Tuesday December 16, 2008 Doug Peterson

Theme: Pardonable Robberies

20A: Asleep for a while: GRABBING SOME Z'S

38A: Upstaging a star: STEALING THE SHOW

56A: Humbling: TAKING DOWN A PEG

Bernard Madoff and his staggering Ponzi scheme are certainly unpardonable and unforgivable. What this mad, mad, Madoff did was gravity-defying daylight robbery. Amazing, $50 billion, even HSBC was victimized.

Easy solving today. Simple theme, simple fills. I really like the RAMBO clue (25A: Sly character?), very cleverly misleading. But "USA foe" for USSR (32A)? No. Definitely needs "Former" or "Once".

Across:

5A: Biathlon equipment: SKIS. Every time I see this answer, I picture Bode Miller skiing while intoxicated. He is wild, living on edge all the time.

14A: Chanteuse Horne: LENA. Why "Chanteuse"? Edith Piaf is a chanteuse.

17A: Big golf tournament: OPEN. And IRWIN (40D: Golfer Hale): Hale IRWIN is a three - time US OPEN champion. He designed the Jewel Golf Course here in MN.

19A: WWII landing site: ANZIO. See it? It's to the south of Rome. So many Italian names end in letter A, O or I.

28A: Vacation option: RESORT

44A: NASA affirmatives: A-OKS. What is "NASA negatives then"? NO GOES?

47A: "Mack the Knife" singer: DARIN. Here is the clip. I've never understood what the song is about.

52A: "Bewitched" role: ENDORA. One again, I had to rely on the surrounds to get her name. I know, I should eat worms. But worms are frozen here. Too cold.

60A: Like candles: WAXEN. Madame Tussauds' figures are WAXEN too.

61A: Quattro maker: AUDI. Very clever name change. AUDI sure sounds catchier than Horch.

62A: Goneril's royal pop: LEAR. King LEAR's other two daughters are Cordelia and Regan.

65A: First name in whodunits: ERLE. And his contemporary NGAIO (51D: Marsh of mysteries), whose name I forgot completely. Last time our editor clued MARSH as "Ngaio of mysteries".

Down:

1D: Laceless shoes: CLOGS. No "Drain problem" today.

4D: Down under capital: CANBERRA. If Roger Elbert is correct, why the movie "Austrialia" then?

6D: Zen riddle: KOAN. This is another difficult word for me to remember.

9D: Annual Calgary event: STAMPEDE. New event to me. STAMPEDE always brings to mind those dangerous Hajj scenes.

11D: Heckle: RAZZ. Remember the "Bronx cheer" we discussed a while ago?

12D: Goddess of discord: ERIS. Discordia in Roman. She and her golden apple indirectly sparked the Trojan War.

22D: Woman with a book club: OPRAH

27D: 1977 George Burns film: OH, GOD. Easy guess. Have never heard of this movie. Looks interesting.

29D: Cuatro doubled: OCHO. Italian eight is OTTO.

33D: Town near Caen: ST. LO

36D: Sicilian rumbler: ETNA. When did it last rumble?

41D: Shod for the beach: SANDALED

48D: Spool back: REWIND

59D: Comic strip canine: ODIE. The "Garfield's dog. O?IE seems to be a very popular crossword pattern, with three vowels. I can think of OBIE (Theater Award), OPIE (Mayberry kid) and OKIE (Dust Bowl migrant). What else?

C.C.

Monday December 15, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Put Pen to Paper

17A: Guarantee against failure: UNDERWRITE

41A: Lacking detail: SKETCHY

62A: Epistolary afterthought: POSTSCRIPT

11D: Pulp paper: NEWSPRINT

36D: Self-propelled railroad car: DOODLEBUG

I've never heard of DOODLEBUG. What a strange name. Good theme, all of above highlighted green-letter words are in verb form.

And a feminine sub-theme:

19A: Org. founded in 1855: YWCA. YMCA is founded in 1844.

69A: Org. of Ochoa and Creamer: LPGA. It's founded in 1950. Great clue. Both Ochoa and Creamer are the backbones of LPGA now. Annika Sorenstam officially called it a quit yesterday in Dubai.

