Friday, February 9, 2018

Saturday, February 17, 2018, Bruce Venzke

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE NEBRASKA


Bruce
Husker Gary here, giving a guided tour of a fun Saturday, Bruce Venzke puzzle. What caught my eye first was three horizontal and vertical grid spanners. The actual design of the grid, which you will find at the bottom of the write-up,  is very elegant.

BestForPuzzles.com said: Bruce Venzke is a veteran crossword constructor who began constructing puzzles in 2001. Of the nearly 600 puzzles he has made, about 400 have been collaborations with other puzzle creators. He has been published by the NY Times, LA Times, NY Sun, Newsday, Wall Street Journal and various other newspapers and magazines.


Here is a  C.C. interview with Bruce posted on February 2, 2011. 


Two of Bruce's parallel entries paid homage to my home state (hence the title): 


9. Land of Lincoln? : CORNHUSKER STATE - Yeah, even I had to shed the image of Illinois AND


28. Planter : SOWER - The statue that tops our state capitol building in Lincoln




Here are the balance of Bruce's wonderful grid spanners that were also very useful:


20. Grasp : GET THE MEANING OF - In Good Will Hunting, Will did GET THE MEANING OF things others couldn't 




25. Some drips : SALINE SOLUTIONS - I'm sure one of these is a SALINE SOLUTION




43. Charter acquisition : TIME WARNER CABLE - This is the change we got last year





48. Markings on gridirons : MIDFIELD STRIPES - Where coin tosses occur. Wait, Joe, someone has to call it first!




4. Unrelenting attempt : SUSTAINED EFFORT - Keep going Sisyphus! 




5. Usury protection : INTEREST RATE CAP - It's amazing what people will pay on short term loans




10. Airport agents see a lot of them : IDENTIFICATIONS - There are many of these sites online:





Here's the rest of Bruce's Saturday lineup:


Across


1. Borrows without returning : BUMS - Also my Dad's beloved Brooklyn Dodgers 

5. Intestinal : ILEAC - Relating to the ILEUM

10. Apple that's inedible : IMAC - I've been mad enough to take a bite out of ours a couple of times but not nearly as often as with PC's


14. 1966 N.L. batting champ Matty : ALOU - Get three vowels in your name and you'll make the starting lineup here!


15. Drag-racing fuel, briefly : NITRO - NITROmethane fuel minimally costs  $10 - $15/gal but definitely gives you more 1. Value for your money, idiomatically : BANG - for your buck


16. Very serious : DIRE



17. Costner role : NESS

18. What tots might go after? : TATER - Pretty clever Bruce!


19. Many an RPI grad : ENGR - Some are on our blog here


23. Atmo- kin : AER - It's all up in the air

24. He served the fewest 20th-century days (83) as U.S. VP : HST - FDR died on April 12th and they finally gave HST details about the atomic bomb on April 24th.


34. Somali-born model : IMAN

35. Things for one to do : SOLOS


36. Blücher's title in "Young Frankenstein" : FRAU - Every time her name is mentioned:




37. Swing improvisation? : TIRE - He should improvise a sturdier rope




38. Move like Miley : TWERK - You'll have to find that on your own time


39. "__ it up and spit it out": "My Way" lyric : I ATE - Paul Anka heard this tune below (translates to As Usual) in Paris, bought the rights to it, came back to America and wrote My Way lyrics for Frank Sinatra




40. Learning ctr. : ACAD - My friend's brother got sent to Wentworth Military ACADemy to "straighten him out". Didn't work


41. "Peg Woffington" novelist : READE - Did anyone herd, uh, READE it?





42. Covered, in a way : CLAD - As you see  here

46. Tailor's concern : FIT

47. H.S. hurdle : SAT


57. Assorted mixture : OLIO

58. __ Bruni-Sarkozy, former French first lady : CARLA


59. "Chocolat" actress : OLIN - Lena OLIN 


60. Title derived from "Caesar" : TSAR


61. Early seal hunter : ALEUT


62. It's off-limits : NO-NO - I called my Aunt Norma Aunt NONO


63. Cease : HALT 




64. Member of a 1969 MLB expansion team : PADRE - You'd have to be a real baseball junkie to recognize this most famous and highest paid 1969 Padre. Appropriate name, huh?



65. Difficult situation : STEW - A non-edible use of this word as a noun. I'd be more likely to use it as a verb unless I was cooking



Down


2. Film apiarist : ULEE - Peter Fonda lives on in Crossword nomenclature


3. A majority : MOST - They got the MOST popular votes but not the necessary electoral ones. I couldn't name Samuel Tilden in this array.




6. He played Oskar in "Schindler's List" : LIAM - Neeson

7. Diminutive suffix : ETTE


8. Realtor's measure : AREA - Claustrophobia alert! Here's a five-minute tour of a tiny house with an AREA of approx. 200 sq. ft.




11. Flash Gordon foe : MING - The Merciless


12. Mythical vessel : ARGO


13. Random House co-founder : CERF - Best known for his work on this panel. Shown here in a very early edition! 




21. Layer : HEN - It was so windy the HEN laid the same egg four times! Rim shot!


22. Tour finish? : IST


25. Occupy, as a table : SIT AT - Who is allowed to SIT AT your table is a big deal in school cafeterias


26. Firenze friends : AMICI -More than one AMICO


27. 2016 NFL returnee : LA RAM - The RAMS are easier to move because their helmets have no city designaton like KC and some others

29. City in southwestern New York : OLEAN - The largest city in Cattaraugus County


30. 2013 Grammy winner for "Royals" : LORDE - Born inNew Zealand as Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor. LORDE crossing READE could have been a trap for me but it came to heel (I'll take mixed metaphors for $200 Alex!)


31. Sonicare rival : ORAL-B



32. South African province KwaZulu-__ : NATAL - Da Gama founded this area on Christmas day and NATAL is the Portuguese word for Christmas. The northern part of this territory was ruled for years by the Zulus.

33. Kid stuff? : SUEDE - Leather items made from baby goat skins. 


44. __ Chess: video game : WII - Most nursing homes (retirement homes?) have WII bowling which I really enjoy as well.


45. Train part : CAR - Arlo sang of The City Of New Orleans which had "Fifteen CARS and fifteen restless riders. three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail."


48. Clothes consumer? : MOTH 


49. Victor Laszlo's wife, in a classic film : ILSA- When she thought Victor was dead...


50. Retro calling aid : DIAL - Thing used one is The Addams Family




51. Like a fantasy land? : LA LA


52. Historic plaintiff Scott : DRED - A horrible part of our past




53. Musical connector : SLUR - Notes sang/played without separation




54. One may be hatched : PLOT - John Wilkes Booth had laid out a very elaborate PLOT but only his tragic part of it hatched

55. Strauss' "__ Alpensinfonie" : EINE - An Alpine Symphony


56. Buffalo feature, often? : SNOW - Coming off our old cwd friend Lake Erie




What say you?


DA GRID:




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