Theme: Happy Anniversary!
29A: Apt 60th anniversary destination: DIAMOND HEAD
36A: Apt 3rd anniversary gift: LEATHER BELT
54A: Apt 12th anniversary gift: SILK STOCKINGS
72A: Apt 20th anniversary film (with "The"): CHINA SYNDROME
89A: Apt 35th anniversary destination: CORAL GABLES
94A: Apt 11th anniversary gift: STEEL GUITAR
3D: Apt 15th anniversary gift: CRYSTAL BALL
14D: Apt 5th anniversary gift: WOOD CARVING
62D: Apt 10th anniversary film: TIN PAN ALLEY
64D: Apt 55th anniversary destination: EMERALD ISLE
"Girl with a PEARL Earring" would be a perfect run-through 21-letter answer for a possible "Apt 30th anniversary film". "PEARL Harbor" is great too.
Such an ambitious theme, and so nicely executed. Some of "?" clues are quite good:
8D: Early morning riser?: SUN
29D: Semi-colon?: DOT
4D: Tempest's milieu?: TEA POT
28D: Get some air?: INHALE. I don't think "?" is needed here.
112A: Pierre's noodle: TETE. The "?" is needed here.
The clue for GABBLED (48A: Chattered) should be reworded because we have CHAT (56D: Make small talk) as an answer. The same with the IOWA clue (11D: Heart of the Corn Belt). I would like to see the constructor connects "Field of Dreams" with IOWA. So many nice lines from the movie:
"If you build it, he will come."
"Is this heaven?" "It's IOWA."
"Go the distance."
Did you notice letters E, S, T at the bottom row? Very often we have D, E, R & S. Stan Newman, the crossword editor for Newsday, name this high-occurency consonant quartet as REDS.
Across:
5A: Tends to a furnace: DAMPS. New definition to me. I've never tended our furnace.
14A: Coach who won three Super Bowls: WALSH (Bill). All with San Francisco 49ers. Which coach has the most Super Bowl wins in NFL?
20A: Yale of Yale: ELIHU. Harvard is named after John Harvard. Cornell founder is Ezra Cornell.
27A: Motivator: INSPIRER. Okey-dokey, if you say so.
32A: Awaiting: IN FOR
44A: Grain bristle: ARISTA. Latin for "beard of grain". I forgot again. AWN is clued as "Arista" last time.
46A: French wine city: RHONE
52A: "The Terrible" tsar: IVAN IV. I struggled with IV.
57A: Spanish island: ISLA. Have you been to Ibiza? Everything sounds so wild there.
58A: Brief investigation: LOOK- SEE
60A: Cheech's partner: CHONG (Tommy). "Dave is not here", so funny.
63A: French Open winner of 1989: CHANG (Michael). He was very popular in Asia in 1990s.
71A: Hebrew harvest festival: OMER. It was clued as "Hebrew harvest month" in our last puzzle.
75A: Downcast: DROOPY. He is DROOPY.
78A: Very short jackets: BOLEROS. All fur BOLEROS. BOLERO is also a slow Spanish dance, though Ravel's "BOLERO" gets unbearably sexier and quicker as the tension builds up.
80A: "Semper Fidelis" composer: SOUSA. That's an odd picture. I like this clip, very touching!
83A: Indiana pros: PACERS
98A:Gregor Mendel's field: GENETICS. Mendel is called the father of GENETICS. I did not know this.
104A: New Zealand Polynesian: MAORI. And their bird MOA (104D: Extinct bird).
106A: Tiny bit of time: abbr.: MSEC (Millisecond). I was thinking of nanosecond.
108A: Folk singer Burl: IVES. Here is his "Lavender Blue".
Down:
1D: South American monkey: TITI. I forgot. Here is the picture again.
5D: Backside: DERRIERE
6D: African lily: ALOE. I did not know that ALOE belongs to the lily family.
