Thursday, May, 22, 2008

Title: Themeless Thursday
Author: Tom Heilman
Theme: None

This is a nicely constructed themeless with four 9-letter stacks and two additional 9-letter fills for a total of 14. It's the quality of these longer entries that makes or breaks a good themeless, so let's have a look.

• TACO SALAD (1a: Mexican restaurant dish). Doesn't hurt to start off with a nice colorful food entry.


• ECONOLINE (15a: Ford van). Not bad. Reminds me of the Neil Young song "Tonight's the Night", which includes the lyrics: "Bruce Berry was a working man, he used to load that Econoline van".


• SHOE PHONE (17a: Smart method of communication?). This is my favorite clue of the bunch. Love "Get Smart".


• JOE CRONIN (52a: President of the American League before Lee MacPhail). The name is familiar, once I figured it out from the crossings.


• ARBITRATE (55a: Determine). Kind of dull, with a dull clue to match.


• GOOD SENSE (57a: Savvy). Nice phrase.


• DEEP SIXES (9d: Jettisons). Excellent.


• I NEED A NAP (12d: Insomniac's declaration). This is right up there with SHOE PHONE for me. Love it! And I do need a nap, too, even though I'm not an insomniac.


• TANGERINE (13d: Atomic ___ (Crayola color formerly called Chartreuse). Nice combination of food and pop-culture reference (I would consider Crayola to be "pop culture", wouldn't you?)


• STEERSMEN (14d: Helm handlers). Going a little old school with this one, but I like it.


• DOGNAPPER (28d: Person who takes pointers from others?). Nice fill with an excellent clue.


• OVERDRIVE (29d: Intense state of activity). Decent.


• ZETA-JONES (30d: Best Supporting Actress of 2002). Also good, with the added bonus of a J and a Z. I started with ZE- and guessed ZELLWEGER. who coincidentally shows up at 47d: George's "Leatherheads" costar (RENÉE).


• CRYING JAG (31d: Fit of uncontrolled weeping). I'm torn on this one. It seems like a cool phrase, but I don't I've ever actually heard it used, so it feels kind of forced. I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt since the Steely Dan song "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again" includes the phrase "cry a jag on me".

Overall, that's a nice set of long entries. Let's look at the rest of the puzzle.

Sunny Spots:

• 19a: King's English? (TOPSPIN). I'm assuming it's referring to Billie Jean King and tennis. This is a very clever clue, but as a pool player I have to nitpick: Topspin (or "follow") is not technically English. Neither is backspin (draw). English implies left or right spin. Merriam-Webster backs me up on this: "spin around the vertical axis deliberately imparted to a ball that is driven or rolled" (emphasis mine). I know it's probably one of those things where enough people generalize "English" to refer to any spin that it becomes "acceptable", but I don't have to like it.


• 20a: Mentor's tutee (PROTÉGÉ). Nice to see this clued without reference to the car.


• 23a: Form letters? (IRS). This would been especially appropriate a few weeks ago.


• 32a: ___ Chimpsky (chimp in a language experiment) (NIM). A clear play on linguist Noam Chomsky. Very cute.


• 44a: Diet Coke forerunner (TAB). There was a running gag concerning Tab in the first season of the Sarah Silverman Show on Comedy Central, a pretty offbeat show that is often downright raunchy.


• 2d: Cold call? (ACHOO). Cute.


• 6d: Trumpeter nicknamed "The Round Mound of Sound" (AL HIRT). Not to be confused with Charles Barkley, who was the "Round Mound of Rebound". Here's Al playing our national anthem. Not bad, but my favorite version of all time, by far, was done by Branford Marsalis and Bruce Hornsby. I heard it played for an NBA All-star game back in 1991 when Desert Storm was just getting under way; it literally made people cry. You can find it on the soundtrack to Ken Burns's "Baseball" or, if you don't mind a quick, free download, you can hear it here for nothing. Oh, and by the way, guess who the MVP of that game was? None other than Charles Barkley. See how it all comes together?


• 25d: Cross product (PEN). As a former math major, I love this clue.


• 37d: Half-pints (SQUIRTS). Great fill and clue.


• 41d: Bad (RANCID). Rancid is a great word. It's also the name of a punk/ska band. You might have heard this one on the radio.


