Thursday, Feb 7, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: William Hepworth Thompson Quote

20A: We're none of us
35A: Infallible
42A: Not even the
43A: Youngest of us

Never heard of this Thompson guy, but the quote is familiar to me. Bush could not think of ANY mistake he made when asked on a live press conference, then some pundit called upon this "none of us infallible" quote.

I was bogged down on the UNAU/ROUE part, and could not get myself out of the mess. I decided to try Mike's advice (Comments yesterday) and go to oneacross. I only cheated a little bit.

Here are some of the highlights:

Across Clues:

14A: Hoof beat: CLOP

15A: Dental exam: ORAL

17A: Charmer's instrument: OBOE

19A: River frolicker: OTTER

25A: Overthrows: USURPS.

29A: Chef Rombauer: IRMA. She wrote The Joy of Cooking.

39A: Two-toed sloth: UNAU. They look ugly.

46A: Pith: GIST

48A: Pioneering TV Co.: RCA (Radio Corporation of America)

49A: Spoils: LOOT

51A: Beaver hat: CASTOR. I put in CASPER.

61A: Abyss: CHASM

64A: Yankee Berra: YOGI. The Transcendental Meditation Yogi (guru to the Beatles) died on Tuesday.

65A: Flag fabricator: ROSS (Betty). I don't like the word "fabricator" in the clue.

69A: Man who played Chan: OLAND (Warner). I blogged about "Chan Portrayer" a few days ago, then I forgot it quickly. My brain simply refuses to absorb certain information.

71A: Charon's river: STYX. Basically I hate most of the crossword rivers.

Down Clues:

1D: Angry frown: SCOWL

2D:"A Delicate Balance" playwright: ALBEE

3D: Harmonizes an effort: COORDINATES

4D: "Pursuit of the Graf __": SPEE

5D: Hawaiian island: MOLOKA'I. Never been there.

7D: Chummy: MATEY. I heard of MATE/CHAP.

9D: Awakening: AROUSAL

10D: Taiwan Strait island: MATSU

22D: Roll up: FURL.

26D: Lucky charm: RABIT's FOOT. I never heard of this phrase. "A rabbit's foot is the foot of a carried as an amulet believed to bring good luck, American folklore". It has to be the left foot!

30D: Reprobate: ROUE. Could not get this one, and could not get that silly two-toed UNAU sloth from across.

31D: Wild party: BASH. I still could not believe those young kids would set fire on the antique furniture at Frost's home, why? Why did you pick up this road?

33D: Of an ancient alphabet: RUNIC (sorry for the mistake earlier).

37D: Airplane ride: FLT (Flight)

38D: "Othello" evildoer: IAGO. Maybe Orange can add this word on the "100 Must-Know Words" chapter on the next edition of her book.

43D: Sped like a toy truck: VROOMED

45D: Hard to catch: ELUSIVE

50D: Giant slugger?: OTT. Why question mark on the clue?

52D: Actress Cicely: TYSON. Unknown to me.

53D: Greek marketplace: AGORA

54D: Sired: BEGOT

56D: Sled dog: HUSKY

62D: Linden or Roach: HAL

63D: "Take on me" group: A HA. Norwegian band.

The Merv Griffin's Crossword is shown here at the Twin Cites at 3:00pm ONLY. I was misled by their website time (3:00pm & 5:00pm). Missed the opportunity to see how Orange looks like.

C. C.

Amy Reynaldo (Orange) on TV

Orange will be on Merv Griffin's Crosswords this afternoon (Feb 6 Wednesday) 5:00pm on KSTP Chanel 5.

C. C.

Wednesday, Feb 6, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Retail come-on

17A: Retail come-on: One-Stop Shopping
37A: Retail come-on: Two-Year Warranty
57A: Retail come-on: Three-Month Trial

I felt the strong wind from the very beginning. A hard struggle today. Did not even know how to cheat on 25A: Type of penguin (ADELIE) and 33A: Crevasse pinnacle (SERAC). Seriously, I spent more than 10 minutes just to google these 2 words.

Here are the interesting fills:

1A: Conductor Seiji: OZAWA. He was actually born in China, during the Japanese occupancy of China in the 1930s.

6A: In ___ Veritas: Vino. Literally, Truth in Wine. When you get drunk, you tend to tell truth, don't you? I don't. I only want to sleep.

10A: Glazier's piece: PANE. I googled my own blog and got this one.

16A: Fencer's stiletto: EPEE

20A: Legal thing: RES

22A: Large groups: MASSES

23A: Letters for Nob Hill cops: SFPD. Got this one. My sisters-in-law live in SF.

25A:Type of penguin: ADELIE. Look at here. Cute. Happy Feet.

33A: Crevasse pinnacle: SERAC. Hard clue, hard answer. This is why.

34A: Military trainee: CADET

35A: Clerical vestment: ALB

40A: Ref. set: OED (Oxford English Dictionary)

41A: Barely sufficient: SCANT

50A: Diet drastically: STARVE

54A: Arab Robe: ABA.

62A: Non-major studio film: INDIE

65A: Hindu grouping: CASTE

Down clues:

1D: Redolence: ODOR. I confused the word with Insolence. I tried to jam Idle in the blanks.

2D: Designated area: ZONE

4D: Director Craven: WES. Nightmare on Elm Street director.

5D: Ruses: ARTIFICES

6D: Insipid: VAPID. I thought of Sapid.

7D: __ dixit: IPSE. Literally, he himself said it. An assertion without proof. Peggy Noonnan sometimes sprinkles Latin in her columns.

8D: bk after Ezra: NEH

10D: Stomach enzyme: PEPSIN. I just found out that the commercial Pepsin is obtained from the stomach of hogs. Horrible.

11D: Sacred bull: APIS. I stole this explanation from dictionary.com "A sacred bull of the ancient Egyptians, acting as an intermediary between Ptah and humans."

12D: Oahu goose: NENE

13D: Mind readings: EEGS (Electroencephalograms)

18D: Greek flask: OLPE. Here is the definition.

19D: Dawber or Tillis: PAM

23D: Bowl over: SLAY. I put Stun first.

24D: Mubark's predecessor: SADAT. Gimme for me.

25D: "The Maltese Falcon" co-star: ASTOR (Mary).

26D: __ Decimal System: DEWEY. Never heard of it.

30D: Poem division: CANTO

32D: Deep chasam: ABYSS

34D: Stick one's neck out: CRANE

35D: Extremely stressful: TRAUMATIC

38D: Of schooling: ACADEMIC

39D: Pismires: ANTS

46D: Balderdash!: TOSH

50D: Caen's neighbor: ST LO. Caen & St. Lo are two cities in France, heavy fightings took place there during Battle of Normandy.

51D: Whale's location: THAR. But why???

52D: "Rule Britannia" composer: ARNE

53D: Scottish dagger: SNEE

54D: Helpful hints: AIDS. I put Cues first.

That's all friends. Now I need to find out what the heck happened in New Jersey last night. Here in MN, Obama 67%, Clinton 32%.

C. C.

Tuesday, Feb 5, 2008 Randall J. Hartman

Theme: Sobbing phrases

20A: Riparian tree: Weeping Willow

41A: Yellowbelly: Sniveling Coward

57A: Stephen Rea film: The Crying Game

I scanned the whole crossword quickly while dabbing the Burt's Bee around my eyes.

Then I saw 57A, I grabbed my pen and filled in the film name, rather smugly. I blogged about this Stephen Rea a few days ago. Then I filled in PUDGE for I-Rod (7D: Rodrigues, to fans) and a few other gimmes. I fought my way through other areas with little resistance until I came to the left lower corner.

