Theme: Simple 1040 - All the theme answers contain "EZ"
18A. Plate ump's purview : STRIKE ZONE
ESPN and Fox baseball coverage can now paint a virtual strike zone above the plate. I like it - some baseball purists don't.
25A. Soda for dieters : COKE ZERO. Zero calories, but a whole bunch of caffeine. It is nicknamed "Bloke Coke" in the UK as the target demographic is young males.
49A. Blush wine, for short : WHITE ZIN. Wine! Not my favorite zinfandel, I prefer the bold red zins.
60A. "She's Not There" rock group : THE ZOMBIES. Catchy song from 1964 paired here with a very dramatic "Outer Limits" episode.
3D. Citrus shavings : ORANGE ZEST. The Microplane brand of graters and zesters are wonderful - stocking stuffer idea alert!
- and the hint ...
31D. This crossword, literally for some, phonetically for all : EASY PUZZLE. Which wouldn't work in the UK. Huh? E-ZED what?
Good morning everyone - Steve here and a very z-filled Wednesday from Ed Sessa. You may or may not have gotten the circles indicating the location of the "EZ" letter pairings from your puzzle source - mine had them and after the first couple of theme answers were completed it was all plain sailing.
I thought it was pretty impressive to fit that number of z's in the grid and still provide some slick fill.
What else caught my eye?
Across:
1. Caesar's love : AMOR
5. Signal to an on-call doctor : BEEP
9. Omits : SKIPS
14. Chowhound's request : MORE
15. Sharif who played Zhivago : OMAR. Many dramatic one-sheets for this David Lean epic. Sharif won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance.
16. World Court site, with "The" : HAGUE. Located in the South Holland province of the Netherlands.
17. Shepard in space : ALAN. The Apollo 14 lunar golfer. He's not to be held responsible for the nails-on-a-chalkboard common misspelling of "German Shepherd" by an amazingly large number of dog owners.
20. Brand for heartburn : ZANTAC
22. Providence-to-Boston dir. : N.N.E.
23. Scraps for Rover : ORTS
24. Unit of work : ERG
28. French season : ÉTÉ. Summer in the land of the Marseillaise.
30. Thin pancake : CRÊPE. Diacriticals galore! And Food! Strictly speaking, a crêpe has a sweet filling; the savory-filled variety is called a galette.
31. Violinist's gift : EAR
34. Move very slowly : OOZE
36. Suffers from : HAS. I have a cold at the moment. Two long flights back and forward to Rio over the last couple of weeks pretty much guaranteed I'd be picking up some kind of sniffle. To London next week, so hopefully I'll be over it before I spread misery around the LAX to Heathrow flight.
37. In recent times : OF LATE
39. Mechanic, at times : GREASER. Popular sub-culture in the 1950's - motorcycles, leather and slicked-back hair.
41. "That works!" : SUITS ME
42. 4-Down collector : LESSOR
43. Boy king : TUT
44. Made a hue turn? : DYED. Fun clue.
45. Suffix for records : EST. "Highest, Fastest, Strongest" - the original Latin motto of the Olympic Games.
46. Oater group bent on justice : POSSE
48. Nile biter : ASP. It's been a while since we saw this clue - it seemed to be getting overused a while back, but Rich gave it a well-deserved rest.
51. Short market lines? : UPC. The short lines that make up a Universal Product Code, usually rendered as a barcode.
The first five digits identify the manufacturer, the second five digits the product. The one above is for Kimberly Clark's (36000) Huggies Wipes (29145)
54. Piedmont wine region : ASTI. More wine! Best known for the sweet, sparkling Asti Spumante.
57. Erie Canal mule : SAL "I've got a mule, Her name is Sal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal..."
58. __ Pipeline, Oahu surfing attraction : BANZAI. Eek! That's a big wave!
63. "Ripostes" poet Pound : EZRA
64. Overnight refuge : MOTEL
65. Theater part : LOGE
66. Choir part : ALTO
67. Blow some dough : SPEND
68. __ collar : ETON
69. Stonewall's soldiers : REBS. The nickname for General Thomas Jackson clues the nickname for his troops.
Down:
1. Shock : AMAZE
2. Large grinder : MOLAR
4. Payment to 42-Across : RENT
5. "Thick and Rich" chocolate syrup : BOSCO. Food! (Possibly?) I've never tried this stuff - reading the label, I'm not sure I've missed much - there's more "High Fructose Corn Syrup" and "Corn Syrup" in there than anything else.
6. Rescue pro : E.M.T.
7. Ones on the payroll : EARNERS
8. Freddie __ Jr. of "Scooby-Doo" films : PRINZE
9. Ship reference : SHE. Try explaining to someone the logic of a ship always being a "she" even when "she" may be named for a "he". How can the USS Ronald Reagan be a girl?
10. Musical buzzer : KAZOO. I'm not sure this should be described as "musical" - "thoroughly annoying" would be more accurate, in my humble opinion.
11. Composer Stravinsky : IGOR
12. Fourth-down play : PUNT. I love the fake punts. Here is a great example from the Texas Tech-Texas game on Thanksgiving evening.
13. Dates : SEES
19. Property border warning : KEEP OUT
21. The Red Sox' Jon Lester, e.g. : ACE
26. 1980s Chrysler product : K-CAR. Not the best-looking design I've ever seen.
27. Altered mtge. : RE-FI. This clue seemed really clumsy to me - the abbreviation for "mortgage" is a little contrived?
29. Social cupfuls : TEAS
32. "Please don't yell __" : AT ME
33. Oboe, e.g. : REED
34. Eye rudely : OGLE
35. They're found in lodes : ORES
36. Reason for a medal : HEROISM
38. Classic Fords : LTDs. Marginally better design than the Plymouth, but certainly from the "Big-Ass Detroit" school.
40. Last year's frosh : SOPH
41. 1956 Mideast dispute area : SUEZ
43. J. Alfred Prufrock creator : T. S. ELIOT
47. Straw-strewn shelter : STABLE. Nice alliteration - clue and answer!
48. Santa __ winds : ANA
49. Shrivel : WIZEN. I'd never thought of this as a verb before - I've only used it in the adjectival form - "a wizened old man". Nice learning moment.
50. "A Doll's House" playwright : IBSEN
52. Medicare section : PART B
53. Informal byes : CIAOS
54. Dollar dispensers, for short : A.T.M.S
55. Hit a Target? : SHOP. Pronounced "Tar-jhay" by those who would prefer to be shopping at Nordstrom, but can't pass up the value-for-money in these stores.
56. Head of Paris? : TÊTE. It's where a Frenchman wears his beret. Cue national caricature:
 |
| Ooh La La! |
59. Close by : NEAR
61. Getting on in years : OLD
62. Big one on the set, perhaps : EGO. Ready for my close-up, Mr. De Ville!
That's it from me - I'm off to dose myself up with DayQuil. I'll give myself a belt of cold remedy Tinbeni-style later, but there's still work to be done. Ciao!
Steve
