Theme: Scrub Away
17A: Warmer on the table: CHAFING DISH
24A: Tall building: SKY SCRAPER
39A: Disease spread by kittens: CAT SCRATCH FEVER
51A: Graphics program tool: PAINT BRUSH
64A: Elastic substance: INDIA RUBBER
I am not a cat person. Have never heard of CAT SCRATCH FEVER. Not familiar with INDIAN RUBBER either.
I disliked the jarring inconsistency in today's theme entries. CHAFE, SCRAPE, SCRATCH, BRUSH and RUB would be an OK set.
Also hated all the "More" clues. Three ER is too much for a grid. Besides, I think the clues could be reworded to disguise the unpleasant repetitiveness "More".
42D: More intoxicated: HIGHER. Try "Kind of education".
48D: More coarse: CRUDER. Try "Less refined".
53D: More sickly: ILLER. I don't know. Maybe you can come up with a better clue. ILLER is such a made-up word. Nobody feels ILLER. One might feel worse, not ILLER.
I do love the clues for ISH (10D: Sort of ending?) and STU (32D: R-V hookup, RSTUV, alphabet). Very cute. Can't decide whether I like ARNIE (52D: Putter Palmer) or not. To me, "Putter" is just a putter, a golf club. I've never heard anyone being called a "Putter".
Across:
6A: Early adders: ABACI. I can't remember what kind of wood my primary school abacus was made of. But it was very heavy to carry around for a little girl.
14A: Billiard shot: CAROM. Sometimes the answer is MASSE. See 1:35, pretty cool.
19A: G.I. wear: ODS (Olive Drabs). Someone mentioned on the Comments section that you never call a Marine a soldier. So does "solider" apply only to Army grunt? Dictionary says "jarhead" is a disparaging slang for a Marine. I wonder why Navy picked up "squid" as their nickname. "Zoomies" for Air Force sounds quite appropriate. Hayrake said "wing nut" is for Navy aviator, what is the slang for a Marines pilot then? Does Army have a flying division as well?
20A: Noisemaker: RATTLE
22A: Large blob: GOUT. I only know GOUT is a kind of arthritic disease and those who have GOUT can't eat certain fish.
29A: Safe and sound: OKAY. And ACCEPT (28D: Answer affirmatively).
33A: Small harbor: COVE. It's for also small boats, correct? Or can you dock a big yacht there as well?
35A: Traveled by plane: FLOWN. I FLIED first. Dictionary.com seems to imply that there is a difference between FLIED and FLOWN.
44A: French eye: OEIL. Here is one more Julian Beever for you. He is really the Picasso in creating Trompe l'OEIL pavement art.
49A: Arch type: OGEE. Like this one.
55A: Balmy: DAFT. Had no idea that "Balmy" has a "eccentric" side.
60A: Self: pref.: AUT. I thought it's AUTO.
63A: Darkroom abbr. ENL. No waffling between ENL and NEG this time.
70A: Pound and Cornell: EZRAS. Did not know EZRA Cornell, founder of Cornell University. More used to seeing EZRAS clued as "Pound and Stone".
71A: Japanese fencing: KENDO. No idea. The kanji characters 剣道 mean "Way of the Sword" in English. Japanese DO is a corruption of Chinese TAO (Way). Judo is literally "Soft way".
Down:
1D: Ghana's capital: ACCRA. "Ghana's largest city" as well. Surprised to learn that 69% of the population in Ghana are Christians, compared with 16% of Muslims.
3D: Whitney's partner: PRATT. I can never remember this engine maker.
4D: Propelled in a high arc: LOFTED. Did not know LOFT is a verb as well. My answer was LOBBED, thinking of Phil Michelson's lob shot.
8D: Melodic passage: ARIOSO. Got it from the across fills. Here is Julian Lloyd Webber playing Bach's "ARIOSO". Weird. I thought ARIOSO is like ARIA, a song.
9D: "Serendipity" star John: CUSACK. Finally a move star I know and a movie I've seen.
12D: Embody with: ENDUE. Mine was ENDOW.
13D: Stomach: pref: GASTR. Similar to my AUTO/AUT experience earlier, I thought the prefix is GASTRO.
18D: Greek advisor at Troy: NESTOR. I blanked on his name again. Saw this clue before. He was the oldest and wisest men of the Greeks in Trojan War. But the Greek was still the loser of Trojan War. Maybe he was not really that wise.
22D: Singer Crystal: GAYLE. The long hair country singer. That's all I know about her.
25D: Polynesian beverage: KAVA. No idea. Looks like raw organic apple cider vinegar. Hard to imagine these roots can produce something intoxicating.
26D: Fund-raising event: RAFFLE
30D: Service winner: ACE. Tennis.
34D: WWII arena: ETO. Often clued as "DDE arena".
37D: Unseld of the NBA: WES. Hall-of-Famer. Too bad. I've never heard of him.
47D: Guitar brand: IBANEZ. Nope. Is it a famous brand? Who are their competitors?
54D: New York city: UTICA. Interesting, the first Woolworth's was opened here in 1878, though it failed within a year. Target just opened its first store in Hawaii. Right now, Vermont is the only state in the US Target-less.
56D: Composer Berg: ALBAN. Why is his name so hard for me to remember? And I also confuse him with LABAN, "Rachel's father".
57D: Demon: FIEND. Devil is another 5-letter word.
64D: __- de-France: ILE. And "ILE locale" is MER.
