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*Hit on the head

Horizontales

1A
*Hit on the head
5A
That girl
8A
Electronic journal
12A
Nitrogen-based fertilizer
13A
Direction some people run
14A
*Cut off a branch
15A
Mufasa's brother
16A
Fish you can find underfoot
17A
Stand for a painting
18A
Blood-suckers
20A
Small songbirds
21A
Drops it down a few notches
22A
Write
23A
Magic word that is quick to be used in Italian
26A
Long stories
30A
Mere boy
31A
Online representative
34A
Small amount
35A
Friend of your foe
37A
*Niche song from the 60's that made it all the way into the Billboard 100 top 10; Alley___
38A
Milan's "La ___"
39A
*Denotes being at your peak
40A
Breakdown a meal
42A
Component of a railroad
43A
Showed your appreciation
45A
*Profession of a man in blue
47A
Elephant's weight, maybe
48A
Make it home
50A
*A way to get in or out
52A
Those who have "drunk the Kool-aid"
56A
Charles de Gaulle's birthplace
57A
Australia's gemstone
58A
At one time, at one time
59A
Part of a flower that might follow you around
60A
Breaks a commandment
61A
Paris bank
62A
Contradict
63A
Get the droop on
64A
Aug. follower

Verticales

1D
Astrological gray area
2D
Two-tone seal eater
3D
Warm, so to speak
4D
Golden units
5D
Bible belted
6D
Golfer's quests
7D
Squeaks by
8D
Einstein type
9D
Intergalactic sin, ___ in space
10D
Washington bills
11D
Preparation for your hair or teeth
13D
Biochemistry professor with a penchant for science fiction
14D
Fabled consumer of pumpkin
19D
Asian appetizer
22D
A pop
23D
Fold
24D
Russian or French alternative
25D
Swelling
26D
Complete someone
27D
Beaded counters
28D
A lovely smelling pastel
29D
Gawk
32D
If you drop this you could go to jail
33D
Informational source on a garment
36D
Head count of males in a room
38D
Retail outlet
40D
Animal house
41D
Gives in to a child's every whim
44D
Fraction of a ruble
46D
Bottle openers, essentially
48D
Brown shade
49D
Sound from the steeple
50D
Dietary, in ads
51D
Obvious flair
52D
Big cheese
53D
The E in H.O.M.E.S.
54D
Abbreviation in an invitation
55D
"Let it stand"
56D
See 32D

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benchen71 3s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Was this a bad puzzle? Nop!

hoover 2s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Ahhh... nothing too taxing for me tonight. This might be a wee kitten. :)

DrTom constructor · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z
I vacillated about the asterisks because it would have been MUCH harder without them. Hey, kittens are nice and cuddly and sometimes you just need a little ball of fur to make you smile.

Thanks for solving.

Laura M 🤓8:37 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Loved it!

KayW 🤓7:19 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Just as much fun to solve the second time - Thanks!

DrTom constructor · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z
And I thank you twice

Darth 12:10 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

I had filled in Alley OOP at first and then corrected, so I was still thinking about it and that was my entry to the solution oddly enough. ;) Thanks, Tom!

Meg 1:09 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z
Me too!
DrTom constructor · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z
That entry was a major stroke of luck. Originally I had something that was related to a mistake so that the solver would have to translate, for instance, DARN to OOP but of course that was tentative and most testers got OOPS not OOP, then I discovered that ALLEY CAT and ALLEY OOP both came out in the 60s and both made it to the Billboard top 10 - the META gods smiled on me that day.

Thanks for taking the quiz.

whimsy 10:29 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

I did the oopsie thing like Darth also. Plus I was off with the clue numbers (they are tiny!) and was trying to put "men in blue" into 47A rather than 45A -- and since I had MENCOUNT instead of TALLY, COP did fit! And it still took more than a couple of minutes for the necessary mechanism to finally sink in!

Good one, Tom -- Thanks!

MatthewL 🤓6:30 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Very nice, although I'm embarrassed to say it took me a second to get the pun at 9D. Maybe the crossing at 20A distracted me. In any event, thanks for the puzzle, Tom!

Bird Lives 3s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

If I hadn't spent many hours studying "Hop on Pop," I might never have solved this one.

lbray53 3s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Nicely done! Great job of stuffing that cat in the bag Dr. Tom.

ajk 🤓10:10 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Saw the path instantly. Hesitated a bit on the CAT replacement, but figured it had to be OOP (which was confirmed by the fit of the first letter). Like the 2D and 5D clues. :) Fun one, thanks.

HeadinHome 🤓1:51 · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Kitten for sure! Clever collection of “-ops”!

Qmark 3s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Enjoyed it...thanks DrTom!

Berto 1s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Took me a minute! I couldn’t get “LOP” out of my head, and Conk seemed odd, plus I also initially had Alley OOP… and finally it clicked. Thank you DrTom!

Abide 3s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

Neat trick that the image picture contains books with titles TOP COP and HOP

DrTom constructor · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z
Yeah I usually try to do that with my banners, but have been getting a little blowback because if you know that you look there for the big nudge. I will probably curtail that in the future, but glad you saw the "plants".

Tyrpmom 2s · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z

The clues in the banner. I need to pay attention.

DrTom constructor · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z
Thanks for solving, but do not rely on the banners, people have talked me out of including as much information there. It was said that I was giving away the farm because if you check my last 8 or 10 banners at least there was always a big hint. For example, my Musical Chair had one of the gents in Mr. Sinatra's signature hat and the music shown, well that was for My Way.

I will still try to have topical or amusing banners, just not ones with major nudges in them.

I solved this a couple days ago, and today I was reading the nudges (sometimes I go back and read the nudges after solving), and I don't understand nudge #1. It looks like you're referring to the increasing word length 2-3-4-5, and in fact your nudge post has 2-3-4-5-6, but I don't see how that helps one solve. Or is this coincidental?

DrTom constructor · 2024-05-31T21:54:28.641Z
My POP quiz BURST - giving an alternate definition for POP. That is what I did with all of the themers, CONK could be BOP, PRUNE could be LOP. So if you see that POP and BURST are the same thing, and this was a POP quiz. I'd have brought this out closer to Father's Day if I did not already have a Father's Day puzzle (Kitten) done.

andeux 🤓5:35 · 2024-06-01T16:52:26.533Z

Went down a brief rabbit hole (before looking at the nudges) after noticing that changing one letter CONK->CORK and ACME->ACNE gives things you can POP. But I couldn't make that work with the other entries.

DrTom constructor · 2024-06-01T19:30:45.975Z
Wow, interesting path and of course one I never considered...too far away from adolescence (though the CORK one I should have considered, I do that most every evening!!) Thanks for solving.

Dave C 6s · 2024-06-02T02:03:46.829Z

I was expecting the answer to be DMINUS, so I didn't look for the obvious.

DrTom constructor · 2024-06-02T04:58:46.971Z
Ah, the hazards of anticipating what my mind came up with, always dangerous. I'm glad you eventually broke free of your preconception, heck I'll give you an A for that! Thank you for solving.

omnilynx 🤓19:48 · 2024-06-03T01:29:35.375Z

I got deep on a rabbit trail thinking other answers matched the clues: SMOTE for 1A, RANCH for 14A, AVATAR for 45A, HOLES for 50A. I only stopped when I had to google the other hit 60s "Alley" song and realized *OOP wasn't in the grid.

DrTom constructor · 2024-06-03T05:51:05.713Z
Dang! I wish I had been clever enough to see all of those, probably would have been a better puzzle Those are very inventive matches. I especially liked the AVATAR one. I believe there may be a meta construction in your future!

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