Theme: Familiar Phrases starting B_T, the vowels are in A-E-I-O-U order.
17A: Swimsuit models: BATHING BEAUTIES
23A: Intuitive Reading?: BETWEEN THE LINES
40A: Facing misfortune bravely: BITING THE BULLET
53A: Ace place?: BOTTOM OF THE DECK
61A: Shut up: BUTTONED ONE'S LIP
A few things to say before I start today's puzzle:
1) On Feb 3 Sunday Arlan and Linda Bushman puzzle, the answer for 86D: Brace or Span is TWO. Can anyone please explain to me why? (Update: Thanks to Joey and Dennis, now I know that brace/span means a pair, as in a span of horses, a brace of dogs. I hope Curt of Palm Beach Post is reading this).
2) On yesterday's puzzle, the answer for 44D: Upstate NY School is RPI. I thought you would be interested to know that that young guy Tyler Hinman, who won the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament the last three years, graduated from RPI. I have to thank Orange for providing me with this information.
By the way, tonight, both Orange and Tyler will be on the Nick Digilio Show (Chicago WGN 720AM). There is supposed to be "Listen Now!" button on their website. Go there if you have time, maybe you can glean a few wisdom from these 2 ace solvers.
3) If you have not watched the movie Wordplay, please put it on your Netflix queue. Can you believe that someone can finish one puzzle in a little over 2 minutes? That's insane.
OK, back to today's puzzle. I breezed through the upper left corner and the middle left section, and spotted the B_T pattern fairly quickly, which allowed me to sweep through the gut part and the lower left corner of the puzzle. Bubba Watson (23D: Watson of golf) might stump some of you, but it's a gimme for most of the golf fans (me included). This guy is crazy in his tee shots (longest drive: 398 yards).
But then I was bogged down on the upper right part of the puzzle. It's a nightmare for me. I did not know what to fill for 15A: Judith or Dana (IVEY), all that came to my mind was a picture of Dana Milbank of Washington Post appearing on MSNBC discussing Judith Miller's CIA leak case. I really had no idea who was Mohammed's favorite wife (AYESHA), I did not even know that he was married. This is a bit disturbing, I found out that he married this girl when she was only 6-year-old.
For your information, today's constructor Mr. Wiseman also gave us the golf themed Bogey-Par-Birdie-Eagle puzzle on Jan. 25 Friday and the broken heart puzzle on Sunday Feb 10.
Here are the across entries:
1A: Somewhat wet: DAMP
5A: Poet Teasdale: SARA. Have you read her poem "I shall not care"?
9A: Tibetan capital: LHASA. Also known as the real Forbidden City.
15A: Judith or Dana: IVEY. Both are actresses. Generally I suck at movie stars names, esp if they are old.
16A: 2nd-year coeds: SOPHS (Sophomores)
17A: Swimsuit models: BATHING BEAUTIES. For a moment, I thought all the theme entries will be alliterations.
20A: Math branch: ALG
29A: Ms. Thurman: UMA. Kill Bill.
30A: Take a load of: SIT
31A: Cuckoopint: ARUM. Learned this word a few weeks ago.
32A: Rope fiber: BAST
34A: Part of Can.: NWT (Northwest Territory)
44A: Coeur d'___, ID: ALENE
45A: River in Devon: EXE. Another river in England. I got it from the down clues.
47A: End of demo: CRAT (as in Democrat)
52A: Meas. across: DIA (Diameter)
60A: "__ Gotta Be Me": I'VE. Sammy Davis Jr. Song. Sorry about the mistake earlier. Buddy Holly song is "I've Got to be me". I put "It's" first, thinking of the "It's Gonna be me" by 'N Sync.
68A: Satellite of Jupiter: ELARA. Mr. Wiseman used the exact clue for his last puzzle.
69A: Squat down: DUCK
70A: Philosopher Immanuel: KANT. His idea is too abstract for me. I love the concept of "Dare to Know" though.
71A: Letter flourish: SERIF
72A: Makes up one's mind: OPTS
73A: Word before jerk or water: SODA
Down entries:
1D: Localize the soundtrack: DUB
2D: Candler or Gray: ASA. Candler is the Coca Cola guy (Candler's Park in Atlanta). ASA is often clued as the botanist Gray.
4D: Pish!: PSHAW!
