Title: Gunther Toody, where are YOU.
This Samuel A. Donaldson, has been with us since 2009 . It is time for his annual LAT Friday, with his last one being a sound alike as well. He is on a roll with 3 NYT and a WSJ all recently. With a background in tax law, you know he has a great sense of humor and this offering, where we replace the o͞o sound with the ē sound does require imagination. The theme jumped out at me with the Tina Fey and knowing the T from ARTTEST was correct. I love getting into the mind of our constructors and picture how a phrase like TEA FOR TWO (Tē for To͞o ) becomes a perfect reveal for this puzzle. As I have said often, for sound puzzles, the reveal is the 13D, and I loved this one.
There are also is much sparkle to the fill such as ART TEST, THIS ONE, VENTNOR, ENSLAVE, ECHELON, DUST RAG, SET DATE, KNEE PAD, LAERTES, I KNEW IT, COUNTS ON and IMPLANTS. Let go to work.
17A. What Fey does in a mushy moment? : TINA MELTS (9). I eat lots of tuna melts.
24A. Ornamental ducks? : GARDEN TEALS (11). Garden tools are more needed than the gnomes.
36A. Model high schoolers? : FINE TEENS (9). Fine tunes has many meanings.
51A. Park statue that might have the real things perched on it? : STEEL PIGEON (11). Stool pigeons are very important to the police.
And the reveal:
60A. "No, No, Nanette" song, and a homophonic hint to 17-, 24-, 36- and 51-Across : TEA FOR TWO (9).
Across:
1. Quads with wheels : ATVS. Four wheelers.
5. Perry of pop : KATY. So did I.
14. Orator's prowess: Abbr. : RHEToric.
15. Der Spiegel article : EINE. And 65A. Der Spiegel rejection : NEIN.
16. Modicum : OUNCE. This was difficult for me as an ounce seems like more.
19. Forward : UNSHY. "I saw them come out and I saw that they were naked, unshy, beautiful, and full of grace, and I watched the naked women walk out of the sea.”― John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever
20. Sandal feature : T-STRAP. Jimmy Choo.
21. Work the room : MINGLE.
23. Long time : EON.
28. Blanket in a belt : SNOW. Another hard one to decipher for me. Snow belt?
30. Beefcake subjects : HUNKS. Familiar?
31. One given at a wedding : VOW. One or two.
32. Polo of "The Fosters" : TERI. Don't know the Fosters, only the Fokkers.
33. Provençal possessive : SES. No grammar error this time.
34. 1974 #1 country hit for Dolly Parton : JOLENE.
39. __ Pie : ESKIMO.
42. Slowing, on scores: Abbr. : RIT. Ritardando (or rit.) is an indication to gradually decrease the tempo of the music (opposite of accelerando). Wiki.
43. Sacha Baron Cohen alter ego : ALI G. No politics here.
47. Home office, maybe : DEN. Do people have dens anymore?
48. Quite cold : POLAR. Vortex anyone?
50. Number on a clapperboard : TAKE. The name of this device used in filming movies etc.
56. Airport snags : DELAYS.
57. Dreaded : FEARED.
59. Hit lightly : TAP ON. The start of the two word fill.
63. Sudden jerk : START.
64. Way off the highway : EXIT.
66. Second chances : REDOS. Do over did not fit.
67. "__ arigato": Japanese "thank you very much" : DOMO. Did you all think of this song?
68. Where el sol rises : ESTE. The sun rises in the east in Mexico also.
Down:
1. "Draw me" challenge : ART TEST. Two words.
2. Selective words : THIS ONE.I really overthought this one. A second two word fill in the downs.
3. Avenue next to Monopoly's Water Works : VENTNOR. Anyone still playing Monopoly?
4. Headliner : STAR.
5. __ straight face : KEEP A. Two words.
6. Come down with a bug : AIL.
7. Big blowup cause : TNT. Cute cluing, not an argument.
8. Sycophants : YES MEN. Again. Sychophant, literally "one who shows the fig,"
9. Has faith in : COUNTS ON. Again.
10. Sudden movement : LUNGE.
11. Subjugate : ENSLAVE.
12. Command level : ECHELON. "the upper echelons of the business world"
13. Exam marking aid : KEY. I remember working as a TA using these to grade multiple choice test papers.
18. GQ or SI : MAGazine.
22. HP product : INKJET.
25. South Korea's first president : RHEE. Or was it RYU? This MAN.
26. Cleaning aid : DUST RAG. Again.
27. Baltic Sea country: Abbr. : SWEden.
29. Airport connection : WIFI. Really tricky but simple once you see it.
33. Joe Cool, sans shades : SNOOPY. Hmm, this should be SNEEPY?
35. Exam for a would-be atty. : LSAT. Really an exam for a would be law student.
37. Surgical installations : IMPLANTS. I am not in favor of these but I could not resist a LINK.
38. The Emerald Isle : EIRE.
39. Text tweakers, briefly : EDS. Editors can be tweakers, but in the puzzle world they do much more. If you think a clue is bad, it may not be the original thought of the constructor.
40. Appointment : SET DATE. Again.
41. Patella protector : KNEE PAD. We wore them back in my wrestling days. 2 wds.
44. Ophelia's avenger : LAERTES. How cool, some Shakespeare. Also his father...
“I dare damnation: to this point I stand, / That both the worlds I give to negligence, / Let come what comes; only I’ll be revenged / Most thoroughly for my father.”
45. "Aha!" : I KNEW IT. I knee it?
46. Finish : GET DONE. Again. Another thought came to mind. GET 'ER DONE.
49. Being handled by a broker : LISTED. Real estate broker; our closing business is doing very well as Florida real estate has recovered.
52. What Spanish Olympians go for : EL ORO. The gold.
53. Heading for : OFF TO. Off tee? Again.
54. Con beginning : NEO.
58. Former Education secretary Duncan : ARNE. No politics but a CONTROVERSIAL person.
59. Original D&D co. : TSR. Dungeons and Dragons
61. Outer: Pref. : EXO. The opposite of Endo.
62. Intent : AIM.
Well I know Sam aimed to please with this effort and I thought the theme was really tight with two "OO" and two "U" all transferring to well clued EE sounds. Some humor in the cluing/ fill. There was not much crosswordese, just real words and phrases. I had fun, and I hope you all did. Stop by and say hello Mr. D., as an active member of other blogs we would love to have your comments.
Lemonade out.
