Monday, October 24, 2011 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: Witty Ditties - Early rock-n-roll songs with rhyming, two-word titles.

18A. 1966 Tommy James and the Shondells hit : HANKY PANKY. Clip(2:53) Song Facts

26A. 1958 Connie Francis hit : STUPID CUPID. Clip(2:13) Wikipedia

44A. 1956 Little Richard hit : TUTTI FRUTTI. Clip(2:27) Song Facts

56A. 1965 Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs hit : WOOLY BULLY. Clip(2:21) Song Facts

Argyle here. A lot of you probably solved this faster than you could have listen to the songs. Michael Wiesenberg has only given us themeless puzzles before today's. Interview.

Across:

1. Use a rotary phone : DIAL

5. Common movie theater name meaning "jewel" : BIJOU

10. Cheat (out of) : BILK

14. Regarding : AS TO

15. Accustom (to) : ENURE. Variant spelling.

16. Cad : ROUE

17. Armstrong who took a "giant leap for mankind" : NEIL

20. Release : LET LOOSE

22. Comes up, as the sun : RISES

23. Not working : IDLE

24. Knock for a loop : STUN

30. Printer's widths : EMs

33. Is wearing : HAS ON

34. First application line to fill in : NAME

35. Sheep sound : BAA

36. "My turn to bat!" : "I'M UP!"

37. Untrue : FALSE

39. List of choices : MENU. 52A. Dinner alternative, on a 39-Across : À LA CARTE. Cousin to À LA MODE.

40. Fed. pollution monitor : EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.

41. Rani's wrap : SARI

42. Gave a hoot : CARED

43. Mineo of "Rebel Without a Cause" : SAL. Picture of Mineo, Dean and Wood.

47. Puts on : DONS

48. 1982 Disney sci-fi film : "TRON". TRON: Legacy (2010) was the follow-up.

49. Wedding site : ALTAR

59. Cat that roars : LION. Pop quiz: Non-roaring big cat is __?

60. Auditorium : HALL

61. Remark between actor and audience : ASIDE

62. Aware of : ON TO

63. Nothing but : ONLY

64. Do a lawn job : RESOD

65. Mellows, as wine : AGES

Down:

1. Pioneer Boone, folksily : DAN'L

2. "Understood" : "I SEE"

3. Working busily : AT IT

4. Sweet sucker : LOLLIPOP

5. "Look!" : "BEHOLD!"

6. "Right away!" : "IN A SEC". I guess "IN A SEC" is an answer to "Right away!" but hardly means the same thing.

7. Popular wedding month : JUNE

8. Comedic TV alien's planet : ORK. Mork from ORK, "Nanu Nanu!".

9. Turn you hang, in slang : UEY. Just one of the spellings.

10. Scarecrow's lack : BRAIN

11. Electrified particles : IONs

12. Gospel writer : LUKE

13. Islets : KEYS

19. Bluenose : PRUDE

21. Thor's father : ODIN

24. Luxury hotel bathroom features : SPAs

25. Clock readout : TIME

26. Acts skittish : SHIES

27. Florida city on its own bay : TAMPA

28. Pub order, with "the" : USUAL

29. Dark : UNLIT

30. Thumbs-up reviewer : EBERT. Roger.

31. "Olympia" painter Édouard : MANET. Painting.

32. Riyadh resident : SAUDI. Take a peek at some of the buildings, Google.

37. Goat-man of myth : FAUN. Like this old goat.

38. Painting and sculpture, e.g. : ARTS

39. Hawaiian volcano : MAUNA LOA

41. Building level : STORY

42. Swamp beast : CROC

45. "That's good enough" : "IT'LL DO"

46. On edge, as nerves : FRAYED

47. Dawdle : DALLY

49. Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hears __" : A WHO. "Boil that dust speck!"

50. Bank offer : LOAN

51. Bridge crossing charge : TOLL

52. Father-daughter boxers : ALIs. Laila and Mohammed.

53. Workplace for the 52-Down : RING

54. Handy bag : TOTE

55. Grandson of Adam who reputedly lived to 905 : ENOS

57. Place for a drink : BAR

58. Consume : USE

Answer grid.

Argyle

Saturday April 23, 2011 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None (or rather E-less)

Total words: 72

Total blocks: 31

Today's puzzle includes a question which appears in the newspaper and in Across Lite Notepad, but not in LA Times on line Java format. Notepad asks: "Can you spot the unusual feature in this puzzle's clues and answers?"

Can you? Did you? I noticed letter E is missing from the clues/answers only after after I solved the grid. Incredible construction, as E is the most popular letter in crosswords. I can't imagine the time and effort that went into building this puzzle. Daunting task!

Some of the clues are a bit stretched due to the E elimination, for example: 56D. Quondam JFK arrivals : SSTs. Quondam is Latin for "former".

