Theme: Tread the Boards - All words related to the theater.
18A: Homemade radio: CRYSTAL SET
59A: Last part: FINAL STAGE
3D: Baseball play that may be "suicide": SQUEEZE PLAY
27D: Common autograph site: PLASTER CAST
Another pangram puzzle. All 26 letters are used.
Bonus fill: ACTION (24A: Director's directive), though theatrical directors don't use this, I presume, only the cinematic directors do.
Argyle...again. Yesterday was too easy so I had to blog today's puzzle.
Maybe "Baseball ploy" works better, as PLAY was part of the theme answer for 3D.
Considerably harder than Monday's but, for regular readers of this blog, it shouldn't have been too bad.
Across:
1A: Canseco of baseball fame: JOSE. You won't find this on a baseball card. Conseco stirred up the whole steroid scandal.
5A: Screen material: MESH.
9A: Diving ducks: SMEWS. Small European ducks, white crest.
14A: Quartet before S: OPQR. String of letters before S, alphabetically.
15A: Introductory drawing class: ART I.
16A: Gives a ticket to: CITES.
17A: Ship-related: Abbr.: NAUT. Nautical.
20A: Say "Howdy!" to: GREET.
22A: Settings for weddings: ALTARS.
23A: Co. that merged into Verizon: GTE. GTE Corporation (formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation) was the largest of the "independent" US telephone companies during the days of the Bell System. Merged in 2000.
26A: Lhasa __: APSO.
30A: Greek played by Anthony Quinn: ZORBA. Anthony Quinn won Best Actor Award for Zorba the Greek in 1964.
32A: Small waves: RIPPLES.
34A: Moravians, e.g.: CZECHS. But at one time, they were more than just CZECHS. The Bohemians are CZECHS too of course.
38A: Terminate, as an insurance policy: LAPSE.
39A: Mail Boxes __: ETC. Mail Boxes Etc. is a UPS company and is the world's largest franchisor of retail shipping, postal and business service centers.
40A: Follow: ENSUE.
42A: Source of Rockefeller's wealth: OIL.
43A: Seashore fliers: ERNS.
46A: Held protectively, as an infant: CRADLED.
48A: Chop up: MINCE and 57A: Chops up: DICES with 50A: Off one's rocker: INSANE. between them. Hee, hee, hee.
49A: Actor __ Luke who played Chan's Number One Son in old films: KEYE. Master Po on TV's Kung Fu.
52A: Nutrition letters : RDA. Recommended Daily Allowance.
55A: Louis who wrote Western novels: L'AMOUR. L'Amour's The Sacketts.
63A: "The War of the Worlds" enemy: MARS.
64A: Atmospheric layer: OZONE.
66A: DDE's alma mater: USMA. Dwight D. Eisenhower was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
67A: Office copy: XEROX.
Down:
1D: Mah-__: JONGG. Also, mahjong, or mah-jong
2D: Eyeball-bending genre: OP ART.
4D: One-named Deco artist: ERTE. Romain de Tirtoff. ERTE is French pronunciation of his initials R.T.
5D: Brit's raincoat: MAC. "And the banker never wears a mac in the pouring rain; very strange." from the Beatles, Penny Lane. A "mac" is a mackintosh: a raincoat. Originally it was a brand name for a specific type of overcoat, now a generic term.
6D: Printing slip-ups: ERRATA.
7D: Turntable needles: STYLI. plural of stylus Alternate plural, styluses.
8D: Like chronicles of the past: HISTORIC.
9D: Capone feature: SCAR. Al "Scarface" Capone.
10D: Grammy-winning country singer Ronnie: MILSAP. Picture Milsap's "Lost in the Fifties Tonight" single won Grammys in 1985 and 1986.
19D: Patty Hearst's SLA alias: TANIA. The S.L.A.(Symbionese Liberation Army) became internationally notorious for kidnapping media heiress Patty Hearst, granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. She ultimately joined her captors in furthering their cause. Despite her claim she had been coerced, she served nearly two years in jail.
21D: North Carolina athlete: TAR HEEL. and 48D: "My Little __": 1950s Gale Storm sitcom: MARGIE. Both were discussed lately in the comment section.
25D: "Numb3rs" network: CBS. "Numb3rs" is a show about a man using math to help solve crimes.
28D: Smooth transition: SEGUE.
29D: Big name in blenders: OSTER. We had Waring blenders, now we have Oster.
31D: Mil. training inst.: OCS. Officer Candidate School and 36D: Grads of 31-Down: LTS. Lieutenants.
33D: Primped: PREENED. Preen comes from the action of birds smoothing their feathers.
34D: Ticker: CLOCK. So simple, it gave me trouble.
35D: Congo, formerly: ZAIRE.
39D: Back-of-the-book listings: END NOTES.
41D: Pres. advisory team: NSC. National Security Council. Headed by NSA (National Security Advisor). CIA director is part of NSC too.
44D: Champagne-producing city: REIMS. ENE of Paris, France. City of Germany’s unconditional surrender.
47D: The "D" in FDR: DELANO. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His mother named him after her favorite uncle, Franklin Delano.
51D: Sophisticated: SUAVE. Oh, Bond.
53D: Skin layer: DERMA.
54D: Test one's metal: ASSAY. Nice play on "Test one's mettle".
56D: Mike Doonesbury's daughter, in comics: ALEX. She is a young lady now.
61D: Here-there link: NOR. Neither here NOR there.
62D: "Benevolent" fellow: ELK. The Benevolent & Protective Order of ELKS.
Answer grid.
Argyle
PS: Here is a photo of our Canadian solver Geri in St. Augustine, Florida in March 2009.
