Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Wednesday, May 7 - Richard Silvestri

Richard Silvestri delivers a fun Wednesday puzzle...right on the heels of his Sunday puzzle, Poplar Music.

I enjoyed this theme far more than Sunday's...four in-the-language phrases, clued in relation to baseball teams.

17A: Musial's 6 and Gibson's 45? (Cardinal numbers).

27A: Pregame practice in Cincinnati? (Red pepper).

48A: AT&T Park standout? (Giant star).

62A: Prospects for a New York pennant? (Met expectations).

We had dinner tonight with a friend, so I was late getting to the puzzle and blog. My goal is to be finished by 10:00...which means I have ten minutes.

I was impressed with much of the fill. My favorites, either because of the clue or the answer:

5A: Big jerk (spasm).

10A: Author O'Flaherty (Liam). I think I remember this from just a couple of days ago...or am I making that up?

15A: White house (igloo). This one is made out of milk jugs.

21A: Grabs some shut-eye (snoozes).

42A: Ledger entry (debit)...twice in one week. Don couldn't believe it.

43A: Coffeehouse order (latte). My regular is a soy latte, occasionally with one shot of regular and one of decaf...you know, so I don't get overly wired.

53A: Adak native (Aleut).

54A: With "El," British victory site of 1942 (Alamein).

58A: Wild (feral). The friend we had dinner with is very active in the feral cat project here in town. They trap the cats and have them neutered...then they're returned to the same place they were found. Five or six of them continue to live in her back yard. Even after neutering, they're still a bit jumpy when she comes outside with food.

68A: Part of N.B. (nota). Nota bene...Latin for note well.

4D: Snatch (kidnap).

5D: Sloth, for one (sin)...I'll bet that faked out a few who were thinking of the animal.

10D: Inspiration for "Rent" (La Bohème).

11D: Don Juan's mother (Inez).

24D: Closing passage (epilog).

25D: City in central Missouri (Sedalia).

34D: Man of Principle? (Peter). Some of these just made me giggle. I must be tired.

40D: Adjective for a 1-Down (TexMex), referring to taco [Snack in a shell]. How can you not love a word that has more than one X in it? Also liked its cross at 47A: Earl in the court of Elizabeth I (Essex).

I managed to get 2D: One of TV's "Two and a Half Men" (Alan), but I have no idea who it refers to. It's too late for me to Google it, so I hope someone out there knows.

That's it for tonight. Not bad...it's only 10:15.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alan is one of the two brothers on the sitcom. The actor is Jon Cryer.

Anonymous said...

Linda, re TexMex: I agree it's a lovable word, but as an adjective for taco? "I think I'll have a TexMex taco for lunch." Never heard it. Heard it referring to the style of the food category....

Watching darts on TV seems like fun, with lots of slo-mo and perhaps lots of some mind-altering substance. Better than golf on radio I guess.