Wed., Jun 26th, Shannon Rapp & Will Eisenberg

THAT'S A WRAP

A not-too-difficult-level Wednesday for yours, "verily", but upon finishing, stared at the theme answers for too long a time, trying to determine what the reveal had to do with the other four answers.  I finally decided that it had something to do with the first and last few letters of each fill, but was not thrilled with the results; the end letters "wrap" the answers and reveal a "party".  Meh.  Nevertheless, I checked in with our host, and she agreed that I was, in fact, correct.  Sigh.  Three 11-letter and two 10-letter themers, which took up a lot of squares, and left us with some fresh fill, but also a ridiculous amount of three-letter-words (3LW).  The theme answers/reveal;

17. *Swimmer that can expand to three times its normal size: BALLOON FISH - BASH - I am shocked that BALLoon was acceptable, considering that the next theme is "BALL"

26. *Dreamhouse occupant: BARBIE DOLL - BALL - seems like a dupe to me

38. *Employee responsible for minimizing negative outcomes: RISK MANAGER - RAGER - had to look this one up; I have heard of a "RAVE" party, but a "RAGER" is new to me - and I noted, too that "SARAN" was scrambled in the answer, which is also a "wrap", so to speak. . . . .

51. *Greek salad component: FETA CHEESE - FETE - Meh.  Feta & Fete are just too close for me

61. Postshow cast celebrations, and what can be found in the answers to the starred clues: WRAP PARTIES - Parties that "wrap" the theme answers, but not really; more like bookend...

I like this "Wrap Dress" party better

And Away We Go~!

ACROSS:

1. "Good heavens!": "EGAD~!" - O God, I can't believe this puzzle passed muster~!

5. Novelize, perhaps: ADAPT - Meh.  Isn't it the other way, adapting a novel TO a screenplay~?

10. Old-school cool: HEP - 3LW#1

13. Star-nosed diggers: MOLES - not pretty, but I guess it gets the job done~!

15. Skin care brand: NIVEA

16. United: ONE - 3LW#2

19. Boy of the fam: BRO - 3LW#3

20. Not needing an MD's script: OTC - Over-The-Counter; I see now that birth control AND the "little blue pills" are available without a prescription;  Hmmm - coincidence~? - And 3LW#4

21. "Black-ish" father: DRE - perps - And 3LW#5

22. Like some arcade games: COIN-OP - should there be an abbr. in the clue, or is this in the vernacular~?

24. Ego: SELF

29. Prognosticator: SEER - I am merely a proCRASTINator

30. Bath bathroom: LOO - British city Bath, British bathroom  - And 3LW#6

31. Skilled: ABLE

32. Put in a little oil, say: SAUTÉ

35. Back tooth: MOLAR

41. Front-end alignment: TOE-IN - if you're "10A." like me, when you took your car to the mechanic, there were three things to correct, Toe-in/out, Camber, and Caster

42. "Veep" role for Louis-Dreyfus: MEYER - Meh.  Talk about vague - last name for a last name from a sit-com that was only on HBO five+ years ago - I just happened to recognize the name, due to the popularity of Seinfeld, but that didn't really help much

44. Many a Jordanian: ARAB

47. CGI-heavy superhero franchise: MCU - Marvel Comics Cinematic Universe - totally not my wheelhouse, and the reason why I missed "Brie" last Wednesday - my apologies to waseeley et. al. - And 3LW#7

49. Intl. oil cartel: OPEC

55. "The Possibilities Are Beautiful" retailer: ULTA

56. Contributing element: FACTOR

57. Catan resource: ORE - Catan is a board game; I invented a board game that uses "resources" as well; now I am trying to find someone who knows code, so it can be converted to a phone/tablet app; I'm willing to split the profits - And 3LW#8

59. Century divs.: YRs - 3LW#9

60. That, in Spanish: ESO - 3LW#10

65. Trig function: COS - sin, cos, tan, cot, sec, csc - take your pick - And 3LW#11

66. One holding things back?: LEVEE - I have to include this song

Did you catch the missed hi-hat~?  John Bonham - prob my fave drummer

67. Gulf of Suez peninsula: SINAI -the "incident" from three years ago; $540million fine~!

68. Explosive material: TNT - 3LW#12

69. Reproduce like salmon: SPAWN

70. Boot camp figs.: SGTs


DOWN:

1. Create a design that stands out?: EMBOSS - I did this a long time ago using the "emboss" tool from Photoshop

2. Small beards: GOATEES

3. Safe call: ALL CLEAR

4. "Doin' Time" singer Lana __ Rey: DEL - WAG - But the video is pretty cool.  A remake of a song that was already a remake of a classic song.  And 3LW#13

5. Strengthen, in metallurgy: ANNEAL

6. "What's the __?": DIFference~? - Slang - And 3LW#14

7. Pic above a username: AVI - Meh.  Avatar, abbr. - And 3LW#15

8. Joe of "Casino": PESCI - the one name I DID know

9. Largest North American alpine lake: TAHOE - HURON fit, but that's not the largest of the Great Lakes; "so what's an alpine lake~?" I wondered . . . .

10. Mingle (with): HOBNOB - Spellcheck is OK with this as one word

11. Join the club: ENROLL - meh.  "Signed up" is better suited to "clubs", IMHO

12. Folks: PEOPLE

14. Roll on the lawn: SOD - 3LW#16

18. Planet, e.g.: ORB - 3LW#17

23. Goading words: I DARE YOU - I triple DOG dare you~!

25. Frugivorous flying mammal: FRUIT BAT - I sussed frugivorous meant fruit; see the "Flying Fox"

27. Colleen Hoover's genre: ROMANCE - no clue, filled via perps - Goodreads

28. Godsend: BOON

33. General on American Chinese menus: TSO - 3LW#18

34. Scrape (by): EKE - 3LW#19

36. Quick getaway: LAM - Meh. 3LW#20

37. Number on a birthday card: AGE - 3LW#21

39. Silent actor: MIME - are you aiming for these people~?

Maybe that mime

40. Getting back (to): REPLYING

43. Opposite of charge: RETREAT - not the "deplete" of a battery, but the fall-back of a military group

44. Have an impact on: AFFECT

45. Motivation: REASON

46. For neither profit nor loss: AT COST

48. Tournament won by Coco Gauff in 2023: US OPEN - no clue, but a fairly safe WAG

50. Black currant liqueur: CASSIS

52. Some sweater necks: COWLS

53. Corp. employee in charge of recruitment: HR REP - interesting fill

54. Cy Young stat: ERA - 3LW#22

58. Triage ctrs.: ERs - 3LW#23

62. Filmmaker DuVernay: AVA - filled via perps; her IMDb - And 3LW#24

63. Syllable in a blaster imitation: PEW - there's a bird ( I believe ) that I hear every morning - I am up typically at 4am - and its call is "pew-pew, pew-pew", and it makes me think of a laser blaster every time; anyone know which bird I mean~? - And 3LW#25

64. "Verily!": "TIS~!" - think "Old English" = truly - And the final 3LW#26

 I am following Chairman Moe's lead from Fri Jun 14th, and rating this puzzle at just 1⭐

Splynter