NYT Wednesday 4/15/09 - Fork Lift

This Wednesday New York Times crossword caught me off my guard: I managed to guess the central three long answers with no crossings at all. But it took me ages to realize that the 15-letter answers were also thematic and provided the knife and fork to go with that spoon.

I wasn't aware that Americans used cutlery differently until I met Magdalen: in Britain, the fork never leaves your left hand; in America the fork has no particular allegiance and goes wherever is convenient. After three years in the USA, my fork etiquette seems about 75% migrated to the American style.

Solving time: 18 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 67a lint {It may be caught in a trap}

Theme

Items of cutlery:

17a go under the knife {Have surgery}
24a,37a,50a born with a silver spoon in one's mouth {Privileged}
60a fork it over buddy! {"Gimme!"}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Michael Vuolo / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 38 (16.9%) black squares
Answers	76 (average length 4.92)
Theme squares	61 (32.6%)
Scrabble points	305 (average 1.63)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

1a MG's {Booker T.'s bandmates in '60s R&B}. Booker T. & the M.G.'s was one of the first racially-integrated bands of the rock era. They are perhaps still best known for their 1962 instrumental hit Green Onions.



21a Teri {Actress Polo of "Meet the Parents"}. Teri Polo plays the girlfriend with the unfortunate parents in Meet the Parents and its sequel Meet the Fockers.



45a PAC {D.C. influence wielder}. I skated on thin ice not knowing this and having to guess Phyllis Coates at 47-down. I see that Political Action Committees are the way contributions from interest groups are regulated and publicized in the USA. PACs apparently account for less than 30% of total contributions in congressional races and even less in presidential races.

11d Frist {Bill passed many times on the Hill, formerly}. The subterfuge was obvious here, but it fell a bit flat (for me) because there was no chance I'd know Bill Frist, the retired senator from Tennessee. When first elected, he promised to serve no more than two terms and, amazingly, kept that promise.

39d o No {"Vas ___ Vas" (former derivative Spanish-language game show)}. Getting away from Mrs Lennon here was innovative, though I'm not sure the Spanish-language version of Deal or No Deal was such a bonus.



47d Coates {Actress Phyllis of "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein"}. I had to guess at the first letter, as I didn't know PACs. Coates was the only fill that looked sane to me and I trusted the compiler not to be cute with me. Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane on TV in the first 26 episodes of Adventures of Superman and starred with Whit Bissell and Gary Conway in the referenced movie.



54d Tevye {Milkman of musical fame}. Tevye the dairyman's fame hadn't reached my ears, but I guess that's my bad: he's the protagonist of the Sholem Aleichem stories that inspired Fiddler on the Roof. Both Zero Mostel and Chaim Topol played the role on stage, but the latter got the part in the movie.



Noteworthy

15a oboist {"Peter and the Wolf" musician}. Peter and the Wolf is well-chosen because of the prominent role the oboe has representing the Duck (including some quacking after being eaten by the Wolf). I tried to play the oboe as a kid and it's impossible.

26a blue-ice {Colorful glacier layer}. I saw blue ice in Alaska last fall and can attest to the deep blue color. Pure ice naturally has that color - most of the ice we see has a lot of air bubbles, which makes it seem white.

66a eta {Seventh in a series of 24}. This clue had me wondering until the answer emerged from crossings and I saw the series was the Greek Alphabet - a good thing to know by heart if you're into crosswords.

67a lint {It may be caught in a trap}. A wonderfully deceptive clue - I'd never have thought of this answer without help from the downs.

69a Roy {Rogers who was elected twice to the Country Music Hall of Fame}. I had to check that this refers to Roy Rogers the singing cowboy, as there's another Roy Rogers who plays slide guitar.



9d sterna {Chest protectors}. This seems to me a rather ugly answer, largely because the Latin plural is so obscure. Does anyone really say sterna rather than sternums? I think I'd have opted for sterns and sir for 29-across.

13d Teena {Pop/R&B singer ___ Marie}. Teena Marie, nicknamed "Lady T", has been a successful white singer of R&B since 1976. Here's her 1984 hit Lovergirl:



27d inv. {Accts. payable receipt}; 28d Cie. {French bus. firm}; 32d CST {Winter Minn. hrs.}. This sequence of abbrs. is a little unfortunate, but liable to happen with all those three-letter downs sandwiched in the middle. Cie. for Compagnie is the only slightly obscure one.

The Rest

4a pandas {San Diego Zoo attractions}; 10a pfft {[fizzle]}; 14a ELO {"Can't Get It Out of My Head" grp.}; 16a Erie {View from Buffalo}; 20a blast {Great time}; 22a stn. {RR stop}; 23a Camp {___ David}; 29a air {Bubble contents}; 30a sis {Family girl}; 31a niece {Family girl}; 34a ass {Dolt}; 41a MCI {Co. acquired by Verizon in 2006}; 42a stone {Sturdy building material}; 43a DAs {Court figs.}; 48a concept {Designer's starting point}; 55a hope {"Keep ___ alive!"}; 56a fan {Geisha's accessory}; 57a Babe {Diamond legend, with "the"}; 58a Moore {"Bowling for Columbine" documentarian}; 64a a moi {Mine, in Marseille}; 65a Elysée {___ Palace, French presidential residence}; 68a steady {Sure}.

