Theme: Fooled Again
23A: Start of Groucho Marx quip: IN AMERICA YOU CAN
38A: Part 2 of quip: GO ON THE AIR AND
56A: Part 3 of quip: KID THE POLITICIANS,
78A: Part 4 of quip: AND THE POLITICIANS
94A: Part 5 of quip: CAN GO THE AIR
114A: End of quip: AND KID THE PEOPLE
Oh boy, solving a crossword puzzle definitely needs total focus. I felt very distracted earlier and went through hell trying to fill in all the blanks.
Normally I don't have so many problems getting into Olschwang's wavelength, After all, I've solved 43 of his puzzles since I started blogging. But there seems to be an inordinate amount of proper nouns in today's grid. Several corners presented a Sisyphean challenge to me. I thought I had pushed the damned rock to the hilltop. But it kept rolling back. Now I have in front of me an ugly puzzle full of wite-out marks.
I do like the following clues:
36A: Piper's first name?: PIED
9D: Publicity stunt, of a sort: PHOTO OP
43D: Listens without hearing?: LIP READS
The "Lat." clue for ID EST (40D: That is: Lat.) should not be abbreviated.
Across:
5A: Peacock constellation: PAVO. Latin for "Peacock". Here is the map. Unknown to me.
19A: Okinawa port: NAHA. Another unknown. See this map. It's also Okinawa's capital.
20A: Ludwig or Jannings: EMIL. Jannings is the first winner of Oscar for Best Actor ("The Way of All Flesh"). Ludwig is a German author known for his biographies of Goethe, Napoléon, etc. I knew neither of them.
21A: Egypt's Mubarak: HOSNI. He succeeded Anwar Sadat.
22A: Conductor Georg: SOLTI. Another unknown. Wikipedia says he won 31 Grammys in his life time. He spent over 20 years with the Chicago Symphony. He looks so engaged.
27A: Like a lamb sauce: MINTY. Odd clue to me. Chinese people do not use any mint sauce for lamb dish or for any dish. Toothpaste is MINTY.
28A: Old French dance: GAVOTTE. Well, I am not Marie Antoinette, how am I supposed to know this old french dance?
29A: Maj. Barbara's creator: GBS (George Bernard Shaw). Toughie. I've never heard of "Major Barbara" before. Only knew his "Pygmalion".
31A: Dam-building grp.: CVA (Columbia Valley Authority). I only knew TVA.
32A: City west of Detroit: ANN ARBOR. It's home to the University of Michigan (Wolverines).
34A: Hawaiian acacia: KOA. See this picture. KOA wood is valued for furniture and musical instruments. New to me also.
35A: Calculator key abbr.: CLR (Clear). I dislike this clue.
37A: Swarm member: TEEMER. What a strained answer!
41A: Class for U.S. immigrants: ESL
47A: Restrain: INHIBIT. And RASHEST (93D: Most impulsive).
64A: Norway evergreen: RED PINE. It's our state tree.
65A: Arrived at: GOT UP TO. Mine was "TOT UP TO" for a long long time.
67A: Medley or Tilden: BILL. Had no idea that Bill Medley is the half of The Righteous Brothers. Great "Unchanged Melody". Was Bill Tilden a gimme to you? I was not familiar with him at all.
70A: Resembling: suff: OID. Since ISH does not fit. Android for example.
72A: Waldorf-__ Hotel: ASTORIA. This Waldorf salad looks good. I like the walnuts to be toasted and honeyed.
90A: First name in mysteries: ERLE. Did you know that Halliburton's founder is also named ERLE?
91A: Bygone map abbr.: S.S.R.
99A: New Hampshire city: NASHUA. See this map. I don't even know who are NH's senators.
107A: Narrow inlet: RIA
109A: Fall into obscurity: ECLIPSE
111A: Change shape: MORPH
112A: Square one: GET-GO
121A: "The Flying Dutchman" girl: SENTA. I googled. SENTA was clued as "Actress Berger" before.
122A: Comic actor Arnold: STANG. Another google.
123A: Door hardware: HASP. My first thought was JAMB.
124A: Spanish muralist Jose: SERT. See his murals at the Rockefeller Center. I am not familiar with his name.
Down:
1D: Give life to: ANIMATE
2D: Bicuspids' neighbors: CANINES. I did not know the meaning of "Bicuspids".
3D: Bed of a river: CHANNEL. I always thought CHANNEL is just a waterway.
4D: Type of gong: TAM-TAM. No idea. See this picture. Sounds so close to tom-tom drum.
7D: "The __ of Wakefield": VICAR. New book to me also. It's written by Oliver Goldsmith.
8D: Norwegian saint: OLAV
10D: Cassock: SOUTANE. Sigh... another new word to me. What do you call the band Pope Benedict wears around his waist?
11D: Last of coal?: ESCE. Coalesce. It's the "Last of opal" too.
12D: Actress O'Connor: UNA. Got her name from across fills. Have never heard of her before. Which famous movie(s) is she in?
