Friday, May 30, 2008

Title: Weekend Warrior
Author: Brendan Emmett Quigley
Theme: None

I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to solving I'm not in the same league as most of my fellow bloggers (I don't even want to look at Amy Reynaldo's time), so for me this puzzle was what a Weekend Warrior should be -- hard! I didn't time myself, and I didn't do it all in one sitting, but I was able to complete it without Googling. Granted, it was touch-and-go there for a bit and required some educated guesswork, some likely partials (e.g., this probably ends in ER -- that kind of thing), and more than one leap of faith that turned out to be correct.

Since pretty much the entire puzzle was both excellent and difficult, it doesn't seen to make sense to break the clues into categories today; so I'm just going to run through them roughly in order. Ready?

• 1a: Picking from a lineup (IDING). I don't know how to (or whether to) punctuate this one, but I got it immediately. I guess I watch enough cop shows and movies, that it seemed the only logical choice.


• 6a: Old-fashioned (MOSS-GROWN). This was one of the leaps of faith, which I took on MO__G____. This was after the whole rest of the puzzle was finished and I was staring at a pretty empty NE corner.


• 15a: Monster Park player, familiarly (NINER). My brain was trying to find an actual player's name, so this was a "Doh!" moment.


• 16a: "Falcon Crest" actress (ANA ALICIA). As you probably know by now, names are my weak spot. This was no help at all, and finally fell completely by crossings.


• 17a: Andretti contemporary (SNEVA). I had the N early and guessed UNSER. NEVA (4d: "___ Get Enuf" (3LW song)) heard of SNEVA. NEVA heard of NEVA either, but at least it's inferrable (actually, I think I've seen it before as a river, but not as a song).


• 18a: Bounty hunter in "Attack of the Clones" (JANGO FETT). This section would have been easier if I could have dredged this name up from scratch. Instead, it took several crossings before the fog lifted.


• 19a: World Series game (TEXAS HOLD 'EM). Wonderful! The World Series of Poker, of course; not baseball. I nailed this from just the X in INEXACT (3d: Like some sciences).


• 21a: ___ mort (dispirited) (A LA). I feel like I should have known this right off, but I didn't. I think it roughly translates to "like the dead".


• 22a: Seraglio room (ODA). This is on my list of crosswordese words I need to remember. And I did, this time.


• 23a: Chef's implements (PARERS).


• 24a: Model Rivero or Sastre (INÉS). I've never heard of either of these gorgeous women. Where have I been? The N was from the crossing of OCEANUS (12d: Titan who was the brother and husband of Tethys), which I also didn't know, but it sure looked like it had to be that. If it had turned out to be OCEALUS/ILES or OCEAXUS/IXES or OCEARUS/IRES, I wouldn't have been that surprised (though I would have bitched about it).


• 25a: Sprint (RACE).


• 27a: Chimpanzee psychologist played by Kim Hunter in "Planet of the Apes" (ZIRA). This one goes with JANGO FETT as one I should have known but couldn't dredge up.


• 28a: Trounce (CRUSH).


• 29a: Old comics girl whose boyfriend was Wingey (ETTA KETT). Once I had the ETT, I knew where it was going. The Wingey part was no help.


• 31a: Like the baseball played by the Savannah Sand Gnats (CLASS A). I like this one a lot. I've never heard of the Sand Gnats, but it's not hard to figure that they're a minor league team.


• 32a: Bank (RELY).



• 33a: Squidward Tentacles, for one (TOON). I don't watch SpongeBob SquarePants, but I was pretty sure this was from there. I thought they were going for what kind of an animal he was, at first. Nice clue.


• 34a: Common childhood malady (OTITIS). Ear infection. Been there.


• 37a: Cites (MENTIONS).


• 41a: Capital of Libya (DINAR). You're just lucky TRIPOLI didn't fit, aren't you? (Of course, neither did ELL.)


• 42a: "___ no thang" (AIN'T). Rap ain't my thang, but I knew this right away. I mean, what else could it be? For those who care, here's the Outkast song of the same name (Explicit Lyric Warning).


• 43a: Buttonhole, basically (SLIT).


• 44a: Salon, e.g. (E-MAG). You can check it out here.


• 45a: Gather on a surface, chemically (ADSORB). This was a leap of faith with only the final B in place. I must remember it from high school or college, because I certainly haven't used it since.


• 47a: Eagle, at times (ACE). As in a hole-in-one on a par 3.


• 48a: Block letters? (SPF). I confidently put in IRS here, thinking they were referring to H&R Block. I only needed to look to my own blog title to get back on track.


• 49a: Launderette liquid (SPOT REMOVER). A Stephen Wright classic one-liner: "I poured spot remover on my dog; now he's gone."


• 51a: White wine often served with foie gras (SAUTERNES). I'm not sure I've ever had a Sauterne. Chardonnay? Sure. Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Chablis? Yup, yup, yup, yup, and yup. Don't know Sauternes. You can read about it here.


• 53a: Apollo 16 lunar module (ORION). Got the OR and N. Seemed like a pretty likely choice.


• 54a: "Archie Bunker's Place" costar (ANNE MEARA). Names names names. Luckily, I've heard of her, so a few crossings helped.


• 55a: "What's It All About?" autobiographer (Michael CAINE). I know Michael Caine, but I didn't know he wrote a book.


• 56a: Bassist on the album "Girls, Girls, Girls" (NIKKI SIXX). You know you're going to get some funky pop culture from BEQ, but the bassist from Mötley Crüe? That's tough. I ended up with a guess-the-vowel situation where the last I crossed ADONAI (42d: "Baruch atah ___ ..." (Hebrew prayer start)). I was torn between I, which looked best on ADONAI, and E, which would make the bassist's nickname NIKKI SEXX, which seemed pretty plausible to me. I guessed right, but it was still a guess. Does he play a six-string bass?


• 57a: More furtive (SLIER). I always spell this first with a Y. It just looks weird to me with an I.


• 1d: Forthcoming (IN STORE).


• 2d: Patronized, as a restaurant (DINED AT). Nailed this one right away.


• 5d: Fathom (GRASP).


• 6d: It may rule (MAJORITY). Very nice.


• 7d: Watching (ON ALERT).


• 8d: Sonny's wife in "The Godfather" (SANDRA). Yet another one that I couldn't pull out of the fog. I gotta start rewatching some old movies.


• 9d: Magi, e.g. (SAGES).


• 10d: Latch (onto) (GLOM). I love the word GLOM. This was a gimme.


• 11d: Discharge from the military, informally (RIF). Is this short for "Reduction in Force", or does it have another root?


• 13d: Asinine (WITLESS). This is the entry that helped me break open the tough NE section.


• 14d: Singer Bedingfield (NATASHA). This is one of the entries that made the NE section tough for me. I know I've seen the name before, but it wasn't something I could get without plenty of crossings.


• 20d: Trees of the birch family (HAZELS). I can't think of another tree that begins with H and fits here. HOLLYS, maybe, but I think it's probably HOLLIES.


• 24d: Some Pashto speakers (IRANIS). I had everything but the N and had to wait for the crossings to choose between N and Q.


• 26d: Livestock marker (EAR TAG).


• 28d: Coagulum (CLOT).


• 30d: Dullea of "2001" (KEIR). No clue. 100% crossings.


• 31d: ___-partie (furniture inlay) (CONTRE). This is new one on me. Read about it here.


• 33d: Bill Clinton often blew it (TENOR SAX). I'm not even to mention all the thoughts that went through my head on this one.


• 34d: "Friday Night Lights" player, e.g. (ODESSAN). Apparently, this is true of the book and the movie, which were both set in Odessa, Texas. The TV show created their own fictional town of Dillon, Texas. I am totally unfamiliar with all of them.


• 35d: Tunable drums (TIMPANI). I used to play timpani back in high school, so this was a gimme for me.


• 36d: Bummed (IN A FUNK). This was my first thought when I read this clue, but it took a few crossings before I believed it was the correct one.


• 37d: Anonymous guy (MISTER X). Very nice. If I hadn't had couple of crossings that I was pretty comfortable with, I would have guessed JOHN DOE.


• 38d: 11th-century king of Norway (OLAV III). The Olavs (sometimes Olafs) show up more than most kings (almost as much as tsars). Get used to them.


• 39d: "Impressive!" (NICE ONE). Nice one.


• 40d: Less forgiving (STERNER).


• 45d: Seurat's "Un dimanche ___-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte" (APRÈS). I didn't know the title, but I can read "A Sunday ___-noon..." and have a pretty good idea what's missing.


• 46d: U. hotshots (BMOCS). Alright, you've hit one of my real pet peeves here. Skip ahead if you don't want to hear it. BMOC stands for Big Man on Campus. The plural of Big Man on Campus is Big Men on Campus, which also abbreviates to BMOC. There's no S at the end; it can be used interchangebly as a singular or plural ("He is the BMOC." "They are the BMOC.") It's the same for RBI (runs batted in/run batted in). Ortiz had 3 RBI; Manny had 1 RBI. It drives me up a wall when sportcasters say RBIS. Of course, they don't know the difference between "well" and "good" either, so what can you expect. Ok, I'm done for now.


• 49d: Final Four game (SEMI).


• 50d: Part of ORU (ORAL). It was either ORAL or UNIV.


• 52d: "___ Kill" (William Shatner novel) (TEK). I've heard of "Tek War", though I never read it. Turns out the Shat has written nine books in this series: Tek War, Tek Lords, Tek Lab, Tek Vengeance, Tek Secret, Tek Power, Tek Money, Tek Kill, and Tek Net. When Tek Sex comes out, I'll start at the beginning.

So, there you have it. A fine example of what a Weekend Warrior can be. Plenty tough, but pretty fair, and filled with interesting and colorful words, names, and phrases. Nice work by Mr. Quigley.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Title: Double Down
Author: Joe DiPietro
Theme: Four long down fills include a homophonic number substitution, where the numbers progressively double: 1, 2, 4, 8. As follows:

• Won by a landslide => ONE BY A LANDSLIDE (3d: Mountain climber in peril?).


• Fell to pieces => FELL TWO PIECES (18d: Knock down the king and queen?). How many answers simultaneously evoke chess and Patsy Cline? Very nice.


• Just for kicks => JUST FOUR KICKS (9d: What the fans saw with only a single punt in each quarter?). My only quibble here is that it's probably not true. If there's only one punt per quarter, it's pretty darn likely that there have been some field goals and/or touchdowns (with extra points), both of which involve kicks.


• Ate like a horse => EIGHT LIKE A HORSE (11d: Rowing team enjoys Mister Ed?). I like it.

This is a nice theme, and an example of the significance of a good title. Most of the time, theme answers run horizontal. When I noticed the long fills ran vertical, my first thought was that it must be a 15x16 (fairly common in the Sun). But no, a quick count showed that the grid was standard. Then I looked at the title (I should probably look at the title first thing, but I don't always think of it), and realized "downness" was part of the theme. Turns out, it's not really an integral part of the theme itself; the theme answers would work just as well horizontally. But it's an integral part of the theme's title, and it's worth rotating the grid to be able to use the very nice "double down" (a blackjack betting reference) to describe the theme.

Sunny Spots:

• 17a: Witches' brew ingredient (EYE OF NEWT). So soon after the plastic surgery theme, it's hard not to think of Newt Gingrich here. Which is probably significantly grosser than the original thought.


• 21a: What show-offs do with their stuff? (STRUT). Great use of the "struts one's stuff" idiom.


• 40a: Victory away from home (ROAD WIN). The Celtics could use another one of these.


• 42a: "Here's what's happening in your neck of the woods" speaker (AL ROKER). Weatherman for the "Today" show. He still is, right? I haven't watched morning television in years.


• 51a: Do a job for a summer? (ADD). "Summer", as in "one who sums". Very nasty! Very nice.


• 6d: Some "Babe" babes? (EWES). I really like this clue. "Babe" was a great movie. We took the kids to it, then went home and had pork for dinner. No lie.


• 39d: Brown finisher, e.g. (GRAD). As in Brown University. Nice twist.


• 43d: Top 10 song of October 1970 (LOLA). My first guess, from LO__ was the CCR song "Lodi". But the Kinks' "Lola" makes more sense. And a song about cross-dressing was pretty cutting edge back then.


• 65d: Ship for a couples' cruise? (ARK). Almost too cute. But not quite.

We also find several verbal expressions, which are always colorful:

• 1d: "Not bloody likely!" (I BET).


• 5d: "Holy cow!" (MAN).


• 7d: "Moving right along ..." (NOW, THEN).


• 46d: Cry of success (I MADE IT).


• 67d: "Got it, cap'n" (AYE).

Sundries:

• 1a: Short stack spot, for short (IHOP). Nothing quite like a roadside IHOP when you're traveling. Eggs over easy, corned beef hash, and a stack of pancakes... Mmmmmm.


• 5a: Carte (MENU). C'est français;.


• 9a: Some e-mail attachments (JPEGS). Common image format (along with GIF).


• 14a: Bandmate of Adam Clayton (BONO). From U2. If you watch "South Park", you'll know that Bono was absolutely skewered in an episode involving the World Record for Largest Crap. Talk about cutting satire.


• 15a: Missing, maybe (AWOL). Absent Without Leave.



• 19a: Star of stars? (Carl SAGAN).


• 30a: Cerebellum section (LOBE).


• 32a: Turbulence (MOIL). Moil is a cool word. Everyone should go out and try to use moil in a sentence sometime today. Bonus points for the best recounting of their moil usage.


• 34a: ISP with keywords (AOL).


• 35a: Drift (TREND). These words are similar, and you can find a definition of each that matches the other, but I'm not crazy about it.


• 37a: On drugs (USING).


• 44a: Chorionic villus sampling alternative, for short (AMNIO). I had BOON for BOOM at 29d: Thriving time, which gave me ANNIO here. I'm guessing this was a Peter Gordon clue.


• 45a: Fared all right (DID OK).


• 47a: Fab alternative (ERA). Detergent brands.



• 48a: Portrayer of Crane and Sparrow on film (Johnny DEPP). Easy.


• 50a: Timbuktu's nation (MALI).


• 52a: They can be ripped or burned (CDS). Nice clue.


• 54a: Its state quarter says "Foundation in education" (IOWA). I had the IO__ when I got to this clue; not much mystery there.


• 58a: Response to an IM'ed joke (LOL).


• 59a: Skip over (ELIDE).


• 61a: Dehydrated soup brand (KNORR). I've never used this, but I've seen it in the store.


• 64a: Pioneering computer (ENIAC). A gimme for me. And a cool-looking word to boot (no pun intended).


• 66a: Took the wrong way? (LED ASTRAY). This clue works, but you have to be the one doing the leading; otherwise it would be "taken the wrong way". The fact that "led astray" is usually used from the victim's perspective ("I was led astray") as opposed to the instigator's ("I led [someone] astray"), makes it feel just a touch awkward. But I still like it.


• 69a: Fairly large (TIDY). As in "a tidy sum".


• 72a: Ocular woe (STYE). Stye shows up a little more often than I would prefer to see it.


• 2d: Big East player from D.C. (HOYA). Georgetown has been in enough NCAA tournaments that this one was a total gimme.


• 8d: Michelob product (ULTRA). Give me a microbrew anyday. How about a bottle of Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout? Mmmmmm...


• 10d: P.S. org. (PTA). Around where I live, we never abbreviate "public school" as P.S.; but in New York City, where there are literally hundreds of schools, they refer to them by number. In fact, if you Google "PSnnn", where nnn is any 3-digit number, more times than not you'll probably find a New York public school.


• 12d: Outfielder's problem, at times (GLARE). Especially during day games.


• 22d: Birthplace of Albert Einstein (ULM). This is one of those pieces of trivia that just sticks, for some reason. I'm pretty sure I knew this well before I started doing puzzles. It's like knowing that Mark Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri.


• 28d: Plantation in a 1936 novel (TARA). Ditto here, though I probably got this one from playing Trivial Pursuit.


• 31d: Relent (BEND).


• 33d: Metric prefix? (ISO). Cryptic clue -- it's a prefix for "metric", not a prefix from the Metric system.


• 36d: Arthur Cravan's genre (DADA). I don't recall ever hearing the name Arthur Cravan, but what other 4-letter genre starts with D? Apparently, he was quite the interesting chap, and his life was the basis for a graphic novel by Dark Horse Comics.


• 38d: Bully's target, perhaps (NERD). Or geek, or wimp.


• 49d: Hill biggie (POL). Capital Hill, that is.


• 53d: "Holy Sonnets" poet (DONNE). I didn't know this, but it wasn't hard either. Most poet clues I just go by the letter patterns. There aren't that many poets that I know by poem name. You've probably heard his Holy Sonnet X, if not by that name:
  

  
  Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee
  Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
  For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
  Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
  From rest and sleep, which yet thy pictures be,
  Much pleasure, then from thee much more, must low
  And soonest our best men with thee do go,
  Rest of their bones and soul's delivery.
  Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men
  And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell,
  And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
  And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then ?
  One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
  And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
  

• 55d: Droops (WILTS).


• 57d: Input (ENTER). The verb, as in to input data.


• 60d: Go around and around, in a way (EDDY). Another word that more often used as a noun.


• 62d: Skateboard park fixture (RAMP). HALFPIPE didn't fit; what else could it be?


• 63d: Bar selections (RYES). Not for me. I'm not a rye fan at all. Give me single-malt scotch any day. Preferably Islay.

Suns of Bitches:

• 56a: Banda ___ (Indonesian tsunami site of 2004) (ACEH). Huh?


• 68a: 1989 Heisman Trophy winner Ware (ANDRE). I'm not a football fanatic, but I watch the NFL enough that I know most of the big names. Usually a Heisman Trophy winner makes a big enough splash in the NFL that you can't help but know who they are. Not so here. In fact, Andre is #1 on ESPN.com "Page 2"'s Biggest Heisman flops. He eventually went to the Canadian Football League and flopped there as well. Let's pick a different Andre next time, shall we?



• 70a: ___ Squalor (Lemony Snicket character) (ESMÉ). Oh, no! New life for the dreaded ESMÉ. Guess we'll be seeing more of her. This character name is almost certainly derived from the J.D. Salinger novel.


• 4d: Port town on the English Channel (POOLE). Hunh.


• 25d: Singer on the big screen (LORI). I suppose I'm supposed to know her. After all, she was in "Footloose" 25 years ago. So was Kevin Bacon, but he's done one or two things since then.

This was an enjoyable puzzle for me. Not too difficult, but enough tricky clues and smiles to keep me happy. Nice job.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Title: Bury the Hatchet
Author: Randall J. Hartman
Theme: Insert the word "AX" into common phrases to get new phrases.

• Strip mine => "STRIP, MAXINE!" (16a: Command to the promiscuous widow in "The Night of the Iguana" to take her clothes off?).


• Favorite son => FAVORITE SAXON (22a: Pet German of yore?).


• Blood relation => BLOOD RELAXATION (37a: Quiet time for a Los Angeles gang member?).



• Chicken wing => CHICKEN WAXING (48a: Process of taking hair off a fraidy-cat?).


