Theme: NONE
Definitely a stumper for me today, lots of unknowns. The clues are tough, but not wicked or senseless. I like the Saturday's open grid feel, but I just feel so lost and rootless without the theme guidance.
I had an uncharacteristically great start, devouring the upper left corner like a hungry lion. Even SAMUEL PEPYS jumps into my mind without any extra spur. Wonderful, all I really need to know, I learned from doing crossword!
But all the other spots are like Fallujah, so tough and forbidding. It's simply beyond my strength to tame the whole field. I spent about 35 minutes on the puzzle, then I quit.
Grid: 15*15, total 71 words (maximum is 72 for a Saturday), total blank square: 30.
ACROSS entries:
1A: From one side to the other: ACROSS. Hmm, a bit meta. Can you self-reference clue like this?
7A: Tex-Mex menu items: TOSTADAS. Want some?
15A: Definite rules?: THE LAW. Great clue. I like it when a preposition or definite article is embedded in the answer. Very tricky but it provides me with a precious "Aha" moment.
16A: Tiger in the Hall of Fame: AL KALINE. Mr. Tiger. The first name that popped to my mind was actually Ty Cobb. Cobb was the first ever Hall- of-Famer, wasn't he?
17A: Change a file code: RENAME
18A: Fetal sac: PLACENTA. Plural form can be "Placentae" or "Placentas". Wonder why so many medical terms take their roots in Greek language.
19A: Cunning: ARTFUL
20A: Part of RSVP: S'IL. No more question on my wobbly G8 drunk clip, s'il vous plaît, let's just talk about Carla's nude photos!
24A: Patronage: EGIS. Can also be AEGIS. Aegis is the shield of Zeus. Dictionary says "Athene's aigis was a short goat-skin cloak, covered with scales, set with a gorgon's head, and fringed with snakes". Look at this picture. That's Medusa's head. Her gaze would not turn me into a stone at all. She does look monstrous though.
24A: Old English letter: EDH. No idea. Dictionary says it can also be spelled as ETH.
26A: Chemical suffix: ANE. I am always at a loss when facing chemical suffix clue, too many choices: ASE, ENE or ANE.
30A: Walesa of Solidarity: LECH. Nobel Peace Winner 1983.
32A: Admiral or cabin boy: SAILOR. Why is "cabin boy" a sailor? (Update: Dennis said a "cabin boy" serves the captain and senior officers on a ship, hence sailor.)
34A: "Malcolm X" director: LEE (Spike)
35A: Event before a golf tournament: PRO-AM. Want a chance to win Bay Hill, John Daly? Pay attention to your Pro-Am time next time!
37A: Groom oneself: PRIMP
38A: Port St. __, FL: LUCIE
40A: Sapporo sash: OBI. Why Sapporo all the times? Spice up the clue with some other exotic Japanese city name!
41A: Skater Sonja: HENIE. No idea.
42A: Overthrow: USURP
43A: Itchy problem: TINEA. I was not aware of this skin problem until this morning. Looks awful.
46A: Passes on: RELAYS
48A: Astronaut Aldrin: BUZZ. I like Buzz's take on Lisa Nowak's intrepid restroom-less 900-mile love pursuit. Gutty statement in my view.
55A: Spanish painter Joan: MIRÓ. Max Ernest & Dali are the other 2 Surrealists who have an insatiable appetites for crossword fame.
59A: Peter of "Six Feet Under": KRAUSE. Unknown to me. I wanted O'Toole, but it did not fit.
63A: Bad egg: EVIL DOER
65A: Pastoral poems: IDYLLS
66A: Snake River people: NEZ PERCE. Unknown to me. Here is the definition: "A Native American people formerly inhabiting the lower Snake River and its tributaries in western Idaho, northeast Oregon, and southeast Washington, with present-day populations in western Idaho and northeast Washington."
67A: Verdugo and others: ELENAS. I can not think of any famous Elena either, can you?
68A: Woody?: TREELIKE. Why the question mark?
69A: Shaped like a stringed instrument: LYRATE. Only knew Lyra. Good to learn its adjective form though.
Down clues:
1D: Gillette razor: ATRA
2D: "Silkwood"star: CHER. Have never watched this movie. I see it's written by Nora Ephron. I am going to put it in our Netflix queue. I adore Nora.
3D: Cloth tear: RENT. Ha ha, my effort yesterday is paid off, so quickly!
