Monday April 12, 2010 John Lampkin

Theme: Vowel Progression - Orderly vowel (before GGY) change in the first 5-letter word of each two-word common phrase.

17A. Loose-hanging trousers: BAGGY PANTS

25A. 1957 hit for Buddy Holly and the Crickets: "PEGGY SUE"

36A. Coin collector?: PIGGY BANK

53A. Gershwin song set in London, with "A": FOGGY DAY

62A. Carriage outings: BUGGY RIDES

Argyle here. Mundane Monday. PEGGY SUE (Rare footage) and A FOGGY DAY by the Velvet Fog.

Across:

1A. A dog may pull on one during a walk: LEASH

6A. __ Hari: MATA. WWI spy

10A. Engrave with acid: ETCH

14A. Navel type: INNIE. This begs for a picture. Here.

15A. Medical suffix: OSIS. As in halitOSIS - bad breath.

16A. Rise sky-high: SOAR

19A. Soaks (up): SOPS

20A. Coiled hair style: BUN. The famous sidewheel BUNS.

21A. Slanted type style: Abbr.: ITAL

22A. Buddies: PALS

23A. Most sickly: ILLEST

28A. Sharpshooter: DEADEYE

30A. Painting props: EASELS. I did think of stage props for a sec.

31A. Tight as __: A DRUM. See 20A.

32A. Hired thug: GOON

35A. 4:00 London social: TEA

40A. Not prem., as gas: REG.

43A. Chewy Hershey's candy: ROLO. Most of us must recognize this candy by now.

44A. "__ my case": I REST

48A. Beethoven symphony originally dedicated to Napoleon: EROICA. Italian for "heroic" crossed by 41D. Art of a sexual nature: EROTICA which may require "heroics".

51A. Erode gradually, as savings: EAT INTO

56A. Coast Guard operation: RESCUE

57A. Do bar duty: TEND. Making drinks.

58A. Wander: ROAM

60A. Like two peas in a __: POD

61A. Cylindrical pasta: ZITI

65A. Grammy co-winner for the rap song "Back on the Block": ICE-T

66A. Theater award: OBIE

67A. "__ evil ...": SEE NO. SEE NO Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.

68A. Super Bowl, e.g.: GAME

69A. Avoid flunking: PASS

70A. Admin. aides: ASSTS.

Down:

1D. Ad-__: improvise: LIB

2D. Made possible: ENABLED

3D. Lean and bony: ANGULAR

4D. Enrolled: SIGNED UP

5D. Attention-getter: HEY

6D. Castle protector: MOAT

7D. "Easy!": "A SNAP!"

8D. Lancelot's was "Sir": TITLE

9D. Barnyard brayer: ASS

10D. Some exam answers: ESSAYS

11D. Handyman's must-have: TOOL SET. A nail SET might be part of a tool KIT

12D. Word after time or timed-release: CAPSULE

13D. Time measures: Abbr.: HRS.. Hours.

18D. Feel sorry for: PITY

22D. Links org.: PGA

23D. Snake River st.: IDA.. In the state of Idaho.

24D. Big road rig: SEMI

26D. Actress Rowlands: GENA

27D. That, in Tijuana: ESA. Spanish.

29D. "Leggo my ___!": EGGO

33D. Popeye's Olive: OYL

34D. Woodwind quintet member: OBOE

37D. Alum: GRAD

38D. Evening, commercially: NITE. Adspeak.

39D. Crunchy cereal brand word: KRISPIES

40D. Foul caller: REF Wanted ump.

42D. Rah-rah encouragement: "GO GET 'EM!"

45D. Scrambles to keep secret: ENCODES

46D. Pupil: STUDENT

47D. Corn site: TOE. Corn - a local hardening and thickening of epidermis (as on a toe).

49D. Set ablaze: IGNITE

50D. Charisse of "Singin' in the Rain": CYD. What gams!

52D. Military force: ARMY

54D. Vacation isle near Venezuela: ARUBA

55D. Bear and Berra: YOGIS

59D. Ripens, as cheese: AGES

61D. Sharp turn: ZIG

62D. Jazz style: BOP

63D. Pretoria's nation: Abbr.: RSA. Republic of South Africa. South Africa has three capital cities: Cape Town, the largest of the three, is the legislative capital; Pretoria is the administrative capital; and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital. I wonder why.

64D. "H-E-L-P!": "S-O-S!"

Answer grid.

Happy Anniversary to Kazie, who met her husband 39 years ago today.

Argyle

Sunday April 11, 2010 Tom Heilman

Theme: The Last Shall Be First - Common words/phrases with the component word order reversed.

23A. Hayride musical group?: WAGON BAND. Bandwagon.

25A. Results of a burglar's bumps and bruises?: TAKING PAINS. Painstaking. Someone please explains the clue/answer rationale to me. Why "burglar"?

38A. Bleating art?: GOATSCAPE. Scapegoat. Goatscape is like landscape I suppose, at least, in the Windhover Farm.

42A. Brief film on kneading and baking?: BREAD SHORT. Shortbread.

61A. Contest related to the knife toss?: FORK PITCH. Pitchfork. Hello, Iowa!

78A. Violinist who loves the spotlight?: STRING HAM. Hamstring. My favorite theme entry.

96A. Handy lint-removing tool?: POCKET PICK. Pickpocket.

98A. Primitive projectile that's like new?: MINT SPEAR. Spearmint.

118A. Disaster at a Ritz factory?: CRACKER FIRE. Firecracker. Very evocative.

120A. Astronaut's alien squeeze?: MOON HONEY. Honeymoon. But there's no life on the Moon, where does the astronaut get the squeeze?

All the base phrases are simple and solid. I intuited the gimmick immediately with the rather self-revealing puzzle title. Then the second theme entry quickly confirmed my instinct. I picture today's constructor Tom Heilman is fun to be around, from the way he clued his theme answers alone.

