Theme: Fruit B-olio. Scrambles begin the theme entries:
18A. *Unit in a bowl : LUMP OF SUGAR. Plum. It's the UK's Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday today. She takes two lumps of sugar in her tea.
39A. *Website for do-it-yourselfers : WIKIHOW. Kiwi. For a while in the 90's, you couldn't order an entrée in a restaurant without it arriving with a kiwi fruit garnish, or compôte, or drizzle, or glaze, or something. Sanity finally prevailed.
61A. *Fast pace : MILE A MINUTE. Lime. I've got one in my drink as we speak. I just took delivery of a new car, and was startled to discover that it can do rather more than a mile a minute - the top speed is listed as 155 MPH. Yikes.
3D. *Skinflint : CHEAPSKATE. Peach. Seeing the word "peach" always triggers my memory of "Each Peach Pear Plum - Here Comes Tom Thumb" - a book I used to read to my daughter when she was little.
31D. Tasty mélange ... and a literal hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues : MIXED FRUIT. Olio.
Suitably crunchy Thursday from Gerry - I had quite a few blank areas after the first pass, and the theme reveal wasn't helping, but then a couple of missteps corrected (PELTS/PEELS and MOHR/MORA) and things fell into place. I'm always impressed by how constructors come up with the puzzle themes, and how to make the theme work, and this one is a great example of across-and-down organization. Good stuff. Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. "Grey's Anatomy" airer : ABC
4. Skins to remove : PEELS
9. Non-shaving razor name? : OCCAM. I always have to look up what Occam's Razor actually states. I can never remember it. Repeat after me: "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected."
14. Scrooge word : BAH. Humbug.
15. Brilliance : ÉCLAT. Is a stroke of brilliance a coup d'éclat? *drops mic*
16. San Antonio landmark : ALAMO. The car rental lot at the airport. No?
17. Roger Clemens, for one : ACE
20. Layered rock : SHALE
22. "Sorry, we're full" sign : SRO. Not quite full if there's still Standing Room Only.
23. Test release : BETA. Pre-release phase for software. When I was coding we called the pre-beta a "smoke test" - you'd see if the program caught fire when you ran it.
24. Glimpse : ESPY. If you catch sight of a sports award you might espy an ESPY.
25. Make fun of : JEER AT
27. Sportscast staple : SLO-MO
30. Set boundaries : DELIMIT. This took a while to parse "set" as a verb rather than a noun.
34. Tour de France, e.g. : BIKE RACE
37. Nikon competitor : LEICA
38. LAX datum : ETA. My ETA at LAX on Friday is 10:05PM - end of a long week.
42. Gen-__ : X-ER. "ED" didn't fit, "SCI" was a class I took in England and doesn't exist here (third period on Monday morning, I can still remember the timetable). X-ER finally dawned on me.
43. Don't bother : LET BE. Close enough for a quick link to Sir Paul.
45. Exercise result, all too often : SORENESS
47. Rose support : TRELLIS
50. Made the last move, in a way : MATED. Here's the "Fool's Mate" moves on the chessboard. Checkmate in two moves:
Ooops.
51. Later years : OLD AGE
53. Degs. for writers : MFAS. Masters of Fine Arts.
56. Weakness : FLAW
59. Look over : EYE
60. Sherlock Holmes enemy Colonel Sebastian __ : MORAN. I really wanted MORIARTY but I ran out of squares.
65. One in Paris : UNE
66. Tart : ACERB. Like the lime in my drink.
67. David's role on "Frasier" : NILES. Great character played by David Hyde Pierce.
68. Chemical ending : -IDE
69. Eponymous trailblazer Chisholm : JESSE. The Texas-to-Kansas cattle trail.
70. Davis of "A League of Their Own" : GEENA
71. Thrice, in Rx's : TER. I never remember these. Marti would have eaten this clue for breakfast. I miss her (hugs) on a Thursday.
Down:
1. Belittle : ABASE
2. Family with several notable composers : BACHS
4. Athlete nicknamed "O Rei do Futebol" : PELÉ. "The King of Football" in Portuguese. The Brazilian great. I love the story of the Scottish team (Partick Thistle) coach, who, upon learning that his striker was concussed and "didn't know who his was", responded "Tell him he's Pelé and put him back on".
5. Old French coin : ECU
6. Name of more than 5,000 U.S. streets : ELM. Plenty of Nightmares.
7. Sign of forgetfulness : LAPSE
8. Kept in reserve : STORED
9. Western defense gp. : O.A.S. The Organization of American States. I didn't know this was a thing.
10. Neckwear denoting affiliation : CLUB TIE. Here are three members of the MCC (the founding body of English cricket) at Lord's ground in London, proving that an august organization doesn't necessarily exhibit the best judgment in color coordination. The tie is nicknamed "the scrambled egg".
