Good morning, cruciverbalists. Malodorous Manatee, here, wishing everyone a wonderful Thursday. It need not be as joyous as it seems to be for our friend, above, for it to still be quite pleasant.
I, for one, am pleased to report that, in contrast to last Thursday's mind-expanding theme, today we are presented with a quite straightforward, easy-to-describe theme. At four places in the grid, our constructor, Emma Oxford, has placed definitions of KING. This solver found the theme entries to be helpful in completing the puzzle. Of course, there are many definitions of KING that were not used in this puzzle (e.g. a type of salmon, a chess piece and Stephen King) and perhaps Emma will treat us all to a King-theme-redux at some point in the future.
WE THREE FOUR KINGS (with a few more strewn about)
17 Across. King: HIGHEST FACE CARD.
King David?
33 Across. King: MALE MONARCH.
King Melvin Kaminsky
41 Across. King: TYPE OF COBRA.
King Cobra
57 Across. King: POWERFUL CHECKER.
Like The Man Said, "King Me"
The completed grid . . . .
. . . . and the rest of the clues and answers:
Across:
1. Pacific island called "The Gathering Place": OAHU.
King Kalakaua Lived Here
5. Lots of land: ACRES.
10. Workshop gadget: VISE. A clamp, not a bad habit.
14. Cold-shoulder: SHUN. Rarely used, as it seems to be used in the clue, as a verb. Or, perhaps as in "he received the cold-shoulder"?,
15. Material from the French for a Scandinavian country: SUEDE. This marine mammal was not previously cognizant of the etymology. Then again, he also did not know that The Police had recorded a song called King of Pain. As a result, for years he wondered what had inspired this:
Weird Al, King of Suede
16. MLB shortstop who agreed to play third because Jeter was already the shortstop: AROD. Alex RODriguez. Wow, that certainly is one lengthy clue. Not to be confused with Chi Chi.
Les Nessman - WKRP
20. Used, as china: ATE ON. Small "c" china originated in the Jaingxi province of capital "C" China.
21. Belief ending: ISM.
22. Mudville dud: CASEY. CASEY At The Bat is the "Ballad of The Republic" written in 1888 by Ernest Thayer. Mudville in the clue, of course, is a reference to the town. And The Mighty Casey, of course, struck out.
The Might Casey
23. Theater section: LOGE.
25. "Queer Eye" fashion expert __ France: TAN. Often, we see Amy. "Queer Eye" is an American reality television series. Tanveer Wasim France (nee Safdar) was on the show.
26. Clara Bow nickname: IT GIRL.
29. By the seashore: COASTAL. She sells seashells by the seashore.
35. Society newbie: DEB. Slang/shortened form of DEButant.
37. Kuwaiti ruler: EMIR.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia and the Emir of Kuwait
King Salmon and Friends
38. Name synonymous with synonyms: ROGET. Created in 1805 by Peter Mark ROGET and released to the public in 1852.
39. Frosty glaze: HOAR. When humid air skips the droplet stage and goes directly to crystallization it forms HOAR frost.
Hoar frost
40. Place to relax: DEN. Or, perhaps, not relax. See also 65 Across.
Daniel In The King of Beast's Den
43. Disco lights: STROBES.
45. Pressing: URGENT.
46. "Who now the price of his dear blood doth __?": Shak.: OWE. A quote from Shakespeare could be used to clue just about any word in the English language.
47. Roman commoner: PLEB. Shortened form of Plebian. Those citizens of Rome who were not Patricians were PLEBians.
48. Part of a 13-piece suit?: SPADE. Not clothing but (another) playing card reference. I wondered, but only for a very brief moment, if the clue contained a typo.
51. 19th-century mystery writer with just one complete novel: POE. I didn't know that. The novel was The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
53. Ristorante order: PASTA. Ristorante, Italian for restaurant, tells us the type of cuisine that we should be thinking of (of which we should be thinking?).
60. Short mystery writer?: ANON. Short, get it?, for ANONymous and, as an unknown, such an author would be a mystery.
61. Patch plant: BRIAR.
62. 23rd-century captain: KIRK. The Star Trek television series ran for only three seasons (1966 - 1969) in the 20th-century before being canceled due to low ratings. The show was, however, set in the 23rd century. One of the best-ever spoofs of the show was written by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. Yes, he of The Monster Mash. He still owes me royalties.
