Theme: FINER RHYMES
17A: Seven-time home run champ: RALPH KINER
28A: One operating a dragline excavator: STRIP MINER
36A: Where Flo worked: MEL'S DINER
48A: QE2, for one: OCEAN LINER
61A: Frisco gridder: FORTY- NINER
Sub-theme: JOHN
43A: John's beloved: YOKO
6D: Grisham (John) novel, with "The": CLIENT
23D: John Henry's tool: HAMMER
33D: Economist John Mayard: KEYNES
55D: "John Brown's Body" poet: BENET
I started out very nicely: penned in ASPEN for 1A, had one strawberry, then filled in ANNOYED for 1D. Then I had a quick glance at the author's name and was a bit disconcerted that it was not Philip J. Anderson. I paused at Allan E. Parrish's name and got very nervous immediately.
Remember the EAT HER theme blunder I committed on March 21? Embarrassing! I am sure that my ignorance will continue to bubble up and boil over. Please bear with me.
Anyway, I never gained my confidence back after learning the puzzle author's name, never really gained any toehold at all. It's an extremely grueling trek. I did figure out the theme pretty quickly though. From now on, no more breakfast before puzzle, foods dull my brain. Felt like a lethargic tree sloth UNAU this morning.
Grid: 15*15. Total words count: 74. Total blank squares: 33.
Across entries:
1A: Colorado resort: ASPEN. Let's pack up the T-Bar, Gondola lift and other SKI (38D: Hit the slopes) gears and go back to "Shivering Tree" clue for a while.
2A: Tobacco plug: CHAW
10A: Certain mil. awards: DSCS. DSC is Distinguished Service Cross. Could also be DSO (Distinguished Service Order), or DSM (Distinguished Service Medal).
14A: Former NYC mayor Abe: BEAME. Not familiar with him.
15A: Molten rock: LAVA
16A: Billy or jack: MALE. Billy is a male goat, jack is a male donkey.
19A: Type of type: abbr.: ITAL (Italic)
20A: Thick-brick link: AS A
21A: Quite angry: IRED. Is this even a word?
22A: "Fiddler on the Roof": SHTETL. Ow, what a ridiculous name! "On the other hand", it's a legitimate clue. Shtetl is Yiddish for "small town".
24A: Attacks zealously: DIVES IN
26A: Mountain ridge: ARETE. Repeat offender!
27A: Henry James biographer: EDEL (Leon)
32A: Shortstop Jeter: DEREK. I think I have his rookie card.
40A: Sales channel: HSN (Home Shopping Network). Looks like Rene Aiu is doing a good job.
44A: Dressed like a judge: ROBED
53A: Specter: SHADE
54A: Singer Flack: ROBERTA. My favorite is probably "Killing me softly with his song".
56A: Singer Brewer: TERESA. No, not a familiar name to me.
59A: NOW element: ORG. NOW is National Organization for Women.
64A: Decent chap: GENT
65A: "Star Trek: TNG" character: TROI. No idea. Have never watched "Star Trek", and I don't think I will. Not my cup of tea.
66A: Plant swelling: EDEMA
67A: Transition point: EDGE. Is EDGE a point?
68A: "Back in Black" rockers: AC/DC. The Australian band.
69A: Clan emblem: TOTEM
Down entries:
1D: Chafed: ABRADED
2D: City near Fort Ord: SEA SIDE
3D: Chitchat: PALAVER. I've never used this word in my daily conversation. This word reminds of "parlez vous...", though the pronunciation is different.
10D: Composer Shostakovich: DMITRI. Probably a gimme for our fellow solvers Lois & Feste. I am not acquainted with Shostakovich. The only DMITRI I know is Nationals' DMITRI Young.
12D: Loud noise: CLATTER
13D: Clouseau portrayer: SELLERS. No idea. Not familiar with Peter Sellers and his work.
18D: Actor/Singer Kristofferson: KRIS.
29D: Element No. 86: RADON
39D: Apple choice: ROME
40D: Kidnap victim: HOSTAGE
41D: Plotted: SCHEMED. I like the paralleled structure of 40D & 41D.
45D: Knight's superior: BARONET. My dictionary says it's a title below a baron and above a knight.
46D: Outermost: EXTREME
47D: Explanatory drawing: DIAGRAM
49D: " ___ Fideles": ADESTE
50D: Sensuous: EROTIC. Not a sexy clue any more. Try something exotic!
51D: Golfer Sabbatini: RORY. The South African golfer. Very talented. Not a "the lollipop of mediocrity” for sure. He tied for 2nd at last year's Masters.
57D: Mennen product: AFTA
59D: Cattle poker: PROD
62D: "The Lord of the Rings" baddie: ORC
Ready for a quip/quote puzzle?
