Theme: ATE (73A: Word that homophonically forms a familiar word when attached to the end of the answer to each starred clue)
18A: *"Unforgettable" singer: NAT KING COLE (Collate)
24A: *Cold War European: WEST GERMANY (Germinate)
31A: *1940s-'60s Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback: Y.A. TITTLE (Titillate)
40A: *Branch source: TREE TRUNK (Truncate)
42A: * Florida city near Fort Myers: CAPE CORAL (Correlate)
48A: *House speaker before Newt Gingrich: TOM FOLEY (Foliate)
58A: * Covered with black dots: FLYSPECKED (Spectate)
67A: * 1976 Olympic decathlon champ: BRUCE JENNER (Generate)
Holy hot wick! 8 theme answers. All gridded in Across. I've never seen such a grid before (Don Gagliardo's soft G is an exception). No wonder this is a special 15X16 grid. Dan Naddor's last Bean Salad puzzle is a 16X15. The extra column is to accommodate the 8-letter theme entry IT'S SO YOU (Dan could not come up with a symmetrical match). Our editor Rich Norris explained that anytime a grid is 16X15 or 15X16 is because of the theme.
I did not really need the unifying theme answer ATE today to get all the theme entries. Very clever idea. My impression of Dan Naddor so far is that he is very thorough and creative in his research.
Have never heard of Y.A. TITTLE or BRUCE JENNER. Flyspecked is a new word to me, so is Spectate, backformation from "spectator", according to dictionary. TOM FOLEY was an easy guess. Is he related to Mark Foley?
I am excited that Dan discovered a new way to clue EELS (14A: Rock band with a fishy name). The rock band was foreign to me. Wikipedia says the band was formed by by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E.
The clue for MLLE (53D: M.'s counterpart) is very wicked. I did not pay attention to the abbreviation dot so I was thinking of James Bond's M. The M. here refers to Monsieur. I've never heard of ROK (69D: Seoul soldier) being referred as a soldier. To me, it just stands for Republic of Korea (South Korea). After I looked up the dictionary, I think "Seoul G.I." is a better clue.
I enjoyed this heavy themage puzzle. Some of the clues are very clever:
66A: Formal intro?: SEMI. Semi-formal.
6D: Union station?: ALTAR. " Train stop?" would work on this answer too. I got married in a judge's room though. You?
Across:
1A: Supplies case: KIT. Was worried that "supplies" might be a verb.
4A: Grille cover: BRA. Had no idea that BRA is an automotive slang for "a removable cover for the front end of an automobile to protect it from road debris". I suppose you then open a BRA rather than unhook a BRA?
7A: African hot spot: SAHARA. I like the clue. Spicy hot!
17A: LPGA star Se Ri __: PAK. Golf HOFer. Lots of Korean golfers have come to the US since Se Ri PAK, but she is my favorite. Her surname name is actually PARK (like Grace PARK or Chan Ho PARK), literally "simple/plain". Someone in LPGA or Immigration made a mistake on her name, but she decided to stick with the error.
23A: Goodyear's home: AKRON. The "Rubber City". Learned this morning that AKRON is also the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in 1935.
27A: Nintendo rival: SEGA. The name came from Service Games of Japan.
29A: Spoils: LOOT. Thought "Spoils" might be a verb as well.
47A: Heineken brand: AMSTEL. New brand to me. It's named after their AMSTEL river. I like the line: One Dam Good Bier.
54A: Gaseous: Pref: AERI. Williams clued AREI as "Interferometer instrument" last time. And the constructor's original clue was "Atmospheric prefix".
55A: Vegan's purchase: TOFU. Do you like TOFU? My husband does not touch it.
63A: Bridge call: I PASS
71A: Fruit in a split: BANANA. BANANA split is a dessert that should not have been invented.
72A: Houston pro, to fans: 'STRO. Short for ASTRO I suppose. I did not know this.
74A: Crude cabin: SHANTY
75A: "Shoot": ASK. Oh, I thought of the irritating exclamation "Shoot".
76A: "L. A. Law" actress: DEY (Susan). Learned her name from doing crossword. Have never seen "L. A. Law" before. She looks pretty.
Down:
1D: "Batman" blow: KAPOW. The sound of his blow?
2D: Cockamamie: INANE. Who made up this slang "Cockamamie"? So strange. Cock-a-mamie.
