Sunday, May 4, 2008 Ed Voile

Theme: NOT ... (Word/Phrases with NOT missing)

23A: "Not" resisting successfully: WITHSTANDING

25A: "Not" fully present: ALL THERE

38A: "Not" like someone unknown: AS A STRANGER

50A: "Not" partially spoiled: HALF BAD

68A: "Not" to make money: FOR PROFIT

89A: "Not" reaching standard: UP TO PAR

97A: "Not" bother to help: LIFT A FINGER

116A: "Not" wink: BAT AN EYE

118A: "Not" a strong suit: ONE'S CUP OF TEA

37D: "Not" one's biography: ON YOUR LIFE

46D: "Not" overlook: MISS A TRICK

Yes, you need "NOT" to make sense of those above word/phrases!

What a Sisyphean challenge! I came, I saw, and I tanked! My gosh, what a staggering amount of unfamiliar words and names! Overwhelming! It's just as formidable as yesterday's AZAN puzzle, if not more. I toiled so hard, with every breath I took, and still could not complete 2/3 of the grid.

SCLEROMA (12A) was impossible for me, esp since I had no idea who Moshe ARENS (19D) was. Fritz LEIBER was just as hard to crack as a coconut shell. EDUCARDO da Silva was another unyielding name, since I did not know what 61D: At the age of, Lat. (AET) was.

And author ORIANA Fallaci, poet HOUSMAN, S. E. Hinton's middle name (ELOISE), actress Louise LASSER were all strangers to me. I've never heard of ARIOSE (for 102D: Melodic), CONTUSES, or WEIR before.

I have to say I am very traumatized by my solving experience today. An overpowering sense of inadequacy creeps back again. Just feel so helpless and powerless facing such a mind-blowing name-filled Sunday puzzles. Definitely no joy at my Mudville!

ACROSS:

6A: Milk-producing organs: MAMMAE. Singular form is MAMMA. Wow, I have no idea, honestly. MAMMA mia!

12A: Tumorlike hardening of tissue: SCLEROMA. No idea. "Sclero" has a German origin, meaning hard, like SCLEROMETER (instrument for determining with precision the degree of hardness of a substance, esp. a mineral, as by measuring the pressure necessary to pierce or scratch it). And "oma" is a "noun suffix used to form names of tumors, of the kind specified by the base: FIBROMA, MELANOMA. Now it makes sense, doesn't it?

20A: Lead-in alloy: TERNE. Another stranger to me. Dictionary says it's either "TERNE Plate" or "TERNE metal".

21A: Writer Fallaci: ORIANA. Ouch, another hard one. I googled her, then realized that I had searched for her before (for a Feb 18 TMS puzzle). She is the lady who did that infamous Kissinger Vietnam "useless war" interview. Kissinger later regretted tremendously and commented that it was "the single most disastrous conversation I have ever had with any member of the press."

22A: Rhinitis: HAY FEVER. I did not know the meaning of Rhinitis. It's a new word to me. The prefix is "rhino" meaning nose, like RHINOLOGY (science dealing with the nose and its diseases).

26A: Forest edges: TREE LINES

27A: Fine thread: LISLE. Named after LISLE (now named Lille), the city in France.

30A: Collides intentionally: RAMS

31A: Like best friends: TRUEST

34A: Nutritional deprivations: FASTS. Did not like 2 FAST's in one puzzle. See 52D: BELFAST.

35A: S. E. Hinton's middle name: ELOISE. Unknown to me. S stands for Susan. Is she very famous?

43A: Fontanne's partner: LUNT. Another stranger. I've never heard of LUNT, or Fontanne, or the Lund-Fontainne Theatre.

44A: French possessive noun: SES. Goes with singular pronoun Il or elle.

45A: "A Shropshire Lad" poet: HOUSMAN (A. E). Alfred Edward Housman, not familiar with him or his poem.

49A: Back of station?: ARY. Good one. Stationary.

54A: "_ kleine Nachtmusik": EINE. Mozart's piece, literally " a little night music". EINE is an in German (feminine). German is another gender-matter language, tough!

56A: Jagged, as a leaf's edge: EROSE. Saw this clue before.

57A: Micromanager's concern: DETAIL. What is a Macromanager's concern then?

60A: Da Silva of soccer: EDUARDO. Another estranho to me. His name is inferable if you know that damned AET (61D)

62A: Send an overdue notice: REBILL

65A: Kidded around: TEASED

71A: Muckraker Tarbell: IDA. No, nope. No idea. Her life looks very interesting.

72A: Ran off: BOLTED

75A: "The Treasure of the __ Madre": SIERRA. Faintly remember seeing it before. But I could not retrieve it from my dense brain this morning.

76A: "Inventing the __": ABBOTTS. Totally frustrated at this point of my solving. NO! I've never heard of the film.

83A: Bender: SPREE. I should be familiar with this slang, but I am NOT.

85A: Bilgewater: ROT. Did not know that bilgewater is "pretentious or silly talk or writing", but ROT is gettable.

86A: Wilson's predecessor: TAFT. 2 presidents in today's puzzle, see 42A: Pres. Coolidge (CAL). Did not know that Coolidge's nickname is "Silent CAL".

88A: Middling marks: CEES

92A: Anti-war activist Cindy: SHEEHAN. Gimme for me. Too bad, she does not stand a chance to take on Pelosi.

96A: Al Capone feature: SCAR. Unknown to me.

101A: Comic laugh: CACKLE

103A: Stormed: RAGED

106A: Actress Louise: LASSER. She was married to Woody Allen before. I did not know that. I've never heard of LASSER until this morning. Will probably forget her name again soon.

107A: Virginia rail: SORA. Nope, another unknown. I love this SORA portrait.

108A: AC/DC power: ELEC

109A: Psalms word: SELAH. Is this a gimme for you?

111A: Those who obtain: ACQUIRERS. What a strained clue/answer!

121A: Go-between: EMISSARY

122A: Pinup Anderson: PAMELA. Love her funny cameo in "Borat".

123A: Become fixed: SET IN

124A: Bruises without laceration: CONTUSES. Painful! How can I remember this word?

125A: Ghost: SPIRIT

DOWN:

1D: Chem. chart figure: AT. WT. I put AT. NO. first.

2D: Low dam: WEIR. Did not know this before. The only WEIR I know is him, the man on the left who won Masters in 2003.

3D: Comic Johnson: ARTE

4D: "___ the Wind": INHERIT. Sigh... No!

5D: Magnetic induction units: TESLAS. Nailed this one.

6D: Sounds of pains: MOANS. Yes, aching! This whole puzzle is a insufferable!

7D: British composer Thomas: ARNE. He is definitely a TMS stalwart.

8D: Central parts: MIDSTS

11D: Aerie occupants: EAGLETS

12D: Cascades peak: SHASTA. Simply forgot this one, again.

14D: Lovett or Talbot: LYLE. Know Lovett, not Talbot.

