Sunday May 25, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: TRIPLE LETTERS

23A: Gridiron group: FOOTBALL LEAGUE

40A: Past tolerance: ONCE TOO OFTEN

50A: Play by Shakespeare: RICHARD III

65A: Duel: CROSS SWORDS WITH

86A: Leaves in the direction of: SETS OFF FOR

92A: Best type of voting: FREE ELECTION

116A: 18th-century British statesman: PITT THE YOUNGER

A ho-hum puzzle. The theme entries are very dreary, or rather monotonous. TROIKA is a rare spark. Too many suffixes: S, ED, RE and ER. But LOIS, you are one, twice, three times a lady today.

I got very bored and annoyed by these ER's:

36A: Procrastinators: DELAYERS

22A: Ogler: STARERS

124A: Iron wielders: PRESSERS

71D: Doctor, often: DOSER

97D: Compliant one: OBEYER

And EERIER, DIRER, RERUN, REDRY. Very lazy construction.

I do like how TROIKA parallels HORSE, and I am happy to see ONE and UNE (83A: One of the Parisians), NAH and NOS appear in one puzzle. Interesting to see BARE, BATHS (56D: Tubbings), IN A TUB, STEAMS & REDRY (54D: Tower off again) in one grid.

Dislike HONAN (107A: Chinese Province). It sounds so aged. Please clue it as either HENAN or HUNAN next time. And for 123A: British political party: LABOR. I suggest we call Gordon Brown and see if he accepts this American spelling.

ACROSS:

1A: Jonathan Swift or Mark Twain, for example: SATIRIST. Is Mark Twain a SATIRIST?

9A: Spherical: ORBED

20A: Opera-like musical composition: ORATORIO. Saw this clue before.

21A: __Adams (actress/wife of Steve McQueen): NEILE. Nope, I've never heard of her name before. Is she a well known name?

27A: Splits: RIVES

32A: Old sub: U- BOAT

34A: Stat start: RHEO. My first thought was those baseball stats.

45A: Radio host Don: IMUS. "Imus in the Morning". Not my cup of tea.

56A: Naked: BARE. I love this John Collier's Lady Godiva painting. Gorgeous!

59A: Music from the West Indies: REGGAE. Let's Stir it Up with Bob Marley.

70A: Words of wisdom: ADAGE

74A: Column in a wall: PILASTER. Unknown to me. Here is the definition from Wikipedia.: "A pilaster is a slightly-projecting flattened column built into or applied to the face of a wall." See this photo.

78A: Like Silver's rider: LONE. "The LONE Ranger".

79A: Opens an envelope, furtively: STEAMS

82A: Yiddish thief: GANEF. A new word for me. Why don't they spell it as SCHANEF then?

96A: Kennedy insider TED: SORENSEN. I like his book Kennedy.

101A: Joining: UNION

103A: Flex: BEND. I like how it crosses FEND.

114A: Writer Jong and others: ERICAS. Fear of Flying author. I was shocked the other day when I came across her blog, I thought she was dead.

119A: Adventurous rogue: PICARO. Unknown to me. Spanish origin.

121A: Skyrocketing: METEORIC. Hmm, Up and Up.

DOWNS:

4D: Addams Family cousin: ITT. Cousin ITT from The Addams Family. Learned it from doing crossword. ITT Sheraton (Beijing, 1985) was the first foreign hotel chain to operate a hotel in China. Just learned this morning that Sheraton was also the first hotel chain to be listed in NYSE.

5D: Whiskey cocktail: ROB ROY. Named after the Scottish folk hero Rob Roy. Did not know that there was a ROB ROY movie also. In fact, ERIC (106D: Actor Stoltz) had a supporting role in it.

6D: Aggressive poker table comment: I RAISE

7D: Cloud lining: SILVER. Needs to rework on 78A clue: Like Silver's rider (LONE)

8D: Lacquered metalware: TOLE. I like this floral TOLE tray.

11D: Whopper's rival: BIG MAC. No BIG MAC after "Super Size Me"

12D: Solution extracted using a solvent: ELUATE. No idea. The verb is ELUTE.

16D: Letter-directing words: CARE OF

17D: Coloratura's piece: ARIA. Did not know the meaning of "coloratura". Pieced this word together from across clues.

29D: Horse-drawn vehicle: TROIKA. I suppose it's Russian for threesome. Here is a Russian TROIKA.

33D: Plural of bonus: BONI. I always thought the plural is bonuses.

35D: Trigger, for one: HORSE. Roy Roger's horse. Trigger and SILVER, where is Mr. ED? Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?

42D: Dick of the funnies: TRACY

43D: High nest: var.: EYRIE. Can also be EYRY. A variation of AERIE. I did not know it.

47D: Berlin ice: EIS. Somehow I can never remember this E IS (for Evidence) word.

52D: Collection biz: REPO

53D: Shannon and Crandall: DELS. I know neither of them. I got it from across fills.

62D: MacDonald's sleuth Travis: McGEE. No, not familiar with him. I do know Willie McGee though.

67D: Forceful flows: SPATES

68D: Sports column: WINS

69D: Intestinal prefix: ILEO. Comes from Ileum I suppose.

72D: Cavern, in poetry: ANTRE. It derived from Latin "antrum". I had no idea. ANTRE is French for "den".

75D: Clumps of hair: TUFTS

76D: Modern mail: ENOTE. Is there a ELOVE?

80D: Make off with, biblically: TAKETH

86D: Chinese leader?: SINO. I filled in INDO first, had to scrap it quickly as letter N would not work for 90A: PILE. SINO derived from Qin, the Qin Dynasty. The pronunciation of "Qin" is similar to the phonetic "cheen" (or chin), which is considered by many experts as the root of the word "China". For your information, both Zhou & Qin dynasties had their capital in Xi'An.

89D: Dance wear: LEOTARD. Here is a crew neck sleeveless style.

90D: Indicate: POINT TO

94D: Mississippi city: TUNICA. No, I've never heard of it. Is it well-known?

95D: Where to find 3 men?: IN A TUB

106D: Isinglass: MICA. Got it this time.

111D: Shrek, for one: OGRE. I like how it parallels with ORCS (113D: Tolkien baddies). Here is Enya's May it Be (Lord of The Rings). Enjoy!

C.C.

Saturday May 24, 2008 Josiah Breward

Themeless

An epic battle this morning. I could not get a toehold at the grid at all. STEPPE was not an easy word to fish out of my brain so early in the morning. And I did not know the Roman fable writer PHAEDRUS or the Spider woman ARACHNE, nor was I familiar with TREMOLO. I've never seen CONFUTES (Disproves) before. A very tough start.

The lower right corner was hard too. Duse ELEONORA was a complete stranger to me. I know TOTEM, but I had no idea that TOTEMISM is a word. And I simply forgot ENTO is a prefix for inside. I did not know FLUORINE or ORIFICE either. So, a big stumper today. But it's good to see Z & Q in the same grid again. It's my initials.

There are three Russia references in the puzzle: USSR, STEPPE, MIR. And a bit of business undertone too: 24A: Shortfall: DEFICIT, ASE, and (UN) QUOTE.

