06.30.07

Monkey Business

TITI (8D Furry tree-dweller of the Amazon)

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Saturday, June 30, 2007

Puzzle by Byron Walden, edited by Will Shortz

A devious and devilish Saturday stumper!

Haven’t seen before or if I have, I don‘t remember:
SOWONESWILDOATS (32A Be profligate, in a way)
GUTTERBALL (Alley oops)
GIGGLETEST (5D Check for credibility, in modern lingo)
AMUDARYA (35D Aral Sea Feeder)
LEELEE (41D Sobieski of “Joan of Arc”)
DABO (52D Actress Maryam)
TITI (8D Furry tree-dweller of the Amazon)

Seen before or if I haven‘t, thought I did: ERAS, LACE, SITE, NEAT, PESO, CODERS, URBAN, ALTO, POSH, ARENAS, INURED, ASHY, etc.

Long-way-to-go-for-so-little clues:
1A. Where to find the Mercury line and the Girdle of Venus -- PALM
15A. Novel that ends “By noon, the island had gone down in the horizon; and all before us was the wide Pacific” -- OMOO
42A. He wrote “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of” -- PASCAL
43D. Most-nominated Best Actor (eight times) never to win an Oscar -- OTOOLE
(O'Toole received a 2002 honorary award.)


Deviousness:
27D. Result of too many rusty nails on the road? -- DUI
21A Antarctica’s Prine ____ Mountains -- OLAV
55A. Lots to offer -- REAL ESTATE
57A. Bank holdings? -- TELEPHONES
34D. Line struck through by a winner -- OOO
5A Small wonders -- GIFTEDKIDS
16A. Dirt -- INSIDEINFO
52A It can keep ball fields dry -- ALCOHOLBAN

Initial-ized and abbreviated stuff: ALER, OOO, DEA, BYOB, FSTAR, DFLATS, UPCS, SHO, HWY, USROUTE, MIL

Some other language stuff: 49A. “Tout le monde en ____” (“Everyone’s talking about it”: Fr.) -- PARLE; 10D. Austrian article -- DER; 40A. 1961 Film also known as “The Job” - ILPOSTO

Good stack but dull stuff: ALCOHOLBAN, REALESTATE, TELEPHONES

Splits: DARK (51A With 54-Across, black magic) ARTS (54A See 51-Across) and HWY (31D See 44-Across: Abbr.) or USROUTE (44A Numbered 31-Down)

Remind you of anyone? -- ILLBRED (25A Uncouth); UGLYSCENES (28D Melees); SNEAKSBY (37D Beats narrowly and unexpectedly) -- give 'em the old KIBOSH (11D Squelch) -- adios, that SOLVES (14A Does the math) everything when you find him/her INALIE (12D Unpleasant way to catch one's spouse)!

UPLATE (44D Burning the midnight oil) -- what's a U-plate?

Leftovers: AMARILLO (2D Title city in a 1983 George Strait hit); DUCHESS (27A Title for Camilla); YEOMAN (39A Kind of service); LOCALLAW (3D Ordinance); MOES (4D TV Tavern) -- Moe's goes well with CLARET, GRAIN, BYOB, DUI and ALCOHOLBAN, maybe even TATERTOT (36D Starchy bite) -- but I'll go now, especially since a control-freak asked me yesterday "what have you been smoking?" -- "nothing ma'am, doctor's orders -- but I do stay UPLATE!"

Goodnight!

Illustration: SOWEONESWILDOATS (32A Be profligate, in a way)
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Read more about today's puzzle at Crossword Nerdity.