Thursday, April 10, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: QUIP

17A: Start of a quip: PROVIDENCE

24A: Part 2 of quip: GIVETH AND

40A: Part 3 of quip: THE

52A: Part 4 of quip: INCOME TAX

63A: End of quip: TAKETH AWAY

And America giveth and Murdoch taketh away. This guy is a genius. He knows so well that Grove giveth and Gates taketh away (Bob Metcalfe's quip on Wirth's Law). He swallowed MySpace, gobbled up Wall Street Journal, and now ready to wolf down Yahoo as desserts. America is beautiful, isn't it?

A LA Mr. Olschwang, however, France is more glamorous (total 7 French words). MANET's "Olympia" is more seductive, CLAUDE Debussy's music is more captivating, even the gelatin ASPIC is more tantalizing on a French menu. The ugly Sartre and his existentialistic NAUSEA are probably not BETE-noires to French ÉLÈVES. To me, they are intolerable!

David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day) will probably enjoy this puzzle very much. He is an avid crossword solver, and I think he does Chicago Tribune Puzzle on line, from Paris.

I would have finished this puzzle unassisted if not for the stupid "J" in the upper right corner. I had F_ORDS (10D) and _ILT (16A) sitting there staring at me forever. I have never heard of "JILT". In fact, I wanted it to be RILT, as FRORDS looked like a sensible word to me. I would NEVER put a "J" there. FJORDS just looked so ridiculously wrong. Had to flirt with Mr. Google to get this letter, a very expensive visit.

Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Total blank squares: 36

Across clues:

1A: __ firma: TERRA. Do you know where the Terra Cotta Warriors Museum is?

14A: Projecting bay window: ORIEL. Here is a picture for you.

16A: Leave at the altar: JILT. Julia Roberts' The Runaway Bride is too much of an overkill. Don't like it.

19A: Earthen ware crock: OLLA. Native American Pottery OLLA can be breathtaking. Look at this one.

20A: Erhard' s program: EST (Erhard Seminars Training). Werner Erhard. Unknown to me. I got it from down clues.

21A: _ noire (bugbear): BÊTE

22A: Entryway: PORTAL

26A: St. Francis' place: ASSISI

29A: Way back when: AGES AGO

34A: Antiseptic pioneer: LISTER (Joseph). Hence the brand name Listerine.

41A: Part of a flight: STAIR

43A: Ames inst. : ISU (Iowa State University).

44A: Composer Debussy: CLAUDE. Impressionist composer (La Mer). Of course, CLAUDE can also be clued as Painter Monet.

47A: Ruffle feathers: RILE

48A: Commuter's lane: CARPOOL

55A: Sartre novel: NAUSEA. La Nausée. Again, I don't understand, how come the translation is not "The Nausea"? Why is his "Le Mur" translated as "The Wall" then? I am very confused about English article "the".

58A: Arab garments: ABAS

62A: Force out: OUST. Ugh, pay attention to this small details please! Try "Supplant" next time.

66A: Eins, zei, __: DREI. I suppose this is German one, two, three.

67A: Continuously: EVER

68A: Ecole attendee: ÉLÈVE. French for pupil.

69A: English title: EARL

70A: Pub projectile: DART

71A: Took the plunge: DARED

Down clues:

1D: Shark type: TOPE. Here is a picture.

4D: Gun it in neutral: REV

5D: Cover stories: ALIBIS. Good clue.

6D: Narrow mountain ridge: ARETE

7D: "Olympia" painter: MANET. So serene & sensual & defiant. I don't think this picture is in Musée D'Orsay though. Lunch on the Grass is there. The audacious, unabashed nudeness, "come on and dare me"!

9D: Amount of ooze: SEEPAGE

10D: North sea inlets: FJORDS. Also spelled as Fiord. "A long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea between steep slopes".

11D: Happy song: LILT. Don't like it's intersection of JILT.

23D: Lulus: ONERS

24D: Pith: GIST

25D: Despised: HATED. Are they the same? I thought "despise" means "scorn".

26D: Meat stock jelly: ASPIC. I have to show this picture again. I just love it. It has wasabi & pistachio in it.

27D: Chip dip: SALSA. ASPIC tastes very good with SALSA too.

28D: Scrub extra hard: SCOUR

30D: With one's might: AMAIN. No idea, got it from across clues.

32D: Jury's determination: GUILT. I wanted GUILTY or VERDICT, but neither fit.

32D: Baddies: OGRES

35D: Author Calvino: ITALO. Never heard of him.

36D: Old Chinese kingdom: SHU (蜀). Technically there was never a SHU kingdom, only Former SHU ( 前蜀) and Later SHU (後蜀). Both located in today's Sichuan Province. Hot, spicy food there.

39D: Tea treat: SCONE. American BISCUIT (mostly sweet). British BISCUIT is American COOKIE. I think British also call crackers are biscuits. Not very sure. Maybe our fellow solver Littlelj (British) will jump in later today to confirm (Hi there, great cherry blossom pictures by the way!).

42D: Chicago's Sue: T REX. Plenty of photos here.

45D: Placed: LOCATED

46D: Bother: EAT AT

49D: Flower part: PISTIL. No idea. I got it from across clues. It's "the ovule-bearing or seed-bearing female organ of a flower, consisting when complete of ovary, style, and stigma."

51D: Cut deeply: GASHED

54D: Chicago movie critic: EBERT (Roger)

55D: Protuberance: NODE

59D: Water vessel: EWER

60D: Church section: NAVE (sorry for the mistake earlier).

61D: Soaked in anil: DYED

C.C.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: FORTES (Physical, Intellectual & Visual)

17A: Publisher's forte?: MANUAL DEXTERITY

39A: Prevaricator's forte?: MENTAL AGILITY

62A: Diver's forte? DEPTH PERCEPTION

Nope, not an easy Wednesday for me.

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

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

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

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

Across clues:

1A: FRD coins: DIMES.

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

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

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

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

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

24A: Perspiring: SWEATY

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

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

34A: Bury the hatchet: MAKE UP

43A: Seer's deck: TAROT

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

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

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

19A: Major artery: AORTA

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

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

Down clues:

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

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

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

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

6D: San Diego team: PADRES

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

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

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

23D: Composer Khachaturian: ARAM

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

27D: Abominable snowmen: YETIS

32D: Move, in realtor-speak: RELO

35D: Jazz state: UTAH

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

40D: Theater section: LOGE

41D: Passages: TRANSITS

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

46D: Large crowds: HORDES

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

48D: Tyrant: DESPOT

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

55D: Dundee refusal: NAE

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

59D: Spurious imitation: SHAM

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

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

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

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

C.C.

How to remember Roman Numerals

OK, here is the best Mnemonic: Sentence to remember Roman Numerals I fished out from the Google Ocean. I only made a few changes to fit in my blog format. The ascending order of Roman numerals: LCDM:

Lucky Cows Drink Milk

Lucy Can't Drink Milk The Roman numerals in order for I, V, X (1, 5, 10) I Vant XRays The Roman numerals in order for I V X L C D M (1 5 10 50 100 500 1000) I Value Xylophones Like Cows Dig Milk A Poem to remember all the Roman numerals: M's "mille" (or 1000 said) D's half (500 - quickly read!) C's just a 100 (century!) and L is half again - 50! So all that's left is X and V (or 10 and 5) - and I - easy!

