Wednesday April 15, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Tough Ending

17A: Loaf pan filler: BREAD DOUGH

29A: Mistletoe branch that was Aeneas' pass to the underworld: GOLDEN BOUGH

39A: Something to lead a horse to: WATER TROUGH

52A: "The Thorn Birds" author: McCULLOUGH

11D: "Cut it out": THAT'S ENOUGH

24D: Make a dramatic recovery: PULL THROUGH

I did not know GOLDEN BOUGH or the author of "The Thorn Birds" Colleen McCullough. I do know historian/author David McCullough though. Heard so many of his interviews when he promoted "1776".

This is an incredible puzzle. Four 11-letter entries, Two 10-letter entries. All with different pronunciation. Last time Kazie and someone else (Doreen?) discussed *OUGH ending words in detail on the blog. I don't think they covered McCullough though. Dan Naddor ploughed through the whole field and left no stone unturned. Amazing. Lots of clever fills too.

I cottoned to the theme very earlier on and was able to fill in lots of blanks. Had trouble with lower left corner though. I was so sure that the answer for 48A (WWII torpedo vessel) is U-BOAT. Have never heard of E-BOAT before. With letter U in place, my 44D (Pop or bop) became MUSIC rather than GENRE. Then I wanted ABUZZ instead of ABOIL for 45D: "Full of excitement".

By the way, crossword constructor Justin Smith is running a Metacross Contest starting tomorrow. See here for details.

Across:

1A: St. with a panhandle: OKLA. Wow, 9 states with panhandle. I thought only 3. Whenever I see the abbreviation St, I think of "saint" first.

5A: Polio vaccine developer: SABIN. He developed oral vaccine. Salk's is injection.

16A: "Now I get it": AH SO. Often clued as "Charlie Chan's comment". The complete Japanese interjection is "AH SO desu ka" (That is so). "AH SO desu ka?" means "Is that so"?

19A: Mane man of film?: LAHR (Bert). The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz". Great clue.

20A: Fruity rum drink: COLADA. Ah, must be a gimme for Clear Ayes. She loves piña COLADA.

22A: Give authority to: EMPOWER

25A: Gets in the crosshairs: AIMS AT

26A: English subjects?: NOUNS. The ? mark makes this clue very interesting. Without ?, the clue is legit too.

27A: One may be proffered at a wedding: HANKIE. I have this 1991 Twins Championship Homer Hanky. I also have the original 1987 Twins World Series one.

32A: Eavesdropping org.: NSA (National Security Agency). "The Puzzle Palace". What is the nickname for CIA? I wonder if the author of "Enemy of the State" worked in NSA before. Great movie.

35A: First name in jazz: ELLA (Fitzgerald). I wrote ETTA. She is a jazz singer too. Very interesting: ETTA James said her mother told her that her father was "Minnesota Fats." How could that be?

38A: It's 0 at the equator: Abbr.: LAT (Latitude). Ecuador got its name from its equator location.

41A: Rained hard?: HAILED. Another great clue. I wanted POURED.

44A: Used Scope, say: GARGLE. I like Listerine.

46A: Dogs: POOCHES

48A: WWII torpedo vessel: E-BOAT. My disaster area. Wikipedia says it's commonly held that the E stood for "Enemy", but it is likely that it in fact stood for "Eilboot" ("fast boat"). Looks too big to be a torpedo vessel.

49A: Poe's "The Murders in the Rue ___": MORGUE. The first detective story ever. Unknown to me. All I know about Poe is "The Raven" and "Annabel Lee".

51A: We, to Henri: NOUS. Also "Us, to Henri".

56A: Fixes, in a way: RIGS

57A: Two-dimensional surface: PLANE

59A: Pre-coll, catchall: ELHI. El(mentary) + Hi(ghschool). Last time several ex-teachers said they had never heard of ELHI.

Down:

1D: Heavenly body: ORB. I thought of GOD. What's the first thing that popped into your mind? Victoria's Secret Angels?

2D: It can precede plop or plunk: KER. I like last time's "Plunk starter?" clue.