• 45d: Two-time screen role for Arnold Schwarzenegger (CONAN). Most people in his position would want to forget these films ever came out. But I get the distinct impression he's pretty proud of them.


• 50d: Twist request (MORE). It took me a second to make sense of this one. The clever twist here is that the Twist in question is Oliver Twist. Very nice.

Sundries:

• 24a: More financially sound (SOLIDER). This one makes me grimace a bit. Does anyone say "solider"? I totally understand why constructors put these in, but they feel kind of lazy to me. Just because it's an adjective doesn't mean you can add -ER to it and still have it sound "in-the-language".


• 27a: "___ longa, vita brevis" (ARS). Yeah, whatever. I do note that ARS shows up in the puzzle database five times more often in the NY Times than the NY Sun. Thank you for that, Peter Gordon. I also note that the much more commonly used ARSE never shows up in either. I'm just saying.



• 28a: Earthmover for short (DOZER). Dozer is also Tank's brother in "The Matrix".


• 31a: Forward-facing crew members (COXES). This one threw me a little. I immediately thought of COXSWAINS, the leader of a rowing crew, but I've never seen it abbreviated this way. I guessed COX'NS at first, which wasn't far off.


• 34a: Pushy person (URGER). More with the -ER fill, this time using it to change verbs to nouns. Correct or not, it's certainly not pretty.


• 35a: Die down (WANE)


• 36a: Grasp (GET). As in understand, get it?


• 38a: Become more tasty (RIPEN). I'd be more comfortable with this clue if it had a "perhaps" in it. Not everything becomes more tasty as it ripens. Meat, for example.


• 39a: Org. that opposed the Brady Bill (NRA). The "Brady Bill" was a gun legislation named for James Brady, a White House Press Secretary who was shot during one of the attempted assassinations of Reagan in 1981.


• 41a: Peri's role on "Frasier" (ROZ).


• 45a: Heel (CUR). I had CAD, which I think is closer in meaning to HEEL than CUR is.


• 48a: Math homework at times (PROVING). Yeah, okay. PROOFS feels more correct, but I'll let it slide.


• 49a: Tentacled zoophyte (ANEMONE). Great word; cool creature.


• 51a: Yearning person (PINER). You already know what I'm going to say about this one, right?


• 54a: She won the 1976, 1977, and 1978 U.S. Opens without losing a set (Chris EVERT). That's domination!


• 56a: Signs of silence (RESTS). Reference to sheet music.


• 1d: Placement determiners, sometimes (TESTS)


• 3d: Some apartments (CO-OPS). Or COOPS, if you're a chicken. I had LOFTS to start.


• 4d: Tip jar contents (ONES). I suppose g-string contents would have been too risqué?


• 5d: More drenched (SOPPIER). Ugh.


• 10d: Team owned by Peter Angelos (ORIOLES)


• 11d: Prefix with family or room (MULTI)


• 21d: Playmate of Spot (ROVER). Is this a reference to two specific dogs named Spot and Rover, or just based on the fact that Spot and Rover are common dog names? If the former, what is the reference? If the latter, I think I deserves a "?" or "maybe" at the end.


• 26d: Subject of the book "The Man Who Made Lists" (ROGET). Didn't know this, but it makes sense.


• 34d: One-way street no-no (U-TURN). Thank you for spelling this one out; when it's only three letters I never know if it's UIE or UEY.


• 35d: 1978 Michael Jackson movie, the "The" (WIZ). The cast of this Wizard of Oz remake also includes Diana Ross, Richard Pryor, Lena Horne, and Nipsey Russell.


• 38d: Chief Justice of the United States (John G. ROBERTS)


• 44d: Cardio workout routine (TAE BO)


• 53d: Montana motto metal (ORO). We're not sure why Montana's motto (Oro y plata) is in Spanish, but it is. Any Montanans out there that care to chime in?

Suns of Bitches:

• 18a: "Ryan's Hope actress ___ Kristen (ILENE).


• 22a: 2007 Jonas Brothers song (SOS). Don't know the Jonas Brothers. Is this an Abba remake, or an original song?


• 37a: Chalazia (STYES). Not familiar with the term.


