Letters to the Editor (Mr. Wayne R. Williams)

Updated: March 22, 2009 Sunday

I've written 2 emails regarding our crossword difficulty pattern to Wayne Robert Williams, our Tribune Crossword Editor, but never got any reply.

I am getting tired of waiting, and there is no sign that he is ever going to respond to my various queries. So, I decide to put my questions/confusions/venting to him on my blog, and establish a permanent sidebar link, just for him, in case one day he realizes that readers' opinions do matter.

Please feel free to comment on this entry if you are also perplexed by or displeased with certain cluing. I will copy and paste your comment and integrate it into mine. And I will publish one letter every week.

C.C. (March 8, 2008)

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Letter No. 55, March 16 to March 22, 2009 (Final week)

March 16, Monday: The clue for TACO (Salsa dipper) is inaccurate.

March 17, Tuesday, 4 Roman numerals are too much.

March 18, Wednesday, Ouch! Hard puzzle!

March 19, Thursday, it it a themed puzzle? Only two theme entries though.

March 20, Friday, Ounce should not be part of the clue for GILL (44A: Four fluid ounces) as OUNCE is the answer for 47D: Light weight.

March 21, Saturday, The clue for TONERS (46D: Soothing skin creams) is simply wrong. Toner is liquid.

March 22, Sunday. Thanks for all the fun and frustrations. Good luck with your future endeavors!
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Letter No. 54, March 9 to March 15, 2009

March 9, Monday, Great ADD (What summers do) clue.

March 11, Wednesday, BLAST is answer and then clue. A BAS (57D: Down with!) needs a French hint.

March 15, Sunday. I don't get your theme title. Is HAND PICK part of the theme?

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Letter No. 53, March 2 to March 8, 2009

March 2, Monday: HAT TRICK clue (Three consecutive goals) is incorrect. It does not need to be consecutive.

March 3, Tuesday: MONEY is part of the answer, then clue too.

March 8, Sunday: IAN is clue and answer.

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Letter No. 52, Feb 23 to March 1, 2009

Feb 24, Tuesday: Congratulations on the 38 O record.

Feb 25, Wednesday: There should be a "briefly" with the clue for TKOS (60A: Fight stoppers). Also, the clue for LEM (36A, Moon car, briefly) is incorrect. The LUNAR LANDER is known as the LEM. The moon car is the lunar rover.

Feb 26, Thursday: "Most senior" is more accurate than just "Senior " for 63A ELDEST.

Feb 28, Saturday: The clue for NEWSSTANDS (1A: Place for papers) should be in plural form.

March 1, Sunday: 13A: Device for tossing empties: EJECTOR. It intersects OUSTED (18D), which is clued as "Ejected". Why not "Forced out"? 41D: Dead Sea kingdom: EDOM. "Ancient" is needed for the clue. 79D: Crosses: SPANS. Intersects EONS (92D: Geologic span).

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Letter No. 51, Feb 16 to Feb 22, 2009

Feb 17, Tuesday: ART appears as the answer and clue.

Feb 19, Thursday, PERT (Chic) clue is inaccurate.

Feb 22, Sunday, "Ancient" needs to be added to the EDOM clue (55A: Dead Sea kingdom). I also disliked the clue for DIA (101A: Dist. across). It should be "Dist. across a circle".

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Letter No. 50, Feb 9 to Feb 15, 2009

Feb 9, Monday, disliked the clue for OCTET (12D: Octopus arms, e.g.) due to letter duplication.

Feb 11, Wed, there should be a "var." mark with the clue for TABU (9D:Prohibited).

Feb 12, Thursday, too may "Be..." clues.

Feb 13, Friday, worst puzzle I've every solved, DINNER as clue and the answer, SUPPER as clue and the answer. Too many Roman numerals. Many flawed clues.

Feb 15, Sunday, DEVICE/TWIN appear as clues and answers.
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Letter No. 49, Feb 2 to Feb 8, 2009

Feb 4, Wed, WEN could be clued as "Chinese Premier __ Jiaobao". The cyst clue is getting stale.

Feb 6, Fri, NCAA appears both as the answer and as the clue.

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Letter No. 48, Jan 26 to Feb 1, 2009
Jan 26, Monday, "Clique" alone is enough for IN-GROUP (53A: Elite clique), since ELITIST is the answer for 28A: Snob.

Jan 29, Thursday, TEA is answer and appears as the clue for LIPTON.
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Letter No. 47, Jan 19 to Jan 25, 2009

Jan 22 Thursday, LEAD (32A: Blaze the trail) and LED (51A: Set the pace) don't belong to the same grid. They are just one word in different form, which should not be allowed in crossword construction. Would be alright if LEAD was clued as "Component in recalled toys" or something metal related.

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Letter No. 46, Jan 12 to Jan 18, 2009

Jan 12, Tuesday, Underwood's original clues for those Operas are far more creative and colorful.

Jan 13, Wednesday, HOTSHOT does not fit the other theme pattern.

Jan 14, Thursday, the clue for ATF needs an abbreviation hint.

Jan 17, Saturday, the clue for HALTER (6D: Reins attachment) is wrong. The clue is asking for BRIDAL.

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Letter No. 45, Jan 5 to Jan 11, 2009

Jan 5, Monday, PONDWEED (20A: Submerged perennials) should be in singular form.

Jan 6, Tuesday, the clue for PANE (36D: Glass panel) is simply awful.

Jan 7, Wednesday, NARC is DEA agent, not NEA agent.

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Letter No. 44, Dec 29 to Jan 4, 2009

Dec 30, Tuesday, CLYDE appears as the clue and the answer.

Jan 2, Friday, SEL (24A: SSS word) could be clued differently.

Jan 4, Sunday, 98A: Ebonics, e.g.?: NEW ENGLISH (Old English). I don't get the rationale. How so?

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Letter No. 43, Dec 22 to Dec 28, 2008

Dec 22, Monday, what's the theme of today's ING ING puzzle?

Dec 23, Tuesday, AIMER could be clued as "Love, in Paris" rather than "Target sighter".

Dec 28, Sunday, the clue for PEPIN (43A: Son of Charlemagne) is wrong. PEPIN is the father , not the son, of Charlemagne.

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Letter No. 42, Dec 15 to Dec 21, 2008

Dec 15, Monday, SOLO is the answer and part of the clue.

Dec 16, Tuesday, "USA foe" for USSR (32A)? No. Definitely needs "Former" or "Once".

Dec 17, Wednesday, the clue for ODDS (54D: Track stats) needs to be changed into "Track figures", as "stats" suggests an abbreviation.

Dec 18, Thursday, bad clue for FOCI (54D: Central points) as POINT is an answer for 28D: Promontory, a word I've never heard before.

Dec 19, Friday, Why abbreviated "Fr." for A DEUX (7D: Of two: Fr.) clue?

Dec 20, Sunday, What is your answer for 96D (Sound of hoofbeats)? We all have CLOP-CLOP. But shouldn't it be CLIP-CLOP? But the intersecting 105A: Greek letter is RHO. WET is the answer and part of clue.

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Letter No. 41, Dec 8 to Dec 14, 2008

Dec 9, Tuesday, both AWOL clue (6A: Off-base GI) and OPIE (8D: Aunt Bee's nephew) are inaccurate. Should be great nephew. The clue for NORAS (57D: Ephron or Lofts) is wrong too. Norah Lofts.

Dec 12, Friday, DIVE is an answer and a clue. POUT and POUTY should not appear in one puzzle.

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Letter No. 40, Dec 1 to Dec 6, 2008

Dec 1, Monday: PINE TREES (41A: Forest fauna). Should be "Forest flora). SLEUTH appeared both as clue and the answer.

Dec 2, Tuesday, The clue for YOST (69A: MLB Manager Ned) is inaccurate. He was fired in Sept.

Dec 3, Wednesday, 49D: Latin being: IN ESSE. Latin being is ESSE.

Dec 6, Saturday, TARSALS (26D: Ankles) are "Ankle bones", not "Ankles".

Dec 7, Sunday, FORT appears as answer and clue. The clue for DETENTE (17D: International accord) is wrong. Your clue is asking for ENTENTE.

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Letter No. 39, Nov 24 to Nov 30, 2008

Nov. 24, Monday: GRAINS is the answer, then "grain" as a clue.

Nov. 25, Tuesday: The clue for UCLA (Pasadena campus), COPRA (Coconut meat), TONGUE-TIED (Stammering) are all in incorrect.

Nov. 28 Friday: The clue for AUNTIE MAME (Comden/Green musical) inaccurate. They only adapted the film version screenplay.

Nov. 30, Sunday: RAM (88A: Farm butter). The clue needs a "?" mark.

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Letter No. 38, Nov 17 to Nov 23, 2008

Nov 18, Tuesday, NOVEMBER could have been clued as "Veterans Day month" to tie in with the Wars theme. SEATS is the answer, and then 2 seats as the clue.

Nov 19, Wednesday: 35A clue for ITALIAN SUB should be "Genoa-based boat" rather than "Genoa-based ship". SUB is known as boat.

Nov 20, Thursday: TABU needs "var." for the clue ("No- no"), the same with ATF (29D: Booze, butts and bullets bureau).

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Letter No. 37, Nov 10 to Nov 16, 2008

Nov 15 Saturday, too many affixes.

