Theme: Colorful Language: Take the adjective's color, mix it with the original phrase's color, and the result is a pleasing pigment. As the reveal tells us:
61A. Primary mixes that affect 17-, 27- and 46-Across : COLOR COMBOS
17A. Cowardly Snoopy nemesis? : ORANGE BARON - A "yellow" Red Baron gives us ORANGE
27A. Gloomy route to Oz? : GREEN BRICK ROAD - A "blue" Yellow Brick road gives us GREEN
46A. Embarrassed three-person Vegas act? : PURPLE MAN GROUP - A "red" Blue Man Group gives us PURPLE.
Clever theme, very nicely done. The elegance in the cluing is finding an adjective to represent the color which is to be "mixed" with the phrase color. Very nicely done.
Some nice fill, very little groan-worthy, all in all a very good job by Kurt and Jan-Michele. Let's see what we've got:
Across:
1. Drains : SAPS
5. Takes from page to screen, say : ADAPTS
11. One of Beethoven's nine: Abbr. : SYMphonies
14. Party with tiki torches : LUAU
15. Flashy Chevy : CAMARO. The first car I bought when I moved to the USA was a Camaro. I think the dealer thought it was his lucky day; it was the very base model (it was a stick shift, it even had wind-down windows) and had probably sat on the lot for a year. I enjoyed driving it.
16A. With 36-Down, Dr. Seuss classic with the subtitle "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use" : HOP and ...
36D. See 16-Across : ON POP. Thank you, crosses. The second "O" was my last square.
19. Seagoing "I see" : AYE. I see? Are you sure?
20. French film icon Brigitte : BARDOT. We can't have Mlle Bardot without Roger Vadim's movie poster, can we?
21. "The Racer's Edge" : STP. I've got no idea what this stuff actually does.
22. Urban air concern : SMOG. The La Tuna Canyon wildfire here last weekend sent everyone indoors. I passed on going hiking, it didn't seem such a smart idea when the air was yellow.
23. Much : A LOT
25. Curriculum __ : VITAE. Resumé here, CV over there. "[the] course of [one's] life."
32. Actress Vardalos : NIA. Opa!
33. Butte relative : MESA. An eroded mesa becomes a butte.
34. RadioShack predecessor : TANDY. I have no idea how I knew this, but no hesitation at all.
35. Automaker Ferrari : ENZO
37. Watched closely : SPIED
40. Fictional London alter ego : HYDE. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
41. United : AS ONE
43. Halt : STOP
45. Belonging to us : OUR
50. Kentucky pioneer : BOONE. Daniel Boone, born in Pennsylvania, died in Missouri and buried in Kentucky. He got around quite a bit for those days.
51. Divided sea : ARAL
52. Applaud : CLAP
54. Old PC monitor : CRT. Cathode Ray Tube. It's been a while since I saw one of these. They weighted a ton and took up most of your desk.
56. "Altogether ooky" family name : ADDAMS
60. Rocker Ocasek : RIC. "The Cars" front man and songwriter.
63. Query : ASK
64. Fire up : AROUSE
65. Attract pigeons for, say : ABET. Nice clue! The "pigeon drop" is a con carried out by two or more hustlers.
66. Bluster : GAS
67. Colorful fish : TETRAS
68. 2016 N.L. East champs : NATS. Washington Nationals.
Down:
1. Untidy type : SLOB
2. Certain something : AURA
3. Early late-night host : PAAR. Yay! I resisted filling in PARR for the very first time.
4. Ice cream treat : SUNDAE
5. Polish removers : ACETONES. I love the smell of acetone. If I worked in a nail salon I think I'd be high as a kite all the time.
6. Apply carefully : DAB. As acetone, on nail polish.
7. Latin I verb : AMAS. You are. I was very surprised to discover that Spanish has two verbs for "to be" just to make things complicated for no good reason.
8. "Friday the 13th: Jason Lives," sequentially : PART VI. Something I will never watch.
9. Torrid Zone parallel : TROPIC. Crosses filled this in for me. Tropic of Cancer to the north, Tropic of Capricorn to the south. I've always called that zone "The Tropics".
10. Junior : SON
11. Words of reproach : SHAME ON YOU! Fool me once ...
12. Up-and-down toy : YO-YO
13. Downloaded video format : MPEG
18. Jewish folklore figure : GOLEM. A being made of clay or mud. Depictions vary, here's a relatively calm one:
22. Mother of Isaac : SARAH
24. Recipe amt. : TBSP. Tablespoon. And yes, before Anonymous in the comments quibbles later that it's not correct, yes, it's correct. It's not TBS, that's a cable channel.
