Solution to Evan Birnholzs July 14 crossword, Captain Obvious, Poker Expert

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.

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