Saturday, March 8, 2008 Matthew Higgins

Theme: NONE

Clunky, unwieldy, klutzy is how I describe this puzzle.

Look at how many "-s" this constructor forces on us: USES, TAMES, GUTS, VAULTS, KEGS, SUPS, BOLES, RIDS, SIRS, MODES, GUIDES, total 11. Then counts his use of "re, ed, er, est, and ing": REHOUSE, REROUTE, FIGURED, SNEAKIER, STATELIEST, EASING, HOTDOGGING.

I used to feel very grateful for these gimme prefixes/suffixes. Not any more. I am getting better at understanding the construction of a puzzle. And this puzzle can be best summarizes as Yeti the Abominable Snowman.

I understand his name is Higgins, with all the "ing" in it. But does he have to use 7 "ing"s in the clues? That's a big 27D: Showing off (HOTDOGGING), isn't it?

Here are the across entries:

1A: Goes on and on: LASTS. I like the clue. But the first word that popped into my mind is "BLAB".

10A: Korean War sitcom: MASH. The sitcom is M*A*S*H, isn't it? With 3 * * *. The film (Altman) is MASH. Shouldn't it be clued differently?

14A: Wrongful seizure: USURPATION. Didn't get this one, though I often see Pakistan's Musharraf being called a USURPER.

17A: Not a total loss: REPAIRABLE

18A: Box to train: SPAR

19A: Palliating: EASING. My unease with this Saturday puzzle cannot be palliated.

20A: Binturongs: BEARCATS. Did not know the meaning of Binturong, then my dictionary tersely explained it as CIVET CAT, which made me mad because it did not fit and it did not start with letter B (I was very certain of my BIBB Lettuce from 7D at this point). OK, a binturong looks like this. It's not a bear, nor it is a cat. Many schools in the US seem to have bearcat as their mascot.

22A: __ de force: TOUR. That's what Tiger Woods pulls off, week after week.

24A: Cast-iron pan: SKILLET Really? My skillet is not cast-iron.

25A: Provides new quarters: REHOUSES. I know it's a word, but it just looks so ungainly to me.

29A: Standard of perfection: IDEAL

30A: Cancel: ABORT

31A: Domesticates: TAMES

33A: Spanish hero, El __: CID. Learned his name from doing crossword.

35A: Innards: GUTS

37A: Satellite of Saturn: RHEA. Nailed it this morning. Remember Roman word for Rhea is Ops, which was clued as Wife of Saturn on March 1 puzzle.

38A: Olden times, in olden times: ELD

39A: Put up with: STOOD. I fell into the STAND trap.

40A: Bank robbery: HEIST. Also a 2001 movie starring Gene Hackman.

41A: Reasoning: LOGIC. Noun. You wouldn't believe how much trouble this small word gave to me this morning!

43A: Embellish: DECORATE

45A: Seemed reasonable: FIGURED

48A: Official recording: REGISTER

50A: Safes: VAULTS

54A: "National Velvet" author Bagnold: ENID. Anyone from Enid (OK)? Interesting, this little blog has readers from every State except Alaska, Indiana, Vermont & Wyoming.

55A: Offering proof: EVIDENTIAL. I was not lured into "Evidencing" because I had had the last three letter_ial in place already.

57A: Stridex target: ACNE

58A: Refrain of a rondo: RITORNELLO. Had no idea what's a rondo. But RITORNELLO is inferable from the down clues. My dictionary says Ritornello is "an instrumental interlude before or after an aria, scene, in 17th century operas." Above this entry, there is another musical term called "Ritardando", meaning getting gradually slower.

59A: Small beer barrels: KEGS

Down entries:

1D: Enticement: LURE

2D: On the bounding main: ASEA. I was stymied by the meaning of "bounding main" again.

3D: Has dinner: SUPS. Of course, I "EATS".

4D: Turncoats: TRAITORS

5D: Elvis Presley movie: SPINOUT. Never saw this movie. In fact, I never saw any Elvis movie.

7D: One type of lettuce: BIBB. In case you do not know, this lettuce got its name from its cultivator Jack Bibb.

8D: Tree trunks: BOLES

9D: More furtive: SNEAKIER

10D: Strong-arm man: MUSCLE. Muscle man, yes, Muscle no. Never heard of it.

11D: Eastern U. S. region: APPALACHIA

12D: Superlatively grand: STATELIEST. How grand can you go?

13D: Jazz pianist Jankowski: HORST. Never heard of him.

15D: Mythological giant: ARGUS. I wanted it to be Atlas.

23D: Grade or active lead-in: RETRO

25D: Excessive temper tantrum: RAGE. Watched Kurt Russel's Death Proof the other day, quite a road rage scene.

26D: Zestful enthusiasm: EBULLIENCE. I guess I used exuberance often. I wish there were some "Irrational Exuberance" in the stock market now. Another 370 points slide in the past 2 days, and weeks and weeks of dreadful plunging. If this is not a recession, I don't know what is.

27D: Showing off: HOTDOGGING. Not a familiar word to me. I have to ask my (American) husband if he ever uses this word to show off when he gets up.

28D: Indian lute played with a bow: SAROD. I only knew SITAR. Both are lutes, but I gather you only play SAROD with a bow.

