Theme: None
Total blocks: 31
Total words: 66
Rather low in terms of word count. Lots of great multiple-word entries in this grid. I counted 13, among which eight have 10 or 11 letters. I also liked some of the long one-word entries, not the three ING-ending fill though.
Somehow I was very bothered by the "it" in the clue for VENUE (28A. Where it's at). Grammatically it's confusing. I do love the pronoun "they" for ETS (6D. They travel a great distance to get here).
Choppy solving. The lower right corner crumbled rather easily for me. Lower left was steely. The Down clues/fill today sure felt more accessible than the Across, didn't they?
Across:
1. Hedged reply: I BELIEVE SO. Great answer.
11. Gawain and Kay, e.g.: SIRS. Both knights at King Arthur's Round Table. Sir Gawain is Arthur's nephew. Kay is Arthur's foster brother.
15. Hustlers: CON ARTISTS
16. Slicing, dicing, etc.: PREP. I rather like the clue.
17. How preordained events are written?: IN THE STARS. Is this a idiom? I've never heard of it before.
18. Start to till?: ROTO. The start of the word rototill. I only know rototiller.
19. Fr. company: CIE. And another simpler French word MERES (45A. Metz mothers). Kazie explained to us CIE before.
20. Frazier rival: ALI. Joe Frazier.
21. Altercation: RUN-IN
22. Impart: LEND
24. Warning: OMEN
25. Zipping through: ACING. And ESTEEMING (26A. Looking up to). And IRONING (12D: Household drudgery). Any repining about the three ING's?
29. Saturate with: STEEP IN
30. Gulped with gusto: SWIGGED. Alliteration.
32. Cherished: PET. As project.
33. __-ha: stink: HOO. I was unaware that "stink" can mean "fuss/commotion".
34. Gathering with much rapping: GABFEST. Stumper.
38. __ Observatory, site of the larger Hale Telescope: PALOMAR. In San Diego County. Spanish for "pigeon house". Lots of pigeons can be seen during spring/autumn months atop Palomar Mountain, according to Wikipedia & JD.
42. Asteroids game company: ATARI
43. Alarming: WORRISOME
46. "Carmina Burana" composer: ORFF (Carl). German composer. Maybe Jazzbumpa/Crockett can tell us more about this guy. Complete stranger to me.
47. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT
48. I.Q. test pioneer: BINET (Alfred). The inventor of the first widely accepted test for measuring intelligence. His name escaped me.
49. "__ Mir Bist Du Schoen": Andrews Sisters hit: BEI. Yiddish for "To Me You're Beautiful".
50. Taxonomic suffix: OTE. As in Capriot/Cypriot. I obtained the answer from crosses.
51. All-encompassing phrase: A TO Z. With the second T in place, I wrote down ET AL.
52. Locks out of a store?: HAIRPIECES. Locks = hair. Tricky clue.
56. Herbert sci-fi classic: DUNE. Nope. Have never hear of the book, nor the author.
57. Antique diamond shape: OLD MINE CUT. Educate me on what exactly is a old mine cut.
58. Phone abbr.: OPER
59. Sliders at home, perhaps: GLASS DOORS. The DOORS part emerged to me early on, so I was not misled into the miniature burgers or baseball sliders direction.
Down:
1. Cold fish, so to speak: ICICLES. Cold fish (aloof/reserved person) is a new expression to me.
2. Skinny to the max: BONIEST
3. Political agreement: ENTENTE
7. Daily supplement: VITAMIN
8. Big Sur retreat: ESALEN. The Esalen Institute is named after the Native American tribe Esalen. Another unknown to me.
9. Philharmonic section: STRINGS
10. WWII hush-hush gp.: OSS (Office of Strategic Services). CIA precursor.
11. Flying boat built by Hughes Aircraft: SPRUCE GOOSE. The one Dick (in black) and Carol (in red) visited last year.
13. Following: RETINUE. VIP's following.
14. Cleaned (off), as a counter: SPONGED
21. Ristorante fare: RAVIOLI. Does it always have cheese inside?
23. Long-term storage solution: DEEP FREEZER
C.C.
Total blocks: 31
Total words: 66
Rather low in terms of word count. Lots of great multiple-word entries in this grid. I counted 13, among which eight have 10 or 11 letters. I also liked some of the long one-word entries, not the three ING-ending fill though.
Somehow I was very bothered by the "it" in the clue for VENUE (28A. Where it's at). Grammatically it's confusing. I do love the pronoun "they" for ETS (6D. They travel a great distance to get here).
Choppy solving. The lower right corner crumbled rather easily for me. Lower left was steely. The Down clues/fill today sure felt more accessible than the Across, didn't they?
Across:
1. Hedged reply: I BELIEVE SO. Great answer.
11. Gawain and Kay, e.g.: SIRS. Both knights at King Arthur's Round Table. Sir Gawain is Arthur's nephew. Kay is Arthur's foster brother.
15. Hustlers: CON ARTISTS
16. Slicing, dicing, etc.: PREP. I rather like the clue.
17. How preordained events are written?: IN THE STARS. Is this a idiom? I've never heard of it before.
18. Start to till?: ROTO. The start of the word rototill. I only know rototiller.
19. Fr. company: CIE. And another simpler French word MERES (45A. Metz mothers). Kazie explained to us CIE before.
20. Frazier rival: ALI. Joe Frazier.
21. Altercation: RUN-IN
22. Impart: LEND
24. Warning: OMEN
25. Zipping through: ACING. And ESTEEMING (26A. Looking up to). And IRONING (12D: Household drudgery). Any repining about the three ING's?
