Theme: Cards for Two
23A: Blackjack: POLICEMAN'S CLUB
36A: War: OPEN HOSTILITIES
73A: Scatter: CUT AND RUN
108A: Casino: TRUMP PLAZA OR RIO
126A: Gin: COTTON SHUFFLER
17D: Nautically nauseous: CAPTAIN'S DECK
64D: Solitaire: A DIAMOND RING
I hope I got the theme answers correct. I am a dummy when it comes to card games. Why "Card for Two" as the theme title?
I don't know. HAND PICK (8D: Select personally) might be part of the theme answers too. But there is nothing hidden in its symmetrical partner SAL MINEO (93D: "Exodus" co-star). Or am I missing something here?
Struggled with this puzzle. Too many proper names. Our editor is on a name binge today. He could easily clue KEENER (107D: Catherine of "Full Frontal") as "More acute". "Single Sra" for SRTA (66A) is such a lazy cluing.
I have never seen a word number indicator like 67D: Time qualifier: __ about (2 words): AT OR. Normally Williams would go with "End of comment?" (commentator). He hates partials.
See here for Argyle's post on Rich Norris' Thursday SPAGHETTI puzzle.
Across:
1A: Simpson's songwriting partner: ASHFORD (Nickolas). Stumped immediately. Have never heard of him or his wife Valerie Simpson. They wrote "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
8A: Seize a vehicle in transit: HIJACK. I had this wrong notion that HIJACK means "Seize a plane in transit" and CARJACK is the answer the clue is looking for.
20A: Put away one's sword: SHEATHE
21A: Comparable thing: ANALOG. Not analogy?
22A: Chilly period: ICE AGE. I wrote WINTER first. It's indeed the "Chilly period" here in MN.
30A: Memory unit: BIT. Know nothing about computer. BIT, byte. Which is bigger?
33A: Tom Sawyer's sweetheart: BECKY. Guessed. His love for her is unrequited, right?
48A: Hitters: BATSMEN. My inital answer is BATTERS.
70A: Senior members: DOYENS. Female is called doyenne. Helen Thomas is often referred to as the doyenne of the White House press corps.
71A: Diameter halves: RADII. Probably only math geeks celebrated the National Pi Day yesterday.
76A: Mother-of-pearl: NACRE. Here is a picture. I don't know why NACRE is precious. Some drums have very nicely encircled NACRE around its body.
77A: With hands on hips: AKIMBO. I can never remember this position. Sounds like a Japanese word.
79A: Iditarod terminus: NOME
87A: S.F. underground: BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). Oh, I did not know it's underground.
89A: Bookkeeping abbr.: EOM. Glory be! I am not familar with this abbreviation at all. It's just "End of Month".
105A: Flasks: PHIALS. Only knew vial.
106A: No-good-__: NIK. I need to use this word. I've never used ne'er-do-well in my conversation either.
112A: Grasslike wetland plant: SEDGE. The leaves looks cutting.
114A Asian range: ALTAI. It's called 阿尔泰山脉 in Chinese. Wikipedia said the ALTAI mountains are known as the Turkic people's birthplace. Originated in the word Altau. AL means "gold", TAU means "mount". So ALTAI means the "Mountains of Gold" in their language.
117A: Gifts bestowed: LARGESS
122A: Blood: pref.: HEMA. Or hemo. As in hemophilia, the disease Byron Nelson died of.
130A: Guy of "Factory Girl": PEARCE. I googled. Here is a picture of him and Sienna Miller who starred in the "Factory Girl". He is an Aussi also.
131A: Military decoration: EPAULET. I used to remember this word.
133A: Arialike solo: ARIOSO. Forgot again.
134A: Schedules anew: RESLOTS
Down:
2D: Brogue or wingtip: SHOE. Did not know brogue and wingtip means the same thing.
3D: Recklessly determined: HELLBENT
5D: Stock-market abbr.: OTC. Over-the-Counter. I don't know anything about stock market, except my GE stock keeps dropping. How is OTC different from NYSE trading? Also, if most of us are losing money in this market, who is winning? If no one, where did the money disappear to?
10D: Actor Derek: JACOBI. Googled him, then realized that I had googled him before. An illustrous career.
11D: Completely wrong: ALL WET
12D: Administrative body: COUNCIL. Can't believe I struggled with this one.
24D: Having wings: ALATE. I only knew ALAR, which actually means "Winglike".
29D: Cicely and Mike: TYSONS. Cicely is Miles Davis' wife.
31D: Essay: THEME. New definition to me.