13D: Town in Country Kerry: DINGLE. Here is the map. It's a ridiculously difficult for me. I had DIN??E for eons.
15D: Panama proposition: POR
30D: Highlands hillside: BRAE
33D: Astronomer Tycho: BRAHE. Hmm, this moustache picture looks familiar. I must have searched for him before.
35D: Colette novel: CHERI. The new movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer will be out next year. Colette also wrote "Gigi".
38D: Trade association: GUILD
39D: Jiffy: TRICE
44D: Hautboys: OBOES. Hautboy is French for OBOE.
48D: Brit. medical syst.: NHS (National Health Service). This has become a gimme to me.
49D: Step cautiously: TIPTOE
51D: Plane bisecting the body: SAGITTAL. All right, this is a great picture to show you those bisecting planes. Somehow I just could not get the letter G.
53D: Serengeti bounder: IMPALA. They look so skinny.
55D: Netlike caps: SNOODS
56D: Mystical teachings: var. KABALA. Cabala is more common of course.
57D: Part of eyes: IRISES. I am still waiting for van Gogh's IRISES clue.
60D: Lead-ins: INTROS
68D: Vietnam Memorial artist: LIN (Maya). She does have "A Strong, Clear Vision".
70D: Basketry willow: OSIER. Wow, look at these red OSIER dogwood. Kind of like cotton plants after all the cottons are picked.
88D: Writer H. L. __: MENCKEN. Yet another google. He is known as "The Sage of Baltimore". And he is "regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century."
91D: Card cheat: SHARPIE. New SHARPIE definition to me.
98D: Rainbow: pref.: IRID. As iridescent. I would not have obtained the word without the across fills.
101D: Sailing ships: SLOOPS. It looks like a boat rather than a ship.
109D: Icelandic epic: EDDA. Elder EDDA is the "Poetic EDDA". Younger EDDA is the "Prose EDDA". Both written between 8th to 13th century.
110D: God of Memphis: PTAH. I always think of ELVIS when I see this clue. PTAH is an Egyptian god. Wikipedia says "In art, he is portrayed as a bearded mummified man, often wearing a skull cap, with his hands holding an ankh, was, djed, the symbols of life, power and stability, respectively." Interesting WAS. I wonder if any constructor thought of cluing DJED as "Egyptian symbol of stability" rather than "spun record" (DJ-ed).
113D: Hood's heater: GAT. I thought ROD first.
116D: Explode: POP. "Explode"? I have problem accepting this clue.
C.C.
23A: Start of Groucho Marx quip: IN AMERICA YOU CAN
38A: Part 2 of quip: GO ON THE AIR AND
56A: Part 3 of quip: KID THE POLITICIANS,
78A: Part 4 of quip: AND THE POLITICIANS
94A: Part 5 of quip: CAN GO THE AIR
114A: End of quip: AND KID THE PEOPLE
Oh boy, solving a crossword puzzle definitely needs total focus. I felt very distracted earlier and went through hell trying to fill in all the blanks.
Normally I don't have so many problems getting into Olschwang's wavelength, After all, I've solved 43 of his puzzles since I started blogging. But there seems to be an inordinate amount of proper nouns in today's grid. Several corners presented a Sisyphean challenge to me. I thought I had pushed the damned rock to the hilltop. But it kept rolling back. Now I have in front of me an ugly puzzle full of wite-out marks.
I do like the following clues:
36A: Piper's first name?: PIED
9D: Publicity stunt, of a sort: PHOTO OP
43D: Listens without hearing?: LIP READS
The "Lat." clue for ID EST (40D: That is: Lat.) should not be abbreviated.
Across:
5A: Peacock constellation: PAVO. Latin for "Peacock". Here is the map. Unknown to me.
19A: Okinawa port: NAHA. Another unknown. See this map. It's also Okinawa's capital.
20A: Ludwig or Jannings: EMIL. Jannings is the first winner of Oscar for Best Actor ("The Way of All Flesh"). Ludwig is a German author known for his biographies of Goethe, Napoléon, etc. I knew neither of them.
21A: Egypt's Mubarak: HOSNI. He succeeded Anwar Sadat.
22A: Conductor Georg: SOLTI. Another unknown. Wikipedia says he won 31 Grammys in his life time. He spent over 20 years with the Chicago Symphony. He looks so engaged.
27A: Like a lamb sauce: MINTY. Odd clue to me. Chinese people do not use any mint sauce for lamb dish or for any dish. Toothpaste is MINTY.
28A: Old French dance: GAVOTTE. Well, I am not Marie Antoinette, how am I supposed to know this old french dance?
29A: Maj. Barbara's creator: GBS (George Bernard Shaw). Toughie. I've never heard of "Major Barbara" before. Only knew his "Pygmalion".
31A: Dam-building grp.: CVA (Columbia Valley Authority). I only knew TVA.
32A: City west of Detroit: ANN ARBOR. It's home to the University of Michigan (Wolverines).
