google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday June 15, 2008 Arlan and Linda Bushman

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Jun 15, 2008

Sunday June 15, 2008 Arlan and Linda Bushman

Theme: Casting Re-Calls

23A: Movie not starring Queen Latifah?: THE KING AND I

36A: Movie not starring Sid Caesar?: ROMAN HOLIDAY

61A: Movie not starring Vincent Price?: CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN

73A: Movie not starring Billy Crystal?: ROMANCING THE STONE

97A: Movie not starring Orlando Bloom?: CACTUS FLOWER

119A: Movie not starring Robin Williams?: BIRD ON A WIRE

16D: Movie not starring Robert Morse?: THE DA VINCI CODE

49D: Movie not starring Gregory Peck?: PRELUDE TO A KISS

A decent puzzle, isn't it? No Roman numerals for a change! Are you bothered by the exceeding amount of suffixes "S"?

Given that today is Father's Day, I would have clued SIRE (113A: Royal address) as "Father", and POP (47A: What a weasel goes) as "Dad". Shouldn't the clue be "How a weasel goes" instead of "What a weasel goes"? The clue for LEMON (72D: Pop flavoring) needs to be changed to "Citrus fruit" or "Dud". I simply hate the word POP popped up twice.

Besides, the clue for OSTIA (74D: Port city of Rome) is incorrect, it should be "Port City of ancient Rome". It's not there any more. OSTIA the town yes. And STE (92D: Fr. title) should be "Fr. Holy woman". It has to be a Mlle.

Lots of 3-letter words in the grid, and "EE" combinations, CEE, DEEP, GEESE, SMEE (31D: Neverland pirate), FOR FREE, REDEEM (20A: Win back) and LEE (44A: Stan of Marvel Comics). By the way, I am eagerly waitinging for LEE Westwood to pull off an upset at US Open later today. I like Geoff Ogilvy too. Who are you rooting for? Tiger?

ACROSS:

21A: Soap Box Derby Site: AKRON OHIO. Knew AKRON, had no idea what was "Soap Box Derby". AKRON is also the location of National Inventors Hall of Fame.

25A: In an unhurried manner: LEISURELY. And then 107D: Rash: HASTY

26A: Greenhorns: NOVICES

29A: Struts: PARADES.

30A: Rugged mountain ridge: ARETE. I just learned that ARETE also means "the aggregate of qualities, as valor and virtue, making up good character". Greek origin.

31A: Disconnected musically: STACCATO. Another musical term: 58D: Slow musical passage: ADAGIO

34A: Writer LeShan: EDA. Not a familiar name to me. A rather short Wikipedia bio.

39A: __out (be a couch potato): VEG

42A: Goggle: STARE

45A: Resolve: DECIDE. Do you like the Cranberries "Free to DECIDE"? I am listening to their Linger right now..."you know I am such a fool for you..."

50A: When asked for: ON DEMAND

54A: Payback: REVENGE. "It's sweet and not fattening".

56A: At no cost: FOR FREE

60A: Andean tubers: OCAS. Has anyone tried them before? Does they taste like sweet potatoes?

68A: Author of "The Hundred Secret Senses": TAN (Amy). Only read her "The Joy Luck Club", and it's good.

81A: Queen of Sparta: LEDA. Ah, the Swan lady, mother of Helen of Troy. I am slowly learning this Greek mythology stuff.

85A: Backed off: EASED UP

88A: Bleak: DESOLATE. And 89D: Depressions: LOWS. How can I cheer you up? How about some Spanish OMELETS (86A: Folded dishes) and mozzarella ROTINI (91A: Pasta choice) salad? Now, are you feeling a bit ZESTFUL (114A: Spirited)?

90A: Hellenic vowel: ETA

94A: In the open: OVERT

96A: Year in Yucatan: ANO. And 51D: Yucatan dwellers: MAYANS.

102A: Kachina maker: HOPI. Look at these ones. Tough to identify the artist I suppose.

106A: "Take on Me" trio: A-HA. Here is the clip. I've never heard of this Norwegian band before, have you?