16D: Practice: REHEARSE

17D: Cricket segments: OVERS. Anther sigh... I know nothing about cricket. Wikipedia says an OVER is "a set of six consecutive balls bowled in succession".

19D: Moshe of Israel: ARENS. My goodness, what's bothering you today? Why so many obscure names?

24D: Work-shift record: TIME CARD

32D: Tabula ___: RASA. Literally "Blank slate", Latin.

34D: Pot - au - __: FEU

36D: Sensational: LURID

38D: Landon and others: ALFS. Highly inferable, even if you don't know much about American presidential election in 1936.

39D: Auto-racing org.: NHRA (National Hot Rod Association)

40D: A-ha!: GOT IT. See 105D: Arrive: GET IN. 123A: Become fixed: SET IN. A preposition or a definite article can sure add some zest to an otherwise boring clue.

43D: Cool: ALOOF

48D: Exigency: NEED

50D: Greek Mercury: HERMES. Hmm, Luxury goods brand again. See 57D: Designer Christian: DIOR.

51D: Some fruits: BERRIES

52D: City on the Lagan River: BELFAST. I made a guess. Have never heard of Lagan River before.

53D: Legendary Hun King: ATLI. Not ATTILA?

58D: Fritz of Sci-Fi: LEIBER. Have never, never heard of him before. Hard to string his name together if you do not get ABBOTTS for 76A.

61D: At the age of : Lat.: AET. No, nope.

70D: Infield protectors: TARPS

73D: Moonfish: OPAH

77D: Very much in Vicky: BEAUCOUP. I like the alliteration of the clue. Merci BEAUCOUP, without you, I would've lost the whole battle at the lower right corner.

78D: Of sound quality: TONAL

79D: Gawk: STARE

87D: Airing on TV: TELECAST

90D: Congressional aide: PAGE

93D: Stashed away: HID

94D: Chess piece: BISHOPS

96D: Wrapped with a decorative cloth: SCARFED. Here is a picture of Madeleine Albright, with her HERMES scarf.

98D: Bowling lanes: ALLEYS

99D: CAB successor: FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). CAB stands for "Civil Aeronautics Board".

100D: Sketcher's need: ERASER

102D: Melodic: ARIOSE. New word for me.

103D: Renaissance fiddle: REBEC. As I could not get CONTUSES for 134A, so I was staring at REBE_ forever. I did toy with the idea of filling in REBEL. It's "a Renaissance fiddle with a pear-shaped body tapering into a neck that ends in a sickle-shaped or scroll-shaped pegbox." Here is a picture.

107D: Crouch: SQUAT

113D: Back end of a kitchen?: ETTE. Good clue.

114DL Bridle strap: REIN. What a tragic finish for Eight Belles yesterday! This is just so sad. But "Denis of Cork" was awesome. They do not Calvin Borel "Bo Rail" for nothing!

115D: Without: Fr.: SANS. I like how this puzzle ends with SANS, kind of NOT eching.

117D: Tahlequah, OK school: NSU (Northeastern State University)

120D: Radio static letters: EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference)

C. C.

Saturday, May 3, 2008 Tom Pruce

Theme: NONE

Too hot a puzzle for me to handle today: the palmy CYCADS, the exotic NIPA (Malay thatch), the tropical RATTAN, the LEG, the HES, the ERECTING. Felt like this puzzle was made from Ibiza Islands, for Michael Cretu, whose intoxicating ENIGMA album stole my heart!

I got LAID instead of LAIN at 57D: Reclined, again, just like last Sunday. Really need to look carefully before I jump next time. Money became a huge issue today, as both CRUZEIRO and INTI stumped me hard today. And AZAN, oh my gosh, that clue Muezzin was intimidating! Total SNAFU at the left corner. Lots of troubles in other area too. Tough puzzle.

ACROSS:

1A: Shotgun ammo: PELLETS

8A: Cravings: HUNGERS. Are they really the same?

15A: Blood deficiency: ANAEMIA. Shouldn't there be VAR mark in the clue?

16A: Coop flier: ESCAPEE. Great clue. Coop is slang for prison. I think adding a "?" would have made the clue more sparkling.

17A: Hang up: RING OFF

18A: Marine fauna: SEA LIFE

19A: J. Hancocked?: SGD (Signed). I put OK'D first.

22A: Attacked: RAIDED

28A: Actress Gilpin: PERI. Not familiar to me. I penned in TERI.

29A: Political meeting: CAUCUS. This caucus system is too absurd and is not viable any more. Important decisions should not be made by a few party insiders.

31A: CB-ers?: RADIO MEN. Um, I am not impressed by the cluing at all.

34A: Actor Tognazzi: UGO. I've never heard of him. Got it from down clues.

35A: Putting up: ERECTING. I like how ERECTING intersects with ADRENALIN and SEEDINGS. It would be sensational if 14D were not in ING form. I have ING phobia.

39A: The devil: OLD NICK. I've never heard of this expression. I filled in OLD DICK, thinking of "the Devil and Dick Cheney" joke.

42A: "Troilus and ___": CRESSIDA. Tragically, I've never read this Shakespeare play. Not familiar with the title at all.

46A: Like a square box: CUBOIDAL. New word to me. Cubelike.

47A: Of iron: FERRIC. What is lack of iron? ANEMIC?

51A: Muezzin's call to prayer: AZAN. Ridiculously impossible for me. AZAN is "the call to prayer proclaimed five times a day by the muezzin in Muslim countries". See here for Muezzin explanation.

60A: RN's nice: TLC. Wouldn't be cool to intersect TLC and ICU (24D) someday?

52A: Little yelp: YIP. Why not try "Small bark" or "Golf putting phobia"or something else? Ennui!

54A: Prepared for action: READY. Yes, I am! Surprise me, "Denis of Cork", tell me you are for real!

61A: Da Nang location: VIETNAM

63A: Standby army: MILITIA

66A: Unpredictable: ERRATIC

67A: Object of a computer instruction: OPERAND

68A: "The Thieving Magpie" composer: ROSSINI. No idea. I know nothing about classical music.

69A: Island wraps: SARONGS. I like how SARONGS crossing NIPA (Malay thatch), as Malaysians love wearing SARONGS.

DOWN:

1D: Unit of astronomical length: PARSEC. It comes from Par(allax) Sec(ond). PARSEC is "a unit of distance equal to that required to cause a heliocentric parallax of one second of an arc, equivalent to 206,265 times the distance from the earth to the sun, or 3.26 light-years". Umm, hard, I don't understand what I've written down.

2D: Elgar's "_____Variations": ENIGMA. No idea. It is "Elgar's best-known large-scale composition". Do you love this ENIGMA? It's very sensual and sexy, spiritual too. The gasps for air, the whispering, everything is just so enigmatic.

3D: Martin of "Mission: Impossible": LANDAU. Don't know him.

6D: Southern Georgia county: TIFT. I've never heard of it. Is it well known?

