Theme: Nationality Pun Fun - Five examples of mirth and merriment:
20A. Volleyball players in Dublin? : IRISH SETTERS. The setter in volleyball is the player who decides who gets the ball for the next shot
28A. Euros in Rome? : ITALIAN BREAD. Used to be Lira back in the good old days when you had to exchange currency about every five minutes when you were travelling in Europe. Imagine the chaos in the north-east if you had to go the currency exchange every time you crossed a state line.
37A. Airport inspectors in Beijing? : CHINESE CHECKERS. Do airport inspectors inspect the airport, or the passengers? I've been to Beijing airport, it is beautiful. (Well it was in 2008 ready for the Olympic Games!)
45A. Dance lessons in Madrid? : SPANISH STEPS. Piazza di Spagna at the bottom, Piazza Trinità dei Monti at the top.
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56A. Number cruncher in New Delhi? : INDIAN SUMMER. I laughed at the "SUMMER" part of the clue. We're having an LA summer right now, we're into triple digits.
Neat theme from David, I'm actually surprised it's not been done before. I had a fun five minutes trying to think of others, SWISS WATCH, RUSSIAN DOLL, AUSTRALIAN BIGHT, SWISS CHEESE seemed to have some mileage.
Typical Thursday cluing with misdirection and some of the less-obvious clues. 63 theme squares sometimes doesn't leave a lot of room for much fill, but the sixes and fives had some nice entries including HAIRDO and REBEC. Good job all round by Mr. Poole.
What else have we got? Let's see:
Across:
1. Draft day announcements : PICKS. "With the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL draft, the New England Patriots select Tom Brady, Quarterback, Michigan." Who would have thought how that 's turned out?
6. In-tents experience? : CAMP. Nice wordplay in the clue.
10. Like some dental floss : WAXY. I use those little Christmas Tree brushes for the most part. Floss is fussy stuff to deal with.
14. End of __ : AN ERA
15. Jai __ : ALAI. Helluva dangerous game. The ball is hard as a rock and goes a bizillion miles an hour.
16. Wrapped up : OVER
17. Artifact : RELIC
18. Board member? : KING. Chessboard.
19. Unites : WEDS
23. New York's __ Island : STATEN. My first thought was Riker's Island for no good reason. Well two good reasons I suppose - it's an island, and it's in New York.
24. Sturgeon delicacy : ROE
25. Engineering sch. on the Hudson River : R.P.I. I know I'll never remember this. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Also known for schools of design and business management.
32. Deadly snake : ASP
35. White House signing ceremony memento : PEN
36. __ Trinket, "The Hunger Games" chaperone played by Elizabeth Banks : EFFIE. Thank you, crosses. Never seen the movies.
42. Cosmonaut Vladimir : TITOV. Four missions, and one where the Soyuz capsule was pulled clear of the rocket a few seconds before it exploded on the launch pad. They landed a couple of miles away. That's not messing around with the "pulling clear".
43. Partner of abet : AID
44. Most of Ariz. doesn't observe it : D.S.T. Hawaii doesn't either. Very sensible.
50. CIA predecessor : OSS
51. Drivers' org. : AAA
52. Phillies' div. : NL EAST
59. SALT subject : ICBM
62. Crab Key villain : DR NO. Bond, James Bond.
63. Mazda MX-5, familiarly : MIATA. Little sporty number.
64. Witty tweet, e.g. : QUIP
65. Novelist O'Brien : EDNA
66. Bunsen burner kin : ETNAS. Kin can be singular or plural. Can cause uncertainties.
67. Small ticks? : SECS
68. Travel aimlessly : ROAM
69. One of Franklin's two certainties : DEATH. I'm not sure which causes the most dread. Taxes, probably, they come around every year. At least you've only got to meet the Grim Reaper once.
Down:
1. Musée d'Orsay city : PARIS. I love this museum. A converted railway terminus, the glass roof is perfect for lighting the galleries.
2. Still : INERT
3. Salsa singer Cruz : CELIA. Thank you, crosses.
4. Spring 2008 "Dancing with the Stars" champion Yamaguchi : KRISTI. I've had a crush on her for years.
5. Potpourri pouch : SACHET
6. Wedding reception sight : CAKE
7. Hit the ground : ALIT. Hopefully gently. Alit - present or past tense. Can be tricky.
8. Hindu incantation : MANTRA
9. Word with carrier or passenger : PIGEON. The former is alive and kicking, the latter is now sadly extinct. I'm not pointing fingers or anything, but a species tends not to go from three billion or so to zero without humans having something to do with it (asteroid impacts excepted).
