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Thanks for the dig, Syzzie. (By the way, have your hockey fans trashed Vancouver recently?) :] Actually, I suppose it's fair to say that we do like them common. The truly erudite setters of the Atlantic puzzle once included a caveat saying something like: "44a is rare." Even before parsing the clue I saw the words "Greek soldier" and (7) and said to myself, "They can't mean hoplite," but sure enough they did. I think our setters tend to consider the use of an uncommon word a sort of cheap shot. Funny- anyone who does crosswords at the level of the Atlantic's is likely to have a huge vocabulary, but I must say that I've often rolled my eyes at Korean swords and Patagonian lichens.

Re 38a: I thought the same at first, but I think it does work. If you ignore the comma, what you're looking for is the "features" of pull-up: C, H, I, N. (I can just hear my high school gym teacher saying "Do ten chins." Fat chance.)

Re the title: I think it simply refers to "June Is Bustin' Out All Over", from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel (sorry, not even attempting italics) and the month's typically busy (read dreadful) social calendar. Common or what?

Re "homely": My father was a sharpshooter in the Marines in WWII and served as a guard to President Roosevelt at ShangriLa. One of his dangerous duties there was helping Eleanor find the wildly famous Scottie Fala whenever he ran off into the woods, so he often chatted with her. He once said to me, "She was a lovely lady, but God was she homely." If you want to know what Americans mean by homely, just look at a picture of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Thanx, you 2 --- would never have seen that in a lifetime! No wonder, mind you: as the Germans like to quote Churchill, "Sport ist Mord" = sport is murder. Prefer the Armagnac & the cigars here personally.............................

Yes, exactly, Aristo: I formulated my explanation badly --- what I meant of course was that the word "homely" in Europe can never mean "ugly"!!!

Thanks for the Rodgers and Hammerstein ref.

38D "pockets" is OK as the indicator, but "features" should have been singular.

Had no idea that "homely" wasn't used that way in the UK. Sorry, Les. You probably wondered what I was on about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj60OAh7O5U

Re hockey: the Canucks didn't do so well, if I read the stats correctly. Don't follow the game.
It was a year before they started prosecuting the punks who trashed downtown Vancouver, even with all the hi-res photos. Canada treads lightly, unlike the Brits who were incarcerating their hooligans the same night. Hooray.

Common words: the cryptics tend to have a good mix. I always enjoy decoding an answer that I haven't run across before, whereas our regular puzzles are overflowing with the likes of ALOE, ETNA, ICE-T, NIN, LEI, & the ubiquitous SST.
I gather the Maleska era was different & Patagonian lichens (LOL) were grist for the mill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_lichen

Yes Syzzie, GK is correct, I was commenting on the WHOLE meaning of 'Homely' to mean 'Ugly' It's not a term I've heard over here, but I will surely be using it in future with the added knowledge that whoever I say it to will have no idea what I'm on about.

Not looked at Mr Magoo today, I hit a brick wall with it late last night (actually it was 4:30am this morning)
I've cracked most of it and have got words for some of the unclued entries (13d & 15a seem pretty clear) but I am still struggling on the last few clued entries at 2d, 4d, 30d, 40d, 41d / 22a, 26a, 37a, 39a,46a.

A couple of loose hints might be a good thing to get me going again if that's possible from you supersolvers, I just know I'm gonna kick myself on some of these because I have a significant amount of letters in most of them already but just can't seem to twig with them.

Les40

I guess we're on the wrong thread really, but to get you started.

2D what mammal could soar (go up) ? 3 letters
field - 3 letters
for all to see - film rating

4D - term I wasn't familiar with, & don't get the wordplay, ironically.

30D US activist, Parks is surname.
40D group of singers - H
41D fat for the birds. Remove 2 middle letters from "decline".

22A great pun. If not outside ...
26A ? alternate spelling, maybe
37A wordplay ? Think bathroom & Superlative.
39A Think bathroom again. (-;
46A wordplay ? Scottish term "least favourite.

Cheers Syzzie, got cut off for a bit then mate. I see a couple straight off from those hints thanks, still not getting the correct word for 46a) I've had 'Wurst' written at the side for some time but can't see the 6 letter answer and I have the 'rs' in 4th & 5th place now (coconuts to that one pal)

I'm off to bed though now because I'm knackered, last shift tomorrow until Tuesday, I'll reply again over the next couple of days.

aristo: I've seen your email and will reply tomorrow if that's ok mate, cheerio guys, have a great night. Les40