Theme: PRE - eminent
20A: Undercover cop?: LEGAL PRETENDER (legal tender)
25A: Introduction to "SeinLanguage"?: FUNNY PREFACE (funny face)
47A: Words to rouse an oversleeping ecclesiastic?: GET UP PRELATE (get up late)
54A: Cannery worker's credo?: BORN TO PRESERVE (born to serve)
I was unaware of Jerry Seinfeld's "SeinLanguage". Kazie mentioned two days ago that SEIN is German for "To be", so I was thinking maybe "SeinLanguage" is a German dialact or something.
This puzzle is quite similar to yesterday's, only a few real unknown words. But I struggled once again. Might take me a couple of months to get into Rich Norris' wavelength. I am optimistic though. After all, he can only fool me once with "Little butter?". Shame on - shame on you. Fool me - I won't be fooled again.
I don't understand the apostrophe for clue CHI (44A: T'ai __). No need/reason for that. There is a apostrophe in my hometown name Xi'an because without that mark Xian will become a totally different word. Xi'an has two syllables, Xian has one.
I am so proud that I got AIDA (53A: Musical with the song "The Gods Love Nubia"). Lots of discussions on Nubia on blog Comments section last time when we have the "Nile region" clue.
MULCT stumped quite a few solvers yesterday. But it also appeared in TMS puzzle not long ago and there were some discussions between Mark in Buenos Aires & Kazie regarding the Spanish and Latin root words. Multa is Spanish for "fine".
Here is Kazie's original post: "A couple of additional ideas on MULCT. First, I looked it up in my OED, and the original root is Latin (mulcta), often with the "c" omitted. So it makes sense that the Spanish word Mark suggested earlier would be related. Secondly, I wonder if the slang expression "to milk something" might be related too, since in Latin one form of the verb to milk is "mulctum". Latin for "woman" is "muler"--maybe that's why they've been trying to milk us for all we're worth throughout history!"
Across:
1A: Place for storage: SHED. I was thinking of SILO.
9A: PBS's "The __ Gourmet TV Show": HIPPY. Totally unaware of this show. Used to watch Rachel Ray of Food Network. Unfortunately I can't stand her EVOO.
14A: Pamplona runner: TORO. Spanish for bull. TORO the lawnmower manufacturer is based here in Minnesota.
17A: Quaff: SWIG. Noun or verb here?
19A: Inspector on the telly: MORSE. Unknown to me. Cool name though. Wikipedia says his first name is Endeavor.
23A: Drama award: OBIE. Off-Broadway award. "Drama" made me think of TNT's "We Know Drama". So I thought of EMMY first. Was used to "Theater Award" for OBIE/TONY.
24A: Storytelling slave: REMUS. Uncle REMUS. Was always stumped by BR'ER clue before.
31A: Who, in Quebec: QUI. Add one letter, we have quid, quip, quit & quiz.
37A: Vue and Aura, in the auto world: SATURNS. No idea. Know nothing about car models/prices.
41A: Gp. with Bucks and Bobcats: NBA. Got it from down fills. Both Bucks and Bobcats are such general names, they can be the mascots for any team/sport.
45A: Weakened: WANED. I don't like this clue. 4 letter repetion. "Lost energy" is better.
60A: Mope: SULK. I like K, F ending words. Tell me what kind of bird is this.
61A: "60 quartet member: MAMA. MAMA Cass I suppose.
63A: It can pick up a plane: RADAR. Is there a special term for this kind of "It ..." clue? Yesterday RIATA was clued as "It's twirled in a rodeo".
64A: Catalina, e.g.: ISLE. The same as Catalina Island?
65A: Placekicker Jason: ELAM. Sigh. I forgot this guy's name again. Wikipedia says he won two Super Bowl rings with the Broncos. And he wrote a book called "Monday Night Jihad".
67A: Roe source: SHAD. Plural can be SHAD or SHADS.
66A: __ vu: DEJA. Remember our "Jamais vu" & "Presque vu" discussions a while ago? If you haven't, you should really click on Comments at the end of my blog entry. (beside the envelope mark). Lots of informative and entertaining discussions there.
Down:
1D: Elm et al: Abbr.: STS. I was thinking of Elm tree.
2D: React to a kneeslapper: HOWL. New "laugh" defintion to me. Only know wolves' HOWL.
3D: Part of a wet quintet: ERIE. Great clue. HOMES.
4D: Dad-blasted: DOGGONE. "Dad-blasted" is a new slang to me. I was picturing a woman who blasted her ex-husband because he failed to pay child support.
5D: A right may cause one: FAT LIP. I thought "right" might be a typo. "A fight may cause one" sounds plausible. Then I checked Dictionary and found out it's a boxing term, meaning "a blow delivered by the right hand".
