Theme: Growing Pains - the circles reveal a squad of squabblers.
17A. Overindulged oneself : WENT TO TOWN. Tot. Going to town on tots can result in a Captain Morgan-sized hangover.
22A. Communications feature since the 1870s : QWERTY KEYBOARD. Tyke. Deliberately designed to slow people down to reduce typewriter lever jams. The French have AZERTY, for reasons known only to themselves. Odd folks, that Gallic lot. You know what the French can't do? Type "TYPEWRITER" using only the top row of letter keys. Mwaaahaaahahhaaa. They're SO missing out.
34. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" duettist : KIKI DEE. Kid. I saw her at a free concert in London's Hyde Park in the 70's along with Steve Hillage, supporting Queen. I don't recall a lot about her set though. Here's the production-values-challenged video of the hit with Elton John. Catchy tune,admittedly. Here I am - twenty-thousandth dot from the right middle tree. And it didn't rain! Yay!
44. "Looks pretty good, huh?" : WHAT DO YOU THINK? Youth. Or "yute" per Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinnie". The scene where Marisa Tomei is called as an expert witness is one of my all-time movie favorites.
and the reveal:
52. Psychology subject ... and what's contained in this puzzle's circles : INNER CHILD. Something to channel.
Morning! Tongue-in-cheek with my theme name today, I'm sure all the lovable little darlings in this puzzle are quite angelic.
Mostly smooth sailing for me today, a couple of rip currents in the Pacific North West caused me some momentary unease, but the ship came through without undue distress. I thought a pangram was on the cards when QWERTYK showed up, but it wasn't to be - we're missing an F and a Z. Let's see what else we do have:
Across:
1. Toddler coddlers : MAMAS
6. Office stock : PENS
10. Port container : CASK. Originally old brandy barrels to help preserve Portuguese wine on the voyage to England.
14. What's made "just in case" : EXTRA. I wanted "PLAN B" here, but as much as I wanted it, I didn't get it.
15. Follow : OBEY, Aye, aye, Captain!
16. Eclipse, to some : OMEN
19. It may sweep you off your feet : WAVE
20. "Me too" : DITTO
21. Sleeper's malady : APNEA. A couple of months ago in San Diego I had a meeting with the company who invented the sleep apnea breathing devices. In their lobby they have an array of disembodied mannequin heads wearing examples of the technology through the years. It looks a little weird.
26. Breakfast choices : JUICES
27. Spot for breakfast : NOOK
28. El __ : PASO
29. They're usually covered by grilles : AIR VENTS
33. __ out a living : EKE
37. WWII battle site, for short : IWO. Iwo To, or Iwo Jima in English. Sulfur Island.
38. Just beginning to develop : GERMINAL
40. Emailed a dupe to : CC'ED. We cc C.C. on blog-related emails.
41. Research ctr. : INST.
42. White of the eye : SCLERA. Not CORNEA then, as I confidently filled in first, in spite of being totally wrong.
49. 1945 meeting site : YALTA. Churchill, Stalin and FDR met to carve up post-WWII Europe. See how well that turned out for everyone.
50. Stern with a bow : ISAAC
51. __ marker : MILE. When you reach the first one in a marathon, you gleefully think "Great! Only 25 more of these, tack on 365 yards at the end and we're done!".
57. Rapper with the debut album "Trouble" : AKON. Who? I'm sure I should know Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, but I don't.
58. Porch torch type : TIKI
59. Sun: Pref. : HELIO-. Greek root. Helio Castroneves isn't Greek, he's a Brazilian race car driver in the IndyCar series. He looks like he gets a lot of sun though.
60. Common allergen : NUTS
61. Right on an atlas : EAST. Unless you hold it upside down, or get the Australian edition.
62. A bit off : ASKEW
Down:
1. Litter attention-getter : MEW
2. Hefted tool : AXE
3. Hood, for one: Abbr. : MTN. Mount Hood in Oregon. I've flown over it a few times on the way to Seattle, it looks like a perfect snow-capped cone.
4. Like Radio City Music Hall : ART DECO
5. "The Daily Show" device : SATIRE
6. Where wee ones go : POTTY
7. Waiting room read : E-BOOK
8. Just out : NEW
9. Case, for instance: Abbr. : SYN. Nice clue! Parse it as "Case" for "Instance", and you'll see one is a synonym of the other.
