Sunday January 11, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: EE - to - OO

23A: Weak force?: POOR PRESSURE (Peer Pressure)

40A: Pink tiles of a skylines?: CORAL ROOF (Coral Reef)

61A: Fell trees?: TUMBLE WOOD (Tumbleweed)

71A: Successful dive?: CLEAN SWOOP (Clean Sweep)

90A: Endearment for a cowgirl?: SUGAR BOOTS (Sugar Beets)

111A: Cancel filming?: SCRATCH SHOOT (Scratch Sheet)

16D: Chandler's nautical novel: THE BIG SLOOP (The Big Sleep)

67D: Yellow swimming holes?: BANANA POOLS (Banana Peels)

Do you know that Sugar Beets are actually white-rooted? I always had this image that they were all red-colored like our regular beets. Had never heard of Scratch Sheet before, but SCRATCH SHOOT was very easy to infer.

Great theme idea. The title is a bit too straightforward for my taste though. I think I prefer something more subtle, can you think of a better one?

The clue for PGA (119A: Org. of Couples and Love) made me laugh. Brilliant use of the names of Fred Couples and David Love III.

What's your answer for 57A: S Kubrick movie? Right now I have AMI. But it does not make any sense to me. My intersecting fill is STEAMERS for 39D: Miner's tamping bars, an answer I am not sure either. (Addendum: The answer for S. Kubrick movie is MMI (2001: A Space Odyssey). And the answer for 39D is STEMMERS.)

Across:

1A: Builds up: ACCRUES. My instinctive thought is ERECTS. An addition of "interest" would have made the answer easier for me.

19A: Controversy: POLEMIC. I am more familiar with its adjective polemical.

33A: Ambler and Lindros: ERICS. Have only faintly heard of ERIC Ambler the English author. The hockey player ERIC Lindros is foreign to me. Was he good?

45A: Frank of "Wagon Train": MCGRATH. I googled. Is that he the guy on the picture?

51A: Strikes with a club: BLUDGEONS. I tend to confuse this word with dungeon.

68A: French city known for textiles: LILLE. De Gaulle was born here (close to the Belgium border).

69A: Pertinent: APROPOS. The opposite is malapropos.

70A: Bric-a-brac holder: ETAGERE. I suppose you can call this plant stand ETAGERE too.

73A: Chair craftsmen: CANERS

74A: Tomlin and Pons: LILYS. Barely remember French soprano LILY Pons, who appeared in our puzzle not long ago.

81A: Cast rays of light upon: IRRADIATE

86A: Base cops: MPS (Military Police)

94A: Italian actress Eleonora: DUSE. Uh-uh, no idea. This actress has been dead for almost 85 years.

104A: Fox follower?: TROT. I thought of Fox NEWS first.

117A: High fashion: COUTURE. I think Vogue's Anna Wintour will get the British Ambassador job. Want a bet?

119A: Lohengrin's love: ELSA. I can never remember this girl's name.

Down:

1D: Computer brand: APPLE. Don't think I will ever get one, so used to PC.

3D: Blocking passage through: CLOSING UP. Football term? What does it mean?

6D: Leprechaun's land: EIRE. ERIN does not fit.

8D: Degree with teeth: DDS (Doctor of Dental Science).

9D: Carpenter tools: ROUTERS. Have never heard of ROUTERS as "Carpenter tools".

10D: Borealis and australis: AURORAE. Aurora is Roman goddess of dawn (Eos in Greek mythology).

11D: Fairy-tale girl: GRETEL. "Hansel and GRETEL". I learned from doing Xword. Have never read any Grimm story.

24D: Distinct mus. tones: STAC. How come LEG is not a legit abbreviation of legato then?

43D: Poet Metastasio: PIETRO. Another google. Have never heard of this Italian poet.

46D: Calculator key abbr.: CLR

47D: Newman movie: HOMBRE. Here is the poster. Is it worth seeing?

58D: Ribbed fibrics: TWILLS

59D: Ventilated, in a way: HOLEY. I suppose so, "in a way". Weird looking word.

60D: Having domes: CUPOLAED. I only know the noun form cupola.

66D: And others: Lat: ET ALII (masculine plural). ET ALIAE is feminine plural. ET ALIA is neuter plural.

76D: Cleverly amusing: FACETIOUS. The only word with all the vowels in its proper order is FACETIOUSLY I think.

85D: Marilyn Monroe movie: BUS STOP. Here is a nice clip. Have never seen the movie either.

86D: Mr. Peanut's eyewear: MONOCLE. Do you collect any Mr. Peanut item?

92D: College treasurer: BURSAR. New word to me. Rooted in bursa, Latin for purse.

101D: "The Dresser" director Peter: YATES. One more google. Is he very well-known? This film does not look interesting to me.

