Theme: Monster Munch - the Cookie Monster chomps through an Oreo
17A. OREO : CHILD'S SNACK. All the theme entries with the exception of 38A have a repeated letter in the middle which can sometimes make for tricky parsing.
24A. ORE : MINED DEPOSIT.
38A. OR : SURGERY. The place, not the procedure. An operating room can also be called a surgery.
52A. O : ANTHEM'S START. Not "Oh say can you see ..."
62A. Muppet's explanation of the four all-caps clues : ME EAT COOKIE. He looks mighty dapper in this picture.
Welcome to Thursday, everyone. Tricky puzzle from Ed, I got a little bogged down in the New Mexico region but eventually things worked out. The odd letter combinations in the four of the theme entries contributed to a little of the crunch in this puzzle for me. Nice idea with the theme, I love the OREO gradually disappearing as we work down the puzzle.
Let's see what else jumps out.
Across:
1. Full of beans : PEPPY. Not gassy?
6. "I don't need __": regular patron's comment : A MENU
11. Sellout letters : SRO. Standing Room Only. I still don't think this is a sell-out if you can still get a standing ticket - unless standing is free.
14. Apple app mostly replaced by Messages : ICHAT
15. Connoisseur : MAVEN
16. Recyclable item : CAN
19. TSA requests : ID'S
20. Aria, usually : SOLO
21. Suffix with social : -ITE
22. Bovine icon : ELSIE. The Borden spokes-cow.
28. Crème brûlée topping : CARAMEL
31. Defensive comeback : AM TOO. Took me a while to see this. I was on the "punt return" train of thought for a long time.
32. Little pill : TWERP
33. When workers may be dressed down?: Abbr. : FRI.
34. Terminal conveyance : TRAM. Tried TAXI and then tried to convince myself that Guy Friday was one of the X-Men.
37. Nicki Minaj genre : RAP
42. Langley org. : C.I.A.
43. City on the Rhône : LYON. Beautiful city, and home to the notable French chef Daniel Boulud. They say Lyon has the best food in all of France - it that's the case, it's going to be spectacular. I was young and broke when I visited, so I stuck to bread and cheese. I have to say, I still remember the bread.
45. Apartment bldg. info : NOS.
46. Medina native : SAUDI. I was thinking of the golf club in Illinois for a while, but then realized that's spelled "Medinah".
48. Offer a contrary opinion : REBUT
50. Reduced to pure metal : SMELTED
55. Saint __: Caribbean island : LUCIA
56. Card game using the entire deck : WAR. Not played this game, but I know of it.
57. Goof reaction : OOPS
61. Mont. neighbor : IDA. Aha! Here's a good excuse for some musical wackiness from the B-52's.
66. Title for Anthony Hopkins : SIR.
67. Serviceable : UTILE. I actually used this word the other day - I was rather proud of myself, until I had to explain what it meant. Defeats the purpose somewhat.
68. Pointless : INANE
69. "The Splendid Splinter" Williams : TED. New one for me, but I guessed baseball and I only think I know one Williams in the game.
70. Having glass sections : PANED
71. Hen, for one : LAYER
Down:
1. Short shots? : PICS. They don't seem to be called "snaps" any more.
2. Off-the-wall answer? : ECHO. Nicely done.
3. Dad of Haley, Alex and Luke on "Modern Family" : PHIL. Crosses for me. I've never seen the show, but I hear it is (was?) great.
4. California observatory site : PALOMAR. Owned and operated by Caltech. They're nice and let Cornell and the JPL play with it from time to time.
5. Annual rpt. column : YTD. Year To Date.
6. Dutch beer brand : AMSTEL. Named for Amsterdam's river. Here's a pic (snap!) I took in Amsterdam a couple of years ago - I tried for the grand slam of bicycles, trams, canals and the Heineken brewery in one fell swoop. I could have got extra credits for a windmill, Edam cheese, a pair of clogs or a weed shop.
