Theme: Un-hip Paragon- as the 1960's flower child might describe her squeaky-clean parent.
The reveal sits across the middle of the grid:
36A. With some unscrambling, the contents of each set of circles : PERFECT SQUARE
The four nine-letter scrambles are, clockwise from the North-West: SIXTY-FOUR, THIRTY-SIX, EIGHTY-ONE and FORTY-NINE, or 8x8, 6x6, 9x9 and 7x7.
Very inventive puzzle from Brian, and it also appears to be his LAT debut; if so congratulations! I did a little Googling and found a namesake of his who occasionally comments over on Amy Reynaldo's blog. Stop in at the Corner, Mr. Thomas and tell us something about yourself!
This was a fun puzzle to solve. It took me way longer than my regular Thursday time but fortitude paid off. My last fill was the A of ULTIMA/ABT which was, quite honestly, a toss-up between A and O, ballet not being my strong suit.
Regarding the theme, I filled in the "49" square first, and was thinking about NFL teams but that didn't last long.
I did find it a little "bitty" with a slew of 3's, 4's and 5's, but crafting around those four cubes isn't easy. Nothing really annoyed me though. Maybe ABT did, a tad.
Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Port initials : USB. I started off on the wrong foot here by filling in FOB and feeling smug that I was hep to shipping terms.
4. Fallon's predecessor : LENO
8. Negative quality : MINUS partnering 8D's MERIT. Very nice.
13. Late July arrival : LEO
14. No longer hung up on : OVER
15. Composed : SERENE
16. Going rate? : TAXI FARE
18. Younger daughter of Hi and Lois, in comics : TRIXIE. No clue, thank you crosses.
19. Admission of defeat : I LOST! Which I would have done if I'd have given up early on this puzzle
20. Petal pusher? : FLORIST. Hand up for reading "pedal" and trying to work out why CYCLIST should be clued with a question mark. I left it alone and when I came back to it I read the clue properly.
22. Baseball's Wills and TV's Povich : MAURYS
24. __ zone: shallowest oceanic region that sunlight doesn't reach : BATHYAL. Pure learning moment. Or, as a southern Mom might say to her muddy tyke - BATH, Y'ALL
27. Co. once led by Baryshnikov : A.B.T. American Ballet Theatre. I tried MET first which fit nicely with BOX OUT but this area required some serious unpicking at the finish.
28. Sap sucker : APHID
31. Green prefix : ECO-
32. Suffix with Bieber : MANIA.Not from me.
34. Like aged cheddar : SHARP
40. Invoice word : REMIT
41. Blow one's fuse : ERUPT
42. Once-sacred snake : ASP
43. Straight sides of a pizza slice, e.g. : RADII. Food! I don't eat a lot of pizza, but there's a joint near me where the chef is credited with inventing the barbecue chicken pizza, one of CPK's best sellers.
45. Relaxation destination : SPA
48. Low-down prank? : HOT FOOT. I'd never heard of this.Setting someone's shoelaces on fire. Seems like a recipe for instant and unpleasant revenge.
51. __ torpedo: "Star Trek" weapon : PHOTON
54. Symbol of complementary principles : YIN-YANG
57. Watching intently : EYING
58. Bakery-café chain : PANERA. Food! They make pretty good sandwiches. Soup's nice too.
60. Man of steel? : CARNEGIE
62. "Wild" author Strayed : CHERYL. Very good book. She didn't hold anything back, she's a strong woman to reveal some of the things she'd done in her life.
63. Actor Baldwin : ALEC
64. Tillis of country : MEL. Crosses filled this in for me.
65. "Sonatine Bureaucratique" composer : SATIE. Erik. Born Éric Alfred Leslie Satie. Not sure if you've ever heard anything he composed? Yeah, you have.
66. Soothing succulent : ALOE
67. Pitches during breaks : ADS. Warm-ups from the bullpen? No, C.C. isn't here today.
Down:
1. Word's last syllable : ULTIMA. Torn. Ultima/Ultimo. Both seemed reasonable. As I said at the top of the blog, I WAG'd it.
