Title: I AM what I AM
I begin with wishing all those who will celebrate the Jewish New Year, starting this evening at sundown, Shana Tovah-שנה טובה. I renew my prayer for Abejo for a return to health.
I am neither Popeye nor a sailor man, but I am your guide through this add a bigram at the end of a phrase puzzle. Similar to my last Friday blog, this looks like a Tuesday with some hard clues added into to make it a Friday. The word count, average word length, and newness all bespoke an earlier in the week puzzle. It had charm and some trickiness, so here we go, first recognizing some nice long fill ADMIRALS, TERRIBLE, BASSINETS, and UNDAMAGED.
Then to the theme:
20A. Nickname for the first Web user?: INTERNET ADAM (12). This a good guess for the first human in cyberspace.
34A. General Motors toy?: BABY GRAND-AM (11). The piano becomes a toy car long out of production.
41A. Cheese snack for the road?: DRIVERS EDAM (11). My favorite phrase, though I do not believe EDAM is the choice of truck drivers. It is a semi-hard Dutch cheese originating in the town of Edam in the province of North Holland. It is made with part-skim milk.
55A. Hangover ... and a hint to 20-, 34- and 41-Across: MORNING AFTER (12). The last time I saw Jane Fonda in person was at a promotional party for this Movie. Good times.
1. Sit tight: BIDE. Your time.
5. Lucy who played Watson on "Elementary": LIU. She was an interesting character; Angeline Jolie's first husband was not.
8. 10-Down instrument: PIPES. 10D. Part-goat god: PAN.
13. Isn't with more people?: AREN'T. Very cute, assuming more people speak English correctly.
15. Miller of "Room Service": ANN.
16. Winner of four FIFA World Cups: ITALY. Who can forget the headbutt by the star from France?
17. French toast part: SANTE. Speaking of France, Health!
18. Baby goat: KID.
19. Arc lamp gas: XENON. A xenon arc lamp is a highly specialized type of gas discharge lamp, an electric light that produces light by passing electricity through ionized xenon gas.
23. California peaks, with "the": SIERRAS. Extending more than 250 miles (400 kilometres) northward from the Mojave Desert to the Cascade Range of northern California and Oregon, the Sierra Nevada varies from about 80 miles wide at Lake Tahoe to about 50 miles wide in the south.
24. Peace, in Russian: MIR. Did you know that 21 September is the International Day of Peace? Here are 35 ways to say PEACE.
25. Pen name: BIC. I like this simple misdirection
28. Family nickname: SIS. I never had one, never will. I do call my Thai s-i-ls Sister.
29. Benjamin Hoff's "The __ of Pooh": TAO. If you like your philosophy taught this WAY.
30. Japanese wrestling: SUMO. Derived from Old Japanese verb 争ふ (sumapu), modern 争う (sumau, “to contend, resist, compete
31. Middle of summer?: EMS.
37. Stylish flap: LAPEL. Flap indeed.
39. Tarzan's Cheeta, for one: APE. Chimpanzees are part of the APE family.
40. Evasive maneuver: DODGE. Or an out of production car.
44. Until now: YET.
45. Vogue rival: ELLE. A magazine for stylish people.
46. Volume-increasing addition, usually: ESS. Absolutely no idea.
47. Small untruth: FIB. Rhymes with rib.
49. Mall __: RAT. Or the MOVIE.
50. Japanese yes: HAI. How funny; I did a "say it in many languages" for yes years ago. I bet we can find it now with our enhanced search engine.
51. Pitcher's malady: SORE ARM. Local resident TOMMY JOHN had an arm surgery named after him.
57. "Death of a Salesman" family name: LOMAN. Willy, Linda, Biff, and Happy.
60. Ambient music pioneer Brian: ENO.
61. SoFi Stadium NFLer: LA RAM. Oops, no, not part of the theme.
63. Fort Worth sch.: TCU. Texas Christian University.
64. Snail trail: SLIME.
65. Loser to Roosevelt and Truman: DEWEY. He came close. There are advantages for incumbents.
66. Remained idle: SAT. This write-up involves much sitting at the computer.
67. Keep: LAST. Comments?
Down:
1. Foundation: BASIS. There are many synonyms for each.
2. Afghan's neighbor: IRANI. More geography.
3. Al __: DENTE. Didn't he blog Thursdays here years ago?
4. Goes into: ENTERS.
5. Land O'__: dairy aisle brand: LAKES. My brand of choice and home of Boomer and C.C.
6. Competitive: IN IT. Still in the mix.
7. Intact: UNDAMAGED.
8. "Cars" maker: PIXAR.
9. Tabloid twosome: ITEM.
11. "Evil Woman" gp.: ELO.
12. Example, for instance: Abbr.: SYN. Very nice misdirection.
14. Adjective for Alexander's day, in a Judith Viorst kids' book: TERRIBLE. THE BOOK
21. Mars rover org.: NASA. Did any of you watch AWAY with Hilary Swank?
22. Couture giant: DIOR.
25. Mac: BUDDY.
26. It might be spitting: IMAGE. Cute.
27. Dancer companion: COMET. Reindeering on your parade?
29. Varieties: TYPES.
30. __-cone: SNO.
31. Ranking member, as in a village: ELDER.
32. Actress Gibbs of "The Jeffersons": MARLA.
33. In need of mopping up: SPILT.
35. Baby beds: BASSINETS. It has been so long since I had a baby in my home, I had forgotten this word. They were wonderful when you did not want to leave your room to comfort a baby.
36. Military leaders: ADMIRALS.
38. Portentous time: EVE.
42. Bring up: REAR. Raising.
43. In __: confused: A FOG. All too often these days.
48. Come about: BEFALL. I see that as backward.
50. Dear: HONEY. So many sticky appellations.
51. Pig feature: SNOUT. Modern snout?
52. Naturally lit courtyards: ATRIA. Open areas.
53. Paper quantities: REAMS. 500 sheets.
54. Big Apple sports mascot: MR MET. Another appearance of the ball headed one.
55. Tom or bull: MALE. There are also many synonyms here.
56. Ancient Cuzco resident: INCA. Did they eat couscous there? So much HISTORY.
57. Bloke: LAD. Steve, I miss you already, though MalMan and Chairman Moe are doing great work.
58. Wordsworth wrote one to duty: ODE. Would you like some extensive COMMENTARY?
59. Pound sound: MEW. Do they really take cats to the pound?
