Theme: Play Ball
24A: Two-land road feature: CENTER LINE
34A: Make no mistake: GET IT RIGHT
36A: Quit messing with: LEFT ALONE
53A: Steno's writing: SHORT HAND
68A: Spouted dispenser: MILK PITCHER
80A: Very soon: ANY SECOND
100A: One way to jump in: FEET FIRST
102A: Subway current resources: THIRD RAILS
113A: Insect eater: FLY CATCHER
No quip from Mr. Olschwang? He is either reformed or this is another constructor name printing error. It's probably latter but I prefer the former. Kind of feel like Ed Voile's work.
Nevertheless, I love this puzzle, it's the most aesthetically pleasing TMS puzzle I've ever done. Doesn't it the finished grid look great to you? Every ball player is in his proper position. Superb execution of the theme in my view.
I was overjoyed when I saw the titled theme - I love baseball, and I was able to fill in almost all the theme entries after PITCHER revealed itself.
All right, let's play ball!
Across entries:
1A: Relative of CHiPs: LAPD. My first reaction: The TV series CHiPs spin off? I just checked Erik Estrada yesterday and I remember this strange spelling CHiPs. Had no idea that CHiP refer to California Highway Patrol.
9A: Rustler's rope: LASSO. "Bola" in Spanish I gather?
20A: Israeli statesman: EBAN (ABBA). His command of English is superb, even Kissinger was mesmerized. My one-time crush Netanyahu called him "the founding father of Israeli diplomacy". Oh, by the way, ABBA is "father" in Hebrew language. I love so many of Eban's quotes: Better to be disliked than pitied; You can't achieve anything without getting in someone' way. My favorite is: "His ignorance is encyclopedic." That's me.
21A: Key above G: A-FLAT
23A: Hebrew month: ELUL (the 12th month)
27A: Dispersed: SCATTERED
29A: Man of old Rome: VIR. Or viri, Latin for man or manliness, as in virile. Look at these nuggets of information.
30A: Nine: pref. ENNEA. Greek for nine. Latin is nona/non.
31A: Actress Garson: GREER. OK, her classic is Mrs. Miniver, I have not forgotten yet.
40A: Military welfare. org: USO (United Service Organizations). I was confused by the word "Welfare". I was thinking of an organization that helps financially strapped or injured soldiers.
41A: Father of France: PERE. If I did not know French, I would probably go to the direction of founding father road.
42A: Vasco __ de Balboa: NUNEZ. Know him, but never know how to spell his name.
43A: Exclude: DISBAR. American politics can be so cruel and unforgiving. A victim-less reckless behavior brought down an otherwise brilliant governor in less than 3 days. And now rumors run amok about possible disbarment!
47A: Forewarning: THREAT
49A: Geom. figure: CIR (Circle)
57A: Caen's neighbor: ST. LO. Both D-Day cities. Here is the map. See St Lo and Caen on the left side?
58A: Mr. Serling: ROD. The Twilight Zone guy. So many noteworthy RODs in this world, those crossword guys can pick up anyone who catches their fancy at the moment.
59A:Socrates' pupil: PLATO
62A: Initials in want ads: EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity)
65A: Brain areas: CEREBRA. Single form Cerebrum. Have you visited Ken Jennings' blog before?
67A: Portuguese cape: ROCA. No idea. The dictionary says "Roca is a cape in W Portugal, near Lisbon: the western extremity of continental Europe."
71A: Paraphernalia: GEAR. I did not know the meaning of "Paraphernalia". OK, para is Greek for beyond, phere is dowry. How can it become "gear" in the end? Strange.
72A: Breakfast-time serving: OAT BRAN. Sounds very unappetizing to me. Does anyone actually eat this stuff?
74A: Neurological test letters: EEG
75A: River island: AIT. Dictionary says it's a British dialect for Island. Same pronunciation as Eight.
77A: Start of a verse: UNI (Universe)
84A: _ diem (seize the day): CARPE.
