Theme: Rocky Horrors, or Let's do the Time Warp. Allow the reveal to explain:
52A. Period needed to fulfill a request ... and a hint to words hidden in three long puzzle answers : TURNAROUND TIME.
The turnaround time for getting your car repaired when rats have chewed the main wiring harness to bits is three weeks. The dealer just called me to tell me my car is finally ready.
20A. Goal for some college-bound students : EARLY ADMISSION. (Day.) A higher percentage of early applications to the top schools result in admissions, vs. regular applications.
34A. Record-setting slugger in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame : SADAHARU OH. (Hour.) He olds the world lifetime home run record with 868. Like Babe Ruth, he started his career as a pitcher.
41A. Ocular organs of cephalopods, say : CAMERA EYES. (Year.) We have camera eyes too - apparently the octopus's version is superior to ours as the optic neve doesn't penetrate the retina, causing our blind spot in each eye.
Two genuinely obscure theme entries here (for me at least). It might be World Series fever time, but if you're going to throw me a fastball, a breaking ball, a curveball, a slider, a change-up and a knuckleball all in one baseball clue, you'd better be sure that the crosses are solid.
I'm also not a squid squint expert, so once again, please give me some help!
Fortunately, Mary Lou and Rich are good at this stuff, made tougher by the fact that five of the crosses intersect the two theme entries, Bravo!
Even when I'd filled in Mr. Oh, I simply couldn't parse his name. SADA HARUOH was my best guess, so I went to go look him up.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Workbench gadget : CLAMP
6. Antlered beast : STAG
10. Glasses, in ads : SPEX. In comics, usually the X-Ray variety. I'd post you a punk rock link to the quite appalling Poly Styrene who had her 15 minutes of fame with the band X-Ray Spex in 1970's London. I quite liked them at the time, but the passage of time has not done them any favors.
14. Popular depilatory : RAZOR. Occam makes a reliable brand, I hear.
15. Campaign staffer : AIDE
16. Rochester's bride : EYRE
17. Part of the soft palate : UVULA
18. Lady of the knight : DAME
19. Concussions generally aren't visible on them : MRI'S
23. "What was __ was saying?" : IT I
24. Tie __ : ONE ON
25. Rat Pack member : LAWFORD. Peter. JFK's brother-in-law among other things.
29. Growing concerns? : FARMS
33. Like a used hibachi : ASHY
38. General on a menu : TSO. Never tried this concoction. Anyone?
39. Gadgets : DEVICES
40. One of 34-Across' 2,170 : R.B.I. Runs Batted In. I guess you'll get a ton of these when you hit a boatload of homers in your career.
43. Aspirin target : PAIN
44. Nocturnal carnivore : HYENA
45. Perambulates : STROLLS
47. Piece of cake : CINCH. Tried CRUMB, was wrong.
51. Poet's contraction : O'ER
58. Homey : COZY
59. Pack firmly : TAMP
60. "__ making this up" : I'M NOT
61. Spigot issue : DRIP
62. Site with tech reviews : C-NET
63. Trilateral trade agreement, briefly : NAFTA. North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico, USA and Canada.
64. Tag line? : COST
65. Grinder : HERO
66. Speed units : KNOTS. Nautical miles per hour. The yacht I used to charter from Marina Del Rey would make somewhere around eight knots in a good sailing wind across to Catalina Island if the sails were trimmed just right. There's formula to calculate the maximum hull speed of a yacht, you can't just keep getting faster.
Down:
1. Mötley __ : CRUE. Should be pronounced "murt-ly" if we're going to pay attention to the umlaut, but of course we don't.
2. Fiery flow : LAVA
3. Bleu hue : AZUR. The French Riviera between Toulon and the Italian border is also known as the Côte d'Azur. The first time I saw it I couldn't believe a sea could be so blue, Growing up in England, I thought all seas were gray.
4. Placate : MOLLIFY
5. Beseech, as a deity : PRAY TO
6. Anti-DWI gp. : SADD. Tried MADD first, natch!
7. Venetian valentine message : TI AMO. This is a serious declaration in Italian.
8. Ones in charge, for short : ADMIN
9. Sixth-day Christmas gift : GEESE. A-laying. That's a lot of omelets just after Christmas.
10. Workshop : SEMINAR
11. One who likes to light up? : PYRO
12. "__ go bragh!" : ERIN. "Ireland Forever".
