Explanation: A host is commonly called an EMCEE, reinforced by 11-D, and that sounds a lot like MC (sometimes abbreviated as such). Ten across clues, some more seamlessly constructed than others, have initials MC. In order: BARBEASEBOWABEBEESEEGNUSMANNPEATHUR.
Per the title, let's see what these sound like (I tried to make this as literal as possible): BARBIE'S BEAU, ABC NEWSMAN PETER. Nice to see one of the biggest movies of 2023 represented - and one of my favorite newsmen of my childhood. These two clues represent KEN and JENNINGS, which together give the answer to the meta, who first earned his claim to fame in 2004 by winning 74 (numeric tie-in!) consecutive games of the show he now hosts: Jeopardy! Note the nod to original host Art Fleming at 5-A also!
Whoa! Lots of nice bunny holes --- "EASE" OK, just look at the longest entry rows with those double E's! EAR, DRUM; EAR, MARK (sic.) And A(u)nt Bee kept buzzing at me! And then it took me a moment to realize that Peter Jennings never had a thing with Barbie, but that you were looking for us to make use of two things.
Very fun solve! Thanks, Mikey!
Level 1.5 for me, as I deployed my new MikeyG strategy of reviewing the clues in detail BEFORE starting the grid. I noticed the MC clues and was off to the races! Mighty cool!
I saw almost all the pieces before I picked up on the "MC"s, but couldn't make sense of them. (What do barbies, the alphabet, and some newsman named Pete have to do with each other?) I don't know any news anchors' names, so it didn't come together until after I figured out how to connect ABC and use a little Google (the other Mr. G!)
Berto 🤓2:13 · 2023-11-12T19:01:45.011Z
Took me longer than I care to admit, mainly because I got lost down a rabbit warren full of dead ends: “I hear you ARE hosting” > abundance of “AR”s in the grid, “EASE” > all the “EE”s in the grid, hosting “us” > all the “US”s in the grid (why else have TZUS and USD?!) - before finally focusing on 11 down and seeing the M- C- clues. Fun one with a satisfying aha!
I'm so embarrassed that it took me so long to put two and two together. First I saw the MCs, great. Letters spelled nothing. "MC, well maybe they are introducing the correct letters..." Nope that didn't help. Gee, "heard" -Arb ase rum (mis-circled one darn it)be, ee ee nus ann eat ur...what?? Ok, add back the first letter, BARB BASE DRUMABEBEESEEGNUSMANNPEATHUR. AHA! Barbies Dream ABC Newsman Peter, well that makes sense but it makes no sense, why would she be humng up on a deceased news anchor??? DOH, not DRUM, BOW, so Barbie's beau ABC Newsman Peter...but her beau is not Peter Jennings it is Ken...AARRRGGH KEN JENNINGS MC, well just brilliant! Now if the prompt had been "questionable" American personality or "Perilous" American personality or "The answer to the meta is someone who is a questionable American personality" I might have gotten it earlier Thanks for the challenge Mikey, fun one.
Steve M 32:07 · 2023-11-15T00:09:21.528Z
Found the MCs quickly. Took me a little longer to “hear” the words they pointed to. Fun meta!
MatthewL 🤓6:21 · 2023-11-16T15:04:54.049Z
Totally not in my wheelhouse -- not good with the "sounding it out" metas. Needed all the nudges and still struggled with it. Finally got Barbie's Beau and since Ken Jennings is the only Ken I know that hosts a show, that was my guess. That having been said -- great puzzle Mikey!
Joe 🤓7:07 · 2023-11-16T16:02:32.329Z
Wowww. That was fun. Took me a few nudges, but I got there!
Qmark 7s · 2023-11-17T19:54:36.913Z
Filled in the grid last weekend and left it to simmer...finally remembered to check today for nudges...just needed the first 2 to lead me to the finish line. Thanks Mikey!
hoover 9s · 2023-11-18T08:48:28.857Z
Oops, I meant to click the "enter me" check box. Fun one!
HeadinHome 🤓4:06 · 2023-11-18T13:10:11.363Z
Late to this party so I brought an extra host gift… you wanted an aging fruitcake, right?
HeadinHome 🤓4:06 · 2023-11-18T13:11:56.779Z
(Ps .. no nudges needed. This was fun to figure out, after all the MC clue entries didn’t spell anything.)
Middle word in the name of a South American archipelago
23A
Get off the fence
25A
One-___ (Wilder's "The Long Christmas Dinner," for one)
28A
Entropy
29A
"You ___!" ("Right on!")
31A
___ punk (Mighty Mighty Bosstones genre)
32A
Make certain
33A
Like the last dance a couple often performs on "Dancing with the Stars" (Mark Ballas created some of my all-time favorites)
38A
Former US govt. agency whose acronym is one letter away from a continent
40A
$, briefly
41A
Maned creatures
42A
"Manfred" concluder
43A
Inventive initials
44A
Marshy component
45A
Once, once
46A
Major charioteer
47A
Shih ___ (silky-haired toy dogs)
Verticali
1D
"You always boast about disagreeing with me!" "I ___ to differ!"
2D
Dynamic introduction?
3D
Harangue (if I complain about tart fruits, it's a lemon harangue)
4D
When my chickens didn't lay any eggs, I ___ about it
5D
Have ___ (live it up, ideally solving metas!)
6D
Cover-up in the courtroom?
7D
Boss of years gone by
8D
Genre my mom derisively calls "beeps and boops," for short
9D
Last word in the title of 1962's Best Picture
10D
"You betcha!"
11D
Hosts
19D
Times feature (this clue is just my type)
20D
Bushel's four
24D
November 2022 invention that, when I just asked it for a pun about puzzles, gave me "The puzzle broke up with the dictionary because they had too many cross words!"
25D
Suppose (you know the saying...)
26D
This guy had some Gaul LOL
27D
Some promotional gimmicks
30D
Prevaricators suffer from ___ decay
31D
Event that commonly begins with Kadeish (a blessing of the first cup of wine)
34D
He forgives Jacob in Genesis 33
35D
California's Santa ___ Valley
36D
Its name comes from the leaves of a stew often served at one
37D
Ballpark figs. (I prefer Ball Park franks but okay)
39D
"Did your uncle approve of your becoming an entomologist?" "No, but my ___ did!"