Theme: QUOTE
20A: Start of Christopher Fry quote: WHAT AFTER ALL
23A: Part 2 of quote: IS A HALO
37A: Part 3 of quote: IT'S ONLY
49A: Part 4 of quote: ONE MORE
50A: End of quote: THING TO CLEAN
This is a quote from British playwright Christopher Fry's 1949 comical drama The Lady's Not for Burning (Act I). In the same play, act III, he wrote:
"The moon is nothing
But a circumambulating aphrodisiac
Divinely subsidized to provoke the world
Into a rising birth-rate."
I've never heard of him. Wikipedia says "he was also one of the writers of the classic 1959 film, Ben-Hur".
This is my 19th post on Olschwang's puzzle, 17 of them are either QUIP or QUOTE. He should really give up on this exhausting odyssey and expand his repertoire. I enjoyed his other 2 non-Q offerings very much, esp the PLAY BALL puzzle on March 23.
The theme is very uninspiring, and most of the clues are bland, or rather, stale. Lots of repeat offenders, characteristic of Olschang's work. I do like the upper left ZIP corner and hate the last AIL/ILL grid.
It seems like ELI has appeared on our puzzle every day lately. But to our editor's credit, the clue has never been the same. Good!
ACROSS:
1A: Hera's husband: ZEUS. Or Hera's brother. Wasn't her mother RHEA in yesterday's puzzle? Guess we will see her son ARES (God of War) tomorrow. The Roman equivalent of Hera is Juno, ZEUS is Jupiter of course.
15A: Name-tag word. HELLO. HELLO, David Cook, wow, you won, BRAVO (33D: Cry of appreciation)!
17A: Related to yew?: PINY. Hmm, very interesting clue.
18A: Wickerwork material: OSIER. You can not make wicker out of this Red Osier Dogwood, can you?
26A: City on the Rhone delta: ARLES. This is where Van Gogh painted his Starry Night Over the Rhone. My favorite is La Chambre de Van Gogh a ARLES. His use of yellow color always overwhelms me.
31A: Valhalla bigwig: ODIN. He is the ZEUS of Norse mythology. I only learned this morning that ODIN gave up one of his eyes to gain wisdom. Didn't Van Gogh cut one of his ears for his lover? I don't mind striking a "Faustian Deal" with Devil either, but for one day only, just to be wise.
43A: Gassers: RIOTS
44A: Even___: STEVEN. Unknown to me. Inferable though.
55A: Minute plant structure: OVULE. Seed to be.
60A: Opposite of aweather: ALEE. I've never heard of "aweather".
62A: Spike or brad: NAIL. Clever little clue. I like it.
64A: Comic Foxx: REDD. What a strange name! DD & XX.
DOWN:
4D: Server's request: SAY WHEN. Here is Sadao Watanabe's "SAY WHEN". I love his "I thought about you."
5D: Sandbar: SHOALS. Schools of fish? Can you say that?
8D: Treble, for one: CLEF. Do you like Sophie Marceau? You want find la CLEF to her heart? You'd better finish your crossword under 3 minutes.
11D: Highlanders: GAELS. "My heart's in the highlands, my heart is not here..."
22D: Kind of bird?: EARLY. Good clue.
24D: Passover feast: SEDER. In the month of Nisan.
42D: Leftover piece: REMNANT
45D: Pekoe or Assam: TEA. Another Indian reference is RAVI (42A: Sitarist Shankar) Norah's father.
46D: __ of roses: ATTAR. Rose oil. I've never used any pure rose oil or rose water. Want to try some of these fruit shaped marzipans? Most of them are flavored with rose water.
47D: Sedimentary rock: SHALE. I did not know that you get get oil out of this SHALE.
49D: Stew pots: OLLAS.
57D: Tony Randall movie, "7 faces of Doctor ___": LAO. I've never seen this movie. Not familiar with Tony Randall at all. LAO means "old" in Chinese. LAO Tzu (Taoism) literally means "Old Master."
