Saturday August 28, 2010 Joe DiPietro

Theme: None

Total words: 68. Total blocks: 27

Average Word length: 5.82. Missing: J, Q, X & Z.

Rather low in terms of total words and blocks account.

The puzzle is framed by triple stacks of horizontal 11s at the upper right and bottom left, intersecting another vertical 11 and triple columns of 7s on each end. Another triple columns of vertical 7s in the upper left and lower right completes the basic skeleton of the grid. The eight 11s are:

4A. Workout apparatus : STAIRMASTER. The only one word 11.

16A. Old fortune-telling site : PENNY ARCADE. Have never heard of this term. Is it in a mall?

18A. Carried out by : ON THE PART OF. Can you give me an example of how the clue & answer equates?

58A. Sought some shelter? : OPENED AN IRA. Tax shelter, I suppose.

62A. Balance in the end : COME OUT EVEN. Nice entry.

64A. Had an in : KNEW SOMEONE. Didn't come to me readily.

5D. Garments lacking waistlines : TENT DRESSES. Gisele is wearing one here. She's gorgeous no matter what she dons.

25D. "El Cid" co-star : SOPHIA LOREN. Nice to have her full name. I've never watched "El Cid" though.

Very difficult solving for me. Lots of unfamiliar references. This is our first encounter with Joe DiPietro, who has constructed over 100 puzzles for NY Times, mainly hard late week themeless grids.

Across:

1. Cable initials : TMC. I figured it would start T??. TBS, TNT.

15. Joey in Milne stories : ROO. Kanga's kid in "Winnie-the-Pooh". Joey is young kangaroo.

17. The Cyclones of the Big 12 Conf. : ISU (Iowa State University). In Ames.

19. Mystery author whose work has been translated into more than 100 languages : CHRISTIE (Agatha)

21. "I can do that" : LET ME

22. Made one's view known : OPINED

23. 1940s-'70s bandleader Edmundo : ROS. Alien to me. He's still alive. 99 years old now.

26. Tahari of fashion : ELIE. Nope. Have never heard of the guy or his brand.

27. Heading to overtime : TIED

28. Exude : REEK OF

31. LAX posting : ETD

32. Scattered : STREWED

34. Union members? : SPOUSES. The ? hints it's not about labor union. Awesome clue.

36. Carefree state : EASE

37. Chain with links : IHOP. Nice clue too.

38. Multiple-ride ticket : BUS PASS

41. Terry of Monty Python : GILLIAM. Was he in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"? I just could not understand the humor. Stopped watching after 2 minutes of nonsense.

45. Adder's kin : ASP

46. Aircraft company since 1927 : CESSNA. Named after its founder Clyde Cessna.

48. When Eliza sings "Wouldn't It Be Loverly?" : ACT I. Filled in ACT immediately.

49. Tough test : BEAR

51. Called with chips : SAW. Poker reference often confounds me. See and raise.

52. Liquor store buys : LITERS

54. Doctor, ideally : CURER. Why "ideally"?

56. Expiate : ATONE FOR

61. Dramatic way to go? : APE. Go ape.

63. Mauna __ : LOA

65. You'll trip if you drop it : LSD. This damned drug often tripped me, no matter how it's clued.

Down:

1. Warp-knit fabrics : TRICOTS. New word to me. It's pronounced like "TREE-koh". T is silent.

2. Slam-dancing area : MOSH PIT. Stymied me last time.

3. Express service employee : COURIER

4. "Imagine, Zeke ..." : S'POSE. Dennis told me he did not like this clue. Zeke is a nickname for hayseed, correct?

6. Nonpro? : ANTI. I'd prefer "Non pro?".

7. What a hider shouldn't say to a seeker : IN HERE

8. Bar order : RYE. Whiskey I suppose.

9. It may include highs and lows : MAP. What do "highs" and "lows" here refer to?

10. Uzbekistan border sea : ARAL

11. Rocky debris : SCREE. Like this.

12. Snitches : TATTLES

13. Early inhabitant along the Dead Sea : EDOMITE. Descendant of Esau's land Esau. Got me.

14. Carb-up days, to low-carb dieters : REFEEDS. Well, maybe Al can explain to us what the heck is going on here. Makes no sense to me, both the clue and the answer.