• 8d: "The Voice of Bugle ___" (1936 Lionel Barrymore film) (ANN). Also with Maureen O'Sullivan, but I haven't seen it.

All in all, not a bad themeless. Not particularly hard, but with nice longer entries. I could do with fewer -ER fills, but that's pretty minor in the big scheme of things.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Title: Empowered
Author: Yaakov Bendavid
Theme: Taking phrases that start with N and changing it to M, as follows:

• nail clipper => MAIL CLIPPER (17a: Ship used to transport letters?)


• neat freak => MEAT FREAK (28a: Frequent steakhouse patron?). Went through both MEAT EATER and MEAT LOVER before I figured out the theme.


• net assets => MET ASSETS (42a: Over two million works of art?)


• nacho cheese => MACHO CHEESE (56a: Ingredient you shouldn't use to make quiche?)

This is a pretty average theme. Straight letter substitution is a very common mechanism, and frankly these resulting phrases didn't do much for me. Nothing wrong with them, just not particularly exciting or funny.

Sunny Spots:

• 1a: Member of a film crew (GAFFER). I've always loved the name gaffer, and even when I had no idea what one was we used to watch movie credits to see who the gaffer and key grip were. The gaffer is the head electrician on the set, while the key grip is in charge of all the "grips" -- the people who move things around (the movie set equivalent of stage hands). "The Gaffer" is also the nickname of Sam Gamgee's father, Hamfast, in The Lord of the Rings. Which is cool, because this entry crosses 1d: Looker's leg (GAM). Gaffer, Gam? Gee!



• 16a: Use your scull (OAR). It was either ROW or OAR. Either way, I like the twist on "Use your skull!" (i.e., "Don't be a dumbass!").


• 20a: More pleasant, as weather (BALMIER). Okay, I admit that I don't whether this actually happened, is urban legend, or was just a joke, but for 20 some years in Boston there was a husband and wife duo on the local news, Chet Curtis and Natalie Jacobson. As the story goes, in one of their broadcasts, Natalie asks, "What's the weather in a word, Chet?". To which Chet replies, "Balmy, Natalie". Bonus points for anyone who can validate that this actually occured.


• 40a: Haydn sobriquet (PAPA). Nice to see Haydn here instead of the more-obvious Hemingway.



• 11d: Muttonchops alternative (GOATEE). I think muttonchops is one of the greatest words to describe facial hair. Not that I like the style, but I like the word.


• 13d: Host of the National Geographic Bee (TREBEK). Not as nice as seeing his whole name, but still good fill.


• 24d: Mr. Potato Head accessory (NOSE). Am I misremembering, or did Mr. Potato Head used to have pipe? Either way, this is a great way to spice up a potentially boring entry.


• 36d: 1964 #1 hit for the Beatles (LOVE ME DO). I don't really need to link this song, but I will anyway.


• 39d: Cut the mustard? (REAP). As in literally cutting the plant for harvest. Very nice. Is cutting mustard difficult? I'm wondering how the term "couldn't cut the mustard" came about.

Sundries:

• 7a: Insurance options: Abbr. (HMOS).


• 11a: "He ___ Game" (1998 Spike Lee joint) (GOT). I'm not sure I understand the "joint" part. Does joint mean movie?


• 14a: Like some lab mice (ALBINO)


• 15a: Cry from a butterfingers (OOPS). Easy, but nice.


• 19a: Fire truck tool (AXE)


• 21a: Attempt (STAB). The noun, as is "take a stab at".


• 25a: Per (APIECE). Yesterday it was A POP, today it's A PIECE.


• 27a: Con ___ (tenderly,on a score) (AMORE). Makes sense: with love.


• 31a: Residences for cardinals (NESTS). Cute.


• 32a: Opposite of sans (AVEC). Basic French I can handle.


• 33a: Former spouses (EXES). This is easy in four letters. In three, I never know whether it's XES or EXS. I think it's the former.


• 34a: Three goddesses of destiny, with "the" (FATES)


• 36a: Creepy look (LEER)


• 41a: Three-card street scam (MONTE). There are a lot of versions of three-card monte. The really good ones use unadulterated cards and are pure sleight-of-hand, like this one. WARNING: The audio on this is horrendous and loud, so turn your speakers way down before following the link.