13. Chooses, with "in" : X'ES
21. Two-front, as a Coast Guard rescue : AIR-SEA.
22. Divans : SOFAS
25. Trunk piece : LATCH
26. Put a value on : ASSAY
27. Words before "Yeah, you!" : WHO, ME?
28. Brubeck of jazz : DAVE
30. Like much of New York : RURAL. Not "URBAN" then. Steady on there, Turbo!
31. Company with a longtime travel guide : MOBIL
32. They often have guards : SHINS
35. Self-help letters : D.I.Y.
36. Super-duper : ACES. I suppose that "aces" can mean "Super-duper" but I can't find a reference anywhere. Accept and move on.
37. 1959 Ben-Hur portrayer : HESTON. I think all that I remember of this movie is Charlton yelling "heYAR heYAR" at his horses in the chariot race.
39. Let out gradually : DRAIN
42. Use an Enigma machine, say : ENCRYPT
43. "Black Swan" Best Actress Oscar winner : PORTMAN. The very talented Natalie. Many people think she's related to British actor Eric - she's not.
46. Bad bottom line : RED INK
48. "No prob!" : NATCH!
49. Origami staple : CRANE. According to Japanese lore, if you fold 1,000 cranes in a single year, you will be granted a wish (or eternal good luck, depending on who you believe).
50. Reason to trot : HOMER. 868 reasons, in Oh-san's case as we heard earlier.
52. Corrida beast : TORO. Food! Oh, no, wait - that's tuna belly. Darn.
53. Israeli weapons : UZIS
54. Until : UP TO
55. Scoop : INFO
56. Suffragist Lucretia : MOTT. Her maiden name was Coffin, and her uncle, Mayhew Folger, was a whaling boat captain who found the last living "Mutiny on the Bounty" mutineer on Pitcairn Island. The things we learn.
57. RR station predictions : ETA'S
58. Govt. health org. : C.D.C. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Someone forgot the "P" in the abbreviation.
Oh look - here's the grid creeping up on me. I'd better skedaddle before I get flattened by it.
Steve
52A. Period needed to fulfill a request ... and a hint to words hidden in three long puzzle answers : TURNAROUND TIME.
The turnaround time for getting your car repaired when rats have chewed the main wiring harness to bits is three weeks. The dealer just called me to tell me my car is finally ready.
20A. Goal for some college-bound students : EARLY ADMISSION. (Day.) A higher percentage of early applications to the top schools result in admissions, vs. regular applications.
34A. Record-setting slugger in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame : SADAHARU OH. (Hour.) He olds the world lifetime home run record with 868. Like Babe Ruth, he started his career as a pitcher.
41A. Ocular organs of cephalopods, say : CAMERA EYES. (Year.) We have camera eyes too - apparently the octopus's version is superior to ours as the optic neve doesn't penetrate the retina, causing our blind spot in each eye.
Two genuinely obscure theme entries here (for me at least). It might be World Series fever time, but if you're going to throw me a fastball, a breaking ball, a curveball, a slider, a change-up and a knuckleball all in one baseball clue, you'd better be sure that the crosses are solid.
I'm also not a squid squint expert, so once again, please give me some help!
Fortunately, Mary Lou and Rich are good at this stuff, made tougher by the fact that five of the crosses intersect the two theme entries, Bravo!
Even when I'd filled in Mr. Oh, I simply couldn't parse his name. SADA HARUOH was my best guess, so I went to go look him up.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Workbench gadget : CLAMP
6. Antlered beast : STAG
10. Glasses, in ads : SPEX. In comics, usually the X-Ray variety. I'd post you a punk rock link to the quite appalling Poly Styrene who had her 15 minutes of fame with the band X-Ray Spex in 1970's London. I quite liked them at the time, but the passage of time has not done them any favors.
14. Popular depilatory : RAZOR. Occam makes a reliable brand, I hear.
15. Campaign staffer : AIDE
16. Rochester's bride : EYRE
17. Part of the soft palate : UVULA
18. Lady of the knight : DAME
19. Concussions generally aren't visible on them : MRI'S
23. "What was __ was saying?" : IT I
24. Tie __ : ONE ON
25. Rat Pack member : LAWFORD. Peter. JFK's brother-in-law among other things.
29. Growing concerns? : FARMS
33. Like a used hibachi : ASHY
38. General on a menu : TSO. Never tried this concoction. Anyone?
39. Gadgets : DEVICES
40. One of 34-Across' 2,170 : R.B.I. Runs Batted In. I guess you'll get a ton of these when you hit a boatload of homers in your career.
