Theme: Getting Pranked, or as the plowman said to the ox team "The yoke's on you".
A thoroughly date-appropriate theme from Daniel this morning. A whole slew of "gotchas" come together in this puzzle.
17A. "Gotcha!" : I'M KIDDING
24A. "Gotcha!" : MADE YOU LOOK. Made me look for a theme, that's for sure. See my "note" on 51A.
35A. "Gotcha!" : THE JOKE'S ON YOU
51A. Significance of this puzzle's circled letters (gotcha again!) : THERE IS NONE. I had "TO PAR" for 53D at first which made this entry read "THERE IS TONE". You'd all have gotten a good chuckle out of me trying to sing "IDDI DE-YO KES-O" and crack the "tonal" theme.
60A. Today's "Gotcha!" : APRIL FOOL
Nicely done! Steve here being fooled for a while until I corrected my "TO PAR" misstep and stopped singing nonsense. In France it is the custom today to try to stick fish-shaped cutouts on an unknowing person's back. The victim is then teased as being "un poisson d'Avril" - "an April fish". Whatever floats your bateau, I guess, they're an odd lot, those French.
Let's see what else we've got going on here.
Across
1. "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" rhyme scheme : AABA By the aptly-named Robert Frost.
5. Govt. org. with a "Safety Compass" blog : N.T.S.B. The National Transportation Safety Board. The "Safety" in the clue gave it away for me.
9. Under-the-tree pile : GIFTS. I wanted to cram "LEAVES" in here first.
14. Silly smile, maybe : GRIN
15. Snack with a white center : OREO. Crops up a lot in crosswords, but it's such a handy collection of vowels.
16. Garnish : ADORN
19. Brawl : MELEE
20. Menlo Park initials : T.A.E. Thomas Alva Edison. Filed 1,093 successful U.S. patent applications.
21. Those, in Oaxaca : ESAS
22. __ mater : ALMA
23. Gear on a tour bus : AMP. I have Marshall and Vox practice amplifiers. Here they are with my guitars.
28. They blow off steam : TEAPOTS. Peculiar clue, I have to say. A kettle would blow off steam, no?
30. Bugged by a bug : ILL
31. Like a twisted remark : WRY
32. Within: Pref. : ENTO
33. Hive-dwelling : APIAN. Do Roman bees travel on the Apian Way?
41. College declaration : MAJOR
42. Feminizing finish : ENNE. Hand up for "ETTE" first.
44. Icarus, to Daedalus : SON
47. Snooze : NAP
48. Add to a scrapbook, say : PASTE IN
54. Map rtes. : STS. Streets, I s'pose. Not an abbreviation I'm familiar with, I have to confess.
55. Drop-off point : EDGE
56. Charlie's fourth wife : OONA. And his granddaughter to keep the name current.
57. 201, on a monument : CCI. That's a heck of an old monument.
58. Carillon sounds : PEALS
62. Cookout spot : PATIO
63. Willing : GAME
64. "A __ for Emily": Faulkner short story : ROSE
65. Not in a slump? : ERECT
66. "Iliad" deity : ARES. We've seen him a few times recently.
67. Stops equivocating : OPTS
Down
1. Stir up : AGITATE
2. Military equipment : ARMAMENT
3. Designated park trail : BIKE PATH
4. DiFranco of folk rock : ANI. I went to link one of her songs but I dozed off trying to pick one out. Not my cup of tea, I guess.
5. Greets wordlessly : NODS AT
6. Three-note chords : TRIADS
7. Have a feeling : SENSE
8. Peat source : BOG
9. Leg, to a film noir detective : GAM. Cue "LA Confidential", appropriately.
10. Model of perfection : IDEAL. AKA Kim Basinger in "LA Confidential", above.
11. Trail : FOLLOW
12. Seismometer detection : TREMOR. Plenty of these in my neck of the woods. More than 20 in the last week alone in LA County according to the local seismic survey.
13. Duplicitous : SNEAKY
18. Self-produced recording, perhaps : DEMO
25. Slangy golf term for nervousness while putting, with "the" : YIPS. Former world #1 and two-times Masters champion Bernhard Langer suffered terribly from this affliction in mid-career. He's now one of the best putters on the senior tour.
