Theme:
17A. Whirligig : SPINNING TOY. I'd call it a "spinning top", but that would rather defeat the purpose of the theme.
25A. Mont Blanc, e.g. : ALPINE PEAK. It's probably the least peak-y of the well-known Alps. It's big though. The ski resort of Chamonix sits in the valley below.
37A. Fine woolen wear : CASHMERE SWEATER.
46A. Westminster award : BEST IN SHOW. The Westminster Dog Show. This commercial for Audi never fails to make me laugh.
55A. Motown group ... and what 17-, 25-, 37- and 46-Across comprise? : THE FOUR TOPS.
It's the same old song. No, not the theme, the music. The theme entries came pretty easily, just one very minor nit with the toy/top issue I mentioned above.
This is a rare puzzle that I didn't finish. I thought that Charlotteville was in South Carolina, but USC didn't tie with EUREKA and I flat-out could not see VW BUGS, so that V was my blank spot.
Hindsight being 20/20, it couldn't really have been any other letter, but even multiple alphabet runs brought me up short. I'll blame jet-lag, even though I never really get affected by it!
Let's see what else Mr. Mendelson challenged us with:
Across:
1. It can generate a lot of interest : CREDIT. The interest can escalate pretty quickly unless you behave. The credit card companies love that.
7. Become less aloof : THAW
11. Texting format, briefly : SMS. Short Message Service. Pictures and what-have-you use MMS, Multimedia Messaging Service.
14. Saint of Ávila : TERESA
15. Opera set in Egypt : AIDA
16. Fell with an ax : HEW
19. Toothpaste-approving org. : A.D.A.
20. Northernmost capital on the Mississippi : ST. PAUL I'm sure C.C. knew this right off the bat. I had to wait for a couple of crosses.
21. Key of Grieg's only piano concerto: Abbr. : A MIN. Nice change from the African Dictator clue.
22. Careful way to play it : SAFE
28. Class-conscious gp.? : P.T.A.
29. Actress de Armas of "Blade Runner 2049" : ANA. Thank you, crosses. I've not seen the new Blade Runner, the original was great.
30. Swivel around : SLUE. Great word.
31. Fielding mishap : ERROR
33. Attacking fiercely : STORMING. Usually the castle. With pitchforks and torches.
40. Increased steadily : SPIRALED
41. Rogue : KNAVE
42. Lively, in mus. : ANIM. Animato, in a lively manner.
43. Charlottesville sch. : U.V.A. As I mentioned in the intro, jut could not see this.
45. Majors in acting : LEE
50. Admiral who explored the Antarctic : BYRD
51. x, y and z, in math : AXES
52. 11th Greek letter : LAMBDA. These chaps. Upper and lower case. Λ λ
54. "Hey, ewe!" : BAA!
60. Large shade tree : ELM
61. Run into : MEET
62. Garden figures in red hats : GNOMES. I'm going to launch a line of sundials with a gnome as the gnomon, if somebody hasn't already thought of it.
63. Muddy pen : STY
64. Scalawags : IMPS
65. Grieg wrote only one for piano : SONATA. In E Minor, unlike his one piano concerto. I wonder why he only wrote one of each?
Down:
1. Euro parts: Abbr. : CTS. Eurolets are cents. I'm not sure I knew that.
2. Street cred : REP. Urban slang, I'm guessing from "reputation."
3. "__ tu": Verdi aria : ERI
4. Not getting it : DENSE
5. Ain't right? : ISN'T
6. Clavell's "Shogun" sequel : TAIPAN. I boomeranged between SAIPAN, TAIPEI and finally settled on the correct answer.
7. Prepare to advance after a fly ball : TAG UP. Baseball. It's like cricket, except with round bats. And four bases. And a mound. And nine on each side. And a pitcher, not a bowler. And you only have one batter up at a time. And he's not called a batsman. And he has to run if he hits the ball fair. OK, it's nothing like cricket.
8. Schedules of items to deal with : HIT LISTS. I call mine to-do lists.
9. Hubbub : ADO
10. Path : WAY. Pathway!
11. "Tut-tut!" : SHAME!
12. __ blitz : MEDIA. Nice fill-in-the-blank. Took me a while to see this one.
