Thursday November 5, 2009 Xan Vongsathorn

Theme: SILENCE IS GOLDEN (57A. Apt adage for this puzzle ) - Common phrases signaling "mum's the word" (I'll be quiet and say nothing). "Non-speaking line" means "saying a line about not speaking".

17A. Non-speaking line?: MY LIPS ARE SEALED

22A. Non-speaking line?: I'M ALL EARS

34A. Non-speaking line?: WORDS ESCAPE ME

50A. Non-speaking line?: NO COMMENT

Today's constructor Xan Vongsathorn is a student in Pomona College, CA. Xan is pronounced as “Chawn”.

This puzzle reminds me the quote "Don't talk unless you can improve the silence" Dennis or Hahtool brought to the blog a while ago.

As usual, I jumped around. Got MY LIPS ARE SEALED very quickly and filled in SILENCE IS GOLDEN immediately. Then I thought the theme is about keeping secret.

Across:

1. Thumper's buddy: BAMBI. Thumper is a young rabbit in "Bambi". Unknown to me. We often see ENA clued as "Bambi's aunt".

6. La Scala production: OPERA. And AISLED (45D. Like theaters)

11. Cap seen on a brae: TAM. Scottish cap. Brae is Scottish hillside.

15. Ad target: BUYER. Sigh! I hardly use my Jack Lalanne juicer. The TV ad was just so appealing.

16. "If you ask me," in chat room shorthand: IMO

21. Spill the beans: TATTLE. A contract to "Silence is Golden".

27. State of rest: REPOSE

28. Little women: PETITES. Good play on the novel "Little Women". And LARGE (56A. Soda size).

31. Aurora's Greek counterpart: EOS. Gimme, correct? I've been mentioning Aurora every time EOS shows up.

32. Romantic hopeful: SUITOR. Silly, but I struggled with the answer. I like to be romanced.

40. Vital anatomical passage: AIRWAY. No idea. It's a passage by which air passes from the nose or mouth to the air sacs of the lungs.

41. George Gershwin's brother: IRA. The clue is a full name, the answer is only a given name. "George's songwriter brother" is much better.

43. Blankety-blank type: SO AND SO

46. Jaime Sommers, TV's "__ Woman": BIONIC. Bionic stands for Bio(logy) + (electro)nic.

49. The Phantom of the Opera: ERIK. Oh, thought it's ERIC.

53. Magnetic inductivity units: TESLAS. Named after physicist Nikola Tesla.

63. Too trusting: NAIVE

64. Prefix with surgery: NEURO. Neurosurgery. Neuro = nerve.

66. "Li'l" guy: ABNER. Li'l Abner.

67. Bygone anesthetic: ETHER

Down:

1. Mooch, as a ride: BUM

3. Start to practice?: MAL. Malpractice. Great clue.

4. Under-the-sink brand: BRILLO. Latin for "bright". I am using the S.O.S. pad.

5. Gets moving: IMPELS

6. President with a Grammy: OBAMA. Two Grammys, for the spoken word books of "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope".

11. Attack à la Don Quixote: TILT AT. He tilts at the windmills (fights against an imaginary enemy). Tilt here means "joust", using a lance.

12. 2001 French film starring Audrey Tautou: AMELIE. Ah, Embien liked this film. So did I. Just lovely.

13. Cover girls, e.g.: MODELS. CoverGirl is a cosmetics brand.

18. Hook's right hand: SMEE. In "Peter Pan".

19. Worn things: ATTIRE. Might have got it quickly if the clue were "Things to wear".

23. Cat call: MEOW. Not the rude catcall. Several nicely worded clues in today's puzzle.

24. Lhasa __: Tibetan dog: APSO. Literally "bearded" in Tibetan language.

25. Like much Thai cuisine: SPICY. That's why they use coconut often, to balance out the spiciness.

29. Greek "H": ETA. See the shape.

30. High point: TOP

32. Attach, as a patch: SEW ON

33. Country where Häagen-Dazs H.Q. is: USA. Man, somehow I always thought Häagen-Dazs is based somewhere in Europe.

35. Continue to irritate: RANKLE

37. Some coll. students: SRS. Xan Vongsathorn is a senior in college. Very unusual name.

38. Diamond source: MINE. No more baseball diamond. Damned Yankees. What Lola wants, Lola finally gets! I kind of like Andy Pettitte though. Very honest handling of his steroid use. Congratulations, Danabw and Democrat in a Red State.

39. Celtic land: ERIN. Or EIRE. Hibernia is Latin for Ireland.

43. Goes after: SETS AT

44. Tater Tots maker: ORE-IDA. Portmanteau of Ore(gon) = Ida(ho).

46. Five-time Wimbledon champ: BORG (Björn)

47. "Later, bro": I'M GONE

48. Brunch staple: OMELET. I like plain one. No cheese, or meat or vegetables.

51. Source of edible oil: OLIVE

52. Crime planner: CASER. Case is a slang for "to check out a bank/house in planning of a crime".

54. "Happy tune" whistler of Broadway: ANNA. No idea. The song "I Whistle a Happy Tune", from the musical "The King and I".

55. Picketer's bane: SCAB

58. "Ich bin __ Berliner!": EIN. JFK line.

59. "How could I miss that?!": D'UH. No difference from D'OH, correct?

Answer grid.

Thanks for the newspaper information yesterday. I am so sorry some of you lost LAT puzzle. Do go to LA Times' website and join us for discussions when you have time.

C.C.

Wednesday November 4, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: INLETS (43D. Coastal irregularities, and word anagrammed in this puzzle's four longest answers) - The starting word of each theme entry is an anagram of INLETS.

17A. Respond to Uncle Sam's poster request: ENLIST IN THE ARMY. Pat Tillman did.

28A. Movieland: TINSELTOWN. Hollywood.

40A. "Pay attention!": LISTEN HERE! "Here" did not come to me readily. I could only think of "Listen Up".

53A. Passive-aggressive tactic: SILENT TREATMENT. It causes bitterness on both ends.

Today's Dan Naddor Index (non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 19. Quite high. And 13 of them are Down entries, several crossing two theme entries.

Smooth sailing for me. Simple theme and mostly straightforward clues. I tend to have trouble with Dan's sound change puzzles due to my poor command of English pronunciations.

