Thursday October 9, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Cut Losses

21A: Start of Molly Irvin quote: THE FIRST RULE OF

28A: Part 2 of quote: HOLES:

34A: Part 3 of quote: WHEN YOU

47A: Part 4 of quote: ARE IN

51A: End of quote: ONE, STOP DIGGING

Is this an original quote from Molly Irvin?

Too many 3-letter words for my taste. I guess the constructor has no other way to get around unless he shortens 21A into "THE FIRST RULE" and move "OF" into the next line. But then he will have difficulty grid the remaining quotes symmetrically.

I don't know. I do remember reading it somewhere that the theme answers for Quote/Quip puzzle do not have to follow the 180-degree rule, though all of them should be structured in all Across instead of Down.

Across:

1A: FDR Program: WPA. It's shut down in 1943 as WWII created lots of jobs in the military.

7A: Fella: BUB. I penned in BUD.

15A: Candler of Coca-Cola: ASA. It could also be clued as "Happy ____ clam" if partial fill is allowed in our puzzle. I don't understand why our editor stubbornly eschews this. Remember Barry Silk said last time that this actually makes it harder to construct for TMS than for other papers?

18A: Bad in Sedan or Limousin: MAL. Sedan is town in Northern France, and Limousin is one of the 26 regions in central France. I had never heard of them before. Very clever clue though.

19A: One with lots to offer?: REALTOR

30A: Rhyming verse: POESY. New word to me. I only know POETRY.

36A: Mike of talk radio: MALLOY. His name is foreign to me.

41A: Christiania today: OSLO. Wiki says "it's called Christiania from 1624 to 1878, and Kristiania from 1878 to 1924."

45A: With all one's might: AMAIN. I forgot this word.

50A: Site of ancient games: NEMEA. I've never heard of this place before. Doesitinink probably will give us more information about this site.

54A: Inhuman being: ANDROID. What is the difference between a ANDROID and robot?

56A: Eerie poet: POE. Very nice "Annabel Lee" interpretation.

57A: Douglas' tree?: FIR. It's also the state tree for OREG (41D: Neighbor of Calif.)

60A: Basic of edu: RRR. Mine was ABC. What is RRR again?

61A: Scottish river: TAY. The longest river in Scotland.

Down:

1D: Huh?: WHAT THE. Shouldn't "Huh" be in quotation mark?

2D: Haystack odd one out?: A NEEDLE. Is this playing on "needle in a haystack"? What does "odd one out" mean?

4D: Negligent: REMISS

6D: Pimento: ALLSPICE. Yes, no need for you to check again, Bill. Pimento is a synonym for ALLSPICE.

9D: Ancient fertility god: BAAL. I was thinking of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of fertility.

11D: Abundant: PROFUSE. So many *FUSE word: diffuse, defuse, confuse, infuse, refuse, effuse, etc. I suppose they are all of the same root.

20D: Strung along: LED ON. I did not know this "deceive" meaning of "String along".

23D: Overland excursion, perhaps: TRAIN TRIP

27D: Sweat shop?: GYM. Do you walk, jog or go to the GYM for exercise?

30D: City near Lourdes: PAU. I forgot all about PAU. Last time Mr. Olschwang clued CES as "Pau pronoun". See this map. It's a winter resort.

35D: Inclined to give in: YIELDING. It's so hard not to yield to certain temptations in life.

37D: Pungent gas: AMMONIA. Both AMIDE and IMIDE are AMMONIA compound, right?

38D: Hamper collection: LAUNDRY. Do you wash your bras in the washing machines? I don't. Never.

39D: Metric unit: LITER

42D: Part-time athlete: SEMIPRO. Amateur has the same number of letters as SEMIPRO.

43D: Some claimants: LIENORS. "claimant" is a new word to me.

44D: Wild Asian asses: ONAGERS. I forgot. Here is a picture. Its spelling reminds me of grilled eel UNAGI. Delicious!

46D: __ oo!: TOODLE. New to me. I've never heard of "chin chin" as "ta ta" either.

