Jump to: Tricky Clues | Today’s Topic
SUNDAY PUZZLE — Jill Rafaloff and Michelle Sontarp, equally New Yorkers, satisfied when they joined the identical regulation company more than 30 decades back. They have been good friends at any time given that. Ms. Rafaloff has been resolving crosswords given that higher education Ms. Sontarp for 6 years or so.
This is their New York Situations debut. Their inspiration for the puzzle was 34-Throughout, which is beautiful, but 84-Across is the entry that is burrowed so much into my mind that its refrain is the 1st issue that comes to mind in response to something any person has stated to me in the last three days.
Today’s Topic
There are seven entries in the topic set, at 24-, 34-, 52-, 66-, 84-, 95- and 114-Throughout. Each individual corresponding clue, all of which are italicized, has a reference to a character in Greek mythology, as effectively as a mention of a unique audio group, in parentheses. Observe the title of the puzzle — “Classical Music” — and your ears might effectively prick up simply because what we have here is a activity of “Name that tune (that has a punny partnership to a figure from antiquity).”
Consider 24-Across, “Supplication to Ares (Plastic Ono Band).” Your activity is to: a) try to remember what Ares was regarded for, and b) hook up that to a track from the Plastic Ono Band, which was an experimental (or imaginary) supergroup that consisted of John Lennon, Yoko Ono and any individual who sang, banged a tambourine or even clapped to one of the band’s tunes — including you, ought to you choose.
Ares? He was the god of war, or the “spirit of battle,” and embodied the grisly features of brutal conflict. A fashionable supplication, then, would be GIVE PEACE A Possibility.
34-Across — “Warning to Icarus (The Beatles)” — uses a further, a little bit extra well-known supergroup for its riff. The clue’s Greek mythological determine was famed for soaring a little bit also substantial on wings built of wax, to a disastrous conclusion. (I received a kick out of the dissonance below the story of Icarus is so chaotic, but the entry’s tune is so lyrical and gentle.)
52-Throughout is “Request to Prometheus (The Doors).” Hopefully you have an notion of what Prometheus, a Titan and “supreme trickster,” was regarded for.
66-Throughout, “Remark to Aphrodite (Roy Orbison),” brings together just one of the finest-identified Greek goddesses with an irrefutably vintage enjoy song.
I giggled when I obtained this, and I guess I’ll be buzzing it forever. 84-Across, “Criticism of Narcissus (Carly Simon),” solves to a track that affectionately chides a self-centered lover. When it was released in 1972 and flew up the charts, speculation about who that lover could be integrated Michael Crichton, Cat Stevens and John Travolta.
95-Throughout, “Entreaty to Hades (Electric Mild Orchestra),” is also quite funny. I can picture some old rockers singing the tune in the entry to Charon on the banking companies of the river Styx.
Ultimately, at 114-Across, it’s 1 of those people suspects of self-absorption from the Carly Simon track (his inclusion surprised me, actually). “Congratulations to Eos (Cat Stevens)” includes a reference to the mom of the winds, and the “rosy-fingered” personification of the dawn.
Tricky Clues
60A. Awareness, Rosies: “One with a fasten-ating job?” is a pun clue for a RIVETER.
80A. I adore my veggies and I liked this clue, a “Vegetable that looks like a portmanteau of two other veggies (but is not!).” Seeking to appear up with the remedy stopped me in my tracks for a second. Kohlrabi? Broccolini? Nope! Parsley + turnip = PARSNIP (which has no relation to a turnip, by the way).
106A. This is so intelligent! “Camp production” is not a children’s summertime dramatization of, say, Thanksgiving it is one more kitschy generation, a B Movie.
14D. “Orders,” as a clue, can mail you into various instructions. In this case it means directions, provided at someone’s BEHEST.
62D. This clue, “What a cordwainer makes,” contains a phrase I can’t recall ever looking at ahead of. I stuffed in the entry — Footwear — working with crossing letters and uncovered that “cordwainer” derives from French and is similar to “cordovan,” a form of leather-based that is tough to function with, and denotes a craftsperson more expert than a cobbler.
Constructor Notes
We hope solvers enjoy this puzzle as considerably as we do. We are longtime good friends, owning both equally worked at the exact same New York Town legislation agency straight out of law school (in excess of 30 a long time in the past), and are two of a team of 6 mates who all began there alongside one another. Coincidentally, we found that our fathers also labored collectively many, numerous several years back.
Throughout Covid lockdowns, we (like absolutely everyone else) resolved to attempt our palms at setting up a puzzle. As an alternative of heading for a weekday 15×15 for our initially foray, we went for the gusto and commenced constructing Sundays. It took us a ton of attempts more than a 3-12 months time period, but we are below!
We both adore new music, so we wanted to do anything with music. The strategy for our puzzle morphed pretty a little bit, as it was at first a “gift of song” to different well-regarded folks (e.g. Led Zeppelin’s reward to St. Peter? STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN). Nonetheless, the moment we arrived up with 34-Throughout, we realized exactly the place we preferred to go with the theme. 22-Throughout (non-topic) is for Michelle’s son Marty, who enjoys the Muppets.
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