Across:

4. Absurd sham: FARCE. A tragedy played at a thousand revolutions per minute.

9. Music performance rights org.: ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). And TIN PAN (2D. __ Alley: old music-publishing district).

15. Where work may pile up: INBOX

16. Bit of wisdom: PEARL. Pearls of wisdom (succinct sayings).

20. Navajo relative: APACHE. The Military helicopter is named after this tribe.

21. Wood decay: DRY ROT. Caused by fungi.

22. Tall and long-limbed: LANKY. Can you use LANKY to describe Gisele Bünchen?

23. Hope/Crosby film title word: ROAD. "The Road to ...".

24. Captured: TOOK. Tricky past tense.

33. Outdoor nap site: HAMMOCK

36. Women, in old-fashioned parlance: FAIR SEX. I remember Dennis used this phrase before. Maybe he is old-fashioned.

38. Blow one's top: ERUPT

39. Chasms: GULFS. See, letter L is pronounced in Gulf, but not in HALF/CALF.

43. Pesky little tyke: IMP

46. Retailing pioneer R.H. __: MACY. Odd to see the old Marshall Field's become Macy's.

47. Eternities: EONS

48. Zellweger of "Chicago": RENEE. She played Roxie.

56. Land along the ocean: COAST. Alas, "Coastal irregularities..."

57. Two under par, on a hole: EAGLE. "On a hole" seems so unnecessary.

59. Aches: HURTS. Not PAINS.

60. Father of Beau and Jeff: LLOYD (Bridges). OK, here is a picture of Jeff, LLOYD and Beau. Stumper for me.

Down:

1. Lofty principles: IDEALS

3. Old White House middle name: DELANO. The "D" in FDR.

4. Suspicious: FISHY

6. Sac fly stat: RBI. I wonder what's the record for the most sacrifice flies in a ball game.

7. Approve tacitly: CONDONE

8. Crowd scene actors: EXTRAS

9. Copycat: APER. Reminds me of DEEMER.

10. Furry North Pacific swimmers: SEA OTTERS. And FURS (38D: Animal rights activists' concerns).

11. Hanna-Barbera output: CARTOONS

13. Thickness: PLY

19. Jekyll's alter ego: HYDE. Dr. Jekyll's evil side.

23. Actuary's calculation: RISK. Did you hear the news about a 4-month old 17-pound baby being denied health insurance because he's too fat? Just absurd.

25. Cut or scrape, in totspeak: OWIE

26. Lego relative: K'NEX. How can I remember this brand name? What the heck does it mean?

29. Eric the Red's son: LEIF. Literally "heir". Learned from doing Xword.

30. Loneliness syndrome when kids leave home: EMPTY NEST. I am sure many of you have experienced such loneliness.

33. Captain's position: HELM

34. "Carmen" highlight: ARIA

35. Like weightlifters: MUSCULAR. Don't often see this word in a grid.

37. Draft choice: ALE. Was thinking of sports draft.

39. Five-star leader: GENERAL. My first thought was hotel ranking.

42. Low-cost lodging: HOSTEL

44. Stinker: MEANIE. Are they synonymous to you?

45. Mortar and __: PESTLE. Great to ground toasted sesame seeds.

51. Tolkien tree people: ENTS

52. Six-time Emmy winner Tyne: DALY. Dan Naddor (or Rich Norris) must not like John Daly. They keep cluing this Tyne lady.

54. Chit: IOU. We just had CHIT clued as "IOU" on Monday.

Answer grid.

I'd like to update the list of newspapers that carry LA Times Daily Crossword. Come to the Comments section if your paper is not there, or your paper has dropped LAT. Thanks.

C.C.

LA Times Daily Newspaper Update

(Updated on Jan 2, 2012)

Below is the most update information on all the newspapers that carry LAT Daily (distributed by Tribune Media Service) crossword puzzle.

I still need paper names from AK, ID, MO, MS, TN. Please send me an email or just write a comment here so that I can add your paper to the list.

You can always go to Chicago Tribune and print out the puzzle in old format. They have a 30-day archive. Or you can get the puzzle from Cruciverb. You need to download Across Lite first. It's free.

Thank you.

C.C.



Total: 101 (Should be around 200)

International: 15

the Nation, Bangkok, Thailand.

Globe & Mail, Toronto, ON, Canada

Toronto Sun, Ontario (Monday through Saturday)

Calgary Sun (Calgary, Alberta)

The London Free Press, London, Ontario, Canada.

Times Colonist, Victoria, BC, Cananda

The Province, Vancouver, B.C. Canada

Halifax Herald (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

The Montreal Gazette, Q.C., Canada (Sunday only, but publishes the puzzle on its Saturday "Weekend" section)

Arabian Sun (Weekly paper of Saudi Aramco, the national oil company of Saudi Arab)

Taipei Times (update) & Taiwan News (old TMS syndication), Taiwan

Viet Nam News, Vietnam

??? Philippines (Levie, pls provide me with your paper name)

Times of India, Bangalore & Mumbai & New Delhi, India

Buenos Aires Herald, Buenos Aires, Argentina



US: 86

AL: Anniston Star (Anniston)AK:

AR: Arkansas Democrat Gazette (Little Rock, only on Sundays. NYT & Universal on Weekday)

AZ: The Arizona Republic

CA: Bakersfield California; Daily Bulletin (Rancho Cucamonga); The Californian (Salinas, Mon.-Sat.); Redding Record Searchlight; San Francisco Chronicle (Monday - Sunday); The Modesto Bee (Monday to Saturday); The Record (Stockton, CA); The Fresno Bee (Monday-Sunday); San Jose Mercury News (Sports section, Monday-Saturday)

CO: Colorado Springs Gazette

CT: Waterbury Republican (Torrington, Sun.); The Hartford Courant; New Haven Register (Monday-Sunday)

DE: The News Journal

DC: Washington Post (Tue. to Thur, delivered to MD, DC and VA; Crossynergy puzzles from Monday to Friday).

