The four theme answers are: FLEACIRCUS; FARMERSALMANAC; SUPERBOWLSUNDAY; and BULLMOOSEPARTY, respectively. So we have "Flea Market," "Farmer's Market," Super Market," and "Bull Market."
While some of the clues gave me some trouble (more on that) I pretty much steadily worked my way through the puzzle until the NE corner, which I decided to save till last. When I finally got there I was faced with these across clues:
- 10 Casa ___, Toronto castle
- 16 Rapper with the gold-record album "O.G. Original Gangster"
- 19 Juggling nine balls, e.g.
- 22 Cyberball maker
Well, this is trouble for me. I know not the castle; nor do I know the rap album (I don't listen to rap because it is ___); I have no idea what the ball juggling thing is about; and I've never heard of Cyberball. (10, 16, 19 across are all four letters, and 22A is five, by the way.) So, the down clues in this area are:
- 10 Do anything to help
- 11 Place to use an echograph
- 12 Half a popular comedy team
- 13 Ancient Greek
10D is eleven letters, and 11, 12 and 13 down are five each. I don't yet have the cross on 22A (22 down [I'd like to see a ___]) nor the one next to it and down a row (26D [Projector part]), I'm missing the end of FARMERSALAMANAC, and I'm missing bits of middle-east. It looks pretty grim, because I don't know 10, 11, or 12 down, but I'm thinking I've got 13 down.
So I wrote in "ascetic" for 13D, and tried to make it work. I figured out that 22D was AMENU and 26D was LENS, threw in ATARI for 22A, put in REEF for 28A [Shorten, as a sail] and in a Doh! moment realized 23A was FARMERSMARKET.
Then, in an eclat I realized what was being looked for in 10D was LIFTAFINGER.
But now nothing is looking right in this corner but because I was though I was sure of LIFTAFINGER and of ATARI I decided ACETIC going into the ending 'I' in ATARI and the ending 'C' in ALMANAC could not be right at all. I took a flyer and guessed that 11D was OCEAN. With 'FO' on 10A I guessed Loma (which also works with "acetic"--damn!). After some pondering, I wrote in ICET for 16A and FEAT for 19A with a sniff of disdain for the clue. The half a comedy pair clue by cross-clues turns out to be MEARA. I've seen this before but it just did not stick with me.
Now I finished the few things in the middle-east section and the puzzle was done. But here was the real puzzler: How could an [Ancient Greek] in 13D be ATTIC? WTFO!?
Well, I looked it up on the Web later and guess what? It turns out that the various forms of the Greek language eventually wound up in a dialect know as--you guessed it--Attic Greek. And Attic Greek eventually evolved into the common Greek known as Koine Greek, which was used in the writing of the New Testament. How about that, sports fans? Would it not be a better clue to have written "Ancient Greek language"? That sort of thing seems better placed in a Saturday puzzle to me. JMHO. Oh, by the way, "ascetic" would be an appropriate answer for the clue.
Here's a link on Attic Greek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attic_Greek
Speaking of clues that gave me trouble, here are a few more:
- 15A. "A Dog of Flanders" novelist: OUIDA
- 27A. ___ Bridge, first to span the Mississippi at St. Louis: EADS
- 32A. City nicknamed Gateway to the West: Winnipeg
- 42A. Make: EARN
- 56A. Win: REAP
- 6D. Shamans: CURERS
- 31D. ___ tree: UPA
I actually knew 15A, but could not pull it up at first. 27A I had no clue about. 32A... uhhhhh... maybe I knew that... Sounds vaguely familiar. First time I've ever seen MAKE for [earn]. I can't in my stretchiest mind justify the clue [Win] for REAP. All I can do is shake my head. And is it just me or does it seem a stretch to call a shaman a CURER? 31D is a fine clue; it is just that I was trying to think of trees which have three letters and was just misled by the clue. I could not even get it when I had U_A. It was only when I jumped on SUPERBOWLSUNDAY that I _finally_ got it. It was a V8 moment, for sure. Worse thing is--I've seen it before, I'm sure!
I believe I like the [___ tree] clue the best of them all.
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