Theme: Eat My Words
23A: Junk carrying fruit?: SLOE (Slow) BOAT TO CHINA
37A: Freeing a pungent plant? SPRINGING A LEEK (Leak)
49A: Force exerted by a fruit?: PEAR (Peer) PRESSURE
66A: Herb's organic processes?: BASIL (Basal) METABOLISM
88A: Mushroom stem?: MOREL (Moral) SUPPORT
98A: Veggies' contemporaries?: BEET (Beat) GENERATION
118A: Herb from the distant past?: THYME (Time) IMMEMORIAL
PEAR PRESSURE seems to be strained. PEAR and Peer sound very different to me. MOREL SUPPORT made me laugh, given our wild MOREL discussion last summer.
I wonder if any constructor thought of building a "Moral" rebus puzzle. Moral Ground, Moral Standard, Moral Code, Moral Principle, Moral Philosophy, Moral Decline, Moral Lesson, Moral Victory, Moral Obligation, Moral Conduct, Moral Fiber, etc. Lots of "Moral Issue" words to grid.
Very nice puzzle. Excellent theme. Quite challenging for me though. Had to seek Google for help. Definitely more rewarding than last week's simple "Face It". The only minor quibble I have is the clue for HIT (53A: SRO indication). SRO indicates an abbreviated answer, but HIT is not.
Across:
8A: Character on "The A-Team": MR. T. This guy often wears too much gold.
14A: Brother of Rebecca: LABAN. I forgot his name completely. He is the father of Leah and Rachel, Jacob's father-in-law. Who is his wife then?
19A: Do little or nothing: LIE DOWN
22A: Beatles song from "The White Album": I WILL. Here is the clip.
25A: Paroxysm: THROE. I did not know the meaning of "Paroxysm". "oxy" meaning sharp, as in oxymoron.
26A: "Lohengrin" heroine": ELSA. I can never remember this Wagner opera. The girl looks scared. What is the story about?
27A: Joyce Kilmer classic: TREES. "I think I shall never see /A poem lovely as a tree..."
33A: Fatality faker: POSSUM
48A: Light starter?: TWI. Twilight.
52A: French possessive: A MOI. How do you say "Wish you were mine" in French? I suppose French has real and unreal conditional sentences too.
56A: Barry Levinson movie: DINER. No idea. Have never heard of this movie.
64A: AEC word: ENERGY. AEC was replaced by NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission).
75A: Under the most negative circumstances: AT WORST. I hope we've hit the bottom and the worst is now behind us. So depressing and chilling to read those massive layoff announcements.
80A: Winged: ALATE. Like Pegaus. Sometimes the answer is ALAR. Ala is "wing".
87A: Few: pref: OLIG. As in oligarchy. Here are some examples. I suppose you can call Putin's Russia oligarchy too.
94A: Erect, temporarily: RIG UP. Why "temporarily"?
97A: Brain box: NOODLE. "Brain box" is a new slang to me. I think my "Brain box" is full. I can't seem to absorb and digest the new information I get from reading others' comments.
101A: Incursions: FORAYS
111A: Rutger of "Blade Runner": HAUER. Googled his name. Three consecutive vowels. Perfect for crossword.
123A: Cyst: VESICLE. New to me. What causes these VESICLES? Looks like cigarette burns.
124A: Shoelace tip: AGLET. Derived from French word "aiguille" meaning "needle'".
Down:
4D: Old music halls: ODEA. Singular is odeum. Is there any modern music halls/theaters called odeum?
14D: Well-read elite: LITERATI. Digerati is a portmanteau of "digital" and "LITERATI".
18D: Dodger, in MLB jargon: NLER (National Leaguer). Both ALER and NLER exist in crossword world only.
32D: Put that out of your mind: IGNORE IT
34D: Last of Socrates?: OMEGA. The last letter of Greek alphabet.
35D: Pitcher Warren: SPAHN. Ah,"Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain", Hall of Famer. The winningest southpaw in Major-League history.
57D: Incoming, as a train (abbr.): INB. Inbound?
62D: Trellis: ESPALIER. Another new word to me. Very pretty. Is that an apple tree? Some of the fruits look like pomegranates.
70D: "I remember Mama" character: LARS. Got it from across clues. Have never heard of this movie before.
81D: Wood: pref.: LIGN. First encounter with this prefix. Dictionary gives an example of "lignite", dark brown coal with a woodlike texture.
82D: Three from Berlin: DREI. Eins, zwei, DREI.
84D: Corundum relative: ALUNDUM. No idea. The clue means nothing to me. Both end in "undum". I suppose you can call them relatives.
90D: Lacking in development: UNFORMED. This clue does not feel natural to me.
92D: Panama preposition: POR. Good alliteration.
100D: Wind: pref.: ANEMO. As in anemometer, the instrument to measure the speed of wind. Saw this clue somewhere before.
106D: Hindu deity: SIVA. I don't know which one is more common, SIVA or Shiva. Here is a statue. How does Hinduism differ from Buddhism? Some of the meditating statues look quite similar.
119D: NASA partner: ESA (European Space Agency)
C.C.
