Theme: Before Dawn - that's when it's blackest, and this Monday, BLACK can be in front of both words in the themes.
17A. *Shows like “Cheers” and “Friends” : LIGHT COMEDY. . A "black light" has a dark blue optical filtering material in the glass of the bulb which blocks most of the visible light, so the lamp emits mostly ultraviolet. A black comedy is a comic work that employs gallows humor.
25A. *Precious metal trading venue : GOLD MARKET. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea. You can find just about anything on the black market...for a price.
38A. *Soft, lumpy chair : BEAN BAG. Easy Black Bean Soup. Black bag operations are covert or clandestine surreptitious entries into structures to obtain information for human intelligence operations. Does Watergate bother you?
42A. *Winter fisherman’s access : ICE HOLE. Video of a fire truck trying to turn on black ice, watch the front wheels. Clip.(0:55). A spot in space where things go in but don't come out is a black hole.
56A. *Attractive facial mole : BEAUTY MARK. Attractive equine, Black Beauty. Horse theft is definitely a black mark on yor record.
64A. 1987 market crash, and this puzzle’s title, whose first word can precede each word in the starred answers : BLACK MONDAY
Argyle here. It is obvious from the title, this was meant to be a Monday puzzle but some fill is from later in the week. But, hey, we put on our big kids pants and soldier on. Happy Halloween! (Did you check out the Google banner?)
Across:
1. About, date-wise : CIRCA
6. Togo neighbor : GHANA. West coast of Africa. Map.
11. Band booster : AMP
14. Ancient Greek theater : ODEAN. (Correction: ODEON.) I always picture this.
15. Hershey’s caramel candies : ROLOs. Skors yesterday and Rolos today; all gone tonight.
16. Card game with a belligerent name : WAR
19. Author Umberto : ECO. Best known for his novel The Name of the Rose (Il nome della rosa, 1980), an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory. That's what Wiki says.
20. “Garfield” dog : ODIE
21. Be shy, poker pot-wise : OWE
22. Onion kin : LEEK. Add some to the black bean soup.
24. Wheel edges : RIMS
29. Pub mug : STEIN
31. Simba’s mate, in “The Lion King” : NALA
32. Like a mint Mickey Mantle rookie card : RARE
33. Drilled commodity : OIL. Oil that is, black gold, Texas tea.
35. Drill parts : BITS
37. Understand : GET
44. Klutz : OAF
45. Riverbank deposit : SILT. I never cared for this description; the river bottom or delta. yes.
47. “__ Haw” : HEE
48. Another, in Andalusia : OTRO. Andalusia, a region in Southern Spain, bordering on the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
50. Like sour cherries : TART
52. Bust makers : NARCs
59. Hindu scripture : VEDA
60. Beatles meter maid : RITA. From the Sgt. Pepper's album. Clip.(2:43)
61. Zip : NIL
62. Bring home : EARN
63. Certain eBay click : BID. But there aren't many auctions anymore.
68. “__ Misérables” : LES
69. Flood barrier : LEVEE
70. Demoted planet : PLUTO. So sad.
71. Chinese menu general : TSO
72. “Yikes!” : "EGADS!"
73. Keys in : TYPES
Down:
1. Red, white and blue : COLORS
2. “Yay, me!” : "I DID IT!"
3. Ruling period : REGIME
4. Ability to stick together : COHESION
5. Picnic bug : ANT
6. Gradually appeal to : GROW ON
7. Amateur photographer’s workshop : HOME LAB
8. Bar pint contents : ALE
9. Green light : NOD. Bit of a stretch, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.
10. Safe havens : ASYLA. This definition is from the 1913 Webster's Dictionary and may be outdated. (I'd say.)
11. Seven days before now : A WEEK AGO
12. Holy fish? : MACKEREL
13. Poker tour player : PRO
18. Minor player : COG. "I feel like a micro cog in a macrocosm" · - Mary Guyette.(Whoever she was.)
23. Goof up : ERR
26. 552, to Caesar : DLII
27. Fire starter : MATCH
28. Head, in France : TÊTE
30. Penpoints : NIBs
34. Flock at church : LAITY
36. Spotted : SEEN
38. Half-wit : BOOB
39. Diners and such : EATERIES
40. “Yes, unfortunately” : "AFRAID SO"
41. Glittery rock genre : GLAM
43. Angelic : HEAVENLY
46. Hypnotized : TRANCED
49. Ump’s call : OUT
51. Tots’ rides : TRIKEs. Check out this beaut!
53. Do research (on) : READ UP
54. Percentage quoted by a bank : CD RATE
55. Some plasma TVs : SANYOs. Good to see something besides RCA.
57. Dining room piece : TABLE. 65D. 57-Down support : LEG
58. Merged Dutch airline : KLM
63. Short lunch order? : BLT
66. Gardner on screen : AVA
67. Pick, with “for” : OPT
Argyle
1) Constructors' Note:
This is Don's idea. We originally started color blue and changed to black after seeing blue has been done before. Then Don further enhanced our theme by suggesting going with phrases where both words can follow black. We had fun with this puzzle. Everything went smoothly, from theme entry selection to filling and cluing.
This is Don's idea. We originally started color blue and changed to black after seeing blue has been done before. Then Don further enhanced our theme by suggesting going with phrases where both words can follow black. We had fun with this puzzle. Everything went smoothly, from theme entry selection to filling and cluing.
2) Here is a wonderful photo from our regular commenter Yellowrocks, who visited Japan some time ago.
