Wednesday, April 16, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: DATE

17A: Date: TAKE OUT SOCIALLY

39A: Date: PALM TREE FRUIT

62A: Date: DAY MONTH AND YEAR

Nope, could not get on Anderson's wavelength today. ACH, what does it mean? Alas? Oh no? Knew Chinese word for YOKOHAMA (横浜市), not English. The crossing of these 2 words drove me nuts. This "H" is very hard to fish it out. I toyed with T, K, G, never even though of H.

Got SINÉAD easily as I love her "Nothing Compared 2 U" (Tell me baby where did I go wrong?). But I've never met with 25D: ENTERIC before, and ANDRÉ Gide was a complete étranger to me. Vaguely remembered 54A: ESCARP, but could not retrieve it easily from my brain, esp letter "A" as I was not familiar with NAPALM either. So a total disaster at very heart of this puzzle. Too panicky to enjoy any of the dates, so I decided to turn to Mr. Google for comfort.

Across entries:

1A: Check words: PAY TO

14A: Cancel, as a launch: ABORT. Would be NO GO if it's 4-letter I gather?

20A: Cheri of "SNL": OTERI. She definitely craves crossword solvers' constant attention.

21A: Shea corners: BASES. Good clue. Shea Stadium (METS).

22A: German exclamation: ACH. No idea.

24A: Singer O'Connor: SINÉAD. She should not have torn Pope John Paul II's picture into pieces in front of a live performance. But she has suffered enough!

29A: Swedish auto: SAAB

31A: Writer Gide: ANDRÉ. Nobel Literature winner in 1947. Is it a gimme for you?

33A: Mal de__: MER. Or Debussy work La __. Or "MER, sexe, soleil" should you dare! J'adore Gainsbourg.

37A: Udder ends: TEATS. Audacious enough!

43A: Arab leader: var. EMEER. Or EMIR. Literally "prince" in Arabic.

44A: Ashe's game: TENNIS

46A: Matter form: GAS

49A: Poker player's declaration: ALL IN

54A: Steep slope: ESCARP. It was clued as "Slope of a rampart" before. It's "a steep artificial slope in front of a fortification''. Derived from French "escarper" (to cut).

58A: Tapestry in "Hamlet": ARRAS

60A: Sphere of wisdom?: PEARL. Great clue. Would be better if it were in plural form. Pearls of wisdom.

65A: Summer on the Somme: ÉTÉ. Good one. Alliteration. "Somme river" is in northern France. Let's try "Sand's summer" next time. George Sand, the French writer.

69A: Lag behind: TRAIL

70A: French annuity: RENTE. French for "pension", "annuity". Our "rent" is "loyer" in French, like "loyer mensuel" (monthly rent).

71A: The German: DER. Another good clue. Masculine form of "the" in German. "DIE" is the feminine form and "DAS" is the neuter form. Learned this from Dennis.

72A: Witch trial city: SALEM

73A: Sen. Kefauver: ESTES. Does ESTES park (CO) have something to do with Sen. Kefauver and his family?

Down entries:

1D: Sajak of "Wheel of Fortune": PAT. Don't know him. Pure guess. I've never watched "Wheel of Fortune".

3D: City on Tokyo Bay: YOKOHAMA. Major port in Japan, together with Kobe, Osaka, Tokyo.

4D: Waste allowance: TRET

5D: Nebraska Sioux: OTOES

6D: Membrane of the inner eye: RETINA

7D: Hesitant sounds: ERS. Lots of "R' in today's puzzle, 22.

9D: FEMA command facility: EOC (Emergency Operations Center)

11D: Aromatic fir: BALSAM. Saw this clue before.

12D: Assert to be true: ALLEGE. Are you curious about who is Client No. 8 or Client No. 10?

13D: Yellowstone Park sight: GEYSER. See this picture, so misty.

18D: Tell's canton: URI. Or Swiss Canton. Tell is William Tell, the legendary archer. He was forced to shoot an apple from his son's head with bow and arrow.

19D: Bern's river: AAR

23D: Goldfish relative: CARP. The ornamental carp I suppose. This carp is way too big.

25D: Intestinal: ENTERIC. This word screwed up the whole grid for me! The noun is "enteron" (the alimentary canal; the intestines)

26D: "Zip- __-Doo-Dah": A DEE. Nope, I've never heard of it.

27D: Working copy: DRAFT

30D: Ill humor: BILE

32D: To be, in Toulon: ÊTRE. or Raison d'___.

33D: Mme. Bovary: EMMA. Ah, the danger and thrill of adultery! The only Flaubert's work I've read.

36D: Engrave slab: STELE. Look at this piece from Xi'An Forest of Stele Museum, beautiful calligraphy. Those texts are from the Confucian classics.

41D: Audaciously rude: INSOLENT

42D: Tiny birds: TITS. Pretty, isn't it? (Thomas, I did not know the slang meaning of "tit", so I was at sea when you warned me earlier.)

46D: Arranged in steps: GRADED

47D: Expose to oxygen: AERATE. Have to ask this question again: Why green keepers aerate the greens in fall rather than spring? Where have you been Alex in PGA?

48D: More agile: SPRYER. Can also be spelled as SPRIER.

50D: Flame-thrower fluid: NAPALM. No idea. It's "a highly incendiary jellylike substance used in fire bombs, flamethrowers, etc". From Na (phthene)+PALM (itate). All gibberish to me.

53D: Senator Nunn: SAM. No, I've never heard of him. He left the Senate before I arrived here. SAM Snead tomorrow?

55D: Stimpy's pal: REN. Repeat offender.

56D: San Diego pro: PADRE. What's their record this season? 8-6, not bad. Twins bullpen sucks!!

64D: Latvian chess master: TAL (Mikhail). Not Russian?

67D: Legal thing: RES. Latin.

Quip, or quote, that's the question, for tomorrow.

C.C.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: FORTES (Physical, Intellectual & Visual)

17A: Publisher's forte?: MANUAL DEXTERITY

39A: Prevaricator's forte?: MENTAL AGILITY

62A: Diver's forte? DEPTH PERCEPTION

Nope, not an easy Wednesday for me.

Got mired in the mucky upper left corner again. Was not familiar with IGA (2D: Supermarket grp.). Had no idea that AGATE was a printing type. It's always a "Playing marble" to me. I doubt my baseball stat nut husband knows this special size word for the sports data he is poring over every morning. Did not know "MANDRAKE the Magician". Not a fan of comic strip. Only glance over at "Dennis the Menace" occasionally. The crossing of 3D & 17A MAN is very inelegant.

I did not actually experience much resistance in other areas, though I don't think I would've got MIRO & SEWER without the down clues. MIRO is the most vicious clue I've ever seen in TMS crossword. How many people have seen this "Painting" painting? Ridiculous! "Painters on Painting" painter or "Antipainter' painter will be sufficiently challenging!

SEWER clue is very diabolical too. For me, Ed Norton is him, Salma Hayek's ex. Have never heard of "The Honeymooners". Again, without the down clues, I would've failed miserably. I hate the TEX clue (8D: Comboy's handle) too. Want to overawe me? Add a "?" for the clue. Then I will go gaga over your cleverness. (Update: My mistake. I did not know that cowboy is called a TEX. I complicated the whole thing).

Grid: Total letters filled: 187. Total blank squares: 38 (reached the maximum). Total 26 letter As in this puzzle (13% of the filled squares)

Across clues:

1A: FRD coins: DIMES.

6A: Meat pastes: PATÉS. Hmm, Paté de campagine, fresh baguette directly out of a boulangerie, and a bottle of wine. Perfect picnic in Paris, esp if you are in love!

