Theme: None
Total words: 70
Total blocks: 26
A pangram. Barry's hallmark. All 26 letters are utilized in the puzzle, including 2 Z's & 2 Q's.
This grid also has unique symmetry. If you fold it along the diagonal lines, all the black squares match each other. Very pretty. Lots of triple-stacked 7-letter words in each quadrant.
I suspect REYKJAVIK (21D: Northernmost national capital) is Barry's seed entry. Awesome fill, so scrabbly. Too bad I couldn't spell it correctly. I only know the Chinese translation. Oh, by the way, Barry is traveling and has no access to computer until Monday night. So, he won't respond to our comments today.
Very hard puzzle. Too many unknowns. A nightmare for me.
Across:
1A: Tops: BETTERS. BESTS can be clued as "Tops" too.
8A: Grows fond of: WARMS TO
15A: City WNW of Cheyenne: LARAMIE. Stumped. See this map. University of Wyoming is there. Dick Cheney's alma mater.
16A: Sister of Iphigenia: ELECTRA. I had no idea who Iphigenia is. Might have got the answer if it's clued as "Sister of Orestes". Remember this Three Furies painting? Orestes stabbed his mother to death because she murdered his father and was having an affair with someone else.
17A: Predictably: AS USUAL
18A: Ceremonious event: BANQUET. Of course I was thinking of Obama's Beer Summit.
19A: Peels: ZESTS. Noun or verb?
20A: Réunion attendee: FRERE. French for "brother". Sister is SOEUR.
22A: ConAgra spray: PAM. Did not know ConAgra owns PAM.
23A: Ferrara ruling family: ESTE. More often clued as "Italian noble family".
24A: Heat unit: THERM. Oh well, I only know BTU. THERM=100,000 BTUs. My initial thought was SQUAD, thinking heat might refer to the police.
25A: Style: MODE
26A: Caribbean export: RUM
27A: They usually lose at war: TREYS. How come? What war?
28A: Hood of "Our Gang" fame: DARLA. DARLA Hood, "typically the love interest of Alfafa, Butch, or (usually) Waldo", according to Wikipedia. Stumper for me.
29A: Low-fat breakfast brand: SPECIAL K. Oh, I did not know it's low-fat brand. Hate low-fat/no-fat food.
31A: Bit of gossip: MORSEL
32A: Place where a customer may be taken: CLIP JOINT. Does "taken" here mean "cheated"?
34A: Gel cap alternative: TABLET
37A: Urban scavenger: ALLEY CAT
42A: Like bighorns: OVINE. Bighorn is a wild sheep with large, curving horns.
43A: President of Pakistan, 1978-'88: ZIA. I forgot. This guy appeared in our old TMS puzzle before. He became the president by overthrowing Ali Bhutto, father was Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.
44A: "Saga of the Greenlanders" hero: LEIF. Son of Erik the Red. I've never heard of "Saga of the Greenlanders". It tells the colonization of Greenland by Erik the Red according to Wikipedia. LEIF means "heir".
45A: Sunday outing: DRIVE. A pleasure trip.
46A: 1950s-60s TV quiz show host: MARX. No idea. Groucho MARX. The show is called "You Bet Your Life".
47A: Internet annoyance: LAG. Annoying indeed. Hit the Refresh button when you come here.
48A: Product of a fault: QUAKE. Geology fault.
49A: Helvetica's lack: SERIF. I did not know the meaning of Helvetica. It's a typeface in which characters have no SERIFS. Wikipedia says Helvetica is derived from Confoederatio Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland.
50A: Name from a Hebrew word for "God is with us": EMANUEL. Unknown to me.
52A: Of more interest to a nitpicker: PETTIER
54A: Emit: RADIATE
55A: Brobdingnagian: IMMENSE. Again, did not know the meaning of Brobdingnagian.
56A: Some small suits: SPEEDOS. Suit here refers to swimsuit, right? Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond.
57A: Test the concentration of, in chem lab: TITRATE. New word to me also.
Down:
1D: Apparel with insignias, at times: BLAZERS. Pilots' BLAZERS?
2D: Backs off: EASES UP
3D: Words to a skeptic: TRUST ME
4D: Decorator's asset: TASTE. TASTE is very subjective.
5D: Layers of green eggs: EMUS. See these eggs. Very dark green, almost black.
6D: River valley formation: RIA. Well, it's a gimme to me only when it's clued as "River inlet".
7D: Bookstore section: SELF HELP
8D: Units of magnetic flux: WEBERS. No idea. It's named after German physicist W. E. WEBER. I thought of TESLA, which is actually "Unit of magnetic flux density". One TESLA equals to one WEBER per square meter.
