Sunday December 14, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Prefixed People

26A: More than one "Cape Fear" co-star?: POLYBERGEN (Polly Bergen)

28A: Wrong fictional detective?: MISMARPLE (Miss Marple)

48A: Small country singer?: MINIPEARL (Minnie Pearl)

69A: Driven director?: AUTOPREMINGER (Otto Preminger)

96A: 1/10 of a bandleader?: DECIARNAZ (Desi Arnaz)

110A: Around a fictional lawyer?: PERIMASON (Perry Mason)

115A: Dry Broadway star? XEROMOSTEL (Zero Mostel)

36D: Little fashion designer?: OLIGCASSINI (Oleg Cassini)

44D: Broadcast TV cop?: TELESAVALAS (Telly Savalas)

I was not aware that XERO is a prefix for "dry", as in xeroderma, "a disease in which the skin becomes dry, hard, and scaly."

I only knew OLIG from oligarchy, so I always thought OLIG means a few. "Little" made me think Cassini is short. Is he?

Normally I don't like actor/actresse - laden puzzles. But I enjoyed this one. Very creative theme.

Got a bit emotional when I filled in the Roman numeral XXXIV for 107D: "34, once." Thought of Twins great Kirby Puckett whose jersey number was 34. Kirby used to say "Don't take anything for granted, because tomorrow is not promised to any of us.

I dislike the clue for ILIA (52D: Pieces of pelvises). I know the constructor is having alliteration in his mind, but "Pieces" bring fractured bones to my mind.

Across:

1A: San Joaquin Valley tribe: YOKUTS. Literally "people" in their own language. Alien to me. I also did not know where San Joaquin Valley is. "San Joaquin" is Saint Joachim in Spanish.

12A: Mixed sandwich spread: EGG SALAD. So messy to eat.

20A: Dismount: ALIGHT. The past tense ALIT seems to make more appearances in crossword.

21A: In the work cited: OP. CIT. I tend to confuse this phrase with IBID.

22A: Type of gland: SALIVARY. I only knew SALIVA.

23A: "Robocop" co-star: WELLER (Peter). Googled his name. The title of this film does not sound interesting to me.

25A: In complete agreement: AS ONE MAN

30A: Matador's foe: TORO. "Matar" is "Kill" in Spanish.

40A: Potvin or Savard: DENIS. Both are former NHL players. Denis Potvin was with the New York Islanders, and DENIS Savard was with Chicago Blackhawks for a long time. I was not familiar with either of them. Why DENIS instead of DENNIS?

59A: International business conflict: TRADE WAR

62A: CBS hit: CSI

66A: Noble family of Ferrara: ESTE. Also, "East" in Spanish.

67A: Mouths: Lat.: ORA. Dictionary says ORA is a plural of Latin "os" (mouth). Unknown to me. I've only seen ORA clued as " __ pro nobis" before.

79A: Carpool-lane letters: HOV

85A: "The Bartered Bride" composer: SMETANA. I googled his name. Here is the overture of "The Bartered Bride".

94A: Virgil's Trojan hero: AENEAS. Ah, I remember him. Dido, the queen of Carthage, committed suicide because AENEAS could not be with her any more. How sad! But at least he loved her when they were together.

106A: Stock index: AMEX

121A: Rabble-rouser: AGITATOR

122A: Canonical hours: SEXTS. I obtained this answer from down fills. Sex, sexi, sext are all Latin prefixes for six.

125A: Number sheets: PAGINATE

127A: Sundial: GNOMON. I can never remember GNOMON. It's Greek for "indicator".

128A: Unit of radiation wavelengths: ANGSTROM. Named after the Swedish physicist Anders ANGSTROM. Unknown to me also. ANGST ROM, such an angry-looking name.

130A: Kennedy assassin: OSWALD. This issue of Life magazine with Lee Harvey OSWALD on the cover is very collectible.

Down:

1D: Bawl: YAWP. New word to me. I don't like the "aw" duplication in the clue and the answer.

2D: Butter's bro: OLEO. Why "bro" instead of "sis"?

