Theme: - "Dual Personalities" - Each noun phrase is punnily re-interpreted as if it's the surname combo of two famous people.
23A. Builder hired by Sharon and James? : STONEMASON. Sharon Stone. James Mason.
25A. Tender reminiscence for Donna and Courtney? : SUMMER LOVE. Donna Summer. Courtney Love.
36A. European destination for James and Jill? : GALWAY, IRELAND. James Galway. Jill Ireland.
56A. Play area for Lucille and Sally? : BALL FIELD. Lucille Ball. Sally Field.
58A. Favorite island for Eva Marie and Ricky? : SAINT MARTIN. Eva Marie Saint. Ricky Martin.
75A. Brand for Carrie and Vincent? : FISHER PRICE. Carrie Fisher. Vincent Price.
77A. Roadside accumulations for Hank and Tyra? : SNOW BANKS. Hank Snow. Tyra Banks. Noticed there are two plural theme entries? Rich does not like odd man out.
91A. Vacation for Billie and Tom? : HOLIDAY CRUISE. Billie Holiday. Tom Cruise.
111A. Financial strategy for Martin and Soupy? : SHORT SALES. Martin Short. Soupy Sales. Too bad MARTIN is also in the answer for 58A. Is there other famous SHORT?
113A. Book for Ellen and Ted? : PAGE TURNER. Ellen Page. Ted Turner.
Another fantastic debut. I think this professor might be our Anton Shurpik.
Heavy
themage. Total 106 squares, which does not leave room for long fill.
Only two 8-letter non-theme entries. But the grid is solidly built &
filled. No weird words/names.
I still don't get the AULD clue (38D. Nae like a bairn). How can "Nae" be old? (Edited later: Got it. Thanks, everyone. I did not know know "Nae" can mean "Not" as well.)
Across:
1. Homer, usually : BLAST. I love easy upper left corner.
6. Dermatologist's concern : WART
10. Short copy? : REPRO. Got me.
15. Considerable account : SAGA. I read it as "Considerable amount".
19. Home with a view : AERIE. Fun clue.
20. One-on-one sport : EPEE
21. Zebra genus : EQUUS. Rare Double U.
22. Passing remarks? : OBIT. Nailed it of course.
27. Aquiline facial features : HOOK NOSES. Same as Roman noses, right?
28. Imprint : STAMP
29. Helpers : AIDES
30. Having both oars in the water : SANE. New saying to me. All crosses.
31. Sneaky guy? : PETE. And 6D. Sneaky one : WEASEL
32. Clarifying Latin phrase : ID EST
33. Friend of Frodo : SAM. Here they are.
42. Some chalcedonies : AGATES
44. Offended : HURT
45. Spanish article : LOS
46. "Wow!" : BOY!
49. "Brava!" elicitor : ARIA. My favorite Aria. I think of Steve every time I walk by the hotel, which has a nice Greek restaurant he likes.
50. Chisels, e.g. : TOOLS
52. Rap sheet listing : PRIOR
55. Roof edge : EAVE
60. It could be a lot : ACRE. I've come such a long way in crossword solving. This would stump me a few years ago.
61. Television news staples : CLIPS
62. Lacking : ABSENT
63. Winter air : CAROL
67. Good ones have straight faces : LIARS. Got via crosses. I did think of poker faces, but not LIARS.
68. Flummoxed : AT SEA
69. Melodious : ARIOSE. And 101. Melody : TUNE
71. Sailing vessels : BARKS. Plural, so no BARGE.
72. Peak in Thessaly : OSSA. Also, 89. It's about 200 mi. S of Vesuvius : MT ETNA. Gimmes for veteran solvers.
82. Shoe widths : EEES. And 9D. Shoe length : TEN
83. Blood line : AORTA
84. Pens and needles : STYLI
85. __-down: post-exercise activity : COOL
86. 35mm camera option : SLR
87. Sporty Pontiac : GTO
88. "Charles in Charge" star Scott : BAIO
96. __ roll : EGG. Good egg rolls always have taro root as an ingredient.
