Title: Cold Storage Author: Doug Peterson Theme: Add the "Br" sound to phrases.
Heart's ease => HEARTS BREEZE (20a: Simple task for a ticker?).
All for one => BRAWL FOR ONE (28a: Bout of self-flagellation?).
Anne Frank => BRAN FRANK (35a: High-fiber ballpark food item?). Ewww.
Bass ale => BASS BRAILLE (49a: Raised writing on a largemouth?). Despite the fact that it derives from a beer, and not a bad one at that, this is by far the weakest and weirdest of the theme entries. Bass braille? Sorry. Doesn't work for me.
Oohs and ahhs => BREWS AND BRAS (56a: Subtitle for a "Girls Gone Wild" video?). This one's almost as bad.
Not too much to say today, which is just as well since it wouldn't mostly be good, so let's get to it.
Sunny Spots:
Kudos for the Boston area references:
43a: "Bringing Down the House" sch. (MIT).
44a: 2004 and 2007 World Series champs (BOSOX).
8d: His #4 hangs from the ceiling of TD Banknorth Garden (BOBBY ORR).
Sundries:
14a: Disappearing sea (ARAL). Crossword staple.
15a: Los Angeles cap symbol (HALO).
16a: Marisa of "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" (TOMEI).
26a: Singer's tongue (YIDDISH). Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Nobel-winning author, and leader of the Yiddish literary movement, according to Wikipedia. I never heard of him, but that didn't mean it was hard to figure out the answer.
31a: Role for Keanu (NEO). Of "The Matrix".
34a: "You don't say!" (GEE) and 52a: "Holy cow!" (OMIGOSH). Two nice in-the-language entries.
66a: God head? (DEMI). Cryptic prefix.
69a: "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" costar (CRUZ). Penelope I assume, but I'm too lazy to look it up.
1d: With 18-Across, bought shots on credit (RAN A TAB).
3d: Place where you won't find free spirits? (CASHBAR). These two are enough to warrant a booze tag, don't you think?
4d: Bauhaus artist Paul (KLEE).
5d: Che Guevara portrayer in 1969 (Omar SHARIF).
9d: "The Father of English History" (ST BEDE).
12d: River through Rochester (GENESEE).
13d: TV's "Science Kid" (SID).
38d: Hawk or Raptor, e.g. (NBAER).
39d: Pond swimmer (KOI).
41d: Snoopy often drove one (ZAMBONI).
49d: Spot alternative (BOWSER). Dogs' names.
50d: Pandemonium (BEDLAM).
51d: "Star Wars" good guys (REBELS).
53d: Garage door opener company (GENIE).
59d: Math game with matchsticks (NIM). I vaguely remember this from years ago.
62d: Ratite on a ranch (EMU). If you knew that a ratite was a flightless bird, you'd be all over this one.
63d: Virtuoso (WIZ).
Suns of Bitches:
33a: Son of Prince Valiant (ARN).
22d: Actress Lisa (RINNA).
Forty lashes with a wet noodle for crossing ARN and RINNA. What are you thinking?
2d: "Colección de ___" (2002 Shakira album) (ORO).
37d: Iranian city that's the birthplace of Omar Khayyám (NISHAPUR). Say what?
57d: "Stoned Soul Picnic" songwriter (NYRO). Never heard of him/her.
I must say I really didn't care too much for this puzzle. The theme felt lame and there too many fills I didn't like, including the ARN/RINNA cross which is just hideous. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood. You guys can decide.
It's unusual to have a Weekend Warrior back-to-back with a Themeless Thursday; usually they alternate. But I'm not complaining -- I like a good, challenging themeless.
