Theme: Scrambles, neatly explained by the reveal entry:
35A. 1980 sci-fi thriller, and a hint to this puzzle's circles : ALTERED STATES
17A. Downpour : DRIVING RAIN. Virginia. "Driving Rain" word association? Crossfire Hurricane!
25A. Weasel relative : PINE MARTEN. Maine. They look cute until one invades your soccer game and you try to pick it up. Those teeth are sharp.
49A. 1988 Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner : GEENA DAVIS. Nevada. She won for "The Accidental Tourist", and scored a follow-up mention for "Most Nervous Acceptance Speech".
56A. Christmas, for many : PAID HOLIDAY. Idaho. Home of Hell's Canyon, at 7,900 feet the deepest river gorge in the US. We all knew that, right?
Bonjour! Blogging en Paris ce matin. Straightforward enough theme from Robert; the names of four states are scrambled in each theme entry. I was looking to see if there was any connection between the four, but came up blank. Finding 8-letter VIRGINIA in an 11-letter word was neatly done - I wonder if that was the inspiration for the theme? Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Takes shape : LOOMS. Generally associated with big, scary stuff; I don't think a mouse has ever "loomed" into view.
6. Military installations : BASES
11. Armonk, N.Y.-based tech company : I.B.M. Here's the first PC - two floppy drives, no hard drive and it didn't come with MS-DOS, you had to buy the operating system separately. We got one at the bank I was working at in London and we all stood around looking at it wondering what to do with it.
14. Quarterback with the 2011 autobiography "Through My Eyes" : TEBOW. I think it's fair to describe Tim as an ex-quarterback now. He flamed out pretty quickly.
15. Tell's target : APPLE. Archer William. The name of the apple is lost to history.
16. PBS funder : N.E.A.
19. 40-yr.-old NBC show : S.N.L.
20. Mature insect : IMAGO
21. Singer Vannelli : GINO. I couldn't name you one song of his.
22. Fairy tale word : ONCE
29. Horned Frogs' sch. : T.C.U. Seems that there's a lot of TLA's today (geekspeak for Three-Letter Abbreviations). Texas Christian University.
30. Spot : SEE
31. Forward, in a way : RE-ROUTE. Hmmmm - really? "Could you forward that email to me?" "Could you re-route that email to me?" One isn't really like the other.
32. Ankle bones : TARSI
34. Put up : ERECT
40. Sister of Clio : ERATO. She's popped up 75 times in the LAT puzzle since 2002. Her sister Polyhymnia gets - surprisingly - one mention. I was sure she was going to register zero mentions.
41. Drive respondent : DONOR
43. It's usually taken in twos : ASPIRIN. Not "They're usually taken ..."? The grammar seems a little clunky.
46. Rival : FOE
48. Reason for adolescent angst : ZIT
51. Only : SOLE
52. Mythical arrow shooter : EROS. He just keeps cropping up. You can't keep a good archer down.
53. Key : ISLET
55. 2014 FIFA World Cup champion: Abbr. : GERmany. Many consider their 7-1 demolition of hosts Brazil in the semi-final a few days earlier one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history. I was watching in a bar in Mexico and by the time Germany went 5-0 up after a little more than half an hour the place was stunned into silence.
62. "Wheel of Fortune" buy : AN I
63. "__ Grows in Brooklyn" : A TREE. I should get around to reading this one day. It appears in a lot of "must read" book lists.
64. Carrot family herb : ANISE. Pretty. The seeds are most commonly used in cooking (whereupon anise becomes a spice), the leaves less so.
65. __ jacket : PEA
66. About 17 of them equal a United States dollar : PESOS. This struck me as odd when I was solving - I thought one of the rules of cluing is that the clue must not be dependent on when you do the puzzle. Unless the exchange rate is between the peso and the dollar is fixed, "17" is going to change over time.
67. Toyota's luxury division : LEXUS
Down:
1. Former Ford model : LTD. GTO went in; GTO came out when I remembered it's a Pontiac.
2. Poetic preposition : O'ER. O'er to you, Walt Whitman:
3. Japanese sash : OBI
4. Tinseltown vehicle : MOVIE. Because unless you have a stretch LI-I-MO, it's not long enough.
5. Show off a butterfly, perhaps : SWIM
6. Snack sack : BAGGIE
7. Grilling garment : APRON. If you ever catch me wearing one of these, please take me aside and have a quiet word with me.
8. Place to kick back : SPA
9. Whitney, by birth and by education : ELI
10. D.C. VIP : SEN.
11. As found : IN SITU
12. "Pride and Prejudice" family name : BENNET. I knew the name, I'm not sure I remembered the spelling until I ran out of room - I wanted two "T"s.
