Sunday April 4, 2010 Dan Naddor

Theme: "Sidelined" - DL is inserted into each common phrase, changing the long vowel sound into short vowel sound.

24A. Spoiled meat?: CUR(DL)ED HAM. Cured Ham. Isn't all ham cured? (Note from John Lampkin: Not all ham is cured. Fresh ham is sometimes served at Easter.)

25A. Equestrian nobleman?: MARQUIS DE SAD(DL)E. Marquis De Sade. Sadism is derived from his name. Marquis is ranked below a duke & above an earl.

43A. Sweet scent source?: CAN(DL)E SUGAR. Cane Sugar. Triple alliteration in the clue.

48A. "Oink oink" jokes?: PIGGYBACK RID(DL)E. Piggyback Ride.

62A. Con man's strategy with a lonely widow?: PEARLS BEFORE SWIN(DL)E. Pearls Before Swine, the comic strip. My favorite theme answer. A sad, short story is told in three words.

84A. Sells shorts?: HAN(DL)ES UNDERWEAR. Hanes Underwear. Another alliteration.

88A. Horse's headgear left out in the sun?: BAKED BRI(DL)E. Baked Brie. Have never had baked brie.

103A. Lanky crustaceans?: SPIN(DL)Y LOBSTERS. Spiny Lobsters. This DL is inserted in front of letter Y, all the others in front of letter E.

111. Sidelined by injury, in baseball lingo, and a hint to how this puzzle's theme puns are formed: PUT ON THE DL. DL = Disabled List.

What an ironic & fun theme for the start of a baseball season! Dan also gave us a few more baseball references:

32D. Batters' nos.: AVGS (Averages)

63D. Angels shortstop Aybar: ERICK. This is his rookie card. Not a player with national recognition.

106D. Buc or Phil: NLER (National Leaguer). The Pittsburgh Pirates (Bucs) and Phillies both belong to the National League.

Quintessential Dan Naddor, abetted by Rich Norris no doubt, humorous, entertaining & tricky clues abound.

Across:

1. Fanatical: RABID. Wanted MANIC.

6. Beatnik?: COP. Nice clue.

9. Great service providers: ACERS. Tennis service.

14. Epps of "House": OMAR

18. Be wild about: ADORE

19. "Strange to see __ good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody": Pepys: HOW A. Have never heard of this Samuel Pepys quote. Makes sense.

20. "D'oh" moment, slangily: BRAIN CRAMP. Great answer.

22. Men's ideals: DREAM GIRLS. What is your dream girl like, guys?

27. Looks the wrong way?: LEERS. And ASS (56. Jerk) & TEAT (107D. Suckling spot).

28. Arranged to pay later: RAN A TAB

29. __ Haute: TERRE. Literally "high land". This refers to Terre Haute, Indiana, right?

30. Wane: ABATE

34. Trouble: STATIC. New meaning of "static" to me.

38. "Big Love" airer: HBO. Have never seen "Big Love".

39. Psychedelic desk item: LAVA LAMP. Didn't come to me readily.

51. The Bee Gees, e.g.: TRIO

52. WWII vessel: LST (Landing Ship Tank)

53. 1964 Tony Randall title role: DR. LAO. From "Seven Faces of Dr. Lao" (1964 film).

54. Old Russian council: SOVIET. Literally "Council " in Russian. We also have SSRS (117. Cold war gp.). SSR = Soviet Socialist Republic.

57. Academic figure: EDUCATOR

60. Without warmth: ICILY

69. Skin care prefix: DERMA. Coconut oil is great for skin.

70. Flamenco clicker: CASTANET. No idea. The stuff in her hands. Spanish for "chestnut". I misread the answer as CAST A NET.

71. Singer DiFranco: ANI

72. One interested in spreads: BOOKIE

78. Skating event: PAIRS

79. OAS part: Abbr.: ORG. OAS = Organization of American States.

82. Donald, to his nephews: UNCA'. Blank spot for me. How many nephews does Donald Duck have?

90. Prized: ESTEEMED

91. Antique auto: REO

92. Equipped with machinery: TOOLED

95. Seed coverings: ARILS. The red fleshy stuff that surround the seeds.

96. Eccentric: LOOPY

98. Fashionable Manhattan eatery: ELAINE'S. I suffered from lethologica. Can never remember this restaurant name.

102. W.C. Fields persona: SOUSE

113. Nobel-winning Holocaust chronicler: ELIE WIESEL. Nice to see his full name.

114. Graph that influences bond buyers: YIELD CURVE

115. 100 Iranian dinars: RIALS

116. Delta preceder: GAMMA

118. Complete: UTTER

119. From Jan. 1 to now: YTD (Year to Date)

120. Bikini event: N-TEST

Down:

1. USN brass: RADM (Rear Admiral). Not familiar with this abbr.

2. Historic Spanish port: ADRA. No idea. Wikipedia says Adra was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain.

3. Afrikaner: BOER

4. 1990 Kuwait invader: IRAQ

5. In an affectedly shy way: DEMURELY. Oh, I don't associate "demure" with "affectedly". To me, our JD (in light green) always looks demure.

6. Una __: using the soft pedal: CORDA. Una corda is literally "one string" in Italian. Unknown musical term to me.

7. Barn babies: OWLET. Alliteration.

8. Volkswagen sedan: PASSAT. Derives from the German word for tradewind. Jetta derives from the jet stream. Kazie or someone else mentioned on the blog that Volkswagen used to name their vehicles after those winds.

9. Start of a tots' song: ABCD

10. Gunk: CRUD

11. 1970s-'80s bowling great __ Anthony: EARL. No idea. My husband said this guy won the most PBA tournaments until Walter Ray Williams passed him a couple of years ago.

12. Fair feature: RIDE. Alliteration.

13. TV show with recurring "Killer Bees" sketches: SNL. No idea.

14. Eschew cooking at home: ORDER OUT

15. "Politically Incorrect" host: MAHER. Outdated clue. I like the current "Real Time With Bill Maher".

16. 2003 NBA Rookie of the Year Stoudemire: AMAR'E. Nope. Not a NBA fan. Looks like A MARE to me.