This one got off to a slow start, as two clues that probably should have been gimmes didn't fall without some crossings. The first was right at the top: 1a: City renamed in 1961 (STALINGRAD). I immediately thought of Leningrad/St. Petersburg, but the dates were off and neither fit. Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd in 1961, and in retrospect I'm not so sure it should have been a gimme at all. But I was on the right track. The second should-have-been-easier clue was 17a: "Appetite for Destruction" band (GUNS 'N' ROSES), but I kept thinking Def Leppard or Judas Priest or Motley Crüe. All of which, coincidentally, fit. Well, all but Judas Priest, but who's counting? The true gimme and starting point of the puzzle for me was 26a: Whopper's toppers (SESAME SEEDS), which might have been more help if not for the commonness of the letters, but still was enough to nail 27d: Tragedy divisions (ACTS), 23d: He owned a jet named Big Bunny (Hugh HEFNER, of Playboy Magazine fame), and 24d: Offshore (ASEA). That gave me a decent foothold.
The last section to fall was the New England region, where even guessing right on 20a: Go out briefly? (TAKE A NAP, which could have been TAKE FIVE, though it probably wouldn't have warranted a question mark) wasn't enough to immediately counter the wrong turns at 11a: Old shoe accessory (SPAT): TREE, HORN, ... And I stared at BREA__ for 36a: Confront (BREAST) for way too long without it clicking. What a waste of a good BREAST fill, especially with HEFNER in the puzzle.
40a: 1971 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hit (MR BOJANGLES). Excellent fill and song. I'm more familiar with the Bob Dylan version, but it was actually originally recorded by Jerry Jeff Walker. Here's the original. According to Wikipedia: "Artists as diverse as Sammy Davis Jr., The Wyvern Community Jazz Orchestra, Dave Jarvis, Queen Ifrica, Chet Atkins, Frank Sinatra, Rod McKuen, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Whitney Houston, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Jim Croce, Harry Belafonte, Elton John, Lulu, Arlo Guthrie, Nina Simone, Esther Phillips, John Denver, David Bromberg, Neil Diamond, Tom T. Hall, Radka Toneff, John Holt, Bermuda Triangle Band, Robbie Williams, David Campbell, Jamie Cullum, Ray Quinn, Edwyn Collins, Frankie Laine and Jamie Walker from blues band Tantrum have all covered the song." That's pretty amazing, isn't it?
34d: "Gimme a break!" (PUH-LEEZE). I looked at 57a: Commando arms, figured (correctly) that was probably UZIS, checked the Z-crossing and immediately knew what it was going to be. But I smiled as I entered it.
35d: Professional offer? (ASSASSIN). One of my favorite clues of the puzzle. I'm not crazy about fill words that just add -ER to a verb, but as a clue -- one who "offs" people for a living -- that's just brilliant! One of my favorite authors, Lawrence Block, has several collections of short stories about a mild-mannered assassin. They're not as good as the Matthew Scudder or Bernie Rhodenbarr series, but they're a fun read.
Sundries:
15a: Wishy-washy (IRRESOLUTE). I was expecting something more colloquial here.
16a: Mercyhurst College site (ERIE). This one's too obscure to apply the ERIE rule to, isn't it? I mean, there are hundreds of towns and cities that could fit: Umm... Mesa, errr... Reno, ahh... ok, I can't think of many right now but I'm sure there are many more.
19a: Phrase akin to viz. (ID EST).
22a: Big sizes: Abbr. (LGS). Went with XLS, first, which seemed a more likely letter combo in a Weekend Warrior.
30a: Wilderness campaign figure (LEE). I'm assuming Robert E... Yep, Lee vs Grant.
34a: Antiquer's addition (PATINA). I always thought PATINA was a cool word.
37a: Dustup (TUSSLE).
38a: Summit marker (CAIRN). I'm pretty sure I learned the word cairn from reading J.R.R. Tolkein. Because that's what I think of when I see it.
39a: "Exes & ___" (Logo TV series) (OHS). What's Logo? It that a network? It's not one in my cable line-up, that I know of. Still, the answer is pretty easily deduced.
45a: Responsibility (BLAME). Well, YES AND NO (49a: Ambivalent response). One has a generally positive connotation while the other is pretty strictly negative. But there are certainly sentences where they can be used interchangeably.
47a: Film composer Menken (ALAN). Seen it before; still needed the leading A before it clicked.
