Buy low, sell high

Theme: 60. Sign of corporate success, and a literal hint to the puzzle theme found in 18-, 20-, 33-, 42- and 56-Across: STOCK SPLIT, this is when the shares of a publically traded company become so expensive, the company splits the shares to lower the price, so instead of one $100.00 share, you would have 2 $50.00 shares. Each of the five theme answers have the word STOCK wrapped around the answer.


18. Hurricane zone: STORM TRACK. No hurricane, but we do have a TROPICAL DEPRESSION bringing us flooding by the time you all are reading this; eerie.

20. Unflappable: STEADY AS A ROCK. Steady enough ladies? IMAGE .

33. "Time out!": STOP THE CLOCK. I remember this SHOW better. My mother was on the radio with Bud Collyer during the 1939 .World’s Fair. Which is ironic because we have
45A. 1970 World's Fair site: OSAKA. All you missed is HERE .

42. Dismay at the dealer: STICKER SHOCK. It is not just cars, but many BILLS .

56. Sprinter's device: STARTING BLOCK. Okay I ran out of ideas.

Happy Wednesday, and Happy Birthday to my number two son; what a great present, a Dan Naddor, with six theme related answers and 69 letters of themeage.

For all you newbies, Dan will always be very special to us, both for his wit and his courage. And of course his prolific puzzle publications.

He really loved to trick so many ways, with the most common the run on answer, where if you see a partial fill, you will think you made a mistake because the letters cannot be in the same word; today’s examples:

24A. __ in November: N AS. This has nothing to do with the rapper, just the letter that begins the word.

28A. Alternatively: IF NOT. Yes, F and N can be next to each other.

50A. Polite oater response: YES'M. I was an extra once in a movie starring JOHNNY CRAWFORD , and Victoria PRINCIPAL .

66A. Prayer opening: O LORD. Reminds me of this MOVIE .

1D. Appends: ADDS ON. Not to be confused with this PENDS .

9D. Not digressing: ON TOPIC. This is so big in classrooms these days, I am told; the kids must stay on topic; not me, I am afraid, I love digressing. Last evening, we had someone come in for an interview…

48D. Oregon State's conf.: PAC TEN. Off to a great start with Oregon, Stanford and USC all playing well and UCLA stunning Texas. OSU (the one in Oregon) did not do so well on the blue turf, though.

52D. He rid Ire. of snakes, as the legend goes: ST PAT. Notice how Dan just tells you it is an abbreviation by referencing IRE.

56D_ speak: SO TO. I thought of sotto voce.

Anyway, time to tackle the rest of the puzzle; sorry I am being so long winded, but Dan stokes me.

Across

1. Hitchcock's wife and collaborator: ALMA. Man what a way to start, I did not recall this Mrs. H. . I think I will read the book their daughter wrote.

5. Floater with a ladder: RAFT. The miracles of technology; right GEORGE .

9. Garnish on a toothpick: OLIVE. Does everybody use Vodka now for their DRINK .

14. Radio tuner: DIAL. No soap, I had trouble with this one; I guess it was too easy.

15. Peace Prize city: OSLO. For our Norwegian members, a reminder plug.

16. Kind of spray: NASAL. Also my ex-girlfriend, ick.

17. Ringing sound: DONG. A very versatile WORD .

22. Playful swimmer: OTTER. Ah the MEMORIES .

23. Craft: SHIP.

25. Bodybuilder's pride: ABS. What you think LADIES ?

37. TV ad-skipping aid: TIVO.

40. "M*A*S*H" role: RADAR.

41. Palo __, Calif.: ALTO. Home of Stanford (PAC TEN) and the last Super Bowl the Dolphins played, and the only one with Dan Marino. We were there, sad.

46. Hearth burn consequence: ASH. I do not get this clue, and all I could think off was THIS BURN .

47. Jacuzzi, e.g.: SPA. Like Kleenex and Jello, a product name that became the product. Did you know it was the name of the family who invented it?

54. Destroyer destroyer: UBOAT. Really fun clue, and fine FILM .

62. Con: ANTI.

63. Supple: LITHE. Like THESE .

64. Cornerstone word: ANNO. In the cement in the corner of the building, the YEAR it was built, part of the never ending Latin lesson of CW, which includes 39D. By way of: VIA.

65. Spotted: SEEN. I was thinking Leopards.

67. Ball holders: TEES. Geez, this and DONG in one puzzle.

68. Coastal raptors: ERNS. This bird has flown through often lately.

Down:


2. Ray of "GoodFellas": LIOTTA. I have seen this Movie 35 times, as one of the Lufthansa Gang became a client.

3. Some Musée d'Orsay works: MANETS. Love pretty PICTURES .

4. Pool problem: ALGAE. Our problem is the sumbitch Iguana who sneaks out to poop in de pool.

5. Optimistic: ROSY. “If we could all wear green glasses, it would not be so hard to see the grass would always be greener in our own back yard.”