I could not figure out who was 63D: Fidel's amigo (CHE), all I can is Hugo Chavez. It did not fit, then I thought Chavez must have a 3-letter nickname. I did not know the model's name, and I could not get know HILT for 58D: Excalibur's handle. So I called Uncle.

Here are the highlights:

16A: Veil material: TULLE, named after the French City where it's made.

20A: Riparian tree: Weeping Willow. In Far East, willow symbolizes sadness, esp when a loved one is leaving and you have no idea when you will see them again, if ever.

24A: Ferrara family: ESTE

30A: Sharpens a razor: STROPS

40A: Actress Marisa: TOMEI. "My Cousin Vinny" girl.

41A: Yellowbelly: Sniveling Coward. Mealy mouthed, Lily livered.

47A: Lose one's cool: SEE RED. I put Seethe first.

64A: Blackhorn fruit: SLOE

67A: Mini mountains: HILLS. I put MESAS. Sometimes my mind does not think straight.

69A: Corsica's neighbor: ELBA (new to me)

72A: Prognosticator: SEER

Down Clues:

2D: Hill crest: BROW as in Eye Brow?

7D: Catcher Rodriguez, to fans: PUDGE. Our catcher Joe Mauer is pretty good too. He just needs to stay healthy.

9D: Short dagger: STILETTO.

11D: Remove flawed ones: CULL

21D: Singer Tillis: PAM. Here is more information about this country singer.

31D: Competes at Henley: ROWS. The annual Henley Royal Regatta.

32D: Half a tape: SIDE A. I don't fall this kind of trap any more.

39D: Worker's refrain: TGIF

42D: Work out: EXERCISE

43D: Tight grippers: CLINGERS

50D: Obvious toupee: RUG. I put Wig first.

53D: Bulletin board operator: SYSOP (System Operator). Good to know.

57D: "__ Is Spinal Tap": THIS. Never heard of this movie.

58D: Excalibur's handle: HILT

59D: Model Macpherson: ELLE. Is she still modeling? I adore Heidi Klum.

62D: Hamburg's river: ELBE. Never heard of it.

63D: Fidel's amigo: CHE (GUERRA). He died in 1967.

Finally Super Tuesday!

C. C.

Newsday Crossword Puzzle, Have a Look

Orange advised me to try Newsday crossword last week. You can see her reason here on my Jan 30 entry.

She is an expert solver, and respected by so many constructors and editors and other expert solvers. So when she says Jump, I just... jump, with some hesitation and resistance.

This morning I did their Monday puzzle by Gail Grabowski.

Do you want to know the result? I almost finished the puzzle. Only one blank left, but I also made one mistake. I put CRANK JOKE instead of CRACK JOKE for 11D Make someone laugh. So for 23A: Anklets and argyles, now I have _ONKS. I did not know the meaning of argyles, and I always thoughts anklets are those pretty ankle bracelets. Socks! I also had difficulty to think a word for 22D: Musical number. I was really thinking of number. The answer is SONG.

The whole solving process was very smooth. The clues felt very natural, and the answers were words I actually use in daily life. Nothing strained. It felt like making putts on a well-kept green with no breaks, just straight.

The Star Tribune green sometimes feels like a newly aerated one, you know, so grainy, and the ball runs amiss from time to time. But it's my home course. I guess I will stick with it for a while. In the meantime, I am starting my journey with Newsday.

C. C.

Monday, Feb 4, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: Silver Screen Diamond Flicks (Baseball Films)

17A: The Natural
26A: Eight Men Out
40A: The Bad News Bears
53A: Major League
63A: Bull Durham

I've seen 4 of the above 5 films. I never heard of The Bad News Bears. I watch Major League every year when the season starts. I also love Field of Dreams. My husband can lip almost every line of Bull Durham. Silly.

You would think I would breeze through this puzzle given my love for baseball. But I failed miserably. The problem started with 7D: Wetlands. I put a MOORS rather than MARSH. Then I put ALTER rather than ADAPT for 8D: Changes to fit. I had ENSUED rather than TAILED for 18D: Followed. So I could not get the movie Eight Men Out.

Here are the recaps:

1A: Amo, ___, amat: AMAS. Oh Latin.

15A: __-masochism: SADO. I felt sick after learning the meaning of this word. Those people should watch Major League.

20A: Nabokov book: ADA. I only knew Lolita.

21A: Sample: SPECIMEN

23A: Clicking sound : TSK

29A: Color of the Italian sky: BLU. That's the color of my dream too.

50A: Elec. switch: IGN. I don't like this clue. I put OFF immediately.

59A: Vespers service: EVENSONG. New word to me.

Down Clues:

1D: Knack: ART

2D:__ - Jongg: MAH. Most of the Mah Jongg players are retired folks, right?

5D: 2nd Best: GRADE B. I could not get this one out.

9D: Sacred: SOLEMN

10D: Dead, as a dragon: SLAIN

11D: Cinematic Topper: COSMO. (Update: Please read the Comments part, one reader has explained very well why COSMO is the answer).

12D: Nice farewell?: ADIEU. No need for the question mark after the clue, Editor, we know Nice is a city.

13D: Intended: MEANT

18D: Followed: TAILED. I put ENSUED first.

22D: Show-biz notable: CELEB. Clooney & Pitt are real CELEBS, look at what they have done for Darfur & New Orleans. Randy Moss is a controversial CELEB.

23D: Willful injuries: TORTS.

24D: "Magnificent Obsession" director: STAHL (John). The 1935 film, not the 1954 film with Jane Wyman.

25D: Part of ROK: KOREA. South Korea (Republic of Korea). Kim Jong-il's North Korea is DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

27D: '50s TV series "Peter __": GUNN. Never heard of it.

32D: Naut. direction: EBN (East by North)

38D: Muse of poetry: ERATO. I got this one.

42D: Early American political party: WHIG

43D: Made a smooth transition: SEGUED. Got it.

49D: Faculty status: TENURE.

51D: Interstellar cloud: NEBULA

54D: Hail from a sailor: AVAST. I put AMAST first.

55D: Cafeteria dessert: JELLO

56D: In a dominant position: On TOP (I put AT TOP initially)

57D: Love-lit: AGLOW. I was thinking of some literature, like Chick Lit.

66D: Peer Gynt's mother: ASE. Only learned last week who Peer Gynt was, now his mother.

Have a good week everyone.

C. C.

Interview with Amy Reynaldo (Orange)

I got Amy Reynaldo's book How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and Techniques to Master America's Favorite Puzzle as a Christmas gift.

The whole mystery of the crossword was unveiled to me when I read her explanation on understanding the themes. I loved the part on how those constructors try to trick us. And I got immense help from the chapters on "100 Must-Know Words" and "Word Bank".

I started my blog before I finished her book, that's how excited I was!

Amy Reynaldo (Orange) writes a daily blog Diary of a Crossword Fiend, where you can find tons of information on anything crossword related.

I am so happy that Orange agreed to answer a few questions for me. So, please get your cup of tea/coffee, sit back, and learn a few more things about this expert crossword solver.

Can you tell us a bit about your background?

I grew up in the Chicago area as a shy, quiet nerdy kid. I attended college in Minnesota (Carleton College), and I was probably solving the Strib puzzle when I had a copy of the paper, but I don't recall it specifically. I've lived in Chicago since graduation, and have a husband and a son in second grade.

Who got you started at crosswords and when did you realize that you were really good at solving them?

I started doing crosswords when I was a kid, following my grandparents' lead. They liked to work the New York Times puzzle syndicated in the Chicago Sun-Times. When I was about 12, my mom or grandma got me a gift subscription to Games magazine, which was where Will Shortz and the "New Wave" of crosswords kicked into high gear. So I've been doing crosswords for about three decades now.