26. Everything-in-the-pot stew : OLIO
27. __ Bator : ULAN. Mongolian home of this airport. I have a friend who quit the British secret service (MI5) because she was going to be posted here. She wanted Milan, Paris or New York. Outer Mongolia? Not so much.
29. Mary Oliver output : POEM
33. __ Lingus : AER. They fly to Ulan Bator from Dublin. Who'd a thunk it?
34. Babushka's denial : NYET
36. Actress Kaczmarek with seven Emmy nominations : JANE. Crosses all the way. Apparently "best known for playing Lois on 'Malcolm in the Middle'".
37. Ventura County resort city : OJAI. "City" is a little grand for this place, population around 7,000. Chain stores are banned here by city ordinance.
38. Keystone force : KOPS. Most of their location shoots were a couple of miles down the street from me in Silverlake.
39. Kid-sized ice cream order : ONE SCOOP
40. Price per can, e.g. : UNIT COST
43. Stores in a farm tower : ENSILES. Total WAG for me here with the first "S". I wasn't entirely convinced by "STS" so I hesitated. According to the interwebs:
44. Vast grassland : STEPPE
45. "Goodness gracious" : OH DEAR
46. Cancel out : NEGATE
48. "I have the worst luck!" : POOR ME
49. John Denver's "__ Song" : ANNIE'S. I'll spare you the link.
50. Corporate emblem : SEAL. Another odd clue, IMHO
52. Dig find : RELIC
53. Wall Street phrase : NO PAR. As I mentioned at the top, I had TO PAR first. I've heard of AT PAR too, but never NO PAR until today (well except for my golf game, I've had NO PAR many times over!). I discover that NO PAR means that a share of a stock has no redemption value.
59. Pink-elephant spotter, stereotypically : SOT. Did Dumbo get drunk? I can't remember the context of this in the movie.
60. Ottoman bigwig : AGA
61. To and __ : FRO
That's my lot. A Pinch and a Punch for the First of the Month and no returns! Here's the grid.
Steve
A thoroughly date-appropriate theme from Daniel this morning. A whole slew of "gotchas" come together in this puzzle.
17A. "Gotcha!" : I'M KIDDING
24A. "Gotcha!" : MADE YOU LOOK. Made me look for a theme, that's for sure. See my "note" on 51A.
35A. "Gotcha!" : THE JOKE'S ON YOU
51A. Significance of this puzzle's circled letters (gotcha again!) : THERE IS NONE. I had "TO PAR" for 53D at first which made this entry read "THERE IS TONE". You'd all have gotten a good chuckle out of me trying to sing "IDDI DE-YO KES-O" and crack the "tonal" theme.
60A. Today's "Gotcha!" : APRIL FOOL
Nicely done! Steve here being fooled for a while until I corrected my "TO PAR" misstep and stopped singing nonsense. In France it is the custom today to try to stick fish-shaped cutouts on an unknowing person's back. The victim is then teased as being "un poisson d'Avril" - "an April fish". Whatever floats your bateau, I guess, they're an odd lot, those French.
Let's see what else we've got going on here.
Across
1. "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" rhyme scheme : AABA By the aptly-named Robert Frost.
5. Govt. org. with a "Safety Compass" blog : N.T.S.B. The National Transportation Safety Board. The "Safety" in the clue gave it away for me.
9. Under-the-tree pile : GIFTS. I wanted to cram "LEAVES" in here first.
14. Silly smile, maybe : GRIN
15. Snack with a white center : OREO. Crops up a lot in crosswords, but it's such a handy collection of vowels.
16. Garnish : ADORN
19. Brawl : MELEE
20. Menlo Park initials : T.A.E. Thomas Alva Edison. Filed 1,093 successful U.S. patent applications.
21. Those, in Oaxaca : ESAS
22. __ mater : ALMA
23. Gear on a tour bus : AMP. I have Marshall and Vox practice amplifiers. Here they are with my guitars.
28. They blow off steam : TEAPOTS. Peculiar clue, I have to say. A kettle would blow off steam, no?
30. Bugged by a bug : ILL
31. Like a twisted remark : WRY
32. Within: Pref. : ENTO
33. Hive-dwelling : APIAN. Do Roman bees travel on the Apian Way?
41. College declaration : MAJOR
42. Feminizing finish : ENNE. Hand up for "ETTE" first.
44. Icarus, to Daedalus : SON
47. Snooze : NAP
48. Add to a scrapbook, say : PASTE IN
54. Map rtes. : STS. Streets, I s'pose. Not an abbreviation I'm familiar with, I have to confess.
55. Drop-off point : EDGE
56. Charlie's fourth wife : OONA. And his granddaughter to keep the name current.
57. 201, on a monument : CCI. That's a heck of an old monument.
