Theme: No, Why? The "Y" is dropped from the end of the theme entries and the resulting phrase is clued accordingly. As the hint says:
61A. Make smart remarks ... and a phonetic hint to the answers to starred clues : WISE OFF
And the themers:
19A. *Award-winning defense unit? : TOP FORT. Top Forty.
31A. *Manchester hospital hookup? : ENGLISH IV. English Ivy. Hedera Helix, aka common ivy, or simply ivy. This theme entry is interesting as the pre- and post- "Y" versions are homophones, and techinically "IV" is an abbreviation and not clued as such.
38A. *Either of a historic PGA pair? : ARNIE'S ARM. Arnie's Army. Golfer Arnold Palmer's legions of fans were known as "Arnie's Army". Notice that the pre- and post- versions of this entry actually refer to the same person.
49A. *Enforcer of greenhouse gas restrictions? : CARBON COP. Carbon Copy. I wonder if carbon paper actually exists any more?
Well, good day to you all. An interesting theme from Mark today. I got ENGLISH IV first, and as I mentioned above I thought that all the themers were going to be homophones, so that put me off track for a couple of minutes. I put myself firther off-track in the north-east corner when I jumped to an IAMS conclusion without waiting for any cross-confirmation, but that was easily fixed.
The Z was my final fill, and actually a WAG - Both ZESTA and AZERA were unknowns; the alphabet run turned up Z as feeling the most likely, and I guessed right. Phew!
Let's see what else we've got going on:
Across:
1. Not insignificant : BIG
4. LeBron's hometown : AKRON. Basketball star LeBron James, who famously decamped from Cleveland to Miami to win "not one, not two, not three ..." championships. He got his ego under control after a couple of years. He won two championships with Miami, then returned to Cleveland and won his third in one of the best Finals for years against the Golden State Warriors.
9. Pet food brand : ALPO
13. Discontinued iPod model : NANO. I've still got one of these somewhere, it's probably at the bottom of one of my laptop backpack pockets.
14. Saltine brand : ZESTA
15. Action word : VERB
16. Words after an estimate : ORSO
17. Divisions politiques : ÉTATS. I enjoyed seeing the close proximity of ROI in the grid; it reminded me of Louis XIV and his famous statement "L'etat c'est moi."
18. Those, to Pablo : ESOS
21. Sculler's blade : OAR
23. Capri suffix : OTE. A couple of entries filled themselves in for me today, this was one of them. A native of the island of Capri is a Capriote.
24. Trattoria menu suffix : INI. Two suffixes in a row. One would suffix - I mean suffice.
25. Chaucer offering : TALE. The Canterbury Tales. Bane of many a schoolboy's life when read in medieval English.
27. "Stagecoach," for one : OATER
29. Birdcage feature : PERCH.
34. Multichannel : STEREO. I guess two is "multi." Quadrophonic was all the rage when I was growing up, but if you didn't sit dead center of the four speakers it was rather a waste of time. Great for lonely audiophiles though.
36. Saturn SUV : VUE
37. One of the Nereids : IONE. This was another of the entries that filled itself in for me. There are 50 of these sea-nymphs, daughters of Nereus and Doris. You've got a minute to name them all - GO!
41. Neatnik's opposite : SLOB
44. Pioneering ISP : AOL
45. Warm-weather wear : SHORTS. I wear shorts in most weathers, I've got so used to the California climate. I got some odd looks in England a couple of weeks ago, I guess an overcoat and a pair of shorts is an odd sartorial combination.
52. Three-time Wimbledon champ : EVERT. The great Chris. Her record is quite amazing - she reached the semi-finals or better in 52 of 56 of the Grand Slam tournaments she entered, and she one at least one Slam tournament for 13 consecutive years.
53. Directive : ORDER
54. One of the three bears : PAPA
56. Mai __ : TAI
57. Arctic coast explorer : RAE. Scotsman John Rae. He probably didn't wear shorts - he would have been wearing a kilt.
58. Consume : EAT
63. Mosque figure : IMAM
65. Big name in craft stores : JOANN. This had me foxed for a little while - I knew the store, but I didn't realize the name lacked a final "E"
67. Response to being slain, in texts? : ROFL. "Slain" in the "Wow, that's funny" sense. Rolling On the Floor, Laughing".
68. Khartoum's river : NILE
69. Match : AGREE
70. "Would __?" : I LIE. Usually the answer is "Yes, through your teeth."
71. Notable deed : GEST. Learning moment for me. I know the French "Geste", I didn't realize there was an English equivalent, but there it is in the dictionary.
