Friday June 12, 2009 Robin Stears

Theme: Try It!

17A: Where Jerry Garcia kept food for the band?: DEAD PANTRY (Deadpan)

28A: Minimalist wall hanging?: BLANK TAPESTRY (Blank Tapes)

47A: Small clergy group?: MICRO MINISTRY (Micro Minis)

64A: Wedding cake mock-up?: FAUX PASTRY (Faux Pas)

About a month ago, Rich Norris clued CHERRY GARCIA as "Ice cream flavor honoring a Grateful Dead icon" in his "Shades of Red" puzzle.

I figured out the theme very quickly, and immediately gave BLANK TAPESTRY and every other theme entry a TRY. I think this girl's micro mini skirt would look better without the big belt. Yes? Thought of WM's love for a cake blog and her "Faux Finisher" daughter when I filled in FAUX PASTRY.

I liked this puzzle a lot. It's BEAUT (36A: Doozy). The theme is so simple yet creative. The original base phrases and the new made-up entries are quite livley.

Lots of black squares, 44, the limit on Rich Norris's 15*15. Most of the other newspaper puzzles cap the number at 38.

Have a look at the constructor Robin Stears's blog. She has written several books.

Across:

1A: Schooner features? JIBS. Nice to start a grid with a letter J.

5A: Kingdom called the Friendly Islands: TONGA. Ugh. I thought of Bhutan where Gross National Happiness index rather than GNP is measured. TONGA is literally "South" in many Polynesian language, according to Wiki.

10A: Biblical plague insect: GNAT. Easy guess. I am not aware of GNAT's Biblical reference. I thought it's locust.

16A: Wear the crown: RULE. Or REIGN.

20A: Fertilizer source: ALGAE

22A: Tar Heel State university: ELON. Often clued just as "North Carolina university".

23A: 1990s speed skating gold medalist: KOSS (Johann Olav). Absolutely no idea. Johanna Olav KOSS is from Norway.

26A: One with a habit: NUN. A rare repeat clue.

35A: Chichi: ARTY. It's the same as ARTSY, isn't it? The clue made me think of Golf Hall-of-Famer Chi Chi Rodriguez.

38A: North Carolina country: ASHE. Unknown to me. Here is the map. Was it named someone surnamed ASHE?

40A: Blue shades: TEALS. The answer might be AQUAS if this were a Barry Silk puzzle.

42A: __ race: ARMS

45A: "East of Eden" brother: ARON. His twin brother is Cal. I thought James Dean was so so in the movie.

46A: Expressive rock genre: EMO. What exactly is the EMO genre?

51A: __-de-vie: brandy: EAU. Literally water of life.

56A: Bygone carrier: TWA. Recklessly wrote down SST.

67A: Blacken: SEAR. I love seared tuna, crusted with sesame seeds, YUMMY! (33D: Scrumptious).

68A: Slacker: IDLER

71A: Bear named for a president: TEDDY. T.R. originated "Speak softly and carry a big stick".

72A: Strategic WWI river: YSER. This has become a gimme. YSER river flows to the North Sea.

Down:

1D: Actress Pinkett Smith: JADA. Another gimme. Will Smith's wife. Both are scientologists, I think.

2D: Country on the Denmark Str.: ICEL. Ah, its most well-known citizen is probably Björk. I thought that swan address is rather cute. Don't understand why it's ridiculed.

3D: Crow: BRAG

4D: "Bad Blood" singer: SEDAKA. This singer does not look like Neil SEDAKA. Maybe I am familiar with the aged SEDAKA.

5D: Luggage-screening gp.: TSA (Transportation Security Administration). Established after 9/11.

6D: Part of BYO: OWN. Bring Your OWN.

8D: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" robot: GORT. Stumper. Here is a picture. Is it related to the Jewish robot golem?

10D: Beverage brewed in a gaiwan: GREEN TEA. "Gaiwan" is literally "lidded bowl".

13D: Many a "One Tree Hill" character: TEEN. The answer revealed itself. Not familiar with this TEEN TV drama.

18D: Drudge: PEON. Noun. I thought of TOIL first.

