Theme: Hidden Critters: Some charming little folk nesting in the theme entries:
18A. *Acting like the locals : GOING NATIVE. Gnat. I'm in India this week. I've eaten nothing but curry this week, so I guess I've gone native. I love Indian food.
61A. *Try not to look bored : STIFLE A YAWN. Flea. Many meetings. Yikes, check out this guy!
3D. *Google Code of Conduct motto : DON'T BE EVIL Bee. Some people say that they've gone away from this ideal just a tad.
30D. *"The Imitation Game" subject : ALAN TURING. Ant. A brilliant man and a sad outcome.
Reveal:
54A. Software glitches ... and, in a broad sense, small things hidden in the answers to starred clues : BUGS. Of course, I never introduced a bug into any code I wrote, ever. Well, maybe one or two.
39D. Trial run designed to catch 54-Across : BETA TEST. The net is never fine enough, a bunch always slip through.
Second Thursday in a row for C.C. and a nice-looking grid, especially top and bottom of the across theme entries. Nary a clunker to be found either. Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. It doesn't go off : DUD. Happily for someone, I'm sure.
4. Dugong or manatee : SEA COW
10. Friskies sister brand : ALPO
14. "Lookee here!" : OHO!
15. Turkey's second-largest city : ANKARA. I'm not sure if I can think of a third-largest. I know Galatasaray are Turkish soccer team, but when I looked them up they're in Istanbul, so I'm still stuck.
16. Enjoyed People : READ. Note the capital "P" in "People".
17. Singer Fogelberg : DAN. Now why on earth did I want to put ANN in here?
20. Toughness : GUTS
22. Stage great Hagen : UTA. Thank you, ghosts of crosswords past.
23. White __ : NOISE
24. Site of Napoleon's exile : ELBA. "Able I was, ere I saw Palindrome." No, wait ....? I didn't know until fairly recently the pint-sized Emperor didn't stay exiled on Elba. He had a Bonaparte 2.0 reboot and returned to Paris as head of state, but that didn't work out either and ended up as a prisoner of the British and banished to the island of Saint Helena, his final abode.
25. Accessories for many lawn mowers : GAS CANS
27. Engrave with acid : ETCH
29. Dalai Lama, for one : TIBETAN
32. Sport with clay pigeons : SKEET
34. Canapé spread : PATÉ
35. Husky follower : SLED
37. Part of SASE: Abbr. : ENV.
38. Wartime prez : ABE. Not HST, which is the first guess.
40. Sci-fi aviators : ETS
42. Shapiro of NPR : ARI
43. Exertion : TOIL
45. Suburban trees : ELMS
47. Picker-uppers? : HANDS
49. Hole's starting point for skilled golfers : BLUE TEE. I wanted BLACK TEE, because that's the tee at the very back. I generally play from the blues, and I'm certainly not skilled!
51. Many a college graduate's burden : DEBT
52. Reel : STAGGER
57. Trouble greatly : EAT AT
59. LG competitor : RCA
60. First name at Woodstock : ARLO
64. Lithium-__ battery : ION
65. Pakistani tongue : URDU
66. Scoresheet slashes : SPARES. Bowling. Boomer would have had this filled without a thought. I don't bowl, so waited for some help from the crosses.
67. Find fault to a fault : NAG
68. Mandarin discard : PEEL
69. Siberian expanse : TUNDRA. "The Frozen Tundra" is an affectionate name for the Green Bay Packers field in Wisconsin. You can see why:
70. Some hot rods : GT'S
Down:
1. Sidestep : DODGE
2. Penske rival : U-HAUL. I had U and through UNSER for the motor racing teams, but something made me hesitate.
4. Succumb to gravity : SAG
5. "Cut it out already!" : ENOUGH
6. Curly-tailed dog : AKITA
7. Rummy game played with two decks : CANASTA
8. Suffix for NPR's website : ORG. Two NPR mentions today.
9. "You sure of that?" : WANNA BET?
10. Gallery VIPs : ARTISTS
11. Hawaiian wedding rings : LEIS
12. Tar : PAVE
13. Neruda's "__ to My Socks" : ODE
19. Top-ranked : A-ONE
21. Make full : SATE
26. Credits as a source : CITES
28. Commuter org. in the Loop : C.T.A. The Chicago Transit Authority, which is how these fellows started out before they decided it was too much of a mouthful:
31. Comic-Con attendee : NERD
32. Ready : SET
33. Door opener : KNOB
34. Pequod co-owner : PELEG
36. Belittle : DIS
41. "__ Walks in Beauty": Byron poem : SHE
44. Satyrlike : LUSTFUL
46. "You've Got Mail" co-star : MEG RYAN
48. "Fernando" pop group : ABBA
50. Letters replacing unlisted items : ET AL
51. Bureau unit : DRAWER
53. Internet greeting : E-CARD
55. Be a bad sport : GLOAT
56. iTunes downloads : SONGS
57. Raison d'__ : ÊTRE. ÊTAT fits nicely in there too, but it's usually clued as COUP DE ___, not RAISON DE ___
58. West Wing staffer : AIDE
61. "How're things?" : 'SUP?
62. "The Simpsons" clerk : APU
63. Fort Meade org. : N.S.A.
As I mentioned, I'm in India this week. I'm taking a break from the Delhi smoke (AQI 188) for the Mumbai smog (158). This is the historic Mahalaxmi Racecourse from the Star TV building, not that you can see much. It's about 500 yards to the cellphone tower in the foreground according to Google Maps:
My lungs think I've smoked a pack of cigarettes a day since I got here. I can't believe in hindsight that I actually did used to smoke a pack a day, thank goodness I kicked that habit.
Have a good day all!
अलविदा
And here's the grid!
