NYT Wednesday 6/17/09 - Tree Diagram

My first thought on seeing all the circles in this New York Times crossword was that some sort of roadkill was being represented. I tried in vain to get 46-Across early on, but found it a struggle, eventually getting tree from all the limbs and roots that magically appeared. Once I'd done this, I filled every circle in sight to get the advantage of some "given" letters.

I've seen many cryptic crosswords over the years that tried to represent curved features using squares and inevitably the end-result disappoints. The "pixels" of a crossword grid are just too coarse to make a satisfying picture. I've done my best to show what was intended in the image below, lightening the blocks to give the tree more prominence.

Solving time: 8 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 70a A-test {Blast from the past}

Theme

The circled letters form a tree shape, consisting of a trunk (31-Down), roots (59-Down and two on diagonals) and limbs (7-Down and three on diagonals). Two clues relate to the theme:

46a tree {Thing depicted by this puzzle's circled letters}
73a nests {Items in a 46-Across, often}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Peter A. Collins and Joe Krozel / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 38 (16.9%) black squares
Answers	78 (average length 4.79)
Theme squares	45 (24.1%)
Scrabble points	263 (average 1.41)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

9d sci {Poli ___}. I got this one easily enough from crossings, so didn't realize until putting down my pencil that I had no good explanation. It dawned on me, eventually, that poli sci must be short for political science, though it's not one I'm familiar with. Where I went to university, embryo pols all studied the equally enigmatic shortening PPE.

10d Iloilo {Philippine seaport}. Iloilo is a province in the Philippines with its capital Iloilo City. The inhabitants are called Ilonggos - hopefully we don't need to remember that! Iloilo was an important province during the Spanish Colonial Era, and is widely known for its beautiful old world architecture similar to that of Latin American Countries.

Noteworthy

16a Clara {Bow, the "It Girl"}. I've heard Clara Bow (1905-1965) alluded to several times, but never seen her in action or found out much about her. She was a New Yorker who won Motion Picture Magazine's "Fame and Fortune" contest in 1921, the grand prize being a part in a movie - she must have been the American Idol of her time. She became tremendously popular, personifying the flapper generation, but found the pressures of the high life took their toll - she retired in 1933. Here's Clara is at the height of her fame in It (1927), on a date at Coney Island.



17a Tikki {"Rikki-___-Tavi"}. I remember enjoying The Jungle Book as a kid and reading about the mongoose who protects an English family from snakes. I also love the Disney version, although there's no part for a mongoose in that.



58a oar {Tool at Henley}. I had home advantage in spades here, as I lived very close to Henley for the 15 years or so before I emigrated to the US. I didn't have much interest in the rowing activities there, but enjoyed visiting the small town with its bookshops, antique stores and world-famous teddy bear shop Asquiths.

65a nor {Here-there link}. Instead of the obvious and, we get a reference to "neither here, nor there", also the title of a book by my fav travel writer, Bill Bryson.

70a A-test {Blast from the past}. Cute way of cluing an overused answer: that wording isn't original, but no matter - I'd rather see that than "Bikini event".

7d limb {Life's partner}; 31d trunk {Magician's prop}; 59d root {Cheer (for)}. These are the three answers that coincide with parts of the tree picture and I like the way they're clued in a completely different context.

11d eats at {Bothers no end}. I've gotten used to "eat (at)" meaning worry/annoy etc from cryptic crosswords and now US ones; but based on Sarah's comment, I should explain when the equivalence of clue and answer isn't obvious. Here you might say "the difficulty of getting a decent pot of tea bothers (him) no end" = "the difficulty of getting a decent pot of tea eats at (him)" ... it's difficult to come up with something that doesn't introduce a pronoun.

29d TDs {One might pass for these, briefly}; 30d rat {One down in the dumps?}. A couple of neatly misleading clues right next to each other. I think I'll pass on illustrating rats in the dumps.

35d Abner {Daisy Mae's guy}. Li'l Abner is suddenly getting a lot of attention in the squares of the NYT crossword. I'm starting to get the main characters straight in my head at last.

45d Cleo {'63 Liz Taylor role}. Cleopatra (1963) of course, lovingly parodied in Carry On Cleo (1964):



64d o'er {Key contraction}. I puzzled over this clue for several minutes after filling the grid before finally realizing who the Key was. My initial reaction was that the clue was wildly indirect, but I can see that's just my outsider's perspective and that long familiarity with The Star-Spangled Banner would make it blindingly obvious.

The Rest

1a act as {Sub for}; 6a alp {Jungfrau or Eiger}; 9a siege {Campaign against Troy, e.g.}; 14a shalt {Word after "thou"}; 15a Bic {Lighter maker}; 18a CML {Mid 10th-century year}; 19a iotas {Tiny bits}; 20a one arm {Feature of a Las Vegas "bandit"}; 22a bam {April 1 cigar sound}; 24a isn't {George Harrison's "___ It a Pity"}; 25a climb {Do a Sherpa's work}; 27a ballade {24-line verse form}; 29a train set {Toy on a layout}; 32a rioter {Water cannon target}; 33a darn {Patch up}; 34a grams {Nutrition label units}; 36a steer {Branded beast}; 38a tub {Lard holder}; 39a pipes {Kiltie's instrument}; 44a UConn {Huskies' sch.}; 47a Wiesel {"Night" novelist}; 51a kerosene {Jet fuel component}; 54a end user {Software buyer, usually}; 56a renal {Kidney-related}; 57a then {"That was ___ ..."}; 60a old age {It beats the alternative, in a saying}; 63a tango {Radio letter after sierra}; 67a oaten {Like porridge}; 68a elite {Like SEALs}; 69a boo! {"That's not fair!"}; 71a decor {Architectural Digest topic}; 72a YTD {Pay stub abbr.}.

1d as to {Concerning}; 2d chin {Place for a Vandyke}; 3d take care {"Bye, now"}; 4d alkaline {High-pH}; 5d stir in {Add while cooking}; 6d ABC {Multiple-choice choices}; 8d PC Lab {Place for a programming class, perhaps}; 12d grande {Starbucks size}; 13d easter {Egg roll time}; 21d mms. {Ruler divs.}; 23d marm {Old-time schoolteacher}; 26d beg to {"I ___ differ"}; 28d lisp {Daffy Duck trademark}; 37d rues {Wishes undone}; 40d it's A date {"Meet you then!"}; 41d prelates {Church dignitaries}; 42d een {Dark time, to a bard}; 43d see {Drop in on}; 47d wetted {Licked, e.g.}; 48d inhale {Yoga instructor's direction}; 49d Edenic {Like paradise}; 50d sung to {Serenaded}; 52d Reo {Flying Cloud automaker}; 53d on loan {Like the art in some exhibits}; 55d ran by {Told in order to get a quick opinion}; 61d gest {Heroic deed}; 62d ENTs {Docs who might treat sinusitis}; 66d rod {Axle, e.g.}.

