Wednesday September 17, 2008 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Mined Over Matter

17A: Old-time typescript duplicate: CARBON COPY

61A: Determined: IRON- WILLED

10D: Inherited wealth: SILVER SPOON

24D: Trophy wives, perhaps: GOLD DIGGERS

I am not fond of 61A, it's an adjective, all the other 3 are nouns. I thought of IRON CURTAIN & IRON HORSE, but neither fits the blank need. Maybe you can come up with a 10-letter IRON* noun phrase.

I would be very pleased if there were 5 theme answers, with IRON CHEF AMERICA (15-letter) placed in Row #8 running through the whole grid.

Very smooth puzzle. Nice and easy. I had no problem obtaining OSCAR (37A: Lyricist Hammerstein) and LEVI (58D: Italian writer Primo), though I knew neither of them. I liked this new cluing approach. Felt refreshing.

Disliked the clue for OLIVIER (22A: "Hamlet" Oscar winner) because OSCAR is an answer. I think "Fabled city of treasure" should be OK for EL DORADO (26A: Fabled city of gold) as GOLD is part of the answer for 24D.

Across:

6A: Ltr. carriers: ENVS. And ENCS (6D: Ltr. extras)

10A: Ocean extract: SALT. Don't forget SALT is also an acronym for "Strategic arms limitation talks".

19A: "Sweater Girl" Turner: LANA. She is stunning. What's that background music? Sounds so familiar.

20A: 6-points: TDS. And KOS (21A: WBA stats)

41A: Southern cornbread: PONE. Does it look like this? I've never seen PONE in person. Dictionary says it's also called johnnycake.

45A: Killer whale: ORCA. The spelling of ORCA is so close to OCA, often clued as "Andean tuber". They are longer and thicker than Hawaiian TAROS.

46A: Yearn for: DESIRE. I DESIRE U2. ".... Burning, Burning..."

48A: Thought out: REASONED. And PONDERS (15D: Mulls over).

52A: Put on: DON. And CLAD (2D: Dressed in)

50A: Lytton Strachey's first name: GILES. No idea. I got his name from across fills. Are you familiar with "The Letters of Lyatton Strachey"?

64A: Cordelia's father: LEAR. The two bad daughters are Regan and Goneril.

68A: Vogue competitor: ELLE. Or "Model MacPherson".

Down:

5D: Dracula's creator: STOKER (Bram). See this book cover.

9D: Engraving tool: STYLUS. I am not familiar with STYLUS engraver.

13D: Symbol of sadness: TEAR. Very sad "TEARS in Heaven".

32D: John ___ Gardner: NANCE. No idea. Wikipedia says he was FDR's veep from 1933 to 1941, and he was the longest-living vice-president in US history (almost 99 years old). President Ford was the oldest former president, followed by Reagan, both over 93 years old.

47D: Plaza Hotel girl of comics: ELOISE. I vaguely recalled this name, but I could not remember what was the story behind this ELOISE.

49D: Some pool balls: SOLIDS. Lois probably will give us more explanation on SOLIDS. She is an expert on balls: bowling balls, pool balls, golf balls, etc, etc, etc.

55D: Enjoy some haikus, e.g. : READ. I thought it would be a good idea to clue READ as "Enjoyed some haikus, e.g." Past tense could be very cleverly misleading.

57D: Actress Nazimova: ALLA. No idea. This is a rather unique shot of her in the silent film "Camille". Wikipedia says Rudolph Valentino starred in the movie too.

59D: First place?: EDEN. Good clue. EDEN is Hebrew for "pleasure".

C.C.

Tuesday September 16, 2008 Barry Silk

Theme: "Ring...ring..ring...Homophone's calling"

20A: Aviation pioneer: ORVILLE WRIGHT

35A: Dramatic exit direction: STAGE RIGHT

44A: Do uncredited work: GHOSTWRITE

59A: Bar mitzvah, e.g.: RELIGIOUS RITE

I've never heard of STAGE RIGHT before.

Very nice puzzle, another pangram. Once again, there are quite a few abbrevations, just like yesterday's.

