Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Title: Coming of Age
Author: Patrick Blindauer
Theme: Wordplay theme in which AGE gets inserted to various phrases

• 17a: Beauty contests on the equator? (HOT PAGEANTS).


• 28a: Pelt with rocks in a wise manner? (SAGELY STONE). you probably know who sly stone is, but i didn't. some kind of '60s-'70s funk musician.


• 44a: Saws about infield flies? (POP-UP ADAGES). "an out in the hand is worth two in the bush."


• 60a: Psychologist Jean calls it quits? (PIAGET STOPS). swiss developmental psychologist jean piaget, you've officially made it. congratulations!

i have high expectations for a patrick blindauer theme, and this one fell somewhat short. there's nothing wrong with this theme, exactly, but other that POP-UP ADAGES, i wasn't wild about any of the four theme answers or their base phrases.

Sunny Spots:

• 51d: Chiba ___ Marines (Japanese team managed by Bobby Valentine) (LOTTE). any reference to nippon professional baseball gets an automatic sunny spot.


• 52a: 1 followed by 100 zeros (GOOGOL). this is just a cool word for a cool idea. certainly google thought so. it also reminds me of the brilliant russian author nikolai gogol.


• 18d: The earth, when viewed as a self-regulating organism (GAIA). fun factoid: the GAIA hypothesis was proposed by james lovelock, but named by his next-door neighboor, novelist william golding (of lord of the flies fame).

Sundries:

• 1a: Something to play for (KEEPS). nice clue at 1a.


• 6a: Green shoe (CLEAT). the shoe you wear on the golf green. the CLEAT itself is usually white.


• 19a: Pitch (TAR).


• 20a: Night crawlers, maybe (LIVE BAIT). eww. i'll spare you the picture.


• 33a: Lock (TRESS). it's always TRESS. but for once, this word isn't on the bottom row or rightmost column.


• 35a: Maxwell rival (REO). i'm not familiar with maxwell automobiles, which were manufactured from 1904-25. should i be?


• 40a: "Diary of a Genius" author (DALI). this is my favorite DALI: the sacrament of the last supper, from the national gallery of art in washington.


• 42a: Letter abbr. that tells the reader there's something else in the envelope (ENC). what's the record for highest clue length/answer length ratio?


• 43a: Turning points? (AXLES). this clue maybe doesn't even merit a ?.


• 59a: Up chuck? (LOB). this one does, but i wasn't wild about the clue.


• 64a: Shout when a show starts ("IT'S ON!"). i'd like to see this clued as ["You're going down!"]


• 2d: "My God," to Jesus (ELOI). now here's a clue i can get behind. seems a bit tough for a tuesday, though.


• 4d: Peck of pickled peppers picker Peter (PIPER). cute.


• 5d: Popular food fish (SEA BASS). yeah, lots of fishing words meet up here.


• 6d: Feeding a line to (CUEING). but not this one.


• 9d: Door holder's phrase ("AFTER YOU"). "i insist, my dear alphonse." "no, i insist, my dear gaston."


• 10d: Tries (TASTES). with _AS___ in place, i slapped HAS A GO down here. whoops.


• 22d: Way inappropriate for children (RATED X). like, waaaaay.


• 25d: "Sweeney Todd" prop (STROP). well, he is the demon barber of fleet street.


• 26d: Home to many works by El Greco (PRADO). spanish art having its say in this puzzle. but the DALI museum is in ... st petersburg, florida. why? i have no idea.


• 32d: Bagatelle dedicatee of the early 19th century (ELISE).

• 34d: Released (SPRUNG). i like this answer.


• 39d: Common bonds? (ANDS). nice clue for a slightly awkward answer.


• 43d: Germfree state (ASEPSIS). whoo, the vocab is getting kinda technical.


• 47d: Part of QED (ERAT). once, i saw this clue used for QUOD. someday i'd like to see it used for QUANTUM. or on a really good day, ELECTRODYNAMICS.


• 54d: Dead beat writer's piece? (OBIT). is there really a "beat" for OBIT writers?


• 55d: "Permit Me Voyage" poet (james AGEE). i didn't know he wrote poetry.

Suns of Bitches:

• 55a: City near BrasÌlia (ANAPOLIS). whoa. i'm way out of my depth here. rio, sao paolo, brasilia, recife... that's all the brazilian cities i know. the maryland home of the naval academy has two Ns.


• 8d: Progeny of Eternity and Infinity, in Marvel Comics (EON). obscure, but guessable.


• 24d: "Truth or Dare" director Keshishian (ALEK). no clue.

see you next time.

joon