Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: Shows whose titles include MEN, WOMEN, GIRLS, and BOYS.
- 17a: 1981 musical with the song "One Night Only" (DREAMGIRLS).
- 61a: 2006 Best Musical (JERSEY BOYS).
- 10d: 1989 Aaron Sorkin play (A FEW GOOD MEN). I didn't realize this was a play; the movie was great.
- 25d: 2005 musical starring Sutton Foster (LITTLE WOMEN).
Quick write-up today. I'm totally fried and don't have much to say, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.
This is a pretty normal, nothing fancy Monday theme. Not the sort of thing you expect from Patrick Blindauer. Until you realize that the puzzle is a pangram (uses all the letters of the alphabet) and is chock-full of scrabbly, later week letters, which is not at all what you expect on a Monday. Let's have a look.
Sunny Spots:
- 26a: Captain in "The Caine Mutiny" (QUEEG). Famously played by Humphret Bogart.
- 44a: Coauthor with Friedrich Engels of "The Communist Manifesto" (KARL MARX). Nice to see his full name.
- 2d: He told the Once-ler, "Sir! You are crazy with greed. There is no one on earth who would buy that fool Thneed!" (LORAX). Dr. Seuss, of course.
- 53d: Hungarian composer Franz (LISZT). Not my favorite piano composer (I prefer Chopin), but a great name for crosswords.
- 22a: Grow unchecked (RUN WILD).
- 34a: State of panic (HYSTERIA).
I also like the following as a pair:
Sundries:
- 5a: "My Fair Lady" composer (LOEWE).
- 10a: Sitcom in which Sherman Hemsley played a deacon (AMEN).
- 15a: New York city on the Allegheny River (OLEAN). Also a fat substitute.
- 20a: Not stringent (LAX).
- 24a: Banish (EXILE).
- 27a: Son of Daedalus (ICARUS). These were the father and son that flew too close to the sun, so the wax on their wings melted. Or something like that.
- 37a: Skeleton's spot? (CLOSET). Great clue.
- 41a: "Saving Private Ryan" event (D-DAY).
- 42a: Annie ___ (free ticket) (OAKLEY). Why does this mean free ticket? What's the story here?
- 47a: "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" sloganeer (PERDUE).
- 48a: Cooled one's heels? (WADED).
- 57a: NYC commuting option since 1904 (IRT). This shows up a lot, so if you're not from NYC, just remember it.
- 60a: Entrance requirement, perhaps (EXAM).
- 65a: Rival of Sonicare (ORAL B).
- 68a: Capital of France's Gard department (NIMES).
- 69a: Gusto (ZEST).
- 6d: Lena of "Chocolat" (OLIN). She shows up a lot.
- 8d: Marine mammal with tusks (WALRUS).
- 11d: Seamstress in "La Bohème" (MIMI).
- 12d: "The ___ Dead" (1983 horror film) (EVIL).
- 18d: Rodents, jocularly (MEECE). I'm not always crazy about words that aren't words finding their way into puzzles, but somehow this one doesn't bother me too much.
- 26d: Made like a duck (QUACKED).
- 33d: Mythological river of the underworld (STYX).
- 45d: Full of vigor (LUSTY).
- 47d: Czar whose reign ended in MDCCXXV (PETER I).
- 49d: Mustard type (DIJON).
- 52d: Jeter's crosstown rival (Jose REYES).
- 55d: Industrial show (EXPO).
- 63d: URL ender since 2001 (BIZ).
Suns of Bitches:
A few answers that I needed the crossings to get.
- 66a: WWII correspondent ___ Robb (INEZ).
- 3d: Soccer star Lalas (ALEXI).
- 56d: ___ doble (ballroom dance) (PASO).
Overall, a nice Monday puzzle.
Thanks for listening.
- Pete M.
5 comments:
as i always understood it -- annie oakley was a sharpshooter; comp tickets historically were hole-punched (before the mod'ren age and scanning). the appearance of the hole-punch was likened to having been shot-thru by an annie oakley-type sharpshooter. then, there's also the shape of that "o" of "oakley" and the round hole in the ticket -- and the the "0" amount paid by the ticket holder...
loved the use of men/women/boys/girls to convey the theme -- and the way the fill in general also supported the theme.
nice monday puzz!!
;-)
janie
annie oakley:
tmi...
;-)
j.
oof, what a sock in the gut. this puzzle stymied me at every turn. AMEN? never heard of it. PASO doble? nope. NIMES? yikes, i only vaguely recognize that as the name of a french city, and i needed every cross. INEZ robb? who? OLEAN? that one seems like i really should have seen it before, but i haven't. all in all, it was rough. is it really monday? i feel like i've had a solid wednesday workout.
on the other hand, it was a great puzzle, with a super-tight theme and outstanding fill. MOCHA? yes please! rampant scrabbliness? you bet.
as for PETERI ... do we need an acronym for "czar of the year"? :)
@jls: Just enough info. 25 bonus points for clearing that up.
@joon: I agree it was kind of tough for a Monday.
dee-lightful. until i actually went looking for info on the internet, had forgotten about the tv show. one look at those braids, though, reminded me that as a kid, i'd *loved* this show and wanted to look just like gail davis -- who was cuter and "funner" than dale evans. and i never let the fact that i had dark, curly (and usually *short*) hair deter me either!
thx for the bonus points, pete. willl be careful not to spend 'em all at one time!
;-)
janie
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