Theme: None
Total blocks: 34
Total words: 70
A much better puzzle today. Boy, I saw nothing positive in yesterday's grid, not even a single hit, only error after error.
I sure liked the five run-through 15-letter words in the Across. But I've also learned that 14-letter word is actually the the hardest to construct. After filling in TAILORS (62A: Suit makers", I wondered if Tom Pruce had considered a themed puzzle with FULL METAL JACKET as one entry. You know, he can add Jerry Seinfeld's PUFF SHIRT, Monica Lewinsky's Blue DRESS and Hillary Clinton's PANTSUITS. Voila, a great puzzle for President Clinton.
Very annoyed to see ELA (19A: Old-time high note) again. Why not "She, in 2D" (Sao PAULO, Brazil) as a tie-in? Also, "Cloth finish (41A)?" for IER again? Where is the imagination? How about "The back of hotel"? Hotelier, cashier, frontier, etc.
I guess there is no other better way to clue EPH (35D: New Testament bk.). But today will be a great day to clue ISA (25A: O.T. b ) as fill in the blank IN A, as in Gertrude Stein's "Rose IS A Rose ..." That's a very lonely rose struggling to blossom.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Across:
1A: Dulled by a narcotic: OPIATED. Did not know OPIATE can be a verb.
15A: Flourish of trumpets: FANFARE. Oh, is this how we got the extended "publicity" meaning?
16A: Otitis: EARACHE. Ot(a) is prefix for ear. Otalgia is EARACHE too. Gimme for Michael Phelps I am sure. He swims so often. Plus the current outcry over his marijuana use. Total overkill from Kellogg in my opinion. Backlash is coming.
17A: Kubrick's Vietnam War movie: FULL METAL JACKET. Here is the movie trailer. I was unaware of this movie. Oh, Ann Margret is sexy, no wonder that solider asked the question.
21A: Market dips: DOWNTURNS. The clue for RISE (51D: Shine's partner?) is fine. But I want "Ascend" to balance DOWNTURNS. I don't know what kind of detailed planning Wall Street was expecting from Timothy Geithner last Tuesday. But 400 point plunge is absurd.
29A: Slights: SCANTS. Scant is always a "Barely sufficient" adjective to me. Did not know it can be a verb meaning "To treat neglectfully".
32A: Acts against heirs: DISINHERITANCES
38A: Aleutian islands connection: ALASKA PENINSULA. Here is a map. It separates the Bering Sea from the Pacific. What is Becharof?
39A: Peter Sellers movie, with "The": MOUSE THAT ROARED. Looks funny. New to me. Wikipedia says the phrase "mouse that roared" proved a durable MEME over half a century, and is still current. What exactly is a MEME? Can you also give me some examples?
42A: Manuscript encl.: SAE (Stamped Addressed Envelope). Sometimes it's SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope). Can you believe Tom Vilsack (ex-Iowa governor, our current Secretary of Agriculture) folded his photo into my SASE when I asked for his autograph? But he was very nice and later mailed me a new one.
49A: One Hemingway: MARIEL. I liked her in "Manhattan". Ernest Hemingway was dead before she was born.
52A: Change in a car?: OIL. Good clue.
53A: Management by overseeing: SUPERINTENDENCE. Funny, but I really only knew "superintendent". The verb is "superintend".
59A: Acupressure massage: SHIATSU. No idea. Did recognize the Japanese kanji (指圧) when I googled. The first word 指 means "finger", the second 圧 "pressure", so literally, "finger pressure".
61A: Nagana carriers: TSETSES. Bugger, I thought "Nagana" is a city in Japan, and the clue is asking for a Japanese airline. More used to "African flies" clue.
Down:
5D: Scottish cap: TAM. Hmm, a TAM is not complete without a kilt.
9D: One who has been to Mecca: HAJI. Oh, nice to know. Meet MN Congressman Keith Ellison, the first HAJI of US Congress. He made his HAJ pilgrimage last year.
