Saturday May 9, 2009 Bruce Venzke

Theme: None

Total blocks: 38

Total words: 68

What a unique grid! I wonder if there is a special term for this kind of extra symmetry. Fold the puzzle in the middle along Row #8 or Column #8, you will find the mirroring pattern between left & right and up & down. Probably 99% of all the puzzles only have a 180 degree rotational symmetry, i.e., if you turn the puzzle upside down by rotating 180 degrees, the pattern of black squares remains the same.

This constructor Bruce Venzke (the guy with glasses on) seems to be fond of stacked long 15-letter words for his Saturday themeless. Remember this one we solved in April? Today, there are another two sets of triple-stacked long words at the top and the bottom:

1A: Makes some progress: GETS TO FIRST BASE

16A: Song that's acted out: I'M A LITTLE TEA POT

17A: Song also known as "Cowboy's Lament": STREETS OF LAREDO

56A: Responded in kind, in a way: COUNTER-ATTACKED

61A: Vague putoff: AT SOME OTHER TIME

62A: Post under a hood: BATTERY TERMINAL

The last one baffles me. What hood? And what post? To me, BATTERY TERMINAL is just + or -.

Neat to see TAO (37A: Eastern philosophy) crossing HAN (34D: Dynasty after the Qin) right in the middle of the grid. TAO (道) is often spelled DAO in China. Zhou, Qin, HAN & Tang are the four most famous dynasties with capital in my hometown Xi'An. I got my Mandarin name Zhouqin because of the Zhou & Qin dynasties connection.

Had my struggle again today. I failed the "Stress Test" before I even started. Those 15-letter blanks intimidate me.

Across:

18A: Took care of : SAW TO. My first fill of the grid.

19A: Shadow: UMBRA. Latin for "shade". Root word for umbrella.

20A: Gig component: AMP. This simple 3-letter answer stymies me all the time.

22A: Turner of music: IKE. Too bad it's not clued as " '50s nickname" to pair up with ETO (15D: WWII arena").

23A: Groovy toy?: SLOT CAR. The car runs on a groove.

27A: Knocks off: DEDUCTS. Not familiar with this slangy DEDUCT meaning of "knock off".

32A: Record for later: TIVO. Thought of TAPE first.

33A: Radar purchases?: NEHIS.

36A: Skip: OMIT

38A: "Young Frankenstein" lab assistant: INGA. No idea. Wanted IGOR/YGOR. Wikipedia says she's played by Teri Garr.

39A: Drawn things: LOTS. Draw lots.

40A: Monopoly deed sextet: RENTS. Any Monopoly related clue is a stumper to me.

42A: Corner: NOOK

43A: Agents of biochemical change: ENZYMES. Raw veggies/fruits are rich in ENZYMES, which help to break down protein. I like adding fresh pineapple to shrimps or other seafood I cook. Perfect combination.

45A: Contemporary of Lucille: IMOGENE. Big stumper. I need "Zany Coca" in the clue to get the answer.

47A: Me. summer setting: EDT. Shouldn't the letter e be capitalized (Maine)?

48A: Decimal meas.: CEN. No idea. Centimeter?

49A: Got to: IRKED. Is "get to" a slang?

52A: Lassie was rarely seen on one: LEASH. Clever clue. I suppose you can say that about most of the movie/TV dogs?

Down:

1D: Grunts: GIS. "Grunt" is slang for infantry solider. I should have got this one. We had so many Army/Marines/Navy/Air Force nickname discussions a few weeks ago.

2D: Lifesavers, for shorts: EMTS

3D: Plantation near Twelve Oaks: TARA. I like the line "I'll always have TARA" in "Gone with the Wind". Also like "We'll always have Paris" in "Casablanca".

4D: Plethora: SLEW

5D: Stickpin kin: TIE TAC. Thought it's TIE TACK.

6D: Place to put your dogs up?: OTTOMAN. "Dogs" is slang or "feet". I was picturing the real dogs.

7D: NBA scores: FTS (Free Throws). No idea. Not a basketball fan. Maybe you can give me a NBA scores 101 today.

8D: 1969 Peace Prize-winning agcy.: ILO. Sigh. I actually mentioned this Nobel Peace Prize trivia about ILO when it appeared in our puzzle some time ago. This morning I could only think of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières). They were awarded Nobel Peace in 1999.

9D: Ring leader?: REF. Boxing. Good clue.

10D: NYC hospital since 1858: ST LUKE'S. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says their Roosevelt Emergency Room is notable for being the site of John Lennon's death.

11D: Joined (with): TEAMED

12D: Comeback, perhaps: BARB. Another great clue. Not sufficient for me though. I definitely need an extra "biting" for hint.

13D: One who's often not himself?: APER. Did you get it immediately? I did not. Reminds me of Doug Peterson's wicked "Ape wrestlers" for GRAPPLE. Ape is a verb: "mimic".

14: Scotch partner: SODA. Like Gin and Tonic?

21D: Course admission requirement, perhaps: PRETEST. Not familiar with this term. We don't have PRETEST in our schools.

22D: Dumb: IDIOTIC. I feel dumb, not IDIOTIC though. I guess I don't want to be called an idiot. Dummy, yes.

23D: Ripped off: STOLE. Hmm, no more "It's a wrap". Kind of chiseled/sculpted face. Does she look pretty to you?

24D: Dance José: LIMON. No idea. Wikipedia says this guy was a pioneering modern dancer and choreographer. And his most famous dance is "The Moor's Pavane" (1949), based on Shakepeare's "Othello".

25D: Short-lived '90s Disney president: OVITZ (Michael). Unknown figure to me. His short lived tenure at Disney lasts 16 months. And he received $38 million in cash and $100 million in stock as a severance package. Unbelievable! Good job, Michael Eisner!

26D: Hotsy-__: TOTSY. High class hottie?

29D: Where standing is ill-advised: CANOE. What came to your mind first?

30D: "You don't __ Superman's cape": Jim Croce lyric: TUG ON. Unknown to me also. It's from the song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim".

31D: Quench: SLAKE

40D: Venison source: RED DEER. What's the matter with him? Such a desperate look. I wanted DEER MEAT.

41D: Place of refinement?: SMELTER. Sigh! I had trouble with this one.

44D: Lover's message: MEET ME. For some, it would be just "CALL ME".

46D: Bandit feature?: ONE-ARM. The slot machine. Or is it the bad guy in "The Fugitive"?

49D: Greek vowel: IOTA. Greek "i". I am used to the "Tiny amount" clue.

51D: Boater's unit: KNOT. No idea. What kind of unit? Anything to do with the rope?

53D: When Romeo spots Juliet: ACT I. Saw similar clue before.

54D: Large organ: SKIN. Holy moley, I've never thought of SKIN as organ.

55D: Blood: Pref: HEMA. Can you believe I forgot this prefix again? It appeared in our puzzle at least 3 times before. It's Greek for "blood".

56D: Semi-attached compartment?: CAB. Stumped. Semi refers to the 18-wheeler. Dictionary says CAB is "the covered or enclosed part of a locomotive, truck, crane, etc., where the operator sits."

