Theme: No RE-veal - common phrases get a RE- tacked onto the beginning for a punning new phrase. No reveal entry in the puzzle.
20A. Meal owed to President Clinton? : REPAST DUE BILL
28A. Employing echo in audio? : REVERB USAGE. Here's a reverb - pretty, eh?
48A. Rules for righting wrongs? : REDRESS CODE
58A. Mail about system improvements? : REFORM LETTERS.
This looks like an LAT debut for Winston, so congratulations if it is! There's been a couple of debutants recently. I found one puzzle from Winston in the CHE, and one in Wall Street Journal, so he''s not a total rookie.
Enjoyable theme - some punning puzzles come across as groan-worthy, and not in a good way. This one was nice - the original phrases are solidly in the language, and the modified ones are fun. Some nice longer downs and the rest of the fill smooth. A good job all round.
Let's see what attracts attention;
Across:
1. Farm unit : BALE. I was tempted with ACRE, but resisted diving straight in.
5. "Uh, don't forget about me ... " : AHEM
9. Selling point : ASSET
14. Soon, quaintly : ANON. I'm not sure if this sounds quaint:
15. Diamond corner : BASE. The diamond misdirection always gets me, I was thinking facets and what-not.
16. Busch Gardens city : TAMPA. Tried MIAMI at first, thought about it, took it out. There used to be one in Van Nuys, near to where I live now.
17. USAF plane for small runways : STOL. Short Take-Off and Landing. VTOL ones can go straight up.
18. Word of proof? : ERAT Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
19. Video game based on a film, e.g. : TIE-IN
23. Help : ASSIST
24. __ bran : OAT
25. PC-to-PC system : LAN. Local Area Network.
32. River to the North Sea : ELBE. A North Sea river pair today, there's another one waiting further down.
36. "Blue Bloods" rank: Abbr. : DET. Detective.
37. Devotee : ADORER. Not a fan of the word, but it's valid. I'd never use it in conversation though.
38. Northeast gubernatorial family name : CUOMO. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York since 2011, which I where I happen to be sitting right now high above Lexington Avenue, and his father, Mario, who held the same office for three terms.
40. Paris café brew : THÉ. Tea. The elegant sounding "une tasse de thé" doesn't have the same ring to it as "a nice cuppa" to my English ears. Nice Cuppa from the Corner will agree.
42. African antelope : ELAND
43. Get in : ARRIVE
45. "__ Believer": Monkees hit : I'M A. Composed by Neil Diamond and first recorded in 1966 by The Monkees. Mickey Dolenz sang the lead. Catchy little ditty. I can't figure out how Davey Jones manages to dance like that. It looks like his top half is disconnected from the bottom half, and his legs are independently wealthy.
47. __-bitty : ITTY
51. WWII general : DDE. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
52. Map abbr. : RTE.
53. Bun, for one : HAIRDO
62. Like gymnasts : AGILE. That's an understatement
64. Camping stuff : GEAR
65. Every which way : AMOK
66. Wash cycle : RINSE
67. One-named supermodel : EMME
68. Nutrition bar with a crescent moon in its logo : LUNA. Seems logical.
69. Like pet hamsters : CAGED
70. Conciliatory gestures : SOPS
71. North Sea feeder : YSER Partner entry to 32A
Down:
1. Southeastern Iraqi port : BASRA
2. Dealer's requests : ANTES. "Ante up, fellas!" Poker dealer's call.
3. Circuitous routes : LOOPS
4. Zhou of China : EN LAI
5. Helped in a job, perhaps : ABETTED. Slow to see "job" in the larceny sense, rather than a work task.
6. Difficult : HARD
7. Biblical brother : ESAU. There's few of these four-letter biblical brothers. Wait for the crosses.
8. Comet fragment, perhaps : METEOR
9. State of mind : ATTITUDE
10. Proceed easily (through) : SAIL
11. Sense something's amiss : SMELL A RAT
12. Prefix with center : EPI-
13. "The Joy Luck Club" novelist : TAN. Amy Tan. She co-wrote the screenplay of the movie adaptation released in 1993.
21. Georgia, once: Abbr. : S.S.R. Soviet Socialist Republic.
22. Syrup-soaked cake : BABA
26. Ticket __ : AGENT
27. Dweebish : NERDY
29. Pro with a tabletop scale : VET. This stumped me for a while. I was trying to think of a three-letter word for an assayer.