26. B'way buy : TKT. A ticket to a Broadway show. Probably not my favorite clue/fill of the day.
27. Many of its knives have a limited lifetime warranty : GINSU
28. Arkansas team : RAZORBACKS. University of Arkansas. Whilst Arizona's Diamondbacks are often dubbed the D-Backs, these folk are never referred to as R-Backs. The fans chant "Woo Pig Sooie". I have no idea why.
29. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA. A blast from the past. Is there a Mrs. Putin? I've never seen her if there is. There's something odd about that chap, he loves taking his shirt off, showing off his guns and challenging people to wrestle. Maybe he should set about that North Korean nutcase.
30. Compute : ADD UP
31. Salon worker : DYER
32. Twice-monthly tide : NEAP. Two neaps, two springs.
38. Sicilian high point : ETNA
39. Track events with mechanical lures : DOG RACES. We used to go to the Walthamstowe dog races after business was done for the day in the City back when I worked in London. The best sight ever was seeing the electric hare jump the rails and cause all kinds of commotion as six dogs realize that they were actually going to catch up with it. Happy days.
42. "Strange Magic" gp. : E.L.O.
44. Museum with Goyas and El Grecos : PRADO
47. Recital bonus : ENCORE
48. Red wine option : MERLOT
49. Gary who played Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved" : OLDMAN. Ludwig V. of the nine syms. up top.
52. Outcropping : CRAG
53. Songwriter Loeb : LISA. The first person to have a number 1 pop single without being signed to a recording contract.
55. __ de force : TOUR
57. "Dancing Queen" quartet : ABBA
58. Bubbly maker : MOËT. The diacritical on the E tells you to pronounce the vowels separately, otherwise you'd be saying "meur" or something vaguely similar.
59. Old fast fliers : SSTS
61. Player in an indoor tree : CAT. I had no idea these things were called Cat Trees.
62. Soweto's country: Abbr. : R.S.A. Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg's Soweto is an abbreviated form of "South Western Townships."
Just the grid to post, and I think that's me done!
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Big Easy (George) sent me this picture. He wondered "if any of the Cornerites' baseball fans know who the statue is behind me. Hint. The first National League player to hit 500 home runs. The plaque with his name is covered by flowers."
Big Easy and his wife come to this gym twice a week to play Pickleball.
61A. Primary mixes that affect 17-, 27- and 46-Across : COLOR COMBOS
17A. Cowardly Snoopy nemesis? : ORANGE BARON - A "yellow" Red Baron gives us ORANGE
27A. Gloomy route to Oz? : GREEN BRICK ROAD - A "blue" Yellow Brick road gives us GREEN
46A. Embarrassed three-person Vegas act? : PURPLE MAN GROUP - A "red" Blue Man Group gives us PURPLE.
Clever theme, very nicely done. The elegance in the cluing is finding an adjective to represent the color which is to be "mixed" with the phrase color. Very nicely done.
Some nice fill, very little groan-worthy, all in all a very good job by Kurt and Jan-Michele. Let's see what we've got:
Across:
1. Drains : SAPS
5. Takes from page to screen, say : ADAPTS
11. One of Beethoven's nine: Abbr. : SYMphonies
14. Party with tiki torches : LUAU
15. Flashy Chevy : CAMARO. The first car I bought when I moved to the USA was a Camaro. I think the dealer thought it was his lucky day; it was the very base model (it was a stick shift, it even had wind-down windows) and had probably sat on the lot for a year. I enjoyed driving it.
16A. With 36-Down, Dr. Seuss classic with the subtitle "The Simplest Seuss for Youngest Use" : HOP and ...
36D. See 16-Across : ON POP. Thank you, crosses. The second "O" was my last square.
19. Seagoing "I see" : AYE. I see? Are you sure?
20. French film icon Brigitte : BARDOT. We can't have Mlle Bardot without Roger Vadim's movie poster, can we?
21. "The Racer's Edge" : STP. I've got no idea what this stuff actually does.
22. Urban air concern : SMOG. The La Tuna Canyon wildfire here last weekend sent everyone indoors. I passed on going hiking, it didn't seem such a smart idea when the air was yellow.
23. Much : A LOT
25. Curriculum __ : VITAE. Resumé here, CV over there. "[the] course of [one's] life."
32. Actress Vardalos : NIA. Opa!
33. Butte relative : MESA. An eroded mesa becomes a butte.
34. RadioShack predecessor : TANDY. I have no idea how I knew this, but no hesitation at all.
35. Automaker Ferrari : ENZO
37. Watched closely : SPIED
40. Fictional London alter ego : HYDE. Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
41. United : AS ONE
43. Halt : STOP
45. Belonging to us : OUR
50. Kentucky pioneer : BOONE. Daniel Boone, born in Pennsylvania, died in Missouri and buried in Kentucky. He got around quite a bit for those days.
