Theme: None
Total blocks: 33
Total words: 70
Man, this constructor Frederick J Healy sure loves multi-word entries. He used more than 20 in his last themeless, then again 20 today.
Very often long single words are easier for me to ferret out. My mind is just not wired to parse multi-word properly. I simply don't use those idioms or slang in my daily conversation. Feel very handicapped by my background.
Favorite clue today is HOLED (29. Rolled into a cup). I was definitely not thinking of rolling the golf ball into the cup. Sigh! I am actually pretty good at reading breaks on the green.
OK, let's tee off with multi-words:
1A. Nut: WHACK JOB. Terrific entry.
16A. Knows about: IS ONTO
17A. Rubbernecked: STARED AT
23A. The way you see it: AS IS. I wanted IMHO.
27A. Title burglar played by Bruce Willis in a 1991 film: HUDSON HAWK. Have never seen this movie.
33A. Note in an E major scale: G-SHARP. Got the SHARP part rather quickly.
35A. 1992 Grammy winner for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: K. D. LANG. I peeked at the answer sheet. Name with initials is very tricky.
42A. Stock mover: CATTLE PROD. Oh, livestock. I was thinking of those trading shares.
51A. Succeeds completely: ACES IT
53A. Place to learn about cells, briefly: BIO LAB
55A. Improve in small ways: FINE-TUNE
59A. Mr. Right: THE ONE. Have you found yours?
60A. It's the most likely to succeed: BEST SHOT
2D. Ran into trouble: HIT A SNAG. I've learned not to recklessly put ED at the end.
8D. Pleiades components: B STARS. Most stars are classified using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K and M (mnemonic is "Oh, Be a fine girl /guy, kiss me"). O stars are the hottest and the letter sequence indicates successively cooler stars up to the coolest M class. I was stumped.
9D. Minded: LISTENED TO
12D. One after another: IN A ROW
13D. Gift giver, informally: ST. NICK. During Christmas.
37D. Discusses: GOES INTO
43D. 1980s-'90s Tennessee senator: AL GORE. Thought of Bill Frist first.
Across:
9. Apollo, musically: LYRIST. Because Apollo is God of Music/Poetry?
18. Car lot array: SEDANS
19. Texas-Louisiana border river: SABINE (SEY-bahyn). Spanish for "cypress". Wikipedia says it's in reference to the extensive growth of such trees along the lower river. New to me.
20. Sagan's subj.: ASTR (Astronomy). Carl Sagan.
22. Wrestler Flair: RIC. Born Richard Flair. Total stranger to me.
24. Works in una galleria: ARTE. Spanish/Italian for "art".
25. 1951 Emmy winner Imogene: COCA. My entry point today.
26. Feminine name ending: INA. As in Christina, Angelina, etc. Or tsarina, ballerina.
30. Telecom setup: LAN (Local Area Network)
31. Brian who produced some U2 albums: ENO
32. Firm heads, for short: CEOS. Firm = Company.
38. Old shipping allowance: TRET. The container weight is TARE.
39. Nice season?: ETE. The French city Nice.
40. Gut reaction?: OOF. Good clue.
45. A funder of PBS's "American Masters": NEA (National Endowment for the Arts)
46. Crab's sensor: PALP. Same root as "palpable" I think.
47. Some flawed mdse.: IRRS
48. Get-up-and-go: ZEST. Didn't come to me readily.
49. Barbary Coast land: Abbr.: ALG (Algeria). See this map. It spans quite a few countries in north Africa.
50. Zap with a beam: LASE
57. Loll: SPRAWL
58. Beckons: ATTRACTS
Down:
1. Holiday toast: WASSAIL. Have faintly heard of this word.
3. High-spirited horses: ARABIANS. Better than ARABS, isn't it?
4. Former "SNL" regular Farley: CHRIS
5. Insightful: KEEN. Keen can mean "wail" too. Keening.
6. Green hue: JADE
7. Concubine's room: ODA. The Harem room, reserved for women. We also have CASA (25D. Havana home).
10. Important river in WWI: YSER. Battle of the Yser. The Belgian river. Flows to the North Sea.
11. Wand: ROD
14. "Vissi d'arte" singer: TOSCA. Tosca is the title heroine in Puccini opera "Tosca". Too obscure a clue for me. Besides, I don't like the arte/ARTE (24D) repetition.
21. Warehouse workers: STOCKERS
24. Some new parents: ADOPTERS
27. Spirit: HEART. Your heart sank when ...
28. Fly-by-night: UNRELIABLE. Fly-by-night is a new phrase to me.
34. www letters: HTTP. The URL starter.
36. Model of excellence: NONESUCH
41. Most profitable, as a business contract: FATTEST. Like the ones for Erik Prince/Blackwater or whatever the new name is.
42. Islamic leader: CALIPH (KEY-lif). Dictionary defines it as "a spiritual leader of Islam, claiming succession from Muhammad". I could only think of IMAM.
44. Ready-made: PREFAB
46. Brewer Frederick: PABST. Easy guess. I did not really know Pabst founder's given name, the same as today's constructor.
48. Sorority letters: ZETAS
50. Egg-rolling site: LAWN
51. Colony workers: ANTS
52. Like some U.S. mail: CERT (Certified). A special "Thank you" to MJ for mailing me the Dan Naddor obit in LA Times.
54. Thai native: LAO
56. Ore suffix: ITE. Common mineral suffix. Graphite, for example.
Answer grid.
C.C.