11A: Dupe: SAP. "Soul-sapping" = "Today" extension, indeed Robin (Givhan).

14A: Tiny type size: AGATE. It's "a standard unit of measurement found primarily in newspaper publishing, AGATE is approximately equal to 5 1/2 points or 1/14 of an inch. The very small type used for statistical data in the sports and stock sections of a newspaper is agate type." It's also used to display legal notices in newspapers. Considered to be the smallest point size that can be printed on newsprint.

20A: Cash in Iraq: DINAR. No "Bread in Iraq?". Guess the Editor is not in the mood to dance around with us this morning. Good, we need straight & honest answers about Iraq, everything! Where did the $9 billion OIL revenue go? FYI, DINAR is also the currency in Iran, Jordan and a few other countries in Middle Eastern countries.

22A: Long, thin fish: GAR. OK, they do look long and thin. I've never had GAR before.

24A: Perspiring: SWEATY

28A: "Painting" painter. MIRO (Joan). Would you get this one without the down clues?

31A: Ed Norton's "Office": SEWER. Is it a gimme for you?

34A: Bury the hatchet: MAKE UP

43A: Seer's deck: TAROT

49A: German philosopher: HEGEL. Ah, the Dialectics guy. Karl Marx adopted his theory and formed his own "Dialectical Materialism". My middle school headache!!

51A: __ fide (in bad faith): MALA. I am always confused by this translation. "MALA fide" looks like "bad faith' to me, where is the preposition "in"?

57A: "All Things Considered" network: NPR. Do you like Robert Segal? I do.

19A: Major artery: AORTA

70A: Bandleader shaw Shaw: ARTIE. Repeat offender.

73A: Electrical pioneer: TESLA (Nicola). Also, unit of magnetic flux density.

Down clues:

2D: Supermarket grp.: IGA (Independent Grocers' Alliance)

3D: Magician of comics: MANDRAKE. MANDRAKE the Magician. Sigh.

4D: Pin box: ETUI. OK, one more ETUI for you.

5D: Astin and Hayes: SEANS. Knew Sean Astin. Sean Haynes, no!

6D: San Diego team: PADRES

8D: Cowboy's handle: TEX (Fletcher). This guy is so prolific, he reminds me of Willie Nelson's career. "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys". (Ugh, I entangled myself on this one, sorry for the mistake).

13D: Walter in the NFL Hall of Fame: PAYTON. Ha ha, finally a HOFer I know.

19D: Sleep sate: R. E. M. Enough of this word. Go back to sleep pls!

23D: Composer Khachaturian: ARAM

25D: Infused with oxygen: AERATED. I wonder why golf course green keepers aerate their greens in autumn rather than in spring time.

27D: Abominable snowmen: YETIS

32D: Move, in realtor-speak: RELO

35D: Jazz state: UTAH

38D: Thailand's last name?: SIAM. Great clue. Here is information I got from Wikipedia :" The country's official name was Siam until 23 June 1939, when it was changed to Thailand; it was renamed Siam between 1945 and 11 May 1949, after which the name Thailand was once again adopted". So Thailand's last name before Thailand is indeed SIAM.

40D: Theater section: LOGE

41D: Passages: TRANSITS

45D: __ es-Salaam: DAR. Again, the across clues saved me. "DAR es-Salaam" is Arabic word for "Abode of Peace'. Dar means "house". Salaam is "peace". Wikipedia says that the commonly known "Haven of Peace" translation is an erroneous.

46D: Large crowds: HORDES

47D: UFO crew?: ALIEN. Why the question mark?

48D: Tyrant: DESPOT

50D: East Indian sailor: LASCAR. Also spelled as LASHKAR. Probably a gimme for Governor Bobby Jindal or CNN's Zain Verjee. It's an impossible for me without the across clues.

55D: Dundee refusal: NAE

56D: 3/17 honoree: ST. PAT.

59D: Spurious imitation: SHAM

63D: Luau dish: POI. I've never had POI before. I do like steamed/baked taro though.

66D: Texas tea: OIL. Good clue. A bit groan on TEX, Texas though.

67D: Performance grants org.: NEA (National Endowment for the Arts).

Alright, I am ready for a torturous QUIP. Go ahead, make my day!

C.C.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Lament (Homophones)

17A: Baker's lament?: I KNEAD (NEED) A VACATION

38A: Bored big game hunter's lament?: SO WHAT ELSE IS GNU (NEW)

59A: Frustrated sailor's lament?: I'M KNOT (NOT) ON THE HELM

Ai ya (Chinese for D'oh)! I missed another precious opportunity to finish a puzzle unaided today. I simply forgot SISAL for Agave plant, and had no idea that MITER could also be a carpenter's box. I also put CLINCHED instead of STITCHED for 40D: Sewed up. My March Madness moment I suppose! So I screwed up the whole corner. Oh well, next Wednesday then. Anderson is probably the only constructor whose wavelength I share.

Grid Analysis (15*15):

Total words: 78 (37 Across, 41Down). Total blank square: 34

I forgot to mention yesterday that besides the center row and center column, the grid (always diagonally symmetrical of course) also has a center square (or cell). In today's case, it's the letter L (intersection of 38A and 29D). That's why the total square counts for the grid is always an odd number (191 from Monday to Saturday's 15*15 puzzle and 441 for Sunday's 21*21 puzzle).

Today's grid has only 4 less blank squares than yesterday's, yet it just felt so open. I don't know why yesterday's puzzle bothered me. I had a quick check last night at some of the puzzles we've done, and found out that I actually enjoyed quite a few with similar counts of 3-letter words (if not more). Maybe yesterday's grid just did not fit my eyes.

Across entries:

1A: Employees: STAFF. Did not fall to the S trap due to the quick crumbling of 5D: FAA

5A: Ballet Bend: PLIÉ. Past participle of verb Plier (Bend in French). There are 2 plié styles: demi-plié (half bend) and grand-plié (full bend).

14A: Preminger film: LAURA. No idea. Pure guess. Knew Preminger only because his given name OTTO keeps coming up in the puzzle.

16A: Ticklish doll: ELMO. Silly.

20A: Physical starter?: META. Metaphysical. Ah, Aristotle and his Metaphysics! I guess those ancient Greeks did not have much to do in their spare time besides going to their mall (AGORA), so they contemplated about life and universe hard and deep. Nowadays, who else except Bernard-Henri Lévy has the time or élan to think?

22A: Beekeeping site: APIARY. Where are you, bees?

23A: Japanese zither: KOTO. Here is a beautiful picture of women in traditional Japanese kimino playing KOTO. A gimme for our fellow solver AlohaSpirit in Seattle I hope!

25A: Fraternal org.: BPOE (Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks)

26A: Word to the wise: ADVICE. Not "word from the wise"? I don't get it. Don't you get advice from the person who is wise?

29A: "Micheal Collins" star: REA (Stephen). Tired of him. Time to challenge us with Latin Mens REA (guilty mind).

34A: Settle down for the night: ROOST. Wow, I always thought only birds roost.

37A: Keanu in "The Matrix": NEO. Not much going on with Keanu lately.

42A: Nautical lift: DAVIT. Here is a DAVIT for you.

43A: Strict: STERN

44A: Jodie Foster film: NELL

47A: Matched up: PAIRED. Why "matched up"? Isn't "matched" sufficient?

48A: Pitcher Hershiser: OREL. Another repeat offender.

50A: Brewer's grain: MALT

51A: Pat and Debby: BOONES. Father and daughter ("You Light up My Life".)

54A: Islet: AIT. It's clued as River inlet on Sunday's puzzle.

62A: Metric meas.: KILO

63A: Merit: RATE. Yep, let EARN rests for a while.