57D: 2003 A.L. Cy Young Award winner Holladay: ROY. Gimme for any baseball fan. ROY Holladay is with Toronto Blue Jays. The 2004 & 2006 A.L. Cy Young is Johan Santana. I miss him a lot.

58D: NYSE ticker symbol changed to "T" in 1930: AT&T

59D: Every day article: THE. Nailed it immediately.

60D: V.P. Biden's state: DEL. My favorite Joe Biden quote is his comment on Rudy Guilian's sentence structure: "a noun, a verb and 9/11".

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday May 8, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: EY Drops

18A: One shivering atop Mount Arafat?: COLD TURK(ey)

19A: Tool in a Belfast bakery?: IRISH WHISK(ey)

33A: Desperate farmer's transaction?: FIELD HOCK(ey)

49A: Abbey resident in a rock 'n-roll musical?: GREASE MONK(ey)

53A: Serious Frisbee thrower?: DISC JOCK(ey)

Mount Arafat, where Noah's Ark landed, is in Turkey. I love the image IRISH WHISK evokes. Not familiar with the "pawn" meaning of HOCK. "Grease" is on my Netflix queue now. DISC JOCK tipped me off the theme. It was actually my first complete theme fill.

This grid has only 32 blocks & 70 words. Such a themeless clean look. So open in all the four corners. Dan Naddor mentioned that he always shoots for at least 20 entries of 6 letters or more in his puzzles. And in this grid, he has 21 alone in Across entries. And another 18 6-letter entries in the Down fills. So, total 39. Yesterday's puzzle, on the other hand, has lots lots of 4-letter entries (37 blocks & 78 words).

Several clever clues:

23A: Follower of Christ?: IAN. Christian. Nice change from IAN Fleming or IAN McKellen.

32A: The Boss's address?: E STREET. Bruce Springsteen's The E STREET Band. His nickname is "The Boss".

55D: Mo. named for the Roman god of doorways: JAN. Janus, the god who has 2 heads facing opposite direction. Very refreshing fill.

I had my normal Friday struggle. But I filled in lots of blanks and exceeded my expectation. So I am happy.

Across:

1A: ABCs: BASICS. Can't believe the first entry is so simple.

7A: Banter: REPARTEE

15A: Depth charge, slangily: ASHCAN. I did not know the meaning of "Depth charge". Is it somehow related to the ASHCAN school?

16A: Magnetite et al.: IRON ORES

17A: __ dream: optimist's philosophy: DARE TO. I was thinking of Cassandra's Dream.

21A: Vous, in Weimar.: SIE. No idea. I don't speak German. It's the formal "you". The informal one is Du (tu in French), How come there is no SIE or Du in "Ich liebe dich"?

22A: Pester for payment: DUN. Learned this word from my brother. He also calls potato "murphy".

26A: Polished: ELEGANT. I was thinking of a past tense verb.

31A: Houston team affiliated with the NHL's Minnesota Wild: AEROS. Have vaguely heard of this hockey team. Was unaware of the Wild connection though.

36A: Distant: FARAWAY

38A: Catcher with a pot: EELER. Ha ha, gimme. Dan Naddor clued EELS as "Fish caught in a pot" in his "Put a Lid on It" Sunday puzzle. But LAT website wrongly uploaded Merl Reagle's "TV shows I'd Like" that weekend.

42A: Actress Francis and others: ARLENES. Often clued as "Francis and Dahl".

43A: Military exercise: WAR GAME

45A: Sees: DATES. Oh, romantically. I thought of ESPY first.

48A: "Here __ Again" (Whitesnake #1 hit): I GO. All I remember about this video is Tawny Kitae. She was married to Chuck Finley for a few years.

57A: Dinner alternative: A LA CARTE. First time I saw a full A LA CARTE in a grid.

58A: Blush: REDDEN

59A: Allure: SEXINESS. Love the clue and the answer.

60A: Covers with crumbs: BREADS. These croquette are mouthwatering.

Down:

1D: "I wouldn't": BAD IDEA. Did not get it immedately.

2D: By and large: AS A RULE

3D: Red fez wearer: SHRINER. Why "red"? The guy on the right is wearing a black fez.

5D: Like the pope: Abbr.: CATH

6D: Strand at the chalet: SNOW IN

7D: Toxin found in castor beans: RICIN. I remember the castor oil plants my grandma had. Can't remember what she used the seeds for.

8D: Cupid's counterpart: EROS. Cupid's Greek counterpart, to be exact.

9D: President between Tyler and Taylor: POLK. His middle name is KNOX, which often appears in our crossword.

11D: Falderal: ROT. I did not know the meaning of "falderal".

12D: Bankruptcy court appointee: TRUSTEE. Love the clue, esp given the current economic situation. Aren't you curious about whom Bernie Madoff was trying to protect by being silent? Who is behind him?

14D: Glacial ridges: ESKERS. New word to me. Dictionary defines it as "a serpentine ridge of gravelly and sandy drift, believed to have been formed by streams under or in glacial ice." I think I will connect ESKER with ASKER.

20D: Monopoly token: HAT. No idea. I actually played Monopoly once. Don't remember the token HAT though.

24D: "Moon River" lyricist: MERCER (Johnny). Got his name from Across fills. Do you like "Breakfast at Tiffany's"?

25D: Pub container: ALE KEG

27D: Get off: GO FREE. Oh, not the DF slangy "Get off".

29D: Show to a seat, slangily: USH. If you say so.

30D: Pou __: vantage point: STO. Absolutely no idea. Dictionary says it's Greek for "where I may stand". And it's from the reputed saying of Archimedes, "Give me where I may stand and I will move the whole world with my steelyard." A place to stand upon; a locus standi; hence, a foundation or basis for operations.

32D: Big name in ice cream: EDY. Not EDY'S??

34D: Ram's ma'am: EWE. Lovely clue.

35D: Much of "Deck the Halls": LAS. The fa-la-la refrain. I drew a blank.

36D: Like some egos: FRAGILE. Thought of BLOATED, which has 7 letters also.

37D: Glazunov wrote a 1934 concerto for one: ALTO SAX. No idea. Have never heard of "Saxophone Concerto", Alexander Glazunov's last major work. He died soon after the premiere.

39D: The Dodgers retired his #2 in 1997: LASORDA. Tommy LASORDA is super-friendly in signing autographs. Somehow I thought #2 is Duke Snider, whose #4 jersey was retired by the Dodgers in 1980. I was way off.

41D: Figures: RECKONS

43D: "We Are Marshall" setting: Abbr.: W. VA. I confused "We Are Marshall" with Tommy "U.S. Marshals".

44D: Condense on a surface: ADSORB. Only knew ABSORB

46D: Rink fakes: DEKES. Learned this term from doing Xword.

49D: Bush battler: GORE (Al). Have you seen Kevin Spacey's "Recount"? Very fascinating to me, as I was not here when Bush battled GORE.

50D: IRS auditor's requests: RCTS. I am used to RCPT.

52D: Ancient Persian: MEDE. The area they lived in called Media/Medea.

54D: LXVII thrice: CCI. Roman 201.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Thursday May 7, 2009 Jack McInturff

Theme: HERD MENTALITY (57A: Pressure to conform, and a hint to the hidden word found in 20-, 27- and 51-Across)

20A: Ralph McInerny's priest/detective: FATHER DOWLING

27A: Place to order gefilte fish: KOSHER DELI

51A: Scarlett's last words: ANOTHER DAY

I only know bunker mentality. Have never heard of HERD MENTALITY. Is it like "peer pressure"?

FATHER DOWLING was a total stranger to me, so was the author Ralph McInerny. Cantonese love their fish balls. The cooking procedure is quite similar to that of gefilte fish.

Several good clues in this puzzle. My favorite is CTS (54A: Short change?) - short for CENTS. I was also very happy to see O'NEIL (66A: Negro league great Buck) in the grid. He was such a humble & classy guy. There was not even one iota of bitterness when he was rejected for Hall of Fame in 2006. I wonder why there is only one L in his surname. Tip O'Neill, Shaq O'Neill, (Note: I was wrong. It's Shaq O'Neal), Eugene O'Neill all have two L's.

Several trouble spots for me earlier. I was not very excited about the theme either. Somehow the old ennui started to settle in and possessed my thinking. I adored Jack McInturff's "IR-RI-tating" puzzle. It's more fun. And the SKIS clue (Street supplies?) is very unforgettable last time. I guess I need a stimulus shot. Oh well, as Scarlett said, "Tomorrow is ANOTHER DAY".

Across:

1A: Features of some notebooks: TABS. I was thinking of the notebook computers. What's the difference between a notebook and a laptop anyway?

5A: Van __, Calif.: NUYS. No idea. Wikipedia says the TV show "Beverly Hill 90210" was filmed on a set in Van NUYS. Strange name. Is it named after some Dutch guy?

9A: Like most acorns: OVOID. I wanted DRIED.

14A: Fumbling reaction: UH OH. BOOS came to my mind first. I did not get its crossing AHA (2D: "Of course") immediately. Wanted YES.

15A: One of Chekhov's "Three Sisters": OLGA. Literally "Holy". Easy guess. The other two sisters are: Masha & Irina. Cute little girls.

16A: Whinnying African: ZEBRA. Oh, I did not know ZEBRA's call is whinny.

17A: Kotter portrayer Kaplan: GABE. Not a familiar actor to me. Wikipedia says he is a professional poker player as well. I have never heard of the sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter".

19A: Winner over Alexander in 1804: AARON. I knew the result of Burr-Hamilton duel. Was unaware the reason though. Thought it's a fight for some woman.

23A: Console: SOOTHE. Verb.

26A: That's a moray: EEL. Moray EEL lives in tropical and subtropical seas. The freshwater eel is conger, or unagi when cooked. Delicious!

35A: Irish author Binchy: MAEVE. No idea. From Irish name Madb, literally "Intoxicating" or "she who intoxicates". So close to the purple color mauve. She wrote "Circle of Friends", which was later made into a movie starring Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver. Her face looks very familiar.

37A: It has a legend: MAP. Ah, I was stumped. Good one.

39A: "A literary device for saying almost everything about anything": Huxley: ESSAY. This clue feels so incomplete.

43A: Horned viper: ASP. Why horned? Where is the horn?

47A: "This __stickup": IS A. I would have got it immediately if the clue were "This ____ TEST" (45A: Try).

48A: __ were: AS IT. A new phrase to me. Sounds so weird: AS IT were. Can you make a sentence for me?

55A: Burt's costar in "The Killers": AVA (Gardner). Have never heard of "The Killers". It's based in part on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, says Wikipedia.

56A: Port ENE of Cleveland, O.: ERIE, PA. Why O instead of OH?

61A: First toothbrush to go to the moon: ORAL-B. Good to know this trivia (1969, Apollo 11).

67A: Deco notable: ERTE. In case you missed last time, his real name is Romain de Tiroff. ERTE is the French pronunciation of his initials R.T.

68A: Largest known dwarf planet: ERIS. New to me. ERIS is always clued as "Greek goddess of discord" in our old puzzle.

Down:

1D: Harbor vessel: TUG. Just learned yesterday that VAS is a prefix for vessel, as in vasectomy, "ec" is "out of", "tomy" means "cutting, incision". There you have it, vas-ec-tomy, ouch!

3D: Choreographer with nine Tonys: BOB FOSSE. The "Cabaret" director. Amazing, 9 Tonys.

4D: Sword holder: SHEATH. The verb is sheathe.

5D: Unlikely protagonist: NONHERO. Like whom? I did not really understand this answer when it's clued exactly the same last time.

6D: Peter Fonda role: ULEE. "ULEE's Gold".

7D: Lab assistant in a 1939 film: YGOR. Oh, I always thought it's spelled as IGOR.

9D: Conductor Seiji: OZAWA. Gosh, how come I can never remember his name? He was born in Shenyang, China when it's under Japanese occupation. Many people thought Pearl Buck was born in China. She was not. Her family moved there when she was a baby. Chinese was her first language though.

10D: Baby beef?: VEAL. I was half-awake I guess. I wrote down CALF first.

11D: Leno's successor-to-be: O'BRIEN (Conan). He will be the host of "The Tonight Show" on June 1, 2009.

12D: One with pressing duties?: IRONER. Nailed it without any hesitation. Saw identical clue somewhere before.

13D: Hang loosely: DANGLE

21D: Doctors' works: THESES. Plural of thesis. I was thinking of the real doctors, not Ph. D candidates.

22D: Mixed bag: OLIO

23D: Take from the top: SKIM. Not fond of the clue. TAKE is an answer for 63A: Grab.

24D: O'Neill's daughter: OONA. Did Chaplin cheat on her while they were married?

29D: Love poetry Muse: ERATO

30D: "__ on me": IT'S. Kept thinking LEAN on me.

34D: "Great" tzar: PETER I. I only knew him as PETER the Great (1672-1725). He westernized Russia and transformed the Russian tzardom into Russian Empire.

40D: Spot for a garden: SIDE YARD. None of these flowers attracts me.

41D: "Pronto": ASAP. The medical ASAP is STAT.

46A: Basic need: SHELTER. I thought of BREATHE. It has 7 letters also.

48D: Blessing evokers: ACHOOS. I like last time's "Cold burst?" clue. I also like Rich Norris's "Polar outbust?" for BRR.

49D: Canned heat: STERNO. Not a familiar brand name to me. How do you use it?

50D: Sabra's home: ISRAEL. I forgot what/who Sabra is. Last time SABRA was clued as "Native Israeli". It's literally "prickly pear". A person who immigrates to ISRAEL is called OLEH (masculine) or OLAH (feminine).

52D: 1598 edict city: NANTES. Edict of NANTES.

53D: Cowboy singer TEX: RITTER. Father of John RITTER.

58D: MDCLXII÷III: DLIV. 1662/3=554. So proud that I got the answer. Took me 2 minutes to calculate. What can I say? I am slow.

59D: Container weight: TARE. What is the other 4-letter word very similar to TARE? Also weight related. It appears in Xword often also.