97. Cut partner : PASTE. Cut and paste.
102. Ammunition storage site : DUMP. New meaning to me.
104. Follow, as advice : ACT ON
105. Ruth chaser of 1961 : MARIS (Roger). #9. I loved the movie 61*.
106. Landing areas for some fliers : HELIPORTS
114. Spot on a board : SEAT
115. Für whom Beethoven wrote his "Bagatelle in A Minor" : ELISE. What else goes with Für?
116. Norse thunder god : THOR
117. Vaquero's need : REATA
118. To be, in old Rome : ESSE
119. Part of a calm-ocean simile : GLASS. I know "smooth as glass", not the calm ocean connection. Makes sense.
120. Cheek : SASS
121. Onagers, e.g. : ASSES. Onager is Asian wild ass.
Down:
1. Big party : BASH
2. Mother of Apollo and Artemis : LETO
3. Buck's rear? : AROO. Buckaroo. Or EROO.
4. Scuttles : SINKS
5. Adolescent : TEENAGE. Still remember Teenage Dream? Can't believe it's been five years.
7. Vaulted recess : APSE
8. Classic autos : REOs
10. One on a break : RESTER. Every Sunday puzzle has a few wobbly fill.
11. More than liken : EQUATE
12. Beat soundly : PUMMEL
13. Butcher's cut : RUMP
14. Verb ending : OSE. Verbose. Not IZE.
15. Dependable : SOLID
16. Domicile : ABODE
17. Yields to pressure : GIVES
18. Nuke trial : A-TEST
24. Like some vows : MONASTIC
26. Evidence may be seized during them : RAIDS. I was in quite a few.
28. Rotisserie component : SPIT
33. Automaker that filed for bankruptcy in 2011 : SAAB
34. Indian tourist city : AGRA. Marc Maron raved about a pumpkin curry dish he had in London. I just could not get into curry.
35. Send : MAIL
37. __ milk : WHOLE. Time for steaming hot soy milk in the morning.
39. Jr. and sr. : YRS
40. Quite often : A LOT
41. Old-time actress Shearer : NORMA
43. Youngest world chess champion before Kasparov : TAL. Three-letter chess answer is always TAL.
46. "America the Beautiful" lyricist Katharine Lee __ : BATES. All crosses.
47. Like Bo-Peep's charges : OVINE
48. Busybody : YENTA
51. Anthem preposition : O'ER
52. Event in a rink : PAIRS. All crosses. I did not expect a S ending answer.
53. Saws with the grain : RIPS
54. Connections : INs
55. In the past, in the past : ERST
57. Bogus : FALSE
58. Satisfy : SLAKE
59. Rhyme scheme for Frost's "The Road Not Taken" : ABAAB. All crosses.
61. Approximately : CIRCA
63. Trysting places, perhaps : CAFES. Or BARS. Steve Kroft knows it well.
64. Prospero's servant : ARIEL
65. Staircase part : RISER
66. Sounds of amazement : OOHS
67. French dairy product : LAIT. I bought some fresh dates on Friday. Should I wait until they're red
to eat? They taste very different from the fresh red dates I had in
Paris.
70. Poetic Muse : ERATO
71. Cold response : BRR
72. "I've Got a Crush __" : ON YOU. My teenage dream.
73. La preceder : SOL
74. Summer clothing catalog item : SWIMSUIT. And 76. Summer cooler : POOL
77. Place up the river? : STIR
78. Big club : ACE. I had A?E, and thought of AXE first.
79. Mark down : NOTE
80. Big ape : KONG
81. Smelting waste : SLAG
84. Fluid-containing pouch : SAC
87. Belgian port city : GHENT. Nailed it.
88. Common call enders : BYEs
90. Deep-fried Japanese dish : TEMPURA. So tasty.
92. Napoli's home : ITALIA
93. Browbeating : DURESS
94. Absinthe flavorings : ANISES
95. Time killers : IDLERS
97. No longer stylish : PASSE. That's our bags in early 1980s. The five red characters say "Serve the People".
98. Flu symptoms : ACHES
99. Protective Greek structures : STOAS
100. Sacher dessert : TORTE. Lucky Marti!
103. Looks carefully (over) : PORES
105. Strip __ : MALL
106. Droll acknowledgment of a weak joke : HA HA
107. Group therapy challenges : EGOS
108. Genetic strands : RNAS
109. Rodin's thinker? : TETE. Gimme.
110. Mmes., in Málaga : SRAS
112. Circ. part : SEG
113. Liq. units : PTS. The last row in crossword grids are often S-heavy.
C.C.
