Theme: Oh Captain! My Captain! Four of them lurking in the grid:
17A. D-Day code name : OMAHA BEACH. Ahab. He of the pathological preoccupation with Moby Dick in Herman Melville's book.
24A. Again : ONE MORE TIME. Nemo, Jules Verne's skipper of the Nautilus. He also popped up in the movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - a fun flick from 2003.
49A. Cleaner with a blade : SQUEEGEE MOP. Queeg. Ineffectual captain in The Caine Mutiny. SQUEEGEE is a great brand name.
58A. 1957 #1 song title that appears in the line after "I'm in love" : ALL SHOOK UP. Hook. Another monomaniac, this time in J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan. With pleasing symmetry for this puzzle, Melville provided Barrie with the inspiration for the character.
35A. Indication of cooperation with ones hidden in this puzzle's four other longest answers : AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!
Very nice effort from Bruce, I wonder if QUEEG was the seed that germinated the idea for this puzzle? Enjoyable romp through a selection of Masters and Commanders. Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Moves with effort : PLODS. Also a mildly derogatory term for British policemen, from Enid Blyton's character "P.C. Plod"
6. Golden Fleece ship : ARGO. Aye, aye, Jason!
10. Tach nos. : RPMS. Should be RsPM in Steve World. I find it funny that cars with a fully-automatic transmission have a tachometer in the dash. It serves no useful function whatsoever.
14. Any "30 Rock" episode, now : RERUN
15. Trial version : DEMO. Had "BETA" first. That didn't stay in too long.
16. Tahari of fashion : ELIE. Thank you, crosses. I discover he is an Israel-Iranian fashion designer.
19. Carroll specialties : PUNS. The Mock Turtle's teacher was nicknamed "tortoise, because he taught us". Most of Carroll's puns are homophones - he was writing for a ten-year-old and kept the humor simple.
20. Got elected : WON
21. Influence : PULL
22. Loaf : DOG IT
23. Official lang. of Trinidad and Tobago : ENG. The Queen's version, naturally.
27. Oktoberfest souvenirs : STEINS. Cheers!
29. Actor Stephen : REA
30. Clear : NET
31. Balkan native : SERB
32. "Key Largo" co-star : BACALL. Had the "B", but had to wait. Could be BOGART.
40. Red hair and green eyes : TRAITS
41. Some PX patrons : NCO'S
43. George Lucas' alma mater: Abbr. : USC. University of Southern California here in Los Angeles. His family foundation gave the film school $10m a couple of years ago. He graduated in 1967.
46. Having one sharp : IN G
47. It makes a lot of dough : BAKERY
53. Bishops and pawns : MEN. Chess people, not chess men. After all, there's a couple of queens in there.
54. "The Last Supper," for one : MURAL. Leonardo's masterwork at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milano.
55. NBA part: Abbr. : NATL.
56. Keep __ distance : AT A
57. Pains : AILS
61. Hunted one : PREY
62. Security lapse : LEAK
63. Dr. Evil portrayer in Austin Powers films : MYERS. Funny guy.
64. Lab fluids : SERA. Que sera, sera - whatever lab fluids will be.
65. Garage sale caveat : AS IS
66. Capital on the Aar : BERNE
Down:
1. Masterful ability : PROWESS
2. Soothing brew : LEMON TEA
3. Citrus greenhouse : ORANGERY. Kensington Palace in London have converted theirs to a restaurant. Nice place for a cup of soothing lemon tea. Posh digs. The Peter Pan statue is close by. Our 58A captain would not approve.
4. "I can't believe I missed that!" : DUH!
5. Wisconsin-based tool manufacturer : SNAP-ON
6. Young adult fiction writer Griffin : ADELE. Fresh new clue. Gives Fred's sister, the singer and Jane Eyre's charge a break from crossword duty.
7. Sphere of influence : REALM
8. Sierra or Yukon : GMC.
9. "I'm impressed!" : OOH!
10. Move, roots and all : RE-POT
11. Connect to a power source : PLUG IN. The mobile worker's perennial problem. It's getting easier to find laptop power at airports nowadays though.
