NYT Sunday 3/22/09 - Hunt with a Pack

We enjoyed solving this jumbo puzzle after a hard afternoon watching opera at the movie theatre. Today's fare was La Sonnambula, which had us sleeping a lot of the time, but thankfully not sleepwalking. Although some people think the bel canto style is to die for, we're not in that camp (to judge by our reactions).

Of the nine card games in the puzzle, Bridge is the one I'm most familiar with, as I had a lot of fun learning bidding and play of the hand over the last couple of years. Magdalen and I did OK at the duplicate tournaments we went to, but still haven't risen to the exalted-sounding (but lowly) ACBL rank of Junior Master.

Solving time: about 40 mins
Clue of the puzz: 74d magnetized [Made more attractive?]

Theme

Nine phrases ending in card games:

25a red-hot poker [Painful prod]
27a diamond solitaire [Engagement gift]
50a Yom Kippur War [Conflict of 1973]
57a dinette set [Showcase Showdown prize, perhaps]
67a artichoke hearts [Fancy salad ingredients]
92a London Bridge [Subject of a nursery rhyme that has only eight different words]
83a bathtub gin [Speakeasy supply]
109a Century Twenty-One [Big name in real estate]
119a Pizzeria Uno [Classic name in chain restaurants]

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Joon Pahk and Matt Matera / Will Shortz
Grid	21x21 with 74 (16.8%) black squares
Answers	140 (average length 5.24)
Theme squares	113 (30.8%)
Scrabble points	619 (average 1.69)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

95a Pye [English poet laureate Henry]. Yes, I'm English, but didn't remember this Poet Laureate. Some were downright bad and best forgotten. The salary for the job varies, but traditionally includes some wine to aid inspiration - a cask of Canary wine per year is a popular option.

98a issuant [Having only the forepart visible, as a beast in heraldry]. The clue pretty much says it all, but I wanted to see an example of it: the coat of arms of Frenelle-la-Grande has a lion issuant.

63d Ike [Alibi ___ (Ring Lardner character)]. Alibi Ike first appeared in short stories - he was a baseball player forever making excuses for things going wrong, hence the name. The character also inspired a movie, which is said to be one of the better baseball comedies.

Noteworthy

52a zoot suits [Bygone party attire]. Although the suits ending looked like this answer might be thematic, I don't think it is - the symmetrical counterpart clearly doesn't have a card game at the end.

59a sort [Stripe]. "stripe" can mean a type or category, as in "politicians of all stripes are rallying to the cause".

60a blue [Down]. Nicely misleading, as both these words for "melancholic" have a myriad other meanings - to clue down with [Blue] would be equally effective.

76a Reese [Man with cups and pieces]. Let's hear it for Mr Reese! I became familiar with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups even before moving to the US, as Magdalen thought them suitable gifts on her trips to see visit me in Britain.

81a kudo [Singular praise?]. Ugh! kudos isn't a plural form and even the question mark at the end of the clue cannot excuse this answer. I'm really surprised it was considered acceptable in a New York Times puzzle.

49d kts. [24 of them = 100%: Abbr.]. Thinking these must be knots caused some headscratching. They're of course karats, each karat being 1/24th purity by mass - so a 24 karat item is pure gold.

112d Tutu [Peace Nobelist from South Africa]. Desmond Tutu inspired the slang term for a 2:2 (lower second class) degree in the UK - a "Desmond".

The Rest

1a stye [Eye affliction]; 5a prim [Wearing a long dress and a collar buttoned to the top, maybe]; 9a lived [Was]; 14a act up [Raise hell]; 19a eaux [Évian and others]; 20a rode [Harried]; 21a obeli [Manuscript marks noting possible errors]; 22a prate [Go on and on]; 23a ex-Marines [Corps veterans]; 29a wept [Turned on the waterworks]; 30a Mt Etna [In Sicily it's about 10,920 ft. high]; 31a mobs [After-Christmas sale shoppers, e.g.]; 33a mache [Papier-___]; 37a screens [Shows in a theater]; 43a Paavo [___ Nurmi, the Flying Finn]; 46a alla [Penne ___ vodka]; 47a JFK [Traveler's alternative to 90-Down]; 55a species [Part of a family]; 56a ald. [Munic. official]; 61a ask me [Help desk sign]; 62a this [See 84-Down]; 65a Lee Aaker [Star of 1950s TV's "The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin"]; 72a dominate [Easily beat all the competition]; 75a mere [Petty]; 80a Ural [River separating continents]; 87a Eng. [H.S. class]; 88a Mirabel [Montréal-___ International Airport]; 91a tow-headed [Fair-haired]; 96a lone [Singular]; 97a steam [Energy source]; 100a ulnar [___ nerve (funny bone tingler)]; 101a T-man [Untouchable, say]; 103a violin ["A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a ___; what else does a man need to be happy?": Albert Einstein]; 107a Clio [Historian's Muse]; 121a analogous [Like, with "to"]; 122a areel [Spinning]; 123a not it [Untagged, in tag]; 124a nude [Michelangelo's David, e.g.]; 125a Ozma [Princess of literature]; 126a sadly ["Alas ..."]; 127a Shute ["On the Beach" author]; 128a spat [Showed disdain, in a way]; 129a rebs [Gray side].

