Theme: "Marry" Has a Little Rhyme
18A: Hogwarts' student: HARRY POTTER
23A: Former Heavyweight Champion: LARRY HOLMES
38A: Director of "Rain Man": BARRY LEVINSON
51A: Phillie with eight gold gloves: GARRY MADDOX
58A: Hatchet-wielding temperance advocate: CARRY NATION
"Rain Man" is a great movie, but I've never paid attention to its director's name. I am not familiar with either LARRY HOLMES or GARRY MADDOX. The only Phillie I could think of is Mike Schmidt (also 11-letter).
Besides GARRY MADDOX, there are also CUB (58D: Chicago pro) and ABNER (54D: Doubleday of baseball) for a baseball undertone. Though it's been debunked, I still like the myth that Doubleday invented baseball.
I think our editor was watching ball games while editing this puzzle, so many flaws. Awful clue for HITHERTO (11D: Until now) due to UNTIL (63A: Up to). A clue for Clara BARTON (6D: Coen film, "__ Fink") would have avoided the COEN (27D: "Fargo" director) duplication. There should be a "briefly" hint for OTS (32A: Bonus periods).
Across:
1A: Maternal flower?: MUM. Well, only in the UK, isn't it? It's MOM here. "Silent flower?" is better.
4A: Travail: LABOR
9A: Cause for a blessing? ACHOO
17A: Sound intensity units: abbr.: DBS (Decibels). Stumper for me.
20A: Hardest to fathom?: DEEPEST. Can you think of a word/phrase to clue DEEPEST without using "-est" (or "most"/"least")?
22A: Hebrew letter: RESH. New to me. It's 20th letter of Hebrew alphabet. Notice nun, tet and shin? Great words to play around for those Xword constructors.
26A: Writer Umberto: ECO. Hee, I finally remember his name.
29A: Needle case: ETUI. Long time no see!
30A: Toshiba rival: NEC. NEC belongs to Sumitomo. One of the earliest foreign companies to enter China after our "Open Door" policy (1978). Coca - Cola was an early bird too.
31A: Rider's whip: CROP. New to me. I've never heard of riding CROP or leather tongue.
35A: Oscillates: VIBRATES. I always associate VIBRATES with a trembling motion rather than "swing back and force".
55A: Alaska's first governor: EGAN. Wikipedia says EGAN is "the only governor in the state's history to have actually been born in Alaska." Sarah Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho.
57A: Singer Flack: ROBERTA. I love her "Killing Me Softly With His Song".
Down:
1D: Be a busybody: MEDDLE
3D: Capital of Lesotho: MASERU. No idea. LESOTHO was clued as "Basutoland, today" on a TMS Sunday puzzle before. It's encircled by South Africa.
4D: Massachusetts medical clinic: LAHEY. Another unknown. Is it as famous as Mayo Clinic?
8D: Actor Alejandro: REY. I googled his name, then I realized that I had searched for him before. He is in Elvis's "Fun in Acapulco".
24D: Tool for evening: LEVELER. New word to me.
25D: DLII times II: MCIV. Roman 1104.
28D: Saturn's wife: OPS. Googled again. Her equivalent is Rhea in Greek mythology. Saturn (Cronus) ate all his children except Jupiter (Zeus). How cruel!
36D: Again, in music: BIS. I wonde what's the origin for BIS.
39D: Be ruled by: ANSWER TO
49D: Forces from: EXACTS. The clue should be "Forces (from)", don't you think so?
C.C.
18A: Hogwarts' student: HARRY POTTER
23A: Former Heavyweight Champion: LARRY HOLMES
38A: Director of "Rain Man": BARRY LEVINSON
51A: Phillie with eight gold gloves: GARRY MADDOX
58A: Hatchet-wielding temperance advocate: CARRY NATION
"Rain Man" is a great movie, but I've never paid attention to its director's name. I am not familiar with either LARRY HOLMES or GARRY MADDOX. The only Phillie I could think of is Mike Schmidt (also 11-letter).
Besides GARRY MADDOX, there are also CUB (58D: Chicago pro) and ABNER (54D: Doubleday of baseball) for a baseball undertone. Though it's been debunked, I still like the myth that Doubleday invented baseball.
I think our editor was watching ball games while editing this puzzle, so many flaws. Awful clue for HITHERTO (11D: Until now) due to UNTIL (63A: Up to). A clue for Clara BARTON (6D: Coen film, "__ Fink") would have avoided the COEN (27D: "Fargo" director) duplication. There should be a "briefly" hint for OTS (32A: Bonus periods).
Across:
1A: Maternal flower?: MUM. Well, only in the UK, isn't it? It's MOM here. "Silent flower?" is better.
4A: Travail: LABOR
9A: Cause for a blessing? ACHOO
17A: Sound intensity units: abbr.: DBS (Decibels). Stumper for me.
20A: Hardest to fathom?: DEEPEST. Can you think of a word/phrase to clue DEEPEST without using "-est" (or "most"/"least")?
22A: Hebrew letter: RESH. New to me. It's 20th letter of Hebrew alphabet. Notice nun, tet and shin? Great words to play around for those Xword constructors.
26A: Writer Umberto: ECO. Hee, I finally remember his name.
29A: Needle case: ETUI. Long time no see!
30A: Toshiba rival: NEC. NEC belongs to Sumitomo. One of the earliest foreign companies to enter China after our "Open Door" policy (1978). Coca - Cola was an early bird too.
31A: Rider's whip: CROP. New to me. I've never heard of riding CROP or leather tongue.
35A: Oscillates: VIBRATES. I always associate VIBRATES with a trembling motion rather than "swing back and force".
55A: Alaska's first governor: EGAN. Wikipedia says EGAN is "the only governor in the state's history to have actually been born in Alaska." Sarah Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho.
57A: Singer Flack: ROBERTA. I love her "Killing Me Softly With His Song".
Down:
1D: Be a busybody: MEDDLE
3D: Capital of Lesotho: MASERU. No idea. LESOTHO was clued as "Basutoland, today" on a TMS Sunday puzzle before. It's encircled by South Africa.
4D: Massachusetts medical clinic: LAHEY. Another unknown. Is it as famous as Mayo Clinic?
8D: Actor Alejandro: REY. I googled his name, then I realized that I had searched for him before. He is in Elvis's "Fun in Acapulco".
24D: Tool for evening: LEVELER. New word to me.
25D: DLII times II: MCIV. Roman 1104.
28D: Saturn's wife: OPS. Googled again. Her equivalent is Rhea in Greek mythology. Saturn (Cronus) ate all his children except Jupiter (Zeus). How cruel!
36D: Again, in music: BIS. I wonde what's the origin for BIS.
39D: Be ruled by: ANSWER TO
49D: Forces from: EXACTS. The clue should be "Forces (from)", don't you think so?
C.C.