3D: Initiates action: TAKES STEPS
4D: Deadpan Stein: BEN. Anyone? Anyone?
5D: Assayer's substance: REAGENT. Rea(ct) + Agent. New word to me.
7D: McCain, e.g.: Abbr.: SEN. Thought of REP(ublican) first.
8D: Pond organism: ALGA
9D: Snake oil salesman: HUCKSTER. Learned this word a few months ago.
11D: Enter again: RELOG
12D: Where the action is: ARENA. "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the ARENA...."
19D: Like some highlighted text: Abbr.: ITAL
21D: Paris possessive: A TOI. Filled in A MOI first.
26D: Wine bouquet: NOSE. Is NOSE a special term for the aroma of wine?
31D: Song spelled with arm motions: Y.M.C.A. Is this really the original video? Why gay talk?
33D: USPS delivery: LTR. Ridiculous for USPS to propose skipping Tuesday mail deliveries.
36D: Dash: RUN LIKE MAD. I suppose so.
37D: Feminine suffix: ENNE. Or trix.
43D: Ancient Italian: ETRUSCAN. I forgot. It's clued as "Of Rome's predecessors" in our old puzzle before. Wikipedia says ETRUSCAN civilization extended between 1200 BC to 100 BC. The ancient country Etruria was located between Arno and Tiber rivers, roughly corresponding to modern Tuscany, according to Dictionary.
49D: Rand McNally staff: MAPPERS. Oh well, I definitely have been living under a rock. I did not know who Rand McNally is.
50D: Co-pay, for instance: FEE
51D: Tolkien henchmen: ORC. And the "Tolkien talking tree" is ENT. I learned both from doing Xword.
55D: 1970 Poitier title role: TIBBS. I like ''In the Heat of the Night''.
56D: Talk show giant: OPRAH. Not her fan. I like Ellen DeGeneres.
57D: Flora's partner: FAUNA
60D: Red suit wearer: SANTA. Ah, I put SANTA last time for the clue "Nick name?". The answer is CLAUS.
68D: Crow family bird: JAY. Noisy, noisy bird. Yes?
Answer Grid.
C.C.
PS: Here is an interesting write-up on Crosswords L.A. Tournament by Crossword constructor Andrea Carla Michaels.
18A: *"Unforgettable" singer: NAT KING COLE (Collate)
24A: *Cold War European: WEST GERMANY (Germinate)
31A: *1940s-'60s Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback: Y.A. TITTLE (Titillate)
40A: *Branch source: TREE TRUNK (Truncate)
42A: * Florida city near Fort Myers: CAPE CORAL (Correlate)
48A: *House speaker before Newt Gingrich: TOM FOLEY (Foliate)
58A: * Covered with black dots: FLYSPECKED (Spectate)
67A: * 1976 Olympic decathlon champ: BRUCE JENNER (Generate)
Holy hot wick! 8 theme answers. All gridded in Across. I've never seen such a grid before (Don Gagliardo's soft G is an exception). No wonder this is a special 15X16 grid. Dan Naddor's last Bean Salad puzzle is a 16X15. The extra column is to accommodate the 8-letter theme entry IT'S SO YOU (Dan could not come up with a symmetrical match). Our editor Rich Norris explained that anytime a grid is 16X15 or 15X16 is because of the theme.
I did not really need the unifying theme answer ATE today to get all the theme entries. Very clever idea. My impression of Dan Naddor so far is that he is very thorough and creative in his research.
Have never heard of Y.A. TITTLE or BRUCE JENNER. Flyspecked is a new word to me, so is Spectate, backformation from "spectator", according to dictionary. TOM FOLEY was an easy guess. Is he related to Mark Foley?
I am excited that Dan discovered a new way to clue EELS (14A: Rock band with a fishy name). The rock band was foreign to me. Wikipedia says the band was formed by by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E.
The clue for MLLE (53D: M.'s counterpart) is very wicked. I did not pay attention to the abbreviation dot so I was thinking of James Bond's M. The M. here refers to Monsieur. I've never heard of ROK (69D: Seoul soldier) being referred as a soldier. To me, it just stands for Republic of Korea (South Korea). After I looked up the dictionary, I think "Seoul G.I." is a better clue.
I enjoyed this heavy themage puzzle. Some of the clues are very clever:
66A: Formal intro?: SEMI. Semi-formal.
