Theme: Practice Makes Perfect
17A: Start of Joe Paterno quote: THE WILL
18A: Part 2 of quote: TO WIN IS
39A: Part 3 of quote: IMPORTANT
42A: Part 4 of quote: BUT
44A: Part 5 of quote: THE WILL TO
61A: Part 6 of quote: PREPARE
65A: End of quote: IS VITAL
What next? A Bobby Bowden quote? Has he said anything interesting that may catch Mr. Olschwang's attention?
Joe Paterno might be inspired by Paul "Bear" Bryant, who once said: "It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters".
I was surprised that HOPER (53D: One with aspiration) is a real word. I googled HOPER, then I was asked "Did you mean Hopper"?
Some of the clues are very annoying today. I don't believe they are Olschwang's originals:
27D: Tea brand: LIPTON: TEA is already the answer for 36A: Oolong, for one. "Unilever brand" might be too vague. If you can come up with a great clue for LIPTON without mentioning the word "tea", please post in the Comments section.
31D: Took seats: SAT. Unnecessary letter duplication. "Took a chair" would be just fine.
61D: Prefix's prefix: PRE. Just awful. So many creative ways to clue PRE. Lois would probably love "Vent opening?" clue (PREvent). I would go with "Season opener?". Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two weeks.
I don't understand the clue for STREETS (73A: D and C, in D.C.). Why?
Also, I would like someone to guest blog Barry Silk's Fairfax County Public Library crossword. If you are interested, please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com. I want it published here next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Across:
1A: Surveying instrument: ALIDADE. Unknown instrument to me. Looks like an antique item. Is it still in use today?
8A: Token amount: MODICUM. Also, IOTA (43A: Bit), NIBLET (34D: Canned corn morsel), and DRIB (35D: Small amount of liquid), which is a new word to me. I've only heard of driblet though.
16A: Ground hugging stems: STOLONS. Oh, so there is a special name for this part of the plant. Good to know. Same pronunciation as stolen. My strawberry STOLONS were stolen by squirrels last year.
22A: Scarcity: DEARTH. Took me a while to get this word as I had CLASS rather than A LIST for 5D: Social category.
33A: On the front burner: IN MIND
55A: Online newsgroup system: USENET. Got the answer, but I forgot what USENET really is. Wikipedia says it's a "precursor to the various web forums".
Down:
6D: Oracle site: DELPHI. The site for Temple of Apollo. Those are Doric columns. How is the Delphic Sibyl different from Pythia?
12D: Implied idea: CONNOTATION. Easy long word. Not like yesterday's SALMAGUNDI. Learned that the spicy Jamaica Solomon Grundy is a corrupted form of SALMAGUNDI. I guess both has pickled herrings.
20D: Reverse direction of an electric current: COMMUTATE. New word to me. Related to mutate, I suppose?
22D: Texas airport letters: DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth). What does X stand for in LAX?
24D: Mark above a vowel: ACUTE ACCENT. Like été.
50D: Day's end: SUNSET. Fishing? What a waste of the beautiful SUNSET.
64D: Writer LeShan: EDA. I wonder why her mom named her EDA instead of Ida, or Ada. Just to be different?
C.C.
17A: Start of Joe Paterno quote: THE WILL
18A: Part 2 of quote: TO WIN IS
39A: Part 3 of quote: IMPORTANT
42A: Part 4 of quote: BUT
44A: Part 5 of quote: THE WILL TO
61A: Part 6 of quote: PREPARE
65A: End of quote: IS VITAL
What next? A Bobby Bowden quote? Has he said anything interesting that may catch Mr. Olschwang's attention?
Joe Paterno might be inspired by Paul "Bear" Bryant, who once said: "It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters".
I was surprised that HOPER (53D: One with aspiration) is a real word. I googled HOPER, then I was asked "Did you mean Hopper"?
Some of the clues are very annoying today. I don't believe they are Olschwang's originals:
27D: Tea brand: LIPTON: TEA is already the answer for 36A: Oolong, for one. "Unilever brand" might be too vague. If you can come up with a great clue for LIPTON without mentioning the word "tea", please post in the Comments section.
31D: Took seats: SAT. Unnecessary letter duplication. "Took a chair" would be just fine.
61D: Prefix's prefix: PRE. Just awful. So many creative ways to clue PRE. Lois would probably love "Vent opening?" clue (PREvent). I would go with "Season opener?". Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two weeks.
I don't understand the clue for STREETS (73A: D and C, in D.C.). Why?
Also, I would like someone to guest blog Barry Silk's Fairfax County Public Library crossword. If you are interested, please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com. I want it published here next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Across:
1A: Surveying instrument: ALIDADE. Unknown instrument to me. Looks like an antique item. Is it still in use today?
8A: Token amount: MODICUM. Also, IOTA (43A: Bit), NIBLET (34D: Canned corn morsel), and DRIB (35D: Small amount of liquid), which is a new word to me. I've only heard of driblet though.
16A: Ground hugging stems: STOLONS. Oh, so there is a special name for this part of the plant. Good to know. Same pronunciation as stolen. My strawberry STOLONS were stolen by squirrels last year.
22A: Scarcity: DEARTH. Took me a while to get this word as I had CLASS rather than A LIST for 5D: Social category.
33A: On the front burner: IN MIND
55A: Online newsgroup system: USENET. Got the answer, but I forgot what USENET really is. Wikipedia says it's a "precursor to the various web forums".
Down:
6D: Oracle site: DELPHI. The site for Temple of Apollo. Those are Doric columns. How is the Delphic Sibyl different from Pythia?
12D: Implied idea: CONNOTATION. Easy long word. Not like yesterday's SALMAGUNDI. Learned that the spicy Jamaica Solomon Grundy is a corrupted form of SALMAGUNDI. I guess both has pickled herrings.
20D: Reverse direction of an electric current: COMMUTATE. New word to me. Related to mutate, I suppose?
22D: Texas airport letters: DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth). What does X stand for in LAX?
24D: Mark above a vowel: ACUTE ACCENT. Like été.
50D: Day's end: SUNSET. Fishing? What a waste of the beautiful SUNSET.
64D: Writer LeShan: EDA. I wonder why her mom named her EDA instead of Ida, or Ada. Just to be different?
C.C.