Ten or 15 years ago, my assistant and I would race each other on the NYT crossword--and I always beat her even though she was an incredibly smart University of Chicago graduate. That was one inkling. Then in early 2004, I started subscribing to the NYT's online crossword service, which gives access to the puzzle the night before publication, and also lets you access a decade of archived puzzles. Solving the crossword online in the NYT's Java applet let me compare my solving time with others', and it gave a clear indication that I was a fast solver.

How would you describe a typical day for you in terms of crosswords solving and blogging? I noticed that you solve 4 or more crosswords a day.

I usually solve the NYT and NY Sun crosswords in the evening and then blog about them. The LA Times and CrosSynergy puzzles aren't released early, so I do those in the morning and update my blog post. Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays, there are several other crosswords I like, so I pack those ones in where I can. Now that the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament is just a few weeks off, I'm trying to do more crosswords in book collections, too--but I don't get to them every day.

How have blogging and writing the book (How to Conquer the NY Times Crosswords) affected your solving speed and accuracy?

Blogging helps me to remember the new things I learn. If I see an unfamiliar word in the crossword and just go on with my life, I might not remember it. But if I Google it and read a dictionary definition or a Wikipedia article about it, I'll learn a bit more. And writing it down helps cement it in my memory. It's like jotting down a list of things to get at the store. You might not even need to consult the list--you'll remember what you need because you wrote it down. But going to the store without making a list? I think it's harder to retrieve those items from your memory.

I don't think the process of writing the book improved my crossword skills much, but it was valuable to distill what I've absorbed over the years into concrete advice. If nothing else, it helps me to give better advice to other solvers.

How do you prepare the coming 2008 American Crosswords Puzzle Tournament?

Puzzle books! I try to focus on the sorts of crosswords that will be used at the ACPT. That means putting aside the tough Saturday themeless puzzles I love so much, and working on themed crosswords of various sizes. I also choose puzzle books with crosswords by the constructors who've been hired by Will Shortz to make tournament puzzles, since their style may pop up again at this year's tournament. These include Merl Reagle, Patrick Merrell, Maura Jacobson, and Cathy Millhauser.

What advice would you give to novice solvers like me to improve ourselves and keep motivated?

Try to focus on good-quality puzzles, which will be less likely to contain woefully obscure words. It's hard to stay motivated if the crosswords you're doing aren't fun, aren't clever, and aren't rewarding, or if they're boring because they're too easy.

Learn the basic crossword vocabulary--those words that contain common letters and show up again and again in crosswords. And pay attention to the sorts of clues that recur for these answers--answers like ERIE, ARIA, ERA, EON, ERN, and ESE. There's a reason there are two different sections in my book with word lists--because it really is key to absorb these words. Soon enough, those will be the gimmes that you can fill in right off the bat.

If you just can't finish a puzzle, check the answers the next day or Google some clues. Isn't it better to learn things than to give up and avoid learning them? Some people call Googling "cheating," but the goal is to look things up and remember them next time, gradually being able to finish without looking things up.

When you're stuck, don't give up too quickly. Put the puzzle aside and come back to it later in the day, or the next morning. Quite often, something that made no sense at first suddenly "clicks."

Thank you, Orange.

Sunday, Feb 3, 2008 Arlan and Linda Bushman

Theme: Product Placement

23A: Offer really big reward?: PLEDGE hefty BOUNTY

38A: Watch over fledgling avian?: Safeguard DOWNY DOVE

56A: Promote West African nation?: Boost IVORY Coast

76A: Wreak havoc on hidden forest clearing?: RAID secret GLADE

89A: Flatter muscular Trojan War Hero?: Soft soap BRAWNY AJAX

109A: Observe Kilauea's huge outpouring?: Behold lava CASCADE

Those are all the brands I have identified, did you find more?

Very tough to bite into this puzzle. I almost used up my bottle of Liquid Paper. I googled like crazy, and still could not fill in 1/3 of the blanks. Then my husband woke up, and helped me a lot, but we still could not finish the damned thing.

Across:

1A: Cartoon apparition: CASPER. Put CASPAR first.

7A: Overcharge: SOAK. Never know "soak" has such a meaning.

11A: Premiere notables: STARS

19A: Programs with pop-ups: AD WARE. My mind is fixed with Spyware.

20A: Glazier's Piece: PANE. I didn't know the meaning of Glazier.

27A: Stephen of "The Crying Game": REA (not RAE). I cannot say how much I am moved by this movie. I also enjoyed The Devil's Own, which is also IRA related.

28A: Sent to the canvas: KOD (knocked out). I was thinking of CANVASS, Get out and Vote.

29A: Editorial symbols: CARETS.

30A: Tibetan monk: LAMA. Love Dalai Lama as a spiritual person. But I can not support his cause.

31A: Display of oils: ART SHOW

34A: Rubberneck: STARE

36A: Equal-angled figure: ISOGON

42A: Slop contraptions: T BARS

46A: One of the "Pump you up!" duo: FRANZ. Hans & Franz. Never heard of their names before.

47A: Hockey defensive great: ORR. Gimme for me.

48A: Curly-tailed pooch: AKITA

51A: Vacation option: CRUISE

60A: Info-gathering mission: RECON

62A: Title city in a Russell Crowe flick: YUMA, "3:10 to Yuma". Never watched it.

64A: Livid: IRATE

65A: Crazy Horse tribe: OGLALA

66A: Bonnet holder: HAT PIN

68A: Scoffs: JEERS

69A: Printer fill-up: DRY INK? Not sure of this why. Pls help me with this one.

80A: Tanker mishaps: SPILLS

84A: Motor or mechanism starter: SERVO. Never heard of it.

87A: Bridge seats: EASTS

96A: Except that: UNLESS

97A: Fluctuates repeatedly: YOYOS

98A: Word for Word: LITERAL.

102A: Muffed: BLEW

103A: Gaucho domain: PAMPAS

106A: Gumshoe: TEC

107A: __ du Diable: ILE

108A: Sock end: TOE

114A: Resinous secretion: LAC

116A: Novelist Murdoch: IRIS

117A: Call together: MUSTER

119A: Cornered: AT BAY

120A: Beekeeper's milieu: APIARY. A beekeeper is called Apiarist.

Down Clues:

1D: "Meet John Doe" director: CAPRA. I should put this movie on our Netflix Q.

2D: Freud colleague: ADLER (Alfred Adler). I know Jung.

4D: Energy unit: ERG

6D: Assault with nostrils with: REEK OF

8D: Galoot: OAF. I was thinking of Ape.

11D: Made a basket, say: SCORED. I was picturing a real basket is being made.

14D: Greek wines: RETSINAS. No idea. I don't drink any wine.

17D:"Foundation" series author: ASIMOV. Our Newspaper carries Asimov Quiz every day.

18D: Fuel for a lighter: BUTANE. New to me.

24D: Inventor Elias: HOWE

25D: National poet: BARD

30D: Polish city: LODZ. Would you believe that I actually got this one?

32D: Old map abbr: SSR

33D: Does after: HAS AT. I was trapped again, put "s" in the end first.

34D: Molasses base: SUGAR

35D: Menlo Park initials: TAE (Thomas Alva Edison)

37D: Enhanced combined effect: SYNERGY? Not sure of this one.

39D: Gainesville athlete: GATOR My husband got this one quickly.

40D: Helpful: OF USE

41D: Court order: WRIT

42D: Drinking mug: TOBY Very silly looking mug.

43D: Commotion: BROUHAHA

44D: Fragrant: AROMATIC

49D: Fuzzy fruits: KIWIS. Full of Vitamin C.

50D: Lendl or Pavlov: IVAN

51D: Uncouth: COARSE.