9D: Elevator button: ALARM
10D: Filmmaker Clair: RENE. An unknown French filmmaker to me.
11D: 1974 John Wayne title role: MCQ. Another total unknown.
12D: Dazes: STUPORS
13D: Old sewing machine part: TREADLE
14D: Common haggis ingredient: OATMEAL. Scottish seem to put OATMEAL in everything.
24D: Baldness, e.g.: TRAIT
25D: Best Picture of 1955: MARTY. No idea. Wikipedia says Ernest Borgnine won Oscar for his performance in this movie.
27D: Like many a backsplash: TILED
28D: Charitable organization, e.g.: DONEE. Struggled with the answer.
30D: Symbol seen in viola music: C CLEF. Absolutely no idea. Is C CLEF used in viola music only?
31D: Creator of Heffalumps: MILNE. Here is a list of Winnie-the-Pooh characters. I've never heard of Heffalumps.
33D: Salad leftover: OLIVE PIT. Did not come to me readily. I only make Chinese/Japanese style salad. Don't use olive or cheese.
34D: They have a lot of bills: TELLERS. So simple in retrospect.
35D: Garmin display: AREA MAP. Not familiar with the GPS navigation producer Garmin.
36D: Fighting force: BRIGADE. Sigh. Nope.
38D: Winter Palace resident: CZARINA. Wanted THE TSAR.
39D: Least substantial: AIRIEST
40D: Exempt, in a way: TAX FREE
42D: Papal vestment: ORALES. Also called fanon, "a striped scarflike vestment worn by the pope over the alb when celebrating solemn Pontifical Mass", says dictionary. Unknown to me. Maybe Argyle can find a link on those papal vestments.
45D: Because of: DUE TO
46D: Coin collector?: METER. My favorite clue. The real "Coin collector" is called numismatist.
48D: Beyond stereo: QUAD. Have never heard of QUAD hi-fi.
49D: Acct. summary: STMT. Statement. I've never paid attention to the abbreviation before.
51D: Nuremberg negative: NIE. German for "never". I only know NEIN (no).
53D: One of the "big four" record labels: EMI. A rare gimme. The other three are Universal, Sony and Warner Music.
Answer grid.
C.C.
Total words: 70
Total blocks: 26
A pangram. Barry's hallmark. All 26 letters are utilized in the puzzle, including 2 Z's & 2 Q's.
This grid also has unique symmetry. If you fold it along the diagonal lines, all the black squares match each other. Very pretty. Lots of triple-stacked 7-letter words in each quadrant.
I suspect REYKJAVIK (21D: Northernmost national capital) is Barry's seed entry. Awesome fill, so scrabbly. Too bad I couldn't spell it correctly. I only know the Chinese translation. Oh, by the way, Barry is traveling and has no access to computer until Monday night. So, he won't respond to our comments today.
Very hard puzzle. Too many unknowns. A nightmare for me.
Across:
1A: Tops: BETTERS. BESTS can be clued as "Tops" too.
8A: Grows fond of: WARMS TO
15A: City WNW of Cheyenne: LARAMIE. Stumped. See this map. University of Wyoming is there. Dick Cheney's alma mater.
16A: Sister of Iphigenia: ELECTRA. I had no idea who Iphigenia is. Might have got the answer if it's clued as "Sister of Orestes". Remember this Three Furies painting? Orestes stabbed his mother to death because she murdered his father and was having an affair with someone else.
17A: Predictably: AS USUAL
18A: Ceremonious event: BANQUET. Of course I was thinking of Obama's Beer Summit.
19A: Peels: ZESTS. Noun or verb?
20A: Réunion attendee: FRERE. French for "brother". Sister is SOEUR.
22A: ConAgra spray: PAM. Did not know ConAgra owns PAM.
23A: Ferrara ruling family: ESTE. More often clued as "Italian noble family".
24A: Heat unit: THERM. Oh well, I only know BTU. THERM=100,000 BTUs. My initial thought was SQUAD, thinking heat might refer to the police.
25A: Style: MODE
26A: Caribbean export: RUM
27A: They usually lose at war: TREYS. How come? What war?
28A: Hood of "Our Gang" fame: DARLA. DARLA Hood, "typically the love interest of Alfafa, Butch, or (usually) Waldo", according to Wikipedia. Stumper for me.
29A: Low-fat breakfast brand: SPECIAL K. Oh, I did not know it's low-fat brand. Hate low-fat/no-fat food.
