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Jul 19, 2017

Wednesday, July 19, 2017, Bruce Venzke and Gail Grabowski

TITLE: Sometimes you feel like a nut...

Bruce and Gail have given us a fun and straightforward Wednesday exercise with five theme fills and no reveal necessary. As the title indicates their five themers were two-word phrases where the first syllable of the first word began with an N and a T for the third letter, In between Bruce and Gail have inserted the vowels in sequential order. Pretty cool!




Theme Answers


17. Innate talent : NATURAL APTITUDE - I'm gonna say Samuel Rashevsky had this when he played and beat these masters at eight-years-old in 1920




22. Broadcaster's transmission to affiliated stations : NETWORK FEED - Fewer and fewer people are taking the NETWORK FEED and are watching over the, uh,  NET




39. Sharp-smelling air pollutant : NITROGEN DIOXIDE - NO2 is a big contributor to this smog over Mexico City




49. Hardly any time at all : NOTHING FLAT - He was there quickly but Arriba means Hooray, so he must have gotten great joy in running. BTW, this is not a slogan for a plastic surgeon.




60. With "The," Tchaikovsky work that ends with "Waltz of the Flowers" : NUTCRACKER SUITE - So that's NUTCRACKER when it is danced in Milan




NAT asked, "Am I a NUT or will this fun puzzle NET NOT one NITHere is the balance of this just right Bruce and Gail puzzle.


Across


1. Lower in price : LESS - Are you really shopping for the lowest price for this?




5. Try : TASTE

10. Nutmeg spice : MACE - Different parts of the same seed (not a nut)




14. Actor La Salle : ERIQ


15. Crams, with "up" : BONES


16. Sea of __: Black Sea arm : AZOV


20. "Wicked Game" singer Chris : ISAAK


21. Shuttle flight phase : REENTRY - Phase when the Columbia disaster occurred

25. "My gal" of song : SAL

26. Carpentry joints : MITERS


31. Barbecue accessory : SPIT - Ya couldn't think of a better name? 



35. "I Put a Spell on You" singer Simone : NINA


38. Full range : GAMUT - Bruce and Gail ran the GAMUT of vowels (okay, not Y but...)


42. Writer of tales with talking animals : AESOP 




43. Dental alternatives to pastes : GELS - Even for our 4-legged friends -->

44. Angers : IRES


45. Fireplace inserts : GRATES

47. Springfield presidential library nickname : ABE - Honestly!


56. Legendary Rhine siren : LORELEI - I have cruised on the Rhine but did not hear the Siren Song


59. Cruller coating : GLAZE


63. Physics particle : ATOM


64. French term of endearment : CHERE - Mon CHÈRE, 
passons à la suite de Casse-Noisette (My dear, let's go to the (same as in Italian above) Suite?

65. List component : ITEM


66. Tiny sound : PEEP


67. County near London : ESSEX - Home to Southend-on-Sea, Colchester and Chipping Ongar



68. Mil. medals : DSCS - 70 years later the country presented the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously to Lt. Donald Schwab of Hooper, NE. His son Dr. Terry Schwab accepted. 






 
 Down


1. Russian Revolution leader : LENIN - "I'll take Russian Leaders for $2,000, Alex." "The answer is, 'Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov was referring to this when he chose Lenin as a pseudonym.'"  "What is the Lena River?" "Correct!"


2. Backspace, perhaps : ERASE


3. Occupy, as a desk : SIT AT - What I could never do when I taught.


4. __ Valley, Calif.: 1960 Winter Olympics site : SQUAW - At this Olympics, Jean Vuarnet became to first person to win gold on metal skis instead of traditional wood


5. Sched. uncertainty : TBA


6. Big name in ISPs : AOL - Didn't everyone in America get at least one of these free disks in the 90's?



7. Wolf (down) : SNARF


8. Conical shelter : TEPEE - I had a geography prof who had women in our class put up a TEPEE as was done by many Native-American cultures as seen in this depiction of Blackfeet. BTW, that wouldn't fly at this house 




9. Regard highly : ESTEEM


10. Damon of "We Bought a Zoo" : MATT




11. Blue sky color, in Calais : AZUR


12. Showman Buffalo Bill : CODY - He built a great house in North Platte, Nebraska called Scout's Rest Ranch


13. Morn's counterpart : EVE

18. Bygone theaters : RKOS - Can you find the RKO symbol on this poster for what is called "America's greatest movie"?

19. Spectrum shade : INDIGO - ROY G BIV

23. Jingled : RANG


24. __ light: filming tool : KLIEG


27. Roll along the runway : TAXI - Returning to the gate after TAXIING is disheartening 


28. Qatari ruler : EMIR


29. Far from polite : RUDE


30. Some Fr. martyrs : STES - Women should be eligible to be priests, cardinals and popes not just STES (Saints)


31. Unexpected obstacle : SNAG

32. Harbor sight : PIER

33. "__ deal!" : IT'S A



34. Run leisurely : TROT

36. Storm direction: Abbr. : NNE - Nor'easter!

37. Dwight's opponent : ADLAI - I loved when ADLAI, as JFK's U.N. Ambassador, told the Russians he was willing to wait "until hell freezes over" for their answer on misses in Cuba.

40. Swiss army knife tool : OPENER - Wait a minute, oh, there it is!



41. Copyright pg. ID : ISBN - The International Standard Book Number for this book by our talented editor Rich Norris is 1402775806



46. Comfort in grief : SOLACE

48. Flan ingredients : EGGS

50. Computer repair experts : TECHS - Remember those guys you made fun of in school? 

51. Backpacking activities : HIKES

52. Transmission lubricant : FLUID


53. Milks, in Marseilles : LAITS - Quatre grandes bouteilles de LAIT (Four large bottles of milk)

54. Tenochtitlán native : AZTEC

55. Abounds (with) : TEEMS

56. Minstrel's instrument : LUTE

57. Plains native : OTOE

58. Law gp. that now only uses horses for ceremonial events : RCMP - RCMP member Dudley Do-Right's horse was named, uh, Horse

60. Go out for a bit? : NAP

61. Ode preposition : ERE

62. "Toy Story" dinosaur : REX

The Grid:



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