Thursday September 3, 2009 Daniel A. Finan

Theme: PARTS OF SPEECH (37A: Grammar elements, or what the first three letters of 17-, 30-, 45- and 62-Across literally are) - the starting 3 letters of each theme entry are all parts of the word SPEECH.

17A: Where to hear letters recited: SPELLING BEE. Have you seen the documentary "Spellbound"? Those kids are so nerdy.

30A: Lady Godiva spotter: PEEPING TOM. Lady Godiva rode naked in the streets to protest her husband's taxation. Everybody shut their windows and stayed indoors, except PEEPING TOM. He peeped and was struck blind.

45A: "anyone lived in a pretty how town" poet? E.E. CUMMINGS. Our Melissa's favorite poet. She wrote all her comments in lowercase to pay homage to e.e. cummings.

62A: Recording studio feature: ECHO CHAMBER. For aural illusion effect.

Nice touch on the proper order of the above three-letter phrases/name. My favorite is ECHO CHAMBER. I can feel the SPE-PEE-EEC-ECH ECHO effect.

This puzzle made me feel so smart. I only had to cheat once. Several of the unknowns are easily inferable from the crosses. Hallmark of a well-constructed puzzle.

Do read Dan's interview. He talked about his thought process regarding those theme answers.

Across:

1A: Savory gelatin: ASPIC. My grandma liked to put a few drops of sesame oil & thinly sliced spring onion on top of her ASPIC.

6A: Green gems: JADES. Lots of women wear jade pendant in Canton/Hongkong, often with red string. For luck.

11A: Delivery experts, briefly: OBS (Obstetricians)

14A: Irish writer who said "Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much": WILDE. I guessed. I had no idea that this line is from Oscar WILDE.

15A: All thumbs: INEPT. Can't tell how INEPT differs from INAPT/UNAPT.

19A: Pipe with a bend: ELL

20A: Sending to overtime, as a game: TYING

21A: Avoided a trial: SETTLED. And ESTOPS (45D: Legally impedes).

23A: German "Alas!": ACH. Was clued as "Bavarian beef" last Saturday.

25A: Word sung after a ball drops: AULD. "AULD Lang Syne". Sung on New Year's Eve.

27A: Prefix with sol: AERO. Aerosol.

28A: Oscar Madison, e.g.: SLOB. Oscar Madison is a character in "The Odd Couple". Evidently he is a SLOB. I got the answer from Down fills.

34A: Arena for MacArthur: KOREA. Philippines too. In fact, the whole Pacific Arena.

36A: Have in the crosshairs: AIM AT

42A: Wavy design: MOIRE. Refers to the silky fabric, correct, Kazie?

43A: Tossed course: SALAD. I love Waldorf salad: julienned honeycrisp apples/celery & toasted walnuts. Yum!

50A: "The Shining" climax setting: MAZE. Again, obtained the answer from Down fills. Have never watched "The Shining". Don't like horror movies. Loved Geoffrey Rush's "Shine".

51A: Tuber with eyes: SPUD. My brother calls it murphy.

52A: Harness the wind, in a way: SAIL. Wrote down SAVE first, thinking wind energy.

55A: Colossal: TITANIC

59A: Move with stealth: SKULK. Cool word, with two K's.

61A: __ Miss: OLE. University of Mississippi.

66A: Like nos, above zero: POS (Positive)

68A: Take a piece from?: UNARM. Did not know "piece" is a slang for firearm.

69A: Bilko's rank: Abbr.: SGT

71D: Wounds: SORES

Down:

1A: Cribside chorus: AWS. And CUTEST (47D: Most likely to elicit 1-Down).

3D: Teeming amount: PLETHORA. Nailed it.

4D: One way to sit by: IDLY. Sit IDLY by.

5D: Salsa singer Cruz: CELIA. Cuban. Known as "Queen of Salsa". Alien to me.

6D: Commercial tune: JINGLE

7D: Director Lee: ANG. The director for "Brokeback Mountain". My favorite ANG Lee movie is "Eat Drink Man Woman". Eat, drink and make love are basic human desires in Chinese saying, hence the title.

8D: Balls' belles: DEBS

9D: Olympics event with swords: EPEE. Hope golf will enter the Olympics soon.

10D: Proofer's mark: STET. "Leave in".

11D: Denver __: OMELET. We call it Western OMELET: diced ham, onions, and green bell peppers.

12D: Ravel classic: BOLERO. Featured in Bo Derek's "10". Just beautiful! Those flowers are so pretty.

18D: __ to one's neck: IN UP

22D: Wrestling partners: TAG TEAM. Learned this term a few months ago. Here is the Dictionary definition: a team of two or more wrestlers who take turns competing against one of the wrestlers on another team, with the idle teammates waiting outside the ring until one of them is tagged by their competing teammate.

24D: Hoof-on-cobblestones sound: CLOP

26D: Overwhelms with noise: DEAFENS. Deafening silence/silent scream are two oxymoron.

29D: Hamilton is its capital: BERMUDA. Guessed. Did not really know the BERMUDA capital.

31D: Sorority letters: PIS. PI is 16th letter of Greek alphabet.

32D: Troublemaker: IMP. Elf is also troublemaker.

33D: Some Scottish Parliament votes: NAES. "Some Russian Duma votes" would be NYETS.

35D: Subject for Bohr: ATOM. Niels Bohr (Danish) was awarded Nobel Physics in 1922 for his work on ATOMS. His son won Nobel Physics in 1975.

38D: __ city (computer game): SIM. No idea. Looks so complicated.

39D: "...__quit": OR I. Brings to mind Kim Jong-il's juvenile one-upmanship.

40D: Candy in a red and blue wrapper: CLARK BAR. Unknown to me. Some peanut butter crisp with a chocolate covering. Named after its creator David. L. Clark. Here is 1950's store decal.

41D: Vague: HAZY

44D: Actress Sandra: DEE. Bobby Dorin's wife. Did you like Kevin Spacey's "Beyond the Sea"?

46D: Novel postscript: EPILOG

48D: It's removed at the pump: GAS CAP

49D: Follower of Guru Nanak: SIKH. Stumped me. I did not know who Guru Nanak is. According to Wikipedia, he is the central figure in Sikhism, and is the first of the ten SIKH Gurus. How come that picture has 11 guys? SIKH is Sanskrit for "disciple". Pronounced like "seek".

53D: Maui shindigs: LUAUS. Interesting, I just found out that LUAU is literally "young taro tops", which were served at outdoor feasts. I bet POI is a popular item at those LUAUS.

56D: Untouchables leader: NESS (Eliot). Kevin Costner's "The Untouchables" is one of my favorite movies.

57D: "Law & Order: SVU" actor: ICE-T. I wonder if he knows that his damned name appears in Xword all the time.

58D: Grammy winner for "Believe": CHER. "... Do you believe in life after love..." Great song.

60D: Pre-P queue: LMNO. Alphabetically LMNOP.

63D: Luis' "Listen Up!": OYE. No idea. Spanish for "Hey!". "OYE como va" = "Hey, what's up?"

