Theme: Listen Carefully
17A: Start of Kin Hubbard quip: LOOK OUT FOR
27A: Part 2 of quip: THE FELLOW WHO
48A: Part 3 of quip: LETS YOU DO ALL
64A: End of quip: THE TALKING
Hmm, wise saying, isn't it? But structurally speaking, the last Kin Hubbard "Optimism" puzzle is much superior than this one.
This grid feels like it was hastily done. I am a bit annoyed by the affixes, esp the S'es and the 2 RE prefixes: RESTART (38D: Begins a new) and REARM (3A: Get a new weaponry).
I truly don't understand why we must have a QUIP/QUOTE every Thursday. Mr. Williams, why are you so SILENT? Why can't you LISTEN (SILENT, anagrammed) to our views and change your style a bit? Why can't we have some rebus puzzles?
Across:
1A: Hacienda room: SALA. Hacienda house will be CASA (same in Italian).
15A: Dizzying pictures: OP ART. Too mathematically-tilted for my taste.
16A: Trade show: EXPO. Or Montreal's MLB team ('til 2004). They've never won a World Series, have they?
20A: Skater Slutskaya: IRINA. Wikipedia says her name is typically pronounced as "e-Ree-nah Sloots-kah-yah." I wonder if there are some subtle differences in meaning between the names IRINA and IRENA in Russian language.
21A: NHL star Phil, to fans: ESPO. Unknown to me. Wiki says he is in Hockey HOF. Wow, 2 Stanley Cups with the Bruins?
22A: Cannes conception: IDEE. I like this alliterative clue. Much better than "IDEE fixe". FYI, "chou", the endearingly sweet French cabbage, means "ugly" (laid/laide) in Chinese, though pronounced differently.
25A: Cosmo competitor: ELLE. I like Vogue.
35A: __ cit: LOC. And another Latin: 12D: ___ dixit: IPSE
36A: Blow a gasket: SEE RED. I've never heard of "Blow a gasket" before. I got ED quickly and was so confused about the tense of the answer. I was really picturing someone doing a gasket- blowing job in my mind.
52A: Infield protector: TARP
53A: Glacier component: BLUE ICE. New to me. It looks so pretty.
57A: Blithering: GAGA. I would not have got GAGA without the perps. "Blithering" is a new word to me.
63A: Ananias, e.g.: LIAR. I caught the LIAR this time.
66A: College credit: UNIT. I don't know. I've never attended any school here. Is credit called UNIT?
70A: Bikini blast: A TEST
71A: __ of Worms: DIET. Complete foreign to me. Thought of "Cans" of worms for a fleeting moment. Did not know that "DIET" also means "a general assembly". Beautiful city - Worms.
Down:
1D: Concrete: SOLID
3D: Pope after Sergius II: LEO IV. Very tricky fill.
4D: Start of JFK line: ASK NOT. From his 1961 Inaugural Address. It's not his nor Ted Sorensen's original lines. JFK just paraphrased Khalil Gibran's 1925 essay "The New Frontier": "... Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert...". My favorite JFK book is probably Pierre Salinger's "With Kennedy". What is yours?
8D: Row, row, row your boat: PROPEL. Sounds so hard!
9D: Leisurely walks: STROLLS. I want to take STROLLS here, the Royal Birkdale Golf Course, and follow Adam Scott this morning.
10D: Film critic: REVIEWER
26D: Leopold's cohort: LOEB. No, no, not familiar with LOEB at all. Did you nail him?
30D: VIP in a will: HEIR. And 41D: Will proceedings: PROBATES
39D: Author Angelou: MAYA. Here is her wonderful "On the Pulse of Morning" at Clinton's inaugural in 1993: "A rock, a river, a tree....COME, you may stand upon my back...and say simply, very simply, with hope, Good morning."
44D: Actress Swit: LORETTA. Unknown to me. Pure guess.
51D: Oozed out: LEAKED
54D: Formal response to "Who's there?": IT IS I
55D: Swing a thurible: CENSE. Swing? That forcefully?
56D: Destructive plant fungus: ERGOT
58D: Hokkaido native: AINU. Very accurate clue. AINU do live in the very northern part of Japan.
65D: Nova Scotia hrs.: AST (Atlantic Standard Time)
C.C.