52D: Piper following: RATS. Why?

53D: Tabloid fare: SCANDALS. I used to watch E! News for their endless scandals. Now my mind is set on Super Tuesday.

54D: Spot pattern: POLKA DOT

57D: Smooth fabric: SATIN

61D: Architect Sarrinen: ELIEL. I know his son's name EERO.

65D: Sound off: ORATE?

67D: Take over: POSSESS

68D: Monopoly corner: JAIL

70D: Networked units: PCS

71D: 19th-century round dance: GALOP. Brutal, never heard of this dance.

72D: Matter-of-fact: PROSY (Sorry for the mistake earlier).

76D: __ Ridge (Derby winner, 1972): RIVA. Unknown to us.

77D: Highland units: CLANS

81D: Potential customer: PROSPECT

84D: Brood: STEW

85D: Wage Receipt: PAYSLIP

86D: Brace or span: TWO? Why?

88D: Chopper: AXE

89D: Not obvious: SUBTLE

90D: Borrowed: ON LOAN ( I put loaned at first)

91D: Take to the cleaners: FLEECE. This reminds me of that greedy DC judge who sued his cleaner for $54 million over his stupid lost pants.

92D: Side action: BYPLAY

93D: Course: ROAD

94D: Writer Waugh: ALEC

95D: Turnip-shaped root vegetable: JICAMA Saw this tuber before. Never eat it.

99D: Rodeo-accessory: RIATA. I just hate this word.

100D: Pile wood: ALDER. Unknown to me.

101D: Suspicious and distrustful: LEERY

104D: Pequod skipper: AHAB. "Moby Dick" again. Never read this book.

105D: Colorful fabric panel: MOLA. It's a "colorfully appliquéd piece of fabric handcrafted by the Cuna Indian women of the islands in the Gulf of San Blas and used for clothing, decoration, etc." Dictionary.com says so.

Now I am done.

C. C.

Saturday Feb 2, 2008 Matthew Higgins

Theme: NONE

With the exception of REEVE for 44A: Superman in movies, this puzzle has no mention of any pop culture stuff. All those obscure authors/bands/singers/old actors/actresses are taking today off.

I stumbled on 1A: the Jewish sect immediately. I penned in a few with authority, inked a few with hesitation, and gratefully filled in a few "S", "ED", "ER" lots of "ING"s .

Have you noticed that there are 5 clues ending with ING:

27A: Lamenting loudly: ULULATING

30A: Supposing: REPUTING

52A: Directing: GUIDING

6D: Beginning: INCEPTION. I was wrong to put "ing" here.

8D: Donning official vestments: ROBING.

A nightmarish struggle. But I was smart enough to realize that this war was not worth fighting for. I shifted to cheat gear (Thank you Larry Page & Sergey Brin) quickly.

Here is a quick recap:

1A: Memebers of a Jewish sect: HASIDIM. Hasid is the single form. Strange plural form. This word "Hasid" looks very wrong.

8A: Even more isolated: REMOTER. Shouldn't it be More Remote?

15A: Surpassed: OUTDONE

16A: Chrysolite: OLIVINE. Too technical for me.

17A: Divide into three equal parts: TRISECT

18A: Emotional stability: BALANCE. That's what Britney Spears needs now. It's not fun to watch her stumble any more. It has become a tragedy.

19A: Dry, as wine: SEC

23A: Jab: POKE

25A: Dried Plum: PRUNE. I love dried dates. After they are dried, plums becomes prune, grapes become raisin, dates are still dates. That's consistency. No flip-flop.

26A: Right on maps: EAST

27A: Lamenting loudly: ULULATING. Unknown to me. This word looks very loud and noisy.

29A: Abalone eater: OTTER. So many ways to clue this creature.

30A: Supposing: REPUTING. I put POSITING first.

31A: Formal, informally: DRESSY

32A: Inventor of catchphrases: SLOGANEER. Mission Accomplished?

34A: Upolu resident: SAMOAN. Apia is the capital.

37A: Resound: RESONATE.

42A: City of the Temple Mount: JERUSALEM

45A: " Clair de __": LUNE. French for "Moonlight". I don't know whether refers to the poem or the Broadway play here.

47A: Short-legged, long-eared hounds: BASSETS

50A: Roughly vehement: VIOLENT

54A: Tract of farmland: ACREAGE

55A: Anticipatory payment: ADVANCE

56A Took up again: RESUMED

57A: Inland passages for oceangoing ships: SEAWAYS

Down Clues:

1D: Impetuous person: HOT SPUR. I never heard my husband used this word before.

2D: Halo: AUREOLE. I know Aura. Aureole can also be spelled as Aureola. Let's be prepared in case the crossword editor decides to trick us with a variation next time.

3D: Robbery at gunpoint: STICK UP

5D: Activist: DOER

6D: Beginning: INCEPTION. I was trapped to put an "ING" at the end.

7D: Stamping, in a way: METERING. Why? Can anyone explain this to me please?

9D: Fill with high spirits: ELATE

10D: Wire measures: MILS. Dictionary says it's "a unit of length equal to 0.001 of an inch (0.0254 mm), used in measuring the diameter of wires." I will forget it soon I think.

11D: Caesar's eggs: OVA. The singular form for Latin egg is ovum.

12D: Old-time soldiers' headgear: TIN HAT

13D: Contains in a box: ENCASES

14D: Opposite of launch: RE-ENTRY

21D: Denim overalls: DUNGAREES. The singular form "Dungaree" refers to the denim fabric. It's also a Hindu Goddess.

24D: Cleverly evasive: ELUSORY

26D: Perpetual: ETERNAL.

31D: State of inactivity: DESUETUDE. I put in INERTNESS initially. Here is the explanation of the word.

33D: Banned war weapon: NERVE GAS

34D: Urn with a tap: SAMOVAR. Saw this word before. Russian teapot. Here is the look.

35D: Cupidity: AVARICE. Greed.

36D: Trusted teacher: MENTORS

38D: Corundum: ALUMINA. Unknown to me.

39D: Period of occupancy: TENANCY. I was thinking of a different occupancy period, like "Occupied Japan", "Meiji Period", or something like that.

40D: Comes forth: EMERGES

42D: Made witty remarks: JESTED

44D: Scope: RANGE

47D: Smile broadly: BEAM. I put GRIN first.

48D: Hindu Deity: SIVA. Also, DEVA, KAMA, RAMA. At least, Hindu Gods have short names, those Greek Gods, or Roman Gods all have fancy long names.

51D: Romanian currency: LEU. Never heard of it. "The subdivision of leu is the ban, pl. bani, meaning both "money" and "coin".

53D: European crow: DAW. I don't like any kind of crow. Did not even bother to check how they look like.

Have a great weekend.

One more thing to blog: My husband bowled 747 last night, his 5th 700 series this year.

C. C.

Friday, Feb 1, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Robin Williams Movie Roles

18A: Robin Williams in "Jumanji": Alan Parrish (look at the crossword constructor's name)

59A: Robin Williams in "Dead Posts Society": John Keating

3D: Robin Williams in "Good Will Hunting": Sean Maguire

27D: Robin Williams in "Insomnia": Walter Finch

I gave up very earlier on. Impossible for me. Too many unfamiliar band name, author name, actress name.

I was convinced at one point that Star Tribune made a mistake on the Perot clue. I only knew him as Ross Perot. I suspected that the first letter could be an abbreviation of his given name. But I dismissed the idea quickly because the clue for 53D: Indian Royalty is a singular form, thus the last letter cannot be S. I was so lost in that corner.

The movie characters got my goat too. I actually watched "Good Will Hunting" once, but I can not remember the professor's name. Never watched the other three movies. I do remember his character Mr. Dobbs in "Man of the Year".

