Theme: It's a Monday, Natch - Five rhyming endings.
17A. Br'er Rabbit's thicket : BRIAR PATCH
39A. Dramatic grab in the outfield : SHOESTRING CATCH. Often while running full tilt towards the infield to catch a dying quail. Did you pay attention when we discussed what a BLOOP was?
59A. Mark with intersecting sets of parallel lines : CROSS HATCH
10D. Fight in a ring : BOXING MATCH
25D. Childproofing device : SAFETY LATCH
Argyle here. Gerry's second puzzle for us and again we might question the day of the week. Gerry made a comment on that puzzle you can read at the bottom of this link Monday, April 9, 2012. Starting out with Occam's razor did set the tone for what was to come. One grid spanner with two theme entries crossing it. All in all, a nice balance. No foreign words? Is that possible?
Across:
1. __ razor: principle of logic : OCCAM'S. Rule favoring simple theories, aka, the Law of Parsimony.
7. Tempe sch. : ASU. (Arizona State University) Google Map.
10. "Back to the Future" bully : BIFF. I was blown away by the size of the entry for Biff on Wikipedia. The Biff Tannen bio. TMI
14. Vladimir Putin's country : RUSSIA
15. Tractor-trailer : RIG
16. Face-to-face exam : ORAL
19. Powerful TV princess : XENA
20. Computer code acronym : ASCII. (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
21. Pub beer orders : PINTS
22. "Gil __": Lesage novel : BLAS. "Gil Blas" (French: L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane) is a picaresque novel by Alain-René Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It is considered to be the last masterpiece of the picaresque genre. Quote from Wiki.
26. Baseball's Ott : MEL
27. Underhanded type : SNEAK. Not softball.
28. Wyoming college town : LARAMIE. (University of Wyoming)
31. '60s "Gotcha" : "I DIG". "I'm hip, dude."
33. "Whee!" : "IT'S FUN!". the sixties.
34. Chinese chairman : MAO
35. What rolling stones don't gather : MOSS. Phrase Finder.
42. Email status : SENT
43. Cont. north of Africa : EUR. (continent of Europe)
44. Country singer Kathy : MATTEA
45. Knitter's purchase : YARN
47. Theater section : BALCONY. Becoming a thing of the past, alas.
48. Ability : SKILL
51. Tina with a spot-on Palin impression : FEY
53. Chart toppers : HITS
54. Like pop music : TONAL. What is the difference between tonal and atonal?
55. "__ the loneliest number": '60s song lyric : ONE IS. By "Three Dog Night" (another past discussion on the blog.) Clip(3:07)
58. Sunrise direction : EAST
64. Actor Baldwin : ALEC
65. Suffer : AIL
66. '80s-'90s quarterback Dan : MARINO. Great Miami Dolphins player, Hall of Fame, but no Super Bowl Ring.
67. Subject with fractions : MATH
68. Urban transit org. : MTA. (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) The Kingston Trio sang about the Boston Metropolitan Transit Authority.
69. Least outgoing : SHYEST
Down:
1. Mars or Venus : ORB
2. Junkyard dog : CUR
3. CBS forensic drama : CSI. (Crime Scene Investigation)
4. Red __ beet : AS A
5. Actress Sorvino : MIRA
6. Patsies : SAPS. (dupes, victims, fools, chumps)
7. Wheelchair guy on "Glee" : ARTIE. Just Artie (or Arty).
8. Thick-crust pizza style : SICILIAN
9. "How gross!" : "UGH!"
11. Goodnight girl of song : IRENE. The Weavers hit number one with it in 1950.
13. Back-pocket liquor holder : FLASK
18. High point : ACME
21. Letter before omega : PSI
22. Supreme happiness : BLISS
23. Wood shaper : LATHE
24. Fiery crime : ARSON
29. Conservatory subj. : MUS. (music)
30. Prefix meaning "between" : INTER
32. Church doctrine : DOGMA
34. Fallen space station : MIR
36. 10th century Roman emperor : OTTO I. There were no Popes named Otto? Is that right?
37. Perfume feature : SCENT
38. One-horse carriages : SHAYS
40. Try to escape capture : RUN FOR IT. Lam.
41. Lo-__: lite : CAL
46. Every bit : ALL
47. Tournament exemptions : BYEs. If there is an uneven number of entrants, the top seeds don't play anyone in the first round.
48. Teakettle emission : STEAM
49. Eucalyptus eater : KOALA
50. City map on a state map, e.g. : INSET
52. WWII plane __ Gay : ENOLA
56. Belief systems, for short : ISMs
57. Deposed Iranian ruler : SHAH
59. Photo taker : CAM. (camera)
60. Suffix with station or honor : ARY
61. 1-1 score, e.g. : TIE
62. Neurology subj. : CNS. (central nervous system)
63. Really sexy : HOT
Argyle
From C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear Chickie (with husband Bill)! I want to see your backyard with all the wonderful fruit trees.
From C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear Chickie (with husband Bill)! I want to see your backyard with all the wonderful fruit trees.