Theme: Double O
17A: Kenny Loggins hit: FOOT LOOSE
22A: Handyman's space: TOOL ROOM
33A: Alternative to a T-top: MOON ROOF
40A: Chef's reading: COOKBOOK
49A: Make light of: POOH-POOH
59A: Handsomeness: GOOD LOOK
11D: Cereal brand: FROOT LOOPS
27D: Expectorant source: BLOODROOTS
I have never heard of BLOODROOTS before. They look so clean and innocent. I think I am more of a "Double O" CHOO-CHOO solver rather than a BLOODROOTS one. The clue "Expectorant" is too sophisticated for me to understand.
Too bad GOODEN (45D: Former Mets pitcher), the rotational partner for BOOBOO (5D: Child's injury), is not called GOO GOO, otherwise, We would have one more pair of theme answers.
Dwight GOODEN ruined his career with drug abuse. His rookie season is 1985, the same as Kirby Puckett's and Roger Clemens'. Now Kirby is dead, Clemens is implicated in steroid scandal.
Structurally this is an outstanding puzzle, with total 38 Os in the grid, easily smashed NY Time's 34 Os record created on Dec 16, 1993.
Also, there are 68 theme squares, that's about 35% of the total fills (Total: 191. And 34 blocks). I think that's the most I've encountered in a TMS puzzle.
But I was not excited about this puzzle at all. Too many Os confused me. I like daily puzzles with no more than 5 theme entries.
Across:
5A: A/C figures: BTUS (British Thermal Units). Memorized from doing the Xword. I don't really know what the heck BTU measures.
9A: To the most extreme degree: BY FAR. Really? I've never used "BY FAR" this way. Maybe I confuse BY FAR with SO FAR.
15A: Birthplace of Camembert: ORNE. No idea. ORNE is a department in the northwest of France, named named after the ORNE River. Every time I see Camembert, Dali's "Melting Clock"("The Persistence of Memory") pops into my head. He was inspired by the leftover Camembert cheese dissolving on a hot summer's day.
19A: Feel rapture: SWOON. Its rotational symmetrical partner is BROOD (58A: Hatch eggs). I would prefer BROOD clued as "Feel moody" to contrast "Feel rapture".
20A: Deprive of strength: ENFEEBLE. Thought of ENERVATE, which has 8 letters also.
21A: Fit in: BELONG. Embien, why "You BELONG with me" instead of "You BELONG to me"?
25A: Queen of the fairies: MAB. Coined by Shakespeare. MAB is supposedly "a tiny fairy who comes to people when they sleep. Then she haunts their dreams by making the person dream of what they want and cannot have." Sounds very cruel, doesn't it? Reminds me of Odin's wife Frigg. She has the prophecy power yet she never reveals to others what she knows.
37A: Le Mans lasses: abbr.: MLLES. Got the answer. Did not know where Le Mans is. Quite close to Paris. Host to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans car race, whatever it is. Know nothing about Grand Prix or Formula One racing. Doubt I will ever be interested. What a mess! You, sir, should have resigned a year ago.
42A: Newton's fruit?: APPLE. Good clue. Could be FIG too.
47A: Shortened bk: ABR (Abridged)
52A: Freetown moola: LEONES. See these banknotes. Had no idea that Freetown is the capital of Sierra Leone. Now, there is word describing a Middle East sheik or some big potatoe. It spells similiar to moola. What is that word? This is really bothering me. It's not moula.
54A: Formal written defense: APOLOGIA. New word to me. Any famous one in history?
60A: MetLife rival: AETNA. Named after the Sicilian vocano I suppose.
63A: Stuffy-sounding: NASAL
Down:
2D: Carolina university: ELON. See this Phoenix Rising statue at ELON University. Their sports teams are called the Phoenix. Learned from doing Xword.
4D: Church coral work: MOTET. I forgot this word. It's "a composition based on a sacred text and usually sung without accompaniment". Rooted in French word "mot".