1d Meg {Sister in "Little Women"}; 2d globalism {Doctrine that de-emphasizes regional interests}; 3d soul music {Barry White's genre}; 4d pods {Some marine herds}; 5d abet {Help in a bad way}; 6d nor {___'easter}; 7d ditto {"Likewise"}; 8d Asher {One of the 12 tribes of Israel}; 10d pen {Slammer}; 12d Fifth {It may be taken in court, with "the"}; 18d nape {Kitty's pickup point}; 19d kiwi {Fuzzy fruit}; 23d CBS {"Numb3rs" network}; 24d beers {They may come in a round}; 25d Iran {Modern locale of ancient Persepolis}; 33d epoch {Pleistocene, e.g.}; 35d side order {Fries, often}; 36d snapped to {Began paying attention}; 38d lips {They may be licked or smacked}; 40d oen- {Wine: Prefix}; 44d Ste. {Geneviève, e.g.: Abbr.}; 46d ambi- {Prefix with dextrous}; 49d Chou {Comrade of Mao}; 50d offal {Butcher's discards}; 51d Naomi {Feminist Wolf who wrote "The Beauty Myth"}; 52d Enron {Bankrupt company in 2002 headlines}; 53d U bolt {Curved fastener}; 58d Mr Ed {Talking horse of old TV}; 59d obey {Mind}; 61d kit {Hobbyist's purchase}; 62d esa {Spanish "that"}; 63d yay {"That's great news!"}.

NYT Tuesday 4/14/09 - Stone Circles

I really like the style of theme in this Tuesday New York Times puzzle, which I don't recall seeing before: solving started with a frantic search for the clue that explained what all the circles were for. After JADE emerged from Jagged Edge, predicting the gem helped with answers like toll plaza and pony express.

Solving this puzzle makes me realize that a few more "crucial posts" are called for: first a list of common Italian words to help with the likes of sette. Then a selection of those short answers which crop up again and again, but which I struggle to remember accurately: here we had Enid {Oklahoma City} and GRE {Test for Ph.D. wannabes}.

Solving time: 10 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 12d A-test {Mushroom producer, for short}

Theme

59a hidden gems {What the long Across answers with circles have}. The other five long across answers contain gemstones in sequence, as marked by the circles:

17a Jagged Edge {1985 Glenn Close/Jeff Bridges thriller}
21a pony express {Mail service made obsolete by the transcontinental telegraph}
32a dog paddle {Simple swimming stroke}
40a toll plaza {Widening in a highway, maybe}
53a Marcus Welby {1970s Robert Young TV role}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Barry Boone / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 38 (16.9%) black squares
Answers	76 (average length 4.92)
Theme squares	60 (32.1%)
Scrabble points	306 (average 1.64)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

37a Lola {In a Kinks hit s/he "walked like a woman and talked like a man"}. Lola details a romantic encounter between young man and a transvestite - number 422 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.



42a Is To {Lenin's "What ___ Be Done?"}. There seem to be a lot of fill-in-the-blanks in this puzzle - mostly easy to guess. Lenin wrote the political pamphlet What Is To Be Done in 1901-2. It advocated a professional core of party activists to spearhead the revolution, and led to the split between the majority Bolshevik and minority Menshevik wings of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party.

63a Ernie {"Evil ___" (comics series)}. Evil Ernie is an undead psychotic killer, in a series published by Chaos! Comics and Devil's Due Publishing - Bert's roommate can be evil, but nothing like this.

1d Sajak {Pat of "Wheel of Fortune"}. A great name to get into a crossword grid: Pat Sajak and Vanna White have hosted Wheel of Fortune since 1983 - it's the longest-running syndicated game show in American television history.



24d Total {General Mills brand}. I'm still learning the breakfast cereals like Total. Its ad campaigns seem to depend on dissing rival brands.



54d shag {Catch and throw back, as fly balls}. Oo er missus. Shagging means something quite different back in dear old Blighty, which Mike Myers made much of in Austin Powers 2.



Noteworthy

23a kettles {Fish stew containers}. I'm guessing this is a reference the phrases "a different kettle of fish" and "a fine kettle of fish". These probably originate in traditional riverside picnics in the Scottish borders, on which you'd catch and eat salmon boiled in a cooking pot.

"At one, afternoon," replied the Captain deliberately, "Sir Bingo will attend you--the place may be the Buck-stane; for as the whole company go to the water-side to-day to eat a kettle of fish, there will be no risk of interruption.--And who shall I speak to, my good friend, on your side of the quarrel?"
From St Ronan's Well by Sir Walter Scott

12d A-test {Mushroom producer, for short}. A neat clue, although I think I've seen it before with similar wordings.

The Rest

1a speed {Go 50 in a 30-m.p.h. zone, e.g.}; 6a lilt {Joyful tune}; 10a zeal {Enthusiasm}; 14a alike {Similar}; 15a in or {"Are you ___ out?"}; 16a Alta {Utah ski resort}; 19a Iles {Saint Barthélemy et d'autres}; 20a ach {German's "Dear me!"}; 25a lento {Slowly, in music}; 26a boys {Most Little Leaguers}; 27a bale {Hay unit}; 30a brat {Hardly a little angel}; 38a menus {Waiters' handouts}; 39a riot {Mob scene}; 43a Ebro {River of Spain}; 44a Ikes {Eisenhower and Turner}; 46a A Star {"When You Wish Upon ___"}; 50a ate dirt {Groveled}; 57a Deo {"Gloria in excelsis ___"}; 58a oxen {Farm team}; 61a rove {Go here and there}; 62a Anne {Actress Hathaway}; 64a Enid {Oklahoma city}; 65a gear {Bat, ball, glove, etc.}; 66a sette {Number of hills in Roma}.

2d place {Come in second}; 3d eight ball {It's last to be sunk}; 4d EKG {Heart test readout: Abbr.}; 5d deeply {Very much}; 6d liens {Property claims}; 7d Indy {Four-time Harrison Ford film role}; 8d loge {Second-level seating}; 9d T Rex {Fearsome display at a natural history museum}; 10d Zaire {Congo's name before 1997}; 11d Ellen {TV's DeGeneres}; 13d lasso {Rodeo rope}; 18d does {Bucks' partners}; 22d plea {Appeal}; 27d Bonzo {"Bedtime for ___" (Reagan film)}; 28d agua {Contents of the Spanish Main}; 29d LPs {8-track alternatives}; 30d BLT {Deli sandwich, for short}; 31d roo {Kanga's baby}; 32d dear {Honeybunch}; 33d dried {Like raisins vis-à-vis grapes}; 34d dissident {Andrei Sakharov in the Soviet era, e.g.}; 35d lot {Film studio locale}; 36d ETO {W.W. II command}; 38d MLB {World Series org.}; 41d Peru {Where Simón Bolívar was once president}; 44d It Be {The Beatles' "Let ___"}; 45d Keynes {Economist John Maynard ___}; 46d amore {Love, Italian-style}; 47d Saxon {The "S" in WASP}; 48d Trevi {Rome's ___ Fountain}; 49d acned {Pimply}; 50d alder {Tree with catkins}; 51d remit {Send, as payment}; 52d to see {"We're off ___ the Wizard ..."}; 55d wine {Burgundy or Bordeaux}; 56d Edna {"The Simpsons" teacher who was called Mrs. K}; 60d GRE {Test for Ph.D. wannabes}.

