Monday October 13, 2008 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Breakfast Sandwich

17A: "Apollo 13" co-star: KEVIN BACON

56A: Decorative molding: EGG-AND-DART

11D: Horse of the year, 1938: SEABISCUIT

27D: Tough luck: HARD CHEESE

So heavy, a glass of fresh orange juice and a lightly toasted English muffin is more healthy.

I have never heard of EGG-AND-DART before. I don't think I like "EGG" being placed in front of the phrase. It's inconsistent with the other three theme entries. I wonder why the constructor did not consider CODDLED EGG or POACHED EGG, which has the same number of letters.

I don't mind seeing O'HARE (26D: Midwest airport) and O'HARA (31D: Scarlett's last name) in the same puzzle. But I really can't stand having SEEKS (62A: Goes after) and SEEK (49D: Endeavor to obtain) in one grid. Very lazy construction/editing.

I wish WAR (24D: Word with cry or chest) were clued as WAR Admiral (1937 Triple Crown winner) to pair up with SEABISCUIT. They raced together several times, didn't they? I cannot remember the movie too clearly.

Across:

5A: Malcolm __ Warner: JAMAL. He was in "The Cosby Show". Unknown to me. Wikipedia said he was named after Malcolm X and Jazz pianist Ahmad JAMAL.

14A: Mine entrance: ADIT. Here is a picture.

15A: Shaped like Humpty Dumpty: OVATE. I thought of OVOID first.

24A: Japanese horseradish: WASABI. Do you like WASABI peas?

25A: Minerals scale: MOHS. Mineral hardness is measured by MOHS scale. I did not know this. Wikipedia says the hardness of TALC (19A: Soft mineral) is 1, Diamond is 10. Interesting, on the MOHS scale, a fingernail has a hardness of 2.5. I wonder what are the numbers for frozen bananas and hard-boiled eggs.

35A: Like bags under eyes: POUCHY. Only know pouch.

36A: Sail support: YARDARM. No idea. What is it?

38A: Kind of reality?: VIRTUAL

40A: Artist Holbein: HANS. This is his famous portrait of Catherine Howard, "the rose without a thorn".

42A: Right-hand page: RECTO. Verso is left-hand page (even-numbered page).

55A: Zeno of __: ELEA. The other Zeno, Zeno of Citium, the Stoic, was born Cyprus.

59A: Cake cut: PIECE. Ha, this was not a PIECE of cake for me. Mine was slice.

61A: Tot seat: KNEE. Joint for jerks? Yes!

Down:

1D: Capital of Azerbaijan: BAKU. Garry Kasparov was born in BAKU. He showed guts running for Russian presidency last year. He is very articulate and idealistic in a certain way.

2D: March's middle: IDES. Or the middle of May, July and October, and the 13th of other months.

3D: Seedy bar: DIVE. I just learned this word a few days ago.

4D: Steps over fences: STILES

5D: Grass beads: JOB'S TEARS. I've never liked JOB'S TEAR soup, which is very popular in Asia. It's supposed to soften your facial skin.

18D: Beatty of "Deliverance": NED. Remember this dueling banjos scene?

22D: Small drums: TABORS. Is 10" the average diameter of those TABOR drums?

25D: Urban honcho: MAYOR

32D: Strong polyester film: MYLAR. I strung the answer together from across clues. What a strange name!

35D: Evergreen droppings: PINE CONES. "Droppings" conjures up a very unpleasant image to me.

43D: Thick-heeled shoe: WEDGIE

44D: Smear or blur: SMUDGE

50D: Highlands group: CLAN. It's rooted Scottish Gaelic "clann", meaning family.

C.C.

Sunday October 12, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Ex Libris

25A: Start of Ed Howe quip: WHEN I GET HOLD

38A: Part 2 of quip: OF A BOOK I ADMIRE, I

50A: Part 3 of quip: AM SO

72A: Part 4 of quip: ENTHUSIASTIC THAT I LOAN

96A: Part 5 of quip: IT TO

103A: Part 6 of quip: SOME ONE WHO NEVER

122A: End of quip: BRINGS IT BACK

So he does not really like the book, does he?

Wikipedia does not have an entry for Ed Howe, so I suppose he is not very famous.

He also said: "As a man handles his troubles during the day, so he goes to bed at night a General, Captain, or Private." I don't think I get it either. He has different rank because the way he is treated by his wife?

This is probably the most boring Sunday TMS puzzle I've ever solved. Nothing thrilling. Quip never excites me. I guess I have difficulty understanding English puns or irony/sarcasm contained in the quip.