54a: Birthstone for many Pisces (AQUAMARINE).
58a: College team whose mascot is Sebastian the Ibis (HURRICANES). Had no idea, but I know ibises are southern birds and I know that the University of Miami (the one in Florida, not the one in Ohio) are the Hurricanes, so it all fit.
59a: Parent's contribution (GENE). Well, TUITION didn't fit.
60a: Despairs (LOSES HEART).
1d: Magical symbols (SIGILS). I'm pretty sure I've seen this in puzzles before.
2d: Schlep (TRUDGE).
3d: Longtime Blake costar (ARNESS). On "Gunsmoke", James Arness played Matt Dillon and Amanda Blake played Miss Kitty.
7d: ___-Write (fluorescent marker brand) (GLO). Easy guess, even if you didn't know it.
8d: Purloins sirloins? (RUSTLES). Sometimes rhyming clues go too far. You rustle live cattle, not specific cuts of meat.
9d: Standing order? (AT EASE).
10d: Computer support? (DESK). Groan.
12d: Maker of Stix (PRINGLES). I couldn't decide if Stix was a food or a toy, so that slowed me down a bit.
13d: Signal that starts a scramble (AIR ALERT). Tried RED ALERT first, which didn't help that nasty corner any.
14d: Hide quarters (TEEPEES). Get it? Houses made from animal hides? Cute.
21d: Folded carrier (EASTERN). As in airline that went bankrupt. Very nice and tricky clue.
28d: Delivery specialists (MAILMEN). I had the leading M and was stuck trying to recall MIDWIVES from the recesses of my brain. Of course, it wouldn't have fit, but I didn't know that until I dredged it up.
29d: Pungent-smelling fruit (DURIAN). I remember reading about this fruit, possibly in Alex Garland's "The Beach", which was a wonderfully-written novel. I never went to see the film version, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, as I had my doubts that it would translate well to film and didn't want to ruin it.
33d: Kraft brand (TANG). There were some guys back in college days who used to add powdered tang to vodka and call it a screwdriver. Sometimes I wonder how we all made it through (well, actually, not all of us did).
36d: Setting of Steinbeck's "The Pearl," familiarly (BAJA). Hey, I just remembered another four-letter place name!
37d: Decorative drinking vessel (TOBY JUG). This rang a very vague bell, but I couldn't have told you what it was.
38d: Ochre and others (COLOURS). This is the kind of clue that can trip up newcomers to crosswords. Ochre is a British variant of the color Ocher, so the answer will also be a British variant.
41d: "Macbeth" character (BANQUO). Took too long to get this. I need to reread some classic Shakespeare.
42d: Fashion magazine aimed at Hispanic women (LATINA). Or just "Hispanic women".
43d: "The Spirit" cartoonist Will (EISNER). I had no idea. Is he related to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner?
46d: Shot with a high cue (MASSÉ). In order to impart the kind of spin on a pool ball that results in the ball curving sharply, you need to strike the ball in an almost vertical direction. Hence the "high cue". Here's my all-time favorite clip on massé shots, and one of my favorite clips of all time, period. Whether you shoot pool or not, it's totally amazing!
50d: Eponymous botanist Anders (DAHL). Whence the name Dahlia, I would assume. Interesting twist from the standard Roald Dahl clues.
51d: Schickele character (BACH). That's P.D.Q. Bach, the comic creation of musician/comedian Peter Schickele.
55d: Is relative (ARE). Saw right through this one.
56d: Start to understand? (MIS). Cryptic prefix clue.
Suns of Bitches:
23a: Haarlem museum honoree (HALS). Haarlem, Netherlands, where Dutch painter Frans Hals apparently died. I'm not that up on my painters, and this is not a familiar name to me.
I definitely was not as NIMBLE (9a: Quick-witted) today as I felt I should have been. There were several clues that, in retrospect, should not have perplexed me nearly to the level they did.
The Works:
1a: Cartoon character with his own club (BAMM-BAMM). I did not realize this name had double Ms in it. But I was pretty sure of the answer, so it was the only thing that made sense.
