Friday February 20, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Nidget's Pal

17A: Gidget: SURFING FILM

49A: Widget: DESKTOP TOOL

11D: Fidget: SQUIRM ABOUT

25D: Midget: MINI VERSION

All the above theme answers feel like normal clues, don't you think so? "Squirm about": FIDGET. I hope this is an aberrant rather than a pattern. I don't like this reverse pattern. Hate when the clues rather than the answers are the theme. We just had "Snow, Show, Slow & Stow" the day before yesterday.

Our editor clued SANDRA DEE as "Gidget star"a few weeks ago. But the movie escaped me completely this morning. Difficult solving. The intersection of AL OERTER & ERDE is hard.

I disagree with the clue for OILER (47A: Crude workman?). OILER refers to the crude oil carrier rather than worker on the oil field, right?

Across:

5A: Acquire canines: TEETHE. "Acquire molars" too.

15A: Batman's butler: ALFRED. New to me. Not a fan of Batman or Superman. Heroic figures should not have a butler anyway.

19A: Sturm __ Drang: UND. "And" in German. "Storm AND Stress". I always think of Munch's "The Scream" whenever I see this term.

28A: Forest dweller: WOODSMAN. Did not come to me readily. Just realized that this hot-tempered Welsh golfer is called Ian Woosnam, not Ian Woodsman.

32A: Lacy houseplants: FERNS. Seedless and Flowerless. Oh, by the way, Chinese word for fig is "fruit without flowers". Do you think the flower is inside the fig fruit?

33A: Sleeve card?: ACE. Good clue.

35A: Clamps: VISES. With the ?idget theme, "Carpenter's gadget" might be a better clue.

38A: Threescore: SIXTY. Learned the meaning of "score" from Lincoln's "Fourscore and seven years ago...". I like his barebone, economical yet powerful writing. You could find some of his style in JFK's speeches.

44A: Fell as ice: SLEETED. Did not know SLEET can be a verb.

48A: Pressure meas.: PSI (Pounds per Square Inch). Also a Greek letter of course.

56A: "Das Lied von der __": ERDE. I googled. Mahler's composition. "Lied" is a German art song for solo voice and piano. ERDE means "earth". So this work is literally titled "The Song of the Earth".

58A: V-shaped fortifications: REDANS. No idea. This one is indeed V-shaped. I can't see how it serves its fortification purpose. Wikipedia says Russians used REDANS against Napoleon during one battle.

59A: Eurasian deer: ROES. Where is his tail? I learned a few days ago that antlers are deciduous. So I presume the deer shed their antlers every season? Last time our editor clued SIKA as "Japanese deer", brutal clue.

Down:

2D: Old French coin: SOU. 1/20 of the old franc. Sometimes the answer is ECU, a silver five-franc piece.

3D: Swiss river: AAR. Hmmm, Williams is not in the mood for "Swiss flow-er".

6D: "Enigma Variations" composer: ELGAR (Edward). British composer, stranger to me. What does "Nimrod" mean?

7D: Studio apts: EFFS. Saw this clue before. Not clear what exactly is an efficiency apartment.

8D: Angle or pod lead-in: TRI. "Cycle lead-in" as well.

9D: Mischievous children: HELLIONS. New word to me.

10D: O'Brien and Rostand: EDMONDS. EDMOND O'Brien was an actor who won Oscar for "The Barefoot Contessa" (Best Supporting Actor). EDMOND Rostand was a French poet and dramatist best known for his play " Cyrano de Bergerac". He said: It is at night that faith in light is admirable. What does that mean?

24D: Type of magnetism?: ANIMAL. Excellent clue.

26D: Comic Amsterdam: MOREY. Another unknown. He is best known for his role in "Dick Van Dyke Show", the guy on the most left.

28D: Adam and Benjamin: WESTS. Adam WEST played the Batman on the TV series. Benjamin WEST was an American painter of large scale historical scene during the time of American revolution. I feel sad for myself, the only WEST I know is Mae WEST.

35D: Waltz type: VIENNESE. I have no idea there are so many styles of Waltz.

36D: Olympic discus legend: AL OERTER. I don't know this legend. He won a gold medal in four consecutive Olympics, steroid-free, A-Rod.

44D: Suppress, as info: SIT ON

46D: Turkey label letters: USDA. Hey, I have the autograph of the current USDA chief.

