Today's theme is contained in 60A: Useful waste, what's literally hidden in 17-, 25- and 46-Across: RECYCLED PLASTIC. The letters of the word PLASTIC are anagrammed and recycled into a portion of the other three theme answers.
17. State of the Union, say: POLITICAL SPEECH. Is this truly informational, or was it ever? Or just another chance to listen to party claims and rhetoric from both sides? As a kid, these always irked me. There were only three channels back then and all of them preempted their regular shows for this. And then just when you thought it was over, the other side got equal air time to rebut. Of course now, with all the cable channel choices, you can just watch something else rather than doing something good, like reading a book instead.
25. Military tradition: HOSPITAL CORNERS. Tightly tucked sheets for a neat appearance. These make me claustrophobic. I have to have my feet free to move. How about you? Do you prefer being tucked in tight?
46. Looney Tunes genre: SLAPSTICK COMEDY. Also animation. I guess I always associated slapstick only with live actors, so this threw answer me for awhile.
It's kind of a tricky theme, so that's why it is spelled out as one of the answers, you wouldn't get it otherwise. Well, maybe Jerome might... This is the kind of clue you would get for an English Crossword answer, an instruction to rearrange letters. Knowing the theme didn't help me at all, because all the letters I needed were the other ones that weren't part of the word plastic. The last to fall for me today was the middle east, and I had two black marks there. The rest was pretty tough too, more like a Friday, I thought. The jump from Wednesday to Thursday seems to me to be more steep than the one from Thursday to Friday.
ACROSS:
1. NASDAQ debuts: IPOS. Stock market Initial Public Offerings, the first time a stock can be bought.
5. Silly: APISH. The word silly has roots in German: selig "blessed, happy, blissful". It moved from "blessed" to "pious," to "innocent", to "harmless," to "pitiable", to "weak", to "feeble in mind, lacking in reason, foolish". Here it just means acting like a monkey.
10. '60s-'70s pitcher nicknamed Blue Moon: ODOM. John. Supposedly given to him by a schoolmate because his face was so round.
14. Attic-dweller of '70s-'80s TV: MORK. Robin Williams role, a spin-off show from a Happy Days appearance.
15. Home of a mythical lion: NEMEA. A beast eventually killed by Heracles (Hercules). It could not be killed in a usual fashion because its golden fur was impervious to attack. It could only be killed by shooting it or stabbing it in the mouth.
16. Admonition to Nanette?: NO NO. A musical comedy, made into films in 1930 and again in 1940, No No Nanette contains the song Tea for Two, which we just recently had as a puzzle answer.
20. Miniature surveillance gadget: SPYCAM.
21. Rear ends of a sort: CABOOSES. From M.Du. kambuis "ship's galley," from Low Ger. kabhuse "wooden cabin on ship's deck;" probably a compound word whose elements correspond to English cabin and house.
22. What there oughta be: A LAW.
24. Skirmish: ROW. the "ow" here is pronounced like the "ou" in ouch. Of uncertain origin, but perhaps related to rousel "drinking bout", a shortened form of carousal.
33. Sch. with a Narragansett Bay campus: URI. University of Rhode Island.
34. Odin's group: AESIR. Norse gods.
35. Tuned to: SET AT. As with a radio station.
36. Word with mala or bona: FIDE. In bad or good faith.
38. Works in a Catalonian museum: DALIS. Salvadore.
40. Classico competitor: RAGU. Spaghetti sauces.
41. Element 100 eponym: FERMI. Enrico Fermi, who worked on the development of the nuclear reactor, had Fermium named after him. Fermium was discovered in the aftermath dust of the first hydrogen bomb test.
43. Betty Crocker salad topping: BAC-OS.
45. Crosswalk sign word: PED. No abbreviation clue due to common use? Or because that is the way it literally appears, perhaps.
49. Eastern tongue: LAO. Official language of Laos. Also called Laotian or Isan.
50. It might be a close call: SAFE. Baseball.
51. Japanese golfer in the World Golf Hall of Fame: ISAO AOKI. So many vowels...
56. Make a connection (with): LIAISE. Back formation from French liaison (union, binding together). Said to be a coinage of British military men in World War I.
62. Leafy veggie: KALE. Has powerful antioxidant properties, high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium, kale is considered to be anti-inflammatory. Also contains sulforaphane, a chemical believed to have potent anti-cancer properties. Supposed to taste better after the first frost.
63. Merge: UNITE.
64. Scot's vacation site: LOCH.
65. Insult: SLUR.
66. Try to persuade, with "with": PLEAD.
67. Sean's mom: YOKO. Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono.
DOWN:
1. Troublemakers: IMPS.
2. Info: POOP. Military slang. The rich fertile result of the brass passing down their wisdom through to the lower echelons.
3. French touchdown site: ORLY. Airport
4. Alpine wear: SKI CAP.
5. Like many short films: ANIMATED.
6. Workout target: PEC. Pectoral muscles. For the ladies.
7. Jobs creation?: IMAC. Steve Jobs, Apple computer.
8. "The Fugitive" actress Ward: SELA.
9. Easy-Bake Oven maker: HASBRO.
10. Used car selling point: ONE OWNER.
11. Performs: DOES.
12. Singly: ONCE.
13. Mineralogist Friedrich: MOHS. Namesake of the Mohs scale, to compare mineral hardness (scratching one with another).
18. Two-time Oscar nominee Shire: TALIA. Adriannn! from Rocky and Connie Corleone in the Godfather.
19. Standard partner: POORS. You rarely see the names for the S&P index spelled out like this.
23. Horseradish relative: WASABI. It's green and hot, a Japanese condiment. A lot of products here that claim to be Wasabi are actually just dyed horseradish. Real wasabi is difficult and expensive to grow and harvest.
25. Blows: HUFFS. And puffs. I wonder why the big bad wolf never enlisted the kool-aid man
26. Cantilevered window: ORIEL.
27. Libya's Gulf of __: SIDRA.
28. Not a deep purple: LILAC. This is Deep Purple.
29. Pains in the neck: CRICKS. I really wanted a different leading consonant here...
30. Bivouac: ETAPE. A military encampment where a day's stores are kept.
31. Wreaked havoc, as a battle: RAGED. In the manner of a Berzerker.
32. Prepare, in a way: STUDY. For a test.
37. Strike target: EMPLOYER. Unions, not baseball.
39. Of questionable repute: SO-CALLED.
42. First name in sci-fi: ISAAC. Asimov. Prolific writer, more than 200 books in his lifetime, also wrote mysteries, fantasy, and non-fiction in the form of popular science. Also was a professor of biochemistry at Boston University.
44. Balkan capital: SOFIA. Bulgaria.
47. Install needed equipment: TOOL UP.
48. Like five per cent, to a server: MEASLY. An "insulting" tip amount.
51. Nettles: IRKS.
52. Sea World clapper: SEAL.
53. First Amendment advocacy gp.: ACLU. American Civil Liberties Union.
54. __ Ration: KEN-L. Dog food brand.
55. Romeo's last words: I DIE. O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. — Thus with a kiss I die.
57. "Am __ late?": I TOO. Yes, Juliet. Yes you are too late. And now you're late, too.
58. Twisted: SICK.
59. Comeback: ECHO.
61. Harper Valley org.: PTA. Song written by Tom T Hall, performed first by Jeannie C Riley. Made into a movie, and then a TV series starring Barbara Eden, after she lost her magical genie (I dream of Jeannie) powers.
Puzzle Grid
Al
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