NYT Tuesday 6/16/09 - Perp Lexing

This Tuesday New York Times crossword was my introduction to perp walks: I'd seen suspects being paraded on the TV news before, but didn't appreciate the tradition had such a colorful name. And I'd seen images of Lee Harvey Oswald being murdered while being transferred with press and TV coverage.

Ignorance of all this didn't stop me completing the puzzle OK, but now I understand the concept behind the grid, it goes up considerably in my estimation. I also love the cluing in this puzzle, particularly the clues to smog, she, it's you and rancher.

Solving time: 7 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 22a smog {Air apparent?}

Theme

A perp walk, indicated by 47d perps {Those "walking" through the answers to the starred clues}. The letters of perp appear consecutively in five long answers:

17a tamper-proof {Impervious to picking, as a lock}
25a copperplate {Engraver's surface}
36a semper paratus {Motto of the U.S. Coast Guard}
47a paper-pusher {Routine-bound bureaucrat}
57a superpowers {Countries with big militaries}

Semper paratus ("always ready") is a popular Latin tag for military and emergency organizations.

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Paula Gamache / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 38 (16.9%) black squares
Answers	74 (average length 5.05)
Theme squares	61 (32.6%)
Scrabble points	295 (average 1.58)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

56a Ric {Rocker Ocasek}. Ric Ocasek was a singer and guitarist for The Cars, going solo and focusing on producing records when the influential band split up.



2d Uta {Hagen of Broadway}. Uta Hagen (1919–2004) was a German-born American actress and teacher. Wait a minute ... that sounds familiar: she came up in a March NYT crossword and seems to be The Official Uta of Crosswords, so I really should have remembered the name - sometimes it takes a couple of occurrences before a name sticks in the crossword memory.

60d Stu {"The ___ Erwin Show" of 1950s TV}. Interesting that the first and last down answers are alphabetical bookends: RST and STU. With the former, there's no getting away from the weak "alphabetical trio" type of clue; with the latter, there are better-justified answers in Stu Erwin (1903—1967) and namesakes, allowing more clue variety. Stu, typically cast as an amiable oaf, was a film actor who made the transition to television in the 1950s with The Trouble with Father aka The Stu Erwin Show.



Noteworthy

14a staple {Swingline item}. I wondered if Staplo was a brand name for a stapler, to fit with for for "agin" in 6-Down until realizing that staple/fer matched the clues perfectly. Swingline reintroduced a limited edition red stapler after it featured in the cult movie Office Space.



22a smog {Air apparent?}; 34d rancher {Owner of a brand?}. A couple of nicely misleading clues, the first a great pun on "heir apparent".

64a she {Petal plucker's pronoun}. "She loves me, she loves me not" ... a fine example of how to liven a common three-letter answer - great clue.

65a pend {Remain undecided}. This seemed a little obscure for a Tuesday, as you see pend in the infinitive much less than pending.

66a it's you {Compliment heard in the dress department}. Another lovely cluing idea, ducking the obvious reference to the many songs titled It's You.

6d fer {Not agin}. I had for to start with, but 14-Across didn't make much sense with that and, in any event, the "agin" in the clue called for a dialect rendering. A slightly easier clue than May 29th's "Backwoods pro?".

The Rest

1a run off {Leave in a hurry}; 7a saws {Toothed tools}; 11a cab {Where a truck driver sits}; 15a crop {Field yield}; 16a olé {Corrida cheer}; 19a MCI {Telecom giant acquired by Verizon}; 20a -ese {Legal ending}; 21a ease {Leisure}; 23a sot {"Liquid diet" devotee}; 28a in a heap {Piled carelessly}; 30a -iest {Superlative suffix}; 31a repo {Seized vehicle}; 32a terrace {High-rise apartment garden site}; 40a bussing {Playful kissing}; 41a ents {Middle-earth creatures}; 43a Parr {Catherine, the last wife of Henry VIII}; 45a cuddles {Nestles}; 51a IMs {Online communications, for short}; 52a eras {Notable times}; 53a ante {Start the kitty}; 54a yak {Tibetan beast}; 61a pah {Part of a tuba's sound}; 62a Asia {Vietnam's continent}; 63a sunlit {Naturally illuminated}.

1d RST {Q-U connection}; 3d nametape {Camp clothing identifier}; 4d opps. {Antonyms: Abbr.}; 5d fleece {Lamb's coat}; 7d scrap {Bit of fabric}; 8d arose {Got out of bed}; 9d wooer {Affection seeker}; 10d SPF {Tanning lotion letters}; 11d commas {,,,,,}; 12d Alcott {"Little Women" author}; 13d beige {It's darker than cream}; 18d peppers {Jalapeños and chilies}; 22d sleeted {Rained pellets}; 23d sir {Knight's title}; 24d ones {Bills in tills}; 26d Oates {Hall's singing partner}; 27d pica {Type size}; 29d hombres {Men of La Mancha}; 33d RPI {Sch. in Troy, N.Y.}; 35d argue {Debate the pros and cons}; 37d purr {Sign of a contented cat}; 38d unlikely {Improbable}; 39d stem {Flower holder}; 42d sss {Deflation sound}; 43d pariah {Persona non grata}; 44d Apache {Geronimo's tribe}; 46d dry out {Recover from a soaking}; 48d pause {YouTube button}; 49d unpin {Remove, as a corsage}; 50d stead {Lieu}; 55d awns {Barley beards}; 57d sap {Knucklehead}; 58d psi {Letter before omega}; 59d Rio {___ Grande}.

NYT Monday 6/15/09 - Spin City

I wondered what was going on with this Monday New York Times crossword, as it seemed to take ages to get started. I normally work along the downs starting in the top row and it wasn't till I got to the NE corner that I started filling in with any confidence.

Luckily there were easier areas elsewhere in the grid and I pretty soon worked out what the theme was, with 38-Across providing an unnecessary (but elegant in terms of the construction) explanation of the idea.

Solving time: 9 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 32a euros {Italian and French bread?}

Theme

People with initials P.R., suggested by 38a PR men {Promoters ... or a description of 17-, 23-, 46- and 57-Across?}.

