Theme: Snow Day - the theme comes from the poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening":
19A. With 63-Across, ending lines of a poem by 72-Across: AND MILES TO GO
63A. See 19-Across: BEFORE I SLEEP
and the unifier:
72A. Poet who used the starts of 24-, 41- and 55-Across to describe the woods: FROST. Robert Frost, of course. The anniversary of his death was on Tuesday, I wonder if that had anything to do with the puzzle appearing this week?
This then kicks off a new set of theme answers:
24A. Alice Sebold novel, with "The": LOVELY BONES
41A. Harmful spells, in the Potterverse: DARK ARTS
55A. Really cool place?: DEEP FREEZER
Slick puzzle from Mr. Sessa. I was impressed with how the reveal of the author's name sent you back to look at the three seemingly-unrelated entries.
You might also have noticed that the grid is stretched to 16x15 to accommodate the 12-letter theme entries at 19A & 63A.
There's a couple of nice long downs to tie this all together. I enjoyed the solve today; I couldn't recall the final lines of the poem and so had to unpick those entries letter-by-letter. Let's see what else we can find:
Across:
1. Word that appears four times in a 1963 film title: MAD. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. If I listed the stars credited, I'd be here until Christmas. There's a lot.
4. Roof tiles: SLATES
10. Deadens, as a piano string: DAMPS
15. Media agcy.: U.P.I. United Press International, UNIPRESS in the days of reporting news via telegram.
16. Roadster in the Henry Ford Museum: MODEL A. The museum is wonderful, I had the opportunity to visit a few years ago when I was doing some business with Ford in Dearborn. My rental car on that trip was a fire-engine red VW Jetta. I was actually embarrassed when I drove onto the parking lot - my highly-visible car was the only non-Ford or Lincoln to be seen for miles.
17. How sardines are packed: IN OIL I prefer them packed in brine, the fish is oily enough already.
18. Mythical bird: ROC
21. Hydrocarbon group: ALKYL. The "Y" almost had me stumped, I could not for the life of me remember the crossing "YEGG". I stared it down in the end with an alphabet run.
23. 1995-2006 New York governor George: PATAKI
27. The W in kWh: WATT. Kilowatt Hours.
31. Athlete's peak performance: A GAME
32. Wines and dines: REGALES. I didn't associate this at all. I'd use "regale" to describe telling an entertaining story. I didn't know the alternative definition.
34. Thrill: BANG
36. Credits list: CAST
39. Place for spectacles: ARENA
40. __ Navy: discount retailer: OLD
44. Gen-__: X'ER. Roughly speaking, born from the mid-60's thru the 70's between the boomers and the millennials.
45. Like universal blood donors: O TYPE. Shouldn't it be TYPE O? You don't have an "A Model" Ford or a "Type E" Jaguar. Just sayin'
47. Nantes notion: IDÉE. French.
48. Drill parts: BITS
49. Symbolized: TOKENED. This is my clunker of the day.
52. Roof features: EAVES
54. WWI battle river: YSER
60. "Indubitably!": IT IS SO!
62. Hot pot spot: STOVE
68. __ Van Winkle: RIP
69. Tolkien ringbearer: FRODO. All Sam Gamgee seemed to say in the movies was "Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo!" It got a little wearisome.
70. Tell: RELATE
71. Sheep's call: BAA
73. Old-Timers' Day VIP: EX STAR. Hmmm. Not convinced by this one either.
74. Unspecified amount: ANY
Down:
1. Diego Rivera creation: MURAL. According to Wikipedia, his full name is Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez. Not sure quite how accurate that is, but I'm repeating what I read. Amazing artist.
2. Speed skater Ohno: APOLO
3. "Mary Poppins" and "Mary Poppins Returns" actor: DICK VAN DYKE. I wonder if his cockney accent has improved in the new movie? It was pretty shocking in the original.
4. Component of the "at" sign: SMALL "A"
5. Chaney of horror: LON
6. Toss in: ADD
7. Beat: TEMPO
8. Cuban boy in 2000 headlines: ELIAN
9. One curing meat: SALTER. When I've got my salting boots on, I use Prague Powder #1, aka "pink salt". Pastrami and Irish bacon. Yum!
10. Saucer, e.g.: DISK. I went for DISH at first, which made a very odd-looking NYC mayor at 23-across.
11. Like many '60s-'70s protests: ANTI-WAR
12. __ juice: MOO. Cow's milk.
