Monday Septemer 8, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: A Few Drops of *OYLE

18A: Card game authority: EDMOND HOYLE

61A: "The French Connection" role: POPEYE DOYLE

3D: "Monster's Ball" co-star: PETER BOYLE

30D: 1940 Ginger Rogers movie: KITTY FOYLE

None of the above 4 theme answers were gimmes to me today. I've actually seen the movie "Monster's Ball", but I do not remember this name PETER BOYLE. Have heard of EDMOND HOYLE, but I could not retrieve his name so readily from my brain. The other 2 were complete strangers to me.

I did a quick google search, and found another *OYLE name, Allan MOYLE, the Canadian film director. But I suppose his name is way too obscure to be gridded in our puzzle.

But boy, what an arduous TOIL for me this morning! Too many unfamiliar names. Very hard struggle. Felt like it's tailor-made for Barry G.

Across:

1A: Milk-carton abbreviation: EXP

4A: "The Grapes of Wrath" family: JOADS. No idea. I've never read this novel or any of John Steinbeck's work.

9A: Pal of Porthos: ATHOS. And Aramis. The Three Musketeers. "One for all, and all for one".

15A: Jetson boy: ELROY. ASTRO is often clued as "Jetsons' dog".

20A: Model: EXEMPLAR

23A: Pine product: ROSIN. What's the difference between ROSIN and RESIN?

24A: Noted Swiss psychologist: JUNG (Carl). The only Swiss psychologist I know. Founder of Analytical Psychology.

27A: "My Life in Court": NIZER (Louis). I forgot. Identical clue in Parrish's June 24 puzzle. He sure loves names with letters J's & Z's.

33A: Family of Canadian quintuplets: DIONNE. The second girl from the left looks very pretty.

37A: Dockers' org: ILA (International Longshoremen's Association)

39A: Dernier __ (Latest fashion): CRI. "CRI de coeur" would be a great clue too. Kazie probably could come up with more.

40A: Cooper's Bumppo: NATTY. Unknown to me. I've never read "The Last of the Mohicans".

45A: Tea Party site: BOSTON. I was immediately thinking of a beautiful flowery GARDEN where afternoon tea is served, then realized that "Party" is capitalized.

48A: Chutzpah: MOXIE

51A: Artistic piece: OPUS. Ha, I got it this time. Aren't you proud of me? Here is some Mozart, for you, Lois. It's soul-calming.

53A: Letter flourish: SERIF

58A: Lounging attire: BATHROBE. Probably Garrison Keillor's choice, not mine. What do you wear when lounging around?

67A: Golfer Calvin: PEETE. He was the most successful African-American golfer before Tiger. I've never seen him play though. Nice vintage card (1981 Donruss), but it's worth much, even though it's a limited issue.

Down:

2D: PlayStation rival: XBOX. Launched in 2001. Microsoft product.

4D: Army vehicles: JEEPS. JEEP was the ultimate symbol of power when I grew up. Only the very high-ranking government officials had JEEPS.

5D: Tired pickup attempt: OLD LINE. I've never heard of "OLD LINE" being used in this sense.

6D: Big name in fashion: ARMANI. Here is George Clooney in ARMANI.

10D: Certain sandals: THONGS. Hmm, this is not the THONG I am wearing. I like the low-rise one.

11D: Wilhelm of Cooperstown: HOYT. He is the best knuckleballer in baseball history, isn't he?

12D: Heraldic border: ORLE. No idea. I know nothing about heraldry.

19D: "Advise and Consent" writer: DRURY (Allen). Another unknown. Wikipedia says he won Pulitzer for this novel in 1959.

24D: "Star Wars" warrior: JEDI

25D: Red of firefighting: ADAIR. Not a familiar name to me. He does look fiery.

28D: Preston rival: ZEREX. I forgot. This constructor used the same clue in his May 19 puzzle. Dennis said both of them are antifreezes.

31D: Rocker John: ELTON. I love his "Candle in the Wind".

32D: Singer Newton: WAYNE. I don't like him. I like this WAYNE.

45D: Crop pests: BEETLES

49D: Because follower?: I SAY SO

55D: Per unit: A POP

58D: Flapdoodle: BOSH. I did not know the meaning of "Flapdoodle". I only knew "Baloney" & "Hogwash". Maybe you can educate me today with more "Nonesense".