11. Zoo sight : CAGE
12. Latin 101 word : AMAT. AMA- and wait for the cross.
13. UCLA Bruins coach Jim : MORA
19. A conspicuous position, with "the" : FORE
21. Singer Lovett : LYLE. Could have been golfer Sandy, prone to yelling 19D, and also being Scottish, AKA a ...
25. College athlete : JOCK
26. Completely incorrect : ALL WET. A new one for me. I'd never heard this phrase before.
28. "Big Brother" creator : ORWELL. The wonderful novel "1984", not the execrable reality series.
29. Le cinquième mois : MAI. Portuguese and French today. The fifth month. Janvier, Février, Mars, Avril, MAI. Thank you, high school French classes.
32. Secures, as a victory : ICES
33. Sailors : TARS
34. Corn __ : BELT
35. Road to the Forum : ITER. Seems to be familiar, it's cropped up a few times lately.
36. Mixgetränk cube : EIS. Oh, add German to the language mix today. Mixed Drink. Which is what my lime is in.
40. Strikes may cross it : HOME. C.C. undoubtedly nailed this one. Home Plate. Strike Zone. Baseball. STRIKE THREE! I love dramatic umpires.
41. Man-mouse connector : OR A. Are you?
44. Fall noisemakers : BLOWERS. Fall? Not here in LA - year-round.
46. Verne captain : NEMO.
48. As above, in a footnote : IDEM. Compare and contrast with ibid. Your essays are due by Friday, please.
49. Saw : SAYING
52. Lamp output, if you're lucky : GENIE. "And ix-nay on wishing for more wishes".
54. "Intervention" channel : A AND E
55. Expression for Ozymandias : SNEER. I love this poem. Shelley's masterwork:
56. Key of the first two Brandenburg Concertos: Abbr. : F MAJ - -M-- and wait for the crosses!
57. Bothersome bugs : LICE. Eew.
58. Pub quaffs : ALES
60. Southwestern sight : MESA
62. Fiver : ABE. Mr. Lincoln gets the $5 bill.
63. Suffix with glob : -ULE
64. Half a score : TEN. Or two Abes.
And ..... here's the grid.
Steve
18A. *Unit in a bowl : LUMP OF SUGAR. Plum. It's the UK's Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday today. She takes two lumps of sugar in her tea.
39A. *Website for do-it-yourselfers : WIKIHOW. Kiwi. For a while in the 90's, you couldn't order an entrée in a restaurant without it arriving with a kiwi fruit garnish, or compôte, or drizzle, or glaze, or something. Sanity finally prevailed.
61A. *Fast pace : MILE A MINUTE. Lime. I've got one in my drink as we speak. I just took delivery of a new car, and was startled to discover that it can do rather more than a mile a minute - the top speed is listed as 155 MPH. Yikes.
3D. *Skinflint : CHEAPSKATE. Peach. Seeing the word "peach" always triggers my memory of "Each Peach Pear Plum - Here Comes Tom Thumb" - a book I used to read to my daughter when she was little.
31D. Tasty mélange ... and a literal hint to the starts of the answers to starred clues : MIXED FRUIT. Olio.
Suitably crunchy Thursday from Gerry - I had quite a few blank areas after the first pass, and the theme reveal wasn't helping, but then a couple of missteps corrected (PELTS/PEELS and MOHR/MORA) and things fell into place. I'm always impressed by how constructors come up with the puzzle themes, and how to make the theme work, and this one is a great example of across-and-down organization. Good stuff. Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. "Grey's Anatomy" airer : ABC
4. Skins to remove : PEELS
9. Non-shaving razor name? : OCCAM. I always have to look up what Occam's Razor actually states. I can never remember it. Repeat after me: "Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected."
14. Scrooge word : BAH. Humbug.
15. Brilliance : ÉCLAT. Is a stroke of brilliance a coup d'éclat? *drops mic*
16. San Antonio landmark : ALAMO. The car rental lot at the airport. No?
17. Roger Clemens, for one : ACE
20. Layered rock : SHALE
22. "Sorry, we're full" sign : SRO. Not quite full if there's still Standing Room Only.
23. Test release : BETA. Pre-release phase for software. When I was coding we called the pre-beta a "smoke test" - you'd see if the program caught fire when you ran it.
