Saturday December 20, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 70

Noticed how this puzzle differs from the ones offered by Allan E. Parrish and Barry Silk? It has no letter X, Z or Q. There are also no Matthew Higgins style obscure librarian words.

Just a simple, straightforward, pop culture-free puzzle, with no twisted gimmicks. I've seen ELEVEN (2D: Side-by-side ones?) clued as "One by one?" before, so there was no "Aha" for me today either.

After seeing those suffixes like ER, EST, ED and S, I kind of missed the old "Sea Eagle" clue for ERN (5D: Directional suffix). Also, "Serpent tail?" for INE (60D) lost its appeal to me several months ago. Don't you think "Carol ending?" is more fitting for the Christmas season?

I also disliked the clue for DENIABLE (37D: Possible to contradict). Can you come up with a better one?

Across:

1A: Hijiki or sargassum: SEAWEED. Here is the photo. Unknown to me. Easy guess though. I only cook with kelp and wakame. And nori for my rice ball wrapping.

2A: Greek letters: LAMBDAS. Got it from the down clues. This letter and OMICRON often give me trouble. So do those rivers in Europe.

16A: Iridescent: OPALINE. I think "opalescent" is more commonly used. Does anyone collect Fenton milk glass?

22A: Backs of neck: NAPES. I want to see SCRUFFS clued as "Backs of neck" in our puzzle some day. Lots of consonants in that word, not as many as STRENGTHS though.

28A: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" co-star Garr: TERI. Where is TERI Hatcher's agent? Or he might think Tribune Media puzzle is too small for his client to make an appearance.

31A: Switch attachment?: EROO. Switcheroo. Smackeroo. Are you familiar with the slang Sockeroo?

33A: Insists upon the observance of: STANDS ON. I was only familiar with STANDS ON as in "STANDS ON the shoulders of giants".

38A: Gilded: AUREATE. Five vowels in this word. This is interesting. Have you ever used "Euouae" when playing Scrabble?

45A: French wines: VINS. Kind of boring clue, isn't it?

46A: Iris in heraldry: FLEUR-DE-LIS. Great to see its full name in a puzzle.

51A: Egyptian goddess of fertility: ISIS. OK, here is ISIS feeding her son Horus again. AMON/AMEN/AMUN is the "Egyptian fertility god". I wonder if President Clinton knows the meaning of IS IS.

54A: Open horse-drawn carriages: SHAYS. Here is an old one horse SHAY. Unknown to me.

62A: Country on the Adriatic: ALBANIA. See this map. Tirana is its capital. Lek is its currency. Wikipedia says that ALBANIA means "Land of the Eagle" in native language, hence the double-headed eagles on its flag. They sure don't look like eagles though.

67A: Stable seat: SADDLES

Down:

1D: Deli hangar: SALAMI. These are Cantonese style sausages, which are made of pork and sweet in taste.

2D: Side-by-side ones?: ELEVEN. 11.

3D: Victoria's consort: ALBERT. Easy guess. I did not know who was Queen Victoria's husband. Is that a real photo?

4D: Runs out of energy: WEARIES. I was thinking of WEAR OUT.

7D: Hereditary monarch: DYNAST. I only knew DYNASTY.

8D: Cut off: LOP. And 49D: Cut into: INCISE. Made me think of the Lorena Bobbitt story you guys talked about several days ago. I had never heard of it before.

12D: Spread far and wide: DISPERSE

13D: Foyer: ANTEROOM

24D: Certain musical chord: TRIAD

42D: Ancient empire on the Tigris: ASSYRIA. Wow, Its territory is bigger than I thought.

47D: Arctic boats: UMIAKS. I completely forgot this boat. Those guys look very cold.

48D: Minature train name: LIONEL. Forget about the train, I love "We Are the World". I only recognized LIONEL Richie, Michael Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springteen. Who is the singer at 2:29?

50D: Summer ermines: STOATS. He is adorable.

C.C.

Friday December 19, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Have an AX to Grind

17A: Kenny G, e.g.: SAX PLAYER

24A: Modern message-sender: FAX MACHINE

37A: Like most charitable contributions: TAX DEDUCTIBLE

50A: Corporal of the 4077th: MAX KLINGER

61A: Rhapsodize: WAX POETIC

Hammer fell for me! So many unfamiliar proper names.

