Theme: Irrational Rationale
20A: Start of George Bernard Shaw quote: NOTHING IS EVER
38A: Part 2 of quote: ACCOMPLISHED BY A
56A: End of quote: REASONABLE MAN
Do you consider this as a REASONABLE quote? George Bernard Shaw was an activist, so this quote may be his excuse for any excesses he may commit. Here is a site with more of his quotes (and there are a lot of them).
The quote does encourage audacity and creativity, right? I wasted some valuable time at upper right corner this morning. Wrote down WENT instead of PART for 10A: Split, thinking the clue is a past tense. The down fills today seem to be a bit harder than across ones.
For those whose paper does not carry TMS Sunday puzzle, here is another TMS syndication puzzle. Hope you are interested. Argyle will blog this puzzle on Sunday.
Across:
14A: Kosher: LEGIT. "Not kosher" is TREF.
15A: Aces, sometimes: ONES: When playing Black Jack, ACES may count as one or eleven.
19A: Loan letters: MTGE (Mortgage). Someone mentioned the other day that HMO stands for "Homeowners Insurance" in real estate term. A rare bright spot on the housing market, the pending home sales index is up. The prices might be way down.
23A: Charlotte-to-Raleigh dir.: ENE. Got the answer from down fills. Had no idea of the exact direction.
24A: Nat. interest watchdog: CIA. Wasn't Obama supposed to nominate someone new for the CIA director post? How come the head is still Michael Hayden?
25A: Strauss opera: SALOME. I forgot. Faintly remembered "Dance of the Seven Veils" though. The opera was based on a play by Oscar Wilde. SALOME was the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas and it was she who asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Dictionary says SALOME is Hebrew for "peace". Is it related to "shalom" then?
28A: Painted ponies: PINTOS. I don't understand this clue? Why "Painted"? I adore Michael Learns to Rock's "Paint my Love", though I don't think my love will be "a picture of thousands sunsets".
35A: A.E.C. successor: NRC. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, created in 1975.
37A: Prince Valiant's son: ARN. He is getting old in the comic strip, too. NYTanonimo just blogged this enty at her Barry Silk post. She also mentioned that LETT is an archaic word for Latvian, yet our editor keeps using "Riga resident" for LETT. I don't know. Whatever, I will just LETT it be.
43A: Brit's raincoat: MAC
50A: "Seinfeld" gal: ELAINE
64A: Burnsian hillside: BRAE. I did not know "Burnsian" refers to Robert Burns. Thought it might be a Scottish town. Interesting origin: BRAE is rooted in Old Norse word "Bra" meaning eyebrow. I don't really know what a BRAE is. This picture came up when I googled the word.
66A: Fertilizer ingredient: NITER. "Gunpowder ingredient" as well.
67A: Comic Martin: MULL. Easy answer. But I've never heard of Martin MULL before.
Down:
2D: Detroit dud: LEMON. Poor Detroit, hit so hard by the recession, and the Lions, and an unfaithful mayor.
3D: Striped gem: AGATE. It's not a previous gem, isn't it? I only know marbles are made of AGATE.
5D: Impassivity: STOICISM. Stoic was founded by Zeno, Zeno of Citium. Not the paradox guy Zeno of ELEA, our crossword stalwart.
10D: __ Sue Martin: PAMELA. Not a familiar actress to me. What movie is she famous for?
11D: Old navigation instrument: ASTROLABE. No idea. Looks complicated. The word starts with ASTRO. Has to be related with stars then.
12D: Fix, in a way: RIG
22D: Anatomical duct: VAS. Latin for "vessel". Plural is vasa. Unknown to me. I've never heard of the sperm transporting tube "VAS deferens" either.
26D: Martin and Pickford: MARYS. MARY Martin was an Tony-winning actress. MARY Pickford was an Oscar-winning Canadian actress. Both were strangers to me.
28D: PGA member: PRO. Quite true.
34D: Of an insurance job: ACTUARIAL. Only knew actuary.
36D: Little angel: CHERUB. This is the famous Vanity Fair magazine cover when the author used CHERUB to describe Scarlett Johansson.
40D: Aubergine: EGGPLANT. Nightshade vegetable. I like the purple slim ones on the right.
49D: Irish playwright: O'CASEY (Seán). Another guess. He wrote "The Plough and the Stars".
54D: Actress Claire: DANES. She played Meryl Streep's daughter in "The Hours".
58D: Scottish headland: NESS. Or "Famous T-man Eliot". Kevin Costner is great in "The Untouchables".
