Theme: Wear one brown shoe and one black shoe. In each of 4 sets of adjoining 2- word, 10 letter fill, the first word in each pair is switched, and clued to reflect the new and silly result. 2 sets are across and 2 are down. If ever a puzzle needed getting some perp help, and also needing to understand the theme, it was this effort by Mr. Livengood who presented an ambitious 8 theme answers plus two five letter related clues and for me a central hidden unifier. The sets appear in each of the 4 quadrants. It was deja vu all over again for me, as we have our second consecutive Friday where we last saw the constructor in February, 2011. He also had last Friday's NYT, and apparently like 10 letter stacks. I had a fun time once I saw the trick, and then appreciated the humor in the cluing. let's see each theme pair presented together
(Added later: The TV shows in each pair are swapped. Thanks, June & others.)
(Added later: The TV shows in each pair are swapped. Thanks, June & others.)
13A. Dieter's snack?: THREE CHIPS. Literally a very small snack, but paired with
17A. Crop production toast?: CORN CHEERS. Do you get a mental picture of farmers in the fields rooting on the ear pickers? Anyway, if you pair the words by color, you see the original phrases, which are not funny. "ChiPs" & "Cheers".
62A. Buckaroo at sea?: LOST COWBOY. I cannot imagine the Lone ranger on a ship.
66A. Dance and theater in Texas?" DALLAS ARTS. Like Uma, people either love or hate Jerry Jones' Cowboys. "Lost" & "Dallas".
10D. One giving pep talks between acts of "Carmen"?: OPERA COACH. my mental pic is of the cast of an Opera in a locker room with Mike Ditka, between acts.
11D. Maternity ward?: LABOR HOUSE . My mother worked for 40 years as an OB nurse birthing them babies, but did not care much for the Opera House. "Coach" & "House".
28D. Pews, at times?: AMEN STANDS
29D. Intersection where cabs hang out?: TAXI CORNER. Amen Corner is the famous three hole stretch at the Masters in Augusta. "Amen" & "Taxi".
24D. With 35-Down, fairs, and a hint to making sense of this puzzle's pairs of adjacent 10-letter answers : TRADE.
35D. See 24-Down: SHOWS. get it, TRADING PLACES. (0:41)
And the clue which made me see the theme, so I class it an undisclosed unifier.
39A. Useless footwear: ODD SHOE.
Across:
1. Woolly grazers: EWES. We begin a little sheepishly, but this is good for our confidence.
5. It follows John: ACTS. In the Christian Bible.
9. Defunct Olympic sport: POLO. Introduced in 1900, the skilled horseman competed for the last time in the famous 1936 Berlin Olympiad.
16. On __ with: A PAR. From Golf, mean equal to, which Tiger is no longer, as his putting stroke, has left him.
18. 5'7" Spud who won an NBA Slam Dunk contest: WEBB. Obscure sports fact, but for us short people, we will remember his DUNKS. (1:29)
19. Words before coming or out: HAS IT. A Naddorish double word.
20. Telegraph sound: DIT. DAT is the other one. I am sure you all know Dit Dit Dit Dat Dat Dat Dit Dit Dit.
21. Lover of Psyche: EROS. These stories are either hit or MYTH.
22. Artist's pad: LOFT. Not where he draws, but sleeps. Cool.
25. Ability to detect a certain orientation: GAYDAR. Wow, is this an unPC clue, or does it only seem so because it is followed by, 27A. Not like at all: HATE?
30. PLO part: ORGanization. Palestine Liberation Organization.
32. Boxing statistic: REACH. Long arms help keep your opponent at bay.
33. Actress Thurman: UMA. People either love or hate her. She was great in Pulp Fiction.
34. Saint in red: CLAUS. A new clue for old St. Nick.
36. Raised entrance area: STOOP. In New England and new York, we sat on the steps, not the porch.
38. Ave. paralleling Park: LEXington, one of many parallel avenues in Manhattan.
41. Switz. neighbor: AUStria. Hmm, three abbreviation pairs already.
42. Soul: ANIMA. From the Latin, the root word of Animation, as well Carl Jung's theories of Anima and Animus, and an accepted religious name for the human soul.