1d seed [Origin]; 2d taxi [Get ready to take off]; 3d Yuma [Desert in the Southwest]; 4d exam [This is a test]; 5d print [It may be fine or fine art]; 6d Ronde [Typeface imitative of handwriting]; 7d id est [Words of explanation]; 8d mesons [Quark/antiquark pairs]; 9d Lori ["Full House" actress Loughlin]; 10d I bet ["Su-u-ure"]; 11d Veda [Sacred Hindu text]; 12d elhi [K-12]; 13d Dior [Christian of the cloth?]; 14d app [Killer ___]; 15d crow-bar [One with prier engagements?]; 16d takes a walk [Leaves]; 17d UTEP [Sch. near the Rio Grande]; 18d pert [Cheeky]; 24d Rome [Where 51-Down was martyred]; 26d tem [Pro ___]; 28d lacy [Like some petticoats]; 32d opus [Symphony, e.g.]; 33d Mazda ["Zoom-zoom" sloganeer]; 34d Alois [Eponymous Dr. Alzheimer]; 35d clonk [Dull, hollow sound]; 36d hate mail [Often-anonymous intimidation technique]; 38d Ros [Author Asquith of children's books]; 39d emp. [Hirohito's title: Abbr.]; 40d ekes [Scratches (out)]; 41d Nicole [Designer Miller]; 42d spirea [Flowering shrub]; 44d value ["x" in an equation]; 45d order ["At-ten-SHUN!," e.g.]; 47d jut [Protrude]; 48d fie! ["Bah!"]; 51d Peter ["Quo vadis?" speaker]; 53d stern [Rear of a galley]; 54d Seth [Rogen of "Knocked Up"]; 58d Thom [___ Yorke, lead singer of Radiohead]; 60d baseball [Brave activity]; 64d Serb [Balkan native]; 66d a true [Based on ___ story]; 68d Takin' ["___ Care of Business" (1974 hit)]; 69d Iturbi [Pianist José]; 70d Cedars [Los Angeles's ___-Sinai Medical Center]; 71d heat [Basic cooking instruction]; 72d duels [They're often scheduled at noon]; 73d or not ["... then again, I could be wrong"]; 77d Egdon [Thomas Hardy's ___ Heath]; 78d Siena [Home of St. Catherine]; 79d ender [Rear-___]; 82d obis [Sometimes-satin items of apparel]; 84d top [With 62-Across, comic's challenge]; 85d hwy. [Certain m.p.g. rating: Abbr.]; 86d thé [French beverage]; 88d MoMA [Home of Mondrian's "Broadway Boogie Woogie"]; 89d .edu [Part of an academic address]; 90d LGA [Traveler's alternative to 47-Across]; 93d damozel [Young woman, old-style]; 94d envy [Green-eyed monster]; 99d titans [Nashville 11]; 100d Unto ["___ the Sons" (Gay Talese best seller)]; 102d NCR [Big A.T.M. maker]; 104d own up [Accept responsibility]; 105d lead a [___ double life]; 106d inlet [Fjord, for example]; 107d CPAs [Ones working on columns, for short]; 108d lira [Old Italian bread]; 110d eins [Fünf minus vier]; 111d NaOH [Sodium hydroxide, chemically]; 113d unit [Second, e.g.]; 114d rote [Mechanical]; 115d Ygor ["Son of Frankenstein" role]; 116d ooze [Squishy stuff]; 117d numb [Feeling no pain]; 118d esas [Juan's "those"]; 120d Ely [Ron of "Tarzan"].

NYT Saturday 3/21/09 - Gum Boots

I've never been more pleased to complete a puzzle correctly that this one: at various times I seemed to be getting stuck, but I always just managed to degum myself and make one more step towards completion - not unlike trying to slog through the mud around our property at this time of year.

It looks like my increased experience with solving New York Times puzzles is beginning to pay off: not just because some of the cultural references are starting to stick in my head - I'm become more familiar with the ways prefixes/suffixes (eg "Opening for milk?" for lact-) and components of idioms (eg "Kind of defense" for one-on-one) get clued.

Solving time: 65 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 45d CD case [Record keeper]

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Robert H. Wolfe / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 32 (14.2%) black squares
Answers	70 (average length 5.51)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	279 (average 1.45)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

20a trio [The Brady boys or girls]. Not being familiar with The Brady Bunch, I had some anxieties over this because I had to guess 8d Atri. The opening 3x3 grid of faces makes it easy to remember that there were three girls and three boys in the blended family.



34a Haim [Feldman's co-star on "The Two Coreys"]. Not Marty, but Corey Feldman who starred with namesake Corey Haim in movies and more recently a TV reality show.



42a RLS ["A Footnote to History" author's inits.]. While familiar with Robert Louis Stevenson, this book about local politics in Samoa is not one of his best known!

48a Randall [Quarterback Cunningham]. Randall Cunningham played for the Philadelphia Eagles at the start of his professional career.

57a Hough [Two-time "Dancing With the Stars" co-winner Julianne]. Julianne Hough does a mean Rumba with Olympic gold medal-winning speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno.



2d Nadine [Chuck Berry title girl who's repeatedly asked "Is that you?"]. Nadine was a hit for Chuck Berry in 1964.



5d oft ["So ___ have I invoked thee ...": Shak.]. This fill-in-the-blank was harder than usual - I needed at least one crossing letter to get it. The words open a sonnet:

So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse,
And found such fair assistance in my verse
As every alien pen hath got my use
And under thee their poesy disperse.
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to sing
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly,
Have added feathers to the learned's wing
And given grace a double majesty.
Yet be most proud of that which I compile,
Whose influence is thine, and born of thee:
In others' works thou dost but mend the style,
And arts with thy sweet graces graced be;
But thou art all my art, and dost advance
As high as learning, my rude ignorance.
from Sonnet LXXVIII by William Shakespeare

8d Atri [Bell town in a Longfellow poem]. The Bell of Atri is an old legend about a mistreated horse that Longfellow retold in his poem.

24d Lys [City in Arthur C. Clarke's "The City and the Stars"]. Was the compiler seriously expecting solvers to know this? The City and the Stars was a rewrite of Clarke's first novel.

28d Shari Lewis [Kids' entertainer who won 12 Emmys]. I knew about Lamb Chop, but not the voice behind her.