Also loved his clue for FRI (119D. Time assoc. with a common superstition). Friday the 13th. Disliked the clue for YOS (77D. Informal his). The "his" in the clue is a plural of hi, isn't it?

Across:

1. Prayer start: LORD. Crossing DOOMSDAY (4D. End of the world).

5. Assertive comeback: AM SO

9. Sir Toby of "Twelfth Night": BELCH. Shakespeare's stuff often stumps me.

14. Done with: RID OF

19. 1970 Neil Young protest song: OHIO

20. Spa option: PEEL. Honey & sea salt exfoliates rather well.

21. Donovan who played Amber in "Clueless": ELISA. Total stranger to me.

22. January, in Juárez: ENERO

27. Choice: PRIMO. I was thinking of noun "choice".

28. "The Thieving Magpie" composer: ROSSINI

30. Jumpers, e.g.: DRESSES

31. "Thou shouldst not have been old till thou __ been wise": "King Lear": HADST

32. Like a hoops shot: ARCED

33. Sexually attractive: NUBILE. One of Buckeye's favorite words.

35. Justice Dept. org.: DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)

37. Valuable deposit: ORE

47. "Full Metal Jacket" gp.: USMC (United States Marine Corps). Gimme for Dennis/Argyle. I've never seen "Full Metal Jacket".

48. __ populi: VOX. The popular opinion. Vox = Voice.

49. Not easy to hang onto: EELY

50. Some have prizes inside: CEREALS. I'll go nuts for those small bobblehead promotions.

52. "Alrighty then": OKEY DOKE

56. Rock genre: EMO

57. Director Vittorio De __: SICA. I've yet to see his "The Bicycle Thief".

58. Matched, as a bet: SEEN. Keep forgetting the card bet meaning of "see".

60. Parroted a Persian: MEOWED. Cat.

64. Afternoon celeb: SOAP STAR

67. Ruin: SPOIL

68. Hipbone prefix: ILIO. The hip bone is ILIA.

70. Trim: NEAT

71. Carpentry files: RASPS

75. Early development: NASCENCY

80. Phrase on a mailing label: SEND TO

83. Semi-convertible auto roof: T-TOP

85. Vermilion and cardinal: REDS

87. Fund source: TREASURY

90. Unlike the life of the party: ASOCIAL

92. __ Blair: George Orwell's birth name: ERIC. Unknown to me.

93. Classified ad letters: EEO. And TYPE (129. Classification).

94. Boss: HEAD

102. Covert __: spy missions: OPS

103. Soft & __: DRI

104. Beat: RHYTHM. Nice strings of consonants.

105. Prepare, as merchandise for a sale: RETAG

108. Cruise, for one: ACTOR. Tom Cruise.

112. Tenor Pavarotti: LUCIANO. Italians are so expressive.

115. Impose: OBTRUDE. With "upon".

117. Joe of "Hill Street Blues": SPANO. He's in "NYPD Blue" also.

122. German thanks: DANKE. And ERDE (124. German earth). For Kazie.

123. Like the verbs "cast" and "cost": Abbr.: IRREG. Chinese verbs have no past tense.

125. Part of NEA: Abbr.: EDUC

126. Dispatches, as a dragon: SLAYS. Dispatch = Kill.

127. 1980s-'90s Olds: CIERA. Cutlass Ciera. Stumped me.

128. Certain title: DEED

Down:

1. Like acidic detergents: LOW PH. Got me.

2. "BUtterfield 8" novelist: O'HARA (John). I've never heard of the book (film). Why is U capitalized?

3. Stiff: RIGID

5. LAPD broadcast: APB

6. Anne of "Awakenings": MEARA. Rich picked "Awakening" for alliteration purpose.

7. Hombre's address: SENOR

8. It's often hard to settle: OLD SCORE. Great clue.

9. Happen: BETIDE

10. Vigor: ELAN

11. Preferences: LIKINGS

12. Drama set in Vegas: CSI

13. Return, as graded papers: HAND BACK. Can't wait for Lois to return.

14. Staves off: REPELS

15. "Hang on!": IN A SEC

16. Agnus __: Mass prayers: DEIS. Agnus Dei = Lamb of God. Uncommon to see its plural form.

17. D-day invasion river: ORNE. The Normandy river.

18. Composer Lukas: FOSS. First encounter with this guy.

24. Wrote down: NOTED

26. Mettle: GRIT

29. Perfect Sleepers, e.g.: SERTAS

34. Man of Messina: UOMO. Italian for "man". I was at sea. Messina is a seaport in NE Sicily. Alliteration again.

36. Computer data acronym: ASCII

39. State purposefully: AVOW

40. Nudge: POKE

41. Left one's mark on: EX'ED. My grandma did not read.

44. Ecuadoran province named for its gold production: EL ORO. Literally "the gold". I've never heard of it before. Makes perfect sense.

45. Feverish: HECTIC

46. Divine counselor: ORACLE

47. Apply to: USE ON

51. Bandleader Brown: LES

53. 911 respondent: EMT

54. Has strong desires: YEARNS

55. Biker's headgear, perhaps: DORAG

57. Water balloon impact sounds: SPLATS

59. Rob Roy refusals: NAES. Scotish for "no".

62. In a manner of speaking, slangily: KINDA. Sorta.

63. Suggestion: HINT

65. "The Alamo" co-star Jason __: PATRIC. Another foreign name to me. The name is crying for K.

66. Unbroken sequence: STREAK

69. Oars in a quad scull, e.g.: OCTAD. Two oars for each of the four rowers then.

72. Lewis with Lamb Chop: SHARI

73. Go to pieces: PANIC. "Go to pieces" is a new idiom to me also.

74. Slap: SMACK

76. Insignificant amount: SOU. Not worth a sou.

79. Whittled on the porch, say: IDLED

80. Restrain: STEM

81. "Oh the joys that came ... __ was old!": Coleridge: ERE I. Got it from crosses.