NPR Sunday Puzzle 4/12/09 - BFI

This week's Listener Challenge from the NPR Sunday Puzzle is:

Think of the name of a country. Change its first letter to a D, and then read the word backward. The result will be a creature that lives in that country. What's the country and what's the creature?

After Magdalen had thought about it for a few minutes, she resorted to a list of countries and found the answer soon enough. Being of a stubborn turn of mind, I persisted in trying to think of the answer without what I consider BFI (brute force and ignorance).

The result was I spent most of the day trying to come up with animals that end in D and countries whose endings make a good beginning for a word. It took me a while, but I eventually got the answer - details at the end of the week.

I tried to find related puzzles based on countries, changing the first, second and last letters - with reversal - but no dice. The transformation that Jack Lechner found is pretty unusual, so hats off to him for finding it ... and letting us all enjoy it through NPR.

So I offer an unrelated puzzle this week. Can you complete the following sentence, in which the words that fill the blanks are anagrams of each other:

Dad __________ some of the __________ to use in the hunt

NYT Monday 4/13/09 - Rick Trick

This Monday New York Times crossword seems to have been built around Rickrolling, which hadn't become widespread enough to reach my attention (for more details see Theme below). Extending from Rick to the other vowels, we get a neat thematic puzzle that seems to suit a 15x15 perfectly.

As usual, quickly spotting the pattern behind the thematic answers really helps - I wasn't expecting such a fast time given all the answers I didn't know.

Solving time: 7 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 33a Steve [Jobs at Apple]

Theme

R?CK words, with each vowel in order:

18a racketeer [Al Capone, for one]
24a reckless [Not heeding danger]
37a Rickrolling [Widespread Internet prank involving a bait-and-switch link to a music video]
54a rock star [Mick Jagger or Bruce Springsteen]
60a rucksacks [Packs for bikers and hikers]

I fancied I'd heard of most Internet phenomena, but mercifully have escaped being Rickrolled. It involves tricking a person into following an apparently interesting link, which instead sends them to a video of the much-derided Rick Astley ... such as this one which has been viewed getting on for 20 million times (let's see if featuring in a New York Times crossword can take him past that milestone!):



Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Natan Last / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 40 (17.8%) black squares
Answers	74 (average length 5.00)
Theme squares	45 (24.3%)
Scrabble points	309 (average 1.67)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

28a Nite [Nick at ___]. Nick at Nite is what Nickelodeon broadcasts when all the kids have gone to bed: ten-year-old sitcoms aimed at adolescent and adult audiences.

6d Aba ["The ___ Daba Honeymoon"]. Nice to get away from the "Lawyer's org.". Aba Daba Honeymoon was first recorded by the comic duo Collins & Harlan in 1914. A version featured in the 1950 movie Two Weeks with Love:



12d Morton ["When it rains, it pours" salt brand]. This answer is presumably known to all Americans, but I had to work around it: the standard salt brand where I grew up was Cerebos, with the slogan "See How It Runs".

25d Kevin [Bandleader Eubanks of "The Tonight Show"]. I have caught Leno a few times since arriving in the USA, and was surprised at the prominent role the bandleader had in it ... but could I remember his name?



34d eco-cars [High-m.p.g. vehicles]. eco-car seems to be the generic (and logical) term for a highly fuel-efficient vehicle. There is also a specific project called EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge, which encourages engineering students to build advanced vehicles with minimal environmental impact - I'm not sure that's what the clue is going on about though.

38d Koo [Hootchy-___]. How to choose between Hootchy-Coo and Hootchy-Koo? I don't think you could really - you just had to trust that the theme was consistent down the grid.

45d Harris [Joel Chandler ___, creator of Uncle Remus]. Joel Chandler Harris (1845-1908) wrote stories featuring Br'er Rabbit and narrated by Uncle Remus. They were based on the African-American folklore of his native Georgia.

Noteworthy

33a Steve [Jobs at Apple]. It's sometimes hard to pick a clue of the puzz early in the week. Not today, as this clue referencing Steve Jobs reads very naturally and has the classic trick of disguising a proper name in the first word.

59a RKO [Studio that made "Notorious"]. RKO Pictures was responsible for many timeless classics of their era, such as King Kong, Citizen Kane and one of Hitchcock's best, Notorious:



The Rest

1a Myst [Best-selling computer game of the 1990s]; 5a cast [Players in a play]; 9a spam [Unwanted e-mail]; 13a rotor [Helicopter blade]; 15a obey ["___ your thirst" (former Sprite slogan)]; 16a ergo [Therefore]; 17a Burma [Myanmar, once]; 20a Uri [Mentalist Geller]; 21a imp [Little devil]; 23a extent [Breadth]; 27a condo [Apartment that's owned, not leased]; 29a techie [Computer whiz]; 32a San [___ Antonio, Tex.]; 35a halls [Corridors]; 41a no oil [Reason for engine trouble, perhaps]; 42a noels [Christmas carols]; 45a ham [___ and eggs]; 48a cobalt [Metal that gave its name to a shade of blue]; 51a Bret [Writer Harte]; 52a Aruba [Caribbean vacation spot]; 56a rosary [Prayer beads]; 58a oui [Parisian "yes"]; 63a squab [Young pigeon]; 65a isle [52-Across, e.g.]; 66a whee [Cry while careering downhill]; 67a sedge [Bulrush, e.g.]; 68a seer [Fortuneteller]; 69a sign [Stop or Do Not Pass]; 70a dees [Almost-failing grades].

