Theme: Self-centerdness or: 65A. A synonym for it is hidden in 17-, 24-, 40- and 52-Across: INNER SELF. The word EGO is found somewhere in the middle of all the theme answers and is consistently broken between the E and the G. A minor inconsistency is that one answer has three words instead of two, but since "THE" doesn't really count in book titles, we'll just overlook that, right?
17. "Good job!": NICE GOING.
24. Hughes Aircraft prototype: SPRUCE GOOSE.
40. Sermonize: PREACH THE GOSPEL.
52. Game with discs and baskets: FRISBEE GOLF. Also called FOLF.
Al here. Definitely a Thursday step-up in difficulty for me, I had to keep going back and forth chipping away at words a letter at a time in places, but it finally fell with no help other than the perps.
ACROSS:
1. Eponymous salad creator: COBB. Named for the owner of the restaurant it was created, Robert Howard Cobb, first cousin of baseball legend Ty Cobb.
5. "Man Plus" author Frederik: POHL. A Sci Fi novel about remotely inhabiting specially created bodies to exist on a planet which is not capable of sustaining human life. Sounds suspiciously like part of the plot of Avatar...
9. Moral fiber: SPINE. Grow a backbone!
14. Its juice is sometimes used to treat heartburn: ALOE. Interesting thing to know...
15. Award for "Rent": OBIE. Off Broadway theatre awards, the "ie" was probably added to make them sound like Emmy, Grammy, I'm guessing. Or perhaps just O. B.with the "b" spelled out differently than a crossword answer.
16. John of Middlesex: ELTON. Middlesex, England, origin from "middle Saxtons". Sir Elton Hercules John, (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight).
19. Colorful stable residents: ROANS.
20. Major malfunction: SNAFU. Situation Normal, All Fouled Up. JANFU is Joint Army-Navy Foul Up. FUBAR is Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition. The process of substituting foul for a different four-letter word is called bowdlerization or expurgation, named after Thomas Bowlder, who "cleaned up" Shakespeare to be more "fit" for women and children.
21. Certain analyst's input: DATA. A data analyst sorts, organizes, sifts through numbers looking for correlations or interesting anomalies on which to base business decisions. For example, did a coupon significantly increase sales?
23. Gymnast Mary __ Retton: LOU. First female gymnast outside of Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.
28. Moscow ballet theater: BOLSHOI.
32. Cheerleader's offering: YELL.
33. Psych finish: OTIC. Added suffix: psychotic. From Gk. psykhe "the soul, mind, spirit, breath, life, the invisible animating principle or entity which occupies and directs the physical body" (personified as Psykhe, the lover of Eros)
34. Kin of a 911 call: SOS. It later became a "bacronym" associated with "save our ship" or "save our souls". It initially (pun?) didn't actually have any meaning other then to simply be three easy recognizable letters in Morse Code, consisting of three dots, three dashes and then three dots.
36. Objects of look-ups?: IDOLS. Lots of google searches for famous people. And 44A. Judge of many 36-Across: PAULA. Abdul. Left the show last season, and this season it looks like Randy will be the only original judge returning. Did anyone see the shark jumping?
45. Bauxite, e.g.: ORE. For Aluminum (or Aluminium outside of the US).
46. BMW competitor: AUDI. Now owned by Volkswagon, the company name is based on the surname of the founder August Horch, meaning listen — which, when translated back into Latin, becomes Audi.
47. "At Wit's End" author Bombeck: ERMA.
50. Persistently chews on: GNAWS AT.
56. Roulette choice: RED. Roulette is French for "little wheel". Red is one type of bet.
57. Legal letter phrase: IN RE. In the matter of.
58. Travel guide: ATLAS.
63. Veggie bin staple: ONION. And 72A. Kin of 63-Across: LEEK.
68. Wrap: STOLE. From Latin stola "robe, vestment," such as might have been worn by the clergy.
69. Inland Asian sea: ARAL.
70. Response to a shock: GASP.
71. Abominations: HATES. I probably wouldn't title a list of my dislikes as "hates", but for puzzles later in the week, they do try to make the clues more obscure.
