Theme: Spelling Homophones - Aaron and Tori's TV tour-de-force (or tour-de-farce depending on your viewpoint) made these numbers famous outside of Los Angeles. The first word of the five theme answers are each sound-alikes for the digits.
18A. Polite refusal, in Nuremberg : NEIN DANKE. German "No, thank you".
24A. "Fall on your knees" carol : O HOLY NIGHT. This was a new one for me. I couldn't shake "Silent Night", especially after the previous theme answer - I believe the original was written in German and titled "Stille Nacht". Crosses eventually to the rescue.
35A. Somewhat : TO A DEGREE.
51A. Only just broke the tape : WON BY A NOSE. My first thought was "NECK" until the crosses told me otherwise.
58A. "You gotta be kidding!" : OH BROTHER!
and the two unifiers, crossing each other:
44D. With 63-Across, city whose zip code is suggested by the starts of 18-, 24-, 35-, 51- and 58-Across : BEVERLY
63A. See 44-Down : HILLS
Happy Geico Commercial day everyone. Steve here with the pleasurable task of writing up C.C.'s latest, and I thought this one was pretty slick. I liked the crossing unifiers, I liked the homophones and I naturally liked plenty of food! references in the fill.
Beverly Hills is close to me geographically - maybe not so close socio-economically. That's fine, I'll take my little neighborhood and my 91602 zip code any day.
Let's see what else we've got
Across:
1. Really mix up : ADDLE
6. Fashion : MODE
10. Alma mater of many gens. : U.S.M.A. The United States Military Academy at West Point.
14. Manitoba natives : CREES
15. Other, to Diego : OTRO, English, German and Spanish so far today.
16. "Cool!" : NEAT
17. Glass-half-empty sort : CYNIC
20. Resistance units : OHMS. These things: Ω
21. Bottom row key : CTRL. Does a Mac keyboard have ESCs and CTRLs? I can't remember.
22. "A Death in the Family" author : AGEE
23. North __ : SEA
27. Mammoth traps : TAR PITS
30. "Hometown proud" supermarket chain : IGA
31. "How relaxing!" : AAH
32. Fighting stats : TKOS. Or Technical Knock-Outs for those that don't follow boxing.
33. She dedicated Imagine Peace Tower to Lennon : ONO
34. Roy Rogers' birth name : SLYE
39. Mudbath offerers : SPAS
42. Clear (of) : RID
43. Ball honorees : DEBS
46. Tulsa sch. named for a televangelist : O.R.U. Didn't we just see Oral Roberts recently?
47. __ leaves : TEA
48. Hardly the latest buzz : OLD NEWS
54. Through : VIA
55. Symbol for Macy's : STAR I think it's neat how the star replaces the apostrophe in the logo.
56. Prime time rating : TV-PG
57. Give a darn? : MEND
60. Big Apple restaurateur : SARDI. Food! His eponymous restaurant has been at the current location in Manhattan since the 1920's.
61. Go-getter : DOER
62. Remedy : CURE
64. Duel tool : EPEE
65. "My word!" : I SAY
66. Until now : AS YET
Down:
1. Confront boldly : ACCOST
2. Arizona climate : DRY HEAT
3. Where Lego headquarters is : DENMARK. I don't want to see a picture of the building, I have a dearly-held hope that it's built out of giant Lego bricks.
4. Luau neckwear : LEIS
5. Top row key : ESC. Partner clue with 21A
6. Quite a while : MONTHS
7. New Mexico county : OTERO. This is where clever constructing and cluing works so well - crosses all the way for me.
8. Boring activity : DRILLING
9. Quite a while : EON
10. Eel, at sushi bars : UNAGI. Food! Say no more.
11. Mali neighbor : SENEGAL. SOMALIA went in, then quite rapidly came out. At least I had the right continent.
12. Seize the opportunity, sunshinewise : MAKE HAY. Favorite clue/answer of mine today.
13. Had a bite : ATE
19. Comical Carvey : DANA
21. Private bed : COT. "Private" in the Army sense. West Point cadets also sleep on cots, methinks?
25. "Son of Frankenstein" role : YGOR. I always need the cross for IGOR/YGOR
26. Everyday article : THE
28. Supplies on TV's "Chopped" : POTS. Food! I love this show - I hear MC Ted Allen clearly saying "Chefs, you must each use all of the mystery ingredients in your basket in some way. You also have access to pantry and fridge". They also have access to pots, it would be a little tough otherwise.
29. Prefix with bar : ISO
33. Multivolume ref. : O.E.D. The Oxford English Dictionary. There's an awful lot of it if you get the full version - the second edition runs to 20 volumes. The third edition is expected to be completed in 2037!
34. Witnessed : SEEN
36. Locale : AREA
37. Carnation genus : DIANTHUS. I want to jump up and down and shout "I KNEW THIS! I KNEW THIS!" It's only taken fifty-mumble years, but I finally know the genus of a flower. Thank you crosswords!
38. Byrnes who played Kookie : EDD
39. Piglet's mother : SOW
40. Place to have a racket restrung : PRO SHOP
41. Opie's guardian : AUNT BEE
45. Shortchange : SWINDLE
47. Newbie : TYRO
48. Taloned predator : OSPREY
49. Cut of lamb : LEG. Food!
50. Inhumane person : SADIST. Did you know that fashion guru Pierre Cardin is current owner of the Marquis De Sade's castle?
52. Dance studio fixture : BARRE
53. __ barrel: in hot water : OVER A
57. Bordeaux "but" : MAIS, Adding French to today's language list.
58. Dedicated lines : ODE
59. Cable co. acquired by AT&T in 1999 : TCI
60. __ Na Na : SHA
That's it from me. I'm spending an unexpected night in Houston due to flight cancellations onwards to Cincinnati. I can't make it to my meetings tomorrow in time so I'm heading back home to LA. The Four Seasons bar is nice though - Cheers!
Steve
