Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Title: Georgia On My Mind
Author: Randall J. Hartman
Theme: Phrases with GA added

• 17a: Trip to Libreville? (GABON VOYAGE). Libreville is the capital and largest city, which makes it fair game.


• 27a: Din when enjoying a cigarette? (SMOKING GUNGA). This clue doesn't work for me at all. "Gunga Din" is the name of a poem. You can't just break it in half and treat each half as a synonym of the other. Well... you can, but I don't have to like it.


• 48a: LSD that's out of this world? (GALACTIC ACID). Drug reference tag.



• 64a: Boost actress Sonia? (PUSH-UP BRAGA). Unsurprisingly, my favorite clue of the bunch. At first I couldn't decide whether to grab a picture of Sonia or of a push-up bra. Turns out I didn't have to choose at all.

I like the theme idea, and most of the theme entries are fine. This is the type of theme that helps a little, in that you know a couple of letters that are going to appear. And sometimes you can suss out an answer if your brain is on the same wavelength. But it doesn't give too much away, which is good.

Sunny Spots:

• 15a: Like some professors' wardrobes (TWEEDY). As easy as this was - my only other thought was STODGY - I really like this word.



• 22d: Blue screen character (SMURF). Very nice clue!

Sundries:

• 1a: Harridans (HAGS). I'm pretty sure I've seen harridan in puzzles before, but I didn't know what it was right away.


• 22a: "Lady" group (STYX). I didn't even see this clue.




• 23a: Clown employers (RODEOS). Nice clue. Rodeo clowns are those crazy dudes who distract the bull so the rider can get the hell out of there without being trampled on. I know; I have cable.


• 32a: Show featuring hair and fiber expert Nick Stokes (CSI). The name was useless to me, but what other show would feature a hair and fiber expert?


• 35a: Crustacean eater (IBIS). Interesting clue for this one. Not at all my first instinct, but perfectly accurate.


• 36a: Object of an extended quest (GRAIL).




• 37a: "Oy gevalt!" (OH NO). Yeah, you don't hear "oy gevalt" much up in this neck of the woods.


• 57a: Comic strip written by Jerry Scott and illustrated by Jim Borgman (ZITS). I had no idea who wrote or illustrated this strip. But I've seen it, so once the Z was in place it was a gimme.


• 62a: First name in swashbuckling (ERROL). Flynn, of course.


• 63a: "I'm impressed!" (OOH). 66a: Come up short (OWE). I'm vaguely amused by this duo being side by side.


• 70a: Codger (GEEZER). Both excellent words.


• 71a: Thankful closing? (NESS). I misread this clue and went with LESS (as in THANKLESS), which made 51d DARREL instead of DARREN, but it looked okay to me. Those are the tough errors to find.


• 1d: "The Red Rocker" Sammy (HAGAR). I was pretty sure it wasn't Sammy Davis (Jr.)




• 2d: Poplar tree (ALAMO). Went with ASPEN at first, as I expect we were supposed to. Did I know that alamo was a kind of tree? Maybe somewhere in the dark recesses, but it didn't leap out.


• 4d: Calculi (STONES). As a math major, I remember that calculus means stone - I think it may harken back to the abacus, but I could be wrong and I'm too lazy to double-check - so this wasn't too hard. I would have preferred a more brash clue like chutzpah or cajones, though.


• 5d: "Buzzin'" network (MTV). I can't remember the last time I watched anything on MTV. Remember when they actually ran music videos?


• 6d: "The ___ Adventure" (1984 TV movie) (EWOK). Never saw it. The Ewoks were, in my opinion, the lowlight of the entire first trilogy. Luckily for them, the prequel trilogy came out to provide plenty of lowlight competition. Next to Jar Jar Binks, the Ewoks look mighty fine.


• 10d: Change your locks? (DYE). I wasn't fooled on this one for even a second.


• 11d: Cocktail with scotch and Drambuie (RUSTY NAIL). Booze tag! I've heard of this coctail, but never had one. Scotch should be single malt and unadulterated except for a splash of pure water.


