Thursday December 11, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Just Do It

17A: Start of G. K. Chesterton quip: IF A THING IS

29A: Part 2 of quip: NOT WORTH

40A: Part 3 of quip: DOING

48A: Part 4 of quip: IT'S WORTH

64A: End of quip: DOING BADLY

Well, Chesterton's original quote is "If a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly".

Mr. Olschwang's distorted quip does not make any sense to me. Why would you want to waste your effort on something that's not worth doing?

This is the first time that the quip actually helped me fill in quite a few blanks. Normally I rely on the down clues for the across quip answers.

Across:

1A: Waste from smelting: SLAG. Or DROSS for a 5-letter synonym.

2A: Lie about publicly: SMEAR. I suppose so, though I associate SMEAR with anonymous sources and their sleazy tactics.

10A: Pool surface?: FELT. Why "?" mark? I don't think it's needed.

20A: Panama Canal engineer: LESSEPS. I googled his name. He was also the developer of the Suez Canal. Wikipedia says he was only involved in the early efforts of the Panama Canal construction. And George Washington Goethals is more well-known as the chief engineer.

21A: Bargains: DICKERS. New word to me. DICKER sounds very DF.

23A: Chou of China: ENLAI. It's Zhou ENLAI in Mandarin Chinese. He is our first premier and the most beloved one.

32A: Emulate a beaver: GNAW. Lots of squirrels in our neighborhood. So I would have clued it as "Emulate a squrrel".

45A: Cultural mediums: AGARS. I always thought the plural form for medium is media.

59A: Flower arrangement: IKEBANA. I like this one. Very simple & Zen-like. I think you can break IKEBANA into IKE + BANA if you have difficulty remembering this word. Eric Bana is excellent in "Munich" and "Troy".

66A: Guitarist Clapton: ERIC. OK, clue ERIC as "Actor Bana" next time then. Here is Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight". So good. What a rock muse Pattie Boyd is!

68A: Cambodia currency: RIEL. Cambodia is the only country with RIEL as its currency. I tend to confuse RIEL with RIAL, the prevalent currency in the Middle East.

71A: Swimmer Torres: DARA. She looks pretty. Saw her name somewhere before, but then I promptly forgot. Had to google again.

Down:

1D: Big name in tools: SKIL. I got this tool after cheating on LESSEPS. What does SKIL stand for?

2D: Word of woe: ALAS. Would be AH ME if the clue were in plural form ("Words of woe").

4D: Readied: GOT SET

5D: Maritime cargo: SHIPLOAD

6D: Table constellation: MENSA. New constellation to me. I always associate MENSA with those who have high IQ. MENSA is "table" in Latin. "Stupid" in Spanish.

26D: Desert plants: CACTI. The hosts for those cochineal insects.

27D: Enlightened one, in Buddhism: ARHAT. I obtained the answer from across clues. It refers to "a Buddhist who has attained Nirvana through rigorous discipline and ascetic practices". I just mentioned the Zen enlightment Satori yesterday. How is Nirvana different from Satori?

31D: Dressing pick: RANCH. I don't understand this clue. Why "pink"? (Note: I misread the clue as "Dressing pink" earlier.)

41D: Hades, e.g.: GREEK GOD

46D: LP surface: SIDE B

49D: Crosspiece of a ladder: RUNDLE. I got the answer from across clues. New word to me.

51D: Part of a knight's outfit: TABARD. New word to me. It's sleeveless. What is that logo emblazoned on his TABARD?

60D: 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit: ADIA. I really have difficult memorizing this song. ADIA is Swahili for "Gift from God".

61D: Dodger, in MLB jargon: NLER (National Leaguer). I wish we could get rid of DH in American League.

62D: "Clan of the Cave Bear" heroine: AYLA. I drew a blank on her name again. The book is written by Jean M Auel whose surname appeared in our puzzle occasionally.

C.C.

Wednesday December 10, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: SKI Trails (Famous Polish Americans)

20A: "Morning Joe" co-host: MIKA BRZEZINSKI

38A: 1967 Triple Crown winner: CARL YASTRZEMSKI

55A: Longtime Duke coach: MIKE KRZYZEWSKI

SKI is "of", like English suffix "son", Norweigian "sen" and Spanish "ez". Irish put their O' and Mac in the middle, so do Arabs with their "ibn" and Italians with their "di/de". Does anyone know what's the difference between "di" and "de"? What would be my name in Polish? Xi'anski?

