Tuesday, January 7, Gary Cee

  Theme:  PICK UP LINES.

Today's crossword puzzle by Gary Cee reminds us about some things we can pick up.  Those things are the second word in each of the answers to the clues marked with asterisks.  They have nothing to do with the cheesy pick up line illustrated above!  

The big reveal is right in the center of the puzzle:

37-Across. With 39-Across, "Move faster!," or what one can do with the end of the answer to each starred clue: PICK.  Together, 37- and 39-Across spell out PICK IT UP.  Let's see how this applies to the "starred" clues -- the ones marked with asterisks.

17-Across. *Teen magazine launched in 1965: TIGER BEAT.  Tiger Beat was an American teen fan magazine marketed primarily to adolescent girls. The magazine had a paper edition until December 2018, and afterward was published exclusively online until 2021.  And of course, you can PICK UP the BEAT, which means to start playing or moving in rhythm with the music, and perhaps to speed up a bit.

25-Across. *Nail-biting moment: CLOSE CALL.  A close call is a narrow escape from danger or disaster.  Some folks bite their nails at such tense moments!  And of course, you can PICK UP a CALL, or let it go to voicemail.

55-Across. *British tabloid: DAILY MAIL.  The Daily Mail is a British daily tabloid newspaper published in London. It was founded in 1896. As of 2020, it has the highest circulation of paid newspapers in the UK.  And of course, you can PICK UP the MAIL.

64-Across. *Notation for a fretted instrument: GUITAR TAB.  Tablature (or tab for short) is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering or the location of the played notes rather than musical pitches.

Tablature is common for fretted stringed instruments such as the guitar or lute. It was common during the Renaissance and Baroque eras, and is used today in notating many forms of music.  And of course, you can PICK UP the TAB -- pay for something, especially for what someone else has bought or used.

Time for me to PICK UP the pace.  Onward!

Across:

1. New puppy's need: NAME.

5. Photo app option: CROP.  I use phone and PC apps to CROP my photos. You?

9. Smidgen: SKOSH.  Some people say:  Just a SKOSH of cream in my coffee!  Merriam-Webster says:  The word skosh comes from the Japanese word sukoshi, which is pronounced "skoh shee" and means "a tiny bit" or "a small amount." The Japanese word was shortened by U.S. servicemen stationed in Japan after World War II. 

14. Spoken, not written: ORAL.

15. Atmospheric glow: AURA.  

Amazing aura around this person!

16. Pool divisions: LANES.  C.C. has shared some impressive swimming with us.

17. [Theme clue]

19. Free of profanity: CLEAN.

20. Film festival city on the French Riviera: CANNES. 

Festival de Cannes

21. Covert org.: CIA.  This organization is the Central Intelligence Agency.

23. Tail off: EBB.  Recede, lessen, reduce, tail off ...

24. Basketball giant Shaquille: O'NEAL.  Shaquille O'Neal, known commonly as Shaq, is a former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA. He is a 7-foot-1-inch and 325-pound center who played for six teams over his 19-year career in the NBA and is a four-time NBA champion. Even I knew the gist of that.

Shaq

25. [Theme clue]

28. Toronto's prov.: ONT.  Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario.  An abbreviation in the clue hints at an abbreviation in the answer.

Is it really so pretty, CanadianEh?

29. Clarinet kin: OBOE.

31. Yiddish put-down: SCHLUB.  That poor SCHLUB just doesn't get it!  No one asked for a put-down!  Today's puzzle is about pick-ups!

32. Gal: LASS.  Conjures up a young woman of Sweden, Norway, or Scotland.  

34. Expenditure: COST.

36. Really gets to: RILES.

37. [Theme reveal]

39. [Theme reveal]

41. Lawful: LICIT.  LICIT means not forbidden, or lawful.  Somehow I hear "illicit" more often!  

44. "The Sweetest Taboo" singer: SADE.  Popular singer of crossword puzzles.

46. Quarrel: SPAT.  A brief, petty argument.

50. Orange shape: SPHERE.  A sphere is a round solid figure, or its surface, with every point on its surface equidistant from its center.  An orange is not a perfect sphere, but it's certainly glorular.

52. "Give me a __?": HAND.  Some of our solvers hate conversational prompts as clues.

54. "Now __ seen it all!": I'VE.

55. [Theme clue]

57. Estate measures: ACRES.

59. Pat gently: DAB.

60. No longer hush-hush: OUT.  Google's AI Overview explains, "Out" means something is openly revealed or not kept secret, while "hush hush" means something is kept secret or confidential, not to be discussed openly; essentially, "out" is the opposite of "hush hush."