• Ted Knight => TAXED KNIGHT (59a: Gave Sir Lancelot everything he could handle?).

I like this theme; it's clever and amusing. It's pretty easy to guess what's going on just from the title, but with entries like CHICKEN WAXING, who cares! Very nice indeed.

Sunny Spots:

• 13a: "Let's Make a Deal" choice (DOOR). This show was way more than the sum of its parts. It was legend. I'll take the box where Carol Merrill is standing...


• 14a: The point (0,0) (ORIGIN). You know I like the math clues.


• 10d: "Rats!" (DOGGONE IT). Very nice.


• 30d: Some mounds in the ground (MOLE HILLS). How sweet would have been to have MOUNTAINS in the same puzzle...


• 38d: "Champagne Supernova" band (OASIS). Good song! Here's a link.


• 47d: Lustful desire (LIBIDO). Great word.

Sundries:

• 1a: Where the N.Y. Rangers play their home games (MSG). It's a flavor enhancer and a sports arena. Here, of course, it refers to Madison Square Garden.


• 4a: Slander or libel (DEFAME).


• 10a: Pop (DAD).


• 15a: ___ Miss (OLE). I know this from NCAA basketball tournament pools.


• 18a: Rickey ingredient (GIN). I've never had a Lime Rickey, but I do drink the occasional summer gin and tonic.


• 19a: Soda bottle size (LITER).


• 20a: Class (ILK). Ilk's an okay word.


• 21a: Prankster's missiles (EGGS). I really wanted PEAS here. Eggs are hardcore.


• 26a: Blissful place (EDEN). Just watch out for serpents.


• 28a: Jacques or Pierre (NOM). French for "name".


• 34a: Hall of Fame third baseman George (BRETT).


• 41a: Grover's second veep (ADLAI). If his name didn't have three vowels, no one would remember who he was.


• 42a: Chowderhead (DOLT). Chowderhead's a great word; it would be nicer if it were fill instead of clue.


• 43a: "Boohbah" watcher (TOT). Not familiar with the show, as it's been a while since I've had young kids. But it wasn't hard to figure out.


• 44a: Self starter? (ESS). Cryptic clue! Don't fall for these.


• 45a: Sea on the border of Kazakhstan (ARAL). This one shows up a lot, often as "Asian sea" or "Shrinking sea".


• 54a: Maui gifts (LEIS). Wahines on Tuesday, Maui on Wednesday. I might have swapped those.


• 55a: Tic-tac-toe loser (OXO). There are six possible answers to this: OOX, OXO, XOO, XXO, XOX, and OXX.


• 56a: New York theater awards (OBIES).


• 58a: Last word in the Pledge of Allegiance (ALL). That's a really easy clue for a Wednesday.


• 62a: Under the weather (ILL).



• 63a: "___ Ambition" (2007 Jessica Simpson movie) (BLONDE).


• 64a: "Jurassic Park" costar of Goldblum (DERN).


• 65a: Numero uno número primo (DOS). First prime number, in Spanish. I don't know enough about the language to know why the first "Numero" doesn't have an accent like the second one. Maybe it's a typo.


• 66a: Shop tool (SANDER).


• 67a: Jazz trombonist Kid ___ (ORY). I know this from puzzles.


• 1d: Recurring theme (MOTIF). Motif's a decent word.


• 2d: In a way, in a way (SORTA). Cute. Sorta.


• 3d: Tear up, maybe (GRIEVE).


• 4d: Bro of Joltin' Joe (DOM). Referring to the DiMaggio brothers.


• 5d: Part of BCE (ERA). Before the Common Era.


• 6d: Handyman (FIX-IT). That's "Mr. Fix-it" to you.


• 7d: Twinkle-toed (AGILE). Another one where the clue is more sparkling than the fill.


• 8d: Furry animals (MINKS). Most mammals are furry. Is this a reference to the fact that people make fur coats out of them? Either way, it reminds me of Season 5 American Idol, when Simon Cowell called Kelly Pickler "a naughty little minx". Man, was she cute, but you can't fake that kind of stupid.


• 9d: Chemical suffix (ENE). I'm not sure if this is better or worse than an "a-to-b direction" clue. Thoughts?


• 11d: Put in a row (ALIGN).


• 12d: Cub Scout groups (DENS).


• 13d: Hi-tech connection (DSL).


• 17d: Goad (PROD).


• 21d: Bring to bear (EXERT).


• 23d: Bring up (REAR). I didn't figure it was going to be PUKE, but you never know. This isn't the Times, you know.


• 24d: Between the sheets (IN BED). I've heard both of these as the phrase you're supposed to add after reading a fortune cookie fortune. "Big things will be coming your way..."



• 25d: Jessica of "Fantastic Four" (ALBA).


• 28d: Org. of Hawks and Raptors (NBA).


• 29d: Word with school or guard (OLD).


• 32d: "Sweet Talkin' Woman" band (ELO). This was huge when I was growing up. In case you can't place it, here it is.


• 33d: Four-time Emmy winner for Outstanding Drama Series (L.A. LAW). Good show.


• 36d: Big bang letters (TNT).


• 39d: Othello piece (DISC).


• 46d: Cell impulse transmitter (AXON).


• 48d: Jacqueline du Pré's instrument (CELLO). Also Yo-yo Ma's.


• 49d: Eucalyptus the Beanie Baby, e.g. (KOALA). What else could it be?


• 50d: ___ Valdez (EXXON). Don't drink and drive! Especially not oil tankers.


• 51d: Exceedingly (NO END).


• 52d: Bamako's river (NIGER). Easy enough with a couple of crossings.


• 53d: Pritzker-winning architect Frank (GEHRY).


• 54d: Chewed out, with "into" (LAID).


• 57d: B&O stop (STN). I never know whether this is going to be STN or STA. I'm pretty sure I've seen it both ways.


• 59d: "Dinner and a Movie" channel (TBS).


• 60d: Only president other than LBJ born in Texas (DDE). Dwight D. Eisenhower. Bush the Elder was born in Massachusetts. Bush the "Is it over yet?" was born in Connecticut.


• 61d: Plop or plunk lead-in (KER). Yeah, okay.

Suns of Bitches:

• 27a: "Dancing With the Stars" judge Goodman (LEN). Names are always my downfall. Luckily there were no hard crossings here.


• 31a: Explorer Tasman (ABEL). Ditto.


• 40d: Pibb ___ (soda brand) (XTRA). Didn't know this one.

First, as a constructor, there's something just a little inelegant about having a black square in the top left (and bottom right) corner. It's usually a huge red flag that screams "I'm having trouble filling this section". Sometimes it's critical to an otherwise open crossword (which, at 19.5% black squares, this one is not); sometimes it is necessary to support a "theme clue" as the last entry in the puzzle (again, not the case here); and sometimes it's worth it for the snazzy fill in those shortened entries... let's see... MSG, DSL, STN, and ORY... nope, not that either. So, I'm guessing this puzzle, with its five theme entries, was just a bear to fill.

As a solver, I thought the theme was great, but the fill was only so-so. A couple of nice entries, but overall there was more sparkle in the clues than in the fill. I found a good portion of the puzzle to be just a bit on the dull side for me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Title: Plastic Surgery Gone Bad
Author: Mike Torch
Theme:Words that sound like they're a combination of a famous person's last name and a body part. As follows:

• 20a: What the plastic surgeon created after I asked to look like a “Star Wars”actress? (PORTMAN TOES). Reference to Natalie Portman. Homophone of "portmanteaus".


• 34a: What the plastic surgeon created after I asked to look like “The Man in Black”? (CASH EARS). Reference to Johnny Cash. Homophone of "cashiers".


• 46a: What the plastic surgeon created after I asked to look like the author of “Delta of Venus”? (NIN KNEES). Reference to Anaïs Nin. Homophone of "ninnies".


• 61a: What the plastic surgeon created after I asked to look like a “City Slickers”actor? (CRYSTAL EYES). Reference to Billy Crystal. Homophone of "crystallize".

This is pretty cute. Portman toes and Crystal eyes sound really smooth to my ear. Cash ears is just slightly off, due to the accenting of the first syllable instead of the second. Nin knees sounds pretty awkward to me. Still, I like the concept. And knowing the theme did help on the latter clues, which it should on a Tuesday.

Sunny Spots:

• 9a: New Orleans cooking style (CAJUN). If there's one thing we like better than food clues, it's spicy food clues. And it's a cool word to boot.



• 15a: Tunnel of ___ (amusement park ride) (LOVE). This is cool clue, but I'm wondering -- has anyone actually been on a "tunnel of love" ride? I feel like it's one of things I read about in books (and Dire Straits songs), but have never actually seen. I've been on Disney's "It's a Small World", does that count?


• 39a: Fertilized egg (ZYGOTE). Nice word for a Tuesday.


• 48a: Unanalyzed info (RAW DATA). As a software engineer, I like this fill a lot.


• 36d: With 58-Across, attempt to deceive using flattery (SNOW JOB). Another great phrase.


• 41a: Topnotch (PRIMO). This is a nice change from the all-too-common A-ONE.


• 43a: Scores (A LOT). Tricky for an early week puzzle.


• 44a: Flips over (ADORES). Another tricky clue for a Tuesday.


• 6d: Torture ___ (genre of the “Saw” films) (PORN). I had never heard the term "torture porn" and I don't go for the "Saw"-type films, but you have to admit this is a colorful, if disturbing, phrase.


• 45d: Admit making a mistake (EAT CROW). Very nice fill. And "Crow" always reminds me of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), one of the funniest shows ever to be on television. Snippets don't do it justice, but here's one anyway.

Sundries:

• 1a: “Hey,buddy, over here!” (PSST). A nice gimme to start off the puzzle.


• 5a: Simians (APES). They just ran "Planet of the Apes" on TV again last week. Such a classic.


• 14a: The Kentucky Derby, for example (RACE). This could be a Triple Crown year. Go Big Brown!


• 16a: Dumbfound (AMAZE).


• 17a: Arab League member (OMAN).


• 19a: Arab League member (SYRIA). I prefer it when repeated clues are interpreted differently each time. I find this use kind of bland.


• 18a: Sudoku puzzle, essentially (GRID).


• 23a: Onetime JFK arrival (SST).


• 24a: Authority (SAY SO). "On whose say so?" Nice idiom.


• 25a: Yearly observance: Abbr. (ANNIV.). Tough to end in a V without resorting to abbreviations like this one.


• 27a: One down in Durango? (UNO). Not "One down, in Durango"; rather "One, down in Durango".


• 30a: Built a new wing (ADDED ON)


• 40a: Fan mag (ZINE). Short for "magazine".


• 50a: Wahine’s wear (LEI). A wahine is a Polynesian or Hawaiian woman. I can see how, if you didn't know the word, this might be a tough clue; but it shows up so often in puzzles that it turns into a gimme.


• 51a: Pool worker (STENO). Do steno pools still exist? Do stenographers still exist outside of courtrooms? There was a day when many large corporations (and the U.S. military) hired people (predominantly women) skilled in shorthand and transcription. I honestly don't know if anyone still does, or whether this is an area where technology has made the job obsolete. Either way, this is a tough clue for a Tuesday.


• 53a: Stretchy fabric (LYCRA). Somehow, a Jeff Foxworthy line comes to mind: "Just because it comes in your size doesn't mean you should wear it!" Listen to the man.


• 64a: Mathematician who introduced the symbol e for the base of natural logarithms (EULER). Gimme for me, but I studied math.


• 66a: “Heck!” (DARN)


• 67a: Hill builders (ANTS)


• 68a: Sister of Thalia (ERATO). Referring to the Greek Muses.


• 70a: Pirelli product (TIRE)


• 71a: Skeptic’s shout (PSHAW). I like PSST better than PSHAW, as expressions go. Personally, I've never said "Pshaw". I prefer the more Dogbertian "Pah!".


• 72a: Thanksgiving tubers (YAMS). Actually, they're good all year round.


• 73a: Nae sayer (SCOT). Cute.


• 1d: Supports (PROPS). With the spate of REP and CRED clues lately, I'm surprised this one wasn't clued as street slang.



• 2d: Its flag features the Southern Cross (SAMOA). Easy enough to figure out after a couple of crosses.


• 3d: One of the Spice Girls (SCARY). You know what's scary? The fact that I knew this answer. And I couldn't right now name a single Spice Girls song (I'm sure I've heard them, and a title or two are probably familiar if I saw the names, but nothing is coming to mind).


• 4d: Revival enclosures (TENTS). Nice clue here.


• 5d: Water silk, e.g. (ALGA). I'm not used to seeing this in its singular form, but it was still easy enough to figure out.


• 7d: Best Musical the year before “42nd Street” (EVITA). Name a musical that starts with "E".


• 8d: Arizona city known for its red rocks (SEDONA). Namesake for the Kia Sedona?


• 9d: 1969 Newman role (CASSIDY). From "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", with Robert Redford.


• 12d: Commando weapons (UZIS). Is it a commentary on modern society that this one was so easy?


• 13d: Without ice (NEAT). Do people still order drinks neat? Or is this an old-time phrase. Or is it only only used for certain drinks? Me, I just say "no ice" or "straight up".


• 21d: Little grimace (MOUE). Moue has been showing up a lot lately. Seems like every other puzzle, but probably not quite that bad. I still like the word, but it's starting to get stale.


• 22d: Safety spot (END ZONE). Reference to a safety in football, whereby the offense is downed in their own end zone. Not very safe at all.



• 26d: Human herbivore (VEGAN). Here's a picture of me with a well-known vegan.


• 28d: Online music source (NAPSTER). Remember when Napster was free and Metallica was out suing people for piracy? Here's a classic video from that time, lampooning Metallica for basically being greedy bastards. Regardless of which side of the controversy you fall on, the video's pretty funny. (Content and language warning!).


• 29d: “Number Four, Bobby ___!” (children’s book) (ORR). This is a gimme for Boston sports fans.


• 31d: Longtime Senate colleague of Kassebaum (DOLE). Four-letter senator beginning with D? Has to be DOLE or DODD.


• 32d: Nebraska county that borders Iowa and Missouri (OTOE). I'm not used to seeing this clued as a county, usually it refers to the tribe.


• 33d: Basketball tournament souvenirs (NETS).


• 34d: Anastasia’s father was one (CZAR). Here we have the less-common spelling of TSAR.


• 37d: Range rovers (HERDS). I had HEADS at first, as in heads of cattle.


• 42d: Plastic bag thickness measurement (MIL). I don't know why I know this, but it was a gimme.


• 52d: Honshu city (OSAKA)


• 54d: “The Second Coming” poet (YEATS). I don't know my poems very well, but I know Yeats was a poet and it fit. There was also a Cranberries song called "Yeats's Grave". I can't find a decent video of them doing it, but here is a surprisingly good version that someone posted on youtube.


• 55d: Pessimistic sort (CYNIC). Nice.


• 56d: Nostalgic style (RETRO)


• 57d: Plus (ASSET). The noun form: That's a plus.


• 58d: Grand Cherokee maker (JEEP). Easy.


• 60d: Drab (BLAH).


• 62d: In good condition (TRIM). As in "fit and trim", which was not what I was thinking when I read the clue. I was thinking along the lines of coins: mint, proof, etc., so this took a couple of crossings to nail.


• 65d: Socratic H (ETA).

Suns of Bitches:

• 10d: Poehler of “Baby Mama” (AMY). No idea.


• 59d: “One of ___” (Willa Cather novel) (OURS). I didn't know this one, but the crossings were easy.


• 63d: Novelists Brashares and Packer (ANNS)

All in all, a pretty nice puzzle with some trickier clues than one might expect. Which is one of the things I really like about Sun puzzles in general -- the early-week puzzles tend to have a little more zing to them than those in the Times.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Happy Memorial Day

No puzzle today due to the holiday.

Photo by Pete Mitchell

This is a day to honor all who died fighting for what they believed in, as well as those who stood with them. It is a day to set aside politics, motivations, and global strategies and to focus on each individual man and woman who made the ultimate sacrifice, sharing the pain of their families and friends. It is a day to remember that opposing a war is not the same as opposing the soldiers who fight it. It is a day to say thank you; most of us cannot even begin to imagine what you have been through. Above all, it is a day to pray for peace, that someday these sacrifices will no longer be necessary.


Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Title: Auto Trailers
Author: Alan Arbesfeld
Theme: Phrases with car manufacturers hidden at the end.

• SOLAR PLEXUS (18a: Abdominal network).


• HELP ME RHONDA (24a: Song that knocked "Ticket to Ride" out of the #1 slot). Not my favorite Beach Boys tune (I'm kind of partial to "In My Room"), but nice fill.


• ANNO DOMINI (35a: Words before a date)


• LOSES A TURN (43a: Has to wait for the next round, perhaps). We love all things related to games and game shows. Very nice.


• ANTONIO GAUDI (50a: Spanish architect who designed the unfinished Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona). Didn't know this one.


• REGAL BEAGLE (62a: "Three's Company" hangout). This one's super! My favorite of the theme fills.

The strength of this theme is not so much in the concept, which is fine, but in the nice variety of colorful fill, which is quite excellent.

Sunny Spots:

• 15a: A play might be seen better with this (SLO-MO). This shows up periodically, but it's a cool fill with a relatively unusual vowel pattern.


• 47a: Weenies (TWERPS). Twerps is great word. I mean, just look at it.


• 21d: Collectible paper items (EPHEMERA). Epherma comes from the Greek for "a day", and it's used to describe things that last, or were designed to last, a relatively short period of time. Great, descriptive word.


• 27d: Base kid (ARMY BRAT). Excellent. I wonder if they're called that because of some particular family's kids that really were brats. (PB2, any comment here?)


• 40d: Locker room shower? (ESPN). Very nice.


• 65d: Gray head? (LEE). As in Robert E. LEE, head of the Confederate Army. Great clue.

Sundries:

• 1a: Street cred (REP). I feel like "cred" has been showing a lot lately.


• 4a: Stunned (AGASP). A had AGAPE to start.


• 16a: National competitor (ALAMO). This one didn't fool me; I immediately thought rental car.


• 17a: It holds the mayo (JAR).


• 20a: It can be bid (ADIEU). I was hoping for a bridge fill here (A CLUB, perhaps? Or ONE NO), but it was not to be.


• 22a: ___ noche (tonight, in Spanish) (ESTA).


• 23a: Sheep's tail? (ISH). My first thought was PEE (last letter of "sheep"), but it's ISH (as in sheepish). Either way, it gets the crytic clue tag.


• 28a: "Talk to ___" (HER). Am I missing something here? This feels like a really weak clue for HER. "Talk to the hand!", now that's a phrase worthy standing alone.



• 29a: California's motto (EUREKA). I think I learned this back in high school when we studied Archimedes.


• 33a: Band leader? (BEE). I was already in this mindset from the sheep clue, above, so this was easy. Another cryptic clue.


• 39a: Rap (BLAME). Rap as a noun. Very nice.


• 42a: Religious group (SYNOD).


