay the Piper. each theme answer is a phrase beginning with a synonym for bill.
20A. Unable to reach a human, no matter which buttons one presses : IN VOICE MAIL JAIL. anymore, that describes pretty much every call to any business. when i have to call my son's school it takes several minutes just to get to the part where i can push a button. if i need to actually talk to someone at the bank ... i need to take the afternoon off.
25A. Word processor setting : TAB ALIGNMENT. remember physically setting the sliding tabs on ibm typewriters?
42A. 1791 legislation : BILL OF RIGHTS. first ten amendments of the us constitution.
48A. Verify ahead of time, and a hint to what 20-, 25- and 42-Across have in common : CHECK BEFOREHAND. beforehand = in advance. i wonder why no one says afterhand?
fun, just-right wednesday level puzzle, with two grid-spanning theme answers, and some fresh and fun clueing. we've seen michael blake twice before here at the corner. he had a perfect score at the 2008 silicon valley puzzle day. i found this article, and this image.
melissa blogging.
Across:
1. Explorer Vasco da __ : GAMA. Had no clue (yuk yuk). Portuguese navigator who led an expedition at the end of the 15th century that opened the sea route to India by way of the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.
5. Political channel : C-SPAN
10. Blabbers : GABS. too short to be a plural noun, had to be a verb.
14. Actor Sharif : OMAR. holds a degree in mathematics and physics from cairo university. best known for playing sherif ali in lawrence of arabia (1962) and the title role in doctor zhivago.
15. Broom rider of comics : HILDA. coincidentally, blake used this same clue/answer in one of his two previous puzzles blogged here (by c.c.). in the comic, broom hilda is atilla the hun's ex-wife. kazie commented before: an obvious play on the name Brunhilde from the legend on which Wagner based his "Der Ring des Nibelungen" opera, and provided this link.
16. Brother of Daniel, William and Stephen : ALEC
17. Titanic bane : BERG. images of the actual iceberg that sunk the titanic. roughly only 8%-11% of an iceberg is visible above the surface of the ocean - thus the phrase 'tip of the iceberg.'
18. Alaskan native : INUIT
19. "Battle for __": Peter Yates WWII book : ST. LO
23. Highest ordinal number? : NTH
24. Changed course : VEERED
31. Ryder rival : U-HAUL. i just drove a 14-foot one in february. 350 miles. in the snow. little scary.
32. Screech owls don't make them : HOOTS. cute.
33. 'Hood pal : BRO
36. It may be put in a washer : BOLT
37. Bingo relative : LOTTO
38. Pet plaint : MEOW
39. Observe : EYE
40. First of 12 popes : PIUS I. don't know my popes.
41. Bed that can be stored during the day : FUTON.
44. Prison in 1971 headlines : ATTICA. new york. riot based in part upon prisoners' demands for better living conditions.
47. Some pop-ups : ADS. some are not ad-related ...
55. Skye of film : IONE
56. Mythical weeper : NIOBE. queen of thebes, one of the more tragic figures of greek mythology. after her husband and 14 children were slain she turned to stone, and a stream (the Achelous) formed from her ceaseless tears. She became the symbol of eternal mourning.
57. Baking soda target : ODOR
58. Let go : DROP
59. Swashbuckling Flynn : ERROL
60. Mosaic piece : TILE
61. Without : SANS
62. Type in again : RE-KEY
63. White man's makeup? : SNOW. snowman.
Down:
1. Mongolian desert : GOBI
2. Congregational yes : AMEN
3. Wonderful, in slang : MARV. marvelous.
4. Mythical sailor : ARGONAUT
5. Affectedly elegant : CHI-CHI. hm. i'm guessing this is pronounced "shee-shee," perhaps based on chic. i work at a chi-chi-foo-foo spa. pronounced a different way, it means something entirely different.
6. Trig function : SINE
7. Fellow suspect of Mustard : PLUM. from the board game clue.
8. 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit : ADIA
9. Hailing from : NATIVE TO
10. Stove nozzle : GAS JET
11. Hitching post? : ALTAR. great clue.
12. Prove false : BELIE
13. Bawl out : SCOLD
21. "__ have to do" : IT'LL. what'll i do?
22. Camera eye : LENS
25. Poster mailer : TUBE
26. Greeting from a deck : AHOY
27. Hayride seat : BALE. who's been on a hayride?
28. Grave robber : GHOUL
29. False : NOT SO
30. Theme : MOTIF
33. Sister of Meg, Jo and Amy : BETH. little women.
34. Carrot or cassava : ROOT
35. Has title to : OWNS
37. Tiny Yokum's big brother : LI'L ABNER
38. Pictures of perps : MUG SHOTS.
40. Elect : PICK
41. Bona __ : FIDE. latin. "in good faith."
42. Curl beneficiary : BICEPS. cute.
43. Hardly ever : RARELY
44. Etching supplies : ACIDS
45. Birch of "American Beauty" : THORA
46. Mortise's mate : TENON
49. Galway's land : EIRE. in my high-tech days we had a site in galway - always liked working with them just to hear the accent.
50. Driver's decision point : FORK. pssst - take the one less traveled by.
51. Bassoon kin : OBOE
52. Server's edge, in tennis : AD IN
53. Court plea, for short : NOLO. nolo contendere. lemonade and/or hahtool can expain better than i.
