Theme: THE COLOR OF ANGER. Each theme fill entry is two words, the first of which is a color. Notably, one color is missing from this exposition, but shows up both in the unifier, and elsewhere, as we will see - in disguise.
20 A. *Fictional road material : YELLOW BRICK. From the Wizard of Oz, of course.
57 A. *Cola flavor : BLACK CHERRY.
10 D. *One with noble lineage : BLUE BLOOD. Presumably because, since they never had to do manual labor and led an indoor existence, their pale skin allowed the blue of veins to show through.
14 D. *Floral papal ornament : GOLDEN ROSE. Despite growing up Catholic, I know nothing of this tradition.
26 D. *Chard, by another name : SILVER BEET. I knew this was a green leafy plant in the beet family, but didn't know about the silver part, which refers to the white stalk.
33 D. Angrily ignoring the first half of the answers to starred clues? : SEEING RED. Well, ignoring all the other colors somehow equates to seeing RED, but not GREEN nor VIOLET. But, OK, let's just go with it. The color of Magic, BTW, is Octarine.
UPDATE: As Owen pointed out in comments, each of the 2nd words in the theme describes a shade of RED, a subtlety that I completely missed. This, to hijack a phrase, really ties the puzzle together, and adds an element of elegance. Well done, Jascha!
High gang, JazzBumpa here to guide you through a late winter color tour. Let's see if we can get through it without too much rancor.
Across
1. Spot for an AirPod : EAR. Wireless headphone parking place.
20 A. *Fictional road material : YELLOW BRICK. From the Wizard of Oz, of course.
10 D. *One with noble lineage : BLUE BLOOD. Presumably because, since they never had to do manual labor and led an indoor existence, their pale skin allowed the blue of veins to show through.
14 D. *Floral papal ornament : GOLDEN ROSE. Despite growing up Catholic, I know nothing of this tradition.
26 D. *Chard, by another name : SILVER BEET. I knew this was a green leafy plant in the beet family, but didn't know about the silver part, which refers to the white stalk.
33 D. Angrily ignoring the first half of the answers to starred clues? : SEEING RED. Well, ignoring all the other colors somehow equates to seeing RED, but not GREEN nor VIOLET. But, OK, let's just go with it. The color of Magic, BTW, is Octarine.
UPDATE: As Owen pointed out in comments, each of the 2nd words in the theme describes a shade of RED, a subtlety that I completely missed. This, to hijack a phrase, really ties the puzzle together, and adds an element of elegance. Well done, Jascha!
High gang, JazzBumpa here to guide you through a late winter color tour. Let's see if we can get through it without too much rancor.
Across
1. Spot for an AirPod : EAR. Wireless headphone parking place.
4. Chowder morsel : CLAM. Soup ingredient.
8. Moscow currency : RUBLE. The Russian monetary unit for the last 500 years. Currently equal to about 1.7 US cents.
13. Slept like __ : A LOG. I wonder how that feels?
16. Religion of Basra : ISLAM. Basra is a city in Iraq whose local economy is largely dependent on petroleum.
19. Riyadh resident : SAUDI. The capital and most populous city in the country.
23. Bookshelf bracket shape : ELL. The "L" you say!
24. Of a battery terminal : ANODAL. Specifically, the positive one. Would it be an anodyne to say I'm positive?
25. Necessity for a game of Ultimate : FRISBEE. This is the trademark for a flying disc, owned by the Wham-O toy company. Points are scored by passing the disc to a team mate in the opponent's end zone
27. History class assignment : ESSAY. A written paper on a specific topic.
30. Elec. or water : UTILity.
31. __ a clue : HASN'T. I tried HADN'T first. HAVEN'T also does not work.
34. Slangy pounds : QUID. British money. Even before Brexit they opted out of using the Euro.
36. Financial help : LOAN.
39. End __ : USER.
40. Tomato product : PUREE.
41. Preference indicator : VOTE.
42. Religious prefix : THEO-.
43. Grub : EATS. Unattractive sounding vernacular.
44. Brought about : LED TO. Preceded and caused whatever then ensued.
45. Tenerife, por ejemplo : ISLA. Spanish Island.
47. Take the helm : STEER. Direct the movement of a vehicle, in this case a ship.
49. Surface layers : VENEERS. Generally decorative, as a fine wood over a less elegant wood.
52. Clogs from France : SABOTS. Each one hollowed out of a single piece of wood. Hence the word sabotage, meaning to wreck something by kicking with sabots. I read once somewhere that the Luddites sabotaged weaving machinery by throwing sabots into the works, but that might be apocryphal.