C.C & Argyle
20A: Start of George Bernard Shaw quote: NOTHING IS EVER
38A: Part 2 of quote: ACCOMPLISHED BY A
56A: End of quote: REASONABLE MAN
Do you consider this as a REASONABLE quote? George Bernard Shaw was an activist, so this quote may be his excuse for any excesses he may commit. Here is a site with more of his quotes (and there are a lot of them).
The quote does encourage audacity and creativity, right? I wasted some valuable time at upper right corner this morning. Wrote down WENT instead of PART for 10A: Split, thinking the clue is a past tense. The down fills today seem to be a bit harder than across ones.
For those whose paper does not carry TMS Sunday puzzle, here is another TMS syndication puzzle. Hope you are interested. Argyle will blog this puzzle on Sunday.
Across:
14A: Kosher: LEGIT. "Not kosher" is TREF.
15A: Aces, sometimes: ONES: When playing Black Jack, ACES may count as one or eleven.
19A: Loan letters: MTGE (Mortgage). Someone mentioned the other day that HMO stands for "Homeowners Insurance" in real estate term. A rare bright spot on the housing market, the pending home sales index is up. The prices might be way down.
23A: Charlotte-to-Raleigh dir.: ENE. Got the answer from down fills. Had no idea of the exact direction.
24A: Nat. interest watchdog: CIA. Wasn't Obama supposed to nominate someone new for the CIA director post? How come the head is still Michael Hayden?
25A: Strauss opera: SALOME. I forgot. Faintly remembered "Dance of the Seven Veils" though. The opera was based on a play by Oscar Wilde. SALOME was the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas and it was she who asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Dictionary says SALOME is Hebrew for "peace". Is it related to "shalom" then?
28A: Painted ponies: PINTOS. I don't understand this clue? Why "Painted"? I adore Michael Learns to Rock's "Paint my Love", though I don't think my love will be "a picture of thousands sunsets".
35A: A.E.C. successor: NRC. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, created in 1975.
37A: Prince Valiant's son: ARN. He is getting old in the comic strip, too. NYTanonimo just blogged this enty at her Barry Silk post. She also mentioned that LETT is an archaic word for Latvian, yet our editor keeps using "Riga resident" for LETT. I don't know. Whatever, I will just LETT it be.
43A: Brit's raincoat: MAC
50A: "Seinfeld" gal: ELAINE
64A: Burnsian hillside: BRAE. I did not know "Burnsian" refers to Robert Burns. Thought it might be a Scottish town. Interesting origin: BRAE is rooted in Old Norse word "Bra" meaning eyebrow. I don't really know what a BRAE is. This picture came up when I googled the word.
66A: Fertilizer ingredient: NITER. "Gunpowder ingredient" as well.
67A: Comic Martin: MULL. Easy answer. But I've never heard of Martin MULL before.
Down:
2D: Detroit dud: LEMON. Poor Detroit, hit so hard by the recession, and the Lions, and an unfaithful mayor.
3D: Striped gem: AGATE. It's not a previous gem, isn't it? I only know marbles are made of AGATE.
5D: Impassivity: STOICISM. Stoic was founded by Zeno, Zeno of Citium. Not the paradox guy Zeno of ELEA, our crossword stalwart.
10D: __ Sue Martin: PAMELA. Not a familiar actress to me. What movie is she famous for?
11D: Old navigation instrument: ASTROLABE. No idea. Looks complicated. The word starts with ASTRO. Has to be related with stars then.
12D: Fix, in a way: RIG
22D: Anatomical duct: VAS. Latin for "vessel". Plural is vasa. Unknown to me. I've never heard of the sperm transporting tube "VAS deferens" either.
26D: Martin and Pickford: MARYS. MARY Martin was an Tony-winning actress. MARY Pickford was an Oscar-winning Canadian actress. Both were strangers to me.
28D: PGA member: PRO. Quite true.
34D: Of an insurance job: ACTUARIAL. Only knew actuary.
36D: Little angel: CHERUB. This is the famous Vanity Fair magazine cover when the author used CHERUB to describe Scarlett Johansson.
40D: Aubergine: EGGPLANT. Nightshade vegetable. I like the purple slim ones on the right.
49D: Irish playwright: O'CASEY (Seán). Another guess. He wrote "The Plough and the Stars".
54D: Actress Claire: DANES. She played Meryl Streep's daughter in "The Hours".
58D: Scottish headland: NESS. Or "Famous T-man Eliot". Kevin Costner is great in "The Untouchables".
C.C & Argyle
