Wednesday January 7, 2009 Norma Steinberg

Theme: On the Ground

21A: Negative campaigning: MUDSLINGING

56A: Fertility goddess: EARTH MOTHER

3D: Very inexpensive: DIRT CHEAP

36D: Diminutive whirlwind: DUST DEVIL

DUST DEVIL is new to me. What causes it?

SOIL*, MUCK* and CLAY* are three other potential theme candidates I could think of. What else?

This is my first cheat-free, Wite-out free puzzle. Ms. Norma Steinberg, if you are reading this blog, please can you send me an email? I want to have my finished puzzle autographed.

Although TMS puzzles are random and do not follow NY Time's more-difficult-as-the-week-goes pattern. I do feel that Wednesday is always the easiest, with the exception of Verna Suit's Three Lines puzzle on Dec 3, 2008.

Across:

14A: Carroll heroine: ALICE. Did you all read this book when you were a child? You know, I really don't hate Chairman Mao, but I often look back on my childhood with a sense of what might have been. Cultural Revolution ruined so many people's lives.

18A: Jodie Foster film: NELL. Not a Jodie Foster fan. Don't think I want to watch NELL.

45A: Cinco y tres: OCHO. In Chinese, it's 八, the lucky number, as its pronunciation is similar to "prosper". Thus, the Olympic started at exactly 8 seconds and 8 minutes past 8 pm on 8/8/08. "I love you" is 520.

47A: Actress Heche: ANNE. So many ways to clue ANNE, ANNE Heche, ANNE Frank, ANNE Bancroft, ANNE Boleyn, who else can you think of?

56A: Belushi biography: WIRED. Not familiar with this Bob Woodward book. Easily obtainable though.

68A: Happy expression: SMILE. Wonderful intersection with AMO (65D: Caesar's loving expression). I don't believe in "Amor vincit omnia" any more. It's simply not true.

Down:

1D: Wilson's predecessor: TAFT. The only U.S. President to become Chief Justice. I have an autographed photo of Bob TAFT. I was unaware of his criminal activity when I got it.

5D: Flunky: YES-MAN. Can you call those eunuchs YES-MEN?

6D: Slugger Barry: BONDS. Have never liked him before. I do have all his rookie cards though.

9D: Nabokov title: LOLITA

10D: Pennants: FLAGS. Great pennant. I only have 1987 and 1991 Twins Championship pennants. Mine are in perfect condition.

12D: Peace in Greece: IRENE. I thought she was the goddess of peace in Greek mythology.

25D: "Siddhartha" author: HESSE. I got the answer from across fills. Have never heard of "Siddhartha". HESSE won Nobel Literature in 1946.

41D: Quiz show host Mandel: HOWIE. Another guess. He is the host of "Deal or No Deal".

48D: Maidenly minor deities: NYMPHS. Mountain nymph is OREAD. River nymph is NAIAD, Wood nymph is DRYAD. Do you know why all of them have *AD ending?

55D: Job's question?: WHY ME. From the Bible I presume?

C.C.

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.