C.C.
20A: Start of Christopher Fry quote: WHAT AFTER ALL
23A: Part 2 of quote: IS A HALO
37A: Part 3 of quote: IT'S ONLY
49A: Part 4 of quote: ONE MORE
50A: End of quote: THING TO CLEAN
This is a quote from British playwright Christopher Fry's 1949 comical drama The Lady's Not for Burning (Act I). In the same play, act III, he wrote:
"The moon is nothing
But a circumambulating aphrodisiac
Divinely subsidized to provoke the world
Into a rising birth-rate."
I've never heard of him. Wikipedia says "he was also one of the writers of the classic 1959 film, Ben-Hur".
This is my 19th post on Olschwang's puzzle, 17 of them are either QUIP or QUOTE. He should really give up on this exhausting odyssey and expand his repertoire. I enjoyed his other 2 non-Q offerings very much, esp the PLAY BALL puzzle on March 23.
The theme is very uninspiring, and most of the clues are bland, or rather, stale. Lots of repeat offenders, characteristic of Olschang's work. I do like the upper left ZIP corner and hate the last AIL/ILL grid.
It seems like ELI has appeared on our puzzle every day lately. But to our editor's credit, the clue has never been the same. Good!
ACROSS:
1A: Hera's husband: ZEUS. Or Hera's brother. Wasn't her mother RHEA in yesterday's puzzle? Guess we will see her son ARES (God of War) tomorrow. The Roman equivalent of Hera is Juno, ZEUS is Jupiter of course.
15A: Name-tag word. HELLO. HELLO, David Cook, wow, you won, BRAVO (33D: Cry of appreciation)!
17A: Related to yew?: PINY. Hmm, very interesting clue.
18A: Wickerwork material: OSIER. You can not make wicker out of this Red Osier Dogwood, can you?
26A: City on the Rhone delta: ARLES. This is where Van Gogh painted his Starry Night Over the Rhone. My favorite is La Chambre de Van Gogh a ARLES. His use of yellow color always overwhelms me.
31A: Valhalla bigwig: ODIN. He is the ZEUS of Norse mythology. I only learned this morning that ODIN gave up one of his eyes to gain wisdom. Didn't Van Gogh cut one of his ears for his lover? I don't mind striking a "Faustian Deal" with Devil either, but for one day only, just to be wise.
43A: Gassers: RIOTS
44A: Even___: STEVEN. Unknown to me. Inferable though.
55A: Minute plant structure: OVULE. Seed to be.
60A: Opposite of aweather: ALEE. I've never heard of "aweather".
62A: Spike or brad: NAIL. Clever little clue. I like it.
64A: Comic Foxx: REDD. What a strange name! DD & XX.
DOWN:
4D: Server's request: SAY WHEN. Here is Sadao Watanabe's "SAY WHEN". I love his "I thought about you."
5D: Sandbar: SHOALS. Schools of fish? Can you say that?
8D: Treble, for one: CLEF. Do you like Sophie Marceau? You want find la CLEF to her heart? You'd better finish your crossword under 3 minutes.
11D: Highlanders: GAELS. "My heart's in the highlands, my heart is not here..."
22D: Kind of bird?: EARLY. Good clue.
24D: Passover feast: SEDER. In the month of Nisan.
42D: Leftover piece: REMNANT
45D: Pekoe or Assam: TEA. Another Indian reference is RAVI (42A: Sitarist Shankar) Norah's father.
46D: __ of roses: ATTAR. Rose oil. I've never used any pure rose oil or rose water. Want to try some of these fruit shaped marzipans? Most of them are flavored with rose water.
47D: Sedimentary rock: SHALE. I did not know that you get get oil out of this SHALE.
49D: Stew pots: OLLAS.
57D: Tony Randall movie, "7 faces of Doctor ___": LAO. I've never seen this movie. Not familiar with Tony Randall at all. LAO means "old" in Chinese. LAO Tzu (Taoism) literally means "Old Master."
C.C.