64A: Partner of vice?: VERSA. Vice Versa is also a 1988 film title.

65A: List ender: ET AL

66A: French/Belgian river: YSER

67A: After-market purchase: ADD-ON

Down entries:

1A: Actor Pickens: SLIM. A total stranger to me. Was his original name SLIM?

3A: Uncle's mate: AUNT. Wonder how Carson (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) reacts to this clue.

4D: Strange: FREAKISH

5D: Air-travel watchdog grp.: FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)

6D: Socrates' pupil: PLATO

9D: Adventure: ESCAPADE. I love this word and desperado, both evoking an image of some bold, fearless, wild and daring acts. I am totally buying the conspiracy theory that Roger Stone is behind Spitzer's escapade exposure.

10D: One's specialty: MÉTIER. Pas de problèm!

18D: Oasis fruit: DATE. Have you ever tried fresh palm date before? So delicious!

24D: Group of eight: OCTAD. The other word "Octet" is a composition for 8 voices.

25D: Beauty's beau: BEAST. I often wonder why "Beauty and the Beast" is not "The Beauty and the Beast", or "Beauty and Beast". What's the rationale behind the inconsistency of "the"?

26D: Burning desire: ARSON. Need a question mark here: Burning desire?

27D: "Lorna __-": DOONE. Learned from doing crossword of course.

28D: "Wheel of Fortune" buy: VOWEL. These might be tough for those solvers in Asia/Europe who do not watch "Wheel of Fortune".

33D: Word with bite or barrier: SOUND

35D: Angle maker: BEVEL. Nailed it this time.

36D: Agave plant: SISAL. Have to commit this word to my memory!

39D: Wall hanging: TAPESTRY.

40D: Sewn up: STITCHED. Naturally!

45D: Palindromic Asian leader: LON NOL (Cambodian Prime Minister)

47D: Track through a forest: PATH

50D: Carpenter's box: MITER. Never knew this before.

56D: Animal group: HERD. Talk about over-thinking and unthinking. I stretched myself to the world of PETA and SPCA, and there is no abbreviation mark in the clue to suggest that, you dummy!

58D: Fed: TMAN (Treasury)

60D: PAU's successor: OAS (Organization of American States). I bet Castro took it as a badge of honor to be excluded from OAS. As for PAU, it stands for Pan American Union.

61D: One Gabor: EVA

OK, I am ready for an Alan O. Olschang's quip/quote puzzle. Bring it on!

C.C.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Philip A. Anderson

Theme: Pulp Fiction

20A: Publishing pulp fiction?: PAGE TURNERS

59A: Real estate pulp fiction?: SPACE OPERAS

11D: Romance pulp fiction?: SOB STORIES

29D: Culinary pulp fiction?: POTBOILERS

I did not know that the plural form of "pulp fiction" is still "pulp fiction", so I was quite bothered in the beginning by the seemingly inconsistent noun forms between the clues and the answers.

I kind of like the topical reference (albeit vaguely) of the theme, given the recent scandal over Penguin's recall of Love & Consequence. There are also 3 Irish related sub-theme in this puzzle, ABIE, LIA Fail (36D: Irish crowning stone) & Stephen REA (an Irish actor). I bemoan the fact that they did not appear on Monday's O themed St. Patrick's Day puzzle. I am happy to find SENATE (24A: Upper house) and CONG (D. C. group) in the same puzzle.

I spent roughly 30 minutes on this puzzle. I was only retarded at the intersection of 34D and 53A (Letter E). I had no knowledge of URIEL, and I simply had no idea who was the former Swedish premier (PALME). I doubt if Annika Sörenstam knows. I would've never put an "E" or any vowel there, as both up & down words seem to be crying for a consonant.

My other SNAFU is the upper right corner. I had no idea who was Irish Rose, I decided that AXIE sounded good for her love. So my 11D became SEX STORIES. Well, romance stories do have lots of sex scenes, don't they? Then I looked at 33A (ATOP). I blushed: what's going on here? But I corrected myself before I became completely flustered.

I am so proud that I filled in OSIER authoritatively. Someone mentioned this word in the Comment section a few weeks ago. I read it and then I absorbed it. Thank you, Oregon!

Across entries:

10A: _ Spumante: ASTI. The sparking wine. Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante. I have no idea why I always associate this wine with Kama Sutra. My mind sometimes works very weirdly.

19A: Irish Rose's love: ABIE. I was actually thinking of Senator Kennedy's mother Rose. She was Irish. Here is more information for Abie's Irish Rose.

20A: Publishing pulp fiction?: PAGE TURNERS. Don't understand the hype and huge followings of Eat, Pray & Love.

35A: Disney frame: CEL

37A: Code of silence: OMERTA. Mafia practice. Don't snitch. I also read Mario Puzo's novel Omerta. It's as bad as The Sicilian. I think I only like the Godfather I.

40A: Roster with assignments: ROTA. No idea. I guessed. Here is the definition: "A round or rotation of duties; a period of work or duty taken in rotation with others". British word.

47A: Beret filler: TETE. French for head. I enjoy watching every mishap made by the current French tete Nicolas Sarkozy.

53A: An archangel: URIEL. It's "one of the archangels named in the Apocrypha and in Hebrew tradition."

58A: "My gal __": SAL. Have never seen it. I don't think I've seen any Rita Hayworth movie.

59A: Real estate pulp fiction: SPACE OPERAS. A subgenre of Science fiction. Not my cup of tea.

66A: Workplace safety grp.: OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

71A: Designer Schiaparelli: ELSA. She obviously craves fame, this is her 2rd appearance in the puzzle in a week. And she has been dead for 35 years.

Down entries:

1D: Model's walkway: RAMP. Catwork Ramp.

2D: Zeno's home: ELEA. Learned from crossword. Zeno is the "Greek philosopher who formulated numerous paradoxes that challenged the ideas of pluralism and the existence of motion and change."

6D: Pantomime game: CHARADES. Ben Bradley is good at this game.

7D: Favorite hangout: HAUNT. Mayflower Hotel for Client #9.

11D: Romance pulp fiction?: SOB STORIES. I think the first romance story I've read in English is probably The Bridges of Madison County, and I sobbed a lot. Did not enjoy Clint Eastwood's portrayal of Robert Kincaid though.

12D: Tough fabric: TWILL

13D: Rhone tributary: ISERE. Got it this time.

21D: Mythical beast: UNICORN. Franklin Mint has the best unicorn sculptures.

27D: Zhivago's love: LARA. Let's try Lara Logan of CBS next time. Love her and Nick Robinson. Logan was awarded Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year in 2007.

29D: Culinary pulp fiction?: POTBOILER. "a usually inferior work (as of art or literature) produced chiefly for profit". I would put Denzel Washington's "Déjà Vu" as a potboiler movie. Horrible. What a waste of his talent!

32D: Cyclonic wind: TORNADO

34D: Former Swedish premier: PALME. Olof Palme. Interesting given name. Have to remember it lest the diabolic constructor come up with a Former Swedish Premier Palme ___ clue next time. Strange to see politicians assassinated in Sweden. Their former Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was also stabbed to death in 2003.

36D: __ Fail (Irish crowning stone): LIA. Here is the photo. It's also called Stone of Destiny. It's located in Tara Hill, Ireland.

42D: Plea: ENTREATY. I think I am getting smarter. I filled in this word like it's OREO.

49D: Mount in the Cascades: SHASTA. Unknown to me until today. I get it from down clues. Shasta is an Indian word, meaning what???

53D: Customary practice: USAGE

54D: "Bolero" composer: RAVEL. Nailed it today.