There are also 3 Russia related clues.

50A: Putin turndown: NYET. This is the Russian for "NO". I bet Bush can fill in this one quickly. I wonder if Bush does crosswords.

64A.: Czar's decree: UKASE. What a weird looking word.

38D: Russian Villas: DACHAS. I acturally got this one. The interview of Putin by Time's reporter on its Person of the Year piece was conducted in Putin's Dacha I think.

Here is more:

4A: Multi-talented Rivera: CHITA. Never heard of her. She received 2 Tony Awards.

9A: Perpendicular: PLUMB. This is an interesting word, it can be noun, verb, adj or adv.

14A: Abu Dhabi, Dubai et al.: UAE (United Arab Emirates). UAR (United Arab Republic) is a union of Egypt and Syria from 1958 to 1961.

17A: One-time time connection: AT A (One at a time)

22A: Quite cold: GELID. New word to me. MN has been gelid in the past several days. I just can not SHRUG (47A: "I dunno" gesture) off the cold I caught from the Edwards rally.

24A: Smarted: STUNG

26A: Pirates' take: SWAG. Another word for booty.

30A: Escargot: SNAIL. I've never eaten snail before. Snake, yes, once, not bad, but I don't want to try it again.

35A: Martha of mysteries: GRIMES. Did I blog about her before? Her name sounds familar to me.

37A: Pandemonium: BEDLAM. I got this one.

39A: Day-night tie: EQUINOX. Very tough for me. The down clues did not help at all.

40A: Average score: PAR. I put CEE first.

52A: "Like a Rock" Sing: SEGER. Knew the song, did not know the singer.

68A: Politico Perot: H ROSS (Henry Ross). I found out that Ross is actually the middle name of his brother, who died at age of 3. Perot's original middle name is Ray. He changed it into Ross in honor of his brother.

Down clues:

1D: Liquid measures: QUARTS

2D: Luzon Island battle site: BATAAN. According to the dictionary, it's "a peninsula on W Luzon, in the Philippines: U.S. troops surrendered to Japanese April 9, 1942"

4D: Actress Rosalind: CHAO. Never heard of her. The only Rosalind I know is Russel.

8D: Quaking trees: ASPENS. I spent a long time analyzing the poem Scooter Libby sent to Judith Miller when she was in prison. He wrote "Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them". It's definitely coded.

9D: _mutuel: Pari. A form of betting. Never heard of it.

11D: Swiss Canton: URI.

25D: "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" band: T REX. Look at here if you want to delve more into this band.

28D: Winglike parts: ALAE. Winglike is ALAR.

33D: Fashion designer: MODISTE. I was misled. I kept thinking of a real fashion designer like Vera Wang or Marc Jacobs. I could not get any help from the across clues either. MODISTE is a French word for a designer or producer in women's fashions.

40D: wharf: QUAY. I put PIER first.

43D: Denier: NEGATOR.

46D: Six-winged angel: SERAPH

48D: Writer LeGuin: URSULA. Vaguely remembered her name.

49D: Wound up: TENSE. I put _ _ _ ED quickly, too quickly.

53D: Indian Royalty: RANIS. I put RAJAH initially and felt very proud of myself for a minute. But nothing made sense after that. Should it be clued as plural form (Royalties)?

56D: Classic Jags: XKES. By the way, in yesterday's crossword, 69A: British exports (MGS), one reader pointed out that MG is a British sport car.

59D: Water pitcher: JUG. I put jar first.

60D: Volga tributary: OKA.

61D: _mat (dangerous cargo). HAZ. Hazard Material

62D: Late starter: ISO. Isolate.

That's all.

By the way, if you have time, please go to the Cruciverbalist's website and vote for the clever clue of the month. The candidates for this month are:

Cheese that's made backward? EDAM (Made backward is EDAM)

Snow boarders? SEVENDWARFS (Snow White)

Christmas trees? PEARS (As in '...a partridge in a PEAR tree)

Half a huge cost? ARM (As in something costing an arm and a leg)

Ones taking a lot of interest in their work? USURER (Usurer: someone who lends money at excessive rates of interest)

Idle and then some? ERICS (As in Eric Idle, the English comedian/actor).

Have a wonderful February everyone.

C. C.

Cruciverbalist Word of the Day

Please have a look at here.

I love these clever clues of the month.

Clues:

Caesarean section? ................................ICAME
Device with a Jackson hole? ....................ATM
Master of the double take? .....................NOAH

It's very simple to sign up, and it's free. And you will receive your crossword Word of Day every day. The guy who runs the website is Paul Stynsberg. I think he is based in MN also.

C. C.

Thursda, Jan 31, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Quip

17A: Start of the Quip: The wise
23A: Part 2 of the Quip: Parent never
36A: Part 3 of the Quip: Knows the answers
49A: Part 4 of the Quip: To his child's
63A: End of the Quip: Riddles

Went through lots of googling on the middle and right lower corners. I am still not sure of my answers for 41D: Giving business to: I have NEEDLING. But it does not make any sense. "Giving the business to" means Patronizing, no?

Apercu:

13A: Side to Side: LATERAL

16A: Greek Letter: CHI

21A: Hoad of Tennis: LEW. I didn't know him. He is in Tennis Hall of Fame.

22A: Dubline's land: EIRE. I cannot tell the difference between EIRE and ERIN. Oh, and ERSE.

26A: 2005AL MVP: AROD. Justin Morneau is the 2006 AL MVP. His name has 4 vowels. I wonder when he will be clued in the Star Tribune Crossword. Nice guy.

32A: San_, Italy: REMO. Unknown to me. But gettable.

34A: Faux pas: GAFFE. Yes, indeed. GAFF is a large fishing hook.

42A: "JFK" Director: STONE (Olive). One of my husband's favorite movies. Don't like Kevin Costner's Louisana accent in "JFK".

44A: Greek Letters: ETAS

47A: Arikara: REE. Indian tribe, Dakota area. RHEE is the first President of South Korea.

54A: All-inclusive: A TO Z

55A: Beret or beanie: CAP. I put HAT first. Struggled mightily there.

56A: Rely on: LOOK TO.

61A: Heaven's gatekeeper: ST. PETER.

65A: Cockney aspiration: OPE (Open). Did not know the meaning of cockney. Then I spent a long time trying to figure out what this a cockney guy aspires to. Lives in the west end of London?

66A: Wreaths for the head: ANADEMS. Archaic expression of garland for the head. Greek origin. Tough!

69A: English exports: I have MGS. What the heck is MGS? Am I wrong here? (UPDATE: MG is a British sport car)

70A: Clean-air watchdog grp: EPA (Environmental Protection Agency).

Down Clues:

1D: Contingencies abbr: ALTS (Alternative)

3D: "Nana" star: STEN (Anna). "Nana" is Zola's work. The film tanked. Sten never made it to the "the Next Greta Garbo".

5D: Phythem instrument: CASTANET. A percussion instrument held in palm, spanish origin. See here for more explanation. It looks like this.

6D: _du Diable: ILE. Inferable. It's part of the Iles du Salut (Salvation Island), off the coast of French Guiana.

9D: Arthur of "Maude": BEA. Learned her name from doing crossword. I don't watch any sit-coms.

10D: Long play part: ACT IV. Nailed this one. Fooled me once, shame on - shame on you, fool me, you can't get fooled again.

12D: Down source: EIDER

19D: Vacillated: SEESAWED. Easy.

20D: One way to reduce overhead: DOWNSIZE. Let's what Mr. Romney is good at. This word brings chill to my spine.

