Theme: Sewing class - the theme entries all refer to the reveal answer later in the puzzle:
17A. One who leaves garments 50-Across: SEAMSTRESS. Probably a little old-fashioned now; I'd probably use "tailor" to describe needle-wielding men or women.
25A. One who leaves audiences 50-Across: STAND-UP COMIC. I worked with a guy once who was an IT consultant and had a stand-up comedy act riffing on .... IT consulting. It didn't strike me as something that would exactly leave you rolling in the aisles.
38A. One who leaves patients 50-Across: BRAIN SURGEON. Very, very small ones, I hope.
and the unifier ...
50A. See 17-, 25- and 38-Across: IN STITCHES
A high-quality puzzle from Derek for the second day of the New Year. There's some real sparkle in the fill and some very elegant construction with the stacked 9's and 8's in the downs in the northeast and southwest. Nary a clunker to be seen, there's plainly a lot of effort that's gone into this one. A lot of the markers for this puzzle are more "Saturday-like" - average word length, number of blocks, those kind of things.
Let's see what else jumps out:
Across:
1. Common email attachments: PDFS
5. Fired (up): AMPED
10. Tablet with Siri: IPAD
14. Singer between Melanie and Joan at Woodstock: ARLO. Arlo Guthrie appeared between Melanie and Joan Baez's sets at the 1969 festival at Yasgur's Farm, which was actually nowhere near Woodstock being a good 60 miles away.
15. Drag one's feet: TARRY
16. Prepared-salad seller: DELI
19. www addresses: URLS
20. Feel compassion for, with "on": TAKE PITY
21. Some are imperfect: TENSES
23. "Louisiana Real & Rustic" chef: EMERIL. One of his first cookbooks, published in 1996. Lagasse and his mentor, Paul Prudhomme were responsible for the creation and development of what was described as "New New Orleans" cuisine.
24. Plot: CONNIVE
28. "It's all false!": LIES!
30. Chilling: EERIE
31. Yoga surface: MAT
32. Kid around: JEST
33. Formerly employed by The Company: EX-CIA. I think this might have been my favorite clue of the day.
34. Campsite bunks: COTS
35. Longship propeller: OAR. Hopefully more than one.
36. Playwright Chekhov: ANTON
37. Cold Stone buy: CONE. The Cold Stone Creamery ice-cream parlor franchise, not without its critics in the franchise world.
41. Approach stealthily, with "on": SNEAK UP
42. Can't-miss: NO-LOSE
46. San Diego County racetrack: DEL MAR. "Where the surf meets the turf". It certainly is a lovely spot, but I think Santa Anita, with its backdrop of the San Gabriel mountains is prettier.
47. Violent storms: TEMPESTS
49. Point after deuce: AD IN. Advantage to the server in tennis. I didn't know this before crosswords taught me.
52. He reveals the Wizard: TOTO
53. Bite like a puppy: NIP AT
54. Air filter acronym: HEPA or High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance, which his something of a mouthful. This fixed my "CON LECCE" mistake at 34D. Not quite sure what I was thinking there.
55. Several: A FEW
56. Full of hot air: GASSY
57. "Not so fast!": EASY!
Down:
1. Tomato __: PASTE. Had PURÉE first. Was wrong.
2. Fantasize: DREAM
3. Raisin bran tidbit: FLAKE
4. Bath's county: SOMERSET. You can't bathe in the baths in Bath, sadly. They say the water quality is not safe as it's untreated. Didn't seem to do the Romans any harm though.
5. Number one Hun: ATTILA. I don't think I could name another Hun if my life depended on it.
6. Convenience store: MART
7. Salmon, to bears: PREY
8. Ambulance destinations, briefly: E.R.'S
9. "The Hunger Games" setting: DYSTOPIA. A great word, but I'm not sure I'd use it to describe the "setting" for the Hunger Games movies. I'd say the setting was the locale, which may have been dystopian. Minor niggle.
10. "Search me": I DUNNO
11. Orangey fruit: PERSIMMON. The wood of the tree was used to make golf clubs back when woods were made of wood. Would Woods' woods be wood? Tiger should tell us.
12. Make easier to bear: ALLEVIATE
13. Studies in detail: DISSECTS
18. Rods for roasting: SPITS
22. Suffix with persist: -ENCE. Least favorite of the day, but sometimes you need a crutch.
24. Smokehouse process: CURING
26. On deck: NEXT UP. Baseball.
27. House Beautiful subject: DECOR
28. Got word about: LEARNED OF
29. Biblical descendant of Jacob: ISRAELITE. And a great excuse to listen to some ska courtesy of Desmond Decker and The Aces.
32. Employment statistics: JOBS DATA
33. Not leaving to chance: ENSURING
34. How café is often served: CON LECHE. Usually espresso and scalded milk mixed 50/50.
36. "My Way" lyricist: ANKA
37. Appropriate: CO-OPT. Later-in-the-week example of cluing. Are we looking for the verb or the adjective?
39. Grumpy response to "Are you awake?": I AM NOW
40. Bad blood: ENMITY
43. Actor Milo: O'SHEA
44. Pedometer count: STEPS
45. Long exam answer: ESSAY
47. Baking amts.: TSPS
48. Greek vowels: ETAS
51. Long of "Third Watch": NIA. A very useful name for crosswords. There were only four three-letter entries today, as I mentioned at the top of the blog word lengths tend to get longer as you progress through the week.
And that wraps things up for this Thursday. I hope you all had a good New Year, onwards to 2020!
