Words: 70 (missing J,Q,X,Z)
Blocks: 26
Today's
puzzle proved to be as difficult as it looked - whenever the symmetry
separates the corners (as in this grid) and makes each of the corners
independent, for me, that means either getting a foothold, or
falling short. I was able to fill in all the cells, but alas, no
ta-DA~! So I went back and found four red-letter mistakes. Still, a
solid effort on my part, and under my personal allotted time, as well.
7x7 chunky corners, two 9-letter crossings in the center, and four
8-letter "tie-ins";
35a. "Got a minute?" : "CAN WE TALK~?" - a certain catch-phrase for someone, too
21d. Prime example : POSTER BOY
HanWARD~!
ACROSS:
1. Where member golfers gather, familiarly : THE CLUB
8. Tybalt's house : CAPULET - Montague did not fit, and I was guessing he was a part of one of the main characters houses - either Romeo's or Juliet's
15. French roll : ROULEAU - I tried BAGUETE, which I figured needs another "T"
16. Cognizant of : ALIVE TO
17. Like some wake-up hours : UNGODLY - I like watching people's reactions when I tell them I am usually up for work at UPS about 2:30AM - they get that "It's unGODly~!" look on their faces - and in two weeks, it'll be 11PM for peak season
18. Wine product : VINEGAR
19. Biases : SKEWS - my initial Downs led me to try EDGES here
20. Corp. fundraiser : IPO - ah, a financial ploy, not a person
22. Greeted at the door : SAW IN - oops, not LED IN
23. Dollywood locale: Abbr. : TENNessee
24. __ door : STORM - I tried ENTRY first
26. Broadway seductress : LOLA
27. "__ tu": Verdi aria : ERI - learned from Crosswords
28. Oater accessory : TIN STAR - STETSON would fit, but clashed with CAVORT
30. Like half a deck : RED - I have been playing poker on Saturday nights for two months now, so this type of "deck" was foremost in my mind. I am up $6 for the eight weeks, with a $20 buy in, and my best night was a $61 take
31. French appetizer : ESCARGOT
33. Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil : NIEKRO - a Yankee, and I dredged him up from the depths of my mental past
37. Ponderosa order : RIB EYE - I vaguely recalled that there was a restaurant chain known as Ponderosa, and it must have been from back in my Upstate NY or Cincinnati OH days; none around here
8. Tybalt's house : CAPULET - Montague did not fit, and I was guessing he was a part of one of the main characters houses - either Romeo's or Juliet's
15. French roll : ROULEAU - I tried BAGUETE, which I figured needs another "T"
16. Cognizant of : ALIVE TO
17. Like some wake-up hours : UNGODLY - I like watching people's reactions when I tell them I am usually up for work at UPS about 2:30AM - they get that "It's unGODly~!" look on their faces - and in two weeks, it'll be 11PM for peak season
18. Wine product : VINEGAR
19. Biases : SKEWS - my initial Downs led me to try EDGES here
20. Corp. fundraiser : IPO - ah, a financial ploy, not a person
22. Greeted at the door : SAW IN - oops, not LED IN
23. Dollywood locale: Abbr. : TENNessee
24. __ door : STORM - I tried ENTRY first
26. Broadway seductress : LOLA
27. "__ tu": Verdi aria : ERI - learned from Crosswords
28. Oater accessory : TIN STAR - STETSON would fit, but clashed with CAVORT
30. Like half a deck : RED - I have been playing poker on Saturday nights for two months now, so this type of "deck" was foremost in my mind. I am up $6 for the eight weeks, with a $20 buy in, and my best night was a $61 take
31. French appetizer : ESCARGOT
33. Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil : NIEKRO - a Yankee, and I dredged him up from the depths of my mental past
37. Ponderosa order : RIB EYE - I vaguely recalled that there was a restaurant chain known as Ponderosa, and it must have been from back in my Upstate NY or Cincinnati OH days; none around here
40. Performer who must be from 5'6" to 5'10½" tall : ROCKETTE
- pretty good guess on my part; not that I knew of the height
restrictions. I think they must have "minimum leg requirements", too
44. No power can change it : ONE - ah, mathematics. I was thinking in terms of "power outage", and having no electrical power. Duh.
