Theme: QWERTY, or "Touch-typing 101". The first part of each theme entry is typed with the left hand and the second part is typed with the right hand...unless you are a "hunter-pecker"!
17A. *Informal survey : STRAW POLL (STRAW - left hand, POLL - right hand)
29A. *Young starlet's driver : STAGE MOM (STAGE - left hand, MOM - right hand)
45A. *Jeweled fashion accessory : DRESS PIN (DRESS - left hand, PIN - right hand)
4D. *Ominous salutation : DEAR JOHN (DEAR - left hand, JOHN - right hand)
11D. *Fresh dairy product : SWEET MILK (SWEET - left hand, MILK - right hand)
22D. *Garage lubricant : GEAR OIL (GEAR - left hand, OIL - right hand)
28D. *Retro '80s British indie rock genre : TWEE POP (TWEE - left hand, POP - right hand)
35D. *Be of one mind about : AGREE UPON (AGREE - left hand, UPON - right hand)
41D. *Astral wildflower : STAR LILY (STAR - left hand, LILY - right hand)
And the unifier:
(Thank goodness, Don and C.C. provided us with a hint !!!)
62A. Repeated words in a drill sergeant's marching order, and a hint to how the first and second word, in turn, of each starred answer would be touch-typed : LEFT RIGHT
A jam-packed theme crossword, with NINE "in the lingo" phrases...Mind boggling!!
Marti here, and I had no idea that this was another of our Dynamic Duo's puzzles, until I started to blog the answers and saw the byline....DUH! Just kick me upside the head!
Sooo, let's look at the rest of the fun:
Across:
1. Chatted via AOL : IM'ED. "Instant messaged"
5. "Legend of the Guardians" birds : OWLS. 2010 movie, subtitled "The Owls of Ga'Hoole".
9. Product prefix with -matic : INSTA
14. Strike zone? : LANE. Boomer knows this very well...
15. State with a five-sided flag : OHIO. Oh, you don't believe it??
16. Staircase post : NEWEL.
19. Lose no games : SWEEP.
20. São Miguel's islands : AZORES. Map.
21. Get dolled (up) : TOG. I know this as "Togs", or "Sunday Best". Was not familiar with "tog up".
23. Kings and queens : BEDS. HaHa, I was thinking "chess".
24. Legendary Henie : SONJA. Who could forget the famous skater/film star?? She was so pretty!
25. Discharge : EMIT
27. Great Lakes prov. : ONT. Ontario.
33. Six-sided state : UTAH...to go with a five-sided flag???
36. Tends the lawn : WATERS. Yes, we have done this often lately. I feel so bad for those in Texas who are in the middle of extreme drought!
38. Key for Debussy? : ILE. Not sure about this one.. I think they mean, like a Florida "key", or "island", in French (Debussy was French, right??)
39. + or -, e.g. : SIGN. Yep, those would be a sign...
40. It's not chilly in Chile : ENERO. Opposite of New England, January (ENERO) in Chile is the middle of summer...
41. Buttonhole, e.g. : SLIT.
42. Rocket tail? : EER. Rocketeer.
43. Russian leader, 1682-1725 : PETER I. Aka "Peter the great".
44. WBA stats : TKOS. World Boxing Association. "Technical knockouts".
47. Mauna __ : LOA. Earth's largest volcano.
49. Prefix with -morphic : ECTO.
50. Albee offering : DRAMA. Edward Albee, famous for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". (NOT ME!!)
54. "Out of the question!" : UH UH. No way!!
56. Bud : PAL. I had such a hard time with this one...I was all over the place, thinking of "rose", "new", "prime"....none fit!!
