On his Christmas Day puzzle in 2021, David told us he was a relatively new constructor from Victoria, B.C., Canada who took up puzzle construction during the pandemic. David's "day job" is as a policy advisor for the provincial government. He was also a new dad to son Mattias.
UPDATE: David has returned to work after taking a year off to be a stay-at-home dad. Mattias is now walking all over the place and has become very chatty!
Across:
1. Luxuriates: BASKS.
6. Self starter?: ESS - A meta clue: Self
9. Going concerns?: FADS - I grew up with a slew of 'em with hula hoops being my fav. Do you see any you recognize in this collage?
13. World record?: ATLAS 😀
14. Express opp.: LOC.
15. Hop on board?: OLLIE 😀
16. Brazilian steakhouse fare: CHURRASCO - CHURRASCO is the Portuguese and Spanish name for grilled beef prominent in the cuisines of Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.
18. Like the Spanish Steps: ROMAN - They originally descended to the Spanish embassy in Rome
19. "Hava Nagila" dance: HORA.
20. Some Gilded Age industrialists: RAIL BARONS.
22. Quinto role: SPOCK.
Leonard Nimoy & Zachary Quinto as SPOCK
24. "Rectify" star Young: ADEN.
25. Once called: NEE - Abraham and Mary [NEE Todd] Lincoln
26. Southern Ocean food source: KRILL - KRILL, for this whale, "It's what's for dinner"
28. Elderly: AGED.
30. Almost never: ONCE IN A BLUE MOON - Derivation
36. Gearshift toppers: KNOBS.
37. Zendaya's "Euphoria" role: RUE.
38. Dorm style: SUITE.
39. "More soon": DETAILS TO FOLLOW.
42. Hebrides language: ERSE - Hebrides Islands and Scottish/Gaeilic (ERSE) language in blue
43. Super Bowl highlights?: TV ADS - Non-football fans like these
44. Tack on: ADD.
46. Designation represented by the Mars symbol: MALE.
48. Yogurt-based condiment: RAITA - From last Saturday:
35. Dahi-based condiment of Indian cuisine: RAITA - AnIndian yogurt-based condiment
51. Fare named for their original sponsors: SOAP OPERAS.
54. Hidden gem: FIND.
56. Made to fit: SIZED - Send in your measurements, choose your fabric and finishes and they do the rest
57. One who earns money on the links: AFFILIATE.
59. Avoid: ELUDE.
60. Hollywood's st.: FLA - Oh, that Hollywood.
61. American Eagle lingerie line: AERIE.
62. Banks with style: TYRA 😀
63. Leb. neighbor: SYR.
64. Plot: TRACT.
Down:
1. Baroque bigwig with a big wig: BACH 😀
2. Friend of d'Artagnan: ATHOS - A familiar name in a familiar trio
3. Put away noisily: SLURP.
4. Place with rounds and rounds of applause: KARAOKE BAR - Have you ever?
5. Georgia, once: Abbr.: SSR - Oh, that Georgia
6. Queen who appears in "Olaf's Frozen Adventure": ELSA.
7. Electric mixer?: SOCIAL BUTTERFLY - 😀 I too have been known to flit from person to person
10. Ingredient in a nutty vinaigrette: ALMOND OIL.
11. Designer von Fürstenberg: DIANE.
12. Perception: SENSE.
15. Crush, for one: ORANGE SODA - An elixir of my misspent youth
17. Alan of "The Kominsky Method": ARKIN
Michael Douglas Alan ARKIN
21. Actor Bridges: BEAU.
23. State of emergency?: CRISIS MODE.
27. Metallica drummer Ulrich: LARS - I only know him from crosswords
29. Soy lecithin, notably: EMULSIFIER - An emulsifier is used to make oil and water mix when they otherwise would not, and it helps stabilize and keep the ingredients from separating later.