8D: All of guys: HES. I put MEN first.

11D: Impure resin of turpentine: GALIPOT. No idea. Did someone use this word at the Comments section lately? I vaguely remember I saw this word before.

12D: Rampant: EPIDEMIC

13D: Something alluded to: REFERENT

14D: Tournament positions: SEEDINGS. I actually like this cluing. I just hate when too many ING's appear in one puzzle.

21D: Epinephrine: ADRENALIN. I did not know the meaning of "Epinephrine", had to look up in the dictionary. But shouldn't it be ADRENALINE?

25D: Classic Dracula: LUGOSI (Béla). Should have a "?" with the clue, don't you think so?

27D: Gandhi's garb: SARI

30D: 3-D shape: SOLID. I like how SOLID crossing CUBOIDAL.

33D: More googey: ICKIER

36D: Catcher-turned-sportscaster: McCARVER (Tim). No idea. I kept thinking of JIM KAAT, but he was a Pitcher-turned-sportscaster.

37D: Brazilian cash: CRUZEIRO. This Brazilian Supermodel will only take €€€, not CRUZEIRO, not even your $$$. Do ya feel lucky, punk? (Update later: Tom Brady is currently dating Gisele).

38D: Arguers: DEBATERS

43D: Instrumental compositions: SONATAS. Like the crossing of SONATAS with ROSSINI.

45D: Three in Roma: TRE. A little bit Chinese for you. This character "一" is one, "二" is two, and "三" is three. Super easy, isn't it?

48D: Wickerwork material: RATTAN. Saw this before.

49D: Not doing anything: IDLING

50D: Group of seed plants: CYCADS. Here is the definition: "any gymnospermous plant of the order Cycadales, intermediate in appearance between ferns and the palms, many species having a thick, unbranched, columnar trunk bearing a crown of large, leathery, pinnate leaves." Look at her CYCAD.

53D: California tribe: POMOS. Saw it somewhere before.

56D: Former Peruvian currency: INTI. SOL is Peru's money unit now, interesting, Sun as their currency. More interesting: INTI was the Sun God of Incas.

57D: Reclined: LAIN

59D: Malay thatch: NIPA. It's a palm in Southeast Asia, with foliage for thatching and basketry. Alright, see these 2 pictures: NIPA palm and NIPA hut.

64D: Celtic god: LER. Sea God. Father of Manannan. I am confused here. The dictionary says Manannan is also a Sea God, who is the Sea God then?

65D: Worldwide help grp.: IRO (International Refugee Organization). I wrote down IMF.

Forgot to say earlier that I dislike the appearances of 2 Roman numerals in one puzzle, very lazy cluing.

C.C.

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C.C.

Friday, May 2, 2008 Annabel Michaels

Theme: PLAYING CARDS

17A: Emotional anguish: HEARTACHE

57A: Preparatory research: SPADEWORK

11D: One of the Brady Bunch?: DIAMOND JIM

27D: 19th-hole locations: CLUBHOUSES

Sub-theme: Music

20A: Russian pianist: SCRIABIN

25A: "Goldberg Variations" composer: BACH

35A: Bluegrass instruments: BANJOS

45A: A Shore: DINAH

6D: Student's performance: RECITAL

25D: Charlie Parker's jazz: BOP

36D: Poetic piece: ODE

53D: Abie's Irish lass: ROSE ("My Wild Irish Rose" theme music).

Almost aced this puzzle if not for the crossing letter N between HAHNIUM and SCRIABIN. I have never heard of BAUXITE (8D) before, though ORE was inferable. Unnipentium was also a stranger to me, but all the letters except N were obtainable from the across clues. Not familiar with the Russian pianist SCRIABIN either.

I loved the clue for 11D: One of the Brady bunch? Very cleverly misleading. I also enjoyed seeing ROSE, DIAMOND, SHE, HEARTACHE, EVER, (AT)LAST, (G)MEN, EAT, HER(MES), and MORE(L) in the same grid.

Umm, OMEGA yesterday, HERMÈS today, CARTIER tomorrow? How much does Louis Vuitton pay you to put their DIOR brand in our puzzle so often? What's the fee for GUCCI's YSL? Should I call TIFFANY for sponsorship also? You don't like PRADA? Afraid of "The Devil Wears PRADA" backlash? How about BURBERRY then?

ACROSS:

6A: Greek letter: RHO. Or South Korea's ___ Moo-hyuan. Or maybe not. His presidency was probably too short and too scandalous to carve a niche in history. He showed some episodic guts in 2003 though.

9A: Doc on the battlefield: MEDIC

16A: Sheeplike: OVINE. Cattle: BOVINE. Horse: EQUINE. Donkey: ASSININE. Dog: CANINE. Cat: FELINE. Pig: PORCINE. What else?

19A: Gaucho's rope: REATA

21A: God of cunning: HERMES. I am not fond of HERMÈS scarf, but I do love this HERMÈS Birkin bag to go with my OMEGA watch. Do you like Birkin's Je t'aime... moi non plus? So breathtakingly erotic and sexy (Just listen to the last 20 seconds if you don't have time). Oh, the Roman equivalent for HERMES is Mercury.

22A: Decisive: CRITICAL

28A: Mud smears: DAUBS

31A: Ships' tillers: HELMS. Why "ships" rather than "ship"?

33A: Showy feathers: PLUMES

38A: __ mot (witticism): BON

39A: Item in the plus column: ASSET

42A: Hollywood's Lupino: IDA. Another TMS stalwart.

43A: 1975 Wimbledon champion: ASHE

46A: FBI personnel: G - MEN

48A: Of the household: FAMILIAL

50A: Jewelers' glasses: LOUPES

52A: Box of ill fame: PANDORA'S. I don't like this clue. Felt very forced.

58A: Clip sheep: SHEAR. Um, Clip & Cut (40D: Cut with quick strokes: SNIPPED). Still have some nagging dislike of SHEAR and SHE (57D) though.

59A: Haw's partner: HEM

60A: Joe of "GoodFellas": PESCI. Good movie. The only Ray Liotta movie that I really like. I guess his "Field of Dream" is OK too.

63A: Lock or shock: TRESS

DOWN:

4D: Improve in quality: ENRICH

5D: Patch road: RETAR

7D: Unnilpentium: HAHNIUM. Unnilpentium is Element 105 (Latin), symbol UNP. Hard one. Very interesting root here: "un" is one, "nil" is nothing (both Latin), and "pente" is five in Greek, then we have a noun suffix "ium". So, there you go, element 105, wonderful! HAHNIUM was named after Otto Hahn, Nobel Chemistry winner 1944. Called "The father of Nuclear Chemistry" according to Wikipedia. (Please note, the current Element 105 is DUBNIUM, symbol DB. Thanks for the information NYTanonimo)

8D: Bauxite, e.g.: ORE. OK, Beauxite is "a rock consisting of aluminum oxides and hydroxides with various impurities: the principal ore of aluminum". It's named after the small village Les Baux -de-Provence (S France), and "ite" is just a noun forming suffix.

