Relative difficulty: Easy
THEME: Tasty — theme answers begin with categories of taste:
- SOUR GRAPES (17A: Negative reaction to failure)
- SALTY LANGUAGE (23A: Sort of words that sailors are famous for) —whoa, is that the etymology? A sailor can be a "salt," so ... swearing = SALTY LANGUAGE??? If that is true, I did not know that.
- BITTER ENEMIES (47A: Feuding families, e.g.)
- SWEET TOOTH (57A: Sugar craving)
adj.
Very cold; icy: gelid ocean waters. See synonyms at cold.[Latin gelidus, from gelū, frost.]
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/gelid#ixzz1rUpj9J1w
• • •
What, no UMAMI phrase?
Not much to this one. First words related. I like SALTY LANGUAGE quite a bit. Everything else is just fine. Wife had never heard of GELID. I said it's one of those words I only ever see in crosswords,
so I assume that's where I learned it. Nothing else in the grid seems out of the mainstream. I really don't like POLISH OUT (32D: Remove, as scratches on an auto), though it's clearly a real phrase. I'd've tried to make that POLISH OFF, though those Fs are hard to handle in a tiny corner like that. WINGSPAN (31A: It's about six feet for a turkey vulture) provides an interesting coincidence, as I am watching "Wings of Desire" tonight as part of my year-long Screening 1987 Project, wherein I watch nearly every movie that came out in 1987. Another movie that was part of this Project: "Superstar" by Todd Haynes, which tells the story of Karen Carpenter entirely with Ken and Barbie DOLLS (42A: Ken and Barbie). Also, I'm just finishing Patrick Rothfuss's "The Name of the Wind," which has featured at least one SMITHY that I can remember (46D: Horseshoe forger) (it's a big book). No one should ever put "30 Rock" and "2 Broke Girls" that close together (including me) as they have nothing in common, funny-wise (40D: "2 Broke Girls" and "30 Rock"). Which is to say one is funny, and the other ... isn't. I know Bella ABZUG mostly because she makes a cameo in a Woody Allen movie, I think (22A: Former congresswoman Bella). I know NIELS Bohr (50D: Quantum mechanics pioneer Bohr) and INEZ (44A: Deadly 1966 hurricane with a Spanish-derived name) and MOOG (29A: Synthesizer designer Robert) and AMOS (2D: "Famous" cookie man) from years of doing crosswords. Actually, I know INEZ from my grandma (it's her name). BEDBUGS is creepily timely (10D: Mattress invaders). Wait ... are they still a problem? Haven't heard much about them since 2010. OK, I think that's all folks.
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld
No comments:
Post a Comment