Thursday, July 31, 2008

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

Sunny Spots:

• 1a: Historic site on the Pedernales River in Texas Hill Country (LBJ RANCH). This one took me longer to get than it should have, even with the J in place.



• 50a: Harlequinade (BUFFOONERY). Both great words.


• 2d: Standout success from Research in Motion (BLACKBERRY). The handheld device, not the fruit.


• 3d: 1987 U2 album, with "The" (JOSHUA TREE). Also a National Park in California.


• 30d: Wash enders (SPIN CYCLES). Nice fill.



• 28d: Fall decoration (INDIAN CORN). Another good one.

Sundries:

• 9a: Religious leader who emigrated to America in 1774 to avoid persecution (ANN LEE). My debut puzzle (NYS 5/16/07) had a LEE theme, and Ann was one of them. She was a Shaker.


• 15a: Cosmetics additive (ALOE VERA).


• 16a: University of Chicago (LOYOLA).



• 20a: Game show host with the catchphrase "Let's do crosswords" (TY TREADWAY). I couldn't decide whether this was a Sunny Spot or an SOB, so I'm leaving it here. I've heard the name, but I couldn't come up with it until I had most of the crossings. I've only seen snippets of "Merv Griffin's Crosswords" on YouTube. Ty Treadway sounds like a stage name, but it's not.


• 22a: Real stinkers? (SKUNKS). I would have liked a cribbage clue for this one. Wins by a street, maybe?


• 25a: Diminish (BATE). I started with WANE, changed it to FADE, and then changed it again to SATE before I finally nailed it. That's just nasty.


• 27a: City that once had a large Yiddish-speaking population (MINSK). This probably makes a lot more sense than MIAMI, which was my first guess from the MI-.



• 32a: Hobbyhorse (PET PROJECT). I don't recall hearing this term for a pet project. Certainly not in conversation anyway.


• 36a: Run things? (ERRANDS). As in, things that are run.


• 37a: It's placed midway between the gutters (HEADPIN). Cute bowling clue here.


• 40a: What you might ask a stranger for (DIRECTIONS). One of the few easy long answers for me.


• 44a: Figs. in police procedurals (MES). Medical Examiners.


• 56a: ThinkPad alternatives (IBOOKS).


• 60a: Fuerteventura, Tenerife, Lanzarote, and others (CANARIES). Referring to the Canary Islands.


• 61a: Worn, maybe (FRAYED). Piece of string goes into a non-string-friendly bar and orders a beer. Bartender says, "Hey, aren't you a string?" To which the string replies, "No, I'm a frayed knot."


• 62a: Incendiary (ARSONIST).



• 1d: 2006 Soccer Hall of Fame inductee Alexi (LALAS). I never remember this guy's name. I always know it's _A_AS, but I keep thinking HALAS, LAMAS, ... Grrrr. The across clue through the third letter (see SOB section) didn't help any.


• 4d: It's not covered by history books (RECENT PAST).


• 6d: Settles down (NESTS). I had RESTS to start.


• 7d: ___-Pas (drawing medium) (CRAY). These are like oil-based crayons.


• 8d: Isn't pressed, in a way (HAS TIME).


• 9d: "Illegal ___" (Genesis song) (ALIEN). I have this album, "Genesis", on vinyl and I still only vaguely recall the song. Much better was "That's All" and "Taking It All Too Hard".



• 11d: Org. with a flag of five alternating green and white stripes and a blue union with 24 white stars (NYPD). I didn't know police departments had their own flags.


• 12d: Motion picture industry pioneer Marcus (LOEW).


• 13d: 1969 jazz album with a cover of "Got to Get You Into My Life" (ELLA). I've seen enough clues for this album lately that I knew instinctively what it was going to be.


• 21d: Clipped joints (ROACHES). Yet another illicit drug reference by the Sun, this one slangier than most.



• 26d: One of a pair of brother sleuths on '80s TV (A.J. SIMON). Of "Simon and Simon", which I vaguely recall watching periodically.


• 29d: Subject of Edmond Rostand's play "L'Aiglon" (NAPOLEON II).


• 38d: Quintillionth: Prefix (ATTO). Yeah, okay.


• 41d: Novel with the villainous housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (REBECCA). I never read this one, by Daphne Du Maurier, but I've heard of it.


• 43d: Evanston neighbor (SKOKIE). Both in Illinois.


• 48d: Mass performances (HYMNS).


• 49d: Old-style state? (SAYST). This one's a bit of a force. SAITH, sure. SAYEST, okay. But SAYST? Ugh.



• 50d: "Back to the Future" bully (BIFF). Couldn't remember it off the top, but it sounds familiar.


• 51d: Ultra- (UBER). Uber is a hip prefix.


• 52d: Public discussion assemblies (FORA). Plural of forum.


• 53d: Mossback (FOGY). Another clue word I didn't know. Even with FO_Y, I was struggling on this one.

Suns of Bitches:

• 17a: "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies" author Bartolomé de ___ (LAS CASAS).


• 24a: Island about a mile off the coast of Mull (IONA). I must have seen this in puzzles before, because I sensed the answer once I had a couple of letters. But it still seems pretty obscure to me.


• 55a: Caesar's partner (COCA). This refers to Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, who were in "Your Show of Shows" in the early 1950s. A bit before my time.



• 59a: Black Eyed Peas vocalist (FERGIE). Now, I'll bet a lot of people didn't realize the Duchess of York was even in a band...


• 5d: Tanzie's sister in "Material Girls" (AVA). Not a clue. I'm assuming this was a film, right?


• 23d: Decrease the space between, as typeset letters (KERN). I don't recall ever coming across this word before.


• 58d: Japanese figure skater ___ Asada (MAO). Mao just doesn't sound Japanese to me. I had no clue here.

This puzzle was classic Karen M. Tracey for me, which means plenty of sizzling fill in a very tough puzzle. Between the many false-starts and the number of clues I just flat-out didn't know, this one chewed me up pretty good. Finally, a few key guesses broke it open, but even then there were several crossings that remained suspect. Overall, it played more like a Weekend Warrior for me (tougher than the last couple of WWs have been), which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Title: "Oops!"
Author: Alan Arbesfeld
Theme: Dropping "ball" from phrases to form new phrases.

• Ballpark figure => PARK FIGURE (17a: Ranger?).


• Ballpoint pens => POINT PENS (26a: Do masonry work on brick enclosures?). This is my least favorite of the bunch.


• Football pools => FOOT POOLS (51a: Wading places?).


• Pinball machine => PIN MACHINE (65a: ATM?).



• 41a: Making a blunder (and this puzzle's theme) (DROPPING THE BALL).

This isn't my favorite theme, but it's okay. On the plus side, it evolves from a nice helper phrase, "dropping the ball". On the minus side, three of the theme entries are adjective/noun phrases, while one oddball is a verb/noun phrase, and an awkward one at that.

Sunny Spots:

• 60a: Hebrew toast (L'CHAIM). Great LCH letter combo, and fun to say, too.


• 3d: Springtime prank victim (APRIL FOOL). Kind of an easy clue for such a nice fill.



• 42d: Longstocking of kiddie lit (PIPPI). Gotta love interesting fill that ends in I.


• 48d: Bass sound (OOM-PAH). This one took longer than it should have, as I was thinking of an actual bass, as opposed to a bass-register brass instrument (like tuba or sousaphone). But it's a nice fill.

Sundries:

• 10a: "Traffic" cop (NARC). If you haven't seen the film "Traffic", it's about the illegal drug trade. Good clue.


• 19a: Crackerjack (A-ONE). Something about this clue crossing NAACP (10d: Spingarn Medal org.) struck my funny bone.


• 24a: Missile pact of 1972 (SALT I). Did they call this SALT I? It seems more logical that it would just be SALT, as they wouldn't necessarily have known there was going to be another. Like, you don't say "Jaws I" or "Rocky I", do you?



• 33a: City founded by Pizarro (LIMA). Pretty obvious with a couple of crossings. Also, Brazilian supermodel Adriana.


• 44a: Vietnam massacre site (MY LAI).


• 47a: Favor preceder? (POR). Cute.


• 57a: Gas brand (AMOCO). If it was 4-letters, it would have been ESSO.


• 64a: Sighed line (AH ME), which crosses 53d: "Holy cow!" (OH, MAN). Here is your Holy cow reference. See if you can guess what it's going to be.


• 72a: Big Brown, e.g. (HORSE). Would have loved the answer to be DOPER.


• 73a: Private dining spot? (MESS). It's a clue I've seen before, but I still like it.


• 4d: Moo goo gai pan pan (WOK). I've seen this clue before, too, but it doesn't hold up as well to repeat viewings.



• 6d: Boost (LEG UP). Gives a whole other connotation to political booster.


• 7d: Achille ___ (hijacked cruise ship) (LAURO).


• 8d: Text scanner: Abbr. (OCR). Optical character reader.


• 9d: Curtains (THE END).


• 25d: Setting of Raymond James Stadium (TAMPA). My first guess after a couple of crossings was TEMPE, which was close (literally, not geographically).


• 31d: Fleet runner: Abbr. (ADM). Admirals run (i.e., lead) a naval fleet.


• 34d: Opening bars (INTRO). It was my first thought.


• 38d: Big name in luggage (SAMSONITE).


• 50d: Like "der" in Ger. (MASC).


• 51d: "Killing Me Softly With His Song" singer (FLACK). Written about Don McLean's song, "American Pie". Here's the Fugees' version, with Lauryn Hill.




• 52d: Colour in a landscape (OCHRE).


• 54d: Modern workout program (TAE BO).


• 55d: Like some eclipses (LUNAR). It had to be SOLAR or LUNAR. Mitsubishi didn't fit.


• 56d: MVP of Super Bowl XXI (Phil SIMMS).


• 58d: "Ten ___ a Dance" (CENTS). This is an old Rodgers and Hart tune. Here's Michelle Pfeiffer singing it in "The Fabulous Baker Boys".




• 59d: Buck of "Hee Haw" (OWENS).

Suns of Bitches:

• 31a: "Ararat" director Egoyan (ATOM). I did not like this clue at all. I had A_OM, crossing a song I didn't know entitled "I _RY" - 32d: "I ___" (2000 Macy Gray hit) (TRY). Well, I'm sorry, but there are several logical alternatives here. I cry. I try. I pry, maybe. And less likely, but still well within the realm of possibility for a song, I dry, I fry, or even I wry (though that one's a stretch). There are lots of fair ways to clue ATOM in this situation. This was not one of them.


• 29d: Actor Marienthal (ELI). I guess you couldn't use Eli Manning, what with a Phil Simms clue already in the puzzle, but how about a Three Dog Night song?

Overall, this was a pretty average Wednesday for me, with several nice clues offset somewhat by a nasty crossing and a so-so theme.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Title: Bakin' Bits
Author: Tom Heilman
Theme: Substituting homophonic baking terms in familiar words or phrases
Guest Blogger: Cross-Man

• 18a: Gluten? (FLOUR POWER) Flower Power.


• 57a: Without having been pressed or folded? (NOT KNEADED) Not needed.


• 3d: Like someone whose cornea is caked up? (DOUGH-EYED) Doe-eyed.


• 32d: All there is from crust to crust? (PURE BREAD) Purebred.

A reasonable theme for a Tuesday, but one that (perhaps inevitably) requires some forcing in both the cluing and the answers. It's not as if we say "crust to crust" in normal speech, for example, and "not needed" is not a word or phrase that you would find in the dictionary. Oh, and speaking as someone who once had a ridiculously uncomfortable case of conjunctivitis, I could have done without the reference to a caked-up cornea. Blech. Call me sensitive.

Sunny Spots:

• 36d: Park that in 1933 held the first baseball All-Star Game (COMISKEY). A true sunny spot, like all baseball fields. Given that this year's All-Star Game just went by, this is a timely clue. Unfortunately, the name went corporate back in 2003. Isn't U. S. Cellular such a charming old-fashioned name?


• 38d: Moist, in a way (DEW-LADEN). One of the few interesting two-word phrases in this puzzle.


• 5d: Flattery(SOFT SOAP). And here's the other one.

Sundries:

• 15a: Pearl ___ (Gibson garnish) (ONION). I know martinis are somewhat popular again, but does anyone still drink Gibsons?

• 16a: Petty of "Tank Girl" (LORI). I only remember her from "A League of Their Own".


• 17a: Spitter's sound (PTUI). The traditional spelling, of course.





• 20a: One way to serve potatoes (AU GRATIN). Some might say it's the only way to serve potatoes, but I like mashed as well.


• 22a: Region of France that borders Germany and Switzerland (ALSACE). It also was held alternately by France and Germany multiple times between the 1840s and the 1940s.


• 23a: Job (HEIST). As in the 2008 movie "The Bank Job".


• 28a: Hit a short golf shot to be safe, with "up" (LAY). Golf? Was basketball out of town?


• 29a: Language of Sri Lanka (TAMIL). Sri Lankan didn't fit. Neither did Ceylonese.

• 31a: Gulled (DUPED). Did you know that the word "gullible" is not in the dictionary?


• 35a: Nice with (AVEC). Despite having seen Nice used this way so many times, this particular use caught me off-guard for a minute.


• 39a: Nike rival (PUMA). At least this wasn't AVIA. I had a blue suede pair of Pumas back around 1970, but I don't think I've noticed the brand much in the
  US in recent years.


• 40a: "War and Peace" director King ___ (VIDOR). A great name, and he directed an astounding number of movies before I was born. I don't think I've ever seen a one. Not to be confused with King Baggot.

• 42a: Threat in "Deep Impact" (COMET). The real threat was to the acting reputations of Morgan Freeman and Vanessa Redgrave. Better than Shelley Winters in "The Poseidon Adventure", I suppose.


