google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Kenneth Berniker

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Apr 6, 2010

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 Kenneth Berniker

Theme: What's in a Name? - A humorous take on the first "earthy" name of some famous people.

17A. Jazz bandleader and lover of forests?: WOODY HERMAN. Woodrow Herman (1913–1987), neat twist,
The Woodchopper's Ball. Woody played the clarinet and the saxophone.

36A. Former heavyweight champ and lover of mountains?: ROCKY MARCIANO. Born Rocco Marchegiano (1923 – 1969), Rocky was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1952 to 1956, when he retired as the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.

60A. Ex-Dodger pitcher and lover of beaches?: SANDY KOUFAX. Sanford Koufax was a lefty who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, from 1955 to 1966. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. Arthritis ended his career at age 30.

Argyle again. I believe this is our first offering from this constructor. He has several NYT submissions and is very scrabbly (just short a 'B' from a pangram today). (Update: There is a 'B' in the SE corner. Thanks, Hahtool.)

A nicely interconnected grid today, also. I did spot a sub theme...or I imagined it.

Across:

1A. Jack's partner: JILL (from the nursery rhyme.)

5A. Not exactly lined up: OFFSET

11A. Stanford-Binet nos.: IQ'S. The Stanford Binet Intelligence Test is a standardized test that measures IQ and cognitive abilities in children and adults aged two to 23.

14A. On the less breezy side, at sea: ALEE

15A. Jacket part: SLEEVE

16A. Actor's signal: CUE

19A. Common Market inits.: EEC. European Economic Community.

20A. Dazzling celestial events: NOVAE

21A. Source of a hot tip: INSIDER

23A. 737, for example: PLANE. A twin-jet engine airliner, 737 has been continuously manufactured by Boeing since 1967.

25A. Singer Domino: FATS. His thrill,
Blueberry Hill.

27A. Trig function: SINE

28A. Corn unit: EAR

29A. "No __!": emphatic denial: SIREE

31A. Is able to, biblically: CANST

32A. It may wash away castles: TIDE . Sand castles

34A. Postal motto word: NOR

35A. Yellowfin tuna: AHI

41A. Madhouse: ZOO

42A. Golfer's accessory: TEE

43A. Base runner's goal: HOME

45A. Divided Asian land: KOREA

48A. Give up amateur status: GO PRO

50A. Up to, briefly: 'TIL

51A. Express line unit: ITEM

52A. Lass: GIRL

53A. Spiteful: NASTY

55A. "Strangers in the Night" singer: SINATRA. His
thrill.

57A.Prefix with physics: ASTRO

59A. Sault __ Marie: STE.

64A. Russian fighter: MIG

65A. Postwar British prime minister: ATTLEE. Clement Attlee, (1883 – 1967) was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951.

66A. Farm field unit: BALE. Bales come in so many different sizes now, I'm not sure there is a standard 'field unit'.

67A. Ending for Vietnam: ESE

68A. Dwell: RESIDE

69A. Like the Mojave: ARID

Down:

1D. Mandible site: JAW

2D. UN workers rights agcy.: ILO. International Labour Organization

3D. Kate's "Titanic" co-star: LEONARDO Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio

4D. Gave false hopes: LED ON

5D. Workplace watchdog org.: OSHA

6D. Try to escape, as pursuers: FLEE FROM

7D. __-de-lance: pit viper: FER. Fer-de-Lance is French for spearhead (literally "iron of the lance"), and may refer to several tropical snakes.

8D. Arab or Jew: SEMITE

9D. Cowgirl Dale: EVANS. Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans found their thrill on
Happy Trails

10D. Change for a 20: TENS

11D. Stranded at the chalet, maybe: ICED IN

12D. Brooklyn neighbor: QUEENS. New York City boroughs

13D. Whispered thing: SECRET

18D. Actor Montand: YVES

22D. Old Testament prophet: ISAIAH

23D. Teacher's favorite: PET

24D. Home in the wild: LAIR

26D. Faucet attachment: AERATOR

30D. California county in which Mount Whitney is partly located: INYO
Map. Inyo County is the home of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states and Death Valley National Park, the lowest point in the United States.

