Theme: None
Total blocks: 32
I think I am going to count the total blocks for Saturday themeless puzzles from now on. Maybe someday we will get a puzzle with less than 25 blocks. Who knows? Our editor himself is certainly capable of pulling such a feat. There have been some enigmatic ingenuities sparking in his puzzles occasionally. He is just a bad editor.
Anyway, I struggled mightily today, lots of googling. Without the theme as my guiding sherpa, I simply could not climb this Mount Everest, way too many actor/actress/singer names for me to handle (16 out of the 70 answers are names).
I truly dislike the two "Er" clues today:
28D: Bringer of news: HERALD. Bring-er? Is it a word? I stared at the clue for a long time, thinking Bringer might be the name of a news reporter I had never heard of.
5D: Sleeper rousers: WAKENERS. So agonizing to see "ers" both in the clue and the answer. Did it look cute to you?
On the other hand, I really like 23D: Po-land?: ITALY. Very cleverly misleading/tricky clue, esp since PO is not a well-known river.
ACROSS:
1A: Raucous parrot: MACAW. A moment of quietness. Glamorous plumages! So intensely & brightly colored.
6A: Easily annoyed: IRRITABLE. I wanted Irascible.
16A: "Love Story" star: RYAN O'NEAL. Saw "Love Story" in Chinese long long time ago. Had no idea that "Love means never having to say you're sorry" came from this movie.
17A: Norman's nickname: SHARK. Greg Norman. Might be difficult to those who don't care about British open or golf at all. I don't think his name will be on the first page of the leaderboard on Sunday morning. Adam Scott's will be!! Padraig Harrington is a sleeper.
18A: Amusing disrespect: SAUCINESS
21A: Pip: LULU. Why? Isn't pip the mark on a die?
22A: Tropical porches: LANAIS
25A: Hearty enjoyment: RELISH. It does not refer to the hot dog RELISH here, does it? If yes, why hearty?
31A: July 26th honoree: ST. ANNE. Absolutely no idea. Is it a gimme to you? If the answer ST. is abbreviated, the clue should be too.
32A: Metric measure: ARE (100 square meters). Learned from doing Xword.
33A: Laughing: RIANT. New word to me. Do you use it in your daily conversation? FYI, "rire" is French for laugh (verb & noun). Je ris, ha ha!
37A: Peter of "Being There": SELLERS. I've never heard of this film.
43A: Country on the Gulf of Aden: YEMEN. Here is the map. See Gulf of Aqaba? It's shouting "Clue me, clue me!"
48A: Separated lineman: SPLIT END. Unknown to me. Not a football fan at all.
50A: Cornell's location: ITHACA. Have to show you this beautiful ITHACA again. I love it so much.
51A: Bochco or Brill: STEVEN. Both are unknown to me.
54A: Cloth stretcher: TENTER. Completely foreign to me. Here is a TENTER frame.
57A: Where brook trout sleep?: RIVERBEDS. Don't all the freshwater fish sleep on the RIVERBEDS?
62A: Actress Rainer: LUISE. Another unknown actress to me. She was O-Lan in "The Good Earth", my favorite Pearl Buck book.
63A: Highest peak in the Western Hemisphere: ACONCAGUA. So beautiful.
65A: Skitch or Florence: HENDERSON. Both are strangers to me.
66A: Apollo's birthplace: DELOS
DOWN:
1D: Supermodel Kate: MOSS. London would not have won for the bid for 2012 Olympics without MOSS's barelegged support. See her STILETTO (29A: Short dagger)?
3D: "Behind Closed Doors" singer: CHARLIE RICH. Here is the song. I've never heard of it before.
7D: Nordic rug: RYA. I simply forgot. It appeared in a March TMS puzzle.
8D: Julia of "One from the Heart". RAUL. His name looks familiar to me. Danielle might have linked his film to the blog before. I've never heard of the film.
11D: Ring-shaped: ANNULAR. Lois will probably connect this word with PECCAVI.
24D: Like a family of girls: SONLESS. Boy, this was not a gimme to me at all.
26D: Not vital: INESSENTIAL
27D: Easily attached accessory: SNAP ON. I penned in "CLIP ON" first, thinking of earrings.
29D: Serengeti trek: SAFARI
30D: Hot-platter platform: TRIVET
39D: Whined: SNIVELED
47D: Asiatic deer: SAMBAR. It looks like this. New to me also. Why the clue is "Asiatic"???
42D: Cul-de-sac: DEAD END. I am still learning the intricacies of crossword cluing. I don't know for sure if two ENDS (48A: SPLIT END) are allowed in a grid. They just don't look appealing to my eyes.
56D: Jed of "The Chris Isaak Show": REES. No, nope. Who is that girl in his arms?
58D: Clinch: ICE. Enjoy Foreigner's "Cold As ICE" on such a hot summer's day!
