Friday July 3, 2009 Jeff Chen

Theme: Set In

17A: 1988 biopic about Dian Fossey, literally: THE GORILLAS MIST (Gorillas in the Mist)

27A: It's too important to ignore, literally: THE ELEPHANT ROOM (Elephant in the Room)

49A: Kids' ball game, literally: THE MONKEY MIDDLE (Monkey in the Middle)

65A: Metaphorical philosophical conflict used as an album title by The Police, literally: THE GHOST MACHINE (Ghost in the Machine)

Difficult puzzle for me. I did not get the theme until I cheated and solved the grid. I had only noticed the THE in front of each theme answer.

Out of the four theme entries, "elephant in the room" is the only familiar phrase to me. Then I realized the constructor simply changed the order of the phrase and literally placed ELEPHANT in THE ROOM.

The last one is a bit odd. Maybe Jeff Chen could not find a 15-letter "Animal in the __" phrase. Can you?

Quite a few clever clues. My favorite is ADS (67D: Pitches between innings?). Excellent sales pitch.

Across:

1A: Powerful court opponent: ACER. Tennis court.

5A: Remote location?: SOFA. Remote control.

9A: City near Syracuse: UTICA. And DOME (42D: Carrier __: Syracuse stadium). Very interesting, Wikipedia says there is no airconditioning in the Carrier DOME due to the weather.

14A: Bay relative: COVE

15A: Surefooted goat: IBEX. The wild mountain goat with recurved horns. Why "surefooted"?

16A: Frigid: POLAR. STIFF would be a great answer too.

20A: Navigational aid: SONAR

22A: Oenophile's word: OAKY. Oeno is goddess of wine. I like how it crosses CASK (12D: Large container). Wish it clued as "Wine vessel".

23A: Race unit: LAP. And EAR (25A: Corn unit). Nice consecutive "unit" clues. Then TOE (45D: Corn site). A pair of different corns.

37A: Barber's device: STROP

38A: "Sicko" filmmaker Michael: MOORE. "Sicko" is too negative. Dcumentaries are supposed to be objective.

39A: Commotion: STIR. And SIRED (41A: Brought into being) & WHIR (43A: Blender sound). Three IR answers in this row (#8).

44A: Acclaim: ECLAT. Thought of WM (Kathleen Wolf). Eager to see her interview next week. What she has achieved is stunning.

46A: Kind of drive: CD-ROM. I was in the golf drive direction.

52A: __ green: PEA. Isn't strange that pea coat is always navy blue color?

53A: Source of low-fat meat: EMU. My goodness, I did not know EMU is a source of food.

54A: Pop: SODA. Sounds silly, but I really did not know what POP is when I first arrived in Minnesota.

57A: Chuck: TOSS

61A: Not happy: IRKED

68A: Archer, at times: AIMER. Not fond of the er repetition. "To love, in Paris" is much better. AIMER is French for "love", verb. Je t'aime, mon amour.

69A: Musician's forte?: LOUD. Musical "forte", as opposed to piano (soft).

71A: Subject of a promise to deliver, with "the": GOODS. Deliver the GOODS. I kept thinking of Exodus.

73A: Lion's share: MOST. So much power is concentrated in the hands of so few.

Down:

1D: John follower: ACTS. Books of Bible. I can never remember the order.

2D: Small salmon: COHO

3D: Fifty-fifty: EVEN. What was I thinking? I wanted HALF, which is 50%.

4D: Wine and dine: REGALE

5D: Paul McCartney, e.g.: SIR. Nick Faldo is now a SIR too.

6D: Decorative Eastern accessories: OBIS. Loved "Band from Asia" (OBI) clue last time.

7D: Experienced: FELT

8D: Hot rod rod: AXEL. Saw identical clue before. Still like it.

9D: Bulls' predictions: UPS. "Bears' predictions" is DOWNS.

10D: Song that begins "The sun'll come out": TOMORROW. The only "Annie" song that I know.

11D: Pelvic bones: ILIA

13D: Affectedly cultural: ARTY

18D: Hurdles for would-be doctors: ORALS. Oh, doctor degree. I was thinking of physicians.

24D: Guinea pigs, maybe: PETS

26D: Green dispenser: ATM. Green is slang for money.