31D. Greek X: CHI

33D. Itchy rash cause: ECZEMA

35D. Expert server: ACER

37D. "Kampgrounds" company: KOA. Kampgrounds of America.

38D. Showed over: REPLAYED

39D. "Up to this point, no": "NOT SO FAR"

40D. Fail to include: OMIT

44D. Bridge expert Culbertson: ELY

45D. Pecking order?: "KISS ME!". Great clue, though we've seen it in LA Times before.

46D. Ear inflammation: OTITIS

47D. Go back on a promise: RENEGE

48D. Meadowlands Stadium team: GIANTS

49D. Not tricked by: ON TO

52D. Fireplace feature: GRATE

54D. Resort island off Venezuela: ARUBA

56D. Ivan IV, for one: TSAR

58D. __-Ball: SKEE. The best way to explain it, is to show it.
Video

61D. Mid sixth-century year: DLI

62D. Baba of fiction: ALI

63D. Deleted, with "out": X'ED

Answer grid.

Argyle

58 comments:

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, CC and all. Not too much to say about today’s puzzle, except that I zipped through it. I got Woody Herman straight away, so knew that I was looking for celebrities with some sort of “earthy” feature in their name.

All the letters of the alphabet here, including words that actually began with Q, X, Y and Z! That seemed quite unique.

Favorite clue: It May Wash Away Castles = TIDE. All those years on the SANDY beaches of New England paid off!

QOD: Don’t go on discussing what a good person should be. Just be one. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Bob said...

Just a little harder than yesterday's puzzle. No problems or errors. 14 minutes.

Hahtoolah said...

Argyle: You will find the "B" in "Bale" crossed with "Aruba".

Argyle said...

Variations on a theme:

Gravel Gertie

Stoney Burke

Argyle said...

Hahtool, How did I miss THAT! I'll update right away.

Mainiac said...

Good Morning Argyle, CC and All,

The only snag for me this morning was writing acre instead of Bale for 66A. Ali fixed it. Typical Tuesday.

9 & a w/up

Have a great day.

tfrank said...

Good morning, all,

This was a fun little puzzle with a different theme. I like your additions, Argyle.

No unknowns and no lookups; 17 online, which is about my maximum speed. Favorite clue was pecking order.

It is heating up in South Texas. I had to turn on my A/C units yesterday.

Be well and be happy.

Barry G. said...

Morning, folks!

Nice, fun puzzle. Overall pretty easy, but I was hampered slightly by the fact that (a) I had no clue who WOODY HERMAN was and (b) I typoed and put IQA instead of IQS for 11A. I wasn't sure about 19A, and my typo had me looking at AE_RET for 11D in puzzlement for a bit.

Once I got that sorted out, though, the rest of the puzzle was like butter...

Lemonade714 said...

Fascinates me that this puzzle could be contructed by a NYTimes regular, as it was fun but pretty easy. I enjoy pangrams and as H. said, working in words which begin with scrabble letters is impressive. It also was nice to see Sandy Koufax on the day the baseball season opened.

Al said...

TSAR,CZAR,TZAR,but not ZHAR: A Slavic term with Bulgarian origins which is derived from Cæsar. Note that the name Cæsar, pronounced see-zer in English, was pronounced kai-sahr in Classical Latin, thus giving rise to the title of a certain mustachioed, self-appointed ruler of the world and a lot of other related words.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Argyle,
Kenneth Berniker had an earlier puzzle published by LAT on Jan 5, 2009. Nice to see SANDY KOUFAX. Don't we have a new poster with a KOUFAX handle? Thanks for the great write-up.

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone. Straightforward puzzle today; easier than yesterday. No strikethroughs or look-ups. Thought KISSME had clever clue.

Enjoy the day.

kazie said...

G'morning all. Argyle, thanks for blogging so well.

I must be the only one so far on the wrong wavelength today. Or maybe it was just not knowing any of the names except SINATRA and JILL. I googled ATTLEE, ARUBA and KOUFAX (I had COLFAX). My geography of Central America is sadly lacking, so I didn't think of Aruba when I had A-LVA (vale for BALE) and for the life of me couldn't come up with ASTRO or SKEE. Also had trouble spelling ECZEMA.