13. Trough guy: PIG. Very nice clue
14. Road sign caution: SLO. SLO - MISSING "W" AHEAD.
20. Move gently: EASE
22. Safecracker: YEGG. With the Y cross in ALKYL, came close to foxing me.
25. Initial disco hit?: Y.M.C.A.
26. Smokey, for one: BEAR
28. 1964 Anthony Quinn role: ALEXIS ZORBA. Here's a nice rendition of the famous dance, unsuccessfully attempted by Greek taverna-tourists ever since. It seems to be a law in tourist towns in Greece that the taverna plays this at least twice a night.
29. Religious belief: TENET
30. Dynasts of old Russia: TSARS. TS or CZ? Wait for a cross.
33. What H, O or N may represent: GAS. Hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
34. Pirate riches: BOOTY
35. Choir group: ALTOS
37. __ lift: SKI
38. Tiny bit: TAD
41. Lair: DEN
42. Great Barrier __: REEF. You might as well print the letters with the grid for this one. The same might be said for SKI LIFT too.
43. Hot streak: TEAR
46. Stretches: PERIODS
48. Sweet root: BEET. Sweet? I'd call them more peppery than sweet.
50. Actress Falco: EDIE
51. Itch: DESIRE
53. Evening star: VESPER. The planet Venus when it appears in the evening sky. The Romans named the morning incarnation of Venus as "Lucifer" even though they recognized it was the same celestial body. The Vesper is also the cocktail that James Bond orders "shaken, not stirred". Gin, vodka and Kina Lillet.
56. Southend-on-Sea's county: ESSEX. Easy for me, probably not for the majority of you. Dick Van Dyke's cockney character would call it "Sarf-end"
57. Focus group surveys: POLLS
58. Water brand: EVIAN
59. Give back: REPAY
61. Harness race pace: TROT
63. Fave pal: BFF. Bestie or"Best Friend Forever".
64. Be in the wrong: ERR
65. Egg __ yung: FOO. Foo! I mean Food!
66. "Mangia!": EAT!
67. Zeta follower: ETA. The initial reaction is that zeta is the last letter in the Greek alphabet, but it's not by a long way - a long way from omega.
With that, stick a fork in me, I'm done. Here's the grid:
Steve
19A. With 63-Across, ending lines of a poem by 72-Across: AND MILES TO GO
63A. See 19-Across: BEFORE I SLEEP
and the unifier:
72A. Poet who used the starts of 24-, 41- and 55-Across to describe the woods: FROST. Robert Frost, of course. The anniversary of his death was on Tuesday, I wonder if that had anything to do with the puzzle appearing this week?
This then kicks off a new set of theme answers:
24A. Alice Sebold novel, with "The": LOVELY BONES
41A. Harmful spells, in the Potterverse: DARK ARTS
55A. Really cool place?: DEEP FREEZER
Slick puzzle from Mr. Sessa. I was impressed with how the reveal of the author's name sent you back to look at the three seemingly-unrelated entries.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
You might also have noticed that the grid is stretched to 16x15 to accommodate the 12-letter theme entries at 19A & 63A.
There's a couple of nice long downs to tie this all together. I enjoyed the solve today; I couldn't recall the final lines of the poem and so had to unpick those entries letter-by-letter. Let's see what else we can find:
Across:
1. Word that appears four times in a 1963 film title: MAD. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. If I listed the stars credited, I'd be here until Christmas. There's a lot.
4. Roof tiles: SLATES
10. Deadens, as a piano string: DAMPS
15. Media agcy.: U.P.I. United Press International, UNIPRESS in the days of reporting news via telegram.
16. Roadster in the Henry Ford Museum: MODEL A. The museum is wonderful, I had the opportunity to visit a few years ago when I was doing some business with Ford in Dearborn. My rental car on that trip was a fire-engine red VW Jetta. I was actually embarrassed when I drove onto the parking lot - my highly-visible car was the only non-Ford or Lincoln to be seen for miles.
17. How sardines are packed: IN OIL I prefer them packed in brine, the fish is oily enough already.
18. Mythical bird: ROC
21. Hydrocarbon group: ALKYL. The "Y" almost had me stumped, I could not for the life of me remember the crossing "YEGG". I stared it down in the end with an alphabet run.
23. 1995-2006 New York governor George: PATAKI
27. The W in kWh: WATT. Kilowatt Hours.
31. Athlete's peak performance: A GAME
32. Wines and dines: REGALES. I didn't associate this at all. I'd use "regale" to describe telling an entertaining story. I didn't know the alternative definition.