4D: Amazon predator: ANACONDA. Oh my goodness, so huge. I've never heard of it before. Wikipedia says it's mostly found in water, such as Nile or Amazon. I thought all snakes live on land. (Note: Here is the Sea Eagle Vs. Banded Snake clip PromiseMe provided).

5D: Move furtively: SIDLE

6D: Like Niagara Falls: AROAR

7D: Data transmission rate: BAUD. I forgot. It's named after Émile Baudot the French inventor.

8D: Swenson of "Benson": INGA. Swedish for "Hero's daughter". I tend to confuse her with Gloria Swanson.

9D: Disease research org.: NIH (National Institutes of Health)

10D: A hero might hold it: SALAMI. Hero sandwich. My favorite clue. Of course, I was picturing a war hero holding a flag.

12D: Dublin-born actor Milo: O'SHEA. Now I see why Rich Norris clued O'SHEA as "__ Jackson: rapper Ice Cube's birth name" yesterday. No repetitive clues on consecutive days.

13D: Razzie Award word: WORST. I like this clue too. I had never connected Raspberry Award with "blow a rasberry" until last time when BOOER was clued as "Raspberry blower" in our puzzle.

18D: Use a divining rod: DOWSE

21D: One of about 19 million Indians: SIKH. Hindu for "disciple" or "learner". Wikipedia says they wear turban, both man and women. Hello, can you hear me now?

22D: Georgia of "Coach": ENGEL. No idea. Is she very famous? Wikepida says she is in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" also.

23D: Dinero: MOOLA. Both slang for money. I used to mix up MOOLA with those Muslim Mullah.

27D: Rinsed, as a driveway: HOSED

28D: Violin virtuoso Leopold: AUER. Impossible vowel-heavy name. I bet I will forget it next time. I like the alliterative "Violin virtuoso".

30D: Author Zora __ Hurston: NEALE. The author of "Their Eyes Were Watching God". Saw this clue somewhere before.

31D: Diminish: BATE. My was FADE.

37D: Expel: FORCE OUT

33D: Smooth transition: SEGUE

39D: Droop: WILT

40D: "High Sierra" director Walsh: RAOUL. No idea. What's wrong with his right eye?

42D: Two-time U.S. Open champ Andre: AGASSI

46D: Cut back, as a branch: PRUNE

47D: Gave the eye: OGLED. "Give someone the eye" is a new phrase to me.

49D: Mid-12th century date: MCLI. 1151.

50D: One __: kids' ball game: O' CAT. See here for more information. I've never heard of One/Two/Three/Four O' Cat ball game. Why Cat instead of Dog?

52D: AWOL chasers: MPS (Military Polices)

53D: troupe for troops: Abbr.: USO. Learned this morning that USO was already established in WWII.

54D: Prizm maker of yore: GEO (1988-1997). The answer revealed itself.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Tuesday April 14, 2009 Billie Truitt

Theme: They R Different

17A: 11:00a.m. restaurant patrons?: BRUNCH BUNCH

29A: Fraternity nerd?: GREEK GEEK

39A: Advice from the auto club?: TRIP TIP

48A: Whimsical Barbie?: DROLL DOLL

63A: Quite small-minded?: PRETTY PETTY

The first three pairs rhyme. The last two don't. Adding one letter R is like adding a stroke to a Chinese character, the meaning and the pronunciation of the word can change dramatically. The same with letter L: FLAIR, FAIR; FLOUR, FOUR; GLUT, GUT, etc.

I like seeing REAR (23A: Caboose's place) & END (36A: Caboose's place) with the same clue. The same with EVEN (37A: Deadlocked) and TIED (52A: Deadlocked). Nice pair.

My favorite clue today is TAR (66A: Seasoned salt?). Of all the slang for sailor, gob is the strangest. But I learned yesterday that gob is actually short for gobshite, old English for wad of spit chewing tobacco or tobacco juice. I don't know, maybe sailors like chewing tobacco?

The STUD clue (58D: It may be ear-piercing) is cute too. I used to think all STUD earrings are penetrative, then Argyle found some clip-on STUD earrings on internet. So "may be" here is quite accurate.

