Theme: Color Songs
17A: Fruitful infatuation?: ORANGE CRUSH
24A: What fellow travelers live in?: PINK HOUSES
38A: Cowardly hero?: YELLOW SUBMARINE
52A: Murex shower?: PURPLE RAIN
63A: Valuable ticker?: HEART OF GOLD
The color GOLD in the last one seems to be positionally out of order with the other theme answers. Can you think of another 11-letter song whose title starts with color GOLD (or red, blue, or any color)? I thought of "GOLD Digger", Kanye West's signature song, but it's 1 letter short and therefore symmetrically impossible to be clued for 63A.
There are TINGES (51D: Slight traces) of smallness in this grid:
16A: Slightest bit: TAD
19A: Smallest bill: ONE
60A: Jerkwater: ONE-HORSE. Both the clue and the answer are new to me.
61A: American lizard: ANOLE. No idea. Obtained it from the down fills. Dictionary says it's related to iguana, "characterized by a distensible throat flap" and the ability to to change the color of their skin among a wide range of green and brown shades." That's very gecko-ISH (62A: Sorta), isn't it? Hmmm, very interesting photo, good timing!
11D: Molecular building blocks: ATOMS
I like how MEDAL (59D: Badge of honor) intersects GOLD. Hate the 64D: Isl. off Australia (TAS). TAS is not a commonly accepted abbreviation of Tasmania, TASM is.
Lots of wild guesses today. I did not know that "Murex" is purple color, and had no idea what connects "Fellow travelers" with color "PINK".
ACROSS:
1A: Produced roe: SPAWNED
14A: Cleanliness: HYGIENE
26A: Equestrian game: POLO. Where did Water POLO get its name? There is no horse play involved. The colors of those balls are hard to tell. Can't be blue though.
44A: Roman unlucky number: XIII(13). My instinct first response was IDES.
46A: Aussie's friend: MATE. Or Bloke.
50A: Parks or Convy: BERT. Pure guess. I know neither of them.
67: Esq. affixer: ATT (Attorney). I am starting to get tired of this "affixer" lawyer clue. Isn't ATT the ticker symbol for AT&T? Wait... Oh, no, it's T now. I did not know that.
68A: Nerval novel: AURÉLIA. No idea. I've never heard of the novel nor the author. Wikipedia says he successfully translated Goethe's "Faust" into French. And Marcel Proust was greatly influenced by his surrealist work.
70A: Oh yeah, __ who?: SEZ. The clue needs quotation marks.
71A: John of "20/20": STOSSEL. He is not my type.
DOWN:
2D: Funeral piles: PYRES. I saw this old Life magazine (June 1964, the Cremation of Nehru) at the flea market a few days ago. It's in pretty good condition.
3D: Former name of Hagatna, Guam: AGANA. Capital of Guam.
4D: Pitcher's motion: WINDUP. My favorite pitcher (Johan Santana) in mid-WINDUP position.
5D: Images in rev.: NEGS (Negatives)
8D: Full of vigor: SPUNKY
9D: Violinist Elman: MISCHA. Unknown to me. This is a beautiful serenade. Slow can be so good. Who is your favorite violinist? Here is a bit of Sara Chang for you.
12D: Dugout: CANOE. I only know baseball's "Dugout".
22D: Ponderer: MUSER
30D: Soak flex: RET
39D: Body liquid: LYMPH
40D: Actress Anderson: BIBI. I've never heard this actor/actress. To me, BIBI is always Netanyahu, my old unfruitful infatuation/CRUSH.
41D: Demeanor: MIEN. And 52D: Composure: POISE
48D: Shaped like a cylinder: TERETE. New to me.
49D: Bogus: ERSATZ. Gimme Gimme. Spent several years working for an IP investigation firm in China.
53D: Family of Indy winners: UNSER. Learned from doing crossword. I am not into racing at all.
54D: Actress Ada: REHAN. How quickly I forgot about her! She appeared on June 29 Sunday puzzle. Very very obscure actress.
65D: Into circulation: OUT. What? Magazines? Coins? Virus?