9D: Mushroom choice: MOREL. Wow, this one is definitely LONG.

12D: Purpose: INTENT. The clue is OK. I just dislike "Purpose" appearances twice in the clues (see 39D).

13D: Discontinues: CEASES

18D: Puts up with: ABIDES

29D: Mass. cape: ANN. Cape ANN. Felt strained too.

34D: Top Stooge: MOE

35D: In arrears: BEHIND

41D: Deep bows: SALAAMS. From Arabic "salām", peace.

43D: Finally!: At LAST!

44D: Mollify: SOOTHE. Like this one, SOOTHE & HEARTACHE.

45D: Prosecutors, for short: DAS (District Attorneys)

46D: Stare angrily: GLOWER

48D: Phobias: FEARS. Here is a complete list of all kinds of phobias. Mine is scotophobia. I never knew that there is such special word for my fear.

49D: Skilled one: ADEPT

51D: Fuel from bogs: PEAT

55D: Schusses: SKIS. Saw Schuss before, but then I forgot. SKIS is very gettable though. Schuss comes from German word "Schuz" meaning shot. Schuss is "a fast straight downhill run in skiing. Could be a verb too.

C.C.

Thursday, May 1, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: QUIP

20A: Start of Zsa Zsa Gabor quip: I NEVER HATED A

37A: Part 2 of quip: MAN ENOUGH

42A: Part 3 of quip: TO GIVE HIM

56A: End of quip: DIAMONDS BACK

Yes, "diamonds are a girl's best friend". They never leave you, men do!

I was hot this morning, waves and waves of thrilling momentums thrusting me through the whole puzzle until I reached my ÉCLAT.

Made one careless mistake though. Put CUBIC instead of CUBIT for 1D, so my "Honor Thy Father" author became CALESE rather than TALESE, whom I actually heard of due to the controversy over James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" - a Nan TALESE imprint.

I like how these sparking words like STAR, OMEGA, FLAW, ELATE, FLORET, LASTS, TO A T and ÉCLAT are sprinkled in the whole grid, shining together with the DIAMONDS. Great stuff.

ACROSS:

1A: Good Hope or Mary: CAPE. Know Cape of Good Hope, but have never heard of Cape of Mary, where is it? (Update: I misread the clue, it's CAPE MAY, not CAPE MARY)

5A: Stable youngster: FOAL. Which is your pick for this year's Kentucky Derby? Colonel John also? How about Z Fortune?

9A: Musical syllables: TRA-LA

15A: Sorenstam's org: LPGA. Met her in person during 2002 Solheim Cup here in MN. Very cool!

17A: Nota __ (note well): BENE. Often in abbreviated N. B. form.

23A: "Honor Thy Father" author: TALESE (Gay)

25A: Money-managing exec.: CFO. How many CFOs have been put behind bars? Let me count: Andrew Fastow, Scott Sullivan, who else?

28A: Julie Andrews movie: STAR. I've never watched this movie before. Love her "The Sound of Music" though. Her memoir "Home: A Memoir of My Early Years" right now is the #1 on NY Times bestsellers list I think.

31A: Start of a trip: SET OUT. There are 2 SET's (19A: ONSET and SET OUT) and 2 OUT's (SET OUT and 33D: OUTGO) in today's puzzle.

33A: Missouri feeder: OSAGE. Nailed it this time.

39A: Bruins' home: UCLA. Quite a few college sports teams in the US named Bruins, not to mention Bobby ORR's Bruins. Lots of BEARS, LIONS, and BULLDOGS.

44A: Early anesthetic: ETHER

49A: __ -pitch softball: SLO. What do you call Jamie Moyer's style of pitching then? Not SLO-pitch baseball?

51A: Lifts the spirits: ELATES

59A: Bird call: TWEET


62A: Mr. Knievel: EVEL. Daredevil indeed.

64A: Stock unit: SHARE

67A: Hit hard: POUND

68A: Confederate: ALLY

69A: Makes lace: TATS. Isn't strange that this verb TAT come from the noun TATTING? More often than not, English noun words come after the verb words, don't they?

DOWN:

1D: Biblical length: CUBIT

4D: Ecole attendee: ÉLÈVE. Surprisingly, most of the ÉLÈVE are very bien-élevé. Somehow they just morph into who they are today after they graduate.

5D: Bloom: FLORET

6D: Moonfish: OPAH

9D: Trampled: TRODDEN

10D: Barrett or Jaffe: RONA. Know Barrett, the "Just an inch" gossip columnist "Miss RONA". Have no idea who RONA Jaffe is.

25D: Doctor's request: COUGH. I like how COUGH intersects with AGUE.

26D: Bach work: FUGUE. No idea. I got it from the across clues.

29D: Indian nursemaid: AMAH. It's called AMAH in Hongkong too.

32D: Perfectly: TO A T

33D: Expenditures: OUTGO. Not OUTGOES?

38D: Jules Verne captain: NEMO. Or movie "Finding __".

40D: Inventor Nikola: TESLA. Here is more information about this inventor. Saw TESLA clued as "unit of magnetic flux density" before.

50D: Last letter: OMEGA. I want this OMEGA.

52D: Toward the stern: ABAFT. No idea. I figured it out by the across clues. OK, ABAFT comes from middle English "on baft", b is by, aft is toward the stern. Good.

53D: Indian drum: TABLA. I forgot. It's "a small drum or pair of drums of India tuned to different pitches and played with the hands". See this picture.

54D: Extraordinary brilliance: ÉCLAT. Yes indeed!

55D: Distorts: SKEWS

56D: Laura of "Jurassic Park": DERN. Have never seen any of her movies. Knew her only because of the Billy Bob Thornton & Angelina Jolie romance saga.

61D: The water of Paris: EAU. Why "the water"? Wouldn't that be EVIAN?

C.C.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: HOLIDAYS

18A: December Day: CHRISTMAS

62A: February Day: GROUND HOG

3D: May Day: MEMORIAL

5D: March Day: ST. PATRICK'S

32D: February Day: VALENTINE'S

35D: Jan. Day: MLK

40D: October Day: COLUMBUS

Um, it looks like our editor's pipeline is drying up. Two Josiah Breward puzzles in less than 4 days, and now another Michael T. Williams. TMS definitely needs to ante up their woeful payment to attract some creative puzzle constructors. We need fresh blood and we deserve quality puzzles!

In case you have not heard yet, Michael T. Williams is the nephew of our editor Mr. Wayne Robert Williams, who often uses Josiah Breward or Willy A. Wiseman as his alias names.