87A: Wide shots: MISSES. I misread the clue as "wild shots", and I was thinking of Phil Mickelson's wild tee shots, still, MISSES fit perfectly.
91A: Camera holder: TRIPOD
93A: Surfers' shopping place: EMALLS. Internet surfing. I like this clue.
95A: Wage-slaves' refrain: TGIF
98A: Gold in the Sierra Madre: ORO (Spanish for gold). This is one of the very few Spanish words I actually know. Let me see what is Spanish for Gold medal... Medalla de oro. Why is it feminine form? Weird. Is Oro also a feminine form? Anyone speaks Spanish here?
99A: Some NCOS: CPLS (Corporal).
106A: Islands off Ireland: ARAN. Here is the map, quite close to Galway.
107A: Iroquois tribe members: ERIES
108A: Starbucks jumbo-size: VENTI. Too bad, their stock price has tanked.
110A: Broken: FRACTURED
112A: Longfellow character: ALDEN (John). No idea. Only know a few lines from Leonard Cohen, that's about all the English poems I've touched. OK, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, looks like a love triangle story to me.
115A: Salamander: NEWT. Let's try Contract with America author Gingrich, or even better Clinton's "Cry Baby" Gingrich. This guy actually has some great ideas.
118A: Performing: DOING
119A: End of the small intestine: ILEUM. Plural ILEA. ILIUM is the "upper portion of either hipbone", plural ILIA. These Latins are all Greek to me.
120A: Singer Ed: AMES. My ignorance is really encyclopedic and far-flung. Have never heard of him.
121A: Adam's grandson: ENOS. Or Slaughter of Cooperstown.
122A: Sports pages' figs: STATS. My husband pores them over like it's our financial statement.
Down clues:
1D: Christopher or Pinky: LEE. Know neither of them.
2D: Silent communication, briefly: ASL (American Sign Language). It's also called Ameslan.
3D: Break because: PAUSE TO. I don't like the clue.
4D: Sweet sounding: DULCET. I did not know this word. Somehow I want it to be sucre, which sounds so sugary and sweet.
5D: Religious denomination: SECT
6D: Lookout man, for example: ABETTOR
11D: Split into splinters: SLIVERED. Wonderful alliteration. I love it.
12D: Disinfects: SANITIZES
13D: Cheri of "Saturday Night Live": OTERI. Learned Michael Lorne (SNL producer) and her name from doing crossword. I've never watched SNL.
14D: Overseer: SUPERVISOR
15D: Man who died from lying: ANANIAS. Nope. I like this word though: a chronic liar. But "Every man is born truthful and every man dies a liar." Forgot who said that.
16D: Calling into play: USING
17D: Singer Cherry: NENEH. Swedish singer, how am I supposed to know her?
18D: Bothered: ATE AT. I start to like this kind of answer, with a preposition in to throw you off. Much better than excavating some obscure dead actors to frustrate me.
25D: Some M.I.T. graduates: EES (Electrical Engineering)
28D: Plains tribes: ARAPAHO. It's a "tribe of North American Indians of Algonquian speech stock, once dwelling in the Colorado plains and now in Oklahoma and Wyoming." No idea. These Indian tribes give me problems too.
I don't think I am good at anything actually. I do know the madman Ahmadinejad, and I know the new Russia puppet Dmitri Medvedev, and I know how to pronounce their names correctly. That's about it.
32D: Hebrew letter: RESH (20th letter). A big sigh here. No idea.
35D: Rug rat: TODDLER
37D: Apollo's mother: LETO (Greek). Roman is LATONA. Apollo's birthplace is DELOS (Oracle of Apollo)
38D: Blinkers: TURN SIGNALS
44D: Relative of toucan: BARBET. So pretty. What kind of berry is that?
45D: Greek malls: AGORAE. This clue made me laugh. Let's go to the mall, Socrates!