C.C.
17A: Seven-time home run champ: RALPH KINER
28A: One operating a dragline excavator: STRIP MINER
36A: Where Flo worked: MEL'S DINER
48A: QE2, for one: OCEAN LINER
61A: Frisco gridder: FORTY- NINER
Sub-theme: JOHN
43A: John's beloved: YOKO
6D: Grisham (John) novel, with "The": CLIENT
23D: John Henry's tool: HAMMER
33D: Economist John Mayard: KEYNES
55D: "John Brown's Body" poet: BENET
I started out very nicely: penned in ASPEN for 1A, had one strawberry, then filled in ANNOYED for 1D. Then I had a quick glance at the author's name and was a bit disconcerted that it was not Philip J. Anderson. I paused at Allan E. Parrish's name and got very nervous immediately.
Remember the EAT HER theme blunder I committed on March 21? Embarrassing! I am sure that my ignorance will continue to bubble up and boil over. Please bear with me.
Anyway, I never gained my confidence back after learning the puzzle author's name, never really gained any toehold at all. It's an extremely grueling trek. I did figure out the theme pretty quickly though. From now on, no more breakfast before puzzle, foods dull my brain. Felt like a lethargic tree sloth UNAU this morning.
Grid: 15*15. Total words count: 74. Total blank squares: 33.
Across entries:
1A: Colorado resort: ASPEN. Let's pack up the T-Bar, Gondola lift and other SKI (38D: Hit the slopes) gears and go back to "Shivering Tree" clue for a while.
2A: Tobacco plug: CHAW
10A: Certain mil. awards: DSCS. DSC is Distinguished Service Cross. Could also be DSO (Distinguished Service Order), or DSM (Distinguished Service Medal).
14A: Former NYC mayor Abe: BEAME. Not familiar with him.
15A: Molten rock: LAVA
16A: Billy or jack: MALE. Billy is a male goat, jack is a male donkey.
19A: Type of type: abbr.: ITAL (Italic)
20A: Thick-brick link: AS A
21A: Quite angry: IRED. Is this even a word?
22A: "Fiddler on the Roof": SHTETL. Ow, what a ridiculous name! "On the other hand", it's a legitimate clue. Shtetl is Yiddish for "small town".
24A: Attacks zealously: DIVES IN
26A: Mountain ridge: ARETE. Repeat offender!
27A: Henry James biographer: EDEL (Leon)
32A: Shortstop Jeter: DEREK. I think I have his rookie card.
40A: Sales channel: HSN (Home Shopping Network). Looks like Rene Aiu is doing a good job.
44A: Dressed like a judge: ROBED
53A: Specter: SHADE
54A: Singer Flack: ROBERTA. My favorite is probably "Killing me softly with his song".
56A: Singer Brewer: TERESA. No, not a familiar name to me.
59A: NOW element: ORG. NOW is National Organization for Women.
64A: Decent chap: GENT
65A: "Star Trek: TNG" character: TROI. No idea. Have never watched "Star Trek", and I don't think I will. Not my cup of tea.
66A: Plant swelling: EDEMA
67A: Transition point: EDGE. Is EDGE a point?
68A: "Back in Black" rockers: AC/DC. The Australian band.
69A: Clan emblem: TOTEM
Down entries:
1D: Chafed: ABRADED
2D: City near Fort Ord: SEA SIDE
3D: Chitchat: PALAVER. I've never used this word in my daily conversation. This word reminds of "parlez vous...", though the pronunciation is different.
10D: Composer Shostakovich: DMITRI. Probably a gimme for our fellow solvers Lois & Feste. I am not acquainted with Shostakovich. The only DMITRI I know is Nationals' DMITRI Young.
12D: Loud noise: CLATTER
13D: Clouseau portrayer: SELLERS. No idea. Not familiar with Peter Sellers and his work.
18D: Actor/Singer Kristofferson: KRIS.
29D: Element No. 86: RADON
39D: Apple choice: ROME
40D: Kidnap victim: HOSTAGE
41D: Plotted: SCHEMED. I like the paralleled structure of 40D & 41D.
45D: Knight's superior: BARONET. My dictionary says it's a title below a baron and above a knight.
46D: Outermost: EXTREME
47D: Explanatory drawing: DIAGRAM
49D: " ___ Fideles": ADESTE
50D: Sensuous: EROTIC. Not a sexy clue any more. Try something exotic!
51D: Golfer Sabbatini: RORY. The South African golfer. Very talented. Not a "the lollipop of mediocrity” for sure. He tied for 2nd at last year's Masters.
57D: Mennen product: AFTA
59D: Cattle poker: PROD
62D: "The Lord of the Rings" baddie: ORC
Ready for a quip/quote puzzle?
