Thursday, March 27, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Quip

20A: Start of the Evan Esar quip: TO THE NIGHT OWL

37A: Part 2 of quip: IT'S ALWAYS BETTER

57A: End of a quip: LATE THAN NEVER

Technically, Esar quipped "To a night owl, it's always better than never". It seems a bit arbitrary and capricious for a constructor to alter someone's original quip at his own convenience to construct a crossword grid, don't you think so? My nerve is a bit chafed by this granular unevenness in an otherwise very pleasing, smooth & Monday-like puzzle.

If not for the upper left corner AREOLE snag, I would have reached the Emerald city and seen the great Wizard of Oz unaided! I found my yellow brick roads very early on, after 37A revealed itself to me. I easily hoed patches and patches of the loose fields, and I did not really find any hard clumps of dirts, all easily crushable.

On a non-crossword related issue, I think I tend to bristle at things that might not raise your ire at all. Take Clinton's explanation for her Bosnia sniper fire faux pas for example, she said: "I say a lot of things - millions of words a day - so if I misspoke, that was a just a misstatement." Many pundits and reporters pounced on her faulty memory blips.

I actually believe that people do misspeak for things that they may not have experienced. I know I would not even consider venturing to Bosnia under that risky situation. I am, however, bothered by her "millions of words a day". How could that be? At what speed? Faster than an auctioneer?

Someone actually counts the amount of word an auctioneer speaks per minute, and it will take Hillary 40 hours talking non-stop to reach a million word. Is she so privileged that her day is consisted of more than 24 hours? I tend to take the meaning of words very literally due to my lamentable lack of understanding of American idioms and slangs and the habitual exaggeration of certain stuff in American culture.

Now back to today's puzzle, the Grid structure is : 15*15

187 filled squares, 38 blank squares, total words 76 (Across 35, Down 41). Maximum word account for Monday-Friday puzzle is 78 in case you have not paid attention to it.

Here we go:

1A: Valise: BAG. La valise, the suitcase.

4A: Earthquake: SEISM

9A: Car lifts: JACKS

15A: Banks of baseball: ERNIE. Or Els of PGA (or South African golfer Els, Big Easy Els, etc)

16A: Square: UNHIP

17A: Salton or Sargasso: SEA

18A: Face the day: RISES

19A: Saturn or Mercury: DEITY. Both Roman Gods.

23A: Jumble: OLIO. This is a typical Crosswordese (words that only appear in Crosswords). ORT, ETUI, ALEE are of the same ilk.

24A: Turns right: GEES. Enough left and right turns (HAWS)! Try something else. Please jump into the Comment section and share with us if you have a better clue for GEE/GEES.

28A: Cowboy movie: WESTERN

31A: Lay waste to: DESPOIL. Learned this word in 2003 when the rampant looting took place in Iraq and some of the museum pieces were despoiled. But to borrow a line from Rumsfeld: "Stuff happens, democracy is messy, freedom is untidy."

34A: The best __ plans...: LAID

36A: Designer Ashley: LAURA. Never heard of her, a pure guess.

43A: Actress Witherspoon: REESE. I like her "Walk the Line" & "Sweet Home Alabama" only.

48A: Comebacks: RETORTS. I was on the wrong train, putting RETURNS first.

53A: Seine: NET. Got it this time.

54A: Unsolicited ms. encl. SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope).

56A: Viral lump: WART

62A: Bloodsucker: LEECH

64A: Transmitter: RADIO

65A: Drs.' group: AMA (American Medical Association). I am very impressed by the extensive work DWB (Doctors Without Border) has done so far, very far reaching.

69A: Overbearing: BOSSY

70A: Bubbly: PERKY. Want the old effervescent Katie Couric back.

71A: Big Band, for one: ERAS

Down entries:

1D: Confer: BESTOW

2D: Interstice of a leaf: AREOLE. I think I saw this word in TMS puzzle before. Maybe it's AREOLA. Not sure.

3D: Free of charge: GRATIS

4D: Desiccated: SERE

5D: Poetic name for Ireland: ERIN. Good to see ERIN and EIRE (26D: Emerald Isle) in the same puzzle.

6D: Badge of honor: INSIGNIA

7D: Blockade: SIEGE

8D: Interlocked: MESHED

9D: Self-defense system: JUDO. Putin's favorite sport. He is a black belt.

11D: Cool it!: CHILL OUT

12D: Set of a part: KIT

13D: Mata Hari, for one: SPY. A femme fatale.

21D: Steaming: HOT. I kind of like the almost intersection of HOT and NIGHT.

27D: Winged: ALAR. Wing parts are ALAE. Ala is Latin for wing.

29D: Actress Barkin: ELLEN. Not impressed by her role in Ocean's 13.

38D: Beret filler: TETE. Tired of this clue too. Let me see... Port City in Mozambique, no, I don't like it. Don't like French head either. I can not think of anything else.

38D: Resident of a new region: SETTLERS

39D: Tempe sch.: ASU (Arizona State University).

41D: Spatula: SPREADER

47D: Petty dictator: SATRAP. Identical clue on Feb 27 puzzle.

50D: Devastate: RAVAGE

51D: Nervous vibration: TREMOR

52D: Horizontal layers: STRATA

55D: Sedimentary rock: SHALE. Filled in from the down clues. It's "a rock of fissile or laminated structure formed by the consolidation of clay or argillaceous material."

60D: Small notch: NICK

C.C.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Lament (Homophones)

17A: Baker's lament?: I KNEAD (NEED) A VACATION

38A: Bored big game hunter's lament?: SO WHAT ELSE IS GNU (NEW)

59A: Frustrated sailor's lament?: I'M KNOT (NOT) ON THE HELM

Ai ya (Chinese for D'oh)! I missed another precious opportunity to finish a puzzle unaided today. I simply forgot SISAL for Agave plant, and had no idea that MITER could also be a carpenter's box. I also put CLINCHED instead of STITCHED for 40D: Sewed up. My March Madness moment I suppose! So I screwed up the whole corner. Oh well, next Wednesday then. Anderson is probably the only constructor whose wavelength I share.

Grid Analysis (15*15):

Total words: 78 (37 Across, 41Down). Total blank square: 34

I forgot to mention yesterday that besides the center row and center column, the grid (always diagonally symmetrical of course) also has a center square (or cell). In today's case, it's the letter L (intersection of 38A and 29D). That's why the total square counts for the grid is always an odd number (191 from Monday to Saturday's 15*15 puzzle and 441 for Sunday's 21*21 puzzle).

Today's grid has only 4 less blank squares than yesterday's, yet it just felt so open. I don't know why yesterday's puzzle bothered me. I had a quick check last night at some of the puzzles we've done, and found out that I actually enjoyed quite a few with similar counts of 3-letter words (if not more). Maybe yesterday's grid just did not fit my eyes.

Across entries:

1A: Employees: STAFF. Did not fall to the S trap due to the quick crumbling of 5D: FAA

5A: Ballet Bend: PLIÉ. Past participle of verb Plier (Bend in French). There are 2 plié styles: demi-plié (half bend) and grand-plié (full bend).

14A: Preminger film: LAURA. No idea. Pure guess. Knew Preminger only because his given name OTTO keeps coming up in the puzzle.

16A: Ticklish doll: ELMO. Silly.

20A: Physical starter?: META. Metaphysical. Ah, Aristotle and his Metaphysics! I guess those ancient Greeks did not have much to do in their spare time besides going to their mall (AGORA), so they contemplated about life and universe hard and deep. Nowadays, who else except Bernard-Henri Lévy has the time or élan to think?

22A: Beekeeping site: APIARY. Where are you, bees?

