Wednesday, January 7th 2015 Gareth Bain

Theme:  Papal Staples – each of the theme answers ends with a name adopted by multiple pontiffs.

18A. Black-eyed peas dish : HOPPIN’ JOHN. Food! A traditional good-luck New Year’s Day dish from the southern states. Any left-overs served the next day are called “Skippin’ Jenny”. How much of this did I know before I looked it up? None of it.

27A. Pretend nothing's going on : LOOK INNOCENT. Usually accompanied by whistling with your hands behind your back and drawing circles in the dirt with your toe.What? Me?

47A. Brunch fare : EGGS BENEDICT. More Food! Allegedly, one hungover New Yorker,  Lemuel Benedict, ordered the first incarnation of this dish at the Waldorf Hotel in 1894.

The bacon on the side is probably a tad unnecessary

 59A. Country star with an un-countrylike name : KEITH URBAN. He’s a real mixture – an Australian, born in New Zealand, who sings country. He’s also married to Nicole Kidman.

... tucked away at the bottom is the reveal:

56D. Religious leader associated with the ends of the four longest puzzle answers : POPE

Wow, Wednesday’s upon us already! Steve here with Gareth’s first LAT of 2015 (that didn’t take long, did it?) He slips in a couple of references to his native continent with RAND and MOGAMBO. I liked the theme and the tucked-away reveal. I did think the KEITH URBAN entry was just a little too close to POPE URBAN, whereas the other three were not people, but it didn’t bother me unduly.

Let's see what else we've got.

Across:

1. Neutral hue : ECRU. Seen in two places - the crossword and the hosiery department.

5. Book of legends? : ATLAS

10. Irreverent radio host : IMUS. I've never listened to him. From what I read, I've not missed much.

14. Become painfully dry : CHAP

15. Airboat area : SWAMP

16. Narrow margin : NOSE. How long is a nose in horse-racing parlance? At some point you stop winning by a head and start winning by a nose. I'm not sure where a horse's nose begins.

17. Hardly noticeable amount : HINT

20. Like some Netflix movies : ON DISC. A ever-dwindling proportion of their distribution.

22. Wore a belittling look : SNEERED

23. Notable gap : CHASM

26. More pleasant : NICER

31. Empty the recycle bin, e.g. : ERASE

32. Petri dish gel : AGAR

33. Cast off : SHED

37. Informal pass : NAH. I'd have gotten a clip around the ear from my Mom if she ever heard me say "nah" rather than "no thank you".

38. "Also sprach Zarathustra" composer : STRAUSS. Richard, in this case. Famously the overture music to "2001 A Space Odyssey".

41. Miner issue : ORE

42. Reunion attendee : ALUM

44. Third Pillar of Islam subject : ALMS. Sounds a little more pleasant than "compulsory charity" which is how I've seen it written before.

45. Short stroke : TAP-IN

50. Bygone Detroit brewery : STROH. I just finished reading a fascinating book about the USA's great brewing families, mostly of German origin. Stroh were one of the biggest brewers; eventually they sold out to Pabst and Miller.

52. Gas leak warnings : ODORS

53. Starts a revolution : UPRISES. I don't buy this one. I just can't hear a revolutionary leader saying "I think I'll uprise tomorrow and see who else wants to uprise with me". Nope.

55. Comparable to, with "with" : ON A PAR

62. What "will keep us together," in a 1975 hit : LOVE

63. Hamburg's river : ELBE. The town of Plzen is part of the Elbe watershed, and gives its name to Pilsner beer, which was the style of beer brewed by Bernhard Stroh when he opened his Detroit operation in 1850. I claim the prize for linking two totally unrelated clues.

64. "Transcendental" Liszt piece : ETUDE

65. Blunted blade : EPEE.

66. Downhill coaster : SLED

67. Pitching scout's device : RADAR. Official opinion varies, but the fastest pitches in Major League Baseball have been delivered at around 106 mph. That's some heat!

68. Lowly worker : SERF

Down:

1. Bounce back : ECHO. And how a RADAR gun works.

2. Uppercut target : CHIN

3. It's tender in Johannesburg : RAND

4. Market advances : UPTICKS. Are there downticks? I've only heard "downturns" - hmmm.

5. Picnic area barrel : ASHCAN

6. __-Face: duplicitous Batman foe : TWO. Harvey Dent, as portrayed by Aaron Eckhart in "The Dark Knight Rises"

 

"You really should get that looked at"

7. __ cat : LAP

8. Rock concert gear : AMPS

9. Dreidels and pinwheels : SPINNERS

10. Adds to a conversation, as a remark : INJECTS. I would use "interject" in this context, but probably that's just me.

11. "A Visit From St. Nicholas" poet Clement Clarke __ : MOORE. Also known as, and perhaps better known as, "'Twas the Night before Christmas". I had no idea of the poet's name. Thank you, crosses.

12. Seat finder : USHER

13. Delight : SEND

19. Frau's refusal : NEIN

21. Draws back in fear : SHIES

24. Hairbrush targets : SNARLS

25. Gable/Gardner classic set in Africa : MOGAMBO. More a Gardner/Kelly classic to be honest - Ava and Grace both received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress.

27. Actress Olin : LENA. Who? I left her until the end.

28. __ hygiene : ORAL

29. Pearl Harbor locale : OAHU

30. Led to : CAUSED

34. Native Arizonans : HOPI

35. Obama attorney general Holder : ERIC

36. Bit of hail damage : DENT. DING went in, then came out.

39. Swiss luxury watchmaker : TAG HEUER. I thought they were German, but now I know better.

Yours for a mere $14,000, give or take a couple of hundred

40. Strict : STERN. IMUS and STERN in the same puzzle? Don't let them get too close to each other, they're not the best of friends.

43. Deserved : MERITED

46. Source of TV revenue : AD SALES

48. "Crikey!" : GOSH!

49. Midday tryst : NOONER

50. Compete in a bee : SPELL

51. 34-Down, e.g. : TRIBE

53. Luau strings : UKES

54. Arg. miss : SRTA. This abbr. falls into my "that's a bit 'orrible" category, but it's common enough in crosswords. A young woman in Argentina is a senorita, hence a yng. wm. in Arg. is a Srta.

57. State as fact : AVER

58. Great Barrier __ : REEF

60. Future bloom : BUD. BUD and STROH in the same puzzle? Cheers! *clink*

61. Oral health org. : A.D.A.

That's it from me. I'm off to Google "SRTA" and see what comes up first, apparently that's the way to explain crossword clues.

Steve 

Note from C.C.:

Here are two pictures from Bill G, who's been with our blog since 2009. His dog Sammy is no longer with them. Bill's wife Barbara is a retired teacher also, and an avid quilter.

Bill & Sammy

Bill & Barbara