Thursday March 12, 2009 Annabel Michaels

Theme: Carrot and Stick

20A: Start of a Johnny Carson quip: YOU GET MORE WITH

32A: Part 2 of quip: A KIND WORD AND

41A: Part 3 of quip: A GUN THAN WITH

56A: End of quip: A KIND WORD ALONE

His original quote is "You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can get with a kind word alone." TR's adage "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." came from a Western African proverb.

A BAS la quip/quote! I've had enough. So happy we only have one left.

Balzac is always Balzac to me. I did not know his given name HONORE (49D: M. de Balzac). Not fond of the abbreviation M. "Novelist de Balzac", yes. Just read "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" the other day. It brought back lots of sad memories.

Balzac said "Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane". It seems that French are stalwart believers in the juice-perfuming/sweetening power of tisane. Have you tried the orange & rose water & mint combination? Does it work?

Speaking of orange, our crossword Orange (Amy Reynaldo) emailed me yesterday about "Marbles Amateur Crossword Tournament". It will be held in Chicago on Saturday April 18, 2009. The contest will use NY Time's Monday to Thursday puzzles from the following week. And the registration is $20. All proceeds go to charities. I hope you guys in Chicago will take part and support her effort.

Across:

14A: Set of antlers: RACK. How many in a "set"? Two? I still can't believe that deer antlers are deciduous. I wonder if there is any pain when the antlers fall off/grow back every year.

18A: French historian: RENAN (Ernest). No idea. He looks like a historian who smokes heavily and collects tobacco pipes, the real ones.

19A: Org. of court player: USTA. "Org. of course player" is USGA. I still can't decide whether I like "Putter Palmer" for ARNIE or not. Nobody ever calls a golfer who puts as "putter", but Dictionary.com says otherwise.

25A: Peer Gynt's mother: ASE. Forgot her name again. Now I am going to connect her with ASSE the African fox. ASE & ASSE.

26A: Mary of "Where Eagles Dare": URE. Another memory failURE for me. Why can't I remember this girl's name?

28A: Evil spirit: var.: DAEMON. Can also be spelled as DAIMON. Both unknown to me.

30A: Tux adjuster: TAILOR. Did not come to me immediately.

46A: Actor Cesar: ROMERO. I googled his name. He was the first actor to play the Joker in "Batman".

55A: Carpool-lane letters: HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle)

61A: Medical prefix: IATRO. Stumped me again. I kept thinking ITIS the "Medical suffix". IATRO is Greek for "Physician", as in IATROGENIC, "a disease or problem caused, or made worse by a physician, surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures." Look, IATROPHOBIA (Fear of Doctors). Gosh, what would you do if you have bestiphobia (Fear of clothing)?

66A: Corduroy rib: WALE. 3rd time in a week?

Down:

2D: Puget Sound port: TACOMA. Bing Crosby was born here (grew up in Spokane).

4D: Keel extension: SKEG. No idea. This picture came up when I googled SKEG. What's the function of SKEG?

5D: Italian ice cream: TORTONI. I only know gelato. This TORTONI looks delicious, with those crumbled macaroons and minced almonds. It's "named after a famous Italian cafe owner of the same name in the 19th century Paris".

6D: Wind: pref.: ANEMO. Nope! It's rooted in ANEMOI the Greek wind gods. The Roman equivalent were VENTI. Question for Ink: Wikipedia says ANEMOI are all male gods, how come the word does not end in masculine-ending S?

7D: Spanish health: SANO. Guessed. Is it somehow related to SANE?

9D: Che's first name: ERNESTO. Got it this time.

11D: Of skin eruptions: PUSTULAR. The noun is pustule, pus-filled pimple. Another new word to me.

13D: NASA partner: ESA (European Space Agency). I am glad NASA spotted the hydrogen gas leak yesterday. I shudder to think what might have happened had Discovery lifted off.

21D: Cuddly George Lucas creature: EWOK. Learned this furry creature from doing Xword. It does not look "cuddly" to me.

27D: Mother of Brunhilde: ERDA. No idea. She is the Mother of Earth. I am not familiar with Wager's "The Ring of the Nibelung". Did not know Brunhilde is a valkyrie, the girl who brings back those who died bravely in the battle to Odin's Valhalla, the afterlife hall of the slain.

34D: Rather or Blocker: DAN. DAN Blocker is foreign to me. Loved DAN Rather' curtain closer “And, to each of you, Courage".

37D: Me, myself and I problem: EGOMANIA. Looks good with NUMSKULL (38D: Blockhead).

42D: Disney sci-fi film: TRON

43D: Greetings: HOWDIES

44D: Singer of M. I. T.: ISADORE. Is this guy very famous? I thought M. I. T. might be band I've never heard of.

48D: Chest: THORAX. Last time I was stumped by THORACIC, clued as "Of the chest".

53D: First president of South Africa: SWART. No idea. See this list. I thought of (De) Klerk, but he was the last president of the apartheid era.

57D: Adjective forming suffix: IBLE. As in collectible. Baseball cards for me. I like old Life magazine too. What do you collect?

58D: Juanita's other: OTRA. "Juan's other" would be OTRO.

C.C.