5D: Scorching superficially: SINGEING
6D: Part of GPA: AVG (Average)
6D: Attempt to disprove: REBUT
8D: Mohammed's favorite wife: AYESHA. Wikipedia shows that it can also be spelled as A'isha. Does anyone know how many wives Mohammed had?
9D: Baton Rouge sch.: LSU (Louisiana State University, Shaq O'Neal's alma mater).
11D: Concerning bees: APIAN
12D: Sex researcher Hite: SHERE. Never heard of her. Kinsey is the only name that came to my mind.
13D: Nincompoops: ASSES
18D: French islands: ILES
19D: Computer brand: ACER. I put Dell first. Acer is a huge electronic manufacturer based in Taiwan. In fact, it's the third largest PC producer in the world, after HP and Dell.
23D: Watson of golf: BUBBA. He tied for 5th in last year's US Open I think. I love Tom Watson of the Sr. PGA Tour a lot.
25D: Discernment: TASTE
26D: Contents abbreviation: NT WT (Net Weight)
27D: Maui feast: LUAU
28D: Hint at: IMPLY
33D: Add color to: TINCT
37D: Slip away from: ELUDE
38D: Old treasure: RELIC
41D: Actor Franco: NERO. Italian actor. Never heard of him before. Heard of James Franco though.
43D: Remembers, once: BETHINKS
48D: God of Thebes: AMON. Also spelled as Amen, an Egytian God, represented as a man with a ram's head. Thebes is an ancient city in Egypt.
49D: Ohio city: TOLEDO
51D: Golfer Ballesteros: SEVE. This guy can chip! He is a golf genius.
53D: "___ in Toyland": BABES. A band formed here in Minnesota.
54D: Early-stage seed: OVULE
55D: Crimean man: TATAR
56D: Sick and tired: FED UP
62D: Dent or corn starter: TRI (Trident and Tricorn)
63D: Clumsy fellow: OAF
64D: 10 of calendars: OCT
65D: Thai ethnic group: LAO. I bet this is a gimme for my blog reader Alan in Thailand.
66D: Ky.neighbor: IND
67D: School org: PTA: This has to go to the Repeat Offender list.
C.C.
17A: Swimsuit models: BATHING BEAUTIES
23A: Intuitive Reading?: BETWEEN THE LINES
40A: Facing misfortune bravely: BITING THE BULLET
53A: Ace place?: BOTTOM OF THE DECK
61A: Shut up: BUTTONED ONE'S LIP
A few things to say before I start today's puzzle:
1) On Feb 3 Sunday Arlan and Linda Bushman puzzle, the answer for 86D: Brace or Span is TWO. Can anyone please explain to me why? (Update: Thanks to Joey and Dennis, now I know that brace/span means a pair, as in a span of horses, a brace of dogs. I hope Curt of Palm Beach Post is reading this).
2) On yesterday's puzzle, the answer for 44D: Upstate NY School is RPI. I thought you would be interested to know that that young guy Tyler Hinman, who won the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament the last three years, graduated from RPI. I have to thank Orange for providing me with this information.
By the way, tonight, both Orange and Tyler will be on the Nick Digilio Show (Chicago WGN 720AM). There is supposed to be "Listen Now!" button on their website. Go there if you have time, maybe you can glean a few wisdom from these 2 ace solvers.
3) If you have not watched the movie Wordplay, please put it on your Netflix queue. Can you believe that someone can finish one puzzle in a little over 2 minutes? That's insane.
OK, back to today's puzzle. I breezed through the upper left corner and the middle left section, and spotted the B_T pattern fairly quickly, which allowed me to sweep through the gut part and the lower left corner of the puzzle. Bubba Watson (23D: Watson of golf) might stump some of you, but it's a gimme for most of the golf fans (me included). This guy is crazy in his tee shots (longest drive: 398 yards).
But then I was bogged down on the upper right part of the puzzle. It's a nightmare for me. I did not know what to fill for 15A: Judith or Dana (IVEY), all that came to my mind was a picture of Dana Milbank of Washington Post appearing on MSNBC discussing Judith Miller's CIA leak case. I really had no idea who was Mohammed's favorite wife (AYESHA), I did not even know that he was married. This is a bit disturbing, I found out that he married this girl when she was only 6-year-old.