103D: Nuncupative: ORAL. I guessed. My first encounter with "Nuncupative".

114D: Italian possessive noun: SUA. Italian for "his", SUO is "her". Both new to me.

C.C.

Saturday January 10, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: None

Total block: 30

Total words: 68

I just noticed this morning that all of the Tom Pruce puzzles we've solved are themeless. Have never seen his name in other newspapers before. I sure hope he starts to look for other venues. What a mess with Tribune!

Mr. Williams, if you are reading this blog, please talk to your constructors, pay what you owe them for God's sake. You are losing the loyalty and trust of those capable puzzle makers by continuously keeping silent.

Not a hammer, but definitely a gavel for me today. Lots of troubles with lower right corner. Most of the time I find down clues to be easier than the across ones, but today is an exception. Can you still clue ITO (3D) as "OJ's judge" after his recent trial? How would you clue Judge Jackie Glass then?

Forgot to show you this huge Crossword Building earlier this week. It looks like an empty grid in the day time, but all the words become visible when the light is on in the evening. Tell me how different it is from our puzzle pattern other than that it has an additional gray shade.

Across:

1A: Armed robbery: STICKUP

8A: Spanish port: ALMERIA. Arabic for "The Mirror". Unknown to me. See here. It's a seaport in south Spain on the Mediterranean Sea.

17A: Astronomer of Alexandria: PTOLEMY. I surprised the hell out of me by getting his name with only letters PT_ _ _ _ Y filled in.

18A: Huge statues: COLOSSI. I only knew the adjective colossal. Can you give me an example of a COLOSSUS?

24A: Physics Nobel laureate Isidor: RABI. Googled his name. Nobel winner 1944.

26A: Of Rome's predecessors: ETRUSCAN. I simply forgot this word. Saw the clue before. Wikipedia says ETRUSCAN civilization extended between 1200 BC to 100 BC.

34A: Member of a Catholic order: PAULIST. It's "a member of the Roman Catholic Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle, founded in New York in 1858." Another unknown to me.

40A: British weapon: BREN. See this picture. I only knew STEN.

41A: Bootleg liquor: HOOCH. Have never heard of this word before. Does not sound like a liquor name to me.

45A: Tolkien creature: HOBBIT

46A: Anglo-Saxon tax: GELD. Nailed it this time. But does "Neuter" sound like an offensive clue? "Anglo-Saxon tax" strikes me as very obscure.

48A: Garment with a tight waistband: BLOUSON. Like this? I only know blouse.

53A: Rod shaped bacteria: BACILLI. See this picture. Why some of them have black dots on? It's another new word to me. Dictionary says BACILLUS is rooted in Latin "baculum" meaning rod/walking stick.

59A: Serengeti hunter: LIONESS. I don't get this clue. LIONESS is being hunted, how can it be "hunter"?

Down:

4D: Very pale green: CELADON. Hmm, "Very pale green" indeed. Good to learn this word.

7D: PGA golfer Stewart: PAYNE. Gimme to me. He died in a plane crash in 1999. He won three majors in his life, 2 US Open, 1 PGA Championship.

8D: Discover: ASCERTAIN. New definition to me. Always associate ASCERTAIN with "To make certain".

13D: Singer DeLange: ILSE. Have never heard of this Dutch country singer. She looks very pretty.

23D: Elvis Costello hit: ALISON. I got it from the across fills. Not a familar song to me. Could not find a YouTube clip either.

26D: Moray catcher: EELER. Sniggler is "Moray catcher" too.

27D: Mediterranean evergreens: CAROBS. Oh, good to know. CAROB is always powder to me. Are those ripe pods edible also?

28D: R & B singer Keys: ALICIA. Here is her "Fallin'"again. "... Lovin' you darlin'..."

31D: Ghastly quality: LURIDNESS. I wanted pallidness, but it did not fit.

35D: Mother-of-pearl sources: ABALONES. NACRE is often clued as "Mother-of-pearl".

36D: Of the chest: THORACIC. Oh well, I guess I don't know my own chest.

39D: Roger of Byrds: McGUINN. Another google. I've never heard of "The Byrds" either. What songs are they famous for?

42D: Pointed monolith: OBELISK. Why is it also called "Cleopatra's Needle"?

45D: 1962 John Wayne movie: HATARI. New movie to me. Wikipedia says the title means "danger" in Swahili.

48D: __ out (eject): BAIL. Is this another Janus phrase? I thought BAIL out means rescue, like the current bailout package.

49D: Currency of Georgia: LARI. No idea. See this picture.

55D: Letters before the World Series: LCS (League Championship Series). I think ALCS or NLCS is a more popular term than LCS itself.

56D: Addams Family relative: ITT. The cousin. Everything I know, I learned from doing Xword.

C.C.