Theme: BEAN SALAD (33D: Picnic veggie dish, and a hint to words hidden in the answers to starred clues)
19A: *Parting words: KEEP IN TOUCH (Pinto)
37A: *"That outfit looks fabulous!": IT'S SO YOU (Soy)
57A: *Like unlikely chances: SLIM AND NONE (Lima)
3D: *18th century French painting style: ROCOCO ART (Cocoa)
Well, nobody puts cocoa bean in their bean salad. It's not a vegetable. The baby soy beans (edamames) I steal from the golf course tasted so good. My husband loves green lima beans. I use pinto beans for his chili in the winter months. What's your recipe for bean salad? I thought it always contains green beans, at least, the classic three bean salad does.
This is a special 16*15 grid. It has one more column than our normal puzzle. We had never had such a breakthrough in the old TMS Daily. (Reply from the editor regarding the grid: "Anytime a grid is 16x15 or 15x16, it's because of the theme. In today's puzzle, Dan couldn't come up with a symmetrical match for ITS SO YOU. The only way to do the theme was to make the grid 16-wide so that the 8-letter loner could go in the middle. I might also allow a 16 grid when there's too much theme to fit in a 15x15, or when the proposed theme contains a couple of really nifty 16-letter phrases").
The lower left corner crumbled very quickly for me this morning. And the theme revealed itself earlier on. But I still had to struggle. I filled in SANTA immediately for 24A: Nick name? (CLAUS). Saw this clever clue somewhere before. Might be on Paul's Clever Clue of the Month shortlist. Then I thought of Dalai Lama when I saw 16A: High leaders? (SHERPA).
Overall, I think I am getting better understanding Dan Naddor's "green". I still two or three-putt a lot, but sooner or later, I am going to grok all his breaks. My ball is going to sink. I even chipped in for the HOLE (54D: Place for an ace?) today. I love all the sports references in today's grid: baseball, tennis, golf, etc.
Before I forget, the first Annual Crosswords LA Tournament will be held on Saturday April 25, 2009. The entry fee is $25. You get 5 unpublished NY Times puzzle, lunch and free gifts. The tournament will benefit a charity. Plus, you can meet ACPT Champion Tyler Hinman. I think Doug Peterson will be there too.
Across:
1A: Deli offering: HERO. Nice intersection with HAVE (1D: Eat).
5A: Charge: ATTACK
11A: "__ pinch of ...": ADD A
15A: Hardly the full gamut: A TO B. Nailed it today.
18A: Viva __: By word of mouth: VOCE. Saw similar clue before. But it escaped me this morning.
21A: Huge: ENORMOUS
23A: Prankster's cry: GOTCHA. I've never got used to the Minnesota "You betcha".
25A: It's too close to call: DEAD HEAT
27A: Self-seeker: EGOIST
29A: One leaving a wake: HEARSE. I was picturing a boat moving through water.
30A: Togo neighbor: GHANA. Its capital city is Accra, meaning "ants" in local language. Ex-UN Chief Kofi Annan is from GHANA. I have his autographed photo.
31A: Playground retort: I AM SO
32A: Cleanup hitters' stats: RBIS. Reminds me of our Run Batted In and Runs Batted In discussion a while ago.
36A: Cause of inflation?: AIR. Nice clue. I was thinking of Ben Bernanke's inflation/deflation.
40A: SASE, e.g.: ENC
41A: NLRB part: Abbr.: NATL (National Labor Relations Board). I forgot what NLRB is. It's just clued as "Mediation agcy." in our puzzle a couple of weeks ago.
43A: "__ la vista, baby!": HASTA. This looks interesting. I was unaware of that song.
44A: "Cool!": NEATO. Only in crossword.
46A: Nutrition author Davis: ADELLE. Have never heard of this author. She wrote "Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit". According to Wikipedia, she was against food additives and advocated whole unprocessed food.
48A: "Don't delay!": ACT NOW
49A: Darling: ADORABLE. Not the Darling in my mind. Alistair Darling is the British Finance Minister.
