Sunday June 14, 2009 Will Nediger

Theme: "Watch the Birdie" - ONE UNDER PAR (69A: Birdie that's hidden literally in 10 pairs of puzzle answers). ONE is placed under PAR in 10 different places. See this grid. I've circled all the PARs and ONEs.

20A: Fortified: RAMPARTED

23A: Cather novel set in Nebraska: O PIONEERS!

21A: Convey: IMPART

24A: __ Tunes: LOONEY

36A: Not up to stuff: SUBPAR

43A: Nary a soul: NO ONE

44A: Peeled strip: PARING

50A: Year in Augustus's reign: ONE BC

61A: Cowpoke's pal: PARD

61A: Birdie that's hidden literally in 10 pairs of puzzle answers: ONE UNDER PAR

76A: Skye of "Say Anything": IONE

88A: Like some stock: NO-PAR

93A: Philosopher __ de Beauvoir: SIMONE

94A: Arctic garb: PARKA

99A: Tip of Massachusetts: ONEILL

115A: Ancient Athens rival: SPARTA

120A: Complexion aides: TONERS

117A: California shrubland: CHAPARRAL

121A: Time long past: BYGONE ERA

I watch Chris Matthews's "Hardball" every day, yet I missed O'NEILL earlier. Chris was a long time aide to Tip O'NEIL and he speaks of his name often.

Very creative theme. I liked how the constructor placed ONE UNDER PAR in the very middle of the grid and paralleled two more theme answers at each end. Total 19 theme answers, heavy!

Quality non-theme fills also. Some are quite scrabbly. Some are very clever. Below are my favorite:

55A: HI and OK: STS (States)

72A: Priceless? FREE

16D: Delivery notice?: IT'S A BOY

5D: High point of a European vacation?: ALP

Unfortunately I had a triple-bogey round. I actually teed off very nicely, then I lost my ball. The rough was not that tough, but I did not have enough clubs in my bag.

Across:

1A: Hardly a knockout: PLAIN JANE. And STARES (123A: Knockouts attract them). Nice "knockout" pair.

10A: Imported roadsters: MIATAS. Wrote down MAZDAS.

16A: Schools of thought: ISMS

22A: Via, to Burns: THRO. Poetic "through". Mine was THRU.

26A: Mind the store: VEND. Kept trying TEND. But the intersecting PROVE (1D: Leave no doubt) says no.

27A: Large currency unit?: WAD. Nice clue.

28D: Ancient France: GAUL. Adjective Gallic. Not to be confused with Gaelic.

31A: Bev Bevan's band, briefly: ELO. Easy guess.

32A: "The Life Aquatic with Steve __": Bill Murray film: ZISSOU. Nope. Not familiar with this movie. Bill Murray loves golf. He is in "Caddyshack".

34A: Dr. Mom's remedy: TLC

38D: Pickup trick: LINE. Pickup LINE.

39A: "Great Expectations" hero: PIP. Unknown figure to me.

41A: Iowa's state tree: OAK

47A: Chilling order? SEDATIVE. I was thinking of torture.

51A: Three-part European union: BENELUX. Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The union began on January 1, 1948.

52A: Houston-to-Dallas dir.: NNW

56A: "Come Back, Little Sheba" playwright: INGE. Also the playwright for "Picnic" & "Bus Stop".

57A: Further shorten: RE-EDIT

58A: Cybercommerce: E-TAIL

60A: "Hud" Oscar winner: NEAL (Patricia). She won best actress for the movie.

62A: Brings home: NETS

64A: Brno-born people: CZECHS. Last time CZECH was clued as "Brno native". See this map of Brno. It's to the southeast of Prague.

68A: Starbucks order: TALL

73A: Scandalous stuff: SLEAZE

75A: Plant reproduction prefix: SPOR. For spore.

77A: Stretch: TERM. Noun. I was thinking of verb.

78A: Development sites: WOMBS. Couldn't get LABS out of my mind.

80A: Kid's shooter: POP GUN

82A: Burlap source: HEMP

86A: Boo Boo, in Barcelona?: OSO. Spanish for bear. Boo Boo & Yogi Bear.

