Friday November 28, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Same Rhymes

18A: Comden/Green musical: AUNTIE MAME

24A: Rainout remedy: MAKEUP GAME

37A: University of South Bend: NOTRE DAME

54A: Cooperstown attraction: HALL OF FAME

61A: Delano or Alva, e.g.: MIDDLE NAME

I wish I could say "I CAME, I saw, I conquered". With all those ?AME endings, you would think I should have finished this puzzle without googling or wite-out.

I love the appearance of SURI (33A: Daughter of Tom Cruise). I also like the clueing of ALASKAN (3D: Palin, to name one). I could picture this constructor having fun working out his puzzle rather than sitting in the libary and laboring over some archaic fills.

I only wish LONGA (7D: Ars__, vita brevis) were clued differently. You know, with MAME, GAME, DAME, FAME and NAME, don't you think LONG A would be a better fill? How about the clue "LAME part?"

Across:

5A: Moolah: GELT. I've never heard of this slang before.

9A: Canada's __ National Park: BANFF. I bet no other English word ends with *NFF. What a strange name! I like how BANFF intersects NIAGARA (11D: Famous falls).

14A: Stitch's sidekick: LILO. I can never remember this Disney film. Always confuse LILO with REN ("Stimpy's pal").

15A: Melville novel: OMOO. The "Typee" sequel.

16A: Historian Durant: ARIEL. I would not have got this name without the down fills. I am more familiar with "Disney's Little Mermaid" clue. ARIEL Durant and her husband spent over 40 years writing "The Story of Civilization", and they died within 2 weeks of each other. How moving! I like this Will Durant quote: "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within".

17A: Comet rival: AJAX

20A: Legendary Cardinal: MUSIAL (Stan). A rare gimme for me. He is in HOF.

22A: Stan of sax jazz: GETZ

27A: "Bambi" character: ENA. Also the "Spanish queen".

52A: Toshiba rival: NEC

53A: Channel island: SARK. See this map. It's new to me.

59A: Golf warning: FORE. I think the most dangerous shot in golf is shank. Are you a hooker or a slicer?

64A: Australian lake: EYRE. It's in South Australia. Saw this clue somewhere before. I am sure Jane EYRE is happy to stay away from this unwanted Xword limelight.

66A: Reebok rival: AVIA. The other 4-letter rival is FILA.

67A: Weizman of Israel: EZER. I googled. EZER Weisman was Israel's 7th President (1993-2000).

69A: Ex-Georgia Senator Miller: ZELL. I watched and loved this interview, but I forgot the senator's name. I wanted Zoey.

Down:

1D: Big house: SLAMMER. Slang for prison. "Big House" is new to me. I was thinking of mansion.

2D: San Diego's sister city: TIJUANA. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the surrounds. I did not know this before.

4D: Roker of "The Jeffersons": ROXIE. Which one is Roker? I've never heard of this actress or "The Jeffersons". I am surprised that ROXIE is not clued as "Velma's rival in "Chicago", since this constructor seems to be in a rival mood today.

5D: Gridiron upright: GOAL POST

6D: Big bird Down Under: EMU. Look at this EMU egg. Is it edible?

8D: Kind of pole: TOTEM

9D: Joan of folk: BAEZ. Here is Joan BAEZ and Bob Dylan's "Blowing in the Wind". I think I like Peter, Paul and Mary's version.

13D: Language of Flanders: FLEMISH. Most Belgians seem to be fluent in French, FLEMISH and English.

25D: Natural vessel: GOURD. This reminds of my grandma's GOURD scooper. What's the difference between GOURD and squash?

26D: Normand of silent movies: MABEL. She appeared in many movies with Chaplin. I've never heard of her name before.

42D: Fulminations: TIRADES. "Fulmination" is a new word to me. The spelling is so similar to fumigation.

45D: Break down: ANALYZE. Do you like "ANALYZE This"?

46D: Imation rival: MEMOREX. I had no familarity with MEMOREX.

47D: Ham actor's nosh: SCENERY. See Chew the SCENERY origin.

