Monday March 9, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Front Man

17A: Valet: MAN SERVANT

28A: Polite: MANNERLY

45A: Seacows: MANATEES

59A: Handle: MANIPULATE

11D: Display dummy: MANNEQUIN

35D: Instruments similar to lutes: MANDOLINS

MAN! I failed again. Third day in a row.

Lots of false starts: MANNERED instead of MANNERLY. SEPARATE instead of SET APART (24A: Isolate). All my own faults though. We've solved quite a few Ed Voile puzzles lately, yet I still can not find his pattern.

"Cold War letters" (7D) would be an OK clue for USSR or SSR, but for USA? No! We've long entered the Obama era.

ADD (20A: What summers do) gave me lots of trouble. I could not figure out anything about the intersecting down clues, so I tried hard to think what summers do to me. But neither TAN or SUN fits. If there were a question mark behind the clue, I might have interpret "summers" correctly and thought of ADD. Sigh! I just mentioned a possible "Chinese summer?" for ABACUS last time.

Across:

1A: John L. or Jerry Lee: LEWIS. Did not know the CIO founder John L. LEWIS. President of the United Mine Workers of America from from 1920 to 1960. And a major player in the history of coal mining.

14A: Ward off: AVERT. I like how it crosses EVADE (2D: Escape cleverly).

16A: Gilbert of Teasdale: SARA

19A: Small piece: SNIP. New meaning of SNIP to me.

22A: Intrinsic nature: ESSENCE. PER SE is often clued as "Intrinsically".

39A: Cinematic nightmare street: ELM. "A Nightmare on ELM Street". I don't like horror movies.

42A: "William Wilson" writer: POE. Have never heard of this short story. "The Raven" & "Annabel Lee", that's all the POE work I know.

43A: Scantily: THINLY. Not fond of the LY repetition. "Without much density" is better.

49A: Airs out: FRESHENS. I kept thinking of AERATES.

56A: North sea bird: AUK. I was really fooled by this Penguin clip. Now your turn! (OK, It's an April Fools' joke.)

62A: Five-star: A ONE

65A: Profit's partner?: LOSS. Would EERS be an acceptable answer as well? Profiteers.

Down:

1D: Actor Fernando: LAMAS. No idea. He is the father of Lorenzo LAMAS (left).

3D: George of "Cheers": WENDT. Unknown to me also. I only recognize Ted Danson & Woody Harrelson in this picture.

5D: Stovetop utensils: STEWPANS. Holy cow! I've never heard of STEWPANS. Use slow cooker for stew.

6D: River to the Bristol Channel: SEVERN. Nope. Here is a map. Click on it, the map will enlarge. See the word SEVERN to the right of Newport? It's the longest river in Britain.

12D: Stoltz of "Mask": ERIC. Easy guess. Have zero familarity with this actor.

26D: Pekoe piece: TEA LEAF. Have you had chrysanthemum tea before?

33D: "Truth or __": DARE. Is this the movie about Madonna? I wanted LIES.

37D: Actress Van Devere: TRISH. Forgot. She was married to George Scott. I like his "Patton".

40D: Cushing/Lee horror film: THE SKULL. No idea. Looks terrifying.

42D: California observatory peak: PALOMAR. Spanish for "Pigeon house". Saw this clue somewhere before.

45D: Bub: MAC. This reminds me of the Baboo episode in "Seinfeld". But isn't baboo an offensive slang for Indian?

46D: Attributes: TRAITS. Did not come to me readily.

51D: Observant one: NOTER. This word feels like NEEDER/WANTER to me. It exists only in the dictionary.

55D: Corduroy rib: WALE. Like this. Ribbed twill is SERGE. Any SERGE Gainsbourg fan there? This picture looks so doctored. This is TRUER. Jane Birkin is very skinny.

C.C.

Monday March 2, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: Put on a Hat!

17A: Fish farms: HATCHERIES

25A: Three consecutive goals: HAT TRICK

53A: Carolina cape: HATTERAS

62A: Female pharaoh: HATSHEPSUT

11D: Location of Southern Miss: HATTIESBURG

24D: Sharp-featured visage: HATCHET FACE

Luckily we had HAT TRICK in our puzzle last week. Otherwise, I would have struck out six straight times. HATSHEPSUT looks insanely wrong to me. Wikipedia says this lady was the fifth pharaoh of Egypt, and is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful ones.

Took me a while to realize CIT (3D: U. S. voter) stands for citizen. Is it a common abbreviation? I was not familiar with it at all. I love America and American politics, but I don't have the right to vote. I don't have the patience and courage to go through INS application again. They screwed up my green card big last time. Obviously my Chinese name Zhouqin needs a "u" to make sense to others.

I'd like to have a survey today. If you read this blog every day, can you pop into the Comments section and introduce yourself? Tell me which city/state you are from. Maybe your favorite breakfast too.

Here is the detailed instruction on how to post a comment. I look forward to hearing from you. (Note: Please post your comment on today's Comments section rather than the instruction Comments part).

Across:

1A: Chocolate coffee: MOCHA. Named after the Yemen port city MOCHA, from which the coffee was exported. Yemen is the birthplace of coffee cultivation. But Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee itself.

10A: Cartoonist Addams: CHAS. No idea. Nickname for Charles? The creator of "The Addams Family".

30A: Nearby things: THESE. Oh, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)". I always thought they are made of THESE.

35A: Full of worthless stuff: DROSSY. Only know DROSS.

38A: Golfer Mediate: ROCCO. Gimme. ROCCO Mediate finished second at US Open last year. I don't know. I can never warm up to this guy. Maybe he needs to change his glasses.

40A: A-Team guy: MR. T

42A: Pianist Blake: EUBIE. Ah, EUBIE, why did you pick up this nickname? So hard for me to remember.

43A: In heaven: ON HIGH

47A: Chinawood oil: TUNG. Glory be! Have never heard of TUNG oil before. It's used as varnish ingredient for furniture. I recognized the Chinese character for TUNG tree (油桐) when I googled. Did not know it's also called China wood-oil tree.

56A: Martina of tennis: HINGIS. Shocked to learn she used cocaine. Maybe she should not have broken up with Sergio Garcia. They were cute together. Sergio is a close amigo of Rafael Nadal. And Tiger Woods is of course rooting for his pal Roger Federer. Now you know Tiger and Sergio are no real buddies. Hope US Open (Bethpage Black) this year is as entertaining as the 2002 one.

59A: Caspian sturgeon: BELUGA. This looks dangerous. I did not know BELUGA is that huge. What is the average size of BELUGA caviar then?

