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.