Saturday May 30, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None

Total blocks: 36

Total words: 72

Of all the 24 Robert H. Wolfe puzzles I've blogged, most are late-week puzzles, several are Sundays. Interesting background, veterinarian.

I liked the three grid-spinning Across fills:

17A: "Maybe I can help?": WHAT'S THE PROBLEM

37A: "Now we're getting somewhere": THAT'S MORE LIKE IT

56A: Statement of intolerance: I WON'T STAND FOR IT

I also liked the sequential clue order of F-STOP (23D: Photo setting) and OPS (24D: Photo finishes?). My favorite clue today is DEM (13D: Party people: Abbr.). Brought to mind the infamous Harold Ford for Senator attack ad. "I met Harold at a Playboy party... Harold, call me!". Ford is a DEM.

I don't get SEE FIT (60A: Decide is best) though. Can you explain to me the clue? The grammar confuses me.

Across:

1A: Begins energetically: WADES IN

8A: Went up: SCALED. Why? I've only heard of "scale down". Thought of SPIKED.

16A: Boom: THRIVE

19A: Philippine bread: PESO. Had no idea that PESO is a currency in the Philippines. Wanted NAAN, thinking maybe the Indian bread is enjoyed there too.

20A: Common opening: DEAR SIRS

21A: French possessive: SES. His/her/its.

22A: Add more brown to, say: REDYE

23A: Cat's pajamas?: FUR. Cute.

24A: Where the 'eart is?: 'OME. Home is where the heart is. letter H is dropped in Cockney accent.

26A: Reckon, rurally: S'POSE. Big stumper.

31A: Removed, in a way: SCRAPED OFF

36A: Jobs for underwriters, briefly: IPOS. And ARBS ( 10D: Wall St. hedgers).

39A: Farm drier: OAST. I thought OAST is used for brewery only.

40A: Soft drink order: EXTRA LARGE. Had trouble obtaining this answer. Might have gotten it if it were clued as egg-related.

41A: "Bah!": PSHAW. I always say "Shoot".

43A: Caesar's tax form?: MXL. 1040. Great clue.

45A: Levi's "Christ Stopped at __": EBOLI. See the book cover. So close to E COLI.

49A: Suffix with amyl: ASE. I am used to "Enzyme ending" clue. Amylase is a kind of enzymes too, says the dictionary. Hopefully I will remember it next time.

50A: Try to get in the running: NOMINATE

54A: "Thanks, __": "Are you hungry?" response: I ATE

61A: Commonly receding boundary: HAIRLINE

63A: Words from one closing a door, perhaps: TOO LATE

Down:

2D: "That's the spot": AAH. Ah, massage.

3D: More frequent changes reduce its likelihood: DIAPER RASH. Have never changed a diaper in my life.

4D: Major followers? ETTES. Majorettes.

6D: Comparison words: IS TO

7D: Book before Esth.: NEH. After Ezra.

8D: Prospective adoptee: STRAY

9D: Tasks: CHORES

11D: 1953 Caron film: LILI. "1958 Caron film" would be GIGI.

18D: Walker, briefly: PED (Pedestrian)

21D: For example: SUCH AS

22D: Electron transfer process, often: REDOX. RED(duction) + OX(idation). Unknown to me. I actually misread the clue as "Electric transfer process".

25D: Kid's enthusiastic "I do!": ME, ME

27D: Burrowing rabbitlike mammal: PIKA. Not familiar with this rabbit at all.

28D: Style of Mozart's "Idomeneo": OPERA SERIA. No idea. It's Italian for serious drama. Opposite "opera buffa", the comic drama.

29D: Elegantly done: SOIGNE. Cary Grant had the SOIGNE charm.

30D: Colorado's __ Park: ESTES. Not named after Senator Kevauver, often clued as "Adlai's running mate".

32D: Kofi __ Annan: ATTA. No idea. It means "Twin" in his native language. Annan has a twin brother. They share the middle name.

33D: Boxer's scrap: ORT

34D: Atom-splitting Novelist: FERMI (Enrico). I forgot his name again. He won Nobel Physics in 1938.

38D: Bugged?: ILL. D'oh, I was picturing wiretapping.

42D: Entered: WENT IN. Wanted CAME IN.

47D: Six-time N.L. home run champ: OTT. I like clues with trivia. Mel OTT had a total 511 home runs.

48D: Wife of Jacob: LEAH. Rachel is his other wife.

49D: Lagoon border: ATOLL. Bikini ATOLL is probably the most famous one.

50D: Not final, in law: NISI. Decree NISI. I forgot again.

51D: "Closer" Oscar nominee Clive __: OWEN. "Closer" is one of my favorite movies. Love should not be that complicated though.

52D: Bubbly brand: MOET. The champagne: Moët et Chandon.

53D: Dope: INFO. I was in drug direction.

54D: Personal: Pref: IDIO. Thought it's a "peculiar" prefix, as in idiosyncrasy.

55D: Do to pick: AFRO. I understand hairdo, why "to pick"?

57D: Washington MLBer: NAT. Nationals. The former Expos. They moved in Washington in 2005. Twins used to be based in Washington (Senators).

58D: Money pd. for use of money: INT

59D: Athletic supporter?: TEE. I suppose it could be for football and golf. Tricky clue.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday April 24, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Short Paths

18A: Speed?: BURN UP THE RD (Road)

24A: Average Joe?: MAN ON THE ST (Street)

35A: Badly fluster?: DR (Drive) TO DISTRACTION

50A: Excessive charge?: HWY (Highway) ROBBERY

57A: Way out?: AVE (Avenue) OF ESCAPE

Maybe it's not structurally possible to position all the above street-type theme answers at the very end of the phrases. Or all in the beginning.

Dictionary says "man in the street" means "Average Joe", not "on the street". I found out that MAN ON THE STREET is a Bob Dylan song. Actually, several of the above theme entries are song titles.

I had huge trouble with this puzzle. I always do when I can't catch the theme earlier on. Lots of abbreviations in the grid. Robert H. Wolfe (the last one on the list) is another of Stan Newman's Newsday regular contributors. His bio says he is a veterinarian.

Across:

1A: Year in which Michelangelo began work on "David": MDI. I got M immediately from MAI (1D: Printemps month), which is French for May. Printemps is "spring". But I had trouble obtaining DI. The clue would have been a straightforward "Roman 1501" if it were a Monday/Tuesday puzzle.

4A: NCAA Mountain West Conf. team: UNLV. University of Neveda, Las Vegas. The Runnin' Rebels. Wikipedia says it's located in a Las Vegas suburb called Paradise. Here is a list of all Mountain West Conference members.

14A: Jordin Sparks duet: NO AIR. See this clip. Someone (Embien?) linked this song on the blog before. But I forgot all about it. Jordin Sparks is the winner of Season 6 of "American Idol".

16A: Place: STEAD. I was thinking of a verb.

17A: Doctrine: ISM

20A: Marching band wind: FIFE. Just learned that FIFE is rooted in German Pfeife, meaning " pipe". FIFE can be a verb also. Chinese dizi is a kind of flute too.