17a Philip Roth {"Portnoy's Complaint" author}
23a Pat Robertson {Founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network}
46a Pierre Renoir {"Le Déjeuner des Canotiers" painter}
57a Paul Revere {He didn't really cry "The British are coming!"}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	John Dunn / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 36 (16.0%) black squares
Answers	78 (average length 4.85)
Theme squares	49 (25.9%)
Scrabble points	276 (average 1.46)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

6a Jean {Actress Stapleton of "All in the Family"}. Jean Stapleton is the actress who played Edith Baines Bunker, wife of the bigoted Archie Bunker on the said sitcom. I discovered recently that All in the Family was based on the British show Till Death Us Do Part - I'd always assumed it was the other way round.



16a Simi {___ Valley, Calif.}. I didn't realize from the clue that Simi Valley is a city as well as a geographical feature. The city's claim to fame is that it's home to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library - the largest of the 12 federally funded presidential libraries. As well as books, the library houses a Boeing 707 aircraft used as Reagan's Air Force One and a piece of the Berlin Wall.

7d Econo {Commercial prefix with Lodge}. Econo Lodge appears to be a two-word name now, so the "prefix" in the clue might not have been completely necessary. Econo Lodge is an economy (surprise, surprise) chain that started in 1969 and now has 823 locations across the US and Canada.

49d Niles {"Frasier" character}. Niles Crane, also a psychiatrist, is Frasier's fastidious younger brother. He's portrayed by David Hyde Pierce.



Noteworthy

32a euros {Italian and French bread?}. Interesting that both "dough" and "bread" can mean money. Eric Partridge, my preferred authority on slang thinks there's no connection, "bread" being a shortening of the rhyming slang "bread and honey" and ultimately of British origin, "dough" originating in the US.

52a Ives {Currier's partner in lithography}. I happily learned of Currier and Ives through a previous crossword. The "Awful Conflagration of the Steam Boat Lexington" from 1840 is a good example of their dramatic work.

2d Nehi {Classic soft drink}. Another answer that would have been paradoxical to me six months ago, but now is easy enough. Nehi started in 1924; it's now a brand of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, but I have yet to see or try any of their classic range of fruit flavors.

53d veni {Start of Caesar's boast}. I wonder if Julius Caesar guessed when he wrote veni, vidi, vici what a gift they would be to crossword constructors: three four-letter answers not clueable in any other way. Apparently, Caesar used those three words as his entire speech to the senate following some victory or other - if only all speeches were that concise!

The Rest

1a snare {Trap}; 10a afar {Way off}; 14a Aesop {"The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs" writer}; 15a UCLA {The Bruins of the N.C.A.A.}; 19a snip {Quick cut}; 20a site {Word after Web or camp}; 21a eon {Geological stretch}; 22a beige {Hosiery hue}; 27a spills {What oil cleanups clean up}; 30a abash {Make ashamed}; 31a metal {Silver or platinum}; 34a lam {Escape}; 37a easy {"Duck soup!"}; 39a dike {It may hold back the sea}; 40a eta {Flight info}; 41a warps {Twists out of shape}; 42a Lenin {Russian revolutionary with a goatee}; 43a steno {Old office note taker}; 45a depend {Bank (on)}; 50a emcee {Billy Crystal or Whoopi Goldberg for the Oscars, often}; 51a lie {Perjure oneself}; 56a darn {"Phooey!"}; 60a aged {Matured}; 61a ride {Ferris wheel or bumper cars}; 62a genie {Three wishes granter}; 63a lets {Tennis do-overs}; 64a odes {Poetical tributes}; 65a osier {Willow for wicker}.

1d saps {Drains}; 3d as it {With 41-Down, seemingly}; 4d role-play {Be a wizard or an elf, say, in Dungeons & Dragons}; 5d epi- {Prefix with center}; 6d juror {One of 12 at a trial}; 8d Alt {Computer key abbr.}; 9d nah {"I'll pass"}; 10d assets {Stock, bank deposits, real estate, etc.}; 11d finish line {Where winners are often photographed}; 12d amigo {Friend in a sombrero}; 13d ripen {Mature}; 18d pets {No ___ Allowed (motel sign)}; 22d bras {They're worn under blouses}; 24d all {The works}; 25d bares {Reveals}; 26d ebon {Deep black}; 27d smee {"Peter Pan" pirate}; 28d peat {Mulching matter}; 29d it's a secret {"Mum's the word!"}; 32d error {Misplay, e.g.}; 33d ump {Official behind a catcher}; 35d akin {Related (to)}; 36d mend {Repair}; 38d pane {Window section}; 39d deprives {Takes away from, with "of"}; 41d were {See 3-Down}; 42d lei {Luau gift}; 44d trends {Stock analysts study them}; 45d doer {Activist}; 46d pedal {Piano part}; 47d image {Concern of 38-Across}; 48d elude {Escape from}; 54d Erie {Buffalo's county}; 55d seer {Clairvoyant}; 57d pro {Golf lesson provider}; 58d aid {Relief}; 59d ego {Kind of trip for the conceited}.

NYT Sunday 6/14/09 - In Deed

We had out final outing to the Cider Mill Playhouse last night and hence didn't get around to this Sunday crossword till the morning. I thought 1776 The Musical was one of the best shows of the Cider Mill season and was glad to see there were lots of jokes at the expense of the proto-Americans as well as the British: John Adams being "obnoxious and disliked", the New York delegate repeatedly abstaining, "courteously", etc ... great fun!

So Magdalen and I were hoping for a straightforward puzzle and were a bit concerned when we saw the Brendan Emmett Quigley byline. The thematic aspects turned out to be straightforward and fun, once we'd stopped expecting to have heard of the grid entries. I think the cluing was a tad tougher than we're used to on a Sunday, but we managed to finish the grid in just over the average time.

The only pun that struck us as a little strained was Amityville hoarder/horror - a shame as this was the central and longest answer. We wonder if the O sounds are closer in Boston (BEQ's home town) and couldn't help recalling Liane Hansen's quip on the NPR Sunday Puzzle segment that Bostonians are "wicked smaht".

Solving time: 50 mins (no cheating, collaborative effort)
Clue of the puzz: 95d seller {Bear, say}

Theme

D-Plus: nine phrases with a D sound inserted making a pun:

23a do pendants {Make necklace baubles?} "do penance"
25a cool breeds {Hip lineages?} "cool breeze"
39a sidekick energy {Tonto's pep?} "psychic energy"
50a passed mustard {Gave Grey Poupon to the head of the table?} "passed muster"
66a Amityville hoarder {Greediest person in a Long Island locality?} "Amityville Horror"
85a leopard colony {Spotted feline's home?} "leper colony"
94a house-addressed {Like residential mail?} "house arrest"
114a Boulder hat {Certain Colorado headgear?} "bowler hat"
116a snow Dwight {Bamboozle Eisenhower?} "Snow White"

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Brendan Emmett Quigley / Will Shortz
Grid	21x21 with 74 (16.8%) black squares
Answers	140 (average length 5.24)
Theme squares	111 (30.2%)
Scrabble points	561 (average 1.53)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

21a Nara {Japan's first capital}. A tough one, as we didn't know Maotai either. It turns out Nara was the capital only from 710 to 784 AD and seems to have been called Heijō-kyō then. What remains of the imperial palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

90a Leo {Jerry's uncle on "Seinfeld"}. Eccentric Uncle Leo (played by Len Lesser) has appeared in 15 episodes of the sitcom and always greets Jerry with the catchphrase "Jerry! Hello!" - the stuff of nightmares.