5D: Neighbor of Luxor: THEBES. Neighbor? Really? I can only find Luxor on this map. Have only heard of the Greek city THEBES.

7D: "Marty" star: BORGNINE. How can I remember his name? BORG NINE. We just had ERNEST clued as "Actor Borgnine" last Tuesday.

10D: Third word of "America": 'TIS. I guessed. Not familiar with the lyrics.

14D: Takes by theft: GLOMS

15D: Old Blue Eyes: SINATRA. Do you know that "My Way" was written by Paul Anka?

19D: Unit of force: DYNE. Newton fraction. "Unit of work" is ERG, "Joule faction".

35D: Elite wheel: LIMO

37D: Plays around?: GOLFS. A round of GOLF. Nice play on "around".

39D: Becloud: MIST UP. I like compound word answers.

41D: Bringer of bad news: ILL WIND. See the origin. I like the verse in the end: "... And the oboe it is clearly understood/Is an ill wind that no one blows good". Look at the line above the verse, "presumably as 'French horn' didn't scan". What does "scan" mean? Rhyme?

45D: What is left: ESTATE. I have problem understanding the grammar structure of the clue. "Stuff that's left" is easier for me to parse.

46D: Entrance gates: STILES

48D: "Simpsons" barkeep: MOE. Also the name of a Stooge.

55D: Grubs: CADGES. I toiled hard for this answer. Always associate "Grubs" with food.

58D: Play starter: ACT ONE

64D: Shoreline state: LOW TIDE. Why? What is "Shoreline state"?

68D: Lion, at times: ROARER

71D: Actress Loy: MYRNA. Another google. She played Nora in "The Thin Man".

80D: Hokkaido port: OTARU. I forgot. Here is the map again. Lot of AINU (The aboriginal Japanese) live there I suppose.

83D: "The __ Cometh": ICEMAN. An educated guess. Not familiar with this Eugene O'Neill play. That guy looks like Henry Fonda in "12 Angry Men", doesn't he?

84D: Beginning of the large intestine: CECUM. New word to me. Did you notice the three embedded ICE in this part of the grid?

86D: Frequency meas.: MHZ. The answer came to me after I cheated on the intersecting composer SMETANA.

87D: River to the Gulf of Finland: NEVA. See this map. Another new river to me.

88D: Arabian Sea port: ADEN. Belongs to Yemen.

95D: Sway-resistant: ADAMANT. Odd clue.

101D: 1539 Florida visitor: DE SOTO. No idea. I was thinking of De Leon, who tried to find the "Fountain of Youth" in Florida. I wonder if they knew each other.

109D: Insect stage: IMAGO. Larva, pupa and IMAGO.

111D: Richard of "A Summer Place": EGAN. I penned in GERE first. Not familiar with this actor or the movie. Nice theme song.

112D: Diana of "The Avengers": RIGG. I wrote down LANE first. I've never heard of her or "The Avengers".

113D: Suffix for diseases: ITIS. I would prefer a partial fill IT IS clue.

114D: Provo neighbor: OREM. Learned this city name from doing Xword.

116D: Kett of comics: ETTA. Sometimes ETTA is clued as "Singer James". Such a daring song title!

117D: Garbage barge: SCOW

118D: Author Janowitz: TAMA. One more google. She wrote "Slaves of New York". Wikipedia says TAMA Janowitz is one of the four original "brat pack" authors.

119D: Organic compound: ENOL. Is "carbon compound" also organic?

C.C.

Saturday December 13, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: None

Total blocks: 31

Total words: 72

This sure looks like a weekday grid, doesn't it? So many blocks and so many words. In case you forgot, the maximum amount of words allowed in a TMS Saturday themeless puzzle is 72.

Not an easy puzzle for me today. I used lots of Wite-Out. Misread a few clues and filled in several answers recklessly. Penned in EPEE instead of RAIL for 20D: Fence piece (thought it was "Fencing piece"). Also wrote down RED instead of ODD for 43A: Roulette bet.

I disliked the clue for TEAPOTS (52A: Tabletop brewers) because TABLEWARE (42A: Dining gear) is an answer in the grid. Seeing the clue for BIG TEN (31A: Conference of Golden Gophers) makes me happy.

