Husker Gary in today for Lemon who is on the Disabled List, hopefully on a temporary basis! Paul has chosen SIX (Wow!), two-word phrases where the last letters of the first word are also the first letters of the second word as you can see in the grid below. Then he clues the resulting compacted silly phrase as an economy of letters in making the theme. STIMULATINGENIOUS!
Let's investigate the PLEASANTICS of Paul's in his six, count 'em - six, theme answers
17. Compressed "Blue Suede Shoes" as sung by Elvis? : COVERSION - One of Elvis' first big hits was a COVER VERSION of a song originally done by Carl Perkins
28. Compressed piece of hardware? : COMPUTERMINAL -Alan Turig's "Bombe" built to decipher German Enigma codes was a forerunner of the modern COMPUTER TERMINAL
21. Compressed syntax topic? : WORDER - WORD ORDER can be slightly different in Spanish.
44. Compressed Homeland Security role? : COUNTERRORISM - Both sides of any conflict have COUNTER TERRORISM strategies
52. Compressed carnivore? : MEATER - A MEAT EATER who lives with a vegetarian
57. Compressed gastric complaints? : STOMACHES - Astronauts can get STOMACH ACHES in 0g. They can just swallow this water bubble and its fizzy contents
Now for the rest of Paul's cluing:
Across
1. African currency : RAND - Who gets the fries in this R99 Durban, South Africa deal?
5. Tater __ : TOTS
9. U.K. equivalent of an Oscar : BAFTA - British Academy of Film and Television Fine Arts
14. Burnt toast indicator : ODOR - A man next to me at a Denny's once ordered burnt toast
15. Heroic poetry : EPOS - A word I learned and forgot in this venue
16. Noble objective : IDEAL
19. Make happen : CAUSE
20. Imply : GET AT - What is she trying to GET AT?
22. Ecol., e.g. : SCI
25. Traitor : RAT - He almost said "You Dirty RAT"
26. Canal locale : EAR - The only thing you should put in your ear is your elbow
27. Emerson's "jealous mistress" : ART - "It makes a bad husband and poor provider"
32. Nordic counterpart : ALPINE - Today's puzzle theme inspired me to choose this TV transposition gimmick composed of two competing ALPINE skiers
33. Heat source : OIL
34. Judgment concern : BIAS
37. Nothing, in Nice : RIEN
38. On the other hand : BUT
39. Salinger title character with professional singing aspirations : ESME - How do I clue thee? Let me count the ways.
40. Creative singing style : SCAT - Did you forget the words, Ella? :-)
41. Home sick, say : OUT - Did you ever call in sick and try to sound as sick as you can on the phone? Uh, me either.
42. Perfumery compound : ACETAL - I never cared for organic chemistry
47. "That's awful!" : UGH
49. Lush : SOT
50. Tiebreakers, briefly : OT'S - A t-shirt celebrating an Orangemen sextuple OT win
51. Old anti-Union gp. : CSA and 57. The CSA's eleven : STS - What if they had won?
54. Manuscript marks : STETS
56. Austrian composer Berg : ALBAN - If Paul says so...
61. Author known for teddy bear stories : MILNE
62. Amos at the piano : TORI
63. The last Mrs. Chaplin : OONA - OONA's celebrated dad, playwright Eugene O'Neill, ended their relationship when she married Charlie who was 36 years her senior.
64. Latin clarifier : ID EST - ID EST, "That is" we know more familiarly as "i.e."
65. Smart answer, sometimes : SASS but not 60. KLM competitor : SAS - A follow-up on Wednesday's sassy discussion here
66. Terrible time : TWO'S
Down
1. Elephant predator of myth : ROC - From Arabic رخ (rukk), an enormous legendary bird of prey
2. Brouhaha : ADO - Brouhaha seems pretentious to my ear
3. Scorpio mo. : NOV
4. Remnant : DREG - In It Was A Very Good Year, Old Blue Eyes sang, "And now I think of my life as vintage wine, From fine old kegs, From the brim to the DREGS"
5. Willed? : TESTATE - The lower example
6. Sleep inducer : OPIATE - Not a good long term solution
7. Binge : TOOT
8. Identity thief's target: Abbr. : SSN - He stopped running this ad after his identity was stolen 13 times
9. Crescent-shaped : BICORN - A UNICORN variance
10. Purim month : ADAR
11. Like a Middle Ages social system : FEUDALISTIC
12. It's a stunner : TASER - These will cover the waterfront
13. It may be red : ALERT
18. "Friends" episode, now : RERUN - How did they have no minority Friends in NYC?
21. Knock 'em dead at the jazz club : WAIL
22. Lasting marks : SCARS - Mine is in a place you will never see
23. Infant illness : COLIC - Col. Potter's horse Sophie had COLIC in a M*A*S*H episode
24. Like high-level treason : IMPEACHABLE
26. Put out : EMIT
29. It's spotted in Westerns : PINTO - Tonto on his PINTO, Scout
30. Way to go : ROUTE
31. "Drink __": 2014 Luke Bryan #1 country hit : A BEER - "So I'm gonna sit right here, On the edge of this pier, Watch the sunset disappear and Drink A BEER". Eat yer out Shakespeare!
35. Gather : AMASS
36. 1965 march site : SELMA - I wonder per cent of people that claim to have been at SELMA or Woodstock actually were
38. Target : BUTT - Of a joke
41. __ about : ON OR
42. Diana's Greek counterpart : ARTEMIS
43. Spanish seashore : COSTA
45. Early online forum : USENET
46. Chopper parts : ROTORS
47. Savory taste : UMAMI
48. Very cold : GELID - "Eventually boots and socks had to be removed and ankles submitted to the GELID waters" Sunday Times (2013)
53. Beige cousins : TANS
54. Portico for Pericles : STOA
55. Conan Doyle, for one : SCOT
58. The sixth W? : HOW
59. "Ambient 1: Music for Airports" artist : ENO - This would be "TAN music" at ORD
Now it's time for your condensed or unabridged comments. Perhaps you can come up with some variations on Paul's theme.
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