12. Dr. Evil's cohort : MINI-ME
13. Italian sonnet closing : SESTET. Italian referring to the word, not the sonnet itself. The second part of the sonnet being the closing six lines. The first eight are called the octave. Here's Bill the Bard with the closing of Sonnet 18:
18. Subject that may come up in a frank discussion? : BUNS. Nice clue. I like Hebrew National franks.
22. Provided the hands : DEALT
25. Ocean predators : ORCAS
26. Garner : REAP
28. "Su-r-r-r-re" : I BET
32. Pantyhose shade : BEIGE
33. Vegas routine : ACT
34. Tall and thin : LANK
36. Disney daughter of King Triton : ARIEL. The Little Mermaid.
37. Masculine principle : YANG
38. Fridge convenience : ICE MAKER. My fridge doesn't have one. There's no water line to the fridge location, so there's not much point.
39. Point at which commitment occurs : NO RETURN. I'm flying to Honolulu on Sunday. 1,260 miles out from LAX is just about PNR for that trip.
42. Neural junction : SYNAPSE
43. Some road atlas pgs. : U.S. MAPS
44. Knight's attendant : SQUIRE
45. Stone-pushing Winter Olympian : CURLER. I love watching curling in the Olympics. You only get to see the sport once every four years, unless there's an ESPN 24-hour curling channel that I'm missing.
47. Those two : BOTH
48. Self-possession : APLOMB
50. Cushy class : EASY A. This was a struggle - I was trying to think of a luxurious cabin class.
51. Zhou __ : EN LAI
52. Mardi Gras purchases : MASKS
58. Harper Lee's home st. : ALA.
59. Avignon article : LES. Avignon's got a 12th century bridge that only spans a small part of the Rhone. It kept getting washed away in floods and eventually the good burghers of Avignon got sick and tired of rebuilding it so it was abandoned in the mid 1600's.
60. Santana's "__ Como Va" : OYE. Came a little too late for a music link so I'll save it for next week.
And with that, here's the grid!
Steve
17A. D-Day code name : OMAHA BEACH. Ahab. He of the pathological preoccupation with Moby Dick in Herman Melville's book.
24A. Again : ONE MORE TIME. Nemo, Jules Verne's skipper of the Nautilus. He also popped up in the movie "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" - a fun flick from 2003.
49A. Cleaner with a blade : SQUEEGEE MOP. Queeg. Ineffectual captain in The Caine Mutiny. SQUEEGEE is a great brand name.
58A. 1957 #1 song title that appears in the line after "I'm in love" : ALL SHOOK UP. Hook. Another monomaniac, this time in J.M.Barrie's Peter Pan. With pleasing symmetry for this puzzle, Melville provided Barrie with the inspiration for the character.
35A. Indication of cooperation with ones hidden in this puzzle's four other longest answers : AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!
Very nice effort from Bruce, I wonder if QUEEG was the seed that germinated the idea for this puzzle? Enjoyable romp through a selection of Masters and Commanders. Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Moves with effort : PLODS. Also a mildly derogatory term for British policemen, from Enid Blyton's character "P.C. Plod"
6. Golden Fleece ship : ARGO. Aye, aye, Jason!
10. Tach nos. : RPMS. Should be RsPM in Steve World. I find it funny that cars with a fully-automatic transmission have a tachometer in the dash. It serves no useful function whatsoever.
14. Any "30 Rock" episode, now : RERUN
15. Trial version : DEMO. Had "BETA" first. That didn't stay in too long.
16. Tahari of fashion : ELIE. Thank you, crosses. I discover he is an Israel-Iranian fashion designer.
19. Carroll specialties : PUNS. The Mock Turtle's teacher was nicknamed "tortoise, because he taught us". Most of Carroll's puns are homophones - he was writing for a ten-year-old and kept the humor simple.
