Saturday July 19, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: None

Total blocks: 32

I think I am going to count the total blocks for Saturday themeless puzzles from now on. Maybe someday we will get a puzzle with less than 25 blocks. Who knows? Our editor himself is certainly capable of pulling such a feat. There have been some enigmatic ingenuities sparking in his puzzles occasionally. He is just a bad editor.

Anyway, I struggled mightily today, lots of googling. Without the theme as my guiding sherpa, I simply could not climb this Mount Everest, way too many actor/actress/singer names for me to handle (16 out of the 70 answers are names).

I truly dislike the two "Er" clues today:

28D: Bringer of news: HERALD. Bring-er? Is it a word? I stared at the clue for a long time, thinking Bringer might be the name of a news reporter I had never heard of.

5D: Sleeper rousers: WAKENERS. So agonizing to see "ers" both in the clue and the answer. Did it look cute to you?

On the other hand, I really like 23D: Po-land?: ITALY. Very cleverly misleading/tricky clue, esp since PO is not a well-known river.

ACROSS:

1A: Raucous parrot: MACAW. A moment of quietness. Glamorous plumages! So intensely & brightly colored.

6A: Easily annoyed: IRRITABLE. I wanted Irascible.

16A: "Love Story" star: RYAN O'NEAL. Saw "Love Story" in Chinese long long time ago. Had no idea that "Love means never having to say you're sorry" came from this movie.

17A: Norman's nickname: SHARK. Greg Norman. Might be difficult to those who don't care about British open or golf at all. I don't think his name will be on the first page of the leaderboard on Sunday morning. Adam Scott's will be!! Padraig Harrington is a sleeper.

18A: Amusing disrespect: SAUCINESS

21A: Pip: LULU. Why? Isn't pip the mark on a die?

22A: Tropical porches: LANAIS

25A: Hearty enjoyment: RELISH. It does not refer to the hot dog RELISH here, does it? If yes, why hearty?

31A: July 26th honoree: ST. ANNE. Absolutely no idea. Is it a gimme to you? If the answer ST. is abbreviated, the clue should be too.

32A: Metric measure: ARE (100 square meters). Learned from doing Xword.

33A: Laughing: RIANT. New word to me. Do you use it in your daily conversation? FYI, "rire" is French for laugh (verb & noun). Je ris, ha ha!

37A: Peter of "Being There": SELLERS. I've never heard of this film.

43A: Country on the Gulf of Aden: YEMEN. Here is the map. See Gulf of Aqaba? It's shouting "Clue me, clue me!"

48A: Separated lineman: SPLIT END. Unknown to me. Not a football fan at all.

50A: Cornell's location: ITHACA. Have to show you this beautiful ITHACA again. I love it so much.

51A: Bochco or Brill: STEVEN. Both are unknown to me.

54A: Cloth stretcher: TENTER. Completely foreign to me. Here is a TENTER frame.

57A: Where brook trout sleep?: RIVERBEDS. Don't all the freshwater fish sleep on the RIVERBEDS?

62A: Actress Rainer: LUISE. Another unknown actress to me. She was O-Lan in "The Good Earth", my favorite Pearl Buck book.

63A: Highest peak in the Western Hemisphere: ACONCAGUA. So beautiful.

65A: Skitch or Florence: HENDERSON. Both are strangers to me.

66A: Apollo's birthplace: DELOS

DOWN:

1D: Supermodel Kate: MOSS. London would not have won for the bid for 2012 Olympics without MOSS's barelegged support. See her STILETTO (29A: Short dagger)?

3D: "Behind Closed Doors" singer: CHARLIE RICH. Here is the song. I've never heard of it before.

7D: Nordic rug: RYA. I simply forgot. It appeared in a March TMS puzzle.

8D: Julia of "One from the Heart". RAUL. His name looks familiar to me. Danielle might have linked his film to the blog before. I've never heard of the film.

11D: Ring-shaped: ANNULAR. Lois will probably connect this word with PECCAVI.

24D: Like a family of girls: SONLESS. Boy, this was not a gimme to me at all.

26D: Not vital: INESSENTIAL

27D: Easily attached accessory: SNAP ON. I penned in "CLIP ON" first, thinking of earrings.

29D: Serengeti trek: SAFARI

30D: Hot-platter platform: TRIVET

39D: Whined: SNIVELED

47D: Asiatic deer: SAMBAR. It looks like this. New to me also. Why the clue is "Asiatic"???

42D: Cul-de-sac: DEAD END. I am still learning the intricacies of crossword cluing. I don't know for sure if two ENDS (48A: SPLIT END) are allowed in a grid. They just don't look appealing to my eyes.

56D: Jed of "The Chris Isaak Show": REES. No, nope. Who is that girl in his arms?

58D: Clinch: ICE. Enjoy Foreigner's "Cold As ICE" on such a hot summer's day!

C.C.

Sunday June 8, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Numerous Movies

23A: Keir Dullea film: MMI A SPACE ODYSSEY (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY)

42A: Jennifer O'Neill film: SUMMER OF XLII (SUMMER OF '42)

72A: Edmond O'Brien film: MCMLXXXIV (1984)

97A: Terry-Thomas film: MM YEARS LATER (2000 YEARS LATER)

121A: James Stewart film: WINCHESTER LXXIII (WINCHESTER '73)

17D: Charlton Heston film: AIRPORT MCMLXXV (AIRPORT 1975)

50D: Marilyn Monroe film: THE VII YEAR ITCH (THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH)

And here are five more Roman numerals:

81A: Tenth of MCXC: CXIX

88A: Roman 16: XVI

59D: 570 in letters: DLXX

119D: 141 in old Rome: CXLI

125D: CXII halved: LVI

Why not clue 51A: Decimal base (TEN) as X then? It would be perfect, wouldn't it? Did you notice that there are total TEN X'es in this puzzle?

Very noticeable in this puzzle are the following presidential/political abbreviations:

25A: HST or DDE: PRES

30A: WWII zone for DDE: ETO

10D: Neither Rep. nor Dem: IND. And 84D: FDR or JFK: DEM. Ridiculous double appearance!

4D: End of demo: CRAT. Democrat. Or end of Auto/Bureau/Pluto!

100D: JFK notice: ARR

And several containers:

27A: Gas container: TANK

34A: Water tanks: CISTERNS. Would have been clued as "Water storer" to avoid the TANK double appearance.

41A: Washstand pitcher: EWER

38D: Large wine casks: TUNS

And so many vexing UP's.

9A: Joins the queue: LINES UP

29A: Curry favor with: SUCK UP TO

14D: Deplete: USE UP

58D: Muddle: MIX UP

I am also annoyed by

63A: Applications: USES. And 14D: Deplete: USE UP.

130A: Resolute: DEAD SET. And the intersecting 92D: Lionel product: TRAIN SET.

I think it's a crossword sin to let the same root word appear both as the clue and the answer, though I am not so sure of the repetitive use of the same words (like today's UP, USE and SET) as the answers in the same grid. They just don't fit my eyes, so clumsy.

In summary, a very TOILSOME (115A: Arduous) journey for me. Too many unknowns and tough cluing, not to mention that excessive amount of Roman numerals. I would have got FRET (87D: Guitar ridge) easily if it were clued as "stew over" or something. And ABELS (113D: Tasman and Muzorewa) was completely out of my brain reach. My hunch is that our editor purposely made some of clues more difficult today to torture us.

However, I do like today's theme concept and the theme entries. Very creative! It's not easy to pull off such a feat.

ACROSS:

1A: Piece of men's jewelry: TIECLASP

20A: Auto racer Mario: ANDRETTI. And 85A: Indy 500 Sponsor: STP. I am not into racing. Know neither of the answers. What does STP stand for? Is it the "Racer's Edge"?