31 comments:
Greetings!
Really nice puzzle, Anton! Swell expo, CC!
Usually have to worry about the theme later. These popped out right away, though. The fastest Sunday LAT that I have worked, perhaps.
No cheats.
CC: OLD is "not a baby" by my translation!
Do not get BLAST in this context.
What a pleasant puzzle!
Cheers!
(38D. Nae like a bairn.) not like a child.
(1A. Homer, usually : BLAST) A home run, baseball.
When a cowBOY has too many GLASSes
Of redeye, and don't care who he SASSes,
He can avoid a gunfight
By spending the night
In the barn, with the rest of the ASSES!
The HELIcopter pilot was a debonair sort,
Till he started balding, and looked like a WART!
So he took a vacation
For a hair transplantation
Which he got at a discount in a foreign HairPORT!
Morning, all!
Got the theme early on at STONE MASON and got through most of the grid without too much effort. Some of the themers were a little challenging, though, either due to obscure people (Hank SNOW) or obscure base phrases (SAINT MARTIN, SHORT SALES). Well, obscure to me, at least. Oh -- and I really wanted 91A to be OCEAN CRUISE, but it just wouldn't fit. In general, I thought the theme names played on the old side, but I guess that's OK since I'm old...
Got hung up in a few places, but nothing too bad. It took an embarrassingly long time to get TEN at 9D, for example. With WAR_ in place at 6A, I had to run the alphabet until something made sense. And guess what size shoes I wear? D'OH... I also struggled in the center due to confidently sticking in ALIAS where PRIOR belonged at 52A.
And yes, Nae means "not" so "Nae like a bairn" literally means "not like a baby".
Hello Puzzlers -
Interesting theme concept today! I think I read this was a debut for the constructor. Very impressive.
Not many unknowns, but where Ariose crossed Ariel, that was a guess. Leto was 100% perps. Erato was recalled from earlier puzzles - I have no hope of remembering the names of the Muses.
Morning, C.C.! I didn't quite make the connection: is Aria the name of a hotel?
Good morning!
Nice puzzle, and if this is a debut, I am really impressed. Started badly; I could only think of The Iliad or Homer Simpson at 1a. My mind never strays to baseball. Tried ACNE and CYST before WART raised its ugly head. Also ARC before SEG showed up. Hand up for reading the clue as "Considerable amount," C.C. I recognized all of the celebrity names, except Ellen PAGE. Patti, yes, Ellen, no.
Had a couple of quibbles over spelling. My authoritative source of all things Caribbean, Vanna White, spells the island "Saint Maarten." And I've usually seen the vessels spelled "Barques" rather than "BARKS" But the perps saved the day.
First cool morning of the fall here in the southland. Our morning march around the 'hood should be enjoyable instead of sweaty.
That went rather smoothly after finding the theme at BALL FIELD. As Barry said, I'm fine with "older" names and won't be happy when constructors (or editors) use more recent entertainers' names.
D-otto, the island of Saint Martin is partly French and partly Dutch. The Dutch side is known as Sint Maarten.
Excellent puzzle, and thanks for the write-up, CC!
Good Morning!
I had very little on the first pass, finding too many names I didn't get initially, but as I suspected the down crosses started me on the way to Sunday Success. Thanks for the fun, Anton.
Thanks for the tour, C.C. I always enjoy your links.
Have a great day!
Mme Defarge [or as I would be known is Spain: SRA Defarge. ;-)]
A bairn is young, not auld (old)
The Week in Review: M 4:31 T 5:26 W 7:54 T 11:45 F 17:00 S 15:58 S 20:30
Not much to add to what's been said though I was a bit surprised to see so many describe Friday's puzzle as "easy". For me it seemed more like a Saturday puzzle: daunting at first but ultimately doable.
See y'all next Sunday.
Good Morning:
A most enjoyable Sunday outing. Very easily discerned theme added to the fun. I, also misread the clue as Considerable Amount. Perhaps we need new glasses!