29. Saturate with: STEEP IN
30. Gulped with gusto: SWIGGED. Alliteration.
32. Cherished: PET. As project.
33. __-ha: stink: HOO. I was unaware that "stink" can mean "fuss/commotion".
34. Gathering with much rapping: GABFEST. Stumper.
38. __ Observatory, site of the larger Hale Telescope: PALOMAR. In San Diego County. Spanish for "pigeon house". Lots of pigeons can be seen during spring/autumn months atop Palomar Mountain, according to Wikipedia & JD.
42. Asteroids game company: ATARI
43. Alarming: WORRISOME
46. "Carmina Burana" composer: ORFF (Carl). German composer. Maybe Jazzbumpa/Crockett can tell us more about this guy. Complete stranger to me.
47. Part of Q.E.D.: ERAT
48. I.Q. test pioneer: BINET (Alfred). The inventor of the first widely accepted test for measuring intelligence. His name escaped me.
49. "__ Mir Bist Du Schoen": Andrews Sisters hit: BEI. Yiddish for "To Me You're Beautiful".
50. Taxonomic suffix: OTE. As in Capriot/Cypriot. I obtained the answer from crosses.
51. All-encompassing phrase: A TO Z. With the second T in place, I wrote down ET AL.
52. Locks out of a store?: HAIRPIECES. Locks = hair. Tricky clue.
56. Herbert sci-fi classic: DUNE. Nope. Have never hear of the book, nor the author.
57. Antique diamond shape: OLD MINE CUT. Educate me on what exactly is a old mine cut.
58. Phone abbr.: OPER
59. Sliders at home, perhaps: GLASS DOORS. The DOORS part emerged to me early on, so I was not misled into the miniature burgers or baseball sliders direction.
Down:
1. Cold fish, so to speak: ICICLES. Cold fish (aloof/reserved person) is a new expression to me.
2. Skinny to the max: BONIEST
3. Political agreement: ENTENTE
7. Daily supplement: VITAMIN
8. Big Sur retreat: ESALEN. The Esalen Institute is named after the Native American tribe Esalen. Another unknown to me.
9. Philharmonic section: STRINGS
10. WWII hush-hush gp.: OSS (Office of Strategic Services). CIA precursor.
11. Flying boat built by Hughes Aircraft: SPRUCE GOOSE. The one Dick (in black) and Carol (in red) visited last year.
13. Following: RETINUE. VIP's following.
14. Cleaned (off), as a counter: SPONGED
21. Ristorante fare: RAVIOLI. Does it always have cheese inside?
23. Long-term storage solution: DEEP FREEZER
24. Forgets about: OMITS
27. Modern pentathlon competitor, at times: EPEEIST (ey-PEY-ist). I had no idea that modern pentathlon include epee fencing.
31. Landing site: WHARF
34. Long legging attached to a saddle: GAMBADO. No idea. Rider's legging. Maybe "The Talented Mr. Argyle" can find us a picture link. Gamba is Italian for "leg", kind of like our "gam" I suppose.
35. Had the time of one's life: ATE IT UP
36. Without exception: BAR NONE
37. Blue pool target: TWO BALL. Billiard. It's blue.
38. Image adjusters: PR FIRMS. Nice clue.
39. Casablanca locale: MOROCCO
40. Pro's opposite: AMATEUR
44. Golden Crinkles maker: ORE-IDA. Portmanteau of Ore(gon) + Ida(ho).
52. Monopolize: HOG
53. Magnum et al.: Abbr.: PIS (Private Investigators).
54. Unaffiliated: Abbr.: IND (Independent)
55. Want-ad abbr.: EEO. Penned in EOE first. Three consecutive abbrs. Not SAPID at all.
Should you have time, read this SAPID defintion Annette linked yesterday. Do click on "How I Met My Wife", a big hit last time when Jazzbumpa brought to the blog.
Answer grid.27. Modern pentathlon competitor, at times: EPEEIST (ey-PEY-ist). I had no idea that modern pentathlon include epee fencing.
31. Landing site: WHARF
34. Long legging attached to a saddle: GAMBADO. No idea. Rider's legging. Maybe "The Talented Mr. Argyle" can find us a picture link. Gamba is Italian for "leg", kind of like our "gam" I suppose.
35. Had the time of one's life: ATE IT UP
36. Without exception: BAR NONE
37. Blue pool target: TWO BALL. Billiard. It's blue.
38. Image adjusters: PR FIRMS. Nice clue.
39. Casablanca locale: MOROCCO
40. Pro's opposite: AMATEUR
44. Golden Crinkles maker: ORE-IDA. Portmanteau of Ore(gon) + Ida(ho).
52. Monopolize: HOG
53. Magnum et al.: Abbr.: PIS (Private Investigators).
54. Unaffiliated: Abbr.: IND (Independent)
55. Want-ad abbr.: EEO. Penned in EOE first. Three consecutive abbrs. Not SAPID at all.
Should you have time, read this SAPID defintion Annette linked yesterday. Do click on "How I Met My Wife", a big hit last time when Jazzbumpa brought to the blog.
C.C.
