Saturday July 25, 2009 Brad Wilber

Theme: None

Total blocks: 27

Total words: 72

I had lost the battle before I even started. As soon as I saw Brad Wilber's name, I froze. His puzzles are all hard.

My grid looked rather empty on the first try. But my sparse fills are mostly correct. The following names are absolutely gimmes to me:

41A: Tommie of the "Miracle Mets": AGEE. God in "Oh, God!" says "The last miracle I did was the 1969 Mets". Hilarious.

50A: 2002 British Open champ: ELS (Ernie). David Duval won in 2001.

29D: Bush Supreme Court nominee: ALITO (Samuel). I wonder if anyone considered MIERS (Harriet). John Roberts is a Bush nominee as well.

I misread lots of clues today. All in all, too steep a mountain for me to climb.

Across:

1A: Colt 45, e.g.: MALT LIQUOR. Of course, I thought of baseball's Houston Colt .45's (now Astros).

11A: Shelter protests: ARFS. Animal shelter.

15A: Joy to the max: EXUBERANCE. Recklessly wrote down *EST at the end.

17A: Emmy-winning 1972 TV concert film: LIZA WITH A "Z". No idea. I liked Liza Minnelli's "New York, New York".

18A: Logical start? IDEO. Ideological.

19A: Greet the visitors?: BOO. Nice clue. Fans BOO the visiting team.

20A: Comparison words: AS A. There is nothing as beautiful AS A dewy red rose on a summer morning.

21A: Washington summit: RAINIER. No MT?

25A: Palais du Louvre resident, once: ROI. Oui, c'est vrai. Louvre is once a royal palace.

27A: Hybrid garment: SKORT. Had more fun following Natalie Gulbis than Michelle Wie during last year's US Open. She looks adorable in SKORT.

28A: Brief turndown: 'FRAID NOT

31A: Abbr. in a genealogy volume: DAU. Daughter I suppose. Not a familiar abbr. to me.

32A: Film follower: SEQUEL

39A: Street corner feature: SIGNAGE. I just call it SIGN.

35A: Site of semicircular canals: EAR. Was thinking of the waterway canal.

36A: "__ No Sunshine": 1971 Bill Withers hit: AIN'T. Here is the clip. Not a familiar song to me.

37A: Bismarck's realm: PRUSSIA. Gimme for Kazie.

42A: Logos, e.g.: Abbr.: TMS (Trademarks)

44A: Military brass?: BUGLES. I was in the high-ranking military officer direction.

45A: Knock over: ROB. "Knock over" is a new slang to me.

46A: Olivier's "Rebecca" costar: FONTAINE (Joan). Unknown to me. See the poster.

48A: Filing material: EMERY

51A: Comprehend: GRASP

55A: Best Buy's Geek Squad, e.g.: TECHIES. Best Buy is headquartered here in MN.

57A: New Deal dam-building org.: TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)

59A: Battle of Chancellorsville victor, 1863: LEE. Stumped. Have never heard of Battle of Chancellorsville, Robert E. LEE's "perfect battle" because of his risky but successful division of his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force, according to Wikipedia.

61A: Prescription that might give you shakes?: LIQUID DIET. I was thinking of the trembling shakes rather than the milk/protein shakes.

64A: Head turner, at times: REIN. Sigh, too wicked a clue for me. I would never have thought of a bridle.

65A: 1988 winner of seven Olympic swimming medals: MATT BIONDI. No idea. He looks handsome. All the talk was focused on Mark Spitz when Michael Phelps won 8 golds at the 2008 Olympics.

66A: Celtic language: ERSE

67A: Opportunity for a Hollywood hopeful: SCREEN TEST

Down:

1D: Peach __: MELBA. I've never had this dessert. In Chinese myth, peach is the divine fruit of gods. It symbolizes long life and immortality.

2D: Hypothetical particle: AXION. No idea. But -ON is suffix for subatomic particle.

3D: Manila's island: LUZON. The largest island in the Philippines, where Martin's wife came from.

4D: Not yet filled: Abbr. TBA

5D: "Johnny Belinda" Oscar nominee: LEW AYRES. I forgot. I googled his name before. Wikipedia says Jane Wyman feel in love with him while filming this movie and left Ronald Reagan for LEW AYRES, "albeit unsuccessfully".

6D: Where a pupil sits?: IRIS. Clever clue.