6D: Union station?: ALTAR. " Train stop?" would work on this answer too. I got married in a judge's room though. You?
Across:
1A: Supplies case: KIT. Was worried that "supplies" might be a verb.
4A: Grille cover: BRA. Had no idea that BRA is an automotive slang for "a removable cover for the front end of an automobile to protect it from road debris". I suppose you then open a BRA rather than unhook a BRA?
7A: African hot spot: SAHARA. I like the clue. Spicy hot!
17A: LPGA star Se Ri __: PAK. Golf HOFer. Lots of Korean golfers have come to the US since Se Ri PAK, but she is my favorite. Her surname name is actually PARK (like Grace PARK or Chan Ho PARK), literally "simple/plain". Someone in LPGA or Immigration made a mistake on her name, but she decided to stick with the error.
23A: Goodyear's home: AKRON. The "Rubber City". Learned this morning that AKRON is also the birthplace of Alcoholics Anonymous, founded in 1935.
27A: Nintendo rival: SEGA. The name came from Service Games of Japan.
29A: Spoils: LOOT. Thought "Spoils" might be a verb as well.
47A: Heineken brand: AMSTEL. New brand to me. It's named after their AMSTEL river. I like the line: One Dam Good Bier.
54A: Gaseous: Pref: AERI. Williams clued AREI as "Interferometer instrument" last time. And the constructor's original clue was "Atmospheric prefix".
55A: Vegan's purchase: TOFU. Do you like TOFU? My husband does not touch it.
63A: Bridge call: I PASS
71A: Fruit in a split: BANANA. BANANA split is a dessert that should not have been invented.
72A: Houston pro, to fans: 'STRO. Short for ASTRO I suppose. I did not know this.
74A: Crude cabin: SHANTY
75A: "Shoot": ASK. Oh, I thought of the irritating exclamation "Shoot".
76A: "L. A. Law" actress: DEY (Susan). Learned her name from doing crossword. Have never seen "L. A. Law" before. She looks pretty.
Down:
1D: "Batman" blow: KAPOW. The sound of his blow?
2D: Cockamamie: INANE. Who made up this slang "Cockamamie"? So strange. Cock-a-mamie.
3D: Initiates action: TAKES STEPS
4D: Deadpan Stein: BEN. Anyone? Anyone?
5D: Assayer's substance: REAGENT. Rea(ct) + Agent. New word to me.
7D: McCain, e.g.: Abbr.: SEN. Thought of REP(ublican) first.
8D: Pond organism: ALGA
9D: Snake oil salesman: HUCKSTER. Learned this word a few months ago.
11D: Enter again: RELOG
12D: Where the action is: ARENA. "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the ARENA...."
19D: Like some highlighted text: Abbr.: ITAL
21D: Paris possessive: A TOI. Filled in A MOI first.
26D: Wine bouquet: NOSE. Is NOSE a special term for the aroma of wine?
31D: Song spelled with arm motions: Y.M.C.A. Is this really the original video? Why gay talk?
33D: USPS delivery: LTR. Ridiculous for USPS to propose skipping Tuesday mail deliveries.
36D: Dash: RUN LIKE MAD. I suppose so.
37D: Feminine suffix: ENNE. Or trix.
43D: Ancient Italian: ETRUSCAN. I forgot. It's clued as "Of Rome's predecessors" in our old puzzle before. Wikipedia says ETRUSCAN civilization extended between 1200 BC to 100 BC. The ancient country Etruria was located between Arno and Tiber rivers, roughly corresponding to modern Tuscany, according to Dictionary.
49D: Rand McNally staff: MAPPERS. Oh well, I definitely have been living under a rock. I did not know who Rand McNally is.
50D: Co-pay, for instance: FEE
51D: Tolkien henchmen: ORC. And the "Tolkien talking tree" is ENT. I learned both from doing Xword.
55D: 1970 Poitier title role: TIBBS. I like ''In the Heat of the Night''.
56D: Talk show giant: OPRAH. Not her fan. I like Ellen DeGeneres.
57D: Flora's partner: FAUNA
60D: Red suit wearer: SANTA. Ah, I put SANTA last time for the clue "Nick name?". The answer is CLAUS.
68D: Crow family bird: JAY. Noisy, noisy bird. Yes?
Answer Grid.
C.C.
PS: Here is an interesting write-up on Crosswords L.A. Tournament by Crossword constructor Andrea Carla Michaels.