Across:

1. Hardly an intimidating soul : PUSSYCAT. Nice start.

9. Rap caps : DORAGs

15. In custody of, as a library patron : ON LOAN TO

16. Moon mission : APOLLO

17. Spot to savor old standards : PIANO BAR. "Play it again, Sam".

18. '60s-'70s Saudi king : FAISAL. I can never remember this guy. Wiki said he was assassinated by his nephew in 1975 for unclear reasons. 

19. Sch. north of Gulfport : USM. OK, University of Southern Mississippi.

20. Pull : CLOUT. Noun "pull".

22. Woodworking slot : DADO. See here. We've got two groovy carpenters on the blog: Jerome & Splynter.

23. Natural bath body scrub : LOOFA

26. Canadian prov. : ONT

27. Old Roman port : OSTIA. No idea.

28. Civil rights activist Roy : INNIS. Is he very well-known?

29. Harts : STAGS

31. Org. with a multi-ring logo : IOC (International Olympic Committee)

32. Just okay : NOT SO HOT. Lots of Os in the puzzle.

34. Cockpit abbr. : ALT

35. Show sympathy toward, with "on" : GO SOFT

38. Qom inhabitants : IRANIS. Iranians is more common.

40. Auckland yam : OCA. It's not clued with reference to South American/ Andean due to the E concern.

41. Tough task : NO PICNIC

45. __-fi : SCI

46. Popular talk show : OPRAH

47. Spanish girl : CHICA

51. Bochco drama : L.A. LAW. Steven Boncho produced the show. Unknown fact to me.

53. In this location: Span. : ACA. So how do you say "You're here" in Spanish?

54. Soothing hot drink also known as Lucky Dragon : HYSON. Green tea. I've never heard of Lucky Dragon.

55. Kin of Osiris : ISIS. His sister/wife.

56. Apron : SMOCK

58. Roman 151 : CLI

59. Last innings : NINTHS

61. Short approach, in golf : CHIP SHOT. Hope Husker Gary chips in once in his pointless golf outing today.

64. Quit : GOT OUT

65. Island off California's coast : CATALINA

66. Liquor gulps : SNORTS

67. Butt loci : ASHTRAYS. D'oh, cigarette butt.

Down:

1. Vox __ : POPULI. Literally "voice of the people".

2. A choir may sing in it : UNISON

3. Apply strongly, as to start braking : SLAM ON

4. Offspring : SON

5. Shanghai-born NBA star : YAO (Ming). Yao is his surname.

6. Old FNN rival : CNBC

7. Stuck : AT A LOSS

8. Canadian city : TORONTO

9. Crazy : DAFT

10. __-Locka, Fla. : OPA

11. Sports no-nos, informally : 'ROIDS. Steroids.

12. Big companion dog : ALSATIAN. German shepherd? I'm not a dog person.

13. Plants with spiky blooms : GLADIOLI. Quite pretty.

14. Stand-up comics, typically : SOLO ACTS

21. Its motto is "Industry" : UTAH. Our motto is "L'Étoile du Nord" ("The Star of the North).

24. Dry Spanish libation : FINO. Spanish for "refined". Can't have "Sherry" due to E again.

25. So far : AS OF NOW

27. Bird with a strong kick : OSTRICH. I've never encountered an ostrich.

30. Antonym of withdraw : GO IN

33. Trans Am option : T-TOP

35. Young birds : GOSLINGS

36. Birthday, say : OCCASION

37. Bawl out : SAIL INTO. Criticize.

39. Hurting : ACHY

42. Nanny's aid : PRAM

43. "Talking Straight" co-author : IACOCCA (Lee)

44. Mambos' cousins : CHA CHAS

48. Volcanic Italian island known for its spas : ISCHIA. See this map. Learning moment for me.

49. Ant group : COLONY

50. Hill and Bryant : ANITAs

52. Fur tycoon : ASTOR

57. Kin kin : KITH

60. Shanty : HUT

62. Way to stand : PAT. Stand pat.

63. Nikon product : SLR

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday December 26, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None

Total blocks: 31

Total words: 72

This grid is framed by a pair of triple stacked 15-letter two-word answers at the top and bottom:

1A. Medieval castle feature: SPIRAL STAIRCASE. Nice entry. Good visual imagery.

16A. Harding's Laddie Boy, for one: AIREDALE TERRIER. Originated in Airedale, England. Laddie Boy was President Harding's dog. Stumped me.

17A. Health club option: PERSONAL TRAINER

59A. With "The," 1958 Hudson/Stack movie about a former WWI ace: TARNISHED ANGELS. See this poster. I've never heard of the movie.

63A. Longtime pal: OLD ACQUAINTANCE. My favorite fill today.

64A. Christianity dominates it: WESTERN RELIGION. Buddhism dominates Eastern religion. Hinduism too, I suppose, considering the number of followers in India.

