Theme: RRepeats - the second letter in each theme entry is doubled and the resulting phrase clued according to the first three-letter part
17A. What Dobermans do for dinner? : GRRAB A BITE. Grr!
24A. Super-cold concoction at Baskin-Robbins? : BRRAIN FREEZE. Brr! Combining the two, here's a cold Doberman:
41A. World's stealthiest detective? : SHHERLOCK HOLMES. Shh!
52A. Cutest Baby contest champion? : AWWARD WINNER. Aww!
65A. Massage epiphany? : AHHA MOMENT. Ahh!
Brruce brrings us a nice Thursday offering. A solid 59 letters of theme entries and a generally pleasing fill around those. I might have tried to not repeat the RR with the first two themers as it could indicate all the following entries will follow the same convention. Not a major nit though, the idea is fun. Let's see what jumps out in the rest of the entries.
Across
1. The Miners of the Lone Star St. : UTEP. University of Texas, El Paso.
5. Eurasia's __ Mountains : URAL
9. Fundraising gps. : PTAS. I had the P and tried PACS first until nothing would fit around it and forced a change of mind.
13. Caesar's France : GAUL. We studied Caesar's book "Conquest of Gaul" in Latin class at school. Cracking stuff for schoolboys.
14. Marner of fiction : SILAS. Great book. The movie adaptation starring Ben Kingsley as the eponymous weaver was excellent also.
16. Hindustani language : URDU. Hindi has given us quite a few English words, but I can't find any examples from Urdu.
19. Innocent : BABE
20. Retro wall unit : STONE. Retro? Pretty sure we still build with stone.
21. Titanic undoing : BERG. Least accurate damage assessment ever: "We've just stopped for a short time to take on some ice".
23. Not very bright : DIM
28. Yale alum : ELI
31. Longtime Yankees announcer __ Allen : MEL. No clue. Thanks, crosses.
32. First to play James : SEAN. 007-portrayer par excellence Connery. Dr. No was the first movie in the franchise, released in 1962.
33. Tall and lean : LANK
35. "Sadly ... " : ALAS
38. Box : CRATE
44. Got out of bed : AROSE. I arose early this morning to try to shake myself out of time-change clock-lag. I can fly across 11 or 12 time zones and get no jet lag, but that hour in Spring messes me up. It was nice and peaceful at the top of the Hollywood sign though - I'll find out tomorrow if my body clock is reset.
45. "So __ say" : THEY
46. Crowd-sourced review site : YELP. Can be useful if you ignore the obvious outliers (and the reviews obviously written by the buddies of the establishment).
47. Asian takeout option : THAI
49. Little trickster : IMP
51. See 56-Down : SLY. Sylvester Stallone of the movies. I've met him, his brother plays jazz at my local Italian restaurant. He's not as short as people seem to think. However, he's listed at 5'10" on Wikipedia, but I think that might be a little generous.
57. Security briefing org. : CIA
58. Clothing part that might split : SEAM. Especially if you're wearing a size to small or you've eaten a big dinner.
59. Epic tales : SAGAS
63. Singer James : ETTA
68. Agenda detail : ITEM
69. Gets mud on : SOILS
70. Phi __ Kappa : BETA
71. Banks of 2000s TV talk : TYRA
72. Doing business : OPEN
73. "The Osbournes" patriarch : OZZY. Quite the character. I saw Black Sabbath play in London once with Motorhead and Hawkwind. Quite the eardrum assault. Fun through. Here's Hawkwind - imagine this cranked up to 11. Awesome.
Down
1. Brand of sheepskin boots : UGGS. Australia's finest.
2. Biting : TART
3. Italian capital : EURO. No more Lira. It's a shame a lot of the European currencies disappeared with the introduction of the Euro.
4. Fallback option : PLAN B
5. __ Today : USA. Their distribution network is amazing. I'm always astonished how early the paper is delivered to the various hotels I've stayed in across the USA, even in remote locations.
6. Tease : RIB
7. "I was out of town," e.g. : ALIBI
8. Approach midnight : LATEN. Hmmm. I looked sideways at this one when it appeared. I'm still looking askance at it. Not a word I would use.
9. Place to hoist a pint : PUB. I've seen the inside of a couple of these. I pulled pints at the Queen's Arms in Kilburn, north London when I was 19. A lot of Guinness and shots of Bushmills - most of the patrons were Irish demolition workers. Tough crowd.