It's nice to see MAHATMA (9D: Gandhi's title) and INDIRA (42D: Gandhi of India) in the same puzzle though. They are different Gandhi's, but both great leaders. I am surprised that Indian people are not tired of the Nehru/Gandhi family dynasties.

I wanted TORN APART for 90D: Ripped open (TORN INTO). "Tear into" has a different meaning, doesn't it? The clue for STRIA (79A: Glacially produced grooves) is simply wrong. The clue is asking for STRIAE.

Across:

8A: Shadows: UMBRAS. I suppose "umbrage" is rooted in UMBRA.

21A: Kickback money: PAYOLA

23A: Scottish river: TAY. I think I linked this one several days ago. See Perth? Heath Ledger was born in Perth, Australia.

27A: Like the pounding surf: AROAR

32A: Data on jackets: TITLES. I wish TITLES were positioned where SMITE (62D: Hit hard, old-style) is, in singular form of course.

48A: Trues up: ALIGNS. I would like to see TRUES UP clued as "Align" next time.

57A: German city: STADT. German for "city".

63A: Loses traction: SLIPS. I wanted SKIDS.

66A: Tank top?: GAS CAP. I liked the question mark.

78A: Captive of Paris: HELEN. PARIS was clued as "Helen's abductor" yesterday. Who is the singer of the song "Poison"?

80A: "Oedipus" composer: ENESCO (Georges). I've never heard of his name before. This violin piece sounds so good.

83A: Extras in a theater production: SUPES. Should be SUPERS of course.

89A: Shoe form: LAST. I really had no idea that this wooden shoe model is called LAST.

93A: Runs in the heat: MELTS

97A: "The Devil Wears Prada" star: STREEP. Meryl STREEP is so talented. She pulled off the evil Miranda role so beautifully.

99A: Golfer Mediate: ROCCO. I think this is ROCCO Mediate's crossword debut.

112A: Japanese mat: TATAMI. This TATAMI bed looks a bit hard. Interesting, I recognize Japanese kanji "First time" and "High" on the pillow sheet.

113A: Fleet leaders: ADMIRALS

118A: Stretch of unchanging weather: SPELL. New definiton of SPELL to me.

125A: Franc's follower: EURO. Since Jan 2002.

128A: Literary anthology: CENTO. It's "a literary or a musical composition formed by selections from different authors disposed in a new order." New to me. ANA is a collection of work from one particular author, right?

135A: Some of the French?: DES. Good clue.

Down:

6D: Currier's partner: IVES. Got it this time.

8D: Prey's perilous position: UPWIND

12D: First Arabic letter: ALIF. Dictionary says ALIEF is the first letter of Hebrew alphabet.

14D: Gold-rush name: SUTTER (John). I had no idea that the SUTTERS built Sacramento.

15D: Gossamer: ETHEREAL. "Gossamer" is a new word to me.

17D: Cherbourg she: ELLE. Here is the map. Cherbourg is a seaport in Northwest France on the English Channel. Unknown to me.

30D: Complete failures: FIASCOES. The plural form can also be FIASCOS.

33D: Woman alone on stage: SOLA. Solus for man. I did not know this before.

35D: Monet's medium: OILS. Here is Monet's "Haystacks". Both Millet and van Gogh painted some great hayfield scenes too.

39D: Nancy of "The Beverly Hillbillies": KULP. No idea. I googled her name.

41D: Deuce, at the French Open: EGAL. I always associate EGAL with "equal" rather than "even".

44D: Jerry Reed song: AMOS MOSES. Here is the song slip. What is it about?

49D: Tampa neighbor: ST. PETE. Should have "informally" in the clue.

52D: "The Good Earth" heroine: OLAN. The best book about pre-1949 China, in my opinion, very real.

53D: Quickly: POSTHASTE. I did not know that "lickety-split" also has DF meaning until several weeks ago.

67D: Pretentious sorts: PSEUDS

74D: Golden-brown quartz: TIGER EYE. This reminds me of the blue glass Turkish evil eye amulets.

75D: Revere: HALLOW

77D: Norse goddesses of fate: NORN. New to me. It refers to "any of three goddesses of fate, the goddess of the past (Urd), the goddess of the present (Verdandi), and the goddess of the future (Skuld)".

98D: Cayenne car: PORSCHE. Pure guess. Why is it called Cayenne?

100D: Achieve victory after victory: ON A ROLL

102DL Akkadian kingdom's founder: SARGON. Unknown to me. He conquered Mesopotamia.

104D: Laptop item?: NAPKIN

106D: Improvised: VAMPED. Not familiar with the jazz term VAMP. VAMP is always siren to me.

119D: Soup ingredient: LEEK. I don't think so, unless you are making a potato leek soup.

C.C.