Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Wednesday, May 14 - Doug Peterson

I finished Doug Peterson's Wednesday puzzle a half hour ago...but I just now caught on to the theme.

Although it was revealed at 71A: Football linemen, for short, caught in 17-, 28-, 47- and 63-Across? (RTs). I'm getting to know names of teams, and some well-known players...but this one escapes me. Why are football linemen called RTs?

Whatever...the four theme answers are in-the-language phrases that have the addition of RT somewhere in the answer. The new words are then cleverly clued. I tried to find RTS in the answers...so I didn't catch on to the theme for a while.

The theme answers are:

17A: Singles bar habitué (FREQUENT FLIRTER).

28A: Do some barhopping? (PARTY AS YOU GO).

47A: Dirndls? (ALPINE SKIRTS). This was the first theme answer I got, and it had RTS...so that added to my confusion.

63A: "Wild and crazy guy" on the old "S.N.L."? (MARTIN CHARACTER). I haven't thought of those two in years.

Lots of fresh fill in this one...before I get to that, though, there's one answer that threw me. 66A: Put up with (brook). I have never heard that definition of the word and thought I might have something wrong...but a 41A: Quick peek (glimpse) at water and waves confirmed that it's correct. I wonder if I'm the only one out there who was clueless on that one.

Favorite answers and/or clues:

4A: Polo name (Marco). That sure brings back memories of summers spent at the pool.

16A: Physics Nobelist Wolfgang (Pauli).

25A: H (eta)...much better clue than the usual Estimated Time of Arrival.

34A: Bogart role (Queeg).

39A: Stooped shoulders, e.g. (posture).

44A: Ryan with 5,714 strikeouts (Nolan). I know very little about baseball, but I do know Nolan Ryan...not personally.

55A: Lye, e.g. (alkali).

1D: The "Judy" of Punch and Judy (wife).

3D: This answer intersects it (one across)...probably my favorite clue/answer.

24D: Vicks brand (NyQuil). NyQuil gives me strange dreams...like seeing this guy on the beach. I rest better if I don't take it.

29D: Baseball's Felipe or Moises (Alou). This has appeared enough times...and it's about time I remembered it.

32D: "A Life for the Tsar" composer (Glinka).

40D: Death personified, in ancient Greece (Thanatos).

45D: For the heck of it (on a whim).

50D: Feet in a meter (iambs).

51D: St. __ of Assisi (Clare)...Francis is better known.

52D: Goodyear's home (Akron). I hope reader/fellow blogger Wendy finds this clue more acceptable than the one that appeared the last time.

58D: Eric of "Munich" (Bana)...just because I like him.

The weather has turned rainy and a bit cooler...just two days after packing away my winter clothes. That means I have no choice but to wear capris and open-toed shoes. That's not a problem for me, but I'm sure I'll hear about it from some of my co-workers.

That's it for this one. Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

7 comments:

wendy said...

She does! ;)

Bill from NJ said...

Hi Linda-

1. RT stands for Right Tackle (as opposed to Left Tackle), a football player that plays on the line of scrimmage.

2. BROOK, in the sense of "I will brook no interference on this."

Anonymous said...

This was a nice tough puzzle. I was going to explain RT but Bill got to it first.
My favorite clues HAD TO BE 22a Intimate wear, informally [UNDIES] and 11D Navel designator [OUTIE]
For a minute there I thought we had a 26 letter puzzle but no J or V. But the pair of Qs does make for it.

Anonymous said...

That stooped-shoulder image is wild. I wonder what long-term physiological impact the computer will have.

Anonymous said...

Linda:

FYI - the mascot of UC Santa Cruz is the Banana Slug. It's worth the trip to their website to see it in all its yellow glory.

Linda G said...

Thanks, Bill. I'll try to commit RT to memory...and LT because I'm sure I'll see that some time.

For those of you who didn't look, the Banana Slug was gross. What were they thinking?

Anonymous said...

I went looking for names of linemen, made my husband look, etc. RT-- this puzzle seems like a lot of work for such a piddly theme. It was very simple to work, but the Nolan Ryan item and a couple of other clues were recently seen--so I thought it was TOO simple. I am sure I will get my come-uppance in coming days.
Elaine in Arkansas