82. Night light: NEON. Rhyme.

84. Corny gadget?: POPPER. Oh, popcorn.

88. Bombast: RHETORIC

89. "Righto": YEAH

91. Like some ball attendees: COSTUMED

92. Milton or Virgil: EPIC POET

95. Large wardrobe: ARMOIRE

97. Criticize severely: TRASH

99. Devious: TRICKY

100. Jiggles: SHAKES

101. Joe __, confrontational '50s-'60s talk show host: PYNE. No idea. Hosts are not supposed to be confrontational.

102. Former Sandinista leader: ORTEGA (Daniel). President of Nicaragua. I was ignorant of the Sandinista Party.

106. Dig deeply?: ADORE. I dig this clue.

107. Glittery rock: GEODE

109. Frequent Cronyn co-star: TANDY(Jessica). Hume Cronyn was her husband.

110. Outdo: ONE-UP

111. Automaker Henry: ROYCE. Founder of Rolls-Royce.

112. Some time displays, briefly: LCDS

113. River through Magnitogorsk: URAL. The Europe/Asia boundary river.

114. Site of Jesus' first miracle: CANA. Where Jesus turned water to wine.

116. Fox's title: BR'ER. Uncle Remus tales.

121. Novelist Buntline: NED

Answer grid.

C.C.

Interview with Mel Rosen

Most of the regulars on our blog know the word cruciverbalist (a crossword aficionado), but probably few are aware that the word was first introduced to the crossword by today's constructor Mel Rosen and Stan Kurzban.

Mel Rosen (His wife Peggy on his left) is author of the book "Random House Puzzlemaker's Handbook". He also served as the puzzle editor of the Crosswords Club, currently headed by our LA Times Daily Crossword editor Rich Norris.

Besides the LA Times, Mr. Rosen's puzzles have also appeared in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, CrosSynergy, the Washington Post, etc.

What is your background and how did you develop an interest in crossword construction?

I was a computer programmer for IBM (going back to when the smallest computers were the size of large refrigerators), so there's analytical wiring in my head. My mother taught remedial reading and my father spent Sunday morning solving the puzzles, so words were always important. My wife's parents also enjoyed puzzle solving, so it seemed natural for us to buy and solve puzzle books when we went on vacation. One day it occurred to me that if we paid money to buy the books, maybe the puzzle writers got paid. It was literally that straightforward. The first puzzle I wrote was a Double-Crostic that Thomas Middleton bought(!) for one of his Simon & Schuster collections and the rest, as they say, is history.

What is the highlight of your crossword construction career and what's the best puzzle you've made? And why?

Highlight? Certainly being asked to be the second puzzle editor for The Crosswords Club, succeeding Will Weng, was right up there. And of course every puzzle is the best. Seriously, I was proud of a tribute to Frannie Hansen for one of John Samson's S&S collections. It emulated her occasional "interview with a..." format. My wife suggested and I wrote a puzzle for the NYT marking Ellen Ripstein's having -- finally! -- won the annual ACPT. That was another good one.

Doug Peterson mentioned that your book "Random House Puzzlemaker's Handbook" introduced him to crossword construction. How has the book affected your personal and professional career?

That book was a revision and update of an earlier work, "The Compleat Cruciverbalist", written with Stan Kurzban, who devised some very clever diagramless puzzles published by Eugene Maleska. The earlier book, probably more than anything else, brought the word "Cruciverbalist" into the language; it had been coined several years before by a puzzle-constructing priest. Abigail Van Buren cited it in a column.

Where do you normally find your crossword muse? What kind of books/magazines/websites do you read for theme inspirations?

Anywhere and everywhere. Unlike some constructors, I do not keep a "theme notebook". If I read or hear something that tickles my brain, I'm off to the races. When I was with the CrosSynergy team I was actively looking for material all the time. Now that I'm strictly a free-lancer I can wait for inspiration.

What kind of puzzle do you solve every day? And who are your favorite constructors?

I solve three or four online crosswords and three or four online sudoku puzzles every day. (Including those at the LAT sites.) I enjoy too many favorite constructors to single out one or two. And no, I'm not running for office.

Besides crosswords, what else do you do for fun?

I play tennis at least once a week. I'm a jazz keyboardist. I sit in every week at a jam session at a local restaurant ... for 15 minutes up to an hour. I'm just finishing up an album for my family and friends.

Saturday April 10, 2010 Mel Rosen

Theme: None

Total words: 66

Total blocks: 26

Lower word/block count than our normal Saturday puzzles.

The puzzle is anchored by two grid-spanning 15-letter entries that cross each other right in the middle of the grid:

32A. Text necessity, often: TELEPHONE NUMBER. We also have SCREEN (56A. Listen to before answering).

8D. "The King and I" song about illicit romance: WE KISS IN A SHADOW. Gimme for Clear Ayes, perhaps. I am not familiar with the song at all.

Quite a few tricky clues in this puzzle. I nailed some, and was stumped by some.

Across:

1. Act in the Senate: PASS A LAW. PASS LAWS sounds a better answer to me.

9. Trees yielding beans: CACAOS. Cacao beans. Source of cocoa, chocolate.

15. Pride's prey: ANTELOPE. Lion's prey. Alliteration.

16. Friend of Pete Fountain: AL HIRT. Full name in the clue, full name in the answer. Wikipedia confirmed that they were indeed buddies, both grew up in New Orleans. Mr. Rosen mentioned in the interview that he's a jazz keyboardist.

