When I was in college and we read Shakespeare, our professor would drag out an old volume which was printed in old English where the "s" in the beginning and middle of the words looked like the letter "f." So in this wonderfully witty offering from Dr. Ed Sessa, the "s" sound in words are replaced with F where the they sound like S. The 'sounds like' aspect is really well done, but the added bonus of the long S versus the minuscule S made it great for me. Also, working "Lilliputian" and "Brobdingnagian" into the clues in same puzzle is awesome (with a hidden bonus); only 9 three letter words and nice non-theme fill like FLURRIED, GUFFAWED, SCOUT OUT, SCREW TOP make this a really nice Friday. I believe this is our 17th from Ed, and the last one I blogged was a double ZZ puzzle back in February. Let's start our day with a song from a Z who died too young.
20A. Dog aficionados?: GREYHOUND BUFFS.(BUS). (14). Buffs being a slang for someone interested in something big time, and a Greyhound bus is, well a bus. I had hound from the perps, but this fell after I got
34A. Lilliputian ocean formations?: PEE WEE REEFS. (REESE). (11). The old Dodger shortstop becomes a little reef, excellent.
40A. Fodder for the British tabloids?: NOBLE GAFFES. (GASES).(11). They love their royalty, and they love skewering them in the press. I still do not know why a GAS would want to be Noble, maybe Barnes knows.
54A. Reason for many December returns?: CHRISTMAS GOOFS.(GOOSE).(14). Back in GB where the goose rather than the turkey is the fowl of choice.
on with the show.
Across:
Across:
1 "Apostrophe (')" rocker: ZAPPA. My friend Edgar Riley played keyboards for him; Frank died of prostate cancer.
6 Decide not to run: KILL. I had the hardest time convincing myself to put the K in but KAPUT was solid, and I guess if you do not go forward with a project you kill it.
10 Artist van __: GOGH. Earie clue.
14 Works about the country: IDYLS. Damn variant spelling slowed me down wanting two Ls.
15 It may involve pi: AREA..
16 Bone used in pronation: ULNA.. This is our bone of the month apparently.
17 Multiple Grammy winner Jones: NORAH. A fabulous VOICE (2:34) for the daughter of sitar master Ravi Shankar.
18 Party animal?: PONY. rent a pony or a clown.
19 Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a __”: FAUN. Very soothing MUSIC(.5:12), very tough clue.
23 Word seen annually on a November People magazine cover: SEXIEST.
24 Grisham’s gp.: ABA. America Bar Association. In the real world, not an important organization to lawyers.
25 Bit of needlework: TAT. Funny, I read articles by young people who seem to think tattoos and piercings are new.
26 Common soft drink feature: SCREW TOP. I had the top, but it took a while to get to SCREW. I am getting old.
31 Current type: EBB. Maybe my enthusiasm ebbed.
36 “__ the opinion ...”: I'M OF. Initially, did not see the 'the' so I had IN MY, that was bad.
38 Conan Doyle title: SIR. Not one of his books, but himself.
39 Artist who wrote “Diary of a Genius”: DALI. He makes sense of the term twisted genius; I love how he was portrayed in Midnight in Paris.
45 May honorees: MAS. Moms would not fit, I almost gave up in Spanish like Roberto Duran.
46 Search for: SCOUT OUT. This took work and perps, but I like it.
47 Bygone flier: TWA. Not a bird, and airline.
49 McClanahan of “The Golden Girls”: RUE. Only Betty White lives, they almost switched. LINK.(2:55).
50 Classic Stutz: BEARCAT. I heard so much about this car as a child.
58 Kapalua Airport site: MAUI.
59 Father of Phobos: ARES. here we go again with more war.
60 Rhymes of rap: BUSTA. I cannot censor, so WATCH (3:21) at your own risk.
61 Hunger: URGE. This Corner was tough for me.
62 Buzz cut’s lack: PART. So simple, in retrospect.
63 Starlike flower: ASTER. The names comes from the Latin, ASTRUM, and should remind you of asteroids or astral projection.
64 Horse show: MR ED. I am embarrassed to say, I had an M RED moment, before I remembered he was a horse of course. We have had one of our own at the corner. I should have recalled Dr. Sessa' s wonderful Mr. Ed puzzle.