1d Mr. Burns [Owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant on "The Simpsons"]; 2d you're it [Shout in tag]; 3d stricter [Less forgiving]; 4d Tom [___ Sawyer]; 5d corpse [Body in a whodunit]; 7d sec. [Fraction of a min.]; 8d tyke [Little fella]; 9d set-to [Fight that might include fisticuffs]; 10d preens [Prettifies oneself, as in a mirror]; 11d agenda [Order of business at a meeting]; 14d rail [Train travel]; 19d excel in [Be great at]; 22d met [Encountered]; 26d scholar [Learned one]; 30d Hal ["2001" computer]; 31d ill [Running a temperature, say]; 36d snobs [Hoity-toity sorts]; 39d rib ["Spare" part of the body]; 40d Gertrude [She says "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" in "Hamlet"]; 43d leakage [Problem with pipes]; 44d strobes [Disco lights]; 46d arouse [Excite]; 47d muscle [What a bodybuilder builds]; 49d loosen [Undo, as laces]; 50d TCU [Fort Worth sch.]; 53d baker [Cake maker]; 55d kiss [Smooch]; 57d yaws [Deviations of a ship's course]; 61d chi ["The Sweetheart of Sigma ___"]; 62d keg [What's tapped at a beer bust]; 64d Q.E.D. [Letters at the end of a proof].

NYT Sunday 4/12/09 - Circling the Square

Solving this Sunday New York Times puzzle was a solo effort on my part, as Magdalen was lured away by the Masters. It was obvious early on what the circled letters were and this made for fast solving in all areas of the grid.

I can't recall any British papers using circles to mark squares in the grid - special squares are either shaded or marked with an asterisk (for example) in a corner. I'm currently working on enhancements to my Sympathy Crossword Construction software and I managed to implement circle drawing in the NYT style just in time to make use of it for today's grid.

Solving time: 30 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 14d Oh, say [Key opening?]

Theme

65a square pegs [Things that may not go in 69-Across] and 69a round holes [See 65-Across]. There are 10 groupings of the letters P E G S in a 2x2 square. As usual the special cells where the theme letters occur are marked with circles, presumably the "round holes" - so in this case, square pegs do go into round holes!

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Eric Berlin / Will Shortz
Grid	21x21 with 73 (16.6%) black squares
Answers	142 (average length 5.18)
Theme squares	60 (16.3%)
Scrabble points	538 (average 1.46)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

28a Orser [1987 champion skater Brian]. Brian Orser is a Canadian figure skater, nicknamed "Mr. Triple Axel" for his consistency with that crosswordy jump. He won the World Figure Skating Championships just once in 1987. The next year, he won the silver medal at the Calgary Olympics, from which this performance comes.



46a She's Gone [1976 top 10 hit for Hall & Oates]. She's Gone is from the duo's 1973 album Abandoned Luncheonette. How come the clue says 1976? The Tavares covered the song and made it a hit in 1974, which inspired Hall & Oates to re-release their version with greater success.



89a Angelina ["Farewell, ___" (Dylan song popularized by Joan Baez)]. Farewell Angelina was the title track on Joan Baez's 1965 album. It included three other Bob Dylan songs.



114a Roberts [Rehnquist's successor]. Magdalen helped me out with an explanation here: William Rehnquist was Reagan's appointee as the 16th Chief Justice of the United States; George W. Bush nominated John Roberts as the 17th Chief Justice in September 2005. Reading about him, I now recall Roberts's role in administering the oath of office on President Obama's Inauguration Day.

1d hemp [Crop grown by George Washington]. It's not what you're thinking! Hemp was grown to make cloth and paper - why, the Declaration of Independence was drafted on hemp paper.

6d envoi [End of a ballade]. An envoi is a short stanza at the end of a poem - addressing the patron, or commenting on the main body of the work, for example.

14d Oh, say [Key opening?]. I didn't appreciate quite how brilliant this clue is until Magdalen explained the reference to Francis Scott Key, who wrote the words to The Star-Spangled Banner.

33d Pasteur [1936 Oscar-winning title role for Paul Muni]. I don't think anyone would make a biopic about Pasteur now, but between the wars, the scientist must have been hot at the box office.

Noteworthy

61a rub [Catch]. Presumably catch in the noun sense of "concealed difficulty", as in "there's the rub".

112a USTA [Org. for singles?]. I thought "singles" meant recordings and tried to come up with four-letter equivalents of BMI and ASCAP. Definitely not the right track - I should have been thinking of tennis singles and the United States Tennis Association.

8d Amor [Son of Venus]. Amor is another name for Cupid.

43d boccie [Game with balls]. I had some concerns over this answer as I've only encountered the bocce spelling before.

