Saturday February 21, 2009 Matthew Higgins

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 70

Now I am feeling like "A RAISIN in the Sun (42D), completely dried up. Some of the clues/ANSWERS are relentlessly obscure to me. I definitely need the theme as my Sherpa. Themeless is too much of a Sisyphean challenge to me.

I would prefer "Abused verbally" rather than "Assailed abusively" for REVILED because ASSAILANTS is the answer for 17A: Violent attackers.

To those who did not read my Wednesday's post, Argyle will blog Barry Silk's Bonus Puzzle tomorrow morning. Also, LA Times just published Barry's themeless today. The blog will be published here on March 1 (Sunday). I have never solved a Saturday LA Times before. Very curious to see how it differs from our TMS themeless.

Across:

1A: Navigation aid: CHART. Would be easier if the clue is "Navigation map". All I could think of is COMPASS.

14A: Financial aid form: PAPER CHASE. New term to me. Chinese government paid all my college education, so I did not need any financial aid.

16A: Hokey rural humor: CORN. Did not know it's a "rural" humor.

19A: Remove from active use: SHELVE

20A: Lesser Antilles republic: DOMINICA. Here is a map.

25A: Judicial: ARBITRAL. They are not synonymous to me. "Judicial" is pertaining to the judge/justice, while ARBITRAL has something to do with arbiter or arbitration.

31A: Entrench oneself: DIG IN. Did not come to me readily.

35A: African fox: ASSE. Simply forgot. Also called Cape Fox. It "inhabits dry areas of southern Africa and has large pointed ears, silvery gray coat, and a bushy tail with a black tip".

36A: Type of boom: SONIC. SONIC boom. Like the boom from Concorde?

37A: Matador's adversary: TORO

38A: Cool or groovy: HIP. "Hep" in old times.

43A: Sound units: DECIBELS. SONE is often clued as "Loudness unit". It's 40 DECIBELS.

45A: Impedes: RETARDS. I wanted HINDERS. But it did not fit.

47A: Fillet fish: SOLE. I've never had SOLE fish. It's also called flatfish. I misread "Fillet" as a verb, so SKIN & DEBONE popped into my mind.

48A: Named: ENTITLED

50A: Belgrade's republic: SERBIA. Fully landlocked. It gained full independence in 2006. Not an EU memeber yet. SERBIA (esp Kosovo) and the whole Balkan area baffle the hell of me, very confusing civil/ethnic/religious fights.

54A: Suit toppers: ACES

55A: Fading away gradually: EVANESCING. New word to me. I only knew convalesce.

58A: Form into a network: RETICULATE. Another new word. RETIA is often clued as "Networks".

Down:

2D: Corned-beef dish: HASH

3D: Area in a basilica: APSE. Sometimes the answer is NAVE.

4D: Chronologically unbroken: REAL TIME. The clue does not feel natural to me.

5D: Hot-dish stands: TRIVETS. Was clued as "Hot-platter platform" last time.

8D: John Jacob and Mary: ASTOR

9D: Hypnotic: MESMERIC. I am used to the word "mesmerizing".

10D: Formulaic stylistically: ICONIC. This clue is too fancy for me. Why not "Like Jackie's sunglasses"?

11D: House trailer: MOBILE HOME. And RESIDENCE ((26D: Abodes)

12D: Of the rules: PROCEDURAL. Would not have got this word without the across fills. Have heard of PROCEDURAL vote many times. Never understand what it means.

13D: Slammin' Sammy: SNEAD. Hogan and SNEAD, Jack and Arnie, Tiger and Phil.

21D: Reitman or Pavlov: IVAN. Did not know the Canadian film producer/director IVAN Reitman. His lower lip is very thick.

23D: Hazardous gas: RADON

25D: Old-time actress Menken: ADAH. No idea. She died when she was only 33. Wikipedia said she was romanced by Dumas when she performed in Paris. Dumas looks so content and happy.

27D: Splashes with mud: BESPATTERS. Knew SPATTER only.

28D: Like some tablets: LINED. Here is a somewhat LINED but MESMERIC face. Lots of milliadonis in my book.

32D: Lytton Strachey's first name: GILES. Bloody blue murder! Have never heard of this British writer/critic. He died in 1932. Wrote a biography of Queen Victoria.

36D: Blacksmiths' cohorts: SADDLERS. Oh, I had no idea that there are people specializing in saddle making/repairing.

37D: Protuberance on a bone: TUBERCLE. Only knew TUBER.

44D: Trig. function: COSEC. Mine was COSIN.

45D: Ranch in the movie "Giant": REATA. Carol probably still wants RIATA.

46D: "The __ Samurai": SEVEN. Probably the most famous Japanese movie ever made. The Tom Cruise movie is titled "The Last Samurai".

56D: Quick drink: NIP

C.C.

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.