Across:

1A: Aussie burrows: WOMBATS. He does look like a bear, doesn't he?

15A: Caspian's neighbor: ARAL SEA. See this map. They are not neighbors to me.

16A: Somewhat dilatory: SLOWISH. "Dilatory" is a new word to me. I thought it's related to dilate.

19A: "Dora Maar" painter: PICASSO. His "Dora Maar au Chat" was sold over $95 million at a Sotheby's auction in 2006. Astonishing! Gertrude Stein was very sympathetic to Dora Maar, who cried a lot during her tumultuous relationship with PICASSO.

20A: Disavowed: RECANTED. I misread the clue as "Disowned" initially.

22A: Particle in a meson: QUARK. New word to me.

25A: Oscar role for Ingrid Bergman: ANASTASIA. Not familiar with this movie. All I could think of is ILSA from "Casablanca".

28A: Vivian of "I Love Lucy": VANCE. I googled her name. Here is a nice clip.

30A: Like many elements: NONMETAL. The answer did not come to me immediately. I penned in MAC instead of MAN for the intersecting 21A: Fellow.

33A: Big mil. brass: GENL. The common abbreviation is GEN, right?

34A: "Dracula" writer: STOKER (Bram). Hot ER ending name.

37D: Market protests: BOYCOTTS

41A: Flower sepals: CALYX. The plural form of CALYX is either CALYXES or CALYCES. Good diagram.

44A: Intrinsically: PER SE. And 3D: Intrinsic quality: ESSENCE

45A: Western moniker: TEX (Ritter). He was the singer for "High Noon".

46A: Serpent: OPHIDIAN. Another new word to me.

49A: Webber musical: CATS. The only Webber musical that I know.

51A: Fawning sycophants: TOADIES

55A: Gregory Nava film of 1983: EL NORTE. No idea. Have you seen this movie before?

56A: Air sacs in the lungs: ALVEOLI. Singular form is alveolus. Foreign to me also.

57A: Minium: RED LEAD. Both the clue and the answer are new to me. I only realize right now that the clue is "Minium", not "Minimum".

Down:

2D: Pizza herb: OREGANO

3D: Greek cape: MATAPAN. See Cape MATAPAN on the upper middle part? I've never heard of this place. I thought the clue was asking for a Greek garment.

8D: Ad Astra per __ (Kansas motto): ASPERA. No idea. Literally "To the stars with difficulty". I wonder why Minnesota picked up a French "L'étoile du Nord" motto instead of a Latin one.

9D: Mouse sound: CLICK

11D: McGregor of "Moulin Rouge": EWAN. See this photo of him and Nicole Kidman. I gave up "Moulin Rouge" after watching it for a few minutes. Could not understand it.

12D: Far off: DISTANT. Cool is "Far out". Very confusing to me.

14D: Wearing wingtips: SHODDEN. I did not know the meaning of "wingtips".

22D: Doha's land: QATAR. This I know. The Doha forum. Al Jazeera is also headquatered in Doha.

23D: Mil. branch: USAF

26D: Great __ Mountains: SMOKY. I wonder why SMOKEY BEAR is not spelled as SMOKY Bear.

27D: E-mail forerunner: TELEX. Boy, can you imagine life without email now?

29D: Love-lit: AGLOW. Was I the only one who thought the clue is a shortened form of "Love literature"?

31D: Stendhal's last name: BEYLE (Henri-Marie). Got his name from across fills. He wrote "Le Rough et le Noir".

34D: Motorcycle's little brother: SCOOTER. I rather like the coded message "SCOOTER" Libby wrote to Judy Miller : "... Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them..."

35D: Frog of the future: TADPOLE. I had PRINCE in mind.

36D: Veteran: OLD HAND

39D: Bridge supporter: TRESTLE

44D: Pitiful piece of art?: PIETA. Good clue.

49D: Spelunking location: CAVE. I had to look up in the dictionary for "Spelunk". The study of the CAVE is speleogy, and the person who explores the cave is speleogist.

C.C.