10D: Q.E.D. word: ERAT. Quod ERAT Demonstrandum. ERAT alone is "he/she/it was" in Latin.
14D: __ up (excited): HET. This phrase has negative connotationn, right? You can't get HET up over Valentine's Day, can you?
18D: Beattie or Blyth: ANN. Easy guess. I have never heard of writer ANNE Beatties or actress ANN Blyth. Is ANN a nicknam of Anne?
22D: Oder- ___ Line: NEISSE. Poland is Polen in German?
23D: Mr. Fixit: TINKER
24D: Knocks off a boater, e.g.: UNHATS. I did not know this kind of straw hat has a special name "boater". UNHAT sounds like a made-up word.
25D: Sustain: INCUR. As in "Sustain a financial loss"?
26D: Inscribed stone: STELE. Or STELA.
27D: Syrian strongman: ASSAD. The current Syrian president. This guy is unbelievably articulate.
30D: Went by dugout: CANOED. Of course I was thinking of baseball dugout, not the dugout boat.
31D: "Broken Arrow" co-star Michael: ANSARA. No idea. He was born in Syria. Was "Broken Arrow" a popular TV series?
33D: Entertainer Massey: ILONA. Another unknown. Wikipedia says she was born in Budapest and billed as "the new Dietrich". Her legs are so long.
43D: Skull cavity: SINUS
45D: Observant: ALERT
46D: Last movement of a sonata: RONDO. Learned this from doing Xword. Wikipedia says it could be also the last movement of a symphony or concerto.
47D: Crapshooter, for example: DICER. I only knew kitchen DICER.
48D: Huskies' burdens: SLEDS. Is Balto the most famous Husky sled dog?
55D: Bakery buy: PIE. Wrote down RYE first.
56D: Performance grants org.: NEA (National Endowment for the Arts). Interesting. I don't know its chairperson has to be appointed by the president.
57D: 601: DCI
C.C.
Total blocks: 34
Total words: 70
A much better puzzle today. Boy, I saw nothing positive in yesterday's grid, not even a single hit, only error after error.
I sure liked the five run-through 15-letter words in the Across. But I've also learned that 14-letter word is actually the the hardest to construct. After filling in TAILORS (62A: Suit makers", I wondered if Tom Pruce had considered a themed puzzle with FULL METAL JACKET as one entry. You know, he can add Jerry Seinfeld's PUFF SHIRT, Monica Lewinsky's Blue DRESS and Hillary Clinton's PANTSUITS. Voila, a great puzzle for President Clinton.
Very annoyed to see ELA (19A: Old-time high note) again. Why not "She, in 2D" (Sao PAULO, Brazil) as a tie-in? Also, "Cloth finish (41A)?" for IER again? Where is the imagination? How about "The back of hotel"? Hotelier, cashier, frontier, etc.
I guess there is no other better way to clue EPH (35D: New Testament bk.). But today will be a great day to clue ISA (25A: O.T. b ) as fill in the blank IN A, as in Gertrude Stein's "Rose IS A Rose ..." That's a very lonely rose struggling to blossom.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Across:
1A: Dulled by a narcotic: OPIATED. Did not know OPIATE can be a verb.
15A: Flourish of trumpets: FANFARE. Oh, is this how we got the extended "publicity" meaning?
16A: Otitis: EARACHE. Ot(a) is prefix for ear. Otalgia is EARACHE too. Gimme for Michael Phelps I am sure. He swims so often. Plus the current outcry over his marijuana use. Total overkill from Kellogg in my opinion. Backlash is coming.
17A: Kubrick's Vietnam War movie: FULL METAL JACKET. Here is the movie trailer. I was unaware of this movie. Oh, Ann Margret is sexy, no wonder that solider asked the question.