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Letter No. 36, Nov 3 to Nov 9, 2008

Nov. 3, Monday, ASIAN appears both as the clue and the answer.

Nov. 4 Tuesday, great puzzle. Brilliant theme.

Nov. 6 Thursday, BLEND as answer, blend as clue.

Nov 7, Friday, HORNET clue (67A: Charlotte pro) is wrong. They are now New Orleans pro.

Nov 8, Saturday, the clue for TRADE NAME (33D: Corporate ID) should not be abbreviated.

Nov 9, Sunday, the clue for SASH (86A: Pageant ID) should not be abbreviated.
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Letter No. 35, Oct 27 to November 2, 2008

Oct 27, Monday. Great ERIE clue ("Superior's inferior?").

Oct 29, Wed: The following two clues definitely need "for short or abbr.": 39A: Tussaud's title: MME & 55D: Dallas hoopster: MAV

Oct 31, Friday, NAT (9A: Country: abbr.) could be clued as NAT King Cole to fit the musical theme.

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Letter No. 34, Oct 20 to October 26, 2008

Oct 23 Thursday: The clue for MISLAID ("Lost") should be reworded. LOST TO is answer in the grid.

Oct 24 Friday: Both COHEN and UNTIL appear as answers and clues.

Oct 26 Sunday: The clue for SUISSE (1D: Genevan nationality) have included "Genève" as a hint, as SUISSE is the French spelling.

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Letter No. 33, Oct 13 to October 19, 2008

Oct 13, Monday: SEEKS and SEEK. Lazy construction.

Oct 15, Wednesday: The clues for 18D & 52D are inaccurate. They are the words before the first word of above 4 theme entries.

Oct 16, Thursday: LETTERS as answer, then "letter" as clue.

Oct. 19, Sunday: BELT an answer & "belt" appears as clue.

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Letter No. 32, Oct 6 to October 12, 2008

Oct 6, Monday: TRACK is an answer, but "track" appears as a clue also.

Oct 11, Saturday: SUITABLE is an answer, "suitable" appears as a clue again.

Oct 12, Sunday: The clue for STRIA (79A: Glacially produced grooves) is simply wrong. The clue is asking for STRIAE.

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Letter No. 31, September 29 to October 5, 2008

Sept 29, Monday: What is the theme?

Sept 30, Tuesday: SKILLET (46A: Cast-iron pan) is not accurate.

Oct 1, 2008 Monday: PFCS (71A: Military E-3s should have specified Army).

Oct 2, 2008 Tuesday, LANDMASS answer & "landmass" clue.

Oct 5, Sunday, IDEAL as answer and "ideal" as clue.

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Letter No. 30, September 22 to September 29, 2008

Sept 21 Monday: CHIT appears both as the clue and the answer.

Sept 24, Wednesday, AVE appears both as the clue and the answer.

Sept 27, Saturday, the clue for NOMINATIONS (20A: Proposed candidates) is simply wrong. The clue is calling for either NOMINEES or NOMINATED.
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Letter No. 29, September 15 to September 21, 2008

Sept 15 Monday: CAKE (s) appeared both as the clue & the answer.

Sept 17 Wednesday: both OSCAR & GOLD appeared as the clues & the answers.

Sept 21 Sunday: The clue for 119A is inaccurate. The order should be reversed to "50s dance/sci-fi movie".

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Letter No. 28, September 8 to September 14, 2008

Sept 9 Tuesday: GIVES clues "Hands over" is very ungainly since you have IN HAND as an answer.

Sept 12, Friday: Huge mistake on AVIVA. The Spanish walled city is AVILA. You could change GAVE into GALE for 26D, so 33 would be AVILA.

Sept 13, Saturday: SWINGS clue "Move to and fro" is simply wrong.

Sept 14, Sunday 22A: Stout's stout sleuth: NERO. 127A: Duchin or Nero: PETER 52D: Peter of "My Favorite Year": O'TOOL. Need attentive editing.

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Letter No. 27, September 1 to September 7, 2008

Sept 2 Tuesday: Why LISTENING for 56A? The other 2 theme entries are both present tense verbs (STOP & LOOK).

Sept 3 Wednesday: "Fraud" would be a better clue for SHAM. It's ungainly to have two "Counterfeit" clue in one grid.

Sept 4 Thursday: Shouldn't the clue for 64A be "The end of the quip" rather than "The end of comment"?

Sept 5 Friday: So tired of your TSE clue. Awful "half a fly" all the time. I hate the clue for 40A. It's inaccurate. CRACKER only follows the last word of those theme answers. QUAG clue should have a "briefly" to indicate a shortened form.

Sept 6, Saturday: Too many affixes.

Sept 7, Sunday: IRAN could be clued as "Turkey neighbor" rather than "Iraq" neighbor.
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Letter No. 26, August 25 to August 31, 2008

August 25, Monday: ELITE (16A: Privileged few) can easily be reworded because you have FEWER (51D: Not so many) in the grid.

August 27, Wednesday: The clue for EIDER (37D: Downy duck) definitely needs to be changed as we had DAFFY DUCK as an answer.

August 29, Friday: The clue for WIMPS (28A: "Hardly hemen") should be "Hardly he-men."

August 30, Saturday: OUCH!

August 31, Sunday: Family name (Williams), was it for your family reunion?

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Letter No. 25, August 18 to August 24, 2008

August 18, Monday, CASH appeared both as the clue and the answer.

4 RALE/RALES in one week?

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Letter No. 24, August 11 to August 17, 2008

August 12, Tuesday, EVEN appeared both as the clue and the answer.

August 13, Wednesday, LEILA (52D: Goldoni of "Shadows") was simply wrong. Her name is LELIA.''

August 15, Friday, UCONN needs "abbr" in the clue. TER (Part of Canada's Y.T) clue is too lazy.

August 16, Saturday, who is the real constructor? Tom Pruce or Josiah Breward?

August 17, Sunday, STRIA (76A: Parallel grooves) clue should be in singular form.

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Letter No. 23, August 4 to August 10, 2008

August 4, Monday, RANK appeared twice both as the clue and the answer.

August 7, Thursday, some of the clues felt strange. Did someone else edit the puzzle?

August 9, Saturday, STEGOSAUCERS clue could be reworded better. Too many affixes. Not a good puzzle at all.

August 10, Sunday, VOW appeared as the clue and the answer. ALE & ALES in one grid? Too lazy.

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Letter No. 22, July 28 to August 3, 2008

July 29, Tuesday, MT ETNA should have an abbr. hint in the clue.

July 30, Wednesday, UNIX ( Trademark DOS) clue is incorrect. Here is comment from a fellow TMS solver embien: "As any computer person can tell you, UNIX is not a "DOS" (Disk Operating System), but rather an "OS" (Operating System). DOS is usually restricted to PCs, as in MSDOS (the original IBM PC operating system)." ROAN (Motley horse) clue should be changed because HORSE is part of the theme answer.

August 1, Friday, OPTS (22A: Plump (for)) is weak.
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Letter No. 21, July 21 to July 27, 2008

July 21 Monday: A "Var" should be added to the PREVUE clue.

July 22 Tuesday, GREEN appeared both as a clue and as an answer.

July 24, Thursday, can we change the Thursday QUIP diet? We are bored to death.

July 25, Friday: PERIOD(s) appeared in both the clue and the answer. Why TIES is in plural form while the other theme answers are in singular form?

July 26, Saturday: "Spanker" is a terrible clue for "BEATER". Too many affixes, esp suffix S.

July 27, Sunday: Good puzzle.

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Letter No. 20, July 14 to July 20, 2008

July 14, Monday: STAMP should not appear both as the clue and the answer.

July 16, Tuesday: CRT (part of a TV) clue is inaccurate. Add "some".

July 16, Wednesday: FNN (Stock sticker stn) does not exist any more. STREET appeared both as the clue and the answer.

July 17, Thursday: Telephone trio (PRS). Only true on old phones.

July 18 Friday: the FREEZER/STORE clues were too clumsy. Barry Silk's originals are much better.

July 19 Saturday: SAMBAR clue should be "Asian Deer".

July 20, Sunday: EXECS clue should be abbreviated.

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Letter No. 19, July 7 to July 13, 2008

July 11, Friday: 59D (ROOM) clue should be "Word than can follow the last word of those theme answers".

July 12, Saturday: Happy Birthday!

July 13, Sunday: 3D should be TOO (not To) GOOD TO BE TRUE. 84D: IOUS should be "paper debt" rather than "Paper bets".
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Letter No. 18, June 30 to July 6, 2008

June 30 Monday: AVEC (8D: Opposite of sans) were clued as Picasso's famous "Colombe AVEC Fleurs" so we would have got an impressionist (DEGAS), a portraitist (HALS), a surrealist (DALI) and a Cubist's work in the grid. The FLYPAPER (40D: Hanging insect trap) should be rephrased as INSECT is the answer to 30D: Bug.

July 3, 2008 Thursday, EVEN PAR clue (25D: Zero in Golf) is silly, where did you get this "Zero" concept?

July 4, 2008 Friday. Great themed puzzle. 68A: Hem line (SEAM) is incorrect. They are not the same.

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Letter No. 17, June 23 to June 29, 2008

June 23, Monday. Why so many "Res*' clues on the lower right corner?

June 25, Wednesday, is Ill/AIL/ITIS/REHAB a sub-theme?