57D: Chutzpah: NERVE. The Audacity. Of hope. "But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins." Brilliant speech yesterday, Senator Obama!

60D: False front: POSE. What's wrong with NY? The new governor also had an affair? You guys are really good at cultivating a pose as an ordinary family-loving man.

65D: Stephen of "Michael Collins": REA. Have never seen this movie before. Generally I love all IRA related movie. Of course, Stephen REA's The Crying Game is the best.

For keys to today's puzzle, please go to Chicago Tribune's Crossword website.

C. C.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Salon Terms (Play on Words)

20A: Salon discounts?: Red Dye Specials (Red Eye Special)

41A: Adversarial salon treatment: Hostile Makeover (Hostile Takeover)

60A: Long-lasting lock at the salon: Permanent Tress (Permanent Press)

Tomorrow I am going to start the puzzle from the upper middle section. I have formed this upper-left-corner phobia. Stumped immediately by TITO. That put me in a very negative frame of mind.

I was also mad at myself for not remembering the Eastern German police STASI. The movie "The Lives of Others"made such a big splash in 2007. (update: It won Oscar for Best Foreign Film last year)and I remember I was so intrigued by those Eastern German spies (STASI) and the stunning amount of files they kept. I remember I looked into the dictionary several times for the meaning of STASI. My memory is failing me, all the time now.

There are quite a few foreign words in this puzzle: Latin, German, French, Greek.

Here are the across entires:

1A: Mambo king Puente: TITO. I am sure he was big, otherwise he wouldn't be called Mambo king. But still, he is unknown to me. The only Titos I knew are Yugoslavia's Tito and the Jackson 5 Tito. I just could not get the tune of Mambo #5 out of my mind now.

5A: Low tract of land: SWALE. It's a "low place in a tract of land, usually moister and often having ranker vegetation than the adjacent higher land."

10A: Swedish car: SAAB. What do you call Volvo? A Swedish car or an American car (as it's now owned by Ford)?

14A: Tan shade: ECRU

16A: Jason's vessel: ARGO. Jason and the Argonauts. Greek mythology. Never read it. Not sure if they found the Golden Fleece in the end. Jason's wife is Medea.

17A: Nair competitor: NEET. Depilatory cream. Another name is Veet.

23A: _ polloi: HOI. The many (Greek). Hoi is "the", interesting to see people still write "the hoi polli", so redundant.

25A: Bowler's button: RESET. Tired of this clue.

26A: Juarez gold: ORO. Spanish for gold.

28A: 2 on the phone: ABC

30A: Vitamin fig.: RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance)

34A: Coach Parseghian: ARA. You've worn out your welcome too.

36A: Another name for ethylene: ETHENE

44A: Oban daggers: SKEANS. Did not know. I only knew "SNEE" and "Dirk". Oban is in Scotland.

46A: Biblical miracle site: CANA. Jesus changed water into wine, his first miracle.

47A: "___ Kapital": DAS. Karl Marx's work. Das means "the" in German. I wonder why the English title for it is "Capital", rather than "the Capital."

52A: East German secret police: STASI. German abbreviation of Staatssicherheit (State Security). Secret police of Eastern German.

68A: Seed cover: ARIL. Another repeat offender.

70A: Auberjonois of "Boston Legal": RENÉ. Got it from down clue. Never heard of him.

71A: Movie critic Pauline: KAEL. Unknown. She was the film critic for The New Yorker from from 1968 to 1991. Our local Star Tribune has a brilliant film critic named Colin Covert.

73A: Belgian river: YSER. It flows into North Sea.

Down entries:

2D: Champagne bucket: ICER. Has anyone read French Women Don't Get Fat? Well, according to the author, you should drink wine or champagne with your meals.

3D: Bird's nest?: TREEHOUSE

4D: Best: OUTDO. Good job, Hillary, when No. 1 guy outdoes you, you offer him the No. 2 spot.

6D: Smart aleck: WISEACRE. I wish Alex Trebeck would shut up more so that all the Jeopardy questions can be answered.

7D: Preferred invitees: A LIST. Not any more, Eliot Spitzer.

8D: Bounder: LEAPER. Technically yes, but I hated it. Oh, by the way, bounder also means "An ill-bred, unscrupulous man".

9D: Medieval serf: ESNE. Learned from doing crossword.

10D: "Gymnopedies" composer: SATIE (Erik). I am so happy that I got him this time.

11D: Tapestry in "Hamlet": ARRAS. Wall hanging. Saw it clued as Gertrude's tapestry before.

13D: Upward push: BOOST. That's what the Bernanke's rescue package did to the stock market yesterday. It just needs to be sustained.

21D: Meas. across: DIA (Diameter). Last time I made a mistake saying it's diagonal, luckily some reader pointed it out. See, I learned.

26D: Phil of folk: OCHS. He was clued as Protest-singer Phil on Sunday's puzzle. Ex-owner of NY Times is named Ochs.

29D: Aromatic fir: BALSA. Is BALSA the same as Balsam?

31D: Fake-out moves: DEKES. Never heard of this word. Only knew decoy. For a moment, I thought maybe decoy's plural form is still decoy, but the letter e from the across APE forced me to dismiss the idea.

35D: Docs' group: AMA. Or HMO sometimes.

37D: Ad _ committee: HOC. I suppose "ad" means "to" in Latin? US Senate seems to have quite a few Ad Hoc committee. I never knew what they are doing.

38D: Dissipates: EVANESCES. Latin origin ( évānéscere), meaning "fade away".

40D: Part of Q. E. D.: ERAT. Another Latin, Quod Erat Demonstrandum, which was to be demonstrated. I gather ERAT is a past tense for "is"?

43D: Natural talent: APTITUDE. That's what Tyler Hinman has for crossword. Incredible.

53D: __ incognita: TERRA. Unknown Land. Latin. Terra Firma, Terra Cotta.

54D: Palmer, casually: ARNIE. He has an "Army". I respect Jack Nicklaus (the Bear), but I love Arnold Palmer. I respect Tiger Woods, but I love Phil Mickelson. Somehow Tiger and Jack have put some distances between themselves and us.

57D: Broadway backer: ANGEL. I did not connect "Angle" with money until Dennis mentioned it in the Comments. Here is more explanation I lifted from an article on Angel Investment: "The term "angel" has a long history, originating in the entertainment industry. An "angel" was the financial backer of a Broadway show. For instance, the owner of the Boston Red Sox who traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees to raise money to back a Broadway show was an angel, although not to generations of Red Sox fans."

59D: Fatigued: WEARY. The Iraq War, the Fatigue Syndrome.

61D: Fragrant ointment: NARD. I put SARD put, I don't know why.

62D: "___ of the d'Urbervilles": TESS. The only Hardy book that I acturally read.

63D: Trig. function: SINE

67D: German article: DER. According to Dennis, this is the masculine form of 'the" in German, "Das" is the neuter form, and "die" is the feminine form.

I hope you guys will read the Comments section (and add your voice too). There are gems of information and pearls of wisdom to be gleaned there.

C. C.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: All About Eve (Update: Forget about what I wrote about the Rapper Eve. I made a mistake in connecting the dots.)

17A: Eve's address on her rap sheet: The Garden of Eden

35A: Notation on Eve's rap sheet: First Offender

52A: 17A, on Eve's rap sheet: Scene of the Crime

I nearly aced this one. Made 2 mistakes only. I filled in DETERS (rather than DEFERS) for 23A: Postpones, and I put TAROS rather than TOROS for 41A: Some lawnmowers. So my 25D Feudal lord's domain became TIEFDAM (rather than FIEFDOM). OK, that's 3 mistakes, but technically only 2 wrong fills.

