Theme: None
Total blocks: 30
Total words: 70
Hard puzzle for me. I actually filled in lots of 3-letter answers, but the long ones did not jump out as they should. Really had trouble biting into the chunks of stacked 9's and 8's in each corner.
Both of the grid-spanning 15-letter anchors are new to me also:
33A: 9/15/63 site of the only concert including both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones: ROYAL ALBERT HALL
8D: Whom "feeling good was good enough for," in a 1971 #1 song: ME AND BOBBY MCGEE
Favorite clues today:
50A: Bacon bit?: ESSAY. Francis Bacon.
1D: Unlawful firing?: ARSON. Set on fire. I was thinking of the job dismissal "fire". The question mark should have tipped me off.
Across:
1A: Stardom?: ASTRONOMY. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are! I was at sea.
15A: Hicksville: RURAL AREA
16A: "I speak for the trees" speaker: LORAX. Not familiar with this line. Have never read Dr. Seuss's "The LORAX".
17A: Peter Parker's alter ego: SPIDER-MAN. Couldn't remember who Peter Parker is, even though I saw the 2002 "SPIDER-MAN".
18A: Query in Matthew: IS IT I. Ha ha, mine was WHY ME.
19A: Work: OPUS. Had ???S sitting there forever.
21A: Understands: GETS IT
22A: Three-time all-star reliever Robb: NEN. Sigh. I forgot this guy again. I actually had several of his baseball cards, in Giants uniform.
23A: One spooning: FONDLER. This sounds very DF, no? I wanted FEEDER, but the answer has one extra blank.
25A: Dance: HOP
30A: Sing, in a way: HUM
32A: Ring: PEAL. Bell ring.
38A: At any point: EVER
39A: Johnny of the CSA: REB. Johnny Rebel. Slang for the Confederate soldier.
40A: Hawaiian tuna: AHI
41A: Intelligence concern: LEAK. Nailed it. Wanted LEAK for yesterday's "Security concern" (MOLE) also.
42A: Lively: GAY. French for GAY is GAI.
43A: Rich deposits: LODES. Wrote down LOAMS, which is "Rich soils".
46A: Yossarian's friend, in "Catch-22": ORR. No idea. The only ORR I know is Bobby ORR.
47A: Meteorological topic: AIR MASS. One of our local meteorologists is obsessed with tornadoes.
49A: Recommendations: DO'S
51A: Bern or Geneva: CANTON. The Swiss state.
53A: Abridged: CUT
54A: Rocker Matthews: DAVE. Nope. Was ignorant of this rocker and his band.
55A: "What? keep __ away? seven days and nights?": "Othello": A WEEK. Oh well, I guessed DREAM.
56A: Like farming: AGRONOMIC. Agro is prefix for "soil". ARABLE has a different root.
58A: Earth: TERRA. Latin for earth.
59A: Advertiser's confirmation: TEAR SHEET. New term to me.
61A: Prime time shows, e.g.: TELECASTS
Down:
2D: Last __: SUPPER. I felt stupid not to get the answer immediately.
3D: Father, Son and Holy Ghost, e.g.: TRIUNE. Only knew TRINITY.
4D: Some extremist: RADS. Radicals.
5D: "Hooray!" relative: OLE
6D: Horse's nose, say: NARROW MARGIN. Oh, I see, win by a nose.
7D: "The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom" author: ORMAN (Suze). She sure can talk.
9D: Chinese chef Martin: YAN. "YAN Can Cook". Martin YAN was born in Guangzhou, the city where I worked before moving to the US.
10D: More furtive: SLIER. Or SLYER.
11D: Party leader: HOST. Nice clue. Five letter answer would be EMCEE.
12D: One end of St. George's Channel: IRISH SEA. No idea. See this map. St George's Channel seems to connect Ireland with Wales.
13D: Like some debt: NATIONAL
14D: Questions to those who are leaving: EXIT POLL. Tricky clue. Quality answer.
21A: Rural retailer: GENERAL STORE. Not fond of the clue, as RURAL is part the answer for 15A.
23D: __ tip: FOUL. Baseball term. FOUL tip is counted as a strike.
24D: Stow below: LADE
27D: Whiz: SHARK. To me, SHARK has a negative connotation, while whiz does not.
29D: Greenfly, for one: APHID. I always fail to get APHID, regardless of what the clue is.
33D: Have a moving experience?: RELOCATE. Great clue.
34D: Intimidates: OVERAWES. New word to me.
35D: They're filled with longing: YEARNERS. At least, there is real love involved in Governor Sanford's case.
36D: Tragic king: LEAR. King LEAR. Two Shakespeare references today.
37D: Pres. Jefferson: THOS. I did not know the abbreviation of Thomas is THOS. I wrote down THOM.
44D: "My Cup Runneth Over" singer: ED AMES. I forgot. Saw identical clue somewhere. Here is the clip.
45D: __ bloc: SOVIET. Also called Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc. The "bloc" in the clue should be capitalized, no?
47D: Perfect: A-OKAY. Wrote down IDEAL. More familiar with A-OK.
48D: Like an otological test: AURAL. "Oto" is prefix for "ear".
50D: Quakers et al.: SECTS
52D: Trillion: pref.: TERA. Unknown to me.
54D: Qatar's capital: DOHA. Interesting, Wiki says DOHA came from Arabic ad-dawha, meaning "the big tree".
56D: J.D. holder: ATT. I wonder if our J.D. filled in BOB. I liked this funny dancing Frostie she linked yesterday. Snowball is cuter.
57D: Iran-contra affair org.: NSC (National Security Council). CIA was involved too.
Answer grid.