2. Aquanaut's base : SEALAB. Cartoon Network had a big hit with their late-night animation of the same name.
3. Block during rebounding, in basketball : BOX OUT. The NBA finals just finished. Lots of fun. Contrast and compare "finals" with "final" at 37D.
4. Up in the air : LOFTY. Anyone taller than 6' tall when I was growing up in England was guaranteed to be nicknamed "Lofty", I made it to 6' even, so never was awarded the moniker. It annoyed my elder brother to heck though, he only made 5'11" and only accepted that I was taller than him during a family visit a couple of years ago. He's still grumpy about it.
5. Actress Longoria : EVA
6. Soft toy brand : NERF
7. Russian city where Turgenev was born : OREL. Mr. Hershiser gets a rest from clue duty today.
8. Positive quality : MERIT. Great pairing with 8A today.
9. "Fighting" Indiana team : IRISH. Gimme. This is me at the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu in 2008. I didn't have anything better to do that year, so why not Christmas on Oahu watching the Irish?
10. When some fans have to wait till : NEXT YEAR. Most fans. Most years. My UK soccer team, Chelsea, won the Premier League this year, so no waiting in 2017 for me. My Champions T-Shirt is en route.
11. Solitary prefix : UNI-. Tard. Cycle. Vision? I'm sure there's plenty more, but I've run out of ideas.
12. "Told you!" : SEE?
15. Fine fiddle : STRADivarius.
17. Med. nation : ISR.ael.
21. Sapporo sash : OBI
23. Reasonable : SANE. Took a while to see this, but if you make a sane argument, you're being pretty reasonable.
25. Zoning unit : ACRE
26. Cut : LOP
29. Shot : PIC
30. Word repeated twice in a Roger Ebert title about bad movies : HATED. I tried to look this up, but I drew a blank - even IMDb doesn't list a title which has Roger Ebert credited? What did I miss?
32. Injured pro's test, perhaps : MRI
33. Toward the stern : AFT. Get back there, you salty swab.
34. "What's doin'?" : 'SUP?. Obligatory man-nod required. Upwards chin-tilt, not the downwards one. Try it. "'Sup?" (Upwards chin-tilt) See? You'll be hanging with your new homeys in no time.
35. Haberdasher's item : HAT
36. Latin American capital : PESO. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Capital as in currency.
37. Like some late-game hockey goals : EMPTY NET. The last goal of this NHL season was an empty-netter scored by Pittsburgh against Nashville in the sixth game of the Stanley Cup Final. Now, look back to 3D and try and explain Finals vs Final.
38. Hindu title : SRI
39. Wisecrack : QUIP
40. Fan sound : RAH!
43. __ blue : ROYAL
44. Words with clip or crossroads : AT A
45. Mark of shame : STIGMA
46. Paid (up) : PONIED
47. Cloud dwellers? : ANGELS
49. Guy in the kitchen : FIERI. He's a horrible cook, a terrible food critic but a great host and personality. Dear Food Network, please stop him critiquing other people's food and get him to stick to being a natural on TV. You notice he doesn't have his own cooking show any more?
50. Deli order : ON RYE. Food! Pastrami, please. At Katz's Deli on Houston in the lower East Side in Manhattan. Pickle spear. Fries if you must. Don't lose the ticket they give you on the way in, I believe you get thrown in the East River if you can't produce it on your way out to show what you ate and cash out.
52. For this reason : HENCE. Hence don't lose your ticket at Katz's
53. "Listen up," to Luis : OYE!
55. Indiana-based sports org. : NCAA. Two Indiana shout-outs today. South Bend for Notre Dame, and these wonderfully organized, rational and non-profit-making people in Indianapolis.
56. Chutzpah : GALL
58. Best Buy buys : PCS. I bought the Lenovo I'm composing this compostable blog at Best Buy a couple of months ago.
59. "That's it!" : AHA!
61. Flying Cloud, for one : REO. I really only know the Speedwagon, and that's because of the band. What a lovely car - this one is from 1931.
What's left? I'm sure I'm forgetting something ... oh wait - the grid!
