Tuesday October 7, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: Space Music (All Song Titles)

17A: Wernher von Braun?: ROCKET MAN

21A: Cageless canary? FREE BIRD

37A: Pilot's request?: COME FLY WITH ME

56A: Elevens, not ones, in blackjack?: ACES HIGH

61A: British flyer?: AEROPLANE

Wow, Michael T. Williams sure loves space science. Remember his Celestial Cinema (Sciene Fiction Films) puzzle?

I am not familiar with any of above songs. In fact, I was thinking of "HOME SWEET HOME" for 37D, so many similar letters with COME FLY WITH ME.

Several obscure clues/answers for me. Had to google. I did love seeing ETS (43A: UFO pilots) in the grid, so fitting to the theme. And I thought "Cockpit communication device" would be a better clue for RADIO (19A: Brit's wireless) today.

Had to admire the symmetry of TOO (2D: Also) and NOR (64D: And also not). Very well done!

But "Cut sheep" for SHEAR (54D)? I think EWE are wrong.

Across:

1A: Alone: STAG. I penned in SOLO first.

5A: Acronym before World Series: NLCS (National League Championship Series). Whom are rooting for this year, Dodgers or Phillies? Very interesting, ORIOLES (42A: Ripken's team) won the World Series in 1966 (against Dodgers), and won it again in 1983 (against Phillies).

9A: African fever: LASSA. I've never heard of this disease. It's first discovered in a town called LASSA in Nigeria. Sade was born in Nigeria.

14A: Unhinged: LOCO. Are they really interchangeable?

30A: Sacred river of India: GANGES. See this map. It flows into the Bay of Bengal.

34A: San ___, CA: ANSELMO. Here is the map. New to me. What is it famous for? What's the origin of its name?

45A: Geisha garb: KIMONO. And NOH (32D: Japanese drama). This masked NOH character doll in KIMONO costs $295. Too much.

48A: Card poets: RHYMERS. Are you OK with this clue?

59A: Letters for 1051: MLI

60A: Strong, cotton thread: LISLE. It's named after the French city Lille (formerly Lisle), where it was first made.

66A: God of Assyria: ASHUR. Also spelled as ASSUR. I wanted ALLAH, thinking "Assyria" a Muslim name. See this map. Assyria is an ancient empire in northern Mesopotamia (Iraq). So confusing: ASHUR was not only one of the capitals of Assyria, but also its highest God. I don't understand this information. Is ASHUR the "Silly Hunter" Nimrod ( Noah's great-grandson) then?

71A: Blow-gun ammo: DART. I did not know what a blow-gun is.

Down:

1D: Camera letters: SLR. What a boring clue.

3D: Coll. sports. grp.: ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference)

4D: Mini-racer: GO KART

6D: Hasty retreat: LAM. Somehow "Retreat'' brought SPA to my mind.

7D: Cause friction: CHAFE. I tend to confuse CHAFE with CHAFF.

8D: Composer of "The Nubians of Plutonia": SUN RA. Nope, I've never heard of him. What a cool name he picked for himself. RA is Egyptian God of Sun.

11D: Short section of a track: SIDING. What track?

22D: Pool spin: ENGLISH. Lois can probably provide us with her expert opinion on sidespin, topspin and backspin.

24D: Weakly colored: pref.: LEUC. Or LEUCO, LEUKO. As in "leukemia". Completely unknown to me.

26D: __ Park, NJ: MENLO. EDISON is often clued as "The Wizard of Menlo Park".

29D: Group in "The Godfather": MAFIOSI. The singular form is MAFIOSO. Their code of silence is OMERTA, which is also the title of a Mario Puzo book. I've also read his "The Last Don".

35D: Part of a wd.: SYL (Syllable)

44D: Old pol. unit: SSR (Soviet Socialist Republic)

45D: Furry marsupials: KOALAS. Time to get up! Crossword has arrived.

46D: Carve: INCISE

47D: Brandy's sitcom: MOESHA. I have never heard of MOESHA. Brandy used to date Kobe Bryant, right?

59D: City near Essen: MORS. Also spelled as MOERS. Here is the map. Absolutely no idea. Dictionary says it's "a city of west-central Germany west of Essen. Chartered in 1300, it is a market center. In Ruhr district."

C.C.

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.