21D: Put the pedal to the metal: LET HER RIP. "Put the pedal to the metal" means "make something go forward, floor it, drive your car as fast as possible". Here is the etymology: "based on the idea that you push the pedal (= part worked with the foot) down to the floor of a car to go as fast as you can."

36D: "Animal House" setting: FRAT. Never see the the movie, is it good?

40D: "The Clan of the Cave Bear" author: AUEL (Jean M. Auel). Never heard of the author. I like her name though. The book is a historical fiction. She is still alive.

41D: Giving the business to. I have NEEDLING. Does not make any sense. Please explain to me.

46D: RSVP in the affirmative: ACCEPT .

52D: Jackrabbits: HARES.

58D: Tittering Machine painter: KLEE. Swiss painter Paul Klee. See the painting.

60D: Peak in Thessaly: OSSA. MT OSSA. Greek again.

62D: Shoes's tip TOE & 63D: Aries animal RAM are gimmes.

Stay warm!

C. C.

Wednesday, Jan 30, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Places with embedded famous names

21A: Place for bandleader Les?: Brownsville (TX)
52A: Place for singer Anita: Bakersfield (CA)
3D: Place for actor Brad: Pittsburgh (PA)
30D: Place for pitcher Cy: Youngstown (OH)

First, I have a question for you. Do you know if we have own Star Tribune editor for this crossword or is this also a syndicated crossword like the New York Times? Are you guys all doing the Star Tribune crossword?

If you did last Sunday's crossword (Jan 27, Josiah Breward, People Persons), you might also have noticed the several variations with the spelling of the answers, like the Swiss City on the Rhine answer(Basel instead of Basel), Encircle (Girt instead of Gird), Experts (Mavins instead of Mavens), which caused problems for quite a few solvers. I want to make a suggestion that they add the words like "variation" or "alternative spelling" or some hints in the clues.

I emailed Star Tribune Editor Will Tacy asking for the contact person, no answer. My email was probably junked. Then I called him yesterday morning and left a message. Again no feedback. I am so disappointed. And they gave away the Homer Hankies only to new subscribers who signed up on the spots during Twins Fest last Saturday. A Twins Fest is not complete without a Homer Hanky! What's going on with them?

Anyway, I digressed.

I like Wednesday crosswords. I think my first cheat-free crossword will be a Wednesday, or a Tuesday. Monday is always tough for me. I sailed through smoothly until I stumbled upon the very heart of the crossword.

I had no idea what to put for 29D: Subarctic forest (TAIGA), I did not know the meaning of 38A: Anabaptist sect (AMISH). Somehow I was thinking of a rare insect. There was a family of 4 or 5 Amish people selling homemade organic jams (I adore their raspberry jam), jellies, homegrown tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, apples, pumpkins, etc, at Annandale Flea Market. They had a very rustic cabin booth. Nice people. Oh, 34D: Indian colonialists (SAHIB) is also too hard for me.

Apercu:

1A: Dog food brand: ALPO. Purina Alpo. Dave Lee of WCCO approves this message/line!

15A: Sharpen: HONE. Saw John Edwards last night. He has honed in on his Corporate Greed message. It was -15F, almost unbearable with the brutal windchill. But people sweat inside, the place was packed. His hair did look like a $400 cut, impeccable, not as thick as it looked on TV though.

19A: Publicized Cuban refugee: ELIAN (GONZALEZ). What a nightmare for Janet Leno.

21A: Place for bandleader Les? Brownsville. Had no idea who Les Brown was. But easily inferable from the down clues.

49A: 1944 Physics Nobelist: RABI, Isidor Isaac Rabi. The name for 1943 Physicist Nobelist: OTTO (Stern)

63A: Japanese deer: SIKA. Did not know this. It's small, reddish deer native to Japan.

66A: Polanski film: TESS. Inferable. I say, drop the charges. The young girl has forgiven him, hasn't she?

Down Clues:

5D: Singer Dinah: SHORE. Great golfer. The current LPGA major Kraft Nabisco used to be called Dihah Shore.

8D: Snakes: MEANDERS

27D: "Rouen Cathedral" painter: MONET. I tend to confuse him with MANET.

29D: Subarctic forest: TAIGA. Have to remember this little simple word.

30D: Place for pitcher Cy? Youngstown. Our Cy Young is gone this morning, dealt to the Mets. Johan Santana pitched the very first baseball game I watched. He was not very good then. But he has been brilliant in the past several years. Mr. Forbes #107 Pohlad Got My Goat.

31D: "Seascape" playwright: Albee (Edward). "Seascape" won Pulitzer in 1974.

32D: Alcoholic hone beverages: MEADS. I wonder how & why honey is fermented. Natural honey seems perfectly sweet to me.

34D: Indian colonialists: SAHIB. Indian names tend to have this silent "h". Gandhi, Nehru, Sahib. I always want to spell Gandhi to be Ghandi.

61D: _ Choy (Chinese vegetable): Bok. These Cantonese spelling is very annoying. When you go to China, ask for Bai Cai.

Have a great day!

C. C.

Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: The Clintons' Tactics to Get Elected?

39D: Hillary Clinton _ Rodham: NEE
20A: Do the Utmost: Move Mountains
37A: Flaunt the Boundaries: Push the Envelope
57A: Find a Scapegoat: Shift the Blame

Ted Kennedy said so yesterday when he endorsed Obama.

I am LOATH (63A: Reluctant) to say I cheated again. I was ensnared on the upper middle corner, I wanted so much for a "the" inside 17A to balance with 37A and 57A.

I don't know what to put for 6D Latch (onto, GLOM). I thought of HASP first, then promptly dismissed the idea after I inked in LOGO (7D: Brand symbol). I was picturing in my mind how a shepherd is trying to get his goat (22D: TEASE). And I could not figure out what to put for 8D Rambunctious: (UNRULY) since I had DYE instead of LYE for 25A: Potash. A huge mess.

I want to put into use the new words I've learned from doing the Star Tribune crossword puzzle. Please correct me if you spot a mistake. I am really willing to learn. I also want to thank those who kindly responded to me via Comments and emails regarding my questions in this blog. It means a lot to me. I hope with your help I can finish one puzzle sans Dictionary/Google/Boomer soon.

OK, here is my Apercu:

6A: Stuff to the gills: GLUT. I thoughts GLUT was a noun.

23A: Prickly-topped plant: TEASEL. Tea, Teas, Tease, Teasel. Have to remember this word for Scrabble.

33A: Marshal Dillon: MATT. Fictional character, from Gunsmoke.

49A: Massive Amounts: SLEWS. I only know "a slew of".

62A: Your Majesty: SIRE. I put in SIRS first, as I thought 60D European Capital was OSLO, but corrected myself after I got the BLAME from 57A.

70A: Nerve fiber: AXON. New to me. RETE is a network of nerve fibers.

Down Clues:

3D: Schooner features: TOP MASTS. The dictionary says "schooner" is a sailing vessels with two or more masts, rigged fore and aft. I might fill in with TWO MASTS if I did not have the across clues. I have never been in a sailing vessel before.

6D: Latch (onto): GLOM. New word for me.

12D: Foreigner in Latin America: GRINGO. Last week Lou Dobbs called Bush, Pelosi & Reid as "Three Amigos" when the three reached an agreement on the $150 Billion Stimulus Package.

22D: Try to get one's goat: TEASE. Does "Tease" has a meaning of "Annoy" in a non-facetious way? Mrs. Robinson teased Dustin Hoffman, but he was not annoyed, was he? Here is one of the explanations of the origins of "To Get One's Goat". I think I like this one "Various places suggest this is because in old times a person's goat would be their only source of milk, so they'd be understandably miffed if someone took it!"

