Jeffrey mates a leading B to the first word of common phrases that start with an R... to a homophone R word... and creates new life with these phrases and definitions. Breed 'em and weep. Or laugh, as I did.
17. That necessary morning cup of coffee?: BREWED AWAKENING. Rude Awakening.
24. Prepare some fish for frying?: BREAD HERRINGS. Red Herrings.
44. Good nickname for Stephen King?: BRAIN OF TERROR. Reign of terror.
58. Part of the Hulk's healthy diet?: BRUTE VEGETABLES. Root vegetables.
I first tried my hand at it with "rags to riches" and came up with "Boasts about personal wealth" for "brags to riches" but the spelling doesn't change, so although it rhymes it's not a homophone and not consistent with Jeffrey's lead.
How about "Crumple new bills ? for "Break in the money ?" That might work. How about "Male chauvinist's belittling comment about a confident, busty woman ?" Rest assured that I could never make it as a constructor. Hats off to those with the wordsmith skills.
Let's examine some of the other clues and answers.
Across:
1. Martial arts move: CHOP. First thought was kick.
5. Lawrence with an eponymous college: SARAH. No idea. Sarah Lawrence College
10. Oppressive atmosphere: PALL. An air of gloom
14. Dynamic opening: AERO. The top 10 most aerodynamic production cars. I guessed the Teslas and the Prius, but not the Alfa that Dash - T's wife drives. Top aerodynamic production cars.
15. British Columbia neighbor: IDAHO.
16. Court contemporary of Bjorn: ILIE. First name in the clue, first name in the answer. Tennis courts. Borg and Nastase. Borg beat Nastase in the 1976 Wimbledon men's final. In more recent news, Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in this year's men's final.
20. Persevere, with "on": SOLDIER. Having the tenacity to keep going despite the obstacles.
21. Great Society era, with "the": SIXTIES.
22. [There's another doc]: ENC. Enclosure. A reference, often in the footer area of an introductory page, that alerts you that there are more documents in the mailer or folder. There were tons of enclosures in the mailer when I did a ReFi mortgage by mail with Norwest Bank in the mid 90's. Plus a lot of sticky note arrows telling us where to sign and date.
23. "The X-Files" subjects: ETs. Extra-Terrestrials. I learned from crosswords that they eat Reese's Pieces.
31. Nashville awards org.: CMA. Country Music Association.
33. Very: REAL.
34. Baku native: AZERI. Baku is the capital city of Azerbaijan. "The modern ethnonym "Azerbaijani" or "Azeri" refers to the Turkic peoples of Iranian Azerbaijan and Republic of Azerbaijan. They historically called themselves or were referred to by others as Muslims, Turks, Turkmens, Persians, or Ajams" - Wikipedia.
"Local scientists consider the Abseron Yasaqligi (Apsheron Peninsula) (including Baku and Sumqayit) and the Caspian Sea to be the ecologically most devastated area in the world because of severe air, soil, and water pollution; soil pollution results from oil spills, from the use of DDT pesticide, and from toxic defoliants used in the production of cotton; surface and underground water are polluted by untreated municipal and industrial wastewater and agricultural run-off" - CIA World Factbook.
Not in our travel plans.
35. Decided in court: RULED.
38. Show set in Vegas: CSI. Crime Scene Investigation. There's a long-running German crime / drama series I enjoy that runs on the MHz channel. It's called Tatort, which translates to Crime Scene. I have to read the subtitles to understand most of it. There's a lot of $10 words in German, like Tatortermittlung, which translates to Crime Scene Investigation.
39. Discontinue: SEVER.
40. Theater area with no seats: AISLE. Freshness in the clue for a common crossword fill.
41. Work with an Ethiopian princess: AIDA. Verdi's opera.
43. Lea feeder: EWE.
48. Cedar Rapids campus: COE. A liberal arts college named for one of the early donors. Wikipedia tells me that the man that invented CorningWare, S. Donald Stookey was an alumni of Coe College.
49. __ canto: BEL. Italian for beautiful singing or beautiful song. Various definitions.
50. Truly enjoy something: EAT IT UP.
54. Most beneficent: KINDEST. Like L. Frank Baum's Glinda.
60. Lot measure: ACRE. There are 640 of them in a Section. A quarter-quarter section is 40 acres. 640/4 and the resulting 160/4 = 40, which is how far it was from our house to the next neighbor when I was growing up. Well, except for the high school vice principal. She lived directly across the street. I had to mind my P's and Q's.
61. See some sorority sisters, say: REUNE. I've seen this word most often in crosswords.
62. One of Chekhov's "Three Sisters": OLGA.
63. "__ Cassius has a lean and hungry look": YOND.