For your information, today's constructor Mr. Wiseman also gave us the golf themed Bogey-Par-Birdie-Eagle puzzle on Jan. 25 Friday and the broken heart puzzle on Sunday Feb 10.
Here are the across entries:
1A: Somewhat wet: DAMP
5A: Poet Teasdale: SARA. Have you read her poem "I shall not care"?
9A: Tibetan capital: LHASA. Also known as the real Forbidden City.
15A: Judith or Dana: IVEY. Both are actresses. Generally I suck at movie stars names, esp if they are old.
16A: 2nd-year coeds: SOPHS (Sophomores)
17A: Swimsuit models: BATHING BEAUTIES. For a moment, I thought all the theme entries will be alliterations.
20A: Math branch: ALG
29A: Ms. Thurman: UMA. Kill Bill.
30A: Take a load of: SIT
31A: Cuckoopint: ARUM. Learned this word a few weeks ago.
32A: Rope fiber: BAST
34A: Part of Can.: NWT (Northwest Territory)
44A: Coeur d'___, ID: ALENE
45A: River in Devon: EXE. Another river in England. I got it from the down clues.
47A: End of demo: CRAT (as in Democrat)
52A: Meas. across: DIA (Diameter)
60A: "__ Gotta Be Me": I'VE. Sammy Davis Jr. Song. Sorry about the mistake earlier. Buddy Holly song is "I've Got to be me". I put "It's" first, thinking of the "It's Gonna be me" by 'N Sync.
68A: Satellite of Jupiter: ELARA. Mr. Wiseman used the exact clue for his last puzzle.
69A: Squat down: DUCK
70A: Philosopher Immanuel: KANT. His idea is too abstract for me. I love the concept of "Dare to Know" though.
71A: Letter flourish: SERIF
72A: Makes up one's mind: OPTS
73A: Word before jerk or water: SODA
Down entries:
1D: Localize the soundtrack: DUB
2D: Candler or Gray: ASA. Candler is the Coca Cola guy (Candler's Park in Atlanta). ASA is often clued as the botanist Gray.
4D: Pish!: PSHAW!
5D: Scorching superficially: SINGEING
6D: Part of GPA: AVG (Average)
6D: Attempt to disprove: REBUT
8D: Mohammed's favorite wife: AYESHA. Wikipedia shows that it can also be spelled as A'isha. Does anyone know how many wives Mohammed had?
9D: Baton Rouge sch.: LSU (Louisiana State University, Shaq O'Neal's alma mater).
11D: Concerning bees: APIAN
12D: Sex researcher Hite: SHERE. Never heard of her. Kinsey is the only name that came to my mind.
13D: Nincompoops: ASSES
18D: French islands: ILES
19D: Computer brand: ACER. I put Dell first. Acer is a huge electronic manufacturer based in Taiwan. In fact, it's the third largest PC producer in the world, after HP and Dell.
23D: Watson of golf: BUBBA. He tied for 5th in last year's US Open I think. I love Tom Watson of the Sr. PGA Tour a lot.
25D: Discernment: TASTE
26D: Contents abbreviation: NT WT (Net Weight)
27D: Maui feast: LUAU
28D: Hint at: IMPLY
33D: Add color to: TINCT
37D: Slip away from: ELUDE
38D: Old treasure: RELIC
41D: Actor Franco: NERO. Italian actor. Never heard of him before. Heard of James Franco though.
43D: Remembers, once: BETHINKS
48D: God of Thebes: AMON. Also spelled as Amen, an Egytian God, represented as a man with a ram's head. Thebes is an ancient city in Egypt.
49D: Ohio city: TOLEDO
51D: Golfer Ballesteros: SEVE. This guy can chip! He is a golf genius.
53D: "___ in Toyland": BABES. A band formed here in Minnesota.
54D: Early-stage seed: OVULE
55D: Crimean man: TATAR
56D: Sick and tired: FED UP
62D: Dent or corn starter: TRI (Trident and Tricorn)
63D: Clumsy fellow: OAF
64D: 10 of calendars: OCT
65D: Thai ethnic group: LAO. I bet this is a gimme for my blog reader Alan in Thailand.
66D: Ky.neighbor: IND
67D: School org: PTA: This has to go to the Repeat Offender list.
C.C.