15a: Colorful broadsheet (USA TODAY). For some reason, broadsheet was not registering as a word I knew. Now it seems so obvious.
16a: Flipped over (ADORED). Decent misdirection here.
17a: Side neighbor (MAIN DISH). This is one of those that I felt I should have figured out sooner, but I was hung up on anatomy (some might say that's not a surprise). A definite "Doh!"
18a: Checking out? (MATING). This clue threw me. If people mated with everyone they checked out, then the world population problem would be even worse than it is. I finally realized it was chess reference (checking the player in such a way that they are out of the game), but I can't say I'm crazy about it.
20a: Union demands (DUES). Good clue. Makes you think it's some strike-related demand for better wages or benefits.
22a: Angry outburst (HISSY). Love the word HISSY. Excellent!
23a: Raider of note (LARA CROFT). I am truly ashamed at how long I went without realizing where this one was going. I'd say I have too much football on the brain, except it took a while for 37a: Busy time for bookmakers (SUPERBOWL SUNDAY) to click in.
25a: Fills a chamber, in a way (ECHOES). Cute.
29a: Bush beast, briefly (ROO). Nothing political here.
33a: "Major ___" (1995 Damon Wayans film) (PAYNE). I'm pretty sure I didn't see this one. If I did, I've blocked it from my memory.
41a: Draped duds (SARIS). Went for TOGAS first; changed it to SARIS when it seemed clear that 23d: Untoward expressions (LEERS) ended in S. Do sororities ever have Sari Parties?
42a: Wig out (GO APE). Both evocative phrases, though most of the apes I've seen live have been pretty darn mellow. Not sure whence the "wig" of "wig out" comes. Did some dude lose his toupée and freak out?
47a: Resounding win (LANDSLIDE). Also a classic Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac song.
57a: Deliver, as an indictment (HAND UP).
59a: Griddle creations (OATCAKES). I'm sure I'm not the only one who went with PANCAKES at first.
61a: Gazi University city (ANKARA). Yeah, whatever. Might as well just say "City" or "Asian City" and let us guess which one via the crossings.
62a: Alex Trebek, by birth (ONTARIAN). I knew CANADIAN was too easy.
63a: ConAgra brand (WESSON). Used to be Beatrice back when I watched more TV. Apparently, it was sold to ConAgra in 1990.
64a: Programmer's concern (NIELSENS). As a software engineer, I took the bait here. It's television programs, not computer programs.
1d: Nappies cover them (BUMS). British for diaper.
2d: Hustler's letters (ASAP). Was this clue meant to evoke Hustler magazine? Hmmm... I wonder.
3d: Mother of Hermes (MAIA). I used the ERIE rule here and guessed HERA, which slowed down this section considerably.
5d: Bombshell's asset (BOD). My first instinct was GAM; I wasn't far off.
6d: Brand affiliated with Muhammad Ali (ADIDAS).
7d: Mehta contemporary (MASUR). Went with OZAWA first.
8d: #1 song of 1998 (MY HEART WILL GO ON). I don't listen to Celine Dion and I haven't seen "Titanic", so this was all crossings and inferences. I have heard an x-rated parody, though, by John "Dr. Dirty" Valby. I will not include it here, but if you're tastes run that way, Google is your friend.
9d: '60s theater (NAM). Theater of war.
10d: The Vandals' school (IDAHO). The team name of the University of Idaho. You gotta be a real college sports fanatic, or have lived in Idaho I suppose, to know this.
11d: Recurrent elements (MOTIFS). Good fill word.
12d: Took offense with (BRISTLED AT). Also very nice.
21d: Lowers (SCOWLS). I totally didn't understand this clue. In fact, I thought for a minute that maybe the clue was a typo and it should have been "Glowers". But no, to lower is to frown or scowl. Learn something new every day.
24d: Fails to keep (ROTS). Good clue, with many possible interpretations.
25d: Derby holder (EPSOM). I was thinking hats, not horse races. But I've seen this enough that it made sense.
