Sun Blocks - A Crossword Blog by Pete Mitchell: June 2008

Monday, June 30, 2008

Title: Show People
Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: Shows whose titles include MEN, WOMEN, GIRLS, and BOYS.

17a: 1981 musical with the song "One Night Only" (DREAMGIRLS).

61a: 2006 Best Musical (JERSEY BOYS).

10d: 1989 Aaron Sorkin play (A FEW GOOD MEN). I didn't realize this was a play; the movie was great.

25d: 2005 musical starring Sutton Foster (LITTLE WOMEN).

Quick write-up today. I'm totally fried and don't have much to say, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

This is a pretty normal, nothing fancy Monday theme. Not the sort of thing you expect from Patrick Blindauer. Until you realize that the puzzle is a pangram (uses all the letters of the alphabet) and is chock-full of scrabbly, later week letters, which is not at all what you expect on a Monday. Let's have a look.

Sunny Spots:

26a: Captain in "The Caine Mutiny" (QUEEG). Famously played by Humphret Bogart.

44a: Coauthor with Friedrich Engels of "The Communist Manifesto" (KARL MARX). Nice to see his full name.

2d: He told the Once-ler, "Sir! You are crazy with greed. There is no one on earth who would buy that fool Thneed!" (LORAX). Dr. Seuss, of course.

53d: Hungarian composer Franz (LISZT). Not my favorite piano composer (I prefer Chopin), but a great name for crosswords.

22a: Grow unchecked (RUN WILD).

34a: State of panic (HYSTERIA).

Sundries:

5a: "My Fair Lady" composer (LOEWE).

10a: Sitcom in which Sherman Hemsley played a deacon (AMEN).

15a: New York city on the Allegheny River (OLEAN). Also a fat substitute.

20a: Not stringent (LAX).

24a: Banish (EXILE).

27a: Son of Daedalus (ICARUS). These were the father and son that flew too close to the sun, so the wax on their wings melted. Or something like that.

37a: Skeleton's spot? (CLOSET). Great clue.

41a: "Saving Private Ryan" event (D-DAY).

42a: Annie ___ (free ticket) (OAKLEY). Why does this mean free ticket? What's the story here?

47a: "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" sloganeer (PERDUE).

48a: Cooled one's heels? (WADED).

57a: NYC commuting option since 1904 (IRT). This shows up a lot, so if you're not from NYC, just remember it.

60a: Entrance requirement, perhaps (EXAM).

65a: Rival of Sonicare (ORAL B).

68a: Capital of France's Gard department (NIMES).

69a: Gusto (ZEST).

6d: Lena of "Chocolat" (OLIN). She shows up a lot.

8d: Marine mammal with tusks (WALRUS).

11d: Seamstress in "La Bohème" (MIMI).

12d: "The ___ Dead" (1983 horror film) (EVIL).

18d: Rodents, jocularly (MEECE). I'm not always crazy about words that aren't words finding their way into puzzles, but somehow this one doesn't bother me too much.

26d: Made like a duck (QUACKED).

33d: Mythological river of the underworld (STYX).

45d: Full of vigor (LUSTY).

47d: Czar whose reign ended in MDCCXXV (PETER I).

49d: Mustard type (DIJON).

52d: Jeter's crosstown rival (Jose REYES).

55d: Industrial show (EXPO).

63d: URL ender since 2001 (BIZ).

Suns of Bitches:
A few answers that I needed the crossings to get.

66a: WWII correspondent ___ Robb (INEZ).

3d: Soccer star Lalas (ALEXI).

56d: ___ doble (ballroom dance) (PASO).

Overall, a nice Monday puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, June 27, 2008

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

We know what to expect when we see Karen M. Tracey's name on a Weekend Warrior. Lots of sparkling fill, tough names, and a challenging puzzle. Let's see how it went.

Sunny Spots:

21a: George Harrison autobiography (I ME MINE). I'm a sucker for anything Beatles.

48a: Rocinante rider (QUIXOTE). Don Quixote's horse. I didn't know this, but once I had the Q it was an easy guess. And QUIXOTE is a great fill.

50a: Portrayer of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (TIM CURRY). Love it. I would have loved to be at the meeting where they first pitched the script to him. I've posted a link to this video before (June 19 - Doug Peterson), when the answer was RIFFRAFF, but I'll include it here as well.

5d: Raptors' rivals (CELTICS). That's the NBA WORLD CHAMPION CELTICS, to you.

20d: 1992 #1 hit for Right Said Fred (I'M TOO SEXY). This is my favorite entry in the puzzle. Talk about one-hit wonders.

Sundries:

1a: It begins "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" (REBECCA). By Daphne du Maurier.

8a: Hurly-burly (TEMPEST). There are a lot of great synonyms for this: kerfuffle and foofaraw are two of my favorites.

15a: Heath family members (AZALEAS). I knew I was looking for a plant; that was enough.

16a: On a par with (EQUAL TO).

17a: A French letter might have one (CEDILLA). (ç)

18a: Not as practiced (RUSTIER).

19a: 1974 Mocedades hit (ERES TU). This was just in yesterday's Times puzzle.

20a: One end of St. George's Channel (IRISH SEA).

23a: Letters for a Clarence House resident (HRH). Clarence House is the British royal home.

30a: Dogs' resting spot? (FOOTSTOOL). Why the question mark? What am I missing here?

32a: Topsy's creator (STOWE). From "Uncle Tom's Cabin".

35a: Singer of the Oscar-nominated song "May It Be" (ENYA). I think she's won all the Oscars for song. My resource for this claim is crossword puzzles. Actually, maybe ELTON JOHN won one.

36a: "Cheers!" alternative (SKOAL).

41a: Descendant of Jacob (ISRAELITE). Nice, vowelly word.

45a: Vain sorts (EGOTISTS). This has been showing up more frequently than I would expect, given its length.

59a: Bank problem (EROSION). River bank, not savings bank.

62a: Canaries, e.g. (ISLANDS).

6d: Peace pipes (CALUMETS). It took a bit to remember the middle vowel, but I've definitely seen this before.

9d: Morgan, for one (EQUINE).

10d: Billi-bi ingredient (MUSSELS). I have never heard of billi-bi, which is a soup made from mussel stock and cream. Still, there weren't many words that could fit here. And, it sounds good; now I'm going to have to find some to try.

12d: Inventor who gave skyscrapers a boost (ELISHA OTIS). I knew the Otis part immediately, but couldn't remember the first name of this elevator brake inventor. My first instinct was Jeremiah, but it didn't fit. At least I was on the biblical track.

22d: Mushroom popular in Asian cuisine (ENOKI). I spelled this ENAKI originally, confusing it with SHIITAKE.

26d: Virginia McKenna movie role of 1966 (JOY ADAMSON). From "Born Free". It's nice to see a reference to this film that's not ELSA.

27d: Breakout producer (ATARI). Breakout is like solitaire pong.

29d: Russian import, briefly (STOLI). Short for Stolichnaya, the vodka.

31d: Key name (LARGO). Brings to mind the Beach Boys song "Kokomo". Here's a version you may not remember.

37d: Vientiane natives (LAOTIANS). I got this right away, but you gotta admit it's a weird-looking word.

47d: Part of Wonder Woman's getup (TIARA).

53d: Last name in do-it-yourself home improvement (VILA). Of the original "This Old House".

55d: Lille's department (NORD). Well, I know it's French for "north", so I guess it makes sense that it's the name of a department.

Suns of Bitches:

There were several answers in this puzzle that I didn't know, but it still filled in surprisingly quickly for me, with the northeast corner the last to fall. Alas, I had an error in the southwest at the crossing of 61a: Ornamental flower (LANTANA) and 49d: "Cat People" woman (IRENA). I didn't know either, and guessed LANTANE/IRENE. This deserves the "guess-the-vowel" tag.

Others that I did not know, but that fell without to much hurly-burly:

28a: Tiffany jewelry designer Peretti (ELSA).

38a: ___ Mesa (San Diego border crossing) (OTAY). If this had been a Buckwheat clue, I'd have gotten it easily.

58a: Algonquian spirit (MANITOU).

2d: "On Eagles' Wings" author Weizman (EZER).

4d: Endymion's kingdom, in Greek myth (ELIS). I have no idea what this clue is about. I guess ELIS is a mythical kingdom. I'm not totally oblivious to Greek mythology, but I've never heard of it.

8d: Clark of country music (TERRI). The only Clark that came to mind was PETULA, and that didn't fit. I know very little about country music, and nothing about recent country music.

14d: Simchat ___ (Shemini Atzereth follower) (TORAH). I didn't even know what we were looking for here, except that it was probably a Jewish word. From Wikipedia:
On the Hebrew calendar, the holiday of Sukkot in the autumn (mid to late October) is immediately followed by the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. In Orthodox and Conservative communities outside Israel, Shemini Atzeret is a two-day holiday and the Simchat Torah festivities are observed on the second day. The first day is referred to as "Shemini Atzeret" and the second day as "Simchat Torah," although both days are officially Shemini Atzeret according to Halakha, and this is reflected in the liturgy.

In Israel and in Reform congregations both in Israel and the Diaspora, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah are celebrated on the same day.

Overall, this is the kind of Weekend Warrior I like. Plenty of great, evocative fill; plenty of tough answers, but mostly discernable from crossings. My only complaint is the LANTANA/IRENA cross, which I found to be a little nasty.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Title: Here Comes the Sun
Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: Hidden image of the sun, revealed by shading all occurrences of the letter I, as indicated by the theme hint entry:

38a: Advice during a solar eclipse (and a homophonic hint to uncovering this puzzle's secret image) (SHADE YOUR EYES).

This is the kind of clever theme we've come to expect from Patrick Blindauer. Well-executed, with 32 "I"s forming the sun and its rays.

Sunny Spots:

Here's the unfortunate downside of this type of theme. All those "I"s make the fill difficult. As a result, there really are no stand-out entries in my mind. Don't get me wrong, the fill isn't bad at all; there just aren't any real marquee (look Joon, I spelled it right this time) entries.

Sundries:

1a: Has an online chat with, perhaps (IMS). Instant Messages.

4a: Name before Reagan in "We Didn't Start the Fire" (BEGIN). Not my favorite Billy Joel song, but not hard to figure out with a couple of crossings.

9a: "Pardon me," in Italy (SCUSI).

14a: Marcel Marceau character (BIP). I know this from crosswords. Nice tie-back to Tuesday's MIME fill.

16a: Sensational (LURID). Lurid is a great word. Love it.

17a: Puzzling (ENIGMATIC).

19a: Bush appointee to the Supreme Court (ALITO), which balances (politically) 44a: Hastert's successor as Speaker of the House (PELOSI).

21a: Japanese floor covering (TATAMI). The first of a set of Japanese clues, including 42a: Japanese version of chess (SHOGI), and 52a: Japanese beer (KIRIN).

23a: Ending of many crossword clues for pluralized names (ET AL). Which goes along with 68a: Clarifying Latin phrase (ID EST).

24a: Offed (DID IN).

25a: Soft ball brand (NERF).

29a: Pizza topping (SALAMI). Salami is not a common pizza topping around here. Pepperoni, meatball/hamburg, sausage, and ham are pretty much the pizza meats.

31a: Lake that feeds the Mississippi (ITASCA).

33a: Suggest (IMPLY). This one pairs nicely with 46a: Surmises (INFERS), as many people mistaken use them interchangeably.

37a: Soul singer Thomas and food writer Rombauer (IRMAS).

51a: Arabian Sea gulf (ADEN).

56a: Character killed by Tess in "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (ALEC).

57a: Maverick's rival in "Top Gun" (ICEMAN). As you might expect, I'm a fan of "Top Gun". If you don't know why, go watch the movie again. I think you'll figure it out.

59a: Element #41 is named after her (NIOBE). I couldn't tell you anything about niobium, but I've heard of it. So have you if you've heard this Tom Lehrer song:

63a: It might be sticky (SITUATION). Very nice clue.

1d: Wild goats of Eurasia (IBEXES).

3d: Back drops? (SPINAL). I assume this is referring to a spinal as in anesthesia. I'm not sure I'm crazy about this one.

4d: The Tide (BAMA). We just saw Bama in reference to Joe Namath, so this should have been fresh in your minds.

6d: "Growing Up ___" (reality show) (GOTTI). I wanted BRADY here. There was such a show, wasn't there? Or was it a book?

7d: Troy story (ILIAD).

8d: Prefix meaning "night" (NOCTI). My problem with prefixes is I never know what vowel they're going to end with. NOCTA, NOCTU, NOCTI, NOCTO - they all seem equally plausible. In fact, it seems to me that NOCT- is really the prefix.

10d: The ___ Institute of America (school in Hyde Park, New York) (CULINARY). Didn't know it off the top, but easy enough to figure.

11d: Canton whose capital is Altdorf (URI). I had an inkling that this was the answer immediately, so I must have seen this before in other puzzles.

18d: Arizona river (GILA).

22d: Boy in "The Phantom Menace" (ANI). Short for Anakin (Skywalker).

24d: Thin mint product? (DIME). Cute clue.

26d: Salinger dedicatee (ESME). Classic crossword fill.

32d: Marketing connection (TIE IN).

35d: Myrna of "The Best Years of Our Lives" (LOY).

36d: Ingrid's "Anastasia" costar (YUL). Once I had the leading Y, not much else fit.

40d: Torments (AGONIZES). This is one of those weird words, in that it can refer to the act of tormenting or (more commonly) of being tormented.

41d: Tlaloc's domain, to the Aztecs (RAIN). This boils down to "name some domain that would be attributed to a God".

42d: Where you might get steamed (SPA). Cute.

45d: Cold War prez (IKE).

47d: Tout à ___ (entirely, in French) (FAIT).

48d: The E of S.E. Hinton (ELOISE).

49d: Put back into hot water (REBOIL). I'm not crazy about RE- words, but at least you can boil something more than once (as opposed to, say, RECOOK).

50d: Act starter (SCENE I).

54d: "A Simple Plan" director Sam (RAIMI).

55d: "Leap ahead" sloganeer (INTEL).

64d: Link letters? (URL). As in an internet link. Nice clue.

Suns of Bitches:

There were a few names I didn't know in this one, including:

15a: "Dancing With the Stars" champ ___ Anton Ohno (APOLO).

20a: City near Dayton (XENIA).

2d: Former Secretary of Transportation Norman (MINETA).

43a: Massacre site in Vietnam

34d: Arthur Gordon ___ (title character in a Poe novel)

All in all, not bad for a Thursday. Cool theme after the fact (i.e., it didn't help at all during the solve) that put a bit of strain on the fill, but well-constructed overall, with few real duds and one sticky square for me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Title: Silly Songs
Author: Stella Daily and Bruce Venzke
Theme: Songs with gibberish names.

Alright, I'm too lazy to go research the correct punctuations on these songs, so I'm just going to insert hyphens between the syllables. If this is incorrect and it offends you, well, comment away -- I'm not losing any sleep over it.

17a: With 62-Across, "silly" Police song (DE-DO-DO-DO / DE-DA-DA-DA).

27a: "Silly" Iron Butterfly song (IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA). The story is that this song was originally to be titled "In the Garden of Eden", but was misheard by one of the bandmates (alcohol may or may not been a factor here, depending on which story you believe), who wrote it down phonetically. Either way, the new name stuck.