21A: Solidarity: ONENESS. And 24D: Wholes: ENTIRES. Really? Can you pluralize "whole" and "ENTIRE" by adding a "s"? How strange!

22A: Planted explosive: MINE. "Gimme"!

26A: Personal histories: PASTS

35A: Publicity stunt, of a sort: PHOTO OP. And 111D: Photog's prompt: SMILE.

45A: Bright aquarium fish: TETRA. And 122D: Grand Banks fish: COD. I did not know where Grand Banks was, so COD did not come to me easily.

52A: Stout's stout sleuth: NERO (Wolfe). I like the clue.

54A: Japanese ornamental tree: MEI. Unknown to me. It's defined as "Japanese ornamental tree with fragrant white or pink blossoms and small yellow fruit". MEI is Chinese for Ume (the Japanese Apricot). Look at this Ume Blossome. I can not find a MEI tree on the internet. I suspect this MEI refers to Ume, not sure.

55A: A likely story!: HAH

66A: Rice dish: PILAF

68A: French probability theorist: FERMAT. Pierre de FERMAT, the French mathematician. Did not know his name before.

70A: ELO drummer: BEVAN (Bev). No idea, I barely know ELO.

76A: "The Gods Themselves" author: ASIMOV (Isaac). Know ASIMOV, did not know that he wrote this book. Wikipedia says that he was afraid of flying, and he seldom traveled great distance. Funny how he could be so creative and productive in his life.

78A: Crazy Horse, e.g.: SIOUX

83A: One heart, e.g.: BID

86A: Bass symbol: F CLEF. Is this a gimme to you?

90A: SSS classification: ONE A

93A: Collections of valuables: TROVES

95A: Fast starter?: STEAD. I put BREAK initially.

102A: Sacred bull of Egypt: APIS. Also called Hapi or Hap. It's said to act as "an intermediary between Ptah (Egyptian creator god) and humans." Here is a picture. Aren't we seeing Egyptian deity almost every day now?

104A: Actress Fawcett: FARRAH. Don't know much about her. Love the new Charlie's Angels.

105A: Laugh-track users: SITCOMS

109A: McMurtry novel, "__ of Laredo": STREETS. I don't know the author or the book.

112A: Soak in wine: MARINATE. In wine? I thought you MARINATE meat in a mixture of oil, vinegar, soy sauce (or other sauce), herbs and some spices.

114A: Weasel sound?: POP. "POP Goes the Weasel"

117A: Mount of Moses: NEBO

126A: Bogie in "Casablanca": RICK. Good to see SAM (64D: Actor Waterston) in the same grid.

127A: Gregory Nava film of 1983: EL NORTE. Not familiar with this "The North" (?) film at all.

128A: Complete: LIVELONG. I've never heard of this expression before. Only know LIVE LONG (and Prosper).

129A: Architect Mies van der __: ROHE. Rae lives in an apartment building designed by him.

131A: Ship departures: SAILINGS. And the annoying crossing with MOOING (106D: Cow talk).

DOWN:

1D: Interfere: TAMPER

2D: Fellow prisoner: INMATE

3D: Prolific inventor: EDISON

6D: Org. of Federer: ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals). Good timing. I am rooting for Rafael Nadal though.

7D: Belief in centralized government: STATISM

8D: Printer's measures: PICAS. And 12D: Printer's spaces: ENS

11D: One of Napoleon's marshals: NEY. The "Bravest of the Brave".

15D: Lover of Eros: PSYCHE. And 2 more Greek references. 19D: Greek fable writer: AESOP. 75A: Greek letter: DELTA

16D: One who has lost a limb: AMPUTEE

18D: Pico de ___ (Pyreness peak): ANETO. No, nope, not familiar to me at all.

29D: Buckled under: KOWTOWED

31D: Walk-on parts: CAMEOS

32D: Coast of Morocco: RIF. Another unknown. Dictionary says it also refers to "discharge (a person) from military or civil service, esp. as part of an economy program".

33D: Goddess of night: NOX. Roman goddess. The Greek equivalent is Nyx.

34D: Letters on Cardinal caps: STL (St. Louis"). Rams too I suppose.

43D: Morals: ETHICS

44D: End of cash?: IER. Cashier.

46D: Having pertinence: RELATIVE

47D: Planes for hire: AIR TAXIS. Another unknown for me. It's "a small aircraft for passengers, cargo, and mail operated, either on a scheduled or nonscheduled basis, along short routes not serviced by large airlines."

48D: Tart plants for pies: RHUBARBS. Have never had RHUBARB pie before. It sounds sour.

49D: Removes carefully: EASES OUT

57D: Lap dog. briefly: POM

60D: Bird's horn?: SAX. Bird refers to Charlie Parker.

67D: Financial: FISCAL

71D: Nonentities: NOBODIES

73D: Bad: pref: MIS. I put DYS.

74D: Actor Kilmer: VAL. And 75D: Actor Diesel: VIN.

80D: Dylan song "____ Moore": NETTIE. Did not know this song. Not a Dylan fan.

86D: Mesh fabric: FISHNET

91D: Bowling equipment mfr: AMF (American Machine and Foundry). Brunswick is their competitor.

101D: Waldorf - __ Hotel: ASTORIA

103D: Put away, as gear: STOWED

106D: Choice: OPTION

108D: Parsley pieces: SPRIGS

109D: Bart or Kenneth: STARR. Ah Bart, the Packers' guy. As for Ken STARR, go ask the Clintons'.

110D: Mann novel, "___ Kroger": TONIO. Had to google for this book.

Feeling bruised by today's puzzle? Here is Sade's "No Ordinary Love" to salve your wound: "I gave you more than I could give...I gave you all that I have inside...".

C.C.

Saturday May 24, 2008 Josiah Breward

Themeless

An epic battle this morning. I could not get a toehold at the grid at all. STEPPE was not an easy word to fish out of my brain so early in the morning. And I did not know the Roman fable writer PHAEDRUS or the Spider woman ARACHNE, nor was I familiar with TREMOLO. I've never seen CONFUTES (Disproves) before. A very tough start.

The lower right corner was hard too. Duse ELEONORA was a complete stranger to me. I know TOTEM, but I had no idea that TOTEMISM is a word. And I simply forgot ENTO is a prefix for inside. I did not know FLUORINE or ORIFICE either. So, a big stumper today. But it's good to see Z & Q in the same grid again. It's my initials.

There are three Russia references in the puzzle: USSR, STEPPE, MIR. And a bit of business undertone too: 24A: Shortfall: DEFICIT, ASE, and (UN) QUOTE.

Look at the below 3-letter fills today, none of them are lazy AAA, EEE or III words:

19A: Qty: AMT

21A: NYSE competition: ASE (American Stock Exchange)

22A: Pre. advisory grp.: NSC (National Security Council), overseen by NSA (National Security Adviser). Bush's NSA is Stephen Hadley, who could not tell the difference between Tibet and Nepal.

26A: Beat it!: GIT

27A: Stevedores' grp: ILA (International Longshoremen's Association). I did not know the meaning of "Stevedores"

52A: D.C. advisory grp.: NSA (National Security Agency). It's featured in Will Smith's Enemy of the State. I like it a lot. All those NSA directors seem to have a military background.

53A: Color of the Italian sky: BLU

48A: Mazel __! TOV. Hmm, Yiddish words every day now.

54A: #: NUM

55A: Orbing part of Russia?: MIR. Wrong clue, MIR was de-orbited in 2001.

4D: Cut of an agt.: PCT

31D: Amusement: FUN. Yes, come to this blog "If You Wanna Have some FUN".

32D: "Le Coq ___, " Rimsky-Korskoff opera: D'OR. Unknown to me. I know nothing about opera. I love coq au vin though (definitely need morel to make it tasty).