26d: Women's hat linings (CAULS). The primary definitions of a caul are:
the large fatty omentum covering the intestines (as of a cow, sheep, or pig); and
the inner fetal membrane of higher vertebrates especially when covering the head at birth
But it is apparently also a type of type-fitting cap.
27d: They're often underlined (HYPERLINKS). Very nice.
28d: Square that's also a cube (ONE). Also sixty-four (8 squared or 4 cubed), but that didn't fit.
32d: "Algiers" star (Charles BOYER). This is a 1938 film that I've never seen. In fact, I don't think I've heard of Charles Boyer, though I am familiar with Hedy Lamarr.
34d: In a bigger way (MORESO).
35d: Baroque piece (FUGUE). It's Friday, good time to check out the very cool "Fugue for Friday", based on the "dum-da-dump-dump" theme from Dragnet. Definitly listen to this if you haven't heard it before.
38d: Foot specialist? (BARD). [Groan].
44d: Mei Xiang and Tai Shan, e.g. (PANDAS).
46d: "Swan Lake" princess (ODETTE). This has shown up before, and it will show up again. I should know it off the top by now, but I don't always.
54d: Depression-era demonym (OKIE). A demonym is a name based on where someone is from.
58d: Knock (PAN).
60d: Columnist Thomas (CAL). Didn't know it. Don't listen to this type of thing.
Overall, I thought this was a very decent Weekend Warrior. Good long fill, challenging clues, and ultimately solvable -- even if it took longer than it probably should have. Nice job.
1a: Indication of a bun in the oven? (BABY BUMP). I really like this entry a lot. Very nice 1a fill.
17a: Coffeehouse dunkables (BISCOTTI). This has the double bonus of being a cool word and a tasty food.
35a: Telecommuting reduces it (CARBON FOOTPRINT). I'm in quandary. I drive about 65 miles each way to work in a Honda CRV. It's mostly highway, but it's quite hilly, and I normally average around 25 or 26 miles to the gallon with cruise control set around 72 mph. Yesterday, as an experiment, I drove as passively as I could, trying to maximum fuel efficiency. I was able to average over 33 mpg round trip, at an average speed of about 60 mph (slower up hills). So I can improve my fuel efficiency better than 25%, but at the cost of adding 20% to my time, which is about 40 minutes a day. Is it worth it? Hmmm...
8d: Brown Bears' adversaries (PRINCETON TIGERS). It's not the (some college) Brown Bears, it's the Brown (University) Bears. Nice clue!
25d: "What would your mother say?!" (SHAME SHAME). Very good.
44d: She accompanied Ferris on his day off (SLOANE).
Sundries:
9a: Razzie Award winners (WORSTS).
15a: Part of M.E. (EXAMINER). Gumme for anyone who reads or watches crime dramas or murder mysteries.
16a: First name in the second group of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (ARETHA). Not group as in musical group; group as in collection of inductees. In other words, she was inducted during the second year of inductions.
18a: Scaled-down racer (GO CART). For some reason, I wanted to spell CART with a K.
23a: City on the Black Warrior River (TUSCALOOSA).
25a: Sticky treat (SMORE).
28a: Battle of the Bulge arena: Abbr. (ETO). European Theater of Operations. This shows up with a fair amount of frequency, so remember it. Not to be confused with EDO, which is an old name for Tokyo.
29a: Comic book sidekick with a chauffeur's cap (KATO). We just saw KATO in a puzzle recently, so this was easier than it might have been.
31a: Ventriloquist Lewis (SHARI).
34a: Kids' hangout (LEA). Kids as in baby goats.
38a: Ivan directed her in "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" (UMA Thurman). Has anyone seen this film? I thought the previews looked kind of amusing, in a leave-your-brain-at-the-door, campy way, but I've heard it was pretty bad. Anyone care to offer a review?
40a: Borscht Belt outburst (OY VEY). The Borscht Belt, according to Wikipedia, is an area of the Catskills where New York jews go for vacation. It feels like a vaguely pejorative term to me; is it?
