Monday December 1, 2008 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Tutti Frutti

17A: July 4 noisemaker: CHERRY BOMB

53A: Nonsense!: APPLESAUCE

11D: Neato!: PEACHY KEEN

28D: Bicyclist's perch: BANANA SEAT

I was wondering if this constructor thought of Christina APPLEGATE for 53A. It would be a lovely "Inedible fruit" puzzle. Pearl Buck has PEAR in her name.

My real given name consists of two Chinese dynastries whose capital city was in Xi'An. How did you get your name?

I don't like the clue for HOLMES (29D: Doyle's sleuth) because SLEUTH is the answer to 24A: Clue collector. I also hate the clue for SMEAR (5A: Smudge). So many ways to avoid the letter repetition.

Why "Witty quips" for SALLIES (24D)? Aren't all quips supposed to be witty? It should be "Witty remarks", right? By the way, this definition of of SALLY is new to me.

Nice puzzle, but not as sweet as John Underwood's "Fruity Places".

Across:

1A: A little night music?: TAPS. The military bugle night call I suppose. But why "A little"? TAPS is short for what?

14A: "Rhyme Pays": ICE T

19A: Rattan piece: CANE

20A: Stories in installments: SERIALS

21A: Dieter and Lou: BROCKS. Only know Lou BROCK. Have never heard of Dieter. What a strange name! David BROCK probably has more name recognition than either of them. Talk about a flip-flop.

23A: Handyman's letter: DIY. Handyman also needs KIT (34A: Set of parts)

26A: Jazz vocalist Mercer: MABEL. I was so ecstatic about this clue because I finally committed her to my memory. And I am so ready for "Normand of Silent movie".

29A: Beauty parlor do: HAIRSTYLE. Helen Mirren looks great in any HAIRSTYLE.

33A: Lassie's breed: COLLIE. I wonder what's the origin of COLLIE.

36A: Ziegfeld show: FOLLIES. Not familiar with this show. See also the 1946 film trailer.

41A: Forest fauna: PINE TREES. The clue should be "Forest flora".

43A: Perfect or past: TENSE

46A: Six-shooter: PISTOL

48A: Pirate ship: CORSAIR. I forgot. SHIVER ME TIMBERS was clued as "Cry on a CORSAIR" on a NYT puzzle several days ago. Have you used that phrase or "Well Blow Me Down" before?

59A: Der __ (Adenauer): ALTE. Man, this guy's nickname always gives me trouble. It's the same as IL DUCE (Mussolin's title), isn't it? "The leader"?

Down:

4D: "The Lord of the Rings" character: STRIDER. No idea. I guessed.

10D: "Jo's Boys" author: ALCOTT. Have you read this book? I read "Little Women" in Chinese long time ago.

22D: Subterfuges: RUSES. Every time I see "Subterfuge", I see mushroom cloud. Always confuse the word with centrifuge.

25D: "__ of the Field": LILIES. Great movie.

26D: Tidy any loose ends: MOP UP

27D: Treasured violin: AMATI. Strad is the other one.

33D: One of a pair: CORRELATE. I always thought CORRELATE is a verb.

40D: Leave port: SET SAIL

46D: 12-point type: PICA. What is "12-point"?

51D: Rip apart: REND. Its past tense is RENT.

55D: Mom-and-pop grp.: PTA. I was thinking of the Mom-and-Pop stores, so I wanted Small Business Association (SBA?).

C.C.

Sunday November 30, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Canine Connections

23A: Marine canine?: SEA BASS (BASS)ET HOUND

42A: Central American canine?: GUATEMALA (MALA)MUTE

64A: Tennis player's canine?: NADAL (DAL)MATIAN

75A: Dancer's canine?: ASTAIRE (AIRE)DALE

99A: Sculptor's canine?: NOGUCHI (CHI)HUAHUA

117A: Sioux holy man's canine?: SITTING BULL (BULL)DOG

16D: Fancy-tailed canine?: PEACOCK (COCK)ER SPANIEL

40D: Island canine?: GRAND BAHAMAS (MAS)TIFF

Great theme, isn't it? My best Sunday ever. Still needed to google a few proper names though.

Some of the clues struck me as annoyingly and unnecessarily obscure, especially BLAIRS (83A: Brown and Underwood: BLAIRS). Aren't these BLAIRS a better clue?

I think the clue for RAM (88A: Farm butter) needs a question mark to warn the unsuspecting solvers about the word play on butt-er. I could not think of a better way to clue OTHO (110D: Holy Roman emperor). But it has to be reworded because of HRE (78A: Bygone Eur. realm) as an answer in the grid.