17. TV show that has spawned 11 movies: STAR TREK. Nice intersecting with ANTENNAE (2. Features of some alien costumes).

18. C&W singer Morgan: LORRIE. No idea. She looks pretty.

19. Mega- squared: TERA. Prefix for "trillion". Mega is prefix for "million". Giga "billion". Stumped me.

20. Fire department practice structure: DRILL TOWER. Was unaware of this special term.

22. Like Dvorák's Symphony No. 8: IN G. The gimme crossing 3D made the G part easily obtainable for me today.

23. Palace overseas: ELYSEE. Elysée Palace, the French "White House".

24. "Buddenbrooks" Nobel Prize winner: MANN (Thomas). Have never heard of the book.

25. Zip: ENERGY

27. Unlike a good excuse: SAD

28. Artist who rejuvenated his career with 1960s serigraphs: ERTE. Stymied me. Just learned that Erte died in 1990 when he was 97 years old.

29. Not fresh, in a way: SALTY. OK, in a way.

30. Municipal: CIVIC

38. "__ Bulba": 1962 epic: TARAS

39. Held up: BORNE. Epitomized the trickiness of today's clues.

40. Simple stuff: ABCS. Alliteration.

44. Sound from a wok: SSS

45. Abdicate: RESIGN

46. Certain sausage, for short: BRAT

47. Execute, in old France: BEHEAD. The clue seems to be asking for guillotine, isn't it? Beheading was a common practice in old China too.

49. "__ me ae spark o' Nature's fire": Burns: GIE. For "give", I suppose.

50. Alloys' principal components: BASE METALS

52. Former NBA star Dave __, now mayor of Detroit: BING. And CHROME (11D. Trim in Detroit). Car trim. I liked the Detroit clue echo. Both clues got me.

53. Menu choice: ENTREE

54. Involuntary exile: DEPORTEE

57. Bath unit?: ONE METER. Bath is the city in England. They used meter there. I don't like the addition of ONE.

58. Photographs: SHOOTS. Verb/noun.

59. Singing birds: WARBLERS

Down:

1. Most ashen: PASTIEST

3. 1979 N.L. co-MVP Willie: STARGELL. Gimme for me. Willie Stargell spent his entire career with the Pirates. Hall-of-Famer.

4. Word sung by Day: SERA. "Que Sera, Sera".

5. Letters on a PC key: ALT

6. Grand and noble: LORDLY

7. Copycat's activity: APERY

9. Joined a talk show, perhaps: CALLED IN. Nice clue/answer.

10. Bushels: A LOT

12. High-flying action: AIR WAR

13. Familiarize: ORIENT

14. "Tristram Shandy" author Laurence: STERNE. Someone mentioned this book on the blog before. Clear Ayes? Lemonade?

21. Fall collection?: LEAVES. Nailed it.

23. "Aida" setting: EGYPT

26. MapQuest.com abbr.: RTE

30. Curve enhancer: CORSET. Some girls just have incredible body.

31. Like kabobs: CUBED

33. Over-the-hill gang?: HAS-BEENS

34. Wks. on end: MOS (Months)

35. Nielsen of "Rocky IV": BRIGITTE. I peeked at the answer sheet. Her face looks very familiar.

36. Driver who's on track?: ENGINEER. Railroad track.

37. Promise breakers: RENEGERS

40. Big sister?: ABBESS. I suppose SUPERIOR can be clued this way too?

41. Bank outlet: BRANCH

42. Big name in convertible sofas: CASTRO. Man, who knows?!

43. Sound buy?: STEREO. So simple in retrospect.

45. Gravelly voiced speaker: RASPER. I wanted BRANDO.

48. Dementieva of women's tennis: ELENA. The answer emerged itself.

51. Intersect: MEET

52. Belgian composer Jacques: BREL. Belgian's most famous musician.

55. White House fiscal planning gp: OMB (Office of Management and Budget). New abbreviation to me.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday April 9, 2010 Jack McInturff

Theme: PO' BOY (63A. N'awlins sandwich, and this puzzle's title) - PO is inserted into the start of the second word of a two-word common phrase.

21A. Criticize a small town?: SLAM (PO)DUNK. Slam Dunk. Podunk = Small town.

26A. Checking for doneness at the grill?: BURGER (PO)KING. Burger King, our cream cheese contest-winning Jeannie's client.

42A. Certain pork thief?: BELLY (PO)ACHER. Ah, OK, bellyacher is actually one word. Poacher = Thief.

49A. Spelling contest notice?: BEE (PO)STING. Bee Sting.

As the clue says, PO' BOY is a just a title, not the exact theme tie-in word we are accustomed to. So you won't find BOY anywhere.

All the above inserted POs are pronounced with long O sound in the new phrases, very consistent. I've never had Po' Boy. Looks delicious. It always has fried seafood in the middle, right?

As the norm with the late week puzzle, I went straight to the bottom for the unifier, then worked my way up. Not really a proper course order. The constructors/editor place the unifying "Aha" at the very end for a reason. It's served as a dessert.

Across:

1. Large swallows: GULPS. Large amount swallowed. I was thinking that there might be a large bird swallow I was not aware of.

6. Loosen (up): WARM. Wanted EASE.

10. Joseph who brought Shakespeare to Central Park: PAPP. He founded the New York Shakespeare Festival. Unknown to me.

14. Director Kurosawa: AKIRA. Must be a happy fill for Annette.

15. Plant with thick, fleshy leaves: ALOE

16. Morlock prey: ELOI. The race in "The Time Machine".

17. Elementary particle: MESON. From Greek "mesos", meaning "middle". I simply forgot. It appeared in our puzzle before.

18. Neeson of "Nell": LIAM. Have never seen "Nell". Liked his Oskar in "Schindler's List".

19. Undecided: TORN. Between decisions.

20. Abbr. followed by a year: ESTD (Established)

23. Old Ford: PINTO. Must be named after the horse then. We also have EL CAMINO (38D. 1950s-'80s Chevy utility vehicle). Literally "the road" in Spanish.