45. Calder sculpture : STABILE - learning moment for me. Alexander Calder "invented" the art form of mobiles, and the ones that don't 'move' are called stabiles. More from Wiki
45. Calder sculpture : STABILE - learning moment for me. Alexander Calder "invented" the art form of mobiles, and the ones that don't 'move' are called stabiles. More from Wiki
There's
an example right down the road from me that can be seen from NY 27,
Sunrise Highway - referred to as the "big deer head", its title is
actually "Stargazer"
47. Burgundy on screen : RON - good guess on my part - from the Will Ferrell movie "Anchorman"
48. Cookware portmanteau : T-FAL - "portmanteau" is one of those things I learned doing crosswords, as well - essentially, it's blending two words, like "SMOG" - smoke and fog. In this case, as I just learned, it's short for TEFlon and ALuminum
50. Took : STOLE - I hesitated, but was on the "burglary" form of "took" wavelength
51. Paris green? : PARC - I tried EURO, for the money kind of green; then it was BANC, and that seemed acceptable; but BOINT was not - it was my 42d that I guessed wrong
52. Wyandot people : HURON - OK, I cheated - I Googled
54. Tournament pass : BYE
55. Axle in a wooden toy : DOWEL - a complicated definition of a simple item - followed by this clue;
56. One of two nuclides with the same neutron number but different proton numbers : ISOTONE - uh, OK, so I decided isotoPe was good enough, but I was 1/7th wrong
58. Contest name coined by its eventual winner : THRILLA - in Manila, a boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
60. London-based news agency : REUTERS - took half perps for this to come to me
61. Goes underground : TUNNELS
62. Elaine's home, in Arthurian legend : ASTOLAT - my second "A" was an "E" at first
63. Me time? : EGO TRIP
DOWN:
1. Board member : TRUSTEE
2. Geese : HONKERS - I tried "GANDERS", which was 100% 3/7ths correct
3. Concerned with good breeding : EUGENIC - I had HYGENIC, which in the Down looked right, but it's Hyg-I-enic; I've never actually looked at the eugenics definition until today
4. One who's not serious : CLOWN
5. Some arena displays, briefly : LEDs - Light Emitting Diode displays
6. O'Hare initials : UAL - why did I think this was ORD at first~? Because that's the Airport Code. When I looked up UAL, I was in Luau, Angola - the answer is the abbr. for United Airlines. Tricky.
7. eBay option : BUY IT NOW - the only way I will buy anything off eBay - I can't be bothered to watch how my bids are doing
8. Frolic : CAVORT
9. "Aladdin" prince : ALI - could have been tied into 58A. if you ask me
10. Strike victims? : PINS
The revenge of the pins
11. __ layer: eye part : UVEAL
12. Old-fashioned investigation : LEGWORK - these legs work for me
13. Noncash business : eTAILER
14. Phenomenon measured by the Enhanced Fujita Scale : TORNADO - I mentioned the EF scale in a puzzle last month or so
24. Small seals : SIGNETS - I was thinking seals, the 'animal' - but mixed up my CYGNETS
25. Handcuff : MANACLE
28. Printer inserts : TRAYS - I was thinking "please don't be REAMS" - I cannot get that much paper in my home printer, though I guess one could do so with a commercial unit
29. "The Book of Hours" poet : RILKE - perps
32. Top performer : ACE
34. Squeeze (out) : EKE
36. Grooming process : TOILETTE
37. Estate planner's advice : ROTH IRA - being in the DOWN, I stared at this for way too long before the V-8 can flew
38. Imbues : INFUSES
39. Back up : BEAR OUT - I was 'meh' about this, but then I figured out that you better "back up" your argument, or the facts won't "bear out"
41. Net user : TRAWLER
42. Baroque composer Giuseppe __ : TORELLI - perps and one goof
43. Embrace : ENCLASP - OK, but for me, meh. Clecho with 59d. Embrace : HUG
46. Ideally : AT BEST
49. Numbers game : LOTTO
51. Essential thing : POINT
53. Winter air : NOEL - air as in "tune" or "song" - but "COLD" did pass thru my thoughts
55. 1962 title villain played by Joseph Wiseman : Dr. NO - bang~! Nailed it, but I am a big James Bond fan
14. Phenomenon measured by the Enhanced Fujita Scale : TORNADO - I mentioned the EF scale in a puzzle last month or so
24. Small seals : SIGNETS - I was thinking seals, the 'animal' - but mixed up my CYGNETS
25. Handcuff : MANACLE
28. Printer inserts : TRAYS - I was thinking "please don't be REAMS" - I cannot get that much paper in my home printer, though I guess one could do so with a commercial unit
29. "The Book of Hours" poet : RILKE - perps
32. Top performer : ACE
34. Squeeze (out) : EKE
36. Grooming process : TOILETTE
37. Estate planner's advice : ROTH IRA - being in the DOWN, I stared at this for way too long before the V-8 can flew
38. Imbues : INFUSES
39. Back up : BEAR OUT - I was 'meh' about this, but then I figured out that you better "back up" your argument, or the facts won't "bear out"
41. Net user : TRAWLER
42. Baroque composer Giuseppe __ : TORELLI - perps and one goof
43. Embrace : ENCLASP - OK, but for me, meh. Clecho with 59d. Embrace : HUG
46. Ideally : AT BEST
49. Numbers game : LOTTO
51. Essential thing : POINT
53. Winter air : NOEL - air as in "tune" or "song" - but "COLD" did pass thru my thoughts
55. 1962 title villain played by Joseph Wiseman : Dr. NO - bang~! Nailed it, but I am a big James Bond fan
57. FDR program : NRA - yeah, uh, this makes more sense than "P.R.E."
Splynter
Note from C.C.:Splynter
Happy birthday to Rich Norris, editor of LA Times Daily Crossword. Often half or more clues of each puzzle are Rich's creation. Like many other constructors, I've benefited so much from Rich's patient & expert guidance. Rich has not made any puzzle for NYT since 2008, yet he's still the fourth most published constructor in Shortz era.
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| Rich and his wife Kim |
