the theme was a bunch of pundits (84D: PUNNED IT)
al FRANKENSENSE
bill WHYPAYMAHER (i love that guy)
bill LIFEOFO'REILLY
ann YOU'RE GETTINGCOULTER
rush DOTHELIMBAUGH
phil DONAHUEDARE (cleverest of all, i think)
don IMUSBEOFFNOW
get it? i figured it out at bill oh really? (that's what i call him)
oh, i almost forgot. this is rick b. aka cornbread. LINDA asked me to say hello to everyone. ("hello") while she plays hooky. she's such a slacker, don't you think?
this puzzle started off *great* for me. at 1A: pirate spirits, i immediately put in the S. then before i could answer 2A, i thought, "how clever! it's GROG!"... so i wrote in grog. why do i use a pen? so i can see what i write when i correct my errors. and i haven't even had any RUMS.
that reminds me. they snuck in a pretty decent ERR today at 83D. perfect = UNERRING.
and i'm gonna sneak in a nekkid reference now by mentioning 29A: unaided perception = NAKED EYE. (maybe that's an inside joke, i dunno.)
some other stuff i liked:
32A: a la recherche... = PROUST (i like proust)
37A: natural riser = HEAT
40A: it might make you sick = GERM (because i was thinking along "theme" lines and wrote in GORE, who does not make me sick, but...ann coulter does.) i only corrected myself by remembering UTA HAGEN from an earlier puzzle last week.
93A: hawaiian staple vegetables = TAROS (all readers of this blog are required to love any and all hawaiian related fodder.)
37D: magazine exec in a robe, familiarly = HEF (because it's just so camp.)
45D: ex-yankee hideki = IRABU (not to be confused with matsui or tojo.)
94D: illustrator silverstein = SHEL , because he's an old-time favorite. (i bet my kids can still quote him.)
stuff i didn't know: (but only some of what i didn't know.)
CYCLO, AGARIC, SCOP, FASCES, RAGAS...
the fasces/ragas crossing almost did me in.
a pretty darn good puzzle if you ask me. sorry for all the wikipedia articles and no pictures. and i think i lost track of what color i was using for the links. meh. if i'm ever given another chance i'll try to do better next time.
as linda g. would ask about now, "how'd you like the puzzle?"
no guarantee is possible as to the accuracy. it's all my doin'.
i mus be off now....later, rick (typo alert! 90D/96A crossing should be an *O*-be sure to tell me where the others are.) (typo alert #2...i just found it. 42A is TAD, not AD. hahahaha)
9 comments:
Hey, cornbread, welcome back!
My favorite word in this puzzle is FASCES. I never knew the origin of FASCIST, and I'll bet we see this one again. Of course, I dithered in this region an inordinately long time since I also didn't know the meaning of "carnatic." Thought it had something to do with Johnny Carson. Maybe FASCES could be our WORD OF THE DAY.
A nifty puzzle. Challenging.
I didn't know the meaning of "carnatic," either and guessed it had something to do with meat, like carnivore. So I had it as "ragus" -- thinking it was the bottled spaghetti sauce.
Obviously I am not up on MLB.
90D I THINK IT IS NORMAN EMPIRE NOT NIRMAN AND THE CROSSWORD 96A WOULD BE MOL FOR MOLECULE
If you call him Bill Oh Really?, you probably appreciated (as I did) that one of the words crossing his name (and Ann Coulter's!) was LIARS.
scop?
All was well until the SE corner. I almost swore off crosswords. For the life of me nothing fit.
"donahuedare"? oh, give me a break!
sue- thanks! (i'll let linda make the obvious alternate wotd joke for fasces, if she wants. i like this gig. i'd hate to lose it.
anon 1- i looked up carnatic and still basically had to get ragas fasces from the crosses.
anon 2- yep. i added a note at the bottom correcting myself on that and 42A this morning.
john- hahahaha.
i do appreciate that, but didn't even notice. maybe that's a good thing. it's not really my blog to get all snarky on...(thanks)
jd- scop. i kinda like it.
Thanks so much, cornbread, for filling in on such short notice.
Elaine and Mike are on their way home, the house is quiet...and it's time to download the Monday puzzle. I think tonight's game is at 6:00, but I should be able to do a Monday puzzle while I watch. And, hey, it's not like I'd miss anything...they'll show it another two or three times ; )
I'm usually very good with puns, but I missed a couple of these. I had the answers...I just didn't get the puns. I woke up this morning and the Donahue one (FINALLY!) popped into my head. The toughest one for me was 27A...I thought the Bill in question must be Gates...and 28D could as easily been TEE rather than HEE.
This is what keeps the blood pumping!
MOL is short for mole (although I don't know why you need to sub a 3 letter for 4) and is the measure of the amount of a substance based on number of molecules present.
Acid strengths are measued in MOLs.
rick- thanks. good stuff!
i love learning new things. i assumed it was molecule until now.
welcome back linda. and thank YOU.
Post a Comment