Sunday September 14, 2008 Annabel Michaels

Theme: Icky Stuff

23A: Of ill health: SICKLINESS

25A: Knockout drink: MICKEY FINN

39A: Quick as a wink: LICKETY-SPLIT

100A: Treat: PICK UP THE TAB

115A: Superlatively dilapidated: RICKETIEST

120A: Assigning monikers: NICKNAMING

36D: Running smoothly: TICKING OVER

45D: Doors in doors: WICKET GATES

48D: Whistle stop: HICK TOWN

51D: Battled for bargains: DICKERED

I hope you liked this puzzle. I did not. Too "Icky" for me. The overuse of suffixes like NESS, ED, EST, ING in the theme answers struck me as unimaginative and uncreative. The whole puzzle conjured up an image of the "WICKED Witch of the West" frantically swinging her BROOMSTICK, trying to get the magical "Icky" slippers.

I would not mind if sweet "Icky Stuff" like CINNAMON STICK, and POPSICKLE are constructed into the puzzle, or exciting words like HOCKEY STICK, GIMMICKY, MAVERICK, LIMERICK, SCHTICK, or other whole BAGS OF TRICKS.

CHERRY PICKING sounds good too. What do you think of FLOWER PICKER?

Two counts of major felonies:

22A: Stout's stout sleuth: NERO

127A: Duchin or Nero: PETER

52D: Peter of "My Favorite Year": O'TOOL

I remember Stan Newman of Newsday mentioned that on average crossword editors make about 4 such mistakes in a year. Our editor has been committing this sin on a daily basis. Unbelievable!

Across:

1A: Limelight hog: HAM. I like this clue. "Stage hog" would be great too.

15A: Middle of Roman months: IDES. Or "Fateful day for Caesar".

19A: Altar constellation: ARA. It's always ARA when the clue is asking for a 3-letter constellation.

21A: Violinist's move: UP-BOW. New term to me. It's "an upward stroke from the tip to the heel of the bow".

28A: Swan genus: OLOR. New to me also. I don't think this is an accurate clue though. The complete name is Cygnus OLOR.

31A: "___ and Louise": THELMA. Good movie, very nice "You Needed Me". I've been constantly impressed by the creativity shown in some of the YouTube clips.

42A: Controlled entrance: STILE. Like this one?

43A: Coolidge's VP: DAWES (Charles). Not familiar with this name. He won Nobel Peace Prize in 1925 for his work on DAWES Plan - "a program to enable Germany to restore and stabilize its economy."

47A: Psalm ending: SELAH

51A: Polyester fabric: DACRON. No idea. It's wrinkle-resistant. These sails are made of DACRON.

54A: Anchor position: ATRIP

56A: Frontier scout Carson: KIT. Have never heard of him before. Lois probably wants KIT to be clued as “Santa Baby” singer.

61A: Musical sweet potato: OCARINA. New wood instrument to me. It does look like sweet potato.

66A: Old Scottish dagger: SKEAN

67A: African antelope: RHEBOK. New to me also. See this picture. Wikipedia says the Afrikaans/Dutch spelling is Reebok. That's how Reebok sportwear got its name.

69A: Of pants: TROUSER. Wow, I had no idea that TROUSER can be an adjective.

81A: Italian gentleman: SIGNORE

87A: Pagliacci's beloved: NEDDA. I can never remember her name.

97A: Distresses: HURTS. They are not really synonymous, are they? HURTS bring "Distresses".

106A: Barnum's first name: PHINEAS. Sigh... no, how could I know? Wikipedia says he never said "There is a sucker born every minute".

107A: Attack of painful spasms: ANGINA. Completely unknown to me. Dictionary says ANGINA is "a condition, such as severe sore throat, in which spasmodic attacks of suffocating pain occur." ANGINA looks very DF to me.

114A: Sharp-cornered: ANGULAR. Katharine Hepburn has the classic ANGULAR face.

122A: Big name in sound system: BOSE. No idea. I've never paid attention to the names of those car audio manufacturers.