• 49a: Baseball stats (ASSISTS). Baseball? Was basketball out of town again?


• 53a: Drink of beer used to wash down a shot (CHASER). I never got this concept. If the first drink needs chasing, maybe it shouldn't have gone down the hatch in the first place.


• 54a: Disappearing acts? (ERASURES). Sure, if you use "disappear" as a transitive verb.


• 60a: Gannon University's home (ERIE). An awfully obscure way to clue this, but I certainly am sick of "Part of HOMES".

• 62a: Crackers (GAGA). Two other four-letter words that could have gone here: nuts and loco.


• 64a: Luster (SHEEN). I didn't know that Martin Sheen was so priapic.


• 2d: Caesar's censure (ET TU). For all his achievements, old Julius only seems to get this or "veni, vidi, vici" in crosswords. How about a Rubicon once in a while?


• 6d: Not matched up? (UNLIT). I don't really hear "match up" used as a verb in this sense.

• 7d: National park in Utah (ZION). Previously known as Mukuntuweap National Monument. Can't see why they changed the name.


• 8d: Debtor's letters (IOU). It wasn't going to be SOL (S*** Outta Luck, in case you're wondering).


• 9d: Filled with delight (ENRAPT). I prithee not speak this way.




• 11d: Midwestern tribe (IOWAS). A change from OTOES, at least.


• 12d: El ___ (Spanish painter who was born in Crete) (GRECO). The "who was born in Crete" was hardly necessary here.


• 21d: "___ Talkin'" (Bob Dylan song) (AIN'T). Of all the great Dylan songs out there from the 1960s, I'm supposed to know one from 2006?


• 25d: Rapper with a trademark clock necklace, informally (FLAV). Just his last name. His first name is Flavor, in case that helps.


• 26d: Sitarist Shankar (RAVI). Or father of Norah Jones, if you're feeling a bit more contemporary. Ravi is 88 years old.

• 48d: Nirvana's genre (GRUNGE). A good word, but it feels like there should be a cleverer way of using Nirvana to clue it.


• 49d: Pimply (ACNED). No, no, a thousand times no. While I'm not a big proponent of the breakfast test, I make exceptions for caked-up corneas and anything to do with acne. Using this ridiculous adjectival form only makes it worse.



• 50d: Ocean liner? (SHORE). I think the oceans surround the land masses rather than the other way around, but I still liked this clue.


• 51d: "Nights in White ___" (1972 Moody Blues hit) (SATIN). Never reaching the end...


• 52d: Alla ___ (cut time) (BREVE). A vaguely familiar phrase to me; I apparently need to work on my musical education.

• 56d: "On the double!" (STAT). And if you can't come up with this one ASAP, you need to work a few more puzzles.
  

• 58d: Sigh of satisfaction (AAH). Blaah.

Suns of Bitches:

• 5a: "The World of ___ Wong" (SUZIE). A 1957 book and a 1960 movie, which I've not read, seen, or previously heard of. The title keeps reminding me of a much later film, "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar".


• 54d: "Peter Gunn" character Hart (EDIE). I suppose I had a better shot at knowing this, but it's really from the same bat time, same bat channel as Suzie Wong.


• 55d: Vet (EX-GI). Even after getting it from the crossings, I had to look at it for a while before understanding what it meant.

All in all, a straightforward puzzle. Nothing exciting, but a perfectly good theme idea (albeit with some execution issues), and hardly any real junk in the fill, either.

Thanks for listening.

- Ruy (Cross-Man)

Monday, July 28, 2008

Title: Double Creatures
Author: Justin Smith
Theme: Phrases with two animals in them.

• 4d: Elaborate presentations (DOG AND PONY SHOWS).


• 7d: Implausible tale (COCK AND BULL STORY).


• 15d: You might toy with your opponent during it (CAT AND MOUSE GAME).

A pretty straight-forward Monday theme here. No funky wordplay or blank stares trying to figure out what the theme entries have in common. Just a smooth, easy theme with three colorful dual-animal phrases.

Sunny Spots:

• 23a: Cast supporters (SLINGS). Very good clue.


• 47a: Meet, as expectations (LIVE UP TO). Great phrase, which brings to mind a scene from one of my favorite movies, "The Sting", where the guy portraying FBI Agent Polk says to Lt. Snyder, "Sit down and shut up, will ya? Try not to live up to all my expectations." What a great film.



• 67a: Judy Jetson's little brother (ELROY). Gotta love "Jetsons" clues.


• 70a: Poker Hall of Famer Brunson (DOYLE). Kudos for the poker reference, too. His son, Todd, is also a formidable player.

Sundries:

• 17a: Ticket, in slang (DUCAT).


• 22a: Chance to hit (AT BAT). This seems to be showing up a lot lately.


• 25a: Bomber missions (AIR RAIDS).


• 29a: Robotically compliant (STEPFORD). As in "Stepford Wives".



• 37a: Bee Gees surname (GIBB). My sister had that Andy Gibb poster on her wall growing up. I had the Farrah Fawcett one. Wonder which one I should post?


• 42a: Landing place for ships (QUAY).


• 51a: Snobs (HIGH HATS).


• 54a: Results of some botched hit-and-run plays (STEALS). More often than not, though, it results in a guy getting thrown out at second.


• 65a: Football team with a gold helmet (ARMY).


• 3d: Maker of the arcade classic Tempest (ATARI). You don't have to have played this game (though I have) to guess that the answer's going to be ATARI. If you don't remember the game, here's a clip (not the original, but you'll get the idea).




• 24d: L.A. flaw? (SMOG). A weak "L.A. Law" pun.


• 28d: La Salle of "ER" (ERIQ). Let's see, Eriq La Salle hasn't been on "ER" since 2002. Has he done nothing of consequence since then?



• 29d: Villain in "The Lion King" (SCAR).


• 33d: Cavil (CARP).


• 35d: Broadway role for Christopher Plummer (IAGO). From "Othello", not to be confused with 50d: Opera based on a Shakespeare play (OTELLO). That's a tough too much Othello in one puzzle for me.


• 41d: They often wear dark eyeliner (GOTHS). One of the best ever "South Park" episodes is called "Raisins", and features Stan joining the Goths after Wendy dumps him for Token. It's really phenomenal all the way through. Here's a clip near the end of the episode.




• 48d: Art Deco designer (ERTÉ). We've been seeing a lot of him lately, too.



• 56d: King Julien in "Madagascar," e.g. (LEMUR).

Suns of Bitches:

None.

Other than the 15x16 construction, to accommodate the long central theme entry, there's nothing particularly unusual about this puzzle. It's a nice, easy Monday to get your week started.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Title: Weekend Warrior
Author: Doug Peterson and Barry C. Silk
Theme: None

Sunny Spots:

• 7a: Bunk (CLAPTRAP). Claptrap is a great word, apparently deriving from its attempt to gain applause.


• 16a: It has many layers (HENHOUSE). Gosh CATHOUSE would fit, too, in a way. Of course, we already have BORDELLO (36d: House with a lot of johns), which is also a fantastic clue.


• 35a: Test requirement, at times (NUMBER TWO PENCIL). This should have been way easier than it was. I guess it's been too long since I've had to take a standardized test that was not on-line.



• 56a: Wedge alternative (STILETTO). Excellent.


• 2d: 1890 Henry James novel, with "The" (TRAGIC MUSE). The fact that I didn't know this one does not detract at all from its awesomeness.


• 3d: What this clue have (BAD GRAMMAR). This one's part grin and part grimace. But the grin wins.



• 7d: Team with the 1980s mascots Ribbie and Roobarb (CHICAGO WHITE SOX). Nice fill, with interesting trivia associated with it.


• 28d: It fell on Neil Armstrong in the summer of '69 (TICKERTAPE). Superb.


• 29d: Where some dissections are performed (SCIENCE LAB). I actually had BIOLOGY LAB to start, but this is almost as good.

Sundries:

• 1a: Turns up (AT BATS). Excellent deception here. A turn being "up", in baseball, is an "at bat". Actually, that's not officially correct, since walks, errors, and a few other sundry events do not count as at bats, even thought the batter was, in fact, at bat.



• 17a: Nuts (MADMEN). It seems a shame not to reference the TV series of the same name that is up for more than a dozen Emmy Awards this year.


• 18a: "Don't mind that" (IGNORE IT).


• 19a: Encourage (EGG ON). Goes well with HENHOUSE, don't you think?


• 20a: Intel collectors (SCOUTERS).


• 21a: Old-style letter opener (SIRS). Admit it, you were picturing some kind of desk knife. I know I was, but I'm in the middle of a Lawrence Block novel where such a device has been used as a murder weapon, so maybe it's just on my mind.



• 31a: Steak-___ (UMM). I had -UMS, which slowed me down on the BAD GRAMMAR fill.


• 32a: Northern Italian city (VERONA).


• 38a: Aoki of the links (ISAO). Gimme for me. This is a name I knew before crosswords, and it shows up enough to keep it fresh. He was (is?) a hell of a putter.


• 39a: Azadi Tower city (TEHRAN). I've never heard of this tower, but the city name was easy enough to discern with a few crossings.


• 41a: ___ verte (grayish-green pigment) (TERRE). I'm assuming this means "green earth".


• 43a: Discovery of Daniel Rutherford (NITROGEN). There's a Rutherford Physics Building at McGill University, but that's named for Ernest Rutherford, who discovered protons and postulated the orbital theory of atoms. I can't find anything that indicates they're related.


• 45a: The WHO used it to fight malaria (DDT).


• 47a: Winter holiday of southeast Asia (TET). Gimme.



• 48a: Vancouver Canucks logo animal (ORCA).


• 50a: Mourned in meter (ELEGIZED).


• 53a: Ticket's target (VOTER). As in a political ticket. Good clue.


• 54a: New Orleans sweets (PRALINES).


• 57a: Shell holder (PIE PAN). Pralines and pie shells. You're killing me here. Don't you know I'm on a diet?


• 58a: Certain aerophone (TENOR SAX).


• 59a: Having a mortgage, e.g. (IN DEBT). Seems to me there's a difference between having debts and being in debt. The latter tends to imply a negative overall balance, doesn't it?


• 1d: Tops (ACMES).


• 4d: Tops (AT MOST). I confidently filled in UTMOST here, which was really hard to change, except that ATBUTS wasn't making any sense at all for 1a.


• 6d: Fig. that never ends with four zeros (SSN). Gimme.



• 8d: Bionicle brand (LEGO).


• 10d: X-ray particle (PHOTON). Also a type of Star Trek torpedo.


• 12d: Penitent (RUER). One who is penitent is called a penitent. Don't you love the English language?


• 14d: Sulky state (PET).


• 26d: Did a line, say (SNORTED). This kind of blatant drug reference would never see the light of day at the Times.


• 30d: "Labor omnia vincit" is its motto: Abbr. (OKLA). This is basically, find an abbreviation that fits and makes sense. Any state would do, but OKLA fit.


• 31d: Second, e.g. (UNIT). Unit of time, to be exact.


• 37d: "Here Come the Warm Jets" musician (ENO). Thank God for these crosswordy gimmes; they gave me a foothold.


• 44d: Pinched the cheek of (GOOSED). Sassy clue.



• 50d: "La Tosca" sculptor (ERTÉ). Add this to the gimme pile.


• 52d: Hellenic consonant (ZETA).


• 53d: Silver streak, say (VEIN). As in a vein of (silver) ore.


• 54d: Yukon Terr. setting (PST). Pacific Standard Time.


• 55d: Sch. with a Hartford campus (RPI). The only school I knew was in Hartford is Trinity College. I tried TRI for a bit, but it didn't last.

Suns of Bitches:

• 23a: City between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (LOD). I was thinking NOD, which I think is mentioned in Genesis, or was that NOB? You know, the land that Cain was banished to.


• 40a: White, to a wahine (KEA). Well, it's a step up from the Mauna ___ guess that we usually have. Apparently, Mauna Loa means "long mountain", while Mauna Kea means "white mountain" (as it is typically snow-capped). Makes sense now.


• 13d: 1985 William M. Hoffman play about AIDS (AS IS). My feeble brain thought this clue said William H. Macy. I blame Stephen Colbert, who coined the name Filliam H. Muffman to describe Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman. Damn you, Colbert... Either way, I had no clue what this was.

You know, there are remarkable few SOBs in the puzzle, considering it's a Weekend Warrior. We've had Tuesday puzzles recently with more. All in all, I'd say this was a very nice themeless. Not as challenging as they can be (I was easily able to complete it in a single sitting), but entertaining for sure. Nice job.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, July 24, 20088

Title: Location! Location! Location!
Author: Mark P. Sherwood
Theme: Phrases whose preposition is implied by the relative location of the remaining words.

• 17a: 1953 Ira Levin novel (A KISS DYING). A KISS before DYING.


• 40a: Divided fifty-fifty (HACUTLF). CUT in HALF.


• 66a: 1975 film set at the First Brooklyn Savings Bank (NOON DOG DAY). DOG DAY afterNOON.


• 11d: Phenomenon exhibited by psychokinesis (MIND MATTER). MIND over MATTER.


• 28d: Disappeared, maybe (GROUND WENT). WENT under GROUND.

I've seen themes like this before, and they can be fun. I wasn't expecting the short 40a (cut in half), so that section threw me for a bit, especially crossing SAGUARO, which I'm not at all familiar with and, once I got 40a, was figuring might also be a theme entry. But I'm a big fan of "Dog Day Afternoon"; it's one of my favorite Al Pacino films.

Sunny Spots:

• 61a: Head of the army? (LATRINE). A very nice potty clue.



• 48d: Six-pack abs? (BEER GUT). Awesome.

Sundries:

• 1a: Watch winder (STEM).


