“3…2…1…Happy New Year!” – Daily Beast by Matt Gaffney – 13:03
Happy New Year! As I begin my second decade of blogging, let’s see how Matt celebrates.
115A. [What they do in Times Square on Dec. 31st – and the theme of this puzzle] – DROP THE BALL. BALL is missing from the other theme answers.
23A. [Rangers and Smokey the Bear, e.g.?] – BALLPARK FIGURES
38A. [30-second Lennon/Ono TV spot?] – BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO
68A. [“That guy can guess anyone’s ATM code!”] – HE’S A PINBALL WIZARD. My favorite clue/answer of the decade, so far.
98A. [Massive military establishment?] – MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
16D. [“I’m only writing dramas from now on!”] – SCREWBALL COMEDIES
57D. [The life and times of a bicycle attachment?] – BASKETBALL DIARIES
Other stuff:
1A. [“Star Wars” director] – LUCAS. It really is a long time ago, isn’t it.
15D. [Football team or some points they score, for short] – PATS. Patriots/Point After Touchdowns
64A. [Take over] – CO-OPT. Not coopt.
96A. [Judge Judy wears one on her robe] – DOILY. How would anyone know this?
63D. [Muppets creator Jim] – HENSON
97D. [Self-descriptive food] – ORANGE. That’s no way to talk about our host.
111D. [Wife and sister(!) of Zeus] – HERA. Those wacky gods.
117D. [Mork’s planet] – ORK. Whay isn’t there any Mearth from 27A. [Third rock from the sun] – EARTH?
A Little Music:
28A. [“Take THE A Train” (Duke Ellington hit)]
52A. [Roadies move them] – AMPS
90A. [Police man?] – STING
24D. [“IT’S ONE of Those Nights” (Partirdge Family song).] It certainly is.
Canadian content:
4D. [“My Way” composer] – Paul ANKA
11A. [Michael of “Juno”] – CERA.
25A. [Particle-accelerating machine] – CYCLOTRON. I toured one in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan a few years ago.
Thanks for the writeup Cross. I almost got you on this one. It took me 13:56, my fastest Beast yet. I think it was just that every piece of trivia or name in this one, I just happened to know. Hope that you have a great new year. Thanks for the puzzle Matt. I finished Gridlock on Monday. Very enjoyable read and my wife is going to read it next I think. She thought it looked interesting. I told her it was.
Thanks Bruce — glad you enjoyed the book.
Crosscan — you noticed the extra Canadian content!
Your review was music to my ears, Crosscan. Nice work linking to the Swedish Chef for MUPPETS!
Nice job, Bruce.
Matt, I can find Canadian content where even the Constructor didn’t know it existed!
Sam, my new year’s resolution is to sneak a Muppets clip in every writeup.
Loved this theme.