40D: Tallahassee sch.: FSU. So what is their mascot now?

ACROSS:

1A: Plains of Siberia: STEPPE. This is a STEEPE in Kazakhsan.

8A: Say again: ITERATE

15A: Spider woman of myth: ARACHNE. Dictionary says it's "a Lydian woman who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was changed into a spider for her presumption." Here is ARACHNE (literally spider).

16A: More constricted: TIGHTER

17A: Having a will: TESTATE

28A: Climbing palms: RATTANS. This reminds me of NIPA (Malay thatch).

30A: Disproves: CONFUTES

32A: Refuse to believe: DENY. We get some attitude here: CONFUTES & DENY.

34A: Inside: pref: ENTO. I always want INTRA (as to EXTRA). EXTRO is outside prefix, so are ECT(O) and EXO.

37A: Duplicate: TWIN. Who is this Twin?

40A: Most reactive nonmetallic element: FLUORINE. Symbol: F. Atomic number: 9. Dictionary says it's "a yellow irritating toxic flammable gas" and "a powerful oxidizing agent".

45A: Dinner finale: DESSERT

50A: Verbatim finale: UNQUOTE

56A: African nation: SOMALIA. Iman is from SOMALIA. There is simply no effective government there, all Sunni Muslims.

58A: Hole in the head: ORIFICE. It's "an opening or aperture, as of a tube or pipe; a mouthlike opening or hole; mouth; vent". ORIFICE came from Latin ōrificium, ōr is mouth, fic is a comb. form of facere to make.

60A: Free verse poet: IMAGIST. Wow, I thought the clue was asking for a particular poet who was famous for his free verse or something.

61A: Changes dimension: RESIZES

63A: Chair part: ARM REST

DOWN:

1D: Devilish: SATANIC. Fiendish.

2D: Vibrating effect: TREMOLO. Here is the definition: "a tremulous or vibrating effect produced on certain instruments and in the human voice, as to express emotion."

3D: Photography pioneer: EASTMAN. The Kodak founder.

5D: Roman writer of fables: PHAEDRUS. Wikipedia says "He is recognized as the first writer to latinize entire books of fables, using the iambic metre Greek prose of the Aesop tales.". There is another dialogue PHAEDRUS written by Plato, see here.

6D: Petitions: ENTREATS

7D: Take care of: SEE AFTER

8D: Cornell University city: ITHACA. Is ITHACA always on your mind? Do you want those fine merchandise? I want those "pleasurable perfumes of all kinds".

9D: Makes a connection: TIES IN

10D: Marsh birds: EGRETS. Her neck is rather long, isn't it?

12D: All fluttery: ATINGLE

13D: Pull against gravity: TENSION

14D: How to stand at attention: ERECTLY

34D: Classic actress Duse: ELEONORA. What is a classic actress? From silent movie era?

34D: One providing sustenance: NURTURER

36D:Shamanistic belief: TOTEMISM

37D: Pass across: TRANSIT

38D: Fetching: WINSOME

39D: Think tank member: IDEA MAN. What about women fellows/scholars?

41D: List: ITEMIZE

42D: Prospective members: NOVICES

43D: Highest peak: EVEREST. "Because it's there".

47D: Deep knee bend: SQUATS

45D: Irish capital: DUBLIN. OK, here is When the Stars Go Blue again, from The Corrs, Live in DUBLIN 2002 (I do love the Live 8 version more). Enjoy!

C.C.

Sunday, May 18, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: OUCH

23A: 1992 Cyrus hit: ACHY BREAKY HEART

40A: Spanish-born Jewish philosopher: MAIMONIDES

59A: Meet cut: TENDERLOIN (Update later: The clue should be Meat cut)

82A: Failure to enforce a prohibition: SUFFERANCE

100A: Annika and Charlotta: SORENSTAMS

118A: Rains on a private parade?: CRAMPS ONE'S STYLE

16D: With meticulous care: PAINSTAKINGLY

58D: Going lickety-split: HURTLING ALONG

What an excruciating journey! The pain "which can not forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart" in my own despair and against my own will, and has crushed me completely. My gosh, the assaults of new words and names in this puzzle are unrelenting.

GESTALTS (45D: Symbolic configurations)? What is that? Can you explain it to me plainly? And SALUKIS (54A: Arabian hounds)? And SENTA (68A: "The Flying Dutchman" role")? To me, "The Flying Dutchman" is always Honus Wagner. ALISTAIR? Probably a gimme for Katherine, but a nightmare for me. ACETAL (30D: Hypnotic stuff) was hard, and the intersecting MAIMONIDES (40A: Spanish-born Jewish philosopher) only compounded the agony. So, a total SNAFU in that LYRIST (62A: Greek harp player) corner.

NEDDA, TARSAL, CCNY, PROA, ST. KITTS, CNS, YEAGER, EVONNE, BICORN, TSURIS, etc. Unknown words aplenty. I can not remember how many times I shouted "Merde!" this morning. TSURIS crossing MAIMONIDES? That's diabolic.

And 71A: CII x III: MDVI; 41D: 1950: MCML; 112D: CCCII tripled: CMVI. Three Roman numerals in one grid? You've got to be kidding.

Look at these 3 pairs:

50A: Ashen: PALE

95D: Gray-faced: ASHEN

122A: Sudden thrust: LUNGE

90D: Fencing charge: THRUST

103A: Of part of a foot: TARSAL

83D: One end of a table: FOOT

It's insane. Please, no more unsightly eyesores like these! Please test-solve your puzzle first!

I do love the OUCH theme though, very creative, esp the SORENSTAMS one. I wonder if Annika herself is aware of the SORE in her name.

I am also elated with 65A: "Six O'Clock, Winter" painter John: SLOAN. Remember last time I was outraged with John Underwood's "Six O'Clock" painter clue? I could not believe that the constructor/editor decided to omit the very important "Winter" from the painting. See, our arrogant editor, he is reading this blog. Good!

ACROSS:

4A: Star quality: EGO. Is "EGO" a quality? Not a problem?

7A: Had cravings: YEARNED. And learned & earned, that's a good life indeed.

14A: Turvy preceder: TOPSY. What's this one? I've never heard of this phrase. TOPSY was clued as "Electrocuted elephant" on an April TMS puzzle.

21A: Boyer film: ALGIERS. Not familiar with Charles Boyer nor the film ALGIERS (1938). Wikipedia says the movie is "notableable as one of the sources of inspiration to the screenwriters of the 1942 Warner Brothers film Casabalanca"

26A: New York city: UTICA

30A: Bout sites: ARENAS

31A: "___ Bulba": TARAS. No, not familiar with the movie at all. What a ride!

33A: Elia, really: LAMB (Charles). Love this clue. But why did he call himself "Elia"?

35A: Brings out: ELICITS

38A: Feudal lords: LIEGES. How can I remember this word? It trips me all the time.

46A: Baja seaport: ENSENADA. Here is the map. Not a familiar name to me.

49A: Apples, pears, etc.: POMES. I tried to pen in FRUIT. POME is "a fleshy fruit (apple or pear, quince or related fruits) having seed chambers and an outer fleshy part". Had no idea that pears and apples belong to the same family. I've never had the fresh quince or the quince jam before, have you?

54A: Arabian hounds: SALUKIS. Unknown to me. It was named after the ancient Arabian city Saluq. Wikipedia says " The saluki is perhaps the oldest known breed of domesticated dog". Great picture, isn't it?

65A: "Six O'Clock, Winter" painter John: SLOAN. Look at the painting.

66A: Hook's mate: SMEE

68A: "The Flying Dutchman" role: SENTA. Not familiar with this opera at all.

73A: Pierre's "the same": ÉGAL. Equal in French. Here is Pierre's motto" Liberté , Egalité, Fraternité.