34A: Hawaiian acacia: KOA. See this picture. KOA wood is valued for furniture and musical instruments. New to me also.
35A: Calculator key abbr.: CLR (Clear). I dislike this clue.
37A: Swarm member: TEEMER. What a strained answer!
41A: Class for U.S. immigrants: ESL
47A: Restrain: INHIBIT. And RASHEST (93D: Most impulsive).
64A: Norway evergreen: RED PINE. It's our state tree.
65A: Arrived at: GOT UP TO. Mine was "TOT UP TO" for a long long time.
67A: Medley or Tilden: BILL. Had no idea that Bill Medley is the half of The Righteous Brothers. Great "Unchanged Melody". Was Bill Tilden a gimme to you? I was not familiar with him at all.
70A: Resembling: suff: OID. Since ISH does not fit. Android for example.
72A: Waldorf-__ Hotel: ASTORIA. This Waldorf salad looks good. I like the walnuts to be toasted and honeyed.
90A: First name in mysteries: ERLE. Did you know that Halliburton's founder is also named ERLE?
91A: Bygone map abbr.: S.S.R.
99A: New Hampshire city: NASHUA. See this map. I don't even know who are NH's senators.
107A: Narrow inlet: RIA
109A: Fall into obscurity: ECLIPSE
111A: Change shape: MORPH
112A: Square one: GET-GO
121A: "The Flying Dutchman" girl: SENTA. I googled. SENTA was clued as "Actress Berger" before.
122A: Comic actor Arnold: STANG. Another google.
123A: Door hardware: HASP. My first thought was JAMB.
124A: Spanish muralist Jose: SERT. See his murals at the Rockefeller Center. I am not familiar with his name.
Down:
1D: Give life to: ANIMATE
2D: Bicuspids' neighbors: CANINES. I did not know the meaning of "Bicuspids".
3D: Bed of a river: CHANNEL. I always thought CHANNEL is just a waterway.
4D: Type of gong: TAM-TAM. No idea. See this picture. Sounds so close to tom-tom drum.
7D: "The __ of Wakefield": VICAR. New book to me also. It's written by Oliver Goldsmith.
8D: Norwegian saint: OLAV
10D: Cassock: SOUTANE. Sigh... another new word to me. What do you call the band Pope Benedict wears around his waist?
11D: Last of coal?: ESCE. Coalesce. It's the "Last of opal" too.
12D: Actress O'Connor: UNA. Got her name from across fills. Have never heard of her before. Which famous movie(s) is she in?
13D: Town in Country Kerry: DINGLE. Here is the map. It's a ridiculously difficult for me. I had DIN??E for eons.
15D: Panama proposition: POR
30D: Highlands hillside: BRAE
33D: Astronomer Tycho: BRAHE. Hmm, this moustache picture looks familiar. I must have searched for him before.
35D: Colette novel: CHERI. The new movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer will be out next year. Colette also wrote "Gigi".
38D: Trade association: GUILD
39D: Jiffy: TRICE
44D: Hautboys: OBOES. Hautboy is French for OBOE.
48D: Brit. medical syst.: NHS (National Health Service). This has become a gimme to me.
49D: Step cautiously: TIPTOE
51D: Plane bisecting the body: SAGITTAL. All right, this is a great picture to show you those bisecting planes. Somehow I just could not get the letter G.
53D: Serengeti bounder: IMPALA. They look so skinny.
55D: Netlike caps: SNOODS
56D: Mystical teachings: var. KABALA. Cabala is more common of course.
57D: Part of eyes: IRISES. I am still waiting for van Gogh's IRISES clue.
60D: Lead-ins: INTROS
68D: Vietnam Memorial artist: LIN (Maya). She does have "A Strong, Clear Vision".
70D: Basketry willow: OSIER. Wow, look at these red OSIER dogwood. Kind of like cotton plants after all the cottons are picked.
88D: Writer H. L. __: MENCKEN. Yet another google. He is known as "The Sage of Baltimore". And he is "regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the 20th century."
91D: Card cheat: SHARPIE. New SHARPIE definition to me.
98D: Rainbow: pref.: IRID. As iridescent. I would not have obtained the word without the across fills.
101D: Sailing ships: SLOOPS. It looks like a boat rather than a ship.
109D: Icelandic epic: EDDA. Elder EDDA is the "Poetic EDDA". Younger EDDA is the "Prose EDDA". Both written between 8th to 13th century.
110D: God of Memphis: PTAH. I always think of ELVIS when I see this clue. PTAH is an Egyptian god. Wikipedia says "In art, he is portrayed as a bearded mummified man, often wearing a skull cap, with his hands holding an ankh, was, djed, the symbols of life, power and stability, respectively." Interesting WAS. I wonder if any constructor thought of cluing DJED as "Egyptian symbol of stability" rather than "spun record" (DJ-ed).
113D: Hood's heater: GAT. I thought ROD first.
116D: Explode: POP. "Explode"? I have problem accepting this clue.
C.C.
