Wednesday, June 7, 2023 ~ Jared Goudsmit

What Nonsense!

Happy hump day folks. Today we have three words that are synonyms for "Oh, BALONEY" spread at both ends of each theme entry (in circles that were too lightly printed for me to notice).

Why is this nonsense, you ask? Well, 1) baloney is spelt wrong and 2) the bologna words are outside the bread! 😀

Let's first visit the gobbledygook:

17. Über-genius: ROCKET SCIENTIST. Not a brain surgeon nor a "rocket surgeon." A bunch of ROT.

33. National Historical Park in Boston that commemorates a 1775 battle: BUNKER HILL. "Don't fire until you see this whites of their eyes." Ah, BULL - that wasn't really said. //Note the bonus:  There's  a lot of BUNK in there.

40. Prominent feature of many a Jimi Hendrix song: GUITAR RIFF. A bunch of GUFF (not Jimi!).
 

Purple Haze

56. Classic grade-school lunch, and what's literally found in 17-, 33-, and 40-Across?: BALONEY SANDWICH. Classmates thought I was full of Bologna and my nickname was... well, you can put it together.

How I learned to spell BOLOGNA

Now, let's see what other hogwash we have today:

Across:
1. "Ray" Oscar winner Foxx: JAMIE. JAMIE played RAY Charles in the MOVIE (38a).
 

Ray Charles in a Different MOVIE

6. Beef or pork: MEAT.

10. Hon: BABE.

14. Sicily's country: ITALY. Also Bologna's county.

15. Make one's mark?: ETCH. Cute.

16. Skills barometer: EXAM.

17. [See: theme]

20. Pound pts.: OZS. 16 ounces are parts of a pound (which doesn't contain puppies).

21. __ Vegas Raiders: LAS. The Raiders (NFL team) left Oakland for Las Vegas 22 JAN 2020.

22. Puts on clothes: DRESSES.

23. Oily compound: LIPID. Natural oil & waxes insoluble in water.

25. Banh mi spread: MAYO. With a large Vietnamese population in Houston, we have great Banh mi all over town.

Recipie

26. Michael of "Alfie": CAINE. Don't think I've seen the MOVIE.

28. Distant: AFAR. Opposed to 19d - aNEAR (where the Blazing Saddles' sheriff was #AuthinticFrontierGibberish, er, Bologna).

30. New Deal pres.: FDR. Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as 32nd US president from 1933 to 1945.

33. [See: theme]

35. French father: PERE.

36. Clothesline alternative: DRYER.

37. In the vein of: ALA.

38. "Philadelphia" or "Chicago": MOVIE.

39. Stratford's river: AVON.  I think I should say something about a Bard upon there.

40. [See: theme]

42. Tender in Tokyo: YEN. Tender, cash, money.

43. Washed-out: PALE.

44. Used a prayer rug: KNELT.

45. Actress __ Rachel Wood: EVAN. Her IMDb.

47. Billionaire financier George: SOROS. Here thar be politics...

49. Where to watch Kings battle Senators: ICE RINK. NHL's Los Angeles Kings vs Ottawa Senators.

52. __ goo gai pan: MOO.

 Recipe

53. Prosecutors, for short: DAS. District Attorneys.

56. [See: theme]

59. "Supposing that's true ... ": IF SO.

60. Disney film featuring light cycles: TRON. A MOVIE and an old-school video game (which I filled with quarters).

1982 Trailer

61. The Scales of the Zodiac: LIBRA.
 

Our ancients had a heck of an imagination.

62. Come off as: SEEM.

63. Cab: TAXI.

64. And the following, in footnotes: ET SEQ. "What follows (used in page references). Eg: "see: vol2 p3 et seq" #Googled post solve.

Down:
1. "__ Dreams of Sushi": documentary about a Japanese chef: JIRO. I highly recommend it.

Trailer

2. Encyclopedic in range: A TO Z.

3. PC alternatives: MACS. Apple's Macintosh.

4. Sort: ILK.

5. Cosmetics item: EYELINER.

6. Argentine soccer superstar Lionel: MESSI.
 

Kinda looks like Ted Lasso's Roy Kent, no?

7. Space-saving abbr.: ETC. ETCetera.

8. Low-pH substance: ACID.

9. The "T" of BTU: THERMAL. British THERMAL Units or 1054.35 Joules.

10. Brandt of "Breaking Bad": BETSY.

11. Mid-2000s comedy tour featuring Ahmed Ahmed and Maz Jobrani: AXIS OF EVIL.

Trailer (w/ light #politics)

12. High-pH substance: BASE. Dumb me put in ACID first (and I was a lab-tech!).

13. CPR-performing team: EMTS. Emergency Medical Technicians.

18. Become pointed: TAPER.

19. Within a stone's throw: NEAR. Unless you can skip it on the lake AFAR.
 

Wait, there's professional stone skipping?

23. Compare: LIKEN.

24. Newsstand spread: DAILIES.

26. Learning __: CURVE.  Calculus III had many high ones.

27. "Who's next?": ANY ONE ELSE?  Not The Who's 1971 album?
 

Backstory behind the album cover

29. Unfizzy: FLAT. Or still ;-)

31. Get sidetracked: DRIFT.

32. Snorkeling locale: REEF.

33. Party time, casually: BDAY. Birthday abriv.

34. Heist loot: HAUL. I like this one.

35. Skin openings: PORES.

38. Mime played by Bill Irwin on "Elmo's World": MR NOODLE.
 

Elmo's World

40. Media giant that owns USA Today: GANNETT. I used to feel ashamed, sitting in my hotel room solving their doormat-DAILy crosswords, but Erik Agard has really up'd the game over there.

41. Ohio birthplace of LeBron James: AKRON.  He got game.
 

LeBron James - 6' 9"

43. Apt rhyme for "sprain": PAIN. Cute.

46. Race car sound: VROOM. Zoom, zoom, zoom.

48. Muscat citizen: OMANI. Muscat is Oman's port capitol.

49. Hieroglyphics bird: IBIS. This is interesting.

50. Bistro: CAFE.

51. Actress Sedgwick: KYRA.

53. "I claim that!": DIBS.

54. Land division: ACRE.

55. "Inside the NBA" analyst, to fans: SHAQ.
 

Shaq - 7'1" 325 pounds. 
//conversion to OZs is an exercise left to the reader.

57. Fenway team, briefly: SOX. The Bo[Red]-Sox. Not to be confused with the Chi[White]-Sox who play at Guaranteed Rate Field (nee: Comiskey Park).

58. Clever one: WIT.  No one has accused me of that.

Theme was "rubbish" and the fill solid. Thanks Jared (and Patti's team).

The Grid

WOs: acid -> BASE, papers(oops) -> DAILIES, area -> ACRE
ESPs: JIRO (couldn't recall his name), MESSI, BETSY, PERE, EVAN, KYRA, ET SEQ
Fav: HAUL was old-timey fun but TAXI made me think of one of the funniest sitcoms ever.

And, now, for Weird Al's

My Bologna

Cheers, -T
Coda: From what (little) research I did: Jared attended Tulane and has been constructing puzzles since then. He's currenly at St. Louis Aquarium entertaining. He also did a stint at the Magic House, St. Louis Children's Museum. His LinkedIn and a 2021 interview.