Got the theme rather quickly and filled in all the AX'es. But ZLOTYS (45D: Polish cash) intersects ELEAZAR? Impossible for me. Also, the clue for 50A meant nothing to me. I've never watched M*A*S*H.

Why abbreviated "Fr." for A DEUX (7D: Of two: Fr.) clue?

Across:

1A: Garfield for one: CAT. Garfield's pal is ODIE.

4A: Dazzling display: ECLAT. Very close to ECLAIR in spelling.

9A: Egg-shaped: OVATE. And OVA (35A: Eggs).

14A: Mary of "Where Eagles Dare": URE. Another "My Pet Goat" freezing moment for me. I can never remember the name of this actress.

16A: Brett of the gridiron: FAVRE. A rare gimme for me. Lots of Green Bay Packers flags & signs in our neighborhood. Weird to see him in Jets jersey.

19A: Thematic musical piece: FUGUE. This kid probably knows more about Bach's Prelude and FUGUE than I ever could.

23A: Crisp or Chanel: COCO. I think this is the first time that COCO Crisp appears in any nationally syndicated puzzle. He was just traded to the Royals.

29A: Small hill: KNOLL. It reminded me of the Grassy KNOLL & Dealey Plaza. Personally, I think Caroline Kennedy is trying to fulfill her brother's dream when she announced her interest in Hillary's seat. JFK Jr. was seriously contemplating running for the Senate before he died.

31A: Overturned: UPENDED

32A: Begin, for example: ISRAELI. Good clue. Menachem BEGIN. He won Nobel Peace in 1979, together with Anwar Sadat.

41A: Eclipse or Stride: GUM

42A: Tenon holder: MORTISE. Here is the diagram again.

43A: Dartmouth founder Wheelock: ELEAZAR. I googled his name.

46A: T. Garr movie: MR. MOM. I had zero familiarity with this movie.

56A: Fifth of CCCV: LXI. Roman 61. That will be the Super Bowl of 2027.

57A: QB stats: INTS. Interceptions I suppose. All I know about football is TDS.

66A: Salad bar item: BAC~OS. New to me. Is it tasty?

67A: Medicinal plant: SENNA. The "Tuscany city" is SIENA. And the "Earth pigment" is SIENNA. And of course, there is also the actress SIENNA Miller. Also HENNA, "Reddish Dye".

Down:

1D: "Serendipity" star John: CUSACK. I saw the movie. Very silly.

2D: Region of Spain: ARAGON. It's the region where Catherine of ARAGON came from I presume.

3D: Chevron's 2001 merger partner: TEXACO

4D: Emigrant's subject: ESL (English as a Second Language)

5D: Grain husks: CHAFF

6D: Clapton classic: LAYLA. Here is the clip. What does "Unplugged" mean?

8D: Tuesday god: TYR. Norse god of strife. Wikipedia says he is often portrayed as a "one-handed man". New to me.

10D: Slugger Mo: VAUGHN. Gimme for me. His baseball card is not worth anything.

12D: Play about Capote: TRU

18D: Long-winded: PROLIX. New word to me.

22D: American elk: WAPITI

25D: Penalize by fining: MULCT. This word just looks so wrong.

26D: Billy of Rock: IDOL. Wow, I am glad I've never heard of him before.

27D: Actress Campbell: NEVE. I liked her in "Party of Five".

28D: Writer LeShan: EDA. Would not have got her name without the across fills.

30D: Hippie drug: LSD. Did anyone actually try this drug in the 1960's?

37D: City south of Moscow: TULA. Foreign to me. See this map.

38D: NYSE rival: AMEX. Can you believe that Barnard Madoff was once the NASDAQ Chairman?

40D: Wodehouse's Wooster: BERTIE. No idea. See here for more information.

44D: Quite alike: AKIN TO

47D: Lola or Maria: MONTEZ. Lola MONTEZ was a dancer, and Maria MONTEZ was an actress. I knew neither of them.

52D: Gas giant: EXXON. It's merged with Mobil in 1999

53D: Wisconsin college: RIPON. Another new name to me. RIP ON, why would they pick up this name?

58D: Dubya's Florida brother: JEB. Molly Ivins coined "Dubya". Boy, she sure had a biting tongue.

60D: Vert. bars on goods: UPC

61D: London loos: WCS. Needs "briefly" in the clue.

62D: Volga tributary: OKA. I got this river from the across fills. Too many vowel-laden rivers in Europe.

C.C.