56. Neurologist's order, briefly : EEG. The ElectroEncephaloGram detects electrical activity in the brain.
60. Pop-up foul-up : ERROR. Baseball boo-boo, dropping a short fly ball.
62. Stereotypical family spoiler : NANA. Grandmother, or, as some in our clan say, "Grandmom."
63. Pulitzer-winning novelist Jennifer : EGAN. In 2011 her novel A Visit From The Goon Squad won the Pulitzer prize for fiction.
65. Minute quantity : DROP. A drib, a drab or a TRACE.
66. Fish __ : TACO. I had one once. It was OK.
67. Family car : SEDAN. Typical 2 or 4 door auto with front and rear seats.
68. __-Coburg: former Bavarian duchy : SAXE. Read all about it.
69. Homer's neighbor : NED. Flanders from the Simpsons.
69. Homer's neighbor : NED. Flanders from the Simpsons.
Down
1. Class requiring little effort : EASY A.
2. Distant and then some : ALIEN. Beyond the pale, perhaps.
4. Barely advances : CRAWLS. Makes slow, possibly steady progress.
5. Big name in vision care : LOMB. Along with Bausch.
6. Slightly open : AJAR. When is a door not a door? When it is a jar.
7. Recurring theme : MOTIF. As in music, literature or visual design.
8. Go out on a limb : RISK IT. Take a chance.
9. Stars and Stripes land: Abbr. : USA. Mandatory.
11. Crock-Pot server : LADLE. For soups and stews.
12. French novelist Zola : EMILE. [1840-1902] Also a playwright, journalist and contributor to literary and theatrical realism. Also a major figure in the exoneration of wrongly accused and convicted military officer Alfred Dreyfus.
21. Brewery kiln : OAST. A drying oven.
22. Input for a refinery : CRUDE. Petroleum.
28. Marine shade : AQUA. Ocean blue - a hue tinged with green.
29. Portable Mongolian dwellings : YURTS. Collapsable circular tents used by nomads.
31. Simple dwelling : HUT. A simple, single-story dwelling, perhaps a step up from a YURT.
32. Shade of gray : ASH. Not all grays are created equal.
35. Luck, pluck or duck ending : IEST. Modifier degrees are positive, comparative, and superlative. This illustrates the latter.
37. Part of D.A.: Abbr. : ATT. District ATTorney. Typically, a prosecutor.
38. Prefix with con : NEO-. Referring to NEO-conservatism, which is distinguished by aggressively interventionist foreign policy, strong support for Israel, and hostility toward other middle-eastern regimes.
40. Shade of gray : PEARL. A gray shade tinged with blue or green, having a pearlescent luster.
44. Jacob's wife before Rachel : LEAH. Jake got snookered by Lebon, his mother's brother into marrying LEAH, Lebon's older daughter, when he was expecting to marry the younger sister Rachel, whom he loved. Eventually he married Rachel as well. Both of them bore him children, as did Zilpah, a servant that Leban had given to Leah.
46. James with three NBA titles : LEBRON. Not to be confused with Lebon, he was first loved and then hated by Cleveland fans. Not sure what his status is now.
48. Tunnel out, maybe : ESCAPE. As from prison or a PoW camp.
49. Many future presidents, as it turned out : VEEPS. Vice Presidents.
50. Like "Stranger Things," e.g. : EERIE. Weird and/or spooky. The show is a Netflix original series concerning the searches for a 12- year-old boy who disappeared amid supernatural occurrences.
51. Metaphorical moments of time : SANDS.
53. Skin, but not bones : ORGAN. A body part with a distinct structure that performs a specialized task. From my brief on-line research, it seems that bones are considered to be organs. Hmmmm . . .
54. Kind of evidence : TRACE. Some small incriminating quantity - only a DROP, perhaps.
55. Ecclesiastical council : SYNOD. In modern usage, the governing body of a particular church.
58. Word of amore : CARA. Italian term of endearment.
59. Fort with billions in bullion : KNOX. Located near the Ohio River, south-west of Louisville.
61. "... man __ mouse?" : OR A. Challenging words.
That wraps it up. We had some religion and politics in the fill, so please don't go there in the comments. Also, some colors outside the theme fill. Did you color within the lines? Hope after all this, you're not seeing RED.
Cool regards!
JzB
61. "... man __ mouse?" : OR A. Challenging words.
That wraps it up. We had some religion and politics in the fill, so please don't go there in the comments. Also, some colors outside the theme fill. Did you color within the lines? Hope after all this, you're not seeing RED.
Cool regards!
JzB
