Theme: "Kiddie Lit" - A word is added to each famous novel & turns it into a kid book.
23A. Tolstoy tale of child's play? : THUMB WAR AND PEACE. Never read War and Peace. So heavy. How things have deteriorated in Iraq & the whole Middle East!
36A. Carson tale of well-behaved classroom clock watchers? : SILENT SPRING FEVER. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Spring fever.
54A. Dickens tale of math woes? : HARD TIMES TABLES. Dickens' Hard Times. Times tables was certainly math woe to me.
75A. Palahniuk tale of a rowdy slumber party society? : PILLOW FIGHT CLUB. I only saw the movie Fight Club. Did not know the author.
89A. Orwell tale of Beanie Baby breeding? : STUFFED ANIMAL FARM. I learned not long ago that George Orwell coined the term "Cold War".
108A. Updike tale of an idle cereal mascot? : TRIX RABBIT AT REST.
Wiki said "the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1991, the
second "Rabbit" novel to garner the award." Never read it. Trix is made
by General Mills here in MN.
This puzzle has only 6
theme entries, but they're all pretty long. Total 96 theme squares.
Personally I feel very comfortable with 90.
I don't think I've made a Sunday puzzle without cheater squares. This grid is cheater-free. Only 70 black squares.
Across:
1. Beijing Zoo attraction : PANDA. Every major zoo in China has a panda or two.
6. It's often seen in sheets : GLASS. Not STAMP.
11. Spreadsheet figures : DATA. "Sheet" clue echo.
15. Foolhardy : RASH
19. TWA competitor : US AIR
20. Cowboy's rope : RIATA. Or REATA.
21. Baylor, for one: Abbr. : UNIV
22. Analogy words : IS TO
26. Robert De __ : NIRO. I once had to remove NIRO from my puzle. Rich said his name is De Niro.
27. Giga- x 1,000 : TERA
28. St. Laurent of fashion : YVES. He had a great lover in Pierre Berge.
29. Upper-bod muscle : DELT
30. Hit song of 1950 : RAG MOP. Ames Brothers
32. Get cozy : SNUGGLE
34. Like Death Valley : SERE. Haven't seen this word for a long time.
35. Stud site : EARLOBE. You've got to think of earrings when "stud" is in the clue. Not this one.
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| Splynter the Saturday Stud |
40. Certain school team activity : DEBATE
44. Kick : BOOT
45. __ double take : DOES A
46. Botanical coating : ARIL. Wish it were clued as pomegranate seed.
47. "Fernando" band : ABBA
48. Matches at the poker table : CALLS
50. Hoover and Mossyrock : DAMS. Know former only.
58. Drink that lost the second part of its name in 1961 : PEPSI. Cola? I still call it Pepsi Cola though.
59. Mended, in a way : DARNED
60. Israel's Iron Lady : MEIR (Golda). She's in Munich.
61. War movie staples : HEROES
62. Diplomatic rep. : AMB
64. Nods, say : OKs
65. Evade : SKIRT
67. 1921 sci-fi play : R.U.R.
68. Biol. or chem. : SCI
69. Artichoke servings : HEARTS. I don't like artichoke. How about you, Marti?
71. Earth has one : MOON
72. Overdo the buffet, say : PIG OUT. Only if they have pickled herrings.
74. These, in Juarez : ESTAS
80. Half a fish : MAHI
81. Welles of "War of the Worlds" : ORSON
82. "Return of the Jedi" dancer : OOLA. Alley Oop's girlfriend is OOOLA.
83. Apollo landers, briefly : LEMs
84. Grannies : NANAs
86. Samoan capital : APIA
87. Gets : GRASPS
95. Oregon coastal city : ASTORIA
96. Late notice? : OBIT
97. Berlin School psychological theory : GESTALT. Lovely entry. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts".
102. Excitable cell : NEURON
103. Billionaire bank founder Andy : BEAL. Nope. No idea.
104. Latin trio member : AMAT
106. Wind in a pit : OBOE
107. Parisian's "to be" : ETRE
112. Employee IDs : SSNS
113. Actor Morales : ESAI. He was cool for a few episodes in NYPD Blue.
114. What a white flag may mean : TRUCE
115. Complete : UTTER
116. __ drive : TEST
117. "Father of the American Cartoon" : NAST. I guess he deserves the title.