66A: 750 in letters: DCCL

67A: Cinema pooch: ASTA. And ASTRO (22D: "The Jetsons").

68A: TV journalist Frank: SESNO. I know how he looks like, but would not have got his name without the down fills. He used to appear on Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" often.

71A: Hebrew letter: TSADI. Nope. Can also be spelled as TSADE or SADHE. 18th of the 22 Hebrew letter. I only know the first one ALEF.

Down:

2D: Can or cup ending: OLA. I cook with canola oil. Oliver oil is too strong for me.

4D: One hundred : pref.: HECTO. As in hectogram. I know this prefix when I see it. But I can't spell it out without adjecent help.

12D: "Toys in the __": ATTIC. Easy guess. Not familiar with this Aerosmith album. Hmmm, Aerosmith sounds like a great name to play for an AERO clue. "Smith intro/head?".

23D: Eating utensil: SPOON. Bet Dennis wanted FORK. I really really like this Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture. That SPOON weighs about 5,800 pounds. Walker Arts Center just removed the cherry (1,200 pounds) to give it a fresh paint.

26D: Religious deg.: TH. D. (Theologicae Doctor). Doctor of Theology. Not a familiar abbreviation to me. Know SEM (29D: Theol. sch.) though.

32D: Minute trace: SCINTILLA

34D: Altar constellation: ARA. See this diagram. Latin for "Altar".

37D: Safecrackers: YEGGS. I wonder what's the origin of YEGG. It sounds Hebrew to me.

46D: Yep: UH-HUH

49D: "__ Cannonball": WABASH. Is this a very well-known song? I've never heard of it before. Very strange song title.

51D: Abridged version: DIGEST

55D: Fracas: SET-TO. Reminds me of the slangy & obscure squabble word RHUBARB we had last time.

65D: You, to Yves: TOI. "... C'est TOI pour moi. Moi pour TOI...."

C.C.

Monday February 23, 2009 Adele Mann

Theme: Down-load

20A: Not readily apparent: BELOW THE SURFACE

40A: Feeling poorly: UNDER THE WEATHER

54A: Lower than low: BENEATH CONTEMPT

This is the 4th Adele Mann puzzle we've solved in Feb. Ms. Mann, if you are reading this blog, please email me or visit us at the Comments section. We'd like to know more about you. Is Adele your real name?

No "Speak Persians?" cute clue today. No obscure name or imaginative word either. Feels quite smooth to me.

I don't think TERSE (64A) is "Short and sweet". Short, yes. Sweet, no. To me, TERSE connotes a sense of being "curt"and "rude".

Can you give me an example of TAWNY (30D: Brownish orange) color? Is this night owl TAWNY?

Across:

10A: Actress Blanchett: CATE. Very talented Aussi. I liked her the most in "The Good German". Her bone structure does have a Katharine Hepburn chiseled look. Her performance in "The Aviator" seems a bit rigid though.

15A: Pestiferous insect: ROACH. "Pestiferous" is a new word to me. What a contrast with melliferous.

43A: Cartoonist Drucker: MORT. Yawner. Just had him yesterday. Dictionary says MORT is also a 3-year-old salmon. What is a 2-year old salmon then? SMOLT? How about 1-year old? Will they be called adult salmon when they are 4-year old?

44A: Reddish-orange dye: HENNAS. Like this man's beard. I was thinking of SENNA (the medicinal herb), confusing it with SIENNA, which is a yellow-brown pigment or the beautiful SIENNA Miller. She looks like the current Ukraine Prime Minister, doesn't she?

46A: King of Troy: PRIAM. Father of Paris, Hector and Cassandra. Nouriel Roubini predicted this crazy housing bubble several years ago. He was dismissed as Cassandra/Dr. Doom.

49A: Two-masted sailboats: YAWLS. I thought of YOWLS first, and I was not wholly wrong. Dictionary says YOWL is a variant of YAWL the boat. I don't know a fig about sailing. Is three-masted sailboard quicker? Slower? Bigger? Smaller? More expensive? Cheaper?

71A: Collar stiffener: STAY. I've never seen a collar STAY in person.

Down:

1D: Sepulcher: TOMB. Now there is a word with very similar spelling as "Sepulcher" , but it means orifice or some other body part. What is it? I vaguely remember Dennis has a comment about that word a few months ago.

9D: Doubtful gesture: SHRUG. Don't think the French SHRUG indicates such gesture. "So what?", yes.

10D: Open clash: CONFLICT. Hey, my old obsession Netanyahu is back. With his hardline attitude, the CONFLICT there will go on forever. I've moved on anyway.

21D: More ironic: WRYER. Or wrier.

25D: Losing streak: SLUMP. Tim Geithner should be thankful for this clue. Isn't ironic that two years ago Bush did not even acknowlege the existance of recession? Now we are talking about depression.

27D: Arboreal lemur: INDRI. The Madagascar short-tailed lemur. Literally "Look" due to the misunderstanding of the local language.

34D: Feudal peons: SERFS. Sometimes the answer is ESNES. I don't know the difference.

37D: Highest degree: NTH. I wonder if anyone thought of Ph.D. It's the highest degree you can achieve academically, right?

41D: Bric-a-brac stands: ETAGERES

53D: Demonstrate subservience: KNEEL. Not always a sign of "subservience".

54D: Very dry, as champagne: BRUT

58D: Projecting rock: CRAG. The name Craig is derived from CRAG, right, Mr. Bond (Daniel Craig)?

59D: Peak on Thessaly: OSSA. Holy moley, do you know that OS is a stand-alone Latin word for bone? And OSSA is its plural form. I always thought it's a prefix like "osteo".

62D: Bridge team: THEY. I presume the other team is WE. I am a dummy. Will never understand this game. See this photo. We/THEY are on written on the top.

C.C.

Monday February 16, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: It's Scintilla-ting

20A: Musical featuring "Maniac": FLASHDANCE

62A: Navigation beacon: LIGHTHOUSE

10D: Igniter: SPARKPLUG

33D: Luminous larvae: GLOWWORMS

I wonder why GLOWWORMS glow. Aren't they afraid of being eaten by bats or those night owls?

I rather like the theme answers today, very consistent. Those gleaming words brought to mind William Manchester's "One Brief Shining Moment" about JFK and his Camelot years. Truly beautiful things, like cherry blossoms, only last a very short time.

I don't think the clue for WHIT (34A: Smallest amount) is accurate. "Small amount", yes.

I don't understand why "Failing on purpose" for TANKING (24A). The stock market has been TANKING since last September, is it "Failing on purpose"? Who manipulated this scandal then? "The Talented Mr. Madoff"?

