"TURN DOWN SERVICE"
Let's go with the reveal first.
62. Hotel amenity, and a hint to three puzzle answers: TURN DOWN SERVICE. At the end of three across answers, you have to read the intersecting down answer. Very neat !
The theme entries:
16. (across) Blamed for personal advantage: THROWN UNDER THE B, with
18. (down) Clear: BUS.
THROWN UNDER THE BUS - Mark's clue nails it succinctly. In business, politics, sports, personal relationships...
31. (across) Punch with force, maybe: GIVE A FAT L, with
34. (down) Backtalk: LIP.
GIVE A FAT LIP - Nothing figurative here.
44. (across) Chanoyu ceremony essential: JAPANESE T, with
46. (down) High __: TEA.
JAPANESE TEA. - This was hard for me because I didn't know what a Chanoyu ceremony was, but then looked at the other two theme answers and aha ! Changed my 46D from High def to TEA, and that also cleared up the stall where MOOLA belonged.
"The simple art of Chanoyu is really a synthesis of many Japanese arts with the focus of preparing and serving a bowl of tea with a pure heart." - Chanoyu
You would think the genesis of this puzzle was the reveal TURN DOWN SERVICE, wouldn't you ?
Across:
1. Draft category: ONE A. Actually, it's 1-A.
5. Crisply played, in mus.: STAC. Music / Staccato.
9. Qatar's capital: DOHA. Whatever happened to Doha Doc ?
13. Inflammation treatment: CORTISONE. And 39. Ibuprofen brand: ADVIL. Corticosteroids vs. NSAIDs
While we're on the subject, take the pain quiz.
15. Apple product: IPOD.
19. More mean: NASTIER.
20. Sci-fi helmsman: SULU.
21. Burdened: LADEN.
24. Portable chair: SEDAN. Champagne glass: Coupe.
26. "Uno __": cantina request: MAS. "One more" in Spanish.
27. Fundraising targets: ALUMNI.
29. Boar's mate: SOW.
35. Greatly beloved ones: GEMs.
38. He reunited with his fictional ex on Valentine's Day in 2011: KEN. I assume with Barbie ?
41. Backboard attachment: RIM.
42. Place Sundance liked to see: ETTA. Loved this clue / answer. Etta Place
47. Kazakhstan, once: Abbr.: SSR. Soviet Socialist Republic.
49. Waste time: DAWDLE.
50. __ store: APP.
53. Many an Indian: HINDU.
57. Green: MOOLA. Both slang for money.
58. Game with two secret passages: CLUE. No clue on this answer based on the clue alone. Never played it; don't know much about it. Didn't know there were secret passages. But, with C from ACT, -. U from PU
60. Advice: COUNSEL. Advice, advise, counsel and council. Simple nouns and verbs that can easily be confused. Only one of the four works as both a noun AND a verb. Which one ?
67. They can make you better, briefly: MEDs. Medicines, like Aleve and Advil.
68. Basically: IN ESSENCE.
69. Annoyance: PEST.
70. Do, for example: NOTE. Trickery. The musical note. '...Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, and Si are used to name notes the same way that the letters C, D, E, F, G, A, and B are used to name notes in English." - Wikipedia.
71. Cutty __: SARK. The famous fast clipper sailing ship built in Scotland in 1869, now residing in dry dock at Greenwich, London as a museum ship. Some fifty years after her construction, the Scotch whisky was created and named after her. The ship was named for the short skirt worn by the witch in the Robert Burns poem Tam o' Shanter.
Down:
1. Fall mo.: OCT. Month / October
2. Kabuki kin: NOH.
3. Give the wrong change, say: ERR.
4. Acts of reparation: ATONEMENTs.
5. IRS IDs: SSNs. Internal Revenue Service / Social Security Numbers.
6. Talks up: TOUTs. Talks down: Calms.
7. Musical in which FDR is a character: ANNIE. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Here's the famous scene:
8. Gave up: CEDED. Gave down: See 23(D).
9. Board mem.: DIR. Member / Director.
10. Expresses a preference (for): OPTs.
11. Blah: HO-HUM. Meh.
12. "A Passage to India" heroine: ADELA. Adela Quested - SparkNotes
14. "Lemme!": I WANNA.
17. Age relatives: ERAs. A distinct period of history. eg, The Dinosaur Age or the Ice Age. Thomas Paine wrote The Age of Reason.
21. Delay: LAG.
22. Not quite identical: ALIKE. Like fraternal twins.
23. Comforter: DUVET. What is the best down for a duvet ? Hungarian goose down ? Icelandic Eiderdown ? Best Downs for a Good Night's Sleep
25. It's often served with nutmeg: NOG. Here served in a coupe:
28. "... __ woodchuck could chuck wood?": IF A. "Hey you dang woodchucks! Quit chucking my wood !" BTW, in the Geico Sequels run off, the Racoon commercials are comfortably ahead.
30. Subjects of European trials during the Renaissance: WEREWOLVES.
32. Wd. ending in -less: ADJ. Adjective. The part of speech. This clue stumped me for way too long, and that was with AD- in place ! After finally getting enough letters to see JAPANESE at 44A, it became clear. D'OH !
33. FDR power plan: TVA. Franklin Delano Roosevelt / Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA at History.com
36. Botch: MISDO. Act wrongly.
37. Common sense?: SMELL. Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense. "The most important political tract of the Revolution was written not by a lawyer or university-educated philosopher, but by a former corset maker."
40. Bloke: LAD.
43. It may be tapped into a tray: ASH.
45. Parents, usually: NAMERs.
48. P.R. part: RICO. Puerto Rico.
50. Appear: ACT.
51. Fluff, as pillows: PLUMP. The history of fluff.
52. Blender button: PUREE. The first button I pushed was pulse, but the blend(er) of crossing clues didn't agree.
54. Hopeless: NO WIN.
55. "Beats me!": DUNNO.
56. Up in the air: UNSET. Not yet decided.
59. Aims: ENDs. Had eyes first. Don't know why.
61. Zaire's Mobutu __ Seko: SESE.
63. It ends shortly after 1-Down: DST. Daylight Savings Time
64. __ moment: IN A.
65. "Bad Moon Rising" band, briefly: CCR. Creedence Clearwater Revival.
66. "A rat!": EEK.
Check your answers against this grid:
