Monday October 6, 2008 Barry Silk

Theme: ReTAIL Tag

17A: User interface navigation technique: BREADCRUMB TRAIL

26A: Abbott/Haney board game: TRIVIAL PURSUIT

42A: Futile quest: WILD GOOSE CHASE

55A: Proceeding normally: ON THE RIGHT TRACK

WITHOUT A TRACE will be great too.

AL HUNT's name is probably too short for a theme answer. Is he famous enough or people know him only because he is Judy Woodruff's husband?

Felt like I was watching CNN's "The Situation Room" this morning:

47D: Newsman Blitzer: WOLF

18D: Powell of the Bush White House: COLIN

58D: GOP gathering: RNC

Too bad JACK (10A: Writer Kerouac) is not clued as "The Situation Room" commentator Cafferty. He whines too much though. I would prefer KILL (13D) to be clued as "Veto" rather than "Murder". That upper right corner felt weird to me this morning.

I disliked the clue for ATHLETES (38D: Track figures) because TRACK is part of the theme answer for 55A. Tell me how you would have clued ATHLETES. I really enjoyed hearing everyone's NURSE clue last time. So many sparkling ideas, esp Barry G's "One may be registered".

Across:

1A: Stamp pad: INKER. This reminds me of the boring Chinese calligraphy classes we were required to take in primary school.

16A: Race in "The Time Machine": ELOI. This has become a gimme, so are LOEB (21A: Leopold's co-defendant), ICBM (1D: SALT subject) and LSATS (28D: Exams for future attys). They used to be big stumpers for me.

20A: V x CCXXI: MCV. Roman 1105.

23A: Base on balls: WALK. Very nice clue.

33A: Audacious: BRAZEN. The spelling is quite close to CRAVEN.

35A: "___ la Douce": IRMA. I tend to confuse the name of this movie with "La Dolce Vita". TREVI (26D: Fountain of Roma) is featured in the movie.

36A: Actor Burton: LEVAR. He is so good in "Roots".

37A: GI Jill, once: WAC (Women's Army Corps). I would not have got it without the down clues.

38A: Blood vessel: pref.: ANGIO. Angioplasty e.g. Tough crossing with IMIDE (31D: Ammonia compound). I knew neither of them. "I" was hard to obtain.

Down:

3D: Ukraine's capital: KIEV. I like their prime minister (Yulia Tymoshenko). She is very pretty.

5D: Aussie lefty of tennis: ROD LAVER. I had no idea that he is a lefty. Whom do you like more, Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal?

10D: Abrupt yank: JERK. Is "The JERK" a good movie?

23D: Washington cager: WIZARD. I don't follow NBA. Who is their best player?

27D: "Bolero" composer: RAVEL. Once again, the flowery "Bolero", to keep your blood flowing.

29D: Singer O'Connor: SINEAD. Her "Don't Cry for me, Argentina" is the best.

43D: Mavin of Motwon: GAYE. I learned his name from doing Xword. Not familiar with his songs. I like this song title.

54D: Hebrides island: SKYE. Here is the map. Did you see IONA on the south? Maybe that's how actress Ione SKYE (with John Cusack in "Say Anything") got her name. IONE was clued as "Actress Skye" on our August 29 puzzle.

C.C.

Sunday October 5, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: Let's Face It

23A: Offer no resistance: TURN THE OTHER CHEEK

34A: All talk and no action: LIP SERVICE

42A: Old: LONG IN THE TOOTH

66A: Avoid danger like an ostrich? BURY ONE'S HEAD IN THE SAND

86A: Ideal of perfection: APPLE OF ONE'S EYE

96A: No time for photographs? BAD HAIR DAY

111A: Be way overcharged: PAY THROUGH THE NOSE

I always thought APPLE OF ONE'S EYE means something/somebody one loves and treasures. Besides, IDEAL is the answer for 37A: Perfect example. So I am not fond of 86A clue.

I've never heard of OMER (104A: Hebrew harvest month) before. But it's not really a Hebrew month, isn't it?

I dislike the clue for APRICOT (Peachlike fruit). Nectarine looks like peach, APRICOT? No!

The clue for ADIEU (19A: Farewell, mon amour) made me laugh. If you clue it as "mon amour", why don't you clue RIEN (36D: Nice nothing?) as Edith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette RIEN"? Or better yet, clue SES (88D: His, in Hyeres) as Pascal's "Le coeur a SES raisons..."? We can launch a whole new discussion about love & reason today.

Great puzzle though, very nice theme concept and great execution. I think I like having 7 theme entries (all Across fills) for a Sunday 21*21. It requires longer theme answers and makes the grid look simpler and prettier. Oh, by the way, nearly all of quip/quote puzzles have their theme answers structured in the across clues.

As usual, I had to google. Some of the names are too obscure to me. But I only used Liquid Paper a few times, so I must be getting better.

Across:

16A: Dawber of "Mork and Mindy": PAM. I like her BANGS (60D: Forehead cover).

20A: Dishevel: TOUSLE

22A: Troy, NY sch.: RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). I can never remember this name. Wiki says it's "the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world". Which university is the oldest in the world, Cambridge?