Explanation Roman Numerals

I	=	1
V	=	5
X	=	10
L	=	50
C	=	100
D	=	500
M	=	1000

Roman numerals are expressed by letters of the alphabet and are rarely used today except for formality or variety. There are four basic principles for reading Roman numerals:

1. A letter repeated once or twice repeats its value that many times (XXX = 30, CC = 200, etc.).
2. One or more letters placed after another letter of greater value increases the greater value by the amount of the smaller (VI = 6, LXX = 70, MCC = 1200, etc.).
3. A letter placed before another letter of greater value decreases the greater value by the amount of the smaller (IV = 4, XC = 90, CM = 900, etc.). Several rules apply for subtraction: (a) only subtract powers of ten (I, X, or C, but not V or L); (b) only subtract one number from another; (c) do not subtract a number from one that is more than 10 times greater (that is, you can subtract 1 from 10 [IX] but not from 20—there is no such number as IXX).
4. A bar placed on top of a letter or string of letters increases the numeral's value by 1,000 times (XV = 15, = 15,000).

Hope it helps. C.C.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: Common Phrases for "WORN OUT"

20A: In need of a boost: RUNNING ON EMPTY

39A: Energy depleted: ALL OUT OF STEAM

60A: Exhausted: ON ONE'S LAST LEGS

I enjoyed your comments on yesterday's ICED/ICE tea, very entertaining. Keep 'em coming!

It's a "S" Fest today. Total 23, that's about 12% of the total fill. These rampant ESSE, ESSEN, MESS, ASSES made me cringe! Did you groan at all?

I had a double-bogey round of golf today, mainly due to the heavy-rough right corner. First of all, I had no idea where the fairway was. I did not know that "bark'' can be a boat/SHIP. And WISTERIA was not an easy word to be squeezed out of my brain, neither was ARMYWORM. I felt so stupid falling into the ISMS bunker again. What a waste of my years studying Marxism, Leninism and Mao Ze-Dong Thought.

So I cheated, I went to the dictionary for the definition of "bark", kicked my ball out of the rough a la Mulligan President Clinton, hacked it close to the green and somehow chipped it in. All the other holes were fairly easy, no dogleg, no severe slope, no unfair pin position. All in all, a fun round!

The grid structure of the first several rows and the middle part is so similar to Ms. Baldwin's last offering. She might be using a crossword software for the construction I think. Are any of you guys foodies? Do the crossings of ASPIC, TOAST & OGEES look pleasing to your eyes?

Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Total blank squares: 36 (identical to yesterday's).

Front Nine:

10A: Swing to and fro: SWAY

15A: Half-pints: RUNTS. I got it from down clues. I had no idea that "Half-pints" is a slang for a short person. Besides "shrimp", what other words have the similar meaning?

19A: Doctrines: ISMS

24A: Word with Whiz: GEE. Good, no more "Turns right" (GEES), singular for a change. This should make one solver happy. Want to know who he/she is? Go to the Comments section of the March 27 puzzle, and see who opined at 7:39am.

25A: Generic stuff: DNA. Never know when to put DNA and when to put RNA.

26A: Flock member: EWE

30A: Pi follower: RHO. Very easy to infer, even if you are not sure of the exact order of the Greek alphabet.

32A: Atomic number 5: BORON. No idea. I suck at this atomic matter.

34A: Took the cake: WON. I ATE first.

36A: Frequently, to a bard: OFT

38A: Encircle: GIRD. Variant spelling is GIRT.

43A: Utter joy: GLEE. I always associate utter joy with "BLISS". To me, "GLEE" has a "GLOAT" connotation.

45A: "Annabel Lee" poet: POE. I tried too hard to outsmart the editor. I penned in EAP recklessly.

46A: Small salamanders: NEWTS

50A: Meat stock jelly: ASPIC

65A: Poultry housing: COOPS. Good clue. "Housing" refers to houses collectively, in case you wonder why "S" is there.

68A: Be entertaining: AMUSE

69A: Soybean paste: MISO. Hmm, it's clued as "Sushi bar soup" last time. Someone misread the clue as "Sushi bar soap" (you know who you are). And this soap does exist, look at here.

Back Nine:

1D: Hooded vipers: COBRAS. Never knew that "Hood" a special term for snake's neck skin. Interesting. Snakes do not have sternum.

2D: Exceedingly sudden: ABRUPT

3D: Primitive shelter: LEAN TO. Weren't you here yesterday?

4D: Loretta of country music: LYNN. Surprise me with something else! Jaime __ Spears!

5D: Stretch one's neck: CRANE. I try to picture how COBRAS can "stretch their ribs outwards which expands the hood."

6D: Kind of strike: HUNGER. Solution: Force-feed!

8D: Stalemate: STANDOFF

9D: City on the Ruhr: ESSEN

10D: Ark or bark: SHIP

11D: Showy ornamental vine: WISTERIA. It's "any climbing shrub belonging to the genus Wisteria, of the legume family, having showy, pendent clusters of blue-violet, white, purple, or rose flowers." Look at this picture, isn't it lovely?

12D: Destructive moth larva: ARMYWORM. Ick.

22D: Queen of fairies: MAB. "Queen Mab". It's also the name of Marianne's horse in "Sense and Sensibility."

29D: Little screecher: OWLET

31D: Hogwash: HOOEY

33D: Curvy moldings: OGEES. It's a "molding having the profile of an S-shaped curve". Now this is very fascinating: "In fluid mechanics, the term ogee is used for an aerodynamic curve due to the "oh, gee!" effect of physically navigating such a curve. For example, a wing may be shaped as an ogee curve, particularly on supersonic aircraft such as the Condord. Also, the downstream face of a dam spillway is usually formed in an ogee curve to minimize erosion."

35D: Crackpot: NUT

39D: Tavern: ALE HOUSE. I put TEA HOUSE first.

40D: Indecency: LEWDNESS

41D: Humdrum: TIRESOME. I put BORESOME first.

42D: Drinker's salute: TOAST

43D: Economic stat.: GNP (Gross Nation Product). I am just so intrigued by Bhutan's GNH (Gross National Happiness) measurement. It's such an innovative way to ascertain the quality of our life, albeit not as scientific as GNP.

49D: Slip away: ELAPSE. Don't like the double "P" appearance here.

51D: Lyrical: POETIC. Have yet to hear from Bob Dylan himself on the Pulitzer!

52D: Consume: INGEST. Antonym: EGEST

53D: Universe: COSMOS. The plural for COSMOS could be COSMOS or COSMOSES.

56D: Coffeehouse order: DECAF

58D: Nincompoops: ASSES. Could not find the origin of this "Nincompoops" anywhere.

61D: Fodder for the smelter: ORES. I never knew that "Fodder"s plural form is still "Fodder". Good to learn. This is my favorite clue of today's puzzle. I like the "er" rhyme.