30. Sanctioned: OK'D.
31. Vancouver-to-Yellowknife dir.: NNE - Well, David does live in British Columbia...
32. Nice resort area: COTE D'AZUR - We crossword peeps see Nice as a city in southern France first. Here it is on the Coast of Azure (Blue Coast).
33. Pope of 903: LEO V - He was the Roman Pope for two months but was deposed, imprisoned and murdered.
34. Missouri River people: OTO - Nebraska has OTO(E) and Pawnee County in the SE part of the state
35. Fresh: NEW.
40. Jarring transition: LEAP.
41. Language that uses Persian calligraphy: FARSI.
44. Valuable resource: ASSET.
45. Valentine decor: DOILY.
47. Team that shares an arena with the Raptors: LEAFS - Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL and the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. Well, David does live in Canada...
49. Prom topper: TIARA - Brooke got one for homecoming two weeks ago in Arlington, NE. The laughter is because King Josh dropped the TIARA first.
50. Bit of tomfoolery: ANTIC.
52. Doughy Indian dessert flavored with: PEDA.
53. Way off: AFAR.
55. Bit of hot goss: DEET - A bit of hot goss(ip) will have at least one hot DEET(ail) 😚. This took some time but was fun when I got it. David said: Yes, it looks like the editors kept my original clue for DEET, and your interpretation is correct! "Hot goss" is slang for juicy gossip and DEET is slang for "details" -- the slang usage of "goss" in the clue is intended to hint that the answer also contains slang. (Though now you've got me second-guessing the appropriateness of the clue -- I was just googling deet (in the non-mosquito-repellent context) and it looks like the plural "deets" is significantly more common than the singlar "deet").
58. Long. counterpart: LAT - I live at 41.6473° North LATitude, 96.6638° West Longitude
Today's puzzle is a clever POW (play-on-words) that has three spots where the reveal (54-across. Demand from a suspicious bartender, and an apt title for this puzzle: "LET'S SEE SOME ID") is supported:
19-across. Matchmaker who's popular in all 50 states?: AMERICA'S CUPID. Remove the "ID" from this entry and you're left with "AMERICA'S CUP" - the erstwhile popular yacht race
27-across. Barriers on the ocean floor?: DEEP SEA DIVIDERS. Snip the "ID" from this and you have "DEEP SEA DIVERS" - and a SO of sorts to my gorgeous partner, Margaret, who in an earlier life was a certified SCUBA guide
48-across. Tearing the felt while attempting to put spin on the ball, e.g.?: ENGLISH ACCIDENT. Interesting clue; (and for me, a diversion) I believe the clue refers to how you'd apply backspin (aka "ENGLISH") to a cue ball (billiards/pool), but cause an "ACCIDENT" by tearing/ripping the felt from the pool table surface while trying. Here is a short video that shows the proper method for jumping the cue ball. Sorry, I couldn't find an instructor with an ENGLISH ACCENT ...
Today's puzzle is from the LA Times Crossword Puzzle Editor, Patti Varol. Maybe she will stop by to say "hello", and tell us what was her "seed" entry ...
Of course, Chairman Moe loves these kind of puzzles ... and couldn't help but wonder if these were other possible choices that Patti considered (remember to remove the "ID"):
Clue: Straight person who was accepted by their gay friend?: PRIDE APPROVED.
Clue: Fundraisers whose faces are plastered on billboards?: EVIDENT PLANNERS.
