Theme: Vowel Movement
17A: Gung-ho guy: BALL OF FIRE
26A: Quasimodo, for one: BELL RINGER
36A: "I Spy" co-star: BILL COSBY
50A: Cotton-grower's bane: BOLL WEEVIL
60A: Wall Street upsurge: BULL MARKET
Haven't we done a similar vowel progression themed puzzle before? Let me check....OK, here it is. Hmm, it's not entirely the same. I don't think I like this double-consonant ending B?LL****** rolling. Besides, the answer for the theme entry 36A has only 9 letters while the others all have 10, though the symmetry is still perfectly fine. I think I like Wiseman's better, all of his theme entries have 15 letters running through whole grid.
"Lust" came to my mind immediately after I spot the them, LAST, LEST, LIST, LOST, LUST would make a similar themed puzzle, so would MASS, MESS, MISS, MOSS, MUSS & PACK, PECK, PICK, POCK, Puck. What else can you think of?
It's a very thorny puzzle for me today, too many unknown singers. Had to ask google for help.
ACROSS:
1A: Hawaiian island: LANA'I. Lovely pineapple field in LANA'I (The Pineapple Island).
2A:Minute amt. of time: NSEC (Nanosecond)
14A: Concorde, e.g.: AVION (Plane). And another French word: ECOLE (28A: Nice schools)
16A: Novelist Hoag: TAMI. Unknown to me. One of her novels is titled "The ALIBI (25D: Mystery excuse?) Man".
19A: "Outside the Lines" shower: ESPN. Very misleading show-er, esp if you are not familiar with "Outside the Lines". "Baseball Tonight" shower would be much easier to obtain.
24A: Bonet or Alther: LISA. I know neither of them. Are they very famous?
39A: "La Boheme" heroine: MIMI. Foreign to me. Is it a gimme to you? I only know this MIMI (Tom Cruise's ex). And basso EZIO (63A: Pinza of opera). Always confuse his name with poet EZRA Pound.
42A: Patron saint of Norway: OLAV
43A: "The Zoo Story" dramatist: ALBEE (Edward). He also wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
48A: Egg: pref.: OVI. And 64A: Bone: pref. OSTE
54A: Hair-removal brand name: NEET. It was clued as "Nair competitor" before. And another brand LYSOL (51D: Disinfectant brand).
55A: Violent killer: SLAYER
65A: NH city: KEENE. Unknown to me. I pieced it together from the down clues. The NH in the clue should not be abbreviated.
67A: Brewers' manager Ned: YOST. Hmm, Robin YOUNT yesterday, Ned YOST today, are we expecting Ben SHEETS tomorrow? What's behind this Brewers' promotion?
DOWN:
3D: "Everybody's talking" singer: NILSSON (Harry). I've never heard of his name nor the song. Wikipedia says "Without You" is one of his best-known songs. I always thought Maria Carey was the original singer. "Everybody's been a-talking" is the first line of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss's "Stick with me Baby".
6D: Type of checking: NO FEE
7D: Skiing mishap: SPILL. No idea. Is it Bode Miller style skiing mishap or what?
8D: Cochlea site: EAR. I had no idea what "Cochlea" is. Flyingears only mentioned the three bones last time: INCUS (the Anvil), Malleus (the hammer) and Stapes (Stirrup).
9D: Cereal brand: CHEERIOS. The company (General Mills) is based here in MN. It's one of the major corporate donors to the GOP convention (RNC) this year. We have a bunch of Fortune 500 companies (3M, Best Buy, Cargill, etc) here, so it's much much easier to raise money for the conventions in Mpls/St. Paul than in Denver (DNC).
10D: Hard-as-nail: STERN. I suspect the original clue is "Violinist Isaac" since this constructor seems to have a wide range of music interest.
11D: Layered pasta dish: LASAGNA. Want some? Go to epicurious.com for the recipe.
12D: Indistinct number: UMPTEEN
17D: Mosque tower: MINARET. Alien to me. This is a Mosque with a MINARET.
27D: State's number-2 job: LT. GOV. (Lieutenant Governor)
35D: Bridge support: PYLON. Another unknown. Look at this picture.
37D: "Working for the Weekend" outfit: LOVERBOY. No idea. I am not familiar with the song or the rock band. I thought "Working for the Weekend" was a movie, and the answer was some kind of special clothes.
39D: Tony Soprano, for one: MOBSTER
40D: Place on a pedestal: IDOLIZE
41D: "Brand New Key" singer: MELANIE. No idea. Here is "Brand New Key".
44D: More unpromising: BLEAKER. I kept reading the clue as "More uncompromising".
45D: Honda model: ELEMENT
49D: Supermodel Heidi: KLUM. OK, let's continue this SongFest. This is Heidi KLUM's "Wonderland". What are inside those Tiffany blue boxes?