• 14a: Sitcom with the character Alex Rieger (TAXI). This is the character played by Judd Hirsch. I didn't watch "Taxi" much, so I didn't know this right off. But once I had the trailing "I", it was a pretty easy deduction.


• 16a: Fey of "Baby Mama" (TINA).


• 19a: Bit of hardware (T-NUT).


• 25a: Make a reduction (SIMMER). Great cooking clue.


• 26a/72a: White, in a way (ANGLO and SNOWY, respectively).


• 31a: Sympathy accompanier (TEA). "Tea and Sympathy" was a 50s play and film, starring Deborah Kerr.


• 34a: Eating right? (GEE). Cryptic clue. The rightmost letter in "eating" is 'g'.


• 36a: Bayonet, e.g. (STAB). Using bayonet as a verb here.


• 39a: Pigeon English? (COO). Cute, sort of.


• 51a: Corsetiere's creation (BRA).



• 53a: Nestlé candy sold under the Wonka brand (NERDS).


• 54a: Bums (CADGES).


• 57a: "Help!" is one (OLDIE). You know, I still don't think of Beatles tunes as "oldies". I guess it's all perspective. "Hey, Ringo, you just sit there and hold this umbrella..."


• 65a: "Between the Lines" author Hershiser (OREL). Name a Hershiser. I guess some baseball players can read and write.


• 68a: ___ Reader (alternative media bimonthly) (UTNE). I only know this from puzzles.


• 70a: 1997 film title character surnamed Jackson (ULEE). Of "Ulee's Gold".


• 71a: Body art, for short (TATS). Not all body art involves tattoos. There's painting, too. Here is one of my favorites, from Storm Thorgerson, who is responsible for many of the great album artwork for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Alan Parson, Peter Gabriel, and others. Here's one of his posters, entitled "Pink Floyd - Back Catalog". Fantastic! I highly recommend checking out his site.



• 1d: Hind's counterpart (STAG). A hind is a female deer.


• 2d: Third base coach's sign when the count is 3-0, typically (TAKE). For those not into baseball, "taking" a pitch means having no intention of swinging at it, even if it's right down the middle.


• 4d: ___ Command ('80s arcade game) (MISSILE). Fun, classic game, though I was never all that good at it.


• 5d: Nasser contemporary (Anwar SADAT).


• 6d: Loser to Affirmed in all three Triple Crown races (ALYDAR). For some reason, I remember this. I can't imagine why.


• 7d: Male monarque (ROI). French for king.


• 8d: Big biceps, familiarly (GUNS).


• 10d: Once in a while (AT TIMES).


• 13d: Mythical hybrid (SATYR). Part man, part goat, the satyr symbolizes man's unquenchable libido. Here's a great painting, entitled "Nymphs and Satyr", by William-Adolphe Bouguereau.


• 18d: Glabrous (SMOOTH). This sounds like one of those made-up words in Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", like frumious and frabjous.


• 22d: "21" sch. (MIT). Referencing the film about MIT students who work out a system to beat the casinos at blackjack.


• 38d: "What You Want wid ___?" (Gershwin tune) (BESS). From, of course, "Porgy and Bess".


• 41d: Middle ear? (COB). This is really pushing it. Okay, so the cob is in the middle of an ear of corn. Get it? Middle ear? Ugh!


• 42d: Over (FINITO).


• 45d: Speedo product (GOGGLES). Banana-hammock didn't fit.


• 55d: It comes from the heart (AORTA).


• 56d: "Sinatra at the ___" (1966 album) (SANDS).


• 58d: Paw (DADDY). Yeah, it's late in the week enough to get away with this. Tricky clue, especially in New England where parents are never referred to as maw and paw.


• 60d: Bookbinding leather (ROAN).


• 62d: Pal of Palin (IDLE). Michael Palin and Eric Idle being key members of the Monty Python crew.


• 63d: Renfrew refusals (NAES). Renfrew is a Scottish town, west of Glascow.


• 64d: Peer group? (EYES).


• 67d: Cagayan de ___ (provincial capital of the Philippines) (ORO). In three letters, there weren't that many viable options.

Suns of Bitches:

• 10a: "House of Meetings" novelist Martin (AMIS).


• 12d: Toughen (INURE).

I had AMES/ENURE here, which seems like a much more logical guess if you don't know the novelist, which I don't. This is actually worse than your standard "guess-the-vowel" cross, since ENURE is clearly an acceptable answer for 12d, so I didn't even consider this a guess when I filled it in.


• 46a: 1988 remake directed by the creators of Max Headroom (DOA). Another one I didn't know, exacerbating that tough center section. Do you realize how many viable movie titles fit the pattern DO_?


• 73a: "Murder by Death" character Skeffington (TESS).


• 24d: Arizona license plate image (SAGUARO).

So, except for SAGUARO and the AMIS/INURE crossing, I liked this puzzle quite a bit. It was plenty challenging for me (~20 minutes), especially that center section.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Title: Well, Um...,
Author: Pancho Harrison
Theme: Adding ER to phrases.

• 17a: Burglary under cover of darkness? (NIGHT CAPER).


• 63a: Captain of the Yankees after gaining a lot of weight? (JUMBO JETER).


• 11d: Drunk flamingo? (TIGHT WADER).


• 27d: Cheat a sot? (SCREW TOPER).

Another workmanlike theme. Decent, but not earth-shattering. Jumbo Jeter cracks me up; if I had time I'd doctor up a nice image for you, but I don't.

Sunny Spots:

• 20a: Curly's job in "City Slickers" (TRAIL BOSS). This was the Jack Palance character.


• 48a: Two-time Grammy winner for Best Male Jazz Vocal Performance (MEL TORME). Nice to see the full name.

Sundries:

• 1a: Queen, in Quito (REINA). I don't know much Spanish, but I've seen this one before.


• 10a: Olla podrida, e.g. (STEW).


• 15a: Notes from short people? (IOUS). Good clue.



• 16a: City with a notable property listing? (PISA). I love this clue. Listing, as in leaning. Wonderful.


• 19a: "Spice Up My Kitchen" network (HGTV). Home & Garden channel. Makes sense.


• 25a: Bred (FOSTERED).


• 31a: Ocho + tres (ONCE). 8 + 3 = 11.


• 40a: Sing "The Lonely Goatherd," say (YODEL). I have a soft spot for "The Sound of Music", so I really like this clue a lot.




• 43a: Best (IDEAL). Interesting that this falls right next to 45a: Distribute hands (DEAL), but there's nothing wrong with that.


• 51a: Lemmon's costar in "The Odd Couple" (MATTHAU). This was a very good film. It's been years since I've seen it; I need to rent or own it soon.


• 54a: Defenseman who ended his career with the Chicago Black Hawks (ORR). Bah! He'll always be a Bruin.


• 55a: Thrombi (CLOTS). I knew thrombosis, so this wasn't much of a stretch.


• 56a: French art movement of the late 19th century (SYMBOLISM).


• 62a: Opportune (RIPE). This is interesting in that it the meaning feels right, but it doesn't seem to quite satisfy the substitution test. You would say "the time is ripe" or "it's an opportune time", but I don't think either "the time is opportune" or "it's a ripe time" quite fit. Still, it was easy enough to figure, so it's probably nitpicky.


• 67a: "Doin' the Pigeon" singer (BERT). Yep, that's Bert from Sesame Street.




• 69a: Band with the 2000 #1 hit "It's Gonna Be Me" ('N SYNC).


• 4d: Perfect game, e.g. (NO-HITTER). All perfect games are no-hitters, but not all no-hitters are perfect games. In a perfect game, nobody even gets on base (i.e., no walks or anything).


• 5d: U.K. P.M. Clement (ATTLEE).


• 12d: 1985 autobiography subtitled "A Success Story" (ESTÉE Lauder).


• 18d: Smokey spotter in a big rig, maybe (CB'ER).


• 24d: Any of seven Chinese puzzle pieces that can form a square (TAN). The puzzle is called a tangram. I never really thought about what the individual pieces were called, but it's certainly logical.


• 29d: Atlanta WNBA team (DREAM).


• 38d: Venice's Bridge of ___ (SIGHS).


• 41d: Like carbon monoxide (ODORLESS). Got this just from the O.


• 49d: Former New York Liberty player Rebecca (LOBO). This is one of the only former-WNBA players I've actually heard of. Probably because she played college ball at UConn the year they went undefeated.


• 50d: Brand of condoms (TROJAN). TROJAN shows up in puzzles, but usually as the USC team, not the condom.


• 51d: Golden Arches pork sandwich (MCRIB). I had forgotten about the McRib. Do they still make that?



• 52d: Coworker of Dilbert (ALICE). I'm a big Dilbert fan, so this was a gimme for me.


• 53d: Take by force (USURP).


• 57d: Disco song that went to #2 in 1979 (YMCA). No, I'm not going to include a link to this song. It was held out of the #1 spot for three weeks by Rod Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy".


• 61d: Richie's mom, to the Fonz (MRS C). I watched "Happy Days" growing up, so this was a no-brainer.


• 63d: "Aunt ___ Scrap-Bag" (Louisa May Alcott series) (JO'S). Never heard of this, but it was pretty easy with the J in place.

Suns of Bitches:

• 34a: "Kangaroo Notebook" novelist Kobo ___ (ABE).


• 3d: Congo River's ___ Falls (INGA).

Another decent puzzle. Nothing terrible, but nothing terribly notable either. And, as I've said before, that's not a bad thing.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Title: Woof!
Author: Chuck Deodene
Theme: New phrases made up of strings of words that fit in front of "dog", e.g. Underdog, bird dog, attack dog, etc.

• 17a: Beset by a feathered swarm? (UNDER BIRD ATTACK).


• 37a: #1 grasslands tour leader? (TOP PRAIRIE GUIDE).


• 57a: On a quest for a certain spicy food? (HUNTING HOT CHILI).


• 23d: Play spaces for pets (or a description of 17-, 37-, and 57-Across) (DOG RUNS).

It's cool that there are nine common "dog prefixes" that split out into three 15-letter phrases. This is very nice, tight Tuesday theme, with none of the theme entries feeling particularly forced or strained, and tied together nicely by the central down entry.

Sunny Spots:

• 20a: Secret police of the Nazis (GESTAPO). As distasteful as this is, it's a cool word. I was a huge "Hogan's Heroes" fan growing up, and to this day it amazes me that someone was able to successfully pitch the concept of a sitcom set in a Nazi POW camp.


• 53a: Where to see the latest models (CAR SHOW). Sorry, no supermodel pics here. Blame the fill.


• 10d: Capital of Nepal (KATMANDU). Also a somewhat repetitive Bog Seger song.

Sundries:

• 1a: Many a miniseries (SAGA). My first guess here was EPIC, which slowed me down.


• 14a: Peaty expanse (MOOR). I'm going to treat this as an indirect reference to Scotch. Mmmmm.


• 15a: One of the archangels (URIEL). Once I had the UR- I was pretty sure what this was.


• 16a: Plot line? (AXIS). Seen this clue before.


• 21a: "Big ___ House" (2000 comedy) (MOMMA'S). This film, which stars Martin Lawrence and crossword-favorite NIA Long, gets a horrendous 4.6 out of 10 rating at imdb.com, which somehow doesn't surprise me at all.


• 23a: Political nickname based on a middle initial (DUBYA). Gimme.



• 34a: "Madeline" character Miss Clavel, e.g. (NUN). Love the Madeline stories. Excellent.


• 36a: Izzard of "The Riches" (EDDIE). I have absolutely no idea why I know this, but I knew the answer right away. I couldn't tell you what the man looks like.


• 42a: Auction ender? (-EER). Cryptic suffix.


• 64a: Boy band formed in 1995 ('N SYNC).


• 2d: Ace (A-ONE). Ace usually clues a noun or a verb; here it's the adjective.


• 3d: "___ and Monsters" (1998 Ian McKellen film) (GODS). I haven't seen this film, about the last days of "Frankenstein" director James Whale, but it won an Oscar for the screenplay and was nominated for actor (McKellen) and supporting actress (Lynn Redgrave). I need to add it to my video rental list.


• 4d: "Freeway of Love" singer Franklin (ARETHA). Don't know the song, but don't need to know it to get this one.


• 5d: Process server's document (SUBPOENA). Nice fill.


• 6d: Rush, e.g. (TRIO). These guys were huge in Montreal when I was in college back in the early 80s. One of the most successful Canadian bands in history, I would think. "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."


• 8d: Ben Bernanke's group, with "the" (FED). Alan Greenspan's successor at the Federal Reserve.


• 9d: Served alight (FLAMBÉ).


• 12d: Book designer's measure (PICA). Pica and elite were (are?) the too main type sizes, back in the days of the typewriter.


• 24d: Expand, in corporate-speak (UPSIZE).


• 25d: Unable to sit still (ANTSY). Does this word pre-date the expression "ants in the pants"? Is there a relationship there?


• 26d: Aimed-for amount (QUOTA).


• 29d: Not of the clergy (LAICAL). I paused here, because I though LAIC was the adjective form. LAICAL felt weird.


• 32d: Apple product (CIDER). What a breath of fresh air to not have this answer be IMAC or IPOD.


• 38d: Sri Lanka export (PEKOE TEA). I recall seeing another similiar clue very recently, either here or in the Times.


• 39d: Beyond happy (ECSTATIC). Good fill word.


• 45d: Cracked wise (JOSHED). To me, cracking wise packs a little more edge to it than joshing.


• 50d: At the home of, in French (CHEZ).



• 58d: VIPs at winter meetings (GMS). This is a baseball reference to General Managers. In my book, the MVP of GMs is Theo Epstein, who finally pulled the Red Sox off the brink of perpetual-oh-so-close-but-no-cigar-ness and has built a strong organization at all levels. Thanks to Theo, Red Sox fans can again enjoy baseball as baseball, without having the season's results inextricably tied to our own emotional well being. Cubs fans, you know what I'm talking about.

