Theme Side of Beef - the six theme entries sit on the sides of the plate - as the reveal entries suggest:
41A. With 45-Across, meat cut that suggests six aptly placed puzzle answers: FLANK and 45A. See 41-Across: STEAK
So we go look for the flanks of the puzzle, and sure enough we find:
1D. "Squarely unconventional" Nissan: CUBE. Cube steak isn't steak, cubed - it's the shape of the holes that the tenderizer makes which brings us to ....
13D. __ chocolate: SWISS. Cube steak and Swiss steak are really the same thing - cube steak is put through a tenderizer known as a "swisser", and guess what, so is Swiss steak. The result though, as chicken-fried steak, is rather lovely. My gravy is a basic white sauce, garlic powder, a ton of dried sage and cracked black pepper. I believe KFC stole my recipe :) This is not KFC:
26D. Tavern order: ROUND. The nicest words to hear - "My round!".
38D. Slacks alternative: SKIRT. Ever had steak fajitas? You've had skirt steak. The old "butcher cuts" are the cheapest, and best, you just have to know how to cook them. The Interwebs are your friend.
56D. Vegas __: STRIP. Usually a New York Strip, but here decamped to Las Vegas!
67D. Keister: RUMP.
Another 16x15 grid this week to accommodate the theme, which I liked - Food! But a couple of minor nits for me, the repeat of the SWISS/CUBE themers and, when we get to 17A, the other niggle. All minor though. I like Bruce's puzzles, usually a solid theme, some misdirection, and some entries to discuss (or argue!) about. Let's go and see what's in store:
Across:
1. Barbecue remnants: COBS. This one puzzled me. I know the answer from crosswords past, but I wanted to look up the etymology of the word and I drew a blank. I assumed it had got something to do with coal cobs, but I couldn't find a reference to burned-out barbecue coals - then Lemonade came to the rescue, he pointed out that the clue is referring to corn cobs! Silly me.
5. Personal identification?: ITS ME!
10. Rolaids rival: TUMS. I prefer this clue to last Thursday's.
14. Iris layer: UVEA
15. Part of a "Star Wars" name: DETOO. R2-D2.
16. "__ it first!": I SAW
17. Tower of London guards: BEEFEATERS. It's a nice word, but there's steak in the theme, so I would either have tried to avoid this fill or tried to find a "matching" entry at 69A to complement it.
19. Local bond, briefly: MUNI
20. PC key: ENTER
21. Classic car: REO. Ransom E. Olds' car company, based in Lansing, Michigan.
22. Frozen floaters: BERGS
23. Celebratory smokes: CIGARS
25. 2019 awards for Giannis Antetokounmpo: ESPYS. He won both "Male Athlete of the Year" and "NBA Player of the Year" hence the plural.
26. Elaborate style: ROCOCO. A little over-elaborate for my taste, but you can't deny the artistic brilliance:
29. Checks out: EYES
31. Artist Yoko: ONO. I think YOKO/ONO or ONO/YOKO has rescued more crosswords than can be counted in grains of sand.
32. "Nashville" actress Judith: HOAG. Who she? See 18D.
35. Currently: AS IT IS
39. Vases with feet: URNS
43. Understand, in slang: GROK. Well known in these parts, as we often find people "grok the theme".
44. Kremlin refusal: NYET in denial as is ...
46. "Me? Never!": NOT I! denial again!
47. Original "Star Trek" studio: DESILU
49. Princess from Alderaan: LEIA. One of the few "Star Wars" characters I don't have to think too hard about.
51. Links standard: PAR. Not my standard, that's for sure. Why is it called "golf"? Because all the other four-letter words were already used.
52. Manilow song site: COPA. I'll spare you the earworm.
54. Giants' div.: NL WEST. Baseball's San Francisco Giants
56. Mopes: SULKS
59. __ bag: DOGGIE. Not Doggy?
62. Sporty car features: T-TOPS
63. To's partner: FRO
64. Fitting tool: SIZER. Rings, I think.
68. Lower-APR deal: RE-FI
69. Restaurant list not for everyone: SECRET MENU. Fun, but generally not so secret - pretty much anyone who eats at the In 'N Out burger chain knows about "animal style"; there's a similar secret item at Disneyland's Tomorrowland, the Galactic Burger "alien style".
71. Shiraz's land: IRAN. Nailed it! Not IRAQ! I'm off to do a lap of honor around the FLANKS.
72. Giants and Titans: TEAMS. I'm going to guess the New York Giants in this case, to match the NFL's Tennessee Titans. We've had both GIANTS today.
* So, name the other five pairs of team names across Hockey, Football, Baseball and Basketball. 30 seconds, go!
73. Physics matter: ATOM
74. Nectarine centers: PITS
75. Donkeys: ASSES
76. Filing tool: RASP
Down:
2. Baker: OVEN
3. Vegetable that may stain a cutting board: BEET
4. Seattle-based insurance giant: SAFECO. I had no idea this lot were an insurance company, I've even been to Safeco Field in Seattle and it never crossed my mind to wonder about the company with the naming rights.