Hard workout for me. Only penned in a few short entries on my first try. Then I gnawed and gnawed. Was amazed by how much I actually filled in before peeking at the cheat sheet.

Across:

19. Indicates: SAYS. Wanted CUES.

20. Asian holidays: TETS. Only in Vietnam.

21. Univ. awards: DEGS (Degrees)

23. Risked: STAKED

26. Actor Harris et al.: EDS. I liked him in "Stepmom".

29. Three-time A.L. MVP: A-ROD. Finally got his World Series ring.

30. Help a checker: BAG. Checker here refers to cashier, right?

33. Gamblers' mecca: MONTE CARLO. Las Vegas too.

37. Composer Bartók: BELA. Hungarian.

38. Barhopping: ON A TOOT. New phrase to me.

39. Some specials: ENTREES. Excellent clue.

41. Uproar: TO-DO. Nice crossing with SET-TO (22D. Tiff). We also have ADOS (5D. Fusses).

42. Gadget largely pooh-poohed by men until the 20th century: WRISTWATCH. Was unaware of this fact. How silly.

44. Dubbed period: ERA. I rather like this new clue.

45. Russian pancake: BLIN. Only know the plural blini.

46. Oldest child in the comic strip "Baby Blues": ZOE. Tough crossing with KOONTZ (25D. Dean of horror). I knew neither of them.

47. Under-the-sink item: SOS PAD. Yeah, I store mine under the sink.

53. Open end?: TOED. Open-toed (shoes).

55. "Do or do not. There is no try" speaker: YODA. From "Star Wars".

58. Miss out?: DEB (Debutante). "Miss" here is a noun. I was not fooled.

Down:

1. Tasty: SAPID. This word sure doesn't sound tasty. Maybe I am influenced by tepid.

2. See 40-Down: PIECE. And TWO (40D. With 2-Down, like a bikini).

3. Not std.: IRREG. IRR appears in grids more often.

4. They precede mis: RES. Scale notes. Do, Re, Mi ...

6. Turner, for one: LANA. Lana Turner.

7. Really cracks up: SLAYS

8. Launch of 1962: TELSTAR. Just learned that NASA was only established in 1958.

9. 1-800-CALL-__: rival of 1-800-COLLECT: AT & T

10. Cash add-on: IER. Cashier.

11. Violent, probably: R-RATED

13. Frowned-upon contraction: AIN'T. Widely used though.

14. Views: SEES

24. City that inspired van Gogh: ARLES. Absolutely love his "Bedroom in Arles".

27. __ gratias: DEO. Latin for "thanks to God".

28. Glares: SCOWLS

30. Sugar source: BEET. Pickled beet is very tasty, so is pickled herring.

31. Pollster Gallup: ALEC. Did not know Gallup's given name. So now we've had Elmo Roper and John Zogby, all pollsters.

32. Razor cut, maybe: GASH. Did not come to me readily.

33. Dust unit: MOTE

34. Words before before: ON OR. Was this a gimme to you?

35. Zilch: NADA

36. Anchor position: ATRIP. Just clear off the bottom. Learned from doing Xword.

37. Highland hillsides: BRAES

43. Next Christmas: IN A YEAR. Not really fond of this clue, despite its Christmas connection.

45. Dirndl part: BODICE

47. Gérard Larcher is its current president: SENAT. French Senate. Don't think Gérard Larcher is well known outside France.

48. Stevens who sang "Pink Shoe Laces" (1959): DODIE. No idea. Here is the clip. Wikipedia says she's only 13 when she recorded the song.

50. Certain Arabian Peninsula native: ADENI. Oh, the native of Aden is Adeni.

51. Car battery pioneer: DELCO. Unknown to me also. It stands for Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co.

52. "Barnaby Jones" star: EBSEN (Buddy). Recognized his face only when I googled him.

53. Account: TALE

54. Traffic regs., e.g.: ORDS (Ordinances)

56. Twain's jumping frog: DAN'L (Webster). Completely foreign to me. Why Dan'l instead of Daniel?

57. Like contrarians: ANTI

59. Auto club service: TOW

60. Plaza abbr.: SQR. Square?

61. Vandal: HUN. Like Attila.

62. Choke or joke: GAG. Superb clue. Nice rhyme.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Interview with Michael Wiesenberg

Remember this Michael Wiesenberg Saturday puzzle? He stacked six long fills at top and bottom of the grid, four of them spanning the grid. GIRL, INTERRUPTED is such an excellent entry.

Mr. Wiesenberg started contributing to the LA Times in early 2008, and all of the 7 published puzzles are themeless. He probably has his own long list of 15-letter movie titles, TV series, celebrity names, or just common phrases.

