Theme: Icky Stuff
23A: Of ill health: SICKLINESS
25A: Knockout drink: MICKEY FINN
39A: Quick as a wink: LICKETY-SPLIT
100A: Treat: PICK UP THE TAB
115A: Superlatively dilapidated: RICKETIEST
120A: Assigning monikers: NICKNAMING
36D: Running smoothly: TICKING OVER
45D: Doors in doors: WICKET GATES
48D: Whistle stop: HICK TOWN
51D: Battled for bargains: DICKERED
I hope you liked this puzzle. I did not. Too "Icky" for me. The overuse of suffixes like NESS, ED, EST, ING in the theme answers struck me as unimaginative and uncreative. The whole puzzle conjured up an image of the "WICKED Witch of the West" frantically swinging her BROOMSTICK, trying to get the magical "Icky" slippers.
I would not mind if sweet "Icky Stuff" like CINNAMON STICK, and POPSICKLE are constructed into the puzzle, or exciting words like HOCKEY STICK, GIMMICKY, MAVERICK, LIMERICK, SCHTICK, or other whole BAGS OF TRICKS.
CHERRY PICKING sounds good too. What do you think of FLOWER PICKER?
Two counts of major felonies:
22A: Stout's stout sleuth: NERO
127A: Duchin or Nero: PETER
52D: Peter of "My Favorite Year": O'TOOL
I remember Stan Newman of Newsday mentioned that on average crossword editors make about 4 such mistakes in a year. Our editor has been committing this sin on a daily basis. Unbelievable!
Across:
1A: Limelight hog: HAM. I like this clue. "Stage hog" would be great too.
15A: Middle of Roman months: IDES. Or "Fateful day for Caesar".
19A: Altar constellation: ARA. It's always ARA when the clue is asking for a 3-letter constellation.
21A: Violinist's move: UP-BOW. New term to me. It's "an upward stroke from the tip to the heel of the bow".
28A: Swan genus: OLOR. New to me also. I don't think this is an accurate clue though. The complete name is Cygnus OLOR.
31A: "___ and Louise": THELMA. Good movie, very nice "You Needed Me". I've been constantly impressed by the creativity shown in some of the YouTube clips.
42A: Controlled entrance: STILE. Like this one?
43A: Coolidge's VP: DAWES (Charles). Not familiar with this name. He won Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his work on DAWES Plan - "a program to enable Germany to restore and stabilize its economy."
47A: Psalm ending: SELAH
51A: Polyester fabric: DACRON. No idea. It's wrinkle-resistant. These sails are made of DACRON.
54A: Anchor position: ATRIP
56A: Frontier scout Carson: KIT. Have never heard of him before. Lois probably wants KIT to be clued as “Santa Baby” singer.
61A: Musical sweet potato: OCARINA. New wood instrument to me. It does look like sweet potato.
66A: Old Scottish dagger: SKEAN
67A: African antelope: RHEBOK. New to me also. See this picture. Wikipedia says the Afrikaans/Dutch spelling is Reebok. That's how Reebok sportwear got its name.
69A: Of pants: TROUSER. Wow, I had no idea that TROUSER can be an adjective.
81A: Italian gentleman: SIGNORE
87A: Pagliacci's beloved: NEDDA. I can never remember her name.
97A: Distresses: HURTS. They are not really synonymous, are they? HURTS bring "Distresses".
106A: Barnum's first name: PHINEAS. Sigh... no, how could I know? Wikipedia says he never said "There is a sucker born every minute".
107A: Attack of painful spasms: ANGINA. Completely unknown to me. Dictionary says ANGINA is "a condition, such as severe sore throat, in which spasmodic attacks of suffocating pain occur." ANGINA looks very DF to me.
114A: Sharp-cornered: ANGULAR. Katharine Hepburn has the classic ANGULAR face.
122A: Big name in sound system: BOSE. No idea. I've never paid attention to the names of those car audio manufacturers.
126A: Munich's river: ISAR
Down:
1D: Attacks: HAS AT
3D: Twinned crystal: MACLE. See this picture. It appeared in our puzzle before. I still don't understand why it's called "Twinned crystal".
5D: Egg receptacle: OVISAC. I like the makeup of this word, OVI & SAC, easy to remember.
9D: Ballerina Collier: LESLEY. Pure guess. I don't think her name is recognized by many, if any. "60 Minutes" LESLEY Stahl would be a very reasonable clue.
10D: False accusations: BUM RAPS. New idiom to me.
15D: Congregates too much: INFESTS. I don't like the clue. I don't think they are of the same meaning.
