Theme: Time for our typing lesson. LINK.
What a fabulous Friday from Jeff Chen and John Verel, who we first saw as a team back in April for John's debut. First, for those who do not know the term Pangram, it means containing all 26 letters. In addition to the theme, the puzzle itself is a pangram. The use of the old typing sentence is presented with a beautiful visual of the fox jumping as shown in the circled letters from bottom left to bottom right making an arc of the QUICK BROWN FOX with JUMPED OVER and LAZY DOG under the arc of the fox. Some of you may not like this form of puzzle, but it is awesome to me. In order to pull this off and still create a doable puzzle, the fill is pretty easy. For CED, MANAC and you truly visual people I offer:
20A. Only woman to win the top prize on "The $64,000 Question" : JOYCE BROTHERS. (13)Her category was boxing.
23A. Like many a Magic Johnson pass : NO LOOK. (6)
24A. Improvise : WING IT. (6)
27A. Lee side: Abbr. : CSA. (3) Confederate State of America.
33A. Parts 1 and 4 of this puzzle's theme : THE. (3) Goes before both Quick and Lazy.
37A. Objector : ANTI. (4)40A. Some narcs : FEDS. (4)
41A. Puzzle theme, part 3 : JUMPS OVER. (9) This what revealed the theme to me when I saw this from perps.
49A. First name in Disney villains : CRUELLA. (7). 101 times.
51A. Doo-wop staple : ARMONY(7).
66A. Mensa stats : IQS (3).
67A. End of this puzzle's theme : LAZY DOG (7).
68A. Quartet in a George Strait title : EXS (3).
Reveal entry:
58A. This puzzle's theme is one : PANGRAM.
15 entries, 82 letters involved in the fill with a symmetrical picture. Wow. The grid has a left to right symmetry, by the way.
Across:
1. Word choice : EDIT. Okay so maybe not easy but a nice clue.
5. Singer with bandleader Xavier Cugat : CHARO. She was his much younger second wife replacing the adorable Abbe Lane.
10. City in Czechoslovakia? : OSLO. Really tricky...
14. Pro __ : BONO. Literally for good, in Latin. but it means for free in the legal world.
15. Macho guys : HE MEN. We also have HU MAN below.
16. The whole kit and kaboodle : A TO Z. Would love to see this reversed in a puzzle one day.
17. Take delight (in) : BASK. He basked in the glory of scoring the winning touchdown.
18. Break down over time : ERODE.
19. Night music : TAPS. Dennis, SB is this an accurate HISTORY?
26. Homer's father : ABE. The Simpsons.
30. Brouhaha : ADO.
31. O. Henry quality? : LONG O. So tricky since the answer is always IRONY.
35. Astounds : DAZES. Jeff Chen who works as mentor to so many always astounds.
38. Blood line : AORTA. Cute clue.
44. Ersatz : PHONY.
46. Modern Persian : IRANI.
53. Sewer's bottoms : HEMS. With a needle, not where poop goes.
54. "The Murders in the __ Morgue" : RUE. Edgar Allan Poe's work credited with being the first mystery.
56. Brother of Jacob : ESAU. CW staple.
57. Plan for the future, briefly : IRA. Individual Retirement Account.
62. Kenya's cont. : AFRica.
63. Kansas City football analyst Dawson : LEN. A star in the AFL for the Chiefs.
64. Mother-of-pearl source : ABALONE. A nice new word. All you wanted to know and MORE.
65. Wasted : LIT. So many ways to get there so many ways to describe it.
Down:
1. Recede : EBB. His hairline was ebbing? Buddy Ebsen?
2. Snow : DO A JOB ON
3. Mouthing off : INSOLENT.
4. Izu Islands locale : TOKYO. Is this where JOE (0:39) lives?
5. Rear view : CHEEKS. Shocking! 22D. Rear : HIND. Splynter?
6. Trumpeter Alpert : HERB. And the Tijuana Brass. LISTEN. (2:44)
7. Latin lover's word : AMOR. Just Latin.
8. Second effort : REDO.
9. Ring combo : ONE TWO. Another form of 2nd effort. More boxing.
10. Like Cheerios : OATEN. My meh word.
11. Daydream : STARGAZE. Two great long fill, this with
12. Asymmetric : LOPSIDED. What is the opposite of this word?
13. Wt. units : OZS. Ounces.
21. Chanel No. 1? : COCO. The designer, who died on January 10, 1971. Her STORY.
23. "The Lion King" queen : NALA. The name is used in ancient Hindu lore; she is the deuteragonist in the story (now there is a CW word!). Also the initials of the National Association of Legal Assistants.
25. Mix in a bowl : TOSS.
28. Upon : ATOP. Not A to P.
29. No : VETO.
32. Classic action figures : GI JOES.
34. They may be game winners: Abbr. : HRS. Home Runs.
36. Slopeside sight : A-FRAME. Popular in ski country.
38. Kind of nitrite or nitrate : AMYL. A cousin of ethyl and methyl?
39. Nike competitor : AVIA. Talk about RUNNING around.
42. Not in the bk. : UNListed. Phone book.
43. Mess up : ERR. I am extra human these days.
44. Trig, for calc, often : PREREQuisite.
45. 43-Downers? : HUMANS. To forgive?
47. "Deal's off'' : NO SALE.
48. Up the creek : IN A FIX.
49. Dog topper : CHILI. Or perhaps a fox? Not on my frank...
50. Dino, Desi & Billy drummer : ARNAZ. They were cute.
51. Judean king : HEROD. There many using that name.
52. Mongol tents : YURTS. A piece of knowledge solely derived from doing CW puzzles.
55. "This could get __" : UGLY.
58. Bud : PAL.
59. "Law News Now" journal publisher: Abbr. : ABA. American Bar Association.
60. Year abroad : ANO. Without the tilde it is Portuguese, with =Spanish for year.
61. Storage unit : MEG.abyte.
This was a very enjoyable outing for me, especially when I saw the "BRO" to make the theme. Jeff is amazing, with his mentoring, his work on the XWord website, writing puzzles and books. Kudos. Until next time, stay warm: Lemonade, Thanks Jeff and John.