• 18d: Rich girl in "90210" (NAOMI). Never watched it, but I had the _AOM_ before I saw the clue, so it was a pretty easy guess.




• 24d: Jerks (SOBS). I'm assuming this is S.O.B.s, as in sons of bitches, as I can't think of a context in which sobbing and jerking are the same.


• 29d: Oldest brother in Hanson (ISAAC). No clue, but again the double-A made it pretty clear.


• 30d: Arizona county that borders Maricopa (GILA). My first instincts were MESA and TAOS, but GILA was a close third.


• 31d: Film composer North who was nominated for 15 Oscars (ALEX). Didn't know it, but never saw the clue until it was all filled in.


• 32d: Where whips can be seen: Abbr. (CONG). In congress, the majority and minority whips are the disciplinarians of their party.


• 33d: Dan Uggla hit the last home run there (SHEA). Never forget that this is a New York-based puzzle.


• 34d: Flustered (IN A LATHER).


• 41d: Place "it's fun to stay at," according to song (YMCA). This is a Monday clue for a Wednesday puzzle.


• 44d: Paleon., e.g. (SCI). Ick. SCI always feels like it's going to be a decent fill when you're making a grid, but its clues tend to be really ugly, like this one.


• 46d: Record marking (SIDE B). Never saw this clue either.


• 50d: Real (IN ESSE). Latin that shows up enough to remember.


• 51d: Running back McFadden (DARREN). Had DARREL, due to my above-mentioned misread of 71a.



• 55d: "Animal House" party wear (TOGAS). My first-ever R-rated film. It still holds a special place in my memories.


• 58d: Big Ten wrestling powerhouse (IOWA). If you say so. Still, I got it right away.


• 60d: Cheez ___ (WHIZ). Almost worthy of a potty humor tag, but not quite.


• 61d: Pull some strings? (TUNE). Cute.



• 64d: Breed sometimes crossed with a beagle (PUG). What breed isn't sometimes crossed with a beagle? Granted, some combinations are harder to envision that others, but love works in strange ways.

Suns of Bitches:

• 21a: Boutros's successor at the U.N. (KOFI) crossing 7d: Singer with the Grammy-winning R&B album "Because of You" (NEYO) is just mean. Even if you know one or both, crossing KOFI and NEYO at a vowel should give you pause. Throw in 5a: Knit (MENDED), which could just as easily have been MELDED and you've got yourself a pretty nasty section for a Wednesday puzzle.

Except for the KOFI/NEYO/ME(L|N)DED sector and the GUNGA DIN theme entry, no major complaints.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Title: Spin Doctors
Author: Randall J. Hartman
Theme: Phrases in which a D___R word gets its first and last letters swapped

• 17a: Communist clothing catalog? (RED SPIEGEL). it took me forever to piece this one together. for one thing, i have no idea what SPIEGEL refers to. i'm familiar with j. crew, l.l. bean, and ... that's it. and i guess there must be something (a movie? a person?) called DER SPIEGEL. (edited to add: apparently it's a german news weekly.) i actually thought it might be a spoonerism of SPREAD EAGLE, or perhaps a phonetic wordplay in which a SP moves from one word to another, but that didn't explain any of the other theme entries.


• 28a: Not very drunk? (LITTLE RIPPED). this would sound better as A LITTLE RIPPED.


• 49a: Business honcho who's quit? (RESIGNED SUIT). the clue feels off to me. i think RESIGNED as an adjective doesn't mean "having quit"; it means "accepting of something that is both undesirable and unavoidable," as in "RESIGNED to your fate."


• 65a: Oboist at a music store, perhaps? (REED HUNTER). this one at least makes sense, but it's a little blah.

i didn't love this theme, as you might have already guessed. it's never fun when one of the entries in a wordplay theme is unintelligible in both its original and modified forms, but both DER SPIEGEL and RED SPIEGEL meant nothing to me, so that was kind of a bummer. and two of the others felt off, as i said. part of the problem may be having recently done a very similar theme (patrick berry's 11/7 CHE puzzle; across lite link), with what i think are much better theme answers: HEADING AIR, WAGER WAD, DOLL OF THE RICE, RESIGNED JEANS (that one's pretty much the same), BAD CORES, and DEAR! MY LIPS!.