10. Floors : WOWS
11. Abbr. in many addresses : AVE.
12. Crossed (out) : X'ED
13. Jr. and sr. : YRS. High school and college.
21. Loses it : SNAPS
22. Lute-like instrument : REBEC. Here's one in action. I knew the sound, I certainly didn't know what made it.
25. Served seconds, say : RE-FED
26. Figure skating event : PAIRS
27. In other words, in other words : ID EST. Hello, Latin, my old friend. Great clue.
29. Novelist Harper : LEE. There was a BritPop band in the 90's called The Boo Radleys. I didn't know about the fictional character, I'd not read To Kill a Mockingbird at that point.
30. Quechua speakers : INCAS
31. He served as A.G. under his brother : R.F.K. I looked down the list of prior Attorneys General and couldn't see another brother A.G./POTUS combo. There were some candidates, from just looking at their names - Levi Lincoln, Augustus Hill Garland and Alonso Taft among them. There are a couple or more who belong in the "Great Names Hall of Fame", including Caesar Augustus Rodney and Philander Chase Knox.
32. "Don't __ innocent" : ACT SO
33. Port arrivals : SHIPS
34. Pockets for falafel : PITAS
38. Start to skid? : NON-
39. French spa : EVIAN
40. Strike : HIT
41. Utopias : EDENS
46. More melancholy : SADDER
47. Bob, for one : HAIRDO. Not "Builder" then?
48. Like peacocks : PLUMED. Because "Noisier than a jet fighter on a carrier deck" doesn't fit.
49. Many a Mideast native : SEMITE
53. Appliance maker since 1934 : AMANA. Began life as The Electrical Equipment Co. Amana is the Iowa town where they were founded.
54. Attack : SET AT
55. Vandalize : TRASH
56. Rascals : IMPS
57. Kendrick of "Pitch Perfect" : ANNA
58. "Syntactic Structures" author Chomsky : NOAM. He announced on Tuesday he's leaving MIT after 62 years for ASU; this should prompt Travelocity to feature him in their new ad campaign: "The Roaming Noam".
59. Nos. averaging 100 : IQ'S
60. What a shark strikes with : CUE. Nice clue. Shark in the pool hall hustler sense.
61. Wite-Out maker : BIC. I'd like to see today's production quantities vs. 20 years ago. I'm guessing around 10%.
That should do it for the day. Here's the grid:
Steve
Note from C.C.:
Garlic Gal, JD and Chickie had a get-together yesterday. Here is a selfie JD took. Or is it USIE? They used to meet every month.
20A. Volleyball players in Dublin? : IRISH SETTERS. The setter in volleyball is the player who decides who gets the ball for the next shot
28A. Euros in Rome? : ITALIAN BREAD. Used to be Lira back in the good old days when you had to exchange currency about every five minutes when you were travelling in Europe. Imagine the chaos in the north-east if you had to go the currency exchange every time you crossed a state line.
37A. Airport inspectors in Beijing? : CHINESE CHECKERS. Do airport inspectors inspect the airport, or the passengers? I've been to Beijing airport, it is beautiful. (Well it was in 2008 ready for the Olympic Games!)
45A. Dance lessons in Madrid? : SPANISH STEPS. Piazza di Spagna at the bottom, Piazza Trinità dei Monti at the top.
56A. Number cruncher in New Delhi? : INDIAN SUMMER. I laughed at the "SUMMER" part of the clue. We're having an LA summer right now, we're into triple digits.
Neat theme from David, I'm actually surprised it's not been done before. I had a fun five minutes trying to think of others, SWISS WATCH, RUSSIAN DOLL, AUSTRALIAN BIGHT, SWISS CHEESE seemed to have some mileage.
Typical Thursday cluing with misdirection and some of the less-obvious clues. 63 theme squares sometimes doesn't leave a lot of room for much fill, but the sixes and fives had some nice entries including HAIRDO and REBEC. Good job all round by Mr. Poole.
What else have we got? Let's see:
Across:
1. Draft day announcements : PICKS. "With the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL draft, the New England Patriots select Tom Brady, Quarterback, Michigan." Who would have thought how that 's turned out?
6. In-tents experience? : CAMP. Nice wordplay in the clue.
10. Like some dental floss : WAXY. I use those little Christmas Tree brushes for the most part. Floss is fussy stuff to deal with.
14. End of __ : AN ERA
15. Jai __ : ALAI. Helluva dangerous game. The ball is hard as a rock and goes a bizillion miles an hour.
16. Wrapped up : OVER
17. Artifact : RELIC
18. Board member? : KING. Chessboard.
19. Unites : WEDS
23. New York's __ Island : STATEN. My first thought was Riker's Island for no good reason. Well two good reasons I suppose - it's an island, and it's in New York.
24. Sturgeon delicacy : ROE
25. Engineering sch. on the Hudson River : R.P.I. I know I'll never remember this. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Also known for schools of design and business management.