June 26, Thursday, the clue for ILL (32D: Sickly) is so boring, so is the Quip theme.

June 27, Friday, RE: "ONI": Why the online clue and the newspaper clue are different? Which one is your final product?
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Letter No. 16, June 16 to June 22, 2008

June 17, Tuesday, 20A answer is not accurate. It's SERVICE INDUSTRY, not SERVICE ECONOMY.

June 18, Wednesday, clue for 36D: OLDS (Antique cars) is inaccurate. REO would be a good answer. 22D: NYC summer hrs. (DST). NYC is not needed.

June 21, Saturday, OLD should not appear both as the clue and the answer. Too many affixes in the grid, esp S.

June 22, Sunday, several flaws: SST, SSTS, Span/ACROSS, Orono clue should not be abbreviated, no need to add "?" to Green-eyed for ENVIOUS.
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Letter No. 15, June 9 to June 15, 2008

June 9, Monday, please don't expose the theme in the clues anymore. PGA appeared both in the clue and as the answer.

June 10, Tuesday, BASE appears both as the clue and the answer. Dislike the clue 'ENRY for 34A: Professor 'iggins, to Eliza. It should be either "Professor 'iggins" or simply "Professor Higgins, to Eliza".

June 13, Friday, 4A clue for PROVO (BYU location) should not be in abbreviated form.

June 15, Sunday, POP appeared both as the clue and the answer.

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Letter No. 14, June 2 to June 8, 2008

June 6 Friday: PARCS clue should be in plural form. ARI clue Jackie's ex was incorrect, should be Jackie's second, or Jackie's O.

June 7 Saturday, can you explain why you changed Barry Silk's original clues for the upper right corner?

June 8, Sunday, DEM, TANK appeared both as clue and the answers.

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Letter No. 13, May 26 to June 1, 2008

May 27 Tuesday: INNER, OUTER, UPPER, LOWER. Do you still remember your March 24 puzzle? I do. And I don't like the almost identical theme entries.

May 29, DAVIS appeared both as the clue and the answer. Pls, no more QUIP!!

May 31, Saturday puzzle has too many obscure words. SEMESTRAL? ABULIA?

June 1, Sunday, clue for 107D: Dickens character (FAGEN) is wrong. Your clue demands FAGIN. Need to reclue for FAGEN (Steely Dan memeber). To many Roman numerals.

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Letter No. 12, May 19 to May 25, 2008

May 20 Tuesday, 45A is weak.

May 22 Thursday, QUOTE theme is so bland. We are sick and tired of this Thusday QUIP/QUOTE diet.

May 23 Friday, 17A need some creativity there to make it consistent with the other homophones. 2 Drags in the clue.

May 24 Saturday, 2 finales, is it on purpose? 55A: MIR needs to be reworded. It's de-orbed in 2001.

May 25 Sunday, please clue HONAN as either HUNAN or HENAN next time. It's LABOUR for 123A (British political party), not LABOR. 2 Silvers in the puzzle.

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Letter No. 11, May 12 to May 18, 2008

May 12 Monday: 21D clue fishes should be fish.

May 13 Tuesday: The clue for CRESCENDO (music peak) is not correct technically. It needs to be reworded.

May 15, Thursday. Too bland a theme. SCATS and POPS can be easily recluded as music related to fit in your theme.

May 16, Friday: 52D: Skin Cream (TONER), it's wrong. TONER is liquid. 57D: Millay of poetry (EDNA), it's incomplete. Needs St. Vincent.

May 17, Saturday, 28 S's in one grid?

May 18, clue for 59A TENDERLOIN is not "Meet cut", clue for 98D: ELYSEES is Les Champs ___, not le Champs __. It's just ridiculous to have FOOT, THRUST, ASHEN both as clues and the answers. 3 Roman numerals?

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Letter No. 10, May 5 to May 11, 2008

May 5, Monday: RED COATS is in plural form, everything else is singular form. Where is the consistency? TONG is Chinese American Secret Society!!

May 7, Wednesday: EAST, IRON & QUAD could be re-clued as baseball related.

May 9 Friday puzzle, PLATECOMERS felt very stretched.

May 10 Saturday, too many affixes. unbearable.

May 11 Sunday, SWATHE definitely needs a Var mark. OUT RAN, ran out, come on, please avoid this kind of double appearance. 39A: ATL should be reworded.

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Letter No. 9, April 28 - May 4, 2008

April 28 Monday: too many BARS in the 44A area. TONG is Chinese American Secret Society.

April 29 Tuesday: SHOW should be appear as both the clue and the answer.

April 30 Wednesday: TV made 2 appearances both as the clue and as the answer. Too many obscure words in this puzzle, esp the lower left corner.

May 1, Thursday: Why clue "EAU" as "The water of Paris", why the?

May 3, Saturday, too many obscure words. Read Rex Parker's comment please!

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Letter No. 8, April 21 to April 27, 2008

Dear Mr. William,

April 21, Monday: Why publish the Derby themed puzzle 10 days earlier? Could've avoided 2 Throw's, 2 Time's, and 2 Sense's.

April 26, Saturday, clue for 7D is incorrect. It demands EQUINOXES. This whole puzzle is horribly constructed and poorly edited.

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Letter No. 7, April 14 to April 20, 2008

Dear Mr. William,

April 14 Monday: Upper middle part "SAM" could be reworked. BAR theme could've been hidden so the last entry BAR will be a perfect theme revealing!

April 15 Tuesday: "MAE" clue should not have the movie names to be consistent with other move actor/actress clues.

April 16 Wednesday: TITS/TEATS, what are you testing?

April 17 Thursday: 2 "period" in the clue, and they are together. PAU for 36 D is legit but too hard. "TELL' should not appear both as answer and as part of the clue. Clue for SEATS should be "Tickets details" instead of "Ticket details".

April 18, Saturday is good.

April 19, Sunday's theme should be BEFORE TAX, rather than AFTER TAX.

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Letter No. 6, April 7 to April 12, 2008

Dear Mr. William,

April 7 Monday: 3D: Summer cooler, to some: ICE TEA. The correct answer should be ICED TEA. Clue for NY METS (NYC team) could be better worded as Shea MLB team or something like that.

April 8 Tuesday. 63D: LIMA for Succotash morsel is incorrect.

April 9, Wednesday, UFO crew? (ALIEN) does not need the "?".

April 10, Thursday, the intersection of LILT and JILT is not pretty. Second day in a roll for ASPIC?

April 11, Friday, Another ET. AL?

April 12, Saturday, 7A Mass product efficiently (CHURN OUT) is not an accurate clue. Another ET AL, another ETUI? That's 3 ETUI and 4 ET AL in 6 days, are you in your dreamland?

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Letter No. 5, March 31-April 6, 2008

Dear Mr. William,

CODE (Monday March 31), ORAL (Tuesday April 1), GRAIN (Thursday April 3) all appeared both as the clue and as the answer on this week's puzzle. It could be avoided.

On April 2 Wednesday puzzle, 22A: "Fiddler on the Roof" village (SHTETL) clue needs an e.g. , otherwise, the exact answer for the clue should be Anatevka.

On April 3, "Couples' pedestal" (TEE) is great.

On April 4, 13D: Part of "MIB": MEN. Not a good clue.

On April 5, double appearances of STAIR and HAMMER in both clues and answers, not elegant.

On April 6, too many obscure medical/chemical terms.
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Letter No. 4, March 24-March 30, 2008

Dear Mr. William,

Why question mark on 68A: Woody? (TREELIKE) March 29 puzzle?

Too many INGs on March 28 puzzle. So clunky. The question marks for 48A: Watch the boxer (PET SIT)? & 51A: Travel on Regasus (RIDE)? are not warranted.

The clue for ARSON on March 26 puzzle (Burning desire) should have a question mark behind it. The clue for PAIRED should just be Matched, not need to add an "up".

The clue for SLOAN on March 25 Tuesday's puzzle is not complete, you should not have omitted the essential word Winter ("Six O'Clock" painter).

Quite a few solvers have problems with the More ridiculous (INANER) on March 24 Monday puzzle.
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Letter No 3, March 17-March 23, 2008

Dear Mr. William,

On Sunday March 23, the constructor's name is shown to be Alan P. Olschwang. But Olschwang's puzzles are all about quips/quotations, was it another author name mix-up?

On Saturday March 22, the constructor's name is Ed Voile, yet it clearly has Josiah Breward's marks, and I was later informed that the Chicago Tribunes' author was published as Breward (yourself), can you please clarify?

The Local Poet clue on March 20 is very unfair to solvers outside Chicago, basic editing should be done about 20A.

The intersection of SEA and ASEA on March 19 Wednesday's puzzle is horrible.
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Letter No 2, March 10-March 16, 2008

Dear Mr. Williams,

Thanks for giving us 2 new constructors' work in the past week.

The OWLY clue (Like Woodsy) on March 11 Tuesday's puzzle is too much of a stretch.

The clue for PRELAW on March 13 Wednesday's puzzle is Undergraduate Courses, why plural form?

There should be a "Var" hint on the INSURE (Made Certain) clue on March 15 Saturday's puzzle.

C. C.
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Letter No 1, March 3- March 9, 2008

Dear Mr. Williams,

Can you please let us know whether our puzzle is getting tougher as the week goes, or just random? According to our poll, 62% of the readers believe we follow the NY Times pattern, 38% disagree, and 15% are at sea. Please clarify this for us.

