Monday, June 9, 2008

Title: Citizens of the World
Author: Mark Feldman
Theme: People whose first names are foreign countries.

• 1a: With 8-Across, "Annie John" novelist (JAMAICA / KINCAID). I am vaguely familiar with the name, but have never read her novels.


• 22a: With 25-Across, singer of "Beautiful Flower" (INDIA / ARIE). I am not even vaguely familiar with this singer.


• 33a: "Jerry Maguire" Oscar winner (CUBA GOODING JR). This one was a gimme for me.


• 48a: With 49-Across, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer (CHAD / SMITH). I'm a big fan of the RHCP. I have a half-dozen of their CDs and I've seen them live. Even so, the drummer's name didn't come to me until I had a few crossings. This is pretty obscure for a Monday puzzle.


• 61a: With 62-Across, subject of an art museum in Santa Fe (GEORGIA / O'KEEFFE). Tougher-than-average clue for a well-known artist.

I found this to be a really strange puzzle. The first thing I noticed before starting it was the triple stack of 7/7s at the top and bottom of the puzzle. That's usually indicative of a more wide-open, low-word-count themeless. A closer inspection, however, showed just the opposite. This baby has 80 entries! That's very unusual for a major 15x15 publication, where the upper limit is almost always 78 words. Combined with the stacks of 7s, that means this puzzle is jam packed with 3- and 4-letter words. I also didn't find the theme answers to be particularly suited to a Monday puzzle. CHAD SMITH? INDIA ARIE? On a Monday? Wow.

Let's look at the non-theme fill.

Sunny Spots:

• 17a: Bar drink with a red triangle logo (BASS ALE). You know this one's going to get props. Love the beer clues.


• 31a: "Puttin' On the ___" (RITZ). This was a "one hit wonder" band. I'm going to go out on a limb here and not look it up, but I think the band's name was "Taco".


• 8d: Miss Piggy's love (KERMIT). It's not easy being green. Gotta love Kermit the Frog.

Sundries:

• 15a: Senior's skin blemish (AGE SPOT). I like sparkle in the longer fill words; this one is almost anti-sparkle.


• 16a: Sign of a mistake (ERASURE). Yawn.


• 18a: Sound of gunfire (RAT-A-TAT). I truly dislike this fill, even though I knew immediately what the answer was going to be. I've never heard a gun go "rat-a-tat", except maybe in cartoons.


• 21a: Hurry (HIE). I'm going to HIE through this blog entry, as there isn't really all that much else to say.


• 32a: Forest god (PAN). Also, to write a less-than-favorable review.


• 38a: German interjection (ACH). ACH is a great interjection, in that it sounds like you're trying to cough up a furball.


• 42a: Barry Bonds's bat wood (MAPLE). Maple and ash are both common woods for bats.


• 53a: Relating to the sense of touch (TACTUAL). I really wanted this to be TACTILE. TACTUAL just doesn't sound like a word to me.


• 59a: Self-titled album of 2002 (ASHANTI). Needed some crossings on this one. Not my genre of preference.


• 60a: Verbally abuses (REVILES). One of many negative clues in this puzzle, including 4d: Beset (ASSAIL), 9d: Het up (IRATE), and 14d: Can't stand (DETEST).


• 3d: Septiembre u octubre, por ejemplo (MES). I only know this because it's used so often in clues.


• 7d: Finished, as a starter (ATE). Starter, as in appetizer.


• 10d: They compete with the O's for local baseball fans' affections (NATS). Baltimore Orioles and Washington D.C. Nationals (née Montreal Expos).



• 13d: Poker table declaration (I RAISE). All in!


• 20d: Tucson native (ARIZONIAN). Second longest word in the puzzle, and the only sparkle is that it includes the letter Z.


• 23d: Cop at a drug bust (NARC).


• 24d: "Mon ___!" (DIEU). ACH!


• 26d: Report of a shooting? (BANG). Are you sure? I thought it was RAT-A-TAT.


• 28d: Woebegone sound (SIGH). Sigh.


• 29d: Fop's accessory (CANE).


• 31d: Speed (RACE). Hurry! HIE!


• 36d: Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mitchell (JONI). No relation.


• 41d: Good cheer? (RAH). It's a cheer, sure. But a good cheer? Really?