30. System of moral values : ETHIC
31. Most piano sonatas : SOLI
32. Bluemountain.com product : E-CARD. My mind was firmly on the Jamaican coffee track, so this one was slow to emerge.
33. Drew : LURED
34. Adjacent to : BORDERING. Amazingly, neither this nor OVERFEED have appeared in any of the major puzzles, or at least since the Cruciverb web site began archiving the puzzles.
35. Mideast potentate : EMIR
39. Stuff at mealtime : OVERFEED
41. My Chemical Romance genre : EMO. Three-letter music genre? Fill it in and move on.
44. __ perpetua: Idaho motto : ESTO. "Let it be perpetual". Please let the Idaho Gold potatoes be perpetual too. I love 'em.
46. Sticks : ADHERES
49. Worsted fabrics : SERGES
50. Consume : EAT
54. Amalfi Coast country : ITALY
55. Romulus' twin : REMUS. Nice proximity to Italy, above. The wolf-raised brothers whose story tells of the founding of Rome by Romulus after he indulged in a spot of friendly fratricide because they couldn't agree which of the Seven Hills they should build on.
56. Source of some overhead footage : DRONE
57. Heroic Schindler : OSKAR
59. "What __ could it be?" : ELSE
60. Brief reminder : MEMO
61. "__ Unto My Feet": longtime CBS religious program : LAMP. I've never heard of the show, and I also had never heard the phrase. Combined with an unknown model where I forst wanted "ELLE" for no good reason, this was my final fill.
62. Circle part : ARC
63. Italian actress Scala : GIA
And finishing up with grid - here it is! Back to LA this afternoon, home sweet home. Well, for two days anyway!
Steve
Notes from C.C.:
1) Happy Birthday to dear Irish Miss, our loving Agnes, the life of our Crossword Corner! I finally got to talk to Agnes on the phone two weeks ago, after tons of email exchanges over the years. Her voice is so young and reassuring. She's given me invaluable feedback and advice on various issues. I'm so lucky to have you on our blog, Agnes!
2) Happy Birthday also to Abejo (Bradley), our Amazon guy who's always volunteering for various causes. Abejo is Persian for "beer". Bradley worked in Iran for a few years.
20A. Meal owed to President Clinton? : REPAST DUE BILL
28A. Employing echo in audio? : REVERB USAGE. Here's a reverb - pretty, eh?
48A. Rules for righting wrongs? : REDRESS CODE
58A. Mail about system improvements? : REFORM LETTERS.
This looks like an LAT debut for Winston, so congratulations if it is! There's been a couple of debutants recently. I found one puzzle from Winston in the CHE, and one in Wall Street Journal, so he''s not a total rookie.
Enjoyable theme - some punning puzzles come across as groan-worthy, and not in a good way. This one was nice - the original phrases are solidly in the language, and the modified ones are fun. Some nice longer downs and the rest of the fill smooth. A good job all round.
Let's see what attracts attention;
Across:
1. Farm unit : BALE. I was tempted with ACRE, but resisted diving straight in.
5. "Uh, don't forget about me ... " : AHEM
9. Selling point : ASSET
14. Soon, quaintly : ANON. I'm not sure if this sounds quaint:
I see that you will start carving me anon, and take me to Monmouth's camp in sections.
Micah Clarke
Arthur Conan Doyle
15. Diamond corner : BASE. The diamond misdirection always gets me, I was thinking facets and what-not.
16. Busch Gardens city : TAMPA. Tried MIAMI at first, thought about it, took it out. There used to be one in Van Nuys, near to where I live now.
17. USAF plane for small runways : STOL. Short Take-Off and Landing. VTOL ones can go straight up.
18. Word of proof? : ERAT Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
19. Video game based on a film, e.g. : TIE-IN
23. Help : ASSIST
24. __ bran : OAT
25. PC-to-PC system : LAN. Local Area Network.
32. River to the North Sea : ELBE. A North Sea river pair today, there's another one waiting further down.
36. "Blue Bloods" rank: Abbr. : DET. Detective.
37. Devotee : ADORER. Not a fan of the word, but it's valid. I'd never use it in conversation though.
38. Northeast gubernatorial family name : CUOMO. Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York since 2011, which I where I happen to be sitting right now high above Lexington Avenue, and his father, Mario, who held the same office for three terms.
40. Paris café brew : THÉ. Tea. The elegant sounding "une tasse de thé" doesn't have the same ring to it as "a nice cuppa" to my English ears. Nice Cuppa from the Corner will agree.
