Theme: Quaffer's Quintet - four slang terms for overindulging in the demon drink and a fifth in the reveal.
17A. *Judy Blume genre : KIDDIE LIT. She's prolific. At least 29 published novels.
25A. *Got from the cloud? : DOWNLOADED. Everything's going to "the cloud". Be wary about data security, it's out of your hands. The only person who can get files off my hard drive is me.
36A. *Like much Chinese cooking : STIR-FRIED. Food! Get a big steel wok from your local Chinese restaurant supply store. Don't get a non-stick one, you need to be able to push food up the sides and have it stay there.
51A. *Three-year school, commonly : JUNIOR HIGH. Is this still a thing? Haven't they been Middle Schools for quite some time?
61A. Some football linemen ... and what the answers to starred clues have? : TIGHT ENDS
Kurt gives us a Thursday theme which is a dipso's delight. I like the reveal - all the ends of the other themers are synonyms for the start of this one. Nicely done.
Across:
1. Highlands hat : TAM. O'Shanter, formally.
4. Serenade, as the moon : BAY AT. First thought was "howl at" but I ran out of space.
9. Pearl seeker : DIVER
14. Botanist Gray : ASA. Influential professor of botany at Harvard.
15. Naproxen brand : ALEVE
16. "__ Mio" : O SOLE. Let's go with Luciano Pavarotti.
19. Bags with handles : TOTES
20. Calendario start : ENERO.
21. Sierra __ : LEONE
23. Former Radiohead label : EMI
24. __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI. Here in Southern California. It's a beautiful spot.
27. Not having the know-how : UNABLE
29. Locomotive, e.g. : ENGINE
30. Compose, in a way : PEN
31. Single-celled creature : AMEBA. I cannot get used to seeing this spelling. I don't bat an eyelid at the other British/American variations now, but I still want to see AMOEBA or AMŒBA
35. Sinusitis docs : ENTS. Ear, nose and throat specialists.
39. Reebok rival : PUMA
42. Dapper : NATTY
43. Cal. pages : MOS.
46. Like : AKIN TO
49. Unite securely : CEMENT
55. Julie's "Doctor Zhivago" co-star : OMAR
56. Subj. with unknowns : ALG.
57. "Cool!" : NEATO!
58. Concert venue : ARENA
59. Softens : MELTS
63. 1999-2004 Olds : ALERO
64. Vast, in verse : ENORM.
65. How-__: do-it-yourselfers' buys : TO-S
66. Printing flourish : SERIF. Times Roman has them. Arial doesn't. Before these japes were common, in 1977 the Guardian newspaper in the UK published a seven-page special supplement on the idyllic island of San Seriffe in the Indian Ocean. It was April 1st, and because no-one in the print media had done anything like this before, everyone fell for it.
67. Freelancer's supply: Abbr. : SASES. They call them SAEs in the UK, the "self" part of the address is assumed.
68. Fused : ONE
Down:
1. Occupies oneself with, as a hobby : TAKES UP
2. Just plain silly : ASININE. Nice word.
3. Mob inductee : MADE MAN
4. Scott of "Arrested Development" : BAIO
5. Tavern favorite : ALE
6. Mello __ : YELLO
7. "__ From the Bridge": Miller : A VIEW. Arthur Miller's two-act play. The first staging was a one-act verse drama which didn't have much success, so Miller went back to the drawing board.
8. Wyoming county : TETON
9. Act grandmotherly toward : DOTE ON
10. Metric lead-in : ISO-. The "plank" is a good example of an isometric exercise.
11. Elected : VOTED IN
12. Gold or silver : ELEMENT
13. Lives : RESIDES
18. Trifle : DRIB. I think I can picture a drib, but I'm not sure what a drab looks like.
22. N.Y. Mets division : N.L.E. Baseball's National League East. Opening Day is looming.
25. __-glace: rich sauce : DEMI. Food! French reduction sauce usually used as a base for other sauces, such as a red wine glaze. If you don't want to use veal stock, use chicken stock and throw a pinch or two of gelatin in there to get that silky texture of veal.
26. Got on in years : AGED
28. Long. counterpart : LAT. Note the period in the clue. Longitude and Latitude.
32. Coastal eagle : ERN
33. Museum curator's deg. : B.F.A. Bachelor of Fine Arts.
34. Oils, e.g. : ART
36. __-Flush: household cleaner : SANI. Hesitated over SANI or SANO at first.
37. Bite symptom : ITCH
38. Network logo : EYE. CBS Television.
39. Overnight bag item, maybe : PAJAMAS
40. Elvis played one in "Blue Hawaii" : UKULELE. I had the misspelt "UKELELE" at first which led me down a SENIOR HIGH rabbit hole for a couple of minutes.
41. One working the crowd : MINGLER
43. Souvenir : MEMENTO
44. With no end in sight : ON AND ON
45. Berlin boulevard : STRASSE. "Straße" on the street signs:
47. Myriad : TONS OF
48. Pay dirt : ORE
50. "Encore!" : MORE!
52. Can't take : HATES
53. Turner autobiography : I, TINA
54. "We Got the Beat" band : GOGOS. Nit alert - the band name was "The Gogos".
58. Casino fixtures : ATMS. They don't take deposits.
60. Part of TNT : TRI-. Trinitrotoluene, not Turner Network Television. The former makes more of a bang.
62. Charlemagne's domain: Abbr. : H.R.E. Holy Roman Empire, as we all know by now.
The 2017 Masters Golf starts today. I'm looking forward to the tournament, as well as listening to Jim Nantz and his reverential whispering on CBS at the weekend.
Here's the grid!
Steve
17A. *Judy Blume genre : KIDDIE LIT. She's prolific. At least 29 published novels.