13. NBA great Karl : MALONE. For a while, he had an odd habit of referring to himself in the third person during interviews. Hall-of-Famer, Olympic Gold medalist and a host of other awards, but he never played on a championship-winning team.
18. Scruff : NAPE
21. Underground chamber : GROTTO
22. Polo Grounds slugger : OTT. Giants' outfielder Mel back in the New York days.
23. Univ. sports organizer : N.C.A.A.
24. Circular lock : CURL
26. Drops the ball : ERRS. Is all the talk when Mel drops a catch just Ott err?
27. Track competition : MEET
28. Penny __ : ARCADE
30. "The Treasure of the __ Madre": Bogart classic : SIERRA
33. Beer orders : STEINS. Usually at Oktoberfest:
34. Tokyo, long ago : EDO
36. Vice squad tactic : RAID
37. Peak south of Stromboli : ETNA
38. Automaker Ferrari : ENZO. Also the name of the dog in the novel "The Art of Racing in the Rain". Guaranteed to make you bawl your eyes out.
39. Get dirty : SOIL
42. Map abbr. : RTE.
43. Generation-to-generation span : AGE GAP
44. Calm : SERENE
45. Illinois county or its seat : PEORIA
46. Drops a line : FISHES
47. European capital : OSLO. We know lots of factoids about Olso, right? Home to the Ibsen, Munch and Norsk Volke Museums, the Nobel Prizes are awarded there, you can see the Kon Tiki and the Vigeland Sculpture Park and possibly have a beer with King Harald V. Skål!
50. Tape, maybe : VIDEO
51. "Goosebumps" series author : STINE. Thank you, crosses.
54. Ben Gurion carrier : EL AL
56. Drivel : PAP
57. Emptied the feedbag : ATE
58. Govt. collection agency : I.R.S.
59. Twice cinq : DIX. Nailed it! My hotel room is dix trente-quatre this week.
60. Pac-12 sch. : A.S.U. Please step forward, Arizona State University.
61. "Of course" : YES
That just about wraps it up for me. Here's the grid, circles a-plenty.
À bientôt!
Steve
35A. 1980 sci-fi thriller, and a hint to this puzzle's circles : ALTERED STATES
17A. Downpour : DRIVING RAIN. Virginia. "Driving Rain" word association? Crossfire Hurricane!
25A. Weasel relative : PINE MARTEN. Maine. They look cute until one invades your soccer game and you try to pick it up. Those teeth are sharp.
49A. 1988 Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner : GEENA DAVIS. Nevada. She won for "The Accidental Tourist", and scored a follow-up mention for "Most Nervous Acceptance Speech".
56A. Christmas, for many : PAID HOLIDAY. Idaho. Home of Hell's Canyon, at 7,900 feet the deepest river gorge in the US. We all knew that, right?
Bonjour! Blogging en Paris ce matin. Straightforward enough theme from Robert; the names of four states are scrambled in each theme entry. I was looking to see if there was any connection between the four, but came up blank. Finding 8-letter VIRGINIA in an 11-letter word was neatly done - I wonder if that was the inspiration for the theme? Let's see what else we've got.
Across:
1. Takes shape : LOOMS. Generally associated with big, scary stuff; I don't think a mouse has ever "loomed" into view.
6. Military installations : BASES
11. Armonk, N.Y.-based tech company : I.B.M. Here's the first PC - two floppy drives, no hard drive and it didn't come with MS-DOS, you had to buy the operating system separately. We got one at the bank I was working at in London and we all stood around looking at it wondering what to do with it.
14. Quarterback with the 2011 autobiography "Through My Eyes" : TEBOW. I think it's fair to describe Tim as an ex-quarterback now. He flamed out pretty quickly.
15. Tell's target : APPLE. Archer William. The name of the apple is lost to history.
16. PBS funder : N.E.A.
19. 40-yr.-old NBC show : S.N.L.
20. Mature insect : IMAGO
21. Singer Vannelli : GINO. I couldn't name you one song of his.
22. Fairy tale word : ONCE
29. Horned Frogs' sch. : T.C.U. Seems that there's a lot of TLA's today (geekspeak for Three-Letter Abbreviations). Texas Christian University.
30. Spot : SEE
31. Forward, in a way : RE-ROUTE. Hmmmm - really? "Could you forward that email to me?" "Could you re-route that email to me?" One isn't really like the other.
