Theme: Meal Time
20A: Residence inn: BED AND BREAKFAST
40A: British bread-and-cheese meal: PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH
55A: Sweet following eating: AFTER DINNER MINT
I have never heard of PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH before. Ploughman probably will not eat those bitter endives in the middle. What is the stuff on that front white cup? Looks deliciously chunky.
Not a well-thought theme. If BREAKFAST and LUNCH are located at the end of the phrase, so should be DINNER. You know, like CHRISTMAS DINNER, 15 letters, perfect. What other *DINNER ending phrases can you think of? BUSINESS DINNER is one letter short.
Easy sailing this morning. Very doable puzzle. I got SEE (23A: Match a raise) from down clues, but I don't understand the cluing. How so?
Across:
1A: Calgary team: FLAMES. Here is a hockey puck with FLAMES logo. That's a very hot name. We have Wild in Minnesota. Edmonton Oilers is also based in Alberta.
10A: Novelist Oz: AMOS. "A Tale of Love and Darkness" sounds intriguing.
14A: City on the Rio Grande: LAREDO. Is this city somehow related to "The Streets of LAREDO"? The title of the sad baseball movie "Bang the Drum Slowly" comes from that song.
18A: USN big shot: ADM. What's the equivalent Marines/Army/Air Force big shot? GEN?
24A: Singer Moffo: ANNA. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the down clues. Have never heard of this opera singer.
25A: CCCII tripled: CMVI. Roman 906.
29A: Grp. of D.C. advisors: NSC (National Security Council). Here is a list of those who attend the NSC meeting. General James Jones will coordinate those meetings for Obama.
31A: Chicago singer Peter: CETERA. No idea. I do love Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away". "Chicago" here refers to the band name.
37A: Bay window: ORIEL
44A: "Les Preludes" composer: LISZT. Here is a clip.
45A: Old-time roofing material: SLATE. "Old-time"? Does it mean that SLATE is not used as roofing material any more?
64A: Harem area: ODA. Turkish for "room". Derived from odalik, meaning "a chamber girl" or "a concubine", according to Wikipedia.
67A: Eskimo knife: ULU. Have never heard of ULU knife.
68A: Potential looter: RIOTER
69A: Medieval slave: ESNE. Sometimes is SERF. I don't know how those two are different from each other.
Down:
4D: Physical opening?: META. Metaphysical. Will Rogers probably would want this clue to be "I have never MET A man I didn't like". Our editor dislikes partial fills though.
9D: Love affairs: ROMANCES. They are not the same, are they? To me, "Love affair" implies a sexual and illicit relationship.
10D: Former PLA leader: ARAFAT. Hard to associate ARAFAT with Nobel Peace prize winner.
21D: Simple brooms: BESOMS. New brooms to me. Very twiggy.
27D: "Twelfth Night" role: VIOLA. I guessed. Have never read "Twelfth Night".
30D: Patsy Cline classic: CRAZY. Here is the song. Can't find Willie Nelson's CRAZY on YouTube. It's pretty good too.
33D: Belly muscles: RECTI. Singular is rectus. Another new word to me. I am convinced that I don't know my own body.
41D: Worked freelance: HIRED OUT
42D: End of a spat?: ULA. Spatula. Also "End of a form" (Formula).
47D: "__ Fideles": ADESTE. Semper is also 6-letter.
49D: Rugged range: SIERRA. "Rugged ridge" would be ARETE.
52D: Move sideways: SIDLE. There is no difference in my pronunciation of SIDLE and SADDLE.
55D: Winglike structures: ALAE. The adjective is ALAR, though often clued as "Banned spray".
59D: Synthesizer maker: MOOG. I have never heard of Bob MOOG or MOOG Synthesizer.
62D: British wheel: TYRE. British TYRE hits kerb.
C.C.
20A: Residence inn: BED AND BREAKFAST
40A: British bread-and-cheese meal: PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH
55A: Sweet following eating: AFTER DINNER MINT
I have never heard of PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH before. Ploughman probably will not eat those bitter endives in the middle. What is the stuff on that front white cup? Looks deliciously chunky.
Not a well-thought theme. If BREAKFAST and LUNCH are located at the end of the phrase, so should be DINNER. You know, like CHRISTMAS DINNER, 15 letters, perfect. What other *DINNER ending phrases can you think of? BUSINESS DINNER is one letter short.
Easy sailing this morning. Very doable puzzle. I got SEE (23A: Match a raise) from down clues, but I don't understand the cluing. How so?
Across:
1A: Calgary team: FLAMES. Here is a hockey puck with FLAMES logo. That's a very hot name. We have Wild in Minnesota. Edmonton Oilers is also based in Alberta.
10A: Novelist Oz: AMOS. "A Tale of Love and Darkness" sounds intriguing.
14A: City on the Rio Grande: LAREDO. Is this city somehow related to "The Streets of LAREDO"? The title of the sad baseball movie "Bang the Drum Slowly" comes from that song.
18A: USN big shot: ADM. What's the equivalent Marines/Army/Air Force big shot? GEN?
24A: Singer Moffo: ANNA. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the down clues. Have never heard of this opera singer.
25A: CCCII tripled: CMVI. Roman 906.
29A: Grp. of D.C. advisors: NSC (National Security Council). Here is a list of those who attend the NSC meeting. General James Jones will coordinate those meetings for Obama.
31A: Chicago singer Peter: CETERA. No idea. I do love Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away". "Chicago" here refers to the band name.
37A: Bay window: ORIEL
44A: "Les Preludes" composer: LISZT. Here is a clip.
45A: Old-time roofing material: SLATE. "Old-time"? Does it mean that SLATE is not used as roofing material any more?
64A: Harem area: ODA. Turkish for "room". Derived from odalik, meaning "a chamber girl" or "a concubine", according to Wikipedia.
67A: Eskimo knife: ULU. Have never heard of ULU knife.
68A: Potential looter: RIOTER
69A: Medieval slave: ESNE. Sometimes is SERF. I don't know how those two are different from each other.
Down:
4D: Physical opening?: META. Metaphysical. Will Rogers probably would want this clue to be "I have never MET A man I didn't like". Our editor dislikes partial fills though.
9D: Love affairs: ROMANCES. They are not the same, are they? To me, "Love affair" implies a sexual and illicit relationship.
10D: Former PLA leader: ARAFAT. Hard to associate ARAFAT with Nobel Peace prize winner.
21D: Simple brooms: BESOMS. New brooms to me. Very twiggy.
27D: "Twelfth Night" role: VIOLA. I guessed. Have never read "Twelfth Night".
30D: Patsy Cline classic: CRAZY. Here is the song. Can't find Willie Nelson's CRAZY on YouTube. It's pretty good too.
33D: Belly muscles: RECTI. Singular is rectus. Another new word to me. I am convinced that I don't know my own body.
41D: Worked freelance: HIRED OUT
42D: End of a spat?: ULA. Spatula. Also "End of a form" (Formula).
47D: "__ Fideles": ADESTE. Semper is also 6-letter.
49D: Rugged range: SIERRA. "Rugged ridge" would be ARETE.
52D: Move sideways: SIDLE. There is no difference in my pronunciation of SIDLE and SADDLE.
55D: Winglike structures: ALAE. The adjective is ALAR, though often clued as "Banned spray".
59D: Synthesizer maker: MOOG. I have never heard of Bob MOOG or MOOG Synthesizer.
62D: British wheel: TYRE. British TYRE hits kerb.
C.C.