4D: Some Norwegian kings: OLAFS
5D: Noted diarist: SAMUEL PEPYS. But who wants to read his diary when Anais Nin is calling?
6D: Suffer in the heat: SWELTER
7D: Bugle cal: TAPS
8D: Stan's comic partner: OLLIE. Got it this time.
9D: Viking poets: SKALDS. Also spelled as Scald. "A medieval Scandinavian poet, especially one writing in the Viking age."
10D: Center X: TAC
12D: Airheads: DING A LINGS. Have never heard of this expression before. All my American friends are very nice people, they never speak any slang or negative thing when I am around.
13D: Legal paradoxes: ANTINOMIES. Not familiar with this legal term either. OK, so, anti is anti, nomes is Greek for law, and "antinomy" is "a contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally necessary and reasonable". Good.
14D: Cecil of cartoons, e.g.: SEA SERPENT. Here is more information for you. I've never heard of Beany and Cecil cartoon.
23D: Vamoose: SCOOT
25D: At random: HAPHAZARDLY
27D: Power to attract: ALLUREMENT. I use "enticement" occasionally, never "allurement".
28D: Belgian waterway: MEUSE RIVER. Great clue, great answer, so nice to see RIVER is part of the answer. The Meuse originates from France, flowing north to the North Sea through Belgium and the Netherlands.
29D: Make worldly: SECULARIZE. I have an affinity for good verb, this is one of them.
31D: U.S. Middle East peace envoy: HABIB. Philip Habib.
36D: Less: MINUS
44D: Old Testament book: EZEKIEL
47D: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. This is definitely a gimme for Lakers' Phil Jackson, he is a Zen Master.
52D: Sunken ship: WRECK
54D: Stratum: LAYER
56D: Greek wine flask: OLPE. It appeared on Feb 6 puzzle, almost the identical clue. Here is a picture.
58D: Song of the LPGA: AREE. She was one stroke away from beating Grace Park for the 2004 Nabisco (one of LPGA's Majors). She has a Twin sister name Naree, also a LPGA member. South Koreans are so talented in golfing.
61D: Venetian blind part: SLAT. I've never heard of Venetian blind.
64D: 2nd-smallest State: DEL. I love Senator Biden (DE) and his wits. "A noun, a verb and 9/11", the best rip I've ever heard!
C.C.
Definitely a stumper for me today, lots of unknowns. The clues are tough, but not wicked or senseless. I like the Saturday's open grid feel, but I just feel so lost and rootless without the theme guidance.
I had an uncharacteristically great start, devouring the upper left corner like a hungry lion. Even SAMUEL PEPYS jumps into my mind without any extra spur. Wonderful, all I really need to know, I learned from doing crossword!
But all the other spots are like Fallujah, so tough and forbidding. It's simply beyond my strength to tame the whole field. I spent about 35 minutes on the puzzle, then I quit.
Grid: 15*15, total 71 words (maximum is 72 for a Saturday), total blank square: 30.
ACROSS entries:
1A: From one side to the other: ACROSS. Hmm, a bit meta. Can you self-reference clue like this?
7A: Tex-Mex menu items: TOSTADAS. Want some?
15A: Definite rules?: THE LAW. Great clue. I like it when a preposition or definite article is embedded in the answer. Very tricky but it provides me with a precious "Aha" moment.
16A: Tiger in the Hall of Fame: AL KALINE. Mr. Tiger. The first name that popped to my mind was actually Ty Cobb. Cobb was the first ever Hall- of-Famer, wasn't he?
17A: Change a file code: RENAME
18A: Fetal sac: PLACENTA. Plural form can be "Placentae" or "Placentas". Wonder why so many medical terms take their roots in Greek language.
19A: Cunning: ARTFUL
20A: Part of RSVP: S'IL. No more question on my wobbly G8 drunk clip, s'il vous plaît, let's just talk about Carla's nude photos!
24A: Patronage: EGIS. Can also be AEGIS. Aegis is the shield of Zeus. Dictionary says "Athene's aigis was a short goat-skin cloak, covered with scales, set with a gorgon's head, and fringed with snakes". Look at this picture. That's Medusa's head. Her gaze would not turn me into a stone at all. She does look monstrous though.
24A: Old English letter: EDH. No idea. Dictionary says it can also be spelled as ETH.
26A: Chemical suffix: ANE. I am always at a loss when facing chemical suffix clue, too many choices: ASE, ENE or ANE.
30A: Walesa of Solidarity: LECH. Nobel Peace Winner 1983.
