Theme: Level-Set - as hinted at by the central entry:
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
17A. Where to find 37-Across : APARTMENT HOUSES. "Flat" is a common term in the UK for an apartment.
24A. Where to find 37-Across : GARDENING CENTER. Also known as Daisy trays, they commonly hold 18 plants
43A. Where to find 37-Across : WOMEN'S SHOE STORE. Not heels.
57A. Where to find 37-Across : SYMPHONIC SCORES. Here's a whole bunch of 'em:
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
A nice puzzle from Corner regular Peg Slay. Just like last Thursday, there's four grid-spanners as the themers, and with the hint in the center that makes a solid 65 letters of theme entries. Some nice trickery to deal with - AURAE rather than AURAS, GNASH rather than GRIND and some clever longer fill.
Let's see what else catches the eye:
Across:
1. Ford crossover SUV : EDGE
5. Fawning flattery : SMARM. Great word.
10. Void partner : NULL. Null and void.
14. Melt fish : TUNA. Food! Tuna and cheese in a sandwich. I've had one, I believe.
15. Surrounding glows : AURAE
16. Pennsylvania city subject to lake-effect snow : ERIE. Nailed it! Brrr - this is not good:
20. Go hog-wild : LET LOOSE
21. Gardener's transplant : GRAFT
22. Penn of "Harold & Kumar" films : KAL. Crosses all the way for me here.
23. U.N. workers' gp. : I.L.O. The International Labour Organization. Note the spelling!
33. Table spreads : OLEOS. Margarines.
34. Ostrich kin : EMUS. "Kin" in the plural here.
35. "__ rule ... " : AS A
36. Clutter-free : NEAT
39. Piedmont bubbly : ASTI. Do they make anything else bubbly in Piedmont? I need to take a trip out there and find out.
40. Nine-time NHL All-Star : ORR. Hockey's Bobby.
41. Walk or run : GAIT
42. Cathedral areas : APSES. One is usually found at the Eastern, or altar end of the cathedral.
47. Map line: Abbr. : LAT. Not Long.
48. Kendrick Lamar's genre : RAP. Not my first choice musical genre, but the name is familiar enough.
49. Greek vowels : IOTAS
52. Send up : SATIRIZE. I spelled it the English way with an "S" first but ZEST fixed that for me.
60. Popular jeans : LEES
61. "Once Upon a Time in China" star : JET LI. More crosses. I wasn't familiar with most of the proper names today.
62. Attitude : SASS
63. White-tailed seabird : ERNE
64. Dutch painter of "The Drawing Lesson" : STEEN. Another unknown, or at least one I was unsure of.
65. Poker buy-in : ANTE
Down:
1. Abbr. in an abbreviated list : ET AL. "Et Alii", "Et Aliae" or "Et Alia" depending on the gender of the noun being described. No wonder we abbreviate it to lose all the gender-noun uncertainty. See how great English can be?
2. Con : DUPE
3. Pest you might slap : GNAT
4. British peer : EARL
5. South Pacific islander : SAMOAN
6. Oaty breakfast mix : MUESLI
7. Obama Education secretary Duncan : ARNE. Any relation to Thomas Arne, the composer of the perennial British favorite "Rule Britannia"? I think I've linked this before. It bears a repeat.
8. Traitor : RAT
9. [Yawn] : MEH! Relatively new addition to the dictionary. It came from "The Simpsons" TV show.
10. Cell using a synapse : NEURON
11. Bear in the sky : URSA
12. Willingly : LIEF. A learning moment for me. When it appeared I looked very critically at the across entries to see which one I'd got wrong.
13. For fear that : LEST
18. Tips for dealers : TOKES. I'd never heard this term before today. A toke to me is a puff of a certain kind of "herbal" cigarette, the type that Bill Clinton famously did not inhale from.
19. Checks figures intently? : OGLES
23. Post-op sites : I.C.U.S
24. Dismissive words : GO NOW
25. Last Olds off the line : ALERO
26. Furnish with more weapons : RE-ARM
27. One of four in Mississippi : DOT. Tried ESS first, of course. More than a couple of do-overs today.
28. Under, poetically : 'NEATH
29. Clock-setting std. : GMT
.
30. Italian Renaissance poet : TASSO. Another unknown/uncertain proper name.Solid crosses to the rescue yet again. First name "Torquato" which is also a new one on me. Here's a sample:
Interesting! I think there's some symbolism there I should think about.
