Theme: Winner or Loser?
4A: Winner or loser?: BARACK OBAMA
58A: Winner of loser?: JOSEPH BIDEN
1D: Winner or loser?: JOHN MCCAIN
31D: Winner or loser?: SARAH PALIN
I wish 58A were JOE BIDEN. But then the symmetry would have been lost.
Great puzzle, perfectly matched theme pairs in the grid. Brilliant! Even the none-theme presidential fills have a 180-degree symmetry and evenly divided between GOP and Dem:
3D: W: GEORGE BUSH. His anagram is "He bugs Gore".
29D: "Commander in Chief" star: GEENA DAVIS. Her Veep is a Democrat.
25D: Dick Cheney's predecessor: AL GORE
28D: Presidential also-ran of the past: LANDON. He lost to FDR in 1936.
Only one minor flaw, the clue for EKING (44A: Barely making do) should be "Barely making do, with "out").
I want to share with you this hilarious Yma Dream. Some of those guests are our crossword stalwarts: Yma Sumac, Ava Gardner, Abba Eban, Oona O'Neill, Eva Gabor, Uta Hagen, Ida Lupino, Matah Hari. The others are: Ugo Betti, Ona Munson, Aga Khan, Ira Wolfert, Ilya Ehrenburg, Anna Magnani, Pia Lindstrom & Mieczyslaw Horszowski. I love those photos in the clip.
All right, if you haven't, get out and vote.
Across:
16A: Exploit too much: OVERDEVELOP. Isn't this a photography term?
19A: Saul's uncle: NER. I memorized this name from doing Xword. OK, so Saul's father is Kish. And Kish and NER (father of Abner) are sons of Abiel. So complicated.
21A: Dodger Pee Wee: REESE. Ha, I did not know that he is a champion marbles player and pee wee is a small clay marble. I always thought he was very short. He is in the HOF of course. Here is a picture of REESE with Jackie Robinson.
24A: Speaks roughly: RASPS. Or "Sings roughly"? Do you like "Good Morning, Vietnam"?
28A: George Sand novel: LELIA. I've never read LELIA. I truly believe Chopin would have lived longer had he not left George Sand. "There is only one happiness in this life: to love and to be loved".
33A: Closet item: HANGER
34A: Former queen of Spain: ENA. She is the Queen of Spain from 1906 -1931.
39A: A Gandhi: INDIRA. Interesting, her son Rajiv's name is "lotus flower" in Hindu language. Why would she name her son a flower?
43A: Yellowish pink: PEACH. It's symbol of longevity in China.
50A: Altar of stars: ARA. It's always the palindromic ARA if it's a 3-letter blank.
56A: Extinct: DEAD AS A DODO. New expression to me, though I knew DODO is extinct.
Down:
2D: Too much to take: UNBEARABLE. Our Xword actress Lena Olin is in "The UNBEARABLE Lightness of Being". She also appears in "Chocolat", together with Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp.
4D: Hobgobins: BOGIES. What does "Boogie Street" refer in Leonard Cohen's song?
7D: Island group in the Moluccas: ARU. See this map. It's Indonesia's island. I've never heard of ARU or Moluccas before.
8D: Mil. watchdog grp.: CDI (Center for Defense Information). Absolutely no idea. Got it from the across clues. It's established in 1972 according to Wikipedia.
26D: Tuscany commune: SIENA. Our editor has been very fond of "commune" lately. But it's a city, isn't it?
30D: Factual fault: INACCURACY
37D: Phom Penh cash: RIEL. I guessed. Here is their bank note.
39D: Mushroom with black gills: INKY CAP. Unknown to me. See this picture. Wikipedia says INKY CAP is "poisonous when consumed with alcohol, hence another common name Tippler's Bane." Have you ever had it? Does it blacken your tongue?
45D: Chrissie of the Pretenders: HYNDE. Another unknown. Here is their "Stop Your Sobbing".
46D: Pilgrimage to Mecca: HADJ. Also spelled as HAJJ. It's the 5th pillar of Islam.
