Title: An empty theme (MT)
Another of our frequent Friday flyers is back with an effort that is all tongue-in-cheek and pretty damn funny. DAB uses a familiar letter replacement theme but focuses on devising very witty clues for the fill that emerged when the letter "M" is replaced with the letter "T." The highlight being the self-deprecatory reveal - Lame justification for the letter substitution in four puzzle answers?: EMPTY EXCUSE. (MT excuse). With the focus on the humor and 55 spaces in the theme, we have only a couple of longer fill COLLAPSED, ONIONSKIN. There is still difficulty lurking so let us go look it over.
17A. Skin tone achieved via pure will?: SELFMADE TAN (11). It would be easy to make this into a political comment, but this is just a self-made man.
24A. Ballet performance on skis?: SLAT DANCE (9). This is the most tortured fill, and slam dance the least common initial phrase, but it works.
37A. TV show destined for early cancellation?: BROADCAST TEDIUM (15). There are a number of tedious tv shows, aired in that broadcast medium.
51A. Horse chatter?: STALL TALK (9). By far my favorite fill. The mental picture of the horses gossiping in the stalls is priceless. Of course, since horses and not tiny, it could never be small talk.
62A. Lame justification for the letter substitution in four puzzle answers?: EMPTY EXCUSE (11).
On to the rest...
Across:
1. "__ Told Me (Not to Come)": 1970 #1 hit: MAMA. Once again, 1 Across was not a gimme, but I am terrible at song titles. I do recognize this Randy Newman song as sung by Three Dog Night.
5. Folly: IDIOCY.
11. "Caught you!": OHO. Is this one word or two?
14. River to the Caspian: URAL. Regarded as a divider between Europe and Asia.
15. Spacecraft section: MODULE. This seems very timely coming so soon after our recent visit to Kennedy Space Center.
16. Apprehend: NAB.
19. "__ had enough!": I'VE. Well not yet anyway.
20. Its contents need attention: IN TRAY. It actually took me a moment to understand this fill as my mind thinks of INBOX and OUTBOX, which was never a box or a tray.
21. Mont Blanc, e.g.: ALP. Also a damn fine and expensive pen.
22. Romances: WOOS. I am afraid the word and the techniques are all out of date.
23. Storied engineer Jones: CASEY. An American FOLK HERO.
26. Extinct bird: DODO. A CSO to our own dearly departed one.
28. Forest: WOODS. Can you tell the forest from the trees?
29. List-ending abbr.: ETC.
32. __ sort: OF A. Is this a partial C.C.?
34. Tea variety: PEKOE. So not true, it is a TEA GRADING term.
42. Protuberance: BULGE. A famous battle, and a battle we all face with age.
43. "Glee" cheerleading coach: SUE. I never saw the show but I know the CHARACTER was played by the great Jane Lynch.
44. Small point: NIT. A very common word here.
45. Purple shade: LILAC. We had them growing in our yard as I grew up.
48. Copious quantities: SEAS. This is one of those Friday clue/fill combinations that slow us all down.
54. Kitchen light: PILOT. Especially if have a gas stove.
58. UPS Store supply: TAPE. Another clue/fill that is tough.
59. Mined find: ORE. Or these days bitcoin.
60. Road construction sight: DETOUR.
61. Six-pack components: ABS. The irony of six-packs keeping you from having six-packs.
64. Beluga yield: ROE. Our friend caviar.
65. Serious attacks: SIEGES. So many possibilities.
66. Bone: Pref.: OSTE.
67. Nursery layer: SOD. Not the one laying, but the top layer.
68. Marine group that's well-armed?: OCTOPI. An original very witty clue.
69. Disorder: MESS. Another dis- word.
Down:
1. Clara Schumann works, e.g.: MUSIC. A celebrated pianist and prolific composer. LINK.
2. Large performance venue: ARENA. Most piano concerts are not at arenas.
3. Fountain creations: MALTS. To a blender, add two large scoops of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, malted milk powder, and milk. Blend until creamy. Serve in a tall glass, garnished with crushed malted milk balls and whipped cream.
4. "Great" ninth-century English monarch: ALFRED. The ultimate in self-referential Shout Out. I love it! Of course, the fact that this KING was such an outstanding figure must be a source of name pride for David.
5. "Perhaps": I MAY. And I may not.
6. Pentagon org.: DOD. Department of Defense.
7. Perfect: IDEAL.
8. Criminal: OUTLAW.
9. Keep time with manually: CLAP TO. A thought out clue as manually means using your hands.
10. Urge: YEN.
11. Paper named for a vegetable: ONIONSKIN. We used to type certain documents on Onionskin which is a thin, light-weight, strong, often translucent paper. Though not made from onions, it superficially resembles their thin, papery skins. wiki.
12. Chaos: HAVOC. I had some trouble putting this together, but the perps brought it home.
13. More than rotund: OBESE.
18. BLT basic: MAYO. A common add-on.
22. Cooled one's heels?: WADED. This is quite clever as the common answer is: WAITED, which you know is wrong because of the next clue.
24. Waiting room piece: SOFA.
25. Figure (out): DOPE. An odd phrase which may come from 'dope' meaning the inside scoop.
27. Medico: DOC. And the related 36D. Health care worker, briefly: EMT. Emergency Medical Technician.
29. Wane: EBB.
30. Commercial prefix suggestive of accuracy: TRU. We take off one letter to make a prefix, or avoid a lawsuit?
31. Broke down: COLLAPSED.
33. Balaam's mount: ASS. A prophet who appears in the Torah as well as the Christian Bible and the Qur'an. Pretty much impossible to discuss.
35. Paris agreement: OUI. Not one of the many treaties signed there, but the French word for yes.
38. Deft: AGILE.
39. Farmer's habitat?: DELL.
The farmer in the dell
The farmer in the dell
Hi-ho, the derry-o
The farmer in the dell
40. Elephant tooth: TUSK.
41. Souvenir from a concert: TEE. Tee-shirt sales were a big part of the income for touring bands back in the day.
46. __ power: ATOMIC.
47. One may be magic: CARPET. Not only in the stories of Thousand and One Nights, but stories recounted concerning King Solomon who built the temple in Jerusalem.
49. Peak: APEX. Or acme, you need to wait.
50. "2 Broke Girls," for one: SITCOM. So many to choose from, why this one, which often seems sleazy?
51. Garbo and Gable, e.g.: STARS. The old-fashioned Hollywood ones.
52. Like certain subjects in certain company: TABOO. Defined as a social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.
53. Free: LET GO.
55. Cad: LOUSE. You would hope that the girl
56. Boots: OUSTS. him from her life.
57. Sources of shade: TREES. Or these days, people. The expressions "throw shade, "throwing shade", or simply "shade", are slang terms used to describe insults. Merriam-Webster defines "shade" as "subtle, sneering expression of contempt for or disgust with someone—sometimes verbal, and sometimes not".
60. He played Ricky in early TV: DESI.
63. "Sure 'nuff": YEP.
And, sure 'nuff another puzzle is dissected and discussed and now the stage belongs to each of you who read and chose to comment. Thank you, David, and until next time, Lemonade out.
