Theme: QUIP
20A: Start of Zsa Zsa Gabor quip: I NEVER HATED A
37A: Part 2 of quip: MAN ENOUGH
42A: Part 3 of quip: TO GIVE HIM
56A: End of quip: DIAMONDS BACK
Yes, "diamonds are a girl's best friend". They never leave you, men do!
I was hot this morning, waves and waves of thrilling momentums thrusting me through the whole puzzle until I reached my ÉCLAT.
Made one careless mistake though. Put CUBIC instead of CUBIT for 1D, so my "Honor Thy Father" author became CALESE rather than TALESE, whom I actually heard of due to the controversy over James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" - a Nan TALESE imprint.
I like how these sparking words like STAR, OMEGA, FLAW, ELATE, FLORET, LASTS, TO A T and ÉCLAT are sprinkled in the whole grid, shining together with the DIAMONDS. Great stuff.
ACROSS:
1A: Good Hope or Mary: CAPE. Know Cape of Good Hope, but have never heard of Cape of Mary, where is it? (Update: I misread the clue, it's CAPE MAY, not CAPE MARY)
5A: Stable youngster: FOAL. Which is your pick for this year's Kentucky Derby? Colonel John also? How about Z Fortune?
9A: Musical syllables: TRA-LA
15A: Sorenstam's org: LPGA. Met her in person during 2002 Solheim Cup here in MN. Very cool!
17A: Nota __ (note well): BENE. Often in abbreviated N. B. form.
23A: "Honor Thy Father" author: TALESE (Gay)
25A: Money-managing exec.: CFO. How many CFOs have been put behind bars? Let me count: Andrew Fastow, Scott Sullivan, who else?
28A: Julie Andrews movie: STAR. I've never watched this movie before. Love her "The Sound of Music" though. Her memoir "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" right now is the #1 on NY Times bestsellers list I think.
31A: Start of a trip: SET OUT. There are 2 SET's (19A: ONSET and SET OUT) and 2 OUT's (SET OUT and 33D: OUTGO) in today's puzzle.
33A: Missouri feeder: OSAGE. Nailed it this time.
39A: Bruins' home: UCLA. Quite a few college sports teams in the US named Bruins, not to mention Bobby ORR's Bruins. Lots of BEARS, LIONS, and BULLDOGS.
44A: Early anesthetic: ETHER
49A: __ -pitch softball: SLO. What do you call Jamie Moyer's style of pitching then? Not SLO-pitch baseball?
51A: Lifts the spirits: ELATES
59A: Bird call: TWEET
62A: Mr. Knievel: EVEL. Daredevil indeed.
64A: Stock unit: SHARE
67A: Hit hard: POUND
68A: Confederate: ALLY
69A: Makes lace: TATS. Isn't strange that this verb TAT come from the noun TATTING? More often than not, English noun words come after the verb words, don't they?
DOWN:
1D: Biblical length: CUBIT
4D: Ecole attendee: ÉLÈVE. Surprisingly, most of the ÉLÈVE are very bien-élevé. Somehow they just morph into who they are today after they graduate.
5D: Bloom: FLORET
6D: Moonfish: OPAH
9D: Trampled: TRODDEN
10D: Barrett or Jaffe: RONA. Know Barrett, the "Just an inch" gossip columnist "Miss RONA". Have no idea who RONA Jaffe is.
25D: Doctor's request: COUGH. I like how COUGH intersects with AGUE.
26D: Bach work: FUGUE. No idea. I got it from the across clues.
29D: Indian nursemaid: AMAH. It's called AMAH in Hongkong too.
32D: Perfectly: TO A T
33D: Expenditures: OUTGO. Not OUTGOES?
38D: Jules Verne captain: NEMO. Or movie "Finding __".
40D: Inventor Nikola: TESLA. Here is more information about this inventor. Saw TESLA clued as "unit of magnetic flux density" before.
50D: Last letter: OMEGA. I want this OMEGA.
52D: Toward the stern: ABAFT. No idea. I figured it out by the across clues. OK, ABAFT comes from middle English "on baft", b is by, aft is toward the stern. Good.
53D: Indian drum: TABLA. I forgot. It's "a small drum or pair of drums of India tuned to different pitches and played with the hands". See this picture.
54D: Extraordinary brilliance: ÉCLAT. Yes indeed!
55D: Distorts: SKEWS
56D: Laura of "Jurassic Park": DERN. Have never seen any of her movies. Knew her only because of the Billy Bob Thornton & Angelina Jolie romance saga.
61D: The water of Paris: EAU. Why "the water"? Wouldn't that be EVIAN?