Here is the grid, and then on to the other clues/words:
Across:
1. Dexterous: DEFT. Not a word used often, but it fits
5. __+Zoe: fashion brand named for the founder's children: NIC. Perps to the rescue
8. Grills, briefly: BBQS. We just had one of the busiest BBQ days of the year this past Monday
12. Geometric reference line: AXIS. This (note, AXIS showed up this past Tuesday):
13. Former frosh: SOPHS. "Frosh" gave it away - Patti wanted an abbreviation. Freshmen = SOPHOMORES. Frosh is the abbr. of freshmen
15. Prado display: ARTE. Italian word for "art"
16. Small pie: TART. Would the Italian word for this be "tarte"? No, it's "crostada"
17. Prove useful: AVAIL.
18. Lean: LIST. Not lean as in slender; lean as in "tilt" - or when on a cruise liner, "LIST"
22. Credit card fig.: APR. Mo. for filing taxes would also fit as a clue
23. Initials for William or Kate: HRH. His or Her Royal Highness
24. Transcript fig.: GPA. I got mine above a 3.0 in my senior year in college ... after my SOPHomore year it was in the low 2's
33. Record producer Gotti who created the BET series "Tales": IRV. More perps; total unknown to me
34. Scent: ODOR.
35. Travels to an away match?: ELOPES. Sports fans ... "home" teams generally wear white ... so, at an "away" event (in this case, a wedding) would the bride wear gray?
41. Pacific Rim nation: PANAMA. Nice clue mis-direction ... the southern border of PANAMA lies on the Pacific Ocean
44. Pastoral chorus: MOOS.
47. Transgression: SIN.
51. HST successor: DDE. Harry STruman preceded Dwight DEisenhower
52. UPC kin: SKU.
53. __ carte: Ã la. Frawnch. Unlike Splynter (who subbed for Melissa on Wednesday) I spell MY Frawnch without the "e" at the end ... ;^)
61. Texter's hedge: FWIW.
63. Midwest hub: O'HARE.
64. Plus: ALSO.
65. Flow slowly: OOZE.
66. __ friends: FURRY. Cats or dogs - our pets
67. Deck chair piece: SLAT. Found in these: (the wood thingies)
68. Honey bunch: BEES.
69. Counterpart of "thx": PLS.
70. "Lonely Boy" rock band the Black __: KEYS. Perps, again; I did not know this rock band ... I DO know that there are 3 dozen black KEYS on a piano, though
Down:
1. Cellular plan component: DATA. Mine are unlimited
2. Prof's preparation: EXAM. QUIZ could've fit here
3. Marshmallow blackener: FIRE. How do YOU like your toasted marshmallows? My level of "toast":
4. Sandal style: T-STRAP.
5. Bossa __: NOVA. NOVA = "new"
6. Brewpub pours: IPAS. ALES also fits
7. Affectedly elegant: CHI CHI. On Wednesday we had just one "CHI" in the puzzle (Tae CHI). Today we get two CHI's. With the phrase "CHI CHI", though, you gotta be careful when using the plural term (CHICHIs) in certain Latin American countries ... CHICHIs is the slang term for breasts
8. Westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands: BALI. Another SO to my beautiful partner Margaret ... she lived in BALI back in the early part of the 21st Century in UBUD
9. Yoga backbend also called Setu Bandha Sarvangasana: BRIDGE POSE. This filled with perps, but the word "POSE" was easily sussed ... a bit of a nit here ... the letters "ID" are also found in this entry ... but to my knowledge, there is no such thing as "BRGE POSE" ... I guess the editor let Patti get away with this one ... ;^)
20. __ facto: IPSO. [Wikipedia] "IPSO facto is a Latin phrase, directly translated as "by the fact itself", which means that a specific phenomenon is a direct consequence, a resultant effect, of the action in question, instead of being brought about by a previous action. It is a term of art used in philosophy, law, and science. A CSO to all of our resident lawyers here
21. Genesis name: PHIL. I kept thinking of ESAU, ADAM, CAIN, ABEL, et al ... until it dawned on me ... GENESIS is a name of a rock group, and PHIL Collins was their drummer and lead singer ... clever
27. Went down a bit: DIPPED. "Tobacco" related clues are generally not allowed, so we wouldn't have seen "sampled some SKOAL" for this ... but it works!
