Theme Clean Sweep - all the theme entries are phrases containing the name of a detergent, to wit:
17A. Detergent sold around Yankee Stadium?: BRONX CHEER. Hopefully none aimed at this puzzle.
27A. Jingle for a detergent ad?: SURF MUSIC. What better excuse for a summer blast with the Beach Boys from 1963?
38a. Detergent for fishing equipment?: NET GAIN
47A. Directors in charge of a detergent?: DASHBOARD. The outlier regarding the theme. One word, not two.
63A. Detergent for seasonal cleaning?: SPRING TIDE. Quickly - which tide is higher, the spring or the neap?
So, I have to say I found this a struggle, the center section especially. I stared it down eventually, but it really was a challenge, so kudos to Paul for the assignment. The cluing was tough, but there were a couple of entries which were, to my mind, so obscure to be worthy of my new acronym SNOE (Said No-One, Ever). We'll come to those in due course.
That being said, the theme was fun, and some nice long downs to tie things together. Let's go and explore:
Across:
1. Diet food phrase: NO-FAT. Heavens. What a horrible idea! I look at the fat content of everything I eat, but no fat? No flavor.
6. Puny pencil: STUB
10. __ gin fizz: SLOE. I used to make sloe gin back in the UK. You pick a basket of sloe berries in the winter, prick them all over with a needle (takes a while!) and infuse them with a couple of pints of gin or more. A few weeks later you uncork the bottles and yay! Sloe Gin!
14. Ancient market: AGORA
15. Long Island Iced Tea coloring provider: COLA. I tried COKE first against my better instincts.
16. Double-decker checker: KING. Checkers. Two makes a king. Is it three that makes a queen?
19. Village People megahit: YMCA. I saw them perform at Dodger Stadium on a July 4th after the game. They still had it!
20. Good to go: SET
21. Put up: HOUSE. Soft "S" if you're wondering.
22. Fell off: EBBED
23. Title characters, typically: LEADS. As in actors.
25. Tetris shape: ELL. I've seen Tetris, never played it. I can see how it could get addictive.
26. Chicken __: KIEV. Food! A classic recipe - chicken breast stuffed with parsley, garlic and butter and fried in breadcrumbs. Certainly not NO-FAT. We should be less sniffy about the "old school" food, this one is delicious. Just don't eat it every day.
33. Stuck, with "down": BOGGED
35. Game official: REF
36. Mediterranean tourist site: ETNA. Yay! A clue that doesn't talk about Sicily or "spewer".
37. "Go team!": RAH!
41. Same old routine: RUT
42. __ sax: ALTO
44. Charge: FEE
45. Large sea ducks: EIDERS. Those of the popular "down". I hope we leave them alone now and use synthetic breast feathers. I don't need to be kept warm that badly.
50. Junior prom attendee: TEEN. Isn't a senior prom attendee a teen too? I've never been to a prom, but aren't seniors teens too?
51. G.I. chow: M.R.E. Meals, Ready to Eat. Also "Meals Rarely Enjoyed" or "Meals Rejected by the Enemy".
52. "Snowy" bird: EGRET
54. No-sweat class: EASY "A"
57. Copier of old: MIMEO. I tried XEROX first against all common sense. I circled around this puzzle for quite a while filling in odds and ends here and there. This mis-step didn't help.
59. Member of the fam: SIB. Ling.
62. Quickly down: CHUG
65. Kon-Tiki Museum city: OSLO. I do want to go to Oslo, just so I can visit the crossword museums - the Nobel library, the Kon-Tiki museum, I think there are a couple of other destinations too.
66. Acorn droppers: OAKS
67. Three on a par-five, say: EAGLE. Golf, two under par. Or "Turkey Eagle" if you watch the ads for State Farm Insurance with Ricky Fowler. He's a funny chap, on a par with Peyton Manning in the celebrity commercial actor stakes.
68. Hard on the ears: LOUD
69. Military outpost: BASE
70. Composition for nine: NONET. Playing a nice-piece on a tightrope? No Net.
Down:
1. Bags: NABS
2. Fantasy brute: OGRE
3. Stage illumination: FOOTLIGHTS. This was fun, I noodled around with FLOODLIGHT, SPOTLIGHTS and others before the crosses started to help me out. I was an electrician with an amateur theatre company in London and lit a lot of productions. I blew myself off my stool in the lighting booth once when my cunningly-rigged stage telephone shorted out the lighting board mid-performance (it was a dress rehearsal, so no harm done). My hair was only slightly singed. Don't mess around with 220 volts and 30 amps. I picked myself up off the floor. I only missed one lighting cue as I patted myself on the back. There was a funny smell in the lighting booth for a few days, I think it was my charred hair.
