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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 - the Florida Panthers were ABLE to hoist the Stanley Cup Monday after winning Game Seven - sorry Oilers fans
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
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
THAT'S A WRAP