24D: 32-card game: SKAT. For three players.

25D: Flow: STREAM

27D: Plug-and-play PC port: USB (Universal Serial Bus)

28D: Like a close buddy: BOSOM

29D: Actress Christine: LAHTI. Total stranger to me. Wiki says her name is Finnish for "gulf"/"bay"/"cove". And she won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her role in "Chicago Hope".

30D: __ 2600: early game console: ATARI

31D: Road cones: PYLONS. Holy cow. I had no idea that these cones have a special name.

37D: Eponymous Chinese general: TSO

39D: Substitute for dropped items: ET CETERA. Probably my favorite clue today.

44D: Palindromic altar: ARA. This has become a gimme also.

48D: Equip: OUTFIT

49D: Something to keep a teller busy?: SAGA. Nice play on tell-er.

50D: Inferior: TRASHY. Somehow I thought of ersatz.

53D: Fresh approach?: SASS. The answer revealed itself. I did not know "fresh" can mean "impudent" as well.

55D: Bold alternative: Abbr.: ITAL. Italic.

57D: 1973 defendant: WADE. Roe v. WADE

58D: "Should __ acquaintance ...": AULD. Again, the answer revealed itself. I only know the song title "AULD Lang Syne".

61D: Della's creator: ERLE. ERLE Stanley Gardner. Della Street is the secretary of Perry Mason.

62D: Batik worker: DYER

66D: Meddle: PRY. Rhymed with the theme TRY.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday June 11, 2009 James Sajdak

Theme: HIT (39A: Smite, and hint to this puzzle's theme)

17A: Overnight millionaire, perhaps: POWERBALL WINNER

25A: One-time East Asia barrier: BAMBOO CURTAIN

47A: Pacific swimmer: SOCKEYE SALMON

62A: Unintended upshot: BOOMERANG EFFECT

OK, I struck out. How are POWER and BOOM synonymous with HIT? BAM, SOCK, slam, slug, smack, thrash, whack, wallop, yes. I got the unifying HIT (perfect position in the grid) very early, unfortunately it did not help much with my solving.

(Note: I was wrong earlier about POWER, it's POW. All the theme answers are comic book "HIT" sounds.)

Strange, despite growing up in China, I really have never heard of this term BAMBOO CURTAIN, the East Asia version of Iron Curtain. I don't think I have had SOCKEYE SALMON before. Not sure. Might have had it for sushi or sashimi. Is the result of "Hoist by one's own petard" the same as BOOMERANG EFFECT? I got POWERBALL WINNER immediately.

Favorite clue today is LOGO (34D: Target's target). My first image is William Ackman, the guy Target was targeting for their Board of Directors fight. I like the unintended tie between HIT and Target.

Across:

1A: Caroline du Nord, e.g.: ETAT. French for state. North Carolina.

5A: Seasonal roller: EGG. Nice clue.

8A: Veronica's pursuer, in comics: REGGIE. Stumped. Vaguely remember Archie proposed to Veronica news story a couple of weeks ago.

14A: __ Tzu: SHIH. SHIH Tzu is literally "lion" in Chinese. The full term SHI Tsu Kou means "lion dog".

15A: "Who, me?": MOI

16A: For one: APIECE

20A: Loud speaker: ORATOR. Who is the most famous American ORATOR? Reagan?

21A: Pond youngster: TADPOLES. Baby frogs or toads.

24A: "A likely story!": HAH

31A: River of Devon: EXE. Oh, now I know why Exeter is so named. It's on the River EXE and is located in the Devon County. I always have mental block on this damned river.

32A: Training site?: Abbr.: STN. Stumped. Wanted GYM. Train is verb here, meaning "travel by train".

33A: Historical records: ANNALS

36A: Burka wearer's deity: ALLAH. OK, here are three girls in burkas, which cover the whole body from head to toe. Slightly different than the black abaya, which does not cover the face. Niqab is the face veil, covering only the face. This headscarf is called hajab, face & eyes are exposed. I hope I can remember what I just wrote.

41A: Boorish type: YAHOO

42A: Sting Rays, briefly: 'VETTES. No idea. I know nothing about muscle car or any car. I did get GTOS (61D: Classic Pontiacs) though.

