Theme: " The Doctor Is In"
17A: One from Dr. Seuss: YERTLE THE TURTLE
39A: Another from Dr. Seuss: HORTON HEARS A WHO
62A: One more from Dr. Seuss: GREEN EGGS AND HAM
I've never heard of 17A. What a strange title! Is YERTLE even a word? Did he make it up just to rhyme with "TURTLE"?
I really like Dr. Seuss' "You Are a Mean One". Barbara Budd, the host for "As It Happens" (CBC), always reads "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" during the Christmas time. I like it a lot.
A couple flaws with this puzzle:
5A:Throat prob.: STREP. The clue should not have been abbreviated. (Update: The clue is correct!)
43A: "Green Gables" girl: ANNE. Why this clue? Is it because it's a children' book? But you have GREEN EGGS as your answer on 62A.
I also dislike so many *ER ending words in the puzzle:
45A: Less of a mess: NEATER. Good clue though.
64A: Ripening factor: AGER. What is AGER?
35D: Sewing circle members: STITCHERS
53D: More expansive: WIDER
I don't know much about crossword constructing. I am just so curious why this constructor did not add "If I Ran a Circus" to the grid, it's also a 15-letter book title. Maybe it's structurally impossible.
Across:
22A: Verdi heroine: AIDA. I am not into opera at all. But I do find this love story to be grippingly romantic. Ancient Egypt is such an exotic and mysterious place.
36A: Low character: WORM. Does the WORM in Tequila really have aphrodisiac effect?
42A: Certain anchor position: ATRIP. Not familiar with this nautical term. I was also stumped by AWEIGH last time.
50A: Mountain goat's perch: CRAG. Mountain goat sitting atop a CRAG.
54A: Feeling of well-being: EUPHORIA. I am always FiFi-minded, so here is Calvin Klein's sensual EUPHORIA, filled with pleasure, temptation and fantasy.
58A: Alector or Megaera: ERINYS. Ugh, the three Furies. I simply forgot this Greek word. Once again, Bouguereau's "Orestes Pursued by the Furies". Feel the RAGE (69A: Temper out of control)? I love number 3, my lucky number, so pregnant with symbolism. See also Raphael's Three Graces.
Down:
2D: Western writer Wister: OWEN. Clued as "The Virginian" author before. I like the alliteration in the clue.
4D: Cavities in bones: ANTRA. Singular Antrum. New word to me.
5D: Resign or detrain: STEP DOWN. Why 2 words for the clue when 1 is sufficient?
10D: Steak for some: HORSE MEAT
19D: Regulars' orders: USUALS
25D: Hunter of the PGA: MAHAN. Can you feel the torque tension in his backswing? He has had only 1 PGA win in his career so far, and was Nicklaus' pick for Presidents Cup in 2007 (K.J. Choi won 3 & 2 against him on Sunday individual match). A gimme ONLY to those hardcore golf nuts.
27D: __ cotta: TERRA. This is a great picture of Xi'An TERRA Cotta Warriors.
37D: Bouncing off the wall: MANIC. "Bouncing off the wall" is a new phrase to me.
40D: Unit of gene activity: OPERON. No idea. Dictionary explains it as "a set of two or more adjacent cistrons whose transcription is under the coordinated control of a promoter, an operator, and a regulator gene". OPER is from "Operate", ON (extracted from ION) is "a suffix used in the names of subatomic particles like "neutron".
41D: Carrot-tops: RED HEADS. Not a familiar slang to me. All that jumped into my mind are these fresh carrots and carrot-tops, so juicy and firm, easy to eat out of hand.
51D: Lively baroque dance: GIGUE. Completely foreign to me. Wikipedia says it's originated from British Jigs, and it's GIGA in Italian.
61D: Hook's right-hand man: SMEE. From "Peter Pan".
63D: Title for Galahad: SIR. Really a hard to forget night knight at King Arthur's Round Table, son of Lancelot. Have to admire Jackie Kennedy's ingenuity in connecting JFK's "one brief shining moment" with Camelot. Such an idealistically and masterfully spun tale!
