Theme: Convenience Store Bandit!
The last word of each theme clue is typically writ large (at least 72 point) in tabloids to describe someone who has - oh, probably overstayed his time at a parking meter, or jumped the line at the ATM, or - of course! - held up the 7-11!
17A. "The Wonder Years" star : FRED SAVAGE He looked too innocent to have a name like that:
The last word of each theme clue is typically writ large (at least 72 point) in tabloids to describe someone who has - oh, probably overstayed his time at a parking meter, or jumped the line at the ATM, or - of course! - held up the 7-11!
17A. "The Wonder Years" star : FRED SAVAGE He looked too innocent to have a name like that:
25A. Muppet with a voracious appetite : COOKIE MONSTER. His real name is Sid and he eats fruit and vegetables now.
45A. Online news site that merged with Newsweek in 2010 : THE DAILY BEAST. If you've never read Evelyn Waugh's satire on newspaper reporting "Scoop" I highly recommend you do.
59A. Onetime shelfmate of Count Chocula and Franken Berry : FRUIT BRUTE I needed the crosses for this - a cultural gap in my knowledge!
Hi everyone, Steve here and I thoroughly enjoyed Doug's puzzle. There's some really fresh stuff in here, some really nice cluing and a theme which was slick. I've got a couple of mini-themes myself which I'll wrap up with, but let's look at the rest of the puzzle.
Across:
1. As a shortstop, he won the A.L. Gold Glove in 2002 and 2003 : A-ROD. Alex Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees after 2003, and moved to third base. You'd wonder why on earth you'd do this, until you remember that Derek Jeter was doing rather nicely, thank you, at short for the Bronx Bombers.
5. Salsa scoopers : CHIPS
10. Predator of the deep : ORCA. Deep? Hmmmm ... I've seen film of killer whales pretty much dragging themselves onto the beach to grab a penguin or two. Shallows, much more apt.
14. "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" co-star Rooney __ : MARA.
15. Convent outfit : HABIT
16. Shipbuilder in Genesis : NOAH
19. Tie with a cord : BOLO. Nice misdirection here, I was thinking of the verb, not the noun.
20. Seasickness : MAL DE MER. An awful thing in any language, but the French sounds a little more poetic.
21. Common cat name : FLUFFY. I'd be careful calling this dude "Fluffy" - it's MR Cat to you!
23. "You got it!" : YEP
24. Palomino's pace : GAIT. I was thinking "pace" in terms of speed, not in terms of method.
31. Hit on the noggin : BOP
32. Wise Athenian lawgiver : SOLON. We were taught the classics back at school in England in 1782 or something, and I remember this chap being known for legalizing brothels in Athens to promote "equality of opportunity". He looks a bit gruff to me.
33. November birthstone : TOPAZ
35. New coin of 2002 : EURO. I'd never really looked closely at one of these (other than to complain when the Coinstar machine rejected one from my change jar) but actually they're pretty neat with the map of Europe and the countries in the Euro zone identified.
37. English actor Hawthorne : NIGEL
39. Highest sudoku digit : NINE
40. Clog-clearing brand : DRANO. I love brand names like this. Now we have focus groups, test marketing and advertising agencies and we come up with bland. That's not the Ford Bland, or the Budweiser Bland, but it really should be. I think I'll go trademark it, it's only a matter of time.
42. Three-dimensional : CUBIC
44. Fire : CAN. I once set fire to a trash can and tried to put out the blaze by stamping on it, all that happened was the flaming trash can got wedged to my foot and shot fire up my pant leg. Hilarity in the office ensued.
48. Scandal fodder : DIRT
49. "Treasure Island" author's monogram : RLS. With a name like Robert Louis Stevenson you absolutely have to become a famous author so as not to waste a name like that.
50. Chemicals giant : DUPONT
53. Gazelle chasers : CHEETAHS. Gazelles can reach 50 MPH. They're feeling pretty smug until they get in a foot race with Mr. Cheetah, as he can hit 70 when he puts the paw to the pampas.
58. All-inclusive : A TO Z. Before the days of GPS, everyone in London had a copy of this classic Street Atlas in the car - we pronounced it the A to ZED of course.
61. Bogus : FAKE
62. Not yet firm, as Jell-O : UNSET. This could also be previously-firm.
63. Supportive contraction : ATTA. Only Girl or Boy. Never heard "Dad", "Mom" or "Cheetah".
64. Afterwards : THEN
65. Wild West show prop : LASSO. I always want to put another O at the end, then I run out of squares and leave it as it is.