126A: Munich's river: ISAR

Down:

1D: Attacks: HAS AT

3D: Twinned crystal: MACLE. See this picture. It appeared in our puzzle before. I still don't understand why it's called "Twinned crystal".

5D: Egg receptacle: OVISAC. I like the makeup of this word, OVI & SAC, easy to remember.

9D: Ballerina Collier: LESLEY. Pure guess. I don't think her name is recognized by many, if any. "60 Minutes" LESLEY Stahl would be a very reasonable clue.

10D: False accusations: BUM RAPS. New idiom to me.

15D: Congregates too much: INFESTS. I don't like the clue. I don't think they are of the same meaning.

18D: Word in sequels: SON. What "sequels"?

29D: Goddess of harvest: OPS. She is the wife of Saturn.

32D: Mariner's jacket: PEA COAT

37D: French actor Delon: ALAIN. I just discovered this morning that his first major role was Tom Ripley in "Plein Soleil", the French version of "The Talented Mr. Ripley".

38D: "The Flying Dutchman" girl: SENTA. I forgot. I always associated "The Flying Dutchman" with T206 Honus Wagner.

40D: S.S. Kresge's discount chain: KMART. Another guess. I was not aware of KMART's origin.

60D: Mignonette: RESEDA. I've never heard of RESEDA before. Had no idea that "Mignonette" was a plant of the genus RESEDA. Very quiet-looking flowers. Wikipedia says it's extremely fragrant.

71D: Indonesia currency: RUPIAHS. Foreign to me. Here are some Indonesia banknotes. The exchange rate is about 9,428 RUPIAHS = 1 US $.

79D: Bay on the English Channel: POOLE. I got it from the across fills.

81D: Newsman Frank: SESNO. He appears on Wolf Blitzer's "Situation Room" often.

82D: Bulge at the back of the head: INION. Strung this word together from the across clues.

90D: Revolt against conventions: TITANISM. New to me also. Only faintly aware of the Titans in Greek mythology.

91D: Chinese dish: SUBGUM. Weird Cantonese spelling. It's Shijin in Mandarin Chinese.

93D: Goldbrick: SLACKER. I did not know the meaning of "Goldbrick". I was picturing gold ingots.

101D: Nice one?: UNE. And Spanish UNO (125A: One to Juan).

102D: Bird feathers: PENNAE. Nope, nope. Did not know that there is a special name for "Bird feathers".

105D: Legally bar: ESTOP

108D: Pelvic bone: ILIUM. Also the Latin name for the ancient Troy.

110D: Rival of Sparta and Athens: ARGOS. Wikipedia also shows that ARGOS was also the name of "Odysseus' faithful dog", who waited over 20 years for Odyssues to return to Ithaca.

116D: Greek island: IOS. Homer is buried here.

121D: Cohort of Fidel: CHE (Guevara). He was a highly romanticized character in my childhood textbooks. Oh, by the way, the symbol HAMMER AND SICKLE would be a great theme answer too.

C.C.

Saturday September 13, 2008 Tom Pruce

Theme: None

Total blocks: 33

Sherpa, sherpa, where is my sherpa? I just cannot seem to solve a puzzle without a theme guidance, feeling so lost and helpless.

It's by no means a grid of Byzantine complexity. In fact, it has very simple structure and lots of 3-letter crosswordese. I just could not understand why I was so intimidated by this themeless.

Got stumped immediately by the "Fiery Furnace survivor", but was able to filled in lots of blanks with the down clues. Completely forgot AUTOMAT (21D: Coin-op restaurant) and penned in BEATS for TEMPI (46A: Cadences), and wasted a long time to get the curvier RIPPLIER.

I am still mad at SWINGS (9A: Move to and fro). Just what were you thinking Mr. Editor? Add a "s" if you wanted it to be a verb. Otherwise, love your grandchildren and clue SWINGS as "Playground equipment".

