Theme: Triple Letter Score
23A: Most probably: IN ALL LIKELIHOOD
35A: Particle that's not bonded: FREE ELECTRON
108A: Hilo's location: HAWAII ISLAND
128A: City near Kitchener: WATERLOO ONTARIO
16D: Rustproof metal: STAINLESS STEEL
34D: "Burden of Proof" author: SCOTT TUROW
51D: Worker's parties: STAFF FUNCTIONS
53D: Small rudimentary timers: EGG GLASSES
With a little bit Jazz creativity, ZZZ could be structured in a grid I suppose. Would be very hard if not impossible to put in the expensive QQQ, XXX or YYY though.
My favorite theme entry is SCOTT TUROW. I think this is the first time his full name appears in our TMS puzzle. Often see his book "One L"as an answer.
A bit jarring to see END (114A: Denouement) and ON END (98A: In an upright position) so close by. Love the clue for EXIST (37D: Take up space?). Was confused by 45A: Socal airport: LAX. Letter c should be capitalized, SoCal.
What's your answer for 29D: Digital display letters? Right now I have LED, which does not make sense. Should be LCD. But I am certain of the intersecting ASTERN (33A: To the rear). (Addendum: LED is a sold answer. It stands for Light Emitting Diodes.)
Please scroll down for Argyle's blog about TMS Sunday "Anatomy" puzzle.
Across:
1A: Splits: SCHISMS. I was thinking of a verb answer.
15A: Pretentious individual: PSEUD. Mine was PHONY.
22A: Declaration of truth: IT'S SO
32A: Carbohydrate ending: OSE. Often clued as "Sugar suffix". Carb is complex sugar I think.
41A: Marks under some C's: CEDILLAS. As in garçon, indicating a soft C.
49A: Victor at Gettysburg: MEADE (George). Forgot his name. Could only think of the crossword stalwart R. E. Lee, whose name also has 5 letters.
64A: Pasolini picture: SALO. Got the answer. Clueless about Pasolini or the film. Wikipedia mentions that the movie is based on Marquis de Sade's "The 120 Days of Sodom". Sounds sadistic.
71A: St. with keys: FLA. "Street" always jumps into my brain whenever I see the abbreviation St.
76A: Narcissus: DAFFODIL. My instinctive thought was a self-absorbed Blago style Nascissus rather than the flower.
86A: First Arabic letter: ALIF. The second Arabic letter is Ba. The first Hebrew letter is Aleph, followed by Beth.
92A: Japanese ship name: MARU. No idea. But I recognize the kanji 丸, literally "ball". Testicles would be 睾丸 in Japanese. Wikpidia says MARU is a suffix, often "applied to words representing something that is beloved, and sailors applied this suffix to their ships."
97A: Latvian coins: LATI. Had zero familiarity with the coin. The singular form is strangely LATS.
116A: Leafstalk: PETIOLE. New word to me. I simply call the stalk stalk or stem.
127A: Blood of gods: ICHOR. Blood of "Greek gods" to be exact. And they drink nectar and eat ambroisa.
131A: Sch. in the Nutmeg State: UCONN. Did not know Connecticut is known as "the Nutmeg State". Their sports teams are called the Huskies.
132A: Act of avoiding capture: ELUSION. Thought of evasion.
134A: Children's doctor?: SEUSS. I like his "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch".
Down:
1D: Ado: STIR
12D: "Shrek" princess: FIONA. Unknown to me. She is ugly.
17D: First family of Ferrara: ESTE
40D: Never in Berlin: NIE. Interesting all the negative responses seem to start with letter N: NAE for the Scots, NYET for the Russians and NON for those who have "tete" above their shoulders.
42D: Oahu porch: LANAI. Oh, let me be in this LANAI with a man I love, I will ask for no other heaven.
44D: Certain lilies: SEGOS. Why do I always think of carla lilies? They are definitely prettier. SEGO lily is Utah's state flower.
48D: In medias __: RES. Latin for "Into the middle of things". "Ab ovo" is "From the beginning". Both derived from Horace's "Ars Poetic".
54D: 1982 Disney flick: TRON
62D: Hebrew month: ELUL. The 12th month in Jewish calendar. Have not seen ADAR for a long time.
76D: Friend of Pythias: DAMON. I was totally unaware of this Greek myth. And I mixed Pythias with Porthos, so I was thinking of Athos/Aramis, The Three Musketeers.
79D: Tiriac of tennis: ION. Haver never heard of this guy before. He looks like a mafia don. I wonder why ION is not clued as "Charged particle" to match ANIONS (109D: Negative particles".
90D: Lapland native: SAMI. Also known as Lapps. Got it from the across fills. Totally forgot about these nomad natives.
99D: Disarms, as a bull: DEHORNS. Mine was UNHORN.
106D: Bubkes: NIL. "Bubkes" means nothing to me. I've never heard of this Yiddish word before.
107D: Embroidery yarn: CREWEL. Another new word for me. Interesting, it has the same pronunciation as "cruel".
110D: Logical beginning?: IDEO. Ideological.
111D: "Gil Blas" writer: LESAGE. I googled this French writer. Wonderful name, LE SAGE. Wikipedia had 2 quotes from him: "Pride and conceit were the original sins of man" and "Facts are stubborn things".
113D: Book before Philemon: TITUS. Would not have obtained this answer without crossing fills.
116D: Name of 12 popes: PIUS. That's a lot. How many LEO's then?
120D: Base meal?: MESS. Military base.
130D: Where the Phillies play, briefly: NLE. National League East. Of course I was thinking of the ballpark Phillies are playing (Citizens Bank Park). Was misguided many times during today's solving.