28. Gofer trip: ERRAND.
29. Preach: EVANGELIZE. This one took me a few stabs before filling in. This word is not a first-timer, but it rarely appears in xword puzzles
30. Classic ISP: AOL. Oddly I was never an AOL user
31. Gossip fodder: DRAMA. Meh; but on Friday there needs to be more clues that are vague. Which also applies to a similar clue today: (49-down. Keep from spreading:) HUSH UP.
32. Org. headquartered at the RFK Building in D.C.: D.O.J.. Department Of Justice
37. Lousy start?: MAL. A CSO to my co-Friday blogger, MALodorous Manatee
39. OB or GYN: DOC. If the clue had been OB AND GYN the answer would be DRS
42. Fine spray: MIST. I use a MISTing spray device on my patio here in AZ ... it helps
43. Requests from: ASKS OF.
45. Sean whose first play debuted at the Abbey Theatre: O'CASEY. Another one solved via perps. [Wikipedia] "Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes"
50. Fabric named for an Asian capital: DAMASK. [schumaker dot com] "DAMASK gets its name from the ancient Syrian city of Damascus and is one of the five basic weaving techniques from early Middle Ages-era Byzantium and the Middle East. Historians have pinpointed damask's origins to Tang Dynasty China, circa 300BCE (Asia reference)
55. Some sheep: EWES. RAMS also fits
56. Bluegrass legend Scruggs: EARL.
57. Isn't perfect: ERRS.
58. Actress Fanning: ELLE.
59. "My stars!": "I SAY".
60. Ellipsis trio: DOTS. A CSO to yours truly ... the "master" of the three DOTS ... found ad nauseum in Chairman Moe's blogs ...
61. Electric key: FOB. [businessnewsdaily] "A key FOB is a physical device small enough to attach to a keychain that opens or unlocks doors electronically. A mainstay of keyless electronic door lock systems, the key fob has gone through many iterations since its inception in 1983." So now you know that the electric key FOB has been around for 40 years!
62. Heartache: WOE. WOE is you ... no Moe-kus today :-( ... but LOTS of ellipsises ...
Despite the few unknowns (clues/words) this one filled fairly easily. The theme and entries weren't too difficult. So, in keeping with my MOES [sic] Hardness Scale rating ... (and since our editor's first name begins with "P" and ends with an "I") I will give this a 3.14159265359 ... see you in a couple weeks ... please offer your thoughts and comments below ...
Amie Walker is making her 17th appearance on the Corner, the first on June 17, 2022 reviewed by Lemonade.
Today she is spinning 3 fragments of theme fill each spanning 2 lines
and unified by circles, just like last Thursday. As there are a total
of 6 clues with theme elements I'll just leave them where they are and
start with the reveal followed by the grid ...
56A. "I can prove you're lying!," and an instruction for reading each set of circled letters: ROLL THE TAPE.
Without the circles it would be pretty difficult to figure out what's
happening (Hand up if you can think of an alternate reveal without
them). OTOH, it's now pretty obvious what's going on. If I
didn't know better I'd think that Amie had lifted the theme from the
title of the splash screen song Spinning for the Cause, by our house band I Got You On Tape. "Spinning" is of course the occupation of professional liars who are paid to cover for the foibles of public figures.
So if we extract the circled letters above and ROLL them clockwise , we get three different kinds of TAPE ...
From 19A & 22A:DENTAL TAPE - this is what can happen to you if you don't floss ...
From 36A & 42A: DUCT TAPE - Once again RedGreenshows why it's the handy man's secret weapon ...
