Theme: Cash Up - Five theme entries in the downs contain currencies running south-to-north:
3D. New Year's Day event in Pasadena: ROSE PARADE. Peso, or $ in most Latin counties (the Philippine Peso symbol is ₱.) There's what possibly is an urban legend that there is an upsurge in U-Haul rentals in the East and Midwest after the Rose Parade when the lovely Californian weather is usually on parade, along with the floats and people decide to move.
10D. Finish impressively: END WITH A BANG. Baht, or ฿.
21D. Lamb Chop puppeteer: SHARI LEWIS. Lira, or ₺. The Italian Lira is now defunct, having gone the way of the Euro, but Turkey still has theirs.
25D. It helps you go places: TRAVEL BUREAU. Ruble, or ₽. The symbol was officially adopted in 2013 following a public poll.
34D. Get support, in a way ... and what the puzzle circles do: RAISE MONEY. Yen, or ¥. I like how this is both the reveal and a theme entry in its own right. Clever.
Another solid puzzle from Bruce, and again, we're looking at a 16x15 grid; I think this is the third Thursday in a row sporting that grid configuration. It's not impossible to place the two 12-letter theme entries in a 15x15 grid, but adding the extra row gives a little more elbow room and potentially a less scrappy fill. Bruce is just a "J" short of a pangram here, when I see Q, X and Z in a puzzle I start to look out for the J's, K's, V's and W's.
Let's take the grand tour:
Across:
1. Spunky: SCRAPPY
8. Longest-serving Japanese prime minister: ABE. Shinzō Abe, who is the current prime minister and has held the office since 2012.
11. Ave. crossers: STS.
14. Steel foundry input: IRON ORE
15. Traction-improving: NON-SLIP
17. "Try some!": TASTE IT! I need no further encouragement.
18. Lamaze class attendee: DAD-TO-BE
19. Expectant time: EVE.
20. One of the family: SIS
22. About 24% of the U.S. Congress: WOMEN
23. Stations: DEPOTS. Are these synonymous? To my mind, stations are for passengers and depots are for freight or stabling locomotives on the rail network.
26. Place for choppers: HELIPORT
29. Not quite right: AWRY
30. Oodles: A LOT
31. Broadway song that begins, "The most beautiful sound I ever heard": MARIA. From "West Side Story".
33. Brief encounter: BRUSH. Brush off, brush by and a brush with the law are all brief encounters of different types.
34. Flag thrower: REF. American Football. I can't think of another sport where a flag is thrown to indicate that an infringement has occurred.
37. Co-tsar with Peter I: IVAN V. Nice clue, I enjoyed the "co-star" play on words.
38. Saucepan cover: LID
39. Missile Command game company: ATARI
41. Place to stay: LODGE
42. Newcastle Brown __: ALE. A very famous beer in the UK. Like the Bass "Red Triangle" symbol, the iconic blue star logo, which was introduced in 1928, is instantly recognizable.
43. Starts bubbling, maybe: BOILS
44. Fleecy one: EWE
45. Loafs: LAZES
47. Strong suit: ASSET
48. Lost, as a big lead: BLEW
49. Way back when: ONCE
50. Rum drink: DAIQUIRI. I wasn't sure how to spell this, I had to let the crosses help me out.
54. Competition that includes snowboarding: X GAMES
57. Pianist Rubinstein: ARTUR
58. California's __ Gabriel Mountains: SAN. The backdrop to the Rose Parade. Pasadena is in the San Gabriel Valley.
60. Egg cells: OVA
61. Like the most busy busybody: NOSIEST
64. Mid-Michigan city: SAGINAW. I first learned this city from Simon and Garfunkel's song "America" from their Bookends album.
67. Uganda's capital: KAMPALA
68. Accessory for an Aquaman costume: TRIDENT
69. Before, in poems: ERE.
70. Coffee hour sight: URN. It was a vase with feet last week.
71. "Sounds right to me": I'D SAY SO
Down:
1. Positioned: SITED
2. Really want: CRAVE. Why can't I crave kale? It's always fried chicken or truffles.
4. Tiny toiler: ANT
5. Name in eerie fiction: POE
6. Proper to a fault: PRISSY
7. Himalayan legend: YETI
8. "Furthermore ... ": AND
9. Fluffy wrap: BOA
11. Sportscast technique: SLO-MO
12. River near Vatican City: TIBER. Rome's river. The name of Trastevere, one of my favorite districts in Rome, comes from the latin Trans Tiberim, "beyond the Tiber".