Star Drek
63. Unfreeze: MELT. Thaw was another four-letter-possibly-correct response.
64. Golfer's set: IRONS. Metal golf clubs. Called IRONS to distinguish them from "woods" which used to actually be made from wood.
King Cobra Irons
65. Relaxing spots: SPAS. See also 40 Across.
Down:
1. Job safety org.: OSHA. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration. We've seen OSHA before. Remember the cowboy?
2. "It's __!": SRO show headline: A HIT. Standing Room Only means that all the seats have been sold. This Broadway show had its share of sold out performances:
3. Very significant: HUGE. King-sized?
4. Less saintly: UNHOLIER. As Cheddar is to Swiss?
5. Obstinate mount: ASS. It seems as if this answer shows up every week.
6. __ pie: CUTIE. Apple, Berry, Peach, and Fruit - any of these five-letter words might have sent us down the wrong path.
7. Touchdown signalers: REFS. Not an airport reference. A football reference.
8. Dutch cheese: EDAM. I know that we had this two weeks ago. M - A - D - E backwards.
9. Champagne label word: SEC. Used to denote the level of residual sugar (for SEC, it is 17 to 32 grams per liter) in the wine.
10. Unoccupied: VACANT.
11. Some S&L plans: IRAS. Individual Retirement AccountS are a crossword-ese staple.
12. Ticked off: SORE.
13. Water whirled: EDDY.
12. Ticked off: SORE.
13. Water whirled: EDDY.
18. 3-Down, poetically: ENORM. Poetically !? I thought that this was Valley-girl speak.
Frank and Moon Unit Zappa
19. Cybercurrency: ECASH. Egad, another "E" word !
24. "Hallelujah!": GLORY BE.
25. Diplomatic: TACTFUL.
24. "Hallelujah!": GLORY BE.
25. Diplomatic: TACTFUL.
26. Chatted with, but not IRL: IMED. Instant MessagED as opposed to talking In Real Life.
27. Subdues: TAMES.
28. Shimmer: GLINT.
Astronaut Photograph of Sun Glint
29. Pet store array: CAGES. Today's "I prefer to skip the graphics" moment.
30. Snack with Red Velvet and Key Lime Pie varieties: OREO. I have thought about constructing a crossword puzzle using only OREO for all of the answers but cluing it seventy-five different ways.
31. Acrobat maker: ADOBE. Developed by ADOBE, Inc., Acrobat is a computer standard for viewing, creating, printing and manipulating PDF (Portable Document Format) files.
32. Absorb: LEARN.
34. "Ain't gonna happen": NOPE. The clue is slangy, ergo the answer is slangy.
36. Frank's cousin: BRAT. The wurst pun today. Not your daughter to your brother's son, Frank.
39. Ridges with steeply sloped sides: HOGBACKS. Named for the resemblance to, you guess it, the backs of some hogs.
41. Loom: TOWER. Used as a verb as in "to TOWER over something". A bit of misdirection as one might have thought of a device used for weaving.
42. French pancake: CREPE.
Une Crepe au noisette s'il vous plait !
44. Capybara, for one: RODENT. Capybaras are the largest living RODENTs on Earth. They are semi-aquatic and are found throughout most South American countries. An adult Capybara weighs 75 - 150 pounds and can grow to be 3.5 to 4.5 feet in length.
47. Praline nut: PECAN.
Pralines
48. Unwanted email: SPAM. In prior puzzle write-ups, I have used Hormel and Monty Python graphics for this SPAM. What, now? Hmmmm. I guess that we could go with the current "junk email" use of the word, as clued.
49. Fried Dixie bread: PONE. Tom Lehrer referred to Corn PONE in his classic I Wanna Go Back to Dixie:
Live - 1967
50. Badly off base: AWOL. Absent WithOut Leave For some, a bit of misdirection in that the clue refers to a military base and not a baseball game.
51. Sound of a contented cat: PURR.
51. Sound of a contented cat: PURR.
Rocky The Flying Cat
52. Medley: OLIO.
They might have added "often found in crossword puzzles".
54. Decide not to go to: SKIP. I first tried to see if STAY would work.
55. Giga- x 1,000: TERA. In one sense, computer jargon.
56. Sacred cabinets: ARKS.
The Ark of the Covenant
58. "The Sopranos" org.: FBI. The Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mafia would not fit. Mob would fit but all of the perps would have to change.
59. Store door nos.: HRS. Hours. Punt! It's time to leave, now . . . . .
Happy (just a tad early) Pesach
_____________________________________________
MM OUT
