Theme: Story Arc - the four theme entries have a story to tell.
17A. Host of a program also known as "The Factor" : BILL O'REILLY. [Lore]. Often in the news.
"Like all great theologies, Bill's can be boiled down to one sentence: There must be a god, because I don't know how things work." - Stephen Colbert.
24A. Feature of some German nouns : MALE GENDER. [Legend]. Masculine, Feminine and Neutral. Der, Die, Das. Latin too.
34A. '60s-'70s sitcom whose four original family members were married over the course of the series : MY THREE SONS. [Myth]. Never saw the sitcom, but it osmosis'ed its way into my brain the the crosses pulled it out for me.
47A. Virus symptom, perhaps : FATAL ERROR. [Tale]. Took me a little while to cotton on to this one - a virus in the computer sense leading to the dreaded "blue screen of death".
56A. Private details ... or what's found in this puzzle's circles : INSIDE STORY
A couple of things about the theme struck me as as not quite right - if "inside" refers to the position of the circled word in the phrase, then "MYTH" isn't really "inside", more off to the left edge. Also, I don't see an INSIDE STORY as "private", more a story told by those who were present.
I'll take my Mr. Grumpy hat off now, this is the view out of the office window this morning, and who can stay grumpy looking at Mt. Rainier on a sunny day?
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Novelist celebrated on Bloomsday : JOYCE. If ever there was an almost mythical legend of lore and tale-telling, it would be James Joyce. His novel "Ulysses" is set on a single day, June 16th 1904, and the protagonist, Leopold Bloom, lends his name to the annual celebration of the book, and the author, on the anniversary.
6. Leaves on a shelf? : PAGES. Plenty of pages in Ulysses. My edition is just shy of 700 of them.
11. Pampering place : SPA
14. Spheres of study : AREAS
15. Like 1-Across : IRISH. To be sure.
16. Granola grain : OAT
19. "What a cutie!" : AWW
20. Pampas weapon : BOLA. Leg-entangling thing.
21. Slanted text: Abbr. : ITAL
22. "A" on many a cornerstone : ANNO. Probably old cornerstones now that the "CE" designation appears to be more acceptable.
23. He or I : ELEM. Cracking clue. The abbreviated helium and iodine are chemical elements.
27. Lee material : DENIM. Lee jeans. The hard-wearing cotton fabric "serge de Nîmes" eventually anglicized to"denim".
29. Locks : TRESSES
30. Half a repartee : TAT. Tit for?
32. Stick around : STAY. We see "segue" sometimes in the crossword - here's a great example from Jackson Browne as "The Load Out" segues into "Stay".
33. Berliner's direction : OST. The German compass rose, clockwise from the top - Nord, Ost, Süd, West
37. Wee amount : SOU. In spite of the apparently Scottish allusion with "wee", the sou was French.
39. "Glee" extra : TEEN
40. Backing : PRO
41. Belgian diamond center : ANTWERP
43. Expressive tweet space-savers : EMOJI. What's the singular? I have no idea.
51. Cries of clarity : AHAS!
52. Temptation garden : EDEN
53. "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy" speaker : IAGO. Handsome antagonist in Othello, or at least Kenneth Branagh is.
54. Banks on a runway : TYRA. Here she is:
55. Place for a screwdriver : BAR. I'll have a double, please. Lots of ice, California orange juice, Tito's vodka. Sláinte! A good start to Bloomsday.
59. Before, to Byron : ERE
60. Action movie climax : CHASE
61. Toys in laps, briefly : PEKES
62. Newsman Koppel : TED. I don't watch much news TV. Thank you, crosses.
63. Pompeo of "Grey's Anatomy" : ELLEN. I don't watch much drama TV. Thank you, crosses.
64. Hobbit on a quest : FRODO. Did anyone else find Sam Gamgee an inspiring character in the book and a complete pain in the backside in the movie? "Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo!". Ugh.
Down:
1. Elbowed : JABBED
2. Player with an orange-and-black logo : ORIOLE. Baltimore baseball player.
3. Federal Reserve chair after Bernanke : YELLEN. Nailed it!
4. Great misfortune : CALAMITY
5. Anka's "__ Beso" : ESO
6. Michelangelo statue : PIETA. In St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, appropriately.
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7. Courier alternative : ARIAL. Not self-delivery? Oh - typeface. Gotcha.