C.C.
17A: One from Dr. Seuss: YERTLE THE TURTLE
39A: Another from Dr. Seuss: HORTON HEARS A WHO
62A: One more from Dr. Seuss: GREEN EGGS AND HAM
I've never heard of 17A. What a strange title! Is YERTLE even a word? Did he make it up just to rhyme with "TURTLE"?
I really like Dr. Seuss' "You Are a Mean One". Barbara Budd, the host for "As It Happens" (CBC), always reads "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" during the Christmas time. I like it a lot.
A couple flaws with this puzzle:
5A:Throat prob.: STREP. The clue should not have been abbreviated. (Update: The clue is correct!)
43A: "Green Gables" girl: ANNE. Why this clue? Is it because it's a children' book? But you have GREEN EGGS as your answer on 62A.
I also dislike so many *ER ending words in the puzzle:
45A: Less of a mess: NEATER. Good clue though.
64A: Ripening factor: AGER. What is AGER?
35D: Sewing circle members: STITCHERS
53D: More expansive: WIDER
I don't know much about crossword constructing. I am just so curious why this constructor did not add "If I Ran a Circus" to the grid, it's also a 15-letter book title. Maybe it's structurally impossible.
Across:
22A: Verdi heroine: AIDA. I am not into opera at all. But I do find this love story to be grippingly romantic. Ancient Egypt is such an exotic and mysterious place.
36A: Low character: WORM. Does the WORM in Tequila really have aphrodisiac effect?
42A: Certain anchor position: ATRIP. Not familiar with this nautical term. I was also stumped by AWEIGH last time.
50A: Mountain goat's perch: CRAG. Mountain goat sitting atop a CRAG.
54A: Feeling of well-being: EUPHORIA. I am always FiFi-minded, so here is Calvin Klein's sensual EUPHORIA, filled with pleasure, temptation and fantasy.
58A: Alector or Megaera: ERINYS. Ugh, the three Furies. I simply forgot this Greek word. Once again, Bouguereau's "Orestes Pursued by the Furies". Feel the RAGE (69A: Temper out of control)? I love number 3, my lucky number, so pregnant with symbolism. See also Raphael's Three Graces.
Down:
2D: Western writer Wister: OWEN. Clued as "The Virginian" author before. I like the alliteration in the clue.
4D: Cavities in bones: ANTRA. Singular Antrum. New word to me.
5D: Resign or detrain: STEP DOWN. Why 2 words for the clue when 1 is sufficient?
10D: Steak for some: HORSE MEAT
19D: Regulars' orders: USUALS
25D: Hunter of the PGA: MAHAN. Can you feel the torque tension in his backswing? He has had only 1 PGA win in his career so far, and was Nicklaus' pick for Presidents Cup in 2007 (K.J. Choi won 3 & 2 against him on Sunday individual match). A gimme ONLY to those hardcore golf nuts.
27D: __ cotta: TERRA. This is a great picture of Xi'An TERRA Cotta Warriors.
37D: Bouncing off the wall: MANIC. "Bouncing off the wall" is a new phrase to me.
40D: Unit of gene activity: OPERON. No idea. Dictionary explains it as "a set of two or more adjacent cistrons whose transcription is under the coordinated control of a promoter, an operator, and a regulator gene". OPER is from "Operate", ON (extracted from ION) is "a suffix used in the names of subatomic particles like "neutron".
41D: Carrot-tops: RED HEADS. Not a familiar slang to me. All that jumped into my mind are these fresh carrots and carrot-tops, so juicy and firm, easy to eat out of hand.
51D: Lively baroque dance: GIGUE. Completely foreign to me. Wikipedia says it's originated from British Jigs, and it's GIGA in Italian.
61D: Hook's right-hand man: SMEE. From "Peter Pan".
63D: Title for Galahad: SIR. Really a hard to forget
C.C.
