Theme: TV News Personality
20A: TV news personality: BRIAN WILLIAMS
32A: TV news personality: TIM RUSSERT
41A: TV news personality: LESTER HOLT
52A: TV news personality: CHARLES GIBSON
Where is KATIE COURIC? Or have you given up on her & CBS Evening News? How much did Steve Capus pay you to put 3 of his NBC anchors in your puzzle?
I aced this one today. All those TV news guys are gimmes to me. I often tune into ABC World News for my daily news dosage, and flip the channel to NBC Nightly News just to check what tie BRIAM WILLIAMS is wearing. Watch LESTER HOLT's weekend edition occasionally, and turn into Meet the Press when there are exciting guests.
Great to see AIRS (40A: Haughtiness), BARB (1A: Cutting remark), RECAP (46A: Go over again), ARGUE (61A: Bicker), LIPREAD (41D: Use one's eyes to hear) clued in the same grid.
I like the lower right corner a lot. It summarizes the sad story of "TESS of the d'Urbervilles" in a tiny 4*4 corner. I could see the rake Alec OGLEs and seduces Tess in the field. And I could hear the dairy maid telling Angel Clare: "Nobody could love 'ee more than Tess did! She would have LAID down her life for 'ee. I could do no more!", though Angel later left for Brazil rather than Chile. See 51D: Chilean mountain range: ANDES. The intersection of USAGE with LAID, OGLE and TESS is brilliant.
ACROSS:
14A: Arch type: OGEE. Lots of G-string words in today's puzzle: AGORA, GULL, SUGAR, BRAGI, PIG, USAGE, OGLE, ARGUE, EDGE.
17A: Drop down: MOLT. Hmm, I don't know. Does it sound like a good clue to you?
18A: Univalent radical: ALLYL & 8D: Univalent radical: ARYL. Drdad can probably explain these stuff to us. He got a Ph.D. in chemistry. I know neither of them. Pure guess.
25A: One way to be taken: ABACK. Take aback. Good clue.
27A: Prefix with acetylene: OXY (prefix for Oxygen). No idea. I got it from down clues.
39A: Portends: BODES. Without this B, I would not have gotten BRAGI for 39D.
43A: __ judicata: RES. Nailed it today.
58A: Downy duck: EIDER. Nice alliteration.
63A: Layer: TIER. Dislike the clue due to 57A: LAID. Maybe I should not.
64A: Exploits: DEEDS
DOWNS.
1D: Lead balloons: BOMBS
4D: __carotene: BETA. Don't drink too much carrot juice, your face will become yellow. I think sweet potato is rich in beta carotene too.
5D: Routes for ships: SEAWAYS. 7D: Deceive: GULL. I like how these 2 words are paralled in the grid.
9D: Dependent: RELIANT. Have to be self-reliant to be free.
10D: Punctuation mark: COMMA. And 49D: Grammar topic: USAGE
11D: Sound peak: CRESCENDO. Hmm, I like the intensity building.
21D: Connection: NEXUS. Without this X, I would not have got 27A.
31D: Rear position: LAST. Very interesting ENTRY.
39D: Norse god of poetry: BRAGI. Unknown to me. But it's inferable. BRAGI is the "god of poetry and eloquence, son of Odin, husband of Idun (Goddess of eternal youth).
42D: Some aliens: ÉMIGRÉS. What' the difference between immigrant, emigrant and ÉMIGRÉS?
48D: Pretentious one: PSEUD. Familiar with "psedo" as a prefix (pseudoscience, pseudonym), but I had no idea that PSEUD alone can be a word too.
50D: Agronomist's study: SOILS
55D: Smudge: BLOT
57D: Luau loop: LEI. Hey, we got lei'd again.
C.C.
20A: TV news personality: BRIAN WILLIAMS
32A: TV news personality: TIM RUSSERT
41A: TV news personality: LESTER HOLT
52A: TV news personality: CHARLES GIBSON
Where is KATIE COURIC? Or have you given up on her & CBS Evening News? How much did Steve Capus pay you to put 3 of his NBC anchors in your puzzle?
I aced this one today. All those TV news guys are gimmes to me. I often tune into ABC World News for my daily news dosage, and flip the channel to NBC Nightly News just to check what tie BRIAM WILLIAMS is wearing. Watch LESTER HOLT's weekend edition occasionally, and turn into Meet the Press when there are exciting guests.
Great to see AIRS (40A: Haughtiness), BARB (1A: Cutting remark), RECAP (46A: Go over again), ARGUE (61A: Bicker), LIPREAD (41D: Use one's eyes to hear) clued in the same grid.
I like the lower right corner a lot. It summarizes the sad story of "TESS of the d'Urbervilles" in a tiny 4*4 corner. I could see the rake Alec OGLEs and seduces Tess in the field. And I could hear the dairy maid telling Angel Clare: "Nobody could love 'ee more than Tess did! She would have LAID down her life for 'ee. I could do no more!", though Angel later left for Brazil rather than Chile. See 51D: Chilean mountain range: ANDES. The intersection of USAGE with LAID, OGLE and TESS is brilliant.
ACROSS:
14A: Arch type: OGEE. Lots of G-string words in today's puzzle: AGORA, GULL, SUGAR, BRAGI, PIG, USAGE, OGLE, ARGUE, EDGE.
17A: Drop down: MOLT. Hmm, I don't know. Does it sound like a good clue to you?
18A: Univalent radical: ALLYL & 8D: Univalent radical: ARYL. Drdad can probably explain these stuff to us. He got a Ph.D. in chemistry. I know neither of them. Pure guess.
25A: One way to be taken: ABACK. Take aback. Good clue.
27A: Prefix with acetylene: OXY (prefix for Oxygen). No idea. I got it from down clues.
39A: Portends: BODES. Without this B, I would not have gotten BRAGI for 39D.
43A: __ judicata: RES. Nailed it today.
58A: Downy duck: EIDER. Nice alliteration.
63A: Layer: TIER. Dislike the clue due to 57A: LAID. Maybe I should not.
64A: Exploits: DEEDS
DOWNS.
1D: Lead balloons: BOMBS
4D: __carotene: BETA. Don't drink too much carrot juice, your face will become yellow. I think sweet potato is rich in beta carotene too.
5D: Routes for ships: SEAWAYS. 7D: Deceive: GULL. I like how these 2 words are paralled in the grid.
9D: Dependent: RELIANT. Have to be self-reliant to be free.
10D: Punctuation mark: COMMA. And 49D: Grammar topic: USAGE
11D: Sound peak: CRESCENDO. Hmm, I like the intensity building.
21D: Connection: NEXUS. Without this X, I would not have got 27A.
31D: Rear position: LAST. Very interesting ENTRY.
39D: Norse god of poetry: BRAGI. Unknown to me. But it's inferable. BRAGI is the "god of poetry and eloquence, son of Odin, husband of Idun (Goddess of eternal youth).
42D: Some aliens: ÉMIGRÉS. What' the difference between immigrant, emigrant and ÉMIGRÉS?
48D: Pretentious one: PSEUD. Familiar with "psedo" as a prefix (pseudoscience, pseudonym), but I had no idea that PSEUD alone can be a word too.
50D: Agronomist's study: SOILS
55D: Smudge: BLOT
57D: Luau loop: LEI. Hey, we got lei'd again.
C.C.
