Theme: Military Maneuver - as the reveal at the "foot" of the puzzle tells us:
53D. Spring time ... or a military procession involving a word sequence hidden in 15-, 31-, 41- and 61-Across: MARCH
15A. Trying to overcome a late start, say: PLAYING CATCH-UP
31A. "Any minute now": IT WON'T BE LONG
41A. Critical shuttle maneuver: EARTH RE-ENTRY
61A. NBC soap since 1965: DAYS OF OUR LIVES. That's 13,455 episodes I need (?) to catch up on, as of today.
A neat theme from C.C.; the hidden words are all nicely scattered around in the theme entries, and the "THREE" spans a word divide and a hyphen to obscure things a little. I don't think it would be possible to see the theme without the reveal, which is placed nicely at the bottom of the puzzle in the down entries.
Two pairs of stacked 8's in the downs, and two 14's and two 12's in the theme make for a nice construction job; C.C.'s definitely an expert at that.
There might be a shout-out to some puzzle bloggers - ARGYLE for sure, and "Splinter" group and STEVIE almost make it. She's been a MENTOR to a lot of puzzle constructors and bloggers, so that works nicely too.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Smudge: BLOT
5. Splinter group: SECT
9. Instagram or Snapchat: APP. I still don't know quite what the point is of these two. Apparently I have an Instagram account, it came with something, I have no idea what.
12. Past time: YORE. Days of.
13. Union agreements?: I DO'S. Nice one.
14. "Get outta here!": SHOO!
18. Clemson's conf.: A.C.C. The Atlantic Coast Conference. Now includes some schools from the Midwest and the Northeast.
19. Silicon Valley setting: BAY AREA
20. Hoops net holder: RIM
22. Deli order: SALAMI
24. New York prison in 1971 headlines: ATTICA
26. Wine glass feature: STEM. My daily use wine glasses are stemless. I kept breaking them off in the dishwasher. I keep the stemware for special bottles, then break them off in the dishwasher.
27. Suffers from: HAS
30. Prince Harry's alma mater: ETON. Harry is an "old boy" of Eton, an "Old Etonian". I'm an "Old Symondian", from Peter Symond's School in Winchester.
36. Org. with Jays and Rays: M.L.B. It's World Series time, and neither the Jays nor the Rays are anywhere to be seen.
39. Elastic bikini top: BANDEAU
40. Org. with an annual Codebreaker Challenge: NSA
44. Skier's pick-me-up?: T-BAR
45. Summer hrs.: DST
46. Archipelago part: ISLE
50. Sweater pattern: ARGYLE
53. Salieri, to Liszt: MENTOR
55. Streaming delay: LAG
56. Spiritual leader of Nizari Ismaili Muslims: AGA KHAN
60. Actress Mendes: EVA
64. Mineral sources: ORES
65. Poolroom powder: TALC
66. Gimlet garnish: LIME
67. ACLU concerns: RTS
68. Cross with a top loop: ANKH
69. Creepy glance: LEER
Down:
1. Go around: BYPASS
2. Humorous feline meme: LOLCAT. A lolcat's language is "lolspeak".
3. Prophecy source: ORACLE. Every self-respecting Greek city should have one. The best-known Oracle was at Delphi, she cornered the market in predictions to the great and the good.
4. "The Daughter of Time" novelist: TEY
5. Six-Day War peninsula: SINAI
6. Pushing boundaries: EDGY
7. Soft-drink word since 1886: COCA. COLA went in without a thought, then had me wondering, and rightly so.
8. Deposed Russian ruler: TSAR
9. "That feels good": AHH!
10. Pull out all the stops: POUR IT ON
11. Katy Perry and Mariah Carey: POP ICONS
14. "Get outta here!": SCAT!
16. Watson creator: IBM
17. Beverage with dim sum: TEA. I love dim sum. On my first trip to Hong Kong my first stop was a dim sum restaurant in Kowloon for Sunday lunch. There was a slight snag in that there were no carts, and the menu was all in Cantonese. Pointing at plates on other tables got me fed. I learned all the names of the dishes after that. The tea came without me asking, so that part was simple.
21. Comics read vertically: MANGA
23. Montréal mate: AMI. Or a Canadian-South American fusion cimarrón, but that wouldn't fit.
25. __ Aviv: TEL
27. Perfected: HONED
28. Mints brand with mountain peaks in its logo: ANDES. I did not know that. Now I do.
29. Surgical tube: STENT
32. "Speaking frankly," in texts: TBH. To Be Honest - and, to be honest, why wouldn't you be?
33. Armed conflict: WAR
34. Home run hitter?: BAT
35. Spain's cont.: EUR
36. Like virtually all golf club heads nowadays: METAL. I can't remember when I last saw a persimmon club head. My first set of clubs had persimmon for the driver, three- and five-woods.
37. __ retriever: LABRADOR
38. Blowhard: BRAGGART. I always forget that the final "T" isn't a "D". As I did in this case.
42. Push to the limit: TRY
43. Yang's opposite: YIN
47. Memorable guitarist __ Ray Vaughan: STEVIE
48. 2009 Justin Bieber hit: LOVE ME. Awkward neighbors; Stevie Ray and the Biebster.
49. Correction device: ERASER
51. Highlands girl: LASS
52. Big 38-Down feature: EGO
54. Bigger photo: Abbr.: ENL.
57. Mennen lotion: AFTA. After-shave lotion. Simple enough to remember it once you've heard what it is.
58. Zen question: KOAN
59. "Incredible" hero: HULK
62. "Of course!": YES
63. Not well: ILL
And that's about it from me. Back in New York for a couple of days - what happened to the nice LA weather? Oh, I left it in LA, silly me.