52A: Feminist grp: NOW (National Organization for Women). It's founded in 1966.

Also a Jewish sub-theme:

48A: Passover meals: SEDERS. Funny "20 Things to do with Matzoh".

66A: Hebrew month: ELUL. Last month of Jewish calendar. Did you write down ADAR first?

67A: Jehovah: ELOHIM. No idea. Dictionary defines ELOHIM as "a name for God in the Hebrew Scriptures".

47D: Mystical teachings: var.: KABALA. Madonna, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher all practice CABALA. I think Britney Spears was into it for sometime too.

I wish LEIA (16A: Han Solo's love) were clued as "Han's love" or "Luke's sister" as SOLO was the answer to 59D: Recital piece.

Very choppy solving today. Was stumped by a few proper names. Had to cheat.

Across:

1A: 911 respondent: EMS. EMT is "911 respondent" too.

4A: Ancient Syrian city: ALEPPO. I forgot. It appeared on a TMS Sunday puzzle before. Here is the map. I really don't like the clue "Ancient", even though ALEPPO has been in existence since 1100 B.C. "Ancient" always makes me think that city does not exist any more.

10A: Sicilian resort: ENNA. The "Sicilian volcano" is ETNA.

20A: Baja beach: PLAYA. Spanish for "beach".

21A: Antarctic body: ROSS SEA. Unknown to me. See the map. Strange to look at the world from another angle, isn't it?

37A: Flockhard of "Ally McBeal": CALISTA. They are a great couple.

40A: "The Bronx __": ZOO. Is this the short-lived TV series or the book about Yankees? Both are obscure to me. There are so many other ways to clue ZOO.

44A: Agony: TORTURE. I like Proust's quote "Love is reciprocal TORTURE". He also said "We become moral when we are unhappy". True?

46A: Part of a screwdriver: VODKA. Ah, I love, love this clue. Bloody Mary has VODKA as ingredient too. Virgin Mary does not.

50A: Stick it out: LAST. I misinterpreted the clue as "Stick out", so I had trouble getting LAST. I kept thinking JUT.

53A: Equestrian game: POLO

70A: Mammalian epoch: EOCENE. Would not have got this word without the down entries. EO is a prefix meaning "“primeval' or "early".

Down:

1D: Break out: ERUPT

4D: Gillette blade: ATRA. I wonder why the brand is named ATRA instead of ASTRA. ATRA does not make any sense to me.

5D: Hoad of tennis: LEW. Did not know this Australian tennis player.

7D: Air pressure meas.: PSI (Pounds per Square Inch). I was more familiar with the "Tire pressure meas." See, our editor does not like partial fill, otherwise, he could have also clued PSI as "P.S. I Love You". Such a sweet movie.

8D: Czech physicist Beckmann: PETR. I googled his name. He wrote "The History of PI".

10D: Palais du president: ELYSEE. They live in the Palais de l'Élysée.

22D: Off-course wanderer: STRAYER. STRAY can also be "Off-course wanderer", right?

24D: Military hat: SHAKO. Why is this hat so hard for me to commit to memory?

25D: Well workers: OILERS. Hockey fans probably prefer the the Edmonton OILERS clue.

26D: Composer Benjamin: BRITTEN. Another google. He is a British composer. Is BRITTEN pronounced like Briton?

29D: Rapture: ECSTASY. I wish ECSTASY intersects the clue "Agony" rather than the answer TORTURE.

30D: Former Lisbon coin: ESCUDO. No idea. Wikipedia says it was also a money unit in Spain and its colonies before Euro was ushered in.

34D: Black Sea arm: AZOV. Here is the map. I've never heard of it before.

38D: Hurled: THREW

54D: Small antelope: ORIBI. Her face looks so thin. New antelope to me. I could only think of ELAND, which is huge. I can't believe those horns are hollow.

56D: Scheduled next: ON TAP. ON DECK is "Scheduled next" too.

57D: Belgian singer/songwriter: BREL. This reminds me of a friend. He loves Jacques BREL.

58D: Cry out in pain: YELP. Dogs YELP. Do people YELP also?

C.C.