Theme: Kleptomania! This puzzle just can't stop stealing - and we're not talking about baseball:
17A. Steal from a box office?: LIFT TICKETS. Here's an unused box office one:
30A. Steal from a bar?: HOOK SHOTS. Kareem never hooked shots. He just sky-hooked a-plenty.
44A. Steal from a government database?: NICK NAMES. I didn't stop to think about this one, but now wonder as I come to write up the puzzle if this is British English?
What's interesting about the British "nick" is that you can be nicked (arrested) for nicking (stealing) and end up in the nick (jail). If your name is Nick, and you nick your finger in the larceny process, that just adds a whole new couple of dimensions to the sentence.
(The grammatical sentence, not the sentence handed down for nicking). Who says English isn't hard to learn?
59A. Steal from a beauty salon?: POCKET COMBS. I rarely, if ever, used a comb, I just washed my hair, toweled it dry and ran my fingers through it to "style" it. Lockdown locks now demand comb-use, otherwise I look like a deranged sheep as the day wears on. Plenty of product required, too, to calm things down.
I liked this theme from Adam, four synonyms and nothing to upset you in the theme or the fill. I might speculate this might be a tad on the easy side for a Thursday, but everyone's mileage will vary.
Let's see what we've got lurking in the chutes and ladders of the fill:
Across:
1. Actress Gillan of "Guardians of the Galaxy": KAREN. A nod to the gods of crosses right off the bad. No idea.
6. Has a frog in one's throat: RASPS
11. Caps Lock neighbor: TAB. SHIFT doesn't fit, and A isn't exactly long enough.
14. Texas tourist spot: ALAMO. All together now: "It's smaller than you thought it was when you got to visit". Unlike the Grand Canyon; nothing can prepare you for how deep and wide the canyon is.
15. Insistent comeback: IS TOO!
16. "It's __-win situation": A NO
19. Dress to the nines, with "up": TOG
20. Put away: EAT
21. Like a loud crowd: AROAR
22. Bellybutton type: OUTIE. -IE and wait for the crosses.
24. Sources of wisdom: ORACLES. The Delphi oracle is the most well-known. The minor oracles mutter about the unfairness of that.
26. Chincoteague horse: PONY. A breed of pony, of course we all knew that (shhh! - now I know that).
27. Clumsy: GAWKY
32. Ostrich cousin: RHEA. I didn't notice this on the way through, crosses filled it in for me.
33. Got together: MET
34. Sudoku digit: ONE. "Sudoku" is superfluous here.
35. Routine grounder, e.g.: EASY OUT
37. Timber-cutting tool: BROAD AX
41. Bird whose eye is in the Wise potato chips logo: OWL. Never heard of them. Pennsylvania-based, so that might account for it.
42. __ race: RAT
43. Field mouse: VOLE
48. Goddess trio, with "the": FATES. Your fate is assigned at birth by Clotho the Spinner, Lachesis the Alloter, and Atropos the Inflexible. What does the "alloter" do?
49. Workplace standards org.: O.S.H.A. I would have thought by now that OSHA wouldn't need the periods, but I guess with "org." in the clue, I should respect that.
50. Integer: NUMERAL. Like ONE.
52. Moves with the breeze: SWAYS
54. Grenoble greeting: SALUT!
55. Feed bit: OAT. I went for ORT first and had to have a bit of a re-think.
58. Top __: TEN
62. Syncopated work: RAG
63. Where van Gogh's second "Sunflowers" series was painted: ARLES. The first series was painted in Paris. If you're wondering which Van Gogh you've got hanging on your wall, a "Paris" painting shows the flowers lying around on the floor, an "Arles" painting shows them in a vase.
You might think he'd got himself together in Arles, vase-wise, but then one night he and his buddy Paul Gauguin happened to tie one on in an absinthe bar, which ended with angry words and Vincent chopping off his own ear with his razor.
Happy days.
64. St. Teresa's town: AVILA
65. Is for two?: ARE
66. Bobby pin target: TRESS. Tress comes up again within a week. I didn't elaborate on it before, as I thought it was a common term for a hank of hair, but there were some "what?" comments, so once bitten - tress = hair. I need to get my tresses attended to shortly.
67. __ Tots: TATER
Down:
1. Curly leafy green: KALE. People claim to love kale, but really, they don't.
2. Latin "others": ALIA
3. Rapids transit: RAFT. Nice clue.
4. Ambulance pro: E.M.T.
5. Official with a seal: NOTARY
6. Bounce: RICOCHET
7. Set the price high: ASK A LOT
8. Sound system: STEREO. Do people buy a "sound system" which is "stereo" anymore? Maybe this should be clued with a "once" qualifier. I do very clearly remember my first stereo sound system. I put my headphones on and listened to my new "Dark Side of the Moon" album from Pink Floyd. I still remember my astonishment at hearing a different mix in each ear.
