Theme: Mind the Gap! Removing the space between each pair of circled entries gives you four kinds of gaps:
GENDER gap
GENERATION gap
INCOME gap and
TRADE gap.
As the reveal tells you:
54A. With 57-Across, negotiate ... and what needs to be done to make sense of this puzzle's circles : CLOSE
57A. See 54-Across : THE GAP
Very clever theme from Ed. I confess to a rare Did-Not-Finish today - I was personally natick'ed by the U in the crossing of LAU and EUBIE. Neither name was familiar to me. LAW and EWBIE looked like they might work, but alas, no.
On a side "gap" note, Bank Underground Station in the City of London has the biggest gap between the train and the platform on the entire system. My morning and evening commutes for at least ten years were serenaded by the dulcet recorded tones of actor Oswald Laurence intoning "Mind the Gap". Here's a rather charming news item on his voice, and how his widow would travel through Embankment station to listen to him after he passed away.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Dench of "Philomena" : JUDI. A Dame Commander of the British Empire now. Not that there's a lot of Empire left to command.
5. Alternative strategy : PLAN B
10. "Ladies First Since 1916" sneakers : KEDS. Learning moment. Keds marketed the first canvas-topped "sneakers".
14. Tourney format, briefly : ELIM. Elimination tournament. An alternative format is the round-robin. The FIFA World Cup is a combination of the two.
15. Secretary Thomas Perez's department : LABOR
16. Chicken vindaloo go-with : NAAN. Food! I could list about 200 other go-withs off the top of my head, but not many with four letters. Vindaloo was originally a pork dish from the southern part of India, but has now morphed into a restaurant staple of chicken, lamb or shrimp, with an expectation of a two-alarm fire chili heat level.
17. Sister of Rachel : LEAH
18. Jazz pianist Blake : EUBIE. Part 1 of my Natick. I discover he was a ragtime and jazz musician and appeared in the movie "Scott Joplin" in 1977.
19. Logician's word : ERGO. Latin "therefore". Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum", or "I think, therefore I am". Near chlecho with 56D - I'd have been tempted to clue them both identically.
20. Sasquatch, for one : LEGEND. I have a soft spot for Sasquatch. The first LAT puzzle that I had published (with C.C.) used the word.
22. Rub the wrong away : ERASE. Lovely clue - it's easy to read "way" rather than "away".
24. Head covering : RUG
25. Walk of life : SPHERE. Some sporting spheres here, courtesy of the master of the red headband, Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits.
29. Home of the Oregon Ducks : EUGENE. Careful with that axe.
32. Limited portions of : RATIONED
34. L.A. commuter org. : M.T.A. Now branded as "Metro".
35. German coal region : SAAR. You need at least one conforming cross here to decide between RUHR and SAAR.
37. New York Harbor's __ Island : ELLIS. My boss, Larry Ellison's last name was taken by his adoptive father to recognize his point of entry into the United States.
38. Large pears : BOSCS
41. Sing-along syllable : TRA-
42. Colonial hero Silas : DEANE. Thank you, crosses. He had something of a checkered career.
43. Home of the Imagination! pavilion : EPCOT
44. Cookout choice : RIBS. Food! I cook my ribs "in". I sous-vide them and then throw them in a 500F oven to give 'em a nice sear.
46. Animation sheet : CEL
47. Extremely focused : DIALED IN
49. Promising performers : COMERS. I've always heard this along with "up and ..."
52. Carpentry tool : SANDER
53. "That's so __!" : YOU
61. Poet Angelou : MAYA
64. Dry up : PARCH
66. Sing in the shower, say : SOLO. I think I sound pretty good in the shower. Which is weird, because I can't hold a note out of it.
67. Fivers : ABES. "Honest" notes:
68. Bored with it all : BLASÉ
69. Fingerprint feature : LOOP. Cousin of the whorl and the arch.
70. Skin condition : RASH
71. Sasquatch kin : YETIS. They're getting quite common around these parts this week!
72. Mid-month time : IDES. Chum of the Nones and the Kalends.
Down:
1. Crystallize : JELL
2. Film beekeeper : ULEE. Played by Peter Fonda in 1997.
3. Laptop screen meas. : DIAGonal measurement. My ThinkPad is 14" corner-to-corner.
4. "Anybody around?" response : I'M HERE
5. Certain campus newbies : PLEDGES
6. Renowned '70s-'80s batting coach Charley : LAU. Second part of my Natick. I'm sure you've all heard of him. Not me.
7. French friar : ABBÉ
8. Roulette bet : NOIR. One of the basic roulette strategies, betting on red or black.
9. Chicken serving : BREAST. More Food! I mostly cook thighs, rather than breasts, for flavor and texture.
10. Desk space : KNEE-HOLE
11. Whisperer's target : EAR
12. Hammarskjöld of the UN : DAG. Secretary-General from 1953 until 1961 until he was tragically killed in a plane crash.