17. Tach readings: RPMS

19. Boonies possessive: HIS'N

21. Glitterati: CELEBS

23. Supermodel Carangi: GIA. Played by Angelina Jolie in the movie.

26. Basic counters: ABACI. Yeah, I learned the basic counting by using abaci.

29. The ones right in front of us: THESE

30. Matterhorn, e.g.: ALP

33. Wrestling duo: TAG TEAM. Learned from doing Xword.

35. Smidgens: TADS

36. Prefix with Aryan: INDO. Indo-Aryan.

37. Caesar's 455: CDLV

40. DeGeneres's "Idol" predecessor: ABDUL (Paula)

41. Chagall and Anthony: MARCS

42. Graphic design school feature: PC LAB. Unfamiliar with this term.

44. Muumuu accessory: LEI. She looks beautiful (and demure) in her muumuu, sans lei though.

45. Last Supper cup: GRAIL. The Holy Grail, right?

46. Window alternative: AISLE. Airplane seat.

49. Petruchio's wife: KATE. From "The Taming of the Shrew".

50. Shakes setting: ROOF. Dictionary defines shake as "a shingle or clapboard formed by splitting a short log into a number of tapered radial sections with a hatchet". New word to me also.

55. Prong: TINE

58. Olive shade: DRAB

59. Bird of myth: ROC. The bird in the "Arabian Nights".

61. Site of many jewel cases: CD TOWER

62. Quaker St.: PENNA. Is this a common abbr.?

64. Criticizes: RAPS

65. Biblical birthright seller: ESAU

66. "Fear Street" series author: STINE (R. L.). No idea. Looks horrifying. Wikipedia says Stine is often called the Stephen King of Children's Literature.

67. Hospital sections: WARDS

68. Atlas blowup: INSET

69. Apply amateurishly: DAUB

73. "Now the fun starts!": OH BOY

74. Row: OAR

75. Heal, in a way: KNIT. The broken bone.

76. Meatloaf's "__ Anything for Love": I'D DO. Easy guess.

77. Spanish pronoun: ELLO. Spanish for "it". Any comment, Dennis?

80. Do followers: RE MI

81. Player of the field hockey-like sport shinty: GAEL. I've never heard of the Scottish hockey game shinty.

83. Sprays from cans: AEROSOLS

85. Caught congers: EELED

86. Transfer: REASSIGN

87. Fork sites: Abbr.: RDS. Road fork, not utensil.

89. Count (on): DEPEND

93. Queen of mystery: ELLERY. Ellery Queen.

94. Like a sunny room: DAY LIT

96. Justice Brandeis: LOUIS. Who knows? He died in 1941.

97. __ space: OUTER

99. 24-part epic: ILIAD. Oh, new trivia to me.

100. House-to-house number: NOEL. Tricky "number"!

101. "Charlotte's Web" monogram: E. B. W. (E.B. White).

102. 1974 Gould/Sutherland spoof: S*P*Y*S

103. Closed: SHUT

104. Smart-alecky: PERT

105. "... comin' __ baked a cake": old song lyric: I'D'VE. Here is a clip. Totally foreign to me.

108. Salinger title teenager: ESME. Salinger's "For Esme with Love and Squalor".

109. Radiation units: REMS. REM = Roentgen Equivalent Man. I only know the Rapid Eye Movement acronym.

110. Thin strip: SLAT

112. Ft. Worth campus: TCU (Texas Christian University)

Answer grid.

Happy Easter! And a belated Happy Anniversary to Haltool, who met her husband 28 years ago yesterday.

C.C.

Saturday April 3, 2010 Mike Nothnagel

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 30

Multiple word entries abound in this grid. Total 16. And 14 of them are two-word, including all of those stacks of triple 9s in the upper right and lower left corners.

I liked how WISHFUL THINKING (7D. Dreamer's activity) is centered and symmetrically flanked by AS IT IS (8D. In reality) and SO CAN I (45D. Assertion from one who won't be outdone), the only 3-word answers we have today.

How did you fare today? Were you able to mind meld with the constructor in terms of cultural references? I struggled. Mike Nothnagel (in the middle, Doug Peterson on the left & Brendan Emmett Quigley on the right) is a math teacher. He's made lots of late week puzzles for the NY Times. I think this is his LA Times debut.

Across:

1. Some pilgrims: HAJIS. Pilgrims to Mecca. I can only remember the pilgrimage hadj/hajj.

6. Contests on the road: AWAY GAMES. Road games.

15. Enjoy a victory, say: EXULT

16. Ignore, as an insult: RISE ABOVE. Nice clue/answer.

17. More or less uniform: ALIKE

18. Black Sea region: ASIAN MINOR. Turkey region.

19. Holiday pie ingredients: PECANS. I've never had pecan pie.

21. Growth chart data: Abbr.: HTS (Heights)

22. __ torch: TIKI

23. Chateau __ Michelle: world's largest Riesling producer: STE. A winery in Washington. The largest single producer of Riesling wine in the US, a la Wiki. New to me.

24. Deem appropriate: SEE FIT

26. Indifferent grade: CEE. And PLUS (29. 26-Across enhancement). Enhancement made me think of Marisa Miller's boobs, which are actually real.

27. Space balls?: ORBS. Poetically. Poets calls Sun/Moon orb.

30. "Holy Toledo!": EGADS

32. Like a ward for some new hospital patients: NEONATAL. Did not come to me readily.

34. It fits in a lock: OAR. The U-shaped oarlock. I inserted KEY immediately.

35. Chat with someone on the way out?: EXIT INTERVIEW. More familiar with the term EXIT POLL.

39. Pitcher Dwight Gooden's nickname: DOC. Gimme. He's been afflicted with drug problem.

40. Home to FDR's presidential library: HYDE PARK. FDR was born there.

42. Showbiz figure: CELEB

45. Seattle Slew, vis-à-vis Swale: SIRE. Ha ha, I actually know this trivia.

46. "The nursery of England's gentlemen": ETON. Unaware of this Eton moniker.

47. Park in NYC, e.g.: AVE. Park Avenue. Good clue, though clue/answer duplication with HYDE PARK. We also have a cross-referenced RTE (57D. 47-Across, e.g.).

48. "Oops" elicitors: BONERS. Tee-hee!