9. Cauldron: POT. Does anyone other than witches use cauldrons?
10. Mediocre: SO-SO
11. Many a clue in the TV series "Blindspot": TATTOO
12. Sanctify with oil: ANOINT
13. Pro golfer's disappointments: BOGEYS. I'm usually quite satisfied with a bogey. I start to sulk at the triple-bogeys.
18. Glass of public radio: IRA
23. Sudden, dramatic disruption: UPHEAVAL
24. "I heard you the last time": OKAY, OKAY!
25. Tennis garment: SKORT. Golf, too. I'd like to see a male golfer on the PGA tour wear one and see what the reaction was from the PGA. Male golfers on the European tour can wear shorts on a tournament-by-tournament basis according to the forecast temperature, but they still can't wear a kilt. Equality for the Scots and Irish! And skorts for men!
27. Higher ed. test: G.R.E.
28. "Yes!": AHA!
29. "Isle of Dogs" director Anderson: WES
31. __ Balls: former Hostess treats: SNO. Currently owned by "Apollo Global Management" which sounds about as appetizing as a private equity firm can.
33. Disney film based on a Chinese legend: MULAN
36. "Queen Sugar" cable station: OWN. Thank you crosses.
37. Unfounded: BASELESS
38. On the __: DOT
39. Tavern tankard: ALE
40. Simple signatures: X'ES. Also known in legal circles as "Signature by Mark". Yes, it's a thing:
42. New film versions: REMAKES
44. Cosa __: NOSTRA. "La Cosa Nostra", literally "our thing".
45. "Cross my heart!": I SWEAR
46. Coins returned: CHANGE
47. Brawn: MUSCLE
48. One of the haves: FAT CAT. "Fat cats have a heart attack" in this catchy 1984-inspired ditty from Muse.
51. Boring routine: RUT
53. Minor disagreement: SPAT
55. Leave unsaid: OMIT
56. Not all thumbs: ABLE
57. Deposed Russian ruler: TSAR
60. "Bobby Hockey": ORR. Bobby Orr retired. His number is retired. It's probably time he was retired from crossword duty too, there is literally no new way to clue his name. Yes, he was a great defenseman, but ...
61. Egg cells: OVA
And here, without further ado, is the grid. Have a great Thursday!
Steve
17A. Steal from a box office?: LIFT TICKETS. Here's an unused box office one:
30A. Steal from a bar?: HOOK SHOTS. Kareem never hooked shots. He just sky-hooked a-plenty.
44A. Steal from a government database?: NICK NAMES. I didn't stop to think about this one, but now wonder as I come to write up the puzzle if this is British English?
What's interesting about the British "nick" is that you can be nicked (arrested) for nicking (stealing) and end up in the nick (jail). If your name is Nick, and you nick your finger in the larceny process, that just adds a whole new couple of dimensions to the sentence.
(The grammatical sentence, not the sentence handed down for nicking). Who says English isn't hard to learn?
59A. Steal from a beauty salon?: POCKET COMBS. I rarely, if ever, used a comb, I just washed my hair, toweled it dry and ran my fingers through it to "style" it. Lockdown locks now demand comb-use, otherwise I look like a deranged sheep as the day wears on. Plenty of product required, too, to calm things down.
I liked this theme from Adam, four synonyms and nothing to upset you in the theme or the fill. I might speculate this might be a tad on the easy side for a Thursday, but everyone's mileage will vary.
Let's see what we've got lurking in the chutes and ladders of the fill:
Across:
1. Actress Gillan of "Guardians of the Galaxy": KAREN. A nod to the gods of crosses right off the bad. No idea.
6. Has a frog in one's throat: RASPS
11. Caps Lock neighbor: TAB. SHIFT doesn't fit, and A isn't exactly long enough.
14. Texas tourist spot: ALAMO. All together now: "It's smaller than you thought it was when you got to visit". Unlike the Grand Canyon; nothing can prepare you for how deep and wide the canyon is.
15. Insistent comeback: IS TOO!
16. "It's __-win situation": A NO
19. Dress to the nines, with "up": TOG
20. Put away: EAT
21. Like a loud crowd: AROAR
22. Bellybutton type: OUTIE. -IE and wait for the crosses.
24. Sources of wisdom: ORACLES. The Delphi oracle is the most well-known. The minor oracles mutter about the unfairness of that.
