Theme: INSULT
18A: Start of an insult: LET'S PLAY
20A: Part 2 of an insult: HORSE I'LL PRETEND
35A: Part 3 of insult: TO BE THE FRONT END
54A: Part 4 of insult: AND YOU CAN JUST BE
60A: End of an insult: YOURSELF
Wow, can I say this to Jeff Immelt? Can I tell him that I've had enough of his Kool-Aid and he can go to hell with his Bear Stearns meltdown-I-could-NOT-close-asset-deals excuse? GE sucks!
Oh I am so delirious with my 3rd career home run today, though I had no idea that DELIRIA is the name of the "Interactive urban fantasy game".
I had a very impulsive start, filling in ASLOPE and ASHORE rather recklessly. I was stunned that they turned out to be right fills. The whole northwest corner yielded to me so quickly that I started to think I had entered the Tiger Zone.
I proceeded very boldly to the other areas, and really astonished myself by conquering the whole field without much resistance. I had no idea what is SEPT, or who are BOYD or TASSO, but I was able to piece the names together either by the across or the down clues.
No need to flirt with Mr. Google.
ACROSS:
1A: Topped (off): CAPPED
10A: Belgrade native: SERB
14A: Slanted: ASLOPE. Aslant. Atilt. What else?
17A: Inclined troughs: CHUTES. Here is a picture.
24A: Interactive urban fantasy game: DELIRIA. Have never heard of it. But the answer is easily gettable.
32A: Italian epic poet: TASSO. Unknown to me. The only Italian poet I know is Dante and his "Divine Comedy". Tasso wrote the epic "Jerusalem Delivered"(1581), an account of the capture of the city during the First Crusade, according to the dictionary.
34A: Uniform: EVEN. The crossing of EVE and EVEN bugs me.
41A: NFL kicker Jason: ELAM. Vaguely remembered seeing his name before. Wow, his uniform is #1. Cool! Is he good?
42A: Fancy headdress: TIARA
47A: Pecan candy: PRALINE. I've never had this candy before.
51A: Coniferous tree: SPRUCE
61A: Peter or Annette: O'TOOLE. Know Peter, not Annette.
62A: Morales of "La Bamba": ESAI. He is always Tony Rodriguez to me.
64A:"Maverick" star: GARNER (James). Total stranger to me. I strung his name together by down clues. To make Ben Affleck happy, please clue the beautiful Jennifer GARNER next time!
65A: Ward of "The Fugitive": SELA
66A: 1960s radical grp: S.D.S. (Students for a Democratic Society). I tend to confuse this SDS with S.L.A. (Symbionese Liberation Army). Aren't they both from 1960s?
67A: Change direction sharply: SHEERS. Had no idea that SHEER can be a verb.
DOWNS:
1D: Hidden away: CACHED
2D: Off the boat: ASHORE
3D: More than one: PLURAL
6D: Bandleader Arnaz: DESI. "I Love Lucy", who doesn't?
7D: Type of lily: CALLA. Beautiful, isn't it?
8D: Proficient one: ADEPTS
9D: Lengths in France: MÈTRES
10D: Family clans: SEPTS. My dictionary says it's a variation of SECT (probably by confusion with Latin word Septum, meaning paddock, enclosure). It refers to a clan in Ancient Ireland and Scotland. I have no idea. I only know SEPT is French for 7.
11D: Perry's creator: ERLE (Stanley Gardner)
12D: Horse color: ROAN
13D: "Ben Hur" co-star: BOYD (Stephen). No idea. Only knew Charlton Heston was in the movie.
19D: Inoculants: SERA. Singular form is "Serum".
25D: Thing: ITEM
30D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN. Did not know the meaning of "sebaceous". But cyst is sufficient for me to ferret out the answer. OK, "Sebaceous" means fatty, greasy. The root word is "sebum", fatty secretion of sebaceous glands, like tallow I suppose. Then "aceous" is a suffix meaning "resembling, made of", oh, like curvaceous?
34D: List ender: ET. AL. Hey, he is back!
38D: Mature: RIPEN
39D: Dinghy mover: OAR. I want to be in this dinghy.
40D: Blue Eagle org.: NRA (National Recovery Administration). NRA is also the powerful National Rifle Association.
44D: Mil. mail drops: APOS (Army & Air Force Post Office). OK, what's the mail drop for the Marines and Navy Force then? (Update from Dennis: It's Fleet Post Office).
46D: Geometry master: EUCLID. I know his Chinese name from my middle school geometry class. No idea how to spell it in English. But it's easily pieced together from across clues. EUCLID is the "Greek mathematician who applied the deductive principles of logic to geometry, thereby deriving statements from clearly defined axioms."
45D: Vinegar holders: CRUETS
48D: Chant: INTONE
49D: More aristocratic: NOBLER
50D: Muslim leaders: var: EMEERS. When are you going to unleash AMIR?
51D: Assad's land: SYRIA. The Assad family has been in power since 1970. There are no "EMIRS" in Syria, right?
52D: Bistros: CAFÉS
54D: Mariner's assents: AYES
57D: Trots: JOGS. I like the appearance of "J" in the puzzle. Its scrabbliness (Is it a word?) adds weight to the grid and zests up the puzzle.
58D: Bryce Canyon state: UTAH
59D: Achy: SORE. What the heck has happened to you? Achy every day, hit too many "clubs"?