32A: Admiral or cabin boy: SAILOR. Why is "cabin boy" a sailor? (Update: Dennis said a "cabin boy" serves the captain and senior officers on a ship, hence sailor.)
34A: "Malcolm X" director: LEE (Spike)
35A: Event before a golf tournament: PRO-AM. Want a chance to win Bay Hill, John Daly? Pay attention to your Pro-Am time next time!
37A: Groom oneself: PRIMP
38A: Port St. __, FL: LUCIE
40A: Sapporo sash: OBI. Why Sapporo all the times? Spice up the clue with some other exotic Japanese city name!
41A: Skater Sonja: HENIE. No idea.
42A: Overthrow: USURP
43A: Itchy problem: TINEA. I was not aware of this skin problem until this morning. Looks awful.
46A: Passes on: RELAYS
48A: Astronaut Aldrin: BUZZ. I like Buzz's take on Lisa Nowak's intrepid restroom-less 900-mile love pursuit. Gutty statement in my view.
55A: Spanish painter Joan: MIRÓ. Max Ernest & Dali are the other 2 Surrealists who have an insatiable appetites for crossword fame.
59A: Peter of "Six Feet Under": KRAUSE. Unknown to me. I wanted O'Toole, but it did not fit.
63A: Bad egg: EVIL DOER
65A: Pastoral poems: IDYLLS
66A: Snake River people: NEZ PERCE. Unknown to me. Here is the definition: "A Native American people formerly inhabiting the lower Snake River and its tributaries in western Idaho, northeast Oregon, and southeast Washington, with present-day populations in western Idaho and northeast Washington."
67A: Verdugo and others: ELENAS. I can not think of any famous Elena either, can you?
68A: Woody?: TREELIKE. Why the question mark?
69A: Shaped like a stringed instrument: LYRATE. Only knew Lyra. Good to learn its adjective form though.
Down clues:
1D: Gillette razor: ATRA
2D: "Silkwood"star: CHER. Have never watched this movie. I see it's written by Nora Ephron. I am going to put it in our Netflix queue. I adore Nora.
3D: Cloth tear: RENT. Ha ha, my effort yesterday is paid off, so quickly!
4D: Some Norwegian kings: OLAFS
5D: Noted diarist: SAMUEL PEPYS. But who wants to read his diary when Anais Nin is calling?
6D: Suffer in the heat: SWELTER
7D: Bugle cal: TAPS
8D: Stan's comic partner: OLLIE. Got it this time.
9D: Viking poets: SKALDS. Also spelled as Scald. "A medieval Scandinavian poet, especially one writing in the Viking age."
10D: Center X: TAC
12D: Airheads: DING A LINGS. Have never heard of this expression before. All my American friends are very nice people, they never speak any slang or negative thing when I am around.
13D: Legal paradoxes: ANTINOMIES. Not familiar with this legal term either. OK, so, anti is anti, nomes is Greek for law, and "antinomy" is "a contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally necessary and reasonable". Good.
14D: Cecil of cartoons, e.g.: SEA SERPENT. Here is more information for you. I've never heard of Beany and Cecil cartoon.
23D: Vamoose: SCOOT
25D: At random: HAPHAZARDLY
27D: Power to attract: ALLUREMENT. I use "enticement" occasionally, never "allurement".
28D: Belgian waterway: MEUSE RIVER. Great clue, great answer, so nice to see RIVER is part of the answer. The Meuse originates from France, flowing north to the North Sea through Belgium and the Netherlands.
29D: Make worldly: SECULARIZE. I have an affinity for good verb, this is one of them.
31D: U.S. Middle East peace envoy: HABIB. Philip Habib.
36D: Less: MINUS
44D: Old Testament book: EZEKIEL
47D: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. This is definitely a gimme for Lakers' Phil Jackson, he is a Zen Master.
52D: Sunken ship: WRECK
54D: Stratum: LAYER
56D: Greek wine flask: OLPE. It appeared on Feb 6 puzzle, almost the identical clue. Here is a picture.
58D: Song of the LPGA: AREE. She was one stroke away from beating Grace Park for the 2004 Nabisco (one of LPGA's Majors). She has a Twin sister name Naree, also a LPGA member. South Koreans are so talented in golfing.
61D: Venetian blind part: SLAT. I've never heard of Venetian blind.
64D: 2nd-smallest State: DEL. I love Senator Biden (DE) and his wits. "A noun, a verb and 9/11", the best rip I've ever heard!
C.C.