60D: __ de vente: bill of sale: ACTE. Not familiar with "ACTE de vente". I do know vente is "sale" in French though.

64D: Rio or Rondo: KIA. The Korean hanja 起亞 (KIA) means "Rising out of Asia". The same characters in Chinese. KI is "rising", A is "Asia".

65D: Shaky start?: ESS. The start of "Shaky" is letter S.

Answer grid.

C.C.

PS: Our fellow solver Carl V sent me this wonderful famous people painting link.

Wednesday May 6, 2009 Mike Peluso

Theme: GALLERY (43D: Anagram of 54-Across's ending that can follow the first word of 20-, 30-, 40-, and 54-Across)

20A: "Kids Say the Darndest Things!" author: ART LINKLETTER

33A: Congressional bone of contention: NATIONAL DEBT

40A: Decide to prosecute: PRESS CHARGES

54A: Food reaction shared by about 3 million Americans: PEANUT ALLERGY

Does NATIONAL GALLERY refer to National Gallery of Art? I did not know that the place occupied by those press corps is called PRESS GALLERY. Always thought it's just press room or press briefing room. Wikipedia says US Senate established its first PRESS GALLERY in 1841. And the White House did not designate a press room until 1902.

PEANUT ALLERGY is a very creative theme entry, with the anagram ending and a word that can precede GALLERY. Peanut is actually not a nut. It belongs to the legume family. I vaguely remember a teenager died after kissing her boyfriend who had been eating peanut butter. Milk, egg and wheat can be life-threatening to some. Many don't tolerate soy/fish/shellfish and other tree nuts. Those eight food account for about 90% of all food allergies.

Once I had a tuna sandwich and I reacted severely. The doctor could not tell whether it's the tuna or wheat that caused my problem.

Smooth sailing this morning. I think I like puzzles with a simple 4 theme entries. Dan Naddor's heavy themage puzzles are awe-inspiring. But they overwhelm me. I guess they are for advanced solvers. This constructor Mike Peluso seems to be fond of word preceding/following theme pattern. Remember his last CAPE grid?

Across:

1A: Underworld VIPS: DONS. I was thinking of Hades' underworld, not the criminal mafia's underworld. I like how it crosses OMERTA (2D: Last book in Puzo's "Godfather" trilogy). The trilogy consists of "The Godfather", "The Last Don" and "OMERTA" (published after he died.) OMERTA, of course, is also the Mafia code of silence. I also like Puzo's "The Sicilian". So good. It's regarded by some as the literary sequel of "The Godfather".

5A: Bench warms: B TEAM

14A: Radiate: EMIT. Thought of BEAM first.

15A: Emmy winner on her 19th try: LUCCI (Susan). She looks very pretty. Beautiful skin. She said she snacks on sardine, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. I don't buy her secret though. I tried, it did not work on me.

16A: Guadalajara bread: PESO. Bread is slang for money. I don't think it can fool anyone any more.

17A: City on the Truckee: RENO. I kind of like the "Splitville" clue in our puzzle last time.

23A: "In my opinion...": I THINK. Descartes actually wrote "Je pense donc je suis" before he stated the Latin "cogito ergo sum".

24A: Raise canines?: TEETHE. I was trapped by "canines" again.

28A: Well-bred: GENTEEL. Like Jackie. She did not think "there are any men who are faithful to their wives". I bet every man has been unfaithful to their wife at some time. No? Have you always been faithful to your wife?

32A: Pirate's quaff: RUM. Oh, is it pirate's preferred drink? Not ALE?

38A: Clock-setting std.: GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

39A: Tracy's Trueheart: TESS. Learned from doing Xword. I like her surname Trueheart, I also like Ada Lovelace.

46A: Uncomfortable spot: HOT SEAT. Aren't you glad you are not A-Rod right now?

49A: Busy pro in April: CPA. I think Doug Peterson is a CPA.

50A: "Boston Legal" actor: SPADER (James). I like him in "The Pentagon Papers".

52A: Atoll encloser: LAGOON. Wikipedia says the word atoll was popularized by Charles Darwin.

58A: Phoenix suburb: MESA. Did you know MESA was founded by Mormon pioneers?

60A: Suffix with hippo-: DROME. Hippodrome is a new word to me. Hippo is from Greek, meaning "horse", like Latin prefix "equi" I suppose. DROME is a combining form meaning “running,” “course,” “racecourse”, says Dictionary.com.

61A: Mower-making giant: TORO. It's based here in MN.

63A: Western: OATER. Occident popped into my mind immediately.

64A: Shortly: ANON. Archaic word, right?

Down:

1D: Foil, as a plan: DERAIL

3D: Jazzy intervals: NINTHS. New definition to me. I only knew the baseball NINTH inning.

4D: Popular vodka, familiarly: STOLI. I've never had STOLI, have you? How about some CORONA (47D: Beer served with a lime)?

5D: Pancake, when holding a sausage: BLANKET. Pig in a BLANKET. Learned this food from Dr. Dad a year ago. This is Cantonese style. The sausage is sweet, so is the bun.

6D: Plastic surgery procedure: TUCK. The answer revealed itself. I've never heard of tummy TUCK or any other TUCK surgery.

7D: Green sci.: ECOL (Ecology)

9D: Herbal beverage: MINT TEA

10D: Binge: SPREE

11D: Partridge's home: PEAR TREE. My husband writes "The Twelve Day of Christmas" for his bowling column every year. I've never been amused. I don't know. Many times I don't understand the fun.

13D: Barber's challenge: MOP. No idea. Why challenge? Hard to cut?

25D: O'Hare and JFK: HUBS

26D: Initial response team, initially : EMTS. Needs "briefly" as hint. (Note: My bad. I did not notice "initially" earlier).

29D: When bats fly: NIGHT. I always want to add a prepositon (at) to this kind of fill.

30D: Inquisitor __ de Torquemada: TOMAS. No idea. Wikipedia says this guy spearheaded the Spanish Inquisition. TOMAS is Spanish for Thomas, right?

31D: __nous: ENTRE. "Between us". Debra Ollivier titled her book as ENTRE nous. Quite interesting read.

33D: Bahamas airport code: NAS. No idea. Maybe the rapper NAS knows. It's the code name for Nassau Interntional Airport.

34D: Sot's shake: DTS. DT is Delirium Tremens.

35D: Bldg. units: APTS

36D: Golf lesson subject: GRIP. Just had STANCE the other day. What next? Posture? Here are some simple tips on GRIP. It's actually not that easy to have a light grip pressure.

37D: Gets worse after getting better: RELAPSES

41D: Old Mets home: SHEA. Mets are now playing at Citi Field now. What's the name of that bridge on their logo? Here is my favorite METS player (Johan Santana).

42D: Deep-fried frank: CORN DOG. Have never had a CORN DOG before.

44D: List ender: ET AL

48D: "Fiddler on the Roof" fear: POGROM. I like "Fiddler on the Roof" a lot.

49D: Memorable repeated question by the economics teacher (played by Ben Stein" in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"): ANYONE. All right, forward to 0:48. Probably the longest clue I've ever seen in a LAT puzzle so far. I like it.

