17 A. *Power outage standbys: GAS LANTERNS. Ours are battery powered, but to each his own. Here, PITCH means the SLANT, as of, frex, your roof. This is also known as the SLOPE and is calculated as the rise divided by the run.
24 A. *"I don't care if you made plans, cancel them": GET OUT OF IT! What? And give up a date with my lovely wife? Not a chance! Here we have an aggressive sales PITCH [which I am not buying] or, in verb form, to TOUT something, as an attempt to promote or convince
39 A. *Morally upright person: STRAIGHT ARROW. One who lives according to rigidly proper or conventional standards. The words PITCH and TAR are often used interchangeably, denoting a type of viscoelastic polymer extracted from petroleum, coal tar or by heating plant matter. It can be used as a marine caulk and for other types of water proofing. PITCH is considered to be more solid, while TAR is more on the liquid side. The distinction seems a bit arbitrary.
53 A. *Stretch between two Bushes: CLINTON ERA. You were probably thinking of a gap in the hedge row. But, no. This refers to the 41st, 42nd and 43rd presidents of the United Sates. The CLINTON era included most of the last decade of the most recent past century, and separated the terms of presidents Bush Sr. and Jr. Here TONE describes a musical sound. The clue relates it to the PITCH which is a vibrational frequency, relative to a standard reference, typically A = 442 Hz. This is close but not quite right. TONE refers to sound quality and timbral characteristics. The TONE of a piano is different from the TONE of a trombone. And my TONE can vary daily based on any number of factors. To complicate matters further, playing in tune, that is, at the proper PITCH, is called proper intonation. Music terminology is not always rational. Farther down that rabbit hole we shall not venture.
And, at last, the unifier -- 64 A. Ballpark brushback, perhaps ... and a hint to each set of circled letters: INSIDE PITCH. This refers to a baseball thrown off the plate by the PITCHER, in or near the occupied batter's box, either accidentally or on purpose, possibly to make the batter uncomfortable. MLB pitchers and catchers are reporting to their training camps this week, many of them today, so this theme is quite timely. The other sense of the unifier is to describe the meaning of each target word HIDDEN in the theme fill entry.
Hi, Gang. JazzBumpa here to umpire today's game. I might not get all the calls right, but I promise to be fair. And, yes, I do need glasses.
Across:
1. Home on the range: RANCH. A plot of land and associated structures, typically devoted to raising and grazing live stock.
6. Hardly wimpy: MACHO. Showing aggressive pride in one's masculinity.
11. Film watcher's channel: TMC. Turner Movie Classics.
14. Take the honey and run: ELOPE. Run away to get married, typically secretly and without parental consent. Clever clue. Did you hear about the heart broken melons who found out they cantaloupe?
15. "Encore!": AGAIN. Request from an audience to have another song played after the scheduled program.
16. Évian water: EAU. Water in French
19. Digital readout, for short: LCD. Liquid Crystal Display.
20. Up the creek: IN A SPOT. Colloquially, in a bad situation.
21. "I, Claudius" star Jacobi: DEREK. [b 1938] British actor and stage director.
23. RSVP part: SIL. RSVP is short hand for Répondez s'il vous plaît, meaning "please respond." I can't parse the French, and Google translate renders s'il as "it." So I'm not sure what the word [if it is a word and not a particle] actually means.
28. Airplane assignment: SEAT. Haven't been on a plane in years, but I will be next month.
31. Escape: LAM. In flight [not necessarily on a plane,] usually from law enforcement. To be "on the lam" is late 19th century American slang of uncertain origin.
32. Man-to-man defense alternative: ZONE. Ways of playing defensive schemes. I'm thinking American football, but it probably applies to other sports as well.
33. Treat like a dog?: PET. Interesting and misdirecting word play. To treat somebody like a dog means to be nasty to them. But to give a dog a treat is to give the canine a nice reward. This can be a food morsel or a show of physical affection. Well played!
35. Place for a "ped" to cross: XING. Abbreviated signage vocabulary indicating a pedestrian crossing at a roadway.
38. Bobbsey girl: NAN. On of the famous twins from old time kiddie lit.
43. __-fi: SCI. Abbrv. for science fiction, a genre of speculative literature.
44. Big rig: SEMI. This is some blurry vocabulary. The rig is the truck or tractor part of a tractor-trailer combination. The SEMI is trailer without a front axle. Much of the trailers weight is supported by the tractor. I doubt most people are this precise when speaking of these items.
45. Bandleader Lombardo: GUY. Of the Royal Canadiens, famous for playing Auld Lang Syne at the start of a new year. His sugary saxophones played with vibrato about a minor third wide. I hate that sound. It was dated before I was born. /rant.
46. Beanery sign: EATS. Indicates an establishment unlikely to offer gourmet fare.
48. Ticker tape letters?: EKG. The ticker being one's heart, and the tape being the paper graph readout of an electrocardiogram machine. Clever!