36a: "Silly" Manfred Mann song (DO-WAH-DIDDY-DIDDY). There's a local Boston band, "The Fools", that's been around since the 70s that does a version of this song. Here's a video of it. They still tour locally, and while they are certainly older, they are still quite the fun, talented rock band.

44a: "Silly" vaudeville song (TA-RA-RA-BOOM-DE-AY). I think I only know this because it was parodied so often when I was young. Probably at about the same age as "Jingle Bells, Batman smells...".

This is an interesting mix of songs, all of which I was able to nail without a single crossing once I got the first part of the Police tune. It also made me think of another silly song; unfortunately, its title, "Swinging the Alphabet" (which I never knew until today) isn't as silly as the song itself, so it wouldn't have fit the theme. But here it is, anyway. 99% guaranteed to make you smile. And, if you want a really off-beat parody, check out this bit from "The Forbidden Planet" (LANGUAGE WARNING).

Sunny Spots:

14a: Shortstop Luis with nine Gold Gloves (APARICIO). He finished his playing career with the Red Sox in the early 70s, and he's definitely on my "Top 100 Coolest Sounding Names in Sports" list. Well, okay, I don't actually have such a list compiled, but if I did he'd be on it. So would Julio Lugo and Esteban Loaiza.

59a: Oyster hoister's hangout? (RAW BAR). This brings back memories. Before kids, my wife and I used to go out after work to a place that had music interspersed with trivia. Periodically, they'd throw out a "raw bar" question (i.e. the first correct answer got a free raw bar entry). Once, the question was "According to [I don't remember the source], the average sexual encounter burns the equivalent calories of walking up how many flights of stairs?" Guesses were being shouted in rapid succession -- "2, 3, 7, 5, ..." -- when a girl's voice in the back screamed "100!". As if on cue, about five guys turned around and in unison shouted "What's your number?" Fun times.

Sundries:

5a: Tupolev Tu-144, e.g. (SST). Way to make a common entry obscure.

8a: Knocks the socks off (AMAZES).

18a: Rotund cartoon cat (STIMPY). Stimpy still doesn't the crossword ink that buddy Ren gets, but he's starting to make some headway.

19a: Executioner's item (AXE). Needed this cross to decide between APEX and ACME for 2d: Tippy-top.

20a: Road trip expenses (TOLLS). Tolls are nothing compared to gas these days.

22a: Gaelic language (MANX).

23a: It lost out to "Braveheart" for Best Picture (BABE). There's something amusing about this. Both very good films, but just not two that you would tend to think of at the same time.

24a: Ding Dong alternative (HOHO). Click on this picture to see the full-sized painting by artist Craig Stephens, who does a painting every day. Check it out; many are available to buy.

41a: Suffix for halogens (INE). The halogens are fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine.

43a: Pot heads? (LIDS). It's a bit of a stretch to call a lid a "head", but it's a cute clue.

51a: 1917 Kentucky Derby winner ___ Khayyam (OMAR).

54a: Big name in Scotch whisky (DEWAR). Not my Scotch of choice; I prefer the peatiness of the Islays -- Lagavulin, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Ardbeg, etc. Still, thumbs up for the reference.

65a: They're full of themselves (EGOTISTS).

66a: Element #8 (OXYGEN).

1d: Vocal fanfare (TADA).

5d: Floor-washing robot (SCOOBA). Here's a video of one in action, coincidentally featuring a song by STYX (13d: "Renegade" band).

7d: Gimlet or screwdriver, e.g. (TOOL). A gimlet is a boring tool; not as in unexciting (though it may be that as well), but as in a sort of hand drill.

9d: Player on a Queens bench (MET).

10d: Creator of the Three Laws of Robotics (ASIMOV). A little continuation of the robot mini-theme.

11d: Alcopop brand (ZIMA). Alcopop is a new one on me. But BRITNEY SPEARS didn't fit, so ZIMA was a good guess.

15d: Dog collar dangler (ID TAG).

23d: Broadway Joe's alma mater (BAMA). Joe Namath and Alabama.

25d: Adopted last name of singer Anita Colton (it's pig Latin for what she hoped to make) (O'DAY). The pig Latin bit is over-the-top. And do we know she hoped to make "dough"? Maybe she just sings because she loves it.

26d: Bunch of bananas (HAND). I think I've heard this before, though I've never heard anyone actually use the term in this context. Still, it makes good sense if you consider a banana to look like a finger.

31d: ___ longlegs (DADDY). I like that this crosses Do-wah-diddy-diddy.

32d: Actresses Adams and Brenneman (AMYS). I barely even noticed this clue. I couldn't put a face on either, but they sound vaguely familiar.

33d: Ready for print (EDIT). Good use of ready as a verb.

45d: Item in a steering wheel (AIRBAG).

46d: New York county (OSWEGO). Need a few crossings before this became clear.

47d: One of the Sopranos (MEADOW). I don't watch the show, but it sounds enough like a name and the crossings were easy.

48d: Remove certain vermin from (DERAT). So, if you finished constructing this puzzle and decided DERAT had to go, would you DEDERAT the grid? Inquiring minds want to know.

51d: It can be twisted (OREO). Nice clue for a common word.

52d: Proponent of a classless society (MARX). Karl, not Groucho.

55d: "Escape to Chimp ___" (Animal Planet show) (EDEN). I've seen this show once or twice. Nicely current reference for a common fill.

57d: 1999 Matthew McConaughey movie (ED TV).

Suns of Bitches:

27d: Massey of "Love Happy" (ILONA). I've probably seen this before, but it's not a name I remember. The film stars the Marx Brothers, and also features Marilyn Monroe.

I enjoyed this puzzle. To me, it felt a touch easier than yesterday's, and no where near as scrabbly, but I liked the theme answers and a good bit of the fill. That's pretty much what I want in a Wednesday puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Title: A and Q from A to Z
Author: Derek Bowman
Theme: Pangrammatic (uses all letters) "Jeopardy!" ad slogan.

So, the "A and Q" means answers and questions, which is the format of "Jeopardy!", and the "from A to Z" refers to the pangrammatic aspect of the phrase.

20a: With 37- and 53-Across, a pangrammatic promotional phrase (WATCH JEOPARDY / ALEX TREBEK'S / FUN TV QUIZ GAME).

I like the pangram theme here. It's cool that someone noticed that this was a pangram. Certainly JEOPARDY, ALEX TREBEK, and TV QUIZ take care of most of the hard letters.

Sunny Spots:

Some nice fill here, especially for a Tuesday, with some cool letter combinations and scrabbly fill.

9a: Unrewarding position (MCJOB). I always like this one. So current and descriptive, and has that great MCJ letter combo.

39a: Green liqueur flavored with wormwood (ABSINTHE). True absinthe, with wormwood, is still illegal in the United States; however, some companies are filtering out the banned chemical, Thujone, that comes from the wormwood, and selling the resulting product.

44a: Chris Noth's role in "Sex and the City" (MR BIG). I never watched the show, but I still like the fill.

5d: George mag cofounder (JFK JR). Just a great letter sequence.

11d: Assembles in a makeshift manner (JURYRIGS). Very good.

36d: "Master of the House" musical, familiarly (LES MIZ).

55d: Rapper who was in "She Hate Me" (Q-TIP). I don't care for rap, and I don't recall ever hearing this song, but I like the fill. Would have prefered a simpler clue like "Swab".

Sundries:

1a: Bloomie's rival (SAKS). I'm assuming this is Bloomingdale's and Saks Fifth Avenue.

15a: Criticism (FLAK). Great word.

18a: With 28-Down, Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" singing partner (KIKI / DEE). I remember this one well. It brings back memories of junior high school and listening the Casey Kasem's Top 40 count down. Here it is.

24a: West ender? (ERN). Cryptic suffix.

26a: Phat (RAD). Peachy.

32a: Be in harmony (JIBE). Many people mistakenly say "jive" when they mean "jibe". One of my pet peeves.

35a: Last part of many a novel (EPILOGUE).

42a: 1987 Suzanne Vega hit (LUKA). Sad song about child abuse. If you've forgotten it, here it is.

49a: "Shameless" singer DiFranco (ANI).

52a: Kiwi's relative (EMU). Australian birds.

57a: Dog on "The Jetsons" (ASTRO). Love "The Jetsons". Great clue.

61a: Lose one's balance? (SPEND). Cute clue.

63a: Omphaloskepsis impediment? (LINT). Okay, omphaloskepsis is the contemplation of one's navel. This happens enough that we need a word for it? I've got to believe this is a Peter Gordon clue.

66a: Finders' keepers? (FEES). As in finders' fees. Cute.

1d: Like distorted data (SKEWED).

3d: Harvey of "Reservoir Dogs" (KEITEL). Not my favorite Tarantino film. I much prefer "Pulp Fiction".

6d: 1979 Sigourney Weaver thriller (ALIEN). Fun film.

7d: Blue-and-white shark (MAKO).

8d: Do double Dutch, e.g. (SKIP ROPE).

9d: Shrek voicer (Mike MYERS).

22d: Wings it (AD LIBS).

27d: ___ Ghraib (Iraq prison) (ABU). Very topical.

30d: Actress Shire of "Rocky" (TALIA).

31d: 1994 Peace co-Nobelist Shimon (PERES).

32d: Canasta card (JOKER). I never played canasta, but it was still pretty easy.

37d: Inquire about (ASK AFTER). Sounds a bit old-fashioned to me, but not hard.

39d: It flows in bars (ALE). It shows up often, but it's beer, so we like it.

45d: Skullcap with a propeller (BEANIE). Oh, this brings back memories of Quisp cereal.

50d: San Francisco's ___ Vista Park (BUENA).

51d: Performers in black-and-white striped shirts (MIMES).

56d: Sport in which you try to beat your opponent using clubs? (GOLF). Funny clue. Excellent.

Suns of Bitches:

Surprising, none for me. All the names were well within my wheelhouse, and/or really easy to figure out.

I have to say, I really liked this puzzle a lot. Cool theme phrase and chock full of scrabbly letters, with 4 Js and 7 Ks, and some really cool words. Even the short fills popped with words like KIKI, FLAK, MAKO, LUKA, Q-TIP and JIBE. Very, very nice. Keep up the good work, Derek Bowman.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Title: Ending Up in Europe
Author: Peter A. Collins
Theme: Phrases that end in European cities

18a: John Gotti's nickname, with "the" [United Kingdom] (TEFLON DON).

20a: Tiffani-Amber of "Beverly Hills 90210" [Germany] (THIESSEN). Do you realize how hard it is to find a picture of her that's actually appropriate to post? Nice to know people love you for your acting talent.

61a: Trattoria apéritifs [France] (CAMPARIS). This seems a little stretchy for a Monday to me.

63a: Minnesota city where the first Target store opened [Spain] (ROSEVILLE). Roseville. Minnesota. Really, we're supposed to know this?

10d: Villain in "The Incredibles" [Italy] (SYNDROME). I've seen the film, but I couldn't remember the name off the top.

40d: Irreligious individuals [Greece] (HEATHENS).

For the most part I like these theme entries, though I'm not convinced they're all Monday fare. Still, the theme was simple enough and the crossings were, for the most part, super-easy. So, no harm no foul, I guess.

I have to do a quick write-up today, as I'm exhausted and need to get to bed.

Sunny Spots:

39a: Clint Eastwood TV series (RAWHIDE).

41a: Caligula, for one (EMPEROR).

7d: Explosive shell thrown by hand (GRENADE).

45d: Places of prophecies (ORACLES).

I like the crossing 7s through the center of the puzzle. They're especially interesting if you consider them as phrases: RAWHIDE EMPEROR and GRENADE ORACLES. I don't know, I think Emily Jo Cureton might be getting to me.

Sundries:

1a: Fitness regimen based on martial arts (TAE BO).

6a: Taj Mahal's home (AGRA). Standard trivia fare.

14a: Cartoon character Fudd (ELMER). Get that wascally wabbit!

16a: The end of December (YULE).

23a: Margarita glass liner (SALT). Personally, I prefer them without salt.

44a: New York City divisions, informally (BOROS).

48a: Project Patriot org. (DAR). Daughter's of the American Revolution.

49a: Ball honoree, for short (DEB). Do debutantes still have balls, or is that a thing of the past. It certainly doesn't happen in my neck of the woods.

51a: 1992 John Goodman film (THE BABE). Not to be confused with "Babe". I think John Goodman is a great and underrated actor.

58a: Baking potatoes (IDAHOS).

65a: Folklore monsters (OGRES). We've been seeing a lot of OGREs lately. How about some ORCS, ENTS, and ELVES to balance things out?

2d: With 1-Down, early software trials (ALPHA/TESTS). As a software engineer, I appreciate these entries.

3d: Letter that might include an emoticon (EMAIL).

4d: Tête toppers (BERETS).

5d: Bauxite and cinnabar, e.g. (ORES).

8d: WWII fliers (RAF). Royal Air Force.

9d: Tips of shoelaces (AGLETS). Another common vocabulary trivia.

21d: Word with green or house (SALAD).

25d: Puzzling problem (POSER). I like the word POSER, even though it kind of sounds made up.

30d: "Doctor Zhivago" heroine (LARA).

31d: Activewear brand (IZOD).

32d: In-group outcast (NERD). Yeah, but what if nerds are the in-group? I don't actually like the word "outcast" here. Nerds are not necessarily outcasts. It depends on how shallow the "in crowd" happens to be.

35d: Fly-by-nighters? (OWLS). Cute clue.

37d: Skewered dish (KEBAB). One of several possible spellings for this word.

50d: Snoopy's breed (BEAGLE).

52d: ___ lane (where carpoolers drive) (HOV). High-occupancy vehicles.

53d: Boxers Max and Buddy (BAERS).

55d: Product whose business is in the pits? (ARRID). Okay, that's clever, though not particularly appealing.

58d: 1963 movie role for Shirley (IRMA La Douce).

59d: Make dead meat (DOOM). Couldn't get a first-person-shooter video game clue here, huh?

62d: Magic show sound (POOF). You gotta love POOF. If I had a list of favorite onomatopoeic words, POOF would definitely be on it.

Suns of Bitches:

26a: "Magic Tree House" book series illustrator Murdocca (SAL). Didn't know this one.

29a: Six-time Pro Bowl center Kreutz (OLIN). I suppose I should know this, but somehow, I don't recall ever hearing the name.

57d: Jumeirah ___ House (hotel on Central Park South) (ESSEX). Reasonable guess after a few crossings.

Overall, a decent Monday, with more-difficult-than-usual theme entries balanced by generally really easy fill.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Title: Would You Believe?
Author: Joe Bower
Theme: "Get Smart" good guys.

19a: Sassy (SMART-MOUTHED).

24a: #2 hit of January 1984 (99 LUFTBALLONS). Love this song by Nena, which I've blogged before when NENA was the fill.

44a: They preside over presidential impeachment trials (CHIEF JUSTICES).

49a: Micromanager, for example (CONTROL FREAK).

Ok, first the positives: I loved "Get Smart" and I love that it was made into a theme. My first thought when I saw the title was "Get Smart", but I wasn't convinced that it would actually be the theme (it's true, ask PuzzleGirl, who's currently guest-blogging over at Amy Reynaldo's place). But having said that, I feel less than fulfilled by the theme entries. First of all, three of the entries are characters and one is the organization they work for (CONTROL). I suppose this is okay if you treat the final entry as the tie-together for the first three. But what bothers me most is the SMART entry. Agent 99 is called "99" and the chief is called "Chief". But Maxwell Smart is called "Max" or "Maxwell" (or "86"), not "Smart". I find that this annoys me, perhaps more than it should. MAXWELL HOUSE is 12 letters; what's wrong with that? Good to the last drop.