34D: Largo and Longboat: KEYS. Both KEYS are in FL. Here is my favorite KEYS.
37D: "Waiting for Lefty" playwright: ODETS. Another google. Is ODETS very famous? Very odd picture. What are they trying to achieve?
46D: William Sydney Porter: O HENRY. Easy guess. I did not know O HENRY's original name. What does O stand for? Why not O'HENRY?
49D: DEA type: NARC. It's always "D.E.A. agent". I don't know why it's "type".
59D: Rail: SORA. The Carolina rail.
61D: Unfledged bird: EYAS. Would not got this weird word without the surrounds. The British spelling is Eyass.
81D: Legendary drummer Gene: KRUPA. He was played by SAL MINEO (93D: "Exodus" co-star) in the 1959 biopic "The Gene KRUPA story".
91D: Black bird: MERL. Also MERLE. Not fully black. I learned the meaning of this word a few months ago when someone talked about MERL Reagle, the genius crossword constructor for Dennis's "Philadelphia Inquirer".
96D: Actor Mastroianni: MARCELLO. Another google. Found his mug to be very familiar, then I remember I saw his movie "A Very Private Affair" with Brigitte Bardot.
98D: Brit. quartermaster: RSO (Regimental Supply Officer).
100D: Hunting trophy: BIG GAME. New phrase to me. I thought there is a special trophy for hunters.
102D: Surpasser: OUTDOER. Made-up "er" word.
109D: Rum cocktail: MAI TAI. Nice to see its full name. Wikipedia says MAI TAI means "good" in Tahitian. What is that flower besides the mint leaves?
110D: Poet Metastasio: PIETRO. No idea. He was "an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti", whatever that is. And he is known as an "emotional, lyrical, and romantic poet". His hands look like a lady's . Wonder how long his thumbs are.
111D: "The Third Man" instrument: ZITHER. Got the Z from the intersecting PLAZA. So the only viable answer is ZITHER.
113D: Having auricles: EARED. AURI/OTO is prefix for ear.
121D: "Little Latin __ Lu": LUPE. Have never heard of this song before.
126D: Bks balancer: CPA. This "er" word really annoys me. "Balancing pro" is better.
127D: Mil. training course: OCS. Officer Candidate School. New to me. Why "course" then?
C.C.
23A: Blackjack: POLICEMAN'S CLUB
36A: War: OPEN HOSTILITIES
73A: Scatter: CUT AND RUN
108A: Casino: TRUMP PLAZA OR RIO
126A: Gin: COTTON SHUFFLER
17D: Nautically nauseous: CAPTAIN'S DECK
64D: Solitaire: A DIAMOND RING
I hope I got the theme answers correct. I am a dummy when it comes to card games. Why "Card for Two" as the theme title?
I don't know. HAND PICK (8D: Select personally) might be part of the theme answers too. But there is nothing hidden in its symmetrical partner SAL MINEO (93D: "Exodus" co-star). Or am I missing something here?
Struggled with this puzzle. Too many proper names. Our editor is on a name binge today. He could easily clue KEENER (107D: Catherine of "Full Frontal") as "More acute". "Single Sra" for SRTA (66A) is such a lazy cluing.
I have never seen a word number indicator like 67D: Time qualifier: __ about (2 words): AT OR. Normally Williams would go with "End of comment?" (commentator). He hates partials.
See here for Argyle's post on Rich Norris' Thursday SPAGHETTI puzzle.
Across:
1A: Simpson's songwriting partner: ASHFORD (Nickolas). Stumped immediately. Have never heard of him or his wife Valerie Simpson. They wrote "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
8A: Seize a vehicle in transit: HIJACK. I had this wrong notion that HIJACK means "Seize a plane in transit" and CARJACK is the answer the clue is looking for.
20A: Put away one's sword: SHEATHE
21A: Comparable thing: ANALOG. Not analogy?
22A: Chilly period: ICE AGE. I wrote WINTER first. It's indeed the "Chilly period" here in MN.
30A: Memory unit: BIT. Know nothing about computer. BIT, byte. Which is bigger?
33A: Tom Sawyer's sweetheart: BECKY. Guessed. His love for her is unrequited, right?
48A: Hitters: BATSMEN. My inital answer is BATTERS.
70A: Senior members: DOYENS. Female is called doyenne. Helen Thomas is often referred to as the doyenne of the White House press corps.
71A: Diameter halves: RADII. Probably only math geeks celebrated the National Pi Day yesterday.
