Theme: VERMILION INTERSECTIONS, or WHERE REPUBLICANS AND COMMUNISTS MEET AND GREET. [I refuse to call this THE RED WEDDING!]
The starred clues refer to themed answers indicating various shades of
red that cross in the grid, [I dare to report with no trace of
embarrassment.]
21A. *Small fruit first cultivated in Oregon : BING CHERRY. Wikipedia tells us, "The
cultivar was created as a crossbred graft from the Black Republican
cherry in 1875 by Oregon horticulturist Seth Lewelling and his
Manchurian Chinese foreman Ah Bing, for whom the cultivar is named."
Crossing
12D. *Chain named for a Stones hit : RUBY TUESDAY, song and restaurant.
58A. *Vin Scully will be its 2014 Grand Marshal : ROSE PARADE. This New Year's Day festival of equestrians, marching bands and flower-covered floats antedates the Rose Bowl football game by 12 years. The latter was added in 1902 to help fund the former, which is now the province of the Honda motor car company.
Crossing
24D. *"Clue" suspect : MISS SCARLET
Leslie
Ann Warren, shown here close to the other suspects - and tantalizingly
close to a wardrobe malfunction - stepped in to play Miss Scarlet in the movie version of CLUE
when director Johnathan Lynn's first choice, Carrie Fisher, went onto
rehab four days before filming started. Whether she had the DT's is
unreported.
And the centrally located unifier: 41A.
Humanitarian symbol, and a hint to what happens where the answers to
starred clues intersect : RED CROSS.
Hi
Gang, JazzBumpa here. Our fearless leader has blended a colorful
cocktail for us today, with an unusual 15 x 16 grid design, and
intersecting horizontal and vertical entries long with a creative theme. Other possibilities include beets, apples, catchup, Bob the Tomato,
Rover, Erik the Viking, Lucille Ball and the Rouge River. Let's see
what else she has in store for us.
Across:
1. "Let's hear it!" : DO TELL. I'm all ears.
7. Beginning on : AS OF. Let's get going.
11. "Essence of Man" cologne : BRUT. Sure.
15. Bar game fodder : TRIVIA. Little things.
16. Old Roman coin : LIRA. Not the ancient Roman Denarius, but the pre-1999 modern Italian currency.
17. Light, to a moth : LURE. Can be a fatal attraction.
18. Cooks, in a way : STEAMS. Or gets angry.
19. Up the creek : IN TROUBLE. Without a paddle: in BIG trouble. Creek of your choice.
23. Ruler divs. : CMS. Centimeters. 2.45 cm = 1 in.
26. '80s-'90s German chancellor : KOHL. Helmut.
27. Brief brawls : SET TOS. Often seen in hockey and occasionally in baseball games.
30. Kansas City footballer : CHIEF. Only maybe.
32. L.A. commuter org. : M.T.A. Metropolitan Transit Authority. Boston, too.
33. 16-Across replacer : EURO. Told ya!
34. Daniel Barenboim's opera house : LA SCALA. In Milan.
36. "Agreed!" : ITS A DEAL. Let's shake on it.
40. Surg. sites : O.R.S. Operating Rooms.
43. BART stop : STAtion
44. Jumble : MISH-MASH. Hodge podge. Olio.
46. Haiti's elder Duvalier : PAPA DOC. President for life.
48. Somewhat, in music : POCO. Spanish and Italian for "a little bit."
49. Oaf : APE. Ya' big galoot.
51. Facebook option : SHARE. Just last night I shared this vid of granddaughter Amanda's girl-guy pom routine.
52. Facebook option : STATUS. And an immediate clecho.
55. Tool with teeth : RAKE. Because I wouldn't call a fork a tool.
57. Part of Mac OSX: Abbr. : SYStem
61. Chevy pickup : SILVERADO. Better than a chariot.
63. "My goose is cooked!" : I'M DEAD. Lost in the playoffs.
68. Clothing patch site : KNEE. Often scraped or simply worn through.
69. 72-Across speaker : GAEL. Some Scottish guy, perhaps.
70. Angry outburst : TIRADE. Rant and rave.
71. "It's for you," on an env. : ATTN. To the attention of.
72. 69-Across's tongue : ERSE. Though this word means "Irish" it refers variously to the languages of Ireland, The Hebrides and Scottish Highlands. Go figure.
73. Patron of lost causes : ST. JUDE.
Down:
1. Rehab symptoms : DTS. Delerium Tremens, Latin for shaking frenzy, a symptom of withdrawal from alcohol or other sedative hypnotics. Can be fatal if not treated.
2. Crumb : ORT. A table scrap.
3. Bind : TIE. Fastening fascination.
4. Actress Longoria : EVA.
Occasionally subject to wardrobe malfunctions. You can seek them out
if you wish. That's why we have THE GOOGLY. [You can be a Googly Ogler.]
5. Life partner? : LIMB. Ah, yes. Life and LIMB.
6. Vision-correcting surgery : LASIK. Reshaping the lens with a laser.
7. Come down to earth : ALIGHT.
8. "Arrowsmith" Pulitzer decliner Lewis : SINCLAIR. The first U.S. writer to receive the Noble Prize in literature.
9. Sports MD's specialty : ORTHopedics. For all the beatings the bones and muscles take.
10. Orbitz info : FARES. Lower the price of traveling.
11. Said suddenly : BLURTED. And soon regretted. [Trust me. I know these things.]
13. Google revelation : URL. Universal Resource Locator, aka, web address.
14. Titleist holder : TEE. Golf ball perch.
20. Valuable rock : ORE.
22. Oasis seekers : NOMADS.
23. Ben-Hur's vehicle : CHARIOT. Not as good as a SILVERADO.
25. "Gimme a __" : SEC. Well how much SECs do you need? Or maybe that should be "How many?"
28. Stump figures : ORATORS. Talk is cheap.
29. Comfort : SOLACE. SOLACE is golden.
30. Treads heavily : CLOMPS. Like a jack-booted thug.
31. Henhouse locale : FARM.
35. Rural expanse : LEA.
37. Brown v. Board of Education city : TOPEKA, Kansas.
38. FICA-funded org. : Social Security Administration
39. Nile snakes : ASPS. Cleo's bane.
42. Game in which one player doesn't speak : CHARADES. It's all an act.
45. Pizza-making need : HOT OVEN.
47. Contented sighs : AHS.
50. It can shorten a sentence : PAROLE. As can deleting a run-on subordinate clause.
53. Put to work : USE.
54. Suit material : SERGE.
56. Trims text, perhaps : EDITS. Like deleting a run-on subordinate clause. I estimated that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would have been more than 100 pages shorter if Rowling simply wrote better sentences. Seriously.
59. Allen's successor on "The Tonight Show" : PAAR. Or PARR. Always need perp help.
60. Give off, as rays : EMIT. Like sunshine.
61. Reggae kin : SKA.
62. Bankbook abbr. : INTerest
64. Sixers' #6 : DR. J. I didn't have his number.
65. Vichy water : EAU. My French is all wet.
66. Put in : ADD. As one's 2 cents worth.
67. Start to dig? : DEE. I will refrain from adding my 2 cents worth, lest I give this fill a bad grade.
Nice puzzle, not too hard for a Wednesday, and lots of fun on the way. I'm not seeing RED. How about you?
Cool regards, everyone,
JzB
