Theme: Price Hikes - Common phrases fall prey to inflation, as the reveal suggests:
59A. Economic factor that affects three puzzle answers : INFLATION RATE
So we get:
20A. Really cheap : QUARTER A DOZEN. Up from "dime a dozen". Apropos of Sunday's "Big Game" (shh, you can't say $üperßøw£ without getting sued by the NFL!):
37A. Precisely : TO THE NICKEL.Up from "to the penny." Accountants need to tie their books to the penny, especially in the corporate world.
44A. Worthless item : PLUGGED DIME. Up from "plugged nickel". A plugged nickel is a coin where the center disc has been removed, reducing the value of the metal in the coin. Used as a colloquialism for "worthless".
I liked this theme - "TO THE NICKEL" gave it away for me, so then it was a simple matter to backtrack and fill in 20A then I was off and running.
The puzzle is also a pangram today - all the letters of the alphabet appear. When you start to collect the higher-value Scrabble letters like X, Z, Q, K and J you know you're probably in for a full set.
A couple of nice longer downs kept things moving along nicely too. Let's see what else jumps out:
Across:
1. Rankles : IRKS
5. Go higher : CLIMB
10. Burgoo or ragout : STEW. Food! One of my favorite recipe sites Epicurious has a recipe for Kentucky burgoo with bourbon in it. Sounds worth a try to me!
14. Harvest : REAP
15. Speeder spotter : RADAR. Nice alliteration in the clue.
16. Dance for a lei person : HULA. I like the play on "lei".
17. Cornstarch brand in a yellow-and-blue container : ARGO. I've got a tub of this in my pantry but I had no idea what the brand name was! Thank you, crosses.
18. String in a kids' song : E-I-E-I-O. Old MacDonald earworm .... I'll spare you a link.
19. African antelope : ORYX. There's a few four-letter antelopes in Africa. You need to be careful before jumping in.
23. Baltimore's __ Harbor : INNER
24. Enjoy Vail : SKI
25. Podded plant : PEA
28. Fountain output : SODAS
32. Sully : TAINT. Because "Nickname of US Airways pilot who ditched in the Hudson" doesn't fit.
34. Rest area freebie : MAP. Do they still give these out? Gas stations stopped handing them out for free years ago.
40. Mother Nature's balm : ALOE
42. "The Glass Lake" writer Binchy : MAEVE
43. Trillion: Pref. : TERA- I have a 2 terabyte external hard drive for backups. When I started my computer career that kind of capacity was pure science fiction. The IBM mainframes I first worked on had disks with a capacity of 300MB. My external drive holds more than 6,500 times that much data.
47. "Mamma Mia!" number : S.O.S. Catchy stuff from from those Swedish pop-tastic greats Abba. The videos have a fantastic Seventies look too.
48. Slow movement : LARGO
49. Move through muck : SLOSH
51. Kennedy twins? : ENS. Two of 'em in the name. I wanted "EES" first. Was wrong.
52. Luthor of the comics : LEX
55. Infield fly : POP-UP
64. Naan relative : ROTI. Food! I had a couple of them with my first dinner in Delhi earlier this month.
66. Demand and obtain, as vengeance : EXACT. Or revenge. Nice clue.
67. Adopt-a-Pet pet : MUTT
68. "Dilbert" intern : ASOK. He's one of my favorite characters in the strip.
69. Comparatively friendly : NICER
70. Geek Squad client : USER
71. LGBT Pride Month : JUNE
72. 2017 A.L. MVP José Altuve, for one : ASTRO. Houston ball team. I was changing planes in Houston on Monday. I like the airport, it's one of the NICER ones I pass through.
73. Zip : ZERO
Down:
1. Kirkuk native : IRAQI
2. "Seinfeld" episode, now : RE-RUN. I could watch every episode all over again.
3. See 53-Down : KAGAN
4. Reproductive bodies : SPORES
5. Hudson Bay nation : CREE. Nailed it! Thank you, crosswords past.
6. Bear's home : LAIR. Tried CAVE. Obviously a bad idea.
7. One may be called bright when it isn't : IDEA. Lovely.
8. "Downton Abbey" figures : MAIDS. We recently binge-watched all six seasons of Downton on Amazon Prime. Totally got into it.
9. Forest babbler : BROOK
10. Christian Louboutin creation : SHOE. Barney's has a men's shoe with his trademark red soles for $850 a pair. I think I'll stick to the outlets.
