Theme: Chatterboxes - the ends of the four entries are described thus:
41D. Ultimate authority ... or what's hidden in the answers to starred clues : FINAL SAY
Which are:
17A. *Star of Comedy Central's "Insomniac" : DAVE ATTELL. The mark of a good crossword is great crosses, or, as some say, solid perps. I don't know this gentleman, but I didn't miss a beat. Most of it was filled in for me when I went back to it.
61A. *Home business? : REAL ESTATE. Seems to have been boom or bust in my neighborhood over the last 20 years. Right now it seems to be tear down, build the biggest house on the smallest lot and wonder why you're having an open house every weekend for months.
11D. *Popular cosmetic moisturizer : SHEA BUTTER. Making a comeback? Just cropped up last week.
28D. *Leonardo DiCaprio feature : WIDOW'S PEAK. Didn't see it, not sure I'd heard of it. I parsed it as WIDOW SPEAK until I saw sense. Leo got his Oscar for "The Revenant" a couple of weeks ago, to the relief of all his fans.
Salut! Here's a C.C. Thursday with an interesting across/down theme layout. Two 10's horizontally, two 10's vertically mix things up a little. I really liked that the reveal didn't come until way late in the process and helped me with the missing De Caprio entry.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Aboveboard : LEGIT. Had LEGAL first, as I wasn't expecting slangy/something from the clue. Fixed it quickly, but caused a hesitation.
6. Triumphant cries : HAHS. AHAS went in, AHAS came out. This was my tough section. I really need to remember how to spell ACAI (not with a "K") and RUNS LAPS just slotted right in there. Good Thursday stuff.
10. Hurdle for a jr. : PSAT. I was never a jr., let alone a sr. so this whole xSAT thing was alien to me. I'm slowly getting to grips with it now.
14. Lose some ground : ERODE
15. Berry rich in antioxidants : ACAI. Not K. Self-slap upside the head.
16. "Pygmalion" author : SHAW. GBS, or George Bernard. Adapted for a screenplay for the musical "My Fair Lady" with the lovely Audrey Hepburn.
19. Sleek, in car talk : AERO-
20. Best replacement? : STARR. Pete Best. Ringo Starr. We had a chat about "Fifth Beatles" last week. Another of the "Fifth Beatles", producer George Martin, passed away yesterday.
21. Exercises, in a way : DOES LAPS. RUNS LAPS caused me a wobble.
23. Daily Planet VIP : LOIS. I think VIP is a stretch for Lois. She's a beat reporter for the paper.
25. Insensitive : NUMB
26. "The Good Wife" field : LAW. Perps, I salute you.
29. Man cave fixture : SMART TV. Does this mean my home office is a man cave? Maybe I'd better install a couple of beer taps and a refrigerator.
32. Caller in a mask : UMPire. If someone argues a call and he gets mad, is that Ump ire?
35. Get up : ARISE
37. Dupe : FOOL
38. "bye 4 now" : TTYL. Talk To You Later. Although I generally h8 txtspeak, this one is handy.
39. Praise : KUDOS
40. Big letters in home security : ADT. The big question is how many homes displaying the warning signs are actually connected to the network?
41. Islamic decree : FATWA. "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie was a high-profile recipient of a fatwa against his life. If you've not read "Midnight's Children" that won him the Booker Prize for fiction, you might like to try it out. It's quite amazing.
42. "Of __ curls on calmed brows": E.B. Browning : EBON
43. City where Perry's flagship Niagara is exhibited : ERIE. Three times this week - popular place!
44. "Which is to say ... " : I MEAN
45. Viewed : SAW
46. 1988 Oscar winner for Best Picture : RAIN MAN
48. Bread for Reubens : RYE. Hmmmm - capitalized "R" seems a little bit ... not quite right. That reminds me - next Thursday is St. Patrick's Day, and I've got 12lbs of brisket brining in the refrigerator for corned beef. I'll let you know how it turns out!
