Theme: Steve! This blogger's initials are added to the start of each theme entry to create a wacky new phrase.
17A. Airline seating for Mensa members? : SMART CLASS. I just took this online IQ Test out of curiosity. I'm not sure how accurate these things are, but I think I came out about where I expected.
65A. Mickey Rooney and Danny DeVito? : SMALL STARS. At 5'2", Rooney towered over DeVito by a mighty two inches. Danny's portrayal of Louie on "Taxi" is one of my favorites.
10D. Overly ingratiating little devils? : SMARMY BRATS
25D. "Hee-Haw" humor, but just a touch? : SMEAR OF CORN. And possibly an apt way to describe the theme entries?
Howdy, folks! Of course Jerome didn't construct this puzzle with me in mind, but I wasn't quite sure how to describe the theme so this seemed as good an explanation as any. Two theme entries across-wise and two downwards for a total of 42 squares leaves a lot of room for some nice fill, which is what we get. Very little in the way of crossword-ese makes for a smooth solve.
Across:
1. Mennonite sect : AMISH
6. Nasty bit of trickery : SCAM
10. Chopped side : SLAW. Food! I made some just the other day - both white and red cabbage and carrots.
14. Trunk full of organs? : TORSO. Fun clue.
15. "Casablanca" heroine : ILSA. Played by the wonderful Ingrid Bergman.
16. Speck : MOTE
19. Milne's Hundred __ Wood : ACRE. Based on the beautiful landscape of the Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England. Milne lived on the northern edge of the forest in a house subsequently owned by the Rolling Stones' ill-starred guitarist Brian Jones.
20. Fire dept. employee : E.M.T.
21. Many ages : AEON. Four of these in the Earth's geological history - Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic and Phanerozoic. We all knew that, right?
22. Out of the country : ABROAD
24. Subordinate's yes : AYE SIR
26. Jewish folklore creature : GOLEM. Nailed it! Cropped up enough times in crosswords to finally stick in my brain.
28. He's a horse, of course : MR. ED. I'll go right to the source.
30. Watched for the evening, say : BABYSAT
34. Bar in a shower : CAKE. SOAP went in, SOAP came out.
37. Mark of approval : SEAL
39. Justice Kagan appointer : OBAMA
40. WWII threat : U-BOAT. I caused myself a couple of do-overs in this area when I had *BO** and immediately saw "H-BOMB". Wrong.
42. Andy Capp's spouse : FLO
43. Preen : PRIMP
44. Mulligan, for one : RETRY. Named for golfer David Mulligan, a member of Winged Foot golf club in the 1920's.
45. Counting-out word : EENY
47. Natural balm : ALOE
48. Embarrassing mistake : BLOOPER
50. Antihero? : GOAT
52. Big spread : FEAST
54. Like Yogi or Smokey : URSINE
58. One of the haves : FAT CAT
61. Prefix with port : HELI-. Here's a particularly vertigo-inducing example at the top of the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai.
63. Constrictive creature : BOA
64. Empty auditorium effect : ECHO
68. Management level : TIER
69. Electrified atoms : IONS
70. Like some reprimands : TERSE
71. Shangri-la : EDEN
72. Goddess of victory : NIKE. Adidas is the German god of victory, or did I make that up?
73. Resting places : OASES
Down:
1. On the main : AT SEA
2. Toddler's gleeful shout : MOMMY!
3. More than just annoyed : IRATE
4. Abbr. on old Eurasian maps : S.S.R. Plenty of these in this example:
5. Windbag's output : HOT AIR
6. Grain holder : SILO
7. Metallic sound : CLANG
8. Donkey : ASS
9. Tandoori __: South Asian spice mix : MASALA. Food! This is my tin - I go through a lot of this stuff, so I get three or four at a time when I go to the Indian market. The tins are vacuum-sealed, so keep pretty well in the pantry.
11. Daft : LOCO
12. Gillette razor : ATRA
13. Location-dependent plant designation : WEED
18. First known asteroid : CERES. Discovered by one Guiseppe Piazzi in 1801, it was first considered a planet, then suffered a Pluto-style downgrade in the 1850's.
23. Coltrane genre : BEBOP
27. Billiard table shape : OBLONG. A hockey rink is an oblong also. Oblongs can have rounded or square ends.
29. Postpones : DEFERS
31. Advance using wind : SAIL
32. Big bang cause, sometimes : AMMO
33. Sticky stuff : TAPE
34. Street border : CURB
35. Explorer Tasman : ABEL. Whence Tasmania and the Tasman Straits.
36. Japanese relative of the zither : KOTO. The immensely-talented June Kuramoto appeared with her band Hiroshima at my local music venue earlier this year. She described her koto as "a surfboard with strings".
38. Sierra Nevada product : ALE. The brewing company, not the mountain range.
41. Very ambitious sort : TYPE A. I'm more of a "B".
46. "__ be sorry!" : YOU'LL
49. Cancels the reservation, maybe : EATS IN
51. Blue blood, for short : ARISTO. My last fill. Nice word! The letter sequence doesn't immediately give the game away, especially with the final "O".
53. Express gratitude to : THANK
55. Structural beams : I-BARS
56. Old language that gives us "berserk" : NORSE. Coming up against a berserker or two bent on marauding mayhem was pretty much guaranteed to ruin your day.
57. Moves with care : EASES
58. Big bash : FÊTE
59. Battery fluid : ACID
60. Passé pronoun : THEE
62. Otherwise : ELSE
66. Miss Piggy tagline : MOI
67. Bigelow's Sweet Dreams, e.g. : TEA
Here's the grid, and that's all from me!