25. Bad luck: HOODOO. Voodoo too.

30. Jackie Chan and others: ASIANS. Chinese, to be exact.

31. Magic 8-Ball response: YES. And NO, I presume.

32. Rug feature: NAP

35. Giving word?: UNCLE. Giving up. Nailed it.

36. Fertilization targets: OVA. Was in the soil direction. Fertility would be an easier clue.

37. Priestess in Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers": LEILA. Total blind spot for me.

39. West famous for "Come up sometime and see me": MAE. Mae West. Lois would love this clue.

41. Scarecrow portrayer: BOLGER (Ray). And BAUM (26D. Munchkin creator). "The Wizard of Oz".

45. St. Clare's town: ASSISI. Saint Clare of Assisi. I've only heard of St. Francis of Assisi.

48. Finish by: END AT

52. Name on some Kmart shoes: MCAN. The Thom McAn shoe brand. Learned from doing Xword.

55. Subordinate: AIDE

56. Mountain lake: TARN. The glacier-formed lake.

57. Op artist Bridget: RILEY. Easy guess. Not not familiar with this English painter.

58. List of games, briefly: SKED (Schedule)

59. Presque Isle's lake: ERIE

60. Bury: INURN. You wanted INTER, don't you?

61. __ d'oeuvre: HORS

62. Opposite of bleak: ROSY

Down:

1. Hunter's quarry: GAME

2. Some are made from koa wood: UKES

3. Amount rarely paid: LIST PRICE. True.

4. Spendthrift: PRODIGAL. Nice entry.

5. __ Bernardino: SAN

6. Belt or sock: WALLOP. Great clue.

7. Et __: ALIA. Neutral plural of et al; et alii is masculine plural, et aliae is feminine plural.

8. Knock around: ROAM

9. Tennessee's largest city: MEMPHIS. And IRIS (51D. Tennessee state flower).

10. Eddie of "Frasier," for one: PET DOG. Thought Eddie is just a person, as I've never watched "Frasier".

11. Orally: ALOUD

12. Blue books?: PORNO. "Blue" can mean off-color.

13. Cold War put-down: PINKO. Slang for "communist", isn't it? Why pink instead of red?

21. Narrow waterways: Abbr.: STRS (Straits)

22. Bass attachment?: OON. Bassoon. I wanted IST.

24. Endangered state bird: NENE. Hawaii state bird.

27. Annapolis sch.: USNA

28. Kvetch's words: OY VEY. Tell me you thought of Barry G. I did.

29. Mauna __: KEA. Mauna Kea (white mountain), Hawaii's highest peak. Kea = White. Loa = Long. Mauna Loa (long mountain).

32. Bouncer employer: NIGHTCLUB. Awesome strings of consonants.

33. Opposite of aweather: ALEE

34. Henry VIII's sixth: PARR (Catherine). The last wife of Henry VIII. I often confuse PARR with PAAR (Jack)

36. Olive __: OYL. The BYE in the crossing 40A. Tournament pass (BYE) prevents me from penning in OIL.

37. Burden: LOAD. Fell into the ONUS trap.

40. Runner's problem: BLISTER

41. Big bell sound: BONG

42. Two-footers: BIPEDS. Of course, I was picturing those two-footers on the green.

43. Spanish pronoun: ESO

44. Retailer whose middle name was Cash: PENNEY. J.C. Penney.

45. Put to shame: ABASH

46. Watch handle: SEIKO. D'oh, the watch brand "handle".

47. Feast that includes the Cup of Elijah: SEDER. Can a non-Jew join a Seder feast?

50. Tropical tuber: TARO

53. Nautical leader?: AERO. Aeronautical. We've got three ex-Navy guys in our blog: Spitzboov, Frank & EddyB. Who else?

54. Big Apple ltrs.: NY NY

57. Tear: RIP

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday April 8, 2010 Jascha Smilack

Theme: HORSE (67A. Word to add to 20-, 37- and 54-Across to make sense of the answers) - Horse needs to be fastened to the end of each common phrase to make sense of all the "uneasy" clues.

20A. Uneasy about a farm team member?: DODGING THE DRAFT(horse). Farm team member = Draft horse.

37A. Uneasy about a long shot?: AFRAID OF THE DARK(horse). Dark horse = Long shot. Nyctophobia refers to fear of darkness. I used to sleep with our closet light on all night.

54A. Uneasy about an aquarium fish?: CHICKEN OF THE SEA(horse). Aquarium fish = Seahorse. Used in Chinese herbal medicine.

We also have a cross-referenced SENATE (50A. Where Caligula reputedly tried to seat his 67-Across). A fact I was unaware of. But Galigula was an eccentric weirdo, so no real surprises.

A unique spin of our normal change letter string theme, in which the theme phrases often induce groan and only make sense when the letter string is dropped/added/substituted. Today, all the grid-spanning 15-letter theme entries are perfectly fine common phrases. You just need to tag HORSE to make horse sense of the clues. Loved the "uneasy" tie-in.

Also loved the side-by-side placement of GOLF (12D. Go for a Masters?) and SYST (13. CBS part). Golf fans all know that CBS has been covering the Saturday/Sunday Masters tournaments for years. But why "Go for a Masters" instead of "Go for Masters"? Why extra "a"?

Google shows that today's constructor Jascha Smilack is a Ph.D student in Chinese literature in Harvard. This seems to be his crossword debut. Gong Xi, Gong Xi!

Across:

1. Must: HAS TO

6. "Iron Chef America" chef Cat __: CORA. Needed crosses for her name. I did enjoy the few episodes of "Iron Chef America" I saw. Liked the Japanese flavor.

14. Dickens's mysterious Mr. Drood: EDWIN. Easy guess. I've never heard of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood", Dickens' final novel.

