Roland Huget appears in his 4th LAT, and his first Friday. This minimalist puzzle seems to have just three theme fill all references out of the 60's with a common thread of "shhh"and no reveal. It is very unusual for a Friday to have only three theme answers. If there is more to this effort I missed it. Of course there is the inclusion of the entire English alphabet (A PANGRAM!). Is this a themeless gone bad? In any event, there is quite a bit of fresh intermediate fill, with THE MET, HIPPIE, ROASTS, TRACES, ED MEESE, ST. SIMON, DEFANGS, BEANERY, FISH TAIL, NETIZENS, RANGE WAR (odd with all the peace and quiet) and TAX HAVEN. Well let us see what Roland has done to befuddle us. If you do not know references the theme does not help.
17A. '60s executive order creation : PEACE CORPS (10). HISTORY.
35A. Societal change begun in Quebec during the '60s : QUIET REVOLUTION (15). HISTORY.
52A. '60s aviation nickname : WHISPERJET (10). HISTORY.
Across:
1. Man of many words : ROGET. Thesaurus guy.
6. Course designer : CHEF. Not a golf course, one part of a meal.
10. Hiker's map, briefly : TOPOgraphic. A legitimate word, but unsatisfactory fill for me. LINK.
14. Words spoken on a star? : I WISH. I may, I wish I might.
15. Virna of "How to Murder Your Wife" : LISI. A movie I remember.
19. Combine : MELD. Pinochle, anyone?
20. Locks in a zoo : MANE. Those kind of locks.
21. Human Be-In attendee : HIPPIE. Were any of you a human bein' in the 60's?
27. Apostle known as "the Zealot" : ST SIMON.
28. Facetious tributes : ROASTS. Do you all watch Comedy Central? I now listen on the radio.
30. Comfort and others : INNS.
31. Avid surfers : NETIZENS. A portmanteau of Internet and Denizens.
39. Money-saving refuge : TAX HAVEN. Anyone do business in the CHANNEL ISLANDS?
40. Subway purchase : HERO. Really.
41. Blue dye : ANIL. Indigofera suffruticosa.
42. Hints : TRACES.
44. Renders harmless : DEFANGS. Sorry Count D.
48. Greasy spoon : BEANERY. A word from 1877.
49. It's not widely understood : IN JOKE. I guess this is intended as an abbreviation of Inside Joke.
50. Small flaw : WART.
51. Cozy spot : NOOK.
58. Quattro competitor : ATRA. An off semi-clecho with 59. Quattro, e.g. : AUDI. No mention of SUZI who is missing a "T"
60. 2013 One Direction hit : DIANA.
61. Victor's "Samson and Delilah" co-star : HEDY. Lamar
62. Line holder for a cast : REEL. Fishing, not acting.
63. Lustrous synthetic : RAYON. Lustrous...a regenerated, semisynthetic textile filament made from cellulose, cotton linters, or wood chips by treating these with caustic soda and carbon disulfide and passing the resultant solution, viscose, through spinnerets.
Down:
1. Swindle, with "off" : RIP.
2. Run a tab, say : OWE.
3. 1998 Angelina Jolie biopic : GIA. Lots of nudity.
5. It's across from Alice Tully Hall : THE MET. Don't get LOST.
6. One of many in "Orphan Black" : CLONE. This actually looks interesting.
8. Sixth of five? : ESP. Did you make sense of this clue?
9. Skid : FISH TAIL. Out of control.
10. Largo and presto : TEMPI. More than one Tempo.
11. Matinee hr. : ONE P.M.
12. March of Dimes' original crusade : POLIO.Now we march for all babies.
13. Ancient : OLDEN.
18. Mama in music : CASS.
22. Trooper's outfit? : ISUZU. A very tricky clue as this automobile has been out of production since 2002 and the Company out of the US since 2009. Poor Joe.
23. La Salle of "ER" : ERIQ. A fellow Connecticut native who continues to work.
24. Fried treat : DONUT.
26. Thomas Cromwell's earldom : ESSEX. He was important to HENRY VIII but then he was not. His descendant (through his sister Katherine) Oliver Cromwell also had his day in the British sun.
27. Determined about : SET ON. Which do you like better, this or ________Hall?
29. Oblique cut : BEVEL.
31. Half a Caribbean federation : NEVIS.
32. Tom's "Mission: Impossible" role : ETHAN. Time to work on our Italian? LINK.
33. Reunion attendee : NIECE. Pick any family member ...
34. More put out : SORER.
36. "__ heaven" : THANK. I always think of this LINK. Of course now that I am older, it seems creepy.
37. American West conflict : RANGE WAR.
38. Overly curious : NOSY.
42. Former Blue Devil rival, briefly : TERP. Maryland in the ACC before they moved to the Big Ten.
43. Not suitable for kids : RATED R. No links from me.
44. Shore show of the '70s : DINAH. A classic CLIP.
45. Modern message : ENOTE.
46. Alaskan cruise sight : FJORD. Fjocus? 54. 46-Down kin : RIA. A fjord is created by inundation of a valley formed by a glacier. They typically have very steep walls and very deep floors allowing ocean-going vessels to navigate them. A ria is a former river valley that has subsided below sea-level and flooded. It is usually shallower than a fjord and often become estuaries with little fresh-water flow into them.
47. Jim-dandy : A OKAY.
48. Pizza sauce herb : BASIL. I like both Italian and Thai basil.
50. Off-target : WIDE. "Wide right!" Mean anything to any college or pro football fans out there?
53. Color distinction : HUE.
55. Magpie relative : JAY. Oh not again.
56. "Microsoft sound" composer : ENO.
57. Brown shade : TAN. A perfect way to end this Friday frolic. Did you all appreciate the pangram? Welcome to my world Roland and have a great holiday weekend all. With the beer and brats do remember all who have passed while serving our country and all of us. Lemonade out heading to the beach.
I leave you with some pics from the restaurant where Oo is working
Bon Appetit! On the left spicy oxtail soup
On the right, shrimp, bacon and lychee.
On the right, shrimp, bacon and lychee.
