Theme: Capital Pun-ishment. Theme entries are crosswordese puns on "Capital".
17A. Capital of 62-Across : WELLINGTON. OK, not a pun. Literally, the capital of New Zealand.
11D. Capital of 62-Across : KIWI DOLLAR. Often seen in crosswords as mis-direction, this refers to the currency "capital".
29D. With 30-Down, capitals of 62-Across? : THE LETTERS
30D. See 29-Down : N AND Z. Another crosswordese pun, meaning the "capital" initial letters in the name of the country.
And the unifier:
62A. Where "The Lord of the Rings" movies were filmed : NEW ZEALAND. Land of the kiwi.
In addition to being a fun pun-fest, Michael Doran has given us a pangram, where every letter of the alphabet has been used in the puzzle. The only thing that could have improved this one is if he had added "The Beehive" as a capitol (building) of New Zealand.
17A. Capital of 62-Across : WELLINGTON. OK, not a pun. Literally, the capital of New Zealand.
11D. Capital of 62-Across : KIWI DOLLAR. Often seen in crosswords as mis-direction, this refers to the currency "capital".
29D. With 30-Down, capitals of 62-Across? : THE LETTERS
30D. See 29-Down : N AND Z. Another crosswordese pun, meaning the "capital" initial letters in the name of the country.
And the unifier:
62A. Where "The Lord of the Rings" movies were filmed : NEW ZEALAND. Land of the kiwi.
In addition to being a fun pun-fest, Michael Doran has given us a pangram, where every letter of the alphabet has been used in the puzzle. The only thing that could have improved this one is if he had added "The Beehive" as a capitol (building) of New Zealand.
But, he did give us another crosswordese pun that I just mentioned the other day:
58D. Flower in Bern? : AARE. The clue does not refer to flora, but the river that "flows" through Bern, Switzerland. So you see? I haven't been doing too many crosswords lately!
Marti here, chuckling all the way through this pun-ny puzzle. Let's see what tickled my fancy today.
Across:
1. "The Fiddler" painter Chagall : MARC. He painted many "fiddlers", but this is the one I thought of. Not exactly Zero Mostel...
5. Brooch part : CLASP
10. Scraped (out) : EKED
14. Miami River locale : OHIO. Not the one in Florida, this one is named for the Miami indians.
15. Postal scale unit : OUNCE. Also, Mary Jane unit.
16. Ristorante bottle : VINO. "Wine", in Italian. "Ristorante" in the clue hints at the foreign word.
19. Victorious cry : I WIN
20. Refines, in a way : SMELTS
21. List-ending abbr. : ETC.
22. Coffee bar stack : LIDS
23. Biol. branch : ECOL. ogy.
25. Too pooped to pop : TIRED. Cute clue.
27. First ones to spot the king's ghost, in "Hamlet" : WATCHMEN. Act I, Scene I.
31. "Stop bugging me!" : LAY OFF!
34. Eight, in Essen : ACHT. Eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben...
35. Bellyache : MOAN
37. Yo-Yo's strings : CELLO. Time for a musical interlude. I thought this was a very interesting video interpretation of "Sarabande". 3:09
38. Pronoun on the briny : SHE
39. Mark Twain, e.g. : PEN NAME
41. Overly permissive : LAX. Or, an airport in So. Cal.
42. Insanely cold : POLAR. Like a three dog night? 3:30
44. Icelandic work that influenced Tolkien : EDDA.
45. Swelter : BAKE
46. In any way : SOEVER. What's soever? (Don't bother looking it up. It's a word.)
48. Closed, as a sleeping bag : ZIPPERED
50. Sealing aids : TAPES
52. Greenish-blue : AQUA
53. "Bad Reputation" singer : JETT. A little something for everyone today! 2:41
55. "__ only money!" : IT'S
57. Mental grasp : UPTAKE. I'm usually pretty quick on the uptake, but I did a double take when I finally filled in the answer for this clue.
61. Clueless : ASEA
64. Actress Teri : GARR. Remember her as Inga in "Young Frankenstein"?
65. Bridge call : I PASS. Card game, not ship.
66. Activist Brockovich : ERIN. Immortalized in the movie starring Julia Roberts.
67. Dope (out) : SUSS. A favorite Crossword Corner verb!
68. Bother a lot : NAG AT. Yes, when I nag at him, it bothers DH a lot...
69. Stiff hair : SETA
Down:
1. Levels the playing field? : MOWS. Loved this clue!
2. Cutting-in word : AHEM
3. Grate : RILE
4. Amass : COLLECT
5. Simple soup : CONSOMME
6. Tote with difficulty : LUG
7. Starting money of a sort : ANTE. Start of a poker hand.
8. Dilbert creator Adams : SCOTT. One of my favorite cartoons. Boy, am I glad I am no longer in corporate America...
9. One may be seen behind an ear : PENCIL
10. Sinister stare : EVIL EYE. I won't link an image here. (I'm still trying to get the bling teeth image from yesterday out of my head...)
12. Sooner State city : ENID. Oklahoma.
13. Puts on : DONS. Or, "Gagliardo and others"...
18. Strong urge : ITCH
24. Italian director Sergio : LEONE. Oh c'mon, you know him. "A Fistful of Dollars"? "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"?
26. TV's "The Amazing __" : RACE
27. Scary nestful : WASPS. What's so scary about white Anglo-Saxon protestants? Why, some of my best friends...
28. Allergic reaction : ACHOO. (Gesundheit)
32. Oddball : FLAKE
33. Deceived : FOXED
36. 1976 Olympics headlines name : NADIA. Comăneci. First female gymnast to score a perfect 10.
39. Coach : PREP
40. Reference site for travelers : MAPQUEST. Don't leave home without it.
43. Images used by Wii players : AVATARS. Or by bloggers.
45. With "the," band with the 2006 remix album "Love" : BEATLES. Would anyone object if the clue omitted "With 'the,'"?
47. Keep under control : REIN IN
49. Metamorphosis stage : PUPA
51. Instructions opener : STEP A
53. Crying spells : JAGS. Not to be confused with these classic cars.
54. Old Testament twin : ESAU
56. Party loot : SWAG. We have a different meaning here on the Corner. ("Scientific wild-a**ed guess")
59. Make a wool cap, say : KNIT
60. "Mother Ireland" writer O'Brien : EDNA. She won the Los Angeles Times Book prize in 1990 for "Lantern Slides".
63. When repeated, a Gabor : ZSA. I wonder if that was an intentional crosswordese entry to round out this puzzle?
Answer grid.
Hugs,
Marti