• 42d: Whirlpool subsidiary (MAYTAG).


• 43d: Relaxed (AT EASE). This would have more interesting if it were clued for A TEASE.


• 44d: Rain garment (PONCHO). "Is that a real poncho, I mean is that a Mexican poncho, or is that a Sears poncho?"


• 45d: One of the Graces (THALIA). It is Monday today, isn't it?


• 46d: 2001 Audrey Tautou film (AMÉLIE). Cute film.


• 48d: Rain forest mammal (COATI).


• 51d: Breather? (LUNG). Yeah, okay.


• 52d: Onionlike vegetable (LEEK).


• 56d: Keebler cookie maker (ELF). Cute pop-culture reference.


• 57d: One who gives a standing eight count (REF). Boxing reference.

Suns of Bitches:

• 46a: Actress Magnani (ANNA).


• 2d: ___ Khan (AGA).


• 5d: Toothpaste whose mascot was Bucky Beaver (IPANA). Is this still around? I'm not familiar with it.

I can't say I cared too much for this puzzle. There were a handful of clues that were silly-hard for a Monday, and a whole slew of really boring short words. I prefer a more consistent, interesting mix. I think the theme should have targeted a little later in the week, with fill and clues to match.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Title: Thinkin' Inside the Box
Author: Peter A. Collins
Theme: Three long answers each contain two apostrophes, which are included in their own box (and crossed appropriately) within the fill. As follows:

• MRS O'LEARY'S COW (17a: Fire starter of legend), which crosses apostrophes at WE'RE (5d: "#1" follows it) and IT'S NO USE (10d: "I give up!").


• AT ONE'S WITS' END (39a: Perplexed), which crosses K'NEX (36d: Lego alternative) and C'MON (38d: When doubled, a 2002 Sheryl Crow album).


• L'HÔPITAL'S RULE (58a: Calculus topic), which crosses MA'AM (49d: Hat-tipper's word) and O'ER (52d: "___ the land ...").

This was a different kind of theme; not really a rebus (unless you use AcrossLite and have to enter A for "Apostrophe", which makes it rebus-like); more of an anti-rebus, if there is such a thing. The theme entries were okay. I like Mrs O'Leary's Cow as fill. I also kind of like L'Hôpital's Rule, but again I was a math major in college; I wonder how many people are scratching their heads on that one. "At one's wits' end" feels a touch awkward to me. I think one is at wits' end, not at one's wits' end. Love K'nex -- that's a great fill! The Sheryl Crow album sounds just vaguely familiar, and the "o'er the land..." is, of course, from our National Anthem.

Sunny Spots:

• 26a: What might be said right before sex? (SAFE). This is especially amusing, as I'm listening to baseball right now. What a novel way to resolve disputes on close tags...


• 41a: 2003 Billy Bob Thornton film (BAD SANTA). This movie is just so wrong on so many levels. It's also one of the funniest films I've ever seen. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll cringe. Pure genius, but not for everyone. Here's an ever-so-small taste. (Language warning).


• 25d: Like sweep hands? (SOOTY). Phenomenal clue, referencing chimney sweeps.


• 28d: Mount Doom visitor (FRODO). I am a big "Lord of the Rings" fan, both books and movies (books are better, but the movies rock too), so this was a very pleasant gimme. How about something tougher, like THEODRED, or GLAMDRING, or HASUFEL?


• 35d: Wavy pictures? (SEASCAPES). As in pictures of waves. Cute.

Sundries:

• 1a: Shoves aside (ELBOWS). Also another pasta to go along with 32d: Pasta pick (PENNE).



• 7a: Beginning to freeze? (ANTI). Cryptic clue, with a nice surface reading.


• 14a: Evening wingding (SOIRÉE).


• 15a: Swag (LOOT). We always use "swag" to refer to the corporate freebies companies give out as advertising (shirts, towels, frisbees, gym bags, water bottles, pens, hats, fleeces, etc.). Also as a verb, to mean "scientific wild ass guess".


• 16a: Drink in a Maugham title (ALE). Reference to "Cakes and Ale". You know we love ale around here, even if we just saw it yesterday.


• 20a: NYC setting (EDT). Eastern Daylight Time. Common clue.


• 23a: Motor Trend's 1971 Car of the Year (VEGA). That's a scary thought. We used to own a Vega, and I can't say I have great memories of its awesomeness. I think it was like mustard yellow, too. One of those horrendous 70s colors.


• 24a: John McCain's alma mater: Abbr. (U.S.N.A.). The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.


• 29a: 1997 Nielsen role (MAGOO). This movie currently rates 3.2 out of 10 at IMDb. That's pretty horrendous.


• 31a: Block party, perhaps: Abbr. (CPA). H&R Block. Ugh.


• 34a: On the line (AT RISK).


• 37a: Didn't stand tall (SLOUCHED). I have teens. They slouch. This was a piece of cake.


• 42a: Sanaa resident (YEMENI).


• 43a: Sign of success (SRO). Standing Room Only. I live in the sticks; I learned this from puzzles.


• 44a: Hannity and Combs (SEANS). What twisted genius, combining Fox TV's ultra-conservative Sean Hannity with Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. Talk about strange bedmates.


• 47a: Ten-seventeenths of MLIV (DCXX). Straight math. (As opposed to what? Gay math?)


• 51a: Peninsula with the T'aebaek Mountains (KOREA). Easily deducible if you don't know it off the top. Which I didn't.


• 54a: Console feature (DIAL).


• 55a: Dash (PEP).


• 62a: Shoebox letters (EEE). Percentage of shoeboxes that actually have EEE on them: 0.001%. Percentage of crossword clues about shoeboxes whose answer is EEE: 99.999%. Okay, I made up the numbers, but you get the point.


• 63a: Perfect copy? (EDIT). Very nice use of perfect as a verb.


• 64a: Star of "The Last Don" (Danny AIELLO). With such a vowel-rich name, I'm surprised we don't see more him in puzzles.


• 65a: The formula for it has IP in the denominator (ERA). In baseball, Earned Run Average = (Runs Scored x 9)/Innings Pitched


• 67a: Math class calculation (MEDIAN). Well, you don't exactly calculate a median per se. The median is the middle number of a set, so you have to sort the set and find the center number(s). As opposed to the mean, which you can calculate by adding all the numbers together and dividing by the number of values in the set.


• 4d: It has one stable isótopo (ORO). It's the only Spanish element I can name, I think. I'm sure I've seen the word for silver, but I can't think of it.


• 6d: Vincent's successor (SELIG). Baseball commissioner Bud SELIG succeeded Fay Vincent.


• 9d: Tamagotchi, e.g. (TOY). My kids were kids when these "digital pets" were the rage. I came awfully close to smashing one or two as they beeped incessantly while the kids were upstairs sleeping.


• 11d: Literally, "wadding" (TACO). I never knew that. That's kind of cool, I guess.


• 23d: Marble features (VEINS).


• 24d: Jamaican fruit (UGLI). I've answered this in puzzles way more often than I've eaten the fruit.


• 26d: They have griffin logos (SAABS).


• 27d: Rose oil (ATTAR). I only know this from doing crosswords.


• 30d: Dam site (ASWAN). Huge dam on the Nile River in Egypt. Shows up a fair amount in puzzles.


• 33d: Computer component (ADD-IN). I'm in software, and I'm not crazy about this one. ADD-ON or PLUG-IN sound better to my ear.


• 40d: Rival of Pringles made by Lay's (STAX). Also a Motown-era record label.


• 45d: Topgallant, e.g. (SAIL). As sailing terms go, this one's more obscure than most. It's one of the topmost squarish sails on a square-rigged boat.


• 47d: ___ volente (DEO). Didn't know this one. It's means "God willing".


• 50d: Pitcher of milk? (ELSIE). As in, one who pitches for milk. In this case, Borden's mascot.


• 51d: "Cat and Bird" painter (KLEE). Didn't know the painting, but I'm familiar with the name.


• 56d: "Pure ___" (1994 album) (ELLA). Makes sense once you get it; I'm assuming this must be Ella Fitzgerald.


• 57d: Low hand (PEON). Nice play on Slow Hand (Eric Clapton nickname).


• 59d: Response to a bailiff (I DO). "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"


• 61d: Like the magic pebble in "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" (RED). This award-winning book has been around since I was a kid, and yet it doesn't sound at all familiar. I'm not sure how I missed it. Still, the answer was not hard to confirm from the crossings.