Not often do we have a constructor with a Wikipedia entry. Michael Wiesenberg has one. Merl Reagle has one too. Hope you enjoy the interview. A pleasant surprise for me.

What is the seed entry of this puzzle? Which part of the grid gave you the most trouble during the construction?

This puzzle would never have come about nor would it have been published were it not for my persistence and Rich Norris's patience and kind feedback. The puzzle went through eight iterations. The original puzzle had 72 words. Rich didn't like the pattern nor was he happy with several of the entries. Rich had already published several of my puzzles, so he must have thought I had some salvageable capabilities, and was kind enough in his rejection to enumerate his objections. To increase the efficacy and interest of the puzzle, I removed two blocks, lowering the word count to 70. This changed the essential nature of the puzzle, so I basically started the fill all over. The first submission had SPIRAL STAIRCASE as the 15-letter entry. Rich objected to too many partials. I hadn't considered three of them actually to be partials; I thought they were standalone phrases. I didn't think A HAIR ("tiny bit"), ACT TO ("Perform in a certain way"), or I SAID were partials. But of course the editor is the final arbiter in such matters, and Rich's instincts are good. To remove the partials, I started again from scratch, this time with THREE MUSKETEERS. Again Rich raised good objections; again I started over, this time with the present 15-letter entry (HOSTILE TAKEOVER). Rich liked the fill, but had reservations on some of the entries. He suggested a change to clear up a problem. I went with Rich's suggestion and also changed a few other entries, and ended up with what I hope is a good fill with interesting entries and no obscurities.

No particular part of the puzzle gave me more trouble than any other. I just kept juggling entries around, trying to keep them all lively, until I got a good fill. Since it's a themeless puzzle, I could redo entire sections to meet Rich's objections.

How would you describe your style? Why do you prefer constructing themeless over themed puzzles?

My style in themeless puzzles is to have as many 15-word entries as possible or as few entries -- or both. I like "stacks" of 15s. I have had puzzles published with as many as 10 15s and as low a word count as in the low 60s. Working within those constraints, I then try to fit in as many lively entries as possible, among them as many phrases as I can. I don't prefer themelesses over themed puzzles. I have different criteria for themed puzzles. In the latter, I try to be very specific and have the entries as closely linked as possible. I like punny themes. I would rather have four or five entries than three, but if three work well, I would certainly prefer three good entries to more that are only so-so.

What is your background and how did you get into crossword construction?

I originally started constructing crossword puzzles long before software was available to assist, in fact, long before personal computers were even generally available. I had several puzzles published in Master and Quality (Quinn Publications) in the '60s. I did these by hand on graph paper, assisted by the letter cubes of a 3D Scrabble-like game whose name I can't recall. There were some 100 cubes, each with the same letter on all sides, which cubes players would place one at a time in a standup grid between them, trying to form words with each successive addition. I juggled the cubes on a flat surface to fill in grid sections. When I successfully completed a section, I would write the letters in the graph paper. Even with that help, I would fill dozens of grids in constructing one puzzle, and devote many hours to the task. I calculated that based on the time it took to construct a puzzle and the low pay rate at the time I earned under 25 cents an hour. In the '60s, the main constructors of crossword puzzles were prison inmates, for whom such a non-cost-effective use of their time was not counterproductive.

I ceased constructing for many years. I worked as a technical writer in the computer field. As such, I had access to and knowledge of many kinds of software. When I heard of Crossword Compiler, I decided to reenter cruciverbalism. For five years I constructed a monthly puzzle for PuzzlePlanet.com. For seven years I did a monthly puzzle for PokerPages.com. All those puzzles had crossword themes, and can be seen here: http://www.pokerpages.com/interactive/crossword/crosswords.htm

I contributed 24 puzzles to "The Everything Crossword Challenge Book." For two years I did a puzzle regularly for "Advance for Nurses," a national publication. For five years I did a monthly puzzle for "LA Direct," a slick magazine published in Studio City, CA, for a Southern California audience, with puzzles specifically about that region (local beaches, nearby cities, movie studio-related entries, etc.). I did a weekly puzzle for six months for another online site.

I do more than construct puzzles. I have written five books and am working on two more. I have a monthly column in Card Player magazine. I also construct a monthly puzzle for Poker Player magazine.

What is a perfect puzzle to you? Who are your favorite constructors?

There ain't no such animal as a perfect puzzle. There are good puzzles and bad puzzles. Bad puzzles seem to be more common. These are often found in specialty magazines, particularly those that are not in the top echelons of publications. They have too many words (78+ in a 15x15), unkeyed squares, two-letter words, and too many three-letter words. They stretch too hard to fit in theme entries. Also in the bad puzzle category are most of the puzzles created by computers with little or no human intervention. These have no spark of originality, no sparkle. Good themed puzzles are characterized by clever linking of the theme entries. I like rebus puzzles, letter additions or subtractions that form new punny entries, and clever leaps of intuition. Good themelesses are, I think, characterized by the Fridays and Saturdays of the NYT and the LAT. Among my favorite constructors are Gorski, Salomon, Reagle, and Longo.

