Theme: TABLE (61A: Postpone, as a motion (and word that can follow the last word of answers to starred clues))
18A: *Singly: ONE AT A TIME. Timetable, schedule.
20A: *Gathering of reporters: NEWS CONFERENCE. Conference table. Often oval shaped.
31A: *Workplace gambling group: OFFICE POOL. Pool table. Billiards.
40A: *Furthermore: IN ADDITION. Addition table. Not used in my childhood education. Multiplication table, yes!
52A: *Negotiating for a lesser sentence: PLEA BARGAINING. Bargaining table. How many times has the unruly child Kim Jong-il walked away and then returned to the bargaining table? The kid is beyond the reason.
57A: *Credit company with a "Priceless" ad campaign: MASTER CARD. Card table. For card game. Also called poker table, correct?
Dan stacked the top and bottom theme answers again. This has become his signature, together with the heavy themage. Total 34 black squares in this grid. We normally have 38.
Today's Dan Naddor Index (total non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 11. Lower than normal. Is it because of long theme answers & overlapping restriction, Dan?
Almost aced this puzzle. Wrongly put SISCO instead of SYSCO for (21D: Big name in food service), so I had ION instead of YON for 23A ("... the morn ... Walks o'er the dew of __ high eastward hill": "Hamlet"). Hamlet is the ultimate flip-flopper, worse than Brett Favre.
Across:
1A: Giant Mel et al.: OTTS. Mel OTT is the only OTT I know of.
10A: Ballpark figs: ESTS (Estimates)
15A: Euripides tragedy: MEDEA (mi-DEE-uh). She helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece, then was deserted. Then she killed her two sons by Jason.
17A: Pre-euro denaro: LIRE. LIRE is the plural of LIRA.
24A: Olympian's quest: MEDAL
25A: Sources of overhead costs?: ROOFS. The question mark signals that it's not the business operating overhead costs.
27A: Highchair feature: TRAY. Fit nicely with today's TABLE.
30A: GPS suggestion: RTE. And ROAD (28D: Turnpike) & WIDEN (50D: Add lanes to).
34A: "The Swiss Family Robinson" author Johann: WYSS. Obtained the answer from Down fills. Wikipedia says the book was inspired by Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe".
35A: Game for one: SOLITAIRE. I bet Dan tried to place some TABLE preceding word/phrase here.
44A: "I love," in Latin: AMO. "Wo Ai Ni" = "I love you" in Chinese.
45A: Topple (over): KEEL. Capsize.
46A: Stereotypical parrot name: POLLY. Oh, unknown fact to me.
49A: Cote occupant: EWE. Sheep, pigs and pigeons are all occupants of cote.
51A: Mormon initials: LDS (Latter-day Saints).
62A: Morales of "NYPD Blue": ESAI. Short for Isaiah (ahy-ZEY-uh), meaning "salvation". Loved his Tony role. Very cool, except when he reconnected with his stupid ex.
63A: Lowly laborer: PEON. Spanish for "day labor".
Down:
1D: Big-eyed bird: OWL. Ah, have to bring back the alert OWL Melissa linked the other day. It's now part of Argyle's avatar.
2D: Envision: THINK OF. And TIRED OF (3D: Fed up with). Odd to have two OF sitting side by side. But both are prepositions, so I guess it's OK.
5D: Gas giant that merged with BP: AMOCO. Merged in 1998. Just won a huge contract in Iraq.
6D: One of the noble gases: XENON. Rooted in xenos, meaning "foreign", as in xenophobia.
7D: First garden site?: EDEN. Nicely parallels LEAF (8D: Tree growth).
11D: Washer setting: SPIN DRY
12D: Alley prowlers: TOMCATS. Womanizers.
13D: TVs Remington et al: STEELES. Thanks, Lemonade.
22D: Guadalajara gold: ORO. Montana's motto is ORO y plata (Gold and Silver).
26D: Catcher Carlton __, who famously homered to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series: FISK. For the Red Sox, though they lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Calton FISK is a Hall of Famer, though his baseball cards are not worth much.
