Our second puzzle from David, with his LAT debut a Friday in December last year. He began then by adding "EX" to phrases, and returns with a replace a letter - G becomes T - which is revealed by the perfect G IS T (gist). We have no other consistency, with three 3 letter second words, one with the first letter changed in the first word, one with the last letter in the first word and one with a middle letter. We have six themers and the reveal to give us a packed puzzle, with little room for long sparkly fill. This filled without any complete unknowns and the long non-theme fill, CRAYOLA, SEATTLE, RAMPANT, SARCASM, PRECINCT and IT'S A DEAL were all gettable. let's look at the puzzle.
17A. Sports geek get-togethers? : STAT PARTIES (11). StaG Parties are no longer PC.
25A. Halloween decoration? : PAPER BAT (8). Paper BaG. Want to make your own?
32A. Longhair cat's monotonous routine? : PERSIAN RUT (10). Persian RuG. Very cute.
43A. Last one left angrily carrying on? : LONE RANTER (10). Lone RanGer.
48A. Imperfection in a pointillist painting? : STRAY DOT (8). Stray DoG.
61A. Moral? : TALE WARNING (11). Gale warning.
The reveal
69A. Essence ... and, read differently, a hint to six puzzle answers : GIST (4). 62 theme squares.
Across:
1. Dirt removal method : BATH. Very fun clue, so simple but like the soap, very slippery.
5. Like much religious music : CHORAL. Choral, chorale, choir, and chorus stand in obvious relationship to one another and are in some respects used interchangeably when a body of singers, for example, is referred to as a choir, a chorus (Latin noun derived from the Greek word choros), or a chorale, which properly is a Lutheran hymn tune. (Britannica).
11. Uncooked : RAW.
14. It replaced the Cypriot pound : EURO. I did not even know Cyprus used the Pound.
15. Go back : RENEGE. A word I learned paying bridge, which has nothing to do with the clue here.
16. Stumble : ERR. To stumble is human, just does not have the same ring.
19. Gardening tool : HOE. I wonder if Santa uses one in his garden.
20. Upper part : TOP. Tempting to link something, some would like to...
21. Keep an __ : EYE ON.
22. Pesters online, in a way : SPAMS.
24. Wall St. event : IPO. Initial Public Offering.
27. Western city named for a Suquamish chief : SEATTLE. Apparently he was Chief of this TRIBE.
31. Witness : SEE.
35. Throw : CAST. Your bread upon the water....
39. Early computer : ENIAC. You must know this by now.
40. Hound over a debt : DUN. Do people still refer to dunning letters?
41. Agile : LITHE.
42. Group of two : DYAD. From Latin and Greek root.
45. Job ad abbr. : EOE. Equal Opportunity Employer.
47. Feature of many negative reviews : SARCASM. Sarcasm is not always negative.
53. Corp. leaders : MGT. Management.
54. Greets : HAILS.
55. Feel around : GROPE.
57. Printemps month : MAI. French for Spring and May.
60. Addams family cousin : ITT. I could not find one with Fester wearing a Fez.
64. Tasseled hat : FEZ.
65. Pair of ones? : ELEVEN. I have seen it before but still tricky.
66. Wary of : ON TO.
67. Test : TRY.
68. Fight against : RESIST.
Down:
1. Leading : BEST. The beginning was slow for such easy words, but the nearby fill was fiar.
2. Car : AUTO.
3. Door in the floor : TRAP. Did any of you fall for this clue?
4. Sweating, maybe : HOT. Perfect clue for summer.
6. "__ we go!" : HERE.
7. Leading : ON TOP. See 20A, 21A, 66A....
8. Spanish queen : REINA. I learned this Spanish word from puzzles.
9. Birthday count : AGE. How many put the correct number of candles nthe cake?
10. Car user, maybe : LESSEE.
11. Detox locale : REHAB. I guess, since people are always going to rehab.
12. Draw from the oven : AROMA.
13. Take forcibly : WREST.
18. Digestive : PEPTIC. "...relating to digestion, especially that in which pepsin is concerned." Pepesin being a key digestive enzyme.
23. Administrative district : PRECINCT. There are voting precincts, police precincts....
24. Words spoken while shaking : IT'S A DEAL. Handshaking. Nice clue.
26. Winter hrs. in Berkeley : PST. Pacific Standard Time.
27. Went fast : SPED.
28. Bitty : EENY. My thought...LINK.
29. "Nessun dorma," e.g. : ARIA. I never saw this clue until i was doing the write up; as stated it means nothing so...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ovcNw8xr64
30. Prefix with scope : ENDO. Endoscopy is a very important tool in modern medicine.
33. Race : RUN.
34. Quelques-__: a few, in French : UNES. If you do not speak French this is difficult.
36. "__ boy!" : ATTA.
37. Females : SHES.
38. Period : TERM.
41. Like L vis-à-vis XL, in some cases : LARGER. Did you size this one up?
43. Set the pace : LED. In the race...
44. Widespread : RAMPANT.
46. Bivalve at a bar : OYSTER. I spent way too much time trying to come up with the punch line to, " A bivalve burrowed in to an oyster bar...."
48. Nine to five, e.g. : SHIFT.
49. Spud : TATER.
50. Posh : RITZY.
51. Looks at in a bad way? : OGLES. Okay this matches with 57A. Revealing attire : MINI. LINK.
52. Rome's Fontana di __ : TREVI. This has appeared in many movies.
https://images2.alphacoders.com/471/thumb-350-471259.jpg
56. Is indebted to : OWES.
58. Social climbers? : ANTS. More like anti-social.
59. "__ Rhythm" : I GOT.. This was one of the musicals my sons appeared in during high school.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m94SxmkohvQ
62. Pub offering : ALE.
63. Frothy quaff : NOG. Frothy? RECIPE.
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