Theme: Sleuthing - use the reveal to hunt down the genre and thence the author:
58A. Literary genre often associated with the writer concealed in 16-, 32- and 40-Across: DETECTIVE STORY.
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16A. A step up from a carport, perhaps: UNHEATED GARAGE. You probably don't need any heating in the garages in my neck of the woods unless you have a very delicately-dispositioned car. A/C perhaps if you're using it as a workshop.
32A. Limitation-of-freedom metaphor: BALL AND CHAIN. And a British slang word for a spouse (not exactly complimentary.)
40A. Ding-a-ling or ding-dong: ONOMATOPOEIA. What a great word, this is, and a treat to find it in the crossword. I wonder if this was the "seed" entry that gave Jeffrey the idea for the theme? I'm guessing it may have been.
Cool theme from Jeffrey, and I like how the reveal clues the genre to get to the author, a minor plot twist if you will. The construction is neat - a lot of both "themeage" and "stackage" give some satisfying larger areas of white space.
Let's have a tiptoe through the tulips and look at the fill:
Across:
1. Some munchies: CHIPS.
6. Asks to be excused, with "off": BEGS.
10. Latin initialism on a cross: IHS. I always thought it was INRI, but what do I know?
13. WWII riveter: ROSIE. Sun's Out, Guns Out! "We Can Do It".
14. Relating to body structure: ANATOMIC.
18. Come to terms: SETTLE.
19. Electronic dance music genre: TECHNO. This really is music you need to dance to.
21. Org. that's not lax at LAX: T.S.A. I think that's being generous to the T.S.A. They're not exactly gaffe-proof. Nice clue though.
22. Interval: LAPSE.
26. Space: GAP.
27. German brewing surname: STROH. Founded in Detroit in the 1850's. The company was taken over and broken up in 2000, but some of the brand names survive under new ownership.
30. Common Korean surname: LEE. Very common, about 15% of Koreans have the name. It is derived from the common Chinese name Yi, and shares the same character 李
31. Extremely dry: SERE.
36. Doubled, perhaps: GOT A HIT. Play ball!
39. Corrida figures: TOREROS. All matadors are toreros, but not all toreros are matadors. Also "toreador" was allegedly invented by Bizet for the opera "Carmen".
42. Zilch: NADA.
43. Greater N.Y. school: L.I.U. It looks like you have to be careful at one end of the soccer field not to paste yourself onto the wall, Looney Tunes-style.
44. Orchestra section: BRASS.
48. Chicago airport code: ORD. Orchard Field, originally, hence the odd acronym for "O'Hare".
49. "Golden Boy" playwright: ODETS. Oscar de la Hoya was nicknamed "Golden Boy" in his fighting days, now runs Golden Boy Promotions.
51. Hotel amenity: SPA.
52. President of Princeton, then the U.S.: WILSON.
55. Stride affectedly: SASHAY.
62. One happy to have no class?: GRADUATE. Its not just graduates who have no classes at the moment!
63. Arabian, for one: HORSE.
64. DE Dec. setting: E.S.T. Eastern Standard Time in Delaware in December. That's a lot of abbreviations packed into one small space.
65. What might take a while?: ERST. As in "erstwhile". Nice clue.
66. Fencing blades: EPÉES.
Down:
1. Pizza party leftovers: CRUSTS. Cold pizza for breakfast - lovely!
2. "Really": HONEST.
3. Eponymous goddess of a 1987 film flop: ISHTAR. This movie passed me by. I didn't miss much by the look of it, Roger Ebert wrote "Ishtar is a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy" and his compadre Gene Siskel remarked it was "shockingly dull" and "dim-witted".
4. Painter Mondrian: PIET.
5. Stop from leaking: SEAL.
6. Sweetie, in recent slang: BAE. I'll take a leaf out of Siskel's book and describe this as "dim-witted". It's a shortening of "baby" although "before anyone else" is claimed, although that's a "backronym".
7. Stop: END.
8. Joke: GAG.
9. Hawaii, e.g.: STATE.
10. Apple desktop: IMAC. I wonder how many iMacs are now sold other than to graphic designers?
11. A condition of maximum activity: HIGH GEAR. Not "top gear"? That says "maximum" to me. High gear just suggests a higher work rate.
12. Hypothetical account: SCENARIO. Interesting, I hadn't considered scenario to be hypothetical situation, but on reflection a scenerio can play out into reality. Good one to mull over.
15. Kate Brown is its gov.: ORE. Oregon.
17. Business card no.: TEL.
20. Bids first: OPENS.
23. Considered in full: ALL TOLD.
24. Tiny soup base: PEA. Odd clue, is pea the "base" of pea soup? I'd call it the main ingredient. And a pea isn't really tiny. I must be missing something here.
