09.28.09 -- Failure

Failure © 2007 Sean Hopp
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Monday,
September 28, 2009
Puzzle by Lynn Lempel, edited by Will Shortz
Synonymy with failure in the guises of bomb, bust, dud, flop, turkey and perhaps tank comprises the interrelated group of this Monday gloom-and-doom crossword -- COLD TURKEY (17A. Abrupt way to quit), MILK DUD (40A. Chocolaty morsel munched at movies), CHERRY BOMB (63A. Round, red firecracker), DRUG BUST (11D. Narc’s raid); FLIP FLOP (39D. Beach wear) and maybe/maybe not TANK TOP (26D. Close-fitting sleeveless shirt). On top of it all, CRAP (16A. Losing roll in a casino) and RESIGN (67A. Quit one’s job) render this beginning-of-the-week puzzle even DIRER (18D. More grim)!
Seven-letter entries include ACROBAT (10D. Circus performer); ITALICS (44D. Type for book titles);
RAMADAN (22D. Month-long Islamic observance) and ZAMBEZI (31D. Africa’s fourth-longest river and site of Victoria Falls).
Six-letter -- ADLIBS (43A. Talks off the cuff); ALINES (59A. Flared skirts); APEMEN (51D. Tarzan and kin);
AZALEA (15A. Relative of a rhododendron); BATSIN (36A. Brings home for a score); ELOISE (2D. Fictional girl at the Plaza Hotel); GEEZER (8D. Old, crotchety guy); JOSHES (48D. Teases playfully); LISBON (52D. Portugal’s capital); MILLER (3D. Arthur who wrote “Death of a Salesman”); OILIER (20A. More greasy); RATON (34A. Betray by blabbing); RAWEGG (4A. Nog ingredient); RECOUP (1D. Get back, as lost money); SONORA (50D. Mexican state on the Gulf of California); USOPEN (70A. Annual tennis championship in Queens, N.Y.).
Five -- ABBOT (27A. Monk’s superior); AZURE (5D. Color of a picture-postcard sky); FLIES (57a. Gets around like Superman);
LAPAZ (53A. Bolivian capital); MAUVE (33A. Purplish); 49A. NASAL congestion); PEREZ (30A. Actress Rosie of “Do the Right Thing”); SAHIB (46D. Form of address in British India); SARGE (55D. Beetle Bailey’s boss); TUNAS (45A. Bluefin and albacore); UNITE (47A. Join forces); ZEROG (21A. State of weightlessness, as in space).
Short stuff -- ADDS, ALL, ALPS, ANN, BLOC, BUN, DAD, DUET, ECRU, EDNA, ELI and ELK, ESO, ETTE, GAYE, HOPI, JOE, LYNN, MALI, MBA, OAR, OPTS, OVID, RATE, RAUL, REF, REM and REO, RIP, RUDY, SPY, TDS, TENS, “TIS better to have loved and lost …”, TOOL, USER and the
WAR of 1812.
Ah, a paean to the pain of
FAILURE!
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Remaining clues -- Across: 1. Sleep stage, for short; 10. Opposite of subtracts; 14. The “E” in 68-Across; 23. Consumer; 24. Suffix with cigar; 32. Boat rower; 37. B-ball official; 42. N.F.L. six-pointers; 48. V.P. Biden; 54. Chooses, with “for”; 56. Southwest Indian; 61. Saharan country south of Algeria; 66. Political coalition; 68. Classic car inits.; 69. High points of a European trip?; 71. Advice columnist Landers. Down: 4. Label G or PG, e.g.; 6. ___ of 1812; 7. Antlered animal; 9. Marvin of Motown; 12. Mom’s mate; 13. Nathan Hale, notably; 25. Hammer or saw; 28. Roman love poet; 29. Fives and ___; 35. “___ better to have loved and lost …”; 36. Hot dog holder; 37. Fidel Castro’s brother; 38. “Giant” writer Ferber; 41. Performing pair; 58. Light brown; 60. One of the Redgrave sisters; 61. Degree for a C.E.O.; 62. Entirely; 64. That, south of the border; 65. ___ Van Winkle.

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