Thursday November 6, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Eloquence in Politics

20A: Start of Mario Cuomo quip: YOU CAMPAIGN IN

36A: Part 2 of quip: POETRY. YOU

54A: End of quip: GOVERN IN PROSE

Wow, I always thought this was Hillary Clinton's original quote. I am eager to see if Obama can deliver what he has promised. I've been mesmerized by his oratory style, very poetic.

Mario Cuomo had left the political arena when I arrived in the US, so I don't have a good understanding of his political philosophy. This is such a great line, so succinct and true. It kind of reminds me Beverley Nicols' quote on marriage: "Marriage is a book in which the first chapter is written in poetry and the remaining chapters written in prose."

Quite a few EE combinations in the grid. Very bad clue for MERGE (31D: Blend together). See 9D: Amalgam: BLEND. A simple "Traffic sign" would have avoided this duplication. I also dislike the clue for NATO (56D: Amer.-Eur. alliance). Canada and US are NATO members. Mexico is not. Why "Amer." then? The clue is not tight.

I also don't understand the clue for GEES (42A: Launch forces). How so?

Across:

1A: FBI agent: G-MAN

9A: Full-scale attack: BLITZ. I am glad the campaign ad BLITZ is over.

17A: NYC theater: ANTA (American National Theatre and Academy). No idea. Is it very famous? Why British spelling for "Theatre"?

18A: Afrikaner: BOER. "Farmer" in Dutch.

28A: Orch. section: STR

29A: Disney dwarf: GRUMPY. Hmm, too bland a clue. I really like the "Happy colleague?" clue for "DOC" last time. "Sleepy friend?" or "Dopey pal?" or "Bashful buddy?" all sound great.

32A: Apple leftover: CORE. And PIP (36D: Apple seed). Have you tried honeycrisp yet?

33A: Scottish River: TAY. It's the longest river in Scotland.

43A: Big galoot: OAF. KLUTZ will be a great fill too. Very scrabbly.

51A: A Gabor: EVA. I like this Anne Bancroft "Yma Dream" too. I suppose you can add Uma (Thurman), Oprah, Yoko (Ono), etc. Oh, Yo-Yo Ma too. Who else can you think of?

52A: Thelma or Tex: RITTER. Know Tex RITTER, not Thelma.

61A: Andy's radio partner: AMOS. I memorized it from doing Xword. Did you listen to it when you were a kid?

67A: Low-blow weapon: KNEE. Very unexpected clue for me.

Down:

2D: Canon rival: MINOLTA. I am not familiar with this brand. It's merged with Konica in 2003.

3D: Insurance statistician: ACTUARY

4D: Rights grp.: NAACP. Wow, it's founded in 1909.

5D: Go under: SUBMERGE

7D: Primal goddess of Greeks: GAEA. She is the Mother Earth. Her husband Uranus is Father Sky. They are parents of Titans and the ugly Cyclopes. Zeus is their grandson. I am getting better at this Greek Mythology.

11D: Sir Walter Scott hero: IVANHOE. Nope, I've never heard of this hero or the book. Interesting, Wikipedia that Robin Hood is mentioned in this novel also.

13D: Final letter: ZEE. Another insipid clue. What about "Head of Zoo"?

27D: "The One I Love": R.E.M. Here is the song. What does "Another prop has occupied my time" mean?

35D: Rumor spreader: GOSSIP

38D: Ones who pine: YEARNERS. Is this even a word?

40D: Poetic planet: ORB

44D: Truly amazing: AWESOME. I love Doesitinink's "There is no charge for awesomeness." AWESOME!

57D: Fertility goddess: ISIS. It's a Egyptian goddess. This is ISIS nursing her son Horus. Notice her cow-horned head? That's her symbol.

C.C.

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.