Theme: "Breaking BARED"
Consistent country/money theme, with the money appearing as an anagram and clued appropriately.
17. *Place for a soak in Bangkok? : THAI BATH. "Bhat" is the currency of Thailand.
23. *Mumbai baby food? : INDIAN PUREE. "Rupee" is what the "Slumdog Millionaire" won a ton of.
36. *Low point in Oran? : ALGERIAN NADIR. "Dinar" is only 0.013 US Dollar.
47. *Stance in a Monterrey studio? : MEXICAN POSE. "Peso" is used in Monterrey, Mexico, but also Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, the Philippines and Uruguay.
And the revealer:
60. Emergency fund ... or what the second part of each answer to a starred clue ends with? : MAD MONEY. I was totally mystified while solving, because each theme entry seemed so straight-forward. But when I got to the unifier, I became even more mystified. I finally realized that MAD was the hint - it referred to various currencies, all deranged. Aha!
The theme entries were noted with an asterisk, because of longer fill going across like HUMILIATE and SUPERHERO; and POMERANIAN and HALF-EXPECT going down - all great entries, BTW.
And here are the rest:
Across:
1. Sunshine State resort : BOCA. Raton. Late-week puzzles don't always indicate "for short."
5. Country in which Quechua is an official lang. : BOL.ivia. They replaced the PESO with the boliviano in 1864.
8. Transforms, as for a different medium : ADAPTS.
14. "Downton Abbey" title : EARL. Bill G., did you finally get to see the season ender?
15. Tablet maker : RCA.
16. Osaka-born violinist : MIDORI. Gotō. At her 1986 Tanglewood performance, she broke three violin strings but didn't miss a beat, and Leonard Bernstein (the conductor) knelt before her in awe when she finished. Worth a listen, here.
19. Alligator cousin : CAIMAN. Cute little feller…
20. Abase : HUMILIATE.
22. Holy territory : SEE. From the Latin "sedes" meaning "seat." All sees are holy, but "THE Holy See" refers to the Vatican.
27. Musical ability, in slang : CHOPS. It originally came from a jazz player's ability to hit high notes with their mouth ("chops"), and later referred to any musical ability.
30. As well : TOO.
31. Mimic : APE.
32. Edward Jones Dome NFL player : RAM. The RAMs now play in St. Louis, after leaving Los Angeles.
33. Rank below abbot : PRIOR.
35. Oilers' org. : NHL. National Hockey League.
40. Sharable PC file : PDF. Portable Document File.
41. Mah-__ : JONGG.
42. 2011 NBA retiree : YAO. Ming, the 7' 6" player for the Houston Rockets.
43. Porter, for one : ALE.
44. Effusive musical genre : EMO.
45. Knoxville sch. : U TENN.
51. Poker haul : POT.
52. Green Lantern or Green Arrow : SUPERHERO.
57. __ license : POETIC.
61. Mysterious : ARCANE.
62. Teacher, at times : PRO. Think golf.
63. Dig for 58-Down : MINE. And 58-Down. See 63-Across : ORE.
64. "We're outta here!" : LET'S GO.
65. Stop: Abbr. : STN. I usually think of the abbr. for "station" as "sta." That is what the US Postal service uses.
66. What the nose knows : ODOR. Fun clue!
Down:
1. Behrs of "2 Broke Girls" : BETH. She's the rich blonde. Funny interview on Conan. 1:41
2. Vans Triple Crown of Surfing locale : OAHU. No idea, but got it on a WAG.
3. Stuff : CRAM.
4. Et __ : ALII. Masculine form. Female = aliae. Neuter = alia.
5. Mastermind : BRAINS. "He's the BRAINS behind the scheme."
6. Pie slices, often : OCTAD. I can't eat that many slices, so cut mine into sextets.
7. "Swing Shift" Oscar nominee : LAHTI. Christine. The film also starred Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.
8. Film buff's channel : AMC. Originally, abbr. of "American Movie Classics," but now just AMC because of the shift in emphasis away from classic movies. But you can still get your old movie fix over at TCM (Turner Classic Movies.) I bet HG watches that one.
9. Scattering of an ethnic population : DIASPORA. The most well-known is the Jewish DIASPORA, but there are many others.
10. Continental farewell : ADIEU.
11. Toy dog breed : POMERANIAN. Like a big fluffy pom-pom!
12. Melodic syllable : TRA…la.
13. Preacher's topic : SIN.
18. Brief upturn : BLIP.
21. Getting down : EATING.
24. It may come before one : NOON. Unless your are talking about 1 AM.
25. "I Feel Bad About My Neck" writer Nora : EPHRON. The title is a reference to her aging, wrinkled neck - the one part of the body that cannot be "re-surfaced" with plastic surgery.
26. Long swimmer : EEL.
27. Carry protectively : CRADLE. I wondered about coddle, then cuddle before CRADLE appeared with perps.
28. Anticipate uncertainly : HALF EXPECT.
29. Bit of shocked text : OMG. "Oh, my god!"
33. Evergreens with edible nuts : PINONS.
34. Lurid paper : RAG.
37. Escaping à la James Bond, perhaps : EJECTING.
38. Ovoid tomato : ROMA.
39. Microscope slide additive : DYE. This clue was right in my wheelhouse, but I still entered "oil" at first!
40. Nonstick brand : PAM.
45. Applied to : USED ON.
46. Time between inaugurations : TERM.
48. Little bits : IOTAS.
49. Inflation causes : PUMPS. Gas prices are creeping up again, but this refers to the pumps that actually inflate things like tires, beach balls or air mattresses.
50. Bridget Riley genre : OP ART. Move your head back and forth, sweeping your eyes across the picture, and you'll see why it is called...
53. __ erectus : HOMO. "Upright man" in Latin, he lived about 143,000 years ago.
54. Oklahoma city : ENID. 4 letter Oklahoma city? ENID. 5 letter Oklahoma city? Tulsa!
55. Attorney general after Barr : RENO. William and Janet.
56. __ and terminer: criminal court : OYER. "To hear and determine" in law. Gimme for Lemonade.
57. Sidekick : PAL.
59. Business VIP : CEO. Chief Executive Officer.
That's all for this week!
Marti