Does last Friday Feb 29, 2008 Randall Hartman's puzzle have a theme? If yes, what is the theme? If not, why do we suddenly have a themeless Friday?

Regarding today March 8, 2008's puzzle, how can you let 11 "S" enter into a Saturday puzzle? And so many prefixes and suffixes (er, re, est, ed, ing)? Are they on sale???

Saturday, March 8, 2008 Matthew Higgins

Theme: NONE

Clunky, unwieldy, klutzy is how I describe this puzzle.

Look at how many "-s" this constructor forces on us: USES, TAMES, GUTS, VAULTS, KEGS, SUPS, BOLES, RIDS, SIRS, MODES, GUIDES, total 11. Then counts his use of "re, ed, er, est, and ing": REHOUSE, REROUTE, FIGURED, SNEAKIER, STATELIEST, EASING, HOTDOGGING.

I used to feel very grateful for these gimme prefixes/suffixes. Not any more. I am getting better at understanding the construction of a puzzle. And this puzzle can be best summarizes as Yeti the Abominable Snowman.

I understand his name is Higgins, with all the "ing" in it. But does he have to use 7 "ing"s in the clues? That's a big 27D: Showing off (HOTDOGGING), isn't it?

Here are the across entries:

1A: Goes on and on: LASTS. I like the clue. But the first word that popped into my mind is "BLAB".

10A: Korean War sitcom: MASH. The sitcom is M*A*S*H, isn't it? With 3 * * *. The film (Altman) is MASH. Shouldn't it be clued differently?

14A: Wrongful seizure: USURPATION. Didn't get this one, though I often see Pakistan's Musharraf being called a USURPER.

17A: Not a total loss: REPAIRABLE

18A: Box to train: SPAR

19A: Palliating: EASING. My unease with this Saturday puzzle cannot be palliated.

20A: Binturongs: BEARCATS. Did not know the meaning of Binturong, then my dictionary tersely explained it as CIVET CAT, which made me mad because it did not fit and it did not start with letter B (I was very certain of my BIBB Lettuce from 7D at this point). OK, a binturong looks like this. It's not a bear, nor it is a cat. Many schools in the US seem to have bearcat as their mascot.

22A: __ de force: TOUR. That's what Tiger Woods pulls off, week after week.

24A: Cast-iron pan: SKILLET Really? My skillet is not cast-iron.

25A: Provides new quarters: REHOUSES. I know it's a word, but it just looks so ungainly to me.

29A: Standard of perfection: IDEAL

30A: Cancel: ABORT

31A: Domesticates: TAMES

33A: Spanish hero, El __: CID. Learned his name from doing crossword.

35A: Innards: GUTS

37A: Satellite of Saturn: RHEA. Nailed it this morning. Remember Roman word for Rhea is Ops, which was clued as Wife of Saturn on March 1 puzzle.

38A: Olden times, in olden times: ELD

39A: Put up with: STOOD. I fell into the STAND trap.

40A: Bank robbery: HEIST. Also a 2001 movie starring Gene Hackman.

41A: Reasoning: LOGIC. Noun. You wouldn't believe how much trouble this small word gave to me this morning!

43A: Embellish: DECORATE

45A: Seemed reasonable: FIGURED

48A: Official recording: REGISTER

50A: Safes: VAULTS

54A: "National Velvet" author Bagnold: ENID. Anyone from Enid (OK)? Interesting, this little blog has readers from every State except Alaska, Indiana, Vermont & Wyoming.

55A: Offering proof: EVIDENTIAL. I was not lured into "Evidencing" because I had had the last three letter_ial in place already.

57A: Stridex target: ACNE

58A: Refrain of a rondo: RITORNELLO. Had no idea what's a rondo. But RITORNELLO is inferable from the down clues. My dictionary says Ritornello is "an instrumental interlude before or after an aria, scene, in 17th century operas." Above this entry, there is another musical term called "Ritardando", meaning getting gradually slower.

59A: Small beer barrels: KEGS

Down entries:

1D: Enticement: LURE

2D: On the bounding main: ASEA. I was stymied by the meaning of "bounding main" again.

3D: Has dinner: SUPS. Of course, I "EATS".

4D: Turncoats: TRAITORS

5D: Elvis Presley movie: SPINOUT. Never saw this movie. In fact, I never saw any Elvis movie.

7D: One type of lettuce: BIBB. In case you do not know, this lettuce got its name from its cultivator Jack Bibb.

8D: Tree trunks: BOLES

9D: More furtive: SNEAKIER

10D: Strong-arm man: MUSCLE. Muscle man, yes, Muscle no. Never heard of it.

11D: Eastern U. S. region: APPALACHIA

12D: Superlatively grand: STATELIEST. How grand can you go?

13D: Jazz pianist Jankowski: HORST. Never heard of him.

15D: Mythological giant: ARGUS. I wanted it to be Atlas.

23D: Grade or active lead-in: RETRO

25D: Excessive temper tantrum: RAGE. Watched Kurt Russel's Death Proof the other day, quite a road rage scene.

26D: Zestful enthusiasm: EBULLIENCE. I guess I used exuberance often. I wish there were some "Irrational Exuberance" in the stock market now. Another 370 points slide in the past 2 days, and weeks and weeks of dreadful plunging. If this is not a recession, I don't know what is.

27D: Showing off: HOTDOGGING. Not a familiar word to me. I have to ask my (American) husband if he ever uses this word to show off when he gets up.

28D: Indian lute played with a bow: SAROD. I only knew SITAR. Both are lutes, but I gather you only play SAROD with a bow.

32D: Ways of performing: MODES

36D: And so on and so forth: ET CETERA

37D: Sends another way: REROUTES

40D: Shout of praise: HOSANNA

42D: Travel pamphlets: GUIDES

44D: Lid: COVER

45D: Carnival oddity: FREAK. What's this? I've been to our local carnivals, and never seen any "Freak" there.

53D: Coin channel: SLOT

Have a good weekend.

C. C.

Friday, March 7, 2008 Ed Voile

Theme: Rock, Paper, Scissors

20A: Standard Oil family: Rockefellers

37A: Beatles hit of 1966: Paperback Writer

54A: Swimmer's propulsion: Scissors Kick

Tough slog today. Only a few known knowns, and several known unknowns, and scads of unknown unknowns. Oh, the poetry of Rumsfeld!

But the thing that bothers me the most is the lack of theme. (Update: I was wrong. Thank you a lot, Superfrey and Drdad)

I will spare you with my travails today. Here are across entries:

1A: Monastery head: ABBOT

6A: Def. mil. grp.: TAC (Tactical Air Command). There is also a SAC (Strategic Air Command)

9A: Unsuitable: INAPT. I put in UNAPT first. I always associated "inapt" with "incompetent."

19A: 14A: Quantitative diagram: GRAPH

15A: Of the ear: OTO

18A: Full of. suff. OSE. Or sugar suffix, as in "fructose". The only other _ose word that jumps to my mind right now is "verbose".

19A: Composer Grofe: FERDE. Never heard of him.

20A: Standard oil family: ROCKEFELLERS

23A: Japanese Nobelist in literature: KAWABATA (Yasunari). He won Nobel in 1968. He wrote lots of short stories, and he committed suicide in 1972, like Sylvia Plath. The only Japanese novel I really like is Norwegian Wood, a story about love, loss & sexuality.

26A: Rodeo ropes: LASSOS

29A: U.S. dance grp.: A. B. T. (American Ballet Theatre)

30A: Singletons: ONES. Not a fan of any card game.

32A: Making a bend in: CROOKING

37A: Beatles hit of 1966: PAPERBACK WRITER. Not familiar with this song.

41A: Clockwork element: FLYWHEEL. Unknown to me.

47A: AL-NL honoree: MVP (Most Valuable Player)

48A: In a faint: ASWOON. Never saw this word being used.

52A: Redgrave and Williams: VANESSAS. Did not know Redgrave, but I knew Vanessa Williams, who was just interviewed by Barbara Walters on her pre-Oscar show.

54A: Swimmer's propulsion: SCISSORS KICK. It's a "swimming kick, used esp. in the sidestroke, in which the motion of the legs is similar to the opening and closing of scissor blades."

56A: Composer of "The Planets": HOLST (Gustav). British composer. Here is more information about him.

58A: No-brainer: CINCH

62A: Medical condition: suff.: ENTIA. I was thinking of _itis. OK, Dementia is a word (Update: I was wrong, please read Comments Section for Orange's explanation), what other _entia can you think of?

63A: Studio letters: MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

64A: Liturgical vestment: AMICE.

65A: Change a timer: RESET

66A: Alfonso's queen: ENA. Queen Victoria Eugenia or, less formally, "Queen Ena". I was confused earlier, I thought "ena" means Queen in Spanish. The correct word is "reina".

67A: Room: SPACE

Down clues:

3D: Night flyer: BAT. I put OWL first.

4D: Musical drama: OPERA

5D: Pulsates: THROBS

6D: Liked from the start: TOOK TO

7D: Perplexed: AT SEA

8D: Math fig.: COEF (Coefficient)

9D: Tire pump, for example: INFLATOR

10D: Aage __ Bohr: NIELS. I only knew his surname Bohr, the famous father-son duo, who both won Nobel Prize in Physics (1922 & 1975). Look at his given name, 3 vowels.