56D: Tear out: LEAVE. Is this a slang? I've never heard of it.

57D: Tears out: FLEES. I used to be very bothered by the same clue for different answers. Not any more. It's not a crossword construction sin.

59D: "___ Joy" (1972 Supremes hit): FLOY. New song to me.

63D: Inch fraction: MIL. Brewers fans probably want another clue for MIL.

C.C.

Thursday November 27, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: The Pains of Parenthood

18A: Start of a quip: IT IS HARD TO

27A: Part 2 of quip: RAISE A FAMILY

44A: Part 3 of quip: ESPECIALLY IN

59A: End of quip: THE MORNING

Also an avian sub-theme:

32A: Everglades wader: EGRET

31D: Extinct bird: MOA. It's native to New Zealand and extinct at the end of 18th century. Daunting size. Those Maoris look fearless though

38D: Bird of prey: RAPTOR

Don't you wish there is a TURKEY somewhere in the middle of the grid? I was rather disappointed by the theme. Was expecting a puzzle stuffed with cranberry sauce, green beans and apple pies.

My husband has to have rutabaga and wild rice for Thanksgiving. What's on your table today?

Easy puzzle. Nothing to rave about.

Across:

1A: By way of, briefly: THRU. Did you notice that there are always more consonants in the first row and the first column? I suppose most of the languages start with consonants. Should you have extra time, you can count the total vowels in today's grid. They normally take up 50% of the total fills.

21A: Italian noble: CONTE. I don't understand this one, is it Italian for "Count"?

25A: Planets: WORLDS. I was thinking of EARTHS.

42A: Eagles hit, "___ it Easy": TAKE. I guessed. Not familiar with this song.

43A: Trunk artery: AORTA. Crossword constructors love A*A: ATRA (Gillette razor); ASTA (The Thin Man dog); ASTRA (Latin stars); ATRIA (Skylit courts); ALTRIA (Parent company of Kraft Foods), ALCOA, Jessica ALBA, ABBA, ASIA, ASEA, etc. Oh, don't forget Barry Silk's AQUA.

50A: Skidded: SLID. I don't like those letter repetitions. "Lost traction" would be fine.

51A: Woman alone on stage: SOLA. "Man alone on stage" is SOLUS.

52A: Actor Davis: OSSIE. Only know him as Ruby Dee's husband. Have no idea what film he was in.

61A: Mine entrance: ADIT. And ORE (60D: Mine find).

62A: Trevanian's "The ___ Sanction": EIGER. I forgot. Saw this clue before. Have you seen the film?

63A: Utah ski resort: ALTA. Another A*A word.

65A: "Charlie's Angels" co-star: DOYLE (David). I guessed. I only know the new "Charlie's Angels".

Down:

2D: Cup on a green: HOLE. Have any of you shot HOLE-in-one before?

3D: Pride signal: ROAR. Good clue. A pride of Lion. I also like the clue for ADAM (56D: First grandfather).

7D: Land of Blarney and Killarney: ERIN. Killarney is foreign to me. What is it famous for? Another stone?

9D: Reggae's cousin: SKA

10D: Charging shout: WAR CRY

11D: "Rush, Rush" singer Paula: ABDUL. Here is the song. ABDUL means "servant of the..." in Arabic.

19D: Doing a hatchet job?: HEWING

29D: Former Curtain: IRON. I like this clue too. IRON Curtain sounds very ancient now, doesn't it?

40D: Type of type: BOLDFACE

42D: "The Waste Land" auth.: TSE. Good. I've had enough "Half African fly".

44D: Glossy paint: ENAMEL

45D: Digs: IS INTO

46D: Sour brew: ALEGAR. Got this word from across fills.

47D: You in Juarez: USTED. I am surprised that the clue is not "You in Yucatan". Our editor loves alliteration.

48D: Rockefeller's 1870 company: SOHIO (Standard Oil of Ohio). Now BP. I googled this one.

49D: Lyric lamentation: ELEGY

57D: Unless, in law: NISI. Learned from doing Xword. I've never seen NISI used in any newspaper or magazine.

Happy Thanksgiving!

C.C.