46D: Detection Device: RADARS
48D: Abbr. on a cornerstone: ESTAB
49D: Reduce the air intake: CHOKE
51D: Blah, blah, blah...: ETC ETC
54D: "Misery" director: REINER (ROB). Only saw his A Few Good Man.
59D: French writer Marcel: PROUST. "Remembrance of Things Past" is simply too complicated for me to digest. My mind is not sophisticated enough to understand those convoluted western philosophical thinking. They give me headache.
60D: Repair-shop car: LOANER
61D: End of many plays: ACT III
64D: Online currency: ECASH. I like this ECASH, EMALL, EJOKE stuff.
68D: Bullfighter: MATADOR. Mata(r) is spanish for "to kill". Odd. How can "To Kill" evolved into a bullfighter? Torero sounds reasonable to me, as "Toro" means "bull" in Spanish.
70D: Make haste: HIE
73D: Tapes: RECORDINGS
76D: Bloodhound, at times: SNIFFER
79D: In particular: SPECIALLY
81D: French designer's monogram: YSL (Yves -Saint-Laurent).
85D: Worker: EMPLOYEE
88D: Shrill: STRIDENT
92D: Omen: PORTENT
94D: Michaels and Hirschfeld: ALS. Do you believe in Miracles? YES!
95D: I am open to instruction: TEACH ME. Yes, please!
96D: Elegantly stylish: GENTEEL
100D: Noisy quarrel: FRACAS. Oh the Ferraro fracas! I actually admire her never-back-down attitude. She stands up for what she believes, even if it's wrong.
101D: Castle and Dunne: IRENES
102D: Boob tube spots: TV ADS
103D: Athenian slave: HELOT. The dictionary says that HELOT is "one of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, neither a slave nor a free citizen.". So technically the clue is not correct then?
104D: Type of ink: INDIA. Also called Chinese ink.
105D: Classic Michael Caine film: ALFIE. I only saw the Jude Law's Alfie.
106D: Garfunkel or Buchwald: ART. Never have time to read Buchwald I'll always have Paris. But Paris is in my mind.
I am done!
C.C.
24A: Two-land road feature: CENTER LINE
34A: Make no mistake: GET IT RIGHT
36A: Quit messing with: LEFT ALONE
53A: Steno's writing: SHORT HAND
68A: Spouted dispenser: MILK PITCHER
80A: Very soon: ANY SECOND
100A: One way to jump in: FEET FIRST
102A: Subway current resources: THIRD RAILS
113A: Insect eater: FLY CATCHER
No quip from Mr. Olschwang? He is either reformed or this is another constructor name printing error. It's probably latter but I prefer the former. Kind of feel like Ed Voile's work.
Nevertheless, I love this puzzle, it's the most aesthetically pleasing TMS puzzle I've ever done. Doesn't it the finished grid look great to you? Every ball player is in his proper position. Superb execution of the theme in my view.
I was overjoyed when I saw the titled theme - I love baseball, and I was able to fill in almost all the theme entries after PITCHER revealed itself.
All right, let's play ball!
Across entries:
1A: Relative of CHiPs: LAPD. My first reaction: The TV series CHiPs spin off? I just checked Erik Estrada yesterday and I remember this strange spelling CHiPs. Had no idea that CHiP refer to California Highway Patrol.
9A: Rustler's rope: LASSO. "Bola" in Spanish I gather?
20A: Israeli statesman: EBAN (ABBA). His command of English is superb, even Kissinger was mesmerized. My one-time crush Netanyahu called him "the founding father of Israeli diplomacy". Oh, by the way, ABBA is "father" in Hebrew language. I love so many of Eban's quotes: Better to be disliked than pitied; You can't achieve anything without getting in someone' way. My favorite is: "His ignorance is encyclopedic." That's me.
21A: Key above G: A-FLAT
23A: Hebrew month: ELUL (the 12th month)
27A: Dispersed: SCATTERED
29A: Man of old Rome: VIR. Or viri, Latin for man or manliness, as in virile. Look at these nuggets of information.
