Theme: How Food Processors Work
17A: Shady high roller's advantage: LOADED DICE
28A: Harbors ulterior motives: HAS AN AX TO GRIND
44A: Log holder: FIREPLACE GRATE
58A: Dojo blow: KARATE CHOP
Once again, I am not sure I got the theme right. I cook differently and hardly use our food processor or any other kitchen accessories. Peeler & knife are the only tools I use every day. I peel everything. And I use my knife to dice, slice, chop, mince etc. It's exotic for me to see others use grater for ginger.
I had fun fooling around with this very scrabbly puzzle (3 Z's, 2 X's, 1 J and several K's). Wrote down HAIR for 19A: "Manx cat's lack" (TAIL). What can I say? I am not a cat person and a hairless cat makes sense to me. Also, I wrote down SAID for 21A: "After all?" (LAST) immediately, thinking the sentence "After all is SAID and done". Theoretically I think I am right. If someone finishes last in the race, he is still part of all, not "After all", correct?
Having seen similar "Dictator's assistant' or "Dictation taker" for STENO before, the "Dictator's aid" clue yesterday gave me no trouble and I did not even bother to comment on. It's so fascinating for me to read your experience in yesterday's Comments section. Thanks for sharing.
Across:
1A: Betting setting: VEGAS. Rhyming clue. The first word that popped into my mind is CASINO.
6A: Oratory with lots of arm-waving: RANT. "Lots of arm-waving" RANT indeed. I used to like Kramer.
10A: Sloop pole: MAST. Perpendicular to the boom. Only learned a few weeks ago that sloop is a single-masted sailing boat.
14A: "Get __!": Relax: A GRIP
15A: Hamburg's river: ELBE. ELBE originates in Czech and flows northwest across German to the North Sea. Same pronunciation with Napoleon's ELBA.
16A: Award for a soap: EMMY. Oh well, I tried to find EMMY award logo, look at what Google gave to me.
22A: Garden hose feature: NOZZLE. Then later on HOSE as an answer to 55: Stockings. I don't know. I still don't like this dupe, even if they are within Rich Norris's 6-letter limit.
24A: Disney pooch: PLUTO. Great list of Disney dog names. GOOFY has 5 letter too.
26A: Islamabad's land: Abbr.: PAK. Just learned that Islamabad literally means "Abode of Islam". I suppose "bad" is a suffix for "abode"?
27A: Above, in odes: O'ER. Opposite 'neath.
32A: By surprise: ABACK. As in "Taken ABACK"
33A: "That is to say ....": I MEAN. I say this often, since I always have difficulty expressing myself. My oral English is very poor.
34A: Himalayan mystery: YETI. Exactly, it's a mystery. I like this better than "Mountain sighting" clue.
35A: Dark earth pigment: UMBER. Strange, it's rooted in umbra (shade/shadow), same as umbrella.
37A: Programming language with a coffee-cup logo: JAVA. It's still hot.
41A: Ho-hum state: ENNUI
43A: Ear-related: AURAL. Sometimes the answer is OTIC.
48A: It has a charge: ION. Yep, ION is charged particle.
49A: Space shuttle astronaut Jemison: MAE. Got the answer from down fills. Have difficulty remembering her name. Wikipedia says she was the first woman of African ancestry to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavor on September 12, 1992. What does this sentence mean? I wonder if Spirit is awake at this moment when I am typing.
50A: Seller of TV time, e.g.: AD REP. Mine was AD MAN.
51A: Resealable bag brand: ZIPLOC. Can't live without ZIPLOC. Don't like Glad.
53A: Cheese with an edible rind: BRIE. The cheese is named after the French region Brie. The Dutch cheese Edam is also named after the Edam town in Holland. I love Etam bra/thong. Don't know what/whom the heck it's named for.
62A: Leave the premises: EXIT
63A: "__who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it": Santayana: THOSE. Oh, George Santayana originated this line. It's from his book "The Life of Reason". I did not know that. Sometimes life has no reasons. You just fall in love, blindly. Or as Pascal said: The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.
64A: Florida attraction: KEYS. Have never been to FL. Is Miami part of Florida KEYS?
65A: D.C. Party: DEMS. Holy hot wick! I always thought the abbreviation for the Democratic Party is D or DEM.
66A: Caravan stops: OASES. Singular is oasis. Stop and find yourself some wet dates, so sweet!
Down:
1D: Depression between hills: VALE. Oh well, so many choices: VALE, DALE, GLEN, DELL.
2D: Bigheads have big ones: EGOS
3D: Goes for, as straws? GRASPS AT. I like this clue.
5D: Explore caves: SPELUNK. We had SPELUNK & spelunker discussions on the blog last summer.
6D: Team that ended a "curse" in 2004: RED SOX. Remember Curt Schilling's bloody sock? The "curse" refers to the selling of Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The "Curse of the Bambino".
7D: Hit the ground: ALIT. "Hit" is past tense. I was trapped.
8D: Home of "The Office": NBC. Have never watched "The Office".