• 47a: Show that won seven Tonys in 1980 (EVITA). I am more familiar with the film version, starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.


• 48a: Receptacle under a barbecue (ASH PIT). I had ASHCAN to start, but this actually makes more sense.


• 49a: Admitted (to) (OWNED UP). Nice phrase.


• 51a: Rob Roy, e.g. (SCOT). I was thinking the drink and couldn't get anything to fit. Here we reference the actual person for which the drink (scotch and vermouth, with a dash of bitters) was named. Robert Roy MacGregor was a Scottish folk hero. ROB ROY itself shows up in puzzles occasionally, usually as the drink ("Manhattan relative").


• 52a: Element #3 (LITHIUM). I particularly like Nirvana song.


• 55a: Sea dog (TAR). Here's a shout out to the Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs, who are the Red Sox AA affiliate.


• 60a: Energy Star program org. (EPA). Our repeat-entry-from-yesterday of the day.


• 61a: Fit for military service (ONE A). I am thankfully too young to have been eligible for the draft. Somehow, I always think of Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" when ONE-A (or ARLO, for that matter) appears in a puzzle.


• 63a: Movie critic Reed (REX)


• 64a: Housefly, for example (PEST)


• 65a: Prominent parts of aardvarks (SNOUTS)


• 3d: Justice Dept. agency (FBI)


• 4d: Thick-shelled nuts (FILBERTS). Also called a hazelnut.


• 5d: Packs up (ENCASES)


• 7d: Arizona tribe (HOPI). This one we actually learned back in elementary school, but I'm so trained to think OTOE and UTES that I didn't get it until I had a couple of crossings.


• 8d: Brood (MOPE)


• 12d: State that borders Guerrero (OAXACA). I'm not sure why I know this. I don't really, I guess, but I at least recognize the name. Probably from puzzles.


• 18d: Mosque leader (IMAM). This is a word I only know from crosswords.


• 21d: Round Table honorific (SIR). One of the shows I have seen (in Boston) is "Spamalot". What a great show!


• 22d: Barn roof spinner (VANE)


• 23d: Green card, for short (AMEX). Nice twist of a clue, referring not to immigration but American Express.


• 26d: Future specialist, perhaps: Abbr. (PFC). That's private first class, in the Army.


• 29d: Bother greatly (EAT AT)


• 30d: NYC's Madison, e.g. (AVE)


• 34d: Type A person's way of life (FAST LANE). I really like this fill, but the clue seems awkward to me. Is fast lane a way of life? I know we're referring to the expression "living in the fast lane", but it feels weird by itself. Anyone want to weigh in on this?


• 35d: Imitate (APE). It's almost always APE or PARROT; occasionally ECHO.


• 37d: Oklahoma city near Vance Air Force Base (ENID). Enid shows up a lot for not a very large place. According to Wikipedia, it has the most grain storage capacity in the United States. Sounds like an exciting place.


• 40d: Pitchfork-shaped letter (PSI)


• 43d: Houdini's expertise (ESCAPE)


• 44d: Insect section (THORAX). If Dr. Seuss's Lorax and "The Hobbit's" Thorin Oakenshield had a love child...


• 46d: Arty Manhattan neighborhood (SOHO). Short for SOuth of HOuston (Street).


• 50d: Candle parts (WICKS). Can you name another part of a candle?


• 54d: The House ___Ruth Built (nickname of Yankee Stadium) (THAT). Long clue just for a "THAT", but it's topical since this is the last season for Yankee Stadium. Even as a Red Sox fan, I feel sentimental about that.


• 56d: Thick mass of hair (MOP)

Suns of Bitches:

• 22a: Actress Hudgens of "High School Musical 2" (VANESSA). I didn't know this, but was able to suss it out from the crossings.


• 62a: "The Soul of a New Machine" author Tracy (KIDDER). Never heard of him. Luckily, KIDDER felt like a normal enough name, so the crossing at the "I" with MENUHIN was guessable. But it was a guess, so it gets the "guess-the-vowel" tag.


• 38d: "___, Babe"(1992 Mark Leyner book) (ET TU). Did not know this.