52A: "The Da Vinci Code" albino: SILAS. I forgot. Read "The Da Vinci Code" too long ago. SILAS is literally "living in the woods", from silva "wood", says Dictionary.com. Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" will be released on Sept 15, 2009.
53A: 100-member group: SENATE. 99 now. With the current Minnesota recount mess.
54A: Safeco Field contest, to the Mariners: HOME GAME. Or "Metrodome contest, to the Twins".
60A: Hebrew for "skyward": EL AL. Unknown to me.
61A: Yours, in Tours: A TOI
62A: Buck: DOLLAR. I was thinking of male deer. Bucks shed their antlers every year after the rut.
63A: Pro __: RATA. BONO anyone?
64A: Hamlet, for one: DANE. Viggo Mortensen is half-DANE. Hamlet is also a small village without a church.
65A: Takes the wheel: STEERS
66A: Barbara who played Jeannie: EDEN. "I Dream of Jeannie". She was married to Michael ANSARA, who stumped me last time when it's clued as "Broken Arrow" co-star.
Down:
2D: Thames landmark: ETON. Easy guess. I had no idea that ETON is located across the Thames from Windsor.
4D: Ohio conservatory: OBERLIN. No idea. Have never heard of OBERLIN Conservatory of Music before. Is it very famous?
5D: Invite to a movie, say: ASK OUT
6D: NATA founding member: THE US. Stumped. Not used to see THE in the fill.
7D: Golfer's pocketful: TEES. Well, probably for guys. Girls do not carry "pocketful" of tees. We don't lose ours.
8D: Father of Dada: ARP (Jean). Or German Hans ARP.
9D: No. to which annual raises might be tied: CPI. I am used to the full term Consumer Price Index.
10D: Pocket Books logo: KANGAROO. Oh, I did not know Pocket Books is a Simon & Schuster imprint. And I did not know its Gertrude the KANGAROO logo either.
11D: Barfly's request: ANOTHER. Thought of ONE MORE.
12D: Wimbledon tie: DEUCE. Got the answer with across help.
13D: Russian villa: DACHA. Do you know Russians have no middle names?
14A: Buddhist who has attained Nirvana: ARHAT. I can never remember this word, derived from Sanskrit present participle arhati, literally "he deserves". He deserves AR HAT.
20D: Upscale Italian shoe brand: TOD'S. No idea. It seems that they make handbag also.
22D: Kenyan tribesman: MASAI. Also spelled as MAASAI. New word to me. The language they speak is called Maa.
25D: Reduce in grade: DEMOTE
26D: Gut course: EASY A. I did not know the meaning of "Gut course".
27D: Former Archbishop of New York: EGAN. The new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan was just enthroned a week ago. He sounds like a very fun guy.
28D: Karmann __: sports car: GHIA. Not a familiar car to me. Wikipedia says it's manufactured by Volkswagen from 1955 to 1974.
29D: Pain in the neck: HASSLE
31D: "Love __ Around": 1968 hit: IS ALL. No idea. It sounds nice.
34D: A fan of: INTO
35D: Garbage barge: SCOW. Learned from doing Xword. It's flat-bottomed.
38D: Diver's sickness: THE BENDS. Completely unknown to me. (Sorry Mainiac, I missed your comment yesterday @2:45pm.)
39D: Reunion attendee: UNCLE
42D: University of Wyoming site: LARAMIE. I had ??AMIE in place, then I looked at my map and got this city. Dick Cheney is probably the most famous graduate of the University of Wyoming.
45D: Stand with shelf: ETAGERE
47D: Info to input: DATA
48D: Shooters, before shooting: AIMERS. I felt stupid not getting this answer.
49D: Syrian leader: ASSAD. Arabic for "lion".
52D: Sub detector: SONAR
55D: Friend of Adelaide: MATE. Australia for pal. Adelaide is the capital of South Australia. I wanted AMIE, thinking Adelaide might be a French girl's name.
56D: Flair: ELAN
58D: E-mail address part: DOT. I was thinking of com.
59D: Phillies' div: NLE (National League East). It's clued as "Marlin's div." last time. Be prepared for "Braves/Mets/National div.".
