Yay! Completed Puzzle #22 with no errors!
The incredibly interesting things I learned in this puzzle are:
28 across, “Mrs. Chaplin.” OONA. I seem to remember hearing her name at some point because it is so unusual. What an interesting life! She is one of those people who grew up in an artistic household in New York City and knew people – went to school and became good friends with Gloria Vanderbilt. Was named debutante of the year when she was 17. WikiP tells me she dated Orson Welles and J.D. Salinger before meeting Chaplin. There was a 36 year age difference between the two. Her half brother and her brother committed suicide. When Chaplin was denied reentry into the U.S., Oona came to the U.S. and secretly collected cash from safe deposit boxes. “She later admitted to sewing $1,000 bills into the lining of her mink coat, thereby saving the Chaplin fortune.” Oona and Chaplin had eight children. One of their daughters is in Dr. Zhivago, which is next on my Netflix list. The daughter (Geraldine) said she based her performance on her mother.
That’s one of the things I’m loving about this little crossword project of mine. I keep finding these little cross references, which makes everything I’m doing more meaningful.
33 across, “Euripides drama.” MEDEA. WikiP tells me that Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. In Euripides’ play, Medea’s husband (Jason) leaves her and she wreaks her revenge (how odd for a Greek drama).Oh damn. I just realized that this answer is the same as one in Puzzle #2. In my defense, that clue was, “Jason’s ally and lover in myth.” In my research on that clue, I did not learn that Euripides wrote a play called Medea. But, not in my defense, if this puzzle had the exact same clue (“Jason’s ally and lover in myth”), Medea would not have even entered my conscious mind. However, today’s research uncovered perhaps the weirdest painting I’ve ever seen. Jason and Medea by Moreau (the photo for today’s blog post). Is that ribbon tied around his penis? And, what are all those things flying around them? And, why is he standing on a bird? I know I’ll have to read Jason and the Argonauts or Medea to find out, but I don’t want to.
54 across, “Korean soldiers.” ROKS. Other than being the stock symbol for Rockwell Automation and the Riders of Kawasaki motorcycle club, ROK stands for the Republic of Korea.
38 across, “Nick and Nora’s dog of story and film.” ASTA. (Also, American Society of Travel Agents.) I do want to say that I totally got that this was Nick and Nora from The Thin Man (which is on my list). Since I haven’t seen or read it yet, I hadn’t gotten down to the detail of their dog. You may be surprised to learn (I sure was) that there is an Asta fan club. http://www.iloveasta.com/ Asta’s real name is Skippy and, according to this site, that is a point of contention for fans. There is a sect that prefers to call him Skippy and a sect that prefers to call him Asta. Do they fight at the annual convention? A big Skippy vs. Asta brawl?
32 down, “Theater seats.” LOGES. MW tells me that a loge is “a small compartment…a box in a theater…a small partitioned area…a separate forward section of a theater mezzanine or balcony…a raised section or level of seats in a sports stadium.”
56 down, “Out of Africa author Dinesen.” ISAK. Saw the movie. But how cool – Isak Dinesen is the pen name for Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke. She had a very interesting life, which you can read about here.
And that’s it!
No comments:
Post a Comment