12D: Ballplayer Guerrero: PEDRO. The only Guerrero I knew is Angels's Vladimir. But Pedro is easily gettable. So many Pedros in the MLB.

22D: Nudger's joint: ELBOW

23D: Big name in publishing: KNOPF. No scandal from them so far.

24D: Yearly record: ANNAL

25D: Tearful: WEEPY

32D: Quarter M: CCL. I would have gotten it immediately if it's clued as 1/4 of a M.

33D: Baby fox: KIT

34D: Agenda entries: ITEMS

35D: Emperor before Trajan: NERVA. No idea.

38D: Current controller: RHEOSTAT. Rheo comes from Greek, meaning flow, current.

39D: Form of bingo: BEANO. Never played Bingo before.

40D: Gas: pref.: AER. As in Aerosol. Aeo/Aero is of Greek/Latin origin, meaning "air".

44D: City in the Cascades: YAKIMA (WA). Never heard of this city. What kind of apple does it produce? Minnesota is the Honeycrisp State of course. To me, the best breakfast in the world is a freshly picked honeycrisp, still with dews on the skin.

45D: Black cuckoo: ANI. It looks like this.

46D: Attractive places?: MECCAS. Accidents happen in almost every Hajj. Very strange.

48D: "My name is ___ Lev": ASHER. Never heard of this novel.

49D: Doughy pastry: SCONE. Isn't all pastry doughy?

50D: Droops: WILTS

51D: Ruby Dee's husband: OSSIE. Did not know him. Watched Ruby Dee's A Raisin in the Sun the other day and responded with a 1-star to Netflix.

52D: Churchill's gesture: V SIGN

53D: Cut corners: SKIMP

55D: "The __ of the Ancient Mariner": RIME. Not familiar with this poem.

59D: Actress Long: NIA.

60D: New Deal grp.: CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). Way too many agencies from that era. Lately, I am very into (ex) Senator Tom Daschle's idea of creating a Federal Health Board, you know, kind of like the Federal Reserve Board, independently operated and insulated from the politics. Nothing outrages me more than the spiraling health care cost.

61D: " ___ Haw": HEE. Vaguely heard of this TV show.

I forgot to tell you earlier, Orange gave me a very interesting list of those crossword constructors who took part in this year's ACPT. I put it in yesterday's comment. Have a look if you are interested.

C.C.

Thursday, March 6, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Quip

20A: Start of a quip: If you can't face

29A: Part 2 of quip: The music

38A: Part 3 of quip: You'll

45A: Part 4 of quip: Never get

54A: End of quip: To lead the band

The original quote from Edwin H. Stuart is: If you are not afraid to face the music, you may get to lead the band someday.

I also found out another interesting quote from him: Men who do things without being told draw the most wages. It's probably the motto for Ken Lay, Dennis Kozlowski and their ilks.

I've got this Pavlov's dog's conditional reflex towards Mr. Olschwang's quip. My mind instantly freezes up and I cannot think rationally. I never seem to be able to reason out what he tries to convey.

I started like a lion: I devoured the upper left corner in a second. Then my trouble started immediately. I forgot the British medical syst. (NHS), I couldn't remember UNA Merkel, I did not know "Jaws" author (BENCHLEY).

The clue for 22D: Siloed weapons (ABMS) bugged me a lot. There was no suggestion from the clue that the answer would be an abbreviation or an acronym. So I tried to fill in ARMS, thinking missiles belong to ARMS, but then it messed up with my 25A: EBANKS. It also took me forever to get 11D: Argumentation: FORENSICS. I got the last three letter ics, so I thought of Rhetorics, but I knew it was wrong because it would not mesh with 6A: ROIS.

A few other troubles here and there, sporadically. I managed to crack the puzzle with three google visits and a brief look at my dictionary for the meaning of Jack-in-the-pulpit.

Here are some of the across clues:

10A: Some G.I.s: PFCS (Private First Class)

15A: Borden bovine: ELSIE

16A: French kings: ROIS. The evil Roi Louis XIV once said: L'etat, c'est moi. I recently read a very interesting article on the simpleton Roi Louis XVI (Maria Antoinette's husband). It explained how the French haute couture and haute cuisine really started during Louis XVI's reign.

18A: Bite playfully: NIP AT

23A: Youth org.: BSA (Boy Scout of America). Be prepared.

24A: British medical syst.: NHS (National Health Service). It was in the crossword on Jan 25.

25A: On line loan sources: EBANKS

28A: Bando of baseball: SAL. Unfortunately, I did not know him.

34A: Morales of "Bad Boys": ESAI. He was very cool as Tony Rodriguez in NYPD Blues for several episodes. Then he reconnected with his stupid druggie wife and lost his mind.

36A: Steps over a fence: STILE. I forgot this word. I actually put a "s" in the end, misguided by the clue.

37A: Actor O'Shea: MILO. He is a regular at crossword.

40A: Picture on a PC: ICON

41A: January in Oaxaca: ENERO. The word "Oaxaca" was clued Mexican tourist destination on Jan 27.

43A: Division word: INTO

44A: Mountain in Thessaly: OSSA I am proud that I got this one.

49A: Long looker: STARER. Clunky clue. A short looker is a peeker then?

50A: Artist's rep: AGT

58A: Panache: BRIO. Vigor. Italian origin.

60A: Bakery byproduct: AROMA

61A: Like the Kalahari: ARID

62A: Molecule maker: ATOM

63A: Actress Dey: SUSAN. The LA Law girl.

66A: Correct: EMEND. I always put _MEND first, lest it's AMEND.

Down clues:

1D: Off-the-cuff remark: AD LIB. Bill Clinton is not good at ad lib any more. How disappointing!

2D: Toronto team, tersely: LEAFS. The Maple Leafs, the most valuable team in NHL.

3D: Singer Tucker: TANYA. Got her name from across clue.

4D: Two-tone treat: OREO

5D: "Jaws" writer: BENCHLEY (Peter). Completely unknown to me.

6D: Walt Disney's middle name: ELIAS. Somehow Michael Eisner's mug kept popping into my mind.

8D: Decree: FIAT. This word crumbled very easily for me.

9D: Fixed charge: SET FEE

10D: Sensible step: PRECAUTION.

11D: Argumentation: FORENSICS. I only knew "forensic evidence".

12D: AFL-____: CIO. The big labor union.

13D: Draft org.: SSS. OK, here are their classifications: ONE A; Four F(unfit for service); Two S (Student); Two A (employment). I suppose One A stands for Available, Dennis?

21D: Actress Merkel: UNA

22D: Siloed weapons: ABMS (Antiballistic missiles). Hated the clue, hated the answer. Is ABM an acceptable abbreviation/acronym?

27D: Extended arias: SCENA. Here is the definition: "an extended operatic vocal solo, usually including an aria and a recitative.".

28D: Pantries and tool sheds: STORE ROOMS

29D: Ridicule: TAUNT

30D: Sword part: HILT. Sometimes it's HAFT.

32D: Intelligence test pioneer: BINET (Alfred). The IQ test guy I suppose. Never heard of him.

33D: Height: ELEVATION

35D: Peau de ___ (dull satin fabric): SOIE. It means silk in French.

39D: One way to write: LONGHAND

42D: Pitcher Hershiser: OREL. He is another regular at crossword.

46D: Type of monkey?: GREASE. Never heard of the comic book Grease Monkey, nor Greasemonkey Firefox script.

48D: Shoeshone: UTE

50D: Universal soul: ATMAN. Never heard of this word. I know nothing about Hindu religion or their beliefs. Atman is also the clothing line of Russell Simmons.

51D: __ Gras: MARDI. Fat Tuesday.

52D: Leek cousin: ONION. Chive too I suppose?

53D: Peculiarly: ODDLY

55D: Jack-in-the-pulpit: ARUM. I did not know the meaning of the clue. I kept thinking of Jack-in-the-box toy. In fact, right now, on our table, there is an Albert Pujols Jack-in-the-box, very cool.

56D: Apothecary measure: DOSE. Fancy clue.

57D: Trap enticement: BAIT

59D: Suggestion from AAA: RTE (Route)

C. C.

What Other Crossword Does Your Paper Carry?

In our Star Tribune (Mpls. MN), we have the daily Tribune Media Crossword and New York Times Crossword.

How about yours? Let's have a poll. The result will be announced on March 12 Wednesday.

Thank you.

C. C.


PS: By the way, can anyone explain to me why the NY Times Syndication has to be 6-week behind?

Wednesday, March 5, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: All About Eve (Update: Forget about what I wrote about the Rapper Eve. I made a mistake in connecting the dots.)

17A: Eve's address on her rap sheet: The Garden of Eden

35A: Notation on Eve's rap sheet: First Offender

52A: 17A, on Eve's rap sheet: Scene of the Crime

I nearly aced this one. Made 2 mistakes only. I filled in DETERS (rather than DEFERS) for 23A: Postpones, and I put TAROS rather than TOROS for 41A: Some lawnmowers. So my 25D Feudal lord's domain became TIEFDAM (rather than FIEFDOM). OK, that's 3 mistakes, but technically only 2 wrong fills.