8. Manufacturer of Venus razors : GILLETTE. Did you see that Dollar Shave Club just got bought by for one BILLION dollars by Unilever? That's one heck of a disruptive business model.
9. Immigrant's subj. : ESL
10. Uncomfortable in singles bars : SHY
11. No-goodniks : SO-AND-SOS
12. "Dances With Wolves" natives : PAWNEES
13. If all goes wrong : AT WORST
18. Edge : RIM
22. Short reply? : ANS. Like this is a self-describing crossword answer!
25. Clutch : GRASP
26. Pooh's gloomy pal : EEYORE. One of my favorite characters in the books (not the travesty that is the Walt Disney Studio version).
28. Monster High doll maker : MATTEL. Who? What? Apparently "The entire franchise will be rebooted in 2016, with new face molds, movie animation (starting with "Welcome to Monster High"), slogan ("How Do You Boo?"), and song "This Is How We Boo" performed by Jordin Sparks". So now we know.
31. "Done!" : THERE!
32. C-SPAN fig. : SEN. POL went in. POL came out.
34. Complained under one's breath : MUTTERED
35. Retaliatory act : REPRISAL
36. "Oh, it's fine" : NO MATTER
37. Low-risk wager : SAFE BET. No such thing in my experience.
38. How some foolish things are done : ON A DARE
42. Pallid : WAN
44. Tribute song on John Lennon's "Imagine" : OH YOKO. Nice to see her expanded by a couple of letters.
45. Rattled : JARRED
46. Mom's argument-ending words : I SAY SO. Rarely seen without "because ...".
48. More than see : RAISE
49. Birth city of most of the Osmonds : OGDEN
50. Seafood delicacy : ROE
56. Hotel amenity : ICE. Not in a lot of English hotels. They look at you as if you're crazy if you want a bucket of ice.
57. Org. with 30 franchises : NHL. The National Hockey League. I didn't realize there were so many teams. I think I can name maybe 10 without straining, then I'm starting to hunt and peck.
58. Hawaiian Tropic lotion letters : S.P.F.
This time last week I was in the English north-west, today the Pacific north west, and beautiful weather in both places. I feel charmed! The weather's so nice up here I'm going to stick around for the weekend. Aaaaaand finally ..... here's the grid!
Steve
17A. Host of a program also known as "The Factor" : BILL O'REILLY. [Lore]. Often in the news.
"Like all great theologies, Bill's can be boiled down to one sentence: There must be a god, because I don't know how things work." - Stephen Colbert.
24A. Feature of some German nouns : MALE GENDER. [Legend]. Masculine, Feminine and Neutral. Der, Die, Das. Latin too.
34A. '60s-'70s sitcom whose four original family members were married over the course of the series : MY THREE SONS. [Myth]. Never saw the sitcom, but it osmosis'ed its way into my brain the the crosses pulled it out for me.
47A. Virus symptom, perhaps : FATAL ERROR. [Tale]. Took me a little while to cotton on to this one - a virus in the computer sense leading to the dreaded "blue screen of death".
56A. Private details ... or what's found in this puzzle's circles : INSIDE STORY
A couple of things about the theme struck me as as not quite right - if "inside" refers to the position of the circled word in the phrase, then "MYTH" isn't really "inside", more off to the left edge. Also, I don't see an INSIDE STORY as "private", more a story told by those who were present.
I'll take my Mr. Grumpy hat off now, this is the view out of the office window this morning, and who can stay grumpy looking at Mt. Rainier on a sunny day?
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Novelist celebrated on Bloomsday : JOYCE. If ever there was an almost mythical legend of lore and tale-telling, it would be James Joyce. His novel "Ulysses" is set on a single day, June 16th 1904, and the protagonist, Leopold Bloom, lends his name to the annual celebration of the book, and the author, on the anniversary.
6. Leaves on a shelf? : PAGES. Plenty of pages in Ulysses. My edition is just shy of 700 of them.
11. Pampering place : SPA
14. Spheres of study : AREAS
15. Like 1-Across : IRISH. To be sure.
16. Granola grain : OAT
19. "What a cutie!" : AWW
20. Pampas weapon : BOLA. Leg-entangling thing.
21. Slanted text: Abbr. : ITAL
22. "A" on many a cornerstone : ANNO. Probably old cornerstones now that the "CE" designation appears to be more acceptable.