11. Tolls are taken on them : TURNPIKES. Nice. Took me a while to see this one.
12. Bridge expert Culbertson : ELY
13. Candle stuff : WAX
21. Easy gait : TROT
22. Tubular pasta : ZITI. Food! My kind of puzzle today.
26. Summer month in Uruguay : ENERO. January, in the Southern Hemisphere. More of a tricky Thursday-level clue for this Spanish month.
27. Book with 11-Down : ATLAS. Another one a long time a-coming. Turnpikes, among other things, are represented in a road atlas.
29. St. Paul's feature : DOME. The famous cathedral in London designed by architect Sir Christopher Wren. As recently as 1967 it was the tallest building in the city. I'm off to London tomorrow, the flight path into Heathrow passes above St. Paul's. and the rest of Central London. You get a great view of all the landmarks if the weather is clear. The dome gets a little lost among the tall buildings, but I've outlined it here:
30. Minimally : A TAD
31. Drops, as pounds : SHEDS
33. Part of ACA : ACT. The full name is The patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, familiarly known as Obamacare.
34. Scott Joplin's "__ Leaf Rag" : MAPLE. I learned this on the piano when I was a kid. I loved Scott Joplin's music after first encountering it in the movie "The Sting".
35. Literary middle name : ALLAN
36. Goes all out : POURS IT ON. Took me a while to parse this.
38. Downright nasty : EVIL
39. "Finding Dory" character : NEMO
41. __ salad : EGG
45. Club sport : GOLF. Nice clue. Could refer to the institution or the equipment.
46. "Around the Horn" channel : ESPN
50. Strait of __: Persian Gulf outlet : HORMUZ
53. With 3-Down, justice since 2010 : ELENA
54. Graph line : X-AXIS. Could be Y- or Z- so wait for the cross to confirm it.
56. Hesitation : PAUSE
57. Unmitigated : UTTER
58. Chemical prefix? : PETRO-
60. Maker of LeBron 15 basketball shoes : NIKE. More expensive footwear. Foot Locker has them for $185/pair. Not bad for a pair of sneakers.
61. Delicate handling : TACT
62. Pastry prettifier : ICER
63. Other, in España : OTRO. Second Spanish reference today.
64. British rule in India : RAJ. "Raj" is the Hindustani word for "Rule".
65. The Cowboys of the Big 12 Conf. : O.S.U. Oklahoma State University.
And with that, I think I'm done. Here's the grid - and I'll see you all next week from Blighty!
Steve
59A. Economic factor that affects three puzzle answers : INFLATION RATE
So we get:
20A. Really cheap : QUARTER A DOZEN. Up from "dime a dozen". Apropos of Sunday's "Big Game" (shh, you can't say $üperßøw£ without getting sued by the NFL!):
37A. Precisely : TO THE NICKEL.Up from "to the penny." Accountants need to tie their books to the penny, especially in the corporate world.
44A. Worthless item : PLUGGED DIME. Up from "plugged nickel". A plugged nickel is a coin where the center disc has been removed, reducing the value of the metal in the coin. Used as a colloquialism for "worthless".
I liked this theme - "TO THE NICKEL" gave it away for me, so then it was a simple matter to backtrack and fill in 20A then I was off and running.
The puzzle is also a pangram today - all the letters of the alphabet appear. When you start to collect the higher-value Scrabble letters like X, Z, Q, K and J you know you're probably in for a full set.
A couple of nice longer downs kept things moving along nicely too. Let's see what else jumps out:
Across:
1. Rankles : IRKS
5. Go higher : CLIMB
10. Burgoo or ragout : STEW. Food! One of my favorite recipe sites Epicurious has a recipe for Kentucky burgoo with bourbon in it. Sounds worth a try to me!
14. Harvest : REAP
15. Speeder spotter : RADAR. Nice alliteration in the clue.
16. Dance for a lei person : HULA. I like the play on "lei".
17. Cornstarch brand in a yellow-and-blue container : ARGO. I've got a tub of this in my pantry but I had no idea what the brand name was! Thank you, crosses.
18. String in a kids' song : E-I-E-I-O. Old MacDonald earworm .... I'll spare you a link.
19. African antelope : ORYX. There's a few four-letter antelopes in Africa. You need to be careful before jumping in.
23. Baltimore's __ Harbor : INNER
24. Enjoy Vail : SKI
25. Podded plant : PEA
28. Fountain output : SODAS
32. Sully : TAINT. Because "Nickname of US Airways pilot who ditched in the Hudson" doesn't fit.
34. Rest area freebie : MAP. Do they still give these out? Gas stations stopped handing them out for free years ago.
40. Mother Nature's balm : ALOE
42. "The Glass Lake" writer Binchy : MAEVE
43. Trillion: Pref. : TERA- I have a 2 terabyte external hard drive for backups. When I started my computer career that kind of capacity was pure science fiction. The IBM mainframes I first worked on had disks with a capacity of 300MB. My external drive holds more than 6,500 times that much data.