Steve (Rory McIlroy to win the US Open, you heard it here first)
The reveal sits across the middle of the grid:
36A. With some unscrambling, the contents of each set of circles : PERFECT SQUARE
The four nine-letter scrambles are, clockwise from the North-West: SIXTY-FOUR, THIRTY-SIX, EIGHTY-ONE and FORTY-NINE, or 8x8, 6x6, 9x9 and 7x7.
Very inventive puzzle from Brian, and it also appears to be his LAT debut; if so congratulations! I did a little Googling and found a namesake of his who occasionally comments over on Amy Reynaldo's blog. Stop in at the Corner, Mr. Thomas and tell us something about yourself!
This was a fun puzzle to solve. It took me way longer than my regular Thursday time but fortitude paid off. My last fill was the A of ULTIMA/ABT which was, quite honestly, a toss-up between A and O, ballet not being my strong suit.
Regarding the theme, I filled in the "49" square first, and was thinking about NFL teams but that didn't last long.
I did find it a little "bitty" with a slew of 3's, 4's and 5's, but crafting around those four cubes isn't easy. Nothing really annoyed me though. Maybe ABT did, a tad.
Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Port initials : USB. I started off on the wrong foot here by filling in FOB and feeling smug that I was hep to shipping terms.
4. Fallon's predecessor : LENO
8. Negative quality : MINUS partnering 8D's MERIT. Very nice.
13. Late July arrival : LEO
14. No longer hung up on : OVER
15. Composed : SERENE
16. Going rate? : TAXI FARE
18. Younger daughter of Hi and Lois, in comics : TRIXIE. No clue, thank you crosses.
19. Admission of defeat : I LOST! Which I would have done if I'd have given up early on this puzzle
20. Petal pusher? : FLORIST. Hand up for reading "pedal" and trying to work out why CYCLIST should be clued with a question mark. I left it alone and when I came back to it I read the clue properly.
22. Baseball's Wills and TV's Povich : MAURYS
24. __ zone: shallowest oceanic region that sunlight doesn't reach : BATHYAL. Pure learning moment. Or, as a southern Mom might say to her muddy tyke - BATH, Y'ALL
27. Co. once led by Baryshnikov : A.B.T. American Ballet Theatre. I tried MET first which fit nicely with BOX OUT but this area required some serious unpicking at the finish.
28. Sap sucker : APHID
31. Green prefix : ECO-
32. Suffix with Bieber : MANIA.Not from me.
34. Like aged cheddar : SHARP
40. Invoice word : REMIT
41. Blow one's fuse : ERUPT
42. Once-sacred snake : ASP
43. Straight sides of a pizza slice, e.g. : RADII. Food! I don't eat a lot of pizza, but there's a joint near me where the chef is credited with inventing the barbecue chicken pizza, one of CPK's best sellers.
45. Relaxation destination : SPA
48. Low-down prank? : HOT FOOT. I'd never heard of this.Setting someone's shoelaces on fire. Seems like a recipe for instant and unpleasant revenge.
51. __ torpedo: "Star Trek" weapon : PHOTON
54. Symbol of complementary principles : YIN-YANG
57. Watching intently : EYING
58. Bakery-café chain : PANERA. Food! They make pretty good sandwiches. Soup's nice too.
60. Man of steel? : CARNEGIE
62. "Wild" author Strayed : CHERYL. Very good book. She didn't hold anything back, she's a strong woman to reveal some of the things she'd done in her life.
63. Actor Baldwin : ALEC
64. Tillis of country : MEL. Crosses filled this in for me.
65. "Sonatine Bureaucratique" composer : SATIE. Erik. Born Éric Alfred Leslie Satie. Not sure if you've ever heard anything he composed? Yeah, you have.
66. Soothing succulent : ALOE
67. Pitches during breaks : ADS. Warm-ups from the bullpen? No, C.C. isn't here today.
Down:
1. Word's last syllable : ULTIMA. Torn. Ultima/Ultimo. Both seemed reasonable. As I said at the top of the blog, I WAG'd it.
