Theme: RULE (62D: Govern, or word that can follow the first word of the four longest puzzle answers)
17A: Valley girl's "Ick!": GAG ME WITH A SPOON
27A: Cliché framed above many a hearth: HOME SWEET HOME
48A: Spaceflight management center: GROUND CONTROL
64A: Yellow-skinned apple: GOLDEN DELICIOUS
Why "Valley girl" reference for GAG ME WITH A SPOON? The Frank Zappa "Valley Girl" song? HOME RULE is a new term to me.
Did you feel today's puzzle was more difficult than yesterday's? I had lots of wite-outs for the cleverly tricky clues:
21A: Wagon pullers: TEAM. Mine was OXEN.
70A: Play area?: STAGE. Mine was SCENE, which is actually "Play part".
9D: MA and PA: STS (States). I made up my own word PTS (Parents), knowing clearly MA is not Ma, PA is not Pa.
26D: Bank feature: ATM. Mine was DAM, thinking of river bank.
46D: Old French capital?: FRANC. Replaced by Euro in 2001. PAREE sprang to my mind first. FRANC is often clued as "Old/stale French bread?".
49D: Put in stitches: DARN. Mine was SEWN. I figured "Put" might be past tense.
65D: When the French fry?: ETE. What a great clue. Scorching hot! I blanked though. I need a "summer" or "season" to think of ETE.
Our fellow solver Fred, who has had puzzles published by LA Times, mentioned in yesterday's Comments section that "the ramp between Wednesday and Thursday is steep in terms of difficulty". So, be prepared for tomorrow's fight.
On a scale of 1-5, Monday and Tuesday's level of difficulty for our puzzle is 1, Wednesday is 2, Thursday and Friday, 3, Saturday and Sunday 4.
To Star Tribune solvers, if you want LA Times puzzle in our paper, please write to Susan Barbieri (Assistant Features Editor) and let her know your views. I wish they had asked our opinion before they made the switch. Her email address is: susan.barbieri@startribune.com
Across:
1A: Blue or brown follower: EYED. I think I have brown eyes, though my drivers's license says BLK.
15A: Jet-black gem: ONYX. Wikipedia says it could be of other colors too. Greek origion, meaning "claw/fingernail." So called because the mineral's color sometimes resembles that of a fingernail, pink with white streaks.
23A: Donizetti aria "Regnava __ silenzio": NEL. No idea. Here is a clip. I've never heard of Italian composer Zonizetti or "Regnava NEL silenzio" ("Silence Reigned"). So what does NEL mean?
25A: Storyteller: LIAR
33A: Finance major's deg.: BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration). New abbreviation to me. Wish I had attended school when I first arrived here.
35A: When repeated twice, "et cetera": YADA. Always thought it's repeated three times.
43A: Sweater synthetic: ORLON. Clued as "Synthetic fiber" in yesterday's puzzle.
45A: Unheeding: DEAF. Also LEAF (24D: Table section). I like this kind of F or K ending words.
60A: Jacket type worn by several Bond villains: NEHRU. Interesting trivia. I did not know this. I still have not figured out who killed the evil Greene in "Quantum of Solace".
67A: "A cat must have three different names": ELIOT. I don't know this particular poem, but I do know the musical "Cats" is based on his cat poems.
68A: Savings choice: IRAS. The clue needs an abbreviation hint, doesn't it?
69A: Give sparingly: DOLE. Why "sparingly"? The rescue package government DOLEs out is huge. Oh by the way, Linda mentioned last night that "abstemious" and "facetious" are the only two English words with all the vowels in order. She also said "dreamt" is the only English word ending in "mt".
72A: Impressionist: APER. Very unexpected clue.
Down:
3D: Caltech sr.'s goal, often: ENGR. Ah, LA Times, another CA reference. Remember Monday's "Fellow Dodgers, e.g." for TEAMMATE?
4D: Rectangular game piece: DOMINO
5D: Holy animal?: COW
10D: School play prop: PAPER HAT
27D: "They'll Do It Every Time" cartoonist Jimmy: HATLO. Unknown to me, HAT LO, is he very famous? This woman looks very dominating.
29D: Hard-to-find guy of kids' books: WALDO
31D: Land where Moses died: MOAB. East of Dead Sea. In current Jordan.
33D: Internet opinion piece: BLOG. Exactly, "opinion piece", might be wrong. Blog is short for weblog.
34D: 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate: BARR (Bob). I had no memory of this guy at all. Could only think of Ralph Nader.
38D: Elvis classic: HOUND DOG. No idea. Is it really classic? Sounds so repetitive and boring.
41D: Jacques of "Mon Oncle": TATI. Got this French actor's name from across fills. "Mon Oncle"("My Uncle") won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1958, according to Wikipedia.
44D: 22.5 deg.: NNE. See more Compass Points. I drew a blank on this one also. Have never seen NNE clued this way before.
50D: Recognition: CREDIT. How fortunes change for Tim Geithner. March Madness indeed. However, he really should get the CREDIT for Dow's near 500 point soar on Monday.
51D: New York tribe: ONEIDA. Literally "erected stone".
56D: Hip bones: ILIA. Singular Ilium. I often confuse ILIA with ILEA (the ends of small intestines). Its singular form is ileum. They have the same pronunciation, correct?
58D: Prefix with sol: AERO. Aerosol. It's often clued as "Sabb model" in our old puzzle.
63D: Rehab admission: USER. The answer did not come to me readily.