108A: Biddy condos?: HEN COOPS

109A: Body of rules: CANON. Wish it were clued as CANON camera to pair up with 13D: Camera adjunct: TRIPOD.

110A: Capital of Indonesia: JAKARTA. Too hot and humid there.

116A: Being: EXISTENCE. This reminds me of Sartre's Being and Nothingness.

121A: Intervening spaces: DISTANCES

122A: Titled: LEANED

124A: Suburb of Paris: ISSY. ORLY is another 4-letter city in the suburb of Paris.

126A: Literary compositions: ESSAYS

DOWN:

1D: Refreshing rest: CAT NAP

2D: Shudders at: ABHORS

3D: Irks: PEEVES. See also 65A: Pique: IRE. Not in good mood today...

4D: Nevis partner: ST. KITTS. Got it this time.

5D: "Judith" composer: ARNE (Thomas). Took an educated guess. Only keow ARNE as the "Rule, Britannia" composer.

7D: Nabokov novel: ADA. Have you read this book? Oh, ADA Lovelace is Byron's daughter.

8D: Diva Scotto: RENATA. Completely unknown to me. Got her name from across clues. Here is more information about this diva.

9D: Highway divider: MEDIAN

10D: Dishonor: SMIRCH

14D: Homer-hitter Sammy: SOSA. Not anymore, not without steroid!

15D: ICBM watchdog: NORAD (North American Air Defense Command)

17D: ___ E. Coyote: WILE. Learned this from doing crossword of course.

22D: Rudolf of ballet: NUREYEV

24D: Saloon rocks?: ICE

28D: Upbraid: SCOLD

32D: Schooner fill: ALE

33D: Make fast: TIE. I don't understand this one. What is "make fast"? And how is "TIE" related to "Make fast"?

36D: Hindu aristocrat: RANEE. Or RAJAH. The 4-letter answers would be RANI and RAJA.

37D: Harmony: ORDER

38D: Fashionable Simpson: ADELE. She was on April 22 TMS puzzle.

40D: Mystery award: EDGAR

41D: Silly skein?: GEESE. I like this clue.

43D: Lethargy: TORPOR

47D: Platoon mem: PFC

52D: Lark: ANTIC

54D: Peri on "Frasier": ROZ. I got her name from the across clues. Vaguely remember seeing this name mentioned in a comment long time ago.

56D: CAB successor: FAA. This should have become a gimme to you.

59D: Refuses to: WON'T . Why "refuses to" instead of "refuse to"? Why "s"?

62D: Reveal secrets: BLAB

63D: Old lab burners: ETNAS

64D: Egyptian leader: NASSER. There is also a Lake NASSER in Egypt.

71D: Botanist's study: FLORA

75D: Lambda followers: MUS. No idea. Why?

80D: MPG monitor: EPA

82D: Larter of "Heroes": ALI. Unknown to me. She is pretty.

87D: Wikipedia alternative: ENCARTA. Did you get this one?

88D: Data storage units: DISCS

95D: Direction giver's phrase: THAT WAY

98D: Serendipity: CHANCE. "Can once in a lifetime happen twice?" Silly movie.

99D: Quirk: FOIBLE

100D: Brightly colored parrots: LORIES. So pretty.

101D: Bizet creations: OPERAS

104D: Add, as a liquid: POUR IN

109D: Coastal recesses: INLETS

110D: "Star Wars" group: JEDI. Ha ha, I know this one.

111D: Chart line: AXIS

114D: Nickelodeon's "___101": ZOEY. Jamie-Lynn Spears TV series.

120D: Strand of evidence: DNA

Here is to you, Dr. Dad, and to all those who are Dads, Happy Father's Day!

C.C.