62D: Churlish individual: LOUT. I put BOOR first.

63D: Succotash morsel: LIMA. Disagree. It's LIMA BEAN. Cooked with kernels of corns.

64D: Sleep state: R. E. M. (Rapid Eye Movement". It's was clued as "Man on the Moon" group on March 18.

Please let Philip J. Anderson return tomorrow!

C.C.

Monday, April 7, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: "Chess Mate"

17A: "Chess mate" dancer: IRENE CASTLE

27A: "Chess mate" dancer: TED KNIGHT

37A: "Chess mate" poet: ELIZABETH BISHOP

53A: "Chess mate" talk-show host: LARRY KING

61A: "Chess mate" mystery pseudonym: ELLERY QUEEN

To Monday-Friday solvers, please read this A Few Updates post first.

After yesterday's titanic struggle against Wiseman and his heinous IATRO puzzle, today's offer considerably salved my wounds and soothed my bruised confidence. A smooth sailing for me this morning.

I did get bogged down on 34A, 25D & 26D area for a long time. I simply forgot Sorvino's name (MIRA). And ANTZ escaped my mind. I've never read Agatha's Sparkling Cyanide. In fact, I misread the clue as "Christian's Sparking poison". So I was thinking of Chrisitan Dior's Poison Perfume. It's sparking, isn't it? I used the Green Poison for a long time, then I switched to Opium.

Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Total blank squares: 36

Ready to tee off? OK, Front Nine:

1A: Calls on the carpet: CHIDES. Learned this phrase from last Friday's puzzle.

11A: Peke's bark: YAP. I just found out that YAP is also "Group of Islands in the W Caroline Islands, W Pacific). Just in case this devilish constructor decides to waterboard us with this clue for pleasure.

14A: Repeat from memory: RECITE

20A: Hanoi holiday. TET. I like this kind of specific clue. Hate when it's clued as Asian holiday. Chinese has Spring Festival, and many Asian countries do celebrate this Lunar New Year, but only in Vietnam is it called TET.

24A: Suspension part: I BEAM

31A: Christies' "Sparkling" poison: CYANIDE

33A: Waist watching: ON A DIET. I start to really enjoy this kind of "preposition + article+ noun" combined answer. Very lively.

36A: No more seats: SRO. There should be some hint in the clue to indicate an abbreviated answer, don't you think so?

46A: Feeler: ANTENNA

49A: Scrutinize: EYEBALL. By the way, I cook terrible American food for my American husband by "EYEBALLING" the measurements all the time, thanks to Rachel Ray.

55A: Smooth transition: SEGUE

56A: Australian isl.: TASM (Tasmania). No idea. I pieced it together from down clues. This clue/answer appeared on March 2 puzzle also. I did not know then, and I will probably forget it again soon.

68A: Take offense at: RESENT

71A: Augments: ADDS TO. I am not falling into "Fill in S first" trap any more.

Back Nine:

1D: Picayune nitpicker perhaps: CRITIC. Did not know the meaning of "Picayune", but got the answer nevertheless. You talkin' to me, Mr. Underwood?

2D: As a result of this: HEREBY. I filled in HERETO first.

3D: Summer cooler, to some: ICE TEA. Incorrect, it's ICED TEA (thank you for pointing it out Dennis). Wonder why rappers name themselves as ICE T or ICE Cube.

4D: Clamor: DIN

7D: Periodical number: ISSUE

10D: Breastbones: STERNA. Sternum is the singular form.

11D: Immature-ish: YOUNGISH. Ugly clue. Why put "ish" there?

12D: Modern protagonist: ANTIHERO

18D: Uffizi display: ARTE. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Good clue.

25D: Bug movie: ANTZ

26D: Ms. Sorvino: MIRA. She spent sometime in Beijing, so her Mandarin Chinese is pretty good.

8D: Shakespearean verb: DOTH

29D: Like unsightly knees: KNOBBY

32D: Discredit: DEBUNK. I don't like the clue. Not fond of the double appearances of letter "D" both in the clue and the answer.

30D Semi -convertible: T TOP

37D: Latin & others: ET AL. WHAT??? Is this your original clue Mr. Underwood? Shouldn't it be " Latin: & others?"

38D: Crazies: LUNATICS

39D: Corporate web: INTRANET

42D: Kemo __: SABE

48D: NYC team: NY METS. Johan Santana is my favorite pitcher! (Update: from drdad: the clue should be reworded to avoid the repetition of letter "NY").

49D: Elbe tributary: EGER. Learned from doing crossword of course.

51D: Softly bright: LUCENT

52D: Shanty: LEAN TO

54D: 48D, e. g. : NLERS. National Leaguers.

58D: Gore Vidal's Breckinridge: MYRA. No, no idea. Here is some information.

63D: Countenance: LET

64D: Math proof letters: QED (Quod Erat DeMONSTRANDUM). I would never got this one if not for the across clues.

65D: Coyote State sch.: USD (University of South Dakota)

(Note to crockett1947, I hope you have a new record today. This puzzle is tailor-made for you!)

C. C.

Sunday, April 6, 2008 Willy A. Wiseman

Theme: FULL CALENDAR (Pls let me know if you spot any mistake)

110A: Kevin Kline movie, with "The": JANUARY MAN

89A: Groundhog Day: FEBRUARY SECOND

1A: Step in step: MARCH

33D: Annual fall: APRIL SHOWERS

129A: Chicken Itza man: MAYAN

57A: Followup to 33D: JUNE WEDDING

23A: Summer holiday: JULY FOURTH

44D: "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" playwright: AUGUST WILSON

110A: 1980 Neil Diamond hit: SEPTEMBER MORN

79A: German-American celebration: OCTOBER FEST

48A: Walt Whitman work: NOVEMBER BOUGHS

29A: Spring Byington's TV classic: DECEMBER BRIDE

First of all, I love Sade the beautiful singer, not Sade the sadistic writer. I don't enjoy being tortured. But I was put through a waterboading this morning. It's excruciating! I am certain that some of you will breeze through the puzzle without encountering any bad weather. But for me, it was a stormy and turbulent sailing experience. Oodles of unknown terms like OLEIC, ELASTIN, TETRYL, IATRO. Loads of films, songs, singers, playwright I've never heard of. In fact, I don't remember I've ever spent such an unendurably long time flirting with Google. Painful!

Maybe I should not try Sunday puzzle. It frustrates me and robs me of the precious confidence I've built up during the weekdays. The amount of new information is simply too overwhelming.

I was flustered and paralyzed from the very beginning 1D: Fastfood position (McJOB). I've never, ever heard of this slang. I guess I could've taken a wild stab if 18A: SHANKS (CRURA) was an easily obtainable answer. Alas, it was formidably flinty. I pictured all kinds of shanks in my brain, including the shank shot that hit my right ankle by a stupid golfer. Ouch! Could not think of anything, so I limped away.

I actually figured out the theme very quickly, immediately after I got Y from 4D: Shed Tears (CRY). That enabled me to fill in the beginning MONTH part a few long across theme entries. But, what followed the months (Jan, Sept, Nov. & Dec, Nov) were impenetrable. The down clues were of no help, in fact, they only added to my miseries.