76A: Mother-of-pearl: NACRE. Here is a picture. I don't know why NACRE is precious. Some drums have very nicely encircled NACRE around its body.
77A: With hands on hips: AKIMBO. I can never remember this position. Sounds like a Japanese word.
79A: Iditarod terminus: NOME
87A: S.F. underground: BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). Oh, I did not know it's underground.
89A: Bookkeeping abbr.: EOM. Glory be! I am not familar with this abbreviation at all. It's just "End of Month".
105A: Flasks: PHIALS. Only knew vial.
106A: No-good-__: NIK. I need to use this word. I've never used ne'er-do-well in my conversation either.
112A: Grasslike wetland plant: SEDGE. The leaves looks cutting.
114A Asian range: ALTAI. It's called 阿尔泰山脉 in Chinese. Wikipedia said the ALTAI mountains are known as the Turkic people's birthplace. Originated in the word Altau. AL means "gold", TAU means "mount". So ALTAI means the "Mountains of Gold" in their language.
117A: Gifts bestowed: LARGESS
122A: Blood: pref.: HEMA. Or hemo. As in hemophilia, the disease Byron Nelson died of.
130A: Guy of "Factory Girl": PEARCE. I googled. Here is a picture of him and Sienna Miller who starred in the "Factory Girl". He is an Aussi also.
131A: Military decoration: EPAULET. I used to remember this word.
133A: Arialike solo: ARIOSO. Forgot again.
134A: Schedules anew: RESLOTS
Down:
2D: Brogue or wingtip: SHOE. Did not know brogue and wingtip means the same thing.
3D: Recklessly determined: HELLBENT
5D: Stock-market abbr.: OTC. Over-the-Counter. I don't know anything about stock market, except my GE stock keeps dropping. How is OTC different from NYSE trading? Also, if most of us are losing money in this market, who is winning? If no one, where did the money disappear to?
10D: Actor Derek: JACOBI. Googled him, then realized that I had googled him before. An illustrous career.
11D: Completely wrong: ALL WET
12D: Administrative body: COUNCIL. Can't believe I struggled with this one.
24D: Having wings: ALATE. I only knew ALAR, which actually means "Winglike".
29D: Cicely and Mike: TYSONS. Cicely is Miles Davis' wife.
31D: Essay: THEME. New definition to me.
34D: Largo and Longboat: KEYS. Both KEYS are in FL. Here is my favorite KEYS.
37D: "Waiting for Lefty" playwright: ODETS. Another google. Is ODETS very famous? Very odd picture. What are they trying to achieve?
46D: William Sydney Porter: O HENRY. Easy guess. I did not know O HENRY's original name. What does O stand for? Why not O'HENRY?
49D: DEA type: NARC. It's always "D.E.A. agent". I don't know why it's "type".
59D: Rail: SORA. The Carolina rail.
61D: Unfledged bird: EYAS. Would not got this weird word without the surrounds. The British spelling is Eyass.
81D: Legendary drummer Gene: KRUPA. He was played by SAL MINEO (93D: "Exodus" co-star) in the 1959 biopic "The Gene KRUPA story".
91D: Black bird: MERL. Also MERLE. Not fully black. I learned the meaning of this word a few months ago when someone talked about MERL Reagle, the genius crossword constructor for Dennis's "Philadelphia Inquirer".
96D: Actor Mastroianni: MARCELLO. Another google. Found his mug to be very familiar, then I remember I saw his movie "A Very Private Affair" with Brigitte Bardot.
98D: Brit. quartermaster: RSO (Regimental Supply Officer).
100D: Hunting trophy: BIG GAME. New phrase to me. I thought there is a special trophy for hunters.
102D: Surpasser: OUTDOER. Made-up "er" word.
109D: Rum cocktail: MAI TAI. Nice to see its full name. Wikipedia says MAI TAI means "good" in Tahitian. What is that flower besides the mint leaves?
110D: Poet Metastasio: PIETRO. No idea. He was "an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti", whatever that is. And he is known as an "emotional, lyrical, and romantic poet". His hands look like a lady's . Wonder how long his thumbs are.
111D: "The Third Man" instrument: ZITHER. Got the Z from the intersecting PLAZA. So the only viable answer is ZITHER.
113D: Having auricles: EARED. AURI/OTO is prefix for ear.
121D: "Little Latin __ Lu": LUPE. Have never heard of this song before.
126D: Bks balancer: CPA. This "er" word really annoys me. "Balancing pro" is better.
127D: Mil. training course: OCS. Officer Candidate School. New to me. Why "course" then?
C.C.
