Theme: Love Thy Neighbor - The neighboring states are so close that they're practically sitting in each other's lap, as the reveal neatly sums up:
47A. What the answers to three "pair" clues share, both in this grid and in reality : STATE BORDERS
19A. Midwestern pair : NEBRASKANSAS
26A. Northeastern pair : MAINEWHAMPSHIRE
42A. Southwestern pair : NEWMEXICOLORADO
Nice puzzle from Pawel. I tumbled the theme after seeing COLORADO emerging from the crosses and things were pretty plain sailing after that. A very clean grid with the two pairs of stacked 9's and a lot of solid white areas. The fill had some really nice stuff - those aforementioned 9's and some tricky partials in the downs.
Let's see what jumps out:
Across:
1. Many opera villains : BASSI. Really deep-voiced. I can spoof a basso profundo speaking voice, but as I can't sing a note that's about as far as I get. I have to channel my inner Paul Robeson. Come back and watch this great piece of history from 1949.
6. Georgia __ : TECH
10. '70s Israeli prime minister : MEIR
14. Ration out : ALLOT.
15. Antioxidant-rich fruit in smoothies : ACAI BERRY. Goji berries fit the bill too, so you need to wait for the crosses.
17. Some earrings : HOOPS
18. Celestial explosion : SUPERNOVA. This was a tough corner. If you don't know MEIR, I'm not sure you'd be able to unpick the triple three-letter downs.
21. Japanese prime minister since 2012 : ABE. Shinzo. Is he "honest" too?
22. Cold War weapons : ICBMS. Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. They pack quite an unpleasant punch.
33. Ready followers? : OR NOT. I tried SET-GO first, which caused some problems later.
34. Jumper cable connection : ANODE
35. Did lunch, say : ATE
36. Morse clicks : DITS. D--S and wait for the crosses.
37. Fly catchers : MITTS. Nice one. Fly ball in baseball. Some of the catches can be pretty spectacular:
38. Corp. money execs : C.F.O.S
39. Puerto Rican pronoun : ESO. That.
40. Bandleader's cry : HIT IT!
41. Ring figure? : CARAT. Nice.
45. Queen __ lace : ANNE'S. Also known as the wild carrot. The roots, leaves and flowers are all edible. I'll leave the eats, roots, leave humor to the peanut gallery, tempted as I am.
46. Lode load : ORE
55. Soldier of Fortune subject : MERCENARY
58. D-sharp equivalent : E FLAT
59. Grifter : CON ARTIST. Do any of you watch the "Cooks vs. Cons" on the Food Network? I enjoy the show, but have you noticed that most of the "pros" who lose out are personal chefs, not restaurant chefs? Big difference in standards. One of the winning contestants who had me totally fooled appeared in one of the early episodes - she was French, and turned out to be a barber in New York City.
60. __ del Sol : COSTA. On the Spanish Mediterranean. One of my favorite soccer players, Diego Costa, looks like he might be leaving my club Chelsea, and returning to his old one, Atletico Madrid. Hasta luego, y gracias Diego! Of course, there's also this:
61. Prepare for mailing : SEAL
62. On the less windy side : ALEE. I learned the lesson early - if you're at sea and you experience what is kindly known as reverse peristalsis, then you'd better be on this side of the ship when you start to feed the fishes.
63. Woods components : TREES
Down:
1. Automobil route : BAHN. It can also be a rail route: Deutsche Bahn AG is the company that operates Germany's rail networks, among others.
2. Healing salve : ALOE
3. Frustrating roommate for a neatnik : SLOB
4. Many opera heroines : SOPRANOS. Nice tie-in with BASSI at the top.
5. "I'll take that action" : IT'S A BET
6. Checklist item : TASK
7. Galápagos locale: Abbr. : ECUA. Ecuador. I stumbled around here a little, I tried AGUA which caused me some confusion for a while, and made no sense whatsoever given that we are told we need an abbreviation.