10. Ranch hand : COWPOKE
11. Its website has a range finder : AMANA. Oh! Cooktops and kitchen equipment. Got it. Clever.
12. Divide into parts : SEVER. I got a new cleaver recently. Two pounds of severe severing steel sharpness. I'd better be careful with this bad boy. Finger (currently still attached) shown for scale.
13. Prep, at a pizza parlor : KNEAD
18. Mel and Ed with World Series rings : OTTS
21. Not subject to, as suspicion : ABOVE
22. Fault product : QUAKE. Plenty of these in my neck of the woods.
23. More learned : WISER
24. Plains "Queen Wheat City" : ENID
25. Days long gone : YORE
26. Photo file format : JPEG. "Joint Photographic Experts Group". It's a "lossy" compression algorithm - "lossy" because when the image is re-opened it has lost some definition. If you keep re-saving a JPEG you'll notice the quality degrading.
29. Feel poorly : AIL
30. Tidy (up), facetiously : NICEN. Not sure I've used this term. Facetiously though?
31. Dance provocatively : TWERK. No, I'm not going to link Miley Cyrus.
32. Pop : SODA
34. Cousin of "-ish" : KINDA
35. __ many words : IN SO
36. Pop's Perry : KATY
39. Things on strings : MITTENS. Hand up for my mother sewing my gloves onto a ribbon and threading them through the sleeves of my coat. Lost glove drama instantly averted. Playground lost cred instantly achieved.
40. Played-out sayings : CLICHES
42. Ratings unit : STAR
43. Ballroom dance : CHA CHA
44. Longtime Rolling Stones bassist Bill : WYMAN. Keith Richards claimed that Bill was only allowed to join the band because he owned an amplifier. Reading Keith's autobiography it's pretty apparent that he didn't think too much of the "walking bass".
45. 17-syllable work : HAIKU
46. Divvy up : ALLOT
47. Down and dirty noises : OINKS
48. "Can you __ in a sentence?" : USE IT. Not only a spelling bee clarification question, but the litmus test of crossword construction.
52. Relative of "-ian" : -ITE
53. Actress Peeples : NIA. Useful crossword name. I'm not really familiar with the her work.
54. Kind : ILK
55. One of a rat's pack? : LIE
56. Financial measure, with "the" : DOW
And .. here's the grid, circles 'n all.
Steve
17A. Overindulged oneself : WENT TO TOWN. Tot. Going to town on tots can result in a Captain Morgan-sized hangover.
22A. Communications feature since the 1870s : QWERTY KEYBOARD. Tyke. Deliberately designed to slow people down to reduce typewriter lever jams. The French have AZERTY, for reasons known only to themselves. Odd folks, that Gallic lot. You know what the French can't do? Type "TYPEWRITER" using only the top row of letter keys. Mwaaahaaahahhaaa. They're SO missing out.
34. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" duettist : KIKI DEE. Kid. I saw her at a free concert in London's Hyde Park in the 70's along with Steve Hillage, supporting Queen. I don't recall a lot about her set though. Here's the production-values-challenged video of the hit with Elton John. Catchy tune,admittedly. Here I am - twenty-thousandth dot from the right middle tree. And it didn't rain! Yay!
44. "Looks pretty good, huh?" : WHAT DO YOU THINK? Youth. Or "yute" per Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinnie". The scene where Marisa Tomei is called as an expert witness is one of my all-time movie favorites.
and the reveal:
52. Psychology subject ... and what's contained in this puzzle's circles : INNER CHILD. Something to channel.
Morning! Tongue-in-cheek with my theme name today, I'm sure all the lovable little darlings in this puzzle are quite angelic.
Mostly smooth sailing for me today, a couple of rip currents in the Pacific North West caused me some momentary unease, but the ship came through without undue distress. I thought a pangram was on the cards when QWERTYK showed up, but it wasn't to be - we're missing an F and a Z. Let's see what else we do have:
Across:
1. Toddler coddlers : MAMAS
6. Office stock : PENS
10. Port container : CASK. Originally old brandy barrels to help preserve Portuguese wine on the voyage to England.
14. What's made "just in case" : EXTRA. I wanted "PLAN B" here, but as much as I wanted it, I didn't get it.
15. Follow : OBEY, Aye, aye, Captain!
16. Eclipse, to some : OMEN
19. It may sweep you off your feet : WAVE
20. "Me too" : DITTO
21. Sleeper's malady : APNEA. A couple of months ago in San Diego I had a meeting with the company who invented the sleep apnea breathing devices. In their lobby they have an array of disembodied mannequin heads wearing examples of the technology through the years. It looks a little weird.
