Theme: The Modern Prometheus - all the theme entries refer to the alternative title of this novel:
17A. Classic 1818 novel: FRANKENSTEIN. Here's the cover of the first edition:
20A. Unnamed character in 17-Across: THE MONSTER. "It" is known by number of names in the novel, none of them particularly flattering, including "It".
35A. Author of 17-Across: MARY SHELLEY. She wrote the novel when she was 18, she was 20 when it was published. Her, her husband Percy and Lord Byron had a competition to see who could come up with the best horror story.
47A. 1974 portrayer of 17-Across: GENE WILDER. Here's the classic moment from the movie when Wilder meets Marty Feldman's Igor for the first time.
53A. 1931 portrayer of 20-Across: BORIS KARLOFF. A little before my time, but surely everyone has seen Karloff's performance in this classic movie.
So, a nice challenge from Jeffrey, I didn't really get a toe-hold until the SW corner, then it was a question of working across and back up. The Karloff theme entry was my first, then it was just a question of fitting the pieces of the puzzle into place.
There's a lot of fresh fill in the puzzle too. SEED HEADS in the center of the downs was impressive as it crosses all five theme entries. Let's check out the rest.
Across:
1. Expert in Islamic law: MUFTI. A learning moment. I knew the word as a military term for civilian clothes but not the Islamic connection.
6. Classroom tools: RULERS
12. Nation partly in the Arctic Circle: FINLAND. Brrr. Not a whole lot of daylight in winter, either.
14. Left: GONE OUT
15. "I didn't lie!": IT WAS SO!
16. Select, as a jury: EMPANEL. I'm not sure I knew this. Crosses filled in a lot of it for me.
19. Otoscope target: EAR. I learned "oto-" from this photograph of David Niven in his book "The Moon's A Balloon". The caption read "Cupid developed otosis as a result" which sent me scurrying for the dictionary.
24. In a calculating way: SLYLY. Just pipped by "rhythm" as one of the longest words with no vowels.
27. Antipoverty agcy.: O.E.O. The Office of Economic Opportunity. Established by Lyndon Johnson to manage his War on Poverty programs. It was abolished in 1981.
28. Actor Stephen: REA. I had him as RAE first which slowed things down a tad.
29. Prefix with plus: SUR. Surplus.
31. Reduce in status: DRAG DOWN
37. Slapstick reaction: SPIT TAKE. Never heard of this term before either. One of these:
39. Borrow, but not really: BUM. "Not really" because you'e not going to give it back, as in "bum a smoke".
40. "__ you serious?": ARE
41. Talk and talk: YAP
43. Namely: TO WIT
52. "__ scale of 1 to 10 ... ": ON A. Fill it in and move on.
56. King in 1 Kings: SOLOMON
59. Shoulder piece: EPAULET
60. Like some rural bridges: ONE LANE
61. July 4, 1776, notables: SIGNERS. I tried FATHERS first, knowing it was probably wrong. I proved myself right (wrong) eventually.
62. Green field?: BOTANY. Field of study.
63. Campus figures: DEANS
Down:
1. Kind of heart valve: MITRAL
2. Easily led astray: UNWARY
3. Rich dessert: FLAN
4. Something to do: TASK
5. Map box: INSET. Took me a while to figure this out, even though the clue is familiar enough.
6. "Did my heart love till now?" speaker: ROMEO. Yay! I actually knew this.
7. Detach, as a dress pattern: UNPIN. My mom used to make her own dresses, I witnessed lots of unpinning of patterns as a kid.
8. Isn't straight: LEANS
9. Big stretch: EON
10. Deeply regret: RUE
11. Mo. town: STL St. Louis.
12. High winds: FIFES. Nice clue. A fife is a high-pitched flute.
13. Honolulu-born singer: DON HO
14. Go back for a second helping: GET MORE
18. A dandelion's are called blowballs: SEED HEADS. We used to drive my dad nuts blowing the seed heads; as fast as he was trying to get the pissenlit out of the lawn we were just compounding the problem.
21. Fox NFL analyst Aikman: TROY. He's actually pretty good as an analyst; the Cowboys did something right, Tony Romo is a quite excellent announcer.
22. "Ick!": EEW!
23. Fled: RAN
25. Future JD's exam: LSAT
26. Mongolian tent: YURT. Now available as expensive "glamping" accomodations in Big Sur, among other places.
30. Shaggy rug from 12-Across: RYA. Remembered from crosswords past.
32. Kosovo neighbor: Abbr.: ALB. Albania, on the Balkan Peninsula.
33. Surfeit: GLUT
34. How-to presentation: DEMO. I've demoed a lot of software in my time. One of the more enjoyable parts of my work day.
35. Bearing: MIEN
36. Prominent New York City feature: SKYLINE. The most impressive skyline I've seen is Hong Kong island overlooking the harbor, especially at night when all the buildings are lit up in neon.
37. Give a little: SAG
38. Not post-: PRE-
42. Short dogs, for short: PEKES
44. Like some scarves: WOOLEN. This gave me pause for quite some time. I've always spelled it with two "L"s.
45. Works out: INFERS
46. Last family to keep a White House cow: TAFTS. Two cows actually, Wooly Mooly and Pauline Wayne. There's that single "L" again in "Wooly".
48. Dangerous virus: EBOLA
49. Lennon love song: WOMAN. Written for Yoko, as 57D cross-references.
50. Twist: IRONY
51. Fleet: RAPID
54. Heated state: RAGE
55. Large green moth: LUNA. Quite impressive-looking things. I don't think I've ever seen one.
56. One may be choked back: SOB
57. Dedicatee of 49-Down: ONO
58. __ alone: not to mention: LET
And with that, I'm on my way. Have a great day!