7D: Botanical bisectors: MIDRIBS. The central vein of the leaf.
13D: Phantom: EIDOLON. Rooted in "idol", which is further derived from Greek "Eidos", meaning "form". New to me also.
15D: Asian nursemaids: AMAHS. They are more often called AYAHS in India and AMAS in mainland China (before 1949).
33D: Meshy: NETLIKE. This answer looks more like a clue.
36D: Travels on foot: LEGS IT. I thought of "Hoof it".
41D: Black cuckoos: ANIS. This ANI is indeed totally black.
42D: O. T. book: LEV (Leviticus). I suppose that's the book defines "kosher" since it "contains laws relating to the priests and Levites and to the forms of Jewish ceremonial observance."
45D: __ en scene: MISE. No idea. I obtained the answer from across clues.
52D: Holy pictures: var. IKONS
58D: Wallace's 1968 running mate: LEMAY (Curtis). I googled his name.
65D: DNA code: GENOME. Gene + (chromos)ome. New to me also.
74D: Private sector assns.: NGOS (Non-Governmental Organizations. Yet another unknown.
76D: Mil. honor: DSC. It's an Army decoration, to be exact.
78D: __ Paese cheese: BEL. I've never had this cheese before.
81D: Acclaim: PLAUDIT
82D: Take over for: RELIEVE. Tampa Bay's reliever Grant Balfour used to be with the Twins. Time for Matt Garza to shine tonight.
84D: Ships' loads: CARGOES
90D: Image file format: BITMAP. No idea. I am technologically challenged.
95D: Barreled along: TORE. New meaning of "Barrel" to me.
97D: Transit-loss allowance: TRET. I never know what TRET and TARE mean exactly.
100D: Luck of the Irish: CESS. I forgot. See "Bad CESS" origin.
101D: Glaswegian: SCOT. I cannot recall any famous SCOT who is from Glasgow. Quite a few from Edinburgh, Sean Connery & Robert Louis Stevenson for example.
C.C.
29A: Apt 60th anniversary destination: DIAMOND HEAD
36A: Apt 3rd anniversary gift: LEATHER BELT
54A: Apt 12th anniversary gift: SILK STOCKINGS
72A: Apt 20th anniversary film (with "The"): CHINA SYNDROME
89A: Apt 35th anniversary destination: CORAL GABLES
94A: Apt 11th anniversary gift: STEEL GUITAR
3D: Apt 15th anniversary gift: CRYSTAL BALL
14D: Apt 5th anniversary gift: WOOD CARVING
62D: Apt 10th anniversary film: TIN PAN ALLEY
64D: Apt 55th anniversary destination: EMERALD ISLE
"Girl with a PEARL Earring" would be a perfect run-through 21-letter answer for a possible "Apt 30th anniversary film". "PEARL Harbor" is great too.
Such an ambitious theme, and so nicely executed. Some of "?" clues are quite good:
8D: Early morning riser?: SUN
29D: Semi-colon?: DOT
4D: Tempest's milieu?: TEA POT
28D: Get some air?: INHALE. I don't think "?" is needed here.
112A: Pierre's noodle: TETE. The "?" is needed here.
The clue for GABBLED (48A: Chattered) should be reworded because we have CHAT (56D: Make small talk) as an answer. The same with the IOWA clue (11D: Heart of the Corn Belt). I would like to see the constructor connects "Field of Dreams" with IOWA. So many nice lines from the movie:
"If you build it, he will come."
"Is this heaven?" "It's IOWA."
"Go the distance."
Did you notice letters E, S, T at the bottom row? Very often we have D, E, R & S. Stan Newman, the crossword editor for Newsday, name this high-occurency consonant quartet as REDS.
Across:
5A: Tends to a furnace: DAMPS. New definition to me. I've never tended our furnace.
14A: Coach who won three Super Bowls: WALSH (Bill). All with San Francisco 49ers. Which coach has the most Super Bowl wins in NFL?
