Tuesday January 6, 2009 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: Heating Up

20A: Lives dangerously: SKATES ON THIN ICE

37A: Finds troubles: LANDS IN HOT WATER

48A: Loses one's punch: IS ALL OUT OF STEAM

Too bad RUNS OUT OF STEAM is one letter short. I feel it's a better clue than IS ALL OUT OF STEAM. BLOWING OFF STEAM has the correct number of the letters, but it does not fit the tense pattern.

Nice to see YOGI (11D: Berra of baseball) in the grid. Wish MITT (8D: Potholder alternative) were clued as "Glove for 11D" as a tie-in. YOGI Berra is a great catcher after all. Who is your favorite catcher? I used to like A. J. Pierzynski. Wish I had seen Johnny Bench play.

Easy sailing today. Notice how this puzzle differs from the ones offered by Allan E. Parrish/Barry Silk? No letter Q, X or Z.

Oh, for those who have trouble with Roman numerals, here is a great website for you to cheat. Also, I found this snowball clip JD/Clear Ayes located yesterday to be very funny.

Across:

15A: Pueblo dweller: HOPI. Zuni is 4-letter too. Look at these HOPI Kachina dolls, very intriguing. Their bodies are carved out of wood, right?

25A: Makes confused: ADDLES. Reminds me of that long fancy word "Discombobulates".

34A: React to a bad pun: GROAN. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!". Does this make you GROAN?

40A: Musical piece: OPUS. Have never seen OPUS clued as "__ Dei" in TMS puzzle.

41A: Demeanor: MIEN. This word always brings to mind the Marlboro Marine. He has such a tough MIEN, yet so fragile in real life.

57A: Asian capital: SEOUL. Literally "capital city" in Korean language. The same as Japanese city Kyoto. Beijing literally means "North capital" in Chinese. Nanjing (Nanking in Cantonese) is "South capital". Xi'An means "West peace".

60A: Marine ray: MANTA. I can never remember this fish. What is so special about it?

64A: March middle: IDES. The 15th of March, May, July, or October. And 13th of the other months.

Down:

13D: Withered: SERE. And WET (43A: Moisten).

25D: Luminous: AGLOW. Does anyone like J-Lo's GLOW?

26D: Cover loosely: DRAPE. Beautiful, isn't it?

35D: Purl's counterpart: KNIT. I thought PURL is a kind of knitting. Why "counterpart"?

36D: Glass panel: PANE. Horrible clue.

45D: Whiskey bottle sizes: FIFTHS. No idea. Why FIFTH instead of fifth or sixth?

46D: Mozart's "The Magic __": FLUTE. Here is "The Magic Flute" overture.

54D: New Old World money: EURO. I misread money as "monkey". Thought of TITI, which is actually "New World monkey".

55D: Kind of sax: ALTO. This clue made me laugh. But seriously, I have great difficulty pronouncing "sax" and "sex" distinctly. I need a patient person to sit in front of me and teach me how to say "bad", "bed" and "bide".

C.C.

Monday January 5, 2009 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Access Control

18A: "Fatal Attraction" star: GLENN CLOSE

57A: "Fallin" singer: ALICIA KEYS

3D: Magical command: OPEN SESAME

29D: Noted porridge taster: GOLDILOCKS

A few things first:

1) I know that some of you only read my main blog entry every day. I suggest you start visiting Comments section. You will find more fascinating information and intelligent discussions there.

2) For those who have been lurking on the Comments section, I hope you will join the fray today. I would love to hear your "whining" about the puzzle or puzzle inspired topics.

3) I've decided to cut down my blogging activity this year. There will be no change on the main blog entry. But I won't make as many appearances on the Comments section from now on, unless I have questions or feel some explanation is needed.

As every comment is forwarded to my email account, I will still read and study every one of your post. Can't tell you in words how appreciative I am of the time and effort you guys have given me to better understand American culture. I am very touched by your kindness and generosity. Thank you.

Now back to the puzzle. I know GLENN CLOSE starred in "Fatal Attraction", though I've never seen the movie. ALICIA KEYS is such a talented singer. I love "Fallin". I've never heard of "The Story of GOLDILOCKS and the Three Bears". But I don't like the embedded *LOCKS in this answer. KEYS, OPEN and CLOSE are all stand-alone independent theme answers. Lack of theme consistency in my opinion.

Also, the clue for PONDWEED (20A: Submerged perennials) should be in singular form. Easy solving today.

Across:

14A: Pith helmet: TOPI. Unknown to me. Pictures of antelopes showed up when I googled TOPI. I've never heard of "Pith helmet" either.

15A: Japanese-American: NISEI. Second generation, to be exact. The root word SEI means birth, Ni means second. ISSEI is first generation (IS means first). SANSEI is third generation (SAN means third), don't confuse it with SENSEI (Judo/Karate teacher). Also, KIBEI is a person of Japanese descent, born in the U.S. but educated in Japan (KI is to return, BEI is America).

25A: Granitelike rock: GNEISS. Only learned this morning that it's pronounced the same as nice. I might confuse you with my spoken English. There is no distinction between my "bad" and "bed", "sax" and "sex".

40A: Take away game: NIM. I got it from down clues. What is it? Why "Take away"? Is it related to Nimbod in anyway?

41A: Indian bread?: RUPEE. "Nepal/Pakistan/Sri Lanka bread?" as well.

47A: Alabama port: MOBILE. Had no idea that it's Alabama's only seaport. Hank Aaron was born here. Come to the Comments section and say Hi if you are from MOBILE.

54A: Gorbachev policy: GLASNOST. Literally "publicity/openess". I know the meaning of this word when I read it in the newspaper. But I could not spell it out without help.

64A: Many-headed monster: HYDRA. Nine-headed, to be accurate. He was slain by Hercules. Reminds me of Janus, the two-faced god, from whom we got January.

Down:

9D: Crystal radio component: ZINCITE. New to me. I only know ZINC.

13D: Very French?: TRES. Also "A Spanish crowd?" (three).

25D: Accra location: GHANA. Often see ACCRA clued as "Ghana Capital". Ex-UN Chief Kofi Anna came from GHANA. I have an autographed photo of him.

27D: Narcotic nut: BETEL. The same as areca nut, right?

30D: Bay window: ORIEL. Here is a photo. Doesn't look like bay-shape to me.

45D: Ancient calculator: ABACUS. I really, really hate this clue "Ancient". It implies to me that ABACUS was used ages ago. I used it when I was at primary school. And my uncle still prefers ABACUS over calculator. Sorry, Calef, I just can't be persuaded by your "been in existance for a long time" argument.

47D: Bad atmosphere: MIASMA. Just learned this word a few days ago.

54D: Anglo-Saxon tax: GELD. New definition to me. I always associate GELD with "castrate".

C.C.