The good news, my minor in college was English and I took many poetry classes. The bad news, I do not recall titles of anything, books, poems, songs...This took longer than any Friday in months, and I was so excited to have a C.C. to blog after last week's marti masterpiece. Of course what could be more fitting than the creator of Crossword Corner creating a puzzle about a Corner. Each of the four in this puzzle has two very famous poets intersecting by the first or last letter of their last names, with a central reveal, surrounded by four cheater squares to make it a grid-spanner of sorts. The works selected appear to be picked because they are not the most famous work of the author, thereby making this Friday a real work out.
There may be some confusion of so much long fill that exceeds or equals the length of theme answers. EVICTED, MEDICAL, NEGLECT , IMPURITY, PAGANINI, RED ADAIR, SIPOWICZ, SMASH HIT, THE ALAMO, LENGTHENS and NESPRESSO. These mix old and new knowledge continues to amaze me, considering where C.C. grew up. Sit back and enjoy as the puzzle is stuffed with information.
1A. He wrote "The Eve of St. Agnes" : KEATS. Not his most famous POEM. Poor man died at 25 of Tuberculosis..
1D. He wrote "Summer of Love" : KILMER. Another POEM I do not know from Joyce who wrote TREES. Kilmer was an American killed in Europe by a sniper's bullet in World War I at age 31.
9A. He wrote "Halloween" : BURNS. Here we go again, another POEM I no nothing about. This Scotsman lasted until he was 37, having fathered 14 children along the way.
13D. He wrote "The Cloud" : SHELLEY. Percy Bysshe Shelley was a contemporary of Keats, he wrote this POEM and also died young, at 29 in a sudden storm. His death is the subject of speculation. His second wife was Mary Godwin, who wrote Frankenstein.
40D. He wrote "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" : SERVICE. Robert Service, the Canadian Poet is a bit of an outlier, as this POEM is one of his most famous. He lived to be 82.
67A. He wrote "Ash Wednesday" : ELIOT. I do not know this POEM either, though I admire some of his work. He lived until 76.
49D. He wrote the "Odes" : HORACE. Like Service, this is a famous collection of POEMS by Horace who was very popular in Rome with the early Caesars. He lived until 72.
69A. He wrote the "Convivio" : DANTE. This is an unfinished work which includes POEMS in the books. The estimate he lived about 55 years.
and the reveal (hint)
38A. Westminster Abbey attraction, and one of four in this puzzle : POET'S CORNER.
Across:
6. Avid fan : NUT. The online etymology dictionary tells us, "be nutts upon "be very fond of" (1785), which is possibly from nuts (plural noun) "any source of pleasure" (1610s), from nut (q.v.)."
14. "That's it for me!" : I QUIT. A simple but elegant fill with a QU in the middle.
15. Kyrgyzstan city : OSH. Really? Kosh B'Gosh, we live in Osh? Occupational Safety and Health not good enough for C.C.? I do not know the country or the CITY.
16. "My FBI" author Louis : FREEH. I cannot remember the spelling of his name. LINK.
17. Drew : LURED. I could not picture this answer. I wonder if Drew Carey would be popular as Lured Carey.
18. Cohort of Curly : MOE. A CSO to our own Chairman, also 20A. Red Guard leader : MAO.
19. Perch, at times : LEDGE.
21. 1970s radical gp. : SLA. So much hard work, I started with SDS.
23. Literary assortment : ANA. We had this a month ago (11/14/14) and I even can point to a previous C.C. PUZZLE which used this fill.
25. The whole shebang : ALL.
26. Peut-__: maybe, in French : ETRE. Perhaps it means maybe.
28. Lace place : EYELET.
30. "Small Wonder" state: Abbr. : DELaware. This was one of those educated guesses that make solving go faster.
31. Five-pound Staples package, typically : REAM of paper. You can do your office workout now.
32. Stellar spectacles : NOVAS. Naturally I started with NOVAE.
33. Show anxiety, in a way : PACE.
34. Music publisher sold to Universal in 2007 : BMG. This says it was sold to SONY in 2008? LINK. Bertelsmann is sill very active.
36. Foreign matter : IMPURITY. Nicely phrased.
40. Blockbuster : SMASH HIT. Don't you love fill that has ___HH__.
42. Backup key : ESC. I think of UNDO.
43. Some hosp. scans : EEGS. ElectroEncephalagrams.
44. Pentathlon equipment : EPEES. One of the five events of the competition.
46. Sundance Film Festival state : UTAH. Robert Redford's home.
50. Nutritional stat. : RDA. Recommended daily allowance.
51. Battery terminals : ANODES. Cathodes anyone?
52. Maker of the Power Max HD snow blower : TORO. Two weeks in a row, one from marti one from C.C., hmmm.
53. Chablis, e.g. : VIN. Please no whining about foreign words, especially after the Coc au vin discussion.
54. Sydney's state: Abbr. : NSW. New South Wales.
55. Rocky hellos : YOS. Cute deception.
57. Old Egypt-Syr. alliance : UAR. United Arab Republic.
58. Finishing touch of a sort : ICING. On the cake...
60. Swear words : I DO. And I will very soon. Hmm, yesterday also....
62. West African capital : ACCRA. Ghana, along with Nigeria, a hotbed of internet scams.
64. Support aids : CANES.
65. Tough mutt : CUR. Wki says it is thought to be short for the Middle English curdogge, which derives from the word curren, meaning to growl.
66. Designer Mizrahi : ISAAC.
68. Intro to zoology? : ZEE. I am sure those who live by the ZED hate this clue.
Down:
2. Regard as the same : EQUATE.
3. Night light sight : AURORA. If you have never seen the Borealis...
4. No-win situation : TIE. Kissing your sister.
5. Mfg. guidelines : STDS. Standards.
6. Deli request : NO MAYO. Most delis I saw growing up never even had mayonnaise on hand.
7. Private entertainers, briefly? : USO. United Service Organizations Inc. LINK.
8. Texas Revolution battle site : THE ALAMO.
9. A neighbor : B-FLAT. Do musical clues move you?
10. Script add-on : URE. Scripture.
11. Legendary firefighter : RED ADAIR. Oil well fires. Interesting MAN.
12. Pay no attention to : NEGLECT.
22. Stretches out : LENGTHENS.
24. Coffee-making portmanteau : NESPRESSO. This mash up word comes from Nestlé and Espresso.
27. Raise in relief : EMBOSS. I was relieved when I filled this in.
29. Bounced : EVICTED. Literally?
33. Like jigsaw puzzles : PRECUT. Of course this is true, but not what I thought of.
35. "So what" : MEH. A shout out to all of us.
37. Young __ : UNS.
38. 19th-century Italian violin virtuoso : PAGANINI. A taste of his work.
39. Franz' "NYPD Blue" role : SIPOWICZ. The character is so famous, it has its on WIKI PAGE. I recall the Beverly Hills Buntz days, as well.
41. Kind of research : MEDICAL.
45. Pooh pal : EEYORE. My favorite from Milne.
47. Froot Loops mascot : TOUCAN. Do all remember that his name is SAM.
48. Ancient docking site : ARARAT.
51. Apprehension : ANGST. Such a great consonant progression.
56. Declared : SAID. People need to do more saying and less declaring.
59. Recent: Pref. : NEO.
61. __ process : DUE.
63. Gray side: Abbr. : CSA. Confederate States of America.
Well I feel really lucky to get to blog Marti and C.C. in consecutive weeks. I look forward to all the poetry from the Corner in response.
Lemonade out.