13. Two-time Best Actress winner Hilary : SWANK
18. Simba's mate : NALA. The Lion King. Still on my to-do list (!) to see it on Broadway.
21. Hypothetical evolutionary link : APEMAN
22. Short glasses? : SPECS
23. Set __ for: lure : A TRAP
24. Language that gave us "bazaar" : FARSI. Also khaki, caravan and julep, among others.
26. Sweet'__: coffee additive : N LOW
27. California's motto : EUREKA! I've lived here for 25 years and didn't know this. Made official in 1963, apparently comes from the Gold Rush days.
29. Stylish suit : ARMANI. Depends who's wearing it. I know people who could make an Armani suit look like a bunch of old rags.
32. "Darn it!" : OH RATS!
33. But, to Brutus : SED. Thank you, Latin lessons.
34. See 43-Down : ITALY
35. When the sun rises in the west : NEVER. Took me a while to figure this out. I toyed with SIX AM for absolutely no sensible reason until the penny dropped.
36. Avarice : GREED
38. Mother of Sam and Charlie Woods : ELIN. Tiger's offspring. I recognized the names, but couldn't place them at first.
39. Dreaming phase : R.E.M. SLEEP. Rapid Eye Movement.
43. Man, in 34-Down : UOMO
44. Beetles : VW BUGS. Stymied by the V. It's odd, I would call a VW Beetle a Bug, but not the converse.
46. Innocent ones : BABES
47. Sing the praises of : EXALT
48. Hardly wholesome : SEAMY
49. Sword handles : HAFTS. I associate hilts with swords and hafts with hand axes or hatchets.
50. Relay stick : BATON
53. Spy-fi villain on Crab Key : DR. NO. Nailed it! Thank you, ghosts of crosswords past.
55. "I don't need the deets!" : TMI! Texter's Too Much Information!
56. Fence (in) : HEM
57. Medical suffix : -OMA Haematoma, glaucoma, Sonoma - no, scrub that last one.
58. Odie, to Jon Arbuckle : PET. Garfield's apparently dim-witted co-pet.
59. Org. funded by FICA : S.S.A. Payroll taxes raised by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act fund the Social Security Administration.
I think that does it for me. Hasta luego!
Steve
17A. Whirligig : SPINNING TOY. I'd call it a "spinning top", but that would rather defeat the purpose of the theme.
25A. Mont Blanc, e.g. : ALPINE PEAK. It's probably the least peak-y of the well-known Alps. It's big though. The ski resort of Chamonix sits in the valley below.
37A. Fine woolen wear : CASHMERE SWEATER.
46A. Westminster award : BEST IN SHOW. The Westminster Dog Show. This commercial for Audi never fails to make me laugh.
55A. Motown group ... and what 17-, 25-, 37- and 46-Across comprise? : THE FOUR TOPS.
It's the same old song. No, not the theme, the music. The theme entries came pretty easily, just one very minor nit with the toy/top issue I mentioned above.
This is a rare puzzle that I didn't finish. I thought that Charlotteville was in South Carolina, but USC didn't tie with EUREKA and I flat-out could not see VW BUGS, so that V was my blank spot.
Hindsight being 20/20, it couldn't really have been any other letter, but even multiple alphabet runs brought me up short. I'll blame jet-lag, even though I never really get affected by it!
Let's see what else Mr. Mendelson challenged us with:
Across:
1. It can generate a lot of interest : CREDIT. The interest can escalate pretty quickly unless you behave. The credit card companies love that.
7. Become less aloof : THAW
11. Texting format, briefly : SMS. Short Message Service. Pictures and what-have-you use MMS, Multimedia Messaging Service.
14. Saint of Ávila : TERESA
15. Opera set in Egypt : AIDA
16. Fell with an ax : HEW
19. Toothpaste-approving org. : A.D.A.
20. Northernmost capital on the Mississippi : ST. PAUL I'm sure C.C. knew this right off the bat. I had to wait for a couple of crosses.
21. Key of Grieg's only piano concerto: Abbr. : A MIN. Nice change from the African Dictator clue.
22. Careful way to play it : SAFE
28. Class-conscious gp.? : P.T.A.
29. Actress de Armas of "Blade Runner 2049" : ANA. Thank you, crosses. I've not seen the new Blade Runner, the original was great.