C.C.
17A: Gung-ho guy: BALL OF FIRE
26A: Quasimodo, for one: BELL RINGER
36A: "I Spy" co-star: BILL COSBY
50A: Cotton-grower's bane: BOLL WEEVIL
60A: Wall Street upsurge: BULL MARKET
Haven't we done a similar vowel progression themed puzzle before? Let me check....OK, here it is. Hmm, it's not entirely the same. I don't think I like this double-consonant ending B?LL****** rolling. Besides, the answer for the theme entry 36A has only 9 letters while the others all have 10, though the symmetry is still perfectly fine. I think I like Wiseman's better, all of his theme entries have 15 letters running through whole grid.
"Lust" came to my mind immediately after I spot the them, LAST, LEST, LIST, LOST, LUST would make a similar themed puzzle, so would MASS, MESS, MISS, MOSS, MUSS & PACK, PECK, PICK, POCK, Puck. What else can you think of?
It's a very thorny puzzle for me today, too many unknown singers. Had to ask google for help.
ACROSS:
1A: Hawaiian island: LANA'I. Lovely pineapple field in LANA'I (The Pineapple Island).
2A:Minute amt. of time: NSEC (Nanosecond)
14A: Concorde, e.g.: AVION (Plane). And another French word: ECOLE (28A: Nice schools)
16A: Novelist Hoag: TAMI. Unknown to me. One of her novels is titled "The ALIBI (25D: Mystery excuse?) Man".
19A: "Outside the Lines" shower: ESPN. Very misleading show-er, esp if you are not familiar with "Outside the Lines". "Baseball Tonight" shower would be much easier to obtain.
24A: Bonet or Alther: LISA. I know neither of them. Are they very famous?
39A: "La Boheme" heroine: MIMI. Foreign to me. Is it a gimme to you? I only know this MIMI (Tom Cruise's ex). And basso EZIO (63A: Pinza of opera). Always confuse his name with poet EZRA Pound.
42A: Patron saint of Norway: OLAV
43A: "The Zoo Story" dramatist: ALBEE (Edward). He also wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
48A: Egg: pref.: OVI. And 64A: Bone: pref. OSTE
54A: Hair-removal brand name: NEET. It was clued as "Nair competitor" before. And another brand LYSOL (51D: Disinfectant brand).
55A: Violent killer: SLAYER
65A: NH city: KEENE. Unknown to me. I pieced it together from the down clues. The NH in the clue should not be abbreviated.
67A: Brewers' manager Ned: YOST. Hmm, Robin YOUNT yesterday, Ned YOST today, are we expecting Ben SHEETS tomorrow? What's behind this Brewers' promotion?
DOWN:
3D: "Everybody's talking" singer: NILSSON (Harry). I've never heard of his name nor the song. Wikipedia says "Without You" is one of his best-known songs. I always thought Maria Carey was the original singer. "Everybody's been a-talking" is the first line of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss's "Stick with me Baby".
6D: Type of checking: NO FEE
7D: Skiing mishap: SPILL. No idea. Is it Bode Miller style skiing mishap or what?
8D: Cochlea site: EAR. I had no idea what "Cochlea" is. Flyingears only mentioned the three bones last time: INCUS (the Anvil), Malleus (the hammer) and Stapes (Stirrup).
9D: Cereal brand: CHEERIOS. The company (General Mills) is based here in MN. It's one of the major corporate donors to the GOP convention (RNC) this year. We have a bunch of Fortune 500 companies (3M, Best Buy, Cargill, etc) here, so it's much much easier to raise money for the conventions in Mpls/St. Paul than in Denver (DNC).
10D: Hard-as-nail: STERN. I suspect the original clue is "Violinist Isaac" since this constructor seems to have a wide range of music interest.
11D: Layered pasta dish: LASAGNA. Want some? Go to epicurious.com for the recipe.
12D: Indistinct number: UMPTEEN
17D: Mosque tower: MINARET. Alien to me. This is a Mosque with a MINARET.
27D: State's number-2 job: LT. GOV. (Lieutenant Governor)
35D: Bridge support: PYLON. Another unknown. Look at this picture.
37D: "Working for the Weekend" outfit: LOVERBOY. No idea. I am not familiar with the song or the rock band. I thought "Working for the Weekend" was a movie, and the answer was some kind of special clothes.
39D: Tony Soprano, for one: MOBSTER
40D: Place on a pedestal: IDOLIZE
41D: "Brand New Key" singer: MELANIE. No idea. Here is "Brand New Key".
44D: More unpromising: BLEAKER. I kept reading the clue as "More uncompromising".
45D: Honda model: ELEMENT
49D: Supermodel Heidi: KLUM. OK, let's continue this SongFest. This is Heidi KLUM's "Wonderland". What are inside those Tiffany blue boxes?
C.C.
