June 7, 2011
Don Gagliardo & C.C. Burnikel
Theme: Split Peas — The letter string PEA is "split" between two words of a multi-word familiar phrase.
Theme answers:
- 17A: Ali ring trademark (ROPE-A-DOPE).
- 23A: Epcot's "giant golf ball" (SPACESHIP EARTH).
- 37A: Painter of outdoors scenes (LANDSCAPE ARTIST).
- 50A: Rolling over, so to speak (GIVING UP EASILY).
- 62A: Soup ingredients, and a hint to the hidden theme in 17-, 23-, 37- and 50-Across (SPLIT PEAS).
Good morning, everyone, and happy Tuesday. Today we've got another well-made Don and C.C. collaboration. There's not much to the theme — it's more interesting when the split word is a little longer than three letters, but SPLIT PEAS is a phrase just begging for a crossword theme, so there ya go. And it is Tuesday, so we can't really expect anything earth-shattering.All the theme answers are pretty good. If we're going to rank them by awesomeness, ROPE-A-DOPE seems like an obvious front-runner. Other than, I noticed a baseball mini-theme:
- 32A: Miracle Mets' stadium (SHEA). Ah, the good old days when baseball stadiums weren't named after corporations.
- 36A: Stat for Cliff Lee (ERA). I actually threw RBI in there at first (Me: "stat, baseball, three letters…"), but remembered a split second later that Cliff Lee is a pitcher. Now that I think about it though, he plays in the league where pitchers also hit, right? So RBI would have been a legitimate answer, too!
- 68A: Home run jog (TROT). I swear to you when I filled this in, I thought "Well sure, unless you're somebody like Charlie Hustle." And then … bam!
- 25D: Red Rose (PETE). Speaking of the devil!
- 26D: "A League of __ Own" (THEIR).
- 9D: Member of Congress, say (LAWMAKER).
- 54D: Some storytellers (LIARS).
- 55D: Like some limited-choice questions (YES/NO).
Bullets:
- 14A: Restrictive membership word (ONLY). Remember those Members Only jackets that were so cool back in the 80s? Do they still make those? Oh man they do.
- 21A: Conestoga-made grooves (RUTS). Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, I know what a conestoga is now.
- 22A: Church-owned Dallas sch. (SMU). The abbreviation in the clue hints that the answer will also be an abbreviation.
- 64A: Des Moines resident (IOWAN). Me: My niece?
- 7D: "For those who think young" soft drink (PEPSI). Is this a relatively new slogan? I'm pretty sure I've never heard it before.
- 34D: Listless feeling (ENNUI). Great word.
- 49D: Damon of "Invictus" (MATT). For those of you who watch "Friday Night Lights": Don't you think Landry looks like Matt Damon? (Also, I always expect Buddy Garrity to fly off into a Robin Williams riff.)
Crosswordese 101 Round-up:
- 1A: Ivan the Terrible, e.g. (TSAR).
- 35A: Eyelid annoyance (STYE).
- 65A: Slithery fish (EELS).
- 33D: Game start? (HARD G).
Everything Else — 5A: Deadly snakes (ASPS); 9A: Simple hoops shot (LAY-UP); 15A: Digital water testers? (TOES); 16A: Make laugh (AMUSE); 19A: Alumnae, e.g. (WOMEN); 20A: La la lead-in (OOH); 28A: Victoria in Africa (LAKE); 29A: Comics scream (EEK); 30A: Easter basket delivery gait? (HOP); 42A: Coffee hour vessel (URN); 43A: It was often worn over a tunic (TOGA); 44A: Rocks to refine (ORES); 45A: Academic address letters (EDU); 46A: Carnival resort (RIO); 47A: Battling group (ARMY); 56A: Fingers for the D.A. (ID'S); 57A: Opposite of pre- (POST-); 58A: Subside, with "down" (DIE); 59A: Subside (ABATE); 66A: "Heck!" ("DARN!"); 67A: Lived (DWELT); 69A: To boot (ALSO); 1D: Bulls in Argentina (TOROS); 2D: Poke around (SNOOP); 3D: Pack leader (ALPHA); 4D: Corned beef bread (RYE); 5D: Just after sunset (AT DUSK); 6D: Relieve (SOOTHE); 8D: Duluth-to-Dubuque dir. (SSE); 10D: Love in Lille (AMOUR); 11D: "Tasty" ("YUM"); 12D: Exploit (USE); 13D: Con's home (PEN); 18D: Vicinity (AREA); 22D: "Gotta run!" ("SEE YA!"); 24D: Dressed (CLAD); 27D: Silver in old Westerns (HORSE); 31D: Loving strokes (PATS); 32D: Swing around (SLUE); 35D: Hot tub (SPA); 38D: Grating (STRIDENT); 39D: Nickel and dime (COINS); 40D: Wide-eyed (AGOG); 41D: Kids' stuff (TOYS); 47D: 17-mission NASA program (APOLLO); 48D: Fight back (RESIST); 51D: Indispensable (VITAL); 52D: Berth place (UPPER); 53D: Perfect (IDEAL); 59D: Help (AID); 60D: Gift decoration (BOW); 61D: Blow away (AWE); 62D: Tennis unit (SET); 63D: iPhone, e.g. (PDA).