Otherwise about right for a Tuesday.

Jeannie said...

I had a little trouble with this one this morning. I got lots of perp help with EEC, astro, Inyo, and otitis. Novae was a WAG. Canst??? New word for me. Favorite clue was “It may wash away castles”- tide. I think Rock Hudson would have worked as a theme answer too. Enjoy your day. It’s overcast and threatening rain here in MN.

koufaxmaravich said...

Good mid-morning, here in sunny NYC, going to hit 83!

Indeed, any puzzle with Sandy Koufax is a winner! (Thanks C.C.)

First time hearing of a pangram -- very impressive.

Eczema, Fats Domino, and Rocky Graciano made my day.

My clue for 22D would have been "Detroit Piston Thomas"

I'm with tfrank and spitzboov - best clue was "pecking order"

Have a great day.

carol said...

Hi all -
Pretty easy today but I do have questions concerning the theme:
Why is there a 'lover of' part in the clues to 17,36 and 60A? Make no sense to me. (ie; Woody Herman...what make that a 'lover of forests'? If it was anything to do with 'Woodchopper's Ball' he wouldn't be much of a forest lover by chopping it down. The other clue answers make even less sense as their last names have nothing to do with 'lover of'.
End of small rant.

Where is Dennis????

JD said...

Good morning all,

Thought this was an easy one, but didn't understand that the last names had no significance, just that they were real people. The perps helped me finish Woody's name, as I was thinking Harrelson, which was way too long. Knew the other two. Couldn't fill EEC, sine, canst, until Queens came with a V8!Some words, like otitis, I do in sections because I knew the ending...not sure of the ot.Yesterday it was goretex that I knew the ending and struggled with gore.

Loved the list of creative clues. Laughed out loud for kindergarten whiz- pee pee. I will visit that word of the day and see if it helps me increase my c/w vocab.

Beautiful day here. Enjoy yours.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, Thanks for the neat links, Argyle. Your Mondays/Tuesdays are always fun reads.

After today's puzzle was completed I thought of the song This Land Is Your Land as a theme. Too bad 17A couldn't have been the song's composer WOODY Guthrie.

I don't recall seeing 44D ELY Culbertson before and, like Mainiac, I had ACRE instead of BALE at first for 66A.

It's always fun to see a pangram. It's nice to know that a puzzle doesn't have to be a difficult one in order to incorporated all the letters of the alphabet.

Lucina said...

Good morning Argyle, C.C. and all.

I thought there would be pandemonium over a pangram here. It's quite exciting.

Argyle, your comments and links are always amusing and informative.

These were familiar names from my youth: Woody Herman, Rocky Marciano, Clement Attlee, Dale Evans, Yves Montand, Fats Domino and yes, even Sandy Koufax, a sports name I recall.

Carol:
I believe the "lover" part simply refers to the name from nature, not necessarily a literal interpretation. That's part of the fun of xwds; words are often twisted to mean other than the original or literal use.

Loved:
Exzema, fer (other than a rube's for)

Good for a Tuesday!

I hope you all have a terrific one.

Lucina said...

C.C.:
I loved the interview and the many wonderful links. I'm sure they shall be part of my daily fare frome here forward.

Thank you!

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

MJ,
Below is the reply from Rich:

"Joyce was LA Times puzzle editor long before I arrived. I began working with her 10 years ago, at which time we shared editing responsibilities. She's now retired, though we do talk regularly about the puzzles. I do all the editing, and she's among the professionals who check my work. Her name remains on the byline in recognition of her years of service to the LAT Crossword.

And, though you didn't ask, she's a terrific golfer. ;-)"

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Chris in LA,
Below is the reply from Rich:

"It's unfortunate, but Chris is correct. LAT Online has its own software which is simply not as comprehensive as it could be. Inability to support circled squares is one of its shortcomings. I don't know if this has anything to do with Java, though I do know that Litsoft's Java applet doesn't support circles, either. However, Litsoft's Across Lite software does support them, and the puzzles are available in that format at Cruciverb."

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Jeannie,
Not even a comment for Paul?