Across:

1A: Fiery Furnace survivor: ABEDNEGO. "...There's Shadrach, Meshach and ABEDNEGO. And the fiery coals they trod. But the form of The Fourth Man that I see, is like the Son of God". Are you familiar with this Bible story?

9A: Acts as a go-between: MEDIATES

16A: Thin layer: LAMINA. My first thought was "veneer".

18A: Disconnect: UNPLUG

19A: Many-legged insect: CENTIPEDE. Oh, I did not know the English name for this insect. So, CENTI is "hundreds", "PEDE" is "foot". Wikipedia says their mating "does not involve copulation". The male just deposits his droplet of dew sperm on a web it has spun, and then "undertakes a courtship dance to encourage the female to engulf his sperm". He must have learned the tough lessons from the male black widow spiders.

32A: Deductive: A PRIORI. The opposite is "a posteriori". I cannot think analytically and rationally. I am too intuitive a free thinker.

34A: Mazel __!" TOV. "Viel Glück", Crockett.

36A: Some deodorants: ROLL-ONS

40A: Certain hired vehicle: MINICAB

46A: Cadences: TEMPI. Does the clue sound OK to you, KittyB & Xchefwalt?

47A: "Citizen Kane" studio: RKO. Howard Hughes is such a mysterious figure. Why he ventured into movie industry and RKO is beyond me. He was an excellent golfer though, so was Katharine Hepburn.

50A: Northwestern pine: LODGEPOLE. I forgot. Here stands a LODGEPOLE pine. It does not change color. Here are some LARCH pines that do change color. Both links were provided by Argyle.

54A: Keel-like structure: CARINA. New to me. Dictionary explains it as "a keel-like part or ridge, esp. a ridge of bone on the ventral side of the sternum of birds." See this diagram.

57A: Replacing a facing: RELINING. What is "facing"?

61A: Strengthen by tempering: ANNEAL

62A: Ribbed pasta: RIGATONI. This does not look like RIGATONI, does it?

64A: Finnish-American architect: SAARINEN (Eero). If it's just "Finnish architect", it might refer to his father Eliel. Melissa, do you know that Eero also designed these tulip chairs? They look sturdy enough for the weight of two.

Down:

7D: "The Goldbergs" creator: GERTRUDE BERG. I've never heard of her name before. Could be a gimme for Barry.

8D: Port city of old Rome: OSTIA. I forgot. It's clued as "Port city of Rome" on June 15 and I complained about the absense of word "ancient" in the clue. See this map. It's located at the mouth of the Tiber river.

10D: Nomadism: WANDERLUST. I don't they they are synonymous. "Nomadism" is a kind of lifestyle, WANDERLUST refers to the itch/urge to travel.

11D: Puts in danger: IMPERILS

14D: Droop: SAG. Hmm, I don't like the image this SAG evokes. How about SAG Awards? I wonder why "The Actor" statue is nude. Or a statue is just a statue?

20D: Stock of drugs: PHARMACOPEIA. New word to me.

23D: Embitter: ENVENOM. I would prefer the clue to be "make poisonous". I hate seeing "em" in clue, then prefix EN again in answer.

23D: Henhouse hunk: ROOSTER

27D: One Snoop Sister: ERNESTA. Played by Helen Hayes. I've never heard of "The Snoop Sisters". Wikipedia has a very short entry, so I suppose this was not a popular TV series.

30D: Insignificant: FRACTIONAL

31D: Bristles: SETAE

33D: City southeast of Bombay: POONA. Foreign to me. Wikipedia says the city is now called PUNE. Bombay is now named Mumbai, so I suppose the clue is technically OK. Here is a very good map.

38D: More wavy: RIPPLIER. I've never used this word "Ripply" before. So, the lake's surface has become RIPPLIER, and the wind is soughing the meadow. Hmm, I think I need a romantic sunset too.

49D: Tooth: pref.: DENTI

51D: John of the PGA: DALY. Ah, the long John DALY. "Long ball is all he knows....".

C.C.