17 comments:
Actually, I think Pepsi stopped using that "think young" slogan. You may recall seeing Brittney Spears in those commercials?
Had to slug it out to finish. Proud of myself that Red Rose did not fool me for 1 min. Not too proud that I had to look-up Miracle Mets Stadium.Enjoyed theme; with pe,p,pe,p along with split peas just right for Tu.
I loved "digital water testers" 15A. The rest of the puzzle was enjoyanle too.
Congratulations, C.C. (and Don).
I like pulling sub-themes out of puzzles. Like Greek: ALPHA, TOGA, and APOLLO (an IDEAL of male beauty).
Try it. It's fun. Happy Tuesday, everyone.
TOGA is Latin (or quite possibly Etruscan), not Greek. The closest Greek garment to the TOGA was the himation, a loose wraparound cloak usually worn by women over a chiton (tunic) or peplos (dress, of sorts).
"For those who think young was a Pepsi slogan way back in the 60's
@PG-Damon/Landry juxtaposition--absolutely. Never thought about it before. Trying to imagine Jesse Plemons with a Southie accent.
Brad Leland doing a Robin Williams riff? No. But Bob Newhart on the phone, you bet! "Hello?" says a sleepy Kyle Chandler in the wee hours... (aside to Connie Britton "Who do you THINK it is!" a raised eyebrow from her in response .... "Buddy!")
Needed the revealer to get the theme. Liked the mini themes, @PG.
And agree with the rankings. Can't think of ROPE A DOPE and not think of Cosell. And can't think of split pea soup without thinking of William Peter Blatty and Linda Blair. Breakfast test--fail!
Nice solid and fun Tue.
A user friendly puzzle here. Not much serious crosswordese here, but then, it is a Tuesday. The only slowdown for me was "Game start". I have a love/hate relationship with this type of clue.
Speaking of hate, I'm getting tired of the random compass direction clues. Unfortunately, it looks they're here to stay... like RRNs. (Only, I don't mind RRNs in general.)
@Rube
HARD G is actually pretty funny, as the constructor, Dan Gagliardo, is known as 'Hard G' on some CW blogs...
Great self-shout-out!
I had fun with this puzzle, which is all I ever ask of a puzzle and happy when I get it. I liked the baseball mini theme, good stuff.
I entered a couple of wrong answers that slowed me down, had Awed for AGOG first time through, until AWE at 61D forced it out. Also entered aPiER for "berth place" on the strength of the P, but was thinking "what an ugly partial."
To continue, after an accidently premature POST, I liked this as a Tuesday puzzle.
STRIDENT is a good long entry.
Can we add HOP to the baseball theme?
Good puzzle in that I got all that I didn't know by crosses, even the too-much (7) sports.
Gagliardo has, also, a silent G, since gl is pronounced ly in Italian.
@PG you could submit those two to
totallylookslike.icanhascheezburger.com
@Tuttle - great info.
For those who think young PEPSI .
Nice puzzle by Don and CC.
@PG and JaxInLA: I also like to look for subthemes, adds something to the puzzle, especially when it's easy.
I wanted ORU for SMU.
Many years ago, at lunch in Holland with a Belgian, four Americans and myself, someone asked: Does anyone know the name of Oral Roberts' wife? Another person piped up: Anal. Even though I had a splitting headache, I couldn't stop laughing!
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