Friday September 5, 2008 Barry Silk

Theme: CRACKER (40A: 17A, 24A, 51A and 64A follower)

17A: Cow or chicken: FARM ANIMAL

24A: Float: ICE CREAM SODA

51A: Fastener with wings: BUTTERFLY NUT

64A: Large gun barrage: CANNON FIRE

And Graham CRACKER, Oyster CRACKER & Saltine CRACKER. What else can you think of?

I hate the clue for 40A. It's inaccurate. CRACKER only follows the last word of those theme answers. I also dislike the clue for TSE (10D: Half a fly), not only because the clue needs a "?" mark, but also because of BUTTERFLY in 51A. Besides, why obsessed with this terrible fly all the time? What's wrong with cluing TSE as "China's Mao __-tung"?

I am also not fond of the below three clues:

45A: Bog: QUAG. Is QUAG a commonly accepted shortened word?

52D: Phillies all-star 2nd-baseman Chase: UTLEY. An apostrophe should be added to Phillies, right?

65D: Sugary suffix: OSE. I suppose it's OK, though I prefer the clue to be "Sugar suffix".

Other than those, it's a great puzzle, very enjoyable. I love seeing TGIF (10A: End-of-week cry) & Barry Silk on a Friday. I also like this kind of theme type very much.

Still needed Google's help though. It will probably take me a few more months before I can crack this Silk code. He is a very wise man. Ha, WISECRACKER.

Across:

14A: Actress Sofer: RENA. It's clued as "Sofer of soaps' in an earlier TMS puzzle. I like the flowers on her shirt. FYI, RENA means "Joy" in Hebrew.

15A: Lickety-split: APACE

21A: Sealy rival: SERTA. Identical clue in his July "main squeeze" puzzle.

27A: Money set aside: ESCROW. Oh, I forgot to mention yesterday that George Washter, the specialist for the old-masters at Sotheby's, is the father of the 13-year old boy who spent $5,000 on this Rembrandt's etching "Agony in the Garden".

36A: Disunit a fly?: UNZIP. Interesting clue. I wonder if this is Barry Silk's original. It certainly has our editor's fingerprint.

39A: Actress Charlotte: RAE. Legends of what?

43A: Madrid museum: PRADO. A heaven for those Goya fans. Beautiful "The Clothed Maya". Dennis probably loves "The Nude Maya".

49A: Starting lineups: A-TEAMS

56A: Env. contents: LTR. Shouldn't the clue be in singular form?

57A: "Ecologues" sheperdess: DELIA. Would not have got it without the surrounds. It's clued as "Shepherdess in Virgil's "Eclogues" 2 weeks ago. This is Argyle's comment: "DELIA seems to be very obscure. Vigil only mentions the name in passing, "insomuch that now our dogs know not Delia better. The character was saying his boyfriend came around so much that the dogs knew him as well as they knew the shepherdess, I think."

62A: Et __ (and others): ALII. Masculine plural. "Et ALIAE" is femine plural. And "Et ALIA" is neutral plural. And another Latin word is IDEM (37D: Footnote word).

68A: Declare frankly: AVOW. I am always confused about AVOW and AVER, so similiar in meaning.

Down:

1D: Pound sounds: ARFS. I like the rhyme in the clue.

2D:Osso buco meat: VEAL. I would add a few apricots to this dish. I want my meat to be firm, juicy and sweet.

4D: Bloodsucking evil spirit: VAMPIRE

6D: Prot. denom.: EPISC. No need to abbreviate both words in the clue.

8D: Words of concern: I CARE. 4 U.

9D: River ends: DELTAS

11D: Italian cheese: GORGONZOLA. I've never had this cheese before. What does it taste like?

13D: Jane of "Klute": FONDA. I've never seen this movie. That's a daring skirt. Jane FONDA is an awful mother in "Monster-in-Law".

18D: Label for Sonny & Cher: ATCO. No, have never heard of ATCO label before. Here is their "I Got You Babe".

22D: Love in Lyon: AMOUR. "My Cherie AMOUR, lovely as a summer's day...... How I wish that you were mine."

27D: Holliday partner: EARP (Wyatt). Got it from the across clues. I had no idea who Holliday was.

29D: "I Want You to Want Me" band: CHEAP TRICK. New to me. I do love the song title.

33D: Help-page acronym: FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions). Gimme.

34D: Fort Worth sch.: TCU (Texas Christian University). Strange logo.

35D: Jamaican music: SKA. Every time I see this clue, I think of Bob Marley and "The Wailers".

38D: Holding areas: PENS. "Holding areas" for whom?

41D: "Magnet and Steel" singer Walter: EGAN. Nope, he is new to me. Here is the song. I like this fresh new clue, don't you? I am tired of "Alaska's first governor".

46D: Puts on pounds: GETS FAT

59D: Bounty competition: VIVA. I've never paid attention to this brand. I use Bounty at home.

63D: Resident's suffix: ITE. Xchefwalt & Lois probably want the clue to be "Manhattan chaser?".

