Wednesday October 1, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: CUFF links

18A: "Felony Squad" star: HOWARD DUFF

61A: Refuse baloney: TAKE NO GUFF

3D: Weakling: CREAM PUFF

26D: Half a pair of warmers: EAR MUFF

37D: Unclothed: IN THE BUFF

HUFF and LUFF are two other ?UFF rhymes. I've never heard of the wader RUFF before. Dennis probably loves this RUFF.

There is also a car related sub-theme:

9A: 1986 Indy winner Bobby: RAHAL

40A: ___ Romeo (Italian car): ALFA

39D: Miniature racer: KART

57D: Classic Brit. sports cars: MGBS

59D: Sporty Camaro: IROC

Great to see both ZSA ZSA (20A: One Gabor) and EVA (62D: Sister of 20A) in one puzzle. Magda's name has 2 vowels too. I wonder why her name does not appear on Xword often.

I had another hard time this morning. Too many proper names for me. Besides, I was so sad. Twins lost their one-night stand. All of the sudden, this season is over. But I don't really hate the White Sox or A. J. Pierzynski. A.J. might drive many players and fans crazy, but he was my favorite Twins before he was traded to the Giants (then White Sox). Then Johan Santana became my favorite, but he was traded away too.

Never mind, it's still a great season for Justin Morneau and the Twins.

Across:

1A: Opening letters: ABCD. I like how ABCD intersects A TO Z (1D: All-inclusive breadth).

5A: Richie's mom, to the Fonz: MRS. C. Big stumper for me. She is played by Marion Ross. Everybody is so happy in that picture.

14A: One-thrid of a WWII movie?: TORA. It's pretty good movie. But "Pearl Harbor" is better.

16A: Garlic sauce: AIOLI. Ai (garlic) + Oli (oil). This AIOLI looks so green, too much herb I think.

24A: Oceanic: MARINE. I would prefer the clue to be "Devil dog" related to tie in with PFCS (71A: Military E-3s). What is E-3s?

31A: Public funds: TREASURY. Are you OK with this clue?

33A: Legendary drummer Gene: KRUPA. An unknown legend to me. I don't understand this "Drum Boogie" clip, which one is KRUPA?

36A: Moo juice: MILK. Is this a play for word or is "Moo juice" a well-accepted slang for MILK?

41A: Irish patriot Robert: EMMET. I really like "Bold Robert EMMET" folksong: "... A hero I lived, a hero I'll die..."

42A: One-named Irish singer: ENYA. "Believe, and you will find your way..."

46A: Sitcom about nothing: SEINFELD. This is my favorite SEINFELD moment.

50A: Breakfast fare: CEREAL. I am curious, what do you normally have for breakfast? Do you solve crossword puzzle before or after breakfast?

53A: Hold it right there: FREEZE

66A: Parisian pupil: ELEVE. Have not seen École for a long time.

67A: Runny cheese: BRIE. Nuts with runny cheese?

69A: Valuable fiddle: STRAD. Joshua Bell bought one for $3.5 million.

Down:

2D: Ribbon knots: BOWS. Or "Joshua Bell's needs".

4D: "Taxi" co-star: DANZA. I would not have got his name without the across clues.

5D: Goat coat: MOHAIR. Angora goat to be exact.

9D: Josh of "How I met Your Mother": RADNOR. Unknown to me. Did he have a fling with Britney Spears?

11D: Julianne of "Dancing with the Stars": HOUGH. Another unknown. She looks very pretty.

12D: Actress Woodard: ALFRE. I forgot. Her face looks very familiar, so I must have seen her somewhere before.

13D: Full-term con: LIFER

25D: __-Marcus: NEIMAN. Have you read "Bergdorf Blondes"? Plum Sykes used to work for Anna Wintour (Vogue).

28D: "So Much in Love" group: TYMES. Here is the song. I've never heard of "The TYMES" before. I like the title. It reminds me of Buttercup and her farm boy. They are "So Much in Love".

41D: Actor Estevez: EMILIO. Can never remember his name. Wish he would change his name into Sheen.

45D: Biographer of Henry James: EDEL (Leon). Learned his name from doing Xword. He wrote a five-volumn biography of Henry James.

54D: Fasten a fly: ZIP UP

64D: By gone expletive: FIE. I vaguely remember someone uttered FIE on a comment not long ago.