18A: Homemade radio: CRYSTAL SET
59A: Last part: FINAL STAGE
3D: Baseball play that may be "suicide": SQUEEZE PLAY
27D: Common autograph site: PLASTER CAST
Another pangram puzzle. All 26 letters are used.
Bonus fill: ACTION (24A: Director's directive), though theatrical directors don't use this, I presume, only the cinematic directors do.
Argyle...again. Yesterday was too easy so I had to blog today's puzzle.
Maybe "Baseball ploy" works better, as PLAY was part of the theme answer for 3D.
Considerably harder than Monday's but, for regular readers of this blog, it shouldn't have been too bad.
Across:
1A: Canseco of baseball fame: JOSE. You won't find this on a baseball card. Conseco stirred up the whole steroid scandal.
5A: Screen material: MESH.
9A: Diving ducks: SMEWS. Small European ducks, white crest.
14A: Quartet before S: OPQR. String of letters before S, alphabetically.
15A: Introductory drawing class: ART I.
16A: Gives a ticket to: CITES.
17A: Ship-related: Abbr.: NAUT. Nautical.
20A: Say "Howdy!" to: GREET.
22A: Settings for weddings: ALTARS.
23A: Co. that merged into Verizon: GTE. GTE Corporation (formerly General Telephone & Electronics Corporation) was the largest of the "independent" US telephone companies during the days of the Bell System. Merged in 2000.
26A: Lhasa __: APSO.
30A: Greek played by Anthony Quinn: ZORBA. Anthony Quinn won Best Actor Award for Zorba the Greek in 1964.
32A: Small waves: RIPPLES.
34A: Moravians, e.g.: CZECHS. But at one time, they were more than just CZECHS. The Bohemians are CZECHS too of course.
38A: Terminate, as an insurance policy: LAPSE.
39A: Mail Boxes __: ETC. Mail Boxes Etc. is a UPS company and is the world's largest franchisor of retail shipping, postal and business service centers.
40A: Follow: ENSUE.
42A: Source of Rockefeller's wealth: OIL.
43A: Seashore fliers: ERNS.
46A: Held protectively, as an infant: CRADLED.
48A: Chop up: MINCE and 57A: Chops up: DICES with 50A: Off one's rocker: INSANE. between them. Hee, hee, hee.
49A: Actor __ Luke who played Chan's Number One Son in old films: KEYE. Master Po on TV's Kung Fu.
52A: Nutrition letters : RDA. Recommended Daily Allowance.
55A: Louis who wrote Western novels: L'AMOUR. L'Amour's The Sacketts.
63A: "The War of the Worlds" enemy: MARS.
64A: Atmospheric layer: OZONE.
66A: DDE's alma mater: USMA. Dwight D. Eisenhower was a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
67A: Office copy: XEROX.
Down:
1D: Mah-__: JONGG. Also, mahjong, or mah-jong
2D: Eyeball-bending genre: OP ART.
4D: One-named Deco artist: ERTE. Romain de Tirtoff. ERTE is French pronunciation of his initials R.T.
5D: Brit's raincoat: MAC. "And the banker never wears a mac in the pouring rain; very strange." from the Beatles, Penny Lane. A "mac" is a mackintosh: a raincoat. Originally it was a brand name for a specific type of overcoat, now a generic term.
6D: Printing slip-ups: ERRATA.
7D: Turntable needles: STYLI. plural of stylus Alternate plural, styluses.
8D: Like chronicles of the past: HISTORIC.
9D: Capone feature: SCAR. Al "Scarface" Capone.
10D: Grammy-winning country singer Ronnie: MILSAP. Picture Milsap's "Lost in the Fifties Tonight" single won Grammys in 1985 and 1986.
19D: Patty Hearst's SLA alias: TANIA. The S.L.A.(Symbionese Liberation Army) became internationally notorious for kidnapping media heiress Patty Hearst, granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. She ultimately joined her captors in furthering their cause. Despite her claim she had been coerced, she served nearly two years in jail.
21D: North Carolina athlete: TAR HEEL. and 48D: "My Little __": 1950s Gale Storm sitcom: MARGIE. Both were discussed lately in the comment section.
25D: "Numb3rs" network: CBS. "Numb3rs" is a show about a man using math to help solve crimes.
28D: Smooth transition: SEGUE.
29D: Big name in blenders: OSTER. We had Waring blenders, now we have Oster.
31D: Mil. training inst.: OCS. Officer Candidate School and 36D: Grads of 31-Down: LTS. Lieutenants.
33D: Primped: PREENED. Preen comes from the action of birds smoothing their feathers.
34D: Ticker: CLOCK. So simple, it gave me trouble.
35D: Congo, formerly: ZAIRE.
39D: Back-of-the-book listings: END NOTES.
41D: Pres. advisory team: NSC. National Security Council. Headed by NSA (National Security Advisor). CIA director is part of NSC too.
44D: Champagne-producing city: REIMS. ENE of Paris, France. City of Germany’s unconditional surrender.
47D: The "D" in FDR: DELANO. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His mother named him after her favorite uncle, Franklin Delano.
51D: Sophisticated: SUAVE. Oh, Bond.
53D: Skin layer: DERMA.
54D: Test one's metal: ASSAY. Nice play on "Test one's mettle".
56D: Mike Doonesbury's daughter, in comics: ALEX. She is a young lady now.
61D: Here-there link: NOR. Neither here NOR there.
62D: "Benevolent" fellow: ELK. The Benevolent & Protective Order of ELKS.
Answer grid.
Argyle
PS: Here is a photo of our Canadian solver Geri in St. Augustine, Florida in March 2009.
