Theme: In Other Words
20A: Railroad employee: TRAIN TRACKER (Train = Track ???)
28A: 9-to-5 worker: CLOCK - WATCHER (Clock = Watch)
45A: Certain cash machine: MONEY CHANGER (Money = Change)
55A: Garden company: PLANT FACTORY (Plant = Factory)
This is the strangest puzzle I've ever solved. The last theme answer simply does not fit the ER ending pattern. PLANT PRODUCER makes more sence.
Or am I missing something here? I am completely at sea! (Note: Thanks to Mrs. BC, now I got the theme, though the Train & Track connection is still confounding.)
My nitpicks today:
25A: Money player: PRO. MONEY is part of the theme answer. So it should not be allowed to appear as clue. Would be a great tie-in if the clue were "Not 4D" ("Opposing position": ANTI).
64A: Splitsville: RENO. The clue definitely need "?" mark.
23A: P. Goss grp.: CIA. I got the answer because I happen to be very interested in CIA stuff. But I dislike the abbreviation of Porter Goss's name. It's unnessary. "grp." is sufficient to indicate to the solvers that the answer is shortened. I don't know when this puzzle was submitted. But we've got 2 CIA directors after Goss: Michael Hayden and the current Leon Panetta. However, Peter Goss did have a distinguished career with CIA. So I suppose the clue is OK.
Thank you for the great responses yesterday. Very enjoyable reading. Some of your breakfast sound strange to me though. Now you've taken the first step, I really hope you can stop at the Comments box often.
Across:
5A: Econ. agcy.: FTC (Federal Trade Commission). They investigate the price-fixing, fraudulent advertising and other illegal practices. The National Do Not Call Registry was established by them as well. Stumper for me. I wanted CDC as I initially thought of COTERIES for the intersecting 5D: Cliques: FACTIONS.
8A: Of singers: CHORAL
16A: Inspirational discourse: HOMILY. How is it different from a sermon? Every time I see this word, I think of the HOMINY grit.
17A: Covered walkways: PORTICOS. Have you visited the White House before?
35A: 1945 conference site: YALTA. I often confuse this Big Three meeting with MALTA Conference, which also happened in 1945, between Churchill and FDR.
49A: Gerund maker: ING. The new CEO of ING Group should rethink their advertising strategy. Won't cost much to bribe our editor to put their name in crossword grid.
50A: "All over the World" grp.: ELO. Would not have got this group without the down fills. I thought "All over the World" might be a slogan for some organization like ILO (International Labor Union).
52A: Gangster's gun: GAT. "Mobster's gun" might be a better clue due to letter G repetition. "Gangster's girl" is MOLL.
58A: Social occasion: AFFAIR. Hmmm, to me, AFFAIR is a secretive, illicit, extramarital, "Unfaithful" fling.
61A: Rodent burrows: RATHOLES. Not RAT HOLES?
62A: Wagner heroine: ISOLDE. From his "Tristan und ISOLDE". From what I gleaned in Wikipedia, the story resembles the romances between Guinevere and Lancelot. What "a brief shining moment" Camelot is.
63A: Here, in Le Havre: ICI. See this map. Nothing special about this city. The constructor picked up "Le Havre" simply because of its alliteration with "Here".
66A: Mo: SEC. Moment. Second.
Down:
1D: Out of gas: EMPTY
3D: "Happy Days" co-star Erin: MORAN. Guessed. Have never seen "Happy Days". It doesn't look like her autograph. The most precious autograph I've got is from Johan Santana. Does he look handsome to you? He pitched the very first baseball game I saw when I arrived in the US.
6D: Of the chest: THORACIC. No idea. Thorax is Latin for chest. That's a very strange diagram, isn't it?
7D: Spanish house: CASA. "Italian house" as well. "Casa room" is SALA.
8D: Division of a polo match: CHUKKA. Obtained from across fills. I know nothing about polo. Kind of like baseball "inning" I presume? How many CHUKKAS are there in a polo match?
9D: Best policy?: HONESTY
10D:__ Khayyam: OMAR. The "Tentmaker" poet. His surname Khayyam means "Tentmaker", so his ancestor might be tentmakers. Like our Smith. I like his "A jug of Wine / A Loaf of Bread / And Thou..." poem. Very simple and beautiful.
13D: Sodium hydroxide: LYE. Sophisticated clue, but I was not intimidated. Whatever lipstick you put it on, LYE is still LYE still the "Soap ingredient" to me.