Besides crossword construction, what else do you do for fun?

Besides crossword construction, I write fiction and nonfiction for publication. I also hike and cycle.

Saturday, August 29, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None

Total blocks: 40

Total words: 70

Are you surprised that HOSTILE TAKEOVER (31A: It might involve a proxy fight) is Mr. Wiesenberg's seed entry? I'd have guessed JAVA APPLET (16A: Small program with a browser interface), my favorite out of the 9 long & lively Across entries.

I was actually thinking of the Board of Directors control, you know, like the proxy fight William Achman launched against Target, so the answer did not jump to me immediately.

Pleasant solving experience today. I was able to fill in most of long fills on the first pass, thanks to the accessibility of the crosses. Normally I feel lost and hopeless on Saturdays without theme as my Sherpa. Those multiple-word entries just do not pop up as easily to me as they do to others.

But then I struggled mightily with HAS A SHOT AT (54A: Might achieve) and lower right corner. Still cannot believe my eyes that THIRTY NINE is the answer for 59A: 78 half. How could it be so simple?

Across:

1A: Largest oceanic dolphin: ORCA. Yep, it's not really whale.

5A" "__ consummation devoutly to be wish'd": Hamlet: 'TIS A. No idea. It's from his famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be".

9A: Hi-tech battler: BOT. Short for "robot". It's "a software program that imitates the behavior of a human, as by querying search engines or participating in chatroom or IRC discussions."

12A: Wood finishing tool: BELT SANDER. Here is an electric Bosch BELT SANDER.

15A: Brooklyn, say, briefly: BORO (Borough)

17A: Surrealist Tanguy: YVES. Obtained his name from Down fills. I don't get his "Indefinite Divisibility" at all.

18A: Long-distance messages?: SMOKE SIGNALS. Great clue.

20A: Prepare for a storage, as a carpet: ROLL UP

23A: Barry who played Lt. Gerard on TV's "The Fugitive": MORSE. Complete stranger to me. I've only seen Harrison Ford's "The Fugitive".

24A: "Rumor has it...": I HEAR. "Rumor has it..." is also a Jennifer Aniston/Kevin Costner movie.

25A: 1876 Twain hero: TOM SAWYER

29A: Health insurance giant: CIGNA. Thought of AETNA first.

30A: Incredulous dying words: ET TU. Caesar's last words" "ET TU, Brute?".

39A: Memory principle: MNEME. Muse of Memory as well.

40A: Ice cream flavor: PISTACHIO. Have you tried mochi ice cream? It has PISTACHIO flavor as well.

45A: Minor, legally: PETIT. Same as "petty"?

46A: When Ovid's "Ars Amatoria" is believed to have been published: ONE BC. Just fill in ONE BC whenever you are not sure of those Roman years.

47A: Notable show biz sisters: GABORS. Zsa Zsa, Eva & Magda.

48A: Home of NBA's Thunder: OKLOHOMA CITY. Completely unknown to me. They were Seattle SuperSonics before 2008.

53A: Landing: PIER. The clue just does not feel complete. Shouldn't it be "Landing place"?

58A: Letter-bottom abbr.: ENCS

60A: "Silent Spring" subj.: DDT

61A: River to the Seine: OISE. See this map. It's pronounced like wäz.

62A: Singer born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin: ENYA. Well, 4-letter singer, who else could it be? Maybe SADE. Wikipedia says ENYA is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in her native Irish.

Down:

1D: Part of a propositional phr.: OBJ (Object).

2D: "The Crying Game" actor: REA (Stephen).

3D: XXXI x V: CLV. 31x5= 155

4D: Obliquely: AT A SLANT

5D: About 1/3 of Maine's I-95D: TNPK (Turnpike). Big stumper. No idea, sir.

6D: Hanging out, say: IDLE. Had trouble understanding the grammar of the clue/answer.

7D: Spies: SEES. Verb.

8D: Drawing intro: ART I

9D: Flaubert heroine: BOVARY. "Madam BOVARY". The only Flaubert novel I've actually read. Don't we all want things we can't or shouldn't have?

10D: Words implying consequences: OR ELSE

11D: One pitching: TOSSER

13D: Japanese warrior: SAMURAI. Japanese kanji for SAMURAI 侍 is the same as Chinese character, simply means "servant" (noun) or "to serve" (verb).

14D: For one: A POP. And ANY (56D: At least one). Clue echos.

15D: Yet: BY NOW

19D: Early ABC show, for short: GMA. D'oh, "Good Morning, America". I had G?A sitting there forever.