From 43A & 47A DEMO TAPE - sometimes you just know when someone is going to be a star. Unfortunately Jim Croce's (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) stardom was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash in 1973. This demo tape seems tragically prophetic ... Here are the rest of the clues ... Across:
1. Serena __: tennis achievement: SLAM. Serena Williams has 23 GrandSLAMS
in tennis. In September 2022 announced that she was "evolving away
from tennis, toward other things that are important to her. These
include raising her two children, spending more time with her devoted
husband, and a wide-variety of off-court activities. At age 41 she is already one of the richest women in the world and it seems that her entrepreneurial career has only just begun. A truly remarkable woman
Serena Williams
5. Baton Rouge sch.: LSU. Louisiana State University. A CSO to Big Easy and Hahtoolah (at least the Louisiana part)
8. Museum figures: BUSTS. Here's a pictorial timeline of BUSTS.
13. Hotel amenity: WIFI.
14. Wine bottle sediment: LEES.
15. En pointe: ON TOE.
16. "You've got my undivided attention": I'M ALL EARS.
19. Apt occasion for flowery speech?: GARDEN PARTY. Here Ozzie and Harriet's son Ricky Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) goes to a Garden Party ... Ricky's life was also tragically cut short by a plane crash.
21. Racial justice movement letters: BLM. Everybody's lives matter, ergo Black Lives Matter too.
22. Delt neighbor: LAT. Also an abbr. for the Los Angeles Times.
23. Judicial org.: ABA. See 36A.
25. Stick around: STAY.
28. Professional connections: INS.
31. Oscar winner Tomei: MARISA. MARISATomei won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in My Cousin Vinny in 1993. I've used this clip before, but it's so great I couldn't resist ...
35. Light touch: TAP.
36. Got an attorney: LAWYERED UP. There seems to be a lot of LAWYERINGUP going on these days.
38. Garfield's middle name: ABRAM. JamesABRAMGarfield
(November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the
United States, serving from March 1881 until his assassination in
September 1881.
James Abram Garfield
41. Debtor's note: IOU.
42. Nickname for Louis Armstrong: SATCH. Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "SATCH", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Among his many honors were a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award;12 recordings included in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and a single Grammy for Male Vocal Performance for the song Hello Dolly from the eponymous 1964 musical. This is from a live performance in Berlin in 1965 (the crowd just won't let him leave!)...
43. "Nice try!": GOOD EFFORT.
46. Shapiro of 64-Down: ARI. ARI Michael Shapiro (born September 30, 1978) is an American radio journalist. In September 2015, Shapiro became one of four rotating hosts on National Public Radio's flagship drive-time program All Things Considered. He previously served as White House correspondent and international correspondent based in London for NPR.
Ari Shapiro
47. California wine region: SONOMA and 55D California Wine Region: NAPA. Let's go on a couple of wine crawls in the region, starting with SONOMA
63. Muscat resident: OMANI. OMAN, officially the Sultanate of Oman,
is a country located in West Asia. It is situated on the southeastern
coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
Oman.
65. Losing fizz: GOING FLAT.
66. Cartoon fan of muddy puddles: PEPPA. PEPPA Pig lives in Paultons Park, an amusement park near the village of Ower, in Hampshire, England and you can actually visit her. Or you can just splash in some muddy puddles with her, but be sure to wear your boots! ...
67. Pro __: BONO. Free LAWYERING UP. See also 64D.
68. Forearm bone: ULNA.
69. Tangle: SNARL.
70. Explosive letters: TNT. With explosive possibilities ...
71. Streaming annoyances: LAGS.
Down:
1. Belt: SWIG.
2. Capital in the Andes: LIMA. LIMA, originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, RÃmac and LurÃn Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of the country, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Lima, Peru
3. In the distance: AFAR.
4. In a gentle way: MILDLY.
5. Dramatic ascent: LEAP.
6. "Buona __": SERA. "Good evening". Today's Italian lesson and an ensemble piece from Act II of Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia ("The Barber of Seville"). Like all Rossini operas, the plots can get complicated, but in a nutshell tenor Count Almaviva has just bribed basso Don Basilio, the music teacher of soprano Rosina
(whom the Count is pursuing) and convinced him to leave feigning
illness. The Count is exhorting him to get off to bed, repeatedly
singing Buona Sera ("Good evening") ... 7. Cold War initials: USSR. One day we may look back on them as the good old days.