53d René [François-___ de Chateaubriand]. Chateaubriand, for short, was a French politician and the founder of Romanticism in French literature. Romantics always seem to be portrayed with disheveled hair.

54d Ilka [Chase in films]. Ilka Chase played Charlotte's sister-in-law Lisa in Now, Voyager.



Noteworthy

1a ONE DOLLAR [Washington is just above it]. A note-worthy clue to start the puzzle off - Washington indeed appears on the dollar bill.

25a maidens [The Minotaur was fed seven of these annually]. Maidens always get the raw end of the deal in mythology.

52a Eric [Red man?]. The allusion seems to be to Erik the Red, who founded the first Nordic settlement in Greenland.

45d CD case [Record keeper]. This clue stood out for me - a lovely misleading definition.

The Rest

10a as for [About]; 15a have faith [Believe]; 16a stone [What things might be written in]; 17a I don't care ["Whatever"]; 18a hares [Some bucks and does]; 19a oil [Garage stock]; 21a bigot [One opinionated to a fault]; 22a anvil [Ear piece]; 27a needy [High-maintenance]; 28a stern [Firm]; 30a tot [Relatively recent arrival?]; 31a esthetes [They appreciate 59-Down]; 33a Ino [She gave Odysseus a magic veil]; 37a waxen [Impressionable]; 38a step [Minimal progress]; 39a ult. [Maximum: Abbr.]; 40a air train [Glider-towing plane]; 43a bliss [State in Elysium]; 44a sucre [Ingredient in chocolat]; 50a Ogden [Home of Weber State University]; 51a aloes [Some lilies]; 56a cat [Hipster]; 58a well aware [Fully posted?]; 61a ensue [Succeed]; 62a ink-eraser [Adjunct to some pens]; 63a deems [Believes]; 64a sea otters [North Pacific carnivores].

1d Ohioan [William Howard Taft, by birth]; 3d evolve [Come about]; 4d den [Plotters' place]; 6d lact- [Opening for milk?]; 7d liar [One who's not straight]; 9d rheometers [Blood flow measurers]; 10d ash-bins [Garbage collectors]; 11d staid [Settled]; 12d forget it! ["Don't even bother!"]; 13d one-on-one [Kind of defense]; 14d rest stop [It's found between exits]; 23d idem [Latin word in a quotation book]; 26d arena [Squaring-off site]; 29d texts [College expenses]; 32d twill [Herringbone, e.g.]; 34d hurrahed [Cheered]; 35d all alone [Forsaken]; 36d it's no use! ["Don't even bother!"]; 38d snug [Far from baggy]; 40d abashes [Turns red, maybe]; 41d iso- [Prefix with lateral]; 46d rearer [Parent]; 47d enters [Inscribes, e.g.]; 49d degum [Free of sticky stuff]; 55d Cleo [Last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, informally]; 59d art [It's appreciated by 31-Across]; 60d wat [Buddhist monastery].

NPR Sunday Puzzle 3/15/09 - By Jove!

This week's NPR Sunday Puzzle was:

Name a female host of a popular TV program. Rearrange the letters of her first name to name a god in mythology. Rearrange the letters in her last name to name a type of god that this god is not. Who is the TV host and what are the anagrams?

I thought Magdalen would find this easy, as she has watched American TV way longer than me ... and has a good memory for names. She can explain almost all crossword clues relating to TV shows.

However, we were stumped for several hours. Eventually we adopted the brute force approach of searching online lists of hosts of TV shows and lists of gods in the Chambers Crossword Dictionary (which we've nicknamed "the work of towering genius", since I was a co-editor on the book).

Seeing Zeus in the latter prompted Suze Orman - Zeus is a Greek god, not Roman (an anagram of the presenter's last name). Suze Orman hosts a weekend financial planning show on CNBC - she's been paid the ultimate compliment of an SNL spoof:

NYT Friday 3/20/09 - Mus gustavus

I solved this crossword at about midnight on the trip home from Philadelphia. Tiredness didn't affect my speed: I got the puzzle finished in under half an hour. But accuracy suffered, as I had Mus and mob instead of Gus and gob at 48a and 48d.

The grid has a lot of 15-letter answers, but my experience with puzzles like these is they suffer overall in achieving that goal. Here gobs of three-letter entries are needed and the four L-shaped blocks isolate the corners, which become separate mini-puzzles. The cluing was great, however, with some lovely misleading definitions.

Solving time: 25 mins (no cheating, two wrong answers)
Clue of the puzz: 5d etc [Condensation indication]

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	David Levinson Wilk / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 36 (16.0%) black squares
Answers	70 (average length 5.40)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	294 (average 1.56)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

16a Utne [___ Independent Press Awards]. Not knowing this unlikely answer, I had to check the crossings very carefully: Utne is the magazine that gives out the awards - it's named after the founders, Eric Utne and Nina Rothschild Utne.

20a po' boy [Hero, to some]. The submarine sandwich has various names around the US and these make for colorful crossword answers and clues. The po' boy is the Louisiana version, often containing seafood.

48a Gus [One of a pair of mice in "Cinderella"]. Oops ... I had Mus here, being satisfied with mob for 48d, and thinking of the mouse genus. In my defense I was solving at around midnight on a road trip. Jaq and Gus are the named murine pals of Cinders in the movie.



50a Olmos [Oscar nominee for "Stand and Deliver," 1988]. Edward James Olmos was nominated for playing Jaime Escalante, a real-life math teacher who taught poor minority students calculus.



2d Ho Ho [Chocolaty treat]. Based on Magdalen's description, Ho Hos are like the mini Swiss rolls you can get in the UK.

9d Sha [Al Green's "___-La-La (Make Me Happy)"]. The song is from Al Green Explores Your Mind, the soul singer's eight album.