7D: Saudi neighbor: QATARI. People of Qatar. I misinterpreted Saudi as Saudi Arabia the country.

8D: Granite State sch.: UNH (University of New Hampshire)

9D: Ovoid wind instruments: OCARINAS. I forgot. Dictionary says this word is diminutive of Italian oca, meaning goose, because its mouthpiece is shaped like a goose's beak.

10D: Exiled Shah Mohammed __ Pahlavi: REZA. Who the heck knows his middle name? Anyone? Anyone?

11D: Didn't sleep __: A WINK. Is this an idiom?

12D: Car tuning aid: RADIO DIAL

13D: Allowed to graze: FREE RANGE

14D: Durango and Sorento: SPORT UTES. I've never heard of Sorento.

22D: Lobby add-on: IST. Lobbyist. Excellent clue.

24D: Helpful: OF USE

26D: Dedicated lines: ODES

30D: Small antelope: ORIBI. Can never remember this antelope name. His horns are rather short, erect though.

32D: You'll need one for your flat: SPARE TIRE. I thought of the apartment "flat".

33D: Indoor rowing machine: ERGOMETER. New machine to me. Ergo is a prefix for "work".

34D: North American Francophone: QUEBECOIS. "-Phone" is a suffix for "speaker of a language". Francophone, Anglophone, etc.

36D: Inflame: ANGER

38D: One having an identity crisis?: AMNESIAC. Another diabolic clue. I struggled of course.

40D: Kipling's "Limpin' lump o' brick-dust": GUNGA DIN. No idea.

43D: Cardinal's insignia: STL. St. Louis Cardinals.

46D: Memo opener: FYI

47D: Perceptive: ASTUTE

49D: Lake Geneva feeder: RHONE

52D: Dress introduced by Dior: A-LINE. Learned this fact while doing some googling on DIOR some time ago.

52D: Navel orange's lack: SEEDS. I wish cherries have no pits.

54D: Word before four or point: PETIT. Know the small cake PETIT four. Not PETIT point.

56D: Colonnade choices: ELMS. The #2 meaning of colonnade in dictionary: a series of trees planted in a long row, as on each side of a driveway or road. New definition to me.

58D: Vague feeling: VIBE. Wanted AURA.

62D: Super Bowl div.: QTR. Thought of AFC/NFC. This puzzle has three letter Q's, two Z's & one X. Quite scrabbly.

63D: Semi-colon?: DOT. Good clue. Colon : has two dots.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday July 24, 2009 David W. Cromer

Theme: ICed - IC is inserted into familiar phrases.

18A: Break from soldiers' training?: BASIC RELIEF

24A: Clown settlement?: ANTIC COLONY

38A: International affair?: TOPIC OF THE WORLD

49A: O. Henry stories?: IRONIC WORKS

60A: Copperfield's limo?: MAGIC WHEELS

Hmmm, IC, maybe I SEE (12D: Now that makes sense) is a better theme title.

I did not know there is a special term for those chrome wheels. Mag wheels are so named because "the aluminum is mixed up with a bit of magnesium to form a stronger alloy", according to one article.

Another hard puzzle for me. Lots of misdirections. I just don't think I am capable of solving late week puzzles. My "Yes, I can" hope has faded into "Probably not", just like some of Obama's ambitious plans.

O'NEAL (64A: Center of Cleveland?) clue is tricky. I actually knew Shaq was traded to Cleveland Cavaliers last month. I remember his "Win for Ring for the King" (LeBron James) quote in the newspaper. But I did not make the connection. Thought it's just another wordplay on the very center of word Cleveland.

Across:

1A: Devious, in a way: COY. Plunked in SLY immediately.

4A: Bad states: SNITS. My husband is easily peeved.

9A: You often see a lap in one: CHAIR. Ha ha, I was picturing someone's lap, but I could not see a CHAIR.

14A: Bullet in a deck: ACE

15A: Strange: OUTRE. Tried EERIE first.

16A: Kind of trader: HORSE. Could only think of FUR.

17A: Royal sleep disturbance, in a tale: PEA. Hans Christian Andersen's "The Princess and the PEA".

20A: Ill-advised: RASH. Is "Ill-advised" the same as "Ill-considered"?

22A: Flames' org.: NHL. Our NHL team is Minnesota Wild.

