T H U R S D A Y August 5, 2010 Dan Naddor

Theme: You have the right to remain silent …. — Theme answers are familiar phrases that end with a word that can be a slang word for "arrest."


Theme answers:

• 18A: *If absolutely necessary (IN A PINCH).
• 20A: *Ranger, for one (FORD PICKUP).
• 37A: *"Am I missing something here?" ("WHAT'S THE CATCH?").
• 55A: *Like manual laborers (BLUE COLLAR).
• 59A: *Boisterous frat party (BEER BUST).
• 48D: Run in, and a hint to the ends of the answers to starred clues (ARREST).

Cute theme today with a couple stellar theme answers — BEER BUST and "WHAT'S THE CATCH?" — and decent overall fill. I have to laugh at myself because after solving this thing, I went back to figure out the theme and for some reason misread the reveal answer as pointing to 40D instead of 48D. I could not figure out what FREEBIE had to do with the theme answers. D'oh!

FREEBIE (40D: It's thrown in) ended up being one of my favorite fill entries and, coincidentally, it rhymes with another favorite: PHOEBE (61A: Lisa's "Friends" role). She's always been my favorite "Friend." Unfortunately, my very favorite clip of her (singing "Smelly Cat," obviously) is not embeddable. Other sparkly entries include BACKLASH (10D: Political repercussions) and MISS M (29D: Midler's "Divine" nickname).

[Note: There are a couple bad words in this video. Nothing major though.]

I felt a definite international flavor in this grid with a little bit of Spanish here, a little bit of French there, then some more Spanish, then some more French, and so on and so on.

• 1A: Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida __" (LOCA).
• 12A: Schools for Jules (ÉCOLES).
• 41A: Coeur d'__ (ALENE).
• 45A: "CHiPs" star (ESTRADA).
• 39D: Lycée attendee (ÉLÈVE).
• 47D: Don Quixote's devil (DIABLO).

More:

• 25A: Current pioneer (TESLA). Weren't we just talking about him??
• 32A: Sea salt? (TAR). This is a definition of TAR that you really need to get used to if you're going to continue to do crossword puzzles. Sorry.
• 33A: Spare tire site? (WAIST). Thanks for bringing it up.
• 65A: Relative of -trix (-ESS). I'm not a fan of the feminine suffixes.

• 66A: Place with a pool, informally (THE Y). I've only seen this one other time in a puzzle, and it confused the crap out of me. I was sure I had a mistake in there somewhere but all the crosses looked solid. I believe it wasn't until I read Rex's blog that day that I understood I needed to parse it as "THE Y[MCA]" not the one-word "THEY."
• 2D: Eight-footers? (OCTOPI). I believe that this is not, in fact, the "correct" plural form of "octopus," but it's been used enough lately that its a legitimate crossword entry.
• 6D: Professor's goal (TENURE). I was kinda hoping this would be something along the lines of "teaching kids something," but … no.
• 25D: Letter? (TENANT). Here's that definition of "letter" I was looking for the other day.
• 44D: "Gotta think about it" ("I'LL SEE"). "Gotta think about it" = "I'll see" = "maybe" = "no."



• 52D: "Back in the Saddle Again" autobiographer (AUTRY). If you liked the two previous clips, you'll probably hate this.

Crosswordese 101: EMI is a British music company that pops up in crossword puzzles from time to time. Probably a good idea to have this one in your back pocket. On late-week puzzles, there may not be a hint in the clue that the answer is an abbreviation (or initialism … whatever), but early in the week there will. Clues you might see include: "U.K. record label," "Brit. record company," "Virgin parent," "One of the 'big four' record labels," or 43A: Brit. recording giant.

Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:

• 9A: Lawyers' org. (ABA).
• 54A: Language that gave us "plaid" (ERSE).

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Also: Have you registered for Lollapuzzoola 3 yet? What are you waiting for?

Everything Else — 5A: Start of many addresses (HTTP); 9A: Lawyers' org. (ABA); 15A: Prefix with sol (AERO-); 16A: Heater (GAT); 17A: On the line (AT RISK); 22A: "It's the real thing" soft drink (COKE); 23A: Govt. watchdog (EPA); 24A: Not just my (OUR); 26A: Quandary (DILEMMA); 30A: One who raised Cain (EVE); 35A: Refuse to budge (INSIST); 40A: Blacks out (FAINTS); 42A: Many a CBer's workplace (RIG); 43A: Brit. recording giant (EMI); 49A: Kind of alcohol (ETHYL); 51A: Little john? (LAV); 53A: Lady's man (SIR); 54A: Language that gave us "plaid" (ERSE); 62A: "Happiness __ Warm Puppy": "Peanuts" book (IS A); 63A: Manipulative type (USER); 64A: Drives (IMPELS); 67A: Apt name for a Dalmatian (SPOT); 1D: Flipped (through) (LEAFED); 3D: Capture (CORRAL); 4D: "Put __ on it!" (A LID); 5D: Three-line verse (HAIKU); 7D: Capture (TRAP); 8D: Appear unexpectedly, with "up" (POP); 9D: Religious doubter (AGNOSTIC); 11D: Deep down (AT HEART); 13D: Sixth sense, for short (ESP); 14D: Schuss, e.g. (SKI); 19D: Diamonds, to hoods (ICE); 21D: Oregon highlight (COAST); 27D: McGregor of "The Men Who Stare at Goats" (EWAN); 28D: Hot Wheels maker (MATTEL); 31D: Bad habits (VICES); 34D: "J to __ L-O!": Lopez remix album (THA); 36D: Trick ending? (-STER); 37D: Many a server, in the old days (WAITRESS); 38D: Boat rocker, to say the least (HIGH SEAS); 46D: Napping (ASLEEP); 50D: "__ out!": ump's call (YER); 55D: Outback (BUSH); 56D: Cost-of-living stat (CPI); 57D: Electrical unit (OHM); 58D: Cuts off (LOPS); 60D: On the other hand (BUT).