Theme: Happy OWER
17A: Prenatal party: BABY SHOWER
60A: Big name on D-Day: EISENHOWER
10A: Chicago skyscraper: SEARS TOWER
30D: Alternate energy source: SOLAR POWER
Don't forget BOWER, COWER, FLOWER and GLOWER.
This is definitely a Norma Steinberg puzzle. With a couple of baseball references:
31A: ERA or RBI: STAT
1D: Ty of the Tigers: COBB. The "Georgia Peach". The first crop of HOFers.
I suspect that our editor tinkered with the lower right corner. I don't believe that Ms. Steinberg would have missed the opportunity to clue 55D: HOME (55D: Residence) & AWAY (56D: Not in residence) as baseball related. "White House abbr." would be a perfectly fine clue for PRES (58D: White House res.). What's the obsession with "Res*" clues this morning?
Lots of sports terms in today's grid:
25A: Improbably victories: UPSETS
33A: In direct confrontation: TOE-TO-TOE
43A: Plies a broom: SWEEP. The crossing of SWEEP, EAST (36D: Vane heading) and WITCH (44D: Coven member) reminded me of the "Wicked WITCH of the WEST" and her broom.
54A: Title holder: CHAMP
59A: Be windy: BLOW. "Totally botch"!
62A: Zero in Tennis: LOVE
2D: Track shape: OVAL
8D: Level: EVEN
27D: Olympics sled: LUGE. Since 1964.
38D: Ready for business: OPEN
All in all, a very easy but forgettable puzzle.
ACROSS:
5A: Fall flower: ASTER. Beautiful. ASTER comes from the Greek "astron", meaning "star".
10A: Pacifying offers: SOPS. Payoffs.
14A: Egg: OVUM. I dislike OVUM intersecting the Egg-shaped OVAL (2A: Track shape).
15A: What push comes to: SHOVE. Great clue. Idiom: "When push comes to shove".
20A: Sanctified: BLEST
23A: Grown elvers: EELS. Only learned this morning that "elver" is also called "glass eel", "so called because it is nearly transparent at an early stage". I want those two Unagi rolls in the middle.
27A: Unties: LOOSENS
32A: Maintain: UPHOLD
37A: Earth sci.: GEOL (Geology). The Geology term "CONNATE", clued as "Like fluids trapped in rocks", stumped me big on Sunday's puzzle.
40A: Augmented: ENHANCED
46A: Word to describe Snow White: FAIREST. Dislike its crossing with FINEST (46D: Best there is).
47A: One of the Magi.: CASPAR. Or Reagan's Secretary of Defense Weinberger.
52A: Scale drawing: PLAN And 12D: Factory: PLANT. I know they are of different roots, but they just look so uncomfortable with each other in one grid.
63A: French cup: TASSE. Annoying ASS intersection with 50D: Will Roger's prop: LASSO
66A: Didst slap: SMOTE. Good archaic clue.
DOWN:
3D: Service station job?: LUBE. Why question mark? No need for it here!
4D: Heckerling and Irving: AMYS. I was "Clueless" that Heckerling directed "Look Who's Talking".
6D: Shallow waters: SHOALS. Or Schools of fish.
7D: Hamlet's kin: TOWNS. Shouldn't the clue be "Hamlets' kin"?
18D: Pittsburgh product: STEEL. Have you READ (45D: Enjoy a novel) Danielle STEEL's Five Days in Paris?
26D: One way to stand: PAT. Stand PAT.
47D: Knitting stitch: CABLE. I know the pattern, I just had no idea that it's called CABLE-knitting. This reminds me of ARGYLE, the Scots style socks knitting pattern.
49D: Potbelly: STOVE
53D: Neeson of "Nell": LIAM. I've never seen "Nell", often clued as "Jodie Foster movie" by our editor. LIAM Neeson is so good as Oskar in "Schindler's List". I tend to confuse him with his co-star Ralph Fiennes, who played Amon Göth (the Nazi concentration camp commandant) in the movie. Fiennes is just brilliant in "The English Patient". But his wondering EYES (68A: Checks out) obviously soared miles too high.