I am not a fan of Rap Music, too gangster/angst driven. My realm of RAP knowledge is limited to Dr. Dre, Ice T, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Jay Z, Eve, and the phrase they coined "Bling Bling".

Eve, the so-called Gangster Goddess, made news early last year when she was ordered to wear an alcohol-detecting ankle bracelet after her DUI. And she (and Lindsey Lohan) made the bracelet monitor a fashion necessity for the summer of 2007.

Terry Gross of Fresh Air had an interesting interview with Rapper Ice Cube last year. I was amazed by the tough life he went through. All those rappers seem to have a very hard childhood.

OK, here are the Across Entries

4A: Unbroken: SOLID. Don't like the clue. Unbroken means "whole" or "intact" to me.

9A: Aromatic Wood: CEDAR

15A: Eccentric: OUTRÉ. Hmm, that's Kim Jong Il of North Korea. He carded 34 on his first round of golf.

16A: Pain pill brand: ALEVE. Or Tylenol. Or tough it out.

20A: Paramount: MAJOR

21A: Fountain of Rome: TREVI. It's located at a junction of 3 roads (Tre Vie).

22A: Art sch. course: ANAT (Anatomy)

23A: Postpones: DEFERS

26A: OSS successor: CIA. OSS is Office of Strategic Services (WWII intelligence Agency).

29A: Napoleon's marshal: NEY (Michel). Got his name from down clue.

30A: Fanatical: RABID

31A: Indonesian island: BALI. Sometimes it's Java.

32A: Literary category: GENRE. For your information, there is a publication called GENRE magazine.

33A: Hang around: LOITER

38A: Lavishly showy: ORNATE

39A: Knight's wives: DAMES

40A: Noblewoman: LADY

41A: Some lawnmowers: TOROS. I shouldn't have botched this one. I used to have a Toro Promotional bobblehead.

42A: Bell and Barker: MAS. I knew Ma Bell and Baby Bells, never heard of Ma Barker.

45A: Indigo or woad: DYE. Both are blue dyes. By the way, the rock band Indigo Girls duo are Crosswords fans.

46A: Bizet opera: CARMEN. I lucked out on this one. Got it from down clues. I know nothing about opera.

51A: Eagle's nest: AERIE

48A: Welsh dog: CORGI. Cute.

58A: More inadequate: LAMER. Lamer, Solider, I don't know, you tell me.

61A: Parisian school: ECOLE. Its student is Eleve.

Down entries:

1D: Robin's partner: BATMAN. Who still has their original Batman lunch box (1966)?

2D: Constituent of natural gas: ETHANE

3D: Record player?: DEEJAY

5D: James Coburn movie, "___ Man Flint": OUR. I dodged the bullet once again. Never saw this movie.

8D: Pockmarked: DENTED

10D: Hgt.: ELEV (Elevation). Hgt stands for Height.

11D: Name an inspiration: DEDICATE

12D: Old Roman greeting: AVE. Ave Caesar!

13D: Stimpy's pal: REN. The Ren and Stimpy Show.

19D: Hockey defensive great: ORR. Boy, who paid over $100,000 for his nude picture?

23D: "Divine Comedy" poet: DANTE

24D: Spanish river: EBRO. If it's three letter, then it's RIO.

25D: Feudal lord's domain: FIEFDOM. Tough for me to pronounce this word.

27D: Robert of "The Sopranos": ILER. He is "A. J. Soprano". He seems to be a very troubled actor.

28D: Melodic tune: AIR

32D: Go-with-anything color: GRAY. Also Botanist Asa.

35D: Ravel: FRAY

36D: "___ Proposal": INDECENT. Demi Moore and Robert Redford movie. The plot is very similar to Nicolas Cage/Sarah Jessica Parker's Honeymoon in Vegas. Don't you think so?

37D: Cabby's customer: FARE

41D: Triviality: TRIFLE

42D: Docking facility: MARINA

44D: Precipitous slopes: STEEPS. Never knew "Steep" can be a noun.

46D: Salad green: CRESS. I never put cress in my salad. But I also never put garlic in my pesto, and I never eat cheddar cheese with apple pie.

50D: SSS classification: ONE A. It's the only SSS (Selective Serve System) classification I know.

51D: Lot of land: ACRE

54D: Tic-toe tie: TAC

55D: Med. grp: HMO (Health Maintenance Organization)

56D: Lamprey or moray: EEL. The worst offender.

So, Hillary won both Ohio & Texas, Brett Favre decided to retire, all too shocking for me. I need to rewind and chill out. And Learn my American Anthem.

C. C.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008 Stanley B. Whitten

Theme: Choices

20A: Howie Mandel's choice?: DEAL OR NO DEAL

37A: Doris Day's choice?: LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME

49A: Halloweener's choice?: TRICK OR TREAT

Or ELSE (52D).... ALAS (53D)...Very desperate.

I like this puzzle. The theme is easy for me to understand and there is no obscure/made-up words to stump me.

I had trouble with ARTU_O (46A) and O_RERY (44D). I knew neither of them, so I hazarded a guess with letter T instead of R.

I also self-inflicted myself with some minor wounds. I put in ERAS for 5A: Periods, then A DUO for 7D: Small combo. I mis-read 9A: Garlic-basil sauce as Garlic-based sauce. I put in AIOLI, which has plenty of garlic as main ingredient. I managed to correct myself eventually, but looking back, those were stupid mistakes.

It seems that we encounter a few French words almost every day. Today it's ADIEU, Raison d'ETRE, ENVOI, Are they fully assimilated into English language? Oh, George Sand is a French writer also.

Here are across entries:

1A: Pluck: GRIT. Yep, her name is not Diablo Cody for nothing! Don't pimp her feet with your stupid diamond shoes.

5A: Periods: DOTS

9A: Garlic-basil sauce: PESTO. Do you really put garlic in pesto sauce? To me, a pesto consists of basil, pine nuts and olive oil, maybe some parmesan cheese. Look at this classic pesto recipe from Epicurious.

14A: Gernreich of fashion: RUDI. Never heard of him.

15A: Book before Nehemiah: EZRA. Could also be clued as Poet Pound. If you are a political junkie, you are probably familiar with Erza Klein.

16A: Effective use: AVAIL

18A:To __ a phrase: COIN

19A: Yearned: PINED

20A: Fencing sword: EPEE

24A: Some antibodies: LYSINS. Not a familiar word to me. It's an "antibody that is capable of causing the destruction or dissolution of red blood cells, bacteria, or other cellular elements."

28A: Nice guy, he is not: BADDIE

34A: Nice goodbye: ADIEU

35A: Signaled: CUED

36A: Raison d'__: ETRE. Has NeoCon lost its raison d'etre?

40A: Engendered: BRED

41A: Final Four org.: NCAA. It was clued as March madness org. yesterday.

42A: Of punishment: PENAL

43A: "___ the ramparts...": O'ER. Embarrassing, but I really had no idea that it's part of the American anthem.

44A: Track shape: OVAL

45A: Almost not: HARDLY

46A: Conductor Toscanini: ARTURO. According to wikipedia, he was one of the greatest conductor of all times, renowned for "his brilliant intensity, his restless perfectionism, his phenomenal ear for orchestral detail and sonority..." Sounds like a genius, but I've never heard of him. The only conductor that came to my mind is Previn (Andre), Mia Farrow's ex.

48A: 1976-80 Wimbledon Champion: BORG (Bjorn). Can you believe he won 61 Singles Career Titles between the age of 17 and 26? Roger Federer, by comparison, only won 45.

50A: Sticking stuff: PASTE

58A: Sibilant sound: HISS

60A: Higher one of two: UPPER

61A: Cosmetics ingredient: ALOE. In Japan, they put aloe vera in yogurt.

63A: Inclined to weep: TEARY

Down clues:

1D: Alum: GRAD. Same clue, same spot, Feb 28 puzzle.

2D: Local yokel: RUBE. Never heard anyone spews this word.

4D: Real estate paper: TITLE DEED

5D: Court judgment: DECREE

6D: Allotrope of oxygen: OZONE. Did not know this before.

7D: Novelist George: SAND. Famous for her 10-year romance with Chopin. Chopin died 2 years after they broke up. A very prolific writer, extremely disciplined.

9D: Juicy tropical fruit: PAPAYA. Never tasted it before. So I could not say whether it's juicy or not.

10D: Bad deeds: EVILS

13D: On its last legs: OLD

21D: Poppy product: OPIUM. Occasionally I use Opium. Was crazy about Tendre Poison (the green bottle) in late 1990s.

22D: Slur over: ELIDE

25D: Mean: INTEND. I was toying with the word "unkind" for a few seconds.

26D: Typical: NORMAL

27D: Hard like metal: STEELY

28D: Cash of Panama: BALBOA. Unknown to me.

29D: Worshiper: ADORER. Never used this word before. I just adore. J'adore!

30D: Shunt: DIVERT

31D: Of the ear: AURAL

32D: Actress Ward: SELA. Love her in Once and Again.

35D: Zany Imogene: COCA Vaguely remember her.

36D: Undying: EVERGREEN

38D: Closing stanza: var. ENVOI. Or Envoy.

39D: Separate: APART

44D: Solar-system mobile: ORRERY. Here is the explanation: "an apparatus for representing the positions, motions, and phases of the planets, satellites, etc., in the solar system." It's named after a British guy named Charles Boyle, Earl of Orrery.

