Wedneday, Nov 2, 2011 David W. Cromer

Theme: SACK IT TO ME! you bet your bippy, all the theme clues are homophones (words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings and spelled differently in today's case).

17A. Sachs : GOLDMAN'S PARTNER. goldman-sachs. not a lot of fans these days.

27A. Sacks : FIRES FROM THE JOB. wonder if this will ever happen to anyone from 17a.

48A. Saks : NEW YORK RETAILER. the image below is of his and hers saks fifth avenue stores on opposite sides of the street in chicago's magnificent mile.

64A. Sax : WOODWIND IN A BAND. mindi abair (6:16 - long and worth it). that's what i call a blowjob.

there's a brilliant bonus, that may or may not be intentional:

37A. "Awakenings" actress : MEARA. anne meara portrayed miriam in the movie awakenings, which was inspired by oliver sacks' book by the same name. sacks is a well-known neurologist and author, who suffers from face blindness. there is an interesting episode of wnyc's radiolab (download or stream) about face blindness, with guests oliver sacks and chuck close, an artist who paints faces.

mr. cromer, if you're out there, do drop in and let us know.

melissa here. four beautiful grid-spanners make for a very tidy puzzle. seemed like a perfect wednesday difficulty level to me.

across:

1. Nice forecast : FAIR. lucky us in california, spectacular weather right now.

5. Blatant promotion : PLUG

9. Entertain : AMUSE

14. Shoppe modifier : OLDE

15. Hoosier city : GARY. indiana. according to wikipedia, there doesn't seem to be much consensus about the origin of the word hoosier.

16. Kitchen gadget : PARER. or peeler.

20. Texas longhorn, for one : STEER

a cacophony of noisy entries today:

21. Shocked reaction : GASP. 67. Audibly : ALOUD, 69. "Yikes!" : EGAD, and 70. Sounds from pounds : YELPS. dog pounds.

22. 45-Down et al. : ISP'S. internet service providers, and 45d. Buddy List co. : AOL. in aol, your buddy list consists of the friends in your instant messenger window.

23. Hai or oui : YES. hai (はい) = japanese; oui = french.

25. Atop : UPON

35. Detours, e.g.: Abbr. : RTES. routes. appropriately misleading (detour).

36. Kitty : POT. a pool of money in some gambling card games.

38. Start to sing? : ESS. sing.

39. Fawned over, with "on" : DOTED

42. Uncertain word : MAY

43. Warren Buffett's city : OMAHA. didn't know this fact.

46. JFK listing : ETA. jfk airport, estimated time of arrival.

47. Matchmaker.com connection : DATE. never heard of matchmaker site, only match.

52. __ bargain : PLEA

53. Crunch targets : ABS

54. Uffizi offering : ARTE. museum in florence, italy. so beautiful. anyone here ever been there?

57. Couples with clubs : FRED. Fred Couples. and 5d. Couples's org. : PGA

60. Comic pianist Victor : BORGE

68. Taj Mahal site : AGRA.

71. Maintain : KEEP

72. Conifers with elastic wood : YEWS. lovely bending branches, used in archery bows.

down:

1. Turns opaque, with "up" : FOGS. sometimes the golden gate does that. definitely worth a GASP.

2. Loads : A LOT

3. Run in place : IDLE

4. Late-night flights : RED-EYES

6. Clubber __, nemesis in "Rocky III" : LANG. obscure for me, never saw the movie.

7. Bear in the sky : URSA

8. Plaster of Paris component : GYPSUM

9. Financing letters : APR. annual percentage rate.

10. Daytime fare : MATINEE. one definition for fare is offering.

11. Coffee hour sights : URNS

12. Ooze : SEEP

13. Misses the mark : ERRS

18. GI rations : MRE'S. meal ready to eat. i had some during search and rescue training - not terrible.

19. Date with an MD : APPT. not that kind of date.

24. Dirty Harry's org. : SFPD. san francisco police department.

26. Resistance unit : OHM

27. Refrigerant gas : FREON

28. Announcement at the door : IT'S ME. according to grammar girl: "fortunately, most grammarians forgive you for saying 'it's me,' and the 'it is I' construction is almost extinct."

29. Took in again : RE-SAW. i can hear the groans from here.

30. Pal of Tigger : ROO

31. Playful aquatic critter : OTTER

32. Actor Malcolm-__ Warner : JAMAL

33. Speak with style : ORATE

34. Tylenol alternative : BAYER. both are brand names. tylenol is acetaminophen, bayer is aspirin.

40. Summer on the Seine : ETE. french. pronounced ay-tay.

41. Computer fodder : DATA

44. Really enthused : HYPED UP

47. Act rebelliously : DISOBEY. like him.

49. Homeowner's option, in brief : REFI. re-finance.

50. Ancient Egyptian temple complex : KARNAK. this, but who didn't think of carnac?

51. "Fernando" quartet : ABBA

54. Sports schedule column : AWAY. home and away games. sharks play the next six games at home.

55. Audition aim : ROLE. or sometimes just a roll.

56. Word with box or belt : TOOL

58. On __: nervous : EDGE

59. Calamitous : DIRE.

61. Storm : RAGE. twenty years ago this week, the andrea gail and her six man crew, subject of the book and movie 'the perfect storm,' were lost at sea. riveting book.

62. Eat away : GNAW

63. Actor Byrnes and announcer Hall : EDDS

65. OED entries : WDS oxford english dictionary entries are words.

66. Suede feature : NAP

answer grid.

melissa