Also, why "Alternative beau" for RIVAL (55D)? RIVAL to whom?

Across:

1A: Thief's haul: SWAG. New slang to me. I could only think of LOOT.

5A: Stowaway, e.g.: HIDER. And NEWER (18A: More recent). And SCOWLER (52A: Sour looker). Special deal for ER today, buy one, get two free.

15A: Dig deeply?: ADORE. Good clue.

16A: Carson's predecessor: PAAR. I often confuse Jack PAAR with Catherine PARR, Henry VIII's wife.

40A: Eye: pref.: OCULO. I am more familiar with ocular. Easily gettable though. Oculus is Latin for "eye".

42A: "__ You Experienced?": ARE. Have never heard of this Jimi Hendrix song.

43A: Pianist Blake: EUBIE. Obtained his name with down fill help. Wikipedia says he smoked all his life and he died five days after his 100th birthday.

44A: Domingo, eg.: TENOR. The Three Tenors. Domingo is in the left.

45A: Cartoonist Drucker: MORT. Googled his name, cartoonist for the "Mad Magazine". Egads, I did not know that "Mad Magazine" is still in circulation.

64A: Drunkard: WINO. Thought of LUSH immediately, after our "A lush lushed lush in a lush lush" discussion last week.

65A: Asseverate: AVER. Did not know the meaning of "Asseverate". I parsed the word as "Make less severe", but EASE did not fit.

67A: Ready and willing partner: ABLE. I am ready, willing and ABLE to let Vikings go. Los Angeles Vikings does have a nice ring on it.

68A: Writer O'Flaherty: LIAM. Irish writer. Unknown to me. Is LIAM an unique Irish name? LIAM Neeson (Oskar in "Schindler's List") is from Ireland. He is going to play ABE (37D: Presidential nickname) in a Steven Spielberg biopic.

69A: Moon lander: EAGLE. Was not aware of this Apollo 11’s module name. Spider (Apollo 9) sounds quite apt.

71A: Bracket shapes: ELLS. Holy moley. I was really uneducated on this term.

Down:

2D: Writer Cather: WILLA. Her "O Pineers" appeared in our puzzle before. Unfortunately I don't remember her name.

3D: Mr. T's outfit: A-TEAM. I was thinking of the enormous amount of bling blings he is wearing, not the TV series. "The" is missing from the clue.

4D: Painter's base: GESSO. Eat a worm if you missed this one.

8D: Standing: ERECT. Made me think of the "Like member of congress clue" again. I bet John Boehner/Eric Cantor would go nuts if this clue appeared in a newspaper.

11D: Hawaiian island: KAUAI. What's so special about this island? I've never been to Hawaii. Must be very difficult to live with only 12 letters. I can understand 5 vowels, but only 7 consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w)?

25D: French Riviera resort: NICE."To Catch a Thief" is set in French Riviera. Nice movie. There is a picnic scene when Grace Kelly offered Cary Grant some chicken, and she asked "Do you want a leg or a breast?" Don't google, give me your guess on Grant's response.

27D: Put-up job: SHAM. Like FEMA's fake "News Conference".

28D: Russian city on the Vyatka: KIROV. See this map. Vyatka is a river. It has appeared in our puzzle several times. But I would not have got it without the Across fills. Chris mentioned the KIROV Ballet last time.

31D: Service winner: ACE. Tennis.

46D: Dreaded flies: TSETSES. I am surprised that our editor did not bring back "Nagana carriers" this time. He seems to be in an incurable repeating mood right now.

52D: Low tract: SWALE. This has become a gimme. Swamp anyone?

58D: Minsk money: RUBLE. Only knew RUBLE is Putin's bread. Was unaware that it's used in Belarus as well.

59D: Country singer K.T.: OSLIN. See, whatever Jimbo wants, Jimbo gets.

63D: Caron role: GIGI. Colette's most famous novel. Once again, her great quote: "I love

my past, I love my present. I am not ashamed of what I have had, and I am not sad because I no longer have it".

64D: 1965 Beatles movie: HELP. This promo looks great. Here is the list of movies the Beatles made.

C.C.

Monday February 9, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Location, Location, Location

17A: Past it: OVER THE HILL

36A: Focuses: CENTERS

56A: Pressurized: UNDER THE GUN

11D: Precedence: RIGHT OF WAY

27D: Like a southpaw: LEFT-HANDED

Nice puzzle. Simple theme. Perfectly executed. Every theme answer is gridded in its proper position. I would prefer a singular CENTER, but the grid rule dictates an odd-number word in the middle, so CENTERS has to be in plural form.

Disliked the clues for YENS (63A: Yearnings) and OCTET (12D: Octopus arms, e.g.) due to letter duplication. The stale "Group of eight" is just fine for OCTET. As for YENS, I would use a simple "Desires".

Liked the fresh clue for ENTS (54D: Adjective-forming suffixes, as in different). "Tolkien's trees" clue bores me. Happy to see our editor dumped "Poet's dusk" for EEN (37D: Ending for car or cant). But the clue was rather bland. Why not "Car tail?"

Across:

5A: Edouard's paintings: MANETS. Here is "Olympia" again. My favorite MANET. I love those daring eyes, so confronting.

14A: Porto-__, Benin: NOVO. See the bottom. Literally "New port" in Portuguese. I strung the answer together from down clues.

15A: Painter Modigliani: AMEDEO. The Italian painter. Like van Gogh, he died penniless.

21A: Slide, like a snake: SLITHER

24A: Market protests: BOYCOTTS. Named after Charles BOYCOTT, a British land agent who refused to lower rent for his tenant farmers in Ireland.

28A: $5 bill: FIN. Half a sawbuck.

29A: U.N. agcy.: ILO. Nobel Peace winner 1969. I did not know they belong to the UN.

31A: Eur. carrier: SAS. Sometimes the answer is KLM.

35A: One-time female mil. grp.: WAF. Women in the Air Force (1948-1976). New abbreviation to me.

38A: Female GI, once: WAC. Women's Army Corps (1943-1978). Saw this clue before.

39A: Compromise: SETTLE. Litigation-wise?

41A: Stephen or Chris: REA. Know Stephen REA ("Michael Collins" & "The Crying Game"). Have never heard of the British singer Chris REA.

42A: Polanki's Sharon: TATE. Was aware of the murder story, did not know her name. I am accustomed to the TATE Museum clue.

45A: Point NW of San Francisco: REYES. See the map. REYES is the plural form of REY, Spanish for king. Vs the Spanish Queen REINA.

50A: Made to join a mortise: TENONED. Did not know TENON can be a verb.

59A: Carolina river: PEE DEE. New river to me. Named after a Native American tribe.