23A: Junk carrying fruit?: SLOE (Slow) BOAT TO CHINA
37A: Freeing a pungent plant? SPRINGING A LEEK (Leak)
49A: Force exerted by a fruit?: PEAR (Peer) PRESSURE
66A: Herb's organic processes?: BASIL (Basal) METABOLISM
88A: Mushroom stem?: MOREL (Moral) SUPPORT
98A: Veggies' contemporaries?: BEET (Beat) GENERATION
118A: Herb from the distant past?: THYME (Time) IMMEMORIAL
PEAR PRESSURE seems to be strained. PEAR and Peer sound very different to me. MOREL SUPPORT made me laugh, given our wild MOREL discussion last summer.
I wonder if any constructor thought of building a "Moral" rebus puzzle. Moral Ground, Moral Standard, Moral Code, Moral Principle, Moral Philosophy, Moral Decline, Moral Lesson, Moral Victory, Moral Obligation, Moral Conduct, Moral Fiber, etc. Lots of "Moral Issue" words to grid.
Very nice puzzle. Excellent theme. Quite challenging for me though. Had to seek Google for help. Definitely more rewarding than last week's simple "Face It". The only minor quibble I have is the clue for HIT (53A: SRO indication). SRO indicates an abbreviated answer, but HIT is not.
Across:
8A: Character on "The A-Team": MR. T. This guy often wears too much gold.
14A: Brother of Rebecca: LABAN. I forgot his name completely. He is the father of Leah and Rachel, Jacob's father-in-law. Who is his wife then?
19A: Do little or nothing: LIE DOWN
22A: Beatles song from "The White Album": I WILL. Here is the clip.
25A: Paroxysm: THROE. I did not know the meaning of "Paroxysm". "oxy" meaning sharp, as in oxymoron.
26A: "Lohengrin" heroine": ELSA. I can never remember this Wagner opera. The girl looks scared. What is the story about?
27A: Joyce Kilmer classic: TREES. "I think I shall never see /A poem lovely as a tree..."
33A: Fatality faker: POSSUM
48A: Light starter?: TWI. Twilight.
52A: French possessive: A MOI. How do you say "Wish you were mine" in French? I suppose French has real and unreal conditional sentences too.
56A: Barry Levinson movie: DINER. No idea. Have never heard of this movie.
64A: AEC word: ENERGY. AEC was replaced by NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission).
75A: Under the most negative circumstances: AT WORST. I hope we've hit the bottom and the worst is now behind us. So depressing and chilling to read those massive layoff announcements.
80A: Winged: ALATE. Like Pegaus. Sometimes the answer is ALAR. Ala is "wing".
87A: Few: pref: OLIG. As in oligarchy. Here are some examples. I suppose you can call Putin's Russia oligarchy too.
94A: Erect, temporarily: RIG UP. Why "temporarily"?
97A: Brain box: NOODLE. "Brain box" is a new slang to me. I think my "Brain box" is full. I can't seem to absorb and digest the new information I get from reading others' comments.
101A: Incursions: FORAYS
111A: Rutger of "Blade Runner": HAUER. Googled his name. Three consecutive vowels. Perfect for crossword.
123A: Cyst: VESICLE. New to me. What causes these VESICLES? Looks like cigarette burns.
124A: Shoelace tip: AGLET. Derived from French word "aiguille" meaning "needle'".
Down:
4D: Old music halls: ODEA. Singular is odeum. Is there any modern music halls/theaters called odeum?
14D: Well-read elite: LITERATI. Digerati is a portmanteau of "digital" and "LITERATI".
18D: Dodger, in MLB jargon: NLER (National Leaguer). Both ALER and NLER exist in crossword world only.
32D: Put that out of your mind: IGNORE IT
34D: Last of Socrates?: OMEGA. The last letter of Greek alphabet.
35D: Pitcher Warren: SPAHN. Ah,"Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain", Hall of Famer. The winningest southpaw in Major-League history.
57D: Incoming, as a train (abbr.): INB. Inbound?
62D: Trellis: ESPALIER. Another new word to me. Very pretty. Is that an apple tree? Some of the fruits look like pomegranates.
70D: "I remember Mama" character: LARS. Got it from across clues. Have never heard of this movie before.
81D: Wood: pref.: LIGN. First encounter with this prefix. Dictionary gives an example of "lignite", dark brown coal with a woodlike texture.
82D: Three from Berlin: DREI. Eins, zwei, DREI.
84D: Corundum relative: ALUNDUM. No idea. The clue means nothing to me. Both end in "undum". I suppose you can call them relatives.
90D: Lacking in development: UNFORMED. This clue does not feel natural to me.
92D: Panama preposition: POR. Good alliteration.
100D: Wind: pref.: ANEMO. As in anemometer, the instrument to measure the speed of wind. Saw this clue somewhere before.
106D: Hindu deity: SIVA. I don't know which one is more common, SIVA or Shiva. Here is a statue. How does Hinduism differ from Buddhism? Some of the meditating statues look quite similar.
119D: NASA partner: ESA (European Space Agency)
C.C.