Oh I got several questions regarding Dan Feyer's best time. Dan said his paper record is 1:56 for Monday March 9, 2009 NYT puzzle. And his online record (Across Lite) is 1:17 for an old NYT. Do you think he will break 1 minute threshold?

Across:

1A: E-junk: SPAM. Wikipedia says Rolex and Viagra-type drugs are two common products advertised in SPAM e-mail.

5A: Honshu port: OSAKA. Literally "large hill" or "large slope". Its Japanese Kanji and Chinese characters are the same, both are 大阪市. I did not know it's so close to Kyoto.

10A: No.-crunching pro: CPA

13A: Shakespearean betrayer: IAGO. The villain in "Othello".

14A: Fancy calligraphy strokes: SERIFS. I would not call SERIFS fancy. These calligraphy strokes are fancy. Does Chinese word "love" look complicated to you?

20A: Ocean color: SEA GREEN

21A: Em and Bee: AUNTS. Another famous one is Aunt Jemima.

34A: Ace the exam: NAIL IT

38A: Banned bug killer: DDT. Banned in the US in 1972. I think we still used it on apple orchard in 1980's.

45A: Big oaf: APE. This reminds me of my babu (baboo) and baboon confusion. I always thought Seinfeld calls the Indian immigrant Baboon.

46A: Crocodile hunter of film: DUNDEE. Learned this film from doing Xword.

58A: Answer: SOLUTION

62A: "__ said it": YOU. I wanted I'VE.

67A: Patriot Adams: SAMUEL. Why emphasizes "Patriot" here?

68A: Organ knob: STOP

Down:

3D: Juanita's water: AGUA. Shui, in Chinese. Like Feng Shui. Feng is literally "wind".

4D: Mutt: MONGREL

5D: __Jackson: rapper Ice Cube's birth name: O'SHEA. No idea. Only know him as Ice Cube. O'SHEA is often clued as "Actor Milo". Ice-T's original name is Tracy Marrow, which appeared in our TMS Daily before.

6D: Jean of "Saint Joan": SEBERG. Unknown to me also. Wikipedia says Jean SEBERG had an affair with Clint Eastwood while shooting "Paint Your Wagon".

7D: Make __ for it: A RUN

9D: Org. with Patriots and Jets: AFC. The answer emerged after I filled in the across. I don't know which teams are AFC, which are NFC. Most of the time I just fill in NFL.

11D: Animal hide: PELT

15D: Predatory lender: SHARK. Hmm, no California hockey reference here. Too bad, JD, maybe Rich Norries does not like San Jose Sharks.

18D: Plastic, so to speak: CREDIT. Good clue.

24D: Out of shape?: BENT. I like this clue too.

26D: Like most movie rentals: ON DVD

28D: Explosive stuff, briefly: NITRO (Nitroglycerin). Always thought NITRO is a complete word itself.

32D: Went sniggling: EELED. Koreans men eat eels for "stamina". Vietnamese men drink snake blood for "stamina". Weird, isnt it? Snakes and eels actually look quite similiar.

33D: Patched pants parts: KNEES. I like the alliteration in the clue.

35D: Livelihood: TRADE

40D: Product with earbuds: iPOD. Use mine mainly for NPR podcast.

41D: Upper body strengthener: PUSH-UP

44D: Crunchy sandwiches: BLTS. Have never had a BLT in my life. Can't get used to the mayonnaise taste.

49D: Speaks like Daffy: LISPS

60D: Plains native: OTOE. The "Plains" here refers to "The Great Plains", right?

61D: Big Apple enforcement org.: NYPD. Reminds me of "NYPD Blue" and crossword stalwart ESAI Morales.

64D: It's used for battering: RAM. The long pole in the middle? Vaguely remember someone explained battering RAM to me before.

65D: Flightless bird: EMU. Dennis just mentioned at the Comments section that EMU can't walk backward. Nor can kangaroo. Both are in Australia's coat of arms. They signify Australia's "Forward with Pride" spirit.

Answer grid.

C.C.