Theme: I'LL SECOND THAT (38. "Amen!" ... or a hint to the start of four other long answers) - First words are all "twos".
17. Mole, perhaps: DOUBLE AGENT.
21. Either Bush 43 daughter: TWIN SISTER.
58. Braille is one: BINARY CODE.
64. Olympic event featuring death spirals: PAIR SKATING.
Boomer here again, filling in another blog gap.
When I saw this theme, I could not help but think of a PAIR of our TWINS suffering a shortage of DOUBLES. But I could not fit BINARY onto the baseball field.
Across:
1. Prepare to get up from one's plane seat: UNBELT. Or maybe raise a glass from your seat at the bar and order UN BELT.
7. Sucker for a flame: MOTH. I just do not see too many MOTHS any more.
11. Camera letters: SLR.
14. Hoi __: POLLOI.
15. Mine, in Montreal: A MOI. I guess they still speak French in
Montreal. I have relatives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and when they
visited here their English was fine.
16. Rival: VIE.
19. Señora Perón: EVA.
20. Palindromic woman's name: ANNA. Also ELLE.
23. Bit of body ink: TAT. Talked about this on Monday.
24. "The Black Cat" author: POE. The poor Black Cat is blamed for a multitude of bad luck.
25. Locker room powders: TALCS.
26. Belgian expressionist James: ENSOR.
28. Stun: DAZE. Sometimes for a festival it replaces the word DAYS.
32. Diamond Head locale: OAHU. Why are there Interstate Highways in Hawaii ?
33. 1974 musical based on a 1900 novel, with "The": WIZ. A Michael Jackson movie that does not have the Magic of Minnesota's Judy Garland as Dorothy.
35. eBay offers: BIDS. C.C. and I have been putting some of my baseball cards out there with a little bit of success.
37. Drop off for a bit: NAP.
42. Meter preceder: ODO. We have not yet reached 3000 miles on the ODOmeter of our Santa Fe.
43. Lake formed by the Hoover Dam: MEAD. I have been there years
ago. I never took C.C. there on our Graybar reunion trips. I never
went down in the dam for a tour. We have one of these on the Mississippi
near our home and when you've seen one, you've seen them all. It's kind
of fun to bring popcorn and toss it into lake MEAD and watch the fish
go for it.
44. "Told __!": YOU. Told me WHAT ??
45. Lox variety: NOVA. Chevrolet used to make these. I am not sure if they are still around.
47. Burst forth: SPEW.
49. Language in which "w" and "y" are considered vowels: WELSH. Must be the Queen's English.
53. 2010 Barack appointee: ELENA. Ms. Kagan of the Supreme Court.
55. Parrot: APE.
57. Bothered a lot, with "at": ATE. I like restaurants but I ATE AT home for many months and I am sure you all know why.
62. Sooner State city: ENID. OOOHHHklahoma where the wind blows sweeping down the plain.
63. Vivid dye: AZO.
66. Volleyball scoring unit: SET. Also a number of complete SETS of Topps Heritage Chrome baseball cards
67. Small advantage: EDGE. On the greens, there are small holes
with EDGEs. Words cannot describe how a ball can turn 90 degrees around
the hole without dropping in. I have run out of CROSS WORDS to say
when this happens.
68. With 56-Down, type of black tea with another color in its name: ORANGE. 56. See 68-Across: PEKOE.
69. Journal's end?: ESE. Journalese.
70. Gaelic gal: LASS.
71. Persuasive pieces: ESSAYS. I think these are easier to write than to construct a Crossword.
Down:
1. Reason for a restart: UPDATE. No restart here, keep going with the down words that are left.
2. Political pundit Peggy: NOONAN.
3. Numbs: BLUNTS.
4. Idris of "Luther": ELBA.
5. "Kidding!" letters: LOL. Ha Ha, do people still use LOL for Laughing Out Loud. I do not really believe that they were laughing anyway.
6. Associate with: TIE TO.
7. Ancient trio: MAGI. "Field and Fountain, Moor and Mountain, following yonder Star."
8. Black cat, to some: OMEN.
9. Quite a lot: TONS. Yes, I still have TONS of baseball cards.
10. "Start the music!": HIT IT. Or what fans may yell at Target Field to those guys with TC on their caps.
11. __ Savitskaya, first woman to perform a spacewalk: SVETLANA. Soviet cosmonaut.
12. Modern customer support option: LIVE CHAT.
13. Reacts in fear, as a horse: REARS UP. First you place a tee in the ground. Then you grab your driver and REAR UP.
18. Wonderstruck: AWED. The guys in your threesome will be AWED when you swing.
22. __ Tomé and Príncipe: SAO.
24. Spectrum maker: PRISM.
27. Potterverse courier: OWL. The OWL and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat.
29. Cabin or castle: ABODE. Our Castle is a comfortable three level home where the top floor is always warmer than the basement. We got used to it.
30. Chard alternative: ZIN.
31. Water whirled: EDDY. I never knew what causes these things.
34. Pizza pieces?: ZEES. Actually in Minnesota, they come in triangles.
36. "Dred" novelist: STOWE.
38. Reveres: IDOLIZES. Years ago, I was among fans that Idolized Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew.
39. Heart-y message?: LOVE NOTE.
40. Upper limit: CAP. I still wear a cap with TC on the front.
41. Color: HUE.
42. __ hit: baseball single: ONE BASE. Yes we see a lot of singles. The "Bombas" boys are history.
46. Carrier to Tokyo: ANA. A lot of Olympians will be taking a flight on this airline. Not too many fans though.
48. Rolls of money: WADS. Those guys went to outer space.
50. Pacific weather phenomenon: LA NINA.
51. Cheap: STINGY. It's tough to be STINGY these days. Gas and food are going up so stingy folks must stay home and stop eating.
52. Risk-offsetting investments: HEDGES. I invested $5.00 in Minnesota lottery tickets Monday and I "won" $2.00. That's about as close as I get to HEDGE investing.
54. Cosmetician Adrien: ARPEL.
59. When tripled, "et cetera": YADA.
60. Smokes, briefly: CIGS. Not me, anymore. When I quit they
were about one dollar per pack. Now when we go to Las Vegas they have
vending machines offering a pack for $10.00. Now I can lose $10.00
worth of quarters in the slot machine and stay healthy.
61. Crude metals: ORES.
62. JFK board data: ETAS. Their guess for Time of Arrival.
65. Cue followers: ARS.
Boomer
