Tuesday November 4, 2008 Willy A. Wiseman

Theme: Winner or Loser?

4A: Winner or loser?: BARACK OBAMA

58A: Winner of loser?: JOSEPH BIDEN

1D: Winner or loser?: JOHN MCCAIN

31D: Winner or loser?: SARAH PALIN

I wish 58A were JOE BIDEN. But then the symmetry would have been lost.

Great puzzle, perfectly matched theme pairs in the grid. Brilliant! Even the none-theme presidential fills have a 180-degree symmetry and evenly divided between GOP and Dem:

3D: W: GEORGE BUSH. His anagram is "He bugs Gore".

29D: "Commander in Chief" star: GEENA DAVIS. Her Veep is a Democrat.

25D: Dick Cheney's predecessor: AL GORE

28D: Presidential also-ran of the past: LANDON. He lost to FDR in 1936.

Only one minor flaw, the clue for EKING (44A: Barely making do) should be "Barely making do, with "out").

I want to share with you this hilarious Yma Dream. Some of those guests are our crossword stalwarts: Yma Sumac, Ava Gardner, Abba Eban, Oona O'Neill, Eva Gabor, Uta Hagen, Ida Lupino, Matah Hari. The others are: Ugo Betti, Ona Munson, Aga Khan, Ira Wolfert, Ilya Ehrenburg, Anna Magnani, Pia Lindstrom & Mieczyslaw Horszowski. I love those photos in the clip.

All right, if you haven't, get out and vote.

Across:

16A: Exploit too much: OVERDEVELOP. Isn't this a photography term?

19A: Saul's uncle: NER. I memorized this name from doing Xword. OK, so Saul's father is Kish. And Kish and NER (father of Abner) are sons of Abiel. So complicated.

21A: Dodger Pee Wee: REESE. Ha, I did not know that he is a champion marbles player and pee wee is a small clay marble. I always thought he was very short. He is in the HOF of course. Here is a picture of REESE with Jackie Robinson.

24A: Speaks roughly: RASPS. Or "Sings roughly"? Do you like "Good Morning, Vietnam"?

28A: George Sand novel: LELIA. I've never read LELIA. I truly believe Chopin would have lived longer had he not left George Sand. "There is only one happiness in this life: to love and to be loved".

33A: Closet item: HANGER

34A: Former queen of Spain: ENA. She is the Queen of Spain from 1906 -1931.

39A: A Gandhi: INDIRA. Interesting, her son Rajiv's name is "lotus flower" in Hindu language. Why would she name her son a flower?

43A: Yellowish pink: PEACH. It's symbol of longevity in China.

50A: Altar of stars: ARA. It's always the palindromic ARA if it's a 3-letter blank.

56A: Extinct: DEAD AS A DODO. New expression to me, though I knew DODO is extinct.

Down:

2D: Too much to take: UNBEARABLE. Our Xword actress Lena Olin is in "The UNBEARABLE Lightness of Being". She also appears in "Chocolat", together with Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench and Johnny Depp.

4D: Hobgobins: BOGIES. What does "Boogie Street" refer in Leonard Cohen's song?

7D: Island group in the Moluccas: ARU. See this map. It's Indonesia's island. I've never heard of ARU or Moluccas before.

8D: Mil. watchdog grp.: CDI (Center for Defense Information). Absolutely no idea. Got it from the across clues. It's established in 1972 according to Wikipedia.

26D: Tuscany commune: SIENA. Our editor has been very fond of "commune" lately. But it's a city, isn't it?

30D: Factual fault: INACCURACY

37D: Phom Penh cash: RIEL. I guessed. Here is their bank note.

39D: Mushroom with black gills: INKY CAP. Unknown to me. See this picture. Wikipedia says INKY CAP is "poisonous when consumed with alcohol, hence another common name Tippler's Bane." Have you ever had it? Does it blacken your tongue?

45D: Chrissie of the Pretenders: HYNDE. Another unknown. Here is their "Stop Your Sobbing".

46D: Pilgrimage to Mecca: HADJ. Also spelled as HAJJ. It's the 5th pillar of Islam.

C.C.

Monday November 3, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: The Fab Four

17A: Cornpone: JOHNNYCAKE

66A: NYC street game: RINGO LEVIO

11D: Asian figwort trees: PAULOWNIAS

29D: D. C. neighborhood: GEORGETOWN

I recognized the PAULOWNIA tree when I saw the picture. I could almost smell its flowers and see my childhood. But too bad, I did not know its English name.

I am not fond of today's theme entries at all. They don't feel tight to me. And the word "Asian" should not have appeared in theme answer 11D or 38A: Asian nation (LAOS). Why not "China's neighbor"? ASIAN is an answer for 31D: From Tibet, for example.

Easier puzzle though. I was really hammered hard yesterday.

Across:

1A: Abrasive tool: RASP. Our editor likes to clue RASP as "Coarse file".

15A: Kukla's pal: OLLIE. Kukla, Fran & OLLIE.

16A: "Peter Pan" pet: NANA. She is a St. Bernard.

25A: New York City harbor entrance: NARROWS. See the red strait? Not a familiar name to me.

58A: Author of "Portnoy's Complaint": ROTH (Philip). No idea. Here is the book cover. Is it an interesting read?

65A: "Typee" sequel: OMOO. Its subtitle is "A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas".

68A: Bryn __ College: MAWR. Edith Hamilton's alma mater. Kathrine Hepburn also attended this college. I love the letter she wrote to Spencer Tracy in her biography "Me, Stories of My Life". Very touching.

69A: "Lou Grant" star: ASNER (Ed). He also "kidnapped" Kunta Kinte in "Roots".

70A: "The __ on the Floss": MILL. George Eliot novel. I got it from the down clues. What is it about?

Down:

1D: Hindu prince: RAJA."British rule in India" (before 1947) is RAJ.

6D: San Francisco Bay island: ALCATRAZ. I love "The Rock". It's set on ALCATRAZ Island.

8D: "Blue Voyage" poet: AIKEN (Conrad). Unknown to me. "Blue Voyage" is a novel. I like these two lines from his "All Lovely Things":"All lovely things must have an ending /All lovely things must fade and die..."

10D: Ancient Greek poet: ANACREON. Unknown to me also. Wikipedia says he is a "lyrical poet" and notable for his "drinking songs and hymns". And his songs often celebrated "women, wine, and entertaining, and today can be considered eroticism". Very interesting information: Francis Scott Key modified Stafford Smith's melody of "To ANACREON in Heaven" for "The Star-Spangled Banner".

39D: Mediterranean coast: SEASHORE. Why "Mediterranean"?

45D: Tennis star of the '90s: SAMPRAS. He has won 14 Grand Slam singles title: 2 Austrian Open, 7 Wimbledon, 5 US Open. Roger Federer now has 13 singles titles: 3 Australia Open, 5 Wimbledon and 5 US Open.

54D: John Lennon kit: WOMAN. Here is the song.

60D: Sicilian resort town: ENNA. The volcano is ETNA, "I burn" in Greek.

C.C.