Ryan has almost solved the NYT, Sat 8-9-8
Good god, what is a chiromancer? I know what a chiropractor is. And I kind of know what a necromancer is. So is a chiromancer someone who casts evil spells on your spine? Who would be the client of such a person?
13D. Chiromancer client, e.g. (_ONS_ _TER). CONSECTER? MONSHUTER? I have 6 empty boxes left in this Mark Diehl puzzle but I’m totally stuck.
11A. Heap of hay (RI _ _). Does this mean a literal heap of hay? Or is this some arcane saying with which I’m not familiar? Could it be a RIOT? I’m not so sure about the clue right below it. 16A. Knowing firsthand (INON). Could that be INAT? Or something else?
24A. Nation once called Île de France (MAURITI _ _). MAURITITE? MAURITINA? MAURITIAN?
14D. Under-the-table action (?). I’ve had so many answers here there’s no point in detailing any of them. At first I thought it might start with KNEE. It might still. What’s throwing me off is it ends in an S because of 35A. Thins out (DILUTES) but the clue isn’t pluralized. I figure it has to do with either paying somebody under the table or some physical thing you do under a table.
I’m going to have to sleep on all that. I can’t give up when I’m only 6 boxes away from a no-google Saturday. The rest of the puzzle was a lot of fun and touch on the easy side for a Saturday.
17A. Setting for a 1979 horror film (AMITYVILLE). This was the first thing I put in the grid. Not sure how this came to mind so quickly. I’ve never seen it but I do remember the poster scaring the crap out of me when I was a kid. Was it the house that was evil, like in Poltergeist?
21D. Voice of Buzz Lightyear, in “Toy Story” (TIMALLEN). Total gimmie. These are great movies and I hear they’re making a third installment. I know a 3 year old who is absolutely mesmerized every time it’s on TV. Everything else in the universe disappears and he just sits there and stares.
37D. Plate appearances (STANCES). I figured this would have something to do with baseball. Took me a while to figure it out though.
47A. ___ Hunt, Tom Cruise’s character in “Mission: Impossible” films (ETHAN). It was completely ridiculous but I liked the 3rd one. Philip Seymour Hoffman is amazing as usual. I like it so much I went back and rented the first one. Almost unwatchable. I think it was directed by Brian DePalma (can’t look it up as I’m in the middle of no-google attempt and I have strict rules). I think I’m not such a big fan of DePalma. All his movies look flat to me. Scarface is good but mostly because of Pacino. Bonfire of the Vanities was a complete mess. Is there some great movie of his I’m overlooking?
58A. One of the 1960s Rams’ Fearsome Foursome (ROSEYGRIER). Thank god for all the talk about whether he was in a Bounty commercial or not. This was a gimmie.
56A. Sybil’s forte (PRESCIENCE). I’m not sure who this is. Wasn’t Sybil the one with all the different personalities that Sally Field portrayed in a TV movie? Or was that someone else?
32D. Certain bazaar merchant (RUGDEALER). Why do all rug stores constantly hold going out of business sales? I understand it’s a tactic to get people to buy your junk but why do rug stores all use the same ploy? Do they get together every year to talk about new going out of business strategies?
30D. Tea drinker of fiction (MARCHHARE). This was just a matter of remembering who was at that tea party.
55A. Crew members (OARS). Now wait a minute, a few weeks ago the answer to this was TARS.
Ok, that’s it for now. Who am I to be telling you about clues if I can’t finish the grid myself? I’ll go to sleep, dream about chiromancers and, hopefully, finish the no-google in the morning. I’ll update this post when the grid’s complete.
Here’s something cool. Brian and I were profiled in our local paper, The Jackson Heights Times. Here’s a link to the article.
Next stop, Sunday.
[KNEESIES? KNEESIES? C'mon! Who says that? And a chiromancer is a palm reader. And a palm reader's client is a…CONSULTANT? Needless to say, I did not no-google this. I stared and stared and stared and I could have stared some more but I never would have come up with that upper right corner. I got the rest correct though. So that's something.]