C.C.
Total blocks: 30
Total words: 70
Hard puzzle for me. I actually filled in lots of 3-letter answers, but the long ones did not jump out as they should. Really had trouble biting into the chunks of stacked 9's and 8's in each corner.
Both of the grid-spanning 15-letter anchors are new to me also:
33A: 9/15/63 site of the only concert including both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones: ROYAL ALBERT HALL
8D: Whom "feeling good was good enough for," in a 1971 #1 song: ME AND BOBBY MCGEE
Favorite clues today:
50A: Bacon bit?: ESSAY. Francis Bacon.
1D: Unlawful firing?: ARSON. Set on fire. I was thinking of the job dismissal "fire". The question mark should have tipped me off.
Across:
1A: Stardom?: ASTRONOMY. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are! I was at sea.
15A: Hicksville: RURAL AREA
16A: "I speak for the trees" speaker: LORAX. Not familiar with this line. Have never read Dr. Seuss's "The LORAX".
17A: Peter Parker's alter ego: SPIDER-MAN. Couldn't remember who Peter Parker is, even though I saw the 2002 "SPIDER-MAN".
18A: Query in Matthew: IS IT I. Ha ha, mine was WHY ME.
19A: Work: OPUS. Had ???S sitting there forever.
21A: Understands: GETS IT
22A: Three-time all-star reliever Robb: NEN. Sigh. I forgot this guy again. I actually had several of his baseball cards, in Giants uniform.
23A: One spooning: FONDLER. This sounds very DF, no? I wanted FEEDER, but the answer has one extra blank.
25A: Dance: HOP
30A: Sing, in a way: HUM
32A: Ring: PEAL. Bell ring.
38A: At any point: EVER
39A: Johnny of the CSA: REB. Johnny Rebel. Slang for the Confederate soldier.
40A: Hawaiian tuna: AHI
41A: Intelligence concern: LEAK. Nailed it. Wanted LEAK for yesterday's "Security concern" (MOLE) also.
42A: Lively: GAY. French for GAY is GAI.
43A: Rich deposits: LODES. Wrote down LOAMS, which is "Rich soils".
46A: Yossarian's friend, in "Catch-22": ORR. No idea. The only ORR I know is Bobby ORR.
47A: Meteorological topic: AIR MASS. One of our local meteorologists is obsessed with tornadoes.
49A: Recommendations: DO'S
51A: Bern or Geneva: CANTON. The Swiss state.
53A: Abridged: CUT
54A: Rocker Matthews: DAVE. Nope. Was ignorant of this rocker and his band.
55A: "What? keep __ away? seven days and nights?": "Othello": A WEEK. Oh well, I guessed DREAM.
56A: Like farming: AGRONOMIC. Agro is prefix for "soil". ARABLE has a different root.
58A: Earth: TERRA. Latin for earth.
59A: Advertiser's confirmation: TEAR SHEET. New term to me.
61A: Prime time shows, e.g.: TELECASTS
Down:
2D: Last __: SUPPER. I felt stupid not to get the answer immediately.
3D: Father, Son and Holy Ghost, e.g.: TRIUNE. Only knew TRINITY.
4D: Some extremist: RADS. Radicals.
5D: "Hooray!" relative: OLE
6D: Horse's nose, say: NARROW MARGIN. Oh, I see, win by a nose.
7D: "The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom" author: ORMAN (Suze). She sure can talk.
9D: Chinese chef Martin: YAN. "YAN Can Cook". Martin YAN was born in Guangzhou, the city where I worked before moving to the US.
10D: More furtive: SLIER. Or SLYER.
11D: Party leader: HOST. Nice clue. Five letter answer would be EMCEE.
12D: One end of St. George's Channel: IRISH SEA. No idea. See this map. St George's Channel seems to connect Ireland with Wales.
13D: Like some debt: NATIONAL
14D: Questions to those who are leaving: EXIT POLL. Tricky clue. Quality answer.
21A: Rural retailer: GENERAL STORE. Not fond of the clue, as RURAL is part the answer for 15A.
23D: __ tip: FOUL. Baseball term. FOUL tip is counted as a strike.
24D: Stow below: LADE
27D: Whiz: SHARK. To me, SHARK has a negative connotation, while whiz does not.
29D: Greenfly, for one: APHID. I always fail to get APHID, regardless of what the clue is.
33D: Have a moving experience?: RELOCATE. Great clue.
34D: Intimidates: OVERAWES. New word to me.
35D: They're filled with longing: YEARNERS. At least, there is real love involved in Governor Sanford's case.
36D: Tragic king: LEAR. King LEAR. Two Shakespeare references today.
37D: Pres. Jefferson: THOS. I did not know the abbreviation of Thomas is THOS. I wrote down THOM.
44D: "My Cup Runneth Over" singer: ED AMES. I forgot. Saw identical clue somewhere. Here is the clip.
45D: __ bloc: SOVIET. Also called Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc. The "bloc" in the clue should be capitalized, no?
47D: Perfect: A-OKAY. Wrote down IDEAL. More familiar with A-OK.
48D: Like an otological test: AURAL. "Oto" is prefix for "ear".
50D: Quakers et al.: SECTS
52D: Trillion: pref.: TERA. Unknown to me.
54D: Qatar's capital: DOHA. Interesting, Wiki says DOHA came from Arabic ad-dawha, meaning "the big tree".
56D: J.D. holder: ATT. I wonder if our J.D. filled in BOB. I liked this funny dancing Frostie she linked yesterday. Snowball is cuter.
57D: Iran-contra affair org.: NSC (National Security Council). CIA was involved too.
Answer grid.
C.C.