20. Committed and then some : IN DEEP

24. Circular signal : OK SIGN

29. Greek regional capital : EDESSA. No idea. Modern name is Urfa. Early center of Christianity in Mesopotamia, says Dictionary.

30. Trick : FOOL

33. WWII enlistee : WAAC (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps). I can never remember this initialism.

35. Burning the midnight oil : UP LATE

38. Detroit Red Wings coach Mike : BABCOCK. Here he is. Out of my knowledge zone.

39. Consume with regard to : USE UPON

40. "Puh-leeze!" : SPARE ME. Nice one.

42. Irregular glacial mass : ICEFALL. Spitzboov seems to know a lot about this stuff, and geology.

43. One of the Fates : ATROPOS. The Fate who cuts the thread of life. I simply forgot.

44. See Tears for Fears? : MISREAD. Does Capital T look capital F to you?

47. Gershwin's first hit : SWANEE. George Gershwin. Here is clip. Unknown to me.

50. Agree to more issues : RENEW. More issues of the magazine.

53. Harebrained : INANE

55. Old Royale 8's, e.g. : REOS

57. Save for later, in a way : TIVO. Drew a blank.

59. Comedy team, usually : DUO

60. Pharmacy convenience, often : ATM.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday August 27, 2010 Mike Peluso

Theme: Odd Ending (oddity)- ITY is added to the end of the second word (a noun) of a two-word common noun phrase. The resulted nouns all have different roots than the originals.

20A. Oil company's penchant for employee transfers? : EXXON MOBILITY. The base phrase is Exxon Mobil.

29A. Measure of neighborhood drug traffic? : OPIUM DENSITY. Opium Dens, the places where opium was sold.

46A. Egotism that brings you to tears? : MOVING VANITY. Moving Van.

56A. Pigmentation variations? : SKIN DIVERSITY. Skin Divers. Skin diving is defined as "the sport of swimming under water with flippers and a face mask and usually with a snorkel rather than a portable air supply". Not a familiar term to me.

Though the changing pattern for 29A and 56A is the same, adding ITY to a S ending phrase, the original words are profoundly different.

It's a carefully selected & rather exhaustive theme set. Not easy to attach ITY to any noun phrase and come up with a sensible new phrase ending with a different root word. Constructors give lots of considerations to their themes.

I thought of author (Anonymous Author) & authority. But the two derived from the same word, not to mention ANONYMOUS AUTHORITY has 18 letters. Equal & equality do not work either. John Major (former British PM) might though, since Major is a proper name here. Major & Majority. But then how do you clue JOHN MAJORITY?

Tough puzzle. Tough cluing.

Across:

1. W.E.B. Du Bois was among its founders : NAACP. Stumped immediately. Did not know who this Du Bois guy was. He's the first African-American graduate of Harvard.

6. Coot's cousin : RAIL. Oh, man, I did not know coot is a bird. Always associate it with old & crotchety person. We also have ERNE (15A. Coastal predator).

10. Barcelona-born muralist : SERT. Josep Maria Sert. Rockefeller Center muralist. Quite a few art references in this grid.

14. Of an arm bone : ULNAR

16. Hawaii neighbor : MAUI. Could be a clue error. Mike probably wanted "Lanai neighbor" or "Hawaii island". (Correction: The clue is correct.)

17. "The Wreck of the Mary __" : DEARE. Mike used the same clue in his last puzzle.

18. Benefit : SAKE

19. Far Hills, N.J.-based sports org. : USGA (United States Golf Association). Who knows? You'd think USGA is based somewhere in Florida. PGA is there, right, Lemonade?

23. Pennzoil letters : SAE. No idea. Society of Automotive Engineers.

24. Carrier with a hub at LAX : UAL

25. Con opening : NEO. Opening for the word neocon, the likes of Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard). Windhover can give you 10-page essay on them.