Besides, I self-inflicted myself with some near-fatal wounds. Take 66A: Manufactured baloney? (LIED) for example. I was hellbent to fill in LIES. I wanted a noun and I would not consider any other choice. Then 43D (Mathematical figures of earth) became GEOISS. I checked all the dictionary sources, and could not find any evidence to validate my fill. However, I convinced myself somehow that GEOISS was correct. I thought it was probably another made-up ATIP word by Wiseman (asa as our Editor Williams). So I decided to hammer in this last nail GEOISS on the puzzle and call it a success. Only realized that I was wrong when I tried to type in LIED for the blog entry. Stupid!

Now looking back at this puzzle, it is pretty elegant. It's not an easy task to pull off these 12-month feat in one grid. My only gripe is about the lower right corner. LEMAY (107D) and MAYAN (129A) should not have crossed each other that way. It looks very awkward to me. Besides, the month MAY could've been constructed as an independent entry (just like every other month) rather than embedded in another word.

Some of today's clues are very clever, esp those with question marks. The best is 100A: Roman Crowd?: III (Roman number three. Two's a company, Three's a crowd). Very refreshing.

Grid (21*21): Total letters filled: 369. Total blank squares: 72

Across entries:

6A: Ancient Greek portico: STOA. Plural can be STOAS, or STOAE. OK, Ancient Greek Mall: AGORA, AGORAE. Ancient Greek concert hall: ODEUM, ODEUMS or ODEA.

10A: Bub: FELLA

15A: Lowly NCO: CPL (Corporal)

18A: Shanks: CRURA. Singular form is CRUS.

19A: Greek crosses: TAUS. Greek letter T.

20A: Trojan War epic: ILIAD

21A: American Omegas: ZEES. Omega is the last letter of Greek alphabet.

25A: Stallone persona: RAMBO

26A: Asian inland sea: ARAL. Saw it clued as "Shrinking Asian Sea" before.

27A: Eng. honor: OBE (Order of British Empire). Thought Tina Brown received an OBE. Wrong. She received a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), which is higher than OBE.

32A: Theda of silents: BARA. Not familiar with this name. Interesting, Wikipedia says her name is an anagram of "Arab Death". No wonder she was cast as "Cleopatra".

34A: Sparta site: LACONIA

37A: Like a little Glaswegian: WEE. How so? Doesn't Wee also mean "a little bit" in American English?.

38A: Fraction of a rupee: PAISA. Well, I suppose if you are from Indian or Pakistan, this is a gimme for you. I have no idea.

40A: Pass slowly: DRAG

43A: "I Can't Make You Love Me" singer: RAITT. Not familiar with the song.

45A: Actor McGavin: DARREN. Nope. Another stranger.

53A: Acid in soap: OLEIC. No idea. Totally beyond my ken.

55A: Pigeon talk: COOING. Could've, should've got this one, but I did not. I was thinking a real noun, not a fake ING verb-noun.

56A: Window part: SILL. Put PANE first of course.

60A: Various functions: USES

64A: Collected: AMASSED. 2 other SS in today's puzzle: UMASS, PUSS.

66A: Manufactured baloney?: LIED. Couldn't believe that I was snagged here for so long.

67A: Refuges: ASYLA. Plural of Asylum. An insanely difficult answer for a simple clue.

68A: 1977-to-2005 Missouri congressman: GEPHARDT (Dick). Shouldn't the c in Congressman should be capitalized? Or is it just another Obama Democrat/democrat thing? My husband likes Gephardt a lot. Me, lukewarm toward him.

70A: Lively dance: JIG

71A: Ghostly: SPECTRAL

74A: CNN correspondent David: ENSOR. I tend to confuse him with Jamie McIntyre (CNN Pentagon reporter). They don't even look alike.

75A: Coup d'_: ETAT. I want Zimbabwe army to have a Coup d'ETAT, NOW. Mugabe has to go.

77A: Remove snarls: UNTWIST. Sounds good to me, though I've never used this word before.

78A: Goulash or slumgullion: STEW. Slumgullion sounds so unappealing to me. Slum...

84A: Former Peruvian currency: INTI. The insanity goes on! Had_ _ _ I sitting there for over 30 minutes.

85A: Slope of a rampart: ESCARP. Nope. It's "a steep artificial slope in front of a fortification''.. Derived from French "escarper" (to cut).

87A: St. Louis bridge: EADS. Vaguely heard of it.

88A: City in Scotland or Illinois: ELGIN

94A: Barrymore film, "__ Lupin": ARSÈNE. No idea.

95A: New England sch. UMASS (University of Massachusetts)

96A: Vega's constellation: LYRA

97A: Medical: pref.: IATRO. Big stumper for me. I have IATROPHOBIA. I am skeptical of most of the doctors who try to foist new medicines/procedures on patients. US Health Care system, in Dennis' military term, is totally FUBAR (Fouled up beyond all recognition). Oh, by the way, "Iatro" is a Greek word, meaning physician. Here is an example: IATROGENIC: "a disease or problem caused, or made worse by a physician, surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures."

99A: Snoop: SPY

103A: Graphite removers: ERASERS

106A: Workers' rights. grp.: NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)

114A: Ref. set: OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

117A: Switch addition?: EROO (Switcheroo).

118A: Very, in music: ASSAI. Allegro assai is very quick.

122A: Alphabetize: SORT

124A: Saucers without cups?: UFOS. Good clue too.

125A: Noted violin maker: AMATI. Or STRAD (AMATI's student)

127A: Insinuating: SNIDE

128A: Stock shade: NUDE

Down clues:

1D: Fastfood position: McJOB. Slang for "a low-paying, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement". Is it a gimme for you?

2D: Orangjestad's land: ARUBA

3D: Sovereign: RULER

5D: Weapon handle: HAFT

6D: Buddhist shrines: STUPAS. Did not know this word. I only knew PAGODAS. What's the difference between these two? (Update from drdad: Stupa is a mound like structure containing relics of Guatama Buddha (founder of Buddhism). Pagoda is a tiered tower found in may parts of Asia and also commonly dealing with Buddhism. I guess the mound vs. the tower is the key.)

8D: Better: OUTDO

10D: Gun: FIREARM

11D: NFL kicker Jason: ELAM

12D: Tree branch: LIMB

13D: Tag: LABEL

15D: Russian ruler: CZAR. No!! It's "Former Russian ruler". Right now, Putin is the man, as he has been since 1999, at least, until May 2008. Secondly, there should be a "Variant" mark besides the clue, as TSAR is more common.

16D: Hairpiece: PERIWIG

17D: "He __ me beside the still waters": LEADETH

24D: Singer K. T. __: OSLIN. Nope, no memory of this singer at all. Here is more information about her.

30D: Killing: suff: CIDE (Homicide, e. g.)

35D: Religious law: CANON

39D: NRC forerunner: AEC (Atomic Energy Commission). NRC is Nuclear Regulatory Commison.

