Theme: Floridation - FL is added to each familiar phrase.
24A. Jaw-dropping reaction to butterflies? : FLUTTER AMAZEMENT. Utter amazement. FL is added to the vowel-starting words in all the theme entries.
 |
| Who am I? |
43A. Salutation to an out-of-shape friend? : DEAR FLABBY. Dear Abby. Our Star Tribune has "Dear Amy".
52A. Outrageous ice cream concoctions? : WILD FLOATS. Wild oats.
65A. Masters of the felt-tipped pen? : FLAIR ACES. Air aces. Flair pen.
82A. Bulletproof linen fiber? : BATTLE FLAX. Battle ax.
112A. Cuban tortilla king? : FLOUR MAN IN HAVANA. Our Man in Havana.
89A. Cowering caterpillar? : FLINCH WORM. Inch worm. I always thought Flinch is just a verb.
3D. Botany major's hurdles? : FLORAL EXAMS. Oral Exams.
68D. Turkeys no one knows about? : COVERT FLOPS. Covert ops.
C.C. here. John wrote me a note the other day. It sums up this puzzle perfectly:
"And
ooh, look at that, a pair of cheaters. I think that's only the second
time I've used them in a 21. And no pangram. The fact that it's nine
theme entries and a 140 means that something had to give in order to get
decent fill.
I wonder how many solvers will notice that "Floridation" has nothing to do with adding flouride to water. The chemical symbol for flourine is F. FL = Florida of course, and "Floridation" is a made up word."
Not that there's anything wrong with cheater squares. But John has his own high standards and he likes to make every black square count. We have 70 black squares today. Often it's 78.
Also, notice the theme intersection in this grid? It takes luck and skills to make it work, esp if your theme entries are limited and you don't have much wiggle room.
Across:
1. Drift, as smoke : WAFT
5. Macbeth's hallucination : DAGGER. "Is this a DAGGER which I see before me.". And 115. Macbeth's burial isle : IONA
11. Pearly entrance? : GATES. Pearly gates.
16. Pedicure place : SPA. Husker Gary, don't bite Dudley's bait!
19. That girl, in Quebec : ELLE
20. Plaza Hotel girl : ELOISE
21. Performer with a whip : LION TAMER. I was picturing those kinky bondage/whipping.
23. Poker, e.g. : TOOL. Great clue.
26. Bellyacher : SORE HEAD
28. Auth. unknown : ANON. I'm very annoyed at some anonymous posts on the blog. Those who steal others' avatar identity disgust me. Not cool! Not funny!
29. Within reach : DOABLE
30. Birthday tiara, e.g. : PAPER HAT. This picture is from Truman's 5th birthday. Lovely.
32. Mike who married Liz Taylor : TODD
34. Gets out of shape? : MELTS. Another great clue.
36. Legal deg. : LLB. So is LLD. More 95. "The Good Wife" fig. : ATT. And 38D. 95-Across's org. : ABA.
I talked with Lemonade twice on the phone. His voice is very young. I
also talked with John Lampkin once. He's a real gentleman.
37. Backwash creators : OARS. I like "Creators" in the clue. Trick others think of people. "Legend creator" for ACURA is another good example.
39. Bi- halved : UNI
42. Uncommon : RARE
47. Animals : FAUNA
49. Beat it : RAN
50. Like some beans : WAXY. No idea why Spitzboov hates wax beans. They're tasty.
51. Tripoli's country : LIBYA
54. Mobile phone site?: Abbr. : ALA. Oh, Mobile Alabama.
55. Neuter, as a horse : GELD
56. __ Na Na : SHA
57. Research foundation, often : GRANTEE
58. Barrel cleaner : RAMROD
60. Like pitfalls : UNSEEN
63. George who plays Stokes on "CSI" : EADS. Stranger! Call me maybe?
64. Dough hoarder : MISER
67. Hunter's trick : DECOY
71. Israel's Netanyahu, familiarly : BIBI. He often appears dismissive & derisive.
73. It helps dough rise : GLUTEN. No gluten in rice/corn.
74. Climbers' spikes : PIT-ONS
75. Officer's ornament : EPAULET
78. Future father's sch.? : SEM. Fun clue.
79. Flower bed wetter : RAIN
81. Ex halved : VEE. Alright, Roman numerals. V is half X.
84. Scrub the mission : ABORT
86. What's needed for the job : GEAR
87. Scrap for Rover : ORT
88. Going on, to Holmes : AFOOT
91. Unspecified degrees : NTHS
93. Boffo abbr. : SRO (Standing Room Only)
94. Happiness : GLEE
96. Some crash programs : DIETS.
Oh, I have a question regarding tuna steak. Do you cook yours rare in
the middle? I'm worried that I'll get sick if I do not cook it thorough.
Our grocery store tuna is not Sushi grade.
98. 1957 war movie title river : KWAI. "The Bridge on the River Kwai".
