Saturday Themeless by Kyle Dolan
Today is Chinese Language Day where we celebrate the most spoken language in the world. Of course C.C. is fluent but I know some of our other contributors here are as well.
Learning English is mandatory in Chinese schools and, depending on where they live, most start learning English at 3rd or 4th grade. C.C. told me she started learning English at 13 yrs old. I daresay her mastery of English is amazing!
Our Saturday regular Kyle Dolan has supplied us with yet another of his fine Saturday puzzles.
I stared at the blank cell you see below at 4 Down for a long time but to no avail.
I knew Japanese Airlines JAL and thought about Nippon National Airlines NNA but had no clue on 4. Japanese carrier: ANA - All Nippon Airways. As for 1. Minuet-like dances: SARABANDS - Not a chance! If you must see it...
让 (Let) 我们 (us) 开始 (begin) 吧 (common Chinese ending) (translation from C.C.)
Across:
10. Deaden, as a musical string: DAMP - A one-minute lesson
14. Bon Jovi genre: ARENA ROCK - Trans Siberia Orchestra takes it to the max
15. Bathymetry tool: SONAR -Swath Bathymetry is the study of underwater depth of lake or ocean floors
16. Bamboozled: LED ASTRAY hard to do if you're 20. Not ignorant of: WISE TO what's going on
17. Memorable Ford: HENRY
18. Toon that debuted in "Devil May Hare," briefly: TAZ.
19. The Cyclones of the Big 12: Abbr.: ISU - Their former BB coach just got big dollars to coach the Huskers
21. Make smooth, perhaps: ERODE - This ERODING of Hwy 30 shown here is the reason my 8 minute commute is now 28 minutes
23. Sentry's no-no: SLEEP - Lincoln's bodyguard/sentry John Parker was not ASLEEP; he was down in a saloon drinking that fateful night in April of 1865
26. Sass: LIP
27. Coastal feature: DUNE - The ones on the Oregon coast are spectacular
28. Eighth of 24: THETA - Yup, there it is29. Cosecant's reciprocal: SINE - If the SINE = .5 (1/2), the cosecant is 2 (2/1)
30. One of its ads involves Marco Polo playing Marco Polo: GEICO - One of many clever clever GEICO ads that can soon become annoying
32. Prepared to leave the casino: CASHED IN - especially if you go 34. Binge: GO ON A TEAR and hit it big
36. Brand endorsed at prorodeo.com: WRANGLER.
39. City that gives its name to a dog breed: LHASA - LHASA is a 7-day drive or a 2 1/2 hr flight around Mt Everest to Katmandu.
42. Dutch portraitist Frans: HALS - Here 'ya go
43. Bangalore wraps: SARIS.
45. Don Everly's brother: PHIL - I need very little impetus to play their wonderful music. Phil's on the left
47. Athena's attendant: OWL - Her link to the OWL is lost in history
48. "I don't give a darn what they do!": LET 'EM.
49. Facebook action: SHARE
50. Defensive denial: I DO NOT.
52. One way to stand: PAT - Stick with TR!
54. Intelligence org. formed under Truman: NSA.
55. Backs up: SAVES.
56. Converted, in a way: BORN AGAIN.
59. Express line sign word: ITEMS - The debate rages about less or fewer. I'm in the latter camp
60. Lake Superior mining region: IRON RANGE - The Edmund Fitzgerald was full of IRON ORE (taconite) when it sank in Lake Superior in 1975
61. Root for a luau: TARO.
62. Reunion entertainment group, maybe: COVER BAND - The British Pavilion at EPCOT always has a wonderful Beatles COVER BAND
Down:
1. Cured, in a way: SALTED - This will do the job
3. Area 20 yards or less from the opponent's goal line, in football: RED ZONE - This shows New England has scored 23 TD's and 19 FG's when it was in the RED ZONE5. Count on a piano: BASIE.
6. Language __: ARTS.
7. "It's not critical": NO RUSH
8. Reagan Airport, on tickets: DCA - From this D.C. airport, it is a $12 Uber ride to Ford's Theater
9. Unlimited limit?: SKY
10. Forest females: DOES
11. Ringed worm: ANNELID - Earthworms are in the segmented ANNELID family and they help aerate soil and catch fish
12. "The elixir of quietude": E.B. White: MARTINI - The author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little loved his elixir
13. Use a crowbar on: PRY OPEN
15. Send in a carton: SHIP.
20. Cunning types: WEASELS - Euphemisms for Hollywood agents and others
22. Condescends: DEIGNS - Our cat would never DEIGN to come when called
24. Spy novel pen name: LECARRE.
25. Nouveau-Mexique, par exemple: ETAT - "New Mexico, for example: STATE" (French)
28. Craftsman offering: TOOL SET - Craftsman is a proper noun here
29. Six-winged being, in Isaiah: SERAPH - The hymn Salve Regina sings of Cherubim and SERAPHIM (plural)
31. __ railway: COG - Ascending Pike's Peak
33. "Yeah, right!": HAH.
35. Pinlike?: NEAT - If your stuff is 38. Scattered: ALL OVER, you're not as NEAT as a pin
36. Response to a knock: WHO IS IT
37. Lab notebook entries: RAW DATA - A graph making sense of RAW DATA
40. Doo-woppers with an eponymous '70s-'80s TV variety show: SHANANA Doo Wop heaven!
41. Aquarius, for one: AIR SIGN - If you must know
44. Unpredictable comedy style: IMPROV.
46. Listed at sea: LEANED.
48. Red number: LOSS - Our country has been in the red for decades
49. Whitewater VIP: STARR - Ken, the Robert Mueller of the Clinton Administration
51. Verne captain: NEMO - Jules' captain of the Nautilus
53. Keller companion Sullivan: ANNE - The Miracle Worker for Helen Keller
56. Lighter name: BIC.
57. Yield from una mina: ORO - Yeah, you might get gold (ORO) from that mine (una mina)
58. Chew the fat: GAB - A disinclined tweet from Bill