51D: Meted (out): DEALT

53D: Insinuate: GET AT. New phrase to me.

55D: River to the Caspian: URAL. See this map. The one on the right is the shrinking Aral Sea.

56D: Dorothy's dog: TOTO. Surprising. "The Wizard of Oz" is listed as #3 Top Musicals in Ameria.

57D: NAFTA part: Abbr.: AMER

59D: Outer: Pref.: EXO. "Inner: prefix" is ENTO.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Tuesday May 5, 2009 David W. Cromer

Theme: Of Course!

17A: Golfer's java-dispensing target?: CUP OF COFFEE

62A: Drawing of the area next to the fairway?: ROUGH SKETCH

11D: Mound near a sand trap?: BUNKER HILL

29D: Really large putting surface? GREEN ACRE

Ha ha, no water hazard! Wish there were a TEE though. From TEE to GREEN, "Golf is a good walk spoiled", as scoffed by Mark Twain.

I am more used to aiming at the "hole" rather than at the "CUP". Cute clue for 17A though. I like the consistency of all the theme entries, all placed at the very beginning.

More bonus golf fills:

46A: Golfer's position: LIE. Tough to hit a good shot when the ball lies below your feet.

28D: Golfer's choice: IRON. I started golfing with my 7-IRON.

53D: Golf legend Walter: HAGEN. Gimme. I read some tidbits about him, Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen in various Jack Nicklaus' books. He was the first American to win British Open. And he had 11 major wins, just behind Jack (14) and Tiger (18). He was also very flamboyant, so unlike Ben Hogan, who was such a mysterious & secretive loner.

I did mis-hit a few shots though. The worst club in my bag definitely is my brain.

Across:

1A: Cab fare calculator: METER. Nailed it immediately. Spectacular start at the upper left corner for me this morning.

6A: Old saw: ADAGE. "Saw" means maxim/ADAGE.

3A: Jazz style: BOP. Learned from doing Xword. I don't really know what BOP/bebop is.

15A: ___ dance: BELLY. Look at Shakira's abs. Her father is of Lebanese descent. Guess that's how she loves BELLY dancing.

16A: Game with Skip and Reverse cards: UNO. Obtained the answer from down fills. Is it really the world's #1 family card game? Or just a wordplay on numbero UNO?

19A: "If I ruled the World" rapper: NAS. Learned his name from doing Xword. Can't stand rap.

20A: Woman with a habit?: SISTER. Good clue.

25A: Distance runners: MILERS. COE is often clued as "Miler Sebastian".

27A: "Who cares?": BIG DEAL

30A: Sesame Street grouch: OSCAR. The trash can muppet. Schindler of "Schindler's List" is OSKAR.

31A: Discount rack abbr.: IRR

34A: Dispenser of theater programs: USHER. Wonder why USHER's parents named him USHER.

39A: Curved sword: SABER. OK, it's curved, too-edged too.

41A: What to do just before the surprise party starts: HIDE. Not if the party is for me.

42A: Calendario page: ENERO. January. Caldendario is Spanish for calendar. I did not get the answer immediately.

44A: Stunning weapon: TASER. Love the clue.

47A: Guitar parts: NECKS. See this picture. Strange defintion of heel.

49A: Detected, as a rat?: SMELLED. Nailed it immediately.

51A: Cascades peak: SHASTA. Is it a Native Indian word? What's the meaning of SHASTA then?

53A: Port-au-Prince's country: HAITI. Just learned that French is HAITI's official language. I thought they speak Spanish.

54A: Bodybuilder's pride, briefly: PECS. Has anyone seen Gerard Butler's "300"? Incredible body, all those Sparta soldiers.

57A: Command used when creating a new file name: SAVE AS

64A: "__ Got a Secret": I'VE. Easy guess. Have never heard of this TV game show.

65A: Nurse, vis--à-vis medication: DOSER. Is DOSER a common word?

67A: Avignon article: LES. Like "LES Misérables", Dennis' favorite musical. I think he only likes Susan Bolye's voice though.

Down:

1D: Apples with screens: MACS. I am a PC person. This kind of apple clue can't fool anybody now.

2D: Needle case: ETUI. Will Nediger clued ETUI as "Notions holder" last time. I like that clue better.

6D: Blood classification letters: ABO. Has anyone tried Blood Type Diet? Scroll down and see which food you should allow/avoid in your daily diet. I am a type O, and I can't give up cauliflower.

7D: Skim, as soup: DEFAT. Oh, it's a real word.

8D: __ Romeo: sports car: ALFA. Learned this name when Kazie suggested ALFA Romeo for a possible ROMEO clue in late March. They belong to Fiat now, according to Wikipedia.

12D: Studio sign: ON AIR

13D: Internet forum messages: POSTS. "Blog messages" too. By the way, what are your favorite movies? Come to the Comments section and share with us. I like "The Godfather" (I & III), "Major League" & "Cold Mountain".

22D: Symbol after "Http:": SLASH

24D: Soccer player's shoes: CLEATS

26D: Post-op section: ICU. Reminds me of my SKIS ("Street supplies?") confusion last time. I was not familiar with the Olympic skier Picabo Street. Buckeye later joked that she made a large contribution to a Denver hospital, and they named a wing after her. And the wing is called "Picabo, ICU".

27D: Light meal: BITE

30D: Ukrainian port: ODESSA. Interesting. I did not know all city names in Greek/Latin are feminine.

33D: Org. for Bucks and Bulls: NBA. Alliteration again.

35D: Pop singer Brickell: EDIE. Paul Simon's wife. What song is she famous for?

36D: Sax or oboe: REED. Only learned this morning that saxophone is named after its Beligum inventor Adophe Sax.

38D: Bride's purchase: DRESS. Katherine Heigl's "27 Dresses" is pretty silly. This is her famous thong bikini shot (0:18).

40D: Careless: REMISS

45D: Hollywood do-overs: RETAKES

48D: Explosion sound: KABOOM. I like this fill.

50D: Horse stable: LIVERY. Got the answer from across fills. I've never heard of "livery stable" before. Dictionary defines it as "a stable that boards horses and keeps horses and carriages for hire."

51D: Go bad: SPOIL

52D: Throw with strain: HEAVE

58D: Harrow rival: ETON. Both Churchill and Nehru are Harrow graduates.

59D: Elec. designation: AC/DC. Or the rock band name.

60D: "__ Gotta Have It": Spike Lee film: SHE'S. Another easy guess. Have never heard of this film. What a strange blurb: A Seriously Sexy Comedy.

63D: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., e.g.: HRS. Just saw Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" the other day. Very silly too.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Monday May 4, 2009 Gia Christian

Theme: B All You Can B

17A: Excellent performance: BANG-UP JOB

29A: Sci. class where many an "Eeuw!" is heard: BIO LAB

46A: Bill for what you drink: BAR TAB

62A: Satan: BEELZEBUB

11D: Betray by bad-mouthing: BACK STAB

39D: Angels or Dodgers: BALL CLUB

Another puzzle from our editor Rich Norris. Gia Christian is his alias name, anagram of "Again It's Rich".