23A: Japanese zither: KOTO. Here is a beautiful picture of women in traditional Japanese kimino playing KOTO. A gimme for our fellow solver AlohaSpirit in Seattle I hope!

25A: Fraternal org.: BPOE (Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks)

26A: Word to the wise: ADVICE. Not "word from the wise"? I don't get it. Don't you get advice from the person who is wise?

29A: "Micheal Collins" star: REA (Stephen). Tired of him. Time to challenge us with Latin Mens REA (guilty mind).

34A: Settle down for the night: ROOST. Wow, I always thought only birds roost.

37A: Keanu in "The Matrix": NEO. Not much going on with Keanu lately.

42A: Nautical lift: DAVIT. Here is a DAVIT for you.

43A: Strict: STERN

44A: Jodie Foster film: NELL

47A: Matched up: PAIRED. Why "matched up"? Isn't "matched" sufficient?

48A: Pitcher Hershiser: OREL. Another repeat offender.

50A: Brewer's grain: MALT

51A: Pat and Debby: BOONES. Father and daughter ("You Light up My Life".)

54A: Islet: AIT. It's clued as River inlet on Sunday's puzzle.

62A: Metric meas.: KILO

63A: Merit: RATE. Yep, let EARN rests for a while.

64A: Partner of vice?: VERSA. Vice Versa is also a 1988 film title.

65A: List ender: ET AL

66A: French/Belgian river: YSER

67A: After-market purchase: ADD-ON

Down entries:

1A: Actor Pickens: SLIM. A total stranger to me. Was his original name SLIM?

3A: Uncle's mate: AUNT. Wonder how Carson (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) reacts to this clue.

4D: Strange: FREAKISH

5D: Air-travel watchdog grp.: FAA (Federal Aviation Administration)

6D: Socrates' pupil: PLATO

9D: Adventure: ESCAPADE. I love this word and desperado, both evoking an image of some bold, fearless, wild and daring acts. I am totally buying the conspiracy theory that Roger Stone is behind Spitzer's escapade exposure.

10D: One's specialty: MÉTIER. Pas de problèm!

18D: Oasis fruit: DATE. Have you ever tried fresh palm date before? So delicious!

24D: Group of eight: OCTAD. The other word "Octet" is a composition for 8 voices.

25D: Beauty's beau: BEAST. I often wonder why "Beauty and the Beast" is not "The Beauty and the Beast", or "Beauty and Beast". What's the rationale behind the inconsistency of "the"?

26D: Burning desire: ARSON. Need a question mark here: Burning desire?

27D: "Lorna __-": DOONE. Learned from doing crossword of course.

28D: "Wheel of Fortune" buy: VOWEL. These might be tough for those solvers in Asia/Europe who do not watch "Wheel of Fortune".

33D: Word with bite or barrier: SOUND

35D: Angle maker: BEVEL. Nailed it this time.

36D: Agave plant: SISAL. Have to commit this word to my memory!

39D: Wall hanging: TAPESTRY.

40D: Sewn up: STITCHED. Naturally!

45D: Palindromic Asian leader: LON NOL (Cambodian Prime Minister)

47D: Track through a forest: PATH

50D: Carpenter's box: MITER. Never knew this before.

56D: Animal group: HERD. Talk about over-thinking and unthinking. I stretched myself to the world of PETA and SPCA, and there is no abbreviation mark in the clue to suggest that, you dummy!

58D: Fed: TMAN (Treasury)

60D: PAU's successor: OAS (Organization of American States). I bet Castro took it as a badge of honor to be excluded from OAS. As for PAU, it stands for Pan American Union.

61D: One Gabor: EVA

OK, I am ready for an Alan O. Olschang's quip/quote puzzle. Bring it on!

C.C.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: Slip

17A: Slip: PETTICOAT (Half Slip)

26A: Slip: RECEIPT (Paper Slip)

35A: Slip: FREUDIAN GAFFE (Freudian Slip)

47A: Slip: DECLINE (Quality/Quantity/Standard slip)

56A: Slip: YOUNG GIRL (Slip of a Girl)

OK, I've heard your voices, to borrow a line from Justin Timberlake's song, "I am bringing sexy back" on Thursday. But what's the raison d'ETRE (15A) for you guys to read my "Struggle Part" of the blog? Je ne comprend pas!!! Misery loves company?

I've never heard of the expression "She is a mere slip of girl, or he is mere slip of a lad", so it took me forever to figure out where I was going. It would really really drive me crazy had this new constructor Mr. Underwood used the pottery term Clay Slip.

Grid Analysis (15*15):

Total words: 78 (37 Across, 41Down). Total blank square: 38

I only realized this morning that the grids, as a rule, always have a center row (Today's puzzle: FREUDIAN GAFFE) and a center column (Today's puzzle: BRAY DEALT PONE). And they are always made up of an odd and equal number of squares on each side. That's why the total word counts for Across or Down are always odd number, hence the total word count for the whole grid has to be an even number.

There are 16 3-letter blocks in today's puzzle, very clunky and ungainly. Please do not put IRE and IRK in the same puzzle any more. And I am not fond of the intersection of 35A & 37D. The words FREUD & FEUD should never be put so close together. But it could be worse, suppose he put FEUD directly under the letter F in FREUD instead of the F in GAFFE, imagine how I would react!

Across clues:

1A: Pizzazz: ZING. I put ELAN first. I really do not like the letter of the clue makes a second appearance in the answers, unless it is alliteration, like Split into splinters: SLIVERED (Sunday March 23.).

5A: Small amounts: DABS

9A: Discompose: ABASH. I mis-read it as Decompose. So I was in the "rotten" direction.

16A: Rich cake: TORTE. Interesting. My dictionary says that Torte comes from German or Italian word Torta (cake, or tart) or Latin Torta (kind of bread). Wonder if anyone has ever made any savory torte before.

20A: Other side: ENEMY. Not fond of this clue.

21A: Exclude: DISBAR. I have nothing to say about this word. I keyed in this word only because I do not want to receive another email complaining about my omitting of certain non-gimme clues.

25A: Joe and his comrades: GIS

27A: Allocation plan: BUDGET. Without the letter B from the down EBB, I would've filled in TRIAGE. My brain was trying hard to allocate Katrina victims to different hospitals.

29A: Record of a voice-over: DUB

39A: In good order: NEATLY. Put NICELY first.

40A: Collection pieces: ITEMS. Had _ _ _ MS in place already, so I put in POEMS, thinking of Carl Sandburg and his annoying Chicago Poem collection last Thursday.

45A: Most remote, initially: ULT (Ultimate)

46A: Take for granted: ASSUME. I don't take your help for granted, guys. I deeply appreciate every piece of information you've offered to me.

50A: Star Wars, initially: SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative). I was thinking of Lucas' movie, not Reagan's Star Wars Proposal. OK, so initially it was SDI, then Clinton changed the name to BMDO (Ballistic Missile Defense Organization) in 1993, then Bush renamed it MDE (Missile Defense Agency) in 2002. Why did they keep changing the name? Trying to leave their own distinctive presidential legacy? Trying to claim the credit that they created some new initiative?

53A: Give a ring: PHONE

55A: "Six O'Clock" painter John: SLOAN. The painting is "Six O'Clock, Winter". OK, Mr. Underwood, even if you hate winter, you should not, and you can not omit the name part of a masterpiece. The season (Winter) and the time (pm) is essential to the the understanding of the subject of this painting.

60A: To the point: TERSE

61A: Hostile to: ANTI. Don't quite like the clue.

63A: Not so ordinary: ODDER. I am not fully convinced of this clue either.

64A: Kettle of fish: MESS. Never knew this expression before. It's also a comedy movie nobody probably have watched.