50. Like "Spring" from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons": IN E. No idea.

51. "Touch Me in the Morning" singer: ROSS (Diana). Not familiar with the song. Doesn't sound romantic as I expected.

53. "Oh no!": ACK

54. Parasite: SPONGE

56. Church rite site: ALTAR RAIL. And KNEELER (41D. Pew extension).

59. The "Demon Star": ALGOL. Arabic root. Al = The (Al Qaeda = The Base). Gol is rooted in Ghoul, the evil demon.

60. Passé reception aid: TV ANTENNA

61. Jack's partner in a 1982 #1 John Cougar song": DIANE. Here is the clip. Blank spot for me.

62. Tony award category: SET DESIGN. And SERIES (14D. Word on some Emmy awards). I liked the "award" weaving.

63. Join: ENTER. Can you give me an example of how they are interchangeable?

Down:

1. Adds in great quantities: HEAPS ON. Praise/scorn, etc.

2. Cart's wheel attachment: AXLETREE. New word to me.

3. Part of a kid's lunch from home: JUICE BOX. Scrabbly!

4. Chase on stage: ILKA. Nope. Total stranger. I was picturing a chase scene on stage.

5. WWII Mark II's: STENS. The British submachine guns used in World War II. I was ignorant of the Mark II model, or any model. Gimme, Argyle?

6. First name at Notre Dame: ARA (Parseghian). The famous football coach.

9. Baker's supply: YEAST

10. Piece of cheesecake?: GAM. Slang for leg.

11. Somewhat: A BIT

12. 1992 Wimbledon runner-up to Steffi: MONICA (Seles)

13. Called forth: EVOKED. What's the exact difference between evoke and invoke?

20. Like many a residential system: SEPTIC

25. Spark: ELAN

28. Nasty: SNIDE

30. Wasp's nest site: EAVE. I've yet to find a nest in ours.

31. Complaint: GRIPE

33. Distance covered by a first step: A TO B. No problem with parsing this time.

34. Sequences: ORDERS

36. Teacher of Adele Varens, in an 1847 novel: EYRE. Jane Eyre. I sure don't remember the little girl's name.

37. Bothering a lot: EATING AT

38. "Nope, the other thing": WRONG ONE. Another awesome clue/answer pair.

42. Stone figures: CARATS. Gem stone. Carat indicates weight, karat purity.

43. Increase in complexity, perhaps: EVOLVE

44. Vampire played by Cruise: LESTAT. Beat me. I've never seen "Interview With the Vampire".

48. Shows: BARES. Just enough. Gong Li my favorite Chinese actress.

49. Part of a deck: SPADE. Deck of card.

52. Golf hazard, often: SAND. TRAP & LAKE also have 4-letter. Ernie Els is a great bunker player. A green jacket this year definitely is not a WISHFUL THINKING to him.

55. "Enemies, A Love Story" Oscar nominee: OLIN (Lena). I peeked at the answer sheet.

58. PC-to-PC system: LAN (Local Area Network)

Answer grid.

C.C.

Friday April 2, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Pseudo-Opposite - Words that start with a non-functioning reversing/negative prefix are punnily re-interpreted and clued as if the prefixes were real.

20A. Caucus member changing his mind about a candidate?: DENOMINATOR. The caucus member nominates, then de-nominates, hence he/she is a de-nominator.

30A. For the real thing?: ANTIPHONY. Antiphony (an-TIF-uh-nee) is "alternate or responsive singing by a choir in two divisions". New word to me. Anti phony. Pronunciation stress shift.

49A. Took back one's story?: UNRELATED. Related a story, then un-related ("Took back").

58A. Downsizing result?: DISPOSITION. Being disposed? I don't get this one.

Perhaps Al/Bob can tell us which prefixes are of Latin origin and which ones are of the Greek root.

So many other prefixes have the same "opposite" meaning: a (atypical), il (illegal), im (impersonal), in (inexpensive), ir (irrelevant), all placed in front of an adjective and its derivative noun.

Don "Hard G" plays piano (so does our editor Rich Norris), so quite a few music references in the grid:

19A. Bach's "__ the G String": AIR ON. The clip sounds familiar. Al might have linked it before.

45A. Key of Chopin's "Military Polonaise": A MAJOR. Got the MAJOR part easily.

52A. Carry __: A TUNE

2D. Swiftly, to Solti: ALLEGRO. Alliteration.

3D. Name associated with three Beethoven overtures: LEONORA. No idea. Wikipedia says Leonore is the original title of Beethoven's opera Fidelio, in which Leonara is disguised as a prison guard named "Fidelio" and rescues her husband Florestan from death in a political prison.

8D. Axton of country: HOYT. Got his name via crosses.

29D. Sharp or flat: OFF KEY

33D. Budapest-born conductor Antal: DORATI. A gimme for our on-the-road Jazzbumpa. I've never never heard of this guy.

39D. Early violin maker Andrea: AMATI. No AMATI/STRAD wobbling today.

60D. Last melody?: TAPS. Last melody call in military bases.

The relatively sparse theme entries allows for plenty of six-letter (total 12) and seven-letter (total 14) fill. Dennis would love those stacks of triple 7s in each Down quadrant.

Today is the first Friday in a long long time that we don't have a add/delete/substitute a letter string theme.

Across:

1. Cotton unit: BALE. Al just mentioned that BALE can also refer to 10 reams of paper.

5. "__ is life!": SUCH

9. Earns a fink moniker: BLABS. I don't associate blab with informing.

14. Seine sights: ILES. French for islands. Alliteration and assonance.

15. Circular cookie: OREO. Alliteration.

16. "__ Breath You Take": Police hit: EVERY. Nice song.