10. DBA followers : TRADE NAMES. "Doing Business As".
11. Madison Ave. field : AD BIZ
12. In-your-face challenge : SUE ME
15. Feudal laborers : SERFS
18. Protective barrier : BERM. There were a lot of berms bulldozed out of the sand here in Southern California last winter to protect the beach cities with the expectation of major storms. They're very effective.
22. El __ : GRECO. "The Greek". Doménikos Theotokópoulos was born in Crete, but spent most of his life in Toledo in Spain.
25. Authentic : REAL
26. Dole out : ALLOT. If you hand out a large amount you allot a lot.
27. Like birds with worms, so it's said : EARLY. The Early Bird was me this morning. No worms caught though, probably a good thing.
28. Designer Schiaparelli : ELSA
29. Cowardly Lion portrayer : LAHR. Bert in The Wizard of Oz
30. Facing serious trouble : IN HOT WATER
34. Singer who formerly stylized her name with a dollar sign : KESHA, or rather KE$HA
36. "__ du lieber!" : ACH. "Oh, my dear!"
37. Yarn purchase : SKEIN. I misread the clue as "yam" at first which had me puzzled.
39. Squeal : TELL. As in rat someone out.
40. Catch sight of : ESPY. I'd clue this as the sports award, being more "in the language".
42. Raises : REARS
43. Many a gospel song : HYMN
48. Brainstorms : IDEAS
50. Uruguayan money : PESO
52. Nail a test : ACE IT
53. Like Oscar Wilde : WITTY
54. Mackerel relative : WAHOO
55. Beatnik's "With ya" : I'M HIP
56. Repeating movie role for 51-Across : RAMBO. Sly's character.
60. "Sheesh!" : GEEZ
61. Animated bug film : ANTZ
62. Time at a hotel : STAY. I've had quite a few of these in my time.
64. Org. for docs : AMA. American Medical Association.
66. Pint to drink : ALE. In the pub too.
67. AOL alternative : MSN
Short blog today, a lot going on for me. Hopefully no more explications required. The regulars in the comments section can handle any gaps. Here's the grid!
Steve
17A. What Dobermans do for dinner? : GRRAB A BITE. Grr!
24A. Super-cold concoction at Baskin-Robbins? : BRRAIN FREEZE. Brr! Combining the two, here's a cold Doberman:
41A. World's stealthiest detective? : SHHERLOCK HOLMES. Shh!
52A. Cutest Baby contest champion? : AWWARD WINNER. Aww!
65A. Massage epiphany? : AHHA MOMENT. Ahh!
Brruce brrings us a nice Thursday offering. A solid 59 letters of theme entries and a generally pleasing fill around those. I might have tried to not repeat the RR with the first two themers as it could indicate all the following entries will follow the same convention. Not a major nit though, the idea is fun. Let's see what jumps out in the rest of the entries.
Across
1. The Miners of the Lone Star St. : UTEP. University of Texas, El Paso.
5. Eurasia's __ Mountains : URAL
9. Fundraising gps. : PTAS. I had the P and tried PACS first until nothing would fit around it and forced a change of mind.
13. Caesar's France : GAUL. We studied Caesar's book "Conquest of Gaul" in Latin class at school. Cracking stuff for schoolboys.
14. Marner of fiction : SILAS. Great book. The movie adaptation starring Ben Kingsley as the eponymous weaver was excellent also.
16. Hindustani language : URDU. Hindi has given us quite a few English words, but I can't find any examples from Urdu.
19. Innocent : BABE
20. Retro wall unit : STONE. Retro? Pretty sure we still build with stone.
21. Titanic undoing : BERG. Least accurate damage assessment ever: "We've just stopped for a short time to take on some ice".
23. Not very bright : DIM
28. Yale alum : ELI
31. Longtime Yankees announcer __ Allen : MEL. No clue. Thanks, crosses.
32. First to play James : SEAN. 007-portrayer par excellence Connery. Dr. No was the first movie in the franchise, released in 1962.
33. Tall and lean : LANK
35. "Sadly ... " : ALAS
38. Box : CRATE
44. Got out of bed : AROSE. I arose early this morning to try to shake myself out of time-change clock-lag. I can fly across 11 or 12 time zones and get no jet lag, but that hour in Spring messes me up. It was nice and peaceful at the top of the Hollywood sign though - I'll find out tomorrow if my body clock is reset.
