Athena's counterpart / WED 6-11-14 / Wildcatter's investment / English pop singer Goulding / Tlaloc, to the Aztecs / Fortune 100 company based in Seattle

Constructor: Ian Livengood

Relative difficulty: Who knows really? It's such an individual thing.


THEME — Flag Day: Theme answers are descriptions of various countries' flags. Circled letters spell out FLAG DAY ... kind of in the shape of a flag? I guess?

Theme answers:

• 18A: MAPLE LEAF [Canada]
• 31A: STARS AND STRIPES [U.S.A.]
• 41A: HAMMER AND SICKLE [U.S.S.R.]
• 59A: RISING SUN [Japan]

PuzzleGirl with you today for the third day in a row. Sick of me yet? Here's the problem with blogging. Well, the problem with me blogging anyway. I think two days is my limit. I feel like I'm all blogged out. You guys got the best of me for two days and now there's nothing left. I'm solving this puzzle and I'm enjoying it and everything but the whole time I'm thinking "What am I gonna SAY about it? Nothing is jumping out at me. Maybe I'll just tell them some rambling story about my life -- they seem to like that!" So, with any luck, I'll think of a rambling story for you at some point in this post. Until then, let me say a few things about the puzzle.

The theme is nice and, obviously, timely. I think some of the clues were ratcheted up to make it appropriate for a Wednesday. Would have been nice if it could have run on Saturday, but I don't think that would be possible with this grid and there's nothing WRONG with the grid, so I see why it was decided to run it a little early.

Speaking of difficult clues, I had a really (REALLY) hard time with the CIRCLE / HOLE / SHIP area (30D: Club / 47A: Part of a round / 44D: Overnight). The only kind of "rounds" I could think of were drinks and row-your-boat-type songs (not golf). I absolutely could NOT get that "overnight" is a verb, even though I use it that way practically every day. Those two things were just total brain lapses. But I still don't understand how "Club" is a clue for CIRCLE. Anyone? Bueller? Not being 100% sure on the spelling of MINERVA made that particular part of the puzzle a complete mystery to me. It took way (WAY) too long for me to figure it out.

What Else?

• 10A: Pen, e.g. (SWAN)— Very tricky clue.
• 23A: "For sure, dude!" ("YEAH, MAN!")— This one seems to be trying a little too hard.
• 39A: Big foot spec (EEE)— And this is just plain ugly. I guess sometimes it can't be helped.
• 51A: One sharing a bunk bed, maybe (SIS)— PuzzleSister and I shared a bunk bed for many years. Of course, being the oldest, I got the top bunk, which seems awesome until you're just a little kid and you fall out of the top bunk on your head and your mom comes home to find the front door open and barf all over the house because you got a concussion and your dad ran you out to the emergency room. Not that that ever happened to me or anything.
• 52A: Athena's counterpart (MINERVA)— PuzzleDaughter was studying for a quiz on Greek and Roman gods the other day. PuzzleHusband and I were *completely* *mortified* at how few of them we knew. Just really really embarrassing. Definitely something to try to learn. Not necessarily for puzzles (for that I need to practice European rivers, Jewish months and the Greek alphabet), but just for life in general.
• 1D: "You're dethpicable" toon (DAFFY) — Does Sylvester also have a lisp? He was the only one I could think of. I think he talks funny in a different way though, right? Like baby talk or something?
• 2D: English pop singer Goulding (ELLIE) — Whatever you say.
• 5D: '60s atty. gen. whose brother served as president (RFK)— Had an opportunity to visit RFK Stadium last month for the first time in many moons. Wow is that a crappy stadium. I think D.C. United are getting ready to build a new stadium near Nationals Park. I know there are people against the idea of tearing down RFK, but seriously, it's a mess.
• 7D: All-natural (REAL)— Tried PURE here.
• 9D: C. S. Lewis's birthplace (BELFAST)— Wait, he's not American either? (Just kidding, I knew that.)
• 10D: Memorial Day weekend event (SALE)— This answer made me sad. As much as I rant about the seemingly non-stop "forced patriotism" at so many sporting events these days, I do think Memorial Day is (and should be) serious and respectful. Now my first two thoughts when I saw this clue were PARADE and BARBECUE, both of which I guess might seem frivolous to some, but I think it's possible to infuse both of those activities with an honest-to-God sense of "memorial." A SALE though? Not so much.
• 35D: Place to play cards (POKER ROOM)— See also, "Place to lose money." (I love playing poker, but I'm really really bad at it.)
• 43D: Tlaloc, to the Aztecs (RAIN GOD)— News to me and awesome entry!

Thanks for hanging out with me again today. I appreciate all the kindness you've shown me in the comments. Sure some of the compliments could be mistaken for underhanded insults of one of my best friends, but I'm not going to dwell on that. I love what Rex Parker has created here and I know for sure that if it wasn't for Rex Parker, there would be no PuzzleGirl, which would be very, very sad. Thanks again. See you next time!

Love, PuzzleGirl