59D: Wally's bro: BEAV. I remember BEAVER from our previous slang discussion. Had no idea that it can be shortned to BEAV. Kind of similar to Barb or Barbara, isn't it?

60D: "Only Time" singer: ENYA. Beautiful song.

C.C.

Sunday September 7, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Endearments

23A: Make palatable: SUGARCOAT

47A: Weight we hate?: LOVE HANDLES

72A: King novel: PET SEMATARY

97A: Ratel: HONEY BADGER

125A: Tiny dwelling: DOLL HOUSE

14D: Sultan of the Swat: BABE RUTH

16D: 1959 Peck/Kerr movie: BELOVED INFIDEL

52D: Golden parachute: SWEETHEART DEAL

90D: Last letter?: DEAR JOHN

I've never heard of "PET SEMATARY" or "HONEY BADGER". Had no idea that the latter is the most fearless animal on earth. The clue "Ratel" looked like a kind of palm tree to me. I must have mixed it up with "Rattan" or something else.

I loved this puzzle. Very sweet theme and engaging theme answers. I was surprised that there was no DARLING in the grid. Don't you ever call your loved one DARLING at home?

I think I've seen enough RYA (70D: Scandinavian rug) and ERECT (98D: Put up) this week. So annoying! The clue for IRAN (27A: Iraq neighbor) was very jarring too. Why not simply "Turkey neighbor"? I was also stumped by SPEEDUPS (65A: Increases in pace). I thought the clue was asking for a verb phrases, so I kept wanting SPEEDS UP.

Across:

9A: Tree with huge trunk: BAOBAB. It's indeed huge. I've heard of "monkey bread tree". But I did not know that it's called BAOBAB in English.

19A: NASA's ISS partner: ESA (European Space Agency)

20A: City in Provence: ARLES. Van Gogh painted here! This is his "View of ARLES with Irises". Do you like it?

21A: Floating fleet: ARMADA

25A: 2nd best: GRADE B

26A: Pitcher's rubber: SLAB. Ha, new baseball slang to me.

28A: Baudelaire's "Paris __": SPLEEN. The title SPLEEN here refers to "bad temper", not the organ. I've never heard of Charles Baudelaire before. Wikipedia says he also wrote "The Flowers of Evil", and it's "important in the symbolist and modernist. The subject matter of these poems deals with themes relating to decadence and eroticism."

30A: Zeno's birthplace: ELEA. Last time's "Whence Zeno" clue brought hundreds of new visitors to this blog.

33A: Cassia plant: SENNA. Very pretty, in full bloom. Wikipedia says the leaves and flowers of SENNA are used in Thai cooking. I did not know that some of SENNA stems can grow as high as six feet.

35A: Fine porcelain: SPODE. I forgot. Identical clue on another TMS puzzle. SPODE china is named after British potter Josiah SPODE. Good example of EPONYM (29D: Word derived from someone's name).

44A: 1964 A.L. Rookie of the year: OLIVA (Tony). This clue makes me happy. I love Tony OLIVA.

50A: Starter's starter?: ESS. Clever clue.

54A: Segal and Leinsdorf: ERICHS. I got it from down clues. I know neither of them.

69A: Wrongly convicted French soldier of the 1890ss: DREYFUS (Alfred). I googled his name, then I realized that he was the guy in Zola's "J'accuse" letter.

71A: Way of old Rome: ITER

77A: John Tyler's First Lady: LETITIA. I googled again. I did not know her name. I had no idea that John Tyler had a second "First Lady" too (Julia Gardiner Tyler).

79A: Alfonso's queen: ENA. She looks a bit rebellious. Her grandson Juan Carlos is the current king of Spain.

80A: Coastal resident: SEASIDER. Hmmm, this reminds me of the limericks "There once was a man from Nantucket...."

83A: Lge. landmass: CONT. And ISL (121D: Sm. landmass). Oh by the way, I was really in awe of the ISLS clue last Saturday. But later I found out that it was not original. Someone else tried "Christmas or Easter, briefly" for ISL several years ago.