15. Fidel's successor: RAUL. The Castro brothers. Quite a few names in this puzzle.

16. "__ Named Sue": A BOY. And A DROP (2D. __ in the bucket). Partials.

17. Israeli ambassador Moshe: ARENS. Again, his name emerged itself. Not familiar with this guy at all. When was he the ambassador?

18. Like some profs.: ASST (Assistant)

19. Web links: URLS

23. Michael Phelps sponsor: SPEEDO. OK, for Jeannie. Phelps survived his drug scandal quite well.

24. "Dies __": IRAE. "Dies Irae", the Latin hymn. Literally "Days of Wrath". Dies = Day. Irae = Wrath.

25. Humble: DEMEAN

28. Play footsie, say: FLIRT. Directly above TOE TAP (36. Shoe part for Astaire).

32. It may be up: JIG. The jig is up. Rich used the identical clue a while ago, still got me. Lethologica!

41. Maps: CHARTS. Verb.

42. Fair-hiring abbr.: EOE (Equal Opportunity Employer). EEO = Equal Employment Opportunity.

43. Hi or lo follower: RES (Resolution)

44. "Flowers for Algernon" author Daniel: KEYES. Rang a faint bell. See the book cover.

45. "Analyze That" star: DE NIRO

48. Top-shelf: A ONE

59. Winery prefix: OENO. Oeno is Greek goddess of wine.

60. Casual top: POLO

61. Stock phrase: AT PAR

62. Exploit: DEED

63. Etonic competitor: AVIA

64. Peachy: SWELL

65. Wood shaper: ADZE. Or adz.

66. Appear dramatically: LOOM. I associate loom with ominously rather than dramatically.

Down:

1. Call before the game: HEADS. "Heads or tails?". We had this clue before.

3. Stockholm native: SWEDE

4. Colored a bit: TINGED. Wrote down TINTED first.

5. Like some daring football kicks: ONSIDE

6. Steep outcropping: CRAG. The rugged rock.

7. Brewery feature: OAST

8. Act like fools?: RUSH IN. Fools rush in. Nailed it today.

9. Let out, say: ALTER. Oh, the hemline. Nice clue.

10. Honored with a crown of foliage: LAURELED.

11. Start of a spell: ABRA. The start of Abracadabra.

21. Roaming types: NOMADS

22. Green Goblin portrayer in Spider-Man films: DAFOE (Willem). I only remember Tobey Maguire.

26. Rock producer Brian: ENO

27. Newspaper revenue component: AD FEE

29. __-Tass: news agency: ITAR (Information Telegraph Agency of Russia).

30. Red inside: RARE

31. I-90 in Mass. et al.: TPKS (Turnpikes)

32. Magic harp thief: JACK. From "Jack and the Beanstalk" the fairy tale. I peeked at the answer sheet.

33. "__ hollers, ...": IF HE. "Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, /Catch a tiger by the toe./If he hollers let him go..."

34. __ matter: GRAY. Felt silly not getting this one immediately.

36. Believer: THEIST

38. First three numbers, in some directories: AREA CODE

39. "Not a problem!": IT'S OK

40. Cargo unit: TON

45. Again, to Gaius: DE NOVO. Latin for "From the beginning".

46. Talk out again: REHASH

47. "Old" punches?: ONE-TWO. One-two punch. Why "old"?

49. High country: NEPAL. High in the Himalaya. I hope you were not thinking of Tibet, because it's not a country. It's part of China.

51. According to: AS PER

52. Dabbling ducks:: TEALS. Teals belong to the dabbling ducks, which feed by dabbling in the shallow waters.

53. Bogart's "High Sierra" role: EARLE. No idea. I've never seen the movie.

54. Musical ending: CODA

55. Follow: HEED. As advice.

56. Don Juan's mother: INEZ. Spanish for Agnes, meaning "pure".

57. Random collection: OLIO

58. Fire suppressant: FOAM

Answer grid.

C.C.

Wednesday April 7, 2010 Donna S. Levin

Theme: GOLF (Across 60. This puzzle's theme - according to Twain, it's "a good walk spoiled") . Perhaps, more likely, this puzzle was inspired by this week’s Masters, from Augusta, Georgia, home of the GREEN JACKET, the first of the four Major Championships of Golf.

16A. Extremely defensive state of mind: BUNKER MENTALITY. BUNKER being the name for the sand traps we often find our balls buried in.

30A. Physical play: ROUGH HOUSE especially when we hit our drives in the ROUGH, the thicker grass next to the Fairway.

39A. Abstinent one: TEETOTALER like the members of the WCTU the TEE is both the place where a golf hole begins, and the peg which holds the ball before it is struck.

54A. Sam-I-Am's story: GREEN EGGS AND HAM one of our favorite Dr. Seuss stories, and the GREEN is the place where the hole is located in golf.

Lemonade blogging.

With only four theme words, Ms. Levin managed to pack in lots of spaces with two 15 letter fills, unusual for a Wednesday. Her last puzzle for us being the Keep It Simple Stupid puzzle from March.

Welcome back to Wacky Wednesday, today featuring the stylish offering of Ms. Donna Levin who has endeared herself with her witty puzzles, and her background as an ex-attorney. I hope you all appreciated how we have been preparing you for this puzzle with all the talk of the Masters, and a special shout out to GAH, who has picked PHIL MICKLESON to prevail.

Across:

1. Date with an MD: APPT because the clue has an abbreviation, you know the answer will as well.

5. Horse of a certain color: ROAN

9. One of the March girls : BETH played by Margaret O. Brien, with Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, in the 1949 movie version of LITTLE WOMEN .

13. Runny fromage: BRIE certainly does not make the cheese appealing, but keeps our French education going, FROMAGE = CHEESE.

14. "La __ Mobile": "Rigoletto" aria: DONNA, I really like how she worked her own name into the grid.