126a issue {One of Us?}. That initial capital on the "Us" was very suspicious: could there be a magazine called Us? Yes, a celebrity gossip magazine variously known as Us Magazine and Us Weekly.

11d Maotai {Strong Chinese liquor}. This was a shot in the dark, as we weren't sure of the second letter from crossings. I wondered if there might be a brand called Mao Tai, being a Chinese version of the Mai Tai cocktail invented circa 1944? No, Maotai (also spelled Moutai) has a longer pedigree, being invented in the Qing Dynasty - it's named after the town where the liquor originated.

17d Erde {One of the Planeten}. We got this through crossings and had to do a little research to twig that Planeten is German for Planets. Once you know that, the answer makes sense, being German for Earth ... as in Das Lied von der Erde - just a shame I'd never seen a German version of Holst's The Planets.

41d Kaká {One-named Brazilian soccer star in the 2008 Time 100}. Not Pelé, and with two Ks, Kaká isn't going to be that popular as far as crosswords are concerned.

70d A and W {Dad's rival}. Great clue that had me foxed: I gather from Magdalen that we're talking root beers here.

Noteworthy

27a spec {Small detail?}. We weren't completely satisfied with this clue, perhaps because we got sidetracked into thinking of speck? The "Small" looks to be indicating the shortening of specification, but are detail and specification equivalent? Ah, maybe spec is the verb (as in to spec out) ... (to) detail and (to) specify mean much the same ... that must be it.

83a narthex {Way to the nave}. A narthex is an entrance lobby of a church, typically at the western end of the building. A good place to leave umbrellas etc before heading into the nave.

102a dele {Remove, as text}. Originally, the proofreader's sign indicating stuff to be deleted, the noun has been verbified (to dele, inflections deled and deleing).

7d xenons {Some gas atoms}. I'm rather agin plurals of elements, as they are not common in speech or writing - most dictionaries indicate the names of elements as "mass nouns" lacking plurals. Ok, you might say that around 0.000009% of the atoms in air are xenons, but this is a stretch, and crosswords usually reflect normal usage.

40d Dots {Classic pencil-and-paper game}. A game Magdalen tried to teach me in a restaurant once, on a rare occasion when we didn't have a crossword to work on. The game involves boxing off squares, hence its usual name Dots and Boxes.

63d ETs {Hangar 18 contents, supposedly}. I thought this might be a reference to the place where the ark is stored at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. So we mistakenly had ark for a while. Conspiracy theorists believe evidence from the Roswell UFO incident is stored in hangar 18 at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. A UFO movie called Hangar 18 was released in 1980.



95d seller {Bear, say}. It took us a while to get this, as we were sidetracked by stuffy - this is perhaps just our pet name for a stuffed animal, so maybe not such a great choice as the answer. The bear in question is not a teddy bear, but a seller of stock.

96d exedra {Curved high-back bench}. Exedra is one of those things I know from the dictionary, but don't have a clear picture of - I've never seen one. Actually, the normally meaning seems to be the curved room or recess housing the bench, rather than the bench itself. But it's also used for memorials with a bench incorporated into them as in this picture taken at Valley Forge.

The Rest

1a G Spot {1982 best seller subtitled "And Other Discoveries About Human Sexuality," with "The"}; 6a oxen {Team components}; 10a umps {Diamond experts}; 14a wises {Smartens (up)}; 19a Alana {Singer/songwriter Davis}; 20a me me {Repetitive cry while waving a hand}; 22a Acura {Japanese import since 1986}; 28a Eno {Brian of experimental rock}; 29a Scott {"Great ___!"}; 31a orates {Is a keynoter, e.g.}; 32a roofing {Shingles, say}; 35a irae {"Dies ___"}; 36a leg {Race segment}; 37a saluki {Tall, slender hound}; 45a ivories {Many keys}; 47a nor {Its natl. anthem is "Ja, vi elsker dette landet"}; 48a tar {Black top}; 49a era {Stat for Gooden or Maddux}; 54a Kool-Aid {Drink made from a mix}; 57a esse {De bene ___}; 58a onus {Weight}; 59a iota {Tiniest bit}; 61a pared {Cut down}; 62a deke {Hockey player's deceptive move}; 64a Otto {___ the Orange (Syracuse University mascot)}; 65a cetera {Et ___}; 71a tap-ins {Putts that might be conceded}; 73a Edie {"Desperate Housewives" role}; 74a fats {Trans ___}; 75a Elena {Mrs. Ceausescu of Romania}; 76a anon {Shortly}; 77a Alan {Mathematician Turing}; 79a Arod {Three-time A.L. M.V.P., informally}; 89a TMC {HBO competitor}; 92a lex {Latin law}; 93a war game {Military strategist's plan}; 100a needed {Like fourth-down yardage}; 101a exp. {Food pkg. abbr.}; 103a raptors {Atlantic Division cagers}; 105a addles {Confounds}; 108a shine {Perform superbly}; 110a Moe {Rapper Kool ___ Dee}; 111a Hite {"Sexual Honesty" compiler}; 119a ulcer {Cause of a stomachache}; 120a A-one {Five-star}; 121a pine {Cone holder}; 122a is not {Playground retort}; 123a tetra {Aquarium fish}; 124a megs {Digital camera units}; 125a NLer {Red or Brave, for short}.