61. E.B. White's "__ Little": STUART.  A wonderful book for children, by the author of Charlotte's Web.

Stuart Little

62. Like male lions: MANED.

64. [Theme clue]

66. Liquid measure, in Britain: LITRE.  In the U.S., we spell it "liter," and we only use it to measure large amounts of soda pop.

67. Overturn: UNDO.

68. Sonic the Hedgehog creator: SEGA.  It helps to have had teenagers at a certain point in history.

69. Navy prisons: BRIGS.  The brig on the Starship Enterprise looked OK.

Picard!  Who do you have in the brig?

70. Scratchy tone: RASP.

71. Paradise: EDEN.

Down:

1. "That's just wrong": NOT COOL.

2. Media magnate Huffington: ARIANNA.  Arianna Huffington is a Greek American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of The Huffington Post, the founder and CEO of Thrive Global, and the author of fifteen books. She has been named to Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people and the Forbes Most Powerful Women list.

Arianna Huffington

3. Shopping list holders: MAGNETS.  My refrigerator door is not magnetic; my magnet collection went to waste.

4. Supreme Court justice Kagan: ELENA.  Elena Kagan is an American lawyer who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama and is the fourth woman to serve on the Court.

Elena Kagan

5. Autos with meters: CABS.  If you've ridden in a taxi cab, you know there's a meter showing the increasing cost of the journey as you go along.

6. Feel sorrow over: RUE.  Regret, feel remorse ... we've all been there, on the way to doing better!

7. Fortunetellers: ORACLES.

8. Place for a firepit: PATIO.

9. Utah's capital, briefly: SLC.  Salt Lake City.

10. Crispy, nutritious snack: KALE CHIPS.  I'd like to make baked kale chips, but I'm convinced it will take more water, electricity, and personal energy, than will be gained from the consuming thereof!

11. Solid yellow on a pool table: ONE BALL.

12. Aquamarine: SEA BLUE.  Also a gem of that color.

13. QVC alternative: HSN.  QVC (Quality Value Convenience) and HSN (Home Shopping Network) were pioneers of modern consumer retail in the late 1980s and 1990s. They changed the way people shopped by introducing the concept of televised home shopping,

18. Move to a new house, informally: RELO.  American English short for "relocate."

22. Burro: ASS.

25. Hash slingers: COOKS.

26. Very light brown: ECRU.

27. Nt. wt. units: LBS.  Net weight units: pounds.  Abbreviations call for abbreviations.

30. Secretly include on an email: BCC.  BCC stands for "blind carbon copy" and is a feature in email that allows the sender to send a copy of an email to additional recipients without the other recipients being aware.

33. Steven who said, "When I grow up, I still want to be a director": SPIELBERG.  He started making films at age 12, and was bound and determined to continue.

Steven Spielberg

35. __ pool: TIDAL.

38. Coy response to "You're awesome!": I TRY.

40. First number in most countdowns: TEN.

41. Mind-altering drug: LSD.   Lysergic acid diethylamide.  Growing up in the 1960s, I kind of hoped that taking LSD, shacking up in Haight-Ashbury, and free love at outdoor festivals, would not be required in my young adulthood.

42. Lightweight Apple tablet: IPAD AIR.

43. Wine served at a trattoria: CHIANTI.  At a small Italian restaurant, you may order an Italian red wine produced in the Chianti region of central Tuscany.  

45. Steak option at a seafood house: AHI TUNA.  Ahi tuna is often called "steak" because when cut into thick slices from the loin of the fish, it resembles a beef steak in its appearance, texture, and ability to be cooked to different doneness levels, from rare to well done, just like a steak.  Tuna are big fish.

47. Illegally downloaded: PIRATED.  I remember when we told the kids to get Napster off their computers.  No stolen music in the house!  

48. Commonplace: AVERAGE.

49. Nuclear treaty topic: TEST BAN.

51. Angsty rock genre: EMO.  If you're new here, welcome to the most popular rock genre in LA Times crossword puzzles.

53. Analytics input: DATA.

56. Foretell: AUGUR.  This clue augurs well for a good finish today.

58. Put a whammy on: CURSE.  “Put the whammy on” means to cause someone to have bad luck or to jinx them.  Did someone put the whammy on our dear RosE?  We all wish her complete healing.

Flowers for RosE

61. "Enough!": STOP.

62. Org. with Angels and Dodgers: MLB. This organization is Major League Baseball.  I didn't even have to look it up before bolding typing it out.

63. __ Moines, Iowa: DES.  DH has family there!  And it's freezing!  

65. TSA checkpoint needs: IDs.  When you go through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, you need to show IDentification.

Here's the grid:

How did you do with today's theme? 

Did you PICK IT UP quickly?

Or did you miss a BEAT?

-- NaomiZ