NYT Wednesday 8/5/09 - Too Proper

This Wednesday New York Times crossword was just a disaster for me. I seemed to be doing quite well when I'd finished everything except the SE corner in about 12 minutes. Breaking into that final block of answers took over 20 minutes at the end.

The problem I had was the thicket of proper names in that area. If I'd known the Perry White reference, things might have been easier. As it was, I had to consider Perry Mason as a possible candidate although I didn't fixate on that.

In addition to Perry White, we have Stu (Sutcliffe), No Spin, Serta, Urals, Paley, She-Ra, Tittle. The only dictionary answers in the area are uneasy and spiral, the latter being clued with reference to American Football.

I doubt solvers brought up in America would have the difficulties I did: Magdalen was solving alongside me and put down her pen after 15 minutes or so. But I don't feel too hard done by, because it's clear my knowledge of popular culture - particularly the characters in comics and the associated movies - still needs brushing up.

Solving time: 35 mins (solo, no solving aids)
Clue of the puzz: 34a magi {Crèche trio}

Theme

Answers starting with "Great Caesar's ghost!", the oath spoken by Perry White, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet in Superman comics. This is indicated by 57a Perry White {Character known for exclaiming the first words of 20-, 28- and 46-Across}:

20a Great Lakes {America's so-called Third Coast}
28a Caesar's wife {One who must be above suspicion, in a saying}
46a ghost-writer {Many an autobiographer's need}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Donna S. Levin / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 34 (15.1%) black squares
Answers	74 (average length 5.16)
Theme squares	42 (22.0%)
Scrabble points	306 (average 1.60)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

18a Cora {Mrs. Dithers in the comics}. Cora Dithers is a character in the comic strip Blondie, being the domineering wife of Dagwood Bumstead's boss, Julius Caesar Dithers. In view of the theme, I have to wonder if the reference to this wife of Julius Caesar was deliberate or coincidental. Here's a clip from a 1987 animated adaptation.



64a Ella {"___ Enchanted" (Anne Hathaway movie)}. Ella Enchanted is a Gail Carson Levine novel, being a retelling of the Cinderella story. It was adapted into the referenced movie in 2004.



68a Paley {Longtime CBS boss William}. I knew of a William Paley from reading Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker inter alia. That didn't help me identify William S. Paley (1901–1990), the guy who built CBS into the major player in broadcasting that it is today. In fact the existence of the philosopher made me doubtful that another famous person of the same name could exist.

2d Penrod {Booth Tarkington title tween}. Penrod seems an unlikely name, but I was prepared to believe it when I rationalized Le Car and spoke ("speak" tells a dog to bark). Penrod Schofield is an 11-year-old boy growing up in the Midwest at the beginning of the 20th century, in stories in the same vein as Tom Sawyer. Penrod and Sam (1931) is one of several movie adaptations inspired by the characters.



12d Bennifer {Affleck/Lopez as a tabloid twosome}. Supercouple nicknames, or "uninames" seem to be in vogue in NYT puzzles - we also had Brangelina recently. Others to watch out for: TomKat and Vaughniston (Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston). If Magdalen and I were a supercouple we could be Rossalen (I don't like Magdaloss, Bradford or Bereden).

47d R. Kelly {Singer with the 1994 #1 hit "Bump N' Grind"}. It seems unusual for personalities to be known by their initials, as here - a Good Thing as they make crossword answers that are very hard to recognize. R. Kelly is a singer-songwriter in R&B and Soul. Here's the referenced hit.



48d spiral {Form of a well-thrown pigskin}, 49d Tittle {Y. A. known for well-thrown pigskins}. This juxtaposition was deadly for me, though spiral seemed reasonable when I finally got it. Tittle I just had to deduce from crossings and trust on faith, and I wasn't even aware that Y. A. were his initials. I gather Y. A. Tittle is a former QB (which I suppose is evident from the clue), who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. His initials stand for Yelberton Abraham, so you can perhaps understand why he goes by Y. A..

54d She-Ra {Mattel's Princess of Power}. The original She-Ra is a Mattel doll, the alter ego of Princess Adora. She is the twin sister of He-Man (Prince Adam) and was supposed to appeal to girls in the same way as He-Man appealed to boys. Both had tie-in animated series on TV.



Noteworthy

6a Skee {___-Ball (game on an incline)}. I've heard of skee ball machines but never seen one to my knowledge or tried to play the game. It looks like a crude form of pinball but Magdalen had to explain the finer details: you propel balls up the shallow ramp, as in bowling, and there's a take-off ramp at the end which makes the balls do a little jump into one of the collecting pots. You need a good aim and to propel the ball with the right amount of force.

14a Le Car {Renault 5, in North America}. This clue was tough until you parsed the answer as a (2,3) and remembered that Renault is a French manufacturer. French manufacturers have a big presence in the UK (in fact my last car there was a Citroen), but I don't see many Le Cars (or indeed any French cars) round these parts.

34a magi {Crèche trio}. I like this clue for reasons that are probably peculiar to me: I know a crèche in the US is a nativity scene, but in the UK it doesn't mean that at all and would be understood as a day care center for kids. The misleading nature of all this appealed to me.

62a Serta {Perfect Sleeper maker}. A proper name in the SE corner that I vaguely knew, but Sealy also fit the crossings I had, and I thought of that first. Serta is a cooperative of mattress manufacturers founded in 1931 and is famous for its Counting Sheep advertising campaign.