I am not a fan of Rap Music, too gangster/angst driven. My realm of RAP knowledge is limited to Dr. Dre, Ice T, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Eve, and the phrase they coined "Bling Bling".

Eve, the so-called Gangster Goddess, made news early last year when she was ordered to wear an alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet after her DUI. And she (and Lindsey Lohan) made the bracelet monitor a fashion necessity for the summer of 2007.

Terry Gross of Fresh Air had an interesting interview with Rapper Ice Cube last year. I was amazed by the tough life he went through. All those rappers seem to have a very hard childhood.

OK, here are the Across Entries

4A: Unbroken: SOLID. Don't like the clue. Unbroken means "whole" or "intact" to me.

9A: Aromatic Wood: CEDAR

15A: Eccentric: OUTRÉ. Hmm, that's Kim Jong Il of North Korea. He carded 34 on his first round of golf.

16A: Pain pill brand: ALEVE. Or Tylenol. Or tough it out.

20A: Paramount: MAJOR

21A: Fountain of Rome: TREVI. It's located at a junction of 3 roads (Tre Vie).

22A: Art sch. course: ANAT (Anatomy)

23A: Postpones: DEFERS

26A: OSS successor: CIA. OSS is Office of Strategic Services (WWII intelligence Agency).

29A: Napoleon's marshal: NEY (Michel). Got his name from down clue.

30A: Fanatical: RABID

31A: Indonesian island: BALI. Sometimes it's Java.

32A: Literary category: GENRE. For your information, there is a publication called GENRE magazine.

33A: Hang around: LOITER

38A: Lavishly showy: ORNATE

39A: Knight's wives: DAMES

40A: Noblewoman: LADY

41A: Some lawnmowers: TOROS. I shouldn't have botched this one. I used to have a Toro Promotional bobblehead.

42A: Bell and Barker: MAS. I knew Ma Bell and Baby Bells, never heard of Ma Barker.

45A: Indigo or woad: DYE. Both are blue dyes. By the way, the rock band Indigo Girls duo are Crosswords fans.

46A: Bizet opera: CARMEN. I lucked out on this one. Got it from down clues. I know nothing about opera.

51A: Eagle's nest: AERIE

48A: Welsh dog: CORGI. Cute.

58A: More inadequate: LAMER. Lamer, Solider, I don't know, you tell me.

61A: Parisian school: ECOLE. Its student is Eleve.

Down entries:

1D: Robin's partner: BATMAN. Who still has their original Batman lunch box (1966)?

2D: Constituent of natural gas: ETHANE

3D: Record player?: DEEJAY

5D: James Coburn movie, "___ Man Flint": OUR. I dodged the bullet once again. Never saw this movie.

8D: Pockmarked: DENTED

10D: Hgt.: ELEV (Elevation). Hgt stands for Height.

11D: Name an inspiration: DEDICATE

12D: Old Roman greeting: AVE. Ave Caesar!

13D: Stimpy's pal: REN. The Ren and Stimpy Show.

19D: Hockey defensive great: ORR. Boy, who paid over $100,000 for his nude picture?

23D: "Divine Comedy" poet: DANTE

24D: Spanish river: EBRO. If it's three letter, then it's RIO.

25D: Feudal lord's domain: FIEFDOM. Tough for me to pronounce this word.

27D: Robert of "The Sopranos": ILER. He is "A. J. Soprano". He seems to be a very troubled actor.

28D: Melodic tune: AIR

32D: Go-with-anything color: GRAY. Also Botanist Asa.

35D: Ravel: FRAY

36D: "___ Proposal": INDECENT. Demi Moore and Robert Redford movie. The plot is very similar to Nicolas Cage/Sarah Jessica Parker's Honeymoon in Vegas. Don't you think so?

37D: Cabby's customer: FARE

41D: Triviality: TRIFLE

42D: Docking facility: MARINA

44D: Precipitous slopes: STEEPS. Never knew "Steep" can be a noun.

46D: Salad green: CRESS. I never put cress in my salad. But I also never put garlic in my pesto, and I never eat cheddar cheese with apple pie.

50D: SSS classification: ONE A. It's the only SSS (Selective Serve System) classification I know.

51D: Lot of land: ACRE

54D: Tic-toe tie: TAC

55D: Med. grp: HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)

56D: Lamprey or moray: EEL. The worst offender.

So, Hillary won both Ohio & Texas, Brett Favre decided to retire, all too shocking for me. I need to rewind and chill out. And Learn my American Anthem.

C. C.

Wednesday, Feb 27, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: PAIRS

17A: Cell mates?: Partners in Crime

35A: Nest mates?: Birds of a Feather

53A: Bench mates?: Second Stringers

Do you guys ever read the Comments part of my blog? At the end of my daily blog entry, you will see the word Comments (see the signs of an envelop and a pen?). Just click on it and comment on. Let us share your miseries/glees!

You will also find the word Labels. Click on the name of the constructor, you will get all his works since I started blogging (Jan 21, 2008). Tribune Media seems to have a very small pool of constructors, don't you think so? Or you never pay attention to who the author is?

It's another bumpy ride for me today. I was jolted by quite a few unknown words/names. Sea cows (5D: MANATEES) was hard, making it difficult for me to to infer 23A: Mikita of Hockey (STAN), whom I never heard of. 37D: Amazon snake (ANACONDA) was also too formidable for me to give a whack. I did get its parallel clue 36D: Poisonous shrub (OLEANDER), though I never heard of the shrub.

Across clues:

1A: Ricochet: CAROM. Often clued as pool shot.

2A: Charity: ALMS

18A: Clothing lines: HEMS

14A: "Butterfield 8" author: O'HARA (John). He wrote honestly and well, indeed.

15A: Minute skin opening: PORE

16A:Latin Lesson word: AMAT (Latin: she/he/it loves). See yesterday's puzzle.

21A: Heaps: A LOT

22A: Petty dictator: SATRAP. I had difficulty understanding the clue. A dictator always has absolute power, petty ones never make it to the dictatorship, no?

According to my dictionary, SATRAP is originally "the governor of a province in ancient Persia". Now it mean a ruler of a dependency, esp a despotic, subordinate official, petty tyrant.

23A: Mikita of hockey: STAN. Maybe he is a gimme for hockey fans. I just found out that Mr. Anderson clued STAN as Comic Laurel in his Feb 13 puzzle.

24A: Adjutant: AIDE

25A: New York island: STATEN. Did not know this. Never been to NY. All my understanding of NY is from either Law and Order, or NYPD Blues.

28A: Flows back: EBBS

29A: Spigot: TAP

32A: Debate: ARGUE

33A: Shrinking Asian sea: ARAL. You want to cement this one in your brain? Then look at this map.

34A: Overfill: SATE

38A: Cockney abodes: 'OMES (Homes). Cockneys live in the East of London. In their accent, letter "h" is dropped.

39A: Tilt, at sea: LIST

40A: Hangman's knot: NOOSE.

41A: Half a fly?: TSE

42A: Richard of "Chicago": GERE

43A: Editorial symbols: CARETS

44A: Scottish hillside: BRAE

45A: Stunning stuff: MACE. I like this clue. I was thinking of those Shock & Awe feat.

46A: Lenin's successor: STALIN

49A: Han or Napoleon: SOLO. Han Solo is from Star War, Napoleon Solo is from The Man from U. N. C. L. E.

50A: Louvre Pyramid architect: PEI ( I. M. Pei). He also designed the JFK Library.

56A: Arduous journey: TREK

57A: Pointless Olympic event?: EPEE. I like the clue, a refreshing change.

58A: ___ macabre: DANSE. Dance of Death. I don't like to be reminded of how fragile life is.