There are total 16 letter B's (NY Times' record is 20) in this puzzle. And 1 Z, 1 J, 1 X and 5 K's. Quite impressive for a Monday puzzle.

I've never heard of BANG-UP referred to as "excellent". Argyle said the related words are: bully (?), corking (?), cracking, dandy and great.

My favorite fill today: KIBITZ (41D: Be a nuisance at the card game). I just learned this word a few weeks ago and I was able to nail it in one try. Quality word, very scrabbly.

Argyle co-blogged today's post with me. He will blog here alone next Monday.

Across:

5A: Beatnik's "I understood": I DIG. Whom exactly does a beatnik refer to?

9A: "I goofed": MY BAD. Can you imagine Shakespeare saying "MY BAD" to Anne Hathaway?

15A: The Beatles' "Love __": ME DO. Here is the clip.

16A: Italian violin maker: AMATI. Joshua Bell used his expensive STRAD for the famous subway incognito performance. Antonio Stradivari is a student of Nicolo AMATI.

19A: Big name in precision blades: X-ACTO. New brand name to me. Argyle said it's used by model makers everywhere.

20A: Dangerous household gas: RADON. Dictionary says it can cause lung cancer.

21A: Perp's excuse: ALIBI. Argyle is not OK with this clue.

23A: Author Kesey: KEN. He wrote "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

24A: Winter fisherman's tool: ICE SAW. Is it electric? (Argyle said: bar, auger, yes. Saw, no. Saws are used to harvest ice blocks.)

26A: Out of kilter: AMISS

33A: Germany's von Bismarck: OTTO. He originated "Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." Just learned the other day that OTTO has a "Wealth/Rich" root in German.

41A: Skewered meal: KABOB. Have never used KABOB alone. Always shish KABOB.

47A: Concorde, e.g.: SST. SuperSonic Transport. It's clued as "By gone boomers" in a NYT puzzle in March.

50A: Academy trainee: PLEBE. First year student. Thought of CADET first.

54A: The Big Apple, initially: NYC

55A: Eurasian range: URALS. The mountain range between Asia and Europe.

59A: Flourless cake: TORTE. This TORTE does have flour.

60A: Conger catcher. EELER. Rather ugly.

64A: Handles roughly: MAULS

66A: Old Bologna bucks: LIRE. Or LIRA.

67A: Round trip?: ORBIT. Great clue.

68A: Revue component: SKIT

Down:

1D: Rubble: DEBRIS

2D: Newton and Stern: ISAACS. A mathematician/physicist and a Jewish violin virtuoso.

3D: Smoothing tool: SANDER. Have never seen a SANDER in person.

4D: Science fiction award: HUGOS. Named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stores, according to Wikipeida. And the awards have been presented since 1955. See HUGO Awards logo. It has a rocket.

5D: Babysitter's handful: IMP. Little Beelzebub? I was thing of TOY.

6D: __ vu: DEJA. Opposite of "jamais vu". And the last vu is "presque vu".

8D: Desert largely in Mongolia: GOBI. True. It has a large presence inside China too (the Inner Mongolia autonomous region). We call GOBI Desert as "Gebi Shamo". Shamo is literally "desert" in Chinese.

9D: A stitch in time..." is one: MAXIM

10D: Vocalist Sumac: YMA. Just learned that her stage name means "beautiful flower/girl".

12D: Vouch for: ATTEST TO

13D: Singer Celine: DION. I like "The Power of Love".

18D: Lacking what it takes: UNABLE

22D: Eater of puréed peas: BABY

25D: Nintendo game system: WII. It competes with Microsoft's Xbox360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, according to Wikipedia.

27D: Dubuque native: IOWAN. Got the answer. Don't understand why the constructor singles out Dubuque.

32D: Put on __: pretend: AN ACT

34D: Tout's hangout, briefly: OTB (Off-Track Betting)

35D: Eagle's nest: AERIE. 80% vowels in this word.

38D: 2012 is the next one: LEAP YEAR

43D: "Ten-four" speaker: CBER. "Ten-four" is OK in CB talk.

44D: "Krazy" comics feline: KAT. That KAT was a real kard.

47D: Belgrade's country: SERBIA. Kosovo is part of SERBIA, isn't it?

48D: Ringed planet: SATURN. Ringed indeed.

49D: Host who expects you to answer his answer: TREBEK (Alex). This is Jeopardy!

51D: Explode: BURST

53D: Carols: NOELS

54D: Verne captain: NEMO. Has anyone read Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea"?

56D: First grade basics: ABCS

57D: Faucet problem: LEAK

58D: 18-wheeler: SEMI

61D: Connecticut Ivy Leaguer: ELI. Yale University is founded by Eli Yale.

Answer grid.

Arygle & C.C.

Sunday May 3, 2009 Gail Brabowski

Theme: Torn Fabric

23A: As it was formerly known, channel with the slogan "play every day": GAME SHOW NETWORK (Mesh)

32A: "Enough": THAT WILL DO (Twill)

43A: Waldo of kids' books, e.g.: HIDDEN IMAGE (Denim)

60A: Couldn't rush at rush hour: SAT IN TRAFFIC (Satin)

82A: "That used to be the cases": NOT ANY LONGER (Nylon)

96A: It can be seen from the Seine: EIFFEL TOWER (Felt)

103A: Safe bronzing product: SPRAY-ON TAN (Rayon)

123A: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, e.g.: ONLINE NEWSPAPER (Linen)

Another smooth puzzle from Gail Grabowski. Very creative theme and great theme title. Out of those 8 long theme answers, I have never heard of Game Show Network. I only watch a bit of news and ball games every day. I faintly remember that the Seattle Post - Intelligencer went totally online in March. ONLINE NEWSPAPER is my favorite theme entry. It's topical. And I like the unexpected hidden LINEN fabric.

I thought all fabrics are all natural, you know, cotton, linen, satin/silk, mesh, twill, felt, etc. Nylon, rayon are man-made. I guess I am wrong.

I imagine Ms. Grabowski has a very pretty vegetable garden: tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans and various herbs. But I don't believe she grows or likes lima beans. Nobody ever calls lima beans LIMAS alone (64A: Succotash staples).

Someone asked last time what a cheater/helper square is. In today's grid, the single black square on the upper right corner (directly above NERO (22D: Fictional sleuth Wolfe) and lower left corner (directly below SPCA (103D: Gp. advocating adoption) are two examples. They are used to shorten fills (thus eliminate obscure answers) without increasing the word count.

Across:

1A: Dance floor flasher: STROBE. Is anyone a Phish fan?

14A: Big name in hotels: RITZ. Reminds me of PUT ON THE DOG last time. I wanted PUT ON THE RITZ.

16A: Biblical landfall: ARARAT. Noah's Ark landed on Mount ARARAT.

20A: Farm eatery?: LEA. Excellent clue.

21A: 2000s scandal subject: ENRON. My ENRON golf balls are not worth much.

26A: "The Cider House Rules" Oscar winner: CAINE (Michael). Unknown to me. Not familiar with the movie.

27A: Name to a position: APPOINT

28A: Gauguin's retreat: TAHITI. Here is Gauguin's "Two Women on the Beach" once again.