74A: Part of UHF: ULTRA. UHF is "Ultrahigh Frequency". Did not know it before.

76A: Malayan outrigger: PROA. No, another unknown. PROA is boat in Malay language. It's "any of various types of Indonesian boats, esp. a swift Malay sailing boat built with the lee side flat and balanced by a single outrigger". It looks like this.

78A: Pre-surrealist painter: REDON (Odilon). Saw his self portrait in person, not inspired at all.

79A: Letter opening, often: SLIT. I was so clever, I put SIRS first.

80A: Napping: ASLEEP

86A: Carpenter's tool: NAIL SET. I am not a carpenter, so I do not know this tool.

88A: Encourages, actively: PRODS. Sigh... URGE is always my first fill.

91A: Big apple school: CCNY (City College of New York)

94A: Tic-tac-toe win: OOO. Alright, give me "Bowler's turkey (XXX)" next time.

95A: Refined lover of beauty: AESTHETE

99A: Heart chart: EKG (Electrocardiograph)

103A: Of part of a foot: TARSAL. Tarsus, nope, no idea. I don't know myself well enough obviously.

104A: Utterly stupid: ASININE. I am smart enough to know this word though.

106A: First chancellor of reunified Germany: KOHL (Helmut). Bill, thanks for the Medal of Freedom, now tell me what is the exact meaning of the word "IS"!

108A: Like pinups: BUSTY. She is not, is she?

109A: Small landmasses: ISLETS. Interesting crossing of ISLETS with 109D: Isolated land: ISLE.

114A: Sesame oil: TEEL. Unknown to me. It's from the black sesame seeds, and I only eat white ones.

116A: 800 exams: SATS. And 115D: Would-be atty.'s exam: LSAT

123A: Having more chutzpah: NERVIER

126A: Border tool: EDGER

127A: __ and Nevis: ST. KITTS. No, this is the first time I heard of this island country.

128A: Wash. or Jackson in NYC: HTS. Good crossing with 121D: Ave. crossers: STS

129A: B & O and others: RRS. I got the answer easily, though I completely forgot what B & O stands for (Baltimore & Ohio Railroad).

DOWN:

1D: Mariners' base: SEATTLE. I like Ichiro, don't you?

2D: Fetter: ENCHAIN

3D: Sticks: ADHERES

7D: City in the Cascade Range: YAKIMA. Stumped by this clue last time, and again today. It's the "Apple Capital of the World", says the locals.

9D: Turkish officer: AGHA. Or AGA. Literally "older brother" in Turkish.

10D: Cambodian cash: RIEL

14D: Yiddish aggravation: TSURIS. No idea. The dictionary says it's Yiddish slang for "woe, trouble". Guess that's how you get a "Oy, vey" response.

15D: Octopus arms, e.g.: OCTET. Are you happy with this 8 clue?

17D: Shelter for strays: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)

24D: "The Right Stuff" role: YEAGER (Chuck). Nope, nope, completely unknown to me. I don't normally know "The Right Stuff".

25D: Old world lizard: AGAMA. Wow, his tail is so long, interesting blue color.

30D: Hypnotic stuff: ACETAL. No, too technical a term for me. Acet(o) is a prefix meaning vinegar, as in “acetic acid". "Al" is short for alcohol. I don't know, I don't understand what Wikipedia says, but I know that there is some ACETAL in wines.

34D: Shaped like crescent: BICORN. Another new word for me. Can also be spelled as BICORNE. Here is Napoleon in his BICORN hat.

44D: Cooke of "Masterpiece Theatre": ALISTAIR. COOKE was clued as TV host Alistair in a March puzzle. I simply forgot.

45D: Symbolic configurations: GESTALTS. Hard one. Here is the explanation: a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole. I still don't get it.

47D: Big name in tires: DUNLOP. Or DUNLOP golf balls.

52D: London fog: PEA SOUP. What a weird idiom! How can a bowl of delicious pea soup become dreaded fog?

53D: Cooks just below the boiling point: SIMMERS. Very accurate clue.

55D: Fleur - de ___: LYS. Could also be spelled as LIS. Literally "Lily Flower" in French.

56D: Publication: ISSUANCE. I only knew ISSUE.

57D: Bag of anthracite: COAL SACK. I did not know the meaning of anthracite (hard coal).

61D: " Pagliacci" role: NEDDA. Did you go with TONIO? I did.

67D: Goolagong of tennis: EVONNE. Another unknown.

72D: Sexual crime: INCEST

75D: Dem. candidate of the '50s: AES (Adlai Ewing Stevenson)

78D: City near Council Bluffs: RED OAK. Is it a very well known place?

81D: Juan and Evita: PERONS. "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". I like Sinéad O'Connor's version.

84D: Abbr. on a building: ESTAB (Established)

87D: Spelling of "Trick": TORI. Yes, indeed, lots of tricks can be played with Spelling's name.

93D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN

96D: Evaluator: ESSAYER

97D: Beans spiller: TATTLER

98D: Le Champs __: ÉLYSÉES. Le? No, sir, it's Les. Les Champs ÉLYSÉES (Avenue des Champs ÉLYSÉES). L'arc de triomphe, le parfum, et l'amour! I don't need more reasons to love you...

100D: Tot tender: SITTER

101D: La Guardia alternative: NEWARK. What's the origin of this word NEWARK?

102D: General __ Corporation: MOTORS. And General Electric Company, and General Dynamics Corporation, and General Mills, what other General can you think of?

105D: Suit material: SERGE. It seems like our editor does not like SERGE Gainsbourg. But it's OK, Gainsbourg is not everybody's cup of tea. Some of his songs can be very disturbing, esp Lemon INCEST.

107D: Sponger: LEECH

113D: Barbecue rod: SPIT

118D: Brain, spinal cord, etc. (abbr.): CNS (Central Nervous System). Big stumbling block today.

119D: Part of IRA: RET (Retirement). The first IRA that pops into my brain is always the Irish Republican Army.

120D: Fixed: SET. Given so much pain today, this clue should be reworded as "Heal, as a bone".

C. C.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: FRUIT COLORED WORDS

17A: Purple creeper?: GRAPEVINE

56A: Green illumination?: LIMELIGHT

10D: Red explosive?: CHERRY BOMBS

24D: Reddish-yellow waterway: ORANGE RIVER

Hmm, how about LEMON GRASS, APPLE PIE, STRAWBERRY JAM, and OLIVE BRANCH? What else?

Another TV guide style puzzle, heavily blanketed with Show biz personality' names, highly inferable though. Great grid structure, very balanced theme entries. The word CELEB is perfectly anchored in the middle of the puzzle. The only flaw with the theme entries is the plural form of CHERRY BOMBS, all the other 3 are in singular form.

I was a venturesome solver this morning. I willfully took a few bold guesses at those dreadful Movie/TV star names, and was stunned again that they turned out to be the correct fills. McCOY, O'SHEA, ETHEL & KOPELL all yielded so easily to me. And I knew none of them. Wow, I've been so encouraged by my recklessness in crossword solving lately.

I did not finish the puzzle though. Could not close the deal on the upper left corner. I simply forgot ALGER, had no idea who was Uncle Miltie, did not know that ABATE can be transitive verb, and I put PAT instead of TAP for "Touch lightly".

ACROSS:

1A: Moderate: ABATE. Always thought ABATE as an intr v.

6A: Sine __non: QUA. Latin: Without which not. Basically it refers to something essential and indispensable. Is this blog a sine qua non to your daily happiness?

9A: "Bones" of "Star Trek": McCOY. No idea. Ferreted out the name by down fills.

14A: Type of pad or brief: LEGAL

15A: WWW address: URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

23A: Pierre Auguste and Jean: RENOIRS. Have never heard of Jean RENOIR. The painter RENOIR, yes. Saw several of his pieces at Musée D'Orsay, did not like any. Not to my taste.

