Theme: Sheik's Peer Group - the ends of the six theme entries homo-phonically reveal the start of one of the Bard's most famous soliloquies
19A. *Split apart : IN TWO
20A. *Working, working, working : AS BUSY AS A BEE
35A. *1967 NHL Calder Memorial Trophy recipient : BOBBY ORR. Hockey's "Rookie of the Year" trophy presciently awarded to this Hall of Famer and Boston Bruins legend.
41A. *Half-hitch kin : SLIP KNOT. Pull the loose end to release it.
56A. *"And it took long enough!" : ABOUT TIME TOO. On finishing the crossword?
59A. *Backup option : PLAN B. I once worked for a company that liked to have Plans C thru Z too, just in case. It was a tad tedious, to say the least.
and then all the way at the bottom, the hint:
48D. Speaker of the ends of the answers to starred clues : HAMLET
Talented chap, that Shakespeare bloke. So is Ed Sessa, come to that. I found this a little tricky for a Wednesday and took a little while to get a foothold, but then a couple of spirals around the grid and things started to fall into place. I enjoyed the POE/MAELSTRÖM connection, and could easily visualize a HAM ACTOR making a mess of HAMLET. Let's get into the details:
Across:
1. Gothic literature middle name : ALLAN. Mr. Poe.
6. Sound of relief : AAH.
9. Tells : BLABS
14. Olympus competitor : LEICA. Always need to wait for crosses with these - you've got Nikon and Canon as other possibilities.
15. Lobster __ Diavolo : FRA. Yay - Food! making an early appearance. The tomato-and-chilli Fra Diavolo sauce is Italian for "Brother Devil", so named because of the spicy heat.
16. Talked a blue streak : RAN ON
17. Violent whirlpool : MAELSTRÖM. Our 1A friend Mr. Poe wrote a short story in 1841 "A Descent into the Maelström" which captivated me when I read it as a child.
22. Bashful : SHY
23. Per person : APIECE
24. Pinch : DASH
28. Part of Q.E.D. : QUOD. "Erat Demonstrandum" rounds out the phrase. Tada! in mathemetician-speak.
29. Asian holiday : TET. I'm sure there are more Asian holidays than this one, but it's a crossword-fave.
31. Transcript fig. : G.P.A.
32. Géorgie, to Georgette : ÉTAT. The French spelling of the State of Georgia. I learned in French lessons years ago that if you replace the "e-acute" at the start of a word with the letter "S", you'll often get closer to the English meaning of the word. Not a hard-and-fast rule, but it works in this case.
37. Sound : AUDIO
39. Game show prize : CAR
40. Long tales : SAGAS
43. With 64-Across, tax shelter since 1998 : ROTH
44. "Power" accessory : TIE. I used to wear a tie pretty much every day, but now businesses are much more relaxed about such things.
45. Updike's "Rabbit Redux," e.g.: Abbr. : SEQ. The sequel to "Rabbit, Run"
46. Longtime Saudi king : FAHD
49. Tater : SPUD. Food! I'm liking Ed's puzzle today.
51. Ancient Israeli fortress : MASADA. Crosses all the way.
53. Workout "washboards" : ABS. Let's ask USA Olympic sprinter Torri Edwards to illustrate what these look like:
62. Vibrator in the larynx : VOCAL CORD. My thought process here went "voice box .. no wait .. "vocal chord" ... no, what? ah! Got it!
63. Public opening? : JOHN Q. Does Mr. Public live in Peoria?
64. See 43-Across : IRA
65. Low-price prefix : ECONO- Yee-ha! Nancy Griffith extols the virtues of the Ford panel van.
66. Really cracks up : SLAYS
67. Volleyball barrier : NET
68. Carved emblem : TOTEM
Down:
1. Soprano Gluck and composer Mahler-Werfel : ALMAS. On the "I know this" scale of 1-10 I was was a solid zero. Thank you, crosses.
2. Chihuahua lead : LEASH. I was expecting something fiendishly Mexican-Spanish here. Nope.
3. Stretch out next to : LIE BY
4. Censorship-fighting org. : A.C.L.U.
5. Bahamas port : NASSAU. Port of Registration for many cruise liners.
6. Hiding under the covers : AFRAID
7. Tossed off the covers : AROSE
8. Poor choice to play 48-Down : HAM ACTOR. Good choice to play "Babe" though?
9. Creamy cheese : BRIE
10. Like Olympic pools : LANED. Also seems a darned long way from one end to the other when you're in the middle of sprint training.