Look at the below 3-letter fills today, none of them are lazy AAA, EEE or III words:

19A: Qty: AMT

21A: NYSE competition: ASE (American Stock Exchange)

22A: Pre. advisory grp.: NSC (National Security Council), overseen by NSA (National Security Adviser). Bush's NSA is Stephen Hadley, who could not tell the difference between Tibet and Nepal.

26A: Beat it!: GIT

27A: Stevedores' grp: ILA (International Longshoremen's Association). I did not know the meaning of "Stevedores"

52A: D.C. advisory grp.: NSA (National Security Agency). It's featured in Will Smith's Enemy of the State. I like it a lot. All those NSA directors seem to have a military background.

53A: Color of the Italian sky: BLU

48A: Mazel __! TOV. Hmm, Yiddish words every day now.

54A: #: NUM

55A: Orbing part of Russia?: MIR. Wrong clue, MIR was de-orbited in 2001.

4D: Cut of an agt.: PCT

31D: Amusement: FUN. Yes, come to this blog "If You Wanna Have some FUN".

32D: "Le Coq ___, " Rimsky-Korskoff opera: D'OR. Unknown to me. I know nothing about opera. I love coq au vin though (definitely need morel to make it tasty).

40D: Tallahassee sch.: FSU. So what is their mascot now?

ACROSS:

1A: Plains of Siberia: STEPPE. This is a STEEPE in Kazakhsan.

8A: Say again: ITERATE

15A: Spider woman of myth: ARACHNE. Dictionary says it's "a Lydian woman who challenged Athena to a weaving contest and was changed into a spider for her presumption." Here is ARACHNE (literally spider).

16A: More constricted: TIGHTER

17A: Having a will: TESTATE

28A: Climbing palms: RATTANS. This reminds me of NIPA (Malay thatch).

30A: Disproves: CONFUTES

32A: Refuse to believe: DENY. We get some attitude here: CONFUTES & DENY.

34A: Inside: pref: ENTO. I always want INTRA (as to EXTRA). EXTRO is outside prefix, so are ECT(O) and EXO.

37A: Duplicate: TWIN. Who is this Twin?

40A: Most reactive nonmetallic element: FLUORINE. Symbol: F. Atomic number: 9. Dictionary says it's "a yellow irritating toxic flammable gas" and "a powerful oxidizing agent".

45A: Dinner finale: DESSERT

50A: Verbatim finale: UNQUOTE

56A: African nation: SOMALIA. Iman is from SOMALIA. There is simply no effective government there, all Sunni Muslims.

58A: Hole in the head: ORIFICE. It's "an opening or aperture, as of a tube or pipe; a mouthlike opening or hole; mouth; vent". ORIFICE came from Latin ōrificium, ōr is mouth, fic is a comb. form of facere to make.

60A: Free verse poet: IMAGIST. Wow, I thought the clue was asking for a particular poet who was famous for his free verse or something.

61A: Changes dimension: RESIZES

63A: Chair part: ARM REST

DOWN:

1D: Devilish: SATANIC. Fiendish.

2D: Vibrating effect: TREMOLO. Here is the definition: "a tremulous or vibrating effect produced on certain instruments and in the human voice, as to express emotion."

3D: Photography pioneer: EASTMAN. The Kodak founder.

5D: Roman writer of fables: PHAEDRUS. Wikipedia says "He is recognized as the first writer to latinize entire books of fables, using the iambic metre Greek prose of the Aesop tales.". There is another dialogue PHAEDRUS written by Plato, see here.

6D: Petitions: ENTREATS

7D: Take care of: SEE AFTER

8D: Cornell University city: ITHACA. Is ITHACA always on your mind? Do you want those fine merchandise? I want those "pleasurable perfumes of all kinds".

9D: Makes a connection: TIES IN

10D: Marsh birds: EGRETS. Her neck is rather long, isn't it?

12D: All fluttery: ATINGLE

13D: Pull against gravity: TENSION

14D: How to stand at attention: ERECTLY

34D: Classic actress Duse: ELEONORA. What is a classic actress? From silent movie era?

34D: One providing sustenance: NURTURER

36D:Shamanistic belief: TOTEMISM

37D: Pass across: TRANSIT

38D: Fetching: WINSOME

39D: Think tank member: IDEA MAN. What about women fellows/scholars?

41D: List: ITEMIZE

42D: Prospective members: NOVICES

43D: Highest peak: EVEREST. "Because it's there".

47D: Deep knee bend: SQUATS

45D: Irish capital: DUBLIN. OK, here is When the Stars Go Blue again, from The Corrs, Live in DUBLIN 2002 (I do love the Live 8 version more). Enjoy!

C.C.

Friday May 23, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: A MATTER OF CONCERN

17A: Brewer's concern?: BEER MARKET (BEAR MARKET)

27A: Cab driver's concern?: FARE SHARE (FAIR SHARE)

36A: Shipbuilder's concern?: SAILS PROMOTION (SALES PROMOTION)

43A: Fabulist's concern?: TALESPIN (TAILSPIN)

59A: Shoemaker's concern?: SOLE SAVING (SOUL SAVING)

Except BEER and BEAR, all the others are homophones, very interesting. Is 36A a solid clue to you? I don't really get it.

Quite a few new names/words for me in today's puzzle: Enrico FERMI, Nagy IMRE, ANSON Williams, Jared LETO, PABA, BIS, COPA and XENON. Most of them were inferable, but the M between FERMI & IMRE was impossible for me.

I like the way EDIT (34A) is structured at the heart of the grid. It befits the theme entries. And I am happy to see it intersects ADORN (28D: Beautify). There are also 3 SS's in the puzzle: ASSAULTED (20A: Attacked), ESSES, and MUSSES (18D: Disarranges). I am OK with that, as the total account for S's is well within my tolerance range. For your information, there are 69 letter A's on a March 2002 NYT Thursday puzzle.

ACROSS:

5A: Doofus: SCHMO. Isn't POOP (1A: Inside info.) also a fool? Nincompoop?

15A:Type of terrier: CAIRN. Here is Toto and Dorothy.

16A: PBS series: NOVA. Know it, but I've never watched it.

19A: Judah's son: ONAN. The only Judah's son that I know of.

21A: Tabs horn: BUGLE. Still waiting for its anagram BULGE to appear in a TMS puzzle.

22A: Dr. Leary's turn-on: LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide). I like the clue. Dictionary says L. S. D. is also the abbreviation of "Pounds, Shilling & Pence". I wonder why pound is always abbreviated as lb, and why D for pence?

23A: Drag along: LUG 24A: And 24A: Drags forcibly: HAULS. Why drag twice, Mr. Editor?

35A: Again, in music: BIS. I don't know this word. Got it from down clues. Again is always "Encore" to me.

41A: Nagy of Hungary: IMRE. Nope, I've never heard of him. I only know its anagram EMIR.

42A: Absinthe flavoring: ANISE. Is it legal to sell absinthe in the US now?

48A: Furry TV alien: ALF. Got it this time. Also ALF Landon, the Republican guy who was defeated by FDR in 1936.