27A: Initials of the "Wizard of Menlo Park": TAE. A stands for ALVA.

29A: Hodges of baseball: GIL. Gimme. He was the manager for the 1969 Miracle METS (63D: Queens Nine).

41A: Ex-quarterback Boomer: ESIASON. No idea. Only knew him as Boomer.

50A: Roman galleys: BIREMES. Another unknown. See this picture. It has two tiers of oars on each side.

51A: Baltimore player: RAVEN. Or the "Nevermore" bird.

53A: Liquid appetizers: APERITIFS. I've never had ouzo, have you?

57A: "Woman Drying Her Feet" painter: DEGAS. OK, here is the painting. He painted so many "After the Bath" scenes.

62A: Larry McMurtry western, "Streets of ___": LAREDO. I forgot. It appeared in our puzzle before.

63A: Grayish violet shades: MAUVE. I like this James Whistler line: "MAUVE is just pink trying to be purple". You'll find Whistler's Mother at Musée d'Orsay also.

65A: Six Day War battleground: SINAI

72A: Production figure: QUOTAS

74A: Guitarist Lofgren: NILS. Vaguely heard of his name. Who is Keith?

75A: Crushes to mush: PULPS. I penned in PUREE first.

76A: Amount of charm: SUAVENESS. If you say so.

79A: French solider of WWI: POILU. New to me. It's a slang for French solider during WWI. Literally, hairy one.

80A: More crude: CRASSER. I wanted COARSER.

106A: Not a people person: ASOCIAL

109A: The Racer's Edge: STP

116A: Cacoon fiber: SILK. This reminds me of a big childhood mulberry tree our neighbor used to have. Silkworms ate mulberry leaves, and I ate mulberries.

117A: "Bewitched" grandmother: ENDORA. I forgot. I am going to eat worm if I forget her name again next time.

122A: Arctic bloom: AVENS. No idea. They seem to have long STEMS (6D: Flower holders).

Down:

1D: Type of comb: RAT TAIL. Why is it called RAT TAIL?

2D: Da Silva of soccer: EDUARDO. Nope, I've never heard of his name before. Is he very famous?

11D: Saul's uncle: NER. Got it from across fills.

12D: TV screener?: V- CHIP

13D: Threat ender: OR ELSE

18D: Kitten's loss: MITTENS. Pure guess. Was not familiar with the "Three Little Kittens" nursery rhyme.

24D: Possess like a Scotsman: HAE. Scottish for HAVE.

25D: PC pic: CGI. No idea. Computer Generated Imagery?

30D: Terrible czar?: IVAN

34D: Sayer the singer: LEO. I had no idea that he is the original singer for "When I need you". Beautiful song.

38D: Sexual desire: LIBIDOS. Hmmm, I did not expect such a clue/answer.

40D: Romaine: COS. Originated from Greek COS/KOS Island.

43D: Radon, originally: NITON. Big stumper. I've never heard of it before.

45D: Playboy's founder, fondly: HEF. What a strange life he has lived!

47D: Fountain of coins: TREVI. Have you seen "La Dolce Vita"?

48D: Walter of golf: HAGEN. Gimme for me. He was the first American to win British Open.

53D: Composer Berg: ALBAN. No idea. This is a clip from his opera "Wozzeck". I only understood one word: Marie.

54D: 1945 Nobel Prize winner Wolfang: PAULI. Another unknown.

56D: Point NW of San Francisco: REYES. No idea. See this picture of Point REYES National Seashore. How to pronounce REYES?

67D: Distant beginning? EQUI

68D: Roman dictator (82-79B.C.): SULLA. No idea. Wikipedia says "His character was once described as being half fox and half lion, due to his perceived cunning and bravery." And Machivelli alluded to "this description of SULLA in outlining the most desirable characteristics of a prince."

69D: Jump aboard: HOP UP

75D: Sophie's Carlo: PONTI. Great marriage. PONTI produced "Doctor Zhivago".

77D: Tampa sch.: USF (University of South Florida). I did not know this.

78D: Kyushu volcano: ASO. Only know the Chinese word for ASO mountain (阿蘇山). Wiki says it's "the largest active volcano in Japan." By the way, is A SO the same as AH SO (Charlie Chan)?

79D: Tony or Carlos: PENA. So many great baseball players are from Dominican Republic.

81D: Sleep letter: REM (Rapid Eye Movement)

82D: "Lolita" novelist: NABOKOV. He also created the first Russian crossword.

83D: Worsted cloth: ETAMINE. Not familiar with this fabric. It's stamen in French, see this flower picture.

85D: Asian goat: TAHR. Too ugly for me to remember. It's a kind of Nepolese mountain goat.

87D: Be a buttinsky: PRY. "Buttinsky" is a new slang to me.

93D: Kind of socks: ARGYLE. Great ARGYLE socks.

97D: Iron Mike of the Bears: DITKA. Wikipedia says DITKA and Tom Flores are "the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach." I know neither of them.

100D: Earthy color: OCHRE

101D: Dove and Rudner: RITAS. Have never heard of poet RITA Dove before.

107D: Brewskie: SUDS. "Brewski" is also a new slang for me. I don't drink beer.

C.C.