Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Animals

17A: Tuxes: MONKEY SUITS

62A: Orange, spotted flowers: TIGER LILIES

11D: Wrestling holds: BEAR HUGS

12D: Ballroom dances: FOX TROTS

Fauna aplenty. And they are in all plural forms. I really like this consistency. And a new constructor to boot.

But I took a series of flogging today, starting from the very beginning (naturally): I put in FIBIA (confused with FIBULA) for 1A, then I put in FAJITA for 1D. ANGELO Dundee is a total stranger to me, in fact, the only Dundee I knew is the town in Scotland, where people use dirk, snee, dagger, and all sorts of crossword friendly weapons.

I could not squeeze BENGAY out of my brain either, I vaguely remember Johan Santana or some other Twins pitcher touted about this stuff before, but my mind was preoccupied with Tiger Balm & Icy Hot, thanks to Jerry Rice and Shaq O'Neal's aching Radio/Radio commercials. ATELIER was actually not a new word to me, I just forgot how to spell it correctly.

So, I got myself in a SNAFU there, then I moved to the MOSSIER part. Another hard scramble. Could not remember URIAH Heep, struggled with RETARD. I remember a headline of "Demure Condi Rice Demurs" during the Senate hearing 2 or 3 years ago, but I never knew that DEMURE was affectedly modest. I always associated it with reticent and reserved.

Oh, the scourge of the CBS corner: I actually did not fill in SYS blindly for 67A. I glanced at 56D: Small rodents, plural, OK, so it had to be SYS. When I could not extricate any animal whose name ends with a letter C, I was atingle with annoyance (Thanks, William, for this word.), and I quickly darted away. (Note to Huge B: Did I use "atingle" properly here?)

Total time spent: close to 1 hour (including googling)

Across entries:

1A: Leg bone: TIBIA. Plural form is Tibiae. Inner bone. Fibula is outer bone. Plural form is Fibulae. Femur is the largest & longest bone, its plural is either femurs or femora.

6A: Lookout's warning: ALARM. Does the lookout here mean a person, Dennis? I don't quite understand the clue.

14A: __ we all? AREN'T. Since DON'T does not fit.

17A: Tuxes: MONKEY SUITS. A big stumper. No idea.

19A: Org. for DAs: ABA (American Bar Association). Jack McCoy has become a DA, no place for Arthur in Law & Order!. What an anemic effort by the forever languid Fred Thompson in his presidential campaign. Disappointing.

20A: Dundee of boxing: ANGELO. He is a boxing cornerman who has worked with 15 world boxing champions, including Ali, Sugar Ray, George Foreman, etc. (Wekipedia information)

22A: Alphabet trio: RST. I could not find a better way to clue this RST either.

23A: Intros: LEAD-INS

25A: Heep of fiction: URIAH. Have never read David Copperfield, or any Dickens work.

27A: Ending for green or crock: ERY. Knew Greenery. Not crockery (crocks collectively; earthenware.)

35A: Tease: RAG ON. To irritate or provoke. I was in the direction of "come-on".

39A: Umps's cousins: REFS

39A: Lines: RULED. Tough for me. Somehow I was not in the math track. I always pegged RULES with all kinds of regulatory stipulations.

42A: Form a secret merger?: ELOPE. Good clue.

44A: Actress Suzanne: SOMERS. Finally an actress I know. Just saw American Graffiti a few month ago, both SOMERS and RON (31D: Howard of "Happy Days") were in it.

46A: Informal college dances: MIXERS

48A: Simone or Foch: NINA. Not familiar with either of them. Only knew NINA RICCI the fashion designer or the perfume line. For a brief moment, Simone de Beauvoir popped into my head.

52A: Step: TREAD

54A: More clogged, as a delta: SILTIER. I suppose so. I misread as More clogged, as a data.

62A: Orange, spotted flowers: TIGER LILIES. So pretty.

65A: Madonna role: EVITA

66A: "Dallas" matriarch: ELLIE. Have never watched "Dallas". Somehow I heard of Sue Ellen, so I put in ELLEN first.

67A: Part of CBS?: ESS. You can only fool me once!!

68A: Passe: DATED

69A: Sowing items: SEEDS

Down entries:

1D: Mexican menu item: TAMALE. Have never had this dish before. Well, if you grow up during Chinese Cultural Revolution, you do not want to touch corn again, ever!

2D: One with a pressing engagement: IRONER. What? What is an engagement? Not a pressing instrument?

3D: Soothing product: BENGAY. Found out that BENGAY was developed by a French guy named Jules Bengué, hense the name BENGAY.

4D: Signed: INKED. Misread the clue as Sighed.

