Smurfsday, October 23rd 2008

Good day, Sun solvers, Robert Loy back at the Thursday helm.

Title: Blue Man Group

Author: Kevan Choset
Theme: Probably should be "Smurfiversary" but I'm going with "Smurfs in the Sun" because I have better visuals.

One of the things I enjoy most about crossword puzzles is learning about things I knew nothing about. Take for instance the Smurfs. Somehow I have managed to live a half century without ever seeing a Smurf cartoon or reading one of their comic books or eating one of their cupcakes or otherwise encountering these blue woodland creatures. If you had held a gun to my head and told me to name three Smurfs, I would say "Papa Smurf, Smurfette, and . . . oooh! look over there" and try to disarm you. So get out your three-ring smurfbooks if you want to take notes. Let's learn about Smurfs.

71A: Creature that made its first appearance on October 23rd, 1958 (and a hint to the first words of 18-, 23-, 36- 52- and 58-Across) (SMURF) Yes, today is the 50th anniversary of the Smurfs, who first appeared on October 23rd, 1958 in the Belgian comics magazine Le Journal de Spirou, the creation of cartoonist Pierre Culliford who is better known as Peyo. At first they were minor back-up characters in a strip called "Johann and Peewit" but quickly became popular enough to star in their own series of comic albums and after that they became a worldwide cartoon phenomenon.

In this puzzle we meet:

36A: 1954 Literature Nobelist, informally (PAPA HEMINGWAY) Papa Smurf was the leader of the Smurfs, distiniguisable by his red clothes and white beard.

18A: Large venomous snake (KING COBRA) Once when Papa Smurf was out of town, an unscrupulous smurf manages to get himself elected as king by bribing the voters with raspberry juice. He turns out to be a despot, civil war ensues and Papa Smurf is pissed with his people when he returns for "acting like humans."

23A: Its subtitle is "A Novel Without a Hero" (VANITY FAIR) Vanity Smurf was -- wait for it -- vain, always carrying around a mirror so he could blow kisses at his reflection.

52A: Convenient (HANDY DANDY) I'm guessing he was good at fixing stuff.

58A: Dinner spinner (LAZY SUSAN) That's right, Lazy Smurf was lazy. Evidently in Smurf culture entire personality is summed up in your name. Missing from this puzzle (but equally scrutable) are Hefty Smurf, Brainy Smurf, Grouchy and Dopey Smurf (moonlighting from their mining job in Snow White) Sloppy Smurf, Slouchy Smurf, Nosy Smurf and on and on and on. So, as it turns out if you find yourself in the unlucky circumstance of having a gun pointed at you and the requirement that you name three Smurfs, just start reeling off adjectives and (occasionally vocations), you can't miss.

By the way, contrary to popular belief Smurfette is not the only female Smurf in the village. There was also Granny Smurf and Sassette Smurf. But since Sassette is just a kid and Granny is (of course) a Grandma, Smurfette gets all the attention.

Sunny Spots:

1A: Dueling instrument (BANJO) The second-most famous scene from the movie "Deliverance", and actually it was a duel not between banjos but between a banjo and a guitar. It went to number two on the pop charts and inspired several parodies such as Martin Mull's "Dueling Tubas" and Saturday Night Live's Dueling Brandos sketch.

25D: Fictional Charles (NORA) Nora Charles of the Thin Man series of movies was played by Myrna Loy. When I was growing up people used to always ask me if I was related to her. (I'm proud to say I lied and said that Aunt Myrna was one of my favorite relatives.) Nobody asks me that anymore and it makes me wonder if she's been forgotten. Too bad, she was a heck of an actress.

21D: Charisse of "Silk Stockings" (CYD) Another favorite actress of mine, Cyd Charisse left us earlier this Summer at the age of 86. Starting out as a dancer, Charisse's legs were reportedly insured by MGM for five million dollars. Perhaps her most amazing feat was staying married to the same man for sixty years, not easy to do in Hollywood.

Sundries:

4D: Yankees manager Girardi (JOE) Looks like the Sun is still Empire State-centric. Otherwise why not clue it as "Rays manager Maddon"? I mean Tampa Bay is in the World Series and the Yankees are nowhere near it.

17A: Horizontal lines on graphs (X AXES) Not that tough a clue, but what a weird looking answer. "Xaxes" looks like a science-fiction invader of some kind.

29A: Play money? (ANTE) You gotta pay to play.

32D: Place for care instructions (TAG) Although I've noticed more and more t-shirt designers are putting care instructions directly on the inside of the shirt which is one of those ideas it's hard to believe no one came up with before. Who needs those scratchy tags that love to stand up and make you look stupid?

55A: Smart player (ADAMS) That would be Don Adams, portayer of "Get Smart"'s agaent Maxwell Smart, who was anything but -- smart, that is.

63D: Post-surgery stop, briefly (ICU) You know, I hate it when celebrities I've built elaborate puns around fade from the spotlight. Remember Olympic champion downhill skier Picabo Street? Did you hear that she was donating a bunch of money to a hospital to build a new post-surgery stop? Yeah, they're going to name it after her and call it the Picabo ICU.

Suns of Bitches:

Nothing to get the blues about. I did have NTH at 69A: High degree instead of the correct PHD and I misspelled NIECE at 67A: Goddaughter, often but that's just because I can't remember if it's I before E except after C or before C.

That's all I've got for this week. See you next Smurfsday.

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.