Theme: The Great Divide - four rows of the puzzle contain theme words divided by the black squares, as the reveal tells us what to look for:
61A. #3 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time (as of 2016) ... and a hint to what the black squares are doing in four rows of this puzzle: BREAKING BAD
Firstly ...
17A. Teacher on call: SUB. Our friend Husker Gary knows all about this.
18A. John D. Rockefeller's company: STANDARD OIL
... followed by ...
23A. Record: ENTER
24A. Umbrella part: RIB
26A. Grace word: BLESS
... also ...
38A. Woodland goat-man: FAUN. Be careful doing an image search for this, you might get more than you bargained for.
41A. Arraignment answers: PLEAS
42A. Kitchen pests: ANTS
... and finally
52A. Calf-length skirts: MIDIS
53A. 61-Across kingpin __ Fring: GUS. Cross-referencing the reveal, nicely done.
56A. Subtle shade: TINGE
Well, I liked the theme, one of those which doesn't become apparent until you've filled most of the grid and read the reveal. I did think the reveal was clued in a really clunky way "... (as of 2016)" - surely there's a cleaner and more elegant way to refer to the show rather han a clue which is date-specific.
I watched the first few episodes of the show and got bored with it, I know it garnered all kinds of awards and critical acclaim, but it just didn't grab me.
A couple of clunkers/obscurities in the fill, but mostly OK. Let's take a tour.
Across:
1. Cleared (of): RID
4. Tote bag material: CANVAS
10. Down-to-earth: REAL
14. Chemical suffix: -IDE
15. Even though: ALBEIT. I think this was my word-of-the-day, there's something very satisfying about it.
16. Wrinkly hybrid fruit: UGLI. Also known as a Jamaican tangelo. Ugli is a proprietary name, which really is a play on the word "ugly". It's a grapefruit/tangerine hybrid.
20. Cutlery collection: KNIFE SET
22. Moo __ gai pan: GOO. Food! A stir-fry with chicken and veggies.
30. Bilingual "Sesame Street" Muppet: ROSITA. I didn't know this, but it seemed reasonable that it would be a latino or latina name. I had ROS- in place, and the rest came naturally.
32. Bath sponges: LOOFAHS
34. Most babbling: GASSIEST. Really?
37. Bunk: ROT
43. Racing Unsers: ALS. Al Unser Sr, and, very inventively, Al Unser Jr. Of course, there's a III as well.
44. Preparation period: LEAD TIME
46. German mathematician Bernhard: RIEMANN. Who? I was terrible at math in school, so I never came across this gentleman.
48. Softening: EASING
57. Glass lip: RIM
59. Speed trap equipment: RADAR GUN
65. Check out: EYE
66. "Star Trek" race: BORG
67. Mariner's patron: ST ELMO. He of the fire. He likes to mess with airplanes as well as ship's masts:
68. __ Lingus: AER. The Irish national carrier.
69. Pineapple center: CORE
70. "Mercy me!": OH DEAR!
71. Genetic material: RNA. -NA and wait for the cross.
Down:
1. One who agrees to a dare: RISKER. Yuk. "You risker, you!" said no-one, ever.
2. "Got me": I DUNNO
3. Ledger entries: DEBITS
4. Italian city whose Royal Palace has been used as a set in two "Star Wars" films: CASERTA. I'd never heard of it. 76,000 people live there though, so at least they've heard of it. It also hosted the Eurobasket basketball tourney in 1969, so that's a righteous claim to fame. The palace is big though, it looks like all 76,000 residents could live in it and they could host the tournament in the driveway.
5. Hgts.: ALTS. That's an abbreviation for "heights", apparently, so "altitudes" is the answer. I'd be interested in anyone coming up with an example of Hgts or Alts being used. Washington Hgts or other place names don't count
6. Net or Knick: NBAER. Basketball player, although some fans of those teams might grumble that their players don't play basketball of much quality. They'd probably have done OK at Eurobasket in 1969 though.
7. Starbucks order: VENTI. I can never remember the sizes in Starbucks. I just go for small, medium and large. They seem to understand what I'm looking for.
8. Give a leg up: AID
.
9. Antlered animal: STAG
10. Ballet great Nureyev: RUDOLF
11. Psychoanalysis subject: EGO
12. Actor Mahershala __: ALI. Talented dude. Two Oscars, a slew of other awards and a studio rap album to boot. I'm catching up with "House of Cards" on NetFlix, he has a big role in the show.