The Rest

1a spoke {Did a dog trick}; 10a ABBA {"Mamma Mia" quartet}; 15a pour {Rain cats and dogs}; 16a Kael {Film critic Pauline}; 17a intro {First few bars}; 19a is no {"This ___ joke!"}; 22a nine {Clementine's shoe size}; 23a hottie {Playboy or Playgirl-caliber model}; 24a key {Item with a magnetic strip, nowadays}; 26a Liv {Tyler of "The Incredible Hulk"}; 27a TDs {What Hail Mary passes rarely result in, briefly}; 32a Sarah {Ex-governor Palin}; 33a slicer {Hero maker's aid}; 34a magi {Crèche trio}; 37a ton {Whole bunch}; 39a para- {Prefix with normal}; 40a Adonis {Hunky sort}; 43a judge {One who tries}; 48a Stu {Early Beatle Sutcliffe}; 51a Ned {Original Luddite ___ Ludd}; 52a Oak {Oklahoma's ___ Tree National golf course}; 53a No Spin {Like Bill O'Reilly's "zone" on Fox News}; 55a as is {Clearance rack words}; 60a tidy {Like certain sums}; 61a plié {Ballet bend}; 63a even {Smooth}; 65a Urals {Range extending to the Arctic Ocean}; 66a seas {Huge quantities}; 67a dyed {Gray no more, say}.

1d slight {Cold-shoulder}; 3d octets {Largish combos}; 4d karat {Unit of purity}; 5d erotica {Racy reading}; 6d SPCA {Pet welfare org.}; 7d kook {Wack job}; 8d eureka {"That's it!"}; 9d erasers {Blackboard accessories}; 10d akin {Closely related}; 11d basilica {St. Peter's, e.g.}; 13d Aloe Vera {Important plant in alternative medicine}; 21d Lear {Father of Goneril}; 25d YSL {Fashion inits.}; 29d eat {Mother's cry at a dinner table}; 30d shoji {Japanese sliding screen}; 31d wipe {Disposable cleaning aid}; 32d sins {Lust and envy, for two}; 34d magnates {Ones in high places}; 35d adhesive {Post-it component}; 36d good idea {Brainstorming result, perhaps}; 38d nut {Wack job}; 41d I to {"Who am ___ say?"}; 42d swapped {Out of order, in a way}; 44d deny {Refuse to grant}; 45d grows up {Matures}; 50d uneasy {On edge}; 56d syns. {Roget offerings: Abbr.}; 58d rile {Anger}; 59d read {Interpret}.

NYT Tuesday 8/4/09 - Birthday Boy

Happy 48th Birthday, Mr President. There's a saying in England that you know you're getting old when policeman look young. You really know you're getting old when a US president is younger than you are!

I wasn't aware of the upcoming event, so noted the thematic answers seemed to have AMAB(O) groups without understanding at all what was going on ... until I reached 71-Across. I can just imagine Will Shortz receiving hundreds of Obama puzzles over the last year and holding on to some of the best to be sprung on us when we least expect it.

I wonder what kind of gifts he'll get. Will Sheryl Crow (she's known to be on Obama's iPod) sing happy birthday to the President, like Marilyn Monroe did for JFK? One weird tribute I have noticed is that Antigua is today renaming Boggy Peak as Mount Obama.

Solving time: 8 mins (solo, no solving aids)
Clue of the puzz: 18d atlas {Collection of plates}

Theme

Barack Obama's birthday, as indicated by 71a Obama {President born on August 4, whose name can be found backward in 17-, 31-, 47- and 63-Across}:

17a dream about {Envision in one's sleep}
31a pajama bottoms {Sleepwear component}
47a Alabama border {The Chattahoochee River forms part of it}
63a beam aboard {Arrive on the Enterprise via transporter}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Alan Arbesfeld / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 38 (16.9%) black squares
Answers	78 (average length 4.79)
Theme squares	51 (27.3%)
Scrabble points	312 (average 1.67)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

14a Lahti {Actress Christine of "Chicago Hope"}. Christine Lahti has come up twice before this year, but only in Sunday puzzles where I can't pay such close attention to every detail. So I knew Lahti as a crosswordy answer without any specifics. One reason I remembered it is that LAHTI was one of those romantic sounding places printed on old British radio dials: HILVERS(UM) was another.



24a Noah {NPR newsman Adams}. Noah Adams was once co-host of All Things Considered - a program I hear from time-to-time. He's now the senior correspondent at National Public Radio's National Desk. He's written a number of books, his latest (and here's a coincidence ... see below) being about the Wright Brothers.

1d Alden {John on the Mayflower}. As I wasn't confident of Lahti at 14-Across, I really wanted to be sure of this crossing answer. No luck, though Alden was in fact the only surname that made sense. John Alden (1599–1687) is famous only because he was (said to be) the first passenger on The Mayflower to set foot on Plymouth Rock in 1620. John was in fact not a pilgrim, being the ship's repairman - he decided to come along in the hope of prosperity in the New World. He must have been a good carpenter, as his house of 1653 still stands and is open as a museum.

Noteworthy

16a Ohio {Its license plates say "Birthplace of Aviation"}. The clue puts it very well: how can Ohio be the birthplace of aviation when Kitty Hawk is in North Carolina? I certainly put in _CAR because I knew it had to be one of the Carolinas. It seems Ohio is the birthplace because Congress said so (by a 378-3 vote in the House and unanimously in the Senate), Dayton being the hometown of the Wright Brothers. I do think Ohio could find a more honest claim to fame: like "First in Crosswords" - oh dear, it can't even make that boast, as it's second to Utah in mentions. Keep working on it, Ohio!

41a mints {Dishful near a restaurant door}. I thought this might be a water bowl for dogs. Restaurants sometimes do that, right? mints makes a little more sense though - great clue!

46a Kat {Krazy ___ of the comics}. Tried to find Krazy Kat on Comics.com, but I'm out of luck because it only ran from 1913 and 1944. William Randolph Hearst was a big fan and was known to ensure its appearance in his papers over the head of an editor.

68a or Die {"Live Free ___" (New Hampshire motto)}. One of the few state mottoes I know, because it has a famous association with Unix, the operating system I used for most of my professional life. The motto spoke to the desire early Unix users/developers had to be independent of commercial interests. Armando P. Stettner started giving out New Hampshire plates with UNIX on them and the image became an emblem for users of the operating system.

3d The Gap {Clothing retailer starting in 1969}. I don't normally think of Gap as having the definite article in front and wondered if the branding was different in the USA. I gather the store started as The Gap and somewhere along the line became just Gap. The wording of the clue allows for this.

