David debuted here in 2016 and has more than 20 LAT publications. His first 10 were all Fridays and all written up by yours truly. Since then I have cut back and missed many Friday DABs though I did blog one about the time of his third anniversary last December. This time he uses animal species and repurposes them by using some common phrases that made them sound classier. The "-ine" suffix works for more than animals but boy there are many animals. A sampling: accipitrine – hawk, eagle; aedine or anopheline – mosquito; alcelaphine or antilopine – antelopes; anatine – ducks, geese, swans; anguine or elapine – snake; anserine – geese; aquiline – eagle; assinine – donkey; avine – birds; bovine – cattle; cancrine – crab; canine – dog; cervine – deer; cetacine – whales; columbine – doves, pigeons; corvine – crow; delphinine or delphine – dolphins; equine – horse; elaphine – deer; elaphantine – elephant; ermine – weasel; feline – cat; hippotigrine – zebras; hircine – goat; hominine – human; lacertine – lizards; leonine – lion; leporine – rabbit, hare; leopardine – leopards; lupine – wolf; lutrine – otters; lyncine – lynxes; macropine – kangaroos; meline – badgers; murine – rodent; noctilionine or pteropine – bats; ovine – sheep; pavonine – peacock; phocine – seals; piscine – fish; porcine – pig; rusine – deer; sciurine – squirrel; serpentine – snake; ursine – bear; vulpine – fox.
The theme:
17A. Horse sense?: EQUINE AWARENESS (15). Literal.
23A. Cattle call?: BOVINE SUMMONS (13). Literal.
39A. Cat's paw?: FELINE EXTREMITY (15). Literal.
49A. Fox hole?: VULPINE CAVITY (13). Literal.
61A. Hog wash?: PORCINE ABLUTION (15). Literal.
He presented them with three grid-spanners and two 13s. Also, he snuck in MELANIN, REUTERS, BLUEBELLS, and DIRTY MIND as fun fill. Both in blue are new to the LAT. So on to the grid.
Across:
1. Abate: EBB. And flow.
4. Brit. detective's rank: INSPector. They are often the foils for the unofficial detectives such as LESTRADE from Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and JAPP from Christie's Poirot. A perhaps little known fact, DAVID SUCHET the iconic Poirot got his acting introduction to Agatha Christie playing Japp opposite the dreadful Peter Ustinov portrayal of Poirot.
8. Gastropod associated with traditional mail: SNAIL. Rhyme time.
13. It may result in an RBI: DBL. Double.
14. Staircase post: NEWEL. My first mother-in-law (may she rest in peace) was born with Newell as her maiden name.
16. Lead-in for jet or Tax: TURBO.
20. Tiny fraction of a min.: N-SEC.
21. Gas pump choice: DIESEL. Counterintuitive? Is diesel gas? Doesn't come out of a different pump?
22. Witness: SEE. With cell phones, we see so much.
26. Act part: SCENE. This is from the mid 16th century (denoting a subdivision of a play, or (a piece of) stage scenery): from Latin scena, from Greek skēnē ‘tent, stage’.
28. Piper's son of rhyme: TOM.
TOM, TOM, THE PIPER’S SON
Tom, Tom, the piper’s son,
Stole a pig, and away he run,
The pig was eat,
And Tom was beat,
And Tom ran crying down the street.
29. Afflicted: ILL.
30. Force oneself (on): IMPOSE. Very controversial words.
35. Gds.: MDSE. Goods equal merchandise, with these days is merch.
42. Lob: TOSS. I assume it started in tennis, which was interesting because I had a Professor of English, a former Davis Cup player from New Zealand, named JOHN LOBB. I often babysat for his daughter Hannah. When we played tennis, I seldom returned a serve.
43. Least strict: LAXEST. Nothing to do with the airport.
44. Bread grain: RYE. But it can make ergot, he said wryly.
45. Actress Thurman: UMA. She appears considerably more often in puzzles than in movies.
47. "¿Cómo está __?": USTED. Good morning Lucy.
56. Lincoln, familiarly: ABE. No politics.
57. Inventor Tesla: NIKOLA. Didn't I just discuss the rivalry with Edison?
58. Austen's aspiring matchmaker: EMMA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsOwj0PR5Sk
64. Online financial services pioneer: E-LOAN.
65. "Nature's soft nurse," to Shakespeare: SLEEP. Henry IV
"O gentle sleep,
Nature’s soft nurse,
how have I frighted thee..."
66. "You're __ me": NOT. Good thing for both of us.
67. Wasp's assault: STING. No comment; too political.
68. Collections: SETS. Also Tennis divisions.
69. MASH staff: DRS. Doctors, such vital people in these difficult times.
Down:
1. Paradise: EDEN. I recently met a lovely young lady named Eden, I wondered if she had eaten an apple.
2. Backyard parties, briefly: BBQs. With no open restaurants, they are very popular here. They often need charcoal 53D. Briquettes: COALS.
3. Flowers named for their color: BLUEBELLS. Also PROTECTED in Britain.
4. Place to stay: INN. But not OUTT.
5. "Then live, Macduff; what __ fear of thee?": Macbeth: NEED I.
A double dose of Will S. JW must be proud.
6. Suffix with boat or cox: SWAIN.
7. Small bird with a small-sounding name: PEWEE. He has a very self-confident look. Cutie.
8. Sailor's guardian: ST ELMO. Fire sale?
9. Cloistered female: NUN.
10. Riposte to "Am not!": ARE SO.
11. "A Doll's House" dramatist: IBSEN. All you need to KNOW.
12. Doesn't prevail: LOSES.
15. Highlands miss: LASS. With all due respect to Owen and Moe
An indolent cleric frae May
His roses allowed to decay.
His wife, more alert,
Bought a powerful squirt
And said to her spouse : "Let us spray".
18. Wikipedia's globe, say: ICON.
19. News service since 1851: REUTERS.
24. Blood carrier: VEIN.
25. Campbell jingle letters: MMMM. Good!
26. Go (through) carefully: SIFT.
27. Egyptian queen, familiarly: CLEOpatra. I seriously doubt she was ever called that, though it sounds like a good name for a psychic.
31. Skin pigment: MELANIN. Melanin is a complex polymer derived from the amino acid tyrosine. Melanin is responsible for determining skin and hair color.
32. Spherical legume: PEA. Princess and a...
33. Tic-tac-toe loser: OXX.
34. Jeanne d'Arc, e.g.: Abbr.: STE. French abbreviation for a female saint. Joan of Arc.
36. Lascivious mental state: DIRTY MIND. Too un-pc.
37. Ophthalmologist's concern: STYE. Weird next to...
38. Looked at carefully: EYED.
40. Has arisen: IS UP. Too religious.
41. Needle case: ETUI. Not "et ui."
46. One of the 3M Company's M's, originally: MINING. Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. CSO to Boomer and C.C.
48. Editorial reconsideration word: STET.
49. Absorbs nicotine smokelessly: VAPES. Uggh.
50. Letter-shaped fastener: UBOLT.
51. "Vive __!": LE ROI. Long live the King!
52. Manages to attain, with "out": EKES.
54. Edward who wrote, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?": ALBEE.
55. Parking lot employee: VALET. I always get so embarrassed dressing in the parking lot.
59. Secure in a harbor: MOOR. Poor Othello.
60. Hill-building insects: ANTS. Are they talking Capitol Hill? No, too political.
62. Soup holder: CAN. Cannot.
63. Increases: UPS. The ante.
No comments:
Post a Comment