31. Aromatic compound : ESTER
32. Jack up : RAISE
37. Ramadan ritual : FAST
38. Fleur-de-__ : LIS. I know it as a Fleur-de-lys, this spelling always confuses me.
39. Germane : APT
41. Grate together, as teeth : GNASH
42. Mold that's cold : ASPIC. Food!
44. Slide by : ELAPSE
45. Big name in databases : ORACLE. I know all about these folks, I worked there for seven years.
46. Has leftovers, say : EATS IN. Indian curry leftovers are the best of all. The flavors develop overnight.
49. Daysail destination : ISLE
50. Terminer's partner, in law : OYER. "To hear and determine".
51. Feds under Ness : T-MEN
52. Place to build : SITE
53. Parks whose famous bus is in the Henry Ford Museum : ROSA. The museum in Dearborn is great. There's some fascinating stuff in there, not all motor-transportation-related.
54. Shah's former land : IRAN
55. Fragrant peel : ZEST
56. Cato's "to be" : ESSE. Latin. Thank you, Latin lessons at school, and "Ma Batt" as my teacher was affectionately nicknamed. Her son wrote the theme music to "The Wombles" which will mean as much to you as the phrase "It's as good as a homer in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded" meant to me when I read a Colt 45 promotional beer coaster in the first "American bar" to be opened in our little parochial home town. We literally no idea what it meant. The Dodgers could have done with one of those last night. The beer was awful, by the way. Upon research, it had some pretty terrible advertising. This one is the best I could find, and it's just a picture of the label.
58. a.m. beverages : O.J.S
59. Fishing aid : NET. Not ROD then.
That wraps it up for me. I'm heading to New York for a couple of days for some budget planning meetings for 2018. It's as exciting as it sounds! United don't fly LAX to JFK direct anymore, so it's Newark for me, and the NJ Transit rail link into Penn Station.
Here's the grid!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
Here are two cute pictures of Melissa's granddaughter from Halloween.
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
17A. Where to find 37-Across : APARTMENT HOUSES. "Flat" is a common term in the UK for an apartment.
24A. Where to find 37-Across : GARDENING CENTER. Also known as Daisy trays, they commonly hold 18 plants
43A. Where to find 37-Across : WOMEN'S SHOE STORE. Not heels.
57A. Where to find 37-Across : SYMPHONIC SCORES. Here's a whole bunch of 'em:
37A. Road trip troubles ... and what can be found in 17-, 24-, 43- and 57-Across : FLATS
A nice puzzle from Corner regular Peg Slay. Just like last Thursday, there's four grid-spanners as the themers, and with the hint in the center that makes a solid 65 letters of theme entries. Some nice trickery to deal with - AURAE rather than AURAS, GNASH rather than GRIND and some clever longer fill.
Let's see what else catches the eye:
Across:
1. Ford crossover SUV : EDGE
5. Fawning flattery : SMARM. Great word.
10. Void partner : NULL. Null and void.
14. Melt fish : TUNA. Food! Tuna and cheese in a sandwich. I've had one, I believe.
15. Surrounding glows : AURAE
16. Pennsylvania city subject to lake-effect snow : ERIE. Nailed it! Brrr - this is not good:
20. Go hog-wild : LET LOOSE
21. Gardener's transplant : GRAFT
22. Penn of "Harold & Kumar" films : KAL. Crosses all the way for me here.
23. U.N. workers' gp. : I.L.O. The International Labour Organization. Note the spelling!
33. Table spreads : OLEOS. Margarines.
34. Ostrich kin : EMUS. "Kin" in the plural here.
35. "__ rule ... " : AS A
36. Clutter-free : NEAT
39. Piedmont bubbly : ASTI. Do they make anything else bubbly in Piedmont? I need to take a trip out there and find out.
40. Nine-time NHL All-Star : ORR. Hockey's Bobby.
41. Walk or run : GAIT
42. Cathedral areas : APSES. One is usually found at the Eastern, or altar end of the cathedral.
47. Map line: Abbr. : LAT. Not Long.
48. Kendrick Lamar's genre : RAP. Not my first choice musical genre, but the name is familiar enough.
49. Greek vowels : IOTAS
52. Send up : SATIRIZE. I spelled it the English way with an "S" first but ZEST fixed that for me.
60. Popular jeans : LEES
61. "Once Upon a Time in China" star : JET LI. More crosses. I wasn't familiar with most of the proper names today.