52A: Not another person: NO ONE ELSE. NO ONE ELSE comes close you, no one makes me feel the way you do...

61A: Acid type: AMINO. It's the protein unit.

64A: Inert gas: XENON. Came From Greek Xenos, hmm, foreign to me that's for sure. It's Element #54.

DOWN:

1D: Sunscreen ingredient: PABA (Para-AminoBenzoic Acid). Completely unknown to me. Here is the definition: "A crystalline para form of aminobenzoic acid that is part of the vitamin B complex, is required by many organisms for the formation of folic acids, and is widely used in sunscreens to absorb ultraviolet light. Also called vitamin B_x"

4D: One type of parking: PARALLEL

7D: QB's command: HIKE. The clue seems to be asking for an abbreviated answer, doesn't it?

8D: Sitcom equine: MR. ED. No problem this time.

10D: Stop, already: ENOUGH. Yes, everyone has a limit.

11D: Round instrument: GONG. Do you love GONG Li ? She starred in Memoirs of a Geisha. She is my favorite Chinese actress.

23D: Actor Jared: LETO. His face looks familiar to me. But I don't remember his name.

24D: Lacks: HASN'T

25D: Guam port, once: AGANA. Capital of Guam. Why "once" in the clue?

26D: One of the archangels: URIEL

27D: Nuclear physicist Enrico: FERMI. He won Nobel Physics in 1938. Not a familiar name to me.

29D: Singer LeAnn: RIMES. "And tell me now, how do I live without you?"

30D: Seething: ABOIL. And 39D: Hotly: IN FEVER

32D: Middle of messes?: ESSES?

37D: Corncob or briar: PIPE. Are you familiar with "Meerchaum Pipe"?

38D: Initial data sheet: TABLE A. What is it?

44D: List of printing mistakes: ERRATA

48D: Williams of "Happy Days": ANSON. Ugh, I just hate TV sitcom characters. Could not never remember their names. I wonder how much this Cap ANSON Old Judge card costs. He is Baseball HOF.

49D: Nightclub in Manilow song: COPA. Nope, I am not familiar with COPACABANA.

52D: Town on the Seward Peninsula: NOME. Often clued as "iditarod terminus".

54D: Prefix for wine: OENO. Also Greek Goddess of wine according to Wikipedia.

57D: Breastplate of Zeus: EGIS. Or AEGIS. It's "the shield or breastplate of Zeus or Athena, bearing at its center the head of the Gorgon". Here is a picture of Medusa's head.

59D: Jazzy instrument: SAX. Why "jazzy" instead of "jazz"?

C.C.

Thursday May 22, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: QUOTE

20A: Start of Christopher Fry quote: WHAT AFTER ALL

23A: Part 2 of quote: IS A HALO

37A: Part 3 of quote: IT'S ONLY

49A: Part 4 of quote: ONE MORE

50A: End of quote: THING TO CLEAN

This is a quote from British playwright Christopher Fry's 1949 comical drama The Lady's Not for Burning (Act I). In the same play, act III, he wrote:

"The moon is nothing

But a circumambulating aphrodisiac

Divinely subsidized to provoke the world

Into a rising birth-rate."

I've never heard of him. Wikipedia says "he was also one of the writers of the classic 1959 film, Ben-Hur".

This is my 19th post on Olschwang's puzzle, 17 of them are either QUIP or QUOTE. He should really give up on this exhausting odyssey and expand his repertoire. I enjoyed his other 2 non-Q offerings very much, esp the PLAY BALL puzzle on March 23.

The theme is very uninspiring, and most of the clues are bland, or rather, stale. Lots of repeat offenders, characteristic of Olschang's work. I do like the upper left ZIP corner and hate the last AIL/ILL grid.

It seems like ELI has appeared on our puzzle every day lately. But to our editor's credit, the clue has never been the same. Good!

ACROSS:

1A: Hera's husband: ZEUS. Or Hera's brother. Wasn't her mother RHEA in yesterday's puzzle? Guess we will see her son ARES (God of War) tomorrow. The Roman equivalent of Hera is Juno, ZEUS is Jupiter of course.

15A: Name-tag word. HELLO. HELLO, David Cook, wow, you won, BRAVO (33D: Cry of appreciation)!

17A: Related to yew?: PINY. Hmm, very interesting clue.

18A: Wickerwork material: OSIER. You can not make wicker out of this Red Osier Dogwood, can you?

26A: City on the Rhone delta: ARLES. This is where Van Gogh painted his Starry Night Over the Rhone. My favorite is La Chambre de Van Gogh a ARLES. His use of yellow color always overwhelms me.

31A: Valhalla bigwig: ODIN. He is the ZEUS of Norse mythology. I only learned this morning that ODIN gave up one of his eyes to gain wisdom. Didn't Van Gogh cut one of his ears for his lover? I don't mind striking a "Faustian Deal" with Devil either, but for one day only, just to be wise.

43A: Gassers: RIOTS

44A: Even___: STEVEN. Unknown to me. Inferable though.

55A: Minute plant structure: OVULE. Seed to be.

60A: Opposite of aweather: ALEE. I've never heard of "aweather".

62A: Spike or brad: NAIL. Clever little clue. I like it.

64A: Comic Foxx: REDD. What a strange name! DD & XX.

DOWN:

4D: Server's request: SAY WHEN. Here is Sadao Watanabe's "SAY WHEN". I love his "I thought about you."

5D: Sandbar: SHOALS. Schools of fish? Can you say that?

8D: Treble, for one: CLEF. Do you like Sophie Marceau? You want find la CLEF to her heart? You'd better finish your crossword under 3 minutes.

11D: Highlanders: GAELS. "My heart's in the highlands, my heart is not here..."

22D: Kind of bird?: EARLY. Good clue.

24D: Passover feast: SEDER. In the month of Nisan.

42D: Leftover piece: REMNANT

45D: Pekoe or Assam: TEA. Another Indian reference is RAVI (42A: Sitarist Shankar) Norah's father.

46D: __ of roses: ATTAR. Rose oil. I've never used any pure rose oil or rose water. Want to try some of these fruit shaped marzipans? Most of them are flavored with rose water.

47D: Sedimentary rock: SHALE. I did not know that you get get oil out of this SHALE.

49D: Stew pots: OLLAS.

57D: Tony Randall movie, "7 faces of Doctor ___": LAO. I've never seen this movie. Not familiar with Tony Randall at all. LAO means "old" in Chinese. LAO Tzu (Taoism) literally means "Old Master."

C.C.

Wednesday May 21, 2008 Norma Steinberg

Theme: R/L FLIP

17A: Expert in pendants?: LOCKET SCIENTIST (ROCKET SCIENTIST)

35A: Connecticut town's hairless populace?: THE BALD OF AVON (THE BARD OF AVON)

52A: Cohorts on the run?: FLEE ASSOCIATION (FREE ASSOCIATION)

Looks like our old Wednesday constructor Philip J. Anderson was sent into exile. Have not seen him for a month. I like this new IT girl constructor Norma Steinberg though. I sense that she loves baseball as she tends to sprinkle a few baseball words/phrases in her puzzles.