Total blocks: 33
Total words: 70
Man, this constructor Frederick J Healy sure loves multi-word entries. He used more than 20 in his last themeless, then again 20 today.
Very often long single words are easier for me to ferret out. My mind is just not wired to parse multi-word properly. I simply don't use those idioms or slang in my daily conversation. Feel very handicapped by my background.
Favorite clue today is HOLED (29. Rolled into a cup). I was definitely not thinking of rolling the golf ball into the cup. Sigh! I am actually pretty good at reading breaks on the green.
OK, let's tee off with multi-words:
1A. Nut: WHACK JOB. Terrific entry.
16A. Knows about: IS ONTO
17A. Rubbernecked: STARED AT
23A. The way you see it: AS IS. I wanted IMHO.
27A. Title burglar played by Bruce Willis in a 1991 film: HUDSON HAWK. Have never seen this movie.
33A. Note in an E major scale: G-SHARP. Got the SHARP part rather quickly.
35A. 1992 Grammy winner for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: K. D. LANG. I peeked at the answer sheet. Name with initials is very tricky.
42A. Stock mover: CATTLE PROD. Oh, livestock. I was thinking of those trading shares.
51A. Succeeds completely: ACES IT
53A. Place to learn about cells, briefly: BIO LAB
55A. Improve in small ways: FINE-TUNE
59A. Mr. Right: THE ONE. Have you found yours?
60A. It's the most likely to succeed: BEST SHOT
2D. Ran into trouble: HIT A SNAG. I've learned not to recklessly put ED at the end.
8D. Pleiades components: B STARS. Most stars are classified using the letters O, B, A, F, G, K and M (mnemonic is "Oh, Be a fine girl /guy, kiss me"). O stars are the hottest and the letter sequence indicates successively cooler stars up to the coolest M class. I was stumped.
9D. Minded: LISTENED TO
12D. One after another: IN A ROW
13D. Gift giver, informally: ST. NICK. During Christmas.
37D. Discusses: GOES INTO
43D. 1980s-'90s Tennessee senator: AL GORE. Thought of Bill Frist first.
Across:
9. Apollo, musically: LYRIST. Because Apollo is God of Music/Poetry?
18. Car lot array: SEDANS
19. Texas-Louisiana border river: SABINE (SEY-bahyn). Spanish for "cypress". Wikipedia says it's in reference to the extensive growth of such trees along the lower river. New to me.
20. Sagan's subj.: ASTR (Astronomy). Carl Sagan.
22. Wrestler Flair: RIC. Born Richard Flair. Total stranger to me.
24. Works in una galleria: ARTE. Spanish/Italian for "art".
25. 1951 Emmy winner Imogene: COCA. My entry point today.
26. Feminine name ending: INA. As in Christina, Angelina, etc. Or tsarina, ballerina.
30. Telecom setup: LAN (Local Area Network)
31. Brian who produced some U2 albums: ENO
32. Firm heads, for short: CEOS. Firm = Company.
38. Old shipping allowance: TRET. The container weight is TARE.
39. Nice season?: ETE. The French city Nice.
40. Gut reaction?: OOF. Good clue.
45. A funder of PBS's "American Masters": NEA (National Endowment for the Arts)
46. Crab's sensor: PALP. Same root as "palpable" I think.
47. Some flawed mdse.: IRRS
48. Get-up-and-go: ZEST. Didn't come to me readily.
49. Barbary Coast land: Abbr.: ALG (Algeria). See this map. It spans quite a few countries in north Africa.
50. Zap with a beam: LASE
57. Loll: SPRAWL
58. Beckons: ATTRACTS
Down:
1. Holiday toast: WASSAIL. Have faintly heard of this word.
3. High-spirited horses: ARABIANS. Better than ARABS, isn't it?
4. Former "SNL" regular Farley: CHRIS
5. Insightful: KEEN. Keen can mean "wail" too. Keening.
6. Green hue: JADE
7. Concubine's room: ODA. The Harem room, reserved for women. We also have CASA (25D. Havana home).
10. Important river in WWI: YSER. Battle of the Yser. The Belgian river. Flows to the North Sea.
11. Wand: ROD
14. "Vissi d'arte" singer: TOSCA. Tosca is the title heroine in Puccini opera "Tosca". Too obscure a clue for me. Besides, I don't like the arte/ARTE (24D) repetition.
21. Warehouse workers: STOCKERS
24. Some new parents: ADOPTERS
27. Spirit: HEART. Your heart sank when ...
28. Fly-by-night: UNRELIABLE. Fly-by-night is a new phrase to me.
34. www letters: HTTP. The URL starter.
36. Model of excellence: NONESUCH
41. Most profitable, as a business contract: FATTEST. Like the ones for Erik Prince/Blackwater or whatever the new name is.
42. Islamic leader: CALIPH (KEY-lif). Dictionary defines it as "a spiritual leader of Islam, claiming succession from Muhammad". I could only think of IMAM.
44. Ready-made: PREFAB
46. Brewer Frederick: PABST. Easy guess. I did not really know Pabst founder's given name, the same as today's constructor.
48. Sorority letters: ZETAS
50. Egg-rolling site: LAWN
51. Colony workers: ANTS
52. Like some U.S. mail: CERT (Certified). A special "Thank you" to MJ for mailing me the Dan Naddor obit in LA Times.
54. Thai native: LAO
56. Ore suffix: ITE. Common mineral suffix. Graphite, for example.
Answer grid.
C.C.