59A: Debate faction: SIDE

60A: Ewes' mates: RAMS

61A: Lessen: ABATE

Down entries:

1D: Manilow's nightclub: COPA. Copa Cabana.

2D: Moby Dick's pursuer: AHAB

4D: Table scrap: ORT

5D: Sea cows: MANTATEES. Here is an image for you to remember. They are huge.

6D: Cook's coverage: APRON. Coverage, not cover? I was initially thinking of the explorer James Cook and his coastal coverage.

7D: Among the missing: LOST

8D: Med. scan: MRI

9D: Level-headed: SENSIBLE

10D: "The Lost Galleon" poet: HARTE (Bret). Got his name from across clues.

11D: Bahrain leader: EMIR. I had a friend (a Brit) who lived in Bahrain for a few years in the early 1990s, then he converted into a Muslim. Unbelievable.

12D: Doll's cry: MAMA

18D: Zeal: ELAN

19A: Scoundrels: CADS

24A: Sternward: ABAFT. I put Aback.

25D: Wooden shoe: SABOT. Wooden clog shoe, French call it SABOT.

26D: removes the excess: TRIMS

27D: Come to terms: AGREE

29D: Western resort lake: TAHOE

30D: Bikini event, in headlines: A TEST. Atomic Test, 1945, Bikini Atoll.

31D: Pops in Paris: PERES

36D: Poisonous shrubs: OLEANDER. It's so pretty.

42D: Wide smile: GRIN. I am going to give Bush a rest today.

43D: Colombian city: CALI. Looks like a good place to go if kidnapping is not a problem.

44D: Chap in Soho: BLOKE

45D: Social customs: MORES

47D: Actress Garr: TERI

50D: Catcher Tony: PENA. Gimme for me. He used to be Kansas Royal's coach.

51D: Once, once: ERST

55D: Chew the fat: GAB

Note to reader rosebud: Any subtle crossings today?

C. C.

Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Chef's Creations (Play on Words)

20A: Chef's quick creations: HALF-BAKED IDEAS

40A: Chef's brunch dilemma: CHICKEN OR THE EGG

54A: Chef's secret ingredient: FORBIDDEN FRUIT

Well, the real dilemma is: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Or is it acceptable to say "Chicken or the egg"?

I had big problems this morning with the lower right corner. Could not figure out what's for 53A: Cross or Blue (BEN). Somehow I read the clue to be Red or Blue, and I had _ E_, I wanted SEA there, I was so desperate that Blue Sea sounded like a real place to me. Had no idea who the Diplomat Elihu was. Hear Ehud Olmert's name too often. I did not know 60D: New Rochelle college (IONA).

As for 68A: Slaughter of baseball (ENOS), I filled in OTIS. Then I could not work out anything around that area. Had to ask my husband, who was up earlier this morning. He corrected me and told me a story of how Enos Slaughter attended Fred Souba's retirement party. Fred also belonged to Twins Cities Sports Collectors club in 1980s. Orange also listed this ENOS name on her Word Bank list, but I forgot.

Overall, I feel this puzzle is easier than Monday's Babe Zaharias and Janet Guthrie one, don't you think so?

Here are some across entries:

1A: Rooster's pride: COMB

10A: Don't move!: HALT!

14A: Capital of Samoa: APIA

17A: Redhead Lucille: BALL. I Love Lucy. The Chocolate Factory Episode is my favorite.

18A: Excuse: ALIBI

19A: Seward Peninsula: NOME

25A: Jamaican cultist: RASTA. Would you believed I nailed this one? It's all because of Bob Marley. I like "No woman No cry".

28A: NYC arena: MSG

31A: Immature insect: LARVA

35A: Mind reading: ESP

36A: Place of worship: CHAPEL

39A: College bigwig: DEAN

43A: Head of France: TETE (French word for head). I was kind of impressed by Nicolas Sarkozy's attitude toward Lesley Stahl during the 60 minutes interview. I predict his marriage to that singer, Carla somebody, will end within 5 years, before he leaves the office.

44A: Oddball: WEIRDO. I wonder if Michael Jackson ever watched Finding Neverland (starring Johnny Depp).

46A: Lulus: ONERS

48A: Slightly shifty: SLY. I always thoughts of sly as "very shifty".

49A: Tightwad: MISER

53A: Cross or Blue: BEN. Ben Cross is an English actor. Ben Blue is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. I never heard of their names before.

63A: Soviet collective: ARTEL. I got this from the down clues. Here is the defination from Dictonary.com: In Russia or the Soviet Union) a peasants' or workers' cooperative; an association of workers or peasants for collective effort.

64A: Diplomat Elihu: ROOT. He won Nobel Peace Prize in 1912. Teddy Roosevelt won it in 1906.

66A: ___ Hari: MATA: The spy. She looked so exotic.

67A: "West Side Story" hit: MARIA. Unknown to me.

68A: Slaughter of baseball: ENOS. He is in baseball Hall-of-Fame. St Louis Cardinal's #9.

69A: Asian sea: ARAL

70A: Silvery food fish: SMELT

71A: Laertes or Hamlet, e.g.: DANE

Down entries:

1D: Hack: CAB. Taxi.

2D: Colorful marine fish: OPAH

3D: Uris novel "___" 18: MILA. Never read any of Uris' works.

4D: "Swan Lake, " e.g.: BALLET

5D: Riyadh residents: ARABS. Riyadh is Saudi Arabia's capital.

6D: Actor Lugosi: BELA. Known for his role in Dracula.

7D: Composer Satie: ERIK

9D: Maliciously derogatory: SNIDE

10D: Not from a factory: HANDMADE

12D: "Champagne Tony" of golf: LEMA

21D: "Killing Me Softly..." singer": FLACK (Roberta). I like "The First Time I ever Saw Your Face."

22D: Off one's feed: ILL

25D: Right-hand page: RECTO. Left is Verso.

27D: Malicous ill-will: SPITE

28D: Flowing tresses: MANES

29D: Ruin: SPOIL

30D: Saxophonist Mulligan: GERRY. Unknown to me.

32D: Marsh grass: REEDS

38D: Inc. in the UK.: LTD

41D: Of the brain: CEREBRAL. This answer reminds me of Ken Jennings. Have a look at his blog.

42D: Ancient writer: HOMER

50D: Hardened (to): INURED

52D: Don or Samuel: ADAMS

53D: Musical note: B FLAT

54D: Disaster org: FEMA. Somehow I was not surprised by their fake press conference after the Brownie disaster.

56D: Poet Dove: RITA. She won Pulitzer in 1987.

57D: Whiskey shot: DRAM

58D: Tours to be: ETRE (Etre is French for be)

59D: Singer Young: NEIL

60D: New Rochelle college: IONA. Never heard of this college. Found out that Don McLean (American Pie) attended this college.

61D: Roger Rabbit feature: TOON

65D: Half a fly?: TSE I learned this tsetse fly only from doing crossword. I always thought it's a strange fly living somewhere in Africa. Imagine my surprise last night when I watched Finding Neverland and heard Barrie (Johnny Depp) telling Peter "Tsetse fly, quite horrible."

Alright, time for breakfast.

C. C.

Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Construction project in D. C. ?

20A: Assemble a panel
38A: Build a consensus
51A: Hammer out a deal

And engineer another "bridge to no where"?

Can not stand "The Hammer" DeLay. I change channel every time I see his mug. Glad he is out!

I love this puzzle, it makes me feel so smart this morning. If not for 60A: Long-distance swimmer Diana (NYAD) and the 56D: Heroine of "The Clan of the Cave Bear" (AYLA), I would have conquered the whole field sans googling.

Here are some highlights:

1A: Beatles film: HELP!

5A: Comic Laurel: STAN. Lurel & Hardy fame.

9A: Durkheim or Zola: EMILE

14A: Peter Fonda film role: ULEE. His recent role is in movie 3:10 to Yuma (also starring Russel Crowe.).

16A: Gruesome: LURID

17A: Fashionable Christian: DIOR

24A: Cockney abodes: 'Omes ("H" is dropped in Cockney dialect)

25A: Thorns: SPINES

34A: Old road to Fairbanks: ALCAN (Alaska-Canadian Highway)

35A: Mr. Doubleday: ABNER. I got the answer from the down clues. Never heard of his name before. Wow, he invented the game of baseball. I've never been to Cooperstown. Maybe my husband will take me there when Tony Oliva is voted in. By the way, the name of the Doubleday publisher is Frank Nelson Doubleday.

42A: Luges: SLEDS

43A: Composure: POISE

44A: Golfer Sabbatini: RORY. South African golfer. So close to win the Masters last year. He once said: "You lick the lollipop of mediocrity once and you’ll suck for ever.” Mr. Alan P. Olschang, if you are reading this blog, please quote this line in your puzzle.

46A: Half an African fly: TSE

47A: Easy gallop: CANTER

48A: Shrink's org: APA (American Psychiatric Association)

50A: Yalies: ELIS (Elihu Yale). Bush, John Kerry, Clintons, all yalies. Strange that Bill Clinton did not join the Skull and Bones, or is it a pure Republican secrecy?

58A: Swelling: EDEMA

59A: Bring up: REAR

60A: Long-distance swimmer Diana: NYAD. She has accomplished so much in her life.

62A: "Psycho" setting: MOTEL

63A: Novelist Wiesel: ELIE

64A: Feature of some skirts: SLIT

65A: Rhone tributary: ISERE

67A: Dumbo's wings: EARS

Down clues:

1D: Newman movie: HUD. Love the Sting, the Hustler, Cool Hand Luke.

2D: Director Kazan: ELIA

3D: Tolstoy & Durocher: LEO.

4D: Private: PERSONAL

7D: Blue dye: ANIL (indigo plant or the blue dye from the plant)

13D: Biographer of Henry James: EDEL (Leon). He won a Pulitzer for his Henry James work.

22D: Yellow Fever mosquito: AEDES. Got it from the across clues. Never heard of it. Both singular and plural are aedes.

25D: Cavalryman's weapon: SABER

26D: Mickey's pup: PLUTO

28D: Residence: ABODE

31D: Postulate: POSIT

32D: Maltreatment: ABUSE

33D: Stair part: RISER

40D: Absurdity: NONSENSE

45D: Complain peevishly: YAMMER

47D: Dry red wine: CLARET

49D: U.S. painter Rembrandt: PEALE

50D: Online trade: ETAIL

51D: Half: pref: HEMI

54D: Utah city near Provo: OREM

55D: Ubangi tributary: UELE. 3 vowels in this Congo river.

56D: Heroine of "the Clan of the Cave Bear": AYLA (played by Daryl Hannah). This movie is on our Netflix queue after one reader recommended it to me. The surname of its author Jean M Auel was clued on Jan 31 puzzle.

61D: Sot's shakes: DTS (Delirium tremens, alcohol withdrawal symptom).

Bring it on Thursday.

C. C.

Monday, Feb 11, 2008 Phillip J. Anderson

Theme: Film/TV Mr. & Mrs.

17A: Mr. & Mrs.: LUCKY AND MINIVER
41A: Mr. & Mrs.: MOM AND DOUBTFIRE
65A: Mr. & Mrs.: MOTO AND DALLOWAY

If you come to my blog today, then you probably have trouble finishing this Monday puzzle too. Ha ha, that's very comforting for me to know. Very comforting.

I worked my tail off, but I just did not know who is Lily's relative (CAMAS), I kept thinking "calla lily". Had no idea AVISO means dispatch boat. Did not know that EUROPA is another Jupiter satellite. Why did they name satellite names after Greek God & Goddess?

Across Clues:

1A: Kett of the comics: ETTA. He appeared in yesterday's crossword. Wherefore art thou, ETTA James?

2A: Go a round with: SPAR

9A: Book composition: PAGES

16A: Existing: ALIVE

17A: Mr. & Mrs.: LUCKY AND MINIVER: Never saw Mr. Lucky or Mrs. Miniver. Sound so old to me.

20A: Purloined: STOLEN

25A: Puff stuff: TALC

30A: Casa component: SALA.

32A: Temptresses: SIRENS

38A: Teases: RIBS

41A: Mr. & Mrs.: MOM AND DOUBTFIRE. "Mrs. Doubtfire" is goofy, I never watched Mr. Mom.

44A: Dispatch boat: AVISO. Unknown to me.

45A: Columnist Bombeck: ERMA. I tend to confuse her with "Joy of Cooking" author/chef IRMA Rombauer.

46A: Hefty volume: TOME

47A: Seed for a bun: SESAME. Eat more sesame seeds, your hair will be thicker and fuller.

49A: Dash gauge: TACH

52A: Farm tower: SILO

54A: Neighbor of Libya: CHAD. Anti-French riots in Chad, that's all I know about this country.

59A: Nothing in Nogales: NADA

61A: Satellite of Jupiter: EUROPA. On Sunday's crossword, the Jupiter satellite is ELARA. OK, I stole this definition for Europa: Classical Mythology. a sister of Cadmus who was abducted by Zeus in the form of a bull and taken to Crete, where she bore him Rhadamanthus, Minos, and Sarpedon.

65A: Mr. & Mrs.: MOTO AND DALLOWAY. Never watched Mr. MOTO. Love "The Hours" with Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf.

70A: Hawaiian goose: NENE. Another pretty thing, look at here. I still cannot believe Huckabee ate squirrels while in college (fried in a popcorn popper, Meet the Press yesterday).

71A: "Teachers" star Nick: NOLTE. Too much drug/alcohol problems. He should start doing crosswords. That will cure him. Seriously. Alice Cooper cured his alcohol problem by taking up golf.

72A: Bring up: REAR

73A: Tolkien's tree creatures: ENTS

Down Clues:

2D: Track tipster: TOUT

3D: Tex-Mex order: TACO

5D: Recognized authority: STANDARD

6D: Brooch: PIN

8D: Send payment to: REMIT

9D: Jury member: PANELIST

13D: Withered: SERE

24D: Lose traction: SLIDE

26D: Vessel: CRAFT

27D: Lily relative: CAMAS. Stared at the CA_AS for a long time. It's the prettiest thing I've seen this morning.

28D: Garlic section: CLOVE

29D: Penultimate round: SEMIS

31D: Terminate: ABORT

33D "Silas Marner" writer: ELIOT (George)

34D: Bellini opera: NORMA. I know nothing about opera.

35D: Look of a villain: SNEER

37D: Haciendas: CASAS. Look at 30A: Casa component. I don't like it when the clue word is also the answer in the same puzzle.

39D: Singer Yma: SUMAC. A fresh change. This editor loves to clue Singer Sumac a lot.

42D: Appoint: NOMINATE

48D: Flair: ELAN. Obama has plenty. Did you watch 60 minutes last night?

50D: Transport by truck: HAUL

53D: Stranger: ODDER

55D: Plane without a pilot: DRONE

58D: Lat. list-ender: ETAL (Single: et alibi, plural: et alii)

60D: For two, in music: A DUE. Never heard of it.

62D: Writer Wister: OWEN. Never read any of his books.