5D: Artist's workshop: ATELIER. Fancy word for a studio.

6D: _ gratia artis: ARS. Art for Art's sake.

9D: Slow down: RETARD. I think I like this word now, after the excruciating pain to ferret it out.

10D: More antiquated: MOSSIER. Big trouble for me. Only knew moss the noun.

11D: Wrestling holds: BEAR HUGS. Not a wrestling fan, but this word is easily inferable.

18D: Over thar: YONDER. I hated words like Thar, Owly, Atip. You just cannot find them in the dictionary. Thar she blows!

24D: Skull cavity: SINUS

26D: Build up: AMASS. Feel so sorry for those Bear Stearns employees, all their money are gone! Stupid James Cayne!

29D: Claw: TALON

32D: Two of a penny? ENS. You cannot trap me here.

33D: Regarding: AS PER

36D: "Man on the Moon" group: R. E. M. : Have never heard of this song. Not a fan of the band either. Only knew REM as Rapid Eye Movement.

38D: Ballroom dances: FOX TROTS

40D: Repudiation: DENIAL

43D: Put up: ERECTED

47D: Mouth moisture: SALIVA

49D: Comparative construction: SIMILE

50D: Epic by Virgil: AENEID: Nope. Have never heard of it.

51D: Turning points: CRISES. Why? I don't get it. I only know crisis as in Financial Crisis, did I miss something here?

55D: Veil material: TULLE. Saw this word in the puzzle several weeks ago.

56D: Small rodents: MICE

59D: Rose or Sampras: PETE. I think we have Pete Rose (Charlie Hustle)'s rookie card.

63D: Unit of absorbed energy: RAD (Radiation Absorbed Dose). Pls read drdad's explanation at the Comment section.

C.C.

Monday, March 17, 2008 Ed Voile

Theme: All about "O" (Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

17A: Willa Cather classic: O Pioneers!

26A: 19th Century Italian song: O Sole Mio

37A: Trial-of-the Century name: O. J. Simpson

54A: Gunfight site: O. K. Corral

64A: 1973 Malcolm McDowell film: O Lucky Man!

A few questions for you before I start today's recap.

1) Have any of you constructed a crossword before? I am a bit baffled by the surfeit of "e", "o", "s" carpeting Tribune's Saturday puzzles. Does the lack of theme entail the excessive use of vowels & affixes?

2) To readers in Chicago: What puzzle do you have on your Sunday Tribune? Is it the same as mine? Or are you offered a different plate of puzzle (NY Times/LA Times syndication)?

OK, now back to our O Fest. I had a very sluggish start. Once again, the upper left corner stumped me. The theme was actually crystallized very early on, but I just could not muddle through my way out of SNAFU & the faraway African animals. I spent over 1 hour on this puzzle.

Across entries:

1A: Reach for a pianist: SPAN

9A: "Sweet" river of Robert Burns: AFTON. No idea.

14A: River into the Wash: OUSE. It's in England. Unknown to me.

19A: Mil. mess: SNAFU. "Situation Normal: All Fouled Up"

21A: Hollow part of a bird: AIR SAC

23A: Greek letters: NUS. I waffled between NUS and MUS.

24A: T. S. and George: ELIOTS. Please give Eliot Spitzer a chance!

29A: Riviera resort: SAN REMO. Or Nice.

31A: Noisy insect: CICADA. Indeed, ear-splitting blast.

33A: Broom made of twigs: BESOM. Is that the kind the wicked witch of the west used?

41A: Dutch commune: EDE. My mind somehow jumped to URI (the Swiss canton).

45A: Leaning precariously: ATIP. I salute your ingenuity Mr. Ed Voile. Very creative way to make up a word. See if others care!

49A: Tongue: LINGUA

51A: On the line: At STAKE

57A: Came to a stop: HALTED

58A: E O'Brien film: D.O.A. Well, the movie was titled D. O. A, no need to abbreviate Edmond O'Brien's name on the clue, don't you think so?

61A: Arab cloak: ABA. I am not fond of the image this cloak summons up. Let's try American Banker's Association (ABA). Can not understand how these highly educated guys get us into this subprime loan mess. But what a bargain for JPMorgan! $2 a share. Where else can you find a 93% discount?

66A: V-formation flock: SKEIN. I put GEESE first.

68A: Money factory: MINT. Not surprised that the Zimbabwean Mint is now mothballed, talk about inflation/hyperinflation.

70A: Popeye's charge: _ Pea: SWEE. Boy, those Linemar Popeye wind-up toys can fetch over $1,500 on ebay, esp with the original box.

