17A. *Fifth amendment right: DUE (Do) PROCESS OF LAW
25A. *Decorator’s forte: EYE(I) FOR DETAIL
46A. *No place in particular: HERE (Hear) AND THERE
59A. *End of an old pasta product jingle: UH (A) OH SPAGHETTIOS
66. Disney et al., or when added to the starts of the starred answers, a 1965 musical (listen!): WALTS (Waltz)
And you do have to “listen” to the starts of the starred answers to get this theme, “Do I Hear a Waltz?”, which is a rather obscure musical by Arthur Laurents, with music by Rodgers and lyrics by Sondheim, from a 1952 play “The Time of the Cuckoo”, also the basis for the1955 film “Summertime” starring Katherine Hepburn. Whew!
I won’t say how long it took me to “get” this one. But it was satisfying to finally get it, after all. I can’t say if other solvers would be enamored of this theme, but as a constructor, I thought it was absolutely brilliant! To find five entries that make up the title of a musical, including a pluralization of a pronoun (“Walts”), with each word an exact homophone of the corresponding movie title words...it just astounds me. Kudos to you, Ed Sessa, and do stop by today and let us know what was the seed entry for this one? My guess would be “Walts”?!?
Marti here, so let’s get crackin’ on the rest of this bad boy:
Across:
1. 16-Across's style : SCAT. Hoo boy, we start right off the bat with a cross referential clue. So, let's skip that one for now. Because [16A. 1-Across singer : ELLA] didn't give me much to go on...(maybe some perps can help???)
5. Step like Bigfoot : TROMP. I would much prefer a clue like "Step on the accelerator, like on the autobahn..."
10. Panache : DASH. Someone who has panache is "dashing", or they could just be going o'er the fields in a one horse open sleigh.
14. Two-time Italian prime minister Moro : ALDO. Kidnapped by the infamous Italian left-wing Red Brigade, and then killed.
15. Writer who said, "I am not young enough to know everything" : WILDE. Oscar.
20. Factor in the Andrea Doria/Stockholm collision : DENSE FOG. In what could have been an epic disaster on the scale of the Titanic sinking, "only" 46 people lost their lives off the coast of Nantucket in this accident.
21. Water pipes : MAINS. Anyone else think of these?
22. Flamenco shout : OLE
23. Portmanteau name for an O-Cedar cleaning product : SCRUNGE. For "scrubbing sponge".
30. Shower accessory : LOOFA.
31. "___ out?": dealer's query : IN OR. I ask my cats that all the time...
32. Wall map marker : TACK
36. Navigational suffix : ERN. East-ern, south-ern, west-ern, north-ern. Or, this crosswordese sea bird.
37. Bleach : DECOLOR. Hmm, do you know any "decolored" blondes?
40. Magic org. : NBA. Hah! I am finally "getting" these clues for Magic, Jazz, etc.
41. Tuxedo part : VEST
43. Word game piece : TILE. I am playing online scrabble with my BFF of 47 years. The TILEs are quite realistic!
44. V8's veggies, e.g. : OCTET. Duh, a real V8 moment, when I realized that the "8" in V8 refers to the number of veggies in there!!
49. Thickness measurer : CALIPER. Or, how long it takes me to do the crossword at 11:00 at night...
52. Sit in a cellar : AGE. I showed Dudley my wine cellar today, but the wines in there don't sit very long.
53. Have because of : OWE TO. Awkward one to clue.
54. As a point of fact : ACTUALLY.
62. Woody scent : PINE. Can't you just smell it?
63. Firefighter Red : ADAIR. Can never remember his name until I fill in a few perps...
64. Lieutenant Tragg creator Gardner : ERLE
65. Cast topper : STAR. I thought of Yellowrocks and her recent cast.
67. Raise : REAR
Down:
1. Teen safety gp. : SADD. Students Against Drunk Driving.
2. Lead for Poirot : CLUE
3. Port of Yemen : ADEN. Geography lesson for the day. (You might want to zoom out a bit...) (...OK, maybe a lot)
4. Caps : TOPS OFF
5. Broadway deal : TWO-FER. Why "Broadway"? Isn't any two-for one sale a "deal"?
6. Suitor of 57-Down : RICO. Another cross-reference. But at least this one had some meat to latch onto in the referential clue: [57D. "Copacabana" siren : LOLA]. (Do we really want to hear a link to the Barry Manilow ear worm again?) (....nah, didn't think so!!) (Just hum it to yourself...) (C'mon, you know the words!!) ("Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl. With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there...") (hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm, hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm...)
7. Designer Cassini : OLEG
8. OR workers : MDs
9. Latin foot : PES. Masculine, third declension. Genitive = "pedis". Just take my word for it, and move on...
10. Assumed value : DEFAULT. Anyone else have a problem with this definition? I thought de fault was all in de failure of de guy to pay his debt.
11. Plumb tuckered out : ALL-IN. In Texas Hold-em poker, an "All-in" bet means putting all your remaining chips into the pot. Maybe it's because the player is plumb tuckered out and just wants to go back to his hotel room to get some sleep?
12. Much street talk : SLANG. So they can sound kewl...
13. Ship's anchor hole : HAWSE. How's that for a clue, Spitzboov?? (I know, the pronunciation is more like "hoz". But I'm from New England, so I can make up any pronunciation I want!)
18. Prepare to shoot again : RELOAD. Guns or cameras?
19. Katz of "Hocus Pocus" : OMRI. This kid.
23. Hot : STOLEN. Great clue/answer!
24. Dear, to Donizetti : CARO. My chance to link opera! (3:04) Giuseppe Giordani is credited for composing the song "Caro Mio Ben" in his opera "L'Epponia", but it is suggested that the song actually pre-dated it by some 50 years.
25. Shasta no. : ELEV. For some reason, I filled this in without even thinking about it.
26. Days gone by : YORE
27. A really long time : EONS
28. More touch-and-go : DICIER
29. ___ Gay : ENOLA
33. Opening stake : ANTE
34. Transmitting trucker : CBer. Do truckers still use CB radios? Or are they all wireless internet texters now? Scary thought...
35. Hudson of "Almost Famous" : KATE. She's so pretty, I don't know why she hides half her face with her DECOLORED hair.
38. To be, in Paree : ETRE. (Abejo - maybe Santa will bring you RosettaStone next Christmas?)
39. Cheap hooch : ROTGUT...oooohhhh, brings back memories of those nights in college that I spent laying there clinging to the grass for dear life, because I was afraid I would fall off the lawn...
42. Toward that place, to Shakespeare : THITHER...and yon.
45. Proctor's concern : CHEATER
47. Long verse : EPOS
48. Antique dealers, at times : DATERS. I wonder if they meet their dates on match.com?
49. Masterstrokes : COUPS
50. At all : A WHIT
51. Hotelier Helmsley : LEONA
54. "(I've Got ___ in) Kalamazoo" : A GAL. If anyone called me a "gal" these days...
.
.
.
I'd probably kiss him for thinking I was so young.
55. Voucher : CHIT
56. Currency discontinued in 2002 : LIRE. Plural of "lira", the old Italian currency. When I lived in Italy in 1988, a bottle of water (1 liter) cost 2000 lire. A bottle of the local wine was 1000 lire. Guess what I drank?
58. Strategic WWI rivr : YSER
60. Hillbilly relative : PAW.
61. Org. for drillers? : ADA. American Dental Association
Answer grid.
So now I'm plumb tuckered out, and off to bed!
Hugs,
Marti