FL: Palm Beach Post; Naples Daily News; Sun-Sentinel; St. Petersburg Times (Now Tampa Bay Times); Port Saint Lucie News (Port Saint Lucie); Tampa Tribune (Tampa); Florida Times Union- Jacksonville; The Ledger (Lakeland); Orlando Sentinel; The Stuart News; The Alligator (the student newspaper at university of Florida, the most widely distributed college newspaper); The Englewood Sun; Daytona Beach News-Journal (Monday to Sunday); Napa Valley Register (Monday-Sunday)

GA: Savannah Morning News; Atlanta Journal/Constitution (Atlanta)

HI: Honolulu Advertiser

ID:

IL: Chicago Tribune; Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL)

IN: Herald-Bulletin (Anderson); The Journal-Gazette (Fort Wayne, Monday tp Sunday)

IA: Ames Tribune; Iowa State Daily (student paper)

KS: Topeka Capital-Journal

KY: Daily News (Bowling Green); Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro);Courier- Journal (Louisville, Ky- Metro and So Indiana)

LA: Lake Charles American Press; The Times Picayune (New Orleans); The Advocate (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)

MA:  The Boston Herald (Monday to Sunday)

ME: Bangor Daily News

MD: Baltimore Sun (Monday-Sunday)MA: Berkshire Eagle; The Daily Hampshire Gazette (Monday-Friday); Boston Herald (Monday-Sunday)

MI: Detroit Free Press; The Morning Sun of Mt Pleasant, Michigan; Grand Rapids Press (Monday-Saturday)

MN: The Minnesota Daily (U of M paper); St. Cloud Times

MO: News-Leader (Springfield, Monday to Saturday); News Tribune (Jefferson City, Monday-Sunday); Kansas City Star (Sunday only)

MS:

MT: Great Falls Tribune (Great Falls)

NC: The Courier-Tribune (Asheboro, NC); The Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, NC. Monday-Friday); The Winston-Salem Journal

NE: The Omaha World Herald (Omaha); Lincoln Journal Star of Nebraska

NV: Review Journal (Las Vegas, Sun. only); Reno Gazette-Journal (Reno, Monday to Sunday)

NH: Concord Monitor Concord

NJ: Philadelphia Inquirer (South Jersey); The Newark Star Ledger; The Record (Bergen County)

NM: Portales News-Tribune (Portales, Monday-Saturday)

NY: AM New York; New York Post; Times-Union (Albany); Utica Observer Dispatch; Post Standard (Syracuse); The Daily Freeman (Kingston, Mon-Sat); Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin (Binghamton, NY); Journal News (Rockland-Westchester counties)

ND: The Forum (Fargo)

OH: Dayton Daily News (Mon.-Sat.); Louisville Herald Leader, the News Herald (Willoughby); Spring Field News-Sun (Mon.-Sat.); The "Plain Dealer" (Cleveland, OH); Cincinnati Enquirer

OK: Bartlesville Examiner Enterprise (Bartlesville); The Daily Oklahoma in Oklahoma City (Monday through Saturday)

OR: Mail Tribune (Medford); Bend Bulletin; The Gazette-Times (Corvallis); The Oregonian (Sunday only)

PA: Reading Eagle (Reading, Monday to Sunday); Beaver Valley Times (Mon.-Friday & Sunday); Pittsburgh Post Gazette (Now experiencing with other puzzles, might not return to LAT.); The Daily Collegian (the daily student run newspaper at Penn State University has it everyday)

RI: The Providence Journal(Providence)

SC: The Sun News (Myrtle Beach).

SD: Argus Leader (Sioux Falls). Rapid City Journal (Monday-Sunday)

TN:

TX: Abilene Reporter News (Abilene, Mon.-Sun.); Amarillo Globe-News; Osessa American; Valley Morning Star (Harlingen, TX); San Angelo Standard Times; Dallas Morning News; The Houston Chronicle; San Angelo Standard Times (Monday to Sunday)

UT:

VT: Burlington Free Press

VA: The Virginia Pilot; Richmond Times Dispatch (Richmond)

WA: Spokesman-Review (Spokane), Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles;
Bellingham Herald

WV: Daily Athenaeum (Morgantown, campus paper)

WI: Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Monday to Saturday); The Post Crescent (Appleton); Oshkosh Northwestern; The Reporter (Fond du Lac, WI).

WY: Wyoming Tribune Eagle (Cheyenne, Monday to Saturday)

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 David W. Cromer

Theme: THE OUTER LIMITS (54A: Eerie sci-fi series, and this puzzle's title) - The first word of each two-word phrases indicate "edge".

20A:. Herding dogs: BORDER TERRIERS

25A: Brokerage services for buying stocks on credit: MARGIN ACCOUNTS

48A: Perks on the job: FRINGE BENEFITS

All of the theme answers are in plural form, very consistent.

Argyle, again.

Major malfunction: BORDER TERRIERS are not herding dogs; they are hunting dogs. BORDER COLLIES are herding dogs.

I won't even try to explain MARGIN ACCOUNTS.

A FRINGE BENEFIT of doing this blog, C.C. lets me comment all I want to on the ones I do.

Note the crosses in three of the corners: NW, TITO & TIVO; NE, OPER & OPIE; SW, TOTO & OTTO. Although, the SE has IRMA & TART. ;-)

Across:

1A: RBI or ERA, e.g.: STAT. Go Phillies!

5A: Use up, as money: SPEND.

10A: Shock: JOLT. JOLT Cola

14A: TV show recorder: TIVO. In case you were wondering what TIVO stood for: TV + io (television input/output). Not fond of this clue due to TV repetition.

15A: Pal of Kukla and Fran: OLLIE. A kid's program from long before TiVo.

17A: School near the Mex. border: UTEP. The University of Texas at El Paso. Got gobs of worms for those still missing this. And over at San Antonio, 43A: Memorable mission: ALAMO.

34A: Take it easy: LOLL.

35A: Coastal cities: PORTS.

37A: Day spa garb: ROBE. Remember the deep massage ROLF?

39A: Emulated Bond: SPIED. And EYING (69A: Observing).

42A: Bank takeback, for short: REPO.

45A: Vegan no-no: MEAT. Any vegan in our blog?

52A: Choral syllable: TRA. Part of the chorus: TRA, la, la

53A: Univ. sr.'s exam: GRE. The GRE (Graduate Record Examination) measures verbal reasoning, quantitative and analytical writing skills required for graduate. GMAT is exam for MBA.

62A: Sign up for: JOIN.

64A: French cheese: BRIE. Alas, WM is still waiting for her cheese puzzle. Brie is named after the region Brie in Northern France.

65A: "Beetle Bailey" dog: OTTO. OTTO belongs to Sgt. Snorkel and dresses in uniform.

