Theme: My Fair Ladies in Broadway
26A: 1948 Porter musical inspired by "The Taming of the Shrew": KISS ME, KATE
26A: 1925 musical that spawned the unsuccessful "Yes, Yes, Yvette": NO, NO, NANETTE
44A: 1953 musical with the song "No Other Love": ME AND JULIET
56A: 1964 musical starring Carol Channing: HELLO, DOLLY!
All above theme answers are musicals with lady's name at the end. Tight theme indeed.
I've never heard of "ME AND JULIET", and I always associated "HELLO, DOLLY" with Barbara Streisand.
I liked how ELFIN (29D: Fairylike) is centered in the middle of the grid, connecting two of the theme answers. Also loved how A ONE (59A: Excellent) crosses BEST (55D: Cream of the crop). The clue for LOCO (53D: Nuts or crackers?) drove me bananas. I just could not get snack out of my mind! Very clever.
This puzzle is quite scrabbly: 1 Z, 2 J's and 6 K's.
Across:
1A: Puzzle with blind alleys: MAZE. The most famous one is probably King Minos' huge MAZE to contain the monster Minotaur.
5A: Prepared, as hash: DICED
10A: Some blue birds: JAYS. Good morning. Any Blue JAYS fans? I just learned that no one has been inducted into Hall-of Fame in Blue JAYS uniform. How sad!
14A: "Tosca" tune: ARIA
15A: __ worse than death: A FATE. I did not know this euphemism phrase for rape. I wonder why Titian did not pick up another name for his "The rape of Europa" then (King Minos is the son of Zeus and Europa).
16A: Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda: ULEE
20A: Hose reaching to the patella: KNEE SOCK. I can't read her uniform. What does it say?
22A: Race of Norse gods: AESIR. They live in Asgard.
24A: 007 et al: Abbr.: AGTS. My favorite Bond movie is Casino Royale. What's yours?
30A: Auto speed letters: MPH. And GTOS (25D: Pontiac muscle car).
33A: One way to read: ALOUD. Wrote down SPEED first.
34A: Maned Oz visitor: LION. The Cowardly LION. Have not seen LAHR for a while.
35A: It's often framed: ART. Thought of PIX/PIC first.
36A: Make cents: MINT. I like this clue. Play on "Make sense".
37A: Lifts with effort: HEFTS
39A: Casanova: ROUE. Nailed it immediately. Dennis mentioned last time that Casanova wore condoms made of linen. RAKE anyone?
40A: First mother?: EVE. "First lady?", "First grandmother?", etc. You can't fool me any more.
41A: Atmospheric prefix: AERI
42A: Christmas song leapers: LORDS. From "The Twelve Days of Christmas". I got the answer from Down fills.
43A: Stage scenery: SET. Alliteration.
48A: Eye, in Paris: OEIL. Have to show Julian Beever's Trompe l'OEIL again. Amazing pavement work. No "Eye, in Aix" alliteration today.
49A: comparably large: AS BIG
52A: Fraternal group, familiarly: ELKS CLUB. Or is it ELKS' CLUB/ELK'S CLUB? I don't know how to spell it out.
60A: Furry "Star Wars" critter: EWOK
61A: Typeface type: ARIAL. Like this instead of this.
62A: Some watch faces: LCDS. What's the difference between LCD and plasma?
63A: Texting exchanges.: Abbr. : MSGS
64A: Wisdom unit?: PEARL. PEARLS of wisdom.
65A: Ill-gotten gains: LOOT
Down:
1D: Identity hider: MASK
3D: Fan mag. e.g.: ZINE. ZINE is short for fanzine. But now ZINE refers to any e-ZINE, right?
4D: Let go tactfully: EASED OUT. Have to be careful about the tense of Let.
5D: 1860s-'80s territory on the Canadian border: DAKOTA. Oh, I was not aware of this fact. They were admitted as two states in 1889.
6D: "...assuming it's doable": IF I CAN
7D: Port container: CASK. Port wine. Nice clue.