Lucina & Clear Ayes,
I am glad you enjoyed the interview. Reading your comments make all my preparationary work worthwhile.

Koufaxmaravich,
I don't respond to each comment, but I am fully aware of each newcomer. Welcome on board! Is Koufax your favorite baseball player? Are you a Dodger fan? How about the Duke Snider? He's so cold!

kazie said...

Thanks to Lucina for pointing out Dale Evans, Yves Montand, Fats Domino, all names I did know today despite my earlier comment.

Thanks C.C. too for the interview today. Good word of the day site and other insights.

MJ said...

Good day to all,
A nice exercise for a Tuesday morning. I always appreciate it when a constructor can develop and deliver a pangram. Like others, I thought "Pecking order?" was a very clever clue, and notice that it was on Paul Stynsberg's "Clever Clue of the Month" list (June, 2007).

C.C., thanks for forwarding Rich's response to my question from yesterday's interview.

Argyle, great blogging and links today and yesterday. Thank you.

Enjoy the day!

Jerome said...

It was a nice touch that the three first names end in a Y and are all five letters long.

ROCKY MARCIANO had a COCKY ROMAN AIR.

Lemonade- NYT constructors often appear in the LAT, and vice versa.

ARBAON said...

JD:
Years ago, Hal Holbrook and Elizabeth Montgomery did a period piece series about settling new lands. Elizabeth`s character was called a "woody" or "woodsy", which was a derogatory term city folk used for people who lived in the deep woods. It was the first time I realized that Elizabeth could actually act! An "educated fop" (Hal Holbrook) married whom he thought was a simpleton and who could easily be duped out of her lands. He underestimated her native intelligence and her "woody" love for her land.

carol said...

Lucina - thanks for your take on the theme clues/answers but I still say they are weak. I have been doing crosswords for many, many years and know how clever the twisty clues can be, and you are right, that's what makes them fun :) but I feel that this was a big stretch.

Loved the clue/ans 'pecking order/kiss me. Cute, cute.

Dennis said...

Hey gang - I appreciate the emails and concern on the blog as to my absence. I'm fine, but a very near and dear friend got a seriously bad diagnosis a few weeks ago and, as our families are extremely close, it's really been preoccupying my time and focus. I also know my posts the past couple weeks have been bland at best, and I apologize for that; the blog deserves better. I think this really got to me, coming on the heels of Dan's death, because my friend is even younger (mid-40s) and has a very young family as well.

Should know more the beginning of next week, and I'll hopefully be back 'on top' soon. Thanks again for the concern; means a lot.

Lemonade714 said...

J-rome my favorite regular, I am well aware of the cross-over between puzzle outlets. My comment was merely a poor attempt to say, I was surprised how straightforward, and frankly, easy the cluing was, suggesting much experience with the NYT might create a different cluing mindset. It was fun, and I am in awe of the skill in putting together any puzzle, but there was not an obscure fill in the bunch.

I know our group is not much on Tiger Woods (C.C., I am going to say the top three will be Martin Kaymer, Charles Schwartzel and Matt Kuchar) but what is all this talk about PEDS ? I mean really, leave the guy alone, who cares what he wears?

I am sure we had DALE EVANS in the past six weeks, YVES MONTAND and FATS DOMINO appear regularly; while no longer famous, each has appeared enough puzzles to be Monday/Tuesday clues.

Dennis, you know we are with you, and all those who are facing health issues; a very close friend who is only 37 has been diagnosed with bladder cancer, and all you can do is be there and pray if it suits you.

carol said...

Dennis - my heart goes out to you, your friend and his family (and yours)! That news is devastating no matter who receives it. Know that our thoughts are with you and you can come here to vent. We are all your friends. I am so very sorry.

dodo said...

Fantastic interview, C.C.! I'll be spending lots of time eating up all that's offered in those links!

I liked this puzzle a lot, probably because, like Lucina, I could pull those names out of my youthful memories. And yes, Lucina, even Sandy Koufax. My daughter dated a college baseball player and Sandy was his idol.
Otherwise the sports names in puzzles have to be worked out from perps.

JD said...

