Theme: QUIP (Evan Esar)
14A: Start of a quip: ONLY A
29A: Part 2 of quip: REMARKABLE MAN
41A: Part 3 of a quip: CAN
49A: Part 4 of a quip: LIVE DOWN A HOLE
70A: End of a quip: IN ONE
I've never had a hole in one before. I did hit a pin once. Jack Nicklaus has scored more than 20 aces in his career I think. The current record holder is a guy named Mancil DAVIS (40D: Ossie and Bette), who is credited with more than 50 hole in ones. He is also a very shrewd businessman. He has all the hole in ones INSURED (9D: Covered by a policy) for his "King of Aces"challenge events.
I don't think I've ever seen a TMS puzzle grid with so many 4-letter words. The QUIP is broken into so many pieces that I have difficulty cohering them. Saw AYESHA before, but it simply escaped my memory this morning. I had never heard of SABRAS. And I just spent way too long trying to figure out 26D: Sex grp (MASC). I could not get that M as I just did not remember the name of 25A: Actress Celeste (HOLM).
All in all, no BRAVO (32D: Cry at the opera) for Mr. Olschwang. I am simply HATING (52D: despising) this Thursday QUIP theme puzzle diet. Besides, my body was here this morning, but my mind had teed off. I simply could not enter my crossword TIGER zone today.
ACROSS:
10A: Nightstick: CLUB. No, not familiar with this kind of night stick. It sort of reminds me of the BOBBY clue we had awhile ago. Given today's theme, I would prefer it's clued as Wood/Iron/Putter related.
15A: Abreast: UPON. I've started to warm up to this Aword. Boy, these 2 clues really make me think of Mary Roach's BONK.
17A: Jazzman Davis: MILES. Hate the clue as DAVIS is the answer to 40D. Bad editing.
20A: "___ Fideles": ADESTE. What's your favorite Latin phrase? As you can see, "Audio, Video, Disco" (I hear, I see, I learn) is the motto of this blog. But I do love this "Veni, Vedi, Vici", our Dennisized version.
43A: Passover feast: SEDER
44A: Israeli natives: SABRAS. Dictionary says it derived from Hebrew ṣābār (prickly pear).
56A: NRC forerunner: AEC. I am just so tired of seeing this clue again and again.
57A: Player's bio entry: STAT. Tehee, I outwitted myself. I thought of golfer Gary PLAYER first.
59A: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. It's just a simple "Eureka" in Chinese.
67A: Taunted: GIBED. Wow, I did not know this. I only knew JIBE.
68A: Cod-like fish: HAKE. What the HAKE is that fish?
69A: Perfectly: TO A T. More prepositions & "the" please!
71A: Summit: APEX. ACME is Paul's Word of the Day today. The reason? Edmund Hillary conquered Mount Everest on this day in 1953. If you have not, please subscribe to his free daily email.
DOWN:
1D: Fellini film: ROMA. Ah, la Città Eterna (The Eternal City). Could not find the "Italia" on YouTube, but to remember Sydney Pollack and his The Talented Mr. Ripley, here is Arrivederci, Roma.
2D: Actress Markey: ENID. Unknown to me. She played Jane in the original Tarzan of the Apes.
3D: Miss: Fr.: MLLE (Mademoiselle).
4D: Mohammed's favorite wife: AYESHA. Could also be spelled as AISHA. It appeared on Feb 22 puzzle. I just forgot. Her father (Abu Bakr) became the first caliph after Muhammad died. But Shia Muslims disagreed as they thought Ali had been chosen, hence the endless Shia & Sunni fight I suppose. Do you know that there are currently between 50,000 to 100,000 muslims in the US living a live in polygamous families?
8D: Gymnast's horse: POMMEL. Here is Xiao Qin's POMMEL horse routine at the 2006 Worlds in Event Finals.
11D: Heard: LISTENED TO. And 12D: Say: UTTER Interesting parallel.
23D: Fun Partner?: GAME. I don't understand this one. Why?
26D: Sex grp: MASC (Masculine). I was not thinking of this group...
29D: Piped Piper's pack: RATS. Hmm, is this how we get "Pay the Piper"? Wikipedia says "To "pay the piper" means to face the inevitable consequences of one's actions, possibly alluding to the story where the villagers broke their promise to pay the Piper for his assistance in ridding the town of the rats. The phrase sometimes refers to a financial transaction but often does not."
31D: Dessert option: MARBLE CAKE
39D: Sevareid or Idle: ERIC. Know Idle, not Sevareid. Did you watch the LAYLA (ERIC Clapton classic) clip NYTanonimo linked yesterday? Did you hear the only one word Pattie Boyd said in Beatles' A Hard Day's Night movie? "Prisoners?" What a weird coincidence to yesterday's PRISON TERMS theme.
45D: Six-line stanzas: SESTETS
51D: Slowly, in music: ADAGIO
53D: Turkish title: PASHA. Or PACHA. Literally "Head Lord" or "Master Chief". Wikipedia says PASHA is ranked above BEY (lord) and AGA/AGHA (lord, master). PASHA is also the name of that idealistic Bolshevik in "Doctor Zhivago". I just love this movie so much.
60D: Shawm's descendant: OBOE. I've never heard of shawm, have you?
Try to spell GOLF backwards, what do you get?
