I knew exactly four answers after my first run through Natan Last's Friday puzzle...38A: Four-legged film star of the '30s (Asta), 44A: Bouncing off the walls (hyper), 10D: Follower of Sha Na Na at Woodstock (Jimi Hendrix) and 35D: She had a 1993 hit with "No Ordinary Love" (Sade).After that I guessed a few and Googled a few more. Google got me 21A: "The Big Lebowski" director (Coen), 54A: "The Fog of War" director Morris (Errol) and 5D: Peter who wrote "The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde" (Ackroyd). That led to more good guesses, some of which panned out.
Among my favorites (always!) are the multiword answers at 14A: Soapmaking compound (oleic acid), 16A: Living end (bee's knees)...is it one
bee or multiple bees?, 24A: Occupies (stays at), 27A: Not view innocently (leer at), 37A: "Without __" (Grateful Dead album) (a Net), 55A: Old comedian known for his unique piano-playing style (Chico Marx), 58A: "Oh well" (c'est la vie)...a very good guess with only one letter in place, 60A: "My parents are gonna kill me!" (I am so dead), 21D: Question while eying someone else's plate (can I try some)...Elaine would very quietly say, "I wonder what that tastes like"...it was too cute, 25D: Be a whipping boy (take the rap), 26D: "__ Forget" (Harbach/Kern tune) (Try to), and 39D: Eschew aid (fly solo).I'm curious to know (but at 11:30, it's too late to spend the time to find out) if we have debuts with 1A: Elaborate procedure (rigmarole) and/or 11D: Clears (exonerates). I'll have to hope that JimH covered that in his blog.
My favorite clue was also my very best guess...49A: Keys (isles).For some reason, I was exhausted after solving the puzzle and took a two-hour nap on the couch. I was startled awake by Dooley's furious barking. In the wake of seventeen arson fires in the last couple of months (five of them at a co-worker's home, one at the home of a former member of our board, and one at the new apartment complex we're building for the chronically homeless), you can bet we checked things out. All seems well now, and Dooley is resting comfortably.
It'll be midnight before I get into bed, so I'd better wrap this one up. Here's the grid...
...and I'll see you tomorrow.
Linda G
3 comments:
And again we have the same pic. One of us should sue the other :)
Exonerate has appeared three times before (never plural) but rigmarole makes its debut today.
I had a real problem in the Nevada/New Mexico section of this puzzle. All I had was ERROL at 54A and a mistake (CANITASTEIT) at 21D which prevented me from finishing
After 45 frustrating minutes, I finally called the puzzle complete and came here for some help.
Linda, you are always my first stop to check my solution. This is the first one I have failed to finish in about 2 months.
C'est la vie.
PS Welcome back!
No lawsuit from this end, Jim. I always find it amusing when we do that ; )
Aww, Bill...you're so sweet. And, yes, it was a tough one.
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