C.C.
17A: Fruitful infatuation?: ORANGE CRUSH
24A: What fellow travelers live in?: PINK HOUSES
38A: Cowardly hero?: YELLOW SUBMARINE
52A: Murex shower?: PURPLE RAIN
63A: Valuable ticker?: HEART OF GOLD
The color GOLD in the last one seems to be positionally out of order with the other theme answers. Can you think of another 11-letter song whose title starts with color GOLD (or red, blue, or any color)? I thought of "GOLD Digger", Kanye West's signature song, but it's 1 letter short and therefore symmetrically impossible to be clued for 63A.
There are TINGES (51D: Slight traces) of smallness in this grid:
16A: Slightest bit: TAD
19A: Smallest bill: ONE
60A: Jerkwater: ONE-HORSE. Both the clue and the answer are new to me.
61A: American lizard: ANOLE. No idea. Obtained it from the down fills. Dictionary says it's related to iguana, "characterized by a distensible throat flap" and the ability to to change the color of their skin among a wide range of green and brown shades." That's very gecko-ISH (62A: Sorta), isn't it? Hmmm, very interesting photo, good timing!
11D: Molecular building blocks: ATOMS
I like how MEDAL (59D: Badge of honor) intersects GOLD. Hate the 64D: Isl. off Australia (TAS). TAS is not a commonly accepted abbreviation of Tasmania, TASM is.
Lots of wild guesses today. I did not know that "Murex" is purple color, and had no idea what connects "Fellow travelers" with color "PINK".
ACROSS:
1A: Produced roe: SPAWNED
14A: Cleanliness: HYGIENE
26A: Equestrian game: POLO. Where did Water POLO get its name? There is no horse play involved. The colors of those balls are hard to tell. Can't be blue though.
44A: Roman unlucky number: XIII(13). My instinct first response was IDES.
46A: Aussie's friend: MATE. Or Bloke.
50A: Parks or Convy: BERT. Pure guess. I know neither of them.
67: Esq. affixer: ATT (Attorney). I am starting to get tired of this "affixer" lawyer clue. Isn't ATT the ticker symbol for AT&T? Wait... Oh, no, it's T now. I did not know that.
68A: Nerval novel: AURÉLIA. No idea. I've never heard of the novel nor the author. Wikipedia says he successfully translated Goethe's "Faust" into French. And Marcel Proust was greatly influenced by his surrealist work.
70A: Oh yeah, __ who?: SEZ. The clue needs quotation marks.
71A: John of "20/20": STOSSEL. He is not my type.
DOWN:
2D: Funeral piles: PYRES. I saw this old Life magazine (June 1964, the Cremation of Nehru) at the flea market a few days ago. It's in pretty good condition.
3D: Former name of Hagatna, Guam: AGANA. Capital of Guam.
4D: Pitcher's motion: WINDUP. My favorite pitcher (Johan Santana) in mid-WINDUP position.
5D: Images in rev.: NEGS (Negatives)
8D: Full of vigor: SPUNKY
9D: Violinist Elman: MISCHA. Unknown to me. This is a beautiful serenade. Slow can be so good. Who is your favorite violinist? Here is a bit of Sara Chang for you.
12D: Dugout: CANOE. I only know baseball's "Dugout".
22D: Ponderer: MUSER
30D: Soak flex: RET
39D: Body liquid: LYMPH
40D: Actress Anderson: BIBI. I've never heard this actor/actress. To me, BIBI is always Netanyahu, my old unfruitful infatuation/CRUSH.
41D: Demeanor: MIEN. And 52D: Composure: POISE
48D: Shaped like a cylinder: TERETE. New to me.
49D: Bogus: ERSATZ. Gimme Gimme. Spent several years working for an IP investigation firm in China.
53D: Family of Indy winners: UNSER. Learned from doing crossword. I am not into racing at all.
54D: Actress Ada: REHAN. How quickly I forgot about her! She appeared on June 29 Sunday puzzle. Very very obscure actress.
65D: Into circulation: OUT. What? Magazines? Coins? Virus?
C.C.
