Theme: Single-Letter Add-A-Word - or a name.
17A. Cut most likely to win a BBQ competition? : MODEL T-BONE Model T, T-Bone
Not this kind of T-bone. Ford Focus vs Ford Explorer crash test.
25A. Keurig coffee for the big day? : SPECIAL K-CUP Special K, K-Cup
35A. Rental to get the twins to college? : DOUBLE U-HAUL W. U-Haul.
47A. Sports competitions in anti-gravity? : SPACEX GAMES SpaceX. X Games.
56A. Ring up a short story writer? : DIAL "O"'HENRY Dial "O". O'Henry.
Ach. Two good ones to start with, one "really?" in the middle and two stretches to finish. If you're going to make a puzzle like this, you need to be consistent. "Double U" is a phrase? X Games is not hyphenated. Dial "O" was never used without ".. for Operator", and actually will never be heard again in modern parlance. Let's go with 2.5/5 for themage.
However, let's go find what is likable - there's a lot!
Across:
1. Seize : USURP. Great word. I think you can usurp power, I'm not sure you can usurp the day nor usurp the moment nor the initiative. Good luck, ESL students, and I think Spanish is difficult.
6. Just slightly : A BIT
10. Lip-__ : SYNC. Almost an art form nowadays. Back in 1990 Milli Vanilli were stripped of their "Best Newcomer" Grammy when it was revealed that they didn't sing on any of their own records nor at any of their live appearances.
14. Justice nominated by Barack : SONIA
15. Buddy, in slang : BRAH. Hawaii'an slang. It makes the gods cry when bratty high schoolers from Orange County use it.
16. Secure with lines : MOOR
19. TT automaker : AUDI. Looks a little like a VW Beetle that had an appointment with the chop shop.
20. Part of : IN ON. In on the plan, in on the secret ...
21. Feminine side : YIN vs. Yang. I can never remember the female/male definition of these two.
22. Keyboard shortcuts : MACROS. They're almost too complicated to bother with now. Some combination of ALT-SHIFT-CTRL and a letter or number gives you a shortcut. The only macro I have configured on my laptop is ALT-B which blacks out my screen when I'm presenting and I want to kill the projector display behind me.
24. TV scientist with 19 Emmys : NYE. Bill, the Science .... Guy.
27. Tear drier : TISSUE
29. Richmond-to-D.C. direction : N.N.E.
30. Hunk's pride : ABS
31. Finishes second : PLACES
34. Deli order : BLT. Enemy of the ABS.
38. Word before or after pack : RAT. Nice one. Rat Pack/Pack Rat.
39. Nearly : ALMOST
40. Asian New Year : TET
41. Harmless cyst : WEN
43. They're tossed up before they're made : PIZZAS. Food! Key word is "up" which helps distinguish the pizza from the salad.
51. Uganda's Amin : IDI
52. Ciudad Juárez neighbor : EL PASO
53. It's crude, then refined : GAS. Wait for it ..... oh, so not OIL. Nor Whisky.
54. Bit of cabinet hardware : KNOB
55. Money box : TILL
59. Bering Sea barker : SEAL
60. Impromptu modern group pic : USIE. Looks like it should be pronounced "You-sie" but it is actually "Uhzee" Think selfie and put your friends in the picture.
61. King Triton's mermaid daughter : ARIEL
62. Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA
63. Boys, to men : SONS
64. Commencement celebrants : GRADS
Down:
1. Org. that makes cents : U.S. MINT
2. Woody's wife : SOON YI. The less said about this the better.
3. Repeals : UNDOES
4. It meant nothing to Edith Piaf : RIEN. "Non, je ne regrette rien ..." I think her pronunciation is a little off with the "je" bit. But I'm English, what the heck do I know?
5. Buddy : PAL
6. Chicago 7 first name : ABBIE. Abbie Hoffman, on trial with his co-defendants following protests at the DNC Convention in Chicago in 1968.
7. Rodeo bucker : BRONC
8. Writer/illustrator Falconer known for "Olivia" children's books : IAN
9. Stan "__" Musial : THE MAN
10. Big wet one : SMACK.
11. "I'm not making that decision" : YOUR CALL
12. "For sure!" : NO DOUBT!
13. Baked fruit desserts : CRISPS. Pretty much the last thing that came to my mind. The interwebs are awash with recipes though, so I stand crumbled - I mean humbled.
18. Rare blood designation : TYPE AB. Positive or Negative, potential universal plasma donors.
23. Dogfish Head brew : ALE. What, not super-tasty Icelandic Fish Soup? I'm gutted.
25. "Star Trek" role for Takei and Cho : SULU. George Takei is a great person. Anyone who can say this, with all truthfulness, deserves a place in the World's Great People Hall Of Fame:
"I love things British. My car is British. My wardrobe, to a good extent, is British. I even love the food in London – I think British food has shaken its prevailing perception as indigestible and become quite wonderful."
The food? What a saint.
26. "To recap ... " : IN SUM
28. Pick out of a crowd : SPOT. There's Waldo!
32. Bell tower sound : CLANG
33. Long fish : EEL
34. Secretary of Agriculture under Nixon : BUTZ.
35. Smartphone arrangement : DATA PLAN
36. "Knock on wood" : HOPE SO
37. Craigslist caveat : AS IS. I don't like throwing things away, so I often put used items on Craigslist in the "Free" section. I just ask the person responding to agree they've actually read the ad by repeating the key phrase. The last thing I gave away was a totally hosed HP Printer/Scanner. The magic phrase was "It doesn't print anything black, which really means it doesn't print at all" Two hours later a very nice lady in a Mercedes C350 was happily loading it into her trunk.
38. Wrote back : REPLIED
40. Fly around the equator? : TSETSE
41. Actor Bentley : WES. My last fill - I didn't know the actor, nor the cyst. WES/WEN sounded marginally more believable than LES/LEN so Yay!
42. It included a sweet, not sorrowful, parting : EXODUS. I'm guessing this refers to Exodus, the book in the Bible. Guessing, because I got this totally through crosses; and a Google search of the phase to educate me io what I missed simply brought up two pages of other crossword clue links. I'd call this obscure to the point of being unreasonable.
44. Sunflower relative : ZINNIA. I'm neither a botanist nor a gardener, but this and 48D went straight in. However, if I were down to my last life whilst being dangled over the Slough of Despond and I was shown this picture, I'd have confidently, nay jubilalantly! cried "Chrysanthemum!" and that would be that. Steve No More. Seriously, how does this look like a sunflower?
45. Doted on : ADORED
46. Delphic diviners : SIBYLS. The Greek oracles, whence "sybillant". They were a little hissy, I guess.The clue is a wee bit off - there was one oracle at Delphi; the others were scattered around the Mediterranean. They came together at an annual convention called "Oracle OpenWorld". (I made that bit up).
48. Lily plant : CALLA
49. "Not __!" : AGAIN
50. Cock and bull : MALES
54. Broadway's Walter __ Theatre : KERR. Thank you, crosses.
57. Classified ad shorthand for "seeking" : ISO. In Search Of.
58. Folklore crone : HAG
That about ties it up for me. Just like a trussed chicken - stick me in the oven and I'm done!
Steve
17A. Cut most likely to win a BBQ competition? : MODEL T-BONE Model T, T-Bone
Not this kind of T-bone. Ford Focus vs Ford Explorer crash test.
25A. Keurig coffee for the big day? : SPECIAL K-CUP Special K, K-Cup
35A. Rental to get the twins to college? : DOUBLE U-HAUL W. U-Haul.
47A. Sports competitions in anti-gravity? : SPACEX GAMES SpaceX. X Games.
56A. Ring up a short story writer? : DIAL "O"'HENRY Dial "O". O'Henry.
Ach. Two good ones to start with, one "really?" in the middle and two stretches to finish. If you're going to make a puzzle like this, you need to be consistent. "Double U" is a phrase? X Games is not hyphenated. Dial "O" was never used without ".. for Operator", and actually will never be heard again in modern parlance. Let's go with 2.5/5 for themage.
However, let's go find what is likable - there's a lot!
Across:
1. Seize : USURP. Great word. I think you can usurp power, I'm not sure you can usurp the day nor usurp the moment nor the initiative. Good luck, ESL students, and I think Spanish is difficult.
6. Just slightly : A BIT
10. Lip-__ : SYNC. Almost an art form nowadays. Back in 1990 Milli Vanilli were stripped of their "Best Newcomer" Grammy when it was revealed that they didn't sing on any of their own records nor at any of their live appearances.
14. Justice nominated by Barack : SONIA
15. Buddy, in slang : BRAH. Hawaii'an slang. It makes the gods cry when bratty high schoolers from Orange County use it.
16. Secure with lines : MOOR
19. TT automaker : AUDI. Looks a little like a VW Beetle that had an appointment with the chop shop.
20. Part of : IN ON. In on the plan, in on the secret ...
21. Feminine side : YIN vs. Yang. I can never remember the female/male definition of these two.
22. Keyboard shortcuts : MACROS. They're almost too complicated to bother with now. Some combination of ALT-SHIFT-CTRL and a letter or number gives you a shortcut. The only macro I have configured on my laptop is ALT-B which blacks out my screen when I'm presenting and I want to kill the projector display behind me.
