Theme: Tool Box - all the answers around the edge of the puzzle are tools, as the reveal explains:
35A. Takes a casual drive ... and a literal description of 10 puzzle answers: TOOLS AROUND
In clockwise order, starting from the top left:
1A. Queen, e.g.: RULER. Measure twice, cut once.
6A. Fell for the joke: BIT.
9A. Put away for future reference: FILE. I'm terrible at filing; if I file something away I'm almost guaranteed to forget about it.
16D. Work (out) with effort, as an agreement: HAMMER ... closely followed by ..
45D. Swindle: CHISEL
63A. Fire __: DRILL
62A. Spied: SAW
61A. Laryngitis symptom: RASP
37D. Polo need: MALLET
1D. Wi-Fi conduit: ROUTER. Any network, as a matter of fact, not just a wireless one.
Nice theme from Bruce today. Even with the puzzle completed it took me a few beats to notice all the tools around the edge of the puzzle, I was looking for entries with a tool wrapped "around" the word at first. The trick of this theme is to clue the entries other than referencing the tool itself. The only one which comes close to breaking this rule is the MALLET entry - a polo mallet is very close to the tool.
Some fresh entries in the fill including TURNOVERS, USB DRIVES, CK ONE and UPRATE. Let's see what else we've got to discuss:
Across:
13. ArkivMusic.com purchase: OPERA. "The source for classical music" according to their website.
14. Sch. with a Tempe campus: A.S.U. Arizona State.
15. Flooded: AWASH
17. "Little Book of Mind-Power" author: URI GELLER. Didn't take long to guess this one once the UR was in place. Huckster of the highest order, this chap. Pretended to bend spoons all with the power of his mind.
19. Battery inventor Alessandro: VOLTA. I wonder why "volt" dropped the final "a"? After all, Ohm and Ampère kept their last letters. We should be told.
20. Stand food: TACO
21. Danish city named for a Norse god: ODENSE. Not ODESSA then, as I confused myself.
23. Place for a shot: ARM
24. Gate info: E.T.A. Estimated Time of Arrival. An aircraft arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time is considered to be "on time". Incidentally, departure time is when you push back from the gate, so as long as you're off the gate, you've departed on time, even if you then spend an hour getting de-iced and another hour waiting in line to take off.
25. Conversation stumbles: ERS, along with ahs, ums and fillers "you know", "kind of" and all the other irritants.
26. Gives the nod: OK'S
27. Hasty escape: LAM. Interesting, I'd not seen the verb form like this before, I was more familiar with "on the lam".
28. Superman specialty: RESCUE
30. Wrigley Field feature: IVY. Baseball's famous Chicago landmark. If a ball gets stuck in the ivy, it's ruled a double; a runner at first can't advance beyond third base.
31. Like beds in cleaned hotel rooms: MADE
32. Peter of "9-1-1": KRAUSE. Crosses all the way. He's been seen a lot on TV, but I don't think he ever crossed my path of consciousness:
34. Tunisian currency: DINAR
37. Bearings: MIENS
39. Casual eatery: BISTRO
40. Ending to avoid?: -ANCE. I'm not a big fan of these types of fill, neither the suffix nor the prefix variants. There's a prefix example at 59A also.
41. Interject: ADD
42. Touchdown site: TARMAC
46. "Well, __-di-dah!": LAH
47. Shooting initials: SLR
48. "Jeopardy!" record-setter Jennings: KEN
49. Spa emanation: AAH
50. Source of some '60s trips: LSD
51. 1840s-'50s home to Liszt: WEIMAR
53. End of an old boast: VICI
54. Military camp: ÉTAPE. Specifially, a place to camp after a day's march. Étape is also used to describe a day's stage in a cycle race, particularly le Tour de France.
56. Luxury accommodations for bigwigs: VIP SUITES
58. Church offering: TITHE
59. Prefix with warrior: ECO-
60. 1960 Wimbledon champ Fraser: NEALE. More crosses. I'd never heard of this chap, but he's got a very impressive grand slam tournament record, not just at Wimbledon. He won the men's singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, doubles at all four majors, and mixed doubles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. Not bad for an amateur!
Down:
2. Raise from three to four stars, as a hotel: UPRATE. I like the word. I've seen it used more in a performance-improvement context, but it works for me here too.