25d halo {Circle of angels?}, 18d atlas {Collection of plates}. A couple of the nicely misleading clues in this puzzle. I marginally prefer the latter, as I don't remember coming across anything like it before ... plates being book illustrations, the term dating back to when they were separately lithographed sheets bound into a book otherwise set using letterpress.

46d krona {Money from Sweden}. Scandinavian countries can't seem to agree on that final vowel, so I hedged and waited for beam aboard to resolve things. Krona is Swedish and Icelandic. Krone is Danish and Norwegian. Not that I'll ever remember this.

49d Old Man {Subject of a Hemingway title}. One of Papa Hemingway's titles I have no difficulty with, having studied it in school at about the age of 14. The Old Man and the Sea is unusual in consisting of only three-letter words - it kinda fits Hemingway's succinct prose style. Here's the start of the Spencer Tracy movie version (1958):



59d -aboo {Bug chaser?}. Making a virtue out of a necessity by cluing an ugly entry (suffix) with a misleading phrase.

The Rest

1a acted {Performed on Broadway, say}; 6a wail {Cry like a baby}; 10a RSVP {Invitation request, for short}; 15a Emma {Madame Bovary}; 19a boat {Yawl or yacht}; 20a egg {Bad thing to have on one's face}; 21a etc {List ender: Abbr.}; 22a segue {Transition}; 26a lab {Where to run some tests}; 28a reshot {Like some bad film scenes}; 34a Las {Vegas intro?}; 35a runs {Scoreboard figure}; 36a rip {Tombstone letters}; 37a Epsom {___ salts}; 40a sty {Hog's home}; 43a doh! {"How stupid of me!"}; 44a Papa {Nickname for Hemingway}; 51a Medici {Classic family name in Florence}; 52a slo {Street caution near a school}; 53a mass {Sunday service}; 56a Oskar {Schindler of "Schindler's List"}; 58a DNA {Genetic letters}; 60a MCI {2006 Verizon purchase}; 61a newt {Former speaker Gingrich}; 66a over {Done}; 67a lava {Molten flow}; 69a redo {Take from the top}; 70a Eden {Noted garden site}.

2d cargo {Freight}; 4d ETA {Pilot's announcement, for short}; 5d dime {It's smaller than a penny}; 6d webcam {Online video equipment}; 7d amo {Start of a Latin conjugation}; 8d Imus {Big name in morning radio}; 9d later on {Sometime in the future}; 10d robust {Hearty}; 11d shoehorn {Squeeze (into)}; 12d via {By way of}; 13d pot {One calling the kettle black, in a phrase}; 23d gets mad {Sees red}; 27d bar tabs {What some drinkers run up}; 29d omit {Skip}; 30d tsps. {Recipe amts.}; 32d jam-pack {Fill to capacity and then some}; 33d buy {Pick up, in a way}; 37d Edam {Dutch cheese}; 38d pole {Gondolier's need}; 39d shadowed {Tailed}; 40d spa {Rejuvenation location}; 42d item {Part of an agenda}; 45d amiable {Friendly}; 48d bistro {European-style cafe}; 50d Ramada {Holiday Inn alternative}; 54d scrim {Fabric for theater curtains}; 55d side A {Part of a record getting the most airplay}; 57d read {Peruse}; 61d nor {Hide-hair connector}; 62d eve {Threshold}; 64d ave {Cry in old Rome}; 65d orb {Sphere}.

NYT Monday 8/3/09 - Maize Mazes

Another Monday New York Times crossword and I again take 6 minutes. It's getting so that I wonder if the faster solvers (and there are many) use a different technique from me: perhaps doing all the acrosses in sequence, then running through any downs where there are gaps. I'll have to try that next week.

I suspected this puzzle would have what Patrick Berry calls a "reverse thinking" theme from the off. Apparently it's a tradition with these types of crossword that one-word theme clues are in CAPS - perhaps so you can pick them out more easily among the other clues? But that does rather give away what kind of theme is afoot.

However, the thematic clues weren't gimmes by any means, and I needed a lot of crossings to recognize baseballer Willie Mays. The other two were easier: incidentally, I believe maize mazes are popular this time of year - I wonder if they inspired this idea!

Solving time: 6 mins (solo, no solving aids)
Clue of the puzz: 67a cadet {West Pointer, e.g.}

Theme

A "reverse" theme with the answers being clues that suggest three sound-alike words:

20a slugger Willie {MAYS}
36a pale yellow color {MAIZE}
57a lab rat's milieu {MAZE}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Janet R. Bender / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 36 (16.0%) black squares
Answers	76 (average length 4.97)
Theme squares	41 (21.7%)
Scrabble points	273 (average 1.44)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

33a Peele {English dramatist George}. I'm English, I should know this - wrong! George Peele (1556–1596) was a lesser-known contemporary of Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe and is thought by some to have contributed to, or written all of, "Shakespeare's" Titus Andronicus. His poem The Old Wive's Tale was one of those set to music in Benjamin Britten's Spring Symphony.

Whenas the rye reach to the chin,
And chop-cherry, chop-cherry ripe within,
Straw berries swimming in the cream,
And schoolboys playing in the stream;
Then, O, then, O then, O, my true love said,
Till that time come again
She could not live a maid.
From The Old Wive's Tale by George Peele

58d Arie {Singer India.___}. I found it hard to believe the dot was for real and not a typo. It seems India.Arie does indeed have a dot in her name - she added it to make her stand out, and the idea seems to have worked, doesn't it? India is a versatile musician, winning a Grammy in 2003 for the R&B album Voyage to India.



Noteworthy

48a o'er {"___ the ramparts we watched ..."}. These words seemed a little familiar ... yes, they're some famous Key words.

55a geode {Rock with a crystal inside}. I think everyone has probably seen these, but they're so beautiful, I can't resist searching out an example for the blog. Geodes are common in some states of the USA, such as Iowa, which has designated the geode its official state rock. The world's largest geode is in Ohio and known as Crystal Cave - it's open as a tourist attraction in the summer.

26d Dino {Flintstones' pet}. Alley Oop's dinosaur was Dinny, but Fred Flintstone's is Dino, even though it has all the characteristics of a dog.



