Rambo's drive / WED 1-19-11 / Locale for lashing / Dory's affliction in Finding Nemo / Onetime Sixers great / Like prefall Humpty Dumpty
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Constructor: Kristian House
Relative difficulty: Medium
THEME: GEE WHIZ! (37A: Beaver Cleaver expletive ... or what you might need to be to answer 18-, 23-, 51- and 60-Across?) — common phrases have (self-standing) letter "G" added to their beginnings, creating wacky phrases, which are clued wackily
Word of the Day: String theory (51A: Guess as to how the thong came to exist?=>G-STRING THEORY)—
String theory is a developing theory in particle physics that attempts to reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity. It is a contender for the theory of everything (TOE), a manner of describing the known fundamental forces and matter in a mathematically complete system. The theory has yet to make testable experimental predictions, which a theory must do in order to be considered a part of science. (wikipedia)
- 18A: Part of the house where one might check Google messages? (GMAIL ROOM) — doesn't the "G" *stand* for "Google?"
- 23A: Cry for help on an F.B.I. cruise? ("G-MAN OVERBOARD!")
- 51A: Guess as to how the thong came into existence? (G-STRING THEORY)
- 60A: Where Neil Armstrong might store his gear? (G-SUIT CASE)
- 47D: Dory's affliction in "Finding Nemo" (AMNESIA) — misread "affliction" as "affection" and thought it was asking for a character name. A character name I couldn't remember (yes, I saw the damn movie).
- 56A: Like a prefall Humpty Dumpty (OVATE) — I had WHOLE. "Prefall" is funny as a term for Humpty Dumpty. I imagine him eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and then becoming overcome with shame as he realizes ... he is an egg.
- 68D: Lubricates / 69D: Kangaroo babies (OILS JOEYS) — Ew. Why would you do that?
- 31A: Alan who was born Alphonso D'Abruzzo (ALDA) — not sure if I knew this or not, but Alan in four letters ... that's either LADD or ALDA. Or FUNT, I guess.
- 63D: Onetime Sixers great (DR. J) — this may be the greatest 3-letter answer in existence. Not that I've thought about it much. But come on—complete name, no vowels, a terminal "J" (!?) ... it's pretty great.
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P.S. I co-constructed today's L.A. Times puzzle, along with my sometime stand-in PuzzleGirl. Here's how you can solve it:
- Get the .puz file via cruciverb.com (see the link in their sidebar)
- Solve right on the L.A. Times's own applet here.
- Get a simple .pdf file here
- OR you could just go out and get your local paper (assuming your local paper isn't the NYT). It might be in there.