21D: First state admitted to the Union from the Northwest Territory: OHIO. Again, 4 letter, it's either OHIO or IOWA.

22D: Longevity: LEGS. Tricky clue.

25D: Saw things? TEETH. I feel so clever to have nailed this one. The question mark indicates that "saw" is not a past tense of "see" here.

26D: Emperor who deposed Pope John XII: OTTO I. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Easy guess.

27D: Mindanao peak: Abbr.: MT. APO. Dan Naddor clued it as "Philippines' highest peak: Abbr." last time. APO simply means "master" or "grandfather".

28D: Czech composer Josef: SUK. Nope. It's pronounced like "sook". And Josef is "yaw-zef". He looks like a politician.

32D: Europe's __ de Genève: LAC. LPGA's annual Évian Master is played on the shores of Lake Geneva. Very pretty golf course.

33D: Vicarious feeling: EMPATHY. This word is bandied a lot during Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.

34D: Singly: ONE BY ONE

35D: Nix: VETO. Latin for "I forbid".

36D: Qatar dignitary: EMIR

37D: Soaks, as flax: RETS. Learned RETS and the "Nerve network" RETE from doing Xword.

40D: Exhausted: POOPED

41D: How many Colonial debts were paid: IN KIND. Have never heard of the phrase "payment IN KIND". The Wikipedia entry says KIND (or sometimes kine) means "cattle". Kine is an archaic plural of cow.

42D: Choose: SELECT. Penned in OPT FOR immediately.

43D: Slope contractions: T-BARS

44D: Bavarian beef?: ACH. German for "Oh!" /"Oh no!"/"Alas". I was stumped.

47D: Nub: GIST

49: "__ Be Back With You"" Steve Forbert song: OH, TO. No idea. Could not even find a YouTube clip.

50D: Half a fish: MAHI. Literally, "strong" in Hawaiian. Red Lobster's seared MAHI-MAHI is pretty good.

51D: Just like that: AS IS. The sale tag words.

52D: Supervision: CARE

55D: Woodsman's makeup: TIN. The TIN Man in "The Wizard of Oz". Did anyone think of the hot-tempered Welsh golfer Ian Woosman first?

57D: Hot spot?: TEA. Mine was SPA.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great photo of our fellow LAT solver Embien standing by part of wood pile. He and his wife heat their house with a wood stove. Here is a beautiful view of his front deck. Embien said: "Doesn't look its best this time of year as the crop out there (purple vetch) was harvested in July and it's too dry to plant winter wheat yet. We live waaay out in the country, about five miles west of Banks, Oregon, in the foothills of the Coast Range."

C.C.

Saturday June 20, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 70

For those who are not aware, our editor Rich Norris has eased up the puzzles to accommodate those who have difficulty adjusting to the late week LAT. In case you think you suddenly became cleverer and outsmarted him in the past several days.

Can you imagine this puzzle without the 4 "helper squares" on each corner? Probably a few obscure words.

Nice stacked-up long fills in Across:

1A: Much sought-after title object, in a 1930 mystery: MALTESE FALCON

14A: 1999 Winona Ryder movie: GIRL, INTERRUPTED

16A: Italian, e.g.: ROMANCE LANGUAGE

34A: Nose nipper in a Christmas song: JACK FROST

55A: Masthead listing: ASSOCIATE EDITOR

60A: Source of much hard wood?: PETRIFIED FOREST

61A: They have their ups and downs: TEETER TOTTERS

My first reaction for the Winona Ryder movie is "Autumn in New York", which also has 15 letters. I had trouble with 60A since I've never heard of petrified wood. I did get the FOREST part easily.

Favorite clue today is SOTS (50A: They're usually lit). So many slang for drunk: lit, stoned, bombed, loaded, etc.

Across:

17A: Desktop array: ICONS

18A: Word seen between surnames: NEE

19A: Partners may form one: Abbr.: LLC (Limited Liability Company). I penned in LTD first. How are those two different?

20A: Barcelona "but": PERO. No idea. It's MAIS in French.

21A: Scholarship-granting mil. program: ROTC

24A: "Got it": ROGER

26A: From Pitts. to Boston: ENE. This clue feels odd. "From ... to..." does not equal ENE grammatically. "Pitts to Boston direction" does.

27A: Catalog section: FOR HER. Had trouble obtaining this answer.

29A: Toons Pixie and Dixie, e.g.: MICE. Easy guess. I am not familiar with the "Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks" cartoon.

30A: Rare sign?: RED. Meat. Nice clue. Demi Moore eats only raw food.

31A: To be, to Brutus: ESSE

32A: Morphine, for one: OPIATE

36A: Altogether: IN TOTO. Learned this Latin phrase from doing Xword.

39A: P &G Pet Care brand: IAMS. Named after the founder Paul IAMS. I got the answer from Down fills. Alpo is all I know.

