Looks like we have an "all-star" collaboration today, as Kevin Christian and Bruce Haight - two renowned crossword constructors - joined forces to create a clever puzzle that features four commonly used crossword "exclamations", each of which is a 3-letter word. All four of the entries are "clechos", and if your printed puzzle did not provide the circles, it may have been more difficult to "get". And while there is no "symmetry" in the placement of the circled "reveal" in each phrase, I think that finding four phrases such as these is quite unique.
As the entries tell us:
16-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters:
AINT GONNA HAPPEN, "NAH"!
27-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters:
HOLD EVERY THING, "HEY"!
So, as an aside, I was losing "steam" when I finally solved the puzzle, and of
course, thought of this when I saw the answers to 16-A and 27-A:
47-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters:
LOOK WHAT I FOUND, "OHO"!
And if Kevin and Bruce left out one of the "O's" in LOOK, I could've inserted
this:
57-Across. Exclamation clued by its circled letters: THAT HITS THE SPOT, "AHH"!
Could this image be better captioned as "AWW, THAT HITS THE SPOT?!"
Across:
1. Captain Kirk's home state: IOWA. I guess if you're a "Trekkie" you
know this: Riverside, IOWA is where James Tiberius Kirk was born, on March 22,
2233. It was there he was raised by his parents, George and Winona Kirk
5. Court case determination: FACT. I'm guessing that Sgt Joe Friday was
stating this, just in case it went to court
9. Rudiments: ABC'S. "Rudiments" = "basics", of which learning the
"ABC's" are
13. Old-fashioned way to settle a dispute: DUEL. Most famous one, I
guess, was Burr v Hamilton
14. Mila of "Bad Moms": KUNIS. Milena Markovna KUNIS is an American
actress and producer, originally from the Ukraine. Married actor Ashton
Kutcher in 2015; they have two children
15. Unhappy look: MOUE. Might you say that Moe has a MOUE?
19. __ the line: TOES. Obeys. Of course I used the past tense first,
TOED
20. Tag sale reminder: AS IS. Is it "tag sale", "yard sale", or "garage
sale"? Depends where you're from. I remember "tag sale" being the phrase when
I lived in New England ...
21. Certain sib: SIS. "BRO" also fits
22. Monte Carlo attractions: CASINOS. Monte Carlo is officially an
administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of
Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo CASINO is located. Wikipedia.
There are 4 of them
25. Nutty confection: PRALINE. PRALINE is a form of confection
containing at a minimum culinary nuts, usually almonds and hazelnuts, and
sugar; cream is a common third ingredient. More Wikipedia
29. Game with Reverse cards: UNO. Plays a lot like "Crazy Eights"
30. Amos who covered Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit": TORI. Nirvana
is the band that originally recorded "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in 1991. TORI
Amos "covered" (meaning that she, too recorded this song - with permission, of
course) a year later. Kurt Cobain is credited with the lyrics; Nirvana with
the music. Here is TORI's version:
31. Singer whose "Breathe Me" was part of the "Six Feet Under" series finale:
SIA. "Breathe Me" and its remixes have been featured in many TV shows
and movie soundtracks, most notably "Everyone's Waiting", the series finale of
the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. Wikipedia. SIA is: Sia Kate Isobelle
Furler, born 18 December 1975, and is from Adelaide, South Australia
32. Litter peeps: MEWS. MEWS, MEOW, MEWL are used to describe sounds
made by cats/kittens
34. Campy wrap: BOA.
36. Cougar maker, for short: MERC. I got this one straight away. MERC -
short for MERCury (a division of Ford Motors) - was the maker of the Cougar;
a luxury sports car
40. Chicken general: TSO. Moe-ku:
I ordered Chinese;43. Normandy beach: JUNO. Did you know this was JUNO and not ST LO??
Forgot the name of the dish.
You know, TSO and TSO
46. Me. neighbor: QUE. Is this a nitpick on my part? I did get the answer (QUE, as in short for QUEbec) but somehow wanted the clue to be ME instead of Me.
51. Wayne Manor feature: BATPOLE. I had BAT CAVE at first. "To the BATPOLES"
52. Out together: ON A DATE. Another one that filled itself in quite quickly; the expression "out ON A DATE" usually means being together
53. QB stat: ATT. Abbr for ATTempt, as in a QuarterBacks
passing statistic
54. Go out with a bang: SLAM.
56. Neutrogena shampoo brand: T-GEL. What's in T-GEL you ask? Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Polysorbate 20, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Bishydroxyethyl Dihydroxypropyl Stearammonium Chloride, Fragrance, Cocamide MEA, PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, DMDM Hydantoin, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Triethanolamine.
Yeah, I want to put THAT on my head
62. Cut down: HEWN. The past participle of "HEW"
63. Some Sunnis: KURDS. SUNNI: the larger of the two main branches of
Islam, which differs from Shia in its understanding of the Sunna, its
conception of religious leadership, and its acceptance of the first three
caliphs. KURDS are an ethnic group of Muslims native to Kurdistan, a
mountainous region of Western Asia. About 98% of KURDS are Sunni, according to
Wikipedia
64. Wedding dress option: SARI. I wonder if iPhone assistant Siri would
wear one to her wedding?
65. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT. Old school clue and answer. I smell ERAT ...
66. "House" actor: EPPS. As in Omar EPPS. He is most widely recognized
for his work as Dr. Eric Foreman on the hit series, "House, M.D."
67. They have it when things pass: AYES. Cute clue. "The AYES have
it!"
Down:
1. Civil rights pioneer __ B. Wells: IDA. Was born during the Civil
War; was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP). A whole lot more can be found
here
2. All-vowel avowal: OUI. Very clever clue. I never even thought of the
French word for "yes" but it certainly fits
3. Didn't rush things: WENT SLOW. For our resident grammarians: is this
OK or should it be WENT SLOWLY?
4. Mint in a tin: ALTOID. I know they still sell these, but it's been
since forever that a tin of these candy breath mints found its way into Moe's
shopping cart
5. Party goal: FUN. Well, it was FUN up until her Daddy took the T-Bird away
6. Chlumsky of "Veep": ANNA. Anna Maria Chlumsky is an American
actress. She co-starred on the HBO series "Veep", playing the role of Chief of
Staff Amy Brookheimer
7. Govt. agent: CIA SPY. This answer seems like a "made up" phrase to
me, but it fits
8. Gift shop stock: T-SHIRTS. I often wondered,
what does a T-SHIRT really cost?
9. Jack (up): AMP. Seems to me that T-SHIRT prices are jacked up, but
that's another definition. Here is our Thesaurussaurus's take:
OOPS! AMP didn't make the list . . .
10. Visits suddenly: BOPS IN. This brings back memories of my youth. We
used the term "BOP IN" more informally than this clue suggests, but I'll be
damned if I could find the origin of this expression via Google search. Best
definition I found to suggest the clue is: BOP (verb) "move or travel
energetically", as in "we've been bopping around the Mall all morning"
11. Prompting: CUEING. I put CLUING in at first; but CUEING is a term
used in theater when an actor knows when to speak their lines
12. Gut feeling: SENSE. "Indigestion" wouldn't fit
14. Pristina's country: KOSOVO. Learning moment for those who are
geographically challenged? Pristina is the capital of KOSOVO and the seat of
the eponymous municipality and district. Here is a map, courtesy of Google:
17. "The Maids" playwright Jean: GENET. I had no clue; all perps. This
puzzle was full of PPP
18. Japanese beer brand: ASAHI. I've drank it before; not bad
22. Pal: CHUM. The word CHUM has several different meanings
23. Top-notch: A-ONE. But is this a Top-Notch sauce?
24. 14-Down native: SERB. 14-Down = KOSOVO. Hmm. This is what I found
on Google: "KOSOVO is a mainly ethnic Albanian territory that was formerly a
province in SERBia. It declared independence in 2008. SERBia has refused to
recognize Kosovo's statehood and still considers it part of SERBia, even
though it has no formal control there. ... The dispute over Kosovo is
centuries-old"
26. Actor Hemsworth: LIAM.
Luke also fit, but not Chris
28. Spanish wine: RIOJA. How geeky would you like Moe to be today
regarding wine? So, RIOJA is a name for a wine region of N Spain; not too far
from Pamplona. The
primary grape grown there is Tempranillo, although Grenache (Garnacha) and Carignan are also harvested, as well as a
couple other red and white grape varietals, but to a lesser degree. There are
many laws that govern the producers of wines in RIOJA, but I will save that
for another time
33. "Enough!": STOP! That's an exclamation, too!
35. Start to focus?: AUTO. A feature of many cameras
37. Workplace concern: EQUAL PAY. EQUAL PAY deserves a one-word
comment: "yes"
38. Littlest in the litter: RUNT. Isn't THIS the truth?!
39. Give away: CEDE. This is quickly becoming a staple word for
crossword fill
41. Smidgen: SKOSH. OTOH, SKOSH is not
42. Solemn and wise, supposedly: OWL LIKE. This guy, perhaps?
44. Often critical innings: NINTHS. As in the NINTH inning in baseball; a classic
45. Adult: OF AGE. 18 or 21? Thoughts?
47. Agitated state: LATHER.
48. River to the St. Lawrence: OTTAWA. And the nation's capital city. A
CSO to Canadian, Eh!
49. Intensify: HEAT UP. It is starting to itensify, temperture-wise
here in TVOTS
50. Ukrainian city: ODESSA. A port city on the Black Sea
51. Immerse (in): BATHE. Literal: wash by immersing one's body in
water
55. Car ad fig.: MSRP. Manufacturer's Suggested
Retail Price
58. Demo letters: TNT. Tri Nitro Toluene; as in
short for "demolition"
59. QB stats: TDS. Clecho. TouchDowns, via the pass.
Peyton Manning holds the record for a single season with 55 TDS; 2013 with the
Denver Broncos
60. Miner concern: ORE. Nice play-on-words. Not "minor" concern, but
"miner", as in someone who works in a mine
61. "__ the season ... ": TIS. to be jolly, FA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA
LA
And with that, the grid:
Moe has left the building . . .
