Sunday September 6, 2009 Pancho Harrison

Theme: Great Direction - Films/plays directed by ELIZA KAZAN (123A: Born 9/7/1909, he directed the answers to starred clues), who would have been 100 years old tomorrow.

23A: *1947 Tony winning Arthur Miller play: ALL MY SONS. Not a familiar play to me. Strange marriage between Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe, who should not have left Joe DiMaggio.

28A: *With 113-Across, 1947 Tony-winning play starring Lee J. Cobb: DEATH OF A

113A: See 28-Across: SALESMAN. Arthur Miller play also.

42A: *With 45-Across, 1945 film based on a Betty Smith novel: A TREE GROWS

45A: See 42-Across: IN BROOKLYN. Have vaguely heard of the book. Nice left to right placement.

68A: *1947 Tennessee Williams play: A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE. Nailed it. Watched the Marlon Brando/Vivien Leigh movie. Quite heavy.

94A: *1955 film based on a Steinbeck novel: EAST OF EDEN. Great movie. James Dean played the explosive Cal.

97A: *1952 biopic starring Marlon Brando: VIVA ZAPATA. Senator John McCain's favorite movie.

A surprisingly fun puzzle. I went from "Oh no" to "Oh, wow!". What a finely constructed tribute puzzle.

Thought it would be hard when I read the first starred clue, but then "DEATH OF A SALESMAN"(perfect rotational symmetry), grid-spanning A STREET NAMED DESIRED, EAST OF EDEN & ELIA KAZAN (great to see his full name) all crumbled easily.

My favorite fill today is ZHIVAGO (98D: Title hero who married Tonya Gromeko). I just loved "the movie". Chief Justice John Roberts listed "Dr. Zhivago" & "North by Northwest" as his favorite movies. Julie Christie played the beautiful Lara, Zhivago's true love.

Across:

1A: Anabaptists, e.g.: SECT. Know Baptists, not Anabaptists.

9A: Philosopher William of __, known for his "razor": OCCAM. OCCAM's razor, law of succinctness, the simple, the better.

14A: Name on a WWII bomber: ENOLA. ENOLA Gay.

20A: Inter __: among others: ALIA. Sometimes the answer is ALII.

21A: "Moi": WHO ME. Not an ideal clue due to A MOI (78A: Mine, a Marseille).

25A: Go after, puppy style: NIP AT

26A: Static problem: CLING. And 35A: Sta-__: fabric softener: PUF. Obtained the answer from Down fills.

27A: Pinocchio's creator: GEPPETTO. I forgot. Last time STAR was clued as "Geppetoo wished on one".

30A: Cartoonist Keane: BIL. "The Family Circus" cartoonist.

33A: Alsace __: French region: LORRAINE. Quiche LORRAINE is from this region.

38A: Use up: EXHAUST. Wonderful answer.

53A: Crooked: ASKEW

57A: Boot add-ons: SPURS

58A: "__-haw!": YEE. Wanted HEE.

59A: Ivy League city: ITHACA. Cornell city.

65A: German pastries: STRUDELS. Yum! German for "eddy/whirlpool".

67A: Head, in slang: NOB. New to me. Knew noggin'/bean though.

75A: Patriotic women's org.: DAR. "Patriotic men's org" is SAR.

76A: Rats: STOOLIES

77A: Pantry concern: ANT. Not my concern. I've never seen an ANT in our kitchen. Fruit flies, yes.

81A: Disco guy on "The Simpsons": STU. Learned from doing Xword.

84A: Nine Inch Nails founder Reznor: TRENT. No idea. This guy is a musician who founded the Nine Inch Nails musical project.

88A: Auctioneer's word: GOING. Reminds me "the Red Violin", in which a precious red violin is being auctioned throughout the movie.

90A: Layer: HEN

91A: Greeted and seated: SAW IN. Then ADAGE is clued as "68D: Saw".

93A: Shankar's repertoire: RAGAS. The Hindu music. I penned in SITAR.

99A: Unlock, poetically: OPE

100A: "Yikes!": OMIGOSH

102A: Berlin article: DER. German "the". Sometimes it's DAS, as in Karl Marx's "Das Kapital".