Answer Grid.
C.C.
17A: Valley girl's "Ick!": GAG ME WITH A SPOON
27A: Cliché framed above many a hearth: HOME SWEET HOME
48A: Spaceflight management center: GROUND CONTROL
64A: Yellow-skinned apple: GOLDEN DELICIOUS
Why "Valley girl" reference for GAG ME WITH A SPOON? The Frank Zappa "Valley Girl" song? HOME RULE is a new term to me.
Did you feel today's puzzle was more difficult than yesterday's? I had lots of wite-outs for the cleverly tricky clues:
21A: Wagon pullers: TEAM. Mine was OXEN.
70A: Play area?: STAGE. Mine was SCENE, which is actually "Play part".
9D: MA and PA: STS (States). I made up my own word PTS (Parents), knowing clearly MA is not Ma, PA is not Pa.
26D: Bank feature: ATM. Mine was DAM, thinking of river bank.
46D: Old French capital?: FRANC. Replaced by Euro in 2001. PAREE sprang to my mind first. FRANC is often clued as "Old/stale French bread?".
49D: Put in stitches: DARN. Mine was SEWN. I figured "Put" might be past tense.
65D: When the French fry?: ETE. What a great clue. Scorching hot! I blanked though. I need a "summer" or "season" to think of ETE.
Our fellow solver Fred, who has had puzzles published by LA Times, mentioned in yesterday's Comments section that "the ramp between Wednesday and Thursday is steep in terms of difficulty". So, be prepared for tomorrow's fight.
On a scale of 1-5, Monday and Tuesday's level of difficulty for our puzzle is 1, Wednesday is 2, Thursday and Friday, 3, Saturday and Sunday 4.
To Star Tribune solvers, if you want LA Times puzzle in our paper, please write to Susan Barbieri (Assistant Features Editor) and let her know your views. I wish they had asked our opinion before they made the switch. Her email address is: susan.barbieri@startribune.com
Across:
1A: Blue or brown follower: EYED. I think I have brown eyes, though my drivers's license says BLK.
15A: Jet-black gem: ONYX. Wikipedia says it could be of other colors too. Greek origion, meaning "claw/fingernail." So called because the mineral's color sometimes resembles that of a fingernail, pink with white streaks.
23A: Donizetti aria "Regnava __ silenzio": NEL. No idea. Here is a clip. I've never heard of Italian composer Zonizetti or "Regnava NEL silenzio" ("Silence Reigned"). So what does NEL mean?
25A: Storyteller: LIAR
33A: Finance major's deg.: BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration). New abbreviation to me. Wish I had attended school when I first arrived here.
35A: When repeated twice, "et cetera": YADA. Always thought it's repeated three times.
43A: Sweater synthetic: ORLON. Clued as "Synthetic fiber" in yesterday's puzzle.
45A: Unheeding: DEAF. Also LEAF (24D: Table section). I like this kind of F or K ending words.
60A: Jacket type worn by several Bond villains: NEHRU. Interesting trivia. I did not know this. I still have not figured out who killed the evil Greene in "Quantum of Solace".
67A: "A cat must have three different names": ELIOT. I don't know this particular poem, but I do know the musical "Cats" is based on his cat poems.
68A: Savings choice: IRAS. The clue needs an abbreviation hint, doesn't it?
69A: Give sparingly: DOLE. Why "sparingly"? The rescue package government DOLEs out is huge. Oh by the way, Linda mentioned last night that "abstemious" and "facetious" are the only two English words with all the vowels in order. She also said "dreamt" is the only English word ending in "mt".
72A: Impressionist: APER. Very unexpected clue.
Down:
3D: Caltech sr.'s goal, often: ENGR. Ah, LA Times, another CA reference. Remember Monday's "Fellow Dodgers, e.g." for TEAMMATE?
4D: Rectangular game piece: DOMINO
5D: Holy animal?: COW
10D: School play prop: PAPER HAT
27D: "They'll Do It Every Time" cartoonist Jimmy: HATLO. Unknown to me, HAT LO, is he very famous? This woman looks very dominating.
29D: Hard-to-find guy of kids' books: WALDO
31D: Land where Moses died: MOAB. East of Dead Sea. In current Jordan.
33D: Internet opinion piece: BLOG. Exactly, "opinion piece", might be wrong. Blog is short for weblog.
34D: 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate: BARR (Bob). I had no memory of this guy at all. Could only think of Ralph Nader.
38D: Elvis classic: HOUND DOG. No idea. Is it really classic? Sounds so repetitive and boring.
41D: Jacques of "Mon Oncle": TATI. Got this French actor's name from across fills. "Mon Oncle"("My Uncle") won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1958, according to Wikipedia.
44D: 22.5 deg.: NNE. See more Compass Points. I drew a blank on this one also. Have never seen NNE clued this way before.
50D: Recognition: CREDIT. How fortunes change for Tim Geithner. March Madness indeed. However, he really should get the CREDIT for Dow's near 500 point soar on Monday.
51D: New York tribe: ONEIDA. Literally "erected stone".
56D: Hip bones: ILIA. Singular Ilium. I often confuse ILIA with ILEA (the ends of small intestines). Its singular form is ileum. They have the same pronunciation, correct?
58D: Prefix with sol: AERO. Aerosol. It's often clued as "Sabb model" in our old puzzle.
63D: Rehab admission: USER. The answer did not come to me readily.
Answer Grid.
C.C.