27D: Tube, so to speak: TV SET

28D: Thumb: HITCH. Short for hitchhike?

29D: Novelist Zola: EMILE. "J'accuse".

30D: Blood test feature: PRICK. Ouch!

31D: Throng: HORDE

32D: Impressionist's skill: APERY. And MIMIC (47D: Copy)

33D: Marveled audibly: OOHED. Aahed too.

34D: Projecting window: ORIEL

35D: Country Music Hall of Famer ___ Travis: MERLE. No idea. What's his most famous song?

40D: Rushed violently: RAMPAGED

50D: Alb. and Cros. joined in 4/1/2009: NATO. Nailed it.

51D: North Carolina college town: DURHAM. Duke University.

54D: Alone: STAG

55D: Home to Columbus: OHIO. I used to confuse Buckeye with Hawkeye.

56D: Audition handout: DEMO

58D: 1952 Olympics host: OSLO. Formerly Christiania.

59D: Knock off: STOP

60D: Blue books?: SMUT. We call off-color books "yellow books" in China.

63D: Son of Seth: ENOS. Or "Slaughter in Cooperstown".

64D: Debugging application?: DEET. D'oh, the real bug.

66D: Store posting: Abbr.: HRS

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday July 2, 2009 Pete Muller

Theme: INNER EAR (38D: Balance organ that's literally found in the answers to starred clues)

20A: *1979 Sister Sledge hit: WE ARE FAMILY

30A: *Look for clues: NOSE AROUND

46A: *"Fatal Attraction" costar: ANNE ARCHER

57A: *Military treatise written by Sun Tzu: THE ART OF WAR

11D: *Decorators' suggestion: AREA RUG

Great theme. All EAR's are split between two words. Normally the unifying entry has no symmetrical partner, so I was surprised by the Down AREA RUGS entry.

I got THE ART OF WAR earlier on. Then read the clue for the tie-in 38D and noticed the organ EAR organ immediately. So I was able to filled in the other EAR's. Otherwise, I would not have got ANN ARCHER. I could only remember Michael Douglas and Glenn Close.

I like the "clue" clues in today's puzzle:

30A: *Look for clues: NOSE AROUND

36A: Clue on a weapon: PRINT

3D: Problms in ths clue: ERRATA. Both "Problems" and "this" are spelled incorrectly.

All in all, a zaftig puzzle, only 32 blocks (sometimes we have 44). Alluringly plump!

Across:

1A: Lieu: STEAD. Nice to have a gimme start.

6A: Start of a 10-Down address: HTTP. And WEB (10D: Blogger's milieu)

10A: Shakes indicating affection, perhaps: WAGS. Dogs. Cute clue.

14A: With 26-Across, city in southern Brazil: PORTO ALEGRE (26A: See 14-Across). Literally "Happy Port". See the red arrow. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says it's the tenth most populous municipality in Brazil.

15A: Operatic number: ARIA. "Number" = "song". Sometimes it's just numb-er: stuff that numbs you. Like "Dentist's number?" for OPIATE.

16A: Diamond stats: ERAS. Baseball diamond. And BAT (53A: Come to the plate)

17A: Robin's weapon: ARROW. Easy guess. Robin Hood. Initially I thought it might refer to Batman's Robin.

18A: Kemo __: SABE. The Lone Ranger.

19A: Longtime pageant host Parks: BERT. First encounter with this guy. His hair is rather thick.

23A: Trailers, e.g.: ADS. Movie trailers. Great clue.

25A: Delay: LAG. I hate internet LAG.

28A: Hormel product: SPAM. Hormel is based in MN. They used to sponsor Twins' bobbleheads.

33A: Indian state bordering Bhutan: ASSAM. The yellow region. Famous for ASSAM tea.

35A: Cheap cigar: STOGIE. Shortened from Conestoga, rural region near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. So-called because it's favored by drivers of the Conestoga style of covered wagons first made there, according to dictionary.

39A: Bellicose Norse god: TYR. Tuesday is named after him. Same pronunciation as "tear". I bet TYR did not tear up easily.

41A: Actress Kudrow et al.: LISAS. Kudrow plays the goofy Phoebe in "Friends".

42A: Justice replaced by Samuel in 2006: SANDRA. Justice O'Connor is an avid golfer.

44A: Melville's first novel: TYPEE. Oh, I did not know it's his first novel.