5. Mont. neighbor: IDA.
6. Colorful fish: TETRA
7. Range rover: STEER. Home, where the deer and the antelope (and apparently the steer) play. No discouraging words though, to make you feel ...
8. Gloomy: MOROSE
9. Daybreak deity: EOS
10. One involved in multiple problems?: TIMES SIGN. Did you learn your Times Tables by rote? I can still chant "One 12 is 12, two 12's are 24, .... "
11. Take by force: USURP
12. Shabby: MANGY
18. "The Art of Loving" author Fromm: ERICH. With Judith HOAG at 32A, this was a near-Natick for me, I'm not sure I've heard of either. "H" seemed the best guess, and so it was.
22. Honey bunch: BEES
24. Blunders: GOOFS UP
27. Deli specification: ON RYE. Yes please, I love a deli sandwich on rye, preferably pastrami from Katz's in Manhattan's Lower East Side. What a great Food! puzzle today!
28. Traffic markers: CONES
30. Talking on and on: YAKKING
33. __-rock: ALT
34. Highlander: GAEL
36. Overused theme: TROPE. Nope, a cliche is an overused theme. A trope is the use of figurative language, an image or a figure of speech, which may be commonly recurring.
37. Bits: IOTAS
40. Map markers: STICK PINS. I thought these were called push pins - stick pins are much more decorative and used as costume jewelry or lapel decorations. Would you put these in a map?
42. Scottish rejection: NAE
48. Result of a poor investment: LOSS
50. Crème de la crème: A-LIST
53. Commercial charges: AD FEES
55. German city where the Bauhaus movement began: WEIMAR. And the Weimar Republic.
57. Where embryos grow: UTERI
58. Like much diet food: LO-FAT
60. Black-and-white whales: ORCAS
61. Grammy winner Eydie: GORMÉ. Thank you, crosses.
65. Letter that rhymes with three others: ZETA. Not Catherine Zeta-Jones?
66. Nephew of Cain: ENOS
69. Transit map abbr.: STA.
70. Snaky shape: ESS
Today I learned that Safeco is an insurance company, and I learned the name of a Grammy winner. File away for for future use!
* From 72A earlier, the teams are:
Cardinals - Arizona (NFL) and St. Louis (MLB)
Kings - Sacramento (NBA) and Los Angeles (NHL)
Panthers - Carolina (NFL) and Florida (NHL)
Rangers - Texas (NBA NFL) and New York (NHL)
Jets - New York (NFL) and Winnipeg (NHL)
I hope I got that right, I was testing my own memory!
And hopefully, accurately, the grid:
Steve
41A. With 45-Across, meat cut that suggests six aptly placed puzzle answers: FLANK and 45A. See 41-Across: STEAK
So we go look for the flanks of the puzzle, and sure enough we find:
1D. "Squarely unconventional" Nissan: CUBE. Cube steak isn't steak, cubed - it's the shape of the holes that the tenderizer makes which brings us to ....
13D. __ chocolate: SWISS. Cube steak and Swiss steak are really the same thing - cube steak is put through a tenderizer known as a "swisser", and guess what, so is Swiss steak. The result though, as chicken-fried steak, is rather lovely. My gravy is a basic white sauce, garlic powder, a ton of dried sage and cracked black pepper. I believe KFC stole my recipe :) This is not KFC:
26D. Tavern order: ROUND. The nicest words to hear - "My round!".
38D. Slacks alternative: SKIRT. Ever had steak fajitas? You've had skirt steak. The old "butcher cuts" are the cheapest, and best, you just have to know how to cook them. The Interwebs are your friend.
56D. Vegas __: STRIP. Usually a New York Strip, but here decamped to Las Vegas!
67D. Keister: RUMP.
Another 16x15 grid this week to accommodate the theme, which I liked - Food! But a couple of minor nits for me, the repeat of the SWISS/CUBE themers and, when we get to 17A, the other niggle. All minor though. I like Bruce's puzzles, usually a solid theme, some misdirection, and some entries to discuss (or argue!) about. Let's go and see what's in store:
Across:
1. Barbecue remnants: COBS. This one puzzled me. I know the answer from crosswords past, but I wanted to look up the etymology of the word and I drew a blank. I assumed it had got something to do with coal cobs, but I couldn't find a reference to burned-out barbecue coals - then Lemonade came to the rescue, he pointed out that the clue is referring to corn cobs! Silly me.
5. Personal identification?: ITS ME!
10. Rolaids rival: TUMS. I prefer this clue to last Thursday's.
14. Iris layer: UVEA
15. Part of a "Star Wars" name: DETOO. R2-D2.
16. "__ it first!": I SAW
17. Tower of London guards: BEEFEATERS. It's a nice word, but there's steak in the theme, so I would either have tried to avoid this fill or tried to find a "matching" entry at 69A to complement it.
19. Local bond, briefly: MUNI
20. PC key: ENTER
21. Classic car: REO. Ransom E. Olds' car company, based in Lansing, Michigan.
22. Frozen floaters: BERGS
23. Celebratory smokes: CIGARS
25. 2019 awards for Giannis Antetokounmpo: ESPYS. He won both "Male Athlete of the Year" and "NBA Player of the Year" hence the plural.