64. Belgian expressionist James: ENSOR. Last Friday, I got the answer ENSOR ("Former CNN journalist David") because of the 5 perps. This time I had 4 of the 5 perps and I missed it. Didn't get the S in GUS. D'oh !
65. Oenology datum: YEAR. Wine related. As in Boone's Farm Strawberry Hill, 1973.
Down:
1. Many have meters: CABS. Taxicabs.
2. Sub: HERO. Grinder, hoagie.
3. Russian city: OREL. Did not know, but as Abejo would say, "Four perps and I got it". This city is also spelled Oryol in English.
4. Ground material: POWDER. In spices like chili and cinnamon powder, talcum in baby and cosmetic powders, in fireworks and ammunition as gunpowder, et alia.
5. Cognac cocktail: SIDECAR. Never had one, but recognized the drink name with a few perps.
6. Month after Shevat: ADAR. Guessed ADAR and built around it. It's the one month on the Hebrew calendar that comes immediately to mind. Elul if pressed for another. IDAHO gave me the needed confidence.
7. Cold and damp: RAW. Similar to dank and clammy, but more bitter due to the cold. Unlike the Arizona weather in the summer. Hi, Lucina ! Hello, Yuma ! You too, CartBoy ! It's pretty warm right now in much of the rest of the country.
8. Signs of solutions: AHAs. Or TADAs.
9. Apt to use more corn?: HOKIER. I used to be addicted to the hokey-pokey. But then I turned myself around. Hey, that was almost Boomer-esque !
10. Wee: PINT SIZE.
11. Et __: ALII. "Et alii (masculine), et aliae (feminine) or et alia (neuter), in all cases meaning and others. Mixed-gender groups would use et alii". - Wiktionary
12. Black Friday likelihood: LINE.
13. Durability metaphor: LEGS. Usually with has, as in "That story has legs and we're going to be hearing about it for a long time". You have to be on your toes and knuckle down as you solve Jeffrey's puzzles, or he'll make your head swim and pull the wool over your eyes. But if you keep a stiff upper lip and your nose to the grindstone, you can get the upper hand.
18. German article: EINE. A.
19. Epic film budget line: EXTRAS. Along the lines of Ben-Hur, with a cast of thousands.
24. Model material: BALSA. A very light, yet strong, hardwood. It was an answer on Jeopardy! last week.
25. Dunkin' Donuts option: DECAF. Coffee flavor without the caffeine. Not my cup of tea.
26. Is charismatic: HAS IT. The "it" factor. The It Factor Quiz
27. Omit, in speaking: ELIDE.
28. "Not happening": NEVER. A different take on never:
29. Expanded: GREW.
30. Royal address: SIRE.
31. Food often served with a mallet: CRAB. A restaurant in San Antonio features a crab and mallet.
32. Naturalist John: MUIR.
36. Drew out: ELICITED.
37. Indicate: DENOTE.
42. Settler?: ARBITER. Are arbiter and arbitration arbitrary?
45. Haydn's includes 106 symphonies: OEUVRE. Complete body of work.
46. "General Hospital" Emmy winner Sofer: RENA. Don't remember her, but I remember Luke and Laura. Yeah, I watched it for the better part of one year during college. It was a girlfriend thing.
47. Member of an exclusive network: OLD BOY. In England. Not to be confused with a Good Old Boy network in the southern US. Both can loosely be defined as "who you know and have ins with" but the Old Boy network in England largely stems from relationships and ties to prestigious universities, such as ETON and Oxford. A new learning for me.
50. Major success of the dot-com bubble: EBAY. ebay
51. Oil acronym: ARCO. Atlantic Richfield Company. We had the Atlantic gas stations here and there when I was growing up in the Youngstown Pittsburgh area. Then they became ARCOs, and soon thereafter were retrofitted as other gas station chains.
52. Dice roll, say: TURN.
53. Hammer part: PEEN. Only on a few of the many hammer types. 55 Types of Hammers – The Ultimate Guide
54. Numbers game: KENO.
55. Cosmo rival: ELLE.
56. Phantasy Star Online publisher: SEGA. An online Role Playing Game (RPG).
57. Bygone dynast: TSAR. In my mind, the spelling for the hereditary Russian rulers should be TSARs. The spelling for business leaders and heads of departments should be czars, such as "Energy Czar William Simon". When solving crosswords, I follow that self-created rule unless the perps force a change. Rich seems to have the same proclivity.
59. Mouse in Disney's "Cinderella": GUS. The intersection of Gus and Ensor did me in today. If I ever knew of this little fellow, I forgot.
And with that, here's the grid:
