Theme: It's Just a Fling
17A: Extremely dark: PITCH BLACK
59A: Billy Bob Thornton film: SLING BLADE
10D: Sleep restlessly: TOSS AND TURN
24D: Invite some friends over: THROW A PARTY
And a non-themed vigorous PELT (62A: Animal hide). Look at what centers the grid: PIVOT (38A: Turning point). It conjures up a VIVID (29D: Intense, as color) picture of someone hurling in motion, doesn't it?
I adore this puzzle. I love those scrabbly Z's & X'es. The intersections of PARTY & TRAY (65A: Cafeteria tote), and ADZE & BLADE are just brilliant.
Quite a few new words/names to me today, but I was able to fill in the unknown blanks with the crossing references. Had to google the dog food brand Bil-JAC (4D), as I could not get that expensive letter "J" from the across. MUTANT was clued as "Teenage __ NINJA Turtles" on the May 11 TMS puzzle, and I remember I checked the meaning of NINJA. But I did not fully digest it and assimilate into my brain.
A great Tuesday puzzle.
ACROSS:
1A: Japanese warrior: NINJA. All I could think of is "Samurai". NIN is "Endure", JA is "person". NINJA has a Chinese root. In fact, its Japanese Kanji writings (忍者) are identical to Chinese characters. There is a NBA/MLB player has 忍 tattooed on his arm. I cannot remember his name though.
14A: Trojan War story: ILIAD. And ILLID setting TROY (24A: Ex-QB Aikman). The clue for TROY is flawed here. QB should not be abbreviated. "Ex Cowboys QB" should be OK, or simply "1993 Super Bowl M.V.P.".
21A: __ May Clampett: ELLY. "The Beverly Hillbillies"
22A: Cash-register key: NO SALE
31A: Trademark DOS: UNIX. Developed by the Bell Labs.
43A: Fan mag.: ZINE
49A: Fastener attacher: STAPLER
53A: Union units: LOCALS. Does this refer to the Labor Union?
64A: Tenor Mario: LANZA. Unknown to me. I got his name from the down clues. He died so young (38 years old).
66A: Thwack: SWAT. Wish I were born earlier so I could see "The Sultan of SWAT" PITCH, TOSS, THROW, SLING, and have FLINGS in/off the ballpark.
67A: Surpass others: EXCEL
DOWN:
3D: Silents star Naldi: NITA. Learned her name from doing Xword. I've never seen any of her movies.
5D: Stick fast: ADHERE
9D: Kentucky loc.: FT. KNOX. I got this one easily due to the intersecting SERF (6A: By gone peasant). I dislike the clue though. Doe "loc." stand for location or what?
11D: WWII sub: U-BOAT
12D: Zora ___ Hurston: NEALE. Not familiar with her name. Have heard of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" though.
13D: Co-star in "Dr. Kildare" movies: AYRES. 60D: First name of 13D: LEW. No idea. Wikipedia said he was married to Ginger Rogers for six years. And Jane Wyman fell in love with him during the filming of "Johnny Belinda" and "left her husband Ronald Reagan for him, albeit unsuccessfully".
18D: Explode: BLOW UP. This brings to my mind the SCORIA (Volcanic rock ejecta) and the "Lava/Lois Bomb".
28D: Arcade game name: SEGA. Not familiar with this Nintendo rival. Would have not got it without the adjacent fills.
32D: "My life in Court" writer: NIZER (Louis). No idea. Easily gettable though. Wikepedia says "After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he authored the foreword to the Warren Commission report that investigated JFK's murder and the conspiracy theories that still surround it." I've read the Warren Commission report, but I don't remember seeing his foreword.
39D: Sack of leaves: TEA BAG. Sack? Really? That coarse? Let me check.... OK, you are right. TEA BAG is explained as "a small porous sack holding enough tea leaves to make an individual serving of tea" by American Heritage Dictionary.
51D: Amtrak's bullet train: ACELA. Not familiar to me. Pieced it together from the across fills. Interesting "Acceleration" word though. China started running first bullet trains in April 2007. Eurostar seat is a bit tight.
54D: Monster of the Mojave: GILA. I only knew GILA River. Have never heard of this GILA Monster lizard.
55D: Judge's seat: BANC. No idea. Only knew BANC is French for "bench".
56D: Wood-shaping tool: ADZE. Gimme. My favorite Scrabble word. This ADZE needs to be sharpened.
C.C.
17A: Extremely dark: PITCH BLACK
59A: Billy Bob Thornton film: SLING BLADE
10D: Sleep restlessly: TOSS AND TURN
24D: Invite some friends over: THROW A PARTY
And a non-themed vigorous PELT (62A: Animal hide). Look at what centers the grid: PIVOT (38A: Turning point). It conjures up a VIVID (29D: Intense, as color) picture of someone hurling in motion, doesn't it?
I adore this puzzle. I love those scrabbly Z's & X'es. The intersections of PARTY & TRAY (65A: Cafeteria tote), and ADZE & BLADE are just brilliant.
Quite a few new words/names to me today, but I was able to fill in the unknown blanks with the crossing references. Had to google the dog food brand Bil-JAC (4D), as I could not get that expensive letter "J" from the across. MUTANT was clued as "Teenage __ NINJA Turtles" on the May 11 TMS puzzle, and I remember I checked the meaning of NINJA. But I did not fully digest it and assimilate into my brain.
A great Tuesday puzzle.
ACROSS:
1A: Japanese warrior: NINJA. All I could think of is "Samurai". NIN is "Endure", JA is "person". NINJA has a Chinese root. In fact, its Japanese Kanji writings (忍者) are identical to Chinese characters. There is a NBA/MLB player has 忍 tattooed on his arm. I cannot remember his name though.
14A: Trojan War story: ILIAD. And ILLID setting TROY (24A: Ex-QB Aikman). The clue for TROY is flawed here. QB should not be abbreviated. "Ex Cowboys QB" should be OK, or simply "1993 Super Bowl M.V.P.".
21A: __ May Clampett: ELLY. "The Beverly Hillbillies"
22A: Cash-register key: NO SALE
31A: Trademark DOS: UNIX. Developed by the Bell Labs.
43A: Fan mag.: ZINE
49A: Fastener attacher: STAPLER
53A: Union units: LOCALS. Does this refer to the Labor Union?
64A: Tenor Mario: LANZA. Unknown to me. I got his name from the down clues. He died so young (38 years old).
66A: Thwack: SWAT. Wish I were born earlier so I could see "The Sultan of SWAT" PITCH, TOSS, THROW, SLING, and have FLINGS in/off the ballpark.
67A: Surpass others: EXCEL
DOWN:
3D: Silents star Naldi: NITA. Learned her name from doing Xword. I've never seen any of her movies.
5D: Stick fast: ADHERE
9D: Kentucky loc.: FT. KNOX. I got this one easily due to the intersecting SERF (6A: By gone peasant). I dislike the clue though. Doe "loc." stand for location or what?
11D: WWII sub: U-BOAT
12D: Zora ___ Hurston: NEALE. Not familiar with her name. Have heard of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" though.
13D: Co-star in "Dr. Kildare" movies: AYRES. 60D: First name of 13D: LEW. No idea. Wikipedia said he was married to Ginger Rogers for six years. And Jane Wyman fell in love with him during the filming of "Johnny Belinda" and "left her husband Ronald Reagan for him, albeit unsuccessfully".
18D: Explode: BLOW UP. This brings to my mind the SCORIA (Volcanic rock ejecta) and the "Lava/Lois Bomb".
28D: Arcade game name: SEGA. Not familiar with this Nintendo rival. Would have not got it without the adjacent fills.
32D: "My life in Court" writer: NIZER (Louis). No idea. Easily gettable though. Wikepedia says "After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he authored the foreword to the Warren Commission report that investigated JFK's murder and the conspiracy theories that still surround it." I've read the Warren Commission report, but I don't remember seeing his foreword.
39D: Sack of leaves: TEA BAG. Sack? Really? That coarse? Let me check.... OK, you are right. TEA BAG is explained as "a small porous sack holding enough tea leaves to make an individual serving of tea" by American Heritage Dictionary.
51D: Amtrak's bullet train: ACELA. Not familiar to me. Pieced it together from the across fills. Interesting "Acceleration" word though. China started running first bullet trains in April 2007. Eurostar seat is a bit tight.
54D: Monster of the Mojave: GILA. I only knew GILA River. Have never heard of this GILA Monster lizard.
55D: Judge's seat: BANC. No idea. Only knew BANC is French for "bench".
56D: Wood-shaping tool: ADZE. Gimme. My favorite Scrabble word. This ADZE needs to be sharpened.
C.C.