45D: Hold your ___!: HORSES. Whoa!

47D: Pronounce: UTTER

48D: Human chest: BOSOM

50D: Confab: CHAT. I got it from across clues. I did not know the meaning of confab.

51D: Metric weight, briefly: KILO (Kilometer, Kilogram)

52D: If all __ fails...: ELSE

53D: Lamenter's comment: ALAS

54D: Like a drumhead: TAUT. That's how Teri Hatcher's face looks like all the time. I buy the Botox rumor.

I am so pumped up today. I predict Ohio, Rhode Island go to Clinton, and Texas and Vermont go to Obama.

C. C.

Crossword Pattern Poll Result

Question: Do you think the Tribune Media puzzle (Monday to Saturday) follows the tougher-as-the-week-goes pattern as the New York Time's puzzle does?

Here is the result of our 3-day poll:

Total votes cast: 143.

90 people (62% of the votes) believe that our puzzle is getting harder as the week goes, 38 people (26%) take the opposite view, and another 15 people (10%) say they are not sure.

The updated information shows that we have a total of 44 different newspapers (42 inside the US) carrying out the TMS puzzle.

I am going to send this result to the TMS guys for their reference.

Here is the final result of the crossword tournament. That young kid Tyler Hinman (he is featured in Word Play) won again.

Orange finished strong at 15th and Rex Parker leaped to 55th. You can visit their blogs for the recaps.

C.C.

Monday, March 3, 2008 Micheal T. Williams

Theme: Breakfast Items (Country & Food)

19A: B. C. Breakfast item?: Canadian Bacon

32A: European breakfast item?: French Toast

43A: Caribbean breakfast item?: Cuban Coffee

58A: European breakfast item?: English Muffin

French toast sounds very appealing to me this morning. Serve with sliced peaches with maple syrup drizzled all over.

I breezed through this one. Had only one hiccup with the letter G in 55D: "BUGSY MALONE" and 64A: "g FORCE". I dodged a few bullets this morning by getting a few tough ones from either the across clues or the down clues.

1A: "Ulalume" author: POE. Never read this poem. The only Poe poem I like is Annabel Lee.

4A: Check fig.: AMT (Amount)

10A: Ring decision letters: TKO (Technical Knockout)

13A: More firm: SOLIDER

17A: St __ of Avila: THERESA. Is it a Spanish spelling of Teresa?

18A: Impetuses: MOMENTA. Wow, I never knew the plural form of momentum is momenta. Besides medium/media, datum/data, I can not think of another word with a similar single/plural form, at this moment.

23A: D. C. VIP: SEN (Senator). Lots of lobbyists wield more power than those wobbly senators.

28A: Sch. in Fort Worth: TCU (Texas Christian University). Bush picks up SMU (Southern Methodist University) for his future library.

31A: Dundee dagger: SNEE. Sometimes it's dirk. Here is a picture. Is snee an obsolete word for dagger? Do those Scottish highlanders still use snee now?

37A: March madness org.: NCAA. Raw passion and enthusiasm.

40A: Poetic eyeball: ORB

48A: Medicinal fluids: SERA. Single form is serum.

50A: D-Day craft: LST (Landing Ship Tank)

51A: Pelts: SKINS. Pelt here means untanned hide of an animal or just human skin.

52A: Covers a room: CEILS. I never used ceil as a verb before. I guess I only knew ceiling.

54A: Seller's $ equivocation: OBO (Or Best Offer). I bought quite a few items with BO on Craig's List.

63A: Shakespearean tragedy: OTHELLO. The evil Iago appears on crosswords from time to time.

64A: Lift-off stresses: g FORCE. Never heard of this. Here is more information for you. Interesting, it says "the symbol g is properly written in lowercase and italic, to distinguish it from the symbol G, the gravitational constant, which is always written in uppercase; and from g, the symbol for gram, which is not italicised."

67A: Crude dwelling: LEAN-TOS. Kind of wooden shed. This is an image of a lean-to.

68A: Those on a quest: SEEKERS. Those who seek shall find. Indeed.

69A: Limb: ARM

70A: Hardened: SET

Down entries:

3D: One voted in: ELECTEE. Just don't expect them to do what they say they will do.

4D: Port of Yemen: ADEN. See this map if you don't want to forget next time.

5D: Tablelands: MESA

6D: One-for-one deal: TRADE

7D: Columnist Bombeck: ERMA. I tend to confuse her with Irma Rombauer (Joy of Cooking author)

8D: One of these days: SOON

9D: Pyramids and Mausoleums: TOMBS

10D: Metal containers: TIN CANS. Tin can is also a navy term for a Destroyer.

11D: Diabetic's concern: KETONES. I got it from across clues. Would not have known this. I only knew that diabetics are very concerned with their blood sugar (or sometimes blood pressure) numbers.

14D: Nest-egg $: IRA. They just keep shrinking and shrinking, since last Oct or even earlier.

21D: Clodhopper: OAF

22D: Group of wds.: PHR (Phrase)

26D: Jillian or Landers: ANN

27D: L times XVI: DCCC (50 *16 = 800)

29D: Normandy town: CAEN. Its neighbor is St. Lo, which sneaks into the crossword occasionally.

30D: Branch of the mil.: USMC (United States Marine Corps). The few, the proud.

33D: Drag forcibly: HAUL

34D: Slot fillers: TABS

35D: Spanish uncles: TIOS. Aunt is Tia.

39D: 6/6/68 assassination victim: RFK. Gutsy & aggressive.

40D: Seminole chief: OSCEOLA. Unknown to me. Got it from across clues.

41D: Come back in: REENTER

42D: Young of Utah: BRIGHAM

45D: Partner-to-be: FIANCEE. The first image that came to my mind is a young lawyer toiling hard in the wee hours to become a partner in a law firm.

46D: Minnesota's twins? ENS. Great. Now I am waiting for them to clue Twins' first baseman Justin Morneau into a puzzle. That'll give you lots of vowels.

49D: "Interiors" director: ALLEN. Never saw this movie from Woody Allen. Personal life aside, I like this guy. Enjoy a large majority of his works.

53D: Delta deposits: SILTS

55D: "___" Malone: BUGSY. Unknown to me. It's a musical film made in 1976. The best film about the exploits of Al Capone is probably The Untouchable, in my opinion.

56D: Proposal: OFFER

59D: __ gin fizz: SLOE. "Well, Portland Oregon and sloe gin fizz, if that ain't love then tell me what is".

Have a great Monday.

(Added later: I forgot to mention earlier that there are lots of 3-letter words in this puzzle (I counted 27). look at how the first line and the last line were broken.)

C. C.

How to Remember Greek Letters

Mkat mentioned getting a Roman numerals cheat sheet on last Saturday's comments. That reminded me of my trouble with Greek letters. I can never seem to remember them in proper order. They are not as long and troublesome as the Greek God/Goddess names, but still are nuisances to me.

I stumbled upon this this article yesterday, and I found it very useful. Just want to share with you. Below is part of the article. I made a few small changes to fit it in my blog format. If you have your own home-made tricks, please let me know.

"The Greek alphabet starts with alpha, beta, gamma, delta.

A good way to memorize this part is that the letters are similar to the English alphabet. The first two letters you get from the word "alphabet" - "alpha" and "bet-a" To memorize the word "gamma" if you have ever taken a physics or chemistry course you can think of alpha, beta, and gamma rays being grouped together. Delta is also a physics term and like the English alphabet is the fourth letter and starts with a D.

The next set of letters is: epsilon, zeta, eta, theta.

Epsilon can be remembered because it is the fifth letter and starts with an "E" just like it is after the letter "D." The next words: zeta, eta, theta are easy to remember because they all rhyme.

The next set of words is: iota, kappa, lambda, Mu, Nu.

These letters also are similar to the English alphabet in that their first letters all come after each other like I, K, L, M, N. Besides the missing "J" letter all these letter follow the English alphabet. Mu and Nu also rhyme together.

The next set of letters is: Xi, Omicron, Pi, Rho, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon

This is fairly similar to the last grouping in that the first letters are in order without a "Q" letter. The Xi can be hard to remember and there isn't any clue that can help you. Some people have trouble remembering "Pi" and "Rho." I learned these two words from the word "pi-romaniac" This means a person who uses fire but it also has the letters "pi" and Rho in it so it is easy to remember the order and the name of the letter.

The final set of letters is: phi, chi, psi, omega.

The pronunciation is difficult and phonetically is sounds like this: ( fi ), ( ki ), ( si ) and omega.
The trick here is that phi, chi ,and si all rhyme together and omega is the last word of the alphabet."

Sunday, March 2, 2008 Ed Voile

Theme: Non-Dairy

26A: Ashen-hued: WHEY FACED

28A: Snow ride: SKIMOBILE

68A: Fall into disgrace: INCUR DISHONOR

105A: Those who refute: REBUTTERS

108A: Munch masterpiece: THE SCREAM

37D: Pix of minimally attired women: CHEESECAKE

45D: Assassinated S. F. city supervisor: HARVEY MILK

Just when I think I could not sink any lower.. My God, this puzzle takes all the little optimism I have slowly built up in the past several weeks and shreds it into pieces. I am so overtaken by my inadequacy and ignorance.