Not much to say about today's grid. I aced it in 20 minutes, so I expect to see quite a few 5-minute records today.

ACROSS:

4A: Rendezvous: TRYST

15A: Gary Burghoff role: RADAR

16A: Clown's shtick: ANTIC

21A: Schmeer platform: BAGEL. Hmm, shtick, schmeer, why not clue SAP (1A: Easy mark) as Schnook then?

23A: Skinflints: MISERS

32A: One of HOMES: HURON

38A: Singer Richie: LIONEL. Hello, is it me you are looking for?

40A: Samovars: URNS. Didn't we see SAMOVAR clued as "Russian urn" before?

42A: __ de deux: PAS. Literally "step for two". PAS Seul (solo), PAS de trois, etc.

45A: Logical start: GEO. (Update later: Sorry about the NEO mistake earlier.)

51A: String quartet member: CELLO. A bit of Yo-Yo Ma for you.

61A: Remote control aircraft: DRONE

DOWN:

2D: Dreamboat: ADONIS. Here is J. W. Waterhouse's The Awakening of ADONIS. I adore his The Lady of Shalott.

3D: Keep for oneself: POCKET

9D: Hanger calls: PANGS. Have some SALADS then (1D: Caesar and Waldorf)

11D: Short dagger: STILETTO. This is a picture from the STILETTO Run in Amsterdam in early March. Winner got $15K.

12D: McCourt title: 'TIS. Frank McCourt's memoir. What does 'TIS stand for? THIS?

18D: Dutch carrier's letters: KLM (Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij). Royal Dutch Airlines. It's merged with Air France in 2004. I've only used SAS.

23D: Fable's lesson: MORAL. Hmm, Freud is right, men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine.

24D: Worshiped one: IDOL. Here is David Cook's "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

25D: Mails, as a tax return: SENDS IN. And 28D: Tax agcy: IRS

36D: Those receiving awards: HONOREES. OK if not for 48D: Nov. honoree: VET. "Animal doc" would be better.

38D: Loutish fellow: LUG. And 46D: Brutal person: BEAST. Luckily we have ADONIS, otherwise, this would be a very cynical puzzle.

C.C.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: "Celestial" Cinema (All Science Fiction Films)

17A: Celestial simians?: PLANET OF THE APES

29A: Celestial zanies?: SPACEBALLS

37A: Celestial warfare?: MARS ATTACKS

45A: Celestial E. T.?: ALIEN THREE (ALIEN 3)

57A: Celestial visitor?: NIGHT OF THE COMET

If you have not, please read this What Constitutes a Good Crossword Puzzle post first and let me know your definition of a good crossword puzzle.

Lots of boring 3 letter fills today, very lazy cluing:

28A: Mideast nat. UAE

61A: Halfway, briefly: MID

16D: Ump's relative: REF

20D: Letters on many cars: AAA. Could've been clue as "Battery size" if not for 24D: Assault and ___ (BATTERY) I suppose.

26D: Most remote: ULT

27D: R. E. Lee's nat.: CSA

30D: School grp.: PTA

38D: Half a fly? TSE. What's the obsession with this fly? What's wrong with China's Mao TSE-Tung, or T. S. Eliot's initials?

41D: Yale booster: ELI

43D: High dudgeon: IRE

55D: DDE's command: ETO

57D: Final degree: NTH

58D: Sundial server: III

62D: U-turn from WSW: ENE

63D: Black goo: TAR

Good to see WIE, LCS, CEY, NOL in the grid though. EDP (1D) did give me plenty of trouble as I had no idea what is the prefix for twelve (14A: DODEC)

Also, lots of H, TH in today's puzzles: ETHENE, GOTHIC, NTH, ESTHETIC, THREE, THRONE, HEFT, HUM, HAMMER, BACH, THDS, HITS, , OH NO, and several THE. Is there a sub-theme here?

ACROSS:

6A: Racing sled: LUGE

10A: Soup serving: BOWL. And 10D: Gravy server: BOAT. Hmm, obviously some thoughts were given to clues. Thanks.

14A: Twelve: pref: DODEC. Unknown to me, it comes from ancient Greek word dōdekás (dō is two, adn dekás is ten)

15A: Uniform in all directions: ISOTROPIC. Another unfamiliar word to me. I know "iso" is "equal", had no idea that "-tropic" means turning toward or upward. It's another Greek originated word. Antonym: ANISOTROPIC (an is an prefix for not).

20A: Bulk: HEFT

21A: Nail hitter: HAMMER. "If I had a HAMMER"

24A: Open container: BIN. This bin is a very interesting word. In Arab, it means "son of", as in that Son of B BIN Laden. And I suppose the "BIN" in "Ich BIN ein Berliner" means "am"? I am not so sure. I only know "Ich liebe dich".

25A: Tempa Bay pro: BUC (Buccaneer)

33A: Lodging chain: MARRIOTT

40A: Peachy keen! NEATO. RAD!

42A: Having a love of beauty: ESTHETIC. Looks like our editor has been in an arty frame of mind lately.

49A: One heart, e. g.: BID

51A: Hepburn of Hollywood: AUDREY. I've never seen Breakfast at Tiffany's. Love Roman Holiday though. (Update: Today is "Eliza Doolittle Day". AUDREY Hepburn was cast as Doolittle in the movie My Fair Lady, thanks Drdad.). And 68A: Actress Winona: RYDER. She is so pretty. My favorite Winona movie is Autumn in New York.

54A: Actress Gilpin: PERI. I've never watched FRASIER.

56A: City on the Aker River: OSLO. Hmm, looks like nobody really cares much about OSLO Accords.

64A: Got drunk: TIED ONE ON. Is it another slang? I've never heard of it.

65A: Minneapolis suburb: EDINA. US Women's Open Golf Tournament will be held in EDINA in June.

DOWN

1D: Key-punch bus.: EDP (Electronic Data Processing). Unknown to me.

7D: Tampa sch.: USF (University of South Florida)

8D: Grotesque genre of fiction: GOTHIC

9D: Sweet smelling gas: ETHENE

11D: Antithesis: abbr. OPP (Opposite)

12D: Michelle of golf: WIE. This girl can sure hit a mile, a bit erratic in her putting though. Hope she qualifies the US Open sectional in early June.

13D: Pre-World Series abbr.: LCS (League Championship Series).

18D: Bulks of bodies: TORSOS

23D: Imaginary sea creature: MERMAID

25D: Raised bubble: BLISTER. I like this clue.

31D: One of the Three B's: BACH. Beethoven and Brahms.

32D: Huber of tennis: ANKE. Unknown to me. But this word ANKE looks very familiar, is it an Egyptian God or something?

39D: Military command: AT EASE

44D: Ron of hot corner: CEY. Not a familiar name to me. I got it from across clues. I like "hot corner".

46D: Seat of power: THRONE. Look at this Peacock THRONE. According to one of our fellow solvers, it's entirely encrusted with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and other gems and he saw it in person.

47D: Young cow: HEIFER

52D: Open sore: ULCER. This puzzle gives me an ULCER this morning, too many 3-letter eyesore fills.