C.C.
20A: Start of Zsa Zsa Gabor quip: I NEVER HATED A
37A: Part 2 of quip: MAN ENOUGH
42A: Part 3 of quip: TO GIVE HIM
56A: End of quip: DIAMONDS BACK
Yes, "diamonds are a girl's best friend". They never leave you, men do!
I was hot this morning, waves and waves of thrilling momentums thrusting me through the whole puzzle until I reached my ÉCLAT.
Made one careless mistake though. Put CUBIC instead of CUBIT for 1D, so my "Honor Thy Father" author became CALESE rather than TALESE, whom I actually heard of due to the controversy over James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" - a Nan TALESE imprint.
I like how these sparking words like STAR, OMEGA, FLAW, ELATE, FLORET, LASTS, TO A T and ÉCLAT are sprinkled in the whole grid, shining together with the DIAMONDS. Great stuff.
ACROSS:
1A: Good Hope or Mary: CAPE. Know Cape of Good Hope, but have never heard of Cape of Mary, where is it? (Update: I misread the clue, it's CAPE MAY, not CAPE MARY)
5A: Stable youngster: FOAL. Which is your pick for this year's Kentucky Derby? Colonel John also? How about Z Fortune?
9A: Musical syllables: TRA-LA
15A: Sorenstam's org: LPGA. Met her in person during 2002 Solheim Cup here in MN. Very cool!
17A: Nota __ (note well): BENE. Often in abbreviated N. B. form.
23A: "Honor Thy Father" author: TALESE (Gay)
25A: Money-managing exec.: CFO. How many CFOs have been put behind bars? Let me count: Andrew Fastow, Scott Sullivan, who else?
28A: Julie Andrews movie: STAR. I've never watched this movie before. Love her "The Sound of Music" though. Her memoir "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" right now is the #1 on NY Times bestsellers list I think.
31A: Start of a trip: SET OUT. There are 2 SET's (19A: ONSET and SET OUT) and 2 OUT's (SET OUT and 33D: OUTGO) in today's puzzle.
33A: Missouri feeder: OSAGE. Nailed it this time.
39A: Bruins' home: UCLA. Quite a few college sports teams in the US named Bruins, not to mention Bobby ORR's Bruins. Lots of BEARS, LIONS, and BULLDOGS.
44A: Early anesthetic: ETHER
49A: __ -pitch softball: SLO. What do you call Jamie Moyer's style of pitching then? Not SLO-pitch baseball?
51A: Lifts the spirits: ELATES
59A: Bird call: TWEET
62A: Mr. Knievel: EVEL. Daredevil indeed.
64A: Stock unit: SHARE
67A: Hit hard: POUND
68A: Confederate: ALLY
69A: Makes lace: TATS. Isn't strange that this verb TAT come from the noun TATTING? More often than not, English noun words come after the verb words, don't they?
DOWN:
1D: Biblical length: CUBIT
4D: Ecole attendee: ÉLÈVE. Surprisingly, most of the ÉLÈVE are very bien-élevé. Somehow they just morph into who they are today after they graduate.
5D: Bloom: FLORET
6D: Moonfish: OPAH
9D: Trampled: TRODDEN
10D: Barrett or Jaffe: RONA. Know Barrett, the "Just an inch" gossip columnist "Miss RONA". Have no idea who RONA Jaffe is.
25D: Doctor's request: COUGH. I like how COUGH intersects with AGUE.
26D: Bach work: FUGUE. No idea. I got it from the across clues.
29D: Indian nursemaid: AMAH. It's called AMAH in Hongkong too.
32D: Perfectly: TO A T
33D: Expenditures: OUTGO. Not OUTGOES?
38D: Jules Verne captain: NEMO. Or movie "Finding __".
40D: Inventor Nikola: TESLA. Here is more information about this inventor. Saw TESLA clued as "unit of magnetic flux density" before.
50D: Last letter: OMEGA. I want this OMEGA.
52D: Toward the stern: ABAFT. No idea. I figured it out by the across clues. OK, ABAFT comes from middle English "on baft", b is by, aft is toward the stern. Good.
53D: Indian drum: TABLA. I forgot. It's "a small drum or pair of drums of India tuned to different pitches and played with the hands". See this picture.
54D: Extraordinary brilliance: ÉCLAT. Yes indeed!
55D: Distorts: SKEWS
56D: Laura of "Jurassic Park": DERN. Have never seen any of her movies. Knew her only because of the Billy Bob Thornton & Angelina Jolie romance saga.
61D: The water of Paris: EAU. Why "the water"? Wouldn't that be EVIAN?
C.C.
