Thursday, October 19, 2017

Today's time: 14:13, a new record!

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Today's puzzle is by Ned White, and the theme is HEAD OVER HEELS ("one way to fall in love") as described by several themed entries: NUMERO UNO directly above SCOUNDREL, BIG WHEEL two lines above DIRTY RAT, and TOP BANANA directly above NOGOODNIK.  I must say the placement and the choice of terms for both HEAD and HEEL are frightfully clever, but I disagree that HEAD OVER HEELS is "a hint to the answers in the starred clues."  Since those answers have their own clues ("honcho" and "louse," repeatedly), I would say rather that they are hints to the main answer; that is, they help visualize the saying HEAD OVER HEELS.

Anyway.

Remember RBIS?  It may further interest you to know that "they're usually not credited after errors."

I know who Zac EFRON is, but not Neighbors, which I assumed was a TV show.

The first thing that popped into my head for "lepidopterist's need" is *PIN.  It's NET.

For "Tahoe or Taos, e.g." I was at a loss.  Each is a RESORT.  I kept thinking, town?

Hey, it's RUDI Gernreich again, last seen September 5!  Still making clothes --- here again, the monokini --- that show off women's boobs.  Oh la la!  Rudi, you little minx!  His last name means "enjoy being rich" in German.

Hip-hop's SYD tha Kyd, I hardly knew ye.  In fact, I don't know ye at all.  I guess ye are famous to the youths.

"1961 Project Mercury chimp" is entirely new to me.  ENOS was the test chimp, first chimp in orbit.  I expected to find out that he died alone and cold in a space capsule that drifted from orbit, but actually, like some idiot on the Oregon Trail, he died of dysentery.

So, I was thinking of *CHAIM POTOK for "Fiddler on the Roof star."  Potok, of course, is the well-known author of The Chosen and My Name is Asher Lev.  The real answer, CHAIM TOPOL, is known only for his role as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.  I suppose being on the roof with a bird's eye view like that makes him an expert on topology.  ...No?

And then there's Potok's brother, NOTOK.  Ha!  I kid.  That's NOT O.K.

I didn't know there was a RODIN Museum in Philadelphia.  It's the only museum dedicated to Rodin outside France.

OLA, properly olá, is a greeting in Brazil.

"STOP-GO" traffic?  Not "stop-and-go" traffic?  Hmmm.  Results for "stop-go traffic" on Google: 39,900, and many of those have an ampersand.  Results for "stop-and-go traffic:" 649,000.  I call foul.

Clever clues: "It grows in the dark" is PUPIL.  "Its home is on the range" is BURNER.  "They're tired" is AUTOS.  "Range units" is MTNS and not *BTUS!

And I'm done for today.  EUR welcome to STA, though.