25. Mailed, as invites: SENT OUT.
28. "The Audacity of Hope" author: OBAMA.
29. "I'm amused": HA HA. Usually used sarcastically in my experience.
31. Gather wool from: SHEAR. There's a joke about a Kiwi and an Aussie sheep farmer involving "shearing sheep" which I won't say any more about.
33. Set ablaze: LIT.
34. Female ruminant: DOE.
35. Nursery item: CRIB.
36. First big song success for The Moody Blues: GO NOW. A song that's survived the test of time, methinks. Here's a reminder.
37. Positioned for ambush, as in many Westerns: ON A RIDGE.
38. Two-year-olds, say: TODDLERS.
41. Dessert choice: PIE.
45. Like sailors on leave: ASHORE. Unless you're serving on a shore-based station, and you go on a cruise for your vacation.
46. Spread out: SPARSE.
47. Agree: SAY YES.
49. At the proper moment: ON CUE.
50. Montreal-to-Boston dir.: S.S.E. I liked the compass-point-opposites we had a couple of weeks ago with a pair of NNE/SSW entries, but I guess we're firmly back to random-place-to-random-place clues. At least let's think about something to link the two place names together?
53. RBI or ERA: STAT. Baseball loves stats.
54. Venerable ref.: O.E.D. The Oxford English Dictionary. The day "bae" qualifies for an entry is the day that I cancel my (not-existent) subscription.
56. Queens tennis venue honoree: ASHE.
57. Where to get off: STOP. The great thing about the old Routemaster buses in London was that they had an open platform at the back so you jump on and off wherever you liked. Worked like a charm until some bureaucrats decided that it was dangerous, and you couldn't operate the bus with just a driver to collect fares as it forced passengers got on at a designated stop. Caused more congestion than you can imagine. Just a couple of years ago the Routemaster-style buses were reintroduced on certain routes.
59. Paving stuff: TAR.
60. "__ nothing new": IT'S. A rule if you're not sure about using an apostrophe with "it": "It's an apostrophe".
61. Nov. honoree: VET. Veteran's Day.
Well, there we have it. Here's the grid, and I just noticed 1A which reminds me to get a bowl of chips to crunch on with a beer.
Cheers!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
58A. Literary genre often associated with the writer concealed in 16-, 32- and 40-Across: DETECTIVE STORY.
16A. A step up from a carport, perhaps: UNHEATED GARAGE. You probably don't need any heating in the garages in my neck of the woods unless you have a very delicately-dispositioned car. A/C perhaps if you're using it as a workshop.
32A. Limitation-of-freedom metaphor: BALL AND CHAIN. And a British slang word for a spouse (not exactly complimentary.)
40A. Ding-a-ling or ding-dong: ONOMATOPOEIA. What a great word, this is, and a treat to find it in the crossword. I wonder if this was the "seed" entry that gave Jeffrey the idea for the theme? I'm guessing it may have been.
Cool theme from Jeffrey, and I like how the reveal clues the genre to get to the author, a minor plot twist if you will. The construction is neat - a lot of both "themeage" and "stackage" give some satisfying larger areas of white space.
Let's have a tiptoe through the tulips and look at the fill:
Across:
1. Some munchies: CHIPS.
6. Asks to be excused, with "off": BEGS.
10. Latin initialism on a cross: IHS. I always thought it was INRI, but what do I know?
13. WWII riveter: ROSIE. Sun's Out, Guns Out! "We Can Do It".
14. Relating to body structure: ANATOMIC.
18. Come to terms: SETTLE.
19. Electronic dance music genre: TECHNO. This really is music you need to dance to.
21. Org. that's not lax at LAX: T.S.A. I think that's being generous to the T.S.A. They're not exactly gaffe-proof. Nice clue though.
22. Interval: LAPSE.
26. Space: GAP.
27. German brewing surname: STROH. Founded in Detroit in the 1850's. The company was taken over and broken up in 2000, but some of the brand names survive under new ownership.
30. Common Korean surname: LEE. Very common, about 15% of Koreans have the name. It is derived from the common Chinese name Yi, and shares the same character 李
31. Extremely dry: SERE.
36. Doubled, perhaps: GOT A HIT. Play ball!
39. Corrida figures: TOREROS. All matadors are toreros, but not all toreros are matadors. Also "toreador" was allegedly invented by Bizet for the opera "Carmen".
42. Zilch: NADA.
43. Greater N.Y. school: L.I.U. It looks like you have to be careful at one end of the soccer field not to paste yourself onto the wall, Looney Tunes-style.
44. Orchestra section: BRASS.
48. Chicago airport code: ORD. Orchard Field, originally, hence the odd acronym for "O'Hare".
49. "Golden Boy" playwright: ODETS. Oscar de la Hoya was nicknamed "Golden Boy" in his fighting days, now runs Golden Boy Promotions.