30A: Nine: pref. ENNEA. Greek for nine. Latin is nona/non.
31A: Actress Garson: GREER. OK, her classic is Mrs. Miniver, I have not forgotten yet.
40A: Military welfare. org: USO (United Service Organizations). I was confused by the word "Welfare". I was thinking of an organization that helps financially strapped or injured soldiers.
41A: Father of France: PERE. If I did not know French, I would probably go to the direction of founding father road.
42A: Vasco __ de Balboa: NUNEZ. Know him, but never know how to spell his name.
43A: Exclude: DISBAR. American politics can be so cruel and unforgiving. A victim-less reckless behavior brought down an otherwise brilliant governor in less than 3 days. And now rumors run amok about possible disbarment!
47A: Forewarning: THREAT
49A: Geom. figure: CIR (Circle)
57A: Caen's neighbor: ST. LO. Both D-Day cities. Here is the map. See St Lo and Caen on the left side?
58A: Mr. Serling: ROD. The Twilight Zone guy. So many noteworthy RODs in this world, those crossword guys can pick up anyone who catches their fancy at the moment.
59A:Socrates' pupil: PLATO
62A: Initials in want ads: EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity)
65A: Brain areas: CEREBRA. Single form Cerebrum. Have you visited Ken Jennings' blog before?
67A: Portuguese cape: ROCA. No idea. The dictionary says "Roca is a cape in W Portugal, near Lisbon: the western extremity of continental Europe."
71A: Paraphernalia: GEAR. I did not know the meaning of "Paraphernalia". OK, para is Greek for beyond, phere is dowry. How can it become "gear" in the end? Strange.
72A: Breakfast-time serving: OAT BRAN. Sounds very unappetizing to me. Does anyone actually eat this stuff?
74A: Neurological test letters: EEG
75A: River island: AIT. Dictionary says it's a British dialect for Island. Same pronunciation as Eight.
77A: Start of a verse: UNI (Universe)
84A: _ diem (seize the day): CARPE.
87A: Wide shots: MISSES. I misread the clue as "wild shots", and I was thinking of Phil Mickelson's wild tee shots, still, MISSES fit perfectly.
91A: Camera holder: TRIPOD
93A: Surfers' shopping place: EMALLS. Internet surfing. I like this clue.
95A: Wage-slaves' refrain: TGIF
98A: Gold in the Sierra Madre: ORO (Spanish for gold). This is one of the very few Spanish words I actually know. Let me see what is Spanish for Gold medal... Medalla de oro. Why is it feminine form? Weird. Is Oro also a feminine form? Anyone speaks Spanish here?
99A: Some NCOS: CPLS (Corporal).
106A: Islands off Ireland: ARAN. Here is the map, quite close to Galway.
107A: Iroquois tribe members: ERIES
108A: Starbucks jumbo-size: VENTI. Too bad, their stock price has tanked.
110A: Broken: FRACTURED
112A: Longfellow character: ALDEN (John). No idea. Only know a few lines from Leonard Cohen, that's about all the English poems I've touched. OK, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, looks like a love triangle story to me.
115A: Salamander: NEWT. Let's try Contract with America author Gingrich, or even better Clinton's "Cry Baby" Gingrich. This guy actually has some great ideas.
118A: Performing: DOING
119A: End of the small intestine: ILEUM. Plural ILEA. ILIUM is the "upper portion of either hipbone", plural ILIA. These Latins are all Greek to me.
120A: Singer Ed: AMES. My ignorance is really encyclopedic and far-flung. Have never heard of him.
121A: Adam's grandson: ENOS. Or Slaughter of Cooperstown.
122A: Sports pages' figs: STATS. My husband pores them over like it's our financial statement.
Down clues:
1D: Christopher or Pinky: LEE. Know neither of them.
2D: Silent communication, briefly: ASL (American Sign Language). It's also called Ameslan.
3D: Break because: PAUSE TO. I don't like the clue.
