Sunday November 9, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Selective Collective

27A: Group of pooches: OODLES OF POODLES

120A: Group of tropical fish: MASSES OF WRASSES

16D: Group of swine: SCORES OF BOARS

34D: Group of food fish (var.): SCADS OF SHADS

37D: Group of jumpers: LOADS OF TOADS

39D: Group of jumpers, briefly: SLEWS OF ROOS

59A: Group of male donkeys: STACKS OF JACKS

I've never heard of the tropical fish WRASSES (120A). Why there is a "var." mark for 34D?

What a puzzle! Now I feel like a raisin in the morning sun, not dried up and not plump either. I think I still have some moisture left.

I've never filled in so many blanks on a Sunday puzzle. The simple rhyming theme certainly helped. And there was no obscure medical/chemical term intersecting one another to frustrate me.

Had to do a few googling and a few V-8 moment wite-outs in the end. But today's efficient solving makes me feel rather smart. Not much to complain except the clue for SASH (86A: Pageant ID). The abbreviated ID is asking for an abbreviated answer. A simple "Pageant wear" will do the job.

Across:

9A: Type of committee: AD HOC. And another Latin phrase: HIC (77A: __ jacet).

21A: Dentition: TEETH. Dention and teething are synonymous, not TEETH, right?

25A: Mediterranean island nation: MALTA. Its capital is Valletta.

26A: Parkinson's medication: L-DOPA. I forgot. It appeared in our puzzle before.

32A: Gang follower?: STER. Gangster, mobster, teamster, etc.

36A: Kind of tea or remedy: HERBAL

60A: "__ the Explorer": DORA. Lovely DORA bedding set for a small girl.

80A: Switched switch: OFF ON. I don't understand the grammar of the clue.

88A: Both haves of a fly?: TSES. Tsetse. I guess there is no other better way to clue TSES.

89A: "The Right Stuff" org.: NASA. Pure guess. I've never heard of the movie "The Right Stuff" .

92A: Prairie coverage: OAT GRASS. Oh, I did not know that this grass is called OAT GRASS. So different from wheatgrass.

95A: Swanson of Hollywood: GLORIA. She appears in almost every JFK biography due to her affair with Joe Kennedy Sr.

97A: Disney World attraction: EPCOT. Have you been to EPCOT Center?

107A: Everett of "Citizen Kane": SLOANE. I googled his name. I found the movie hard to follow.

111A: such being the case: AS IT IS

123A: Plant with two seed leaves: DICOT. No idea. See this Monocot vs DICOT link. What are "two seed leaves"?

128A: Century plant: AGAVE. The fiber AGAVE yields is called sisal hemp.

132A: Desert traveler: NOMAD

133A: DOD part: DEPT. DOD is Department of Defense.

Down:

1D: Poetic stanza: STROPHE. I would not have got this word without the across fills.

2D: Spaces between leaf veins: AREOLES. The singular form is AREOLA, which was clued as " Ring around the pupil" last time.

4D: Space station of old: SKYLAB. From 1973-1979. MIR was de-orbed in 2001.

6D: New bread abroad: EUROS. I like this clue.

9D: Start of sphere: ATMO. Atmosphere.

10D: View from Mount Pisgah: DEAD SEA. Where is Mount Pisgah? I only see Mount Nebo.

15D: Capp of comic strips: ANDY. Hmm, I'd love the clue to be ANDY Garcia related.

17D: Long-snouted animal: TAPIR. He is ugly, like a pig. I did not know his name before.

28D: Day's march: ETAPE. Again, without the adjacent fills, I would not have obtained this word. I don't think I understood "Day's march" last time when we had the discussion.

29D: Bay window: ORIEL. See this link.

45D: Animal fat: LARD. It's pork fat. Suet is beef/mutton fat.

47D: Thin wdt.: NAR. Narrow? What is "wdt"? Width?

50D: Defeat decisively: TROUNCE

51D: Bombing runs: SORTIES

52D: Corey of "Murphy's Romance": HAIM. Another google. Have never heard of Corey HAIM or "Murphy's Romance" before.

53D: Silents star Theda: BARA. The Vamp. I often confuse her with the "It" girl Clara Bow.

55D: Oscar winner Kedrova: LILA. She won Oscar for "Zorba the Greek".

63D: Supreme Court Justice Black: HUGO. What case is he famous for?

74D: Far from the flock: LOST

94D: Diamond of "Night Court": SELMA. Is she the pretty girl on the front row? I've never heard of her name before.

96D: Fretting: IN A STEW

98D: Tapioca source: CASSAVA. Have you had fresh CASSAVA before?