17. Unappetizing food: GLOP

18. Like some summer days: LAZY

23. Latin 101 verb: AMO. Latin for "I love".

24. Freudian subject: EGO

25. Asgard ruler: ODIN. Asgard is the home of those Norse gods.

26. Timberlake with six Grammys: JUSTIN. He and Jessica Biel are a cute couple.

28. Pointer: ARROW

32. Took it slow: LOAFED

34. Flow partner: EBB. Ebb and flow.

35. City NW of Provo: OREM. Wanted ENID the Oklahoma city.

36. Dan'l Webster, in a Twain story: FROG. The jumping frog.

40. Take to the cleaners: SOAK. Let's have a SOAK clue contest today. Mine: Get wet. Rhyming.

43. Remote abbr.: REW (Rewind)

53. "Gimme a minute!": NOT YET

54. Babysitter's bane: BRAT

56. Bug like a dog?: BEG. Good clue.

57. Cos. with ampersands, often: RRS. Railroad companies often have ampersands in them?

61. Choosing from a lineup, briefly: ID'ING

63. Smurf elder: PAPA. Not familiar with the Smurf. Wikipedia says this fellow is 542 years old.

64. Thomas __ Edison: ALVA. Learned from doing Xword.

65. Scary words from the boss: SEE ME. Wanted FIRED.

66. Not fer: AGIN. For & Against.

67. Hammer part: PEEN

68. "To __ human ...": ERR IS. To forgive is divine.

69. Actress Sofer: RENA. Damn it, I can never remember her name. I like that shirt.

70. League of Nations muralist: SERT. Four letter muralist is always SERT the Spanish muralist. I was unaware of his League of Nations (Geneva) work though.

Down:

1. "So what?!": BIG DEAL

4. Hockey Hall of Fame nickname: ESPO (Phil). The clue means nothing to me. This ESPO guy tortures me all the time.

5. Reliable, as a citizen: SOLID.

6. Muse holding a globe: URANIA. Muse of astronomy. A globe in her left hand, a peg in the right.

7. Matisse reportedly called him "the father of us all": CEZANNE. Easy guess.

9. Endure: BEAR UP

10. VII x VIII: LVI. 7x8=56. I don't like the VI repetition. The simple "Roman 56" should be just fine.

11. Oxygenating tool: AERATOR. For the golf greens?

12. Fire retardant chemical: BROMINE. This word sounds like poison. I must be confusing it with some other chemical.

13. Case, for instance?: SYNONYM. Case is a synonym of "instance". In this case/instance. Excellent clue.

21. Yard machine: MOWER

22. Algonquin kin: OJIBWA. Just learned that Ojibwa = Chippewa.

27. Patronize: SHOP AT. And ARTSIER (42. Like a more pretentious museum patron). Patron echo.

31. "Superstation" letters: TBS

37. Hear clearly: GET

40. Common photo subject: SUNRISE. Beautiful!

41. Due in soon: ON ORDER

44. Online resource: WEB PAGE. Can't fit in Wikipedia.

46. Golden __: 50th anniversary: JUBILEE

47. Like a bogey, to a golfer: ONE OVER. I wrote down OVER PAR first.

48. Ruling: REGNANT. Same root with reign?

50. Cliff features: LEDGES. For the climbers to gain a toehold.

51. Visit unexpectedly: DROP IN

55. Yoga posture: ASANA. Maybe Lucina can show us some of her yoga pictures someday.

59. Trade punches: SPAR

62. Application form abbr.: NMI. No Middle Initial.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is a happy photo of today's constructor Don Gagliardo and his beautiful wife Barbara in their backyard in the summer of 2009. Barbara loves shoes and inspired Don's great SHOE BOX puzzle.

C.C.

Interview with Alex Boisvert

Today's edgy quote is our second Alex Boisvert puzzle since the TMS switch last year. His last OOK puzzle is also quite unique. It contains no three-letter word at all.

Besides LA Times, Alex's puzzles have also appeared in the NY Times, NY Sun, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the Games magazine.

Today's puzzle is a rather creative approach to a normally boring quote puzzle. How does the "edge" idea come to you?

Thanks! I actually got the idea from Brendan Quigley's Ten Bulls**t Themes post where he talked about the "stepquote." I had never heard of it (if you haven't either, here's an example, but it gave me the idea to run a quote around the outside of a puzzle. Once I found an appropriate quote, I was pretty much set, except that it turns out running a theme around the outside of the puzzle makes it really hard to fill! It took me forever to get something decent. Hope it was worth it. (Incidentally, I don't find quote puzzles boring, but I know a lot of people do)

We seldom see a non-symmetrical grid and quote entries broken into mostly non-recognizable letter strings. What kind of feedback did you expect from average solvers?

(Actually, the puzzle has left-right symmetry, but that's still unusual) I expect a lot of people to hate this puzzle! Still, I hold out hope that some people will love it too. It does strike me as a puzzle that might be polarizing - most puzzles that are out of the ordinary in some way are. Seems just about right for an April Fool's puzzle.

How would you describe your style? I was impressed that there's no 3-word entry in your last LAT.

I'm not sure I have a style, although I guess most of my puzzles fall into one of two categories: easy Monday-Tuesday puzzles, and puzzles that have some sort of unique twist. I've made a couple of pun puzzles but I don't like them - "Puns are the lowest form of communication," I always say - so most of the entries in my puzzles are real phrases. I especially like making crosswords where a defining theme entry crosses several others, but those aren't easy to make! As far as the LAT puzzle you're referring to - I wanted to see if I could write a Monday puzzle with no three-letter entries. So I did it, but most people didn't even notice, so I won't be doing it
again.

What's your background? And how did you develop an interest in crossword constructing?

Like many constructors, my background is in math. I got my undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College in Maine and my Ph.D. at UCLA. Now I help design software for hyperspectral cameras. While I was in grad school a friend showed me a crossword he was making for his girlfriend. That's when I thought to myself "Hey, I can do that too!" So I tried making a few and eventually I got it right, with a lot of help and patience from editors.

Tell us a bit about your website and the tools you've developed for crossword constructors/solvers.

On alexboisvert.com I have a bunch of apps I wrote for myself, but that I thought might be useful for others. The website started off pretty small but I kept finding more ideas for software that I wanted to make and so it kept growing. Right now the most popular app I have is CrosswordButler, which allows people to download bunches of puzzles every day. I also have the Kaidoku blog where Matt Gaffney and I each contribute one puzzle a week. Kaidoku is a crossword variant that I'm starting to like better than typical crosswords, because it requires logical thinking as well.

What's the best puzzle you've made and why?