3. Classic cameras: LEICAS
4. So: ERGO. Cogito, Ergo sum. I think, therefore (so) I am.
5. Singer Carly __ Jepsen: RAE. I know her from the crosswords now. Her music isn't really to my taste, but I'm sure Carly Rae doesn't care.
6. Gets thinner on top: BALDS. Balds? Nope, doesn't work for me. "He is balding" sure. "He balds?" Not likely.
7. "So THAT's what's going on here!": I SEE
8. Hoops goofs: TURNOVERS. I was trying to make AIR BALLS work somehow.
9. BFFs: FAVES
10. __ Jima: IWO
11. Space cadet's world: LA LA LAND. "And the Oscar goes to ......" Ooops!
12. Erik of "CHiPs": ESTRADA
18. Cosmetics giant: L'OREAL
22. What's up?: SKY. Cloudy skies here today.
25. Pierre's bills: EUROS
29. Designer fragrance: CK ONE. Calvin Klein cologne.
30. "To repeat ... ": I SAID ...
31. Trivial: MINOR
33. PC storage options: USB DRIVES. I tried "STICKS" first, that didn't work out so well.
34. "Hands of Stone" boxer Roberto: DURAN
35. Fortune 500 IT company: TECH DATA. I know I should have, but oddly I've never heard of this outfit. For a company with revenues last year of $37bn, that's quite a surprise.
36. Frisky whiskered critters: OTTERS. Clever, too. They've been seen to use stones as tools to open shellfish.
38. Excited: IN A STIR
41. Tap outflow: ALE
43. Tiki bar cocktail: MAI TAI. Second Thursday in a row that we're drinking mai tais.
44. Small battery: AA CELL
47. Win the first four World Series games: SWEEP. The last time it happened was 2012 when the Giants swept the Tigers.
48. "Whammo!": KAPOW!
52. Flaky mineral: MICA
53. Contender: VIER. "She is vying for the title".
55. Acidity nos.: PHS
57. German conjunction: UND. "Donner und blitz", thunder and lightning.
Here's the grid, colorfully identifying the theme entries around the edge, and with that I'm done.
Steve
35A. Takes a casual drive ... and a literal description of 10 puzzle answers: TOOLS AROUND
In clockwise order, starting from the top left:
1A. Queen, e.g.: RULER. Measure twice, cut once.
6A. Fell for the joke: BIT.
9A. Put away for future reference: FILE. I'm terrible at filing; if I file something away I'm almost guaranteed to forget about it.
16D. Work (out) with effort, as an agreement: HAMMER ... closely followed by ..
45D. Swindle: CHISEL
63A. Fire __: DRILL
62A. Spied: SAW
61A. Laryngitis symptom: RASP
37D. Polo need: MALLET
1D. Wi-Fi conduit: ROUTER. Any network, as a matter of fact, not just a wireless one.
Nice theme from Bruce today. Even with the puzzle completed it took me a few beats to notice all the tools around the edge of the puzzle, I was looking for entries with a tool wrapped "around" the word at first. The trick of this theme is to clue the entries other than referencing the tool itself. The only one which comes close to breaking this rule is the MALLET entry - a polo mallet is very close to the tool.
Some fresh entries in the fill including TURNOVERS, USB DRIVES, CK ONE and UPRATE. Let's see what else we've got to discuss:
Across:
13. ArkivMusic.com purchase: OPERA. "The source for classical music" according to their website.
14. Sch. with a Tempe campus: A.S.U. Arizona State.
15. Flooded: AWASH
17. "Little Book of Mind-Power" author: URI GELLER. Didn't take long to guess this one once the UR was in place. Huckster of the highest order, this chap. Pretended to bend spoons all with the power of his mind.
19. Battery inventor Alessandro: VOLTA. I wonder why "volt" dropped the final "a"? After all, Ohm and Ampère kept their last letters. We should be told.
20. Stand food: TACO
21. Danish city named for a Norse god: ODENSE. Not ODESSA then, as I confused myself.
23. Place for a shot: ARM
24. Gate info: E.T.A. Estimated Time of Arrival. An aircraft arriving at the gate within 15 minutes of the scheduled arrival time is considered to be "on time". Incidentally, departure time is when you push back from the gate, so as long as you're off the gate, you've departed on time, even if you then spend an hour getting de-iced and another hour waiting in line to take off.
