Friday, February 7, 2020

QOD:  Winter is not a season, it’s an occupation.  ~  Sinclair Lewis (né Harry Sinclair Lewis; Feb. 7, 1885 ~ Jan. 10, 1951), American author

Thursday, February 6, 2020

QOD:  A graceful taunt is worth a thousand insults.  ~  Louis Nizer (Feb. 6, 1902 ~ Nov. 10, 1994), American attorney

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

QOD:  Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it without a sense of ironic futility.  ~  Errol Morris (né Errol Mark Morris; b. Feb. 5, 1948), American documentary film director

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

QOD:  If you wish to avoid seeing a fool, first break your mirror.  ~  François Rabelais (1483 ~ Apr. 9, 1553), French Renaissance writer

I'm so Dizzy with all this Spinning!



17-Across. Line on a Yankee uniform: PINSTRIPE.

27-Across. Youngest "American Idol" winner: JORDIN SPARKS.  I have never watched American Idol, so am not familiar with any winners.  The perps had to help supply most of the letters.  Apparently Jordin Brianna Sparks (b. Dec. 22, 1989) was just 17 years old when she became the American Idol winner.

44-Across. Several characters on TV's "The Americans": RUSSIAN SPIES.

And the Unifier:

60-Across. Washing machine feature shown graphically in this puzzle's circles: SPIN CYCLE.  The word "spin" cycles its letters around in the theme answers.

Across:

1. Madeline of "History of the World, Part I": KAHN.  Madeline Kahn (née Madeline Gail Wolfson; Sept. 29, 1942 ~ Dec. 3, 1999) played the role of Empress Nympho in the 1981 movie, History of the World, Part I.  Sadly, she died of ovarian cancer at age 57.

5. Respectful address to a woman: MA'AM.

9. Declare void: ANNUL.

14. Sailing or whaling: ASEA.

15. Jackson 5 hairdo: AFRO.

16. Golden-egg layer: GOOSE.

19. Lather, __, repeat: RINSE.

20. Have a share (of): PARTAKE.

21. Arachnophobe's worry: SPIDERS.

23. "__ questions?": ANY.

24. Lean (on): RELY.

26. "Gorillas in the Mist" primate: APE.  Gorillas in the Mist is the name of Dian Fosse's autobiography and scientific study of mountain gorillas in the forests of Rwanda.  Sadly, Fosse was murdered in December 1985 at age 53.

32. Skirt fold: PLEAT.

35. Facts and figures: DATA.

36. Square root of IX: III.  Roman math.  The Square Root of 9 is 3.

37. Open and breezy: AIRY.

38. Like babies' knees: PUDGY.  This was my last fill.  Pudgy never even occurred to me.  Do Babies Have Knee Caps?

40. Laugh really hard: HOWL.

41. Rule, briefly: REG.  Short for Regulation.

42. Pueblo-dwelling people: HOPI.  The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation primarily in Arizona.

43. Numerical relationship: RATIO.

48. List-ending abbr.: ETC.

49. Throw hard: HURL.

50. Morse code word: DAH.  This is another word for Dash

53. Portable charcoal grill: HIBACHI.  The chefs at Habachi grills in some Japanese restaurants can put on quite a show.

57. How some chew gum: NOISILY.

59. Novelist Wharton: EDITH.  Edith Wharton (née Edith Newbold Jones; Jan. 24, 1862 ~ Aug. 11, 1937) is an American novelist.  She was the first woman author to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Literature.  Some of her more well known works include House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome.  She died of a heart attack at age 75.

62. Free-for-all: MELEE.

63. "The African Queen" screenwriter James: AGEE.  James Rufus Agee (Nov. 27, 1909 ~ May 16, 1955) makes frequent guest appearances in the crossword puzzles.  In 1958, he was awarded posthumously a Pulitizer Prize.  Sadly, he died of a heart attack at age 45.

64. Gas in a sign: NEON.

65. Burpee buy: SEEDS.

66. Hospital section: WARD.

67. "¿Cómo __ usted?": ESTA.  Today's Spanish lesson.

