30
The World Series of Poker is set to conclude Wednesday, so Captain Obvious swooped in just in time to give his commentary about the poker games he’s watching.
- 23A: [“___? That means you got good cards”] is A GREAT DEAL.
- 35A: [“___? Then those cards will be in a neat little pile”] is STACKING THE DECK.
- 49A: [“___? Those have higher cards than weak ones do”] is STRONG SUITS.
- 66A: [“___, you’ll need to win some back to keep playing”] is WHEN THE CHIPS ARE DOWN.
- 85A: [“___, and I’ll be able to see those cards”] is TIP YOUR HAND.
- 101A: [“___? Then that shirt would explain why we have only 51 cards”] is ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE.
- 113A: [“___, and you’ll risk losing all your crops”] is BET THE FARM.
The captain won’t have much advice for you about whether you should raise while holding pocket 9s with off-suit King/Queen/10 showing on the flop. He just wants you to have fun, obviously.
A few idioms that I left on the table were SWEETEN THE POT, LOST IN THE SHUFFLE and HOLD ALL THE CARDS. I’m glad I steered clear of the last one since then I would have felt some pressure to avoid using the word “cards” in the other theme answers.
Some other answers and clues:
Here’s a heads-up that next week’s crossword has a meta. You can conquer it, I have faith.
