Wednesday December 3, 2008 Verna Suit

Theme: Three Lines

17A: Three lines: HEM RECEIVING TAN

39A: Three lines: TICKET FRONT STAG

64A: Three lines: AIR STARTING NECK

3D: Three lines: TIME PUNCH CHORUS

7D: Three lines: HAIR SHORE BOTTOM

11D: Three lines: DATE CLOTHES HEAD

What is a STAG line?

Normally I enjoy this kind of "Three Something" themed puzzles. They tend to have less blocks (30 today, compared with our average 38) and the the grid feels more open. But this morning I simply could not find much common ground with this constructor. I was larruped good.

Struggled from beginning to the end. SHIRR (14A) for "Make cloth gathers"? I only knew SHIRRED eggs. Is GNAR (19D: Snarl and growl) even a word? I've never heard of TETLEY tea (56A: Twinings rival), nor have I heard of the clue Twinings. All I drink is the real Chinese loose leaf tea.

I love the clue for EGOS (38D: Vanity cases). I was thinking of ETUI though.

Across:

1A: Lens: OPTIC. Really? I've never of OPTIC being referred as "Lens".

15A: Bourgeois sculpture: MAMAN. No idea. Why is it called MAMAN? Looks like a spider. Reminds me of ARACHNE (Spider woman of myth).

20A: Avian haven: NEST. I penned in COOP first.

23A: __-a-porter (ready to wear): PRET. Do you like Robert Altman's "PRET -a - Porter"? Pretty funny.

25A: Shows intestinal fortitude: STOMACHS. I sure don't have this "fortitude".

27A: For two, in music: A DUE. Dictionary explains A DUE as "together; in unison".

29A: N.T. book: EPH. Would not have got this one without the down fills. Bible is definitely my Achilles’ heel.

31A: Sound of rippling water: PURL. I only knew the Chinese sound for rippling water: gudu.

44A: Loudmouth lummox: YAHOO. I wonder why Jerry Yang picked up YAHOO for his company.

45A: Minnow cousin: CHUB. New fish to me. It's quite big. Are you sure it's "Minnow cousin"?

47A: Pen name: BIC. My instinctive thought is "AKA".

50A: Follow: ADHERE TO

53A: Martin or Kingsley: AMIS. Knew Martin AMIS only because of his affair with Tina Brown.

64A E. Lansing campus: MSU. The Spartans. I wonder if they will ever change Big Ten into Big Eleven or Big Twelve someday.

66A: At full speed, at sea: AMAIN

Down:

4D: Not std.: IRR. Are you OK with this clue?

5D: Minotaur's isle: CRETE. Some of the Greek mythology are ridiculous. How could a woman fall in love with a bull?

6D: Hook's underling: SMEE

8D: Ex-G.I.: AM VET (American Veterans). Did this answer come to you readily? I don't recall ever seeing this abbreviation before.

9D: Bared: LAID OPEN

10D: Spike TV, once: TNN

13D: Penchants: BENTS

26D: Like damp basements: MUSTY. I found some nice old Life Magazine at the flea market, but most of them are very MUSTY. The smell simply refused to go away, even after I put them under the sunshine for 3 days.

30D: Some e-mail attachments: PDFS

33D: Madagascar primate: LEMUR. INDRI is often clued as "Madagascar LEMUR".

37D: Ancient temple: NAOS. Greek for temple. I forgot. It appeared in our puzzle before.

40D: Lhasa natives: TIBETANS

41D: Lapland native: SAMI. No idea. Did not know where "Lapland" is.

46D: Shell rival: HESS. Last time our editor clued MYRA as "British pianist Hess".

48D: Normandy town: CAEN. ST LO also has 4 letters.

51D: James novel, "__ Miller": DAISY. Has anyone ever read this book?

54D: Sal of song: MY GAL. Here is the poster. Alien to me. I disliked the clue.

57D: Leslie Caron musical: LILI (1953). GIGI is another Caron musical. It's released in 1958.

60D: Designer letters: DKNY. It now belongs to Louis Vuitton. DKNY, Chanel, Dior all spend lots of money for their brand protection in China. Too many fake products.

