M O N D A Y October 25, 2010 Robert A. Doll

Theme: Every Tom, Dick, and Harry — Theme answer are familiar phrases that begin with words that can be men's names.


Theme answers:

• 17A: Wealthy relative (RICH UNCLE).
• 24A: Emulate Muhammad Ali (BOB AND WEAVE).
• 39A: Father-son talk, e.g. (FRANK DISCUSSION).
• 50A: Assembled in a makeshift manner (JERRY RIGGED).
• 64A: Get-together for the starts of 17-, 24-, 39- and 50-Across? (STAG PARTY).

The only thing that really jumped out at me with this theme was remembering that we just had jury-rigged in a puzzle recently. (Didn't we?) I guess both jury and jerry are legitimate in this phrase. Who knew. Other than that, well, I just really don't have a lot of time today, so we're gonna go straight to bullets and you all can flesh it out in the comments.

Bullets:

• 1A: Eve's youngest (SETH). I first tried ABEL. Why I thought Adam and Eve would somehow be able to populate the world by having only two children is beyond me.
• 15A: "The __": placekicker Lou Groza's nickname (TOE). That's an awesome nickname.
• 33A: Older but __ (WISER). I've always thought of it as older and WISER.
• 44A: Annually (A YEAR). Never been a fan of "a" being used in place of "per." Just one of my pet peeves. We all have 'em, right?
• 66A: Used a prie dieu (KNELT). A prie dieu is that little bench thing that comes down at the bottom of a pew so you can kneel down. I learned that in a puzzle once.
• 71A: Rockwell or Gothic (TYPE). Okay, I went and found this really bad blast from the past for you, but I was watching it I realized that I totally forgot that Michael Jackson sings back-up in this song! How in the world did the King of Pop get himself mixed up in this lame song?



• 25D: Alamo hero (BOWIE). Never sure how to pronounce James Bowie's name. Is it like David Bowie (boe-ee)? Or like Bowie, Maryland (boo-ee)?
• 35D: Scrawny one (SCRAG). Whoa. Is this a word? I've heard of scraggly but I don't think I've heard of SCRAG.
• 37D: Walt Kelly's possum (POGO). Me: "Who the hell is Walt Kelly and why the hell does he have a possum?"

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 21A: Rio automaker (KIA).
• 45A: Jason's vessel (ARGO).
• 55A: North Carolina university (ELON).
• 2D: Nobelist Wiesel (ELIE).
• 29D: Arabian sultanate (OMAN).
• 38D: Soon, poetically (ANON).
• 51D: Kagan who replaced Stevens on the Supreme Court (ELENA).
• 63D: RR depot (STA.).
• 65D: Literary collection (ANA).

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Everything Else — 5A: Special __: military force (OPS); 8A: Priest's place (ALTAR); 13A: Trojan War epic (ILIAD); 16A: Dog (POOCH); 19A: Sidekick who rode Scout (TONTO); 20A: Bagel flavoring (SESAME); 23A: Bones partner (SKIN); 27A: Free, as legal work (PRO BONO); 31A: Author Fleming (IAN); 32A: Titled woman (DAME); 36A: Dean's list factor: Abbr. (GPA); 43A: D.C. bigwig (SEN.).

46A: Had some grub (ATE); 47A: Leave high and dry (ABANDON); 56A: Fed. loan guarantor (SBA); 57A: Take turns (ROTATE); 62A: Bank takebacks, briefly (REPOS); 67A: Many, many moons (EON); 68A: Coach : athlete :: __ : student (TUTOR); 69A: When tripled, and so on (YADDA); 70A: Gun lobby org. (NRA); 1D: 32-Acrosses' spouses (SIRS); 3D: Nervous spasms (TICS); 4D: "Very funny!" ("HA HA!"); 5D: Non-Rx (OTC); 6D: Oktoberfest dance (POLKA); 7D: Make welcome (SEE IN); 8D: On-target (APT); 9D: Let out a few notches in (LOOSEN); 10D: Toy truck brand (TONKA); 11D: When Ophelia drowns (ACT IV); 12D: River at Arles (RHONE); 14D: Disney pachyderm (DUMBO); 18D: One of the noble gases (NEON); 22D: French farewell (ADIEU); 26D: Part of V.F.W. (WARS); 27D: Commonly e-mailed files, for short (PDFS); 28D: Porterhouse order (RARE); 30D: Golfer Hogan (BEN); 34D: "This __ ripoff!" (IS A); 36D: Prepare, as for action (GIRD); 40D: "K-K-K-__": 1918 song (KATY); 41D: Batik artisans (DYERS); 42D: __ Francisco (SAN); 46D: Composer Schoenberg (ARNOLD); 48D: Arctic floater (BERG); 49D: Take in from a pet shelter (ADOPT); 50D: Beef __: dried meat (JERKY); 52D: Enticed, with "in" (ROPED); 53D: "Peer Gynt" dramatist (IBSEN); 54D: Croc's cousin (GATOR); 58D: Drawn tight (TAUT); 59D: Culturally pretentious (ARTY); 60D: 'Vette roof option (T-TOP); 61D: Brontë's "Jane __" (EYRE).