2. Aquanaut's base : SEALAB. Cartoon Network had a big hit with their late-night animation of the same name.
3. Block during rebounding, in basketball : BOX OUT. The NBA finals just finished. Lots of fun. Contrast and compare "finals" with "final" at 37D.
4. Up in the air : LOFTY. Anyone taller than 6' tall when I was growing up in England was guaranteed to be nicknamed "Lofty", I made it to 6' even, so never was awarded the moniker. It annoyed my elder brother to heck though, he only made 5'11" and only accepted that I was taller than him during a family visit a couple of years ago. He's still grumpy about it.
5. Actress Longoria : EVA
6. Soft toy brand : NERF
7. Russian city where Turgenev was born : OREL. Mr. Hershiser gets a rest from clue duty today.
8. Positive quality : MERIT. Great pairing with 8A today.
9. "Fighting" Indiana team : IRISH. Gimme. This is me at the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu in 2008. I didn't have anything better to do that year, so why not Christmas on Oahu watching the Irish?
10. When some fans have to wait till : NEXT YEAR. Most fans. Most years. My UK soccer team, Chelsea, won the Premier League this year, so no waiting in 2017 for me. My Champions T-Shirt is en route.
11. Solitary prefix : UNI-. Tard. Cycle. Vision? I'm sure there's plenty more, but I've run out of ideas.
12. "Told you!" : SEE?
15. Fine fiddle : STRADivarius.
17. Med. nation : ISR.ael.
21. Sapporo sash : OBI
23. Reasonable : SANE. Took a while to see this, but if you make a sane argument, you're being pretty reasonable.
25. Zoning unit : ACRE
26. Cut : LOP
29. Shot : PIC
30. Word repeated twice in a Roger Ebert title about bad movies : HATED. I tried to look this up, but I drew a blank - even IMDb doesn't list a title which has Roger Ebert credited? What did I miss?
32. Injured pro's test, perhaps : MRI
33. Toward the stern : AFT. Get back there, you salty swab.
34. "What's doin'?" : 'SUP?. Obligatory man-nod required. Upwards chin-tilt, not the downwards one. Try it. "'Sup?" (Upwards chin-tilt) See? You'll be hanging with your new homeys in no time.
35. Haberdasher's item : HAT
36. Latin American capital : PESO. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Capital as in currency.
37. Like some late-game hockey goals : EMPTY NET. The last goal of this NHL season was an empty-netter scored by Pittsburgh against Nashville in the sixth game of the Stanley Cup Final. Now, look back to 3D and try and explain Finals vs Final.
38. Hindu title : SRI
39. Wisecrack : QUIP
40. Fan sound : RAH!
43. __ blue : ROYAL
44. Words with clip or crossroads : AT A
45. Mark of shame : STIGMA
46. Paid (up) : PONIED
47. Cloud dwellers? : ANGELS
49. Guy in the kitchen : FIERI. He's a horrible cook, a terrible food critic but a great host and personality. Dear Food Network, please stop him critiquing other people's food and get him to stick to being a natural on TV. You notice he doesn't have his own cooking show any more?
50. Deli order : ON RYE. Food! Pastrami, please. At Katz's Deli on Houston in the lower East Side in Manhattan. Pickle spear. Fries if you must. Don't lose the ticket they give you on the way in, I believe you get thrown in the East River if you can't produce it on your way out to show what you ate and cash out.
52. For this reason : HENCE. Hence don't lose your ticket at Katz's
53. "Listen up," to Luis : OYE!
55. Indiana-based sports org. : NCAA. Two Indiana shout-outs today. South Bend for Notre Dame, and these wonderfully organized, rational and non-profit-making people in Indianapolis.
56. Chutzpah : GALL
58. Best Buy buys : PCS. I bought the Lenovo I'm composing this compostable blog at Best Buy a couple of months ago.
59. "That's it!" : AHA!
61. Flying Cloud, for one : REO. I really only know the Speedwagon, and that's because of the band. What a lovely car - this one is from 1931.
What's left? I'm sure I'm forgetting something ... oh wait - the grid!
Steve (Rory McIlroy to win the US Open, you heard it here first)