41D: First letters: ABCDE

42D: Mathematical figures of Earth: GEOIDS. Another stumper. It's "an imaginary surface that coincides with mean sea level in the ocean and its extension through the continents.". "Geo" is earth earth obviously, "oid" means "like", as in ellipsoid. Factoid has the same root I think. OK, so the adjective for "Geoid" is a "Geoidal".

45D: Medicinal quantities: DOSAGES

46D: Sustenance: ALIMENT. A new word for me. But ALIMENT looks like something stunting rather than nourishing. Maybe because of AILMENT? Spelling is almost the same.

47D: Blackslide: RELAPSE. So easy to go astray in life.

51D: Silver or Wood: RON. I made a blind-squirrel guess and RON happened to the right acorn.

52D: Expansive: BIG

54D: Melville novel: "Billy __": BUDD

57D: O. T. book: JER (Jeremiah)

58D: High society: ELITE. I like of like "High Society" the movie. It's the only Bing Crosby work I've seen.

61D: Shot putter?: SYRINGE. Another stumper. I misread the clue as "Short Putter"?. So I was walking on the green of "Yip" and "Gimme", all those golf terms. When I realized it's "Shot", I marveled at the cleverness of the clue. Hope you did not go to the "Shot Put" the athletics term. But you doctor/nurse INJECTS shot, NOT puts shot into your body, don't they?

62D: Ligament substance: ELASTIN. No idea. It's " a protein constituting the basic substance of elastic tissue.".

63D: Type of cracker: SALTINE

65D: Patriotic men's org: SAR (Sons of the American Revolution). DAR is Daughters of American Revolution.

67D: Do one's part?: ACT. Act one's role. In fact, the clue is sufficient without the question mark, don't you agree?

69D: Detonator stuff: TETRYL. No idea. I was exploded at this point of my solving. The suffix "YL" looks so crazy. Oh, "yl" is a suffix used to "form the chemical names of organic compounds when they are radicals (parts of larger compounds), such as ethyl and phenyl." Who cares!

70D: Straight punch: JAB

72D: Mug or kisser: PUSS

73D: Tolkien tree: ENT. Tolkien baddie is ORC. That's all I know. Somehow "Lord of the Ring" has never caught my fancy.

76D: Electrocuted elephant: TOPSY. Was not aware of this event. A bit disturbing to me.

79D: Andean tuber: OCA. It looks like this.

82D: Wind machine: FAN. Should have a question mark after this clue I think.

83D: Jockey Arcaro: EDDIE. The Master of Triple Crown!

86D: "Calvin and Hobbes" girl: SUSIE. Another stranger. But it's inferable.

89D: Botherations: FUSSES. Does the word "bothers" bother you, Editor? Why bent so far for "Botherations"?

90D: Kind of penguin: EMPEROR

91D: Long Island hamlet: BAYPORT

92D: Recluse: EREMITE

93D: Dear Italian: CARO. OK, so it's "Dear" in Italian: mia caro, mia cara. Same with French mon chéri, ma chérie. Want to learn a bit Chinese? It's "Qin Ai De" ("亲爱的"). And it does not have femininity or masculinity difference.

101D: Mosque officials: IMAMS. I tend to confuse Somalia Supermodel IMAN with this IMAM.

102D: "Peer Gynt" dramatist: IBSEN. Got it this time.

104D: Indian golfer Atwal: ARJUN. Nope, not familiar with him. He spent way too long at the Asian/European Tour I suppose.

105D: Military muddle: SNAFU (Situation Normal, All Fouled UP). This word brings smile to my face. I remember I was very shocked when Dennis first explained the sanitized version of SNAFU on a March puzzle.

107D: Wallace's 1968 running mate: LeMAY (Curtis). A total stranger to me. But who can remember a vice presidential candidate's name? LeMay, hmm, not a familiar surname to me at all. He had to have some French heritage I suppose.

108D: Rodeo rope: REATA

109D: Nigeria's neighbor: BENIN. Porto Novo is Benin's Capital. I don't think any other Capital City in this world has 4 Os in its name.

112D: Actor Morales: ESAI. Enough said about this NYPD Blues guy.

114D: "Atlas Shrugged" author: RAND (Ayn). That's why it's so hard to parse what on earth Greenspan tried to say. He was way too influenced by RAND. So was Mark Cuban, who had a crush on Rand and her "The Fountainhead".

115D: Whiskey shot: DRAM

120D: Land of sleep: NOD. Land of NOD, the "mythical land of sleep".

121D: Singer Sumac: YMA.

C.C.

A Few Updates

1) Yesterday (Friday, April 4)'s GETTING ON puzzle constructor Robert A. Doll is a real person, not a pseudonym as I originally thought. Orange just blogged about his Washington Post puzzle on March 16, 2008.

2) Blogger comments glitch: It turns out that people have been experiencing similar problems in other blogs too (Rex Parker's NYT for example). I was worried that I did something wrong with my settings. Hope Blogger fixes this problem soon.

3) My gripes about OTT, OTTO, ODIUM and RADIUM: Here is Orange's take: "I don't think it's clumsy to have similar strings of letters in multiple answers, as long as they're not forms of the same word. OTT and OTTO are different, and ODIUM and RADIUM are entirely different, too. The big no-no is repeating the same word with the same root, like having OUTOFTIME and TIMER in the same puzzle."

4) My complaint about Sapporo sash clue: Orange said "many constructors and editors like short clues to rhyme or have alliteration. Thus, [Pig's digs] for a STY, and [Sapporo sash]. [Tokyo sash] basically means the same thing, but the clue doesn't have alliteration. Not sure why they're so fond of it!"

So, some of my grumblings are not on sold ground, and sometimes they are not right. But I am writing honestly about what's really going on in my mind.

If you disagree with my view, or spot any mistake, whether it's typo, clumsy theme summary, or wrong entry (I typed in Calls on the RED carpet for yesterday's CHIDES clue, did not realize it 'til Orange asked me), or incorrect grammar (I had this big past tense & present perfect confusion until Hugh Brown sent me a detailed explanation in mid March), please don't hesitate to let me know. I am willing and eager to learn.

Thank you for swinging by every day. I've learned a lot from you guys.

C.C.

Saturday, April 5, 2008 Arlan and Linda Bushman

Theme: NONE

An uphill battle today, brutal! Without a theme guidance, I felt like I was playing golf under foggy (and cold) weather. I could not see the fairways clearly, not to mention the pin positions. I was in the rough on almost every hole.

To make things worse, I kept wanting AVE, HEXAGON and ORT to be merged and form an open parallel to balance 20A and 53A. This needless mental knot caused me quite a few strokes.

My first several tee shots were actually perfect, right down in the middle. But I could not follow through. Had no idea how to chip and where to land the ball on the green.

Take the lower right corner for example: I got SONICS for 49A, then I wrote down OWED (confused it with owned) for 61A: Have, in the past, and I filled in DOES for 64A: Unnamed others, thinking of John/Jane DOE. I had no idea what was Knicks coach Thomas' given name. I did not know the meaning of "thurible", imagining it was a kind of sewing tool like thimble. Have never heard of actress Gershon. So, a bloody mess there. I could not even get AT NIGHT for 41D. Stupid! What can I say?