64D: Afore: ERE. Poetically.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is a great photo of our fellow LAT solver Crockett and his lovely wife Jeanette, ready to tackle a Welsh breakfast. Crockett started to follow my blog in early Feb 2008, only a few weeks after I started my adventure. He also created a Crossword Corner Google Map for us. Email him if you want your name appear on the map. Crockett is a retired middle school math teacher and now does lots of volunteer work. He is also a great chess player.

C.C.

Wednesday September 2, 2009 Jerome Gunderson

Theme: O Brother - Two pairs of aptly described, first name swapped names.

18A: "Little" comedian's big brother? HULK HERMAN. "Little" comedian here refers PEE-WEE HERMAN, the only fictional character among the four base theme entries. Big = HULK.

26A: "Big" wrestler's little brother?: PEEWEE HOGAN. "Big" wrestler refers to pro wrestler HULK HOGAN. Little = PEEWEE.

44A: "Thin" character actor's big brother?: FATS PICKENS. "Thin" character actor refers to actor SLIM PICKENS. Big = FATS? FAT?

56A: "Heavy" R & B singer's little brother?: SLIM DOMINO. "Heavy" R & B singer refers to singer FATS DOMINO. Little = SLIM.

I've never heard of SLIM PICKENS. Wikipedia says his most famous role was a pilot in "Dr. Strangelove". I actually misinterpreted his surname as SPICKENS, as Big = FAT to me.

Why are "Little", "Big", "Thin" & "Heavy" in quotation marks? Shouldn't the question mark at the end of each clue be sufficient enough to indicate wordplay?

This puzzle reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny DeVito's "Twins", silly fun.

Across:

1A: PDQ relative: ASAP. Or STAT, to a doctor.

5A: Violin virtuoso Zimbalist: EFREM. Zimbalist Sr. He and soprano Alma Gluck had a son: actor Zimbalist Jr. I can never remember his name. Hebrew for "fruitful".

14A: "To Sir With Love" singer: LULU. Wow, I want to drink from the same Fountain of Youth as she does. Beautiful.

15A: Decorative sofa fabric: TOILE. French for "cloth". Often sheer and scenically patterned.

16A: Dagger handle: HILT. Sometimes it's HAFT.

20A: Blink later than, in a contest: OUTSTARE.

22A: Scooter favored by '60 British mods: VESPA. Must be the influence of "Roman Holiday".

23A: "That __ hay!": AIN'T. No idea. Dictionary says it means "That's a great deal". Can you make a sentence for me?

33A: Homeric epic: ILIAD. Odyssey too.

37A: Streaker with a tail: COMET. Cute.

42A: Tabloid creature: ALIEN

48A: Conscription category: ONE A

49A: Words of sympathy: I CARE. And MEH (9D: Slangy word of indifference).

52A: Trivial: PIDDLING

60A: Put in the hold: LADE. "Hold" here refers to the space in a ship below the lower deck, in which cargo is stowed.

61A: Piebald horse: PINTO. "Piebald" is a new word to me. It means patched, esp in black and white.

62A: River through Saint Petersburg: NEVA. Pronounced like NEE-vuh. I got the river from Down fills. It's the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge (after the Volga and the Danube). It flows to the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea.

64A: Libidinous deity: SATYR. The horse-tailed MOREL guy with perpetual erection.

65A: State, to Sarkozy: ETAT. Nice alliteration. Sarkozy is the current French president, with enormous vanity.

Down:

2D: "Star Trek" navigator: SULU. Ah, I confused him with Han SOLO of the "Star Wars".

4D: Saves: PUTS AWAY

5D: Odorless gas: ETHANE

6D: Stick shift gear: FOURTH. No idea. Have never driven a stick shift car.

8D: Yellowstone grazer: ELK

12D: Brouhaha: FLAP. The answer is often TO-DO.

13D: Europe's highest active volcano: ETNA. Good trivia. ETNA is Greek for "I burn".

19D: It's what's happening: EVENT

21D: Made, as a knot: TIED

24D: Decoratively curved molding: OGEE. Hi, buddy, nice to see you back.

26D: Pie serving: PIECE. Thought of SLICE.

28D: Sea duck with prized plumage: EIDER

29D: "American Me" actor/director Edward James __: OLMOS. Unknown to me. He is a Mexican-American. OLMOS sounds German. Have never heard of "American Me" either.

30D: Courage, in Slang: MOXIE

31D: Senator Specter: ARLEN. Now a Democrat (PA). Just flip-flopped a few months ago.

39D: Like some batteries: ALKALINE. Baseball HOFer AL KALINE is probably a bit tough for non-baseball fans.

41D: Rubbed out, gangster style: OFFED. Both slang for "murdered".

45D: Like a spitz's ears: POINTY. Wanted POINTED. Spitz is German for "pointed".

46D: Not alfresco: INDOOR

47D: Packing heat: ARMED. Heat is a slang for gun.

49D: Key: ISLE. Like Florida Keys. I thought the clue was asking for an adjective.

50D: Modeling medium: CLAY. For potters. Another alliteration.

52D: Pub order: PINT

53D: Hip-hopper born Tracy Marrow: ICE-T. Gimme, right? We've seen identical clue before.

57D: Special __: military force: OPS. Special Operations.

Two announcements:

1) Argyle will blog Monday and Tuesday puzzles from now on.

2) Please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com if you have family photos to share. Thanks.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is a great photo of our fellow LAT solver Chickie and her husband. It was taken in Germany at a Scientific Library in Berlin two summers' ago. Chickie is a retired primary teacher who taught Primary Grades for over 30 years. She loves sewing & knitting & reading.

C.C.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009 Sharon E. Petersen

Theme: WILD (68A: Untamed, and word that can precede the starts of 17- and 61-Across and 11-and 28-Down)

17A: Stealthy felon: (WILD) CAT BURGLAR

61A: Apartment building emergency exit: (WILD) FIRE ESCAPE

11D: Wedding party tyke: (WILD) FLOWER GIRL

28D: Boating safety feature: (WILD) LIFE JACKET

Argyle here.

I hope everybody escapes those wild fires out west. The French girl in Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" is probably the most famous CAT BURGLAR.

Quite a few long non-theme entries in this grid, four of them are nice double words.

Across:

1A: Wordsworth work: POEM. William Wordsworth,1770 – 1850, was a major English Romantic poet who England's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death. Perhaps Clear Ayes can pick a selection of his poems for us.

5A: Pipe organ knobs: STOPS. Without getting too technical, the use of stops enables the organist to produce different sounds.

10A: Calif. cop org.: SFPD. San Francisco Police Department, where Dirty Harry worked.

14A: __ snuff: UP TO.

15A: Birdie beater: EAGLE. Golf terms: birdie, one under par; EAGLE, two under par.

16A: Ballerina's bend: PLIE. Oh. From this clip, it appears the bend they speak of, is the knees and not the waist.

19A: Very small amount: IOTA.

20A: Friend of Jerry and George: ELAINE. Characters from the Seinfeld TV show; they left out Cosmo.

21A: Tonsillitis MD: ENT. Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist.

22A: McGregor of "Angels & Demons": EWAN. He looks intense.

