Wednesday October 29, 2008 Barry Silk

Theme: GOOD VIBRATIONS (48A: This puzzle's theme song)

20A: Oscillators: ELECTRIC RAZORS

25A: Oscillators: STEREO SPEAKERS

42A: Oscillators: BUMBLE BEE WINGS

And a bit of musician sub-theme:

60A: New Age music superstar: ENYA

61A: Crooner Jerry: VALE. I don't know him.

10D: Leader of the Medicine Show: DR. HOOK. Unknown to me also. This sounds nice.

Also a river undertone:

47A: Ubangi feeder: UELE. Big stumper! OK, this is the best map I could find (It will enlarge if you click on it). See the two rivers? UELE is on the upper right corner. The word Ubangi is on the upper middle part, under "Central African Republic". Ubangi flows more than 1,400 miles to the west before it joins the Congo River.

11D: German border river: ODER. It divides Germany and Poland. Flows to the Baltic Sea.

27D: Flower of Paris?: SEINE. Flow-er.

The following two clues definitely need "for short or abbr.":

39A: Tussaud's title: MME

55D: Dallas hoopster: MAV

I also don't like the clue for INDY (50D: 500-mi. race). The abbreviation of "mile" does not please my eyes.

Not an easy puzzle for me. I struggled at various spots.

Across:

5A: Dana of "Baretta": ELCAR. No idea. Wikipedia says he is the FBI Agent Polk (aka "Hickey") in "The Sting". No wonder he looks familiar to me.

10A: Martial arts school: DOJO. Literally "place of way" in Japanese, from old Chinese "Dao Chang" (道場).

16A: Vitamin bottle figs.: RDAS. Wow, I just found out that those guide lines were adopted in 1941.

18A: Gradually declined: EBBED

34A: Joker: WAG. New definition to me.

36A: Between, in poetry: TWIXT And ETERNE (5D: Without end, in poetry).

40A: Dancer Verdon: GWEN. She is Lola in "Damn Yankees". She appeared in our puzzle before.

41A: "Lola" band: KINKS. I like the melody of "Lola". Don't quite get the lyrics. What does it mean when he sings "I know what I am, I'm glad I'm a man. And so is Lola"?

46A: Bad, in Limousin: MAL. The regional capital of Limousin is Limoges, which is famous for its porcelain. This is a unicorn Limoges style. I really like Franklin Mint's "Collector's Treasury" unicorn set. Very artfully done.

55A: Albert of Throneberry: MARV. I know neither Marv Albert or MARV Throneberry.

59A: Rework to make work: ADAPT

62A: Winged mimic: MYNAH. It's also spelled as MYNA. New to me. This is so cute.

Down:

4D: Charlatan's doings: QUACKERY

6D: Lustful desire: LIBIDO

9D: Crisis period: RED ALERT

12D: Benchley novel: JAWS. I like some of the Steven Spielberg movies, not "Jaws". "Saving Private Ryan" & "Schindler's List" are my favorites. "Munich" is good too.

21D: Lose will: TIRE. I don't think so. "Lose energy" yes.

22D: Gusto: ZEAL

25D: Whale star: SHAMU

28D: Period of stability: PAX. It's clued as " ___ Romana" in our puzzle before.

30D: Official positions: RANKS. "Official" refer to "Military official" I presume?

36D: Midnight: TWELVE AM

37D: Place to surf: WEB. My first thought was SEA.

38D: Bookkeeping entry: LINE ITEM. Does US President now holds the LINE-ITEM veto power?

43D: No Oscar contender: B MOVIE. I don't quite understand the concept of B MOVIE. What does B stand for? A, B, C? Bad?

44D: Icy satellite of Jupiter: EUROPA. Unknown to me. It's named after a Greek mythical beauty EUROPA, who was abducted by Zeus. Interesting, Europe got its name from EUROPA too. See Rembrandt's "The Abduction of EUROPA".

54D: Police jacket letters: S.W.A.T. It's also a film name. Pretty good. Colin Farrell is a great actor. I like his "Cassandra's Dream".

C.C.

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.