65A: Scottish terrier: SKYE. Are they the same? Wikipedia explains that "SKYE" and "Scottish terrier" are 2 different breeds of terrier.

Down entries:

1D: Use a stun gun: ZAP. Since Tase/Taser did not fit, I started thinking that maybe the Israeli gun UZI could be used as a verb. ZAP never entered my mind, esp since I could not get ZING for 1A.

4D: Box office take: GATE. I wanted CASH. At this point of my solving, I was only sure of AREA for 14A, so all my guesses were wild.

5D: Falseness: DECEIT

6D: Hee-haw: BRAY. Donkey cry.

9D: Top story: ATTIC. I was trapped. I was on the train of "Headline news". The fact that I misread 9A Discompose as Decompose only made things worse.

10D: State capital meaning "Wooded": BOISE. I never knew this before. But it was easily inferable.

11D: Asian peninsula: ARABIA. Ugh. I felt stupid to miss this one. Wanted it to be Malay or Korea. Neither fitted, so I ran away from this corner in utter exasperation.

12D: Subway loops: STRAPS. The overhead hanging loop.

13D: Quarter deck?: HEARTS. I love this clue!!

18D: Innocent heroine: INGENUE

21D: Remove hidden ears: DEBUG. Great clue too.

23D: Wide separation: GULF. Had some problem with this word, esp since I could not get 27A BUDGET quickly enough.

26D: Inclined to flow: RUNNY

28D: Stefani or Verdon: GWEN. Knew Stefani well, vaguely heard of Verdon. Why not give PBS anchor Gwen Ifill a try. I like her style.

29D: Distributed hands: DEALT. Of course, I fell into the _ _ _ ED bunker.

32D: Championship: TITLE. Not a gimme to me at all.

33D: Bringing up: RAISING. Love the movie Raising Helen starring Kate Hudson. Her How to Lose a Guy in 10 days is pretty good too.

34D: New newts: EFTS. Another tough one for me.

36D: Frighten off: DAUNT. I put SCARE first.

37D: Clash of clans: FEUD

42D: Makes greater: ADDS TO. Good clue, simple yet trappy due to S.

43D: ___ over (fainted): KEELED. For some unfathomable reason, I penned in ASA instead of AKA for 42A: Pseudonym intro (AKA). What/Who was I thinking? So I was hellbent to put SWOON in, even though the clue was clearly asking for a past tense.

44D: Conflict compromise: ACCORD. I thought of some kind of armistice or treaty. Stupid! I was actually reading a short article on Oslo Accord last night.

46D: Poster boy: ADONIS. This word always reminds of the "Hunk Flunks" JFK Jr.

49D: At the center: INNER

50D: Locks up: SHUTS

53D: Corn mix: PONE. Never had this before. Not interested in any corn product.

58D: Flattened fish: RAY. What is this? Why is it flattened?

59D: Heavy-duty cleanser: LYE

My prediction for tomorrow's puzzle author: Philip J. Anderson.

C.C.

A Few Updates

1) Crossword Searching Tools
I've added both OneLook & OneAcross to my "I Love These Links" sidebars. I find them to be equally effective. Give them a try if Mr. Google fails you.

2) Who is Josiah Breward?
For Monday-Friday puzzle solvers, please read my Saturday's blog entry about Josiah Breward (aka Wayne Robert Williams, our puzzle Editor). NYTanonimo found out this shocking link for us. It turns out that almost 25% (15 of the 61 puzzles) I've blogged since Jan 21 came from the Williams clan. Are you stunned? I don't mind nepotism, but how can an editor edits his own construction?

3) ATIP & A-LOP
Feste found A-LOP (Saturday March 22 puzzle) at The Oxford English Dictionary. The definition is "hanging over on one side". Example: "1865...hay-stacks, all a-lop." But ATIP can only be found at crossword dictionary.

4) Comments
Crossword related comments ONLY please. Next time a distasteful political attack comment such as the Rick Santorum one (Saturday) comes up, I will delete it without warning.

I enjoy reading your daily solving experience, complaints, praise and observation of the puzzle, and I am happy that you are willing to share with us. But, please keep your comments as pithy as possible. If you want to post some lengthy information from another website, don't copy and paste, it soaks up too much space. Just provide with a link (code it in HTML). Or you can simply type in the website address.

Please also write your comments in proper English. Comments written in all CAPITAL letters or all in small letters are very tough on my eyes.

For keys to the puzzle, please visit Chicago Tribune's Crossword Website first. If you still can not find what you want, then send a question to the Comment section.

5) Questions? Just ask!
For those who visits this blog from Asia, Europe, Latin America, Canada, please feel free to jump in with your comments, even if your syndication puzzle is lagged weeks behind us (as in Vietnam & Philippines).

I am very interested in hearing from you how you solve this TMS puzzle as a foreigner (I figure not all of you are Americans living abroad). And if you have any question regarding any clue, please do not hesitate to ask. Remember, there are no stupid or embarrassing questions in this crazy crossword world!

6) Recap
From now on, I will skip the "How I struggled" part in front of my daily recap. I slog through different mud than you do due to my special background, and I don't think you are quite interested in reading my misery. Instead, I will put on a few lines of my observation of the crossword structure or a few entries that I feel worthy highlighting.

Lastly, I want to say "Thank You" to all of you (esp Dennis) for patiently answering my ceaseless WHY, HOW SO questions every day. I am deeply grateful for and appreciative of your generous help. 谢谢!

OK, now chime in on your Monday puzzle experiece!

C.C.

Monday, March 24, 2008 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: Location Phrases

21A: Special clique: INNER CIRCLE

47A: Strained boundaries, maybe: OUTER LIMITS

3D: Elite: UPPER CRUST

30D: Sleeper car option: LOWER BERTH

Very symmetrical theme entries. Nice & easy! I polished it off in probably 20 minutes, cheated only once for TORS.

Grid Analysis:

Size: 15*15

Total Word counts: 78. This has reached the maximum word counts for a Monday to Friday themed puzzle. For your information, the maximum word counts is 72 for themeless Saturday puzzle, 142 for Sunday's themed (and titled) 21*21 puzzle.

Total black squares: 36

Across clues:

1A: Faithful: TRUE. Faithful? How about "Unfaithful"? I love this Diana Lane/Richard Gere movie. The Ai Du (Ali Farka music) is featured in the bathtub scene, very exotic and erotic.

10A: Whiskey spritz: SODA

15A: Wide-eyed: NAIVE. I put AGAPE first.

16A: Zenith: APEX. I put ACME first.

18A: Gun-toting: ARMED

19A: Slammer unit: CELL

26A: Theatre angel: BACKER. Why British spelling? No need here!

28A: Short-changed: SWINDLED

42A: Regarded highly: ESTEEMED

46A: Chocolate substitute: CAROB. Have never had this before. I hate all kinds of ersatz food substitutes.

55A: Political coalition: BLOC. One thing I would advocate is to change CIA's Assassination Manuel. Just gun down the halfwit Ahmadinejad, his hard-line conservative bloc will be automatically dismembered. Easy crumble! No need for another war.

56A: Archie Bunker's wife: EDITH

58A: Part of RPI: INST (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

62A: Iditarod rides: SLEDS. Its terminus is NOME.

Down entries:

5D: More ridiculous: INANER

7D: Soil sweetener: LIME. No idea. Only Miracle Growth for our garden.

9D: Mao's bailiwick: RED CHINA

10D: Sanctified: SACRED

12D: Small valley: DELL

21D: Dangerous time for Caesar: IDES. IDES of March. In Roman calendar, ides can also be the 15th of May, July or October.

28D: Sturdy: SOLID. I put STOUT first.