49. Roasting aid : SPIT
51. Shutter piece : SLAT
53. Smooches : LIP LOCKS. Fun, slangy entry.
57. Justice Kagan : ELENA
60. Snack with a Thins variety : OREO. Snack/Treat/Sandwich staple.
64. Layer on a wall : COAT
65. Not again? : ONCE
66. Mall map symbol : ARROW
67. Press supplies : INKS. Long may there be presses and ink. Nothing beats a book to hold or a newspaper to fold.
68. Got up : WOKE
69. "I rock!" : YAY ME! I got this answer! Woo Hoo!
Down:
1. Spearheaded : LED
2. Big Band and Swing : ERAS
3. C-SPAN subject : GOVT. Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network - no wonder there's an abbreviation for that. Cool that they kept the hyphen.
4. Often unreachable goal : IDEAL
5. Fragrant hybrid blooms : TEA ROSES. A seemingly unending array of names can be found here. In honor of my home state, this is "California Dreamin'":
6. Bean topper? : HAT
7. Didn't have to putt on : ACED. Hole-in-one. In a touching moment, this last Monday pro golfer Ricky Fowler made an ace for $1M playing in Ernie Els' charity tournament in aid of autism research. Els has an autistic son and almost bear-hugged Fowler to death before throwing him into the crowd.
8. Angel hair topper : HALO. Great clue. I made pesto on Saturday and wanted that that to fit! Basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese. (Psst! Add blanched spinach leaves and you'll have the greenest pesto you've ever seen).
9. 10-Down feature : SILENT "L"
10. Item in a five-section Bible book : PSALM. Nice pairing.
12. Boomer advocacy group : AARP. Baby Boomers. It's not abbreviated any more - the company name is AARP, not A.A.R.P.
13. Ark units : TWOS. Don't cubits some into play somewhere as well?
18. Tidy cut : TRIM
22. Lexus GX, e.g. : S.U.V.
24. Exotic vacation : SAFARI. I'm currently reading Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari" and learned that the word simply means "journey" in Swahili. Nothing to do with wildlife.
26. Lures for anglers? : LAKES. Lovely clue.
27. Its capital is Oranjestad : ARUBA. This is one great example of a clue. My thought process was as follows: You can probably surmise that "Orangestad" might be Dutch, although this is not a city you've ever heard of. So you're narrowing down the possibilities to the Netherlands themselves or the Dutch colonies. The East Indies, Indonesia, East Africa - nope, drawing a blank. Then - whoa! The Caribbean! Didn't the Dutch have .... yeah! Aruba! 69A!
30. "The Kiss" sculptor : RODIN. LIP LOCK!
31. Symbols on poles : TOTEMS
33. Classic hit that begins "And now, the end is near" : MY WAY. Frank Sinatra. Thumper.
34. Control tower concern : PLANE
36. Lad : SON
38. Highland cap : TAM
43. Issue an embarrassing retraction : EAT CROW. Someday I'm going to try crow to see if it's so bad.
46. 2016 Olympics city : RIO
47. On the safer side : ALEE. The quiet side of the island.
50. Maps out : PLOTS
52. Aquarium fish : TETRA
53. Point sets, in math : LOCI. There's a reason my head hit the desk in math classes.
"... ellipses with foci (a,0), (-a, 0) whose generic member we pass through the point (0,t). We look at the locus of the points of intersection of the tangent through the point (b,0)."
On the upside, I did remember enough that when I met Buzz Aldrin at a football game I could casually mention that I was impressed that he basically did a doctorate in orbital physics without ever having to write anything down.
54. One is often used in the rough : IRON. Not me. I had a magic club made by a friend of mine in England that was basically a 5-wood with some voodoo built into it. Unless I couldn't actually see the ball, this thing would work wonders.
55. Ball game : KENO
56. Santa's burden : SACK
58. __ a one : NARY
59. Tiny energy source : ATOM. Packs a punch, though. It's almost 30 years since the Chernobyl power plant almost made the through-the-earth trip to the antipodes.
62. Finch creator : LEE. Atticus. Harper. "Go Set A Watchman" topped the 2015 Publisher's Weekly bestseller list for fiction.
63. Woolly mom : EWE
And ....... I think that about covers it.
