Friday, February 27, 2009

Title: Think Twice
Author: Mark Diehl
Theme: Double edged -- all squares around the perimeter contain two letters each.

• 17a: Fuzz busters? (RaZORBLADES). A nice clue here, evoking the slang for a radar detector.



• 40a: Excalibur and Glamdring (BROADSWORDS). Glamdring was the name of the sword found in the troll lair in "The Hobbit" and wielded by Gandalf throughout the rest of that book and through the "Lord of the Rings". That single reference warrants a geek tag like no other reference I've ever seen. Awesome!


• 64a: Like 17- and 40-Across (and this puzzle) (DOUBLE-EDGEd).


I love this theme. I really do. I knew there was something funky going on (not in the 39d: Funk (ODOR) sense of the word) when so few words were fitting where I thought they should go. The one that confirmed there was something up was HALTER, which I knew had to be right. Then I got the theme clue and it all fell into place beautifully. Not to say it wasn't still a challenge, because it was. Perfect for a Friday.

Here are the rest of the edge clues:



• 1a: Arctic game (CaRiBoUs). This one threw me a bit, even after I knew the theme, because I've always thought the plural of caribou was caribou (like moose and deer). I've never heard it pluralized in this fashion, though the dictionary backs it as an option. Caribou is also the name of an alcoholic concoction commonly drank in unseemly quantities at Quebec Winter Carnival. If you've been to Quebec in the winter, you'll understand the appeal.


• 5a: 2001 Robert De Niro film (ThE sCoRe). Great film, also starring Edward Norton and featuring Marlon Brando.


• 9a: Oscar-winning song from "Captain Carey, U.S.A." (MoNa LiSa). This classic, sung by Nat King Cole, was the first "Best Song" Oscar from a non-musical drama. Here, I hope, is a link to it. (My company has blocked my access to youtube, so I can't verify it. If it's wrong, I apologize.)


• 13a: Derby distance (MeTRE). Derby is a city in England, hence the spelling. Not the distance of a particular race or of a hat of any kind. I confidently put MILE here before I knew what was going on.


• 16a: "Little House on the Prairie" tribe (OSAGe).


• 19a: Miranda Cosgrove TV character surnamed Shay (CARLy). Didn't know this at all. You might remember her as Summer, the cocky girl who becomes the band manager in "School of Rock".



• 23a: Garner (JeNN). Just kidding. It's ReAP.


• 27a: Slush fund purchase? (SNOWTIRe). Ouch.


• 31a: Traverse (CoURSE).


• 35a: Ballpark figures (ERAs).


• 36a: "A Journal of the Plague Year" author (DeFOE). I couldn't have named a single thing he wrote other than Robinson Crusoe. I suspect I'm not alone here.


• 38a: Affixes, in a way (IRONS On).


• 43a: To such an extent (as) (InSOFAR).



• 46a: Word with space or rock (OPERa). I assume that's opera space, not space opera? Maybe I'm wrong. Has "Star Wars" been made into a musical yet?


• 49a: Nana (GrAN).


• 52a: Injustices (WRONGs).


• 53a: "Count me in!" (I'd LOVE TO). Great fill.


• 57a: Drawn figure (TOOn).


• 61a: Draw back (CoWER).


• 69a: Certain furbearer (StOAT). Furbearer is a weird word. Are we skinbearers? Are fish scalebearers?


• 71a: Con game (BUNKo).



• 72a: Party mix ingredient (CoRn ChEx). Mmmmm. Party mix.


• 73a: Cause (EnGeNdEr).


• 74a: Military unit insignia (ArM pAtCh).


• 1d: Shooter's device (CaMeRa).


• 2d: It's scalloped (RiTZ). I couldn't figure out where this clue was going to save my life. Then I got it from crossings and went "Doh!".


• 3d: Jersey municipality (BoRO).


• 4d: They're not clean (UsERS). Drug reference.


• 5d: Calliope kin (ThALIA). Muses. Usually, it's Erato.


• 6d: Conveyance in an emergency (EsCAPE POD). Love it.


• 7d: Mixed (CoED). Sensitively clued as the adjective, not the more-politically-incorrect noun.