9D: Obama or FDR: DEM. The initial BHO simply just does not have the FDR/JFK feel, does it?
10D: Football feints: JUKES. No idea. What is a JUKE? Just learned several months ago that "Hockey feints" is DEKES.
11D: "Unhappily ...": ALAS
12D: Rumored Himalayan: YETI. Exactly. "Rumored".
13D: One dealing in futures?: SEER. Not the commodity futures. OK, here is the famous Rick Santalli "Rant of the Year". He is the "One dealing in futures" too, from the Chicago Board of Trade floor.
24D: Bickering: AT IT. I kept reading it as A TIT. Can you make a sentence for me?
26D: Tom, Dick and Harry, e.g.: NAMES
28D: Sextet plus three: NONET. Octet plus one. Whatever.
30D: Native New Zealander: MAORI. Literally "ordinary people".
31D: Fuddy-duddy: PRUDE
32D: Explosive '50s trial: H-TEST. At Bikini Atoll. I was stumped, thinking of some espionage trial. Funny how they named bikini swimsuit after this island.
37D: Obey: HEED. Are they really synonymous?
39D: Attendance check: ROLL CALL
41D: Cisco, to Pancho: AMIGO. I liked this new clue. "The Cisco Kid".
42D: Hall of Famer Aparicio: LUIS. He was inducted in 1984, in White Sox uniform. Any of you collect baseball cards?
45D: Register single: DOLLAR. D'oh! Cash register.
46D: Stevenson's ill-fated doctor: JEKYLL. What a perfect fill. Lots of consonants.
47D: Swindles: BILKS
50D: Puts in stitches: SEWS. So simple. I was thinking of the other "in stitches" meaning.
51D: Online journal: BLOG
54D: Reverse, on an edit menu: UNDO. You wouldn't believe it, but I wrote down STET first. What can I say? I am LOCO.
57D: Skip, as stones: DAP. Stumped last time when it's clued as "Fly-fishing action".
58D: Miners dig it: ORE. I dig this clue.
Answer grid.
C.C.
26A: 1948 Porter musical inspired by "The Taming of the Shrew": KISS ME, KATE
26A: 1925 musical that spawned the unsuccessful "Yes, Yes, Yvette": NO, NO, NANETTE
44A: 1953 musical with the song "No Other Love": ME AND JULIET
56A: 1964 musical starring Carol Channing: HELLO, DOLLY!
All above theme answers are musicals with lady's name at the end. Tight theme indeed.
I've never heard of "ME AND JULIET", and I always associated "HELLO, DOLLY" with Barbara Streisand.
I liked how ELFIN (29D: Fairylike) is centered in the middle of the grid, connecting two of the theme answers. Also loved how A ONE (59A: Excellent) crosses BEST (55D: Cream of the crop). The clue for LOCO (53D: Nuts or crackers?) drove me bananas. I just could not get snack out of my mind! Very clever.
This puzzle is quite scrabbly: 1 Z, 2 J's and 6 K's.
Across:
1A: Puzzle with blind alleys: MAZE. The most famous one is probably King Minos' huge MAZE to contain the monster Minotaur.
5A: Prepared, as hash: DICED
10A: Some blue birds: JAYS. Good morning. Any Blue JAYS fans? I just learned that no one has been inducted into Hall-of Fame in Blue JAYS uniform. How sad!
14A: "Tosca" tune: ARIA
15A: __ worse than death: A FATE. I did not know this euphemism phrase for rape. I wonder why Titian did not pick up another name for his "The rape of Europa" then (King Minos is the son of Zeus and Europa).
16A: Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda: ULEE
20A: Hose reaching to the patella: KNEE SOCK. I can't read her uniform. What does it say?
22A: Race of Norse gods: AESIR. They live in Asgard.
24A: 007 et al: Abbr.: AGTS. My favorite Bond movie is Casino Royale. What's yours?
30A: Auto speed letters: MPH. And GTOS (25D: Pontiac muscle car).
33A: One way to read: ALOUD. Wrote down SPEED first.
