Themeless
An epic battle this morning. I could not get a toehold at the grid at all. STEPPE was not an easy word to fish out of my brain so early in the morning. And I did not know the Roman fable writer PHAEDRUS or the Spider woman ARACHNE, nor was I familiar with TREMOLO. I've never seen CONFUTES (Disproves) before. A very tough start.
The lower right corner was hard too. Duse ELEONORA was a complete stranger to me. I know TOTEM, but I had no idea that TOTEMISM is a word. And I simply forgot ENTO is a prefix for inside. I did not know FLUORINE or ORIFICE either. So, a big stumper today. But it's good to see Z & Q in the same grid again. It's my initials.
There are three Russia references in the puzzle: USSR, STEPPE, MIR. And a bit of business undertone too: 24A: Shortfall: DEFICIT, ASE, and (UN) QUOTE.
Look at the below 3-letter fills today, none of them are lazy AAA, EEE or III words:
19A: Qty: AMT
21A: NYSE competition: ASE (American Stock Exchange)
22A: Pre. advisory grp.: NSC (National Security Council), overseen by NSA (National Security Adviser). Bush's NSA is Stephen Hadley, who could not tell the difference between Tibet and Nepal.
26A: Beat it!: GIT
27A: Stevedores' grp: ILA (International Longshoremen's Association). I did not know the meaning of "Stevedores"
52A: D.C. advisory grp.: NSA (National Security Agency). It's featured in Will Smith's Enemy of the State. I like it a lot. All those NSA directors seem to have a military background.
53A: Color of the Italian sky: BLU
48A: Mazel __! TOV. Hmm, Yiddish words every day now.
54A: #: NUM
55A: Orbing part of Russia?: MIR. Wrong clue, MIR was de-orbited in 2001.
4D: Cut of an agt.: PCT
31D: Amusement: FUN. Yes, come to this blog "If You Wanna Have some FUN".
32D: "Le Coq ___, " Rimsky-Korskoff opera: D'OR. Unknown to me. I know nothing about opera. I love coq au vin though (definitely need morel to make it tasty).
40D: Tallahassee sch.: FSU. So what is their mascot now?
ACROSS:
1A: Plains of Siberia: STEPPE. This is a STEEPE in Kazakhsan.
8A: Say again: ITERATE
15A: Spider woman of myth: ARACHNE. Dictionary says it's "a Lydian woman who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was changed into a spider for her presumption." Here is ARACHNE (literally spider).
16A: More constricted: TIGHTER
17A: Having a will: TESTATE
28A: Climbing palms: RATTANS. This reminds me of NIPA (Malay thatch).
30A: Disproves: CONFUTES
32A: Refuse to believe: DENY. We get some attitude here: CONFUTES & DENY.
34A: Inside: pref: ENTO. I always want INTRA (as to EXTRA). EXTRO is outside prefix, so are ECT(O) and EXO.
37A: Duplicate: TWIN. Who is this Twin?
40A: Most reactive nonmetallic element: FLUORINE. Symbol: F. Atomic number: 9. Dictionary says it's "a yellow irritating toxic flammable gas" and "a powerful oxidizing agent".
45A: Dinner finale: DESSERT
50A: Verbatim finale: UNQUOTE
56A: African nation: SOMALIA. Iman is from SOMALIA. There is simply no effective government there, all Sunni Muslims.
58A: Hole in the head: ORIFICE. It's "an opening or aperture, as of a tube or pipe; a mouthlike opening or hole; mouth; vent". ORIFICE came from Latin ōrificium, ōr is mouth, fic is a comb. form of facere to make.
60A: Free verse poet: IMAGIST. Wow, I thought the clue was asking for a particular poet who was famous for his free verse or something.
61A: Changes dimension: RESIZES
63A: Chair part: ARM REST
DOWN:
1D: Devilish: SATANIC. Fiendish.
2D: Vibrating effect: TREMOLO. Here is the definition: "a tremulous or vibrating effect produced on certain instruments and in the human voice, as to express emotion."
3D: Photography pioneer: EASTMAN. The Kodak founder.
5D: Roman writer of fables: PHAEDRUS. Wikipedia says "He is recognized as the first writer to latinize entire books of fables, using the iambic metre Greek prose of the Aesop tales.". There is another dialogue PHAEDRUS written by Plato, see here.
6D: Petitions: ENTREATS
7D: Take care of: SEE AFTER
8D: Cornell University city: ITHACA. Is ITHACA always on your mind? Do you want those fine merchandise? I want those "pleasurable perfumes of all kinds".
9D: Makes a connection: TIES IN
10D: Marsh birds: EGRETS. Her neck is rather long, isn't it?
12D: All fluttery: ATINGLE
13D: Pull against gravity: TENSION
14D: How to stand at attention: ERECTLY
34D: Classic actress Duse: ELEONORA. What is a classic actress? From silent movie era?
34D: One providing sustenance: NURTURER
36D:Shamanistic belief: TOTEMISM
37D: Pass across: TRANSIT
38D: Fetching: WINSOME
39D: Think tank member: IDEA MAN. What about women fellows/scholars?
41D: List: ITEMIZE
42D: Prospective members: NOVICES
43D: Highest peak: EVEREST. "Because it's there".
47D: Deep knee bend: SQUATS
45D: Irish capital: DUBLIN. OK, here is When the Stars Go Blue again, from The Corrs, Live in DUBLIN 2002 (I do love the Live 8 version more). Enjoy!