8. Weighted rods in some fitness classes: BODY BARS. Standard BODY BARS
usually weigh from 3 to 36 pounds. Weighted bars are available in
sizes ranging from 4-to-6 feet. The bars are generally powder coated and
feature color codes at the ends. This coding makes it easier for the
lifter to identify the weighted bar.
10. Once-common concert memento: STUB. E-tickets have supplanted them I suppose. But we can still buy TEES.
11. E-ZPass payment: TOLL.
12. Connecting line: SEAM.
14. Protein option for vegetarian chili: LENTIL. Here's a recipe for one of our favorites dal (LENTIL) and potato stew.
Lentil and Potato Stew
17. De Laria of "Orange Is the New Black": LEA.
Lea DeLaria (born May 23, 1958) is an American comedian, actress, and
jazz singer. DeLaria is credited with being the first openly gay comic
to appear on American television with her 1993 appearance on The Arsenio
Hall Show.] She is best known for her portrayal of inmate Carrie "Big
Boo" Black on Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019). See also "G" in 57D.
Lea DeLaria
20. Subdued: TAME.
24. Field of expertise: AREA.
25. Bucks: STAGS.
26. Frowned upon: TABOO.
27. Garment that may say "I love cooking with wine, sometimes I even put it in the food": APRON. A CSO to our Chairman 😋. See also 47A & 55D.
29. Gullible one: NAIF.
30. Dramatic descent: SWOOP.
32. Collar clip-on: ID TAG.
33. Capital in the Andes: SUCRE. SUCRE is the capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department
and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the
south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of 2,810 m
(9,220 ft). This relatively high altitude gives the city a subtropical
highland climate with cool temperatures year-round.
Sucre, Bolivia
34. Ladybug prey: APHID.
37. Cosmonaut Gagarin: YURI. Sputnik in 1957 and YURI Gagarin in 1961 changed our lives almost overnight. Suddenly the US gummint decided that education was important! See also 7D.
Yuri Gagarin
39. Commotions: ADOS.
40. Many a National Mall landmark: MEMORIAL. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, commonly called the Vietnam MEMORIAL honors service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The two-acre (8,100 m2) site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of the over 58,000 service members
who died in or remain missing from the war. I've never been able bring
myself to visit it, as the name of a close neighbor is inscribed on it
somewhere ...
44. Burkina __: FASO. BurkinaFASO is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of 274,200 km2 (105,900 sq mi), bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest.
45. Electronic genre: TECHNO. There is a lot of this genre on YouTube and it's pretty varied. Here's Skyscrapers by Nina Kraviz ... 49. Cunning: ARTFUL. The term "ARTFUL dodger" comes to us from a character in Oliver Twist. Aaron Copland immortalizes such characters in the Dodger from his collection of Old American Songs, Set 1. Originally a campaign song linked specifically with the 1884 election of Grover Cleveland, it satirizes several professions, but Copland retained only three in his version: the political candidate, the preacher, and the lover. Here's baritone Michael Preacely warning us about him ... 52. Nickname for Margaret: PEG.
57. Initials before QIA+: LGBT. Abbr. for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual. The latest addition to crosswordese.
58. Diving bird: LOON. A CSO to Ray - O (but not for the reason you think 😀). We heard them once on Mt. Desert Island, Maine where this video was made ... 59. Shade: TINT.
60. Ristorante menu preposition: ALLA.
61. Hint of hunger: PANG.
62. Flight sked nos.: ETAS.
64. "Tiny Desk Concerts" station: NPR. Pull up a chair for BONO and The Edge on NPR ...
Cheers, Bill
And as always, thanks to Teri for proof reading
and for her constructive criticism.
The GOOD, The BAD, and the UGLY, er, potato (19d.)~?
