Wednesday, November 5, 2008 Edgar Fontaine

Theme: Nanny (Fine) Rhyme Time

20A: 1977 PGA Championship winner: LANNY WADKINS

50A: Slugger with second-most grand slams: MANNY RAMIREZ

3D: "Lethal Weapon" star: DANNY GLOVER

25D: Candy brand: FANNY FARMER

LANNY WADKINS is a familiar name to most golf nuts. He used to cover every PGA Championship for CBS. I did not know that he won 1977 PGA. Filled in MANNY RAMIREZ quickly, though I had no idea that he has the second-most grand slams (20), only 3 behind the record holder Lou Gehrig. Had no problem getting DANNY GLOVER. But FANNY FARMER was new to me.

Nice and easy puzzle for me. There were several unfamiliar names, but most were obtainable from the adjacent fills. I liked how the two Across theme answers intersect the two Down clues.

My favorite today is the clue for YUAN (52D: Dynasty before Ming). YUAN is mostly known as "Chinese Currency ". YUAN Dynasty (1271-1368) was founded by Khubai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan.

In his poem, Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem wrote: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan /A stately pleasure-dome decree /Where Alph, the sacred river, ran /Through caverns measureless to man/Down to a sunless sea."

The Dynasty before YUAN is called Song, and the Dynasty after Ming is Qing, the last Dynasty in China. Had to memorize this in primary school, the same as you did for all the 43 US Presidents I suppose.

Most of the crossword constructors must be excited that Obama won the election. Now they can have fun cluing his two daughters' names: Malia and Sasha, very crossword-friendly, plenty of vowels.

Across:

1A: Brewski: SUDS. This reminds me of a clue for ALE: "Bath suds". Bath is the spa capital of the UK. It's located in south-west England. See it? It's close to Bristol.

5A: Shoot from a cover: SNIPE. I love Clint Eastwood/John Malkovich's "In the Line of Fire".

10A: Principal Skinner's nemesis: BART. I got it from the down clues. Have never watched "The Simpsons".

14A: Grizzly weapon: CLAW

23A: Opposite of the seven seas?: DRYLAND. I did not know that DRYLAND is a word.

29A: "Pursuit of the Graf __": SPEE. I've never seen this movie, have you? I cannot understand the fun of "I am as mad as Hell, and I am not going to take it any more!" in Peter Finch's "Network".

31A: "Exodus" hero: ARI. He is portrayed by Paul Newman in the movie.

32A: Bases on balls: WALKS

35A: FDR's Blue Eagle: NRA (National Recovery Administration). NRA is also National Rifle Association of course. I wonder why it's called Blue Eagle instead of Brown Eagle?

38A: Nabokov novel: PNIN. Learned from doing Xword. Have never read this book.

39A: RPM part: REV. I wrote down PER first.

45A: Fire from a low-flying aircraft: STRAFE. I can never remember this word. So close to STRIFE in spelling.

53A: River of Pisa: ARNO. Here is the map. See Florence and Siena?

56A: Bible version: DOUAY. No idea. I strung the answer together from across fills. What is DOUAY?

Down:

2D: Of an arm bone: ULNAR. Ulna: ULNAR. Radius: RADIAL.

4D: Tchaikovsky ballet: SWAN LAKE. Very pretty.

5D: Gives rise to: SPAWNS.

9D: Applied scientist: ENGINEER. I would not have got this answer without the across fills. Such a narrow definition of ENGINEER.

21D: Kissers: YAPS. I sure have problem with English slangs.

26D: Gallico novel, "Mrs. __ Goes to Paris": 'ARRIS. Have you read this novel? I've never heard of it before.

27D: Laughing: RIANT. Present particle of French verb "rire" (laugh). Risible has the same root. (Note: Thanks, Martin.)

32D: Merchandise: WARES. New definition to me. I always associate WARE with hardware, software, silverware, etc.

37D: Magnificent: SPLENDID. Do you like NPR's "The SPLENDID Table"?

38D: First public performance: PREMIERE. Same pronunciation as premier, right?

48D: Love in Limousin: AMOUR. Good alliteration in the clue. "Love in Louvre" (Cupid & Psyche) will be great too.

48D: Silk -cotton tree: CEIBA. See this picture. Kind of like cotton, isn't it? New word to me. Wikipedia says it's also called kapok, and it's a sacred symbol in Maya mythology.

49D: Pound and Stone: EZRAS. Know the poet Pound, have never heard of EZRA Stone before. What is he famous for?

51D: Sushi wrapping: NORI. I also love NORI rice cracker.

55D: Keanu in "The Matrix": NEO

C.C.

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.