C.C.

What Constitutes a Good Crossword Puzzle?

I absolutely hate puzzles with

1) Excessive amount of affixes, esp suffixes like ING's & S's.

2) QUIP theme. I am so tired of seeing the constructor take someone's QUOTE and twist it out of shape.

3) Three- letter Words. I can not breathe when I see too many of them in one grid.

I love puzzles with

1) Sparking theme, like the BROKEN HEARTS one around Valentine's Day.

2) Creative clues, like "Pecking Order?" for KISS ME.

3) Entertaining, exciting and interesting fills.

How about you? Please share with us.

C.C.

Monday, May 19, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: An ODD NUMBER of Songs (Thanks, Crockett1947)

20A: Blondie number: ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

41A: Commodores number: THREE TIMES A LADY

59A: Vogues number: FIVE O'CLOCK WORLD

A couple of things first:

1) For your information, the record for letter S appearing in a 15*15 NY Times' grid is 35, so Michael T. William's Saturday snaky puzzle (28 S's) is not too wild.

2) As you probably already know, besides Josiah Breward, our editor Wayne Robert R. Williams' other alias name is Willy A. Wiseman. It's an anagram of "i.e. Wayne Williams".

Quite a few unknown words/names in today's puzzle. I've never heard of ZEREX, AKIM. GOMER & ACTH. But I am just so smitten with those expensive & scrabbly letters (Z, X, K, Y, and V) in the grid. And I LOVE (15A: Adoration) the "songs with numbers in the title" theme entries. Ravishing!

ACROSS:

14A: Pituitary hormone: ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone). Too complicated for me to understand.

16A: "The Age of Anxiety" poet: AUDEN (Wystan Hugh Auden). The poem won him a Pulitzer prize in 1948.

17A: Wolf in Oaxaca: LOBO. Spanish for wolf.

23A: Sandberg of baseball: RYNE. He was inducted into Baseball HOF in 2005.

24A: Bobbsey twin: NAN. I am so tired of this clue. If you don't like Indian bread NAN, try Talese NAN then.

28A: Apothecary's amount: DRAM

33A: Astrologer Sydney: OMARR. Got him today.

37A: Tracy Marrow's stage name: ICE T. One of a few rappers that I know of.

46A: Pyle of classic TV: GOMER. A complete stranger to me.

55A: Certain fraternity letters: XIS.

65A: Actor Bridges: LLOYD. I don't know him. Lucky guess.

67A: Comic canine: ODIE. Garfield comic strip.

71A: Hallmark product: CARDS. Wow, I had no idea that the plural form of product is still product.

72A: Miniature race car: KART. I really like the 2 K's in today's puzzle.

73A: Formerly, once: ERST. He is back!!

DOWN:

3D: Swiss rescue breed: ST. BERNARD. Nana (Peter Pan) is one.

4D: Ostentatious: SHOWY

5D: Assassin: SLAYER. Buffy is one.

12D: Prestone rival: ZEREX. What is it?

27D: "As I see it" in chatroom shorthand: IMHO (In My Humble Opinion). JMO next time please!

29D: Actor Tamiroff: AKIM. Nope, not familiar to me. Would've not got it without the across clues.

38D: Portable audio-video device: CAMCORDER

39D: German river: EDER. Or ELBE sometimes. EGER is also a river in Germany, isn't it?

40D: Neophyte: TYRO. Can be spelled as TIRO as well.

48D: Mass departure: EXODUS

50D: Like broken promises: UNKEPT

52D: Company with a spokeduck: AFLAC. Love those Yogi Berra commercials.

53D: Cohort of Jane and Laraine: GILDA. Unknown to me. I got it from across clues.

54D: French auxiliary verb: AVOIR. Only 2 auxiliary verbs in French: AVOIR and ÊTRE.

56D: Loose: SLACK

58D: Boxer Archie: MOORE. Unknown to me. Only know Demi __ , Michael __ and Roger __.

64D: Artful: DEFT

Sorry about my flip-flop on theme summary today. But White Rose Movement's Love is a Number immediately popped into my head after I got all the songs with numbers and spotted LOVE on the upper middle corner.

C.C.

Sunday, May 18, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: OUCH

23A: 1992 Cyrus hit: ACHY BREAKY HEART

40A: Spanish-born Jewish philosopher: MAIMONIDES

59A: Meet cut: TENDERLOIN (Update later: The clue should be Meat cut)

82A: Failure to enforce a prohibition: SUFFERANCE

100A: Annika and Charlotta: SORENSTAMS

118A: Rains on a private parade?: CRAMPS ONE'S STYLE

16D: With meticulous care: PAINSTAKINGLY

58D: Going lickety-split: HURTLING ALONG

What an excruciating journey! The pain "which can not forget, falls drop by drop upon the heart" in my own despair and against my own will, and has crushed me completely. My gosh, the assaults of new words and names in this puzzle are unrelenting.

GESTALTS (45D: Symbolic configurations)? What is that? Can you explain it to me plainly? And SALUKIS (54A: Arabian hounds)? And SENTA (68A: "The Flying Dutchman" role")? To me, "The Flying Dutchman" is always Honus Wagner. ALISTAIR? Probably a gimme for Katherine, but a nightmare for me. ACETAL (30D: Hypnotic stuff) was hard, and the intersecting MAIMONIDES (40A: Spanish-born Jewish philosopher) only compounded the agony. So, a total SNAFU in that LYRIST (62A: Greek harp player) corner.

NEDDA, TARSAL, CCNY, PROA, ST. KITTS, CNS, YEAGER, EVONNE, BICORN, TSURIS, etc. Unknown words aplenty. I can not remember how many times I shouted "Merde!" this morning. TSURIS crossing MAIMONIDES? That's diabolic.

And 71A: CII x III: MDVI; 41D: 1950: MCML; 112D: CCCII tripled: CMVI. Three Roman numerals in one grid? You've got to be kidding.

Look at these 3 pairs:

50A: Ashen: PALE

95D: Gray-faced: ASHEN

122A: Sudden thrust: LUNGE

90D: Fencing charge: THRUST

103A: Of part of a foot: TARSAL

83D: One end of a table: FOOT

It's insane. Please, no more unsightly eyesores like these! Please test-solve your puzzle first!

I do love the OUCH theme though, very creative, esp the SORENSTAMS one. I wonder if Annika herself is aware of the SORE in her name.

I am also elated with 65A: "Six O'Clock, Winter" painter John: SLOAN. Remember last time I was outraged with John Underwood's "Six O'Clock" painter clue? I could not believe that the constructor/editor decided to omit the very important "Winter" from the painting. See, our arrogant editor, he is reading this blog. Good!

ACROSS:

4A: Star quality: EGO. Is "EGO" a quality? Not a problem?

7A: Had cravings: YEARNED. And learned & earned, that's a good life indeed.

14A: Turvy preceder: TOPSY. What's this one? I've never heard of this phrase. TOPSY was clued as "Electrocuted elephant" on an April TMS puzzle.