30d Zee {Zuider ___ (former inlet in the Netherlands)}. Why a "former inlet"? Because the majority of the Zuiderzee has been closed off from the North Sea with dikes, turning this inlet of the sea into a freshwater lake called the IJsselmeer.

32d Elon {North Carolina university}. The Crucy League really helped take the mystery out of clues like this one.

45d tablet {One of two for the Ten Commandments}. Why were there two tablets and how were the Commandments disposed on them? Experts are split down the middle on this one ... some saying the tablets were two identical copies, some that each tablet had five on. Anyway, here's a great Ten Commandments joke we came across the other day:

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother," she asked "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy answered, "Thou shall not kill."

49d pointe {Ballerina's position}. Pointe is a ballet position in which the body is balanced on the extreme tip of the toe. Dancers must usually be in their teens before attempting it, as undeveloped feet can be injured very easily. The skill can take several years to learn, as dancers must develop very strong ankles - and special techniques - to master it.

The Rest

1a chat {What some people do in an online "room"}; 5a sole {Shoe bottom}; 9a rapid {Swift}; 14a halo {Circle of light around the sun or moon}; 15a Avon {Bard of ___ (Shakespeare)}; 16a ameba {Microscopic creature}; 17a amen {"So be it"}; 18a feed {Nourish}; 19a Godot {Beckett's "Waiting for ___"}; 23a metal {Zinc or zirconium}; 24a Kenya {Home of Barack Obama's father}; 25a SDS {Radical 1960s org.}; 28a Sts. {1st to 220th, in Manhattan: Abbr.}; 29a Uzi {Israeli-made gun}; 31a genetic {Like hereditary factors}; 35a lana {Actress Turner}; 42a Ural {___ Mountains (Asia/Europe separator)}; 43a spoon {What the dish ran away with, in "Hey Diddle Diddle"}; 44a pull-tab {Soda can feature}; 49a pat {Butter serving}; 52a at a {One step ___ time}; 53a areas {Zones}; 60a snarl {Tangle}; 62a true! {"Honest to God!"}; 63a inst. {Place of research: Abbr.}; 64a Ernie {With 34-Down, golf's U.S. Open champion of 1994 and 1997}; 65a Lima {Peru's capital}; 66a Otto {"Beetle Bailey" dog}; 67a cadet {West Pointer, e.g.}; 68a east {Toward the rising sun}; 69a teen {First-year college student, usually}.

1d chasms {Gorges}; 2d hamlet {Small village}; 3d Aleuts {Native Alaskans}; 4d Tonga {South Pacific kingdom}; 5d safe {Official's call with outspread arms}. I've gotten used to seeing this baseball reference; 6d overkill {Excess}; 7d Loewe {Frederick ___, "My Fair Lady" composer}; 8d ending {Part of a whodunit that reveals who done it}; 9d raglan {Overcoat sleeve}; 10d à moi {Mine: Fr.}; 11d pedestal {Statue's support}; 12d Ibo {Nigerian native}; 13d dat {"Gimme ___!" (rude order)}; 21d gluey {Viscous}; 22d lye {Soapmaker's supply}; 27d scar {Surgery souvenir}; 33d pell {___-mell}; 34d Els {See 64-Across}; 36d pupa {Larva successor}; 37d a rut {In ___ (stuck in the same old same old)}; 38d la-la land {Dreamy place}; 39d opossums {Arboreal animals with pouches}; 40d woe {Anguish}; 41d corgi {Welsh dog}; 46d arr. {Departure's opposite: Abbr.}; 47d Beatle {Any of the Fab Four}; 50d Adeste {"___ Fideles"}; 51d Teuton {German}; 54d atria {Courtyards}; 56d Eliot {Writer T. S.}; 59d meat {Vegetarian's no-no}; 60d sec {Dry, as wine}; 61d NRA {Gun lobbyists' org.}.

NPR Puzzle -- 08/02/09 Making the World Go Round

Here's this week's puzzle:

This comes from crossword puzzle creator Merl Reagle: Take a slang term for money. Change one of its letters to the next letter of the alphabet. Rearrange the result, and you'll get another slang term for money. What are the words?

Ross and I have an answer, but we're not sure it's the right answer. It really seems to come down to what's a slang term versus what's just a regular word for money. We will continue to research this and see if we can't do better.

This is the sort of puzzle I'm tempted to enter, but all efforts recently to get an honorable mention (where Will Shortz acknowledges the alternate answer on air) have failed, so I probably won't send in our offering.

And in other news, today is Henry's (aka Hub 1.0) birthday! Happy birthday, Henry! I've been trying to convince him to visit this page regularly so he can play my value-added puzzles. Let's hope some birthday cake will lure him back:

I did not make this cake; the clues were written by Owen Massey, who used to write cryptic puzzles for Cherwell, a student newspaper at Oxford. I wish I could tell you who made the cake, but her website seems to lack any biographical details. However, she has a link to some Russian cakes that defy description. Check them out here.

And for those value-added puzzles, I won't do more "wise sayings," as Ben Franklin called them. In Henry's honor, I will do a version of the Categories puzzle that Will Shortz is fond of. You know the ones-- he gives the contestant a five letter word and a category (games, fruit, etc.) and asks for an example of that category beginning with each of the five letters. I would do this with H E N R Y, but it turns out that Y is problematic.

So I'm going to use A U G U S T, which amounts to a five-letter word when you discard the extra U. Here are your categories:

Countries

States

American Cities

Fruit

Animals (warning: the U is hard and you may need to cheat)

and finally, a special one for Henry, Beers. (Generic terms, such as lager, are permitted, as are breweries' odd punning names, such as Hop Devil.)

And just to make it more fun for everyone, anyone who solves this can post their answers for each category in the Comments section. So don't look at the Comments if you don't want to see what other people thought of! But there are some easy answers and some more obscure answers (except for the U animal, which is off-the-charts obscure), so style points for really weird but accurate answers!