13. __-Caps: candy : SNO
21. One with a habit : NUN. It's getting close to Hallowe'en and the "alternative" nun costumes.
23. Spotted : SPIED
26. Wrap around : ENLACE. Not my first thought. Nor my second, come to that.
27. "This Is Spinal Tap" director : REINER
28. Motown flops : EDSELS. Nice misdirection. Was thinking musical acts at first.
29. War zone journalists : EMBEDS. The practice of "embedding" journalists with the military began during the Persian Gulf war in 1993.
30. Ideal setting : UTOPIA
31. Lawn maintenance accessory : GAS CAN. Tried GAS CAP. Was wrong.
32. __ to go : RARIN'
33. Sleek horse : ARAB
36. Abruzzi bell town : ATRI
39. Payment required of known deadbeats : COLD CASH
40. 1943 penny metal : STEEL
45. Grain cutters : SCYTHES. Can be grim coves, those reapers.
48. Pay a call : DROP BY. Had DROP IN first.
50. Awe-ful sound? : OOH! Think "fireworks" and the like.
51. Breakfast mix : MUESLI. Food! I like mine with Greek yoghurt and a few slices of banana.
55. Word with bake or fire : SALE
56. Logician's "E" : ERAT. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
58. Yummy : GOOD
59. 70-Across application : ALOE. Cross-referential misery for some. I like them.
60. Boston __ : POPS
61. Spoil : MAR
62. Esq. group : A.B.A. American Bar Association for all those Esquires out there.
63. Assent : YES
65. CBS series with a N.Y. spin-off : CSI. Crime Scene Investigation. Originally based in Las Vegas, then spin-offs aired based in Miami and New York. Almost 800 episodes have been made, one of CBS Television's most successfully franchises.
And ... here's the grid, all circled for your delectation.
Steve
GENDER gap
GENERATION gap
INCOME gap and
TRADE gap.
As the reveal tells you:
54A. With 57-Across, negotiate ... and what needs to be done to make sense of this puzzle's circles : CLOSE
57A. See 54-Across : THE GAP
Very clever theme from Ed. I confess to a rare Did-Not-Finish today - I was personally natick'ed by the U in the crossing of LAU and EUBIE. Neither name was familiar to me. LAW and EWBIE looked like they might work, but alas, no.
On a side "gap" note, Bank Underground Station in the City of London has the biggest gap between the train and the platform on the entire system. My morning and evening commutes for at least ten years were serenaded by the dulcet recorded tones of actor Oswald Laurence intoning "Mind the Gap". Here's a rather charming news item on his voice, and how his widow would travel through Embankment station to listen to him after he passed away.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Dench of "Philomena" : JUDI. A Dame Commander of the British Empire now. Not that there's a lot of Empire left to command.
5. Alternative strategy : PLAN B
10. "Ladies First Since 1916" sneakers : KEDS. Learning moment. Keds marketed the first canvas-topped "sneakers".
14. Tourney format, briefly : ELIM. Elimination tournament. An alternative format is the round-robin. The FIFA World Cup is a combination of the two.
15. Secretary Thomas Perez's department : LABOR
16. Chicken vindaloo go-with : NAAN. Food! I could list about 200 other go-withs off the top of my head, but not many with four letters. Vindaloo was originally a pork dish from the southern part of India, but has now morphed into a restaurant staple of chicken, lamb or shrimp, with an expectation of a two-alarm fire chili heat level.
17. Sister of Rachel : LEAH
18. Jazz pianist Blake : EUBIE. Part 1 of my Natick. I discover he was a ragtime and jazz musician and appeared in the movie "Scott Joplin" in 1977.
19. Logician's word : ERGO. Latin "therefore". Descartes' "Cogito, ergo sum", or "I think, therefore I am". Near chlecho with 56D - I'd have been tempted to clue them both identically.
20. Sasquatch, for one : LEGEND. I have a soft spot for Sasquatch. The first LAT puzzle that I had published (with C.C.) used the word.
