STRANGE DAYS
1995 Movie starring Ralph Fiennes - the Wiki
I was attempting to find another movie/TV show with seconds, days, weeks or months in the title, and some obvious ones came to mind - e.g., 9-1/2 weeks, Gone in Sixty Seconds, but I wanted to keep with the "half of the theme answer" concept. I liked Strange Days, saw it when it came out 30 years ago. Mr. Vu is a prolific constructor with several LA Times puzzles alone. Today we have no circles, 24 4LWs, and very few names, but I still got done in by one - see the red square in the solution at the bottom - all in a standard 15 x 15 grid. The themers;
20. Olsen twins teen comedy set in the Big Apple: NEW YORK MINUTE - Meh. I understand the reveal is "half" of the themer, but the inconsistency of two/three words makes this another 'how did it pass muster~?' crossword puzzle, IMHO. Just sayin'.
35. Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker buddy cop film with two sequels: RUSH HOUR - I have sat through a couple of these movies; Jackie Chan is just amazing, did most of his own stunts; Chris Tucker is just annoying.
42. Amy Adams rom-com about a February 29 tradition: LEAP YEAR - I know nothing about this one, so here's the IMDb
58. Highlights of many bowl games, and an apt description of 20-, 35-, and 42-Across?: HALF-TIME SHOWS - Here is the Wiki on all the halftime performances at the Super Bowl; none of these artists made me want to sit through what was most likely a lip-sync show; I DO know that C.C. was probably most pleased 10 years ago when Bruno Mars was the headliner; and let us not forget the "wardrobe malfunction" 20 years ago . . . .half-time is a rhythmic feel with the beat on 2 and 4; if you want to be more confused, check this drummer's YouTube video. Here's a song with the half-time feel at the end of the chorus;
The Bee Gees - Stayin' Alive
And Away We go~!
ACROSS:
1. Random __ of kindness: ACTS
5. Range for a yodeler: ALPS - not fooled by the mountain range vs. pitch range
9. Instrument in Hindi cinema: SITAR - I like the "sitar-style" solo in the song below - there's a less "sitar-ish" solo in the live performance on YouTube; the only reason I bring it up is that the show aired on my 2nd Birthday - 52 years and three days ago
Steely Dan - Do It Again
My short-lived marriage started with a Medieval Wedding
16. Start with a clean slate?: ERASE
17. Omnia vincit __: AMOR - Love Conquers All - Latin
18. Morose: DOUR
19. Solemn recitations: OATHS
23. Wrath: IRE - AND - 10D. Apoplectic: IRATE - FLW: Lucina, I cashed in my "trial" IRA that I never actually funded - its net worth dropped since it was opened, and was a mere $696. The one I have with the Pipe Organ company has a 5% match on, so that's rocking right now. And I feel your pain - my mother's bank accounts are proving to be a nightmare to close because they, too, changed ownership right when she died, and NYS is now requiring I "prove" how I distributed the money - why~? What if I said I built a deck with the money~? Will they deny me this last account~?
25. Some phone notifications: ALERTS
28. Common part of a lunch combo: SALAD - I usually get the SOUP
30. Inca Trail to Machu Picchu locale: PERU - I did not see the word "locale" when I was solving the puzzle, so I thought we were looking for the NAME of the trail|
South America - I could go for a tour of the place
32. Cal. column: THUrsday
33. Grab a chair: SIT
38. Ice hockey gear: SKATES
41. Absolute gems: BEAUTS
44. Syst. in which "A" is a closed fist: ASL - American Sign Language
46. Has a debt: OWES
48. Hard __ to break: HABIT - Also the title of this Chicago song
Smoking, drinking and sexual overtones; ah, the 80's
55. Attention to detail: CARE
57. Single: ONE
61. Animal also called the zebra giraffe: OKAPI
63. Resting on: ATOP
64. Word said while pointing: THAT 👈
65. Concur: AGREE
66. Astronauts' org.: NASA
67. Additional: MORE
68. "Fun, Fun, Fun" car: T-BIRD - The Beach Boys are not normally my musical thing, but I listened and it's "Chuck Berry blues" - the link here - and anything guitar I can learn from is a good thing; I like the Ford Thunderbird - I had one just like the picture, ridiculously quick, but had to let it go because it had some bizarre Teves Swedish ABS system that failed, $1400 plus labor to replace 😟
1986 Ford Thunderbird Turbo Coupe; I paid $1200 for it in 1998
Tenerife, Canary Islands, 1977 - most fatal airplane accident - Air Disasters
DOWN:
1. "Jagged Little Pill" singer Morissette: ALANIS - this being her third album, it was a huge success, including the single "You Outta Know" - NSFW
2. Kodak innovation: CAMERA - I was today years old when I learned that Kodak is not Polaroid
3. Garden tool: TROWEL - for those 'heavy makeup days'
4. Agile: SPRY
5. "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" Oscar nominee Day: ANDRA - my last crossing, as one can see in the solution below - I had an "E" for the last letter, not knowing who Andra Day is - the WIki
7. Expert at handling snakes?: PLUMBER - ah, yes, the plumber's snake
9. South Korean capital: SEOUL
11. Curly fry alternative: TATER TOT
12. Some barbecue remains: ASH
13. Low-__: RES - we had "Hi _" on Monday
21. Quirky thing: ODDITY
22. Queasy feeling: NAUSEA - Quirky & Queasy - but no Q in the fill . . . .
And now there is~! Star Trek: TNG
27. __ La Table: cookware retailer: SUR - I have never shopped here
29. "Now!" letters: ASAP - here we go; NOW means STAT, not "as soon as possible"
31. Massage: RUB
34. Begin a round of golf: TEE OFF - also the polite way to say one is "irate"
36. Figures (out): HASHES - I tried SUSSES - that's 50% correct
37. Polynesian dance: HULA
38. MacFarlane of "Family Guy": SETH - I happen to like his creations, not just Family Guy and American Dad~!, but his Star Trek homage "The Orville" was a great show, too
39. Desert that covers much of Botswana: KALAHARI
42. Murphy's __: LAW - rhyming sequential answers
43. Solo performance: RECITAL
47. Appetizer before a curry, maybe: SAMOSA - filled via perps; a recipe here
49. "Cry me a river!": "BOO-HOO~!"
50. To the middle: INWARD
51. Proctor's charge: TESTEE - 😝 a test taker
53. Dwindle (down): TAPER
54. "OK, that was untrue": "I LIED."
56. Settle a debt: REPAY
59. Basks in the sun: TANS - does an iguana "tan"~?
60. Webpage medium: HTML - filled via perps; HyperText Markup Language
61. Muesli morsel: OAT
62. Old CIA foe: KGB - The new Russian intelligence agencies are here
Splynter
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