49D: Steps over a fence: STILE. This "fense" is easier for me to grok. I really had difficulty understanding the "Steps over a wall" clue yesterday.

52D: Peau de ___ (soft silk): SOIE. French for silk. "peau" is skin. "mal dans sa peau" is "Ill at ease."

C.C.

Wednesday October 8, 2008 Doug Peterson

Theme: Oops!

17A: Beginning of autumn: FALL EQUINOX

28A: Cam-controlled tool: TRIP HAMMER

44A: Windblown vegetation: TUMBLE WEED

60A: Place to jot a note: SLIP OF PAPER

Great puzzle. Very smooth. Lots of nice compound words.

Only one letter (Z) away from a pangram. Did you notice that we only have 35 blocks today? So many times we have been offered a 38-block puzzle. I think that's the maximum number of blocks allowed in a grid.

Was ALAN (22A: Sillitoe or Paton) a gimme for you? I found this clue to be very obscure. I guess I am used to the ALAN Alda/Greenspan/Shepard clue. Tell me who is your favorite famous ALAN.

Have a look at Justin Smith's new puzzle site when you have time. He says he adds puzzles and updates daily.

Across:

1A: Token booth: KIOSK. Besides Kodak, knack, knock, can you think of any other 5-letter word that starts and ends with letter K?

6A: Kick out: EJECT. I like how it crosses JOINS IN (7D: Becomes part of).

11A: 2nd sight: ESP. I don't understand this one. "Sixth sense" yes, but why "2nd sight"?

15A: Shearer of "The Red Shoes": MOIRA. I've never heard of her before. See "The Red Shoes" clip. The music sounds great. Dictionary says MOIRA is also the personification of fate in Greek mythology.

25A: Thin pancake: CREPE. Here is some raspberry CREPE suzette for you, Razzberry. It has real flour.

35A: Russian horseman: COSSACK. No idea. Dictionary says it's a Turkish word meaning "adventurer". They are noted for "their horsemanship and military skill; they formed an elite cavalry corps in czarist Russia." See this clip. Taras Bulba is an Urkraine COSSACK.

41A: Infamous cow owner: O'LEARY (Catherine). I forgot. She appeared in our puzzle before, clued as "Chicago cow owner". (Addendum: Today is Mrs. O'LEARY's Cow Day. Nice one, Editor).

43A: Steps over a wall: STILE. What wall?

50A: One-ups: TRUMPS. Not us? You are fired.

59A: Verizon, once: GTE. It's merged with Bell Atlantic in 2000. Verizon is probably one of the better performers of Dow 30. Immelt, you are no Jack Welch.

66A: Pages in papers: OP-EDS. Ha, I struggled with this one.

67A: Rumormonger: YENTA. The name of the matchmaker in "Fiddler on the Roof" YENTE.

Down:

1D: Diplomat Anna: KOFI. I find it very hard to understand Ban Ki-moon's English.

8D: "__ kleine Nachtmusik": EINE. Enjoy this bit of Mozart. "Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius".

12D: Mexican shawl: SERAPE. It's the same as poncho, right? I like these ones.

13D: Board smoother: PLANER. What's the difference between a plane and a PLANER? Don't you call a worker who uses the plane to smooth things a PLANER also?

26D: Space-saving abbr. ETC

27D: Old card game: LOO. I've never played it. I really like "Elton's john?" clue for LOO, so clever. See here, Barry Silk's "Curly Poker" (MOE) made Paul's "Clever Clue of the Month".

29D: Devout request: PRAYER

39D: Land in la mer: ILE

45D: Long overcoat: ULSTER. I've never heard of ULSTER coat before.

46D: King novel: MISERY. No idea. Is it good?

47D: Hilary of pop: DUFF. She is so sweet. Her sister Haylie is very pretty too. We just had Howard DUFF last Wednesday.

51D: One of Potter's rabbits: MOPSY. Absolutely no idea. I've never read any Harry Potter novel. (Addendum: My bad. Potter here refers Beatrix Potter).

55D: Center of activity: HIVE. This reminds me of the Beehive hair.

C.C.