Theme: END IT
23A: End it: THROW IN THE TOWEL
30A: End it: PULL THE PLUG
56A: End it: KISS GOODBYE
83A: End it: ADMIT DEFEAT
104A: End it: CALL IT QUITS
118A: End it: WASH ONE'S HANDS OF
17D: End it: GRIND TO A HALT
28D: End it: SAY UNCLE
64D: End it: HAVE DONE WITH
71D: End it: PACK IT IN
Hmm, 118A is weak, isn't it? Overall, I like these theme entries. This constructor Ed Voile does have some great theme ideas. Here are some more: bring it to a standstill, stem the tide, cut short, put a period to, pull the check-string, chuck up the sponge, fall/drop by the wayside, what else can you think of?
However, this whole puzzle proved itself to be a huge PROBLEM (1A: Challenging situation) for me earlier. I really have a LOT's wife's fear of looking back at this puzzle now. Way too many names (total 18, excluding some other TV/Movie character names). And some of the cluing are very yawn-provoking and lacking in creativity. Let's see:
15A: Third-baseman Wade: BOGGS. Another baseball HOFer. The price of his baseball cards somehow does not reflect his HOF status. I don't understand why.
78A: Dressler or Osmond: MARIE. Why not clue Tennis star MARIA Sharapova during the French Open week? (Updater later: Sorry for the MARIA mistake)
79A: Lauder of cosmetics: ESTEE
99A: Johnson of "Laugh-in": ARTE. It's also ART in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
100A: Leibman and Howard: RONS. Know Howard, not Leibman.
111A: Neal's "Hud" co-star: NEWMAN (Paul)
125A: Old-time singer Lenya: LOTTE
130A: "Gone with the Wind" composer: STEINER (Max). Vaguely heard of him. He was also the composer for "Casablanca".
2D: Defensive hockey great Bobby: ORR
6D: Nobel Prize winner Wiesel: ELIE. Is Wiesel the only ELIE in this world? Who designed Halle Berry's 2002 Oscar dress?
12D: Mandel and Long: HOWIES
13D: Eugene and Ed: O'NEILLS. If I were the Editor, I would clue O'NEILLS as Tip and Ed. See the clue for 38A: Man of the house (DAD)? Tip O'NEILL's memoir is "Man of the House", which has been sitting on my bookshelf for over 3 years.
32D: Arthur C. __: CLARKE. Author for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
40D: "Airplane" star: HAYS (Robert)
50D: Baird and Keane: BILS. Know Keane (The Family Circus), not Baird.
96D: Old time journalist Nellie: BLY. I simply forgot her name. Saw this clue before.
97D: Guinness and Waugh: ALEC. This is another unbearably boring clue.
103D: Elliott of "The Spitfire Grill": ALISON. Not a familiar name to me. Only know ALISON Krauss. Love this Stick with me Baby...yes, we will find a way.
Once again, three annoyingly tedious Roman numerals in one puzzle:
27A: Roman 103: CIII
115A: 4th century date: CCCI
121D: MCII halved: DLI
And 3 difficult affixes:
77A: Both: pref.: AMBI. Ambilateral & Ambidextrous for example.
110A: Full of: suff. ULENT. Opulent & Corpulent & Fraudulent.
16D: Serpentine: pref: OPHI. Toughie. Ophidia & Ophiology.
Also new to me: CARIOLE, SHERDS (only knew SHARDS), GARDA (Irish police), SPICA, OPA, GAMBA, TIMBALS, SAHEL, ATONS, AREOLAR and FAGEN.
ACROSS:
8A: Auditory range: EARSHOT
20A: One-horse carriage: CARIOLE. No idea. Here is a picture.
21A: Car color combo: TWO TONE
25A: Chess side: WHITE
28A: Net fisherman: SEINER
29A: Brightest star in Virgo: SPICA. Stranger to me.
33A: Math fig. COEF (Coefficient)
42A: Bowl over: SLAY. I was only familiar with the "kill by violence" side of SLAY.
45A: Of iris rings: AREOLAR. Hard one. Completely unknown to me.
51A: Newspaper nickname: TRIB. Which one?
