17. Does really well, for a weekend golfer: SHOOTS PAR. Each golf hole has a par rating, between 3 and 5 strokes, depending on tee to green length. Typical par for 18 holes is 72. The letters of STRAP occur at the end of the phrase.
22. "Next time's for real": JUST PRACTICING. I practice a lot, but have a hard time coming up with a real life situation where one might utter these words. There are, however, memes that use the phrase, if you care to look for them. The letters of STRAP span the two words, and are internal. Same as in the next two entries.
36. Cardiologist: HEART SPECIALIST. A specific kind of medical doctor.
46. Jewish deli meat: KOSHER PASTRAMI. Read all about it.
56. "America's Got Talent" judges' concern: STAR POWER. That elusive combination of poise, talent, stage presense, sex appeal and a certain je ne sais quoi, perhaps. Here, the letters occur at the beginning of the phrase, offering a nice symmetry, where the first shall be last, and the last first.
58. With 62-Across, handyman's assortment, and a hint to what's in each set of circles: LOOSE.
Very thematically rich array, with a central grid spanner, two others just a letter short, and even the shorter entries having nine letters each. And the final - central - initial placement of the circled letters is an elegant touch.
But there are a couple problems. First, LOOSE PARTS does not appear to be an in-the-language phrase meaning what the clues suggest. Or, if it is, I'm failing to find any evidence of it. Instead, it indicates a group of resources that provide children with an intellectually stimulating outlet for creative play.
Second - and this might be just a nit - but KOSHER PASTRAMI can also be parsed this way, with the PARTS not straddling both words. Is anyone else bothered by this?
Hi gang, It's JazzBumpa, perhaps in an overly-critical mood. Grab your STRAPS and PARTS and lets see what we can uncover.
Across:
1. Area with pews: NAVE. The central area of a church.
5. It's saved for a rainy day: TARP. Covering to protect the infield of a baseball stadium from rain.
9. Monster party: BASH. A better than average party, with more excitement or better accessories.
13. Constrain: HEM IN. Enclose something, or prevent it from moving.
14. Singer Adams: EDIE. Her husband was Ernie Kovacs.
Having way too much fun
16. In first place: AHEAD. At the head of the pack.
19. Sophs, come Sep.: JRS. 2nd and 3rd Yr students, respectively.
20. "Who Dat Girl" rapper __ Rida: FLO. It's on You Tube, if you're interested.
21. Corkscrew pasta: ROTINI. Descriptive name - Italian for "spirals.".
26. Hurry, old-style: HIE. To rush or hasten, from Old English hīgian "strive, pant", of unknown origin.
27. Leaf-clearing tool: RAKE. To clean them up when they fall in the Fall.
28. Hairy spider: TARANTULA. I refuse to post a picture.
33. It stings: BEE. I was always told that if I leave it alone then it will leave me alone. Opinions?
40. Energy unit: ERG. A minuscule unit of energy equal to 10−7 Joule. An erg is the amount of work done by a force of one dyne exerted for a distance of one centimeter. One of my college profs described it as the amount of energy exerted when one fly does one push up in one second.
41. Looks through, as a keyhole: PEERS INTO. Sounds sneaky.
42. Tennis immortal: ASHE. Arthur [1943 - 1993] He won 3 grand slam titles and retired in 1980.
45. Spanish "that": ESA. Also literal
53. Learn from A to Z: MASTER. Have complete knowledge and facility in some activity or endeavor.
54. Little newt: EFT. It's a strange life cycle
55. Bloke: GUV. Types of British slang for a man.
60. Latvian seaport: RIGA. Latvia's capital, on the Baltic sea at the mouth of the Daugava River.
61. De __: again: NOVO. Anew, from the beginning.
63. Cocktail garnish: PEEL. Typically of an orange or lemon
64. Gets the picture: SEES. Comprehends. Not necessarily a visual reference.
65. Keep up (with): STAY. Be like an electrician, and STAY on top of current events.
Down:
1. '60s jacket style: NEHRU. The Nehru jacket is a hip-length tailored coat for men or women, with a mandarin collar, and with its front modeled on the Indian achkan or sherwani, a garment worn by Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964. [Wikipedia .]
2. "What __!": "Ick!": A MESS. A situation or thing in a condition of disarray, and possibly unsanitary.