23A: Anderson of "WKRP in Cincinnati": LONI. She portrayed the receptionist.

25A: Cannes cup: TASSE. French.

27A: Flamenco yell: OLE. Spanish

29A: Elementary school basics: ABC'S. English

31A: Left ventricle outlet: AORTA.

34A: "__ Old Man": kids song: THIS. Dylan!?!

35A: "Gloria in Excelsis __'': DEO. "Glory to God in the highest"

36A: The Greeks' Helios, e.g.: SUN GOD. The Romans called him Sol.

37A: Battle of Britain defense gp.: RAF. Royal Air Force.

38A: "Oh, be serious!": GET REAL.

40A: Call __ day: IT A.

41A: Sports spots: ARENAS.

43A: Like Paree, in song: GAY. It turns out, finding GAY Paree, in song, is difficult!

44A: Jam-pack: CRAM.

45A: Captain's superior: MAJOR. But not so if it's a naval Captain, then it would be Admiral.

46A: Grab bag category: Abbr.: MISC.

47A: Heart and soul: ALL.

48A: Pie fruit: APPLE.

50A: So: THUS.

52A: Table salt, to a chemist: NACL. Sodium Chloride, NaCl

54A: Lupino of film: IDA. "Lupino was born in Camberwell, London, allegedly under a table during a World War I zeppelin raid." Betcha' didn't know that.

56A: "Sleepless in Seattle" director Nora: EPHRON. She is a triple nominee for the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay; for Silkwood, When Harry Met Sally... and Sleepless in Seattle. Update: She wrote and directed Julie & Julia.

60A: __-Seltzer: ALKA.

63A: Blueprint detail, briefly: SPEC.

64A: White-tie accompanier: TAILS.

65A: Finished: OVER.

66A: Handy bag: TOTE.

67A: Sidewinder, e.g.: SNAKE. Called a sidewinder for their mode of transportation; they don't slither.

Down:

1D: Dark purple: PUCE. How is it different from plum?

2D: October gemstone: OPAL. And its symmetrical partner is OPEL (58D: European auto).

3D: James of jazz: ETTA.

4D: Art pieces that hang from the ceiling: MOBILES.

5D: Woos with song: SERENADES. Preferably, from below the balcony.

6D: Game with an "it": TAG.

7D: Stare at obviously: OGLE.

8D: Herbs and shrubs: PLANTS.

9D: Big name in mattresses: SERTA. Nation wide?

10D: Watches secretly: SPIES ON.

12D: Bread with tabbouleh: PITA. Tabbouleh is a salad dish (primary ingredients are finely chopped parsley, bulgur, mint, tomato, scallion (spring onion), and other herbs with lemon juice, olive oil and various seasonings, generally including black pepper and sometimes cinnamon and allspice) often served with PITA bread.

13D: Martin of the Rat Pack: DEAN. Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., DEAN Martin, Joey Bishop & Peter Lawford were known as The Rat Pack. They ruled Las Vegas and Hollywood during the 1950's-1960's.

18D: Family card game: UNO.

24D: "Not likely!": I BET.

26D: Nobelist Bellow: SAUL. SAUL Bellow, 1915 – 2005. In the words of the Swedish Nobel Committee, his writing exhibited "exuberant ideas, flashing irony, hilarious comedy and burning compassion...." For his literary contributions, Bellow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the National Medal of Arts. He is the only writer to have won the National Book Award three times, and the only writer to have been nominated for it six times. (I feel terrible, I haven't read any of his works.)

27D: Butler's love: O'HARA. Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'HARA, from Gone with the Wind.

30D: Short-legged Welsh pooch: CORGI.

32D: Do sum work: TOTAL.

33D: First mate?: ADAM. First man? First Dad? First grandpa? Etc.

34D: Streetcar cousin : TRAM.

36D: Photographer's request: SAY CHEESE.

38D: "The World According to __": John Irving novel: GARP. It was made into a movie starring Robin Williams.

39D: Cheyenne-to-Omaha direction: EAST. Nice change from the three letter directions we often get.

42D: "There's __ like home": NO PLACE. That would be Kansas, for Dorothy Gale.

44D: Consistent moneymaker: CASH COW. A dairy cow that produces milk over the course of its life and requires little maintenance is a cash cow. So a business, product or asset that, once acquired and paid off will produce consistent cash flow over its lifespan is known as a CASH COW.

46D: Middle of the road: MEDIAN. The center of a divided highway is known as the MEDIAN strip.

49D: Picks up: LIFTS.

51D: Favorable times: UPS.

52D: Democrat's donkey designer: NAST. Also the designer for the GOP elephant.

53D: Chop House dog food maker: ALPO.

55D: Diva's solo: ARIA.

57D: Sitarist Shankar: RAVI. Father of Norah Jones.

59D: Uncool sort: NERD.

62D: Moose, to a European: ELK.

Ever since I got high speed internet service, I think I try to do too much and then get burned out. Sometimes it is hard to know when to make a FULL STOP. ( ;-)>

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great photo of our fellow LAT solver Warren and his lovely wife Ruth at a Lake Tahoe sail boat ride a few years ago. They solve puzzle together every day. Warren is an excellent researcher and he likes to use question mark in his comments.

Argyle

Monday, August 31, 2009 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Abracadabra

17A: Magician's deception: SMOKE AND MIRRORS

35A: Magician's deception: SLEIGHT OF HAND

52A: Magician's deception: OPTICAL ILLUSION

Also, a couple bonus words which are symmetrically placed in the grid. Perfect!

27D: "Pick a __, any ...": CARD.

35D: Magic act, for one: SHOW.

The cross-referenced fill END (28D: See 38-Down) and THE (38D: With 28-Down, novel conclusion) are also symmetrically gridded. Excellently done.

Argyle here.

A very nice start to the week. A lot of three letter entries that are words and not abbreviations. A minimum of foreign words. And so many songs I could link! (This is not for everybody. Hocus Pocus Dutch insanity.)

Across:

1A: Joplin piano piece: RAG. Scott Joplin, died 1917, was an African-American dubbed the "King of Ragtime." Ragtime is an original American musical genre whose main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged", rhythm. Maple Leaf Rag.

9A: Like a disreputable hotel: SEEDY.

14A: www address: URL. Uniform Resource Locator: a protocol for specifying addresses on the Internet.

15A: Pic: PHOTO.

16A: Knight's protection: ARMOR.

20A: Kept in reserve: SAVED.

21A: Dewy: MOIST.

23A: Really smart people: BRAINS.

29A: Old salt: TAR. Sailor

30A: Investigation: PROBE.

32A: Southern breakfast side: GRITS. Either you like 'em or you don't; nothing in between.

33A: Concurrence: ACCORD.

38A: Very brief briefs: THONGS. I don't know what to say. Images.

39A: Take in or let out: ALTER. No, not the cats.

40A: Improve, as skills: HONE.

42A: __ room: play area: REC. Should this have an indication that it's a shortened version of RECreation ?

45A: Lamb's mom: EWE.

46A: Like the person in a diet ad "after" picture: LEANER.

48A: Equipment: GEAR.

