Theme: Equines
17A: Root of bitterness?: HORSERADISH
24A: 1966 Wilson Pickett hit: MUSTANG SALLY
36A: Sobriquet for Stallone: ITALIAN STALLION
48A: Colorado pro: DENVER BRONCO
58A: Mail system. 1860-61: PONY EXPRESS
Hmm, where are the MOUNT, STEED, COLT, FILLY & STUD?
I should not NAG.
This is a beautiful puzzle. The first pangram grid I've ever solved - all letters of the alphabets are used. I wonder if anyone has constructed an "HORSE" rebus puzzle before. Wouldn't that be interesting to decode?
The only flaw I saw is the clue for ROAN (29D: Motley horse), since HORSE is part of the theme answer (17A).
Figured out the theme very earlier on, which helped me fill in several otherwise unobtainable fills.
Had a few absent-minded flirting with Google. I still can not believe SCHISGAL (10D) is an actual name.
Across:
1A: Woody Allen movie: ZELIG. Not familiar with this mockumentary. I had ZEL?G for a long time. I like Woody Allan's "Annie Hall" & "Hannah and Her Sisters".
11A: Parts of gals: QTS
15A: Swiss canton: URI. Have not seen the "Mentalist Geller" clue for a long time.
21A: Laptop surfer's connection: WIFI. I've never used WIFI connection. Is it very quick?
22A: "The White Album" track: I WILL. Here is Paul McCartney's "I WILL". Not a familiar song to me.
27A: Color bands: STRIPES. This word and the EQUINES theme brings a Zebra to my mind.
30A: Safecracker: YEGG. Where did we get this strange word "YEGG" for a burglar?
32A: Elizabeth of "Lone Star": PENA. I don't know her. I do know this PENA. I own this card.
33A: Sch. in Lexington: VMI (Virginia Military Institute). Unknown to me. My answer was VMU until the very end.
43A: __ de vie (clear brandies): EAUX. An educated guess. I had EAU? in place, and letter "X" is the only choice since the clue is in plural form (EAUX is the plural of EAU).
45A: Steals, as livestock: RUSTLES. I like this answer and the clue. Could picture someone stealing a HORSE in the middle of the night.
53A: Exchange fee: AGIO. It appeared on last Sunday's puzzle.
67A: Nixon's Agnew: SPIRO. He got a good speech writer in William Safire. I don't think he himself would have come up with this alliterative term "Nattering nabobs of negativism".
Down:
1D: TV journalist Paula: ZAHN. I kind of like her replacement Campbell Brown at CNN. Paula ZAHN is also a great cellist (played at Carnegie Hall before.)
2D: Smack addition: EROO. or "Switch addtion". AROO is "Buck addition".
3D: Front-runners: LDRS (Leaders). Still have difficulty accepting this abbreviation.
4D: Island near Naxos: IOS. Big stumper for me. Wikipedia says Homer is said to be buried on IOS Island.
10D: "Luv" dramatist: SCHISGAL (Murray). Unknown to me. Wikipedia says Mike Nichols directed the Broadway play and ALAN Arkin & ELI Wallach were in the original cast.
11D: Chickenlike bird: QUAIL. This California QUAIL looks fearless.
12D: Fairy-tale toll collector: TROLL. Why "toll collector"? Wow, look at this amazing TROLL Doll collection. Some of the original Norweigian TROLLS are so beautifully ugly, with real wood.
13D: Half-baked: SILLY. New to me. I always thought of "Half-baked" as in "Not well cooked".
24D: Pepper grinder: MILL. See this antique MILL machinery, very different from my childhood MILL memory.
25D: Putin's refusal: NYET. DADA means "Yes, yes" in Russian. "Ya tebya lyublyu" is "I love you". So complicated. Vodka sounds much better. I vodka you.
26D: Actress Rowlands: GENA. I've never heard of her before.
32D: Ltr. addenda: PSS. Quite a few abbreviations in today's grid.
33D: Perfume holder: VIAL. Beautiful enamelled perfume VIALS. In great condition. I like the rosebuds & the butterfly in the middle. Very pretty.
34D: Pouting face: MOUE. Clear Ayes' "Self-depreciating/deprecating MOUE" really made me laugh last time.
35D: "Devil Inside" group: INXS (pronounced as In Excess). Had never heard of them before.
37D: Worldwide police grp.: INTERPOL. It's headquartered in Lyon, France. I feel sad for their finanical woes.