13. Rapper __ Jon: LIL' Two rappers in close proximity.
19. High-tech worker: ROBOT
21. Affect: FEIGN
25. Pasture cry: BLEAT
27. Pull down: EARN
28. Opportunity: SHOT
29. Former Air France jets: SSTS. The supersonic Concorde. British Airways had them too, part of a joint venture between the British and French governments. When BA retired their fleet, Richard Branson tried to buy them for Virgin, but BA refused to sell. Odd, considering they didn't pay for them in the first place, the taxpayers did. Branson was livid.
31. Colorado snowboarding mecca: ASPEN
33. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" director Davis: OSSIE
35. Urban Dictionary content: SLANG. You come across some very weird things in there. Much like searching for "faun".
36. Iraq War weapon: Abbr.: I.E.D. Improvised Explosive Device. Usually a roadside bomb triggered underneath vehicles in a convoy in that conflict.
38. One to grow on: FARM
39. Et __: and others: ALII. I had ALIA first, I'm not sure I'll ever know whether to use ALII, ALIAE or ALIA. The first is masculine, the second feminine, and the third neuter. In this clue context, "others" would refer to masculine things. Gender-specific languages really make things difficult!
40. Hand-me-down: USED
42. Group at Asgard: AESIR. Not really, the AE is a diphthong or ligature - it's a single letter, Æ. Anyway, the æsir are a group of gods in Norse religion who reside at Asgard.
44. Cornea-reshaping surgery: LASIK. I can never remember which is which between lasik and lasix, the anti-asthma drug given to racehorses, so I wait for the cross.
45. One facing charges?: MATADOR. Nice clue.
47. Desert illusion: MIRAGE
49. Ready to roll: IN GEAR
50. Vietnamese-American poker star Scotty: NGUYEN. Never heard of him, but with the G and Y in place it was an easy guess.
51. Biological subdivisions: GENERA
54. Implored: URGED
55. Black: SABLE
58. Japanese soup: MISO
60. Lady of Spain: DAMA
61. Eng. channel: B.B.C. The state broadcaster in the UK, affectionately known as "the Beeb" or "Auntie".
62. Pal of Piglet: ROO. The Ashdown Forest, the real-life home of the Hundred Acre Wood, was scorched by wildfires recently. The temperatures in the UK reached 70F in February. What climate change?
63. Goof up: ERR
64. Extreme: NTH
Here's the grid, with the theme words highlighted in fetching pale yellow. And with that, I think I'm done!
Steve
61A. #3 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time (as of 2016) ... and a hint to what the black squares are doing in four rows of this puzzle: BREAKING BAD
Firstly ...
17A. Teacher on call: SUB. Our friend Husker Gary knows all about this.
18A. John D. Rockefeller's company: STANDARD OIL
... followed by ...
23A. Record: ENTER
24A. Umbrella part: RIB
26A. Grace word: BLESS
... also ...
38A. Woodland goat-man: FAUN. Be careful doing an image search for this, you might get more than you bargained for.
41A. Arraignment answers: PLEAS
42A. Kitchen pests: ANTS
... and finally
52A. Calf-length skirts: MIDIS
53A. 61-Across kingpin __ Fring: GUS. Cross-referencing the reveal, nicely done.
56A. Subtle shade: TINGE
Well, I liked the theme, one of those which doesn't become apparent until you've filled most of the grid and read the reveal. I did think the reveal was clued in a really clunky way "... (as of 2016)" - surely there's a cleaner and more elegant way to refer to the show rather han a clue which is date-specific.
I watched the first few episodes of the show and got bored with it, I know it garnered all kinds of awards and critical acclaim, but it just didn't grab me.
A couple of clunkers/obscurities in the fill, but mostly OK. Let's take a tour.
Across:
1. Cleared (of): RID
4. Tote bag material: CANVAS
10. Down-to-earth: REAL
14. Chemical suffix: -IDE
15. Even though: ALBEIT. I think this was my word-of-the-day, there's something very satisfying about it.
16. Wrinkly hybrid fruit: UGLI. Also known as a Jamaican tangelo. Ugli is a proprietary name, which really is a play on the word "ugly". It's a grapefruit/tangerine hybrid.
20. Cutlery collection: KNIFE SET
22. Moo __ gai pan: GOO. Food! A stir-fry with chicken and veggies.
30. Bilingual "Sesame Street" Muppet: ROSITA. I didn't know this, but it seemed reasonable that it would be a latino or latina name. I had ROS- in place, and the rest came naturally.
32. Bath sponges: LOOFAHS
34. Most babbling: GASSIEST. Really?
37. Bunk: ROT
43. Racing Unsers: ALS. Al Unser Sr, and, very inventively, Al Unser Jr. Of course, there's a III as well.
44. Preparation period: LEAD TIME
46. German mathematician Bernhard: RIEMANN. Who? I was terrible at math in school, so I never came across this gentleman.
48. Softening: EASING
57. Glass lip: RIM
59. Speed trap equipment: RADAR GUN
65. Check out: EYE
66. "Star Trek" race: BORG
67. Mariner's patron: ST ELMO. He of the fire. He likes to mess with airplanes as well as ship's masts:
68. __ Lingus: AER. The Irish national carrier.
69. Pineapple center: CORE
70. "Mercy me!": OH DEAR!
71. Genetic material: RNA. -NA and wait for the cross.
Down:
1. One who agrees to a dare: RISKER. Yuk. "You risker, you!" said no-one, ever.
2. "Got me": I DUNNO
3. Ledger entries: DEBITS
4. Italian city whose Royal Palace has been used as a set in two "Star Wars" films: CASERTA. I'd never heard of it. 76,000 people live there though, so at least they've heard of it. It also hosted the Eurobasket basketball tourney in 1969, so that's a righteous claim to fame. The palace is big though, it looks like all 76,000 residents could live in it and they could host the tournament in the driveway.
5. Hgts.: ALTS. That's an abbreviation for "heights", apparently, so "altitudes" is the answer. I'd be interested in anyone coming up with an example of Hgts or Alts being used. Washington Hgts or other place names don't count
6. Net or Knick: NBAER. Basketball player, although some fans of those teams might grumble that their players don't play basketball of much quality. They'd probably have done OK at Eurobasket in 1969 though.
7. Starbucks order: VENTI. I can never remember the sizes in Starbucks. I just go for small, medium and large. They seem to understand what I'm looking for.
8. Give a leg up: AID
.
9. Antlered animal: STAG
10. Ballet great Nureyev: RUDOLF
11. Psychoanalysis subject: EGO
12. Actor Mahershala __: ALI. Talented dude. Two Oscars, a slew of other awards and a studio rap album to boot. I'm catching up with "House of Cards" on NetFlix, he has a big role in the show.
13. Rapper __ Jon: LIL' Two rappers in close proximity.
19. High-tech worker: ROBOT
21. Affect: FEIGN
25. Pasture cry: BLEAT
27. Pull down: EARN
28. Opportunity: SHOT
29. Former Air France jets: SSTS. The supersonic Concorde. British Airways had them too, part of a joint venture between the British and French governments. When BA retired their fleet, Richard Branson tried to buy them for Virgin, but BA refused to sell. Odd, considering they didn't pay for them in the first place, the taxpayers did. Branson was livid.
31. Colorado snowboarding mecca: ASPEN
33. "Cotton Comes to Harlem" director Davis: OSSIE
35. Urban Dictionary content: SLANG. You come across some very weird things in there. Much like searching for "faun".
36. Iraq War weapon: Abbr.: I.E.D. Improvised Explosive Device. Usually a roadside bomb triggered underneath vehicles in a convoy in that conflict.
38. One to grow on: FARM
39. Et __: and others: ALII. I had ALIA first, I'm not sure I'll ever know whether to use ALII, ALIAE or ALIA. The first is masculine, the second feminine, and the third neuter. In this clue context, "others" would refer to masculine things. Gender-specific languages really make things difficult!
40. Hand-me-down: USED
42. Group at Asgard: AESIR. Not really, the AE is a diphthong or ligature - it's a single letter, Æ. Anyway, the æsir are a group of gods in Norse religion who reside at Asgard.
44. Cornea-reshaping surgery: LASIK. I can never remember which is which between lasik and lasix, the anti-asthma drug given to racehorses, so I wait for the cross.
45. One facing charges?: MATADOR. Nice clue.
47. Desert illusion: MIRAGE
49. Ready to roll: IN GEAR
50. Vietnamese-American poker star Scotty: NGUYEN. Never heard of him, but with the G and Y in place it was an easy guess.
51. Biological subdivisions: GENERA
54. Implored: URGED
55. Black: SABLE
58. Japanese soup: MISO
60. Lady of Spain: DAMA
61. Eng. channel: B.B.C. The state broadcaster in the UK, affectionately known as "the Beeb" or "Auntie".
62. Pal of Piglet: ROO. The Ashdown Forest, the real-life home of the Hundred Acre Wood, was scorched by wildfires recently. The temperatures in the UK reached 70F in February. What climate change?
63. Goof up: ERR
64. Extreme: NTH
Here's the grid, with the theme words highlighted in fetching pale yellow. And with that, I think I'm done!
Steve
Note from C.C.:
As a few solvers noticed, there's an extra B in TERRIBLE. Rich Norris, editor for our L.A. Times Daily Crossword editor, apologized for the mistake.
Rich has fixed the mistake. Please click here for the puz file. Here for the PDF. Below is the new Answer Grid.
