Theme: HIT (39A: Smite, and hint to this puzzle's theme)
17A: Overnight millionaire, perhaps: POWERBALL WINNER
25A: One-time East Asia barrier: BAMBOO CURTAIN
47A: Pacific swimmer: SOCKEYE SALMON
62A: Unintended upshot: BOOMERANG EFFECT
OK, I struck out. How are POWER and BOOM synonymous with HIT? BAM, SOCK, slam, slug, smack, thrash, whack, wallop, yes. I got the unifying HIT (perfect position in the grid) very early, unfortunately it did not help much with my solving.
(Note: I was wrong earlier about POWER, it's POW. All the theme answers are comic book "HIT" sounds.)
Strange, despite growing up in China, I really have never heard of this term BAMBOO CURTAIN, the East Asia version of Iron Curtain. I don't think I have had SOCKEYE SALMON before. Not sure. Might have had it for sushi or sashimi. Is the result of "Hoist by one's own petard" the same as BOOMERANG EFFECT? I got POWERBALL WINNER immediately.
Favorite clue today is LOGO (34D: Target's target). My first image is William Ackman, the guy Target was targeting for their Board of Directors fight. I like the unintended tie between HIT and Target.
Across:
1A: Caroline du Nord, e.g.: ETAT. French for state. North Carolina.
5A: Seasonal roller: EGG. Nice clue.
8A: Veronica's pursuer, in comics: REGGIE. Stumped. Vaguely remember Archie proposed to Veronica news story a couple of weeks ago.
14A: __ Tzu: SHIH. SHIH Tzu is literally "lion" in Chinese. The full term SHI Tsu Kou means "lion dog".
15A: "Who, me?": MOI
16A: For one: APIECE
20A: Loud speaker: ORATOR. Who is the most famous American ORATOR? Reagan?
21A: Pond youngster: TADPOLES. Baby frogs or toads.
24A: "A likely story!": HAH
31A: River of Devon: EXE. Oh, now I know why Exeter is so named. It's on the River EXE and is located in the Devon County. I always have mental block on this damned river.
32A: Training site?: Abbr.: STN. Stumped. Wanted GYM. Train is verb here, meaning "travel by train".
33A: Historical records: ANNALS
36A: Burka wearer's deity: ALLAH. OK, here are three girls in burkas, which cover the whole body from head to toe. Slightly different than the black abaya, which does not cover the face. Niqab is the face veil, covering only the face. This headscarf is called hajab, face & eyes are exposed. I hope I can remember what I just wrote.
41A: Boorish type: YAHOO
42A: Sting Rays, briefly: 'VETTES. No idea. I know nothing about muscle car or any car. I did get GTOS (61D: Classic Pontiacs) though.
44A: Calendar col.: THU. "Col."= "column". Thursday is named after the Norse god THOR.
51A: Farm youngster: KID. Also known as Rich Norris's "Little butt-er?"
52A: Peak between Pelion and Olympus: OSSA. Easy guess. I don't know the exact locations of those three peaks.
53A: Complimentary review: ACCOLADE
58A: One sitting in your lap: TOY DOG. I was thinking of babies.
64A: "Get Shorty" novelist Leonard: ELMORE. Unknown to me. Have never heard of "Get Shorty".
66A: Dos cubed: OCHO. Spanish for eight. OTTO in Italian.
67A: Filled pastry of Asia: SAMOSA. Oh, the Indian turnover, similar to Chinese spring rolls I suppose. I've never had SAMOSA. Not a fan of Indian food.
68A: Fashion monogram: YSL. He was born in Oran, Algeria.
69A: "The Joy of Painting" host Bob: ROSS. Nope. Total stranger to me.
Down:
1D: Former Bruin all-star, familiarly: ESPO. Phil Esposito. Hall-of-Famer. He stumped me again. I could only think of Bobby Orr.
2D: Red-bearded god: THOR. Easy guess. I only associate hammer with the THOR the god of thunder, not his red beard. Another Norse reference today is EDDA (48D: Scandinavian epic).
3D: Sony subsidiary: AIWA. I had no idea that AIWA was acquired by Sony in 2002.
4D: It's generous to pick it up: THE TAB
5D: Early life forms: EMBRYOS
6D: __ long way: last: GO A. I like this answer better than GOA, which was often clued as "Tibetan gazelle" in our old puzzle.