103A: Sinuous comics villain: CATWOMAN. Here is Halle Berry's CATWOMAN.

108A: Flying Cloud et al: REOS. Got the answer from Down fills. Have never heard of REO Flying Cloud.

109A: Former comm. giant: ITT. I misinterpreted "comm." as "communist".

115A: Loner: MAVERICK

120A: Lyric poet: ODIST. Still don't understand the brouhaha over Dan Naddor's ODIC last time. It's a legit word.

122A: Praiseful hymn: PAEAN

124A: Sign with scales: LIBRA. Zodiac sign.

125A: Nicholas Gage memoir: ELENI. No idea. It's the Greek variation of the name Helen. Nicholas Gage is a Greek-American author. ELENI is his mother's name. I actually misread the clue as Nicolas Cage the actor.

126A: Artistic Chinese dynasty: MING. I don't really know why Pancho thinks MING Dynasty was "Artistic". I suppose he means MING Vase?

127A: Old king of rhyme: COLE. "Old King COLE".

129A: Pick up on: SENSE. Took me a while to "Pick up on" the answer.

130A: Longtime Yugoslav leader: TITO. He advocated neutral foreign policy during Cold War.

131A: Goofing off: IDLE

Down:

2D: First name in courtroom fiction: ERLE. ERLE Stanley Gardner.

3D: Cosby's "I Spy" costar: CULP. No idea. Have never heard of Robert CULP.

4D: Largo, e.g.: TEMPO. Stumped. Largo is slow TEMPO.

7D: Bolivian boy: NINO. The "Bolivian" is picked mainly because of alliteration I think.

8D: Lots of fun: GAS

9D: Sports negotiations side: OWNERS. The other side is PLAYERS.

10D: Tuscan red: CHIANTI. Oh, red wine. I thought the clue was asking for Italian word for "red" rosso, unknown to me anyway.

11D: Egyptian Christian: COPT. No, no, nope! I bet they suffer from religious discrimination.

12D: Menotti title lad: AMAHL "AMAHL and the Night Visitors".

13D: "Ditto": ME TOO

14D: Snail on la carte: ESCARGOT. People really eat everything. Dog meat is a delicacy in North China/Korea.

16D: African grassland grazer: ORIBI. Hi, buddy, what's your favorite breakfast?

17D: Red Square honoree: LENIN

18D: Reporter's slant: ANGLE

24D: Bow wood: YEW

29D: Cold, to Carlos: FRIO. New to me. What is Spanish for "hot"? Salma Hayek is very sexy.

32D: "Training Day" actor Ethan: HAWKE. Uma Thurman's ex-husband.

34D: Pharaohs' crosses: ANKHS (angk). Often confuse this word with SIKH (seek), both end with KH.

35D: They hang together: PALS. Nice clue.

36D: Lone Star State sch.: UTEP (University of Texas, El Paso). Trouble again.

37D: Haus wife: FRAU. Haus is German for "house".

39D: It precedes Yankee in the phonetic alphabet: XRAY. D'oh, NATO phonetic alphabet.

40D: Hornswoggle: HOSE. Hornswoggle is a new word to me, to swindle.

43D: Diamond flaw?: ERROR. Baseball diamond. Excellent clue.

46D: Book before Habakkuk: NAHUM. Nope. Not easy to remember either.

47D: Cutting edge: BLADE. Oh, literally.

49D: Sped: RACED

51D: "Like __, all tears ...": Hamlet: NIOBE. The Greek mythical crier. I know nothing about Hamlet, except "To be, or not to be". Yesterday we had OSRIC (Courtier in "Hamlet"), so easy to confuse him with YORICK the jester. "Alas, poor YORICK...".

54D: Courtroom expert, often: WITNESS

61D: "M*A*S*H" star: ALDA (Alan)

65D: Hindu honorifics: SRIS. Another alliteration.

66D: Nissan compact: SENTRA. I wonder what SENTRA means in Japanese.

69D: Pago Pago's nation: SAMOA. Lots of coconuts there.

70D: Un + deux: TROIS. One+two=Three.

71D: "Takin' it __ Streets": Doobie Brothers hit: TO THE. Here is the clip. Have never heard of the song before. It's a 1976 hit.