32. Deadly snake : ASP
35. White House signing ceremony memento : PEN
36. __ Trinket, "The Hunger Games" chaperone played by Elizabeth Banks : EFFIE. Thank you, crosses. Never seen the movies.
42. Cosmonaut Vladimir : TITOV. Four missions, and one where the Soyuz capsule was pulled clear of the rocket a few seconds before it exploded on the launch pad. They landed a couple of miles away. That's not messing around with the "pulling clear".
43. Partner of abet : AID
44. Most of Ariz. doesn't observe it : D.S.T. Hawaii doesn't either. Very sensible.
50. CIA predecessor : OSS
51. Drivers' org. : AAA
52. Phillies' div. : NL EAST
59. SALT subject : ICBM
62. Crab Key villain : DR NO. Bond, James Bond.
63. Mazda MX-5, familiarly : MIATA. Little sporty number.
64. Witty tweet, e.g. : QUIP
65. Novelist O'Brien : EDNA
66. Bunsen burner kin : ETNAS. Kin can be singular or plural. Can cause uncertainties.
67. Small ticks? : SECS
68. Travel aimlessly : ROAM
69. One of Franklin's two certainties : DEATH. I'm not sure which causes the most dread. Taxes, probably, they come around every year. At least you've only got to meet the Grim Reaper once.
Down:
1. Musée d'Orsay city : PARIS. I love this museum. A converted railway terminus, the glass roof is perfect for lighting the galleries.
2. Still : INERT
3. Salsa singer Cruz : CELIA. Thank you, crosses.
4. Spring 2008 "Dancing with the Stars" champion Yamaguchi : KRISTI. I've had a crush on her for years.
5. Potpourri pouch : SACHET
6. Wedding reception sight : CAKE
7. Hit the ground : ALIT. Hopefully gently. Alit - present or past tense. Can be tricky.
8. Hindu incantation : MANTRA
9. Word with carrier or passenger : PIGEON. The former is alive and kicking, the latter is now sadly extinct. I'm not pointing fingers or anything, but a species tends not to go from three billion or so to zero without humans having something to do with it (asteroid impacts excepted).
10. Floors : WOWS
11. Abbr. in many addresses : AVE.
12. Crossed (out) : X'ED
13. Jr. and sr. : YRS. High school and college.
21. Loses it : SNAPS
22. Lute-like instrument : REBEC. Here's one in action. I knew the sound, I certainly didn't know what made it.
25. Served seconds, say : RE-FED
26. Figure skating event : PAIRS
27. In other words, in other words : ID EST. Hello, Latin, my old friend. Great clue.
29. Novelist Harper : LEE. There was a BritPop band in the 90's called The Boo Radleys. I didn't know about the fictional character, I'd not read To Kill a Mockingbird at that point.
30. Quechua speakers : INCAS
31. He served as A.G. under his brother : R.F.K. I looked down the list of prior Attorneys General and couldn't see another brother A.G./POTUS combo. There were some candidates, from just looking at their names - Levi Lincoln, Augustus Hill Garland and Alonso Taft among them. There are a couple or more who belong in the "Great Names Hall of Fame", including Caesar Augustus Rodney and Philander Chase Knox.
32. "Don't __ innocent" : ACT SO
33. Port arrivals : SHIPS
34. Pockets for falafel : PITAS
38. Start to skid? : NON-
39. French spa : EVIAN
40. Strike : HIT
41. Utopias : EDENS
46. More melancholy : SADDER
47. Bob, for one : HAIRDO. Not "Builder" then?
48. Like peacocks : PLUMED. Because "Noisier than a jet fighter on a carrier deck" doesn't fit.
49. Many a Mideast native : SEMITE
53. Appliance maker since 1934 : AMANA. Began life as The Electrical Equipment Co. Amana is the Iowa town where they were founded.
54. Attack : SET AT
55. Vandalize : TRASH
56. Rascals : IMPS
57. Kendrick of "Pitch Perfect" : ANNA
58. "Syntactic Structures" author Chomsky : NOAM. He announced on Tuesday he's leaving MIT after 62 years for ASU; this should prompt Travelocity to feature him in their new ad campaign: "The Roaming Noam".
59. Nos. averaging 100 : IQ'S
60. What a shark strikes with : CUE. Nice clue. Shark in the pool hall hustler sense.
61. Wite-Out maker : BIC. I'd like to see today's production quantities vs. 20 years ago. I'm guessing around 10%.
That should do it for the day. Here's the grid:
Steve
Garlic Gal, JD and Chickie had a get-together yesterday. Here is a selfie JD took. Or is it USIE? They used to meet every month.
Garlic Gal, JD and Chickie (Leah)
