ACES HIGH
Aces High - Iron Maiden
Kevin and daughter Kaela ( see here ) have teamed up to give us a mirror symmetry, FOURTEEN x 16 grid with horizontal Royalty in the themers, and a vertical Royal Reveal. Kevin and wife Zhou Zhang paired up here for the LA Times back on July 10. Because of the odd-sized grid, both 52A. and 57A. are unique fills. Triple-five corners, 24 3LWs, ten names, and no circles. The themers and reveal;
19. Head of a hive: QUEEN BEE
29. Colorful bird with a daggerlike bill: KINGFISHER
52. Milkweed pollinator also called "common tiger": MONARCH BUTTERFLY
10. With 39-Down, defenders over London, or an apt description of 19-, 29-, and 52-Across?: ROYAL
39. See 10-Down: AIR FORCE - I do the Down clues first, so I 'revealed the reveal' to start
Here's me back in 2006 at MacArthur Airport standing beside a fully functional P-51 Mustang
TWELVE cylinder monster - you felt it take off
And in case you can't see the above link, here's a PS image of the same page.
And . . . . Happy Left-Hander's Day~!
YO DUDE, that's like, backwards, my man. . . .25A.
Up, Up, And Away We Go~!ACROSS:
1. Weight-to-height meas.: BMI - Body Mass Index - my trainer has me do a "weigh-in" every two weeks; my fat % went from 40 down to 29.8 over the three months I have been working out - and we're steady holding at 30lbs lost, as well - the next 30 are going to be harder
4. Classic diner order: BLT - Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato, crosswordese
7. Baton Rouge sch.: LSU - Louisiana State University -shoutout~!
10. Big truck: RIG
13. Go on the __: LAM - A little Blue Öyster Cult for you
I'm on the Lam....but I Ain't No Sheep
14. Slaps after shots: BAR FIGHT - my 8D. was "ENOUGH", so this section was all wrong
17. "I __ you one!": "OWE"
18. Verbal hesitations: UMs....ers, uhs, needed crossings
20. __ and yang: YIN
21. Site with "gently used" items: eBAY
23. Buyer's incentive: REBATE - AND - 24A. Buyer's incentive: SALE
25. "My man!": "YO DUDE~!"
27. Frequent toddler mishaps: SPILLS
34. Gather: AMASS - we had this Monday
37. Nevada gambling city: RENO - name #1
38. Parting words: CIAOs - a bit meh.
42. "Cool" amount: MILlion - I have not made my first "cool" million - yet.
43. State between the Pacific Ocean and the Snake River: OREGON - name #2
45. Pen filler: INK
46. Announcement after a brief game stoppage: "PLAY ON~!"
49. Big name in hiking backpacks: OSPREY - not clued as the bird to avoid a theme conflict
57. Reluctant whine: "AWW, DO I HAVE TO~?" - cute 12-letter clue/answer
58. Winnie-the-Pooh's creator: MILNE - name #3
60. "Hot To Go!" singer Chappell: ROAN - don't know of her, more here - name #4
61. Join: MERGE
64. Runway worker: MODEL
65. Overly proud: SMUG
66. Implicit: TACIT - two "-cit" words
67. Complicated situation: SNARL
68. Snakelike: EELY
69. End of the Greek alphabet: OMEGA
DOWN:
1. TV dog whose mum and dad are Chilli and Bandit: BLUEY - I wonder who came up with this clue....
And name #5
And name #5
2. Caribbean dance: MAMBO - I can never remember if it's SAMBA or MAMBO - I was wrong today
Perry Como Papa Loves Mambo from Ocean's Eleven - UH~!
3. [Crying emoji]: I'M SAD 😢
4. Cookout, for short: BBQ - Barbecue - no "Q" in the word, actually
5. Fashion icon Ralph: LAUREN - name #6, but I have heard of him - he's worth a cool $11.9 Billion
6. Peach or beech: TREE - rhyme time
7. Pride parade inits.: LGBT - the acronym has expanded - more here
8. "OK, OK!": "SHEESH~!" - I tried ENOUGH, then STOP IT
9. SLC athlete: UTE - the Utes, short for University of Utah sports players, and Salt Lake City
11. Volunteer's response: "I WILL."
12. Parental hand-me-downs: GENES
15. Black History Mo.: FEBruary
16. Two peas __ pod: IN A
22. Hardy-har-hars: YUKs
24. Speaker on an iPad: SIRI - I am PC - and nam(ish)
26. Put down: DIS - as in DISrespect
28. Delt neighbor: PECtorals, muscles of the chest
30. Watchdog's warning: GRR~!!! - argh~! Not ARF~!
31. Service charge: FEE
32. Gerund suffix: ING - a form derived from a verb that acts like a noun
33. Phillipa of "Hamilton": SOO - name #7
34. Time toggle: AM/PM - nice alliteration in the clue
35. Venus de __: MILO - and now Spinal Tap, with their album, Intravenus De Milo -name #8
36. Hawkeye Pierce player on "M*A*S*H": ALAN ALDA - his whole crossword-friendly name ( #9 ) today
40. Law school newbie: ONE L - crossword staple
41. Absolut alternative: SKYY - Vodkas; here's some "JACK" for a Royal Flush
43. Like audiobooks, once: ON CD
44. Child's punishment, maybe: NO TV - that was my generation; today I am guessing it's "no phone"
47. Snoozefest: YAWNER - Booooooring~!
48. "Animal Farm" novelist George: ORWELL - Double Plus Ungood - his 'other' novel, name #10
50. Appear that way: SEEM TO
51. Image-cultivating group, informally: PR TEAM - Public Relations - the spin doctors
53. Carriage puller: HORSE - OK I was looking for a "10" horse team for the Royal Flush
Alas, we only have eight . . . .
54. Desert or tundra: BIOME - toyed with CLIME
55. Company for DIY movers: U-HAUL
It does say you can move a 2-3 bedroom house . . . .
56. Like some tartar sauce: TANGY
58. Ruler divs., casually: MMs - not "INs", which I didn't think was correct; not sure why we had the 'casually' in the clue, with 'divs.' already there for the abbr.
59. Non-neutral particle: ION
62. Short-term engagement: GIG
63. "When ru coming?": "ETA~?"
Splynter
2 comments:
I don’t know about the
rest of you folks, but to me this puzzle went very quickly, quicker than yesterday, for sure. Anyway, FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning! (Guess who overslept?)
Gotta disagree with Sub-G. This one took two minutes longer than yesterday. BLUEY at 1d was a mystery, as was OSPREY, as clued. Not a fan of the plural CIAOS. SHEESH evoked memories of Jayce. Hope he's doing OK. I'm currently rereading ORWELL's 1984. Slow going. I can take just so much dystopia in a sitting. His prophecy was off by 41 years. Thanx to the Currys for a Wednesday-appropriate offering, and Splynter for the expo. (You should watch West Side Story. Maybe MAMBO will stick in your memory.)
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