22A: Kept in the loop, for short: CCED. Trouble for me. I was not thinking of the email cc.

23A: Barbera d'__: Italian wine: ASTI. Easy guess, since ASTI is the wine region. I've never heard of this red wine.

26A: Center: CORE

27A: Exaggerate: OVERDO

28A: Sash insets: PANES. Oh window. I was picturing kimono obi. Obi is literally "sash" in Japanese.

29A: Jacket specification: LONG. Not large?

30A: Antique shop transaction: RESALE. Someone bought this first issue of Sports Illustrated at an antique shop for only $15. I've never had any luck there. How about you?

41A: Puts out: ISSUES. I did not know "Put out" can mean publish.

42A: "Getting to Know You" singer on Broadway: ANNA. From "The King and I". I've never heard of the song.

43A: Splendor: ECLAT. Ah, "Brilliant success". I often confuse this word with ECLAIR.

47A: In any way: SO EVER. I've never used SO EVER alone, always "What SO EVER".

49A: Collar: NAIL. Verb.

54A: "Power Lunch" airer: CNBC. I like Sue Herera. The guy on her right is Bill Griffeth. My husband watches "Power Lunch" every day.

55A: San __: REMO. Which one are we referring to here?

60A: One might be run before bedtime: TUB. Yep, every night, for me.

62A: Volley: SALVO

63A: Folded food: TACOS. Not a fan of Mexican food. Too hot.

64A: "Walking on Thin Ice" singer: ONO. I was not aware of this song. Wikipedia says Yoko Ono and John Lennon concluded the recording of this song on Dec 8, 1980. And it was upon their return from the recording studio to their home that Lennon was murdered.

65A: Colchester's county: ESSEX. Alliteration again. I guessed. I pen in ESSEX for all the 5-letter county clues. I had no idea where Colchester is. Wikipedia says it claims to be the oldest town in Britian.

66A: Ships, to sailors: SHES

67A: Dietary no.: RDA. Is it Recommended Daily Allowance or Recommended Dietary Allowance?

Down:

2D: The doghouse, so to speak: DISFAVOR. Would not have got the answer without the across fills.

3D: At hand: IMMINENT. Are they really interchangable? Can you give me an example? I thought "At hand" means "close by".

4D: Straighten: UNBEND. Mercy me! This is a real word. I thought the constructor made it up.

5D: __-turn: NO U. Boy, I felt stupid. The answer did not come to me readily at all. Need more time to adjust to multiple word fills.

6D: Tree with durable wood: LARCH. Wikipedia says it's waterproof too, hence it's used in building yachts and boats. Like teak, I suppose.

6D: Edwards who played Ben Casey: VINCE. New actor to me. Have never heard of the TV series "Ben Casey" either.

9D: Odysseus' kingdom: ITHACA. OK, here is Sean Connery's ITHACA again. Still can't believe Connery is a misogynist.

10D: "Rob Roy" actor: NEESON. Which is your favorite Liam NEESON movie? Dennis probably likes his "Les Misérables".

11D: "La Nausée" author: SARTRE. See the book cover. All SARTRE's love interests (except Simone de Beauvoir of course) seemed to be pretty but dumb. He declined the Nobel Prize. Probably mad that Camus got his first.

12D: Swirls: EDDIES

19D: Summer term at UCLA?: PDTS. PDT is Pacific Daylight Time. I outsmarted myself, thinking "summer" is a wordplay on one who sums up, so I wrote down ADD immediately.

21D: Pass up: FORGO. "Precede" is FOREGO.

24D: Form: MOLD

25D: Spelling et al: TORIS. I was trapped again, thinking of the spelling spelling, not Tori Spelling.

28D: Fan-shaped muscle: PEC. I suppose it's "Fan-shaped".

31D: Leader of Senegal?: ESS. Can't fool me! Senegal starts with letter S, hence "leader".

32D: Onetime Beatle Sutcliffe: STU. I know there was a 5th Beatle. Could not remember his name though. I am so happy that it's not clued as "Alphabet trio" again like RST (8D: Alphabet trio).

34D: Catch, oater-style: LASSO

36D: Code word: DIT

37D: Billy Blanks' fitness program: TAE BO. Portmanteau of TAE kwon do and Boxing.

38D: Market figure: INVESTOR. I was thing of the real number, not person. Good clue.

39D: 18 holes, say: ONE ROUND. More used to "A ROUND".

43D: Box up: ENCASE

44D: Boxing surface: CANVAS. Just learned this fact a few weeks ago.

45D: Risks a lawsuit, in a way: LIBELS. I often misspell this word as LIBLE.

46D: dining area, perhaps: ALCOVE

48D: Haunt: OBSESS. Wrote down HARASS, which is actually "Hound".

50D: Otto I was its first leader: Abbr.: HRE. Holy Roman Empire (800-1806). The last one is Francis II, who abdicted and dissolved the Empire during the Napolenic Wars, according to Wikipedia.

51D: Lincoln-to-Cheyenne direction: WEST. I like this clue.

52D: Character-building grps.: YMCAS

58D: Roald Dahl's "Fantastic Mr. __": FOX. The answer revealed itself. I am not familiar with this book.

59D: "Annabel Lee" poet: POE. Nice clip.

61D: Squeezer: BOA. No idea. Is it because the snake squeezes?

Answer grid.

Happy Birthday to our fellow solver Kazie!

C.C.

Saturday March 28, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None (No?)

Total words: 74

Total blocks: 36

I am confused. I thought LA Times Saturday is always a themeless. But maximum word count for a themeless is 72. Today we have 74 words. Besides, all the three long entries have "No" in theme, maybe it's a themed puzzle, after all?

17A: "No need to get so excited": KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON

37A: "No way": DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH

59A: "No idea": I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE

(Note: My bad, I made a mistake. There are only 72 words.)

Another struggle, but not as hard as I dreaded last night. I got more than half of the grid filled. Erased a few and then googled a few. Good enough for me. I'll call it a success and move on.

I am just so enamored with Rich Norris' "It .... clues", like yesterday's "It can pick up a plane" for RADAR and the other day's "It's twirled in a rodeo" for RIATA. I like the visual images the clues evoke.

Today it's a plain fact-based "It replaced the Slovak koruna on 1/1/2009" for EURO (8D). Nice trivia, isn't it? PromiseMe' research yesterday shows that Finland is the only Nordic country that has switched to EURO.

By the way, Rich Norris confirmed to me yesterday that there is no rebus puzzle in LA Times.

Across:

1A: According to design: AS PLANNED. Got it immediately.

10A: Attended: WAS AT. Struggled with this simple fill.

15A: Prolong: STRING OUT. Unknown to me. Only knew the phrase "string along". I wanted STRETCH something.

16A: Prefix with glyph: HIERO. Hieroglyph. I knew the word, but could not spell it properly. HIERO is a prefix meaning "Sacred' or "priestly". Here are some Egyptian hieroglyphs. Sun is easy to recognize, so are the last two birds. I won't be able to tell house, mountain, god or reed though.