23A: Gives the slip: EVADES. "Give the slip" is a new phrase to me.

27A: Old waste allowance: TRET. After the deduction for TARE (the weight of a vehicle).

28A: Resemble strongly: PASS FOR

33A: ID necessity, often: PHOTO. The clue is asking for an abbreviated answer, isn't it?

36A: Plow into: RAM. Dictionary explains "Plow into" as "to strike with force". New to me.

37A: Like Chinese dishes, frequently: TO GO. My instinctive reaction is FATTY.

42A: It may be gross in med. sch.: ANAT

43A: OPEC member: UAE. The world's tallest building (Dubai Tower,2,684 feet) is in UAE.

44A: Development units: HOMES. And ACRES (65A: Some plots). I thought of the fictional plots.

45A: Picks: SELECTS

47A: Monopoly cards: DEED

54A: Pizza chain: SBARRO. No idea. Not a fan of pizza or Italian food. The logo looks like SHARRO.

58A: Like Bizet's only symphony: IN C. I had IN? sitting there forever.

59A: Night light: NEON. Nice rhyme. I was in the moonlight direction.

63A: Short sentence about a long term: I DO. Tricky clue. I thought of prison term/sentence.

66A: "I reckon not": NAW. Hillbilly slang I suppose.

67A: Noodleheads: GEESE

68A: "Siddhartha" author: HESSE. Has anyone read this book? Hermann HESSE also wrote "Steppenwolf". He won Nobel Literature in 1946.

69A: It's up to you: SKY. Of course! But I was too stupid to know.

Down:

1D: "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" director: CAPRA. I watched "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" simply because of Chris Matthews. It's one of his favorite movies.

2D: Shore thing: OCEAN. Sure.

4D: __ story: SOB

5D: Fine point: NUANCE

6D: August comment: IT'S HOT. And WHEW (41D: See 6-D). I don't understand the rationale for the WHEW clue.

7D: Warbling sound: TRILL

8D: IPO overseer: SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)

9D: Malibu and Tahoe: CHEVYS. Oh, cars.

10D: Guadalajara greeting: HOLA. What do you normally say when you pick up the phone? Chinese say "Wei", same pronunciation as Michelle Wei's surname.

11D: Ideal for Joshua trees: ARID. Joshua trees grow in desert.

13D: Trio in an NBA game: REFS. Wow, I did not know this. Not interested in basketball.

19D: Entitle, as an altered file: RENAME

21D: Ancient Indo-European: HITTITE. No idea. It's "a member of an ancient people who established a powerful empire in Asia Minor and Syria, dominant from about 1900 to 1200 BC".

25D: Swift reptile: CROC. Did not know CROC is a reptile member.

26D: Vividly colored fish: OPAH. Or TETRA, another colorful fish.

29D: Used as an elevator: STOOD ON

30D: Blob's lack: FORM

31D: Rubberneck: OGLE. The answer is always GAWK.

32D: Eye cells: RODS. I forgot this "Eye cell" meaning of ROD.

33D: NEA supporters: PTAS

34D: Fine-tune: HONE

35D: Fall birthstone: OPAL. Birthstone for October.

36D: Itinerary abbr.: RTE

39D: Have a better crew than: OUTROW. Wrote down OUTMAN.

40D: Burkina __: FASO. I've never heard of this landlocked nation. It's in West Africa.

46D: Group with common interest: CIRCLE. "Charmed CIRCLE, Gertrude Stein and Company" is a very interesting read.

47D: Some booth occupants: DINERS

48D: Proverbs follower: Abbr.: ECCLES. Bible book. Stumped again.

50D: Heiress, perhaps: NIECE

51D: Equestrian tools: REINS

52D: Maker of Advantix cameras: KODAK. Not familiar with Advantix. AIG replaced KODAK as a DOW component several years ago. Now Kraft Foods has replaced AIG.

53D: Blizzardlike: SNOWY

54D: Urban hazard: SMOG

55D: Proverbial thorn: BANE

56D: "A Death in the Family" novelist: AGEE. James AGEE also co-wrote the script for "The African Queen".

57D: England's Portsmouth Harbour and and others: RIAS. I don't know Portsmouth Harbour is a RIA, which is often just clued as "Narrow inlet".

61D: "As if!": HAH

62D: Mariner's hdg.: SSE. Oh well, it can be any direction.

Answer grid.

C.C.