4. Prince Valiant's son: ARN. Why did I think this was HAL?
5. Many an offshore bank account: TAX HAVEN
6. Go downhill fast: SCHUSS. The tuck position. If you're watching the Tour de France, watch tomorrow's stage 19 in the Alps, and watch the riders schuss on the downhills. They are crazy, I've come off a bike at around 25 MPH and it hurts. These guys are doing around 50.
7. __ the line: TOES
8. Film beekeeper: ULEE
9. Keep out: BAR
10. Color named for a natural phenomenon: SKY BLUE
11. Spot for a nest: LIMB. There are sparrows nesting in a street sign outside my door right now. Two chicks have been born. A lot safer inside a steel street sign than perched on a tree branch.
12. A while back: ONCE
13. "Good grief!": EGAD!
18. Atlantic catch: COD. A great fish, now slowly recovering from the over-fishing of the 70's and 80's. The UK and Iceland went to a "soft" war over the fishing grounds in the North Atlantic. A couple of warning shots were fired by British frigates in the so-called "Cod Wars".
22. Stately tree: ELM I had OAK first until 66A put paid to that idea.
24. Brain scan, for short: EEG. I need to consign the difference between EKG, ECG and EEG to memory. That one letter in the middle held me up for a long time
25. __ White, Jennifer Hudson's role in the film "Dreamgirls": EFFIE. Thank you crosses, I saw and enjoyed the movie, but the name escaped me.
26. Fluffy-eared critter: KOALA. I was trying to think of the fluffy guys in the movie who turn nasty (when they get wet?). Then I saw the light. I still can't remember what they were called, and a Google search "movie critters who get wet" doesn't help.
28. Pushy type: URGER. SNOE. First one.
29. "V for Vendetta" actor Stephen: REA
30. It may have an arrow: STREET SIGN
31. Store, as ashes: INURN. Quicky following on from 28D. My second SNOE of the day.
32. Title pets in a Lilian Jackson Braun mystery series: CATS. Have you seen the trailer for the new CATS movie? It's so creepy I had nightmares. Two questions - why does Helen Mirren's character wear a fur coat, when she's got fur underneath? And - why do the female cats have boobs? We should be told.
33. Thin nail: BRAD
34. "Moll Flanders" novelist: DEFOE. A lot of deep digging in the memory banks for this one.
39. Cause of a brewed awakening?: TEA. I get the wordplay here, but I think this is a stretch, even for a tea-drinker like me.
40. Ammonia component: NITROGEN
43. "Heavens!": OH MY GOD!
46. Snider of Twisted Sister: DEE. A great band who became popular in the 1980's. Go search for them on YouTube, you'll find some entertaining videos on there.
48. Sports __: BRA. In my youth I sang a version of "Rawhide" that was amusing to my ears: "Round 'em up, move 'em in, head 'em up, squash 'em down ... Sports Bra!". You have to understand I was young and foolish :)
49. End: DEMISE
53. High-ranking off.: GEN. General. Don't watch the commercials, they are all terrible.
54. Earth Day subj.: ECOL. ogy.
55. "Understood": AH, SO! SNOE, unless they are playing a cod Chinese character in a terrible movie.
56. "Mr." on a sci-fi bridge: SULU. Star Trek chap. I'm pretty sure he never said "Ah, So, Captain". I might be wrong, but somehow I doubt it.
57. Film-rating org.: M.P.A.A. The Motion Picture Association of America. I read an article recently about the British equivalent, and what now informs their ratings. I'd risk upsetting the mild-mannered amongst our Cornerites if I was too detailed, but apparently some "things" no longer consign your movie to the 18+ category as long as they inform the story.
58. Bothers: IRKS
60. Like much chitchat: IDLE. Isn't all chitchat idle? I thought that was the definition.
61. Borscht vegetable: BEET
63. Blubber: SOB
64. Confucian path: TAO
And ... we get to the grid after a long and winding road. Hope you had fun with Paul's puzzle.
