Thursday October 30, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Be a Team Player

18A: Start of Bernard Baruch quote: WE DID NOT ALL

24A: Part 2 of quote: COME OVER ON

36A: Part 3 of quote: THE SAME SHIP, BUT

49A: Part 5 of quote: WE ARE ALL IN

54A: End of quote: THE SAME BOAT

Hooray! I actually understand this quote. I've never heard of Bernard Baruch though. He also said:

"If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

"Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why."

This grid looks strange. I've never seen 2 theme answers split up in the center (Row 8) on a 15*15 before. I was confused for a minute, thinking this might be a left-to-right symmetrical puzzle rather than a conventional 180 degree rotational one. Stupid!

Once again, I feel like this puzzle was guest-edited by someone else:

17A: Bull markets: UPS. Our editor Williams would clue it as "Raises".

20A: Cost of living?: RENT. Williams: "Monthly payment"

19D: Alternative to smoking?: NON. Williams: "French/Nice turndown".

29A: Piccadilly Circus statue: EROS. Williams: "Greek god of love".

43A: Deer sirs: STAGS. Great clue. Williams: "Some male deer".

62A: 1969 Peace Prize grp.: ILO. Williams: "Worldwide workers gp."

63A: In place: SITED. Williams: "Located".

47D: Pint drink, perhaps: ALE. Williams :"Pub order".

It's nice to have fresh clues. Our brains need constant stimulation. The clue for CEO (22A: Boardroom bigwig) needs an abbreviation hint. "Boardroom VIP" is good.

Across:

4A: Deep, unnatual sleep: SOPOR. Rip Van Winkle is waking up after 20 years of SOPOR.

14A: "Seinfeld" uncle: LEO. I like this episode.

27A: Olympic sled: LUGE. I just learned that LUGE is also the winning word of 1984 National Spelling Bee. Have you seen "Spellbound"? Those kids are incredible.

28A: Deposited: LAID. I don't think any editor wants to try "__ off" clue during this worrying economic downturn period.

33A: Former French coin: SOU. Another old French coin is ECU.

46A: "South Park" boy: STAN. It also means "country": Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc. Persian origin.

48A: Baloney!: PISH. New word to me.

51A: Junior exec.: ASST

52A: Chem. contaminant: PCB (Polychlorinated Biphenyl). No idea. Its spelling does look toxic.

61A: Churchill Downs event: DERBY. The on-line clue is "Kentucky hat?", which sounds more appealing to me.

65A: Big Apple letters: NYC. Technically, it should have "initially" in the clue.

Down:

2D: Censure: REPROACH. I often confuse "censure" with "censor".

7D: Greek vowel: OMICRON. It's between XI and PI. I cheated on this one.

8D: Cowboy's showcases: RODEOS

10D: Keep inside: BOTTLE UP

11D: Old-fashioned warning: ALARUM. No idea. I am not Shakespeare.

12D: Caviar source: BELUGA. I've never had BELUGA caviar before. Love salmon roe on sushi (ikura).

25D: "Chicago" role: VELMA. Played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Great musical.

26D: Buffalo's county: ERIE

33D: Alan Ladd classic: SHANE. Have never seen the movie. Samuel Jackson did mention the name SHANE in "The Negotiator".

35D: Take a tour: SIGHT SEE

37D: Brief announcement: BULLETIN

38D: Early or late: UNTIMELY

39D: Warner Bros. creation: TOON. I like the alliteration in those character names: Daffy/Donald Duck, Porky Pig, Roger Rabbit, etc. And DOC (59D: Elmer, to Bugs). I am still waiting for the "What's up, ____?"clue.

43D: Forceful flowings: SPATES

44D: Hebrew month: TISHRI. New to me. It's the first month in Hebrew calendar. The last month is ELUL.

49D: Typist's stat: WPM

Does anyone know what's the music behind this "Women in Art" clip?

C.C.

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.