Rabu, 24 November 2010

W E D N E S D A Y   November 24, 2010 Gareth Bain

Theme: Book 'em, Danno — Theme answers end with words that can be synonyms for "jail."

Theme answers:
  • 17A: Song involving body parts (HOKEY POKEY).
  • 25A: Driveshaft component (UNIVERSAL JOINT).
  • 41A: Gulped-down Mexican cocktail (TEQUILA SLAMMER).
  • 55A: Marker (FELT-TIP PEN).
  • 48D: Synonym for the ends of 17-, 25-, 41- and 55-Across (JAIL).
I wish there were more themes that could be built around HOKEY POKEY. That's one fabulous grid entry.

Bullets:
  • 6A: Blue (GLUM). I was thinking more along the lines of R-rated than sad.
  • 22A: Particular (FUSSY). Wednesday is when the cluing starts to get a little tricky. One-word clues can be so misleading!
  • 31A: McQueen or Martin (STEVE). I've been following Steve Martin on Twitter lately. He's pretty funny (obviously). And I really was just thinking about this SNL skit this morning:
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  • 35A: __ light: moviemaker's tool (KLIEG). I don't know why I have such a hard time remembering that it's I-before-E. For some reason I always think this word is an exception.
  • 37A: Hardy's "obscure" stonemason (JUDE). Whoa. No idea. Probably from a book I should have read.
  • 3D: Golfer's need, at times (RAKE). And sometimes the golfer himself is a RAKE! Thank you very much, I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress.
  • 24D: Standard (FLAG). I'm not sure how this works. I think I had it figured out yesterday while I was solving, but now I can't remember.
  • 26D: Avoiding off-topic posting, say (NETIQUETTE). What a concept.
  • 53D: Breakfast tip components, usually (ONES). I thought I was looking for some type of food here. Wednesday is when I start overthinking the clues.
Crosswordese 101: 47D: "Show Boat" author EDNA Ferber shows up quite a bit in puzzles. She's almost always clued as a novelist, author, or writer. Other than "Show Boat," the title you're most likely likely to see in a clue is "Giant." Here are the other EDNAs you need to know for crosswords.
  • Dame EDNA Everage, a Barry Humphries character. Words to look out for: flamboyant, cross-dressing, and down under.
  • Actress EDNA Best. Look for the words movies, author, and theater.
  • Poet EDNA St. Vincent Millay.
  • EDNA Turnblad. She's the mom in "Hairspray." In the recent remake of the movie, she was played by John Travolta.
  • EDNA Krabappel is a teacher on "The Simpsons."
  • Mystery author EDNA Buchanan.
  • EDNA Garrett. That's Mrs. Garrett on "The Facts of Life" (who knew she had a first name??).
Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:
  • 16A: Actress Perlman (RHEA).
  • 40A: "Gymnopédies" composer (SATIE).
  • 46A: Spoonbill's kin (IBIS).
  • 60A: Sheltered, on a ship (ALEE).
  • 4D: Poetic preposition (ERE).
  • 50D: "The Good Earth" heroine (O-LAN).
[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter.] Everything Else — 1A: Lots of plots (ACRES); 10A: Memo abbr. (ATTN.); 14A: Lewis's partner (CLARK); 15A: "Mona __ Smile": 2003 film (LISA); 19A: One of two on some wedding cakes (TIER); 20A: View (EYE); 21A: English Channel port (DOVER); 23A: Staff addition (HIRE); 24A: Business (FIRM); 32A: "The Bridge on the River __": 1957 Best Picture (KWAI); 33A: "Rather not!" ("NAH!"); 34A: Quote (CITE); 38A: Husband of Fatima (ALI); 39A: Mottled (PIED); 45A: "For __ us a child is born" (UNTO); 47A: Leave the cockpit suddenly (EJECT); 49A: Fawlty Towers, for one (HOTEL); 51A: Tabloid craft, briefly (UFO); 54A: Sports page info, e.g. (DATA); 57A: Quibbles (NITS); 58A: Like some hygiene (ORAL); 59A: Lasso feature (NOOSE); 61A: Hereditary unit (GENE); 62A: Ladies' men (GENTS); 1D: Dull pain (ACHE); 2D: Be overly sweet (CLOY); 5D: Execute a high jump? (SKYDIVE); 6D: "Lethal Weapon" co-star (GLOVER); 7D: Valley girl word (LIKE); 8D: Microsoft customer (USER); 9D: Kentucky Derby time (MAY); 10D: Maestro Toscanini (ARTURO); 11D: "Now!" ("THIS MINUTE!"); 12D: Pro shop bagful (TEES); 13D: __ a soul (NARY); 18D: Small opening (PORE); 22D: Island country since 1970 (FIJI); 23D: Swarm's home (HIVE); 25D: Functional (UTILE); 27D: Path to ruin, with "the" (SKIDS); 28D: Dazzle (AWE); 29D: Low point (NADIR); 30D: You, in a classic E.B. Browning poem (THEE); 31D: Sing like Satchmo (SCAT); 35D: Metric weight, for short (KILO); 36D: Grazing field (LEA); 37D: Jazz sessions (JAMS); 39D: Aniston's ex (PITT); 40D: Like the Cheshire Cat (SMILING); 42D: Remove from its box (UNCASE); 43D: Chicken __ (LITTLE); 44D: Help to perpetrate (ABET); 49D: __ and now (HERE); 51D: Shortly following (UPON); 52D: Suffix with slug (-FEST); 55D: Brit's pea-souper (FOG); 56D: "Lenore" poet (POE).

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