Theme: The Mother of all cross referential Puzzles. Eh!
Another original highly entertaining theme from out Canadian Constructor, who was first published in the LAT in 2009. INTERVIEW. In this Friday frolic, he has words that are implied by the literal position of cross referenced clues, with the set being BEFORE., OVER, BETWEEN, UNDER, and AFTER. Recognize the extraordinary balance of BEFORE/AFTER and OVER/UNDER with BETWEEN in the middle making a perfect symmetrical, logical grid. Finally, each of the 4 ten-letter theme fill have the second word encompass the missing word, while the BETWEEN remains in the middle. My first quick pass through, before I started filling in the cross-reference clues with perps, was to notice how many words ended in "O" which had nothing to do with theme but was interesting. Once I sussed the theme from DOG DAY AFTERNOON, the grid filled quickly with many nice 7 letter fill, ASSERTS , CALORIE, DECODER, GRIFTER, HONORED, LET ME GO, MOANERS, MONSTRO, PERDIDO, TREMOLO (three "O" words!) and some longer ones like MOUNT ARARAT, NOSE FOR NEWS. No "J" but I did get an ADE, so it is all good. Let us get to it.
14A. With 15-Across, verifies in advance, literally : CHECKS (6). 5A. See 14-Across : HAND (4).
Together we get CHECKS BEFOREHAND, as the fill Checks is before the fill Hand.
26A. With 32-Across, warm apparel, literally : WINTER (6). 32A. See 26-Across : COAT (4).
Together we get WINTER OVERCOAT.
37A. See 39-Across : MEAL (4). 39A. With 37- and 40-Across, nosh, literally : EAT (3). 40A. See 39-Across : MEAL (4).
Together we get EAT BETWEEN MEALS. My favorite visual, like the picture puzzles in the Sunday magazine, or the old TV show Concentration.
47A. See 51-Across : WOOD (4). 51. With 47-Across, former "American Idol" winner, literally : CARRIE(6).
Together we get CARRIE UNDERWOOD.
66A. See 67-Across : NOON (4). 67A. With 66-Across, 1975 Best Picture nominee, literally : DOG DAY.(6)
Together we get DOG DAY AFTERNOON, a great movie.
And the 10, 10, 11, 10, 10 fill preserves the symmetry.
Across:
1. Place for una familia : LA CASA. The home in Spanish. Or Italian?
7. Xerox insert: Abbr. : ORIGinal.
11. Advanced math deg., in Canada : MSC. No idea, but Mr. Poole is from the Toronto area, I guess it is Masters of SCience.
16. Suffix with Capri : OTE. A real Friday word, CAPRIOTE has history as well as inspiring our Dunce's cap.
17. Clubs with balls : DISCOS.
18. Yellow butterflies, to Brits : SULPHURS. Another all perp fill, for this BEAUTY. (1:01). I wonder what John Lampkin could teach us about them, or Gareth B.?
20. Two-note keyboard effect : TREMOLO. Take it away JzB.
22. Most fit to serve : ONE-A. Old draft status.
23. "Pinocchio" whale : MONSTRO.
28. Barcelona gold : ORO. More Spanish.
29. Kiosk : STALL
33. Fam. tree member : DESCendant.
35. Old cutter : SNEE. This old time knife, along with SMEE, is classic crosswordese
36. Sign of cold feet? : BRR.
42. Progressive Insurance spokeswoman : FLO. I think people either love or hate her.
43. B.C. law group : RCMP. Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
45. Starr-struck one? : DRUM. A great pun, from Ringo Starr beating the skins. 62D. Stand buy : ADE. Another great pun. By/buy. Simple and my suffix.
48. __ music : SHEET.