51. Divided sea : ARAL
52. Applaud : CLAP
54. Old PC monitor : CRT. Cathode Ray Tube. It's been a while since I saw one of these. They weighted a ton and took up most of your desk.
56. "Altogether ooky" family name : ADDAMS
60. Rocker Ocasek : RIC. "The Cars" front man and songwriter.
63. Query : ASK
64. Fire up : AROUSE
65. Attract pigeons for, say : ABET. Nice clue! The "pigeon drop" is a con carried out by two or more hustlers.
66. Bluster : GAS
67. Colorful fish : TETRAS
68. 2016 N.L. East champs : NATS. Washington Nationals.
Down:
1. Untidy type : SLOB
2. Certain something : AURA
3. Early late-night host : PAAR. Yay! I resisted filling in PARR for the very first time.
4. Ice cream treat : SUNDAE
5. Polish removers : ACETONES. I love the smell of acetone. If I worked in a nail salon I think I'd be high as a kite all the time.
6. Apply carefully : DAB. As acetone, on nail polish.
7. Latin I verb : AMAS. You are. I was very surprised to discover that Spanish has two verbs for "to be" just to make things complicated for no good reason.
8. "Friday the 13th: Jason Lives," sequentially : PART VI. Something I will never watch.
9. Torrid Zone parallel : TROPIC. Crosses filled this in for me. Tropic of Cancer to the north, Tropic of Capricorn to the south. I've always called that zone "The Tropics".
10. Junior : SON
11. Words of reproach : SHAME ON YOU! Fool me once ...
12. Up-and-down toy : YO-YO
13. Downloaded video format : MPEG
18. Jewish folklore figure : GOLEM. A being made of clay or mud. Depictions vary, here's a relatively calm one:
22. Mother of Isaac : SARAH
24. Recipe amt. : TBSP. Tablespoon. And yes, before Anonymous in the comments quibbles later that it's not correct, yes, it's correct. It's not TBS, that's a cable channel.
26. B'way buy : TKT. A ticket to a Broadway show. Probably not my favorite clue/fill of the day.
27. Many of its knives have a limited lifetime warranty : GINSU
28. Arkansas team : RAZORBACKS. University of Arkansas. Whilst Arizona's Diamondbacks are often dubbed the D-Backs, these folk are never referred to as R-Backs. The fans chant "Woo Pig Sooie". I have no idea why.
29. Mrs. Gorbachev : RAISA. A blast from the past. Is there a Mrs. Putin? I've never seen her if there is. There's something odd about that chap, he loves taking his shirt off, showing off his guns and challenging people to wrestle. Maybe he should set about that North Korean nutcase.
30. Compute : ADD UP
31. Salon worker : DYER
32. Twice-monthly tide : NEAP. Two neaps, two springs.
38. Sicilian high point : ETNA
39. Track events with mechanical lures : DOG RACES. We used to go to the Walthamstowe dog races after business was done for the day in the City back when I worked in London. The best sight ever was seeing the electric hare jump the rails and cause all kinds of commotion as six dogs realize that they were actually going to catch up with it. Happy days.
42. "Strange Magic" gp. : E.L.O.
44. Museum with Goyas and El Grecos : PRADO
47. Recital bonus : ENCORE
48. Red wine option : MERLOT
49. Gary who played Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved" : OLDMAN. Ludwig V. of the nine syms. up top.
52. Outcropping : CRAG
53. Songwriter Loeb : LISA. The first person to have a number 1 pop single without being signed to a recording contract.
55. __ de force : TOUR
57. "Dancing Queen" quartet : ABBA
58. Bubbly maker : MOËT. The diacritical on the E tells you to pronounce the vowels separately, otherwise you'd be saying "meur" or something vaguely similar.
59. Old fast fliers : SSTS
61. Player in an indoor tree : CAT. I had no idea these things were called Cat Trees.
62. Soweto's country: Abbr. : R.S.A. Republic of South Africa. Johannesburg's Soweto is an abbreviated form of "South Western Townships."
Just the grid to post, and I think that's me done!
Steve
Big Easy (George) sent me this picture. He wondered "if any of the Cornerites' baseball fans know who the statue is behind me. Hint. The first National League player to hit 500 home runs. The plaque with his name is covered by flowers."
Big Easy and his wife come to this gym twice a week to play Pickleball.