• 46a: Quinella, e.g. (BET). In horse racing, the quinella bet is for the top two horses in either order, as opposed to the perfecta where order matters.


• 48a: Compass creation: Abbr. (CIR). The circle-drawing compass, not the navigational compass.



• 60a: Arabian Peninsula coastal city (ADEN). It lies on the Gulf of Aden, too, so you may see it clued that way.


• 66a: Land in the Seine (ILE). French for "island". This comes up a lot.


• 67a: Teed off (ANGRY). This is notable because the 5-letter answer to this clue is much more typically IRATE.


• 68a: Siouan-speaking Indians (OTOES). Another crossword staple.


• 69a: NAFTA signer (CAN). It's either USA, CAN, or MEX.


• 70a: Supply with fuel (STOKE). As in a campfire or coal stove.


• 71a: Dos, e.g. (NOTES). As in do re mi.


• 72a: Annapolis affirmative (AYE). Annapolis referring to the U.S. Naval Academy.


• 1d: Indian prince (RAJAH). This shows up about equally with and without the trailing H.


• 4d: Take on (ASSUME). As in resonsibility.



• 5d: Day-___ (GLO). I like that this cross SLOMO. Would be nicer if the entire phrase were included. Day-Glo does not make a good fashion statement.


• 6d: Surfing fan, perhaps (AOLER).


• 8d: ___-Novo (capital of Benin) (PORTO). Didn't know this one off the top, but it was pretty easy to figure with a couple of crossings.


• 9d: Hootenanny lass (GAL). Props for using the great word "hootenanny".


• 10d: "___ ELO" (hit album of 1976) (OLÉ). The hit you'll remember from this is "Evil Woman".


• 11d: Move toward the airstrip (TAXI).


• 12d: Stern contemporary (Don IMUS). Contemporary of, but not equal to, Howard Stern.


• 13d: Bite (NOSH). NOSH is another great word. I have to start using it more in everyday conversation.


• 19d: Like French doors (PANED.)


• 25d: A one-two-three inning makes it go down (ERA). Earned Run Average, for a baseball pitcher.


• 26d: The Blues Brothers and Indigo Girls, e.g. (DUOS). Nice clue.


• 30d: Article in Der Spiegel (EINE). Probably the most common German word in crossword puzzles.


• 31d: It may be hard to undo (KNOT). I was hoping for something cool and edgy when I read this clue, like ZIPPER or BRA STRAP or BAD PERM, but not this time.


• 33d: Leave, in slang (BLOW). As in "Let's blow this joint!", which, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with Spike Lee movies.


• 36d: Louis Armstrong Stadium divider (NET). Next to Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the U.S. Open of tennis is played.


• 37d: Kimmel Center sch. (NYU). We have to remember that the Sun is a local NYC newspaper. I'm sure this clue is a piece of cake if you're from around there.


• 38d: Poetic preposition (O'ER)


• 39d: Tref 'wich (BLT). Tref means non-kosher. I learned this recently from puzzles. And hey, it's a food clue.


• 45d: One with a chevron: Abbr. (NCO). Non-commissioned officer. I don't know my insignias, so I count on crossings. The clue may as well be "Name a military rank: Abbr.".


• 49d: "Um ... OK" (I GUESS). Nice phrase.


• 51d: Ancient Greek theater (ODEON). This shows up a lot.


• 52d: "That's swell!" (NEATO). Golly gee, that's peachy keen.


• 53d: Heavy metal bar, maybe (INGOT). Good clue surface reading.


• 54d: Seat of New York's Oneida County (UTICA).


• 57d: They're often rolled over (IRAS). Cute.


• 59d: Brand in the freezer (EGGO). Leggo my Eggo! More food.


• 64d: Caustic stuff (LYE)

Suns of Bitches:

• 41a: Macula's locale (EYE). Didn't know this one; got it from crossings.


• 56d: "Brave ___" (William Steig children's book) (IRENE). Ditto.

I didn't think this puzzle was particularly difficult for a Friday, but it was very enjoyable. Nice theme entries and decent fill, with enough things I didn't know off the top that made sense once I got them from the crossings to keep me interested. Good job.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, May, 22, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Tom Heilman
Theme: None

This is a nicely constructed themeless with four 9-letter stacks and two additional 9-letter fills for a total of 14. It's the quality of these longer entries that makes or breaks a good themeless, so let's have a look.

• TACO SALAD (1a: Mexican restaurant dish). Doesn't hurt to start off with a nice colorful food entry.


• ECONOLINE (15a: Ford van). Not bad. Reminds me of the Neil Young song "Tonight's the Night", which includes the lyrics: "Bruce Berry was a working man, he used to load that Econoline van".


• SHOE PHONE (17a: Smart method of communication?). This is my favorite clue of the bunch. Love "Get Smart".


• JOE CRONIN (52a: President of the American League before Lee MacPhail). The name is familiar, once I figured it out from the crossings.


• ARBITRATE (55a: Determine). Kind of dull, with a dull clue to match.


• GOOD SENSE (57a: Savvy). Nice phrase.


• DEEP SIXES (9d: Jettisons). Excellent.


• I NEED A NAP (12d: Insomniac's declaration). This is right up there with SHOE PHONE for me. Love it! And I do need a nap, too, even though I'm not an insomniac.


• TANGERINE (13d: Atomic ___ (Crayola color formerly called Chartreuse). Nice combination of food and pop-culture reference (I would consider Crayola to be "pop culture", wouldn't you?)


• STEERSMEN (14d: Helm handlers). Going a little old school with this one, but I like it.


• DOGNAPPER (28d: Person who takes pointers from others?). Nice fill with an excellent clue.


• OVERDRIVE (29d: Intense state of activity). Decent.


• ZETA-JONES (30d: Best Supporting Actress of 2002). Also good, with the added bonus of a J and a Z. I started with ZE- and guessed ZELLWEGER. who coincidentally shows up at 47d: George's "Leatherheads" costar (RENÉE).


• CRYING JAG (31d: Fit of uncontrolled weeping). I'm torn on this one. It seems like a cool phrase, but I don't I've ever actually heard it used, so it feels kind of forced. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt since the Steely Dan song "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" includes the phrase "cry a jag on me".

Overall, that's a nice set of long entries. Let's look at the rest of the puzzle.

Sunny Spots:

• 19a: King's English? (TOPSPIN). I'm assuming it's referring to Billie Jean King and tennis. This is a very clever clue, but as a pool player I have to nitpick: Topspin (or "follow") is not technically English. Neither is backspin (draw). English implies left or right spin. Merriam-Webster backs me up on this: "spin around the vertical axis deliberately imparted to a ball that is driven or rolled" (emphasis mine). I know it's probably one of those things where enough people generalize "English" to refer to any spin that it becomes "acceptable", but I don't have to like it.


• 20a: Mentor's tutee (PROTÉGÉ). Nice to see this clued without reference to the car.


• 23a: Form letters? (IRS). This would been especially appropriate a few weeks ago.


• 32a: ___ Chimpsky (chimp in a language experiment) (NIM). A clear play on linguist Noam Chomsky. Very cute.


• 44a: Diet Coke forerunner (TAB). There was a running gag concerning Tab in the first season of the Sarah Silverman Show on Comedy Central, a pretty offbeat show that is often downright raunchy.


• 2d: Cold call? (ACHOO). Cute.


• 6d: Trumpeter nicknamed "The Round Mound of Sound" (AL HIRT). Not to be confused with Charles Barkley, who was the "Round Mound of Rebound". Here's Al playing our national anthem. Not bad, but my favorite version of all time, by far, was done by Branford Marsalis and Bruce Hornsby. I heard it played for an NBA All-star game back in 1991 when Desert Storm was just getting under way; it literally made people cry. You can find it on the soundtrack to Ken Burns's "Baseball" or, if you don't mind a quick, free download, you can hear it here for nothing. Oh, and by the way, guess who the MVP of that game was? None other than Charles Barkley. See how it all comes together?


• 25d: Cross product (PEN). As a former math major, I love this clue.


• 37d: Half-pints (SQUIRTS). Great fill and clue.


• 41d: Bad (RANCID). Rancid is a great word. It's also the name of a punk/ska band. You might have heard this one on the radio.


• 45d: Two-time screen role for Arnold Schwarzenegger (CONAN). Most people in his position would want to forget these films ever came out. But I get the distinct impression he's pretty proud of them.


• 50d: Twist request (MORE). It took me a second to make sense of this one. The clever twist here is that the Twist in question is Oliver Twist. Very nice.

Sundries:

• 24a: More financially sound (SOLIDER). This one makes me grimace a bit. Does anyone say "solider"? I totally understand why constructors put these in, but they feel kind of lazy to me. Just because it's an adjective doesn't mean you can add -ER to it and still have it sound "in-the-language".


• 27a: "___ longa, vita brevis" (ARS). Yeah, whatever. I do note that ARS shows up in the puzzle database five times more often in the NY Times than the NY Sun. Thank you for that, Peter Gordon. I also note that the much more commonly used ARSE never shows up in either. I'm just saying.



• 28a: Earthmover for short (DOZER). Dozer is also Tank's brother in "The Matrix".


• 31a: Forward-facing crew members (COXES). This one threw me a little. I immediately thought of COXSWAINS, the leader of a rowing crew, but I've never seen it abbreviated this way. I guessed COX'NS at first, which wasn't far off.


• 34a: Pushy person (URGER). More with the -ER fill, this time using it to change verbs to nouns. Correct or not, it's certainly not pretty.


• 35a: Die down (WANE)


• 36a: Grasp (GET). As in understand, get it?


• 38a: Become more tasty (RIPEN). I'd be more comfortable with this clue if it had a "perhaps" in it. Not everything becomes more tasty as it ripens. Meat, for example.


• 39a: Org. that opposed the Brady Bill (NRA). The "Brady Bill" was a gun legislation named for James Brady, a White House Press Secretary who was shot during one of the attempted assassinations of Reagan in 1981.


• 41a: Peri's role on "Frasier" (ROZ).


• 45a: Heel (CUR). I had CAD, which I think is closer in meaning to HEEL than CUR is.


• 48a: Math homework at times (PROVING). Yeah, okay. PROOFS feels more correct, but I'll let it slide.


• 49a: Tentacled zoophyte (ANEMONE). Great word; cool creature.


• 51a: Yearning person (PINER). You already know what I'm going to say about this one, right?


• 54a: She won the 1976, 1977, and 1978 U.S. Opens without losing a set (Chris EVERT). That's domination!


• 56a: Signs of silence (RESTS). Reference to sheet music.


• 1d: Placement determiners, sometimes (TESTS)


• 3d: Some apartments (CO-OPS). Or COOPS, if you're a chicken. I had LOFTS to start.


• 4d: Tip jar contents (ONES). I suppose g-string contents would have been too risqué?


• 5d: More drenched (SOPPIER). Ugh.


• 10d: Team owned by Peter Angelos (ORIOLES)


• 11d: Prefix with family or room (MULTI)


• 21d: Playmate of Spot (ROVER). Is this a reference to two specific dogs named Spot and Rover, or just based on the fact that Spot and Rover are common dog names? If the former, what is the reference? If the latter, I think I deserves a "?" or "maybe" at the end.


• 26d: Subject of the book "The Man Who Made Lists" (ROGET). Didn't know this, but it makes sense.


• 34d: One-way street no-no (U-TURN). Thank you for spelling this one out; when it's only three letters I never know if it's UIE or UEY.


• 35d: 1978 Michael Jackson movie, the "The" (WIZ). The cast of this Wizard of Oz remake also includes Diana Ross, Richard Pryor, Lena Horne, and Nipsey Russell.


• 38d: Chief Justice of the United States (John G. ROBERTS)


• 44d: Cardio workout routine (TAE BO)


• 53d: Montana motto metal (ORO). We're not sure why Montana's motto (Oro y plata) is in Spanish, but it is. Any Montanans out there that care to chime in?

Suns of Bitches:

• 18a: "Ryan's Hope actress ___ Kristen (ILENE).


• 22a: 2007 Jonas Brothers song (SOS). Don't know the Jonas Brothers. Is this an Abba remake, or an original song?


• 37a: Chalazia (STYES). Not familiar with the term.


• 8d: "The Voice of Bugle ___" (1936 Lionel Barrymore film) (ANN). Also with Maureen O'Sullivan, but I haven't seen it.

All in all, not a bad themeless. Not particularly hard, but with nice longer entries. I could do with fewer -ER fills, but that's pretty minor in the big scheme of things.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Title: Empowered
Author: Yaakov Bendavid
Theme: Taking phrases that start with N and changing it to M, as follows:

• nail clipper => MAIL CLIPPER (17a: Ship used to transport letters?)


• neat freak => MEAT FREAK (28a: Frequent steakhouse patron?). Went through both MEAT EATER and MEAT LOVER before I figured out the theme.


• net assets => MET ASSETS (42a: Over two million works of art?)


• nacho cheese => MACHO CHEESE (56a: Ingredient you shouldn't use to make quiche?)

This is a pretty average theme. Straight letter substitution is a very common mechanism, and frankly these resulting phrases didn't do much for me. Nothing wrong with them, just not particularly exciting or funny.

Sunny Spots:

• 1a: Member of a film crew (GAFFER). I've always loved the name gaffer, and even when I had no idea what one was we used to watch movie credits to see who the gaffer and key grip were. The gaffer is the head electrician on the set, while the key grip is in charge of all the "grips" -- the people who move things around (the movie set equivalent of stage hands). "The Gaffer" is also the nickname of Sam Gamgee's father, Hamfast, in The Lord of the Rings. Which is cool, because this entry crosses 1d: Looker's leg (GAM). Gaffer, Gam? Gee!



• 16a: Use your scull (OAR). It was either ROW or OAR. Either way, I like the twist on "Use your skull!" (i.e., "Don't be a dumbass!").


• 20a: More pleasant, as weather (BALMIER). Okay, I admit that I don't whether this actually happened, is urban legend, or was just a joke, but for 20 some years in Boston there was a husband and wife duo on the local news, Chet Curtis and Natalie Jacobson. As the story goes, in one of their broadcasts, Natalie asks, "What's the weather in a word, Chet?". To which Chet replies, "Balmy, Natalie". Bonus points for anyone who can validate that this actually occured.


• 40a: Haydn sobriquet (PAPA). Nice to see Haydn here instead of the more-obvious Hemingway.



• 11d: Muttonchops alternative (GOATEE). I think muttonchops is one of the greatest words to describe facial hair. Not that I like the style, but I like the word.


• 13d: Host of the National Geographic Bee (TREBEK). Not as nice as seeing his whole name, but still good fill.


• 24d: Mr. Potato Head accessory (NOSE). Am I misremembering, or did Mr. Potato Head used to have pipe? Either way, this is a great way to spice up a potentially boring entry.


• 36d: 1964 #1 hit for the Beatles (LOVE ME DO). I don't really need to link this song, but I will anyway.


• 39d: Cut the mustard? (REAP). As in literally cutting the plant for harvest. Very nice. Is cutting mustard difficult? I'm wondering how the term "couldn't cut the mustard" came about.

Sundries:

• 7a: Insurance options: Abbr. (HMOS).


• 11a: "He ___ Game" (1998 Spike Lee joint) (GOT). I'm not sure I understand the "joint" part. Does joint mean movie?


• 14a: Like some lab mice (ALBINO)


• 15a: Cry from a butterfingers (OOPS). Easy, but nice.


• 19a: Fire truck tool (AXE)


• 21a: Attempt (STAB). The noun, as is "take a stab at".


• 25a: Per (APIECE). Yesterday it was A POP, today it's A PIECE.


• 27a: Con ___ (tenderly,on a score) (AMORE). Makes sense: with love.


• 31a: Residences for cardinals (NESTS). Cute.


• 32a: Opposite of sans (AVEC). Basic French I can handle.


• 33a: Former spouses (EXES). This is easy in four letters. In three, I never know whether it's XES or EXS. I think it's the former.


• 34a: Three goddesses of destiny, with "the" (FATES)


• 36a: Creepy look (LEER)


• 41a: Three-card street scam (MONTE). There are a lot of versions of three-card monte. The really good ones use unadulterated cards and are pure sleight-of-hand, like this one. WARNING: The audio on this is horrendous and loud, so turn your speakers way down before following the link.


• 47a: Show that won seven Tonys in 1980 (EVITA). I am more familiar with the film version, starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.


• 48a: Receptacle under a barbecue (ASH PIT). I had ASHCAN to start, but this actually makes more sense.


• 49a: Admitted (to) (OWNED UP). Nice phrase.


• 51a: Rob Roy, e.g. (SCOT). I was thinking the drink and couldn't get anything to fit. Here we reference the actual person for which the drink (scotch and vermouth, with a dash of bitters) was named. Robert Roy MacGregor was a Scottish folk hero. ROB ROY itself shows up in puzzles occasionally, usually as the drink ("Manhattan relative").


• 52a: Element #3 (LITHIUM). I particularly like Nirvana song.


• 55a: Sea dog (TAR). Here's a shout out to the Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs, who are the Red Sox AA affiliate.


• 60a: Energy Star program org. (EPA). Our repeat-entry-from-yesterday of the day.


• 61a: Fit for military service (ONE A). I am thankfully too young to have been eligible for the draft. Somehow, I always think of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" when ONE-A (or ARLO, for that matter) appears in a puzzle.


• 63a: Movie critic Reed (REX)


• 64a: Housefly, for example (PEST)


• 65a: Prominent parts of aardvarks (SNOUTS)


• 3d: Justice Dept. agency (FBI)


• 4d: Thick-shelled nuts (FILBERTS). Also called a hazelnut.


• 5d: Packs up (ENCASES)


• 7d: Arizona tribe (HOPI). This one we actually learned back in elementary school, but I'm so trained to think OTOE and UTES that I didn't get it until I had a couple of crossings.


• 8d: Brood (MOPE)


• 12d: State that borders Guerrero (OAXACA). I'm not sure why I know this. I don't really, I guess, but I at least recognize the name. Probably from puzzles.


• 18d: Mosque leader (IMAM). This is a word I only know from crosswords.


• 21d: Round Table honorific (SIR). One of the shows I have seen (in Boston) is "Spamalot". What a great show!


• 22d: Barn roof spinner (VANE)


• 23d: Green card, for short (AMEX). Nice twist of a clue, referring not to immigration but American Express.


• 26d: Future specialist, perhaps: Abbr. (PFC). That's private first class, in the Army.


• 29d: Bother greatly (EAT AT)


• 30d: NYC's Madison, e.g. (AVE)


• 34d: Type A person's way of life (FAST LANE). I really like this fill, but the clue seems awkward to me. Is fast lane a way of life? I know we're referring to the expression "living in the fast lane", but it feels weird by itself. Anyone want to weigh in on this?


• 35d: Imitate (APE). It's almost always APE or PARROT; occasionally ECHO.


• 37d: Oklahoma city near Vance Air Force Base (ENID). Enid shows up a lot for not a very large place. According to Wikipedia, it has the most grain storage capacity in the United States. Sounds like an exciting place.