Sunny Spots:

8d: Heineken beer brand (AMSTEL). Props for the beer clue, but deductions for picking a crappy one.

17d: Beer bash leftovers (EMPTIES).

37d: It might be sold by the yard (ALE).

14a: Maxim rival (FHM). Comedian Ron White said, "Guys, you can back me up on this. You've seen one woman naked... you want to see the rest of them naked." That about sums it up. Is there another reason men buy these magazines?

34a: Like some bras (PUSH-UP).

1a: Lilies of the Valley of the Sun (SEGOS). This was a cool clue that I had a hard time parsing at first. Of course, once I got the answer it made complete sense, and that's the hallmark of a great clue.

16a: Brooks's costar in "Finding Nemo" (Ellen DEGENERES). Nice to see her last name in a puzzle for a change.

Sundries:

6a: One-time go-between (AT A). As in "one AT A time". Cute.

9a: Powerball relative (KENO).

13a: Three-time A.L. batting champ Tony (OLIVA). I guessed GWYNN at first, which threw me off for a while.

21a: Genre associated with turntablism (RAP). "I got two turntables and a microphone..." - Beck

22a: Gobs and gobs? (SEAMEN). I'd like to assume there's no intentional double-entendre here, because if there is then it's way over the proverbial line.

28a: "Breaking News" novelist (Robert MACNEIL). Of the "MacNeil/Lehrer Report".

30a: L squared (MMD). 50 x 50 = 2500

41a: Ashley of "High School Musical" (TISDALE).

47a: Rupture (HERNIA). Ouch.

56a: Test type (TRUE/FALSE).

57a: Word with drug or energy (CZAR). Not as common a spelling as TSAR, but still shows up with fair regularity, especially in late-week puzzles.

58a: Budget add-on? (EER). Cryptic suffix.

59a: Free from errors (EMEND). Nice use of free as a verb.

1d: Puts some green on? (SODS). My grandfather and great uncles used to run a sod farm in New Hampshire. It was mostly for golf courses, but at the time they also grew sod for Fenway Park, which is pretty cool.

2d: No, for one (ELEM). Nobelium, a rare-earth metal.

3d: Prefix with byte or watt (GIGA). Could also have been KILO or MEGA.

5d: Hyundai SUV (SANTA FE). This is an especially tough fill if you're working backwards, as I often do. I had ___TAFE, and was drawing a complete blank.

6d: Natural (AFRO). Imus would call it "nappy". I was not familiar with the term "natural" in this context.

7d: Home to hundreds of millions (THE USA).

9d: Time magazine called her "a first responder in the advance guard of style" (KATE MOSS).

11d: Bid, maybe (NOD). If an auctioneer is locked into you, you can bid with the very slightest of motions. It can be a pretty thrilling experience.

24d: Common caliber (9 MM).

25d: Punching-in time, for many (9 AM).

27d: Plain-Jane (BLAH).

32d: Danseuse's wear (TUTU). Also, Archbishop Desmond.

33d: Letter (EPISTLE).

34d: Shells propelled by two rowers (PAIR OARS). This is not a term I'm familiar with. Makes sense, but sounds a little funky.

36d: Body bag? (SAC). Kind of a sick clue.

40d: ___ soup (Charleston dish) (SHE CRAB). Called such because of the addition of crab roe (eggs).

43d: 3-D display (DIORAMA).

45d: Not flat, in a way (FITTED). Referring, I assume, to sheets.

55d: Arm of Israel (UZI). Cute clue for a common fill.

Suns of Bitches:

29a: Bugsy's wife in "Bugsy" (ESTA).

50d: Brest bear (OURS). I studied several years of French (granted, quite some time ago), and I don't remember this word. It strikes me as intentionally obscure.

52d: "The Bookseller of Kabul" author Seierstad (ASNE). I don't recall seeing this one before. It's the #162,035th best selling book on Amazon, which happens to be over 20,000 places behind Amy Reynaldo's "How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and Techniques to Master America's Favorite Puzzle", which you should buy even if you like the Sun puzzle better.

All in all, despite my complaints about the theme, I found this to be a decent and challenging puzzle. Actually, it was quite hard in spots, which is what I expect from a Friday puzzle, but without any noticeably unfair crossings. Nice job.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Doug Peterson
Theme: None

Sunny Spots:

1a: Indication of a bun in the oven? (BABY BUMP). I really like this entry a lot. Very nice 1a fill.

17a: Coffeehouse dunkables (BISCOTTI). This has the double bonus of being a cool word and a tasty food.

35a: Telecommuting reduces it (CARBON FOOTPRINT). I'm in quandary. I drive about 65 miles each way to work in a Honda CRV. It's mostly highway, but it's quite hilly, and I normally average around 25 or 26 miles to the gallon with cruise control set around 72 mph. Yesterday, as an experiment, I drove as passively as I could, trying to maximum fuel efficiency. I was able to average over 33 mpg round trip, at an average speed of about 60 mph (slower up hills). So I can improve my fuel efficiency better than 25%, but at the cost of adding 20% to my time, which is about 40 minutes a day. Is it worth it? Hmmm...

8d: Brown Bears' adversaries (PRINCETON TIGERS). It's not the (some college) Brown Bears, it's the Brown (University) Bears. Nice clue!

25d: "What would your mother say?!" (SHAME SHAME). Very good.

44d: She accompanied Ferris on his day off (SLOANE).

Sundries:

9a: Razzie Award winners (WORSTS).

15a: Part of M.E. (EXAMINER). Gumme for anyone who reads or watches crime dramas or murder mysteries.

16a: First name in the second group of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (ARETHA). Not group as in musical group; group as in collection of inductees. In other words, she was inducted during the second year of inductions.

18a: Scaled-down racer (GO CART). For some reason, I wanted to spell CART with a K.

23a: City on the Black Warrior River (TUSCALOOSA).

25a: Sticky treat (SMORE).

28a: Battle of the Bulge arena: Abbr. (ETO). European Theater of Operations. This shows up with a fair amount of frequency, so remember it. Not to be confused with EDO, which is an old name for Tokyo.

29a: Comic book sidekick with a chauffeur's cap (KATO). We just saw KATO in a puzzle recently, so this was easier than it might have been.

31a: Ventriloquist Lewis (SHARI).

34a: Kids' hangout (LEA). Kids as in baby goats.

38a: Ivan directed her in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" (UMA Thurman). Has anyone seen this film? I thought the previews looked kind of amusing, in a leave-your-brain-at-the-door, campy way, but I've heard it was pretty bad. Anyone care to offer a review?

40a: Borscht Belt outburst (OY VEY). The Borscht Belt, according to Wikipedia, is an area of the Catskills where New York jews go for vacation. It feels like a vaguely pejorative term to me; is it?

41a: Dangerous street drug (METH). Just SAY NO (39a: Refuse). Back in the 80s when Nancy Reagan started her "Just say no" crusade, there was a comedian we saw who jumped all over it, saying, "She has a plan to stop homelessness, too. It's called 'Just get a house!'". Still makes me laugh.

45a: Their outcomes are never in doubt (SHOW TRIALS).

49a: Syrup brand (EGGO). I'm familiar with the frozen waffles. Didn't realize they had a syrup, too.

50a: Chiromancer's reading material (PALM).

54a: Oil low in erucic acid (CANOLA). Erucic. Now, there's a weird-looking word.

58a: Code broken by squealers (OMERTA). Mafia code.

59a: Attaching a new handle to (RENAMING). Handle is getting pretty trite these days. It seems way overused in puzzles.

61a: Doesn't dwell on (SEES PAST).

1d: Nixon crony Rebozo (BEBE). Strangely, this one was vaguely familiar. I think I've seen it in puzzles before.

2d: Botanical angle (AXIL). We've had the AXLE, AXEL, AXIL, AXL discussion here before.

4d: Where "you can hang out with all the boys," according to song (YMCA). I'm not including a link to this one. I don't think it's necessary.

9d: Sign of puppy love? (WAG). I started with LAP.

10d: Black Bears' town (ORONO). University of Maine.

11d: Nuke, perhaps (RECOOK). No, no, no. You reheat things in a microwave, not recook. In order to recook something, you'd have to uncook it first, which, as far as I know, is impossible. It's either cooked or it's not.

12d: Isn't eliminated (STAYS ALIVE). Unlike, say, the Los Angeles Lakers, who are quite eliminated.

21d: Needlework design? (TATTOO). Cute clue.

24d: Kidd stuff (LOOT).

26d: One who can keep on running after hitting the wall (MARATHONER).

27d: Orrery element (ORB). It's one of those things that shows how the planets revolve.

30d: Like muesli (OATY). OATY is kind of lame.

31d: Riffraff (SCUM). Riffraff is a great word. Also a side character in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Man, I love Tim Curry, but he truly has no shame.

36d: Pro-Lincoln cartoonist (NAST).

48d: Galwegian, e.g. (SCOT). From Galway.

50d: Grill (PUMP). As in, for information.

57d: Estonian Air partner (SAS). Almost as frequent as EL AL, but not quite.

Suns of Bitches:

19a: Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover model Benitez (ELSA). Swimsuit models have names?

22a: "The Loom of Years" poet (NOYES). I was not at all familiar with this one. Here's an excerpt from the poem:

The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mould 
To colour the flowers of April with purple and white and gold: 
Light and scent and music die and are born again 
In the heart of a grey-haired woman who wakes in a world of pain. 

The hound, the fawn, and the hawk, and the doves that croon and coo, 
We are all one woof of the weaving and the one warp threads us through, 
One flying cloud on the shuttle that carries our hopes and fears 
As it goes thro’ the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years

32a: '40s Nobelists Hahn and Stern (OTTOS).

60a: Oscar winner Wright (TERESA). She won Best Supporting Actress in 1943, for her role in "Mrs. Miniver".

42d: French painter Daumier (HONORÉ). I half-recognized this after I filled it in.

All in all, I liked this puzzle. Fairly challenging, but nothing so tough that it couldn't be figured out. The SE was the last section to fall for me, but that doesn't mean it went down in order, because it didn't. Of course, I was watching the Celtics and "Hell's Kitchen" as I was doing it, but still, it took some thought to break open a couple of sections. Nice job.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Title: Atom
Author: Alan Olschwang
Theme: The entire puzzle uses only the letters from the first half of the alphabet: A-to-M.

I'll be honest. I finished this puzzle and stared at the long answers trying to figure out the theme. Then I looked at the title and back at the long answers again. Nothing. I wrote an email to fellow blogger Amy Reynaldo to see if she had figured it out. Just before hitting the "Send" button, I tried one more time... what could the title possibly mean? Then I saw it... A to M. Looked back at the puzzle. Sure enough, the whole puzzle (not just the long answers) used those letters. Hunh.

Okay, so here's the deal. Yes, it's cool that you can construct a puzzle using only half the alphabet (albeit, the easier half), but if it's that hard to realize what's going on, is it worth it? I did a puzzle for the LA Times last year (7/6/07) that featured phrases with the E dropped out. I went out of my way to fill the remaining grid without using the letter E, and no one really noticed until it was pointed out. Was it worth it? Well, it sold a puzzle, so it was worth it to me. I don't think the solvers much cared. The fact is, today's theme adds zero enjoyment to the solving of the puzzle. There's no humor or wordplay involved at all. In fact, it's essentially a themeless, only with a J and a few Ks to show for it.

Okay, enough about the theme. Let's check out the entries.

Sunny Spots:

1a: Boxer LaMotta (JAKE). Subject of the film "Raging Bull", for which Robert DeNiro won an Oscar. It was also nominated for Best Picture and Director (Scorsese), but lost out on both counts to "Ordinary People" (Redford), which I don't disagree with. I own the DVD and love DeNiro as an actor, but frankly I find this movie hard to watch more than once. As opposed to, say, "Taxi Driver", which I can watch over and over. Or "Sixteen Candles", which also prominently features a guy named Jake.

66a: Manicurist in Palmolive ads who said "You're soaking in it" (MADGE). This one's right in my wheelhouse; I've probably seen these commercials a thousand times growing up.

19a: Prisoner of Jabba the Hutt (LEIA). I'm a sucker for Star Wars references.

28d: ___ Sutra (KAMA). It's like the Hite Report of 4th century India.

Sundries:

5a: "Cherchez la ___" (FEMME). This is not an era of music I particularly want to remember. I forced myself to go listen to it, so you should too. Suffering is always best shared among friends.

10a: Hall of Fame baseball manager Connie (MACK).

14a: It has two lameds in its name (EL AL). Are there any other airlines out there? No? Just this one? Okay.

18a: Capital of France's Nord department (LILLE). Near the border of BELGium (65a: Brussels is its cap.).

20a: The Golden Globe lifetime achievement award is named after him (CECIL B DEMILLE).

23a: Flo's TV boss (MEL). From "Alice".

36a: World Cup teammate of Akers and Foudy (Mia HAMM).

40a: "Mamma Mia!" song (GIMME GIMME GIMME). Two MIAs, back-to-back. Must be intentional.

43a: Zeno's home (ELEA). I think this one was on my crosswordese list before ACPT 2008, but it seems to show up just infrequently enough that I forget it since the last time.

45a: With ___ aforethought (MALICE).

46a: Estes was his running mate in 1956 (ADLAI).

48a: Small bit (FLECK). Started with SPECK.

52a: Half-___ (java order) (CAF). I figured this out easily enough, but it's not a term I'm familiar with. Is it half decaf half regular coffee?

63a: Beatnik's expression of understanding (I DIG).

67a: Swit costar (ALDA). From "M*A*S*H", the series.

69a: Adorn with precious stones (BEGEM). I'm torn on this type of verb. On the one hand, no one uses this language these days. On the other, it's kind of cool sounding.

1d: Clampett patriarch (JED). From "The Beverly Hillbillies"

2d: Baldwin of "Pearl Harbor" (ALEC).

6d: Unlike toadstools (EDIBLE).

7d: Put one's cards on the table, maybe (MELD). I grew up playing cards, so this was a breeze.

11d: Amtrak speedster (ACELA). Shows up a lot in puzzles.

13d: New Zealand parrot (KEA).

27d: One-named model who wrote the children's book "What Are You Hungry For?" (EMME). I only know this name from puzzles; didn't know she wrote a kid's book.

30d: "La ___" (1987 Lou Diamond Phillips film) (BAMBA). Good film about Ritchie Valens, also featuring Joe Pantoliano and crossword regular Esai Morales. Here's a clip..

34d: "Zounds!" (EGAD).

37d/64d: Guy's female friend (AMIE/GAL). Same clue for two answers. In this case, the first Guy is the French name (rhymes with "bee"), as in La Fleur.

38d: LXXXVIII x XXV (MMCC). This one looks harder than it is. 88 x 25 is 8800 x 25% = 2200.

39d: Lamblike (MEEK). This requires a link to a classic scene from Monty Python's "Life of Brian".

42d: Social blunder (GAFFE).

46d: ATV part (ALL). All-terrain vehicle.