7D: Like some fine art frames: GILT
8D: Numbers to crunch: RAW DATA
9D: January 6th Christian celebration: EPIPHANY. Ha ha, I cheated. Looked at our calendar first. How do you celebrate EPIPHANY?
10D: Pop singer Vannelli: GINO. His name escaped me, again.
11D: Grant, for one: Abbr.: GENL. I wrote down PREZ. Often see general abbreviated as GEN instead of GENL.
12D Frozen treat brand: ICEE
13D: Plural suffix with mountain: EERS. Mountaineers. Or auctioneers.
18D: Tiller opening: ROTO. First encounter with rototiller. I actually thought of the abortion doctor George Tiller, who was just killed ten days ago. I am really a random thinker.
19D: Costar with Bolger and Haley: LAHR (Bert). The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz".
23D: Pituitary hormone: ACTH (AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone). Both the clue and the answer are nonsenses to me.
25D: Theodore, to Wally: BEAV. Had trouble with this answer. Couldn't find a way to fill in brother.
26D: Bike feature: AXLE
28D: Togetherness: UNITY. Wrote down UNION first.
29D: Pig-poke link: IN A. Pig IN A poke.
30D: Book after Micah: NAHUM. And before Habakkuk. I looked it up in my list of Bible books.
35D: Herr's heir, maybe: SOHN. German for "son". Obtained the answer from Across fills.
38D: Comic's banes: HECKLERS
40D: Prefix with logical: THEO. Theological. Mine was IDEO.
43D: Resort with moguls: SKI AREA. Moguls are bumps on a ski slope. Nice clue.
45D: Company co-founded by J.P. Morgan: U.S. STEEL
50D: Wait to attack: LAY FOR. New phrase to me.
53D: Lincoln and others: ABES
54D: Soft drink choice: COLA. The left is how Coca COLA is written in Chinese. It means "delicious happiness", perhaps the best translation of any American brand.
55D: ICC part: Abbr.: COMM. I presume ICC here refers to the "Interstate Commerce Commission".
59D: Art __: DECO. ERTE is often clued as "Art DECO artist".
60D: Big name in publishing: OCHS. The current publisher of "The New York Times" is Arthur OCHS Sulzberger, Jr, great-grandson of Adolph OCHS.
Thanks for the interesting left/right hand discussions yesterday. Fun to read.
Answer grid.
C.C.
17A: Overnight millionaire, perhaps: POWERBALL WINNER
25A: One-time East Asia barrier: BAMBOO CURTAIN
47A: Pacific swimmer: SOCKEYE SALMON
62A: Unintended upshot: BOOMERANG EFFECT
OK, I struck out. How are POWER and BOOM synonymous with HIT? BAM, SOCK, slam, slug, smack, thrash, whack, wallop, yes. I got the unifying HIT (perfect position in the grid) very early, unfortunately it did not help much with my solving.
(Note: I was wrong earlier about POWER, it's POW. All the theme answers are comic book "HIT" sounds.)
Strange, despite growing up in China, I really have never heard of this term BAMBOO CURTAIN, the East Asia version of Iron Curtain. I don't think I have had SOCKEYE SALMON before. Not sure. Might have had it for sushi or sashimi. Is the result of "Hoist by one's own petard" the same as BOOMERANG EFFECT? I got POWERBALL WINNER immediately.
Favorite clue today is LOGO (34D: Target's target). My first image is William Ackman, the guy Target was targeting for their Board of Directors fight. I like the unintended tie between HIT and Target.
Across:
1A: Caroline du Nord, e.g.: ETAT. French for state. North Carolina.
5A: Seasonal roller: EGG. Nice clue.
8A: Veronica's pursuer, in comics: REGGIE. Stumped. Vaguely remember Archie proposed to Veronica news story a couple of weeks ago.
14A: __ Tzu: SHIH. SHIH Tzu is literally "lion" in Chinese. The full term SHI Tsu Kou means "lion dog".
15A: "Who, me?": MOI
16A: For one: APIECE
20A: Loud speaker: ORATOR. Who is the most famous American ORATOR? Reagan?
21A: Pond youngster: TADPOLES. Baby frogs or toads.
24A: "A likely story!": HAH
31A: River of Devon: EXE. Oh, now I know why Exeter is so named. It's on the River EXE and is located in the Devon County. I always have mental block on this damned river.
32A: Training site?: Abbr.: STN. Stumped. Wanted GYM. Train is verb here, meaning "travel by train".