66A: Area below the abdomen: GROIN.

67A: Eclipse, in olden days: OMEN. Not that the words mean the same, but an eclipse was seen as an OMEN.

68A: Head honcho: BOSS. And 4D: Head honcho: TOP DOG. Nice pair.

70A: Small fruit pie: TART. Can you use frozen blueberries for blueberry tart?

Down:

1D: Theater souvenir: STUB. Ticket STUB.

2D: Jackson 5 brother: TITO.

8D: __ acid: explosive compound: NITRIC.

9D: Cherished by: DEAR TO.

10D: Comedian's bit: JOKE. One J in NE, one J in SW.

11D: Abbr. on a phone's "0" button: OPER.

13D: X, numerically: TEN.

22D: "The jig __!": IS UP.

25D: Former New Orleans Saints coach Jim: MORA. 1986-1996 won 93, lost 74 in regular season; 0-4 in the play-offs. Son is also a coach.

26D: War criminal Eichmann: ADOLF.

27D: Rod used to strengthen concrete: REBAR. Re(inforcing) Bar. "Waiting for the cement truck."

28D: Swiss peak: ALP.

29D: Scale, as a 28-Down: CLIMB. Scale here is a verb, meaning CLIMB, not your map feature.

30D: Snow-rain-heat-gloom connector: NOR. Post office motto.

31D: Roman fountain: TREVI. Literally "three roads" in Italian.

32D: Mar. 17th honoree: ST PAT. Erin Go Bragh. Great to see you back, Irish Jim.

38D: U.K. record label: EMI. Electric & Musical Industries.

41D: Kind of participle found in the sentence "While working on my computer, the dog pestered me for dinner": DANGLING. I bet Dennis/Melissa Be/Lois/Carol all have vivid memories of dangling participle discussions.

46D: Actress Hatcher: TERI. Push-up bra?

49D: Resentment over a prior wrong: GRUDGE.

50D: Diner, for one: EATERY.

51D: Sexy automaton in "Austin Powers": FEMBOT. FEM(ale) (ro)BOT. Designed to seduce and kill Austin Powers.

56D: Slaughter of baseball: ENOS.

57D: Weena's people, in "The Time Machine": ELOI. Weena was portrayed by Yvette Mimieux.

58D: Major German river, to a Frenchman: RHIN. Also, RHIEN. The Rhine (German: Rhein; Dutch: Rijn; French: Rhin; Romansh: Rain; Italian: Reno; Latin: Rhenus)

59D: "__ la Douce": IRMA. Billy Wilder's movie.

62D: Employment agency listing: JOB.

Answer grid.

Here is a great interview of our fellow LA Times solver Deepak Gopinath and his blog "The Hindu Crossword Corner". Thanks for the mentioning of our blog, Col G.

Now go vote!

Argyle

Monday November 2, 2009 Pancho Harrison

Theme: Time and Time Again - "Time" can start both parts of a two-word common phrase.

17A: *Like secret military facilities, to civilians: OFF LIMITS

64A: *Furniture with folding legs, usually: CARD TABLE

10D: *One-armed bandit: SLOT MACHINE

24D: *Novel that evokes prior times: PERIOD PIECE

71A: Given moment, which can begin both parts of the answers to starred clues: TIME

Argyle here.

A lot of action for a Monday; a sort of two for one, hey?

17A: TIME OFF & TIME LIMITS

64A: TIME CARD & TIME TABLE

24D: TIME SLOT & TIME MACHINE

71A: TIME PERIOD & TIME PIECE

Outstanding theme. One noticeable flaw is the clue for ERASE (13D: Clear, as a tape), which intersects CLEAR (16: Not Cloudy).

Across:

1A: Shapely legs, slangily: GAMS. From an older time.

9A: Makeup maven Lauder: ESTEE.

14A: Actor McGregor: EWAN. Such a bad boy.

15A: Flightless South American bird: RHEA.

19A: "Lucy, you got a __ 'splainin' to do!": LOTTA. It seems what he really said was "...some 'splainin' to do." but this quote has been used quite often by others.

20A: High on the hwy.: DUI. Driving Under the Influence covers drugs, DWI - Driving While Intoxicated covers alcohol. [ Dick said BTW in western PA we now use DUI to cover both drugs and alcohol violations. Is that customary in other areas of the country? Come to the comments area and let us know.]

21A: Scatterbrained: DITSY. And 43A: Screwy: LOCO. Lucy, before she became DITSY, showing off her gams.

22A: Gillette razors: ATRAS. The usual suspects.

23A: Slip by: ELAPSE. Funny how time slips away. Willie wrote it.

25A: Give life to: ANIMATE.

34A: Not worth debating: MOOT.

36A: Chowder ingredient: CLAM.

40A: Actress Spelling: TORI.

42A: One who saves the day: HERO.

46A: Souse's affliction, for short: DTS (Delirium Tremens). Souse is slang for a drunk.

48A. Red-breasted bird: ROBIN. This should delight our own ROBIN. Hey, Robin!. Sort of a bird undertone. See BASTE (41A: Moisten the bird) and COO (32D: Dove sound)

50A: "The Avengers" heroine, to Steed: MRS PEEL. Emma's gams.

54A: Log-on need: USER ID.

58A: Old photo tint: SEPIA.

59A: Muscat resident: OMANI. Map.

62A: Suffix in enzyme names: ASE. and 11D: Prefix with -cycline: TETRA. Our daily chemicals. Tetra is prefix for "four".

67A: Cancel, as a newspaper story: KILL. Have you seen "A TIME to Kill" ? It's a pretty good thriller.

69A: Villainous look: SNEER.

Down:

1D: Crystalline stone: GEODE.

2D: Beyond bad: AWFUL.

3D: Cosa Nostra: MAFIA. Their code of silence is called omertà. Cosa Nostra is literally "our thing" in Italian.

4D: NBC show with Baba Wawa skits: SNL.

6D: IOU: CHIT. Obsolete chitty, from Hindi ciṭṭhī, note, letter, from Sanskrit *citrikā, *citritā, note. (I always wondered where CHIT came from.)

7D: Queens ball team: METS. Queens, NY. And another National League team STL (31D: Initials on a Cardinal's cap: STL). Baseball's St. Louis Cardinals. Yankees won again last night.

8D: Unchallenging college course: EASY A.

