Here we have a scrambled word at the beginning of each theme entry:
20-Across. Russian composer and piano virtuoso : RACHMANINOFF. His "Piano Concerto No. 2" is one of my favorites. 31:16 - just listen to the first 40 seconds and you might recognize it.
29-Across. Café breakfast order : HAM CREPE. Never had one. This is the one outlier, because it is the only entry with the hidden theme spread across two words.
37-Across. TV fantasy about three magical sisters : CHARMED. I think I watched it. Once.
45-Across. Den piece : ARMCHAIR.
54-Across. Annual sports event that begins with Selection Sunday on 3/15 ... or, cryptically, a hint to the scrambled word found at the starts of 20-, 29-, 37- and 45-Across : MARCH MADNESS.
This one seemed a bit tough for a Thursday - it took me close to my Saturday time to finish. Words like FANFIC and STRADE might have tripped up more than one unwary solver. Throw in some myrmecological cluing, and I went down many a garden path before finding my way home!
Across
1. Atkins no-no : CARB. I entered "fats"...
5. "__ bad idea" : NOT A. (Yes it was - I had "It's a" for a while.)
9. Brothers Grimm creature : FAIRY. Oh dear, why doesn't "ogre" fit???
14. Old apple spray : ALAR. Whew! Old crosswordese to the rescue.
15. Pinnacle : APEX.
16. Painful turning point? : ANKLE. Indeed, if you turn your ANKLE, it can be very painful!
17. Elizabeth of "Lone Star" : PENA. Oh, my, I am going to crash and burn for not knowing an actress from a nearly two-decades-old movie?
18. Nothing : ZERO. So far, it seems like that's what I have.
19. Experimental blast : N TEST. OK - I admit, I filled in *TEST and waited for perps to tell me whether it would be N- H- or A. But with the crossing of FAN FIC, I needed a total WAG at the N.
23. Related compounds : ISOMERS. Ah, now that's more in my comfort zone!
24. Gap : HIATUS. Take a deep breath before plowing on...
28. Italian roads : STRADE. Even though I lived in Italy for a while, I was thinking of ITERs, but still too short. I guess I needed to remember my many trips on the "A1 autoSTRADa" to finally get the correct answer.
By this time, I was really feeling like a
31. Birdbrain : NITWIT.
33. Arrived just in time for : MADE. "Phew! I made the bell!"
34. Reservoir creator : DAM.
40. Delivery person? : MOM. Well, yes.
41. Some Persians : RUGS. Hands up for "cats"?
43. Absolute ruler : DESPOT.
48. Arrival announcement : I'M HERE. Hands up for "I'M Home"?
52. Deduce : GATHER.
53. Manned the helm : STEERED.
57. Provide a spread for : CATER.
60. Script "Q" feature : LOOP. I hear they are doing away with teaching script in schools. Good idea? Bad idea?
61. In the past : ONCE.
62. Scenic route, perhaps : BYWAY.
63. Curvature : ARCH.
64. Stax Records genre : SOUL.
65. Sleep soundly? : SNORE. Ha-ha, I loved the double entendre of "sound-ly"!!
66. Milk sources for some Tibetan cheese : YAKS.
and a partial clecho:
67. Milk sources for some Greek cheese : EWES.
Down
1. Crop pants : CAPRIS.
2. Orioles' div. : A. L. EAST. Oh good grief, I may as well just throw in the towel.
3. Venom : RANCOR.
4. Hindu priest : BRAHMAN.
5. Childhood home of Jesus : NAZARETH. Well, I'm starting to get some words filled by this time.
6. Makes the first move : OPENS.
7. Actress Hatcher : TERI. (Thank you "Desperate Housewives"!!)
8. Nerve cell transmitter : AXON.
9. Story you might find on MuggleNet.com, briefly : FAN FIC. MuggleNet.com is a web site dedicated to all things Harry Potter. "Fan Fiction" is stories written by fans (not the original author) that expand on characters or events in the original book.
10. Myrmecologist's subject : ANT FARM. Definitely a Saturday clue! From the Greek word mýrmēx (ant).
11. '50s political nickname : IKE.
12. Jekyll creator's monogram : RLS. Robert Louis Stevenson.
13. However : YET.
21. Doc : MEDIC.
22. Resistance unit : OHM.
25. Lions, Tigers or Bears : TEAM.
26. Fancy coif : UPDO.
27. Come off as : SEEM.
29. Personnel employee : HIRER. In my experience, the Personnel department simply screened the resumes, and I was the one who was the HIRER.
30. Dough dispensers, for short : ATMs.
32. Dry riverbed : WADI. I had to dig to come up with this one.
But somehow I was able to...
34. Pull with effort : DRAG. it out of the recesses.
35. Special something : AURA.
36. Co. runners : MGMT.anagement. The guys who hire.
38. Dorothy Parker's "Excuse my dust" and others : EPITAPHS. If that is really her epitaph, it's a great one!
39. Like the Taj Mahal : DOMED.
42. Bagel topping : SCHMEAR. Another one that stayed blank for a while.
44. Precisely, after "on" : THE NOSE.
46. Town crier's cry : HEAR YE.
47. JFK info : ARR.ivals
49. Prior to today, poetically : ERE NOW.
50. Save : RESCUE.
51. Fords that never got going : EDSELS.
53. Usually stained work garb : SMOCK.
55. French Open surface : CLAY.
56. Bat mitzvah dance : HORA.
57. "The Big Bang Theory" network : CBS. Gimme.
58. Author Rand : AYN.
59. Seesaw need : TWO. I seesawed back and forth between loving the devious cluing and tearing my hair out. But by the time I got it all done, I really appreciated the challenge!
Marti