20. Got elected : WON
21. Influence : PULL
22. Loaf : DOG IT
23. Official lang. of Trinidad and Tobago : ENG. The Queen's version, naturally.
27. Oktoberfest souvenirs : STEINS. Cheers!
29. Actor Stephen : REA
30. Clear : NET
31. Balkan native : SERB
32. "Key Largo" co-star : BACALL. Had the "B", but had to wait. Could be BOGART.
40. Red hair and green eyes : TRAITS
41. Some PX patrons : NCO'S
43. George Lucas' alma mater: Abbr. : USC. University of Southern California here in Los Angeles. His family foundation gave the film school $10m a couple of years ago. He graduated in 1967.
46. Having one sharp : IN G
47. It makes a lot of dough : BAKERY
53. Bishops and pawns : MEN. Chess people, not chess men. After all, there's a couple of queens in there.
54. "The Last Supper," for one : MURAL. Leonardo's masterwork at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milano.
55. NBA part: Abbr. : NATL.
56. Keep __ distance : AT A
57. Pains : AILS
61. Hunted one : PREY
62. Security lapse : LEAK
63. Dr. Evil portrayer in Austin Powers films : MYERS. Funny guy.
64. Lab fluids : SERA. Que sera, sera - whatever lab fluids will be.
65. Garage sale caveat : AS IS
66. Capital on the Aar : BERNE
Down:
1. Masterful ability : PROWESS
2. Soothing brew : LEMON TEA
3. Citrus greenhouse : ORANGERY. Kensington Palace in London have converted theirs to a restaurant. Nice place for a cup of soothing lemon tea. Posh digs. The Peter Pan statue is close by. Our 58A captain would not approve.
4. "I can't believe I missed that!" : DUH!
5. Wisconsin-based tool manufacturer : SNAP-ON
6. Young adult fiction writer Griffin : ADELE. Fresh new clue. Gives Fred's sister, the singer and Jane Eyre's charge a break from crossword duty.
7. Sphere of influence : REALM
8. Sierra or Yukon : GMC.
9. "I'm impressed!" : OOH!
10. Move, roots and all : RE-POT
11. Connect to a power source : PLUG IN. The mobile worker's perennial problem. It's getting easier to find laptop power at airports nowadays though.
12. Dr. Evil's cohort : MINI-ME
13. Italian sonnet closing : SESTET. Italian referring to the word, not the sonnet itself. The second part of the sonnet being the closing six lines. The first eight are called the octave. Here's Bill the Bard with the closing of Sonnet 18:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
18. Subject that may come up in a frank discussion? : BUNS. Nice clue. I like Hebrew National franks.
22. Provided the hands : DEALT
25. Ocean predators : ORCAS
26. Garner : REAP
28. "Su-r-r-r-re" : I BET
32. Pantyhose shade : BEIGE
33. Vegas routine : ACT
34. Tall and thin : LANK
36. Disney daughter of King Triton : ARIEL. The Little Mermaid.
37. Masculine principle : YANG
38. Fridge convenience : ICE MAKER. My fridge doesn't have one. There's no water line to the fridge location, so there's not much point.
39. Point at which commitment occurs : NO RETURN. I'm flying to Honolulu on Sunday. 1,260 miles out from LAX is just about PNR for that trip.
42. Neural junction : SYNAPSE
43. Some road atlas pgs. : U.S. MAPS
44. Knight's attendant : SQUIRE
45. Stone-pushing Winter Olympian : CURLER. I love watching curling in the Olympics. You only get to see the sport once every four years, unless there's an ESPN 24-hour curling channel that I'm missing.
47. Those two : BOTH
48. Self-possession : APLOMB
50. Cushy class : EASY A. This was a struggle - I was trying to think of a luxurious cabin class.
51. Zhou __ : EN LAI
52. Mardi Gras purchases : MASKS
58. Harper Lee's home st. : ALA.
59. Avignon article : LES. Avignon's got a 12th century bridge that only spans a small part of the Rhone. It kept getting washed away in floods and eventually the good burghers of Avignon got sick and tired of rebuilding it so it was abandoned in the mid 1600's.
60. Santana's "__ Como Va" : OYE. Came a little too late for a music link so I'll save it for next week.
And with that, here's the grid!
Steve