The Rest

1a halite [Rock salt]; 7a gasp [[I'm shocked!]]; 11a awl [Item in a belt-maker's tool belt]; 14a orgs. [Grps.]; 18a eminent [Distinguished]; 20a Amer. [AARP part: Abbr.]; 21a née [Formerly]; 22a Heep [Wickfield's scheming partner in "David Copperfield"]; 23a misgave [Felt suspicion]; 24a mono [Like early Beatles recordings]; 25a gets sore [Becomes peeved]; 27a Pepe [Cartoon skunk]; 30a displeased [Frowning]; 32a spiral [Shell shape]; 34a punt [Give up, slangily]; 35a icy [Not offering traction, in a way]; 36a Costa [___ del Sol]; 39a ipecacs [Medicinal syrups]; 41a SVU ["Law & Order: ___"]; 42a ABC [Epitome of simplicity]; 45a ABA [Attorneys' org.]; 48a suer [One who goes a-courting?]; 49a too ["___ bad"]; 50a Dogstar [Bright spot in the night sky]; 52a Perots [Politico Ross and family]; 54a epoch [Ages and ages]; 56a seeped [Came through the wall, maybe]; 57a rail [Stairway part]; 59a slam dance [Punk rock club activity]; 62a eres [You are: Sp.]; 63a Mona [Marisa's role in "My Cousin Vinny"]; 64a rain [Word repeated before "go away"]; 71a easy [Word with chair or street]; 72a SUNY [Schools in Albany and Oneonta are part of it: Abbr.]; 73a Desi [First name in '50s comedy]; 74a -ial [Suffix with adverb]; 75a in neutral [Idling]; 77a Abes [Fivers]; 78a gneiss [Layered rock]; 82a stern [Hard-nosed]; 83a sclera [Eyeball covering]; 85a magenta [Plumlike shade]; 86a maw [Gaping opening]; 87a Chet [Newsman Huntley]; 92a keg [Tap site]; 93a OSS [Org. in the 1946 thriller "Cloak and Dagger"]; 94a lad [Huck Finn, e.g.]; 95a crisper [Refrigerator part]; 96a rasps [Horseshoers' tools]; 98a AAs [Some batteries]; 99a Capt. ["Aye, aye!" hearer: Abbr.]; 100a harass [Bug]; 102a rings a bell [Sounds familiar]; 106a or not ["... but I could be wrong"]; 107a leas [Places to graze]; 111a accepted [Took]; 116a noon [Good time for suntanning]; 117a -ite [Native's suffix]; 118a Geri [Spice Girl Halliwell]; 119a sloe-gin [Fizz ingredient]; 120a inst. [Tech. school]; 121a TAs [Univ. aides]; 122a spam [Many unread messages]; 123a lapses [Small mistakes].

2d amie [Billet-doux recipient]; 3d lisp [Orator's challenge]; 4d ingest [Swallow]; 5d tea [Caffeine source]; 7d game leg [Cause of a limp]; 9d Sen. [Something D.C. does not have]; 10d producer [Film V.I.P.]; 11d angst [Unsettled feeling]; 12d weep [Boo-hoo]; 13d let live [Spare]; 15d REOs [Vintage cars]; 16d Gere ["Nights in Rodanthe" star, 2008]; 17d sped [Careered]; 19d terrier [Game pursuer]; 26d secured [In the hold, say]; 29d saps [Suckers]; 31d ins [Entrances]; 34d panels ["What's My Line?" features]; 36d cads [Heartbreaker types]; 37d oboe ["O" in the old Army phonetic alphabet]; 38d sage [Mint relative]; 40d copies [Knockoffs]; 41d Susann [Best-selling novelist about whom Gore Vidal said "She doesn't write, she types!"]; 42d atonal [Lacking a key]; 44d Cohens [Songwriter Leonard and others]; 47d had best [Really ought to]; 48d St Louis [End of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 9/23/1806]; 51d sprayer [Exterminator's tool]; 53d osmose [Diffuse slowly]; 55d parolee [Recent release?]; 57d re-enact [Simulate, as an event]; 58d Argyll [Historic Scottish county]; 60d Madigan [Amy of "Field of Dreams"]; 65d seismo- [Prefix with graph]; 66d Qantas [Flying Kangaroo company]; 67d US News [Longtime Time rival, informally]; 68d pursed [Puckered]; 69d rebags [Packs again, as groceries]; 70d hangars [Buildings on some bases]; 73d darn it! ["Phooey!"]; 76d unclasp [Remove, as a necklace]; 79d inks [Closes, as a deal]; 80d step [Instructions part]; 81d sags [Doesn't look at all youthful]; 84d earplugs [Silencers?]; 85d mirrors [Duplicates exactly]; 88d has at it [Attacks]; 90d Ephraim [Patriarch of a tribe of Israel]; 91d lean [Show a preference]; 95d Cal [Political columnist Thomas]; 97d asleep [Not up]; 98d agent [Representative]; 99d cedes [Hands over]; 101d atoll [Transpacific landing site]; 102d rani [Eastern queen]; 103d icon [Something to click]; 104d NCOs [PX patrons]; 105d beta [Test stage]; 106d otra [Other, in Oaxaca]; 108d ergs [Physics 101 units]; 109d a tie [In ___ (even)]; 110d SSNs [Some IDs: Abbr.]; 113d Sep. [Natl. Library Card Sign-Up Month]; 115d boa [Diva's wrap].

NYT Saturday 4/11/09 -The Power of Two

This Saturday New York Times crossword seemed rather variable in the difficulty level: the bottom was straightforward and after about 30 minutes, I just had the NE and NW corners to finish off; unfortunately, no amount of cerebration seemed to help break into these areas.

Shortly before an hour, I decided to combine forces with my wife Magdalen. She hadn't got many answers in the puzzle, but amazingly knew two of the critical long answers I was struggling with: Sacajawea and Priceline. With just these extra answers, we could finish the grid in no time - Magdalen and I make a great team solving crosswords and in other aspects of our lives.

This crossword's grid is a neat piece of construction: the average answer length is well over six letters and there are no three-letter words. The fill seems remarkably good, with delightful answers like Yakety Sax and Sacajawea.

Solving time: 60 mins (no cheating, collaborative effort)
Clue of the puzz: 5d tale [Related thing]

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Karen M. Tracey / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 29 (12.9%) black squares
Answers	64 (average length 6.13)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	331 (average 1.69)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

14a Sacajawea [Her face began to circulate in 2000]. Not knowing Sacajawea was a real killer in the NW corner. Luckily this was a gimme for Magdalen and together we could complete that section very quickly. The Sacagawea (sic: there are multiple spellings) dollar was issued in 2000 - it's one of two current dollar coins, neither of which I've seen. I gather Sacajawea is famous for accompanying the Lewis and Clark Expedition and acting as a Shoshone interpreter.

20a Reece [1920s-'60s Tennessee congressman B. Carroll ___]. I'm really going to struggle to learn facts like these. I guess 40 years in congress earns B. Carroll Reece a place in the Congress Hall of Fame, but even Magdalen didn't remember him; and, as she points out, there are a lot of US politicians with this record of service. A museum at the East Tennessee State University bears Reece's name.