Steve
17A. Detergent sold around Yankee Stadium?: BRONX CHEER. Hopefully none aimed at this puzzle.
27A. Jingle for a detergent ad?: SURF MUSIC. What better excuse for a summer blast with the Beach Boys from 1963?
38a. Detergent for fishing equipment?: NET GAIN
47A. Directors in charge of a detergent?: DASHBOARD. The outlier regarding the theme. One word, not two.
63A. Detergent for seasonal cleaning?: SPRING TIDE. Quickly - which tide is higher, the spring or the neap?
So, I have to say I found this a struggle, the center section especially. I stared it down eventually, but it really was a challenge, so kudos to Paul for the assignment. The cluing was tough, but there were a couple of entries which were, to my mind, so obscure to be worthy of my new acronym SNOE (Said No-One, Ever). We'll come to those in due course.
That being said, the theme was fun, and some nice long downs to tie things together. Let's go and explore:
Across:
1. Diet food phrase: NO-FAT. Heavens. What a horrible idea! I look at the fat content of everything I eat, but no fat? No flavor.
6. Puny pencil: STUB
10. __ gin fizz: SLOE. I used to make sloe gin back in the UK. You pick a basket of sloe berries in the winter, prick them all over with a needle (takes a while!) and infuse them with a couple of pints of gin or more. A few weeks later you uncork the bottles and yay! Sloe Gin!
14. Ancient market: AGORA
15. Long Island Iced Tea coloring provider: COLA. I tried COKE first against my better instincts.
16. Double-decker checker: KING. Checkers. Two makes a king. Is it three that makes a queen?
19. Village People megahit: YMCA. I saw them perform at Dodger Stadium on a July 4th after the game. They still had it!
20. Good to go: SET
21. Put up: HOUSE. Soft "S" if you're wondering.
22. Fell off: EBBED
23. Title characters, typically: LEADS. As in actors.
25. Tetris shape: ELL. I've seen Tetris, never played it. I can see how it could get addictive.
26. Chicken __: KIEV. Food! A classic recipe - chicken breast stuffed with parsley, garlic and butter and fried in breadcrumbs. Certainly not NO-FAT. We should be less sniffy about the "old school" food, this one is delicious. Just don't eat it every day.
33. Stuck, with "down": BOGGED
35. Game official: REF
36. Mediterranean tourist site: ETNA. Yay! A clue that doesn't talk about Sicily or "spewer".
37. "Go team!": RAH!
41. Same old routine: RUT
42. __ sax: ALTO
44. Charge: FEE
45. Large sea ducks: EIDERS. Those of the popular "down". I hope we leave them alone now and use synthetic breast feathers. I don't need to be kept warm that badly.
50. Junior prom attendee: TEEN. Isn't a senior prom attendee a teen too? I've never been to a prom, but aren't seniors teens too?
51. G.I. chow: M.R.E. Meals, Ready to Eat. Also "Meals Rarely Enjoyed" or "Meals Rejected by the Enemy".
52. "Snowy" bird: EGRET
54. No-sweat class: EASY "A"
57. Copier of old: MIMEO. I tried XEROX first against all common sense. I circled around this puzzle for quite a while filling in odds and ends here and there. This mis-step didn't help.
59. Member of the fam: SIB. Ling.
62. Quickly down: CHUG
65. Kon-Tiki Museum city: OSLO. I do want to go to Oslo, just so I can visit the crossword museums - the Nobel library, the Kon-Tiki museum, I think there are a couple of other destinations too.
66. Acorn droppers: OAKS
67. Three on a par-five, say: EAGLE. Golf, two under par. Or "Turkey Eagle" if you watch the ads for State Farm Insurance with Ricky Fowler. He's a funny chap, on a par with Peyton Manning in the celebrity commercial actor stakes.
68. Hard on the ears: LOUD
69. Military outpost: BASE
70. Composition for nine: NONET. Playing a nice-piece on a tightrope? No Net.
Down:
1. Bags: NABS
2. Fantasy brute: OGRE
3. Stage illumination: FOOTLIGHTS. This was fun, I noodled around with FLOODLIGHT, SPOTLIGHTS and others before the crosses started to help me out. I was an electrician with an amateur theatre company in London and lit a lot of productions. I blew myself off my stool in the lighting booth once when my cunningly-rigged stage telephone shorted out the lighting board mid-performance (it was a dress rehearsal, so no harm done). My hair was only slightly singed. Don't mess around with 220 volts and 30 amps. I picked myself up off the floor. I only missed one lighting cue as I patted myself on the back. There was a funny smell in the lighting booth for a few days, I think it was my charred hair.