72. Saratoga action : RACES
73. PC panic button : ESC. Escape. It usually doesn't do very much.
Down:
1. British nobleman : BARONET
2. Motivate : INSPIRE
3. Mess (up) : GOOF
4. Korean sedan to be discontinued in the U.S. after 2017 : AZERA
5. Whistling vessel : KETTLE. It took me a loooong time to see this, and it was so obvious when I did.
6. Nation surrounding 10-Down: Abbr. : R.S.A. The Republic of South Africa.
.
7. Director Preminger : OTTO
8. "Hidden Figures" org. : NASA
9. "__ Maria" : AVE
10. Enclaved African land : LESOTHO. The beautiful Maletsunyane Falls:
11. Tofu nutrient : PROTEIN
12. Watch : OBSERVE
13. Custom on some cruises : NO TIPS. I've never been on a cruise; at least not one where I wasn't sailing the boat myself.
20. Multiple-choice choice : OTHER. I like this one. I was thinking of different letters at first.
22. Louis XIV, par exemple : ROI
26. Wrap around : ENVELOP
28. "I, Robot" writer : ASIMOV
30. Champion swimmer/actor Buster : CRABBE. Clarence Linden Crabbe II. He made over a hundred movies and played Flash Gordon in the TV series. However, I'm sure his middle child didn't thank him for the name "Sande".
32. Director Van Sant : GUS
33. Where ewes can hang out : LEAS. Meadows, by another name.
35. __ even keel : ON AN
39. Biennial games org. : I.O.C. The transparently honest and wholly uncorruptable International Olympic Committee.
40. Flightless birds : RHEAS. I always forget these fellas, I get stuck on EMU and go no further.
41. Making a touchdown : SCORING. Except you don't actually have to touch the ball down. The equivalent in rugby is a try, and you do have to touch the ball down, under control, otherwise the try doesn't count.
42. Metro area SSE of Casper : LARAMIE. Wyoming. I've flown over it a ton of times, but never actually been there.
43. Major hassles : ORDEALS
46. Updates the plant : RE-TOOLS. Of course I was on the flora track for the longest time.
47. Rush hour report topic : TRAFFIC.
48. Suppress : STIFLE
50. Vein contents : ORE
51. Plains tribe : PAWNEE
55. Source of hard and soft lumber : PINES
59. A bit cracked : AJAR. I was thinking "cracked" in the mildly insane sense. I was wrong.
60. Forum attire : TOGA
62. Lackawanna's lake : ERIE. Nailed it! Thank you, hundreds of crosswords.
64. Ran into : MET
66. __ welding : ARC
That's all from me!
Except that's not all from me - here's the grid!
Steve
61A. Make smart remarks ... and a phonetic hint to the answers to starred clues : WISE OFF
And the themers:
19A. *Award-winning defense unit? : TOP FORT. Top Forty.
31A. *Manchester hospital hookup? : ENGLISH IV. English Ivy. Hedera Helix, aka common ivy, or simply ivy. This theme entry is interesting as the pre- and post- "Y" versions are homophones, and techinically "IV" is an abbreviation and not clued as such.
38A. *Either of a historic PGA pair? : ARNIE'S ARM. Arnie's Army. Golfer Arnold Palmer's legions of fans were known as "Arnie's Army". Notice that the pre- and post- versions of this entry actually refer to the same person.
49A. *Enforcer of greenhouse gas restrictions? : CARBON COP. Carbon Copy. I wonder if carbon paper actually exists any more?
Well, good day to you all. An interesting theme from Mark today. I got ENGLISH IV first, and as I mentioned above I thought that all the themers were going to be homophones, so that put me off track for a couple of minutes. I put myself firther off-track in the north-east corner when I jumped to an IAMS conclusion without waiting for any cross-confirmation, but that was easily fixed.
The Z was my final fill, and actually a WAG - Both ZESTA and AZERA were unknowns; the alphabet run turned up Z as feeling the most likely, and I guessed right. Phew!
Let's see what else we've got going on:
Across:
1. Not insignificant : BIG
4. LeBron's hometown : AKRON. Basketball star LeBron James, who famously decamped from Cleveland to Miami to win "not one, not two, not three ..." championships. He got his ego under control after a couple of years. He won two championships with Miami, then returned to Cleveland and won his third in one of the best Finals for years against the Golden State Warriors.
9. Pet food brand : ALPO
13. Discontinued iPod model : NANO. I've still got one of these somewhere, it's probably at the bottom of one of my laptop backpack pockets.
14. Saltine brand : ZESTA
15. Action word : VERB
16. Words after an estimate : ORSO
17. Divisions politiques : ÉTATS. I enjoyed seeing the close proximity of ROI in the grid; it reminded me of Louis XIV and his famous statement "L'etat c'est moi."
18. Those, to Pablo : ESOS
21. Sculler's blade : OAR
23. Capri suffix : OTE. A couple of entries filled themselves in for me today, this was one of them. A native of the island of Capri is a Capriote.