C.C.
17A: Prenatal party: BABY SHOWER
60A: Big name on D-Day: EISENHOWER
10A: Chicago skyscraper: SEARS TOWER
30D: Alternate energy source: SOLAR POWER
Don't forget BOWER, COWER, FLOWER and GLOWER.
This is definitely a Norma Steinberg puzzle. With a couple of baseball references:
31A: ERA or RBI: STAT
1D: Ty of the Tigers: COBB. The "Georgia Peach". The first crop of HOFers.
I suspect that our editor tinkered with the lower right corner. I don't believe that Ms. Steinberg would have missed the opportunity to clue 55D: HOME (55D: Residence) & AWAY (56D: Not in residence) as baseball related. "White House abbr." would be a perfectly fine clue for PRES (58D: White House res.). What's the obsession with "Res*" clues this morning?
Lots of sports terms in today's grid:
25A: Improbably victories: UPSETS
33A: In direct confrontation: TOE-TO-TOE
43A: Plies a broom: SWEEP. The crossing of SWEEP, EAST (36D: Vane heading) and WITCH (44D: Coven member) reminded me of the "Wicked WITCH of the WEST" and her broom.
54A: Title holder: CHAMP
59A: Be windy: BLOW. "Totally botch"!
62A: Zero in Tennis: LOVE
2D: Track shape: OVAL
8D: Level: EVEN
27D: Olympics sled: LUGE. Since 1964.
38D: Ready for business: OPEN
All in all, a very easy but forgettable puzzle.
ACROSS:
5A: Fall flower: ASTER. Beautiful. ASTER comes from the Greek "astron", meaning "star".
10A: Pacifying offers: SOPS. Payoffs.
14A: Egg: OVUM. I dislike OVUM intersecting the Egg-shaped OVAL (2A: Track shape).
15A: What push comes to: SHOVE. Great clue. Idiom: "When push comes to shove".
20A: Sanctified: BLEST
23A: Grown elvers: EELS. Only learned this morning that "elver" is also called "glass eel", "so called because it is nearly transparent at an early stage". I want those two Unagi rolls in the middle.
27A: Unties: LOOSENS
32A: Maintain: UPHOLD
37A: Earth sci.: GEOL (Geology). The Geology term "CONNATE", clued as "Like fluids trapped in rocks", stumped me big on Sunday's puzzle.
40A: Augmented: ENHANCED
46A: Word to describe Snow White: FAIREST. Dislike its crossing with FINEST (46D: Best there is).
47A: One of the Magi.: CASPAR. Or Reagan's Secretary of Defense Weinberger.
52A: Scale drawing: PLAN And 12D: Factory: PLANT. I know they are of different roots, but they just look so uncomfortable with each other in one grid.
63A: French cup: TASSE. Annoying ASS intersection with 50D: Will Roger's prop: LASSO
66A: Didst slap: SMOTE. Good archaic clue.
DOWN:
3D: Service station job?: LUBE. Why question mark? No need for it here!
4D: Heckerling and Irving: AMYS. I was "Clueless" that Heckerling directed "Look Who's Talking".
6D: Shallow waters: SHOALS. Or Schools of fish.
7D: Hamlet's kin: TOWNS. Shouldn't the clue be "Hamlets' kin"?
18D: Pittsburgh product: STEEL. Have you READ (45D: Enjoy a novel) Danielle STEEL's Five Days in Paris?
26D: One way to stand: PAT. Stand PAT.
47D: Knitting stitch: CABLE. I know the pattern, I just had no idea that it's called CABLE-knitting. This reminds me of ARGYLE, the Scots style socks knitting pattern.
49D: Potbelly: STOVE
53D: Neeson of "Nell": LIAM. I've never seen "Nell", often clued as "Jodie Foster movie" by our editor. LIAM Neeson is so good as Oskar in "Schindler's List". I tend to confuse him with his co-star Ralph Fiennes, who played Amon Göth (the Nazi concentration camp commandant) in the movie. Fiennes is just brilliant in "The English Patient". But his wondering EYES (68A: Checks out) obviously soared miles too high.
C.C.