C.C.

Tuesday September 30, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: Fruity Places

17A: Colorado site of three U. S. Opens: CHERRY HILLS

24A: Miami neighborhood: COCONUT GROVE

36A: Atlanta's main drag: PEACHTREE STREET

48A: Santa Ana, CA location: ORANGE COUNTY

58A: Roy and Dale's California town: APPLE VALLEY

COCONUT is not a fruit. It's a nut, isn't it? Such high fat content. I've never been fond of raw COCONUT milk or COCONUT meat. Always bake them first.

I liked this puzzle very much, so fresh, fruity and sweet. I still can not grok Norma Steinberg's choice of CLANG CLANG CLANG as a theme answer yesterday. I know it's trolley sound, but really it does not fit the other 2 theme entry pattern, unless I completely misread her mind.

I also liked how DECKS (1D: Ship's floor) intersects KOS (20A: Bout enders). I wonder what John Underwood's original clue is for DECKS, since it can also mean "Knocks down". The clue for SKILLET (46A: Cast-iron pan) is simply wrong. He probably never cooks.

Across:

1A: Thingamajig: DOODAD. I wonder if anyone has constructed a "Gizmo" themed puzzle. It would be very scrabbly.

11A: Canine grp.: AKC (American Kennel Club). I just learned that except Kenturky Derby (first held in 1875), no other continuously held sporting event in the US is older than Westminster show (1877).

14A: Bakery treat: ECLAIR. Decadent and delicious.

15A: Temple, ancient: NAOS. Greek for "temple". "Cella" for the Romans. I've never heard of it before. I suppose you can call Temple of Applo a NAOS. I wonder what is the diameter of those great columns.

31A: So I think, online: IMO. This is an excellent acronyms list. Thx, Clear Ayes.

27A: Gordon and Sheila: MACRAES. I got it from the down fills. Know neither of them.

32A: "And I love ___": HER. Here is the song. Does "HER" refer to Yoko Ono?

43A: Zigzag: WEAVE. They are not really synonymous, are they?

52A: Paid male date: GIGOLO. "American GIGOLO" is the first Richard Gere movie I saw.

62A: Tours season: ETE. Here is a map, see where Tours is? I like this clue.

Down:

2D: Cinco y tres: OCHO That will be "HUIT" in Tours.

4D: __ es Salaam: DAR. No idea. It's the largest city in Tanzania.

5D: Jordan's nickname: AIR. Always thought it's "AIR Jordan" altogether, not AIR alone.

6D: Solid carbon dioxide: DRY ICE

7D: Vidalia veggie: ONION. Nice gift box.

9D: Cell phone clip-ons: HOLSTERS. Here?

12D: City on the Vyatka River: KIROV. Foreign to me. See this map. Lots of "oblast", what does it mean? Province?

13D: __ de menthe: CREME. But I want some CREME brûlée, and this, and this. Je te veux, que je t'adore.

29D: Hammer end: CLAW. Seattle John said last time that the CLAW "is not technically an end of a hammer. It is an end of the hammer poll. A hammer has two parts - the handle and the poll. The poll is commonly called the hammer head. The poll has two ends - the face and the peen. The face obviously is the flat end for pounding things. The peen can take on various shapes depending on the hammer's intended use. The most common shapes are ball and claw. A ball peen hammer is used for forging materials and a claw peen hammer can be used for prying things like extracting nails."

34D: Campbell of "Scream": NEVE. I've never seen "Scream". I liked her Julia role on "Party of Five".

38D: Recruiting grp.: ROTC. Really?

39D: Piccadilly dilly: TWIT. I don't understand this one. What is "Piccadilly dilly"?

45D: Crazy Horse, for one: OGLALA

46D: Operatic spear carrier: SUPE. I did not know the meaning of "operatic spear carrier".

47D: Jacks: KNAVES. This answer did not come easily to me at all.

48D: Eyeballed: OGLED. I always thought of "eyeball" as "roughly measure something", as Rachel Ray often does.

51D: Tiny hooter: OWLET. Look at this lovely saw-whet, the smallest owl according to Kit.

55D: Unskilled toiler: PEON. So close to PEONY.

59D: Free ad: PSA (Public Service Announcement).

C.C.