34. Thrill: BANG
36. Credits list: CAST
39. Place for spectacles: ARENA
40. __ Navy: discount retailer: OLD
44. Gen-__: X'ER. Roughly speaking, born from the mid-60's thru the 70's between the boomers and the millennials.
45. Like universal blood donors: O TYPE. Shouldn't it be TYPE O? You don't have an "A Model" Ford or a "Type E" Jaguar. Just sayin'
47. Nantes notion: IDÉE. French.
48. Drill parts: BITS
49. Symbolized: TOKENED. This is my clunker of the day.
52. Roof features: EAVES
54. WWI battle river: YSER
60. "Indubitably!": IT IS SO!
62. Hot pot spot: STOVE
68. __ Van Winkle: RIP
69. Tolkien ringbearer: FRODO. All Sam Gamgee seemed to say in the movies was "Mr. Frodo! Mr. Frodo!" It got a little wearisome.
70. Tell: RELATE
71. Sheep's call: BAA
73. Old-Timers' Day VIP: EX STAR. Hmmm. Not convinced by this one either.
74. Unspecified amount: ANY
Down:
1. Diego Rivera creation: MURAL. According to Wikipedia, his full name is Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez. Not sure quite how accurate that is, but I'm repeating what I read. Amazing artist.
2. Speed skater Ohno: APOLO
3. "Mary Poppins" and "Mary Poppins Returns" actor: DICK VAN DYKE. I wonder if his cockney accent has improved in the new movie? It was pretty shocking in the original.
4. Component of the "at" sign: SMALL "A"
5. Chaney of horror: LON
6. Toss in: ADD
7. Beat: TEMPO
8. Cuban boy in 2000 headlines: ELIAN
9. One curing meat: SALTER. When I've got my salting boots on, I use Prague Powder #1, aka "pink salt". Pastrami and Irish bacon. Yum!
10. Saucer, e.g.: DISK. I went for DISH at first, which made a very odd-looking NYC mayor at 23-across.
11. Like many '60s-'70s protests: ANTI-WAR
12. __ juice: MOO. Cow's milk.
13. Trough guy: PIG. Very nice clue
14. Road sign caution: SLO. SLO - MISSING "W" AHEAD.
20. Move gently: EASE
22. Safecracker: YEGG. With the Y cross in ALKYL, came close to foxing me.
25. Initial disco hit?: Y.M.C.A.
26. Smokey, for one: BEAR
28. 1964 Anthony Quinn role: ALEXIS ZORBA. Here's a nice rendition of the famous dance, unsuccessfully attempted by Greek taverna-tourists ever since. It seems to be a law in tourist towns in Greece that the taverna plays this at least twice a night.
29. Religious belief: TENET
30. Dynasts of old Russia: TSARS. TS or CZ? Wait for a cross.
33. What H, O or N may represent: GAS. Hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.
34. Pirate riches: BOOTY
35. Choir group: ALTOS
37. __ lift: SKI
38. Tiny bit: TAD
41. Lair: DEN
42. Great Barrier __: REEF. You might as well print the letters with the grid for this one. The same might be said for SKI LIFT too.
43. Hot streak: TEAR
46. Stretches: PERIODS
48. Sweet root: BEET. Sweet? I'd call them more peppery than sweet.
50. Actress Falco: EDIE
51. Itch: DESIRE
53. Evening star: VESPER. The planet Venus when it appears in the evening sky. The Romans named the morning incarnation of Venus as "Lucifer" even though they recognized it was the same celestial body. The Vesper is also the cocktail that James Bond orders "shaken, not stirred". Gin, vodka and Kina Lillet.
56. Southend-on-Sea's county: ESSEX. Easy for me, probably not for the majority of you. Dick Van Dyke's cockney character would call it "Sarf-end"
57. Focus group surveys: POLLS
58. Water brand: EVIAN
59. Give back: REPAY
61. Harness race pace: TROT
63. Fave pal: BFF. Bestie or"Best Friend Forever".
64. Be in the wrong: ERR
65. Egg __ yung: FOO. Foo! I mean Food!
66. "Mangia!": EAT!
67. Zeta follower: ETA. The initial reaction is that zeta is the last letter in the Greek alphabet, but it's not by a long way - a long way from omega.
With that, stick a fork in me, I'm done. Here's the grid:
Steve