19A: Triage sites, briefly: ERS

20A: River of Tuscany: ARNO. "River of Florence/Pisa/Italy", whatever, the answer is always ARNO.

21A: Short-tailed weasel: ERMINE. Turn around, buddy, I want to see if your tail is short.

22A: Geometric fig.: RECT. Rectangle. RECT/RECTI is a prefix for "right"/"straight". Remember last time RECTI was clued as "Belly muscles" in our old puzzle? The singular is rectus, meaning "straight muscle of ab, thigh, etc". Rectus is Latin for "straight". Dictionary says RECTO, the right-hand page is rooted in rectus too. So is rectum (plural is recta).

24A: Kiara's mother in "The Lion King": NALA. I wrote down ELSA, the "Born Free" lioness first.

25A: Letters on seconds: IRR. Why? What are "seconds"?

27A: "__ out?": IN OR. And NEED I (28D: "__ say more?"). Have to get used to the new cluing style.

29A: "Medium" network: NBC. Unknown to me. I hope they have high ratings. GE owns NBC. And I want my GE stocks to go back to where I first bought them. Stupid GE Capital. Bleeder.

32A: Breakthroughs in therapy, say: EYE OPENERS. I got the answer immediately. Did not quite understand the rationale though.

35A: Language teaching site: LAB. Oh. I've never been to a language LAB. Science LAB yes.

40A: "The Lord of the Rings" monster: ORC. Williams always clued it as "Tolkien baddie".

41A: Visibly embarrassed: RED AS A BEET. I misremebered the phrase as RED AS BEETS.

42A: Thin swimmer: EEL. It does not look thin to me. I really love unagi sushi rolls.

44A: Speaker in Cooperstown: TRIS. HOFer. I don't have any of his baseball cards. But I have this stamp. Just learned this morning that his nickname is Spoke. Very interesting. Reminds me of that repetitive actor name Rip Torn.

45A: Bit of treasure: GEM. "Bit" here means small?

46A: Fireworks reaction: OOHS. Lots of fireworks/accidents during Chinese Spring Festival eve.

48A: What a nyctophobe fears: DARK. Gimme. Learned I had mild nyctophobia when I linked this list long time ago. Nact/nacti/nacto is prefix for "night". I feel safe when the closet light is on in the evening.

51A: Gelatin candy: JUJUBE. Have never had the JUJUBE candy. To me, JUJUBE is just Chinese date. Not as sweet as the Middle East palm dates though.

54A: Composer Khachaturian: ARAM. No idea. Soviet-Armenian composer. Wikipedia says his works were very influenced by Armenia folk music. This coin looks like in mint condition. ARAM is quite close to ABRAM, often clued as "President Garfield's middle name".

62A: Crescent shapes: LUNES. Mine was MOONS.

63A: Floating point: WATER LINE. Unknown to me. What is "Floating point"?

65A: Hematite producers: IRON MINES. I did not know the meaning of "hematite", the principal ore of iron. Hemat/hemato is a prefix for "blood". I don't know how is it related to ore.

Down:

3D: Foreknowledge: PRESCIENCE. Reminds me of Frigg, wife of Odin. She is prophetic but she never tells others what she knows. Cassandra does tell others what she knows, but no one believes her.

5D: Novelist Seton: ANYA. Pure guess. Wikipedia says she wrote a book called "Foxfire" which was later made into a film. I wonder where Firefox the browser got its name then.

6D: "The Killing Fields" Oscar winner Haing S. __: NGOR. Foreign to me. He won Oscar Best Supporting Actor for his role in "The Killing Fields". He was born in Cambodia and his father was of Chinese descent. See how ridiculous Chinese languages are. His surname (吴) would be spelled NG in Cantonese and Wu in Mandarin. The most absurd to me is Chiang Kai-Shek. He is always Jiang Jie-Shi to us who grew up in Mainland China. Maddeningly different spellings. Mao Tse-Tung & Mao Ze-Dong is not that confusing though.

7D: Lions or tigers or bears: NOUN. Great clue.

9D: Rehab symptoms: DTS (Delirium Tremens)

10D: Eddy: WHIRL

11D: Pilot: AIRMAN. I wanted AVIATOR, but there is not enough space.

12D: "Contact" acronym: SETI (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence). Big stumper. I've never heard of the movie "Contact".

18D: Limo leaders, at times: HEARSES

24D: Peggy Lee and Marilyn Monroe, at birth: NORMAS. Only knew Marilyn's original name is NORMA Jean (For you, Democrat). Peggy Lee was born NORMA Deloris Egstrom.

26D: Dashboard letters: RPM

27D: Comic book artists: INKER. Funny Crossword INKER.

30D: Atlantic game fish: BLUE MARLIN. I've never seen a BLUE MARLIN. Why BLUE? The hue on his belly?

31D: Zoo enclosure: CAGE. Of course. But my first reaction is LOGY, as in zoology.

32D: Shogun's capital: EDO. Japanese kanjin for Shogun (将軍) is exactly the same as Chinese character for "general". Many times I understand Japanese words due to this similarity. But I don't know how to pronounce.

34D: Like much pottery: EARTHEN. These Terra Cotta Warriors are EARTHEN too.

36D: Food preservative letters: BHT (Butylated HydroxyToluene). No idea. Dictionary says it's used to "retard rancidity in foods, pharmaceuticals, and other products containing fat or oil". I checked my cooking oil, luckily there is no BHT. It sounds as toxic as Obama/Geithner's "Toxic Assets" or whatever the new name is. AIG/AIU, you can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig.

43D: Slatted window opening: LOUVER. British spell this word as LOUVRE. Like Mona Lisa's Louvre.

49D: Meet with the old gang: REUNE. Is this a real word? I've never seen it before.

51D: Leave abruptly, as a lover: JILT. Reminds me of Julia Roberts' "Runaway Bride".

53D: Doe to be identified: JANE

55D: __- Rooter: ROTO. Often clued as "Old newspaper section" in our TMS puzzle. I never really understand what section ROTO is.

56D: Fordham's hoops conf.: A-TEN. Stumper. Have heard of Atlantic 10 conference. Don't know its abbreviation. Not familar with Fordham either. Here is a list of notable alumni. See Vince Lombardi, Alan Alda, and Denzel Washington?

57D: School closing?: MARM. Learned schoolmarm from doing crossword.

60D: Prefix with light: TWI. Oh, twilight. Is there a prefix actually meaning "light"?

61D: One-third of CDLIII: CLI. 1/3 of 453=151.

Full Answer Grid.

C.C.

Sunday February 1, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Eat My Words

23A: Junk carrying fruit?: SLOE (Slow) BOAT TO CHINA

37A: Freeing a pungent plant? SPRINGING A LEEK (Leak)

49A: Force exerted by a fruit?: PEAR (Peer) PRESSURE

66A: Herb's organic processes?: BASIL (Basal) METABOLISM

88A: Mushroom stem?: MOREL (Moral) SUPPORT

98A: Veggies' contemporaries?: BEET (Beat) GENERATION

118A: Herb from the distant past?: THYME (Time) IMMEMORIAL

PEAR PRESSURE seems to be strained. PEAR and Peer sound very different to me. MOREL SUPPORT made me laugh, given our wild MOREL discussion last summer.