11d Stop Making Sense [1984 Talking Heads concert film and hit album]. The title of the movie and soundtrack album comes from a repeated phrase in the Talking Heads song Girlfriend is Better.



26d A Safe ["___ Place," 1971 Orson Welles movie]. Orson Welles merely starred in this movie directed by Henry Jaglom.

31d a nest ["___ of traitors!": Shak.]. The words come from a line of Leontes in The Winter's Tale.

51d Leia [Royal from the planet Alderaan]. Alderaan is home to Princess Leia. Star Wars movies are someone's favorite, as they seem required knowledge for New York Times puzzles at least.

Noteworthy

5a Erda's ["___ Warning" ("Das Rheingold" aria)]. A bit of a gimme for me, but I doubt that's true of most people. Erda is the Earth Mother, who rises to warn Wotan not to mess with That Ring. Luckily for Wagner lovers, he ignores the advice, and another 12 hours or so of fabu music follow.



15a torch [It goes a long way before the Olympics], 22a hopes [You don't want them to be dashed], 10d autos [Jam ingredients], 12d in re [Dictator's opening]. Just a few examples of the beautifully misleading clues in this puzzle.

21a Tso [Name on a Chinese menu]. As in General Tso's chicken. This answer was very intriguing the first time I came across it, but is served up enough to be a little ho-hum now.

41a Ena [Faline's mother in "Bambi"]. Another popular reference. I'm now not sure if Aunt Ena is Bambi's biological aunt or just a maternal figure. If the former, this would make Faline and Bambi first cousins, so unlikely mates. Hmm.



63a cesta [Basket on a court]. Once a solver's heard what a cesta is in jai alai they're unlikely to forget it.

3d Alabama slammers [They include amaretto and sloe gin]. Here's Syrup magazine's recipe, in case you want to make it (but who keeps sloe gin in the house?).

5d etc [Condensation indication]. A great new clue for an answer that comes up about 10 times a year.

34d EMI [Virgin's parent]. Virgin Records was acquired by parent EMI in 1992.

37d Erl [Schubert's "The ___ King"]. Knowledge of classical music served you well in this puzzle - this seems fairly unusual in a crossword where popular music dominates. The Erl King is a setting for voice and piano of Goethe's poem of the same name.



48d gob [Lot]. I unfortunately chose mob as the answer here; I think this is excusable given that gobs of is US slang I'm unfamiliar with. I shouldn't really have been satisfied with Mus as the crossing answer though.

The Rest

1a chat [Bit of back-and-forth]; 10a as if ["Yeah ... whatever!"]; 14a cola [Cherry ___]; 17a character actors [Their parts are usually unusual]; 23a ate [Took a course?]; 24a ess [Surreal beginning?]; 25a -ism [Surreal ending?]; 26a ATM [A person who's short might run to it]; 28a NTs [Some Windows systems]; 29a as a [Comparison component]; 32a soaked to the skin [Not merely having wet clothes]; 39a at some other time [Later]; 40a fill in the blanks [Provide what's missing]; 42a hes [Fathers and sons]; 43a gat [Heat on the street]; 44a MVP [Series standout, briefly]; 47a ENT [Apnea specialist: Abbr.]; 52a cir. [Abbr. on a residential street sign]; 53a obese [Very big]; 56a feel in one's bones [Just know]; 59a fire [Can]; 60a freer [Less formal]; 61a ASAP [Dreaded letters for a procrastinator?]; 62a sass [Reason for parental scolding]; 64a tern [Coastal bird].

1d CCCP [Letters on old Russian maps]; 4d tarot [The Emperor, The Empress or The High Priest]; 6d rotten to the core [As bad as can be]; 7d dress to the nines [Get all dapper]; 8d across the street [Very close, in a way]; 13d fess [Utter guilt, with "up"]; 18d aye [Assembly call]; 19d chi [46-Down preceder]; 27d totin' [Gun-___ (like Yosemite Sam)]; 30d Simka [Carol Kane's role on "Taxi"]; 33d Kol [___ Nidre (Yom Kippur prayer)]; 35d den [Relaxation location]; 36d Heb. [Likud lang.]; 38d sta. [Stopping point: Abbr.]; 45d voles [Crop-damaging animals]; 46d psi [19-Down follower]; 49d U-boat [German diver]; 50d offs [Wastes]; 54d sear [Cauterize]; 55d ESPN [It shows many matches]; 57d NFC [Grp. with East and West divisions]; 58d Sra. [Tabasco title: Abbr.].

NYT Thursday 3/19/09 - Altered States

I found this Thursday New York Times puzzle comparatively easy. It helped that once I got the first thematic answer (17-across), I could easily guess the others: the clues gave away the state and once you have that, the rest is straightforward. Being able to get these long answers compensated for some quite difficult cluing elsewhere and a lot of references that I'd not seen before.

Pennsylvanians will regret "PA Jesu" not making the list. I'm doing this post late Wednesday night, as I'm off to Philadelphia, PA for the day tomorrow: among other things, I'm getting some teeth filled at Ike's (a dentist, not a general store, you'll be glad to hear).

Solving time: 20 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 47d nagger [Unpleasant reminder?]

Theme

Phrases where a word sounds like a state abbreviation:

17a green with NV [Eco-friendly in Las Vegas?]
26a NE port in a storm [Omaha's waterfront during downpours?]
44a ME award winners [First-place finishers in Bangor?]
59a running on MT [Jogging atop Great Falls?]

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Laura Sternberg / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 37 (16.4%) black squares
Answers	74 (average length 5.08)
Theme squares	50 (26.6%)
Scrabble points	274 (average 1.46)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

15a Katie [Holmes of "Batman Begins"]. I must have come across Katie Holmes, not least because of her well-publicized marriage to Tom Cruise. But when actually solving, it was easier to work around to Katie through crossing answers and be satisfied that the complete name rang a bell.