38D: Violinist Leopold: AUER. The Hungarian violinist. Have seen this clue 2 times before.
39D: Plane-crash grp.: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). Here is what Dennis said last time: "The FAA establishes the safety guidelines/rules, and the NTSB comes into play when something goes wrong. If you're a pilot, you never wanna hear from the NTSB."
40D: Apollo's mother: LETO. Gimme!
46D: Trademark DOS: UNIX. Developed by the Bell Labs.
48D: French mustard: DIJON. Here is a jar of HORSERADISH DIJON for you. Sounds good for potato salad.
51D: Spoked: RAYED. Had no idea that "spoke" can also be a verb.
54D: Lucie's dad: DESI (Arnaz). This "Job Switching"(Chocolate factory) Barbie is a probably one of the most sought-after Mattel dolls.
C.C.
PS: Barry Silk's original clue for ROAN is "Multicolored equine". Our editor also made 2 big changes on the grid: the upper middle part and the lower right. See here for the grid and the clues.
17A: Root of bitterness?: HORSERADISH
24A: 1966 Wilson Pickett hit: MUSTANG SALLY
36A: Sobriquet for Stallone: ITALIAN STALLION
48A: Colorado pro: DENVER BRONCO
58A: Mail system. 1860-61: PONY EXPRESS
Hmm, where are the MOUNT, STEED, COLT, FILLY & STUD?
I should not NAG.
This is a beautiful puzzle. The first pangram grid I've ever solved - all letters of the alphabets are used. I wonder if anyone has constructed an "HORSE" rebus puzzle before. Wouldn't that be interesting to decode?
The only flaw I saw is the clue for ROAN (29D: Motley horse), since HORSE is part of the theme answer (17A).
Figured out the theme very earlier on, which helped me fill in several otherwise unobtainable fills.
Had a few absent-minded flirting with Google. I still can not believe SCHISGAL (10D) is an actual name.
Across:
1A: Woody Allen movie: ZELIG. Not familiar with this mockumentary. I had ZEL?G for a long time. I like Woody Allan's "Annie Hall" & "Hannah and Her Sisters".
11A: Parts of gals: QTS
15A: Swiss canton: URI. Have not seen the "Mentalist Geller" clue for a long time.
21A: Laptop surfer's connection: WIFI. I've never used WIFI connection. Is it very quick?
22A: "The White Album" track: I WILL. Here is Paul McCartney's "I WILL". Not a familiar song to me.
27A: Color bands: STRIPES. This word and the EQUINES theme brings a Zebra to my mind.
30A: Safecracker: YEGG. Where did we get this strange word "YEGG" for a burglar?
32A: Elizabeth of "Lone Star": PENA. I don't know her. I do know this PENA. I own this card.
33A: Sch. in Lexington: VMI (Virginia Military Institute). Unknown to me. My answer was VMU until the very end.
43A: __ de vie (clear brandies): EAUX. An educated guess. I had EAU? in place, and letter "X" is the only choice since the clue is in plural form (EAUX is the plural of EAU).
45A: Steals, as livestock: RUSTLES. I like this answer and the clue. Could picture someone stealing a HORSE in the middle of the night.
53A: Exchange fee: AGIO. It appeared on last Sunday's puzzle.
67A: Nixon's Agnew: SPIRO. He got a good speech writer in William Safire. I don't think he himself would have come up with this alliterative term "Nattering nabobs of negativism".
Down:
1D: TV journalist Paula: ZAHN. I kind of like her replacement Campbell Brown at CNN. Paula ZAHN is also a great cellist (played at Carnegie Hall before.)
2D: Smack addition: EROO. or "Switch addtion". AROO is "Buck addition".
3D: Front-runners: LDRS (Leaders). Still have difficulty accepting this abbreviation.
4D: Island near Naxos: IOS. Big stumper for me. Wikipedia says Homer is said to be buried on IOS Island.
10D: "Luv" dramatist: SCHISGAL (Murray). Unknown to me. Wikipedia says Mike Nichols directed the Broadway play and ALAN Arkin & ELI Wallach were in the original cast.
11D: Chickenlike bird: QUAIL. This California QUAIL looks fearless.
12D: Fairy-tale toll collector: TROLL. Why "toll collector"? Wow, look at this amazing TROLL Doll collection. Some of the original Norweigian TROLLS are so beautifully ugly, with real wood.