50D: Advanced deg.: SCD (Scientiae Doctor, Latin). Doctor of Science. Same clue/ANSWER appeared our puzzle before.

53D: "__ Girls": LES. Have never heard of this comedy film. It's also known as "Cole Porter's LES Girls".

C.C.

Thursday February 19, 2009 Adele Mann

Theme: "What, Me Worry?"

17A: Start of a quip: WORRY IS A ROCKING

34A: Part 2 of quip: CHAIR THAT

45A: Part 3 of quip: WILL NEVER

66A: End of quip: TAKE YOU ANYWHERE

The original Glenn Turner quote is: Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.

Most of the worries are unfounded. Some people are trapped and paralyzed by their gloomy imaginations. Worries can easily morph into fears or phobias. Don't worry. Be happy.

This is a better puzzle than Alele Mann's last quip. It held my interest. But why "Chic" for (4D) though? To me, "Chic" is stylish, but PERT is "lively". Katie Couric used to be PERT.

Across:

1A: Short distance: STEP. This STEP is definitely not a "Short distance".

5A: Hullabaloo: FUROR

16A: Present starter?: OMNI. Omnipresent. Actually, "Present opener?" is a better clue.

21A: "Havana" star: LENA OLIN. Easy guess. I've never seen "Havana". Nice to see her full name in a grid.

25A: His in Hyeres: SES. Hyeres is on the French Riviera. I did not know that.

30A: "Barney Miller" co-star: SOO (Jack). Learned from doing Xword. I wonder why he changed his name into SOO. Japanese nickname for Suzuki?

42A: Explorer Johnson: OSA. No idea. Here is a safari photo of OSA and her husband Martin Johnson. If she is OSA, her husband should be OSO. A bear couple.

44A: Star in Cygnus: DENEB. "Cygnus" is Latin for "swan", cygnets are young swans. See this diagram again.

54A: SASA, e.g.: ENC. Wrote down ENV first.

58A: Deviant: ABNORMAL

68A: Mythical Hun king: ATLI. I don't know why the answer is ATLI when it's clued as Norse god related, but ATTILA when the clue was "The Scourge of God".

69A: Founder of the Ottoman dynasty: OSMAN. Oh, I did not know this either. More familiar with Ottoman Empire, not dynasty. China had over 20 dynasties. Qing was the last, overthrown by Sun Yat-Sen in 1911.

72A: Renaissance fiddle: REBEC. Absolutely no idea. See here for more information. It's pear-shaped and was replaced by viol after the Renaissance period.

Down:

1D: Disseminates: SOWS. Remind me of my theme title yesterday: Go, Sow Your Wild Oats.

3D: Stone or Pound: EZRA. Know poet EZRA Pound. Forgot who EZRA Stone is.

5D: Like Snow White: FAIREST. Good clue. Better than "Most ..."

7D: Qum coin: RIAL. Qum is in Iran. See it? It's to the south/southwest of Tehran.

11D: Ludwig and Jannings: EMILS. Jannings is the first winner of Oscar for Best Actor ("The Way of All Flesh"). Ludwig is a German author known for his biographies of Goethe, Napoléon, etc.

12D: "Tomorrow" singer: ANNIE. Nice clip.

19D: Actress Jones: CAROLYN. I guessed. Not familiar with this actress at all. Is CAROLYN and Caroline the same?

23D: Not by any means: NO HOW. Mine was NEVER.

29D: Itchy skin problem: TINEA. New word to me. It's also called ringworm.

31D: Mirage, maybe: OASIS. OK, maybe.

38D: Fiji's capital: SUVA. PGA golfer Vijay Singh attended high school here, according to Wikipedia. He is very cold in person, very arrogant.

48D: Cast off: UNMOOR. I wanted UNSHED. Silly, since SHED is the correct word.

51D: Mongolian invader: TATAR. I think China had the largest territory when it's ruled by Genghis Khan.

53D: Braided linen tape: INKLE. Oh, I did not know there is a special term for braided linen.

57D: Everygreen tree: YEW. Are these berries poisonous?

59D: Eye in Aix: OEIL. Trompe l'OEIL. Surreal, isn't it? Julian Beever never ceases to amaze me. Pavement Picasso indeed.

64D: Ireland: ERIN. The poetic name for Ireland is EIRE. Hibernophile is a term to describe one who love all things Irish, esp the Corrs & Bono. Hibernia is Latin for Ireland. Sounds cold, doesn't it?

C.C.