Friday November 14, 2008 William S. Richardson

Theme: Tribute to a Comedian

17A: George Carlin album: CLASS CLOWN

40A: George Carlin album: OCCUPATION: FOOLE

63A: Classic bit from 17A: SEVEN WORDS

Several months' late, but better late than never. I am sure this puzzle was submitted to our editor in late June or early July.

This constructor is new to me, but I did not encounter any unusual heavy fighting solving his gird. Many of the clues feel very familiar, so I am sure lots of editing was done.

I don't like the VOC clue (32D: Type of sch.). I would change VEST (32A: Three-piece piece) into REST, so 32D would be ROC, which is often clued as "Mythical bird of prey" by Williams.

Across:

1A: French cleric: ABBE. Curé is French for cleric too.

5A: Discomfit: ABASH. I am only familiar with "unabashed".

16A: New Greek coin: EURO. I like this clue.

20A: Well-plumed bird: EGRET. What are they looking at?

37A: Like some peanuts: SALTED. I like my nuts to be honeyed. I love HONEY (9D: Bee product), don't you?

43A: Tight spot: CORNER

49A: Tex. campus: SMU. Bush Library will be built in this campus. SMU is Laura Bush's alma mater.

51A: Goddess of folly: ATE. Learned from doing Xword. She is Zeus's oldest daughter. Wikipedia says ATE is also "the action performed by the hero, usually because of his or her HUBRIS that leads to his or her death or downfall."

53A: Layer: STRATUM

58A: Secret assembly: CONCLAVE. I always associate CONCLAVE with cardinals' mystifying process of electing a new pope.

68A: Guitar ridge: FRET. No idea. I don't know anything about guitar. See this diagram: 4 is FRETS, and 20 is fretboard.

69A: Ferrell or Banks: TYRA. Banks is the supermodel. Ferrell is in "White Man Can't Jump" starring Woody Harrelson. Very noisy movie.

70A: Steisand film: YENTL. I've never seen the movie. YENTL, Yenta (Busybody) and Yente ("Fiddler on the Roof" matchmaker), so confusing.

Down:

2D: Protuberance: BULGE. Wikipedia says "The Battle of the BULGE was the bloodiest of the battles that U.S. forces experienced in World War II. The 19,000 American dead were unsurpassed by those of any other engagement". Including all the battles in Vietnam War, I suppose?

5D: Coll. sports grp.: ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference). See this list of ACC members.

6D: Dance in France: BAL

11D: Top of fraction: NUMERATOR

33D: "The Name of the Rose" writer: ECO. Here is the book cover. ECO has been clued as Author Umberto" several times in our puzzle before.

34D: Moocher: SCROUNGER. My favorite entry. Lots of consonants.

39D: Scottish river: DEE. I guessed. I could only remember TAY. Here is the map. It's in Aberdeen.

41D: Flower element: PETAL. I always thought of "Bouquet" as a bunch of flowers, had no idea that it also meant SCENT (49D).

47D: Unsparing: SEVERE

50D: Comic Amsterdam: MOREY. No idea. I got his name from across fills. Is he in this "Dick Van Dyke" picture?

57D: Sail supports: MASTS. I like the intersection of MASTS and TARS (71D: Old sailors).

60D: Bayh or Hunter: EVAN. Know Senator Bayh, not Hunter.

65D: Org. of Ducks and Rangers: NHL. I want the clue to be "Org. of Penguins and Ducks".

C.C.

Sunday October 26, 2008 William S. Richardson

Theme: Green

65A: Green: EARTH FRIENDLY

3D: Green: FILLED WITH ENVY

30D: Green: PLACE FOR PUTTING

34D: Green: INEXPERIENCED

36D: Green: BLUE AND YELLOW

50D: Green: ADOLPH OR HUBERT

All those answers really feel like clues for GREEN, don't they? I wish BLUE AND YELLOW were structured in 3D to form a symmetry with ADOLPH OR HUBERT.

I've never seen a TMS Sunday puzzle with the majority of the theme answers clued in Down. I wonder what's the reason for this change. The puzzle looks nice too if you turn it 90 degrees.

The first theme answer I got is PLACE FOR PUTTING, which prompted me to expect "Masters jacket color", thinking this might be a golf-green related theme.

The clue for SUISSE (1D: Genevan nationality) is not to my liking. Since SUISSE is the French spelling, the clue should have inclued "Genève" as a hint.

