08.18.11 — Pomp and Circumstance

Alma Mater, Daniel Chester French

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

Puzzle by Kevan Choset / Edited by Will Shortz

Six abbreviations for educational degrees, BFA, MBA, MA, BA, MD and JD, each squeezed into a single square, along with SIX DEGREES (40A. Often-cited distance between things … or what’s hidden in this puzzle) constitutes the interrelated group of this Thursday crossword.

• CA[BFA]RE / A[BFA]B (16A. It’s enough to take you for a ride; 6D: Hit Brit sitcom)
• ICE [MA]KER / [MA]INE (3D. Source of some cubes; 21A. Memorable ship)
• C[MD]R / E[MD]ASHES (51A. Nav. Leader; 44D. Parentheses alternatives)
• V[J-D]AY / [J D] SALINGER (62D. August 15, 1945; 67A: Writer featured in the memoir "Dream Catcher")
• [BA]TOR / [BA]SS HORN 39A. Part of an Asian capital’s name; 39D. Tuba)
• SLA[MBA]NG / ZI[MBA]LIST (20A. With force and much noise; 12D: Notable violinist)

Other — ANIMIST (29A. Nature worshiper, of a sort), BEASTIE (47A. Epithet for the mouse in Burns‘s “To a Mouse“), DOGSTAR (14D. Its rising signaled the flooding of the Nile in ancient Egypt), ERNESTO, FORESEE, HIPNESS, MABEL / MERCER (5D. With 52-Down, English born cabaret signer), PAPER BOY (23D. News deliverer), RAIMENT, SCRAWLS, THE HOBBIT (18A. Literary source of “Bless us and splash us, my precioussss!”), TIED INTO, TRITEST.

Mid-size — AGENA, AN ARM and a leg, ARLES, ASLAN, China ASTER, CRAZED, CRIERS, CROSSE, DENIRO, Zhou EN LAI, EX-CON, IMACS, ISOPOD (33A. Pill bug, for one), LESSER, MENSA (56D. Noted test provider), MONACO (52A. State of Grace), NO FEE, RELAID, S-STARS (74A. Cool red giants), THROW, WHENCE, YETIS.

Short stuff — ALT, “AS I was saying”, BAH, CDS, CIR, EINS, EAP and EAT and EPA and EPI and ERA and ERS, EWE, ICON, IOS, NERD, NGO, OAF, OBI, ON KP, OPT, ORG, OUSE, OVO, PAC, RAG, REF, RIG, RYE, SETS, SETA, STA.

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Click on image to enlarge.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES — Crossword Puzzles and Games.

Remaining clues — ACROSS: 1. Traditional keilkogi accessory; 4. Apple types; 9. Manic; 15. One regulated by the F.E.C.; 17. “Sleepers” co-star, 1996; 22. Literary inits.; 24. City on the Rhone; 25. Peeling potatoes, perhaps; 27. Env. Contents; 31. Onetime NASA booster; 35. Stop: Abbr.; 36. Anticipate; 38. Call, in a way; 39. Part of an Asian capital’s name; 43. Collections; 46. Geom. Figure; 54. Judo move; 55. Apparel; 57. Jim Beam product; 59. River of York; 61. Lacto-___-vegetarian; 63. Creature in Dr. Seuss’s “If I Ran the Zoo”; 65. From where; 71. Reduced; 72. Narnia hero; 73. Center start?; 75. Himalayan legends; 76. Many an old T-shirt, now. — DOWN: 1. Reject, with “out of”; 2. “Pshaw!”; 4. Folder, sometimes; 7. Announcers; 8. ___ RECORD; 9. Modern records; 10. Fixed, as tiles; 13. 1990s Mexican president Zedillo; 19. Cool factor; 25. Ox; 26. Vietnam’s ___ Dinh Diem; 28. Connected with; 30. Free; 34. Assn.; 37. Parolee, e.g.; 41. Period of years; 42. Take in; 43. Writes poorly; 45. Most overused; 48. Wear walker; 49. Aegean island near Naxos; 50. Farm milk provider; 53. Game stick; 64. One from Germany; 66. Some TV drama sites, for short; 68. PC key; 69. Green grp.; 70. Fix.