49A: "Grrr!" is one: SNARL.

51A: It's enough for Luigi: BASTA. Italian for Stop! Enough! ASSEZ in French.

57A: Finish second, in a race: PLACE. Usually in a horse race: First, WIN; second, PLACE; and third, SHOW.

58A: Inventor Howe: ELIAS. He patented the first American-made sewing machine.

59A: Payable: DUE.

60A: Natives of Ankara: TURKS. The capital of Turkey.

61A: Like oboe music: REEDY. Oh, okay.

62A: Little green men, briefly: ETS. ExtraTerrestrial being, originating outside the limits of the earth.

Down:

1D: Many an Idaho potato: RUSSET.

2D: Spanish fleet: ARMADA.

3D: Danny of "Lethal Weapon" films: GLOVER. Sergeant Roger Murtaugh.

4D: Floored it: SPED.

5D: "I have the answer!": AHA.

6D: Chaney of film: LON.

7D: Takeoff approx.: ETD. Estimated Time of Departure.

8D: Christina Crawford's "__ Dearest": MOMMIE. The story of growing up with Joan Crawford for a mother. Book and Film.

9D: Wrapped garments seen in Agra culture: SARIS. Agra District is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state of India, and home of the Taj Mahal. Aishwarya Rai (the World's Most Beautiful Woman) in red SARI, beautiful!

10D: Says "2x2= 5," say: ERRS.

11D: :-), e.g.: EMOTICON.

12D: Palme __: Cannes film prize: D'OR. "Golden Palm Leaf", awarded for the best film. Here are three pretty women at 2004 Cannes Film Festival: the most influentical Chinese actress Gong Li, again, Aishwarya Rai and French supermodel Laeticia Casta.

19D: Cyclotron bit: ION.

23D: Naval jails: BRIGS.

24D: __IRA: ROTH.

25D: Choose not to vote: ABSTAIN.

30D: Holier-than-thou type: PRIG. Synonyms: prude, puritan, bluenose.

32D: Wilder or Hackman: GENE.

33D: Subsequent to: AFTER.

34D: "Moonstruck" Oscar winner: CHER.

36D: Texas symbol: LONE STAR.

37D: Ye __ Tea Shoppe: OLDE.

41D: Square dance leader: CALLER. Bugs Bunny, Square Dance Caller.

42D: Live (at): RESIDE.

43D: Take the family to a restaurant: EAT OUT.

44D: Building site giants: CRANES.

46D: Shoestrings: LACES.

47D: The Gay Nineties, e.g.: ERA.

48D: "Fill 'er up" filler: GAS.

50D: Just in the __ of time: NICK.

51D: Occupied: BUSY.

53D: Like "mice" and "men": Abbr.: PLU. Plural. Nice play on John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men".

54D: Land in the Seine: ILE. Islands in a French river.

56D: Young guy: LAD

Argyle

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great photo of our fellow LAT solver Jimbo and his family. He said: "Left to right, my son, his granddaughter, his son and "yours truly".

Sunday August 30, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: Organ Transplant - The organ is each organ-embedded common phrase is transplanted to another non-organ containing common phrase.

24A: Pool hall "Better luck next time"?: (HEART)FELT CONDOLENCES

30A: Sound of a breakup?: (EAR)SPLITTING NOISE

43A: Columbus college funds?: OHIO STATE BUCK(EYE)S

52A: Temper tantrum? (BRAIN)STORMING SESSION

73A: Steinway's idea for a large piano?: GRAND (BRAIN)CHILD

80A: Minimum for a Maybeline ad shoot?: FORTY (EYE)LASHES

91A: Place-marking lessons for readers? DOG(EAR) TRAINING

102A: Sorrows behind bars?: JAIL (HEART)BREAKS

Each of the organ is successfully transplanted to its grid symmetrical partner. Excellent!

I have never heard of base phrase FORTY LASHES, so I had a bit of trouble understanding 80A. Kidney is probably the most common type of organ plant. Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) has sparked a heated debate over his rather quick liver transplant.

There are quite a few nice long Down answers in this puzzle. I especially loved the below two-word entries:

16D: It's pressed in distress: PANIC BUTTON

61D: Segment of the western Pacific: CHINA SEAS

62D: Picnic side: POTATO SALAD

75D: "Twister" actress: HELEN HUNT

The answer just popped up to me with one or two letters filled in.

I really hope Dan will not change his style just to avoid annoying solvers with one or two obscure fills. Heavy themage, lots of non-theme fills of 6 or more letters (Dan Naddor Index) and low word count are his hallmarks.

It's like the predominance of yellow color in van Gogh's painting. It's just van Gogh. It's his style.

Across:

1A: "Satisfied?": HAPPY. Yes!

6A: Controversial initiation practice: HAZING

12A: Concert dancing areas: MOSH PITS. New phrases to me.

20A: What Mexican Olympians go for: EL ORO. "The gold" in Spanish.

21A: "Kick it up a notch!": EMERIL. "Bam"!

22A: Internal company info-sharing system: INTRANET

23A: Rockies music festival site: ASPEN. No idea. I always associate ASPEN with the ski resort and the ASPEN trees.

26A: Garish: LOUD

28A: Rock outcroppings: CRAGS

29A: Golfer Woosnam: IAN. Ha ha, I just mentioned the "hot-tempered Welsh golfer IAN" yesterday. But I misremembered his surname as Woosman.

33A: Elmer, to Bugs: DOC

35A: Squirreled-away item: ACORN

37A: Fighters' home: AIRBASE

41A: Body language?: TATTOO. Excellent clue.

48A: Colombian city: CALI. I have this image of CALI awash in drug dealing and kidnapping activities.

50A: Managed care gps: HMOS. Hopefully they will pay for your organ transplant.

57A: N.J. town on the Hudson: FT. LEE. Obtained the answer from Down fills.

58A: Junior: SON

59A: Itty-bitty bit: IOTA. And A TON (37D: Hardly hardly).

60A: They may be girded before battle: LOINS. Gird one's LOINS.

61A: Zagreb native: CROAT. Zagreb is the capital of Croatia.

62A: Furthermore: PLUS

65A: MP quarries: AWOLS. MP = Military Police.

67A: Text alternative: PHONE

68A: Romulus, e.g.: TWIN. Romulus & Remus are twins.

69A: AT&T rival, once: MCI. Acquired by Verizon in 2006.

76A: China setting: ASIA. "Japan setting" is better due to CHINA SEAS.

77A: Play a mean sax, say: WAIL. New definition to me.

78A: Stretching discipline: YOGA. Sanskrit for "union".

85A: Surgical solution: SALINE. Probably is needed for organ transplant.

87A: Back: ENDORSE. Don't you think Tiger Woods should ENDORSE Buick for free now?

90A: Concorde, e.g.: SST

99A: "24" superagent: BAUER. Jack BAUER. Played by Kiefer Sutherland.

100A: Markers: IOUS. I did not know "marker" is a slang for IOU.

106A: Cuban dance: RUMBA

107A: Taxpayer's headache: IRS AUDIT. Loved the answer.