Steve
17A. Airline seating for Mensa members? : SMART CLASS. I just took this online IQ Test out of curiosity. I'm not sure how accurate these things are, but I think I came out about where I expected.
65A. Mickey Rooney and Danny DeVito? : SMALL STARS. At 5'2", Rooney towered over DeVito by a mighty two inches. Danny's portrayal of Louie on "Taxi" is one of my favorites.
10D. Overly ingratiating little devils? : SMARMY BRATS
25D. "Hee-Haw" humor, but just a touch? : SMEAR OF CORN. And possibly an apt way to describe the theme entries?
Howdy, folks! Of course Jerome didn't construct this puzzle with me in mind, but I wasn't quite sure how to describe the theme so this seemed as good an explanation as any. Two theme entries across-wise and two downwards for a total of 42 squares leaves a lot of room for some nice fill, which is what we get. Very little in the way of crossword-ese makes for a smooth solve.
Across:
1. Mennonite sect : AMISH
6. Nasty bit of trickery : SCAM
10. Chopped side : SLAW. Food! I made some just the other day - both white and red cabbage and carrots.
14. Trunk full of organs? : TORSO. Fun clue.
15. "Casablanca" heroine : ILSA. Played by the wonderful Ingrid Bergman.
16. Speck : MOTE
19. Milne's Hundred __ Wood : ACRE. Based on the beautiful landscape of the Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England. Milne lived on the northern edge of the forest in a house subsequently owned by the Rolling Stones' ill-starred guitarist Brian Jones.
20. Fire dept. employee : E.M.T.
21. Many ages : AEON. Four of these in the Earth's geological history - Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic and Phanerozoic. We all knew that, right?
22. Out of the country : ABROAD
24. Subordinate's yes : AYE SIR
26. Jewish folklore creature : GOLEM. Nailed it! Cropped up enough times in crosswords to finally stick in my brain.
28. He's a horse, of course : MR. ED. I'll go right to the source.
30. Watched for the evening, say : BABYSAT
34. Bar in a shower : CAKE. SOAP went in, SOAP came out.
37. Mark of approval : SEAL
39. Justice Kagan appointer : OBAMA
40. WWII threat : U-BOAT. I caused myself a couple of do-overs in this area when I had *BO** and immediately saw "H-BOMB". Wrong.
42. Andy Capp's spouse : FLO
43. Preen : PRIMP
44. Mulligan, for one : RETRY. Named for golfer David Mulligan, a member of Winged Foot golf club in the 1920's.
45. Counting-out word : EENY
47. Natural balm : ALOE
48. Embarrassing mistake : BLOOPER
50. Antihero? : GOAT
52. Big spread : FEAST
54. Like Yogi or Smokey : URSINE
58. One of the haves : FAT CAT
61. Prefix with port : HELI-. Here's a particularly vertigo-inducing example at the top of the Burj al Arab hotel in Dubai.
63. Constrictive creature : BOA
64. Empty auditorium effect : ECHO
68. Management level : TIER
69. Electrified atoms : IONS
70. Like some reprimands : TERSE
71. Shangri-la : EDEN
72. Goddess of victory : NIKE. Adidas is the German god of victory, or did I make that up?
73. Resting places : OASES
Down:
1. On the main : AT SEA
2. Toddler's gleeful shout : MOMMY!
3. More than just annoyed : IRATE
4. Abbr. on old Eurasian maps : S.S.R. Plenty of these in this example:
5. Windbag's output : HOT AIR
6. Grain holder : SILO
7. Metallic sound : CLANG
8. Donkey : ASS
9. Tandoori __: South Asian spice mix : MASALA. Food! This is my tin - I go through a lot of this stuff, so I get three or four at a time when I go to the Indian market. The tins are vacuum-sealed, so keep pretty well in the pantry.
11. Daft : LOCO
12. Gillette razor : ATRA
13. Location-dependent plant designation : WEED
18. First known asteroid : CERES. Discovered by one Guiseppe Piazzi in 1801, it was first considered a planet, then suffered a Pluto-style downgrade in the 1850's.
23. Coltrane genre : BEBOP
27. Billiard table shape : OBLONG. A hockey rink is an oblong also. Oblongs can have rounded or square ends.
29. Postpones : DEFERS
31. Advance using wind : SAIL
32. Big bang cause, sometimes : AMMO
33. Sticky stuff : TAPE
34. Street border : CURB
35. Explorer Tasman : ABEL. Whence Tasmania and the Tasman Straits.
36. Japanese relative of the zither : KOTO. The immensely-talented June Kuramoto appeared with her band Hiroshima at my local music venue earlier this year. She described her koto as "a surfboard with strings".
38. Sierra Nevada product : ALE. The brewing company, not the mountain range.
41. Very ambitious sort : TYPE A. I'm more of a "B".
46. "__ be sorry!" : YOU'LL
49. Cancels the reservation, maybe : EATS IN
51. Blue blood, for short : ARISTO. My last fill. Nice word! The letter sequence doesn't immediately give the game away, especially with the final "O".
53. Express gratitude to : THANK
55. Structural beams : I-BARS
56. Old language that gives us "berserk" : NORSE. Coming up against a berserker or two bent on marauding mayhem was pretty much guaranteed to ruin your day.
57. Moves with care : EASES
58. Big bash : FÊTE
59. Battery fluid : ACID
60. Passé pronoun : THEE
62. Otherwise : ELSE
66. Miss Piggy tagline : MOI
67. Bigelow's Sweet Dreams, e.g. : TEA
Here's the grid, and that's all from me!
Steve
