BRING 'B' RING
We have seen Brian's name on crosswords before, but I do believe this is the first for Alex Rossell Hayes, so congrats on your debut~! I loved this puzzle - solid fill, brilliant cluing, it made me smile, and not only is it clever, but in alphabetical order, too - paired A, E, I, O, & U five-letter words 'broken up" to provide some humorous results. Friday level difficulty, but I was on the constructors' wavelength and breezed through, despite the chunky triple-7-letter plus corners. An over-sized 15x16 grid, two handfuls of names, no circles, and an even spread of 3-, 4-, 5-, 6- AND 7-letter words. The themers, no reveal;
18. Vague advice for space travelers worried about black holes?: "AVOID A VOID."
26. Air travel that's the fifth-best option?: "PLAN E" PLANE
36. "My job is ranking people on a scale of 'miffed' to 'downright furious'"?: "I RATE 'IRATE'."
😑😕😖😠😡
"The in-flight meal was unacceptable~! 😡"
51. Juliet's response when her love asks what city is as eternal as their bond?: "ROME, O ROMEO." - "Wherefore art thou~? Not in Rome, and frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"
60. Helpful draw when trying to play a Q word in Scrabble?: UTILE "U" TILE
ACROSS:
7. Unleash (on): SIC - I had SET to start
10. Chemically quiet: INERT - like the rightmost column in last week's periodic chart
15. Rocker Dee: SNIDER - Name #1, but I knew him because his band, Twisted Sister, were from my home area of Long Island
16. "Industry" network: HBO - had the "H", WAGed the rest
17. Levi's Stadium player: NINER - What if they actually played IN Levi's~?
20. Prickly plants: CACTI
DOWN:
1. Org. with a "Get Ready for Baby" page: SSA - Great new clue for this tired fill, but it took waaay to long for me to find that page on the Social Security Administration website
2. Multiplication, to division: INVERSE - You'd have to "subtract" a letter to fit 'opposite' . . . 🙄
3. Bishop's domain: DIOCESE - nailed it, spelling and all
4. Hard to translate, in a way: IDIOMATIC - "the whole nine ( letters ) yards"
5. Nancy Drew's boyfriend: NED - name #4, and I thought it was NED, but hesitated
7. Slip-ons lack: SHOELACES - nine-letters #2
8. Third-largest of the Balearic Islands: IBIZA - geo name #5
9. Fish oil source: COD
10. Like LOL, but not haha: IN CAPS - slighly Twurdish, but Friday clever - LIKE WHEN PEOPLE TEXT IN CAPS TO INDICATE THEY ARE SHOUTY~!!!!
11. Horan of One Direction: NIALL - no clue, filled via perps, name #6
12. Lesotho, for one: ENCLAVE - learning moment for me; the Wiki
13. Organ parts with rods and cones: RETINAS - I knew we needed an EYEpart, tried CORNEAS - Bzzzzt~!
14. Aquaman's staff: TRIDENT - seemed the logical answer for a "sea-based" superhero
19. __ pen: VAPE - ooof. Friday vague - this thing
23. Honey or sugar: PET NAME - I figured we were looking for something like this
24. Feline: CAT - "Fe" line is sooo last week . . .
25. Pt. of USA: AMERica
27. Far from far: NEAR - har-har
29. Goods people: TRADERS
34. Scope rival: LISTERINE - Solid fill, simple cluing, nine-letters #3
35. Wedding attire, for some: RENTAL TUX - nine-letters #4; I rented my tux for the premiere of "The Golem", the movie I worked on back in 1997-8 - available on YouTube July 20th
37. "Mambo Birdland" Grammy winner Puente: TITO - two weeks in a row; name #7
38. Low digits?: TOES
39. Milky Way kin: MARS BAR
40. Silo: ISOLATE - Phew~! Friday vague - verb def. #2
41. Indonesian island crossed by the equator: SUMATRA - geo name #8
44. Bring up again: RERAISE - e.g. an issue, not the poker version of re-raise
45. Colorful songbirds: ORIOLES - nailed it
46. Sourdough starter?: ESS - Sourdough, meta-clue; my trainer put me on to sourdough bread
48. Charges: GOES AT
50. Product removed by shear force?: WOOL - sheAr, not sheEr
.jpg)
52. Value system: ETHIC
53. Heavy __: METAL - so, so last week . . .
57. Shut tight: SEAL
61. Thurman of "Gattaca": UMA - crossword staple, name #9
62. Philly summer hrs.: EDT - Philadelphia, PA is currently observing Eastern Daylight Time
Splynter
Grid Flow 59.8 - high
Notes from C.C.:
Happy 71st birthday to dear
Naomi, our brilliant Monday Sherpa! Her Monday write-ups are always
thoughtful, informative, and beautifully crafted. Thanks for all you do
for our blog, Naomi, and have a fantastic birthday!
 |
| NaomiZ |
2) Happy 73rd birthday to YooperPhil, another longtime member of our Crossword Corner family. Wishing you a wonderful birthday and many happy returns!
Once I figured out
ReplyDeletethe theme, it was pretty easy to fill out the “double words” that fit the puzzle. So I have no complaints about it.
FIR, so I’m happy.
Good morning!
ReplyDeleteThings looked bleak in the snow-covered NW, but warmed up as I headed south. That photo of the airplane reminded me of the aircraft graveyard in Tucson, just off I-10. Couldn't remember DIOCESE -- Bishopric wouldn't fit, and I've learned it's not a descriptive term. It was near SUMATRA where our ship crossed the equator, kicking off a shellback ceremony. Folks who'd never crossed aboard a ship were "pollywogs" and needed to be beaten and shamed by the experienced shellbacks. I taped my shellback certificate to the underside of our toilet lid. Thanx for the amusement, Alex, Brian, and Splynter. (Do you suppose I could register myself as a "classic" and stop paying income taxes?)