Sunny Spots:

• 9d: Penn pal (TELLER). i solved this late at night, so i was too tired to notice the extra "n" in penn. that slip turned a great, fun clue into an awfully tough clue. anyway, TELLER is the one who never talks. apparently he legally changed his name to just TELLER--no first name, no middle name. you know you've made it when you can get away with being mononymous.


• 36d: Goes in one's friend's car, say (BUMS A RIDE) and 40d: Do a perfunctory job (MAIL IT IN). two excellent colloquial expressions running side-by-side down the left part of the grid. fantastic stuff.


• 62d: U2 guitarist, with "the" (EDGE). i love his sound. it manages to be both intense and ethereal.

Sundries:

• 1a: "Kath & ___" (NBC sitcom) (KIM). i wish i didn't know this. that show looks terrible.


• 10a: Make unshowable, in a way (SPAY). eww.


• 15a: "While I strongly disagree with the court's decision, I accept it" speaker (AL GORE). his full name will be appearing in crosswords forever. he and DON HO should form a society.


• 20a: With 57-Across, WWI name that's Malay for "eye of the dawn" (MATA/HARI). she, on the other hand, almost always has to resort to part-name status in crosswords, so this is a rare treat for miss HARI.


• 23a: Ballplayers Dark and Davis who won Rookie of the Year awards (ALVINS). dark, at least, has been in the puzzle recently. i don't remember alvin davis, but he had a heck of a rookie year for seattle in 1984.


• 37a: Haloid Company, today (XEROX). i almost always appreciate some gratuitous scrabbliness.


• 38a: Christmas gift before swans (GEESE). let's see, six GEESE a-laying... is that right? and then seven swans a-swimming?


• 39a: Person who no longer has class? (ALUM). i hated this clue at first, because ALUMs still have their graduation year (i'll always be class of 2000). but i guess they don't actually "have class" any more in the sense that they do not attend class. i still don't love the clue, but i'll give it only one thumb down.


• 46a: Praline nut (PECAN). i thought a praline was its own kind of nut. is it the same as a PECAN? or a kind of PECAN? somebody enlighten me.


• 48a: Down for the count (KO'D). this would be my third-favorite way of spelling this, behind KOED and then KAYOED.


• 52a: Half court game? (ALAI). i appreciate the effort to write a more interesting clue for jai ALAI.


• 63a: Brave opponent, once (EXPO). the second of a quadrumvirate of somewhat knotty baseball clues, although this one wasn't that knotty once you worked out that it was, in fact, a baseball clue.


• 68a: Qui-Gon Jinn, for one (JEDI). obligatory weird al video: they won't let me embed it, but here's the link.


• 69a: Provenance (ORIGIN). tough clue. this was related to my problems in the texas area of the grid.


• 71a: Bullwhackers whack them (OXEN). apparently a bullwhacker is a driver of a team of cattle.


• 72a: Cabbage (DOREMI). this was the other problem i had in texas: i plugged DINERO in pretty early on. two of the crosses were right, and the other ones were at least plausible: UNO for 67d: Mono- relative (UNI-), and HER for 66d: "Run to ___" (1961 Bobby Vee hit) (HIM). so i was reluctant to let go of it, but there really wasn't anything else that could fit 60d: Dynamic beginning? (AERO-), so DINERO got the boot.


• 1d: "___ Chameleon" (1984 #1 hit for Culture Club) (KARMA). check out the sartorial stylings of boy george:

• 3d: Show that featured Hoppy Potty (MAD TV). i know of MAD TV, but not hoppy potty. was that a spoof of harry potter?


• 8d: World Series MVP a decade after Bucky (OREL hershiser). 1988, ten years after bucky "f." dent. the third clue in the quadrumvirate.


• 10d: San Quentin, for example (STATE PEN). good answer.


