Theme:
The reveal tells you what to look for...
35A. Impediment to creativity ... and each set of puzzle circles: WRITER'S BLOCK
... and we find, clockwise in each circled block, beginning in the NW: Bradbury, Lawrence, Chandler, Voltaire, Gordimer and Morrison. That's Ray, D.H. (or T.E.), Raymond, no first name, Nadine and Toni to give them all their full monikers. The latter two I have not read, the others I have.
Tough to pick a favorite, but I did find T.E. Lawrence's "The Mint" fascinating. If you have ten minutes to spare today, please enjoy this excerpt from the book. Glorious writing. If your heart isn't beating furiously reading about the race with the airplane, better check your emotional pulse!
Back to the crossword, I'm looking for a connection between the six authors but nothing jumps out unless there's some fiendish meta that I'm missing (quite likely, actually!)
This grid extends the recent sixteen-squares-on-one-side (SSOOS?) Thursday trend, and also features a very clever theme in the "block" shape of each author. Jeffrey's a master at themes, this one is no exception. Let's see what the fill held in store:
Across:
1. Seething: ABOIL
6. Jaguar weapons: CLAWS. My Jaguars had weapons - break down at every opportunity. One to drive, one in the shop.
11. Half a dance: CHA. Cha. (Cha?)
14. Stinger ingredient: BRANDY. Classically made with cognac and white crème de menthe. Cheers!
15. Superman player Cavill: HENRY
16. "The Last Jedi" villain Kylo: REN. Thank you, crosses. No Stimpy clue today? Nice for a change.
17. Alpine airs: YODELS
18. Broken out, in a way: ACNED
19. Days gone by, in days gone by: ELD
20. Capital on the Volga: RUBLE. Capital as in "money" for anyone new to this game.
21. Suppress, as a story: SIT ON
22. Punching tools: AWLS
23. Suffix with fruct-: OSE
24. Hall of Fame manager Stengel: CASEY. He managed both the Yankees and the Mets. I think the HOF nomination came more from his exploits with the former rather than the latter.
25. Sal of "Exodus": MINEO
26. Waters down: WETS
28. Taiwanese PC brand: ACER
29. Rita awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom: MORENO. And ... cue the music!
30. Hankering: ITCH
32. Depilatory cream: NAIR. Tried NEET first, was wrong. Not sure where I came up with that one. Wiki has it as an acronym for "Not in Employment, Education or Training" referring to young people without a job.
34. Historic span: Abbr.: CEN. tury
38. Big letters in family-owned supermarkets: IGA. Founded as the Independent Grocer's Alliance.
40. Troubadour's strings: LUTE
41. Uncle __: BEN'S. A crime against humanity.
42. Codes of conduct: MORALS
44. Christian with style: DIOR
46. Venerated one: IDOL
50. Adorkable types: NERDS. I LOVE "adorkable". What a great language we have in English.
51. Lets off steam: VENTS
52. JFK posting: ETA. I haven't been to JFK for a while, United stopped flying into there a few years ago. All their NYC flights go through Newark now, with the exception of some regional services into La Guardia. What was the point of this story? I miss the ride into Manhattan past the World's Fair remnants.
53. "Psych" finale?: -OSIS
54. Is after: SEEKS
55. Field mice: VOLES. I didn't know voles were mice. Good to know for the next time I meet one.
57. Area 51 craft: UFO
58. Singer with Lawrence: GORMÉ. Wild, stab-in-the-dark guess for me. Husband and Wife duo.
59. Accept, with "for": SETTLE
60. Greek org.: SOR. Sorority. I drove up Hilgard Avenue by UCLA last week, it's also known as "Sorority Row" from all the sorority houses there.
61. Lyft passenger: RIDER
62. Difficult tasks: TRIALS
63. Hosp. parts: E.R.S
64. Mideast bigwigs: EMIRS
65. Will Rogers prop: LASSO
Down:
1. Work up: AROUSE
2. Risky proposition: BAD BET. Risky? Downright dumb if you ask me.
3. Turow biographical title: ONE L. Harvard Law School calls first year students "one l's"
4. Not working: IDLE
5. Fleur-de-__: Quebec flag image: LYS
6. Poolside chair: CHAISE
7. Debate equipment: LECTERNS
8. Get under one's skin: ANNOY
9. Small songbird: WREN
10. Letters on a Qantas baggage tag: SYD. Sydney airport. I've been there, I don't recall much about it though (the airport that is, not the city!). I recall the Qantas lounge was nice, I flew out of Sydney to Auckland en route back home to LA.
