Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none
Word of the Day: MIRA (60D: Red giant in Cetus) —
Mira [...] also known as Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, ο Cet), is a red giant star estimated 200-400 light years away in the constellation Cetus. Mira is a binary star, consisting of the red giant Mira A along with Mira B. Mira A is also an oscillating variable star and was the first non-supernova variable star discovered, with the possible exception of Algol. Apart from the unusual Eta Carinae, Mira is the brightest periodic variable in the sky that is not visible to the naked eye for part of its cycle. Its distance is uncertain; pre-Hipparcos estimates centered around 220 light-years, while Hipparcos data suggests a distance of 418 light-years, albeit with a margin of error of ~14%. (wikipedia)
• • •
A solid Saturday outing, and a solid minute faster than yesterday's puzzle. What was most remarkable today was how much prior solving (i.e. lots and lots of solving experience) helped today. I mean, it probably helps every day, but today there were some answers that I remember specifically learning from crosswords.


Bullets:
- 28A: Allspice and clove's family (MYRTLE) — why aren't ladies named "MYRTLE" any more? It seems the last MYRTLE of note (American actress MYRTLE Vail) died in 1978.
- 38A: Allowing peeking, perhaps (AJAR) — I like this voyeuristically inclined clue. Other suggestive fill includes COMES ONTO, GET A ROOM, AT IT AGAIN, INTO IT, and ERECT.
- 61A: Fifth in a series of seven old comedy films ("ROAD TO RIO") — though it might be something Thin Man-esque. . .
- 63A: Her temple was adorned with cows' horns (DIANA) — wanted it to be HERA, who is often described as "cow-eyed," but no. Once I had EIDER, DIANA was pretty easy to figure out.
- 13D: Its logo features two eighth notes (iTUNES) — I'm very familiar, though lately the logo I've been staring at most days is the Spotify logo. I don't know what it's supposed to represent.
- 50D: They call their native language "te reo" (MAORIS) — I had almost all this filled in before I saw the clue, which is too bad, as I think I could've got this one. Have a lot of experience with said language from various NZ cryptic crosswords (which I used to solve with my (Kiwi) wife).
- 58D: Like tailgated drivers, often (POKY) — had SLOW at first. POKY is much nicer.
No comments:
Post a Comment