• 11d: Mountain near Colorado Springs (PIKE'S PEAK). why did the first name zebulon go out of style? i'm just curious.


• 27d: Freak (out) (WIG). i'm familiar with this slang usage, but i never really understood where it came from. WIG out, as in ... jump out of one's WIG?


• 29d: Tommyrot (TRIPE). we just saw TOMMYROT in the fill in yesterday's crosssynergy puzzle, so it's a little surprising to have it come up again so soon as a clue.


• 30d: "'Tis better to have ___ and lost ...": Tennyson (LOVED). that's a rather easy fill-in-the-blank clue for a sun puzzle, even on a tuesday. also in the same vein: 33d: ___ Sea Scrolls (DEAD).


• 34d: Leachman costar in "Young Frankenstein" (teri GARR). at least i think it's teri. she and MATA HARI should form their own society, along with LENA OLIN and YOKO ONO, for people who get both their names into the grid but usually not at the same time.


• 42d: Bellow in the library (SAUL). great clue! and a good writer, i guess, although i never really got into him. my mom loves his stuff, but i was slightly underwhelmed by the first chapter or so of the adventures of augie march.


• 47d: Long of "Are We There Yet?" (NIA). easy enough, whatever "are we there yet?" might be.


• 50d: Doofus (NIMROD). also the name of a green day CD. not one of their best, but i like some of the tracks very much.


• 57d: '86 teammate of Nails, Doc, and Straw (HOJO). and here's howard johnson of the 1986 mets, completing not one, but two quadrumvirates. nails is lenny dykstra, doc is dwight gooden, and straw is daryl strawberry. lots of 1980s baseball for one puzzle, no?

Suns of Bitches:

• 14a: Birthplace of Oral Roberts (ADA). in oklahoma, as you might have guessed. i wonder if she's friends with ENID.


• 53a: Lemon Grove neighbor (LA MESA). apparently these are both cities in san diego county. i've never heard of either one. but in a refreshing change, today's two obscure geographical clues have nothing to do with new york.


• 5d: Splat Pack director Roth (ELI). er, splat pack? do i even want to know?

despite the underwhelming theme, this was a pretty enjoyable puzzle. lots of just-knotty-enough spots for a tuesday, some excellent fill, and good cluing overall.

until next time.

joon

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Title: Look Ma, No Hans!
Author: Randall J. Hartman
Theme: Removing HAN from phrases.

• Hannah Montana => "NAH, MONTANA" (
• 17a: "Ain't Helena the capital of Idaho?" reply?).


• Hanover, Germany => OVER GERMANY (30a: Like a plane with a view of the Bavarian Alps?).


• Handel's Messiah => DEL'S MESSIAH (48a: Deliverer of singer Shannon?).


• Hangman's knots => G-MAN'S KNOTS (66a: Shoelace problems for an FBI agent?).

An awful lot of crossword themes involve the adding or removal of letters to phrases. Here we have an example of such that, frankly, didn't do much for me. Why? Because neither the original phrases nor the newly created ones had much zip to them. I found them to be kind of dull on both counts. Not that they were terrible or anything - they were perfectly serviceable entries. But compare this set with last Tuesday's for example, and I think you'll see what I mean. I do love the title, but that was kind of the high point of the theme.

Sunny Spots:

• 10d: Divorce alternative (ANNULMENT).


• 29d: Marriage alternative (CIVIL UNION). A nicely balanced pair of long down entries.



• 2d: Webb address? (MA'AM). Excellent. Referring to Jack Webb of "Dragnet". Just the facts, ma'am.


• 11d: Robin Hood's gal pal (MAID MARIAN). Easy, but good fill.

Sundries:

• 14a: City that's home to the Dr Pepper Museum (WACO, Texas). Of course, it's also notorious for other reasons.


• 16a: Crack investigator? (NARC). Good clue.


• 21a: Super Bowl XXIX quarterback Humphries (STAN). This name was vaguely familiar to me.


• 22a: Nagasaki noodles (UDON).