• 40d: Pitchfork-shaped letter (PSI)


• 43d: Houdini's expertise (ESCAPE)


• 44d: Insect section (THORAX). If Dr. Seuss's Lorax and "The Hobbit's" Thorin Oakenshield had a love child...


• 46d: Arty Manhattan neighborhood (SOHO). Short for SOuth of HOuston (Street).


• 50d: Candle parts (WICKS). Can you name another part of a candle?


• 54d: The House ___Ruth Built (nickname of Yankee Stadium) (THAT). Long clue just for a "THAT", but it's topical since this is the last season for Yankee Stadium. Even as a Red Sox fan, I feel sentimental about that.


• 56d: Thick mass of hair (MOP)

Suns of Bitches:

• 22a: Actress Hudgens of "High School Musical 2" (VANESSA). I didn't know this, but was able to suss it out from the crossings.


• 62a: "The Soul of a New Machine" author Tracy (KIDDER). Never heard of him. Luckily, KIDDER felt like a normal enough name, so the crossing at the "I" with MENUHIN was guessable. But it was a guess, so it gets the "guess-the-vowel" tag.


• 38d: "___, Babe"(1992 Mark Leyner book) (ET TU). Did not know this.


• 41d: Violinist Yehudi (MENUHIN). Not a clue. See "KIDDER" above.

Bottom line, this was just an okay puzzle for me (I feel like I'm channeling Randy Jackson... "Yo, dude... so... okay... listen up..."). Pretty forgettable, but without major flaw.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Title: What's My Line?
Author: Lee Glickstein
Theme: Ok, so you know how when you see the word "flower", you think of colorful things that grow, but it can also be read as flow-er, i.e., something that flows (like a river)? That's what this puzzle is about. All the theme entries are two-word phrases whose last word is reinterpreted, as above, to make the phrase sound like a job. Confused? Don't be. Let's look at the examples:

• TORCH SINGER (17a: Welder?). So, instead of one that sings, we read it as one who singes things with a torch.


• IVORY TOWER (24a: Piano mover?). One who tows pianos.


• TOP TIER (38a: Macramé artist?). One who ties really well.


• BABY SHOWER (50a: Delivery room nurse?). One who shows babies.


• PRIME NUMBER (62a: Head anesthesiologist?). One who numbs.

See? That's a pretty cool theme. The explanation is harder than the concept. Some of my all-time favorite clues are this type of "wordplay", so I really enjoyed these.

Sunny Spots:

• 14a: Nickname of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (EROICA). I'm a fan of classical music in general and Beethoven in particular, so this was a gimme for me.


• 23a: Musical vibrator (REED). This clue evokes some pretty amusing thoughts. Let's just leave it at that.


• 35a: Band whose only hit was "Whip It" (DEVO). Gimme for me. Here, refresh your memory. And if you liked that, check out this cover of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction".


• 54a: Goes the other way (ZAGS). "ISN'T STRAIGHT" doesn't fit. Nice clue.


• 1d: P.D.Q. Bach creator Schickele (PETER). Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach skits are humor for people who love classical music. A little more offbeat, perhaps, than Victor Borge, but usually quite funny. Here's a small taste.


• 4d: Bullfighter on horseback (PICADOR). I can't say I'm a fan of bullfighting; I think it's a little brutal on the bull. What I know of picadors I think I learned from "The Story of Ferdinand".


• 11d: Really cold (BELOW ZERO).


• 12d: Caddy contents (TEA LEAVES).


• 13d: Felix's last name on "The Odd Couple" (UNGER). "The Odd Couple" is one of those few really good movies that became really good TV shows. And no, I don't count "M*A*S*H" in that category. That movie was so... cool, I guess; the TV show just never measured up for me. Clearly, millions of people didn't agree with me.


• 30d: Navy coat (PEA JACKET). I used to wear my dad's old pea coat in my college years in Montreal. Those things are all wool, very warm, and unbelievably heavy. And no, that's not me in the picture.


• 31d: Conductor's cry (ALL ABOARD). I like this fill a lot. It evokes strong but indistinct childhood memories.


• 33d: What's dad in "Addams Family Values" (ITT). The fact that I never saw this movie didn't make this any harder. I've seen the show, albeit years ago. What else could it be?


• 48d: Himalayan mountaineer (SHERPA). I saw the movie "Everest" in IMAX a few years back. Wow. A later-week puzzle might mention Tenzing Norgay, who was the sherpa accompanying Edmund Hillary when they first reached the peak.

We interrupt this blog to congratulate Jon Lester, a Red Sox pitcher who battled back from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, who has just completed his first no-hitter! In so doing, Jason Varitek has now caught an ML-record four no-hitters (Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholtz, and Jon Lester). What a great story!

Sundries:

• 1a: Plains of Argentina (PAMPAS). I don't know why I know this. Probably from grade school or something.


• 7a: Queequeg's captain on the Pequod (AHAB). From "Moby Dick", of course.


• 11a: Heat meas. (BTU). We just saw BTU in a clue yesterday, so it should be fresh in your mind.


• 15a: Spice derived from nutmeg (MACE). Nutmeg is from the seed, mace is from the outer seed covering, or "aril" (another great crossword word).


• 21a: Cattle catcher (RIATA). If it's 6 letters, it's probably LARIAT. If it's 5-letters, try RIATA or LASSO.


• 26a: ___ pah (OOM). As in the tuba sound: oom-pah.


• 29a: Former policy of racial segregation in South Africa (APARTHEID). Yesterday, slaves; today, apartheid. Where will we go tomorrow?


• 37a: The First State: Abbr. (DELaware).


• 42a: Subject of an art museum in St. Petersburg, Florida (DALI).


• 44a: No matter what (AT ANY COST). Nice phrase.


• 46a: Joe servings (JAVAS). I'm not sure about this one. I've heard "cup o' joe" or "cup of java", but the plural feels forced to me. "Gimme a couple of javas"? Hmmm... maybe.


• 49a: Metric prefix? (GEO). It's a cryptic clue; the prefix is not from the metric system (e.g., KILO), it's a prefix to the word "metric" (i.e., geometric). My first thought, though, was ISO.


• 58a: "Foucault's Pendulum" author (ECO). Umberto Eco is probably better known for "The Name of the Rose". He's got a three-letter name with two vowels, though, so you gotta know it.


• 59a: Four-time French Open champ Justine (HENIN). I don't follow tennis religiously, but I know the bigger names and this is one of them.


• 60a: Recapitulate (SUM UP)


• 61a: Booking letters (AKA). Booking as "Book 'em Danno". AKA as in "also known as".


• 64a: Barcelona chair designer Ludwig Mies van ___ Rohe (DER). I've never heard of this guy. Barcelona chair designer? Whatever. Luckily, it could have said "Blah blah blah some-German-sounding-first-name van ___ some-German-sounding-last-name", and "der" is pretty much the logical guess.


• 65a: Each (A POP). This one is showing up a lot of late.


• 66a: End of a threat (OR ELSE). Dum da dum dum...



• 68a: Indian restaurant breads (NANS). Well, they're Indian breads; not just in restaurants.


• 5d: Needing kneading, perhaps (ACHY).


• 6d: Swedish carrier (SAS). Short for Scandinavian Airlines System. This one also shows up a lot.


• 7d: Test done by an OB (AMNIO). I confidently entered APGAR, at first. OB here is obstetrician.


• 8d: Hamlet's father (HÄGAR). Anyone guess GHOST? Nope, it's not Shakespeare this time, it's Hägar the Horrible.


• 9d: Radical in aspirin (ACETYL). If you happen to remember that aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, this one's a piece of cake.


• 10d: Tongue-lash (BERATE).


• 25d: Etymologist's ref. (O.E.D.). If you do crosswords, you should know the Oxford English Dictionary. (Not inside and out, but at least of its existence.)


• 27d: He's third behind Bonds and Morgan for most walks among NLers (Mel OTT).


• 29d: Dipstick word (ADD).


• 32d: MPG determiner (E.P.A.).


• 34d: Sàbado, por ejemplo (DÍA). I don't know much Spanish, but día (day) and año (year) you gotta know. Sàbado is Saturday.


• 40d: White alternative (RYE). A repeat fill from yesterday, but it's food so we'll let it slide.


• 45d: Resort island south of Cancún (COZUMEL)



• 50d: Like snake eyes (BEADY). I was angling toward a dice reference, but it was not to be.


• 51d: Bagel flavor (ONION). Food.


• 52d: Pushovers (WIMPS).


• 56d: Scoreboard word (GUEST). Of course, high-tech arenas have digital scoreboards where they can enter the actual visiting team's name, but old-time scoreboards (like in schools) are still this way.


• 57d: Lively frolic (SPREE).


• 60d: "Go ahead!" (SURE), which is paired with:


• 63d: "Go ahead" signal (NOD)

Suns of Bitches:
Only a handle of answers I didn't know at all, and all were gettable from the crosses. As always, my weak spot is names.

• 28d: Onetime Oprah rival (LEEZA Gibbons). Not only am I bad at names, I never watch daytime talk shows. So I was in the dark on this one.


• 3d: Robert who won Tonys in 1962 and 1990 (MORSE). Samuel Morse I know; Robert, not so much.


• 18d: Rap producer Gotti (IRV). No clue.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable Tuesday with a cool theme and reasonable full.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Title: Fun, Fun, Fun in the Sun
Author: Andrea Carla Michaels
Theme: The "Beach" Boys: Men with last names that are things one might find at a beach, as follows:

• ART SHELL (18a: Raiders great in the Hall of Fame)


• PAULY SHORE (28a: "Jury Duty" star)


• BILLY OCEAN (48a: "Caribbean Queen" singer)


• TODD SAND (65a: Jenni Meno's skating partner). This was the only one of the theme entries that I had never heard of, but the crossings were easy enough.


• VERNON CASTLE (4d: He danced with his wife in Broadway's "Watch Your Step")


• THE BEACH BOYS (26d: "Fun, Fun, Fun" singers (and this puzzle's theme))

I thought this was fantastic puzzle for a Monday, with a simple but solid theme and a nice, flowing construction. Did you notice that it was 15x16? Usually this is done strictly to accommodate 16-letter theme entries, but here its used to ease the pain of two otherwise awkward 12-letter fills. Those who have never constructed may not realize this, but the problem with 12-letter fills in a 15x15 grid is that there isn't enough room to squeeze in another word on that row or column (12 + 1 black separator leaves only 2 left). Therefore, all of those extra squares need to be black. This seriously constrains a puzzle's layout, especially one that is trying to squeeze in six theme entries. So, the judicious application of a sixteenth row made this puzzle possible. Plus, you get three extra clues (81, instead of the typical 78). I also love how the puzzle starts and ends with nice open spaces (2 squares short of wide open 6x6 sections), which is also unusual for a Monday.

Let's have a closer look:

Sunny Spots:

• 10a: Fathead (BOZO). I just like the word bozo. Fathead's not bad either.


• 14a: California shoe company (L.A. GEAR)


• 23a: Support, as a candidate (ENDORSE). Appropriate for an election year.


• 36a: "___ Cat Strut" (1983 hit) (STRAY). This one hits me solidly in my college years. Don't remember it? Check it out here.


• 46a: Drummer Gene (KRUPA). Even if you're only a mild jazz fan, there are two drummers you should have heard of: Buddy Rich and Gene Krupa. (And I mean absolutely no disrespect to all the other great jazz drummers out there.) Here they are together, playing "Sing Sing Sing".


• 70a: "Casino ___" (ROYALE). I thought the Daniel Craig version was quite good.


• 30d: Orchestra's tuning instrument (OBOE). A nice twist to a common crossword fill. I not 100% sure of this, but I think orchestras might tune to the oboe because the oboe is the hardest to tune. Actually, for a piano concerto, I bet they tune to the piano (or the oboe tunes to the piano and then they all tune to the oboe).


• 32d: Bedroom shutters? (EYES). Cute.


• 40d: Straightjacket parts (STRAPS). Of all the things that have straps... a colorful choice. (Not literally; they're usually white).


• 54d: College hoops announcer Dick (VITALE). HE'S IN A CROSSWORD PUZZLE, BABY!

Sundries:

• 1a: They were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation (SLAVES). I guess that's as positive a spin as one can put on having SLAVES at the 1-Across position.



• 15a: "Two Virgins" musician (ONO). I went with Brian ENO first. Nope, it's Yoko ONO. I guess I should have known that. Btw, if you do the New York Times puzzle (and even if you don't), you should be checking out Emily Jo Cureton's fantastic crossword art - a new drawing every day inspired by that puzzle. They range from edgy to off-the-wall to pretty darn warped. And I mean that in a totally positive way; she is awesome and we love her.


• 17a: "Don't tell" code for a don (OMERTÀ). I know this from crosswords. It's also the title of Mario Puzo's third book in the Godfather trilogy. The other is "The Last Don", which you'll also see in puzzles.


• 20a: Ziti alternative (PENNE). Is there a difference between ziti and penne? According to Wikipedia they're the same thing. And rigatoni is almost the same, only it's cut straight instead of on the diagonal. I suppose "alternative" could mean "alternative name" instead of an actual choice. Either way, we love food clues here.


• 21a: Vodka brand, for short (STOLI). Short for Stolichnaya. We like drink clues here, too.


• 27a: Ollie's comedy partner (STAN). That's Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.


• 41a: Steak choice (T-BONE). Did I mention that we liked food here? And a nice t-bone beats the heck out of ziti or penne (if there's a difference).


• 43a: Fussy picker's target (NIT). The crossword world is full of nitpickers. Some even have blogs.


• 45a: Part of BTU, CPU, or ICU (UNIT). British Thermal Unit, Central Processing Unit, and Intensive Care Unit.


• 56a: Gateway Arch architect Saarinen (EERO). Just memorize this one. It shows up all the time. His father's name is ELIEL. If I had remembered that this past ACPT, I would have done incrementally better.


• 57a: Bulletin board insert (PUSH-PIN). Easy, but nice fill.


• 62a: Queen ___ lace (plant with white flowers) (ANNE'S). This grows everywhere around where I live, so this was easy for me. Don't know if it's found in other parts of the country or world.


• 67a: Unconcerned with right and wrong (AMORAL).


• 68a: Dunkable cookie (OREO).


• 71a: Tang (ZEST).


• 73a: Roughing the ___ (football infraction) (PASSER). I like the use of fill-in-the-blank here to bring like to an -ER clue. Same with 5d: Lotus-___ (daydreamer) (EATER). Much smoother than a clue like "One who consumes".



• 7d: Sloop or sampan, e.g. (BOAT).


• 9d: ___ Crüe (MOTLEY). I can't say I'm a fan, but I certainly know they exist.


• 12d: "Nana" novelist Émile (ZOLA). I don't know why I knew this; I've never read Zola. But he's the only Émile I could think of.


• 21d: Navy enlistee (SEAMAN)


• 29d: Rabbit Angstrom's creator (John UPDIKE). Updike wrote five Rabbit novels starting in 1960 with "Rabbit, Run". Two have won Pulitzers.


• 31d: File's partner (RANK). "Partner" almost always means words that go together in a phrase of the form "x and y". In this case, rank and file.


• 34d: Bread with caraway seeds (RYE). Easy. And food.


• 36d: Give the cold shoulder to (SNUB). I had SHUN to start.


• 38d: Stir up (ROIL)


• 50d: Excessively decorated (ORNATE)


• 51d: "Terminator: The Sarah ___ Chronicles". (CONNOR). I never watched this show, but I'm a big fan of the movies (well, the first two anyway). I should have given the show a chance, since Summer Glau was in it. She was awesome in the movie "Serenity" and the series "Firefly" on which it was based (another great show that didn't last as long as it should have). If you like sci-fi at all and haven't seen "Firefly", you should go rent or buy it. It's really good. It's got fantastic characters and dialogue, and it's got a wonderful sense of humor (like "Star Wars" did before Lucas started taking it too seriously... you know what I'm talking about).


• 53d: La Scala productions (OPERAS)


• 58d: Pacific island group near the International Date Line (SAMOA)


• 59d: The gamut (A-TO-Z)


• 60d: Pierce with a horn (GORE). Did you think you were looking for a trumpeter named Pierce? Not this time.


• 66d: Morse code part (DOT). Sometime Morse code is decribed as dots and dashes, sometimes as dits and dahs. Always check the crossings.


• 67d: Dada artist Jean (ARP). Another crossword artist. Remember the name.

Suns of Bitches:
You don't expect to find many of these in a Monday puzzle. This one had a few for me(apart from the Todd Sand theme entry), including:

• 37d: Collette of "The Sixth Sense" (TONI). I should probably be ashamed for not knowing this. I love this movie. In fact, this scene is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time.


• 47d: Burma's first prime minister (UNU). If you knew Unu, then you knew more than I knew. Poor Burma (Myanmar); they're having a tough time.


• 55d: "The Vagina Monologues" playwright Eve (ENSLER). Names are definitely my weak spot, and this one I don't think I ever knew.


• 63d: Divine's "Hairspray" role (EDNA). Okay.

All in all, I thought the fill was pretty solid. Nothing jaw-dropping, but again you don't expect that on a Monday, especially with six theme entries. It had its share of crossword clichés: ONO, OREO, EERO, OPERAS, ERA, OBOE, ODES, and ARP. And a few tougher-than-usual (for me) entries, but they were all easily determined from the crossings. As a whole, I found this puzzle very well-constructed and enjoyable.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Title: Weekend Warrior
Author: Karen M. Tracey
Theme: None

Karen's name has been popping up on a lot of themelesses recently, which is generally a good thing if you like challenging puzzles. I really enjoyed this puzzle, and actually found it a bit easier than yesterday's Glickstein. That's not to say it was easy, but I was able to finish in one sitting without any circles around areas I needed to verify. Sure, there were answers I didn't know, but all the crossings were solid, so I was pretty confident it was right when I was done.

Sunny Spots:

• Dick's running mate? (JANE). What a great way to "start" a puzzle. I put start in quotes because, typical of the more challenging puzzles, I didn't start at 1A.


• 14a: He's asked a lot of questions at work (ALEX TREBEK). I watch "Jeopardy!" quite a bit and I still didn't see where this was going after I had it ending in E_EK. Once the X fell it all clicked. Great clue for a great fill.


• 22a: Nine Inch Nails musician (Trent REZNOR). I'm a fan, so this was a gimme for me.


• 37a: Closefisted (CHINTZY). Great word.


• 41a: Gets dramatically upset (HAS KITTENS). I don't know what the origin of this phrase it, but absolutely love it. It just made me smile when I figured it out. Wonderful!


• 60a: Skycycle driver's first name (EVEL). Evel Knievel was huge when I was young. I loved watching his motorcycle jumps across cars, trucks, and buses. I think the transition to the rocket-powered Skycycle (for his "jump" across Snake River Canyon) was when he finally "jumped the shark".


• 5d: Subject of the biopic "Song Without End" (FRANZ LISZT). As a piano player, I love seeing Liszt's full name here, though musically I lean more toward Chopin myself.


• 11d: Denying one's true self (LIVING A LIE). Beautiful.