Answer grid.
C.C.
19A: *Parting words: KEEP IN TOUCH (Pinto)
37A: *"That outfit looks fabulous!": IT'S SO YOU (Soy)
57A: *Like unlikely chances: SLIM AND NONE (Lima)
3D: *18th century French painting style: ROCOCO ART (Cocoa)
Well, nobody puts cocoa bean in their bean salad. It's not a vegetable. The baby soy beans (edamames) I steal from the golf course tasted so good. My husband loves green lima beans. I use pinto beans for his chili in the winter months. What's your recipe for bean salad? I thought it always contains green beans, at least, the classic three bean salad does.
This is a special 16*15 grid. It has one more column than our normal puzzle. We had never had such a breakthrough in the old TMS Daily. (Reply from the editor regarding the grid: "Anytime a grid is 16x15 or 15x16, it's because of the theme. In today's puzzle, Dan couldn't come up with a symmetrical match for ITS SO YOU. The only way to do the theme was to make the grid 16-wide so that the 8-letter loner could go in the middle. I might also allow a 16 grid when there's too much theme to fit in a 15x15, or when the proposed theme contains a couple of really nifty 16-letter phrases").
The lower left corner crumbled very quickly for me this morning. And the theme revealed itself earlier on. But I still had to struggle. I filled in SANTA immediately for 24A: Nick name? (CLAUS). Saw this clever clue somewhere before. Might be on Paul's Clever Clue of the Month shortlist. Then I thought of Dalai Lama when I saw 16A: High leaders? (SHERPA).
Overall, I think I am getting better understanding Dan Naddor's "green". I still two or three-putt a lot, but sooner or later, I am going to grok all his breaks. My ball is going to sink. I even chipped in for the HOLE (54D: Place for an ace?) today. I love all the sports references in today's grid: baseball, tennis, golf, etc.
Before I forget, the first Annual Crosswords LA Tournament will be held on Saturday April 25, 2009. The entry fee is $25. You get 5 unpublished NY Times puzzle, lunch and free gifts. The tournament will benefit a charity. Plus, you can meet ACPT Champion Tyler Hinman. I think Doug Peterson will be there too.
Across:
1A: Deli offering: HERO. Nice intersection with HAVE (1D: Eat).
5A: Charge: ATTACK
11A: "__ pinch of ...": ADD A
15A: Hardly the full gamut: A TO B. Nailed it today.
18A: Viva __: By word of mouth: VOCE. Saw similar clue before. But it escaped me this morning.
21A: Huge: ENORMOUS
23A: Prankster's cry: GOTCHA. I've never got used to the Minnesota "You betcha".
25A: It's too close to call: DEAD HEAT
27A: Self-seeker: EGOIST
29A: One leaving a wake: HEARSE. I was picturing a boat moving through water.
30A: Togo neighbor: GHANA. Its capital city is Accra, meaning "ants" in local language. Ex-UN Chief Kofi Annan is from GHANA. I have his autographed photo.
31A: Playground retort: I AM SO
32A: Cleanup hitters' stats: RBIS. Reminds me of our Run Batted In and Runs Batted In discussion a while ago.
36A: Cause of inflation?: AIR. Nice clue. I was thinking of Ben Bernanke's inflation/deflation.
40A: SASE, e.g.: ENC
41A: NLRB part: Abbr.: NATL (National Labor Relations Board). I forgot what NLRB is. It's just clued as "Mediation agcy." in our puzzle a couple of weeks ago.
43A: "__ la vista, baby!": HASTA. This looks interesting. I was unaware of that song.
44A: "Cool!": NEATO. Only in crossword.
46A: Nutrition author Davis: ADELLE. Have never heard of this author. She wrote "Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit". According to Wikipedia, she was against food additives and advocated whole unprocessed food.
48A: "Don't delay!": ACT NOW
49A: Darling: ADORABLE. Not the Darling in my mind. Alistair Darling is the British Finance Minister.
