Theme: WHAT'S THE SPREAD?
16A: Old-fashioned remedy for chest colds: MUSTARD PLASTER
26A: Rochester medical center: MAYO CLINIC
36A: "Black Bottom Stomp" jazz pianist: JELLY ROLL MORTON
43A: Lima variety: BUTTER BEAN
I was not aware of the MUSTARD PLASTER for chest colds remedy. MAYO CLINIC was a gimme of course. It's as Minnesota as 3M, Target, Best Buy & Spam. MAYO CLINIC's business has suffered greatly since Sept 11. Those rich Saudi emirs, sheiks and royal families used to fly there and spent tons of money on checks up (yeah, jewelries too).
JELLY ROLL MORTAN(1890-1941) was a total stranger to me. Wikipedia says he was from New Orleans and he was a pivotal figure in early jazz.
We had some discussions about lima bean & BUTTER BEAN on the blog a while ago. Here in our local grocery store, you can get frozen green lima beans and frozen cream colored BUTTER BEANS. They do taste similar.
Struggled today. I just could not get on the constructor's wavelength.
Across:
1A: Resort off Venezuela: ARUBA. Been under Dutch control since 1636. Before that, Spain's colony. ARUBA means "red gold", from Ore Ruba, Ore= gold, ruba=red.
6A: Astro's cap insignia: STAR. Alright, see Roger Clemens' cap.
10A: Witty sort: WAG
13A: Rodeo competitor: ROPER. Lassoer too.
14A: Novelist Bagnold: ENID. Author for "National Velvet".
15A: Basic language trio open: AMO. AMO, amas and AMAT. And I LOVE (30D: 15-Across, translated). I felt stupid struggling with the combo. I guess I need "Latin" hint for 15A.
19A: Ballpark souvenirs: YEARBOOKS. Yes indeed, though I am obsessed with bobbleheads now.
20A: Air: TUNE. Air is "a melody or tune, especially in the soprano or tenor range", says Dictionary.com.
21A: Comparative words: AS AN. Straight AS AN arrow, for example. I wanted THAN.
22A: Household nickname: SIS. My brother calls me Jie, Chinese for SIS.
23A: Marshlike: MIRY
32A: Golfer's traction aid: CLEAT. And NINE (49A: Course half). Many people golf with tennis shoes.
34A: Border on: ABUT. The answer seems to be always ABUT instead of EDGE.
35A: Pay closing: OLA. Payola. Nice clue.
40A: Gray's "The Bard", e.g.: ODE. Thomas Gray is the guy who wrote many elegies.
41A: __-mutuel: PARI. Type of betting. Learned from doing Xword. PARI is French for bet. Mutuel = mutual.
42A: Chutzpah: NERVE
48A: Not squander: USE
51A: __ proprietor: SOLE
53A: 1892 Leoncavallo opera: PAGLIACCI. No idea. PAGLIACCI is plural of Pagliacco, Italian for clown.
60A: Choreographer Reinking: ANN. Unknown figure to me.
61A: Heifetz's teacher: AUER. Stumped. I was unaware of the teacher/student relationship Leopold AUER and Jascha Heifetz. AUER is pronounced like "our".
62A: In concert: AS ONE
63A: Place for a ring: TOE. One of our relatives has a nose ring and a tongue ring. It's just not pretty.
64A: Gets faint: DIMS. Oh, light. I was thinking of swoon.
65A: Seed covering: TESTA. Or ARIL.
Down:
1D: College football's Black Knights: ARMY. I had no idea that the West Point sports team is called Black Knights.
2D: Lecherous sort: ROUE. Would you call Hugh Hefner a ROUE?
3D: "__-daisy!": UPS-A. Thought it's UPSY-daisy!
4D: Unwelcome exposure: BETRAYAL. Not the picture I had in mind. Excellent clue.
5D: Spirited horses: ARABS. Often see STEED clued as "Spirited horse".
6D: Arizona cultural resort: SEDONA. Wikipedia says it's named after SEDONA Miller Schnebly (1877–1950), the wife of the city's first postmaster, who was celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness. So pretty.
7D: Toll rd.: TNPK (Turnpike)
9D: Nutritional fig.: RDA
10D: '60s dance: WATUSI. I forgot. Clear Ayes mentioned this dance on the blog before I think.
11D: Call from the flock: AMEN
12D: He "used to be the next president": GORE. "Hi, I'm Al GORE, and I used to be the next president of the United States". He never really said he invented the internet.