118. "Symphony in Black" et al. : ERTES
119. "The Gondoliers" bride : TESSA. I can never remember this lady.
Down:
1. Forgoes the gimme : PUTTS. I'll take the gimme.
2. Like Dracula's visage : ASHEN
3. Tiny republic formerly called Pleasant Island : NAURU. Gimme.
4. Yankee legend, familiarly : DIMAG
5. Wall St. trader : ARB
6. Fish tank flooring : GRAVEL
7. Old Bologna bread : LIRE
8. Wiimote inserts : AAAs
9. Stop: Abbr. : STN
10. Most mournful : SADDEST
11. One with a second : DUELER. "Second" is the DUELER's assistant.
12. Med sch. subject : ANAT
13. Poker game tell, maybe : TIC
14. Batting figures : AVERAGES
15. Mastermind : RING LEADER. Great answer also.
16. "The Robots of Dawn" author : ASIMOV
17. Disco light : STROBE
18. "Sesame Street" store owner : HOOPER. Stumper for me.
24. Poet Elinor : WYLIE. Must be gimme for Yellowrocks and Owen.
25. Cop's quarry : PERP
31. Lab greetings : ARFs
33. Prime meridian std. : GST. Always want GMT.
34. Source of brown fur : STOAT
35. Carbon compounds : ENOLS. Every puzzle has a few undesirable entries.
37. Receded : EBBED
38. Noggins : NOBS
39. Hardly a doer : IDLER
40. Code word : DAH. Morse Code.
41. Timeline chapter : ERA
42. Pool on a pedestal : BIRD BATH
43. "The Aviator" Oscar nominee : ALDA (Alan)
47. Skunk River city : AMES. Not a pleasant name: Skunk River.
48. Highway breaker? : CBER. Nice clue.
49. Came down : ALIT
51. Last Supper attendees : APOSTLES. Last
week at the flea market there was a woman who kept shouting "Jesus is $9.
Jesus is $9". I discovered that she was selling Jesus figurines.
52. PC processing unit : MSEC
53. "Absolutely, amigo!" : SI SI
55. Races with sulkies : TROTS. Sulky is two-wheeled & one-horse carriage.
56. Tattoo parlor supplies : INKS. So do you have tattoos?
57. PABA part : AMINO
58. Texarkana-born '90s candidate : PEROT
61. Julia's "Notting Hill" co-star : HUGH (Grant). He had 2 kids with a Chinese girl.
62. "If I may butt in ..." : AHEM
63. Phoenix suburb : MESA
65. "Take it!" response, in a jazz club : SOLO. Easy for our Jazzbumpa.
66. City on the Rhein : KOLN
67. Latvia's most populous city : RIGA
70. Rapidly shrinking ecosystem : RAIN FOREST
71. Didn't __ beat : MISS A
72. Rice style : PILAF
73. Jim Morrison's alma mater : UCLA
75. The Devil's label? : PRADA. The Devil Wears Prada. The movie is better than the book.
76. Tom of "The Dukes of Hazzard" : WOPAT. Another stranger to me.
77. Straight man : FOIL.
Wiki said "straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance,
especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce". Not a familiar
concept to me.
78. Base decision maker : UMP
79. Undergrad degs. : BSS
81. Not a great chance : ONE IN TEN
85. Hendrix hairdo : AFRO
86. Comment from one rushing in : AM I LATE
87. Actress Scacchi : GRETA. Never heard of her either. Very pretty.
88. Condo divs. : RMs
89. Having the most marbles : SANEST. 94. Shooting marbles : AGATES. Marble clue echo.
90. Sub-Saharan menace : TSETSE
91. Reversals : U-TURNS
92. "You can't get out this way" : NO EXIT
93. Building beam : I-BAR
98. Dessert cart goodie : TORTE
99. Drives the getaway car for : ABETS
100. Blows, perhaps : LOSES. Great clue also.
101. Aquarium swimmer : TETRA
103. Predisposition : BIAS
104. Be up against : ABUT
105. Mickey and Minnie : MICE
109. Pres. Mandela's land : RSA. Republic of South Africa.
110. Winter outburst? : BRR
111. "Shame on you!" : TUT
Happy Birthday to dear Melissa, who's been through some really tough time. She's always strong and never complains.
C.C.
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| Melissa Bee |