25A: Scorch: CHAR

27A: Shirley Temple movie: CURLY TOP. Oh, Shirley Temple, how do I love thee! Adorable.

31A:Musician Hayes: ISAAC. Stranger to me. Easy gettable though.

35A: Cylinder diameter: BORE. Unknown to me before.

37A: Show biz personality: CELEB. Need to reword the clue due to 46A answer (For SHOW).

38A: Muscat's land: OMAN. Muscat is also a kind of grape.

39A: __-pong: PING. Also a huge golf equipment brand. PING sponsors Solheim Cup.

40A: Place for cargo: HOLD. "The entire cargo space in the hull of a vessel."

41A: Fuse, as ores: SMELT

42A: Makes glossy: SLEEKENS. A new verb to me.

44A: Catch red-handed: NAB

46A: Diana of the Supremes: ROSS. Again?

46A: Just to keep up appearances: FOR SHOW

50A: Play lines: SCRIPT

55A: Popeye's honey: OLIVE (Oyl)

58A: Ring-shaped roll: BAGEL. Hmm, BAGEL + cream cheese + lox, sandwich in heaven!

60A: Singer Merman: ETHEL. Unknown to me. I strung it together by down clues.

61A: Comb stopper: SNARL

63A: School paper: ESSAY

DOWN:

1D: Horatio of fiction: ALGER. Clued as "Ragged Dick" author on last Friday's puzzle. I just forgot. I will probably forget it again in 2 hours.

2D: Uncle Miltie: BERLE. Stumper here. Is it gimme to you?

4D: Touch lightly: TAP

5D: Funereal: ELEGIAC. Too sorrowful a word to see so early in the morning.

6D: Witty remarks: QUIPS

7D: Diner brewers: URNS. Another dreadful word to look at despite the cheerful clue.

9D: Fatal: MORTAL. Alright, I got it. ELEGIAC, URN & MORTAL. All Memento MORI.

13D: Poisonous evergreens: YEWS. Did not know that they are poisonous.

22D: Decorative plant: SHRUB

25D: Made well: CURED. I like how CURED intersects with CELEB. Want to cure your drug/alcohol addition? Do crosswords!

29D: Kind of thermometer: ORAL. See 49D.

34D: Lowly workers: PEONS. Spanish for peasants.

37D: Storage box: CHEST

41D: Bakery products trade name: SARA LEE

43D: "Love Boat" co-star: KOPELL (Bernie). Unknown to me. The clue for 17A: Purple Creeper & this "Love Boat" reminded me of our purple Vikings' Love Boat Party Scandal.

47D: Downs and Grant: HUGHS. Adore HUGH Grant, have never heard of HUGH Downs.

44D: Musical symbol: NOTE. Has anyone seen HUGH Grant and Drew Barrymore's " Music & Lyrics"?

48D: Actress Tessie: O'SHEA. Stranger to me. Where is Milo? Wikipedia says that Tessie O'SHEA was a guest on the "The Ed Sullivan Show" the night Beatles made their debut.

49D: How a water balloon impacts: WETLY. Hmm, it's an ART to put ORAL & WETLY in the same puzzle, so close to each other, isn't it?

53D: Critical: DIRE. Ugh, this "Silent Tsunami" food crisis. Scary.

57D: "___ Not Unusual": ITS. Tom Jones' song. Not familiar to me. Here is my favorite.

C.C.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: DINNER ORDER

20A: Part of a dinner order: SMALL HOUSE SALAD

36A: Part of a dinner order: MEDIUM RARE STEAK

49A: Part of a dinner oder: LARGE ONION RINGS

More orts:

6D: Greek sandwiches: GYROS

46D: Kind of sauce: TARTAR

28A: Herring's cousin: SHAD

Yes! Let's eat! Let's shut up on global warming talk and ignore those pesky scientists! Who cares if the EPA reports are altered/doctored? Who cares if any solver expects a Earth Day themed puzzle on April 22? Let's go with STALIN, nobody will ever notice that LENIN was born on April 22.

Other than that, a solid puzzle. I love the double meaning of ORDER here. Great theme and well executed!

Had a bit of a shaky start. Had problem getting SLAPS due to 1D & 4D clues. Only knew ASP and COBRA for serpents, SEPS was a complete stranger to me. Wanted AL PACINO for "Scarface" star, not familiar with PAUL MUNI. Wanted HAIFA for Israeli port (my Pavlov' Dog reflex). Wanted EDUARD (Shevardnadz) for 5D: Dictator born in Georgia, misled by his long presidency of Georgia.

ALDA and LIAM ware the only 2 words I penned in with authority in the upper left corner. I actually had no idea what was "...The Phantom Menace", not a fan of Star War or Star Treks. But I liked Neeson's "Schindler's List", so LIAM was an easy crumble. BB GUNS and MIAS eventually brought STALIN to me. Always thought STALIN was born in Russia.

Smooth sailing in other areas though.

ACROSS:

1A: High--fives: SLAPS. Naughty Naughty (40A)! Raise your hand if these two clues brought Borat to your mind!

9A: Allied: SIDED

14A: Israeli port: EILAT. Could also be spelled as ELATH.

15A: Nautical swerve: YAW. I pieced it together from down clues. I had no idea what "yaw" can mean "deviate from a straight course".

16A: Loan sharking: USURY

17A: "The Taming of the Shrew'' City: PADUA. No idea. I wish 16A were clued as "The Merchant of Venice" practice or something like that. It would have a bit of Shakespeare sub-theme.

18A: Greek letter: RHO. The intersection of GYROS (6D) with RHO is very nice, both Greek.

19A: Hold responsible: BLAME

23A: Sara and Farrow: MIAS. Know Farrow, not Sara.

25A: Toy shooters: BB GUNS

33A: Lena of "Chocolat": OLIN. Great movie. Juliette Binoche was impeccable in "Chocolat"! I love almost every one of her movie, esp Damage (with Jeremy Irons).

34A: The ones here: THESE. Too lazy a clue.

35A: Prohibitionist: DRY

40A: Naughty: BAD

44A: Milanese eight: OTTO. I've been quite pleased with our editor's various clues for OTTO lately. Great! Now please use Jim's "A Dandy in __" for ASPIC next time, no more "Meat stocky jelly".

45A: Accent: STRESS

48A: Jack of talk shows: PAAR

59A: Govt. security: T BILL. Treasury Bill. My favorite clue.

60A: Form: SHAPE. Hmm, 2 APES here, see 47D.

61A: Stooge name: MOE. Larry & Curly. Aw, those ugly Three Stooges' golf/football NODDER bobbleheads! Why do people want them?

62A: "A Delicate Balance" playwright: ALBEE. Did not know the play, but knew ALBEE due to "Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?"

63A: Key-stroked: TYPED. Nice one.

DOWN:

1D: Numidian serpent: SEPS. Numidian is "an ancient country in N Africa, corresponding roughly to modern Algeria." Here is a picture of SEPS.

2D: Neeson of "... The Phantom Menace": LIAM. Why abbreviated the movie title?

4D: "Scarface" star: PAUL MUNI. No idea who he is.

5D: Dictator born in George: STALIN

6D: Greek sandwiches: GYROS. OK, I want to get rid of "Greek" in the clue because 18A: Greek letter. Got any good idea? Share with us.

9D: Falls to the bottom: SUBSIDES

10D: Muhammad's religion: ISLAM. Wish this one would be clued as "Abbas' religion" and the 14A as "Olmert's port". That would elevate this puzzle to a whole new level!

11D: Binary: DUAL

12D: Columnist Bombeck: ERMA. I've been waiting for Mr. Williams to clue BOMBECK as Columnist ERMA.