I am not blaming the constructor, as I am not good enough to judge whether certain clues/answers are structurally fair or not. But when I spent over one hour on googling just to get TRICUSPID, IFNI, APPALOOSA, KURIL, YTTRIA and a few other unknown words, I was not having any fun. I hated it.

Across entries:

1A: Soviet newspaper: PRAVDA. Soviet Newspaper (1912-1991). I only knew Soviet/Russian TASS News Agency.

7A: Goes over like a lead balloon: FALLS FLATS

20A: Enticers: LURERS. I always thought "lure"itself is an enticer.

21A: Spotted, saddle horse: APPALOOSA. Completely unknown to me. It looks like this.

22A: Arizona city: YUMA

23A: Husband/brother of Isis: OSIRIS. I can get Isis when it's clued as Osiris's wife/sister. Not the other way around.

24A: Limits: RESTRICTS

25A: French composer Satie: ERIK. Saw his name before, then forgot.

28A: Snow ride: SKI MOBILE. I only knew Snowmobile.

30A: Sounds of mild reproof: TUTS. Not tut -tut?

31A: Playing Marble: AGATE

34A: Van Gogh location: ARLES. Is it because he spent a long time there painting? Or is it because you can find a Van Gogh museum there?

35A: Roberts and Griffiths: RACHELS. Never heard of them.

39A: Russian rulers: CZARS. I guess I am used to TSAR.

40A: Snake, pref.: OPHI. It's Greek for snake/serpent.

44A: Ideas: THOUGHTS. It did not come to my mind immediately.

48A: Diver's milieu: REEF

49A: Worsted cloth: SERGE. Had no idea. But I will remember this because I am going to associate it with Serge Gainsbourg, the French singer, Jane Birkin's ex. Je t'aime... moi non plus!

51A: Unenthusiastic: COOL

52A: Instrument with seven pedals: HARP

53A: Studio apt: EFF (Efficiency Apartment)

55A: Stain: DISCOLOR

58A: White powder used in incandescent gas: YTTRIA. It's not made up. It's in the dictionary.
It's a "white, water-insoluble powder, Y₂O₃, used chiefly in incandescent gas and acetylene mantles."

60A: Nautical dir.: EBS (East by South)

62A: Weakly colored: LEUC, variant of leuko, meaning white, as in leukotomy.

64A: Trace: VESTIGE. This is not an easy word to jump into my little brain.

66A: Mover's vehicle: VAN

67A: Highland negative: NAE. Scottish are tough to understand.

71A: Freudian concept: EGO

72A: GOP Group: RNC (Republican National Committee). I can not believe I botched this one. By the way, DNC is for Democratic National Committee, whose current Chairman is Howard Dean.

73A: Annual, like Mediterranean summer winds: ETESIAN. Completely unknown to me.

74A: Former Spanish toehold in Africa: IFNI. It's in west coast of Morocco, if you care to know.

76A: Andre of tennis: AGASSI

78A: Baseball's Charlie Hustle: PETE ROSE. We have a whole box of Pete Rose's baseball cards in our basement. I just never knew that he was nicknamed Charlie Hustle. Well, he retired before I came to the US.

81A: Coll. period: SEM (Semester)

83A: Abrupt blow: POKE

84A: Duplicate: TWIN

86A: States forcefully: AVERS. What's the difference between AVER and AVOW? I always confuse these two words.

87A: Run of the ___: MILL

91A: Used a foot pedal: TREADLED

93A: Blanches: PALES

95A: Estevez of "St. Elmo's Fire": EMILIO. I will never remember your name if you don't change it into Sheen. By the way, I love Charlie Sheen's "Wild Thing" in Major League.

96A: Encounter: MEET

98A: Less decorated: BARER

99A: In a blunt manner: STARKLY

100A: Antigone's uncle: CREON. Greek mythology. My Achilles' heel.

103A: First, second and third: BASES

104A: Org.: ASSN.

105A: Those who refute: REBUTTERS. Do you use actually use this word? I mean, I rebut your rebuttal, does it make me a rebutter?

108A: Munch masterpiece: THE SCREAM. It's a very disturbing picture to me.

113A: In due time: ANON

114A: Car stopper element: BRAKE SHOE

118A: Danny of "Do the right thing": AIELLO. I don't remember seeing him in Godfather II, too many bad guys in that movie. He also plays the mafioso Tony in Léon (The Professional). Watch it if you love Natalie Portman.

120A: "Archie Bunker's Place" co-star: ANNE MEARA. Good to see her full name clued.

121A: All things considered: IN TOTO. All Things Considered is also a great NPR program. Robert Siegal is great.

122A: Marathon and Longboat: KEYS. I did not know. When I googled, the first hit was "Tom Longboat wins the Marathon in 1907."

123A: Blitzed: RED DOGGED. Never heard of this phrase. Not a football fan.

124A: One holding security: LIENOR

Down entries:

1D: Snow mover: PLOW

2D: Quicken the pace: RUSH

3D: 1997 Indy winner Luyendyk: ARIE. Learned his name from doing crossword.

5D: Job-hopper: DRIFTER

6D: Onslaughts: ASSAULTS

7D: Paying passengers: FARES

9D: Hi-fi discs: LPS

10D: Long. counterpart: LAT (Latitude).

11D: Camera letters: SLR (Single Lens Reflex)

12D: Inserts fraudulently: FOISTS. Did not come to my mind quickly.

13D: Empirical philosopher: LOCKE (John). According to him, we were born without any innate idea, ie, Tabula Rasa (blank slate), which pops up in crosswords occasionally.

14D: Italian wine center: ASTI. Here is the map.

15D: Australian isl.: TASM (Tasmania). No idea.

16D: Popular purple flowered plant: EYE BRIGHT. I wonder if it will grow in Minnesota. Looks pretty.

17D: Russian islands: KURIL. Here is the map. So close to Japan.

18D: Durkheim or Zola: EMILE

19D: ___ alive!: SAKES. Land Sakes! Holy Cow! I did not know this expression. My husband had to explain it to me.

27D: $ percentage: CTS (CENTS)

29D: Hawaiian island: OAHU. It's either Oahu or Maui.

31D: Mexican empire: AZTEC

32D: Go, in Glasgow: GAE. Whatever you say.

33D: Extension: ARM

35D: Capek's sci-fi play: R. U. R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). The word "Robot" first appeared in this fiction.

36D: Organic suffix: ANE

37D: Pix of minimally attired women: CHEESECAKE. This is a killer cheesecake.

38D: Snit: HUFF

39D: Teeth on a wheel: COGS

40D: Ah, I see!: OHO!

41D: Multi-sided plane figure: POLYGON

43D: Like some molars: TRICUSPID. Took me ages to get this one. I like the explanation "having three cusps or points, as a tooth". You've got to remember Bicuspid (2 cusps) too.

44D: Slowpokes: TORTOISES. I was just dense this morning, could not even get this one.

45D: Assassinated. S. F. city supervisor: HARVEY MILK. Never heard of him. According to Wikipedia, he was the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet." Don't know anyone with a surname of Milk.

46D: Process for sorting the injured: TRIAGE

47D: Joe and Vincent: SPANOS. Total strangers to me.

50D: Elicit: EDUCE

51D: Hit on the head: COSH. I put conk first.

54D: Goes by air: FLIES

56D: Sheep-ish?: OVINE

57D: Brown with a band: LES. I remember I blogged about him before.

59D: Copley and Garr: TERIS

60D: Captivated: ENRAPT

61D: City on the Penobscot: BANGOR. Seaport in Main. Did not know this.

63D: Give a right: ENTITLE

65D: Surmise: INFER

69D: Nice nothing: RIEN (nothing in French)

70D: CD's competitor: DAT (Digital Audiotape)

77D: Mid-ocean peaks: SEAMOUNTS. Unknown. Here is more information for you.

79D: Death rattles: RALES. Nope. Did not ring a bell.

80D: Finished: OVER

82D: Abu Dhabi ruler: EMIR. What's the obsession with Abu Dhabi? Don't they have EMIR in Oman also? Or you just want us to remember the UAE Port debacle? I hate keying in Abu Dhabi into my blog every day. I am very bad at spelling, period!

85D: Drench: WET

87D: Goes to sea: SETS SAIL

89D: Abner's size? LI'L. The comic strip character. Have to thank razzberry for the "not fer not agin" comment on Thursday.

90D: Actress Myrna: LOY. Vaguely remember her name. She was Nora in The Thin Man.

92D: Pockmark: DENT

93D: Faux __: PAS

96D: "Moon River" composer: MANCINI (Henry). Knew the song (Breakfast at Tiffany's).

98D: Soaked up rays: BASKED

100D: Fracture: CRACK

101D: Taylor or Adoree: RENEE. Taylor is Fran's mother in the Nanny. Did not known Adoree.

102D: Jet black: EBONY

103D: Product name: BRAND

104D: Leading: AHEAD

106D: Skier's ride: T BAR

107D: Osprey's cousin: ERNE. Look at this Osprey's claws.

108D: made great haste: TORE. Why?

109D: Anatomical network: RETE Learned from doing crossword. Remember the plural form is RETIA.

110D: Carolina school: ELON. Nope, never heard of it.

112D: Heath: MOOR

111D: Chorus voice: ALTO

115D: Comic Philips: EMO. See here for more information on him.

116D: Pc.: SEG (Segment). Pc is piece.

117D: Crone: HAG

Done!

C. C.