47. "Mamma Mia!" number : S.O.S. Catchy stuff from from those Swedish pop-tastic greats Abba. The videos have a fantastic Seventies look too.
48. Slow movement : LARGO
49. Move through muck : SLOSH
51. Kennedy twins? : ENS. Two of 'em in the name. I wanted "EES" first. Was wrong.
52. Luthor of the comics : LEX
55. Infield fly : POP-UP
64. Naan relative : ROTI. Food! I had a couple of them with my first dinner in Delhi earlier this month.
66. Demand and obtain, as vengeance : EXACT. Or revenge. Nice clue.
67. Adopt-a-Pet pet : MUTT
68. "Dilbert" intern : ASOK. He's one of my favorite characters in the strip.
69. Comparatively friendly : NICER
70. Geek Squad client : USER
71. LGBT Pride Month : JUNE
72. 2017 A.L. MVP José Altuve, for one : ASTRO. Houston ball team. I was changing planes in Houston on Monday. I like the airport, it's one of the NICER ones I pass through.
73. Zip : ZERO
Down:
1. Kirkuk native : IRAQI
2. "Seinfeld" episode, now : RE-RUN. I could watch every episode all over again.
3. See 53-Down : KAGAN
4. Reproductive bodies : SPORES
5. Hudson Bay nation : CREE. Nailed it! Thank you, crosswords past.
6. Bear's home : LAIR. Tried CAVE. Obviously a bad idea.
7. One may be called bright when it isn't : IDEA. Lovely.
8. "Downton Abbey" figures : MAIDS. We recently binge-watched all six seasons of Downton on Amazon Prime. Totally got into it.
9. Forest babbler : BROOK
10. Christian Louboutin creation : SHOE. Barney's has a men's shoe with his trademark red soles for $850 a pair. I think I'll stick to the outlets.
12. Bridge expert Culbertson : ELY
13. Candle stuff : WAX
21. Easy gait : TROT
22. Tubular pasta : ZITI. Food! My kind of puzzle today.
26. Summer month in Uruguay : ENERO. January, in the Southern Hemisphere. More of a tricky Thursday-level clue for this Spanish month.
27. Book with 11-Down : ATLAS. Another one a long time a-coming. Turnpikes, among other things, are represented in a road atlas.
29. St. Paul's feature : DOME. The famous cathedral in London designed by architect Sir Christopher Wren. As recently as 1967 it was the tallest building in the city. I'm off to London tomorrow, the flight path into Heathrow passes above St. Paul's. and the rest of Central London. You get a great view of all the landmarks if the weather is clear. The dome gets a little lost among the tall buildings, but I've outlined it here:
30. Minimally : A TAD
31. Drops, as pounds : SHEDS
33. Part of ACA : ACT. The full name is The patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, familiarly known as Obamacare.
34. Scott Joplin's "__ Leaf Rag" : MAPLE. I learned this on the piano when I was a kid. I loved Scott Joplin's music after first encountering it in the movie "The Sting".
35. Literary middle name : ALLAN
36. Goes all out : POURS IT ON. Took me a while to parse this.
38. Downright nasty : EVIL
39. "Finding Dory" character : NEMO
41. __ salad : EGG
45. Club sport : GOLF. Nice clue. Could refer to the institution or the equipment.
46. "Around the Horn" channel : ESPN
50. Strait of __: Persian Gulf outlet : HORMUZ
53. With 3-Down, justice since 2010 : ELENA
54. Graph line : X-AXIS. Could be Y- or Z- so wait for the cross to confirm it.
56. Hesitation : PAUSE
57. Unmitigated : UTTER
58. Chemical prefix? : PETRO-
60. Maker of LeBron 15 basketball shoes : NIKE. More expensive footwear. Foot Locker has them for $185/pair. Not bad for a pair of sneakers.
61. Delicate handling : TACT
62. Pastry prettifier : ICER
63. Other, in España : OTRO. Second Spanish reference today.
64. British rule in India : RAJ. "Raj" is the Hindustani word for "Rule".
65. The Cowboys of the Big 12 Conf. : O.S.U. Oklahoma State University.
And with that, I think I'm done. Here's the grid - and I'll see you all next week from Blighty!
Steve