Suns of Bitches:

• 1d: "The Vanishing Act of ___ Lennox" (2006 Maggie O'Farrell book) (ESMÉ). Yet another Esmé. Who knew?


• 3d: "Bei Mir ___ Du Schön" (BIST). Hunh?


• 53d: Second-largest moon of Saturn (RHEA). That's starting to get a little obscure. At least it looks like a name.


• 55d: Hard-to-groom dog breed (PULI). I'm sure I've seen this one before, but it's just not a dog-name that's on my radar. If it's more than a couple of weeks, I'll probably be stumped next time, too.


• 60d: World Wide Web inventor Berners-Lee (TIM). Of all the Tims in the world, we're supposed to know this one? Hmph.

In general, you never quite know what to expect with a themed Friday puzzle. This one was okay; the theme didn't blow me away (in fact, it was pretty easy as late-week themes go), but there was enough decent fill and challenge to keep me interested. And any puzzle that mentions both Frodo and "Bad Santa" is all right by me.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Barry C. Silk
Theme: None

Sunny Spots:

• 1a: Monikers (SOBRIQUETS). What can I say? That's a really nice 1a fill.


• 15a: Tennessee Williams's "27 Wagons Full of Cotton," e.g. (ONE ACT PLAY). I like interesting, multi-word fill. Much better than {What Tennessee Williams's "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" has one of} (ACT). You don't need to know the play to figure this one out, either.


• 17a: Dip and skip, e.g. (DANCE STEPS). Another nice one.


• 24a: 1966 Beach Boys hit (SLOOP JOHN B). Sloop John B was one of several hits from the album "Pet Sounds", one of the most influential rock albums of all time. Unfortunately for me, I remembered it as SLOOP JOHN G, which led to problems in the NE corner. In particular, it gave me SNAGGED instead of STABBED for 14d: Stuck
, which worked fine with TAG (instead of TAB) for 22a: Filing facilitator. But I couldn't for the life of me recall any computer called NEXN (16a: Computer introduced in 1988). Because there wasn't one; it was NEXT. It's unusual for one bad clue to propagate so far before you catch it.

• 45a: Seven (out) (CRAP). First of all, I love the game of craps. Secondly, it's cool to see CRAP actually in a puzzle.


• 46a: Cécile de Volanges portrayer in "Dangerous Liaisons" (UMA THURMAN). Nice to see her whole name appear for a change.


• 54a: High-risk investment (PENNY STOCK).


• 60a: Kind of pliers (NEEDLE-NOSE).


• 1d: Jerk's offering (SODA POP). I like this one. Soda jerk is a bit dated, for sure, but still cool.


• 2d: How some dumb things are done (ON A DARE). This fill appeals to my younger, childish side. At what age does daring someone stop working? I gotta guess somewhere during the college years, maybe even later, for men. Probably junior high school for women. There's definitely a maturity element going on here.


• 21d: Store with the slogan "Never the same place twice" (TJ MAXX). Two Xs and a J in one fill is classic themeless fare. Very nice.

Sundries:

• 11a: Draft picks (ALES). Mmmm.... beer!


• 18a: With 12-Down, glove material (NAPA / LEATHER). I thought it was NAPP, not NAPA. My bad.


• 20a: ___ water (facing trouble) (IN HOT). Nice overall phrase; not so nice as a partial.


• 23a: Crown (PATE).


• 26a: Like some thermometers (ORAL). And yet, "Like some (other) thermometers" (ANAL) would be deemed offensive. Go figure.


• 27a: Key used in some shortcuts (CTRL). Gimme.


• 28a: Attorney General during the Iran-Contra Affair (Edwin MEESE).


• 29a: Part of dpi (PER). Dots per inch, a measure of computer monitor (and TV) resolution.


• 31a: Went public with (AIRED). Especially, dirty laundry.


• 32a: Big mouth (MAW).


• 33a: Rose on the music charts? I think we covered this in yesterday's AXEL, AXLE, AXIL, AXL discussion. (AXL).


• 37a: Neuter (DESEX). Desex is an ugly way to get Xs into the puzzle. I'm just saying.


• 40a: Windows boxes (PCS). A lot of tech in this puzzle. NEXT, PCS, CTRL, dpi.