Except the ugly double appearances of STAIR (20A & 11D) & HAMMER (53A & 54D), this puzzle was very well designed and constructed. Lots of quality fills. I think I would've enjoyed it were I a better solver.

Grid: Total letters filled: 193. Total blank squares: 32

FRONT NINE:

1A: Bungle: FLUB

5A: Gem weight: CARAT

10A: Flat-topped rise: MESA. OK, a non-MESA related question for you: Are you or anyone of your family a MENSA member? Send me a private email if you do not want go public with this information.

14A: Mrs. Chaplin: OONA. O'Neill's daughter. But what an enviable & magical marriage they forged! 35 years. Incredible. By the way, Oona's daughter Geraldine Chaplin played Tonya in Dr. Zhivago.

15A: Florida citrus city: OCALA

16A: Dog-eared: USED

17A: Marketed: SOLD. Really? I thought marketing was different than selling. (Update: drdad says they are the same)

18A: Upstairs storage room: ATTIC

19A: Former "SNL" rival: SCTV (Second City TV). Wikipedia says it's a "Canadian TV sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe thatran between 1976 to 1984". Is it well-known?

20A: Lighthouse feature, often: SPIRAL STAIRCASE

23A: Condition of life: ESTATE. Not aware of this meaning of ESTATE. I might have penned in STATE if the clue was asking for a 5-letter fill.

24A: Outstanding: STELLAR. That's Johanna Santana. So weird to see him in Mets uniform.

25A: Green sauce: PESTO. Wasabi is green too, but I guess you call it condiment. My husband simply can not stand wasabi. He gets all teared up just by looking at it.

28A:Does field work: REAPS

29A: Mason totes: HODS

32A: Occult doctrine: CABALA. Or KABALA. Madonna spent over $12,000/month just for her Cabala water. Crazy! She is one mystifying bird: She does Yoga, she lives on a Microbiotic diet, and she practices CABALA. They are of totally different religious concept.

35A: Skater Babilonia: TAI. Did not know her before.

36A: Old-style greeting: AVE. Only in old Rome I suppose. Latin for "hail". Would be very nice if the A here intersect with the A in SALVO.

37A: Honeycomb shape: HEXAGON. Have never seen a honeycomb in my life. So I have no idea what's the shape.

40A: "I, Robot" author: ASIMOV. Have you seen the movie (Will Smith)?

42A: Shift or sack: DRESS

46A: Low-altitude cloud: STRATUS. Plural is STRATI. I guess it would be STRATA if not for STRATUM.

48A: Military tribute: SALVO

49A: Seattle team, informally: SONICS. SuperSonics. Does Seattle Mariners have a nickname also?

53A: Rodin implements: HAMMER AND CHISEL

56A: X or Y line: AXIS

57A: Sound loudly: BLARE

58A: Actress Gerson: GINA. No idea. She looks pretty.

59A: Numbers game: KENO. Have never played this game.

60A: Birdlike: AVIAN

61A: Have, in the past: HAST. Could be clued in better way. I don't like the HA repetition.

62A: British PM Anthony: EDEN. Much better than Eve's garden clue.

63A: Nick of the screen: NOLTE. Repeat offender! How proper!

Back nine:

1D: "Cabaret" director: FOSSE (Bob). He won Oscar for this movie in 1972. I've never seen the movie. The only Liza Minnelli movie I've seen is New York, New York.

2D: Aerial stunts: LOOPS

4D: Undeserved imputations: BAD RAPS

5D: Comes together: COALESCES. I am so proud that I filled in this word without looking at other across clues after I got letter C from CARAT and O from OCALA.

7D: "Round and Round" band: RATT. No, not familiar with the band or the song.

8D: Miscreant's dodge: ALIAS. Did not know the meaning of "miscreant", but the word itself looks very bad to me, you know, with "mis", so I made an educated guess.

10D: Brawn: MUSCLE

11D: Moving stairway: ESCALATOR

12D: Distinguishes: SETS APART. I start to really like this kind of adverb/preposition embedded answer. Crossword is made more challenging NOT by MOSSY obscure words, but by intelligent cluing, in my view.

13D: Hard times: ADVERSITY

21D: Bolted down: ATE. Did not know that "bolt" can mean "eat' before. I don't think I want to bolt down any food. I am a slow picky eater.

22D: Put on once again: RERAN. I was in the direction of "put on weight" or "put on clothes".

26D: Hack: TAXI

27D: Illinois democrat: OBAMA. democrat, not Democrat? Shouldn't the D be capitalized?

29D: Deal clincher, perhaps: HANDSHAKE

30D: Given too much work: OVERTAXED

31D: Figure out: DETERMINE

33D: Highly worked up: AGOG

34D: Romance movie staple: LOVE SCENE

37D: Undue speed: HASTE

41D: When star comes out: AT NIGHT

43D: Biblical strong man: SAMSON

45D: Japanese stage offering: NOH. From Nogaku. Japanese musical drama (masked). No/Noh means talent, "gaku" means music.

47D: Type of renewal or sprawl: URBAN

50D: Knicks coach Thomas: ISIAH. Wow, looks like he has had a illustrious career. Sorry for my ignorance Sir!

51D: Use a thurible: CENSE. This word "thurible'" just looks so wrong to me. Weird spelling.

52D: Bluish-gray in color: SLATY. Did not know that "SLATY" also mean slate-like color.

C.C.

Friday, April 4, 2008 Robert A. Doll

Theme: GETTING ON

17A: Getting on: NO SPRING CHICKEN

29A: Getting on: OVER THE HILL

57A: Getting on: OLD AS METHUSELAH

Hmm, welcome back Robert A. Doll! It's been a long time.

I really like this guy's pseudonym, very spooky. Had to admire his discipline today not to clue 56A: OTTO as Robert the Doll family. That self-referential meta would've driven me up a wall. By the way, has anyone been to that museum (Key West, FL) and seen Robert the Doll?

"Haunted" is how I felt this morning while solving this puzzle. I was possessed by the stupefying number (30) of 3-letter words. So overpowering! What seized you to commit this frown-upon crossword construction sin, Mr. Doll?

On the other hand, all the three theme entries are very appealing to me. Some of the colloquial expressions (HEY, C'MON, IT'S ME, DIS, HOORAH) and simple phrases (GROSS OUT, NEAR MISS, ESCAPE KEY) are very lively, esp the grid structure of the last three. It has some elegance. OTT and OTTO should not be in the same puzzle though. The same with ODIUM and RADIUM. Juttingly clumsy!

No home run today. Not even a triple or double. Plenty of singles, all over the field.

Grid: Total letters filled: 187. Total blank squares: 38

Front Nine:

1A: Design detail: SPEC

5A: Shake a leg!: C'MON

9A: Intense loathing: ODIUM. Does ODIUM have a plural form? I could not find it in the dictionary. Maybe it follows the same pattern as Odeum (the ancient Greek hall): Odeums, or Odea?

14A: Celestial bear: URSA

16A: Actress Delta: BURKE. Have never heard of her.

20A: Funny Foxx: REDD. Learned his name from doing crossword. Have never watched Sanford and Son. Is it good?