12D: Trouble greatly: EAT AT.

18D: "My guess is ...": I'D SAY.

26D: TV's Nick at __: NITE.

28D: 'Zine on the Net: E-MAG.

29D: Runner-up: LOSER.

32D: Dove sound: COO. And 39D: Cow sound: MOO. Now what does the ghost say?

33D: Golf ball path: ARC. Not necessarily, with some of my shots!

35D: Other, in Mexico: OTRO.

37D: Had followers: LED. Nice clue.

41D: Military command center: BASE. Might be OFF LIMITS.

45D: Stop in on: VISIT.

47D: Ad to lure you in: TEASER. Like ads for LOSS LEADERS.

49D: __ of joy: new baby: BUNDLE. Ahh...

50D: Popular PC interface before Windows: MS-DOS.

55D: Synagogue leader: RABBI and 56D: Muslim's faith: ISLAM and they are right next to each other.

60D: Letters in a box: MAIL.

61D: Singer Guthrie: ARLO.

65D: Lawyer: Abbr.: ATT. Hahtool/Lemonade, do you use ATT or ATTY often?

Answer grid.

Argyle

Sunday November 1, 2009 Robert W. Harris

Theme: "That Hurts" - OW in inserted into familiar phrases.

23A. Distinctive Farrah Fawcett feature?: SH(OW)Y LOCKS. Shylock is a loan shark, named after Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice". I wanted SHAGGY LOCKS.

29A. Candlemaker's monthly receipt?: TALL(OW) ORDER. Tall order = Tough task. Candles were made of tallow.

41A. Rollerblading partner of movie camera pioneer Bell?: H(OW)ELL ON WHEELS. Completely stumped me. Not familiar with the base phrase Hell on Wheels or the movie camera pioneers Bell & Howell.

67A. Methods of separating chaff from grain?: WINN(OW)ING WAYS

90A. People afraid of playing the stock market?: TRADING C(OW)ARDS. I like this entry a lot. I collect baseball trading cards and I am definitely a trading coward. Stupid stock market.

108A. Borders for oval paintings?: B(OW)ED FRAMES. Is this a bowed frames, WM?

115A. Including Monopoly money in a trousseau?: D(OW)RY HUMOR. Hilarious.

I knew the gimmick before I even got started. The theme title is very self-revealing, though I thought the inserting word is OUCH, which is too tough as an insertion I suppose.

How long did you spend on this puzzle? I did not peek at the cheat sheet until 45 minutes into the solving, very rare for me on a Sunday. Hope I can be so engaged and self-disciplined next Sunday.

Across:

1. Illinois-based brewery: PABST. Somehow I thought PABST is based in Wisconsin.

19. Correspond: AGREE

20. Some antique radios: RCAS

22. Haughty: ALOOF. Rod Carew is rather aloof. He does not seem to enjoy interacting with fans at all.

25. Earth: SOIL

27. "The Banger Sisters" costar: HAWN (Goldie). Have never seen this film. Looks fun.

31. One at a brayer meeting?: ASS. Ass brays. Nice clue.

33. Coinage: SPECIE. Money in the form of coin. I was stumped last time. Again today.

36. Herbal array, perhaps: TEA BAGS. Perhaps.

39. Son of Seth: ENOS

40. Bluffing strategies: RAISES. Poker. I was thinking of Kim Jong-il's bluffing one-upmanship.

47. Key to getting out of trouble?: ESC. Computer key.

53. On a liner, e.g.: ASEA. AT SEA too.

54. Sharp barks: YAPS. Dogs.

56. Sources of cabinet wood: ALDERS. I wonder if our kitchen cabinet is made of alder.

59. Response to being cut off: HONK. My husband does so often.

60. Jalapeño feature: TILDE. Good clue. Hot!

62. Returning lover's question: MISS ME? Felt silly struggling with this answer.

64. Single show: EPISODE

66. __ Karate: old aftershave: HAI. See this vintage ad. Unknown to me. Hai is simply "Yes" in Japanese and Cantonese.

71. Hindu honorific: SRI

72. Display case: ETAGERE. To display your knickknacks.

74. Know somehow: INTUIT

77. Ted Williams wore it: NINE. Gimme. Mantle's number is 7. Ruth 3.

78. What the heirs split: ESTATE

83. Diminishing returns: LESS. Can you make two sentences for me? I don't understand how the clue & answer are interchangeable grammatically.

86. Proverb ending?: IAL. Proverbial.

87. Bonding words: I DO.

95. 1990s Toyotas: PASEOS. No idea. "Paseo" is Spanish for "a walk" or "a stroll."

98. Copter's forerunner: GIRO (JAHY-roh). Short for autogiro. I forgot also. Gyro is a prefix for "circle"/"spiral". Sandwich too of course.

99. Tennis wear item: SNEAKER. Odd to see a singular noun.

102. Trying experience: ORDEAL

105. Scot's cap: TAM

106. Corn Belt st.: NEB. And TENN (29D. State bordering eight others: Abbr.).

110. Laundry basketful: LOAD

112. The Mideast's __ Strip: GAZA. In the hands of Hamas.

113. As a friend, to Fifi: EN AMI. Fifi is short for Josephine. French name.

117. "__ Grows in Brooklyn": A TREE

118. Actor Santoni: RENI. Nope. Wikipedia says this guy was in "Dirty Harry".

119. Heaviest modern fencing weapon: EPEE. Did not know this trivia.

121. Gardeners, at times: HOERS

122. Nick and Nora's pooch: ASTA. In "The Thin Man".

123. Pills, briefly: MEDS

124. Whimpered: PULED. Got it this time.

Down:

1. Former Turkish title: PASHA. The other Xword Turkish titles are: AGA/AGHA & BEY.

2. Horrified: AGHAST. Always a tricky answer for me, regardless how it's clued.

3. Use Google, e.g.: BROWSE. SEARCH seems fit the clue better, doesn't it?

4. Hanging on by a thread: SEWN. Not "hanged on by a thread"?

5. "Miss Pym Disposes" author: TEY (Josephine). See the book cover. She's clued as "Mystery writer" in our puzzle a couple of weeks ago.

6. Mentor's charge: PROTEGE

7. __ homo: ECCE. Latin for "Behold the Man".

8. Fermented Japanese brews: SAKES. Mirin is the cooking rice wine.

9. "Wild Bill" Donovan's WWII org.: OSS. The CIA forerunner.