But this is a great puzzle, isn't it? Lovely theme. Simple yet elegant grid structure, though the intersection of MLK and AMORAL bothered me a bit. I was not able to close the deal today unassisted, not even with the generous help from those long self-revealing theme entries. Too bad, I squandered a great chance for a Wednesday home run. I completely screwed up the lower left corner. I did not know what was Quamash (CAMASS), had no idea who was the French historian (RENAN), forgot Saul's uncle's name (NER). PNIN also escaped me this morning. PECCAVI was a total stranger to me too.

ACROSS:

1A: Spiritual leaders: LAMAS. LAMA originally referred to a monk of higher rank, now it has evolved into "Guru" status. FYI, Dalai means "Ocean". So "Dalai LAMA" literally means a man of great spiritual depth.

6A: Consumer protection org.: FTC (Federal Trade Commission). Thought of FDA (Food and Drug Administration) first.

9A: Use elbow grease: SCRUB

16A: Stomachs of ruminants: OMASA. Singular is Omasum. Unknown to me. It's "the third stomach of a ruminant, between the reticulum and the abomasum". Also called manyplie.

17A: Recapitulate: SUM UP

20A: Funny Phillips: EMO. Vaguely heard of this name before.

21A: City in Pennsylvania: ALTOONA. Have never heard of this city. Strung the words together by down clues.

23A: Ball carriers, briefly: RBS. Why? What ball carriers? (Update from Dennis: RBS is Running backs)

27A: Green target: HOLE. Nice clue, though my first response was PIN. You shoot for the PIN when you are in the fairway, or rough, or bunker, don't you? But of course, you target is HOLE when your ball safely lands on the green.

28A: Make clucking sounds: CHIRRUP. Stumper for me. This word looks so wrong to me.
31A: Dodges: EVADES

33A: Raccoon's cousin: COATI

34A: Lacking values: AMORAL

37A: Reminder of times past: RELIC

38A: They: Fr: ILS. Tired of French words/painters/authors every day. How about "Instrument Landing System, briefly?"

39A: Legal: LICIT. English is strange. See, you add one letter E, then you have this completely different ELICIT (68A: EDUCE). Different root I suppose.

43A: Lurks: SKULKS

46A: Black: EBONY. Also a magazine name.

46A: Quamash: CAMASS. No idea. It's the definition of CAMASS: "any of several plants of the genus Camassia, of the lily family, esp. C quamash, of western North America, having long clusters of blue to white flowers and edible bulbs." Here is a picture.

49A: Ring-shaped: ANNULAR

51A: Arabian sultanate: OMAN. Clued as "Muscat's land" in yesterday's puzzle.

52A: Boob Tubes: TVS. Would be an OK clue if not for the intersecting 53D: TV monitor.

55A: Aleutian island: ATTU. Sometimes it's ADAK or ATKA.

56A: Saul's uncle: NER

57A: Confession: PECCAVI. Latin, literally I have sinned (first person singular).

66A: Pathogenic bacteria: E. COLI

67A: Inhabitant of: suff.: ITE. I can only think of "Israelite" at this moment.

69A: French historian: RENAN (Ernest). Total étranger to me. Is he very well known?

70A: Score figs.: PTS (Points)

71A: Bird in "Peter and the Wolf": SASHA. No idea, thought it's very gettable.

DOWN:

1D: _ majesty: LESE. It's "a crime committed against the sovereign power". Treason. I suppose LESE comes from French word LÉSER (damage)

2D: Bard grad, e.g.: ALUM

4D: Prefix for puncture: ACU. Aw, the painful needles. Have you ever had acupuncture before?

6D: Datum: FACT

8D: Entertainer Channing: CAROL. Unknown to me until this morning. I always thought Marilyn Monroe was the original singer of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

10D: "Most Wanted Live" stn.: CMT (Country Music TV). Did not know this before. I was actually thinking of John Walsh's "America Most Wanted" (FOX).

11D: Exemplar of stiffness: RAMROD

12D: Operative: USABLE

13D: Deep voices: BASSES

22D: Fighting Tigers of the NCAA: LSU (Louisiana State University). Fighting Tigers always reminds me of General Chennault and his "Flying Tigers".

25D: Crafty person?: ARTISAN. Good clue.

27D: Large flatfish: HALIBUT

28D: "Born on the Bayou" grp.: CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival). Do not know the song nor the band.

41D: Balin or Claire: INA. Learned from doing crossword of course.

42D: Norse deity: TYR. I faintly I remember I saw this word somewhere before. It's God of Strife/War. Son of Odin. English equivalent is TIU.

44D: You in the Yucatan: USTED. Spanish for You (the formal address).

46D: Marine eel: CONGER

47D: Punish arbitrarily: AMERCE. OK, AMERCE is from à merci, at the mercy of). Is this a special legal term?

48D: Abandon: MAROON

50D: Map reader abbr.: NAV. Navigation I gather?

53D: TV monitor: V-CHIP. See here for more information.

54D: George C. ___: SCOTT. I like his "Patton".

57D: Nabokov novel: PNIN. Has anyone read this book?

60D: Mr. Walesa: LECH. A TMS stalwart.

61D: Ends of small intestines: ILEA. Singular is Ilium.

63D: Tail of a fib?: ULA. Fibula. Plural is Fibulae.

65D: Harem room: ODA. Definitely a repeat offender. OK, some extra information: HAREM is Islamic women's quarters, which could also be called SERAGIO (a sequestered area for wives). Hijab is the headscarf Muslim women wear. Houri is the beautiful virgin promised to those faithfuls in their Koranic paradise.

C.C.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: FRUIT COLORED WORDS

17A: Purple creeper?: GRAPEVINE

56A: Green illumination?: LIMELIGHT

10D: Red explosive?: CHERRY BOMBS

24D: Reddish-yellow waterway: ORANGE RIVER

Hmm, how about LEMON GRASS, APPLE PIE, STRAWBERRY JAM, and OLIVE BRANCH? What else?

Another TV guide style puzzle, heavily blanketed with Show biz personality' names, highly inferable though. Great grid structure, very balanced theme entries. The word CELEB is perfectly anchored in the middle of the puzzle. The only flaw with the theme entries is the plural form of CHERRY BOMBS, all the other 3 are in singular form.

I was a venturesome solver this morning. I willfully took a few bold guesses at those dreadful Movie/TV star names, and was stunned again that they turned out to be the correct fills. McCOY, O'SHEA, ETHEL & KOPELL all yielded so easily to me. And I knew none of them. Wow, I've been so encouraged by my recklessness in crossword solving lately.

I did not finish the puzzle though. Could not close the deal on the upper left corner. I simply forgot ALGER, had no idea who was Uncle Miltie, did not know that ABATE can be transitive verb, and I put PAT instead of TAP for "Touch lightly".

ACROSS:

1A: Moderate: ABATE. Always thought ABATE as an intr v.

6A: Sine __non: QUA. Latin: Without which not. Basically it refers to something essential and indispensable. Is this blog a sine qua non to your daily happiness?

9A: "Bones" of "Star Trek": McCOY. No idea. Ferreted out the name by down fills.