C.C.
Total blocks: 32
I think I am going to count the total blocks for Saturday themeless puzzles from now on. Maybe someday we will get a puzzle with less than 25 blocks. Who knows? Our editor himself is certainly capable of pulling such a feat. There have been some enigmatic ingenuities sparking in his puzzles occasionally. He is just a bad editor.
Anyway, I struggled mightily today, lots of googling. Without the theme as my guiding sherpa, I simply could not climb this Mount Everest, way too many actor/actress/singer names for me to handle (16 out of the 70 answers are names).
I truly dislike the two "Er" clues today:
28D: Bringer of news: HERALD. Bring-er? Is it a word? I stared at the clue for a long time, thinking Bringer might be the name of a news reporter I had never heard of.
5D: Sleeper rousers: WAKENERS. So agonizing to see "ers" both in the clue and the answer. Did it look cute to you?
On the other hand, I really like 23D: Po-land?: ITALY. Very cleverly misleading/tricky clue, esp since PO is not a well-known river.
ACROSS:
1A: Raucous parrot: MACAW. A moment of quietness. Glamorous plumages! So intensely & brightly colored.
6A: Easily annoyed: IRRITABLE. I wanted Irascible.
16A: "Love Story" star: RYAN O'NEAL. Saw "Love Story" in Chinese long long time ago. Had no idea that "Love means never having to say you're sorry" came from this movie.
17A: Norman's nickname: SHARK. Greg Norman. Might be difficult to those who don't care about British open or golf at all. I don't think his name will be on the first page of the leaderboard on Sunday morning. Adam Scott's will be!! Padraig Harrington is a sleeper.
18A: Amusing disrespect: SAUCINESS
21A: Pip: LULU. Why? Isn't pip the mark on a die?
22A: Tropical porches: LANAIS
25A: Hearty enjoyment: RELISH. It does not refer to the hot dog RELISH here, does it? If yes, why hearty?
31A: July 26th honoree: ST. ANNE. Absolutely no idea. Is it a gimme to you? If the answer ST. is abbreviated, the clue should be too.
32A: Metric measure: ARE (100 square meters). Learned from doing Xword.
33A: Laughing: RIANT. New word to me. Do you use it in your daily conversation? FYI, "rire" is French for laugh (verb & noun). Je ris, ha ha!
37A: Peter of "Being There": SELLERS. I've never heard of this film.
43A: Country on the Gulf of Aden: YEMEN. Here is the map. See Gulf of Aqaba? It's shouting "Clue me, clue me!"
48A: Separated lineman: SPLIT END. Unknown to me. Not a football fan at all.
50A: Cornell's location: ITHACA. Have to show you this beautiful ITHACA again. I love it so much.
51A: Bochco or Brill: STEVEN. Both are unknown to me.
54A: Cloth stretcher: TENTER. Completely foreign to me. Here is a TENTER frame.
57A: Where brook trout sleep?: RIVERBEDS. Don't all the freshwater fish sleep on the RIVERBEDS?
62A: Actress Rainer: LUISE. Another unknown actress to me. She was O-Lan in "The Good Earth", my favorite Pearl Buck book.
63A: Highest peak in the Western Hemisphere: ACONCAGUA. So beautiful.
65A: Skitch or Florence: HENDERSON. Both are strangers to me.
66A: Apollo's birthplace: DELOS
DOWN:
1D: Supermodel Kate: MOSS. London would not have won for the bid for 2012 Olympics without MOSS's barelegged support. See her STILETTO (29A: Short dagger)?
3D: "Behind Closed Doors" singer: CHARLIE RICH. Here is the song. I've never heard of it before.
7D: Nordic rug: RYA. I simply forgot. It appeared in a March TMS puzzle.
8D: Julia of "One from the Heart". RAUL. His name looks familiar to me. Danielle might have linked his film to the blog before. I've never heard of the film.
11D: Ring-shaped: ANNULAR. Lois will probably connect this word with PECCAVI.
24D: Like a family of girls: SONLESS. Boy, this was not a gimme to me at all.
26D: Not vital: INESSENTIAL
27D: Easily attached accessory: SNAP ON. I penned in "CLIP ON" first, thinking of earrings.
29D: Serengeti trek: SAFARI
30D: Hot-platter platform: TRIVET
39D: Whined: SNIVELED
47D: Asiatic deer: SAMBAR. It looks like this. New to me also. Why the clue is "Asiatic"???
42D: Cul-de-sac: DEAD END. I am still learning the intricacies of crossword cluing. I don't know for sure if two ENDS (48A: SPLIT END) are allowed in a grid. They just don't look appealing to my eyes.
56D: Jed of "The Chris Isaak Show": REES. No, nope. Who is that girl in his arms?
58D: Clinch: ICE. Enjoy Foreigner's "Cold As ICE" on such a hot summer's day!
C.C.