55d: Certain foot (IAMB). This might have tripped me up if we hadn't just seen "Salute using feet?" for ODE in yesterday's puzzle.

56d: Winglike parts (ALAE).

58d: Oasis singer Gallagher (LIAM). I had NOEL to start. Couldn't remember which was which (or do they both sing?).

59d: "___ hands are the devil's tools" (IDLE).

60d: John musical (AIDA). The musical, based on Verdi's opera, by Elton John and Tim Rice.

61d: Oakland Oaks' org. (ABA).

Suns of Bitches:

A real potpourri of strange names in this one. I have enough trouble with remembering common names. Still, except for one crossing they fell out pretty quickly.

25a: 2005 NBA Rookie of the Year ___ Okafor (EMEKA). I'll readily admit I didn't watch much basketball in 2005.

29a: 2003 Peace Nobelist Shirin ___ (EBADI).

54a: Peggy Parish protagonist (AMELIA BEDELIA). This one I got completely by crossings, with a guess at the D, where it crossed ADHEM, below.

10d: Director of "Au Revoir, Les Enfants" (MALLE).

50d: "Speed Racer" star Hirsch (EMILE).

53d: "Abou Ben ___" (Leigh Hunt poem) (ADHEM).

Overall, the fill wasn't bad. But the theme and long answers fell a little flat for me, casting a bit of a pall over the rest of the puzzle. Not one of my favorites.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Title: Gross Out
Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: Remove ICK from phrases

Spring chicken => SPRING CHEN (16a: Get an "Early Show" anchor out of jail?). Referring to Julie Chen.

Pickup trucks => PUP TRUCKS (23a: Litter transports?).

Wicked witch => WED WITCH (29a: Marry a sorceress?). This is my least favorite, due to the glaring absence of the indefinite article. The answer to the clue should be WED A WITCH. I'm kind of surprised this was allowed to slide.

Picket fence => PET FENCE (42a: What keeps the neighborhood from going to the dogs?). I actually thought of this answer as I was solving 23a, so it wasn't a big surprise when it showed up.

Ticket office => TET OFFICE (51a: Vietnamese government branch in charge of the New Year celebration?).

Sticky fingers => STY FINGERS (58a: Source of pigs' knuckles?). This one's kind of weird, but I'm willing to let it go because "Sticky Fingers" is such a great Rolling Stones album. The vinyl album cover actually featured a real zipper.

61d: "Gross!" (and a hint to this puzzle's theme) (ICK).

Sunny Spots:

34a: Willowy (SVELTE). I love the word SVELTE.

1d: Flips out (HAS A COW). Thought HAS A FIT at first, but this is even better.

9d: One who says "irregardless," e.g. (SOLECIST).

Sundries:

1a: "Killing Me Softly With ___ Song" (HIS). Long way to go for HIS, but I love the fact that this song was written about Don McLean's "American Pie".

4a: Chocolate-colored dogs, for short (LABS). I have to tell you, when I first read this clue I thought it said "Chocolate-covered dogs, for short". That one brought up some strange imagery.

8a: "Not on your life!" (AS IF).

13a: Units of purity (KARATS). CARAT is a unit of size (as in diamonds). KARAT is a unit of purity (as in gold), where 24 karats is 100% pure.

15a: It's south of West Palm (BOCA).

20a: Knights, e.g. (PIECES). In chess.

22a: Tree thicket (COPSE).

26a: Salute using feet? (ODE). Cute clue for a common answer.

41a: Org. that doesn't allow traveling (NBA). It allows it; but you lose possession for doing it.

55a: Speaker of the house's spot? (STEREO). Yeah, okay. Kind of a stretch.

63a: Zeno's followers (STOICS).

64a: Samba city (RIO). Isn't RIO short for Rio de Janeiro? Is samba short for some longer dance name?

65a: Seaport in Yemen (ADEN). This one shows up a lot.

66a: 1,024 bytes, for short (ONE K).

2d: Self-destruct (IMPLODE).

3d: Like some pool balls (STRIPED).

7d: Forestless tract (STEPPE).

8d: Counter-intuitive calculator? (ABACUS). Cute.

10d: Puck deflector, sometimes (ICE SKATE).

11d: Send via phone (FAX).

13d: Child seat? (KNEE).

14d: Miffed state (SNIT).

24d: Do theater work, in slang (USH). Ush is an ugly word.

25d: TV show on which Don Pardo does the announcements (SNL). I like "Saturday Night Live", but man does it show up a lot in puzzles.

30d: The U.S. joined it in Apr. 1917 (WWI).

35d: House call? (VOTE).

36d: 2003 holiday film (ELF). It's no "Bad Santa"... :)

38d: Fanatical (OBSESSED).

39d: Like high schoolers' jobs (PART-TIME).

42d: Delt neighbor (PEC).

44d: "Ta-ta!" (CHEERIO).

45d: "Self-Reliance" essayist (EMERSON).

47d: Snuffs out (DOES IN).

52d: Own (up) (FESS). Its really short for confess; I almost feel like it needs an apostrophe.

53d: RR stops (STNS). Never know whether this is going to be STAS or STNS.

54d: Boxer (PUG). Eh.

60d: Exclamation of disapproval (FIE). Do people really say "fie"? BAH! (6d: "Poppycock!").

Suns of Bitches:

18a: Afleet ___ (2005 Preakness and Belmont winner) (ALEX). I guess I wasn't paying attention to horse racing in 2005, because this one didn't even ring a bell for me.

27d: Palindromic middle name of Alfre Woodard (ETTE). Who? What?

31d: Charleson of "Chariots of Fire" (IAN).

37d: Declaration of Independence signer Richard Henry ___ (LEE). Not someone I recall hearing about.

43d: "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" Tony winner ___ Leo Butz (NORBERT). I think we've established my weakness regarding theater.

49d: Influential Florentine painter (GIOTTO). I've probably seen this name before, but I couldn't remember it. Here's a painting entitled "THe Dream of Joachim"

Some toughies here, for a Tuesday, but everything was fairly crossed so it didn't detract from my enjoyment of this puzzle. I was surprised to see that it was a 15x16, as there were no long down entries, but I suppose it must have loosened things up to make squeezing six across theme entries more tolerable. I'm also suspicious when a Patrick Blindauer puzzle seems straightforward, as they rarely are. I keep looking at that kind of strange configuration of black squares in the puzzle's center, wondering if I'm missing something, but if so, I don't see what. I was half expecting to see the number 144 (a gross) or something, written in black squares...

Well, if I missed it, I'm sure someone will point it out. Either way, it was a decent Tuesday puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Title: Sayings of the Times
Author: Alex Boisvert
Theme: Famous catch phrases from five decades of television.

17a: Catchphrase of '60s TV (SOCK IT TO ME). From "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In"

25a: Catchphrase of '70s TV (BOOK 'EM DANNO). From "Hawaii Five-O"

37a: Catchphrase of '80s TV (ISN'T THAT SPECIAL). From "Saturday Night Live"

47a: Catchphrase of '90s TV (HELLO NEWMAN). From "Seinfeld"

57a: Catchphrase of '00s TV (YOU'RE FIRED). From "The Apprentice"

Ok, this is going to be short post as I had a high-school graduation and party this weekend, plus a baseball game, Father's Day, watching the U.S. Open (Go Tiger!) and watching the NBA Finals (Go Celtics!). I'll let you guys pick up the slack in the comments.

I like the theme. Nice, easy concept, but with colorful, evocative phrases that bring you back to times in your life that you watched the shows in question.

Sunny Spots:

Not too much really jumped out at me in this one. The most interesting fill is probably:

53a: Its ingredients may include cocoa, confectioners' sugar, and vanillin (EXLAX). It may not pass the "breakfast test", but it's a cool word and has two Xs.

Sundries:

6a: Exam with maximum score of 45T (MCAT). I was not familiar with the scoring system of the MCAT, but there aren't that many exams that show up in puzzles: SAT, ACT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT. That's about it.

10a: "Up and ___!" (Radioactive Man's battle cry) (ATOM).

14a: Hot house of sorts (SAUNA). Not too deceptive.

15a: Lake that contains Canada's southernmost point (ERIE). Easy.

16a: Man-to-man alternative (ZONE). Topical with the NBA finals going on.

31a: Hit song's place (SIDE A). For whatever reason, SIDE B seems to show up more in puzzles.

43a: Sporty auto, for short ('VETTE).

45a: Is steamed (SEES RED). Does this phrase originate from bull fighting (like the bull getting angry from seeing the red cape)? Or something else?

65a: Airline that doesn't schedule flights on Shabbat (EL AL).

66a: Bollix (up) (MESS). I like the clue for this one.

67a: Allowed, for short (LEGIT).

3d: Jean-___ Picard ("Star Trek" captain) (LUC).

4d: "Puppy Love" singer Paul (ANKA). I don't know why I know this.

5d: Vessel moved by the wind (SAILBOAT). Dull, as sailing clues go, but still a sailing clue.

7d: Kick the bucket (CROAK). "Kick the bucket" is one of the all-time great euphemisms. Croak? Well, not so much.

11d: Venom, e.g. (TOXIN).

12d: ___ rings (fried side) (ONION). Mmm. Food.

21d: ___ Bach ("Fanfare for the Common Cold" composer) (PDQ). Funny stuff.

34d: Explosive liquid, briefly (NITRO).

35d: Dinger (TATER). Slang for home run, in baseball.

38d: Word with French or English (HORN).

40d: Not at all dull (EVENTFUL).

44d: Hottie (FOX).

47d: Pronoun with a slash (HE/SHE).

48d: Sing the praises of (EXTOL).

49d: Cousin of an alpaca (LLAMA).

51d: Defeats handily (WHUPS). Something seems wrong with this spelling, but I'm not sure what.

59d: Scott Joplin creation (RAG). Love Scott Joplin. Good stuff.

Suns of Bitches:

28a: Jeremy Piven's role on "Entourage" (ARI GOLD). Huh?

10d: Hyundai sedan (AZERA). Never heard of this one, either.

Luckily, both were easily determined from the crossings.

Lots of Xs for a Monday puzzle. Nice theme. Average fill. Overall, a decent Monday.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Title: Tony-Winning Fivesome
Author: Ogden Porter (Peter Gordon)
Theme: Five winners of a Tony Award each contain exactly one of each VOWEL (1a: Any letter of 67-Across), namely AEIOU (67a: Fivesome found in the five Tony winners in this puzzle).

I knew before I started that this puzzle was "not for me" (inside joke that a few of you may get). The Tony Awards are for theater. Specifically, New York theater. We don't get much theater up here in New Hampshire, and I'm horrible with names to begin with, so this puzzle was aimed directly at my weak spots. Let's see how the carnage unfolds.

17a: Actress who won a Tony for "Evita" (PATTI LUPONE). I've at least heard of Patti Lupone, mostly from crosswords. And I credit the theme for saving me from spelling PATTI with a Y. The crossing didn't help me there at all; LAYNIE seemed as plausible as LAINIE for 5d: Kazan of "My Favorite Year".

24a: Actor who won a Tony for "Bedroom Farce" (MICHAEL GOUGH). I've not only never heard of him, I don't recall ever seeing the name Gough before. Turns out he's been in a ton of movies, including a lot of old horror films. I'm guessing at least one has probably been skewered by MST3K. Anyone? More recently, he's played the butler, Alfred, in several Batman films.

36a: Actress who won a Tony for "Wonderful Town" (ROSALIND RUSSELL). The name is vaguely familiar. That's all.

48a: Actor who won a Tony for "A Man for All Seasons" (PAUL SCOFIELD). I thought I knew who this was, but I was thinking of Paul Winfield. Not at all the same guy.

58a: Show that won the 1976 Tony for Best Musical (A CHORUS LINE). This one I knew. Well, I didn't know the answer from the clue, but I know of the play and it was easy enough to discern.

Before we get to the rest of the fill, let me talk a little about this puzzle from a constructor's point of view. Here we have five long theme entries, one fifteen, two twelves, and two elevens, plus two "helper" fills at the first and last across positions. Trust me, that's not something that beginners pull off. I also want to point out the excellent symmetric balance in the clues. Sure, we have two actresses, two actors, and a play. That's standard fare. But notice the vowels. The first, third, and fifth long theme entries have each vowel separate. The second and fourth have two vowel pairs and a single vowel each. Also none of the vowel pairs are repeated (AE, OU, AU, IE). 98% of solvers probably would never notice this sort of thing and, in fact, you might think it's all coincidental. I can almost guarantee you that it is not.

Ok, back to the massacre.

Sunny Spots:

27a: Full of harsh cries (SHRIEKY). This is a favorite adjective of Simon Cowell on "American Idol".

How about the identically clued 42a/63a: Shortstop teammate of Derek on the 1999 A.L. All-Stars, which refer to OMAR (Vizquel) and NOMAR (Garciaparra), respectively.

50d: Verbal white flag (UNCLE). This reminds me of a funny scene involving "safe words" from the movie "Eurotrip". I'm not going to link it here, as its mature content is not for everybody, but a YouTube search of "Eurotrip Lucy Lawless" will get you there. It's not high-brow humor; proceed at your own discretion.

Sundries:

6a: Nonplus (STUMP). I like the clue for this one.

15a: Disinfectant brand (LYSOL). Easy, for a Friday.

19a: Creator of Rosemary and her baby (IRA Levin).

21a: Smoke detector? (NOSE). Cute, KINDA (64a: Somewhat, slangily).

30a: Equity members pay them (DUES). This one kind of ties in with the whole entertainment theme.

57a: "War, ___" (2008 movie) (INC). I don't recall seeing this one in the local theaters. Maybe it hasn't hit wide release?

65a: Driving holdup? (TEE). I've seen too many TEE clues to get fooled by this one.

66a: Act badly, maybe (EMOTE). Befitting the theme.

4d: Suffix with depend and descend (ENT). Very un-Peter-Gordon-like to go with a weak suffix clue. Personally, I would have preferred a "Lord of the Rings" reference.

6d: Tritely sentimental (SLUSHY).

7d: Competitive by nature (TYPE A).

10d: Fraternity members, e.g. (PLEDGERS).

11d: Literally, "to God" (ADIEU).

12d: Good start? (HARD G). Crytic clue! Watch out for these.

13d: Big hit (SMASH). Both literally (e.g., in tennis) and figuratively (e.g., at the box office). Another fill that complements the theme.

18d: Sure thing (LOCK). Big Brown was a lock to win the Triple Crown. Oops!

23d: Aurora's Greek counterpart (EOS). I always confuse EOS and IOS. IOS is the ISLAND.

26d: Outdoor feast (LUAU). Luau Cinder? (Shout out to Denise.)

28d: Nabe (HOOD). This makes me think of the phenomenal parody that the band Dynamite Hack did of Eazy E's "Boyz N the Hood". It's a hilarious statement of how gangsta rap has reached white suburban yuppies. I'm not a big rap fan, but I suggest you listen to just enough of the original to get a sense of it. Then check out the Dynamite Hack version. It's even funnier with the video. (EXPLICIT LYRICS WARNING FOR BOTH LINKS!).

32d: WWII POTUS (FDR). President of the United States.

33d: Team that finished last out of ten teams in each of its first four seasons (METS).

34d: Medicinal succulent (ALOE).

39d: Its flag has a compass rose on it (NATO).