13D: Half-baked: SILLY. New to me. I always thought of "Half-baked" as in "Not well cooked".
24D: Pepper grinder: MILL. See this antique MILL machinery, very different from my childhood MILL memory.
25D: Putin's refusal: NYET. DADA means "Yes, yes" in Russian. "Ya tebya lyublyu" is "I love you". So complicated. Vodka sounds much better. I vodka you.
26D: Actress Rowlands: GENA. I've never heard of her before.
32D: Ltr. addenda: PSS. Quite a few abbreviations in today's grid.
33D: Perfume holder: VIAL. Beautiful enamelled perfume VIALS. In great condition. I like the rosebuds & the butterfly in the middle. Very pretty.
34D: Pouting face: MOUE. Clear Ayes' "Self-depreciating/deprecating MOUE" really made me laugh last time.
35D: "Devil Inside" group: INXS (pronounced as In Excess). Had never heard of them before.
37D: Worldwide police grp.: INTERPOL. It's headquartered in Lyon, France. I feel sad for their finanical woes.
38D: Violinist Leopold: AUER. The Hungarian violinist. Have seen this clue 2 times before.
39D: Plane-crash grp.: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board). Here is what Dennis said last time: "The FAA establishes the safety guidelines/rules, and the NTSB comes into play when something goes wrong. If you're a pilot, you never wanna hear from the NTSB."
40D: Apollo's mother: LETO. Gimme!
46D: Trademark DOS: UNIX. Developed by the Bell Labs.
48D: French mustard: DIJON. Here is a jar of HORSERADISH DIJON for you. Sounds good for potato salad.
51D: Spoked: RAYED. Had no idea that "spoke" can also be a verb.
54D: Lucie's dad: DESI (Arnaz). This "Job Switching"(Chocolate factory) Barbie is a probably one of the most sought-after Mattel dolls.
C.C.
PS: Barry Silk's original clue for ROAN is "Multicolored equine". Our editor also made 2 big changes on the grid: the upper middle part and the lower right. See here for the grid and the clues.
232 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 232 of 232Xchefwalt: I have a pint of blueberries (watch it Dennis) in my fridge. My Mom used to make this fabulous coffee cake with a crunchy topping. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us, and I don't have a recipe. Any help?
Wow we are over 200 comments! Wonder where we will end up? Of course I know it's 9:36 on East Coast.
CC: Wow!!! Congratulations!!!! How fun is this! CC, can you feel the vodka? It's all b/c of you! Thank you, CC!
hmmmm....blueberries....ties in with an earlier theme.
Let's all raise a glass to C.C. :)
Congratulations! What a wonderful thing this has become and what we can all look forward to!
Hey, I was just doing some blog research and there's a little-known fact that you're supposed to celebrate the first 200+ day with something bacchanalian; any thoughts?
Well, I've got a head start on ya. I'll raise my glass, run around naked and salute the blog whenever you're coming this way, Dennis.
Lois, don't give up anything, all I know I learned from you !!! LOL
Dennis: yes, let's have a drunken, baccanalian, swap-navel party- what do all of you say?????
xchefwalt: Other bands I know of with a rock/Celtic sound include Boiled in Lead, a Minneapolis band that describes itself as semi-Celtic, punk-folk!!; Spirit of the West, a Canadian folk-rock group with Celtic influences; and Ashley MacIsaac, controversial, but immensely talented fiddler and a cousin of Natalie McMaster. And of course they're all on YouTube.
cc: congratulations on a terrific day of hits!
Dennis, I have a thought and think I will search for it right now, seeing that I am a "part" of it. Lonely day in Cokato now though, seeing it is a week night. Might have to go to bed with the "morel" in my head. Porn (corn) festival starts on the 11th though; now that there's a bar in town, I might find a good farmer...corn is a high commodity now.
Damn, what a great blog today - you all notice the difference? My compliments to everyone.
Dennis...your 4:20 p.m. comment...about the book I was trying to remember.
We aim to please. Still not sure where, or if, I fit in seeing Anon has reared his ugly head twice since I started blogging on this site.
Dennis: our hats (and maybe some other things) are off to you too, for all you did today to rid us of some unwanted "things".. It was a great ride :)
sorry about the miss spelling of bacchanalian: I started drinking with Lois :)watch out, she's naked!!!!
kittyb - the one I have is called "MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers" by Joseph Gibaldi.