21D: Embodies: HAS

22D: Clear, as a disk: ERASE

25D: Lead balloons: BOMBS

26D: Sound sheepish: BLEAT. Or BAA.

27D: Lightheaded: GIDDY. That's how I am feeling now. Could not contain my enthusiasm for today's primary. Show me your real color, Pennsylvania!

28D: Military hat: SHAKO. Can also be spelled as SHACKO. It's "a military cap in the form of a cylinder or truncated cone, with a visor and a plume or pompon". See this photo. Rooted from Hungarian word "csákó süveg" meaning "peaked cap." How come this word looks so familiar to me?

30D: Designer Simpson: ADELE. Nope, I've never heard of her. Strung together her name by across clues.

31D: Boorish: CRASS

34D: Jogging pace: TROT

37D: Intact: UNOPENED

38D: Words to remember: MOTTO

39D: Very poor: TERRIBLE

47D: Yawning: AGAPE

48D: Put forward: POSED

50D: In need a massage: ACHY. Hmm, Dennis might need one after hitting so many clubs in South Beach!

52D: "Finding __": NEMO. I love Ellen's Dory!

55D: Happiness: GLEE

56D: Passel: SLEW

C.C.

Saturday, March 29, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: NONE

Definitely a stumper for me today, lots of unknowns. The clues are tough, but not wicked or senseless. I like the Saturday's open grid feel, but I just feel so lost and rootless without the theme guidance.

I had an uncharacteristically great start, devouring the upper left corner like a hungry lion. Even SAMUEL PEPYS jumps into my mind without any extra spur. Wonderful, all I really need to know, I learned from doing crossword!

But all the other spots are like Fallujah, so tough and forbidding. It's simply beyond my strength to tame the whole field. I spent about 35 minutes on the puzzle, then I quit.

Grid: 15*15, total 71 words (maximum is 72 for a Saturday), total blank square: 30.

ACROSS entries:

1A: From one side to the other: ACROSS. Hmm, a bit meta. Can you self-reference clue like this?

7A: Tex-Mex menu items: TOSTADAS. Want some?

15A: Definite rules?: THE LAW. Great clue. I like it when a preposition or definite article is embedded in the answer. Very tricky but it provides me with a precious "Aha" moment.

16A: Tiger in the Hall of Fame: AL KALINE. Mr. Tiger. The first name that popped to my mind was actually Ty Cobb. Cobb was the first ever Hall- of-Famer, wasn't he?

17A: Change a file code: RENAME

18A: Fetal sac: PLACENTA. Plural form can be "Placentae" or "Placentas". Wonder why so many medical terms take their roots in Greek language.

19A: Cunning: ARTFUL

20A: Part of RSVP: S'IL. No more question on my wobbly G8 drunk clip, s'il vous plaît, let's just talk about Carla's nude photos!

24A: Patronage: EGIS. Can also be AEGIS. Aegis is the shield of Zeus. Dictionary says "Athene's aigis was a short goat-skin cloak, covered with scales, set with a gorgon's head, and fringed with snakes". Look at this picture. That's Medusa's head. Her gaze would not turn me into a stone at all. She does look monstrous though.

24A: Old English letter: EDH. No idea. Dictionary says it can also be spelled as ETH.

26A: Chemical suffix: ANE. I am always at a loss when facing chemical suffix clue, too many choices: ASE, ENE or ANE.

30A: Walesa of Solidarity: LECH. Nobel Peace Winner 1983.

32A: Admiral or cabin boy: SAILOR. Why is "cabin boy" a sailor? (Update: Dennis said a "cabin boy" serves the captain and senior officers on a ship, hence sailor.)

34A: "Malcolm X" director: LEE (Spike)

35A: Event before a golf tournament: PRO-AM. Want a chance to win Bay Hill, John Daly? Pay attention to your Pro-Am time next time!

37A: Groom oneself: PRIMP

38A: Port St. __, FL: LUCIE

40A: Sapporo sash: OBI. Why Sapporo all the times? Spice up the clue with some other exotic Japanese city name!

41A: Skater Sonja: HENIE. No idea.

42A: Overthrow: USURP

43A: Itchy problem: TINEA. I was not aware of this skin problem until this morning. Looks awful.

46A: Passes on: RELAYS

48A: Astronaut Aldrin: BUZZ. I like Buzz's take on Lisa Nowak's intrepid restroom-less 900-mile love pursuit. Gutty statement in my view.

55A: Spanish painter Joan: MIRÓ. Max Ernest & Dali are the other 2 Surrealists who have an insatiable appetites for crossword fame.

59A: Peter of "Six Feet Under": KRAUSE. Unknown to me. I wanted O'Toole, but it did not fit.

63A: Bad egg: EVIL DOER

65A: Pastoral poems: IDYLLS

66A: Snake River people: NEZ PERCE. Unknown to me. Here is the definition: "A Native American people formerly inhabiting the lower Snake River and its tributaries in western Idaho, northeast Oregon, and southeast Washington, with present-day populations in western Idaho and northeast Washington."

67A: Verdugo and others: ELENAS. I can not think of any famous Elena either, can you?

68A: Woody?: TREELIKE. Why the question mark?

69A: Shaped like a stringed instrument: LYRATE. Only knew Lyra. Good to learn its adjective form though.

Down clues:

1D: Gillette razor: ATRA

2D: "Silkwood"star: CHER. Have never watched this movie. I see it's written by Nora Ephron. I am going to put it in our Netflix queue. I adore Nora.

3D: Cloth tear: RENT. Ha ha, my effort yesterday is paid off, so quickly!

4D: Some Norwegian kings: OLAFS

5D: Noted diarist: SAMUEL PEPYS. But who wants to read his diary when Anais Nin is calling?

6D: Suffer in the heat: SWELTER

7D: Bugle cal: TAPS

8D: Stan's comic partner: OLLIE. Got it this time.

9D: Viking poets: SKALDS. Also spelled as Scald. "A medieval Scandinavian poet, especially one writing in the Viking age."

10D: Center X: TAC

12D: Airheads: DING A LINGS. Have never heard of this expression before. All my American friends are very nice people, they never speak any slang or negative thing when I am around.

13D: Legal paradoxes: ANTINOMIES. Not familiar with this legal term either. OK, so, anti is anti, nomes is Greek for law, and "antinomy" is "a contradiction between principles or conclusions that seem equally necessary and reasonable". Good.

14D: Cecil of cartoons, e.g.: SEA SERPENT. Here is more information for you. I've never heard of Beany and Cecil cartoon.

23D: Vamoose: SCOOT

25D: At random: HAPHAZARDLY

27D: Power to attract: ALLUREMENT. I use "enticement" occasionally, never "allurement".

28D: Belgian waterway: MEUSE RIVER. Great clue, great answer, so nice to see RIVER is part of the answer. The Meuse originates from France, flowing north to the North Sea through Belgium and the Netherlands.

29D: Make worldly: SECULARIZE. I have an affinity for good verb, this is one of them.

31D: U.S. Middle East peace envoy: HABIB. Philip Habib.

36D: Less: MINUS

44D: Old Testament book: EZEKIEL

47D: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. This is definitely a gimme for Lakers' Phil Jackson, he is a Zen Master.

52D: Sunken ship: WRECK

54D: Stratum: LAYER

56D: Greek wine flask: OLPE. It appeared on Feb 6 puzzle, almost the identical clue. Here is a picture.

58D: Song of the LPGA: AREE. She was one stroke away from beating Grace Park for the 2004 Nabisco (one of LPGA's Majors). She has a Twin sister name Naree, also a LPGA member. South Koreans are so talented in golfing.

61D: Venetian blind part: SLAT. I've never heard of Venetian blind.

64D: 2nd-smallest State: DEL. I love Senator Biden (DE) and his wits. "A noun, a verb and 9/11", the best rip I've ever heard!