Suns of Bitches:

• 41a: Historic Incan capital (CUZCO). This one I needed the crossings on. I'm sure I've seen it before, because it looks vaguely familiar.

Nothing fancy here. Just a solid Tuesday puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Title: Street Closings
Author: Sarah Keller
Theme: Phrases that end in names of Manhattan streets.

• 17a: Endodontist's treatment (ROOT CANAL).


• 22a: Largest piano (CONCERT GRAND). I have an 1863, 7 1/2' Chickering concert grand in my living room, almost identical to this one shown.


• 36a: 1913 Igor Stravinsky ballet (THE RITE OF SPRING).


• 47a: Some recording studios (ECHO CHAMBERS).


• 55a: Unconquerable obstacle (BRICK WALL).

Admission #1: I never would have figured out this theme without the title. Not being from NYC, I know of Wall Street and Canal Street. Grand Street sounds vaguely familiar. There are probably Spring Streets in most cities; I know Concord, NH has one. I've never heard of Chambers Street.

Admission #2: I double-checked to see if there was a Dip Street and a Cream Street, which seemed no less likely than a Chambers Street.

Admission #3: My lack of understanding the theme didn't detract much from my overall solving experience. The theme entries were solid Monday fare.

Sunny Spots:

• 45a: Small piece of food (NIBLET). Especially corn, which counts as a starch.


• 9d: Potato chip go-with (ONION DIP).


• 21d: Fountain drinks (MALTS). Mmmm... nothing like a good chocolate malt.


• 37d: Banana split ingredient (ICE CREAM).

Can you tell I'm on a diet? These are all things I've not seen much of in the last month. On the bright side, I've dropped 15 pounds since the beginning of July.

Sundries:

• 14a: "The thrill of victory and the ___ of defeat" (AGONY). The famous "agony of defeat" skier from "Wide World of Sports" was Vinko Bogataj (how's that for crossword fodder). Here's a clip about him.


• 16a: Like a babe in the woods (NAIVE).


• 27a: Secret love affairs (AMOURS).


• 33a: Gandhi's wear (DHOTI). I hesitated on the first letter for a second, but it felt right.


• 42a: Annual theater award (OBIE). As I understand it, the Tony awards are for Broadway shows, while the OBIE awards are for Off-Broadway (O.B.) shows. I'm sure someone out there will correct me if I've oversimplified this.


• 44a: DDE's command in WWII (ETO). There was a time that this would not have been obvious to me, but it shows up all the time. It stands for European Theater of Operations.


• 53a: Guitar ___ (video game) (HERO). Aptly skewered by a recent South Park episode.


• 60a: Bewildered (AT SEA).


• 65a: Irish poet William Butler ___ (YEATS). "All empty souls tend toward extreme positions." Wonderful.


• 2d: It can be bruised or massaged (EGO).



• 3d: Scooby-___ (cartoon dog) (DOO). I like that this puzzle includes both this and 33d: Artoo-___ (DETOO).


• 5d: Tour de France competitor (CYCLER). And this is different than a cyclist how?


• 6d: "At the Center of the Storm" author George (TENET).


• 7d: Long-armed ape, for short (ORANG).


• 10d: Corp. division (R AND D). These kinds of fill can be tricky if you're not expecting them.


• 22d: Religious official who sings in Hebrew (CANTOR).


• 23d: Resident of Nebraska's most populous city (OMAHAN).


• 25d: Round dance leader (CUER).


• 38d: Worshiper's contribution (TITHE). Not all worshippers tithe (give 10% to the church). In fact, I bet a very low percentage do.


• 46d: Possible response to "How are you?" (I'M OKAY). My first stab was I'M FINE, but it dropped quickly.


• 47d: Swiss math great who solved the Königsberg bridge problem (EULER). I remember this from discrete math. Here's a description of the problem and solution.


• 48d: "Everybody Hates ___" (CHRIS). Chris Rock show.


• 50d: Culture medium gelatin (AGAR).


• 52d: "Stay" singer Loeb (LISA). Here's a link.

Suns of Bitches:

• 39d: AnnaSophia of "Bridge to Terabithia" (ROBB). This is the only clue that I got from crossings. Not a name I'm familiar with.

Fast and easy, with no cringing. That's what I like in a Monday puzzle. Of course, I'm not a speed solver, so "fast" for me is in the 5-minute range. I wouldn't be much faster than that with the answers in front of me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Title: Shuffle the Deck
Author: Joe DiPietro
Theme: Card spoonerisms.

Alright, before we even start. If you're not familiar with spoonerisms, you need to be. These are a favorite device among crossword constructors, so you need to know what they are. Read more here. Go ahead, I'll wait...

Okay, now that you know what they are, don't worry; there will virtually always be an indicator that spoonerisms are involved. It can be in the fill, as it was today, but more commonly it is referenced in the title (e.g., "Reverend Spooner goes to the blah blah blah", where the blah blah blah indicates a common link among the base phrases). So, if SPOONERISM didn't fit in today's grid, they might have entitled it "Reverend Spooner Plays Cards", or some such. Alright, let's get to it.

• Eight of hearts => HATE OF ARTS (17a: Philistine's characteristic?).


• Ace of spades => SPACE OF AIDES (23a: Assistants' area?).



• Queen of diamonds => DEAN OF KWAI MENDS (34a: Movie river's senior member gets better?). This is the most painful of the bunch. Like most puns and wordplay, some just flow and some feel really forced. This leans toward the latter. Okay, it's leaning so far it fell over.


• Six of clubs => CLICKS OF SUBS (48a: What's heard in the computer lab when the regular teachers are sick?).


• 57a: What each of 17-, 23-, 34-, and 48-Across is (SPOONERISM).

I actually like good spoonerisms, and these were mostly okay. Even the KWAI MENDS one is so bad it made me laugh. Not as much as DICKS OF SIMON'S might have, with a suggestive American Idol clue, but hey, that's just me.

Sunny Spots:

• 11d: It begins "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" (AMENDMENT I).



• 28d: General manager of the Mets (OMAR MINAYA). Nice to see the whole name for a change. And certainly fair in a NYC puzzle.


• 64a: What kids do when it counts? (HIDE). This is phenomenal clue. Love it! Reference, of course, to not being "it" in hide-and-seek.

Sundries:

• 10a: Animal with a scut (HARE).


• 14a: Bank job, say (CAPER). Also a really tasty food; we use capers all the time.


• 16a: Flock's cry (AMEN). Good clue.


• 20a: They can be seen in the middle of summer (EMS). Cryptic clue. Not fooled for a second.


• 26a: Gulf of Guinea island (SAO TOME).



• 30a: B.A. Baracus portrayer on TV (MR T). Pity the fool.


• 42a: His favorite dish is green eggs and ham (SAM).


• 52a: "___ I Promise You" (2000 'N Sync hit) (THIS). Didn't know it, but there's not much else that fits.


• 56a: With 53-Across, explicit HBO series (REAL / SEX).


• 60a: Boot brand (FRYE).


• 61a: Title for Mozart (HERR). If this didn't come immediately to mind, go watch "Amadeus" again.


• 63a: Whack (STAB). As in, to take a stab/whack at.


• 65a: Middle schooler, maybe (TWEEN).


• 1d: Gut feeling? (ACHE). I've seen this one a few times; the question mark really gives it away.


• 5d: Universal donor's blood typing category (GROUP O).



• 10d: Locale of a John McCain statue that calls him a "famous air pirate" (HANOI). I'm embarrassed that I didn't get this right off the top.


• 18d: Oil filter brand (FRAM).


• 24d: Blackfish's relative (ORCA).


• 25d: Hyperbola pair (FOCI).


• 27d: It frequently follows you (ARE). I've seen this clue before, too, but I still like it.


• 33d: Subotica residents (SERBS). I was figuring Subotica to be a region, but it's a Yugoslavian city.


• 35d: Expo '70 locale (OSAKA).


• 38d: Org. that catches mules (DEA). Mule is a slang term for one who smuggles drugs.


• 42d: Inhales, with "down" (SCARFS). I like that this was clued as a verb. Excellent.


• 43d: The "A" of A&M Records (ALPERT). That's Herb Alpert, of the Tijuana Brass, whose version of "Spanish Flea" was used on "The Dating Game" when the bachelors walked out. Here's a funny scene when Andy Kaufman is one of the bachelors.



• 47d: Classless? (ABSENT). A bit of a stretch, but okay.


• 50d: Former post of the 7th Infantry Div. (FT ORD). Of Monterey Bay, California. Former, because the base was closed in 1994.


• 54d: "Nine Stories" girl who says "I'm extremely interested in squalor" (ESME). It's getting to the point where ESME is my first instinct when I need a girl in 4-letters.


• 55d: 2006 movie subtitled "The Last Stand" (X-MEN).


• 58d: Prov. whose capital is Charlottetown (PEI). Prince Edward Island.

Suns of Bitches:

There were only a few answers I totally didn't know, but none of them were particulary hard to figure, which is unusual (for me) for a Friday.

• 19a: Composer Hefti who wrote the theme to "The Odd Couple" (NEAL).


• 22a: Orphan of old comics (DONDI).


• 23d: "People" composer (STYNE).

I thought this was a very enjoyable Friday puzzle. No complaints.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Patrick Berry
Theme: None

Let me tell you, a 62-word puzzle is not easy to fill. But Patrick Berry is one of the most well-respected constructors around and he often produces relatively-low-word-count themeless puzzles. This one's marquee area is the center, where staggered stacks of 10-, 11-, 11-, 11-, and 10-letter words interweave. That's 106 letters for 10 words, for a local average of 10.6 letters per word. Impressive. Even more so if they all sparkle... let's take a look.

I think three of the fills are excellent:


• 31a: Swale's sire (SEATTLE SLEW). One of the race horses that people tend to know the name of, even if they're not into horse racing.


• 33a: Create a brat, according to a saying (SPARE THE ROD). Wonderful, evocative phrase.



• 27d: Cod pieces? (FISH STICKS). Hands down my favorite clue/answer pair in the entire puzzle.

Five are good:


• 26a: Alcohol needed for driving? (ANTIFREEZE). Very nice clue here.


• 29a: Element #99 (EINSTEINIUM). I got this just from the E_N... at the beginning.


• 35a: Some Urdu speakers (PAKISTANIS).



• 14d: Artie Shaw, for one (CLARINETIST). Gimme for me.


• 19d: Sharp (PENETRATING).

And two feel like they're only there because nothing else fit:


• 6d: Automatic sound (RAT-A-TAT-TAT). I've previously expressed my general dislike for RAT-A-TAT, which shows up a little too often. Interestingly, I actually prefer this longer version by a smidgen.


• 16d: Ability to deliver? (FERTILENESS). I know it's in the dictionary, but don't most people say FERTILITY? Is there a difference? It just feels awkward to me.

That's really the meat of the puzzle.

Sunny Spots:

• 7a: Save, as one's sole (COBBLE). What a great clue. This one really made me smile.



• 37d: Greyhound boarding spot (KENNEL). Tricky. Excellent.


• 51d: Body with many arms: Abbr. (NRA). Ditto.

Sundries:

• 1a: Stick of gum? (ERASER). I know I've seen this clue before, and I still needed some crossings to get the answer. I think it's because I rarely refer to a gum eraser.


• 13a: Peter who spent years in Chicago (CETERA). Not just the city, but the band of the same name.


• 14a: Island chain between Madagascar and Mozambique (COMOROS). Toughie if you're not up on your geography. It was vaguely familiar to me, once I hit a few crossings.


• 15a: One way to serve café (AU LAIT). Gimme.


• 16a: Plantain named for its seeds, which resemble small insects (FLEAWORT). Never heard of it, but easy enough to figure out after a few letters.


• 17a: Virusoid's makeup (RNA).


• 18a: Peninsula overlooking Massachusetts Bay (CAPE ANN).


• 21a: Sunroof feature (TINT). For some reason, my first thought was TILT.


• 23a: Nunavut, e.g.: Abbr. (TERR). A Canadian territory comprising a vast part of what once was northern Quebec.


• 24a: By ___ of (via) (DINT). Tough one for me. I've heard of dint as a verb meaning to dent, but I don't recall seeing it in this context.


• 43a: Author of "D.H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study" (Anaïs NIN).



• 44a: Like Illuminati members (DEISTIC). The Illuminati were central to Dan Brown's novel "Angels and Demons", which I actually liked better than the more-popular "The Da Vinci Code". It's a good summer read.


• 50a: New Hampshire town whose Daily Sun was the first newspaper to publish sudoku in English (CONWAY). I'm from New Hampshire, and I needed crossings to figure this one out. And I've never heard of Conway's Daily Sun. It's not a major publication, even in-state.


• 1d: Game similar to whist (ÉCARTÉ).


• 3d: Site of the first Tomb Raider game's climactic finale (ATLANTIS). Never played the game, but it's a reasonable answer.


• 4d: It's very fishy (SEA). Cute, I guess.


• 7d: Last name of the "No Country for Old Men" directors (COEN). I still need to see this film. It's on my list.


• 11d: Broadway lyricist Hart (LORENZ).


• 12d: Dead giveaway? (ESTATE). Good clue.


• 24d: Brand of pain reliever (DEMEROL).


• 32d: Eroded (WORE AWAY). Went with WORE DOWN to start.


• 35d: Copyists (PENMEN). This is the mascot of Southern New Hampshire University (formerly New Hampshire College).


• 44d: "Lovers Who Wander" singer (DION). I had the DI-- and guessed DIDO, but it didn't fit for long.