26. Breakfast choices : JUICES
27. Spot for breakfast : NOOK
28. El __ : PASO
29. They're usually covered by grilles : AIR VENTS
33. __ out a living : EKE
37. WWII battle site, for short : IWO. Iwo To, or Iwo Jima in English. Sulfur Island.
38. Just beginning to develop : GERMINAL
40. Emailed a dupe to : CC'ED. We cc C.C. on blog-related emails.
41. Research ctr. : INST.
42. White of the eye : SCLERA. Not CORNEA then, as I confidently filled in first, in spite of being totally wrong.
49. 1945 meeting site : YALTA. Churchill, Stalin and FDR met to carve up post-WWII Europe. See how well that turned out for everyone.
50. Stern with a bow : ISAAC
51. __ marker : MILE. When you reach the first one in a marathon, you gleefully think "Great! Only 25 more of these, tack on 365 yards at the end and we're done!".
57. Rapper with the debut album "Trouble" : AKON. Who? I'm sure I should know Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam, but I don't.
58. Porch torch type : TIKI
59. Sun: Pref. : HELIO-. Greek root. Helio Castroneves isn't Greek, he's a Brazilian race car driver in the IndyCar series. He looks like he gets a lot of sun though.
60. Common allergen : NUTS
61. Right on an atlas : EAST. Unless you hold it upside down, or get the Australian edition.
62. A bit off : ASKEW
Down:
1. Litter attention-getter : MEW
2. Hefted tool : AXE
3. Hood, for one: Abbr. : MTN. Mount Hood in Oregon. I've flown over it a few times on the way to Seattle, it looks like a perfect snow-capped cone.
4. Like Radio City Music Hall : ART DECO
5. "The Daily Show" device : SATIRE
6. Where wee ones go : POTTY
7. Waiting room read : E-BOOK
8. Just out : NEW
9. Case, for instance: Abbr. : SYN. Nice clue! Parse it as "Case" for "Instance", and you'll see one is a synonym of the other.
10. Ranch hand : COWPOKE
11. Its website has a range finder : AMANA. Oh! Cooktops and kitchen equipment. Got it. Clever.
12. Divide into parts : SEVER. I got a new cleaver recently. Two pounds of severe severing steel sharpness. I'd better be careful with this bad boy. Finger (currently still attached) shown for scale.
13. Prep, at a pizza parlor : KNEAD
18. Mel and Ed with World Series rings : OTTS
21. Not subject to, as suspicion : ABOVE
22. Fault product : QUAKE. Plenty of these in my neck of the woods.
23. More learned : WISER
24. Plains "Queen Wheat City" : ENID
25. Days long gone : YORE
26. Photo file format : JPEG. "Joint Photographic Experts Group". It's a "lossy" compression algorithm - "lossy" because when the image is re-opened it has lost some definition. If you keep re-saving a JPEG you'll notice the quality degrading.
29. Feel poorly : AIL
30. Tidy (up), facetiously : NICEN. Not sure I've used this term. Facetiously though?
31. Dance provocatively : TWERK. No, I'm not going to link Miley Cyrus.
32. Pop : SODA
34. Cousin of "-ish" : KINDA
35. __ many words : IN SO
36. Pop's Perry : KATY
39. Things on strings : MITTENS. Hand up for my mother sewing my gloves onto a ribbon and threading them through the sleeves of my coat. Lost glove drama instantly averted. Playground lost cred instantly achieved.
40. Played-out sayings : CLICHES
42. Ratings unit : STAR
43. Ballroom dance : CHA CHA
44. Longtime Rolling Stones bassist Bill : WYMAN. Keith Richards claimed that Bill was only allowed to join the band because he owned an amplifier. Reading Keith's autobiography it's pretty apparent that he didn't think too much of the "walking bass".
45. 17-syllable work : HAIKU
Help me. I am trapped
in a Haiku factory.
Save me, before they
46. Divvy up : ALLOT
47. Down and dirty noises : OINKS
48. "Can you __ in a sentence?" : USE IT. Not only a spelling bee clarification question, but the litmus test of crossword construction.
52. Relative of "-ian" : -ITE
53. Actress Peeples : NIA. Useful crossword name. I'm not really familiar with the her work.
54. Kind : ILK
55. One of a rat's pack? : LIE
56. Financial measure, with "the" : DOW
And .. here's the grid, circles 'n all.
Steve