62A: Lost sheep: STRAYS. Kept reading the clue as "Lost sleep".

Down:

5D: Olympic skier Phil: MAHRE. Foreign to me. British spelling to Maher (Bill Maher)? He does not look as cool as Bode Miller.

7D: Bk. after Ezra: NEH. Before Esth.

9D: Actor Savalas: TELLY. Have never heard of this actor. Wikipedia says he is the godfather to Jennifer Aniston, who is also of Greek root. I thought he has British blood, with this name TELLY.

10D: Importunes: SOLICITS

18D: Sales rep's domain: TERR

22D: Enameled metalware: TOLE. French for "Sheet metal". Most of the TOLE trays seem to have flowers painted on.

24D: Small bars: BISTROS. Some of the BISTROS are quite big.

26D: Winglike parts: ALAE. ALA is singular for Latin "wing". I wonder why the plural is not ALAS.

32D: Monterrey Mrs.: SRA. Alliteration again.

33D: Lot: FATE. The answer did not come to me easily. I was not in the "destiny" direction.

40D: Ex-Yankee Martinez: TINO. Yankees' ex-first base. Was replaced by Jason Giambi in 2001.

46D: One Barrymore: ETHEL. Dennis quoted her last Monday: "You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more things you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about, the more you have left when anything happens."

47D: Jerry Stiller's Anne: MEARA. Ben Stiller's mother. I obtained her name from across fills.

52D: "The Night of the Hunters" screenwriter: AGEE. Also the screenwriter of "The African Queen". He drank a lot a lot.

53D: Actor Moses: GUNN. Completely unknown to me. Wikipedia says Moses GUNN was in "Roots". I don't remember seeing him though.

C.C.

Monday February 2, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: Feeling Blue

20A: Without warning: OUT OF THE BLUE

60A: Jamaican peak: BLUE MOUNTAIN

10D: Something to scream: BLUE MURDER

30D: Miles Davis classic: KIND OF BLUE

I was only familiar with the phrase OUT OF THE BLUE. But the other three entries were very easy to suss out once I figured out the theme. Do you know where the BLUE MOUNTAIN got its name?

A perfect puzzle for Michael Phelps. He must be feeling very blue this morning. What a disappointment. Why did he need marijuana to get high? Kind of tarnished his ONCE IN A BLUE MOON eight gold medal Olympic record.

So jarring to see RED (15A: Scarlet, e.g.) and RED-HOT (6D: Fiery) intersects one another. Also, is the clue for NSA (59A: Govt. advisory grp.) correct? I wanted NSC (National Security Council). NSA is so damned secretive that I don't know to whom they give advice to.

Across:

8A: Greyhound pacer: RABBIT. I got the answer, but have no idea how RABBIT is connected with "Greyhound pacer".

14A: Gymnast Korbut: OLGA. This is incredible. She got four gold Olympics medals.

16A: Actress Dahl: ARLENE. Can never remember this actress, mother of Lorenzo Lamas. Wikipedia says she had a relationship with JFK as well.

24A: Spinoff of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show": RHODA. Learned from doing Xword. It's often clued as "Valerie Harper sitcom". Which kind of TV program do you watch now?

25A: Samms and Lazarus: EMMAS. Have never heard of EMMA Samms before. That's a very daring dress. Nice pair of ... earrings. She is a British TV actress.

29A: City on Baranof Island: SITKA. Nailed it this time. Still can't believe it's the largest city in the US by area.

34A: Driving nails obliquely: TOEING. Learned this carpentry term last time.

38A: Inter-campus sports grp.: NCAA. Can you believe NCAA was founded in 1906 and has an annual budget of $5.64 billion? By contract, NASA annual budget is $17.3 billion.

51A: Munch Museum city: OSLO. Have never heard of Munch Museum before. It's named after the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, best known for his angst-filled "Scream".

63A: Low tracts: SWALES. The ditch on the right I presume? This word always gives me trouble.

70A: Swan genus: OLOR. No idea. Latin for swan. Too exotic a name for me to remember.

72A: French some: DES. And FRANC (21D: Old French bread?), which is also the currency for Switzerland.

Down:

2D: Chilean-born pianist Arrau: CLAUDIO. Got his name from across fills. Here is a clip. I wonder why the clue is "Chilean-born" rather than "Chilean". He must have changed his nationality later on then.

4D: Tropical root: TARO. I miss those Cantonese fried TARO cakes.

7D: Made sense: ADDED UP

26D: Med. procedure: MRI. How does MRI differ from X-ray?

27D: Gone by: AGO. "A long long time AGO... the day the music died...". It's been 50 years.

43D: NASA partner: ESA. Very tiresome clue. ESA is "That" in Spanish, right?

48D: Acquire by trickery: FINAGLE. Made me think of Merrill Lynch's John Thain and his outrageous way of using government bailout money to pay his employees bonus. I am glad he is gone.

49D: Greek letter: UPSILON. EPSILON and OMICRON also have 7 letters.

50D: Some thrown horseshoes: LEANERS. Struggled with this one. Last time I was also stumped when LEANER is clued as "Almost a ringer". It's "a thrown horseshoe that leans against the stake."

63D: Sellout theaters: SRO. No abbreviation hint in the clue. I would prefer "Sellout letters".

64D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN. This clue is getting stale too. Not sure if everyone knows, but the current Chinese Premier is named WEN Jiabao.

C.C.

Monday January 26, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: Animal in Action

17A: Marine gliders: FLYING FISH

63A: Sport utility canine: HUNTING DOG

11D: Avian mimic: MOCKINGBIRD

26D: North Atlantic flier: HERRING GULL

Happy Spring Festival! 春节快乐!

I have never heard of HERRING GULL before. Are they fond of herrings? I wish there were a HEARING GULL instead. HERRING does not really fit the theme pattern here.

I think "Clique" alone is enough for IN-GROUP (53A: Elite clique), since ELITIST is the answer for 28A: Snob.

I believe this is Joe Vita's first TMS puzzle. If so, congratulations.

Across:

1A: Food for Silver: OATS. "Hi-yo, Silver". That's all I know about "The Lone Ranger".

2A: Michelangelo masterpiece: PIETA. The only work Michelangelo ever signed. I thought of DAVID first.

16A: Layer: COAT. Paint?

27A: Musical time unit: BAR. Not familiar with this exact definition. Music was regarded as a corrupt Western capitalist product and was not taught when I grew up. The loudspeaker blasted "The East is Red" every morning to wake us up.

32A: Mil. probe: RECON. I was thinking of the "A Few Good Men" style military probe.