I wonder if any constructor thought of building a "Moral" rebus puzzle. Moral Ground, Moral Standard, Moral Code, Moral Principle, Moral Philosophy, Moral Decline, Moral Lesson, Moral Victory, Moral Obligation, Moral Conduct, Moral Fiber, etc. Lots of "Moral Issue" words to grid.

Very nice puzzle. Excellent theme. Quite challenging for me though. Had to seek Google for help. Definitely more rewarding than last week's simple "Face It". The only minor quibble I have is the clue for HIT (53A: SRO indication). SRO indicates an abbreviated answer, but HIT is not.

Across:

8A: Character on "The A-Team": MR. T. This guy often wears too much gold.

14A: Brother of Rebecca: LABAN. I forgot his name completely. He is the father of Leah and Rachel, Jacob's father-in-law. Who is his wife then?

19A: Do little or nothing: LIE DOWN

22A: Beatles song from "The White Album": I WILL. Here is the clip.

25A: Paroxysm: THROE. I did not know the meaning of "Paroxysm". "oxy" meaning sharp, as in oxymoron.

26A: "Lohengrin" heroine": ELSA. I can never remember this Wagner opera. The girl looks scared. What is the story about?

27A: Joyce Kilmer classic: TREES. "I think I shall never see /A poem lovely as a tree..."

33A: Fatality faker: POSSUM

48A: Light starter?: TWI. Twilight.

52A: French possessive: A MOI. How do you say "Wish you were mine" in French? I suppose French has real and unreal conditional sentences too.

56A: Barry Levinson movie: DINER. No idea. Have never heard of this movie.

64A: AEC word: ENERGY. AEC was replaced by NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission).

75A: Under the most negative circumstances: AT WORST. I hope we've hit the bottom and the worst is now behind us. So depressing and chilling to read those massive layoff announcements.

80A: Winged: ALATE. Like Pegaus. Sometimes the answer is ALAR. Ala is "wing".

87A: Few: pref: OLIG. As in oligarchy. Here are some examples. I suppose you can call Putin's Russia oligarchy too.

94A: Erect, temporarily: RIG UP. Why "temporarily"?

97A: Brain box: NOODLE. "Brain box" is a new slang to me. I think my "Brain box" is full. I can't seem to absorb and digest the new information I get from reading others' comments.

101A: Incursions: FORAYS

111A: Rutger of "Blade Runner": HAUER. Googled his name. Three consecutive vowels. Perfect for crossword.

123A: Cyst: VESICLE. New to me. What causes these VESICLES? Looks like cigarette burns.

124A: Shoelace tip: AGLET. Derived from French word "aiguille" meaning "needle'".

Down:

4D: Old music halls: ODEA. Singular is odeum. Is there any modern music halls/theaters called odeum?

14D: Well-read elite: LITERATI. Digerati is a portmanteau of "digital" and "LITERATI".

18D: Dodger, in MLB jargon: NLER (National Leaguer). Both ALER and NLER exist in crossword world only.

32D: Put that out of your mind: IGNORE IT

34D: Last of Socrates?: OMEGA. The last letter of Greek alphabet.

35D: Pitcher Warren: SPAHN. Ah,"Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain", Hall of Famer. The winningest southpaw in Major-League history.

57D: Incoming, as a train (abbr.): INB. Inbound?

62D: Trellis: ESPALIER. Another new word to me. Very pretty. Is that an apple tree? Some of the fruits look like pomegranates.

70D: "I remember Mama" character: LARS. Got it from across clues. Have never heard of this movie before.

81D: Wood: pref.: LIGN. First encounter with this prefix. Dictionary gives an example of "lignite", dark brown coal with a woodlike texture.

82D: Three from Berlin: DREI. Eins, zwei, DREI.

84D: Corundum relative: ALUNDUM. No idea. The clue means nothing to me. Both end in "undum". I suppose you can call them relatives.

90D: Lacking in development: UNFORMED. This clue does not feel natural to me.

92D: Panama preposition: POR. Good alliteration.

100D: Wind: pref.: ANEMO. As in anemometer, the instrument to measure the speed of wind. Saw this clue somewhere before.

106D: Hindu deity: SIVA. I don't know which one is more common, SIVA or Shiva. Here is a statue. How does Hinduism differ from Buddhism? Some of the meditating statues look quite similar.

119D: NASA partner: ESA (European Space Agency)

C.C.

Sunday January 18, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Fishy Business

23A: Fishy multi-talented celebrity?: OPAH WINFREY (Oprah Winfrey)

25A: Fishy musician?: PIANO TUNA (Piano Tuner)

39A: Fishy age recognition?: BIRTHDAY COD (Birthday Card)

57A: Fishy Brinks vehicle?: ARMORED CARP (Armored Car)

81A: Fishy Florida ballot?: HANGING SHAD (Hanging Chad)

93A: Fishy weakness?: ACHILLES' EEL (Achilles' Heel)

114A: Fishy warship?: MINNOW WAR (Man O' War)

116A: Fishy amplifiers?: HERRING AIDS (Hearing Aids)

I did not know that Man O' War is a kind of warship. Always thought it's a racing horse and is connected to Seabiscuit somehow. I actually think "Fishy thoroughbred?" is a better clue than "Fishy warship?" because of the annoying War/WAR duplication.

I liked this puzzle a lot. Caught all of the fish very early on and sailed through most of the puzzle storm-free.

I don't quite understand the clue for NO-HIT (4D: Pitch near perfection). I am confused by the grammar structure. NO-HIT is an adjective, right? A NO-HIT game. "Pitch near perfection" is a noun phrase, isn't it? No-hitter is a noun. Nolan Ryan threw seven no-hitters in his career, a major league record. None of them is a perfect game though.

Across:

11A: Heckler's partner in firearms: KOCH. Have never held a gun in my life. Not familiar with Heckler & KOCH at all.

28A: Protected one's king, in a way: CASTLED

33A: Stimpy's pal: REN. Learned this dog name from doing Xword. Stimpy is a cat.

46A: Unbeatable opponents: NEMESES. Singular is NEMESIS.

53A: River of Hades: LETHE. River of forgetfulness. Styx is the River of Hate, forming "the boundary between the upper and lower worlds". Has anyone read "The Divine Comedy" or "Inferno"?

69A: German automaker: OPEL

61A: Pastry cement: MASTIC. No idea. I found some MASTIC sealant though. Is this cement somehow related to the MASTIC tree?

64A: Airhead: DITSY. New word to me. Can also be spelled as DITZY.

68A: Vulture's repast: CARRION. Does vulture eat live animal at all?

75A: Lighter fuel: BUTANE. How is it different from propane?

84A: Seed producers of certain trees: PINECONES

102A: Bob Dylan's "__ Lady of the Lowlands": SAD EYED. Here is the song. New to me. It's about his wife Sara Lownds.