44d: Bug with its own season? (FLU). I started here with FLY. Up in these parts we have multiple seasons named for bugs: black fly season, mosquito season, etc.

45d: City with the newspaper Capital Journal (PIERRE). This was a "name a state capital that fits" clue.

47d: Setting for part of "The Simpsons Movie" (ALASKA).

49d: Early role for Sarah Jessica Parker (ANNIE). On Broadway, where else? At least this one was guessable. Another tie-in to the theme.

51d: Tool for smoothing wet concrete (FLOAT). I was not familiar with this tool.

54d: Over, overseas (FINI). French.

55d: ___-European (INDO). This is much more straightforward than Wednesday's "Chinese prefix".

56d: Good name for an archer (BEAU). I'll laugh when I see "Good name for a swinger" (CHER).

Suns of Bitches:

14a: Menzel of "Wicked" (IDINA) crossing 2d: Jazz singer Anita (O'DAY). I was pretty sure it had to be a D, but the across looked suspect. Thought it might be an R.

33a: Winnie ___ (Wiley Post's plane) (MAE). This was a guess that fit. It didn't help any that it crossed the Zelkovas clue, below.

37d: Character in "Kiss Me, Kate" (LOIS LANE). "Kiss Me, Kate" won the very first Tony for Best Musical. Was the choice of name intentionally snagged from Superman comics? That I don't know. I include this clue in this section partly because I didn't remember that Lois Lane was the name of the character, but also because of the cool tie-in with the next entry.

53a: Nyman of "I Am Curious (Yellow)" (LENA). I had no idea what the actress's name was (it's also the character's name), but I know of the film. It's a 1967 Swedish film that was banned in Massachusetts for being pornographic, until a Court of Appeals overturned the decision. It's also a much parodied title, as in this controversial edition of "Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane", where Lois becomes a black woman for a day (November, 1970).

24d: Costar of Woody in "Mighty Aphrodite" (MIRA Sorvino).

25d: 1997 Theatre World Award winner Linda (EDER).

29d: Snowboarder Rebagliati (ROSS). Yeah, whatever.

35d: Zelkovas' relatives (ELMS). I was looking at __MS for a while, with absolutely no clue what a zelkova was: YAMS? ARMS? ELMS? ALMS? Had to resort completely to crossings.

Actually, considering my lack of knowledge in this area, I was able to plow through the puzzle with only a couple of question marks. It was a little name-heavy for my taste, but considering we were due for Weekend Warrior, it could have been worse. For you theater buffs out there, it was a great puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Title: Loverly Lady
Author: Spencer & Eileen Pasero
Theme: Dropped H sounds (Cockney accents)

Hair-raising => AIR RAISING (16a: Lifting up of the atmosphere?). What a great segue from yesterday's Van de Graaff generator clue.

Over the hump => OVER THE UMP (57a: No longer enamored by a guy working at home?). A little extra twist here, with the question mark working overtime to indicate both a theme answer and a tricky definition ("a guy working at home?" for UMP).

Harbor seal => ARBOR SEAL (15d: Official stamp in a shady recess?).

Red herring => RED ERRING (27d: Skelton botching a joke?).

28d: With 34-Across, fictional woman who's the inspiration for this puzzle's theme (ELIZA / DOOLITTLE). From "My Fair Lady".

Sunny Spots:

40a: Moroccan city (FEZ). Also a hat. Also a great Steely Dan song, with "the". Also a character on "That 70s Show".

2d: Camden Yards team (ORIOLES). We've got tix to see the BOSOX (6d: Big Papi's team) at Camden Yards this August, as it happens to coincide (well, okay, we're making it coincide) with dropping the kids at college.

10d: Source of widespread devastation (SCOURGE). Great, descriptive word.

11d: Innumerable (UMPTEEN). Umpteen is also a great fill word.

42d: Middle Eastern salad (TABOULI). Good word; good food.

54d: Dollars for quarters (RENT). Clever clue.

Sundries:

1a: Expressed excitement (OOHED). I don't particulary mind seeing OOHED in a puzzle, but I prefer something a little meatier in the 1-Across slot.

6a: Get a turkey, say (BOWL). A "turkey", in bowling, is three consecutive strikes.

10a: Nonstarter (SUB). Not bad, but "Hero" would have made it a food clue.

13a: Rage (CRAZE). Okay, I need another opinion on this one. For me, something is a craze, but (all) the rage. I find this bothersome. Is there another usage where they are actually interchangeable?

14a: Village Voice award (OBIE). Not to be confused with ODIE ("Garfield" dog) or OPIE (Ron Howard, on "The Andy Griffith Show").

15a: Summit (ACME). Got to be careful, because APEX is another common entry that fits.

18a: Clue weapon (ROPE). For the record, the weapons in Clue are rope, pipe, wrench, candlestick, knife, and revolver.

19a: She directed Tom and Meg in "You've Got Mail" (NORA Ephron).

21a: Be tangent to (ABUT). Nice mathy clue.

22a: Rap duo ___ & Gipp (ALI). Not to be confused with Ali G of "Da Ali G Show".

26a: Big name in agribusiness (John DEERE).

28a: Blows up (ENLARGES).

30a: Fall flowers (ASTERS).

32a: Cancer follower (LEO). This is a clue you won't find in the New York Times, which goes out of its way to avoid any hint of death or disease.

33a: En route, in a way (SENT). Check's in the mail.

37a: Archipelago part (ISLE). Straightforward clue, but I do like the word archipelago.

41a: Gat (HEATER). Mob slang for gun.

45a: "Candide," for one (OPERETTA).

47a: "Run Runaway" band (SLADE). It took a minute to dredge this song from the foggy depths, and I couldn't recall who did it until I had most of the crossings.

49a: Superfecta, e.g. (BET). A crazy bet. You gotta pick the top four finishers in correct order.

51a: ___ Paese (Italian cheese) (BEL).

55a: Distance runner Budd (ZOLA).

56a: Aesir leader (ODIN).

59a: Unable to reach a verdict (HUNG). Safe clue. We'll leave it at that.

60a: Peddle (VEND).

61a: Country album? (ATLAS). Cute.

62a: CAFE concern (MPG). Corporate Average Fuel Economy.

64a: Ship destroyed in Havana's waters in 1898 (MAINE). "Remember the Maine!" Precursor to the Spanish-American War.

1d: It was composed by Calixa Lavallée (O CANADA). Makes sense, in that the name looks Canadian, but if you're like me you're just looking for a (hopefully famous) song name that fits.

3d: 2005 Supreme Court nominee Miers (HARRIET). Man, it's hard enough to remember the people who made it onto the Supreme Court. I couldn't pull this name from the quagmire that is my brain. Luckily, the crossings made it an easy guess.

4d: 1963 Caldecott Medal winner ___ Jack Keats (EZRA). For the children's classic, "A Snowy Day".

7d: Solemn column (OBIT). I prefer clever to rhyming, but okay.

8d: They're worth two points in NHL standings (WINS).

12d: Sacramento newspaper (BEE). That's kind of obscure outside of Northern California, isn't it?

23d: The year that wasn't? (ZERO). Cute.

24d: Terry, for example (CLOTH).

31d: Pushover (SOFTY).

35d: Pig tail? (LET). Cryptic suffix: Piglet.

37d: Bicarbonate, e.g. (ION).

50d: "Mangia!" (EAT).

55d: Sixth Greek letter (ZETA).

56d: Measure of reactance (OHM). From Wikipedia:
Reactance is the imaginary part of electrical impedance, a measure of opposition to a sinusoidal alternating current. Reactance arises from the presence of inductance and capacitance within a circuit...
Alllllrighty, then...

57d: Haploid cells (OVA). Haploid means it has a single set of chromosomes.

58d: Hokey player (HAM). Cute play on "hockey player".

Suns of Bitches:

23a: Slate-cutting tool (ZAX). According to the Cruciverb database, this word has shown up in the NYS before, but I don't remember it.

17d: Johnny Cash's "The Ballad of ___ Hayes" (IRA). I'm not a huge Johnny Cash fan; never heard of this one.

43d: Character actor Herb (EDELMAN). He's been a guest star on just about every TV show ever made, but I didn't know him. Of course, I never watched "The Golden Girls", the show for which he is apparently best known. Hey, look, he was Epstein's uncle on "Welcome Back, Kotter".

I thought this puzzle was easier than your typical Thursday. The theme was fine, if not earth-shattering, the fill was decent, and the harder clues were all gettable without guessing. No raves, but no pan either. And if this is a debut puzzle from the Paseros (I don't see them anywhere in the database), then congratulations! Nice first effort.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Title: Freeze Frames
Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: ICE rebus

17a: Booking agents? (POLice OFFiceRS). Book 'em, Dano! nICE one!

29a: Van de Graaff generator generation (STATic eLECTRICITY). Another nICE entry. I've seen the huge Van de Graaff generators at the Boston Museum of Science. Quite the impressive display. Here's an example of a much smaller version.

45a: It might have integral roots (ALGEBRAic eQUATION). I very confidently filled in QUADRATic eQUATION here, and stubbornly held on until too many of the crossings just wouldn't work. I still think it's a better answer.

60a: Uses a knife, maybe (SLiceS AND DiceS). Very nICE. My favorite fill of the puzzle.

4d: Carroll character (ALice). My first thought was ALICE, but I saw it wouldn't fit, so I went on without a second thought -- plenty of other Carroll characters to choose from.

7d: Agcy. that won the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize (UNiceF).

26d: Nasty habits (ViceS). Here's where I should have immediately thought rebus. A 3-letter plural that's not immediately obvious? That would be a rarity. But I had already completed so much of the puzzle without using a rebus that I was lulled into acceptance.

31d: Goblet (CHALice). This was another one where I figured the answer was CHALICE, but it wouldn't fit. And still, I didn't cotton on to the rebus.

55d: Fine point (NiceTY).

57d: Potato tools (RiceRS).

This rebus took me by surprise. Usually, it's not far into the puzzle that I realize there's something funky going on and my "rebus alert" goes into full sensitivity. But here, I got a foothold in the NE and worked down. I had virtually the entire right side of the puzzle complete - everything east of MER/STEM/QTYS - except for the crossing of ...SANDD_S and R_RS, before I realized it was a rebus puzzle. Then the left side fell apart without much of a fight.

Sunny Spots:

14a: Rice dish (PAELLA). Mmmm... food.

16a: TV series about sisters Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell (SOAP). It's the clue that brings this fill to life.

9d: Wayne's world (WESTERNS). Of all the ones not to use a question mark on... I was way on the wrong track here, trying to fit GOTHAM or BAT CAVE where it didn't belong. The reference is to John Wayne, though referring to westerns as a "world" is a bit of a stretch (and hence, ?-worthy, imo). Still, I love the clue. And, "True Grit" is one of my all-time favorite films. ("I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!")

11d: Miniature tree (BONSAI). I love bonsai trees. I'd try one myself, but I'd probably kill it through neglect.

39d: "The Phantom Menace" title part (EPISODE I).

62d: Put the kibosh on (NIX). Nix is a cool word. So is kibosh.

Sundries:

1a: Brightest star in Aquila (ALTAIR). I always liked astronomy growing up, and I remember enough to get by. I also did some celestial navigation (global positioning using a sextant) years ago, before I had kids. I couldn't have told you the constellation, but I do remember the names of many of the brighter stars, like Altair, Rigel, Sirius, Betelgeuse, Arcturus, Deneb...

7a: Coal industry org. (UMW). United Mine Workers.

19a: Chinese prefix (INDO). My first thought was SINO (prefix meaning Chinese), but it's a prefix for Chinese -- Indochinese. Cryptic clue.

20a: Chwang-___ (Chinese mystic) (TSE). Educated guess that fit the crossings.

21a: "___ Wiedersehen!" (AUF). I don't know much German, but you don't have to to know this one.

24a: Troglodytes' hangouts (CAVES). Trodlodytes are a great way to spICE up this fill.

28a: General Mandible, for one (ANT). The Gene-Hackman-voICEd character in "Antz".

34a: Hair reddener (HENNA).

42a: "___ B. Demented" (2000 John Waters film) (CECIL). Melanie Griffith was nominated for a Worst Actress Razzie for her role in this film, but she "lost" to Madonna in "The Next Best Thing".

44a: Home of the brave? (TEPEE). Cute.

50a: Sound from a cote (COO). Where doves cry.

52a: Letter-shaped fasteners (T-NUTS).

53a: They're blocked by the ozone layer (UV RAYS). nICE letter combination here.

56a: Piece of mine? (ORE). Yeah, not bad.

59a: Best Picture nominee of 1981 (REDS).

64a: "Cornflake Girl" singer Tori (AMOS). Name a "Tori".

65a: Throw back a fish? (EAT). Good one.

66a: Dr. J's team (SIXERS). Celtics vs. Sixers used to be a phenomenal rivalry. At least the Celtics are finally back on track.

67a: On cloud nine (SENT). Scraping the bottom of the barrel for unusual definitions of the word. I'm vaguely familiar with sent being used in this fashion, but it feels like a bit of a stretch.

68a: Austin Powers, e.g. (SPY).

69a: Cut out (EXCISE).

2d: ASEAN member (LAOS). Association of Southeast Asian Nations

3d: Put on the air (TELECAST).

5d: Agcy. that won the 1969 Nobel Peace Prize (ILO). Okay, this is worth remembering: ILO (The International Labour Organization) is a U.N. agency. ILA (International Longshoreman's Association) is a North American dockworkers' union. Both show up fairly regularly. I think A for America, O for Overseas. It's a mnemonic that works for me.

6d: Tennis player Nadal (RAFAEL). I've had enough of tennis players' names for this week, thanks.

12d: Rhythmic (CADENT). A marching band's percussion section plays CADENCES when the rest of the band is not playing a song. I'm not as familiar with the adjective form, but it makes sense.

13d: Athletic (SPORTY). I guess. To me, cars are sporty; people are athletic. Unless they're SpICE Girls.

23d: March slogan word (ERIN). Erin Go Bragh, on St. Patrick's Day.

25d: Straightaway (AT ONCE).

29d: Mani-pedi place (SPA). I assume that's short for manicure/pedicure? A new one on me, but it fit.

30d: Holiday in Hué (TET).

32d: King contemporary (CAVETT). I'm assuming we're talking Dick Cavett and Larry King, right?

36d: Downs follow them (ACROSSES). Cute.

43d: Where to do one's bidding, maybe (EBAY).

44d: Letter after sigma (TAU).

46d: 1956 Elvis Presley hit (LOVE ME). Forget the tender part, just love me.

47d: Name that's Old English for "round hill" (GORDON). It's like an Alfred Hitchcock cameo when the editor's name shows up in a puzzle, don't you think?

48d: Tbsp. and tsp., e.g. (QTYS). It's pretty much got to be either that or AMTS.

49d: Take out of a box (UNCASE). We've talked about this one before. It's not my favorite, but it's okay.

58d: In ___ (actually) (ESSE). Esse is usually clued as "Latin infinitive" or "To be, in Rome", or some such. This certainly makes sense.

61d: Drink (up) (LAP). I can think of more interesting clues for LAP, but okay.

63d: 59% of M (DXC). 590. Almost too easy.

Suns of Bitches:

Really none.