• 23a: Beginning to decline? (DEE). Cryptic letter clue.



• 27a: Bernie of "Ocean's Eleven" (MAC). I really enjoyed this remake. The sequels were okay, but didn't quite measure up to this one.


• 38a: Player who scored the tying run in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series (ALOU). Once you saw we were talking baseball and 1990s, you should immediately have thought "Hmmm, SOSA or ALOU?"


• 42a: Thing that sucks, informally (VAC). Good clue.


• 43a: "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" novelist Loos (ANITA).


• 45a: "Hedwig and the Angry ___" (INCH).


• 47a: Hold hands? (TARS). Very nice clue, referencing seagoing deckhands. A bit tricky for a Tuesday, but quite excellent regardless.


• 53a: Have an evening meal (SUP). I can't say I've ever used this as a verb, but that doesn't mean it was hard to figure.


• 65a: Toeshoe wearer's bend (PLIÉ).


• 68a: Product with a click wheel (IPOD). I use mine every day in the car to and from work. I don't know how I lived without one.


• 69a: Country whose one-euro coin has a cross on it (MALTA).



• 72a: "Little Miss Sunshine" Oscar winner (ARKIN). People loved this movie. I'm not sure why. I found it amusing in spots, but generally kind of stupid.


• 73a: Mafia boss (CAPO).


• 1d: Completely dominates (OWNS).


• 6d: Part of BFA (ARTS). Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.


• 8d: Rival of Canisius in college sports (IONA).


• 12d: First name in cubism? (ERNO). Erno Rubik, creator of the Rubik's Cube.


• 18d: Fudgees brand (OREO).



• 24d: L'Oréal spokeswoman Longoria (EVA). She's also a celebrity poker player, of sorts.


• 27d: Island rental (MOPED).


• 31d: Figure skater Stojko (ELVIS). I remember him from the Calgary Olympics.


• 33d: Parent company of Yves Saint Laurent (GUCCI).


• 37d: Some bikes (TEN SPEEDS).



• 46d: Word for tuning the third string of a ukulele (HAS). My dog has fleas. Is anyone besides Tiny Tim known for their ukelele playing? I can't think of any off-hand.


• 49d: Puzzling person (ENIGMA).


• 50d: Bruce Banner's alter ego, with "the" (HULK).


• 56d: What some boxers eat (ALPO).


• 60d: Prefix with knock or nuke (ANTI).


• 64d: Winter Olympics host the year the Summer Games were in Helsinki (OSLO).

Suns of Bitches:

• 19a: Foch of "Executive Suite" (NINA). Well, she's been in over a 150 films and shows, according to imdb.com, so I suppose I should know the name. But, this is a 1954 film and she's like the 10th person listed, so it's not like she starred in it or anything.


• 58d: "The Wire" character Little who is murdered in the antepenultimate episode of the series (OMAR). Not a clue. Never saw the show; never heard of the character.

This was an okay Tuesday for me. Nothing terribly offensive, but nothing to write home about.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Title: Horse Around
Author: Randall J. Hartman
Theme: Phrases whose beginnings and ends can be put together to form types of horses.

• 17a: *Region of the South (COTTON BELT).


• 23a: *Going rate of sorts (MARKET PRICE).



• 55a: *Filmmaker nicknamed "King of the B's" (ROGER CORMAN). This name is only vaguely familiar to me. He did direct "Little Shop of Horrors", along with such obvious masterpieces as "Attack of the Crab Monsters" and "Bloody Mama".


• 64a: *Where "SNL" is shot (GE BUILDING).



• 11d: *1993 film about an orca (FREE WILLY).


• 33d: *Caribbean combo (STEEL BAND).

This is one of those themes that's kind of cool, except that it didn't even enter into the solving of the puzzle. I had to go back and look at the title to realize what the theme was when I was finished. That's okay, except it solves like a really easy themeless. I prefer themes that I notice as I go, or figure out on my own when I'm done.

Sunny Spots:

• 21a: Dolt (AIRHEAD).


• 72a: Retouches third, say (TAGS UP). Good baseball reference here.


