Themeless
Hey, only 3 ING suffixes today: TRUMPING, TOEING & REVISING. And a few tolerable amount of ER, RE & S affixes. This constructor Mr. Matthew Higgins is getting better.
I had a nightmare at the DIS corner this morning. I simply had no idea what was 37A: Alaskan peninsular (SEWARD), though I vaguely heard of "SEWARD's Folly" before. And I penned in WAVERING for 39D: Changing, as one's opinion (REVISING), thinking of those politicians constant flip-flopping. Did not know what was 56A: Roman for Pluto (DIS). I had never heard of DRESSAGE either. Was not familiar with the carpentry meaning of TOEING (65: Driving nails obliquely). And NINON was a complete stranger to me, so were ABULIA & SYENITE.
Got very flustered earlier on, and quickly surrendered to Google.
ACROSS:
1A: Hindu maxims: SUTRAS. Know this word only because of "Kama SUTRA". Isn't it strange that a country that contributed this to the world can be so prudish about Richard Gene's public kissing?
7A: High-ranking military officer: BRASS HAT. Who is the highest BRASS HAT in Pentagon now? I suppose you can not call Secretary Gates as one.
15A: Deeply absorbed: ENRAPT
16A: Adjust to specifications: REGULATE
17A: Abnormal inability to act decisively: ABULIA. Can also be spelled as ABOULIA. Dictionary says it's "loss or impairment of the ability to make decisions or act independently". It's derived from Greek word " abouliā" indecision ( a-, without; boulē, will).
18A: Light musical production: OPERETTA
19A: Of a school period: SEMESTRAL. Can also be spelled as SEMESTRIAL. I did not know this. Only knew SEMESTER.
22A: General Arnold's nickname: HAP. Saw it in a TMS puzzle before, then I promptly forgot. General Henry H. Arnold.
26A: Elevator man?: OTIS. Why question mark? Here is model Carré OTIS. She has become a Buddhist.
28A: Large rays: SKATES. Ha ha, I caught it this morning!
33A: Free from obligation: EXEMPT
35A: Memory trace: ENGRAM. What, RANG ME?
45A: Crapshooter: DICER. And RAKE (20D: Profligate one), though it's not clued as "croupier's tool".
49A: Practice exercise: DRY RUN
52A: Bang: SLAM
54A: Brain cell: NEURON. Oh, my impulse carrier.
56A: Roman Pluto: DIS. Nope, nope. I barely know Pluto as the god of underworld. I looked up in the dictionary, it says Orcus is the Roman counterpart of Pluto. Very confusing, this Pluto, Hades, Orcus & DIS.
57A: Sea of Queensland: CORAL. Gimme for me. Someone down there in Queensland used to send me a bottle of Tendre Poison every Christmas.
59A: Neat and trim condition: NATTINESS
61A: Breadcrumb and cheese cover: AU GRATIN. Is it ready?
63A: Lack of vitality: ANEMIA
64A: Arizona city: PRESCOTT. Unfamiliar to me.
66A: Affected lovers of beauty: ESTHETES. Our Editor has become very arty lately. AESTHETE was clued as "Refined lover of beauty" on Sunday May 18, and ESTHETIC is clued as "Having a love of beauty" on May 20 Tuesday. What's next? "Memoirs of an Aesthete"?
67A: Infuriate: ENRAGE
DOWN:
1D: Land between tide marks: SEASHORE. And 10D: Wave action: SURF
2D: Zero in the loss column: UNBEATEN
3D: Topping like The Donald?: TRUMPING. I like this clue.
4D: Death rattle: RALE. Mr. Higgins used this identical clue in his April 19 puzzle.
5D: Foolishly imitative: APISH
6D: Conditions: STATES
7D: Battle weapon: BROAD AX. I had no idea.
8D: Abounding: REPLETE
12D: Bigot: HATER
13D: Churchill's successor: ATTLEE (Clement). Do you like David Brooks? I do, here is his Op-Ed with a brief mention of ATTLEE.
14D: Needler: TEASER. Dislike the intersection with SER (30A: Sun. homily)
24D: JFK, LBG, et al: DEMS. Would've filled in PRES if not for the D from 23A: Was in charge of (HEADED).