108A: Go off on: RANT AT

109A: Diarist Nin: ANAIS

110A: Distribution slips?: MISDEALS. Poker I suppose.

111A: Ore appraisals: ASSAYS. Always thought ASSAY is a verb only.

113A: Old lab heaters: ETNAS

Down:

1D: Gets better: HEALS. Hope our fellow LAT solver Doreen is getting better now.

2D: 1940-'70s journalist Stewart: ALSOP. No idea. I do know his brother Joseph ALSOP though, from reading all those JFK books.

3D: Resident count: POPULATION

4D: Meteorologist, at time: PREDICTOR. Hmm, WM, add your comments here.

6D: "Battle Cry" actor Van: HEFLIN. Nope. Stranger to me. Wikipedia says he was also in "Shane".

8D: Woody Allen mockumentary: ZELIG. Simply forgot. Googled this film before. Woody Allen was dogged by the Soon-Yi distraction at Terry Gross's last "Fresh Air" interview.

9D: NYC subway line: IRT (Interborough Rapid Transit)

10D: Composer Paganini: NICCOLO. No idea. Bet this is a gimme for Crockett. He always nails those composer clues, including yesterday SUK (Czech composer Josef).

11D: Morning __: flowers: GLORIES. Mine have not bloomed yet.

12D: Gnatlike insect: MIDGE

14D: N.L. Central team: STL. St. Louis Cardinals. Albert Pujols is now a US citizen.

15D: Charlemagne's realm: Abbr.: HRE. OTTO I is the first HRE emperor.

17D:Machu Picchu builder: INCA

25D: "If I Ruled the Word" rapper: NAS. His original given name is NASIR.

27D: Just plain awful: ATROCIOUS

34D: Sun or Moon: ORB. Poetically.

38D: Amtrak's "bullet train": ACELA. The name is meant to be evocative of acceleration & excellence.

39D: It's similar to sporting clays: SKEET

40D: Salinger heroine: ESME. From his "For ESME – with Love and Squalor".

42D: Chorus line: ALTO. Nice play on "A Chorus Line".

44D: Old what's-__-name: HIS. I guessed. It's either HIS or HER. Don't understand the clue though. Why "Old"?

46D: Half of an old radio duo: AMOS. The other half is Andy. AMOS 'n' Andy.

49D: Farm workers? ANTS. Ant farm.

53D:__Bornes: card game: MILLE. Unknown to me. MILLE is just a thousand in French. Bornes is "boundary".

54D: John of England: ELTON. ELTON John. I was thinking of the toilet john.

56D: Cassette half: SIDE B

57D: Swiss capital: FRANC. "Capital" here refers to its money, not the capital city BERN. Switzland is not an EU memeber, so no EURO.

63D: Will: SHALL. Gosh, I can't believe the clue is this simple.

65D: Illegal firing?: ARSON. Barry Silk used this identical clue a while ago.

67D: __-dieu: PRIE. The prayer bench.

69D: Revolutionary soldier: MILITIAMAN

70D: The Kennedys, e.g.: CLANS. Timely clue.

71D: Loaf at work: IDLE. And RYE (74D: Loaf in a deli). Nice "loaf" echos.

73D: "Let's Get it On" singer: GAYE (Marvin). Here is the clip.

77D: Wild place?: WEST. Wild, Wild WEST. I thought Dan was talking about Minnesota Wild, our NHL hockey team.

81D: Jr. and sr.: YRS

82D: Subject with many unknowns: ALGEBRA. Stumped me.

83D: Milieu for John Muir, with "the": SIERRAS. John Muir founded the Sierra Club.

84D: "Isn't __ bit like you and me?": Beatles lyrics: HE A. No idea. It's from their "Nowhere Man".

86D: Request to Sajak: AN I. Wheel of Fortune. Vowels. AN A/E/I/O/U.

89D: Estate lawyer's specialty: TRUSTS. Because he knows how to set up trust fund?

91D: Dashes: DARTS

92D: In the open: OUT

93D: Rodeo rope: RIATA. Sometimes it's REATA.

94D: Wine mentioned in Hungary's national anthem: TOKAY. Oh, I was unaware of this fact. Have never heard of TOKAY wine either.

95D: Egypt-Sudan region: NUBIA. Verdi's Aida is set in NUBIA.

96D: Calm water metaphor: GLASS

98D: Catcall: HISS

99D: Leave quickly, in slang: BAIL. No idea. I wanted SCAT.

102D: Dandy dude?: JIM. JIM-dandy is new to me. Dictionary defines it as "one that is very pleasing or excellent of its kind".

104D: Author LeShan: EDA. This has become a gimme.

105D: USNA grad: ENS (Ensign)

106D: English singer Corinne Bailey __: RAE. Got her name from Across fills. She looks exotic.

Answer grid.

C.C.

Interview with Michael Wiesenberg

Remember this Michael Wiesenberg Saturday puzzle? He stacked six long fills at top and bottom of the grid, four of them spanning the grid. GIRL, INTERRUPTED is such an excellent entry.

Mr. Wiesenberg started contributing to the LA Times in early 2008, and all of the 7 published puzzles are themeless. He probably has his own long list of 15-letter movie titles, TV series, celebrity names, or just common phrases.

Not often do we have a constructor with a Wikipedia entry. Michael Wiesenberg has one. Merl Reagle has one too. Hope you enjoy the interview. A pleasant surprise for me.

What is the seed entry of this puzzle? Which part of the grid gave you the most trouble during the construction?

This puzzle would never have come about nor would it have been published were it not for my persistence and Rich Norris's patience and kind feedback. The puzzle went through eight iterations. The original puzzle had 72 words. Rich didn't like the pattern nor was he happy with several of the entries. Rich had already published several of my puzzles, so he must have thought I had some salvageable capabilities, and was kind enough in his rejection to enumerate his objections. To increase the efficacy and interest of the puzzle, I removed two blocks, lowering the word count to 70. This changed the essential nature of the puzzle, so I basically started the fill all over. The first submission had SPIRAL STAIRCASE as the 15-letter entry. Rich objected to too many partials. I hadn't considered three of them actually to be partials; I thought they were standalone phrases. I didn't think A HAIR ("tiny bit"), ACT TO ("Perform in a certain way"), or I SAID were partials. But of course the editor is the final arbiter in such matters, and Rich's instincts are good. To remove the partials, I started again from scratch, this time with THREE MUSKETEERS. Again Rich raised good objections; again I started over, this time with the present 15-letter entry (HOSTILE TAKEOVER). Rich liked the fill, but had reservations on some of the entries. He suggested a change to clear up a problem. I went with Rich's suggestion and also changed a few other entries, and ended up with what I hope is a good fill with interesting entries and no obscurities.

No particular part of the puzzle gave me more trouble than any other. I just kept juggling entries around, trying to keep them all lively, until I got a good fill. Since it's a themeless puzzle, I could redo entire sections to meet Rich's objections.

How would you describe your style? Why do you prefer constructing themeless over themed puzzles?

