Monday January 26, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: Animal in Action

17A: Marine gliders: FLYING FISH

63A: Sport utility canine: HUNTING DOG

11D: Avian mimic: MOCKINGBIRD

26D: North Atlantic flier: HERRING GULL

Happy Spring Festival! 春节快乐!

I have never heard of HERRING GULL before. Are they fond of herrings? I wish there were a HEARING GULL instead. HERRING does not really fit the theme pattern here.

I think "Clique" alone is enough for IN-GROUP (53A: Elite clique), since ELITIST is the answer for 28A: Snob.

I believe this is Joe Vita's first TMS puzzle. If so, congratulations.

Across:

1A: Food for Silver: OATS. "Hi-yo, Silver". That's all I know about "The Lone Ranger".

2A: Michelangelo masterpiece: PIETA. The only work Michelangelo ever signed. I thought of DAVID first.

16A: Layer: COAT. Paint?

27A: Musical time unit: BAR. Not familiar with this exact definition. Music was regarded as a corrupt Western capitalist product and was not taught when I grew up. The loudspeaker blasted "The East is Red" every morning to wake us up.

32A: Mil. probe: RECON. I was thinking of the "A Few Good Men" style military probe.

33A: Razor choice: ATRA. Gillette should send free razors to our editor for this free publicity.

57A: Old Gray Mare, for one: NAG. Have never heard of "this folk song" before.

Down:

2D: To a man: ALL. First encounter with the phrase "To a man". Or maybe I saw it before and just did not pay attention to its usage. I tend to check the dictionary when the word is long and complicated.

5D: Braided danglers: PIGTAILS. Brought to mind the long "Braided danglers (queue)" hairstyle the Manchurians forced upon Han people till 1912, when Sun Yat-Sen and his followers finally overthrew the Machurians. That's why he is often referred to as the "Father of Modern China". About 92% of Chinese (almost 20% of the entire global population) are of Han ethnicity.

6D: Diabolical: INFERNAL

9D: For a short time: A WHILE. Often see people write AWHILE when A WHILE should be used.

12D: "Gigi" setting: PARIS. Here is the trailer. "Gigi" is probably Colette's most famous novel.

24D: Kazakhstan range: URALS. European/Asian border.

42D: Food poisoning: PTOMAINE. New word to me. Dictionary says this word derives from Greek "ptoma" meaning "corpse".

45D: Aphrodite's child: EROS. Greek equivalent of Cupid. This will be a great Valentine's Day gift. ARES, the bellicose Greek war god, is "Aphrodite's lover".

49D: Duke's location: DURHAM. The only thing I know about Duke is Coach K & the lacrosse scandal.

52D: Keenan or Ed: WYNN. Got the answer from across fills. Know either of them.

53D: Arboreal lemur: INDRI. Literally "there it is".

54D: Nostril: NARIS. Plural NARES.

64D: Org. of Capitals and Senators: NHL. Holy cow! I've never heard of Ottawa Senators or Washington Capitals. Great clue. I had no idea that there are so many teams in NHL.

C.C.

Sunday January 25, 2009 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Face It

23A: Flirtatious signal: EYE CONTACT

25A: Snoop-for-hire: PRIVATE EYE

54A: Reporter's talent: NOSE FOR NEWS

73A: Meager: HAND-TO-MOUTH

103A: Scarves and such: NECK PIECES

105D: Sweater style: TURTLE NECK

36D: Old hearing devices: EAR TRUMPETS

39D: Performed without a score: PLAYED BY EAR

My theme title would be "Funny Face" because it's twisted and browless. The EYES are facing each other, so are the EARS (symmetrically). The NOSE is sitting above the MOUTH, but not directly.

Interesting to have two NECKS gridded below the MOUTH. But what animal has two NECKS? Guess it's just a wordplay of "NECK and NECK" here.

Clues I disliked:

1D: Took straw: DREW. Bad letter duplication. Besides, why not "Sketched"? It fits today's "Face" theme nicely.