• 26d: Loud top (ALOHA SHIRT). Yo, Ho! Love the shirt!


• 29d: 1987 film with the tagline "Every dream has a price" (WALL STREET). Great film. Great fill.


• 39d: New Mexican? (INFANTE). Spanish for "infant". Very cute.

Sundries:

• 5a: Get set to hang (FRAME).


• 10a: Responded to a charge (PLED). This was the easiest clue for me in the NE. It was my first instinct and I couldn't think of any other word that fit.


• 16a: ___ Droite (RIVE). Referring to the right bank of the Seine River in Paris, as opposed to rive gauche (the left bank).



• 17a: Sarcophaguous (MEAT-EATING). Sarcophagus is a coffin; Sarcophagous means carnivorous. Details, details...


• 20a: 1981 Ryan O'Neal comedy (SO FINE). Haven't seen it.


• 25a: Lofty place? (BARN).


• 28a: Liberal, for example (LEFT WINGER). Good, I've had my fill of hockey clues for the week.


• 31a: Project extension? (ILE). I'm guessing that if RIVE (above) and ILS (Parisian pronoun) hadn't been in the puzzle, this might have been clued as French for "island". I think the fact that I used to cryptic crosswords makes me more attuned to these suffix, letter-reference, and other wordplay-type clues than I otherwise might be.


• 32a: Frozen Wasser (EIS). 99% of the German I know comes from either crossword puzzles or "Hogan's Heroes". This one is from crosswords. (Update: Wasser is water; Eis is ice. Sorry if I took that for granted first time around). Question: Why is "Wasser" capitalized?


• 33a: Menu choice for e-mail attachments (SAVE ALL)


• 34a: Treats, as a bow. (ROSINS). If you can wax or grease something, I guess you can rosin something. Not used to seeing this as a verb, but then I'm not a string player.


• 43a: Cataclysmic endings? (CEES). Did they get you again? Doh! You gotta watch out for these. I've got to change the name of this tag. "it's-the-letter-itself" feels awkward. I think I'll lump them in with the prefix/suffix tricks and tag them as just "cryptic clues". What do you think? Good. Done.


• 44a: The pen (STIR). As in prison.


• 45a: More bananas (DAFTER). Can any adjective have an -ER added to it? I'm not saying it's wrong, just a bit contriveder than some.


• 47a: Last name in fashion (CHANEL)


• 48a: Sea in the Bermuda Triangle (SARGASSO). I got this from the -SO. I couldn't have told you where the Sargasso Sea was, but I knew the name and it fit.


• 53a: Fanfic medium (ZINE). I didn't know what the heck this clue was talking about until I got the answer. Now it makes sense: fan fiction refers to spin-offs and sequels written by fans of an original work of fiction.


• 56a: Parabola pieces (ARCS). I was a math major. This was easy.


• 57a: Rolling rock (MOLTEN LAVA). Rolling like in rolling waves? I guess that makes sense. Sort of. Either way this clue gets extra credit for reminding of the time my son, who was fairly young at the time, had been watching some show on TV about volcanos and came into the kitchen and said to my wife, "Mom? About that molten vulva...". Somehow, we managed to keep a straight face until he left the room.


• 1d: Window piece (JAMB). Jamb? Sash? Pane? Sill? At 1d in a KMT-themeless, go with the J-word. Trust me on this one. :)


• 2d: Protected, at sea (ALEE). Gimme.


• 3d: Spruce (NEAT). Was thinking verb or noun. Nope, it's adjective.


• 4d: Nonresident doctor (EXTERN). You don't have to be a resident to be an intern, do you? Can you be an extern and an intern at the same time?


• 6d: Prepares to play after a break (RETUNES). Well, not if you're playing piano.


• 8d: Levitra takers (MEN). Can we get a "for example" here? Please? Would you clue WOMEN as "Pamprin takers" or "Breast implant receivers"? Sorry, this clue is a little limp.



• 9d: Lines in the ER? (EKGS). I entered E_GS immediately and waited to see which letter fit (E, C, or K).


• 10d: Defiles (PROFANES). Another word you don't usually see as a verb.


• 12d: Longfellow poem subtitled "A Tale of Acadie" (EVANGELINE). It's about 90 pages worth of poem. Here's a clip:
  

  Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen summers. 
  Black were her eyes as the berry that grows on the thorn by the wayside,
  Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown shade of her tresses! 
  Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed in the meadows.

  
  So... she had breath like a cow, and that's a good thing? Hunh. I guess hygiene was different in those days.



• 13d: Scratch mark? (DELE). Tough clue! Nice.


• 15d: TV component (TELE). I sensed this one right away.


• 23d: ACLU focus (RTS). I don't recall ever seeing rights abbreviated before. I've seen it as singular in "Rt. Rev.", but that's about it.


• 25d: Tree with papery bark. (BIRCH). Gimme.


• 27d: There's none in superconductivity (RESISTANCE). Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated...


• 30d: Like warm months in oyster folklore (R-LESS). Some clever person realized that the months divide into those that have an "R" (September through April) and those that don't (May through August). Oysters, in the Northeast anyway, are said to taste better during the 'R' months, because they spawn in the warmer weather and tend to be watery. I think it's one of those "folklores" that has some basis in truth.


• 32d: Plenary (ENTIRE)


• 35d: Quality of dark shadows (INKINESS). Yeah, okay.


• 38d: Accounting abbr. (YTD). Year-to-date.



• 42d: Meeting room props (EASELS). Been to enough of those; seen more flip charts than I care to think about. Except when they're part of a Demetri Martin routine. Then, they're just plain funny.


• 43d: Place of origin (CRADLE). As in cradle of civilization. Very nice.


• 47d: Business magnate (CZAR). TSAR is more common in puzzles, but hey, this is a KMT. Go for the Z spelling.


• 48d: Star vehicle? (LIMO). Saw this one coming a mile away.


• 50d: Dalmatian, e.g. (SLAV). Didn't we just see this same clue/answer pair recently? Maybe it was in the Times.


• 51d: Golfer Ballesteros (SEVE). A gimme for me. Probably pretty tough if you never watched golf.

Suns of Bitches:

• Pinang (BETEL NUT). If you say so.


• 24a: Burns ballad word (LANG). When I got this (from the crossings), I figured it was short for "language". Now I see that Robert Burns wrote "Auld Lang Syne", which translates roughly to "old long since", or a long time ago.


• 36a: Simon Templar creator Charteris (LESLIE). Simon Templar is "The Saint". I had no idea the creator's name.


• 54a: Woman in "A Scandal in Bohemia" (IRENE ADLER). Fictional character from a Sherlock Holmes story. Nope, besides Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty (and maybe his brother, but even his name escapes me for the moment), I couldn't name another character. Mycroft! That's it.


• 46d: Richard of "The Damned Don't Cry" (EGAN). I had no idea who this was, but I sensed the answer was Egan, as I've seen it in puzzles before. This movie was from 1950. Egan has been dead for 20 years. I'm just saying.

All in all, I thought this was a great puzzle. A touch easier than your typical Weekend Warrior, but entertaining throughout.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Title: Six Degrees of Separation
Author: Lee Glickstein
Theme: Six different college degree abbreviations have been added to six different phrases, with each degree split between multiple words, as follows:

• Mod Squad => MOB AD SQUAD(17a: Jingle writers for the Mafia?). Bachelor of Arts.


• Harmful => HAM ARMFUL(25a: Grocery bag of breakfast meat?). Master of Arts. Why breakfast meat? People don't eat ham sandwiches for lunch or have baked ham for dinner anymore?


• Co-host => COMB A HOST(31a: Groom Oprah?). Master of Business Administration. This clue leaves amusing images in my head. And yes, it would be just as funny if it were Jay Leno or Larry King or any other host.


• Monday => MOM FAN DAY(41a: Celebratory time for people who appreciate delivery women?). Master of Fine Arts. "Delivery women" is a bit of a stretch (no additional pun intended) here, I think.


• Mutates => MUM STATES(47a: Silences?). Master of Science.


• Curtains => CURB STAINS(56a: Street cleaner's targets?). Bachelor of Science.

This is a very well-executed theme, with a perfect title. It has nice, balanced theme entries, with nothing standing out as too forced or too gimmicky. As we've seen earlier in the week, trying to cram five or more theme entries into a small puzzle has a tendency to leave the remaining fill pretty dry. Not so here. Even with six theme entries, the rest of the puzzle contains a remarkable amount of sparkle. Let's take a look:

Sunny Spots:

• 14a: Johnny Mathis hit (CHANCES ARE). Take your pick, here's the original and here's a more recent, live performance.


• 20a: "___ Sings Dylan" (1965 folk album) (ODETTA). I'll admit I couldn't dredge up the name until I got some crossings, but this is a nice slice of 60s pop culture.


• 29a: Author of "Syntactic Structures" (CHOMSKY). I should have figured this one out right away without crossings. I attended a Noam Chomsky speech back in college in the 80s. He is a world-reknowned linguist, with strong political views as well. If you parsed the clue to realize it was talking about language syntax, it's a good bet that Noam Chomsky is the answer. It's a great looking fill, too.


• 38a: Don's "Nash Bridges" costar (CHEECH Marin). Of "Cheech and Chong" fame.


• 39a: Pooh pal (EEYORE). You gotta love Eeyore.


• 51a: Coolness factor on the street (CRED). Does including "cred" in a puzzle give it street cred? Inquiring minds want to know.


• 52a: Jenny (SHE-ASS). This was one of the last pieces to fall for me, and might well belong in the "Suns of Bitches" section, but it's such a cool answer that it goes here. That's the mark of a good puzzle, when even the killer clues leave you smiling.


• 15d: Virgin offerings? (CDS). I was thinking of the airline, not the record label. Great clue!


• 27d: ID designation (MST). Very clever clue here! I didn't figure out until I had the answer that it's ID as in Idaho.


• 54d: Thing that may be contracted by unions?: Abbr. (STD). Wow! Another edgy clue by the Sun. We're so programmed to not think in these terms when doing puzzles; references to sexually transmitted disease are rarely seen. Excellent misdirection.

Sundries:

• 1a: Infiltrator (MOLE). This was easy for me, as I've read my share of spy thrillers.


• 16a: ___ vez (again, in Spanish) (OTRA). I don't know much Spanish, but I've seen "otra" before in puzzles, so it wasn't too hard to piece together.


• 18a: Bothersome person (TWIT). I know we've seen twit recently, because I posted a link to the Monty Python "Twit of the Year" sketch. I'll leave it to you to go digging for it if you want to see it again.


• 19a: Show whose theme song was written by Pete Townshend (CSI). The song in question being the Who's "Who Are You?". Great way to spice up a common entry.


• 28a: TV lawyer Stone (ELI). Saw the ads for it; never watched the show.


• 40a: "I'm exasperated!" (AARGH). Love it.


• 44a: Braggart (EGOTIST). I like the fill here, but the definition feels off to me. You can be an egotist without bragging, can't you? If anything, I would think the set of braggarts is a subset of egotists, and you don't typically clue in that direction without a "for example". Opinions? Of course, the reason it's clued like this is that it crosses 45d: Braggart, which is the less common, but more apt, GASCON (not to be confused with Gaston, from "Beauty and the Beast".


• 46a: Seattle-to-D.C. direction. (ESE). You know, this may be the first of this type of clue for me that was blatantly obvious what the answer direction was without looking at a map or just guessing from the crosses. Thank you for picking two cities whose relative geographic positions are pretty obvious.


• 64a: Apartment that's bigger than a studio (ONE BEDROOM).


• 66a: Time being (NONCE). I'm going to assume, for the nonce, that no one has used this word in conversation since Shakespeare's time.



• 67a: Toe dancer's attire (TUTU).


• 1d: 380% of D (MCM). The Sun is big on roman numeral math. I like ones like this that I can do in my head. (380% of 500 = .5 x 3800 = 1900).


• 3d: Test center (LAB).


• 5d: He played Ricky (DESI Arnaz).


• 7d: Symbol for torque (TAU). Knew it was a Greek letter (eta, rho, tau); the 'Q' in ESQ made this one pretty obvious.


• 8d: Christy Mathewson's was exactly 2 in 1907. (ERA). I should have guessed that this was a baseball clue, but somehow my brain wasn't going there.


• 10d: Clan emblem (TOTEM).


• 11d: Workweek letters (MTWTF). This was my foothold in that section.


• 12d: Verdi aria sung by Renato (ERI TU). I only know this from crosswords, usually clued as "___ tu (Verdi aria)".


• 13d: Present at birth (NATAL). Excellent clue.


• 21d: Sauna feature (DRY HEAT). I would love to have seen this clued as "Yeah, but it's a ___".


• 22d: Center of activitiy (MECCA)



• 23d: "Yo, ho!" (ALOHA). "Yo, ho" just reminds me of the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disney. Classic!


• 25d: Sob part (HOO). The other part being "Boo-".


• 29d: Marks of distinction (CACHETS). Great word.


• 30d: Veep of the 60s. (HHH). That would be Hubert Horatio Humphrey.


• 34d: Alyssa Rosenbaum's assumed first name (AYN). Referring to Ayn Rand.


• 35d: Programming pro (CODER). As a software engineer, "coder" does not imply "pro" to me. A lot of people can code; not everyone is a pro. To me, coder is the high-tech equivalent of "plugger"; it may not be elegant, but it'll probably get the job done.


• 39d: Puff pieces? (EFS). Ah yes, it's an "it's-the-letter-itself" clue. Did you fall for it? I didn't.


• 41d: ___ juste (exactly the right word) (MOT). French for "word".


• 42d: Suffix with Capri (OTE). Capriote doesn't show in many of my dictionaries, but I've seen it before.


• 47d: "Morning Joe" cable channel (MSNBC). Name a cable channel in 5 letters. Anything else come to mind? Perhaps A AND E, but MSNBC was my first guess.


• 48d: Ryder rival (U-HAUL)


• 50d: Word (SAY SO). This was part of that nasty SW section for me, but once I finally got it, I loved it.


• 51d: Become a hit (CHART). Nice use of chart as a verb.


• 57d: Game with cards numbered 0 to 9 (UNO). If you've never played it, it's basically Crazy Eights.


• 58d: Nicktoons pooch (REN). Ren gets way more crossword attention than Stimpy, doesn't he?


• 59d: Programme provider (BBC). I was reading "Programme" as French, not British, which didn't help me any.

Suns of Bitches:
This puzzle had its fair share of tough clues, most of which have already been mentioned above. Here are a few more:

• 22a: Hockey center Cullen or Stajan (MATT). See, once you go to hockey, all bets are off. It could be MATS or SVEN or YVES or almost any combination of 4 letters. Was not expecting a "Matt".


• 33a: Mark whose name means "little hook" in Czech (HACEK). When I finished this puzzle, I figured this was another hockey player, Mark Hacek. But no, it's a diacritical mark that's like an upside-down caret, as in: háček.


• 65a: "Pinocchio" goldfish" (CLEO). I know I've seen "Pinocchio" before, but this doesn't ring a bell at all.


• 62d: Cotton Bowl winner of 1983 (SMU). Really? We're supposed to remember results of individual bowl games that happened 25 years ago? Hmm.

All in all, I found this a thoroughly challenging and entertaining puzzle. Harder than I would expect on a typical Thursday (perhaps partially because I was watching TV and drinking beer while I was doing it, but not totally), but enough toeholds to work out the tough clues. Very nice.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Title: Cogito Ergo Sum
Author: Patrick Blindauer

Theme: Numbers that add up to 23, clued for their sum (23). Or, "I think, therefore I add numbers together".

When you see Patrick Blindauer's name, brace yourself for something different. Patrick is certainly one of the most innovative puzzle constructors these days, and there is very often some kind of unique twist. Today's puzzle includes three clues to which the answer is "twenty-three", but in each case there are two consecutive fills that add up to twenty-three. If there is any significance to which addends were chosen (other than that they had the appropriate number of letters in them), I haven't deduced it. Let's see what we've got:

• 24a: Number before "skiddoo" (SIX + SEVENTEEN). Thank God we had the other two theme answers, because I had no idea what this was. Turns out it's slang from the 1920s meaning, basically, "skedaddle". There are many interesting hypotheses regarding the origin of the phrase, which you can read about here.


• 36a: Ninth prime number (ELEVEN + TWELVE). 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, ...


• 51a: Number of human chromosome pairs (TWENTY-TWO + ONE). Also, Michael Jordan's retired (and LeBron James' current) jersey number, the famous psalm ("The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..."),...

I'll give this one points for originality, but I can't honestly say that I find the finished product to be all that compelling, themewise. Unless I'm missing some extra dimension I haven't discovered (which is very possible).

Update: Reader "evad" points out what should have been obvious to me -- that there were plus signs built into the black squares of the grid. I gotta pay more attention to the big picture. :) Thanks, evad; and sorry, Patrick, for missing it the first time around.

Trivia: How many people do you have to have in a room before the odds of any two having the same birthday are better than 50%? Answer at end.

Sunny Spots:

• 21a: Nice way to say "Yes"? (OUI). Call me a sap, but I never get tired of this mechanism of using the city of Nice to indicate that the answer is French. It makes for such great surface reading.


• 35a: Finch's creator. (LEE). Referring, of course, to Atticus Finch from Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". Very nice.


• 1d: Courier contemporary (AGASSI). TIMES NEW ROMAN wouldn't fit. :)


• 3d: Neil Simon's "___ Blues" (BILOXI). Great to have a fill that ends in "XI" and isn't a Roman numeral.


• 11d: Al Bundy portrayer on "Married... With Children" (ED O'NEILL). This show was FOX TV's first sitcom, and really pushed the envelope compared to standard netword fare, setting the stage for years of edgy television.


• 28d: Thing that helps you choose sides? (MENU). Good misdirection, plus it's about food. I shouldn't blog hungry.


• 31d: Beer bust dispenser (KEG). I always give a shout-out to the beer clues.


• 36d: Self-gratifying acts (EGO TRIPS).


• 38d: Some Olympians (EPÉEISTS). Nice twist to the ubiquitous EPÉE fill.


• 43d: Betty of Talkartoons (BOOP).


• 60d: Leaves in a bag (TEA). I've definitely seen this clue before, but I still enjoy the surface imagery.

Sundries:

• 7a: ___ Championship Series (BOWL). This one didn't jump right out at me; seemed like there many vague possibilities, and college football is not in the forefront of my sports consciousness.


• 15a: Cosmetic emollient (ALOE). Man, this shows up a lot.


• 17a: In the arms of Morpheus, so to speak (ASLEEP). Morpheus, besides being a main character in the Matrix movies, is the Greek god of dreams.


• 20a: Flavor of the Spanish liqueur patxaran (SLOE). I've heard of sloe gin, so it wasn't a great leap.


• 26a: Still contending (IN IT). I like that the puzzle eschewed the abbreviation (Init.) and went for the more colorful phrase.


• 32a: Command to a boxer. (SIT)


• 41a: Orbit, e.g. (GUM)


• 45a: Schrödinger subject (ATOM). Erwin Schrödinger was a Nobel prize-winning physicist specializing in quantum mechanics. I'm not getting any deeper than that here.


