wednesday, october 24, 2007
patrick blindauer / will shortz
difficulty factor: no e.m.t. needed, but a few scrapes...
theme: latin phrases... freakin' LATIN PHRASES!
- 4D. ECCE SIGNUM
- 18A. TERRA FIRMA
- 20A. HABEAS CORPUS
- 40A. AB OVO
- 31D. SINE QUA NON
- 62A. SEMPER IDEM
- 59A. AIEA IACTA EST
who knew mr. pasquale was gonna be right about needing latin again in life well past the tenth grade? why did i not heed his oft-repeated, impassioned warnings? why?!
well, to be honest, i only recognized the expressions TERRA FIRMA and HABEAS CORPUS as wholely memorable entities. i recognize SIGNUM and SEMPER from other expressions... and the rest was... well, it was all so... so... latin t' me! second day in a row that the crosses really saved the day!
having been around since near the advent of such things as skivvies, 37D BVD's were once almost synonomous with men's underwear. but, once and for all bvd does not stand for anything other than the initials of the three founders of the company - bradly, vorhees, and day. and while the bvd company, founded in 1876, was acquired by fruit of the loom in 1976, it still survives as a subsidiary.
we have a pool of "visitors" today quite diverse in realities, interests, and ages.
legendary hockey player bobby 11D ORR (born robert gordon orr); the late great funny, funny man 36D LOU costello (louis francis cristillo) best known as the backward, bungling half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello; and even fictional character 6D ALEC ramsey (portrayed by kelly reno [pictured here] in the 1979 film version of 'the black stallion')
violin virtuoso 2D ISAAC stern was born in kreminiecz, russia and immigrated with his parents to america when he was ten months old. dame nellie 3D MELBA (born helen porter mitchell) the first - and foremost - australian opera soprano to achieve international recognition; basketball player 49A SHAQ (born shaquille rashaun o'neal); and best-selling american feminist writer erica 32A JONG (born erica mann) most famous for a zipless WHAT?!
and roundin' out the crew, mrs. berra's baby boy, yankee great yogi 8D BERRA (born lawrence peter berra)
in the "your mileage may vary" category:
best clue of the day: 66A "they're rather pointless"... misleading... brilliant!
best answer of the day: 54D HIDER... it brought out the kid in me
worst clue of the day: 35A "bottom of a lily"... why? why?!
worst answer of the day: 55A RUST... haven't we exhausted this subject? i think of shades of green, gold, crimson, and orange... but it was much better than "ocher"!
keep on keepin' on...
dann
all elements of the puzzle (grid layout, clues, and answers), NYT, NY Times, and The New York Times logo are ©2007 The New York Times
3 comments:
been out of touch for a while. glad to read your commentary again, dann.
so, i guess miss nellie mitchell married into the melba clan... resulting in the unfortunate sounding nellie melba? oh my.
corn,
we're all lucky she did, or we'd have no peach melba... or melba toast! bothe were inspired by/created for her!
dann
ps. did ya ever get YOUR lightning pic?
yes. thanks.
the lightning pic is hilarious. i sent it to a couple of friends. they wanta know why you made my neck so freakin' long.
i asked 'em if THEY'D ever held lightning in a jar?
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