• 49d: Pavement warning (SLO). Hunh? I don't recall ever seeing a "SLO" sign. It's always SLOW. Is sign paint really expensive in NYC, or what? Or is there something else going on here that I'm not seeing. The only SLO I know is SLO-MO.

Suns of Bitches:

• 5d: 1992 N.L. Rookie of the Year Karros (ERIC). There's no N.L. in Red Sox Nation. :)


• 10d: Former 49ers quarterback John (BRODIE). Before my time.

The beauty of this puzzle, for me, is that even though there were some difficult clues, there were no guesses. Everything made sense when I was done, and I had a good time getting there. That's what I want in a puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Title: Movin' On Up
Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: Three indicated clues have a ladder as a common link. This ladder is visually represented as a long column of "H"s up the center of the puzzle.

• 37a: *Backyard club locale (TREEHOUSE).


• 4d: *With 59-Down, lookout's place (CROWS / NEST).


• 10d: *With 57-Down, red vehicle (FIRE / TRUCK).


• 7d: Visual representation of an item associated with the answers to the asterisked clues in this puzzle (HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH).

Another solid mid-week theme gimmick by Patrick Blindauer. It didn't take long to figure out that the long column was going to all Hs, but the meaning of the theme did not become evident to me until after the puzzle was solved.

Sunny Spots:

Some cool clues today, notably:

• 16a: Shrink rap? (I SEE). That's a good one.


• 20a: Does some team work (PLOWS).


• 43a: Level spot? (SHOP). This one took me a second. The tool called a level is often found in a work shop.


• 66a: Rhine whine? (ACH).


• 8d: Hard wear? (ARMOR).


• 12d: Chilling, so to speak (RELAXED).


• 42d: Steered vehicles? (OX CARTS).

Sundries:

• 14a: Emblem of victory (LAUREL). Read more than you want to know about it here.


• 15a: It ended during the Napoleonic Wars: Abbr. (HRE). Holy Roman Empire.


• 21a: Perkins competitor (IHOP). Mmmm... breakfast!


• 22a: Its inaugural flight was from Geneva to Tel Aviv (EL AL). All you really needed here was "flight" and "Tel Aviv".


• 24a: Termagant (SHREW).


• 32a: Strike out (DELE). To go with yesterday's STET.


• 48a: NFL team since 2002 (TEXANS).


• 50a: Soupçon (HINT).


• 52a: Sportscasters Trautwig and Michaels (ALS). I didn't know the former, but knew the latter, which was enough.


• 53a: "Mad Men" cable channel (AMC).


• 63a: Work the mezz (USH). I've written about USH before. Not my fave.


• 67a: Charlie's last name in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (BUCKET). It's been so long since I read this that the name did not come to mind easily.


• 68a: Furtive "Yo!" (PSST).


• 70a: Dietitian Robert (ATKINS). Of the low-carb, Atkins Diet.



• 1d: Showed up on radar (BLIPPED). Not used to seeing this as a verb, but I like it.


• 3d: Dawnlike (AURORAL).


• 9d: Strengthen, as steel (TEMPER).


• 13d: "The Bobo" star (SELLERS). One of my favorite Peter Sellers roles was as Clare Quilty in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita", also starring James Mason and Shelley Winters. Here's a snippet.



• 33d: ___ Candy (character in "Wonder Woman") (ETTA). You could almost guess this one without any crossings. I mean, what else could it be?


• 35d: They outrank sarges (LOOIES). My first instinct is always to spell this with an OU instead of an OO.


• 38d: "What You Own" musical (RENT). Makes sense.


• 39d: It merged with the WB to form the CW (UPN). We're talking TV networks here.


• 40d: Navigational aid (STAR MAP).


• 45d: Hit the slopes after hitting the silk (PARA-SKI).


• 46d: Support group for young people (ALATEEN).


• 49d: Winnebago, e.g. (SIOUAN). Look at all those vowels together. I really wanted CAMPER here, but it already didn't fit by the time I got to it.


• 51d: Pick off, e.g. (TAG OUT). Baseball reference.


• 55d: Floria ___ (opera heroine) (TOSCA). I've heard of the opera Tosca, so it's not a far reach.

Suns of Bitches:

• 1a: She played Dr. Melfi on "The Sopranos" (BRACCO). I don't get HBO, and I haven't watched the syndicated reruns. I'm sure I've seen this name in puzzles before, but I got it from the crossings.


• 34a: "Arli$$" star Robert (WUHL).

Not much else to say. A fine Wednesday puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, July, 15, 2008

Title: In the Middle
Author: Barry C. Silk
Theme: Phrases have "IN" added in the middle to generate new phrases.

• 17a: Bill from an orator? (SPEAKING INVOICE).


• 24a: Saudi oil revenue? (KINGDOM INCOME).



• 51a: Cause of a fugitive's pain? (RUNAWAY INJURY). My favorite of the bunch.


• 60a: Praying mantis? (RELIGIOUS INSECT).

These are decent Tuesday theme entries. Nothing overly fancy, but fine.

Sunny Spots:

• 28a: "Big" or "small" hold'em payment (BLIND). After yesterday, we just keep the poker terms coming.


• 3d: Bizarre (FREAKISH). I like this fill. Great word.


• 33d: Long-grain rice (BASMATI). Nice word ending in I. Don't see all that many of those. And food, too.


• 39d: Lie motionless (PLAY DEAD). Good fill.

Sundries:

• 9a: Part of www (WIDE). World Wide Web


• 32a: Tongue sensor (TASTE BUD).


• 38a: Cal. pages (MOS). That's calendar, not California.


• 39a: Nightwear, briefly (PJS).


• 42a: "___ My Party" (1963 #1 hit for Lesley Gore) (IT'S). Classic oldie. Check it out here.


• 43a: Sewer entries (MANHOLES).


• 45a: North Carolina's Cape ___ (FEAR). Best known for the movie (and remake) of the same name.


• 48a: Compressed video file format (MPEG). Gimme for me.


• 50a: Muscular strength (BRAWN).


• 54a: Coddled thing (EGG).


• 56a: Canal zone? (EAR). Cute.


• 57a: Nyet negators (DAS).


• 64a: Diciembre follower (ENERO). This is the one Spanish month you need to know.


• 66a: "10 Things I ___ About You" (HATE). Never saw the film, but I saw enough trailers that I feel like I have.


• 68a: Half-___ over (drunk, in slang) (SEAS). Not a phrase I'm familiar with.


• 1d: Teacher's helper: Abbr. (ASST). Well, anyone's helper, really.


• 4d: LIRR train letters (MTA).


• 7d: 2004 GOP convention locale (MSG). Madison Square Garden.


• 8d: Black mark (STIGMA).


• 16d: Makes more attractive, with "up" (SEXES).


• 25d: Abbr. on a windshield wiper control stick (INT). Interval.


• 26d: Leash law, e.g.: Abbr. (ORD). Ordinance.


• 38d: Milk of ___ (MAGNESIA).


• 46d: Seat of Oregon's Lane County (EUGENE). I'm familiar with the city.


• 47d: Did some fishing (ANGLED).


• 49d: Road construction cones (PYLONS).


• 52d: Delivery truck (WAGON).


• 59d: Mark to undo a deletion (STET). This and DELE show up all the time.

Suns of Bitches:

• 23a: Goofy's son (MAX). I feel like I ought to know this, but it doesn't even ring a bell.


• 55a: Big O.? (ATL). I don't understand this one. I assume ATL is for Atlanta? What am I missing? Olympics? Orgasms?


• 11d: Moon of Mars (DEIMOS). This crosses the Goofy clue at the M. It seemed a reasonable guess.


• 19d: Hall of Fame hockey coach Roger (NEILSON).


• 35d: Two-time N.L. batting champ Richie (ASHBURN).


• 42d: Kaplan of Yo La Tengo (IRA). Man, the band members we're supposed to know these days. At least I know who Yo La Tengo is; I bet there are a lot out there who don't even know that. Here's an amusing video of theirs.

Overall, a pretty average Tuesday puzzle. Which is not a bad thing at all.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Title: Anatomy of Poker
Author: Mark Feldman
Theme: Phrases that start with a part of the body and end in poker actions.

• 3d: *Basketball no-no (HAND CHECK).


• 10d: *Cosmetic surgery target, often (SKIN FOLD).


• 25d: *Yoga exercise (LEG RAISE).


• 38d: *1997 Jamie Foxx film (BOOTY CALL).


• 42d: *Keep one's ___ (be on the alert) (EYES OPEN).

On the plus side, I love poker. So, I'm predisposed to really love this theme. On the minus side, I'm not crazy about the actual theme phrases. With the exception of "Booty Call", which at least has some pizzazz, I found the phrases pretty dull. And an 8-letter partial (EYES OPEN) seems especially weak. On the neither plus nor minus side, the theme requires a 15x16 grid in order to handle an 8-letter (even numbered) central entry, which forces the theme clues to run down instead of across. I guess, since I didn't even notice the theme while solving, we need to just look at the rest of the fill.

Update: Joon points out my glaring neglect to notice that the first parts of the phrases were all body parts. This makes the theme that much tighter, and we must make allowances for the partial. My bad for missing this, and 50 pts to Joon.

Sunny Spots:

• 36a: "To ___, With Love" (SIR). This is my all-time favorite Sydney Poitier film. A classic.


• 48d: "On the Road" writer (Jack KEROUAC). I always think of this as being a 60s novel, but it was actually written in 1951 and published in 1957.


• 58a: With no exceptions (BAR NONE). Good phrase.

Sundries:

• 1a: Note equivalent to C (B SHARP). There's no black note between B and C, so a half step up from B is C.


• 7a: Egyptian goddess (ISIS). Common entry in crosswords..


• 14a: Kitchen utensil (REAMER). This is the thing you use to juice a lemon.


• 24a: Kingdom that comprised most of Spain (CASTILE).


• 26a: Mushrooms, e.g. (FUNGI).


• 41a: More slothlike (POKIER). Very close to POKER, which is today's theme.


• 46a: ___ fibrosis (CYSTIC). The Sun doesn't seem to have the same aversion to disease that the Times does.


• 48a: Soup and sauce mix brand (KNORR). I don't ever recall buying this stuff, but I've seen it at the supermarket.


• 56a: Stream of electrons (BETA RAY).


• 60a: Miniature racer (SLOT CAR).


• 69a: Complained (RAILED).



• 1d: Super Mario ___ (BROS). A Nintendo game.


• 4d: Radarange maker (AMANA). As brand names go, this one seems to show up almost as much as ESSO.


• 5d: Makeups (RETESTS). As in makeup exams.


• 11d: Body types? (SEDANS). Cute.


• 13d: "Cheers!" (PROSIT). I thought this was Russian, but according to Merriam-Webster, it's German, from Latin.


• 32d: Game for daredevils (CHICKEN).


• 47d: Sleeveless garment (TUBE TOP).



• 53d: With plenty to spare (GALORE). The classic Bond film "Goldfinger" featured Pussy Galore as the bad girl/love interest.


• 61d: N.L. outfielder who won a Gold Glove in 1970 along with Clemente and Rose (AGEE). I only know this name from crosswords.


• 62d: Film that garnered Warren Beatty his Best Director Oscar (REDS). Personally, I liked "Heaven Can Wait".

Suns of Bitches:

• 22a: Writer Aiken and actor Bain (CONRADS).


• 37a: Marinated Philippine dishes (ADOBOS). Never heard of this, and I've pretty up on food.


• 64a: Fall Out Boy bassist Wentz (PETE). Not only have I never heard of Pete Wentz, I've never heard of Fall Out Boy.


• 72a: Rice-___ Stadium (setting of the ceremonies for the Salt Lake City Olympics) (ECCLES). This didn't ring a bell at all.


• 28d: Main character in the musical "Xanadu" (CLIO). I think I've seen this in puzzles before, but it's not something I ever remember.

The fact that there were several SOBs in a Monday puzzle wasn't actually that daunting, since all the crossings were easy enough. All in all, this puzzle was okay for me. Nothing spectacular, but a quick, easy solve.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Title: Missing Links
Author: Jeffrey Harris
Theme: Solving by the clues is only possible by leaving 12 blank squares scattered through the grid. These squares can then be filled such that all resulting crossings are still valid words, and these missing letters, taken in order, spell CHAIN LETTERS. As follows:

• 5a: Tartan (PLA_ID) => PLACID. My youngest is starting at Carnegie Mellon this fall. Until a couple of years ago, their "mascot" was tartan. They finally decided that plaid didn't make much of a mascot, so they settled on the Scottie dog.


• 8d: Corn or lemon follower (_LAW) => CLAW. Corn law is a new one on me.



• 15a: Sign off on (_ALLOW) => HALLOW.


• 5d: Johnnycake (P_ONE) => PHONE. This was funny, because I thought of PONE for 8d, but I didn't think there was such a thing as a lemon pone.



• 17a: First-ever designated hitter Blomberg (RO_N) => ROAN. Not a name I'm familiar with.


• 3d: When most B'way theaters are dark (MO_N) => MOAN.



• 25a: Pol Nol (L_ON) => LION. Lon Nol is becoming a crossword staple.


• 23d: TV exec Moonves (L_ES) => LIES. I was not familiar with LESley Moonves. He's married to "The Early Show" co-anchor, Julie Chen.



• 36a: Succumb to gravity (SA_G) => SANG. I'll resist putting up a picture for this one.


• 38d: Contents of some chests (_ICE) => NICE. Good clue for ICE.




• 41a: Traces (TING_ES) => TINGLES.


• 31d: Tavern frequented by Barney Gumble (MO_ES) => MOLES. The first time I glanced at this I thought it said Barney Rubble. Barney Gumble is from "The Simpsons".



• 44a: Mount ___ (Crete's highest peak) (ID_A) => IDEA.