87A: Sorrow: REMORSE

89A: Net grazers: LETS. Tennis.

91A: Judgment Day hymn: DIES IRAE

96A: Small wrapper?: ELF. Santa's little helper. I thought of the awful ASP.

97A: One whose tickets are often expensive: COP. I liked this clue too.

98A: Hit the sauce: TOPE. Sauce is slang for liquor.

101A: Big cat sign: LEO

103A: Dig discoveries: Var.: SHERDS. Variant of SHARDS.

108A: Most of Uruguay: PAMPAS

110A: Hayseed: RUBE

113A: Either director of "No Country for Old Men": COEN. The Coen brothers.

114A: Capitale south of San Marino: ROMA. See this map.

119A: They may be pale: ALES. Pale ALE.

122A: Clunkhead: JERK

124A: Didn't worry a bit: SLEPT EASY

Down:

2D: Carnation locale: LAPEL

4D: Nano or shuffle: IPOD. Mine is classic.

5D: Pita look-like: NAN. I have not eaten any NAN for ages.

6D: TV shooting victim of 3/21/1980: J.R. EWING. I was picturing John Lennon then Ronald Reagan, completely ignoring the clue "TV".

7D: Far from frenzied: AT EASE

9D: MS. fixers: EDS (Editors). They fix the manuscripts (MS).

10D: "__ 18" (Uris novel): MILA. Here is the book cover. I learned the title from doing Xword.

11D: "Too rich for my blood": I'M OUT. Had trouble with this one. I did not know the meaning of "Too rich for my blood".

12D: Lunar Module test mission: APOLLO IX. Interesting trivia: Wikipidia says Alan Shepard hit two golf balls on the lunar surface during Apollo 14.

13D: One of two Crayola colors with the shortest name: TAN. The other is RED?

14D: Bellicose god: ARES. Roman Mars. The Norse equivalent is THOR, correct?

17D: Garnier products: SHAMPOOS. Not a Garnier fan.

18D: Monocled food mascot: MR. PEANUT

19D: 2009 Rihanna hit: SOS. Not familiar with the song. What a poignant title, considering how she was beat up by her boyfriend.

32D: Mineral in oysters: ZINC. Oh, I did not know oysters contain ZINC.

33D: Bared one's soul: OPENED UP

35D: LeBron James, e.g., briefly: CAV(Cavalier)

37D: Cabs on the table: REDS. Wine.

38D: Attorney's specialty: LIBEL LAW

40D: The same either way: PALINDROMIC. Toughie.

42D: Lane partner: KENT. "Superman".

44D: APB part: POINTS

45D: Temper: ANNEAL. Verb.

46D: Lavishly entertain: REGALE

47D: Cassandra, for one: SEERESS. But nobody believes in Cassandra's prophecy. Apollo is a vengeful guy. He put such curse on Cassandra when she did not return his love.

48D: Private pupil: TUTEE. You would think the word is TUTOREE, as tutor is the verb.

51D: Breakfast staple: BRAN. Rice for me.

53D: Abalone product: NACRE. Mother-of-pearl.

54D: Virtuoso: WIZ. No abbreviation hint?

58D: Adopt, as a cause: ESPOUSE

59D: Moved out: LEFT HOME

61D: Pope's work: POEMS. Alexander Pope. Nice clue.

63D: Three letters forming a single sound: TRIGRAPH. New word to me. Dictionary gives an example: eau in beau.

65D: Obnoxious sort, in slang: CREEPO

66D: Jazzman Woody: HERMAN. No idea. He does not look like a jazzman. I thought of Woody Allen.

67D: Throughout, in music: SEMPRE. No idea. Same root as Marine's "Semper Fi" motto I suppose.

71D: Either of two Henry VIII wives: ANNE. I only know ANNE Boleyn.

74D: Moat site: ZOO

79D: Presage: BODE

81D: Like pumice: Var.: POROSE. No idea. Variant of porous I guess.

83D: Classic Chunky brand: ALPO. I thought of chunky peanut butter.

84D: Ecotomorph: BEANPOLE. Did not know the meaning of ecotomorph. It sounds like a verb.

85D: Newlyweds' car decoration: STREAMER

87D: Doctor, at times: REFERRER

88D: Barely beats: NIPS. New meaning of NIP to me.