23D: Interim worker: TEMP. Lewinsky, Monica Lewinsky!

36D: Profession: AVOWAL. Try AVOCATION next time.

50D: Tack on snow: SLALOM. Should be a gimme.

That's all.

C. C.

Monday, Jan 28, 2008 Robert A. Doll

Theme: All Wet - the first word of each two-word phrase is a river.

17A: Cousin to the Yellow Finn potato: YUKON GOLD. Here is Wolfgan Puck's Potato Salad recipe. Pretty good.

40A: Don Adams cartoon character: TENNESSEE TUXEDO. Never heard of it, but easily gettable.

66A: Cowboy of tall tales: PECOS BILL. Never heard of this "Legendary American Coyboy".

11D: Sign of an a-one greeting: RED CARPET

36D: Bad roll of the bones: SNAKE EYES

I SEARCHED (31A: Use Google) quite a bit for this puzzle. Sometimes Monday crossword is not Monday to me. The same with those Sudoku star rating, don't you think so?

I still do not understand 36D: Bad roll of the bones: SNAKE EYE. Why? I don't understand the meaning of the clue, and I don't know why SNAKE EYE is the answer.

All my trouble started with 7D: _ Never fly! I put PIGS instead of IT'LL immediately, in fact, it's the first word I inked in this morning. I put down EGG instead of EGO for 4D Swelled head.

Here is a recap:

Across Clue:

5A: Pass over lightly: SKIM

14A: Ship's Slammer: BRIG (Jail)

21A: Protuberance on the head: ANTLER

39A: Lapdog, briefly: POM for Pomeranian.

52A: Everglades bird: EGRET

64A: Manufactured fiber: RAYON

72A: Fake coin: SLUG. Did not know. I always associated SLUG with HIT HARD. Baseball ball sluggers like Twins #33 Justin Morneau slugs, hard. Barry Bonds is maybe a fake.

73A: Singer Moffo: ANNA

Down Clues:

1D: Sci-fi classic "The ___": ABYSS. I feel so sorry for myself that I do not know any of this Sci-fi stuff.

2D: Vinegar bottle: CRUET. My vinegar stays in its original bottle.

5D: Official seal: SIGNET.

9D: Al Jolson's real first name: ASA.

10D: Land of Xerxes: PERSIA. Never heard of this king before.

13D: Ms. Redgrave: LYNN. She was twice nominated for Oscar and won a Golden Globe. I hope Julie Christie wins this year. "Away from Her" is good.

53D: Small sharks: TOPES.

61D: Prosperity: WEAL. Woe and Weal.

Let's DO WELL (60A: Prosper) this week.

C. C.

Sunday, Jan 27, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: People Persons

23A: Dean: College Officer
37A: Don: Oxford Fellow
97A: Mark or patsy: Swindler's Sap
116A: Dick: Hotel Detective
17D: Earl: British Nobleman
44D: Victor: Successful Rival

I worked my tail off (as Ron Gardenhire often says), still could not figure the upper right and lower left.

Now I need your help.

14A: Eleventh Greek Letter: LAMBDA.
22A: Common mushroom: AGARIC
25A: Poughkeepsie: MARINT. Is it right? VASSAR is the only one I know. (Updates: This college should be MARIST)
19D: Moss Hart's autobiography: ACT ONE

Here is the problem with 40A: Swiss city on the Rhine: Basee? What happens to BASEL? (Update: The correct answer should be BASLE, Swiss variant on Basel)

Lower left corner:

107A: Extremely scanty: EXIGUOUS
115A: Experts: MAVENS (Updates: the correct answer should be MAVIN, alt spelling for Maven)
120A: Old French card game: ECA_TE (ECARTE is the correct answer)
123A: Timothy who was James Bond: DALTON
96D: Mexican tourist destination: OAXACA

What is 108D: Encircle: GE_T (Correct answer should be GIRT, another spelling of GIRD)

Updates later:

I zipped through the upper left corner (The clues down made it easy) and felt very smart, for about half a minute, then my old self came back.

Here are some summaries:

6A: William Shatner series: Star Trek. No idea. Never watched Star War or Star Trek.

14A: Eleventh Greek Letter: LAMBDA, impossible for me. Had to cheat to find it out. The spelling is so weird.

22A: Common Mushroom: AGARIC. The only common mushroom is the white button mushroom sold at Rainbow. Morel is another mushroom that appeared in the Star Tribune crossword last week.

25A: Poughkeepsie college: MARIST.

33A: Guitarist Flatt: LESTER. Don't know this guy.

40A: Swiss City on the Rhine: BASLE.

42A: "Les Preludes" composer: LISZT

45A: Scuffle: TUSSLE

48A: Burden of proof: ONUS. This word and ONEROUS keep making appearances.

49A: Never existed: WASNT. Boomer helped me with this one. I left lots of space empty in the middle part of the puzzle.

53A: Pampas plain: LLANOS. I was not sure of the plural S initially. But decided that 55D: Went up and down has to be SEESAWED, like Dow last Wednesday, 625 points of swing.

56A: Fed. transport agcy: ICC. for what?

62A: Sensed by touch: TACTUAL. I knew Tactile.

64A: Cure starter?: EPI. I could only think of manicure and pedicure.

67A: Correct text: EMEND. Put Amend first.

68A: Feign: DISSEMBLE

72A: Psychologist Havelock: ELLIS. I remember googling his name before, then I forgot quickly. I will probably forget again. Is he very famous?

75A: President's financial grp.: CEA (Counsel of Economic Adviser). Ben Bernanke used to be Bush's CEA head.

76A: Panamanian dictator: NORIEGA. He is still alive.

78A: Hosp. intake locations: ERS. I put in ICO hastily in the beginning. Did not pay attention to the plural form.

84A: Beam supporting a pitched roof: RAFTER

94A: Like Rattan furniture: CANED. Had to check the dictionary to see what's the meaning of Rattan. Kind of Malay palm used for wickerwork and cane. Yesterday it's NIPA for Malay Thatch. Must be the climate there, conducive to all kinds of palms.

95A: Chan's Portrayer: TOLER. Sidney Toler.

97A: Mark or Patsy: Swindler's Sap. Learned something new today.

107A: Extremely scanty: EXIGUOUS. Never heard anyone using this word before.

120A: Old French card game: ECA_TE. What is it?

121A: Sort of: In a Sense

122A: God of east wind: EURUS. And God of west wind is Zephyrus. God of north wind is Bureas, God of south wind Notus. And God of winds is AEOLUS. If you want more information on their Roman equivalent, Here is more information.

123A: Timothy who was James Bond: DALTON. I like the current Bond: Craig, Daniel Craig.

124A: Zero option: No Escape.

Down Clues:

8D: _-Romeo: ALFA

11D: AAA in the UK: RAC. What does that stand for?

13D: Horny: pref: KERATO. I want it to be rhino something.

18D: Of the back of a tooth: DISTAL.

29D: Whimper: MEWL.

38D: Stupid ones: DUNCES. Next time I will remember.

43D: Judges chambers: In Camera. Heard "In Chambers" often on Law & Order.

49D: Depression agcy: WPA (Works Project Admin)

52D: Sora: RAIL. Bird. Note for myself: The Italian word for evening is Sera.

60D: Actress Vaccro: BRENDA. Doesn't ring a bell.

70D: Servile: MENIAL.

71D: No-good-nik: BADDIE.

80D: Spruce stuff: RESIN. Not the stuff to spruce you up.

94D: Medical insignias: CADUCEI. Almost impossible for me to infer. According to Greek Mythology, Cadueus is "A winged staff with two serpents twined around it, carried by Hermes." according to Greek Mythology. Now it's "a representation of this staff used as an emblem of the medical profession and as the insignia of the U.S. Army Medical Corps."