14A: Type of pad or brief: LEGAL

15A: WWW address: URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

23A: Pierre Auguste and Jean: RENOIRS. Have never heard of Jean RENOIR. The painter RENOIR, yes. Saw several of his pieces at Musée D'Orsay, did not like any. Not to my taste.

25A: Scorch: CHAR

27A: Shirley Temple movie: CURLY TOP. Oh, Shirley Temple, how do I love thee! Adorable.

31A:Musician Hayes: ISAAC. Stranger to me. Easy gettable though.

35A: Cylinder diameter: BORE. Unknown to me before.

37A: Show biz personality: CELEB. Need to reword the clue due to 46A answer (For SHOW).

38A: Muscat's land: OMAN. Muscat is also a kind of grape.

39A: __-pong: PING. Also a huge golf equipment brand. PING sponsors Solheim Cup.

40A: Place for cargo: HOLD. "The entire cargo space in the hull of a vessel."

41A: Fuse, as ores: SMELT

42A: Makes glossy: SLEEKENS. A new verb to me.

44A: Catch red-handed: NAB

46A: Diana of the Supremes: ROSS. Again?

46A: Just to keep up appearances: FOR SHOW

50A: Play lines: SCRIPT

55A: Popeye's honey: OLIVE (Oyl)

58A: Ring-shaped roll: BAGEL. Hmm, BAGEL + cream cheese + lox, sandwich in heaven!

60A: Singer Merman: ETHEL. Unknown to me. I strung it together by down clues.

61A: Comb stopper: SNARL

63A: School paper: ESSAY

DOWN:

1D: Horatio of fiction: ALGER. Clued as "Ragged Dick" author on last Friday's puzzle. I just forgot. I will probably forget it again in 2 hours.

2D: Uncle Miltie: BERLE. Stumper here. Is it gimme to you?

4D: Touch lightly: TAP

5D: Funereal: ELEGIAC. Too sorrowful a word to see so early in the morning.

6D: Witty remarks: QUIPS

7D: Diner brewers: URNS. Another dreadful word to look at despite the cheerful clue.

9D: Fatal: MORTAL. Alright, I got it. ELEGIAC, URN & MORTAL. All Memento MORI.

13D: Poisonous evergreens: YEWS. Did not know that they are poisonous.

22D: Decorative plant: SHRUB

25D: Made well: CURED. I like how CURED intersects with CELEB. Want to cure your drug/alcohol addition? Do crosswords!

29D: Kind of thermometer: ORAL. See 49D.

34D: Lowly workers: PEONS. Spanish for peasants.

37D: Storage box: CHEST

41D: Bakery products trade name: SARA LEE

43D: "Love Boat" co-star: KOPELL (Bernie). Unknown to me. The clue for 17A: Purple Creeper & this "Love Boat" reminded me of our purple Vikings' Love Boat Party Scandal.

47D: Downs and Grant: HUGHS. Adore HUGH Grant, have never heard of HUGH Downs.

44D: Musical symbol: NOTE. Has anyone seen HUGH Grant and Drew Barrymore's " Music & Lyrics"?

48D: Actress Tessie: O'SHEA. Stranger to me. Where is Milo? Wikipedia says that Tessie O'SHEA was a guest on the "The Ed Sullivan Show" the night Beatles made their debut.

49D: How a water balloon impacts: WETLY. Hmm, it's an ART to put ORAL & WETLY in the same puzzle, so close to each other, isn't it?

53D: Critical: DIRE. Ugh, this "Silent Tsunami" food crisis. Scary.

57D: "___ Not Unusual": ITS. Tom Jones' song. Not familiar to me. Here is my favorite.

C.C.

Monday, April 28, 2008 Ed Voile

Theme: COLORFUL ANIMALS

17A: Colorful marine mammal: BLUE WHALE

37A: Colorful ruminant: RED DEER

58A: Colorful kodiak: BROWN BEAR

11D: Colorful reptile: GREEN SNAKE

29D: Colorful farm animal: BLACK SHEEP

Here are more subdued colors:

6D: Horse shade: ROAN

25D: Harbor hazard: SAND BAR

20D: Made of mud: EARTHEN

62A: Natural tone: ECRU

Let's see how many animals we've got here: WHALE, DEER, BEAR, SHEEP, SNAKE, BURRO, ROAN (Horse), BABE (the Ox, or the Pig), ALBEE, LEERAT, ABATTOIR, BOARDED. Total 12, plus yesterday's 8. I think I've had enough. No more animal tomorrow please!

I love the structure of this animal puzzle, and I really admire Ed Voile's ingenuity in building a DEN at the very center of the puzzle as an anchor. Superb!

CHOPPY is how I describe my solving experience this morning. The weather was very calm when I started the sail, but it got stormy when I met ANGER. BURRO (letter B) would not yield, and ABATTOIR simply refused to give me a hint of his name. So I had A_ATTOIR staring at me for eons. I decided to turn around clockwise and found the SKIN corner to be very thin and easy to crumble. The lower right DRUG corner was very weak too. I think I conquered it in less than 1 minute.

Then the weather turned tempestuous again. I had no idea what was KILOBAR, did not know BERBER, forgot URIAH, have never met PADDY. I did not get panicky though. I stayed cool and collected, and I made several educated guesses. In the end, they turned out to be correct. I think this is probably how experienced solvers tackle their puzzles. They may not know every entry of the crossword, but they have no problem ferreting out every fill. I definitely need to train myself to be more disciplined and refrain from checking on dictionary or flirting with google too impulsively.

Oh, a quick question for those who solve the TMS crossword from Chicago Tribune newspaper: Who is the author for last Saturday's themeless puzzle (April 26)? Is it Josiah Breward or Ed Voile? Or is the author name not printed in your paper?

ACROSS:

1A: Second to none: BEST. Great crossing of BABE & BEST. The Bambino is indeed the best of all time, isn't he? See also 59D: Slugger's stat: RBI. Good touch. The Ortiz jersey hex would probably send Babe spinning in his grave. Doe any one know what is Babe's career RBI number?

5A: Caspian feeder: URAL. The URAL River. Or the URAL Mountains. Again, I love how ALL & SOLE intersects in this corner.

9A: Madden: ANGER

16A: Pack animal: BURRO. A small donkey.

19A: Best players: A TEAM

25A: Crisp crackers: SALTINES

27A: "Seascape" playwright: ALBEE (Edward). He is still alive!

30A: Tom and Dennis of golf: WATSONS. Both of them are Senior PGA tour pros. The golf world now belongs to our bad boy Bubba WATSON!

31A: Tuesday in movie: WELD. Unknown to me. Pure guess. Another actress. Why did she change her name into Tuesday?

32A: Cozy room: DEN. Terrific fill! I do hate the crossing of DEN and DENOTE though.

33A: In a can in England: TINNED

36A: Actress Gabor: EVA. Or this beautiful "Desperate Housewife" actress (EVA Longoria).