I certainly enjoyed this puzzle more than the first two this week. In a way, I'm glad it took me awhile to unearth the rebus, as I got a totally unexpected "aha" moment. Overall, I found it to be a smooth and pleasant experience.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Title: Alternators
Author: Kelsey Blakley
Theme: Every entry in the puzzle alternates vowels and consonants. As such, there are no special "theme" entries, per se. But the long, marquee fills are as follows:

17a: Oscar-nominated song from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (A LOVE BEFORE TIME).

40a: 2001 Wimbledon champ (GORAN IVANISEVIC).

63a: Too fanciful (OVERIMAGINATIVE).

68a: What every other letter of every answer in this puzzle is (VOWEL).

This theme is a two-edged sword. On the plus side, every entry in the puzzle is a theme entry. On the minus side, it's only mildly interesting and not at all exciting or amusing. But, even a dull theme can be saved by sparkling fill, so let's see what we've got here.

Sunny Spots:

44a: Sound of a mosquito meeting its Maker? (ZAP). Love the word; love the clue; love the fact that Maker is capitalized.

45a: Pia of "Butterfly" (ZADORA). This gets props on two fronts. Firstly, it's usually the other way around - Zadora as a clue for PIA. Secondly, I just this weekend watched the MST3K version of "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians", which featured Pia as a young Martian girl. Coincidence? You decide.

53a: "The Slim Shady LP" rapper (EMINEM).

18d: Small enough to be eaten whole (BITE-SIZE). There are a lot things I consider bite-size that probably aren't intended to be.

32d: Barry Goldwater, e.g. (ARIZONAN). I'm going to pretend this is a printed correction from yesterday's puzzle.

34d: Hot chilies (HABANEROS). Habaneros are hot hot hot! For a killer sauce, try Dave's Insanity or Spontaneous Combustion.

47d: Rainy season waterway (WADI). Wadi is a cool word, no question.

60d: New Zealander, informally (KIWI). So's Kiwi. Gotta love the natural words that end in I.

Sundries:

First, let's get the boring brand names out of the way:

1a: MDX car make (ACURA).

50a: Brand of microwave (AMANA).

52d: Final Oldsmobile ever made (ALERO).

Let's face it, we see these enough exactly because of their vowel pattern. Their inclusion doesn't help spice things up. Let's check out the rest.

14a: Drug addict (DOPER). Hmm. I would say that drug addicts are dopers, but not all dopers are necessarily drug addicts. A "perhaps" would ease this discrepancy.

21a: Yaphet's role in "Raid on Entebbe" (IDI Amin). Deducible, even if you've never seen it. I personally prefer Forest Whitaker's portrayal to Yaphet Kotto's.

22a: Region of Spain (ARAGON). Well, I know Catherine of Aragon, so I'm guessing this must be the place.

23a: Statue of Liberty film (PATINA). Never heard of it, but it makes sense.

26a: #1 Heart hit of 1987 (ALONE). Good song. Here's another cool version by American Idol contestant Ramiele Malubay.

30a: Nickelodeon title character (REN). Of "Ren and Stimpy" fame.

33a: Popular potatoes (IDAHOS).

35a: Boolean logic gate (NOR). As mathy clues go, this one wasn't that exciting.

36a: Showy (GALA). Cool to see this as an adjective for a change, as in a gala affair.

46a: Flabbergasts (AWES). Awes is kind of boring; flabbergasts is a cool word.

49a: Pile of dead presidents (WAD). This is one of the most distasteful euphemisms for money I can think of.

56a: Seat of Ohio's Lucas County (TOLEDO). That's a yawner. "Holy place?" would be much cooler.

66a: Peter Ustinov's role in "Quo Vadis" (NERO). Didn't know it, but not hard to figure.

67a: Put down (ALIT). Nice use of put down to mean land.

69a: The libido, in psychiatry (EROS).

2d: Destroyer attacked on October 12, 2000 (COLE).

3d: "Once ___ a Mattress" (UPON). I think my high school performed this back in the 70s. Go ahead, do the math.

4d: Enliven (REV UP).

5d: Is for more than one? (ARE).

6d: Immobilized by a winter storm, perhaps (ICED IN). There's something ironic about this when it's 95 degrees and stiflingly humid.

9d: Medicinal fluids (SERA). It's medicinal fluids that's a God's name backwards.

10d: Listed (CATALOGED). I tend to spell it with a U, but they're both acceptable.

12d: Slot machine symbol (LEMON).

24d: Boy's name that's a girl's name backward (ARON).

25d: In a trice (ANON). Soon.

27d: Prefix meaning "billion" (GIGA). In these days of computers, you should know this one right off.

48d: Countable (FINITE). There's actually such a thing as "countable infinity", but we'll leave that discussion for another time.

51d: People ___ (airport conveyance) (MOVER).

54d: Amway Arena team (MAGIC). The Orlando Magic, of the NBA.

55d: Take to the road (MOTOR).

64d: "Da ___ G Show" (ALI). I've suffered through this one in puzzles before.

Suns of Bitches:

6a: Daughter of Nut (ISIS). I'm not that up on my Egyptian mythology; I figured it has to be IRIS or ISIS, and I guessed correctly.

10a: City on the Cauca River (CALI). Not a clue. Was only vaguely confident that I had a real city name when I completed the crossings.

1d: "___ Bede" (George Eliot novel) (ADAM). I know "Middlemarch" and "Silas Marner"; not this one.

7d: 2005 Australian Open winner Marat (SAFIN). C'mon, you've already included GORAN IVANISEVIC. That's enough tennis names for one puzzle.

13d: One of the Horae (IRENE).

19d: Martin of the Nashville Predators (ERAT). The Nashville who? You're joking, right?

29d: ___ King (character on "The Avengers") (TARA). I at least feel like I should know this one, but I didn't.

65d: Former capital of Burma (AVA). It was the capital from 1364 - 1841, according to Wikipedia. Nice Friday clue. Oh wait, it's Tuesday.

So, what's the final verdict? Well, there were a few cool clues and entries, but much more that I found dry and lifeless. Overvall, I give this one a whole-hearted "eh".

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Title: Citizens of the World
Author: Mark Feldman
Theme: People whose first names are foreign countries.

1a: With 8-Across, "Annie John" novelist (JAMAICA / KINCAID). I am vaguely familiar with the name, but have never read her novels.

22a: With 25-Across, singer of "Beautiful Flower" (INDIA / ARIE). I am not even vaguely familiar with this singer.

33a: "Jerry Maguire" Oscar winner (CUBA GOODING JR). This one was a gimme for me.

48a: With 49-Across, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer (CHAD / SMITH). I'm a big fan of the RHCP. I have a half-dozen of their CDs and I've seen them live. Even so, the drummer's name didn't come to me until I had a few crossings. This is pretty obscure for a Monday puzzle.

61a: With 62-Across, subject of an art museum in Santa Fe (GEORGIA / O'KEEFFE). Tougher-than-average clue for a well-known artist.

I found this to be a really strange puzzle. The first thing I noticed before starting it was the triple stack of 7/7s at the top and bottom of the puzzle. That's usually indicative of a more wide-open, low-word-count themeless. A closer inspection, however, showed just the opposite. This baby has 80 entries! That's very unusual for a major 15x15 publication, where the upper limit is almost always 78 words. Combined with the stacks of 7s, that means this puzzle is jam packed with 3- and 4-letter words. I also didn't find the theme answers to be particularly suited to a Monday puzzle. CHAD SMITH? INDIA ARIE? On a Monday? Wow.

Let's look at the non-theme fill.

Sunny Spots:

17a: Bar drink with a red triangle logo (BASS ALE). You know this one's going to get props. Love the beer clues.

31a: "Puttin' On the ___" (RITZ). This was a "one hit wonder" band. I'm going to go out on a limb here and not look it up, but I think the band's name was "Taco".

8d: Miss Piggy's love (KERMIT). It's not easy being green. Gotta love Kermit the Frog.

Sundries:

15a: Senior's skin blemish (AGE SPOT). I like sparkle in the longer fill words; this one is almost anti-sparkle.

16a: Sign of a mistake (ERASURE). Yawn.

18a: Sound of gunfire (RAT-A-TAT). I truly dislike this fill, even though I knew immediately what the answer was going to be. I've never heard a gun go "rat-a-tat", except maybe in cartoons.

21a: Hurry (HIE). I'm going to HIE through this blog entry, as there isn't really all that much else to say.

32a: Forest god (PAN). Also, to write a less-than-favorable review.

38a: German interjection (ACH). ACH is a great interjection, in that it sounds like you're trying to cough up a furball.

42a: Barry Bonds's bat wood (MAPLE). Maple and ash are both common woods for bats.

53a: Relating to the sense of touch (TACTUAL). I really wanted this to be TACTILE. TACTUAL just doesn't sound like a word to me.

59a: Self-titled album of 2002 (ASHANTI). Needed some crossings on this one. Not my genre of preference.

60a: Verbally abuses (REVILES). One of many negative clues in this puzzle, including 4d: Beset (ASSAIL), 9d: Het up (IRATE), and 14d: Can't stand (DETEST).

3d: Septiembre u octubre, por ejemplo (MES). I only know this because it's used so often in clues.

7d: Finished, as a starter (ATE). Starter, as in appetizer.

10d: They compete with the O's for local baseball fans' affections (NATS). Baltimore Orioles and Washington D.C. Nationals (née Montreal Expos).

13d: Poker table declaration (I RAISE). All in!

20d: Tucson native (ARIZONIAN). Second longest word in the puzzle, and the only sparkle is that it includes the letter Z.

23d: Cop at a drug bust (NARC).

24d: "Mon ___!" (DIEU). ACH!

26d: Report of a shooting? (BANG). Are you sure? I thought it was RAT-A-TAT.

28d: Woebegone sound (SIGH). Sigh.

29d: Fop's accessory (CANE).

31d: Speed (RACE). Hurry! HIE!

36d: Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mitchell (JONI). No relation.

41d: Good cheer? (RAH). It's a cheer, sure. But a good cheer? Really?

42d: Whirlpool subsidiary (MAYTAG).

43d: Relaxed (AT EASE). This would have more interesting if it were clued for A TEASE.

44d: Rain garment (PONCHO). "Is that a real poncho, I mean is that a Mexican poncho, or is that a Sears poncho?"

45d: One of the Graces (THALIA). It is Monday today, isn't it?

46d: 2001 Audrey Tautou film (AMÉLIE). Cute film.

48d: Rain forest mammal (COATI).

51d: Breather? (LUNG). Yeah, okay.

52d: Onionlike vegetable (LEEK).

56d: Keebler cookie maker (ELF). Cute pop-culture reference.

57d: One who gives a standing eight count (REF). Boxing reference.

Suns of Bitches:

46a: Actress Magnani (ANNA).

2d: ___ Khan (AGA).

5d: Toothpaste whose mascot was Bucky Beaver (IPANA). Is this still around? I'm not familiar with it.

I can't say I cared too much for this puzzle. There were a handful of clues that were silly-hard for a Monday, and a whole slew of really boring short words. I prefer a more consistent, interesting mix. I think the theme should have targeted a little later in the week, with fill and clues to match.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Title: Thinkin' Inside the Box
Author: Peter A. Collins
Theme: Three long answers each contain two apostrophes, which are included in their own box (and crossed appropriately) within the fill. As follows:

MRS O'LEARY'S COW (17a: Fire starter of legend), which crosses apostrophes at WE'RE (5d: "#1" follows it) and IT'S NO USE (10d: "I give up!").

AT ONE'S WITS' END (39a: Perplexed), which crosses K'NEX (36d: Lego alternative) and C'MON (38d: When doubled, a 2002 Sheryl Crow album).

L'HÔPITAL'S RULE (58a: Calculus topic), which crosses MA'AM (49d: Hat-tipper's word) and O'ER (52d: "___ the land ...").

This was a different kind of theme; not really a rebus (unless you use AcrossLite and have to enter A for "Apostrophe", which makes it rebus-like); more of an anti-rebus, if there is such a thing. The theme entries were okay. I like Mrs O'Leary's Cow as fill. I also kind of like L'Hôpital's Rule, but again I was a math major in college; I wonder how many people are scratching their heads on that one. "At one's wits' end" feels a touch awkward to me. I think one is at wits' end, not at one's wits' end. Love K'nex -- that's a great fill! The Sheryl Crow album sounds just vaguely familiar, and the "o'er the land..." is, of course, from our National Anthem.

Sunny Spots:

26a: What might be said right before sex? (SAFE). This is especially amusing, as I'm listening to baseball right now. What a novel way to resolve disputes on close tags...

41a: 2003 Billy Bob Thornton film (BAD SANTA). This movie is just so wrong on so many levels. It's also one of the funniest films I've ever seen. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cringe. Pure genius, but not for everyone. Here's an ever-so-small taste. (Language warning).

25d: Like sweep hands? (SOOTY). Phenomenal clue, referencing chimney sweeps.

28d: Mount Doom visitor (FRODO). I am a big "Lord of the Rings" fan, both books and movies (books are better, but the movies rock too), so this was a very pleasant gimme. How about something tougher, like THEODRED, or GLAMDRING, or HASUFEL?

35d: Wavy pictures? (SEASCAPES). As in pictures of waves. Cute.

Sundries:

1a: Shoves aside (ELBOWS). Also another pasta to go along with 32d: Pasta pick (PENNE).

7a: Beginning to freeze? (ANTI). Cryptic clue, with a nice surface reading.

14a: Evening wingding (SOIRÉE).

15a: Swag (LOOT). We always use "swag" to refer to the corporate freebies companies give out as advertising (shirts, towels, frisbees, gym bags, water bottles, pens, hats, fleeces, etc.). Also as a verb, to mean "scientific wild ass guess".

16a: Drink in a Maugham title (ALE). Reference to "Cakes and Ale". You know we love ale around here, even if we just saw it yesterday.

20a: NYC setting (EDT). Eastern Daylight Time. Common clue.

23a: Motor Trend's 1971 Car of the Year (VEGA). That's a scary thought. We used to own a Vega, and I can't say I have great memories of its awesomeness. I think it was like mustard yellow, too. One of those horrendous 70s colors.

24a: John McCain's alma mater: Abbr. (U.S.N.A.). The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.

29a: 1997 Nielsen role (MAGOO). This movie currently rates 3.2 out of 10 at IMDb. That's pretty horrendous.

31a: Block party, perhaps: Abbr. (CPA). H&R Block. Ugh.

34a: On the line (AT RISK).

37a: Didn't stand tall (SLOUCHED). I have teens. They slouch. This was a piece of cake.

42a: Sanaa resident (YEMENI).

43a: Sign of success (SRO). Standing Room Only. I live in the sticks; I learned this from puzzles.

44a: Hannity and Combs (SEANS). What twisted genius, combining Fox TV's ultra-conservative Sean Hannity with Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. Talk about strange bedmates.

47a: Ten-seventeenths of MLIV (DCXX). Straight math. (As opposed to what? Gay math?)

51a: Peninsula with the T'aebaek Mountains (KOREA). Easily deducible if you don't know it off the top. Which I didn't.

54a: Console feature (DIAL).

55a: Dash (PEP).

62a: Shoebox letters (EEE). Percentage of shoeboxes that actually have EEE on them: 0.001%. Percentage of crossword clues about shoeboxes whose answer is EEE: 99.999%. Okay, I made up the numbers, but you get the point.

63a: Perfect copy? (EDIT). Very nice use of perfect as a verb.

