Theme: All About Eve-n The word EVEN is wrapped around each theme entry.
20A . Toy with a heating element : EASY BAKE OVEN. Wow, this old classic has gone all hi-tech and politically correct. It didn't look like this when I bought one for my daughter back in the 90's - it was pink in those days and it definitely didn't have a boy on the box.
35A. Fairy tale villain : EVIL QUEEN. The antagonist in Snow White and other tales, and definitely a 22-Down in this incarnation:
45A. 1961 Rick Nelson hit : EVERLOVIN' I wasn't familiar with this song, and I can't say I'm surprised. It wasn't exactly a smash hit - it made the Billboard Top 20 in the US but only at #16.
55A. Neither ahead nor behind ... and what 20-, 35- and 45-Across are literally doing : BREAKING EVEN. A good thing after a weekend in Vegas, less so if we're announcing the company's annual results.
Morning! Thanks to Michael for this one; the theme entries split "EVEN" on a 1-3, 2-2 and 3-1 letter-count basis and a 3-2-1 word countdown, so a pleasing progression by the numbers; and a pangram to boot so plenty to like for a midweek offering.
I was having a little trouble with the west, so the theme reveal definitely gave me a leg-up there. When I thought a pangram was emerging that gave me another helping hand towards the end. Good stuff.
Let's see what else catches the eye (Lana Parrilla as the Evil Queen obviously does!)
Across:
1. Common lunch hr. end : ONE PM
6. Lowers, as lights : DIMS
10. Drift gently : WAFT
14. Half an Evergreen State city : WALLA. Walla Walla, Washington. In the news as recently as Monday for making Global Yodel's list of the 15 most underrated cities in the US.
15. Fancy entrance : ARCH
16. Clickable image : ICON. Part of the WIMP quartet of user interface concepts introduced by Apple, "borrowed" from Xerox PARC research lab. Windows, Icons, Mice, Pointers
17. Bit of dental work : INLAY
18. Indian noble : RAJA
19. On deck : NEXT. No problem for C.C. I'm sure. Next batter up in the on deck circle at the ballpark.
23. Like "las" in Sp. : FEM. I had to look closely to see whether that was an L or an I, then some head-scratching before "Aha! Feminine".
24. Out of the reach of : BEYOND
27. Country where Quechua is an official language : PERU
30. Erstwhile TV ministry : PTL. No clue, needed the crosses. I didn't live in the US when this show was on the air, and to be honest I wouldn't have watched it anyway.
33. White Label Scotch maker : DEWARS. "Nailed it" says Tinbeni.
38. Camera setting : F/STOP. Controls the size of the aperture on a manual camera. Apparently the "F" stands for "focal ratio".
39. Carol contraction : 'TIS the season to be jolly, falalala ...
40. "Not my decision" : UP TO YOU
42. Hoppy brew, briefly : IPA. Cheers! Not much in the way of Food! for me today, so a liquid diet instead.
43. Satellite-launching rocket stage : AGENA. Developed by Lockheed and named for the alternate name of the star Beta Centauri because this upper stage would "ignite in the sky".
47. Nightly news fodder, with "the" : LATEST
49. "__ only a game" : IT'S. Not to the fans it's not. My English Premier League team Chelsea clinched the championship on Sunday so big smiles from me! Here's my Facebook profile picture today:
50. Marshy areas : FENS
51. Public figure? : NOTARY
53. Bungler : OAF
61. Clown of renown : BOZO. I had COCO first; that caused a little slowdown in the southwest.
64. Met or Nat : NL-ER. Another gimme for C.C! The New York Mets and the Washington Nationals in Major League Baseball's National League. For some reason I thought the Mets were in the AL, so I was left wondering how "TREADY" at 48D was a word.
65. Jazz singer O'Day : ANITA. Thank you, crosses.
66. Crumbled ice cream topping : OREO
67. 2013-'14 Magic Johnson Award winner Nowitzki : DIRK. Dallas Mavericks All-NBA power forward.
