Thursday January 29, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Practice Makes Perfect

17A: Start of Joe Paterno quote: THE WILL

18A: Part 2 of quote: TO WIN IS

39A: Part 3 of quote: IMPORTANT

42A: Part 4 of quote: BUT

44A: Part 5 of quote: THE WILL TO

61A: Part 6 of quote: PREPARE

65A: End of quote: IS VITAL

What next? A Bobby Bowden quote? Has he said anything interesting that may catch Mr. Olschwang's attention?

Joe Paterno might be inspired by Paul "Bear" Bryant, who once said: "It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters".

I was surprised that HOPER (53D: One with aspiration) is a real word. I googled HOPER, then I was asked "Did you mean Hopper"?

Some of the clues are very annoying today. I don't believe they are Olschwang's originals:

27D: Tea brand: LIPTON: TEA is already the answer for 36A: Oolong, for one. "Unilever brand" might be too vague. If you can come up with a great clue for LIPTON without mentioning the word "tea", please post in the Comments section.

31D: Took seats: SAT. Unnecessary letter duplication. "Took a chair" would be just fine.

61D: Prefix's prefix: PRE. Just awful. So many creative ways to clue PRE. Lois would probably love "Vent opening?" clue (PREvent). I would go with "Season opener?". Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two weeks.

I don't understand the clue for STREETS (73A: D and C, in D.C.). Why?

Also, I would like someone to guest blog Barry Silk's Fairfax County Public Library crossword. If you are interested, please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com. I want it published here next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Across:

1A: Surveying instrument: ALIDADE. Unknown instrument to me. Looks like an antique item. Is it still in use today?

8A: Token amount: MODICUM. Also, IOTA (43A: Bit), NIBLET (34D: Canned corn morsel), and DRIB (35D: Small amount of liquid), which is a new word to me. I've only heard of driblet though.

16A: Ground hugging stems: STOLONS. Oh, so there is a special name for this part of the plant. Good to know. Same pronunciation as stolen. My strawberry STOLONS were stolen by squirrels last year.

22A: Scarcity: DEARTH. Took me a while to get this word as I had CLASS rather than A LIST for 5D: Social category.

33A: On the front burner: IN MIND

55A: Online newsgroup system: USENET. Got the answer, but I forgot what USENET really is. Wikipedia says it's a "precursor to the various web forums".

Down:

6D: Oracle site: DELPHI. The site for Temple of Apollo. Those are Doric columns. How is the Delphic Sibyl different from Pythia?

12D: Implied idea: CONNOTATION. Easy long word. Not like yesterday's SALMAGUNDI. Learned that the spicy Jamaica Solomon Grundy is a corrupted form of SALMAGUNDI. I guess both has pickled herrings.

20D: Reverse direction of an electric current: COMMUTATE. New word to me. Related to mutate, I suppose?

22D: Texas airport letters: DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth). What does X stand for in LAX?

24D: Mark above a vowel: ACUTE ACCENT. Like été.

50D: Day's end: SUNSET. Fishing? What a waste of the beautiful SUNSET.

64D: Writer LeShan: EDA. I wonder why her mom named her EDA instead of Ida, or Ada. Just to be different?

C.C.

Wednesday January 28, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Dee-lightful

17A: Small gray-and-black songbird: CHICKADEE

31A: "The Four Seasons" composer: VIVALDI

49A: Restaurant employee: MAITRE D'

66A: "Gidget" star: SANDRA DEE

11D: Miscellany: SALMAGUNDI

30D: One of two rivals: TWEEDLE DEE

I have never heard of SALMAGUNDI before. Thought it would be the same as the Swedish smörgåsbord. But Dictionary says it's a kind of "salad of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, often arranged in rows on lettuce and served with vinegar and oil." Doesn't sound good to me. Right now, I am hankering for some French toast drizzled with maple syrup and slices of fresh strawberries.

I solved this puzzle the way John Roberts administered Obama's swearing-in. It looked quite simple yet I still botched a few spots. Interesting theme concept, but I felt the constructor overdid the theme entries. Six is a lot for a weekday puzzle.

I would have picked up one DEE ending, one DI ending, and add a DY ending and worked out a puzzle with four theme answers (together with MAITRE D'), or simply a puzzle with all DEE ending theme entries. I don't know, let me have your opinion.

Across:

14A: Anthracite, e.g.: COAL. I forgot the meaning of "Anthracite", thinking of the dreadful anthrax.

20A: Shinto temple gateway: TORII. Like this one. TORI means "bird", the last I is from Iru meaning "To dwell". Japanese kanji 鳥居 literally means "Bird's Dwelling". Wikipedia says it's originally designed as a large bird perch. In Shintoism, "birds are considered messengers of the gods". I wonder how Angels' TORRI Hunter got his name. People often misspell his name as Tori.

25A: Verbena plant: LANTANA. Very pretty. Wikipedia says "LANTANA berries are edible when ripe though though like many fruit are mildly poisonous if eaten while still green." I stopped picking up and sampling exotic wild berries after watching the movie "Into the Wild".

35A: Ayres and Wallace: LEWS. Both were unknown to me. My answer was ELIS.

38A: Phony: PSEUDO. Adjective here?

41A: Game similar to keno: BEANO. Have never played BEANO or bingo.

43A: Nabokov novel: PNIN. I suppose letter P is silent? "Nabokov novel" answer is always "Ada", "PNIN" or "Lolita".

44A: Audience loudmouth: JEERER. Sounds like a made-up word.

46A: D.C. old-timer: POL. This "old-timer" confuses me. Now, if Minnesota recount mess clears up and Al Franken becomes our senator, he will be a POL, but he won't be a "D.C. old-timer", right? He will simply be a "D.C. newcomer".

47A: Rehan and Huxtable: ADAS. ADA Rehan was an actress. ADA Huxtable won Pulitzer in 1970, and is currently the architecture critic for "The Wall Street Journal". Both were unknown to me.

53A: Henry VIII's court painter: HOLBEIN. No idea. Strange necklace. Is S a special symbol for something? (Addendum: The painting is Thomas More. Here is HOLBEIN's self-portrait).

57A: Profit makers: EARNERS. What do you think of the clue/answer?

64A: Arboreal lemur: INDRI. You should eat worms if you miss this answer again.

Down:

1D: $ in the bank: ACCT. I was thinking of amount.

6D: Focal point: NODE. Is this a math term? I am not familiar with this definition.

9D: Pairs of twins: GEMINIS

22D: Polliwogs: TADPOLES. Last time TADPOLE is clued as "Frog of the future".

24D: Cerebrum's neighbor: MIDBRAIN. I guessed. I don't know anything about my brain structure.

27D: King in "The Tempest": ALONSO. I only knew King Lear.

28D: Biblical prophet: ELIJAH. "According to the Bible, he did not die but was carried skyward in a chariot of fire." Does it mean that other "Biblical prophets" all died?

29D: Moon: pref.: SELENO. New prefix for me, though I do know the Greek goddess of moon is Selene.

36D: Former Sov. unit: SSR

39D: Reg. agcy.: EPA. Luckily I got the crossing PNIN, otherwise, this would be an impossible for me. The clue is so vague.

50D: Having actual existence: Lat.: IN ESSE. Opposite IN POSSE.

54D: Actor Bostwick: BARRY. I googled his name, then I realized who he is. "Bostwick" sounds Scottish.

56D: Praise: EXALT. Extol also has 5 letters.

63D: Broadcast: SENT. I often forget that the past tense of "Broadcast" is still "Broadcast".

C.C.