11. Picnic invader : ANT
12. Moment of stage gratitude : BOW
13. __-Cat: winter vehicle : SNO
18. Proofer's find : TYPO
21. U.K. network, with "the" : BEEB. Fondly, the BBC - the British Broadcasting Corporation.
25. Disco phrase : A GOGO. The famous Whisky a Go Go nightclub here in Los Angeles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Pretty good for a building.
26. Nursery rhyme surname : SPRAT. Jack and his wife. We never learned Mrs. Sprat's first name. Maybe it was Jill, of "tumbling after" fame.
27. Strident : HARSH
28. Cotton swab brand : Q-TIP
30. "Conan" channel : TBS. Ted Turner's TBS, based in Atlanta was the first "Superstation" - the first basic cable channel to transmit programming via satellite, enabling it to be carried on cable networks in all 50 states by 1978.
32. Bridge positions : EASTS
33. Cup-shaped bloom : TULIP
34. "Cheers," across the Channel : ADIEU. I tried SANTÉ first. Bottoms up!
35. Ball striker : BAT
36. Play area : YARD
38. Endorsements : OK'S
39. Chicken-in-wine stew : COQ AU VIN. Food! I learned early to use the same wine you were planning to drink with the meal, rather than throw in some cheap stuff and hope it magically tasted great when it cooked out. I use a nice Californian Pinot Noir, the same primary varietal in French burgundy.
42. Movie clownfish : NEMO
46. One with money to burn : FAT CAT
47. 1998 Sarah McLachlan song : ADIA. This song is following me around on crossword Wednesday. No matter, it's a beautiful song.
50. Boy in an Irish song : DANNY. Here's the Irish Tenors
52. Target, for one : STORE
53. On __: reveling : A TOOT
54. Carried : BORNE
55. City destroyed in Genesis : SODOM. It's near-neighbor Gomorrah didn't fare too well either. As Danny Boy would have said "Begorrah, Gomorrah"!
57. Tailgaters' cookers, for short : BBQ'S
58. __ Domani: Italian wine brand : ECCO. I'm very familiar with the name and the label, although I don't believe I've actually tasted any. Marti?
59. Sleepover attire : PJ'S
60. Cyberyuk : LOL. Laugh Out Loud. Great clue.
61. "Just as I thought!" : AHA!
Time for me to shuffle off the crossword coil. Here's the grid:
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Happy birthday to our talented Owen! Thanks for the time and hard work you put into your poems. You bring smiles to many regulars and we're grateful for your presence.
19A. *Split apart : IN TWO
20A. *Working, working, working : AS BUSY AS A BEE
35A. *1967 NHL Calder Memorial Trophy recipient : BOBBY ORR. Hockey's "Rookie of the Year" trophy presciently awarded to this Hall of Famer and Boston Bruins legend.
41A. *Half-hitch kin : SLIP KNOT. Pull the loose end to release it.
56A. *"And it took long enough!" : ABOUT TIME TOO. On finishing the crossword?
59A. *Backup option : PLAN B. I once worked for a company that liked to have Plans C thru Z too, just in case. It was a tad tedious, to say the least.
and then all the way at the bottom, the hint:
48D. Speaker of the ends of the answers to starred clues : HAMLET
 |
| Royal Shakespeare Company 50th Anniversary UK Stamp |
"To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;"
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;"
Talented chap, that Shakespeare bloke. So is Ed Sessa, come to that. I found this a little tricky for a Wednesday and took a little while to get a foothold, but then a couple of spirals around the grid and things started to fall into place. I enjoyed the POE/MAELSTRÖM connection, and could easily visualize a HAM ACTOR making a mess of HAMLET. Let's get into the details:
Across:
1. Gothic literature middle name : ALLAN. Mr. Poe.
6. Sound of relief : AAH.
9. Tells : BLABS
14. Olympus competitor : LEICA. Always need to wait for crosses with these - you've got Nikon and Canon as other possibilities.
15. Lobster __ Diavolo : FRA. Yay - Food! making an early appearance. The tomato-and-chilli Fra Diavolo sauce is Italian for "Brother Devil", so named because of the spicy heat.
16. Talked a blue streak : RAN ON
17. Violent whirlpool : MAELSTRÖM. Our 1A friend Mr. Poe wrote a short story in 1841 "A Descent into the Maelström" which captivated me when I read it as a child.
 |
| "I'm guessing this is not good" |
23. Per person : APIECE
24. Pinch : DASH
28. Part of Q.E.D. : QUOD. "Erat Demonstrandum" rounds out the phrase. Tada! in mathemetician-speak.
29. Asian holiday : TET. I'm sure there are more Asian holidays than this one, but it's a crossword-fave.
31. Transcript fig. : G.P.A.
32. Géorgie, to Georgette : ÉTAT. The French spelling of the State of Georgia. I learned in French lessons years ago that if you replace the "e-acute" at the start of a word with the letter "S", you'll often get closer to the English meaning of the word. Not a hard-and-fast rule, but it works in this case.
