Alliance Consolidation
Good Wednesday Cornerites.
[Note: Today's expo will be terse as I drafted yesterday's expo before going on vacation only to later learn that I had solved the wrong puzzle(?!?). Below is the best I could do in short-order.]
Today's puzzle brings ALL sides together to form a unified PACT. What do I mean? Let's take a gander:
17. Garb Maria creates from curtains in "The Sound of Music": PLAY CLOTHES. Curtains implies a play and not a musical(?)
23. Administer in small portions: PARCEL OUT. Dole OUT was too short.
34. Practical advice for an overnight stay: PACK LIGHT. Any more than a backpack and it's too much stuff.
50. The NCAA's "Conference of Champions": PAC TWELVE. The PAC-12 is known as the "Conference of Champions," for having won more collegiate championships than any other conference.
56. Formally agreeing to terms, and what this puzzle's sets of circled letters are gradually doing: MAKING A PACT.
The word PACT came together as the four theme answers progressed.
P
PA
PAC
PACT
Clever. MAKING A PACT can be a step by step process. One step at a time.
Now that we've agreed on that, let's see if we can come together (like the theme's circles) on the rest of the fill.
Across:
1. Chicago MLBer: CUB. Not a [White] Sox.
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| Cub's Logo |
4. 9000 and 9-5 automaker: SAAB. A Man Called Ove loved his SAAB.
8. Flourish: BLOOM.
13. Singer DiFranco: ANI.
Folk-y
14. Spanish "she": ELLA.
15. Like Ralph Lauren clothing: PREPPY. Preppy as in "from Prep School." Like, totally '80's.
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| The Rich Kids' Duds |
16. Apple co-founder, casually: WOZ. Steve Wozniak [Berkeley Profile].
17. [See: Theme]
19. Hold a cattle call: CAST. A broad-net casting call is a "cattle-call" (or Southwest Airlines' boarding)
21. Cattle calls: MOOs. Tee-hee.
22. Email status: SENT.
23. [See: Theme]
25. Oklahoma city: TULSA. Cute - lower-case "city" and not Enid, OK.
26. Printing goofs: ERRATA. Latin for a list of errors post-printing.
27. More like a cord: ROPIER. Um, OK.
28. Megastar: IDOL.
29. Fragments: PIECES.
33. Need for some noisy toys: AAs. Small "Batteries not included."
34. [See: Theme]
37. "Poldark" airer: PBS.
40. Salad option: CAESAR. It's only proper with discernible anchovy flavor. Anyone else ask for extra anchovies if you can't taste 'em?
41. Minnesota representative Ilhan: OMAR. Somalia-born Representative from Minnesota's 5th District. IIRC, she's now in her 3rd term.
45. Surgical knife: LANCET. Also the name of England's oldest medical journal.
47. Jalisco, por ejemplo: ESTADO. Jalisco is Mexico's 7th largest ESTADO (state).
49. Zones: AREAS.
50. [See: Theme]
53. Multifunction printer function: SCAN.
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| My Multifunction HP |
54. Get along nicely: MESH.
55. See 62-Across: IDLE. //wait for it...
56. [See: Theme]
59. X-ray kin: MRI. Magnetic Resonance Imaging.
61. Large concert venues: ARENAS.
62. With 55-Across, "Spamalot" co-creator: ERIC. Eric Idle is one of the founding Pythons and my (28a) IDOL. He is still quite active on Twitter as @EricIdle
63. Start of a kindergarten tune: ABC. Stephen Write asked why the alphabet is in that order? He postulated that it's because of that song.
64. Sprinkle about: STREW.
65. Snack (on): NOSH. Nom nom nom.
66. Therapist's maj.: PSY. Psychology: the study of non-phonetic spelling's effect on the mind.
Down:
1. Crow's cry: CAW.
2. Draw Two or Skip: UNO CARD.
3. Stranger than strange: BIZARRO.
Bizarro Jerry
4. Deadly sins, e.g.: SEPTET. Sept = 7 -- of which the count of sins that mars the soul.
5. The "A" of GOAT: ALL. Greatest of ALL Time.
6. Avis rival: ALAMO. I barely remembered it ;-)
7. "The __ City": Houston nickname: BAYOU. Aka Clutch City, Space City USA, H-Town - anything to keep your mind off the fact you're in an over-developed swamp and it's 100F outside.
8. "My guy!": BRO.
9. Eases off: LETS UP.
10. Daughter of Polonius: OPHELIA. From The Bard's Hamlet.
11. Briny deep: OPEN SEA.
12. "Zounds!": MY STARS.
15. "If you don't mind," in a text: PLS. Please.
18. Air mattress alternative: COT. Air mattress was not an option in Basic Training.
20. Head massage target: SCALP.
23. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame architect: PEI.
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| Looks like a 45RPM spindle. Read more |
24. Purrr-manent fixture when sitting: LAP CAT. Cute.
25. Reggae singer Peter: TOSH.
27. Rue: REGRET.
30. 1950s prez: IKE.
31. Couple of fellows?: ELS. There are two "L"s in feLLows.
32. Jack Ryan's org.: CIA. Ryan is a fictional character who works in the very-real Central Intelligence Agency.
35. Las Vegas WNBA team: ACES. Makes sense that a team name in Vegas deals with playing cards :-)
36. Hauled: TOTED.
37. Once-common flat-screens: PLASMAS.
38. Spot for drinks in a small apartment, say: BAR CART.
39. Athletic shoe: SNEAKER. What do you call 'em? Tennis shoes?, sneakers?, tennies?, or just shoes?
42. Aid in finding the food court, perhaps: MALL MAP.
43. Sometimes and often: ADVERBS. Part of speech. An adverb is a word that can modify or describe a verb, adjective, another adverb, or entire sentence.
Schoolhouse Rock
44. Sushi topper: ROE.
46. Incisor neighbor: CANINE. #Teeth
48. Animal Crossing console: SWITCH. Animal Crossing is a video game played on the Nintendo SWITCH platform.
50. Gravel size: PEA.
51. Colorado ski destination: ASPEN.
52. One-named actress/flamenco guitarist: CHARO.
What I found - link if you know better (please!)
54. Booker T.'s band: MGS. Booker T and the MG's
You know this tune
57. Casual denial: NAW.
58. Opposite of trans: CIS. -gender.
60. Like unsalted winter roads: ICY.
And without further ado, The Grid
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| The Grid |
Cheers, -T