NYT Sunday 8/2/09 - Greek Revival

Magdalen and I got on pretty well with this jumbo New York Times crossword. A combination of seeing the wording of 39-Down and getting letters at the end of 23-Across led us to the theme, which we enjoyed working out.

But there's something of a technical problem, in that no reasonable person could look at the four "fraternity" clues and deduce what the answers are ... well that's what we thought, anyway. Which begs the question, why have those clues at all? I suppose it's the least bad option in the circumstances and some help is better than none at all.

But this means that the crossing answers effectively have a lot of unchecked letters. Mostly that didn't matter, because knowing the missing letters are one of only 24 possible strings is pretty useful. But we had real difficulties with 35-Down, where we assumed the "Mexican-style fast-food chain" would end Taco, but had to divine (figure out intuitively) whether it was e-Taco (where you could presumably order online), The Taco, Ze Taco etc.

I eventually persuaded Magdalen that if there's a food company called Del Monte, there must be a fast-food chain called Del Taco. I note that the chain is concentrated in just 17 states to the west and south of us, with our nearest branch 500 miles away in Toledo, OH ... which explains why we haven't heard of it.

Solving time: 35 mins (with Magdalen, no solving aids)
Clue of the puzz: 105d pray {Speak up?}

Theme

Four answers are Greek letter organizations:

34a Tau Delta Phi {Group formed at C.C.N.Y. in 1910}
93a Omega Psi Phi {Group formed at Howard University in 1911}
39d Beta Theta Pi {Group formed at Miami University in 1839}
79d Alpha Chi Rho {Group formed at Trinity College in 1895}

Answers crossing these include the Greek letters spelled out:

37a Tibetans {Roof of the World natives}
47a on the take {Accepting bribes}
50a American Pie {1971 album dedicated to Buddy Holly}

78a Ralph Abernathy {Co-organizer of the Montgomery bus boycott, 1955}
87a duchies {Bavaria and others, once}
91a air hose {Engine attachment}

14d great aunt {Social reformer Margaret Fuller, to Buckminster Fuller}
26d Sophie {Meryl Streep title role}
35d Del Taco {Mexican-style fast-food chain}

85d Pepsi {Product with a circular red, white and blue logo}
86d amphibian {Semiterrestrial organism}
90d home game {Match played at the local arena}

Two long answers allude to the theme:

23a Greek letters {Contents of four answers found in this puzzle}
108a fraternities {Four groups found in this puzzle}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Patrick Berry / Will Shortz
Grid	21x21 with 74 (16.8%) black squares
Answers	140 (average length 5.24)
Theme squares	92 (25.1%)
Scrabble points	586 (average 1.60)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

31a Eloise {Fictional Plaza Hotel resident}. Magdalen has some Eloise books knocking about the place, but I hadn't registered before that she lived in the Plaza Hotel (a real hotel - a portrait of Eloise hung in the lobby of the Plaza until it closed for renovations in 2005).

64a Mo' Money {1992 Damon Wayans comedy}. The answer doesn't look like a film title until you parse the first two letters as "more". Mo' Money is a crime dramedy about two brothers (Damon Wayans and Marlon Wayans) who scam their way off the streets.



69a buns {Weenie roast needs}. We use "weenie" in Britain, but it means small, not a hot dog: a weenie roast is something you might find in the kitchen of a doll's house. I gather a weenie roast US-style is a cookout where hot dogs are the main fare. I like hot dogs with Marmite, a habit Magdalen deplores, but which will persist as long as the stocks of Marmite do.

77a Hi-Ho {Old cracker brand}. I didn't think this a very fair clue, but Magdalen just about remembered the brand from Sunshine Biscuits that was among several discontinued when it merged with the Keebler Company in 1996.

42d Dristan {Antihistamine brand}. It seems Dristan is a brand of decongestant nasal spray with oxymetazoline as the active ingredient; and a cold formula (which I think is the one that includes the antihistamines). Tough sort of clue unless you happen to take that specific brand.

96d Jan {Dean's 1960s singing partner}. Magdalen said I should look up Jan and Dean for this one. This was a partnership between William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence; the duo became associated with surf music, even though they predated the The Beach Boys.



Noteworthy

106a amnesiac {Jason Bourne, in the Bourne series}. I admire clues like this one that duck a dictionary definition in favor of an allusion to a book, movie etc. We're fans of the Bourne films, so had no difficulty justifying this answer.



2d Our {First word in many church names}. As in Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility? Well we had just been listening to A Prairie Home Companion when we solved this!

105d pray {Speak up?}. I thought this witty - heaven's above us, so if you're praying, you're speaking up, right?

The Rest

1a mouth {It's open for dinner}; 6a stripe {High ball, in pool}; 12a alga {Pond organism}; 16a Amy {Sedaris of "Strangers With Candy"}; 19a sushi {Dish that may be served on a boat}; 20a haikus {Three-line poems}; 21a sort {Put into piles}; 22a via {Traversing}; 25a knee sock {It covers a lot of leg}; 27a freebee {Good for nothing?: Var.}; 28a Persia {Alexander the Great conquered it}; 30a ones {Rarely counterfeited bills}; 33a Ionia {Alexander the Great conquered it}; 36a MIRV {Weapon with many warheads}; 40a princedom {Monaco is one}; 45a maced {Given an eyeful, you might say}; 48a Porto {Brazil's ___ Alegre}; 49a rue {"And all too soon, I fear, the king shall ___": "Richard II"}; 52a blue {Picasso's ___ Period, 1901-04}; 53a Pitt {Surname of two British P.M.'s}; 54a vase {Waterford purchase}; 55a drains {Empties}; 57a Cesar {Labor leader Chávez}; 58a registry {Bridal wish list}; 62a iced {Like some twisted ankles}; 63a Costco {Sam's Club rival}; 65a oinks {"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" sounds}; 67a tomcats {Womanizers, slangily}; 68a amines {Nitrogen compounds}; 70a trade-ins {Cars that go toward other cars}; 72a lungs {Subjects of pneumography}; 73a warded {Fended (off)}; 75a oleo {Something that's been clarified}; 76a ales {Tavern orders}; 84a wan {Ill-looking}; 85a Paolo {Renaissance painter Uccello}; 88a spree {Bout of revelry}; 89a in the main {By and large}; 92a peen {Claw alternative}; 94a world {Sci-fi author's creation}; 96a juleps {Kentucky Derby drinks}; 98a foam {Fire extinguisher's output}; 101a Beirut {Mideast hub}; 103a empanel {Fill a box, say}; 112a cad {Bounder}; 113a mask {Umpire's wear}; 114a fedora {Retro headgear}; 115a Tonto {Jay Silverheels role}; 116a try {Have a bite of}; 117a unes {Quelques-___ (some: Fr.)}; 118a Sydney {2000 Olympics locale}; 119a Snead {Golfer who said "Never concede a putt"}.