6. "The Thin Man" pooch: ASTA. A true Hollywood STAR .

7. Dentist's suggestion: FLOSS. My cousin flosses so much, she always has some hanging off of her.

8. Holy scroll: TORAH. Tonight is the last night of Sukkhot. Happy Holiday.

10. Prix de __ de Triomphe: annual horse race: L'ARC. Now this is deceptive, most of us would get Arc de Triomphe right away, but make it a horse race, and the puzzle becomes a horse race.

11. Writer Dinesen: ISAK. I never heard of this woman (yes, woman) but h=she has some great QUOTES .

12. Shop cleaner, briefly: VAC.

13. Caribou kin: ELK. Hmm, are they YUMMY ?

19. Diagnostic proc.: MRI. Another clue abbr.

21. "Shoot!": DRAT. One of my favorite words, another of those Brit words that hides the blasphemy WORDS .

26. Drag: BORE. You like THIS .

27. Joust verbally: SPAR.

29. Strong criticism: FLAK. I like it, and don’t give me any….

30. Mardi Gras city's Amtrak code: NOL. I do not think anyone memorizes Amtrak codes. But the airport there is MSY; know why?

31. Trick-or-treat mo.: OCT. Another abbr.

32. Bout stopper, for short: TKO.

33. Wallop: SOCK. This fists in nicely in a puzzle filled with STOCK.

34. NFL scores: TDS.

35. "That's a riot—not": HA HA. Go ahead and Google derisive laughter, my my.

36. Cupid, to the Greeks: EROS.

37. General associated with chicken: TSO. Time to LEARN .

38. "__ a date!": IT’S. Maybe save your LIFE .

43. Negotiated white water, perhaps: KAYAKED.

44. Thick-bodied fish: CHUB. Talk about live and LEARN MORE .

47. One vis-à-vis two: SOONER. Less? Normal? Some hidden FRENCH .

49. Diet doctor: ATKINS.

51. Med. drama sets: ERS. Ah yes, another GEORGE .

53. Pooh's creator: MILNE.

55. Unimpressed: BLASE. You get TWO .

57. Freq. test giver: TCHR. Another abbr., but really?

58. Prime-time time: NINE.

59. Pontiac muscle cars: GTOS. Dennis, is this REAL .

60. Road warning: SLO.

61. Up to, in ads: TIL.

Way too much, but like the puzzle, I rambled. So hello and see you all later.

ICED IN

Theme: ICED IN is in the middle of four clues, each with the first word ending in ICE and the second beginning with D, as well as being the answer to the unifier. 48. Stranded at the ski lodge, perhaps, and a hint to this puzzle's hidden theme: ICED IN.

16. What b.i.d. means, in prescriptions: TWICE DAILY. It comes from are old friend Latin, BIS IN DIE.

26. Some rear entrances: SERVICE DOORS. When I was a kid, I worked in a grocery store unloading the trucks through the back door.

44. The first official one was November 11, 1919: ARMISTICE DAY. The end of World War I, which became a holiday in 1938 and was changed to VETERAN’S DAY to acknowledge those who served in later wars.

59. Many are German shepherds: POLICE DOGS. I wonder if the GERMAN connection with the war was intentional.

Happy Hump Day all, Lemonade here; I thought this was pretty difficult puzzle, from one of our regular constructors, MIKE PELUSO who told C.C., this letters in the middle theme, is his go to grid. I often would do the puns and anagrams from the London Times with my mother, and the third type of fill was recognizing words created by other words running together, so the theme was obvious, even before the reveal, but I found much of the fill hard.

Across

1. "Mamma Mia!" group: ABBA. What do you all think of the movie?

5. Social rebuff: SNUB. For our Norwegian followers, this term is mid-14c., "to check, reprove, rebuke," from Old Norse, snubba "to curse, scold, reprove. Also 29D. Chief Valhalla god: ODIN.

9. Tunesmith Porter: COLE. How about a little FRED and GINGER doing one of his standards.

13. Hang-glide, say: SOAR. And 45D. Wax-winged flier of myth: ICARUS, along with dad DEADALUS. Glided too high.

14. RL and TL automaker: ACURA. I have a friend who will not drive anything else, but they seem just okay to me.

15. Top: APEX.

18. Masters champ between Fuzzy and Tom: SEVE. Fuzzy Zoeller won his only- Masters in 1979, Tom Watson won his second in 1981, leaving Seve Ballesteros to win his first of two in 1980; obscure if you do not love golf, but a great tournament.