37a Alyssas [Actress Milano and namesakes]. Alyssa Milano had her first major role at the age of 11 in Who's the Boss?



53a Aggies [Team in College Station, Tex.]. I think Magdalen explained this to me, but I didn't remember: the A&M in Texas A&M University stands for "Agricultural and Mechanical" - hence Aggies as the team nickname.

58a Ian [___ Thorpe, 2000 and 2004 Olympic swimming sensation]. Surely not as sensational as Michael Phelps? Ian Thorpe, nicknamed the Thorpedo only won 5 Olympic golds.

63a Ernie [Banks in Chicago]. An effective misleading definition - too much so in my case, as I didn't get the reference. Ernie Banks, known as Mr. Cub, played for the Chicago Cubs his entire career.

3d Moen [Plumbing fixture manufacturer]. Plumbing manufacturers have catchy names for crosswords: Zurn, Grohe, Moen.

4d Ike's [General store on "The Waltons"]. Ike and Cora Beth Godsey run the general store and post office in The Waltons.



37d a two [Part of Lawrence Welk's intro]. Lawrence Welk was famous for famous for counting off "a one and a two ..." at the start of musical numbers. His license plate was A1ANA2 in honor of this.



38d She ["___ Hates Me," 2002 hit by Puddle of Mudd]. As usual, a fill-in-the-blank clue was among the easiest, even though I hadn't heard of the wittily named group before.



40d SOS [Pad name]. Huh? It seems S.O.S is a brand of soap pads, an abbreviation for "Save our Saucepans".

52d Luci [___ Baines Johnson (presidential daughter)]. Both her parents had the initials LBJ, so wanted the same for their daughter. It has the advantage that monogrammed clothing and linen is interchangeable, I suppose!

Noteworthy

11a INT [1099-___ (tax form sent by a bank)]. Time recently spent doing tax records wasn't wasted after all!

14a enoki [Japanese mushroom]. Enoki mushrooms are rather beautiful and used in oriental cuisine.

20a sensei [Tai chi instructor]. Lots of Japanese words in the NW corner. sensei is a title for respect for teachers and professionals; it's also used by martial arts instructors.

66a rests [They're found on staffs]. It took a while to work out the context here, which is musical.

8d Ithaca [Home of Odysseus]. There was quite a fashion to give places in upstate New York portentous names like Ithaca, Rome, Marathon, Homer.

30d Suleiman [Ottoman sultan known as "the Magnificent"]. Suleiman the Magnificent was sultan from 1520 to 1566. He won several biggest turban contests.

47d nagger [Unpleasant reminder?]. Neat wording - a nagger is someone, not something, that reminds.

60d -ine [Suffix with glass]. Glassine is a glossy transparent paper used in bookbinding and to store stamps.

The Rest

1a limit [Two drinks, for some]; 6a shier [Reserved to a greater degree]; 16a nor [Conjunction that usually has a partner]; 19a Dre [Rapping "Dr."]; 21a pass-book [Kind of account not used much anymore]; 23a aspic [Food glaze]; 25a roos [Down Under springers]; 32a swap [Tax-free transaction, usually]; 33a ens. [Position on the Enterprise: Abbr.]; 34a urn [Reception vessel]; 35a célèbre [Cause ___]; 41a roi [Charles I, II, III ... or X]; 42a ate [Had something]; 43a Ohio [The Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference]; 48a sown [Planted]; 49a aroma [Feature of an essential oil]; 50a white lie ["Oh yes, I love that dress," maybe]; 61a pig [Neatnik's opposite]; 62a ocean [Environs for Galatea, in myth]; 64a ERs [Places with defibrillators, for short]; 65a sidle [Move along a buffet line, perhaps].

1d legs [Stamina]; 2d in re [Preceder of a case name]; 5d tin ear [Musician's weakness]; 6d ski [Biathlon need]; 7d hatpins [Milliners' securers]; 9d eins [___, zwei, drei]; 10d revs [Guns]; 11d indoor [Like fireworks, infrequently]; 12d no room ["We can't squeeze any more in"]; 13d treks [Some migrations]; 18d wisteria [Woody vine with violet blossoms]; 22d Bronson [Charles of "Death Wish"]; 24d pine [Yearn (for)]; 26d NSC [Foreign policy advisory grp.]; 27d ewe [___-necked]; 28d pal [Shadow, so to speak]; 29d operant [Having an effect]; 31d try [Taste]; 36d bow [Gift-wrapping aid]; 39d air [Melody]; 42d adrenal [Kind of gland]; 44d mohair [High-luster fabric]; 45d Ewings ["Dallas" kinfolk]; 46d rained [Sprinkled]; 48d swipe [Credit card action]; 51d Eros [Asteroid on which a NASA probe landed in 2001]; 54d gore ["Friday the 13th" staple]; 55d inns [Places to sleep]; 56d emit [Issue]; 57d stes. [Some Fr. honorees].

NYT Wednesday 3/18/09 - G-Go

Both Magdalen and I found the theme of this puzzle particularly elusive. It wasn't until 8 minutes into a 15 minute solve that I solved 60a growing pains and so saw the pattern.

Maybe that's something to do with four of the six theme entries being down. Usually the majority of theme entries read left to right and I'm surprised the puzzle wasn't flipped to make graven images etc run across.

Solving time: 15 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 37d Mensa [Group with a meeting of the minds?]

Theme

Six phrases making a pun when the leading G is removed:

16a griddle cakes [Mystery desserts?]
60a growing pains [Sculler's affliction?]
8d GReek Week [Period of seven days without bathing?]
10d grain alcohol [What the sky might do in an inebriate's dream?]
24d graven images [Illustrations for a Poe poem?]
40d grunt work [Employment in Munchkinland?]