59. Haul in : COLLAR. This one, too...who else wanted "arrest"?
60. Slangy denials : NOPES. Nope, didn't come to mind easily...
64. Ad : PROMO. PROMOtion.
65. Brace : PAIR. As in, a "brace" of ducks. Could be a "group", also..
66. Pastures : LEAS.
67. New York's __ Island : CONEY. "Coney" is also a term meaning rabbit. I wonder if that is where the name comes from?
68. German auto : OPEL.
69. Every 12 mos. : YRLY. Mos. in the clue hints at abbr. for "yearly"
Down:
1. Lund of "Casablanca" and others : ILSAS. Are there others?
2. Seder staple : MATZO.
3. "The Smartest Guys in the Room" company : ENRON. We won't go into the great scandal here...
5. "My bad!" : OOPS. Love this clue / answer! I say it often...
6. Question from 5-Across? : WHO. Usually not fond of cross-referenced clues, but this one seems OK to me.
7. Jaunty tune : LILT. We just discussed this the other day...
8. New pilot's milestone : SOLO.
9. Connections : INS.
10. Online novice : NEWBIE. We have many newbies on our blog...and C.C. welcomes them all!
12. Ready to drive : TEED. I teed up my golf ball today, and drove it 250 yards!!
13. Salzburg vista : ALPS. One of my favorite vacation destinations...whether for skiing, or mountain climbing!
18. Withdraw by degrees : WEAN.
26. U.K. sports cars : MGS. Cool cars...
29. 17th-century Dutch painter : STEEN. Jan Steen. Contemporary of Rembrandt.
30. Okla., once : TERR. Abbr. in the clue lets us know that we are looking for an abbr. of "territory".
31. Medley : OLIO
32. Citi Field team : METS. NY Mets. Built as a replacement for Shea stadium, and opened in 2009.
33. Pre-owned : USED.
34. Theater section : TIER.
37. Naysayer : ANTI
43. LAX setting : PST. "Pacific Standard Time". LAX = Los Angeles International Airport.
46. Work on a plot : SCHEME
48. Renuzit target : ODOR. St. Louis, MO company that is working to fight offenses to our nostrils!
51. Rags-to-riches author : ALGER. Horatio...prolific author who wrote about impoverished boys and their rise to respectable middle-class security.
52. Taj __ : MAHAL. AHA, Vidwan! I got this one right this time. It is in Agra...
53. Pretentious : ARTSY...fartsy
54. Like sexist jokes, for short : UN PC. "Un-politically correct"
55. Scope starter : HORO...I am music deprived in this puzzle, so I will provide you with this...
57. Best friend's meal? : ALPO. My two tubby tabbies eat special diet food. No Alpo in this house...
58. Ballet move : LEAP. I sooo wanted to put "plie" here. Sigggghhh.
59. Key used in combinations : CTRL. "Control" key, often used with "Alt" and "Del" (But only on PCs..my Mac doesn't recognize that command...)
61. Tempeh base : SOY. I did not know this! Learning moment for today...
63. "For shame!" : FIE. And a pox on you for not finishing this puzzle!!
Hugs today, and that's all for now!
Marti
Note from C.C. & Don:
After rejecting a "Left-handed" theme from us, Rich asked if it's possible to make a grid consisting of words that can be typed with the left hand only. We realized soon into the process that much undesirable fill would enter into the grid. Somehow, it occurred to Don that LEFT RIGHT-typed phrases might be more interesting. We thought we would see how many could be interwoven into a grid design. Lots of words can be typed with only left-hand, but the right-handed word pool is quite limited. So, coming up with common two-word left & right phrases was quite challenging. We had lots of fun with this puzzle.
Note from C.C. & Don:
After rejecting a "Left-handed" theme from us, Rich asked if it's possible to make a grid consisting of words that can be typed with the left hand only. We realized soon into the process that much undesirable fill would enter into the grid. Somehow, it occurred to Don that LEFT RIGHT-typed phrases might be more interesting. We thought we would see how many could be interwoven into a grid design. Lots of words can be typed with only left-hand, but the right-handed word pool is quite limited. So, coming up with common two-word left & right phrases was quite challenging. We had lots of fun with this puzzle.