44a Raitt ["Something to Talk About" Grammy winner, 1991]. Although I didn't recognize the song title, the answer somehow shouted Raitt at me - not the first time she's been an answer I imagine. Something to Talk About is from her eleventh album, Luck of the Draw.



1d asada [Carne ___ (roasted beef dish)]. I knew chili con carne, but not carne asada (literally "roasted meat" in Spanish).

4d Tania ["Lost" actress Raymonde]. Tania Raymonde plays Alex Rousseau on a show that has baffled me every time I've seen it.



6d Switzer [Child actor Carl who played Alfalfa]. We're going all the way back to Our Gang again - is that fair to me? Carl came to be hired quite by accident: the Switzers were on a sightseeing trip to the Hal Roach Studios when Carl and brother Harold did an impromptu performance in the commissary; Hal Roach happened to be there and signed them both up.



11d Yakety Sax [Musical accompaniment to many a comedic chase scene]. Another nightmarish answer. Yakety Sax was a 1963 single written and recorded by Boots Randolph. Reading this didn't mean much to me, but listening to the music recalls those speeded-up chase scenes from The Benny Hill Show. I fail to understand why Benny Hill is one of Britain's most successful comedic exports - he's not who I'd have picked to be funny for England (Spike Milligan, the Pythons, Rowan Atkinson, to name a few).



Noteworthy

5a tsps. [Equal measures?: Abbr.]. Lovely clue with the initial capital disguising a proper name, in this case Equal, the sweetener brand.

17a atonality [Feature of the 1925 opera "Wozzeck"] and 19a Donizetti ["Lucrezia Borgia" composer]. Interesting to see two opera clues in a puzzle: the first was a gimme, although Wozzeck is really atonality-lite - I don't find it too hard on the ears. I struggled to recall who wrote Lucrezia Borgia, even positing one of the Scarlattis in desperation; only when the corner was truly broken into with the help of Sacajawea did I recall Donizetti.



36a flapper [Historical decorum disdainer]. This clue could cover a lot of ground, so it took a lot of crossing answers before I saw flapper and accepted they indeed did a good job of flouting conventions in their day.



2d Bator [Mongolian for "hero"]. I knew the answer had to be part of a famous Mongolian name, but couldn't think beyond Genghis Khan. Ulan Bator is Mongolia's capital, and literally means "red hero" in honor of Damdin Sükhbaatar, who liberated Mongolia with the Red Army's help in the early 1920s.

5d tale [Related thing]. I saw through this reasonably easily, but it's still a great clue: a tale is something that is related, in the sense of "told".

29d calico cat [Litter member that's almost always female]. Calico cats are largely white, with red and black patches - an accident of genetics, specifically X-inactivation.

The Rest

1a abut [Be against]; 9a crypt [Undercroft]; 16a hoary [Grizzled]; 18a ask in [Warmly welcome]; 21a Arnaz ["Holiday in Havana" star, 1949]; 22a zen state [A Buddhist might be found in one]; 24a emerge [Spring]; 26a Pyle ["The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" author Howard]; 28a scissor [Clip]; 32a seeps in [Enters gradually]; 34a pan out [Bear fruit]; 35a Delano [California city near Bakersfield]; 38a telexes [Outdated communications]; 39a sigh [Dramatic exhalation]; 40a Tuborg [Danish beer brand]; 42a crossbow [Old bolt shooter]; 49a mooch [Bum]; 50a avalanche [Go downhill fast]; 52a E. coli [Gut flora]; 53a digestion [Gut reaction?]; 54a saver [Screen ___]; 55a uneasiest [Least comfortable]; 56a A-test [Big shock wave producer, briefly]; 57a Bess [Gershwin title character]; 58a cres. [Musical score abbr.].

3d UConn [Big East b-ball powerhouse]; 7d petter [Dog owner, often]; 8d sayings [Saws]; 9d chart [Plot]; 10d rose apple [Fragrant fruit used for jellies and confections]; 12d Priceline [Alternative to Travelocity or Orbitz]; 13d Tyne [River near Hadrian's Wall]; 15d jazzes up [Adds spice to]; 23d seeder [Farming machine]; 25d motets [Some a cappella music]; 27d Enos [Biblical 905-year-old]; 28d SPFs [Nos. on some lotion bottles]; 30d in a groove [On one's game]; 31d Sophocles [He wrote "Time eases all things"]; 33d eelgrass [Plant with long ribbonlike leaves]; 37d rub-a-dub [Drumbeat]; 38d towages [Tugboat fees]; 41d bovine [Jersey, e.g.]; 43d shirt [Jersey, e.g.]; 45d antic [Bit of harlequinade]; 46d icier [Relatively remote]; 47d those [Word that might accompany finger-pointing]; 48d tents [Nonpermanent residences]; 49d mesa [Pueblo site]; 51d leas [Bucolic backdrops].

NPR Sunday Puzzle 4/5/09 - Cats Cast

This week's NPR Sunday Puzzle was:

Think of a four-letter word with a short A sound, and specifically the A is the second letter. Switch the third and fourth letters and you'll get a new word, also with a short A sound. The two words go together to make a phrase that names something that existed from 1982 to 2000. What is it?

It took several hours to see that (the) Cats cast was the answer: I don't think of "cast" as having a short A sound, though I accept it's the American way; I also expected some kind of physical object or building, not an ensemble - but that was just me being blinkered.

Cats the musical opened in London in 1981, but didn't arrive on Broadway until 1982. It's final performance there was in September 2000. At that time, Cats was the longest-running musical in Broadway history, but it has since been overtaken by another Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, The Phantom of the Opera.

NYT Friday 4/10/09 - One Day It'll All Make Sense

The clue to 13-down seems to express what every solver must hope - that there will be a time when every clue can be understood without having to look things up. There was some evidence that I came closer to the ideal today: not knowing the restaurateur Toots Shor resulted in a mistake in a puzzle last month; having learned the name, I could solve 27-down in this puzzle right away.

