Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Last week on the office, Michael went on a business trip to Canada.  Once he got there, he was very excited to meet and talk with the concierge.  I’m not 100% sure what he thought a concierge was but he did believe they were “schooled in the fine arts of fanciness and pleasure”.  He actually got a lot farther with the concierge than I thought he would and the night ended in a classic “walk of shame”.  Why am I mentioning this?  Because Michael Scott doesn’t know anything about concierges and I don’t know anything about college sports.  Which brings us to today’s Peter A. Collins puzzle.

The theme answers were anagrams of college sports teams.  Oh yes, in addition to not knowing anything about college sports I’m also not very good at anagrams.  Having said all that, the section I had the most trouble with had no theme answers at all.  But first, the theme:

23A. Jacket material for a mixed-up North Carolina athlete? (LEATHER).  LEATHER is an anagram for the North Carolina THE EARLs.

37A. Oenophile, as a mixed-up Michigan athlete? (WINE LOVER).  WINE LOVER is an anagram for the Michigan ELVER WINOs.

56A. Flew by, as a mixed-up Michigan State athlete? (RAN PAST).  RAN PAST is an anagram for the Michigan State ASP RANTs.

10D. Jargon from a mixed-up Florida athlete? (ARGOT).  ARGOT is an anagram for the Florida GROATs.

55D. Apply to the skin, as on a mixed-up U.C.L.A. athlete? (RUB IN).  RUB IN is an anagram for the UCLA I BURNs.

So, that was pretty tough but at least now I can have an intelligent conversation with various dudes about college athletics.

The bottom left:

Sweet mercy!  This was tough.  This corner definitely had at least one foot in Thursday/Friday.

21D. Study of please (HEDONICS).  I put HEDONISM first.  That screwed things up for a while.  The M in HEDONISM made it almost impossible for me to come up with REPRESS for 54A. Sit on.

41A. Classic batting game (ONEACAT).  I have no idea what this is.  I don’t even know what a batting game is.  You mean, like baseball?

58A. “Cheers!” abroad (SALUT).  I put SALUD at first which made 38D. “No more for me, thanks” (IM SET) very difficult.

66A. Peterson of 2003 news (LACI).  Ok, this one I actually knew.  I was fascinated by this case for a while.  I listened to the tapes of Scott Peterson’s phone conversations with Amber Frey.  They are chilling.  He kills his wife and is happily courting this other woman while denying the reality of what’s going on.  But the real reason I wanted to point out this clue is: Scott Peterson is a convicted murderer in California.  He has been convicted of killing his wife and unborn son and resides on death row in San Quentin prison in California.  Scott Peterson gets a lot of marriage proposals and has the lawful right to get married in the state of California if he so wishes.  A man who has been convicted of violating the sanctity of marriage in the most heinous way possible still has the right to marriage.  In California.  What kind of crazy world do we live in?

Okay, I’m off the soapbox.

16A. Plows follow them (ROWS).  Show of hands, who put OXEN here?

My pop culture knowledge really failed me on this puzzle.  I’ve never heard of Patrick MAGEE, ELLA Raines or EWA Aulin.

And one last clue/answer that has me baffled:

46D. Mayo, for one (MES).  Huh?

Next stop, Thursday.