My style in themeless puzzles is to have as many 15-word entries as possible or as few entries -- or both. I like "stacks" of 15s. I have had puzzles published with as many as 10 15s and as low a word count as in the low 60s. Working within those constraints, I then try to fit in as many lively entries as possible, among them as many phrases as I can. I don't prefer themelesses over themed puzzles. I have different criteria for themed puzzles. In the latter, I try to be very specific and have the entries as closely linked as possible. I like punny themes. I would rather have four or five entries than three, but if three work well, I would certainly prefer three good entries to more that are only so-so.

What is your background and how did you get into crossword construction?

I originally started constructing crossword puzzles long before software was available to assist, in fact, long before personal computers were even generally available. I had several puzzles published in Master and Quality (Quinn Publications) in the '60s. I did these by hand on graph paper, assisted by the letter cubes of a 3D Scrabble-like game whose name I can't recall. There were some 100 cubes, each with the same letter on all sides, which cubes players would place one at a time in a standup grid between them, trying to form words with each successive addition. I juggled the cubes on a flat surface to fill in grid sections. When I successfully completed a section, I would write the letters in the graph paper. Even with that help, I would fill dozens of grids in constructing one puzzle, and devote many hours to the task. I calculated that based on the time it took to construct a puzzle and the low pay rate at the time I earned under 25 cents an hour. In the '60s, the main constructors of crossword puzzles were prison inmates, for whom such a non-cost-effective use of their time was not counterproductive.

I ceased constructing for many years. I worked as a technical writer in the computer field. As such, I had access to and knowledge of many kinds of software. When I heard of Crossword Compiler, I decided to reenter cruciverbalism. For five years I constructed a monthly puzzle for PuzzlePlanet.com. For seven years I did a monthly puzzle for PokerPages.com. All those puzzles had crossword themes, and can be seen here: http://www.pokerpages.com/interactive/crossword/crosswords.htm

I contributed 24 puzzles to "The Everything Crossword Challenge Book." For two years I did a puzzle regularly for "Advance for Nurses," a national publication. For five years I did a monthly puzzle for "LA Direct," a slick magazine published in Studio City, CA, for a Southern California audience, with puzzles specifically about that region (local beaches, nearby cities, movie studio-related entries, etc.). I did a weekly puzzle for six months for another online site.

I do more than construct puzzles. I have written five books and am working on two more. I have a monthly column in Card Player magazine. I also construct a monthly puzzle for Poker Player magazine.

What is a perfect puzzle to you? Who are your favorite constructors?

There ain't no such animal as a perfect puzzle. There are good puzzles and bad puzzles. Bad puzzles seem to be more common. These are often found in specialty magazines, particularly those that are not in the top echelons of publications. They have too many words (78+ in a 15x15), unkeyed squares, two-letter words, and too many three-letter words. They stretch too hard to fit in theme entries. Also in the bad puzzle category are most of the puzzles created by computers with little or no human intervention. These have no spark of originality, no sparkle. Good themed puzzles are characterized by clever linking of the theme entries. I like rebus puzzles, letter additions or subtractions that form new punny entries, and clever leaps of intuition. Good themelesses are, I think, characterized by the Fridays and Saturdays of the NYT and the LAT. Among my favorite constructors are Gorski, Salomon, Reagle, and Longo.

Besides crossword construction, what else do you do for fun?

Besides crossword construction, I write fiction and nonfiction for publication. I also hike and cycle.

Saturday, August 29, 2009 Michael Wiesenberg

Theme: None

Total blocks: 40

Total words: 70

Are you surprised that HOSTILE TAKEOVER (31A: It might involve a proxy fight) is Mr. Wiesenberg's seed entry? I'd have guessed JAVA APPLET (16A: Small program with a browser interface), my favorite out of the 9 long & lively Across entries.

I was actually thinking of the Board of Directors control, you know, like the proxy fight William Achman launched against Target, so the answer did not jump to me immediately.

Pleasant solving experience today. I was able to fill in most of long fills on the first pass, thanks to the accessibility of the crosses. Normally I feel lost and hopeless on Saturdays without theme as my Sherpa. Those multiple-word entries just do not pop up as easily to me as they do to others.

But then I struggled mightily with HAS A SHOT AT (54A: Might achieve) and lower right corner. Still cannot believe my eyes that THIRTY NINE is the answer for 59A: 78 half. How could it be so simple?

Across:

1A: Largest oceanic dolphin: ORCA. Yep, it's not really whale.

5A" "__ consummation devoutly to be wish'd": Hamlet: 'TIS A. No idea. It's from his famous soliloquy "To be, or not to be".

9A: Hi-tech battler: BOT. Short for "robot". It's "a software program that imitates the behavior of a human, as by querying search engines or participating in chatroom or IRC discussions."

12A: Wood finishing tool: BELT SANDER. Here is an electric Bosch BELT SANDER.

15A: Brooklyn, say, briefly: BORO (Borough)

17A: Surrealist Tanguy: YVES. Obtained his name from Down fills. I don't get his "Indefinite Divisibility" at all.

18A: Long-distance messages?: SMOKE SIGNALS. Great clue.

20A: Prepare for a storage, as a carpet: ROLL UP

23A: Barry who played Lt. Gerard on TV's "The Fugitive": MORSE. Complete stranger to me. I've only seen Harrison Ford's "The Fugitive".

24A: "Rumor has it...": I HEAR. "Rumor has it..." is also a Jennifer Aniston/Kevin Costner movie.

25A: 1876 Twain hero: TOM SAWYER

29A: Health insurance giant: CIGNA. Thought of AETNA first.

30A: Incredulous dying words: ET TU. Caesar's last words" "ET TU, Brute?".

39A: Memory principle: MNEME. Muse of Memory as well.

40A: Ice cream flavor: PISTACHIO. Have you tried mochi ice cream? It has PISTACHIO flavor as well.

45A: Minor, legally: PETIT. Same as "petty"?

46A: When Ovid's "Ars Amatoria" is believed to have been published: ONE BC. Just fill in ONE BC whenever you are not sure of those Roman years.

47A: Notable show biz sisters: GABORS. Zsa Zsa, Eva & Magda.

48A: Home of NBA's Thunder: OKLOHOMA CITY. Completely unknown to me. They were Seattle SuperSonics before 2008.

53A: Landing: PIER. The clue just does not feel complete. Shouldn't it be "Landing place"?

58A: Letter-bottom abbr.: ENCS

60A: "Silent Spring" subj.: DDT

61A: River to the Seine: OISE. See this map. It's pronounced like wäz.

62A: Singer born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin: ENYA. Well, 4-letter singer, who else could it be? Maybe SADE. Wikipedia says ENYA is an approximate transliteration of how Eithne is pronounced in her native Irish.

Down:

1D: Part of a propositional phr.: OBJ (Object).

2D: "The Crying Game" actor: REA (Stephen).

3D: XXXI x V: CLV. 31x5= 155

4D: Obliquely: AT A SLANT

5D: About 1/3 of Maine's I-95D: TNPK (Turnpike). Big stumper. No idea, sir.

6D: Hanging out, say: IDLE. Had trouble understanding the grammar of the clue/answer.

7D: Spies: SEES. Verb.

