Our Singapore scribe, Julian Lim, has given us 4 grid spanning theme answers, where two phrases which share a common word are put together into a single answer. ABC, the single response is made up of both AB C and A BC. The A's are all coins (Penny, Nickel, Quarter & Dime).
Julian usually gives me fits and this was no exception, the theme jumped out at me, so that helped, but some of the hard ones were really hard. The puzzle was also heavy on initialisms. Some interesting fill like EMERITI, EXECUTE, IN A SUIT, LET'S SEE, MIXTAPE, RIP OPEN, SENECAN, STETTED and TONE LOC and some very up to date fill like DROPBOX and KINECT. The corners with their side by side 7 letter down fill gave this kind of a themeless feel for me, and I know Mr. Lim does those well. But the DAYO and TONE LOC and even ST. BEDE were very challenging; ah well let's get to it.
17A. Snap of part of one's portfolio? : PENNY STOCK PHOTO. You have Penny Stock followed Stock Photo.
32A. What a Canadian band owes annually? : NICKELBACK TAXES. Nickleback is a successful Canadian family band that makes lots of money and must pay taxes, and if they are late they will owe Back Taxes.
38A. Cheap Valentine's Day gift? : DIME-A-DOZEN ROSES. I do not think there is much left for a dime a dozen, but a dozen roses generally still does the trick.
57A. Injury sustained before the semis? : QUARTER-FINAL CUT. Did anyone watch the Australian Open Tennis with all the upsets?
Across:
1. Out of the rat race, maybe: Abbr. : RETired. A nice gentle beginning.
4. Country inflection : DRAWL.
9. Discombobulate : ADDLE. If you make it Discombobulated, it is 15 letters and a prime crossword fill.
14. Chatter's caveat : IMO. In My Opinion.
15. Family nickname : AUNTY. She is the most popular of relatives, for crosswords it seems, she is also always at reunions. The AU I guess.
16. Prized mushroom : MOREL. A real shout out to C.C. and the Corner, as along with the Loon (our blog bird) we have this as our fun phallic fungus.
20. Chocolatey, circular cereal brand : OREO O'S. Great letter combination but I have never seen this LINK.
21. Gerrymanders, say : REMAPS. No way to explain without politics, but it comes from Elbridge Thomas Gerry, the 5th Vice-president who also was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. from Marblehead, Mass.
22. Medication unit : PILL.
23. Brawl : FRAY. Comes from the same Latin stem as Friction.
25. Org. with den mothers : BSA. Boy Scouts of America.
27. Zone for DDE : ETO. European Theater of Operations.
28. Big name in 30-Across : MCAN. Thom McAn, a once leader in retail shoe sales, now just a name at Sears and K-Mart. Founded in Worcester, Mass.
30. Flats, e.g. : SHOES. Yes they did not make heels.
36. "Gun Hill Road" star Morales : ESAI. Great CW vowel name, who I know better from NYPD Blue.
37. Recover : HEAL. I meant heel.
45. Sassy ones : SNIPS. All perps.
46. Indian intern in "Dilbert" : ASOK.
47. Business card abbr. : EXTension. Mine is 11, if you call.
48. Far from draconian : LAX.
49. Smartphone downloads : APPS. 11D. Big name in cloud storage : DROPBOX. Speaking of APPS.
51. Giants lineman Chris : SNEE. His father- in-law is the coach, Tom Coughlin. Chris played his college ball at Boston College.
52. "Venerable" Eng. monk : ST. BEDE. An 8th century monk who was canonized while still alive. LINK.
55. Motion-sensitive Xbox accessory : KINECT. The Microsoft answer to the Wii.
60. Two-footer : BIPED. Cute.
61. High-muck-a-muck : MR BIG. Or a recurring character in Sex and the City.
62. Had a taco : ATE. Or you could have....
63. Makes tender, in a way : STEWS.
64. "We __ please" : AIM TO. The rest of the sign in the Men's room reads, "so please aim, too."
