Theme: "You People Are All Animals"
18A: WWII fleet admiral: BULL HALSEY
56A: One-time Crimson Tide chief: BEAR BRYANT
3D: Author of "How I Play Golf": TIGER WOODS
30D: "Peace Train" singer: CAT STEVENS
Vaguely heard of 30D, TIGER WOODS was gimme as I own the book. Not familiar with 18A & 56A.
Very fascinating puzzle, with a few obscure animal names though. I was just reading KITTY Kelley's "Jackie O" last night. Her name, plus TIGER Woods and CAT Stevens can be easily constructed into a "Feline'" themed puzzle. TIGER's full name is so theme answer friendly, with the WOODS, you know, add FORREST Gump, Lefty GROVE, you've got another solid "Tree" related puzzle. (Addendum: I was wrong on FORREST, wrong spelling, can you think of a real person whose name has "FOREST" in it?)
Many interesting names came to my mind earlier:
WOLF Blitzer: (CNN's "The Situation Room")
Dick WOLF ("Law & Order" producer)
Joe BUCK (Fox Sports)
Pearl S. BUCK ("The Good Earth" author)
BUCK O'Neil (the Great Negro League Baseball Player)
Matthew FOX ("Lost")
Michael J FOX ("Spin City")
Can you think of other similar names?
Across:
17A: Hindu music: RAGA. Literally "color' in Sanskrit language. Plus RAVI Shankar & SITAR, that's all you need to know about Indian music/musician/musical instrument.
20A: Whitecaps: CRESTS. Had big trouble here. I did not know the meaning of "Whitecaps" and could not figure out TORC (1D) either.
22A: Croquet sticks: MALLETS. New to me. I had no idea that the stick is called MALLET. Is it a special term for croquet only?
24A: Retro VW: BEETLE
26A: ___ Decimal System: DEWEY. This DEWEY stumped me big time in an early Feb puzzle, the one with the tough SERAC (Crevasse pinnacle) and the THAR (Whale's location) fills. I still don't understand "THAR she blows". Where does this phrase come? What's the exact meaning of THAR? Why "she blows" rather than "he blows"?
29A: British racecourse: ASCOT. Long history (since 1711).
34A: Fierce mythical bird: ROC. ROC in "Sinbad the Sailor" . It eats elephant. Must have gigantic eggs.
35A: Admission conduit: INTAKE. Pure guess. I've never heard of INTAKE valve before.
36A: Bill's partner?: COO
37A: Satisfying returns: REWARDS. Interesting crossing with BLOW (24D: Hard punch).
47A: Spiny-finned fishes: GOBIES. Foreign to me. He looks very ADDLED (50A: Confused). Wikipedia says most of GOBIES are less than 4-inch long, but some exceptionally large ones can reach over 1 foot in length.
49A: Shoshone: UTE. I always confuse "Shoshone" with "Gumshoe", which is often the clue for TEC. What does "Shoshone" mean exactly?
61A: Large auk: MURRE. Not familiar with "Auk" the bird, somehow Ayveq's large oosik slided right into my unconsious mind. Wikepedia says it's of genus URIA. Hmm, that's one curious observer.
DOWN:
1D: Celtic neck-ring: TORC. Stranger to me. Dictionary defines TORC as "a collar, necklace, or similar ornament consisting of a twisted narrow band, usually of precious metal, worn esp. by the ancient Gauls and Britons." He is wearing a golden TORC. That's a rather dreamy & unfocused look.
7D: Hooter: OWL. Here is Picasso's OWL. So simple!
9D: Enlightened Buddhist: ARHAT. No idea. I only know it's called Luo han (羅漢) in Chinese. It refers to "a Buddhist who has attained Nirvana through rigorous discipline and ascetic practice. ARHAT is Sanskrit for "He deserves" (Present participle of arhati). "Zen enlighttnment" is SATORI.
19D: Ramsay and Pinkerton: ALLANS. Knew Pinkerton, not Ramsay. Worked for Pinkerton China for a few years.
21D: Cracker Jack bonus: TOY. Look at this amazing 1915 Cracker Jack Honus Wagner card. I have a reprint.
25D: Coop flier: ESCAPEE. So many slangs for prison.
31D: Giraffe cousin: OKAPI. Completely unknown to me. Her neck is rather short. Wikipedia says OKAPI has very long blue tongue (about a foot long), which enable it to "wash its eyelids and clean its ears: it is one of the few mammals that can lick its own ears".
37D: Take up again: RESORB. I wanted RESUME. I had never heard of "RESORB" before.
34D: Cabernet, e.g. RED. And REDS (38D: 1990 W.S. champions). Cincinnati Reds. I dislike RED & REDS appear in the same grid. MARGE Schott, the extremely eccentric owner for the Reds, is a good candidate for "Simpson" themed puzzle too.
41D: Shackle: LEG IRON
43D: Coin-op eatery: AUTOMAT. No, nope, no idea.
48D: Road shoulders: BERMS
52D: Horse do: MANE. Boy, this was a very tricky clue for me. I spent a few minutes musing what the horse wanted to do.