11. Like many tees: CREW NECK
12. Greek: HELLENE. I knew "hellenic", now I know "hellene" too.
13. "... et cetera": AND SO ON. These entries can be difficult to parse. There's a few good examples today, look at 38 and 54D too.
14. How some tickets may be sorted: BY ROW
21. Scented pouch: SACHET
22. Put on: AIR
24. Plant in many Road Runner cartoons: CACTUS
25. Dunderhead: MORON
27. What Marcie calls Peppermint Patty: SIR. I needed this to unlock "ITCH" - I couldn't get away from "ACHE".
29. Distance runners: MILERS
31. Cultivates: TILLS
33. Monastic figures: ABBOTS
35. Golden State team: WARRIORS
36. Christ the __: Rio landmark: REDEEMER. An iconic sight. I got a great view of it flying into Rio's Santos Dumont domestic airport from Sao Paulo the last time I was out there. SDU is right on the ocean and slap-dab next to Sugarloaf, so it's hard to beat the view out of the airplane window.
37. Crime show with several spin-offs: CSI. The purists might have wanted to try to avoid "crime" in the clue as "crime", albeit abbreviated, is part of the answer. Doesn't ruffle my feathers though.
38. "You obviously can't depend on me": I'M NO USE
39. Fetches: GOES FOR
43. Most junk mail: ADS
45. Comic book personnel: INKERS. They draw the outlines. Other folk color them in. With crayon, and their tongue sticking out of the side of their mouth. Just kidding, some of my best friends are in comics and animation.
47. Change symbols, in math: DELTAS. The difference between "this" and "that".
48. Opera with Desdemona: OTELLO. I had a brain futz and tried OFELIA first. What was that all about?
49. Alters with a light touch?: LASES. Laser shaping, reshaping or surgery.
51. 48-Down composer: VERDI
54. "__ told": "That's the rumor": SO I'M
55. Designer Wang: VERA
56. Name in boxy cars?: OTIS. Mr. Elevator. Nice clue.
58. Higher ed. test: G.R.E.
59. Cardinal's letters: STL. St. Louis, on scoreboards.
And, as the stoics would say, "grid and bear it", so here it is!
Steve
The reveal tells you what to look for...
35A. Impediment to creativity ... and each set of puzzle circles: WRITER'S BLOCK
... and we find, clockwise in each circled block, beginning in the NW: Bradbury, Lawrence, Chandler, Voltaire, Gordimer and Morrison. That's Ray, D.H. (or T.E.), Raymond, no first name, Nadine and Toni to give them all their full monikers. The latter two I have not read, the others I have.
Tough to pick a favorite, but I did find T.E. Lawrence's "The Mint" fascinating. If you have ten minutes to spare today, please enjoy this excerpt from the book. Glorious writing. If your heart isn't beating furiously reading about the race with the airplane, better check your emotional pulse!
Back to the crossword, I'm looking for a connection between the six authors but nothing jumps out unless there's some fiendish meta that I'm missing (quite likely, actually!)
This grid extends the recent sixteen-squares-on-one-side (SSOOS?) Thursday trend, and also features a very clever theme in the "block" shape of each author. Jeffrey's a master at themes, this one is no exception. Let's see what the fill held in store:
Across:
1. Seething: ABOIL
6. Jaguar weapons: CLAWS. My Jaguars had weapons - break down at every opportunity. One to drive, one in the shop.
11. Half a dance: CHA. Cha. (Cha?)
14. Stinger ingredient: BRANDY. Classically made with cognac and white crème de menthe. Cheers!
15. Superman player Cavill: HENRY
16. "The Last Jedi" villain Kylo: REN. Thank you, crosses. No Stimpy clue today? Nice for a change.
17. Alpine airs: YODELS
18. Broken out, in a way: ACNED
19. Days gone by, in days gone by: ELD
Once adown the dewy way a youthful cavalier spurred with a maiden mounted behind him, swiftly passing out of sight, recalling to the imagination some romance of eld, when the damosel fled with her lover.
1891 - Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country
20. Capital on the Volga: RUBLE. Capital as in "money" for anyone new to this game.
21. Suppress, as a story: SIT ON
22. Punching tools: AWLS
23. Suffix with fruct-: OSE
24. Hall of Fame manager Stengel: CASEY. He managed both the Yankees and the Mets. I think the HOF nomination came more from his exploits with the former rather than the latter.