50. Fire : AXE. My old friends. LIVE. (5:53).
53. Con artist : GRIFTER.
55. Years in Claudius' reign : ANNI. Latin for Year.
56. Certain cracker : DECODER. No one from Georgia.
59. Guides in the direction of : STEERS TO.
61. Jason of "Harry Potter" films : ISAACS.
65. Fancy marble : TAW. Rules and words of the GAME.
68. People people: Abbr. : EDs. People magazine and its editors.
69. Celebrity chef Burrell : ANNE. Well since we do not have Jeannie anymore, here are some of Anne's RECIPES.
70. Initial stages : ONSETS.
Down:
1. Common HDTV feature : LCD. Liquid Crystal Display.
2. Sushi-grade tuna : AHI.
3. These, in Toulouse : CES. We switch from Spanish to French for the Downs.
4. Bank listing: Abbr. : ACCTS.
5. Culottes kin : SKORTS. Back again.
6. Declares : ASSERTS.
7. Overmuch : OH SO.
8. Fidel's successor : RAUL.
9. Just starting to roll, perhaps : IN LOW.
10. Econ. yardstick : GDP. Gross Domestic Product.
11. Image on the Armenian coat of arms : MOUNT ARARAT. One of a series of Mounts which are in Turkey, Armenia and the Iran border, and the biblical landing point of Noah's Ark.
12. Haight or Ashbury : STREET. The famous San Francisco hippie area which is at the intersection of these two streets.
13. "Dog Whisperer" Millan : CESAR. Never watched an EPISODE.(45:31).
19. Accepted, as a gift card : HONORED. The store, not the donee.
21. Bellyachers : MOANERS. Not my first thought....
23. Like platform shoes in the '60s : MOD. From the British MODS & 9ROCKERS.
24. Utah city on I-15 : OREM.
25. Journalist's asset : NOSE FOR NEWS. Nice long fill.
27. SALT topic : ICBM. Inter-Continental Ballistics Missile.
30. Percolate : LEACH. According to my living encyclopedia, think of a sewer field and leaching it so it percolates.
31. Prisoner's demand : LET ME GO.
34. Pepsi One's one : CALORIE.
38. California wine town near Stockton : LODI. West Coaster, a favorite place?
41. Posh : LUXE. not Deluxe?
44. Ellington standard whose title is Spanish for "lost" : PERDIDO. The Duke LIVE. (7:54).
46. Nice view : MER. More French, with the Nice/nice deception.
47. Opening lines? : WANT AD. Job openings.
49. Attaches, in a way : TIES ON.
51. Class : CASTE. Vidwan, you want to educate us on this time-honored tradition?
52. Pelé's first name : EDSON.
54. Some grenades, briefly : FRAGS. Fragments.
57. Bertie Wooster's alma mater : ETON. P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves novels. The FICTIONAL list.
58. Road crew item : CONE. Reminds me of this SONG.
60. Genetic stuff : RNA.
63. Jazz lover : CAT. Hep cat back in the day.
64. GPS part: Abbr. : SYS. Global Positioning System.
Well my GPS tells me I have reached the end of the line and I must percolate out of here.
Have a great weekend, Lemon out. Thank you David Poole, sorry your Blue Jays ended up with all the old Marlins. They already had sent all the good ones to the Tigers or Dodgers. I hope Canadian Eh! stops by.
Notes from C.C.:
1) I hope solvers in Southern California will attend this year's Crosswords LA, slated for Saturday, October 26. Please click here for details. The host Elissa Grossman said "this year's event will include crosswords and puzzle
games constructed by Liz Gorski, Jeffrey Harris, Aimee Lucido, Todd
McClary, Andrea Carla Michaels, Pete Muller, Trip Payne, John Doppler
Schiff, Dave Shukan, Marc Spraragen, David Steinberg and Zoe Wheeler
(with development managed by Tyler Hinman). It's likely that Merl Reagle
will join us for the event finals. All money raised (over costs) is
donated to a great non-profit (Reading to Kids)." I think our own Steve will be there.
2) Kazie and her husband Barry visited their bilingual granddaughter Lea in August. Below are a couple photos. Click here for more. Love seeing her smile.
With Grandpa.
With her parents in their garden