26. Chincoteague horse: PONY. A breed of pony, of course we all knew that (shhh! - now I know that).
27. Clumsy: GAWKY
32. Ostrich cousin: RHEA. I didn't notice this on the way through, crosses filled it in for me.
33. Got together: MET
34. Sudoku digit: ONE. "Sudoku" is superfluous here.
35. Routine grounder, e.g.: EASY OUT
37. Timber-cutting tool: BROAD AX
41. Bird whose eye is in the Wise potato chips logo: OWL. Never heard of them. Pennsylvania-based, so that might account for it.
42. __ race: RAT
43. Field mouse: VOLE
48. Goddess trio, with "the": FATES. Your fate is assigned at birth by Clotho the Spinner, Lachesis the Alloter, and Atropos the Inflexible. What does the "alloter" do?
49. Workplace standards org.: O.S.H.A. I would have thought by now that OSHA wouldn't need the periods, but I guess with "org." in the clue, I should respect that.
50. Integer: NUMERAL. Like ONE.
52. Moves with the breeze: SWAYS
54. Grenoble greeting: SALUT!
55. Feed bit: OAT. I went for ORT first and had to have a bit of a re-think.
58. Top __: TEN
62. Syncopated work: RAG
63. Where van Gogh's second "Sunflowers" series was painted: ARLES. The first series was painted in Paris. If you're wondering which Van Gogh you've got hanging on your wall, a "Paris" painting shows the flowers lying around on the floor, an "Arles" painting shows them in a vase.
You might think he'd got himself together in Arles, vase-wise, but then one night he and his buddy Paul Gauguin happened to tie one on in an absinthe bar, which ended with angry words and Vincent chopping off his own ear with his razor.
Happy days.
64. St. Teresa's town: AVILA
65. Is for two?: ARE
66. Bobby pin target: TRESS. Tress comes up again within a week. I didn't elaborate on it before, as I thought it was a common term for a hank of hair, but there were some "what?" comments, so once bitten - tress = hair. I need to get my tresses attended to shortly.
67. __ Tots: TATER
Down:
1. Curly leafy green: KALE. People claim to love kale, but really, they don't.
2. Latin "others": ALIA
3. Rapids transit: RAFT. Nice clue.
4. Ambulance pro: E.M.T.
5. Official with a seal: NOTARY
6. Bounce: RICOCHET
7. Set the price high: ASK A LOT
8. Sound system: STEREO. Do people buy a "sound system" which is "stereo" anymore? Maybe this should be clued with a "once" qualifier. I do very clearly remember my first stereo sound system. I put my headphones on and listened to my new "Dark Side of the Moon" album from Pink Floyd. I still remember my astonishment at hearing a different mix in each ear.
9. Cauldron: POT. Does anyone other than witches use cauldrons?
10. Mediocre: SO-SO
11. Many a clue in the TV series "Blindspot": TATTOO
12. Sanctify with oil: ANOINT
13. Pro golfer's disappointments: BOGEYS. I'm usually quite satisfied with a bogey. I start to sulk at the triple-bogeys.
18. Glass of public radio: IRA
23. Sudden, dramatic disruption: UPHEAVAL
24. "I heard you the last time": OKAY, OKAY!
25. Tennis garment: SKORT. Golf, too. I'd like to see a male golfer on the PGA tour wear one and see what the reaction was from the PGA. Male golfers on the European tour can wear shorts on a tournament-by-tournament basis according to the forecast temperature, but they still can't wear a kilt. Equality for the Scots and Irish! And skorts for men!
27. Higher ed. test: G.R.E.
28. "Yes!": AHA!
29. "Isle of Dogs" director Anderson: WES
31. __ Balls: former Hostess treats: SNO. Currently owned by "Apollo Global Management" which sounds about as appetizing as a private equity firm can.
33. Disney film based on a Chinese legend: MULAN
36. "Queen Sugar" cable station: OWN. Thank you crosses.
37. Unfounded: BASELESS
38. On the __: DOT
39. Tavern tankard: ALE
40. Simple signatures: X'ES. Also known in legal circles as "Signature by Mark". Yes, it's a thing:
42. New film versions: REMAKES
44. Cosa __: NOSTRA. "La Cosa Nostra", literally "our thing".
45. "Cross my heart!": I SWEAR
46. Coins returned: CHANGE
47. Brawn: MUSCLE
48. One of the haves: FAT CAT. "Fat cats have a heart attack" in this catchy 1984-inspired ditty from Muse.
51. Boring routine: RUT
53. Minor disagreement: SPAT
55. Leave unsaid: OMIT
56. Not all thumbs: ABLE
57. Deposed Russian ruler: TSAR
60. "Bobby Hockey": ORR. Bobby Orr retired. His number is retired. It's probably time he was retired from crossword duty too, there is literally no new way to clue his name. Yes, he was a great defenseman, but ...
61. Egg cells: OVA
And here, without further ado, is the grid. Have a great Thursday!
Steve
