Theme: Heady Stuff
20A: Calming look?: TRANQUIL EYES (Tranquilize)
39A: Organs purchased on the sly?: BLACKMARKET EARS (Blackmarketeers)
55A: Kenny Loggins' rhinoplasty?: SOMEBODY NOSE (Somebody Knows)
"Blackmarketeer" is a new verb to me. I also have never heard of the song "Somebody Knows", so the PUN (63D: Play on words") for SOMEBODY NOSE did not come to me readily.
I was going to complain that EYES and EARS are plural while NOSE is singular, then it dawned on me that I only have one NOSE on my face.
Very bad clue for LUG (61D: Earlike part), as EARS are part of the theme entries. A simple "Pull/Drag" would be just fine. Is the brown colored section LUG? I have never heard of it before.
Across:
15A: Samoan port: APIA
19A: Toss about, as ideas: BANDY. Learned this word a couple of months ago.
23A: Taiwan currency: YUAN. I thought it's called 台幣 (Taiwan dollar) there. YUAN is the currency in Mainland China. Literally, "round".
24A: Florida raptor: OSPREY. Ah, the fish hawk.
28A: Boxer's stats: KOS (Knockouts)
38A: Small barracuda: SPET. New fish to me. I did not know the meaning of "barracuda" either. Looks menacing.
40A: Slick: OILY. I though of WILY first.
44A: Chemical suffix: INE. Could be ANE and ENE too. Williams likes to clue INE as "Serpent ending".
45A: Beethoven dedicatee: ELISE. "Fur ELISE".
46A: PAT value: ONE. No idea. Why? What is PAT?
47A: Perk up: ANIMATE. Intransitive?
50A: Silver or Leibman: RON. Learned RON Silver's name from doing Xword. Have never heard of RON Leibman. He looks familiar. I must have seen him somewhere before.
51A: Noble Italian family: MEDICI. Absolutely no idea. I only know ESTE (of Ferrara). Wikipedia says the MEDICI family were "a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. The family produced three popes (Leo X, Clement VII and Leo XI)."
53A: Chinese secret society: TONG. Not true. "Chinatown's secret society", yes.
64A: Actress Washbourne: MONA. Alien to me. The only MONA I know is her (or she?). Wikipedia says MONA Washbourne played Higgins' housekeeper Mrs. Pearce in "My Fair Lady" (1964). Oh, I forgot. I also know MONA Charen, the Neocon columnist.
67A: Any part of EAP: INIT. It took me a while to realize EAP is Edgar Allen Poe.
69A: Tierney and Tunney: GENES. Is GENE Tunney very famous? I've never heard of him.
Down:
2D: Professional golfers' circuit: TOUR. Meet Ryo Ishikawa, the sensational Japanese golfer, the youngest ever (born in 1991) to reach the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He was invited to play at 2009 Masters.
4D: Wet out: RAINY. "Wet out"? Isn't it a verbal phrase? "Wet" is enough for me.
5D: New Guinea language: PAPUAN
6D: Man-Lion figure: SPHINX. How an Egyptian figure became part of Greek mythology is beyond me.
7D: Continental crust: SIAL. Obtained the answer from across fills. Do not know what SIAL is.
8D: Grain-field weed: TARE. The Biblical weed? I am more familiar with the "Truck weight allowance" clue.
9D: Convent head: ABBESS. I only know ABBOT, the "Monastery head".
22D: "__ Got Mail": YOU'VE. Very romantic. Meg Ryan's "Courage Under Fire" is very confusing to me though. I still don't know who is telling the truth and who is lying.
27D: China's Sun__: YAT-SEN. "Father of Modern China". He was Chiang Kai Shek brother-in-law. His name is spelled as Sun Zhong-Shan in Mandarin Chinese.
32D: Legal phrase: IN REM. Latin for "In a thing". Here is the explanation. Unknown to me. But isn't "thing" RES in Latin?
33D: __ Ridge Boys: OAK. No idea. Easy guess though. Here is a clip.
38D: Poivre companion: SEL. French for "salt". Poivre is "pepper".
40D: Small portion: MINIM. Another new word to me. Dictionary says MINIM is roughly one drop of liquid. "Small portion" indeed then.
41D: Colonial blackbird: ANI. Here is the picture again. Why "Colonial"?
48D: Not accented: ATONIC. Was this a gimme to you? This is my first meeting with ATONIC.
52D: Val d'___, Fr.: ISERE. The ski resort in France. Our editor clued ISERE as "Grenoble's river" last time.
58D: Hautboy: OBOE. "Hautboy"/hautbois is French for OBOE.
59D: Very dry: SERE. Probably the same word origin as the verb SEAR.