105A: Shop talk: ARGOT. Lingo is another 5-letter word that might fit in another time for "Shop talk".

108A: English philosopher of Herbert: SPENCER. I googled his name. Wikipedia says he coined the phrase "Survival of the Fittest". I thought it's Darwin original quote.

110A: Siren: LORELEI. The Rhine Siren, to be exact. Chinese lore does not have similar siren who lures those restless sailors.

124A: Some chasers: POSSE

Down:

2D: Kal Kan rival: ALPO. Know ALPO. Have never heard of Kal Kan brand. Don't own any pet.

5D: Reacting to Sinatra: ASWOON. Very interesting clue. Why Sinatra instead of Clooney?

8D: Stupor: pref: NARCO. As in narcosis. New to me. I only know NARC as "DEA agent".

11D: Astronomer Johannes: KEPLER. Another google. He was a German astronomer. That's an excellent portrait.

24D: "Newsboy" painter: INMAN (Henry). I forgot all of him. Wikipedia says nearly a dozen of his 30 Native American portraits are in the collection of the White House. Here is "Newsboy" once again.

26D: Infamous cow owner: O'LEARY (Catherine)

29D: Speaker of diamonds: TRIS. Ah, baseball. TRIS Speaker is in HOF of course.

32D: Pre-Mayan civilization: OLMEC. OLMEC, Maya & Aztec. Just learned this word a few days ago.

35D: Indian state: ASSAM. The tea state. South of Himalaya Mountains.

36D: Sanskrit aphorism: SUTRA. Hmm, "Kama SUTRA". Kama is god of erotic desire/love in Sanskrit.

41D: Persuade: COOPT. "Persuade"? Not a familiar definition to me.

43D: Humdinger: DILLY. I often mix "Humdinger" with "harbinger".

45D: Reference citation: FOOTNOTE

47D: Whatnot shelves: ETAGERES

55D: Structural beam: I-BAR. Have only heard of I-BEAM. It's the same, I suppose.

56D: Emphasizes: POINTS UP. New phrase to me.

58D: Letters for shock treatment: ECT (ElectroConvulsive Therapy). So hard to remember this abbreviation.

64D: Henning and McClure: DOUGS. DOUG Henning was a Canadian magician. DOUG McClure was an actor. I knew neither of them.

51D: Early computer: ENIAC

95D: Calyx parts: SEPALS

98D: Twilled fibrics: SERGES. Be prepared. Everytime SERGE appears in our puzzle, I will link SERGE Gainsbourg. I think Jane Birkin's moaning is sexier than Brigitte Bardot's.

107D: Growl: GNAR. Knar is a knot on the tree. Both exist only in crossword world in my opinion.

111D: City near Brussels: LIER. See this map. It's in Antwerp. Too obscure a clue.

115D: Assn. for boxers: WBA (World Boxing Association)

117D: "Kidnapped" author: RLS (Robert Louis Stevenson). Here is the bookcover. I doubt I will ever read it.

C.C.

Saturday December 20, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 70

Noticed how this puzzle differs from the ones offered by Allan E. Parrish and Barry Silk? It has no letter X, Z or Q. There are also no Matthew Higgins style obscure librarian words.

Just a simple, straightforward, pop culture-free puzzle, with no twisted gimmicks. I've seen ELEVEN (2D: Side-by-side ones?) clued as "One by one?" before, so there was no "Aha" for me today either.

After seeing those suffixes like ER, EST, ED and S, I kind of missed the old "Sea Eagle" clue for ERN (5D: Directional suffix). Also, "Serpent tail?" for INE (60D) lost its appeal to me several months ago. Don't you think "Carol ending?" is more fitting for the Christmas season?

I also disliked the clue for DENIABLE (37D: Possible to contradict). Can you come up with a better one?

Across:

1A: Hijiki or sargassum: SEAWEED. Here is the photo. Unknown to me. Easy guess though. I only cook with kelp and wakame. And nori for my rice ball wrapping.

2A: Greek letters: LAMBDAS. Got it from the down clues. This letter and OMICRON often give me trouble. So do those rivers in Europe.

16A: Iridescent: OPALINE. I think "opalescent" is more commonly used. Does anyone collect Fenton milk glass?

22A: Backs of neck: NAPES. I want to see SCRUFFS clued as "Backs of neck" in our puzzle some day. Lots of consonants in that word, not as many as STRENGTHS though.

28A: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" co-star Garr: TERI. Where is TERI Hatcher's agent? Or he might think Tribune Media puzzle is too small for his client to make an appearance.

31A: Switch attachment?: EROO. Switcheroo. Smackeroo. Are you familiar with the slang Sockeroo?

33A: Insists upon the observance of: STANDS ON. I was only familiar with STANDS ON as in "STANDS ON the shoulders of giants".

38A: Gilded: AUREATE. Five vowels in this word. This is interesting. Have you ever used "Euouae" when playing Scrabble?

45A: French wines: VINS. Kind of boring clue, isn't it?

46A: Iris in heraldry: FLEUR-DE-LIS. Great to see its full name in a puzzle.

51A: Egyptian goddess of fertility: ISIS. OK, here is ISIS feeding her son Horus again. AMON/AMEN/AMUN is the "Egyptian fertility god". I wonder if President Clinton knows the meaning of IS IS.

54A: Open horse-drawn carriages: SHAYS. Here is an old one horse SHAY. Unknown to me.

62A: Country on the Adriatic: ALBANIA. See this map. Tirana is its capital. Lek is its currency. Wikipedia says that ALBANIA means "Land of the Eagle" in native language, hence the double-headed eagles on its flag. They sure don't look like eagles though.

67A: Stable seat: SADDLES

Down:

1D: Deli hangar: SALAMI. These are Cantonese style sausages, which are made of pork and sweet in taste.

2D: Side-by-side ones?: ELEVEN. 11.

3D: Victoria's consort: ALBERT. Easy guess. I did not know who was Queen Victoria's husband. Is that a real photo?

4D: Runs out of energy: WEARIES. I was thinking of WEAR OUT.

7D: Hereditary monarch: DYNAST. I only knew DYNASTY.

8D: Cut off: LOP. And 49D: Cut into: INCISE. Made me think of the Lorena Bobbitt story you guys talked about several days ago. I had never heard of it before.

12D: Spread far and wide: DISPERSE

13D: Foyer: ANTEROOM

24D: Certain musical chord: TRIAD

42D: Ancient empire on the Tigris: ASSYRIA. Wow, Its territory is bigger than I thought.

47D: Arctic boats: UMIAKS. I completely forgot this boat. Those guys look very cold.

48D: Minature train name: LIONEL. Forget about the train, I love "We Are the World". I only recognized LIONEL Richie, Michael Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springteen. Who is the singer at 2:29?

50D: Summer ermines: STOATS. He is adorable.

C.C.