102D: Yellowstone attraction: GEYSERS. Great picture.

108D: Eviction: OUSTER

109D: Trooper's gun: RADAR. Or the Nehi drinker (M*A*S*H).

119D: Vincent Lopez theme song: NOLA. I could only find this theme music clip, not the song.

C.C.

Saturday November 8, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

This does not feel like an Allan E. Parrish puzzle, does it? There are no Z, Q or X. I think Barry Silk's puzzles are more consistent, with all those scrabbly letters.

I just had a quick look at my blog summery earlier. Since Jan 21, we've solved 45 Alan P. Olschwang puzzles, 28 Alan E. Parrish, 25 Michael T. Williams, 20 Barry Silk and 18 Josiah Breward. I wish John Underwood could be more productive. Some of Norma Steinberg's and Stan Whitten's puzzles are very entertaining too.

I don't expect much grumbling about this puzzle today. Pretty straightforward cluing. Most of the new words are obtainable from the adjacent fills. The clue for TRADE NAME (33D: Corporate ID) should not be abbreviated.

Across:

1A: '80 arcade game: MS. PAC-MAN. Stumper for me. I only knew PAC-MAN.

15A: Bologna tongue: ITALIANO. Both Jude Law and Matt Damon are great in "The Talented Mr. Ripley". I like "Tu Vuo' Fa L'Americano", though I don't understand the meaning of the lyrics.

17A: Denial: NEGATION

20A: Loss of memory: AMNESIA. I also love "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". It's about AMNESIA, lacunar AMNESIA to be exact.

23A: Show shock, e.g.: REACT. "It's not what happens to you, but how you REACT to it that matters". Hard to obtain Epictetus' stoical self-discipline though.

26A: NASA orbiter: ISS (International Space Station). Our editor likes to clue ESA as "NASA's ISS partner".

27A: 1997 Nicolas Cage movie: CON AIR. Some of it is too violent for my taste. I like the song "How Do I Live".

31A: Space station visitor: ASTRONAUT. I have an autographed John Glenn picture.

34A: Behind with bills: IN ARREARS

39A: Ones with a will: TESTATORS. What is the word for "Ones without a will"?

45A: Old-time actress Renee: ADOREE. I forgot. Saw this clue before. She was a silent film star. And she died when she was only 35, without a will.

46A: D-Day vessel: LST. It's used in "Saving Private Ryan".

55A: Aircraft pioneer: CESSNA (Clyde). Ha, I forgot all about him & his aircraft. My poor graying brain!

59A: Spanish pianist Jose: ITURBI. No idea. Here is ITUBRBI playing Chopin's "Fantaisie-Impromptu".

61A: Molded dishes: ASPICS. I am going to try this vegetable ASPIC someday. Marvelous idea to sprinkle over some pistachio nuts.

62A: Pittsburgh players: STEELERS. They have won 5 Super Bowls. Vikings: 0.

Down:

1D: Mediterranean island: MINORCA. Great map. See MINORA & Majorca? They belong to Spain. I've never heard of it before.

3D: Public spectacle: PAGEANT. What a mysterious case with that little PAGEANT princess JonBenet!

5D: Tickets: CITATIONS

12D: Vertical bar between panes: MULLION. Unknow to me. These are not MULLIONS, are they? They are horizontal.

24D: Piranha: CARIBE. No idea. Ozzi Guillen likes to call Twins players "Piranhas".

30D: Greek advisor at Troy: NESTOR. Another unknown. Dictionary says NESTOR is "the oldest and wisest of the Greeks in the Trojan War and a king of Pylos." He was an Argonaut and was 110 when the war started. I don't remember seeing him in "Troy".

32D: Conductor Toscanini: ARTURO. I forgot his name, again. He has appeared twice in our puzzle before. He was a conductor for the New York Philharmonic for 10 years (1926-1936). He looks so intense.

35D: One-time link: AT A. One AT A time.

36D: Island near Martinique: ST LUCIA. See this map.

37D: Mollycoddles: COSSETS. Any other synonym besides pampers?

40D: Mouth: ORIFICE

44D: French port on the channel: CALAIS. Forgot also. Shouldn't the clue be "French port on the English Channel"?

47D: "Countdown" network: MSNBC. I only watch "Hardball with Chris Matthews" now.

51D: Fractions of a joule: ERGS. 1 joule = 10 million ERGS.

52D: Frobe of "Goldfinger": GERT. No idea. Got his name from the across fills.

58D: Latvian chess maker: TAL (Mikhail). He was born in Riga, Latvia. See this picture. I've never heard of Iakov Damsky.

C.C.