6D: Ogre associates: TROLLS. I once had a beautifully ugly Norwegian TROLL similar to this one. The real deal.
7D: Family of Indy winners: UNSER
9D: First, second or third infielder: BASEMAN. My favorite BASEMAN.
10D: Mournful wail: YOWL. In Chinese countryside, those villagers really YOWL at the funerals, as if the loudness of their YOWL is the measurement of their love for the deceased.
12D: Egyptian symbols: ATONS. Or ATENS. I am used to the "Egyptian sun god" clue. I have a question JD: If the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs contained only consonants and involved no vowels, why did the moderan interpreation become ATON/ATEN instead of ATIN/ATUN?
18D: Spinks and Ames: LEONS. Bill mentioned the boxer LEON Spinks last time, but I forgot. I also did not know the actor LEON Ames.
21D: Julius or Guy of golf: BOROS. Julius is in Golf HOF. Nothing extraordinary about his son Guy. I've never heard of their names before. Too obscure.
25D: 1700 in letters: MDCC
26D: Saab model: AERO. More often see AERO clued as "Prefix for dynamics".
41D: Two-footed: BIPEDAL. Only know BIPED.
44D: Place side by side: APPOSE. How is it different from juxtapose?
47D: Composer Berg: ALBAN. Why do keep I forgetting this Austrian composer?
48D: Suburb of Cleveland: BEREA. Bloody blue murder! No idea. What's so special about this suburb?
50D: Hawaiian word for foreign: HAOLE. Just learned this word a few days ago. It actually only refers to white people.
53D: Nine: pref.: NONA. As in nonagon. New to me. I only know NONET, the composition for group of nine. Our editor clued ENNEA as "Nine: pref: " before.
55D: Wound from a bullfight: GORE. Come on, this is really "The Assault on Reason", Mr. Editor. Why "Wound" when you have a Nobel Peace/Oscar winner as clue?
C.C.
17A: Kenny Loggins hit: FOOT LOOSE
22A: Handyman's space: TOOL ROOM
33A: Alternative to a T-top: MOON ROOF
40A: Chef's reading: COOKBOOK
49A: Make light of: POOH-POOH
59A: Handsomeness: GOOD LOOK
11D: Cereal brand: FROOT LOOPS
27D: Expectorant source: BLOODROOTS
I have never heard of BLOODROOTS before. They look so clean and innocent. I think I am more of a "Double O" CHOO-CHOO solver rather than a BLOODROOTS one. The clue "Expectorant" is too sophisticated for me to understand.
Too bad GOODEN (45D: Former Mets pitcher), the rotational partner for BOOBOO (5D: Child's injury), is not called GOO GOO, otherwise, We would have one more pair of theme answers.
Dwight GOODEN ruined his career with drug abuse. His rookie season is 1985, the same as Kirby Puckett's and Roger Clemens'. Now Kirby is dead, Clemens is implicated in steroid scandal.
Structurally this is an outstanding puzzle, with total 38 Os in the grid, easily smashed NY Time's 34 Os record created on Dec 16, 1993.
Also, there are 68 theme squares, that's about 35% of the total fills (Total: 191. And 34 blocks). I think that's the most I've encountered in a TMS puzzle.
But I was not excited about this puzzle at all. Too many Os confused me. I like daily puzzles with no more than 5 theme entries.
Across:
5A: A/C figures: BTUS (British Thermal Units). Memorized from doing the Xword. I don't really know what the heck BTU measures.
9A: To the most extreme degree: BY FAR. Really? I've never used "BY FAR" this way. Maybe I confuse BY FAR with SO FAR.
15A: Birthplace of Camembert: ORNE. No idea. ORNE is a department in the northwest of France, named named after the ORNE River. Every time I see Camembert, Dali's "Melting Clock"("The Persistence of Memory") pops into my head. He was inspired by the leftover Camembert cheese dissolving on a hot summer's day.