18D: Contents abbr.: INCL. Included? I don't know. I wanted ENCL (31A: Bus. letter abbr.).
25D: Flower of Texas: PHLOX. Pronounced as "flocks". Literally "flame" in Latin. Why "Texas"? We have this flower in Minnestoa too.
29D: Shrine at Mecca: KAABA. No idea. It's considered the very center of the Muslim world. KAABA is a "cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque of Mecca, containing the Black Stone". The word KAABA is from from Arabic ka'bah meaning "cubic structure". Muslims face towards the KAABA when they pray, regardless of where they are. Also, those pilgrims walk several times around the KAABA in a counter-clockwise direction during Hajj.
31D: Bursera resin: ELEMI. It's clued as "Varnish ingredient" several times before. I forgot what "Burser" is.
32D: Cynthia of "Sex and City": NIXON. What's wrong with her dress?
38D: Sign of sadness: LONG FACE. This is a happy "Sex and City" LONG FACE. Another one, happy too.
39D: Inflexible: DOGMATIC
46D: Red Bordeaux: CLARET
48D: Incise deeply: ETCH. I like this word ETCH, 3 consonants. KVETCH is great too. OREO is boring.
52D: Automation of Jewish legend: GOLEM. Absolutely no idea. It's literally "cocoon" in modern Hebrew. Might derive from the word gelem, meaning "raw material". Looks so clumy and ugly. Scary too. Wikipedia says "Frankstein" was inspired by GOLEM legends.
54D: Cicely or Mike: TYSON. Did not know Cicely TYSON, Miles Davis' wife.
56D: Speaker of baseball: TRIS. I don't think I own any of his card. Learned his name from doing Xword. He was inducted into HOFin 1937, together with Cy Young (the guy on the left).
57D: Lawnmower brand: TORO. Who is their major competitor? Deere?
58D: Some sloths: AIS. This has become a gimme to me. Here is a great picture, see their three toes? If anyone finds a picture clearly showing the two toes of the UNAU sloth, please come to the Comments section and share with us.
59D: Tallahassee sch.: FSU. The sports team name is The Seminoles.
60D: In place of: FOR. I thought of CUM, which is actually "with". Normally the answer for "In place of " is LIEU.
C.C.
20A: Railroad employee: TRAIN TRACKER (Train = Track ???)
28A: 9-to-5 worker: CLOCK - WATCHER (Clock = Watch)
45A: Certain cash machine: MONEY CHANGER (Money = Change)
55A: Garden company: PLANT FACTORY (Plant = Factory)
This is the strangest puzzle I've ever solved. The last theme answer simply does not fit the ER ending pattern. PLANT PRODUCER makes more sence.
Or am I missing something here? I am completely at sea! (Note: Thanks to Mrs. BC, now I got the theme, though the Train & Track connection is still confounding.)
My nitpicks today:
25A: Money player: PRO. MONEY is part of the theme answer. So it should not be allowed to appear as clue. Would be a great tie-in if the clue were "Not 4D" ("Opposing position": ANTI).
64A: Splitsville: RENO. The clue definitely need "?" mark.
23A: P. Goss grp.: CIA. I got the answer because I happen to be very interested in CIA stuff. But I dislike the abbreviation of Porter Goss's name. It's unnessary. "grp." is sufficient to indicate to the solvers that the answer is shortened. I don't know when this puzzle was submitted. But we've got 2 CIA directors after Goss: Michael Hayden and the current Leon Panetta. However, Peter Goss did have a distinguished career with CIA. So I suppose the clue is OK.
Thank you for the great responses yesterday. Very enjoyable reading. Some of your breakfast sound strange to me though. Now you've taken the first step, I really hope you can stop at the Comments box often.
Across:
5A: Econ. agcy.: FTC (Federal Trade Commission). They investigate the price-fixing, fraudulent advertising and other illegal practices. The National Do Not Call Registry was established by them as well. Stumper for me. I wanted CDC as I initially thought of COTERIES for the intersecting 5D: Cliques: FACTIONS.
8A: Of singers: CHORAL
16A: Inspirational discourse: HOMILY. How is it different from a sermon? Every time I see this word, I think of the HOMINY grit.
17A: Covered walkways: PORTICOS. Have you visited the White House before?
35A: 1945 conference site: YALTA. I often confuse this Big Three meeting with MALTA Conference, which also happened in 1945, between Churchill and FDR.