40A: Flesh-blood link: AND. Flesh AND blood. This refers to one's family, correct?

43A: Biceps toner: CURL. So you are a curler if you CURL?

44A: What you've got to do "if you want my love," in a Temptations song: EARN IT. I had ??RN IT sitting there forever. Thought of BURN IT.

47A: Prufrock's creator: ELIOT. Wiki says Prufrock comes from the German word "Prüfstein", meaning "touchstone". The book cover is so simple.

49A: French friend: AMIE. Female friend.

51A: Largest airport in OH: CLE. Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Unknown to me.

52A: Fuzzy TV E.T.: ALF

54A: Kind of butter: APPLE. I've yet to try APPLE butter. Looks just like jam.

Down:

1D: Epoch in which grazing mammals became widespread: MIOCENE. Mio is from Greek meíōn, meaning "less". Cene is a suffix for "recent".

2D: Well-protected, in a way: ARMORED

3D: Southwestern plain: LLANO

5D: Letter-bottom abbr.: ENC

6D: __-Thérèse, Quebec: STE

7D: Kabayaki fish: EEL. Yummy, yummy, kabayaki simply means "grilled EEL".

8D: Nice location?: FRANCE. The French city Nice.

9D: "Rule, Britannia" composer: ARNE

10D: German semiautomatic: LUGER. Named after its inventor Georg LUGER.

11D: Intel product, briefly: CPU

12D: Earache: OTALGIA. OT(o) is prefix for "ear", and algia is a suffix for "pain". New word to me. Quite close to "nostalgia".

13D: Allow to worsen: NEGLECT

14D: Malcontent: GRIPER. A malcontent person. I was thinking of the adjective.

15D: Fiat: DECREE. A 5-letter answer would be EDICT.

21D: Tanner of '70s-'80s tennis: ROSCOE. No idea. He is left-handed. Dictionary says ROSCOE is from Germanic words meaning “swift” and “horse.”

22D: City on the Ural: ORSK. This has become a gimme.

23D: 1991 Grisham novel: THE FIRM. I've yet to see the movie.

28D: Rent splitter: ROOMIE. Rent is also the past tense of the splitting word "rend".

34D: Island in the Sulu Archipelago: JOLO. See this map. I wanted JAVA.

36D: Polar feature: ICECAP

37D: Group with no members, in math: NULL SET. No idea. This diagram looks very interestingly complicated. Where is love?

38D: Port of NE Italy: TRIESTE. Here is a map. It's on the Adriatic Sea. Only one letter (E) more than the sorrowful word "triste".

41D: Red figure: NET LOSS

42D: Joshua tree habitat: DESERT. The answer revealed itself. Joshua tree sounds biblical.

45D: Erle Stanley Gardner pseudonym: A. A. FAIR. Unknown to me.

48D: Understood: TACIT. Adjective, both mean "implied". I was in the past tense verb direction.

50D: Cathedral topper: SPIRE

53D: Magazine that first published "The Old Man and the Sea": LIFE. This one is in pretty decent condition. Hope it's not musty.

54D: "A line is __ that went for a walk": Klee: A DOT. Easy guess.

56D: Mt. Hood's state: ORE. Ha ha, I could not recall where Mt. Hood is.

57D: Vietnamese festival: TET. Yeah, limit TET to Vietnam. I dislike when it's clued as "Asian holiday". Ours is called Spring Festival. And it has different name in Korea & Japan.

58D: Pre-1868 Tokyo: EDO. 江戸, literally "bay door".

59D: New newt: EFT

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday May 16, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None

Total blocks: 32

Total words: 66

The four corners of this grid looks so balanced. Each with stacked 4*7 entries. And the whole puzzle has only five 3-letter fills. Neat. Once again, I found the long answers in Down entries to be very interesting.

Where did you get your foothold today? Do you always start with 1-Across? I solved the lower right corner first. ORDONEZ (40D: 2007 A.L. batting champ Magglio) was a gimme. He is a very interesting character, being a staunch supporter of Hugo Chávez. His baseball cards are not worth anything though, unless they are authenticated autographs.

There is an international flavor to this puzzle: ROMANIA (34D: Nadia Comaneci's homeland), SPAIN (50A: View from Gibraltar) & MONTE CARLO (48A: Riviera attraction). Then we have ISRAELI, SUEZ, NEIN, TE AMO and TETE. Colorful fills.

Across:

1A: Journalist Kupcinet et al.: IRVS. Stumped immediately. He was a long-time columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and his nickname was "Kup". The lady on his left is Lauren Bacall.

5A: Take by force: WREST

10A: Fix: BIND. Can you give me an example on how they are interchangeable?

14A: Word repeated before "Born is the king of Israel": NOEL. The only Christmas song I can remember by heart is "Silent Night". Taught by an American who was immediately fired for teaching us this "religious song".