Boy, that's hard. The puzzle most people seem to remember is this one from September 19, 2008 PDF, Solution. This one from a year previous PDF, second page, Solution garnered a lot of positive feedback too. I'd also point to this puzzle which is unpublishable for obvious reasons but which I think came out rather well (warning: colorful language involved)

What kind of puzzles do you solve every day? And who are your favorite constructors?

I don't solve that many crosswords any more these days. I did when I used to ride the bus to work but these days I bike. I solve the A.V. club crossword whenever Byron Walden constructs it, and I try to do Matt Gaffney's contest puzzle and Peter Gordon's Fireball crossword every week, but mostly I've been solving Kaidoku. As far as my favorite constructors, there are probably too many to mention, but in addition to Byron, Matt and Peter I would say (off the top of my head) Lynn Lempel for early-week puzzles, Pete Muller and Patrick Blindauer for crazy rule-bending puzzles, and Doug Peterson and Karen Tracey for themelesses. Also anyone who's ever been mentioned when you've asked that question before.

Besides crossword, what else do you do for fun?

Well, I have two young children so I don't have that much free time these days. I love hiking and camping. I enjoy trivia and I go to a weekly pub quiz when I get a little free time. I like to cook and I love to eat good food. And sleep ... but I haven't done much of that recently.

Thursday April 1, 2010 Alex Boisvert

Theme: Location, Location, Location - The "Living on the Edge" mantra is placed around the edges of the grid, clockwise.

1A. Start of a thrill-seeker's mantra: IF YOU AR(E)

8A. More of the mantra: (AR)E NOT LIV(ING)

14D. More of the mantra: (LI)VING ON T(HE)

45D. More of the mantra: (T)HE EDGE Y(OU)

67A. More of the mantra: YOU A(RE) - My answers here are in clockwise sequence, same with the remaining theme answers.

66A. More of the mantra: (A)RE TAK(ING)

65A. More of the mantra: (TAK)ING U(P)

38D. More of the mantra: UP TOO MU(CH)

1D. More of the mantra: (MU)CH ROOM I(F). Letter I overlaps with the starting I in "IF YOU AR(E) and closes the quote.

"If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room", from Jayne Howard, a name I am not familiar with.

Very inventive rendition of an otherwise ordinary quote/quip puzzle. Edgy indeed. When did you glom onto the theme? It took me quite some time to figure out the gimmick due to to its unusual circular theme answer placements and some non-recognizable letter string breaks.

I also did not notice the left to right symmetry until I read Alex's Interview.

Across:

15. Conductor's nickname: MAESTRO. And ALLEGRO (44D. Fast, to a 15-Across). Italian for "cheerful".

16. European car company with a prancing horse logo: FERRARI. Fiat. Sometimes we see its founder ENZO Ferrari in a puzzle.

17. Government heave-hos: OUSTERS

18. "Million Dollar Baby" Oscar winner: FREEMAN (Morgan). Loved the movie. With Hilary Swank.

19. Shoppe sign adjective: OLDE

20. Set one's sights on, with "at": AIMED. The tense of "Set" can be tricky, not today though.

22. Big ape: KONG. King Kong.

23. Artery: Abbr.: RTE. Was thinking of blood vessel artery, not road.

24. Poet who won the 1923 Nobel Prize for Literature: YEATS. Irish. I tend to confuse him with Keats, who's English.

25. Juan's uncle: TIO

26. Piles: HEAPS

32. Percentage on a bank sign: CD RATE. Can't fit in INTEREST.

34. 2007-'08 NBA Rookie of the Year Kevin: DURANT. With the Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly Seattle SuperSonics). Total stranger to me. I can only think of Kevin Garnett.

35. Trig, e.g.: MATH

37. Letter opening: SIRS. Oh, DEAR.

38. Sounds of hesitation: UHS

42. Rotate, as a camera: PAN

43. Casual "I'll pass": NAH

46. Floor exercise surface: MAT. Any Pilates/Yoga fans?

48. "Star Wars" saga nickname: ANI. Darth Vader's boyhood nickname. Mystery name to me.

49. Corrida shout: OLE

50. At the ready: ON ALERT

52. Tablet alternative: CAPSULE

54. Dungeons & Dragons creatures: OGRES

55. Farmyard female: EWE. And 64. Farmyard female: MARE. Alliteration.

57. Kept: SAVED. Didn't Tiger expect his text messages to be saved?

58. Bandleader Puente: TITO

59. Step: TREAD

61. __ Mason: asset management giant: LEGG. Our local paper just profiled one of their star investors a few weeks ago. Alex also gave us TITAN (30A. Giant). Giant echo.

62. Nabokov's title professor: PNIN. Here is the book cover. Is P silent?

63. Scorch slightly: SINGE. Alliteration again.

Down:

2. Blamed: FAULTED

3. "Whatever you say, honey": YES DEAR. Sweet clue and answer.

4. Bone: Pref.: OSTE. As in Osteoarthritis.

5. Mountain West Conference athlete: UTE. Utah Utes. Sports team of the University of Utah.

6. Deck out: ARRAY

7. More optimistic: ROSIER

8. Decadent: EFFETE. Like the ELOI in "The Time Machine".

9. Unlikely class presidents: NERDS

10. Mine find: ORE. Assonance in the clue.

11. Hike: TREK

12. "Raging Bull" boxer: LAMOTTA. What's your favorite De Niro movie? My husbands loves "Casino".

13. Shiraz resident: IRANIAN. Shiraz is a city in southwest Iran. I forget what it's famous for.

21. Might: MAY. Would've preferred the season May clue. We are having beautiful spring weather here in MN.

27. Kitchen spray: PAM

28. Hoards: STASHES

30. Root vegetables: TURNIPS. Not my type. I do like thinly sliced daikon though. You?

31. Collection agcy.?: IRS. Nailed it.

33. Bygone anesthetic: ETHER

34. Roman goddess of the hunt: DIANA. The Greek counterpart is Artemis.

36. Mass reaction, perhaps: HYSTERIA. Good clue.

37. Era that began in 1957: SPACE AGE. Started with the Sputnik.

39. Like some drying clothes: HANGING

40. Commence: START IN

43. __ riche: NOUVEAU. Literally "new". Same root as novelty, isn't it?