Sunday December 14, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Prefixed People

26A: More than one "Cape Fear" co-star?: POLYBERGEN (Polly Bergen)

28A: Wrong fictional detective?: MISMARPLE (Miss Marple)

48A: Small country singer?: MINIPEARL (Minnie Pearl)

69A: Driven director?: AUTOPREMINGER (Otto Preminger)

96A: 1/10 of a bandleader?: DECIARNAZ (Desi Arnaz)

110A: Around a fictional lawyer?: PERIMASON (Perry Mason)

115A: Dry Broadway star? XEROMOSTEL (Zero Mostel)

36D: Little fashion designer?: OLIGCASSINI (Oleg Cassini)

44D: Broadcast TV cop?: TELESAVALAS (Telly Savalas)

I was not aware that XERO is a prefix for "dry", as in xeroderma, "a disease in which the skin becomes dry, hard, and scaly."

I only knew OLIG from oligarchy, so I always thought OLIG means a few. "Little" made me think Cassini is short. Is he?

Normally I don't like actor/actresse - laden puzzles. But I enjoyed this one. Very creative theme.

Got a bit emotional when I filled in the Roman numeral XXXIV for 107D: "34, once." Thought of Twins great Kirby Puckett whose jersey number was 34. Kirby used to say "Don't take anything for granted, because tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

I dislike the clue for ILIA (52D: Pieces of pelvises). I know the constructor is having alliteration in his mind, but "Pieces" bring fractured bones to my mind.

Across:

1A: San Joaquin Valley tribe: YOKUTS. Literally "people" in their own language. Alien to me. I also did not know where San Joaquin Valley is. "San Joaquin" is Saint Joachim in Spanish.

12A: Mixed sandwich spread: EGG SALAD. So messy to eat.

20A: Dismount: ALIGHT. The past tense ALIT seems to make more appearances in crossword.

21A: In the work cited: OP. CIT. I tend to confuse this phrase with IBID.

22A: Type of gland: SALIVARY. I only knew SALIVA.

23A: "Robocop" co-star: WELLER (Peter). Googled his name. The title of this film does not sound interesting to me.

25A: In complete agreement: AS ONE MAN

30A: Matador's foe: TORO. "Matar" is "Kill" in Spanish.

40A: Potvin or Savard: DENIS. Both are former NHL players. Denis Potvin was with the New York Islanders, and DENIS Savard was with Chicago Blackhawks for a long time. I was not familiar with either of them. Why DENIS instead of DENNIS?

59A: International business conflict: TRADE WAR

62A: CBS hit: CSI

66A: Noble family of Ferrara: ESTE. Also, "East" in Spanish.

67A: Mouths: Lat.: ORA. Dictionary says ORA is a plural of Latin "os" (mouth). Unknown to me. I've only seen ORA clued as " __ pro nobis" before.

79A: Carpool-lane letters: HOV

85A: "The Bartered Bride" composer: SMETANA. I googled his name. Here is the overture of "The Bartered Bride".

94A: Virgil's Trojan hero: AENEAS. Ah, I remember him. Dido, the queen of Carthage, committed suicide because AENEAS could not be with her any more. How sad! But at least he loved her when they were together.

106A: Stock index: AMEX

121A: Rabble-rouser: AGITATOR

122A: Canonical hours: SEXTS. I obtained this answer from down fills. Sex, sexi, sext are all Latin prefixes for six.

125A: Number sheets: PAGINATE

127A: Sundial: GNOMON. I can never remember GNOMON. It's Greek for "indicator".

128A: Unit of radiation wavelengths: ANGSTROM. Named after the Swedish physicist Anders ANGSTROM. Unknown to me also. ANGST ROM, such an angry-looking name.

130A: Kennedy assassin: OSWALD. This issue of Life magazine with Lee Harvey OSWALD on the cover is very collectible.

Down:

1D: Bawl: YAWP. New word to me. I don't like the "aw" duplication in the clue and the answer.

2D: Butter's bro: OLEO. Why "bro" instead of "sis"?

5D: Neighbor of Luxor: THEBES. Neighbor? Really? I can only find Luxor on this map. Have only heard of the Greek city THEBES.

7D: "Marty" star: BORGNINE. How can I remember his name? BORG NINE. We just had ERNEST clued as "Actor Borgnine" last Tuesday.

10D: Third word of "America": 'TIS. I guessed. Not familiar with the lyrics.

14D: Takes by theft: GLOMS

15D: Old Blue Eyes: SINATRA. Do you know that "My Way" was written by Paul Anka?

19D: Unit of force: DYNE. Newton fraction. "Unit of work" is ERG, "Joule faction".

35D: Elite wheel: LIMO

37D: Plays around?: GOLFS. A round of GOLF. Nice play on "around".

39D: Becloud: MIST UP. I like compound word answers.

41D: Bringer of bad news: ILL WIND. See the origin. I like the verse in the end: "... And the oboe it is clearly understood/Is an ill wind that no one blows good". Look at the line above the verse, "presumably as 'French horn' didn't scan". What does "scan" mean? Rhyme?

45D: What is left: ESTATE. I have problem understanding the grammar structure of the clue. "Stuff that's left" is easier for me to parse.

46D: Entrance gates: STILES

48D: "Simpsons" barkeep: MOE. Also the name of a Stooge.

55D: Grubs: CADGES. I toiled hard for this answer. Always associate "Grubs" with food.

58D: Play starter: ACT ONE

64D: Shoreline state: LOW TIDE. Why? What is "Shoreline state"?

68D: Lion, at times: ROARER

71D: Actress Loy: MYRNA. Another google. She played Nora in "The Thin Man".

80D: Hokkaido port: OTARU. I forgot. Here is the map again. Lot of AINU (The aboriginal Japanese) live there I suppose.

83D: "The __ Cometh": ICEMAN. An educated guess. Not familiar with this Eugene O'Neill play. That guy looks like Henry Fonda in "12 Angry Men", doesn't he?

84D: Beginning of the large intestine: CECUM. New word to me. Did you notice the three embedded ICE in this part of the grid?

86D: Frequency meas.: MHZ. The answer came to me after I cheated on the intersecting composer SMETANA.

87D: River to the Gulf of Finland: NEVA. See this map. Another new river to me.

88D: Arabian Sea port: ADEN. Belongs to Yemen.

95D: Sway-resistant: ADAMANT. Odd clue.

101D: 1539 Florida visitor: DE SOTO. No idea. I was thinking of De Leon, who tried to find the "Fountain of Youth" in Florida. I wonder if they knew each other.

109D: Insect stage: IMAGO. Larva, pupa and IMAGO.

111D: Richard of "A Summer Place": EGAN. I penned in GERE first. Not familiar with this actor or the movie. Nice theme song.

112D: Diana of "The Avengers": RIGG. I wrote down LANE first. I've never heard of her or "The Avengers".

113D: Suffix for diseases: ITIS. I would prefer a partial fill IT IS clue.

114D: Provo neighbor: OREM. Learned this city name from doing Xword.

116D: Kett of comics: ETTA. Sometimes ETTA is clued as "Singer James". Such a daring song title!