29D: Bit of weakling: WUSS

37D: Assortment offering: SAMPLERS

41D: High rocky hills: TORS. Did not know this word.

44D: Sympathetic sorrow: PATHOS. Here is the definition: PATHOS is a quality that evokes sympathy, sorrow. Interesting, here is another word: BATHOS. It's defined as "A false or overdone pathos that is absurd in its effect." Can anyone give me an example?

46D: Referenced: CITED. Don't foist upon me any words that cannot be referenced in my dictionary, no more ATIP please!

C.C.

Sunday, March 23, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Play Ball

24A: Two-land road feature: CENTER LINE

34A: Make no mistake: GET IT RIGHT

36A: Quit messing with: LEFT ALONE

53A: Steno's writing: SHORT HAND

68A: Spouted dispenser: MILK PITCHER

80A: Very soon: ANY SECOND

100A: One way to jump in: FEET FIRST

102A: Subway current resources: THIRD RAILS

113A: Insect eater: FLY CATCHER

No quip from Mr. Olschwang? He is either reformed or this is another constructor name printing error. It's probably latter but I prefer the former. Kind of feel like Ed Voile's work.

Nevertheless, I love this puzzle, it's the most aesthetically pleasing TMS puzzle I've ever done. Doesn't it the finished grid look great to you? Every ball player is in his proper position. Superb execution of the theme in my view.

I was overjoyed when I saw the titled theme - I love baseball, and I was able to fill in almost all the theme entries after PITCHER revealed itself.

All right, let's play ball!

Across entries:

1A: Relative of CHiPs: LAPD. My first reaction: The TV series CHiPs spin off? I just checked Erik Estrada yesterday and I remember this strange spelling CHiPs. Had no idea that CHiP refer to California Highway Patrol.

9A: Rustler's rope: LASSO. "Bola" in Spanish I gather?

20A: Israeli statesman: EBAN (ABBA). His command of English is superb, even Kissinger was mesmerized. My one-time crush Netanyahu called him "the founding father of Israeli diplomacy". Oh, by the way, ABBA is "father" in Hebrew language. I love so many of Eban's quotes: Better to be disliked than pitied; You can't achieve anything without getting in someone' way. My favorite is: "His ignorance is encyclopedic." That's me.

21A: Key above G: A-FLAT

23A: Hebrew month: ELUL (the 12th month)

27A: Dispersed: SCATTERED

29A: Man of old Rome: VIR. Or viri, Latin for man or manliness, as in virile. Look at these nuggets of information.

30A: Nine: pref. ENNEA. Greek for nine. Latin is nona/non.

31A: Actress Garson: GREER. OK, her classic is Mrs. Miniver, I have not forgotten yet.

40A: Military welfare. org: USO (United Service Organizations). I was confused by the word "Welfare". I was thinking of an organization that helps financially strapped or injured soldiers.

41A: Father of France: PERE. If I did not know French, I would probably go to the direction of founding father road.

42A: Vasco __ de Balboa: NUNEZ. Know him, but never know how to spell his name.

43A: Exclude: DISBAR. American politics can be so cruel and unforgiving. A victim-less reckless behavior brought down an otherwise brilliant governor in less than 3 days. And now rumors run amok about possible disbarment!

47A: Forewarning: THREAT

49A: Geom. figure: CIR (Circle)

57A: Caen's neighbor: ST. LO. Both D-Day cities. Here is the map. See St Lo and Caen on the left side?

58A: Mr. Serling: ROD. The Twilight Zone guy. So many noteworthy RODs in this world, those crossword guys can pick up anyone who catches their fancy at the moment.

59A:Socrates' pupil: PLATO

62A: Initials in want ads: EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity)

65A: Brain areas: CEREBRA. Single form Cerebrum. Have you visited Ken Jennings' blog before?

67A: Portuguese cape: ROCA. No idea. The dictionary says "Roca is a cape in W Portugal, near Lisbon: the western extremity of continental Europe."

71A: Paraphernalia: GEAR. I did not know the meaning of "Paraphernalia". OK, para is Greek for beyond, phere is dowry. How can it become "gear" in the end? Strange.

72A: Breakfast-time serving: OAT BRAN. Sounds very unappetizing to me. Does anyone actually eat this stuff?

74A: Neurological test letters: EEG

75A: River island: AIT. Dictionary says it's a British dialect for Island. Same pronunciation as Eight.

77A: Start of a verse: UNI (Universe)

84A: _ diem (seize the day): CARPE.

87A: Wide shots: MISSES. I misread the clue as "wild shots", and I was thinking of Phil Mickelson's wild tee shots, still, MISSES fit perfectly.

91A: Camera holder: TRIPOD

93A: Surfers' shopping place: EMALLS. Internet surfing. I like this clue.

95A: Wage-slaves' refrain: TGIF

98A: Gold in the Sierra Madre: ORO (Spanish for gold). This is one of the very few Spanish words I actually know. Let me see what is Spanish for Gold medal... Medalla de oro. Why is it feminine form? Weird. Is Oro also a feminine form? Anyone speaks Spanish here?

99A: Some NCOS: CPLS (Corporal).

106A: Islands off Ireland: ARAN. Here is the map, quite close to Galway.

107A: Iroquois tribe members: ERIES

108A: Starbucks jumbo-size: VENTI. Too bad, their stock price has tanked.

110A: Broken: FRACTURED

112A: Longfellow character: ALDEN (John). No idea. Only know a few lines from Leonard Cohen, that's about all the English poems I've touched. OK, “The Courtship of Miles Standish”, looks like a love triangle story to me.

115A: Salamander: NEWT. Let's try Contract with America author Gingrich, or even better Clinton's "Cry Baby" Gingrich. This guy actually has some great ideas.

118A: Performing: DOING

119A: End of the small intestine: ILEUM. Plural ILEA. ILIUM is the "upper portion of either hipbone", plural ILIA. These Latins are all Greek to me.

120A: Singer Ed: AMES. My ignorance is really encyclopedic and far-flung. Have never heard of him.

121A: Adam's grandson: ENOS. Or Slaughter of Cooperstown.

122A: Sports pages' figs: STATS. My husband pores them over like it's our financial statement.

Down clues:

1D: Christopher or Pinky: LEE. Know neither of them.

2D: Silent communication, briefly: ASL (American Sign Language). It's also called Ameslan.

3D: Break because: PAUSE TO. I don't like the clue.

4D: Sweet sounding: DULCET. I did not know this word. Somehow I want it to be sucre, which sounds so sugary and sweet.

5D: Religious denomination: SECT

6D: Lookout man, for example: ABETTOR

11D: Split into splinters: SLIVERED. Wonderful alliteration. I love it.

12D: Disinfects: SANITIZES

13D: Cheri of "Saturday Night Live": OTERI. Learned Michael Lorne (SNL producer) and her name from doing crossword. I've never watched SNL.

14D: Overseer: SUPERVISOR

15D: Man who died from lying: ANANIAS. Nope. I like this word though: a chronic liar. But "Every man is born truthful and every man dies a liar." Forgot who said that.

16D: Calling into play: USING

17D: Singer Cherry: NENEH. Swedish singer, how am I supposed to know her?

18D: Bothered: ATE AT. I start to like this kind of answer, with a preposition in to throw you off. Much better than excavating some obscure dead actors to frustrate me.

25D: Some M.I.T. graduates: EES (Electrical Engineering)

28D: Plains tribes: ARAPAHO. It's a "tribe of North American Indians of Algonquian speech stock, once dwelling in the Colorado plains and now in Oklahoma and Wyoming." No idea. These Indian tribes give me problems too.