• 47a: "___ Call the Wind Maria" ("Paint Your Wagon" song) (THEY). Seems like a long way to go just for "they".


• 56a: DDT banner (EPA). Banner in the sense of those who ban something.


• 58a: "Collateral" actress ___ Pinkett Smith (JADA). I saw "Collateral" and didn't remember she was in it. But she's another tie-in to the Matrix trilogy, where she played Niobe.


• 64a: Tinted (DYED). I had HUED to start.


• 68a: Obstinate (ORNERY). I think ornery is a great word. Right up there with aloof; maybe it will show up again tomorrow... :)


• 2d: Cotton fabric (MUSLIN)


• 4d: Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda (ULEE). If "Ulee's Gold" did nothing else, it immortalized Peter Fonda in Crosswordland.


• 5d: Véronique, e.g.: Abbr. (STE). I didn't notice the "Abbr" part at first and wanted to put NOM (French for "name") there.


• 7d: "Muppet ___" (animated '80s TV show set in a nursery) (BABIES).


• 9d: "A Man in Full" author Tom (WOLFE)



• 10d: Get smart? (LEARN). I don't know if the question mark is warranted here, but I like the reference to the old Don Adams TV show.


• 13d: Kind of ballot (ABSENTEE). This was a really easy clue, especially during an election year. 'Kind of father?' would be tougher.


• 19d: Champed thing (BIT). Cute, but easy.


• 25d: Beta's rival in a format war (VHS). Gee, I wonder who won?


• 34d: "Find out how good we really are" sloganeer (TWA). Not so good that they didn't go bankrupt and get bought out by American.


• 42d: Pinning surface (MAT). Pinning, not pinning down. Happy, puzzlegirl? :)


• 48d: Grinder (HOAGIE). Mmmmm... food.


• 53d: Undergarment for women (TEDDY). I know some of you were expecting a slinky lingerie shot here, but we're erring on the side of decency. For a real cheesecake shot (you have been warned), try this one!
  
  Happy now? :)
  


• 62d: Ballad ending? (-EER). These suffix clues are gimmes after a while. Is anyone out there still getting fooled by these?

Suns of Bitches:

• 12d: "Fathers and Sons" novelist Ivan (TURGENEV). Didn't know this one. Won't know it next time either. Got it completely from crossings.


• 27d: Yom ___ (holiday, in Hebrew) (TOV). Made sense once I saw it, but it wasn't something I knew.


• 54d: Belgian violinist Eugène (YSAŸE). I know a fair number of classical musicians, but not this one. Of course, he died over 30 years before I was born. I have no doubt he was very talented.


• 58d: Rolling Stone honcho Wenner (JANN). That's the magazine, not the rock group. Luckily I knew JADA at 58a, or else this would have been a total guess-the-letter.

All in all, not a bad puzzle, but not in the same league as some of the gems that Patrick has produced in the past year. Is that a fair standard for a puzzle? Probably not. Still, as gimmicks go, this one fell a little short for me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Trivia answer: 23

Looking for the Wednesday puzzle?

The Sun puzzle for Wednesday, May 14, 2008 is available only in PDF format, and can be found here.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Title: Gaining Weight
Author: Alan Arbesfeld
Theme: Phrases are changed by adding a unit of weight, as follows:

• Dot Com => DOT COMPOUND (17a: Pixel-producing facility?)


• Den Mother => DENOUNCE MOTHER (24a: Excoriate a parent?)


• Charles Atlas => CHARLESTON ATLAS (37a: Traveler's aid in West Virginia's capital?)


• Skinflint => SKIN FLINTSTONE (49a: Fleece an animated Fred?)


• Pro bono => PROGRAM BONO (60a: Schedule a U2 member?)

This is a cool theme, even if four of the weights are avoirdupois and one is metric. Couldn't fit DRAM or GRAIN in instead of GRAM?

The first thing I noticed while doing this puzzle was the two repeat fill words from yesterday, ALOOF (55a: Detached) and MOUE (18d: Look of displeasure). Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, and it's certainly nothing the constructor can control; it's just interesting, and noticeable, when it occurs.

One of the issues with squeezing five long theme answers into a 15x15 puzzle is that you have less control over the surrounding fill, so it can tend to run pretty unremarkable. This is the case here, where the two longest non-theme fills are 5d: Equiangular (ISOGONAL) and 40d: When shows are broadcast (AIR TIMES). We just saw ISOGON last week, so this one was still pretty fresh in my mind. Nothing wrong with either clue; just not too exciting.

Sunny Spots:

There were a couple of highlight entries here, and a couple that were spiced up via the cluing:

• 15a: Steinbrenner's disparaging nickname for Dave Winfield (MR. MAY). This is by far my favorite clue in the puzzle. The nickname, of course, is a play on Reggie Jackson's "Mr. October" (i.e., a player who comes through when it really counts -- during the playoffs). It's just such a colorful insult; much more subtle than the typical fare we Red Sox fans tend to hurl at the Yankee players.


• 10d: Bathroom cleaner brand (TY-D-BOL). I haven't seen the Tidy Bowl man in a while; remember these commercials?



• 66a: Beast of Borden (ELSIE). Very nice. Also, makes me think of one my favorite Rolling Stones songs


• 43a: Expert in pop psychology? (MOM). That may be open to general debate, but the clue is very clever.

Sundries:

• 6a: Back at sea (ABAFT). It was either that or STERN.


• 14a: Word on a wanted poster (ALIAS). Not the poster I would have gone with, but...


• 16a: Genre of the Get Up Kids (EMO). Emo has been showing up more and more in puzzles. Maybe I should listen to some.


• 22a: Horn on a base (BUGLE). I was trying to interpret this in a baseball sense at first, but SAM didn't fit.


• 28a: Force on earth (ONE G). It's actually a measure of acceleration (meters per seconds-squared), not force. But it's a common usage.


• 30a: Kipling's homeland (INDIA).


• 34a: Patriot's org. (AFC). My first instinct was NFL. I don't know much about the way the NFL works, but are the NFC and AFC really organizations? I just assumed they were a logical grouping of teams within the NFL. Aren't rules and schedules, etc. done at the NFL level? What responsibilities fall to the conferences?


• 44a: One who spends dinars (IRAQI)


• 45a: Dirt that might be dug up? (SOIL). Why the question mark here? Why the "dug up" part at all? Aren't dirt and soil pretty much the same thing?


• 56a: "Truth in engineering" sloganeer (AUDI)


• 57a: Symbol of sovereignty (ORB). This is probably a reference to the Sovereign's Orb, one of the British Crown Jewels.


• 69a: Take the conn (STEER). I know I've heard this phrase quite a bit. Probably from "Star Trek" or one of the spin-offs.


• 7d: It might be intentionally busted (BRONC). Yeah, okay. I guess.


• 13d: TV marine Pyle. (GOMER). Well, golllleeeee!


• 23d: Tony winner Hagen (UTA). I only know this from crosswords.


• 25d: Film style (NOIR)


• 30d: Dancing surface, sometimes (ICE). How is this not linked with the adjacent 31d: Its MVP gets the Hart Trophy (NHL)? Seems like too good an opportunity to pass up.


• 38d: Sergeant Foley's first name in "An Officer and a Gentleman" (EMIL)


• Arias, for example (SOLI). As in, plural of SOLO.


• 46d: Act of delaying, old-style (OFFPUT). I got this easily enough from the crossings, but I can't find this in any of the on-line dictionaries.


• 48: Prime rater: Abbr. (U.S.D.A.). Did you know there are eight grades of beef? Besides the top three that you see in the supermarket, prime, choice, and select, there are also standard, commercial, utility, cutter, and canner. Is it any wonder why I don't eat Spam?


• 50d: Comedian Robert (KLEIN). Needed a few crossings here, as Robert is such a common first name. But I am familiar with


• 53d: Oater choker (NOOSE).


• 54d: Ballplayer Banks with the catchphrase "Let's play two" (ERNIE).


• 58d: Transvaal settler. (BOER)

Suns of Bitches:

• 1a: Emmy winner Christine (LAHTI). Nothing like hitting one your blind spots on 1-Across. I never watched "Chicago Hope".


• 26d: "___ Park" (1986 Susan Dey movie) (ECHO). This gets a meager 5.6 rating on IMDb. Interestingly, the first four plot tags are "Stripper", "Female Nudity", "Acting", and "Disillusionment". I'm guessing that about sums it up.


• 41d: Alternative to an iPhone (TREO). I've seen this before, and I still can't remember it. I gotta get with the new technology.


• 52d: Conrad of old films (NAGEL). Well before my time.


• 8d: ___ Darya (Asian river) (AMU). My first instinct was ABU, which wasn't so far off.

All in all, this was an okay puzzle for me. Not one of my favorites, but not bad for a Tuesday.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday morning update

Puzzles are now available!

Thanks to any and all who called in.

- Pete M.

Monday evening update

To be fair to the online solvers and other bloggers, I have decided to curtail posting until the current week's Sun puzzles become available online. I will check again in the morning, and release the Tuesday blog if the puzzles have shown up. Thank you for your patience.

- Pete M.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Title: She's a Gem
Author: Mark Feldman
Theme: Three descriptive phrases that include names of gems to describe a woman named Jewel, as follows:

• 3d: "I met a woman who has___..." (PEARLY WHITE TEETH)


• 10d: "...and ___..." (EMERALD GREEN EYES)


• 19d: "...and ___..." (JET BLACK HAIR)


• 59d: "...and her name is ___!" (JEWEL)

Nothing wrong with this for a Monday theme. Some may note that PEARLY seems a touch inconsistent, in that the other theme answers include the gem as its own word, but this is not a major flaw for me. Note that anytime the theme entries run down instead of across, you're probably looking at an irregular grid; sure enough, this one is 15x16, to accommodate the long theme phrases.

Sunny Spots:

You don't see that many puzzles that start off with 9 straight 3-letter fills. But this one salvages some self-respect with a few nice clues, including:

• 7a: Ones who are neither het nor gay (BIS). A great, topical fill and a shout-out to the LGBT community. The mathematician in me wonders whether the clue is logically sound as is, or whether bis are both het and gay. I honestly don't know, but I like the clue. Perhaps someone out there can enlighten me.



• 10a: Pole worker (ELF). Let's be independent together!


• 13a: Microbrewery pint (ALE). Nothing fancy, but you know we love food and drink clues here.


• 14a: When repeated, Yogi's pal (BOO). Interesting twist for a boo clue.


• 16a: With 15-Across, Polo Grounds great (MEL / OTT). Nice to see his whole name make it in. And while you're thinking baseball, you've got:


• 24a: Homecoming result? (RUN). Nice.

Other high points include:


• 29a: National Day of Commitment to Eliminate Racism org. (YWCA). Another socially-conscious clue, that I'm going to pair up with:


• 56d: "Star Trek" communications officer (UHURA), who shared a "ground-breaking" kiss some 40 years ago.



• 55d: Trash-talking Muppet? (OSCAR). Who doesn't love Oscar the Grouch? Good clue.


• 57a: Popular sandwich for kids, for short (P.B. AND J.). What do you mean for kids? Adults don't eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches anymore? I know I do.


• 39d: Back burner? (SUN)


• 64a: Eightball player's need (CUE). Love the pool references.

There are also a couple of nice skiing clues:


• 27a: Skiing maneuver (TELEMARK). I always thought telemark was a whole separate type of skiing, like a cross-country/alpine hybrid. But I guess it's a particular maneuver as well.


• 31a: High-speed skiing event (DOWNHILL).

And, to get you ready for both:

• 49a: Leg exercise (KNEE BEND)

Sundries:

Other clues of interest:

• 18a: Home of the NHL's Sharks (SAN JOSE)


• 34a: Darfur's setting (SUDAN)


• 38a: Sewing machine inventor Howe (ELIAS)


• 40a: Like flan (EGGY). Eggy is probably my least favorite word in the puzzle. Feels a touch strained to me.


• 41a: Dart along (FLIT). Flit, on the other hand is a great word.


• 43a: Soviet ballistic missiles (SCUDS)



• 47a: ___ pole (Native American carving) (TOTEM)


• 55a: 1997 film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (OUT TO SEA). I have not seen this one. Bet it's not better than "The Odd Couple". :)


• 65a: Kippered fish (HERRING)


• 69a: Ten-millionth of a newton-meter (ERG)



• 75a: "Weekend Update" show, briefly (SNL). "Saturday Night Live" has been around a long time, is sometimes great, and shows up a lot in puzzles.


• 1d: Latin music (SALSA). Knew it would end in A, but didn't know if it was going to be RUMBA, SALSA, CONGA, or SAMBA until I hit a couple of crosses.


• 2d: Distant (ALOOF). "Aloof" is a great word. It appears to be derived from sailing, meaning "toward the luff", which is the front part of the sail.


• 5d: Jacket flap (COATTAIL).


• 8d: What "ipso" means (ITSELF)



• 11d: Primate of Madagascar (LEMUR)


• 28d: Pout (MOUE). Another nice word that shows up a bit in puzzles.


• 33d: Easter fleur (LIS). That's French for Lily.


• 35d: Not fer (AGIN). I reck'n so.


• 45d: Belgrade citizen (SERB)


• 48d: Sponges (MOOCHES). Noun or verb, take your pick.


• 53d: TV pundit Stephanopoulos (GEORGE)


• 62d: Highway's counterpart in fuel economy (CITY). Which plays directly into:


• 66d: Pumped stuff (GAS). For some reason, I wanted to put GEL here.

Suns of Bitches:

No real problem spots, which is to be expected on a Monday, except for a mild hitch on:

• 7d: Baby sock. I knew what this was right away, but couldn't decide whether to spell it BOOTIE or BOOTEY, and decided on the former. Turns out this time it's BOOTEE. Apparently, it's a viable alternative, but it just looks weird to me. I feel like I've done this in puzzles before, too.

All in all, a decent Monday unless you hate 3-letter words. For me, it was fine.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Title: Ends in the Middle
Author: Alan Olschwang

Note: I am travelling today with no computer access, so please don't be insulted if I don't respond to comments until this weekend. Also, apologies to the author for a shorter than usual post. I strongly encourage some good comments dialogue to pick up the slack! Thanks.

- Pete M

Theme: Phrases that contain either the front end (ABC) or the back end (XYZ) of the alphabet, as follows:

• TAB COLLARS (18a: Features of some shirts).


• HYDROXYZINE (29a: Antihistaminic drug).


• REHAB CENTER (45a: Place to get clean).


• MR MXYZPTLK(59a: DC Comics villain).

My reaction to these, in order:

• Not bad.
• Okay.
• Very nice!
• Are you f-ing kidding me?

Be honest. How many of you out there were even aware that this villain exists, and of those how many could actually spell it?

Also, even though I love the rehab center clue, it's a sad commentary on today's world that it was an immediate gimme. And for theme answers, you can't just average them together to equal two medium-challenging clues. I find the disparity in difficulty here a pretty major flaw.

Sunny Spots:

• 26a: "Universe Ends as ___ Wakes Up Next to Suzanne Pleshette" (headline in The Onion) (GOD). Too funny!


• 1a: Wire cutter (BARB)


• 15a: Clubs for swingers (IRONS)


• 5a: Anthony's costar in "The Silence of the Lambs" (JODIE Foster)


• 1d: Model material (BALSA).


• 11d: 2004 Lindsay Lohan movie (MEAN GIRLS)



• 41a: Mozart portrayer (Tom HULCE). From "Amadeus". Love this movie!

Sundries:

• 16a: With 33-Down, detachment of military troops (REAR GUARD)


• 17a: "___ of Lambeth" (LIZA).


• 20a: Disheveled (SLOVENLY)


• 23a: Fizz up (AERATE)


• 33a: Possibly infectious (GERMY). Yuck.


• 38a: Largest dwarf planet in the solar system (ERIS)


• 40a: Chicago cop Lieberman in Stuart M. Kaminsky novels (ABE)


• 42a: ADA part (ATTY). American Dental Association? Nope. American Diabetes Association? Nope. American Dietetic Association? Nope. Americans for Democratic Action? Nope. Americans with Disabilities Act? Nope. Assistant District Attorney? Bingo!


• 44a: Easternmost county in Vermont (ESSEX)


• 49a: They often end with FGs (OTS). As in football (or basketball, I suppose) overtimes.


• 50a: Public opinion, for short (VOX POP). Short for Vox populi.


• 55a: Subj. of the book "Treasure-House of the Language" (OED)


• 66a: On the safe side? (ALEE)


• 67a: Disease caused by herpesvirus, briefly (MONO). I could do without seeing "herpesvirus" in a puzzle.


• 68a: They're exhausted (GASES)


• 69a: Members of the MTV Generation (XERS)


• 3d: Venus, e.g. (RAZOR)


• 5d: Minibus (JITNEY)


• 6d: Nuncupative (ORAL)



• 7d: Larry who broke the color line in the American League (DOBY)


• 9d: That objeto (ESO)


• 10d: First name in folk (ARLO). Arlo Guthrie, probably best known for "Alice's Restaurant".


• 13d: ___ T's (brand of pierogies) (MRS). Not familiar with them, but easy nonetheless.


• 21d: Antiknock fluid (ETHYL)


• 27d: In safe keeping (ON ICE)


• 28d: Fix (DESEX). Ouch!


• 30d: Male mallards (DRAKES)


• 32d: Seducer of Alcmene (ZEUS)


• 51d: Pfizer antianxiety pill (XANAX)


• 53d: More anomalous (ODDER)


• 56d: Fair (EXPO). Wish the Expos hadn't left Montreal. :(


• 58d: Magazine that "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" author Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor of (ELLE). Didn't know, but in a crossword it's usually ELLE, UTNE, or OMNI.


• 62d: Sony's Clié, e.g.: Abbr. (PDA). Again, didn't know, but it makes sense.


• ()

Suns of Bitches:

Things I really didn't know, that haven't already been mentioned:

• 48a: "Die Luft ___ Freiheit weht" (motto of Stanford University meaning "The wind of freedom blows") (DER). Fits and looks German, so it must be right.


• 57a: "The American ___" (Carelton Mabee biography of Samuel F. B. Morse that won a Pulitzer) (LEONARDO)


• 34d: Competitor of Helena (ESTEE)


• 35d: "Strangers on a Train" costar (RUTH ROMAN)


• 36d: Miguel's twin sister on a PBS cartoon (MAYA)


• 52d: Worker, informally (PROLE)

All in all, I can't say this was a favorite puzzle. Not enough fill that I really loved, and too much that was just out there.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Karen M. Tracey
Theme: None

Note: I will be travelling today and tomorrow with little or no computer access starting this afternoon, so please don't be insulted if I don't respond to comments until this weekend. (Tomorrow's entry will post automatically.) Thanks.

- Pete M

Whenever I see the name Karen M. Tracey, I know I'm in for a challenge. She writes some of the toughest (for me) puzzles I've ever tackled. Most of the time, they're also good fun; every once in a while, I'll hit one that just runs me over like a Mack truck. But I've come to look forward to them, and I always feel like I've accomplished something when I'm done.