34A: Maned Oz visitor: LION. The Cowardly LION. Have not seen LAHR for a while.
35A: It's often framed: ART. Thought of PIX/PIC first.
36A: Make cents: MINT. I like this clue. Play on "Make sense".
37A: Lifts with effort: HEFTS
39A: Casanova: ROUE. Nailed it immediately. Dennis mentioned last time that Casanova wore condoms made of linen. RAKE anyone?
40A: First mother?: EVE. "First lady?", "First grandmother?", etc. You can't fool me any more.
41A: Atmospheric prefix: AERI
42A: Christmas song leapers: LORDS. From "The Twelve Days of Christmas". I got the answer from Down fills.
43A: Stage scenery: SET. Alliteration.
48A: Eye, in Paris: OEIL. Have to show Julian Beever's Trompe l'OEIL again. Amazing pavement work. No "Eye, in Aix" alliteration today.
49A: comparably large: AS BIG
52A: Fraternal group, familiarly: ELKS CLUB. Or is it ELKS' CLUB/ELK'S CLUB? I don't know how to spell it out.
60A: Furry "Star Wars" critter: EWOK
61A: Typeface type: ARIAL. Like this instead of this.
62A: Some watch faces: LCDS. What's the difference between LCD and plasma?
63A: Texting exchanges.: Abbr. : MSGS
64A: Wisdom unit?: PEARL. PEARLS of wisdom.
65A: Ill-gotten gains: LOOT
Down:
1D: Identity hider: MASK
3D: Fan mag. e.g.: ZINE. ZINE is short for fanzine. But now ZINE refers to any e-ZINE, right?
4D: Let go tactfully: EASED OUT. Have to be careful about the tense of Let.
5D: 1860s-'80s territory on the Canadian border: DAKOTA. Oh, I was not aware of this fact. They were admitted as two states in 1889.
6D: "...assuming it's doable": IF I CAN
7D: Port container: CASK. Port wine. Nice clue.
9D: Obama or FDR: DEM. The initial BHO simply just does not have the FDR/JFK feel, does it?
10D: Football feints: JUKES. No idea. What is a JUKE? Just learned several months ago that "Hockey feints" is DEKES.
11D: "Unhappily ...": ALAS
12D: Rumored Himalayan: YETI. Exactly. "Rumored".
13D: One dealing in futures?: SEER. Not the commodity futures. OK, here is the famous Rick Santalli "Rant of the Year". He is the "One dealing in futures" too, from the Chicago Board of Trade floor.
24D: Bickering: AT IT. I kept reading it as A TIT. Can you make a sentence for me?
26D: Tom, Dick and Harry, e.g.: NAMES
28D: Sextet plus three: NONET. Octet plus one. Whatever.
30D: Native New Zealander: MAORI. Literally "ordinary people".
31D: Fuddy-duddy: PRUDE
32D: Explosive '50s trial: H-TEST. At Bikini Atoll. I was stumped, thinking of some espionage trial. Funny how they named bikini swimsuit after this island.
37D: Obey: HEED. Are they really synonymous?
39D: Attendance check: ROLL CALL
41D: Cisco, to Pancho: AMIGO. I liked this new clue. "The Cisco Kid".
42D: Hall of Famer Aparicio: LUIS. He was inducted in 1984, in White Sox uniform. Any of you collect baseball cards?
45D: Register single: DOLLAR. D'oh! Cash register.
46D: Stevenson's ill-fated doctor: JEKYLL. What a perfect fill. Lots of consonants.
47D: Swindles: BILKS
50D: Puts in stitches: SEWS. So simple. I was thinking of the other "in stitches" meaning.
51D: Online journal: BLOG
54D: Reverse, on an edit menu: UNDO. You wouldn't believe it, but I wrote down STET first. What can I say? I am LOCO.
57D: Skip, as stones: DAP. Stumped last time when it's clued as "Fly-fishing action".
58D: Miners dig it: ORE. I dig this clue.
Answer grid.
C.C.
