Theme: Location Phrases
21A: Special clique: INNER CIRCLE
47A: Strained boundaries, maybe: OUTER LIMITS
3D: Elite: UPPER CRUST
30D: Sleeper car option: LOWER BERTH
Very symmetrical theme entries. Nice & easy! I polished it off in probably 20 minutes, cheated only once for TORS.
Grid Analysis:
Size: 15*15
Total Word counts: 78. This has reached the maximum word counts for a Monday to Friday themed puzzle. For your information, the maximum word counts is 72 for themeless Saturday puzzle, 142 for Sunday's themed (and titled) 21*21 puzzle.
Total black squares: 36
Across clues:
1A: Faithful: TRUE. Faithful? How about "Unfaithful"? I love this Diana Lane/Richard Gere movie. The Ai Du (Ali Farka music) is featured in the bathtub scene, very exotic and erotic.
10A: Whiskey spritz: SODA
15A: Wide-eyed: NAIVE. I put AGAPE first.
16A: Zenith: APEX. I put ACME first.
18A: Gun-toting: ARMED
19A: Slammer unit: CELL
26A: Theatre angel: BACKER. Why British spelling? No need here!
28A: Short-changed: SWINDLED
42A: Regarded highly: ESTEEMED
46A: Chocolate substitute: CAROB. Have never had this before. I hate all kinds of ersatz food substitutes.
55A: Political coalition: BLOC. One thing I would advocate is to change CIA's Assassination Manuel. Just gun down the halfwit Ahmadinejad, his hard-line conservative bloc will be automatically dismembered. Easy crumble! No need for another war.
56A: Archie Bunker's wife: EDITH
58A: Part of RPI: INST (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
62A: Iditarod rides: SLEDS. Its terminus is NOME.
Down entries:
5D: More ridiculous: INANER
7D: Soil sweetener: LIME. No idea. Only Miracle Growth for our garden.
9D: Mao's bailiwick: RED CHINA
10D: Sanctified: SACRED
12D: Small valley: DELL
21D: Dangerous time for Caesar: IDES. IDES of March. In Roman calendar, ides can also be the 15th of May, July or October.
28D: Sturdy: SOLID. I put STOUT first.
29D: Bit of weakling: WUSS
37D: Assortment offering: SAMPLERS
41D: High rocky hills: TORS. Did not know this word.
44D: Sympathetic sorrow: PATHOS. Here is the definition: PATHOS is a quality that evokes sympathy, sorrow. Interesting, here is another word: BATHOS. It's defined as "A false or overdone pathos that is absurd in its effect." Can anyone give me an example?
46D: Referenced: CITED. Don't foist upon me any words that cannot be referenced in my dictionary, no more ATIP please!
C.C.
21A: Special clique: INNER CIRCLE
47A: Strained boundaries, maybe: OUTER LIMITS
3D: Elite: UPPER CRUST
30D: Sleeper car option: LOWER BERTH
Very symmetrical theme entries. Nice & easy! I polished it off in probably 20 minutes, cheated only once for TORS.
Grid Analysis:
Size: 15*15
Total Word counts: 78. This has reached the maximum word counts for a Monday to Friday themed puzzle. For your information, the maximum word counts is 72 for themeless Saturday puzzle, 142 for Sunday's themed (and titled) 21*21 puzzle.
Total black squares: 36
Across clues:
1A: Faithful: TRUE. Faithful? How about "Unfaithful"? I love this Diana Lane/Richard Gere movie. The Ai Du (Ali Farka music) is featured in the bathtub scene, very exotic and erotic.
10A: Whiskey spritz: SODA
15A: Wide-eyed: NAIVE. I put AGAPE first.
16A: Zenith: APEX. I put ACME first.
18A: Gun-toting: ARMED
19A: Slammer unit: CELL
26A: Theatre angel: BACKER. Why British spelling? No need here!
28A: Short-changed: SWINDLED
42A: Regarded highly: ESTEEMED
46A: Chocolate substitute: CAROB. Have never had this before. I hate all kinds of ersatz food substitutes.
55A: Political coalition: BLOC. One thing I would advocate is to change CIA's Assassination Manuel. Just gun down the halfwit Ahmadinejad, his hard-line conservative bloc will be automatically dismembered. Easy crumble! No need for another war.
56A: Archie Bunker's wife: EDITH
58A: Part of RPI: INST (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)
62A: Iditarod rides: SLEDS. Its terminus is NOME.
Down entries:
5D: More ridiculous: INANER
7D: Soil sweetener: LIME. No idea. Only Miracle Growth for our garden.
9D: Mao's bailiwick: RED CHINA
10D: Sanctified: SACRED
12D: Small valley: DELL
21D: Dangerous time for Caesar: IDES. IDES of March. In Roman calendar, ides can also be the 15th of May, July or October.
28D: Sturdy: SOLID. I put STOUT first.
29D: Bit of weakling: WUSS
37D: Assortment offering: SAMPLERS
41D: High rocky hills: TORS. Did not know this word.
44D: Sympathetic sorrow: PATHOS. Here is the definition: PATHOS is a quality that evokes sympathy, sorrow. Interesting, here is another word: BATHOS. It's defined as "A false or overdone pathos that is absurd in its effect." Can anyone give me an example?
46D: Referenced: CITED. Don't foist upon me any words that cannot be referenced in my dictionary, no more ATIP please!
C.C.