Manny Nosowsky is the most prolific constructor in the New York Times (famous enough to have his own Wikipedia article) and I've solved a number of his crosswords in compilations. So it's great to run across his byline on a current puzzle and be able to comment on his work.

Solving time: 27 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 12d a-sea [Where gobs go]

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Manny Nosowsky / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 30 (13.3%) black squares
Answers	66 (average length 5.91)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	306 (average 1.57)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

8a two-pair [So-so poker holding]. This might have been a helpful clue to a poker player, but I had to work around it. A two-pair is a hand with a pair of cards of one rank, another pair of a different rank and an unmatched card.

1d Cate [Wife in "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter"]. 8 Simple Rules (in short) was an American sitcom that ran from 2002 to 2005, loosely based on W. Bruce Cameron book. Katey Sagal plays the wife and mother in the show. This clip also shows Kaley Cuoco, who we love as Penny in Big Bang Theory.



6d all female [Like the pop group the Pussycat Dolls]. The compiler was generous in choosing a helpfully-named group (and not The Runaways, for example). Here's their cover of Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire.



9d wrist [Where to wear an armilla]. armilla means armlet in Latin and was a gold armband awarded to Roman soldiers; now it is used mostly as an archeological term for a bracelet. From it we get the name of a model of the celestial globe which looks like a bunch of bracelets: the armillary sphere.

23d Ingas ["Young Frankenstein" woman and others]. I didn't remember Inga right away, but Teri Garr's character came back to me with a few crossing letters. I don't much like the "... and others" clues to plurals of forenames, and it looks like the ration may be one per puzzle, or we might have had another at 52-down.



42d Ramos [___ gin fizz]. I had my doubts over 41-across and 56-across, so having to guess this answer caused some anxiety. I gather that Ramos Gin Fizz was invented by Henry C. Ramos at a New Orleans restaurant and is now one of the most famous cocktails from that city. It's made of gin, lemon juice, lime juice, egg white, sugar, cream, orange flower water, and soda water - which comes out looking deceptively like milk shake!

51d Oder [___-Neisse Line]. The Oder-Neisse line became the border between Germany and Poland after the end of World War II - it's named for the two rivers that mark the majority of the boundary. There is now a 630km bike path along the line.

Noteworthy

27a shish [Spit for a kebab]. Crosswords are so instructive: with this clue, I finally find out that the "shish" (şiş in Turkish) in a shish kebab means "skewer".

39a wans [Grows pale]. Sometimes it seems that compilers claim the right to add an S to any word to prize it into a grid. In this case, there's some excuse, as wan can be a verb as well as an adjective.

wan(1) adj lacking colour; pale and sickly; faint; dark, gloomy (obs).
n (rare) wanness.
vt and vi to make or to become wan.
From The Chambers Dictionary

41a centers [Court figures] and 58a jesters [Court figures]. It's nice when you can make clues do double-duty like this (performing this trick with cryptic clues is a lot harder!). jesters was a lot easier to get than centers, which I assume feature in a basketball court.

56a bronzed [Nicely tan]. I had a tough time justifying this clue and it still seems a bit of a stretch to me. Ok, "tan" superficially looks like the infinitive of the verb, but obviously the adjective is what you need for the clue to make sense. However, you don't typically say "that's a nicely tan body", you say "that's a nicely tanned body".

12d a-sea [Where gobs go]. It must be a struggle to come up with new clues for a-sea. Here the compiler does a great job, referencing a "gob", the slang term for a sailor in the US Navy.

27d Shor [Subject of "Toots" by Bob Considine, 1969]. My ill-fated introduction to Toots Shor last month is now starting to pay off, as I can't seem to get the name out of my head now.



52d teds [Dries, as hay]. This definition is horribly familiar from cryptic crosswords, where you couldn't get away with a definition like "Turner and others". I'm guessing that the way Ingas was clued at 23-down pretty much forced this more obscure agricultural reference.

The Rest

1a comical [Laugh-a-minute]; 15a apishly [In an unoriginal way]; 16a artiste [Circus performer, e.g.]; 17a tensile [Kind of strength]; 18a Lionels [Toy trains]; 19a engulf [Swallow]; 20a less salt [Food label for the health-conscious]; 21a element [Electric device with terminals]; 23a IPO [News on the bus. page]; 26a mint [Ingredient in many toothpastes]; 32a not stand a chance [Be doomed]; 36a get mileage out of [Obtain service from]; 37a ate one's heart out [Felt bitter anguish]; 38a Serge [Maestro Koussevitzky]; 40a wry [Twisted]; 44a compared [Like rivals, often]; 49a fat lot [Not much, with "a"]; 53a area map [Tourist guide]; 54a limeade [Vitamin C source]; 55a reglaze [Make like new, as a bathtub]; 57a toaster [Kitchen device first patented in 1921].

2d open [Ready to do business]; 3d Ming [Chinese dynasty during which trade with Portugal began]; 4d issue [Give out]; 5d chill [Flu symptom]; 7d lye [Burning substance]; 8d talent agent [Representative of Hollywood]; 10d Otos [Platte River tribe]; 11d pins [Immobilizes]; 13d it'll ["One day ___ all make sense"]; 14d rest [Doctor's prescription]; 20d lend a hand [Be of assistance]; 22d Minesweeper [Popular computer logic/guessing game]; 24d poete [French versifier]; 25d otter [Burrow : rabbit :: holt : ___]; 28d haut [High in the French Alps]; 29d in tow [Following obediently]; 30d scour [Scrub]; 31d hefty [Substantial]; 33d smog [Gray blanket]; 34d tine [Pitchfork part]; 35d cease-fire [Occasion to drop one's arms]; 41d craze [Slinkys or Magic 8 Balls, once]; 43d stent [Surgical tube]; 44d cart [Trolley]; 45d Oreo [Round sandwich]; 46d mega [Prefix with dose]; 47d pals [Buds]; 48d amat [Part of a Latin 101 conjugation]; 50d laze [Not do one darn thing]; 54d LBJ [___ Ranch (former Western White House)].