52A: "The Da Vinci Code" albino: SILAS. I forgot. Read "The Da Vinci Code" too long ago. SILAS is literally "living in the woods", from silva "wood", says Dictionary.com. Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" will be released on Sept 15, 2009.
53A: 100-member group: SENATE. 99 now. With the current Minnesota recount mess.
54A: Safeco Field contest, to the Mariners: HOME GAME. Or "Metrodome contest, to the Twins".
60A: Hebrew for "skyward": EL AL. Unknown to me.
61A: Yours, in Tours: A TOI
62A: Buck: DOLLAR. I was thinking of male deer. Bucks shed their antlers every year after the rut.
63A: Pro __: RATA. BONO anyone?
64A: Hamlet, for one: DANE. Viggo Mortensen is half-DANE. Hamlet is also a small village without a church.
65A: Takes the wheel: STEERS
66A: Barbara who played Jeannie: EDEN. "I Dream of Jeannie". She was married to Michael ANSARA, who stumped me last time when it's clued as "Broken Arrow" co-star.
Down:
2D: Thames landmark: ETON. Easy guess. I had no idea that ETON is located across the Thames from Windsor.
4D: Ohio conservatory: OBERLIN. No idea. Have never heard of OBERLIN Conservatory of Music before. Is it very famous?
5D: Invite to a movie, say: ASK OUT
6D: NATA founding member: THE US. Stumped. Not used to see THE in the fill.
7D: Golfer's pocketful: TEES. Well, probably for guys. Girls do not carry "pocketful" of tees. We don't lose ours.
8D: Father of Dada: ARP (Jean). Or German Hans ARP.
9D: No. to which annual raises might be tied: CPI. I am used to the full term Consumer Price Index.
10D: Pocket Books logo: KANGAROO. Oh, I did not know Pocket Books is a Simon & Schuster imprint. And I did not know its Gertrude the KANGAROO logo either.
11D: Barfly's request: ANOTHER. Thought of ONE MORE.
12D: Wimbledon tie: DEUCE. Got the answer with across help.
13D: Russian villa: DACHA. Do you know Russians have no middle names?
14A: Buddhist who has attained Nirvana: ARHAT. I can never remember this word, derived from Sanskrit present participle arhati, literally "he deserves". He deserves AR HAT.
20D: Upscale Italian shoe brand: TOD'S. No idea. It seems that they make handbag also.
22D: Kenyan tribesman: MASAI. Also spelled as MAASAI. New word to me. The language they speak is called Maa.
25D: Reduce in grade: DEMOTE
26D: Gut course: EASY A. I did not know the meaning of "Gut course".
27D: Former Archbishop of New York: EGAN. The new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan was just enthroned a week ago. He sounds like a very fun guy.
28D: Karmann __: sports car: GHIA. Not a familiar car to me. Wikipedia says it's manufactured by Volkswagen from 1955 to 1974.
29D: Pain in the neck: HASSLE
31D: "Love __ Around": 1968 hit: IS ALL. No idea. It sounds nice.
34D: A fan of: INTO
35D: Garbage barge: SCOW. Learned from doing Xword. It's flat-bottomed.
38D: Diver's sickness: THE BENDS. Completely unknown to me. (Sorry Mainiac, I missed your comment yesterday @2:45pm.)
39D: Reunion attendee: UNCLE
42D: University of Wyoming site: LARAMIE. I had ??AMIE in place, then I looked at my map and got this city. Dick Cheney is probably the most famous graduate of the University of Wyoming.
45D: Stand with shelf: ETAGERE
47D: Info to input: DATA
48D: Shooters, before shooting: AIMERS. I felt stupid not getting this answer.
49D: Syrian leader: ASSAD. Arabic for "lion".
52D: Sub detector: SONAR
55D: Friend of Adelaide: MATE. Australia for pal. Adelaide is the capital of South Australia. I wanted AMIE, thinking Adelaide might be a French girl's name.
56D: Flair: ELAN
58D: E-mail address part: DOT. I was thinking of com.
59D: Phillies' div: NLE (National League East). It's clued as "Marlin's div." last time. Be prepared for "Braves/Mets/National div.".
Answer grid.
C.C.