58. Carillon sounds : PEALS
62. Cookout spot : PATIO
63. Willing : GAME
64. "A __ for Emily": Faulkner short story : ROSE
65. Not in a slump? : ERECT
66. "Iliad" deity : ARES. We've seen him a few times recently.
67. Stops equivocating : OPTS
Down
1. Stir up : AGITATE
2. Military equipment : ARMAMENT
3. Designated park trail : BIKE PATH
4. DiFranco of folk rock : ANI. I went to link one of her songs but I dozed off trying to pick one out. Not my cup of tea, I guess.
5. Greets wordlessly : NODS AT
6. Three-note chords : TRIADS
7. Have a feeling : SENSE
8. Peat source : BOG
9. Leg, to a film noir detective : GAM. Cue "LA Confidential", appropriately.
10. Model of perfection : IDEAL. AKA Kim Basinger in "LA Confidential", above.
11. Trail : FOLLOW
12. Seismometer detection : TREMOR. Plenty of these in my neck of the woods. More than 20 in the last week alone in LA County according to the local seismic survey.
13. Duplicitous : SNEAKY
18. Self-produced recording, perhaps : DEMO
25. Slangy golf term for nervousness while putting, with "the" : YIPS. Former world #1 and two-times Masters champion Bernhard Langer suffered terribly from this affliction in mid-career. He's now one of the best putters on the senior tour.
26. Everything-in-the-pot stew : OLIO
27. __ Bator : ULAN. Mongolian home of this airport. I have a friend who quit the British secret service (MI5) because she was going to be posted here. She wanted Milan, Paris or New York. Outer Mongolia? Not so much.
29. Mary Oliver output : POEM
33. __ Lingus : AER. They fly to Ulan Bator from Dublin. Who'd a thunk it?
34. Babushka's denial : NYET
36. Actress Kaczmarek with seven Emmy nominations : JANE. Crosses all the way. Apparently "best known for playing Lois on 'Malcolm in the Middle'".
37. Ventura County resort city : OJAI. "City" is a little grand for this place, population around 7,000. Chain stores are banned here by city ordinance.
38. Keystone force : KOPS. Most of their location shoots were a couple of miles down the street from me in Silverlake.
39. Kid-sized ice cream order : ONE SCOOP
40. Price per can, e.g. : UNIT COST
43. Stores in a farm tower : ENSILES. Total WAG for me here with the first "S". I wasn't entirely convinced by "STS" so I hesitated. According to the interwebs:
en·sile
inˈsīl,enˈsīl/
verb
3rd person present: ensiles
put (grass or another crop) into a silo in order to preserve it as silage44. Vast grassland : STEPPE
45. "Goodness gracious" : OH DEAR
46. Cancel out : NEGATE
48. "I have the worst luck!" : POOR ME
49. John Denver's "__ Song" : ANNIE'S. I'll spare you the link.
50. Corporate emblem : SEAL. Another odd clue, IMHO
52. Dig find : RELIC
53. Wall Street phrase : NO PAR. As I mentioned at the top, I had TO PAR first. I've heard of AT PAR too, but never NO PAR until today (well except for my golf game, I've had NO PAR many times over!). I discover that NO PAR means that a share of a stock has no redemption value.
59. Pink-elephant spotter, stereotypically : SOT. Did Dumbo get drunk? I can't remember the context of this in the movie.
60. Ottoman bigwig : AGA
61. To and __ : FRO
That's my lot. A Pinch and a Punch for the First of the Month and no returns! Here's the grid.
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Please click here for a great puzzle Marcia Brott & George Barany created to celebrate the birthday of a real Minnesota Nice. If you download puz, please read Notepad after you're done. Click on View, then Notepad.