32D: Electoral district: WARD. Once and Again, no Sela WARD, you don't like her anymore?
36D: Dawn 'til noon: MORN. "Stay for just a while. Stay, and let me look at you..." Enjoy this September MORN and this September MORN (Paul Chabas). That's indeed too little of a MORN, and too much of a maid, isn't it?
38D: World of scholars: ACADEMIA
40D: Equestrian event: DRESSAGE. DRESSER means "To tame/train" in French (like DRESSER/Entraîne a dog).
42D: Igneous rock: SYENITE. Completely unknown to me. Dictionary says it's "an igneous rock composed primarily of alkali feldspar together with other minerals, such as hornblende". It's originally quarried in SYENE (now Aswan), Egypt. "-ITE" is a just a suffix meaning component, like NORITE, another Igneous rock. Too complicated.
43D: School skippers: TRUANT
44D: Mongol tent: YURT. Here are two YURTS in the Mongolia steppe.
46D: Type of clause or hatch: ESCAPE. Unknown to me. What are they? (Update: Here is Chris' explanation: an escape hatch is a submarine term for a way to get out of the boat in the event of an emergency, an escape clause is a legal term for a way to void a contract in the event of a failure to deliver.)
47D: Self-rising and all-purpose: FLOURS
48D: Firing-ranging object: TARGET
49D: Tore: SPED
50D: Write music: NOTATE
53D: Ngaio of mysteries: MARSH. I had never heard of her name before. Wikipedia says she was one of the four original "Queens of Crime" (Agatha Christie was another one).
55D: Sheer rayon fabric: NINON. Here is the definition: "A sheer fabric of silk, rayon, or nylon made in a variety of tight smooth weaves or open lacy patterns". Dictionary says this word probably came from French NINON, pet name for Anne, meaning "favor, grace".
58D: Add spirit to the punch: LACE. I am not familiar with this LACE. Adriana Lima's LACE looks pretty potent here, doesn't it?
60D: __ do-well: NE'ER. Yawned with ennui on this clue. Will we ever get poetic Mr. Williams? NE'ER?
C.C.
Hey, only 3 ING suffixes today: TRUMPING, TOEING & REVISING. And a few tolerable amount of ER, RE & S affixes. This constructor Mr. Matthew Higgins is getting better.
I had a nightmare at the DIS corner this morning. I simply had no idea what was 37A: Alaskan peninsular (SEWARD), though I vaguely heard of "SEWARD's Folly" before. And I penned in WAVERING for 39D: Changing, as one's opinion (REVISING), thinking of those politicians constant flip-flopping. Did not know what was 56A: Roman for Pluto (DIS). I had never heard of DRESSAGE either. Was not familiar with the carpentry meaning of TOEING (65: Driving nails obliquely). And NINON was a complete stranger to me, so were ABULIA & SYENITE.
Got very flustered earlier on, and quickly surrendered to Google.
ACROSS:
1A: Hindu maxims: SUTRAS. Know this word only because of "Kama SUTRA". Isn't it strange that a country that contributed this to the world can be so prudish about Richard Gene's public kissing?
7A: High-ranking military officer: BRASS HAT. Who is the highest BRASS HAT in Pentagon now? I suppose you can not call Secretary Gates as one.
15A: Deeply absorbed: ENRAPT
16A: Adjust to specifications: REGULATE
17A: Abnormal inability to act decisively: ABULIA. Can also be spelled as ABOULIA. Dictionary says it's "loss or impairment of the ability to make decisions or act independently". It's derived from Greek word " abouliā" indecision ( a-, without; boulē, will).
18A: Light musical production: OPERETTA
19A: Of a school period: SEMESTRAL. Can also be spelled as SEMESTRIAL. I did not know this. Only knew SEMESTER.
22A: General Arnold's nickname: HAP. Saw it in a TMS puzzle before, then I promptly forgot. General Henry H. Arnold.
26A: Elevator man?: OTIS. Why question mark? Here is model Carré OTIS. She has become a Buddhist.
28A: Large rays: SKATES. Ha ha, I caught it this morning!
33A: Free from obligation: EXEMPT
35A: Memory trace: ENGRAM. What, RANG ME?