19. ___ spill: OIL. Bad taste after the BP mess? With 34D. 19-Across holder: DRUM.

20. When Good Friday occurs: LENT. And what do our Catholics all give up?

21. Like citrus juices: ACIDIC.

23. Many a realty deal: RESALE.

25. North African port: ORAN. We just had this about two weeks ago, clued then as ALGERIAN SEAPORT, otherwise I would never have known.

32. Garage, perhaps: ADD ON.

35. Minuscule bits: IOTAS. And 64A. Seat of Allen County, Kansas: IOLA. This is actually a common clue in the NY Times, but I thought it was a tough cross with 50D. Brit's fireplace: INGLE, which I only have heard of from INGLENOOK.

36. Dover is its cap.: DEL. Delaware, cap. Is an abbr., so the ans. is one as well.

37. Feudal laborer: SERF.

38. "__ clear day ..." : ON A. YOU CAN SEE FOREVER .

39. Beatles girl who paid the dinner bill: RITA. A WAG, but it is their in the LYRICS .

40. __ de vie: brandy: EAU. Literally, the water of life. This fruity brandy is not aged in a wooden cask, so it remain CLEAR .

41. Singer K.T.: OSLIN. NO CLUE .

43. Eye or ear follower: CANDY. Ear Candy??? Huh?

47. Detective fond of aphorisms : CHAN. Who did you like better Warner Oland, or SIDNEY TOLER ?

52. Deep bow: SALAAM. Part of the Islamic RITUAL .

55. Wild party: BASH.

57. Transfer __ : RNA. Back once more.

58. Dubai leader: EMIR.

62. Pull-down item: MENU. No, not your pants.

63. Still-life subjects: EWERS. VASE , is this a Wednesday word?

65. Tees off: IRKS. Sadly, I do not play often enough, so teeing off does irk.

66. Like morning grass: DEWY.

67. Kadett automaker: OPEL. Also a somewhat obscure reference to an out of service car, but one that kept resurfacing IMAGE .


Down:

1. Fur giant: ASTOR. JOHN JACOB there is much written about this family; I enjoyed Gore Vidal’s books on the growth of America, from BIRR on.

2. Knife named for a frontiersman : BOWIE. One of the many brave men who died at the ALAMO .

3. Gets water out of: BAILS.

4. Softball pitch path: ARC.

5. CAT procedure: SCAN. CUTE .

6. Jour's opposite: NUIT. Our French Day and Night lesson; I always feel more french at night.

7. Link letters: URL.

8. San Francisco and environs: BAY AREA.

9. Vegas attraction: CASINO. There is so much more there TO DO .

10. Page with views: OP ED.

11. __ Johnston, former fiancé of Bristol Palin: LEVI; talk about trying to stretch his 15 minutes.

12. Corp. VIP: EXEC.

14. Like __ in the headlights: A DEER.

17. Sitcom with a coming-out episode: ELLEN, and she keeps on. Oprah is taking her audience to Australia, with John Travolta flying the plane.

22. Slimeballs: CADS.

24. Dating from: AS OF.

25. Pump figure: OCTANE.

27. Benny's instrument: VIOLIN; a great Humanitarian.

28. Greek column style: IONIC.

30. On Soc. Sec., maybe: RETD; again the abbreviation determines the answer.

31. Off, so to speak: SLAY. A new word and an old one.

32. On the briny: ASEA.

33. Letter starter: DEAR.

39. Martha of comedy: RAYE. SLAPSTICK QUEEN .

41. Workers' protection gp.:OSHA.

42. Ready to mail :STAMPED.

43. Stashed supply:CACHE.

46. Frisbees, e.g. :DISCS. We recently alluded to WFDF .

49. Slump:DROOP.

51. Like a cold sufferer's voice:NASAL; every time I blog, the puzzle hits home, and I have a cold today.

52. Weigh station rig:SEMI.

53. AKC part: Abbr.:AMER. Okay another abbreviation, enough already.

54. Sausage unit:LINK.

55. Lost, as a big lead:BLEW. Oh, oh, putting these two clues together is dangerous.

56. Open to breezes:AIRY.

60. Have obligations:OWE.

61. Giovanni's god:DIO. Equal time for our Italian speakers.

\ Well another Wednesday in the books, I hope you enjoy this effort; I think it will take a bit longer than the last two days. Until next time, your humble servant, L714.
Happy Birthday Megan.