Down:

1. Phi Beta __: KAPPA.  Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest academic honor society in the United States.  It was founded in December 1776.  The name comes from its motto, which translarted from the Greek means "Love of learning is the guide of life".  The phrase in Greek is  a 3 word term:  Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης.

2. Lai or Thai: ASIAN.

3. Name of eight English kings: HENRY.  //  And 32-Down: Henry VIII's last wife Catherine: PARR.  He is probably best known for his six wives:  (1) Catherine of Aragon (1485 ~ 1536) ~ no son, wife no more; (2) Anne Boelyn (1501 ~ 1536), vague criminal allegations, so cut off her head; (3) Jane Seymour (1508 ~ 1537), births son, then dies; (4) Anne of Cleves (1515 ~ 1557), not a beauty, so off you go; (5) Catherine Howard (1523 ~ 1542), young and beautiful, but fools around, so off with your head; (6) Catherine Parr (1512 ~ 1548), educated and clever, she outlived her king.

4. Condé __: NAST.  Condé Montrose Nast (Mar. 26, 1873 ~ Sept. 19, 1942) was an American business magnate who founded a mass media company.  Many well known and established magazines, such as The New Yorker, Vogue, and Vanity Fair fall under the Condé Nast umbrella.  Nast the man built up a fortune with his media company, but was nearly destroyed during the Depression.

5. Sharpie, for one: MARKER.

6. Off the beaten path: AFIELD.

7. Dadaist Jean: ARP.  Jean Arp (Sept. 16, 1886 ~ June 7, 1966) makes frequent guest appearances in the crossword puzzles.  He was a French-German sculptor and artist, who sometimes known as Hans Arp.  His mother was French and his father was German.  He was instrumental in the Dada art movement.

Shirt Front and Fork, by Jean Arp

8. "The Simpsons" bar: MOE'S.

9. Marcus __, victorious commander at Actium: AGRIPPA.

10. "I'm drawing a blank": NO IDEA!

11. Zilch: NONE.

12. 44-Across' land: Abbr.: USSR.  As in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

13. Levi's alternatives: LEE'S.  Here's the difference between Levi's versus Lee jeans.  Translation required.

18. Mystic's deck: TAROT.

22. Sickly pale: PASTY.

25. Language that gave us "kvetch": YIDDISH.

27. Gatsby of "The Great Gatsby": JAY.  The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  It has also been made in to several movies versions.

28. Remind nonstop: NAG.  This clue made no sense to me until the perps finally filled in all the letters.

29. Run amok: RIOT.

30. Fuzzy fruit: KIWI.  Yummers!

31. Fodder holder: SILO.

33. In __ of: substituted for: LIEU.

34. Energy units: ERGS.  Did you known that Ergs are also land formations in the desert.

38. Cook just below a boil: POACH.

39. Network absorbed by The CW: UPN.  The CW Network is a joint venture between the CBS Entertainment Group and WarnerBrothers, hence it's name.  UPN (United Paramount Network) apparently was absorbed by The CW at some point in time. 

40. Possesses: HAS.

42. Bums a ride: HITCHES.

43. Piece from the past: RELIC.

45. On chairs: SEATED.

46. Smaller and weaker: PUNIER.

47. Smoothed out the wrinkles: IRONED.

50. Cuts into cubes: DICES.

51. Portion out: ALLOT.

52. "Laughing" scavenger: HYENA.

53. Garment edges: HEMS.

54. Bordeaux notion: IDEE.  Today's French lesson.

55. Gallbladder fluid: BILE.

56. Part of Caesar's boast: I SAW.

58. Holiday song ender: SYNE.  Just a month or so off for this song.

61. Ryder Cup co-administrating org.: PGA.

Here's the Grid:

Sunday, February 3, 2020

QOD:  One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea.  ~  Walter Bagehot (Feb. 2, 1826 ~ Mar. 24, 1877), British journalist and essayist

Sunday, February 2, 2020 / Ground Hog Day

QOD:  When all else fails, men turn to reason.  ~  Abba Eban (né Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban; Feb. 2, 1915 ~ Nov. 17, 2002), Israeli diplomat