Theme: The Folly of Power
20A: Start of Napoleon quote: IN POLITICS, AN
39A: Part 2 of quote: ABSURDITY IS
56A: End of quote: NOT A HANDICAP
And a bonus fill EXILE (64A: Napoleon's fate).
I thought Napoleon said "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap." Whatever, I don't buy it. Look at what happened to Eliot Spitzer. What a stunning fall! He seems to be very happy with his Slate.com gig though.
I also found out this morning that Napoleon is the originator of "If you want a thing done well, do it yourself."
Very simple puzzle. I am really bored by some of the stale clues. "Nice summers?" for ETES (37D) does not feel nice to me any more. Why not "Are, in Paris" or a straightforward "Vous ____ ici"?
Across:
1A: Isinglass: MICA. According to Wikipedia, the #1 definition of "Isinglass" is a "substance obtained from the swimbladders of fish (esp Beluga sturgeon); used mainly for the clarification of wine and beer, it is a form of collagen".
5A: Olympic swimmer Janet?: EVANS. Unknown to me. I got her name from down fills.
10A: Body shops?: SPAS. I thought of GYMS first.
14A: Aphrodite's son: EROS. And another Greek god is ARES (38A: Belligerent deity).
29A: Archibald and Thurmond: NATES. NAT is also the nickname for Nathaniel, right?
45A: Night school subj.: ESL (English as a second language). I've never attended this "Night school".
50A: German state: HESSE. See this map. Is their state legislature called diet also? Just saw SENAT clued as "French diet" the other day.
54A: Argentine plain: LLANO. Is double L word common in Spanish?
65A: __ Levu, Fiji: VITI. Unknown to me. It's the largest island in Fiji. Its capital city Suva is on this island. I wonder what VITI Levu mean in local language.
66A: River through Dresden: ELBE. The river originates in Czech and flows northwest across German to the North Sea.
67A: Ink ingredient: ELEMI. No idea. Olschwang clued ELEMI as "Varnish ingredient" in his July 24 puzzle.
Down:
1D: Dillon of "A Christmas Story": MELINDA. I guessed. Have never heard this MELINDA. "A Christmas Story" is a very strange movie to me.
5D: Fancy needle case: ETUI
10D: Force to be a sailor: SHANGHAI. Interesting to see a word rooted in Chinese city SHANGHAI. I just can't stand men who speak Shanghai dialect.
22D: Islet: AIT
27D: Legal matter: RES. It's clued as "Notes of scales" the other day.
30D: August in Avignon: AOUT. July is juillet, and September is just septembre. March is mars. French months and days are not capitalized, but all German nouns are capitalized. Isn't it strange?
32D:Pooch on "Frasier": EDDIE. Learned this name from doing Xword.
40D: Fit in: BELONGED
41D: Traffic directive: YIELD
47D: Roller-coaster comparative: LOOPIER. Why?
49D: Brace amount: TWO. Both "Brace" and "Span" can mean "a pair". A brace/span of oxen.
55D: Lawrence Durrel novel: LIVIA. OK, here is the obscure book again. It's in John Underwood's Nov 18 puzzle. But his original clue is "Mother of Tiberius", which is equally mystifying to me.
Happy New Year everyone! I am going to stop obsessing about my eye wrinkles and wasting money on those miracle creams. What's your New Year's resolution?
C.C.
20A: Start of Napoleon quote: IN POLITICS, AN
39A: Part 2 of quote: ABSURDITY IS
56A: End of quote: NOT A HANDICAP
And a bonus fill EXILE (64A: Napoleon's fate).
I thought Napoleon said "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap." Whatever, I don't buy it. Look at what happened to Eliot Spitzer. What a stunning fall! He seems to be very happy with his Slate.com gig though.
I also found out this morning that Napoleon is the originator of "If you want a thing done well, do it yourself."
Very simple puzzle. I am really bored by some of the stale clues. "Nice summers?" for ETES (37D) does not feel nice to me any more. Why not "Are, in Paris" or a straightforward "Vous ____ ici"?
Across:
1A: Isinglass: MICA. According to Wikipedia, the #1 definition of "Isinglass" is a "substance obtained from the swimbladders of fish (esp Beluga sturgeon); used mainly for the clarification of wine and beer, it is a form of collagen".
5A: Olympic swimmer Janet?: EVANS. Unknown to me. I got her name from down fills.
10A: Body shops?: SPAS. I thought of GYMS first.
14A: Aphrodite's son: EROS. And another Greek god is ARES (38A: Belligerent deity).
29A: Archibald and Thurmond: NATES. NAT is also the nickname for Nathaniel, right?
45A: Night school subj.: ESL (English as a second language). I've never attended this "Night school".
50A: German state: HESSE. See this map. Is their state legislature called diet also? Just saw SENAT clued as "French diet" the other day.
54A: Argentine plain: LLANO. Is double L word common in Spanish?
65A: __ Levu, Fiji: VITI. Unknown to me. It's the largest island in Fiji. Its capital city Suva is on this island. I wonder what VITI Levu mean in local language.
66A: River through Dresden: ELBE. The river originates in Czech and flows northwest across German to the North Sea.
67A: Ink ingredient: ELEMI. No idea. Olschwang clued ELEMI as "Varnish ingredient" in his July 24 puzzle.
Down:
1D: Dillon of "A Christmas Story": MELINDA. I guessed. Have never heard this MELINDA. "A Christmas Story" is a very strange movie to me.
5D: Fancy needle case: ETUI
10D: Force to be a sailor: SHANGHAI. Interesting to see a word rooted in Chinese city SHANGHAI. I just can't stand men who speak Shanghai dialect.
22D: Islet: AIT
27D: Legal matter: RES. It's clued as "Notes of scales" the other day.
30D: August in Avignon: AOUT. July is juillet, and September is just septembre. March is mars. French months and days are not capitalized, but all German nouns are capitalized. Isn't it strange?
32D:Pooch on "Frasier": EDDIE. Learned this name from doing Xword.
40D: Fit in: BELONGED
41D: Traffic directive: YIELD
47D: Roller-coaster comparative: LOOPIER. Why?
49D: Brace amount: TWO. Both "Brace" and "Span" can mean "a pair". A brace/span of oxen.
55D: Lawrence Durrel novel: LIVIA. OK, here is the obscure book again. It's in John Underwood's Nov 18 puzzle. But his original clue is "Mother of Tiberius", which is equally mystifying to me.
Happy New Year everyone! I am going to stop obsessing about my eye wrinkles and wasting money on those miracle creams. What's your New Year's resolution?
C.C.