87A: City on the Adige: TRENT. I forgot, yet again. It was just here last Sunday, identical clue. Here is the map. I bet this clue would be different if Senator TRENT Lott were still in the office.

91A: Maltreat: ILL-USE. I've never heard of "ILL-USE" before. Good to learn.

100A: Callaway's "Big" driver: BERTHA. Nice Big BERTHA driver. Callaway also has Big BERTHA iron sets. But why quotation mark for Big?

102A: Broadcast talent org.: AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). Not familiar with this acronym. Were they involved in the writer's strike earlier this year?

103A: Denver concert site: RED ROCKS. New to me. Oh my goodness, gorgeous photo. WP says U2 performed here in June 1983, and their performance was later included in Rolling Stone's list of the "50 Moments that Changed Rock and Roll".

107A: Pollen-bearing organs: ANTHERS. I like the drops of dew on this flower petal. ANTHER is from ANTHOS, Greek for flower.

112A: Old Ford model: LTD. Learned this LTD model from doing Xword. LTD is always "Inc." to me.

113A: Open some: AJAR. I suppose "Open" here is an adjective. But "Open some" does not make any sense to me. What does "some" mean here?

115A: Nervous system disorder: CHOREA. New to me. It's defined as "any of various disorders of the nervous system marked by involuntary, jerky movements, especially of the arms, legs, and face, and by incoordination." From Greek chorós, dance, the same root as "chorus". No wonder dictionary says this disorder is also called "Saint Vitus' dance".

120S: Helmut's three: DREI. Eins, zwei, DREI.

128: M. de Balzac: HONORE. Had no idea that Balzac's given name is HONORE. One of my favorite Chinese authors, Fu Lei, was very influenced by Balzac.

131A: Caterwaul: YELL. I did not know the meaning of "caterwaul".

132A: Caught red-handed: NAILED. Lois probably wanted the clue to be "Used a hammer".

133A: Virgule: SLASH. I forgot the meaning of "Virgule".

134A: TV's "Science Guy" Bill: NYE. He has become a stalwart in our puzzle.

Down:

1D: Put up a fight: RESIST. I would add some romantism and clue RESIST as "Withstand the lure of".

2D: Loan shark: USURER

3D: 1998 Olympics city: NAGANO. Can never remember the English name for this city. Only knew its Chinese name 長野市.

9D: Author of "National Velvet": BAGNOLD (Enid). Good to see her surname being the answer.

11D: Tumor: suff.: OMA. Ha, I actually remember this OMA.

13D: Ms. Rogers St. Johns: ADELA. Her autobiography is named " The Honeycomb". Could be a good theme entry too.

17D: Almost a ringer: LEANER. Horseshoes terms. It's "a thrown horseshoe that leans against the stake." New to me.

18D: Carve relief: EMBOSS

31D: Pretentious performer: ARTISTE. I don't understand the clue. Why "Pretentious"? ARTISTE is just a French word for artist, isn't it?

36D: No-win situation: DILEMMA. Do you like "Catch-22"?

41D: CXII halved: LVI. Roman 56.

51D: Group of seven: SEPTETS. Trio & quartet.

60D: Like horror movie: EERIE. That's how I felt about "The X-Files".

64D: Iceland currency: EYRIR. Did not know this Iceland coin.

74D: International accord: ENTENTE. And PEACE (67D: Dove's desire).

75D: Stone-worker's block: ASHLAR. Had no idea that such kind of block is called ASHLAR.

78D: Windpipe: TRACHEA. The respiratory tube. New to me also.

84D: Workplace safety grp.: OSHA

93D: J. Hancocked?: SGD (Signed).

99D: Popeil company: RONCO. "But wait, there's more!"

100D: In a blunt manner: BALDLY. Did not know that bald also means "blunt".

104D: Supporting pillar: COLUMN

105D: Klown on "The Simpsons": KRUSTY. Another google. Here he is.

106D: Derrick for loading cargo: STEEVE. It's not in my dictionary. I still could not believe this is a real word.

114D: "Aurora" fresco painter Guido: RENI. See this captivating "Aurora", so soft and harmonious in touches. I like the mythological themes in his and Raphael's paintings. Very beautiful & poetic!

116D: Muslim unit of weight: ROTL. I simply forgot. Stared at _ OTL for eons.

C.C.