google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner

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Oct 21, 2008

Tuesday October 21, 2008 Verna Suit

Theme: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

17A: Scene of 38A's 63A: BEIJING OLYMPICS

38A: World's best swimmer: MICHAEL PHELPS

63A: 38A's take: EIGHT GOLD MEDALS

Do you know that his nickname is "Baltimore Bullet"?

Sensational! MICHAEL PHELPS had the audacity to dream and audacity to realize his dreams.

I believe this puzzle was created immediately after he broke the record, but our editor was not flexible enough to publish the puzzle earlier. Guess he has plenty of puzzles in his pipeline.

Great puzzle, isn't it? I really like the WELT clue (33D: Mark of Zorro?), very clever, though I always associate rapier rather than whip with Zorro.

Nice to see GOA (64D) clued as "Indian tourist haven". I never liked the "Himalayan gazelle" clue before. Without Argyle, I would not have found any picture of that mysterious gazelle.

I don't understand the PODS clue though (41D: Movable classrooms). How so? If PODS refer to "Schools of whales", then the clue need a question mark.

Across:

1A: Office clerk: FILER. None of the companies I've worked has a FILER. Secretaries do the filing job. I like the TERM clue (71A: In-Office time).

10A: Koi: CARP. Look at this huge CARP.

15A: Sound defeat: ROUT And UPSET (21A: Underdog victory).

20A: Black sea port: ODESSA. I had no idea that it belongs to Ukrain.

22A: Court figure: LAWYER. I was thinking of tennis court.

27A: Tokyo, once: EDO. Kyoto was the capital city during EDO period (1603-1867). Nobel author Kawabata wrote a book called "The Old Capital".

32A: Major bore: YAWNER. Have you seen Leslie Caron's "Gigi"? "It's a bore"!

36A: Nebraska river: PLATTE. I forgot. Saw PLATTE river as a clue somewhere before. It flows into Missouri.

46A: Sucker on a shark: REMORA. New word to me. I've heard of sucker fish though. Dictionary says REMORA can "attach itself to sharks, whales, sea turtles, or the hulls of ships." So ugly.

49A: Source of archery bows: YEWS. Can you make bows out of these YEW? They don't look good to me.

69A: Yorkshire river: OUSE. This river used to stump me. Not any more.

Down:

1D: Word for the Beatles: FAB. Do you collect FAB Four items? Here is George Harrison's "When We Were FAB".

4D: Relish: ENJOY. I was thinking of the hot dog relish.

5D: Commando: RAIDER. I always thought RAIDER is a person who RAIDS and seizes counterfeid products.

8D: Solzhenitsyn setting: GULAG. I got the answer, but I did not understand the clue. I've never heard of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn before. He won Nobel Literature in 1970.

10D: Dogpatch creator: CAPP (Al). Li'l Abner comic strip.

12D: Move like a hairline: RECEDE

19D: Undergo genetic change: MUTATE

24D: Dry riverbed: WADI. No idea. How is it different from arroyo/gully?

39D: Pest from a nest: HORNET

42D: Overcharge: SOAK. I was not aware of the slangy meaning of SOAK.

46D: Surgically remove: RESECT. New word to me.

47D: Complete: ENTIRE. I wanted INTACT.

48D: Hardly sufficient: MEAGER

55D: Smoke mass: CLOUD. See, The Rolling Stones used "Off of" in their song "Get Off of My Cloud".

59D: Oates novel: THEM. No. Have never heard of this novel before. Our editor likes to clue OATES as "Bellefleur" writer.

C.C.