• 28d: Site of some knots (LOG_) => LOGE. Tough clue, but excellent.



• 50a: Got 100 on (AC_ED) => ACTED.


• 37d: Vigoda of "Barney Miller" (ABE_) => ABET.



• 52a: I, to a Roman (_ONE) => TONE.


• 52d: Coordinate system reference (_AXIS) => TAXIS.



• 65a: Fall back? (ELS_) => ELSE. This one hurt, because I thought the answer was ELSE (as in we'll plan this, else we'll do that if we have to). I totally missed the cryptic clue for the double Ls in "fall". ELS is more commonly clued as "Golfer Ernie".


• 61d: By (P_ER) => PEER.



• 67a: Tall order? (LATTE_) => LATTER.


• 54d: Menhaden relative (SHA_D) => SHARD. I didn't know what a menhaden was; apparently it's a fish.



• 71a: It fits in a thole (_OAR) => SOAR.


• 51d: Worries (CARES_) => CARESS.

This is one of those puzzles that I like more after it's completed than I did while solving it. It is actually a very clever and aggressive theme, certainly befitting a Friday where one might be expecting a Weekend Warrior. At first, I was frustrated and perplexed. There were many clues I just didn't know, and many of those that I did know I couldn't fill in because I didn't know where to leave the blank. Eventually, I reread the instructions and realized that the fact that each missing letter created two new words was absolutely key. For instance, I knew right away that "Tartan" was PLAID. What I should have realized sooner was that there aren't many places to add a letter to PLAID that result in another word. In fact, other than the answer, PLACID, I can't think of any. So, in retrospect, I think it was a fair and challenging theme. And certainly impressive from a construction standpoint.

Sunny Spots:

I'm skipping this section since I've already had to break out so many clues in the theme section.

Sundries:

• 1a: "Toy Story" piggy bank (HAMM).


• 16a: Was in the van (LED). This must be some car racing reference, perhaps?


• 18a: Figure on a certain island (OCTANE). As in a gas station island. Very good.


• 19a: Prop in "The Shining" (AXE). "Heeeeeere' Johnny!"


• 24a: Lanolin of "U.S. Acres," e.g. (EWE). "U.S. Acres" was a late 1980s comic strip by "Garfield" creator Jim Davis. I'd never heard of it, but it makes sense that Lanolin would be a sheep.


• 26a: Part of some Italian names (DELLA).


• 33a: I, to a Roman (EGO). Same clue as 52a, to which the answer was ONE.


• 34a: Affixable with heat and pressure (IRON ON).


• 47a: "The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana" author (Umberto ECO). Probably best known for "The Name of the Rose".


• 48a: Fishing baskets (CREELS).


• 55a: Conservative choice (SAFE BET).


• 58a: Fortify (SHORE UP).



• 63a: Cuthbert of "24" (ELISHA). I like "24", which lost out this year to the writers' strike. Cuthbert was not my favorite part, though she is kind of cute. I just saw her in something else recently on TV, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.


• 66a: ___ Fighter ("Star Wars" craft) (TIE). This is one of the more interesting ways I've seen TIE clued. A gimme for me.


• 2d: Beltrán teammate (ALOU). A crossword staple.


• 4d: Pea-brained scientist? (MENDEL). Gregor Mendel studied inheritance using pea plants. Nicely clued.


• 6d: Chemisette makeup (LACE). Chemise is French for shirt or blouse, so this is logical.


• 7d: Smokejumper's concern: Abbr. (ALT). A smokejumper is just what it sounds like, a firefighting parachutist.


• 9d: Skye of "Say Anything ..." (IONE). Another crossword staple. IONA is the college in New York.


• 12d: Reliant Stadium player (TEXAN).


• 13d: Elysium (EDEN).


• 26d: New York City's Carnegie ___ (DELI). Raise your hand if you entered HALL here. I've been caught on this one before, so I stepped over the trap.


• 29d: Noted elegist (DONNE). Known best for quotes like "Death be not proud" and "No man is an island".


• 39d: Kind (GOOD). Are good people always kind, and vice versa? I'm not so sure.


• 42d: Gp. created by the Manila Pact (SEATO). NATO's counterpart in Southeast Asia.


• 49d: Iconoclasts (REBELS). "Iconoclast Without a Cause" just doesn't have the same appeal.


• 56d: Titular valley of a 2007 film (ELAH). Constructors have been drooling for this word to enter the language so they could use it puzzles more often.


• 58d: "Runny Babbit" author's first name (SHEL). My kids grew up reading Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree". Great book.


• 64d: Poker great Ungar (STU). This one I knew off the top. Stu was a brilliant and charismatic poker player whose relatively short life (45 years) was a whirlwind of successes and crashes. He won the World Series of Poker main event three times, but ultimately his drug addictions caught up with him. Kids, don't do drugs!

Suns of Bitches:

• 22a: Director of "Wings," the first Best Picture winner (WELLMAN).


• 40a: ___ b'Omer (Israeli holiday with bonfires) (LAG). I would have preferred a pool clue. I've never heard of this holiday.


• 30d: ___ v. Vitale (landmark Supreme Court case of 1962) (ENGEL). Didn't know this one, which knocked down school prayer as unconstitutional.


• 32d: Mike of Alice in Chains (INEZ). I have several Alice in Chains albums, but didn't know this name. I guess I don't keep up on bands like I used to; I just listen to the music.


• 57d: 2001 space tourist Dennis (TITO). Don't recall this name.


• 59d: Italian filmmaker Petri (ELIO).

All in all, this was a tough puzzle, but we expect that on a Friday. I pretty much covered the theme above. The fill was a bit crosswordy (ELIO, ALOU, IONE, ELAH, INEZ, etc.), but undoubtedly necessary to pull off the theme. From the comfort of being finished, I'll give this puzzle decent marks.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Title: Secondary Education
Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: Color rebus, where each primary color is used once across and once down. The correct answer at each of the three junctions is the secondary (combination) color made up of the two crossings. Bear with me, it'll make sense.

• 16a: Comment when recalling an embarrassing moment (WAS MY FACE RED?).


• 18d: It might have a long run on Broadway (YELLOW CAB).

But you can't put both RED and YELLOW in the same square, so you enter ORANGE there. Get it?


• 35a: 1988 Errol Morris documentary about the murder of a police officer, with "The" (THIN BLUE LINE).


• 25d: "Fever Pitch" squad (THE RED SOX).

Enter PURPLE here.


• 58a: Animated movie musical of 1968 (YELLOW SUBMARINE).


• 47d: Air travel option starting in 2000 (JETBLUE).

Enter GREEN here.

This is just the kind of cool and interesting theme that I hope to get when I see Patrick Blindauer's name. Very clever and entertaining.

Sunny Spots:

• 24a: Take the wrong way? (STEAL). Excellent clue!


• 1d: Madison Avenue worker (AD WOMAN). Nice gender twist on the more common AD MAN fill.


• 12d: Spot spot? (TEA ROOM). "Spot of tea, Bruce?"


• 38d: Fruitless (STERILE). Great clue here.

Sundries:

• 1a: Smart, e.g.: Abbr. (AGT). As in Maxwell Smart. I given Don Adams his due in previous posts, so we'll go modern with the picture today.


• 4a: Dry, in a way (WRING). Nice clue.


• 13a: Cube's "Natural Born Killaz" rap partner (DRE). Two rap clues today. This one, and 55d: Gangsta rap pioneer (ICE T). Even though they're all well-known, that's at least one rap clue too many.


• 15a: Teen spots? (ACNE). Wasn't fooled here at all.


• 23a: Code name (MORSE). As in Samuel Morse, who invented Morse Code. Well clued.


• 29a: Nightclub (BISTRO).


• 31a: "Finding Neverland" dog (NANA). This shows up periodically in puzzles, so it's good to remember.


• 32a: Serviceable? (ONE A). Fit to serve in the U.S. armed forces.


• 46a: Novel whose first sentence is "I am Ishmael" (THE HAJ). By Leon Uris.


• 48a: They do amnios (OBS). Obstetricians.


• 49a: Bantu language related to Swazi (ZULU).


• 50a: Abbr. in the want ads (EEO). This is often EOE, which is what I entered first.


• 51a: His papacy lasted less than four weeks in 1605 (LEO XI). Popes are a necessary evil for filling grids. Just know that it's probably LEO or PIUS and some Roman numeral.


• 53a: Lorelei (SIREN).


• 54a: They're not color-blind (RACISTS). I find myself cringing a bit at this one. I think it's because I prefer a clue for RACISTS to not be in any way cute.


• 57a: High-performance Camaro (IROC).


• 62a: Pro Bowl wide receiver ___ Bruce (ISAAC). The name rang a bell once I got it from the crossings. And at least it's a "normal" name.


• 63a: King who went on a world tour in the 1970s (TUT). Also, a really silly Steve Martin song.


• 66a: Covert follower? (OPS).


• 2d: Bar food? (GRANOLA). Cute, but easy.


• 6d: Russell Crowe's middle name (IRA). That's trivia I really didn't need to know.


• 8d: It's easy to get down from them (GEESE). That one was telgraphed. Too easy.


• 11d: Former car model whose name is Latin for "untouched" (INTEGRA).


• 17d: Couple incorrectly (MISMATCH). You can get some amusing visuals if you let your mind wander on this one.


• 22d: Get straight (ALIGN). I guessed REHAB to start.


• 24d: Islam's largest denomination (SUNNI).


• 30d: Less reputable (SLEAZIER).


• 33d: Cover story? (ALIBI). I had the trailing I, so this one fell easily.


• 37d: The Hartford's bus. (INS). Hartford, the insurance capital of the world.


• 39d: "Right on!" (I HEAR YA).


• 40d: Ones who have moved to the right, for short (NEOCONS).


• 43d: Enchilada alternative (BURRITO). That reminds me. I'm hungry.


• 44d: Make a killing (CLEAN UP).



• 45d: Final stages (SUNSETS).


• 52d: Davis of "School Daze" (OSSIE). Never saw the film, but I've heard the name.


• 60d: AB part (BAT). Baseball: At bats.

Suns of Bitches:

• 61a: "Flashdance" director Adrian (LYNE).


• 56d: Drummer Hakim who was a member of Weather Report (OMAR). I know Jaco Pastorius, and that's it. They're most famous, I think, for "Birdland". At least, I couldn't name another song of theirs, though there are some great solo Jaco pieces. My favorite is "The Chicken". If you like funky jazz and/or great basslines, you gotta check it out.

After yesterday, an average puzzle would have looked good. But I really think this puzzle was excellent on its own. I found the theme interesting and the fill and clues to be, on the whole, quite entertaining. Nice job.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Title: Double Up
Author: Lee Glickstein
Theme: Five two-word phrases with a repeated long-vowel sound have those sounds shifted up to the previous phrase. Yes, it's as crazy as it sounds.

• Pay grade => PEA GREED (17a: Vegetarian's sin?).


• Clean sweep => CLINE SWIPE (24a: Criticism of the singer of "Crazy"?).


• High tide => HOE TOED (38a: Like Edward Scissorfeet?).


• Hope floats => HOOP FLUTES (52a: Encircle champagne glasses?).


• Who knew? => HAY NEIGH (63a: Barn sound that means "I'm hungry"?).

I'm going to be brutally honest here. I hate this theme. First, it wasn't until well after I had slogged through the puzzle that I figured out what the theme was. Sure, I noticed the double vowel sounds, but it was not at all clear what the pattern was. I finally was able to discern the pattern, with a little help from the title, but it was too little too late. Second, every single theme entry feels incredibly forced and, with the possible exception of Edward Scissorfeet, there is no humor to be found. And since when are scissors and hoes equivalent? Nope, for me, this one gets a resounding "Yuck!"

Sunny Spots:

• 29a: Munch kin city? (OSLO). Okay, that's a really nice clue.


• 32a: Cartoon character whose first name is Waylon (SMITHERS). From "The Simpsons".


• 45a: Ranger Smith's nemesis (YOGI BEAR).


• 8d: Nursery rhyme shepherdess (BO PEEP).

Sundries:

• 1a: Org. in the Justice Department (ATF). This was my third choice, after FBI and DEA.


• 4a: TV host with the catchphrase "I kid you not" (PAAR).


• 14a: Small contraction? (LI'L).


• 16a: Work of art (OEUVRE). Good fill word.


• 19a: "Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me" author Boyd (PATTIE).


• 21a: Crime perpetrators, in police slang (DOERS). Doers? Really? I've read and watched my fair share of crime drama, and I don't ever recall hearing that one.



• 31a: Like some illusions (OPTICAL). This is one of my favorite illusions. As much as your brain wants it to be otherwise, the "dark" square, A, and the "light" square, B, are exactly the same shade of gray.


• 36a: Female teacher of history? (MARM).


• 37a: Put out, in a way (TAG). Baseball reference.


• 42a: M.'s counterpart (MME). Monsieur and Madame.


• 47a: One walking down the aisle? (SHOPPER). Cute.


• 54a: Robusto! maker (RAGU).


• 58a: Hit locale (SIDE A).


• 71a: Snort (NIP). I went for SIP at first.


• 1d: High caste member in "Brave New World" (ALPHA).


• 3d: Short pass to a running back near the sideline (FLARE).


• 4d: Madison Square ___ (PARK).


• 5d: Fiver (ABE).


• 6d: Pale brew (ALE). Nope, even the beer reference isn't going to save this one.


• 7d: ___-wip (dessert topping) (REDDI).


• 9d: San Francisco Chronicle parent company (HEARST).


• 10d: Beat in the first leg of a triathlon (OUTSWIM).


• 18d: Title character who never shows up (GODOT).


• 22d: "Yes, I'm a Witch" artist (Yoko ONO). She has shown up way more than Brian ENO lately.


