Theme: A New Dimension in Crossword Entertainment ! - The theme entries all have the word SOUND surrounding the phrases front and back, with the unifier at 50A: Home theater feature, and a hint to the puzzle theme in 19-, 22-, 32-, 46-Across, and the first (sic) word of this answer : SURROUND SOUND. At first, I thought that was a typo, until I realized that it was a hint that the first word of the unifier also contains "sound" surrounding it...great stuff!
19A. "Afraid you can't have your money back" : SORRY NO REFUND. I wonder why they wouldn't take back the thong I bought last month?
22A. Progresso or Lipton : SOUP BRAND. Would you believe, I was looking for types of tea??
32A. Refuse to budge : STAND ONES GROUND. A grid-spanning anchor in the center of the Home Entertainment System!
46A. Home of Notre Dame : SOUTH BEND. Alma Mater.
You got me, C.C. !
Marti here, and she didn't tell me it was her puzzle when she asked me to fill in today. How great to blog one of our dynamic duo's puzzles!! (See notes from C.C. and Don at the end.)
Across:
1. Winter break? : THAW. We really needed one this past winter. Didn't happen until, oh, about three days ago...
5. Drink noisily : SLURP.
10. Agcy. that established rules for kite flying : FAA. Go fly a kite! (But not near the airport...)
13. Poet known for inventing words : NASH.
"Reflection on Babies"
A bit of talcum
Is always walcum.
14. Prairie home : TEPEE
15. "__ la Douce" : IRMA. Great 1963 flick with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine.
16. The Dixie Chicks, e.g. : TRIO. Aww, do I have to? (link)
17. "__ of robins in her hair": Kilmer : A NEST. Help, Clear Ayes!
18. Strip light : NEON. Dennis, are there strip lights on South Beach?
24. Climber's toehold : LEDGE. Yes, and pitons, cables or anything else I could get my big toe into...
25. Fertile desert spot : OASIS
26. New Deal inits. : FDR. Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
27. Sch. with a Spokane campus : WSU. Washington State University. Top 10 in the country for using clean technology on campus.
28. Like the Parthenon : ANCIENT. No, like me.
38. Young in films : LORETTA. Is she ancient now?
39. Sushi topping : ROE. Roe, roe, roe your boat...Oh, oops - I did that last time... (This is really hard, guys!)
40. Lincoln or Ford : CAR. Ha Ha. You didn't fool me. I knew right away that "prez" wouldn't fit!
41. Rapids transit : CANOE. Great pun on Rapid Transit. But I confidently filled in "kayak".
43. Chinese, e.g. : ASIAN. Do you think of yourself as "Asian" or "Chinese", C.C.? I think of myself as "American", not "USA'an".
52. Cement piece : SLAB
53. Auto buyer's choice : SEDAN
54. Ages and ages : EONS. I just keep aging and aging...
57. Hgts. : ALTS. "Alps" would fit, but I don't think the Down would fit the "breakfast test"...
58. Rag� rival : PREGO
59. Hurry : RUSH. We all know Hurry Limbaugh, right?
60. Food additive : DYE. Ewwww, and we got a lesson the other day about what exactly is in those dyes.
61. Scatter : STREW
62. Hang around : STAY. I can't STAY. I have to go DOWN...
Down:
1. "We know drama" channel : TNT. Turner Network Television.
2. Guffaw syllable : HAR. Haw, haw, hee hee, ho ho!
3. Customarily : AS IS USUAL. Great phrase. As is usual, our constructors brought out their "A" game today!
4. Moderator of a panel including Joy, Elisabeth and Sherri : WHOOPI. Goldberg.
5. Best successor of 1962 : STARR. Pete Best, Ringo Starr. If this were Monday, they would never get away with this clue - great misdirection!
6. Actress Lotte : LENYA. OK, maybe you don't remember her. But do you remember "Mack the Knife", written for her by her husband Kurt Weill? Ok, so it's in German, and not the Louis Armstrong-famous version, but it is Lotte Lenya, which is probably why you don't remember her...
7. Wharton's sch. : UPENN. Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
8. Fix, as a green : RESOD. They need to RESOD the greens at my local course. Terrible shape! None of my putts would go in today...
9. Sykora of the NHL : PETR. Now playing in Russia, he played around with the Devils, Ducks, Rangers, Oilers, Penguins and Wild before finally saying sayonara to the USA. I bet Eddy B. and JD know him.
10. "The Ego and the Id" author : FREUD.
11. Included in : AMONG
12. "Dog the Bounty Hunter" airer : A AND E. Whew! This one threw me for a while. Finally parsed it.
15. Oven, so to speak : INFERNO. Does anyone remember the movie?
20. NFL ball carriers : RBS. National Football league, Running Backs.
21. Revered figure : ELDER. Oh, so I should be revered, right?
22. Plants : SOWS
23. Hops drier : OAST
26. Newton fruit : FIG. Not an apple?
28. Farm denizen : ANT
29. Bottom line : NET
30. Rebs' gp. : CSA. Confederate States of America.
31. Ended up : TURNED OUT. Turned out, I didn't have to worry about another blitch...so far, so good.
33. Feature of some extreme diets : NO CARBS
34. Pipe cleaner : DRANO. I wonder if Drano would take care of ear wax?
35. Atop, poetically : O'ER.
36. High time? : NOON. Already? I just got started...
37. Safe document : DEED. Nope, don't have one in my safe. Only a huge mortgage note from the bank. Oh, maybe they have the deed in their safe?
41. Obama's secretary of energy : CHU. Chattanooga Chu? (Sorry - it's Steven.)
42. Doubleday and Yokum : ABNERS
43. Syrian president : ASSAD. Bashar al-Assad wanted to be an opthamologist, until his older brother died in a car accident. So he became heir apparent and was elected president in 2000 when his father died.
44. Tarnish : SULLY
45. Steaming : IRATE. My veggies were really irate while I was cooking them tonight. (Well, wouldn't you be?)
46. H�gar's dog : SNERT. Love him in the comic strip!
47. More eccentric : ODDER
48. Linguist's concern : USAGE
49. Thus far : TO NOW. To now, I don't think I've made any boo-boos, have I?
51. Mail letters : USPS. United States Postal Service. Did you know? The USPS does not have a motto. The saying "Neither rain, nor sleet, etc." is simply an inscription on a Post Office in NYC.
55. Gp. whose insignia consists of a bald eagle holding a key : NSA. National Security Agency.
56. Bashful : SHY. Not elf? Oh, that's a dwarf...sorry, I'm getting Sleepy. Er, no, I'm not "getting" Sleepy tonight. At least, he hasn't called yet...
Good night, Marti.
Note from C.C. & Don:
Don came up with this nifty idea while we were brain storming a "* AROUND" theme where the * bookends each theme entry. We tried to even it out with different SO* *UND pattern. SOUTHERLY WIND and SOUVENIR STAND ended up on the cutting room floor. Did you all notice that the unifier word SURROUND is also surrounded by SOUND?
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