45. "So __ say" : THEY
46. Crowd-sourced review site : YELP. Can be useful if you ignore the obvious outliers (and the reviews obviously written by the buddies of the establishment).
47. Asian takeout option : THAI
49. Little trickster : IMP
51. See 56-Down : SLY. Sylvester Stallone of the movies. I've met him, his brother plays jazz at my local Italian restaurant. He's not as short as people seem to think. However, he's listed at 5'10" on Wikipedia, but I think that might be a little generous.
57. Security briefing org. : CIA
58. Clothing part that might split : SEAM. Especially if you're wearing a size to small or you've eaten a big dinner.
59. Epic tales : SAGAS
63. Singer James : ETTA
68. Agenda detail : ITEM
69. Gets mud on : SOILS
70. Phi __ Kappa : BETA
71. Banks of 2000s TV talk : TYRA
72. Doing business : OPEN
73. "The Osbournes" patriarch : OZZY. Quite the character. I saw Black Sabbath play in London once with Motorhead and Hawkwind. Quite the eardrum assault. Fun through. Here's Hawkwind - imagine this cranked up to 11. Awesome.
Down
1. Brand of sheepskin boots : UGGS. Australia's finest.
2. Biting : TART
3. Italian capital : EURO. No more Lira. It's a shame a lot of the European currencies disappeared with the introduction of the Euro.
4. Fallback option : PLAN B
5. __ Today : USA. Their distribution network is amazing. I'm always astonished how early the paper is delivered to the various hotels I've stayed in across the USA, even in remote locations.
6. Tease : RIB
7. "I was out of town," e.g. : ALIBI
8. Approach midnight : LATEN. Hmmm. I looked sideways at this one when it appeared. I'm still looking askance at it. Not a word I would use.
9. Place to hoist a pint : PUB. I've seen the inside of a couple of these. I pulled pints at the Queen's Arms in Kilburn, north London when I was 19. A lot of Guinness and shots of Bushmills - most of the patrons were Irish demolition workers. Tough crowd.
10. DBA followers : TRADE NAMES. "Doing Business As".
11. Madison Ave. field : AD BIZ
12. In-your-face challenge : SUE ME
15. Feudal laborers : SERFS
18. Protective barrier : BERM. There were a lot of berms bulldozed out of the sand here in Southern California last winter to protect the beach cities with the expectation of major storms. They're very effective.
22. El __ : GRECO. "The Greek". Doménikos Theotokópoulos was born in Crete, but spent most of his life in Toledo in Spain.
25. Authentic : REAL
26. Dole out : ALLOT. If you hand out a large amount you allot a lot.
27. Like birds with worms, so it's said : EARLY. The Early Bird was me this morning. No worms caught though, probably a good thing.
28. Designer Schiaparelli : ELSA
29. Cowardly Lion portrayer : LAHR. Bert in The Wizard of Oz
30. Facing serious trouble : IN HOT WATER
34. Singer who formerly stylized her name with a dollar sign : KESHA, or rather KE$HA
36. "__ du lieber!" : ACH. "Oh, my dear!"
37. Yarn purchase : SKEIN. I misread the clue as "yam" at first which had me puzzled.
39. Squeal : TELL. As in rat someone out.
40. Catch sight of : ESPY. I'd clue this as the sports award, being more "in the language".
42. Raises : REARS
43. Many a gospel song : HYMN
48. Brainstorms : IDEAS
50. Uruguayan money : PESO
52. Nail a test : ACE IT
53. Like Oscar Wilde : WITTY
54. Mackerel relative : WAHOO
55. Beatnik's "With ya" : I'M HIP
56. Repeating movie role for 51-Across : RAMBO. Sly's character.
60. "Sheesh!" : GEEZ
61. Animated bug film : ANTZ
62. Time at a hotel : STAY. I've had quite a few of these in my time.
64. Org. for docs : AMA. American Medical Association.
66. Pint to drink : ALE. In the pub too.
67. AOL alternative : MSN
Short blog today, a lot going on for me. Hopefully no more explications required. The regulars in the comments section can handle any gaps. Here's the grid!
Steve