43. Aspirin target : PAIN
44. Nocturnal carnivore : HYENA
45. Perambulates : STROLLS
47. Piece of cake : CINCH. Tried CRUMB, was wrong.
51. Poet's contraction : O'ER
Gliding o'er all, through all,
Through Nature, Time, and Space,
As a ship on the waters advancing,
The voyage of the soul—not life alone,
Death, many deaths I'll sing.
Walt Whitman.
58. Homey : COZY
59. Pack firmly : TAMP
60. "__ making this up" : I'M NOT
61. Spigot issue : DRIP
62. Site with tech reviews : C-NET
63. Trilateral trade agreement, briefly : NAFTA. North American Free Trade Agreement. Mexico, USA and Canada.
64. Tag line? : COST
65. Grinder : HERO
66. Speed units : KNOTS. Nautical miles per hour. The yacht I used to charter from Marina Del Rey would make somewhere around eight knots in a good sailing wind across to Catalina Island if the sails were trimmed just right. There's formula to calculate the maximum hull speed of a yacht, you can't just keep getting faster.
Down:
1. Mötley __ : CRUE. Should be pronounced "murt-ly" if we're going to pay attention to the umlaut, but of course we don't.
2. Fiery flow : LAVA
3. Bleu hue : AZUR. The French Riviera between Toulon and the Italian border is also known as the Côte d'Azur. The first time I saw it I couldn't believe a sea could be so blue, Growing up in England, I thought all seas were gray.
4. Placate : MOLLIFY
5. Beseech, as a deity : PRAY TO
6. Anti-DWI gp. : SADD. Tried MADD first, natch!
7. Venetian valentine message : TI AMO. This is a serious declaration in Italian.
8. Ones in charge, for short : ADMIN
9. Sixth-day Christmas gift : GEESE. A-laying. That's a lot of omelets just after Christmas.
10. Workshop : SEMINAR
11. One who likes to light up? : PYRO
12. "__ go bragh!" : ERIN. "Ireland Forever".
13. Chooses, with "in" : X'ES
21. Two-front, as a Coast Guard rescue : AIR-SEA.
22. Divans : SOFAS
25. Trunk piece : LATCH
26. Put a value on : ASSAY
27. Words before "Yeah, you!" : WHO, ME?
28. Brubeck of jazz : DAVE
30. Like much of New York : RURAL. Not "URBAN" then. Steady on there, Turbo!
31. Company with a longtime travel guide : MOBIL
32. They often have guards : SHINS
35. Self-help letters : D.I.Y.
36. Super-duper : ACES. I suppose that "aces" can mean "Super-duper" but I can't find a reference anywhere. Accept and move on.
37. 1959 Ben-Hur portrayer : HESTON. I think all that I remember of this movie is Charlton yelling "heYAR heYAR" at his horses in the chariot race.
39. Let out gradually : DRAIN
42. Use an Enigma machine, say : ENCRYPT
43. "Black Swan" Best Actress Oscar winner : PORTMAN. The very talented Natalie. Many people think she's related to British actor Eric - she's not.
46. Bad bottom line : RED INK
48. "No prob!" : NATCH!
49. Origami staple : CRANE. According to Japanese lore, if you fold 1,000 cranes in a single year, you will be granted a wish (or eternal good luck, depending on who you believe).
50. Reason to trot : HOMER. 868 reasons, in Oh-san's case as we heard earlier.
52. Corrida beast : TORO. Food! Oh, no, wait - that's tuna belly. Darn.
53. Israeli weapons : UZIS
54. Until : UP TO
55. Scoop : INFO
56. Suffragist Lucretia : MOTT. Her maiden name was Coffin, and her uncle, Mayhew Folger, was a whaling boat captain who found the last living "Mutiny on the Bounty" mutineer on Pitcairn Island. The things we learn.
57. RR station predictions : ETA'S
58. Govt. health org. : C.D.C. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Someone forgot the "P" in the abbreviation.
Oh look - here's the grid creeping up on me. I'd better skedaddle before I get flattened by it.
Steve