• 44a: Greyhound fare? (ALPO). Cute.


• 49a: Pro ___ (for now) (TEM). This is just an okay clue/fill under normal circumstances, but when the puzzle also contains 40d: Gratis (PRO BONO), I think that's pushing it.


• 50a: Like a big rig on a big hill, maybe (IN LOW).


• 51a: Skyscraper beam (I-BAR). Ubiquitous fill.


• 58a: Gutsy? (INTESTINAL). A bit of a stretch, but okay.


• 59a: Milk sources (EWES). Eww. Personally, I don't drink sheep's milk, but I guess it's a source for lambs. Of course, that's true of most mammals and their young, and I wouldn't want this as a clue for, say, DOGS.


• 3d: 1980-83 Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammy winner (Pat BENATAR). I'd have preferred to see here whole name, but okay.


• 4d: Daughter-in-law of Rebekah (RACHEL). This one I knew, or at least could easily deduce. ADAH, otoh (19a: Daughter-in-law of Rebekah)? No clue.



• 7d: Raises one side of (UPTILTS).


• 8d: 1968 Turtles hit (ELENORE). The Turtles had two hits? The only one I know (and I apologize for mentioning it, because it's the kind of song that sticks in your head -- just wait, you'll see) is "Happy Together".


• 9d: Blast furnace opening (TAPHOLE). That's kind of a cool fill word.


• 10d: Computer bulletin board overseer (SYS-OP). More tech.


• 11d: Compton of ABC News (ANN).


• 24d: Refuse tower (SCOW). Tower, as in one that tows. Usually this kind of thing has a question mark attached.


• 25d: Parisian sight seer? (OEIL). French for eye.


• 30d: Best Picture after "Chariots of Fire" (GANDHI). With Ben Kingsley. Good film.


• 39d: Gave birth to (SPAWNED). I thank my mother all the time for spawning me.


• 41d: Simón Bolívar University setting (CARACAS). I didn't know this, but it was easy enough to deduce.


• 42d: Éclat (SPARKLE). Nice fill.


• 47d: Remove, as a badge (UNPIN). Eh. I'm not crazy about UNs and REs that aren't commonly used. At least the badge reference makes it plausible.


• 55d: Haute couture monogram (YSL). Yves St-Laurent.


• 56d: Bernadette, for example: Abbr. (STE). Having STE that close to a monogram that includes ST in it seems a touch inelegant, but we'll let this one slide.

Suns of Bitches:

Besides the Beach Boys misstep mentioned above, there was one other tough crossing and one bad section for me.

The crossing was at the H of CHITIN (45d: Principal component of arthropod exoskeletons) and HORA (48a: Chair-raising experience?). I got it correct, but it felt like an educated guess when I did it. Now that I think about it, I should have been more confident about HORA. And it's a cool clue to boot.

The bad section was the SW, where two mistakes took their toll. The two mistakes were PIS instead of XIS for 53d: Followers of nus, and OARED instead of COXED for 43a: Participated in crew, in a way. This really threw a wrench into seeing the answer of the following clues:

• 34a: Brightness (SHEEN).


• 52a: Grapity purple is one of its flavors (TRIX). Having P instead of X here made this one virtually impossible to figure out. Gotta love grapity, though.


• 57a: Ackerman who portrayed Evita on Broadway (LONI). Not a name I'm familiar with.


• 34d: Sink (SCUTTLE). Great word, but I was looking for second-letter O.


• 35d: There's a semicolon in it (HOME ROW). Tricky clue, referring to the QWERTY keyboard layout.


• 36d: Study (EXAMINE). Figuring this one out finally clued me into my errors and set me back on the right path.

Other toughies:

• 37d: Pop singer Love (DARLENE). I know Courtney Love. Darlene? Not so much.


• 38d: Suburb of Los Angeles (EL MONTE). Why haven't I heard of this place? I'm a purely New England guy myself, but I've heard of Pasadena, Long Beach, Compton, Inglewood, Torrance, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Glendale, Santa Monica, Pomona,...

Bottom line? Despite my various missteps, I thought this was a pretty nice themeless. A few rocky areas, but also good, scrabbly letters; plenty of multi-word and interesting fill; decent clues; and a nice challenge.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.