49A: Gerund maker: ING. The new CEO of ING Group should rethink their advertising strategy. Won't cost much to bribe our editor to put their name in crossword grid.
50A: "All over the World" grp.: ELO. Would not have got this group without the down fills. I thought "All over the World" might be a slogan for some organization like ILO (International Labor Union).
52A: Gangster's gun: GAT. "Mobster's gun" might be a better clue due to letter G repetition. "Gangster's girl" is MOLL.
58A: Social occasion: AFFAIR. Hmmm, to me, AFFAIR is a secretive, illicit, extramarital, "Unfaithful" fling.
61A: Rodent burrows: RATHOLES. Not RAT HOLES?
62A: Wagner heroine: ISOLDE. From his "Tristan und ISOLDE". From what I gleaned in Wikipedia, the story resembles the romances between Guinevere and Lancelot. What "a brief shining moment" Camelot is.
63A: Here, in Le Havre: ICI. See this map. Nothing special about this city. The constructor picked up "Le Havre" simply because of its alliteration with "Here".
66A: Mo: SEC. Moment. Second.
Down:
1D: Out of gas: EMPTY
3D: "Happy Days" co-star Erin: MORAN. Guessed. Have never seen "Happy Days". It doesn't look like her autograph. The most precious autograph I've got is from Johan Santana. Does he look handsome to you? He pitched the very first baseball game I saw when I arrived in the US.
6D: Of the chest: THORACIC. No idea. Thorax is Latin for chest. That's a very strange diagram, isn't it?
7D: Spanish house: CASA. "Italian house" as well. "Casa room" is SALA.
8D: Division of a polo match: CHUKKA. Obtained from across fills. I know nothing about polo. Kind of like baseball "inning" I presume? How many CHUKKAS are there in a polo match?
9D: Best policy?: HONESTY
10D:__ Khayyam: OMAR. The "Tentmaker" poet. His surname Khayyam means "Tentmaker", so his ancestor might be tentmakers. Like our Smith. I like his "A jug of Wine / A Loaf of Bread / And Thou..." poem. Very simple and beautiful.
13D: Sodium hydroxide: LYE. Sophisticated clue, but I was not intimidated. Whatever lipstick you put it on, LYE is still LYE still the "Soap ingredient" to me.
18D: Contents abbr.: INCL. Included? I don't know. I wanted ENCL (31A: Bus. letter abbr.).
25D: Flower of Texas: PHLOX. Pronounced as "flocks". Literally "flame" in Latin. Why "Texas"? We have this flower in Minnestoa too.
29D: Shrine at Mecca: KAABA. No idea. It's considered the very center of the Muslim world. KAABA is a "cube-shaped building in the Great Mosque of Mecca, containing the Black Stone". The word KAABA is from from Arabic ka'bah meaning "cubic structure". Muslims face towards the KAABA when they pray, regardless of where they are. Also, those pilgrims walk several times around the KAABA in a counter-clockwise direction during Hajj.
31D: Bursera resin: ELEMI. It's clued as "Varnish ingredient" several times before. I forgot what "Burser" is.
32D: Cynthia of "Sex and City": NIXON. What's wrong with her dress?
38D: Sign of sadness: LONG FACE. This is a happy "Sex and City" LONG FACE. Another one, happy too.
39D: Inflexible: DOGMATIC
46D: Red Bordeaux: CLARET
48D: Incise deeply: ETCH. I like this word ETCH, 3 consonants. KVETCH is great too. OREO is boring.
52D: Automation of Jewish legend: GOLEM. Absolutely no idea. It's literally "cocoon" in modern Hebrew. Might derive from the word gelem, meaning "raw material". Looks so clumy and ugly. Scary too. Wikipedia says "Frankstein" was inspired by GOLEM legends.
54D: Cicely or Mike: TYSON. Did not know Cicely TYSON, Miles Davis' wife.
56D: Speaker of baseball: TRIS. I don't think I own any of his card. Learned his name from doing Xword. He was inducted into HOFin 1937, together with Cy Young (the guy on the left).
57D: Lawnmower brand: TORO. Who is their major competitor? Deere?
58D: Some sloths: AIS. This has become a gimme to me. Here is a great picture, see their three toes? If anyone finds a picture clearly showing the two toes of the UNAU sloth, please come to the Comments section and share with us.
59D: Tallahassee sch.: FSU. The sports team name is The Seminoles.
60D: In place of: FOR. I thought of CUM, which is actually "with". Normally the answer for "In place of " is LIEU.
C.C.