22A: Red shade: CERISE

25A: Disgust: GROSS OUT

30A: Altdorf's canton: URI. Altdorf is the capital of URI. Home of William Tell, the legendary Archer. I spent about 5 years in Canton (Guangzhou), China before I moved to the US.

31A: Bond backer: ISSUER

33A: Silvery-gray: ASH. Did not know that silvery-gray can be a noun. Always thought it was an adjective.

34A: Went like the wind: RACED

36A: Way out on the computer: ESCAPE KEY

41A: Precedes: ANTEDATES

43A: Dirty look: GLARE. Really? I always thought "GLARE" was a harsh look. LEER is a dirty look, isn't it? (Update: here is what drdad says: A glare is a dirty look, i.e., a fierce or angry stare. A leer is a desirous and sly look. It can suggest a desire for sex or a malicious intent).

43A: On the back: DORSAL. Alright, its root is "dorsum" (Latin for back). VENTRAL means on the back, its root is "venter" (Latin for belly). POSTERIOR & ANTERIOR is so much easier to remember. (Update: According to Dennis, Dorsal' is used mostly in fish (dorsal fin) and aircraft (dorsal antennae). )

50A: Close call: NEAR MISS

53A: Sore: TENDER

56A: "Beetle Bailey'' pooch: OTTO. No idea at all. Is this a gimme for you?

65A: Gets really steamed: BOILS

66A: Put on: GAIN. I had GA _ _ idling there for a while. I was temped to pen in GARB (as in putting on clothes).

67A: Khartoum's river: NILE. Khartoum is the Capital of Sudan. Do you call Sudan a Muslim country or an Arab country? I can never tell the difference.

Back Nine:

4D: Old Mercury: CAPRI. Also can be clued as Island in Italy of course.

5D: Calls on the carpet: CHIDES. Not familiar with this phrase. Can you give me an example on the usage?

9D: Newspaper section, for short: OBITS

10D: Channels: DUCTS

13D: Part of "MIB": MEN. The movie, "Men in Black". Not my favorite Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones movie. I think I hate this clue, so unfair to those who have never seen the movie. Terrible abbreviation. Clue overkill!

18D: Domiciled: RESIDED

19D: Triumphant shout: HOORAH. Which is more common, Hoorah or Hurrah?

24D: Lasagna cheese: RICOTTA

25D: Productive oil wells: GUSHERS

26D: Alcove: RECESS

27D: California city: OAKLAND. A chance missed for Billy Beane. He could've bribed the constructor and got some exposure for his Athletics.

32D: Scraps: SET-TOS

35D: Cain raiser: EVE. Is this a good clue to you? Cain raiser, Cain rearer, it just sounds so weird to me.

37D: Baby oinkers: PIGLETS. I put PIGGIES first.

40D: Marie Curie material: RADIUM

41D: Conservative Coulter: ANN. She drives me mad all the time. But I love the clue. Very topical.

48D: Harmonize: ATTUNE

51D: Domain: REALM

52D: Billiard stroke: MASSÉ. Is it the same as CAROM? (Update: Feedback from drdad: in pool, a carom is any shot involving a strike of the ball and subsequent rebound. A masse is a shot taken with the cue almost vertical that causes the ball to follow an extremely curved path.)

54D: Interminably: NO END

56D: CSNY song: OHIO. Nope. Total stranger.

57D: Sapporo sash: OBI. I just don't get this editor's obsession with Sapporo. What happened to you in this city?

(Update at 6:01pm Friday. Orange said Robert A. Doll is the constructor's real name. My mistake. Sorry)

C.C.

What's Your Preferred Time to Do Crossword? Poll

Question: What's Your Preferred Time to do Crossword?

Total votes: 315

Morning: 242 (76%)

Afternoon: 30 (9%)

Evening: 36 (11%)

Others: 7 ( 2%)

Thank you for the participation.

C. C.

Thursday, April 3, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: WILL ROGERS QUOTE

17A: Start of Will Rogers quote: IT IS GREAT

24A: Part 2 of quote: TO BE GREAT

40A: Part 3 of quote: BUT IT

52A: Part 4 of quote: IS GREATER

63A: End of quote: TO BE HUMAN

Gone! I belted another one out of the ball park this morning. Unbelievable! I think I've entered this home run zone now.

There are probably 2 reasons for my smooth sailing today: 1) The puzzle is very easy. Lots of repetitive theme entries (esp "GREAT"). No obscure word. No MOSSY or dead actors or actress. 2) I am getting smarter. It's probably the former, though I prefer to think it's the latter.

I had a rather shaky start, having never heard of "fiddler crab". But I was able to string together the answers from the down clues. Then I zipped through the upper right corner and continued on effortlessly to the heart of the puzzle. Nabbed the theme very quickly. That allowed me to fill in a bunch of blank squares without even consulting the down clues.

My only pause today was 28A: TEE (Couples' pedestal"). I got the words, but was baffled a bit by the clue. Then I realized the "Couples" here is Fred Couples (PGA golfer). What a great trap! I am not sure I like "pedestal" part of the clue though, too fancy and heavy for a TEE. "Couples' Peg" would be a good one, but "peg' might be too self-revealing. What do you think? Alex of PGA (I presume you are a scratch golfer) will probably come up with a better clue.

As usual, I was IRED by 2 clues today: 49D: Single grain: OAT. 54D: Silo filler: GRAIN. I loathed seeing GRAIN twice. There has to be a way to circumvent this kind of avoidable double appearances. Once (CODE on Monday) in a week is already too much, twice (ORAL on Tuesday) is unbearable, three times in a week? I am speechless! I do like today's AFAR and AFIRE though.

Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Including 17 Rs, 15 Ss, and 18 Ts, which account for more than 1/4 of the total fills. Total blank squares: 36

OK, Let's tee off! Front nine:

1A: Fiddler in the sand: CRAB. What, their average lifespan is only 1.5 years?

5A: Tarry: BIDE

14A: In good health: HALE. If this constructor really wants to go for a Golf sub-theme, he will clue HALE as Erwin of Sr. PGA. He is a great golfer by the way, personality aside.

16A: Kind of eagle?: LEGAL Why is that? I don't get it. Is it because US Justice Department has an eagle on its seal? (Update later. From Dennis: "Legal Eagle" is a slang term that's been around for a long time, applied mostly to attorneys, paralegals, etc.).

20A: Lassos: RIATAS. Sometimes it's REATAS: "re" is the prefix for "again" of course, "atar" is "to fit, to tie", What about LARIAT? OK, "la" means "the" in Latin (from illa), "riat" comes from "Reatar". Interesting. What's the differences among RIATA, LARIAT and LASSO?

21A: Cherubic or seraphic: ANGELIC. The clue is a bit redundant, don't you think so?

34A: Search deeply (into): DELVE

38A: Fuss: TO-DO. ADO.

42A: Smoke deposit: SOOT

43A: Some Eastern Europeans: SLAVS. OK, so Russians belong to Eastern Slavs; the Bulgars, Serbs, Croats, Slavonians, Slovenes belong to Southern Slavs; And the Poles, Czechs, Moravians, Slovaks belong to Western Slavs. This is a ethnic term not a racial term I gather???