Steve
17A. Classic 1818 novel: FRANKENSTEIN. Here's the cover of the first edition:
20A. Unnamed character in 17-Across: THE MONSTER. "It" is known by number of names in the novel, none of them particularly flattering, including "It".
35A. Author of 17-Across: MARY SHELLEY. She wrote the novel when she was 18, she was 20 when it was published. Her, her husband Percy and Lord Byron had a competition to see who could come up with the best horror story.
47A. 1974 portrayer of 17-Across: GENE WILDER. Here's the classic moment from the movie when Wilder meets Marty Feldman's Igor for the first time.
53A. 1931 portrayer of 20-Across: BORIS KARLOFF. A little before my time, but surely everyone has seen Karloff's performance in this classic movie.
So, a nice challenge from Jeffrey, I didn't really get a toe-hold until the SW corner, then it was a question of working across and back up. The Karloff theme entry was my first, then it was just a question of fitting the pieces of the puzzle into place.
There's a lot of fresh fill in the puzzle too. SEED HEADS in the center of the downs was impressive as it crosses all five theme entries. Let's check out the rest.
Across:
1. Expert in Islamic law: MUFTI. A learning moment. I knew the word as a military term for civilian clothes but not the Islamic connection.
6. Classroom tools: RULERS
12. Nation partly in the Arctic Circle: FINLAND. Brrr. Not a whole lot of daylight in winter, either.
14. Left: GONE OUT
15. "I didn't lie!": IT WAS SO!
16. Select, as a jury: EMPANEL. I'm not sure I knew this. Crosses filled in a lot of it for me.
19. Otoscope target: EAR. I learned "oto-" from this photograph of David Niven in his book "The Moon's A Balloon". The caption read "Cupid developed otosis as a result" which sent me scurrying for the dictionary.
24. In a calculating way: SLYLY. Just pipped by "rhythm" as one of the longest words with no vowels.
27. Antipoverty agcy.: O.E.O. The Office of Economic Opportunity. Established by Lyndon Johnson to manage his War on Poverty programs. It was abolished in 1981.
28. Actor Stephen: REA. I had him as RAE first which slowed things down a tad.
29. Prefix with plus: SUR. Surplus.
31. Reduce in status: DRAG DOWN
37. Slapstick reaction: SPIT TAKE. Never heard of this term before either. One of these:
39. Borrow, but not really: BUM. "Not really" because you'e not going to give it back, as in "bum a smoke".
40. "__ you serious?": ARE
41. Talk and talk: YAP
43. Namely: TO WIT
52. "__ scale of 1 to 10 ... ": ON A. Fill it in and move on.
56. King in 1 Kings: SOLOMON
59. Shoulder piece: EPAULET
60. Like some rural bridges: ONE LANE
61. July 4, 1776, notables: SIGNERS. I tried FATHERS first, knowing it was probably wrong. I proved myself right (wrong) eventually.
62. Green field?: BOTANY. Field of study.
63. Campus figures: DEANS
Down:
1. Kind of heart valve: MITRAL
2. Easily led astray: UNWARY
3. Rich dessert: FLAN
4. Something to do: TASK
5. Map box: INSET. Took me a while to figure this out, even though the clue is familiar enough.
6. "Did my heart love till now?" speaker: ROMEO. Yay! I actually knew this.
7. Detach, as a dress pattern: UNPIN. My mom used to make her own dresses, I witnessed lots of unpinning of patterns as a kid.
8. Isn't straight: LEANS
9. Big stretch: EON
10. Deeply regret: RUE
11. Mo. town: STL St. Louis.
12. High winds: FIFES. Nice clue. A fife is a high-pitched flute.
13. Honolulu-born singer: DON HO
14. Go back for a second helping: GET MORE
18. A dandelion's are called blowballs: SEED HEADS. We used to drive my dad nuts blowing the seed heads; as fast as he was trying to get the pissenlit out of the lawn we were just compounding the problem.
21. Fox NFL analyst Aikman: TROY. He's actually pretty good as an analyst; the Cowboys did something right, Tony Romo is a quite excellent announcer.
22. "Ick!": EEW!
23. Fled: RAN
25. Future JD's exam: LSAT
26. Mongolian tent: YURT. Now available as expensive "glamping" accomodations in Big Sur, among other places.
30. Shaggy rug from 12-Across: RYA. Remembered from crosswords past.
32. Kosovo neighbor: Abbr.: ALB. Albania, on the Balkan Peninsula.
33. Surfeit: GLUT
34. How-to presentation: DEMO. I've demoed a lot of software in my time. One of the more enjoyable parts of my work day.
35. Bearing: MIEN
36. Prominent New York City feature: SKYLINE. The most impressive skyline I've seen is Hong Kong island overlooking the harbor, especially at night when all the buildings are lit up in neon.
37. Give a little: SAG
38. Not post-: PRE-
42. Short dogs, for short: PEKES
44. Like some scarves: WOOLEN. This gave me pause for quite some time. I've always spelled it with two "L"s.
45. Works out: INFERS
46. Last family to keep a White House cow: TAFTS. Two cows actually, Wooly Mooly and Pauline Wayne. There's that single "L" again in "Wooly".
48. Dangerous virus: EBOLA
49. Lennon love song: WOMAN. Written for Yoko, as 57D cross-references.
50. Twist: IRONY
51. Fleet: RAPID
54. Heated state: RAGE
55. Large green moth: LUNA. Quite impressive-looking things. I don't think I've ever seen one.
56. One may be choked back: SOB
57. Dedicatee of 49-Down: ONO
58. __ alone: not to mention: LET
And with that, I'm on my way. Have a great day!
Steve
