This first Saturday in May marks the 145th Run For The Roses in Louisville, Kentucky. Not only is it a showcase for beautiful 3 year-old thoroughbreds competing to don the famous wreath of roses, it also a opportunity to imbibe mint juleps and display charming millinery. The favorite Omaha Beach has been withdrawn from the race and so I am rooting for the new favorite Game Winner who is owned by an Omaha couple. The Derby proclaims itself to be "The most exciting two minutes in sports".
The constructor today is our retired organic chemist, now living in New Mexico - Pawel Fludzinski. Here you see him with his lovely 12 year-old daughter in Hawaii last Christmas.
I asked Pawel for some inside info on this challenging puzzle and he was very generous in his response: In constructing a themeless, I always start with 2 or 3 seed entries. In this case, I very much wanted to use PERFECT CRIME and FARM TO TABLE. I had those "in pocket" for a while, and were in several puzzles attempts that were rejected - not because of the seeds, but the rest of the fill. I then found 2 other 11-letter entries that would work in the puzzle, and then spent a great deal of time working on creating 9-stacks that are interesting. I thought HEDGE FUND and WOLVERINE were interesting enough to justify ANTIVENIN (not a first choice), and HERBARIA was the only thing that would work as I was getting close to the end in the fill. Not an obvious answer, but perhaps a good challenge for a Saturday.
He added: PS - I always look forward to seeing which of my clues survive - especially for the seed entries and longer entries (i.e. 9-stacks). I never see the final clues until the puzzle is published.
Now let's get in the starting gate (flamboyant headware optional) for our run for linguistic roses:
Across:
1. One of the X-Men: WOLVERINE - Front and center
10. Prior's superior: ABBOT - ABBOT Michael is on the right. Prior Delisi is on the left in this Georgia monastery
15. Essential supply for an ophiologist: ANTIVENIN - Alternate name for ANTIVENOM which I first wrote in and which Pawel said was not his first choice 55. Less-common spelling: Abbr.: VAR - ANTIVENIN for ANTIVENOM?
16. Home of Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights": PRADO - Madrid, Spain's famous art museum
17. Vehicle in the 2012 film "Arbitrage": HEDGE FUND - Rotten Tomatoes opinion
18. New Mexico school athletes: LOBOS - In his last puzzle Pawel referenced Alamogordo, N.M. and today he uses the mascot of his now home state, The University of New Mexico
19. Italy's equivalent of the BBC: RAI - Radio Audizioni Italiane is the national public broadcasting company of Italy
20. Some necklaces: CHOKERS - Also athletes who fail at the end of a game
22. Its solution refutes its existence: PERFECT CRIME - The man on the bed (and his girlfriend in the background) thought they had committed the PERFECT CRIME. The man tried to cover up the murder by shooting himself, but Hercule Poirot (Peter Ustinov to the left) saw right through them in Death On The Nile
27. Not on edge: AT EASE.
28. Collections of plant specimens: HERBARIA and 31. Canonized Archbishop of Canterbury: ANSELM were my downfall as I chose an "E" at their confluence
32. Flow __: CHART.
33. Fill a hold: LADE.
34. Ireland's __ Féin: SINN - English: "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves") is a political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland (Wikipedia)
35. Follower of the old school?: MARM - Here's a School MARM and her charges on the treeless prairie near Dundy, NE
36. Favor, slangily: SOLID - "Hey buddy, would you do me a SOLID (favor)?"
37. Jokers: WAGS.
38. "Everybody Loves __": Johnny Cash novelty song: A NUT - Here sung with 3/4 of the Monkees
39. Pound, e.g.: POET - Ezra. UNIT felt the fury of my delete key! Do you think Pawel did that on purpose? 😏
40. Brawl: MELEE.
41. One with a family practice?: NEPOTIST - An interesting take on the word
43. Gap-related: HIATAL.
44. Becomes an overnight sensation in: TAKES BY STORM - Yeah, I'd say they did!
46. Department store staple: APPAREL.
49. Names: IDS.
50. "Grand Hotel" star (1932): GARBO - Yes, Rotten Tomatoes reviews older movies too
51. Like 24/7 news channels: ITERATIVE - Over and over and over...
57. Listing: ATILT - Leaning like a boat
58. Erin Brockovich, for one: PARALEGAL - real and reel versions 59. Classic battlers: SEXES.
60. Reacts to a blow: SEES STARS - A comic book staple
And down the stretch we come...
Down:
1. Nursery noise: WAH.
2. White Monopoly bill: ONE.
3. Inc., in Ipswich: LTD.
4. Bookie's cut: VIG - Wazzat?
5. High point of Hillary's career: EVEREST - Sir Edmund and his sherpa Tenzig Norgay
6. Put a new front on, as a building: REFACE - Voila!
7. Nunavut native: INUIT.
8. "Under a Glass Bell" author: NIN.
9. Where a gaffer or grip is recognized: END CREDIT - From the funniest movie ever made - Airplane. Who is that worst boy?
10. Equanimity: APLOMB.
11. Started to perspire: BROKE A SWEAT -
12. Diamond immortal, with "The": BABE - Last Saturday it was Babe Ruth Day
13. Fridge-cleaning motivation: ODOR - This milk smell bad to you?
14. Not sleep well: TOSS - Let Bobby Lewis tell the melodic tale
21. Took on: HIRED.
22. Iconic dot-eater: PACMAN - Trapped!23. Flammable gas: ETHANE.
24. Rise on hind legs: REAR UP - Hi Yo Silver!
25. "Knowing where your food comes from" movement: FARM TO TABLE - Info
26. Aspen abodes: CHALETS - Not A-FRAMES as it turns out
29. Grand Canal span: RIALTO - Our gondolier took us under the famous RIALTO Bridge in Venice 30. Ready to roll: IN GEAR.
33. Part of a blabbing metaphor: LOOSE LIPS - "LOOSE LIPS might sink ships" from WWII
36. Abrupt increase: SPIKE - Have you bought gas lately?
40. Prayer books: MISSALS - Our paper MISSALettes are now both in English and Spanish
42. Occult decks: TAROTS.
43. Hard-to-overcome evils: HYDRAS
45. Brew in Brest: BIERE - How BEER is spelled in this French city that is 400 miles west of Paris
46. Ottoman officers: AGAS - Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini became the Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims or Aga Khan IV in 1957. Here he is shown in the celebration of his 60th yr in that capacity
47. Crown: PATE.
48. Grand __: PRIX.
52. Inventor's monogram: TAE - The Wizard Of Menlo Park
53. Hanoi holiday: TET
54. Franchise-based supermarket chain: IGA - Here is an Independent Grocery Association store in Nyah West, Victoria, Australia (pop. 552)
56. Local boundaries?: ELS - Yup, LocaL starts with an "L" and ends with an "L". No Ernie Els for our friend Pawel! (Jeffrey had 62. Divided trio?: DEES yesterday)
Now it's time to comment and have a mint julep!
