Not a good thing when it was a Friday puzzle...not a good thing when it was one of Paula Gamache's puzzles.
If I knew for sure that I'd be home tomorrow, I would have waited until morning to solve it. It was foolish to tackle it this late, and I basically threw in the towel. Had a few answers, Googled a few more...ended up with the top half of the puzzle finished and a good part of the bottom. But it was late...and time to declare the puzzle finished (thanks, Donald...good advice).
Fellow blogger JimH had already posted his finished grid, so I borrowed a couple of answers from him. That gave me enough of a toehold in the bottom half to finish things up.
The long answers were all good...and all multiword. How does Paula Gamache manage to stack things like this?
In the top half:
1A: Climbing Mt. Everest, for Sir Edmund Hillary (claim to fame).
12A: 1937 Paul Muni drama (The Woman I Love).
14A: Art, metaphorically (jealous mistress). That was so good I can hardly stand it...although my first answer was imitation of life.
The bottom stacks:
45A: Census Bureau data (vital statistics).
47A: Only if it's worth the trade-off (not at any price).
48A: London Zoo locale (Regents Park).
Other multiword answers were 17A: Probe (poke into), 27A: It's hard to recall (dim memory), 6D: Like most medicine bottles (tamper resistant), 11D: 50-50 proposition (even bet) and 29D: It's headquartered in the G.E. Building (NBC TV).
I had a few gimmes, some with pretty clever cluing. 18A: Manfred __ Earth Band (Mann's), 20A: Basic verse option (ABAB), 22A: Drum containers (ears)...clever, 25A: Legato indicator (slur)...thanks to piano lessons, 26A: Coast Guard boat (cutter), 33A: Clued in, once (hep), 7D: Things in rings (onions), 19D: Princess Ozma's creator (Baum), 25D: "Dear" ones (sirs) and 35D: Meter makers (poets).
Unfamiliar answers, many of which I got from crosses, include 23A: Site of the siege of Candia (Crete), 38A: Singer who is part owner of Forbes magazine (Bono), 41A: Cousin in a Balzac title (Bette), 10D: Holmes fought him (Moriarty), 14D: Artist Wyeth (Jamie)...I only know Andrew, 22D: Nine __ (London district) (Elms), 28D: "Blue II" painter, 1961 (Miró)...I know the name but not particular works, 30D: Sacramento suburb (Florin) and 46D: Country singers England and Herndon (Tys).
It's time for me to get cozy (26D: Under a quilt, say) if I want to cure (23D: Bug zapper?) what ails me.
Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
6 comments:
That was a toughie. Lot's of trial & error.
Linda, I've been working my way back through the NYT archive of puzzles (I joined about a year ago)
June 10, 2005 (Friday) is right up your ally. There are 10 Z's in it.
Thanks, coach...I'll check it out. Ended up staying home again, so I'll probably do several puzzles today.
NFLERS is not a word!
Godot's guy...
Neither is ABAB, NBCTV, IOUS, AWOLS, et cetera, or for that matter, NOTATANYPRICE, et al -- however, these entries are referred to as "words" for convenience, just as so many terms are incorrectly utilized in crossword dialogues -- I believe it's known as "jargon" --and, yes, I find it ironic that these terms are used so freely by the very folk who eschew incorrect usage!
Lucky Pozzo
This puzzle took a while, and a bit of googling. The first clue I filled in was CUTTER. My dad was a Coastie during WWII. I loved CLAIM TO FAME and JEALOUS MISTRESS.
The SW was the very last to fall. I insisted on Loomis being the Sacramento suburb instead of FLORIN. That held me back for some time. And I can't believe that it took me so long to see VITAL STATISTICS. As a dabbler in genealogy who has spent hours reading census returns, I should have known that immediately.
Linda, than you so much for your kind comment on my blog. I've been down with a nasty cold for a week and have fallen behind, but I'll get back to it.
Take care, hope you're feeling much better after a day of rest.
Anna
CAS = CASE IN FRENCH
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