I don't think I am good at anything actually. I do know the madman Ahmadinejad, and I know the new Russia puppet Dmitri Medvedev, and I know how to pronounce their names correctly. That's about it.

32D: Hebrew letter: RESH (20th letter). A big sigh here. No idea.

35D: Rug rat: TODDLER

37D: Apollo's mother: LETO (Greek). Roman is LATONA. Apollo's birthplace is DELOS (Oracle of Apollo)

38D: Blinkers: TURN SIGNALS

44D: Relative of toucan: BARBET. So pretty. What kind of berry is that?

45D: Greek malls: AGORAE. This clue made me laugh. Let's go to the mall, Socrates!

46D: Detection Device: RADARS

48D: Abbr. on a cornerstone: ESTAB

49D: Reduce the air intake: CHOKE

51D: Blah, blah, blah...: ETC ETC

54D: "Misery" director: REINER (ROB). Only saw his A Few Good Man.

59D: French writer Marcel: PROUST. "Remembrance of Things Past" is simply too complicated for me to digest. My mind is not sophisticated enough to understand those convoluted western philosophical thinking. They give me headache.

60D: Repair-shop car: LOANER

61D: End of many plays: ACT III

64D: Online currency: ECASH. I like this ECASH, EMALL, EJOKE stuff.

68D: Bullfighter: MATADOR. Mata(r) is spanish for "to kill". Odd. How can "To Kill" evolved into a bullfighter? Torero sounds reasonable to me, as "Toro" means "bull" in Spanish.

70D: Make haste: HIE

73D: Tapes: RECORDINGS

76D: Bloodhound, at times: SNIFFER

79D: In particular: SPECIALLY

81D: French designer's monogram: YSL (Yves -Saint-Laurent).

85D: Worker: EMPLOYEE

88D: Shrill: STRIDENT

92D: Omen: PORTENT

94D: Michaels and Hirschfeld: ALS. Do you believe in Miracles? YES!

95D: I am open to instruction: TEACH ME. Yes, please!

96D: Elegantly stylish: GENTEEL

100D: Noisy quarrel: FRACAS. Oh the Ferraro fracas! I actually admire her never-back-down attitude. She stands up for what she believes, even if it's wrong.

101D: Castle and Dunne: IRENES

102D: Boob tube spots: TV ADS

103D: Athenian slave: HELOT. The dictionary says that HELOT is "one of a class of serfs in ancient Sparta, neither a slave nor a free citizen.". So technically the clue is not correct then?

104D: Type of ink: INDIA. Also called Chinese ink.

105D: Classic Michael Caine film: ALFIE. I only saw the Jude Law's Alfie.

106D: Garfunkel or Buchwald: ART. Never have time to read Buchwald I'll always have Paris. But Paris is in my mind.

I am done!

C.C.

Who is Josiah Breward?

Here is an article about today's constructor Josiah Breward. Talk about shock and awe!

For those who are too lazy to go to the link, here is a recap:

Josiah Breward is pseudonym of Mr. Wayne Robert Williams & his brother Thomas Williams.

Willy A. Wiseman is a pseudonym of Wayne Robert Williams himself.

Michael T. Williams, is a real name, he is Wayne Robert Williams’ nephew.

Of course, Wayne Robert Williams is our TMS Crossword Editor. He can be contacted at tmscrosswords@aol.com.

Thanks again NYTanonimo for providing us with this link.

C.C.

Saturday, March 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: NONE

Another traumatizing experience! I guess my heart just does not belong to any themeless puzzle.

I was stumped from the very beginning of course. Barely heard of Greer Garson. In fact, I was thinking of Garson Kanin when I read the clue. So I jumped around like a squirrel this morning, darting from corner to corner searching for a nut. Never gained any foothold. I was also very bothered by the excessive amount of INGs in the clues/answers.

I think I floundered about 30 minutes, then I decided to quit and started googling. I would not even call today's solving experience as a rigorous workout. It feels like torture.

The author for today's puzzle is the guy who constructed the Going off half-cocked puzzle on March 9, which tormented me for a good 2 hours as I could not understand what's the relationship between the theme entries and the titled theme. I had no idea that "Going off half-cocked" means "act without thinking".

I kind of like today's wide-open grid, which almost mirrors Breward's Feb 23 puzzle. I think I would've enjoyed this puzzle if I were a better solver.

Across entries:

1A: Greer Garson classic: MRS. MINIVER. Garson won an Oscar for this movie.

11A: Low-ish card: TREY. Why ish?

15A: Bouffe: COMIC OPERA. No idea. Never knew that Bouffe has a Buffoon origin. I guess it makes sense now. Does anyone speak French here? Doesn't Bouffe mean 'grub"/"food" in French?

16A: Gambling mecca: RENO

17A: Chiquimula resident: GUATEMALAN. I am not familiar with South American countries. Now I am waiting for the diabolic editor to clue CHIQUIMULA as Guatemala city.

20A: Last of a collection?: ANA. Why? Why last?

21A: The Promised land: CANAAN

23A: Actor Erik: ESTRADA. I googled "Actor Erik", the first page that came up is all about Erik La Salle, who starred in ER. Estrada's mug looks familiar to me, so I must have googled him before. Famed for TV series CHiP.

26A: Hindu title: SRI. It's very fascinating to me that many languages put Sir, or Mr. in front of a name, including this Hindu title SRI. But in Chinese, we put Sir (先生) after the name, for example, we will call Mr. Warren Buffet as "Warren Buffet 先生". I guess Japanese is the same, you put San after some name, as in Ichiro-san.

28A: Campaign contributor: abbr: PAC (Political Action Committee). Remember Senator Rick Santorum (PA) used his PAC money to pay for his Starbucks ($558)?

31A: Hebrew letter: TSADI. Total stranger to me. It could be also spelled as SADHE, SADI, 18th letter of Hebrew alphabet. How many letters are in Hebrew alphabet?

34A: Hanging to one side: A-LOP. This is another ATIP for me. I hate this kind of made-up word more than any obscure actor/actress (dead or alive). Just tell me in which dictionary can I find this word, Mr. Breward? (Update: Feste found this world in the Oxford English Dictionary).

36A: Whimpers: MEWLS. Identical clue on this author's Feb 27 puzzle.

38A: Dunfermline dagger: SNEE. Yep, Keep camouflaging it. You can pick up the remotest town in Scotland and I will still get this word. I am not falling into your trap.

41A: Agave plant: SISAL. Have never heard of this word. Wanted YUCCA.

43A: Former 1/2 Country: GDR (German Democratic Republic - East Germany. Remember their secret police? STASI. West Germany is FRG (Federal Republican of Germany). The unification, oh, no, reunification took place in 1990. First Chancellor: Helmut Kohl. I never liked him.

44A: Maryland player: TERRAPIN. Got it this time.

48A: Type of general: ONE STAR. Just found out that Eric Shinseki was a 4-star general. I always thought he was a 3-star.

49A: Jurisprudence based on precedents: CASE LAW. I was intimidated by the clue. Jurisprudence sound as sophisticated as "Fiduciary duty" to me.

53A: Ethnic: RACIAL. Really? Are these two the same?

56A: Lawyers: abbr. ATTS. I put in ESQS first and I felt so smart for a while.

57A: Outmoded data storage: MICROFICHE. No idea. Here is the definition: "A flat sheet of microfilm in a form suitable for filing, typically measuring 4 by 6 in. (10 by 15 cm) and containing microreproductions, as of printed or graphic matter, in a grid pattern.".

61A: Stretching out: ELONGATION. It would really drive me bananas if the answer turned out to be ELONGATING.

63A: Again and again: REPEATEDLY

Down clues:

1D: "Fibber _ and Molly": MCGEE. Here is the information on this radio show. I would've penned in the answer easily if the clue were The Cremation of Sam ___.