1d gads {Proceeds here and there}; 2d slop {Undesirable serving}; 3d paper loss {Unrealized hit taken on an investment}; 4d one-course {Short, as a meal}; 5d tan {Like many lifeguards}; 6d Omani {Certain Bedouin}; 8d EMT {911 responder}; 9d Ness {1987 Costner role}; 10d uncork {Pop open?}; 12d protect {Ride shotgun for}; 13d Sal {"The best pal that I ever had" of song}; 14d warren {Rabbit's home}; 15d ice age {When the Great Lakes were formed}; 16d suet {Tallow source}; 18d sass {Lip}; 24d defied {Challenged}; 26d bolero {Slow dance with quick turns}; 30d Ciera {Old Olds}; 33d Okie {Arkie neighbor}; 34d Ginsu {Infomercial cutter}; 37d Sipe {Ex-Cleveland QB Brian}; 38d Avas {Actress Gardner and others}; 42d rearer {Parent or guardian}; 43d Grier {Actress Pam}; 44d yadda {When tripled, and so on}; 46d smoky {Having a low throaty quality}; 51d uneven {Irregular}; 52d rite {Initiation, e.g.}; 53d doth {Obsolete auxiliary}; 55d op-eds {Paul Krugman pieces}; 56d late {After midnight, say}; 60d too far {How cringe-making humor might go}; 62d Dinah {1970s talk show}; 64d olé {Hooray, in Juárez}; 65d CRT {Monitor inits.}; 66d aperçu {Quick look}; 67d mint {One making lots of money}; 68d idol {Revered figure}; 69d line {Unemployment office sight}; 71d tenth {Tithe amount}; 72d Alamo {National rival}; 76d axed {Canned}; 77d apes {Big lugs}; 78d laxer {Less strict}; 79d Alger Hiss {Suspected spy in a celebrated 1949 trial}; 80d road signs {They often start with "No"}; 81d on me {"My treat"}; 82d dyed {Like some wool}; 84d elapse {Go by}; 86d Olsen {O. Henry-winning author Tillie}; 87d canted {Aslope}; 88d Oreo {McFlurry flavor}; 91d odd shoe {Useless item in a closet}; 97d rehang {Move, as a picture}; 98d elites {Chosen groups}; 99d Damone {Vic who sang "On the Street Where You Live"}; 104d power {Motor-driven}; 105d abut {Push up against}; 106d dole {Hand (out)}; 107d duct {Tube}; 109d ESPN {"Around the Horn" channel}; 112d thou {Big chunk of moola}; 113d -ette {Cousin of -ule}; 115d ram {Hit headfirst}; 117d nil {Zero}; 118d Wii {Nintendo debut of 2006}.

Sunday NPR 06/14/09 -- Straight & Tidy

Well, we know "straight & tidy" isn't the answer, because "tidy" doesn't contain an 'e.' But before we look as some other near-answers, here's the puzzle:

Think of one word that starts with "te" and another word that starts with "st" — and they're synonyms. Hint: The "te" word has two syllables; the "st" word has one.

Okay, we've come up with some other non-answers, and then we have some almost answers, which I think I'll submit, just to see if I get the honorable mention. (I love the honorable mention!)

For example, STAFF and TEACHERS aren't precisely synonyms, but kinda sorta. Similarly, STEP and TERRACE are close but no cigar. Ross had one: TENOR and STRAIN, as in the quality or drift of a conversation or debate. (That seemed a bit iffy, but he's the word freak, so I just go with his flow, as it were.)

That leaves me with the right answer, a variant of the right answer, and two acceptably plausible wrong answers. I will divulge all on Thursday night!

Meanwhile, here's your value-added puzzle for this week: Thinking of some plausible variants on Will's test for today, I came up with MARE, for no particular reason. Think of two-word phrases where the first word starts with MA and the second word starts RE. Here are the definitions:

Polling the customers

Prepare

Technology used in brain scans

What a UPC is

What an Isabel Allende novel is likely to contain

Laid off staff, in England

What a couples counselor might talk about

What identical twins might have

What a ratio is

NYT Saturday 6/13/09 - The Round Earth's Imagin'd Corners

It was great to finish the week coming in under 40 minutes with this Saturday New York Times crossword - am I getting better, or are the puzzles getting easier? The next target is to get through a whole week at under 30 minutes.

For me, the way into this one was the "equator" of the grid, which coincidentally had equator at the end of it. I extended from that in every direction, eventually getting the magnetic part, which helped with the SW corner (which on the globe would have to be South America).

Wiener schnitzel is a lovely answer, but held out for a long time. North America (paradoxically having Lithuania in it) was tough, given I hadn't heard of Peach Bowl, but I got there in the end.

Solving time: 35 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 50a arena {Fan setting}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Barry C. Silk / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 30 (13.3%) black squares
Answers	70 (average length 5.57)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	325 (average 1.67)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

1a Peach Bowl {Louisiana State won the first one in 1968}. Bowl was predictable, but I had difficulties guessing the first word, considering it might be Playa or even have one of the absent letters of the alphabet (J or X). The more prosaic Peach Bowl (now the Chick-fil-A Bowl) is an annual college football game between an SEC team and an ACC team.

18a Gallo {Mondavi competitor}. Another answer I had to guess, though I was on shakier ground not knowing one of the crossings (11d Alana) either. It turns out I did know Gallo, which has a strong brand-presence in the UK, but this is my first taste of rival Robert Mondavi. Mondavi is based in the Napa Valley in California; Gallo just to the west in Sonoma County.


33a Shaq {Wilt Chamberneezy, more familiarly}. Compilers are having to get inventive to think up new clues for the most popular hoopster in crosswords. I gather Kobe Bryant gave Shaq the nickname Wilt Chamberneezy, alluding to a freakishly big player of a previous generation.

34a Ato {Olympic sprinter ___ Boldon}. Fill-in-the-blank clue not good enough, huh? A to Boldon might even be the first volume of a sports encyclopedia? Actually Ato Boldon is a Trinidadian who won 100m and 200m medals at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.

52a niece {Splinter, to Woody Woodpecker}. Tough huh? Woody Woodpecker's niece is Splinter and his nephew is Knothead, both voiced by June Foray.



2d Eileen {Astronaut Collins}. I must have heard of Eileen Collins before, but didn't remember her achievements: she was the first female pilot and first female commander of the Space Shuttle, flying four missions in all.

9d Lae {Papuan port in W.W. II fighting}. Makes a change from another Iwo reference: Lae is the second largest city in Papua New Guinea, nicknamed "Pothole City" for the dire state of its roads. Lae became a major Japanese base in the war, but fell to the Allies on September 16, 1943 after weeks of fierce fighting (the Salamaua-Lae campaign).

11d Alana {"Law & Order" actress ___ de la Garza}. I've watched this many times, but always with my eyes closed, so didn't remember Alana de la Garza's name. Does anyone else find the doink doink sound (aka "the Dick Wolf Cash Register Sound") REALLY IRRITATING, or is it just me?



57d his'n {Dogpatch possessive}. I must try to remember that Dogpatch is the home of Li'l Abner and family, as this is clearly going to come up a million times in my life as a crossword solver. his'n and her'n are presumably dialect rendering of his and hers?