C.C.
20A: Calming look?: TRANQUIL EYES (Tranquilize)
39A: Organs purchased on the sly?: BLACKMARKET EARS (Blackmarketeers)
55A: Kenny Loggins' rhinoplasty?: SOMEBODY NOSE (Somebody Knows)
"Blackmarketeer" is a new verb to me. I also have never heard of the song "Somebody Knows", so the PUN (63D: Play on words") for SOMEBODY NOSE did not come to me readily.
I was going to complain that EYES and EARS are plural while NOSE is singular, then it dawned on me that I only have one NOSE on my face.
Very bad clue for LUG (61D: Earlike part), as EARS are part of the theme entries. A simple "Pull/Drag" would be just fine. Is the brown colored section LUG? I have never heard of it before.
Across:
15A: Samoan port: APIA
19A: Toss about, as ideas: BANDY. Learned this word a couple of months ago.
23A: Taiwan currency: YUAN. I thought it's called 台幣 (Taiwan dollar) there. YUAN is the currency in Mainland China. Literally, "round".
24A: Florida raptor: OSPREY. Ah, the fish hawk.
28A: Boxer's stats: KOS (Knockouts)
38A: Small barracuda: SPET. New fish to me. I did not know the meaning of "barracuda" either. Looks menacing.
40A: Slick: OILY. I though of WILY first.
44A: Chemical suffix: INE. Could be ANE and ENE too. Williams likes to clue INE as "Serpent ending".
45A: Beethoven dedicatee: ELISE. "Fur ELISE".
46A: PAT value: ONE. No idea. Why? What is PAT?
47A: Perk up: ANIMATE. Intransitive?
50A: Silver or Leibman: RON. Learned RON Silver's name from doing Xword. Have never heard of RON Leibman. He looks familiar. I must have seen him somewhere before.
51A: Noble Italian family: MEDICI. Absolutely no idea. I only know ESTE (of Ferrara). Wikipedia says the MEDICI family were "a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. The family produced three popes (Leo X, Clement VII and Leo XI)."
53A: Chinese secret society: TONG. Not true. "Chinatown's secret society", yes.
64A: Actress Washbourne: MONA. Alien to me. The only MONA I know is her (or she?). Wikipedia says MONA Washbourne played Higgins' housekeeper Mrs. Pearce in "My Fair Lady" (1964). Oh, I forgot. I also know MONA Charen, the Neocon columnist.
67A: Any part of EAP: INIT. It took me a while to realize EAP is Edgar Allen Poe.
69A: Tierney and Tunney: GENES. Is GENE Tunney very famous? I've never heard of him.
Down:
2D: Professional golfers' circuit: TOUR. Meet Ryo Ishikawa, the sensational Japanese golfer, the youngest ever (born in 1991) to reach the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He was invited to play at 2009 Masters.
4D: Wet out: RAINY. "Wet out"? Isn't it a verbal phrase? "Wet" is enough for me.
5D: New Guinea language: PAPUAN
6D: Man-Lion figure: SPHINX. How an Egyptian figure became part of Greek mythology is beyond me.
7D: Continental crust: SIAL. Obtained the answer from across fills. Do not know what SIAL is.
8D: Grain-field weed: TARE. The Biblical weed? I am more familiar with the "Truck weight allowance" clue.
9D: Convent head: ABBESS. I only know ABBOT, the "Monastery head".
22D: "__ Got Mail": YOU'VE. Very romantic. Meg Ryan's "Courage Under Fire" is very confusing to me though. I still don't know who is telling the truth and who is lying.
27D: China's Sun__: YAT-SEN. "Father of Modern China". He was Chiang Kai Shek brother-in-law. His name is spelled as Sun Zhong-Shan in Mandarin Chinese.
32D: Legal phrase: IN REM. Latin for "In a thing". Here is the explanation. Unknown to me. But isn't "thing" RES in Latin?
33D: __ Ridge Boys: OAK. No idea. Easy guess though. Here is a clip.
38D: Poivre companion: SEL. French for "salt". Poivre is "pepper".
40D: Small portion: MINIM. Another new word to me. Dictionary says MINIM is roughly one drop of liquid. "Small portion" indeed then.
41D: Colonial blackbird: ANI. Here is the picture again. Why "Colonial"?
48D: Not accented: ATONIC. Was this a gimme to you? This is my first meeting with ATONIC.
52D: Val d'___, Fr.: ISERE. The ski resort in France. Our editor clued ISERE as "Grenoble's river" last time.
58D: Hautboy: OBOE. "Hautboy"/hautbois is French for OBOE.
59D: Very dry: SERE. Probably the same word origin as the verb SEAR.
C.C.
