Tuesday January 20, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: The Fab Four

17A: Hard hat's potty: PORT-A-JOHN

35A: "A Way in the World" writer: V. S. NAIPAUL

41A: Singer O'Dowd, to fans: BOY GEORGE

57A: 1989 Jane Fonder movie: OLD GRINGO

Last time when we had "The Fab Four" puzzle, the theme answers are: JOHNNYCAKE (clued as "Cornpone"), RINGO LEVIO ("NYC street game"), PAULOWNIAS ("Asian figwort trees", ouch!) and GEORGETOWN ("D. C. neighborhood").

I had never heard of the book "A Way in the World", nor was I familiar with the author V. S. NAIPAUL. I also had zero familiarity with the movie OLD GRINGO. But I figured out the theme quickly. Otherwise, it would be a very hard puzzle for me.

This puzzle is quite scrabby, 3 Vs, 2 Xs, 1 Z, 1 J and 1K, probably my favorite Tom Pruce puzzle. I was expecting an Obama inauguration themed grid though.

I was planning to blog Barry Silk's "2008 Championship Tribute puzzle" today. But due to Barry's business trip this week, I will postpone it to next Tuesday or Wednesday. I've also uploaded the puzzle to Scribd. You can just click on iPaper, then print it out.

Across:

1A: Sleeping child: ANGEL. Stumped me. Is it somehow related to the Guardian ANGEL?

5A: Epitome of messiness: STY. Nice clue.

19A: Thick: MIDST

21A: Winter apple: RUSSET. Kind of Idaho potato. It bakes well. I like Yukon Gold for potato salad. (Addendum: RUSSET is a kind of apple. Unknown to me. I confused "Winter apple" with French pomme de terre earlier.)

28A: Maria __ of Austria: THERESA. No idea. All I could think of is Maria Antoinette, THERESA's daughter. Maria THERESA looks intimidating.

30A: Old-time high note: ELA. The sixth and highest note in Guido's musical scale. This word only exists in Xword world.

34A: Ponselle and Parks: ROSAS

38A: Town on the Firth of Lorn: OBAN. See this map. It's in west Scotland. Unknown to me.

39A: Women's sweethearts: BEAUX. Plural of beau.

44A: Curve type: ESS

48A: Blackthorns: SLOES. I can't believe these SLOES are tart, they look sweet. Have never seen them in person.

50A: Bean and Welles: ORSONS

51A: One-time French royal house: VALOIS. The House of VALOIS ruled France from 1328 to 1589. Completely unknown to me. Our fellow solver LOIS is from VA.

56A: Be jubilant: EXULT

64A: Milo of "The Verdict": O'SHEA. I always confuse Milo O'SHEA with Sal Mineo.

67A: Never existed: WASN'T

Down:

10D: Burglary: HEIST. Also the title of a Gene Hackman movie.

13D: Shot on the green: PUTT. Great PUTT.

18D: Iotas: JOTS

22D: Disco light: STROBE

23D: Satellite of Mars: PHOBOS. New to me. PHOBOS is also the God of fear" in Greek mythology. Son of Aphrodite and Ares (Mars in Roman). Phobia is rooted in PHOBOS. Also, "panic" derives from Pan, "God of shepherds and flocks". Pan inspired sudden fears in lonely places, according to Wikipedia.

25D: Large ape, briefly: ORANG

31D: Spanish quarter: BARRIO. Got it from across fills. I could only think of bodega.

39D: Clowns: BOZOS

42D: Stone tools: EOLITHS. Eo is a prefix for "early", Lith means "stone". It appeared in our puzzle before.

48D: Gannet goose: SOLAN. New goose to me. I did not know the meaning of "Gannet" either.

51D: Hindu sacred books: VEDA. Literally, "knowledge" in Sanskrit. Another new word to me, but shouldn't the clue be singular?

52D: Leafstalk angle: AXIL. See this picture. It's the angle between a leaf and its branch. Just learned this word a few days ago.