• 26d: Start of Caesar's boast (I CAME).


• 27d: Italian city famed for its cheese (PARMA).


• 28d: Elsie's bull (ELMER).


• 33d: Studly (MACHO).


• 34d: Northern hemisphere? (IGLOO).


• 40d: Sources of hubris (EGOS).



• 46d: "Mr. Tuesday Night" (BERLE).


• 48d: Maker of Zoloft (PFIZER). The PF combination is always kind of cool.


• 50d: Calle, across the Pyrenees (RUE). French for "road".


• 53d: Lake that Fredo Corleone is killed on (TAHOE).


• 55d: Like a cardinal (AVIAN).


• 56d: 2003 role for Affleck (GIGLI). The fill is more interesting than the film, I'll give it that.


• 59d: "Years of Minutes" author Rooney (ANDY).


• 60d: Timber-dressing tool (ADZ).

Suns of Bitches:

• 8a: Indian city that was the site of a deadly gas leak in 1984 (BHOPAL). I had everything but the last letter, which crossed 13d: Jackie's younger sister (LEE). I don't like this crossing at all. An Indian city name crossing a girl's name that ends in _EE? It could be anything: B, D, L, R, Z,...


• 20a: Impresario Sol (HUROK). Whatever.



• 59a: Shortstop Dark who was the 1948 Rookie of the Year (ALVIN). It's Wednesday. How about a "Chipmunks" clue?


• 69a: Gourmet store on the Upper West Side (ZABARS). Unfair to anyone outside of NYC. Especially crossing another name that could be anything. 61d: Benaderet of "Petticoat Junction" (BEA) could just as easily have been BEE or BEV or BEL. I could easily envision a store called "Z.L. Bar's".


• 24d: Rosabella's friend in "The Most Happy Fella" (CLEO).


• 44d: Swedish city near Stockholm (UPPSALA). This was only vaguely familiar once I had it from the crossings.

It's hard to compensate for a poor theme. Here, a dull and unhelpful theme combined with too many nasty clues and crossings that made this puzzle solve much more like a Weekend Warrior than a Wednesday, only not as enjoyable. I haven't disliked a puzzle this much in quite some time. It just didn't work for me at all.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Title: Two of a Kind
Author: David J. Kahn
Theme: Two men who have won five major awards: Oscar, Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and Pultizer Prize.

• 17a: With 26-Across, award #1 (PULITZER / PRIZE). Literature.


• 18a: Award #2 (GRAMMY). Music.


• 25a: Award #3 (TONY). Theater.


• 50a: Award #4 (OSCAR). Movies.


• 51a: Award #5 (EMMY). Television.


• 35a: With 37-Across, one of only two recipients of all five awards in this puzzle (RICHARD / RODGERS). Of Rodgers and Hammerstein, etc.


• 56a: With 59-Across, the other recipient of all five awards (MARVIN / HAMLISCH). I know him best for his contributions to "The Sting", one of my all-time favorite films.

Despite the fact that several of the theme answers are shorter than usual, I really liked the theme. This was a piece of trivia that I may have heard before, but I would never have come up with the names unprompted. According to Wikipedia, there are 12 people who have won the four major awards (not including the Pulitzer). Check out the list (including details of what they won for) here.

Sunny Spots:

• 11d: Transparent (LIMPID). Limpid is an excellent word.


• 12d: Obstetrician Fernand (LAMAZE). I love this kind of clue, because at first glance it's a "What the...?", but then you get the answer from the crossings and it becomes a "Doh! Of course!". If you haven't had kids yet, you might be at a disadvantage here.


• 27d: "Help!" name (RINGO Starr). Poor Ringo. He'll always be the lesser-Beatle.


• 29d: "Star Trek" weapon (PHASER). Set to stun. I'm a fan of the original "Star Trek" as well as "Star Trek: The Next Generation". "Deep Space Nine" was okay, "Voyager" might have been tolerable if not for Janeway, and I haven't seen a single episode of "Enterprise".

Sundries:

• 1a: "Kindly answer" (RSVP).


• 5a: The Trojans of the Pac-10 (USC).


• 13a: Little cupid (AMORETTO). I wasn't familiar with this term, but it makes sense. Not to be confused with AMARETTO, which is a liqueur.


• 15a: Television antenna (AERIAL). I bit dated these days, but okay.


• 20a: Hole in a sweater? (PORE). Good clue.


• 22a: Normal (PAR). Props for the golf reference.


• 31a: "___ Spirit" (Noël Coward play) (BLITHE).


• 53a: "The Marvelous City" (RIO).


• 63a: "___ Man" (1992 comedy) (ENCINO). I've got to admit, I'm not a huge Brendan Fraser fan and I'm much less a Pauly Shore fan. Sean Astin was great in "The Lord of the Rings" as Sam Gamgee.


• 64a: Lotion ingredient (ALOE VERA). This is, at least, more interesting a fill than ALOE by itself.


• 65a: Martin of "The Departed" (SHEEN). Now that's a good film.


• 66a: Cut (SAW).


• 60d: Cut (MOW). As crossing words go with the same clue, this one's pretty dull.


• 1d: Thwack (RAP). These don't feel the same to me, but I'm having a hard time defining why. For me, a thwack implies hitting with an object, like a stick, that maybe even has some springiness to it (unlike, say, a baseball bat); rap is something you do with knuckles.


• 3d: Like some ash (VOLCANIC). Super easy, especially with the leading V. I mean, what else could it be?


• 5d: Brand of pretzels (UTZ). Great-looking brand name, to go along with EDYS (67a: Rival of Breyers).


• 9d: "___ Town Too" (1981 hit song) (HER). Not familiar with the song, but not hard to guess.


• 14d: Gen. Eisenhower commanded it (ETO). Common fill. Remember it.


• 16d: Ancient strings (LYRES). I never know whether to put LYRES or LUTES for this one.


• 24d: MGM musical of 1953 (LILI). This I only know from puzzles.


• 39d: Scream (RIOT). As in, that comic was a scream.


• 42d: Some motorbikes (YAMAHAS). Also some pianos.


• 44d: Cowriter of "The Christmas Song" (Mel TORME). "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."


• 46d: Char (SCORCH).


• 48d: Graceful African antelope (IMPALA). Also a classic Chevrolet.


• 54d: At another time (ANON). I started with ANEW here, which slowed me down.


• 55d: ___ Miss (OLE). I've seen them in the NCAA basketball tourney.


• 61d: "Big Girls Don't ___" (CRY).

Suns of Bitches:

• 43a: New Jersey town bordering Teaneck (LEONIA).

I thought this was a great theme for a Tuesday, with decent, if not earth-shattering, fill. Overall, I found it quite fair and enjoyable.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Title: Tongue-Tied
Author: Edward Alch
Theme: The four elements of taste, as follows:

• 3d: Result that is hard to accept (BITTER PILL).


• 9d: Cocktails made with gin or vodka (SALTY DOGS).


• 31d: Face-saving disdain of something unattainable (SOUR GRAPES).


• 35d: Ideal area to hit a ball with (SWEET SPOT).


• 14d: Yummy thing (and a hint to this puzzle's theme) (TASTE SENSATION).

Good Monday theme, which requires a 15x16 grid to accommodate the 14-letter hint entry down the middle. Actually, I think I've read somewhere that there are really more than just the four so-called basic tastes, but that doesn't really bother me.

Sunny Spots:

Actually, all of the theme entries I thought were excellent. In addition:


• 25a: Event with drastically cut prices (FIRE SALE). Good one.


• 59a: Heat source? (JALAPEÑO). Continuing with a little fire in the mouth.


• 63a: Heat source (OVEN). Nice clue doubling here.


• 50d: IBM offerings of the '80s (PC JRS). As fills with no vowels go, this one's pretty cool. I like the PCJ letter combination.

Sundries:

• 1a: Sworn-upon stack (BIBLES). Easy, but evocative.


• 13a: Camden Yards ballplayer (ORIOLE). I'll be seeing the Red Sox at Camden Yards in another month. Beautiful ballpark.


• 29a: Othello's lieutenant (CASSIO). I probably should have known this right off the top, but I needed a couple of crossings before it hit me.


• 41a: Gumption (SPUNK). Both gumption and spunk are great words.


• 43a: Dragon roll fish (EEL).


• 44a: Got the lead out? (ERASED). Cute. As in erased pencil lead.


• 47a: "Close to the Edge" band (YES). I never even saw this clue as I was solving.


• 48a: One who adapts orchestral music for marching bands, say (ARRANGER).


• 50a: 1992 also-ran (Ross PEROT).


• 53a: Terry Bradshaw was one (STEELER). Quarterback didn't fit.


• 54a: Liquid-Plumr targets (CLOGS). Never saw this clue, either.


• 56a: Andean animal (LLAMA). Easy.


• 61a: One of golf's majors (US OPEN). The golf majors I know: Masters, British Open, U.S. Open, and PGA Championship.


• 62a: 66, e.g.: Abbr. (RTE). I've never driven on it, that I recall, but I know several versions of the song. Here's a classic by the Rolling Stones.


• 64a: Shampooing step (REPEAT). Okay, a show of hands: how many of you actually do the repeat step when shampooing?


• 66a: Feather's partner (TAR).


• 1d: Gaucho's weapon (BOLA). Also a type of necktie.


• 2d: "Persepolis" setting (IRAN). Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film this year. It lost to "Ratatouille". Here's a trailer.


• 4d: Like some bad marriages (LOVELESS).


• 5d: Passes over in pronouncing (ELIDES).


• 8d: Western Native American (UTE). Super-common crossword fare.


• 20d: Disease transmitted by mosquitoes (MALARIA).


• 26d: 2005 #1 album by Ashlee Simpson (I AM ME).Didn't know this off the top, but was easy enough.


• 32d: Photographer Leibovitz (ANNIE).


• 33d: Cardroom game (POKER). My favorite card game after bridge.


• 42d: Wife of Odysseus (PENELOPE). This was like CASSIO to me. I couldn't come up with off the top, but I knew it once I had a few crossings.


• 52d: Luxury watch brand (ROLEX). Pretty much the epitome of luxury watch brands.

Suns of Bitches:

• 10d: Mexico's Oscar (ARIEL).


• 60d: LaRue of "CSI: Miami" (EVA).


Luckily, I didn't need to know either of these.

All in all, a very decent Monday puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, July 4, 2008

No Puzzle Today. Happy 4th!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Joe DiPietro
Theme: None

Sunny Spots:

• 1a: Dump (SCRAP HEAP). That's a nice 1a.


• 32a: It comes from the Japanese words for "slice" and "broil" (SUKIYAKI). I guessed TERIYAKI at first, but this makes more sense, since teriyaki isn't so much sliced. For the record, teriyaki comes from "glaze" and "broil".


• 53a: Cooker at a tailgate party (HIBACHI). A great place to cook teriyaki, but not sukiyaki (unless you've got a special grill pan).



• 25d: Anna Nicole Smith was its spokesperson (TRIMSPA). Good, topical fill. Anna Nicole's life (and death) definitely have something to say about modern American society. I'm not sure exactly what, but something.

Sundries:

• 10a: Backup procedure (PLAN B). Very nice. This was not immediately obvious to me; well clued.


• 15a: 1947 Camus novel (THE PLAGUE). My first guess here was THE PLAYER, which messed me up for a bit. Once THE PLAGUE came to mind, I knew it was right.



• 16a: He played Tommy in "Tommy" (ROGER Daltry). As rock operas go, I prefer "Quadrophenia", but "Tommy" is good too.


• 17a: Did some cataloging (MADE A LIST).


• 19a: Urgent transmission, for short (APB). All points bulletin. Nicely paired with:


• 20a: Urgent transmission of sorts (SOS).


• 25a: It can be used when making solders and soldiers (TIN). "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming..." - Neil Young


• 26a: Lowball poker variant (RAZZ). I've watched this on TV and, embarrassingly, still didn't get it right away.


• 27a: Cooper's "High Noon" role (Will KANE).


• 31a: Thing that begins gradually? (GEE). Cryptic letter clue. I wasn't fooled for a minute on this one.


• 34a: British invasion participants (SAXONS). My misguess on 35d gave me problems here. I should have gotten these much more easily. See XHOSA, in the Suns of Bitches section.


• 36a: Smoker's question (GOT A MATCH).


• 38a: Bit of plumbing hardware (CAP NUT). This would make a cool cryptic crossword fill, as you could reparse it as CAP'N UT.


• 41a: Competed in the super-G (SLALOMED).


• 49a: "You've gotta be kidding me!" (C'MON).


• 51a: "___ La La" (1964 Manfred Mann hit) (SHA). Figured it had to be either SHA or OOH.


• 58a: 2004 Billy Bob Thornton film, with "The" (ALAMO). Can't compete with "Sling Blade" or "Bad Santa".


• 59a: Ordinary (PLAIN JANE).


• 63a: Slice warmer (PIZZA OVEN).


• 64a: Shortstop who played for Durocher (REESE). I got the RE- and immediately guessed Jose REYES. But no, it's Pee Wee REESE. It would have helped if I'd known that Leo Durocher stopped managing in 1973.


• 65a: Feature of some radials (STEEL BELT).


• 1d: Place in the East Village (ST MARKS). I'll take your word for it.


• 2d: Hat (CHAPEAU).


• 4d: "The Hairy ___" (Eugene O'Neill play) (APE). Not to be confused with "The Naked Ape", which is a book by anthropologist Desmond Morris.


• 5d: Tissue: Suffix (-PLASM).


• 6d: Parhelic circle (HALO). Also a hot-selling Xbox game.


• 7d: Tutelage (EGIS).


• 9d: Early TV role for Moore (PETRIE). From "The Dick Van Dyke Show".