53A: Groups of nine: ENNEADS
61A: Drive-in worker: CARHOP
62A: Sub-saharan region: SAHEL. Here is the area: "On the S flank of the Sahara desert that stretches across six countries from Senegal to Chad." See this map.
65A: Tropical plant with brilliant flowers: CANNA. Here is a picture.
68A: Kind of palm: SAGO. Hmm, the SAGO Pudding.
69A: Ration group of WWII: OPA (Office of Price Administration)
70A: Froths: SPUMES. I like how it intersects with 57D: Smeltery refuse: SCUM.
75A: Vesuvian discharge: LAVA. I did not know the meaning of Vesuvian. Just an educated guess.
81A: Vinegary: ACETIC
86A: Certain nut tree: RED OAK (NJ state tree)
88A: French weapon: ARME. "A Farewell to Arms" is "L'Adieu aux ARMES" in French.
93A: Surfing the internet: ONLINE
95A: Kettledrums: TIMBALS. I googled TIMBALS, but TIMBALES came up, are they the same? Another unknown musical instrument for me in this grid is 58D: Vila da __(bass viol): GAMBA.
102A: Tony Musante's TV series: TOMA. Here is more information.
107A: Leg bone: FIBULA. And 46D: Chest bone: RIB
109A: Russian veto: NYET. Just learned that "Da" is Russian for Yes (formally). The informal way is "aga", and the slangy way is "nu". Very interesting.
113A: Kissers: LIPS
117A: Carbon-arc lamp: KLIEG
126A: Stars in the French sky: ÉTOILES. And another French word GATEAU (18D: French cake).
127A: Slope: INCLINE. And 116D: Inclination: CANT. I was not aware of the slanting side of CANT until this morning. Great intersection.
128A: Edith Wharton classic, "___ Frome": ETHAN
129A: Binges: BENDERS
DOWN:
7D: Stalker: MENACER. I only knew MENACE.
11D: Marcus Aurelius, e.g.: STOIC. Had no idea who Marcus Aurelius was. STOIC was very inferable though.
15D: Arbor: BOWER
19D: Pottery fragments: SHERDS. Variant of SHARDS.
24D: Figure of speech: TROPE
29D: Moved like a pro: SPUN. And 118D: Network: WEB
35D: ___ folly: FULTON'S. Big stumper here as I could not get the crossing 33A.
41D: Irish police: GARDA. Another unknown. GARDA is the largest lake in Italy.
43D: Coffin stands: BIERS. BIER is also German for Beer.
52D: Proverb: BYWORD. Did not know this before.
54D: Stray calf: DOGIE
56D: Fine porcelain: SPODE. Bone china. Named after the British potter Josiah SPODE. Unknown to me.
59D: New York lake: ONEIDA
63D: In haste: APACE. Lickety-split!
67D: Willingly, old style: LIEF. FAIN is another word.
72D: Entrance guard: GATEMAN
76D: Egyptian symbol: ATONS. Also spelled as ATENS. Egyptian SOLAR (62D: Battery type) god, represented as a solar disk with rays ending in human hands. Now I think I saw this picture before.
80D: Twin city: ST. PAUL. Thank you very much!
82D: Adjective-forming suffix: IAL. Proverbial for example.
84D: A-Team member: MR. T. The clue should have a quotation mark, don't you think so?
85D: Point to the right?: EAST
87D: Elitist: SNOB. Th hoity-toity folks.
94D: Rival with some success: EMULATE
98D: Chinese treats: LITCHIS. Hmm, I love LITCHIS. Ate a ton of them when I lived in Guangzhou (Canton). There are several different spellings of this fruit, lychee, leechee, lichee, etc. But it's just Lizhi (荔枝) to me.
100D: Cause bitter resentment: RANKLE
101D: Spotted wildcat: OCELOT. He seems to be very alert.
105D: Pear-shaped fruit: QUINCE. Nailed it this time, have to thank QUITS from across though.
107D: Dickens character: FAGEN. In which novel? I've never read any Dickens work.
108D: Plant pest: APHID
119D: Saul's uncle: NER. Father of Abner as well.
120D: First of several?: ESS. The first letter of Several is S.