This puzzle I quite enjoyed and, except for a couple of sections, was able to piece together without ripping too much hair out of my skull. So, let's have a look under the hood, shall we?

Sunny Spots:

Lot's of great fill here, especially with the longer answers.

• 17a: Wax alternative (EYEBROW TWEEZERS). A lot of themeless puzzles have a "marquee" answer -- that really cool fill word/phrase around which you build the rest of the puzzle. Sometimes it's in the 1A position (Byron Walden is known for this); sometimes its one of the long entries. I think this is the marquee answer for this puzzle. Very nice.


• 54: She lost out to Reese Witherspoon for Best Actress of 2005 (FELICITY HUFFMAN). She was certainly Oscar-worthy in "Transamerica", though I'm partial to the short-lived TV show "Sports Night", which I thought was fantastic. I also have to give a shout-out to Stephen Colbert (of "The Colbert Report") who, in response to common celebrity-portmanteau-couple-names like "Bennifer" and "Brangelina", dubbed Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy: "Filliam H. Muffman".


• 19a: "99 Luftballons" album. (NENA). I love this clue. I was in college when the single came out (here's the English version, but I like the original better even though I don't speak German), so it takes me back. It's a beautiful, haunting anti-war song about 99 balloons released in West Germany and drifting over the Berlin wall, where a zealous overreaction triggers global nuclear destruction.


• 36a: George nicknamed "Mr. Basketball" (BURNS). Kidding!! George MIKAN was the first real star of the NBA and paved the way for the great centers to follow: Chamberlain, Russell, Abdul-Jabbar,... You have to admit, though, the idea of George Burns playing center is pretty amusing. :)


• 4d: ___ Booey (nickname of Howard Stern's producer (BABA). "Baba Booey", AKA (46a: Nickname lead-in) Gary Dell'ABATE (21a: Cool), is also a catch-phrase used by fans of the show when making prank phone calls to unwitting media people like this or this. Of course, I decry such childish and inappropriate behavior.


• 59a: Is pendulous (DANGLES). Wow, so many options for pictures on this one. Let's go with Lt. Jim Dangle of "Reno 911".


• 12d: Confines (AREA). I love that this looks like it should end in 'S', but doesn't. Even though it added to the morass in the NE.


• 18d: Subject of the biopic "The Music Lovers" (TCHAIKOVSKY). Here is a stunning performance of his Piano Concerto #1.


• 34d: Members of some bands (MARIACHIS). A few days late for Cinqo de Mayo, but a wonderful clue nonetheless.

Sundries:

• 1a: Thoroughbred ancestor (ARABIAN). Nice timing to have a horse clue leading off in the week immediately following the Kentucky Derby.


• 8a: Money moneymaker (AD SPACE). "Money", the magazine.



• 8d: Liv Tyler's "Lord of the Rings" role (ARWEN). Any "Lord of the Rings" clue is fine by me.


• 16a: Makes some new connections(REWIRES). Good clue.


• 20a: Promenade des Anglais location (NICE). Didn't know this, but even as a "name a French city" clue, it's pretty gettable.


• 23a: Emotional peak (HIGH NOTE).


• 25a: Prophet whose name means "salvation". (HOSEA)


• 26a: Actor Mulroney (DERMOT). The name is just barely familiar to me. He been in about 50 movies that I've never seen, mostly romantic comedies like "Must Love Dogs" and "My Best Friend's Wedding"; he was also one of the two actors I wouldn't have remembered was in "Young Guns".


• 33a: Reason for shrinking (TIMIDNESS). Tricky clue.


• 35a: Notice-seeking sound. I knew this had to be either AHEM or PSST, so I checked the crossing, 30d: Miniseries, often. Aha! It must be PSST and EPIC, right? Nope. It's AHEM and SAGA.


• 37a: "Casablanca" role (ILSA).


• 38a: Electrical backup (GENERATOR).


• 40a: Slashed words of choice (AND/OR).


• 42a: XP successor. (VISTA). As in the Windows operating system.


• 44a: Water, jocularly (ADAM'S ALE). I only know this from crosswords. I have never referred to water in this fashion, jocular or not.


• 49a: Uniform hue (KHAKI). This and fuchsia are my favorite color names. I've found that most people cannot spell the latter correctly (most common spelling by otherwise good spellers is "fuschia").


• 52a: Big name in kitchenware (EKCO)


• 53a: Split pair (PINS).


• 58a: Cold spelunking site (ICE CAVE). Easy clue, but spelunking is a great word.


• 60a: One unlikely to do a bar mitzvah? (SHYSTER). Ok, I need help on this one. According to several dictionaries, shyster is an unscrupulous person (often a lawyer), likely deriving from the German Scheisser which is used to mean "son of a bitch", though is more literally "one who defecates". Does the "do" in the clue mean "officiate at"? Is there more to this than the seemingly obvious fact that you wouldn't want some sleazeball S.O.B. overseeing your rite of passage into manhood? I feel like there's more than that going on here, so please enlighten me.


• 2d: Mets shortstop José (REYES). I live in an American League area. Specifically, a Boston Red Sox area. But I've heard of Reyes. He's been an All-Star the last couple of years, is a base-stealing machine, and is on the cover of Major League Baseball 2K8


• 7d: "Ah, so" (NOW I GET IT)


• 9d: End to end? (DEE). A nice "it's-the-letter-itself" clue.


• 10d: Showed fear, maybe (SWEATED)


• 14d: Ab ___ (absent) (ESSE). I've seen ESSE enough in puzzles to know that it means "to be" in latin, so it makes sense. ("Esse or ab esse, that is the question..."). In fact, this clue and ARWEN were the gimmes in this sector for me.


• 6d: Dreamboat (ADONIS). A nice Greek mythology figure to go along with the Norse ODIN (24d: Frigg's husband).


• 25d: Domestic pursuit (HOMEMAKING)


• 28d: Bone, to Bandinelli (OSSO). This is just one of those italian words you need to know; it shows up a lot.


• 39d: Out there (RADICAL). I like the phrase "out there". Very in-the-language.


• 40d: Bore, as a cost (ATE)


• 43d: Laggard (SLOUCH). Another evocative term.


• 48d: Santa voicer in "Olive, the Other Reindeer" (ASNER). Not familiar with this twist on the Christmas story, but I can imagine Ed Asner as Santa. It also features the voices of Drew Barrymore, Dan Castellaneta (Homer Simpson), Joe Pantoliano, comedian Jay Mohr, and REM singer Michael Stipe.


• 51d: Proprietor of Hooper's Store on "Sesame Street" (ALAN). Back in my day, Hooper's Store was run by Mr. Hooper. It apparently was then passed on to David, who eventually sold it to Mr. Handford, who was then bought out by Alan.


• 53d: Some boot camp graduates: Abbr. (PFCS). Privates first class. Not to be confused with perfluorocarbons.


• 56d: "30 Rock" creator (Tina FEY). Also, a former SNL head writer.

Suns of Bitches:

Lot's of things I didn't know here, but only two trouble spots. Well, one trouble spot and one trouble section. The spot was the crossing of:

• 30a: Walter Cronkite's Missouri birthplace, informally (ST JOE), and


• 32d: Stand-up comedian Richard (JENI). I've definitely seen the face, but I don't know the name. I correctly guessed the "J" at the crossing, but was not confident. Are we really expected to know where Walter Cronkite was born? According to Wikipedia, St. Joseph is the 7th largest city in Missouri. The 6th largest is Lee's Summit.

The tough section for me was in the NE, anchored by the following albatross:

• 11d: Highest mountain in the Rhaetian Alps (PIZ BERNINA). Knowing that the Rhaetian Alps were in Switzerland wouldn't have helped me in the least. In fact, there's no clue that could have helped me here; this was 100% crossings. Right nearby, we get:


• 13d: Sure thing, in British slang (CERT). At least this one I could make some sense of (i.e., short for "certainty") once I got it completely from the crossings.

Other toughies for me:

• 15a: "Rico Suave" rapper (GERARDO). I readily admit that rap is a weak spot for me. This is not a name I know. "Rico Suave" is listed as #11 on VH1's "Top 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs, Ever" list. Here's a funny video (starring Lando Calrissian... no, really) based on Weird Al Yankovic's parody, "Taco Grande".


• 22a: Screener's Org. (TSA). That's the Transportation Security Administration, which is now part of the Department of Homeland Security. It also stands for the Tourette Syndrome Association. How would you like to chair that meeting.


• 29d: Ukase issuer (TSAR). I thought we were looking for a river here. Turns out an ukase is an edict.


• 36d: ___ fide (insincere) (MALA). Opposite of bona fide, but a new one on me.


• 49d: "PopoZão" rapper, familiarly (K-FED). Kevin Federline is better known for marrying Britney Spears than for anything he's done musically.

I guess that about wraps it up.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Poll Results and Decision

I've reviewed the poll results regarding when people would like to see this post show up, and I have come to a decision that I think and hope will keep most people happy. Now that scheduled posting is available (i.e., I don't have to be sitting at the computer to release the post), I can choose any time, so I am picking (drum roll, please)...

2:01 am (Eastern)

This means the blog will be available first thing in the morning on the east coast, pretty much no matter how early you get up, while not being too early in the evening for you west coasters (11pm Pacific). I think this is a nice compromise.

Thanks to all who expressed an opinion.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Title: Tucked In
Author: Tony Orbach

Theme: Take a common multi-word phrase and change the first word by adding "B" at the front and "ED" at the end (i.e., "tucking" it into "BED"), resulting in a new phrase, as follows:

• Lend a hand => BLENDED A HAND (20a: Mixed up some cards?)


• (News anchor) Ann Curry => BANNED CURRY (29a: Made a harsh restaurant decree in India?)


• Last chance => BLASTED CHANCE (36a: Vigorously criticized old-time Cubs great Frank?). I would have loved to have seen "Scathed" show up in the clue here instead of "vigorously criticized", wouldn't you? For those unfamiliar with Chance, let's go to Wikipedia:

  "Baseball's Sad Lexicon", also known as Tinker to Evers to Chance after its refrain, is a 1910 baseball poem by Franklin Pierce Adams. The poem is presented as a single, rueful stanza from the point of view of a New York Giants fan seeing the talented Chicago Cubs infield of shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance complete a double play.

  
  

• Egg white => BEGGED WHITE (Beseeched a TV game show hostess?), referring, of course to Vanna White of "Wheel of Fortune" fame.


• Oil change => BOILED CHANGE (54a: Disinfected coins?)

This is a cute theme, tied together nicely by the title.

Sunny Spots:

This puzzle runs heavy on food, which we love here, and baseball, which is okay as well, though it might irritate the people who think modern sports are taking over our crossword puzzles. Let's start with food. Besides the theme references to curry and egg white, we have:

• OREO (16a: Crumbled ice cream topping)


• TOFU (58a: Meatless hot dog ingredient)
, with an implicit baseball tie-in for hot dog.

• REESES (49d: Maker of the Whipps candy bar)


• BBQ (41d: Labor Day party, for short). Sure, it's clued as a party, but it's still food to me. Mmmm... Barbecue...


• DOLE (5d: Del Monte rival). Need some healthy fruit to go with the TOFU and balance out all this junk food.


• CROC (25d: Outback steak source, for short). Now, I wouldn't have thought to lump this into the food category if it hadn't been clued this way, but... there you go.

And baseball clues besides CHANCE, above, include:

• BEAN (41a: Hit on the head with a pitch). It's a food and a baseball term! Actually, there's no scarier thing in baseball than when someone gets hit in the head with a ball. Your team, my team, it doesn't matter. When that batter drops to the ground like a ton of bricks, everybody watching just holds their breath and prays.


• AGEE (65a: Only outfielder besides Winfield to win Gold Gloves in both leagues in the 1900s). Tommie Agee played in the 1960s to early 70s. As a former Met, he maintained a presence in the New York area after retirement and thus is fair game for a NY-centric puzzle, I suppose. I got it from the crossings.


• BUNT (54d: It cannot result in the invocation of the infield fly rule ). I love the infield fly rule; it's one of those great baseball rules that people who don't know baseball just shake their heads at (like I do when a Brit or Indian national tries to explain cricket to me). I'll spare you posting the rule here, but believe me, it creates quite the ruckus the first time an umpire calls it during a Little League game.

Other bright spots:

• 2d: Creed in the Best Picture of 1976 (APOLLO). Reference, of course, to "Rocky".


• 18a: Chow line?(LEASH). Food indirection.



• 63a: Severus Snape portrayer Rickman (ALAN)


• 68a: A good bit of razzle-dazzle? (ZEES)
. Another one for the "it's-the-letter-itself" tag.

• 1d: Driveling dullard (GASBAG).


• 3d: Freak (LOSE IT). Nice noun/verb diversion.


• 6d: Hit to a tee from the tee of. Meaning hit the ball perfectly from the tee of (a par 3 golf hole) == got a hole-in-one (ACED).


• 27d: Duvall film role of 1980 (OYL). That's Shelley, not Robert! Nice clue.


• 37d: Determines who gets to break in pool (LAGS). Love the pool clues. (<== Potential theme alert!)


• 39d: Rough house (HUT)

• 46d: Slug (WALLOP). I love "slug" as a verb. And both slug and wallop remind me of Peanuts cartoons ("I oughta slug you!").


• 57d: Decent (CLAD). As in, "Are you decent?"



• 56d: Boggle pieces (DICE). Boggle is a great game for word lovers; we used to play this a lot. I was thinking there was a Harry Potter connection here, but that's a boggart.

Sundries:

• 17a: "Scarface" drug lord. (SOSA). One more baseball reference probably would have scuttled this baby.


• 19a: Zapzyt target (ACNE). Didn't know it, but it's not hard to figure.


• 34a: Pope from 440 to 461 (ST LEO). I much prefer these clues to the reverse (year-of-the-pope) type. And in Crosswordland, 99% of the popes are named PIUS or LEO.


• 42a: Throat "punching bag" (UVULA). Uvula is just a great word.


• 52a: Carpenter's tool (PLANE). Quick raise of hands for everyone who wrote in _EVEL and then checked to see whether "B" or "L" fit the crossing.


• 66a: Having the highest queue rating? (NEXT). I like this clue, and the play on I.Q. (Reader Dan points out that this is more likely a play on "Q rating". Thanks, Dan.


• 4d: Seat-of-the-pants decision? (SPANK). Ah, nothing like a little corporal punishment to spice up a Wednesday puzzle. Especially in fairly close proximity to


• 8d: Behind (TUSHIE)


• 7d: Indiana-based sports org. (NCAA).


• 10d: Surname of literary characters Noah, Tom, Al, Rosasharn, Ruthie, and Winfield (JOAD). From Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath".


• 11d: Story ___ (fiction writer's concern) (ARC). I think this is the third time I've seen ARC clued with this meaning in the past week or so.


• 12d: Koan poser's sect (ZEN)


• 13d: "From Aaron to ___" (name book). (ZOE). You knew it was going to start with "Z" anyway.


• 21d: Chits, in effect (DEBTS). I started with DEBIT/PIUS I, instead of DEBTS/ST LEO.


• 32d: "Ya think?!" (NO DUH!)


• 33d: David Robinson's alma mater: Abbr. (USNA). San Antonio had to wait two years after Robinson graduated Naval Academy to get him on the team. Now I've spent one of the most uncomfortable nights in my life on a battleship before (with a bunch of Cub Scouts), and I'm only 6'3"; I can't imagine how Robinson survived at 7'1".


• 40d: Kitah ___ (first grade, in Hebrew) (ALEPH). Makes sense.



• 44d: "After the Heat" musician (Brian ENO)


• 48d: Director of "The Ice Storm" (ANG LEE). Nice to see his full name for a change.


• 53d: Capital of Baja California Sur (LA PAZ)

Suns of Bitches:

A few toughies for me, that haven't already been mentioned:

• 10a: "Le ___ Hot" ("Victor/Victoria" song) (JAZZ)


• 64a: Opera with the aria "E lucevan le stelle" (TOSCA). These clues for me are basically "Name an opera". Luckily, I had _OSC_, which made it a pretty easy fill.


• 67a: Nickname of Felix and Oscar's poker buddy Homer Deegan (SPEED). I haven't seen "The Odd Couple" in a long long time, so I had to resort to crosses here; couldn't dredge up the name.


• 9d: West German chancellor after Adenauer (ERHARD).

All in all, an enjoyable puzzle. Perhaps a little heavy on the sports references, but fine by me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, May 5, 2008

Title: Sports Trades
Author: Mike Nothnagel

Theme: Take non-sports-related phrase that begins with the name of a sports team (in singular) and swap that name to the end to make a new phrase that seemingly relates to a player on that team. So, for example:

• Celtic cross => CROSS CELTIC (20a: Betray a basketball player?);


• Maple Leaf Rag => RAG MAPLE LEAF (27a: Tease a hockey player?);


• Cardinal rule => RULE CARDINAL (48a: Exercise power over a baseball player?)


• Bear witness => WITNESS BEAR (58a: Observe a football player?)

I like this theme idea, and the fact that it covers the four major U.S. professional sports (sorry, soccer, you still don't make the cut around here). I wish the phrases didn't sound so awkward due to the removal of
the indefinite article (i.e. CROSS CELTIC instead of CROSS A CELTIC, but that's just inherent in the way the theme plays out.

I also love that one of the base phrases is Maple Leaf Rag, one of my favorite non-classical piano pieces, by Scott Joplin. Here's a guitar version that you really have to see (and hear) to believe. I wouldn't have thought it was possible.

Kudos, also, for having the Celtics clue sitting right below PATS (17a: Back stroke?). Go New England sports!

Sunny Spots:

• 5a: Danica Patrick, for one (RACER). Now, trust me, I'm no NASCAR fan, -- idle thought: I wonder how big a set the intersection of crossword fans and NASCAR fans would be... I'm guessing not very -- but Danica Patrick deserves major props for being a successful woman in a virtually completely male-dominated "sport" (quotation marks intentional).


• 24a: Where to go to go to Togo (AFRICA). Very nice.
  
  
• 18a: Prepare for baking, as challah dough (BRAID). Hey, we love food clues here.


• 42a: Transportation for some seniors (LIMO). A shout-out to prom season.



• 13d: Roulette number that loses on bets of both even and odd (ZERO). Zero is an even number, but not in Vegas!


• Fats, e.g. (POOL SHARK). Referring, of course, to Minnesota Fats, one of the most famous pool players of all time. I got this right away (and then erased it a couple of times during my struggle in the SW -- more on this later), but I'm wondering if people thought this was a tough clue for a Tuesday?


• 14a: Brake shoe replacement part (SHOE).


• 40a: Excalibur, e.g. (SWORD). "Sting, e.g." would be a great late-week clue, wouldn't it?


• 43a: Paparazzi's lenses (ZOOMS). Topical and evocative.


• 45a: Tony winner John (ELTON). I always think of John as a first name first, before realizing that it is (again) Elton John. My first-ever vinyl album purchase was Elton John. Then Aerosmith.


