theme: partly cloudy
 |
| lenticular clouds over mt shasta |
18. The money follows it : (SILVER) DOLLAR SIGN
23. Olympic hero : (SILVER) MEDAL WINNER
35. Treat like a child : (SILVER) SPOON FEED
50. Rapid rail transport : (SILVER) BULLET TRAIN
57. Actor's tryout : (SILVER) SCREEN TEST
2. With 47-Down, proverbial cloud feature, and a hint to the starts of 18-, 23-, 35-, 50- and 57-Across : (SILVER)
47. See 2-Down : (SILVER) LINING
melissa here.
WOW (all caps, even). what a stunning, theme-heavy grid. SEVEN theme entries, five acrosses and two downs. just gorgeous. quite a challenging solve for a wednesday, which makes for a satisfying finish - the silver lining, as it were.
clouds are a popular philosophical symbol. both alan watts and thich nhat hanh have waxed poetic about them. van morrison's tune, alan watts blues, is in reference to a poem by chia tao (777-841), cloud hidden, whereabouts unknown, which watts used as the title of a book, published shortly after his death.
lots of other tunes about clouds, too - performed by the stones, carly simon, joan baez, and django reinhardt, among others.
across
1. "World Series of Poker" channel : ESPN. yawn.
5. Improve : AMEND. not always an improvement.
10. Japanese noodle : SOBA. japanese name for buckwheat.
14. See 17-Across : NILE. 17. Queen of the 14-Across, familiarly : CLEO
15. Hawk's weapon : TALON
16. Neatness analogy ending : A PIN. neat as a pin.
20. Gardner of film : AVA. frank sinatra's second wife, and 28. Conductor André : PREVIN. mia farrow's second husband (mia was sinatra's third wife).
21. Lacking embellishment : BARE
22. Missouri tributary : OSAGE
27. Duty : TAX
29. __ which way : ANY
30. Suffix with phon- : EME. smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language. had no idea. if you're interested.
31. River project : DAM
32. Create, as words : COIN
34. ''__ Death'': Grieg work : ASES. from the ibsen play, peer gynt.
38. Sense : GIST
41. Lincoln et al. : ABES. the et al. indicates a shortened name.
42. __ gratia: by the grace of God : DEI
44. Italian article : UNA. yesterday it was acapulco article.
45. "Now I understand!" : OHO
46. Fin de __: end of the century : SIECLE. drew a blank here.
49. Approximate no. : EST. estimate.
53. Tokyo-based watchmaker : SEIKO
55. New Haven collegians : ELI'S. yale students.
56. Columbus-to-Cleveland dir. : NNE
60. Do bar work, perhaps : STIR. bartend.
61. British weapon of WWII : STEN. submachine gun.
62. Down Under soldier : ANZAC. australian and new zealand army corps.
63. Basic video game : PONG
64. __ buco : OSSO. italian dish, literally bone with a hole.
65. Grind, as teeth : GNASH
66. Old-fashioned sort : FOGY
down
1. Spend a night on the trail : ENCAMP. what's the difference between the verbs encamp and camp?
3. Begged : PLEADED
4. "The Matrix" hero : NEO
5. Early in the morning : AT DAWN
6. Native New Zealanders : MAORI
7. Former "Idol" judge with Simon, Kara and Randy : ELLEN. degeneres. just keep swimming.
8. Lon of Cambodia : NOL. prime minister. another unknown for me.
9. Genetic letters : DNA
10. Smart talk : SASS
11. Poppy products : OPIATES
12. Super Bowl, e.g. : BIG GAME
13. New wings, maybe : ANNEXES
19. Golf star McIlroy : RORY. blues fans may prefer this rory:
21. Super Bowl sight : BLIMP
24. "Stop, ya swabs!" : AVAST
25. Innocents : NAIFS
26. -trix relative : ENNE. feminine suffixes - trix from latin, enne from french. aviatrix, comedienne.
32. Early computer language : COBOL
33. Maître d's "Are you by yourself?" : ONE?
34. Run like __ : A DEER
36. Obama's birthplace : OAHU
37. Prepares for print : EDITS. i first read this as 'prepares for a pint,' and thought a priest walks into a bar ....'
38. "I suppose" : GUESS SO. i suppose.
39. Flies, for example : INSECTS. gotcha. noun, not verb.
40. Send-ups : SATIRES
43. Playground response to a challenge : I CAN TOO
45. Reed instrument : OBOE
46. Sewer line : STITCH. another gotcha, sew-er as in one who sews, not sewer as in ew.
48. Benefit of some bars and drinks : ENERGY.
51. TV host Gibbons : LEEZA
52. Schiaparelli et al. : ELSAS. fashion designer. yet another unknown for me.
54. Lotto-like game : KENO
58. Racehorse, to a tout : NAG. had to look this up - a tout is one who spies out racing information for betting purposes. nag is slang for racehorse.
59. Spike TV, formerly : TNN
60. Coppertone letters : SPF. sun protection factor.
melissa
melissa
