Theme: Disturbed night - the theme entries share a jumbled word as explained in the reveal
20A. Kiss a frog, so it's said : BREAK THE SPELL. "Someday my prince will come", or, as the photographer said to her assistant waiting for a delivery from the lab "someday my prints will come".
27A. All out : AT FULL SPEED. That's fast!
45A. Evasive language : DOUBLESPEAK. There's an annual Doublespeak Award for truly excellent new examples. One of my favorites is the "meaningful downturn in aggregate output" phrase coined by the then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to avoid saying "recession".
56A. Snoring, e.g., and a literal hint to what's hidden in 20-, 27- and 45-Across : SLEEP DISORDER. Tends to cause a mood disorder in one's bed-mate.
Hola! Steve here with a very fresh and interesting offering from Ed Sessa. There's a whole slew of words or phrases that you don't see around crossword-land too often including all of the themers, plus LIMBO POLE, REPULSION and SPIDERY. Good stuff.
Elsewhere there's some neat cluing misdirection, some frankly baffling stuff and everything in between. Let's check it out.
Across:
1. __ Men, pop band whose name derives from its members' homeland : BAHA. Bahamian-origin band formed in London.
5. Bit of a speech : WORD
9. Prolonged look : STARE
14. Instruments for Israel Kamakawiwo'ole : UKES Here's the Wonderful World/Over The Rainbow mash-up from IZ.
15. Case for notions : ETUI. Yikes, this one's a doozie! Notions in the sense of small items like buttons, threads and ribbons. That's a pretty obscure definition.
16. Attach : AFFIX
17. Bar for some dancers : LIMBO POLE. The dance originated in Jamaica where it was popular at wakes.
19. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" actor : DAFOE. I loved the movie.
22. Org. that holds your interest? : S AND L. I was staring at this wondering what on earth a SANDL was when I realized that it needed spaces. Savings and Loan.
23. LBJ agency : OEO. Somewhere, a black and white snack is missing its "R". The Office of Economic Opportunity.
24. Reuters competitor : UPI. The wire service United Press International.
32. Complain : CARP
36. Attic forager : RAT
37. Family nickname : AUNTY
38. Went too far with : OVERDID
40. Street vendor's snack : PRETZEL
42. Cosmetic surgeon's procedures, briefly : LIPOS. The quite charming process by which you get fat vacuumed out of you.
43. Nursery supply : SOD. Nothing to do with babies. Grass.
44. Salts : TARS. Ahoy, Matey!
49. NBC sketch comedy : SNL
50. Portuguese king : REI
51. Not connected : APART
61. Case study? : TRIAL. A case comes in for some close scrutiny when it goes to trial.
63. Like one who really gets IT? : TECH SAVVY. When I meet someone socially for the first time I never tell them I work for a tech company, because then I generally get asked questions about what's wrong with their computer/printer/iPad.
64. Sea divers : LOONS
65. Switch ending : -EROO
66. Carpe __ : DIEM. Seize the day. Carpe Carp - Seize the fish. Carpe No Oil - Seize the engine.
67. Cuban music genre : CONGA
68. Daly of "Judging Amy" : TYNE. Thank you crosses. Never heard of him/her or the show/movie. I should go look it up.
69. Everyone, in Essen : ALLE. Curiously, ALLES is the singular form, familiar from the German National Anthem line: "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles". Funny old language, German.
Down:
1. Light sources : BULBS
2. "Ran" director Kurosawa : AKIRA
3. Ones with fab abs : HE-MEN
4. Similarly sinful : AS BAD
5. Broke down : WEPT
6. "Then again," in tweets : OTOH. On the other hand
7. Dismiss : RULE OUT
8. Fuel type : DIESEL. Last time I was in England I rented a stick-shift Audi with a diesel engine. I was really impressed by the performance - now we all know why.
9. "Soldier of Love" Grammy winner : SADE
10. Nonstick cookware brand : T-FAL. Don't buy a non-stick wok, you want to be able to push food up the side and have it stay there.
11. Anti-consumerist portmanteau popularized in a 2001 best-seller : AFFLUENZA. Great word. The book was "Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic".
12. 2011 animated film set in Brazil : RIO
13. PC file extension : EXE An executable file on a PC. Mac computers also have executable files, but they're named differently.
18. Stillwater's state: Abbr. : OKLA
21. Capitol insider : POL
25. Novelist De Vries : PETER. "Life is a zoo in a jungle".
26. Pastoral poems : IDYLS
28. Athlete lead-in : TRI-. I'm thinking about revisiting my triathlon days by competing again in 2016. I might have to go and lie down until the urge goes away. It's been 25 years since the last one.