• 12d: In days of yore (AGES AGO).


• 13d: Facebook member, e.g. (NETIZEN). This is one of those coined words that nobody really uses. At least, no one I know.


• 14d: Some busts (BRONZES). B-cups didn't fit.


• 22d: Like a cheap hotel, maybe (ONE STAR). I really wanted this answer to be FLEA BAG.


• 28d: Spiteful (CATTISH). This one didn't fall right away. I know CATTY, but hadn't heard CATTISH. Even when I had _ATTISH, it wasn't obvious.


• 30d: Chemist's shaker contents (NACL). E.g., salt.


• 37d: Ballantine product (ALE). Kudos for the beer clue.


• 39d: "Toad of Toad Hall" playwright (A. A. MILNE).


• 50d: Onomastician's study (NAMES).


• 52d: ___ calculus (kidney stone) (RENAL). If you know RENAL means relating to the kidney, you don't need to know much else here.


• 54d: Delicious part that isn't eaten (CORE). Referring to the Delicious apple (as opposed to, say, the MacIntosh or Cortland).


• 55d: Rat race locale? (MAZE).


• 56d: Hall of Fame first baseman Johnny (MIZE). He played from 1936 to 1953, a little before my time. I'm more familiar with Larry MIZE, the golfer. Still, I like the MAZE/MIZE side-by-side action.


• 60d: Wasted (LIT). More drug and alcohol references that are found here much more often than in the Times.

Suns of Bitches:

• 3d: New Jersey birthplace of Count Basie (RED BANK). I feel like I've seen this before, but I couldn't dredge it up until I had most of the crossings.


• 47d: 1970s Cleveland Browns quarterback Mike (PHIPPS). Not one I knew, but a common-enough name.


• 35d: Bantu language related to Swazi (XHOSA). I guessed LHOSA here, and couldn't for the life of me figure out why SALONS were part of the British invasion. I guess someone had to provide all those Beatles' haircuts. Still, I should have figured it out.

Despite a couple of missteps, I enjoyed this puzzle quite a bit. Interesting longer fill, some tough entries and clues, yet with everything eminently solvable. Nice one.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Title: Last Gasps
Author: James Sajdak
Theme: Phrases whose endings sound like verbal gasps.

• The Wizard of Oz => THE WIZARD OF AHS (20a: Throat doctor's nickname?). This one doesn't quite ring true homophonically for me, as the vowel sound is different. Still, it was easy enough to know what they were getting at.


• Purple Haze => PURPLE HEYS (28a: Highly rhetorical shouts for attention?). Love the Hendrix tune, but was not familiar with purple meaning highly rhetorical, which slowed me down.


• Short fuse => SHORT PHEWS (46a: Quick breaths of relief?). Nice one.


• Primordial ooze => PRIMORDIAL OOHS (53a: Prehistoric utterances of amazement?). Very good. My favorite of the bunch.

This was a nice theme that basically plays by the rules. The key for homophones or puns is that super-common, well-known phrases are allowed a little more leeway, while not-as-obvious phrases need to be more exact. This is why WIZARD OF AHS isn't a fatal flaw here. You could have done WIZARD OF OOHS, too. Whereas, PRIMORDIAL AHS would have been too stretchy, since it's not as obvious what the original phrase is.

Sunny Spots:

• 1a: How French-dip sandwiches are served (AU JUS). Nice food phrase to start off the puzzle. Way to get me in your good graces.


• 36a: First name in grinchiness (EBENEZER). Referring, of course, to Ebenezer Scrooge. Nice fill word.


• 42a: "Captain Marvel" publisher (DC COMICS). The DCC- start gives one pause as it's entered.


• 10d: Élan (PANACHE). Panache is a great-sounding word. Penuche (fudge), which is spelled very similarly, isn't nearly as cool.


• 21d: Tase, e.g. (ZAP). Don't tase me, bro!

Sundries:

• 6a: Gorge (SATE). Following in the food theme. However, it seems to me that gorging is eating past the point where you are sated. Not the same to me.


• 10a: Author of "The Fourth K" (PUZO). Never read this novel by the author of "The Godfather", but it was easy enough.


• 14a: It lost out to "From Here to Eternity" for Best Picture (SHANE). Here's a clip, if you like saloon fights.


• 17a: Wolf pack locater (SONAR). Wolf pack is a term for a group of submarines, particularly in World War II.


• 34a: Director of "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (Sydney LUMET). He directed "12 Angry Men", with Henry Fonda, back in 1957, and "The Verdict" in 1982, with Paul Newman. In between were such 70s gems as "Network", "Serpico", and "Dog Day Afternoon". I haven't seen a single of his films from the last 25 years.


• 37a: "Double Fantasy" collaborator (Yoko ONO).


• 51a: Influence (HEFT). I had HEAT, which slowed that corner down.


• 62a: Lopsided (ASKEW).


• 63a: One-named Deco designer (ERTE). Gimme. He shows up in puzzles enough that you shouldn't even need any crossings. Like Brian ENO.


• 64a: Bk. following Lamentations (EZEK).


• 66a: A buck or two? (DEER). Almost too obvious.


• 67a: Close closer? (NESS). Cryptic suffix.


• 68a: Elevate (EXALT).


• 2d: "Here comes trouble" (UH OH). Somehow, this makes me think of Dennis the Menace, whose last name happens to be Mitchell.


• 3d: Goodall who works for chimp change? (JANE). I didn't even see the pun the first time around, as I stopped reading at Goodall.


• 5d: Sans ___ (type type) (SERIF).


• 6d: Impreza maker (SUBARU).


• 9d: One who is registered for class (ENROLLEE). It was the first word that came to mind.


• 11d: Bountiful state (UTAH). Bountiful is the name of a city in Utah.


• 12d: Makes the first cut? (ZIGS).


• 22d: Buffs (FIENDS). Buff as a noun, like film buffs.


• 30d: Arthur's home (PBS). I didn't know what Arthur they were going for here. I was thinking King Arthur; but no, it's the children's cartoon.


• 31d: Nonprint news source (E-ZINE).


• 32d: Woman who might kvetch if there were nothing to gossip about (YENTA).


• 35d: Gong (TAM-TAM).


• 39d: Eagerly unwraps (RIPS OPEN).


• 40d: Irish "Ay!" (OCH). If you say so.


• 43d: Space shuttle component (ORBITER).


• 45d: Item in a gig bag, perhaps (ALTO SAX). I was thinking guitar/bass, so I was slow in getting this. But I like the clue.


• 48d: Marlins' home (SEA). Raise your hand if you entered FLA here. I should have noticed that were no abbreviations in the clue; they're talking about the fish itself.


• 52d: Screwball (FLAKE). Also a hit song by Jack Johnson.


• 56d: Batiking needs (DYES).


• 57d: Ingredient in the Middle Eastern stew bamia (OKRA). I never thought about OKRA being a middle eastern vegetable. Who knew?


• 58d: It might be raised (HELL). I started with HAND here. Not even close.


• 60d: Math prof's proof ender (Q.E.D.). Quod erat demonstrandum ("that which was to be demostrated").

Suns of Bitches:

• 65a: "The Quest for ___" (John le Carré trilogy) (KARLA). Getting the first letter of this one was made more difficult by the fact that I had HEAT instead of HEFT at 51a, so I was looking at ALA_E for 52d: Screwball (FLAKE). Anyway, it didn't help any that I'm not familiar with this trilogy.

Is it just me, or was this puzzle considerably easier than the last couple of days? I suppose it's a Wednesday because of the theme type, but I sometimes wish there was a little more consistency of difficulty across each puzzle. That's really the key to a good puzzle, matching the difficulty of the fill and clues to the inherent difficulty of the theme. And let me be clear, that is more of a snipe against the last two puzzles than it is towards this one. One or two SOB clues is fine on a Wednesday.

Overall, I liked this puzzle. Nice job.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Title: One For All?
Author: Kevan Choset
Theme: Three former "Mouseketeers"

• 4d: Singer who kissed Madonna at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards (BRITNEY SPEARS). Points for referencing the girl-girl kiss, instead of all the other screwed up ways you could have clued Britney.


• 6d: Costar of Andy Samberg in a popular "Saturday Night Live" video (JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE).


• 8d: Onetime spokesperson for Skippy peanut butter (ANNETTE FUNICELLO).


• 22d: 4-, 6-, and 8-Down, early in their careers (3 MOUSEKETEERS).

This theme was easy enough, but frankly it didn't do much for me, as none of the names are people about whom I particularly care nor with whom I particularly identify. The grid is 15x16, to accommodate the longer theme entries.

Sunny Spots:

• 68a: Bumpkin (YOKEL). Yokel's a cool word. So is bumpkin.

Sundries:

• 11a: 300-game winner Glavine (TOM).


• 15a: ___ nerve (what "tickles" when the funny bone is hit) (ULNAR). I've broken my ulna (and radius) before, so I tend to remember this one.


• 16a: "Woman" singer's woman (ONO). Referring to this song by John Lennon.


• 18a: "Crime and Punishment" heroine (SONYA). I'll admit it. I never read it, and I got this from the crossings. But it's probably something I should know.


• 19a: Character in a best-selling computer game (SIM). My son plays Sim games all the time. I never realized there was such thing as a sim, though. I thought it was just the name of the game.


• 20a: Sporty Mazda (MIATA).



• 21a: "Family ___" (TIES). Old sitcom starring Michael J. Fox.


• 22a: Park where the Giants used to play (3COM).


• 23a: 17th-century Baroque sculptor (BERNINI).


• 25a: Hall of fame (TAMMANY). Cute.


• 27a: North Carolina university (ELON). I only know this from puzzles, and I don't always remember what it is. This time I did, though when I was looking at ELO_ and hadn't read the clue yet, my first instinct was ELOI. Oh, look! 7d: Frugivorous race of fiction (ELOI).


• 38a: With 51-Across, Requiem Mass hymn (DIES / IRAE). These both show up with regularity, so they may as well show up together.


• 39a: Willingly (LIEF). I only know this from crosswords. Seems like a bit of a stretch for a Tuesday.


• 40a: Like most people (ASIAN). Very clever, and accurate, clue. Asia has over 60% of the world's population. Sure, the United States has the third largest population in the world, but India is more than three times as populated, and China is more than four times as populated. In fact, China has more than a billion more people than the United States. Those are some freaky numbers.


• 41a: Opt for the window instead of the aisle? (ELOPE). I loved this clue the first time I saw it. Now, it feels a little passé.


• 43a: Darth ___ (MAUL). From the "Star Wars" prequels (or maybe just the first one, I don't know). Frankly, I was not impressed with the prequels at all. I've heard better dialogue in porn. (It's just an expression, Mom.)


• 49a: Johnson of "Laugh-In" (ARTE). I vaguely remember watching this when I was younger.


• 53a: Letter opener, maybe (DEAR SIR).


• 60a: ___ & Allies (board game) (AXIS). I never played this, but I had friends that did.


• 61a: Ballet bend (PLIÉ). I have no idea why I know this, but it's deeply ingrained. I think it must be from when my sister took ballet when I was young.



• 63a: Oscar winner Davis (GEENA). Here she is with Susan Sarandon in "Thelma and Louise".


• 65a: Public bathroom division (STALL). I'll give this one credit for spicing up a potentially dull fill. Even better might have been "Where some Senators might be seen doing some footwork?".


• 70a: Marv Albert's catchword (YES). This one reminds me of the song "Perfect Sense" of the Roger Waters solo album "Amused to Death". It's one of the most moving albums I've listened to in the past 20 years, with deep, cutting lyrics and phenomenal guitar work by Jeff Beck. Headphones are a must, as there are just too many subtleties that slip by otherwise. This is not background party music. Anyway, if you're patient enough to listen to the whole clip (and you should be), you'll hear Marv Albert's famous "Yes!" in a somewhat unfamiliar context.


• 72a: 60% of 72-Across (ESSES). Clever, self-referential clue.


• 1d: Skewed square (RHOMB). Okay, I figured it out easy enough, but I've never heard it called a RHOMB, with the US. Just because it's in the dictionary doesn't mean I have to like it.


• 3d: Elephant of kiddie lit (BABAR).


• 9d: Deny (NAYSAY).


• 11d: Opera set in Rome in 1800 (TOSCA).


• 13d: "I Saw ___ Kissing Santa Claus" (MOMMY). One of my favorite Christmas songs. Also, it goes well with 53d: ___ Warbucks (DADDY).


• 24d: Santa's time of year (NOEL). Speaking of Christmas.


• 29d: "East of ___" (EDEN). Steinbeck novel and Elia Kazan film.


• 50d: Move stealthily (TIP TOE).


• 52d: "Eat Drink Man Woman" director (ANG LEE).


• 57d: Makeovers (REDOS). I agree that to redo is to makeover, but as a noun, a redo tends to mean a second chance, like "Can I have a redo?". Again, it's probably technically correct, but it just feels a little off to me.

Suns of Bitches:

• 1a: Hasidic teacher (REBBE). I really don't care for obscurities in the 1a spot, and I find this pretty obscure. RABBI, sure. But REBBE? On a Tuesday? Please.



• 14a: George of "La Cage aux Folles" (HEARN).


• 45a: Politician Grasso who was one of Time's Women of the Year in 1975 (ELLA).


• 47a: City in Moravia (BRNO). Even with the crossings, I couldn't believe this was correct.


• 65d: Screenwriter Bartlett and others (SYS). That's the best you could do for a Tuesday SYS clue? Hunh.

This was an okay puzzle. That's as far as I'm willing to go. Personally, I wasn't crazy about the theme; not that it was bad, just not my cup of tea. There was plenty of decent fill, but very little that I found really above average. And I could certainly do without BRNO and REBBE in an early-week puzzle.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.