C.C.
Good morning C.C. I wish your ignorance would bubble up and boil over on ME. I could use the help. This puzzle was a little bit of a struggle for me. Still don't get 16A clue for male. And I guess former mayors and governors are supposed to be common knowledge? I find that irksome. Love 10D, 18D & 54A. Have a good day.
ReplyDeleteNot near as easy as the last two, plus had to wait for the regular paper this morning. The online puzzle page for the Trib is hung up on March 29 puzzle. Was forced to go to "One Across" for most of the names. Another thought for the theme could be "FINER RHYMES".
ReplyDeleteGood morning, CC
ReplyDeleteNot exactly as fluid as the previous two, but still, muddled through without too many stumbling blocks.
Not a big fan of 67A (as you pointed out). For whatever reason, 62D (orc) gets me everytime! Thank heavens I was able to get the down clues to get 6A and 22A as those completely stumped me! And, I'm always happy to see the repeat offenders.
13D - Sellers. He's in the original "Pink Panther" movies. There was just a re-make done w/Steve Martin playing Inspector Clouseau.
Have a great day!
This one was tough for me. I didn't know most of the answers, and didn't have time to Google today.
ReplyDeleteI knew Terese Brewer, but I am much older that you CC! LOL
ReplyDeleteLois, I forgot to put a "?" after 16A: MALE. I don't understand it either.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous at 6:26am, is that you Feste? I've just updated the blog entry. "FINER RHYEMS" is now the theme. Thank you.
Morning mkat & Katherine.
16A - a "billy" goat is a male. And the male of a donkey is a "jack".
ReplyDeleteA billy goat is a male goat and a jack a$$ is a male donkey.
ReplyDeleteThis one was harder than the last two... but somehow I managed to get through it with no "googles". As usual I struggled with the upper right.... must be upperrightaphobia or something. C.C. the 16A Billy or Jack clue with Male as the answer... Billy goat and jack rabbits are males that I guess is why it was there..I knew 14A Beame but only because I used to live in the NYC area once. I would think most people never heard of him. He was Mayor of NYC from 74 to 78.... spent money like it was water. Have a great day !!
ReplyDeleteSuperfrey - jack rabbits can be male or female. It's the donkey that I mentioned earlier that has a jack for male.
ReplyDeleteChallenging one today. Got off to a great start with 17A Ralph Kiner as he was a Pittsburgh Pirate and I got to see him many times. Then I put drivesin for 24A and the problems started. I spent far too much time on this one. CC Teresa Brewer was a singer very small in stature and I think she was popular in the 50s or 60s I don't remember for sure. As usual tis was a fun puzzle to work.
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone. Boy, I thought both "Billy" & "jack" were just ordinary male given names for men. Then I could not understand why the word "jack" is not capitalized.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning, Dick.
Good morning - can't believe we've had three in a row now - I'm not even going to say it again, but you know.
ReplyDeleteC.C., 'ired' is legit, but I've not heard it used in decades. And I agree, 'edge' is weak as 'transition point', but in the context of moving from the edge of one thing to the beginning of another, that is a transition.
Have a great hump day.
Dennis,
ReplyDeleteWhere can you find IRED?
Drdad,
ReplyDeleteI tried all the tools you suggested to me last time, including skepdic.com. Could not find IRED anywhere.
C.C., sorry, I can't help you there - I don't use dictionaries all that much, and I'm sure you all have access to a wide array of them. I know I used to see it in print, but a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI believe Dennis but it's not in any dictionary (online, hard copy) that I have. A technical dictionary has IRED but it is an acronym for Infra-Red Emitting Diode.
ReplyDeleteCC,
ReplyDeleteI am getting a ton of hits today for [Clouseau portrayer] - a clue from your puzzle - even though the clue I once treated (in the NYT) was [Portrayer of Clouseau's superior] - a way, way harder clue (answer is LOM, by the way). Sorry to be sucking traffic away from you. Not sure what Google is thinking.
RP
Oh, my. Somehow, I managed to get the upper right once I figured out RALPH KINER from my down clues. That gave me enough to get the rest of the clues.
ReplyDeleteI got hopelessly stuck on the top left, though, and eventually gave up. The worst thing is that I was so close! I had 11D SATEENS, I knew Shostakovich's name was DMITRI-- I just couldn't figure out how to spell it! Likewise, I knew what the Fiddler on the Roof village sounded like, but I couldn't figure out the spelling. All I could think of was "Sheitel," which I knew wasn't right. (It's the wig that married Orthodox Jewish women use to cover their hair.) If I could have gotten one of those right, I think I could have finished it.
Frustrating! I guess I should have known we were in for a hard one.
