Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thursday, November 13th 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Frederick J. Healy
Theme: None



Sunny Spots:
Pitcher LaLoosh's nickname in "Bull Durham" (NUKE) What else would they call you if your last name is LaLoosh and you can bring the heat? "Bull Durham" is one of the greatest movies ever ,and it has even helped me with my crossword solving. Whenever I get stuck or I'm unsure about a crossing, I just take a couple deep breaths -- through my eyelids, of course.




11D: It's almost never found in cheesecake (DOUBLE CHIN) Not the stuff with Graham cracker crusts, but old-time pinups. I am a connoisseur of the art form. Here's one from the Master Gil Elvgren


Judging from these last two pictures, it looks like I'm making my own theme for this puzzle and the theme is garters.

Sundries:
17A: Brazilian beach in the title of a 1964 hit song (IPANEMA) If you can't remember this song, don't worry about it; it's better that way. This is one of those songs that once you get it in your head you can't get it out.

40A: Flauta wrapper (TORTILLA) The difference between Tuesday and Thursday: On Tuesday, this clue reads "Burrito wrapper." A flauta by the way is like a taquito only made with a flour tortilla instead of corn, and is named for its resemblance to a flute.


49A: Singer with the album "Whiplash Smile" (IDOL) Speaking of Billy Idol, he was known for his SNEER (43A: Villain's look) If only he was famous for wearing garters, then we would have had our theme for sure.

50A: 1970 Paul Newman movie (WUSA) This is what I wrote on my Green Genius blog after Paul Newman's passing: They just don't come any cooler than Paul Newman -- a hella handsome guy who refused to play pretty boy roles, preferring to challenge himself with roles of oddballs, loners, losers and criminals. A guy who started selling his homemade salad dressing as a joke and ended up with a food corporation that gave 250 million dollars to charity. A guy who stayed married to the same woman for 50 years (the lovely Joanne Woodward) and who was such a staunch liberal that he made President Nixon's fabled Enemies List. (Newman always said this was his proudest achievement. ) When I asked him to sign a bookplate for the book he wrote with A.E. Hotchner about Newman's Own Foods "Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good" he graciously acceded.
WUSA, by the way, is one of his more obscure films, but way underrated in my opinion. Definitely worth seeking out.


47D: Girl in "Our Gang" (DARLA) Darla Hood is by far the most famous of the female Little Rascals (Rascalettes?) but by no means the only -- there was also Mary Kornman, Jean Darling, Dorothy DeBorba and Janet Burston. The reason you don't know them is because most of them were from the less-seen Little Rascals silent shorts.

16A: Footstool (OTTOMAN) Does anybody know how the former empire (which at one time spanned three continents) came to lend its once-feared name to a footstool?

Suns of Bitches:
Old dominion: Abbr. (HRE) This one threw me for a minute cuz I grew up in the state of Virginia AKA The Old Dominion, but the fact that the d in dominion was not capitalized let me know the answer was not VIR but the Holy Roman Empire.

52A: Boomer born in 1961 (ESIASON) I'm not a football fan so this one gave me some trouble. With those vowels and S's it's surprising his name doesn't come up more often in crossword puzzles.


8D: Hydras, e.g. (POLYPS) Polyps? I may have heard this before but when I hear the word "hydra" I think of the giant nine-headed snake that Hercules had to kill for his second labor -- not an easy thing to do since every time you cut off one of its heads two more would take its place. Well, either that or the terrorist organization in Marvel Comics.


Thanks for listening.

Norrin2

1 comment:

Pete M said...

Billy Idol => "White Wedding" => garters. Not much of a stretch. :)

I really liked this puzzle a lot. It took me much longer than usual (~20 min), and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Would have loved to see SLEEPER clued to reference the Orgasmatron.

FAWNER and DILATER... not so much.