51. Téa of "Ghost Town": LEONI. Know her. Not the movie.

53. Actress Hayek: SALMA. Here she is.

56. Left: WENT

59. Sound of disapproval: TSK. What's the difference between TSK and TUT?

60. German article: DER. So are DAS and DIE.

Answer grid.

Happy Wedding Anniversary, Windhover & Irish!

C.C.

Wednesday March 31, 2010 Jennifer Nutt

Theme: FOOT PARTS (35A. This puzzle's theme if you listen to the beginnings of 20-, 40- and 59-Across and 11-Down) - The start of each theme answer is a homophone of foot part.

20A. Proverbial advice to a physician: HEAL THYSELF. (Heel). The epithet of St Luke, a patron saint of doctors, as used by Paul in Colossians 4:14. Early 15th century King James version, the meaning is that before attempting to correct others you should make sure that you are not guilty of the same faults. "First do no harm" is part of the Hippocratic oath all doctors must take. If you read the warnings about any drug, "no" must have a rather loose definition.

40A. Scold vigorously: BAWL OUT. (Ball).

59A. Certain no-parking area: TOW-AWAY ZONE. (Toe).

11A. Motown genre: SOUL MUSIC. (Sole). Also a book by Terry Pratchett.

Al here, guesting once more. Yesterday's many three-letter answers have been upgraded to fours and fives, but still a pretty easy puzzle for a Wednesday.

Across:

1. Basic Latin lesson word: AMAT. He/She/It loves.

5. Bedtime story preceder, perhaps: BATH.

9. '70s dance club: DISCO.

14. Dancer Falana: LOLA. Appeared on the Muppet Show and posed for Playboy. Not at the same time.

15. Canyon effect: ECHO. A nymph in Greek tragedy who was condemned to speak only by repeating what others had spoken. She also fell in love with Narcissus, who did not return her love, so Echo prayed that he would fall in love with himself. On his death he was transformed into the flower narcissus and as some varieties of this flower contain a sleep-inducing drug, the word "narcotic" was used to describe it. So, from the interwoven Greek myth, we have gained the word "echo", "narcissism" meaning self love, "narcissus" the flower and "narcotic" the effects of certain drugs.

16. Not whispered: ALOUD.

17. Response bias may affect one: POLL. Very difficult to compose neutral questions, especially around politics. Do they really care about your responses? Or is the whole point to simply influence the person being polled without seeming to...

18. Weak, as a novel plot: THIN.

19. Piccolo, e.g.: FLUTE. A half-sized one.

23. "__ Miz": LES. Les Misérables, the miserable ones.

24. Stick: ADHERE.

25. Reasoned belief in a supreme being: DEISM. Derived from the latin word "Deus", meaning god, which also gave us Zeus.

27. Scaredy-cat: SISSY.

30. Appoint as a posse member, say: DEPUTE. This word is technically correct, but my preference outside of crosswords would be to use "deputize" instead. Too many old westerns, perhaps.

33. Huck's transport: RAFT. Huckleberry Finn.

36. Consider: DEEM. To pronounce judgment on something or someone.

38. Obama's younger daughter: SASHA. Natasha. Her older sister is Nalia, lots of vowels and common consonants. (Correction: It's Malia, not Nalia.)

39. "The Name of the Rose" writer: ECO. Umberto.

42. Damaged, as mdse.: IRR. Irregular is not necessarily damaged. Navajo blankets anyone?

43. BP merger partner: AMOCO. Beyond Petroleum. They kind of downplayed the original British Petroleum name when they bought the AMerican Oil CO.

45. Stretch of time: SPAN. Interminable if you are forced to watch C-SPAN.

46. Bra size: B-CUP. Made you look...

47. Falling star: METEOR. Meteor vs meteorite vs meteoroid

49. Lesley of "60 Minutes": STAHL.

51. Model's array: POSES. What were they thinking?

53. "Get lost!": BEAT IT. Don't 'cha make me repeat it.

57. Defense gp.?: ABA. American Bar Association. Why "Bar"? In the 1550s, from the railing that separated benchers from the hall in the Inns of Court. Students who had attained a certain standing were "called" to it to take part in the important exercises of the house. After c.1600, however, this was popularly assumed to mean the bar in a courtroom, which was the wooden railing marking off the area around the judge's seat, where prisoners stood for arraignment and where a barrister stood to plead.

62. Brink: VERGE. Edge, rim. Different origin than Converge, which is "bent together".

64. Hit the ground: ALIT.

65. 1814-'15 exile site: ELBA. Napoleon technically ruled there during exile, but wasn't allowed to leave.

66. River romper: OTTER.

67. Titicaca, for one: LAKE. Borders on Peru and Bolivia, one of the highest navigable lakes in the world. The largest lake in South America by volume.

68. Cause a stench: REEK.

69. Natural homes: NESTS.

70. Author Bagnold: ENID. National Velvet.

71. Norms: Abbr.: STDS. Standards.

Down:

1. Top dog: ALPHA.

2. Was heard from the herd: MOOED.

3. Muslim god: ALLAH. Apparently has more than 99 names.

4. Like a basketball team's center, usually: TALLEST.

5. National Institutes of Health city: BETHESDA. Maryland.

6. In need of a massage: ACHY. I'll spare you from linking Billy Ray Cyrus today...

7. "Now hear __!": THIS.

8. Sharpened: HONED.

9. Most goofy: DAFFIEST.

10. Laid up: ILL.

12. Adorable: CUTE. A Japanese Bento box. (someone's lunch)

13. Shelley works: ODES. Percy Bysshe Shelley.

21. Prefix with sect or cycle: TRI. Trisect: to divide a line or an angle in three equal parts.

22. Captained: LED.

26. Hot tub: SPA. Balneotherapy

28. Monopolizes, with "up": SEWS.

29. Kennel sounds: YELPS.

31. No __ traffic: THRU.

32. O.K. Corral fighter: EARP. Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan.

33. 500 sheets: REAM. 24 sheets: quire. 10 reams: bale.