124D: __-de-lance: FER. The large pit viper. Here is a picture.
C.C.
23A: End it: THROW IN THE TOWEL
30A: End it: PULL THE PLUG
56A: End it: KISS GOODBYE
83A: End it: ADMIT DEFEAT
104A: End it: CALL IT QUITS
118A: End it: WASH ONE'S HANDS OF
17D: End it: GRIND TO A HALT
28D: End it: SAY UNCLE
64D: End it: HAVE DONE WITH
71D: End it: PACK IT IN
Hmm, 118A is weak, isn't it? Overall, I like these theme entries. This constructor Ed Voile does have some great theme ideas. Here are some more: bring it to a standstill, stem the tide, cut short, put a period to, pull the check-string, chuck up the sponge, fall/drop by the wayside, what else can you think of?
However, this whole puzzle proved itself to be a huge PROBLEM (1A: Challenging situation) for me earlier. I really have a LOT's wife's fear of looking back at this puzzle now. Way too many names (total 18, excluding some other TV/Movie character names). And some of the cluing are very yawn-provoking and lacking in creativity. Let's see:
15A: Third-baseman Wade: BOGGS. Another baseball HOFer. The price of his baseball cards somehow does not reflect his HOF status. I don't understand why.
78A: Dressler or Osmond: MARIE. Why not clue Tennis star MARIA Sharapova during the French Open week? (Updater later: Sorry for the MARIA mistake)
79A: Lauder of cosmetics: ESTEE
99A: Johnson of "Laugh-in": ARTE. It's also ART in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.
100A: Leibman and Howard: RONS. Know Howard, not Leibman.
111A: Neal's "Hud" co-star: NEWMAN (Paul)
125A: Old-time singer Lenya: LOTTE
130A: "Gone with the Wind" composer: STEINER (Max). Vaguely heard of him. He was also the composer for "Casablanca".
2D: Defensive hockey great Bobby: ORR
6D: Nobel Prize winner Wiesel: ELIE. Is Wiesel the only ELIE in this world? Who designed Halle Berry's 2002 Oscar dress?
12D: Mandel and Long: HOWIES
13D: Eugene and Ed: O'NEILLS. If I were the Editor, I would clue O'NEILLS as Tip and Ed. See the clue for 38A: Man of the house (DAD)? Tip O'NEILL's memoir is "Man of the House", which has been sitting on my bookshelf for over 3 years.
32D: Arthur C. __: CLARKE. Author for 2001: A Space Odyssey.
40D: "Airplane" star: HAYS (Robert)
50D: Baird and Keane: BILS. Know Keane (The Family Circus), not Baird.
96D: Old time journalist Nellie: BLY. I simply forgot her name. Saw this clue before.
97D: Guinness and Waugh: ALEC. This is another unbearably boring clue.
103D: Elliott of "The Spitfire Grill": ALISON. Not a familiar name to me. Only know ALISON Krauss. Love this Stick with me Baby...yes, we will find a way.
Once again, three annoyingly tedious Roman numerals in one puzzle:
27A: Roman 103: CIII
115A: 4th century date: CCCI
121D: MCII halved: DLI
And 3 difficult affixes:
77A: Both: pref.: AMBI. Ambilateral & Ambidextrous for example.
110A: Full of: suff. ULENT. Opulent & Corpulent & Fraudulent.
16D: Serpentine: pref: OPHI. Toughie. Ophidia & Ophiology.
Also new to me: CARIOLE, SHERDS (only knew SHARDS), GARDA (Irish police), SPICA, OPA, GAMBA, TIMBALS, SAHEL, ATONS, AREOLAR and FAGEN.
ACROSS:
8A: Auditory range: EARSHOT
20A: One-horse carriage: CARIOLE. No idea. Here is a picture.
21A: Car color combo: TWO TONE
25A: Chess side: WHITE
28A: Net fisherman: SEINER
29A: Brightest star in Virgo: SPICA. Stranger to me.
33A: Math fig. COEF (Coefficient)
42A: Bowl over: SLAY. I was only familiar with the "kill by violence" side of SLAY.
45A: Of iris rings: AREOLAR. Hard one. Completely unknown to me.