90D: Holdup cover-up: SKI MASK

92D: Peaked: ILL. Not familiar with this definition of "peaked".

93D: Fountain drink: SODA POP

98D: Army medic's system: TRIAGE

100D: Doesn't die out: LASTS

102D: Eccentric: OUTRE

104D: Type of alcohol: ETHYL

105D: Jazz pianist Chick: COREA. Him I know.

107D: Driller's filling: INLAY

109D: Obsession for Lady Macbeth: SPOT. I got the answer from Across fills.

111D: Doo-wop group anchor: BASS. Strung this answer together from Across fills as well.

113D: Hudson Bay tribe: CREE. Canadian tribe answer is always CREE.

114D: British rule in India: RAJ

116D: TV wheel spinner's purchase: AN A. "Wheel of Fortune". AN E, AN I, AN O all can be clued as "TV wheel spinner's purchase".

117D: "Criminal Minds" network: CBS. Easy guess.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday June 13, 2009 Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 72

A complete fiasco today.

So many unknowns and unusual clues. Several wicked misdirections too. I was very frustrated when OIL did not fit for "37A: Whistler's output" (AIR). Didn't you also see "Whistler's Mother" when you read the clue?

I also had trouble understanding the grammar structure of the clues:

15A: Not act well: EMOTE. OK, both are verbs.

42A: Not shut out of: IN ON. What's the function of "shut" here then? Past particle? I'd have got the answer immediately if the clue were "Privy to".

This constructor Bard Wilber is known for constructing hard grids. According to Jim's database, all of his 13 NYT puzzles appeared on Fridays/Saturdays. And all of the 12 puzzles he created for LAT appeared on Saturdays.

I like how he stacked those triple-stacked 9-letter fills in each quadrant.

Across:

1A: Clublike weapons: MACES. Used in the Middle Ages.

6A: Vague: IMPRECISE

16A: Ripped poser: MALE MODEL. Ashton Kutcher was a MALE MODEL before. I had trouble understanding the clue. Google asked me "Did you mean "Ripped poster" when I searched.

17A: Key of Chopins's "Raindrop Prelude": D-FLAT. I had ?FLAT sitting there for a long time.

18A: Work on galleys: PROOFREAD. I was thinking of the boat galley.

19A: E-mail qualifier: IMO. So simple in retrospect.

20A: Jane's "Klute" role: BREE. No idea. This back-exposed dress looks familiar though. I must have googled "Klute" before.

22A: Martini & Ross product: ASTI. Penned in WINE.

23A: Placed just so: ARRAYED. I supposed so.

25A: Waldenbooks rival: B. DALTON. Wrote down BORDERS, which actually owns Waldenbooks. B. DALTON belongs to Barnes & Noble.

28A: Journalist Walters, casually: BABS. Not a fan of Barbara Walters. I like Terry Gross.

29A: Roughen before repainting: DEGLOSS. A new word to me.

31A: They're often baked: IDAHOS. Potatoes. BREADS popped into my mind first.

33A: Absorbed: LOST. As in thought.

34A: Salem summer hrs.: PDT. Salem, Oregon. I was thinking of the witch trials Salem.

38A: More gracious: POLITER

41A: Help-wanted request: SOS

43A: Sponsor of the Socceroos: QANTAS. The Australian airline. I was stumped. I had no idea that the national soccer team of Australia is called Scocceroo. I suppose it's a combination of soccer & kangaroo?

45A: Art developed by ancient samurai: JUJITSU. Literally "Art of softness". Ju means "soft", like "judo" (do is just dao/TAO, Chinese "way").

47A: Squabbling: AT IT. Mine was SPAR.

48A: 1962 Lancaster title role: BIRDMAN. From the "BIRDMAN of Alcatraz". Stymie for me.

51A: Fake it, in a way: LIP SYNC

53A: Mil. school: ACAD. Academy. Like West Point.

54A: Addams family nickname: TISH. No idea. Cousin ITT is the only one I know. And I learned his name from doing Xword.

55A: 1959 hit with the lyric "Fight the fare increase!" MTA. More familiar with the "1959 Kingston Trio hit" clue.