C.C.
17A: Warmer on the table: CHAFING DISH
24A: Tall building: SKY SCRAPER
39A: Disease spread by kittens: CAT SCRATCH FEVER
51A: Graphics program tool: PAINT BRUSH
64A: Elastic substance: INDIA RUBBER
I am not a cat person. Have never heard of CAT SCRATCH FEVER. Not familiar with INDIAN RUBBER either.
I disliked the jarring inconsistency in today's theme entries. CHAFE, SCRAPE, SCRATCH, BRUSH and RUB would be an OK set.
Also hated all the "More" clues. Three ER is too much for a grid. Besides, I think the clues could be reworded to disguise the unpleasant repetitiveness "More".
42D: More intoxicated: HIGHER. Try "Kind of education".
48D: More coarse: CRUDER. Try "Less refined".
53D: More sickly: ILLER. I don't know. Maybe you can come up with a better clue. ILLER is such a made-up word. Nobody feels ILLER. One might feel worse, not ILLER.
I do love the clues for ISH (10D: Sort of ending?) and STU (32D: R-V hookup, RSTUV, alphabet). Very cute. Can't decide whether I like ARNIE (52D: Putter Palmer) or not. To me, "Putter" is just a putter, a golf club. I've never heard anyone being called a "Putter".
Across:
6A: Early adders: ABACI. I can't remember what kind of wood my primary school abacus was made of. But it was very heavy to carry around for a little girl.
14A: Billiard shot: CAROM. Sometimes the answer is MASSE. See 1:35, pretty cool.
19A: G.I. wear: ODS (Olive Drabs). Someone mentioned on the Comments section that you never call a Marine a soldier. So does "solider" apply only to Army grunt? Dictionary says "jarhead" is a disparaging slang for a Marine. I wonder why Navy picked up "squid" as their nickname. "Zoomies" for Air Force sounds quite appropriate. Hayrake said "wing nut" is for Navy aviator, what is the slang for a Marines pilot then? Does Army have a flying division as well?
20A: Noisemaker: RATTLE
22A: Large blob: GOUT. I only know GOUT is a kind of arthritic disease and those who have GOUT can't eat certain fish.
29A: Safe and sound: OKAY. And ACCEPT (28D: Answer affirmatively).
33A: Small harbor: COVE. It's for also small boats, correct? Or can you dock a big yacht there as well?
35A: Traveled by plane: FLOWN. I FLIED first. Dictionary.com seems to imply that there is a difference between FLIED and FLOWN.
44A: French eye: OEIL. Here is one more Julian Beever for you. He is really the Picasso in creating Trompe l'OEIL pavement art.
49A: Arch type: OGEE. Like this one.
55A: Balmy: DAFT. Had no idea that "Balmy" has a "eccentric" side.
60A: Self: pref.: AUT. I thought it's AUTO.
63A: Darkroom abbr. ENL. No waffling between ENL and NEG this time.
70A: Pound and Cornell: EZRAS. Did not know EZRA Cornell, founder of Cornell University. More used to seeing EZRAS clued as "Pound and Stone".
71A: Japanese fencing: KENDO. No idea. The kanji characters 剣道 mean "Way of the Sword" in English. Japanese DO is a corruption of Chinese TAO (Way). Judo is literally "Soft way".
Down:
1D: Ghana's capital: ACCRA. "Ghana's largest city" as well. Surprised to learn that 69% of the population in Ghana are Christians, compared with 16% of Muslims.
3D: Whitney's partner: PRATT. I can never remember this engine maker.
4D: Propelled in a high arc: LOFTED. Did not know LOFT is a verb as well. My answer was LOBBED, thinking of Phil Michelson's lob shot.
8D: Melodic passage: ARIOSO. Got it from the across fills. Here is Julian Lloyd Webber playing Bach's "ARIOSO". Weird. I thought ARIOSO is like ARIA, a song.
9D: "Serendipity" star John: CUSACK. Finally a move star I know and a movie I've seen.
12D: Embody with: ENDUE. Mine was ENDOW.
13D: Stomach: pref: GASTR. Similar to my AUTO/AUT experience earlier, I thought the prefix is GASTRO.
18D: Greek advisor at Troy: NESTOR. I blanked on his name again. Saw this clue before. He was the oldest and wisest men of the Greeks in Trojan War. But the Greek was still the loser of Trojan War. Maybe he was not really that wise.
22D: Singer Crystal: GAYLE. The long hair country singer. That's all I know about her.
25D: Polynesian beverage: KAVA. No idea. Looks like raw organic apple cider vinegar. Hard to imagine these roots can produce something intoxicating.
26D: Fund-raising event: RAFFLE
30D: Service winner: ACE. Tennis.
34D: WWII arena: ETO. Often clued as "DDE arena".
37D: Unseld of the NBA: WES. Hall-of-Famer. Too bad. I've never heard of him.
47D: Guitar brand: IBANEZ. Nope. Is it a famous brand? Who are their competitors?
54D: New York city: UTICA. Interesting, the first Woolworth's was opened here in 1878, though it failed within a year. Target just opened its first store in Hawaii. Right now, Vermont is the only state in the US Target-less.
56D: Composer Berg: ALBAN. Why is his name so hard for me to remember? And I also confuse him with LABAN, "Rachel's father".
57D: Demon: FIEND. Devil is another 5-letter word.
64D: __- de-France: ILE. And "ILE locale" is MER.
C.C.