Except .. here's the grid.
Steve
41D. Ultimate authority ... or what's hidden in the answers to starred clues : FINAL SAY
Which are:
17A. *Star of Comedy Central's "Insomniac" : DAVE ATTELL. The mark of a good crossword is great crosses, or, as some say, solid perps. I don't know this gentleman, but I didn't miss a beat. Most of it was filled in for me when I went back to it.
61A. *Home business? : REAL ESTATE. Seems to have been boom or bust in my neighborhood over the last 20 years. Right now it seems to be tear down, build the biggest house on the smallest lot and wonder why you're having an open house every weekend for months.
11D. *Popular cosmetic moisturizer : SHEA BUTTER. Making a comeback? Just cropped up last week.
28D. *Leonardo DiCaprio feature : WIDOW'S PEAK. Didn't see it, not sure I'd heard of it. I parsed it as WIDOW SPEAK until I saw sense. Leo got his Oscar for "The Revenant" a couple of weeks ago, to the relief of all his fans.
Salut! Here's a C.C. Thursday with an interesting across/down theme layout. Two 10's horizontally, two 10's vertically mix things up a little. I really liked that the reveal didn't come until way late in the process and helped me with the missing De Caprio entry.
Let's see what else we've got:
Across:
1. Aboveboard : LEGIT. Had LEGAL first, as I wasn't expecting slangy/something from the clue. Fixed it quickly, but caused a hesitation.
6. Triumphant cries : HAHS. AHAS went in, AHAS came out. This was my tough section. I really need to remember how to spell ACAI (not with a "K") and RUNS LAPS just slotted right in there. Good Thursday stuff.
10. Hurdle for a jr. : PSAT. I was never a jr., let alone a sr. so this whole xSAT thing was alien to me. I'm slowly getting to grips with it now.
14. Lose some ground : ERODE
15. Berry rich in antioxidants : ACAI. Not K. Self-slap upside the head.
16. "Pygmalion" author : SHAW. GBS, or George Bernard. Adapted for a screenplay for the musical "My Fair Lady" with the lovely Audrey Hepburn.
19. Sleek, in car talk : AERO-
20. Best replacement? : STARR. Pete Best. Ringo Starr. We had a chat about "Fifth Beatles" last week. Another of the "Fifth Beatles", producer George Martin, passed away yesterday.
21. Exercises, in a way : DOES LAPS. RUNS LAPS caused me a wobble.
23. Daily Planet VIP : LOIS. I think VIP is a stretch for Lois. She's a beat reporter for the paper.
25. Insensitive : NUMB
26. "The Good Wife" field : LAW. Perps, I salute you.
29. Man cave fixture : SMART TV. Does this mean my home office is a man cave? Maybe I'd better install a couple of beer taps and a refrigerator.
32. Caller in a mask : UMPire. If someone argues a call and he gets mad, is that Ump ire?
35. Get up : ARISE
37. Dupe : FOOL
38. "bye 4 now" : TTYL. Talk To You Later. Although I generally h8 txtspeak, this one is handy.
39. Praise : KUDOS
40. Big letters in home security : ADT. The big question is how many homes displaying the warning signs are actually connected to the network?
41. Islamic decree : FATWA. "Satanic Verses" author Salman Rushdie was a high-profile recipient of a fatwa against his life. If you've not read "Midnight's Children" that won him the Booker Prize for fiction, you might like to try it out. It's quite amazing.
42. "Of __ curls on calmed brows": E.B. Browning : EBON
43. City where Perry's flagship Niagara is exhibited : ERIE. Three times this week - popular place!
44. "Which is to say ... " : I MEAN
45. Viewed : SAW
46. 1988 Oscar winner for Best Picture : RAIN MAN
48. Bread for Reubens : RYE. Hmmmm - capitalized "R" seems a little bit ... not quite right. That reminds me - next Thursday is St. Patrick's Day, and I've got 12lbs of brisket brining in the refrigerator for corned beef. I'll let you know how it turns out!