Here's the grid, nicely tricked out with the theme words highlighted for y'all.
Steve
53D. Spring time ... or a military procession involving a word sequence hidden in 15-, 31-, 41- and 61-Across: MARCH
15A. Trying to overcome a late start, say: PLAYING CATCH-UP
31A. "Any minute now": IT WON'T BE LONG
41A. Critical shuttle maneuver: EARTH RE-ENTRY
A neat theme from C.C.; the hidden words are all nicely scattered around in the theme entries, and the "THREE" spans a word divide and a hyphen to obscure things a little. I don't think it would be possible to see the theme without the reveal, which is placed nicely at the bottom of the puzzle in the down entries.
Two pairs of stacked 8's in the downs, and two 14's and two 12's in the theme make for a nice construction job; C.C.'s definitely an expert at that.
There might be a shout-out to some puzzle bloggers - ARGYLE for sure, and "Splinter" group and STEVIE almost make it. She's been a MENTOR to a lot of puzzle constructors and bloggers, so that works nicely too.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Smudge: BLOT
5. Splinter group: SECT
9. Instagram or Snapchat: APP. I still don't know quite what the point is of these two. Apparently I have an Instagram account, it came with something, I have no idea what.
12. Past time: YORE. Days of.
13. Union agreements?: I DO'S. Nice one.
14. "Get outta here!": SHOO!
18. Clemson's conf.: A.C.C. The Atlantic Coast Conference. Now includes some schools from the Midwest and the Northeast.
19. Silicon Valley setting: BAY AREA
20. Hoops net holder: RIM
22. Deli order: SALAMI
24. New York prison in 1971 headlines: ATTICA
26. Wine glass feature: STEM. My daily use wine glasses are stemless. I kept breaking them off in the dishwasher. I keep the stemware for special bottles, then break them off in the dishwasher.
27. Suffers from: HAS
30. Prince Harry's alma mater: ETON. Harry is an "old boy" of Eton, an "Old Etonian". I'm an "Old Symondian", from Peter Symond's School in Winchester.
36. Org. with Jays and Rays: M.L.B. It's World Series time, and neither the Jays nor the Rays are anywhere to be seen.
39. Elastic bikini top: BANDEAU
40. Org. with an annual Codebreaker Challenge: NSA
44. Skier's pick-me-up?: T-BAR
45. Summer hrs.: DST
46. Archipelago part: ISLE
50. Sweater pattern: ARGYLE
53. Salieri, to Liszt: MENTOR
55. Streaming delay: LAG
56. Spiritual leader of Nizari Ismaili Muslims: AGA KHAN
60. Actress Mendes: EVA
64. Mineral sources: ORES
65. Poolroom powder: TALC
66. Gimlet garnish: LIME
67. ACLU concerns: RTS
68. Cross with a top loop: ANKH
69. Creepy glance: LEER
Down:
1. Go around: BYPASS
2. Humorous feline meme: LOLCAT. A lolcat's language is "lolspeak".
3. Prophecy source: ORACLE. Every self-respecting Greek city should have one. The best-known Oracle was at Delphi, she cornered the market in predictions to the great and the good.
4. "The Daughter of Time" novelist: TEY
5. Six-Day War peninsula: SINAI
6. Pushing boundaries: EDGY
7. Soft-drink word since 1886: COCA. COLA went in without a thought, then had me wondering, and rightly so.
8. Deposed Russian ruler: TSAR
9. "That feels good": AHH!
10. Pull out all the stops: POUR IT ON
11. Katy Perry and Mariah Carey: POP ICONS
14. "Get outta here!": SCAT!
16. Watson creator: IBM
17. Beverage with dim sum: TEA. I love dim sum. On my first trip to Hong Kong my first stop was a dim sum restaurant in Kowloon for Sunday lunch. There was a slight snag in that there were no carts, and the menu was all in Cantonese. Pointing at plates on other tables got me fed. I learned all the names of the dishes after that. The tea came without me asking, so that part was simple.
21. Comics read vertically: MANGA
23. Montréal mate: AMI. Or a Canadian-South American fusion cimarrón, but that wouldn't fit.
25. __ Aviv: TEL
27. Perfected: HONED
28. Mints brand with mountain peaks in its logo: ANDES. I did not know that. Now I do.
29. Surgical tube: STENT
32. "Speaking frankly," in texts: TBH. To Be Honest - and, to be honest, why wouldn't you be?
33. Armed conflict: WAR
34. Home run hitter?: BAT
35. Spain's cont.: EUR
36. Like virtually all golf club heads nowadays: METAL. I can't remember when I last saw a persimmon club head. My first set of clubs had persimmon for the driver, three- and five-woods.
37. __ retriever: LABRADOR
38. Blowhard: BRAGGART. I always forget that the final "T" isn't a "D". As I did in this case.
42. Push to the limit: TRY
43. Yang's opposite: YIN
47. Memorable guitarist __ Ray Vaughan: STEVIE
48. 2009 Justin Bieber hit: LOVE ME. Awkward neighbors; Stevie Ray and the Biebster.
49. Correction device: ERASER
51. Highlands girl: LASS
52. Big 38-Down feature: EGO
54. Bigger photo: Abbr.: ENL.
57. Mennen lotion: AFTA. After-shave lotion. Simple enough to remember it once you've heard what it is.
58. Zen question: KOAN
59. "Incredible" hero: HULK
62. "Of course!": YES
63. Not well: ILL
And that's about it from me. Back in New York for a couple of days - what happened to the nice LA weather? Oh, I left it in LA, silly me.
Here's the grid, nicely tricked out with the theme words highlighted for y'all.
Steve