65 Sport with a wired weapon: EPEE.
66 Park and drive: GEARS. My first thought was lots, but my brain awoke, and came out of neutral.
Down:
1 Sharp put-downs: ZINGS. Of course for us it is THIS.(1:28).
2 Esteem to the max: ADORE.
3 Lab glass: PYREX. All you want to know about borosilicate GLASS.
4 Start of an oft misquoted 1942 film line: PLAY IT. Again Sam, is the misquote; oddly the words said start the same, but go on "Sam, you played it for her..."
5 Valueless pile: ASH HEAP. Diabolical to have two Hs next to each other in a word.
6 Down the tubes: KAPUT.
7 Element abundant in liver: IRON.
8 __ a hand: LEND.
9 Expose: LAY BARE. More nice non-theme words requiring thought. Almost enough of an excuse to link Ygritte naked.
10 Didn’t just chuckle: GUFFAWED. At first, I was thinking with the FF, this might be part of the theme, but it is just a nice word.
11 Norway’s patron saint: OLAF. I think our Norwegian readers get more shout outs than anyone else.
12 African bovines: GNUS. I am sure this was not new to you and you knew the GNU.
13 Dynasty after the Qin: HAN. No relation to Solo or ukkah.
21 Bone: Pref.: OSTE.oporosis for example.
22 Over, to Ulrich: UBER.
26 Fleet: SWIFT. This for me is the subtle highlight of the work, as the clue was tricky, not dealing with lots of cars or trucks, but also is the surname of Jonathan Swift who wrote about the Lilliputians and the Brobdingnagians.
27 Co-panelist with Francis and Kilgallen: CERF.
27 Co-panelist with Francis and Kilgallen: CERF.
28 Group with lineups: TEAM. And no I.
29 “Man __Mancha”: OF LA. (OLAF anagram?) My inspiration, Don Quixote.
30 Three-pronged letters: PSIS. Ψ, ψ, he sighed.
31 A tenth of zehn: EINS. German Ten and One.
32 UCLA VIP, e.g.: BMOC. Big Man On Campus.
33 Former wrestling star __ Brazil: BOBO. I used to sit and watch the wrestling, Killer Kowalski, Bruno Sammartino with my grandfather; great bonding moments. WATCH. (2:00).
35 Genesis twin: ESAU.
37 Came down without sticking, usually: FLURRIED. I was snowed by this clue for the longest time.
41 Case for some small, sharp items: ETUI. Sewing stuff.
42 Blows one’s stack: GOES APE.
43 Hot times in the cité: ETES. Summer which starts this year at 1:00 AM EDT. Apparently now we must see this fill everyday until fall.
44 Party parting gift: SWAG BAG. Nice rhyme and to me more related to events than parties.
48 Motivate: AROUSE. Yes, I do recall trying to motivate a young lady recently, when... oh, never mind.
50 Tend to a duck: BASTE. Don't feed it, cook it.
51 __ del Sol: COSTA.
52 Hunting: AFTER. Not my first choice, but the perps led the way and it does work.
53 Alexander et al.: TSARS. Making a clue comeback this week.
54 “The Alienist” author: CARR. Caleb, a wonderful book.
55 Brobdingnagian: HUGE. We had the little, now the big.
56 Crab pot, e.g.: TRAP.
57 Not much more than: MERE. Just one clue away from the end, it should take a mere minute.
58 Fall bloom: MUM. is the word.
So it is time to pack my needles and and my barbs into my etui and go off into the night. Thanks Ed for a really challenging Friday, and thank you all for being here and checking in. Lemonade out.
Note from C.C.:
1) Below are a few beautiful photos from Marti's Italy trip. Please click here for more. Notice the name of that store (#4)?
The view from our balcony in Rapallo, Italy (on the "Italian Riviera")
Wine and pizza for lunch - how cliched!!
Joe cool! (Marti's husband Allen)
2) Lucina is visiting CA at the moment. The California coven gathered at Dodo's place yesterday.
Left to right: Lucina, Chickie, Dodo, Garlic Gal & JD
3) Belated Happy Anniversary to Chickie and her husband Bill!