15. Declare openly: AVOW

19. Pablo Neruda work : ODE a very important 20th century poet, who has appeared both in puzzles, and CA’s daily rhyming remembrances.

20. Landlocked Asian sea: ARAL becoming a staple of our constructors.

21. Spats spots: : ANKLES , love the alliteration, the clue and the memories of SPATS from old gangster movies.

22. Trial in simulated conditions: TEST RUN

24. Short orders in a luncheonette? : BLTS short being another way to clue an abbreviation.

25. Giant Mel: OTT classic crosswordese.

26. Retired Cunard liner, briefly: QEII which is paired so cleverly with the down 26. Part of 26-Across: QUEEN.

27. '60s protest gp. : SDS Students for a Democratic Society; I fell in love on election day 1968, while the SDS was rallying with “Vote with your feet.”

34. Joint problem: GOUT

35. Pig Latin refusal: IXNAY

36. Precipitous start? : PEE. Letter P starts the word "Precipitous". You have to love a puzzle that has PEE right in the middle, and clued with such an ominous word to hide the simplicity of it being the first letter of the word.

37. Limoges product: CHINA some really beautiful Dishes.

38. Gardener's areas: BEDS are often places for planting things.

41. Caps or Cat preceder: SNO this was in my last blog, so go to March 17, 2010, if you want a picture.

42. Seedless bit of flora: FERN they reproduce by SPORES.

43. Channel where Susan Lucci hawks her jewelry line: HSN which with the death of the Soap Opera will be her only TV home.

44. Funny Fey: TINA or should we say SEXY FEY , notice the handcuffs….

45. Ghoulish: MACABRE

49. __ rod: powerful Old Testament tool: AARON’S a shout out to my oldest son, who is going to GABII as a staff member! .

52. Luminous glow: AURA

53. Objective: AIM

57. Margarine: OLEO

58. Condos, e.g. : UNITS

59. Like Cheerios: OATY okay, as opposed to my humor which is often CORNY?

61. Insignificant: PUNY

62. Prejudice: BIAS

Down:

1. Monk's superior: Hey ABBOT .

2. Bluenose : PRUDE Bluenose has so much feeling to it, wonderful clue.

3. Sappy trees: PINES though we like Maple sap better, anybody want some pine syrup?

4. Drug in Shatner novels: TEK if you missed the whole TekWar phenomenon, it is is very well done.

5. Like I, in some cases: ROMAN a new twist on our old friend the ROMAN NUMERAL, very visual.

6. Turow work about first-year law students: ONE L a term I disliked when I taught at law school, but it will make some happy.

7. Political commentator Coulter: ANN who received so many comments about her unappealing persona.

8. Hollywood's Wood: NATALIE a beautiful girl, who died under strange circumstances.

9. Goofs on the mound: BALKS ah, goodie, a baseball reference also.

10. Activity from below? : EVIL The Devil Made Me Do It .

11. Schlep: TOTE okay, a little French, a little Yiddish…

12. Major rtes. : HWYS

14. Diminutive celeb sexologist: welcome back DR. RUTH who always wanted to keep us busy. Also, 39. Stiffen: TENSE UP Dr. Ruth?

17. Like garden smells: EARTHY

18. Not behind: ANTI when you refuse to get behind a project, i.e. not support, nice fill.

23. Frat party garb: TOGAS

24. Assailed: BESET

27. Dirty: SOIL must be careful here.

28. Beach sight: DUNE who doesn’t like to play in the SAND .

29. Headline (in) STAR in my guest blog.

30. Teases: RIBS a nice old fashioned word

31. Beasts of burden: OXEN and 55. Wildebeest: GNU

32. Word processor command: UNDO sadly life has no such choice.

33. La Scala production: OPERA a recent topic of discussion with OPUS

34. Togo neighbor: GHANA we will teach Geography yet!!

37. Medical imaging proc. : CT SCAN how about some background music 5th Dimension.

40. They held Tara's title: O’HARAS Scarlett et al.

42. Helsinki native: FINN

44. "... newt and __ frog": "Macbeth": TOE OF Eye of Newt

45. Like some basements: MUSTY

46. Religion founded in 19th-century Persia: BAHÁ'I isn’t it fun to learn?

47. Cowboy's rope: RIATA

48. Small-screen awards: EMMYS with all the 60” and more TVs this may not be true anymore.

49. Wide-eyed: AGOG

50. Woody's offspring: ARLO The father and son Guthries, with Alice’s Restaurant the longest song ever to get airplay on the radio; Arlo refused to sing any of it when we asked at Woodstock.

51. Fishing gear: REEL it’s been “REEL” nice blogging “AGIN”

52. Not fer: AGIN against (if you’re not fer me you’re agin me)

56. Driver's lic. info: DOB date of birth

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here are a few Asana (Yoga posture) photos from our regular poster Lucina. Click on each one, it will enlarge. Simple amazing. Lucina is 72-year-old semi-retired teacher living in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Twins great Harmon Killebrew also resides.

This over and out from Lemonade in the sunny south, to Dennis, Robin and all who need, our best thought.

Lemonade

Interview with Paul Stynsberg

We often use crosswordese to describe words words found only in crosswords but seldom used in our daily conversation. Many solvers scorn upon the frequency of their appearances. But those words, with their vowel richness, is essential for constructors to cohere the whole grid. And new solvers simply can't complete a puzzle without mastering these words.

Paul Stynsberg, a fellow Minnesotan, makes the learning easier and entertaining. Every day he emailed subscribers a Word of the Day puzzle. Solve his little corner grid, and click on the answer, you'll find the definition, the common clues in crosswords, crossword puzzle frequency, frequency in English Language and a fascinating article on the word itself. He also provides a great picture to help solvers remember the word.

Paul has kept all the crosswordese he's covered in alphabetical order. You can also search the word archive by date and year. It's simple to sign up and it's free. Just email him at stynsberg@wiktel.com. I've benefited immensely from his daily email.