66. Cuts off : LOPS. My LASSO always feels LOPPED.
Down:
1. Letters on a radio switch : AM/FM. Because Amplitude Modulation/Frequency Modulation doesn't fit on the switch.
2. __ avis : RARA. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that this means "Rare Bird". You can't look everything up on Google.
3. Russian city east of Kiev : OREL. Twinned with Hershiser, Pennsylvania. (OK, I made that up, but Hershiser, PA sounds totally believable).
4. Dude, to a hipster : DADDY-O.
5. Victor : CHAMPION
6. Privileged person : HAVE. As opposed to Have Not.
7. Support beam : IBAR. A place where Apple Computer fans hang out: iBar
8. Porky or Petunia : PIG
9. Tennis great Edberg : STEFAN
10. Thing to press to get started : ON BUTTON
11. Shingle site : ROOF
12. Farm youngster : CALF
13. "Yo, mate!" : AHOY
18. Goes looking for : SEEKS
22. Mention one by one : LIST. "Interminable" is often paired with this word at awards ceremonies.
24. Elapsed : GONE BY
25. Try to win over : COURT
26. TV tycoon born in Mississippi : OPRAH
27. Draw out : ELICIT
28. Skier's challenge : MOGUL. I once skied a mogul field in Verbier, Switzerland and only touched the first and the last one with my skis - for the rest (about 200 yards of downhill) I was bouncing from one to the next on my back.
62. Not yet firm, as Jell-O : UNSET. This could also be previously-firm.
63. Supportive contraction : ATTA. Only Girl or Boy. Never heard "Dad", "Mom" or "Cheetah".
64. Afterwards : THEN
65. Wild West show prop : LASSO. I always want to put another O at the end, then I run out of squares and leave it as it is.
66. Cuts off : LOPS. My LASSO always feels LOPPED.
Down:
1. Letters on a radio switch : AM/FM. Because Amplitude Modulation/Frequency Modulation doesn't fit on the switch.
2. __ avis : RARA. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess that this means "Rare Bird". You can't look everything up on Google.
3. Russian city east of Kiev : OREL. Twinned with Hershiser, Pennsylvania. (OK, I made that up, but Hershiser, PA sounds totally believable).
4. Dude, to a hipster : DADDY-O.
5. Victor : CHAMPION
6. Privileged person : HAVE. As opposed to Have Not.
7. Support beam : IBAR. A place where Apple Computer fans hang out: iBar
8. Porky or Petunia : PIG
9. Tennis great Edberg : STEFAN
10. Thing to press to get started : ON BUTTON
11. Shingle site : ROOF
12. Farm youngster : CALF
13. "Yo, mate!" : AHOY
18. Goes looking for : SEEKS
22. Mention one by one : LIST. "Interminable" is often paired with this word at awards ceremonies.
24. Elapsed : GONE BY
25. Try to win over : COURT
26. TV tycoon born in Mississippi : OPRAH
27. Draw out : ELICIT
28. Skier's challenge : MOGUL. I once skied a mogul field in Verbier, Switzerland and only touched the first and the last one with my skis - for the rest (about 200 yards of downhill) I was bouncing from one to the next on my back.
29. Homeric works : EPICS
30. Charged : RAN AT
31. Gardener's preparation : BED
34. Branch of Buddhism : ZEN
36. Donut buy : ONE DOZEN. Two Cops.
38. Booklet for an operagoer : LIBRETTO. I've always wondered about this. I've never taken a Cliff's Notes translation to a Shakespeare play - why would I take a libretto to the opera?
41. Chief Norse god : ODIN
43. TMZ regular : CELEB
46. Crafty : ARTFUL
47. Starlike : ASTRAL
50. Bonkers : DAFT
51. Wyoming neighbor : UTAH. I'm going to Utah for the first time at the beginning of August. Completely the wrong season for MOGULS, which might not be a bad thing.
52. Elbow : POKE
53. Use bad words : CUSS
54. Makes haste : HIES
55. Prius, e.g. : AUTO
56. Internet address starter : HTTP. Because if we'd had to type "Hypertext Transfer Protocol Colon Forward Slash Forward Slash Double-U Double-U Double-U" the internet would never have taken off and you'd not be reading this blog.
57. Pirates' milieus : SEAS. Favorite clue today. Arrrr!
60. Basic biological molecule : RNA. Thank goodness for Ribonucleic Acid, or where would we all be?
Answer grid.
A couple of theme-lets made me laugh - we have CHIPS AHOY, COURT CHAMPION STEFAN and MOGUL CELEB OPRAH.
That's all from me - have a great 7/11 and try to keep cool!
Steve