British universities somehow manage to do without Greek Letter Organizations and "Greek Week". I guess Rag week is the nearest equivalent in the UK.

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Robert A. Doll / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 38 (16.9%) black squares
Answers	78 (average length 4.79)
Theme squares	60 (32.1%)
Scrabble points	285 (average 1.52)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

38a ENE [Direction from K.C. to Detroit]. My limited study of such clues suggests that the last letter of directions is invariably E. I've heard of LA and NY, but what is K.C.? Seems to be Kansas City - which can also be KCMO - home to the Royals.

41a Ore [___-Ida (Tater Tots maker)]. I heard of Tater Tots on one of Garrison Keillor's monologues, but haven't experienced them yet. I see they're a variant of the more familiar hash browns.

43a hulas [Miming dances]. I of course knew hulas, but why the miming reference? It seems the gestures aren't as arbitrary as I thought: they symbolize natural phenomena or historical or mythological subjects.



46a Ipana [Bucky Beaver's toothpaste]. This seemed a very unlikely name for toothpaste, so I double- and triple-checked all the crossing answers to make sure it couldn't be anything else. The brand has been discontinued in the US, but is still sold in other countries.



49a Alma [Soprano Gluck] and 45d soprano [Choir voice]. A lot of references to singers in this puzzle: soprano Alma Gluck was one of the world's most famous singers in the early 20th century. Here she is with Caruso in Traviata.



3d Edd [Byrnes of TV's "77 Sunset Strip"]. Edd Byrnes played Kookie in the show and his incessant hair-combing led to the hit song Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb.



21d RCA [Zenith competitor]. Rivals in consumer electronics. The RCA logo was known as "the Meatball" to employees.

Noteworthy

22a Mira [Oscar winner Sorvino]. Mira Sorvino won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing Linda Ash in Mighty Aphrodite. I'm a Woody Allen fan, so of course had seen this movie, but couldn't remember much about it until seeing that Greek chorus again.



33a motel [Bates's business, in film]. I'm also an admirer of Alfred Hitchcock, so had no difficulty recognizing the reference to Psycho.



48a snoots [High-hats]. Two informal terms for snobbish people.

68a res [___ judicata]. Res judicata ("a matter [already] judged") is a case in which there has been a final judgment, ie is no longer subject to appeal. I had to get Magdalen a special dictionary so she could make sense of this stuff.

2d poi [Samoan staple]. I'll have a piece of poi please! This is another foodstuff I've experienced only in crosswords. Poi is made from taro roots and no doubt poi making is one of the things they mime in hulas.

37d Mensa [Group with a meeting of the minds?]. A neat clue that does its best to mislead you.

47d pad [Inflate, in a way]. As in exaggerating one's expenses - another nice clue.

52d Alice [Sitcom with the catchphrase "Kiss my grits!"]. Had the other way round about a month ago.




The Rest

1a apers [Parroting sorts]; 6a sire [Stud on a stud farm]; 10a rep [Good name, casually]; 13a rodeo [Venue for some clowns]; 14a inner [Word before city or child]; 15a age [Basis for some discrimination]; 18a IRA [Thing to roll over, in brief]; 19a Timor [East ___, U.N. member since 2002]; 20a kernel [Central part]; 25a in-law [Acquired relative]; 27a Cats [Musical with the song "Mr. Mistoffelees"]; 28a on a par [Equal to, with "with"]; 30a legal [O.K. to do]; 32a navel [Orange feature]; 35a cam [Video shooter, for short]; 39a provoke [Stir up]; 42a ten [Top end of a scale]; 44a ashen [Visibly frightened]; 51a tra-la [Refrain syllables]; 54a plea ["Spare me!," e.g.]; 55a meadow [Place for a lark]; 57a liner [Winter coat feature]; 59a bag [Diamond corner]; 65a eve [Time of anticipation]; 66a crack [First-rate]; 67a indie [Many an art film]; 69a Skye [Hebrides isle]; 70a coopt [Take as one's own].

1d arr. [Flight board abbr.]; 4d red-tape [Reason for a long delay in getting approval, maybe]; 5d soli [Arias, e.g.]; 6d snarl [Motorist's headache]; 7d ink [Calligrapher's buy]; 9d Erse [Gaelic tongue]; 11d egret [Everglades denizen]; 12d peals [Belfry sounds]; 14d icon [Pic to click]; 17d emir [Mideast V.I.P.]; 22d Monet ["Impression, Sunrise" painter]; 23d inane [Cockamamie]; 26d altos [Choir voices]; 29d alpha [Leader of the pack]; 31d glean [Pick up bit by bit]; 33d molar [Place for a crown]; 34d ova [In vitro items]; 36d arête [Mountain ridge]; 48d sang [Spilled the beans]; 49d amber [Honey-hued]; 50d leave [Take a powder]; 53d link [___ sausage]; 56d orcs [Tolkien beasts]; 58d epic ["Beowulf," e.g.]; 61d way [Modus operandi]; 62d I do [Courtroom vow]; 63d nip [Barely beat]; 64d set [The "all" in "Collect them all!"].

NYT Tuesday 3/17/09 - Going Green

Top of the morning to you! As predicted, we have a special puzzle for St Patrick's Day. Although this doesn't merit a national holiday in the USA, it's clearly a popular day for celebration. Public places like our local hospital and Mexican restaurant are decked out with shamrocks, four-leaf clover, leprechauns and the like.

You don't get this in England: although there is a sizable Irish community, public celebration of the patron saint of Ireland is unusual, but you can be sure Irish pubs will have a busy night! Magdalen and I really enjoyed this puzzle, which seemed very straightforward - in fact, there was very little I didn't know, outside of the theme answers (which were easily guessed).

