Theme: WILL ROGERS QUOTE
17A: Start of Will Rogers quote: IT IS GREAT
24A: Part 2 of quote: TO BE GREAT
40A: Part 3 of quote: BUT IT
52A: Part 4 of quote: IS GREATER
63A: End of quote: TO BE HUMAN
Gone! I belted another one out of the ball park this morning. Unbelievable! I think I've entered this home run zone now.
There are probably 2 reasons for my smooth sailing today: 1) The puzzle is very easy. Lots of repetitive theme entries (esp "GREAT"). No obscure word. No MOSSY or dead actors or actress. 2) I am getting smarter. It's probably the former, though I prefer to think it's the latter.
I had a rather shaky start, having never heard of "fiddler crab". But I was able to string together the answers from the down clues. Then I zipped through the upper right corner and continued on effortlessly to the heart of the puzzle. Nabbed the theme very quickly. That allowed me to fill in a bunch of blank squares without even consulting the down clues.
My only pause today was 28A: TEE (Couples' pedestal"). I got the words, but was baffled a bit by the clue. Then I realized the "Couples" here is Fred Couples (PGA golfer). What a great trap! I am not sure I like "pedestal" part of the clue though, too fancy and heavy for a TEE. "Couples' Peg" would be a good one, but "peg' might be too self-revealing. What do you think? Alex of PGA (I presume you are a scratch golfer) will probably come up with a better clue.
As usual, I was IRED by 2 clues today: 49D: Single grain: OAT. 54D: Silo filler: GRAIN. I loathed seeing GRAIN twice. There has to be a way to circumvent this kind of avoidable double appearances. Once (CODE on Monday) in a week is already too much, twice (ORAL on Tuesday) is unbearable, three times in a week? I am speechless! I do like today's AFAR and AFIRE though.
Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Including 17 Rs, 15 Ss, and 18 Ts, which account for more than 1/4 of the total fills. Total blank squares: 36
OK, Let's tee off! Front nine:
1A: Fiddler in the sand: CRAB. What, their average lifespan is only 1.5 years?
5A: Tarry: BIDE
14A: In good health: HALE. If this constructor really wants to go for a Golf sub-theme, he will clue HALE as Erwin of Sr. PGA. He is a great golfer by the way, personality aside.
16A: Kind of eagle?: LEGAL Why is that? I don't get it. Is it because US Justice Department has an eagle on its seal? (Update later. From Dennis: "Legal Eagle" is a slang term that's been around for a long time, applied mostly to attorneys, paralegals, etc.).
20A: Lassos: RIATAS. Sometimes it's REATAS: "re" is the prefix for "again" of course, "atar" is "to fit, to tie", What about LARIAT? OK, "la" means "the" in Latin (from illa), "riat" comes from "Reatar". Interesting. What's the differences among RIATA, LARIAT and LASSO?
21A: Cherubic or seraphic: ANGELIC. The clue is a bit redundant, don't you think so?
34A: Search deeply (into): DELVE
38A: Fuss: TO-DO. ADO.
42A: Smoke deposit: SOOT
43A: Some Eastern Europeans: SLAVS. OK, so Russians belong to Eastern Slavs; the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, Slavonians, Slovenes belong to Southern Slavs; And the Poles, Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks belong to Western Slavs. This is a ethnic term not a racial term I gather???
45A: Abs exercise: SIT-UP
48A: DDE's arena: ETO (European Theater of Operations). Is there a special theater name for our current involvement in Iraq?
56A: Essence of roses: ATTAR
60A: Tell the tale: NARRATE
61A: Professional copyist: SCRIBE
67A: __ avis: RARA. Rare bird.
71A: Expanded: GREW. I did not fell into the "ED" trap.
Back Nine:
1D: Bird sound: CHIRP
2D: Relation in degree: RATIO
3D: Police blotter entry: ALIAS. Oh, by the way, when you opine at the Comments section, please adopt a name. You can still remain anonymous, it's just easier for others to identify you.
4D: Rouse: BESTIR. Hmm, wouldn't "Arouse" make a better clue? Esp since the prefix of "be" in BESTIR? Or does "arouse" have too much sexual connotation?
5D: Obstacles: BARS. I've never used "BAR" as a barrier. Sometimes simple English words slip my grasp very easily.
7D: Narc org.: DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, not Agency)
9D: Marked with a tab: FLAGGED
10D: Sports officials: REFEREES
12D: "West Side Story" tune: MARIA. Not familiar to me. I sewed together the word from the across clues.
33D: Indian instrument: SITAR. That's the playing instrument for Norah Jones' father (Ravi Shankar)
36D: Solemn promise: VOW. I put I DO first, but quickly discarded it.
37D: Hot time in Le Havre: ÉTÉ (Summer in French)
44D: Kind of clam: STEAMER
46D: Georgia fruit: PEACH. Ty Cobb is "the Georgia Peach".
49D: Single grain: OAT. How so? Can you also clue rice, corn, wheat this way?
51D: Like guitars and tennis racquets: STRUNG. Why "racquet" instead of "racket"?
52D:Peruvians of yore: INCAS
55D: Colorful fish: TETRA. If it's 4 letter, then it's OPAH.
57D: Lesser Sundas island: TIMOR. It's BALI on Sunday March 30's puzzle. OK, if it's Greater Sundas island, the answers could be Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and Sulawisi.
61D: Brown quickly: SEAR. The first image that popped to my mind is the UPS Brown guy. They come and go quickly.
Ready for tomorrow? Let me give you a clue, his surname is _ _ _ _ man.