8. Bos'n's boss : CAP'N
9. Hustles : HIES
10. Stand-up sort : MENSCH
11. Mancinelli opera "__ e Leandro" : ERO This trilogy at 11D, 12D and 13D would have been a total bust for me if I didn't know Golda MEIR. I'd have WAG'ed at ARO, ERV and NO IDEA which would have left me looking at MAE-
12. Robbins of Baskin-Robbins : IRV
13. Shaggy Scandinavian rug : RYA
16. Slow-cook, in a way : BRAISE
20. Give a darn? : SEW
23. Former African secessionist territory : BIAFRA
24. "The Wind in the Willows" character : MR. TOAD. It's a fun book. I never understood how Mr. Toad could escape from jail, go home to reclaim Toad Hall, and the police never bothered to come over and pick him up.
25. Handles : SEES TO
26. Italian headquarters of Maserati : MODENA. Also Ferrari's HQ. Lamborghini had a factory there too, but forget all about that. Balsamic vinegar! Yay!
27. Out of the sack : ARISEN
28. Around, so to speak : IN TOWN
29. French-speaking republic : HAITI
30. Escapade : ANTIC
31. "Crossroads of America" in Indiana, e.g. : MOTTO
32. Law-and-order gps. : P.D.S Police Departments.
37. Pancake-making aid : MIX.
38. Nurtured : CARED FOR
40. Mother of Pearl, in an 1850 novel : HESTER. Hester Prynne, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".
41. PC part? : CORRECT
43. Cantina quaff : MESCAL
44. Head of England? : LOO
48. Masonry support : ANTA. The support between the pillar and the roof. Here's one at the Athenian Treasury:
49. Word with coat or shirt : TAIL.I still have my tailcoat, formal wedding-wear in the UK. I haven't worn it for 30-odd years though.
50. Gaelic tongue : ERSE
51. Bunch of bits : BYTE. Nice
52. "What __ could I say?" : ELSE
53. Evaluate : RATE
54. D.C. Metro stops : STAS. Stations on the Washington D.C. transit.
55. Escher and Hammer : M.C.S. The rapper and the graphic artist come together harmoniously.
56. Fair-hiring letters : EOE Equal Opportunity Employer.
57. Protein-building molecule : RNA
I've been in San Antonio for a couple of days and went to check out the Alamo. Everyone tells you it's not as big as you expect and they're right!
Here's the grid, and I'm heading out to the airport!
Steve
Note from C.C..:
Here are three sweet pictures of Bill G's new granddaughter Bella. Bill said she is about 5 weeks old now.
47A. What the answers to three "pair" clues share, both in this grid and in reality : STATE BORDERS
19A. Midwestern pair : NEBRASKANSAS
26A. Northeastern pair : MAINEWHAMPSHIRE
42A. Southwestern pair : NEWMEXICOLORADO
Nice puzzle from Pawel. I tumbled the theme after seeing COLORADO emerging from the crosses and things were pretty plain sailing after that. A very clean grid with the two pairs of stacked 9's and a lot of solid white areas. The fill had some really nice stuff - those aforementioned 9's and some tricky partials in the downs.
Let's see what jumps out:
Across:
1. Many opera villains : BASSI. Really deep-voiced. I can spoof a basso profundo speaking voice, but as I can't sing a note that's about as far as I get. I have to channel my inner Paul Robeson. Come back and watch this great piece of history from 1949.
6. Georgia __ : TECH
10. '70s Israeli prime minister : MEIR
14. Ration out : ALLOT.
15. Antioxidant-rich fruit in smoothies : ACAI BERRY. Goji berries fit the bill too, so you need to wait for the crosses.
17. Some earrings : HOOPS
18. Celestial explosion : SUPERNOVA. This was a tough corner. If you don't know MEIR, I'm not sure you'd be able to unpick the triple three-letter downs.
21. Japanese prime minister since 2012 : ABE. Shinzo. Is he "honest" too?
22. Cold War weapons : ICBMS. Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. They pack quite an unpleasant punch.
33. Ready followers? : OR NOT. I tried SET-GO first, which caused some problems later.
34. Jumper cable connection : ANODE
35. Did lunch, say : ATE
36. Morse clicks : DITS. D--S and wait for the crosses.
37. Fly catchers : MITTS. Nice one. Fly ball in baseball. Some of the catches can be pretty spectacular:
38. Corp. money execs : C.F.O.S
39. Puerto Rican pronoun : ESO. That.
40. Bandleader's cry : HIT IT!
41. Ring figure? : CARAT. Nice.
45. Queen __ lace : ANNE'S. Also known as the wild carrot. The roots, leaves and flowers are all edible. I'll leave the eats, roots, leave humor to the peanut gallery, tempted as I am.