8D: Drawing intro: ART I

9D: Flaubert heroine: BOVARY. "Madam BOVARY". The only Flaubert novel I've actually read. Don't we all want things we can't or shouldn't have?

10D: Words implying consequences: OR ELSE

11D: One pitching: TOSSER

13D: Japanese warrior: SAMURAI. Japanese kanji for SAMURAI 侍 is the same as Chinese character, simply means "servant" (noun) or "to serve" (verb).

14D: For one: A POP. And ANY (56D: At least one). Clue echos.

15D: Yet: BY NOW

19D: Early ABC show, for short: GMA. D'oh, "Good Morning, America". I had G?A sitting there forever.

21D: First state admitted to the Union from the Northwest Territory: OHIO. Again, 4 letter, it's either OHIO or IOWA.

22D: Longevity: LEGS. Tricky clue.

25D: Saw things? TEETH. I feel so clever to have nailed this one. The question mark indicates that "saw" is not a past tense of "see" here.

26D: Emperor who deposed Pope John XII: OTTO I. The first emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Easy guess.

27D: Mindanao peak: Abbr.: MT. APO. Dan Naddor clued it as "Philippines' highest peak: Abbr." last time. APO simply means "master" or "grandfather".

28D: Czech composer Josef: SUK. Nope. It's pronounced like "sook". And Josef is "yaw-zef". He looks like a politician.

32D: Europe's __ de Genève: LAC. LPGA's annual Évian Master is played on the shores of Lake Geneva. Very pretty golf course.

33D: Vicarious feeling: EMPATHY. This word is bandied a lot during Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.

34D: Singly: ONE BY ONE

35D: Nix: VETO. Latin for "I forbid".

36D: Qatar dignitary: EMIR

37D: Soaks, as flax: RETS. Learned RETS and the "Nerve network" RETE from doing Xword.

40D: Exhausted: POOPED

41D: How many Colonial debts were paid: IN KIND. Have never heard of the phrase "payment IN KIND". The Wikipedia entry says KIND (or sometimes kine) means "cattle". Kine is an archaic plural of cow.

42D: Choose: SELECT. Penned in OPT FOR immediately.

43D: Slope contractions: T-BARS

44D: Bavarian beef?: ACH. German for "Oh!" /"Oh no!"/"Alas". I was stumped.

47D: Nub: GIST

49: "__ Be Back With You"" Steve Forbert song: OH, TO. No idea. Could not even find a YouTube clip.

50D: Half a fish: MAHI. Literally, "strong" in Hawaiian. Red Lobster's seared MAHI-MAHI is pretty good.

51D: Just like that: AS IS. The sale tag words.

52D: Supervision: CARE

55D: Woodsman's makeup: TIN. The TIN Man in "The Wizard of Oz". Did anyone think of the hot-tempered Welsh golfer Ian Woosman first?

57D: Hot spot?: TEA. Mine was SPA.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great photo of our fellow LAT solver Embien standing by part of wood pile. He and his wife heat their house with a wood stove. Here is a beautiful view of his front deck. Embien said: "Doesn't look its best this time of year as the crop out there (purple vetch) was harvested in July and it's too dry to plant winter wheat yet. We live waaay out in the country, about five miles west of Banks, Oregon, in the foothills of the Coast Range."

C.C.

Friday August 28, 2009 Elizabeth A. Long

Theme: S-lopped Over (Familiar ST-beginning phrases with S lopped)

17A: Insect's working hours?: (S)TICK SHIFT. Manuel transmission.

24A: Seaman who saw it all? (S)TAR WITNESS. One who provides crucial information in a criminal case. TAR is slang for sailor, so is GOB.

34A: Split end?: (S)TRESS FRACTURE. Common sports injury. Split ends are often seen in long hair, hence TRESS.

46A: London museum's hidden camera locations?: (S)TATE SECRET. Often classified. TATE museums.

53A: Where two-wheelers aren't allowed? (S)TRIKE ZONE. Over home plate. Between batter's knees and shoulders.

Hmm, a beautifully woven tapestry, but with an eye-catching flaw. The clue for CAST (37D: Fracture treatment) should have been changed.

Lots of fill-in-the-blanks in this puzzle:

28A: __ Moines: DES

43A: Gal__: PAL

49A: __Alto: PALO

57A: __ Corning, maker of Fiberglas: OWENS

6D: Rapper Mos __: DEF. Mos DEF = Most Definitely.

13D: __ the line: TOE. Did not like the "line" due to ON LINE (21A: Where users meet).

32D: End in __: A TIE

48D: Horse __: SENSE

A clear sign that Rich Norris is continuing his eased-up cluing for Friday & Saturday. Perfect for me, as I've sadly realized that I am simply not able to handle his normal late week puzzles.

Across:

1A: NBA stats: PTS (Points)

4A: Meccan, e.g.: SAUDI. Mecca is a city in Saudi Arabia. The holiest city of Islam. I did not know people of Mecca are called Meccan though.

9A: Silver fish: SMELT. I've yet to try fried SMELT someday.

14A: The Rams of the NCAA's Atlantic 10 Conf.: URI (University of Rhode Island). The answer revealed itself. I forgot that their mascot is a ram.

15A: Popular place to go downhill: ASPEN. The Colorado ski resort.

16A: Something not done: TABOO. Sigh. I was picturing some rare/medium meat that's not well done.

19A: Peace goddess: IRENE. Gimme.

20A: Tools with teeth: RAKES

29A: Scout's concern: TALENT. Sometimes the answer is RECON.

30A: Site of bedlam: ZOO. Liked the clue.

31A: One-named model on many romance novel covers: FABIO. The Italian long-haired model. Not my type.

32A: Attention-getting sounds: AHEMS

38A: Young Aussie hoppers: JOEYS. Baby kangaroos are called JOEYS.

39A: Plumbing outlet: DRAIN

40A: 911 response outlet: EMS

41A: Tiny African threat: TSETSE. Good to see the fly's full name.

50A: Must: HAVE TO. Wrote down NEED TO first.

51A: Malice: VENOM

52A: Former #1 woman pool player Corr: KAREN. Nicknamed "the Irish Invader". Unknown to me, though her face looks familiar. Must have seen on on ESPN before.

58A: Gave in: CAVED. Mine was CEDED.

59A: Israeli weapon: UZI. The "British weapon" is STEN.

60A: Do figures, in a way: SKATE. Figure is defined as "a movement, pattern, or series of movements in skating" in dictionary. Is that how figure skating got its name? I was thinking of numeral figure.

61A: Doglike scavenger: HYENA. The "laughing" scavenger.

62A: Whole lot: TON

Down:

1D: Rotten: PUTRID

2D: "M*A*S*H" system: TRIAGE. The military medical prioritizing system.

3D: Perverted types: SICKOS

4D: Impudence: SASS

5D: Burning issue?: ASH. Got me. Very clever.

6D: News letter: UPI. And TASS (29D: Soviet news agency)

8D: Back from a trip, say: IN TOWN. Thought of RETURN first.

9D: Clown's accessory: STILT. I was picturing the big nose on a clown's face.

