Thursday September 11, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Life is Hard (Evan Esar quip)

17A: Start of a quip: SOME MEN MAKE

28A: Part 2 of quip: DIFFICULTIES

40A: Part 3 of quip: AND

50A: Part 4 of quip: DIFFICULTIES

65A: End of quip: MAKE SOME MEN

"Make difficulties"? I've never heard of this phrase before. Only familiar with "make a difference/distinction". Or "make bed", "make a blunder/boner", "make a choice/a decision", "make a commitment/promise/confession", etc.

"LOVE" makes more sense than "DIFFICULTIES" in this quip, don't you think so?

It's an OK puzzle, not terribly boring. I don't think there should be a question mark for CHRISTMAS (35D: Present time?).

Across:

1A: $ in banks: ACCTS. Or a simple "Stops on my rte" for Xchefwalt. He has to attend to his green bean and potato customers.

6A: FDR's biographer: ALSOP (Joseph). Gimme to me. ALSOP's name is mentioned in almost every JFK book.

11A: Card game for two: WAR. No idea. Is it easy to play?

14A: Hogwash!: HOOEY. Hmm, not "balderdash", "tommyrot" or "poppycock". I could picture Barry's smile. I still want to know more of "nonsense" synonyms. Besides "baloney", "lapdoodle" and "bosh", what other "worthless" words do you use every day?

15A: Mongol invader: TATAR. They were Muslims, right?

22A: Sandal strap: THONG. Wow, she was wearing the wrong THONG.

24A: Mennen shaving product: AFTA

43A: Greeley or Mann: HORACE. Knew Mann, not Greeley.

53A: Dry, red wine: CHIANTI. Do you like Diana Lane's "Under the Tuscan Sun"?

57A: Dentist's direction: RINSE. Katherine probably wants RINSE to be "Shampoo direction".

58A: CI quadrupled: CDIV. Roman 404. We get new visitors every time there is a Roman numberal involved.

70A: Video game name: ATARI. Apple's Steve Jobs used to work for ATARI.

77A: Stupefy with desire: BESOT. What's the difference between "BESOT" and "infatuate"?

Down:

1D: Chan's words: AH SO. I learned this from doing Xwords. Have never seen any Charlie Chan movies.

3D: Follow: COME AFTER

4D: Hit one's drive: TEE OFF. Oh, you are talking about golf.

5D: Pathetic starter: SYM. Or better, "Phony" starter.

8D: Patronize, as an inn: STAY AT

11D: Black __ spider: WIDOW. New to me. "Black" I can understand, why "WIDOW"?

31D: Hawaiian island: LANAI. "The Pineapple Island".

37D: Barcelona Mmes: SRAS. "Barcelona Mlle" would be "SRTAS".

41D: Elmer, to Bugs: DOC. From "What's Opera, Doc?". New to me also.

47D: __ Laredo, Mexico: NUEVO. "New" in Spanish.

51D: Capricious: FICKLE. Virgil said "A woman is always a FICKLE, unstable thing." I think men are the same, if not more so.

52D: Shaped like a cylinder: TERETE. No idea, this Vanda TERETE flower showed up when I googled, so pretty.

60D: Sea turtle grp.: ISTS (International Sea Turtle Society). Unknown to me.

62D: First name in architecture: EERO. His father is Eliel, also crossword-friendly, with 3 vowels.

67D: Fairy queen: MAB. Did MAB originate from Shelley's "Queen MAB"?

C.C.

Wednesday September 10, 2008 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Location, Location, Location

17A: College, maybe: HIGHER EDUCATION

39A: Empty-nester's weight problem: MIDDLE AGE SPREAD

62A: Alaska not included: LOWER FORTY- EIGHT

I've never heard of "MIDDLE SPREAD". Why does "Empty-nester" have such weight problem? Do they tend to overindulge on their SECOND HONEYMOON (clued as "Empty-nesters' vacation last time) or what? (Addendum: My mistake on 39A: "AGE" escaped me earlier.)

This puzzle structure reminded me of Barry Silk's "Re Location" puzzle we had on May 27. His theme answers are:

UPPER CRUST
LOWER TEXAS
INNER HARBOR
OUTER LIMITS

But I think I like this one more. I am very fond of run-through 15-letter theme answers. They look beautiful to me.

I got the theme very earlier on, but still struggled a bit. Was stumped by a few new words. Had to google.

Across:

1A: Fuji flow: LAVA. Ah, the real "Hot flower". I like this kind misleading flow-er=river (a thing that flows) wordplay.

5A: Sportscaster Rashad: AHMAD. I forgot. He appeared in our puzzle not long ago. See this Pop Secret commerical.

10A: Guidance fin: VANE. "fin"? I always associate "fin" with fish.

15A: Upper deck, briefly: FO'C'LE (Forecastle). I've never heard of this word before.

16A: Stravinsky or Sikorsky: IGOR. Know the composer Stravinsky. Have totally forgot about the aviation pioneer Sikorsky.

21A: Eye-opening experiences?: DILATIONS. I like this clue.

22A: Candidate Landon: ALF. He was defeated by FDR in the 1936 presidential election.

24A: Utah ski resort: ALTA. Where are his legs?

31A: Becomes entrenched: SETS IN

36A: Longtime Cleveland Orchestra director: SZELL (George). Total stranger to me. Here is some more Mozart for Barb B. How to pronounce SZELL?

45A: Actor Wesley: SNIPES. He is Willie Mayes Hayes in "Major League", one of my favorite baseball movies. I like "Field of Dream" the most.

43A: Illumination: LIGHT. Thoreau said "Let nothing come between YOU and the LIGHT". I don't quite get it. Who is the LIGHT & Why?

47A: E. O'Brien film: D.O.A. Was stumped again! Here is the poster. I hated the clue.

52A: Imposing personalities: PRESENCES. Are you OK with this clue?

65A: Family of Indy winner: UNSER. Would not have got this one and LOESS (68A: Fertile loam) without the down clues.

Down:

1D: Bert the Cowardly Lion: LAHR. Here is a good clip... "If I Only Had the Nerve..."

3D: Lyra's brightest star: VEGA

4D: Guru's community: ASHRAM. Would not have got this one without the across clues.

8D: "Be-Bop- ___": ALULA. This is the song. New to me. I've never heard of Gene Vincent.

10D: Debaser: VITIATOR. Another new word to me. VITIATE is the verb.

11D: Exchange fee: AGIO. Ha, I did remember this strange money exchange term.

19D: Try: ATTEMPT

23D: Shake up: FAZE. Still remember Tom Pruce's "Discombobulate" puzzle?

25D: Synagogue platforms: BEMAS

27D: Arboreal lemur: INDRI. It's clued as "Madagascar primate" last time. He does not seem to have a tail, does he?

30D: Chilly: ALGID. Another new word to me.

33DL Writer Calvino: ITALO. Or the Aviator Balbo.

34D: Simpleton: NODDY. New word to me also. I wrote down NINNY first.

36D: Dark horse: SLEEPER

40D: Overthrowers: DEPOSERS. I've been brainwashed by this crossword editor to think of "Usurp" and "Usurper"first.

46D: Wicked: SINFUL. I don't think it's SINFUL to openly discuss morel issue, do you?

53D: Pudding fruit: PLUM. Hmmm, sweet and juicy!

54D: Diva Ponselle: ROSA. I got her with no trouble this time.

C.C.