C.C.

Thursday September 4, 2008 Alan O. Olschwang

Theme: A Happy Thought

17A: Start of a quip: CONTENTMENT

24A: Part 2 of quip: IS THE BEST

40A: Part 3 of quip: OF ALL

52A: Part 4 of quip: RICHES AND

64A: End of comment: ITS NOT TAXED

How come the quip was segued into a comment?

I didn't quite understand this Evan Esar quote. Does the "RICHES" refer to "the rich people"? If so, shouldn't there be a "the" in the quip? If not, what does "RICHES" refer to then?

I was stumped by a few obscure words. Had to ask Google for help. I really disliked seeing OFF (11A: Not turned on) and I'M OFF (24D: See-ya!) in one grid. They are jarring to my eyes.

Overall, it's pretty decent puzzle, at least I was not bored.

Across:

1A: "Waterloo" group: ABBA. "Mamma Mia"! ABBA won Eurovision 1974 for "Waterloo". I am very fond of this year's winning song "Believe" (Dima Bilan).

5A: Bogart film, "High __": SIERRA. Not familiar with this movie. I wonder if Bogart encountered TSETSE (49D: Dreaded fly) while filming "The African Queen". He might be too drunk to remember anything.

15A: Provo resident: UTAHAN. Goodness gracious! How can they be so obsessed with "zz" in their sport teams' names?

21A: Depict distinctly: ETCH. I was stunned when a 13-year old boy bought this Rembrandt's etching "Agony in the Garden" with his bar mitzvah money.

22A: Handwoven rug: RYA. The "Scandinavian rug".

26A: Hawthorne's birthplace: SALEM. No idea. He wrote "The Scarlet Letter" at this place also.

28A: Tumor: suff.: OMA. As in "Melanoma". New to me.

31A: Parkinson's medication: L-DOPA. Absolutely no idea. I am sure Dr. Dad/Flyingears/A Lucid Dream will provide us with more information.

34A: Dearie: SUGAR. What is the theme of this "SUGAR, SUGAR" clip? So odd a collection.

42A: "Whip it" rock group: DEVO. Foreign to me. Here is the clip. Is there any symbolism in those red hats?

43A: The king of France: LE ROI. This reminded me of Louis XVI (LE ROI Soleil) and his "L'État, c'est moi" statement.

45A: Ice sheets: FLOES. Is this a real penguin? Looks like a decoy.

50A: Absolute: UTTER. Do you like these dewy flower petals? UTTERLY amazing, so pretty and delicate. Are they edible?

57A: U-shaped river bend: OXBOW. I forgot. Earlier in a May puzzle, Crockett mentioned the OXBOW Park, "where the Sandy River makes that U-shaped turn (OXBOW)".

62A: Zen enlightenment: SATORI. Ah, this enlightenment is deeper and more lasting/penetrative than "kensho".

63A: Tibetan gazelle: GOA. No idea. This GOA region of India came up when I googled.

66A: Letters in tennis?: ENS

67A: Former Dophin running-back: CSONKA (Larry). No, I've never heard of him. WP shows that he is the Super Bowl VIII MVP. How to pronounce CSONKA?

70A: Nairobi native: KENYAN. I don't know why they are so good at marathon.

Down:

2D: Raspberry blower: BOOER. I did not know this displeasing meaning of "Raspberry". Could not understand why someone wants to do a "raspberry" blowing job.

3D: Four-minute mile breaker: BANNISTER (Roger). No idea. See this plaque.

4D: NY prison: ATTICA. Learned from doing crossword.

6D: Morticia's cousin: ITT. I am more familiar with the "The Addams Family" cousin" clue.

7D: Chair designer: EAMES. Unknown to me, though I might have seen an EAMES chair on "Antique Roadshow" before.

9D: "____ Notorious": RANCHO. No idea. Here is a poster. That girl does not really look like Marlene Dietrich.

25D: One bit per second: BAUD. Not familiar with this computer term either. It's the "unit of data transmission".

35D: Shift mechanisms: GEARBOXES. Certainly not a gimme to me.

44D: Awllike tool: ICE PICK. This brings to mind the "Basic Instinct". I did not get the ending. Was Sharon Stone planning to kill Michael Douglas?

51D: Still around: EXTANT

52D: Star in Orion: RIGEL. I forgot again. See this map. See "the Hare" Lepus also?

53D: Intriguing incongruity: IRONY. I like the alliteration in the clue. What's the difference between "incongruity" and "incrongruousness"?

55D: Pyromaniac's crime: ARSON

58D: Where the Magic used to play: O-RENA. I don't understand this one. Why? Is this an old LA Lakers' stadium?

62D: Kyle's "South Park" friend: STAN. OK, let me get it right this time: "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "Those Bastards"!!

65D: River of Orel: OKA. It's clued as "Volga tributary" before. Of course I forgot. Lately I've been crossing river Lethe frequently & blissfully.

C.C.