Dennis, you and your friend are in our thoughts. No matter how much we seem to know that life is fragile, we are never ready for these bumps in the road.

Argyle,thank you for the time you put into these puzzles each week.

CC, I loved the interview
xie xie

JD said...

Remember my boring info last week on wasp's nests?I was out dead heading this morning and I heard a little scratching sound.There, clinging to an old brittle agapanthus stem, was a bold wasp rubbing away with his little mandibles collecting wood pulp for nesting.

Mainiac said...

Dennis,

Condolences on your friend's diagnosis. There is no need for apologies either IMHO. Family and friends always comes first. Positive thoughts heading your direction.

Dudley said...

C.C. - Thanks for the interview (and once again for your blogging in general)!

My CW addiction must be good for me! I learned something today. I thought Semites were Jews and only Jews. So of course it took some fills to teach me otherwise.

Now I'll toss in a grenade: I think Sinatra is waaaay over-rated. There were, are, and always will be better crooners!

I'll go hide in my bunker now.

Lucina said...

Dennis:
Please accept my deepest sympathy; it is always wrenching to watch a friend/family member suffer and we do miss them when they are gone.

Thanks for the shout outs; it really impressed me in the interview when Mr. Berniker pointed out that through the xwds historical people live on in our memories. I really like that because so many of them in their day contributed important work, entertainment, etc. to their
era.

Carol, I just chalk up the weak clues to it's being Tuesday.

Class tonight and yoga pictures on the way.

Lucina said...

Dennis:
Please accept my deepest sympathy; it is always wrenching to watch a friend/family member suffer and we do miss them when they are gone.

Thanks for the shout outs; it really impressed me in the interview when Mr. Berniker pointed out that through the xwds historical people live on in our memories. I really like that because so many of them in their day contributed important work, entertainment, etc. to their
era.

Carol, I just chalk up the weak clues to it's being Tuesday.

Class tonight and yoga pictures on the way.

kazie said...

Dennis and Lemonade both apparently have friends in similar circumstances. My feelings go out to each of you. It's a very difficult situation, since there really is nothing you can do except be there for them when they have the need. You want to do more, but don't know what or how. Just be there.

kazie said...

Just want to show you my new avatar. The Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunny figures are wood carvings from the Erzgebirge near where my d-i-l is from. Her grandparents sent them to us as an Easter gift. I took the picture to send them, so they could see them on display in our living room.

Lucina said...

Kazie:
Those are really charming!

Jeannie said...

C.C., my time is limited during my coffee breaks/lunch hour so I generally just get to the puzzle and comments section. I always read your interviews when I am at home so was a little puzzled by your comment. I just posted on the comment section there. Here is part of it. C.C. you are sweet and you also typify MN nice. I will bake you a coconut cream pie someday.

You made me smile and feel good. Thank you.

Jeannie.

Lemonade714 said...

The story of Abraham, the patriarch, is a very interesting one, and I would feel foolish publishing a link to the Bible. Or to the Five Books of Moses, but I recommend it as fine reading. Abraham’s (originally ABRAM) fist wife, Sarah (SARAI) was barren. She loved her husband and gave him her handmaiden, Hagar, who bore a son, Ishmael, the forefather of all Arabs. For deep, complicated reason Sarah ended up having a child, Isaac, who is the forefather of the Jews. Like the conflict between Jews and Christians, Christians and Muslims etc., it seems we must hate out own cousins the most.

Kazie, thank you.

Clear Ayes said...

GAH thinks the top five will be Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Anthony Kim, Steve Stricker and his pick to win.....Phil Mickelson. Needless to say, we will not be ranging too far away from the TV this weekend.

Dennis, I'm glad you checked in. You know I'm passing along positive thoughts for your friend.

Dot said...

Kazie, I love the wood carvings.

Dennis and Leomonade, my sympathy and prayers for you and your friends. So often, we just drift along, enjoying life and not reaching inward with any deep or meaningful thoughts. Then suddenly, something happens that causes us to think about life and what it really means. No doubt, in the past, these friends have brought you much happiness. Now you will bring them comfort and strength just by being available.

Dot

Jeannie said...

