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Feb 21, 2008

Thursday, Feb 21 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Hey, this is C.C., I noticed that lots of you come to this puzzle today (May 14, 2008 Wednesday), which paper are you doing? Pls leave a comment here or send me a private email. I am curious know why there is such a long time lap between your paper and mine. Thanks.

(Updates: Sorry for my mistake earlier, this is a legitimate quip from Samuel Butler.)


Theme: Quip

17A: Start of quip: It's better to have

20A: Part 2 of quip: Loved

35A: Part 3 of quip: And lost than

53A: Part 4 of quip: Never

54A: End of quip: To have lost at all

Well, this is not how I remember, the original line is "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". OK, here is the original from Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem In Memoriam:

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
When interviewed by E! or some other media on JFK Jr. and his wife's tragic death, Daryl Hannah, who dated JFK Jr. for a few years, quoted this exact line. And I remember I was very moved.

I do not like this puzzle at all. I hate it when the quote/quip does not make any sense. Stared at the lower middle corner forever, trying to force LOVE into the LOST spot - of course grammatically it's impossible, as "have" demands a past participle. Did not know who the hell was 51D: Actor Romero (CESAR). Did not know Latin Law is LEX.

Struggled mightily with the 51A: Gigantic statues (COLOSSI), wanted the last letter to be S or U to fit in the 44D: Upstate NY school (RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Never heard of this RPI. And of course, some sloths (43D), AIS. This constructor love his sloths, On his Feb 7 Thursday's puzzle, he clued UNAU as 2-toed sloth.

Enough said, here are the across entries:

1A: Endangered Afri. mammal: RHINO (Rhinocero). Also British slang for money.

6A: Abraham's son: ISAAC

11A: AARP group: SRS. AARP stands for American Association with Retired Person.

14A: Noble title: BARON

15A: "Jurassic Park" star Sam: NEILL. He is currently starring in The Tutors.

16A: Tiger's peg: TEE. I like Tiger's caddy Steve Williams.

21A: Morse unit: DIT

22A: Weapons stockpile: ARSENAL

23A: Rainy day racetrack favorites: MUDDERS. Kentucky Derby 1920 winner Paul Jones was a mudder.

29A: Considered: DEEMED

30A: Anderson of "WKRP..": LONI. Burt Reynold's wife.

31A: Bodybuilder Ferrigno: LOU. The Incredible Hulk.

33A: Short skirts: MINIS

34A: Charged articles: IONS

45A: Zodia cat: LEO

47A: Grapevine transmission: GOSSIP

49A: Swaps: BARTERS

50A: Gigantic statues: COLOSSI, plural form of colossus, adj is colossal.

61A: Onassis, to pals: ARI

62A: Barcelata's "Maria __": ELENA. Never heard of this song.

63A: Lukewarm: TEPID

64A: Kind of rally or talk: PEP. Our Gophers' football coach Tim Brewster is very good at this. Many fans hated him (1-11 record last season). But I like him. I once wrote him a letter to show my support, he responded very quickly with a handwritten note. I was so smitten with his handwriting on the envelope.

65A: Philly pro: SIXER. NBA 76ers.

66A: Utopias: EDENS

Down entries:

1D: Slugger's stat: RBI. If you like my blog, please vote for Justin Morneau for All-Star this year.

2D: Occupation indicator: HAT. Does this refer to Chef's hat or what?

3D: April 15 addressee: IRS. $1200 is coming!

4D: Aristocrats: NOBLEMEN

5D: Certain tie score: ONE ONE

6D: Chip maker: INTEL. I feel sorry for you if you owe INTEL's stock in the past 4 years.

7D: Ranked player: SEED

8D: Expose to public scrutiny: AIR

9D: PC key: ALT

10D: Klutzy: CLODDISH. Lots of points for Klutzy in Scrabble.

11D: Grandeur: STATELINESS

12D: Gun it in neutral: REV

13D: Get it?: SEE?

18D: Boob tube spot: TV AD

19D: Covered up: HID

22D: Put two and two together: ADD

23D: Old Olds' auto: REO

24D: Office of a legislator: SENATORSHIP. I never heard of this usage. It's either the Office of Senator McCain or the Office of Congressman Ron Paul.

26D: One condo: UNIT

27D: Kanga's kid: ROO. Winnie-the Pooh character.

28D: Daystar: SUN. Watched part of the Lunar Eclipse last night. Too cold (-3F) for me to stand outside.

30D: Itemized accounts: LISTS

33D: Sahl and Drucker: MORTS

36D: Warrants: DESERVES

37D: Cougar's den: LAIR

38D: Miscellaneous: ASSORTED

39D: Clerical vestment: ALB

40D: Veggie sphere: PEA

43D: Some sloths: AIS. 3-toes sloth, OK, this one is not as ugly as the two toed UNAU. Show us more sloths Mr. Olschwang!

44D: Upsate NY school: RPI. I went to their alumni Hall-of-Fame website, and found nobody that I have heard of.

47D: Political syst.: GOVT (Government)

48D: Soap ingredient: OLEATE. I blogged about this word before.

49D: Barcelona aunt: TIA

51D: Actor Romero: CESAR. Never heard of him. Never watched Batman.

54D: Spigot: TAP

57D: Latin law: LEX. Attention: the plural form of lex is leges.

58D: Bonzo or Clyde: APE. Bonzo is the chimpanzee from Bedtime for Bonzo (Ronald Reagan 1951 film). Clyde is the chimpanzee from the Biniki Beach (1964) or Every Which Way But Loose (Clint Eastwood 1978 movie).

59D: "Little Red Book" compiler Biao: LIN. This is a gimme for me. He died in a plane crash in 1971, trying to escape to Mongolia. He was the second-command to Mao Ze-Dong during China's Cultural Revolution.

60D: Mormon letters: LDS (Latter Day Saints)

If you have time, please have a look at my yesterday's Tribune Media Repeat Offenders' post. I found SIR, PEA, LAIR, ION, TEE, RBI, IRS, AIR, REO, ORE, APT, LEO, and ELI to be guilty.

Thank you for stopping by this morning and have a good day.

C. C.