Theme: Watered Down
17A: Heading for England: CROSSING THE POND
38A: Get outta here: GO JUMP IN A LAKE
56A: Very small amount: A DROP IN THE OCEAN
Will "Take Me to the RIVER" fit the above theme pattern?
This puzzle is weird. Most of the time the longest theme answer is in the middle. The grammatical structure of the above three entries felt very loose too.
I had to check the dictionary for BONESET (27D: Thoroughwort). I did not understand the meaning of "Thorougwort", thinking it's kind of disease, or something like wart. Had no idea that "wort" is a suffix for "plant".
I also forgot TARPON (31A: Florida fish). I wonder why the clue is "Florida fish"? Can't you find TARPON anywhere else? By the way, congratulations to Night Owl and other Tempa Bay fans. Matt Garza was awesome!
Across:
14A: Clarinetist Shaw: ARTIE. It's clued as "Bandleader Shaw" last Saturday. Kittyb linked Benny Goodman and Woody Herman and mentioned that they are all clarinetists and bandleaders.
20A: Plainsong feature: MONOTONE. This reminds me of Ben Stein.
21A: Carried by wind: EOLIAN. Or AEOLIAN. From Aeolus, ruler of wind in Greek mythology. New to me.
25A: North of Paris: NORD. "South of Paris" would be SUD.
37A: Ducks' relatives: LOONS. LOON is Minnesota's state bird.
41A: Rams and bucks: MALES. No alliteration any more? How about "Bucks and Boars"?
47A: "Star Trek" star: SHATNER. Captain Kirk.
54A: Of the kitchen: CULINARY. Funny how I always associate CULINARY with cooking but not kitchen.
Down:
1D: U.S. Defense group: SAC (Strategic Air Command). I got it from the across fills.
5D: Fawning subordinate: YES-MAN
7D: Inert gas: ARGON
18D: Isotope of thorium: IONIUM. No idea. Its atomic number is 90, and atomic weight 230. ION is charged article, IUM is a suffix for metallic element.
19D: Ultimate conclusion: END-ALL
22D: Paper folding: ORIGAMI. Amazing ORIGAMI flowers.
23D: Lotion additive: LANOLIN. Also called wool fat. I could only think of ALOE.
26D: Washington city: SPOKANE. Unknown to me also. Wikipedia says 1974 World Fair was held in SPOKANE and Bing Crosby grew up there.
41D: NYC arena: MSG. Are you a NY Rangers fan?
51D: "Rebel Without a Cause" co-star: MINEO (Sal). See the movie trailer.
61D: Writer Hentoff: NAT. I don't think I've read anything he has written.
C.C.
17A: Heading for England: CROSSING THE POND
38A: Get outta here: GO JUMP IN A LAKE
56A: Very small amount: A DROP IN THE OCEAN
Will "Take Me to the RIVER" fit the above theme pattern?
This puzzle is weird. Most of the time the longest theme answer is in the middle. The grammatical structure of the above three entries felt very loose too.
I had to check the dictionary for BONESET (27D: Thoroughwort). I did not understand the meaning of "Thorougwort", thinking it's kind of disease, or something like wart. Had no idea that "wort" is a suffix for "plant".
I also forgot TARPON (31A: Florida fish). I wonder why the clue is "Florida fish"? Can't you find TARPON anywhere else? By the way, congratulations to Night Owl and other Tempa Bay fans. Matt Garza was awesome!
Across:
14A: Clarinetist Shaw: ARTIE. It's clued as "Bandleader Shaw" last Saturday. Kittyb linked Benny Goodman and Woody Herman and mentioned that they are all clarinetists and bandleaders.
20A: Plainsong feature: MONOTONE. This reminds me of Ben Stein.
21A: Carried by wind: EOLIAN. Or AEOLIAN. From Aeolus, ruler of wind in Greek mythology. New to me.
25A: North of Paris: NORD. "South of Paris" would be SUD.
37A: Ducks' relatives: LOONS. LOON is Minnesota's state bird.
41A: Rams and bucks: MALES. No alliteration any more? How about "Bucks and Boars"?
47A: "Star Trek" star: SHATNER. Captain Kirk.
54A: Of the kitchen: CULINARY. Funny how I always associate CULINARY with cooking but not kitchen.
Down:
1D: U.S. Defense group: SAC (Strategic Air Command). I got it from the across fills.
5D: Fawning subordinate: YES-MAN
7D: Inert gas: ARGON
18D: Isotope of thorium: IONIUM. No idea. Its atomic number is 90, and atomic weight 230. ION is charged article, IUM is a suffix for metallic element.
19D: Ultimate conclusion: END-ALL
22D: Paper folding: ORIGAMI. Amazing ORIGAMI flowers.
23D: Lotion additive: LANOLIN. Also called wool fat. I could only think of ALOE.
26D: Washington city: SPOKANE. Unknown to me also. Wikipedia says 1974 World Fair was held in SPOKANE and Bing Crosby grew up there.
41D: NYC arena: MSG. Are you a NY Rangers fan?
51D: "Rebel Without a Cause" co-star: MINEO (Sal). See the movie trailer.
61D: Writer Hentoff: NAT. I don't think I've read anything he has written.
C.C.