17D: Knock around: ROAM. "Knock around" is a new phrase to me.
18D: English blue cheese: STILTON. Name after a village called STILTON where the cheese was first sold.
22D: Pond film: SCUM. D'oh, gunk. I thought it's a movie starred by a guy named Pond.
23D: Flipping burgers, e.g.: McJOB
24D: __ Diable: old penal colony site: ILE DU. Devil's Island. A "small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952". Unknown to me. Diable is French for "devil".
25D: Subleased: RELET
27D: "Boola Boola" singer: YALIE. "Boola Boola" is Yale's football fighting song.
28D: On a slant: Abbr.: OBL. Oblique. Not a familiar abbr to me.
29D: Quasimodo's "our": NOTRE. French for "our". Quasimodo is from Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of NOTRE Dame". My favorite clue today. French for "we" is NOUS.
31D: Worked with wicker: CANED
33D: Work on a galley: TYPESET. Here is an old galley proof press.
37D: Like inverted Jenny stamps: RARE
38D: Poetic peeper: ORB. Just "eye" in poem.
39D: Prepare for a show: REHEARSE
44D: New Orleans university: TULANE. The Green Wave. Historian Douglas Brinkley used to teach here.
45D: Tees off: ANGERS. Of course. I "STARTS", thinking of the real golf "Tees off". Who do you think will win British Open? I figure our Jimmy in S Carolina will root for Padraig Harrington. Me too.
46D: Guitarist Lofgren: NILS. A member of Springsteen's E Street Band.
50D: Try to bite, kitten style: NIP AT
51D: Police jacket acronym: SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics)
52D: Speed skater who won "Dancing with the Stars": OHNO (Apolo). Read somewhere that this guy had a very rough past. I don't like man with a goatie.
53D: Spittoon user's sound: PTUI. Public spitting used to be socially acceptable in China. Disgusting.
55D: Corp. leaders: CEOS. Do you think Steve Jobs got a special treatment for his liver transplant? Do you think he should have?
56D: Defeatist's word: CAN'T
57D: It may be half-baked: IDEA
59D: Down: SAD. Thought of EAT first.
Answer grid.
C.C.
16A: Old-fashioned remedy for chest colds: MUSTARD PLASTER
26A: Rochester medical center: MAYO CLINIC
36A: "Black Bottom Stomp" jazz pianist: JELLY ROLL MORTON
43A: Lima variety: BUTTER BEAN
I was not aware of the MUSTARD PLASTER for chest colds remedy. MAYO CLINIC was a gimme of course. It's as Minnesota as 3M, Target, Best Buy & Spam. MAYO CLINIC's business has suffered greatly since Sept 11. Those rich Saudi emirs, sheiks and royal families used to fly there and spent tons of money on checks up (yeah, jewelries too).
JELLY ROLL MORTAN(1890-1941) was a total stranger to me. Wikipedia says he was from New Orleans and he was a pivotal figure in early jazz.
We had some discussions about lima bean & BUTTER BEAN on the blog a while ago. Here in our local grocery store, you can get frozen green lima beans and frozen cream colored BUTTER BEANS. They do taste similar.
Struggled today. I just could not get on the constructor's wavelength.
Across:
1A: Resort off Venezuela: ARUBA. Been under Dutch control since 1636. Before that, Spain's colony. ARUBA means "red gold", from Ore Ruba, Ore= gold, ruba=red.
6A: Astro's cap insignia: STAR. Alright, see Roger Clemens' cap.
10A: Witty sort: WAG
13A: Rodeo competitor: ROPER. Lassoer too.
14A: Novelist Bagnold: ENID. Author for "National Velvet".
15A: Basic language trio open: AMO. AMO, amas and AMAT. And I LOVE (30D: 15-Across, translated). I felt stupid struggling with the combo. I guess I need "Latin" hint for 15A.
19A: Ballpark souvenirs: YEARBOOKS. Yes indeed, though I am obsessed with bobbleheads now.
20A: Air: TUNE. Air is "a melody or tune, especially in the soprano or tenor range", says Dictionary.com.
21A: Comparative words: AS AN. Straight AS AN arrow, for example. I wanted THAN.
22A: Household nickname: SIS. My brother calls me Jie, Chinese for SIS.
23A: Marshlike: MIRY
32A: Golfer's traction aid: CLEAT. And NINE (49A: Course half). Many people golf with tennis shoes.
