What a prescient title to our latest puzzle from a friend of the blog - Mark McClain. Mark is one of the many champions of those who want to create crossword puzzles, like our own C.C. and Jeff Chen. He publishes(d?) a blog discussing puzzling - Mark's Blog. As you can see he refers people to facebook collaborative group Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory I applaud this effort and all the help the community gives newcomers.
I, meanwhile, have been off the team all week as I recover from a health issue which when I finally sat down to solve and write this blog did not slow me down. As you see, the letters IR are inserted into various phrases to create new an entertaining fill (the IRs). This is not a typical Friday with no long fill outside of the theme which allowed me to complete in a very reasonable time. The sparkliest others are DAPPER, OTTAWA, PRONTO, WEEDED, MILDEST and the fun NICE DOG. But the theme fits nicely.
20A. Deity worshiped by backyard chefs?: BARBECUE SPIRIT (13). BARBECUE SPIT. Not to be religious, but ancient cultures probably did.
36A. 7-10 split, to a bowler?: IRKING PINS (10). KING PINS. This is all Boomer and TTP.
44A. Distiller Walker's treatise about a whisky grain?: HIRAM ON RYE (10). HAM ON RYE. This may be the hardest of the theme fill as I am not sure how many know HIRAM WALKER the Massachusetts born founder of Canadian whisky brand Canadian Club and so much more. I am sure this was a gimme for Canadian Eh! and our Michigan solvers. It is also the most fun for me.
54A. Hester Prynne's trademark milk-producing farm?: RED LETTER DAIRY (13). RED LETTER DAY. The heroine (?) of the SCARLET LETTER bought a dairy farm- maybe? I reread the book a few years ago, meh.
The reveal:
65D. April 15 org., or, as a plural, a hint to four long puzzle answers: IRS (3).The puzzle would have especially great on 4-15.
On to the rest...
Across:
1. Crossed the mob, in a way: SANG. Sammy "the Bull" Gravano? BETRAY
5. Insignificant points: NITS. A Crossword Shout Out to all the commenters who focus on the minutiae.
9. When repeated, Second British Invasion band: DURAN. Their most famous song...
14. Second person of old?: THOU. Cute.
15. "No problems here": I'M OK. Or at least getting there.
16. "... the __ of defeat": "Wide World of Sports" phrase: AGONY. The skier's name is Vinko Bogataj.
17. Steaming flow: LAVA. Sadly my first thought was completely inappropriate.
18. Casual eatery: CAFE. A quick reappearance.
19. One spun by a juggler: PLATE. Apparently, it is an ART.
23. July 4th show failure: DUD. The term descends from the Middle English dudde, originally meaning worn-out or ragged clothing, and is a cognate of duds (i.e., "clothing") and dowdy. Eventually dud became a general pejorative for something useless, including ammunition or firecrackers. Wiki.
24. Attach, in a way: TIE.
25. NFL scores: FGS. Field Goals.
28. Underground support: ROOT. Not politics, trees.
31. "ASAP!": PRONTO. Italian pronto means ready; Spanish pronto means soon.
39. Exploring toon: DORA. The Nickelodeon cartoon is now a live-action MOVIE.
40. Conceals: VEILS. Such as threats from mob bosses.
41. Support for driving and kicking: TEE. Golf and football in one clue.
42. Flying toys: KITES. Do you think of them as toys?
43. Dumbo's flying aids: EARS. Another live-action version of a famous cartoon character. LINK.
46. Home of the Senators: OTTAWA. A red-letter day for our Canadian players and a hockey reference.
48. Ruckus: STIR.
49. Double curve: ESS. Sounds like golfer Ernie...
50. Two-time U.S. Open champ: ELS.
52. Played the first card: LED.
62. So it could be heard: ALOUD.
63. Where I-90 and I-79 meet: ERIE. How many CSOs do they get?
64. Rock's Bon __: JOVI. The New Jersey band fronted by JON BON JOVI. All you need to know. LINK.
66. Fire sign: SMOKE. Where there is...
67. With 68-Across, words before "easy": EGGS. So much cutesy cross-referencing coming up.
68. See 67- or 69-Across: OVER.
69. With 68-Across, studied: PORED.
70. Army installation: POST.
71. Loch with a legend: NESS.
Down:
1. Baseball Cards: Abbr.: STL.
2. Melville captain: AHAB. Arrgh, ahoy Moby Dick is back.
3. 1960s-'80s Chevy: NOVA. MYTH busted.
4. Bank employee: GUARD.
5. Words to a growler: NICE DOG. I usually make it doggie.
6. Apple on a desk: iMAC.
7. Vegan staple: TOFU. Not for me.
8. Sport with disks: SKEET. Shoot, I should have thought of that.
9. Togged out: DAPPER. So cute next to...
10. Not-cute fruit: UGLI.
11. Large chorus of cheers: ROAR. This reminds me of a very famous PLAY on words.
12. Opposition prefix: ANTI.
13. Duma "Don't think so!": NYET. This is a legislative body in the ruling assembly of Russia and of some other republics of the former Soviet Union.
21. Uses for warmth, as wood: BURNS.
22. Dainty drinks: SIPS.
25. Cops as a unit: FIVE-O. It is actually 5-0 which comes from the TV show Hawaii 5-0 which was a cop show in the 1970s brought back to life and just started its 10th season.
26. Marvelous: GREAT.
27. Get around: SKIRT.
29. Eye-related prefix: OPTI. Did I mention my recent sub-conjunctival hemorrhage?
30. Layers: TIERS.
32. Father of Thor: ODIN.
33. French possessive: NOTRE. Damn, that was easy.
34. Low cards: TREYS. Threes.
35. Relief providers: OASES. Not just Tug McGraw
37. To whom Rick says, "We'll always have Paris": ILSA. Or a lion.
38. Orderly: NEAT.
42. Divided land: KOREA.
44. Put a stop to: HALT.
45. Least spicy: MILDEST. The version Oo prepares for me. Not mild, just in comparison to the 5 alarm version she eats.
47. Tidied the garden: WEEDED. What a sweet image.
51. A lot to pay: STEEP.
53. Tangy mustard: DIJON.
54. Filing tool: RASP.
55. Dagwood neighbor: ELMO.
56. Saloon __: DOOR. This is really random, though it is a type of Door. But WHY?
57. Third of four canonical gospels: LUKE. You can read about Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John HERE but discuss them and all serious religious topics elsewhere according to the Canon of Zhouqin. Odd to see it so soon after the Coptic Gospels.
58. Thus: ERGO.
59. Fixes on the sly: RIGS. On the sly?
60. Wander: ROVE. I will not fall into the Karl trap.
61. Part of YSL: YVES. Saint-Laurent.
It is really cool to blog a puzzle by Mark as I had the pleasure of his first published PUZZLE which was exactly 5 years and one day ago. He ingratiated himself immediately with me by stopping by and telling us about himself. I always have fun and he is a good guy as well. Lemonade out.