18D: Word in sequels: SON. What "sequels"?
29D: Goddess of harvest: OPS. She is the wife of Saturn.
32D: Mariner's jacket: PEA COAT
37D: French actor Delon: ALAIN. I just discovered this morning that his first major role was Tom Ripley in "Plein Soleil", the French version of "The Talented Mr. Ripley".
38D: "The Flying Dutchman" girl: SENTA. I forgot. I always associated "The Flying Dutchman" with T206 Honus Wagner.
40D: S.S. Kresge's discount chain: KMART. Another guess. I was not aware of KMART's origin.
60D: Mignonette: RESEDA. I've never heard of RESEDA before. Had no idea that "Mignonette" was a plant of the genus RESEDA. Very quiet-looking flowers. Wikipedia says it's extremely fragrant.
71D: Indonesia currency: RUPIAHS. Foreign to me. Here are some Indonesia banknotes. The exchange rate is about 9,428 RUPIAHS = 1 US $.
79D: Bay on the English Channel: POOLE. I got it from the across fills.
81D: Newsman Frank: SESNO. He appears on Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room" often.
82D: Bulge at the back of the head: INION. Strung this word together from the across clues.
90D: Revolt against conventions: TITANISM. New to me also. Only faintly aware of the Titans in Greek mythology.
91D: Chinese dish: SUBGUM. Weird Cantonese spelling. It's Shijin in Mandarin Chinese.
93D: Goldbrick: SLACKER. I did not know the meaning of "Goldbrick". I was picturing gold ingots.
101D: Nice one?: UNE. And Spanish UNO (125A: One to Juan).
102D: Bird feathers: PENNAE. Nope, nope. Did not know that there is a special name for "Bird feathers".
105D: Legally bar: ESTOP
108D: Pelvic bone: ILIUM. Also the Latin name for the ancient Troy.
110D: Rival of Sparta and Athens: ARGOS. Wikipedia also shows that ARGOS was also the name of "Odysseus' faithful dog", who waited over 20 years for Odyssues to return to Ithaca.
116D: Greek island: IOS. Homer is buried here.
121D: Cohort of Fidel: CHE (Guevara). He was a highly romanticized character in my childhood textbooks. Oh, by the way, the symbol HAMMER AND SICKLE would be a great theme answer too.
C.C.
23A: Of ill health: SICKLINESS
25A: Knockout drink: MICKEY FINN
39A: Quick as a wink: LICKETY-SPLIT
100A: Treat: PICK UP THE TAB
115A: Superlatively dilapidated: RICKETIEST
120A: Assigning monikers: NICKNAMING
36D: Running smoothly: TICKING OVER
45D: Doors in doors: WICKET GATES
48D: Whistle stop: HICK TOWN
51D: Battled for bargains: DICKERED
I hope you liked this puzzle. I did not. Too "Icky" for me. The overuse of suffixes like NESS, ED, EST, ING in the theme answers struck me as unimaginative and uncreative. The whole puzzle conjured up an image of the "WICKED Witch of the West" frantically swinging her BROOMSTICK, trying to get the magical "Icky" slippers.
I would not mind if sweet "Icky Stuff" like CINNAMON STICK, and POPSICKLE are constructed into the puzzle, or exciting words like HOCKEY STICK, GIMMICKY, MAVERICK, LIMERICK, SCHTICK, or other whole BAGS OF TRICKS.
CHERRY PICKING sounds good too. What do you think of FLOWER PICKER?
Two counts of major felonies:
22A: Stout's stout sleuth: NERO
127A: Duchin or Nero: PETER
52D: Peter of "My Favorite Year": O'TOOL
I remember Stan Newman of Newsday mentioned that on average crossword editors make about 4 such mistakes in a year. Our editor has been committing this sin on a daily basis. Unbelievable!
Across:
1A: Limelight hog: HAM. I like this clue. "Stage hog" would be great too.
15A: Middle of Roman months: IDES. Or "Fateful day for Caesar".
19A: Altar constellation: ARA. It's always ARA when the clue is asking for a 3-letter constellation.
21A: Violinist's move: UP-BOW. New term to me. It's "an upward stroke from the tip to the heel of the bow".
28A: Swan genus: OLOR. New to me also. I don't think this is an accurate clue though. The complete name is Cygnus OLOR.
31A: "___ and Louise": THELMA. Good movie, very nice "You Needed Me". I've been constantly impressed by the creativity shown in some of the YouTube clips.
42A: Controlled entrance: STILE. Like this one?