50. Award adjective: BEST. As in ___ Picture, ____ Actor, ____ In Show, etc.
57. "Huh!?": WHA? Expressions of confusion or disbelief.
59. __ squash: ACORN. A dark green winter squash that is roughly acorn shaped.
60. Language spoken by Jesus: ARAMAIC.
63. Bygone airline: TWA. Trans World Airlines, established in 1930 and acquired by American Airlines in 2001.
67. Rock's Fleetwood __: MAC.
68. Code name: MORSE. Not a name in code, but the name of a code.
69. Driving instructor's urgent reminder: BRAKE. The most important thing any vehicle can do is stop safely.
70. "Hometown Proud" supermarket chain: IGA. Nope. Not a chain. The Independent Grocer's Alliance, founded in 1926, operates as a franchise with stores that are independently owned and operated, mostly as family businesses in small towns.
71. Weapon with a hilt: SWORD. The hilt is the handle of a bladed weapon.
72. Fills completely: SATES. Literal.
Down:
1. TV host Philbin: REGIS. Regis Francis Xavier Philbin [b 1931] is an American media personality who holds the Guinness world record for most time spent in front of a TV camera.
2. "Jagged Little Pill" co-songwriter Morissette: ALANIS. [b1974] She is a Canadian singer, song writer, record producer and actress.
3. Old register key: NO SALE. This opens the cash drawer in an instance when no transaction has occurred.
4. They report to sgts.: CPLS. Sergeants and Corporals in the military.
5. Pile: HEAP. Stuff thrown together in an unorganized way
6. Barbie's company: MATTEL. True, but doesn't Ken keep her company? Barbie is a fashion doll introduced in 1959. There have been many variants over the years since.
7. Get on in years: AGE. This is what I do.
8. Aries or Taurus: CAR. A Plymouth and a Ford. Any resemblance to signs of the zodiac is completely accidental.
9. Like many yoga practitioners: HINDU. From the Indian subcontinent.
10. Beginning: ONSET.
11. Ringer in la casa: TELEFONO. In a Spanish speaking home.
12. Wool coat that is often plaid: MACKINAW. Made of a heavy, water-resistant cloth. They were originally made in the Straits of Mackinaw [or Mackinac, same pronunciation -it's a Michigan thing] region in the early 1800's, before Michigan was even a thing.
13. Something to chew: CUD. If you are a cow.
18. Holiday quaff: NOG. A drink made from eggs, sugar and milk or cream, often alcoholic.
22. Cartoonist Chast: ROZ. [b 1954] Staff cartoonist for the New Yorker, also publishes in Harvard Business Review and Scientific American.
25. Source of increased government revenue: TAX HIKE. Yes - contrary to what you might have been told, this really is how it works.
26. Overlook: OMIT. Leave out.
27. Common base: TEN. Math? Who said there would be math?
29. Auto financing abbr.: APR. Annual Percentage Rate. And more math!
30. Afternoon affairs: TEAS. Small meals where TEA is served with sandwiches some time in the afternoon, since dinner isn't until 8:00. Wait --- what were you thinking?
Nope -- this is not ABBA
34. Even score: TIE.
36. Pester: NAG.
37. Pub __: casual fare: GRUB. Ugly sounding word for simple food.
39. Rascal: SCALAWAG. Someone whose bad behavior is amusingly mischievous rather than evil. Or so I've been told. YMMV.
40. Bolivian border lake: TITICACA. At an elevation of 12, 507 feet, it is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world.
41. Fed. agents: G-MEN. Government Men - federal law enforcement agents.
42. Deli choice: RYE. Bread for sandwiches. Most delis don't serve whiskey.
43. Brief time: SEC. An abbreviated second - so probably shorter than a normal second?
47. __-Caps: candy: SNO. Semi-sweet chocolate drops covered in white nonpareils.
49. Marked for the class: GRADED. Did you get 100%?
51. Go after, as a fly: SWAT AT. And usually miss.
52. "The Masked Singer" judge Robin: THICKE. [b 1977] An American singer, song writer and record producer.
54. Cuts back: TRIMS.
55. Currently airing: ON NOW.
56. "All bets __ off": ARE.
58. Flu symptoms: ACHES.
61. LAPD alerts: APBS. All Points Bulletins. Broadcasts issued by a law enforcement agency to its personnel, or to other agencies, typically containing information about a wanted suspect.
62. Actress Sorvino: MIRA. [b1967] An American actress who has won Golden Globe and Academy awards.
63. Texter's "No more details!": Too Much Information. Please -- tell me less.
65. Sellout letters: SRO. Standing Room Only
66. Leb. neighbor: ISRael. Countries along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea.
So - the game is now over. Hope you didn't have to many swings and misses. And remember - they're all judgment calls.
Cool regards!
JzB
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