29. It's not hot for long : FAD
30. Submission encl. : SAE. Stamped, Addressed Envelope in England. I didn't encounter the "SASE" version until I moved to the US.
31. Last stroke, usually : PUTT. It's a shame to be remembered for a missed putt, but this is one of those iconic moments. Bernhard Langer's miss in the 1991 Ryder Cup meant that the USA took the trophy from Europe after a decade of domination by the Europeans.
32. Common maladies : COLDS
33. French postcard word : AVION. Hmm. You used to stick "Par Avion" labels on mail that was going by air (par avion). Quite what this has to do specifically with a postcard I'm not sure. Do postcards always go by air? Peculiar clue.
34. Utter disgust : REPULSION
35. "No __!" : PROB.
39. ISP alternative : DSL. Now this one is flat-out weird. An ISP is an Internet Service Provider, such as AOL. DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, which is a physical means of connecting to your ISP. One is not an alternative to the other. What am I missing?
40. Author of macabre tales : POE. We had his monogram yesterday.
41. Old cereal box stat : RDA. Recommended Dietary Allowance. They're called RDI's now - Recommended Daily Intake - apparently.
43. Weblike : SPIDERY. I always associated SPIDERY with writing, not with webs, but I'll treat this as a learning moment.
46. Before, of yore : ERE
47. Largish jazz ensemble : SEPTET. Depends on your definition of an ensemble. To a full orchestra, a septet might be construed as "smallish".
48. Maxwell Smart's nemesis : KAOS. From the TV series "Get Smart".
52. "The Devil Wears __" : PRADA. Another cracking movie.
53. Motrin competitor : ADVIL
54. Party hearty : REVEL. Another odd one. I've heard of a "reveller" before, but never seen REVEL used in the sense of an individual.
55. "Go ahead, make my day!" : TRY ME
57. Lana of Superman lore : LANG. Compare and contrast with Lois Lane.
58. Film feline : ELSA. The lioness from the movie "Born Free".
59. Silhouette of a bird, for Twitter : ICON
60. You might pick up a pebble in one : SHOE
61. Attention from Dr. Mom : TLC
62. Milne marsupial : ROO. This original by Ernest Shepard, not the abominable Disney mockery of the character:
That should do it from me for today. I'm off for a trip back to the old country tomorrow for a few days, apparently just in time for some really atrocious weather. I'm staying in Bloomsbury over the weekend, home to yesterday's Virginia Woolf. I'll follow this advice:
Toodle-oo!
Steve
20A. Kiss a frog, so it's said : BREAK THE SPELL. "Someday my prince will come", or, as the photographer said to her assistant waiting for a delivery from the lab "someday my prints will come".
27A. All out : AT FULL SPEED. That's fast!
45A. Evasive language : DOUBLESPEAK. There's an annual Doublespeak Award for truly excellent new examples. One of my favorites is the "meaningful downturn in aggregate output" phrase coined by the then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to avoid saying "recession".
56A. Snoring, e.g., and a literal hint to what's hidden in 20-, 27- and 45-Across : SLEEP DISORDER. Tends to cause a mood disorder in one's bed-mate.
Hola! Steve here with a very fresh and interesting offering from Ed Sessa. There's a whole slew of words or phrases that you don't see around crossword-land too often including all of the themers, plus LIMBO POLE, REPULSION and SPIDERY. Good stuff.
Elsewhere there's some neat cluing misdirection, some frankly baffling stuff and everything in between. Let's check it out.
Across:
1. __ Men, pop band whose name derives from its members' homeland : BAHA. Bahamian-origin band formed in London.
5. Bit of a speech : WORD
9. Prolonged look : STARE
14. Instruments for Israel Kamakawiwo'ole : UKES Here's the Wonderful World/Over The Rainbow mash-up from IZ.
15. Case for notions : ETUI. Yikes, this one's a doozie! Notions in the sense of small items like buttons, threads and ribbons. That's a pretty obscure definition.
16. Attach : AFFIX
17. Bar for some dancers : LIMBO POLE. The dance originated in Jamaica where it was popular at wakes.
19. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" actor : DAFOE. I loved the movie.
22. Org. that holds your interest? : S AND L. I was staring at this wondering what on earth a SANDL was when I realized that it needed spaces. Savings and Loan.
23. LBJ agency : OEO. Somewhere, a black and white snack is missing its "R". The Office of Economic Opportunity.
24. Reuters competitor : UPI. The wire service United Press International.
32. Complain : CARP
36. Attic forager : RAT
37. Family nickname : AUNTY
38. Went too far with : OVERDID
40. Street vendor's snack : PRETZEL
42. Cosmetic surgeon's procedures, briefly : LIPOS. The quite charming process by which you get fat vacuumed out of you.
43. Nursery supply : SOD. Nothing to do with babies. Grass.
44. Salts : TARS. Ahoy, Matey!
49. NBC sketch comedy : SNL
50. Portuguese king : REI
51. Not connected : APART
61. Case study? : TRIAL. A case comes in for some close scrutiny when it goes to trial.
63. Like one who really gets IT? : TECH SAVVY. When I meet someone socially for the first time I never tell them I work for a tech company, because then I generally get asked questions about what's wrong with their computer/printer/iPad.