27D: Bottom line amount: TOTAL
33D: Woodsy aerosol scent: PINE
36D: Turn red, perhaps: RIPEN. Took a long time for my tomatoes to turn red this year.
37D: Janitor's tool: DAMP MOP
38D: Try to equal: EMULATE. The wonder kid Rory McIlroy seems to be unfazed by Tiger Woods.
39D: Regains consciousness: COMES TO
42D: Nasty geezer: OLD GOAT. New to me. Sounds awful.
43D: Where Hillary was sen.: NYS. Or "Where Eliot Spitzer was gov.". What a tragic fall! So much potential with Spitzer.
49D: Grammy-winning country star Steve: EARLE. Have vaguely heard of this name. What is his most famous song again?
54D: Victrolas, e.g.: RCAS. Ah, Nipper the dog. He is looking into the horn of a Victrolas.
55D: Ties up the phone, say: GABS. I like attentive & focused phone conversation.
Answer grid.
Congratulations to our fellow solver Kathleen Wolf (WM). Her "American Landscape" has been chosen as one of the top 10 art entries in Show us your America online contest. I would appreciate it if you would all vote for her. This time it's limited to 1 vote per person, so spread the words and tell your friends about her painting. Together, we can do it.
Picture of the Day: Here is a wonderful photo of our fellow LAT solver Col G and his family at his elder son's wedding in Oct 2007. Col G is a retired Army Engineer based in Bangalore, India.
He said: "L to R in the front are My wife's mother, My mother, My wife's father at the rear L to R, my daughter-in-law Renu (She is a Technical writer with Juniper networks), my elder son Vikram (He is a senior software programmer with ORACLE), my younger son Gaurav (He is a Captain in the Army, following the footsteps of both his grandfathers and father as well), yours truly and lastly my wife Gita (She is a Kindergarten teacher).
Just a snippet, my wife and my mother are wearing the traditional dress of Malayalees ie those who belong to the state of Kerala in India, the dress looks like a sari and is called a Mundu."
C.C.
18A: *Singly: ONE AT A TIME. Timetable, schedule.
20A: *Gathering of reporters: NEWS CONFERENCE. Conference table. Often oval shaped.
31A: *Workplace gambling group: OFFICE POOL. Pool table. Billiards.
40A: *Furthermore: IN ADDITION. Addition table. Not used in my childhood education. Multiplication table, yes!
52A: *Negotiating for a lesser sentence: PLEA BARGAINING. Bargaining table. How many times has the unruly child Kim Jong-il walked away and then returned to the bargaining table? The kid is beyond the reason.
57A: *Credit company with a "Priceless" ad campaign: MASTER CARD. Card table. For card game. Also called poker table, correct?
Dan stacked the top and bottom theme answers again. This has become his signature, together with the heavy themage. Total 34 black squares in this grid. We normally have 38.
Today's Dan Naddor Index (total non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 11. Lower than normal. Is it because of long theme answers & overlapping restriction, Dan?
Almost aced this puzzle. Wrongly put SISCO instead of SYSCO for (21D: Big name in food service), so I had ION instead of YON for 23A ("... the morn ... Walks o'er the dew of __ high eastward hill": "Hamlet"). Hamlet is the ultimate flip-flopper, worse than Brett Favre.
Across:
1A: Giant Mel et al.: OTTS. Mel OTT is the only OTT I know of.
10A: Ballpark figs: ESTS (Estimates)
15A: Euripides tragedy: MEDEA (mi-DEE-uh). She helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece, then was deserted. Then she killed her two sons by Jason.
17A: Pre-euro denaro: LIRE. LIRE is the plural of LIRA.
24A: Olympian's quest: MEDAL
25A: Sources of overhead costs?: ROOFS. The question mark signals that it's not the business operating overhead costs.
27A: Highchair feature: TRAY. Fit nicely with today's TABLE.
30A: GPS suggestion: RTE. And ROAD (28D: Turnpike) & WIDEN (50D: Add lanes to).