8D: Fake ID user, often: TEENAGER
10D: Capital of Lorraine: METZ. No idea. Quite close to Germany. No wonder it has a letter Z in the end.
11D: E-tail giant: AMAZON. Have never bought any baseball card from AMAZON.
12D: Beamed: SMILED. When Chinese take photos, we say "qie zi" (eggplant) rather than "cheese".
13D: "Breathing Lessons" Pulitzer winner Anne: TYLER. No idea. Oh, "Breathing Lessons" is a novel. I thought the book is about breathing and meditation. Her face looks familiar. I remember those bangs.
18D: Info to crunch: DATA
23D: Creole vegetable: OKRA. "Fighting OKRA" is a very strange mascot.
25D: More doilylike: LACIER. Are you OK with this clue?
26D: Apple of quince: POME. OK, here is the defintion of POME fruit from dictionary: a fleshy fruit, such as an apple, pear, or quince, having several seed chambers and an outer fleshy part largely derived from the hypanthium. Also called false fruit. Strange, they are real fruit to me. Pomme is French for apple. Pomme de terre is potato.
29D: Face on a fin: ABE. Might be a stumper for those solvers who are not familiar with the American slang five-dollar bill (fin). LAT puzzle appears in more than 700 daily and Sunday papers in the world, including Mexico, Bermuda, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Indian, Japan, Taiwan, etc.
30D: Fibula neighbor: TIBIA. Ouch! Looks painful.
31D: Hurt: INJURE
35D: Emptied one's bags: UNPACKED
36D: Stubborn critter: MULE. And APES (56D: Long-armed critters). Monkeys have long arms too. I think mine are also very long too.
38D: Wyoming tribe members: ARAPAHOS. No idea. But Cheyenne does not fit. What does ARAPAHOS mean in their own language?
39D: Winery container: VAT
42D: Pixar fish: NEMO. Love "Finding NEMO" (Pixar 2003 film).
43D: Go along with: AGREE TO
44D: Minor failing: FOIBLE
45D: Not out-of-bounds, as a ball: IN PLAY
46D: Gem weight units: CARATS. No wobbling between CARATS and KARATS this time.
48D: "The Compleat Angler" author Walton: IZAAK. Is the book very famous? I got this guy from across fills. How am I supposed to know? He died in 1683. Anyone wrote down ISAAC first?
52D: Zoom, for one: LENS
53D: Panama border?: BRIM. Panama hat. Can't fool me.
59D: Dismiss: AXE. Strange to see AX & AXE in one grid.
Answer grid.
C.C.
17A: Shady high roller's advantage: LOADED DICE
28A: Harbors ulterior motives: HAS AN AX TO GRIND
44A: Log holder: FIREPLACE GRATE
58A: Dojo blow: KARATE CHOP
Once again, I am not sure I got the theme right. I cook differently and hardly use our food processor or any other kitchen accessories. Peeler & knife are the only tools I use every day. I peel everything. And I use my knife to dice, slice, chop, mince etc. It's exotic for me to see others use grater for ginger.
I had fun fooling around with this very scrabbly puzzle (3 Z's, 2 X's, 1 J and several K's). Wrote down HAIR for 19A: "Manx cat's lack" (TAIL). What can I say? I am not a cat person and a hairless cat makes sense to me. Also, I wrote down SAID for 21A: "After all?" (LAST) immediately, thinking the sentence "After all is SAID and done". Theoretically I think I am right. If someone finishes last in the race, he is still part of all, not "After all", correct?
Having seen similar "Dictator's assistant' or "Dictation taker" for STENO before, the "Dictator's aid" clue yesterday gave me no trouble and I did not even bother to comment on. It's so fascinating for me to read your experience in yesterday's Comments section. Thanks for sharing.
Across:
1A: Betting setting: VEGAS. Rhyming clue. The first word that popped into my mind is CASINO.
6A: Oratory with lots of arm-waving: RANT. "Lots of arm-waving" RANT indeed. I used to like Kramer.
10A: Sloop pole: MAST. Perpendicular to the boom. Only learned a few weeks ago that sloop is a single-masted sailing boat.
14A: "Get __!": Relax: A GRIP
15A: Hamburg's river: ELBE. ELBE originates in Czech and flows northwest across German to the North Sea. Same pronunciation with Napoleon's ELBA.
16A: Award for a soap: EMMY. Oh well, I tried to find EMMY award logo, look at what Google gave to me.
22A: Garden hose feature: NOZZLE. Then later on HOSE as an answer to 55: Stockings. I don't know. I still don't like this dupe, even if they are within Rich Norris's 6-letter limit.
24A: Disney pooch: PLUTO. Great list of Disney dog names. GOOFY has 5 letter too.
26A: Islamabad's land: Abbr.: PAK. Just learned that Islamabad literally means "Abode of Islam". I suppose "bad" is a suffix for "abode"?
27A: Above, in odes: O'ER. Opposite 'neath.
32A: By surprise: ABACK. As in "Taken ABACK"
33A: "That is to say ....": I MEAN. I say this often, since I always have difficulty expressing myself. My oral English is very poor.