25A. *Got from the cloud? : DOWNLOADED. Everything's going to "the cloud". Be wary about data security, it's out of your hands. The only person who can get files off my hard drive is me.
36A. *Like much Chinese cooking : STIR-FRIED. Food! Get a big steel wok from your local Chinese restaurant supply store. Don't get a non-stick one, you need to be able to push food up the sides and have it stay there.
51A. *Three-year school, commonly : JUNIOR HIGH. Is this still a thing? Haven't they been Middle Schools for quite some time?
61A. Some football linemen ... and what the answers to starred clues have? : TIGHT ENDS
Kurt gives us a Thursday theme which is a dipso's delight. I like the reveal - all the ends of the other themers are synonyms for the start of this one. Nicely done.
Across:
1. Highlands hat : TAM. O'Shanter, formally.
4. Serenade, as the moon : BAY AT. First thought was "howl at" but I ran out of space.
9. Pearl seeker : DIVER
14. Botanist Gray : ASA. Influential professor of botany at Harvard.
15. Naproxen brand : ALEVE
16. "__ Mio" : O SOLE. Let's go with Luciano Pavarotti.
19. Bags with handles : TOTES
20. Calendario start : ENERO.
21. Sierra __ : LEONE
23. Former Radiohead label : EMI
24. __ Valley: Reagan Library site : SIMI. Here in Southern California. It's a beautiful spot.
27. Not having the know-how : UNABLE
29. Locomotive, e.g. : ENGINE
30. Compose, in a way : PEN
31. Single-celled creature : AMEBA. I cannot get used to seeing this spelling. I don't bat an eyelid at the other British/American variations now, but I still want to see AMOEBA or AMŒBA
35. Sinusitis docs : ENTS. Ear, nose and throat specialists.
39. Reebok rival : PUMA
42. Dapper : NATTY
43. Cal. pages : MOS.
46. Like : AKIN TO
49. Unite securely : CEMENT
55. Julie's "Doctor Zhivago" co-star : OMAR
56. Subj. with unknowns : ALG.
57. "Cool!" : NEATO!
58. Concert venue : ARENA
59. Softens : MELTS
63. 1999-2004 Olds : ALERO
64. Vast, in verse : ENORM.
Sole Positive of Night!
Antipathist of Light!
Fate's only essence! Primal scorpion rod -
The one permitted opposite of God!-
Condenséd blackness and abysmal storm
Compacts to one sceptre
Arms the grasp enorm-
From Ne Plus Ultra, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
65. How-__: do-it-yourselfers' buys : TO-S
66. Printing flourish : SERIF. Times Roman has them. Arial doesn't. Before these japes were common, in 1977 the Guardian newspaper in the UK published a seven-page special supplement on the idyllic island of San Seriffe in the Indian Ocean. It was April 1st, and because no-one in the print media had done anything like this before, everyone fell for it.
67. Freelancer's supply: Abbr. : SASES. They call them SAEs in the UK, the "self" part of the address is assumed.
68. Fused : ONE
Down:
1. Occupies oneself with, as a hobby : TAKES UP
2. Just plain silly : ASININE. Nice word.
3. Mob inductee : MADE MAN
4. Scott of "Arrested Development" : BAIO
5. Tavern favorite : ALE
6. Mello __ : YELLO
7. "__ From the Bridge": Miller : A VIEW. Arthur Miller's two-act play. The first staging was a one-act verse drama which didn't have much success, so Miller went back to the drawing board.
8. Wyoming county : TETON
9. Act grandmotherly toward : DOTE ON
10. Metric lead-in : ISO-. The "plank" is a good example of an isometric exercise.
11. Elected : VOTED IN
12. Gold or silver : ELEMENT
13. Lives : RESIDES
18. Trifle : DRIB. I think I can picture a drib, but I'm not sure what a drab looks like.
22. N.Y. Mets division : N.L.E. Baseball's National League East. Opening Day is looming.
25. __-glace: rich sauce : DEMI. Food! French reduction sauce usually used as a base for other sauces, such as a red wine glaze. If you don't want to use veal stock, use chicken stock and throw a pinch or two of gelatin in there to get that silky texture of veal.
26. Got on in years : AGED
28. Long. counterpart : LAT. Note the period in the clue. Longitude and Latitude.
32. Coastal eagle : ERN
33. Museum curator's deg. : B.F.A. Bachelor of Fine Arts.
34. Oils, e.g. : ART
36. __-Flush: household cleaner : SANI. Hesitated over SANI or SANO at first.
37. Bite symptom : ITCH
38. Network logo : EYE. CBS Television.
39. Overnight bag item, maybe : PAJAMAS
40. Elvis played one in "Blue Hawaii" : UKULELE. I had the misspelt "UKELELE" at first which led me down a SENIOR HIGH rabbit hole for a couple of minutes.
41. One working the crowd : MINGLER
43. Souvenir : MEMENTO
44. With no end in sight : ON AND ON
45. Berlin boulevard : STRASSE. "Straße" on the street signs:
47. Myriad : TONS OF
48. Pay dirt : ORE
50. "Encore!" : MORE!
52. Can't take : HATES
53. Turner autobiography : I, TINA
54. "We Got the Beat" band : GOGOS. Nit alert - the band name was "The Gogos".
58. Casino fixtures : ATMS. They don't take deposits.
60. Part of TNT : TRI-. Trinitrotoluene, not Turner Network Television. The former makes more of a bang.
62. Charlemagne's domain: Abbr. : H.R.E. Holy Roman Empire, as we all know by now.
The 2017 Masters Golf starts today. I'm looking forward to the tournament, as well as listening to Jim Nantz and his reverential whispering on CBS at the weekend.
Here's the grid!
Steve
