06.27 Mon

M O N D A Y
June 27, 2011
Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke

Theme: I Hear a Symphony — Each theme answer ends with a word that can mean a piece of music.

Theme answers:

• 20A: Stops broadcasting (GOES OFF THE AIR).
• 31A: Very cheaply (FOR A SONG).
• 40A: Make minor changes to (FINE-TUNE).
• 53A: 1969 Beach Boys hit, and a hint to the ends of 20-, 31- and 40-Across (I CAN HEAR MUSIC).

Wow. Super smooth solve for our Monday puzzle this week. Some later-week words definitely snuck into the grid somehow, but the crosses were all solid so they didn't slow me down a bit. Not much to the theme. Kinda wish there had been a fourth synonym instead of the reveal answer, but that's a minor quibble. I guess the fact that I've never heard of that Beach Boys song is a little bigger quibble but, again, smooth Monday solve = great start to the week, as far as I'm concerned.

Bullets:

• 17A: Took off (SPLIT). Thought about STRIP for a minute which obviously isn't the right part of speech, but then I couldn't think of "took off" any other way. The crosses took care of everything.

• 23A: Calif.'s second-busiest airport (SFO). SFO is the airport code for San Francisco International Airport.
• 26A: 1956 perfect game pitcher Don (LARSEN). He shows up in the puzzle from time to time, so if you're not a big sports fan, you might just try to keep this info in your back pocket.
• 27A: Soldiers' knapsacks (KIT BAGS). I'm not sure I've ever heard this phrase before. Again, though, crosses made it clear.
• 43A: Exhibit curiosity (ASK). I got this one totally through crosses. Why? Because I was looking at both "exhibit" and "curiosity" as nouns. Wait. The way I was thinking about it, I guess "exhibit" would be an adjective. In any case, it wasn't a verb and that made the answer impossible for me to see.
• 61A: Lie around idly (LAZE). Sounds like heaven.

• 64A: Once-over giver (EYER). Ugh. The only thing worse than this answer is its clue. Luckily, this is the only real clunker that jumped out at me.
• 3D: Acquired dishonestly (ILL-GOTTEN). Is this word ever used to describe anything besides "gains"?
• 23D: Watercraft for one (SKIFF). This is one of the later-week words I was talking about. I'm not a boat person, but I do know some of the main boating words that come up in puzzles. Not this one though.
• 24D: Flowers, in Florence (FIORI). Speaking of airports, this one made me think of Fiorello La Guardia.
• 28D: Diminish (BATE). Hmm. Look like it's missing a letter to me. Oh wait, I get it. Like "BATEd breath." Got it.
• 33D: Blackball (OSTRACIZE). Another later-week word. And this one has a Z. Awesome.
• 34D: "Dagnabbit!" ("NERTS!"). I like both of those expressions.

• 38D: Fountain pen filler (INK). PuzzleHusband and I were watching NY Ink last night for the first time. It's a reality show about a tattoo shop that's staffed by quite the motley crew. Totally made both of us want to get tattooed (again).
• 46D: Con artists (HOSERS). Now I know for a fact I've never heard this word used this way. Interesting.
• 49D: Feltlike fabric (BAIZE). Whoa, what? Haha. Ne-Ever heard of this. It's kind of amazing how many interesting/unusual words are in this grid without bogging it down. Two thumbs up.

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 15A: Sheltered, on a ship (ALEE).
• 4D: Hodgepodge (OLIO).
• 7D: Five Norse kings (OLAFS).
• 59D: Author Deighton (LEN).

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Everything Else — 1A: Earlier (PRIOR); 6A: King of the Empire State Building? (KONG); 10A: Felix and Sylvester (CATS); 14A: Beautiful, in Bologna (BELLA); 16A: Very much (A LOT); 18A: "You couldn't hit the broad side of a __!" (BARN); 19A: Shore phenomenon (TIDE); 25A: Applies gently (DABS); 29A: Lamb cut (LEG); 30A: Greek "i" (IOTA); 36A: Worries (FRETS); 38A: Payment promise letters (IOU); 39A: Stage platform (RISER); 42A: Houston player, informally ('STRO); 44A: Souvenirs with slogans (T-SHIRTS); 47A: Surprise attack (AMBUSH); 51A: Message from the boss (MEMO); 52A: Mule's parent (ASS); 56A: Fishtail (SKID); 57A: Roast cut (RUMP); 58A: Use TurboTax, say (E-FILE); 62A: "Am __ late?" (I TOO); 63A: Used a wrecking ball on (RAZED); 65A: Marseilles monikers (NOMS); 66A: Angioplasty implant (STENT); 1D: NEA grant recipient (PBS); 2D: Crunch unit (REP); 5D: Like some bonds (RATED A); 6D: Cookout offerings on sticks (KABOBS); 8D: Spongy ball brand (NERF); 9D: More sensitive about breaking bad news (GENTLER); 10D: Supply party food for (CATER); 11D: Misleading name (ALIAS); 12D: "It's __ for!": "Fabulous!" (TO DIE); 13D: Tiller's locale (STERN); 21D: Drop in the middle (SAG); 22D: Comics Viking (HÄGAR); 29D: Baseball great Gehrig (LOU); 31D: Grant, to Lee (FOE); 32D: Señor's "Positively!" ("¡SÍ SÍ!"); 35D: A dozen dozen (GROSS); 37D: Secret supply (STASH); 41D: Herald, as a new era (USHER IN); 44D: Beats for this puzzle's theme (TEMPOS); 45D: Dallas campus: Abbr. (SMU); 47D: Theater divider (AISLE); 48D: Olympics sportscaster Jim (MCKAY); 50D: In a trance (UNDER); 51D: 1983 Michael Keaton role-reversal movie (MR. MOM); 54D: Caddy or Jag (AUTO); 55D: "__ first you don't succeed ..." (IF AT); 60D: Boston summer hrs. (EDT).