26. Arena cheer : RAH

32. Part of CPA: Abbr. : ACCT

35. Where Charlie was trapped, in a Kingston Trio hit : MTA. Learned from doing Xword.

36. Doomed city : SODOM. The sin city.

37. Red : RARE. Was not thinking of steak. Dennis would love a "Pink" clue.

38. Peruvian address : SENOR. Not a real place address.

41. "Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story" star Sherilyn : FENN. Total stranger. Alluring look, yes?

42. Puccini offering : OPERA. And CARO (4D. Puccini's "O mio babbino __"). Literally "dear" in Italian. "O mio babbino caro" = "oh, my dear papa". I was stymied.

44. "__ Woman": 1975 hit : I'M A

45. Muy, across the Pyrenees : TRES. Was ignorant that "muy" means "very" in Spanish.

50. "Wheel of Fortune" buy : AN A. Or any vowel.

51. Half a cocktail : TAI. Mai tai.

52. "Kinda" suffix : ISH

53. Half-witted : DIM

60. Pedestal : BASE. The supporting base for statue/column, etc.

62. Like Erté's art : DECO

63. Any Frankie Avalon song : OLDIE

64. Follow : OBEY

65. Gardener, at times : HOER. Boring.

66. Like many a motel air conditioner : NOISY. So true.

67. Crown's girl, in a 1935 opera : BESS. I've never seen "Porgy and Bess". What's the crown reference?

68. "Gotcha" : I SEE

69. One who's generally bottled up? : GENIE. Genie in a bottle.

Down:

1. Sculptors' subjects : NUDES

2. Billy Joel's daughter : ALEXA. She tried to kill herself with sleeping pill last year. Big headline.

3. Has __ to grind : AN AXE

5. Asset protection plan, briefly : PRENUP (Prenuptial). Drew a blank.

6. Determined : RESOLUTE. Nice entry, crossing 2 theme answers.

7. __-Israeli War : ARAB

8. Equitable way to pay : IN KIND. Confused me last time.

9. Sobieski of "Joy Ride" (2001) : LEELEE. No idea. She looks like Jewel, doesn't she?

10. Blue books? : SMUT. Blue = Off-color/Risque.

11. 1969 road movie : EASY RIDER. Bet Gunghy and Windhover loved this movie.

12. Toupee : RUG

13. Madre's hermana : TIA. Hermana = Sister.

21. Injures badly : MAIMS

22. They're not free of charge : IONS. They are charged. Awesome clue.

27. Make restitution : ATONE

28. Service songs : HYMNS. Church service.

29. '90s "SNL" regular Cheri : OTERI

30. Frenzy : MANIA

31. Hardly the drill sergeant type : SOFTY. Never know what the words those drill sergeant are muttering.

32. Coffee asset : AROMA

33. Fowl on a menu : CAPON. Castrated chicken.

34. Climbers' obstacles : CREVASSES. New word to me. Same as "crevice".

39. Man, e.g. : OMNIVORE. Too tricky a clue for me.

40. See, and then some : RAISE. Poker.

43. Fighting : ANTI. Wanted AT IT.

47. Kingsley role : GANDHI. Great movie.

48. Family gathering staples : VIDEOS

49. Crowd : THRONG

53. Slew : DID IN

54. Formal doorstep response : "IT IS I". Keep waiting then!

55. "Yeah, right!!" : MY EYE. "Baloney!"

57. F and G, but not H : KEYS. Would make me happy if Jayce was fooled!

58. Slurpee alternative : ICEE

59. __ gin : SLOE

60. Sportscaster Costas : BOB. I like him.

61. Harlem Globetrotters founder Saperstein : ABE. Uh uh. Nope. He died in 1966. The two founder clues today killed me.

Answer grid.

Our Crossword Corner blog team photo series ends today with two recent pictures of the beautiful Melissa Bee from her Girls Weekend Out (Santa Cruz) trip. Here is Kaya and Melissa (in pink scarf). Here are the girls on the wharf. For more delicious pictures, click here.

C.C.