• 41d: Violinist Yehudi (MENUHIN). Not a clue. See "KIDDER" above.

Bottom line, this was just an okay puzzle for me (I feel like I'm channeling Randy Jackson... "Yo, dude... so... okay... listen up..."). Pretty forgettable, but without major flaw.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Title: What's My Line?
Author: Lee Glickstein
Theme: Ok, so you know how when you see the word "flower", you think of colorful things that grow, but it can also be read as flow-er, i.e., something that flows (like a river)? That's what this puzzle is about. All the theme entries are two-word phrases whose last word is reinterpreted, as above, to make the phrase sound like a job. Confused? Don't be. Let's look at the examples:

• TORCH SINGER (17a: Welder?). So, instead of one that sings, we read it as one who singes things with a torch.


• IVORY TOWER (24a: Piano mover?). One who tows pianos.


• TOP TIER (38a: Macramé artist?). One who ties really well.


• BABY SHOWER (50a: Delivery room nurse?). One who shows babies.


• PRIME NUMBER (62a: Head anesthesiologist?). One who numbs.

See? That's a pretty cool theme. The explanation is harder than the concept. Some of my all-time favorite clues are this type of "wordplay", so I really enjoyed these.

Sunny Spots:

• 14a: Nickname of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (EROICA). I'm a fan of classical music in general and Beethoven in particular, so this was a gimme for me.


• 23a: Musical vibrator (REED). This clue evokes some pretty amusing thoughts. Let's just leave it at that.


• 35a: Band whose only hit was "Whip It" (DEVO). Gimme for me. Here, refresh your memory. And if you liked that, check out this cover of the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction".


• 54a: Goes the other way (ZAGS). "ISN'T STRAIGHT" doesn't fit. Nice clue.


• 1d: P.D.Q. Bach creator Schickele (PETER). Peter Schickele's P.D.Q. Bach skits are humor for people who love classical music. A little more offbeat, perhaps, than Victor Borge, but usually quite funny. Here's a small taste.


• 4d: Bullfighter on horseback (PICADOR). I can't say I'm a fan of bullfighting; I think it's a little brutal on the bull. What I know of picadors I think I learned from "The Story of Ferdinand".


• 11d: Really cold (BELOW ZERO).


• 12d: Caddy contents (TEA LEAVES).


• 13d: Felix's last name on "The Odd Couple" (UNGER). "The Odd Couple" is one of those few really good movies that became really good TV shows. And no, I don't count "M*A*S*H" in that category. That movie was so... cool, I guess; the TV show just never measured up for me. Clearly, millions of people didn't agree with me.


• 30d: Navy coat (PEA JACKET). I used to wear my dad's old pea coat in my college years in Montreal. Those things are all wool, very warm, and unbelievably heavy. And no, that's not me in the picture.


• 31d: Conductor's cry (ALL ABOARD). I like this fill a lot. It evokes strong but indistinct childhood memories.


• 33d: What's dad in "Addams Family Values" (ITT). The fact that I never saw this movie didn't make this any harder. I've seen the show, albeit years ago. What else could it be?


• 48d: Himalayan mountaineer (SHERPA). I saw the movie "Everest" in IMAX a few years back. Wow. A later-week puzzle might mention Tenzing Norgay, who was the sherpa accompanying Edmund Hillary when they first reached the peak.

We interrupt this blog to congratulate Jon Lester, a Red Sox pitcher who battled back from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, who has just completed his first no-hitter! In so doing, Jason Varitek has now caught an ML-record four no-hitters (Hideo Nomo, Derek Lowe, Clay Buchholtz, and Jon Lester). What a great story!

Sundries:

• 1a: Plains of Argentina (PAMPAS). I don't know why I know this. Probably from grade school or something.


• 7a: Queequeg's captain on the Pequod (AHAB). From "Moby Dick", of course.


• 11a: Heat meas. (BTU). We just saw BTU in a clue yesterday, so it should be fresh in your mind.


• 15a: Spice derived from nutmeg (MACE). Nutmeg is from the seed, mace is from the outer seed covering, or "aril" (another great crossword word).


• 21a: Cattle catcher (RIATA). If it's 6 letters, it's probably LARIAT. If it's 5-letters, try RIATA or LASSO.