C.C.
14A: Start of a quip: ONLY A
29A: Part 2 of quip: REMARKABLE MAN
41A: Part 3 of a quip: CAN
49A: Part 4 of a quip: LIVE DOWN A HOLE
70A: End of a quip: IN ONE
I've never had a hole in one before. I did hit a pin once. Jack Nicklaus has scored more than 20 aces in his career I think. The current record holder is a guy named Mancil DAVIS (40D: Ossie and Bette), who is credited with more than 50 hole in ones. He is also a very shrewd businessman. He has all the hole in ones INSURED (9D: Covered by a policy) for his "King of Aces"challenge events.
I don't think I've ever seen a TMS puzzle grid with so many 4-letter words. The QUIP is broken into so many pieces that I have difficulty cohering them. Saw AYESHA before, but it simply escaped my memory this morning. I had never heard of SABRAS. And I just spent way too long trying to figure out 26D: Sex grp (MASC). I could not get that M as I just did not remember the name of 25A: Actress Celeste (HOLM).
All in all, no BRAVO (32D: Cry at the opera) for Mr. Olschwang. I am simply HATING (52D: despising) this Thursday QUIP theme puzzle diet. Besides, my body was here this morning, but my mind had teed off. I simply could not enter my crossword TIGER zone today.
ACROSS:
10A: Nightstick: CLUB. No, not familiar with this kind of night stick. It sort of reminds me of the BOBBY clue we had awhile ago. Given today's theme, I would prefer it's clued as Wood/Iron/Putter related.
15A: Abreast: UPON. I've started to warm up to this Aword. Boy, these 2 clues really make me think of Mary Roach's BONK.
17A: Jazzman Davis: MILES. Hate the clue as DAVIS is the answer to 40D. Bad editing.
20A: "___ Fideles": ADESTE. What's your favorite Latin phrase? As you can see, "Audio, Video, Disco" (I hear, I see, I learn) is the motto of this blog. But I do love this "Veni, Vedi, Vici", our Dennisized version.
43A: Passover feast: SEDER
44A: Israeli natives: SABRAS. Dictionary says it derived from Hebrew ṣābār (prickly pear).
56A: NRC forerunner: AEC. I am just so tired of seeing this clue again and again.
57A: Player's bio entry: STAT. Tehee, I outwitted myself. I thought of golfer Gary PLAYER first.
59A: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. It's just a simple "Eureka" in Chinese.
67A: Taunted: GIBED. Wow, I did not know this. I only knew JIBE.
68A: Cod-like fish: HAKE. What the HAKE is that fish?
69A: Perfectly: TO A T. More prepositions & "the" please!
71A: Summit: APEX. ACME is Paul's Word of the Day today. The reason? Edmund Hillary conquered Mount Everest on this day in 1953. If you have not, please subscribe to his free daily email.
DOWN:
1D: Fellini film: ROMA. Ah, la Città Eterna (The Eternal City). Could not find the "Italia" on YouTube, but to remember Sydney Pollack and his The Talented Mr. Ripley, here is Arrivederci, Roma.
2D: Actress Markey: ENID. Unknown to me. She played Jane in the original Tarzan of the Apes.
3D: Miss: Fr.: MLLE (Mademoiselle).
4D: Mohammed's favorite wife: AYESHA. Could also be spelled as AISHA. It appeared on Feb 22 puzzle. I just forgot. Her father (Abu Bakr) became the first caliph after Muhammad died. But Shia Muslims disagreed as they thought Ali had been chosen, hence the endless Shia & Sunni fight I suppose. Do you know that there are currently between 50,000 to 100,000 muslims in the US living a live in polygamous families?
8D: Gymnast's horse: POMMEL. Here is Xiao Qin's POMMEL horse routine at the 2006 Worlds in Event Finals.
11D: Heard: LISTENED TO. And 12D: Say: UTTER Interesting parallel.
23D: Fun Partner?: GAME. I don't understand this one. Why?
26D: Sex grp: MASC (Masculine). I was not thinking of this group...
29D: Piped Piper's pack: RATS. Hmm, is this how we get "Pay the Piper"? Wikipedia says "To "pay the piper" means to face the inevitable consequences of one's actions, possibly alluding to the story where the villagers broke their promise to pay the Piper for his assistance in ridding the town of the rats. The phrase sometimes refers to a financial transaction but often does not."
31D: Dessert option: MARBLE CAKE
39D: Sevareid or Idle: ERIC. Know Idle, not Sevareid. Did you watch the LAYLA (ERIC Clapton classic) clip NYTanonimo linked yesterday? Did you hear the only one word Pattie Boyd said in Beatles' A Hard Day's Night movie? "Prisoners?" What a weird coincidence to yesterday's PRISON TERMS theme.
45D: Six-line stanzas: SESTETS
51D: Slowly, in music: ADAGIO
53D: Turkish title: PASHA. Or PACHA. Literally "Head Lord" or "Master Chief". Wikipedia says PASHA is ranked above BEY (lord) and AGA/AGHA (lord, master). PASHA is also the name of that idealistic Bolshevik in "Doctor Zhivago". I just love this movie so much.
60D: Shawm's descendant: OBOE. I've never heard of shawm, have you?
Try to spell GOLF backwards, what do you get?
C.C.
