Theme: Letters- Grow up! Each single letter hyphenated word has the letter replaced by a sound alike word creating a punny and thought provoking image. A very nicely themed balanced puzzle by one of the grand masters of construction. Mr. Wolfe has over 50 published NY Times as well as more than 30 LA Times and countless other publications. He has been INTERVIEWED by C.C. and has spanned more than 4 decades. While we continue to introduce new people, it is nice to see the continuity and continuing creativity of our veterans.
Lemonade, here driving the bus for this straightforward fun theme.
17A. Urban area set aside for pekoe purveyors?: TEA SQUARE. A T-Square is a technical drawing instrument used by draftsmen, which looks just like its name. Pekoe a type of tea.
Lemonade, here driving the bus for this straightforward fun theme.
17A. Urban area set aside for pekoe purveyors?: TEA SQUARE. A T-Square is a technical drawing instrument used by draftsmen, which looks just like its name. Pekoe a type of tea.
25A. New Zealand lamb-exporting method?: EWE BOAT. U-Boat is a common crossword answer and the German Submarine used in the World Wars, from the German UNTERSEEBOOT, which just what is sounds like.
28A. End of the line?: QUEUE TIP. Q-tip is a brand name for a cotton swab; this is my favorite visual change. QUEUE being the British line.
47A. "The Look of Love" and "Suddenly I See," e.g.?: EYE TUNES. I-Tunes are the music downloadable from Apple. Okay, this is my favorite, 2 songs about eyes, and a really fun pun.
49A. Pitch notation for Debussy's "La Mer"?: SEA CLEF. C-Clef is the movable clef, and again I will defer to our musicians (where is John L.?) Mer is SEA in French.
58A. Island allotment?: CAY RATION. K-Ration is the the prepackaged food ration designed initially for paratroopers in WW II. The K has no meaning. CAY is like a Key and means an island.
The puzzle had no really long words, which surprised me as I recall Mr. Wolfe likes 15 letter fill, but here we go, and only minimal French. (Note from C.C.: The short theme entries EWE BOAT & SEA CLEF dictate that all of the non-theme Across answers should be shorter than 7 letters. If all theme entries are placed Across, it's OK to have Down fill longer than the shortest theme entry. Hence a couple of 8's today.)
Across:
1. Brother of Ham: SHEM. Two of the three SONS OF NOAH.
5. Finishes (up) the gravy: SOPS. Please use bread and not your fingers.
9. Performance lead-in: INTRO. Often a musical piece.
14. Mystique: AURA. Like this IMAGE.
15. Aussie water hazard: CROC. No wonder there are so many tough Australian golfers; anyone for Adam Scott?
16. Aired, as "Hogan's Heroes," say: RERAN.
19. Symphony section: REEDS. I defer to JzB for questions, but I believe there are four sections to an orchestra, woodwinds(reeds), brass, strings and percussion. Mr. Wolfe also is a musician, like others of our favorite puzzle makers.
20. Cross: SULLEN. So many different meanings for CROSS, this was not one that came easily.
21. Half of MXIV: DVII. Oh boy ancient Roman math problem; my son is in town back from Rome, yay.
22. "Julie & Julia" co-star: STREEP. All of us from New England grew up watching Ms. CHILD. Mr Wolfe is from Massachusetts, I believe.
31. Swimmer who channeled her energy?: EDERLE. Gertrude was the first woman to swim the English Channel.
32. Store, as ashes: INURN. For all the NITs out there- it is a real word.
33. Contests ending in draws?: DUELS. Wonderful clue, especially after soccer season.
35. Drifts off: NAPS. Wake up all!!!
36. Pinkish yellow: CORAL. I always thought of it as pinkish orange, but what do I know.
37. Hoax: FLAM. I bet he misses his pal FLIM. Recognize the bridge WH?
41. Low land: DALES. Hills and dales, not to be confused with Chip and Dale.
42. Wine made from the Garganega grape: SOAVE. We have had much education on WINE and brandy regions on Fridays.
43. Have a one-track mind: OBSESS.
51. Revered Mother: TERESA. This saintly woman shares her birthday with Vidwan and I.
52. Keen: WAIL. Okay Mr. Wolfe you have me, the perps say I am right, but I do not get KEEN = WAIL. (Note from C.C. "Keen" can mean "lament for the dead", verb and noun.)