7. Like lions, but not tigers : MANED
8. Actress Longoria : EVA
9. Japanese tech company : NEC
10. Broken, as promises : UNKEPT
11. Hair salon technique : SCISSOR CUT. My hairdresser uses scissors rather than the clippers.
12. Two of three sides of a typical pie slice : RADII. Because "straight" didn't fit
13. First stage : ONSET
18. __ wave : SINE
23. Crook's haul : LOOT
25. Little devils : IMPS
26. Take a chance : DARE
27. Mideast dignitary : EMIR
28. PC key : CTRL
29. Like the visiting team : AWAY
30. Course record? : REPORT CARD
33. NFL scores : FG'S. Field goals. Three points, or "wide right" if you live in Buffalo.
35. Guy Friday, for one : AIDE, yeah, not X-MAN.
36. Servant for the inn crowd : MAID. Barmaid, maybe. "Serving wench" went out of style in 1708.
39. E pluribus __ : UNUM
40. Spoils : ROTS
41. 1914 battle river : YSER
44. Radar O'Reilly's pop brand : NEHI.
47. City with a Penn State campus : ALTOONA. I'm assuming we're talking about the town in Pennsylvania, not the ones in any of Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Washington and Wisconsin.
49. Admit to the Enterprise, in a way : BEAM UP. Another famous phrase that was never actually spoken was "Beam me up, Scottie".
50. Pronounced : STATED
51. Singer Anthony : MARC
52. Top-tier invitees : A-LIST
53. Show that shows too much? : NUDIE. The L.A. Times Crossword is getting racier by the decade.
54. Marshy lowland : SWALE. The obvious SWAMP put a spanner in my works
58. Acceptable : OKAY
59. Fragrant wood : PINE
60. Reader of tea leaves : SEER
63. It may be delayed by rain: Abbr. : E.T.A. Rain? It'd better be a pretty biblical rainstorm to delay my E.T.A is this referring to travel arrivals.
64. German article : EIN
65. Black gold : OIL. AKA Texas Tea.
17A. OREO : CHILD'S SNACK. All the theme entries with the exception of 38A have a repeated letter in the middle which can sometimes make for tricky parsing.
24A. ORE : MINED DEPOSIT.
38A. OR : SURGERY. The place, not the procedure. An operating room can also be called a surgery.
52A. O : ANTHEM'S START. Not "Oh say can you see ..."
62A. Muppet's explanation of the four all-caps clues : ME EAT COOKIE. He looks mighty dapper in this picture.
Welcome to Thursday, everyone. Tricky puzzle from Ed, I got a little bogged down in the New Mexico region but eventually things worked out. The odd letter combinations in the four of the theme entries contributed to a little of the crunch in this puzzle for me. Nice idea with the theme, I love the OREO gradually disappearing as we work down the puzzle.
Let's see what else jumps out.
Across:
1. Full of beans : PEPPY. Not gassy?
6. "I don't need __": regular patron's comment : A MENU
11. Sellout letters : SRO. Standing Room Only. I still don't think this is a sell-out if you can still get a standing ticket - unless standing is free.
14. Apple app mostly replaced by Messages : ICHAT
15. Connoisseur : MAVEN
16. Recyclable item : CAN
19. TSA requests : ID'S
20. Aria, usually : SOLO
21. Suffix with social : -ITE
22. Bovine icon : ELSIE. The Borden spokes-cow.
28. Crème brûlée topping : CARAMEL
31. Defensive comeback : AM TOO. Took me a while to see this. I was on the "punt return" train of thought for a long time.
32. Little pill : TWERP
33. When workers may be dressed down?: Abbr. : FRI.
34. Terminal conveyance : TRAM. Tried TAXI and then tried to convince myself that Guy Friday was one of the X-Men.
37. Nicki Minaj genre : RAP
42. Langley org. : C.I.A.
43. City on the Rhône : LYON. Beautiful city, and home to the notable French chef Daniel Boulud. They say Lyon has the best food in all of France - it that's the case, it's going to be spectacular. I was young and broke when I visited, so I stuck to bread and cheese. I have to say, I still remember the bread.
