Theme: "I celebrate myself, and sing myself..."
1A: "American Woman" band: GUESS WHO
24A: "Snow White" dwarf: HAPPY
27A: Minute fraction: SIXTIETH
41A: Info. needed by an astrologer: BIRTHDAY
43A: Great Gretzky: WAYNE
60A: "Moon River" singer: WILLIAMS
Happy Birthday, Mr. Editor! May you have many many more years of good HEALTH (42D: Fine fettle) and happiness!
For those who are new to this blog, our TMS crossword editor, Mr. Wayne R. William often HIDES ( Stashes away) behind this alias name Willy A. Wiseman (an anagram of "i.e. Wayne Williams"). He did bravely show his true identity once on the tough "Quad Cities" puzzle last month.
I wish GORE (1D: Piece with a horn) were clued as Al GORE related, it would pair nicely with ELECTION DAY (11D: November date). The clue for NORM (52D: Avg.) should not have been abbreviated. And the clue for ORS (8D: Surgery rms) is screaming for editing, how can you have "Rooms" in both the clue and answer? Very inapt. "Surgery ctrs" would just be fine.
ACROSS:
9A: Breakfast choice: OMELET. Perfectly cooked.
15A: Broadcasting: ON THE AIR. Not "ON AIR"? What's the difference between the two?
16A: Small traveling bag: VALISE
17A: Jagger's partner: RICHARDS (Keith). How he could climb over a coconut tree is beyond me.
18A: Puts up: ERECTS. I've never seen the noun form of ERECT clued in a puzzle, have you?
21A: Chirping insect: CRICKET. Wasn't Buddy Holly a CRICKET?
22A: Give guff to: SASS
32A: Sweet, thick liqueur: CRÈME. Here is some CRÈME brûlée for you, Mr. Williams.
34A: Eye defect: suff.: OPIA. Myopia for example.
35A: Conrad or Barbara: BAIN. Big stumper here. I know neither of them.
36A: More mature: RIPER. Very nice anchor for the puzzle!
40A: Two times CCLVII: DXIV. And 56D: Twenty percent of DXXX: CVI. Can you think of better clues for these 2 answers?
44A: Canine command: HEEL
45A: Validate: OKAY. I like how OKAY parallels with BAN (50A: Interdiction).
47A: Object of a computer instruction: OPERAND
54A: Spring back: RESILE. I've never used this verb before. I suppose that's how we get "Resilient".
55A: Meat choice: PORK CHOP
57A: Plant unions: GRAFTS. I was actually thinking of the workers' unions in those manufacturing plants.
58A: Soothing plant juice: ALOE VERA. The juice does not look soothing to me. So sticky.
DOWN:
2D: Les Etats- ___: UNIS
3D: Customary extras, briefly: ETCS
5D: St. Lawrence, e.g.: SEAWAY. New to me. I only knew St. Lawrence the river.
9D: Tax: OVEREXERT. I like how it intersects REST (23A: What's left).
10D: Poughkeepsie college: MARIST. New to me. I only know VASSAR, which is also based in Poughkeepsie.
12D: Guitar run: LICK. New term to me.
21D: Black Sea peninsula: CRIMEA
22D: Wastrel: SPENDTHRIFT
24D: Beloved in Arabic: HABIB. It's a mysterious word to me. I've never seen it before. Chinese characters for "beloved" are : 心爱的人.
25D: Chinese adders: ABACI. Headache, headache. I really struggled with ABACI in my elementary arithmetics studies.
26D: One who works at a trade: PLIER. I don't under this clue. What is "works at a trade"?
27D:Indian soldier: SEPOY. Another new word to me. Dictionary defines SEPOY as "an indigenous soldier serving in the army of a foreign conqueror, especially an Indian soldier serving under British command in India."
28D: Strong glue: EPOXY
29D: Advertising gimmick: TIE IN. I really like McDonald's Madame Alexander Happy Meal mini-dolls, so cute. Look at this set of "The Wizard of Oz". The "wicked witch of the west" was very hard to get.
30D: Make two: HALVE. I was thinking of "DOUBLE".
32D: Raw state: CRUDENESS
33D: Blue and funny: RIBALD
43D: Rotary engine name: WANKEL. No idea. It's named after Felix WANKEL, the German inventor.
45D: Ancient Greek coins: OBOLI. Or OBOLS. Dictionary says that OBOLUS (plural is also OBOLI) is "a modern Greek unit of weight equal to 0.1 gram". Does it mean that OBOLI can be ancient and modern in the same time? So confusing.
46D: Pope John Paul II's first name: KAROL (Józef Wojtyła). Another unknown. He was always Pope John Paul II to me. Pope Benedict's original name is Joseph Alois Ratzinger. He is such a brilliant writer.
47D: Bacchanal: ORGY. Just learned this morning that the original wild bacchanalia was attended only by women. The admission to the mysterious rites was extended to men only later on.
48D: Nevertheless, in Napoli: PERÒ. In Spanish, it's PERO. Italian and Spanish are so similar.