32D: Ways of performing: MODES

36D: And so on and so forth: ET CETERA

37D: Sends another way: REROUTES

40D: Shout of praise: HOSANNA

42D: Travel pamphlets: GUIDES

44D: Lid: COVER

45D: Carnival oddity: FREAK. What's this? I've been to our local carnivals, and never seen any "Freak" there.

53D: Coin channel: SLOT

Have a good weekend.

C. C.

Saturday Feb 2, 2008 Matthew Higgins

Theme: NONE

With the exception of REEVE for 44A: Superman in movies, this puzzle has no mention of any pop culture stuff. All those obscure authors/bands/singers/old actors/actresses are taking today off.

I stumbled on 1A: the Jewish sect immediately. I penned in a few with authority, inked a few with hesitation, and gratefully filled in a few "S", "ED", "ER" lots of "ING"s .

Have you noticed that there are 5 clues ending with ING:

27A: Lamenting loudly: ULULATING

30A: Supposing: REPUTING

52A: Directing: GUIDING

6D: Beginning: INCEPTION. I was wrong to put "ing" here.

8D: Donning official vestments: ROBING.

A nightmarish struggle. But I was smart enough to realize that this war was not worth fighting for. I shifted to cheat gear (Thank you Larry Page & Sergey Brin) quickly.

Here is a quick recap:

1A: Memebers of a Jewish sect: HASIDIM. Hasid is the single form. Strange plural form. This word "Hasid" looks very wrong.

8A: Even more isolated: REMOTER. Shouldn't it be More Remote?

15A: Surpassed: OUTDONE

16A: Chrysolite: OLIVINE. Too technical for me.

17A: Divide into three equal parts: TRISECT

18A: Emotional stability: BALANCE. That's what Britney Spears needs now. It's not fun to watch her stumble any more. It has become a tragedy.

19A: Dry, as wine: SEC

23A: Jab: POKE

25A: Dried Plum: PRUNE. I love dried dates. After they are dried, plums becomes prune, grapes become raisin, dates are still dates. That's consistency. No flip-flop.

26A: Right on maps: EAST

27A: Lamenting loudly: ULULATING. Unknown to me. This word looks very loud and noisy.

29A: Abalone eater: OTTER. So many ways to clue this creature.

30A: Supposing: REPUTING. I put POSITING first.

31A: Formal, informally: DRESSY

32A: Inventor of catchphrases: SLOGANEER. Mission Accomplished?

34A: Upolu resident: SAMOAN. Apia is the capital.

37A: Resound: RESONATE.

42A: City of the Temple Mount: JERUSALEM

45A: " Clair de __": LUNE. French for "Moonlight". I don't know whether refers to the poem or the Broadway play here.

47A: Short-legged, long-eared hounds: BASSETS

50A: Roughly vehement: VIOLENT

54A: Tract of farmland: ACREAGE

55A: Anticipatory payment: ADVANCE

56A Took up again: RESUMED

57A: Inland passages for oceangoing ships: SEAWAYS

Down Clues:

1D: Impetuous person: HOT SPUR. I never heard my husband used this word before.

2D: Halo: AUREOLE. I know Aura. Aureole can also be spelled as Aureola. Let's be prepared in case the crossword editor decides to trick us with a variation next time.

3D: Robbery at gunpoint: STICK UP

5D: Activist: DOER

6D: Beginning: INCEPTION. I was trapped to put an "ING" at the end.

7D: Stamping, in a way: METERING. Why? Can anyone explain this to me please?

9D: Fill with high spirits: ELATE

10D: Wire measures: MILS. Dictionary says it's "a unit of length equal to 0.001 of an inch (0.0254 mm), used in measuring the diameter of wires." I will forget it soon I think.

11D: Caesar's eggs: OVA. The singular form for Latin egg is ovum.

12D: Old-time soldiers' headgear: TIN HAT

13D: Contains in a box: ENCASES

14D: Opposite of launch: RE-ENTRY

21D: Denim overalls: DUNGAREES. The singular form "Dungaree" refers to the denim fabric. It's also a Hindu Goddess.

24D: Cleverly evasive: ELUSORY

26D: Perpetual: ETERNAL.

31D: State of inactivity: DESUETUDE. I put in INERTNESS initially. Here is the explanation of the word.

33D: Banned war weapon: NERVE GAS

34D: Urn with a tap: SAMOVAR. Saw this word before. Russian teapot. Here is the look.

35D: Cupidity: AVARICE. Greed.

36D: Trusted teacher: MENTORS

38D: Corundum: ALUMINA. Unknown to me.

39D: Period of occupancy: TENANCY. I was thinking of a different occupancy period, like "Occupied Japan", "Meiji Period", or something like that.

40D: Comes forth: EMERGES

42D: Made witty remarks: JESTED

44D: Scope: RANGE

47D: Smile broadly: BEAM. I put GRIN first.

48D: Hindu Deity: SIVA. Also, DEVA, KAMA, RAMA. At least, Hindu Gods have short names, those Greek Gods, or Roman Gods all have fancy long names.

51D: Romanian currency: LEU. Never heard of it. "The subdivision of leu is the ban, pl. bani, meaning both "money" and "coin".

53D: European crow: DAW. I don't like any kind of crow. Did not even bother to check how they look like.

Have a great weekend.

One more thing to blog: My husband bowled 747 last night, his 5th 700 series this year.

C. C.