3D: Brainy: SMART. I am NOT. So, anonymous @ 9:11pm March 21, please don't judge me by your standards. Walk in my shoes for 3 miles, then start opining your view. Don't rush into conclusion.

4D: Bishops' toppers: MITERS

6D: Wandering life: NOMADISM

7D: Toothpaste brand: IPANA. How quickly I forgot this name! It was on this constructor's March 9 puzzle.

8D: Constellation near Carina: VELA. Brutal clue. No idea.

10D: Deep-seated ill will: RANCOR. Stupid Arafat, he killed the Oslo Accord. Otherwise, the rancor would not run so deep today! History sometimes is really made by the whims of a few people.

11D: Crossings: TRANSITS

12D: Keeping: RETAINING. I would not type in (hence dignify) this word if not for the vexing ING.

13D: Twisted into a confusing mass: ENTANGLED. I am very confused. Can never tell what distinguishes tangle from entangle, untangle from disentangle.

14D: Kid: YOUNGSTER

25D: Calls a passing ship: HAILS. I put AHOYS first.

27D: Booth or Meese: EDWIN. Knew Meese. Booth, No.

28D: Rural opera: PASTORALE. No idea. It's "a piece of music suggestive of pastoral life." The clue just feels very awkward to me. How about Shepherd's opera?

30D Editor or debugger, e.g.: CORRECTOR. Ugh! Don't like it.

32D: Odin's melieu: AESIR. Nope. According to the dictionary, AESIR is "the principal race of gods, led by Odin and living at Asgard." There is another ealier Norse race called Vanir, who was "first in conflict with the Aesir, later allied with them."

35D: Lasts: PERSISTS

37D: ___ Springs, NY: SARATOGA

42D: Aspin or Brown: LES. My first thought was Dan. The author of The Da Vinci Code.

45D: Golfer Arnie: PALMER. You can come back anytime you like Arnie.

47D: Descendant of Shem: SEMITE. Bible knowledge, my Achilles' heels!

49D: Chili con __: CARNE. Interesting, CARNE means meat in so many languages: Spanish, Romania, Portugest and Italian. Do you know that the word "carnival" also derive from carne?

50D: Intelligible: LUCID. Senator Byrd (WV), 91 years old, still serving. Very impressive.

51D: South African playwright Fugard: ATHOL. Had to google him. He is a South African playwright. Well, if you are enamored with with ING, then clue Doris Lessing (Nobel Literature 2007) in your puzzle.

54D: Old English bard: SCOP. No idea. Learned that this SCOP has something to do with SCOFF, the ones who make mocking, or taunting verse.

59D: Unwanted weight: FAT. Absolutely!

C.C.

Friday, March 21, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: EATHER (I am sorry for the mistake earlier. I did not know that the phrase I put earlier was a slang).

17A: Prop for Al Roker: WEATHER MAP

29A: Recliner perhaps: LEATHER CHAIR

43A: Tommy Roe hit: HEATHER HONEY

59A: Stripper's accessory: FEATHER BOA

Wow, only one letter (Q) away from being a Pangrammatic Grid (Have all the 26 letters at least once).

Yesterday I was Barbaro at the Preakness, shattered my momentum a few blanks from the starting gate. This morning, I was Smarty Jones at the Belmont Stakes. I came, I saw, and I almost conquered the whole field.

I had a crush on NETANYAHU several years ago, so I penned in his name authoritatively. ENYA, AOKI, Shania TWAIN, BORK, BONAPARTE are all gimmes. Thus, the whole grid was opened up to me, and I was able to infer quite a few unknowns.

I spent about 35 minutes on this puzzle, including several short google visits and dictionary checking.

Here we go:

1A: Pipe down! HUSH

5A: Ghana's capital: ACCRA. Ex-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is from Ghana. Got the wrong idea that Mali musician Ali Farka was born in ACCRA. Wrong.

10A: 21st-century MS product: XBOX

14A: City on the Aker River: OSLO. Is Aker river the same as Akerselva river?

15A: Rights org.: NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)

16A: Actor Calhoun: RORY. Did not know him. Got his name from down clues.

19A: 1998 animated movie: ANTZ. Celebrity voice-studded (Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, etc.) animation film. From DreamWorks.

20A: Tanning device: SUN LAMPS

21A: Celtic New Age Singer: ENYA. This is my favorite picture of Enya. Beautiful!

25A: Flap lips: GAB. Ben Allfleck, so gifted at gab. never ceases to overawe me with his nuanced take on American politics. He is going to run for the Senate seat in MA, someday, trust me!

26A: Low mil. letters: PFC (Private First Class)

32A: Actor Sal: MINEO. Enough said about him.

35A: Extra NHL periods: OTS (Overtimes)

36A: Kathryn of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent": ERBE. Have never watched any Law & Order spinoff, so I had no idea who she was.

38A: Dickens moniker: BOZ. Vaguely remember it.

39A: Bill of Microsoft: GATES. He probably bribed the constructor to put his XBOX in this puzzle.

40A: Parks oneself: SITS. Wow, I've never parked myself this way.

41A: __ cit.: LOC. What is this?? (Update: Answer from drdad: "I googled the meaning of loc. cit. and it is used like "ibid." as a footnote. The difference is that ibid. refers to the same book reference while loc. cit. refers to the same book and page reference.)

42A: In plain sight: OVERT

48A: Put to: ASK. The dictionary says that "Put to" means "to overburden with work, blame; or take advantage of, cheat". How is it related to ASK?

50A: False face: ACT

55A: Money on the move?: CASH FLOW. I like this clue.

57A: Comet rivel: AJAX. Or Trojan hero.

61A: Eyelid makeup: KOHL. Never knew this. The only Kohl I know is German's Helmut Kohl.

63A: Isao of golf: AOKI. He was inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame in 2004, together with Tom Kite. I do not remember ever seeing AOKI in PGA or Senior PGA tour.

64A: Flu-like feeling: AGUE

66A: Fed. agents: GMEN. Sometimes it's TMEN (Treasury investigator, like Eliot Ness)

Down entries:

1D: Tell me the reason: HOW SO. Hope you guys are not tired of my HOW SO questions.

3D: Particular bias: SLANT. Bias, whether real or imagined, hurts!

4D: Lear sitcom, "___ Baltimore": HOT L. Nope, never heard of it. Here is Dennis' explanation "Hot L Baltimore was a short-lived TV show; opening frames showed a neon sign with the "e" in Hotel burned out, hence the name."

5D: Blood disorder: ANEMIA. Months of bleak economic growth anemia ahead! I am just so worried about this stupid recession that I don't care whether Hillary was in the White House when Bill and Monica trysted. I have absolutely no interest to peek at those newly released paper.

11D: Napoleons' last name: BONAPARTE

13D: Alphabet trio: XYZ. I can not think of a way to clue Exam Your Zipper, can you?

25D: Stan of Jazz: GETZ. He is another crossword stalwart.

27D: Tissue makeup: FIBER

32D: Dayan or Arens: MOSHE. Knew neither of them. Got it from across clues.

34D: Benjamin of Israel: NETANYAHU. Bibi. He graduated from MIT. He is now the Likud leader. He was/still is adamantly against the Gaza Disengagement Plan. He was so eloquent and persuasive that I bought almost all the ideas he was peddling in 2005.

38D: Supreme Court also-run: BORK (Robert). I really like the verbalized usage of bork. Mark Penn is an expert at borking, and barking.

39D: "Faust" poet: GOETHE

41D: Healthful-food claim: LESS FAT. Nothing tastes as good as full fat. So, eat full fat, just eat less.

