NYT Sunday 7/19/09 - You Are Everything

This is an abbreviated form of my usual blog, as I'm in vacation mode, preparing for a road trip to Niagara Falls and beyond. Magdalen and I are being joined by Henry (Magdalen's first husband, also English) for the trip - none of us has yet seen the sight raved about by Mahler ("At last, fortissimo!") and Dickens (“Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart an Image of Beauty”).

So we joined forces again for this puzzle and, given there were three of us, took a remarkably long time over it. To judge by the number of erasings, we had particular trouble in the SW corner where we found alternative answers like shine at 97-Across and escrowed for 78-down. I try to avoid the need for erasures, as we can't agree on the best tool for the job: I like wooden pencils with an eraser on the end, but these often leave a smudgy mess; Magdalen likes propelling pencils, but I find the leads break too easily. It looks like we're going to need his and hers pencils, with a copious supply of each.

My favorite clue was 70d Nana {Darling family pet}, which refers to Peter Pan, in which Nana is a Newfoundland dog employed as a nanny to Wendy Darling and her brothers.

Solving time: 34 mins (with Magdalen and Henry, no solving aids)
Clue of the puzz: 70d Nana {Darling family pet}

Theme

"You are in there": phrases with ur inserted, making a pun:

24a bury all accounts {Corrupt financier's command?} - by all accounts
30a furry cook {Mama Bear at the stove?} - fry cook
54a cur rations {Alpo or Purina One?} - C-rations
72a ursine wave {Greeting from Smokey the Bear?} - sine wave
92a oh my gourd! {Pumpkin grower's cry of surprise?} - oh my God!
101a hourly matrimony {Scheduled activity at a Vegas chapel?} - holy matrimony
3d canary in the Murine {Songbird at an eye drops factory?} - canary in the mine
34d town without purity {Sodom or Gomorrah?} - Town Without Pity

Town Without Pity is the name of a 1961 movie starring Kirk Douglas, and its title song performed by Gene Pitney.



Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Lynn Lempel / Will Shortz
Grid	21x21 with 70 (15.9%) black squares
Answers	140 (average length 5.30)
Theme squares	102 (27.5%)
Scrabble points	596 (average 1.61)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Other Clues

1a deck {Where to spot a king or queen}; 5a USDA {___-approved}; 9a gibe {Ridicule}; 13a essay {Part of a college application}; 18a Ivana {Socialite with a self-named perfume}; 20a stem cells {Versatile body builders}; 22a coupe {Two-door}; 23a manor {Lord's home}; 26a carts {Grocery store lineup}; 28a pelts {Trading post buys}; 29a saint {Frequent figure in Renaissance art}; 32a dept. {Part of 5-Across: Abbr.}; 33a http {U.R.L. start}; 37a ray {Starfish feature}; 38a Orr {"Catch-22" bomber pilot}; 39a acme {Crowning point}; 42a eyesore {View ruiner}; 44a at issue {Disputed}; 47a iguanas {Pets with dewlaps}; 49a rewed {Like Larry King, repeatedly}; 50a mentors {Coaches}; 51a parlor {Word with beauty or pizza}; 52a inaner {Dumber than dumb}; 53a estrus {Heat}; 56a WBO {Sanctioning assn. for pugilists}; 57a hep {Like many a 21-Down}; 58a pot {Percussion instrument in Off Broadway's "Stomp"}; 59a ideals {Topic in transcendentalism}; 60a tios {Members of la familia}; 61a vee {Familiar flight pattern}; 62a del {Painter Andrea ___ Sarto}; 63a key {Critical}; 64a DDT {Toxic spray}; 65a it a {Give ___ shot}; 66a limp {Droopy}; 67a valued {In high esteem}; 69a Ens. {U.S.S. Enterprise title: Abbr.}; 70a nth {Certain power}; 71a ICU {Post-O.R. location}; 74a wahoos {Happy shouts}; 77a merits {Good points}; 79a dipole {Pair of opposite electric charges}; 80a Deneuve {Best Actress nominee for "Indochine"}; 81a Prine {Singer John with the album "Bruised Orange"}; 82a reveler {Bacchus, notably}; 83a in a stew {Agitated}; 84a Ionesco {"The Bald Soprano" dramatist}; 86a arfs {Schnauzer sounds}; 87a Ted {Poet Hughes}; 88a pre- {Cursor attachment?}; 89a dyes {Some food additives}; 90a calc {Integral subj.}; 95a can do! {"No problem!"}; 97a booze {Something made in the still of the night?}; 100a supra {Above: Lat.}; 106a trite {Like "Have a nice day!"}; 108a Aesop {Greek moralizer}; 109a ambulance {What drives you to get better?}; 110a sates {Fills to the gills}; 111a grows {Waxes}; 112a PSAT {Exam with 125 questions: Abbr.}; 113a Neet {Bygone depilatory}; 114a Hyde {Douglas ___, first president of Ireland}.