Down entries:

1D: With the least delay: SOONEST

2D: Of an eye part: PUPILAR

3D: Utterly stupid: ASININE. So many asinine mistakes are made by so many intelligent guys, every day.

4D: Modern prefix: NEO. William Kristol is probably the only Neocon guy I read/listen to.

5D: Generation-based bias: AGEISM

6D: _do-well: NE'ER. That's James Cayne (the ex-CEO of Bear Stearns). This guy played rounds after rounds of golf while his company stock sunk. He actually put his scores on line. Dick, his scores are 96, 97, 98.

8D: Maxwell and Schiaparelli: ELSAS

10D: African fox: FENNEC. Utterly unknown to me. He looks so cute!

11D: Emotional wounds: TRAUMAS

12D: Ahead of the puck: OFF SIDE. Hockey lingo.

13D: Tahlequah, OK school: NSU (Northeastern State University)

14D: Archibald of the NBA: NATE

22D: Chanel and others: COCOS. Or Red Sox center fielder Crisp.

28D: Feed-bag bite: OAT. You've got to try Bear Baked Granola, so delicious!

35D: Pet protection grp.: SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Sometimes it's ASPCA (American SPCA). IGGY, Ellen DeGeneres' dog, knows both them better than I do.

40D: Part of NLCS: NATL. NLCS is National League Championship Series. Rockies is the 2007 NLCS champion.

41D: "Xanadu" grp.: ELO. Learned it from doing crossword.

42D: Small African antelopes: DIK-DIKS. They are herbivores.

43D: Uses a cipher: ENCODES

46D: Japanese mats: TATAMIS. I tried once, did not like it.

47D: Flower arrangement: IKEBANA. It's definitely a high art. I really like the paralleled structure of these 2 Japanese words.

48D: Nit-pickers: PEDANTS

52D: "Growing Pains" star: THICKE (Alan). He is a stranger to me.

53D: Can. province: SASK.

56D: S. Dey series: LA LAW. Why does the editor keep abbreviating actor/actress names this morning? Too tired to write Susan? Or watched too much Bay Hill Invitational yesterday?

63D: Way in: abbr.: ENT. Entry.

65D: Singer Sumac: YMA. She is still alive!

C. C.

Sunday, March 16, 2009 Annabel Michaels

Theme: Oral Exam

25A: Molar collector?: TOOTH FAIRY

67A: Alien language: FOREIGN TONGUE

114A: Car accident rescue device: JAWS OF LIFE

6D: Murderous: CUT THROAT

37D: Pecans, pumpkin, etc.: PIE FILLINGS

40D: Harmonicas: MOUTH ORGANS

82D: Dimple: CONCAVITY

Wow, what a laborious & harrowing solving experience! I struggled hard. The Socio/Ethno/Flenses/Cresset portion of the puzzle was simple too formidable for me. I did not even get the complete theme entries until I read others' comments. I spent 1 1/2 hours on this puzzle. Had 2 big high-carb breakfasts & 1 apple & 1 banana to compensate my rigorous mental workout.

Oh, I have a question for you, what time do you normally get your Sunday paper? Our weekend paper guy is really driving me nuts. He is always unapologetically and unabashedly late. This morning he threw the paper so hard at our garage door that he woke up my husband.

Across entries:

1A: Rite spot: ALTAR

10A: Of people: pref: SOCIO. I flirted with the senseless LOCIO for over 1 hour.

15A: Long nail: CLAW

19A: "Aida" composer: VERDI. "Aida" is the only Verdi piece I know.

20A: Component piece: UNIT

21A: Of a people: pref: ETHNO. I like the way ETHNO parallels with SOCIO.

22A: Scottish lake: LOCH. I am very fond of this crossword clue: Loch without a key: NESS

23A: Objects of devotion: IDOLS

30A: Auberjonois and Descartes: RENES. TMS crossword stalwart.

31A: Hindu priestly caste: BRAHMAN. Not a familiar word to me. I guess I've heard of Brahma, the Creator in Hinduism (Vishu is the preserver and Shiva is the destroyer. Hindu Trinity). My dictionary explains Brahman as the highest of Hindu priestly caste.

33A: Strips blubber: FLENSES. Unknown. Is this a whaler's lingo?

35A: Angel dust: abbr: PCP (Phencyclidine). I wonder who first called this awful drug "Angel dust?" Maybe he experienced some hallucination and delusions from dosing on this drug and saw angels?

38A: Divest: STRIP

39A: Relative of a flambeau: CRESSET. I did not know the meaning of flambeau, and I've never heard of cresset. I just learned that flambeau derived from old French flambe (flame). I think that's where we get this word flamboyant.