65. Composer Rorem : NED. Getting to be a regular.
Down:
1. Unwrap in a hurry : RIP OPEN. How to slow them down. LINK.
2. Retired professors : EMERITI. Plural of Emiritus, Latin E = "from" and meritus = "merit." Those who have earned the right to retire.
3. "Funky Cold Medina" rapper : TONE LOC. No clue. Listen? (4:28).
4. Ballpark rallying cry based on a 1950s hit : DAY O. More music; I have no idea about the ball park reference, but I do remember Harry Belafonte and this Banana Boat SONG. (3:02).
5. "Twin Peaks" actor Tamblyn : RUSS. A wonderful performer who was the lead Jet in West Side Story, the psychiatrist in the cult classic Twin Peaks and even worked with his daughter Amber in Joan of Arcadia.
6. Barbecue buttinsky : ANT.
7. Commerce gp. headed by Roberto Azevêdo : WTO. World Trade Organization.
8. Girdle material : LYCRA. A brand name for Spandex. IMAGE.
9. Letters on some faces : AM/PM. Clock faces.
10. Capital west of Dubai : DOHA. A too late shout out to our River Doc.
12. "Well, now ..." : LET'S SEE.
13. "Turn to Stone" band : ELO. Electric Light Orchestra.
18. Exiled Cambodian Lon __ : NOL. The palindromic despot.
19. Critical : KEY.
23. One-named Milanese model : FABIO. He was (is?) cute.
24. Protein producer : RNA.
26. Mule kin : ASS. A shout out to...oh never mind.
28. Arizona landscape features : MESAS. A shout out to our desert dwelling dears.
29. Sporting, with "in" : CLAD. Just a loincloth.
30. Desolate : STARK. Also the family name from Winterfell in Game of Thrones.
31. Symbolic ring : HALO. Trickery.
33. Put in storage : KEEP.
34. It may include a checking account : CHESS. Oh, a punny clue; last Friday's Chess themed episode of Bones was wonderful. IMO.
35. Atlantic City game : KENO. There is a great scene with Sid Caesar and Keno in what movie?
38. High-tech connection letters : DSL. Digital Subscriber Line
39. Formally attired : IN A SUIT. In the old days my daily attire, but still a nice long fill.
40. Homemade collection of songs : MIXTAPE. Lots of great movie plots around this form of musical compilation. How many of you have ever made one for a loved one?
41. Shock : ZAP.
42. Like some Lake Erie residents : SENECAN. Native American tribe.
43. Fulfill : EXECUTE. Like the game plan Denver and Seattle each hope to..... in the Super Bowl.
44. Undid a dele : STETTED. Never seen STET as a verb.
49. Fruity quencher : ADE. A nice Friday shout and the subject of a big debate at the Fiend a few days ago, as this may not be a word!
50. Prefix with frost : PERMA. A portmanteau of permanent and frost to represent under 0 degrees C. for two or more years.
51. Hit with skits and bits : SNL. Saturday Night Live.
53. Cook up : BREW. Not beer this time Tin, or is it?
54. DFW schedule data : ETDS. Estimated Time of Departures.
55. Use needles : KNIT. My youngest is dating a knitter; interesting to see a 20 something take it up.
56. "Othello" schemer : IAGO.
57. Brees and Brady: Abbr. : QBS. QuarterBacks. Our Super Bowl shout out.
58. T.G.I. time : FRIday.
59. ThinkPad maker : IBM. International Business Machine. The Apple of my childhood.
Well the puzzle, like the month went quickly. I hope you all have a Super Sunday (with Football, Downton Abbey , and BBC's Sherlock there is much going on) and we will see how Floyd Mayweather Jr. does in his $10,000,000.00 bet on Denver. Lemonade out.
Note from C.C.:
Happy Birthday to dear Bill G! Love your lunch & bike ride reports. Love your animal tracks.
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| Bill G & Grandson Jordon, Oct 18, 2012 |