25. Conversation stumbles: ERS, along with ahs, ums and fillers "you know", "kind of" and all the other irritants.
26. Gives the nod: OK'S
27. Hasty escape: LAM. Interesting, I'd not seen the verb form like this before, I was more familiar with "on the lam".
28. Superman specialty: RESCUE
30. Wrigley Field feature: IVY. Baseball's famous Chicago landmark. If a ball gets stuck in the ivy, it's ruled a double; a runner at first can't advance beyond third base.
31. Like beds in cleaned hotel rooms: MADE
32. Peter of "9-1-1": KRAUSE. Crosses all the way. He's been seen a lot on TV, but I don't think he ever crossed my path of consciousness:
34. Tunisian currency: DINAR
37. Bearings: MIENS
39. Casual eatery: BISTRO
40. Ending to avoid?: -ANCE. I'm not a big fan of these types of fill, neither the suffix nor the prefix variants. There's a prefix example at 59A also.
41. Interject: ADD
42. Touchdown site: TARMAC
46. "Well, __-di-dah!": LAH
47. Shooting initials: SLR
48. "Jeopardy!" record-setter Jennings: KEN
49. Spa emanation: AAH
50. Source of some '60s trips: LSD
51. 1840s-'50s home to Liszt: WEIMAR
53. End of an old boast: VICI
54. Military camp: ÉTAPE. Specifially, a place to camp after a day's march. Étape is also used to describe a day's stage in a cycle race, particularly le Tour de France.
56. Luxury accommodations for bigwigs: VIP SUITES
58. Church offering: TITHE
59. Prefix with warrior: ECO-
60. 1960 Wimbledon champ Fraser: NEALE. More crosses. I'd never heard of this chap, but he's got a very impressive grand slam tournament record, not just at Wimbledon. He won the men's singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, doubles at all four majors, and mixed doubles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. Not bad for an amateur!
Down:
2. Raise from three to four stars, as a hotel: UPRATE. I like the word. I've seen it used more in a performance-improvement context, but it works for me here too.
3. Classic cameras: LEICAS
4. So: ERGO. Cogito, Ergo sum. I think, therefore (so) I am.
5. Singer Carly __ Jepsen: RAE. I know her from the crosswords now. Her music isn't really to my taste, but I'm sure Carly Rae doesn't care.
6. Gets thinner on top: BALDS. Balds? Nope, doesn't work for me. "He is balding" sure. "He balds?" Not likely.
7. "So THAT's what's going on here!": I SEE
8. Hoops goofs: TURNOVERS. I was trying to make AIR BALLS work somehow.
9. BFFs: FAVES
10. __ Jima: IWO
11. Space cadet's world: LA LA LAND. "And the Oscar goes to ......" Ooops!
12. Erik of "CHiPs": ESTRADA
18. Cosmetics giant: L'OREAL
22. What's up?: SKY. Cloudy skies here today.
25. Pierre's bills: EUROS
29. Designer fragrance: CK ONE. Calvin Klein cologne.
30. "To repeat ... ": I SAID ...
31. Trivial: MINOR
33. PC storage options: USB DRIVES. I tried "STICKS" first, that didn't work out so well.
34. "Hands of Stone" boxer Roberto: DURAN
35. Fortune 500 IT company: TECH DATA. I know I should have, but oddly I've never heard of this outfit. For a company with revenues last year of $37bn, that's quite a surprise.
36. Frisky whiskered critters: OTTERS. Clever, too. They've been seen to use stones as tools to open shellfish.
38. Excited: IN A STIR
41. Tap outflow: ALE
43. Tiki bar cocktail: MAI TAI. Second Thursday in a row that we're drinking mai tais.
44. Small battery: AA CELL
47. Win the first four World Series games: SWEEP. The last time it happened was 2012 when the Giants swept the Tigers.
48. "Whammo!": KAPOW!
52. Flaky mineral: MICA
53. Contender: VIER. "She is vying for the title".
55. Acidity nos.: PHS
57. German conjunction: UND. "Donner und blitz", thunder and lightning.
Here's the grid, colorfully identifying the theme entries around the edge, and with that I'm done.
Steve