C.C.
18A: WWII fleet admiral: BULL HALSEY
56A: One-time Crimson Tide chief: BEAR BRYANT
3D: Author of "How I Play Golf": TIGER WOODS
30D: "Peace Train" singer: CAT STEVENS
Vaguely heard of 30D, TIGER WOODS was gimme as I own the book. Not familiar with 18A & 56A.
Very fascinating puzzle, with a few obscure animal names though. I was just reading KITTY Kelley's "Jackie O" last night. Her name, plus TIGER Woods and CAT Stevens can be easily constructed into a "Feline'" themed puzzle. TIGER's full name is so theme answer friendly, with the WOODS, you know, add FORREST Gump, Lefty GROVE, you've got another solid "Tree" related puzzle. (Addendum: I was wrong on FORREST, wrong spelling, can you think of a real person whose name has "FOREST" in it?)
Many interesting names came to my mind earlier:
WOLF Blitzer: (CNN's "The Situation Room")
Dick WOLF ("Law & Order" producer)
Joe BUCK (Fox Sports)
Pearl S. BUCK ("The Good Earth" author)
BUCK O'Neil (the Great Negro League Baseball Player)
Matthew FOX ("Lost")
Michael J FOX ("Spin City")
Can you think of other similar names?
Across:
17A: Hindu music: RAGA. Literally "color' in Sanskrit language. Plus RAVI Shankar & SITAR, that's all you need to know about Indian music/musician/musical instrument.
20A: Whitecaps: CRESTS. Had big trouble here. I did not know the meaning of "Whitecaps" and could not figure out TORC (1D) either.
22A: Croquet sticks: MALLETS. New to me. I had no idea that the stick is called MALLET. Is it a special term for croquet only?
24A: Retro VW: BEETLE
26A: ___ Decimal System: DEWEY. This DEWEY stumped me big time in an early Feb puzzle, the one with the tough SERAC (Crevasse pinnacle) and the THAR (Whale's location) fills. I still don't understand "THAR she blows". Where does this phrase come? What's the exact meaning of THAR? Why "she blows" rather than "he blows"?
29A: British racecourse: ASCOT. Long history (since 1711).
34A: Fierce mythical bird: ROC. ROC in "Sinbad the Sailor" . It eats elephant. Must have gigantic eggs.
35A: Admission conduit: INTAKE. Pure guess. I've never heard of INTAKE valve before.
36A: Bill's partner?: COO
37A: Satisfying returns: REWARDS. Interesting crossing with BLOW (24D: Hard punch).
47A: Spiny-finned fishes: GOBIES. Foreign to me. He looks very ADDLED (50A: Confused). Wikipedia says most of GOBIES are less than 4-inch long, but some exceptionally large ones can reach over 1 foot in length.
49A: Shoshone: UTE. I always confuse "Shoshone" with "Gumshoe", which is often the clue for TEC. What does "Shoshone" mean exactly?
61A: Large auk: MURRE. Not familiar with "Auk" the bird, somehow Ayveq's large oosik slided right into my unconsious mind. Wikepedia says it's of genus URIA. Hmm, that's one curious observer.
DOWN:
1D: Celtic neck-ring: TORC. Stranger to me. Dictionary defines TORC as "a collar, necklace, or similar ornament consisting of a twisted narrow band, usually of precious metal, worn esp. by the ancient Gauls and Britons." He is wearing a golden TORC. That's a rather dreamy & unfocused look.
7D: Hooter: OWL. Here is Picasso's OWL. So simple!
9D: Enlightened Buddhist: ARHAT. No idea. I only know it's called Luo han (羅漢) in Chinese. It refers to "a Buddhist who has attained Nirvana through rigorous discipline and ascetic practice. ARHAT is Sanskrit for "He deserves" (Present participle of arhati). "Zen enlighttnment" is SATORI.
19D: Ramsay and Pinkerton: ALLANS. Knew Pinkerton, not Ramsay. Worked for Pinkerton China for a few years.
21D: Cracker Jack bonus: TOY. Look at this amazing 1915 Cracker Jack Honus Wagner card. I have a reprint.
25D: Coop flier: ESCAPEE. So many slangs for prison.
31D: Giraffe cousin: OKAPI. Completely unknown to me. Her neck is rather short. Wikipedia says OKAPI has very long blue tongue (about a foot long), which enable it to "wash its eyelids and clean its ears: it is one of the few mammals that can lick its own ears".
37D: Take up again: RESORB. I wanted RESUME. I had never heard of "RESORB" before.
34D: Cabernet, e.g. RED. And REDS (38D: 1990 W.S. champions). Cincinnati Reds. I dislike RED & REDS appear in the same grid. MARGE Schott, the extremely eccentric owner for the Reds, is a good candidate for "Simpson" themed puzzle too.
41D: Shackle: LEG IRON
43D: Coin-op eatery: AUTOMAT. No, nope, no idea.
48D: Road shoulders: BERMS
52D: Horse do: MANE. Boy, this was a very tricky clue for me. I spent a few minutes musing what the horse wanted to do.
C.C.