64. Sea divers : LOONS
65. Switch ending : -EROO
66. Carpe __ : DIEM. Seize the day. Carpe Carp - Seize the fish. Carpe No Oil - Seize the engine.
67. Cuban music genre : CONGA
68. Daly of "Judging Amy" : TYNE. Thank you crosses. Never heard of him/her or the show/movie. I should go look it up.
69. Everyone, in Essen : ALLE. Curiously, ALLES is the singular form, familiar from the German National Anthem line: "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles". Funny old language, German.
Down:
1. Light sources : BULBS
2. "Ran" director Kurosawa : AKIRA
3. Ones with fab abs : HE-MEN
4. Similarly sinful : AS BAD
5. Broke down : WEPT
6. "Then again," in tweets : OTOH. On the other hand
7. Dismiss : RULE OUT
8. Fuel type : DIESEL. Last time I was in England I rented a stick-shift Audi with a diesel engine. I was really impressed by the performance - now we all know why.
9. "Soldier of Love" Grammy winner : SADE
10. Nonstick cookware brand : T-FAL. Don't buy a non-stick wok, you want to be able to push food up the side and have it stay there.
11. Anti-consumerist portmanteau popularized in a 2001 best-seller : AFFLUENZA. Great word. The book was "Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic".
12. 2011 animated film set in Brazil : RIO
13. PC file extension : EXE An executable file on a PC. Mac computers also have executable files, but they're named differently.
18. Stillwater's state: Abbr. : OKLA
21. Capitol insider : POL
25. Novelist De Vries : PETER. "Life is a zoo in a jungle".
26. Pastoral poems : IDYLS
28. Athlete lead-in : TRI-. I'm thinking about revisiting my triathlon days by competing again in 2016. I might have to go and lie down until the urge goes away. It's been 25 years since the last one.
29. It's not hot for long : FAD
30. Submission encl. : SAE. Stamped, Addressed Envelope in England. I didn't encounter the "SASE" version until I moved to the US.
31. Last stroke, usually : PUTT. It's a shame to be remembered for a missed putt, but this is one of those iconic moments. Bernhard Langer's miss in the 1991 Ryder Cup meant that the USA took the trophy from Europe after a decade of domination by the Europeans.
32. Common maladies : COLDS
33. French postcard word : AVION. Hmm. You used to stick "Par Avion" labels on mail that was going by air (par avion). Quite what this has to do specifically with a postcard I'm not sure. Do postcards always go by air? Peculiar clue.
34. Utter disgust : REPULSION
35. "No __!" : PROB.
39. ISP alternative : DSL. Now this one is flat-out weird. An ISP is an Internet Service Provider, such as AOL. DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, which is a physical means of connecting to your ISP. One is not an alternative to the other. What am I missing?
40. Author of macabre tales : POE. We had his monogram yesterday.
41. Old cereal box stat : RDA. Recommended Dietary Allowance. They're called RDI's now - Recommended Daily Intake - apparently.
43. Weblike : SPIDERY. I always associated SPIDERY with writing, not with webs, but I'll treat this as a learning moment.
46. Before, of yore : ERE
47. Largish jazz ensemble : SEPTET. Depends on your definition of an ensemble. To a full orchestra, a septet might be construed as "smallish".
48. Maxwell Smart's nemesis : KAOS. From the TV series "Get Smart".
52. "The Devil Wears __" : PRADA. Another cracking movie.
53. Motrin competitor : ADVIL
54. Party hearty : REVEL. Another odd one. I've heard of a "reveller" before, but never seen REVEL used in the sense of an individual.
55. "Go ahead, make my day!" : TRY ME
57. Lana of Superman lore : LANG. Compare and contrast with Lois Lane.
58. Film feline : ELSA. The lioness from the movie "Born Free".
59. Silhouette of a bird, for Twitter : ICON
60. You might pick up a pebble in one : SHOE
61. Attention from Dr. Mom : TLC
62. Milne marsupial : ROO. This original by Ernest Shepard, not the abominable Disney mockery of the character:
That should do it from me for today. I'm off for a trip back to the old country tomorrow for a few days, apparently just in time for some really atrocious weather. I'm staying in Bloomsbury over the weekend, home to yesterday's Virginia Woolf. I'll follow this advice:
Toodle-oo!
Steve