117D: Garbage barge: SCOW

118D: Author Janowitz: TAMA. One more google. She wrote "Slaves of New York". Wikipedia says TAMA Janowitz is one of the four original "brat pack" authors.

119D: Organic compound: ENOL. Is "carbon compound" also organic?

C.C.

Friday December 12, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Sound Alike

17A: Golf?: PLAY A ROUND (AROUND)

55A: Take a dive?: THROW A BOUT (ABOUT)

11D: Compete in a steeplechase?: JUMP A BOARD (ABOARD)

28D: Race on earth?: RUN A GROUND (AGROUND)

I was not aware of the boxing term "dive". But "PLAY A ROUND" came to me immediately so I got the theme very early on. It certainly helped me fill in several blanks. I found today's down fills much easier to obtain than the across ones.

Two major problems in this puzzle:

1) DIVE (24A: Swoop) is an answer, so "dive" should not be part of the clue for 55A.

2) POUT (51D: Look sullen) and POUTY (33A: Peevish) in the same puzzle? They are of the same root for goodness sake.

I do like the clues for GOOSE (6D: Nene, for one) and GUEVARA (41D: Che from Argentina). Lovely to see "Nene" and "Che" as clues rather than the fills. I had the mistaken idea that Che was from Cuba.

Across:

1A: Walker in water: WADER. Nice clue. All alliterations.

14A: Napoleon, for a time: EXILE. Another nice clue. Try "Dalai Lama" next time. He has been an exile for a long time.

15A: SSS classification: ONE A. Here is a detailed list. Have you ever seen a Purple Heart medal in person?

16A: King novel, "__ Key": DUMA. Got the book title from down fills. I've never read any Stephen King book.

21A: Bonny girl: LASS. "Bonny" is rooted in BON (57D: __ mot (witticism)).

22A: Swooped: DIPPED. Are they are really interchangeable?

25A: __ Gorda, FL: PUNTA. New city to me. What is it famous for? The name is "Fat Point" in Spanish.

26A: Low, foglike clouds: STRATI. Singular form is STRATUS.

34A: Small traveler in space: METEOROID

36A: Japanese ethnic group: AINU. The aboriginal Japanese. AINU is literally "human" in their language.

37A: Hindu garment: var.: SAREE. SARI is more common. Same with RANEE, which is a variant of RANI.

41A: Prickly, Scottish shrub: GORSE. I totally forgot about this bush. Dictionary says it's a genus of Ulex. Kind of reminds me of IBEX (Mountain goat) and IlEX (Holm oak). A bunch of weird looking words.

45A: Rope on the range: RIATA. Sometimes it's REATA. What's the difference between RIATA and LARIAT?

47A: Whence Zeno: ELEA. Zeno of ELEA.

50A: B.C. or P.E.I.: PROV. We have provinces (22) in China. Xi'An is the capital city of Shaanxi Province.

58A: Potent beginning: OMNI. Also "Present beginning".

61A: Art movement: DADA. OK, here is Dadaist Duchamp's "Mona Lisa". Here is the explanation on the DF meaning of L.H.O.O.Q..

Down:

3D: Naturalist Fossey: DIAN. Got her name from across fills. Is DIAN a nickname of DIANA?

9D: Pharisee rival: SADDUCEE. Completely unknown to me. Dictionary defines SADDUCEE as "a member of a Palestinian sect, consisting mainly of priests and aristocrats, that flourished from the 1st century b.c. to the 1st century a.d. and differed from the Pharisees chiefly in its literal interpretation of the Bible, rejection of oral laws and traditions, and denial of an afterlife and the coming of the Messiah."

10D: Make work: ADAPT. Are you comfortable with this clue?

29D: Job extras: PERKS. What amazing PERKS Google offers to its employees!

44D: Exhale forcefully: BLOW. Also the title of a Johnny Depp movie.

52D: Inning sixths: OUTS. Baseball term. "Three up, three down". Why "sixth" instead of "six"?

53D: Very small: ITSY. This reminds me of a good clue for SANTA ("He has a small staff").

C.C.

Sunday November 9, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Selective Collective

27A: Group of pooches: OODLES OF POODLES

120A: Group of tropical fish: MASSES OF WRASSES

16D: Group of swine: SCORES OF BOARS

34D: Group of food fish (var.): SCADS OF SHADS

37D: Group of jumpers: LOADS OF TOADS

39D: Group of jumpers, briefly: SLEWS OF ROOS

59A: Group of male donkeys: STACKS OF JACKS

I've never heard of the tropical fish WRASSES (120A). Why there is a "var." mark for 34D?

What a puzzle! Now I feel like a raisin in the morning sun, not dried up and not plump either. I think I still have some moisture left.

I've never filled in so many blanks on a Sunday puzzle. The simple rhyming theme certainly helped. And there was no obscure medical/chemical term intersecting one another to frustrate me.

Had to do a few googling and a few V-8 moment wite-outs in the end. But today's efficient solving makes me feel rather smart. Not much to complain except the clue for SASH (86A: Pageant ID). The abbreviated ID is asking for an abbreviated answer. A simple "Pageant wear" will do the job.

Across:

9A: Type of committee: AD HOC. And another Latin phrase: HIC (77A: __ jacet).

21A: Dentition: TEETH. Dention and teething are synonymous, not TEETH, right?

25A: Mediterranean island nation: MALTA. Its capital is Valletta.

26A: Parkinson's medication: L-DOPA. I forgot. It appeared in our puzzle before.

32A: Gang follower?: STER. Gangster, mobster, teamster, etc.

36A: Kind of tea or remedy: HERBAL

60A: "__ the Explorer": DORA. Lovely DORA bedding set for a small girl.

80A: Switched switch: OFF ON. I don't understand the grammar of the clue.

88A: Both haves of a fly?: TSES. Tsetse. I guess there is no other better way to clue TSES.

89A: "The Right Stuff" org.: NASA. Pure guess. I've never heard of the movie "The Right Stuff" .

92A: Prairie coverage: OAT GRASS. Oh, I did not know that this grass is called OAT GRASS. So different from wheatgrass.

95A: Swanson of Hollywood: GLORIA. She appears in almost every JFK biography due to her affair with Joe Kennedy Sr.

97A: Disney World attraction: EPCOT. Have you been to EPCOT Center?

107A: Everett of "Citizen Kane": SLOANE. I googled his name. I found the movie hard to follow.

111A: such being the case: AS IT IS

123A: Plant with two seed leaves: DICOT. No idea. See this Monocot vs DICOT link. What are "two seed leaves"?

128A: Century plant: AGAVE. The fiber AGAVE yields is called sisal hemp.

132A: Desert traveler: NOMAD

133A: DOD part: DEPT. DOD is Department of Defense.

Down:

1D: Poetic stanza: STROPHE. I would not have got this word without the across fills.

2D: Spaces between leaf veins: AREOLES. The singular form is AREOLA, which was clued as " Ring around the pupil" last time.

4D: Space station of old: SKYLAB. From 1973-1979. MIR was de-orbed in 2001.

6D: New bread abroad: EUROS. I like this clue.