44A: Calendar col.: THU. "Col."= "column". Thursday is named after the Norse god THOR.

51A: Farm youngster: KID. Also known as Rich Norris's "Little butt-er?"

52A: Peak between Pelion and Olympus: OSSA. Easy guess. I don't know the exact locations of those three peaks.

53A: Complimentary review: ACCOLADE

58A: One sitting in your lap: TOY DOG. I was thinking of babies.

64A: "Get Shorty" novelist Leonard: ELMORE. Unknown to me. Have never heard of "Get Shorty".

66A: Dos cubed: OCHO. Spanish for eight. OTTO in Italian.

67A: Filled pastry of Asia: SAMOSA. Oh, the Indian turnover, similar to Chinese spring rolls I suppose. I've never had SAMOSA. Not a fan of Indian food.

68A: Fashion monogram: YSL. He was born in Oran, Algeria.

69A: "The Joy of Painting" host Bob: ROSS. Nope. Total stranger to me.

Down:

1D: Former Bruin all-star, familiarly: ESPO. Phil Esposito. Hall-of-Famer. He stumped me again. I could only think of Bobby Orr.

2D: Red-bearded god: THOR. Easy guess. I only associate hammer with the THOR the god of thunder, not his red beard. Another Norse reference today is EDDA (48D: Scandinavian epic).

3D: Sony subsidiary: AIWA. I had no idea that AIWA was acquired by Sony in 2002.

4D: It's generous to pick it up: THE TAB

5D: Early life forms: EMBRYOS

6D: __ long way: last: GO A. I like this answer better than GOA, which was often clued as "Tibetan gazelle" in our old puzzle.

7D: Like some fine art frames: GILT

8D: Numbers to crunch: RAW DATA

9D: January 6th Christian celebration: EPIPHANY. Ha ha, I cheated. Looked at our calendar first. How do you celebrate EPIPHANY?

10D: Pop singer Vannelli: GINO. His name escaped me, again.

11D: Grant, for one: Abbr.: GENL. I wrote down PREZ. Often see general abbreviated as GEN instead of GENL.

12D Frozen treat brand: ICEE

13D: Plural suffix with mountain: EERS. Mountaineers. Or auctioneers.

18D: Tiller opening: ROTO. First encounter with rototiller. I actually thought of the abortion doctor George Tiller, who was just killed ten days ago. I am really a random thinker.

19D: Costar with Bolger and Haley: LAHR (Bert). The Cowardly Lion in "The Wizard of Oz".

23D: Pituitary hormone: ACTH (AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone). Both the clue and the answer are nonsenses to me.

25D: Theodore, to Wally: BEAV. Had trouble with this answer. Couldn't find a way to fill in brother.

26D: Bike feature: AXLE

28D: Togetherness: UNITY. Wrote down UNION first.

29D: Pig-poke link: IN A. Pig IN A poke.

30D: Book after Micah: NAHUM. And before Habakkuk. I looked it up in my list of Bible books.

35D: Herr's heir, maybe: SOHN. German for "son". Obtained the answer from Across fills.

38D: Comic's banes: HECKLERS

40D: Prefix with logical: THEO. Theological. Mine was IDEO.

43D: Resort with moguls: SKI AREA. Moguls are bumps on a ski slope. Nice clue.

45D: Company co-founded by J.P. Morgan: U.S. STEEL

50D: Wait to attack: LAY FOR. New phrase to me.

53D: Lincoln and others: ABES

54D: Soft drink choice: COLA. The left is how Coca COLA is written in Chinese. It means "delicious happiness", perhaps the best translation of any American brand.

55D: ICC part: Abbr.: COMM. I presume ICC here refers to the "Interstate Commerce Commission".

59D: Art __: DECO. ERTE is often clued as "Art DECO artist".

60D: Big name in publishing: OCHS. The current publisher of "The New York Times" is Arthur OCHS Sulzberger, Jr, great-grandson of Adolph OCHS.

Thanks for the interesting left/right hand discussions yesterday. Fun to read.

Answer grid.

C.C.