C.C.
18A: Start of an insult: LET'S PLAY
20A: Part 2 of an insult: HORSE I'LL PRETEND
35A: Part 3 of insult: TO BE THE FRONT END
54A: Part 4 of insult: AND YOU CAN JUST BE
60A: End of an insult: YOURSELF
Wow, can I say this to Jeff Immelt? Can I tell him that I've had enough of his Kool-Aid and he can go to hell with his Bear Stearns meltdown-I-could-NOT-close-asset-deals excuse? GE sucks!
Oh I am so delirious with my 3rd career home run today, though I had no idea that DELIRIA is the name of the "Interactive urban fantasy game".
I had a very impulsive start, filling in ASLOPE and ASHORE rather recklessly. I was stunned that they turned out to be right fills. The whole northwest corner yielded to me so quickly that I started to think I had entered the Tiger Zone.
I proceeded very boldly to the other areas, and really astonished myself by conquering the whole field without much resistance. I had no idea what is SEPT, or who are BOYD or TASSO, but I was able to piece the names together either by the across or the down clues.
No need to flirt with Mr. Google.
ACROSS:
1A: Topped (off): CAPPED
10A: Belgrade native: SERB
14A: Slanted: ASLOPE. Aslant. Atilt. What else?
17A: Inclined troughs: CHUTES. Here is a picture.
24A: Interactive urban fantasy game: DELIRIA. Have never heard of it. But the answer is easily gettable.
32A: Italian epic poet: TASSO. Unknown to me. The only Italian poet I know is Dante and his "Divine Comedy". Tasso wrote the epic "Jerusalem Delivered"(1581), an account of the capture of the city during the First Crusade, according to the dictionary.
34A: Uniform: EVEN. The crossing of EVE and EVEN bugs me.
41A: NFL kicker Jason: ELAM. Vaguely remembered seeing his name before. Wow, his uniform is #1. Cool! Is he good?
42A: Fancy headdress: TIARA
47A: Pecan candy: PRALINE. I've never had this candy before.
51A: Coniferous tree: SPRUCE
61A: Peter or Annette: O'TOOLE. Know Peter, not Annette.
62A: Morales of "La Bamba": ESAI. He is always Tony Rodriguez to me.
64A:"Maverick" star: GARNER (James). Total stranger to me. I strung his name together by down clues. To make Ben Affleck happy, please clue the beautiful Jennifer GARNER next time!
65A: Ward of "The Fugitive": SELA
66A: 1960s radical grp: S.D.S. (Students for a Democratic Society). I tend to confuse this SDS with S.L.A. (Symbionese Liberation Army). Aren't they both from 1960s?
67A: Change direction sharply: SHEERS. Had no idea that SHEER can be a verb.
DOWNS:
1D: Hidden away: CACHED
2D: Off the boat: ASHORE
3D: More than one: PLURAL
6D: Bandleader Arnaz: DESI. "I Love Lucy", who doesn't?
7D: Type of lily: CALLA. Beautiful, isn't it?
8D: Proficient one: ADEPTS
9D: Lengths in France: MÈTRES
10D: Family clans: SEPTS. My dictionary says it's a variation of SECT (probably by confusion with Latin word Septum, meaning paddock, enclosure). It refers to a clan in Ancient Ireland and Scotland. I have no idea. I only know SEPT is French for 7.
11D: Perry's creator: ERLE (Stanley Gardner)
12D: Horse color: ROAN
13D: "Ben Hur" co-star: BOYD (Stephen). No idea. Only knew Charlton Heston was in the movie.
19D: Inoculants: SERA. Singular form is "Serum".
25D: Thing: ITEM
30D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN. Did not know the meaning of "sebaceous". But cyst is sufficient for me to ferret out the answer. OK, "Sebaceous" means fatty, greasy. The root word is "sebum", fatty secretion of sebaceous glands, like tallow I suppose. Then "aceous" is a suffix meaning "resembling, made of", oh, like curvaceous?
34D: List ender: ET. AL. Hey, he is back!
38D: Mature: RIPEN
39D: Dinghy mover: OAR. I want to be in this dinghy.
40D: Blue Eagle org.: NRA (National Recovery Administration). NRA is also the powerful National Rifle Association.
44D: Mil. mail drops: APOS (Army & Air Force Post Office). OK, what's the mail drop for the Marines and Navy Force then? (Update from Dennis: It's Fleet Post Office).
46D: Geometry master: EUCLID. I know his Chinese name from my middle school geometry class. No idea how to spell it in English. But it's easily pieced together from across clues. EUCLID is the "Greek mathematician who applied the deductive principles of logic to geometry, thereby deriving statements from clearly defined axioms."
45D: Vinegar holders: CRUETS
48D: Chant: INTONE
49D: More aristocratic: NOBLER
50D: Muslim leaders: var: EMEERS. When are you going to unleash AMIR?
51D: Assad's land: SYRIA. The Assad family has been in power since 1970. There are no "EMIRS" in Syria, right?
52D: Bistros: CAFÉS
54D: Mariner's assents: AYES
57D: Trots: JOGS. I like the appearance of "J" in the puzzle. Its scrabbliness (Is it a word?) adds weight to the grid and zests up the puzzle.
58D: Bryce Canyon state: UTAH
59D: Achy: SORE. What the heck has happened to you? Achy every day, hit too many "clubs"?
C.C.
