Theme: A Red and Green Christmas
18A: Eco-vineyards' product?: GREEN WINES (Red Wines. Eco=Green)
20A: Overnight flight to Ireland?: GREEN-EYE (Red-Eye. The Emerald Isle = Green)
33A: Sitcom set in Georgia?: RED ACRES ("Green Acres". Georgia soil = Red)
43A: Rookie emmet?: GREEN ANT (Red Ant. Rookie = Green)
57A: Embarrassed bird?: RED HERON (Green Heron. Embarrased = Red)
61A: Song about a jacket?: RED SLEEVES ("Greensleeves". How is "jacket" connected to Red? Red Jacket? If so, shouldn't jacket be capitalized?)
3D: Big star in canned veggies?: RED GIANT (Green Giant. Big star = Red)
40D: Five-dollar pickerel?: GREENFIN (Redfin. Fin is slang for five-dollar bill. Color of money = Green)
Merry Christmas everyone!
Wow, I've never seen a weekday puzzle with eight theme answers, which are more commonly found in a Sunday 21*21 grid.
I muddled through this puzzle like a mad mouse. I got the theme quickly, but I was utterly confused by some of the theme clues, esp 61A & 40D. Have never heard of the song or the redfin fish. Did not know the meaning of "pickerel" either.
Great puzzle from our editor Wayne Williams (Willy A. Wiseman is an anagram of his real name). I liked the balance of four red colors and 4 green colors. Wish EVE (34D: Night before" were clued as "Night before Christmas, e.g.".
Across:
5A: Wrinkly fruits: UGLIS. Have never seen an UGLI in person.
14A: Royal role for Liz: CLEO. The "Advertising award" is CLIO.
15A: Pearl Harbor's island: OAHU. And UKES (56A: Hawaiian strings).
16A: Mystery story?: ALIBI. Nice clue.
23A: Abnormal wobbling: SHIMMY. Is this SHIMMY "abnormal"?
22A: Resembling: QUASI
32A: Game pieces: MEN. This clue has worn out its welcome.
36A: Comparative phrase: IS TO. I wrote down THAN first.
38A: Larger and deeper fiddle: VIOLA. "Larger and deeper"? Compared to what? Violin?
39A: Some NCOs: SGTS
47A: Cubic meter: STERE
55A: Serving dish: TUREEN. This one looks very fancy.
69A: Burst of energy: SPASM
Down:
2D: "Telephone Line" grp.: ELO. Here is the clip, not a familiar song to me. But when in doubt, fill in ELO.
4D: Battle cry: TO ARMS. Why? I don't get it. Do soldiers really cry "TO ARMS" on battlefield?
7D: Chop __ : SUEY. American Chinese food. I had never heard of it until I arrived in the US.
9D: Big letters in Detroit: UAW. Why are they so adamanet about not cutting the salaries? Sacrifice should be shared.
10D: Superficial proficiency: GLIBNESS
12D: Spain's place: IBERIA. "Portugal's place" too.
23D: Area meas.: SQ MI. Lots of trouble in this area for me.
29D: Rhone tributary: SAONE. No idea. See this map. I am not sure if it's accurate. SAONE is supposed to join Rhone at Lyon.
37D: Female monsters: OGRESSES. Only knew OGRE.
44D: Notes of scales: RES. Sometimes RES is clued as "Legal thing".
48D: Drinks noisily: SLURPS. We Chinese/Japanese SLURP when we eat noodles too.
49D: Resume: TAKE UP. Really? They are not synonymous to me.
49D: Greek stone seat for several: EXEDRA. New word to me. Also spelled as EXHEDRA. Alright, EX is a prefix for "out of", and HEDRA is Greek for "seat".
52D: Golf events: PRO-AMS. Have not seen Mark McGwire for a long time. He used to be very active in those PRO-AMS.
54D: Uno e due: TRE. Italian for three. I think the best clue I've seen for TRE is "It's past due".
59D: Half of MXIV: DVII. Roman 507.
62D: Moon buggy: LEM
C.C.