C.C.
An epic battle this morning. I could not get a toehold at the grid at all. STEPPE was not an easy word to fish out of my brain so early in the morning. And I did not know the Roman fable writer PHAEDRUS or the Spider woman ARACHNE, nor was I familiar with TREMOLO. I've never seen CONFUTES (Disproves) before. A very tough start.
The lower right corner was hard too. Duse ELEONORA was a complete stranger to me. I know TOTEM, but I had no idea that TOTEMISM is a word. And I simply forgot ENTO is a prefix for inside. I did not know FLUORINE or ORIFICE either. So, a big stumper today. But it's good to see Z & Q in the same grid again. It's my initials.
There are three Russia references in the puzzle: USSR, STEPPE, MIR. And a bit of business undertone too: 24A: Shortfall: DEFICIT, ASE, and (UN) QUOTE.
Look at the below 3-letter fills today, none of them are lazy AAA, EEE or III words:
19A: Qty: AMT
21A: NYSE competition: ASE (American Stock Exchange)
22A: Pre. advisory grp.: NSC (National Security Council), overseen by NSA (National Security Adviser). Bush's NSA is Stephen Hadley, who could not tell the difference between Tibet and Nepal.
26A: Beat it!: GIT
27A: Stevedores' grp: ILA (International Longshoremen's Association). I did not know the meaning of "Stevedores"
52A: D.C. advisory grp.: NSA (National Security Agency). It's featured in Will Smith's Enemy of the State. I like it a lot. All those NSA directors seem to have a military background.
53A: Color of the Italian sky: BLU
48A: Mazel __! TOV. Hmm, Yiddish words every day now.
54A: #: NUM
55A: Orbing part of Russia?: MIR. Wrong clue, MIR was de-orbited in 2001.
4D: Cut of an agt.: PCT
31D: Amusement: FUN. Yes, come to this blog "If You Wanna Have some FUN".
32D: "Le Coq ___, " Rimsky-Korskoff opera: D'OR. Unknown to me. I know nothing about opera. I love coq au vin though (definitely need morel to make it tasty).
40D: Tallahassee sch.: FSU. So what is their mascot now?
ACROSS:
1A: Plains of Siberia: STEPPE. This is a STEEPE in Kazakhsan.
8A: Say again: ITERATE
15A: Spider woman of myth: ARACHNE. Dictionary says it's "a Lydian woman who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was changed into a spider for her presumption." Here is ARACHNE (literally spider).
16A: More constricted: TIGHTER
17A: Having a will: TESTATE
28A: Climbing palms: RATTANS. This reminds me of NIPA (Malay thatch).
30A: Disproves: CONFUTES
32A: Refuse to believe: DENY. We get some attitude here: CONFUTES & DENY.
34A: Inside: pref: ENTO. I always want INTRA (as to EXTRA). EXTRO is outside prefix, so are ECT(O) and EXO.
37A: Duplicate: TWIN. Who is this Twin?
40A: Most reactive nonmetallic element: FLUORINE. Symbol: F. Atomic number: 9. Dictionary says it's "a yellow irritating toxic flammable gas" and "a powerful oxidizing agent".
45A: Dinner finale: DESSERT
50A: Verbatim finale: UNQUOTE
56A: African nation: SOMALIA. Iman is from SOMALIA. There is simply no effective government there, all Sunni Muslims.
58A: Hole in the head: ORIFICE. It's "an opening or aperture, as of a tube or pipe; a mouthlike opening or hole; mouth; vent". ORIFICE came from Latin ōrificium, ōr is mouth, fic is a comb. form of facere to make.
60A: Free verse poet: IMAGIST. Wow, I thought the clue was asking for a particular poet who was famous for his free verse or something.
61A: Changes dimension: RESIZES
63A: Chair part: ARM REST
DOWN:
1D: Devilish: SATANIC. Fiendish.
2D: Vibrating effect: TREMOLO. Here is the definition: "a tremulous or vibrating effect produced on certain instruments and in the human voice, as to express emotion."
3D: Photography pioneer: EASTMAN. The Kodak founder.
5D: Roman writer of fables: PHAEDRUS. Wikipedia says "He is recognized as the first writer to latinize entire books of fables, using the iambic metre Greek prose of the Aesop tales.". There is another dialogue PHAEDRUS written by Plato, see here.
6D: Petitions: ENTREATS
7D: Take care of: SEE AFTER
8D: Cornell University city: ITHACA. Is ITHACA always on your mind? Do you want those fine merchandise? I want those "pleasurable perfumes of all kinds".
9D: Makes a connection: TIES IN
10D: Marsh birds: EGRETS. Her neck is rather long, isn't it?
12D: All fluttery: ATINGLE
13D: Pull against gravity: TENSION
14D: How to stand at attention: ERECTLY
34D: Classic actress Duse: ELEONORA. What is a classic actress? From silent movie era?
34D: One providing sustenance: NURTURER
36D:Shamanistic belief: TOTEMISM
37D: Pass across: TRANSIT
38D: Fetching: WINSOME
39D: Think tank member: IDEA MAN. What about women fellows/scholars?
41D: List: ITEMIZE
42D: Prospective members: NOVICES
43D: Highest peak: EVEREST. "Because it's there".
47D: Deep knee bend: SQUATS
45D: Irish capital: DUBLIN. OK, here is When the Stars Go Blue again, from The Corrs, Live in DUBLIN 2002 (I do love the Live 8 version more). Enjoy!
C.C.
