Tuesday October 28, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: Echo Words

17A: Lacking in decisiveness: WISHY-WASHY

62A: Bit of whatnot: KNICKKNACK

11D: Drag one's feet: DILLY-DALLY

28D: Travel back and forth: CRISSCROSS

I think ZIGZAG (39A: With 40A, sharp turn: ZIG & 40A: See 39A: ZAG) and TIPTOP (24D: With 44D: first-rate: TIP & 44D: See 24D: TOP) should be counted as part of the theme answers, even though they are broken (so artfully). I feel that lots of thoughts were given to the grid construction.

Here is a wonderful link on reduplicatives. Flip-flop, riff-raff and chitchat all sound appealing to me.

Great puzzle. Fantastic clue for TKOS (60D: Match ends?). I dislike the clue for SIZE (30D: XL, XXL or XXXL). Why all big sizes?

Across:

1A: "12 Angry Men" director Sidney: LUMET. Have never watched "12 Angry Men". I wonder why "Eight Men Out" is not "8 Men Out".

6A: Sharp, localized pain: STAB. Why "localized"?

10A: Picked from a lineup: IDED

25A: "Family Ties" mother: ELYSE. I googled. Looks like a fun show.

29A: Aquatic crustacean: ISOPOD. New word to me. Dictionary says they have 7 pairs of legs. Are they edible?

33A: Plunder: RAPINE. This is a new word to me also. The root of this word reminds me of canola oil, which is extracted from rapeseed. Canola stands for Can(ada) o(il) l(ow) a(cid).

35A: Latin primer word: AMO. AMO, amas, amat.

45A: Miss in Fr.: MLLE. Have you seen "Mon père, ce héros"? This is a remake "My Father the Hero". Katherine Heigl was 14 when she appeared in the movie. Very sexy bathing suit, isn't it?

46A: Artist Botticelli: SANDRO. I did not know his given name. See his "Birth of Venus".

54A: Pointer, for one: BIRD DOG. Do you like Everly Brother's "BIRD DOG"? I like their "Bye Bye Love".

Down:

5D: President after Polk: TAYLOR. Polk's middle inital K stands for KNOX.

8D: Wiesbaden wails: ACHS. See this ACH list. ACH so!

9D: Evan from Indiana: BAYH. I can never remember how to spell Senator BAYH's name. He was on Obama's VP search list.

10D: Philippines port: ILOILO. No idea. It's also the capital city of ILOILO Province. It's so named because of its nose-like shape. "Nose" is "ilong" in local Illonggo languag. See this map. It is known also for its "raw-silk and pineapple-fiber fabrics".

31D: Son of Judah: ONAN. Learned from doing Xword.

34D: Antiquing element: AGER. I don't understand this. What is AGER?

36D: Bamako's land: MALI. Ah, Ali Farka Touré's land. Wonderful "Diaraby".

45D: "Vogue" singer: MADONNA. I guessed. I've never heard of "Vogue" before. She is divorcing Guy Ritchie.

48D: Livened (up): PERKED

C.C.

Monday October 27, 2008 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Phrasal Verbs with OFF ON

17A: Authorize in writing: SIGN OFF ON

56A: Argue toe-to-toe: FACE OFF ON

11D: Begin, as a trip: START OFF ON

28D: State one's opinions: SOUND OFF ON

I wish 56A were SQUARE/SLACK OFF ON, then every theme entry would start with letter S.

I really liked the ERIE clue (13D: Superior's inferior?), very clever. UNDO (14A: Cancel) could be clued as "Computer edit command" to complete a computer sub-theme, together with EXE (20A: Program file extension) and UNIX (2D: Trademark DOS).

It's an OK puzzle. I didn't find the theme inspiring though.

Across:

15A: Icefield: FLOE. Dictionary says ice FLOE is smaller than "Icefield", which is smaller than ice sheet and similar in area to ice cap. Very confusing.

21A: Essential meaning: POINT

36A: French you: VOUS. "Voulez-VOUS" from "Mamma Mia!".

40A: Seine feeder: MARNE. Unknown to me. See this map. It's a famous W.W. I battle site. Alfred Joyce Kilmer, the poet of "I think that I shall never see /A poem lovely as a tree" was killed at the second battle of the MARNE in 1918.

42: Homer's TV neighbor: NED. No idea. NED is always clued as "Actor Beatty". So is Bart Simpson's "Aye carumba" is a corruption of Spanish "Ay caramba"?

43A: Deuterium discoverer: UREY (Harold). I forgot. Saw his name before. He won Nobel Chemistry in 1934 and he was also involved in the Manhattan Project.

44A: Film festival site: CANNES. Palme d'Or for CANNES, Golden Lion for Venice Film Festival (the oldest film festival in the world).

55A: Actress Woodard: ALFRE. Ha, what can I say. I forgot her name again. Do you watch "Desperate Housewives"?

Down:

1D: Italian actress Elenora: DUSE. No idea. Wikipedia says she is the first woman to be featured on the cover of Time magazine (July 30, 1923).

6D: Michael Caine film: ALFIE. I've only seen Jude Law's 2004 ALFIE.

8D: Only penciled in: TENTATIVE

26D: Singing chipmunk: ALVIN. Here is their "The Christmas Song". So weird.

27D: Singer Pat: BOONE. Here is his "Ain't That a Shame".

31D: Unmanned aircraft: DRONE. I wonder if the constructor's original clue is bee related, since she has STING (34A: Wasp attack) gridded so close by.

34D: Nerve - wracking: STRESSFUL

37D: Indian garb: SARI. Has anyone seen "The Darjeeling Limited"?

57D: Temporary mania: FAD. I can never understand the Beanie Babies FAD.

C.C.