3. By way of: VIA. From the same word in Latin meaning "way" or "road."
4. See 28-Down: END. But, as you can see we still have a ways to go. Vide infra.
5. Musk's electric car brand: TESLA. Named for this guy.
6. Limited in scope, as a committee: AD HOC. Latin, literally, "to this, " designating a committee assembled for a specific purpose.
7. Grande opening: RIO. Together these words make the name of a border river separating Texas from several Mexican States. Lame clue.
8. Illinois city that symbolizes mainstream America: PEORIA.
10. Clinton's first Defense secretary: ASPIN. Leslie Aspin, Jr. [1938 - 1995] was a representative from Wisconsin from 1971 to 1993, and Defense Secretary from January, 1993 to February, 1994.
11. Sporty Ford, to devotees: 'STANG. Mustang. I am not familiar with this slangy abbrv. but I guess it's real.
12. Big name in spydom: HARI. Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod [1876 - 1917] better known by the stage name Mata Hari, was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I and executed by firing squad in France. [Wikipedia]
13. Pilgrimage to Mecca: HAJJ. This takes place in the last month of the year, something all Muslims are expected to complete.
18. Clock sound: TOCK. Or TICK
20. Guitar neck features: FRETS. Metal strips inserted into the fingerboard to divide it into fixed segments. Each fret represents one semi-tone in standard western equal tempering. If you don't know about tempering and tuning systems, believe me, you are far better off.
23. Whaling direction: THAR. Evidently meaning "there."
Cetaceans don't get any privacy
24. Pub order: PINT. Half a quart, or 0.473 liter.
Is anybody thirsty?
25. Copy on a transparent sheet: TRACE.
28. With 4-Down, fairy tale's last words: THE. Vide supra. Anyway, I thought it was "They lived happily ever after." But hang on; we're still not finished!
29. Fizzy prefix: AER-. Indicating something to do with air, in this case inducing bubbles.
30. Tattered cloth: RAG.
31. Word with class or case: UPPER. UPPER class indicates having lots of money, irrespective of actual classiness. [Funny how that works.] Upper case indicates THIS KIND OF LETTERING.
32. Blues legend John __ Hooker: LEE.
Classic
33. Storage container: BIN. Of Celtic origin, via Old English, indicating a container of no specific type.
34. Approximate fig.: ESTimate.
35. WWII arena: ETO. European Theater of Operations.
37. "__ my case": I REST. An indication that you [believe that you have] done enough to prove your point, and no more argument is necessary. The origin is from courts of law, indicating that an attorney has finished presenting her case to the judge and/or jury.
38. Exec's hire, perhaps: ASST. Assistant. N.B. Abbrv.
39. "Tell the truth!": LIAR. A command presumably issued with no sense of irony to someone you don't believe.
42. Starlike: ASTRAL. From the Latin astrum, meaning "star." Relating to actual stars in the sky; or to a supposed nonphysical realm of existence to which various psychic and paranormal phenomena are ascribed, and in which the physical human body is said to have a counterpart.
43. Fox News anchor Smith: SHEP. [b 1964] He serves as the channel's chief news anchor and as managing editor of the breaking news division.
44. Wading birds: HERONS. There are 64 known species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns.
I got this pic of a great blue heron on the grounds where my mom was in hospice in 2015.
46. Five-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Ledecky: KATIE.
47. Missouri river: OSAGE. A 276-mile-long tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri, draining a mostly rural area of 15,300 square miles.
48. "Pet" irritation: PEEVE. We all have one, right? My petty pet PEEVE is gratuitous verberization - the morphing of perfectly fine nouns into completely unneeded verbs. "Parenting" frex. Grrrrrrr! What's yours?
49. High dos: AFROS. Hair dos, a la Jackson Five.
50. Greek marketplace: AGORA. A public space used for assemblies and markets.
51. Smelling of mold: MUSTY. A damp, vaguely unpleasant odor associated with mold, mildew or decay.
52. Lithographer James: IVES. [1824 - 1895] He oversaw the business and financial side of the Currier and Ives print-making firm.
53. No. on a new car window: MSRP. Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price.
57. Misery: WOE. Great sorrow or distress.
58. CD predecessors: LPS. Differently formatted discs for recording and playback of music or other audio presentations.
59. Breakfast grain: OAT. A cereal grain, Avena Sativa, grown for its seed. It is suitable for both humans and livestock.
On that nutritious note, our journey ends. A very well constructed, thematically rich puzzle, though I had my nits. Hope it gets your Wednesday off to a good start.
Cool regards,
JzB
