Theme: Huff & Puff - Follow-up on three little sty upgrades.
18A. Unlucky thing to draw : SHORT STRAW
26A. Tabletop game requiring steady hands : PICK-UP STICKS
47A. Go on strike, in slang : HIT THE BRICKS
60A. Menace who destroyed houses made of the ends of 18-, 26- and 47-Across : BIG BAD WOLF
Argyle here with a rabbit, rabbit and three little pigs. A simple premise with some testing entries but not beyond doing. There are some cute plums in there too. I never heard the house made of bricks was destroyed.
Across:
1. Junk email : SPAM
5. "A Streetcar __ Desire" : NAMED
10. Talks and talks and talks : GABS. yadda, yadda, yadda.
14. Strauss of denim : LEVI
15. Double-reed instruments : OBOEs
16. Author __ Stanley Gardner : ERLE. Perry Mason creator.
17. Fateful date for Caesar : IDES of March.
20. Poverty-stricken : DIRT POOR
22. Share and share __ : ALIKE
23. Banned apple spray : ALAR
24. Solved, as a cryptogram : DECODED
30. Witch trials town : SALEM
31. Like a prof. emeritus : RET.
32. Narrate : TELL
36. Supermarket chain initials : IGA. (Independent Grocers Alliance)
37. McCain's title : SENATOR
41. Pizzeria order : PIE
42. Male offspring : SONS
44. Univ. proctors, often : TAs. (Teaching Assistant)
45. Seat of New York's Oneida County : UTICA. Hi, Spitzboov.
51. Vehement speeches : TIRADES
54. Have in mind : MEAN
55. "I'll do whatever you need" : "USE ME"
56. "Language" that gave us "amscray" : PIG LATIN. 10D. "Amscray!" : "GET LOST!"
63. Common quitting time : FIVE
64. List-shortening abbr. : ET AL.
65. "... had a farm, __" : EIEIO
66. Bullpen stats : ERAS. In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched
67. Really annoy : RILE
68. Rose essence : ATTAR
69. Hankerings : YENS
Down:
1. Got one's uniform dirty, as a base runner : SLID
2. Feet pampering, briefly : PEDIcure
3. State confidently : AVER
4. Error : MISTAKE
5. "Never gonna happen" : "NO SOAP". I haven't heard that phrase in quite a while.
6. Finds repugnant : ABHORS
7. Tie up in the harbor : MOOR
8. At any time, to Frost : E'ER
9. Summer hrs. : DST. (daylight saving time)
11. Extra Dry deodorant : ARRID
12. Eubie of jazz : BLAKE
13. Embroidered, e.g. : SEWED
19. Potato bag : SACK. A day at the races.
21. Future prunes, perhaps : PLUMS
24. Weight loss plan : DIET
25. Opposite of endo- : ECTO
26. Trident-shaped Greek letters : PSIs
27. "Othello" villain : IAGO. 49D. Wife of 27-Down : EMILIA. Common knowledge?
28. Scottish family : CLAN
29. Garbage : TRASH
33. Larger-than-life : EPIC
34. Kiss from a dog : LICK
35. Grazing grounds : LEAs
38. Suffix with major or Smurf : ETTE
39. D.C. baseball team : NATS. Short for the Washington Nationals.
40. Beyond the burbs : RURAL
43. Shuffling gait : SHAMBLE
46. "30 Rock" creator : TINA FEY
48. Brainstorm : IDEA
50. Request earnestly, as mercy : BEG FOR
51. Potato or yam : TUBER
52. "Lord, __?": Matthew : "IS IT I?"
53. Fit for a king : REGAL
56. Couplet creator : POET
57. Michelin product : TIRE
58. Tennis great Lendl : IVAN
59. Mythical monster's loch : NESS
61. Org. with narcs : DEA. (Drug Enforcement Administration)
62. Oscar Wilde's forte : WIT
I found this fitting ditty while looking for something by Eubie Blake and couldn't pass it up.
Argyle