1d MSG {"No ___"}; 3d use force {Pursue violent options}; 4d The River {1980 double album by Springsteen}; 5d hikes {Raises}; 6d Sheb {C&W singer Wooley}; 7d Tate {British art museum}; 8d rite {Book of Hours entry}; 9d Ike {___ & Tina Turner Revue}; 10d purpose {Determination}; 11d Essen {Ruhr industrial city}; 12d asks around {Gets several views}; 13d Loni {Actress Anderson}; 15d ate {"I already ___"}; 16d Avon {Skin So Soft seller}; 17d mice {Lab test subjects}; 18d yaks {Asian bovines}; 24d lee {Sheltered side}; 29d rippliest {Most corrugated}; 31d Emma {Novel on which "Clueless" is based}; 32d Liam {Writer O'Flaherty}; 33d inked {Like final contracts}; 37d toasty {Comfortably warm}; 38d inner {Personal, as thoughts}; 41d ires {Furies}; 43d outacts {Steals the show from, say}; 44d metros {Urban railways}; 46d divines {Figures out intuitively}; 51d cases {Legal precedents}; 52d back {No longer on vacation}; 53d Pesci {Oscar winner for "GoodFellas"}; 56d rinse {Remove the suds}; 57d come-ons {Inducements}; 58d Romulan {Pointy-eared "Star Trek" character}; 59d eminent {Highly respected}; 60d gongs {Round percussion instruments}; 61d your honor {Term for a judge}; 63d coder {Enigma machine, e.g.}; 64d Malawi {Nyasaland, nowadays}; 66d Indo- {___-European}; 67d Talese {New Journalism pioneer Gay}; 69d bailiwicks {Areas of expertise}; 71d robes {Choir attire}; 73d whoa {Liveryman's command}; 74d Druid {Celtic priest of old}; 80d Appleton {Wisconsin home of Lawrence University}; 81d tree-line {Timberland limit}; 82d Heep {Villainous Uriah}; 83d yens {Desires}; 87d Daltrey {The Who's lead singer}; 95d ruffs {Elizabethan collars}; 97d units {Apartments, e.g.}; 98d fact {Undisputed point}; 99d Omar {W.W. II general Bradley}; 100d Andy {Red's pal in "The Shawshank Redemption"}; 102d ease {Slip (into)}; 103d Eton {English collar}; 104d mère {French family member}; 107d SMU {The Mustangs of the N.C.A.A.}; 109d add {Get a total}; 110d ETA {J.F.K. board info}; 111d sod {Ground cover}.

NYT Saturday 8/1/09 - Surprise Ending

It seems so common that I solve a Saturday New York Times crossword faster than a Friday one, that I wonder if it's now intentional to make Friday the hardest day of the week, or if I'm just weird. Doesn't it make better sense to have the Saturday puzzle the most difficult, as that's when solvers should have more time and easy access to reference books?

I breezed through this one reasonably quickly, clocking a faster time than even the Thursday puzzle. I could get lots of the long answers early on, and when that happens you usually make great progress. Only the SW corner proved a little troublesome, particularly the crossing of cull and Ugarte, which I pondered for a few minutes before deciding on the correct vowel.

Here's another puzzle with what I've christened "non-identical twins". Is this a new craze or just the first time I've noticed it?

42a careens {Pitches}
52a leaned {Pitched}

4d MNO {6 letters}
10d evictors {They remove letters}

6d hates {Is repulsed by}
11d sickens {Repulses}

Solving time: 25 mins (solo, no solving aids)
Clue of the puzz: 4d MNO {6 letters}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Martin Ashwood-Smith / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 30 (13.3%) black squares
Answers	66 (average length 5.91)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	327 (average 1.68)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

New To Me

20a Ben {"A friend to call my own," per a Michael Jackson hit}. Ben was Michael Jackson's first hit as a solo artist, a song he recorded at the age of 14. It is the theme song of the movie Ben, being the name of a young boy's pet rat.



22a Haynes {"Far From Heaven" director Todd}. Far From Heaven is a 2002 drama set in the suburban Hartford of the 1950s. The movie stars Julianne Moore, Todd Haynes' muse and frequent collaborator.



39a Jaffe {"Class Reunion" novelist, 1979}. Rona Jaffe (1931–2005) was an American novelist who wrote her first book The Best of Everything with an eye on a possible movie adaptation. It seems to have been the Sex and the City of its day. She went on to write 15 more novels.

47a Ugarte {Black marketeer in "Casablanca"}. I've seen Casablanca a few times, but not enough to remember more than Rick, Ilsa, and of course Sam. Signor Ugarte (Peter Lorre) is the petty criminal who comes up with the letters of transit that are so vital to the plot. Little chance of getting his weird name right without the crossing answers.



48a Rivieras {Bygone Buicks}. Bygone car models are always going to be tough for me. The Buick Riviera is a full-size coupé, and was in production from 1963 to 1999.

23d Ned {Satirist Ward}. One suspects with this reference that the compiler just opted for the most obscure Ned in history. Ned Ward (1660 or 1667-1731) was the publican at the King's Head Tavern in London, but wrote satires on the side. His most famous work is The London Spy, a book about London low-life and vice.

27d Son of Zorro {1947 western serial film}. The referenced Son of Zorro is an unremarkable low-budget movie. There's also a spaghetti western Il figlio di Zorro. I'm not sure either are well-suited to being in a crossword, even though it's an attractive answer in theory.