Today's
puzzle theme clues are opposing statements with the same
catch-phrase/idiom answer....two 15-letter spanners, and two awkward
14-letter spanners; a reasonable challenge for a Wednesday-level
puzzle, with only a few proper names to "42A." the solve. Splynter
here, filling in for melissa....
17. Good advice for an angry person / Bad advice for a novice dairy farmer: DON'T HAVE A COW MAN
28. Good advice for a complainer / Bad advice for someone blowing out birthday candles: SAVE YOUR BREATH
48. Good advice for a nervous public speaker / Bad advice for an impersonator: JUST BE YOURSELF
63. Good advice for an impatient person / Bad advice for a Chippendales dancer: KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON - I filled this in with "PANTS", but it didn't jibe with the DOWN clues
43. Off topic: AFIELD - I am in the FIELD for the month of September - first on the west side of CT, and then back to Lynchburg, VA for pipe organ work
45. Repurposed tee, maybe: RAG
47. Directed: LED
52. Price-slashing event: SALE
53. Back muscles, for short: LATS - latissimus dorsi
54. Brief chances?: OPS - OPportunitieS
57. T'ai __ ch'uan: CHI - looked vague at first; more here
59. Newsstand stack: PAPERS
67. In vogue again: RETRO
68. Lunes or martes: DIA - Spanish for days Monday / Tuesday
69. Tucci's "Road to Perdition" role: NITTI - no clue; filled via perps
70. Far-out type?: ALIEN - and: 56. 70-Across-hunting org.: SETI - the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence - and a musical interlude from Blue Öyster Cult
Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser never makes any Top100 guitarists lists
71. Belief suffix: -ISM
72. Prepare, as an infusion: STEEP
DOWN:
1. Rx orders: MEDs
2. Cooking staple, initially: EVOO - Extra Virgin Olive Oil; learned by doing crosswords
32. "The Book __": Markus Zusak novel: THIEF - filled via perps
33. Grasped: HELD
34. Key with one sharp, briefly: G maj - "E min" would have
worked, too, as I knew it's the same as G major from playing the guitar;
A LOT of Metal music is in this key....I started taking piano
lessons~! My goal, which might take me decades, is to play Bach's
Dorian Toccata - this piece - right now I can play the part of "page turner" @ 3:17
Washington National Cathedral organ, NE facade
38. Grasps: GETS
39. Idris of "Cats": ELBA - seems to becoming a crossword staple as popular as "ERA"
41. Ancient France: GAUL - Hey~! My first chance to say this one is "Frawnche"
44. Car battery pioneer: DELCO - The Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. - the Wiki
46. Result of some plotting: GRAPH - I toyed with "CABAL", but it's the 'other' type of plotting, e.g. geometry and AutoCAD
49. Violinist Menuhin: YEHUDI - No clue; filled via perps and WAGs
50. Sullies: STAINS - Not THIS
Sully - I am fascinated with the Smithsonian Channel's "Air Disasters",
not because I am morbid, but for the intriguing investigations - and
how a very small part can bring down an airliner.
51. Global fashion brand founded in San Francisco in 1968: ESPRIT - again, no clue
54. Gumbo vegetable: OKRA
55. Spa treatment: PEEL - Dah~! I tried MANI first
58. Pupil's place: IRIS - I briefly considered "DESK"
60. Kitchen addition?: ETTE - KitchenETTE - I bought my new
kitchen cabinets a year ago, but I need to upgrade my home electrical
service to 200amps, and even tho I can do it myself, I am waiting on the
electrician
61. Learning method: ROTE
62. Salon sound: SNIP
64. Not post-: PRE
65. "Round __ Virgin, Mother and Child ... ": YON - Silent Night
66. Actor Waterston: SAM - you know him best as John "Jack" McCoy, the Executive Assistant DA from Law & Order
_-_Restoration.jpg)
_02.jpg/220px-Camp_Nou_Experience_(_Ank_Kumar%2C_INFOSYS)_02.jpg)