33A: Razor choice: ATRA. Gillette should send free razors to our editor for this free publicity.

57A: Old Gray Mare, for one: NAG. Have never heard of "this folk song" before.

Down:

2D: To a man: ALL. First encounter with the phrase "To a man". Or maybe I saw it before and just did not pay attention to its usage. I tend to check the dictionary when the word is long and complicated.

5D: Braided danglers: PIGTAILS. Brought to mind the long "Braided danglers (queue)" hairstyle the Manchurians forced upon Han people till 1912, when Sun Yat-Sen and his followers finally overthrew the Machurians. That's why he is often referred to as the "Father of Modern China". About 92% of Chinese (almost 20% of the entire global population) are of Han ethnicity.

6D: Diabolical: INFERNAL

9D: For a short time: A WHILE. Often see people write AWHILE when A WHILE should be used.

12D: "Gigi" setting: PARIS. Here is the trailer. "Gigi" is probably Colette's most famous novel.

24D: Kazakhstan range: URALS. European/Asian border.

42D: Food poisoning: PTOMAINE. New word to me. Dictionary says this word derives from Greek "ptoma" meaning "corpse".

45D: Aphrodite's child: EROS. Greek equivalent of Cupid. This will be a great Valentine's Day gift. ARES, the bellicose Greek war god, is "Aphrodite's lover".

49D: Duke's location: DURHAM. The only thing I know about Duke is Coach K & the lacrosse scandal.

52D: Keenan or Ed: WYNN. Got the answer from across fills. Know either of them.

53D: Arboreal lemur: INDRI. Literally "there it is".

54D: Nostril: NARIS. Plural NARES.

64D: Org. of Capitals and Senators: NHL. Holy cow! I've never heard of Ottawa Senators or Washington Capitals. Great clue. I had no idea that there are so many teams in NHL.

C.C.

Monday January 19, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: Meal Time

20A: Residence inn: BED AND BREAKFAST

40A: British bread-and-cheese meal: PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH

55A: Sweet following eating: AFTER DINNER MINT

I have never heard of PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH before. Ploughman probably will not eat those bitter endives in the middle. What is the stuff on that front white cup? Looks deliciously chunky.

Not a well-thought theme. If BREAKFAST and LUNCH are located at the end of the phrase, so should be DINNER. You know, like CHRISTMAS DINNER, 15 letters, perfect. What other *DINNER ending phrases can you think of? BUSINESS DINNER is one letter short.

Easy sailing this morning. Very doable puzzle. I got SEE (23A: Match a raise) from down clues, but I don't understand the cluing. How so?

Across:

1A: Calgary team: FLAMES. Here is a hockey puck with FLAMES logo. That's a very hot name. We have Wild in Minnesota. Edmonton Oilers is also based in Alberta.

10A: Novelist Oz: AMOS. "A Tale of Love and Darkness" sounds intriguing.

14A: City on the Rio Grande: LAREDO. Is this city somehow related to "The Streets of LAREDO"? The title of the sad baseball movie "Bang the Drum Slowly" comes from that song.

18A: USN big shot: ADM. What's the equivalent Marines/Army/Air Force big shot? GEN?

24A: Singer Moffo: ANNA. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the down clues. Have never heard of this opera singer.

25A: CCCII tripled: CMVI. Roman 906.

29A: Grp. of D.C. advisors: NSC (National Security Council). Here is a list of those who attend the NSC meeting. General James Jones will coordinate those meetings for Obama.

31A: Chicago singer Peter: CETERA. No idea. I do love Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away". "Chicago" here refers to the band name.

37A: Bay window: ORIEL

44A: "Les Preludes" composer: LISZT. Here is a clip.

45A: Old-time roofing material: SLATE. "Old-time"? Does it mean that SLATE is not used as roofing material any more?

64A: Harem area: ODA. Turkish for "room". Derived from odalik, meaning "a chamber girl" or "a concubine", according to Wikipedia.

67A: Eskimo knife: ULU. Have never heard of ULU knife.

68A: Potential looter: RIOTER

69A: Medieval slave: ESNE. Sometimes is SERF. I don't know how those two are different from each other.

Down:

4D: Physical opening?: META. Metaphysical. Will Rogers probably would want this clue to be "I have never MET A man I didn't like". Our editor dislikes partial fills though.

9D: Love affairs: ROMANCES. They are not the same, are they? To me, "Love affair" implies a sexual and illicit relationship.

10D: Former PLA leader: ARAFAT. Hard to associate ARAFAT with Nobel Peace prize winner.

21D: Simple brooms: BESOMS. New brooms to me. Very twiggy.

27D: "Twelfth Night" role: VIOLA. I guessed. Have never read "Twelfth Night".

30D: Patsy Cline classic: CRAZY. Here is the song. Can't find Willie Nelson's CRAZY on YouTube. It's pretty good too.

33D: Belly muscles: RECTI. Singular is rectus. Another new word to me. I am convinced that I don't know my own body.

41D: Worked freelance: HIRED OUT

42D: End of a spat?: ULA. Spatula. Also "End of a form" (Formula).

47D: "__ Fideles": ADESTE. Semper is also 6-letter.

49D: Rugged range: SIERRA. "Rugged ridge" would be ARETE.

52D: Move sideways: SIDLE. There is no difference in my pronunciation of SIDLE and SADDLE.

55D: Winglike structures: ALAE. The adjective is ALAR, though often clued as "Banned spray".

59D: Synthesizer maker: MOOG. I have never heard of Bob MOOG or MOOG Synthesizer.

62D: British wheel: TYRE. British TYRE hits kerb.

C.C.

Monday January 12, 2009 John Underwood

Theme: OPERA (52D: Highbrow entertainment)

10A: Berg opera: LULU

20A: Gounod opera: FAUST

26A: Bizet opera: CARMEN

41A: Puccini opera: MADAMA BUTTERFLY

51A: Strauss opera: SALOME

63A: Bellini opera: NORMA

71A: Verdi opera: AIDA

Well, I've only heard of CARMEN, AIDA and MADAMA BUTTERFLY. Actually, I thought it's MADAME. Nevertheless, I still got all the opera names sans cheating. The intersecting clues certainly helped.

John Underwood always amazes me with his theme ideas, so simple and original. Interesting how he could turn LULU into a "Berg opera". I wonder if he is a real opera fan or just constructed this puzzle with some research.

Across:

5A: Laminated rock: SHALE. Here are some SHALE rocks. Wikipedia says it's the most common sedimentary rock.

15A: "Rodeo" composer Copland: AARON. Have never heard of "Rodeo", the so-called "cowboy ballet".

