17. Dishonest?: BELOWBOARD. When you are honest, you are said to be aboveboard in your dealings.
26. Happy?: UP IN THE MOUTH. Sad = down in the mouth.
42. Sick?: OUT OF THE PINK. Healthy = in the pink.
56. Incompetent?: OFF THE BALL. Competent = on the ball.
This theme is similar to neagative (in-/im-/un-/dis-/non-/extra-) words that no longer have a corresponding positive in the language, as in this poem, A Very Descript Man, attributed to J. H. Parker, one day late for bad poetry day:
I am such a dolent man, / I eptly work each day; / My acts are all becilic, / I've just ane things to say. / My nerves are strung, my hair is kempt, / I'm gusting and I'm span:/ I look with dain on everyone / And am a pudent man. / I travel cognito and make A delible impression: / I overcome a slight chalance, / With gruntled self-possesion. / My, dignation would be great / If I should digent be:/ I trust my vagance will bring / An astrous life for me.
Al here, with a fun Thursday. I think I might have gotten this without the theme, but figuring that out sure sped things up. I think this is a first for me, no links today...
ACROSS:
1. Boot's meal: MESS. Boot camp, I suppose...
5. What houses may be built on: SPEC. Speculation that if you build it, it will sell.
9. Li'l Abner's creator: CAPP. Al Capp, born: Alfred Gerald Caplin.
13. Some finals: ORALS. Final tests for graduate college/university degrees.
15. Machu Picchu's land: PERU. Translates to "old mountain".
16. Jewish youth org.: YMHA. Young Men's Hebrew Association.
19. Baseball Triple Crown component: RBIS. Runs Batted In. Also Home Runs and batting average, three statistics required for batters. Pitchers must lead in wins, strikeouts and Earned Run Average (ERA).
20. Winter sailcraft: ICE BOATS.
21. Locks up: JAILS.
22. Sgts.' superiors: LTS. Sergeants, lieutenants.
23. Galeón booty: ORO. Spanish gold.
24. Specialty, informally: THING. It's your/my thing to solve crossword puzzles.
30. Coach in the air?: CLASS. Coach class is the cheapest way to travel by plane, train, etc.
33. Tries to sink, perhaps: RAMS. Battleship collisions, also the part of the ship specifically designed to do such damage.
34. "Now I get it!": OHO.
35. Journalist Clare Boothe __: LUCE. Busy lady for an illegitimate child: Playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socalite and US Congresswoman.
36. Teases maliciously: BAITS.
38. MLB All-Star Game day: TUES. Baseball season approximate mid-point, played usually on the second Tuesday of July.
39. ___-de-France: ILE. The most populous region of France, contains most of metropolitan Paris.
40. War ender: PACT. Latin pactum, covenant, contract.
41. Serious borders?: ESSES. The letter "S" is first and last in the word SeriouS. Was anyone fooled?
46. America's Cup entry: YACHT.
47. Bank book no.: INT. Interest
48. Asian title of respect: SRI. Sanskrit for "beauty", especially of divinities and kings.
51. Illegal pickoff moves, e.g.: BALKS. A few baseball terms in the puzzle... This is when a pitcher makes a move as if to throw, but instead interrupts his motion. If he can make a smooth throwing motion to the base instead, then it isn't a balk and a runner with too far of a lead-off can possibly be tagged out.
53. Out of the box: UNCRATED.
55. Russian city on the Oka: OREL. A geographical answer to confuse you along with the Ural Mountains and the Aral Sea.
58. First name in Old West fiction: ZANE. Grey. Roughly 90 books with 110 movies made from his work.
59. "Go away!": SHOO.
60. Like Serling stories: EERIE. Rod Serling, narrator of the Twilight Zone.
61. Be compliant: OBEY.
62. Get wise with: SASS.
63. U.S. Army decorations: DSCS. Distinguished Service Cross. One step below the Medal of Honor.
DOWN:
1. Gas brand with a red "o" in its logo: MOBIL.
2. Upright: ERECT.
3. Rep's work: SALES. I guess REP isn't considered an abbrev. in this context...
4. Schulz's Pig-Pen, e.g.: SLOB. Charles Schulz, Peanuts comic. Pig-Pen is the one constantly in a cloud of dust, even when it rains or snows.
5. Exact, to a Brit: SPOT ON.
6. Porridge morsels: PEAS.
7. Goof: ERR.
8. Ruminant's mouthful: CUD. To ruminate is to turn something over in your mind, or as a cow, chew cud.
9. Rostand's long-nosed lover: CYRANO. Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, who actually existed, however, the play's plotline involving Roxane and Christian is almost entirely fictional — the real Cyrano did not write the Baron's love letters for him
10. Equivocal: AMBIGUOUS.
11. Punxsutawney predictor: PHIL. Groundhog day.
12. Coquette's wink, say: PASS. The word pass has been associated with a fencing move definition, to lunge at, also to make an attempt or try, or to make a "play" for.
14. Eagles' attacks: SWOOPS.
18. Adriatic port: BARI. Italy. Only got it through perp fills...
21. Slim __: snack items: JIMS. So greasy. I suppose they help wash the beer down...
24. One of those things: THAT.
25. Bottom lines?: HEMS. Was not thinking sewing here, wanted NETS for the profit sense.
26. Take habitually: USE. Addiction.
27. Like overused crossword clues: TRITE.
28. Biblical pronoun: THEE.
29. Ponderosa heavyweight: HOSS. Dan Blocker was a large man.
30. Adman's award: CLIO. Named for the Greek muse of history, Clio is known as The Proclaimer; the name is from a root word that means "recount" (narrate) or "make famous".
31. Beaut: LULU. Bret Favre, for example.
32. Welder's need: ACETYLENE.
36. British spa town: BATH. Aptly named.
37. Sieben follower: ACHT. Seven, eight in German.
38. Sound made with a head shake: TSK. Made along with the shake, as opposed to an actual noise generated by having loose screws or missing marbles.
40. U.S. Army E-3s: PFCS. Privates, First Class. Technically the abbreviation is contained internally either singular or plural with the first word, so it shouldn't really have an "S" at the end, but this rule is broken a lot in everyday use.
41. Early bird special item: ENTREE. Extended early restaurant hours where the price can be cheaper to generate additional business off-peak.
43. "Little Sure Shot": OAKLEY. Annie.
44. Mottled horses: PINTOS. Large patches of white plus any other color.
45. Move furtively: INCH. Little by little.
48. Oscar Night assembly: STARS.
49. Dig find: RELIC. Archaelogy.
50. What a slacker does: IDLES. Slack as in lax, limp, unmoving.
51. Oaf: BOZO. Oaf is related to elf, and comes from a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies. Some dictionaries still give the plural as oaves. Bozo perhaps from Sp. bozal, used in the slave trade and also to mean "one who speaks Spanish poorly."
52. Certain Semite: ARAB. Semite from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah.
53. Area 51 sightings: UFOS. I have it on pretty good authority that this is really much ado about nothing. I'd tell you how I know, but then I'd have to have you taken care of...
54. Reading by a night light, perhaps: ABED. I will be doing this soon, I hope. I think words like these were made up by poets to stretch out the number of syllables.
56. WWII spy org.: OSS. Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA.
57. Govt. loan insurer: FHA. Federal Housing Administration.
Answer Grid
Al
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