We have a hint to the theme at 38A: Classic 1911 children's novel...with a hint to this puzzle's theme (The Secret Garden). That was a gimme, and it
wasn't too difficult to guess what was going on. I had already noticed roses hiding in a couple of answers...25A: Popped up (arose) and 33A: Everyday speech (prose). It's all laid out at 64A: What you can find in the grid after completing this puzzle, looking up, down, left, right and diagonally, word search-style (a dozen roses). As you'll see, I only found nine roses...but I was a bit strict with the rules. Maybe I was allowed to go left, then down...or to the right, then diagonally. It wasn't really clear...then again, it wasn't an important part of the puzzle-solving experience for me.There was some really good cluing in this one...my favorites:
1A: Diamond datum (RBI)...nothing to do with cut, color, clarity or carat.
54A: Spot checkers? (ad men)...the last answer to fall.
73A: Oils, say (art)...far more difficult for me than it should have been. I wanted something that would end in S, but I knew that 52D: Vacation destination was resort.
3D: Antenna holder, maybe (insect).
28D: "The chief nurse of England's statesmen" (Eton)...a far better clue than we usually get.
38D: One way to get to the top (T-bar)...a gimme for some reason.
Favorite answers include:
8A: Syrian city of 2.5+ million (Aleppo). That's the one I checked, since I wasn't sure about the cross at 10D: Certain alkene (enol)...I'm still not.
18A: University of Paris, familiarly (The Sorbonne). I especially like the inclusion of the article.
20A: Curved molding (ogee)...always a favorite word.
23A: Like some potatoes (riced). Some people aren't familiar with this way to prepare potatoes. For those who aren't, here's how you rice a potato after it has been boiled. The resulting potatoes are much better than mashed...I may have to do this tomorrow.45A: __ metabolism (basal).
48A: Washed-out look (pallor).
60A: Short-range club (nine iron). I know very little about golf...but even I know that woods are for long-range. I correctly guessed 71D: Big shirt maker as Izod...which meant it was either a five or a nine iron. It didn't help that I was unfamiliar with 47D: Horse-training school (manege).
68A: Dumpling stuffed with cheese (pirogi). I wanted ravioli, but it wouldn't fit. Now I want ravioli...to eat.
2D: Dance energetically (boogie)...it just makes me laugh to see it in the grid.
9D: Women's __ (libber). Wendy, this is because you enjoyed yesterday's sardonic comic and requested more of them.24D: Skinny (dope).
40D: Stage actress Duse (Eleonora)...a beautiful name and a beautiful woman.43D: "__ the day!" (Shakespearean interjection) (Alas)...don't know what it's from, though.
50D: Capital of República Portuguesa (Lisboa).
Don just got home...only a few more days until this wretched tax season is over. It's always hard, but it was so much harder when the girls were little. They just never understood why Daddy worked late...why he worked on the weekends. I think they get it now.
Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
11 comments:
if you look a little harder you'll find your dozen roses, add 52d backwards, 64a ummm, obvious..., and a little tricker - i think the "r" in 73a going diagonally up to the left the l o n g way...have fun and enjoy your fragrant bouquet.
I don't see the 73a rose, but there is one popping up in 7d.
I didn't get the MANEGE / PEROGI cross. I thought Perogi was an actor on X-Files.
Clever puzzle.
LIBBER photo with its final remark in the corner is a riot!
Well Norman's comment yesterday did not jinx us today. It was a good puzzle for a Thursday. Had a bit of a problem with 60A and 9D I wanted sand wedge and Women's rights...so much for gimmies!!!
Can some one explain TBAR...if it is suppose to mean Tab Bar, it is wrong because it takes you down not up
It's always a good day when it starts with a lobotomy joke! ;) Thanks, Linda!
I was ruined for a good long while by having Hardwood and then, having figured out the theme, Rosewood, and to make matters worse, Ink instead of PEN right next to it. Finally I got a clue and cleaned all that up.
Lots of good stuff in this one.
Bob, think ski lift. That was something I didn't know until I moved to ski country.
Thank you Linda...I never thought of that although I have seen it in puzzles before
diamond, as in baseball diamond!
linda,
your three missing roses are in 7D & 52D (as noted above)and in 64A
with 64A, i'm not happy that that one counts as a "hidden" thing to find when it is in the title/theme of what you are looking for...
that's like giving your lover 11 roses with a card that says "A dozen roses for you"
when the person says "Hey, I only count eleven here...", do you really want to say "The last one is the word on the card, silly!"??
thank you for out of semi-sabbatical
Cheers
I mean thank you for coming out of your semi-sabbatical.
I missed raeding you every day.
Sean
Thanks to all who found the roses after I'd given up. I agree that the one in 64A shouldn't count.
Wendy, I'm glad you liked the lobotomy joke. I had looked for one about women's lib...but the opposite of it was much better.
Sean, thanks for your sweet words. I'm feeling rather crappy this afternoon...so it was nice to read that you had missed the blog ; )
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