23. He or I : ELEM. Cracking clue. The abbreviated helium and iodine are chemical elements.
27. Lee material : DENIM. Lee jeans. The hard-wearing cotton fabric "serge de Nîmes" eventually anglicized to"denim".
29. Locks : TRESSES
30. Half a repartee : TAT. Tit for?
32. Stick around : STAY. We see "segue" sometimes in the crossword - here's a great example from Jackson Browne as "The Load Out" segues into "Stay".
33. Berliner's direction : OST. The German compass rose, clockwise from the top - Nord, Ost, Süd, West
37. Wee amount : SOU. In spite of the apparently Scottish allusion with "wee", the sou was French.
39. "Glee" extra : TEEN
40. Backing : PRO
41. Belgian diamond center : ANTWERP
43. Expressive tweet space-savers : EMOJI. What's the singular? I have no idea.
51. Cries of clarity : AHAS!
52. Temptation garden : EDEN
53. "O, beware, my lord, of jealousy" speaker : IAGO. Handsome antagonist in Othello, or at least Kenneth Branagh is.
54. Banks on a runway : TYRA. Here she is:
55. Place for a screwdriver : BAR. I'll have a double, please. Lots of ice, California orange juice, Tito's vodka. Sláinte! A good start to Bloomsday.
59. Before, to Byron : ERE
60. Action movie climax : CHASE
61. Toys in laps, briefly : PEKES
62. Newsman Koppel : TED. I don't watch much news TV. Thank you, crosses.
63. Pompeo of "Grey's Anatomy" : ELLEN. I don't watch much drama TV. Thank you, crosses.
64. Hobbit on a quest : FRODO. Did anyone else find Sam Gamgee an inspiring character in the book and a complete pain in the backside in the movie? "Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo!". Ugh.
Down:
1. Elbowed : JABBED
2. Player with an orange-and-black logo : ORIOLE. Baltimore baseball player.
3. Federal Reserve chair after Bernanke : YELLEN. Nailed it!
4. Great misfortune : CALAMITY
5. Anka's "__ Beso" : ESO
6. Michelangelo statue : PIETA. In St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, appropriately.
7. Courier alternative : ARIAL. Not self-delivery? Oh - typeface. Gotcha.
8. Manufacturer of Venus razors : GILLETTE. Did you see that Dollar Shave Club just got bought by for one BILLION dollars by Unilever? That's one heck of a disruptive business model.
9. Immigrant's subj. : ESL
10. Uncomfortable in singles bars : SHY
11. No-goodniks : SO-AND-SOS
12. "Dances With Wolves" natives : PAWNEES
13. If all goes wrong : AT WORST
18. Edge : RIM
22. Short reply? : ANS. Like this is a self-describing crossword answer!
25. Clutch : GRASP
26. Pooh's gloomy pal : EEYORE. One of my favorite characters in the books (not the travesty that is the Walt Disney Studio version).
28. Monster High doll maker : MATTEL. Who? What? Apparently "The entire franchise will be rebooted in 2016, with new face molds, movie animation (starting with "Welcome to Monster High"), slogan ("How Do You Boo?"), and song "This Is How We Boo" performed by Jordin Sparks". So now we know.
31. "Done!" : THERE!
32. C-SPAN fig. : SEN. POL went in. POL came out.
34. Complained under one's breath : MUTTERED
35. Retaliatory act : REPRISAL
36. "Oh, it's fine" : NO MATTER
37. Low-risk wager : SAFE BET. No such thing in my experience.
38. How some foolish things are done : ON A DARE
42. Pallid : WAN
44. Tribute song on John Lennon's "Imagine" : OH YOKO. Nice to see her expanded by a couple of letters.
45. Rattled : JARRED
46. Mom's argument-ending words : I SAY SO. Rarely seen without "because ...".
48. More than see : RAISE
49. Birth city of most of the Osmonds : OGDEN
50. Seafood delicacy : ROE
56. Hotel amenity : ICE. Not in a lot of English hotels. They look at you as if you're crazy if you want a bucket of ice.
57. Org. with 30 franchises : NHL. The National Hockey League. I didn't realize there were so many teams. I think I can name maybe 10 without straining, then I'm starting to hunt and peck.
58. Hawaiian Tropic lotion letters : S.P.F.
This time last week I was in the English north-west, today the Pacific north west, and beautiful weather in both places. I feel charmed! The weather's so nice up here I'm going to stick around for the weekend. Aaaaaand finally ..... here's the grid!
Steve