4D: Sweet sounding: DULCET. I did not know this word. Somehow I want it to be sucre, which sounds so sugary and sweet.
5D: Religious denomination: SECT
6D: Lookout man, for example: ABETTOR
11D: Split into splinters: SLIVERED. Wonderful alliteration. I love it.
12D: Disinfects: SANITIZES
13D: Cheri of "Saturday Night Live": OTERI. Learned Michael Lorne (SNL producer) and her name from doing crossword. I've never watched SNL.
14D: Overseer: SUPERVISOR
15D: Man who died from lying: ANANIAS. Nope. I like this word though: a chronic liar. But "Every man is born truthful and every man dies a liar." Forgot who said that.
16D: Calling into play: USING
17D: Singer Cherry: NENEH. Swedish singer, how am I supposed to know her?
18D: Bothered: ATE AT. I start to like this kind of answer, with a preposition in to throw you off. Much better than excavating some obscure dead actors to frustrate me.
25D: Some M.I.T. graduates: EES (Electrical Engineering)
28D: Plains tribes: ARAPAHO. It's a "tribe of North American Indians of Algonquian speech stock, once dwelling in the Colorado plains and now in Oklahoma and Wyoming." No idea. These Indian tribes give me problems too.
I don't think I am good at anything actually. I do know the madman Ahmadinejad, and I know the new Russia puppet Dmitri Medvedev, and I know how to pronounce their names correctly. That's about it.
32D: Hebrew letter: RESH (20th letter). A big sigh here. No idea.
35D: Rug rat: TODDLER
37D: Apollo's mother: LETO (Greek). Roman is LATONA. Apollo's birthplace is DELOS (Oracle of Apollo)
38D: Blinkers: TURN SIGNALS
44D: Relative of toucan: BARBET. So pretty. What kind of berry is that?
45D: Greek malls: AGORAE. This clue made me laugh. Let's go to the mall, Socrates!
46D: Detection Device: RADARS
48D: Abbr. on a cornerstone: ESTAB
49D: Reduce the air intake: CHOKE
51D: Blah, blah, blah...: ETC ETC
54D: "Misery" director: REINER (ROB). Only saw his A Few Good Man.
59D: French writer Marcel: PROUST. "Remembrance of Things Past" is simply too complicated for me to digest. My mind is not sophisticated enough to understand those convoluted western philosophical thinking. They give me headache.
60D: Repair-shop car: LOANER
61D: End of many plays: ACT III
64D: Online currency: ECASH. I like this ECASH, EMALL, EJOKE stuff.
68D: Bullfighter: MATADOR. Mata(r) is spanish for "to kill". Odd. How can "To Kill" evolved into a bullfighter? Torero sounds reasonable to me, as "Toro" means "bull" in Spanish.
70D: Make haste: HIE
73D: Tapes: RECORDINGS
76D: Bloodhound, at times: SNIFFER
79D: In particular: SPECIALLY
81D: French designer's monogram: YSL (Yves -Saint-Laurent).
85D: Worker: EMPLOYEE
88D: Shrill: STRIDENT
92D: Omen: PORTENT
94D: Michaels and Hirschfeld: ALS. Do you believe in Miracles? YES!
95D: I am open to instruction: TEACH ME. Yes, please!
96D: Elegantly stylish: GENTEEL
100D: Noisy quarrel: FRACAS. Oh the Ferraro fracas! I actually admire her never-back-down attitude. She stands up for what she believes, even if it's wrong.
101D: Castle and Dunne: IRENES
102D: Boob tube spots: TV ADS
103D: Athenian slave: HELOT. The dictionary says that HELOT is "one of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, neither a slave nor a free citizen.". So technically the clue is not correct then?
104D: Type of ink: INDIA. Also called Chinese ink.
105D: Classic Michael Caine film: ALFIE. I only saw the Jude Law's Alfie.
106D: Garfunkel or Buchwald: ART. Never have time to read Buchwald I'll always have Paris. But Paris is in my mind.
I am done!
C.C.