34A: Border on: ABUT. The answer seems to be always ABUT instead of EDGE.
35A: Pay closing: OLA. Payola. Nice clue.
40A: Gray's "The Bard", e.g.: ODE. Thomas Gray is the guy who wrote many elegies.
41A: __-mutuel: PARI. Type of betting. Learned from doing Xword. PARI is French for bet. Mutuel = mutual.
42A: Chutzpah: NERVE
48A: Not squander: USE
51A: __ proprietor: SOLE
53A: 1892 Leoncavallo opera: PAGLIACCI. No idea. PAGLIACCI is plural of Pagliacco, Italian for clown.
60A: Choreographer Reinking: ANN. Unknown figure to me.
61A: Heifetz's teacher: AUER. Stumped. I was unaware of the teacher/student relationship Leopold AUER and Jascha Heifetz. AUER is pronounced like "our".
62A: In concert: AS ONE
63A: Place for a ring: TOE. One of our relatives has a nose ring and a tongue ring. It's just not pretty.
64A: Gets faint: DIMS. Oh, light. I was thinking of swoon.
65A: Seed covering: TESTA. Or ARIL.
Down:
1D: College football's Black Knights: ARMY. I had no idea that the West Point sports team is called Black Knights.
2D: Lecherous sort: ROUE. Would you call Hugh Hefner a ROUE?
3D: "__-daisy!": UPS-A. Thought it's UPSY-daisy!
4D: Unwelcome exposure: BETRAYAL. Not the picture I had in mind. Excellent clue.
5D: Spirited horses: ARABS. Often see STEED clued as "Spirited horse".
6D: Arizona cultural resort: SEDONA. Wikipedia says it's named after SEDONA Miller Schnebly (1877–1950), the wife of the city's first postmaster, who was celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness. So pretty.
7D: Toll rd.: TNPK (Turnpike)
9D: Nutritional fig.: RDA
10D: '60s dance: WATUSI. I forgot. Clear Ayes mentioned this dance on the blog before I think.
11D: Call from the flock: AMEN
12D: He "used to be the next president": GORE. "Hi, I'm Al GORE, and I used to be the next president of the United States". He never really said he invented the internet.
17D: Knock around: ROAM. "Knock around" is a new phrase to me.
18D: English blue cheese: STILTON. Name after a village called STILTON where the cheese was first sold.
22D: Pond film: SCUM. D'oh, gunk. I thought it's a movie starred by a guy named Pond.
23D: Flipping burgers, e.g.: McJOB
24D: __ Diable: old penal colony site: ILE DU. Devil's Island. A "small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952". Unknown to me. Diable is French for "devil".
25D: Subleased: RELET
27D: "Boola Boola" singer: YALIE. "Boola Boola" is Yale's football fighting song.
28D: On a slant: Abbr.: OBL. Oblique. Not a familiar abbr to me.
29D: Quasimodo's "our": NOTRE. French for "our". Quasimodo is from Victor Hugo's "The Hunchback of NOTRE Dame". My favorite clue today. French for "we" is NOUS.
31D: Worked with wicker: CANED
33D: Work on a galley: TYPESET. Here is an old galley proof press.
37D: Like inverted Jenny stamps: RARE
38D: Poetic peeper: ORB. Just "eye" in poem.
39D: Prepare for a show: REHEARSE
44D: New Orleans university: TULANE. The Green Wave. Historian Douglas Brinkley used to teach here.
45D: Tees off: ANGERS. Of course. I "STARTS", thinking of the real golf "Tees off". Who do you think will win British Open? I figure our Jimmy in S Carolina will root for Padraig Harrington. Me too.
46D: Guitarist Lofgren: NILS. A member of Springsteen's E Street Band.
50D: Try to bite, kitten style: NIP AT
51D: Police jacket acronym: SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics)
52D: Speed skater who won "Dancing with the Stars": OHNO (Apolo). Read somewhere that this guy had a very rough past. I don't like man with a goatie.
53D: Spittoon user's sound: PTUI. Public spitting used to be socially acceptable in China. Disgusting.
55D: Corp. leaders: CEOS. Do you think Steve Jobs got a special treatment for his liver transplant? Do you think he should have?
56D: Defeatist's word: CAN'T
57D: It may be half-baked: IDEA
59D: Down: SAD. Thought of EAT first.
Answer grid.
C.C.