51A: Newspaper nickname: TRIB. Which one?
53A: Groups of nine: ENNEADS
61A: Drive-in worker: CARHOP
62A: Sub-saharan region: SAHEL. Here is the area: "On the S flank of the Sahara desert that stretches across six countries from Senegal to Chad." See this map.
65A: Tropical plant with brilliant flowers: CANNA. Here is a picture.
68A: Kind of palm: SAGO. Hmm, the SAGO Pudding.
69A: Ration group of WWII: OPA (Office of Price Administration)
70A: Froths: SPUMES. I like how it intersects with 57D: Smeltery refuse: SCUM.
75A: Vesuvian discharge: LAVA. I did not know the meaning of Vesuvian. Just an educated guess.
81A: Vinegary: ACETIC
86A: Certain nut tree: RED OAK (NJ state tree)
88A: French weapon: ARME. "A Farewell to Arms" is "L'Adieu aux ARMES" in French.
93A: Surfing the internet: ONLINE
95A: Kettledrums: TIMBALS. I googled TIMBALS, but TIMBALES came up, are they the same? Another unknown musical instrument for me in this grid is 58D: Vila da __(bass viol): GAMBA.
102A: Tony Musante's TV series: TOMA. Here is more information.
107A: Leg bone: FIBULA. And 46D: Chest bone: RIB
109A: Russian veto: NYET. Just learned that "Da" is Russian for Yes (formally). The informal way is "aga", and the slangy way is "nu". Very interesting.
113A: Kissers: LIPS
117A: Carbon-arc lamp: KLIEG
126A: Stars in the French sky: ÉTOILES. And another French word GATEAU (18D: French cake).
127A: Slope: INCLINE. And 116D: Inclination: CANT. I was not aware of the slanting side of CANT until this morning. Great intersection.
128A: Edith Wharton classic, "___ Frome": ETHAN
129A: Binges: BENDERS
DOWN:
7D: Stalker: MENACER. I only knew MENACE.
11D: Marcus Aurelius, e.g.: STOIC. Had no idea who Marcus Aurelius was. STOIC was very inferable though.
15D: Arbor: BOWER
19D: Pottery fragments: SHERDS. Variant of SHARDS.
24D: Figure of speech: TROPE
29D: Moved like a pro: SPUN. And 118D: Network: WEB
35D: ___ folly: FULTON'S. Big stumper here as I could not get the crossing 33A.
41D: Irish police: GARDA. Another unknown. GARDA is the largest lake in Italy.
43D: Coffin stands: BIERS. BIER is also German for Beer.
52D: Proverb: BYWORD. Did not know this before.
54D: Stray calf: DOGIE
56D: Fine porcelain: SPODE. Bone china. Named after the British potter Josiah SPODE. Unknown to me.
59D: New York lake: ONEIDA
63D: In haste: APACE. Lickety-split!
67D: Willingly, old style: LIEF. FAIN is another word.
72D: Entrance guard: GATEMAN
76D: Egyptian symbol: ATONS. Also spelled as ATENS. Egyptian SOLAR (62D: Battery type) god, represented as a solar disk with rays ending in human hands. Now I think I saw this picture before.
80D: Twin city: ST. PAUL. Thank you very much!
82D: Adjective-forming suffix: IAL. Proverbial for example.
84D: A-Team member: MR. T. The clue should have a quotation mark, don't you think so?
85D: Point to the right?: EAST
87D: Elitist: SNOB. Th hoity-toity folks.
94D: Rival with some success: EMULATE
98D: Chinese treats: LITCHIS. Hmm, I love LITCHIS. Ate a ton of them when I lived in Guangzhou (Canton). There are several different spellings of this fruit, lychee, leechee, lichee, etc. But it's just Lizhi (荔枝) to me.
100D: Cause bitter resentment: RANKLE
101D: Spotted wildcat: OCELOT. He seems to be very alert.
105D: Pear-shaped fruit: QUINCE. Nailed it this time, have to thank QUITS from across though.
107D: Dickens character: FAGEN. In which novel? I've never read any Dickens work.
108D: Plant pest: APHID
119D: Saul's uncle: NER. Father of Abner as well.