Also, don't miss his Clever Clue of the Month. Which is your favorite? I love "Camel dropping" for ASH. But truly they are all gems. Last month's "Made Unbearable?" for NEUTERED is simply spectacular.

When and how did you decide to dedicate a website specifically to crosswordese?

I love words, I love learning, and I enjoy solving crossword puzzles. Somewhere along the line I realized crossword puzzles had a language of their own: crosswordese. As I began thinking about doing some kind of site and creating a list of crosswordese, I realized there were many more crosswordese words than I had originally thought. At that point I realized a word-of-the-day site would be a good way to go - my thinking was that it could be one of the most useful word-of-the-day sites for the millions of people that work crossword puzzles each day because, inevitably, the word you see today will be in a puzzle within a few days or weeks. I created the site about 5 years ago.

Through creating the site I've learned hundreds of things I wouldn't have learned otherwise. For example:

ASTA: This is the dog in the Thin Man movies. Through learning about Asta I discovered a great movie series I otherwise might have never watched.

ULEE: The title character in the movie, Ulee's Gold. This is another fine movie I hadn't seen previously.

ENNUI: What a great word to use when 'boredom' just isn't enough!

And then there are the dozens of people I've learned about with crossword friendly names whose fame lives on through crosswords. A few examples: SAKI, AGEE, URIS, ODETS, INGE, NIN, ARP, KLEE, ERNST, ERTE, PEI, NAST.

I could go on and on...

What resources do you use to flesh out the crossword puzzle frequency/English language frequency stats & the appropriate summary on the Word of the Day?

Jimmy Wales is one of my heroes. His Wikipedia isn't perfect, but it's a treasure trove for projects like this. Most of my word-of-the-day summaries use information from Wikipedia articles.

Regarding crossword puzzle frequency - that's based on my own research. I solve puzzles with a number of friends at my work place (on breaks). Together, we solve a wide variety of puzzles (see my links page) - about 120 a month. From this I select a cross-section of puzzles to compile a list of crosswordese and calculate frequencies.

The English language frequency stats are retrieved using the elegant web-site, Wordcount.org This site presents 86,800 of the most frequently used English words and ranks them in order of commonness. The average native English speaker knows 12,000 - 20,000 words. Most crosswordese words are not part of the 40,000 most common words - in fact, many times I'm not able to provide stats because they're not even part of the site's 86,800 words.

I adore your Clever Clue of the Month. Can you explain to us your sifting process? Also, how do you ensure that those clues are original?

Coming up with the Clever Clue of the Month is a labor of love. I look at each of the puzzles our group solves each month searching for clever clues. I also receive a handful of clues each month from friends of the site. I then compare them with Matt Ginsburg's Clue Database. This program is updated every week or two with clues from most of the major crosswords. At least half of the clever clues are eliminated at this point because they've been used before. At the end of the month I send a preliminary list to a dozen veteran solvers and constructors to help me narrow the list down to six. I then put the list of six on the site and open it up to everyone to vote for their favorite.

Most of the time, my favorite clues don't win. For example, my favorite clue for March was: Load assistant? ....... EXLAX. It didn't even make it to the final six.

At this point, we're only looking at about half the puzzles out there each month, so this isn't as fair as it could be. I would welcome clever clue submissions from your readers.

Tell us a bit about your background. Do you construct crossword also?

I haven't begun constructing crossword puzzles yet. I'm quite sure I'll give it a shot in the future. I hope I don't put it off until retirement.

Regarding my background - I took a lot of math in college - I've discovered a lot of solvers and constructors have math backgrounds. I finally ended up with a degree in elementary education and taught 4th and 5th grade for three years. Since then I've worked at a window factory in northern Minnesota where I'm currently doing tech support.

What is a perfect puzzle to you? And what kind of themes/fill appeal to you & what are your groaners?

The first thing that comes to mind when you ask this question is the puzzle I highlighted as a Great Puzzle Alert in January. Xan Vongsathorn created an amazing rebus puzzle for the New York Times. It had an extermination theme where 'ant' was part of the answer. The same clue could be used for the answer if the 'ant' was 'exterminated'.

I'm a sucker for rebus puzzles. I love a theme that'll make me laugh out loud. And, of course, I like puzzles with a lot of clever and interesting clues. Also, I love puzzles that try new things, like the April Fool's NYT puzzle from a couple days ago where the wording of all the clues was out of order

My least favorite puzzles are those which are too easy. However, I've found a way to even enjoy them. There are a number of people I work with who are relatively new to crosswords. I let them start the easy ones. Then it's my job to finish them. They become much more challenging when there are a number of incorrect answers to sift through.

What puzzles do you solve every day? And who are your favorite constructors?

There is no single puzzle that I solve every day. I like to work on a wide variety of puzzles each month. I like to make sure I do at least one of every puzzle on my links list every month. Of course there are some puzzles I enjoy more than others. I lean heavily toward the NYT, WSJ, the Chronicle of Higher Education, The Week, and Merl Reagle's Sunday Crosswords.

My favorite constructor/editor is Peter Gordon and my favorite puzzle is his weekly crossword in The Week. It's basically a news junkie's dream, and although I don't consider myself a news junkie, I love the fact that many of the clues are amazingly recent - many from news stories less than a week old! A couple other favorites are Merl Reagle and Brendan Emmitt Quigley.

Besides crossword, what else do you do for fun?

I enjoy spending time with my wife and kids. It looks like we'll be empty nesters in a couple months. I also enjoy walking/running my dog a few miles every day.

I teach a class on the Life of Christ. My work with crosswords pales in importance to this.

Like many other crossword solvers, I enjoy sudoku. I play backgammon almost every day. Other hobbies include badminton, scrabble, tennis, watching the Twins, and having my heart broken by the Vikings every year.