THEME: RECYCLE~!
This
one had me stumped at first; I simply could not see a connection
between the answers - and then I realized the answers had nothing in
common - other than starting and ending with the same
three letters. ah-HA~! The "clue" was not much help for me, TBH. A
very quick solve for me, felt like a Monday level puzzle - but it took
two extra minutes for me to find out why I did not get the ta-DA~! at
the end; 46d crossing 69a, Latin vs. Spanish, so I was a little
disappointed. And no Frawnche, either. Here are the theme answers, as
indicated with the "*" and referred to as the "starred" clues:
17. *Synthetic pump: ARTIFICIAL HEART - ART to ART
26. *Cheap shot: LOW BLOW - LOW to LOW
50. *Regional collective pronoun: ALL Y'ALL - ALL to ALL - quite popular this week
61. *"There really is a wolf now!": "I MEAN IT THIS TIME~!" - IME to IME
And the central reveal....
33. With 43-Across, "When one door closes, another door opens," and an apt description of the answers to the starred clues: THE END IS JUST
43. See 33-Across: THE BEGINNING
And Around We Go~!
ACROSS:
1. Formula One event: RACE
5. Prep, as onions: CHOP - I took Husker G up on his "offer" Saturday, and made a tater tots casserole
9. __ bean: PINTO
14. Machine that helps with 51-Down: CPAP = Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, which I'd heard of, but never knew what it stood for; and; 51d. Sleeper's problem: APNEA
15. [Snicker]: HE-HE
16. Trapshooting: SKEET
20. General on American Chinese menus: TSO - my 'go-to' dish when I order
21. Asian country divided in 1945: KOREA
22. __-la-la: TRA
23. Meaning of an unlit "vacancy" sign: NO ROOM
28. Kept cold: ICED
29. Chicken __ king: A LA
32. Vega's constellation: LYRA
38. Cruelty-free lip balm brand: EOS
39. Secret spots?: ARMPITS - best. clue. ever. Secret, the deodorant
40. That guy's: HIS
45. Bangers partner: MASH - not "head" Bangers - the old MTV metal hours late on Saturday nights, but the British dish
48. Foreign policy org. chaired by the president: NSC - National Safety Council
- we had OSHA in the grid earlier this week, and I am required to finish their
30-hr course in order to work at the Washington National Cathedral - I
am about 20 hours in
49. "Grand slam" awards acronym: EGOT - when I stopped blogging Saturdays five years ago, this was not a crossword fill at all; Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony awards; more here.
54. Decade following Y2K: AUGHTS - 00's
56. Regret: RUE - OR - a Frawnche Canadien street~!
57. Marshmallowy Easter treats: PEEPS - I am not a fan - sorry; my thing is the Cadbury eggs
60. Mouse site: PAD - cute.
66. Painful turning point?: ANKLE
- clever, but my "ETA" at 62d messed me up - I do the DOWNS to start, so
that the theme answers ( usually in the across ) are half-filled by the
time I get to them
67. Primary: MAIN
68. Necessary __: EVIL
69. "__ mañana": HASTA - Spanish for "see you tomorrow" (?)
70. "SportsCenter" network: ESPN - I have Hulu with Disney and
ESPN, and the price goes up in one week - and I am thinking it's time to
ditch Disney - I have seen all the 4d I think I care to see - and I am a
HUGE fan
71. Swabbing spot: DECK - Aye, matey
DOWN:
1. TV pioneer: RCA
2. Fourth mo.: APRil
3. Towers that may have scratching posts: CAT TREES - I knew what
we were looking for, but didn't know they were called "TREES"; my
brother has a cat named Ashes - guess what color....
4. "Star Wars" installment: EPISODE - Episode IV, A New Hope
changed my life - I was six years old, and decided right then that I was
going to make movies....didn't quite work out the way I had planned
5. Greek X: CHI - I WAGed this, and was correct
6. "What the __!?": HECK - The "censored" answer
7. Home state of the Reds and the Browns: OHIO - and the Bengals,
I might add - but then again, their record in relation to their QB, the
highest paid player in the history of the NFL....
8. Gem from a mollusk: PEARL
9. "Balderdash!": "PSHAW~!"
10. Barinholtz of "The Mindy Project": IKE - no idea; filled via perps
11. In a tidy way: NEATLY
12. Paralyzing fear: TERROR - I tried PHOBIA first
13. Home of Canada's Parliament Hill: OTTAWA - nailed it; hockey starts soon~!
18. __ Fighters: Dave Grohl's band: FOO - I liked Nirvana - Dave's first band; the Foo, not so much
19. Astrological cat: LEO
23. Nick at __: NITE - Nickelodeon TV channel after 9pm
24. Dos y seis: OCHO - more Spanish, two and six = eight
25. Spanish parent: MADRE - and yet more Spanish
27. Classic sammie: BLT - sammie being an abbreviation of sandwich ( my word is "sa'mich" ), we get the Bacon Lettuce & Tomato short answer
30. Support for a tire swing: LIMB
31. Colorado ski town: ASPEN
34. Casual rejection: NAH....
35. Joyful dances: JIGS
36. Erie Canal city: UTICA - I could not answer this one; it just means I have moved that much further away from New York, and I am not looking back.
37. Tax ID: SSN
40. Compete in a dramatic event at the World Aquatics Championships: HIGH DIVE
41. Playing to break a tie, briefly: IN OT
42. Some NCOs: SGTs
43. Quaker pronoun: THY
44. Canceled out: NEGATED
45. Singer Carey: MARIAH
46. College grad: ALUMNA - I had ALUMNI, which is the plural form
47. Makes glossy, as hair: SLEEKS
52. Floral wreath: LEI
53. "I can do that": "LET ME"
55. FedEx rival: UPS - ah, me, back in the day....
58. School gps.: PTAs
59. Use 55-Down, say: SHIP
62. Flying fig.: ALTitude - not "ETA"
63. Quaint lodging: INN
64. Need for playing Rock Band, for short: MIC - Rock Band is the "expanded" version of Guitar Hero, adding in drums and vocals
65. Great Plains grazer: ELK - Giraffe didn't fit - har har har har . . . .
Splynter