72D: Cut out the middle of: CORED. As an apple.

73D: Coeur d'__: Idaho: ALENE. Anyone from there?

74D: Guitar attachment: STRAP

81D: Sips' opposites: SWIGS. I think Americans eat/drink too fast.

82D: Record, nowadays: TIVO

83D: Some, in Seville: UNAS. French would be UNES.

87D: Ivan IV, for one: TSAR. Ivan the Terrible.

89D: Snap: GO POSTAL. Loved the answer.

92D: Orly lander: AVION. French for "plane". Par AVION.

95D: Disaster relief org.: FEMA

96D: 11th century conquerors: NORMANS. The Norman Conquest, 1066, led by Williams the Conqueror.

101D: Bad guy: MEANIE

103D: Becomes less angry, with "off": COOLS

105D: Navajo, e.g.: TRIBE. Jerome said the Navajo rug makers always weave a tiny flaw into their work to show humbleness.

106D: Suisse range: ALPES. French for "Alps". Here, Suisse is the French name of Switzerland.

107D: Author Zora __ Hurston: NEALE. No idea. She wrote "Their Eyes Were Watching God".

110D: Shatner's "__ War": TEK. TEK is a drug.

111D: Actress Bingham or Lords: TRACI. Got the answer from Across fills. TRACI Bingham looks familiar. Wikipedia says TRACI Lords first achieved notoriety in porn movies.

115D: Mid 11th century year: MLII. 1052.

116D: "It __ over till it's over": Berra: AIN'T. Yogi also said "I really didn't say everything I said".

117D: Eddie Bauer competitor: IZOD. KQ loves Eddie Bauer.

118d: Summon: CALL

119D: "Trick" joint: KNEE. I liked the clue.

Answer Grid.

Should you have extra time today, have a try at Fred's Universal and Doug Peterson's CrosSynergy (Washington Post) puzzles.

And a warm welcome to Mary, Susie, Annette and all the new commenters. I hope you stay and play. It's fun!

C.C.

Saturday September 5, 2009 Doug Peterson

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 70

Probably the easiest Doug Peterson Saturday I've tackled. I filled in lots lots of blanks before I cheated. Maybe someday I will solve a Doug Peterson/Barry Silk LAT Saturday unassisted if Rich Norris keeps this easing-up phrase. You should try Doug's Newsday stumper sometime. It's just impossible for me.

Loads of multiple word entries in today's grid, 16 if I counted right:

5A: Dumps: SCRAP HEAPS. Initially thought the clue was asking for a verb phrase.

16A: Dashiell Hammett's last novel: THE THIN MAN. Unknown trivia to me. He also wrote "The Maltese Falcon".

18A: Tubeless and with no moving parts, electronically: SOLID-STATE. New word to me. Can you give me an example?

23A: "Care to make it interesting?" WANNA BET? Lovely.

30A: Speed limit posting, e.g.: ROAD SIGN

35A: Acknowledge silently: NOD AT. Mine was NOD TO.

49A: Recline next to: LIE BY

56A: "See ya!": I'M OUTA HERE. Thought it's OUTTA.

59A: Juvenile retort: AM SO. I TOO has four letters too.

60A: "London Fields" novelist: MARTIN AMIS. Had letter NA??S ready, then the "London" tip, MARTIN AMIS popped up immediately. He is the son of Kinglsey Amis.

62A: Very slow rate: SNAIL'S PACE

2D: Uncommon things: RARA AVIS. Latin for "rare bird". Our Kazie is a RARA AVIS. So is Sade.

3D: Successor to the mini: IPOD NANO. Was thinking of the miniskirt. I like my IPOD Classic.

8D: Busting one's hump: AT IT. "Busting one's hump" is a new phrase to me.

37D: Boggle accessory: EGG TIMER. Boggle makes me headache.

38D: Toy with engine: TRAIN SET. The Lionel model trains.

Did I miss any, Jerome/Crockett? Those triple-stacked 10's on the upper right and lower left corners are especially lively.

Across:

1A: Often dramatic number: ARIA. Nailed it. "Dramatic" tipped me off.