34A: "The Swiss Family Robinson" author Johann: WYSS. Obtained the answer from Down fills. Wikipedia says the book was inspired by Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe".
35A: Game for one: SOLITAIRE. I bet Dan tried to place some TABLE preceding word/phrase here.
44A: "I love," in Latin: AMO. "Wo Ai Ni" = "I love you" in Chinese.
45A: Topple (over): KEEL. Capsize.
46A: Stereotypical parrot name: POLLY. Oh, unknown fact to me.
49A: Cote occupant: EWE. Sheep, pigs and pigeons are all occupants of cote.
51A: Mormon initials: LDS (Latter-day Saints).
62A: Morales of "NYPD Blue": ESAI. Short for Isaiah (ahy-ZEY-uh), meaning "salvation". Loved his Tony role. Very cool, except when he reconnected with his stupid ex.
63A: Lowly laborer: PEON. Spanish for "day labor".
Down:
1D: Big-eyed bird: OWL. Ah, have to bring back the alert OWL Melissa linked the other day. It's now part of Argyle's avatar.
2D: Envision: THINK OF. And TIRED OF (3D: Fed up with). Odd to have two OF sitting side by side. But both are prepositions, so I guess it's OK.
5D: Gas giant that merged with BP: AMOCO. Merged in 1998. Just won a huge contract in Iraq.
6D: One of the noble gases: XENON. Rooted in xenos, meaning "foreign", as in xenophobia.
7D: First garden site?: EDEN. Nicely parallels LEAF (8D: Tree growth).
11D: Washer setting: SPIN DRY
12D: Alley prowlers: TOMCATS. Womanizers.
13D: TVs Remington et al: STEELES. Thanks, Lemonade.
22D: Guadalajara gold: ORO. Montana's motto is ORO y plata (Gold and Silver).
26D: Catcher Carlton __, who famously homered to win Game 6 of the 1975 World Series: FISK. For the Red Sox, though they lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Calton FISK is a Hall of Famer, though his baseball cards are not worth much.
27D: Bottom line amount: TOTAL
33D: Woodsy aerosol scent: PINE
36D: Turn red, perhaps: RIPEN. Took a long time for my tomatoes to turn red this year.
37D: Janitor's tool: DAMP MOP
38D: Try to equal: EMULATE. The wonder kid Rory McIlroy seems to be unfazed by Tiger Woods.
39D: Regains consciousness: COMES TO
42D: Nasty geezer: OLD GOAT. New to me. Sounds awful.
43D: Where Hillary was sen.: NYS. Or "Where Eliot Spitzer was gov.". What a tragic fall! So much potential with Spitzer.
49D: Grammy-winning country star Steve: EARLE. Have vaguely heard of this name. What is his most famous song again?
54D: Victrolas, e.g.: RCAS. Ah, Nipper the dog. He is looking into the horn of a Victrolas.
55D: Ties up the phone, say: GABS. I like attentive & focused phone conversation.
Answer grid.
Congratulations to our fellow solver Kathleen Wolf (WM). Her "American Landscape" has been chosen as one of the top 10 art entries in Show us your America online contest. I would appreciate it if you would all vote for her. This time it's limited to 1 vote per person, so spread the words and tell your friends about her painting. Together, we can do it.
Picture of the Day: Here is a wonderful photo of our fellow LAT solver Col G and his family at his elder son's wedding in Oct 2007. Col G is a retired Army Engineer based in Bangalore, India.
He said: "L to R in the front are My wife's mother, My mother, My wife's father at the rear L to R, my daughter-in-law Renu (She is a Technical writer with Juniper networks), my elder son Vikram (He is a senior software programmer with ORACLE), my younger son Gaurav (He is a Captain in the Army, following the footsteps of both his grandfathers and father as well), yours truly and lastly my wife Gita (She is a Kindergarten teacher).
Just a snippet, my wife and my mother are wearing the traditional dress of Malayalees ie those who belong to the state of Kerala in India, the dress looks like a sari and is called a Mundu."
C.C.