C.C.
4A: Winner or loser?: BARACK OBAMA
58A: Winner of loser?: JOSEPH BIDEN
1D: Winner or loser?: JOHN MCCAIN
31D: Winner or loser?: SARAH PALIN
I wish 58A were JOE BIDEN. But then the symmetry would have been lost.
Great puzzle, perfectly matched theme pairs in the grid. Brilliant! Even the none-theme presidential fills have a 180-degree symmetry and evenly divided between GOP and Dem:
3D: W: GEORGE BUSH. His anagram is "He bugs Gore".
29D: "Commander in Chief" star: GEENA DAVIS. Her Veep is a Democrat.
25D: Dick Cheney's predecessor: AL GORE
28D: Presidential also-ran of the past: LANDON. He lost to FDR in 1936.
Only one minor flaw, the clue for EKING (44A: Barely making do) should be "Barely making do, with "out").
I want to share with you this hilarious Yma Dream. Some of those guests are our crossword stalwarts: Yma Sumac, Ava Gardner, Abba Eban, Oona O'Neill, Eva Gabor, Uta Hagen, Ida Lupino, Matah Hari. The others are: Ugo Betti, Ona Munson, Aga Khan, Ira Wolfert, Ilya Ehrenburg, Anna Magnani, Pia Lindstrom & Mieczyslaw Horszowski. I love those photos in the clip.
All right, if you haven't, get out and vote.
Across:
16A: Exploit too much: OVERDEVELOP. Isn't this a photography term?
19A: Saul's uncle: NER. I memorized this name from doing Xword. OK, so Saul's father is Kish. And Kish and NER (father of Abner) are sons of Abiel. So complicated.
21A: Dodger Pee Wee: REESE. Ha, I did not know that he is a champion marbles player and pee wee is a small clay marble. I always thought he was very short. He is in the HOF of course. Here is a picture of REESE with Jackie Robinson.
24A: Speaks roughly: RASPS. Or "Sings roughly"? Do you like "Good Morning, Vietnam"?
28A: George Sand novel: LELIA. I've never read LELIA. I truly believe Chopin would have lived longer had he not left George Sand. "There is only one happiness in this life: to love and to be loved".
33A: Closet item: HANGER
34A: Former queen of Spain: ENA. She is the Queen of Spain from 1906 -1931.
39A: A Gandhi: INDIRA. Interesting, her son Rajiv's name is "lotus flower" in Hindu language. Why would she name her son a flower?
43A: Yellowish pink: PEACH. It's symbol of longevity in China.
50A: Altar of stars: ARA. It's always the palindromic ARA if it's a 3-letter blank.
56A: Extinct: DEAD AS A DODO. New expression to me, though I knew DODO is extinct.
Down:
2D: Too much to take: UNBEARABLE. Our Xword actress Lena Olin is in "The UNBEARABLE Lightness of Being". She also appears in "Chocolat", together with Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp.
4D: Hobgobins: BOGIES. What does "Boogie Street" refer in Leonard Cohen's song?
7D: Island group in the Moluccas: ARU. See this map. It's Indonesia's island. I've never heard of ARU or Moluccas before.
8D: Mil. watchdog grp.: CDI (Center for Defense Information). Absolutely no idea. Got it from the across clues. It's established in 1972 according to Wikipedia.
26D: Tuscany commune: SIENA. Our editor has been very fond of "commune" lately. But it's a city, isn't it?
30D: Factual fault: INACCURACY
37D: Phom Penh cash: RIEL. I guessed. Here is their bank note.
39D: Mushroom with black gills: INKY CAP. Unknown to me. See this picture. Wikipedia says INKY CAP is "poisonous when consumed with alcohol, hence another common name Tippler's Bane." Have you ever had it? Does it blacken your tongue?
45D: Chrissie of the Pretenders: HYNDE. Another unknown. Here is their "Stop Your Sobbing".
46D: Pilgrimage to Mecca: HADJ. Also spelled as HAJJ. It's the 5th pillar of Islam.
C.C.
