Henry did with this puzzle what he manages to do with every other one...messes with my mind. Only this time he did it literally...with three musical theme answers.
20A: 1968 Glen Campbell hit (Gentle On My Mind). That was always a favorite...and listening to it now I realize I still love it. Here's a duet with the song's writer, John Hartford.
34A: 1960 Ray Charles hit (Georgia On My Mind).53A: 1982 Willie Nelson hit (Always On My Mind). Another favorite.
My favorite answer...hands down...is 1D: Solver's online recourse (Googling). I've been saying for more than a year that it's okay...and now it's been legitimized in the New York Times puzzle.
Other good fill:
13A: Sans deferment (one A). Took me forever to see it, though.
25A: Mouse who's always throwing bricks at Krazy Kat (Ignatz). I haven't a clue who either of those characters are...that was either before my time or way after. But they made it to a postage stamp.
40A: Peace-and-quiet venue (Arcadia).
44A: Little fingers or toes (minimi). Okay, I like the looks of it...but I've never heard it. And it's not in my Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fourth Edition.
47A: He wrote "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" (Voltaire). That was a good guess...based on another good guess at 42D: Burial place of King Arthur (Avalon).
57A: False deity (Baal).
58A: "Gilmore Girls" daughter (Rory).
61A: 1961 "spacechimp" (Enos). He's appeared a few times...so it was a gimme.
4D: Title locale in a Cheech Marin flick (East LA).5D: Actor Billy of "Titanic" (Zane)...and the cross at 5A: Slalomer's moves (zags).
7D: Adorned, in the kitchen (garni). I so wanted something that would end in ED, especially before I figured out the theme...and remembered the name of the Glen Campbell song.
Digression...today I won lunch at the Honeybaked Ham Cafe, courtesy of our local oldies station. The disc jockey read five words from a song, and I called in and identified the song and the artist. Here are the lyrics...misty memories of days gone. The answer appears at the end of the post.
9D: What demonstrators demonstrate (activism).
11D: Longtime Cowboys coach Tom (Landry). I don't know why I know this, but I do.
36D: Van Susteren of Fox News (Greta). While searching for a picture to post, I discovered the hoopla about her plastic surgery...about which I had been blissfully unaware. I wasn't sure if I should do a pre- or post-surgery photo, so I decided to skip it altogether.
I like the three consecutive answers in the southeast...37D: Begin (initiate), 38D: Put up (nominate) and 39D: Approached zero (dwindled).
43D: Ravel work (Bolero). Capital R...accent on the second syllable.
I wasn't wild about the multiword answers in the northwest...2D: Allied (with) (in league) and 3D: Enjoyed doing (been into). Similarly, 24A: Cut into parts (dissever)...if sever means to cut apart, shouldn't dissever mean to put it back together? I mean...think about it.
Struggled with 23A: Daughter of Muhammad Ali (Laila). I know her name, but I can never remember how to spell it...relying (again) on the crosses.
Favorite clue in the puzzle...35D: Things people are trained in? (railways).
This is the song that won lunch...the video doesn't appear to work.
Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
6 comments:
I made it, but only due to good guesses...never heard of IGNATZ, TOD, or MINIMI. Great puzzle. Not in the puzzle, but any mention of Glen gets my synapses over to "before I watch your sea birds flying in the Sun..."
Linda,
Appears to be a medical term:
Main Entry: abductor dig·i·ti min·i·mi
Pronunciation: -dij-t-()-min--()m
Function: noun
1 : a muscle of the hand that abducts the little finger and flexes the phalanx nearest the hand
2 : a muscle of the foot that abducts the little toe
Norman
Liked todays puzzle a lot better than yesterday's...thanks for the info Norman...how have you been...hope all is well
KarmaSartre...Galveston?
Norman, thanks for the clarification. My mind just wasn't going there.
Bob, I'm with you...today's was much more enjoyable for me as well.
Ehm, it may be me that you're thinking of, Linda. I absolutely love Henry Hook's puzzles. They just seem to fit me somehow.
This one was no exception. As usual there were things I didn't know but managed to get them all from the crosses. MINIMI was one of those things. Thanks for the explanation. Also didn't know IGNATZ, RORY, or how to spell LAILA.
It was lovely to see one of my favorite songs and singers in the center of the puzzle.
I was 99% sure it was you, Anna. I even wrote it in and linked to you...then had second thoughts. A favorite college professor always said to go with your first instinct on a test...it would have worked in this case as well ; )
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