45A: Crapshooter: DICER. And RAKE (20D: Profligate one), though it's not clued as "croupier's tool".
49A: Practice exercise: DRY RUN
52A: Bang: SLAM
54A: Brain cell: NEURON. Oh, my impulse carrier.
56A: Roman Pluto: DIS. Nope, nope. I barely know Pluto as the god of underworld. I looked up in the dictionary, it says Orcus is the Roman counterpart of Pluto. Very confusing, this Pluto, Hades, Orcus & DIS.
57A: Sea of Queensland: CORAL. Gimme for me. Someone down there in Queensland used to send me a bottle of Tendre Poison every Christmas.
59A: Neat and trim condition: NATTINESS
61A: Breadcrumb and cheese cover: AU GRATIN. Is it ready?
63A: Lack of vitality: ANEMIA
64A: Arizona city: PRESCOTT. Unfamiliar to me.
66A: Affected lovers of beauty: ESTHETES. Our Editor has become very arty lately. AESTHETE was clued as "Refined lover of beauty" on Sunday May 18, and ESTHETIC is clued as "Having a love of beauty" on May 20 Tuesday. What's next? "Memoirs of an Aesthete"?
67A: Infuriate: ENRAGE
DOWN:
1D: Land between tide marks: SEASHORE. And 10D: Wave action: SURF
2D: Zero in the loss column: UNBEATEN
3D: Topping like The Donald?: TRUMPING. I like this clue.
4D: Death rattle: RALE. Mr. Higgins used this identical clue in his April 19 puzzle.
5D: Foolishly imitative: APISH
6D: Conditions: STATES
7D: Battle weapon: BROAD AX. I had no idea.
8D: Abounding: REPLETE
12D: Bigot: HATER
13D: Churchill's successor: ATTLEE (Clement). Do you like David Brooks? I do, here is his Op-Ed with a brief mention of ATTLEE.
14D: Needler: TEASER. Dislike the intersection with SER (30A: Sun. homily)
24D: JFK, LBG, et al: DEMS. Would've filled in PRES if not for the D from 23A: Was in charge of (HEADED).
32D: Electoral district: WARD. Once and Again, no Sela WARD, you don't like her anymore?
36D: Dawn 'til noon: MORN. "Stay for just a while. Stay, and let me look at you..." Enjoy this September MORN and this September MORN (Paul Chabas). That's indeed too little of a MORN, and too much of a maid, isn't it?
38D: World of scholars: ACADEMIA
40D: Equestrian event: DRESSAGE. DRESSER means "To tame/train" in French (like DRESSER/Entraîne a dog).
42D: Igneous rock: SYENITE. Completely unknown to me. Dictionary says it's "an igneous rock composed primarily of alkali feldspar together with other minerals, such as hornblende". It's originally quarried in SYENE (now Aswan), Egypt. "-ITE" is a just a suffix meaning component, like NORITE, another Igneous rock. Too complicated.
43D: School skippers: TRUANT
44D: Mongol tent: YURT. Here are two YURTS in the Mongolia steppe.
46D: Type of clause or hatch: ESCAPE. Unknown to me. What are they? (Update: Here is Chris' explanation: an escape hatch is a submarine term for a way to get out of the boat in the event of an emergency, an escape clause is a legal term for a way to void a contract in the event of a failure to deliver.)
47D: Self-rising and all-purpose: FLOURS
48D: Firing-ranging object: TARGET
49D: Tore: SPED
50D: Write music: NOTATE
53D: Ngaio of mysteries: MARSH. I had never heard of her name before. Wikipedia says she was one of the four original "Queens of Crime" (Agatha Christie was another one).
55D: Sheer rayon fabric: NINON. Here is the definition: "A sheer fabric of silk, rayon, or nylon made in a variety of tight smooth weaves or open lacy patterns". Dictionary says this word probably came from French NINON, pet name for Anne, meaning "favor, grace".
58D: Add spirit to the punch: LACE. I am not familiar with this LACE. Adriana Lima's LACE looks pretty potent here, doesn't it?
60D: __ do-well: NE'ER. Yawned with ennui on this clue. Will we ever get poetic Mr. Williams? NE'ER?
C.C.