• 26a: ___ pah (OOM). As in the tuba sound: oom-pah.


• 29a: Former policy of racial segregation in South Africa (APARTHEID). Yesterday, slaves; today, apartheid. Where will we go tomorrow?


• 37a: The First State: Abbr. (DELaware).


• 42a: Subject of an art museum in St. Petersburg, Florida (DALI).


• 44a: No matter what (AT ANY COST). Nice phrase.


• 46a: Joe servings (JAVAS). I'm not sure about this one. I've heard "cup o' joe" or "cup of java", but the plural feels forced to me. "Gimme a couple of javas"? Hmmm... maybe.


• 49a: Metric prefix? (GEO). It's a cryptic clue; the prefix is not from the metric system (e.g., KILO), it's a prefix to the word "metric" (i.e., geometric). My first thought, though, was ISO.


• 58a: "Foucault's Pendulum" author (ECO). Umberto Eco is probably better known for "The Name of the Rose". He's got a three-letter name with two vowels, though, so you gotta know it.


• 59a: Four-time French Open champ Justine (HENIN). I don't follow tennis religiously, but I know the bigger names and this is one of them.


• 60a: Recapitulate (SUM UP)


• 61a: Booking letters (AKA). Booking as "Book 'em Danno". AKA as in "also known as".


• 64a: Barcelona chair designer Ludwig Mies van ___ Rohe (DER). I've never heard of this guy. Barcelona chair designer? Whatever. Luckily, it could have said "Blah blah blah some-German-sounding-first-name van ___ some-German-sounding-last-name", and "der" is pretty much the logical guess.


• 65a: Each (A POP). This one is showing up a lot of late.


• 66a: End of a threat (OR ELSE). Dum da dum dum...



• 68a: Indian restaurant breads (NANS). Well, they're Indian breads; not just in restaurants.


• 5d: Needing kneading, perhaps (ACHY).


• 6d: Swedish carrier (SAS). Short for Scandinavian Airlines System. This one also shows up a lot.


• 7d: Test done by an OB (AMNIO). I confidently entered APGAR, at first. OB here is obstetrician.


• 8d: Hamlet's father (HÄGAR). Anyone guess GHOST? Nope, it's not Shakespeare this time, it's Hägar the Horrible.


• 9d: Radical in aspirin (ACETYL). If you happen to remember that aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, this one's a piece of cake.


• 10d: Tongue-lash (BERATE).


• 25d: Etymologist's ref. (O.E.D.). If you do crosswords, you should know the Oxford English Dictionary. (Not inside and out, but at least of its existence.)


• 27d: He's third behind Bonds and Morgan for most walks among NLers (Mel OTT).


• 29d: Dipstick word (ADD).


• 32d: MPG determiner (E.P.A.).


• 34d: Sàbado, por ejemplo (DÍA). I don't know much Spanish, but día (day) and año (year) you gotta know. Sàbado is Saturday.


• 40d: White alternative (RYE). A repeat fill from yesterday, but it's food so we'll let it slide.


• 45d: Resort island south of Cancún (COZUMEL)



• 50d: Like snake eyes (BEADY). I was angling toward a dice reference, but it was not to be.


• 51d: Bagel flavor (ONION). Food.


• 52d: Pushovers (WIMPS).


• 56d: Scoreboard word (GUEST). Of course, high-tech arenas have digital scoreboards where they can enter the actual visiting team's name, but old-time scoreboards (like in schools) are still this way.


• 57d: Lively frolic (SPREE).


• 60d: "Go ahead!" (SURE), which is paired with:


• 63d: "Go ahead" signal (NOD)

Suns of Bitches:
Only a handle of answers I didn't know at all, and all were gettable from the crosses. As always, my weak spot is names.

• 28d: Onetime Oprah rival (LEEZA Gibbons). Not only am I bad at names, I never watch daytime talk shows. So I was in the dark on this one.


• 3d: Robert who won Tonys in 1962 and 1990 (MORSE). Samuel Morse I know; Robert, not so much.


• 18d: Rap producer Gotti (IRV). No clue.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable Tuesday with a cool theme and reasonable full.

Thanks for listening.

- Pete M.