Solving time: 9 mins (no cheating)

Theme

57d Erin [Land that's saluted in this puzzle]. As we're "going Irish for a day", there are five titles associated with Irish names:

20a Duffy's Tavern [1940s hit radio show featuring the bartender Archie]
28a Finnegans Wake [1939 James Joyce novel]
36a Gilligan's Island [1960s sitcom about a group of castaways]
44a McNamara's Band [1946 Bing Crosby hit]
51a Hogan's Heroes [1960s sitcom set in a P.O.W. camp]

Finnegans Wake is the odd one out, since Joyce omitted an apostrophe in the novel title. To reference the ballad Finnegan's Wake would have made for consistency, but given a lot less help to solvers!

Here are the clips:











Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Richard Chisholm / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 46 (20.4%) black squares
Answers	76 (average length 4.71)
Theme squares	65 (36.3%)
Scrabble points	278 (average 1.55)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

41a USO [G.I. entertainers]. The United Service Organizations provides morale and recreational services to the US military. Something like the British ENSA then, which was popularly expanded as "Every Night Something Awful".

Noteworthy

33a Del. [Second-smallest state: Abbr.]. Delaware is the second smallest geographically, but has the 6th highest population density. One of the first things I tried to learn about America was the state nicknames, Delaware's being one of the easiest to remember.

4d self ["To thine own ___ be true"]. Advice from Polonius:

This above all, -- to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
from Hamlet by William Shakespeare

9d Este [Ferrara ruling family]. Somewhat obscure, but you've got to know it for crosswords. The House of Este is sometimes clued with reference to the Villa d'Este in Tivoli.

22d roses [Kentucky Derby prize]. The Kentucky Derby is called "The Run for the Roses" because of the blanket of roses draped over the winner. Big Brown got the rosy prize in 2008.

30d Gonna ["___ Fly Now" ("Rocky" theme)]. The film was shot in several locations in Philadelphia, where Magdalen lived for many years. The Art Museum famously didn't allow the Rocky statue to be at the top of the Rocky Steps, where it logically belongs - instead it's tucked away alongside the bottom of the steps.



36d Gump [Forrest ___, 1994 Oscar-winning role]. Tom Hanks won back-to-back Best Actor awards in 1993 for Philadelphia and 1994 for this movie:



The Rest

1a grasp [Comprehend]; 6a base [Contemptible]; 10a aqua [Shade of many a swimming pool basin]; 14a laser [Surgeon's tool]; 15a URLs [Web addresses]; 16a cups [Parts of a tea set]; 17a agile [Sprightly]; 18a seat [Politician's goal]; 19a toss [Give the heave-ho]; 23a oil [Salad additive]; 24a oohed [Marveled audibly (at)]; 34a oboe [Instrument held with two hands]; 35a Zia [Pakistani leader, 1977-88]; 42a as in [X ___ xylophone]; 43a erg [Work unit]; 49a posts [Blog messages]; 50a oar [Sculler's item]; 59a asea [On the briny]; 62a I too ["Am ___ late?"]; 63a terra [___ cotta]; 64a lawn [Wimbledon surface]; 65a go to [Head for]; 66a Hasid [Jew traditionally dressed in a black coat and hat]; 67a axed [Canned]; 68a span [Period of time]; 69a alone [Solo].

1d glad [Delighted]; 2d Ragu [Prego competitor]; 3d as if ["Yeah, right!"]; 5d prey on [Victimize]; 6d bustle [Ado]; 7d area [Geographical datum]; 8d Slav [Czech, e.g., but not a Hungarian]; 10d act now [Ad exhortation]; 11d quo [Status ___]; 12d ups [Good times]; 13d ass [Numbskull]; 21d sin [Transgress]; 25d hazard [Sand trap, e.g.]; 26d eking [Barely making, with "out"]; 27d dead [Defunct]; 28d felons [Prison population]; 29d ill [Needing a doctor's attention]; 31d abs [Tummy muscles]; 32d no I ["___ won't!"]; 33d disco [Establishment with a revolving mirrored ball]; 37d I am so [Schoolyard retort]; 38d GSA [Fed. property overseer]; 39d air [Publicize]; 40d Len [Novelist Deighton]; 45d at hand [Available]; 46d so soon? ["Already?"]; 47d bah! ["Rubbish!"]; 48d Aretha [First name in soul]; 52d gigs [Play dates?]; 53d atop [Surmounting]; 54d nota [___ bene]; 55d real [Down-to-earth]; 56d or so [Roughly]; 58d Sade [Marquis de ___]; 59d a la [Menu phrase]; 60d sax [Instrument famously played by Bill Clinton on "The Arsenio Hall Show"]; 61d ewe [One catching a ram's eye].

NPR Sunday Puzzle 3/15/09 - Heavenly Host

I forgot to post my answer to last Sunday's NPR puzzle:

Think of a familiar phrase in five words that means "tongue-tied". One word in it has one letter, one word has two letters, one has three, one has four and one has five — though not necessarily in that order. What is the phrase?

before it was announced today, so you'll just have to take my word for it that I got at a loss for words. The answers to the puzzles I posed were:

De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da [eight 2-letter words — a song first released in 1980]

The Old Man and the Sea [six 3-letter words — a novel first published in 1952]

Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall [seven 4-letter words — a song first released in 1944]



So to this week's challenge:

Name a female host of a popular TV program. Rearrange the letters of her first name to name a god in mythology. Rearrange the letters in her last name to name a type of god that this god is not. Who is the TV host and what are the anagrams?

Magdalen is vastly more knowledgeable in this area and I assumed she would get the name very quickly. When that didn't happen, we resorted to going through lists of gods and TV personalities. The former approach worked best for us and I was gobsmacked to come up with the answer first! I'll try to remember to post about it late in the week.