4. Prince Valiant's son: ARN. Why did I think this was HAL?
5. Many an offshore bank account: TAX HAVEN
6. Go downhill fast: SCHUSS. The tuck position. If you're watching the Tour de France, watch tomorrow's stage 19 in the Alps, and watch the riders schuss on the downhills. They are crazy, I've come off a bike at around 25 MPH and it hurts. These guys are doing around 50.
7. __ the line: TOES
8. Film beekeeper: ULEE
9. Keep out: BAR
10. Color named for a natural phenomenon: SKY BLUE
11. Spot for a nest: LIMB. There are sparrows nesting in a street sign outside my door right now. Two chicks have been born. A lot safer inside a steel street sign than perched on a tree branch.
12. A while back: ONCE
13. "Good grief!": EGAD!
18. Atlantic catch: COD. A great fish, now slowly recovering from the over-fishing of the 70's and 80's. The UK and Iceland went to a "soft" war over the fishing grounds in the North Atlantic. A couple of warning shots were fired by British frigates in the so-called "Cod Wars".
22. Stately tree: ELM I had OAK first until 66A put paid to that idea.
24. Brain scan, for short: EEG. I need to consign the difference between EKG, ECG and EEG to memory. That one letter in the middle held me up for a long time
25. __ White, Jennifer Hudson's role in the film "Dreamgirls": EFFIE. Thank you crosses, I saw and enjoyed the movie, but the name escaped me.
26. Fluffy-eared critter: KOALA. I was trying to think of the fluffy guys in the movie who turn nasty (when they get wet?). Then I saw the light. I still can't remember what they were called, and a Google search "movie critters who get wet" doesn't help.
28. Pushy type: URGER. SNOE. First one.
29. "V for Vendetta" actor Stephen: REA
30. It may have an arrow: STREET SIGN
31. Store, as ashes: INURN. Quicky following on from 28D. My second SNOE of the day.
32. Title pets in a Lilian Jackson Braun mystery series: CATS. Have you seen the trailer for the new CATS movie? It's so creepy I had nightmares. Two questions - why does Helen Mirren's character wear a fur coat, when she's got fur underneath? And - why do the female cats have boobs? We should be told.
33. Thin nail: BRAD
34. "Moll Flanders" novelist: DEFOE. A lot of deep digging in the memory banks for this one.
39. Cause of a brewed awakening?: TEA. I get the wordplay here, but I think this is a stretch, even for a tea-drinker like me.
40. Ammonia component: NITROGEN
43. "Heavens!": OH MY GOD!
46. Snider of Twisted Sister: DEE. A great band who became popular in the 1980's. Go search for them on YouTube, you'll find some entertaining videos on there.
48. Sports __: BRA. In my youth I sang a version of "Rawhide" that was amusing to my ears: "Round 'em up, move 'em in, head 'em up, squash 'em down ... Sports Bra!". You have to understand I was young and foolish :)
49. End: DEMISE
53. High-ranking off.: GEN. General. Don't watch the commercials, they are all terrible.
54. Earth Day subj.: ECOL. ogy.
55. "Understood": AH, SO! SNOE, unless they are playing a cod Chinese character in a terrible movie.
56. "Mr." on a sci-fi bridge: SULU. Star Trek chap. I'm pretty sure he never said "Ah, So, Captain". I might be wrong, but somehow I doubt it.
57. Film-rating org.: M.P.A.A. The Motion Picture Association of America. I read an article recently about the British equivalent, and what now informs their ratings. I'd risk upsetting the mild-mannered amongst our Cornerites if I was too detailed, but apparently some "things" no longer consign your movie to the 18+ category as long as they inform the story.
58. Bothers: IRKS
60. Like much chitchat: IDLE. Isn't all chitchat idle? I thought that was the definition.
61. Borscht vegetable: BEET
63. Blubber: SOB
64. Confucian path: TAO
And ... we get to the grid after a long and winding road. Hope you had fun with Paul's puzzle.
Steve