24. TV scientist with 19 Emmys : NYE. Bill, the Science .... Guy.
27. Tear drier : TISSUE
29. Richmond-to-D.C. direction : N.N.E.
30. Hunk's pride : ABS
31. Finishes second : PLACES
34. Deli order : BLT. Enemy of the ABS.
38. Word before or after pack : RAT. Nice one. Rat Pack/Pack Rat.
39. Nearly : ALMOST
40. Asian New Year : TET
41. Harmless cyst : WEN
43. They're tossed up before they're made : PIZZAS. Food! Key word is "up" which helps distinguish the pizza from the salad.
51. Uganda's Amin : IDI
52. Ciudad Juárez neighbor : EL PASO
53. It's crude, then refined : GAS. Wait for it ..... oh, so not OIL. Nor Whisky.
54. Bit of cabinet hardware : KNOB
55. Money box : TILL
59. Bering Sea barker : SEAL
60. Impromptu modern group pic : USIE. Looks like it should be pronounced "You-sie" but it is actually "Uhzee" Think selfie and put your friends in the picture.
61. King Triton's mermaid daughter : ARIEL
62. Poet __ St. Vincent Millay : EDNA
63. Boys, to men : SONS
64. Commencement celebrants : GRADS
Down:
1. Org. that makes cents : U.S. MINT
2. Woody's wife : SOON YI. The less said about this the better.
3. Repeals : UNDOES
4. It meant nothing to Edith Piaf : RIEN. "Non, je ne regrette rien ..." I think her pronunciation is a little off with the "je" bit. But I'm English, what the heck do I know?
5. Buddy : PAL
6. Chicago 7 first name : ABBIE. Abbie Hoffman, on trial with his co-defendants following protests at the DNC Convention in Chicago in 1968.
7. Rodeo bucker : BRONC
8. Writer/illustrator Falconer known for "Olivia" children's books : IAN
9. Stan "__" Musial : THE MAN
10. Big wet one : SMACK.
11. "I'm not making that decision" : YOUR CALL
12. "For sure!" : NO DOUBT!
13. Baked fruit desserts : CRISPS. Pretty much the last thing that came to my mind. The interwebs are awash with recipes though, so I stand crumbled - I mean humbled.
18. Rare blood designation : TYPE AB. Positive or Negative, potential universal plasma donors.
23. Dogfish Head brew : ALE. What, not super-tasty Icelandic Fish Soup? I'm gutted.
25. "Star Trek" role for Takei and Cho : SULU. George Takei is a great person. Anyone who can say this, with all truthfulness, deserves a place in the World's Great People Hall Of Fame:
"I love things British. My car is British. My wardrobe, to a good extent, is British. I even love the food in London – I think British food has shaken its prevailing perception as indigestible and become quite wonderful."
The food? What a saint.
26. "To recap ... " : IN SUM
28. Pick out of a crowd : SPOT. There's Waldo!
32. Bell tower sound : CLANG
33. Long fish : EEL
34. Secretary of Agriculture under Nixon : BUTZ.
35. Smartphone arrangement : DATA PLAN
36. "Knock on wood" : HOPE SO
37. Craigslist caveat : AS IS. I don't like throwing things away, so I often put used items on Craigslist in the "Free" section. I just ask the person responding to agree they've actually read the ad by repeating the key phrase. The last thing I gave away was a totally hosed HP Printer/Scanner. The magic phrase was "It doesn't print anything black, which really means it doesn't print at all" Two hours later a very nice lady in a Mercedes C350 was happily loading it into her trunk.
38. Wrote back : REPLIED
40. Fly around the equator? : TSETSE
41. Actor Bentley : WES. My last fill - I didn't know the actor, nor the cyst. WES/WEN sounded marginally more believable than LES/LEN so Yay!
42. It included a sweet, not sorrowful, parting : EXODUS. I'm guessing this refers to Exodus, the book in the Bible. Guessing, because I got this totally through crosses; and a Google search of the phase to educate me io what I missed simply brought up two pages of other crossword clue links. I'd call this obscure to the point of being unreasonable.
44. Sunflower relative : ZINNIA. I'm neither a botanist nor a gardener, but this and 48D went straight in. However, if I were down to my last life whilst being dangled over the Slough of Despond and I was shown this picture, I'd have confidently, nay jubilalantly! cried "Chrysanthemum!" and that would be that. Steve No More. Seriously, how does this look like a sunflower?
45. Doted on : ADORED
46. Delphic diviners : SIBYLS. The Greek oracles, whence "sybillant". They were a little hissy, I guess.The clue is a wee bit off - there was one oracle at Delphi; the others were scattered around the Mediterranean. They came together at an annual convention called "Oracle OpenWorld". (I made that bit up).
48. Lily plant : CALLA
49. "Not __!" : AGAIN
50. Cock and bull : MALES
54. Broadway's Walter __ Theatre : KERR. Thank you, crosses.
57. Classified ad shorthand for "seeking" : ISO. In Search Of.
58. Folklore crone : HAG
That about ties it up for me. Just like a trussed chicken - stick me in the oven and I'm done!
Steve