NYT Monday 3/16/09 - Say Aye

Today's theme was the ways the I sound can be spelled at the end of a word, and I wondered why eye was omitted. Then I noticed that it would need to be preceded by a consonant in the second word - only long and obscure compounds would be consistent with the theme, such as blue walleye, and the compiler reasonably left eye out.

The nature of the theme seemed to result in a slightly longer solve than usual for a Monday, though not outrageously so. A couple of Irish references crept in, which makes me wonder if there will be an all-out St Patrick's Day puzzle next, or if that's all we're getting this year!

Solving time: 9 mins (no cheating)

Theme

Eight different ways an I sound can be spelled at the end of a word:

17a Sigma Chi [Fraternity with a sweetheart of a song]
18a Mai Tai [Drink that often comes with an umbrella]
24a knee-high [Like some socks]
37a wise guy [Smart aleck]
39a hair dye [Salon supply in a bottle]
48a clear sky [Good picnic forecast]
58a mud pie [Chocolaty ice cream dessert]
60a Evan Bayh [Second-generation senator from Indiana]

I doubted the existence of Evan Bayh until I was sure the crossing answers couldn't be anything else. I also hadn't come across the fraternity song Sweetheart of Sigma Chi before today - crosswords can be so illuminating (and not just by tearing them up in disgust and lighting a fire with them).



Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Lynn Lempel / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 37 (16.4%) black squares
Answers	78 (average length 4.82)
Theme squares	58 (30.9%)
Scrabble points	295 (average 1.57)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

32a alumna [Bryn Mawr graduate]. I thought the singular of alumni was alumnus. Ok, it seems Bryn Mawr is no accident, since it is a women-only at the undergraduate level. The clue is calling for the feminine form.

alumnus n (pl alumni) a former pupil or student.
alumna n (pl alumnae) a female alumnus.
from The Chambers Dictionary

46a Papa ["___ Was a Rollin' Stone"]. A Motown song that was written for The Undisputed Truth, but didn't become a big hit until The Temptations recorded it.



53d Ethel [Jazzy Waters]. Thought of Muddy, but he's more of a bluesman. Here is Ethel Waters singing Miss Otis Regrets:



Noteworthy

26a moi ["Après ___ le déluge"]. The expression goes back to Madame de Pompadour, one of Louis XV's mistresses: she supposedly said "au reste, après nous, le Déluge" after the Battle of Rossbach.

41a Erin ["___ go bragh!"] and 10d Irish [Like many St. Patrick's Day celebrants]. A reminder that Tuesday is St Patrick's Day.

4d Ava [___ Gardner, Mrs. Sinatra #2] and 58d Mia [___ Farrow, Mrs. Sinatra #3]. Completing the set with Nancy [#1] and Barbara [#4] would have been a tough assignment for the compiler!

9d O gauge [Track choice for Lionel trains]. The first train set I ever played with was an O Gauge clockwork set - presumably made by Hornby, Britain's equivalent of Lionel. I had something like the train in the picture, but much more beaten up!

29d model plane [Small replica of the Spirit of St. Louis, e.g.]. I made model planes too: balsa gliders and plastic warplanes built from Airfix kits - nothing like Charles Lindbergh's monoplane.

30d Day O [Harry Belafonte catchword]. We had Harry Belafonte on the The Muppet Show last time, but this is too much fun not to show again:



40d illy [Badly]. It seems a little clumsy to clue one -ly word with another, but maybe that's the only option for a Monday puzzle.

The Rest

1a Mao [China's ___ Zedong]; 4a arts [___ and sciences]; 8a joints [Wrist, elbow and ankle]; 14a arrive at [Reach]; 16a agreed [Shook hands (on)]; 19a teas [Afternoon socials]; 20a oops! ["My bad!"]; 22a USSR [Cold war foe, for short]; 23a SSN [Info on a W-2 form: Abbr.]; 28a nude [Ready for skinny-dipping]; 29a MDs [Rx signers]; 35a DST [Cause of a clock change twice a yr.]; 36a coat [Paint layer]; 42a raw [Cold and blustery]; 44a glue on [Attach with Elmer's]; 45a sac [Cul-de-___]; 47a LDL ["Bad" cholesterol, for short]; 51a pre [Opposite of post-]; 54a Lisa ["The Simpsons" girl]; 56a Theo [Lt. Kojak]; 57a a lot [Plenty]; 62a inland [Away from the coast]; 63a reliance [Faith]; 64a agents [Insurance sellers]; 65a oral [Exam given face-to-face]; 66a eel [Snaky swimmer].

1d masts [Sail holders]; 2d Aries [First sign of the zodiac]; 3d organ music [Hymn accompaniment]; 5d recon [Military info-gathering]; 6d Tahoe [Sierra Nevada resort lake]; 7d stipend [Grad student's income, often]; 8d jam [Smucker's product]; 11d nets [Meshes]; 12d tear [Rip]; 13d SDI [U.S. Star Wars program]; 15d IMS [AOL chitchat]; 21d shush ["Be quiet!"]; 24d king [Queen's mate]; 25d ID tag [Dangler on a dog collar]; 27d omen [Broken mirror, to some]; 31d Sten [Brit's W.W. II gun]; 32d awes [Fills with wonder]; 33d lira [Franc : France :: ___ : Italy]; 34d aurae [Saintly glows]; 36d crud [Gunk]; 38d yap at [Talk to persistently and with a big mouth]; 43d war hero [Purple Heart recipient]; 46d plaint [Lament]; 48d C-SPAN [Network showing Capitol Hill proceedings]; 49d sever [Cut off]; 50d koala [Australian eucalyptus eater]; 52d Royce [Rolls-___ (car)]; 54d lung [Where inhaled air goes]; 55d idle [No longer working]; 57d ABA [Lawyers' org.]; 59d Eds [Bradley and Begley]; 61d nil [Zilch].