Nicely done, Professor Shurpik, and thanks, CC, for a lively review. BTW, CC, there was another Short, Bobby, who was a singer/pianist.
Have a great day.
Thank you Anton and thank you CC.
Fun puzzle. Caught the drift with Eva Marie and Ricky. Then they all came easy, except the GALWAY part with Jill. Most of the theme clues and answers brought a smile to my face.
Misread of the day ? "Considerable amount." OBIT saved that corner, as I had CAVES at first for "Yields..." Also couldn't think of any 4 letter word for considerable amount with SAC-, and feeling that "Nuke trial" would have to be A, H or N.
Hand up for questioning BARKS v barques, but lived with it. Don't feel like looking it up. Someone will undoubtedly provide a link or assert how valid it is.
Don't recall ever seeing MONASTIC in a puzzle before. Took a minute to suss it out. I vow to have some of that fine monastic ale from Belgium today. Probably Chimay Grande Reserve. A dramatic change from the Stella I've been having of late.
I can't think of Courtney LOVE w/o thinking of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. A retro style vid: In Bloom
Hand up for Considerable amount - and I just had cataract surgery!
After getting the theme at stonemason, I was able to fill in some parts of the other themers. Still, the lower right and upper left corners were last to fall, but with no cheats.
Loved your analysis, C.C.
And congratulations to Professor Shurpik - you get an A!
Have a lovely day, everyone.
Good morning everyone.
Nice to have the Merchant Marine Academy providing our puzzlemaster, today.
Halfway through when I realized how the theme worked. Clever and fun. Easy enough for a Sunday. No searches needed.
2 EQUI today: zebra and onager.
Favorite fill - @63a - CAROL.
3d - buckAROO - From The Hunt for Red October:
Capt. Bart Mancuso: [Ramius comments in Russian to Borodin that Mancuso is a "buckaroo". Ryan laughs] What's so funny?
Jack Ryan: Ah, the Captain seems to think you're some kind of... cowboy.
Captain Ramius: [spoken "You parle ruski"] You speak Russian.
Jack Ryan: [in Russian] A little. It is wise to study the ways of ones adversary. Don't you think?
Captain Ramius: [in English] It is.
102a - DUMP - ALSO FROM RED OCTOBER:
Adm. Painter: What's his plan?
Jack Ryan: His plan?
Adm. Painter: Russians don't take a DUMP, son, without a plan.
@Dudley - the Aria is a relatively new hotel on the Las Vegas strip next door to the Bellagio. It's big enough and prominent enough that I wouldn't object to it appearing in a crossword. (It might help that I've stayed there a couple of times though!)
I was natick'ed by AGATES and TAL - I didn't know either, and went for AGAVES and VAL. No good.
Thanks for the summary, C.C!
Thanks again to all for the birthday wishes yesterday!
Spits, are you sure it's EQUI and not EQUUSES or EQUUPODES?
D-O - I'm as sure as I can be without having taken Latin. I know this group is tough on plurals so there was behoof for me to get it right. EQUI is 2nd declension nominative case. Other cases may vary.
WEES. Fun puzzle and the theme showed itself fairly soon.
Many years ago, when we did a puzzle together, my minister brother, Bruce, told me that Sneaky PETE is a term for Prohibition era whiskey.
VS
Spitz, if I'm hearing you correctly, then a zebra plus an onager would make Dos Equis?
While there are many applications of the term "Sneaky Pete" (many not suitable for mixed company), the primary meaning seems to be the cheap fortified wine favored by winos and frequently consumed from a brown paper bag; either fortified at the factory (e.g. Thunderbird) or fortified in situ (e.g. with Sterno).
Man, there were A LOT of S's in this puzzle!
Got the theme at BALLFIELD.
Desper-otto, good one! (Dos Equis)
Irish Miss, good point about Bobby Short.
Steve, thanks for explaining ARIA.
//lurk off
C.C. - Same as the Romans' big NOSE? As a Roman decendent, that HURTs! ('cuz, well... it's true :-)).
So far, D-O @2:05 is in the lead for best post. XX beer comment was funny-smart. Thanks for the laugh.
//lurk on.
C, -T
Would someone please explain: 77 Down - Place up the river ? = STIR
Greetings, friends!