I only knew 55A as "Coach K". And Seattle Slew popped into my brain for 38A. I was thinking of the racing Triple Crown. I've actually got quite a few Carl Yastrzemski baseball cards. But I did not know that he is a triple crown winner. Even if I did, I would not know how to write out his surname.

As for Mika Brzezinski, I think I will know how to spell her family name when hell freezes over. There is a reason why Jim Miklaszewski (NBC Pentagon correspondent) is called "Mik".

Did you have a hard time with this puzzle? I didn't. I googled those three names very early on. And now I have got absolutely no satisfaction from filling in all the blanks. Such an empty feeling. Terrible. From now on, I will only seek Google as a last resort.

Did you notice the style difference between Barry Silk and Allan E. Parrish? Both of them are great creators of scrabbly puzzles. But Silk uses lots of Q's, while Parrish is an expert on Z's. I often found letter Q missing in his puzzles.

Across:

1A: Richie's mom, Fonzie-style: MRS. C

14A: Junior of the NFL: SEAU. He is a 12-time Pro-Bowl linebacker for the Patriots.

16A: Like the Arctic: POLAR. My first reaction is frigid.

18A: Israeli weapons: UZIS

24A: Chilean catch: SEA BASS. Why "Chilean"?

25A: Maker of 6D: MOTOROLA And 6D: Slim cell phone brand: RAZR. Does anyone have a iPhone?

32A: Ancient Turkish city: ADANA. Here is the map again. I simply forgot. Identical clue in this constructor's last puzzle. Wikipedia says ADANA is the fifth most populous city of Turkey.

42A: Deep __ bend: KNEE. Gym term?

43A: "Science of Logic" philosopher: HEGEL. See this book cover. Unknown to me.

48A: School of Paris: SORBONNE. Here is a list of famous SORBONNE graduates. I did not see Jackie Kennedy there.

50A: Old name for a 2-wood: BRASSIE. I thought of mashie, which is 5-iron.

54A: Like some NYC theaters: OOB. OOB is Off-Off-Broadway.

65A: High: pref.: ALTI. Like altitude.

67A: French WWI fighter planes: SPADS. The plane is an aronym of its manufacturer Societé Pour Aviation et ses Dérivés. Foreign to me.

Down:

2D: 20 quires: REAM. Nice trivia.

4D: Swiss ticker: CUCKOO. CUCKOO clock?

5D: Mixer: CLUB SODA

7D: Yavapai Coll. state: ARIZ. I've never heard of Yavapai Coll. Curt Schilling's alma mater.

9D: Way from Rome to Brindisi: APPIAN. My first encounter with APPIAN Way. Wikipedia states that it "was the most important ancient Roman road".

10D: Romantic light: MOONBEAM

11D: "I Still See __" ("Paint Your Wagon"song): ELISA. Here is the song. Unknown to me. I've never seen Clint Eastwood in a musical before.

13D: Gilmore of basketball: ARTIS. What a strange name, ARTIS, ART IS (long?). It's begging for a T.

22D: Buddhist discipline: ZEN. SATORI is often clued as "Zen enlightenment".

27D: Shredded: TORE. 51D: Shred: RIP UP

28D: Whip-wielder LaRue: LASH. Is he well-known? I've never met this guy before.

40D: Focuses (on): ZEROES IN

46D: Glacial ridges: ESKERS. New word to me also.

47D: 3/23/01 Newsmaker: MIR. It's de-orbed on this date. I would not have got MIR without the across fills.

50D: Coll. hotshots: BMOCS. BMOC is Big Man on Campus.

52D: Japanese dog: AKITA. This clue made me think of Mkat. She used to comment here often, together with Katherine and Dennis.

53D: Pound and Stone: EZRAS. Knew the poet Pound, not Stone.

58D: Swiss painter: KLEE. I don't know what he tried to express with this "Flower Myth", do you? Is it something DF?

59D: Holm oak: ILEX. I got the answer after I cheated on coach K's name. Both the clue and the answere were new to me. ILEX sounds like an animal, like IBEX. Holy hotwick curvy horns!

C.C.