100. Hoi polloi : RIFFRAFF. Ellen's show has a Riff Raff Room.
105. "I Have __": 1963 speech : A DREAM. 6-letter partials are allowed in LAT.
108. Costly : HIGH
110. Aquamarine : NILE BLUE
116. Nuclear family? : ATOM BOMBS. I'm in constant in awe of John's creative brain.
117. Faddish : TRENDY
118. Some state-spanning rds. : TPKS (Turnpikes)
119. Postal motto word : NOR
120. Big name in vacuums : ORECK
121. Accent : STRESS
122. In __: actually : ESSE
Down:
1. Prepares for shampooing : WETS. I've been loving Pantene Overnight Miracle. It smells great. But I haven't noticed any result yet. I wish I could pull off Marti's hairstyle.
2. Throw for __ : A LOOP
4. Work for the small screen : TELEPLAY
5. Table : DEFER. Verb "Table".
6. God of Islam : ALLAH
7. Big wheel in delis : GOUDA
8. "Beat it, ya varmint!" : GIT
9. This, to Juanita : ESTA
10. Pre-splashdown stage : RE-ENTRY. Solid Re-word.
11. Pancreas, for one : GLAND
12. End : AIM
13. Horned __ : TOAD
14. Carmaker Ferrari : ENZO. I finally remembered him.
15. Power plant output : STEAM
16. Harbor suspicion : SMELL A RAT. Our mouse is gone. Not caught. He just disappeared.
17. Get behind, as enemy lines : PENETRATE. OK, "as enemy lines"...
18. Met acquisition : ART. The Met.
22. Insect preserver : AMBER
25. Aussie hoppers : ROOS
27. Lang. of Israel : HEBR. Hahtoola speaks Hebrew.
31. Belch in "Twelfth Night" : TOBY. Sir Toby Belch.
33. __ citizenship : DUAL
35. Common quality? : SENSE.
40. Pokes : NUDGES
41. Structural opening? : INFRA. Infrastructual.
43. __ Lama : DALAI
44. Beat it : FLED
45. Like Abner—but not really : LIL
46. Season 1 judge on "The X Factor" : ABDUL (Paula). Simon Cowell let her go after only one season.
47. Betrothed : FIANCE
48. Folk tale rubber? : ALADDIN
50. Affectionate : WARM. Chinese, and other East Asians, as a whole, are not very affectionate. Friendly, yes, but reserved.
52. Thresher grain : WHEAT
53. Dawn : ONSET
55. Animal named from a Greek word meaning "tribe of hairy women" : GORILLA. New trivia to me.
56. Shot contents : SERUM. Not the shot I had in mind.
59. Prove otherwise : REBUT
61. Pesters persistently : NAGS AT
62. Big name in coffeemakers : SILEX
65. Made to suit : FIT FOR
66. Bankrupt energy giant : ENRON
69. Late retirement time : ONE AM. Not for Argyle. He's still wide awake then.
70. River of Flanders : YSER
72. Bellyaches : BEEFS
74. Central part : PITH
75. WWII Treasury offering : E BOND
76. Especially fond of : PARTIAL TO. Does anyone have good wild rice soup recipe for Avg Joe?
77. Where you might experience hard knocks? : AT THE DOOR
80. Arrow's path : ARC
83. Take a gander : LOOK
84. Canterbury quaff : ALE. And 85. Cologne quaff : BIER. Beer.
86. Raided the fridge : GOT A BITE. Lots of goodies in our fridge right now.
89. Parts of darts : FLIGHTS
90. Hard or soft ending : WARE. Learned a lot about my PC from TTP last week.
92. Doodle on the guitar : STRUM
94. Advance : GAIN
97. __-Croatian : SERBO
99. Beat in the kitchen : WHISK
101. Birdbrained : INANE
102. Comes across : FINDS
103. Criticizes harshly : FLAYS
104. Depressions : FUNKS. Funk looks like a word that can't be pluralized.
106. Love, to Luis : AMOR
107. "We Need a Little Christmas" musical : MAME
109. Partner of Rodgers : HART (Lorenz). Rodgers and Hart.
111. Mollify : EASE
112. Source of support : FAN
113. "Football Night in America" network : NBC
114. Part of KJV: Abbr. : VER (Version). I had to google KJV. King James Version.
Happy Year of the Snake! I bet Barry G (Maybe Jacye too) is having freshly made Chinese dumplings for lunch/dinner, traditional Chinese New Year food.
When
I was a child, meat/sugar/oil were all rationed. I so looked forward to
every New Year when I could help my grandma prepare dumplings. Pork was
so delicious!
Our living standard improved a lot in the
1980s & 1990s, esp after I graduated from college in 1994 and found a
well-paid job in Guangzhou. But I could not stomach pork any more.
Whenever I visited Xi'An, my dad would make Tofu & Chinese chives filled dumplings for me. Cheap, simple & tasty. I tried to duplicate my Dad's recipe, the dumplings were never good. I think it's the memory of him that I miss, rather than the dumplings themselves.
C.C.