64a: Star of "The Last Don" (Danny AIELLO). With such a vowel-rich name, I'm surprised we don't see more him in puzzles.

65a: The formula for it has IP in the denominator (ERA). In baseball, Earned Run Average = (Runs Scored x 9)/Innings Pitched

67a: Math class calculation (MEDIAN). Well, you don't exactly calculate a median per se. The median is the middle number of a set, so you have to sort the set and find the center number(s). As opposed to the mean, which you can calculate by adding all the numbers together and dividing by the number of values in the set.

4d: It has one stable isótopo (ORO). It's the only Spanish element I can name, I think. I'm sure I've seen the word for silver, but I can't think of it.

6d: Vincent's successor (SELIG). Baseball commissioner Bud SELIG succeeded Fay Vincent.

9d: Tamagotchi, e.g. (TOY). My kids were kids when these "digital pets" were the rage. I came awfully close to smashing one or two as they beeped incessantly while the kids were upstairs sleeping.

11d: Literally, "wadding" (TACO). I never knew that. That's kind of cool, I guess.

23d: Marble features (VEINS).

24d: Jamaican fruit (UGLI). I've answered this in puzzles way more often than I've eaten the fruit.

26d: They have griffin logos (SAABS).

27d: Rose oil (ATTAR). I only know this from doing crosswords.

30d: Dam site (ASWAN). Huge dam on the Nile River in Egypt. Shows up a fair amount in puzzles.

33d: Computer component (ADD-IN). I'm in software, and I'm not crazy about this one. ADD-ON or PLUG-IN sound better to my ear.

40d: Rival of Pringles made by Lay's (STAX). Also a Motown-era record label.

45d: Topgallant, e.g. (SAIL). As sailing terms go, this one's more obscure than most. It's one of the topmost squarish sails on a square-rigged boat.

47d: ___ volente (DEO). Didn't know this one. It's means "God willing".

50d: Pitcher of milk? (ELSIE). As in, one who pitches for milk. In this case, Borden's mascot.

51d: "Cat and Bird" painter (KLEE). Didn't know the painting, but I'm familiar with the name.

56d: "Pure ___" (1994 album) (ELLA). Makes sense once you get it; I'm assuming this must be Ella Fitzgerald.

57d: Low hand (PEON). Nice play on Slow Hand (Eric Clapton nickname).

59d: Response to a bailiff (I DO). "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

61d: Like the magic pebble in "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" (RED). This award-winning book has been around since I was a kid, and yet it doesn't sound at all familiar. I'm not sure how I missed it. Still, the answer was not hard to confirm from the crossings.

Suns of Bitches:

1d: "The Vanishing Act of ___ Lennox" (2006 Maggie O'Farrell book) (ESMÉ). Yet another Esmé. Who knew?

3d: "Bei Mir ___ Du Schön" (BIST). Hunh?

53d: Second-largest moon of Saturn (RHEA). That's starting to get a little obscure. At least it looks like a name.

55d: Hard-to-groom dog breed (PULI). I'm sure I've seen this one before, but it's just not a dog-name that's on my radar. If it's more than a couple of weeks, I'll probably be stumped next time, too.

60d: World Wide Web inventor Berners-Lee (TIM). Of all the Tims in the world, we're supposed to know this one? Hmph.

In general, you never quite know what to expect with a themed Friday puzzle. This one was okay; the theme didn't blow me away (in fact, it was pretty easy as late-week themes go), but there was enough decent fill and challenge to keep me interested. And any puzzle that mentions both Frodo and "Bad Santa" is all right by me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Barry C. Silk
Theme: None

Sunny Spots:

1a: Monikers (SOBRIQUETS). What can I say? That's a really nice 1a fill.

15a: Tennessee Williams's "27 Wagons Full of Cotton," e.g. (ONE ACT PLAY). I like interesting, multi-word fill. Much better than {What Tennessee Williams's "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" has one of} (ACT). You don't need to know the play to figure this one out, either.

17a: Dip and skip, e.g. (DANCE STEPS). Another nice one.

24a: 1966 Beach Boys hit (SLOOP JOHN B). Sloop John B was one of several hits from the album "Pet Sounds", one of the most influential rock albums of all time. Unfortunately for me, I remembered it as SLOOP JOHN G, which led to problems in the NE corner. In particular, it gave me SNAGGED instead of STABBED for 14d: Stuck

22a: Filing facilitator

16a: Computer introduced in 1988

45a: Seven (out) (CRAP). First of all, I love the game of craps. Secondly, it's cool to see CRAP actually in a puzzle.

46a: Cécile de Volanges portrayer in "Dangerous Liaisons" (UMA THURMAN). Nice to see her whole name appear for a change.

54a: High-risk investment (PENNY STOCK).

60a: Kind of pliers (NEEDLE-NOSE).

1d: Jerk's offering (SODA POP). I like this one. Soda jerk is a bit dated, for sure, but still cool.

2d: How some dumb things are done (ON A DARE). This fill appeals to my younger, childish side. At what age does daring someone stop working? I gotta guess somewhere during the college years, maybe even later, for men. Probably junior high school for women. There's definitely a maturity element going on here.

21d: Store with the slogan "Never the same place twice" (TJ MAXX). Two Xs and a J in one fill is classic themeless fare. Very nice.

Sundries:

11a: Draft picks (ALES). Mmmm.... beer!

18a: With 12-Down, glove material (NAPA / LEATHER). I thought it was NAPP, not NAPA. My bad.

20a: ___ water (facing trouble) (IN HOT). Nice overall phrase; not so nice as a partial.

23a: Crown (PATE).

26a: Like some thermometers (ORAL). And yet, "Like some (other) thermometers" (ANAL) would be deemed offensive. Go figure.

27a: Key used in some shortcuts (CTRL). Gimme.

28a: Attorney General during the Iran-Contra Affair (Edwin MEESE).

29a: Part of dpi (PER). Dots per inch, a measure of computer monitor (and TV) resolution.

31a: Went public with (AIRED). Especially, dirty laundry.

32a: Big mouth (MAW).

33a: Rose on the music charts? I think we covered this in yesterday's AXEL, AXLE, AXIL, AXL discussion. (AXL).

37a: Neuter (DESEX). Desex is an ugly way to get Xs into the puzzle. I'm just saying.

40a: Windows boxes (PCS). A lot of tech in this puzzle. NEXT, PCS, CTRL, dpi.

44a: Greyhound fare? (ALPO). Cute.

49a: Pro ___ (for now) (TEM). This is just an okay clue/fill under normal circumstances, but when the puzzle also contains 40d: Gratis (PRO BONO), I think that's pushing it.

50a: Like a big rig on a big hill, maybe (IN LOW).

51a: Skyscraper beam (I-BAR). Ubiquitous fill.

58a: Gutsy? (INTESTINAL). A bit of a stretch, but okay.

59a: Milk sources (EWES). Eww. Personally, I don't drink sheep's milk, but I guess it's a source for lambs. Of course, that's true of most mammals and their young, and I wouldn't want this as a clue for, say, DOGS.

3d: 1980-83 Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy winner (Pat BENATAR). I'd have preferred to see here whole name, but okay.

4d: Daughter-in-law of Rebekah (RACHEL). This one I knew, or at least could easily deduce. ADAH, otoh (19a: Daughter-in-law of Rebekah)? No clue.

7d: Raises one side of (UPTILTS).

8d: 1968 Turtles hit (ELENORE). The Turtles had two hits? The only one I know (and I apologize for mentioning it, because it's the kind of song that sticks in your head -- just wait, you'll see) is "Happy Together".

9d: Blast furnace opening (TAPHOLE). That's kind of a cool fill word.

10d: Computer bulletin board overseer (SYS-OP). More tech.

11d: Compton of ABC News (ANN).

24d: Refuse tower (SCOW). Tower, as in one that tows. Usually this kind of thing has a question mark attached.

25d: Parisian sight seer? (OEIL). French for eye.

30d: Best Picture after "Chariots of Fire" (GANDHI). With Ben Kingsley. Good film.

39d: Gave birth to (SPAWNED). I thank my mother all the time for spawning me.

41d: Simón Bolívar University setting (CARACAS). I didn't know this, but it was easy enough to deduce.

42d: Éclat (SPARKLE). Nice fill.

47d: Remove, as a badge (UNPIN). Eh. I'm not crazy about UNs and REs that aren't commonly used. At least the badge reference makes it plausible.

55d: Haute couture monogram (YSL). Yves St-Laurent.

56d: Bernadette, for example: Abbr. (STE). Having STE that close to a monogram that includes ST in it seems a touch inelegant, but we'll let this one slide.

Suns of Bitches:

Besides the Beach Boys misstep mentioned above, there was one other tough crossing and one bad section for me.

The crossing was at the H of CHITIN (45d: Principal component of arthropod exoskeletons) and HORA (48a: Chair-raising experience?). I got it correct, but it felt like an educated guess when I did it. Now that I think about it, I should have been more confident about HORA. And it's a cool clue to boot.

The bad section was the SW, where two mistakes took their toll. The two mistakes were PIS instead of XIS for 53d: Followers of nus, and OARED instead of COXED for 43a: Participated in crew, in a way. This really threw a wrench into seeing the answer of the following clues:

34a: Brightness (SHEEN).

52a: Grapity purple is one of its flavors (TRIX). Having P instead of X here made this one virtually impossible to figure out. Gotta love grapity, though.

57a: Ackerman who portrayed Evita on Broadway (LONI). Not a name I'm familiar with.

34d: Sink (SCUTTLE). Great word, but I was looking for second-letter O.

35d: There's a semicolon in it (HOME ROW). Tricky clue, referring to the QWERTY keyboard layout.

36d: Study (EXAMINE). Figuring this one out finally clued me into my errors and set me back on the right path.

Other toughies:

37d: Pop singer Love (DARLENE). I know Courtney Love. Darlene? Not so much.

38d: Suburb of Los Angeles (EL MONTE). Why haven't I heard of this place? I'm a purely New England guy myself, but I've heard of Pasadena, Long Beach, Compton, Inglewood, Torrance, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Glendale, Santa Monica, Pomona,...

Bottom line? Despite my various missteps, I thought this was a pretty nice themeless. A few rocky areas, but also good, scrabbly letters; plenty of multi-word and interesting fill; decent clues; and a nice challenge.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Title: Cross References
Author: Peter J. Wentz
Theme: Four clues that cyclically refer to each other, as follows:

17a: What 25-Across has (FIVE VOWELS).

25a: What 43-Across has (NINE CONSONANTS).

43a: What 57-Across has (THREE SYLLABLES).

57a: What 17-Across has (TEN LETTERS).

Ok, that's kind of cool. Doesn't blow me away, but it's a decent enough midweek theme. The thing about this kind of "technical" theme, is that now you really have to spice up the surrounding fill or else the whole puzzle can feel a little, well... technical. So, let's see what we have.

Sunny Spots:

21a: "How fancy!" (OOH LA LA). Somehow, this phrase makes me think of French maids. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

49a: Fool (AIRHEAD). I'd have preferred ditz to fool, but okay.

60a: With 7-Down, words on 1950s buttons (I LIKE / IKE). Nice nostalgic combination entry.

9d: Balkan Peninsula hot spot (KOSOVO). Topical, and with great Scrabbly letters.

45d: Drake's cakes (YODELS). Yodels, Ho-hos, Swiss Rolls -- they're all about the same and they're all good.

Sundries:

1a: Like a cream puff (WEAK). We'll give them credit for the food metaphor; goes well with the Yodels, above.

5a: Move furtively (SLINK). So, if you want to be furtive, make sure you wear a slinky outfit.

10a: Response to a come-on, maybe (SLAP). Ouch! Okay, I take back the slinky outfit comment.

15a: "Godzilla" setting (TOKYO). Gimme. But decent clue.

16a: Marilu Henner sitcom (TAXI). Not bad.

19a: Expectant times (EVES).

20a: Stressful type? (ITALICS). I feel like the italics clues are getting a little stale; we need a new angle on these.

23a: Press coverage (INK).

24a: Smith's block (ANVIL). To go with yesterday's SMITHIES.

31a: Pioneering video game (PONG). Remember it well. Space Invaders was the real breakthrough game, though. Then Asteroids.

41a: Cherokee, e.g. (SUV). Sport Utility Vehicle, by Jeep.

48a: Synchronous start? (GEO). Cryptic clue.

52a: Tourist's aid (AREA MAP).

56a: Patrick Ewing was one as a collegian (HOYA). Nice one, but again, it seems like we've been seeing the same words over and over lately.

62a: Soak up some rays (BASK). I like the word bask. Basking in glory is even better than basking in the sun.

63a: Cable channel since 1979 (C-SPAN). Name a cable channel that fits.

1d: Internet café convenience (WI-FI). Cool. Modern.

4d: Capsizing, with "over" (KEELING). Any term derived from sailing is okay by me. My all-time favorite is "three sheets to the wind", which I personally feel is one of the most awesomely descriptive phrases ever. If you've ever sailed, you may recall that the line that controls the mainsail is called the sheet. If you let go of the sheet, you lose all control of the sail as the wind just flaps it wherever. You've lost your sheet "to the wind". Now, picture a three-masted schooner with all three sheets to the wind, and you've got yourself a pretty vivid image.

5d: Daytona 500 vehicle (STOCK CAR). I'm sure driving around in circles really fast would be an absolute blast, but it's insanely boring to watch.

10d: Topnotch (STELLAR).

11d: Soap brand that contains pumice (LAVA).

12d: Spinning leap (AXEL). AXEL is the skating jump, AXLE is on a car, AXIL is the angle of a plant leaf or branch, and AXL was the lead singer of Guns 'N Roses.

13d: Tuscan city (PISA).

18d: Liana, for example (VINE). I never even saw this clue. I've never heard of Liana, but it wouldn't have been hard to figure out.

22d: Female deer (HINDS). I guess I've heard this before. Probably in puzzles.

26d: Rack up (INCUR). As in debt.

28d: Like many checking accounts (NO FEE).

29d: Nickelodeon offerings (TOONS).

35d: Gift after golden rings (GEESE). From the "Twelve Days of Christmas" -- six geese-a-laying.

37d: Daniel Craig's "Casino Royale" costar (EVA GREEN). I should have remembered this, but I needed several crossings.

40d: Qwest Field player (SEAHAWK). Seattle football.

41d: Camera with a WYSIWYG viewfinder (SLR). Single-lens reflex.

44d: Lacking vitality (STATIC). I had __A_I_ and went with PLACID. I like my answer better.

46d: Biennial vegetable (BEET).

49d: Literary character whose last words are "Thus, I give up the spear!" (AHAB).

54d: Sheik, e.g. (ARAB).

50d: College in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (IONA). I've heard of them through NCAA basketball pools.

51d: Some loaves (RYES). You know we like food here, but we're getting a little too much RYE of late.

52d: ___-Mints (Tums rival) (ALKA).

55d: Sibilant summons (PSST). I like the word sibilant (having a hissing sound), but PSST again? Are you kidding me?

58d: Small drink (NIP). Had SIP to start.

Suns of Bitches:

47a: Tango composer Piazzolla (ASTOR). New one on me, though I can't say I listen to that many tangos.

3d: 1982 Peace co-Nobelist Myrdal (ALVA). The only ALVA I know is Thomas Alva Edison.

25d: Ravi's daughter (NORAH). Who's Ravi?