Noteworthy

19a seam {Fashionable meeting place?}. Ok, the pieces made into garments do meet at seams, but this clue "seams" just to have got a little strained in the attempt to be deceptive.

22a mew {Abyssinian language?}. I knew right away this Abyssinian was not from Ethiopia. But purr didn't fit, nor miaow in any of its spellings. Finally got there with mew.

23a Khmer {Like the Angkor ruins}. I thought this might refer to the Khmer Rouge Regime, but in fact the term Khmer has a wider significance than that: the Khmer empire flourished from approximately the 9th century to the 15th century A.D., with the Angkor temple complex its crowning achievement.

43a Nev. {36th of 50: Abbr.}. For me this was a toss-up between Neb and Nev, the NE at the beginning being ultra-friendly to crossword fillers. In fact, they were admitted consecutively, Nebraska being the37th state.

50a arena {Fan setting}. What do they call the setting on electric fans that makes them turn from side to side: sweep ... swing? That was my train of thought when solving this clue. Of course I should have been thinking of several fans of a different type - a clue that fools me for so long must be a great clue.

59a Ezio Pinza {1950 Tony winner for Best Actor in a Musical}. Ezio Pinza won for his performances as Emile De Becque in South Pacific.



4d chem. {Bond analysts' field?: Abbr.}. This took me in for quite a while and had me thinking of Quants, but the bonds in question are chemical, not financial.

5d Hur {Family name in a Lew Wallace novel}. The family name turns out to be thoroughly "familiar" in the end, being the Hurs of Ben-Hur - a historical novel first published in 1880.



6d batch {Baker's dozen, say}. My first thought was prime - 13 is a prime number, right? The actual answer was much more commonplace.

27d Ayn {First name in objectivism}. I'd heard of Ayn Rand, but with a name like that, feel she should be a sci-fi writer, not a pioneer of Objectivism. Her first major success was The Fountainhead made into a movie in 1949.



35d Manassas {Civil War battlefield}. Past researches into American history paid off here, as I had actually remembered Manassas as having American Civil War associations. It had a strategic railroad junction and was fought over in 1861 and 1862. Despite falling to the Confederacy in both battles, Manassas was in Union hands for most of the war.

39d ADA {Org. concerned with decay}. Another one that fooled me: nothing to do with restaurant inspections ... the American Dental Association is concerned with decay of a different kind.

The Rest

10a maims {Kneecaps, e.g.}; 15a Lithuania {Neighbor of Kaliningrad}; 16a Allah {Recipient of much praise}; 17a alder tree {Source of charcoal wood}; 20a can {Sack}; 21a inter- {Facial or racial preceder}; 25a carat {A little over three grains}; 26a Annan {2001 Nobel Peace Prize recipient}; 28a profs {Indy Jones and others}; 30a elf {Dungeons & Dragons player option}; 31a yep {"I reckon so"}; 35a magnetic equator {Line on which a dip needle is horizontal}; 40a APO {Where private messages are sent?: Abbr.}; 41a such {Word before and after "and"}; 42a sad {Needing buoying}; 44a lions {Ones with stalking feet?}; 46a Rambo {Macho stereotype}; 54a err {Go off}; 55a strop {Tonsorial accessory}; 56a Tao {"The ___ of Physics" (1975 best seller)}; 57a Haag {City name part that's Dutch for "hedge"}; 58a sunup {Crowing cue}; 61a arose {Loomed}; 62a recession {Slump}; 63a serer {More desertlike}; 64a alertness {Opposite of torpor}.

1d plasma {High-definition video display}; 3d at dawn {When 58-Across occurs}; 7d on-ramp {Traveler's connection}; 8d Wiener schnitzel {Dish akin to cotoletta alla milanese}; 10d magic square {Recreational mathematics construct}; 12d ill-treat {"This one's on me"}; 13d male alto {Countertenor}; 14d short for {A contraction of}; 23d knee-slapper {Good one}; 24d Rohe {Architect Ludwig Mies van der ___}; 29d FAQs {Newbies are often directed to them}; 32d ptui {Spittoon sound}; 36d aperture {Crack}; 37d governor {Person in a mansion}; 38d icon {Recycle bin, for one}; 45d sea ice {Nautical hazard}; 47d meanie {Stinker}; 48d Brazos {River to the Gulf of Mexico}; 49d organs {Much-needed donations}; 51d no use {"It's fruitless"}; 53d cooer {Pigeon or dove}; 59d Era {Bush ___}; 60d PST {It's periodically observed in Hollywood: Abbr.}.

NYT Friday 6/12/09 - Less Is More

Remembering my favorite clue from a crossword earlier this month made 8d less is more a gimme and I never looked back, getting the top half of the grid done in short order. Only the SE and SW corners put up significant resistance: I had to guess at the crossing Magda (Gabor) and (Donnie) Darko but it turned out I made the right choice with D at their intersection.

The grid is impressive with an average answer length well over 6 and a particularly awesome swath of five- to eight-letter words down the diagonal between the NE and SW corners. The price we paid for this loveliness is a relative dearth of low-frequency letters, but I didn't regret that at all when solving and thought this was a great crossword.

I've now finished Will Shortz's Funniest Crossword Puzzles and am temporarily without a crossword book to work on. Help is on its way in the form of Frank Longo's Cranium-Crushing Crosswords which I hope will arrive very soon to satisfy my craving for more challenging puzzles.

Solving time: 23 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 35a tope {Empty bottles}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Patrick Berry / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 26 (11.6%) black squares
Answers	64 (average length 6.22)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	308 (average 1.55)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

16a Lorax {Truffula Tree defender, with "the"}. I unfortunately missed out on Dr. Seuss as a kid, being brought up on A.A.Milne. The Lorax (1971) is a comparatively late book in which the Lorax protects trees from the predations of the Once-ler, who needs their foliage to knit a "Thneed".

24a hares {Main ingredients in hasenpfeffer}. "pfeffer" I knew to be pepper, but that was not to the point. The question was what "hasen" meant and it took a few crossings to track down what I needed: hares. This calls to mind the instruction that might proverbially start a hasenpfeffer recipe: "first catch your hare".

42a geoid {Imaginary surface coinciding with the earth's sea level}. I'd come across the word geoid before without taking in quite what it meant ... and it's by no means easy to understand. The geoid essentially depends on the gravity field: it's not a regular ellipsoid, because the force of gravity is affected by magma distribution, mountain ranges, deep sea trenches etc. The geoid surface is typically higher than the idealized ellipsoid over mountains and below it over the sea.

46a Darko {"Donnie ___" (2001 cult film)}. Donnie Darko is a psychological thriller written and directed by Richard Kelly. The movie was made on a shoestring budget and even then wasn't profitable on initial release, but has since acquired a cult following.