22. Rub the wrong away : ERASE. Lovely clue - it's easy to read "way" rather than "away".
24. Head covering : RUG
25. Walk of life : SPHERE. Some sporting spheres here, courtesy of the master of the red headband, Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits.
29. Home of the Oregon Ducks : EUGENE. Careful with that axe.
32. Limited portions of : RATIONED
34. L.A. commuter org. : M.T.A. Now branded as "Metro".
35. German coal region : SAAR. You need at least one conforming cross here to decide between RUHR and SAAR.
37. New York Harbor's __ Island : ELLIS. My boss, Larry Ellison's last name was taken by his adoptive father to recognize his point of entry into the United States.
38. Large pears : BOSCS
41. Sing-along syllable : TRA-
42. Colonial hero Silas : DEANE. Thank you, crosses. He had something of a checkered career.
43. Home of the Imagination! pavilion : EPCOT
44. Cookout choice : RIBS. Food! I cook my ribs "in". I sous-vide them and then throw them in a 500F oven to give 'em a nice sear.
46. Animation sheet : CEL
47. Extremely focused : DIALED IN
49. Promising performers : COMERS. I've always heard this along with "up and ..."
52. Carpentry tool : SANDER
53. "That's so __!" : YOU
61. Poet Angelou : MAYA
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
64. Dry up : PARCH
66. Sing in the shower, say : SOLO. I think I sound pretty good in the shower. Which is weird, because I can't hold a note out of it.
67. Fivers : ABES. "Honest" notes:
68. Bored with it all : BLASÉ
69. Fingerprint feature : LOOP. Cousin of the whorl and the arch.
70. Skin condition : RASH
71. Sasquatch kin : YETIS. They're getting quite common around these parts this week!
72. Mid-month time : IDES. Chum of the Nones and the Kalends.
Down:
1. Crystallize : JELL
2. Film beekeeper : ULEE. Played by Peter Fonda in 1997.
3. Laptop screen meas. : DIAGonal measurement. My ThinkPad is 14" corner-to-corner.
4. "Anybody around?" response : I'M HERE
5. Certain campus newbies : PLEDGES
6. Renowned '70s-'80s batting coach Charley : LAU. Second part of my Natick. I'm sure you've all heard of him. Not me.
7. French friar : ABBÉ
8. Roulette bet : NOIR. One of the basic roulette strategies, betting on red or black.
9. Chicken serving : BREAST. More Food! I mostly cook thighs, rather than breasts, for flavor and texture.
10. Desk space : KNEE-HOLE
11. Whisperer's target : EAR
12. Hammarskjöld of the UN : DAG. Secretary-General from 1953 until 1961 until he was tragically killed in a plane crash.
13. __-Caps: candy : SNO
21. One with a habit : NUN. It's getting close to Hallowe'en and the "alternative" nun costumes.
23. Spotted : SPIED
26. Wrap around : ENLACE. Not my first thought. Nor my second, come to that.
27. "This Is Spinal Tap" director : REINER
28. Motown flops : EDSELS. Nice misdirection. Was thinking musical acts at first.
29. War zone journalists : EMBEDS. The practice of "embedding" journalists with the military began during the Persian Gulf war in 1993.
30. Ideal setting : UTOPIA
31. Lawn maintenance accessory : GAS CAN. Tried GAS CAP. Was wrong.
32. __ to go : RARIN'
33. Sleek horse : ARAB
36. Abruzzi bell town : ATRI
39. Payment required of known deadbeats : COLD CASH
40. 1943 penny metal : STEEL
45. Grain cutters : SCYTHES. Can be grim coves, those reapers.
48. Pay a call : DROP BY. Had DROP IN first.
50. Awe-ful sound? : OOH! Think "fireworks" and the like.
51. Breakfast mix : MUESLI. Food! I like mine with Greek yoghurt and a few slices of banana.
55. Word with bake or fire : SALE
56. Logician's "E" : ERAT. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
58. Yummy : GOOD
59. 70-Across application : ALOE. Cross-referential misery for some. I like them.
60. Boston __ : POPS
61. Spoil : MAR
62. Esq. group : A.B.A. American Bar Association for all those Esquires out there.
63. Assent : YES
65. CBS series with a N.Y. spin-off : CSI. Crime Scene Investigation. Originally based in Las Vegas, then spin-offs aired based in Miami and New York. Almost 800 episodes have been made, one of CBS Television's most successfully franchises.
And ... here's the grid, all circled for your delectation.
Steve