10D: Sausalito's county: MARIN. Not familiar with Sausalito, a Bay Area city. Wikipedia says both ISABEL Allende and Amy Tan live there.

11D: Charles's miser: EBENEZER (Scrooge). "Dickens' miser" would be SCROOGE. Given name in clue = given name in answer. Surname in clue = Surname in answer.

12D: Like the road in a classic ballad: LONESOME. Stumper. James Taylor's "That LONESOME Road".

18D: Flooey lead-in: KER. Also lead-in for plop/plunk.

25D: First Arab letter: ALIF. The first Hebrew letter is ALEPH.

28D: Ask for more: REORDER

27D: Scrubbing brand: SOS. So you wear glove when using SOS?

31D: Five-time Emmy winner Tina: FEY. What a great job with Sarah Palin. "I can see Russia from my house."

33:D Attila, notably: HUN. Attila the HUN.

34D: Western weapon: TOMAHAWK. Awesome answer.

35D: Interstate feature: REST AREA

36D: Museo display: ARTE. Spanish/Italian for art. Museo is Spanish/Italian for museum.

38D: Air Force One, e.g.: JET

41D: Asian holiday: TET. Well, it's only a Vietnamese holiday. Would you call Bastille Day an "European holiday"? I don't think so. It's only a French National holiday.

42D: It's often served with soda: SCOTCH

43D: End successfully: PAN OUT

44D: Former NBA star Mourning: ALONZO. No idea. He last played for the Miami Heat.

45D: Chinese menu offering: LO MEIN. LO = dredge up. MEIN = noodles. It's not stir-fried. CHOW MEIN is. CHOW simply means "to stir-fry". All Cantonese.

47D: Olympics contest, e.g.: EVENT

49D: Dispensable candy: PEZ. This puzzle has three Z's, one J, three V's and 5 K's. Quite scrabbly.

51D: Hindu sacred text: VEDA. Sanskrit for "sacred lore, knowledge".

52D: Decks in a ring: KOS (Knock outs). Wish there were an abbreviation hint.

54D: Light line: RAY. RAY Of hope? The "line" bothers me too.

55D: "__been meaning to tell you...": I'VE. That "Wo Ai Ni", Chinese for "I love you".

56D: "Jeopardy!" great Jennings: KEN. Alas, H&R Block.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great photo of Dr. Dad and his family. It's taken 7 or 8 years ago. From left to right: Dr. Dad, his wife Kathy, daughter Jennifer who is now 26 years old and living in New Jersey, and daughter Danielle who is now 14 and starting high school this year.

C.C.

Interview with Don Gagliardo

Ever since we switched to LA Times Daily Crossword on March 23, 2009, there have been a very few Thursday puzzles that were enjoyed by almost every solver in terms of theme creativity, solvability, "wow" factor and lack of "huh?". Don Gagliardo's ALFRED HITCHCOCK is one of them.

Don placed 10 theme answers in the grid, and intersected ALFRED HITCHCOCK with five movies in which Hitchcock had a cameo role. Don's "Hard G" puzzle is my all-time "Shock and Awe". I also loved his HUSH HUSH MEETING tremendously.

Don "Hard G" Gagliardo started constructing puzzle in Sept 2006. Since then, he has had 38 puzzles published by LA Times. I am constantly amazed by his originality and bold thinking. Now every time I see his byline, I expect some thrilling theme. Hope you enjoy the interview.

What inspired this puzzle? What are the other theme answers you considered but failed to make the cut?

This puzzle which is to appear Thursday, August 27, was simply inspired by numbers. The goal was to come up with a unique approach, so I chose something we all love, money. My original intent was to have the denominations one, five, ten, twenty and fifty. I had phrases like FABULOUS FIFTIES, ROARING TWENTIES under consideration. All the phrases had to do with positive adjectives associated with denominational numbers. I then realized that I had left out the rare two-dollar bills. I also thought that the two-dollar bill adjective should be contrary to the nature of the other bills because they are such odd-balls. To further enhance their contrariness, I thought the theme answer should come down the page versus the across for the others. I went with three across theme entries (one, five and ten dollar bills) and took a chance that I could find a way to work in the two-dollar bill going down. By incredible luck, I was able to cross the three across entries with the one down entry that I had chosen. To even further enhance the difference, I purposely created asymmetry in the puzzle, attributing it to the down theme answer in the clue. It sounded simple, but it sure became complex!

Which fills do you think might get "huh?" from the solvers and which ones are you most proud of?

The RICOLA cough drop may not be known everywhere (I can still hear the TV jingle). There is a major Chinese city, XIAN, which people may not know. PINKO is a funny word that may have last come up in a MASH episode, but is long gone and possibly unknown to younger people. The phrase "WE'RE ON" is possibly new to puzzles and may throw off solvers. Because it may be a first in puzzles (I don't see it in any databases), it would be a point of honor to have come up with it. I like combining abbreviations and words, which I did a couple times, and there is a short name in there, all of which creates unusual and interesting letter combinations.

How would you describe your style? You seem to like letter play. I truly love your HARD G and HUSH HUSH MEETING.

Yes, I love playing with quirky letter and word situations. You mentioned the HARD-G and HUSH-HUSH MEETING puzzles, thank you Zhouqin. The G puzzle was not originally intended as it was. I was playing with long theme answers with lots of J-sounding Gs (inspired by Ginger Rogers!) and thought, what if I could make all the down words be hard-Gs. Then I expanded it to include as many Gs as I could get into the puzzle. The HUSH-HUSH MEETING was literally the inspiration for that puzzle. I liked the phrase, and my inclination was to apply some aspect of letters to the phrase.

What is the most memorable puzzle you've made? Why is it so special?

I had a puzzle with 30 Ks in it last year (2/21/08). It was memorable mostly because of the wonderful response that I got from solvers.

What is a perfect puzzle to you? Who are your favorite constructors?

The perfect puzzle is the one that really turns the wheels in my brain. I like it when I struggle with all the clues, and suddenly it seems like all the answers happen at once. Two of my favorite puzzles of all time, and this in the Will Weng days at the New York Times, were by Peter E. Price and Edward J. O'Brien. Price's puzzle was a themeless Sunday, but with a very elaborate interlock of intriguing words and phrases. O'Brien's puzzle also had incredible interlock, with three stacked 21's, and the theme was extremely fun, with rhyming made-up phrases. I got hooked then, and have enjoyed the endless imaginations of constructors over a long period of time. There are many wonderful ones out there now, too many to mention, and I love them all!

What is your background and what prompted you to make your first crossword?

Because my father introduced me to puzzles, my desire was to give back to him. Thus my first efforts were to make puzzles for my father. I constructed puzzles on and off since junior high school, but waited until I was about 50 to start getting serious about it. My background is a rounded education, with interests mainly in the arts and sciences. By trade I am a piano technician.

Besides constructing crossword, what else do you do for fun?

Barbara (my wife) and I like to play Scrabble and piano. Lots of nature walks, especially with our doggy Violet, are always welcome. There are many subjects that interest me, so my reading tends toward non-fiction. Comic books are a passion of mine, which is ironic because I read few as a child. I also get in some occasional golf.