Friday November 21, 2008 Edgar Fontaine

Theme: Sequels - Better Than the Originals

18A: Barbra Streisand sequel?: FUNNIER GIRL

24A: Adam Sandler sequel? HAPPIER GILMORE

40A: Lee Marvin sequel?: THE DIRTIER DOZEN

52A: Molly Ringwald sequel?: PRETTIER IN PINK

63A: Dennis Hopper sequel?: EASIER RIDER

Very interesting "Y" --> "IER" sequel idea, very creative. Is there a movie title with the word "ugly"?

"Dirty Harry" would have matched better with the other movie titles, with no "THE". But it has an even amount of numbers. So it's impossible to be structured in row #8.

I laughed at the clue for DIET (41D: Lose on purpose?). Remember what Lisa said about the "Loses on purpose?" clue on "The Simpsons"? Forward to 8:36, she said "DIETS.....Will Shortz, you clever rascal".

I don't think the "?" mark is necessary for PYRES (71A: Funeral arrangements?), but TILDE (13D: Spanish accent mark) could have been clued as "Señorita's curve?", with a "?" mark. The EGIS (19D: Patronage) needs a "var." hint.

I love how RAIN (42D: Precipitation) parallels DROP (43D: Let lapse). Only wish DROP were clued as "Bit of 42D".

Across:

1A: Moon buggy: LEM (Lunar Excursion Vehicle). I like this "buggy" clue. Better than "NASA vehicle".

14A: Clare of "Bleak House": ADA. I've never heard of Dickens' "Bleak House". I wanted INA, thinking of the actress INA Claire, who often appeared in our puzzle.

15A: Disney's Little Mermaid: ARIEL. Do you collect Barbie dolls? ARIEL is very reasonably priced. Some of the "I Love Lucy" and "The Munsters" dolls are quite expensive. This is the original Barbie, probably worth thousands of dollars.

16A: Isle in the Bay of Naples: CAPRI. Is "Bay of Naples" the same as Gulf of Naples?

20A: Kind of crazy?: STIR. Got it from down fills. I was not familiar with STIR-crazy. Good clue though.

22A: African river: CONGO. Too bad, our editor missed an opportunity to pay tribute to Michael Crichton.

23A: Pioneer film Browning: TOD. He is the director of "Dracula" & "Freaks". Unknown to me. He looks like a very cold guy.

30A: Affirmative action?: NOD. Great clue.

44A: Pueblo dweller: HOPI. The answer would have been ZUNI if it were a Barry Silk puzzle.

46A: Dawn goddess: EOS. It's Aurora for the Romans. I am confused, how can a goddess name ends in "os"? I thought only Greek masculine nouns end in "os", "is" and "as". Or "us" as in Zeus I suppose.

59A: Thing, in law: RES

69A: Basketry willow: OSIER

Down:

2D: Archie's better half: EDITH. I've seen one or two episodes. Pretty funny.

3D: Beatles phenomenon: MANIA

5D: Indonesian islands: ARU. See the lower right corner of this map. I would not have got it without the across fills.

6D: Insomuch as: SINCE. Do you like "SINCE I Don't Have You"?

7D: Domingo, e.g.: TENOR. Domingo performed at the closing of Beijing Summer Olympics.

9D: Roll of papyrus: SCROLL

11D: Typify: EPITOMIZE

21D: Record speed?: RPM

25D: Roz on "Frazier": PERI. Boy, I can never remember PERI Gilpin's name. PERI is also the fairy in Persian mythology.

26D: Borodin prince: IGOR. Or "Composer Stravinsky".

27D: Shifty shark: MAKO. I wanted ORCA. Wow, look at this big hook.

32D: Tongue ___: DEPRESSOR. "Twister" does not fit.

38D: Sign of summer: LEO. Or Uncle LEO of "Seinfeld".

48D: Fast-lane woe: STRESS

52D: Occurring before surg.: PRE-OP. "Before surg." should be sufficient.

58D: Whitewater vessel: KAYAK. What's so special about "Whitewater"? Why not other river? Whitewater always reminds me of the Clinton scandal.

C.C.

Thursday November 20, 2008 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Be Careful

20A: Start of practical advice: NEVER TEST THE

39A: Part 2 of advice: DEPTH OF THE WATER

59A: End of advice: WITH BOTH FEET

Is this supposed to be an sarcastic advice? Who tests the depth of water with both feet?

I think I have common ground with Stan. We can talk. He seldom stumps me with obscure words or names. There is a certain ALOE calmness about his grid.

Some flaws:

10A: No-no: TABU. Needs "var" in the clue.

24A: Mets stadium: SHEA. Not any more, SHEA is being demolished now. Citi Field will be Mets stadium in 2009.

29D: Booze, butts and bullets bureau: ATF. Needs an abbreviated "org." or "agcy" to replace "bureau".

39D: Isl. off Australia: TAS. The official abbreviation of Tasmania is TASM. "Prof.'s helpers" would be a better clue for TAS.

Across:

5A: Korbut and others: OLGAS. Another Olympic gold medal winner is TARA (65A: Skater Lipinski)

15A: Apply blusher: ROUGE. I did not know that ROUGE can be a verb.

25A: Turkey mister: TOM. Did anyone think the clue was asking for "Mr." in Turkish language?

30A: Free from restraint: AT LARGE. The first word that popped into my brain is BRALESS.

32A: McBain and McMahon: EDS. Did not know ED McBain.

44A: Mafia leader: CAPO. Sometimes it's clued as "Guitar device".

45A: B'way sign: SRO. Do they really have SRO sign in B'way now?

46A: Napoleon's birthplace: CORSICA. See this map. The answer could be BAKERY if the constructor is in the mood to play with "birthplace". Want some Napoleon?

53A: Board joint: DADO. No idea. I got it from the down fills. See this DADO joint.

64A: "Jurassic Park" star Sam: NEILL. Not familiar with this actor. Have never seen "Jurassic Park".

70A: Acapulco bread?: PESOS

Down:

5D: Sacred story set to music: ORATORIO. Got it this time. Wikipedia says Handel is "credited with writing the first English language ORATORIO. Is his "Messiah" in English then?

8D: First name in mysteries: AGATHA. Interesting to read her adventurous stories in Iraq during 1930's with her archaeologist husband.

9D: Last part of a sonnet: SESTET. New definition to me. Dictionary says "it's the last six lines of a sonnet in Italian form".

12D: Hogan or Franklin: BEN. Hogan had such a compact & powerful swing. Another golfer is HAL (22D: Sutton of PGA), one of the nicest guys in PGA Tour. He cries easily.

21D: Stick 'em up!: REACH. Is "Stick 'em up" a slang? I've never heard of it before. And ADHERE (49D: Stick fast). I thought "Stick (to)" is a better clue.

32D: Formal proclamation: EDICT

33D: Apollo's birthplace: DELOS. Also the birthplace for his Twin sister Artemis of course. I wonder why there are so many islands ending with letter "os" in Cyclades. See KEA? It's in our puzzle last time.

41D: Formal letters: EPISTLES. New definition to me.

59D: Split: WENT. They are not synonymous, are they? I penned in RENT (pp form of REND) first.

61D: Shriner topper: FEZ. "Shriner" is a new word to me.

C.C.