• 49d: Cheap booze (ROTGUT). So descriptive.



• 51d: Small portion (DOLLOP). Another great fill word. Is there anything you use a dollop of besides whipped cream?

Sundries:

• 10a: Fizzled-out firecracker sound (PFFT). I actually got this right away. I mean, what else could it be?


• 14a: "The Boys From Brazil" novelist Levin (IRA).


• 15a: Home of Yankees pitcher Chien-Ming Wang (TAIWAN).


• 19a: ___ tetra (bright aquarium fish) (NEON). I have several in my tank.


• 20a: BlackBerry message (EMAIL).



• 29a: Morales of "La Bamba" (ESAI). Gimme. Besides knowing him from "NYPD Blue", he shows up so often that you just can't miss this one.


• 39a: Like a Nehru jacket, now (RETRO).


• 42a: Got the point? (LED). This one doesn't click so much for me. Are we talking about being on point, like in the military? Or being a point guard in basketball? I guess both sort of work, but I'm not sure either was what was intended.



• 43a: Sarandon's costar in "Lorenzo's Oil" (Nick NOLTE). We also have Susan Sarandon's "Thelma and Louise" co-star, 56d: Davis of "Commander in Chief" (GEENA).


• 47a: The BoSox retired his #8 (YAZ). Too easy for any Boston fan of my age.


• 50a: Dominatrix's activity, briefly (S AND M). No, it has nothing to do with SAND. Well, I suppose it could...


• 60a: Requirement for e-commerce (WEBSITE).


• 62a: Hotelier Helmsley (LEONA).


• 69a: World Heritage List gp. (UNESCO).



• 1d: Command to an attack dog (SIC 'EM).


• 3d: Genghis Khan follower (TATAR).


• 4d: Hot, so to speak (STOLEN).


• 5d: "Saving Fish From Drowning" novelist Amy (TAN). Best known for "The Joy Luck Club".


• 18d: Former Giants running back Barber (TIKI). I don't know many Giants, and I couldn't have told you what team this guy played for, but a name like Tiki Barber sticks in the brain, so this was pretty easy for me.


• 24d: Rubber ducky's home (TUB). One of my all-time favorite Sesame Street songs.




• 25d: "Te Deum," for one (PSALM). I'm familiar with the Hector Berlioz version, which is quite impressive. Here's a taste.



• 35d: Ventriloquist Bergen (EDGAR).


• 41d: Cheri of "Scary Movie" (OTERI). Also from "Saturday Night Live", for which she is probably better known.


• 52d: "He'll give you the answer that you endorse," according to song (MR ED). A horse is a horse, of course, of course.


• 61d: Corset insert (STAY). Didn't know this off the top, but it makes sense.


• 65d: Seek change? (BEG). Cute.

Suns of Bitches:
None. Lots of names today, but all familiar to me.

Another average puzzle today. Nothing earth-shattering and nothing terrible. Just an easy Tuesday with a theme that would have gone unnoticed without the title, and not too much to talk about.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

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

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


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


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



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


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

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

Sunny Spots:

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


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


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


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


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


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

Sundries:

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


• 4a: Slander or libel (DEFAME).


• 10a: Pop (DAD).


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


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


• 19a: Soda bottle size (LITER).


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


• 62a: Under the weather (ILL).



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


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


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


• 66a: Shop tool (SANDER).


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


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


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


• 3d: Tear up, maybe (GRIEVE).


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


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


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


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


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


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


• 11d: Put in a row (ALIGN).


• 12d: Cub Scout groups (DENS).


• 13d: Hi-tech connection (DSL).


• 17d: Goad (PROD).


• 21d: Bring to bear (EXERT).


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


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



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


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


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


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


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


• 36d: Big bang letters (TNT).


• 39d: Othello piece (DISC).


• 46d: Cell impulse transmitter (AXON).


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


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


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


• 51d: Exceedingly (NO END).


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

Suns of Bitches:

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


• 31a: Explorer Tasman (ABEL). Ditto.


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

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

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

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.