10. Gets agitated, Bart Simpson-style: HAS A COW. Nailed it.

11. Put an end to: ABOLISHED

12. Deviousness: GUILE

13. Normandy battle site: ST. LO. Near CAEN, another battle site.

14. Ecclesiastical law expert: CANONIST

16. Behind-the-scenes band worker: ROADIE. And TOTERS (17D. 16-Downs, e.g.). I like cross-references.

18. "I shall be there __ you": "King Lear": AFORE. Poetic "before".

24. Alternative to immediate purchase: LAYAWAY. Not familiar with this payment plan.

30. Prosperity: WEAL. Learned it from doing Xword.

32. Black, to Blake: EBON. Poetic "black". Alliteration again.

34. Menial worker: PEON. Serf is "Menial worker" too.

37. In front: AHEAD

38. Mention casually: SLIP IN. Is this a common phrase?

40. Give fresh life to: RECREATE

42. Catch, as a dogie: LASSO

43. Dubuque-to-Chicago dir.: ESE

44. Like some elephants: ASIATIC. I just do not like Asiatic.

50. Rocket stage: BOOSTER

51. She played Honey Ryder in "Dr. No": ANDRESS (Ursula). I was clueless. See this photo.

52. Yarn units: SKEINS

53. Greek goddess of wisdom: ATHENA. Athens was named after her.

55. Identity crises?: AMNESIAS. My favorite clue today.

56. Nitrogen compound: AMINE

57. 40-day period of penitence: LENT. Fasting sounds very hard.

58. Observe covertly: SPY

61. Barnyard female: EWE. Can't fill in this answer without thinking of our ASCETIC (or Hedonist) Windhover.

63. Houlihan portrayer: SWIT (Loretta). "Hot Lips" from "M*A*S*H".

69. Former "SNL" character Father __ Sarducci: GUIDO. Uh-uh, nope. Wikipedia says he was played by Don Novello. The only GUIDO I know is the music guy. ELA used to be clued as "Guido's high note".

70. Spouses of sports nuts, facetiously: WIDOWS. Golf/baseball are the only two sports I watch.

73. "Really!": GEE

76. Hooch holder: FLASK

79. Bit: TAD

80. Wheel correction: ALIGNMENT

82. "Done so fast?": ALREADY?

85. Regular guys: STEADIES. New definition to me. I always connect steady with dating partner.

91. Massage deeply: ROLF. Named after Ida Rolf. The inventor of such method. Stumped me.

92. Most populous African country: NIGERIA. I had ALGERIA first.

93. Pinot __: GRIS. Penned in NOIR.

94. Brightest star in Scorpius: ANTARES. Ant(i) = rival. Ares, Greek god of war, equivalent of Roman Mars. The planet Mars is of red color. So, Antares, "Rival of the Mars", has to be red and bright I suppose.

95. "Now!": PRONTO

96. Program producing pop-ups: ADWARE

97. Pretender: SEEMER. Man, it's listed in the dictionary.

100. Dentist's concern: ENAMEL

101. Alter, as area boundaries: REZONE

102. Island folk magic: OBEAH (OH-bee-uh). The West Indian sorcery. It escaped me. We had it a while ago.

103. House martins nest under them: EAVES

104. Become a pair without an affair: ELOPE. Wedding affair. I was thinking of the extramarital affair.

107. Displayed openly: BARED

109. __ avis: RARA. Like Kazie. She is so unique and linguistically talented.

111. Didn't pay yet: OWED. This whole puzzle is OW-ed.

115. Jackson was the first to become pres.: DEM. Andrew Jackson. New trivia to me. Lincoln is the first Republican president.

Answer grid.

Note to solvers in Canada: What's on your paper today, "That Hurts" or "Not in Canada"?

C.C.

Saturday October 31, 2009 Samuel A. Donaldson

Theme: None

Total words: 68

Total blocks: 30

This puzzle is noticeable for its lack of 3-letter answers. Only 2. Nice stacked 9's in the upper left and lower right. My favorite today are the two scrabbly long Downs: TAKES A JOKE (11D. Tolerates teasing gracefully) and FOURSQUARE (27D. Unwavering). Awesome!

There is no A-LOP (25D. Crooked) in my dictionary, but I do remember someone found the definition somewhere last time when it appeared in our old puzzle.

An easier puzzle than I had expected. The abundance of plural S suffixes and fill-in-the-blank entries sure helped. Still had to cheat though.

Across:

1. War and more: CARD GAMES. Wanted CONFLICTS.

10. R.E.M. vocalist Michael: STIPE. Does it rhyme with stripe?

15. Strain: OVEREXERT. Came to me immediately. Nice entry.

16. Turkic inhabitant of Russia: TATAR. Was just clued as "Golden Horde member" yesterday.

17. Place with trays: CAFETERIA

18. Director Kurosawa: AKIRA. Probably best known for "Seven Samurai". Akira means bright/intelligent in Japanese, identical to Chinese character Ming (as in Yao Ming).

19. Aide's job: ASSISTING

20. Doctor's orders: TESTS. Mindlessly wrote down STATS.

21. Rolls on the lawn: SOD. Rolls here is a noun.

22. Hard to nail down: ELUSIVE. Like the first major title for Sergio Garcia.

24. Social blunder: GAFFE. And "Fish hook" is GAFF, without E.

28. Eritrea's capital: ASMARA. Man, I can never remember this capital name. I am surprised they speak Arabic rather than French there.

30. Ness et al.: ELIOTS. The most famous T-man.

32. Cosmetic surgeries: NOSE JOBS. Seed entry, Sam?

36. Vegan entrée: TOFU. Cantonese. Mandarin is doufu.

37. Imported cheeses: EDAMS. Dutch cheeses.

39. Cajun pod: OKRA. Stir-fried fresh okra is very tasty.

40. Sherry, often: APERITIF. By the way, do you use normal sherry for cooking or it has to be cooking sherry?

42. Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show costar: OAKLEY (Annie). I was not familiar with the show. Wikipedia says it formed in 1883 and lasted until 1913.

44. Grab before someone else does: SNAP UP

46. It merged with Kmart in 2005: SEARS. I was shocked when it happened. I thought Kmart was still struggling with bankruptcy.