13. Exhausted: SPENT
16. "Hold it!": STOP
24. Short, in a way: OWING
27. Gives the slip: ELUDES
28. Part of LAPD: LOS. Because none of the alternatives of Angeles, Police or Department would fit.
31. Pedometer unit: MILE. This is a little odd, I think. I wanted "step" at first, because that's what pedometers measure. A pedometer, strictly speaking, doesn't measure distance although it can provide an estimate based on an individual's stride length.
32. Swear: AVOW
33. Sport coat: BLAZER
35. Writer Gardner: ERLE
36. Rock that, oddly, loses to paper: FIST. I was trying to think of a type of rock at first, something along the TALC lines, then the penny dropped.
40. Puccini opera: TOSCA
46. Boxer Laila: ALI
49. Ventura County city: OXNARD
50. German word of gratitude: DANKE
51. Wildly cheering: AROAR. I've grown to like this word, I thought it was a little contrived when I first encountered it.
52. Knocker's words: IT'S ME!
53. Zinger: QUIP
55. Chris of "Captain America": EVANS. Thank you, crosses.
56. Handled: SAW TO
59. Wine made from Muscat grapes: ASTI
62. Camera type, for short: SLR. Single-Lens Reflex. When introduced, allowed the photographer to frame the picture looking through the lens of the camera, rather than a separate viewfinder lens.
63. You basked for it: TAN
65. USO show audience: GI'S
66. Wyo. neighbor: IDA.
That just about wraps it up for today!
Steve
3D. New Year's Day event in Pasadena: ROSE PARADE. Peso, or $ in most Latin counties (the Philippine Peso symbol is ₱.) There's what possibly is an urban legend that there is an upsurge in U-Haul rentals in the East and Midwest after the Rose Parade when the lovely Californian weather is usually on parade, along with the floats and people decide to move.
10D. Finish impressively: END WITH A BANG. Baht, or ฿.
21D. Lamb Chop puppeteer: SHARI LEWIS. Lira, or ₺. The Italian Lira is now defunct, having gone the way of the Euro, but Turkey still has theirs.
25D. It helps you go places: TRAVEL BUREAU. Ruble, or ₽. The symbol was officially adopted in 2013 following a public poll.
34D. Get support, in a way ... and what the puzzle circles do: RAISE MONEY. Yen, or ¥. I like how this is both the reveal and a theme entry in its own right. Clever.
Another solid puzzle from Bruce, and again, we're looking at a 16x15 grid; I think this is the third Thursday in a row sporting that grid configuration. It's not impossible to place the two 12-letter theme entries in a 15x15 grid, but adding the extra row gives a little more elbow room and potentially a less scrappy fill. Bruce is just a "J" short of a pangram here, when I see Q, X and Z in a puzzle I start to look out for the J's, K's, V's and W's.
Let's take the grand tour:
Across:
1. Spunky: SCRAPPY
8. Longest-serving Japanese prime minister: ABE. Shinzō Abe, who is the current prime minister and has held the office since 2012.
11. Ave. crossers: STS.
14. Steel foundry input: IRON ORE
15. Traction-improving: NON-SLIP
17. "Try some!": TASTE IT! I need no further encouragement.
18. Lamaze class attendee: DAD-TO-BE
19. Expectant time: EVE.
20. One of the family: SIS
22. About 24% of the U.S. Congress: WOMEN
23. Stations: DEPOTS. Are these synonymous? To my mind, stations are for passengers and depots are for freight or stabling locomotives on the rail network.
