Theme: BANNING Rhymes (Famous people whose last names end with ANNING)
20A: "The Cat in the Hat" star: DAKOTA FANNING
37A: "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" singer: CAROL CHANNING
54A" Super Bowl XLI MVP: PEYTON MANNING
Happy Limerick Day everyone! I love today's puzzle, despite my ING phobia. Here are my reasons:
1) ANNING is Chinese for CALM, and CALM is clued as Tranquil (5A) in this puzzle.
2) I am happy to see NASDAQ & XANAX in one gird. Very scrabbly, though I've never heard of XANAX.
3) I like how COLONIAL intersects with CUP. Quite a few sports events are named as "COLONIAL CUP". I also like the intersections of URGENT and WHEN, NABS and BOOKED, TOGO and SOMALI.
4) The appearance of TETON and OGLER in one grid makes me laugh (TETON is a French slang for... hmm... "Milk Source").
There are also 2 computer abbreviations in today's puzzle: ISP and URL. And 2 rivals: RAGU (18A: Prega rival) and SAAB (59A: Volvo rival). And 2 racing related fills: 30D: ELLIOTT (30D: Auto racer Sadler) & LAP (31: Track circuit). And 2 Jamaica connections: KINGSTON (11D: Jamaica's largest city), ALLSPICE (38D: Jamaica pepper). Oh, by the way, MAXI Priest is of Jamaican descent too. That's how he got reggae talent in his blood I suppose. Don't you just love Bob Marley? "No woman no cry!"
ACROSS:
9A: Douglas and Ditka: MIKES. Know Douglas, not Ditka.
14A: Buck's tail: AROO. Buckaroo. Buck is always chased by AROO. For everything else, it's EROO (Switch, Smack, Smash, etc).
17A: Stirling man: SCOT. Stirling is in Central Scotland. I like this name Stir-ling.
19A: Alphrazolam brand name: XANAX. Completely unknown to me. Very intimidating clue, isn't it? I've never heard of alphrazolam. It's a drug for anxiety disorder. Why do they pick up XANAX for their trade name? This word is full of anxiety.
23A: Ms. Rogers St. Johns: ADELA. Got her today.
24A: Wings: Lat.: ALAE
28A: Proof letter: QED (Quod Erat Démōnstrandum). It was on yesterday's puzzle too.
29A: Soak flax: RET
35A: Pad: NOTEBOOK
40A: Early American style: COLONIAL. Sergio Garcia finally ended his drought yesterday at the Players' Championship. His first PGA win at COLONIAL (May 21, 2001) had a profound impact on my life. It's the first golf tournament I've ever watched.
45A: Actor Gulager: CLU. I don't know him. Pieced his name by the down clues.
60A: Entr'__: ACTE. You would not believe it, but I did fill in NOUS first. I boarded the train of Coupe de Foudre (Entre Nous) without looking carefully at the destination. What an INANE (10D: Really silly) mistake!
DOWN:
1D: Stock exchange: NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations). Shouldn't there be some words with the clue to indicate an abbreviated answer?
4D: Chihuahua drink: SOTOL. I've never heard of it. Here is a SOTOL plant. It's also called "Desert Spoon". Wikipedia says this plant "takes approximately 15 years to mature, and creates only one bottle of Sotol per plant".
5D: Irene of "Fame": CARA. Not familiar with her. I got her name from across clues.
6D: Bygone PLO Leader: ARAFAT (Yasser). What a historical opportunity he squandered at Camp David! This guy played double games all his life. Ridiculous!
8D: Hawaiian volcano: MAUNA LOA. Great to see its full name.
9D: "Close to You" singer Priest: MAXI. I don't like his "Close to you". I got an instant crush on his "That Girl" though.
21D: Florida fishes: TARPONS. Fishes? Not fish? Unknown to me. It's "a large, powerful game fish inhabiting the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean, having a compressed body and large, silvery scales." Here is a picture.
22D: Fastidious one: NEATNIK
26D: Syst. of instructions: PROG (Program). Is it an accepted abbreviation?
32D: Retiree's cash: PENSION. Goodbye Tension, Hello PENSION.
35D: Org. of Flames: NHL (National Hockey League). Good clue. And we are all WILD here in MN.
36D: Marceau character: BIP. No idea. Have never heard of "BIP the clown".
39D: Real cars: CABOOSES
47D: Foreigner hit: URGENT. I've heard of the band, not the song.
49D: Grand __ National Park: TETON. Have never been there before. But what a great name to lure visitors!