5D: Manuel's hands: MANOS. HAND is already an answer for the puzzle, though it would be tough to clue MANOS without mentioning "hands".

Clue I adored:

65A: Interest free? BORED. Just brilliant.

Easiest Sunday puzzle I've ever solved. No googling. Did get help from my husband on several entries.

Across:

21A: Classic Alan Ladd Western: SHANE. Wikipedia says Edith Head, who won eight Oscars (out of 35 Academy nominations), was the costume designer for SHANE.

32A: Fruits with hard rinds: GOURDS. Cubumbers also belong to the gourd family, they don't have hard rinds though.

43A: Reconnoiter: SCOUT. Garrison Keillor writes a weekly column for our Star Tribune every Sunday. I don't know why he calls himself "The Old SCOUT".

52A: Leafy veggie: KALE. How to cook KALE/mustard green properly? They taste terrible when stir-fried.

53A: River island: AIT. Is there any famous AIT in the US?

58A: Vestibule: FOYER. Here is Degas's "Le FOYER de la Danse" again.

61A: Theater sections: LOGES. Was President Lioncoln sitting inside a LOGE when he was assassinated?

76A: Bellicose deity: ARES. Greek God of War. The Roman equivalent is MARS. The Norse counterpart is THOR, right?

78A: Abominable snowman: YETI. Myth or legend?

83A: Author of "Siddhartha": HESSE (Hermann). See the book cover. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says Hermann won Nobel Literature in 1946. He also wrote Steppenwolf . This name sounds familiar to me somehow. Oh, "Born to be Wild".

85A: Small cooker: GAS RING. Oh, I did not know this is called GAS RING in English. But why "cooker" instead of "burner"?

87A: Georgia University: EMORY. Interesting, I just found out that this university does not have a football team. How strange!

91A: Jargon: PATOIS. The plural is still PATOIS. What is the difference between PATOIS and argot?

95A: Herschel's planet: URANUS. I guessed. Have never heard of this astronomer/composer. He discovered URANUS in 1781.

109A: Related on mother's side: ENATE. AGNATE is "Related on father's side".

110A: Ex-Spice Girl Halliwell: GERI. Ginger Spice, the girl with one knee on the ground.

111A: Pundit's newspaper pg.: OP-ED. Who is your favorite columnist? I like David Brooks.

Down:

15A: Humphrey Bogart film: "High __": SIERRA. Have never seen this movie. The only Bogart movie I've watched is "Casablanca".

16D: Iowa State city: AMES. The Cyclones.

35D: Anatomical networks: RETIA. Singular is RETE.

44D: Mudville batter: CASEY. Ah, baseball, "CASEY at Bat". "... But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out."

55D: Man who portrayed Chan: OLAND (Warner). Got the answer from across fills. Charlie Chan often commented "Ah So", a Japanese expression actually.

56D: Mechanical man: ROBOT. I like the position of ROBOT in this grid.

57D: Marsh of mysteries: NGAIO. Last time MARSH is clued as "Ngaio of mysteries".

62D: Combat mission: SORTIE. Pilot's mission, to be exact.

65D: Fights: BOUTS. Boxing term. The answer did not come to me immediately.

69D: Rhyming verse: POESY. Dictionary says POSY is a variant of POESY, meaning "a brief verse or sentimental phrase, especially one inscribed on a trinket". Sounds romantic.

77D: Boxing proximity: RINGSIDE. New term to me. Boxing is too hard for me to watch.

79D: Awareness of one's position: BEARING. Are you OK with this clue?

81D: Cheesecake picture: PINUP. This is probably the most famous PINUP. Hugh Hefner told NPR that Betty Grable was "his inspiration for founding the Playboy empire".

92D: Designer Simpson: ADELE. Have never heard of this designer name before. I am used to seeing ADELE clued as "Fred's dancing sister".

95D: John Ruskin's "__ This Last": UNTO. No idea. Is this a very well-known essay?

C.C.