The theme entries are elegantly described by the reveal at 63A - my title is a sad second in the elegance race, but the best I could come up with!
17A. Project windup : FINAL PHASE. I learned early that I.T projects follow the formula "The first 90% of the project takes 90% of the budget. The final 10% takes the other 90%"
24A. Subject of an antique auto owner's quest : ORIGINAL PART. When I had an old Jaguar XJS, eBay became my best friend in the quest for arcane components. Try asking for a distributor cap for a V12 in AutoZone and see what kind of looks you get.
37A. Me, for one : PERSONAL PRONOUN. Great clue-to-answer letter ratio!
52A. Badlands or Death Valley : NATIONAL PARK. To borrow from Buzz Aldrin: "Magnificent desolation":
and the hint:
63A. "Just in case" strategy, and a hint to a hidden letter sequence in 17-, 24-, 37- and 52-Across : BACK-UP PLAN. The back-up plan for the Panama Canal was "forget about it and build a bigger railway".
Morning all - Steve here with another product of C.C.'s fertile imagination. A very slick theme - I couldn't see the "PLAN" until the reveal - I was trying to see what FINAL, ORIGINAL, PERSONAL and NATIONAL had in common other than the "NAL" ending, so the reveal was a nice "oh!" moment. Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Tell tales : FIB
4. Animal that can learn limited sign language : CHIMP. Washoe learned about 350 ASL signs. I know about ten, five of which are not suitable for a family audience.
9. Barely open : AJAR. Joke from my childhood: "When is a door not a door? When it's ajar".
13. OS X-using computer : iMAC
15. Invisible vibes : AURAE. I picked up a first edition of Carlos Castaneda's "The Teachings of Don Juan" a few months ago from my local charity store. Lots of aurae in there, and ignoring the debate of whether the books are fiction, fact or philosophy, a great "time-capsule" read.
16. Tiny parasites : LICE. I'll spare you the enlarged images.
19. Accident scene figs. : EMT'S Emergency Medical Technicians.
20. Fit to be tied : ANGRY
21. Romance writer Roberts : NORA. I've never read her, but I've seen enough of her covers on the shelves of airport book stores to have no hesitation here.
23. Baltimore Ravens mascot : POE. This was my last fill, not knowing Mr. Parsons. Congratulations to the Ravens for having some great imagination with mascot-naming. Compare and contrast with "Pat Patriot", "Freddy Falcon" and "Roary the Lion" amongst others.
28. Wheaties box figure : ATHLETE
31. Take turns? : STEER
32. "Just like I said!" : SEE
33. Ambient music innovator Brian : ENO
35. Take it easy : REST
43. Hannity of talk radio : SEAN
44. "Well, of course!" : DUH
45. Washington Wizards' org. : N.B.A. The National Basketball Association. The first of today's sports organizations.
46. Hits a high fly, in baseball lingo : SKIES
49. "Supposing ..." : LET'S SAY
55. Brouhaha : ADO. I'm working on an updated Shakespeare screenplay called "A boatload of brouhaha about diddly-squat". Well, I wasn't, until just now. Dibs on the title.
56. "The Lion King" queen : NALA
57. Kmart section : AISLE
61. "If you don't mind ...?" : MAY I?
66. Slaughter with 2,383 career hits : ENOS. I like seeing ENO and ENOS in the same puzzle.
67. Vulgar language? : LATIN. The vulgar language was listening to us grammar school boys complaining that we had to study it.
68. Place in order : SORT
69. "Cream of" serving : SOUP
70. Overplay the part : EMOTE
71. Malibu mover : GAS. The Chevy Malibu. I was thinking "earthquake" or tremor-derivatives first. Great clue.
Down:
1. "For the Game. For the World" sports org. : F.I.F.A. "Fédération Internationale de Football Association", or, en anglais, "International Federation of Association Football" An organization which is not a stranger to controversy in recent years. Note the source of the word "soccer" from "Association Football".
2. Words while anteing : I'M IN
3. Loud noise : BANG
4. Graduation flier : CAP. Does it matter if you don't get your own cap back?
5. "What?" : HUH?
6. Tabriz citizen : IRANI. IRAQI/IRANI? Wait for the cross, unless you have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Middle Eastern cities.
7. Bricks-and-mortar workers : MASONS
8. Watch closely : PEER AT. I associate "peering" with not being able to find my reading glasses. They're usually on the top of my head.
9. Yard sale? : ALE. Ah, happy memories. I think I'd burst if I tried to drink a yard of ale now, but I did quaff a few of these in my day, usually after playing rugby. There's a "swirling" technique involved so you can pour it smoothly down your throat without drowning in beer.
10. "The Big Bang Theory" star : JIM PARSONS. Learning moment today. I don't watch a lot of TV, unless it involves Food! or sport. Combine them for tailgating shows and I'm happy as a clam in the sand where no-one's digging.
11. 10-Down, e.g. : ACTOR
12. Pedometer button : RESET
14. Winter air : CAROL. My sister was born on December 18th, and was named "Carol" in honor of the season. She spent her early life being thoroughly disgusted by this lack of imagination, and changed her name to "Kate" at her first opportunity.
18. Strings for Orpheus : LYRE
22. Last Olds model : ALERO
25. Cal.-to-Fla. route : I-TEN. The I-10 officially starts at the McClure Tunnel, but it's more photogenic to suggest that it starts at the entrance to Santa Monica pier, which is directly above the tunnel.
26. Rowlands of "Hope Floats" : GENA
27. Hammer head : PEEN
28. Nile Valley danger : ASP
29. Concert souvenirs : TEES. Vintage ones can be quite valuable, judging by some of the prices quoted on eBay.
30. Clinking words : HERE'S TO YOU. Try doing this with two yards of ale.
34. Antique : OLD
36. Big brass : TUBA
38. Storytelling nom de plume : SAKI
39. Scallion kin : ONION. Food! Called "spring onions" in the UK.
40. "__ Free": Minute Maid spec : PULP
41. Three-toed bird : RHEA
42. Anti vote : NAY
47. Pave the way for : ENABLE
48. Peace, in Arabic : SALAAM
50. Mouse catcher : TRAP
51. Bypasses, as online ads : SKIPS. The sooner the better, in most cases
52. Designates : NAMES
53. Fictional Sicilian town in a Hersey novel : ADANO. There's a real town named Adrano in Sicily, but the bell tower doesn't look much of anything. Here's the fictional representation instead:
54. Milk: Pref. : LACTO
58. Walk with effort : SLOG
59. "Good Morning America" co-anchor Spencer : LARA
60. Tolkien tree giants : ENTS
62. DSL offerer : ISP I switched from DSL to fiber recently, but kept my ISP. At least that's what AT&T told me I was doing. Acronym soup - Digital Subscriber Line & Internet Service Provider.
64. First-aid aid : KIT
65. Cézanne's one : UNE
That's about it. As the inventor of Saran responded to questions: "It's a wrap".
Steve