C.C.
20A: "The Cat in the Hat" star: DAKOTA FANNING
37A: "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" singer: CAROL CHANNING
54A" Super Bowl XLI MVP: PEYTON MANNING
Happy Limerick Day everyone! I love today's puzzle, despite my ING phobia. Here are my reasons:
1) ANNING is Chinese for CALM, and CALM is clued as Tranquil (5A) in this puzzle.
2) I am happy to see NASDAQ & XANAX in one gird. Very scrabbly, though I've never heard of XANAX.
3) I like how COLONIAL intersects with CUP. Quite a few sports events are named as "COLONIAL CUP". I also like the intersections of URGENT and WHEN, NABS and BOOKED, TOGO and SOMALI.
4) The appearance of TETON and OGLER in one grid makes me laugh (TETON is a French slang for... hmm... "Milk Source").
There are also 2 computer abbreviations in today's puzzle: ISP and URL. And 2 rivals: RAGU (18A: Prega rival) and SAAB (59A: Volvo rival). And 2 racing related fills: 30D: ELLIOTT (30D: Auto racer Sadler) & LAP (31: Track circuit). And 2 Jamaica connections: KINGSTON (11D: Jamaica's largest city), ALLSPICE (38D: Jamaica pepper). Oh, by the way, MAXI Priest is of Jamaican descent too. That's how he got reggae talent in his blood I suppose. Don't you just love Bob Marley? "No woman no cry!"
ACROSS:
9A: Douglas and Ditka: MIKES. Know Douglas, not Ditka.
14A: Buck's tail: AROO. Buckaroo. Buck is always chased by AROO. For everything else, it's EROO (Switch, Smack, Smash, etc).
17A: Stirling man: SCOT. Stirling is in Central Scotland. I like this name Stir-ling.
19A: Alphrazolam brand name: XANAX. Completely unknown to me. Very intimidating clue, isn't it? I've never heard of alphrazolam. It's a drug for anxiety disorder. Why do they pick up XANAX for their trade name? This word is full of anxiety.
23A: Ms. Rogers St. Johns: ADELA. Got her today.
24A: Wings: Lat.: ALAE
28A: Proof letter: QED (Quod Erat Démōnstrandum). It was on yesterday's puzzle too.
29A: Soak flax: RET
35A: Pad: NOTEBOOK
40A: Early American style: COLONIAL. Sergio Garcia finally ended his drought yesterday at the Players' Championship. His first PGA win at COLONIAL (May 21, 2001) had a profound impact on my life. It's the first golf tournament I've ever watched.
45A: Actor Gulager: CLU. I don't know him. Pieced his name by the down clues.
60A: Entr'__: ACTE. You would not believe it, but I did fill in NOUS first. I boarded the train of Coupe de Foudre (Entre Nous) without looking carefully at the destination. What an INANE (10D: Really silly) mistake!
DOWN:
1D: Stock exchange: NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations). Shouldn't there be some words with the clue to indicate an abbreviated answer?
4D: Chihuahua drink: SOTOL. I've never heard of it. Here is a SOTOL plant. It's also called "Desert Spoon". Wikipedia says this plant "takes approximately 15 years to mature, and creates only one bottle of Sotol per plant".
5D: Irene of "Fame": CARA. Not familiar with her. I got her name from across clues.
6D: Bygone PLO Leader: ARAFAT (Yasser). What a historical opportunity he squandered at Camp David! This guy played double games all his life. Ridiculous!
8D: Hawaiian volcano: MAUNA LOA. Great to see its full name.
9D: "Close to You" singer Priest: MAXI. I don't like his "Close to you". I got an instant crush on his "That Girl" though.
21D: Florida fishes: TARPONS. Fishes? Not fish? Unknown to me. It's "a large, powerful game fish inhabiting the warmer waters of the Atlantic Ocean, having a compressed body and large, silvery scales." Here is a picture.
22D: Fastidious one: NEATNIK
26D: Syst. of instructions: PROG (Program). Is it an accepted abbreviation?
32D: Retiree's cash: PENSION. Goodbye Tension, Hello PENSION.
35D: Org. of Flames: NHL (National Hockey League). Good clue. And we are all WILD here in MN.
36D: Marceau character: BIP. No idea. Have never heard of "BIP the clown".
39D: Real cars: CABOOSES
47D: Foreigner hit: URGENT. I've heard of the band, not the song.
49D: Grand __ National Park: TETON. Have never been there before. But what a great name to lure visitors!
C.C.