48A: "Gosh darn it!": RATS. Is this Taco Bell still closed?

52A: Toyota until 2006: CELICA (1970-2006). Wikipedia says CELICA is derived from Latin word coelica, meaning "heavenly" or "celestial".

58A: Pasture: LEA. Have not seen LEI for a long time.

56A:Wall St. purchase: SHR (Share).

60A: React to sad news: WEEP

62A: 1975 Wimbledon winner: ASHE. Timely Wimbledon reference.

64A: Inland Asian sea: ARAL. It's shrinking.

65A: "__ Rock": 1966 hit: I'AM A. Simon and Garfunkel song. I like their "Scarborough Fair" the most.

66A: Jon of "Two and a Half Men": CRYER. Got the answer from Down fills. Have never seen "Two and a Half Men". So the other man is Charlie Sheen.

67A: Thatcher, politically: TORY. The British Conservative party. Gordon Brown, the current Prime Minister, is of Labor Party. Churchill is a TORY too.

68A: Street asset, briefly: CRED. Street CRED.

69A: Wiesbaden's state: HESSE. Wiesbaden is the capital of HESSE. Wikipedia says Wiesbaden is one of the oldest spa towns in Europe. Its name literally means "meadow baths".

Down:

1D: Gives rise to: SPAWNS. Awesome word, with only one vowel.

2D: Shredded: TORE UP

4D: Origin suffix: ATOR. Originator. I wonder if any constructor has tried to clue ALLY as "Origin suffix". Originally.

5D: Wooden connector: DOWEL. Nailed it today.

6D: Tries: HAS A GO AT. Also nailed this multiple word answer.

7D: Lode carrier: TRAM

8D: Leg bones: TIBIAE. The plural can also be TIBIAS.

9D: Spanish stew: PAELLAS. OK, I suppose you can call them stew.

12D: Fragrant flower: GARDENIA. Just learned that the flower is named after Alexander Garden (1730–91), an American physician. Boy, now I look at flow-er, I see river. That's what Rich Norris does to me.

13D: Retd. Air France fliers: SSTS. I like this new clue. "Retd. British fliers" would be a great clue too, since Concordes flew from London Heathrow (British Air) & Paris (Air France) to JFK.

21D: They may be diehards: FANS

22D: Seuss's king of the pond: YERTLE. I forgot. YERTLE the Turtle.

27D: More like a well-made s'more: GOOIER. Can't stand marshmallow.

29D: "Deal or No Deal" host: MANDEL (Howie). Melissa just mentioned that he has germ phobia too.

31D: Rocker Patty who married John McEnroe: SMYTH. No idea. They don't look like a couple.

32D: __ Moines: DES. And Des Moinesian.

34D: The Bosporus, e.g.: STRAIT. Also known as the Istanbul STRAIT, the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation. Approximately 19 miles long. Unknown to me.

36D: Non-commercial TV ad: PSA (Public Service Announcement). PSA also stands for Professional Sports Authenticator, the world's largest sportscard authentication service. See PSA at the very top?

37D: South American spread owner: RANCHERO. New word to me. A good way to clue ERO then. We seem to see EERO (Architect Saarinen) or EROO (Switch ending) often.

40D: Reuben holder: RYE BREAD

43D: Antiquated: ARCHAIC

45D: Rear end: PRAT. Pratfall. Carol has been using this word a lot in her comments lately.

47D: Roman emperor: CAESAR. "Veni, vidi, vici".

49D: Unfailingly: ALWAYS

50D: Flirts with: TEASES

51D: 1964 Nobel Prize decliner: SARTRE. He was probably jealous and angry that Camus got Nobel earlier (1957).

54D: Spelunker's aid: TORCH. spelunker is a great word.

56D: Hit hard: SWAT. Babe Ruth, Sultan of the SWAT. So tell me, why should Babe RUTH be in the Hall of Fame? He drank a lot during his days when drinking was not allowed. Mark McGwire used steroid when it's legal to do so.

58D: Sighed line: AH ME. Misread the clue as "Signed line".

59D: Warning to the gallery: FORE. Golf. I was once hit hard on my left arm. The guy did not shout "FORE".

61D: Practice: PLY. Wrote down TRY first.

Answer grid.

C.C.