Friday November 7, 2008 Barry Silk

Theme: How Now Brown Cow

20A: Feeling Okay?: HOW ARE THINGS?

29A: Occasionally: NOW AND THEN

46A: Rolling Stones hit: BROWN SUGAR

56A: Farmer's outing contest: COW CHIP THROW

I was bewildered by Barry's choice for 46A. I wanted a BOW* phrase, thinking of a WOW rhyming theme. (Addendum: I was not aware of "How now brown cow" phrase. Thanks, Chris.)

I've never heard of COW CHIP THROW. I did not know the meaning of COW CHIP. How can people stand the smell?

Are you OK with the HORNET clue (67A: Charlotte pro)? Shouldn't be "New Orleans pro"? I also don't understand the STRIP clue (55D: Get into your birthday suit?). How so?

Across:

1 Math proof letter: QED. Have not seen ERAT (Often clued as "Part of QED") for a while.

4A: Triton's sch.: UCSD (University of California, San Diego). I did not know that Tritons is their mascot.

14A: Verse starter?: UNI. No guts to clue it as "Sex starter"?

15A: Lanai neighbor: MAUI. I wonder why Hawaiian language are so vowel intensive.

16A: Having a tapering end: POINTY

18A: Tournament passes: BYES

23A: Luke's Jedi mentor: OBI-WAN. Do you know how the author came up with this name? It sounds very Japanese.

33A: Glum drop: TEAR. Very unexpected clue. I like it though.

44A: Linguist Chomsky: NOAM. I forgot. Saw this clue before. Is he very famous?

48A: Key with 3 sharps: A MAJ. I suppose "3" indictes that the answer needs to be abbreviated.

53A: QVC rival: HSN (Home Shopping Network). QVC will be a very scrabbly answer for "HSN rival".

54A: Court decree: ASSIZE. This is a new word to me. I thought of WRIT.

59A: #1 hit by the Fleetwoods: MR. BLUE. Here is the song. New to me also.

62A: Purim's month: ADAR

65A: Soda brand: NEHI

68A: C. Everett __: KOOP. I googled. He was Reagan's Surgeon General.

Down:

1D: Cape Cod clam: QUAHOG

4D: Eclipse shadow: UMBRA. Partial shadow is penumbra.

6D: Mutton fat: SUET. Is it the same as lard?

9D: Beatnik instrument: BONGO DRUM. BONGO was clued as "Drum type" in Barry's last puzzle. Here is "Let There Be Drums" again.

12D: MO town: STL. I am used to the "Cardinal's letters" clue.

13D: Part of a wd: SYL And PHRASE (64A: String of word).

27D: Cameo stone: ONYX. This ONYX tile looks broken.

31D: Injustice: WRONG

32D: Bo's number: TEN. Very sexy bellyrolling scene.

33D: Brownstone, perhaps: TOWNHOUSE. Or this brand of cracker, perhaps.

37D: Roof with removable panels: T- TOP

40D: Nonvenomous snake: BOA. I had no idea that it's nonvenomous.

43D: Comparable to candy or kisses: AS SWEET. How old is this sign?

45D: Plains tribe: ARAPAHO. Sigh, I forgot again. It's been in our puzzle 3 times since I started blogging.

49D: Desert illusion: MIRAGE. Do you like "The English Patient"?

50D: Portuguese islands: AZORES. See this map. It's in North Atlantic. New to me.

51D: Gems: JEWELS

57D: Slugger Aaron: HANK. We often see AARON clued as "Slugger Hank".

59D: Radar gun meas.: MPH

C.C.

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.