Steve
17A. One who leaves garments 50-Across: SEAMSTRESS. Probably a little old-fashioned now; I'd probably use "tailor" to describe needle-wielding men or women.
25A. One who leaves audiences 50-Across: STAND-UP COMIC. I worked with a guy once who was an IT consultant and had a stand-up comedy act riffing on .... IT consulting. It didn't strike me as something that would exactly leave you rolling in the aisles.
38A. One who leaves patients 50-Across: BRAIN SURGEON. Very, very small ones, I hope.
and the unifier ...
50A. See 17-, 25- and 38-Across: IN STITCHES
A high-quality puzzle from Derek for the second day of the New Year. There's some real sparkle in the fill and some very elegant construction with the stacked 9's and 8's in the downs in the northeast and southwest. Nary a clunker to be seen, there's plainly a lot of effort that's gone into this one. A lot of the markers for this puzzle are more "Saturday-like" - average word length, number of blocks, those kind of things.
Let's see what else jumps out:
Across:
1. Common email attachments: PDFS
5. Fired (up): AMPED
10. Tablet with Siri: IPAD
14. Singer between Melanie and Joan at Woodstock: ARLO. Arlo Guthrie appeared between Melanie and Joan Baez's sets at the 1969 festival at Yasgur's Farm, which was actually nowhere near Woodstock being a good 60 miles away.
15. Drag one's feet: TARRY
16. Prepared-salad seller: DELI
19. www addresses: URLS
20. Feel compassion for, with "on": TAKE PITY
21. Some are imperfect: TENSES
23. "Louisiana Real & Rustic" chef: EMERIL. One of his first cookbooks, published in 1996. Lagasse and his mentor, Paul Prudhomme were responsible for the creation and development of what was described as "New New Orleans" cuisine.
24. Plot: CONNIVE
28. "It's all false!": LIES!
30. Chilling: EERIE
31. Yoga surface: MAT
32. Kid around: JEST
33. Formerly employed by The Company: EX-CIA. I think this might have been my favorite clue of the day.
34. Campsite bunks: COTS
35. Longship propeller: OAR. Hopefully more than one.
36. Playwright Chekhov: ANTON
37. Cold Stone buy: CONE. The Cold Stone Creamery ice-cream parlor franchise, not without its critics in the franchise world.
41. Approach stealthily, with "on": SNEAK UP
42. Can't-miss: NO-LOSE
46. San Diego County racetrack: DEL MAR. "Where the surf meets the turf". It certainly is a lovely spot, but I think Santa Anita, with its backdrop of the San Gabriel mountains is prettier.
47. Violent storms: TEMPESTS
“Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong
Hark! now I hear them,—Ding-dong, bell.”
- William Shakespeare, The Tempest
49. Point after deuce: AD IN. Advantage to the server in tennis. I didn't know this before crosswords taught me.
52. He reveals the Wizard: TOTO
53. Bite like a puppy: NIP AT
54. Air filter acronym: HEPA or High Efficiency Particulate Arrestance, which his something of a mouthful. This fixed my "CON LECCE" mistake at 34D. Not quite sure what I was thinking there.
55. Several: A FEW
56. Full of hot air: GASSY
57. "Not so fast!": EASY!
Down:
1. Tomato __: PASTE. Had PURÉE first. Was wrong.
2. Fantasize: DREAM
3. Raisin bran tidbit: FLAKE
4. Bath's county: SOMERSET. You can't bathe in the baths in Bath, sadly. They say the water quality is not safe as it's untreated. Didn't seem to do the Romans any harm though.
5. Number one Hun: ATTILA. I don't think I could name another Hun if my life depended on it.
6. Convenience store: MART
7. Salmon, to bears: PREY
8. Ambulance destinations, briefly: E.R.'S
9. "The Hunger Games" setting: DYSTOPIA. A great word, but I'm not sure I'd use it to describe the "setting" for the Hunger Games movies. I'd say the setting was the locale, which may have been dystopian. Minor niggle.
10. "Search me": I DUNNO
11. Orangey fruit: PERSIMMON. The wood of the tree was used to make golf clubs back when woods were made of wood. Would Woods' woods be wood? Tiger should tell us.
12. Make easier to bear: ALLEVIATE
13. Studies in detail: DISSECTS
18. Rods for roasting: SPITS
22. Suffix with persist: -ENCE. Least favorite of the day, but sometimes you need a crutch.
24. Smokehouse process: CURING
26. On deck: NEXT UP. Baseball.
27. House Beautiful subject: DECOR
28. Got word about: LEARNED OF
29. Biblical descendant of Jacob: ISRAELITE. And a great excuse to listen to some ska courtesy of Desmond Decker and The Aces.
32. Employment statistics: JOBS DATA
33. Not leaving to chance: ENSURING
34. How café is often served: CON LECHE. Usually espresso and scalded milk mixed 50/50.
36. "My Way" lyricist: ANKA
37. Appropriate: CO-OPT. Later-in-the-week example of cluing. Are we looking for the verb or the adjective?
39. Grumpy response to "Are you awake?": I AM NOW
40. Bad blood: ENMITY
43. Actor Milo: O'SHEA
44. Pedometer count: STEPS
45. Long exam answer: ESSAY
47. Baking amts.: TSPS
48. Greek vowels: ETAS
51. Long of "Third Watch": NIA. A very useful name for crosswords. There were only four three-letter entries today, as I mentioned at the top of the blog word lengths tend to get longer as you progress through the week.
And that wraps things up for this Thursday. I hope you all had a good New Year, onwards to 2020!
Steve