31A: Bit of gossip: MORSEL
32A: Place where a customer may be taken: CLIP JOINT. Does "taken" here mean "cheated"?
34A: Gel cap alternative: TABLET
37A: Urban scavenger: ALLEY CAT
42A: Like bighorns: OVINE. Bighorn is a wild sheep with large, curving horns.
43A: President of Pakistan, 1978-'88: ZIA. I forgot. This guy appeared in our old TMS puzzle before. He became the president by overthrowing Ali Bhutto, father was Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.
44A: "Saga of the Greenlanders" hero: LEIF. Son of Erik the Red. I've never heard of "Saga of the Greenlanders". It tells the colonization of Greenland by Erik the Red according to Wikipedia. LEIF means "heir".
45A: Sunday outing: DRIVE. A pleasure trip.
46A: 1950s-60s TV quiz show host: MARX. No idea. Groucho MARX. The show is called "You Bet Your Life".
47A: Internet annoyance: LAG. Annoying indeed. Hit the Refresh button when you come here.
48A: Product of a fault: QUAKE. Geology fault.
49A: Helvetica's lack: SERIF. I did not know the meaning of Helvetica. It's a typeface in which characters have no SERIFS. Wikipedia says Helvetica is derived from Confoederatio Helvetia, the Latin name for Switzerland.
50A: Name from a Hebrew word for "God is with us": EMANUEL. Unknown to me.
52A: Of more interest to a nitpicker: PETTIER
54A: Emit: RADIATE
55A: Brobdingnagian: IMMENSE. Again, did not know the meaning of Brobdingnagian.
56A: Some small suits: SPEEDOS. Suit here refers to swimsuit, right? Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond.
57A: Test the concentration of, in chem lab: TITRATE. New word to me also.
Down:
1D: Apparel with insignias, at times: BLAZERS. Pilots' BLAZERS?
2D: Backs off: EASES UP
3D: Words to a skeptic: TRUST ME
4D: Decorator's asset: TASTE. TASTE is very subjective.
5D: Layers of green eggs: EMUS. See these eggs. Very dark green, almost black.
6D: River valley formation: RIA. Well, it's a gimme to me only when it's clued as "River inlet".
7D: Bookstore section: SELF HELP
8D: Units of magnetic flux: WEBERS. No idea. It's named after German physicist W. E. WEBER. I thought of TESLA, which is actually "Unit of magnetic flux density". One TESLA equals to one WEBER per square meter.
9D: Elevator button: ALARM
10D: Filmmaker Clair: RENE. An unknown French filmmaker to me.
11D: 1974 John Wayne title role: MCQ. Another total unknown.
12D: Dazes: STUPORS
13D: Old sewing machine part: TREADLE
14D: Common haggis ingredient: OATMEAL. Scottish seem to put OATMEAL in everything.
24D: Baldness, e.g.: TRAIT
25D: Best Picture of 1955: MARTY. No idea. Wikipedia says Ernest Borgnine won Oscar for his performance in this movie.
27D: Like many a backsplash: TILED
28D: Charitable organization, e.g.: DONEE. Struggled with the answer.
30D: Symbol seen in viola music: C CLEF. Absolutely no idea. Is C CLEF used in viola music only?
31D: Creator of Heffalumps: MILNE. Here is a list of Winnie-the-Pooh characters. I've never heard of Heffalumps.
33D: Salad leftover: OLIVE PIT. Did not come to me readily. I only make Chinese/Japanese style salad. Don't use olive or cheese.
34D: They have a lot of bills: TELLERS. So simple in retrospect.
35D: Garmin display: AREA MAP. Not familiar with the GPS navigation producer Garmin.
36D: Fighting force: BRIGADE. Sigh. Nope.
38D: Winter Palace resident: CZARINA. Wanted THE TSAR.
39D: Least substantial: AIRIEST
40D: Exempt, in a way: TAX FREE
42D: Papal vestment: ORALES. Also called fanon, "a striped scarflike vestment worn by the pope over the alb when celebrating solemn Pontifical Mass", says dictionary. Unknown to me. Maybe Argyle can find a link on those papal vestments.
45D: Because of: DUE TO
46D: Coin collector?: METER. My favorite clue. The real "Coin collector" is called numismatist.
48D: Beyond stereo: QUAD. Have never heard of QUAD hi-fi.
49D: Acct. summary: STMT. Statement. I've never paid attention to the abbreviation before.
51D: Nuremberg negative: NIE. German for "never". I only know NEIN (no).
53D: One of the "big four" record labels: EMI. A rare gimme. The other three are Universal, Sony and Warner Music.
Answer grid.
C.C.