15A: Games immortal: HOYLE. His first name stumped many last time when it's clued as "Card game authority" (EDMOND HOYLE).

16A: Lou's "La Bamba" co-star: ESAI (Morales). Learned this fact from doing Xword. I liked ESAI Morales in "NYPD Blue". He was so cool, at least, before he reconnected with his ex.

17A: Certain something: AURA. Well, this "Certainly something" sure did not come to me immediately. Lovely clue.

18A: Clinch the deal: ICE IT

19A: Love and war, to some: ARTS. Love is an art? To whom? Do these Chinese characters for "The Art of War" look complicated to you?

20A: Like some dads: STAY-AT-HOME. Nice fill. Nice clue too.

22A: PGA Champions Tour standout Jay: HAAS. "Standout" indeed. Jay HAAS has had such an incredible Champions Tour (formerly Sr. PGA) winning record. Hale Irwin used to be the dominant figure (Thanks, Jerome).

23A: Blackjack holdings: NINETEENS. No idea. Are they good or bad holdings?

24A: Shakespeare contemporary George: PEELE. Completely unknown to me.

25A: Maryland Air Force base: ANDREWS. Just found out ANDREWS Air Force Base was named for General Frank M. Andrews, former Commanding General of United States Forces in the ETO (European Theater of Operations) during WWII, according to Wikipedia.

26A: Slanted, in a way: ITALIC

28A: Nutritional regimen since the 1970s: ATKINS DIET. Not for me. Meat is just a side dish in Asian diet.

31A: Ich liebe dich: German:: __: Spanish: TE AMO. In Chinese, it's Wo Ai Ni.

32A: Prince classic: PURPLE RAIN. Being from from Minnesota, Prince's every move is followed closely by the local media.

37A: Houston MLBer: 'STRO

41A: One might keep you from going out: SNORER. I got the answer. Don't understand the rationale.

42A: Ring in a crib: TEETHER

44A: Like mercenaries: ARMED

45A: California's Highway 1, for one: COAST ROAD. Easy guess.

47A: Farm lands: LEAS

49A: Staffs: MANS. Verb.

51A: Frau's refusal: NEIN. How to you say "I don't love you" in German?

52A: Prefix meaning "peculiar": IDIO. As in idiosyncrasy.

53A: They may be sheepish: GRINS. I was thinking of EWES.

54A: Fog: DAZE

55A: Printer's primary color: CYAN. Oh, I am definitely a dummy. I thought it's black.

56A: Noncom nickname: SARGE. Isn't it strange that the shortened form of sergeant is SARGE instead of the more reasonable SERGE? This gives me an excuse to link SERGE Gainsbourg's "Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus".

57A: Canal site: SUEZ. Hard to believe it's already opened in 1869.

Down:

1D: Quickly: In A SNAP. Still have trouble with multiple words.

2D: Ordinary: ROUTINE

3D: Open porch: VERANDA

4D: TV's Buffy and Faith, e.g.: SLAYERS

5D: Kayaking challenge: WHITEWATER. Upstream, looks impossible to me.

6D: Kodak's home: ROCHESTER. I did not know Kodak is headquartered in ROCHESTER, NY. Wikipedia says Xerox was also founded in ROCHESTER in 1906.

8D: Loses, in a way, with "down": SLIMS

9D: Dijon dome?: TETE. Had no idea that "dome" is a slang for head.

10A: Lead: BE AHEAD. Need to get used to this BE something verb phrase as well.

11D: Begin, e.g.: ISRAELI. Begin shared Nobel Peace with Anwar Sadat in 1978.

12D: Wood of Hollywood: NATALIE. I like the cute girl in "Miracle on 34th Street".

13D: Analyze: DISSECT

24D: Liq. measures: PTS (Pints)

26D: By some measure: IN ONE SENSE. I thought it's IN A SENSE.

29D: Kipling python: KAA. The answer emerged after I filled in the Acrosses. Why did he name the snake KAA?

30D: Doing, so to speak: IMITATING. I am lost here. Why?

32D: Like much worship music: PSALMIC. First time I encountered this adjective.

33D: Not prepared: UNREADY. Do you use this word in your daily conversation often? I always say "I am not ready".

35D: Persevere: PRESS ON

37D: Leaves high and dry: STRANDS

38D: "Civil Disobedience": THOREAU. Has anyone read THOREAU's "Civil Disobedience"? What is it about?

39D: Come to understand: REALIZE

43D: Handy abbr.: ETC. Good clue.

45D: Dried coconut meat: COPRA. I tend to confuse this word with the snake cobra.

46D: Station sign: ON AIR

48D: In-box contents: Abbr.: MSGS (Messages). Thought of LTRS first. My "dome" does not work well.

Answer grid.

C.C.