63D: ID card letters, at times: NMI (No Middle Initial). The answer revealed itself after I filled in the across blanks.

C.C.

Tuesday December 2, 2008 Barry Silk

Theme: CANYONS (40A: Copper or Snake River) (Note: The clue should be "and".)

17A: Evidence weigher: GRAND JUROR

24A: Manhattan neighborhood: HELL'S KITCHEN

51A: Part of Cambridge University: KING'S COLLEGE

64A: Family pariah: BLACK SHEEP

Boy, did the theme come to you immediately? I spent a long time staring at the theme answers. I've never heard of HELLS CANYON, KINGS CANYON or BLACK CANYON before.

So close to a pangram puzzle. Only letter X is missing.

I really like the clues for BRAND NAMES (29D: Trade words?) and SPUR (61D: Stud poker?), very clever. I also like the position of CANYONS.

The clue for YOST (69A: MLB Manager Ned) is inaccurate. "Former", yes. Ned YOST was fired by Brewers after his team was swept by the Phillies in September.

Across:

1A: McAn of shoes: THOM. I just learned this morning that the brand THOM McAn was named after some obscure Scottish golfer Thomas McCann.

10A: Protest-singer Phil: OCHS. Is OCHS a popular Scottish surname? Och is a Scottish for "Gee", like German "Ach" I suppose?

14A: Dynamic opening?: AERO

15A: Red Sea gulf: AQABA. I was so proud I that I finally got this gulf name.

20A: Conductor George: SOLTI. I forgot. SOLTI appeared in a Sunday puzzle before. Wikipedia says he won 31 Grammys in his life time. And he spent over 20 years with the Chicago Symphony.

21A: American chameleon: ANOLE. His throat looks so strange.

23A: Leaky PA reactor: TMI. I don't recall being informed of this accident when I was China. Maybe I was too young to remember.

27A: #1 hit by the Fleetwoods: MR. BLUE. Here is the song. It's #1 hit in 1959, ages ago.

36A: Italian epic poet: TASSO. I forgot. TASSO wrote the epic "Jerusalem Delivered", an account of the capture of the city during the First Crusade. What does he wear on his head?

46A: Generic poodle name: FIFI

47A: Corsica's neighbor: ELBA. Notice those Italian/French place names? So many end in a vowel. Greek language is unique, with so many words end in letter S.

47A: Cologne trio: DREI. And ZWEI (66A: Two, to a Teuton). "Teuton" is so close to "Teton". Grand Teton, what a DF name.

49A: One equinox: VERNAL. This is Dennis' favorite time.

57A: Edison's rival: TESLA. Our editor sometimes clues it as "Unit of magnetic flux". I was stumped last time when the clue was "Electric-coil creator".

67A: Mann of music: AIMEE. Here is her "I Should've Known". I've never heard of this singer before.

71A: Belgian river: YSER

Down:

4D: 12 times a year: MONTHLY. I wanted MONTHS.

5D: Uris novel, with "The": HAJ. Has anyone read this book?

6D: Peer: EQUAL

8D: Amazon download: E-BOOK

9D: Hit by the Beach Boys: DARLIN. I got it from the across clues. Not a familiar song to me. Barry Silk is a Beach Boys fan. Remember his "Good Vibrations" puzzle last time? Well, it sure helped Phillies win the World Series.

18D: God of France: DIEU. And more French words: ETATS (22D: Les __ - Unis) and OEIL (38D: Eye in Aix).

11D: Laundry clipper: CLOTHESPIN

25D: Queen of Sparta: LEDA. The Swan lady. She is Helen's mother.

28D: White Rose __-Tea: REDI. What kind of tea is this? I have no familiarity with it at all.

40D: Pirate's storage: CHEST

50D: Breastplate of Zeus: EGIS. Needs a "var" hint.

51D: Cartoon Kat: KRAZY

52D: Down in the middle: IN TWO

53D: Singer K. T. __: OSLIN. I forgot her name. Nice song.

55D: Corset tightener: LACER. Is this even a word?

65D: Kenan's comedy partner: KEL. Was this a gimme to you? "Kenan & KEL" is completely foreign to me.

C.C.