46. Lode load : ORE
55. Soldier of Fortune subject : MERCENARY
58. D-sharp equivalent : E FLAT
59. Grifter : CON ARTIST. Do any of you watch the "Cooks vs. Cons" on the Food Network? I enjoy the show, but have you noticed that most of the "pros" who lose out are personal chefs, not restaurant chefs? Big difference in standards. One of the winning contestants who had me totally fooled appeared in one of the early episodes - she was French, and turned out to be a barber in New York City.
60. __ del Sol : COSTA. On the Spanish Mediterranean. One of my favorite soccer players, Diego Costa, looks like he might be leaving my club Chelsea, and returning to his old one, Atletico Madrid. Hasta luego, y gracias Diego! Of course, there's also this:
61. Prepare for mailing : SEAL
62. On the less windy side : ALEE. I learned the lesson early - if you're at sea and you experience what is kindly known as reverse peristalsis, then you'd better be on this side of the ship when you start to feed the fishes.
63. Woods components : TREES
Down:
1. Automobil route : BAHN. It can also be a rail route: Deutsche Bahn AG is the company that operates Germany's rail networks, among others.
2. Healing salve : ALOE
3. Frustrating roommate for a neatnik : SLOB
4. Many opera heroines : SOPRANOS. Nice tie-in with BASSI at the top.
5. "I'll take that action" : IT'S A BET
6. Checklist item : TASK
7. Galápagos locale: Abbr. : ECUA. Ecuador. I stumbled around here a little, I tried AGUA which caused me some confusion for a while, and made no sense whatsoever given that we are told we need an abbreviation.
8. Bos'n's boss : CAP'N
9. Hustles : HIES
10. Stand-up sort : MENSCH
11. Mancinelli opera "__ e Leandro" : ERO This trilogy at 11D, 12D and 13D would have been a total bust for me if I didn't know Golda MEIR. I'd have WAG'ed at ARO, ERV and NO IDEA which would have left me looking at MAE-
12. Robbins of Baskin-Robbins : IRV
13. Shaggy Scandinavian rug : RYA
16. Slow-cook, in a way : BRAISE
20. Give a darn? : SEW
23. Former African secessionist territory : BIAFRA
24. "The Wind in the Willows" character : MR. TOAD. It's a fun book. I never understood how Mr. Toad could escape from jail, go home to reclaim Toad Hall, and the police never bothered to come over and pick him up.
25. Handles : SEES TO
26. Italian headquarters of Maserati : MODENA. Also Ferrari's HQ. Lamborghini had a factory there too, but forget all about that. Balsamic vinegar! Yay!
27. Out of the sack : ARISEN
28. Around, so to speak : IN TOWN
29. French-speaking republic : HAITI
30. Escapade : ANTIC
31. "Crossroads of America" in Indiana, e.g. : MOTTO
32. Law-and-order gps. : P.D.S Police Departments.
37. Pancake-making aid : MIX.
38. Nurtured : CARED FOR
40. Mother of Pearl, in an 1850 novel : HESTER. Hester Prynne, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter".
41. PC part? : CORRECT
43. Cantina quaff : MESCAL
44. Head of England? : LOO
48. Masonry support : ANTA. The support between the pillar and the roof. Here's one at the Athenian Treasury:
49. Word with coat or shirt : TAIL.I still have my tailcoat, formal wedding-wear in the UK. I haven't worn it for 30-odd years though.
50. Gaelic tongue : ERSE
51. Bunch of bits : BYTE. Nice
52. "What __ could I say?" : ELSE
53. Evaluate : RATE
54. D.C. Metro stops : STAS. Stations on the Washington D.C. transit.
55. Escher and Hammer : M.C.S. The rapper and the graphic artist come together harmoniously.
56. Fair-hiring letters : EOE Equal Opportunity Employer.
57. Protein-building molecule : RNA
I've been in San Antonio for a couple of days and went to check out the Alamo. Everyone tells you it's not as big as you expect and they're right!
Here's the grid, and I'm heading out to the airport!
Steve
Here are three sweet pictures of Bill G's new granddaughter Bella. Bill said she is about 5 weeks old now.