1d dim {Unfavorable}; 2d evacuates {Clears}; 4d Knorr {Popular brand of bouillon}; 5d USB {Kind of port for a PC}; 6d stupor {Daze}; 7d Derek {___ Walcott, 1992 Literature Nobelist}; 8d amyl {___ nitrite}; 9d gels {Gets set}; 10d ill {Unfavorable}; 11d blasé {Indifferent}; 12d escapes {Hatches, say}; 13d econ. {Capital subj.}; 14d South Sea {From Polynesia and environs}; 15d Sun {Globe : Boston :: ___ : Baltimore}; 16d apt {Inclined}; 17d yes {Happy shout}; 19d arty {Bohemian}; 21d cat {Cool sort}; 25d City {Part of 85-Down}; 27d scours {Searches high and low}; 30d frame {Curator's selection}; 31d ores {Some have a silver lining}; 32d denote {Mean}; 35d tree boa {Snake with "lightning bolts" on its back}; 36d Pedros {Baseball's Martinez and others}; 39d agar {Culture medium}; 40d curried wolf {Triumphant spicy meal for the Three Little Pigs?}; 41d malady {Affliction}; 43d erns {Relatives of kites}; 45d Streep {Movie star with the most Oscar nominations (15)}; 46d soup {Starter, perhaps}; 47d I Put {"___ a Spell on You" (classic 1956 Screamin' Jay Hawkins song)}; 48d Ariadne {King Minos' daughter who aided Theseus}; 52d inst. {Sch. or hosp.}; 54d collide {Disagree strongly}; 55d Olds {Pioneer automaker}; 58d peas {Fried rice ingredients}; 60d tithes {Some church income}; 61d viceroy {Christopher Columbus, in the Indies}; 62d DVRs {TiVo's, e.g.}; 63d keeper {Big-enough catch}; 66d limpid {Clear}; 68d UNIVAC {First commercially successful computer}; 69d ever {Sometime}; 72d Utes {Early Coloradans}; 73d ales {Draft picks}; 74d Wendy's {"Quality Is Our Recipe" franchise}; 75d overrated {Not as good as claimed}; 76d sewed {Worked on a shift, maybe}; 78d in escrow {Held for later disbursement, as funds}; 80d Diem {Ngo Dinh ___, South Vietnam's first president}; 82d road map {Plan of action}; 85d CCNY {School inits. in Harlem since 1907}; 87d thence {From that point on}; 91d loams {Earthy mixtures}; 92d ozone {Radiation reducer}; 93d guts {Kishkes}; 94d Oprah {Big name in daytime TV}; 96d Alps {Liechtenstein's locale}; 97d brut {Very dry}; 98d oil {Biggest export of 99-Down}; 99d Oman {See 98-Down}; 101d hag {Witch}; 102d o'er {"Give ___ the play": "Hamlet"}; 103d USO {Show presenter, for short}; 104d TBA {"More later," on a sched.}; 105d yet {Still}; 107d -ese {Legal conclusion?}.