21A: Boyer film: ALGIERS. Not familiar with Charles Boyer nor the film ALGIERS (1938). Wikipedia says the movie is "notableable as one of the sources of inspiration to the screenwriters of the 1942 Warner Brothers film Casabalanca"

26A: New York city: UTICA

30A: Bout sites: ARENAS

31A: "___ Bulba": TARAS. No, not familiar with the movie at all. What a ride!

33A: Elia, really: LAMB (Charles). Love this clue. But why did he call himself "Elia"?

35A: Brings out: ELICITS

38A: Feudal lords: LIEGES. How can I remember this word? It trips me all the time.

46A: Baja seaport: ENSENADA. Here is the map. Not a familiar name to me.

49A: Apples, pears, etc.: POMES. I tried to pen in FRUIT. POME is "a fleshy fruit (apple or pear, quince or related fruits) having seed chambers and an outer fleshy part". Had no idea that pears and apples belong to the same family. I've never had the fresh quince or the quince jam before, have you?

54A: Arabian hounds: SALUKIS. Unknown to me. It was named after the ancient Arabian city Saluq. Wikipedia says " The saluki is perhaps the oldest known breed of domesticated dog". Great picture, isn't it?

65A: "Six O'Clock, Winter" painter John: SLOAN. Look at the painting.

66A: Hook's mate: SMEE

68A: "The Flying Dutchman" role: SENTA. Not familiar with this opera at all.

73A: Pierre's "the same": ÉGAL. Equal in French. Here is Pierre's motto" Liberté , Egalité, Fraternité.

74A: Part of UHF: ULTRA. UHF is "Ultrahigh Frequency". Did not know it before.

76A: Malayan outrigger: PROA. No, another unknown. PROA is boat in Malay language. It's "any of various types of Indonesian boats, esp. a swift Malay sailing boat built with the lee side flat and balanced by a single outrigger". It looks like this.

78A: Pre-surrealist painter: REDON (Odilon). Saw his self portrait in person, not inspired at all.

79A: Letter opening, often: SLIT. I was so clever, I put SIRS first.

80A: Napping: ASLEEP

86A: Carpenter's tool: NAIL SET. I am not a carpenter, so I do not know this tool.

88A: Encourages, actively: PRODS. Sigh... URGE is always my first fill.

91A: Big apple school: CCNY (City College of New York)

94A: Tic-tac-toe win: OOO. Alright, give me "Bowler's turkey (XXX)" next time.

95A: Refined lover of beauty: AESTHETE

99A: Heart chart: EKG (Electrocardiograph)

103A: Of part of a foot: TARSAL. Tarsus, nope, no idea. I don't know myself well enough obviously.

104A: Utterly stupid: ASININE. I am smart enough to know this word though.

106A: First chancellor of reunified Germany: KOHL (Helmut). Bill, thanks for the Medal of Freedom, now tell me what is the exact meaning of the word "IS"!

108A: Like pinups: BUSTY. She is not, is she?

109A: Small landmasses: ISLETS. Interesting crossing of ISLETS with 109D: Isolated land: ISLE.

114A: Sesame oil: TEEL. Unknown to me. It's from the black sesame seeds, and I only eat white ones.

116A: 800 exams: SATS. And 115D: Would-be atty.'s exam: LSAT

123A: Having more chutzpah: NERVIER

126A: Border tool: EDGER

127A: __ and Nevis: ST. KITTS. No, this is the first time I heard of this island country.

128A: Wash. or Jackson in NYC: HTS. Good crossing with 121D: Ave. crossers: STS

129A: B & O and others: RRS. I got the answer easily, though I completely forgot what B & O stands for (Baltimore & Ohio Railroad).

DOWN:

1D: Mariners' base: SEATTLE. I like Ichiro, don't you?

2D: Fetter: ENCHAIN

3D: Sticks: ADHERES

7D: City in the Cascade Range: YAKIMA. Stumped by this clue last time, and again today. It's the "Apple Capital of the World", says the locals.

9D: Turkish officer: AGHA. Or AGA. Literally "older brother" in Turkish.

10D: Cambodian cash: RIEL

14D: Yiddish aggravation: TSURIS. No idea. The dictionary says it's Yiddish slang for "woe, trouble". Guess that's how you get a "Oy, vey" response.

15D: Octopus arms, e.g.: OCTET. Are you happy with this 8 clue?

17D: Shelter for strays: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)

24D: "The Right Stuff" role: YEAGER (Chuck). Nope, nope, completely unknown to me. I don't normally know "The Right Stuff".

25D: Old world lizard: AGAMA. Wow, his tail is so long, interesting blue color.

30D: Hypnotic stuff: ACETAL. No, too technical a term for me. Acet(o) is a prefix meaning vinegar, as in “acetic acid". "Al" is short for alcohol. I don't know, I don't understand what Wikipedia says, but I know that there is some ACETAL in wines.

34D: Shaped like crescent: BICORN. Another new word for me. Can also be spelled as BICORNE. Here is Napoleon in his BICORN hat.

44D: Cooke of "Masterpiece Theatre": ALISTAIR. COOKE was clued as TV host Alistair in a March puzzle. I simply forgot.

45D: Symbolic configurations: GESTALTS. Hard one. Here is the explanation: a configuration, pattern, or organized field having specific properties that cannot be derived from the summation of its component parts; a unified whole. I still don't get it.

47D: Big name in tires: DUNLOP. Or DUNLOP golf balls.

52D: London fog: PEA SOUP. What a weird idiom! How can a bowl of delicious pea soup become dreaded fog?

53D: Cooks just below the boiling point: SIMMERS. Very accurate clue.

55D: Fleur - de ___: LYS. Could also be spelled as LIS. Literally "Lily Flower" in French.

56D: Publication: ISSUANCE. I only knew ISSUE.

57D: Bag of anthracite: COAL SACK. I did not know the meaning of anthracite (hard coal).

61D: " Pagliacci" role: NEDDA. Did you go with TONIO? I did.

67D: Goolagong of tennis: EVONNE. Another unknown.

72D: Sexual crime: INCEST

75D: Dem. candidate of the '50s: AES (Adlai Ewing Stevenson)

78D: City near Council Bluffs: RED OAK. Is it a very well known place?

81D: Juan and Evita: PERONS. "Don't Cry for Me Argentina". I like Sinéad O'Connor's version.

84D: Abbr. on a building: ESTAB (Established)

87D: Spelling of "Trick": TORI. Yes, indeed, lots of tricks can be played with Spelling's name.

93D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN

96D: Evaluator: ESSAYER

97D: Beans spiller: TATTLER

98D: Le Champs __: ÉLYSÉES. Le? No, sir, it's Les. Les Champs ÉLYSÉES (Avenue des Champs ÉLYSÉES). L'arc de triomphe, le parfum, et l'amour! I don't need more reasons to love you...

100D: Tot tender: SITTER

101D: La Guardia alternative: NEWARK. What's the origin of this word NEWARK?

102D: General __ Corporation: MOTORS. And General Electric Company, and General Dynamics Corporation, and General Mills, what other General can you think of?