45A: Abs exercise: SIT-UP

48A: DDE's arena: ETO (European Theater of Operations). Is there a special theater name for our current involvement in Iraq?

56A: Essence of roses: ATTAR

60A: Tell the tale: NARRATE

61A: Professional copyist: SCRIBE

67A: __ avis: RARA. Rare bird.

71A: Expanded: GREW. I did not fell into the "ED" trap.

Back Nine:

1D: Bird sound: CHIRP

2D: Relation in degree: RATIO

3D: Police blotter entry: ALIAS. Oh, by the way, when you opine at the Comments section, please adopt a name. You can still remain anonymous, it's just easier for others to identify you.

4D: Rouse: BESTIR. Hmm, wouldn't "Arouse" make a better clue? Esp since the prefix of "be" in BESTIR? Or does "arouse" have too much sexual connotation?

5D: Obstacles: BARS. I've never used "BAR" as a barrier. Sometimes simple English words slip my grasp very easily.

7D: Narc org.: DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration, not Agency)

9D: Marked with a tab: FLAGGED

10D: Sports officials: REFEREES

12D: "West Side Story" tune: MARIA. Not familiar to me. I sewed together the word from the across clues.

33D: Indian instrument: SITAR. That's the playing instrument for Norah Jones' father (Ravi Shankar)

36D: Solemn promise: VOW. I put I DO first, but quickly discarded it.

37D: Hot time in Le Havre: ÉTÉ (Summer in French)

44D: Kind of clam: STEAMER

46D: Georgia fruit: PEACH. Ty Cobb is "the Georgia Peach".

49D: Single grain: OAT. How so? Can you also clue rice, corn, wheat this way?

51D: Like guitars and tennis racquets: STRUNG. Why "racquet" instead of "racket"?

52D:Peruvians of yore: INCAS

55D: Colorful fish: TETRA. If it's 4 letter, then it's OPAH.

57D: Lesser Sundas island: TIMOR. It's BALI on Sunday March 30's puzzle. OK, if it's Greater Sundas island, the answers could be Sumatra, Borneo, Java, and Sulawisi.

61D: Brown quickly: SEAR. The first image that popped to my mind is the UPS Brown guy. They come and go quickly.

Ready for tomorrow? Let me give you a clue, his surname is _ _ _ _ man.

C.C.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: FINER RHYMES

17A: Seven-time home run champ: RALPH KINER

28A: One operating a dragline excavator: STRIP MINER

36A: Where Flo worked: MEL'S DINER

48A: QE2, for one: OCEAN LINER

61A: Frisco gridder: FORTY- NINER

Sub-theme: JOHN

43A: John's beloved: YOKO

6D: Grisham (John) novel, with "The": CLIENT

23D: John Henry's tool: HAMMER

33D: Economist John Mayard: KEYNES

55D: "John Brown's Body" poet: BENET

I started out very nicely: penned in ASPEN for 1A, had one strawberry, then filled in ANNOYED for 1D. Then I had a quick glance at the author's name and was a bit disconcerted that it was not Philip J. Anderson. I paused at Allan E. Parrish's name and got very nervous immediately.

Remember the EAT HER theme blunder I committed on March 21? Embarrassing! I am sure that my ignorance will continue to bubble up and boil over. Please bear with me.

Anyway, I never gained my confidence back after learning the puzzle author's name, never really gained any toehold at all. It's an extremely grueling trek. I did figure out the theme pretty quickly though. From now on, no more breakfast before puzzle, foods dull my brain. Felt like a lethargic tree sloth UNAU this morning.

Grid: 15*15. Total words count: 74. Total blank squares: 33.

Across entries:

1A: Colorado resort: ASPEN. Let's pack up the T-Bar, Gondola lift and other SKI (38D: Hit the slopes) gears and go back to "Shivering Tree" clue for a while.

2A: Tobacco plug: CHAW

10A: Certain mil. awards: DSCS. DSC is Distinguished Service Cross. Could also be DSO (Distinguished Service Order), or DSM (Distinguished Service Medal).

14A: Former NYC mayor Abe: BEAME. Not familiar with him.

15A: Molten rock: LAVA

16A: Billy or jack: MALE. Billy is a male goat, jack is a male donkey.

19A: Type of type: abbr.: ITAL (Italic)

20A: Thick-brick link: AS A

21A: Quite angry: IRED. Is this even a word?

22A: "Fiddler on the Roof": SHTETL. Ow, what a ridiculous name! "On the other hand", it's a legitimate clue. Shtetl is Yiddish for "small town".

24A: Attacks zealously: DIVES IN

26A: Mountain ridge: ARETE. Repeat offender!

27A: Henry James biographer: EDEL (Leon)

32A: Shortstop Jeter: DEREK. I think I have his rookie card.

40A: Sales channel: HSN (Home Shopping Network). Looks like Rene Aiu is doing a good job.

44A: Dressed like a judge: ROBED

53A: Specter: SHADE

54A: Singer Flack: ROBERTA. My favorite is probably "Killing me softly with his song".

56A: Singer Brewer: TERESA. No, not a familiar name to me.

59A: NOW element: ORG. NOW is National Organization for Women.

64A: Decent chap: GENT

65A: "Star Trek: TNG" character: TROI. No idea. Have never watched "Star Trek", and I don't think I will. Not my cup of tea.

66A: Plant swelling: EDEMA

67A: Transition point: EDGE. Is EDGE a point?

68A: "Back in Black" rockers: AC/DC. The Australian band.

69A: Clan emblem: TOTEM

Down entries:

1D: Chafed: ABRADED

2D: City near Fort Ord: SEA SIDE

3D: Chitchat: PALAVER. I've never used this word in my daily conversation. This word reminds of "parlez vous...", though the pronunciation is different.

10D: Composer Shostakovich: DMITRI. Probably a gimme for our fellow solvers Lois & Feste. I am not acquainted with Shostakovich. The only DMITRI I know is Nationals' DMITRI Young.

12D: Loud noise: CLATTER

13D: Clouseau portrayer: SELLERS. No idea. Not familiar with Peter Sellers and his work.

18D: Actor/Singer Kristofferson: KRIS.

29D: Element No. 86: RADON

39D: Apple choice: ROME

40D: Kidnap victim: HOSTAGE

41D: Plotted: SCHEMED. I like the paralleled structure of 40D & 41D.

45D: Knight's superior: BARONET. My dictionary says it's a title below a baron and above a knight.

46D: Outermost: EXTREME

47D: Explanatory drawing: DIAGRAM

49D: " ___ Fideles": ADESTE

50D: Sensuous: EROTIC. Not a sexy clue any more. Try something exotic!

51D: Golfer Sabbatini: RORY. The South African golfer. Very talented. Not a "the lollipop of mediocrity” for sure. He tied for 2nd at last year's Masters.

57D: Mennen product: AFTA

59D: Cattle poker: PROD

62D: "The Lord of the Rings" baddie: ORC

Ready for a quip/quote puzzle?

C.C.