45. Apartment bldg. info : NOS.
46. Medina native : SAUDI. I was thinking of the golf club in Illinois for a while, but then realized that's spelled "Medinah".
48. Offer a contrary opinion : REBUT
50. Reduced to pure metal : SMELTED
55. Saint __: Caribbean island : LUCIA
56. Card game using the entire deck : WAR. Not played this game, but I know of it.
57. Goof reaction : OOPS
61. Mont. neighbor : IDA. Aha! Here's a good excuse for some musical wackiness from the B-52's.
66. Title for Anthony Hopkins : SIR.
67. Serviceable : UTILE. I actually used this word the other day - I was rather proud of myself, until I had to explain what it meant. Defeats the purpose somewhat.
68. Pointless : INANE
69. "The Splendid Splinter" Williams : TED. New one for me, but I guessed baseball and I only think I know one Williams in the game.
70. Having glass sections : PANED
71. Hen, for one : LAYER
Down:
1. Short shots? : PICS. They don't seem to be called "snaps" any more.
2. Off-the-wall answer? : ECHO. Nicely done.
3. Dad of Haley, Alex and Luke on "Modern Family" : PHIL. Crosses for me. I've never seen the show, but I hear it is (was?) great.
4. California observatory site : PALOMAR. Owned and operated by Caltech. They're nice and let Cornell and the JPL play with it from time to time.
5. Annual rpt. column : YTD. Year To Date.
6. Dutch beer brand : AMSTEL. Named for Amsterdam's river. Here's a pic (snap!) I took in Amsterdam a couple of years ago - I tried for the grand slam of bicycles, trams, canals and the Heineken brewery in one fell swoop. I could have got extra credits for a windmill, Edam cheese, a pair of clogs or a weed shop.
7. Like lions, but not tigers : MANED
8. Actress Longoria : EVA
9. Japanese tech company : NEC
10. Broken, as promises : UNKEPT
11. Hair salon technique : SCISSOR CUT. My hairdresser uses scissors rather than the clippers.
12. Two of three sides of a typical pie slice : RADII. Because "straight" didn't fit
13. First stage : ONSET
18. __ wave : SINE
23. Crook's haul : LOOT
25. Little devils : IMPS
26. Take a chance : DARE
27. Mideast dignitary : EMIR
28. PC key : CTRL
29. Like the visiting team : AWAY
30. Course record? : REPORT CARD
33. NFL scores : FG'S. Field goals. Three points, or "wide right" if you live in Buffalo.
35. Guy Friday, for one : AIDE, yeah, not X-MAN.
36. Servant for the inn crowd : MAID. Barmaid, maybe. "Serving wench" went out of style in 1708.
39. E pluribus __ : UNUM
40. Spoils : ROTS
41. 1914 battle river : YSER
44. Radar O'Reilly's pop brand : NEHI.
47. City with a Penn State campus : ALTOONA. I'm assuming we're talking about the town in Pennsylvania, not the ones in any of Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Washington and Wisconsin.
49. Admit to the Enterprise, in a way : BEAM UP. Another famous phrase that was never actually spoken was "Beam me up, Scottie".
50. Pronounced : STATED
51. Singer Anthony : MARC
52. Top-tier invitees : A-LIST
53. Show that shows too much? : NUDIE. The L.A. Times Crossword is getting racier by the decade.
54. Marshy lowland : SWALE. The obvious SWAMP put a spanner in my works
58. Acceptable : OKAY
59. Fragrant wood : PINE
60. Reader of tea leaves : SEER
63. It may be delayed by rain: Abbr. : E.T.A. Rain? It'd better be a pretty biblical rainstorm to delay my E.T.A is this referring to travel arrivals.
64. German article : EIN
65. Black gold : OIL. AKA Texas Tea.