30A: Defeat: LOSS. Thought the clue was asking for a verb.

34A: Marine predator: ORCA. The killer whale.

42A: Cutter's cousin: SLOOP. Both Single-masted.

47A: Took the role of: ACTED AS

52A: Legal hurdle: BAR EXAM. And PRE-LAW (112A: Future litigator's study)

54A: Mil. bigwigs: GENS

55A: Olympics cheer: USA. Wanted OLE.

56A: Flimsy: LAME

57A: Platte River settler: OTO. "Prefix for ear" as well.

58A: Some e-mail receiver: PDAS. Wish I had some Research in Motion (the Blackberry manufacturer) stock.

63A: Candied veggie: YAM

66A: Yukon, e.g.: Abbr.: TERR. I was thinking of Yukon gold potato.

67A: Tiny arachnids: MITES. And GNAT (116D: Itty-bitty biter).

68A: Crew members: OARSMEN. Helsmen too.

70A: Broadway "Music Man" portrayer Robert: PRESTON. No idea. Wikipedia says he was in the film musical as well.

78A: Site of many styles: SALON. D'oh, hairstyle.

86A: Time alert: DING. Not fond of the clue, as ALERT is the answer for 106D: On one's toes.

87A: Short flight: HOP

88A: "Bonanza" brother: ADAM. Easy guess.

89A: Strauss's "__ Heldenleben": EIN. Stumped. It's literally "A Heroic Life".

90A: Lambaste: SLAM

92A: Rub the right way: MASSAGE. I love this clue.

94A: Hard to dispute, as a theory: TENABLE

98A: Select group: A-LIST. Wanted ELITE.

101A: Ben-Gurion Airport is its hub: EL AL. Hebrew for "skyward".

108A: Watch for cops, e.g.: ABET

113D: Intending: AIMING

117A: Seasonal dancing center?: MAYPOLE. No idea. Dictionary says people dance around the MAYPOLE during May Day celebration. Must be in Europe then.

128A: More chilling: EERIER

129A: Corpse sniffer of film: ASTA. "The Thin Man" dog.

131A: Web page stats: HITS

132A: Celtic rivals: LAKERS. Is it because last year's playoff? Why not "Clippers' rival"? Both of them are based in LA after all.

Down:

1D: Major account: SAGA. Love the clue. Last time our editor clued it as "Big account".

2D: Spider web, say: TRAP. "Golf hazard" too. There seems to be a golf term in every LAT puzzle. Rich Norris is a golfer. Today it's STANCE (99D: Golf lessons subject).

3DL Cloverleaf part: RAMP

4D: Cakesters brand: OREO. Holy moley, have never heard OREO Cakesters. Looks tasty.

5D: Herb garden herb: BASIL. The only herb I use is chives.

6D: Prefix with centric: ETHNO. Ethnocentric is a new word to me. I do know ETHNO is a prefix for culture though.

8D: Blogger's indulgence: RANT

9D: It might be harebrained: IDEA. Love this clue too.

11D: Slow-moving critters: SLOTHS. Penned in SNAILS first.

12D: Lofty: AERIAL. New definition of AERIAL to me. Can I say "It's an AERIAL goal"?

13D: Jabber: YAK

14D: Expense report need: RECEIPT

15D: Counting everything: IN ALL

16D: Warble: TRILL

17D: Subdivided: ZONED. Got the answer with Across help.

24D: NFL fifth quarters: OTS. Or "MLB 10th-inning".

25D: "The noblest frailty of the mind": Shadwell: WIT. Again, obtained the answer with Across help. I was not familiar with his line "And WIT's the noblest frailty of the mind".

29D: Like many families: TWO-CAR. Are you OK with the clue?

33D: Pub proposal: TOAST

34D: "I can hardly wait!": OH BOY

35D: Gaucho's lasso: RIATA. The ranch in "Giant" is REATA.

36D: Circ. info holder: CD-ROM

37D: Stock add-on: ADE. Stockade.

41D: Group meeting in the Palais du Luxembourg: SENAT. I did not know French Senate meet in the Palais du Luxembourg. I thought of NATO, whose members actually meet in Brussels.

44D: Clarify: EXPLAIN

45D: Bottom point: NADIR

48D: Small and sprightly: ELFIN. Can't get PIXIE out of my mind.

49D: Bonkers: DAFT

50D: Nice friend: AMIE. Nice is the French city.

55D: Like suspicious e-mail, usually: UNREAD. My first response: JUNKED.

59D: Biblical lion wrestler: SAMSON. Samsonite is named after this Biblical strongman.

68D: "Dreams From My Father" memoirist: OBAMA. See the bookcover.

69D: Track long shots: NAGS. What a shocking performance by Mine That Bird at the Derby yesterday. I picked No Where to Hide, but he turned out to be a No Where to Be Found.

71D: Icky stuff: SLIME

72D: Harmonic and melodic: TONAL. Mandarin Chinese/Cantonese are TONAL too. Cantonese has 9 tones, Mandarin 4.

73D: Gray area?: Abbr.: ANAT. Why?

74D: Valuable vein: LODE

77D: Ruckus: MELEE

79D: It's a wrap: SHAWL. Last time SARI was clued as "It's a wrap".

80D: Subject of Randy Wyatt's play "Synonymy": ROGET. Easy guess. Have never heard of the play. Did not know who Randy Wyatt is.

81D: Mimics: APERS

83D: Cowardly: YELLOW. Did not know YELLOW is slang for "cowardly". I actually thought cowardly is an adverb.

84D: '60s protest: LIE-IN. Like what John Lennon and Yoko ONO did?

85D: Epitome of thinness: RAIL. Really RAIL thin.

91D: Juilliard deg.: MFA. Master of Fine Art I presume. Why single out "Juilliard"?

95D: It includes Napa and Sonoma counties: BAY AREA. Unknown trivia to me. San Francisco is a lovely city.

97D: Southernmost of the 48 sts.: FLA

100D: Watched from behind: TAILED

104D: "The Devil Wears __": PRADA. Fun movie. Anna Wintour herself loves the film.

105D: Bank takebacks: REPOS

107D: Abbr. between a first and last name, maybe: NMI (No Middle Initial)

109D: Upscale auto: BMW. Just found out that BMW now owns Rolls-Royce.

111D: Very competitive: TYPE A. I was thinking of a normal adjective. Tricky clue. Dennis is a TYPE A, don't you think so?

114D: Foot part: INCH

115D: Radar's soda: NEHI. Learned from doing Xword. I've never had NEHI. Wikipedia says it's a a brand of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group now.

118D: Find a space: PARK

119D: Bee's charge?: OPIE. The Mayberry kid. This has become a gimmie to me. Ron Howard is so talented.

120D: Unwelcome eyeful: LEER. No LEER/OGLE wobbling this time.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday May 2, 2009 Alan Olschwang

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 72

Read Alan Olschwang interview if he is new to you.

From time to time, I do miss Mr. Olschwang's weekly quip/quote puzzle. Don't you? There is a certain wit and warmth in his work. I will never forget his "Play Ball" TMS puzzle. He placed each ball player in their proper diamond position in the grid. Very impressive.

