Theme: Front Man
17A: Valet: MAN SERVANT
28A: Polite: MANNERLY
45A: Seacows: MANATEES
59A: Handle: MANIPULATE
11D: Display dummy: MANNEQUIN
35D: Instruments similar to lutes: MANDOLINS
MAN! I failed again. Third day in a row.
Lots of false starts: MANNERED instead of MANNERLY. SEPARATE instead of SET APART (24A: Isolate). All my own faults though. We've solved quite a few Ed Voile puzzles lately, yet I still can not find his pattern.
"Cold War letters" (7D) would be an OK clue for USSR or SSR, but for USA? No! We've long entered the Obama era.
ADD (20A: What summers do) gave me lots of trouble. I could not figure out anything about the intersecting down clues, so I tried hard to think what summers do to me. But neither TAN or SUN fits. If there were a question mark behind the clue, I might have interpret "summers" correctly and thought of ADD. Sigh! I just mentioned a possible "Chinese summer?" for ABACUS last time.
Across:
1A: John L. or Jerry Lee: LEWIS. Did not know the CIO founder John L. LEWIS. President of the United Mine Workers of America from from 1920 to 1960. And a major player in the history of coal mining.
14A: Ward off: AVERT. I like how it crosses EVADE (2D: Escape cleverly).
16A: Gilbert of Teasdale: SARA
19A: Small piece: SNIP. New meaning of SNIP to me.
22A: Intrinsic nature: ESSENCE. PER SE is often clued as "Intrinsically".
39A: Cinematic nightmare street: ELM. "A Nightmare on ELM Street". I don't like horror movies.
42A: "William Wilson" writer: POE. Have never heard of this short story. "The Raven" & "Annabel Lee", that's all the POE work I know.
43A: Scantily: THINLY. Not fond of the LY repetition. "Without much density" is better.
49A: Airs out: FRESHENS. I kept thinking of AERATES.
56A: North sea bird: AUK. I was really fooled by this Penguin clip. Now your turn! (OK, It's an April Fools' joke.)
62A: Five-star: A ONE
65A: Profit's partner?: LOSS. Would EERS be an acceptable answer as well? Profiteers.
Down:
1D: Actor Fernando: LAMAS. No idea. He is the father of Lorenzo LAMAS (left).
3D: George of "Cheers": WENDT. Unknown to me also. I only recognize Ted Danson & Woody Harrelson in this picture.
5D: Stovetop utensils: STEWPANS. Holy cow! I've never heard of STEWPANS. Use slow cooker for stew.
6D: River to the Bristol Channel: SEVERN. Nope. Here is a map. Click on it, the map will enlarge. See the word SEVERN to the right of Newport? It's the longest river in Britain.
12D: Stoltz of "Mask": ERIC. Easy guess. Have zero familarity with this actor.
26D: Pekoe piece: TEA LEAF. Have you had chrysanthemum tea before?
33D: "Truth or __": DARE. Is this the movie about Madonna? I wanted LIES.
37D: Actress Van Devere: TRISH. Forgot. She was married to George Scott. I like his "Patton".
40D: Cushing/Lee horror film: THE SKULL. No idea. Looks terrifying.
42D: California observatory peak: PALOMAR. Spanish for "Pigeon house". Saw this clue somewhere before.
45D: Bub: MAC. This reminds me of the Baboo episode in "Seinfeld". But isn't baboo an offensive slang for Indian?
46D: Attributes: TRAITS. Did not come to me readily.
51D: Observant one: NOTER. This word feels like NEEDER/WANTER to me. It exists only in the dictionary.
55D: Corduroy rib: WALE. Like this. Ribbed twill is SERGE. Any SERGE Gainsbourg fan there? This picture looks so doctored. This is TRUER. Jane Birkin is very skinny.
C.C.
17A: Valet: MAN SERVANT
28A: Polite: MANNERLY
45A: Seacows: MANATEES
59A: Handle: MANIPULATE
11D: Display dummy: MANNEQUIN
35D: Instruments similar to lutes: MANDOLINS
MAN! I failed again. Third day in a row.
Lots of false starts: MANNERED instead of MANNERLY. SEPARATE instead of SET APART (24A: Isolate). All my own faults though. We've solved quite a few Ed Voile puzzles lately, yet I still can not find his pattern.
"Cold War letters" (7D) would be an OK clue for USSR or SSR, but for USA? No! We've long entered the Obama era.
ADD (20A: What summers do) gave me lots of trouble. I could not figure out anything about the intersecting down clues, so I tried hard to think what summers do to me. But neither TAN or SUN fits. If there were a question mark behind the clue, I might have interpret "summers" correctly and thought of ADD. Sigh! I just mentioned a possible "Chinese summer?" for ABACUS last time.
Across:
1A: John L. or Jerry Lee: LEWIS. Did not know the CIO founder John L. LEWIS. President of the United Mine Workers of America from from 1920 to 1960. And a major player in the history of coal mining.
14A: Ward off: AVERT. I like how it crosses EVADE (2D: Escape cleverly).
16A: Gilbert of Teasdale: SARA
19A: Small piece: SNIP. New meaning of SNIP to me.
22A: Intrinsic nature: ESSENCE. PER SE is often clued as "Intrinsically".
39A: Cinematic nightmare street: ELM. "A Nightmare on ELM Street". I don't like horror movies.
42A: "William Wilson" writer: POE. Have never heard of this short story. "The Raven" & "Annabel Lee", that's all the POE work I know.
43A: Scantily: THINLY. Not fond of the LY repetition. "Without much density" is better.
49A: Airs out: FRESHENS. I kept thinking of AERATES.
56A: North sea bird: AUK. I was really fooled by this Penguin clip. Now your turn! (OK, It's an April Fools' joke.)
62A: Five-star: A ONE
65A: Profit's partner?: LOSS. Would EERS be an acceptable answer as well? Profiteers.
Down:
1D: Actor Fernando: LAMAS. No idea. He is the father of Lorenzo LAMAS (left).
3D: George of "Cheers": WENDT. Unknown to me also. I only recognize Ted Danson & Woody Harrelson in this picture.
5D: Stovetop utensils: STEWPANS. Holy cow! I've never heard of STEWPANS. Use slow cooker for stew.
6D: River to the Bristol Channel: SEVERN. Nope. Here is a map. Click on it, the map will enlarge. See the word SEVERN to the right of Newport? It's the longest river in Britain.
12D: Stoltz of "Mask": ERIC. Easy guess. Have zero familarity with this actor.
26D: Pekoe piece: TEA LEAF. Have you had chrysanthemum tea before?
33D: "Truth or __": DARE. Is this the movie about Madonna? I wanted LIES.
37D: Actress Van Devere: TRISH. Forgot. She was married to George Scott. I like his "Patton".
40D: Cushing/Lee horror film: THE SKULL. No idea. Looks terrifying.
42D: California observatory peak: PALOMAR. Spanish for "Pigeon house". Saw this clue somewhere before.
45D: Bub: MAC. This reminds me of the Baboo episode in "Seinfeld". But isn't baboo an offensive slang for Indian?
46D: Attributes: TRAITS. Did not come to me readily.
51D: Observant one: NOTER. This word feels like NEEDER/WANTER to me. It exists only in the dictionary.
55D: Corduroy rib: WALE. Like this. Ribbed twill is SERGE. Any SERGE Gainsbourg fan there? This picture looks so doctored. This is TRUER. Jane Birkin is very skinny.
C.C.
