Mr. Buckley gives us a themeless puzzle with a theme that exists visually with a one clue reveal. This is Mike's first Friday puzzle this year and a great departure from the July 2016 puzzle which had 12 short theme fill. V is also for variety. The placement of the Vs, and the avoiding any other Vs in the grid was masterful. With an open grid there are oodles of long fill. Pick your favorite. SERAPHS, SIGNAGE, YES DEAR, AS I SEE IT, DR. MOREAU, GIUSEPPE, KNEE DEEP, OUTLIVED, SAUTERNE, SNOBBERY, TRIP OVER, ETHIOPIAN, PENTAGRAM, LOVE POTION and TERMINATOR. Let me know what you think; I love visuals.
7D. What can be drawn using the only V's, representing vertices, in this puzzle's grid : FIVE POINTED STAR (15).
19D. See 7-Down : PENTAGRAM. Often thought of in connection with the occult.
25D. Like a flag featuring a 19-Down : ETHIOPIAN. I wish I had learned all this on Fun with Flags. LINK.
We have music and Latin and some wit, so....
Across:
1. Render inconceivable? : SPAY. Great clue/fill.
5. Carl who composed "Carmina Burana" : ORFF. A repeat fill made easy.
9. Itching for action : ANTSY.
14. Hamlet's first choice : TO BE. Better than or not to be.
15. Sound from a fan : WHIR. Onomatopoeia.
16. River of Champagne : MARNE. Cute.
17. U.N. reps : AMBS. Ambassador.
18. Purported passion promoter : LOVE POTION. Number 9? Made more famous by the Searchers.
20. One-named singer with the #1 hit "Royals" : LORDE. I know the SONG but did not know the singer.
22. Prevent : DETER.
23. "Frontline" airer : PBS.
24. Seriously mired : KNEE DEEP. Often in BS.
26. Big wheel : NABOB. Often nattering.
28. Scholar : SAVANT. From the Latin.
29. Lasted longer than : OUTLIVED. Usefulness?
32. Sound from a fan : RAH. One little rah?
33. Draft letters : IPA. Beer is back.
34. Despot who raced in the 67 Olympics : NERO. HISTORY. Sadly all footage of the 67 Olympics was destroyed when Rome burned.
35. __ station : GAS.
38. Highway reading : SIGNAGE.
41. Bread or liquor : RYE.
42. PDQ : ASAP.
44. Word with cake or flake : OAT.
45. Prescribed meds : RXS.
47. "Rigoletto" composer Verdi : GIUSEPPE. More MUSIC. Everyone knows this tune, right?
49. 86 and 99 : AGENTS. Maxwell Smart and the future Mrs. Max.
53. Turntable needles : STYLI. Latin plural of -us.
54. Wells islander played by Brando : DR. MOREAU. H.G. and Marlon.
56. Creator of Finch and Radley : LEE. Atticus and Boo, created by Harper.
57. France dance : VALSE. Sounds like waltz.
59. Medal-worthy quality : VALOR.
60. Boundary between the illuminated and darkened part of the moon, in astronomy : TERMINATOR. There is so much I do not know. So I read this LINK.
63. Ballet move : PLIE.
64. T. rex et al. : DINOS. My oldest loved reading about dinosaurs and then came Jurassic Park; saw it 14 times - in the movie theater.
65. Wrapped garment : SARI.
66. Villain's welcome : HISS.
67. __ Curry, first unanimous NBA MVP : STEPH.
68. "By that reasoning ... " : ERGO. Therefore in Latin.
69. Rectangular paving stone : SETT. learned from puzzles.
Down:
1. Cornfield array : STALKS.
2. Cal Poly city : POMONA.
3. Shortened, shortened : ABBREViation. Silly.
4. Affectionate assent : YES DEAR. Affectionate? Not always...
5. Hogwarts mail carrier : OWL.
6. __ Island : RHODE. because Long was too Short.
8. Worry : FRET.
9. Not bothered by conscience : A-MORAL. More Latin e.g. asexual, amoral, anarchy, anhydrous, Anabaptist, anachronism; also uses a and an.
10. "Unforgettable" Cole : NAT.
11. Stumble on : TRIP OVER.
12. Condescension : SNOBBERY. I loved watching HYACINTH BUCKET (pronounced Boo-kay).
13. Pines : YENS.
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21. Ferber and a Dame : EDNAS. I let you look up the great Ms. Ferber, but here is a touch of the DAME.
27. Arabic "son of" : BIN. Hebrew Ben.
30. Kick __ fuss : UP A.
31. Unknown John : DOE.
35. Order of silence : GAG.
36. "In my view ... " : AS I SEE IT.
37. Semisweet American white wine : SAUTERNE. Ah, where is Chairman Mao when we need him.
39. Alibi problem : GAP.
40. Sarah Palin, e.g., briefly : EX-GOV.
43. Humanities subj. : PSYchology.
46. Six-winged angels, in Isaiah : SERAPHS. Yes, and so much MORE.
48. Tolkien language : ELVISH.
50. Nervous one? : NELLIE.
51. I Ching adherent, perhaps : TAOIST. Perhaps. This LINK discusses the connection. My eldest brother also studied Book of Changes.
52. Least tentative : SUREST.
55. Corp. shuffle : REORGanization. Well how many are too many?
56. Classic Fords : LTDS.
58. Emit coherent light : LASE. "In lasers, waves are identical and in phase, which produces a beam of coherent light." msnucleus.org. There are incoherent lights, as well as incoherent bloggers.
61. Messy locks : MOP. Very popular when Beatles came to the US, e.g. mop tops.
62. Carnival site : RIO.
We already have seen the grid and I will await your comments on this creative effort from Mr. Buckley. It would be nice to hear from him on the genesis of this puzzle. Meanwhile, see you in August. Lemonade out.