96D: Mexican tourist destination: Oaxaca. Never heard of it. Anyone been there before?

99D: Hindu ritual suicide: Suttee. The clue scared me. Hindu & suicide, a ritual? The dictionary explains Suttee as "The now illegal act or practice of a Hindu widow's cremating herself on her husband's funeral pyre in order to fulfill her true role as wife.". Good! It is also spelled as Satis. Maybe the clue should reflect this past practice.

102D: Al of Indians: ROSEN. My husband knows almost everything about baseball.

112D: Writer Buchanan: EDNA. A crime fiction writer. I don't read crime fiction.

118D: Menlo Park initials: ALVA. I can never remember Edison's middle name.

That's all.

C. C.

Saturday, Jan 26, 2008 Tom Pruce

Theme: None?

I could not identify a theme for this puzzle. Please let me know if there is one.

I cheated a few times, but managed to finish this puzzle within 45 minutes. That's a very good time for me.

Here are what tripped me:

16A: Antenna: AERIAL.

31A: Troublesome: ONEROUS. It was clued as Burdensome on Thursday's Star Tribune.

32A: Malay Thatch: NIPA. Kind of palm in Southeast with leaves for thatching. New to me.

55A: Brief summary: APERCU. The spelling of this word drives me nuts.

57A: Like a requiem: DIRGEFUL. Appeared in Star Tribune a few days ago, the same clue.

4D: Blue Hen St: DEL. I got the answers from the across clue, but had no idea that Delaware is nicknamed Blue Hen. I wish I were born and grew up here in the US, I would have nailed this one, and many others I suppose.

5D: "Presumed Innocent" Writer: SCOTT TUROW. He wrote ONE L also. Saw him at Celebrity Jeopardy last Oct. Very intelligent man.

12D: Alan Ladd film, "The Blue _": DAHLIA. Never watched it.

30D: Clan pattern: TARTAN. Here is more information if you want to have a better understanding of the Clan Tartan.

36D: Vindictive: VENGEFUL.

40D: Buddhist scriptural language: PALI. Nope, never heard of it. The Encyclopedia Britannica says Pali is the "sacred language of the Theravada Buddhist canon, a Middle Indo-Aryan language of north Indian origin".

43D: Singer Cyndi: LAUPER. I always thought her name is LAUDER.

C. C.

Friday, Jan 25, 2008 Willy A Wiseman

Theme: Golf

20A: Strouse/Adams musical: Bye Bye Birdie
29A: Cooked a bit: Parboiled
45A: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" bird: Albatross
51A: Hidden advantage: Ace in the Hole
10D: Kiddy Frightener: Bogeyman
38D: Erne: Sea Eagle

I do not see any other theme related words, do you?

I got WEBB for 1D: Golfer Karrie right off the bat. My husband and I follow LPGA closely. I have an autographed card of Webb.

I finished the lower left and right corners quickly, but googled furiously for the middle parts. I also stared at the upper right corner for a long time, unbelievably hard for me.

These are the reasons for the long tanglement there:

9D: Hawks' former arena: OMNI Coliseum. Did not know it. My knowlege of NBA is limited to KG, Yao Ming & the Target Center for the Timberwolves. They are winning now, at least.

13D: Brit. Med. syst.: NHS (National Health Service)

8D: Back of a 45: B SIDE. I was thinking of gun. Now looking back, gun clue would be .45

7D: Frequenter: DENIZEN

24A: Sleep symbol: ZEE. I put REM (Rapid Eye Movement) immediately.

8A: Sewing spool: BOB PIN? Am I wrong here? (update: It should be BOBBIN)

Here are more troubles for me today:

25A: Norse giant: YMIR. The Norse Gods I know are ODIN and THOR. Maybe they are not giants.

40A: "the Rose Tattoo" start: MAGNANI (Anna). She won an Oscar for her performance in this movie.

41A: French City: AMIENS. A city in North France.

44A: Bandleader Xavier: CUGAT. No, no memory of this guy.

65A: Singer O'Connor: SINEAD. She is the singer who torn up a photo of Pope John Paul II, then her career went downhill. I like her "Nothing Compared 2 U".

5D: Energetic ones: LIVE WIRES?

29D: Pulpy refuse: POMACE, new word for me. Dictionary says it's the pulpy residue from apple or other fruits after crushing. See here.

30D: Bad blood: ANIMUS. Heard of this word before. Never used it. Enmity is bad blood too.

C. C.

Thursday, Jan 24, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Quip

17A: Living in the past
28A: Has only one
46A: Thing in its
61A: Favor it's cheaper

I had to cheat a few times to dig this one out.

15A: Vega's constellation LYRA. It's in yesterday's Star Tribune crossword 58D, the same clue. I always have problems with this LYRA, LIRA (coin before euro), lIRE (alternate spelling of lire) stuff. Besides, 7D Peer __ proves to be hard to me too. I remember I scanned a short paragraph on Peer GYNT in the newspaper yesterday. But I did not read. I spent way too long time analyzing Colin Covert's Oscar Lineup. Covert is my favorite critic, of any kind. He paints with words.

Speaking of Oscar, 65A: Five-Star review: RAVE. 40D: Give a rotten review to: PAN.

34A: Jose of Dance: LIMON. Had no idea who he was. Googled, and found out he was a pioneering dancer from Mexico. See here.

53A: Before, before: AFORE. I felt panic when the answer is obviously not erst.

67A: Not avec: SANS. Should it be clued as Pas avec?

3D: Sitarist Shankar: RAVI. Know he is Norah Jones' father, but can never remember his name.

24D: Merkel: UNA. No idea who she is. The only Merkel I've heard of is the German Chancellor Angela. Want to see Bush gave Ms. Merkel the unwelcome surprising massage? See here.

26D: Copier brand: RICOH. Saw the ad all the time, just could not remember how to spell.

54D: FDR's dog: FALA. Did not know this. Oh, his mother's name is SARA.

59D: _ex machina: DEUS. Literally, God out of machine, some improbable character in a fiction.

I am so happy that I got 43D: Burdensome: ONEROUS & 35D: Constant carper: NIGGLER.

C. C.

Wednesday, Jan 23, 2008 Annabel Michaels

Theme: 1/23/2008

17A: ONE TWO THREE
11D: ZERO EIGHT
60A: TWENTY THIRD
33D: OF JANUARY

I spent an insane amount of time trying to figure out the left down corner. I put in BEEP for 55D: Signal with a horn, but then I was not so sure of PLY for 65A: Double Over. In fact, I thought "Double Over" means spy. And, I was not certain of BOUDOIR for 55A: Woman's sitting room. I kept imagining a separated, white-walled, Persian rug decorated room those Muslim women live in Saudi Arabia, or Kuwait.

24A: Golfer's Porter: CADDIE. Steve Williams is probably the coolest (and the richest) porter in the golf world.

41A: Enjoin Solemnly: ADJURE. Another new word for me. It has nothing to do with join.

49A: Spooned: NECKED. Never heard of this expression.

63A: Dyer: TINTER. Only knew tint, never used tinter in any sense before.

42D: Soft Italian cheese: RICOTTA. I heard of this cheese before, from Rachel Ray. Yummo for her. No No for me.

50D: Fuzzy Fruits: KIWIS. Somehow I wanted to fill in UGLI, which is not fuzzy.

I don't understand why 35D: Shirtsleeves is ARMS. Did I make a mistake? It means not wearing a jacket according to this dictionary.

I also tend to confuse AVER and AVOW a lot. See 12D: Declare as true: AVOW. (Update: I don't think the clue of the Star Tribune is correct. Declare as true should be AVER.)

C. C.