So, this is the “same boat” as last week – the theme was 9 to 5 once again. I created this puzzle first and was halfway through when I got the idea to have the clues be 9 and 5 letters in length, so I set it aside and started last week’s puzzle. One more clue that this was going to be the same theme as last week was the picture of Henry VIII, which is a reference to the Herman’s Hermits song, “I’m Henry the 8th,” which has the lyric “Second verse, same as the verse.” “The Same Boat” is a lyric from the song 9 to 5 – “You’re in the same boat with a lotta your friends/Waiting for the day your ship’ll come in.”
The theme answers:
1A and 31A – NINE to FIVE – solving the puzzle involved working 9 to 5.
8D and 22D – DOLLY and PORTER – this refers to Dolly Parton (duh) and Porter Wagoner. Porter Wagoner gave Parton a break earlier on by inviting her on his eponymous music show, and the two put out several songs that charted on the country music charts. When Parton decided to go solo, she wrote the song “I Will Always Love You” about her feelings for Porter.
16A and 19A – Lily and Jane – as in Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, Parton’s costars in 9 to 5, and also the leads in the series Grace and Frankie:
The grid:
The answers, explained:
ACROSS
1A – NINE – Nein (Germans saying no) heard
3A – AMUSED – AD (commercial) featuring MUSE (artistic inspiration) A MUSE D
7A – UMP – RUMP (behind), mostly
10A – TENSE – Tents (camping equipment) heard (reverberated)
11A – RENTAL CAR – CARTEL RAN hinky, or anagrammed. Dollar is the name of a rental car company.
12A – AVERAGING – AVER (swear) + AGING (getting old)
13A – BOOZE – B (pretty good) + OOZ (animal habit, i.e. zoo, ran backward) + E (blame finally)
14A – KASHMIR – Cashmere (delicate fabric) heard (conveyed)
16A – LILY – LIL (Nas X) + Y (DaBaby close). David Harbour, the sheriff in Stranger Things, recently married Lily Allen.
19A – JANE – enclouded in ganJA NEarly
21A –RESERVE – double definition – Make sure there’s a place/modesty
24A – ATLAS – AT LAST (Etta James song) unfinished
25A – ODOMETERS – ODORS (scents) surrounding METE (deal) ODO METE RS
27A – TANGERINE – TAN (brown) + GENE (series of molecules) around RI (Rhode Island) – TAN GE RI NE
28A – INIGO – I GO IN clamoring, or anagrammed. In The Princess Bride, (Spoiler Alert), Inigo Montoya avenged his father’s death by killing Corky St. Clair.
29A – NUT – double definition – avid fan/pecan
30A – LAMEST – LAST (finally) got ME
31A – FIVE – IV (four) plus FE (iron) combination
DOWN:
1D: NO THANKS – NOT HANKS (a different Tom)
2D: NONSENSE – Eons “stretched,” meaning the letter in eons used in a longer word with the same letters. Clue type borrowed from Out of Left Field cryptics.
4D: MERRIER – Marrier (rabbi, priest or judge) heard (orating)
5D: SENEGAL – SEAL (British singer) absorbed NEG (insult)
6D DEADBOLTS – DELTS (muscles) on both sides of A + DBO (sculpted, or anagrammed bod) DE A DBO LTS
7D UNCOOL – UNC (Chapel Hill school) + OOL (waste station, loo, backed up)
8D PORTER – P (purple top) + ORTER (in style again, retro, back)
9D – FETA – FET (fete loudly, or heard) + A
15D – MEANS WELL – MEAN (humble) + SWELL (fop)
17D – FREE WIFI – IF WE REFI modification, or anagrammed
18D – KEYSTONE – KEYS (Alicia) + TONE (musical resonance)
20D – EGOTISM – EGOT (four major awards – Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) + IS + M (merely the beginning)
21D – RIOTERS – RIO (Brazilian city) + TERS (mostly tight-lipped, or terse)
22D – PARTON – PART (role) + ON (in a production of)
23D – PLANET – PLAN (starting itinerary) + ET (visitor)
24D – ERIE – Eerie (strange) sounding, or heard