105D: Suit material: SERGE. It seems like our editor does not like SERGE Gainsbourg. But it's OK, Gainsbourg is not everybody's cup of tea. Some of his songs can be very disturbing, esp Lemon INCEST.

107D: Sponger: LEECH

113D: Barbecue rod: SPIT

118D: Brain, spinal cord, etc. (abbr.): CNS (Central Nervous System). Big stumbling block today.

119D: Part of IRA: RET (Retirement). The first IRA that pops into my brain is always the Irish Republican Army.

120D: Fixed: SET. Given so much pain today, this clue should be reworded as "Heal, as a bone".

C. C.

Saturday May 17, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Themeless:

I dislike this puzzle, too many S's (28 in total, almost 15% of the grid), too snaky, look:

25A: Cobra's cousins: ASPS

14D: Serpent's sound: SSS

62D: Snaky character: ESS

This has become a very annoying pattern for Williams' SATURDAY themeless. I mean our editor Wayne R. Williams, not his nephew Michael T. Williams who authored today's puzzle.

I played through the upper left corner without encountering any obstacle this morning. I could not believe my eyes when SATURDAY turns out to be the right fill for 1A: Day like today? But why question mark? The clue felt very anemic to me. Had some problems with SCAUPS & POD crossing. I did not know that a group of whale is called POD, and I had not heard of SCAUPS before.

Lots of animal fills in today's puzzle: SWINE, SCAUPS, TERN, SABLE, ASPS, SKATE (24D: Flat fish), CAT, and a half TSE. I guess it's too much of a stretch to include DEER from DEERE (6D) in the list. There are also quite a few animals in the clue: 65A: Bronco-busting events (RODEOS), Raccoon distinction (RINGTAIL), whale group (POD), Serpent's noise (SSS).

Of the 2 singers today, BILLIE Holiday was a gimme, and CAT Stevens was easily gettable, though I had no idea who he was. Very interesting to see ALLUSIVE (58A: Having indirect references), ASPERSE (22D: Badmouth), BUM RAPS (43D: False charges) structured in one grid. It's painfully pleasant to see SKATE intersects SPRAIN. A bit disturbing to see SWINE crosses SHRILL. Have you ever heard of a last shrill cry from a pig? Boy, it's really piercing, you can hear it a village away.

ACROSS:

9A: Cousins of canvasbacks: SCAUPS. The plural form can be SCAUP too. Wikipedia says there are three kinds of SCAUP: Greater SCAUP (also called Bluebill), Lesser SCAUP & New Zealand SCAUP.

15A: Rump: DERRIÈRE. Aright, yesterday's ITEM picture, the girl is Jessica Biel, who is currently dating Justin Timberlake.

16A: Trunks: TORSOS. Hmm, TORSO rotation. Big problem if you can not unwind properly during the downswing.

19A: Field of Jets: GRIDIRONS. This might be difficult for our fellow solvers in Asia & Europe. Jets here refers to NY Jets, an American football team.

21A: "Peace Train" singer: CAT STEVENS. He said he wrote this song while on a train, and he was thinking of Alfred Hitchcock at the time.

29A: Japanese port: OSAKA. Literally "large hill". The gourmet food capital of Japan. I love OSAKA style kitsune udon!

32A: Ankle injury: SPRAIN. You do need to COSSET your ankle after the sprain, don't you?

37A: Comes to rest: SETTLES. I tried SLEEPS first.

39A: Tenor Pavarotti: LUCIANO, Yes, We are the world!

41A: First name in mysteries: ERLE. Unbelievable, 3 appearances in one week!

42A: Hunter of films: TAB. No. Completely unknown to me.

44A: Gum flapper: GABBER. Very interesting clue.

45A: Half an African fly?: TSE. Remember what Orange said about this clue? "Tsetse is one word! If it's acceptable to clue half of it as an entity, what's stopping the editor from trying TSET for "two thirds of a fly"?

48A: French city known for textiles: LILLE. Known as Lisle before. Probably less than 1 hour away from Gare du Nord if you take Eurostar.

49A: Collectors' groups: SETS. Does anyone here own a 1952 Topps set?

51A: Sportscaster of note: AL MICHAELS. Do you believe in miracles? YES!

53A: Bonapartes' last battle: WATERLOO. Or _____International Station, which used to be the London terminus of Eurostar. About 2 1/2 hours away from Paris.

55A: Piecing in tone: SHRILL

63A: Coetzer of tennis: AMANDA. Not familiar with her name. But it's easily obtainable.

64A: Mechanical music makers: PIANOLAS. What is it? I've never heard of it.

65A: Bronco-busting events: RODEOS

66A: Activity periods: SESSIONS. What a desperate need for S's!

DOWN:

1D: '60s radicals: SDS. And 2D: NRC predecessor: AEC. They've become gimmes to me now. Repeat offenders.

5D: Raccoon distinction: RINGTAIL. Good morning cutie! (Update: The cutie in the picture is a lemur. Sorry about the mistake).

6D: Tractor maker: DEERE. Look at this John DEERE collector's corner.

7D: Make it big: ARRIVE. I like this clue. Still waiting for Günther and the Sunshine Girls to ARRIVE in the US.

10D: Italian resort lake: COMO. Want to go to Lake COMO?

12D: Sailors org: USN. Or ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) sometimes.

13D: Whale group: POD. Seal group is POD too. Seal is probably a better clue as many solvers will be trapped into thinking singer Seal.

20D: Pentium manufacturers: INTEL. Why plural form?

21D: Pampers: COSSETS. Treat me like a baby!

23D: Mini-pie: TARTLET. Want some?

27D: Roberts of "Bonanza": PERNELL. No idea. I got his name from across clues.

28D: Spanish gentlemen: SENORES

40D: John C. and Rory: CALHOUNS. Not familiar with either of them. Again, I strung this fill from across clues.

60D: Worldwide workers' grp: ILO (International Labor Organization). And they celebrate Labor's Day on May 1.

C.C.

Friday, May 16, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Addition Alteration

17A: Unwritten things to do?: MENTAL LIST (MENTALIST)

60A: Magical circle?: WONDER RING (WONDERING)

11D: Interior designer's fee?: DECOR RATE (DECORATE)

34D: Put off monthly payment?: DEFER RENT (DEFERENT)

This is one effervescent puzzle! Seems like the author can hardly contain his emotions. We've got FIRE (54D), ENTHUSED (20A: Agog), ZEAL (16A: Ardor), so exuberant! And LOSER (24A, Vanquished one), PRISSY (35A: Prim) are both treated with WINCE (15A: Cringe), BOOS (32D: Ghostly greetings) and SNEER (44A: Look of contempt).

I also like the following pairings:

SLED (13D: Winter transport) & SNOW (56D: Winter fall);

SELECTOR (56A: One who chooses) & OPTS (26D: Makes up one's mind);

AWLS (5D: Hole-making tools) & 36D: Carpentry tools: SAWS.

Quite a few TRICKS (27: Bamboozles) in today's puzzle. Some of the clues are wickedly misleading to me, esp 24A: Vanquished one (LOSER) and 24D: Wound (LESION). I was thinking of a past tense verb in both cases. But it's a solid puzzle.