42A: Tavern: BAR. Good to see ALE in the same grid with BAR, though I think PUB would probably be a more accurate companion.

44A: Pressure unit: KILOBAR. It's "a unit of pressure, equal to 1000 bars (14,500 pounds per square inch; equivalent to 100 megapascals). Abbreviation: kb". I am not fond of the intersection of BAR, KILOBAR, SANDBAR.

46A: White-sale buy: SHEET

47A: Certain New Yorker: UP STATER

49A: Aberdeen's river: DEE. Saw this clue before. The river is in Scotland.

52A: Got on: BOARDED. I don't get this one. Why? Can you give me an example?

56A: Fruit of the mind: IDEAS. Good one, though I prefer the clue to be "Fruit of the brain".

63A: Promoted to excess: HYPED. Oh the Hanna Montana fever. Incredible!

65A: Chinese secret society: TONG. Please! It's "Chinese American secret society"!

DOWN:

2D: Cinder ending?: ELLA. Cinderella.

4D: Grew molars: TEETHED

5D: Lead to seats: USHER. Hmm, I like this USHER and his Confessions. "YEAH!"

9D: Slaughterhouse: ABATTOIR. It's originated from French word ABATTRE (cut down). "Oir" is a noun-forming suffix I gather.

18D: Shout of joy: WHEE. I don't know. I've never shouted "WHEE". I might have cried "Oui, Oui" when I was expecting certain joy on certain occasions.

22D: Irish frieze overcoat: ULSTER. OK, it's " A loose, long overcoat made of heavy, rugged fabric and often belted". I suppose it's named after ULSTER the Irish province. Here is gentleman in his Ulster overcoat. What's he holding in his hands?

28D: Dolly of "Hello, Dolly": LEVI

37D: Backslid: RELAPSED

41D: Caboodle's partner?: KIT. The whole kit and caboodle. See here for its origin.

43D: Icy dessert: SHERBET. Isn't called SORBET in America? Want some Strawberry SHERBET?

45D: North African nomad: BERBER. Totally unknown to me. Hmm, interesting root. BERBER comes from Greek "Barbaros" meaning "barbarians" . It's "a member of a North African, primarily Muslim people living in settled or nomadic tribes from Morocco to Egypt." BERBERS settled in the region called Barbary, which was later conquered by the Arab.

47D: Heep of Dickens: URIAH. Have to commit this name to my memory, somehow!

48D: "Marty" writer Chayesfsky: PADDY. Complete stranger to me. Here is some information about him.

49D: Use a divining rod: DOWSE

52D: Moves up and down: BOBS. Have a look at this Holy Grail of Bobbing Head. Mickey Mantle, early 1960s, made in Japan, with the original box. Be a NODDER and bring this baby home.

53D: Art__: DECO. And the artist is ERTE.

C.C.

Sunday, April 27, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: NO ZOO

27A: Mechanic: GREASE MONKEY

55A: All-bark-and-no-bite type: PAPER TIGER

81A: Equipment used in an English sport: CRICKET BAT

111A: Intentional out: SACRIFICE FLY

12D: Crop protector: SCARE CROW

15D: Surprise package: TROJAN HORSE

68D: Classroom contest: SPELLING BEE

80D: Street banker: LOAN SHARK

Absolutely, NO ZOO here, just a menagerie of innocuous idiomatic phrases embedded with animal names. It's a real stunner, isn't it? From land animal to sea animal, from wildlife to farm favorite, from giant SHARK to tiny BEE. Simple, colloquial phrases. Beautiful!

I thought of "CROCODILE Tear" this morning, but it did not fit the above theme pattern, did anything interesting pop into your brain?

It looks like I was wrong last time in doubting the authorship of the "PLAY BALL" puzzle. It's indeed Mr. Olschwang's work. Great! I am so tired of his Quip/Quote puzzles. I can not wait to work on his next Sunday offering.

This is the most striking TMS Sunday puzzle I've ever done. So fluid. I did not see any forced fill. Except for clue 121A: "Normal Rae" director (as RAES also appeared as an answer for 58A), I don't have anything else to gripe about. And this small flaw could have been easily smoothed over had our Editor done his job.

I breezed through this puzzle, stalled only at the C.W. MOSS (65D) corner. I had no idea who Pollard was. I've never heard of C.W. MOSS before. URANIC was a complete stranger to me, and it's such a weird looking word. I thought of penning in CURSOR, but CWMOSS just looked so wrong to me. So I needlessly flirted with Google and I regretted immediately.

I also had to check in my dictionary for NONU and PICT. Have never met with them before.

ACROSS:

1A: Gauge face: DIAL

5A: Folk singer Guthrie: ARLO. Oh, the chip off Woody's block!

13A: Ad-ending words: ACT NOW

19A: Eye covetously: OGLE. Want to know how Larry Page got the name "GOOGLE" for his search engine? Read here.

21A: Like Pindar's poetry: ODIC

22A: Singer fired on-air by Arthur Godfrey: LA ROSA (Julius). No idea. I know neither of them. Got it from down clues (after the NONU dictionary check).

23A: High time?: NOON. "High NOON" movie. So so. Not a fan of Gary Cooper.

24A: Tibetan leader: DALAI LAMA. He transcends religion & nationality. A great man.

26A: Words of denial: I DO NOT

29A: Tune again: READJUST

31A: Some TV sets: GES (General Electric).

33A: Iran, once: PERSIA. Changed into Iran in 1935.

34A: Expire: RUN OUT

37A: Dante's love: BEATRICE. I've never known this before. What an inspiring love!

39A: Sign up (var.): ENROL

43A: Concluded: OVER

44A: Zeno's birthplace: ELEA. Alright, Zeno of ELEA, the Greek philosopher. There is also another Zeno, Zeno of Citium (the Stoic).

46A: Violinist Leopold: AUER. The Hungarian violinist. Saw this clue before.

47A: Cling: ADHERE

48A: Intended: MEANT

50A: Swedish physicist Angstrom: ANDERS. Unknown to me. Pieced it together from down clues. Denmark's ANDERS Hensen has to win Masters in order to make his name in the TMS puzzle.

52A: Sailor's admin.: ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence)

58A: Dawn Chong and Carruth: RAES. Heard of Rae Dawn Chong, not Carruth.

59A: Last Mrs. Chaplin: OONA. It's the only Mrs. Chaplin I know.

63A: Contract consummation time: CLOSING

65A: Computer pointer: CURSOR. Could not believe I screwed up here.

69A: Calif. daily: LA TIMES

72A: Not close-minded about: OPEN TO

73A: Prepared a present: WRAPPED

75A: Novelist Morrison: TONI. I've never read any of her book. Know her only because she said Bill Clinton was the "first Black President". She endorsed Obama though.