45D: Spoke grandly: ORATED. Oh the Reagan oratory charm! My favorite: "We will never forget them in this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God?" (Challenger Disaster speech)

46D: Snacks: NOSHES

50D: "Tuesday with Morrie" writer : ALBOM (Mitch). Unfamiliar to me. Have never heard of the author nor the book/TV.

51D: TV host Alistair: COOKE. No, not a familiar name. Interesting, Wikipedia said that he was only yards away when RFK was assassinated.

52D: Singer Shania: TWAIN. "Man, I feel like a woman!" I actually hate this song.

54D: Hod-rod rod: AXLE. Typo here. Should be Hot-rod rod.

55D: Wag: CARD. According to Dennis, "'card' and 'wag' are rather archaic terms used to describe a jokester.

56D: Kill with a grenade: FRAG

57D: Rap-sheet letters: AKA.

58D: Training run: JOG

I choked on a piece of grape skin earlier this morning while reading yesterday's new comments. Pricelessly entertaining! Oh, by the way, here is what Orange told me about her method in tackling a crossword:

"My own strategy varies depending on the puzzle's difficulty. An easy puzzle, I'll start at 1-A and wind through the grid without stopping. A Saturday NYT, I may be reading a lot of clues, desperately searching for a route into the puzzle (and then trying to build off the entries I've put in the grid by tackling the crossings)."

C.C.

What's Your Crossword Strategy? Poll Result

Question: What's Your Crossword Strategy?

Poll result:

Total votes: 298

1) You fill in all the Across Entries first, then move on to all the Down Entries, in an orderly fashion.

63(21%)

2) You coordinate each across clue with each down clue, and systematically fill in entries from upper left corner to lower right corner.

102(34%)

3) You flit from section to section, filling in whatever know.

116 (38%)

4) Or Else? Other secret weapons?

17 (5%)

Thank you for the participation.

C. C.

Thursday, March 20, 2008 Willy A. Wiseman

Theme: "CHICAGO"

20A: Local poet: CARL SANDBURG

32A: Start of a local sobriquet: CITY OF THE

40A: Part 2 of sobriquet: BIG

43A: End of a sobriquet: SHOULDERS

58A: Local collection: CHICAGO POEMS

First of all, define "local", am I supposed to call a dead Chicago poet as a hometown boy? This puzzle is tailor-made for the Chicago Tribune readers, not for us, Mr. who-cares-what-you-think Editor, you should have done some basic editing before you release it to our syndication papers.

I fought hard with every breath I took for this damned puzzle, and got absolutely no satisfaction after I was done with it, so irked by the unfairness of the clues.

You know what's shocking? I actually breezed through the ever-intimidating upper left corner today without any problem. And I nailed the lower left corner easily. But all the other areas are blanketed with "could be this, could be that" clues. I experienced tremendous difficulties committing answers to quite a few seemingly easy clues.

However, I do love how MOOLA parallels DINAR, and I appreciate the symmetry of LOBAR & INCUS. Nicely balanced. At least, you know the constructor put some thoughts into his work. And there is no obscure actor, or actress, or composer to frustrate me. So, that's good.

I also noticed three Middle East words appear in today's puzzle: UAR, DINAR, EILAT & two Japanese words: SAN & KOBE.

OK, without further ado, here we go:

4A: Fishhook features: BARBS. I enjoy every cutting barb Maureen Daud throws at Hillary.

9A: Wounded by a wasp: STUNG. Why do I have this intense interest in Client No. 9 and his collapse? I guess I am just worried that he might not be an exception but a norm in the upper echelons of our government. He just happened to be caught.

14A: Gun it in neutral: REV. Saw it before, never knew why. Here is Dick's explanation: "The speed of an engine is often defined as revolutions per minute thus the slang REV for speeding up the engine."

15A: Yep!: UH HUH. For a non-native speaker, these simple Uh Uh, Uh-Huh, Uh-Oh can be quite tough to grasp.

16A: Part of the plan: PHASE

17A: Dander: IRE I did not know the meaning of Dander, hence could not get the answer.

18A: Crystal-lined rock: GEODE. Saw it before.

19A: Distinctive atmosphere:s AURAE. The plural form could also be AURAS.

24A: Purify sea water: DESALT

30A: Team charm: MASCOT. I like those old college bobbleheads, 1960s, awesome.

38A: Honshu port: KOBE. Kobe beef is a luxury. Tongue in Kobe is Ichiro (Seattle Mariners)'s favorite food.

39A: Handlelike parts: ANSAE. ANSA is Latin for handle. Another interesting plural form.

41A: Israeli seaport: EILAT. Be careful with this word, as it could be also spelled as ELATH. But I am obsessed with HAIFA. Always want to fill in HAIFA whenever I see an Israeli port clue.

45A: Execrable: CURSED. I did not know the meaning of "Execrable".

49A: Forerunner of the CIA: OSS (Office of Strategic Services). Another repeat offender. But I will let you loose, do not have time to imprison every one of your fame-craved hag.

50A: Wayside shelter: SPITAL. Shelter on a highway. Never heard of it.

60A: Smackers: MOOLA. Have never heard of smackers being slangily used to mean money.

63A: Life and toss: HEAVE. I heaved several heavy groans of hopelessness over this puzzle.

65A: Kuwaiti cash: DINAR. Also the money unit in Iraq, Jordon, Libya, Bahrain, and a few other Middle East countries. Does "Dinar" mean Dollar in Arabic language, anyone?

66A: NYC theater awards: OBIES. Vacillated between TONYS and OBIES until AGAIN revealed itself.

68A: Heavy tread: CLOMP. Clump. Which is more commonly used?

69A: Last movement of sonata: RONDO. It escaped my mind this morning. It's "a work or movement, often the last movement of a sonata, having one principal subject that is stated at least three times in the same key and to which return is made after the introduction of each subordinate theme."

70A: Japanese honorific: SAN. I found out that San is also "a member of a nomadic, racially distinct, short-statured people of southern Africa." or river in Central Europe.

Down entries:

1D: Writer Jong: ERICA. The Fear of Fly author. Never read her books.

4D: Cartoon Bunny: BUGS

5D: Leading: AHEAD OF. I saw AHEAD clued as Leading often. I don't know, shouldn't the clue be reinforced by a preposition also? Or are you guys OK with the clue?

6D: European River: RHONE. Rhone originates from Alps in Switzerland and flows south into the Mediterranean through SE France. Rhine also originates from Alps, but it flows north into North Sea (through Germany and the Netherlands).

7D: Billy and Zola: BUDDS. Here is Zola BUDD the Track & Field sensation, here is Billy BUDD the novela by Herman Melville. I was not acquainted with either of them.

8D: Biblical land: SHEBA. I put SINAI.

9D: Laconian city: SPARTA. Nope. No idea.

11D: Egy.-Syr., once: UAR (United Arab Republic). Gimme for me. Nasser signed the treaty. UAE is United Arab Emirates which consists of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and 5 other states. We have a fellow TMS puzzle solver there in UAE. Hi.

12D: Govt. advisory grp.: NSA (National Security Agency). The eavesdropping agency. This is their insignia which consists of "a bald eagle facing its right, grasping a key in its talons, representing NSA's clutch on security as well as the mission to protect and gain access to secrets." I gather you do not abbreviate National Security Adviser as NSA?

13D: Turn right! GEE. Turn left: HAW

21D: Tripoli populace: LIBYANS. Remember Tripoli is also a seaport in Lebanon.

26D: Of the lungs: LOBAR

31D: Hit the road: SKIDDOO. Not familiar with this slang.

32D: Portland's bay: CASCO. No idea. (Update later: Casco Bay in Portland, Maine)

33D: Ear bone: INCUS. Nope.

