06.14.11 — Am I Blue?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Puzzle by Doug Peterson and Angela Olson Halsted / Edited by Will Shortz

LOW BUDGET (20A. Indie studio’s offering, maybe), BLUE MAN GROUP (33A. Unusually chromatic performance ensemble), BUMMED AROUND (41A. Mostly idled), DOWN COMFORTER (57A. Thick alternative to a blanket) constitute the interrelated group of this lugubrious Tuesday crossword.

Other — ANTI-FOG (9D. Like some lens coatings), ENTWINE (62A. McFlurry flavor), IMMODEST (38D. Far from prudish), OXYMORON (11D. Military intelligence, e.g., according to George Carlin), TOLD YOU (5D. “Shoulda listened to me!“), UNIFORM (44D. Military outfit).

Mid-size — AGORA, ARMANI, APIARY, AZTEC, BITMAP, BY-PLAY, DRAW IN, EUROPE, HORSE, IBSEN, IN TIME, LITRE, NIXON, O’MEAR, ROB ROY, SCOUT, SIMBA, TEETH, TREVI, TRIMS, TRY IT, XERXES.

Short stuff — ANT and ANTE, AOL, AROD, BAMA, BEDS, BOX, BRAD, CHEF, “DER Rosenkavalier“, DION, DNA, EBAN, ELIA, FERN, GIRL, HOAG, IMAX, LATE, LEDA, LURE, MARE and MER, MESA, NANO (45D. Modern running companion?), NEO, OOZE, OPT, OREO, OVER, POUT, PRAM, RBI and ROI, SPAS, TEAM, THAT, TIL, TOSH, TYPE, URAL, USSR, YEN, YURI.

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Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Places to retire; 5. This’s partner; 9. Ancient marketplace; 14. Cosmonaut Gagarin; 15. Move like molasses; 16. He once placed a “long-distance call” to Aldrin and Armstrong; 17. Stroller to Soho; 18. Like the White Rabbit; 19. “Have a bite!”; 23. Place getting a lot of buzz?; 24. Whisk wielder; 25. Go (for); 28. Hankering; 29. Company in a 2011 merger with the Huffington Post; 31. Drink named after a Scottish hero; 36. Director Kazan; 40. It may be upped; 46. Valentino rival; 47. Crime scene evidence; 48. Engage in pugilism; 51. Prefix with conservative; 52. Comedy Central’s “___ .0”; 55. By the deadline; 60. “Three Coins in the Fountain” fountain; 63. Movie format for a big date?; 64. “Peer Gynt” writer; 65. Country with a hammer-and-sickle flag, for short; 66. Colt’s mother; 67. Petrol measure; 68. Orioles, Eagles or Cardinals; 69. Resorts. — DOWN: 1. Incidental activity; 2. The Continent; 3. Entice; 4. Swahili for “lion”; 6. Romance novelist Tami; 7. Early Mexican; 8. Enforcement provisions; 10. “The ___ With the Dragon Tattoo”; 12. Louis XIV, par exemple; 13. Grasshopper’s partner in an old fable; 21. Caspian Sea feeder; 22. Decorative plant; 26. Sulk; 27. Enter with a keyboard; 30. Mother of Castor and Pollux; 32. Country music’s Paisley; 33. The Crimson Tide, familiarly; 34. Mal de ___; 35. Longtime Yankee third baseman, informally; 36. Israel’s Abba; 37. Bit of fishing gear; 43. The Belmonts’ front man, in 1950s music; 45. Modern running companion?; 48. Computer graphics option; 49. Mark who was the 1998 P.G.A. Player of the Year; 50. Persian king in 2006’s “300”; 53. Pack member; 54. Contender in the Belmont; 58. Decorates, as a Christmas tree; 58. More than; 59. Maricopa County city; 60. Up to, in adspeak; 61. Stat for 35-Down.