43A: Coolidge's VP: DAWES (Charles). Not familiar with this name. He won Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his work on DAWES Plan - "a program to enable Germany to restore and stabilize its economy."
47A: Psalm ending: SELAH
51A: Polyester fabric: DACRON. No idea. It's wrinkle-resistant. These sails are made of DACRON.
54A: Anchor position: ATRIP
56A: Frontier scout Carson: KIT. Have never heard of him before. Lois probably wants KIT to be clued as “Santa Baby” singer.
61A: Musical sweet potato: OCARINA. New wood instrument to me. It does look like sweet potato.
66A: Old Scottish dagger: SKEAN
67A: African antelope: RHEBOK. New to me also. See this picture. Wikipedia says the Afrikaans/Dutch spelling is Reebok. That's how Reebok sportwear got its name.
69A: Of pants: TROUSER. Wow, I had no idea that TROUSER can be an adjective.
81A: Italian gentleman: SIGNORE
87A: Pagliacci's beloved: NEDDA. I can never remember her name.
97A: Distresses: HURTS. They are not really synonymous, are they? HURTS bring "Distresses".
106A: Barnum's first name: PHINEAS. Sigh... no, how could I know? Wikipedia says he never said "There is a sucker born every minute".
107A: Attack of painful spasms: ANGINA. Completely unknown to me. Dictionary says ANGINA is "a condition, such as severe sore throat, in which spasmodic attacks of suffocating pain occur." ANGINA looks very DF to me.
114A: Sharp-cornered: ANGULAR. Katharine Hepburn has the classic ANGULAR face.
122A: Big name in sound system: BOSE. No idea. I've never paid attention to the names of those car audio manufacturers.
126A: Munich's river: ISAR
Down:
1D: Attacks: HAS AT
3D: Twinned crystal: MACLE. See this picture. It appeared in our puzzle before. I still don't understand why it's called "Twinned crystal".
5D: Egg receptacle: OVISAC. I like the makeup of this word, OVI & SAC, easy to remember.
9D: Ballerina Collier: LESLEY. Pure guess. I don't think her name is recognized by many, if any. "60 Minutes" LESLEY Stahl would be a very reasonable clue.
10D: False accusations: BUM RAPS. New idiom to me.
15D: Congregates too much: INFESTS. I don't like the clue. I don't think they are of the same meaning.
18D: Word in sequels: SON. What "sequels"?
29D: Goddess of harvest: OPS. She is the wife of Saturn.
32D: Mariner's jacket: PEA COAT
37D: French actor Delon: ALAIN. I just discovered this morning that his first major role was Tom Ripley in "Plein Soleil", the French version of "The Talented Mr. Ripley".
38D: "The Flying Dutchman" girl: SENTA. I forgot. I always associated "The Flying Dutchman" with T206 Honus Wagner.
40D: S.S. Kresge's discount chain: KMART. Another guess. I was not aware of KMART's origin.
60D: Mignonette: RESEDA. I've never heard of RESEDA before. Had no idea that "Mignonette" was a plant of the genus RESEDA. Very quiet-looking flowers. Wikipedia says it's extremely fragrant.
71D: Indonesia currency: RUPIAHS. Foreign to me. Here are some Indonesia banknotes. The exchange rate is about 9,428 RUPIAHS = 1 US $.
79D: Bay on the English Channel: POOLE. I got it from the across fills.
81D: Newsman Frank: SESNO. He appears on Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room" often.
82D: Bulge at the back of the head: INION. Strung this word together from the across clues.
90D: Revolt against conventions: TITANISM. New to me also. Only faintly aware of the Titans in Greek mythology.
91D: Chinese dish: SUBGUM. Weird Cantonese spelling. It's Shijin in Mandarin Chinese.
93D: Goldbrick: SLACKER. I did not know the meaning of "Goldbrick". I was picturing gold ingots.
101D: Nice one?: UNE. And Spanish UNO (125A: One to Juan).
102D: Bird feathers: PENNAE. Nope, nope. Did not know that there is a special name for "Bird feathers".
105D: Legally bar: ESTOP
108D: Pelvic bone: ILIUM. Also the Latin name for the ancient Troy.
110D: Rival of Sparta and Athens: ARGOS. Wikipedia also shows that ARGOS was also the name of "Odysseus' faithful dog", who waited over 20 years for Odyssues to return to Ithaca.
116D: Greek island: IOS. Homer is buried here.
121D: Cohort of Fidel: CHE (Guevara). He was a highly romanticized character in my childhood textbooks. Oh, by the way, the symbol HAMMER AND SICKLE would be a great theme answer too.
C.C.
