Theme: Feeling Blue
20A: Without warning: OUT OF THE BLUE
60A: Jamaican peak: BLUE MOUNTAIN
10D: Something to scream: BLUE MURDER
30D: Miles Davis classic: KIND OF BLUE
I was only familiar with the phrase OUT OF THE BLUE. But the other three entries were very easy to suss out once I figured out the theme. Do you know where the BLUE MOUNTAIN got its name?
A perfect puzzle for Michael Phelps. He must be feeling very blue this morning. What a disappointment. Why did he need marijuana to get high? Kind of tarnished his ONCE IN A BLUE MOON eight gold medal Olympic record.
So jarring to see RED (15A: Scarlet, e.g.) and RED-HOT (6D: Fiery) intersects one another. Also, is the clue for NSA (59A: Govt. advisory grp.) correct? I wanted NSC (National Security Council). NSA is so damned secretive that I don't know to whom they give advice to.
Across:
8A: Greyhound pacer: RABBIT. I got the answer, but have no idea how RABBIT is connected with "Greyhound pacer".
14A: Gymnast Korbut: OLGA. This is incredible. She got four gold Olympics medals.
16A: Actress Dahl: ARLENE. Can never remember this actress, mother of Lorenzo Lamas. Wikipedia says she had a relationship with JFK as well.
24A: Spinoff of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show": RHODA. Learned from doing Xword. It's often clued as "Valerie Harper sitcom". Which kind of TV program do you watch now?
25A: Samms and Lazarus: EMMAS. Have never heard of EMMA Samms before. That's a very daring dress. Nice pair of ... earrings. She is a British TV actress.
29A: City on Baranof Island: SITKA. Nailed it this time. Still can't believe it's the largest city in the US by area.
34A: Driving nails obliquely: TOEING. Learned this carpentry term last time.
38A: Inter-campus sports grp.: NCAA. Can you believe NCAA was founded in 1906 and has an annual budget of $5.64 billion? By contract, NASA annual budget is $17.3 billion.
51A: Munch Museum city: OSLO. Have never heard of Munch Museum before. It's named after the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, best known for his angst-filled "Scream".
63A: Low tracts: SWALES. The ditch on the right I presume? This word always gives me trouble.
70A: Swan genus: OLOR. No idea. Latin for swan. Too exotic a name for me to remember.
72A: French some: DES. And FRANC (21D: Old French bread?), which is also the currency for Switzerland.
Down:
2D: Chilean-born pianist Arrau: CLAUDIO. Got his name from across fills. Here is a clip. I wonder why the clue is "Chilean-born" rather than "Chilean". He must have changed his nationality later on then.
4D: Tropical root: TARO. I miss those Cantonese fried TARO cakes.
7D: Made sense: ADDED UP
26D: Med. procedure: MRI. How does MRI differ from X-ray?
27D: Gone by: AGO. "A long long time AGO... the day the music died...". It's been 50 years.
43D: NASA partner: ESA. Very tiresome clue. ESA is "That" in Spanish, right?
48D: Acquire by trickery: FINAGLE. Made me think of Merrill Lynch's John Thain and his outrageous way of using government bailout money to pay his employees bonus. I am glad he is gone.
49D: Greek letter: UPSILON. EPSILON and OMICRON also have 7 letters.
50D: Some thrown horseshoes: LEANERS. Struggled with this one. Last time I was also stumped when LEANER is clued as "Almost a ringer". It's "a thrown horseshoe that leans against the stake."
63D: Sellout theaters: SRO. No abbreviation hint in the clue. I would prefer "Sellout letters".
64D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN. This clue is getting stale too. Not sure if everyone knows, but the current Chinese Premier is named WEN Jiabao.
C.C.
20A: Without warning: OUT OF THE BLUE
60A: Jamaican peak: BLUE MOUNTAIN
10D: Something to scream: BLUE MURDER
30D: Miles Davis classic: KIND OF BLUE
I was only familiar with the phrase OUT OF THE BLUE. But the other three entries were very easy to suss out once I figured out the theme. Do you know where the BLUE MOUNTAIN got its name?
A perfect puzzle for Michael Phelps. He must be feeling very blue this morning. What a disappointment. Why did he need marijuana to get high? Kind of tarnished his ONCE IN A BLUE MOON eight gold medal Olympic record.
So jarring to see RED (15A: Scarlet, e.g.) and RED-HOT (6D: Fiery) intersects one another. Also, is the clue for NSA (59A: Govt. advisory grp.) correct? I wanted NSC (National Security Council). NSA is so damned secretive that I don't know to whom they give advice to.
Across:
8A: Greyhound pacer: RABBIT. I got the answer, but have no idea how RABBIT is connected with "Greyhound pacer".
14A: Gymnast Korbut: OLGA. This is incredible. She got four gold Olympics medals.
16A: Actress Dahl: ARLENE. Can never remember this actress, mother of Lorenzo Lamas. Wikipedia says she had a relationship with JFK as well.
24A: Spinoff of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show": RHODA. Learned from doing Xword. It's often clued as "Valerie Harper sitcom". Which kind of TV program do you watch now?
25A: Samms and Lazarus: EMMAS. Have never heard of EMMA Samms before. That's a very daring dress. Nice pair of ... earrings. She is a British TV actress.
29A: City on Baranof Island: SITKA. Nailed it this time. Still can't believe it's the largest city in the US by area.
34A: Driving nails obliquely: TOEING. Learned this carpentry term last time.
38A: Inter-campus sports grp.: NCAA. Can you believe NCAA was founded in 1906 and has an annual budget of $5.64 billion? By contract, NASA annual budget is $17.3 billion.
51A: Munch Museum city: OSLO. Have never heard of Munch Museum before. It's named after the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, best known for his angst-filled "Scream".
63A: Low tracts: SWALES. The ditch on the right I presume? This word always gives me trouble.
70A: Swan genus: OLOR. No idea. Latin for swan. Too exotic a name for me to remember.
72A: French some: DES. And FRANC (21D: Old French bread?), which is also the currency for Switzerland.
Down:
2D: Chilean-born pianist Arrau: CLAUDIO. Got his name from across fills. Here is a clip. I wonder why the clue is "Chilean-born" rather than "Chilean". He must have changed his nationality later on then.
4D: Tropical root: TARO. I miss those Cantonese fried TARO cakes.
7D: Made sense: ADDED UP
26D: Med. procedure: MRI. How does MRI differ from X-ray?
27D: Gone by: AGO. "A long long time AGO... the day the music died...". It's been 50 years.
43D: NASA partner: ESA. Very tiresome clue. ESA is "That" in Spanish, right?
48D: Acquire by trickery: FINAGLE. Made me think of Merrill Lynch's John Thain and his outrageous way of using government bailout money to pay his employees bonus. I am glad he is gone.
49D: Greek letter: UPSILON. EPSILON and OMICRON also have 7 letters.
50D: Some thrown horseshoes: LEANERS. Struggled with this one. Last time I was also stumped when LEANER is clued as "Almost a ringer". It's "a thrown horseshoe that leans against the stake."
63D: Sellout theaters: SRO. No abbreviation hint in the clue. I would prefer "Sellout letters".
64D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN. This clue is getting stale too. Not sure if everyone knows, but the current Chinese Premier is named WEN Jiabao.
C.C.