16A: Genesis character: ENOS. Adam's grandson. Sometimes it's clued as "Slaughter of Cooperstown". This name Slaughter sounds very menacing. My husband told me our surname Burnikel means "Don't kill the child" in Viking language. Does your family name carry any special meaning also?

17A: Tolkien creatures: ORCS. The baddies. ENTS are those talking trees. Learned from doing Xword of course.

40A: Ottoman official: AGA. Can also be spelled as AGHA.

62A: Shakespearean curse: POX. Oh, so that's how Shakespeare cursed. Is it like our "damned"?

64A: Egyptian cross: ANKH. Is that the sun god Ra at the bottom of this gold ANKH? This word is very close to SIKH in spelling.

Down:

2D: Hebrew scroll: TORAH. How is it different from Talmud?

4D: University of Montana city: MISSOULA. See this map. I got it from the across fills. Wikipedia says Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress, was born and grew up here. In fact, she attended the University of Montana. And to this day, she is the only woman to be elected to Congress from that state. What's the matter with Montana then? Is it a red state?

11D: Early computer OS: UNIX. How "Early"?

26D: Trophy shelf: MANTEL. I always confuse MANTEL with the "loose cape" Mantle. I wonder how many of those Mickey Mantle fans made mistakes spelling his name when they asked for his autograph via mails.

43D: Inflated language: RHETORIC. Bacon once said: Histories make men wise; poet, witty; mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and RHETORIC, able to contend.

53D: Virtuous: MORAL. Do you know why Bacon said "moral, grave"?

59D: First name in spy: MATA. MATA Hari. She looks so exotic.

60D: Letters on a cross: INRI. Abbreviation of Latin "Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum". Funny how letter I became letter J.

66D: Casablanca cap: FEZ. It's called tarboosh in Egypt. Most of them seem to be in red color.

C.C.

Monday January 5, 2009 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Access Control

18A: "Fatal Attraction" star: GLENN CLOSE

57A: "Fallin" singer: ALICIA KEYS

3D: Magical command: OPEN SESAME

29D: Noted porridge taster: GOLDILOCKS

A few things first:

1) I know that some of you only read my main blog entry every day. I suggest you start visiting Comments section. You will find more fascinating information and intelligent discussions there.

2) For those who have been lurking on the Comments section, I hope you will join the fray today. I would love to hear your "whining" about the puzzle or puzzle inspired topics.

3) I've decided to cut down my blogging activity this year. There will be no change on the main blog entry. But I won't make as many appearances on the Comments section from now on, unless I have questions or feel some explanation is needed.

As every comment is forwarded to my email account, I will still read and study every one of your post. Can't tell you in words how appreciative I am of the time and effort you guys have given me to better understand American culture. I am very touched by your kindness and generosity. Thank you.

Now back to the puzzle. I know GLENN CLOSE starred in "Fatal Attraction", though I've never seen the movie. ALICIA KEYS is such a talented singer. I love "Fallin". I've never heard of "The Story of GOLDILOCKS and the Three Bears". But I don't like the embedded *LOCKS in this answer. KEYS, OPEN and CLOSE are all stand-alone independent theme answers. Lack of theme consistency in my opinion.

Also, the clue for PONDWEED (20A: Submerged perennials) should be in singular form. Easy solving today.

Across:

14A: Pith helmet: TOPI. Unknown to me. Pictures of antelopes showed up when I googled TOPI. I've never heard of "Pith helmet" either.

15A: Japanese-American: NISEI. Second generation, to be exact. The root word SEI means birth, Ni means second. ISSEI is first generation (IS means first). SANSEI is third generation (SAN means third), don't confuse it with SENSEI (Judo/Karate teacher). Also, KIBEI is a person of Japanese descent, born in the U.S. but educated in Japan (KI is to return, BEI is America).

25A: Granitelike rock: GNEISS. Only learned this morning that it's pronounced the same as nice. I might confuse you with my spoken English. There is no distinction between my "bad" and "bed", "sax" and "sex".

40A: Take away game: NIM. I got it from down clues. What is it? Why "Take away"? Is it related to Nimbod in anyway?

41A: Indian bread?: RUPEE. "Nepal/Pakistan/Sri Lanka bread?" as well.

47A: Alabama port: MOBILE. Had no idea that it's Alabama's only seaport. Hank Aaron was born here. Come to the Comments section and say Hi if you are from MOBILE.

54A: Gorbachev policy: GLASNOST. Literally "publicity/openess". I know the meaning of this word when I read it in the newspaper. But I could not spell it out without help.

64A: Many-headed monster: HYDRA. Nine-headed, to be accurate. He was slain by Hercules. Reminds me of Janus, the two-faced god, from whom we got January.

Down:

9D: Crystal radio component: ZINCITE. New to me. I only know ZINC.

13D: Very French?: TRES. Also "A Spanish crowd?" (three).

25D: Accra location: GHANA. Often see ACCRA clued as "Ghana Capital". Ex-UN Chief Kofi Anna came from GHANA. I have an autographed photo of him.

27D: Narcotic nut: BETEL. The same as areca nut, right?

30D: Bay window: ORIEL. Here is a photo. Doesn't look like bay-shape to me.

45D: Ancient calculator: ABACUS. I really, really hate this clue "Ancient". It implies to me that ABACUS was used ages ago. I used it when I was at primary school. And my uncle still prefers ABACUS over calculator. Sorry, Calef, I just can't be persuaded by your "been in existance for a long time" argument.

47D: Bad atmosphere: MIASMA. Just learned this word a few days ago.

54D: Anglo-Saxon tax: GELD. New definition to me. I always associate GELD with "castrate".

C.C.

Monday December 29, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Unmovable Vehicles

20A: "An Aperture Monograph" photographer: DIANE ARBUS

59A: Guy with "really big shew": ED SULLIVAN

11D: Cher film: MOONSTRUCK

29D: Island off Africa: MADAGASCAR

Hmm, we need a *JEEP for a pangram grid. But still, this puzzle will rank high in scrabbliness, with three X'es, two Z's, two V's and one Q, all hallmarks of a Allan E. Parrish puzzle.

I was not familiar with the book "An Aperture Monograph" or the photographer DIANE ARBUS. What is a "Monograph" anyway?

I wish ENOS (23A: Son of Seth) were clued as "Slaughter of Cooperstown" and EXPO (12D: Large intl. show) were clued as "National, formally". So together with ORTIZ (17A: Baseball's "Big Papi"), they would form a nice baseball sub-theme. Too bad, David ORTIZ was hurt all the time when he was with the Twins.

I hope we get a Barry Silk puzzle soon. I miss his wicked Q's.