• 8d: Make available (ReLEASE). As DVDs, CDs, games, etc.


• 9d: Kid's farm sighting (MoO-COW). As opposed to all those baa-cows and neigh-cows out there. This felt like a bit of a stretch, but I can accept it. I guess.


• 10d: Columbia org. (NaSA). The space shuttle Columbia, not the city or the school.


• 11d: Trust buster? (LiAR).


• 12d: With prudence (SaGeLy).


• 23d: Change, as a computer program (ReCoDe). Well, sort of. Recode typically implies that you're starting from scratch, not modifying an existing program. So, if you start from scratch to create something that does basically the same thing, is it the same computer program anymore? Maybe it depends on whether you name it the same thing.



• 30d: Think in a logical manner (ReAsOn). "Logic is little tweeting bird chirping in meadow."


• 42d: Citizen part (WATCHBANd).


• 43d: Anastasia portrayer (InGrId). Bergman, of course.


• 48d: Teases (RaGs On).


• 51d: Ran a successful pass pattern (GOT OPEn). I like this fill a lot.


• 54d: Top (VERTEx).


• 56d: Kind of top (HALTEr).


• 60d: Keep out (DEBAr).


• 61d: Place to buy Kirkland Signature products (CoStCo). Never shopped there; never heard of Kirkland Signature products.


• 62d: Spent (WORn).


• 63d: Not together (EACh).


• 65d: Lean on (URGe).


• 66d: Sell off rapidly (DUMp).


• 67d: Black fly (GNAt).


• 68d: Successor to Joseph Wapner (Ed KoCh).

Sundries:

• 58a: Polish phrases, say (EDIT). Very cute clue.


• 70a: Presumably thin guy of rhyme (SPRAT). Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean.


• 18d: Animated TV dog (BLUE). I don't know what this references.


• 22d: Start of a saying about forgiveness (TO ERR).



• 28d: Hamilton (TENSPOT). I've never called a 10-dollar bill a "Hamilton", but then again I've never called it a tenspot either. I do know that Alexander Hamilton is on the ten, though, so it's not a reach.


• 37d: Pulsating pair (CAROTIDS).


• 47d: Spoon drummer Jim (ENO). Is he related to Brian?


• 52d: Osso buco ingredient (WINE). First guess VEAL; second guess BONE; finally figured it out.

This was a really beautiful puzzle, and a great send-off (hopefully not forever) for the Sun puzzle series.

I've had a great time blogging and want to thank everyone who came to read and/or post along the way, and to all those who have supported me, openly and behind the scenes. You know who you are.


Special thanks to Peter Gordon who, if you ask me, shouldn't have to pay for a single drink this whole weekend. If you see this guy, show your love.

Well, in the words of one Bilbo Baggins...

I regret to announce, this is the end.
I'm going now - I bid you all a very fond farewell.

Good-bye 

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Title: Five of Twelve
Author: Tony Orbach
Theme: People who have months as names

• 5d: 1946 Best Actor winner for "The Best Years of Our Lives" (FREDRIC MARCH).


• 10d: Pulitzer-winning "Fences" playwright (AUGUST WILSON).



• 23d: Betty Draper portrayer on "Mad Men" (JANUARY JONES).


• 26d: "Lost in Space" actress (JUNE LOCKHART).


• 30d: Baltimore Orioles player who led the A.L. in RBIs in 1976 (LEE MAY). The plural of RBI is RBI. No 's' required.

I'm not sure all these names are Monday material, but that didn't bother me much. The theme was pretty easy to figure, and the names I didn't know at least sounded familiar. And I like that the title evokes the ex-Borg-collective character Seven of Nine, from Star Trek Voyager. The theme answers run down in a 15x16 grid to more easily accommodate the four pesky 12-letter fills, which would be much more constrictive in a 15x15.

The non-theme fill:

• 1a: Vittles (CHOW). My first instinct was GRUB, but CHOW is good too.