73. Walked heavily: TROD.
DOWN:
1. Preserves, in a way: CANS.
2. "Chocolat" actress: OLIN. Lena.
3. City near West Palm: BOCA. I'm guessing at West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, Florida..
4. Gripe: BEEF. Origin unclear, possibly US Soldiers complaints about quality or quantity of meat rations..
5. Nanki-__, son of the Mikado: POO. and 6D. "The Mikado" accessory: OBI. The Mikado is the Emperor of Japan. Nanki-Poo desires Yum Yum, who is engaged to Ko Ko, the Lord High Executioner (but created in a comic sense). Hilarity and song ensues.
7. Veda devotee: HINDU. The vedas are Hindu texts composed in Vedic Sanskrit.
8. Bequest: LEGACY.
9. Title setting for a Mozart abduction: SERAGLIO. The sequestered living quarters used by wives and concubines in a Turkish household. The Mozart Opera.
10. West Bank initials: PLO. Palestine Liberation Organization.
11. "Mr. Palomar" writer Calvino: ITALO. Total blank to me, Got it all from perps. Apparently the last novel he wrote.
12. Things to avoid: NO-NOS. Unless you're five. Then those are the things you head straight for.
13. Occur next: ENSUE. From L. insequi "to pursue". Related word: sequel.
18. Flow copiously: GUSH.
22. Place to start a round: TEE. Round of golf. The tee is the grassy area where the tee is placed.
25. Ritzy: POSH.
26. Very funny person: RIOT.'
27. "Too many cooks ...," e.g.: OLD SAW. ...spoil the broth. But "Many hands make the work light."
28. 1995 comet spotter Thomas: BOPP. As Comet Hale-Bopp reached its brightest point, after Thomas photographed the comet, his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. "This has been the best week of my life. And the worst," he said.
29. Other, in Madrid: OTRA.
30. Substitution word: LIEU. In lieu of. Old French for "place", so in place of.
31. Fish features: SCALES.
35. Movie station letters: SHO. Showtime.
37. "Mr. Holland's __": OPUS. Richard Dreyfus as a musician, winds up as a teacher for 30 years and wonders what he has actually accomplished. His Opus, of course, turns out to be all the pupils he has positively affected all those years, not the music he had been trying to finish.
38. Castor's mother: LEDA. Lots of variation in the mythology for this family, but this is the only consistent relationship. Sometimes Zeus is the father, sometimes Tyndareus. Pollux is sometimes Castor's twin, and sometimes his half-brother.
39. Letter opening?: SLIT.
41. Musket relatives: CARBINES. Shorter barrels...
42. "This being the case ...": ERGO. Latin "therefore," possibly from *ex rogo "from the direction," from ex "out of" + root of regere "to guide". Related words: regal and right.
43. DDE, for one: GENL. Eisenhower, general
48. Chess pieces: MEN.
49. Passé reception aid: AERIAL. A shortening of "aerial antenna".
51. Not at hand, to say the least: AFAR.
52. College newbie: FROSH. Freshman
53. __-Wreck: RENT-A. Used cars re-purposed for economy rentals.
54. Fool: IDIOT. Baka in Japanese. Depending on inflection and suffix, baka can range in meaning anywhere from a mild and friendly "you big dummy" to bastard or a**hole or even worse. I'm told there are no actual curse-words in Japanese per se, it's all done in the emphasis or impolite manner that it is presented.
55. Category: GENRE. Old French for "sort" or "type". Related word: gender
59. USAF noncom: T-SGT. Technical Sergeant or E-6 rank in the Air Force. Falls between Staff and Master Sergeants.
60. A jet or a king: LEAR.
61. "Wait, there's more ...": ALSO.
62. Calif. group with a seven-point badge: SFPD. San Fransisco Police Department.
64. Flamenco cheer: OLE.
66. "In your dreams!" in Dundee: NAE. No in Scotland.
67. Big game animal: ELK. I was expecting something from Africa...
Answer Grid
Al
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