What a fun time I had with this puzzle! Thank you so much Prof. Shurpik. Congratulations of this is your debut. I want to see more.
And C.C., to say that you have come a long way in puzzling is a huge understatement! I believe you have surpassed most of us not only in solving but in constructing.
I loved the theme and caught it like d-o at SAINTMARTIN. So clever!
BARKS held me up for an unreasonably long time as I was thinking BARQUE but of course it didn't fit. Finally I had to consult that know-it-all, Google.
BLAST finally dawned on me as a baseball (oh,no) term.
Great fill. Great fun. And thank you, C.C., for your super summary. It's really busy day for me today; has been all week. I'll be glad when things slow down.
I hope you are all having a lovely Sunday!
Anon@3:51 said..."Would someone please explain: 77 Down - Place up the river ? = STIR"
Being sent to a place "up the river" means being sent to prison (probably a reference to Sing Sing, up the Hudson River from NYC). Another synonym for being "in prison" is being "in STIR".
I loved this puzzle. I sussed the theme very early on, although, in some cases, I had to think a while to get the left hand part of the theme answers. Clever theme. Relatively fast for a Sunday.
I know SNEAKY PETE refers to booze, but in our family, probably for just us, it also referred to a sneaky person in any respect.
EQUUS: To throw another opinion into the mix, Memidex says regarding the plural, "EQUUS may be used in a singular or plural context." Besides, I am a little leery of using the rules of any foreign language to support the rules in English. They are frequently changed in translation.In addition, I am skeptical about how there could be a plural for "the only surviving genus of the family Equidae." How would you use this plural? Not arguing, just speculating.
Today Kenny had his first driver training session. After that my son, DIL and Kenny went to visit Villanova U.
CIRCA, PAIRS, BARKS, CLIPS section took the most time for me for some reason.
Musings
-Donna SUMMER’s lovely voice (5:34) was a big part of the disco era
-Homer the ‘toon character, poet or baseball term? Ah, the latter
-EQUUS is more in our conscious because of a beer brand
-A terrible poster with HOOK NOSES stereotypes
-TV News now show lots of amateur CLIPS
-My next camera will be an SLR with a screen and eyepiece
-Spot on a board - Husker’s memorial stadium now holds fewer people because they had to make the SEATS wider because…
-The Confederates scuttled the Virginia (Merrimac) after being defeated by the Monitor
-If you’re getting PUMMELED in this brutal sport, you can GIVE
-This cool summer has limited my neighbor’s time in his new POOL in his SWIM SUIT
-What inept character kept trying to bomb the Ammo DUMP near the M*A*S*H TV hospital?
5 o'clock Charlie?
Did they fix radios also in the TV hospital?
This Sunday's offering only contained two words that were completely out of my wheelhouse- BARKS and TAL. Both came from perps. I've had one HobiCat, two sloops, and one offshore trawler but a BARK is a new word for me. I wanted to write SHIPS but the downs wouldn't allow it, so BARKS it was.The theme came out in the NW and although it wasn't a speedrun, I finished it in less tha 25 minutes with the usual amount of unknown filled by perps. Ellen PAGE was the only unknown among the double names but it fit nicely; PATTI PAGE would have been to easy.
Any 'Rhyme scheme' always starts with A- perps after that. I see Dr. Shurpik included a BLAST & A-TEST along with both familiar crossword hills- OSSA & MT. ETNA. The fill across the bottom was an 'S' festival: ESSE, GLASS, SASS, ASSES. My only WAG was the cross of the unknown BATES with BOY. 'Charles in Charge' was unknown but Scott BAIO was a known item.
A few false starts were CEDES before GIVES, GALA before BASH, SWIM WEAR before SUIT, and like D-O wanted ACNE before WART. And along with C.C., AULD just fit and I filled it but was clueless about the clue or my answer.
Anon@ 3:51- A STIR is a jail or prison. I guess it comes from being 'stir crazy' in a cell.
Steve 11:53 - thanks for explaining that Aria meaning.
Enjoyed the puzzle. Wish our paper had included Down clues 107, 108. 109 and 110. Yes,I had to look it up online. Should have got it anyway, but didn't.
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