68. Eastern faith : ISLAM
69. Sticky goo : GUNK. Had "G", wanted "GLOP", saw sense.
70. Urges : YENS
71. Writer Zora __ Hurston : NEALE. Thank you, crosses.
Down:
1. Baby's boo-boo : OWIE
2. Family nickname : NANA
3. Plumbing joints : ELLS. I'm assuming ells are short for elbows, but I can't find anything to back that up.
4. Lighthearted : PLAYFUL
5. "I'll think it over" : MAYBE
6. Nyctophobe's fear : DARK. From the Greek nyktos, "of the night".
7. "Dies __": hymn : IRAE
8. Low-paying position, in slang : MCJOB.
9. Cut off : SHAVED
10. Gathers choice parts from : WINNOWS. Nice word.
11. Celebrated pilot : ACE
12. Cunning critter : FOX
13. Demolition aid : TNT. Boom!
21. Stimulate : AMP UP
22. Good-looker : EYEFUL
25. Hardy's "The Return of the __" : NATIVE
26. Pop over : DROP IN
27. "She loves me not" piece : PETAL
28. Greg of "B.J. and the Bear" : EVIGAN. All crosses, again. I'm relieved I knew AGENA otherwise the "G" would have been a big empty square when everything else was finished.
29. Take on successfully, as a challenge : RISE TO
31. Béret bearer : TÊTE. The grave accent on the first 'e' and the national stereotype is your hint that we're looking for a French word here.
32. Pope after John X : LEO VI
34. Bridge measures : SPANS
36. Deep-space energy source : QUASAR
37. Duma vote : NYET. Fourth language of the day. English, Spanish, French, now Russian.
41. Director Welles : ORSON
44. Tablet relative : NETBOOK. Lower-cost, simplified laptops running a browser such as Chrome.
46. Side with the ball : OFFENSE. Interesting. True for American Football, less so in other sports such as soccer where the offense and defense are on the field at the same time.
48. Hot, for now : TRENDY
52. New England collegian : YALIE
54. Born-__ : AGAIN. No doubt fans of the PTL Show at 30A
56. "Show Boat" composer : KERN
57. Really gets to : IRKS
58. TV handyman Bob : VILA. More crosses. Not a good "name" day for me today.
59. List-shortening abbr. : ET AL. Et alia in full. I like how list-shorteners seem to be abbreviated - also "et cetera".
60. Reputation : NAME
61. Marshy area : BOG. Second marsh of the day.
62. Tulsa sch. named for an evangelist : O.R.U. Oral Roberts. Born-again, PTL and this one make a evangelical trifecta.
.
63. "__ in the Art of Writing": Ray Bradbury collection : ZEN. When I corrected my "COCO" clown at 61A I tried BOBO instead. Then I saw I was left with "Ben in the Art of Writing" and asked myself "Who the heck is Ben?" The penny finally dropped.
That's it from me. Here's the grid:
Steve
20A . Toy with a heating element : EASY BAKE OVEN. Wow, this old classic has gone all hi-tech and politically correct. It didn't look like this when I bought one for my daughter back in the 90's - it was pink in those days and it definitely didn't have a boy on the box.
35A. Fairy tale villain : EVIL QUEEN. The antagonist in Snow White and other tales, and definitely a 22-Down in this incarnation:
45A. 1961 Rick Nelson hit : EVERLOVIN' I wasn't familiar with this song, and I can't say I'm surprised. It wasn't exactly a smash hit - it made the Billboard Top 20 in the US but only at #16.
55A. Neither ahead nor behind ... and what 20-, 35- and 45-Across are literally doing : BREAKING EVEN. A good thing after a weekend in Vegas, less so if we're announcing the company's annual results.
Morning! Thanks to Michael for this one; the theme entries split "EVEN" on a 1-3, 2-2 and 3-1 letter-count basis and a 3-2-1 word countdown, so a pleasing progression by the numbers; and a pangram to boot so plenty to like for a midweek offering.
I was having a little trouble with the west, so the theme reveal definitely gave me a leg-up there. When I thought a pangram was emerging that gave me another helping hand towards the end. Good stuff.
Let's see what else catches the eye (Lana Parrilla as the Evil Queen obviously does!)
Across:
1. Common lunch hr. end : ONE PM
6. Lowers, as lights : DIMS
10. Drift gently : WAFT
14. Half an Evergreen State city : WALLA. Walla Walla, Washington. In the news as recently as Monday for making Global Yodel's list of the 15 most underrated cities in the US.
15. Fancy entrance : ARCH
16. Clickable image : ICON. Part of the WIMP quartet of user interface concepts introduced by Apple, "borrowed" from Xerox PARC research lab. Windows, Icons, Mice, Pointers
17. Bit of dental work : INLAY
18. Indian noble : RAJA
19. On deck : NEXT. No problem for C.C. I'm sure. Next batter up in the on deck circle at the ballpark.
23. Like "las" in Sp. : FEM. I had to look closely to see whether that was an L or an I, then some head-scratching before "Aha! Feminine".
