Thursday December 18, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: The More The Merrier

20A: Start of a Mae West witticism: TOO MUCH OF

37A: Part 2 of witticism: A GOOD THING CAN BE

52A: End of the witticism: WONDERFUL

Is "witticism" the same as "quip" or more sophisticated?

Not an inspired or inspiring puzzle to me. Quite boring in fact. With ADEPT crossing ADOPT, and STOOP (34D: Small porch) & SNOOP, ASSN & ASST all in one grid, the puzzle felt very hastily constructed and perfunctorily edited.

Bad clue for FOCI (54D: Central points) as POINT is an answer for 28D: Promontory, a word I've never heard before.

I am hoping for an interesting puzzle tomorrow. I don't want a hammer though.

Across:

1A: Easy dupes: SAPS. Why "Easy"? Is there any dupe that is hard to deceive? "Dupes" alone is sufficient.

16A: First name in jeans: LEVI. And DENIM (49A: Jeans material). Good pair. I am glad LEVI is not clued biblically ("Son of Jacob/Leah"). However, I wish THOU (35D: 10 c-notes) were clued as "Bible pronoun" or "__ shalt not...". Why? Because I have been living under the rock. Have never heard of a grand being called THOU before.

19A: "The Sea, the Sea" author Murdoch: IRIS. Knew "Author Murdoch". Not familiar with the book, Booker prize winner in 1978.

25A: Outpouring: SPATE

28A: Wall coatings: PLASTERS

33A: Whimper like a child: PULE. New word to me. Dictionary gives an example: "It becometh not such a gallant to whine and PULE. --- Barrow". Who is Barrow?

34A: Moe, Larry or Curly: STOOGE

40A: Bk. after Ezra: NEH. The answer always seems to be NEH when there are 3 blanks.

43A: Surveillance: STAKEOUT

45A: Steps over a fence: STILE. I don't know what's so special about this word. It keeps popping up in our puzzle.

58A: Myopic cartoon character: MAGOO. Have you seen this film?

59A: Hercules' captive: IOLE. New myth figure to me. What a sad read. Jealousy can be so poisonous. I was actually thinking of an animal, you know, those Twelve Labours of Hercules.

60A: Painter Magritte: RENE. The Belgian surrealist famous for "This is Not a Pipe".

61A: Ship's lowest deck: ORLOP. Would not have got this word without the neighboring fills. I have difficulty remembering this deck.

Down:

4D: City near Oakland: SAN MATEO. Quite a few famous people are from this city. I wonder what Barry Bonds is doing now. His #756 ball definitely deserves an ASTERISK (39D: Star-shaped figure").

6D: East on a map: RIGHT. Boy, I felt like an idiot. This answer did not come to me readily at all.

11D: Queen of the gods: HERA. Ah, the jealous wife of Zeus. I guess all women are jealous to some degree, but no one is as vindicative as HERA.

12D: "We try harder" company: AVIS. Nice change from the "Rara AVIS" clue.

13D: __ and shine!: RISE. Which DF meaning is true, #1 or #3?

22D: Trig. function: COSEC. I've never understood this sine & COSEC stuff.

26D: Sound of Washington: PUGET. Is PUGET Sound the most famous sound in America?

32D: Sorenstam or Garbo, e.g.: SWEDE. Ingrid/Ingmar Bergman too, so is Tiger Woods' wife. She is very pretty.

51D: Lowest pinochle card: NINE. No idea. I have "My Pet Goat" moment every time I see a card clue, totally freezing up.

58D: Bygone bird: MOA. It's too huge to be called a bird.

C.C.

Wednesday December 17, 2008 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: Choice Words

20A: Poker player's alternative: GET IN OR GET OUT

39A: Negotiator's option: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

53A: A call for action: FISH OR CUT BAIT

This constructor seems to favor three theme answers, with the middle one running through the grid.

Lots of vowels in this puzzle. And quite a few 5-letter words with 3 vowels alone. Felt like I just had a few OREO cookies for breakfast. I think I need more than that to sustain me through the morning.

The clue for ODDS (54D: Track stats) needs to be changed into "Track figures", as "stats" suggests an abbreviation. I would prefer a "Track fence" clue for RAIL (55D: Balustrade), since ODDS parallels RAIL in the grid.

Across:

1A: Plunk down: PLOP. I dislike the letter duplications. "Set down heavily" is fine. Or simply clue PLOP as a noun, like "Stone dropping into water sound", or something like that.

9A: Power for Fulton: STEAM

14A: Tibetan monk: LAMA. Literally "superior one" in Tibetan language. Wikipedia has a different definition, claiming it's similar to Sankrit "Guru", meaning "teacher".

19A: Bow lubricant: ROSIN. Baseball pitchers also use ROSIN for better grip, when their hands are wet or cold.

30A: Removal from office: OUSTING. I did not expect an *ING ending noun.

35A: Render harmless: UNARM. Same clue applies to DISARM I suppose.

38A: Debate side: ANTI. And ANTE (8D: Feed the kitty). They are of different root, so it's acceptable to place the two words in one grid.

44A: Captain Nemo's creator: VERNE (Jules). "Father of Science Fiction". Interesting, Wikipedia says Verne is "the second most translated author of all time, only behind Agatha Christie". I wonder where Shakepeare is placed.

46A: Snappy comeback: RIPOSTE. It's the same as repartee, isn't it?

49A: Yule quaff: EGGNOG. Very seasonable answer. Seasoned too of course, with nutmeg.

67A: Abrasive cloth: EMERY. This lower left corner is very boring, with NICER crossing RARER.

69A: Wild plum: SLOE. "Wild plum"? New to me. I thought SLOE only looks like a plum. I am more used to the "Blackthorn" clue.

69A: Big jerk: YANK. "Big jerk"? Is this about Yankees' Steinbrenner?

Down:

4D: Place for a barbecue: PATIO. Another 3-vowel word.

5D: Number puzzle: SUDOKU. Numbers give me headache.

7D: Percussion instrument: GONG. I wonder if our editor is aware of GONG Li, who has been the most influential Chinese actress in the past two decades.

10D: Rainbow in the water: TROUT

11D: New Yorkers, for instance: EASTERNERS

12D: Rope-a-dope poet: ALI. I was not aware of the origin.

21D: Model Campbell: NAOMI. Hebrew for “pleasant”, not a word to describe NAOMI Campbell though. NAOMI Watts, yes.

25D: Eyeball membrane: RETINA

26D: Treated with malice: SPITED

28D: Digital alternative: ANALOG

29D: Machine gun assault, perhaps: RAKING FIRE. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the across fills. Have never heard of this term before.

36D: Gen. Powell's status: RET. I wonder if Gen. Powell knows that RET is "Soak flax" in our Xword world. His wife is an avid crossword solver.

38D: Hail to Caesar: AVE. Probably not many St. for Caesar to cross during his life time.

40D: Dark meat serving: THIGH. Can you imagine what Dennis would say if the clue were "Breast alternative"?

52D: Dark, heavy wood: EBONY. I just saw "The Piano" last night. Are black piano keys still made of EBONY?

60D: Bard's before: ERE

C.C.