6D: One skipping church?: ELOPER. Oh well, I skipped church, and I was not an ELOPER. Needs a "maybe". I was acturally thinking of ATHEIST.
8D: "Smooth Operator" singer: SADE. Ah, SADE, "The Sweetest Taboo". SADE's sister is a singer too.
9D: Domestic class, briefly: HOME EC. Home Economics?
10D: Triathletes: IRONMEN. I don't understand this one. They are not synonymous to me.
11D: Concealed: PERDU. The only time I've seen PERDU is Proust's "A La Recherche Du Temps PERDU" ("Remembrance of Things Past").
12D: Models: POSES. Verb.
13D: Belgian river: YSER. This has become a gimme.
21D: Deep chasm: ABYSS
22D: Bride follower: TRAIN. Of course. But AISLE came to me first. I don't know what I was thinking.
25D: One who used to spend markkaa: FINN. Easy guess. Here is a banknote. Finnish for mark.
27D: His__: big shot: NIBS. See the word origin. Brings back yesterday's TAI-Pan, Cantonese slang for "big shot".
29D: Pelt: FUR. Stumper for me. I was in the verb direction, thinking of HIT.
34D: "Yeah, right!": I BET. And ACT SO ("38D: "Don't ___ surprised"). Lots of colloquial expressions in Rich Norris' puzzle.
35D: Diminish: FADE
39D: Holy day.: abbr.: THU. Is it because Jesus was crucified on Thursday?
40D: Any ABBA singer: SWEDE. Oh by the way, the vegetable SWEDE (rutabaga) is often pickled in China.
46D: Protected, as a home: ALARMED. Surprising clue for me.
48D: Walks on stage: ENTERS. "Walks onto a stage", right?
49D: Spanish stewlike dish: PAELLA. Literally "frying pan" in Catalan, an official language in Spain, isn't it? Sounds like a crossing of Spanish and French.
50D: Put on the line: RISKED. I was thinking of FISHED.
55D: Greek letters: PSIS. PSI looks like this. Pronounced like "sigh".
56D: Compensate for oversleeping: RUSH. I've forgotten what "oversleeping" feels like. Have to get up early for the blog.
57D: Low-lying area: VALE. So many 4-letter "Low-lying areas": VALE, dale, glen, dell.
58D: Key with four sharps: Abbr.: E MAJ. Guessed. You know, I can never understand why musical education was considered bourgeois and forbidden during Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Complete Answer Grid.
C.C.
20A: Undercover cop?: LEGAL PRETENDER (legal tender)
25A: Introduction to "SeinLanguage"?: FUNNY PREFACE (funny face)
47A: Words to rouse an oversleeping ecclesiastic?: GET UP PRELATE (get up late)
54A: Cannery worker's credo?: BORN TO PRESERVE (born to serve)
I was unaware of Jerry Seinfeld's "SeinLanguage". Kazie mentioned two days ago that SEIN is German for "To be", so I was thinking maybe "SeinLanguage" is a German dialact or something.
This puzzle is quite similar to yesterday's, only a few real unknown words. But I struggled once again. Might take me a couple of months to get into Rich Norris' wavelength. I am optimistic though. After all, he can only fool me once with "Little butter?". Shame on - shame on you. Fool me - I won't be fooled again.
I don't understand the apostrophe for clue CHI (44A: T'ai __). No need/reason for that. There is a apostrophe in my hometown name Xi'an because without that mark Xian will become a totally different word. Xi'an has two syllables, Xian has one.
I am so proud that I got AIDA (53A: Musical with the song "The Gods Love Nubia"). Lots of discussions on Nubia on blog Comments section last time when we have the "Nile region" clue.
MULCT stumped quite a few solvers yesterday. But it also appeared in TMS puzzle not long ago and there were some discussions between Mark in Buenos Aires & Kazie regarding the Spanish and Latin root words. Multa is Spanish for "fine".
Here is Kazie's original post: "A couple of additional ideas on MULCT. First, I looked it up in my OED, and the original root is Latin (mulcta), often with the "c" omitted. So it makes sense that the Spanish word Mark suggested earlier would be related. Secondly, I wonder if the slang expression "to milk something" might be related too, since in Latin one form of the verb to milk is "mulctum". Latin for "woman" is "muler"--maybe that's why they've been trying to milk us for all we're worth throughout history!"
Across:
1A: Place for storage: SHED. I was thinking of SILO.
9A: PBS's "The __ Gourmet TV Show": HIPPY. Totally unaware of this show. Used to watch Rachel Ray of Food Network. Unfortunately I can't stand her EVOO.
14A: Pamplona runner: TORO. Spanish for bull. TORO the lawnmower manufacturer is based here in Minnesota.
17A: Quaff: SWIG. Noun or verb here?
19A: Inspector on the telly: MORSE. Unknown to me. Cool name though. Wikipedia says his first name is Endeavor.