15A: Finds fault with: RAPS. Put down NAGS first.

17A: Marsh critter: CROC

19A: Site of the mythical Lethe River: HADES. Lethe (LEE-thee) is the river of forgetfulness in HADES (HEY-deez), Greek "hell". Hot there.

21A: Little foxes: KITS. Thought it's KIDS.

22A: Bible book before Nehemiah: EZRA. Also Hebrew name, meaning "help", as in poet EZRA Pound.

25A: Trout spot: BROOK. I love steamed trout.

26A: Personification: AVATAR. Mine is Justin Morneau, Twins' first baseman.

27A: How to see the obvious: PLAINLY. Oh well, obviously I don't know how. Stupid!

29A: Feminine force: YIN. Masculine force is YANG.

39A: Wearing a bolero: JACKETED. Did not know JACKET can be a verb.

42A: Lab alert?: GRR. Lab = Labrador.

44A: Some modern tribal operations: CASINOS

47A: Grammy category: REGGAE. The precursor to REGGAE is SKA.

50A: Blush, for one: COSMETIC

52A: River to the Ligurian Sea: ARNO. Only knew ARNO River as Italian river, which flows through Florence/Pisa. Had no idea where Ligurian Sea is.

53A: Playback machines, briefly: VCRS

55A: Move (away), like a coward: SLINK. Wrote down SNEAK.

63A: Disposal bits: ORTS

Down:

1D: Majestic entrance: ARCHWAY. The most famous one is probably Arc de triomphe, which looks quite plain in the daytime.

4D: Climb: ASCENT. Oh, "climb" here is a noun. Tried ASCEND first.

6D: Require the Heimlich maneuver: CHOKE. Heimlich is pronounced like HAHYM-lik.

9D: Profs' degrees: PHDS. Is PHD a must in order to be a professor?

11D: Recording, as in a journal: ENTERING

12D: Online shopping mecca: AMAZON

13D: Cop's duty: PATROL. Thought of the California girl who was slaved for 18 years. Those cops missed the chances to rescue her earlier.

14D: Double-dealing: SNEAKY

20D: Franco-German border region: SAAR (Zahr). I simply forgot. See this map (lower left). It's clued as "German coal region" last time.

24D: Rodeo mount: BRONCO

25D: Specialty, slangily: BAG

27D: Three-part H.S. exam: PSAT (Prelimary SAT). Verbal, Math and Writing.

28D: Some water bottles: LITERS. Did not come to me readily at all.

31D: NASA go-aheads: A-OKS

32D: '50s pres.: DDE. And DEMS (41D: 32-Down wasn't one of them). IKE was a Republican.

34D: Horn of Africa country: DJIBOUTI (ji-BOO-tee). See this map. On the Gulf of Aden.

43D: S'poses: RECKONS. South slang I s'pose.

44D: They may be staked: CLAIMS. Idiom: stake a claim.

45D: Aviator: AIRMAN. Airwoman=Aviatrix (ey-vee-EY-triks)

46D: Chihuahua female: SENORA. Chihuahua the Mexican state. Not the dog.

48D: Italian for "frozen": GELATO. Followed by another word CREMA (50D: Espresso foam). Italian for "cream".

51D: Courtier in "Hamlet": OSRIC. Needed the Across help.

53D: Movers, but hopefully not shakers: VANS. Is this your own clue, Doug? Very nice.

57D: '80s band '__ Tuesday: 'TIL. No idea. Guessed FAT first. Did not pay attention to the apostrophe before the blank. The guy on the lower right corner looks like a woman.

58D: Language suffix: ESE. Like Chinese.

If you have extra time tomorrow, have a look at Newsday puzzle. It's constructed by our Fred. I think it's his Newsday debut. Congratulations, Fred! (Update: Fred's puzzle is Universal Crossword.)

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is a great photo of our fellow LAT solver Martin and his beautiful wife Imelda in Baguashan Park, Changhua. Martin is an Assistant Professor in Central Taiwan University of Science and Technology. He is from Ottawa, Canada. Martin has a very deep understanding of Chinese languages and culture. I love reading his comments because they often resonate with mine. This one has some very interesting statues behind them.

C.C.