Mike Shenk’s Wall Street Journal crossword, “Holding Companies”—Jim P’s overview

Theme: Familiar two-word phrases have an added CO at the beginning of every second phrase.

Wall St Journal crossword resolution · “Holding Companies” · Mike Shenk · Wed., 10.5.22

• 17a. [Early task in a recipe for stuffed Vidalias?] ONION CORING.
• 24a. [Group yelling “Work that brush!” and “Floss!”?] TOOTH COACHES.
• 37a. [Spouse who refuses to witness the delivery?] MATERNITY COWARD. Hey, I used to be at her head and holding her hand. I used to be even prepared to face up and witness the proceedings (a C-section), however they warned me to not. I suppose they’d handled sufficient spouses who’d keeled over up to now. So I sat down and did my job.
• 48a. [Alternative to a saucer? ] CHINA COASTER. Never heard of a china aster, so I wanted a variety of crossings right here.
• 59a. [Knockoff iPads?] APPLE COPIES.

This works nicely sufficient for me. I did want that as a substitute of CO in every case, we had completely different precise corporations, like IBM, BMW, IKEA, and so on.

I loved the lengthy fill, particularly FRESH START and CATCHING UP which appear to go nicely collectively. LONDONER and ON REPORT are good as nicely, although I attempted ON RECORD first for the latter.

Clues of be aware:

• 11a. [Org. that investigates telemarketing fraud]. FTC. Who else went with FCC since we’re speaking phone calls right here? But I suppose FTC makes extra sense.
• 21a. [Iuppiter or Saturnus]. DEUS. Couldn’t be certain at first, however these are Latin phrases. Never thoughts that I took some Latin in highschool.
• 46d. [Makeup of New Jersey’s Palisades]. BASALT. Knowing nothing about this and with the B in place, I went with BOARDS. Took me some time to type it out.
• 60d. [Foot of the Himalayans?]. PAW. I assumed this was a reference to the yeti, however no. We’re speaking Himalayan cats right here.

3.5 stars.