9D: Start of sphere: ATMO. Atmosphere.

10D: View from Mount Pisgah: DEAD SEA. Where is Mount Pisgah? I only see Mount Nebo.

15D: Capp of comic strips: ANDY. Hmm, I'd love the clue to be ANDY Garcia related.

17D: Long-snouted animal: TAPIR. He is ugly, like a pig. I did not know his name before.

28D: Day's march: ETAPE. Again, without the adjacent fills, I would not have obtained this word. I don't think I understood "Day's march" last time when we had the discussion.

29D: Bay window: ORIEL. See this link.

45D: Animal fat: LARD. It's pork fat. Suet is beef/mutton fat.

47D: Thin wdt.: NAR. Narrow? What is "wdt"? Width?

50D: Defeat decisively: TROUNCE

51D: Bombing runs: SORTIES

52D: Corey of "Murphy's Romance": HAIM. Another google. Have never heard of Corey HAIM or "Murphy's Romance" before.

53D: Silents star Theda: BARA. The Vamp. I often confuse her with the "It" girl Clara Bow.

55D: Oscar winner Kedrova: LILA. She won Oscar for "Zorba the Greek".

63D: Supreme Court Justice Black: HUGO. What case is he famous for?

74D: Far from the flock: LOST

94D: Diamond of "Night Court": SELMA. Is she the pretty girl on the front row? I've never heard of her name before.

96D: Fretting: IN A STEW

98D: Tapioca source: CASSAVA. Have you had fresh CASSAVA before?

102D: Yellowstone attraction: GEYSERS. Great picture.

108D: Eviction: OUSTER

109D: Trooper's gun: RADAR. Or the Nehi drinker (M*A*S*H).

119D: Vincent Lopez theme song: NOLA. I could only find this theme music clip, not the song.

C.C.

Saturday August 23, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None

Total blocks: 26

I hope you found beautiful red, red roses in this thorny puzzle. It's way too tough for me. Felt like climbing Mountain Everest without a shirpa. I definitely need a theme to guide me.

Too many unknowns and strange cluings. I was stumped immediately by KAMPALA (1A). Letter K was simply impossible for me as I was not familiar with crossing KIWANIS (1D) at all. And I got bogged down in MENOTTI area for a long time. Had to ask Google for help.

Across:

1A: Capital city of 15A: KAMPALA. Here is the map. It's located on Lake Victoria.

8A: "The Consul" composer: MENOTTI (Gian Carlo). I forgot. Vaguely remembered seeing his name somewhere before. Wikipedia says he won Pulitzer (1950) for The Consul". He wrote both the music and the libretto for the opera. Amazing. He must love Wagner.

15A: Infamous dictator: IDI AMIN. I still don't understand why he is called "The Last King of Scotland".

16A: Protein in cereal grains: ALEURON. No idea. I could only think of GLUTEN. Dictionary says it's a "granular protein found in the endosperm of many seeds or forming the outermost layer in cereal grains." ALEURON is Greek for "meal".

17A: Rhode Island city: WARWICK. We get quite a few TMS solvers there.

18A: 3-D miniature scene: DIORAMA. New word to me. Beautifully done.

22A: Hindu sect member: SIKH. Literally, "disciple" in Sanskrit. I always confuse this word with ANKH, the Egyptian cross.

23A: City in NE France: NANCY. METZ was clued as "City near NANCY" on a July puzzle. I wonder why the editor has never considered cluing RANCY Reagan.

25A: Death rattles: RALES. This word should really be mothballed.

28A: Subcontinent leader?: INDO. INDOCHINA. Trickey clue.

29A: Adriatic seaport: BARI. It's here in Italy. Unknown to me.

30A: Seed covering: TESTA. Also, "head" in Italian.

34A: Up to the patellae: KNEE DEEP. Interesting clue, so literal.

36A: Omnispective: All -SEEING. "Omnispective" is a new word to me.

38A: Paginated: FOLIATED. No idea. I always thought FOLIATE is an adjective. I've never heard of "paginate" before.

45A: Cricket segments: OVERS. No. Dictionary defines OVER as "the number of balls, usually six, delivered between successive changes of bowlers". I originally thought OVERS might be like our "innings" in baseball.

48A: "The Lion King" character: NALA. "Can you feel the love tonight?...". Beautiful song from "The Lion King".

53A: One-tenth of MDXL: CLIV. I cannot think of any other non-Roman numberal way to clue this "CLIV", can you?

55A: Lumberjack's two-man tool: PIT SAW. Hard work!

58A: Otological problem: EAR ACHE. Be prepared, the answer might be OTALGIA next time.

60A: Bereft: SO ALONE. I disagree, they are not synonymous.

62A: Commonplace: PROSAIC

63A: Cutting tooth: INCISOR

64A: Nerve connection: SYNAPSE. This puzzle should please our fellow solver Flyingear.

65A: Suppurates: FESTERS. I did not know the meaning of "Suppurates".

Down:

1D: Worldwide service club: KIWANIS. Unknown to me once again. It's "an organization founded in 1915 for the promulgation of higher ideals in business, industrial, and professional life".

3D: "Right to remain silent" warning: MIRANDA. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."

6D: Tiny insects: LICE. I penned in NITS.

8D: Kahn of "Blazing Saddles": MADELINE. I googled her name. I've never heard of "Blazing Saddles".

12D: Gad about: TRAIPSE

13D: 1992 U.S. Open winner: TOM KITE. Know him, but had no idea he was the 1992 Open champion. I was thinking of Lehman. That ball did land in the hole.

14D: Randomly piled: IN A HEAP. I got this after cheating with the across fills.

21D: Delineated: MARKED OUT

24D: 1997 Nicolas Cage movie: CON AIR. Good movie, good song too.

26D: Gregg user: STENO. Did not know what "Gregg" is.

29D: Wallop: BELT. Nice BELT.

31D: Abutting: EDGING. No need to clue *ING answer with an *ING. "Border" is just fine.

37D: Carefully planned and executed performance: SET PIECE. New phrase to me also.

38D: Medical implement: FORCEPS. Completely foreign to me. Here are some surgical FORCEPS.

39D: Of plant seeds: OVULARY. Sigh... no, no.

40D: Shackle: LEG IRON. Techincially it's "lower shackle".

42D: California city: SAN JOSE. "Do You Know the Way to SAN JOSE?"

43D: Rigby of song: ELEANOR. Not familiar with this Beatles' song. Only know ELEANOR Roosevelt.

44D: Lumberyard employs: SAWYERS. I always thought it was SAWERS.

47D: Isolated mountain: MASSIF. New to me also. It's defined as "A large mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range". Behind them is the Himalayan Annapurna MASSIF.

51D: Plant pest: APHIS. I forgot. Saw this clue before. Strange plural form APHIDES.

52D: Aircraft surveillance acronym: AWACS (Airborne Warning And Control System). Nope, too sophisticated for me to undertand and remember.

54D: Swedish ship that sank on maiden voyage: VASA. No idea. I like the bright colors on this VASA model.

C.C.