C.C.
17A: Start of Will Rogers quote: IT IS GREAT
24A: Part 2 of quote: TO BE GREAT
40A: Part 3 of quote: BUT IT
52A: Part 4 of quote: IS GREATER
63A: End of quote: TO BE HUMAN
Gone! I belted another one out of the ball park this morning. Unbelievable! I think I've entered this home run zone now.
There are probably 2 reasons for my smooth sailing today: 1) The puzzle is very easy. Lots of repetitive theme entries (esp "GREAT"). No obscure word. No MOSSY or dead actors or actress. 2) I am getting smarter. It's probably the former, though I prefer to think it's the latter.
I had a rather shaky start, having never heard of "fiddler crab". But I was able to string together the answers from the down clues. Then I zipped through the upper right corner and continued on effortlessly to the heart of the puzzle. Nabbed the theme very quickly. That allowed me to fill in a bunch of blank squares without even consulting the down clues.
My only pause today was 28A: TEE (Couples' pedestal"). I got the words, but was baffled a bit by the clue. Then I realized the "Couples" here is Fred Couples (PGA golfer). What a great trap! I am not sure I like "pedestal" part of the clue though, too fancy and heavy for a TEE. "Couples' Peg" would be a good one, but "peg' might be too self-revealing. What do you think? Alex of PGA (I presume you are a scratch golfer) will probably come up with a better clue.
As usual, I was IRED by 2 clues today: 49D: Single grain: OAT. 54D: Silo filler: GRAIN. I loathed seeing GRAIN twice. There has to be a way to circumvent this kind of avoidable double appearances. Once (CODE on Monday) in a week is already too much, twice (ORAL on Tuesday) is unbearable, three times in a week? I am speechless! I do like today's AFAR and AFIRE though.
Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Including 17 Rs, 15 Ss, and 18 Ts, which account for more than 1/4 of the total fills. Total blank squares: 36
OK, Let's tee off! Front nine:
1A: Fiddler in the sand: CRAB. What, their average lifespan is only 1.5 years?
5A: Tarry: BIDE
14A: In good health: HALE. If this constructor really wants to go for a Golf sub-theme, he will clue HALE as Erwin of Sr. PGA. He is a great golfer by the way, personality aside.
16A: Kind of eagle?: LEGAL Why is that? I don't get it. Is it because US Justice Department has an eagle on its seal? (Update later. From Dennis: "Legal Eagle" is a slang term that's been around for a long time, applied mostly to attorneys, paralegals, etc.).
20A: Lassos: RIATAS. Sometimes it's REATAS: "re" is the prefix for "again" of course, "atar" is "to fit, to tie", What about LARIAT? OK, "la" means "the" in Latin (from illa), "riat" comes from "Reatar". Interesting. What's the differences among RIATA, LARIAT and LASSO?
21A: Cherubic or seraphic: ANGELIC. The clue is a bit redundant, don't you think so?
34A: Search deeply (into): DELVE
38A: Fuss: TO-DO. ADO.
42A: Smoke deposit: SOOT
43A: Some Eastern Europeans: SLAVS. OK, so Russians belong to Eastern Slavs; the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, Slavonians, Slovenes belong to Southern Slavs; And the Poles, Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks belong to Western Slavs. This is a ethnic term not a racial term I gather???
45A: Abs exercise: SIT-UP
48A: DDE's arena: ETO (European Theater of Operations). Is there a special theater name for our current involvement in Iraq?
56A: Essence of roses: ATTAR
60A: Tell the tale: NARRATE
61A: Professional copyist: SCRIBE
67A: __ avis: RARA. Rare bird.
71A: Expanded: GREW. I did not fell into the "ED" trap.
Back Nine:
1D: Bird sound: CHIRP
2D: Relation in degree: RATIO
3D: Police blotter entry: ALIAS. Oh, by the way, when you opine at the Comments section, please adopt a name. You can still remain anonymous, it's just easier for others to identify you.
4D: Rouse: BESTIR. Hmm, wouldn't "Arouse" make a better clue? Esp since the prefix of "be" in BESTIR? Or does "arouse" have too much sexual connotation?
5D: Obstacles: BARS. I've never used "BAR" as a barrier. Sometimes simple English words slip my grasp very easily.
7D: Narc org.: DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, not Agency)
9D: Marked with a tab: FLAGGED
10D: Sports officials: REFEREES
12D: "West Side Story" tune: MARIA. Not familiar to me. I sewed together the word from the across clues.
33D: Indian instrument: SITAR. That's the playing instrument for Norah Jones' father (Ravi Shankar)
36D: Solemn promise: VOW. I put I DO first, but quickly discarded it.
37D: Hot time in Le Havre: ÉTÉ (Summer in French)
44D: Kind of clam: STEAMER
46D: Georgia fruit: PEACH. Ty Cobb is "the Georgia Peach".
49D: Single grain: OAT. How so? Can you also clue rice, corn, wheat this way?
51D: Like guitars and tennis racquets: STRUNG. Why "racquet" instead of "racket"?
52D:Peruvians of yore: INCAS
55D: Colorful fish: TETRA. If it's 4 letter, then it's OPAH.
57D: Lesser Sundas island: TIMOR. It's BALI on Sunday March 30's puzzle. OK, if it's Greater Sundas island, the answers could be Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and Sulawisi.
61D: Brown quickly: SEAR. The first image that popped to my mind is the UPS Brown guy. They come and go quickly.
Ready for tomorrow? Let me give you a clue, his surname is _ _ _ _ man.
C.C.