41a: Dangerous street drug (METH). Just SAY NO (39a: Refuse). Back in the 80s when Nancy Reagan started her "Just say no" crusade, there was a comedian we saw who jumped all over it, saying, "She has a plan to stop homelessness, too. It's called 'Just get a house!'". Still makes me laugh.
45a: Their outcomes are never in doubt (SHOW TRIALS).
49a: Syrup brand (EGGO). I'm familiar with the frozen waffles. Didn't realize they had a syrup, too.
50a: Chiromancer's reading material (PALM).
54a: Oil low in erucic acid (CANOLA). Erucic. Now, there's a weird-looking word.
58a: Code broken by squealers (OMERTA). Mafia code.
59a: Attaching a new handle to (RENAMING). Handle is getting pretty trite these days. It seems way overused in puzzles.
61a: Doesn't dwell on (SEES PAST).
1d: Nixon crony Rebozo (BEBE). Strangely, this one was vaguely familiar. I think I've seen it in puzzles before.
2d: Botanical angle (AXIL). We've had the AXLE, AXEL, AXIL, AXL discussion here before.
4d: Where "you can hang out with all the boys," according to song (YMCA). I'm not including a link to this one. I don't think it's necessary.
9d: Sign of puppy love? (WAG). I started with LAP.
10d: Black Bears' town (ORONO). University of Maine.
11d: Nuke, perhaps (RECOOK). No, no, no. You reheat things in a microwave, not recook. In order to recook something, you'd have to uncook it first, which, as far as I know, is impossible. It's either cooked or it's not.
12d: Isn't eliminated (STAYS ALIVE). Unlike, say, the Los Angeles Lakers, who are quite eliminated.
21d: Needlework design? (TATTOO). Cute clue.
24d: Kidd stuff (LOOT).
26d: One who can keep on running after hitting the wall (MARATHONER).
27d: Orrery element (ORB). It's one of those things that shows how the planets revolve.
30d: Like muesli (OATY). OATY is kind of lame.
31d: Riffraff (SCUM). Riffraff is a great word. Also a side character in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Man, I love Tim Curry, but he truly has no shame.
36d: Pro-Lincoln cartoonist (NAST).
48d: Galwegian, e.g. (SCOT). From Galway.
50d: Grill (PUMP). As in, for information.
57d: Estonian Air partner (SAS). Almost as frequent as EL AL, but not quite.
Suns of Bitches:
19a: Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition cover model Benitez (ELSA). Swimsuit models have names?
22a: "The Loom of Years" poet (NOYES). I was not at all familiar with this one. Here's an excerpt from the poem:
The leaves of the winter wither and sink in the forest mould To colour the flowers of April with purple and white and gold: Light and scent and music die and are born again In the heart of a grey-haired woman who wakes in a world of pain.
The hound, the fawn, and the hawk, and the doves that croon and coo, We are all one woof of the weaving and the one warp threads us through, One flying cloud on the shuttle that carries our hopes and fears As it goes thro’ the Loom of the Weaver that weaves the Web of Years
32a: '40s Nobelists Hahn and Stern (OTTOS).
60a: Oscar winner Wright (TERESA). She won Best Supporting Actress in 1943, for her role in "Mrs. Miniver".
42d: French painter Daumier (HONORÉ). I half-recognized this after I filled it in.
All in all, I liked this puzzle. Fairly challenging, but nothing so tough that it couldn't be figured out. The SE was the last section to fall for me, but that doesn't mean it went down in order, because it didn't. Of course, I was watching the Celtics and "Hell's Kitchen" as I was doing it, but still, it took some thought to break open a couple of sections. Nice job.
I'm a software engineer from New Hampshire who used to blog the NY Sun puzzle. Now it's gone, but the blog's still here. I'm not interested in doing a daily blog of other puzzles... there's enough of those already. But maybe if I post a few original puzzles now and again, enough people will come by that remember (or want to know) how good the Sun puzzles were and will SIGN UP HERE to get them going again.