47. Film that's out of order? PREQUEL. Is "Angels and Demons" prequel or sequel to "The Da Vinci Code"?

50. PC panic button: ESC

52. Mammal of Madagascar: LEMUR. Alliteration.

53. Seeking advancement at any cost: ON THE MAKE. New idiom to me.

60. Eastern Canadian province grouping, with "the": MARITIMES. Consist of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Unknown to me.

61. Saltpeter, to a Brit: NITRE. Niter to us.

62. Smithsonian collection: AMERICANA

64. Nielsen ratings subjects: TELECASTS

Down:

1. Caesar's partner Imogene: COCA. Strange name.

3. Court call makers: REFS. Basketball/tennis court. I was thinking of judge's court.

4. Cologne crowd?: DREI. German for "three".

5. Prepares: GETS SET. Wrote down READIES first.

7. Yucatán's capital: MERIDA. No idea. I peeked at the cheat sheet. Tough crossing with ASMARA.

9. Child actor's chauffeur?: STAGE MOM

10. Height: STATURE

12. Formal answer to "Who's there?": IT IS I

13. End of a pentamerous serial: PART V. Penta is prefix for "five".

23. Will Rogers prop: LASSO

26. High wind: FIFE. Liked the clue.

29. Messy situation: SNAFU. It stands for Situation Normal All F****ed Up.

31. Hairlike parts, such as those that help geckos cling to walls: SETAE. Stumper. I am used to the simple "stiff hairs" clue. Geckos have a million foot hairs (SETAE)?

33. St. with counties named Comanche and Choctaw: OKLA. Easy guess. What's so special about those two counties besides the C start?

34. Uncle Remus's __ Fox: BR'ER

38. One with immunity: DIPLOMAT

41. Buried: INURNED. I only know inter. Easy to remember though: in + urn.

43. One leading a spartan lifestyle: ASCETIC. How do you define a hedonist? One leading a what lifestyle? Decadent?

45. Marine bird: PETREL. Here is one petrel soaring with wings wide.

49. Cry on cue, say: EMOTE

51. U.S.: county :: U.K. : __: SHIRE

55. Flaky mineral: MICA

56. Latin 101 verb: AMAS. Amo, AMAS, amat.

57. Colleague of Lane and Olsen: KENT. "Superman".

58. Those, to Teresa: ESAS. Or ESOS. ESA/ESO = "That".

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday October 30, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Jump the Q - The Q (k) sound is dropped from each QU (kw) starting familiar phrases/name.

17A. Drones losing their pep?: WILTING BEES. Quilting Bee. "Losing their pep" = WILTING.

23A. Train former senator Dole to do without?: WEAN ELIZABETH. Queen Elizabeth. "Train to do without" = WEAN. Elizabeth Dole served as North Carolina's Senator from 2003 to 2009.

33A. The first indication that I had one too many last night?: WAKING IN MY BOOTS. Quaking in My Boots. Conjured up such a vivid drunken image.

48. Earp in a stage show?: WYATT ON THE SET. Quiet on the Set. Wyatt Earp is the O.K. figure who appears in our puzzle often.

56. Skater Katarina enjoying a Camel?: WITT SMOKING. Quit Smoking. Katarina Witt is a German figure skater. Unknown to me.

Today's Dan Naddor Index (non-theme entries with 6 or more letters) is 22, the highest since I started tracking. Four of the Down answers intersect three theme answers. Neat.

Quite a scrabbly puzzle too, with two J's, 1 Z and four K's.

How was your solving experience today? When did you cotton on to the theme?

Across:

1. Tubular chocolate snack: HOHO. The Hostess snack. Sweet start for our Santa Argyle.

5. Like secret rituals: ARCANE

11. Tube top: CAP. Of course I was thinking of the shirt Tube Top.

16. Actor Vigoda: ABE. Still alive.

19. a.k.a., in corporate-speak: DBA (Doing Business As)

20. Kenan's comedy partner: KEL. Nickelodeon's "Kenan & Kel". I simply forgot.

21. Baltic capital: RIGA. Capital of Latvia. "European capital" would be a tougher clue, with 5 possibilities (Rome, Riga, Oslo, Kiev & Bern) as mentioned by Rich Norris last time.

22. __-Z: high-performance Camaro: IROC. I just remember it as I rock.

28. More than fortunate: BLESSED. Thought the answer might be an ER ending word.

30. Grandeur: MAJESTY. Liked this fresh fill.

31. Brand of bubbly: MOET. Moet & Chandon champagne.

40. Tongue and liver: MEATS. Organs too, of course.

41. Genetic molecules: RNAS. Always have to wobble between RNA/DNA.

42. As you like it: TO TASTE. Good play on "As You Like It".

45. Lydian king known for his wealth: CROESUS (KREE-suhs). No idea. How did he obtain his wealth? I could only think of the golden touch king Midas.

50. Man or Mull: ISLE. Alliteration.

52. Shad delicacy: ROE. Have you tried Ikura (salmon roe)?

55. Pontiac muscle car: GTO. And BMW (28D. Mercedes rival). Car Talk.

60. Grant, e.g.: Abbr.: GEN. D'oh, Ulysses S. Grant. I was thinking of the research money grant.

61. Do the Wright thing?: AVIATE. Nice play on "Do the right thing". And SSS (39D. Frying sound).

62. Swedish furniture chain: IKEA. I've yet to try their food.

63. Sentence units: Abbr.: YRS. Prison sentences.

65. One with a list: DEAN. Dean's List. Great clue.

Down:

1. Peddle: HAWK

2. Theater award: OBIE. Given by The Village Voice. The intersecting ABET (14A: Support, in a criminal way) prevented me from considering TONY.

3. College hazing period: HELL WEEK. New term to me. We don't have hazing ritual in China.

4. 1940s Giants manager Mel: OTT. Man, I did not know he managed the Giants. Always thought of him as a player.

5. When many shops open: AT NINE

6. Fixed: RIGGED. As an election. I was in the "Repaired" direction.

7. Conspiracy: CABAL. Same root with cabala.

9. Dundee denial: NAE. Another alliteration.

11. Elite training squads: CADRES

12. "Who's on First?" straight man: ABBOTT. Abbott and Costello.