76A: Ancient Brit: PICT. Unknown to me. I wanted CELT. "One of an ancient people of northern Britain. They remained undefeated by the Romans and in the ninth century joined with the Scots to form a kingdom later to become Scotland." Dictionary says that this word could be from the Latin "picti", meaning painted, pp form).

87A: Scott Turow title: ONE L. It's about the life of a first year law student in Harvard. Very interesting read. A bit too intense for me though.

89A: Fly in an aircraft: AVIATE

91A: Dilettante's paintings: DAUBS

92A: Edges along: SIDLES . I often confuse this word with SADDLE.

94: Christie of fiction: ANNA. Did not know this. Eugene O'Neil play. Looks like Mr. Olschwang likes O'Neil and his daughter OONA. I bet he likes baseball too. SACRIFICE FLY is awesome.

96A: Govt. training leg.: CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act)

98A: Negri of the silents: POLA. Know her name from doing crossword.

99A: Thin curtain: SCRIM. Saw this clue before.

100A: Gets cozy: SNUGGLES

102A: Stephen of the Supreme court: BREYER. Gimme for me. He is often on the liberal side.

107A: 2005 AL MVP: AROD. When are you going to clue the 2006 AL MVP Justin Morneau?

108A: Inscription on a statute: EPIGRAPH

116A: Legal profession: THE BAR. And ONE L. a bit of Law sub-theme here.

117A: Protein builder: AMINO ACID

119A: Gumshoe's lead: CLUE

120A: Prove oneself capable of coping with: RISE TO

121A: "Norma Rae" director: RITT (Martin). Got it from down clues. Not familiar with RITT.

122A: U.S. legislative body: CONG. And Let me see the latest approval rating for the Congress... 23% (AP/Ipsos)? Wow, that's a big improvement over last Sept's 11%. But what the heck have they done to improve that number?

123A: Tropical nut tree: KOLA

124A: High regard: ESTEEM

125A: Intimate greeting: KISS. Cheek? Or where? How intimate? Do you like "KISS"? I don't. They are too wild for me. I have my own KISS Principle (Keep it Sweet & Simple).

126A: Patella's place: KNEE

127A: Cowboy's prod: SPUR

DOWN:

1D: Bell sound: DONG

2D: Frankensetein's goer: IGOR. Or "Composer Stravinsky".

4D: "Stormy Weather" singer: LENA HORNE. Don't know the song. Know the author. Alicia Keys is going to play LENA HORNE in the upcoming biopic.

5D: One way to cook pasta: AL DENTE. It's the only way I cook mine.

7D: Composer Schifrin: LALO. Saw his name before. The Argentine-American composer. What does "LALO" mean?

8D: Summer time refresher: ORANGEADE. I've never had it.

9D: Polaris: POLE STAR. Don't like the clue.

10D: Singer Anita: O'DAY. No idea. She is dead.

14D: Carried the club: CADDIED. Ahh, the always cool Steve Williams.

16D: Polynesian tree: NONU. Also known as NONI, NONO. Wikipedia says its fruit has a very pungent odor, also called "Cheese Fruit". Looks ugly, doesn't it? Here is a NONU tree.

17D: Spanish bears: OSOS. ORO is gold in Spanish. So how do you say Jack Nicklaus' nickname "Golden Bear" in Spanish then?

18D: Unit of power: WATT

25D: Home decor company: IKEA

28D: Old French coin: SOU. Sometimes it's ECU.

34D: Cavort: ROMP

35D: Iris part: UVEA

36D: Quarterly-moon tide: NEAP

37D: Bay of __: BENGAL. Here is the map.

38D: USSR hub: RUS. I was initially thinking of Sov or Soc as the two SS in USSR.

41D: Familiarize with new conditions: ORIENT

42D: Shall we be off?: LET'S GO

45D: Reclined: LAIN. (Update later: Sorry about the LAID mistake earlier). I truly like this Monet's Olympia painting, let's show again.

47D: Spacecraft antechamber: AIRLOCK. No idea.

49D: Group of soldier: TROOP

51D: Muse of poetry: ERATO. Alright, let's delve into Greek mythology muses. Their parents are Mnemosyne (Goddess of memory,that's how we get Mnemonic I suppose), and Zeus (father of other god, son of Rhea, brother of Hera, etc). The 9 muses are: Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Erato (lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy). Hard, isn't it?

53D: Sony rival: NEC (Nippon Electric Company). I like their TV ads.

56D: Bullfighters: TOREROS. The matador. TORERO is from Latin "taurus" meaning bull.

62D: Italian friends: AMICI. Singular is AMICO (masculine form). The feminine form is AMICA, AMICHE is the plural form. OK, a bit Chinese for you: "女朋友" is girlfriend, and "男朋友" is boyfriend. "I love you" is "我爱你"(pronounced like Wo Ai Ni). What else do you need to know?

63D: Expressed a preference: OPTED

65D: Pollard in "Bonnie and Clyde": C.W. MOSS. Big stumper for me. Michael J. Pollard played CW MOSS in "Bonnie and Clyde".

66D: Celestial: URANIC. Unknown to me. It's from the Greek word "ouran" (heaven).

67D: Like a movie for person over 17: RATED R

71D: Treats with malice: SPITES. I learned a new phrase this morning: "Cut off one's nose to spite one's face". Very interesting way to "create a disadvantage to oneself through one's own spiteful action."

77D: "Rhyme Pays" rapper: ICE T. Don't know the song, know ICE T though.

82D: Tout's hangout: RACE TRACK

83D: Cassette players: TAPE DECKS

84D: Channel marker: BUOY

85D: Willing companion?: ABLE. Willing and Able: Not reluctant.

89D: "Brokeback Mountain" director Lee: ANG. "I wish I knew how to quit you."

90D: Wandering bums: VAGRANTS. Thought of VAGABOND. Discarded the idea quickly.

93D: UAE constituent: EMIRATE. It's a country full of EMEER, AMEER, EMIR & AMIR I suppose.

97D: Shorten: ABRIDGE

100D: Cal. abbr.: SEP. Add one S, you've got one deadly SEPS snake (thanks for the picture link drdad). To those Sunday-only solvers, this lethal SEPS was clued "Numidian serpent" on Tuesday April 23 and it stumped many of us.

101D: Wacko: LOCO

103D: Mythical bird: ROC. The giant bird. The mythical elephant eater.

105D: Billiards shot: CAROM

107D: Kern tune"___ Romance": A FINE. I've never heard of it. With no KISSES? Doesn't sound romance to me. "A Fine Romance" is also a movie (Judi Dench).

108D: To be, in Toulouse: ETRE. Now I know why the constructor always picks up "Toulouse": for the sole purpose of alliteration. Je m'ennui! The same with "Sapporo sash" for OBI. It gets insufferably boring after awhile.

113D: Dud: FLOP

114D: Humdinger: LULU. I tend to confuse this "humdinger" with "harbinger".

115D: Twelvemonth: YEAR

118D: DI times II: MII (501*2=1,002)

C.C.