34D: Winter Palace rulers: TSARS.

35D: One of Ted's stations: TBS. Does Turner still own this station? I thought he sold his shares of Time Warner long time ago.

36D: Royal address, in brief: HIH (His Imperial Highness; Her Imperial Highness.). I put HRM (Her Royal Majesty).

37D: Psyche part: EGO. Somehow I put ESP here earlier. I must be thinking of the Psychic.

44D: Lonely: UNLOVED. How can "not loved" become "lonely?". "Lonely" means lack of companionship. An army wife might be lonely when her husband leaves her and risks his life in Iraq, but she is not "unloved", isn't she? Did I miss something here?

46D: Also known as F.: E SHARP

47D: Printer letters: DPI (dots per inch)

51D: God's blood: ICHOR. No idea. It's "an ethereal fluid flowing in the veins of the gods." Greek mythology.

52D: Billy Blanks workout: TAE BO. Did not know who was Billy Blanks, and had no idea what was Tae Bo.

55D: clobbers: BELTS. Did not know that Belt could mean "hard blow".

56D: Missouri River port: OMAHA. Only know Omaha, NE. I have an autographed photo of the Oracle of Omaha (Warren Buffett).

60D: Sixteen hundred: MDC. Hmm. Who said "Can't wait til the roman numerals rear their ugly heads'' yesterday? Ha ha.

61D: Tin Man's cure-all: OIL. The Wizard of Oz, who does not like it?

62D: Lennon's Yoko: ONO. Wonder what Yoko is thinking of the $48 million Heather mills milked from Paul McCartney.

It's still dark outside now. And we are on the fringe of another several inches of snow. Please come quickly Spring! Bring me your warm sunshine and the sweet scent of freshly cut grass.

C. C.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Philip A. Anderson

Theme: Pulp Fiction

20A: Publishing pulp fiction?: PAGE TURNERS

59A: Real estate pulp fiction?: SPACE OPERAS

11D: Romance pulp fiction?: SOB STORIES

29D: Culinary pulp fiction?: POTBOILERS

I did not know that the plural form of "pulp fiction" is still "pulp fiction", so I was quite bothered in the beginning by the seemingly inconsistent noun forms between the clues and the answers.

I kind of like the topical reference (albeit vaguely) of the theme, given the recent scandal over Penguin's recall of Love & Consequence. There are also 3 Irish related sub-theme in this puzzle, ABIE, LIA Fail (36D: Irish crowning stone) & Stephen REA (an Irish actor). I bemoan the fact that they did not appear on Monday's O themed St. Patrick's Day puzzle. I am happy to find SENATE (24A: Upper house) and CONG (D. C. group) in the same puzzle.

I spent roughly 30 minutes on this puzzle. I was only retarded at the intersection of 34D and 53A (Letter E). I had no knowledge of URIEL, and I simply had no idea who was the former Swedish premier (PALME). I doubt if Annika Sörenstam knows. I would've never put an "E" or any vowel there, as both up & down words seem to be crying for a consonant.

My other SNAFU is the upper right corner. I had no idea who was Irish Rose, I decided that AXIE sounded good for her love. So my 11D became SEX STORIES. Well, romance stories do have lots of sex scenes, don't they? Then I looked at 33A (ATOP). I blushed: what's going on here? But I corrected myself before I became completely flustered.

I am so proud that I filled in OSIER authoritatively. Someone mentioned this word in the Comment section a few weeks ago. I read it and then I absorbed it. Thank you, Oregon!

Across entries:

10A: _ Spumante: ASTI. The sparking wine. Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante. I have no idea why I always associate this wine with Kama Sutra. My mind sometimes works very weirdly.

19A: Irish Rose's love: ABIE. I was actually thinking of Senator Kennedy's mother Rose. She was Irish. Here is more information for Abie's Irish Rose.

20A: Publishing pulp fiction?: PAGE TURNERS. Don't understand the hype and huge followings of Eat, Pray & Love.

35A: Disney frame: CEL

37A: Code of silence: OMERTA. Mafia practice. Don't snitch. I also read Mario Puzo's novel Omerta. It's as bad as The Sicilian. I think I only like the Godfather I.

40A: Roster with assignments: ROTA. No idea. I guessed. Here is the definition: "A round or rotation of duties; a period of work or duty taken in rotation with others". British word.

47A: Beret filler: TETE. French for head. I enjoy watching every mishap made by the current French tete Nicolas Sarkozy.

53A: An archangel: URIEL. It's "one of the archangels named in the Apocrypha and in Hebrew tradition."

58A: "My gal __": SAL. Have never seen it. I don't think I've seen any Rita Hayworth movie.

59A: Real estate pulp fiction: SPACE OPERAS. A subgenre of Science fiction. Not my cup of tea.

66A: Workplace safety grp.: OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

71A: Designer Schiaparelli: ELSA. She obviously craves fame, this is her 2rd appearance in the puzzle in a week. And she has been dead for 35 years.

Down entries:

1D: Model's walkway: RAMP. Catwork Ramp.

2D: Zeno's home: ELEA. Learned from crossword. Zeno is the "Greek philosopher who formulated numerous paradoxes that challenged the ideas of pluralism and the existence of motion and change."

6D: Pantomime game: CHARADES. Ben Bradley is good at this game.

7D: Favorite hangout: HAUNT. Mayflower Hotel for Client #9.

11D: Romance pulp fiction?: SOB STORIES. I think the first romance story I've read in English is probably The Bridges of Madison County, and I sobbed a lot. Did not enjoy Clint Eastwood's portrayal of Robert Kincaid though.

12D: Tough fabric: TWILL

13D: Rhone tributary: ISERE. Got it this time.

21D: Mythical beast: UNICORN. Franklin Mint has the best unicorn sculptures.

27D: Zhivago's love: LARA. Let's try Lara Logan of CBS next time. Love her and Nick Robinson. Logan was awarded Glamour Magazine's Women of the Year in 2007.

29D: Culinary pulp fiction?: POTBOILER. "a usually inferior work (as of art or literature) produced chiefly for profit". I would put Denzel Washington's "Déjà Vu" as a potboiler movie. Horrible. What a waste of his talent!

32D: Cyclonic wind: TORNADO

34D: Former Swedish premier: PALME. Olof Palme. Interesting given name. Have to remember it lest the diabolic constructor come up with a Former Swedish Premier Palme ___ clue next time. Strange to see politicians assassinated in Sweden. Their former Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was also stabbed to death in 2003.

36D: __ Fail (Irish crowning stone): LIA. Here is the photo. It's also called Stone of Destiny. It's located in Tara Hill, Ireland.

42D: Plea: ENTREATY. I think I am getting smarter. I filled in this word like it's OREO.

49D: Mount in the Cascades: SHASTA. Unknown to me until today. I get it from down clues. Shasta is an Indian word, meaning what???

53D: Customary practice: USAGE

54D: "Bolero" composer: RAVEL. Nailed it today.

57D: Chutzpah: NERVE. The Audacity. Of hope. "But it is where we start. It is where our union grows stronger. And as so many generations have come to realize over the course of the two-hundred and twenty one years since a band of patriots signed that document in Philadelphia, that is where the perfection begins." Brilliant speech yesterday, Senator Obama!

60D: False front: POSE. What's wrong with NY? The new governor also had an affair? You guys are really good at cultivating a pose as an ordinary family-loving man.

65D: Stephen of "Michael Collins": REA. Have never seen this movie before. Generally I love all IRA related movie. Of course, Stephen REA's The Crying Game is the best.

For keys to today's puzzle, please go to Chicago Tribune's Crossword website.

C. C.