18A: Eco-vineyards' product?: GREEN WINES (Red Wines. Eco=Green)
20A: Overnight flight to Ireland?: GREEN-EYE (Red-Eye. The Emerald Isle = Green)
33A: Sitcom set in Georgia?: RED ACRES ("Green Acres". Georgia soil = Red)
43A: Rookie emmet?: GREEN ANT (Red Ant. Rookie = Green)
57A: Embarrassed bird?: RED HERON (Green Heron. Embarrased = Red)
61A: Song about a jacket?: RED SLEEVES ("Greensleeves". How is "jacket" connected to Red? Red Jacket? If so, shouldn't jacket be capitalized?)
3D: Big star in canned veggies?: RED GIANT (Green Giant. Big star = Red)
40D: Five-dollar pickerel?: GREENFIN (Redfin. Fin is slang for five-dollar bill. Color of money = Green)
Merry Christmas everyone!
Wow, I've never seen a weekday puzzle with eight theme answers, which are more commonly found in a Sunday 21*21 grid.
I muddled through this puzzle like a mad mouse. I got the theme quickly, but I was utterly confused by some of the theme clues, esp 61A & 40D. Have never heard of the song or the redfin fish. Did not know the meaning of "pickerel" either.
Great puzzle from our editor Wayne Williams (Willy A. Wiseman is an anagram of his real name). I liked the balance of four red colors and 4 green colors. Wish EVE (34D: Night before" were clued as "Night before Christmas, e.g.".
Across:
5A: Wrinkly fruits: UGLIS. Have never seen an UGLI in person.
14A: Royal role for Liz: CLEO. The "Advertising award" is CLIO.
15A: Pearl Harbor's island: OAHU. And UKES (56A: Hawaiian strings).
16A: Mystery story?: ALIBI. Nice clue.
23A: Abnormal wobbling: SHIMMY. Is this SHIMMY "abnormal"?
22A: Resembling: QUASI
32A: Game pieces: MEN. This clue has worn out its welcome.
36A: Comparative phrase: IS TO. I wrote down THAN first.
38A: Larger and deeper fiddle: VIOLA. "Larger and deeper"? Compared to what? Violin?
39A: Some NCOs: SGTS
47A: Cubic meter: STERE
55A: Serving dish: TUREEN. This one looks very fancy.
69A: Burst of energy: SPASM
Down:
2D: "Telephone Line" grp.: ELO. Here is the clip, not a familiar song to me. But when in doubt, fill in ELO.
4D: Battle cry: TO ARMS. Why? I don't get it. Do soldiers really cry "TO ARMS" on battlefield?
7D: Chop __ : SUEY. American Chinese food. I had never heard of it until I arrived in the US.
9D: Big letters in Detroit: UAW. Why are they so adamanet about not cutting the salaries? Sacrifice should be shared.
10D: Superficial proficiency: GLIBNESS
12D: Spain's place: IBERIA. "Portugal's place" too.
23D: Area meas.: SQ MI. Lots of trouble in this area for me.
29D: Rhone tributary: SAONE. No idea. See this map. I am not sure if it's accurate. SAONE is supposed to join Rhone at Lyon.
37D: Female monsters: OGRESSES. Only knew OGRE.
44D: Notes of scales: RES. Sometimes RES is clued as "Legal thing".
48D: Drinks noisily: SLURPS. We Chinese/Japanese SLURP when we eat noodles too.
49D: Resume: TAKE UP. Really? They are not synonymous to me.
49D: Greek stone seat for several: EXEDRA. New word to me. Also spelled as EXHEDRA. Alright, EX is a prefix for "out of", and HEDRA is Greek for "seat".
52D: Golf events: PRO-AMS. Have not seen Mark McGwire for a long time. He used to be very active in those PRO-AMS.
54D: Uno e due: TRE. Italian for three. I think the best clue I've seen for TRE is "It's past due".
59D: Half of MXIV: DVII. Roman 507.
62D: Moon buggy: LEM
C.C.
