Ryan and Brian do Crosswords

Today’s puzzle is by good friend of the blog, Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town.

Great puzzle and I think may have broke some sort of personal record for spotting a rebus.  I spotted it even before I saw:

52A. Mischief-makers (you’ll find seven of them in the answer grid) (LITTLEDEVILS).

I figured out the rebus on:

66A. Spontaneous skits (impROV).

And there were 6 additional IMPs hidden throughout the grid.  Some came easily:

2D. Curious George, for one (CHimp).

37A. TV series that’s now a film franchise (MISSIONimpOSSIBLE).  I think I’ve ranted about these movies before.  Yes, I totally have but here’s an update.  I just rented and watched the Brian DePalma-directed The Untouchables and it’s just not a very good movie.  It’s got some good moments but, on the whole, it doesn’t do it for me.  Are there any DePalma movies that people really love?  I’ll tell you what though, that Untouchables’ score by Ennio Morricone is amazing.  The score makes the movie seem much, much better than it actually is.

45A. Call into question (impEACH).  This can still be done to presidents, right?

46D. See for a second (GLimpSE).

And others were a struggle:

15D. Sights at many football games (BLimpS).  This whole corner took me a long time. 12D. Deliver a stemwinder (ORATE).  I thought a stemwinder was a type of snake which made me think there was some special word for a snake giving birth.  However, snakes do not give birth, they lay eggs.  I remembered this later on.  I enjoy when my ignorance has depth and texture. 18A. Constellation with a music-related name (LYRA).  Yes, LYRA is a constellation.  LYRA is also a Turkish bowed instrument.  Never heard of either one.

22A. Be stingy with (SKimpON).  I had SCRIMPS and was positive it was correct.

Other highlights:

36D. Green and Rogen of comedies (SETHS).  Seth Green created Robot Chicken. 46A. Sought-after object (GRAIL).  King Arthur went after the Holy Grail.  Put them together and you get:

43A. Peak performance? (YODEL).  Here is a video of Taylor Ware who, apparently, is America’s yodeling sweetheart.

You may have noticed The Hoff looking somewhat incredulous.  I think anybody who once appeared in public like this

gives up all future rights to incredulity.

33D. Seafood cocktail ingredient (TIGERSHRimp).  Tiger Shrimp are quite large.  I wonder how many Brian could eat in one sitting.

All around great puzzle by Doug.  I like a Thursday challenge.  Keeps me from getting too cocky.  And Thursdays are usually my cockiest days.  So much so that I’ve taken to calling it Cockursday.

Next stop, Fricockyday.

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