120D: First of several?: ESS. The first letter of Several is S.
124D: __-de-lance: FER. The large pit viper. Here is a picture.
C.C.
22 comments:
C.C. do you ever sleep? I started this puzzle Saturday afternoon and finished up this a.m. The affixes really caused some problems along with my own spelling errors. Hate when I do that. Beautiful Sunday here in PA. Opening up our pool which doesn't get used very much since the kids are gone. But I guess I'll force myself to enjoy a gin 'n tonic, mohito, or margarita even if I don't do much swimming.
Good morning cc and DFs. I struggled with this one today and needed a few Googles to complete. Somewhere I got ANKNS for 76D which screwed up several other answers in that grid. Finally I got Red Oak which helped to solve some of that section. Should have know 86A immediately as I have planted 900 red oak trees in the last two years.
I did not know (DNK) 29A, 98D and 62A. I had 19D as SHARDS and (DNK) SHERDS but I guess it is OK even if my spell check underlines it in red. And, I did know Bier (German Beer) much better than Biers. Hope you all have a good Sunday and I will see you back here Monday.
Good morning Jeanne. I don't remember seeing you here before are you new to the site? If so welcome if not shame on me for forgetting. I share your opinion about selling and moving to a sunny climate for the winters.
Dick,I joined about two weeks ago but was in the background for several months. Sunshine and warmth make me a much happier person along with that margarita!
Jeanne I am in the west end of PA what area are you in?
Dick, I live about 40 miles from Philly. Been out to the west side a few times most recently for my son's wedding in Sewickley (sp).
Jeanne I live in Aliquippa which is about 15 minutes from Sewickley. I have made frequent trips to Bucks county and like that area very much. I used to like New Hope but that has changed a lot over the years.
Re: "107D: Dickens character: FAGEN. In which novel?"
This appears to be a mistake in the puzzle. The correct answer to this clue would be FAGAN from Oliver Twist.
anonymous I had the same problem with Fagen but assumed that there must be some other character somewhere.
anonymous as a long shot it could be a German spelling.
Dickens' "Oliver Twist" gave us FAGIN. Never saw it in print as FAGEN.
Hi, C.C.
Two rubs with this puzzle. I don't think of a RED OAK as a "nut tree". Does anything but a squirrel eat acorns? Also thought the smeltery refuse should have been SLAG. Ponds have scum. Smelting produces slag. Very sloppy clue editing.
And one great big complaint. 107D. should be FAGIN. This Dickens character from Oliver Twist is NOT spelled with an E. Inexcusable.
Everyone have a terrific Sunday!
Dick and Carol:
I answered you on yesterday's blog. Meant to put it here, but apparently more neurons than I realized have been lost. Am recovering though...slowly, ever so quietly and slowly.
The Dickens character is Fagin. There is a Donald Fagen from Steely Dan.
I just found this site today by accident. I hope it is around every Sunday--provided you get the same puzzle I do every Sunday!
Speaking of PA., I grew up in Allentown, lived in Philly while going to Penn, and later lived in Pittsburgh - Penn Hills. Now I'm in Montana -ugh. How I got here is a book in itself.
LIZ
Jeanne et al,
Thanks for the comments. A big blunder on FAGEN clue then. It should be reworded as "Steely Dan member" as johnboy suggested! I've written to Williams to complain.
Liz,
Welcome! Yes, we are here every Sunday.
I also found you by accident. Now I do nothave to wait until Sunday. I used to work all week on this puzzle and could hardly wait until Sunday except when I just knew I had them all. Now my brain grows lazy as I make a halfhearted attempt and then go to your site. Brain rot for sure. M (from Eden, AKA Vancouver Island)
Hi M,
Thanks for leaving a feedback.
One more vote for letting "Ed Voile" and/or Mr. Williams (they may be one-and-the-same) know that "FAGEN" cannot be clued as a Dickens character. Boo.
Wilsoncpu,
I am sure Ed Voile is not Williams. Not so sure who made the mistake on the clue though.
>>> 78A: Dressler or Osmond: MARIA.
It's actually "Marie."
Anonymous @ 4:01pm,
Thank you. It's corrected.
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