63D: Huff and puff: PANT

67D: Coach Parseghian: ARA. The "Era of Ara." Here in MN, we have our own Tubby Time. Go Gophers!

Please let me know if you spot any mistake. I am just terrible at spelling and very prone to typo. Thank you & have a wonderful week.

C. C.

Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Retail come-on

17A: Retail come-on: One-Stop Shopping
37A: Retail come-on: Two-Year Warranty
57A: Retail come-on: Three-Month Trial

I felt the strong wind from the very beginning. A hard struggle today. Did not even know how to cheat on 25A: Type of penguin (ADELIE) and 33A: Crevasse pinnacle (SERAC). Seriously, I spent more than 10 minutes just to google these 2 words.

Here are the interesting fills:

1A: Conductor Seiji: OZAWA. He was actually born in China, during the Japanese occupancy of China in the 1930s.

6A: In ___ Veritas: Vino. Literally, Truth in Wine. When you get drunk, you tend to tell truth, don't you? I don't. I only want to sleep.

10A: Glazier's piece: PANE. I googled my own blog and got this one.

16A: Fencer's stiletto: EPEE

20A: Legal thing: RES

22A: Large groups: MASSES

23A: Letters for Nob Hill cops: SFPD. Got this one. My sisters-in-law live in SF.

25A:Type of penguin: ADELIE. Look at here. Cute. Happy Feet.

33A: Crevasse pinnacle: SERAC. Hard clue, hard answer. This is why.

34A: Military trainee: CADET

35A: Clerical vestment: ALB

40A: Ref. set: OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

41A: Barely sufficient: SCANT

50A: Diet drastically: STARVE

54A: Arab Robe: ABA.

62A: Non-major studio film: INDIE

65A: Hindu grouping: CASTE

Down clues:

1D: Redolence: ODOR. I confused the word with Insolence. I tried to jam Idle in the blanks.

2D: Designated area: ZONE

4D: Director Craven: WES. Nightmare on Elm Street director.

5D: Ruses: ARTIFICES

6D: Insipid: VAPID. I thought of Sapid.

7D: __ dixit: IPSE. Literally, he himself said it. An assertion without proof. Peggy Noonnan sometimes sprinkles Latin in her columns.

8D: bk after Ezra: NEH

10D: Stomach enzyme: PEPSIN. I just found out that the commercial Pepsin is obtained from the stomach of hogs. Horrible.

11D: Sacred bull: APIS. I stole this explanation from dictionary.com "A sacred bull of the ancient Egyptians, acting as an intermediary between Ptah and humans."

12D: Oahu goose: NENE

13D: Mind readings: EEGS (Electroencephalograms)

18D: Greek flask: OLPE. Here is the definition.

19D: Dawber or Tillis: PAM

23D: Bowl over: SLAY. I put Stun first.

24D: Mubark's predecessor: SADAT. Gimme for me.

25D: "The Maltese Falcon" co-star: ASTOR (Mary).

26D: __ Decimal System: DEWEY. Never heard of it.

30D: Poem division: CANTO

32D: Deep chasam: ABYSS

34D: Stick one's neck out: CRANE

35D: Extremely stressful: TRAUMATIC

38D: Of schooling: ACADEMIC

39D: Pismires: ANTS

46D: Balderdash!: TOSH

50D: Caen's neighbor: ST LO. Caen & St. Lo are two cities in France, heavy fightings took place there during Battle of Normandy.

51D: Whale's location: THAR. But why???

52D: "Rule Britannia" composer: ARNE

53D: Scottish dagger: SNEE

54D: Helpful hints: AIDS. I put Cues first.

That's all friends. Now I need to find out what the heck happened in New Jersey last night. Here in MN, Obama 67%, Clinton 32%.

C. C.

Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Places with embedded famous names

21A: Place for bandleader Les?: Brownsville (TX)
52A: Place for singer Anita: Bakersfield (CA)
3D: Place for actor Brad: Pittsburgh (PA)
30D: Place for pitcher Cy: Youngstown (OH)

First, I have a question for you. Do you know if we have own Star Tribune editor for this crossword or is this also a syndicated crossword like the New York Times? Are you guys all doing the Star Tribune crossword?

If you did last Sunday's crossword (Jan 27, Josiah Breward, People Persons), you might also have noticed the several variations with the spelling of the answers, like the Swiss City on the Rhine answer(Basel instead of Basel), Encircle (Girt instead of Gird), Experts (Mavins instead of Mavens), which caused problems for quite a few solvers. I want to make a suggestion that they add the words like "variation" or "alternative spelling" or some hints in the clues.

I emailed Star Tribune Editor Will Tacy asking for the contact person, no answer. My email was probably junked. Then I called him yesterday morning and left a message. Again no feedback. I am so disappointed. And they gave away the Homer Hankies only to new subscribers who signed up on the spots during Twins Fest last Saturday. A Twins Fest is not complete without a Homer Hanky! What's going on with them?

Anyway, I digressed.

I like Wednesday crosswords. I think my first cheat-free crossword will be a Wednesday, or a Tuesday. Monday is always tough for me. I sailed through smoothly until I stumbled upon the very heart of the crossword.

I had no idea what to put for 29D: Subarctic forest (TAIGA), I did not know the meaning of 38A: Anabaptist sect (AMISH). Somehow I was thinking of a rare insect. There was a family of 4 or 5 Amish people selling homemade organic jams (I adore their raspberry jam), jellies, homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, apples, pumpkins, etc, at Annandale Flea Market. They had a very rustic cabin booth. Nice people. Oh, 34D: Indian colonialists (SAHIB) is also too hard for me.

Apercu:

1A: Dog food brand: ALPO. Purina Alpo. Dave Lee of WCCO approves this message/line!

15A: Sharpen: HONE. Saw John Edwards last night. He has honed in on his Corporate Greed message. It was -15F, almost unbearable with the brutal windchill. But people sweat inside, the place was packed. His hair did look like a $400 cut, impeccable, not as thick as it looked on TV though.

19A: Publicized Cuban refugee: ELIAN (GONZALEZ). What a nightmare for Janet Leno.

21A: Place for bandleader Les? Brownsville. Had no idea who Les Brown was. But easily inferable from the down clues.

49A: 1944 Physics Nobelist: RABI, Isidor Isaac Rabi. The name for 1943 Physicist Nobelist: OTTO (Stern)

63A: Japanese deer: SIKA. Did not know this. It's small, reddish deer native to Japan.

66A: Polanski film: TESS. Inferable. I say, drop the charges. The young girl has forgiven him, hasn't she?

Down Clues:

5D: Singer Dinah: SHORE. Great golfer. The current LPGA major Kraft Nabisco used to be called Dihah Shore.

8D: Snakes: MEANDERS

27D: "Rouen Cathedral" painter: MONET. I tend to confuse him with MANET.

29D: Subarctic forest: TAIGA. Have to remember this little simple word.

30D: Place for pitcher Cy? Youngstown. Our Cy Young is gone this morning, dealt to the Mets. Johan Santana pitched the very first baseball game I watched. He was not very good then. But he has been brilliant in the past several years. Mr. Forbes #107 Pohlad Got My Goat.

31D: "Seascape" playwright: Albee (Edward). "Seascape" won Pulitzer in 1974.

32D: Alcoholic hone beverages: MEADS. I wonder how & why honey is fermented. Natural honey seems perfectly sweet to me.

34D: Indian colonialists: SAHIB. Indian names tend to have this silent "h". Gandhi, Nehru, Sahib. I always want to spell Gandhi to be Ghandi.

61D: _ Choy (Chinese vegetable): Bok. These Cantonese spelling is very annoying. When you go to China, ask for Bai Cai.

Have a great day!

C. C.