34. Zenith: ACME. From the Greek word: Akme. Apex is from Latin.

37. Defensive trench: MOAT. Similar to a ha-ha around a British garden (to keep cattle out originally).

40. Fans: BOOSTERS.

41. With sustained force: UNABATED. Unlike your breath, when you wait for something important.

44. Jobs, vis-à-vis Apple Inc.: CEO. Steve Jobs, (not employment jobs).

46. Oregon NBA team, familiarly: BLAZERS. Portland Trailblazers.

48. Old touring car: REO. Ransom Eli Olds.

50. "Yo!": HEY. Yo, Adrian!

52. Low, moist area: SWALE.

54. Apartment sign: TO LET.

55. Asleep, probably: IN BED.

56. Tropical hardwoods: TEAKS. That would be multiple species of teak, I guess...

57. Stratford's river: AVON.

58. __ noire: BETE. Literally "black beast", an insufferable person.

60. Actor Rickman: ALAN. Professor Snape from Harry Potter, Hans Gruber in Die Hard, and Metatron (the voice of God) in Dogma. He can play any character type, good, bad or in-between.

61. Collaborative Web site: WIKI. "Simple" database software so that anyone can contribute without having database experience. A Hawaiian word for "fast", it has been "bacronymed" to mean "What I Know Is". A Bacronym is a made up phrase after a word is already in use to try to make an acronym of it, such as POSH, which does not actually come from port out starboard home...

63. Figure out: GET.

Answer grid.

Al

Tuesday March 30, 2010 Robert A. Doll

Theme: Scenes from a Horror Movie? - First words of all the theme phrases are all synonyms of "cleaving". Pretty rough stuff for the breakfast table.

17A. Critters with powerful jaws: SNAPPING TURTLES.

27A. Program interruption: BREAKING NEWS.

46A. Spurning learning: CUTTING CLASS.

60A. Discontinuing relations of any kind: SEVERING ALL TIES.

Argyle here. An interesting theme but not very hard. More Monday than Monday was.

Across:

1A. Casey and Kildare: Abbr.: DRs. Ben Casey and Dr. Kildare were medical drama series which ran from 1961 to 1966 on ABC and NBC, respectively. Dr. Kildare goes back much farther with movies and radio shows.

4A. Clairvoyant's claim, for short: ESP. (extrasensory perception)

7A. Courses for coll. credit: APs. Advanced Placement classes to earn credits while still in high school.

10A. Ball support: TEE. (golf)

13A. Actor McKellen: IAN. Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings.

14A. Classic Jag: XKE. Sweet ride

15A. California fruit: RAISINs. Short clip.

20A. Server on skates: CARHOP. I want to see the hands of any former carhops here.

21A. Sniggler's prey: EEL.

22A. Eliel Saarinen's son: EERO. Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect. Eero Saarinen was also a Finnish architect and furniture designer.

23A. Normandy battleground: ST. LO. LOL A map from previous CrosswordCorner puzzle.

24A. Chinese government bigwig: PREMIER.

32A. Bedroom set piece: ARMOIRE. With the doors open

35A. Sun. speech: SER.. (Sunday sermon)

36A. Catch a few z's: NAP.

37A. "Green Eggs and Ham" author: SEUSS. Another Dr.

38A. Writer Jong: ERICA. "Fear of Flying" was her 1973 novel.

40A. USNA grad: ENS. (United States Naval Academy) (Ensign)

41A. Sephia automaker: KIA. South Korea's second largest automobile manufacturer, behind Hyundai. Sephia is a small family car(or a car for a small family).

44A. Took, as advice: ACTED ON.

49A. Caribbean isl. belonging to France: ST. BARTS. Map.

50A. "¿Cómo __ usted?": ESTÁ. Spanish for "How are you?".

54A. The Phantom of the Opera: ERIK. One name star? "Erik" was not, in fact, his birth name.

57A. River inlet: RIA.

58A. Game in which love is expressed frequently?: TENNIS.

63A. Apple-polishers: TOADIES.

64A. __ canto: singing style: BEL.

65A. Post- opposite: PRE. Pre - before, Post - after.

66A. Govt. ID: SSN.

67A. Frequently, in verse: OFT.

68A. Words in a simile: AS A.

69A. Old JFK arrival: SST. (airport/airplane)

Down

1D. 45s, e.g.: DISCs.

2D. Charged: RAN AT. Also, could be RAN UP.

3D. Watchdog's warning: SNARL.
.
4D. __ 67: Montreal World's Fair: EXPO. Short for Exposition.

5D. Ship's captain: SKIPPER. Who else but...?

6D. Proverbial sword beater: PEN. "The pen is mightier than the sword"

7D. Apollo's twin sister: ARTEMIS. The twins. Apollo was a God of Music, Artemis was Goddess of the Hunt.

8D. Movie girl with "perils": PAULINE. "The Perils of Pauline" Was she an equivalent of Indiana Jones?

9D. "To __, With Love": SIR. 1967 British drama film starring Sidney Poitier as a teacher.

10D. Mah-jongg piece: TILE.

11D. Cabinet dept. formed after the 1977 oil crisis: ENER..

12D. "Tiger in your tank" company: ESSO. Old commercial and the old name(except in Canada and overseas.)

16D. Bow's opposite: STERN. (on a boat)

18D. Greek god of fear: PHOBOS. Where we get the word phobia.

19D. Nerd: GEEK.

25D. Actress __ Dawn Chong: RAE. Tommy (Cheech&Chong) Chong's daughter.

26D. "Snowy" wading birds: EGRETS. (a small white heron)

28D. Take a chance: RISK IT.

29D. Arthurian lady: ENID. Geraint, one of King Arthur's men, married the beautiful Enid. They met while he was on a mission to defeat a cruel knight, and her family provided him with armor and food. They later had domestic difficulties.

30D. Texas city on the Brazos: WACO. The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers (translated as "The River of the Arms of God").

31D. Wing tip-to-wing tip distance: SPAN.

32D. "Just __!": A SEC.

33D. Contact lens solution brand: RENU. I got it this time.

34D. Is required to: MUST.

39D. Take offense at: RESENT.

42D. "To sum up ...": "IN BRIEF ...".

43D. Not with: AGAINST.

44D. Cockpit abbr.: ALT..

45D. Sand structures: CASTLE. Anybody watch Castle last night?

47D. Tut-tutted: TSKED.