10d soup's on {"Come and get it!"}. I had my doubts about soup's on - it seemed plausible but I'd not come across it before. I can find a huge number of references to the expression, but not how it came to be so popular. Oh well, another excuse for the greatest comedy of all time.



23d Serpent {Midgard ___ (monster of Norse myth)}. Hmm, I don't think this one made it into The Ring. The Midgard Serpent's real name is Jörmungandr, but his spelling isn't so good, so he also goes by Jormundgand, or on a bad day Midgårdsormen. Thor is his arch-enemy and they're both due to expire in a final battle at Ragnarök.

27d Heller {Author of "Something Happened," 1974}. Catch-22 would have been too easy on a Friday, so we get Joseph Heller's darker second novel, written after a gap of 13 years.

38d Magda {One of the Gabor sisters}. It was a struggle to get beyond Zsa Zsa and clearly I have to do better. Magda (circa 1915-1997) was the eldest of the sisters and Eva (1919–1995) the youngest. Magda was married a mere six times - nothing compared to Zsa Zsa's nine marriages.

Noteworthy

19a Scopes {One of Darrow's clients}. I knew about the Scopes "Monkey" Trial through the movie Inherit the Wind. Clarence Darrow unsuccessfully defended high school teacher John Scopes against charges of teaching evolution in 1925.



27a Hermione {Friend of Harry and Ron}. A reference to the Harry Potter franchise. Hermione Granger is played by Emma Watson. This reminds me that the sixth movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is scheduled for release on 15 July 2009.



35a tope {Empty bottles}. Convinced that "empty" was the adjective, I didn't see how this clue worked until after the puzzle was finished. Of course "to tope" can substitute for "to empty bottles". Great clue wording.

36d Sinéad {Musical O'Connor}. This should have been a gimme, but I sadly needed the first three letters to get to the correct first name.



The Rest

1a aced {Served well}; 5a fail {Without ___ (religiously)}; 9a ASPCA {It has a facility with animals: Abbr.}; 14a sale price {Nice figure}; 17a premieres {Red carpet events}; 18a Luigi {Playwright Pirandello}; 20a seeps in {Enters via osmosis}; 22a setter {Hunting companion, maybe}; 23a singsong {Uninteresting voice}; 25a be strong {"Don't give up!"}; 26a Otis {Manufacturer of boxy cars}; 28a Esc {Isolated PC key}; 29a despots {Unilateral decision-makers}; 30a rad {Excellent, slangily}; 33a adultery {Frequent subject on "Desperate Housewives"}; 36a slimline {Like some jewel cases}; 37a hi-fis {Bygone players}; 38a misspent {Wasted}; 39a banzai {"Char-r-rge!"}; 40a antlers {Head set?}; 41a duffer {Lousy driver, say}; 43a hair tonic {Alopecia sufferer's purchase}; 47a open-sided {Like gazebos, often}; 48a ad-men {Pitching staff?}; 49a West {Communism battler, with "the"}; 50a lass {Miss}.

1d asp {Deadly desert denizen}; 2d car seats {They come with belts}; 3d electrical storm {Potential blackout cause}; 4d demotes {Puts in a bad position?}; 5d freer {Less reserved}; 6d airs {Show of superiority}; 7d ice {Winter coat}; 8d less is more {Central concept of minimalism}; 9d allegros {Quick movements}; 11d Prisoner Of Zenda {1894 adventure novel, with "The"}; 12d caging {Putting away}; 13d axing {Giving a pink slip}; 15d pipes {Singer's gift, colloquially}; 21d entity {Body}; 22d shoe {Mule, e.g.}; 25d Best in Show {Top dog}; 29d dumped on {Bad-mouthed}; 31d apiaries {Things getting a lot of buzz about them?}; 32d Desi {Portrayer of TV's Ricky}; 34d dislike {Find objectionable}; 35d tinfoil {Early phonograph cylinder covering}; 37d hafts {Swordsmen's grips}; 39d burnt {Very well done}; 41d dies {Conks out}; 44d ape {Caricature}; 45d CDs {Certain investments, for short}.

Answer to NPR Puzzle for 6/7/09 -- The Marrying King

Think of a famous TV personality with five letters in the first name and four letters in the last name. Change the first letter of this celebrity's first name to M. Drop the first letter of the last name. Read the result in order, and it will spell something this person is famously known for doing many times. Who is this person?

The answer is Larry King.

Here's the one thing about this puzzle that actually startled me. Larry King has been married eight times! I knew about Shaun, the current Mrs. King, but I actually would have put the number closer to four. Go figure. You learn something (useless) every day.

And here are the answers to our value-added puzzles:

Sleighs/hallways/track & field teams -- Runners

Banks/bureaus/old-fashioned ladies -- Drawers

Cameras/lightning/geniuses -- Flashes

Smoke detectors/physicians/electronic timers -- Beepers

Baseball stadiums/courtrooms/fitness gyms -- Benches

Long haul trucking/golfers/computers -- Drivers

Skis/mayonnaise/notebooks -- Binders

Fancy stationery/North Korea/floral gardens -- Borders

Wimbledon/campers/online dating -- Matches

Wineries/newspapers/fitness gyms -- Presses

Old cars/babies/snakes -- Rattles

TV/songs/wallpaper -- Repeats

Windows/computers/Japanese houses -- Screens

High school reunions/Food & Drug Administration/website advertising -- Banners

Bird watchers/rivers/cafeterias -- Feeders

NYT Thursday 6/11/09 - Flag Day

If the appearance of the grid, with its 12 circles in the NW corner, didn't give the game away, then the "notes" that told you what colors to use certainly would have. The only question was which flag was being represented: an early one, because of there only being 13 stars, but not Betsy Ross's which had the stars in a circle.

Many sightings of the Betsy Ross Bridge in Philadelphia made me curious about the role my namesake had in creating the first American flag. After borrowing a book on the subj, my head was spinning with all the different variants of the flag and the associated mysteries and controversies.

It seems the Flag Resolution of 1777 (passed on June 14, now Flag Day) only specified that the union should be represented by thirteen stars, white in a blue field, without specifying the arrangement. Thus many variants existed but it was Francis Hopkinson's quincuncial layout that became the pattern for all subsequent flags and that's the one used for this puzzle.

The grid required to generate this pretty effect was necessarily very compartmentalized and I had great difficult in the NW block, which I wrongly thought might have "rebus" squares; also in the block below irks which took me about 10 minutes at the end - I was stuck there so long that Magdalen managed to finish the puzzle ahead of me.

