The first word of the starred answers phonetically reveals the ... ummm... reveal! (I always wondered why it was called a reveal, now I know!) You see it, I see it too!
18A. *"The Golden Girls" actress : BEA ARTHUR. Here's her USMC ID headshot. Semper Fi!
23A. *Interior designer's forte : EYE FOR DETAIL. Eye for Inflating the Budget also, if we're not careful.
39A. *Traveling : EN ROUTE. Crying European foul here. I say "en route", you say "en route". Hmm - let's see - I say "On Root", you say "eN Rout". But wait, you say "Root 66", but the wireless thing in the corner is a Rout-er. Oh well - on a recent trip to England I saw, regarding the actor Sean Bean - "Look, you can be Seen Been or Shawn Borne, you can't have it both ways".
52A. *"My goodness!" : GEE WILLIKERS! If I was a constructor I'd retire in glory, Hall Of Fame bound, with this answer. Marvelous!
62A. *Head-slapper's cry : OH BROTHER. I prefer "D'oh", but I've got nine empty spaces to fill.
71A. Name spelled out in a canine song, and also by the starts of the answers to starred clues : BINGO. Also, a clue which is so long that I had to scroll to read it.
Happy Boxing Day, everyone! Steve here with a potpourri of a Neville Fogarty puzzle - we've got all kinds of things working here, so let's get to work!
Across:
1. 1978 co-Nobelist from Egypt : SADAT. Former President Anwar Sadat.
6. Bookstore ID : ISBN. The 13-digit International Standard Book Number which uniquely identifies the volume in your hand. It used to be 9 digits, but apparently we were running out.
10. Romantic gift : ROSE. An excuse to post this earworm
14. Rowing teams : CREWS
15. Cpls. and sgts. : N.C.O.'S Those non-commissioned officers still make me wonder how to punctuate and pluralize!
16. In pain : ACHY. Just slightly painful, surely.
17. Monteverdi character seeking to bring Euridice back from Hades : ORFEO. Learning moment for me, I knew Orpheus but ... now I know
20. Chum : PAL
21. Williams-Sonoma purchases : PANS. Don't get me started on the wonderful broiler pan I bought from these guys two weeks ago.
22. Make good (for) : ATONE
27. Advanced math assignment : PROOF. Hmmm - not sure about "advanced" here.
28. __ v. Ferguson: 1896 segregation case : PLESSY
32. Gem of a Hitchcock film? : TOPAZ
34. Gumbo vegetable : OKRA. FOOD! In my experience there are two things you can do with okra - put it in Gumbo or make Bhindi Bhaji with it. The latter has my vote.
37. Playbill listing : ROLE
38. Thurman of "Pulp Fiction" : UMA. This is one of my favorite movies and I'd love to post links to the dialog, but this is a family blog and I'd like to be here next year.
42. Like a limbo bar, late in the game : LOW
43. Fishhook feature : BARB
45. Mideast VIP : EMIR
46. Record's two : SIDES. I'm old enough to remember this, but might be clued shortly as "Retro"?
48. Like chinchillas : ANDEAN. Perps all around. Wanted Llama, Rabbit, Furry Things, all kinds of wrong answers.
50. Beaded counters : ABACI. Yes! I love it! Finally my Latin class at school paid off!
57. Playbill listing : ACTOR
60. Biol. branch : ANAT. Anatomy and Biology? I though they were separate when I was at school learning how to spell 50A!
61. Dirt road feature : RUT.
64. Common herb in Italian cooking : BASIL. You say Bay-sill and I say bah-zil.
66. In proximity : NEAR
67. Oliver's request : MORE
68. River past Geneva : RHONE
69. Biblical reformer : EZRA
70. Small bit : IOTA. I had "MOTE" at first when I had the "OT". Eventually scrubbed and replaced.
Down:
1. Sharpshooter's apparatus : SCOPE. Really a telescopic sight, but "scope" is quicker to say and fits the grid.
2. Matrix, e.g. : ARRAY. MOVIE didn't work, but eventually this did. I've certainly been dragged (kicking and screaming) to High School today.
3. "Pour Some Sugar on Me" rockers : DEF LEPPARD. I could link some music here, but in the spirit of the holidays, I won't do that to you. This is what you're missing:
4. Wonder : AWE
5. Chinese menu general : TSO. Still haven't tried this.
6. Breaking all the rules : IN BAD FORM
7. Act subdivision : SCENE. Quickly - soliloquy association - Shakespeare's Hamlet; Act 3 Scene 1 "To ...."
8. Talk a good game : BOAST
9. Code-breaking org. : N.S.A. The National Security Agency is the United States Cytological Organization, or the USCO - wait, no - encrypt that - the NSA.
10. Audible snake : RATTLER.
11. Dos y dos y dos y dos : OCHO. I like my math workout in any language. Today's challenge was Spanish - thank goodness I didn't have to say "9,000,245,693.29" or we'd be here until next year.
12. Ostracize : SHUN
13. Brontë's Jane : EYRE
19. Skatepark component : RAIL. I had RA and wanted RAMP, but eventually sanity prevailed. RAIL it is.
21. How some amateurs turn : PRO
24. Monk's title : FRA. I thought Fra. Angelico was an Italian liqueur until I went to Florence:
25. Move viscously : OOZE
26. Give __ on the back : A PAT
29. Continues despite hardship : SOLDIERS ON
30. Plumlike fruit : SLOE. I've eaten plums, and made gin from sloes - they're not really alike, I'm sorry. They're alike in the sense that a domestic kitten and a Bengal Tiger are similar, but you really don't want to confuse one with the other, trust me.
31. Trees with elastic wood : YEWS. The source of the wood to make either longbows or cricket bats. The English would claim either was a tool to subjugate the masses.
32. Bass brass : TUBA
33. Yemen neighbor : OMAN
35. Decorative pond fish : KOI
36. The sticks : RURAL AREA
40. Hawaiian flier : NENE
41. 57-Across Morales : ESAI
44. Galway "Golly!" : BEGORRA. Oh please, if we're going to have a phonetic mis-spelling of Begorrah! can we at least make the alliteration work? How about "Belfast Bollocks!"?
47. "That's nasty!" : ICK
49. Dynamic start? : AERO. Aerodynamic.
51. Brief diner order? : B.L.T.
53. "Hooray!" : WAHOO!
54. Like a noble gas : INERT
55. Wishing one hadn't : RUING. I still want an "E" in here somewhere!
56. Canonized fifth-cen. pope : ST. LEO. Was this LEOI or LEOX or LEOIV or one of the other convenient LEOs? Because you can't be Seen Been or Shawn Born (c.f. 39A)
57. Topnotch : A-ONE
58. French eatery word : CHEZ. Nous, Max, Maman, Steve - oh wait, that's here.
59. Skier's transport : T-BAR. Another "retro" entry? I'm old enough to have fought my way up an Alp on one of these things - trying not both not fall of yourself nor push your co-rider off the precipice either. Not easy. I hope never to see one of these instruments of torture again.
63. Texter's "I've heard plenty, thanks!" : TMI
64. Texter's "I'm away for a moment" : BRB (Be Right Back)
65. Sushi bar tuna : AHI.
And try as I might I couldn't sneak a Boxing Day reference in anywhere!
Steve
1) Happy Birthday to Andrea!
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| Back row: Dot (85) and her husband Irv (99). Hope I got the ages right, Dot. Front Row: Kazie and Andrea. Sept 19, 2009 |
2) Belated Happy Birthday to SL Zalameh (Zcarguy). Here is a photo of him and his wife Kathy.