62. Attitude : SASS
63. White-tailed seabird : ERNE
64. Dutch painter of "The Drawing Lesson" : STEEN. Another unknown, or at least one I was unsure of.
65. Poker buy-in : ANTE
Down:
1. Abbr. in an abbreviated list : ET AL. "Et Alii", "Et Aliae" or "Et Alia" depending on the gender of the noun being described. No wonder we abbreviate it to lose all the gender-noun uncertainty. See how great English can be?
2. Con : DUPE
3. Pest you might slap : GNAT
4. British peer : EARL
5. South Pacific islander : SAMOAN
6. Oaty breakfast mix : MUESLI
7. Obama Education secretary Duncan : ARNE. Any relation to Thomas Arne, the composer of the perennial British favorite "Rule Britannia"? I think I've linked this before. It bears a repeat.
8. Traitor : RAT
9. [Yawn] : MEH! Relatively new addition to the dictionary. It came from "The Simpsons" TV show.
10. Cell using a synapse : NEURON
11. Bear in the sky : URSA
12. Willingly : LIEF. A learning moment for me. When it appeared I looked very critically at the across entries to see which one I'd got wrong.
13. For fear that : LEST
18. Tips for dealers : TOKES. I'd never heard this term before today. A toke to me is a puff of a certain kind of "herbal" cigarette, the type that Bill Clinton famously did not inhale from.
19. Checks figures intently? : OGLES
23. Post-op sites : I.C.U.S
24. Dismissive words : GO NOW
25. Last Olds off the line : ALERO
26. Furnish with more weapons : RE-ARM
27. One of four in Mississippi : DOT. Tried ESS first, of course. More than a couple of do-overs today.
28. Under, poetically : 'NEATH
29. Clock-setting std. : GMT
.
30. Italian Renaissance poet : TASSO. Another unknown/uncertain proper name.Solid crosses to the rescue yet again. First name "Torquato" which is also a new one on me. Here's a sample:
ONCE a mosquito came a-buzzing round
The happy place
Where in his mother’s lap Love lay sleep-bound
With pretty grace;
Said Love, aroused from slumber by the hum:
“How from so small
A body can so great a clamour come,
Awaking all?”
Beguiling him with song, Venus replied:
“Thou too art small,
Yet mortals wake who on the earth abide
And the Gods all
Up in the sky,
Hearing thee cry.”
Interesting! I think there's some symbolism there I should think about.
31. Aromatic compound : ESTER
32. Jack up : RAISE
37. Ramadan ritual : FAST
38. Fleur-de-__ : LIS. I know it as a Fleur-de-lys, this spelling always confuses me.
39. Germane : APT
41. Grate together, as teeth : GNASH
42. Mold that's cold : ASPIC. Food!
44. Slide by : ELAPSE
45. Big name in databases : ORACLE. I know all about these folks, I worked there for seven years.
46. Has leftovers, say : EATS IN. Indian curry leftovers are the best of all. The flavors develop overnight.
49. Daysail destination : ISLE
50. Terminer's partner, in law : OYER. "To hear and determine".
51. Feds under Ness : T-MEN
52. Place to build : SITE
53. Parks whose famous bus is in the Henry Ford Museum : ROSA. The museum in Dearborn is great. There's some fascinating stuff in there, not all motor-transportation-related.
54. Shah's former land : IRAN
55. Fragrant peel : ZEST
56. Cato's "to be" : ESSE. Latin. Thank you, Latin lessons at school, and "Ma Batt" as my teacher was affectionately nicknamed. Her son wrote the theme music to "The Wombles" which will mean as much to you as the phrase "It's as good as a homer in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded" meant to me when I read a Colt 45 promotional beer coaster in the first "American bar" to be opened in our little parochial home town. We literally no idea what it meant. The Dodgers could have done with one of those last night. The beer was awful, by the way. Upon research, it had some pretty terrible advertising. This one is the best I could find, and it's just a picture of the label.
58. a.m. beverages : O.J.S
59. Fishing aid : NET. Not ROD then.
That wraps it up for me. I'm heading to New York for a couple of days for some budget planning meetings for 2018. It's as exciting as it sounds! United don't fly LAX to JFK direct anymore, so it's Newark for me, and the NJ Transit rail link into Penn Station.
Here's the grid!
Steve
Here are two cute pictures of Melissa's granddaughter from Halloween.
