PCC#6 "When One of Us Shines, All of Us Shine"
◆◆ · By Philip Chow · Published 2023-09-02T07:21:39.570Z
Meta Prompt
[Level 1] Meta prompt: The answer to the meta is a #1 song from the 1980s that would make an apt title for this puzzle
Note: Googling is encouraged as there are a lot of names in this puzzle - I apologize for the subpar fill... hope the payoff is worth it!
Hint #1: some solvers love them, some solvers hate them... rebus squares! but these aren't just ordinary rebuses
Hint #2: the rebus squares are bidirectional and contain characters from a TV show as well as a part of a plant
Hint #3: what is the shared surname of the TV show characters? (not the surname of the actors)
Hint #4: the band's name of the meta answer song is the answer to 41-Down
Checking for previous play data...
1A
She played Rory Gilmore in "Gilmore Girls" and Emily Malek in "The Handmaid's Tale"
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Across
- 1AShe played Rory Gilmore in "Gilmore Girls" and Emily Malek in "The Handmaid's Tale"
- 8AMemorable line in "The Shining" that Jack Nicholson ad-libbed in reference to Ed McMahon's "Tonight Show" catchphrase
- 14AColorful African bird also called a banana eater (anagram of "our coat")
- 15ASmall version of a dog breed that can be chocolate, yellow, or black
- 16AAdmit, as a wrongdoing
- 17APope who initiated the First Crusade (whose regnal name is Country singer Keith and whose regnal number is the second)
- 18AOne of 60 billion in a min.
- 19AHelen ___ who had "the face that launched a thousand ships"
- 21AHome of Tel Aviv: Abbr.
- 22ASuffix with "palm" or "amor"
- 24ASacred river in Coleridge's "Kubla Khan" that sounds like a furry 1980s TV alien
- 25AGive ___ to (acknowledge silently)
- 26ABaseball Hall-of-Famer Mel
- 27A
- 29A"I Will Wait" band Mumford & ___
- 30AU.S. 66, for one
- 31AColorado NHL team, for short
- 32AVillage People hit whose title completes the line "It's fun to stay at the..."
- 34AMusical pause: Var.
- 36ALike Swiss mountains
- 40A[I'm shocked!]
- 42A"Much ___ About Nothing"
- 43AOpposite of bottom
- 44A"Seasons in the Sun" songwriter Jacques
- 47AWork laboriously on
- 49ACool ___ cucumber
- 50AImpose, as a tax [or real-life father/son Eugene and Dan who played TV father/son Johnny Rose and David Rose on "Schitt's Creek"]
- 51AWeasel relative
- 52APrefix for "copter"
- 54ACoach Parseghian of Notre Dame football
- 55AFeudal underling (which is 55-Down plus two vowels inserted)
- 57A"The end is ___!" (apocalyptic warning)
- 59ASummons in a loud voice
- 61AShowy flower that is one letter off from the name of the band with the hit "Smooth"
- 63ACottage cheese brand
- 64A"Ohh... that finally makes sense"
- 65AShe portrayed Kate Moseley in "The Cutting Edge" and voiced Nala in "The Lion King"
- 66ASymbol featured on the flag of 21-Across
Down
- 1D"Sling Blade" actor Billy Bob or "Our Town" playwright Wilder
- 2DFan-made, anthropomorphized, and gender-swapped version of a Super Mario villain with horns and fangs
- 3DOrnamental crescents (French for "little moons")
- 4DFancy medical term for "burp"
- 5DFist bump, in slang
- 6DOpposite of endo-
- 7DShower sponge scrubbers
- 8DProtaganist and friend of Baymax in "Big Hero 6" with an alliterative name
- 9DPhonetic term used by some nonbinary people
- 10DNarrow inlet
- 11DPacific weather phenomenon with a Spanish name
- 12DBelgian style of brew (French for "season")
- 13DColleen McCullough novel, with "The" (best-selling book in Australian history)
- 15DKind of bed that folds into a wall [or actress Annie who played Alexis Rose on "Schitt's Creek"]
- 20DLOL, WTF, SMH, or 20-Down
- 23D"Gone With the Wind" family name [or actress Catherine who played Moira Rose on "Schitt's Creek"]
- 25D"Now!"
- 26DTolkien creature
- 28DPhrase you might hear on International Talk Like a Pirate Day
- 33DFabric
- 35DNot attractive (like some of the fill in this grid... I'm so sorry)
- 37DRosemary Clooney song "Mambo ___"
- 38DNothing to suggest, as foul play
- 39DGovt. pollution watchdog
- 41DSkull-and-crossbones stuff
- 42DStrong chemical bases derived from metals found in group 1 of the periodic table
- 44DSloe-bearing bush whose fruit is used to flavor gin (and whose name starts with a color)
- 45DSeed again, as a tournament bracket
- 46DMeasure of central tendency in probability theory (in which the "e" stands for expected)
- 48D___ and outs
- 53D"Abandon hope all ye who ___ here"
- 55DOutdoor camping flask manufacturer who gets its name from a hollow container used to hold liquid with all the vowels removed
- 56DStand the test of time
- 58DPrickly shrub with red berries that sounds like Nathaniel who wrote "The Scarlet Letter"
- 60DSo-called "bad" cholesterol (HDL is the "good" one)
- 62DTeacher's union: Abbr.