Frenchie, from last night here is my marinara recipe:

Coat the bottom of a deep sauce pan with olive oil, mince a couple of cloves of garlic fine and saute...don't burn the garlic. 1 large can of tomato puree and 1 can of crushed tomatoes. 2 tbspn of Italian seasonings (thyme, rosemary, basil, and oregano) I think I mentioned that I grow mine and dry them but you can find a nice Italian blend in most grocery stores. 2 Tblsn of honey, salt and pepper to taste. I always have my sauce cans open and ready to pour as my garlic sautee's. I will repeat...don't burn the garlic. If you can smell it, it's ready to proceed.

Anonymous said...

Jerome
Actually none of their real names end in 'y'

Warren said...

I agree that the early week puzzles have been easy enough not to post comments.

Jeannie: I printed out your recipe for marinara and put in the file I have for your recipes. We don't make Italian at home very often but I'll keep it in mind because I like your recipes alot.

For Dennis, please accept my best heart felt wishes for your close friend, I wish him the best possible outcome.

Lemonade714 said...

Oh, P.E.D.S., performance enhancing drugs. Never Mind.

Jeannie said...

Warren, I find it "endearing" that you have a special Jeannie file for my recipes. I recommend you make your wife a nice spaghetti dinner soon using some nice sweet Italian sausage. Just brown it and drain the excess fat and add it to the sauce. If you are worried about pasta, use whole wheat. There are some good ones out there these days.

Lemonade, you are a fountain of knowledge, counselor.

Annette said...

Fun puzzle, but I was thrown off trying to put Rocky GRAciano in instead of MARciano. It also took me several tries for spelling ECZEMA. My other problem was writing IDS instead of IQS, so I couldn't get to QUEENS from there...

KOUFAXMARAVICH: And is the 2nd half for Pistol Pete Maravich? :-) BTW, love your "Favorite Music" list.

Kazie: Very cute Easter figures!

Bill G. said...

C.C., I really enjoy the interview. The Clever Crossword Clues were great!

Argyle, I enjoyed the writeup.

Best wishes for Dennis, Lemonade and their friends.

At the recommendation from some of you, I recorded Castle last night and have watched part of it. I think I'm going to like it but I haven't gotten a feel for the characters' personalities yet.

I am also part of the way through 24. That's got to be the most suspenseful and dramatic show on television. Jack Bauer's last stand against the evil terrorists. How are we going to make it without him?

Anonymous said...

Good night everyone.

Nice puzzle today, even tho the Naples News had a wrinkle or something so only parts of the clues showed.

Dennis and Lemonade:sending best wishes and hopes for satisfactory conclusions. It's so hard to know how to "be there" in those circumstances. Being a good friend is all any of us can wish for.

A said...

The Elizabeth Montgomery/Hal Holbrook mini series (where she played a "woody") was "The Awakening Land" from the 70`s. Nominated for 6 Emmys. I watched it from my cradle.

Chickie said...

Hello All--I had only one hitch today and that was in the spelling of Koufax (Colfax). Therefore Arlba was a really strange "new" Island off the coast of Venezuela!

Other than that the rest of the puzzle went together rather nicely. I, like others, enjoyed the clue, Pecking order.

The names mentioned by others all were ones that I could get without any help, and that doesn't happen too often for me.

I spent the day at our Thrift Shop today, so leaving early, and getting home late made for a long day. I didn't get to the puzzle until this evening.

I enjoyed reading the blog comments from everyone tonight. Also thanks Argyle for such informative comments on the puzzle. I'll have to go back and look at all the links.

Chickie said...

Dennis, nothing prepares us for news such as you received, but speaking from experience, having a friend be there when needed is probably the best medicine anyone can have. I'm hoping that your friend has the very best outcome possible.

Lucina said...

Lemonade:
My best wishes to you, also, that all will be well. I feel very certain you are a rock to your friends and family.

Frenchie said...

Jeanne, Thank you so much for the recipe! Peter will be having an Italian dinner tomorrow night...I really appreciate it!!!
Lemonade714, Hmmm, hate your cousins...that is pretty strong, though I get your real point.
As you said, Lemonade, there were no surprise clues...I went right through without a hitch!