Cokato: you don't have to wonder if you fit in w/talk about porn (corn), the bar in town, a farmer with corn (that you can possibly shuck). Those cobs make great pipes...and other things too, but we don't have to go there. I raise my glass to CC, you, the bloggers here, and the blog. I raise my special finger to Anon. Cheers!
cokato, you fit in perfectly. Not sure that's a compliment, but there it is. Glad you're here.
Carol, feel free to doff at will; by the way, all I read in your last sentence was watch....lois....naked.
Lois, girlfriend thanks for the welcome. I too, am raising my glass to this wonderful blog. I just couldn't but help notice that Anon started making comments after I started blogging and didn't want to offend anyone. If I need to tame it down, I will as I enjoy this blog.
Oh, Dennis...can you please let a gal go to bed in peace...the weekend is two days away and I already saw the morel today....plus I have to go to work tomorrow and buy some whoppers. "sigh"
cokato, anon no longer exists - don't change a thing, you're great as is.
Cheers to Dennis for all he does for the blog! You're the man!
Cheers to drdad for all he does for the blog!
Ch eer s to dick f or all he do es for the blog!
Hic! Ch ee rrrss to bill f or all Hic...he doe s fofr the blog...
Hic....etc, etc, etc.... Here's to all who contribute positively and enjoy.
Three cheers to c.c and all her great friends for a wonderful community and 200+ posts. Thank you for having me be a part of it.
@cokato- just stay and be just the way you are, don’t let one dolt ruin your day. As far as the blueberries, there I can’t help. I’ve never been a good baker, I don’t even like it- too damned scientific and rigid for me. I like the freedom of a cooking recipe. I do have some good books that I will research and get back to you with.
@bea- we both forgot Flogging Molly! “Drunken Lullaby” is one of the greatest songs ever!
Turning in early tonight, guys - thanks for a great day on here.
Let's make it two in a row tomorrow.
Lois, Dennis, Cokato, xchefwalt, et al, I echo the salute to the blog, and I am about in the same (burp,hic) place Lois seems to be right now so I am taking myself to bed....if I can find it:)....I know someone will help me, never mind.
Until tomorrow my great new blog friends - I appreciate all of you!
As my hubby always says to me about this time of night - "say goodnight, Gracie"
Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.
WOW! 229 and counting. Congrats C.C. & DFs What'll we be up to next...
I believe the 'Barbie' maker is MATTEL, not Mattle!!
Anonymous @ 12:45pm,
Corrected my mistake. Thank you!
Holy cow, what a monster of a day. I did the puzzle on Thursday (too busy on Wednesday) and I just read the blog now (or rather scanned it - there's so many different conversations going on, I couldn't really absorb them all).
I loved the theme and getting it helped me with some obscure items that I wouldn't have gotten without the crosses.
I must correct Carl regarding Gena Rowlands - he's thinking of the terrific actress GEENA DAVIS . Gena Rowlands is the wife of the late John Cassavetes and she appeared in many of his films, her best known role is probably Gloria - Sharon Stone remade the film in 1999.
Elizabeth Pena is a wonderful actress and Lone Star is one of my all time favorite films. Check it out!!
I think it would have been kinder to younger puzzle solvers to clue LETO as actor Jared. Yum.
Half-baked is often used to refer to a ill-conceived or impractical idea. It's also used to indicate being stoned on pot (marijuana), as in this movie.
Congrats on your blog's success. It's clearly a destination now!
Danielle,
Great nuggets of information. Thank you so much.
Sorry I'm late to the party. Couldn't get the online link to work so solved a day late in the newspaper, hence no solution time for this puzzle.
I was very surprised that no one mentioned 46d: Trademark DOS (UNIX). As any computer person can tell you, UNIX is not a "DOS" (Disk Operating System), but rather an "OS" (Operating System). DOS is usually restricted to PCs, as in MSDOS (the original IBM PC operating system).
I'm old enough that 31a: ___-Aid KOOL was called Kool-ADE (before they had to change the name due to government weirdness).
I'm surprised that 17a:Root of bitterness (HORSERADISH) was clued that way. In these parts, we liberally sprinkle horseradish on our prime rib, and I, for one, don't consider it bitter in the slightest. (Spicy, yes, but not bitter.)
I liked Barry Silk's clues much better than the editor's, I have to say. Sometimes change isn't good, but editors have to do some editing to maintain that name, I guess.
Embien,
Thank you for pointing out the mistake in UNIX. The fresh root of HORSERADISH is indeed very bitter.
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