14 comments:

  1. Morning all,
    Not too bad for a Sunday puzzle. Never heard of Issy as a suburb of Paris or the trio Aha. C.C. tie for make fast (33d) doesn't make sense to me either. Hopefully someone else can help us on that. Tiger and his late, long putts made it exciting last night at the Open. But, I'm usually for the underdog, so a Westwood win would be great.
    Happy Father's Day to all our dads. Enjoy the day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. good morning c.c. and all,

    i don't get the sunday puzzle (my paper carries the nyt on sundays) but, insomniac me, i'm awake at 4:30a and paper has not yet arrived.

    not sure i would have done well on this one anyway, alot of unknowns and some tough cluing. i agree with your suggestions for sire and pop clues .. missed opportunities on father's day.

    lake nasser is breathtaking, thanks for the pic. and, silly or not, i liked the movie serendipity. good soundtrack, too.

    i'm waiting for someone to explain why 'make fast' is 'tie.'

    perhaps this explains 75D?

    awaiting the special edition of meet the press ..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Make fast is a nautical term for tying the line tight on the sails or tying the boat to a pier.

    I'm rooting for Tiger - those two putts & the miracle chip were amazing, especially considering his obvious pain - you gotta admire the guy's grit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AARRGGHHH!!!! Had to google more than I like. Not familiar with a bunch of these and got stuck in several places.
    I guess that when you "tie" up a boat to the dock you "make it fast."
    Plural or singular - if someone refuses to, they won't. If I refuse to, I won't.
    The lambda mu calculation works as an explanation, I guess but actually the letter mu follows lambda in the Greek alphabet - alpha, beta, delta, gamma, etc. Like our M follows L.
    Encarta was a gimme.
    C.C. you're getting better at Sci-Fi. Thanks for the Clapton link

    Happy Father's Day to all dads and Happy Sunday to all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Seems to be a lot of "making" today (27A, 102A, 12D, & 33D) - wonder if that's a slight nod to Father's Day? Lois, your thoughts?

    Hope everyone has a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. @drdad: that's a much simpler explanation .. thanks

    ReplyDelete
  7. chris in la,
    thanks for the info on make fast. Not a boater, but love swimming. will be on a boat on the Potomac in two weeks and I'll make fast then.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi CC, no puzzle today, but I loved the Eric Clapton video.........

    ReplyDelete
  9. LIZ - i FOUND THIS PUZZLE RATHER CHALLENGING UNTIL i GOT THE DRIFT OF WHAT IT WANTED. after that, it went quickly. As I live in Montana, my husband and I went on a train ride Saturday night. It was a dinner train (yummy)and, in Montana tradition, we had a "train robbery" and dance hall girls invade the train during our ride. Very Western--I'm trying to get used to this life style. "Taint easy!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello CC et al, no puzzle or even paper for me today. Don't know what puzzle we get here in OK. Find out tomorrow. Sounds like a tough one anyway.

    'Make fast'? ...that's me w/little time, but I'm sure tying up a sail or boat is the real def.

    Chrisinla: I'm sure your right about 'making' being an ever so slight, subtle nod to Father's Day. Making a man a Father takes practice as does making that Father a Daddy. That's why I'm such a teacher and one reason we got it perfect 4 times. He was also a 'hard' learner with such a 'drive' to succeed. He excelled on all 'fronts'. Happy Father's Day &/or Happy memories!

    OK is hot and beautiful! Hope you all enjoy this day!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi C.C. and all, no puzzle today, but really enjoyed the links. Lake and lories are so beautiful. And I love Clapton, in everything he does.

    Tiger hit some really bad shots and still managed to tie it up. Another 18 tomorrow. Yahoo! I love tigers, both two and four-footed.

    Hope all you dads enjoyed your day.

    Kit

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chris in LA,
    Very interesting observation on those "Make" clues.

    Dr. Dad & Melissa,
    Thanks for the MUS explanation. I've forgotten that there is a Lambda in Greek alphabet.

    Lois,
    Go to Chicago Tribune's Crossword Website for on-line version if you cannot find any paper carrying TMS puzzle.

    Kit,
    RE: Tigers. Me too, though I wanted LEE Westwood to win. I've been following him since the European Tour.

    ReplyDelete
  13. re:
    75D: Lambda followers: MUS. No idea. Why?

    because:
    The letter after Lambda is Mu. (Mu follows Lambda.) Make it plural - "followers".

    silly stuff.

    ReplyDelete

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