40A: Brit. electees: MPS (Members of Parliament). I just finished Josephine Hart's Damage, in which an upcoming brilliant British MP had a steamy affair with his son's girlfriend. I don't know where I got this notion that MP stood for Minister of Parliament. Louis Malle made this into a film, starring Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche. It's pretty good.

43A: Explorer Ericson: LEIF. Here is more information about him. Have never heard of him before.

45A: Hawaiian acacia: KOA. Acacia koa. Unknown to me.

49A: South Pacific region: OCEANIA. Does it include Australia?

51A: Censor's inserts: BLEEPS

54A: Safe: SECURE

55A: Boldly resisting: DEFIANT. That's the oddball lunatic Kim Jong-Il.

56A: Bitingly cold: RAW

57A: Social follower?: ITE. My first instinct was ism, or ist.

59A: Number stamper: DATER. What?

61A: Wife of a rajah: RANI. Rani = Ranee; Rajah = Raja.

62A: Word with prayer and throw: RUGS

64A: Afterwards: THEN. I put SOON first.

65A: Actor Linden: HAL. He is a stranger to me.

71A: Keats verse: ODE

74A: Part of NLCS: NATL (National League Champions Series). Twins belong to the ALC.

75A: Practical jokes: GAGS

76A: Rabbit's title: BR'ER. My husband helped me with this one.

78A: Top social category: A LIST

80A: __ de mer: MAL. French for seasickness.

81A: Wildebeest: GNU. Wildebeest is not listed in my Webster's dictionary.

82A: Informing: CUING.

85A: Hindu mystic writings: TANTRA. Tantra, mantra, both Hinduism terms.

87A: Admonish: REBUKE

89A: While performing: ON STAGE

90A: Cleanliness: HYGIENE

92A: Tumor: suff.: OMA. Fibroma, Melanoma.

93A: Tropical cuckoo: ANI. Learned this bird from doing crossword.

96A: Feudal tenants: VASSALS. Big stumper. I only knew ESNE.

99A: One hundred: pref.: HECTO. I simply forgot.

101A: AARP members: SRS

102A: Tex and Thelma: RITTERS. Complete strangers to me.

103A: Part of the Arctic Ocean: KARA SEA. On the east of Barents Sea. Look at this map.

105A: One more time: AGAIN

108A: QED part: ERAT. I am tired of this cluing.

109A: Norwegian king: OLAV

110A: Makes insensitive: NUMBS

116A: High: pref: ALTI. Altitude or what?

117A: Window on a corbel: ORIEL. It looks like this.

118A: Hog-wild: AMOK. Can also be spelled as amuck.

119A: Of an arm bone: ULNAR

120A: Spoils taken: LOOT

121A: Cooper's Bumppo: NATTY. No idea.

124A: Skewed: AWRY

125A: __ Park, CO: ESTES

Down entries:

1D: Rara __: AVIS. A rare bird, Latin. That's Sade. Don't know where she is now. Sade and her sister used to frequent a bar in Southern Spain operated by my ex-boss.

2D: Mother of Castor and Pollux: LEDA. The Swan Lady.

3D: Walked (on): TROD

4D: Impromptu: AD LIB. The impressive Mike Huckabee! He is so good at ad lib.

5D: Staircase elements: RISERS

7D: Blood deficiency: ANAEMIA. I always spell it as Anemia. Don't eschew the R word, W, this economy is anemic.

8D: Irregular stone foundation: RIPRAP. Here is a picture for you.

9D: Drinking vessel: STEIN

10D: Looses: SETS FREE. I penned in LETS FREE, thus could not get SOCIO for 10A.

11D: "My fair Year" star: O'TOOLE. Never saw this movie.

12D: Routine duties: CHORES

13D: Deeply felt: INTENSE

14D: La-la lead-in: OOH. I put in TRA first.

15D: Sculptor Oldenburg: CLAES. Another stranger.

18D: Reasons: WHYS

26D: Worried: FRETTED

32D: Rowan, a.k.a. Mr. Bean: ATKINSON. Poor guy. He will always be Mr. Bean.

34D: Earthly seven: SEAS. I loathe the clue.

35D: Proceed slowly but surely: PLOD

36D: Gospel singer Winans: CECE

39D: Wrigley's and Doublemint: CHEWING GUMS

41D: Liquefied: PUREED. Don't like anything pureed either. I need to see clearly what I am eating.

42D: "Tristram Shandy" author: STERNE. Have never read the book, do not know the author either.

48D: Beat it: SCAT

50D: Childlike person: NAIF

52D: dugout canoe: PIROGUE. I want to be in this boat.