• 13a: Ring of the Lord? (HALO). Cute play on "Lord of the Rings", which I've been watching on TV tonight. I don't why, since I have the disks and can watch it without commercials. Am I the only one who will watch something on TV that they own but weren't motivated to put in the DVD player? Though in fairness to me, I was interspersing with the Star Wars movies on another channel, with 2d: Sci-fi character Solo (HAN). I must really sound like a geek. And that's without even referring to HALO, the XBox game (which I don't own, just so you know).


• 16a: Jakarta's country (INDONESIA). This is weird, because I just rewatched "The Year of Living Dangerously" last night, which is a really good film set in Jakarta, Indonesia. It stars a young Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver, with an Oscar-winning performance by Linda Hunt, who plays a male dwarf named Billy Kwan.




• 20a: Cerulean (AZURE). Light blue. Tough clue for a Monday.


• 21a: British rule of India (RAJ), which happens to cross 22d: Turkish general (AGA). Both are three-letter crossword staples.


• 32a: Lunatic (MANIAC).


• 34a: Allowing the sale of alcoholic beverages (WET). This is probably a much more familiar term if you live somewhere near a dry county, where sales of alcohol are prohibited.


• 37a: Certain turban wearer (SIKH). I'm glad I read the clue. I had __KH and almost filled in ANKH without looking.


• 46a: San Luis ___, California (OBISPO). I'm a bit on the dyslexic side and can never remember if this is OBISPO or OPISBO. I guessed wrong first this time, led astray by 47d: Watering hole (PUB), which I figured was BAR. This clue pairs up nicely with 65d: "The Bridge of San Luis ___" (REY).



• 50a: Froyo chain (TCBY). This is Monday, right? Who or what is a Froyo? Is this the founder of the chain? Nope, further research indicates that it's slang for FROzen YOgurt. Go figure.


• 52a: Early Nets great, familiarly (DR J). Julius Erving, though I know him from his much longer time with the Sixers.


• 61a: Dressed to the ___ (decked out) (NINES). I can't find a definitive explanation for where this expression comes from.


• 67a: HUAC part (AMER). HUAC is the House Un-American Activities Committee. Typically, "part" of an initialism is one of the comprising words, or its abbreviation. But the 'A' here is activities, so this just feels a bit off to me.


• 68a: Like Cialis takers (MALE). I've complained about this type of clue before. It's limp. Choice of words intended.


• 69a: Coin worth 100 centavos (PESO).


• 71a: "Jeepers!" (OH MY).


• 1d: Penultimate Greek consonant (CHI). ...phi, chi, psi, omega.


• 6d: "All Around the World" band (OASIS). I had OAS__ by the time I got to this clue, so it wasn't a challenge even though I didn't know the song in question.




• 7d: Dust Bowl soul (OKIE). I read "The Grapes of Wrath" years ago. I should probably read it again sometime.


• 9d: Country runner, familiarly (PREZ). I had PRES, which slowed things down a bit.


• 11d: Its opening voice-over ended "to boldly go where no man has gone before" (STAR TREK). The original series. "The Next Generation" went with the gender-neutral "...where no one has gone before". Both are shows where you might find a 12d: Wordless communicator (TELEPATH).


• 17d: ___ Coliseum (home of the Islanders) (NASSAU). I rarely watch hockey, and haven't in 20+ years. And yet I knew this right away. It's nice to see a few sports venues that don't sell out to the highest bidder and rename their stadium every few years.


• 38d: You might turn up the heat during one (COLD SNAP). Won't be long now.


• 48d: Available without an Rx (OTC). Over the counter.


• 54d: Baseball's Tommie and others (AGEES). Plural names for which you can't find two famous people are always a little icky.


• 57d: Comedian who wrote "If Roast Beef Could Fly" (LENO).


• 59d: "Garfield" waitress (IRMA). I'm not a Garfield fan.



• 60d: Sport with wrestlers called rikishi (SUMO).


• 63d: Shout from the bleachers (RAH). Do people besides cheerleaders actually say "Rah"? And if so, why? Where'd it come from?

A couple of missteps and a few tricky clues made this a tad harder than your average Monday, I thought. But there was plenty of good fill, resulting in an enjoyable solve. The inclusion of both a Star Wars and Star Trek clue warrants a "geek" tag.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.