17. Immigrant's ID: GREEN CARD. Card shark. Card sharp to some. Traditionally, someone skilled in cheating at cards. The definition has been transitioning to simply mean someone skilled in playing cards.
27. Tuition-paying aid: STUDENT LOAN. Loan shark. A usurer.
42. Competitive swimming venue: OLYMPIC POOL. Pool shark. A pool hustler. In the vein of Minnesota Fats, Willie Mosconi, et al.
56. Emmy-winning reality series for entrepreneurs ... and a place for the ends of 17-, 27- and 42-Across?: SHARK TANK. Now in the 10th Season. Sundays at 10/9c on ABC.
I thought this puzzle had a pretty good bite to it after I got my jaws around it and sunk my teeth in.
I don't recall solving a puzzle by Tyler Lian before. Plenty of Jeff Chen solves though. I wonder if Jeff is mentoring Tyler. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Let's wade into the depths, and see what else is lurking beneath the surface.
Across:
1. Ring ref's decision: TKO. Technical Knock Out.
4. Hindu division: CASTE.
9. Rig up: EQUIP.
14. Hankering: YEN. Japanese cabbage: Yen.
15. Aquaman's realm: OCEAN. The DC Comics superhero is King of the Seven Seas.
"A founding member of the Justice League of America, Aquaman has fought alongside Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman and held his own against the biggest threats the universe has ever seen. Despite being misunderstood by many as someone who merely “talks to fish,” Aquaman’s super-strength and fighting prowess alone make him a force to be reckoned with. His telepathic abilities make him one of the most powerful minds on the planet. If one chooses to underestimate the sea king, they do so at their own peril."
16. "Grey's Anatomy" staffer: NURSE.
19. Extend the library borrowing term: RENEW.
20. Tries to hit: AIMS FOR.
21. Low singers: BASSES.
22. Blackjack elevens: ACES. I learned that in Blackjack, the ace card can be used as either for a point value of either one or eleven.
23. Not fitting: INAPT.
25. Title for Jose or Diego?: SAN. San Jose and San Diego. San translates to Saint. I think.
32. Rude and crude: CRASS.
34. "Begone, feline!": SCAT.
35. Unsubscribes, with "out": OPTS.
36. Jazz trumpeter Al: HIRT. I must admit that as a youth I confused Al Hirt and Herb Albert.
37. Indian prime minister mentored by Gandhi: NEHRU.
38. Eric Carle's "The __ Hungry Caterpillar": VERY. No clue at the first reading, but easily guessed. The picture book has sold 30 million copies and has been translated into 40 languages. I guess I've been living in a cocoon. I wasn't at all familiar with it. Here's a quick slideshow of the story.
39. Viral internet item: MEME. Remember Grumpy Cat ?
40. Improve text: EDIT.
41. Porto-Novo's land: BENIN. There's a Portonovo, Spain, a Portonovo, Italy, a Porto Novo, Portugal and more. Porto Novo means new port. The hyphenated Porto-Novo is the capital of Benin.
45. Cul-de-__: SAC.
46. Sniffling maladies: COLDS.
47. Mother's Day gift holder: VASE.
49. Old phone company nickname: MA BELL. "Collectively, the family of companies associated with American Telephone & Telegraph, providing telephone service in the United States for many years through 1983." - Wiktionary.
52. Biblical opening: GENESIS.
55. Food recall culprit: E. coli. Escherichia coli. It seems I get this every other week. Not the bacterial infection. I get E. coli as an answer or in a clue.
58. Biblical verb: SHALT. Used in 80 % of the Ten Commandments.
59. Fictional Swiss miss: HEIDI. Translated into 50 languages and over 50 million copies sold.
60. "Excusez-__": MOI.
61. Frankfurt's state: HESSE. Frankfort's state: Kentucky. The one in this clue is the major city of Frankfurt am Main, which translates to Frankfurt on the Main (river).
62. How ballerinas dance: ON TOE.
63. Sinus doc: ENT. Otolaryngologists. Easier to remember Ear, Nose and Throat specialists.
Down:
1. Rapper whose name sounds like an endangered cat: TYGA. "Micheal Ray Stevenson (born November 19, 1989), known by his stage name Tyga (a backronym for Thank you God always),is an American rapper." - Wikipedia
2. "The Americans" co-star Russell: KERI. The Americans was a series on the FX channel. She and Matthew Rhys played deep cover KGB agents living in Virginia as a married American couple.
3. Many an action film hero: ONE MAN ARMY. John Rambo comes to mind.
4. Admit: CONFESS.
5. Greet aggressively: ACCOST.
6. Burn a little: SEAR. Burn a lot: seethe.
7. Road covering: TAR.
8. Conclude: END.
9. Fascinated: ENRAPT.
10. The Roots' frontman on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon": QUESTLOVE. - "Ahmir Khalib Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American musician and music journalist. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the Grammy Award-winning band The Roots. The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since February 17, 2014." Wikipedia.
11. Big coffeepots: URNS.
12. "Noted": I SEE.
13. Church rows: PEWS.
18. PC panic key: ESC.
21. African language group: BANTU. "More than 240 million people speak Bantu languages across Central, East, and Southern Africa but the exact number of languages differs according to who’s counting. More than 250 Bantu languages exist by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though some accounts list 535 distinct languages." - Moguldom.com
23. Tracking implants, for short: ID CHIPS. I think first of dogs and cats...
24. A few feet from: NEAR TO.
25. Blockhead: SCHMO.
26. Princess who gives up her voice to be human: ARIEL.
28. Vintage music purchase: USED CD.
29. Magical access words: OPEN SESAME.
30. Glass-roofed lobbies: ATRIA. The glass-roofed atrium at the Houston Galleria.
31. Timberlake's former band: NSYNC. A young Justin Timberlake when he was with NSYNC.
33. Biological building blocks: STEM CELLS.
37. Sam of "Peaky Blinders": NEILL. I am familiar with the actor, but not the BBC television series.
41. Tot's comforter, affectionately: BLANKIE. Binky too.
43. Not at all 32-Across: POLITE.
44. Work too hard: OVER DO. My wife says that I over do it. I over did it cutting a channel through the snow in the ditch line. We were supposed to get a lot of rain. Didn't want the culvert to freeze up and cause an upheaval in the blacktop. Now the forecast isn't bad, so the only thing I got out it was a sore back.
48. Opposite of rise: SET.
49. Screen door material: MESH.
50. Aleve target: ACHE.
51. Jungle squeezers: BOAS.
52. Canter or gallop: GAIT. Neither a canter nor a gallop. Like a ballerina.
53. A party to, as a private joke: IN ON.
54. Classroom acting: SKIT.
56. "Shameless" network, briefly: SHO.
57. Egg layer: HEN.