Steve
18A. *Acting like the locals : GOING NATIVE. Gnat. I'm in India this week. I've eaten nothing but curry this week, so I guess I've gone native. I love Indian food.
61A. *Try not to look bored : STIFLE A YAWN. Flea. Many meetings. Yikes, check out this guy!
3D. *Google Code of Conduct motto : DON'T BE EVIL Bee. Some people say that they've gone away from this ideal just a tad.
30D. *"The Imitation Game" subject : ALAN TURING. Ant. A brilliant man and a sad outcome.
Reveal:
54A. Software glitches ... and, in a broad sense, small things hidden in the answers to starred clues : BUGS. Of course, I never introduced a bug into any code I wrote, ever. Well, maybe one or two.
39D. Trial run designed to catch 54-Across : BETA TEST. The net is never fine enough, a bunch always slip through.
Second Thursday in a row for C.C. and a nice-looking grid, especially top and bottom of the across theme entries. Nary a clunker to be found either. Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. It doesn't go off : DUD. Happily for someone, I'm sure.
4. Dugong or manatee : SEA COW
10. Friskies sister brand : ALPO
14. "Lookee here!" : OHO!
15. Turkey's second-largest city : ANKARA. I'm not sure if I can think of a third-largest. I know Galatasaray are Turkish soccer team, but when I looked them up they're in Istanbul, so I'm still stuck.
16. Enjoyed People : READ. Note the capital "P" in "People".
17. Singer Fogelberg : DAN. Now why on earth did I want to put ANN in here?
20. Toughness : GUTS
22. Stage great Hagen : UTA. Thank you, ghosts of crosswords past.
23. White __ : NOISE
24. Site of Napoleon's exile : ELBA. "Able I was, ere I saw Palindrome." No, wait ....? I didn't know until fairly recently the pint-sized Emperor didn't stay exiled on Elba. He had a Bonaparte 2.0 reboot and returned to Paris as head of state, but that didn't work out either and ended up as a prisoner of the British and banished to the island of Saint Helena, his final abode.
25. Accessories for many lawn mowers : GAS CANS
27. Engrave with acid : ETCH
29. Dalai Lama, for one : TIBETAN
32. Sport with clay pigeons : SKEET
34. Canapé spread : PATÉ
35. Husky follower : SLED
37. Part of SASE: Abbr. : ENV.
38. Wartime prez : ABE. Not HST, which is the first guess.
40. Sci-fi aviators : ETS
42. Shapiro of NPR : ARI
43. Exertion : TOIL
45. Suburban trees : ELMS
47. Picker-uppers? : HANDS
49. Hole's starting point for skilled golfers : BLUE TEE. I wanted BLACK TEE, because that's the tee at the very back. I generally play from the blues, and I'm certainly not skilled!
51. Many a college graduate's burden : DEBT
52. Reel : STAGGER
57. Trouble greatly : EAT AT
59. LG competitor : RCA
60. First name at Woodstock : ARLO
64. Lithium-__ battery : ION
65. Pakistani tongue : URDU
66. Scoresheet slashes : SPARES. Bowling. Boomer would have had this filled without a thought. I don't bowl, so waited for some help from the crosses.
67. Find fault to a fault : NAG
68. Mandarin discard : PEEL
69. Siberian expanse : TUNDRA. "The Frozen Tundra" is an affectionate name for the Green Bay Packers field in Wisconsin. You can see why:
70. Some hot rods : GT'S
Down:
1. Sidestep : DODGE
2. Penske rival : U-HAUL. I had U and through UNSER for the motor racing teams, but something made me hesitate.
4. Succumb to gravity : SAG
5. "Cut it out already!" : ENOUGH
6. Curly-tailed dog : AKITA
7. Rummy game played with two decks : CANASTA
8. Suffix for NPR's website : ORG. Two NPR mentions today.
9. "You sure of that?" : WANNA BET?
10. Gallery VIPs : ARTISTS
11. Hawaiian wedding rings : LEIS
12. Tar : PAVE
13. Neruda's "__ to My Socks" : ODE
The moral
of my ode is this:
beauty is twice
beauty
and what is good is doubly
good
when it is a matter of two socks
made of wool
in winter.
21. Make full : SATE
26. Credits as a source : CITES
28. Commuter org. in the Loop : C.T.A. The Chicago Transit Authority, which is how these fellows started out before they decided it was too much of a mouthful:
31. Comic-Con attendee : NERD
32. Ready : SET
33. Door opener : KNOB
34. Pequod co-owner : PELEG
36. Belittle : DIS
41. "__ Walks in Beauty": Byron poem : SHE
44. Satyrlike : LUSTFUL
46. "You've Got Mail" co-star : MEG RYAN
48. "Fernando" pop group : ABBA
50. Letters replacing unlisted items : ET AL
51. Bureau unit : DRAWER
53. Internet greeting : E-CARD
55. Be a bad sport : GLOAT
56. iTunes downloads : SONGS
57. Raison d'__ : ÊTRE. ÊTAT fits nicely in there too, but it's usually clued as COUP DE ___, not RAISON DE ___
58. West Wing staffer : AIDE
61. "How're things?" : 'SUP?
62. "The Simpsons" clerk : APU
63. Fort Meade org. : N.S.A.
As I mentioned, I'm in India this week. I'm taking a break from the Delhi smoke (AQI 188) for the Mumbai smog (158). This is the historic Mahalaxmi Racecourse from the Star TV building, not that you can see much. It's about 500 yards to the cellphone tower in the foreground according to Google Maps:
My lungs think I've smoked a pack of cigarettes a day since I got here. I can't believe in hindsight that I actually did used to smoke a pack a day, thank goodness I kicked that habit.
Have a good day all!
अलविदा
And here's the grid!
Steve