21A: Market dips: DOWNTURNS. The clue for RISE (51D: Shine's partner?) is fine. But I want "Ascend" to balance DOWNTURNS. I don't know what kind of detailed planning Wall Street was expecting from Timothy Geithner last Tuesday. But 400 point plunge is absurd.
29A: Slights: SCANTS. Scant is always a "Barely sufficient" adjective to me. Did not know it can be a verb meaning "To treat neglectfully".
32A: Acts against heirs: DISINHERITANCES
38A: Aleutian islands connection: ALASKA PENINSULA. Here is a map. It separates the Bering Sea from the Pacific. What is Becharof?
39A: Peter Sellers movie, with "The": MOUSE THAT ROARED. Looks funny. New to me. Wikipedia says the phrase "mouse that roared" proved a durable MEME over half a century, and is still current. What exactly is a MEME? Can you also give me some examples?
42A: Manuscript encl.: SAE (Stamped Addressed Envelope). Sometimes it's SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope). Can you believe Tom Vilsack (ex-Iowa governor, our current Secretary of Agriculture) folded his photo into my SASE when I asked for his autograph? But he was very nice and later mailed me a new one.
49A: One Hemingway: MARIEL. I liked her in "Manhattan". Ernest Hemingway was dead before she was born.
52A: Change in a car?: OIL. Good clue.
53A: Management by overseeing: SUPERINTENDENCE. Funny, but I really only knew "superintendent". The verb is "superintend".
59A: Acupressure massage: SHIATSU. No idea. Did recognize the Japanese kanji (指圧) when I googled. The first word 指 means "finger", the second 圧 "pressure", so literally, "finger pressure".
61A: Nagana carriers: TSETSES. Bugger, I thought "Nagana" is a city in Japan, and the clue is asking for a Japanese airline. More used to "African flies" clue.
Down:
5D: Scottish cap: TAM. Hmm, a TAM is not complete without a kilt.
9D: One who has been to Mecca: HAJI. Oh, nice to know. Meet MN Congressman Keith Ellison, the first HAJI of US Congress. He made his HAJ pilgrimage last year.
10D: Q.E.D. word: ERAT. Quod ERAT Demonstrandum. ERAT alone is "he/she/it was" in Latin.
14D: __ up (excited): HET. This phrase has negative connotationn, right? You can't get HET up over Valentine's Day, can you?
18D: Beattie or Blyth: ANN. Easy guess. I have never heard of writer ANNE Beatties or actress ANN Blyth. Is ANN a nicknam of Anne?
22D: Oder- ___ Line: NEISSE. Poland is Polen in German?
23D: Mr. Fixit: TINKER
24D: Knocks off a boater, e.g.: UNHATS. I did not know this kind of straw hat has a special name "boater". UNHAT sounds like a made-up word.
25D: Sustain: INCUR. As in "Sustain a financial loss"?
26D: Inscribed stone: STELE. Or STELA.
27D: Syrian strongman: ASSAD. The current Syrian president. This guy is unbelievably articulate.
30D: Went by dugout: CANOED. Of course I was thinking of baseball dugout, not the dugout boat.
31D: "Broken Arrow" co-star Michael: ANSARA. No idea. He was born in Syria. Was "Broken Arrow" a popular TV series?
33D: Entertainer Massey: ILONA. Another unknown. Wikipedia says she was born in Budapest and billed as "the new Dietrich". Her legs are so long.
43D: Skull cavity: SINUS
45D: Observant: ALERT
46D: Last movement of a sonata: RONDO. Learned this from doing Xword. Wikipedia says it could be also the last movement of a symphony or concerto.
47D: Crapshooter, for example: DICER. I only knew kitchen DICER.
48D: Huskies' burdens: SLEDS. Is Balto the most famous Husky sled dog?
55D: Bakery buy: PIE. Wrote down RYE first.
56D: Performance grants org.: NEA (National Endowment for the Arts). Interesting. I don't know its chairperson has to be appointed by the president.
57D: 601: DCI
C.C.
