Monday, November 12, 2007

Tuesday, November 13 - Fred Piscop

Ooh...a tougher-than-usual Tuesday puzzle to follow yesterday's delicious fare.

The theme is establishments of sorts...each theme answer is a common phrase, clued as if it were some type of business.

20A: Striptease business? (showing concern). While I don't use (or often hear) the word concern in reference to a business, it is a legitimate use of the word.

35A: Wrestling business? (holding firm).

53A: Comb business? (parting company). This was the first one I got...also my favorite.

I had to rely on crosses in so many areas of this one. There were some things I just didn't know.

19A: Yemeni port (Aden). I should know this. I think it ends up in a puzzle at least once a quarter.

33A: Knight's attendant (varlet). Rhymes with starlet, rather than sounding like valet...which I have heard of.

47A: Portugal's place (Iberia). Hopelessly geographically impaired.

52A: Row C abbr., maybe (ind). I'm not getting this at all.

63A: Mullally of "Will & Grace" (Megan). Have never seen the show...have never heard of her.

22D: Some Japanese-Americans (Nisei). I never remember this word, but I remember that it refers to second generation.

33D: TV handyman Bob (Vila).

Favorite answer in the puzzle was 3D: Jumble (mishmash). What a great word.

An old friend reappears at 66A: Dummy Mortimer (Snerd), shown at right with Edgar Bergen.

Others I liked include 18A: Cutoffs fabric (denim), 5D: Figure that's squared in a common formula (radius), 12D: Mafia code of silence (omerta)...remembered it this time, 36D: The Pineapple Island (Lanai)...love anything Hawaiian, and 38D: Sauce for some seafood (marinara)...I had cocktail, the more obvious (albeit wrong) answer.

Interesting to see 25A: "__ to say this, but..." (I hate) and 44D: Not be able to stomach (loathe) in the same puzzle.

Another connection between 28A: Stereotypical sandwich board diner (Joe's) and 40A: Beanery sign (eats).

Loved the clue for 29D: Bacchanalian revelry (orgy). That's what finally made varlet appear.

51A: __-Caps (Nestlé candy) (Sno)...one of my childhood favorites. Since they're dark (at least semisweet) chocolate, I guess I'd say I still like them.

That's all for tonight. Here's the grid...



In the words of 41D: Cratchit boy (Tiny Tim), "God bless us...everyone." See you tomorrow.

Linda G

9 comments:

Le Master said...

41D: Musician who "tiptoe[d] through the tulips"

That would have made my night.

Anonymous said...

I think "row C" might refer to A. Rep, B. Dem, C. Ind.

That's the only thing I can think of. But I'll probably be slapping my head when it turns out to be something else.

I put in Venn diagram and that tripped me up for awhile in that area. Tree is much more Tuesday.

I liked yesterday's puzzle more, too!

Anonymous said...

28A & 33D caused me some delay. I never heard of a diner called "Joe's" and in old Westerns, the bad guys were always referred to as "varlets".

Anonymous said...

Linda...Rikki is quite right and has no need to slap her head!!!Row C is generally the 3rd line in a voting booth
not a good puzzle today....theme was fun but some of the words were not so good
have a nice day
Bob

Linda G said...

le master, that Tiny Tim was in the puzzle some months ago. You can search the blog and find it, along with my link to him actually singing (as it were) the song.

Way to go, rikki! And thanks, Bob, for confirming IND. Never would have guessed that.

JD, I guess I didn't watch enough westerns. But I do recall something cartoonish with a sandwich board advertising Joe's.

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember that the baddies in old-time western were called "varmints."

Le Master said...

Ah ok, I did the search and he was the answer to 42D with a very similar clue to what I desired on July 9th...well before I discovered the NYT crossword.

Out of curiosity, is anyone else a member of the Oxford English Dictionary website? Because I'm going to UGA in the spring I'm able to access it now and I'm absolutely addicted to reading the etymology of just random words. If I only had the recall to remember everything I read.

Anonymous said...

If Row C is IND, the clue should have read "column C", not row. Parties are listed by column not row

Linda G said...

stoicguy, you may be right. That whole thing was over my head!