Title: Jeffrey was playing with a Yo-Yo again!
Welcome to a double dose of me. Chris (MOE) thought it would be fun if I deciphered another JW puzzle and the request really fit into my near future as I will be busy on the 22nd and 29th out of town. I was tasked with one of Mr. Wechsler's visual themes, which without the circles would have been a near impossible challenge, but we have them so here we go.
25A. With 38-Across, what the highlighted squares suggest: AROUND THE (9). 38A See 25-Across: WORLD (5).
47A. With 49-Across, author of the novel suggested by this puzzle's theme; the movie debuted 10/17/1956: JULES (5). 49A. See 47-Across: VERNE (5). 80 days anyone?
Oh and the circled squares (doesn't that remind you of HOLLYWOOD SQUARES?
Back to the puzzle...the circles spell the magic magellan word CIRCUMNAVIGATION! Nifty!
Of course now you have to solve the entire grid to fill in the circles so that leaves work to do and a grid to examine. This one is chockful of longer words AFFIRMS, CURE ALL, NAILS IT (a C.C. favorite) RUNAWAY, SNIDELY, SONATAS (for Waseely and JzB) SWOLLEN, TAURINE (we all need vitamins and supplements) ADHERENTS, and MISJUDGED which has appeared only once before in puzzledom. HERE in one of Splynter's first blogs. Also, DREFT making its LAT debut though we have seen it in reader comments HERE which includes one of Boomer's first blogs. We continue our trend of non-traditional Fridays, and I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Off to the races.
Across:1. "More matter, with __ art": "Hamlet": LESS. This is obvious unless it isn't. Not one of Will's more famous quotations which some may find IRING at 1 Across.
5. Early music label: RCA. Radio Corporation of America.
8. Indulgent places: SPAS.
12. Playwright Chekhov: ANTON. He only lived to be 44 but he also was a well respected short story writer.
14. See 15-Across: OUT. I do not favor these reverse referentials.
15. With 14-Across, deal-breaking words: I WANT. Take your cup and clang it on the bars, works everytime.
16. Combined: IN ONE.
17. Play area: SET. Play as in production, not where you children go.
18. Partially, informally: SORTA.
19. Take off: RUN AWAY. A human would run away, and an airplane would just use the RUNWAY.
21. Gets an A+, say: NAILS IT. Yes, that is doing pretty well.
23. Cut back, in a way: DIETED. So much talk about diets... what did people do before influencers.
24. Spite: MALICE.
29. Added things: SUMS. A really simple clue/fill.
32. Brief alarm: SOS. Save Our Ship.
33. Parents can relax during them: NAPS. Anyone can.
1. Scottish estate holder: LAIRD. Macbeth was such a Lord.
2. Been-there-done-that feeling: ENNUI. I like this definition.
3. Pit: STONE. Peach ayone.
4. Brahms piano trio: SONATAS. This is more for Bill and Ron.
5. Optimistic: ROSY.
6. Prompt: CUE.
7. Routing abbr.: ATTN.
8. In danger of flooding, as a river: SWOLLEN. Be careful all cornerites.
9. Indian follower of Zoroastrianism: PARSI. A very old Religion which some consider the precursor of Judaism.
10. Bit of silliness: ANTIC. This word goes all the way back to 1520s.
11. City-__: STATE. Not as common as in history but we still have three - Singapore, Monaco, and the Vatican - the modern independent city-states.
13. More of a surprise: NEWER. A completely original clue for a common fill that does not make sense to me, nor sound like JW.
15. NBA legend Thomas: ISIAH. Do not be confused.
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20. Disturbance: ADO. It is, or forget it.
22. Receipt fig.: AMT.
26. It offered soldiers Hope: Abbr.: USO. The capital H tells us it means Bob's TOURS
27. Fish-fowl link: NOR. This has a long HISTORY.
28. Web transmission technology: abr.: DSL. Digital Subscriber Line.
29. An express might skip yours: Abbr.: STN. Different abbreviations for abbreviation.
30. Thurman on screen: UMA. Constructors love her letters, movie goers love her...
34. Followers: ADHERENTS. They stick to their guns.
35. Face front?: PRE. PREFACE.
36. Face front?: SUR. SURFACE. Nice misdirection for a clecho.
38. Small songbirds: WRENS.
39. P&G detergent brand: DREFT. It is interesting as we have had two references to this old-timey detergent recently but it never appeared as fill before.
42. Snake oil, purportedly: CURE ALL. Also an old-timey product that was marketed as a panacea. When I was very little I wondered where they found the "cea" to put in the pan.
43. __ Ewoldt, first Asian-American to play Christine in Broadway's "Phantom": ALI. Not Muhammed nor his daughter.
45. Boxer's speech?: ARF. Three letters, it can't be woof. 54D. Cur's warning: SNARL.
46. Dudley's toon foe: SNIDELY. Mr. Whiplash.
48. __ moment: SENIOR. When I was young, I would...ah...anyway.
49. Events for Biles: VAULTS.
50. Chore list items: TO DOS. Or they can be honey dos.
51. Criminal defense: ALIBI. I was in Boston having lunch with the Bishop.
53. San __, Northern California city: MATEO. We have one in Florida. LINK
57. Name of five Norwegian kings: OLAV. Olav is the modern equivalent in Norwegian, formerly often spelt Olaf. His name in Icelandic is Ólafur, in Faroese Ólavur, in Danish Olav, in Swedish Olof, in Finnish Olavi. Olave was the traditional spelling in England, preserved in the name of medieval churches dedicated to him.
60. Secure (to): TIE.
62. Sidekick: PAL. Nobody I kicked in the side ever became my pal.