32d Juliette {Girl Scouts founder Low}. Juliette Low (1860–1927), nicknamed "Daisy", was the American founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912. In Britain, female scouts are known as Girl Guides.

Noteworthy

29a Watterson {Creator of a comic strip duo named after a theologian and a philosopher}. I hit lucky with this one, as I'd been browsing the comic book section of the local library. It was well-stocked with collections of Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side etc, but didn't have any histories or overviews of the genre. Fortunately for this puzzle, I remembered Bill Watterson as the creator concerned.



32a jerboas {Desert rodents}. When I was a kid, our family had gerbils as pets, which I always thought were the same as jerboas. It seems the two rodents are unrelated, although looking similar and occupying equivalent desert habitat.

3d Jerry Lewis {Big name in slapstick}. A familiar name, though I don't know much about his work - it's just a little before my time. He's apparently most famous for collaborating with singer Dean Martin. Here they are in Sailor Beware (1952).



4d MNO {6 letters}. How can six letters become three letters? When they're the letters above six on a telephone keypad of course.

9d James Dean {"Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world" speaker}. I thought we'd have the same problem as on June 19: this seems to be another dubious quotation, and I note that all the James Dean quotes on Wikiquote are "unsourced". The more scholarly quotation books (The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and The Yale Book of Quotations) duck the issue by not covering James Dean at all.

24d catbird {___ seat}. An idiom one comes across, but what is a "catbird seat" literally? Apparently the phrase came from the American south, where the males of the Gray Catbird build an extravagant bower out of colored rocks or shells, a seat on which the hoped-for female will enthrone herself. No hope of a picture of that, I suppose ... we'll just have to use a LOLcat.

30d Nosferatu {Title vampire of film}. A gimme, which I was very glad for. The original Nosferatu was released in 1992 and had that name because the studio couldn't get the rights to the novel Dracula. Werner Herzog remade the movie as Nosferatu the Vampyre in 1979.



34d diereses {Diphthong dividers}. I've heard of both diphthongs and diereses as concepts, but can't claim to be an expert on the subj. I think in this context, the dieresis isn't the diacritical mark, but the act of pronouncing adjacent vowels as separate syllables. A good example is cooperate, where the O is sounded twice with a dieresis between.

42d cull {Get the best of}. Nasty of the constructor to choose such a misleading clue here, as a lot of care is needed if you don't know Ugarte (and I didn't). Eventually I realized the clue refers to the figurative meaning of culling as selecting the choicest parts of a collection.

The Rest

1a Taj Mahal {Final resting place built in the 17th century}; 9a Jesses {Jackson and others}; 15a open date {Hole that's not filled}; 16a aviate {Demonstrate banking skill}; 17a uprooted {Like exiles}; 18a micron {Distance light travels in 3.3 femtoseconds}; 19a grr {Sound sometimes followed by an attack}; 21a pecking {Reaction to chicken feed}; 24a caste {Queens or soldiers}; 25a Giles {Patron saint of hermits}; 26a pardons {Sentences may end with them}; 28a used {Car category}; 31a yew {Fine-grained wood}; 33a nod {Indication of a green light}; 35a situation {One may be out of control}; 37a così {So, in Salerno}; 38a Selkirk {British Columbia's ___ Mountains}; 40a hiked {Boosted}; 41a Panzer {Tank type}; 45a fan {Summer turn-on?}; 46a ore {It might hold gold}; 50a legate {Emissary}; 51a à la carte {Like some menus}; 53a generous {Not at all tight}.

1d tough guy {Bruiser}; 2d appraises {Rates}; 5d adobes {Building blocks}; 7d a ten {Rate ___ (be deemed flawless)}; 8d led {Skippered}; 10d evictors {They remove letters}; 12d sari {Attire around the 1-Across}; 13d Eton {Royal educator}; 14d Seng {Hong Kong's Hang ___ Index}; 21d partook {Had some}; 26d parties {Voting booth information}; 29d weak-kneed {Cowardly}; 36d Teheran {Mehrabad Airport setting}; 37d can {Film holder}; 39d Janice {One of the Sopranos}; 41d pavan {Stately old court dance}; 43d Agee {Posthumous Pulitzer winner of 1958}; 44d raga {Ravi Shankar played it at Woodstock}; 45d file {Do a taxing task?}; 48d rag {Low-grade paper}; 49d ear {It may pop on a plane}.

NYT Friday 7/31/09 - Non-identical Twins

I found this Friday New York Times exceptionally tough, and all thoughts of being able to finish end-of-week puzzles in under half an hour have gone for the moment. Strangely enough, I started fairly well on this one, laying down a reasonable skeleton of correct answers; but ten minutes into solving, I hit a brick wall and found the whole grid slow going after that.

One feature I really liked about the puzzle was the number of related pairs of clues. I noticed three such pairs - not identical twins, but obviously related. They're worth separating out so that their elegance can be better appreciated:

51a noes {Passage blockers}
60a open sesame {Passage enabler}

24d eels {They might store electric charges}
32d Leyden jar {It might store an electric charge}

44d swoon {Become rapturous}
48d elate {Make rapturous}

Solving time: 56 mins (solo, no solving aids)
Clue of the puzz: 47d repay {Square things}

Solution


Grid art by Sympathy [about the grid colors]

Crucimetrics

Compilers	Mike Nothnagel / Will Shortz
Grid	15x15 with 33 (14.7%) black squares
Answers	72 (average length 5.33)
Theme squares	0 (0.0%)
Scrabble points	332 (average 1.73)
Letters used	ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Feature	Lipogram (U absent)

New To Me

17a Salma Hayek {Oscar-nominated portrayer of Frida Kahlo}. I knew of Frida Kahlo from her many posters around Philadelphia last year, but wasn't aware of Frida the 2002 movie. Salma Hayek claims to have taken up smoking in order to impersonate Kahlo more authentically and then found it difficult to kick the habit.



