Friday, October 13, 2017

Today's time: 13:17, not bad!

--

On this spooky Friday the 13th, a fun themeless by Zhouqin Burnikel, who definitely has a name for a crossword puzzle constructor.

I have heard of DAMASK, of course, but I didn't know reversability was its main selling point.

It's the Marching ILLINI again!  I knew there was something familiar about this fill as the letters came in. 

I'm not sure "flower with five petals" is the cleverest clue for GERANIUM, but Wikipedia says:

The flowers have five petals and are coloured white, pink, purple or blue, often with distinctive veining.

LEN Lesser played "Uncle Leo on "Seinfeld."  Great actor who helped create a memorable role.

"Big name in home security systems" is ADT. Sure, but back in the day, it was just little old "American District Telegraph."

I have never in my life heard of a TORTONI.  It kind of looks like a flan or cupcake.

MARKET WATCH is the premier online source for stock market news.

Did you know that a Grand Duke is the SON of a tsar (I can't believe the Times spells it czar, which is out-dated and non-representative)?  This was true historically in Russia.

Roberto ALOMAR, "only Baseball Hall of Famer inducted as a Blue Jays player," was a second baseman who won a lot of Golden Gloves.  Past crossword connection: he was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Speaking of past crosswords, it's ANA Cabrera again!  She was last seen by me on August 25.

Did you know Pete Rose had 1,314 RBIs?  I'm not even sure what those are.

I've heard of MOSUL and I've heard of the Tigris, but I didn't know that Mosul was on the Tigris.  It's located on the west bank of the river, opposite Nineveh.

I've heard of EULER, but I haven't heard of graph theory, let alone that he was a big player in it.  In 1736 he laid out what was called The Königsberg Bridge problem, which has no solution.

A plethora of clever clues this time, from the devious mind of Zhouqin: "Evening result?" is TIE.  "Person in a trailer, in two senses" is ACTOR.  "Things worth waiting for?" is TIPS.  "A screwdriver might be added to it" is BAR TAB.  "Opposite of downs" is SIPS.  "Bits of information?" is DIGITAL DATA.  "Port vessel" is CASK.