24. Glimpse : ESPY. If you catch sight of a sports award you might espy an ESPY.
25. Make fun of : JEER AT
27. Sportscast staple : SLO-MO
30. Set boundaries : DELIMIT. This took a while to parse "set" as a verb rather than a noun.
34. Tour de France, e.g. : BIKE RACE
37. Nikon competitor : LEICA
38. LAX datum : ETA. My ETA at LAX on Friday is 10:05PM - end of a long week.
42. Gen-__ : X-ER. "ED" didn't fit, "SCI" was a class I took in England and doesn't exist here (third period on Monday morning, I can still remember the timetable). X-ER finally dawned on me.
43. Don't bother : LET BE. Close enough for a quick link to Sir Paul.
45. Exercise result, all too often : SORENESS
47. Rose support : TRELLIS
50. Made the last move, in a way : MATED. Here's the "Fool's Mate" moves on the chessboard. Checkmate in two moves:
1. f3 e5
2. g4? Qh4#
Ooops.
53. Degs. for writers : MFAS. Masters of Fine Arts.
56. Weakness : FLAW
59. Look over : EYE
60. Sherlock Holmes enemy Colonel Sebastian __ : MORAN. I really wanted MORIARTY but I ran out of squares.
65. One in Paris : UNE
66. Tart : ACERB. Like the lime in my drink.
67. David's role on "Frasier" : NILES. Great character played by David Hyde Pierce.
68. Chemical ending : -IDE
69. Eponymous trailblazer Chisholm : JESSE. The Texas-to-Kansas cattle trail.
70. Davis of "A League of Their Own" : GEENA
71. Thrice, in Rx's : TER. I never remember these. Marti would have eaten this clue for breakfast. I miss her (hugs) on a Thursday.
Down:
1. Belittle : ABASE
2. Family with several notable composers : BACHS
4. Athlete nicknamed "O Rei do Futebol" : PELÉ. "The King of Football" in Portuguese. The Brazilian great. I love the story of the Scottish team (Partick Thistle) coach, who, upon learning that his striker was concussed and "didn't know who his was", responded "Tell him he's Pelé and put him back on".
5. Old French coin : ECU
6. Name of more than 5,000 U.S. streets : ELM. Plenty of Nightmares.
7. Sign of forgetfulness : LAPSE
8. Kept in reserve : STORED
9. Western defense gp. : O.A.S. The Organization of American States. I didn't know this was a thing.
10. Neckwear denoting affiliation : CLUB TIE. Here are three members of the MCC (the founding body of English cricket) at Lord's ground in London, proving that an august organization doesn't necessarily exhibit the best judgment in color coordination. The tie is nicknamed "the scrambled egg".
11. Zoo sight : CAGE
12. Latin 101 word : AMAT. AMA- and wait for the cross.
13. UCLA Bruins coach Jim : MORA
19. A conspicuous position, with "the" : FORE
21. Singer Lovett : LYLE. Could have been golfer Sandy, prone to yelling 19D, and also being Scottish, AKA a ...
25. College athlete : JOCK
26. Completely incorrect : ALL WET. A new one for me. I'd never heard this phrase before.
28. "Big Brother" creator : ORWELL. The wonderful novel "1984", not the execrable reality series.
29. Le cinquième mois : MAI. Portuguese and French today. The fifth month. Janvier, Février, Mars, Avril, MAI. Thank you, high school French classes.
32. Secures, as a victory : ICES
33. Sailors : TARS
34. Corn __ : BELT
35. Road to the Forum : ITER. Seems to be familiar, it's cropped up a few times lately.
36. Mixgetränk cube : EIS. Oh, add German to the language mix today. Mixed Drink. Which is what my lime is in.
40. Strikes may cross it : HOME. C.C. undoubtedly nailed this one. Home Plate. Strike Zone. Baseball. STRIKE THREE! I love dramatic umpires.
41. Man-mouse connector : OR A. Are you?
44. Fall noisemakers : BLOWERS. Fall? Not here in LA - year-round.
46. Verne captain : NEMO.
48. As above, in a footnote : IDEM. Compare and contrast with ibid. Your essays are due by Friday, please.
49. Saw : SAYING
52. Lamp output, if you're lucky : GENIE. "And ix-nay on wishing for more wishes".
54. "Intervention" channel : A AND E
55. Expression for Ozymandias : SNEER. I love this poem. Shelley's masterwork:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . .Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . .Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
56. Key of the first two Brandenburg Concertos: Abbr. : F MAJ - -M-- and wait for the crosses!
57. Bothersome bugs : LICE. Eew.
58. Pub quaffs : ALES
60. Southwestern sight : MESA
62. Fiver : ABE. Mr. Lincoln gets the $5 bill.
63. Suffix with glob : -ULE
64. Half a score : TEN. Or two Abes.
And ..... here's the grid.
Steve