13. "Great!": PEACHY

18. Nest egg components, for short: IRAS

22. Start of a rule that keeps you from spelling weirdly?: I BEFORE E. Nailed it.

24. Ballpark figure: ESTIMATE. Nice to have the complete word. We see EST too often.

25. Mosque VIP: IMAMS. The Somalian supermodel is IMAN (David Bowie's wife).

26. Madcap: ZANY

27. "This is __ for Superman!": A JOB. I really don't remember seeing a more scrabblier Dan Naddor puzzle, do you?

29. Mauna __: LOA. Or Kea. Mauna is "Mountain".

32. Brain and spinal cord: Abbr.: CNS (Central Nervous System). Not a familiar abbreviation to me.

35. Cat, south of the border: GATO. I wonder why they named Los Gatos so. Lots of cats there?

36. Santa Monica-to-Jacksonville rte. I-TEN

37. Picketing: ON STRIKE

38. 19th Greek letter: TAU. Greek T. No way I can remember the exact order of all those 24 letters in Greek alphabet.

42. Aptly named mod model: TWIGGY. Because of her thin build.

43. Pearl harborer: OYSTER. Another great clue. "Pearl producer" would be boring. Loved Ben Affleck's "Pearl Harbor".

44. Raptor's grabbers: TALONS

45. Pure: CHASTE

46. Chewed (out): REAMED

47. __ buco: OSSO. Italian for "bone".

49. Golden Horde member: TATAR. Genghis Khan divided his Mongol Empire into various color Hordes (Blue, White, etc).

53. Military service designation: ONE A

54. New York cardinal: EGAN. Cardinal Egan was succeeded by Archbishop Timothy Dolan earlier this year.

58. Actress Carrere: TIA. I forgot. Recognized her face when I googled. She is of Filipino descent. Born in Honolulu.

59. Tease: KID. Wrote down RIB first.

Do read Don Gagliardo's replies to the questions raised at the Comments section yesterday. Don will have completed a Monday to Sunday LAT circle when his Sunday puzzle is published next time.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Q & A with Don Gagliardo

Don Gagliardo has provided answers to all of our questions regarding his SHOE BOX puzzle and other crossword related queries. Hope you find them informative. Thank you so much, Don.

Questions from C.C.: How to pronounce Gagliardo? Is the second G hard?

When my wife decided to take on my last name, my father sent a one page dissertation on how to pronounce it. He was dismayed in his later years that I could not pronounce it, and I blame him partly because he Americanized it when we eight children were growing up. The easiest explanation is to think of the opera Pagliacci. Listen to someone who sings Italian opera. Yes, the second G is silent, but not really. It is part of the diphthong, GLIA, which means "lion". Our name has connections to Gallahad, according to my father.

What kind of music do you listen while constructing crossword? Or do you prefer total silence?

It is funny that I have never thought about playing music while I construct puzzles, even though I am such a music lover. I suppose that I prefer silence. Sometimes it helps to listen to the words in my head when I am filling a grid or composing clues. Music would distract that.

Is it wrong to say "I like some of the long Down fills (rather than fill) today"? I noticed constructors use singular "fill" when they refer several or the whole non-theme entries.

I have always heard or read "fill" in the singular, even though it may imply many. You can talk about several down answers, and I don't think constructors even refer to "down fill" (unless they're talking about pillows). When the term "fill" is used, I think it is really just talking about all of the non-theme entries that go into a puzzle. At least that is the way I have read it.

From MJ: In yesterday's Barry Silk puzzle, I noticed many clues referencing cities and states. (Seven total if you count 30D Riyadh resident.) Would this be considered a sub-theme? If not, what constitutes a sub-theme?

Hello MJ,

The only sort of sub-theme that usually happens in puzzles is two or three clues that have some common connection. For me, it happens only because I see an opportunity and act on it. I don't know what other constructors do, so you would have to ask them. I think it would be very difficult to come up with a significant number of secondary theme answers. Sometimes it is nearly impossible to just get the primary theme answers to work out. I did notice all those cities, especially when two of them crossed (ST. JOE and TULSA). I'll go out on a limb and say that it probably was not Barry's intention to create a sub-theme. We should also remember that if there is such a thing as a sub-theme, it would have to be as strictly consistent as a puzzle theme. So in this case, we have a state and a foreign resident thrown into the mix, so it doesn't work as a consistent theme. Did you happen to notice the word SHOE in the bottom center, presaging today's puzzle? He couldn't have planned that!

From Carl: Why do you only contribute to LA Times?

Hello Carl,

It is true that my puzzles have appeared only in the LA Times. When I first started puzzle construction, I noticed that I was really enjoying the editing of the LA Times puzzles. I thought I would send a puzzle to Rich. Even though I was a newbie, he gave me great feedback and encouragement despite rejecting my puzzle. I feel as if I have been a student since that time and still have much to learn. Rich is very patient and has a great deal of insight as to what will go over well with solvers. I am staying busy enough trying to keep up with him. I am delighted to report that I will have a puzzle published in The Crosswords Club some time soon, which is a new venture. It does help that Rich edits that publication as well.

From Lisa (Ingersoll, Ontario, whose paper only carries LAT Sunday): When will you construct a Sunday puzzle? I loved your Alfred Hitchcock.

Hello Lisa,

Thanks for the compliment on the Hitchcock puzzle. A lot of luck went into making that one work. I have just had one LA Times Sunday puzzle accepted for publication, and have another that is accepted as a work in progress. That means it is probably four to five months away from publication, I am guessing. If you read the response to Carl, I will have a Sunday-sized puzzle in the Crosswords Club in the near future. Sunday puzzles are really quite a different animal. I didn't have crossword constructing software until this past summer, and it has made quite a difference. On the small scale, I could easily do daily puzzles with paper and pencil. But doing a Sunday puzzle was mind-boggling. I don't know how constructors kept their sanity before computers came along. Now that I have the software, it gives me the kind of vision that I need to set up a grid. I would like to do more Sunday puzzles because I enjoy the challenge that they present. They really are more difficult to construct than a daily, at least so far in my experience.

From Anon @ 1:38pm: Is EEEE arrangement intentional?

Hello Anon @ 1:38 PM,

I did not notice that there is an E in each corner of the puzzle! What was intentional, and explains this coincidence, is that I made the pattern of SHOE vary in each corner. The letters appear counter-clockwise, and the pattern changes one letter at a time as one proceeds in a counter-clockwise direction around the puzzle. It could just as easily have been an S, H, or O in each corner.