NYT Thursday 4/9/09 - Wizards of Oz

This Thursday New York Times puzzle didn't give up its thematic secrets easily. Although I could see that a lot of zees were involved, it wasn't till I'd got three or four of the long entries that I realized that removing an Oz would leave a well-known word or phrase.

Despite this, my solving time was pretty good for this time of the week - I was lucky that the answers I couldn't get were deducible from crossings. I did have difficulties seeing why aahs should be a hint to the theme - the Oz/aahs homophone works better with an American accent!

I've also finally realized, in writing this summary and the title, that the placement of Judy (clued with reference to Judy Garland) opposite to aahs wasn't mere coincidence. Compilers, I salute you.

Solving time: 17 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 37d insomnia [People with this don't go out for very long]

Theme

Phrases with oz inserted, making a pun. oz sounds a bit like 65a aahs [Contented sighs (and a homophonic hint to this puzzle's theme)].

17a Mini Mozart [Nickname for a dwarfish piano prodigy?]
19a dozing bat [Sleeping cave denizen?]
31a boozy wonder [Pickled pub quiz winner?]
40a ozone liners [Ships carrying a smelly gas?]
51a Cozy Young [Comfy kids?]
57a lion's dozen [Pride of 12?]

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Patrick Blindauer and Tony Orbach / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 42 (18.7%) black squares
Answers	76 (average length 4.82)
Theme squares	60 (32.8%)
Scrabble points	346 (average 1.89)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

13a Opie [English artist John who's buried at St. Paul's Cathedral]. No, I hadn't heard of John Opie (1761-1807) either. He is best known for his portraits.

21a Rambo ["First Blood" hero John]. I hadn't escaped hearing about Rambo the character, but didn't know his (rather mild-sounding) forename; nor that First Blood was the first movie of the franchise.



26d Reno [Ashcroft's predecessor]. I was glad I worked out carom for 24-across, without which I'd have been in trouble here. Janet Reno, Attorney General under Bill Clinton, was succeeded by John Ashcroft, George W. Bush's appointee.

1d Joad [Bruce Springsteen album "The Ghost of Tom ___"]. This clue interested me as it's guessable if you know Tom Joad, the central character of The Grapes of Wrath. Springsteen's inspiration for the title track of the album came from the John Ford movie adaptation.



Noteworthy

1a Judy [Garland native to Minnesota]. The neatly disguised Judy Garland had me wondering: if leis come from Hawaii, what kind of garlands come from Minnesota. I eventually saw through the clue, and now know that Judy was a Minnesotan: the house where she was born in Grand Rapids is now open to the public.

24a carom [Bank]. Both clue and answer mean to strike a ball in pool so that it rebounds (usually off a cushion).

43a dia [Domingo, for one]. "Day" and "Sunday" in Spanish - Español para los crucigramistas comes to the rescue again!

5d crib [Mobile home?]. I was expecting something like yurt as the answer and wasn't entirely happy with crib - an infant's bed is usually mobile, but to call it a "home" seems a bit of a stretch (even allowing for the ?). I may have just got the wrong idea here!

37d insomnia [People with this don't go out for very long]. My first thought was agoraphobia, but first thoughts are often wrong later in the week.

47d brine [It can cure many things]. Another awesome misleading definition - keep 'em coming!

53d zees [Pieces of pizza?]. Not slices of pizza, but pieces of the word "pizza", specifically the two zees in it.

58d dos [How many it takes to tango in Spain?]. Another inventive clue, making a virtue of a necessity: the expression is "it takes two to tango", so we're looking for the Spanish for two.

The Rest

5a clad [Not in the buff]; 9a Nova [With 46-Down, site of Cape Breton Island]; 14a rube [Potential sucker]; 15a Abel [The brother in "Am I my brother's keeper?"]; 16a atts. [Lawyers: Abbr.]; 22a dum [Musical sound before and after "da"]; 23a Noras [Comic Dunn and others]; 27a serene [Collected]; 30a ute [Adaptable truck, for short]; 36a Joni [Musical Mitchell]; 38a snide [Said with a sneer]; 39a eave [Icicle site]; 44a slicer [Deli machine]; 45a psalm [One begins "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down"]; 47a brown [Toast]; 49a arc [Parenthesis, essentially]; 50a crime [It may be organized]; 59a trot [Bring (out)]; 60a anti [Part of ABM]; 61a ooze [Move like molasses]; 62a is so [Combative retort]; 63a Mesa [___ Verde National Park]; 64a S.P.Y.S [1974 Sutherland/Gould spoof].

2d up to [___ no good]; 3d ditz [Scatterbrain]; 4d yes I do [Positive affirmation]; 6d Luna [Counterpart of Apollo]; 7d a bit [Partially]; 8d Dem. [Like 10-Down: Abbr.]; 9d Nazarene [Early Christian convert]; 10d Obama [Only president born in Hawaii]; 11d verbs [Shake, rattle and roll]; 12d alto [High in the Sierra Madre?]; 17d MGM ["2001" studio]; 18d Orono [Maine university town]; 20d numb [Unfeeling]; 23d newer [Comparatively recent]; 24d Cujo [1981 Stephen King novel]; 25d A to Z [Complete]; 27d sonic [Like some waves]; 28d e-zine [Online weekly, e.g.]; 29d Ryder [Golf's ___ Cup]; 32d Oslin [K. T. of country music]; 33d Dada [Early baby talk]; 34d evil [Devilish]; 35d ream [Chew (out)]; 41d Elwes [Actor Cary of "Twister"]; 42d spry [Not at all stiff]; 46d Scotia [See 9-Across]; 48d riots [Laugh-a-minute folks]; 49d Ayn [Writer Rand]; 50d clam [Chowder morsel]; 51d coop [Prison, slangily]; 52d Ozzy [Black Sabbath singer, to fans]; 54d Ursa [Celestial bear]; 55d nosh [Bite]; 56d GTOs [Pontiacs of old].