58D: O.T. book: ISA. And GEN (60D: O.T. book).

C.C.

Monday January 19, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: Meal Time

20A: Residence inn: BED AND BREAKFAST

40A: British bread-and-cheese meal: PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH

55A: Sweet following eating: AFTER DINNER MINT

I have never heard of PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH before. Ploughman probably will not eat those bitter endives in the middle. What is the stuff on that front white cup? Looks deliciously chunky.

Not a well-thought theme. If BREAKFAST and LUNCH are located at the end of the phrase, so should be DINNER. You know, like CHRISTMAS DINNER, 15 letters, perfect. What other *DINNER ending phrases can you think of? BUSINESS DINNER is one letter short.

Easy sailing this morning. Very doable puzzle. I got SEE (23A: Match a raise) from down clues, but I don't understand the cluing. How so?

Across:

1A: Calgary team: FLAMES. Here is a hockey puck with FLAMES logo. That's a very hot name. We have Wild in Minnesota. Edmonton Oilers is also based in Alberta.

10A: Novelist Oz: AMOS. "A Tale of Love and Darkness" sounds intriguing.

14A: City on the Rio Grande: LAREDO. Is this city somehow related to "The Streets of LAREDO"? The title of the sad baseball movie "Bang the Drum Slowly" comes from that song.

18A: USN big shot: ADM. What's the equivalent Marines/Army/Air Force big shot? GEN?

24A: Singer Moffo: ANNA. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the down clues. Have never heard of this opera singer.

25A: CCCII tripled: CMVI. Roman 906.

29A: Grp. of D.C. advisors: NSC (National Security Council). Here is a list of those who attend the NSC meeting. General James Jones will coordinate those meetings for Obama.

31A: Chicago singer Peter: CETERA. No idea. I do love Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away". "Chicago" here refers to the band name.

37A: Bay window: ORIEL

44A: "Les Preludes" composer: LISZT. Here is a clip.

45A: Old-time roofing material: SLATE. "Old-time"? Does it mean that SLATE is not used as roofing material any more?

64A: Harem area: ODA. Turkish for "room". Derived from odalik, meaning "a chamber girl" or "a concubine", according to Wikipedia.

67A: Eskimo knife: ULU. Have never heard of ULU knife.

68A: Potential looter: RIOTER

69A: Medieval slave: ESNE. Sometimes is SERF. I don't know how those two are different from each other.

Down:

4D: Physical opening?: META. Metaphysical. Will Rogers probably would want this clue to be "I have never MET A man I didn't like". Our editor dislikes partial fills though.

9D: Love affairs: ROMANCES. They are not the same, are they? To me, "Love affair" implies a sexual and illicit relationship.

10D: Former PLA leader: ARAFAT. Hard to associate ARAFAT with Nobel Peace prize winner.

21D: Simple brooms: BESOMS. New brooms to me. Very twiggy.

27D: "Twelfth Night" role: VIOLA. I guessed. Have never read "Twelfth Night".

30D: Patsy Cline classic: CRAZY. Here is the song. Can't find Willie Nelson's CRAZY on YouTube. It's pretty good too.

33D: Belly muscles: RECTI. Singular is rectus. Another new word to me. I am convinced that I don't know my own body.

41D: Worked freelance: HIRED OUT

42D: End of a spat?: ULA. Spatula. Also "End of a form" (Formula).

47D: "__ Fideles": ADESTE. Semper is also 6-letter.

49D: Rugged range: SIERRA. "Rugged ridge" would be ARETE.

52D: Move sideways: SIDLE. There is no difference in my pronunciation of SIDLE and SADDLE.

55D: Winglike structures: ALAE. The adjective is ALAR, though often clued as "Banned spray".

59D: Synthesizer maker: MOOG. I have never heard of Bob MOOG or MOOG Synthesizer.

62D: British wheel: TYRE. British TYRE hits kerb.

C.C.