Okay, so they weren't very difficult, but I'll take sports points wherever (and however) I can get them.
The four theme answers consist of two football team names, with the new word then clued...
17A: Big spender's woe? (Giant Bill).
25A: Revolver toter? (Colt Packer).
37A: MasterCard-carrying ecclesiastic? (Cardinal Charger)...the funniest answer.
45A: Peter? (Chief Saint)...the best of the four.
...and all wrapped up with 56A: Where this puzzle's theme pairs would like to meet (Super Bowl).
None of the theme answers were gimmes, but I had several others, including 1A: Missing Jimmy (Hoffa), 14A: Paula of "American Idol" (Abdul), 19A: "Mule Train" singer, 1949 (Laine), 22A: Where to find the headings Books, Dolls & Bears, and Collectibles (eBay)...I've spent way too much time (and money) there, 27A: The Ewings' soap (Dallas), 42A: Greene of "Bonanza" (Lorne)...one of my childhood heroes/crushes, 52A: Country singer Milsap (Ronnie)...I haven't heard his name in years, 53A: Quick Pick game (Lotto), and 62A: Condor's nest (aerie)...a word I only know from doing crossword puzzles.
Also 4D: 1975 arbra Streisand sequel (Funny Lady), 6D: Richard's first vice president (Spiro), 9D: Spock, on his father's side (Vulcan), 10D: Asimov of sci-fi (Isaac), 12D: Bert's Muppet pal (Ernie)...named for the cab drivers in It's a Wonderful Life, and 23D: Kiddie lit elephant (Babar).
I can never remember 7D: Superman's birth name (Kal-El), and I don't imagine I will the next time I see it.
I didn't know 33D: Reggie Jackson nickname (Mr. October). It almost sounds like he was Playgirl's Playmate of the Month...but ESPN says here that it has to do with hitting home runs.Clues and/or answers that I really liked:
16A: Take forcibly (usurp). I just like the word, although I had seize at first.
20A: Bête __ (noire). This was in a puzzle not long ago, and I managed to remember it. It's a beautiful French word that means black beast, and it can refer to something unwanted...even hated. Such a pretty word, though.
21A: Gum arabic-yielding tree (acacia). Another good word.
44A: "Blah, blah, blah..." (etc etc). I'd like to see it clued in reference to The King and I.
65A: Pasta sauce brand (Prego). I just Googled to find the literal translation of the word. It brought up several sites about Jennifer Lopez. I didn't think the term prego was still used to indicate a baby on the way. What do I know?
22D: Papal bull, e.g. (edict). Okay, I grew up Catholic, and I've neve
r heard this. Don, on the other hand, grew up Lutheran, and he knew it. Go figure. Anyway, the clue sounds extremely disrespectful if you don't know what it means. According to Wikipedia, a Papal bull is "a special kind of patent or charter issued by a pope...named after the bulla that was appended to the end to authenticate it." Here's a papal bull, sealed with a leaden bulla. I learn something new every day.Well, that's my third picture, so it's time to wrap things up for the night. Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
6 comments:
33D I thought "October" stood for either baseball or the world series. Some years ago a book The Boys of October was about baseball. I didn't read it.
65A In Italy whenever I said "grazie" someone would say "prego". I didn't know whether they were saying "you're welcome" or "Have some more pasta". As a first generation Italian, I'm ashamed to admit this. Just kidding.
Linda...congradulations on all the sports clues... Mr October came about when Reggie was a NY Yankees and he hit 3 home runs in one World Series game against the Dodgers
Have a good day
Bob
Prego comes from the italian verb pregare, meaning to pray. Prego literally means "I pray"
Ciao
For some reason, I read Reggie Jackson as Jesse Jackson the entire time I did the puzzle. It wasn't until I came here just now and saw the picture of Reggie that I realized it. Wow.
bougeotte, thanks for clarifying PREGO. I couldn't get past the JLo stuff.
le master, you're too young for that kind of stuff to happen ; )
Oops...forgot I hadn't posted earlier today. JD, thanks for the laugh. We had spaghetti tonight, although not Prego or Ragu. It was the real stuff, simmered for eight hours.
Bob, if I keep at these puzzles long enough, I'll just keep getting better on the sports stuff.
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