23A: Drama award: OBIE. Off-Broadway award. "Drama" made me think of TNT's "We Know Drama". So I thought of EMMY first. Was used to "Theater Award" for OBIE/TONY.
24A: Storytelling slave: REMUS. Uncle REMUS. Was always stumped by BR'ER clue before.
31A: Who, in Quebec: QUI. Add one letter, we have quid, quip, quit & quiz.
37A: Vue and Aura, in the auto world: SATURNS. No idea. Know nothing about car models/prices.
41A: Gp. with Bucks and Bobcats: NBA. Got it from down fills. Both Bucks and Bobcats are such general names, they can be the mascots for any team/sport.
45A: Weakened: WANED. I don't like this clue. 4 letter repetion. "Lost energy" is better.
60A: Mope: SULK. I like K, F ending words. Tell me what kind of bird is this.
61A: "60 quartet member: MAMA. MAMA Cass I suppose.
63A: It can pick up a plane: RADAR. Is there a special term for this kind of "It ..." clue? Yesterday RIATA was clued as "It's twirled in a rodeo".
64A: Catalina, e.g.: ISLE. The same as Catalina Island?
65A: Placekicker Jason: ELAM. Sigh. I forgot this guy's name again. Wikipedia says he won two Super Bowl rings with the Broncos. And he wrote a book called "Monday Night Jihad".
67A: Roe source: SHAD. Plural can be SHAD or SHADS.
66A: __ vu: DEJA. Remember our "Jamais vu" & "Presque vu" discussions a while ago? If you haven't, you should really click on Comments at the end of my blog entry. (beside the envelope mark). Lots of informative and entertaining discussions there.
Down:
1D: Elm et al: Abbr.: STS. I was thinking of Elm tree.
2D: React to a kneeslapper: HOWL. New "laugh" defintion to me. Only know wolves' HOWL.
3D: Part of a wet quintet: ERIE. Great clue. HOMES.
4D: Dad-blasted: DOGGONE. "Dad-blasted" is a new slang to me. I was picturing a woman who blasted her ex-husband because he failed to pay child support.
5D: A right may cause one: FAT LIP. I thought "right" might be a typo. "A fight may cause one" sounds plausible. Then I checked Dictionary and found out it's a boxing term, meaning "a blow delivered by the right hand".
6D: One skipping church?: ELOPER. Oh well, I skipped church, and I was not an ELOPER. Needs a "maybe". I was acturally thinking of ATHEIST.
8D: "Smooth Operator" singer: SADE. Ah, SADE, "The Sweetest Taboo". SADE's sister is a singer too.
9D: Domestic class, briefly: HOME EC. Home Economics?
10D: Triathletes: IRONMEN. I don't understand this one. They are not synonymous to me.
11D: Concealed: PERDU. The only time I've seen PERDU is Proust's "A La Recherche Du Temps PERDU" ("Remembrance of Things Past").
12D: Models: POSES. Verb.
13D: Belgian river: YSER. This has become a gimme.
21D: Deep chasm: ABYSS
22D: Bride follower: TRAIN. Of course. But AISLE came to me first. I don't know what I was thinking.
25D: One who used to spend markkaa: FINN. Easy guess. Here is a banknote. Finnish for mark.
27D: His__: big shot: NIBS. See the word origin. Brings back yesterday's TAI-Pan, Cantonese slang for "big shot".
29D: Pelt: FUR. Stumper for me. I was in the verb direction, thinking of HIT.
34D: "Yeah, right!": I BET. And ACT SO ("38D: "Don't ___ surprised"). Lots of colloquial expressions in Rich Norris' puzzle.
35D: Diminish: FADE
39D: Holy day.: abbr.: THU. Is it because Jesus was crucified on Thursday?
40D: Any ABBA singer: SWEDE. Oh by the way, the vegetable SWEDE (rutabaga) is often pickled in China.
46D: Protected, as a home: ALARMED. Surprising clue for me.
48D: Walks on stage: ENTERS. "Walks onto a stage", right?
49D: Spanish stewlike dish: PAELLA. Literally "frying pan" in Catalan, an official language in Spain, isn't it? Sounds like a crossing of Spanish and French.
50D: Put on the line: RISKED. I was thinking of FISHED.
55D: Greek letters: PSIS. PSI looks like this. Pronounced like "sigh".
56D: Compensate for oversleeping: RUSH. I've forgotten what "oversleeping" feels like. Have to get up early for the blog.
57D: Low-lying area: VALE. So many 4-letter "Low-lying areas": VALE, dale, glen, dell.
58D: Key with four sharps: Abbr.: E MAJ. Guessed. You know, I can never understand why musical education was considered bourgeois and forbidden during Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Complete Answer Grid.
C.C.