26. Place for choppers: HELIPORT
29. Not quite right: AWRY
30. Oodles: A LOT
31. Broadway song that begins, "The most beautiful sound I ever heard": MARIA. From "West Side Story".
33. Brief encounter: BRUSH. Brush off, brush by and a brush with the law are all brief encounters of different types.
34. Flag thrower: REF. American Football. I can't think of another sport where a flag is thrown to indicate that an infringement has occurred.
37. Co-tsar with Peter I: IVAN V. Nice clue, I enjoyed the "co-star" play on words.
38. Saucepan cover: LID
39. Missile Command game company: ATARI
41. Place to stay: LODGE
42. Newcastle Brown __: ALE. A very famous beer in the UK. Like the Bass "Red Triangle" symbol, the iconic blue star logo, which was introduced in 1928, is instantly recognizable.
43. Starts bubbling, maybe: BOILS
44. Fleecy one: EWE
45. Loafs: LAZES
47. Strong suit: ASSET
48. Lost, as a big lead: BLEW
49. Way back when: ONCE
50. Rum drink: DAIQUIRI. I wasn't sure how to spell this, I had to let the crosses help me out.
54. Competition that includes snowboarding: X GAMES
57. Pianist Rubinstein: ARTUR
58. California's __ Gabriel Mountains: SAN. The backdrop to the Rose Parade. Pasadena is in the San Gabriel Valley.
60. Egg cells: OVA
61. Like the most busy busybody: NOSIEST
64. Mid-Michigan city: SAGINAW. I first learned this city from Simon and Garfunkel's song "America" from their Bookends album.
67. Uganda's capital: KAMPALA
68. Accessory for an Aquaman costume: TRIDENT
69. Before, in poems: ERE.
Maid of Athens, ere we part,
Give, oh, give me back my heart!
Or, since that has left my breast,
Keep it now, and take the rest!
Hear my vow before I go,
Ζωή μου, σᾶς ἀγαπῶ
Lord Byron - Maid of Athens
I'm not sure I understand the device of the last line in Greek - it translates as "My life, I love you!" but it doesn't rhyme with "go", neither in Greek nor English. Any scholarly folk have any idea what Byron was doing here?
71. "Sounds right to me": I'D SAY SO
Down:
1. Positioned: SITED
2. Really want: CRAVE. Why can't I crave kale? It's always fried chicken or truffles.
4. Tiny toiler: ANT
5. Name in eerie fiction: POE
6. Proper to a fault: PRISSY
7. Himalayan legend: YETI
8. "Furthermore ... ": AND
9. Fluffy wrap: BOA
11. Sportscast technique: SLO-MO
12. River near Vatican City: TIBER. Rome's river. The name of Trastevere, one of my favorite districts in Rome, comes from the latin Trans Tiberim, "beyond the Tiber".
13. Exhausted: SPENT
16. "Hold it!": STOP
24. Short, in a way: OWING
27. Gives the slip: ELUDES
28. Part of LAPD: LOS. Because none of the alternatives of Angeles, Police or Department would fit.
31. Pedometer unit: MILE. This is a little odd, I think. I wanted "step" at first, because that's what pedometers measure. A pedometer, strictly speaking, doesn't measure distance although it can provide an estimate based on an individual's stride length.
32. Swear: AVOW
33. Sport coat: BLAZER
35. Writer Gardner: ERLE
36. Rock that, oddly, loses to paper: FIST. I was trying to think of a type of rock at first, something along the TALC lines, then the penny dropped.
40. Puccini opera: TOSCA
46. Boxer Laila: ALI
49. Ventura County city: OXNARD
50. German word of gratitude: DANKE
51. Wildly cheering: AROAR. I've grown to like this word, I thought it was a little contrived when I first encountered it.
52. Knocker's words: IT'S ME!
53. Zinger: QUIP
55. Chris of "Captain America": EVANS. Thank you, crosses.
56. Handled: SAW TO
59. Wine made from Muscat grapes: ASTI
62. Camera type, for short: SLR. Single-Lens Reflex. When introduced, allowed the photographer to frame the picture looking through the lens of the camera, rather than a separate viewfinder lens.
63. You basked for it: TAN
65. USO show audience: GI'S
66. Wyo. neighbor: IDA.
That just about wraps it up for today!
Steve