I was so happy to see his byline this morning. And I had a fantastic start. Filled in the long 17A and the intersecting ACHOO (3D: Cold burst?) immediately and with authority. Didn't we just have a similar ACHOO clue in LAT? Or I might have seen it in Paul's "Clever Clue of the Month" prelims shortlist.

There are eight 9-letter words in the grid, two in each quadrant, none has the annoying RE, ER, EST, ED, ING affix as our old puzzles did. And I like the four 15-letter fills. 58A was an unknown to me:

17A: Where many strings are pulled: BEHIND THE SCENES

27A: Fall opportunities for high school seniors: EARLY ADMISSIONS

58A: Former Boer republic: ORANGE FREE STATE

8D: Classic ghost story: A CHRISTMAS CAROL

I did encounter pockets of trouble later on. But I had fun penning in and then wite-outing my reckless guesses. I am definitely getting better dealing with Rich Norris. His mind can't be as deep as ... hmm... existentialism.

Across:

1A: The Pleiades' Alcyone, for one: GIANT STAR. Easy guess. I've never heard of the Alcyone Star. Wikipedia says it's in the constellation Taurus. About 440 light years from earth. And it's the brightest in the Pleisades open cluster. It's named after the mythological figure Alcyone, one of the mythological Pleiades. I don't know the heck what I just wrote.

10A: Bag opening?: DOGGY. Good clue.

15A: Touching base: IN CONTACT

16A: Dull thing, in slang: SNORE. Oh really? I did not know this. I do lots of SNORES every day then, including soaking our morning glory seeds earlier.

19A: Street address: BRO. Clever clue. Definitely trickier than the direct "Address in the 'hood". And MADAM (32A: Polite title).

22A: Shellac: STOMP. And TROMP (53A: Shellac). I like the pair.

25A: Turbulent waters: RIPS. New definition to me. Last time RIP was clued as "Fiber flaw".

27A: German aviation pioneer Lilienthal: OTTO. The German Glider King. New name to me also. Wow, OTTO is not Auto, but "wealth" in German.

29A: Like some felonies: CLASS A. The most severe felony, right? Imprison for life penalty.

31A: China biggie: SPODE. Named after the English potter Josiah SPODE. I knew immediately the clue is asking for porcelain, but I forgot the brand name. It appeared in our puzzle before.

34A: Branch headquarters?: TREES. Nailed the answer in a NY second.

36A: Inflate: PAD. Did not come to me readily.

40A: Cotillion honoree: DEB. Forgot the meaning of "Cotillion".

41A: Making a crossing: ASEA. Obtained the answer with Down fill help. My first thought was XING.

42A: Sense of style: TASTE. She had style.

43A: Flash: GLINT

45A: Often-allergic attack: ASTHMA. The th in Isthmus is silent too. Both are of Greek origins.

47A: This, in Toledo: ESTO

48A: Not pizzicato: ARCO. No idea. It means "With a bow. Used chiefly as a direction to indicate the resumption of bowing after a pizzicato passage." And dictionary defines pizzicato as "played by plucking the strings with the finger instead of using the bow, as on a violin". So one is with bow (ARCO), the other not.

49A: Battle of Endor fighters of film: EWOKS. Finally I remembered this Star Wars character. Endor is the forested moon EWOKS live.

55A: Ernst contemparary: ARP (Jean). Max Ernst & Jean ARP. Dadaism pioneers.

57A: Chem. unit: MOL. No idea. Molecular?

62A: Out of, as work: NOT AT. Hmm, NOT AT work does not equal "Out of work" to me.

63A: It's pitched at a stake: HORSESHOE. Struggled again. HORSESHOE related clue and answer always give me troubles.

64A: Dreams, to some: OMENS. Yes, indeed, "to some". What's the strangest dream you've ever had? I had an encounter with Phil Mickelson in my dream one night, after his 2004 Masters.

65A: Like an imposition: A LOT TO ASK. I got the answer with down fill help.

Down:

1D: Pop singing brothers from the Isle of Man: GIBBS. What's the origin of their band name The Bee Gees? I did not know they are from the Isle of Man.

2D: Like some gases: INERT

4D: "There's __ in team": NO I. Michael Jordan originated this quote.

6D: Ave. levels: STDS

7D: Chitlins might be cooked with 'em: TATERS. Another guess. I don't know what "chitlins" is. Looks awful.

10D: U.S. Army medal: DSCS. DSC is Distinguished Service Cross. I forgot what's the difference between DSC and DSM (Distinguished Service Medal). Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration.

11D: Like some grounders: ONE HOP. Joe Mauer homered at his first bat (season debut) last night. Awesome!

12D: Ruined: GONE TO POT. New idiom to me.

13D: Scooby-Doo, for one: GREAT DANE. I did not know his species.

18D: It might be sent from a bridge: SOS

23D: 15th century year: MCDL. Roman 1450.

23D: Dabble in: PLAY AT

26D: __ passu: impartially: PARI. New phrase to me. PARI is a prefix for "equal". Like parity I suppose. PERI is the Persian fairy.

28D: Sizable refs.: OEDS. The Oxford English Dictionary.

30D: Latin I word: AMAS

31D: Oil source: SESAME. Use SESAME oil for my salad.

32D: Tumult: MAELSTROM. I can never remember how to spell this word. Looks so similar to maestro.

33D: Resolve, in a way: ARBITRATE. Strung the answer together with the Across help.

35D: O. T. book: ESTH

37D: Go cautiously: EDGE. Feels like this word needs a preposition.

38D: Letter opener: DEAR. It needs a question mark, doesn't it?

39D: "The Last Time __ Paris": 1954 film: I SAW. Is it a good film?

44D: Reagan speechwriter: NOONAN (Peggy). Gimme. She appears on MSNBC often. I love her Challenger speech the most. The last line "They slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God" poem quote is very moving.

46D: Corrida hero: TORERO. "Hero" refers to main character, not the brave hero hero, right?

48D: Mock: APE. Xword word.

50D: Missouri River city: OMAHA. I wonder if the "Oracle of OMAHA" (Warren Buffett) solves Xword every morning.

51D: Japanese stringed instruments: KOTOS. KOTO is the National instrument of Japan. It actually derived from Chinese zither Zheng. Its kanji 箏 is the same as Chinese character.

52D: Glossy: SLEEK. Wrote down SHINY first.

54D: Exec grps.: MGTS

56D: Gnat, for one: PEST. "Dennis, for one" also.

58D: "Double Fantasy" artist: ONO. Here is the album cover. Do you think May Pang is pretty? She is a John Lennon's "Lost Weekend" girlfriend. She is a Chinese I think.

59D: Loan-insuring org.: FHA (Federal Housing Adminstration). Part of HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development). Not a familiar abbreviation to me.

61D: Chicken general: TSO. I had never heard of General TSO's chicken until I came to the US, nor had I heard of Chop Suey or Moo Shu Pork. Those are all Chinese American food. Fortune Cookie was also new to me. Clever idea.

Answer grid.

Happy Birthday, TJ in Osseo.

C.C.