19A: Feel rapture: SWOON. Its rotational symmetrical partner is BROOD (58A: Hatch eggs). I would prefer BROOD clued as "Feel moody" to contrast "Feel rapture".
20A: Deprive of strength: ENFEEBLE. Thought of ENERVATE, which has 8 letters also.
21A: Fit in: BELONG. Embien, why "You BELONG with me" instead of "You BELONG to me"?
25A: Queen of the fairies: MAB. Coined by Shakespeare. MAB is supposedly "a tiny fairy who comes to people when they sleep. Then she haunts their dreams by making the person dream of what they want and cannot have." Sounds very cruel, doesn't it? Reminds me of Odin's wife Frigg. She has the prophecy power yet she never reveals to others what she knows.
37A: Le Mans lasses: abbr.: MLLES. Got the answer. Did not know where Le Mans is. Quite close to Paris. Host to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans car race, whatever it is. Know nothing about Grand Prix or Formula One racing. Doubt I will ever be interested. What a mess! You, sir, should have resigned a year ago.
42A: Newton's fruit?: APPLE. Good clue. Could be FIG too.
47A: Shortened bk: ABR (Abridged)
52A: Freetown moola: LEONES. See these banknotes. Had no idea that Freetown is the capital of Sierra Leone. Now, there is word describing a Middle East sheik or some big potatoe. It spells similiar to moola. What is that word? This is really bothering me. It's not moula.
54A: Formal written defense: APOLOGIA. New word to me. Any famous one in history?
60A: MetLife rival: AETNA. Named after the Sicilian vocano I suppose.
63A: Stuffy-sounding: NASAL
Down:
2D: Carolina university: ELON. See this Phoenix Rising statue at ELON University. Their sports teams are called the Phoenix. Learned from doing Xword.
4D: Church coral work: MOTET. I forgot this word. It's "a composition based on a sacred text and usually sung without accompaniment". Rooted in French word "mot".
6D: Ogre associates: TROLLS. I once had a beautifully ugly Norwegian TROLL similar to this one. The real deal.
7D: Family of Indy winners: UNSER
9D: First, second or third infielder: BASEMAN. My favorite BASEMAN.
10D: Mournful wail: YOWL. In Chinese countryside, those villagers really YOWL at the funerals, as if the loudness of their YOWL is the measurement of their love for the deceased.
12D: Egyptian symbols: ATONS. Or ATENS. I am used to the "Egyptian sun god" clue. I have a question JD: If the Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs contained only consonants and involved no vowels, why did the moderan interpreation become ATON/ATEN instead of ATIN/ATUN?
18D: Spinks and Ames: LEONS. Bill mentioned the boxer LEON Spinks last time, but I forgot. I also did not know the actor LEON Ames.
21D: Julius or Guy of golf: BOROS. Julius is in Golf HOF. Nothing extraordinary about his son Guy. I've never heard of their names before. Too obscure.
25D: 1700 in letters: MDCC
26D: Saab model: AERO. More often see AERO clued as "Prefix for dynamics".
41D: Two-footed: BIPEDAL. Only know BIPED.
44D: Place side by side: APPOSE. How is it different from juxtapose?
47D: Composer Berg: ALBAN. Why do keep I forgetting this Austrian composer?
48D: Suburb of Cleveland: BEREA. Bloody blue murder! No idea. What's so special about this suburb?
50D: Hawaiian word for foreign: HAOLE. Just learned this word a few days ago. It actually only refers to white people.
53D: Nine: pref.: NONA. As in nonagon. New to me. I only know NONET, the composition for group of nine. Our editor clued ENNEA as "Nine: pref: " before.
55D: Wound from a bullfight: GORE. Come on, this is really "The Assault on Reason", Mr. Editor. Why "Wound" when you have a Nobel Peace/Oscar winner as clue?
C.C.