You can find the word ired in the online dictionary. www.crosskit.com
ReplyDeleteJudi
Thank you drdad and superfrey: male = billy goat & jack a$$. Female then = nanny goat & ? (jack assette)?I don't know about you, but I'm becoming ired and over the transition point. Is that bad enough for a hue and cry? I learn so much from you all.
ReplyDeleteSee here for IRED. Thanks Orange!
ReplyDeleteMessage to M.E.
I've replied to your question regarding Tribune on line on another post. Hope they will fix the problem soon.
Thank God for the down clues. If not for them I'd never have a memory jogger to help with the across clues. I thought it was pretty tricky, but managed to finish in 20 minutes. - - Except for for 60D & 65A convergence. I quit Star Wars when Capt. Kirk did and followed a fantasy series other than Lord of the Rings.
ReplyDeletere. 21A- - IRE is a noun. Is it also a verb? I guess it must be because you can't have a past tense on a noun. ? ? ?
Jim, yes, it's a verb. See the link I posted a few minutes ago.
ReplyDeleteLois, in donkeydom a 'jack's' opposite is a 'jenny'.
ReplyDeletec.c., I thought you'd like the baseball references in this one. If you only see one Peter Sellers movie, make it "A Shot in The Dark." A total riot of laughs! I didn't care for 22A. I think it needs an e.g. because the name of the village was Anatevka. This was not an easy romp, but is was workable. Did 53A give you pause? Have a great hump day.
ReplyDelete"Ire" is also a noun, as in 'the traffic raised his ire'.
ReplyDeleteLate posting today because I had an early AM meeting. I struggled and I admit I resorted to Google for some answers. One of my flat spots is my knowledge of sports stars (except pro football). Even though I had KINER, I didn't know Ralph and had to look it up. Also had to look up SHTETL. I liked the puzzle because it was just challenging enough to be interesting.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't very pleased with "edge" either (67A). But "shtetl" (22A) made up for it. First time I've ever seen it.
ReplyDeleteIn case it comes up, the name of the "shtetl" in "Fiddler..." is "Anatevka".
It's pretty common to see verb forms of 'ire' in crosswords. I've seen both "ired" and "ires". I guess you could call it cruciverbalist license.
Growing up in the NYC area in the 60s, I am very familiar with Ralph Kiner. He was the announcer for the NY Mets for many, many years. He was famous for calling players by the wrong names - for instance "Gary Cooper" instead of "Gary Carter".
Abe Beame was a slam dunk for me also. He was mayor NYC mayor after John Lindsay and before Ed Koch.
I don't mean to be rude, but how could you have never seen a Peter Sellers movie?! He is nothing short of a Hollywood legend. Someone said you should see "A Shot in the Dark" but if you truly haven't seen any of Sellers' work, see Dr. Strangelove, one of the most revered and critically acclaimed movies of all time. Peter Sellers plays three different characters, and is amazing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got my first look at today's puzzle(I get it late when not online)I thought wow, this ought to be a Sat. Once I got started I breezed until 62d & 65a. Shame on the constructor. He boxed me in.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know either and no crosses for help. Folks in S.F. consider "Frisco" as objectionable.
Anon@626a.m. "warn't me."
Feste
Congratulations on surpassing 100,000 hits on your blog! I look forward to reading everyone's comments each evening (west coast time)
ReplyDeletePS-regarding your latest survey- I would prefer to do them in the morning, but I actually complete them in the afternoon when I get home from work. That's why my comments are always so late, or not sent because someone else already made the same point.
ReplyDeleteAlex at the PGA - I'm sure C.C. can defend herself, but you should know that she didn't come to this country until 2001, some 21 years after Sellers' death. And yes, the movies are still available, but I think it's perfectly understandable that she's not seen them.
ReplyDeleteThose who may have remembered the Giselle MacKenzie answer from a few weeks ago, may also have remembered Teresa Brewer who was the other female singer on "Your Hit Parade" back in the 50s. Snooky Lanson was one of the males, but I can't remember the other. And please, Lao Po, no Peter Sellers movies on the Netflix queue. I think people either love him or hate him, and I'm afraid I'm one of the latter.
ReplyDeletecrockett1947,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your take (and Johnboy's) on SHTETL. Too vague a clue. 53A did not raise my ire though.
Johnboy,
Thanks for the Kiner information. Very interesting. Twins used to have an announcer who bungled players' name all the time.
Alex, Dennis has answered for me.
Feste,
ReplyDeleteTribune has fixed their computer glitch now.
tme,
Thank you so much for noticing my blog milestone.
Pls leave your comments even if it's late. Let's share our experiences. Many readers do come back to read yesterday's comments when they visit today's entry.