C.C.

Saturday, March 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: NONE

Another traumatizing experience! I guess my heart just does not belong to any themeless puzzle.

I was stumped from the very beginning of course. Barely heard of Greer Garson. In fact, I was thinking of Garson Kanin when I read the clue. So I jumped around like a squirrel this morning, darting from corner to corner searching for a nut. Never gained any foothold. I was also very bothered by the excessive amount of INGs in the clues/answers.

I think I floundered about 30 minutes, then I decided to quit and started googling. I would not even call today's solving experience as a rigorous workout. It feels like torture.

The author for today's puzzle is the guy who constructed the Going off half-cocked puzzle on March 9, which tormented me for a good 2 hours as I could not understand what's the relationship between the theme entries and the titled theme. I had no idea that "Going off half-cocked" means "act without thinking".

I kind of like today's wide-open grid, which almost mirrors Breward's Feb 23 puzzle. I think I would've enjoyed this puzzle if I were a better solver.

Across entries:

1A: Greer Garson classic: MRS. MINIVER. Garson won an Oscar for this movie.

11A: Low-ish card: TREY. Why ish?

15A: Bouffe: COMIC OPERA. No idea. Never knew that Bouffe has a Buffoon origin. I guess it makes sense now. Does anyone speak French here? Doesn't Bouffe mean 'grub"/"food" in French?

16A: Gambling mecca: RENO

17A: Chiquimula resident: GUATEMALAN. I am not familiar with South American countries. Now I am waiting for the diabolic editor to clue CHIQUIMULA as Guatemala city.

20A: Last of a collection?: ANA. Why? Why last?

21A: The Promised land: CANAAN

23A: Actor Erik: ESTRADA. I googled "Actor Erik", the first page that came up is all about Erik La Salle, who starred in ER. Estrada's mug looks familiar to me, so I must have googled him before. Famed for TV series CHiP.

26A: Hindu title: SRI. It's very fascinating to me that many languages put Sir, or Mr. in front of a name, including this Hindu title SRI. But in Chinese, we put Sir (先生) after the name, for example, we will call Mr. Warren Buffet as "Warren Buffet 先生". I guess Japanese is the same, you put San after some name, as in Ichiro-san.

28A: Campaign contributor: abbr: PAC (Political Action Committee). Remember Senator Rick Santorum (PA) used his PAC money to pay for his Starbucks ($558)?

31A: Hebrew letter: TSADI. Total stranger to me. It could be also spelled as SADHE, SADI, 18th letter of Hebrew alphabet. How many letters are in Hebrew alphabet?

34A: Hanging to one side: A-LOP. This is another ATIP for me. I hate this kind of made-up word more than any obscure actor/actress (dead or alive). Just tell me in which dictionary can I find this word, Mr. Breward? (Update: Feste found this world in the Oxford English Dictionary).

36A: Whimpers: MEWLS. Identical clue on this author's Feb 27 puzzle.

38A: Dunfermline dagger: SNEE. Yep, Keep camouflaging it. You can pick up the remotest town in Scotland and I will still get this word. I am not falling into your trap.

41A: Agave plant: SISAL. Have never heard of this word. Wanted YUCCA.

43A: Former 1/2 Country: GDR (German Democratic Republic - East Germany. Remember their secret police? STASI. West Germany is FRG (Federal Republican of Germany). The unification, oh, no, reunification took place in 1990. First Chancellor: Helmut Kohl. I never liked him.

44A: Maryland player: TERRAPIN. Got it this time.

48A: Type of general: ONE STAR. Just found out that Eric Shinseki was a 4-star general. I always thought he was a 3-star.

49A: Jurisprudence based on precedents: CASE LAW. I was intimidated by the clue. Jurisprudence sound as sophisticated as "Fiduciary duty" to me.

53A: Ethnic: RACIAL. Really? Are these two the same?

56A: Lawyers: abbr. ATTS. I put in ESQS first and I felt so smart for a while.

57A: Outmoded data storage: MICROFICHE. No idea. Here is the definition: "A flat sheet of microfilm in a form suitable for filing, typically measuring 4 by 6 in. (10 by 15 cm) and containing microreproductions, as of printed or graphic matter, in a grid pattern.".

61A: Stretching out: ELONGATION. It would really drive me bananas if the answer turned out to be ELONGATING.

63A: Again and again: REPEATEDLY

Down clues:

1D: "Fibber _ and Molly": MCGEE. Here is the information on this radio show. I would've penned in the answer easily if the clue were The Cremation of Sam ___.

3D: Brainy: SMART. I am NOT. So, anonymous @ 9:11pm March 21, please don't judge me by your standards. Walk in my shoes for 3 miles, then start opining your view. Don't rush into conclusion.

4D: Bishops' toppers: MITERS

6D: Wandering life: NOMADISM

7D: Toothpaste brand: IPANA. How quickly I forgot this name! It was on this constructor's March 9 puzzle.

8D: Constellation near Carina: VELA. Brutal clue. No idea.

10D: Deep-seated ill will: RANCOR. Stupid Arafat, he killed the Oslo Accord. Otherwise, the rancor would not run so deep today! History sometimes is really made by the whims of a few people.

11D: Crossings: TRANSITS

12D: Keeping: RETAINING. I would not type in (hence dignify) this word if not for the vexing ING.

13D: Twisted into a confusing mass: ENTANGLED. I am very confused. Can never tell what distinguishes tangle from entangle, untangle from disentangle.

14D: Kid: YOUNGSTER

25D: Calls a passing ship: HAILS. I put AHOYS first.

27D: Booth or Meese: EDWIN. Knew Meese. Booth, No.

28D: Rural opera: PASTORALE. No idea. It's "a piece of music suggestive of pastoral life." The clue just feels very awkward to me. How about Shepherd's opera?

30D Editor or debugger, e.g.: CORRECTOR. Ugh! Don't like it.

32D: Odin's melieu: AESIR. Nope. According to the dictionary, AESIR is "the principal race of gods, led by Odin and living at Asgard." There is another ealier Norse race called Vanir, who was "first in conflict with the Aesir, later allied with them."

35D: Lasts: PERSISTS

37D: ___ Springs, NY: SARATOGA

42D: Aspin or Brown: LES. My first thought was Dan. The author of The Da Vinci Code.

45D: Golfer Arnie: PALMER. You can come back anytime you like Arnie.

47D: Descendant of Shem: SEMITE. Bible knowledge, my Achilles' heels!

49D: Chili con __: CARNE. Interesting, CARNE means meat in so many languages: Spanish, Romania, Portugest and Italian. Do you know that the word "carnival" also derive from carne?

50D: Intelligible: LUCID. Senator Byrd (WV), 91 years old, still serving. Very impressive.

51D: South African playwright Fugard: ATHOL. Had to google him. He is a South African playwright. Well, if you are enamored with with ING, then clue Doris Lessing (Nobel Literature 2007) in your puzzle.

54D: Old English bard: SCOP. No idea. Learned that this SCOP has something to do with SCOFF, the ones who make mocking, or taunting verse.

59D: Unwanted weight: FAT. Absolutely!

C.C.

Sunday, March 9, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Going Off Half-cocked (Acting Prematurely)

23A: Revealing intentions: Tipping One's Hand

39A: Bridge tactic: Preemptive Bid

62A & 74A: Getting ahead of oneself: Putting the Cart before the Horse

99A: Beginning too soon: Jumping the Gun

17D: Scaring folk for nothing: Crying Wolf

72D: Do-over's cause: False Start

Another miserable Sunday for me. I had 3 breakfasts while solving this puzzle, my record.

I had a very shaky start, and never really gained any momentum. The only bright spot was the upper right corner. I was proud of myself for filling in NERVA for 16D: Emperor before Trajan. I also conquered the lower middle part without encountering much resistance.