• 52a: View from the London Eye (THAMES).


• 59d: Make fun of (TWIT). I was not familiar with the verb form of this word, but I still love that it reminds of this Monty Python sketch.


• 33d: Slim Motorola phone (RAZR). Nice, current fill.

Sundries:

This puzzle had a noticable number of crosswordy-vowelly clues:

• AUEL (25a: Author of "The Mammoth Hunters"). And more famously, author of "The Clan of the Cave Bear"


• EIEIO (67a: Refrain from a pre-school song)


• EASY A (54d: Class that's a cakewalk)


• ELIE (61d: French mathematician ___ Cartan). Have I mentioned I was a math major? No clue on this one.


• ALOU (34d: Bochy replaced him as manager of the San Francisco Giants). If all you knew about baseball was from crossword puzzles, you'd think half the league was named ALOU or SOSA.


• IKEA (12d: Its first store opened in 1958 in Älmhult, Sweden)
Blah blah store blah blah Sweden = IKEA.

And, for good measure, let's throw in:

• EL AL (26d: Company with a Magen David in its logo)


• ENYA (68a: Best New Age Album Grammy winner for "Amarantine"). If someone paid me $1000 dollars for every New Age artist I could name, I'd be $1000 dollars richer. Is ENYA the only one out there, or is she just the ALOU of New Age music?

You know, that gets me thinking... I bet someone out there who is way more artistic than I am could do a parody of that classic New Yorker cover to show the world as viewed by crossword solvers. It would have to be dominated by places like ERIE and EIRE and STLO, with the YSER, AARE, and OISE rivers figuring prominently. Definite bonus points for someone who could come up with something like that... :)

• ETAS (71a: Greek vowels)


• YAO (23a: Runner-up to Stoudemire for 2002-03 Rookie of the Year ). And shouldn't this be "Runner-up to Amare..."? Runner-up to Stoudemire should be MING. Not that I didn't get the answer, but still... just doesn't seem quite right to me.

And, while we're quibbling, 4d: Possible reply to a general question? (YES, SIR): Does the question mark excuse the lack of capitalization in "General"? Just asking.

Other miscellaneous clues of note:

• 6d: "Hell's Half ___" (1954 Elsa Lanchester film) (ACRE). I've never seen this film, but the name is at least familiar.


• 62a: Name on the big screen (IMAX)



• 56a: Castellaneta cry upon seeing "(annoyed grunt)" in scripts If I'd recognized the name on the first pass, I wouldn't have had so much trouble in the SW... D'OH!


• 5d: Organs can be found in them (RIB CAGES). I can't decide whether this clue is cute or gross. Maybe a little of each, like -- nah, I'll spare you the analogy.


• 11d: "Hip to Be Square" singer (HUEY LEWIS).


• 28d: Hungry kitten, often (MEWER). Hmph. Yeah, that about sums it up: I'm a Hmpher upon encountering this clue.


• 50d: Tuition add-on (LAB FEE). Come September, I will have two kids in college. Any clue that mentions tuition is a bit more painful than it otherwise might be.

Suns of Bitches:

There were a few tough clues here for a Tuesday, but it was the SW corner that really threw me, starting with 56d: Brazilian midfielder on back-to-back World Cup winners in '56 and '62. Like many Americans, I can only name one soccer player, and that's PELÉ (Well, no that's not entirely true. I know of David Beckham, and also Zinedine Zidane, but only because it's such a cool name). And it crossed perfectly with 66a: Impetus for some foolish behavior, for which I had LOVE (which I loved because it reminded me of one my all-time favorite Motown songs, from Martha Reeves and the Vandellas). Needless to say, this resulted in a major clusterf$^# in that corner until I figured out the answers were DIDI and DARE, respectively. It didn't help that in our area we play candlepin bowling, where an 'X' denotes a ten, not a strike (63d: Perfect game dozen = XES).


Besides that (and ELIE, above), then only one I had to totally resort to crossings on (and I've seen the movie) was: 36a: Brandon ___ (Hilary Swank's "Boys Don't Cry" role) (TEENA). And even if I had remembered it, I wouldn't have known it was spelled that way.

Well, that turned out to be quite a lot to talk about for a Tuesday.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Title: Fish Sandwiches
Author: Alan Arbesfeld
Theme: Types of fish are embedding inside two-word phrases, as follows:

• 20a: The Senate, e.g. (UPPER CHAMBER)


• 28a: Scoop shop option (SWISS ALMOND)


• 35a: Panzer battler (SHERMAN TANK)


• 42a: One doing the hustle (DISCO DANCER)



• 53a: Xenon, for example, in the atmosphere (TRACE ELEMENT)

This theme started out okay for me, with PERCH and SALMON, started to go a little awry with MANTA, recovered, a little disappointingly, with the very short COD, and ended with the totally anticlimactic EEL (which I actually had to stare at awhile to figure out what the fish was... ACEELE? CEELEME?). All in all, I found the theme phrases pretty bland as well. Nothing wrong with them, just not too exciting for me.

Sunny Spots:

• 46a: Bread box? (ATM). The people who still refer to money as "bread" are probably the same ones who say I DIG (5a: "The meaning of your statement is clear", more hiply). Still, it's a nice clue.


• 21d: Sheepish reply? (BAA). I knew where this one going right away, but I still like it.


• 29d: Word with cry or baby (WAR). I love the way the answer here seems so far removed from the clue words in question. You're thinking "what goes with babies and crying?"... somehow war is not what pops to mind.



• 36d: Letters before "-1701" on the Enterprise (NCC) . Gotta love "Star Trek" clues.


• 48d: Dash hundredths (METER). Referring to the 100-meter dash. Great clue!


• 56d: Kent colleague (LANE). My first thought was of Kent State and the 1970 protest where four students were gunned down by our own National Guard. This would have fit well with 57a: Capital of Vietnam (HANOI) and 64a: "You won't have ___ to kick around anymore, because gentlemen, this is my last press conference" (1962 quote) (NIXON). But it was quickly obvious that we were dealing with Superman here.


• 39a: Morlocks' prey in "The Time Machine" (ELOI). Three vowels in a four-letter word means it shows up in a ton of puzzles.


• 63a: Attendee (GOER). I'm not usually crazy about -ER fill, but this one reminds me too much of this Monty Python sketch not to give it a shout out.

Sundries:

• 22a: Forest's "Street Kings" costar (KEANU). This film came out this year, but I haven't seen it playing in any theaters in my area. IMDB gives it 7.3 stars, which is pretty solid. Anyone out there seen this and care to give a brief review?



• 65a: Painter Magritte (RENE). If you haven't seen the 1999 remake of "The Thomas Crowne Affair"with Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, and Denis Leary, I would highly recommend it anyone looking for some light, fun entertainment.


• 8d: Thingamajigs (GISMOS). I initially spelled this with a Z. Somehow, the 'S' just doesn't look right.


• 9d: Jewish village of Eastern Europe, formerly (SHTETL). That's just a cool word all the way around.


• 31d: "Mancha", translated from Spanish (STAIN). I did not know that.



• 5d: Computer that comes with a Mighty Mouse (IMAC).


• 35d: He's hit home runs in more major league ballparks than anyone (SOSA).


• 43d: "Late Night" host (Conan O' BRIEN).


• 44d: Crackhouse raiders (DEA).


• 53d: Oz visitor (TOTO). This is a pretty pedestrian clue, except I literally had just gotten back from a high school performance of "The Wizard of Oz" when I did this puzzle. It's funny how things show up like that.
  

Suns of Bitches:

Nothing really tough here, but a few answers I only got through the crossings:

• 50a: "Bringing Down the House" author Mezrich (BEN). There a lot of Ben's out there that I've heard of. This isn't one of them.
  
• 32d: "Death in Venice" author (Thomas MANN).



• 46d: Photographer Richard (AVEDON). I didn't recognize the name, but I've definitely seen some of his photos, including this one of Natassja Kinski, which appeared in Vogue Magazine in 1981.


• 57d: Party animal? (HEN). Ok, maybe I'm a total dumbass, but I can't for the life of me figure this one out. Chicken parties? Hen parties? I could see DONKEY or ELEPHANT, for political parties, but I just don't understand this one. Bonus points for the first comment to satisfactorily explain this one to me.

That about sums it up for me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, May 1, 2008

Title: Weekend Warrior
Author: Byron Walden
Theme: None

When I open up a Weekend Warrior and see that it's by Byron Walden, I just know I'm in for a treat -- a tough, clever puzzle with lots of juicy fill and more than a few smiles. And this puzzle certainly fills the bill. Byron has a well-deserved reputation for constructing very difficult puzzles (ask anyone who was at ACPT 2006 -- I swear people are still grumbling), but I generally don't find him as difficult as some. Perhaps because of our similar ages and math/computer backgrounds, I tend to run on a similar wavelength. This doesn't mean I find his puzzles easy. Believe me, I don't. But they don't chew me up and spit me out like some others (I'll forego names for now... they'll show up here soon enough).

But, you know what? I don't think I realized until I prepared to blog this puzzle what really makes Byron's puzzles amazing. It's that every entry is notable! There are virtually no ho-hum clue/answer pairs, and because of that any that do occur become notable due to their rarity. This means more work for me, but I'm not complaining. Just noting that you can expect a longer-than-usual entry here.

So, with plenty to talk about, let's get to it.

Sunny Spots:

Many things to love here. Topical, in-the-language phrases; cool and/or misleading clues; evocative images. Here are some of the highlights for me:

• 15a Bass relative (CELLO). Love the musical clues. Nice fish misdirection as well.


• 16a Friendly reassurance to a timid child. I had YOU'LL BE OK to start, but I like the answer, I WON'T BITE, even better.



• 18a: Treatment for gray hair (BLUE RINSE). Great, topical phrase.


• 22a: Benefits by knowing (HAS AN IN WITH).


• 28a: Inclinations (BENTS). I have a bent toward liking this clue. Not at all obvious, but so fitting once it appears.


• 37a: Slinky motion (PROWL). I was trying to picture how a Slinky moves and trying to come up with a verb to describe it. Nice misdirection here.


• 44a: Berkeley, for example (STATE SCHOOL). I love this. "State school" tends to evoke a school of lesser reknown, and yet here we have one of the more prestigious universities in America which happens to also be a state school of California.


• 56a: What players should do (GET TESTED). Wow! A day after unhooking bras and already we need to get tested? Another edgy clue from the Sun that wouldn't see the light of day in the New York Times. "Player" here referring to people who "play the field".


• 57a: Equivocate (HEDGE). As a noun, hedge is pretty boring; as a verb, sparkling.



• 4d: Tina in "Napolean Dynamite", e.g. (LLAMA). If you haven't seen this movie, you need to. It's way off-beat, and funnier each time you watch it. Vote for Pedro!


• 14d: Woods game. I know we were supposed to think of Tiger Woods and golf (which I did); then I tried to picture games played in the woods (hide-and-go-seek, perhaps?). Turns out the answer is much more "gamey": DEER MEAT. Of course, I've never actually heard anyone refer to deer meat as "deer meat" -- it's always "venison".


• 28d: Fleck with a pick (BELA). A gimme for me. I've seen Bela Fleck live, and even though I'm not a huge banjo music fan, it's worth the price of admission just to watch Victor Wooten, who is one of the best bassists on the planet! If you follow no other link, do yourself a favor and check out this solo of The Beatle's "Norwegian Wood". And if you like that, here's one more for your listening pleasure.


• 31d: Bar code? (LAW). "Bar" as in lawyers. Nice.



• 32d: 80's TV character with the given names Jefferson Davis (BOSS HOGG). I wasn't a huge Dukes of Hazzard fan, but kudos to the implicit Zs.



• 33d: St. Lawrence River racer (ICE CANOE).

Sundries:

• 1a: Floor covering? (SPILL). What a great way to spice up an otherwise bland fill entry.


• 6a: Staunch (ROCK SOLID). Self-descriptive. A rock solid clue/answer pair.


• 17a: One who is often praised (ALLAH). Hopefully, having ALLAH in a crossword is not like having Muhammad in a comic.



• 19a: Cameron Diaz's film debut (THE MASK).


• 21a: Product introduced in 1912 by Lionel (SLOT CAR). Lionel is well-known for producing toy trains, so this is not so much of a reach.


• 24a: A musing sound (HMM). This is about as pedestrian as this puzzle gets. And I still like it.


• 25a: Defib pro (EMT). An immediate gimme. You gotta have a couple of these to get the puzzle going.


• 27a: German admiral who lost WWI's Battle of the Falkland Islands (SPEE). I couldn't have answered this question in a trivia contest, but once I had SP_ _, I knew the answer was SPEE. Must be harbored in the deep recesses of my brain, but I'm not sure whether it's from crosswords or some other source.


• 32a: Phoenician double-deckers (BIREMES). I knew "triremes" from the original Sid Meier's Civilization game, so "biremes" wasn't too much of a stretch.


• 35a: In contact with (AGAINST). Perfectly reasonable clue that is nowhere near how one would expect "against" to be clued.


• 36a: Animal named by the Nahuati (OCELOT). Appearing in the second puzzle in a row. See yesterday's blog for the cute picture.



• 38a: Zaxxon company (SEGA). I used to work in a video arcade/pizza parlor in the late 1970s/early 1980s, so I remember Zaxxon, which reduced this clue to "name a video game company in 4-letters". Piece of cake.


• Double "Sarkozy" Alert!! French president Nicolas Sarkozy gets a double dose in this puzzle. Sarkozy married his girlfriend, singer Carla Bruni, in February in the ELYSEE (42d: Where Sarkozy can get cozy) Palace in Paris. Now he is Carla's MARI (39a: Nicolas Sarkozy, to Carla Bruni), which is "husband" in French.


• There is also the combination of 40a: Exit line (BYE) and 11d: Exit lines? (OBIT). See how a simple connection elevates the ordinary into something noteworthy.



• 43a: Fair type: Abbr. (SCI). We all remember Science Fairs, don't we? I had no idea where this clue was going until I had the crossings. Then it made me smile.


• 48a: Wheel runner (HAMSTER). I couldn't for the life of me parse this to figure out what they were looking for. And yet, once you have the answer, it's so obvious.


• 50a: Hot and cold (STREAKY). Shades of gambling here. Like it.


• 51a: Pool variety (ONE POCKET). I started confidently with EIGHT BALL here, as it's the only one I could think of that fit the spaces. And I've played one-pocket, too. Very strategic game, and a lot of fun if you like pool.


• 53a: Nay sayers (ANTIS).


• 54a: Fizzle (GO NOWHERE). I really wanted "PETER OUT", but it didn't fit.


• 1d: Criticize severely (SCATHE). I'm not used to seeing this a verb, but I like it. Next puzzle I don't like is going to get scathed.


• 3d: Superlatively phat (ILLEST). Yo yo yo! A little gansta argot to keep the puzzizzle phresh.


• And the 5d: Winner of dual Worst Actress Razzies for "I Know Who Killed Me" goes to... [drum roll please]... Lindsay LOHAN, who won Worst Actress, Worst Supporting Actress (twice, once for each of two characters), and Worst Screen Couple (for the same two characters). Her mother must be so proud.


• 6d: Some sweaters (RIB KNITS).



• 7d: Temple player (OWL). What a terrifying mascot. If you're a mouse.


• 8d: Dionne Warwick to Whitney Houston (COUSIN).


• 9d: Short-changed oneself, maybe? (KNELT). I can't decide if this one's super clever or a total stretch, and I'm frankly leaning toward the latter. When you kneel down, are you "changing" yourself to be shorter? I suppose. Kinda sorta.


• 10d: Detroit brewmeister Bernhard (STROH). I don't drink Stroh's, as my tastes lean more toward the darker ales, porters, and stouts. But any beer clue is okay by me.


• 12d: Axle insert (LINCH PIN). I wouldn't have known to spell this with an "I", but there you go.


• 13d: "Things are looking bad" (IT'S A MESS). Another nice phrase.



• 20d: Ring thing, sometimes (SIGNET). This is one of those clues that could mean almost anything. There are so many different meanings for "ring". Do people still wear signets on rings, or is that a thing of the past?


• Speaking of the past, 23d: Auxiliary of the past refers to an past-tense auxiliary verb. Namely WAS.


• 27d; Pollute (SOIL). Another answer that's more often clued as a noun than a verb. But pretty straightforward, none-the-less.


• 29d; Further Seems Forever genre (EMO). If it's a genre in 3-letters, it's probably either SKA or EMO.


• 30d; Solipsistic sort (EGOIST). I wanted this to end in -ER, but of course it's not that predictable.


• 34d: Division subdivision (REGIMENT). Part of the U.S. Army troop hierarchy.



• 35d: Ran in (ARRESTED). Book 'em, Danno!


• 37d: Lady Vols coach Summit who is the winningest NCAA basketball coach ever (PAT). You've heard of John Wooden; you've heard of Bobby Knight; you've heard of John Thompson, Rick Pitino, and Mike Krzyzewski. Women play basketball, too! Get to know Pat Summit.


• 49d/39d: Volatile place to move oil (SPOT MARKET).


• 40d: Took a punt, say (BOATED). Nice football misdirection here.


• 44d: Author buried on the Phillips Academy campus in 1896 (STOWE). Interesting trivia. Makes me wonder whether Byron perhaps attended Phillips Academy. Wouldn't surprise me.


• 45d: PC fixers (TECHS). I really wanted PR MEN here, thinking it was referring to spinning things to be "politically correct".


• 55a/46d: Black box location (CRASH SCENE). A little morbid, perhaps. But okay.


• 47d: Syllogistic segue (HENCE). "Syllogistic" means "logical". Nice clue.



• 41d: Teamwork? (YOKING). As in a team of oxen. Gettable, but I have to say I'm not crazy about this one -- seems just a little too forced.


• 52d: "___ thy fair light had fled": Shelley (ERE). I didn't know this, but what else could it be?

Suns of Bitches:

The beauty of the difficult clues is that they are all "gettable" from context and from the crossings. That's the mark of a quality puzzle. Here are the few nasty spots for me:

• 26a "Christ Stopped at Eboli" actor ___ Maria Volonte (GIAN). Not a name I knew, but it felt plausible enough after it fit. Nice to see Christ and Allah to sharing space.


• 30a: "___ to Abelard" (Pope poem) (ELOISA). This was nowhere near my wheelhouse; I got it purely from the crossings. On Monday, we had ELOISE, now ELOISA. Here's an excerpt from the poem:
  

  Alas, how chang'd! what sudden horrors rise!A naked lover bound and bleeding lies!Where, where was Eloise? her voice, her hand,Her poniard, had oppos'd the dire command.Barbarian, stay! that bloody stroke restrain;The crime was common, common be the pain.I can no more; by shame, by rage suppress'd,Let tears, and burning blushes speak the rest.

  Pretty brutal!


• 2d: The Bronx's ___ Bay Park (PELHAM). This may be a gimme for New Yorkers, but I had no clue. Luckily, it's a common enough place name, and the crossings were not ambiguous.

All in all, a very pleasant puzzling experience. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.