51. Hotel amenity: SPA.
52. President of Princeton, then the U.S.: WILSON.
55. Stride affectedly: SASHAY.
62. One happy to have no class?: GRADUATE. Its not just graduates who have no classes at the moment!
63. Arabian, for one: HORSE.
64. DE Dec. setting: E.S.T. Eastern Standard Time in Delaware in December. That's a lot of abbreviations packed into one small space.
65. What might take a while?: ERST. As in "erstwhile". Nice clue.
66. Fencing blades: EPÉES.
Down:
1. Pizza party leftovers: CRUSTS. Cold pizza for breakfast - lovely!
2. "Really": HONEST.
3. Eponymous goddess of a 1987 film flop: ISHTAR. This movie passed me by. I didn't miss much by the look of it, Roger Ebert wrote "Ishtar is a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy" and his compadre Gene Siskel remarked it was "shockingly dull" and "dim-witted".
4. Painter Mondrian: PIET.
5. Stop from leaking: SEAL.
6. Sweetie, in recent slang: BAE. I'll take a leaf out of Siskel's book and describe this as "dim-witted". It's a shortening of "baby" although "before anyone else" is claimed, although that's a "backronym".
7. Stop: END.
8. Joke: GAG.
9. Hawaii, e.g.: STATE.
10. Apple desktop: IMAC. I wonder how many iMacs are now sold other than to graphic designers?
11. A condition of maximum activity: HIGH GEAR. Not "top gear"? That says "maximum" to me. High gear just suggests a higher work rate.
12. Hypothetical account: SCENARIO. Interesting, I hadn't considered scenario to be hypothetical situation, but on reflection a scenerio can play out into reality. Good one to mull over.
15. Kate Brown is its gov.: ORE. Oregon.
17. Business card no.: TEL.
20. Bids first: OPENS.
23. Considered in full: ALL TOLD.
24. Tiny soup base: PEA. Odd clue, is pea the "base" of pea soup? I'd call it the main ingredient. And a pea isn't really tiny. I must be missing something here.
25. Mailed, as invites: SENT OUT.
28. "The Audacity of Hope" author: OBAMA.
29. "I'm amused": HA HA. Usually used sarcastically in my experience.
31. Gather wool from: SHEAR. There's a joke about a Kiwi and an Aussie sheep farmer involving "shearing sheep" which I won't say any more about.
33. Set ablaze: LIT.
34. Female ruminant: DOE.
35. Nursery item: CRIB.
36. First big song success for The Moody Blues: GO NOW. A song that's survived the test of time, methinks. Here's a reminder.
37. Positioned for ambush, as in many Westerns: ON A RIDGE.
38. Two-year-olds, say: TODDLERS.
41. Dessert choice: PIE.
45. Like sailors on leave: ASHORE. Unless you're serving on a shore-based station, and you go on a cruise for your vacation.
46. Spread out: SPARSE.
47. Agree: SAY YES.
49. At the proper moment: ON CUE.
50. Montreal-to-Boston dir.: S.S.E. I liked the compass-point-opposites we had a couple of weeks ago with a pair of NNE/SSW entries, but I guess we're firmly back to random-place-to-random-place clues. At least let's think about something to link the two place names together?
53. RBI or ERA: STAT. Baseball loves stats.
54. Venerable ref.: O.E.D. The Oxford English Dictionary. The day "bae" qualifies for an entry is the day that I cancel my (not-existent) subscription.
56. Queens tennis venue honoree: ASHE.
57. Where to get off: STOP. The great thing about the old Routemaster buses in London was that they had an open platform at the back so you jump on and off wherever you liked. Worked like a charm until some bureaucrats decided that it was dangerous, and you couldn't operate the bus with just a driver to collect fares as it forced passengers got on at a designated stop. Caused more congestion than you can imagine. Just a couple of years ago the Routemaster-style buses were reintroduced on certain routes.
59. Paving stuff: TAR.
60. "__ nothing new": IT'S. A rule if you're not sure about using an apostrophe with "it": "It's an apostrophe".
61. Nov. honoree: VET. Veteran's Day.
Well, there we have it. Here's the grid, and I just noticed 1A which reminds me to get a bowl of chips to crunch on with a beer.
Cheers!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
Al Hollmer (Spitzboov) and I made today's Universal puzzle. You can solve it here. It's edited by David Steinberg. The puzzle was years in the making. Thanks for the patience, Al!
Also go to USA Today for the "Front Wheels" (Wednesday 7/15/2020) puzzle Hahtoolah (Susan) and I created. It's edited by Erik Agard.
Also go to USA Today for the "Front Wheels" (Wednesday 7/15/2020) puzzle Hahtoolah (Susan) and I created. It's edited by Erik Agard.