34A: Himalayan mystery: YETI. Exactly, it's a mystery. I like this better than "Mountain sighting" clue.
35A: Dark earth pigment: UMBER. Strange, it's rooted in umbra (shade/shadow), same as umbrella.
37A: Programming language with a coffee-cup logo: JAVA. It's still hot.
41A: Ho-hum state: ENNUI
43A: Ear-related: AURAL. Sometimes the answer is OTIC.
48A: It has a charge: ION. Yep, ION is charged particle.
49A: Space shuttle astronaut Jemison: MAE. Got the answer from down fills. Have difficulty remembering her name. Wikipedia says she was the first woman of African ancestry to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the space shuttle Endeavor on September 12, 1992. What does this sentence mean? I wonder if Spirit is awake at this moment when I am typing.
50A: Seller of TV time, e.g.: AD REP. Mine was AD MAN.
51A: Resealable bag brand: ZIPLOC. Can't live without ZIPLOC. Don't like Glad.
53A: Cheese with an edible rind: BRIE. The cheese is named after the French region Brie. The Dutch cheese Edam is also named after the Edam town in Holland. I love Etam bra/thong. Don't know what/whom the heck it's named for.
62A: Leave the premises: EXIT
63A: "__who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it": Santayana: THOSE. Oh, George Santayana originated this line. It's from his book "The Life of Reason". I did not know that. Sometimes life has no reasons. You just fall in love, blindly. Or as Pascal said: The heart has reasons that reason cannot know.
64A: Florida attraction: KEYS. Have never been to FL. Is Miami part of Florida KEYS?
65A: D.C. Party: DEMS. Holy hot wick! I always thought the abbreviation for the Democratic Party is D or DEM.
66A: Caravan stops: OASES. Singular is oasis. Stop and find yourself some wet dates, so sweet!
Down:
1D: Depression between hills: VALE. Oh well, so many choices: VALE, DALE, GLEN, DELL.
2D: Bigheads have big ones: EGOS
3D: Goes for, as straws? GRASPS AT. I like this clue.
5D: Explore caves: SPELUNK. We had SPELUNK & spelunker discussions on the blog last summer.
6D: Team that ended a "curse" in 2004: RED SOX. Remember Curt Schilling's bloody sock? The "curse" refers to the selling of Babe Ruth to the Yankees. The "Curse of the Bambino".
7D: Hit the ground: ALIT. "Hit" is past tense. I was trapped.
8D: Home of "The Office": NBC. Have never watched "The Office".
8D: Fake ID user, often: TEENAGER
10D: Capital of Lorraine: METZ. No idea. Quite close to Germany. No wonder it has a letter Z in the end.
11D: E-tail giant: AMAZON. Have never bought any baseball card from AMAZON.
12D: Beamed: SMILED. When Chinese take photos, we say "qie zi" (eggplant) rather than "cheese".
13D: "Breathing Lessons" Pulitzer winner Anne: TYLER. No idea. Oh, "Breathing Lessons" is a novel. I thought the book is about breathing and meditation. Her face looks familiar. I remember those bangs.
18D: Info to crunch: DATA
23D: Creole vegetable: OKRA. "Fighting OKRA" is a very strange mascot.
25D: More doilylike: LACIER. Are you OK with this clue?
26D: Apple of quince: POME. OK, here is the defintion of POME fruit from dictionary: a fleshy fruit, such as an apple, pear, or quince, having several seed chambers and an outer fleshy part largely derived from the hypanthium. Also called false fruit. Strange, they are real fruit to me. Pomme is French for apple. Pomme de terre is potato.
29D: Face on a fin: ABE. Might be a stumper for those solvers who are not familiar with the American slang five-dollar bill (fin). LAT puzzle appears in more than 700 daily and Sunday papers in the world, including Mexico, Bermuda, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Indian, Japan, Taiwan, etc.
30D: Fibula neighbor: TIBIA. Ouch! Looks painful.
31D: Hurt: INJURE
35D: Emptied one's bags: UNPACKED
36D: Stubborn critter: MULE. And APES (56D: Long-armed critters). Monkeys have long arms too. I think mine are also very long too.
38D: Wyoming tribe members: ARAPAHOS. No idea. But Cheyenne does not fit. What does ARAPAHOS mean in their own language?
39D: Winery container: VAT
42D: Pixar fish: NEMO. Love "Finding NEMO" (Pixar 2003 film).
43D: Go along with: AGREE TO
44D: Minor failing: FOIBLE
45D: Not out-of-bounds, as a ball: IN PLAY
46D: Gem weight units: CARATS. No wobbling between CARATS and KARATS this time.
48D: "The Compleat Angler" author Walton: IZAAK. Is the book very famous? I got this guy from across fills. How am I supposed to know? He died in 1683. Anyone wrote down ISAAC first?
52D: Zoom, for one: LENS
53D: Panama border?: BRIM. Panama hat. Can't fool me.
59D: Dismiss: AXE. Strange to see AX & AXE in one grid.
Answer grid.
C.C.