25. Sal of "Exodus": MINEO
26. Waters down: WETS
28. Taiwanese PC brand: ACER
29. Rita awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom: MORENO. And ... cue the music!
30. Hankering: ITCH
32. Depilatory cream: NAIR. Tried NEET first, was wrong. Not sure where I came up with that one. Wiki has it as an acronym for "Not in Employment, Education or Training" referring to young people without a job.
34. Historic span: Abbr.: CEN. tury
38. Big letters in family-owned supermarkets: IGA. Founded as the Independent Grocer's Alliance.
40. Troubadour's strings: LUTE
41. Uncle __: BEN'S. A crime against humanity.
42. Codes of conduct: MORALS
44. Christian with style: DIOR
46. Venerated one: IDOL
50. Adorkable types: NERDS. I LOVE "adorkable". What a great language we have in English.
51. Lets off steam: VENTS
52. JFK posting: ETA. I haven't been to JFK for a while, United stopped flying into there a few years ago. All their NYC flights go through Newark now, with the exception of some regional services into La Guardia. What was the point of this story? I miss the ride into Manhattan past the World's Fair remnants.
53. "Psych" finale?: -OSIS
54. Is after: SEEKS
55. Field mice: VOLES. I didn't know voles were mice. Good to know for the next time I meet one.
57. Area 51 craft: UFO
58. Singer with Lawrence: GORMÉ. Wild, stab-in-the-dark guess for me. Husband and Wife duo.
59. Accept, with "for": SETTLE
60. Greek org.: SOR. Sorority. I drove up Hilgard Avenue by UCLA last week, it's also known as "Sorority Row" from all the sorority houses there.
61. Lyft passenger: RIDER
62. Difficult tasks: TRIALS
63. Hosp. parts: E.R.S
64. Mideast bigwigs: EMIRS
65. Will Rogers prop: LASSO
Down:
1. Work up: AROUSE
2. Risky proposition: BAD BET. Risky? Downright dumb if you ask me.
3. Turow biographical title: ONE L. Harvard Law School calls first year students "one l's"
4. Not working: IDLE
5. Fleur-de-__: Quebec flag image: LYS
6. Poolside chair: CHAISE
7. Debate equipment: LECTERNS
8. Get under one's skin: ANNOY
9. Small songbird: WREN
10. Letters on a Qantas baggage tag: SYD. Sydney airport. I've been there, I don't recall much about it though (the airport that is, not the city!). I recall the Qantas lounge was nice, I flew out of Sydney to Auckland en route back home to LA.
11. Like many tees: CREW NECK
12. Greek: HELLENE. I knew "hellenic", now I know "hellene" too.
13. "... et cetera": AND SO ON. These entries can be difficult to parse. There's a few good examples today, look at 38 and 54D too.
14. How some tickets may be sorted: BY ROW
21. Scented pouch: SACHET
22. Put on: AIR
24. Plant in many Road Runner cartoons: CACTUS
25. Dunderhead: MORON
27. What Marcie calls Peppermint Patty: SIR. I needed this to unlock "ITCH" - I couldn't get away from "ACHE".
29. Distance runners: MILERS
31. Cultivates: TILLS
33. Monastic figures: ABBOTS
35. Golden State team: WARRIORS
36. Christ the __: Rio landmark: REDEEMER. An iconic sight. I got a great view of it flying into Rio's Santos Dumont domestic airport from Sao Paulo the last time I was out there. SDU is right on the ocean and slap-dab next to Sugarloaf, so it's hard to beat the view out of the airplane window.
37. Crime show with several spin-offs: CSI. The purists might have wanted to try to avoid "crime" in the clue as "crime", albeit abbreviated, is part of the answer. Doesn't ruffle my feathers though.
38. "You obviously can't depend on me": I'M NO USE
39. Fetches: GOES FOR
43. Most junk mail: ADS
45. Comic book personnel: INKERS. They draw the outlines. Other folk color them in. With crayon, and their tongue sticking out of the side of their mouth. Just kidding, some of my best friends are in comics and animation.
47. Change symbols, in math: DELTAS. The difference between "this" and "that".
48. Opera with Desdemona: OTELLO. I had a brain futz and tried OFELIA first. What was that all about?
49. Alters with a light touch?: LASES. Laser shaping, reshaping or surgery.
51. 48-Down composer: VERDI
54. "__ told": "That's the rumor": SO I'M
55. Designer Wang: VERA
56. Name in boxy cars?: OTIS. Mr. Elevator. Nice clue.
58. Higher ed. test: G.R.E.
59. Cardinal's letters: STL. St. Louis, on scoreboards.
And, as the stoics would say, "grid and bear it", so here it is!
Steve