42. African antelope : ELAND
43. Get in : ARRIVE
45. "__ Believer": Monkees hit : I'M A. Composed by Neil Diamond and first recorded in 1966 by The Monkees. Mickey Dolenz sang the lead. Catchy little ditty. I can't figure out how Davey Jones manages to dance like that. It looks like his top half is disconnected from the bottom half, and his legs are independently wealthy.
47. __-bitty : ITTY
51. WWII general : DDE. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
52. Map abbr. : RTE.
53. Bun, for one : HAIRDO
62. Like gymnasts : AGILE. That's an understatement
64. Camping stuff : GEAR
65. Every which way : AMOK
66. Wash cycle : RINSE
67. One-named supermodel : EMME
68. Nutrition bar with a crescent moon in its logo : LUNA. Seems logical.
69. Like pet hamsters : CAGED
70. Conciliatory gestures : SOPS
71. North Sea feeder : YSER Partner entry to 32A
Down:
1. Southeastern Iraqi port : BASRA
2. Dealer's requests : ANTES. "Ante up, fellas!" Poker dealer's call.
3. Circuitous routes : LOOPS
4. Zhou of China : EN LAI
5. Helped in a job, perhaps : ABETTED. Slow to see "job" in the larceny sense, rather than a work task.
6. Difficult : HARD
7. Biblical brother : ESAU. There's few of these four-letter biblical brothers. Wait for the crosses.
8. Comet fragment, perhaps : METEOR
9. State of mind : ATTITUDE
10. Proceed easily (through) : SAIL
11. Sense something's amiss : SMELL A RAT
12. Prefix with center : EPI-
13. "The Joy Luck Club" novelist : TAN. Amy Tan. She co-wrote the screenplay of the movie adaptation released in 1993.
21. Georgia, once: Abbr. : S.S.R. Soviet Socialist Republic.
22. Syrup-soaked cake : BABA
26. Ticket __ : AGENT
27. Dweebish : NERDY
29. Pro with a tabletop scale : VET. This stumped me for a while. I was trying to think of a three-letter word for an assayer.
30. System of moral values : ETHIC
31. Most piano sonatas : SOLI
32. Bluemountain.com product : E-CARD. My mind was firmly on the Jamaican coffee track, so this one was slow to emerge.
33. Drew : LURED
34. Adjacent to : BORDERING. Amazingly, neither this nor OVERFEED have appeared in any of the major puzzles, or at least since the Cruciverb web site began archiving the puzzles.
35. Mideast potentate : EMIR
39. Stuff at mealtime : OVERFEED
41. My Chemical Romance genre : EMO. Three-letter music genre? Fill it in and move on.
44. __ perpetua: Idaho motto : ESTO. "Let it be perpetual". Please let the Idaho Gold potatoes be perpetual too. I love 'em.
46. Sticks : ADHERES
49. Worsted fabrics : SERGES
50. Consume : EAT
54. Amalfi Coast country : ITALY
55. Romulus' twin : REMUS. Nice proximity to Italy, above. The wolf-raised brothers whose story tells of the founding of Rome by Romulus after he indulged in a spot of friendly fratricide because they couldn't agree which of the Seven Hills they should build on.
56. Source of some overhead footage : DRONE
57. Heroic Schindler : OSKAR
59. "What __ could it be?" : ELSE
60. Brief reminder : MEMO
61. "__ Unto My Feet": longtime CBS religious program : LAMP. I've never heard of the show, and I also had never heard the phrase. Combined with an unknown model where I forst wanted "ELLE" for no good reason, this was my final fill.
62. Circle part : ARC
63. Italian actress Scala : GIA
And finishing up with grid - here it is! Back to LA this afternoon, home sweet home. Well, for two days anyway!
Steve
1) Happy Birthday to dear Irish Miss, our loving Agnes, the life of our Crossword Corner! I finally got to talk to Agnes on the phone two weeks ago, after tons of email exchanges over the years. Her voice is so young and reassuring. She's given me invaluable feedback and advice on various issues. I'm so lucky to have you on our blog, Agnes!
 |
| Eileen (sister of Agnes) & Agnes |
2) Happy Birthday also to Abejo (Bradley), our Amazon guy who's always volunteering for various causes. Abejo is Persian for "beer". Bradley worked in Iran for a few years.
 |
| Madame DeFarge and Abejo, 11/15/2017 |