Solving time: 27 mins (no cheating)
Clue of the puzz: 30a Mount Rushmore {"Heads for the hills" locale?}

Theme

The grid approximates the 13-star, 13-stripe flag of the United States in the Francis Hopkinson design of 1777. There are three loosely associated answers:

30a Mount Rushmore {"Heads for the hills" locale?}
36a America the Beautiful {Whence "Thine alabaster cities gleam" lyric}
49a Don't Tread on Me {1775 flag motto}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Alex Boisvert / Will Shortz
Grid	13x19 with 44 (17.8%) black squares
Answers	80 (average length 5.08)
Theme squares	45 (22.2%)
Scrabble points	277 (average 1.36)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

22a RAs {Dorm V.I.P.'s}. Not TAs (teaching assistants) this time, but RAs (resident assistants or resident advisors) - student leaders trained to look after a residence hall.

34a Stu {Poker champ Ungar}. Good to get away from the "alphabetical sequence" type of definition: Stu Ungar (1953–1998) is one of only two people to have won the World Series of Poker Main Event three times.

35a Eva {Actress Mendes}. Eva Mendes began acting in the late 1990s and has appeared in several major Hollywood movies, including We Own the Night.



46a Nat {Baseballer with a "W" on his cap}. I was asea with this one, and could only get it from crossings. Turns out the Washington Nationals players sport the W, being Nats for short. Oh and they're a D.C. team, not a Washington State team!

56a Erins {Actress Moran and others}. Erin Moran gets tapped to represent her namesakes: she is best known for playing Joanie Cunningham on Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi.



58a Liu {Lucy of "Kill Bill"}. Lucy Liu became known for playing the bitchy Ling Woo in Ally McBeal and was cast as the villainous O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill. O-Ren succumbs in a dramatic duel in a snowy garden.



1d Atlanta {Hawk's home}. I suspected this might be to do with sports, but that didn't help any. Turns out the Atlanta Hawks is a basketball team in the NBA.

16d Reese {"The Terminator" man Kyle ___}. The only thing I could remember about The Terminator was Arnie's role. I'd forgotten the part the humans played in resisting the intelligent machines. Kyle Reese (played by Michael Biehn) is sent back in time to protect Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), who is being menaced by the unstoppable cyborg.



Noteworthy

17a Tonto {Film character played by a full-blooded Cherokee}. I learned this piece of trivia from NYT crosswords: Victor Daniels aka Chief Thundercloud (1899-1955) was supposedly a full-blooded Cherokee and played the most famous sidekick of all time in the Lone Ranger movie series.

23a Orly {Suburb south of Paris}. It took me ages to alight on this fairly obvious answer - obvious because it's the name of the major Paris airport. I started with Ivry (name of multiple communes in France, but nowhere near Paris) and then considered Illy (ditto) before realizing what the answer had to be.

47a Val {Kilmer of "Batman Forever"}. Val Kilmer is someone I remember as being married to a fav actress of mine, Joanne Whalley. They divorced in 1996. Val got the role as Batman after Michael Keaton refused to reprise the role despite being offered ridiculous amounts of money to do it.



65a east {The right point?}. An elliptical way of saying the point of the compass to the right on a map.

6d Rorem {"Air Music" composer}. I thought I knew classical music pretty well, but only found out about Ned Rorem through crosswords. Usually he's a means of cluing Ned - it's only about once a year that we get Rorem as the answer. Air Music is the suite for which he won a Pulitzer in 1976.

10d rarer {Pinker, perhaps}. As the "pinker" was at the front of the clue, I convinced myself it was a proper name. I tried to think of famous Pinkers until concluding it must be a river. It wasn't until getting the crossings that I realized "pinker" just meant "more pink" on this occasion.

11d Kilauea {Hawaiian tourist attraction}. I reckon I must have come across this at some point, but it took me ages to dredge up the name and even then, I couldn't quite believe the spelling we had to come up with. Kilaeua is one of the five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaiʻi. It's the home of the volcano goddess Pele, whose anger precipitates an eruption.

39d atelier {Oil production site?}. Another beautifully misleading clue, as the oil we had to think of was an oil painting, which might be produced in an artist's studio or atelier.

50d Oscar {Jazz's Peterson}. I first came across Oscar Peterson's piano-playing as a teenager, and I've been in awe of him ever since for his virtuosity and musicality - indisputably one of the greatest pianists ever. Here's one of his own compositions, Cakewalk.



The Rest

1a A-test {Bikini blast}; 6a rag {Car wash aid}; 9a irks {Bugs}; 13a spur {Track branch}; 18a oto- {Ear: Prefix}; 19a wail {Cry}; 20a cite {Name, in a way}; 21a Lotus {Ferrari competitor}; 24a rate {Give a star, say}; 25a akita {Japanese dog}; 26a Eco {Trendy prefix}; 27a NEA {Cultural org.}; 28a tunes {iPod contents}; 29a natty {Spruce}; 33a tile {It may be fired}; 48a San'a {Mideast capital}; 57a usual {Stock}; 59a DTs {Drunk's woe, with "the"}; 60a lanes {Bikers may have them}; 61a VCRs {Some RCA products}; 62a hire {Take on}; 63a art {Knack}; 64a metro {___ area}; 66a beet {Kind of salad}; 67a gee {"Holy smokes!"}; 68a élève {Pupil, in Picardie}; 69a trey {Three-point shot, in slang}; 70a or so {"... ___ he said"}; 71a -eer {Chariot attachment?}; 72a rides {Pony farm sign}.

2d took aim {Lined up the cross hairs}; 3d entitle {Name}; 4d stutter {Possible result of anxiety}; 5d to say {"... ___ the least"}; 7d at a cost {Not free}; 8d go south {Turn bad}; 9d I won't {"Forget it!"}; 12d sly {Hugger-mugger}; 13d scrum {Rugby scuffle}; 14d piano {Softly}; 15d utter {Total}; 28d that {"___ so?!"}; 31d Nuevo {___ León (Mexican state bordering Texas)}; 32d SVU {"Law & Order" spinoff, informally}; 37d intl. {U.N.-like}; 38d car {Wheels}; 40d bandage {Operator's need}; 41d elm-tree {Stately thing in Browning's "Oh, to be in England ..."}; 42d Israeli {Like Bar-Ilan University}; 43d fainted {Blacked out}; 44d unnerve {Rattle}; 45d lassoes {Rodeo rings?}; 49d duvet {Bed cover}; 51d nurse {Sip}; 52d tasty {Delectable}; 53d Aires {Buenos ___}; 54d due to {As a result of}; 55d ester {Aromatic compound}; 56d Elmer {Whom Bugs bugs}; 62d HBO {"The Wire" shower}.