30. Swivel around : SLUE. Great word.
31. Fielding mishap : ERROR
33. Attacking fiercely : STORMING. Usually the castle. With pitchforks and torches.
40. Increased steadily : SPIRALED
41. Rogue : KNAVE
42. Lively, in mus. : ANIM. Animato, in a lively manner.
43. Charlottesville sch. : U.V.A. As I mentioned in the intro, jut could not see this.
45. Majors in acting : LEE
50. Admiral who explored the Antarctic : BYRD
51. x, y and z, in math : AXES
52. 11th Greek letter : LAMBDA. These chaps. Upper and lower case. Λ λ
54. "Hey, ewe!" : BAA!
60. Large shade tree : ELM
61. Run into : MEET
62. Garden figures in red hats : GNOMES. I'm going to launch a line of sundials with a gnome as the gnomon, if somebody hasn't already thought of it.
63. Muddy pen : STY
64. Scalawags : IMPS
65. Grieg wrote only one for piano : SONATA. In E Minor, unlike his one piano concerto. I wonder why he only wrote one of each?
Down:
1. Euro parts: Abbr. : CTS. Eurolets are cents. I'm not sure I knew that.
2. Street cred : REP. Urban slang, I'm guessing from "reputation."
3. "__ tu": Verdi aria : ERI
4. Not getting it : DENSE
5. Ain't right? : ISN'T
6. Clavell's "Shogun" sequel : TAIPAN. I boomeranged between SAIPAN, TAIPEI and finally settled on the correct answer.
7. Prepare to advance after a fly ball : TAG UP. Baseball. It's like cricket, except with round bats. And four bases. And a mound. And nine on each side. And a pitcher, not a bowler. And you only have one batter up at a time. And he's not called a batsman. And he has to run if he hits the ball fair. OK, it's nothing like cricket.
8. Schedules of items to deal with : HIT LISTS. I call mine to-do lists.
9. Hubbub : ADO
10. Path : WAY. Pathway!
11. "Tut-tut!" : SHAME!
12. __ blitz : MEDIA. Nice fill-in-the-blank. Took me a while to see this one.
13. Two-time Best Actress winner Hilary : SWANK
18. Simba's mate : NALA. The Lion King. Still on my to-do list (!) to see it on Broadway.
21. Hypothetical evolutionary link : APEMAN
22. Short glasses? : SPECS
23. Set __ for: lure : A TRAP
24. Language that gave us "bazaar" : FARSI. Also khaki, caravan and julep, among others.
26. Sweet'__: coffee additive : N LOW
27. California's motto : EUREKA! I've lived here for 25 years and didn't know this. Made official in 1963, apparently comes from the Gold Rush days.
29. Stylish suit : ARMANI. Depends who's wearing it. I know people who could make an Armani suit look like a bunch of old rags.
32. "Darn it!" : OH RATS!
33. But, to Brutus : SED. Thank you, Latin lessons.
34. See 43-Down : ITALY
35. When the sun rises in the west : NEVER. Took me a while to figure this out. I toyed with SIX AM for absolutely no sensible reason until the penny dropped.
36. Avarice : GREED
38. Mother of Sam and Charlie Woods : ELIN. Tiger's offspring. I recognized the names, but couldn't place them at first.
39. Dreaming phase : R.E.M. SLEEP. Rapid Eye Movement.
43. Man, in 34-Down : UOMO
44. Beetles : VW BUGS. Stymied by the V. It's odd, I would call a VW Beetle a Bug, but not the converse.
46. Innocent ones : BABES
47. Sing the praises of : EXALT
48. Hardly wholesome : SEAMY
49. Sword handles : HAFTS. I associate hilts with swords and hafts with hand axes or hatchets.
53. Spy-fi villain on Crab Key : DR. NO. Nailed it! Thank you, ghosts of crosswords past.
55. "I don't need the deets!" : TMI! Texter's Too Much Information!
56. Fence (in) : HEM
57. Medical suffix : -OMA Haematoma, glaucoma, Sonoma - no, scrub that last one.
58. Odie, to Jon Arbuckle : PET. Garfield's apparently dim-witted co-pet.
59. Org. funded by FICA : S.S.A. Payroll taxes raised by the Federal Insurance Contributions Act fund the Social Security Administration.
I think that does it for me. Hasta luego!
Steve