I had fun solving this puzzle. I liked seeing SPAHN (12D: Hall-of-fame pitcher Warren) being clued in a grid. It always reminded me the poem "First we'll use SPAHN, then we use Sain, then an off day, followed by rain...". He was a great pitcher, the winningest southpaw in baseball history. I wish I had this SPAHN Hartland figurine, the original one.

Had huge problem in lower left corner earlier. Had to google STAN GETZ and a few other words.

Across:

5A: Forage crop: SOYA. Inaccurate clue. I eat SOYA product every day, and I am not a cattle.

14A: Quantum event?: LEAP. Nice clue. I like last time's "Act of Faith?" too.

15A: No. brains?: CPAS. Of course I read it as "No brains". Very clever use of "number" abbreviation.

17A: Vijay Singh's homeland: FIJI. Here is a good picture of Vijay & Tiger at the 2002 Masters. Vijay is very cold in person.

18A: Warmonger: HAWK. Hmm, I think I love DOVE more. "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

19A: Along a rotation line: AXIAL

28A: Not orig.: IMIT. Look, the flower flies are sipping the morning dew. They look so real.

42A: Outer: pref: EXO. Or ECTO if it's 4-letter blank.

43A: Pitch woo: SPOON. I've never heard of this phrase "Pitch woo" before. Can you give me an example?

52A: Chapel Hill sch.: UNC (University of North Carolina). NPR's "The Story" is produced here.

55A: Sports division, est. 1969: NFC (National Football Conference). No idea. I had _ FC staring at me forever.

57A: Frilled strip: RUFFLE. What happened to her feathers?

63A: Castle that danced: IRENE. I've never heard of her name before. I like the embroidered flowers on her skirt. Roses?

68A: Stop order, asea: AVAST. And HALTS (13D: Terminates).

69A: Custard dessert: FLAN. I like crème brûlée, I like hard caramel on top of the custard.

71A: Frequency unit: HERTZ. Hz. One cycle per second. Gustov HERTZ won Nobel physicics in 1925.

Down:

1D: TV alien: ALF. Not familiar with this TV series. Only know ALF Landon, who has stubbornly made several appearances in our puzzles.

3D: Head steward: MAJORDOMO. New word to me.

4D: Richard's Agnew: SPIRO. And for RIPA (32D: Philbin's co-host). I forgot who was bothered by "Nixon's Agnew" clue last time. He/she should be happy now.

5D: Rifts: SCHISMS

6D: Fiery gem: OPAL. It's the birthstone for October. Mine is pearl. How about you?

7D: Ketch's sister: YAWL. Did not know the meaning of "Ketch". Thought it's a TV character. Have never heard of YAWL before. I know nothing about sailing or sailing vessels.

9D: George Lucas blockbuster: STAR WARS

11D: Pamplona pal: AMIGO. Good alliteration.

21D: Sch. in Lexington: VMI (Virginia Military Institute). I was thinking of Lexington, KY.

36D: Early invader of Rome: GOTH. Not familiar with this invasion at all.

37D: Cause of a rush: GOLD FEVER

39D: Govt. security: T NOTE. It was T BILL yesterday. Scary stock market lately. Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and now AIG, in less than 5 months, truly frightening!

41D: "The Girl from Ipanema" guy: STAN GETZ. How could Barry Silk think of HERTZ to cross STAN GETZ is beyond me. He has such a creative mind.

45D: Hotspot service: WIFI. Xchefwalt must have been experiencing troubles accessing his "Hotspot service". Have not heard any flower/flour comment from him for a few days.

46D: Loop or stud: EARRINGS

50D On the __ vive: QUI. Besides SHAQ (49A: O'Neal of basketball) and IRAQ, what other 4-letter words end with letter Q?

52D: Fictional Heep: URIAH

62D: Use an MRI: SCAN. I would prefer a simple "Read quickly". MRI is an abbreviation after all.

66D: Justice Fortas: ABE. I like how ABE parallels LAW (67D: Perry Mason's field).

C.C.