26a Alamo {Subject of the 1955 film "The Last Command"}. The Last Command is about Jim Bowie and the fall of the Alamo. Republic Pictures originally wanted John Wayne to star, but he left their employ before the film could be made. Wayne subsequently starred in the more famous movie about the same episode, The Alamo.

28a onesie {Baby shower gift}. I found it a struggle to make these letters into a real word, but eventually realized what a onesie must be and Magdalen confirmed I have the right answer. In my defense, I note that the spell checker in Blogger rejects onesie.

31a Elis {Many students on "Gilmore Girls"}. I gather The Gilmore Girls is set in a small town Connecticut, so it's not unreasonable that the daughter on the show should go to Yale.



42a Swayze {Early TV news commentator famous for doing Timex ads}. Typical of a Friday puzzle to duck the obvious Patrick Swayze in favor of distant cousin John Cameron Swayze (1906–1995). Swayze hosted NBC's first television newscast and is remembered for the catchphrases "Let's go hop scotching around the world for headlines" and "That's the story, folks ... glad we could get together."



6d doyenne {Helen Thomas in the White House press corps, e.g.}. Another source of difficulty in the top of the grid: the name Helen Thomas meant nothing to me but I gather she's served 57 years as a White House correspondent, covering every president since JFK. That should certainly qualify you as a doyenne.

10d Torah {It contains 613 mitzvot}. I had no idea what mitzvot were, but could recognize a Hebrew plural, so Torah seemed reasonable after a few crossing letters. The 613 mitzvot (singular mitzvah) are the commandments given in the Torah. They're collectively known as the Law of Moses.

30d Sarah {Fast Eddie's girlfriend in "The Hustler"}. The role of Sarah Packard was played by Piper Laurie in the original pool-room drama. Paul Newman reprised his role as Fast Eddie in The Color of Money (1986) belatedly getting an Oscar for the later movie.





Noteworthy

6a die {Factory staple}. One of those "could be anything" clues that helped make the little cluster of three-letter words tough to complete. A die in this sense is a tool to cut or mold metal into a particular shape.

20a dare {Reason to make a prank call, maybe}. I unfortunately had the equally good lark here, which held me up for a long time.

21a I pass {What a player may mean by knocking on the table}. I've encountered this when playing duplicate bridge, though I gather it's more respectable to use the bidding boxes, even when it's clear a bid is going to get passed out.

37a schmear {Roll top?}. A great clue to a great answer. Who'd have guessed that you could put schmear right on top of Swayze and still fill around them.

43a chairs {Heads up}. Neat clue, diverting you from thinking of "heads" as a verb.

52a NHL {Stars participate in it: Abbr.}. I assume the "Stars" here refers to the Dallas Stars ice hockey team, which is a member of the National Hockey League.

56a Bazooka Joe {Comics character with a "gang"}. I luckily remembered Bazooka Joe from a June puzzle, although it still took a lot of crossing letters to recognize him.


5d dead to rights {Red-handed}. One of those idioms one knows, though it's quite hard to see why those words mean what they do. In this and its equivalent bang to rights, "to rights" means rightfully or indisputably.

15d Mario {Plumber seen in an arcade}. I can't remember ever playing any of the Mario series of games, but it was so popular at one time that I had no difficulty here. I'm guessing Mario, Pac-Man and Tetris have to fight it out for the most famous video game of all time.

21d Irish whiskey {Mayo sauce?}. A great clue: I twigged the right Mayo very quickly and put in Irish; but didn't see that "sauce" was also misleading, so the whiskey part got added much later.

53d home {Typist's position}. Having learned to touch-type, I felt at home with this clue. The home keys ASDF and JKL; are where your fingers should rest on the home row, unless required elsewhere.

58d asp {"My baby at my breast," in Shakespeare}. The clue is Cleopatra's epithet for the snake about to bite her in the final scene of Antony and Cleopatra:

With thy sharp teeth this knot intrinsicate
Of life at once untie. Poor venomous fool,
Be angry and dispatch. O couldst thou speak,
That I might hear thee call great Caesar ass
Unpolicied!
... ...
Peace, peace!
Dost thou not see my baby at my breast
That sucks the nurse asleep?
From Antony and Cleopatra

47d repay {Square things}. Another beautiful clue: as with 43-Across, it's very hard to read the clue and think of the first word as a verb.

The Rest

1a it had {"___ better be!"}; 9a et al {Abbr. in a "works cited" list}; 13a there's more {"I'm not done yet!"}; 16a lore {It's passed on}; 18a area {Discipline}; 19a YTD {Financial statement abbr.}; 22a within earshot {Relatively close}; 29a sitars {Band members with long necks?}; 32a LGA {It's 11 miles NNW of JFK}; 35a special {Something not on the menu}; 39a nor {Certain correlative}; 40a grab {Really appeal to}; 45a hides {Makes scarce}; 46a free throw line {Where a fouled player might go}; 50a jells {Crystallizes}; 55a opal {Pendant option}; 59a rate {Not be a nobody}; 61a dyed {Not natural}; 62a wed {Bond}; 63a Ypres {City in 1917 headlines}.

1d itsy {Minute, informally}; 2d that {"Not ___!"}; 3d held water {Wasn't full of holes}; 4d arm {The Adriatic vis-à-vis the Mediterranean}; 7d ire {Boiling point?}; 8d eek {Cry of surprise}; 9d elapse {March on}; 11d are so {"... love's shadows ___ rich in joy!": Romeo}; 12d least {___ of all}; 14d shah {Onetime C.I.A.-backed foreign leader}; 23d iMac {Computer debut of 1998}; 25d Asics {Nike rival}; 26d assn. {Part of M.P.A.A.: Abbr.}; 27d lipo {Slimming option, for short}; 33d gaze {It's often piercing}; 34d Ares {Vultures were sacred to him}; 36d lair {Refuge}; 38d main {Cardinal}; 41d bronzed {Like many beachgoers}; 43d celled {Single-___}; 46d fjord {Product of glacial erosion}; 49d Leos {Independent, noble types, it's said}; 54d lees {Remains}; 56d bow {It comes after the last number}; 57d ape {Troglodyte}.