24. Trattoria menu suffix : INI. Two suffixes in a row. One would suffix - I mean suffice.
25. Chaucer offering : TALE. The Canterbury Tales. Bane of many a schoolboy's life when read in medieval English.
27. "Stagecoach," for one : OATER
29. Birdcage feature : PERCH.
34. Multichannel : STEREO. I guess two is "multi." Quadrophonic was all the rage when I was growing up, but if you didn't sit dead center of the four speakers it was rather a waste of time. Great for lonely audiophiles though.
36. Saturn SUV : VUE
37. One of the Nereids : IONE. This was another of the entries that filled itself in for me. There are 50 of these sea-nymphs, daughters of Nereus and Doris. You've got a minute to name them all - GO!
41. Neatnik's opposite : SLOB
44. Pioneering ISP : AOL
45. Warm-weather wear : SHORTS. I wear shorts in most weathers, I've got so used to the California climate. I got some odd looks in England a couple of weeks ago, I guess an overcoat and a pair of shorts is an odd sartorial combination.
52. Three-time Wimbledon champ : EVERT. The great Chris. Her record is quite amazing - she reached the semi-finals or better in 52 of 56 of the Grand Slam tournaments she entered, and she one at least one Slam tournament for 13 consecutive years.
53. Directive : ORDER
54. One of the three bears : PAPA
56. Mai __ : TAI
57. Arctic coast explorer : RAE. Scotsman John Rae. He probably didn't wear shorts - he would have been wearing a kilt.
58. Consume : EAT
63. Mosque figure : IMAM
65. Big name in craft stores : JOANN. This had me foxed for a little while - I knew the store, but I didn't realize the name lacked a final "E"
67. Response to being slain, in texts? : ROFL. "Slain" in the "Wow, that's funny" sense. Rolling On the Floor, Laughing".
68. Khartoum's river : NILE
69. Match : AGREE
70. "Would __?" : I LIE. Usually the answer is "Yes, through your teeth."
71. Notable deed : GEST. Learning moment for me. I know the French "Geste", I didn't realize there was an English equivalent, but there it is in the dictionary.
72. Saratoga action : RACES
73. PC panic button : ESC. Escape. It usually doesn't do very much.
Down:
1. British nobleman : BARONET
2. Motivate : INSPIRE
3. Mess (up) : GOOF
4. Korean sedan to be discontinued in the U.S. after 2017 : AZERA
5. Whistling vessel : KETTLE. It took me a loooong time to see this, and it was so obvious when I did.
6. Nation surrounding 10-Down: Abbr. : R.S.A. The Republic of South Africa.
.
7. Director Preminger : OTTO
8. "Hidden Figures" org. : NASA
9. "__ Maria" : AVE
10. Enclaved African land : LESOTHO. The beautiful Maletsunyane Falls:
11. Tofu nutrient : PROTEIN
12. Watch : OBSERVE
13. Custom on some cruises : NO TIPS. I've never been on a cruise; at least not one where I wasn't sailing the boat myself.
20. Multiple-choice choice : OTHER. I like this one. I was thinking of different letters at first.
22. Louis XIV, par exemple : ROI
26. Wrap around : ENVELOP
28. "I, Robot" writer : ASIMOV
30. Champion swimmer/actor Buster : CRABBE. Clarence Linden Crabbe II. He made over a hundred movies and played Flash Gordon in the TV series. However, I'm sure his middle child didn't thank him for the name "Sande".
32. Director Van Sant : GUS
33. Where ewes can hang out : LEAS. Meadows, by another name.
35. __ even keel : ON AN
39. Biennial games org. : I.O.C. The transparently honest and wholly uncorruptable International Olympic Committee.
40. Flightless birds : RHEAS. I always forget these fellas, I get stuck on EMU and go no further.
41. Making a touchdown : SCORING. Except you don't actually have to touch the ball down. The equivalent in rugby is a try, and you do have to touch the ball down, under control, otherwise the try doesn't count.
42. Metro area SSE of Casper : LARAMIE. Wyoming. I've flown over it a ton of times, but never actually been there.
43. Major hassles : ORDEALS
46. Updates the plant : RE-TOOLS. Of course I was on the flora track for the longest time.
47. Rush hour report topic : TRAFFIC.
48. Suppress : STIFLE
50. Vein contents : ORE
51. Plains tribe : PAWNEE
55. Source of hard and soft lumber : PINES
59. A bit cracked : AJAR. I was thinking "cracked" in the mildly insane sense. I was wrong.
60. Forum attire : TOGA
62. Lackawanna's lake : ERIE. Nailed it! Thank you, hundreds of crosswords.
64. Ran into : MET
66. __ welding : ARC
That's all from me!
Except that's not all from me - here's the grid!
Steve