44. Waist-length jackets: ETONS. Made famous from the English school UNIFORMS.
45. Gray gp : CSA. Confederate States of America.
46. Stray chasers: SCATS. I love this reversal clue, as he is not looking for someone chasing after a stray, but what one says to chase a stray away. SCAT CAT!
48. Not own outright, with "on": OWE. The American Dream.
49. Pique: WHET. Not to be confused with Marti's Piquet deck, which may have piques your curiosity, or whetted your appetite.
50. Debate choices: TOPICS.
52. Piano sonatas, usually: SOLI. To be played alone, or solo.
54. It covers all the bases: TARP. Our baseball shout out to C.C., as when they put out the tarpaulin during a rain delay, it covers the infield and all the bases.
55. Tuna of the Pacific: AHI. Never knew there was so much to learn about these fishies. LINK. hey Robin wherever you are. A nice shout out to our old Hawaiian contingent.
57. Golden __: AGERS. In tribute to CA, and all of us on the sunnyside of 60, I LINK post this poetic gem:
61. Rice from New Orleans: ANNE. Author of many Vampire books, like LESTAT played by the above pretty boy.
65. It has banks in Germany and Poland: ODER. How many think this river clue stinks?
67. Red areas, once: Abbr : SSRS. members of the old Soviet bloc.
68. Case workers, briefly: TECS. Technicians. (Correction: Tecs = Detectives.)
69. The greater part: MOST. as Yogi would say, we got the bigger half done.
Down:
1. Do some glass cutting, perhaps: ETCH. You want to come up and see my etchings, dear?
2. "Take it easy!": WHOA. Damn, that is exactly what she said! Telling me to not...
3. Goes astray: ERRS. Not to be confused with our earlier cats. Or maybe I am just...
4. Declining from old age: SENILE.
5. Bavarian carp?: ACH. Reminds of this SONG (2:44) and beer. I will let KZ explain.
6. Friend of Fidel: CHE. Ernesto (Che) Guevara was born in Rosario in Argentine in 1928.
7. Knotted: TIED. If these are synonymous, why do we say the couple tied the knot?
8. Mistletoe piece: SPRIG. Maybe after they kissed at Christmas, where he also...
9. Played with, in a way: PAWED AT her; hmmm.
12. Balls: ORBS. Oh how I miss Buckeye and some of our other Morel posters.
14. __-1: "Ghostbusters" auto: ECTO.
15. Relatively cool red giant: S STAR. We had nice discussion of star classifications in a puzzle by our own JEROME.
23. Fail in business: FOLD. Many businesses have folded their tents in the last few years.
26. Acknowledgments: YESES.
27. Pacific dance: HULA. Did you all see Kelly Ripa this week in Hawaii? Or her in this x-rated COMMERCIAL? (1:14).
31. Joie de vivre: GUSTO. The joy of life is our french lesson of the day.
34. Tropical ring-tailed critter: COATI. Crossword staple animal.
37. H.S. sophs may take it: PSAT.
40. Basie's "__'Clock Jump": ONE O. Like this CLIP (3:11).
43. Auto club employees: MAPPERS. Not with all the GPS systems out there.
47. Hot tea hazard: SCALD. Or coffee at McDonald's if you want to get rich.
49. Ojibwa home: WIGWAM. Not a Teepee, but THIS.
51. Young pig : SHOAT.
53. Thailand neighbor: LAOS. Right next to 54D. New Mexico ski resort: TAOS.
56. Buried treasure site, often: ISLE.
58. Iberian river: EBRO. The Iberian Peninsula, home for Spain and Portugal.
59. Disintegrates: ROTS. You hope it disintegrates after the smell gets bad.
60. Part of MS-DOS: Abbr. : SYSTem.
63. Dr. Mom's forte: TLC. Tender Loving Care.
64. __ in Charlie: C AS. I thought it was C As In Corpse? It is a mystery to me.
And it is a mystery how quickly the weeks go by and this will be the final Friday in February, 2012; I hope it is a good one, and you enjoyed the puzzle and our brief time together, until next week...
Lemonade