Wednesday March 11, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: Crack Up

17A: Broadway moneymaker: SMASH HIT

30A: Blast from the past?: BIG BANG

47A: Soft drink: SODA POP

62A: Launch: BLAST OFF

11D: Bases-loaded homer: GRAND SLAM

35D: Radical food fad: CRASH DIET

Not happy with 30A clue. BLAST is part of the theme answer for 62A. Tell me how you would clue BIG BANG.

The clue for ESS (13D: Part of CBS?) is quite tricky. I thought of SYS first, then EYE. Finally realized ESS refers to the letter S in CBS.

Mary Elson, the Managing Director of Tribune Media Service, emailed me yesterday that TMS will be ending Wayne R Williams syndication puzzle on Sunday March 22, 2009. So, starting on March 23 (Monday) most of the papers that currently have TMS Daily will carry LA Times Daily edited by Rich Norris.

This is a great news for us, as LA Times puzzles are definitely of superior quality. Besides, we can have the same Sunday puzzles to work with. I am aware, however, that some of you might be given a different LA Times Sunday crossword edited by Sylvia Bursztyn. But you can always print out the Rich Norris Sunday puzzle from LA Time's website.

Across:

8A: 1997 20-game winner Denny: NEAGLE. Guessed. Have never heard of this pitcher. He was actually drafted by the Twins in 1989. Wikipedia says his name was mentioned in the Mitchell Report in connection with steroids. Boo!

14A: __ Valley, CA: SIMI. Reagan Library is located here.

19A: Bernhardt and Siddons: SARAHS. SARAH Bernhardt was a French actress nicknamed "The Divine SARAH". SARAH Siddon was a British actress most famous for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth. Of all the SARAHS in the world, our editor wanted these two, absurdly obscure. Boo!

20A: Nautical rescue system: AIR SEA

21A: Cossack chief: HETMAN. No idea. Last time the answer is ATAMAN.

23A: NASA outpost: ISS (International Space Station). Williams like to clue ESA as "NASA's ISS partner".

27A: Mil. honor: DSC (Distinguished Service Cross). I wanted DSM. Wikipedia says DSC is "the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of US Army". What is the highest then? Purple Heart? By the way, DSO (Distingushed Service Order) is the "British military award".

33A: Abominable: ACCURSED. New word to me. Same as CURSED?

36A: Vexed: GALLED. His chutzpah used to GALL me.

38A: Myanmar, by another name: BURMA. Capital city: Yangon. Currency: Kyat. Strange country. Governed by those bloody military juntas. Aung San Suu Kyi needs more than just the glibido from the west for her fight.

41A: Employment: USAGE

44A: Representative examples: EPITOMES

49A: Numerical ending: ETH. "Ordinal suffix" to be exact.

51A: C.S.A. soldier: REB. Opposite Yank?

52A: Actress Meyers: ARI. No idea. Thought ARI is man's name. What's her face shape? Square?

55A: Fanning of "Man on Fire": DAKOTA. She grows up quickly. Her interviews are uniformly boring.

58A: Signaled: CUED IN

64A: Lack of vigor: ANEMIA. Dates help. Lots of irons in dates. Nuts stuffed honeyed dates. Delicious!

65A: NRC forerunner: AEC (1946 to 1975)

66A: Heraldic border: ORLE. Learned this word from doing crossword. What's the difference between heraldry and coat-of-arms?

67A: climber's spikes: PITONS

68A: '60 radicals: SDS. Was this a gimme to you? I keep confusing SDS with '70 radicals SLA (Symbionese Liberation Army).

Down:

1D: Very, in music: ASSAI. "Allegro ASSAI" means very fast. Add one letter L, it becomes the "attack vigorously" ASSAIL.

4D: "Beth" singer: KISS. Here is the clip. Definitely not my style. Any KISS collectors there? Do you have the original KISS bobbleheads?

6D: Colonial cuckoo: ANI. Why "Colonial"?

7D: Prot. sect: METH. The same abbreviation as the drug?

8D: Savings: NEST EGG. Dwindling quickly! My GE stock is now traded at $8 per share. Terrible.

18D: Flights to safety: HEGIRAS. No idea. Dictionary also says that HEGIRA refers to the flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 ad. So it's the starting point of the Muslim era.

29D: Aqua and motor endings: CADES. Aquacade is new to me.

32D: Biographer of FDR: ALSOP. Almost every JFK book I've read mentioned Joseph ALSOP. Are you familiar with General Chenault's Flying Tigers? ALSOP served as Chenault's "Staff Secretary" when they trained in Rangoon, BURMA.

33D: Poplar tree: ABELE. I forgot. What's the difference between ABELE and aspen again?

34D: Flat face of a gem: CULET. No idea. See this digram.

43D: Spanish mates: ESPOSAS. Got the answer from across fills. It's Spanish for "wife". I thought it means "Spouse".

45D: Emetine source plants: IPECACS. I can never remember this word. Their roots contain "emetine", whatever it is.

56D: Sphere starter?: ATMO. Atmosphere.

57D: Down with!: A BAS. Know this from the French Revolutionary cry "A BAS le roi!" Our editor used to clue ABAS as "Arab garments".

61D: Verse starter?: UNI. Universe. "Sex starter?" is also good, yes?

C.C.