17A: Start of Kin Hubbard quip: LOOK OUT FOR
27A: Part 2 of quip: THE FELLOW WHO
48A: Part 3 of quip: LETS YOU DO ALL
64A: End of quip: THE TALKING
Hmm, wise saying, isn't it? But structurally speaking, the last Kin Hubbard "Optimism" puzzle is much superior than this one.
This grid feels like it was hastily done. I am a bit annoyed by the affixes, esp the S'es and the 2 RE prefixes: RESTART (38D: Begins a new) and REARM (3A: Get a new weaponry).
I truly don't understand why we must have a QUIP/QUOTE every Thursday. Mr. Williams, why are you so SILENT? Why can't you LISTEN (SILENT, anagrammed) to our views and change your style a bit? Why can't we have some rebus puzzles?
Across:
1A: Hacienda room: SALA. Hacienda house will be CASA (same in Italian).
15A: Dizzying pictures: OP ART. Too mathematically-tilted for my taste.
16A: Trade show: EXPO. Or Montreal's MLB team ('til 2004). They've never won a World Series, have they?
20A: Skater Slutskaya: IRINA. Wikipedia says her name is typically pronounced as "e-Ree-nah Sloots-kah-yah." I wonder if there are some subtle differences in meaning between the names IRINA and IRENA in Russian language.
21A: NHL star Phil, to fans: ESPO. Unknown to me. Wiki says he is in Hockey HOF. Wow, 2 Stanley Cups with the Bruins?
22A: Cannes conception: IDEE. I like this alliterative clue. Much better than "IDEE fixe". FYI, "chou", the endearingly sweet French cabbage, means "ugly" (laid/laide) in Chinese, though pronounced differently.
25A: Cosmo competitor: ELLE. I like Vogue.
35A: __ cit: LOC. And another Latin: 12D: ___ dixit: IPSE
36A: Blow a gasket: SEE RED. I've never heard of "Blow a gasket" before. I got ED quickly and was so confused about the tense of the answer. I was really picturing someone doing a gasket- blowing job in my mind.
52A: Infield protector: TARP
53A: Glacier component: BLUE ICE. New to me. It looks so pretty.
57A: Blithering: GAGA. I would not have got GAGA without the perps. "Blithering" is a new word to me.
63A: Ananias, e.g.: LIAR. I caught the LIAR this time.
66A: College credit: UNIT. I don't know. I've never attended any school here. Is credit called UNIT?
70A: Bikini blast: A TEST
71A: __ of Worms: DIET. Complete foreign to me. Thought of "Cans" of worms for a fleeting moment. Did not know that "DIET" also means "a general assembly". Beautiful city - Worms.
Down:
1D: Concrete: SOLID
3D: Pope after Sergius II: LEO IV. Very tricky fill.
4D: Start of JFK line: ASK NOT. From his 1961 Inaugural Address. It's not his nor Ted Sorensen's original lines. JFK just paraphrased Khalil Gibran's 1925 essay "The New Frontier": "... Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert...". My favorite JFK book is probably Pierre Salinger's "With Kennedy". What is yours?
8D: Row, row, row your boat: PROPEL. Sounds so hard!
9D: Leisurely walks: STROLLS. I want to take STROLLS here, the Royal Birkdale Golf Course, and follow Adam Scott this morning.
10D: Film critic: REVIEWER
26D: Leopold's cohort: LOEB. No, no, not familiar with LOEB at all. Did you nail him?
30D: VIP in a will: HEIR. And 41D: Will proceedings: PROBATES
39D: Author Angelou: MAYA. Here is her wonderful "On the Pulse of Morning" at Clinton's inaugural in 1993: "A rock, a river, a tree....COME, you may stand upon my back...and say simply, very simply, with hope, Good morning."
44D: Actress Swit: LORETTA. Unknown to me. Pure guess.
51D: Oozed out: LEAKED
54D: Formal response to "Who's there?": IT IS I
55D: Swing a thurible: CENSE. Swing? That forcefully?
56D: Destructive plant fungus: ERGOT
58D: Hokkaido native: AINU. Very accurate clue. AINU do live in the very northern part of Japan.
65D: Nova Scotia hrs.: AST (Atlantic Standard Time)
C.C.