48D. Rugged rock: CRAG.

51D. Haircut sounds: SNIPS. Much gentler than our theme.

52D. Stadium levels: TIERS.

53D. Balance sheet item: ASSET.

54D. Approximations: Abbr.: ESTS..

55D. Classic autos: REOs. But don't forget GTOs and LTDs.

56D. 58-Across star Lendl: IVAN. Former No. 1 professional tennis player in the world.

59D. Cinders of old comics: ELLA. The daily version was launched June 1, 1925, and a Sunday page followed two years later. It was discontinued in 1961. Book.

61D. __ de Janeiro: RIO.

62D. Lawyers' gp.: ABA. (American Bar Association)

Answer grid.

Happy 96th Birthday to Irv, the oldest LA Times crossword solver on our blog.

Argyle

Monday March 29, 2010 Barry Silk

Theme: "Keep it Under Your __" HAT (73A. The last word of this puzzle's five longest answers is a type of one)

18A. Gyroscopic toy: SPINNING TOP. A child's toy. Top hat.

24A. Central American fishing mecca: GULF OF PANAMA. On the Pacific end of the canal. Panama hat. (No, I don't know who he is.)

40A. Pretender in a ten-gallon hat and boots: DRUGSTORE COWBOY. Ersatz cowboy. Cowboy hat. Regrettable hat/HAT duplication.

52A. Proverbial backbreaker for a camel: THE LAST STRAW. One step over the limit. Straw hat. This is one of many styles; they just have to be made of 'straw'.

63. Arctic solar phenomenon: MIDNIGHT SUN. When the Earth's axis is tilted towards the sun, it never sets. Sun hat, extreme.

Astounded Argyle here. A Barry Silk with five long theme entries plus a unifier (Total 64 theme squares) on a Monday, what is Rich Norris smoking? A 'Z' short of a pangram. I better get busy.

Across:

1A. Calligrapher's need: INK. Calligrapher- One who is highly skilled in decorative handwriting, as with a great many flourishes. Example

4A. Hilton alternative: HYATT. (Hotels)

9A. Fragrant wood: CEDAR.

14A. Lair: DEN.

15A. Surrounding glows: AURAE. (or AURAS)

16A. Fuming: IRATE. When I had AURAS instead of AURAE.

17A. Day "Grey's Anatomy" airs: Abbr.: THU.

20A. Archery projectile: ARROW.

22A. Time past: YORE.

23A. Comic Philips: EMO. Is he still around, besides in cw?

28A. At liberty: FREE. Often said of escaped prisoners.

29A. "Flying kangaroo" airline: QANTAS. An acronym of Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. 'Q' without a 'U'. Plane.

33A. The Beatles' "__ the Walrus": I AM.

36A. Skin layer: DERMA.

39A. British nobleman: EARL.

44A. Division word: INTO.

45A. __ Bruce, '30s-'40s Dr. Watson portrayer: NIGEL. The good Doctor

46A. Scand. nation: SWE.. (Scandinavia) (Sweden)

47A. Be lenient: GO EASY.

50A. Chinese leader?: INTO. (Indochinese)

58A. IV squared: XVI. 4x4=16, in Roman numerals.

61A. The same, on the Seine: EGAL. French: Remember "Liberty, Egality, Brotherhood".

62A. Bush successor: OBAMA.

67A. __ alai: JAI.

68A. Kindle download: E-BOOK. Amazon Kindle is a software and hardware platform for the rendering and displaying of e-books and other digital media.

69A. Gizmo: THING.

70A. Ques. response: ANS.. (Question and Answer)

71A. Homes in trees: NESTS.

72A. Letters after thetas: IOTAS. (Greek Alphabet)

Down:

1D. Dog collar attachment: ID TAG.

2D. India's first prime minister: NEHRU.

3D. Small knob: KNURL. A knob, knot, or other small protuberance. Also, a small ridge or bead, esp. one of a series, as on a button for decoration or on the edge of a thumbscrew to assist in obtaining a firm grip.

4D. Argues: HAS WORDS.

5D. "Fer sure!": "YUP!".

6D. The Diamondbacks, on scoreboards: ARI. Arizona Diamondbacks are a baseball team.

7D. Tucker of country music: TANYA. Delta Dawn.

8D. Part of a carpenter's joint: TENON. Here

9D. Movie theater: CINEMA.

10D. Fraction of a joule: ERG. Joule is equivalent to 10 to the power of 7 ergs

11D. Dinner and a movie, say: DATE.

12D. Tiny particle: ATOM.

13D. Seized auto, for short: REPO. Repossessed.

19D. Big oil exporter: IRAQ.

21D. Not quite right: OFF.

25D. There are three in every yard: FEET. And a cross-referred SIT (65D. Get off one's 25-Down).

26D. Eva of Argentina: PERÓN. "Evita" is the musical based on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón.

27D. From square one: ANEW.

30D. Folder features: TABS.

31D. Get one's ducks in __: A ROW.

32D. Leonard __: Roy Rogers's birth name: SLYE. Roy was a cowboy and actor before he became a fast food chain.

33D. "Got it, man!": "I DIG!".

34D. Pisa's river: ARNO.

35D. "Turn off the sound" button: MUTE.

37D. X-ray cousin, briefly: MRI. (Magnetic resonance imaging)

38D. Auspices: AEGIS. (patronage, support, sponsorship)

41D. Nanny __: GOAT. WH?

42D. Penny: CENT.

43D. Numbers on 45s: OLD SONGS. Musical numbers on 45RPM records, from an earlier time.

48D. Arab chieftains: SHEIKS.

49D. Safecracker: YEGG. (unknown origin)

51D. Gambling parlor letters: OTB.

53D. "Chicago Hope" actress Christine: LAHTI. Her picture.

54D. Even if, informally: ALTHO.

55D. Indian prince: RAJAH.

56D. Kenmore competitor: AMANA.

57D. Spot for a belt: WAIST.

58D. Mutant superhero group: X-MEN.

59D. Hard-to-describe feeling: VIBE. Shortened vibration.

60D. Nuptial vows: I DO'S.

64D. "Wayne's World" catchword: "NOT!".

66D. Italian article: UNA.

Answer grid.

Argyle