Theme: The Sound of Music
17A: Chopin song to Caesar's enemy?: ETUDE BRUTE
65A: When King David sang?: PSALM TIMES
10D: Handel's reveries? SUITE DREAMS
25D: Strauss' NYT setting?: WALTZ STREET
Oh how I struggled with the theme today! I did not know the musical meaning of SUITE, and I had no idea that Handel wrote many keyboard SUITES. "SWEET DREAMS" kept popping into my mind and I started to think that this might be a wordplay puzzle.
I wish ACT (20A: Behave) were clued as "Play part" to further enhance the musical sub-theme:
44A: Famous fair lady: ELIZA. Here is the original Broadway poster.
31D: Webber hit: CATS
53D: La __ (Milan's opera house): SCALA
I also wish POLO (35D: Equestrian game) was clued as "China explorer" to pair us with ASIA (36D: China's land). I don't believe the clue for TIED (23D: Even-steven) is the contructor's original submission. She would not have overlooked EVEN (18D: __ as we speak).
Anyway, I enjoyed this puzzle very much. It felt so feminine and pretty. Lots of girl power in the grid. And none of them is unyielding.
Across:
10A: Swedish auto: SAAB. I often wonder why this company name is SAAB AB rather than just SAAB, so repetitive.
15A: Stretch of land: TRACT. and 11D: Land measure: ACRE
22A: Show up for: ATTEND
24A: Cleansing routine: SHOWER. "Jump in the SHOWER...". Dolly Parton has such an enviable body, so sexy. I really want the rainbow, but I don't want to put up with the rain.
26A: "Dallas" matriarch: ELLIE. I lapsed into ELLEN again. I've never seen "Dallas".
30A: Secondhand ride: USED CAR
39A: Kind of queen: DRAMA
50A: Part of a poppy: STEM. I planted SEED first.
54A: Move it: HASTEN. I've never heard of "Move it". "Hightail it" yes!
58A: Rival of Athens: SPARTA. Pure guess. I don't know why SPARTA is the "Rival of Athens". Not familiar with Greek history or mythology.
69A: Actress Shire: TALIA. She is Connie in "The Godfather".
70A: Muppet with a unibrow: BERT. I don't understand this picture. What is that long stuff coming out of the peanuts jar? Looks elastic.
Down:
2D: Fire starter: MATCH
3D: Former planet: PLUTO. 冥王星 in Chinese. Literally "Star of the Underworld King". 王 means "King" in English. More than 7% of the total population in China has 王 as surname. That's about 93 million, 1/3 of the total US population?
4D: Punk rocker Vicious: SID. I don't know anything about his songs. I just love so much the "You were my little baby girl" poem he wrote to his girlfrend Nancy. So simple and sweet.
5D: J. Ringling's partner: P. T. BARNUM. Unknown to me. I pieced his name together from the across fills.
7D: Fry lightly: SAUTE. What's the difference between SAUTE and Stir-fry?
27D: Units of light: LUMENS. Another unknown. Easily gettable.
29D: Empower: ENABLE. I don't like the clue. I hate the repetition of letter (s) in both the clue and the answer. So many other ways to clue "ENABLE". The same with SLAB ( 58D: Thick slice). "Thick piece" would be just fine.
32D: Famous cookie maker: AMOS. This constructor clued AMOS as "Writer Oz"in her last puzzle. Listen, this is Melissa's favorite AMOS.
42D: One of the U.S. Virgin Islands: ST. THOMAS. Pure guess. Here is the map. Have you been there before?
45D: Plugging away: AT IT. OK, this is another phrase that bothers me. In which dictionary can you find "AT IT"?
67D: Big blue: IBM Think!
C.C.
17A: Chopin song to Caesar's enemy?: ETUDE BRUTE
65A: When King David sang?: PSALM TIMES
10D: Handel's reveries? SUITE DREAMS
25D: Strauss' NYT setting?: WALTZ STREET
Oh how I struggled with the theme today! I did not know the musical meaning of SUITE, and I had no idea that Handel wrote many keyboard SUITES. "SWEET DREAMS" kept popping into my mind and I started to think that this might be a wordplay puzzle.
I wish ACT (20A: Behave) were clued as "Play part" to further enhance the musical sub-theme:
44A: Famous fair lady: ELIZA. Here is the original Broadway poster.
31D: Webber hit: CATS
53D: La __ (Milan's opera house): SCALA
I also wish POLO (35D: Equestrian game) was clued as "China explorer" to pair us with ASIA (36D: China's land). I don't believe the clue for TIED (23D: Even-steven) is the contructor's original submission. She would not have overlooked EVEN (18D: __ as we speak).
Anyway, I enjoyed this puzzle very much. It felt so feminine and pretty. Lots of girl power in the grid. And none of them is unyielding.
Across:
10A: Swedish auto: SAAB. I often wonder why this company name is SAAB AB rather than just SAAB, so repetitive.
15A: Stretch of land: TRACT. and 11D: Land measure: ACRE
22A: Show up for: ATTEND
24A: Cleansing routine: SHOWER. "Jump in the SHOWER...". Dolly Parton has such an enviable body, so sexy. I really want the rainbow, but I don't want to put up with the rain.
26A: "Dallas" matriarch: ELLIE. I lapsed into ELLEN again. I've never seen "Dallas".
30A: Secondhand ride: USED CAR
39A: Kind of queen: DRAMA
50A: Part of a poppy: STEM. I planted SEED first.
54A: Move it: HASTEN. I've never heard of "Move it". "Hightail it" yes!
58A: Rival of Athens: SPARTA. Pure guess. I don't know why SPARTA is the "Rival of Athens". Not familiar with Greek history or mythology.
69A: Actress Shire: TALIA. She is Connie in "The Godfather".
70A: Muppet with a unibrow: BERT. I don't understand this picture. What is that long stuff coming out of the peanuts jar? Looks elastic.
Down:
2D: Fire starter: MATCH
3D: Former planet: PLUTO. 冥王星 in Chinese. Literally "Star of the Underworld King". 王 means "King" in English. More than 7% of the total population in China has 王 as surname. That's about 93 million, 1/3 of the total US population?
4D: Punk rocker Vicious: SID. I don't know anything about his songs. I just love so much the "You were my little baby girl" poem he wrote to his girlfrend Nancy. So simple and sweet.
5D: J. Ringling's partner: P. T. BARNUM. Unknown to me. I pieced his name together from the across fills.
7D: Fry lightly: SAUTE. What's the difference between SAUTE and Stir-fry?
27D: Units of light: LUMENS. Another unknown. Easily gettable.
29D: Empower: ENABLE. I don't like the clue. I hate the repetition of letter (s) in both the clue and the answer. So many other ways to clue "ENABLE". The same with SLAB ( 58D: Thick slice). "Thick piece" would be just fine.
32D: Famous cookie maker: AMOS. This constructor clued AMOS as "Writer Oz"in her last puzzle. Listen, this is Melissa's favorite AMOS.
42D: One of the U.S. Virgin Islands: ST. THOMAS. Pure guess. Here is the map. Have you been there before?
45D: Plugging away: AT IT. OK, this is another phrase that bothers me. In which dictionary can you find "AT IT"?
67D: Big blue: IBM Think!
C.C.