Across:

1A: Belle or Bart: STARR. Only knew Bart STARR, Packers' quarterback, and Ringo STARR, not Belle.

9A: Packing heat: ARMED. OK, tell me why the answer for "Looking for big bucks?" is IN HEAT?

14A: Minor prophet: HOSEA. What's the difference between a "Minor prophet" and a major one? Who decides that?

16A: Two-month pope of 1605: LEO XI. This would have been a tricky one without the crossing help, you know, it could be LEO IX, LEO II, LEO IV or LEO VI.

18A: Latin 101 verb: AMO

19A: Parkinson's medication: L-DOPA. Another "My Pet Goat" moment for me. How can I remember this weird medicine name?

24A: Brandy letters: VSO

25A: Some binary compounds: OXIDES. Whatever you say. I know nothing about chemical compound.

27A: Salinger girl: ESME. Salinger's "For ESME – with Love and Squalor". Learned it from doing Xword.

32A: Type of gong: TAM TAM. I tend to confuse this one with Tom Tom drum.

36A: Mont of the Alps: BLANC. Does anyone own a Montblanc pen? This one looks very expsensive.

37A: Episcopal cleric: VICAR

40A: Hit by Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas: BAD TO ME. No idea. Here is the clip. I went from BED TIME to BAD TIME, then BAD TO ME.

42A: Follow-up to a hit film, maybe: PREQUEL. I am eager to see "Angels & Demons", a PREQUEL to "The Da Vinci Code".

45A: Socialite Perle: MESTA. My brain keeps rejecting this name.

47A: Ticket: DUCAT. New slang to me.

57A: Richie's mom, to Fonzie: MRS. C

64A: Copier brand: RICOH. Canon and Xerox both have 5-letter too.

68A: Writer Calvino: ITALO. His name has become a gimme to me.

73A: SALT topic: N-TEST

Down:

1D: Like broken horses: SHOD. Why "broken"?

3D: Cinema canine: ASTA. TOTO is 4-letter too.

7D: Ice-smoothing machine: ZAMBONI. I was so happy I nailed this one. Have never been to a hockey game.

8D: Plains people: SIOUX. I like some of their names: Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, so evocative.

13D: Portuguese explorer: DIAS. He discovered Cape of Good Hope.

28D: Drudge: SLAVE

33D: What to make with Monty?: A DEAL. I guessed. I've never heard of "Let's Make a DEAL". Did not know who Monty is.

34D: Valetta's island: MALTA. Interesting "honey" etymology. Now I want a jar of MALTA honey. A bit trivia: MALTA is the smallest EU member.

36D: Ajax rival: COMET

41D: Reagan's attorney general: MEESE (Ed). If confirmed, Eric Holder will be our first African-American AG.

43D: Result of division: QUOTIENT. Have you taken a IQ test before? I have not. I fear I am borderline.

49D: Pop brand: RC COLA. Have never tasted this cola before. That's a great 1969 Mets collectible I suppose.

54D: Morris or Stewart of Arizona: UDALL. No idea. Stewart UDALL is JFK and LBJ's Secretary of the Interior. Morris UDALL ran for the president in 1976. I wonder what's the origin of this UDALL. It sounds so made-up to me.

56D: Composer Berg: ALBAN. Got his name from across fills.

58D: "Norma Rae" director Martin: RITT. New name to me also. Wikipedia says he also directed "Hud" and "The Long Hot Summer" . He must like Paul Newman a lot then.

61D: Clinging flora: VINE. Nice morning glory VINE. Rise and Shine!

C.C.

Monday December 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Sleigh Ride

17A: New York prison: SING SING

28A: Drake's snack cake: RING DING

46A: Getting a one-base hit: SINGLING

62A: Circus owner Charles: RINGLING

11D: Crazy person: DING-A-LING

35D: Delaying departure: LINGERING

Did I catch the right theme? I was getting dizzy with those *ING words. For a moment, I thought DOING (29D: In the act of) might be the tie-in theme answer. It's located in the very center of the grid. But I could not make much sense of it.

I have never heard of RING DING snack cake before. Thought DING-A-LING refers to male organ when you guys brought "My DING-A-LING" A few days ago. Now it's "Crazy person"?

Was stumped by a few proper names. Had to google. I rather like today's clues: short, succinct and straightfoward. Only wish KENYA (40D: Mau Mau country) were clued as "Obama's ancestral home".

Across:

1A: Daiquiri need: RUM. "Tom and Jerry need" for us during this time of the year.

4A: Yves' evening: SOIR. No hesitation between SOIR (Bon) and NUIT (Bonne) this time due to the intersecting SES (4D: His: Fr.). Also EAU (66A: Agua, to Fifi) and ETRE (68A: French 101 verb).

6A: Painter Modigliani: AMEDEO. His name escaped me completely. I really like this "Girl in Pigtail" painting.

14A: Actress O'Connor: UNA. She is in "The Invisible Man". New to me. Our editor used to clue UNA as "Actress Merkel".

16A: Actress Mercouri: MELINA. I googled her name. Wikipedia says she was nominated for Oscar for the Greek film "Never on Sunday". She looks stunning.

20A: Loudness unit: SONE. 40 decibles. PHON is also "Loudness unit". I forgot the difference between the two.

21A: Willingly, old-style: LIEF. Another archaic "Willingly" is FAIN.

23A: Uneasy feeling: ANGST. A rare consonant-laden short word.

24A: Non-stop: ON AND ON. Did anyone fill in ON A ROLL first?

30A: Mormon ltrs: LDS. Do you think Mitt Romney will run for president again? I think our governor Tim Pawlenty will.

33A: Membrane of grasses: PALEA. See this diagram. I would not have got it without the neighboring fills. I was thinking of PALEO, you know, the paleolithic diet, hunter/gather style: no grain/legume, lots of meat, veggie and fruits.

37A: NYC subway line: IRT. Opened in 1904 already? That's amazing.

43A: Fall garden?: EDEN. This clue is getting stale.

44A: Specialized lingo: ARGOT. I've never used this word in daily conversation. Jargon, yes.

51A: Setting free: UNTYING. One more *ING word.

55A: Part of ROK: KOREA. The current UN Chief Ban Ki-moon is from ROK (South Korea).

57A: "__ Sanctorum": ACTA. Quotaton mark? It has to refer to these books then. ACTA is a plural form of Latin "actus", meaning "official records, as of acts, deeds, proceedings, transactions, or the like".

59A: Half of CXIV: LVII. Roman for 57. Do you know what CCLD is?

60A: Journalist Fallaci: ORIANA. Sigh, another google. I just can't remember this lady's name. She wrote "The Force of Reason".