I still don't understand the clue for SOLO (109A: Arias for one). Why "Arias" instead of "Aria"? (Addendum: My mistake. The answer is SOLI).

Across:

8A: Sail-extending pole: SPRIT. See this diagram. It's "a small pole or spar crossing a fore-and-aft sail diagonally from the mast to the upper aftermost corner, serving to extend the sail". New nautical term to me.

28A: Seine tributary: OISE. Here is the map. I wonder why there is no le, or la in front of this river. Is it a neuter river?

31A: Height: pref.: ACRO. As in acrophobia. New to me. Somehow I wanted ELEV.

35A: Proud of being wealthy: PURSY. Have never heard of this word before.

45A: Saul's uncle: NER. Learned his name from doing Xword. NER is Abner's father. Saul's father is Kish.

46A: Partner of Porthos: ATHOS. The other Musketeer is Aramis. How come these names all end with letter S? I thought only Greek masculine nouns end with letter s.

51A: Pianist Cliburn: VAN. Is this Dan Rather's voice? I did not know this pianist.

55A: Vinegar produced from fermented ale: ALEGAR. Ale + (Vin)negar. It appeared in our puzzle a few days ago. Sometimes I make my own honegar in summer time: honey and apple cider vinegar.

70A: Slot fills: TABS. Mortise insert is TENON.

71A: Skiing mishap: SPILL. Falling from the skis?

77A: Asian goat: TAHR. I've never seen this Asian TAHR in China. He looks so lonely.

82A: Tropical black birds: ANIS. Normally clued as "Black cuckoos".

89A: Cold remedies?: ICE BAGS. Good clue.

93A: French wine region: RHONE. Its capital is Lyon.

102A: His: Fr. SES. Or her, its.

104A: Eat greedily: ENGORGE. New word to me. Only knew gorge.

111A: Permafrost region: TUNDRA

115A: Like an opera song: ARIOSE. Another new word to me. I've never heard of arioso neither.

122A: Pocatello's state: IDAHO. I guessed. I've never heard of Pocatello before. What is it famous for? Potatos?

Down:

4D: Import-export difference: TRADE GAP

5D: Remove with caution: EASE OUT

8D: Division into factions: SCHISM. Lots of consonants in this word.

10D: Black sheep: ROUE. The likes of Casanova & Don Juan. Have you heard of Lothario?

12D: Tiresome times: TEDIUMS. Strange that the plural form is not TEDIA.

13D: Hawker: HUCKSTER. Another new word to me.

15D: Greek peak: OSSA. It's the only Greek mountain I know.

17D: Spanked: LARRUPED. This word looks so wrong, with the spelling RRUP, yet it's a real word.

18D: Losers: ALSO-RANS. Like Senators McCain & Kerry.

34D: DDE's command: ETO (European theater of operations)

39D: 1930s programs: NEW DEAL. I just learned that Social Security program is part of the NEW DEAL too.

43D: Berman or Cariou: LEN. Have never heard of sportcaster LEN Berman. I like those bobblehead figurines on his shelf. I was not acquainted with actor LEN Cariou either.

50D: Eminent conductors: MAESTRI. I did not know that the plural form for maestro is MAESTRI.

51D: The 4 Seasons singer Frankie: VALLI. Another google. I did not know that it's VALLI who sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". Lovely song.

55D: Latin handle: ANSA

61D: "Guitar Town" singer Steve: EARLE. Here is the clip.

66D: Turndown, from Putin: NYET. A "No" from Putin obviously still carries enormous authority in Russia.

69D: Famous meteor shower member: PERSEID. New word to me also. Perseus is the guy who killed Gorgon Medusa in Greek mythology.

76D: Martini's partner: ROSSI. Nice poster.

79D: Moran and Gray: ERINS. Have heard of Moran, not Gray.

83D: Armband: BRASSARD. I was surprised when the dictionary says it's a word. It also looks so wrong. -ARD is suffix denoting "persons who regularly engage in an activity, who are characterized in a certain way, as indicated by the stem; now usually pejorative: coward; dullard; drunkard; wizard. "

84D: Niagara's source: LAKE ERIE. New trivia to me.

85D: Faultfinders: SCOLDERS

93D: Altercation: RUN-IN

96D: Cultivate: NURTURE

100D: Sun god: HELIOS. He is the brother of Selene (goddess of the moon) and Eos (goddess of the dawn). Sol in Roman.

114D: Turkish officer: AGHA. Also spelled as AGA.

C.C.