ACROSS:

1A: Cold-cut palace: DELI. Why palace? Is it typo?

5A: Perpendicular to the keel: ABEAM. At right angles to the keel of a ship. Not familiar with this nautical term.

10A: Puts on: ADDS. As in weight, I suppose.

14A: Folk singer Burl: IVES. Did not know him. Had no idea that he was the singer for "A Holly Jolly Christmas".

19A: Break out problem: ACNE

21A: Firing line order: RELOAD. Any one ever followed William F. Buckley's "Firing Line"?

23A: Brown ermine: STOAT. You talkin' to me?

25A: Play the flute: TOOTLE. Saw this clue before.

29A: Skinned: PARED. Dislike the clue. Skin always means PEEL to me. I PEEL my fruits first, then PARE down, unless it's pineapple or cantaloupe.

35A: Prim: PRISSY. PRISSY comes from PRIM & SISSY.

39A: Leg bone: TIBIA

40A: Gossip pair: ITEM. Who are the the ITEM on this photo?

42A: Third party funds: ESCROW

43A: Capone's nemesis: NESS (Eliot). Love the "The Untouchables".

46A: "Dust in the wind" group: KANSAS. No idea. Strung it together from down clues.

54A: Actor Jose: FERRER. Unknown to me. But it's easily obtainable.

62A: Milieu for Lemieux: RINK. Sometimes I think the constructor has IDEE fixe (59A: Obsession) with this alliteration or half alliteration stuff. Aren't all eyes on Sidney Crosby now?

63A: "Reversal of Fortune" star: IRONS (Jeremy). Have never seen this movie. Like IRONS a lot, esp Damage, stunningly erotic and thrilling.

66A: Unfamiliar with: NEW AT

67A: Gull cousin: TERN. Is this a gull or a TERN?

DOWN:

2D: Happening: EVENT

3D: Slowly, in music: LENTO. What's the difference between LENTO and ADAGIO?

4D: No kidding: IS THAT SO. And 45D: A-ha!: EUREKA. I like them both.

10D: Showy shrub: AZALEA. Has anyone been to Augusta Golf Course before?

18D: Mobile leader?: AUTO. Automobile.

22D: Spot in a crowd: ESPY. When are you going to turn to ___ Awards?

28D: Zodiac sing: LIBRA

31D: Sen. group: DEMS (DEMOCRATS). Hmm, looks like TMS puzzle is liberal leaning. Harry REID and now DEMS.

40D: Privately: IN SECRET

42D: Perry's creator: ERLE. Also EDIT (55D: Emulate Perry White), nice author and editor pair.

47D: Sketch artist: APER. I don't get this one? Why?

49D: Field Marshal Rommel: ERWIN. "The Desert Fox".

51D: Steps over a fence: STILE

52D: Skin cream: TONER. No, no, TONER is liquid, not cream.

54D: "Chariots of __": FIRE. Didn't we see this clue a month ago?

57D: Millay of poetry: EDNA. Hate the clue. St. Vincent should not be omitted.

C.C.

Thursday May 15, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: QUOTE

17A: Start of Abram Chasins quote: THE MORE

28A: Part 2 of quote: YOU LOVE MUSIC

45A: Part 3 of quote: THE MORE MUSIC

61A: End of quote: YOU LOVE

Finally a QUOTE! I just get headache when facing a QUIP theme. But what a boring QUOTE! And so many repeat offenders. Stuffy! Nothing melodious and nothing sparkling. In fact, it feels very noisy. Look:

24A: Commotions: ADOS
56A: Uproarious commotion: HOO-HAH
62A: Corrida call: OLE
46D: Cacophony: RACKET

And I always associate 31D: MAORI with the roaring MAORI Haka dance, so this whole puzzle is just too loud for me. As for 32D: Skedaddles: SCATS, why not jazz up the clue musically to fit in your theme? The same with 58D: Soft drink: POP. You don't like POP music?

The only highlight is to see I DOS (24A) parallel LOVE and intersect APPROVE (8D) and CHOOSE (9D). I also like how YES (61D) echoes I DOS.

ACROSS:

1A: Even more saccharine: MUSHIER

14A: Baltic republic: ESTONIA. Do you like Carmen Kass? Dior' J'adore girl perfume girl. She is from ESTONIA.

16A: Actor Torn: RIP. What a strange name, isn't RIP and TORN the same?

18A: "The Bells" poet: POE. I've never read this poem. Lots of bells in the poem. Are you familiar with Poe's "The Fall of the House of USHER"?

21A: Like some humor: IRONIC

25A: Colorful salamander: NEWT

36A: Supermarket passageway: AISLE. I think I prefer "Lover's lane?" clue with today's LOVE MUSIC theme. In fact, I won't complain if it's clued as 2D's lane.

37A: Synagogue singer: CANTOR. No idea. Got it from down clues. It's "the religious official of a synagogue who conducts the liturgical portion of a service and sings or chants the prayers and parts of prayers designed to be performed as solos".

40A: Be part of the cast of: ACT IN. I am happy any time a preposition or a definite article is clued in the grid.

49A: Game point situation: AD IN. Another tennis related clue is 52D: Rod of tennis: LAVER.

64A: Stored fodder: ENSILED

65A: LAX setting: PST (Pacific Standard Time)

67A: Some hunting dogs: SETTERS. Hmm, STREET & TESTER, interesting.

DOWN:

2D: Theater worker: USHER. YEAH, this constructor must be very old. Or he simply could not INTERPRET (34D: Give meaning to) USHER's Confessions.

3D: Inscribed pillar: STELA. Variation of STELE. I did not known before.

4D: Inspirational discourse: HOMILY

6D: Hibernia: EIRE Latin for Ireland. Why did they give such a wintry name to Ireland? I think I am a mild a hibernophile. I have an irrational interest in IRA, and I love listening the Corrs when I am feeling lonely. Where do you go when you are blue?

8D: OK: APPROVE.

9D: Take one from Column B: CHOOSE. Does this clue feel alright to you?

11D: Puts through a procedure: PROCESSES

22D: Indigenous Canadian: INUIT

26D: Novelist Cather: WILLA. Unknown to me. Just found out earlier that she wrote O Pioneers! She got Pulitzer for her One of Ours.

27D: Immune syst. component: T CELL. T stands for thymus. Belong to white blood cells. I don't know this, very gettable though.

31D: Native New Zealand: MAORI. Have you seen MAORI Haka dance in person? Earsplitting! I guess it's OK on the Rugby field, like this one.

47D: Calm yourself!: COOL IT! And 39A: I'm all ears: DO TELL. Very colloquial. I like them both.

53D: Molts: SHEDS. I kind of like the "Drop Down" clue after reading Crockett1947's "When that EIDER duck molts, he certainly drops down" comment.

55D: Man or Dogs: ISLE. Saw this clue before. ISLE of Dogs is in the east of London.

56D: Make a point?: HONE. Nice clue.

57D: Throw out: OUST. Wanted TOSS.

Happy Birthday Mkat & Justin Morneau (Great home run last night)!

C.C.