36d: Winner of "Survivor: Cook Islands" (YUL). Yul Brynner was on "Survivor"? Cool.

Compared to yesterday, this fill was pretty boring. The theme was okay, and there was nothing fatally wrong with the puzzle. But it could have used a little more pizzazz in the fill.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Title: Extra Points
Author: Jim Hyres
Theme: Four phrases each have one of the compass points (N, S, E, and W) inserted to make a new phrase. The compass points are positioned appropriately in the grid, which also features a cross in the center making it look more "compass-like". In case you didn't notice, the grid is also symmetric along both diagonals, which means it has the same pattern no matter how you rotate it.

Here are the theme answers:

In the north: Net assets + N = NET ASSENTS (17a: Nods from a New Jersey hoopster?). Not bad.

In the south: Peter Nero + S = PESTER NERO (57a: Badger a Roman emperor?). This was pretty easy even not knowing who Peter Nero is. Turns out he's a pianist and conductor, currently with the Philly Pops. But you probably already knew that.

In the east: Panama hat + E = PANAMA HEAT (11d: Canal cops?). My favorite of the theme answers.

In the west: Panhandle + W = PAWNHANDLE (28d: Make an en passant move?). En passant is a chess move. A pawn can, on its first move, go forward one or two spaces. If it moves two spaces to land directly beside an opposing pawn, that opposing pawn can, on its next turn only, capture it as if it had only moved one square (pawns attack diagonally forward). This capture is called en passant (in passing).

This is a cool theme for a Tuesday. I'm a sucker for nice symmetry, so I liked this grid layout a lot. But what really struck me was how enjoyable the rest of the fill was, especially for an early-week puzzle. Let's check it out.

Sunny Spots:

16a: Bruce Lee TV role (KATO). Bruce Lee once said that he was selected for this role in "The Green Hornet" because he was the only Asian actor who could correctly pronounce "Britt Reid". I had a brain short-circuit and entered KANE at first but that, of course, was David Carradine.

20a: Hiker's snack (TRAIL MIX). I was expecting the answer to be GORP, but TRAIL MIX is just as good, with an X to boot.

25a: Red state declaration? (I'M MAD). Nice political diversion here.

29a: Plant containers (TERRARIA). For the number of common letters in this word, you'd think you'd see it more often in puzzles, but I can't recall seeing it all recently.

33a: Wreck (SMASH UP). As opposed to BANG-UP, which can mean excellent (or impregnate). Language can be so cool.

36a: Boy in "The Jungle Book" (MOWGLI). The Disney version of this was one of the most-watched videos in our household when the kids were young, so this was a no-brainer for me. And it's such a great-looking fill.

50a: Line dances with kicking (CONGAS). Stay away from these; they're dangerous.

52a: Childhood home of Jesus (NAZARETH). Great fill. Me, I would have gone a different direction with the clue, but it's all good.

6d: "What nerve!" (THE IDEA). Cool, if outdated, exclamation.

10d: Tussle (SKIRMISH). Skirmish feels a little more severe to me than tussle, as it tends to imply the use of weaponry, whereas tussle tends to imply grappling. But they're both great words.

18d: Forgers' workplaces (SMITHIES). I have a copy of Goya's "The Forge" hanging in my living room that my great-grandfather painted years ago, so I love this clue.

22d: Software seller's concern (PIRACY). Easy, but colorful.

26d: Malt beverage whose name means "winter" in Russian (ZIMA). I've never tried Zima. Can anyone offer an opinion on its merits? Still, it's a great fill word.

30d: Pay down (AMORTIZE). Is this a tough word for a Tuesday? I didn't think so, but my dad's a CPA.

37d: Happenings (GOINGS ON). Very nice.

46d: Computer class setting (PC LAB). Not many words start with PCL-, so this kind of fill is always great to see.

Sundries:

1a: Cummerbund's spot (WAIST). Another good prom/wedding season clue.

6a: Happy hour exclamation, perhaps (TGIF). Do people actually exclaim "T.G.I.F."? Are these the same people who say "How about this heat?"?

10a: Hand measurement (SPAN). My left hand can span an octave plus 3 notes on a standard piano. This is a pretty discordant sound (an 11th), but I can hit 10ths with comfort, which are nice in jazz.

14a: Show rage onstage, say (EMOTE). EMOTE is approaching serious-overuse status. It is showing up an awful lot lately.

15a: "Alice Doesn't Live ___ Anymore" (HERE). What a great way to spice up a boring fill word. This was the Martin Scorsese movie on which the TV show "Alice" was based. It's been awhile, but I seem to recall that the language in the movie was much harsher than "Kiss my grits!". I also recall that the movie was pretty good, but it was a long time ago. I'll have to go rent it soon.

19a: About (IN RE). Don't confuse this with INRI, which is the inscription on the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Both appear quite frequently in puzzles.

23a: Stabler, once (RAIDER). Ken Stabler quarterbacked the Oakland Raiders through-out the 1970s.

38a: Earth tones (OCHERS). This color can be spelled OCHER or OCHRE, so watch out for it both ways.

39a: Got to (ANNOYED). Good clue.

41a: Jimmy (PRY). Ditto.

42a: Simpleton (ASS). I don't like this clue. You can be a simpleton without being an ass and vice versa. Who you are may make you a simpleton, but it's your behavior that makes you an ass. Two different things in my book.

43a: Greeted as a villain (HISSED AT). Nice.

45a: French political division (ÉTAT). French for state. This shows up a lot.

48a: Former Toyota model (CELICA). Of all the former car models, this one seems to show up more than I'd expect. I think it's because the letter C can be particularly difficult to cross.

59a: Folkie Guthrie (ARLO). Hey, we have an "Alice" mini-theme going here. I won't post the link to "Alice's Restaurant"; you can find it if you want, or just wait until Thanksgiving when fifteen different radio stations play it around throughout the day.

60a: Duel tool (EPÉE). Ah, yes, the ubiquitous epée. It should be your first instinct if the clue mentions duel, fence, olympics, sword, or blade.

63a: Part of VFW (WARS). Veterans of Foreign Wars. I'm tempted to give this one a "bridge" tag, since so many club games and tournaments are held in VFW halls.

1d: Sold (WENT). As in, it WENT for $20.

5d: Edison rival (TESLA). Also an 80s hair band.

7d: Boomer's kid (GEN-XER). This one's starting to stale a bit from overuse, but it's still decent fill.

8d: NYC subway line (IRT). If you're not from NYC, which I'm not, then just remember this one. Because you're going to see it again and again. If it'll help, it stands for Interborough Rapid Transit.

9d: Come clean, with "up" (FESS). Fess up is a great phrase. It's also a great name.

12d: Courtyards (ATRIA).

13d: Very much (NO END).

24d: Monopoly quartet: Abbr. (RRS). Railroads: Short Line, Pennsylvania, B&O, and Reading.

27d: ___ maiden (torture device) (IRON). Another heavy metal/hair band reference. I visited the torture chamber in Warwick Castle, England, and let me tell you, the human race can be pretty sick and twisted.

32d: Actress Milano of "Charmed" (ALYSSA).

34d: Bear in the night sky (URSA). Constellation reference.

35d: "Yo!" alternative (PSST). (whispering) Psst. I'm getting tired of seeing psst in my puzzles. This is like the third or fourth time in the last week or so.

41d: Parts of mouths (PALATES).

44d: More difficult to get through to (DENSER). More like a simpleton, but not necessarily an ass.

45d: One bringing home the bacon (EARNER).

47d: Department in France's Rhône-Alpes region (LOIRE). It's a river and it's a valley, so it's no stretch to assume it could be a department also.

49d: Gave a hoot (CARED). Nice clue.

51d: Shoot forth (SPEW). This one can be almost too colorful. I'll leave it at that.

53d: Architect Saarinen (EERO). Just remember this; it's never going away.

54d: Fall preceder? (TRIP). Cute. Sort of.

58d: Gp. concerned about emissions (EPA). Environmental Protection Agency.

Suns of Bitches:

31a: "Beyond the Dream" author Berkow (IRA). Should I know this? Well, I didn't.

All in all, a very enjoyable Tuesday.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Title: Feathered Friends
Author: Michael Wiesenberg
Theme: Last names that are also kinds of birds.

17a: Member of a '70s TV family (LAURIE PARTRIDGE). Yep, Susan Dey was pretty cute back then.

27a: Comedian who had a hit with "King Tut" (STEVE MARTIN). Of all the hilarious bits Steve Martin has done, "King Tut" was not one of his best, IMO. Yes, it got radio play, but still. Actually my favorite line off that same album (and yes, I mean album -- I have it on actual vinyl) is when he's bragging about being a expert in language. "Let's face it, some people have a way with words. Others... oh, ah... not have way, I guess." Still cracks me up.

43a: Captain of the Black Pearl (JACK SPARROW). The Sparrow returns; last week in a clue for Johnny DEPP, this time in the fill itself.

55a: Architect of St. Paul's Cathedral (CHRISTOPHER WREN).

Nice, simple theme for a Monday. Two fictional characters, two real people -- nice balance. Three from show-biz, one from architecture -- not so balanced. But not a real problem. And we'll give you the benefit of the doubt for reminding us what Susan Dey looked like when she was younger.

Sunny Spots:

1a: Costume (GETUP). As in, "That's quite a getup you're wearing, Carmen."

39a: ___ pit (rock concert area) (MOSH). Moshing is generally associated with heavy metal, punk, and hard alternative music, which I guess is "rock" in the broad sense. I wouldn't expect to see much moshing at, say, a Pink Floyd show. But it's a nice word.

3d: Baseless, as charges (TRUMPED UP). Nice phrase, plus we'll give it the "bridge" tag for using the word TRUMP.

9d: What an ace on a deuce might result in? (SET POINT). What a beautiful diversion from cards to tennis! I'm also just dyslexic enough (which is not an advantage doing puzzles, btw) to have read this STEP ON IT when I looked back at the puzzle. Oh no, I'm channeling Merl Reagle... :)

38d: Almond-flavored Italian liqueur (AMARETTO). A little sweet for my taste now, but I can remember a summer when I was younger that I used to drink Amaretto sours. Today, give me a single-malt Islay scotch or a nice Añejo tequila.

Sundries:

14a: Gillette razors (ATRAS). If I ever have to name some brand, I'm going to make sure it starts and ends with a vowel; it will be immortal (at least to crossword solvers).

15a: Storybook baddie (OGRE). What's with the word baddie? I'm trying to think if I've ever heard it used outside of crossword clues... can't think of any such usage. I'm getting tired of it; what's wrong with villain or antagonist, or even just bad guy?

16a: Maker of Touch of Sun skin products (OLAY). Not familiar with the product, but Olay is common enough.

21a: Crossed (out) (XED).

22a: Dangers (PERILS).

23a: Law firm assistant, for short (PARA). Short for paralegal.

26a: "Evidently" (SO I SEE).

37a: Disparaging remark (SLUR).

38a: Facing the pitcher (AT BAT).

42a: Sleaze (LOUSE).

45a: Toiling (AT WORK). I know a lot of people at work who aren't toiling. Or moiling either.

48a: "Yeah, right" (I BET).

49a: It lost out to "Spirited Away" for Best Animated Feature of 2002 (ICE AGE). I never did get around to seeing this, and I need to because Denis Leary does one of the voices and I'm a big fan.

50a: Alley-___ (basketball play) (OOP). Here's a clip of some classic alley-oops.

52a: "Arli$$" network (HBO). I never even saw this clue when I was solving.

59a: Chief (BOSS).

60a: Nats or Nets, e.g. (TEAM).

62a: ___ & Chandon (champagne brand) (MOET). You know you're getting a link to this Queen song, don't you?

63a: Airport near Paris (ORLY).

64a: Cut the grass (MOWED). Past tense of cut; be on the lookout for these.

1d: Strong wind (GALE). Also, Dorothy's last name in "The Wizard of Oz".

2d: Bibliographer's abbr. (ET AL).

4d: Former Egypt-Syr. alliance (UAR). United Arab Republic. I'm going to help you out here: The republic was replaced; the emirates still exist. If it says former (or mentions Egypt or Syria) it's the UAR. If it says (or implies) current (or says it's on the Persian Gulf or bordering Oman or Saudi Arabia) it's the UAE.

7d: Dated oath (EGAD). At least it admits it's dated.

8d: Watchdog warning (GRR).

10d: Dark films (NOIRS).

11d: Peter and Gordon song, e.g. (OLDIE). I'd like to know whether this clue was Michael's or Peter's. Either way, it's pretty cute.

12d: Symbol of the U.S. Postal Service (EAGLE).

13d: Soapmaking solutions (LYES). The first rule of fight club is, you don't talk about fight club...

18d: Midyear, e.g. (EXAM). It's a testament to how far removed I am from school that this was not immediately obvious to me.

19d: Free ___ (unhampered liberty) (REIN).

24d: Head off (AVERT).

26d: Prized violins, for short (STRADS). There's something pretentious about having a shortened nickname for an instrument that can cost millions of dollars. It's like calling your Lamborghini a "lamb", or your $20 million-dollar lake estate "the cottage", or a priceless Fabergé egg my "fab". Like it's just some little trinket you picked up with some spare pocket change. It's an unreproducible work of art! Call it a Stradivarius.

27d: Talk back to (SASS). Sass and sassy show up a lot, but they're cool words.

28d: Mah-jongg piece (TILE).

29d: "___ of the Killer Tomatoes!" (ATTACK). Funny, my first instinct was RETURN.

30d: Inventor of a rotatable cube (RUBIK).

33d: Love, in Livorno (AMORE).

34d: D, on a theater ticket (FOURTH ROW). Nice clue to bring in a potentially awkwardly-clued fill.

35d: Petro-Canada rival (ESSO). Esso could go bankrupt tomorrow, and we'd still be seeing it in puzzles for the next 50 years.

36d: "That's a relief!" (WHEW). I had PHEW to start. I think I've done this before.

44d: Puff piece? (PIPE). Cute.

45d: It might prompt a "Gesundheit!" (ACHOO).

46d: Like headlines (TERSE).

49d: Long-range nuke (ICBM). Intercontinental ballistic missile. This was in the puzzle that Bill Clinton (and others) did in "Wordplay".

50d: October's birthstone (OPAL). I don't know my birthstones, but I do know that in a crossword it's probably OPAL or ONYX.

51d: "Heavens!" (OH MY). Lions and tigers and bears... Oh my! It's almost a mini-theme.

53d: Nota ___ (note well) (BENE). This is common crossword fill; if you don't know it, learn it.

54d: Like a line, to a math student (ONE-D). I've given up my objection to these. ONED, TWOD, THREED, FOURD, bring 'em on. In fact, I want to see SIXD in a puzzle -- how would you clue that one?

58d: "Tommy" rockers, with "the" (WHO). Great album, though not as good IMO as "Quadrophenia". Plus the clue evokes "The Tommyknockers", a Stephen King horror novel.

Suns of Bitches:

None. Nor should there be on a Monday.

This was a solid Monday puzzle. Not too exciting, but not too bland either. It's hard to expect more from your Mondays.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Friday, June 27, 2008

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Monday, June 23, 2008

Friday, June 20, 2008

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Monday, June 16, 2008

Friday, June 13, 2008

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Monday, June 9, 2008

Friday, June 6, 2008

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Monday, June 2, 2008

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