Had to resort to OneAcross & Google for help, too many new words/names for me.

Across:

1A: Moroccan port: SAFI. Here is the map. Have never heard of the port before.

14A: Acid of apples: MALIC. New to me. It's derived from Latin "malum" meaning "apple".

20A: First Hebrew letter: ALEPH. First Arab letter is ALIF.

26A: Fuzzy or frizzy: NAPPY

31A: Guinea - ___: BISSAU. See this map. BISSAU is also the capital of the country. Another unknown. It's a Portuguese colony before.

36A: Lab vessels: BEAKERS

37A: Like cars in a traffic jam: END-TO-END

46A: Case for Fox Mulder: X- FILE. Or "Case for Dana Scully".

57A: Pastoral paradise: ARCADIA. Unknown to me. So close to ACADIA in spelling. Dictionary says ARCADIA is "a mountainous region of ancient Greece, traditionally known for the contented pastoral innocence of its people." Kind of like Shangrila, isn't it?

64A: Dutch commune: EDE. I only know Swiss canton URI. See EDE?

69A: Language of Bangladesh: BENGALI. New to me also. I thought they speak Bangladesh language. Dictionary says "jute" is from BENGALI "jhuto".

72A: Hole in a needle: EYE

74A: RSVP-er: INVITEE

81A: Immune system component: T CELL

87A: "Gypsy Love" composer: LEHAR (Franz). No idea. Have only heard of his "The Merry Widow". Here is a clip. She is not singing in Italian, is she?

93A: Sportscaster Scully: VIN. He "holds the distinction of the longest consecutive service of any current major league broadcaster for one team." I've never heard of him before. Not a Dodgers fan.

94A: Publisher' s mark: COLOPHON. It's "A brief description usually located at the end of a book, describing production notes relevant to the edition." I had no idea that there is even a word for that page.

97A: Skintight outfit: LEOTARD

102A: Juicy fruits: MANGOES. One medium-sized MANGO has all the vitamin A & C you need. Some of them are so stringy.

104A: Of words: VERBAL. See the origin of cruciverbalist. I like Ken's example last week: "I never talk to cruciverbalists; they are either cross or down."

108A: View again: RESEE. And I SEE (4D: Words of understanding). I don't like seeing two SEE's.

113A: Mortise insertion: TENON

115A: Ordinary language: PROSE. "Purple PROSE" is not ordinary.

Down:

5D: Squeals: TATTLE. The other ?ATTLE words are battle, cattle and rattle. Constructors always keep several options open.

8D: Columnist's opinion pg.: OPED. I would prefer a simple "Columnists' pg". I don't like the OP duplication.

9D: Remnants of a grenade: SHRAPNEL. I did not know that SHRAPNEL has no plural form.

14D: Wild ones: MANIACS. Mozart is genius MANIAC.

16D: One who loses faith: LAPSER. If you say so.

17D: To some extent: IN PART

18D: Indian pony: CAYUSE. New word to me. He is named after the Indian tribe CAYUSE I suppose.

38D: Restaurateur Shor: TOOTS. Learned his name from doing Xword of course. Is the Toots Shor's Restaurant still in business?

44D: Type of dysentery: AMOEBIC. The other type is bacillary. New to me.

45D: Jejunum connections: DUODENA. Singular form is DUODENUM. Another unknown to me. I did not know the meaning of "Jejunum". It's "the middle portion of the small intestine, between the duodenum and the ileum."

51D: Ruling house of Great Britain: WINDSOR

52D: English poet Siegfried: SASSOON. No idea. His eyes look very penetrating. SASSOON is "joy" in Hebrew.

54D: Marshy depression: SWALE. I wrote down SWAMP first.

82D: Wrenches: CONTORTS

88D: Football teams: ELEVENS. The same with soccer and cricket, both have 11 players on each side.

90D: Whaler's cohort: SEALER. Okey-dokey.

91D: Matador: TORERO

94D: Aircraft pioneer: CESSNA (Clyde). No idea. See this picture. He is in Aviation Hall of Fame. His company is still in operation, and "currently, CESSNA produces 2-, 4- and 6-place single-engine airplanes, utility turboprops, and business jets."

98D: Brooke Shields film, "___ Nevada": Nope, nope. New film to me. Only knew "A Fish Called WANDA".

C.C.