37. Sound : AUDIO
39. Game show prize : CAR
40. Long tales : SAGAS
43. With 64-Across, tax shelter since 1998 : ROTH
44. "Power" accessory : TIE. I used to wear a tie pretty much every day, but now businesses are much more relaxed about such things.
45. Updike's "Rabbit Redux," e.g.: Abbr. : SEQ. The sequel to "Rabbit, Run"
46. Longtime Saudi king : FAHD
49. Tater : SPUD. Food! I'm liking Ed's puzzle today.
51. Ancient Israeli fortress : MASADA. Crosses all the way.
53. Workout "washboards" : ABS. Let's ask USA Olympic sprinter Torri Edwards to illustrate what these look like:
62. Vibrator in the larynx : VOCAL CORD. My thought process here went "voice box .. no wait .. "vocal chord" ... no, what? ah! Got it!
63. Public opening? : JOHN Q. Does Mr. Public live in Peoria?
64. See 43-Across : IRA
65. Low-price prefix : ECONO- Yee-ha! Nancy Griffith extols the virtues of the Ford panel van.
66. Really cracks up : SLAYS
67. Volleyball barrier : NET
68. Carved emblem : TOTEM
Down:
1. Soprano Gluck and composer Mahler-Werfel : ALMAS. On the "I know this" scale of 1-10 I was was a solid zero. Thank you, crosses.
2. Chihuahua lead : LEASH. I was expecting something fiendishly Mexican-Spanish here. Nope.
3. Stretch out next to : LIE BY
4. Censorship-fighting org. : A.C.L.U.
6. Hiding under the covers : AFRAID
7. Tossed off the covers : AROSE
8. Poor choice to play 48-Down : HAM ACTOR. Good choice to play "Babe" though?
9. Creamy cheese : BRIE
10. Like Olympic pools : LANED. Also seems a darned long way from one end to the other when you're in the middle of sprint training.
11. Picnic invader : ANT
12. Moment of stage gratitude : BOW
13. __-Cat: winter vehicle : SNO
18. Proofer's find : TYPO
21. U.K. network, with "the" : BEEB. Fondly, the BBC - the British Broadcasting Corporation.
25. Disco phrase : A GOGO. The famous Whisky a Go Go nightclub here in Los Angeles was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Pretty good for a building.
26. Nursery rhyme surname : SPRAT. Jack and his wife. We never learned Mrs. Sprat's first name. Maybe it was Jill, of "tumbling after" fame.
27. Strident : HARSH
28. Cotton swab brand : Q-TIP
30. "Conan" channel : TBS. Ted Turner's TBS, based in Atlanta was the first "Superstation" - the first basic cable channel to transmit programming via satellite, enabling it to be carried on cable networks in all 50 states by 1978.
32. Bridge positions : EASTS
33. Cup-shaped bloom : TULIP
34. "Cheers," across the Channel : ADIEU. I tried SANTÉ first. Bottoms up!
35. Ball striker : BAT
36. Play area : YARD
38. Endorsements : OK'S
39. Chicken-in-wine stew : COQ AU VIN. Food! I learned early to use the same wine you were planning to drink with the meal, rather than throw in some cheap stuff and hope it magically tasted great when it cooked out. I use a nice Californian Pinot Noir, the same primary varietal in French burgundy.
42. Movie clownfish : NEMO
46. One with money to burn : FAT CAT
47. 1998 Sarah McLachlan song : ADIA. This song is following me around on crossword Wednesday. No matter, it's a beautiful song.
50. Boy in an Irish song : DANNY. Here's the Irish Tenors
52. Target, for one : STORE
53. On __: reveling : A TOOT
54. Carried : BORNE
55. City destroyed in Genesis : SODOM. It's near-neighbor Gomorrah didn't fare too well either. As Danny Boy would have said "Begorrah, Gomorrah"!
57. Tailgaters' cookers, for short : BBQ'S
58. __ Domani: Italian wine brand : ECCO. I'm very familiar with the name and the label, although I don't believe I've actually tasted any. Marti?
59. Sleepover attire : PJ'S
60. Cyberyuk : LOL. Laugh Out Loud. Great clue.
61. "Just as I thought!" : AHA!
Time for me to shuffle off the crossword coil. Here's the grid:
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Happy birthday to our talented Owen! Thanks for the time and hard work you put into your poems. You bring smiles to many regulars and we're grateful for your presence.
 |
| Owen & his wife Brenda (Feb 28, 2009) |