49. Roasting aid : SPIT
51. Shutter piece : SLAT
53. Smooches : LIP LOCKS. Fun, slangy entry.
57. Justice Kagan : ELENA
60. Snack with a Thins variety : OREO. Snack/Treat/Sandwich staple.
64. Layer on a wall : COAT
65. Not again? : ONCE
66. Mall map symbol : ARROW
67. Press supplies : INKS. Long may there be presses and ink. Nothing beats a book to hold or a newspaper to fold.
68. Got up : WOKE
69. "I rock!" : YAY ME! I got this answer! Woo Hoo!
Down:
1. Spearheaded : LED
2. Big Band and Swing : ERAS
3. C-SPAN subject : GOVT. Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network - no wonder there's an abbreviation for that. Cool that they kept the hyphen.
4. Often unreachable goal : IDEAL
5. Fragrant hybrid blooms : TEA ROSES. A seemingly unending array of names can be found here. In honor of my home state, this is "California Dreamin'":
6. Bean topper? : HAT
7. Didn't have to putt on : ACED. Hole-in-one. In a touching moment, this last Monday pro golfer Ricky Fowler made an ace for $1M playing in Ernie Els' charity tournament in aid of autism research. Els has an autistic son and almost bear-hugged Fowler to death before throwing him into the crowd.
8. Angel hair topper : HALO. Great clue. I made pesto on Saturday and wanted that that to fit! Basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, parmesan cheese. (Psst! Add blanched spinach leaves and you'll have the greenest pesto you've ever seen).
9. 10-Down feature : SILENT "L"
10. Item in a five-section Bible book : PSALM. Nice pairing.
12. Boomer advocacy group : AARP. Baby Boomers. It's not abbreviated any more - the company name is AARP, not A.A.R.P.
13. Ark units : TWOS. Don't cubits some into play somewhere as well?
18. Tidy cut : TRIM
22. Lexus GX, e.g. : S.U.V.
24. Exotic vacation : SAFARI. I'm currently reading Paul Theroux's "Dark Star Safari" and learned that the word simply means "journey" in Swahili. Nothing to do with wildlife.
26. Lures for anglers? : LAKES. Lovely clue.
27. Its capital is Oranjestad : ARUBA. This is one great example of a clue. My thought process was as follows: You can probably surmise that "Orangestad" might be Dutch, although this is not a city you've ever heard of. So you're narrowing down the possibilities to the Netherlands themselves or the Dutch colonies. The East Indies, Indonesia, East Africa - nope, drawing a blank. Then - whoa! The Caribbean! Didn't the Dutch have .... yeah! Aruba! 69A!
30. "The Kiss" sculptor : RODIN. LIP LOCK!
31. Symbols on poles : TOTEMS
33. Classic hit that begins "And now, the end is near" : MY WAY. Frank Sinatra. Thumper.
34. Control tower concern : PLANE
36. Lad : SON
38. Highland cap : TAM
43. Issue an embarrassing retraction : EAT CROW. Someday I'm going to try crow to see if it's so bad.
46. 2016 Olympics city : RIO
47. On the safer side : ALEE. The quiet side of the island.
50. Maps out : PLOTS
52. Aquarium fish : TETRA
53. Point sets, in math : LOCI. There's a reason my head hit the desk in math classes.
"... ellipses with foci (a,0), (-a, 0) whose generic member we pass through the point (0,t). We look at the locus of the points of intersection of the tangent through the point (b,0)."
On the upside, I did remember enough that when I met Buzz Aldrin at a football game I could casually mention that I was impressed that he basically did a doctorate in orbital physics without ever having to write anything down.
55. Ball game : KENO
56. Santa's burden : SACK
58. __ a one : NARY
59. Tiny energy source : ATOM. Packs a punch, though. It's almost 30 years since the Chernobyl power plant almost made the through-the-earth trip to the antipodes.
62. Finch creator : LEE. Atticus. Harper. "Go Set A Watchman" topped the 2015 Publisher's Weekly bestseller list for fiction.
63. Woolly mom : EWE
And ....... I think that about covers it.
Except .. here's the grid.
Steve