C.C.
23A: Most probably: IN ALL LIKELIHOOD
35A: Particle that's not bonded: FREE ELECTRON
108A: Hilo's location: HAWAII ISLAND
128A: City near Kitchener: WATERLOO ONTARIO
16D: Rustproof metal: STAINLESS STEEL
34D: "Burden of Proof" author: SCOTT TUROW
51D: Worker's parties: STAFF FUNCTIONS
53D: Small rudimentary timers: EGG GLASSES
With a little bit Jazz creativity, ZZZ could be structured in a grid I suppose. Would be very hard if not impossible to put in the expensive QQQ, XXX or YYY though.
My favorite theme entry is SCOTT TUROW. I think this is the first time his full name appears in our TMS puzzle. Often see his book "One L"as an answer.
A bit jarring to see END (114A: Denouement) and ON END (98A: In an upright position) so close by. Love the clue for EXIST (37D: Take up space?). Was confused by 45A: Socal airport: LAX. Letter c should be capitalized, SoCal.
What's your answer for 29D: Digital display letters? Right now I have LED, which does not make sense. Should be LCD. But I am certain of the intersecting ASTERN (33A: To the rear). (Addendum: LED is a sold answer. It stands for Light Emitting Diodes.)
Please scroll down for Argyle's blog about TMS Sunday "Anatomy" puzzle.
Across:
1A: Splits: SCHISMS. I was thinking of a verb answer.
15A: Pretentious individual: PSEUD. Mine was PHONY.
22A: Declaration of truth: IT'S SO
32A: Carbohydrate ending: OSE. Often clued as "Sugar suffix". Carb is complex sugar I think.
41A: Marks under some C's: CEDILLAS. As in garçon, indicating a soft C.
49A: Victor at Gettysburg: MEADE (George). Forgot his name. Could only think of the crossword stalwart R. E. Lee, whose name also has 5 letters.
64A: Pasolini picture: SALO. Got the answer. Clueless about Pasolini or the film. Wikipedia mentions that the movie is based on Marquis de Sade's "The 120 Days of Sodom". Sounds sadistic.
71A: St. with keys: FLA. "Street" always jumps into my brain whenever I see the abbreviation St.
76A: Narcissus: DAFFODIL. My instinctive thought was a self-absorbed Blago style Nascissus rather than the flower.
86A: First Arabic letter: ALIF. The second Arabic letter is Ba. The first Hebrew letter is Aleph, followed by Beth.
92A: Japanese ship name: MARU. No idea. But I recognize the kanji 丸, literally "ball". Testicles would be 睾丸 in Japanese. Wikpidia says MARU is a suffix, often "applied to words representing something that is beloved, and sailors applied this suffix to their ships."
97A: Latvian coins: LATI. Had zero familiarity with the coin. The singular form is strangely LATS.
116A: Leafstalk: PETIOLE. New word to me. I simply call the stalk stalk or stem.
127A: Blood of gods: ICHOR. Blood of "Greek gods" to be exact. And they drink nectar and eat ambroisa.
131A: Sch. in the Nutmeg State: UCONN. Did not know Connecticut is known as "the Nutmeg State". Their sports teams are called the Huskies.
132A: Act of avoiding capture: ELUSION. Thought of evasion.
134A: Children's doctor?: SEUSS. I like his "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch".
Down:
1D: Ado: STIR
12D: "Shrek" princess: FIONA. Unknown to me. She is ugly.
17D: First family of Ferrara: ESTE
40D: Never in Berlin: NIE. Interesting all the negative responses seem to start with letter N: NAE for the Scots, NYET for the Russians and NON for those who have "tete" above their shoulders.
42D: Oahu porch: LANAI. Oh, let me be in this LANAI with a man I love, I will ask for no other heaven.
44D: Certain lilies: SEGOS. Why do I always think of carla lilies? They are definitely prettier. SEGO lily is Utah's state flower.
48D: In medias __: RES. Latin for "Into the middle of things". "Ab ovo" is "From the beginning". Both derived from Horace's "Ars Poetic".
54D: 1982 Disney flick: TRON
62D: Hebrew month: ELUL. The 12th month in Jewish calendar. Have not seen ADAR for a long time.
76D: Friend of Pythias: DAMON. I was totally unaware of this Greek myth. And I mixed Pythias with Porthos, so I was thinking of Athos/Aramis, The Three Musketeers.
79D: Tiriac of tennis: ION. Haver never heard of this guy before. He looks like a mafia don. I wonder why ION is not clued as "Charged particle" to match ANIONS (109D: Negative particles".
90D: Lapland native: SAMI. Also known as Lapps. Got it from the across fills. Totally forgot about these nomad natives.
99D: Disarms, as a bull: DEHORNS. Mine was UNHORN.
106D: Bubkes: NIL. "Bubkes" means nothing to me. I've never heard of this Yiddish word before.
107D: Embroidery yarn: CREWEL. Another new word for me. Interesting, it has the same pronunciation as "cruel".
110D: Logical beginning?: IDEO. Ideological.
111D: "Gil Blas" writer: LESAGE. I googled this French writer. Wonderful name, LE SAGE. Wikipedia had 2 quotes from him: "Pride and conceit were the original sins of man" and "Facts are stubborn things".
113D: Book before Philemon: TITUS. Would not have obtained this answer without crossing fills.
116D: Name of 12 popes: PIUS. That's a lot. How many LEO's then?
120D: Base meal?: MESS. Military base.
130D: Where the Phillies play, briefly: NLE. National League East. Of course I was thinking of the ballpark Phillies are playing (Citizens Bank Park). Was misguided many times during today's solving.
C.C.