33A: Historical records: ANNALS
36A: Burka wearer's deity: ALLAH. OK, here are three girls in burkas, which cover the whole body from head to toe. Slightly different than the black abaya, which does not cover the face. Niqab is the face veil, covering only the face. This headscarf is called hajab, face & eyes are exposed. I hope I can remember what I just wrote.
41A: Boorish type: YAHOO
42A: Sting Rays, briefly: 'VETTES. No idea. I know nothing about muscle car or any car. I did get GTOS (61D: Classic Pontiacs) though.
44A: Calendar col.: THU. "Col."= "column". Thursday is named after the Norse god THOR.
51A: Farm youngster: KID. Also known as Rich Norris's "Little butt-er?"
52A: Peak between Pelion and Olympus: OSSA. Easy guess. I don't know the exact locations of those three peaks.
53A: Complimentary review: ACCOLADE
58A: One sitting in your lap: TOY DOG. I was thinking of babies.
64A: "Get Shorty" novelist Leonard: ELMORE. Unknown to me. Have never heard of "Get Shorty".
66A: Dos cubed: OCHO. Spanish for eight. OTTO in Italian.
67A: Filled pastry of Asia: SAMOSA. Oh, the Indian turnover, similar to Chinese spring rolls I suppose. I've never had SAMOSA. Not a fan of Indian food.
68A: Fashion monogram: YSL. He was born in Oran, Algeria.
69A: "The Joy of Painting" host Bob: ROSS. Nope. Total stranger to me.
Down:
1D: Former Bruin all-star, familiarly: ESPO. Phil Esposito. Hall-of-Famer. He stumped me again. I could only think of Bobby Orr.
2D: Red-bearded god: THOR. Easy guess. I only associate hammer with the THOR the god of thunder, not his red beard. Another Norse reference today is EDDA (48D: Scandinavian epic).
3D: Sony subsidiary: AIWA. I had no idea that AIWA was acquired by Sony in 2002.
4D: It's generous to pick it up: THE TAB
5D: Early life forms: EMBRYOS
6D: __ long way: last: GO A. I like this answer better than GOA, which was often clued as "Tibetan gazelle" in our old puzzle.
7D: Like some fine art frames: GILT
8D: Numbers to crunch: RAW DATA
9D: January 6th Christian celebration: EPIPHANY. Ha ha, I cheated. Looked at our calendar first. How do you celebrate EPIPHANY?
10D: Pop singer Vannelli: GINO. His name escaped me, again.
11D: Grant, for one: Abbr.: GENL. I wrote down PREZ. Often see general abbreviated as GEN instead of GENL.
12D Frozen treat brand: ICEE
13D: Plural suffix with mountain: EERS. Mountaineers. Or auctioneers.
18D: Tiller opening: ROTO. First encounter with rototiller. I actually thought of the abortion doctor George Tiller, who was just killed ten days ago. I am really a random thinker.
19D: Costar with Bolger and Haley: LAHR (Bert). The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz".
23D: Pituitary hormone: ACTH (AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone). Both the clue and the answer are nonsenses to me.
25D: Theodore, to Wally: BEAV. Had trouble with this answer. Couldn't find a way to fill in brother.
26D: Bike feature: AXLE
28D: Togetherness: UNITY. Wrote down UNION first.
29D: Pig-poke link: IN A. Pig IN A poke.
30D: Book after Micah: NAHUM. And before Habakkuk. I looked it up in my list of Bible books.
35D: Herr's heir, maybe: SOHN. German for "son". Obtained the answer from Across fills.
38D: Comic's banes: HECKLERS
40D: Prefix with logical: THEO. Theological. Mine was IDEO.
43D: Resort with moguls: SKI AREA. Moguls are bumps on a ski slope. Nice clue.
45D: Company co-founded by J.P. Morgan: U.S. STEEL
50D: Wait to attack: LAY FOR. New phrase to me.
53D: Lincoln and others: ABES
54D: Soft drink choice: COLA. The left is how Coca COLA is written in Chinese. It means "delicious happiness", perhaps the best translation of any American brand.
55D: ICC part: Abbr.: COMM. I presume ICC here refers to the "Interstate Commerce Commission".
59D: Art __: DECO. ERTE is often clued as "Art DECO artist".
60D: Big name in publishing: OCHS. The current publisher of "The New York Times" is Arthur OCHS Sulzberger, Jr, great-grandson of Adolph OCHS.
Thanks for the interesting left/right hand discussions yesterday. Fun to read.
Answer grid.
C.C.