24. Out of the reach of : BEYOND
27. Country where Quechua is an official language : PERU
30. Erstwhile TV ministry : PTL. No clue, needed the crosses. I didn't live in the US when this show was on the air, and to be honest I wouldn't have watched it anyway.
33. White Label Scotch maker : DEWARS. "Nailed it" says Tinbeni.
38. Camera setting : F/STOP. Controls the size of the aperture on a manual camera. Apparently the "F" stands for "focal ratio".
39. Carol contraction : 'TIS the season to be jolly, falalala ...
40. "Not my decision" : UP TO YOU
42. Hoppy brew, briefly : IPA. Cheers! Not much in the way of Food! for me today, so a liquid diet instead.
43. Satellite-launching rocket stage : AGENA. Developed by Lockheed and named for the alternate name of the star Beta Centauri because this upper stage would "ignite in the sky".
47. Nightly news fodder, with "the" : LATEST
49. "__ only a game" : IT'S. Not to the fans it's not. My English Premier League team Chelsea clinched the championship on Sunday so big smiles from me! Here's my Facebook profile picture today:
50. Marshy areas : FENS
51. Public figure? : NOTARY
53. Bungler : OAF
61. Clown of renown : BOZO. I had COCO first; that caused a little slowdown in the southwest.
64. Met or Nat : NL-ER. Another gimme for C.C! The New York Mets and the Washington Nationals in Major League Baseball's National League. For some reason I thought the Mets were in the AL, so I was left wondering how "TREADY" at 48D was a word.
65. Jazz singer O'Day : ANITA. Thank you, crosses.
66. Crumbled ice cream topping : OREO
67. 2013-'14 Magic Johnson Award winner Nowitzki : DIRK. Dallas Mavericks All-NBA power forward.
68. Eastern faith : ISLAM
69. Sticky goo : GUNK. Had "G", wanted "GLOP", saw sense.
70. Urges : YENS
71. Writer Zora __ Hurston : NEALE. Thank you, crosses.
Down:
1. Baby's boo-boo : OWIE
2. Family nickname : NANA
3. Plumbing joints : ELLS. I'm assuming ells are short for elbows, but I can't find anything to back that up.
4. Lighthearted : PLAYFUL
5. "I'll think it over" : MAYBE
6. Nyctophobe's fear : DARK. From the Greek nyktos, "of the night".
7. "Dies __": hymn : IRAE
8. Low-paying position, in slang : MCJOB.
9. Cut off : SHAVED
10. Gathers choice parts from : WINNOWS. Nice word.
11. Celebrated pilot : ACE
12. Cunning critter : FOX
13. Demolition aid : TNT. Boom!
21. Stimulate : AMP UP
22. Good-looker : EYEFUL
25. Hardy's "The Return of the __" : NATIVE
26. Pop over : DROP IN
27. "She loves me not" piece : PETAL
28. Greg of "B.J. and the Bear" : EVIGAN. All crosses, again. I'm relieved I knew AGENA otherwise the "G" would have been a big empty square when everything else was finished.
29. Take on successfully, as a challenge : RISE TO
31. Béret bearer : TÊTE. The grave accent on the first 'e' and the national stereotype is your hint that we're looking for a French word here.
32. Pope after John X : LEO VI
34. Bridge measures : SPANS
36. Deep-space energy source : QUASAR
37. Duma vote : NYET. Fourth language of the day. English, Spanish, French, now Russian.
41. Director Welles : ORSON
44. Tablet relative : NETBOOK. Lower-cost, simplified laptops running a browser such as Chrome.
46. Side with the ball : OFFENSE. Interesting. True for American Football, less so in other sports such as soccer where the offense and defense are on the field at the same time.
48. Hot, for now : TRENDY
52. New England collegian : YALIE
54. Born-__ : AGAIN. No doubt fans of the PTL Show at 30A
56. "Show Boat" composer : KERN
57. Really gets to : IRKS
58. TV handyman Bob : VILA. More crosses. Not a good "name" day for me today.
59. List-shortening abbr. : ET AL. Et alia in full. I like how list-shorteners seem to be abbreviated - also "et cetera".
60. Reputation : NAME
61. Marshy area : BOG. Second marsh of the day.
62. Tulsa sch. named for an evangelist : O.R.U. Oral Roberts. Born-again, PTL and this one make a evangelical trifecta.
.
63. "__ in the Art of Writing": Ray Bradbury collection : ZEN. When I corrected my "COCO" clown at 61A I tried BOBO instead. Then I saw I was left with "Ben in the Art of Writing" and asked myself "Who the heck is Ben?" The penny finally dropped.
That's it from me. Here's the grid:
Steve