64A: Presidential also-ran Alf: LANDON. He lost to FDR in 1936.

67A: Heavenly creatures: ANGELS. And MANNA (3D: Heavenly food).

Down:

5D: Lithographer Redon: ODILON. Here is "The Spider". Musée d'Orsay has a nice collecton of his drawings.

6D: Six-out segment: INNING

9D: Hodgepodge: MELANGE

12D: Tolkien's trees: ENTS

13D: Hops kiln: OAST

22D: Michigan city: FLINT. A little trivia for you: FLINT is "the largest city in the United States with a one-syllable name". I did not know that. Also, GM was founded in FLINT in 1908.

25D: Dist. across: DIA (Diameter)

27D: Andes autocrat: INCA. Why "autocrat"?

31D: Bond picture: DR. NO. The first Bond movie.

32D: Let it stand: STET. Oppositeof DELE.

39D: Mine entrance: ADIT

41D: Former Scottish county: ARGYLL. See this map. Why did Scotland abolish all its counties in 1975?

47D: Old instrument plucker: LUTIST. "Old"? How so?

50D: Gettysburg victor: MEADE (George). I got his name after cheating on ORIANA. He looks very tall.

53D: Foch and Simone: NINAS. Here is NINA Simone's "My Baby Just Cares for Me". I was not familiar with actress NINA Foch.

54D: Lively dance: GIGUE. See this clip. I've never heard of this dance before. The GIGUE dance starts at 1:42 I suppose?

55D: Beverage nut: KOLA. Wow, lots of nuts in this pod. How many do you have to chew to get excited?

56D: Algerian port: ORAN. Camus was born here. So was designer Yves Saint-Laurent.

63D: Test for srs.: GRE. GMAT too, isn't it? For those who want to obtain MBA degree.

C.C.

Monday December 15, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Put Pen to Paper

17A: Guarantee against failure: UNDERWRITE

41A: Lacking detail: SKETCHY

62A: Epistolary afterthought: POSTSCRIPT

11D: Pulp paper: NEWSPRINT

36D: Self-propelled railroad car: DOODLEBUG

I've never heard of DOODLEBUG. What a strange name. Good theme, all of above highlighted green-letter words are in verb form.

And a feminine sub-theme:

19A: Org. founded in 1855: YWCA. YMCA is founded in 1844.

69A: Org. of Ochoa and Creamer: LPGA. It's founded in 1950. Great clue. Both Ochoa and Creamer are the backbones of LPGA now. Annika Sorenstam officially called it a quit yesterday in Dubai.

52A: Feminist grp: NOW (National Organization for Women). It's founded in 1966.

Also a Jewish sub-theme:

48A: Passover meals: SEDERS. Funny "20 Things to do with Matzoh".

66A: Hebrew month: ELUL. Last month of Jewish calendar. Did you write down ADAR first?

67A: Jehovah: ELOHIM. No idea. Dictionary defines ELOHIM as "a name for God in the Hebrew Scriptures".

47D: Mystical teachings: var.: KABALA. Madonna, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher all practice CABALA. I think Britney Spears was into it for sometime too.

I wish LEIA (16A: Han Solo's love) were clued as "Han's love" or "Luke's sister" as SOLO was the answer to 59D: Recital piece.

Very choppy solving today. Was stumped by a few proper names. Had to cheat.

Across:

1A: 911 respondent: EMS. EMT is "911 respondent" too.

4A: Ancient Syrian city: ALEPPO. I forgot. It appeared on a TMS Sunday puzzle before. Here is the map. I really don't like the clue "Ancient", even though ALEPPO has been in existence since 1100 B.C. "Ancient" always makes me think that city does not exist any more.

10A: Sicilian resort: ENNA. The "Sicilian volcano" is ETNA.

20A: Baja beach: PLAYA. Spanish for "beach".

21A: Antarctic body: ROSS SEA. Unknown to me. See the map. Strange to look at the world from another angle, isn't it?

37A: Flockhard of "Ally McBeal": CALISTA. They are a great couple.

40A: "The Bronx __": ZOO. Is this the short-lived TV series or the book about Yankees? Both are obscure to me. There are so many other ways to clue ZOO.

44A: Agony: TORTURE. I like Proust's quote "Love is reciprocal TORTURE". He also said "We become moral when we are unhappy". True?

46A: Part of a screwdriver: VODKA. Ah, I love, love this clue. Bloody Mary has VODKA as ingredient too. Virgin Mary does not.

50A: Stick it out: LAST. I misinterpreted the clue as "Stick out", so I had trouble getting LAST. I kept thinking JUT.

53A: Equestrian game: POLO

70A: Mammalian epoch: EOCENE. Would not have got this word without the down entries. EO is a prefix meaning "“primeval' or "early".

Down:

1D: Break out: ERUPT

4D: Gillette blade: ATRA. I wonder why the brand is named ATRA instead of ASTRA. ATRA does not make any sense to me.

5D: Hoad of tennis: LEW. Did not know this Australian tennis player.

7D: Air pressure meas.: PSI (Pounds per Square Inch). I was more familiar with the "Tire pressure meas." See, our editor does not like partial fill, otherwise, he could have also clued PSI as "P.S. I Love You". Such a sweet movie.

8D: Czech physicist Beckmann: PETR. I googled his name. He wrote "The History of PI".

10D: Palais du president: ELYSEE. They live in the Palais de l'Élysée.

22D: Off-course wanderer: STRAYER. STRAY can also be "Off-course wanderer", right?

24D: Military hat: SHAKO. Why is this hat so hard for me to commit to memory?

25D: Well workers: OILERS. Hockey fans probably prefer the the Edmonton OILERS clue.

26D: Composer Benjamin: BRITTEN. Another google. He is a British composer. Is BRITTEN pronounced like Briton?

29D: Rapture: ECSTASY. I wish ECSTASY intersects the clue "Agony" rather than the answer TORTURE.

30D: Former Lisbon coin: ESCUDO. No idea. Wikipedia says it was also a money unit in Spain and its colonies before Euro was ushered in.

34D: Black Sea arm: AZOV. Here is the map. I've never heard of it before.

38D: Hurled: THREW

54D: Small antelope: ORIBI. Her face looks so thin. New antelope to me. I could only think of ELAND, which is huge. I can't believe those horns are hollow.

56D: Scheduled next: ON TAP. ON DECK is "Scheduled next" too.

57D: Belgian singer/songwriter: BREL. This reminds me of a friend. He loves Jacques BREL.

58D: Cry out in pain: YELP. Dogs YELP. Do people YELP also?

C.C.