53. Team playing in The Big A: ANGELS. Anaheim.
56. Icelandic literary treasures: EDDAS. A second appearance this week.
62. Rubbed-out spirits: GENII. I thought of Buffie killing some demons, not of bottled magic. Though it did remind eventually of this debate, which ONE do you vote for?
63. Needing darning TORN. I got some socks...
64. Polis starter: ACRO. ACROPOLIS.
65. What wavy lines may represent: ODORS. Followed by 66A. It's about a foot: SHOE. Great pun, about a foot, surrounding it; anyway, together they give us this LINK.
67. Regretted: RUED. Not trying to be rude, but we are done across, so we must go
Down:
1. Wasn't used: SAT. On the bench, like me in basketball.
2. Shade: HUE. Not outdoor shade, color shade.
3. Stat for CC Sabathia: ERA. A shout out for our own fearless leader? Or an evil empire jibe?
4. People who knead people: MASSEURS. Another golden oldie pun which merits this LINK.
5. Work with clay, say: SCULPT. That's what Aiken's trainer said he was doing.
6. Lacking a paper trail: ORAL. Fershure, we do not need a paper trail, no recordings or movies either.
7. Skin feature: PORE.
8. Dramatic division: SCENE. My father always told me children should heard not Obscene.
9. Bargain basement abbr.: IRR. Ironically, we are seeing this fill regularly.
10. As required, after "if": NEED BE. I do like weird letter combinations like this, what words end DBE?
11. "Felicia's Journey" writer William: TREVOR. Curious, go to this LINK. I did not know him.
12. Like some saws and tires: RADIAL. The tires were invented by Michelin in 1946.
13. Not remote: ON SITE.
18. Versatile game piece: QUEEN. She goes where she wants in chess, a game I never took to.
22. Magazine ad meas.: SQ IN. Square Inch.
23. __ melt: TUNA. My lunch about once per week, usually on a pita.
24. Do another stint: RE-UP. For all our military friends, it just means re-enlist.
26. "Let me think ...": WELL. A nice visual, "well dad, it was like this."
27. Mad VIPs: EDS. The editors of Mad magazine.
29. Hot star: IDOL. Do you all know who won last year? Do you like J-Lo coming back?
30. Turn to mush : PUREE. A shout out to all of our toothless members.
34. "Calm down!": EASY. Whoa now, easy boy; relax.
36. Winery buy: CASE. No brewery this week, we moving on up.
37. Like expensive restaurants, hopefully : FOUR STAR. What is your favorite restaurant? I like the Palm.
38. Meet assignment: LANE. Track meet, not joining Lois in the field.
39. Madison et al.: Abbr.: AVES. Not the President, the NYC avenues like Park and Lexington.
40. Cubs' spring training city: MESA. Any Cub fans out there? Don't hurt yourself, it is only a game.
41. PC dial-up upgrade: DSL. Dedicated Service Line.
42. Commemorative pillar: STELA. This is the LATIN spelling of what we call STELE.
43. Lake Ontario port: OSWEGO. First you have to know the Lake in New York STATE, near Syracuse, not Canada, after that the answer is easy. Luckily I have traveled upstate New York, pretty area.
44. Like some women's evening bags: BEADED. Man these must be way out of style, they are so CHEAP.
45. Refused: SAID NO. Just say no Lois.
46. Filled pastry: ECLAIR.
48. Unlimited, in verse: ETERNE. You have one from Spenser, or Chaucer CA?
50. Almanac offerings: FACTS. With computers, I am sure these will go the way of the newspaper.
54. Sodium hydroxide, in lab shorthand: NA O H. Don't you love how he worked the anagram of NOAH into the puzzle, for you Jerome.
55. Sandwich with tzatziki sauce: GYRO. Pronounced HERO.
57. Family girl: SIS. Never had one.
59. Post-op stop: ICU. Intensive Care Unit.
60. Unrefined metal: ORE.
61. Quiet bid: NOD. At a real auction, not the online kind.
Answer grid.
Over and out for another Friday, thanks for inviting me into your homes, see you next time.
Lemonade