20A: Yale of Yale: ELIHU. Harvard is named after John Harvard. Cornell founder is Ezra Cornell.
27A: Motivator: INSPIRER. Okey-dokey, if you say so.
32A: Awaiting: IN FOR
44A: Grain bristle: ARISTA. Latin for "beard of grain". I forgot again. AWN is clued as "Arista" last time.
46A: French wine city: RHONE
52A: "The Terrible" tsar: IVAN IV. I struggled with IV.
57A: Spanish island: ISLA. Have you been to Ibiza? Everything sounds so wild there.
58A: Brief investigation: LOOK- SEE
60A: Cheech's partner: CHONG (Tommy). "Dave is not here", so funny.
63A: French Open winner of 1989: CHANG (Michael). He was very popular in Asia in 1990s.
71A: Hebrew harvest festival: OMER. It was clued as "Hebrew harvest month" in our last puzzle.
75A: Downcast: DROOPY. He is DROOPY.
78A: Very short jackets: BOLEROS. All fur BOLEROS. BOLERO is also a slow Spanish dance, though Ravel's "BOLERO" gets unbearably sexier and quicker as the tension builds up.
80A: "Semper Fidelis" composer: SOUSA. That's an odd picture. I like this clip, very touching!
83A: Indiana pros: PACERS
98A:Gregor Mendel's field: GENETICS. Mendel is called the father of GENETICS. I did not know this.
104A: New Zealand Polynesian: MAORI. And their bird MOA (104D: Extinct bird).
106A: Tiny bit of time: abbr.: MSEC (Millisecond). I was thinking of nanosecond.
108A: Folk singer Burl: IVES. Here is his "Lavender Blue".
Down:
1D: South American monkey: TITI. I forgot. Here is the picture again.
5D: Backside: DERRIERE
6D: African lily: ALOE. I did not know that ALOE belongs to the lily family.
7D: Botanical bisectors: MIDRIBS. The central vein of the leaf.
13D: Phantom: EIDOLON. Rooted in "idol", which is further derived from Greek "Eidos", meaning "form". New to me also.
15D: Asian nursemaids: AMAHS. They are more often called AYAHS in India and AMAS in mainland China (before 1949).
33D: Meshy: NETLIKE. This answer looks more like a clue.
36D: Travels on foot: LEGS IT. I thought of "Hoof it".
41D: Black cuckoos: ANIS. This ANI is indeed totally black.
42D: O. T. book: LEV (Leviticus). I suppose that's the book defines "kosher" since it "contains laws relating to the priests and Levites and to the forms of Jewish ceremonial observance."
45D: __ en scene: MISE. No idea. I obtained the answer from across clues.
52D: Holy pictures: var. IKONS
58D: Wallace's 1968 running mate: LEMAY (Curtis). I googled his name.
65D: DNA code: GENOME. Gene + (chromos)ome. New to me also.
74D: Private sector assns.: NGOS (Non-Governmental Organizations. Yet another unknown.
76D: Mil. honor: DSC. It's an Army decoration, to be exact.
78D: __ Paese cheese: BEL. I've never had this cheese before.
81D: Acclaim: PLAUDIT
82D: Take over for: RELIEVE. Tampa Bay's reliever Grant Balfour used to be with the Twins. Time for Matt Garza to shine tonight.
84D: Ships' loads: CARGOES
90D: Image file format: BITMAP. No idea. I am technologically challenged.
95D: Barreled along: TORE. New meaning of "Barrel" to me.
97D: Transit-loss allowance: TRET. I never know what TRET and TARE mean exactly.
100D: Luck of the Irish: CESS. I forgot. See "Bad CESS" origin.
101D: Glaswegian: SCOT. I cannot recall any famous SCOT who is from Glasgow. Quite a few from Edinburgh, Sean Connery & Robert Louis Stevenson for example.
C.C.