51D: Mother of Hera: RHEA
C.C.
1A: "American Woman" band: GUESS WHO
24A: "Snow White" dwarf: HAPPY
27A: Minute fraction: SIXTIETH
41A: Info. needed by an astrologer: BIRTHDAY
43A: Great Gretzky: WAYNE
60A: "Moon River" singer: WILLIAMS
Happy Birthday, Mr. Editor! May you have many many more years of good HEALTH (42D: Fine fettle) and happiness!
For those who are new to this blog, our TMS crossword editor, Mr. Wayne R. William often HIDES ( Stashes away) behind this alias name Willy A. Wiseman (an anagram of "i.e. Wayne Williams"). He did bravely show his true identity once on the tough "Quad Cities" puzzle last month.
I wish GORE (1D: Piece with a horn) were clued as Al GORE related, it would pair nicely with ELECTION DAY (11D: November date). The clue for NORM (52D: Avg.) should not have been abbreviated. And the clue for ORS (8D: Surgery rms) is screaming for editing, how can you have "Rooms" in both the clue and answer? Very inapt. "Surgery ctrs" would just be fine.
ACROSS:
9A: Breakfast choice: OMELET. Perfectly cooked.
15A: Broadcasting: ON THE AIR. Not "ON AIR"? What's the difference between the two?
16A: Small traveling bag: VALISE
17A: Jagger's partner: RICHARDS (Keith). How he could climb over a coconut tree is beyond me.
18A: Puts up: ERECTS. I've never seen the noun form of ERECT clued in a puzzle, have you?
21A: Chirping insect: CRICKET. Wasn't Buddy Holly a CRICKET?
22A: Give guff to: SASS
32A: Sweet, thick liqueur: CRÈME. Here is some CRÈME brûlée for you, Mr. Williams.
34A: Eye defect: suff.: OPIA. Myopia for example.
35A: Conrad or Barbara: BAIN. Big stumper here. I know neither of them.
36A: More mature: RIPER. Very nice anchor for the puzzle!
40A: Two times CCLVII: DXIV. And 56D: Twenty percent of DXXX: CVI. Can you think of better clues for these 2 answers?
44A: Canine command: HEEL
45A: Validate: OKAY. I like how OKAY parallels with BAN (50A: Interdiction).
47A: Object of a computer instruction: OPERAND
54A: Spring back: RESILE. I've never used this verb before. I suppose that's how we get "Resilient".
55A: Meat choice: PORK CHOP
57A: Plant unions: GRAFTS. I was actually thinking of the workers' unions in those manufacturing plants.
58A: Soothing plant juice: ALOE VERA. The juice does not look soothing to me. So sticky.
DOWN:
2D: Les Etats- ___: UNIS
3D: Customary extras, briefly: ETCS
5D: St. Lawrence, e.g.: SEAWAY. New to me. I only knew St. Lawrence the river.
9D: Tax: OVEREXERT. I like how it intersects REST (23A: What's left).
10D: Poughkeepsie college: MARIST. New to me. I only know VASSAR, which is also based in Poughkeepsie.
12D: Guitar run: LICK. New term to me.
21D: Black Sea peninsula: CRIMEA
22D: Wastrel: SPENDTHRIFT
24D: Beloved in Arabic: HABIB. It's a mysterious word to me. I've never seen it before. Chinese characters for "beloved" are : 心爱的人.
25D: Chinese adders: ABACI. Headache, headache. I really struggled with ABACI in my elementary arithmetics studies.
26D: One who works at a trade: PLIER. I don't under this clue. What is "works at a trade"?
27D:Indian soldier: SEPOY. Another new word to me. Dictionary defines SEPOY as "an indigenous soldier serving in the army of a foreign conqueror, especially an Indian soldier serving under British command in India."
28D: Strong glue: EPOXY
29D: Advertising gimmick: TIE IN. I really like McDonald's Madame Alexander Happy Meal mini-dolls, so cute. Look at this set of "The Wizard of Oz". The "wicked witch of the west" was very hard to get.
30D: Make two: HALVE. I was thinking of "DOUBLE".
32D: Raw state: CRUDENESS
33D: Blue and funny: RIBALD
43D: Rotary engine name: WANKEL. No idea. It's named after Felix WANKEL, the German inventor.
45D: Ancient Greek coins: OBOLI. Or OBOLS. Dictionary says that OBOLUS (plural is also OBOLI) is "a modern Greek unit of weight equal to 0.1 gram". Does it mean that OBOLI can be ancient and modern in the same time? So confusing.
46D: Pope John Paul II's first name: KAROL (Józef Wojtyła). Another unknown. He was always Pope John Paul II to me. Pope Benedict's original name is Joseph Alois Ratzinger. He is such a brilliant writer.
47D: Bacchanal: ORGY. Just learned this morning that the original wild bacchanalia was attended only by women. The admission to the mysterious rites was extended to men only later on.
48D: Nevertheless, in Napoli: PERÒ. In Spanish, it's PERO. Italian and Spanish are so similar.
51D: Mother of Hera: RHEA
C.C.