56A: Dated but popular: RETRO CHIC. Sigh! Could not come up with the CHIC part.

60A: "When __ detected, a thousand are suspected": Thomas Paine: ONE IS. From Paine's letter to George Washington. What does the quote mean?

62A: Separate: DISENGAGE. Verb.

63A: Cotillion honoree: BELLE. Often see DEB clued as "Cotillion honoree/gal".

64A: They may be studded: SNOW TIRES. I was thinking of the stud earrings. But EARLOBES is one letter short.

65A: Bass-baritone Simon: ESTES. Oh well, the only ESTES I know is Senator Kefauver (Adlai Stevenson's running mate). Here is a clip of this guy singing some song from "Porgy and Bess".

Down:

1D: Slant in columns: MEDIA BIAS. I feel stupid not getting this one, considering my interest for the OP ED pages in our newspaper.

2D: Auto feature: AM/FM RADIO

3D: Test pattern display: COLOR BARS

4D: Cockpit approx.: ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival).

5D: Save for later use: SET BY. I had SIT ON.

6D: Obstruct: IMPEDE

7D: Colt carrier: MARE

8D: Oslo Accords gp.: PLO. A rare gimme. Rabin was assassinated because he signed the Oslo Accords. Clinton actually rehearsed several times for this infamous photo.

9D: Hupmobile contemporary: REO. Easy guess. I've never heard of Hupmobile before.

10D: Band with the 1991 #1 hit "Unbelievable": EMF. No idea. Wiki says EMF officially stands for "Epsom Mad Funkers", but there are plenty of unofficial alternatives. Unbelievable!

11D: Lipstick shades: CORALS. Diane Lane is wearing a CORAL lipstick.

12D: Explanatory phrase: ID EST. That is (i.e.)

13D: Defunct defense gp.: SEATO (1954-1977). Another 5-letter defense gp. is NORAD.

14D: "Murphy Brown" house painter: ELDIN. No idea. The guy on the most left?

21D: "She-devil with a sword" of comics: RED SONJA. New name to me also.

24D: Guitar wood: ASH. Wanted KOA.

25D: Reputation stain: BLOT

26D: Mexican beer with XX on its label: DOS EQUIS. Foreign to me. According to Wiki, this brand was named "Siglo XX" ("20th century") to commemorate the arrival of the new century, and the bottles were marked with the Roman numerals XX, or Dos Equis (two Xs in Spanish).

27D: Stars in the Forum?: ASTRA. Latin for stars.

30D: Inkling: GLINT

32D: Kind of den: OPIUM. I did not know those OPIUM joints are called dens.

34D: Burger cooked like a grilled cheese: PATTY MELT. I've never seen my husband prepares his burger this way before.

35D: Foundation protector: DRAIN TILE. Absolutely no idea. The black stuff? I was thinking of the makeup foundation.

36D: Guinea pigs: TEST CASES. I can't believe it took so much effort to obtain this answer.

39D: Filet mignon cut: LOIN. Beef or pork?

44D: "Stillmatic" rapper: NAS. Well, it could only be EVE or NAS, the only two 3-letter rappers I know.

45D: Red Sox outfielder since 2007: J.D. DREW. J. D. Drew started his Major League career with the Cardinals.

46D: Driving errors: SLICES. Or HOOKS. Golf term. I don't know how to fade/draw.

48D: Foot specialists?: BARDS. Ugh. Metrical foot.

49D: Trap in the chalet: ICE IN. Verb phrase?

50D: "Midnight Cowboy" role: RATSO. Played by Dustin Hoffman.

52D: Commitment __: modern type with cold feet: PHOBE. Makes sense. I could only thought of FEAR.

54D: Buster Brown's dog: TIGE. I forgot his name.

57D: Windsor home: Abbr.: ONT. I did not know Windsor is a city in south Ontario. Kept thinking of the British royal family Windsor.

58D: Special effects technique, briefly: CGI (Computer-Generated Image). I drew a blank again.

59D: Laugh syllable: HAR. Is this a comic laugh?

61D: Video game letters: NES. No idea. Nintendo Entertainment System I suppose?

Answer grid.

C.C.