32. Ankle bones : TARSI
34. Put up : ERECT
40. Sister of Clio : ERATO. She's popped up 75 times in the LAT puzzle since 2002. Her sister Polyhymnia gets - surprisingly - one mention. I was sure she was going to register zero mentions.
41. Drive respondent : DONOR
43. It's usually taken in twos : ASPIRIN. Not "They're usually taken ..."? The grammar seems a little clunky.
46. Rival : FOE
48. Reason for adolescent angst : ZIT
51. Only : SOLE
52. Mythical arrow shooter : EROS. He just keeps cropping up. You can't keep a good archer down.
53. Key : ISLET
55. 2014 FIFA World Cup champion: Abbr. : GERmany. Many consider their 7-1 demolition of hosts Brazil in the semi-final a few days earlier one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history. I was watching in a bar in Mexico and by the time Germany went 5-0 up after a little more than half an hour the place was stunned into silence.
62. "Wheel of Fortune" buy : AN I
63. "__ Grows in Brooklyn" : A TREE. I should get around to reading this one day. It appears in a lot of "must read" book lists.
64. Carrot family herb : ANISE. Pretty. The seeds are most commonly used in cooking (whereupon anise becomes a spice), the leaves less so.
65. __ jacket : PEA
66. About 17 of them equal a United States dollar : PESOS. This struck me as odd when I was solving - I thought one of the rules of cluing is that the clue must not be dependent on when you do the puzzle. Unless the exchange rate is between the peso and the dollar is fixed, "17" is going to change over time.
67. Toyota's luxury division : LEXUS
Down:
1. Former Ford model : LTD. GTO went in; GTO came out when I remembered it's a Pontiac.
2. Poetic preposition : O'ER. O'er to you, Walt Whitman:
Gliding o'er all, through all,
Through Nature, Time, and Space,
As a ship on the waters advancing,
The voyage of the soul—not life alone,
Death, many deaths I'll sing.
3. Japanese sash : OBI
4. Tinseltown vehicle : MOVIE. Because unless you have a stretch LI-I-MO, it's not long enough.
5. Show off a butterfly, perhaps : SWIM
6. Snack sack : BAGGIE
7. Grilling garment : APRON. If you ever catch me wearing one of these, please take me aside and have a quiet word with me.
8. Place to kick back : SPA
9. Whitney, by birth and by education : ELI
10. D.C. VIP : SEN.
11. As found : IN SITU
12. "Pride and Prejudice" family name : BENNET. I knew the name, I'm not sure I remembered the spelling until I ran out of room - I wanted two "T"s.
13. NBA great Karl : MALONE. For a while, he had an odd habit of referring to himself in the third person during interviews. Hall-of-Famer, Olympic Gold medalist and a host of other awards, but he never played on a championship-winning team.
18. Scruff : NAPE
21. Underground chamber : GROTTO
22. Polo Grounds slugger : OTT. Giants' outfielder Mel back in the New York days.
23. Univ. sports organizer : N.C.A.A.
24. Circular lock : CURL
26. Drops the ball : ERRS. Is all the talk when Mel drops a catch just Ott err?
27. Track competition : MEET
28. Penny __ : ARCADE
30. "The Treasure of the __ Madre": Bogart classic : SIERRA
33. Beer orders : STEINS. Usually at Oktoberfest:
34. Tokyo, long ago : EDO
36. Vice squad tactic : RAID
37. Peak south of Stromboli : ETNA
38. Automaker Ferrari : ENZO. Also the name of the dog in the novel "The Art of Racing in the Rain". Guaranteed to make you bawl your eyes out.
39. Get dirty : SOIL
42. Map abbr. : RTE.
43. Generation-to-generation span : AGE GAP
44. Calm : SERENE
45. Illinois county or its seat : PEORIA
46. Drops a line : FISHES
47. European capital : OSLO. We know lots of factoids about Olso, right? Home to the Ibsen, Munch and Norsk Volke Museums, the Nobel Prizes are awarded there, you can see the Kon Tiki and the Vigeland Sculpture Park and possibly have a beer with King Harald V. Skål!
50. Tape, maybe : VIDEO
51. "Goosebumps" series author : STINE. Thank you, crosses.
54. Ben Gurion carrier : EL AL
56. Drivel : PAP
57. Emptied the feedbag : ATE
58. Govt. collection agency : I.R.S.
59. Twice cinq : DIX. Nailed it! My hotel room is dix trente-quatre this week.
60. Pac-12 sch. : A.S.U. Please step forward, Arizona State University.
61. "Of course" : YES
That just about wraps it up for me. Here's the grid, circles a-plenty.
À bientôt!
Steve