But everywhere else was rife with knobby problems. So many intimidating unknowns: actress, actor, singer, athlete, author, & liquid measure. I had no idea what "Quinine" means in 41D. I filled in "Preempting Bid" instead of "Preemptive Bid" for 39A, misguided by the "ing"pattern I spotted from the other theme entries. Had no idea that foxtail was a kind of brush. Misread 36A "Battering equipment" as "Batting Equipment". Without Richard's help, I would never have solved this puzzle today.

Here are the across entries:

1A: Landing strip surface: TARMAC

7A: Lines for the theatre: DIALOGUE. I like the clue, esp the British spelling of "theater".

15A: Remove a lid: UNCAP

20A: Ring around the pupil: AREOLA. Got it from the down clues. It also means "colored circle around a nipple".

21A: In the file: ON RECORD

22A: Impudent boldness: NERVE

25A: "The Silver Streak" co-start: PRYOR (Richard). Never heard of Pryor, nor saw the movie. Don't want to be bored.

26A: Moses or Felipe of baseball: ALOU

29A: Experts: MAVINS. Or MAVEN.

30A: Spanish rice entree: PAELLA. The main ingredients are rice, olive oil & saffron, in case you want to make it yourself.

33A: French-American dialect: ACADIAN. Same as Cajun I suppose?

36A: Battering equipment: RAM. Why? I don't get it. (UPDATE: Pls read Comments Section for explanation).

43A: Test for coll. seniors: GRE (Graduate Record Exam)

46A: Newspaper honcho: EDITOR

48A: College organization: SORORITY

49A: "The Virginian" writer Wister: OWEN. Here is more information about him.

50A: Small taxi: MINICAB. I put in Minicar first.

52A: Sailor's grp: ONI (Office of National Intelligene)

56A: Seemingly forever? AEON. Why the question mark? Aeon means seemingly forever, no?

57A: Gradient: INCLINE

61A: Brand name on cakes: SARA LEE

66A: Trumped: RUFFED. New word to me.

67A: Sheriff's band of the Old West: POSSE

68A: Unrestrained breaks of violence: RIOTS

70A: Full-length tunic: CAFTAN. I had CAF_ _ forever. Had big problems with the down clues.

82A: Stritch and Boosler: ELAINES. Nailed this one today.

84A: Gathered: RAKED IN

85D: Duck feathers: DOWN

86A: Sequence verifier: COLLATOR. Never used this word before.

88A: Army rcts: GIS

89A: Was contrary to: OPPOSED

92A: MIT part: INST (Institute).

93A: Masculinity: MALENESS. Is this even a word? He is so male?

97A: City on the Rio Grande: LAREDO. Never heard of it.

98A: T-shirt size: LGE

103A: Small upright pianos: SPINETS

105A: Glossy type of paint: ENAMEL

107A: Senility: DOTAGE

109A: T or F, eg: ANS: True or False, Answers.

112A: NYC gambling center: OTB (Off-Track Betting)

113A: Spheres: ORBS

117A: Diet guru Jenny: CRAIG. They just sacked Kristie Alley.

118A: Edgar Allan Poe story, with "The": PREMATURE BURIAL. Never read it.

123A: Judy of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in": CARNE. She was married to Burt Reynolds for a short time.

124A: Wakayama farewell: SAYONARA. Japanese for good-bye. Also a Marlon Brando movie (1957).

125A: Cantankerous: ORNERY. It crumbled easily for me.

126A: Action or change starter: INTER

127A: Repeats: ITERATES

128A: Combine together: BLENDS

Down entries:

2D: Seed coat: ARIL. Learned it from doing crossword.

3D: Collection biz: REPO. Also a 2008 movie.

4D: Tidy loose ends: MOP UP. I put Sew Up, but quickly corrected myself.

6A: Australia capital: CANBERRA

7D: Casual drawings: DOODLES

8D: Quaint quarters: INN. I've seen this clue several times. Why is Inn quaint? Holiday Inn, Baymont Inn are all very modern.

11D: Protest-singer Phil: OCHS. Never heard of him. The only Ochs I knew is Adolph Ochs, the former owner of NY Times.

12D: Tibetan gazelle: GOA. I put Yak, which is actually an ox.

13D: Large vase: URN

14D: Actor Byrnes: EDD. Nope, did not ring a bell.

15D: Still owing: UNPAID

16D: Emperor before Trajan: NERVA. It appeared on Friday March 7 's puzzle.

18D: English river: AVON

19D: Individual: abbr: PERS (Personal).

29D: 1501: MDI. I cannot help you if you cannot commit Roman numerals to your memory.

31D: Bk. of Revelation: APOC (Apocalypse)

32D: Latin lesson word: AMO

33D: Fauna starter: AVI. Have to thank Richard for the help. I put ANI there initially thinking it means Animal.

34D: Govt. training leg.: CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.)

35D: Vast chasm: ABYSS

36D: Revise charts: REMAP

38D: North Dakota city: MINOT. Known as the Magic City. Never been there.

40D: Worker: PROLE. Unknown to me. It stems from "proletarian".

41D: Quinine water: TONIC. I did not know the meaning of Quinine.

42D: Privalova or Vorobyeva: IRINA. Never heard of them.

44D: Taylor or Adoree: RENEE

47D: Trace of color: TINT

49D: Norwegian saint: OLAF

51D: Major Leagues, casually: BIGS

54D: Writer Bret: HARTE. I got him today!

55D: Rah!: CHEER

58D: Plain crush grp.: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)

63D: Toothpaste brand: IPANA. What? All the 5 letter toothpaste brands I can think of are Crest, Oral B, Reach and Gleem. Never heard of Ipana.

64D: Song for nine: NONET

65D: S. Amer. monkey: TITI. Hated the clue. It should not be abbreviated. Misleading.

69D: Cry of distress: OH NO

70D: De Mille of movies: CECIL. A prolific director.

71D: As company: ALONG

73D: Pinball goof: TILT

75D: Steely Dan Singer: FAGEN (Donald). Here is more information on this band.

76D: Giving the nod to: OKING

77D: Bowler's button: RESET

78D: Nose alert: ODOR

79D: Fragrant beds: ROSES

80D: Stockholm native: SWEDE. Some people also call "rutabaga" as "swede".

81D: Provide with property: ENDOW

83D: Amiens river: SOMME. In France. It flows into the English Channel.

87D: Spellbound: RAPT

90D: Vertical line: PLUMB BOB. I only knew plummet.

91D: Fleur-de_: LIS. French for Flower of Lily.

95D: "__ Loves you": SHE. Beatles' song.

96D: Ladies of Seville: SENORAS

99D: Liquor measure: JIGGER. My dictionary says it's a small cup/glass to measure liquor, containing usually 1 1/2 ounces.

100D: One of the French: UNE

101D: Entryway: GATE

106D: Actor GREENE: LORNE. He was in Bonanza.

107D: Fifth of MMMDV: DCCI (1/5 of 3505=701)

108D: Algerian city: ORAN. Gulf of Oran city.

109D: God of love: AMOR. or Cupid, the Greek equivalent is EROS.

111D: Wendy's dog: NANA. Who is Wendy? I thought Nana is Peter Pan's dog.

111D: RBI or ERA: STAT (Statistics)

114D: Nice nothing? RIEN. French word for nothing.

115D: Exalted poet: BARD. Robert Bly has just become MN's first Poet Laureate.

116D: Stone and Stallone: SLYS. Knew Stallone, never heard of Sly Stone though.

119D: Stoolie: RAT

120D: Scope out: EYE. I misread the clue as "Scoop out" and wasted my time in vain.

121D: End of post: URE. Posture

122D: Internet add.: URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

Finally I am done!

C. C.