17. Negotiator's assets : BARGAINING CHIPS. I love Lay's Salt & Vinegar potato chips!
25. Utterly squashed : FLAT AS A PANCAKE. Anyone for a potato pancake?
45. Easily identifiable teams, in casual games : SHIRTS AND SKINS. I had "SHIRTS AND tails" at first. D'oh, what was I thinking? How about some nice baked potato skins?
Is anyone hungry yet? I think the people in the unifier might be! And the unifier is:
58. 1885 Van Gogh painting (whose subjects may have appreciated the ends of 17-, 25- and 45-Across): THE POTATO EATERS.
Marti here for your Thursday amusement. The puzzle is just missing a Q for a pangram. Lots of sparkly fill, starting with the first one...
Across:
1. Elegant trinket : BIJOU. I meant literally - sparkly!
6. Yam or taro : TUBER. Our theme is also a tuber.
11. "Talk of the Nation" airer : NPR. National Public Radio.
14. Not proximate : APART
15. "The Princess Bride" kidnapper ___ Montoya : INIGO. No clue - needed every single perp. The role was played by Mandy Patinkin in the 1987 movie.
16. Rivière contents : EAU. French for "river" in the clue, and eau = "water."
20. Textbook updates, e.g.: Abbr. : EDS. Editions.
21. Pricey screens : HD TVS. DH saw a 152 inch Panasonic HD TV, and is making plans to put an addition on the house...
22. Nuts for soft drinks : KOLAS
23. Stage signal : CUE
24. Synthesizer pioneer : MOOG. Robert Moog. I got turned on to classical music when I bought "Switched on Bach" in the 60s. 2:07
32. Come undone : GO APE
33. Be just too sweet : CLOY
34. Inkling : HINT
35. ___ Lopez: chess opening : RUY. I have seen this one before, but I misspelled it as ReY at first.
36. Mickey D's breakfast item : SMALL OJ. Why Mickey D? I was trying to think of a Mc-something!
39. In : MOD. Short for "modern." I hesitated to fill it in, because I thought "mod" was a bit of old-fashioned lingo from the 60s!
40. Before, to the Bard : ERST
42. "Actually, that's not true" : I LIE
43. Reasons for returns : FLAWS
48. Shared currency : EURO. Currently shared by 23 countries, and used by over 320 million people.
49. Really quiet, in music : PPP. Pianississimo. I vow to get that word into a puzzle some day. Just look at all those S's!!
50. USS Missouri nickname : BIG MO. Total WAG.
52. Digital image unit : PIXEL
55. Through : VIA
61. Angkor ___: Cambodian temple : WAT. Beautiful!
62. Die (out) : PETER
63. Trio with notable beards : ZZ TOP. Ironically, the guy without a beard is named Frank Beard!
64. "Star Trek: DSN" role : ODO. A "Changeling" on the Deep Space Nine series.
65. Below-average Joe : SCHMO. I was off in the "coffee" direction for Joe at first...
66. Eternities : AEONS
Down:
1. Big screen pig : BABE. From the 1995 film.
2. Third-generation release of 2012 : IPAD. I have an iPad, iPod, iPhone, iMac and Macbook. But this still didn't appear without a few perps!
3. 24-Down containers : JARS. And 24-Down. Subway addition? : MAYO. From the sandwich chain, not the commuter rails.
4. Part of ILO: Abbr. : ORG. International Labour Organization, a UN agency.
5. Pacific-12 member, e.g. : UTAH UTES. And 7-Across. Pac-12 member, e.g. : UNIV.ersity.
6. Windshield application : TINT.
8. Some troughs : BINS. Again, a simple one that I just did not want to fill in at first.
9. It's usually broken before use : EGG
10. "You da man!" : ROCK ON
11. Author of "The Sandman" graphic novels : NEIL GAIMAN. Needed every single perp to get this guy's name.
12. Respected Smurf : PAPA
13. Muscovite, e.g.: Abbr. : RUSS.ian from Moscow.
18. Think tank product : IDEA
19. Cheap sauce : HOOCH. "Sauce" being the euphemism for "booze."
23. Keep from going higher : CAP. Like, "Put a cap on..."
25. Club with the motto "To Make the Best Better" : FOUR-H
26. Beset : LAY SIEGE TO
27. Milan's La ___ : SCALA. Actually, it is "Teatro alla Scala" in Italian.
28. Fully committed : ALL IN. Am I the only one who loves to watch the World Series of Poker? Check out this "all in" call that lost to a royal flush! 1:40
29. Traveled down the Grand Canal, say : POLED. Meh...
30. Has met before : KNOWS
31. JFK Listings : ETDS. Estimated Time of Departure(s). And then we have 38-Down. Named for a prez, Philly public square also known as Love Park : JFK PLAZA.
32. College srs.' tests : GRES. Graduate Record Exam(s)
37. Soup with a bento : MISO. A "Bento Box" is the epitome of Japanese take-out, usually delivered by Bento Drivers on bicycles. I don't know if MISO soup is typical in a bento box, since it might be a little sloppy by the time it arrived at its destination?
41. Master card? : TRUMP. Of course, I was thinking in terms of the credit cards in my wallet.
44. Golf hole's edge : LIP. Husker G., how many times have you claimed "Paint!!" when your putt lipped out?
46. Uniformed forces : TROOPS. Celebrated on Monday this week!
47. WWI German vice admiral : SPEE. Total WAG. I had the "S*EE," and somehow I dredged it up from the dim recesses...
50. USAF stealth plane : B-TWO. I originally had B-Ten, but Angkor Eat and Ndo didn't make sense at 61 and 64-Across
51. "___ to do it!" : I HAD. ("Oh no, you di-ent!!")
52. Trail : PATH. Nailed it! I immediately thought of some hiking trails in the Alps.
53. Brangelina, e.g. : ITEM. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are a real "item" in the gossip columns. Why did he ever leave sweet Jennifer?
54. Tic-tac-toe option : X OR O
55. Quash : VETO
56. Element in hemoglobin : IRON
57. Egyptian dangers : ASPS
59. Dick : TEC. "Detectives" are known as "Dicks"
60. Philosopher Mo-___ : TZE. 墨子 C.C. has explained to me that Cantonese has no "Z" word. So I suppose this would become Mo-Tse in Cantonese. He studied Confucianism, but came to the conclusion that their philosophy was fundamentally flawed. He developed his own philosophy of "Universal Love," so was probably the first Flower Child, right?
And that's it for this week!
Hugs,