26. Elaborate style: ROCOCO. A little over-elaborate for my taste, but you can't deny the artistic brilliance:
29. Checks out: EYES
31. Artist Yoko: ONO. I think YOKO/ONO or ONO/YOKO has rescued more crosswords than can be counted in grains of sand.
32. "Nashville" actress Judith: HOAG. Who she? See 18D.
35. Currently: AS IT IS
39. Vases with feet: URNS
43. Understand, in slang: GROK. Well known in these parts, as we often find people "grok the theme".
44. Kremlin refusal: NYET in denial as is ...
46. "Me? Never!": NOT I! denial again!
47. Original "Star Trek" studio: DESILU
49. Princess from Alderaan: LEIA. One of the few "Star Wars" characters I don't have to think too hard about.
51. Links standard: PAR. Not my standard, that's for sure. Why is it called "golf"? Because all the other four-letter words were already used.
52. Manilow song site: COPA. I'll spare you the earworm.
54. Giants' div.: NL WEST. Baseball's San Francisco Giants
56. Mopes: SULKS
59. __ bag: DOGGIE. Not Doggy?
62. Sporty car features: T-TOPS
63. To's partner: FRO
64. Fitting tool: SIZER. Rings, I think.
68. Lower-APR deal: RE-FI
69. Restaurant list not for everyone: SECRET MENU. Fun, but generally not so secret - pretty much anyone who eats at the In 'N Out burger chain knows about "animal style"; there's a similar secret item at Disneyland's Tomorrowland, the Galactic Burger "alien style".
71. Shiraz's land: IRAN. Nailed it! Not IRAQ! I'm off to do a lap of honor around the FLANKS.
72. Giants and Titans: TEAMS. I'm going to guess the New York Giants in this case, to match the NFL's Tennessee Titans. We've had both GIANTS today.
* So, name the other five pairs of team names across Hockey, Football, Baseball and Basketball. 30 seconds, go!
73. Physics matter: ATOM
74. Nectarine centers: PITS
75. Donkeys: ASSES
76. Filing tool: RASP
Down:
2. Baker: OVEN
3. Vegetable that may stain a cutting board: BEET
4. Seattle-based insurance giant: SAFECO. I had no idea this lot were an insurance company, I've even been to Safeco Field in Seattle and it never crossed my mind to wonder about the company with the naming rights.
5. Mont. neighbor: IDA.
6. Colorful fish: TETRA
7. Range rover: STEER. Home, where the deer and the antelope (and apparently the steer) play. No discouraging words though, to make you feel ...
8. Gloomy: MOROSE
9. Daybreak deity: EOS
10. One involved in multiple problems?: TIMES SIGN. Did you learn your Times Tables by rote? I can still chant "One 12 is 12, two 12's are 24, .... "
11. Take by force: USURP
12. Shabby: MANGY
18. "The Art of Loving" author Fromm: ERICH. With Judith HOAG at 32A, this was a near-Natick for me, I'm not sure I've heard of either. "H" seemed the best guess, and so it was.
22. Honey bunch: BEES
24. Blunders: GOOFS UP
27. Deli specification: ON RYE. Yes please, I love a deli sandwich on rye, preferably pastrami from Katz's in Manhattan's Lower East Side. What a great Food! puzzle today!
28. Traffic markers: CONES
30. Talking on and on: YAKKING
33. __-rock: ALT
34. Highlander: GAEL
36. Overused theme: TROPE. Nope, a cliche is an overused theme. A trope is the use of figurative language, an image or a figure of speech, which may be commonly recurring.
37. Bits: IOTAS
40. Map markers: STICK PINS. I thought these were called push pins - stick pins are much more decorative and used as costume jewelry or lapel decorations. Would you put these in a map?
42. Scottish rejection: NAE
48. Result of a poor investment: LOSS
50. Crème de la crème: A-LIST
53. Commercial charges: AD FEES
55. German city where the Bauhaus movement began: WEIMAR. And the Weimar Republic.
57. Where embryos grow: UTERI
58. Like much diet food: LO-FAT
60. Black-and-white whales: ORCAS
61. Grammy winner Eydie: GORMÉ. Thank you, crosses.
65. Letter that rhymes with three others: ZETA. Not Catherine Zeta-Jones?
66. Nephew of Cain: ENOS
69. Transit map abbr.: STA.
70. Snaky shape: ESS
Today I learned that Safeco is an insurance company, and I learned the name of a Grammy winner. File away for for future use!
* From 72A earlier, the teams are:
Cardinals - Arizona (NFL) and St. Louis (MLB)
Kings - Sacramento (NBA) and Los Angeles (NHL)
Panthers - Carolina (NFL) and Florida (NHL)
Rangers - Texas (
Jets - New York (NFL) and Winnipeg (NHL)
I hope I got that right, I was testing my own memory!
And hopefully, accurately, the grid:
Steve
