Thursday February 12, 2009 Adele Mann

Theme: What is Love?

1A: Start of a quip: LOVE IS

21A: Part 2 of quip: A CROCODILE

41A: Part 3 of quip: ALONG

60A: Part 4 of quip: THE RIVER OF

73A: End of quip: DESIRE

Does it mean that love is dangerous?

I have never solved a puzzle where the quip starts with 1A. Was worried that this puzzle might be a “Shock and Awe”. It turns out to be just a “shock and uh”.

Mike WEIR (26A: Masters champion from Canada) might be a bit obscure to non-golf fans. But it’s easily gettable. He is probably the best known left-handed golfer in PGA, after Phil Mickelson. I've forgotten most of the 2003 Masters. Do remember the intimate embrace he gave to his wife after he sank the final putt.

Too many “Be…” clues for my taste:

71A: Be without: NEED. Why not "Can't live without"?

45D: Be worthy of: MERIT. "Worth" alone is enough, isn't it?

13D: Be vanquished: LOSE. Dennis probably wants "Take the booby prize" or "Mislay".

Across:

17A: Grasping part: PINCER. Have never seen a singular PINCER before.

18A: Shaded walkways: ALAMEDAS. New word to me. Like this? Dictionary explains that ALAMEDA is rooted in Spanish word "alamo", a poplar tree in the Southwest.

25A: Temper: ANNEAL. Temper metal.

23A: Enticed: LED ON. I often confuse inveigle with inveigh.

28A: Archie’s command to Edith: STIFLE. Easy guess. I watched one or two episodes of "All in the Family". Don't remember this rude command.

44A: Silvery European fish: BREAM. No idea. Scary eyes. It does not look "Silvery" to me. Remember last time we had SCUP (clued as "Porgy")? Now that's "Silvery".

46A: Aleppo’s country: SYRIA. Last time ALEPPO was clued as "Syria city". Wikipedia says 70% of Aleppo's inhabitants are Sunni Muslims.

49A: Flower part: STAMEN. It bears pollen. The white stuff on top is the anther.

51A: 500-mile event, briefly: INDY. I know it runs over the Memorial weekend. And Daytona 500 will be held this weekend. Other than that, I know nothing about racing. Are those two like Baseball's American League Champion Series & National League Champion Series?

69A: Singer Peerce: JAN. Not a familiar name to me. Jan, he must be of Dutch root.

Down:

3D: Having blades, as a windmill: VANED. New adjective form to me.

4D: Mortgage condition: ESCROW. What exactly is ESCROW?

5D: Tina Turner’s ex: IKE. Nice change from the stale "Presidential nickname" clue. Not sure if they were really married though.

6D: F.D.R.’s mother: SARA. Learned her name from doing Xword. F.D.R.’s dog is FALA.

8D: Manmade fiber: ORLON. Wanted NYLON. Both are synthetic fiber, right?

10D: Young plant: SEEDLING. “Ling” is a suffix for small. Duckling, underling, yearling, etc.

27D: “Sliver” author Levin: IRA. Thrillingly scary movie. I did not know Ira Levin wrote it though.

37D: First name in tenors: ENRICO. For opera fans, 20th century started with ENRICO Caruso and ended with Pavarotti.

40D: Asian evergreen: TAMARIND. Interesting, Wikipedia says TAMARIND is Arabic for "Indian date" due to its date-like fruit shape. Palm dates I suppose. Our Chinese dates are round. Some people like TAMARIND in their chutney.

42D: Southwest people: NAVAJO. The largest tribal group in the US. I really adore some of the NAVAJO turquoise silver bracelets. Very pretty.

57D: Belafonte or Lewis: SHARI. Another easy guess. SHARI Belafonte is an actress. SHARI Lewis is the original puppeteer for "Lamb Chop".

58D: Lush: TOPER. Is this a real word?

59D: Edberg or Sorenstam: SWEDE. I've got several autographs from Annika Sorenstam. Have never heard of Stefan Edberg the tennis player.

C.C.

Wednesday February 11, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: The Scarlet Letters

17A: John Cougar Mellencamp hit: CHERRY BOMB

26A: Hit by the Psychedelic Furs: PRETTY IN PINK

43A: Hit by Chris DeBurgh: THE LADY IN RED

58A: Hit by Sting: DESERT ROSE

Why not "Hit by John Cougar Mellencamp" for 17A? It would be more consistent with the other three clues.

An odyssey for me this morning. The center grid where NUBIA/OMBRE/PRAIA intersects one another is very hard. As for the theme entries, I've heard of LADY IN RED and DESERT ROSE. Have forgotten all about CHERRY BOMB, I think someone linked that song before. PRETTY IN PINK is new to me. What a weird band name: The Psychedelic Furs.

There should be a "var." mark with the clue for TABU (9D:Prohibited). I have zero familiarity with SENSORIA (39D: Human CPUs), but "CPUs" should not be part of the clue, as it indicates an abbreviated answer.

Across:

1A: Collier's access: ADIT. Often clued as "Mine entrance". Coal + ier = Collier (coal miner)

15A: Snorer's peril: APNEA. What caused this sleep order?

19A: U.S. weather grp.: NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). New to me.

20A: Diarist Pepys: SAMUEL. Pepys has the same pronunciation as "peeps". His diary recorded the Great Fire of London (1666). Funny how that year is called "Annus Mirablis". It's a perfect "Annus Horribilis". Why do all those Latin words end in letter s?

34A: Women's Lib opponent, perhaps: MCP (Male Chauvinist Pig). Know the phrase, but the abbreviation did not come to me readily.

38A: Three-player card game: OMBRE. Or OMBER. From Spanish hombre (man). It's "a card game popular in the 17th and 18th centuries and played, usually by three persons, with 40 cards." Completely unknown to me.

41A: Cape Verde capital: PRAIA. No idea. See this map. Does it belong to Africa then? Wikipedia says Cape Verde was a Portuguese colony until 1975. About 71% of the population is Creole of mixed black African and Portuguese descent. And more than 85 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. Most of the Africans are Muslims, right?

53A: Ancient region in Asia Minor: AEOLIS. Or Aeolia. Another unknown to me. All I could think of is Ionia. Well, look at here, I was not that far off. I don't understand this part. How is Odysseus' Aeolus island connect with AEOLIS? Are they the same?

60A: Artist Mondrian: PIET. The Dutch painter famous for his "Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red". Also see this PIET Mondrian inspired Nike shoe.

61A: Anaheim player: ANGEL. Awkward Los Angels Angels of Anaheim. Yesterday's Rod Carew (7-time A.L batting champ) finished his career with the Angels.

Down:

4D: Maneuvering rocket: THRUSTER. I don't know. Like this?

10D: "Where the Wild Things Are" writer: SENDAK. I googled this author. Not familiar with the book.

11D: To have: Fr.: AVOIR. Santa, Je veux AVOIR this for Christmas.

18D: Right-hand page: RECTO. Reminds me of Barry G's outburst over RECTI (clued as "Belly muscles"). The singular form is rectus. RECTI is the same as abs, aren't they?

27D: Apple choice: ROME. Here is a clip for those who love the real ROMA.

29D: Nile region: NUBIA. No idea. Here is a map. Wikipedia says "most of NUBIA is situated in Sudan with a quarter of its terriory in Egypt. And in ancient times it was an independent kingdom." Why does this word sound so DF to me?

36D: Cowboy's chum: PARD. Short for Parter. Is it a common slang? I've never heard of it before.

46D: Sun: pref: HELIO

56D: Meeting: abbr.: SESS. This S-laden word is often found either at the bottom or the rightmost edge of the grid.

C.C.