53D: Knocks for a loop: STUNS

58D: Coop item: EGG. Have you ever taken a fresh warm egg from a coop?

61D: Make road repairs: RETAR

63D: Minor divisions: SUBUNITS. This word posed quite a bit of problem for me.

68D: Battering device: RAM. It's in last Sunday's puzzle.

69D: 31-syllable Japanese poem: TANKA. I only know Haiku.

70D: Greek goddess of discord: ERIS. She is the sister of Ares (God of War). Troubled siblings.

73D: Italian wine center: ASTI

77D: Ways in: abbr.: ENTS. Entries I suppose?

79D: Golfer from El Paso: TREVINO (Lee). Great guy. Very funny too. But I was actually thinking of Crenshaw (Ben). I did not know that Trevino is from Texas. Golfer Justin Leonard is from Texas too.

83D: Borodin's prince: IGOR

88D: Long, narrow cushions: BOLSTERS

91D: Actress Parson: ESTELLE. Nope. Have never heard of her.

93D: Aquarium requirement: AERATOR. My husband filled this for me.

97D: Old World finches: SERINS

98D: Former PLO leader: ARAFAT

99D: Revere: HALLOW. I think Abe Lincoln used "hallow" as a verb twice in his Gettysburg Address.

100D: Wife of Paris: OENONE. Only knew Helen.

103D: Australian marsupial: KOALA

104D: Invisible emanations: AURA

106D: Willing: GAME. I don't think I am game for another Sunday puzzle, this is too tough for me.

107D: Gone GI: AWOL

112D: __ noire (bugbear): BETE

C. C.

TMS Daily Crossword On Line

Just for your information, Chicago Tribune carries TMS Daily Crossword on line (Monday - Saturday), you can click here if you want to solve it on line or try to find the key/keys to the puzzle.

C. C.

Saturday, March 15, 2008 Tom Pruce

Theme: NONE

Hmm, Ides of March, beware! Et tu, Brute? A REPROBATE?

Even though I spent more than 45 minutes plowing and harrowing this puzzle, I still like it. There are no obscure actress/actor/author names or American slangs to bother me, so the ground is not frozen, and I enjoyed my tilling and digging.

I also like the open structure of the upper left and lower right corners, and I like how 13D: FIERCER and 14D: TENSEST are paralleled in a gradual "er, est" fashion.

I only visited google 3 times, irritated a bit by the SAGITTA/REGINA intersection. Neither of the words are familiar to me. I also had problem committing AVATAR to 45A.

Here are the across entries:

1A: Morally unprincipled person: REPROBATE. Jack Abrafmoff, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, too many.

10A: Working copy: DRAFT

15A: Fell to pieces: UNRAVELED. Really painful to watch such a brilliant, dazzling Presidential Material Mr. Clean fall down to disgrace so swiftly. I also look at Spitzer's career "with a sense of what might have been".

16A: Unearthly: EERIE

17A: Gossip channel?: GRAPEVINE. E! All I thought was the gossipy E! channel.

18A: City on the Ruhr: ESSEN

20A: Scout's job, briefly: RECON (Reconnaissance)

21A: Jury makeup: PEERS.

25A: Medium meeting: SÉANCE

26A: Asian peninsula: KOREA. I thought of Malay Peninsula at first.

28A: Mommie's sisters: AUNTIES

29A: Must haves: ESSENTIALS. I am so proud that I filled in this word with only one E penned in priorly.

34A: Khrushchev and others: NIKITAS. Hugo Chavez's "The Devil came yesterday" speech in 2006 has put Khrushchev's shoe-pounding incident to shame.

36A: Rolling stone's lack: MOSS (A rolling stone gathers no moss). Or ex-Viking's "I Play when I want to Play" wild receiver Randy. Had Packers signed Randy Moss in 2007, Brett Favre would not have retired today. Poor Cheeseheads!

40A: Of plane navigation: AERONAUTIC. No problem.

45A: Virtual reality folk: AVATAR. I only knew this word as Hindu incarnation of God.

47A: Maine town: ORONO. The college town. Learned it from doing crossword.

48A: Saskatchewan capital: REGINA. Did not known this before.

49A: Cut the greens: MOW. Thick rough, narrow fairway, stupid bunkers, impossible pin positions, shame on you USGA.

52A: Cape Kennedy org.: NASA

53A: Salty: BRINY. I was on the wrong direction, thinking of Senator McCain's snappy, pungent and salty jokes.

54A: No-frills: BASIC

56A: Dressing outfit, casually: TUX

57A: Stop gripping: LET GO

58A: Pen: ENCLOSURE. Oh I felt so smart this morning. Filled it in like it's ALOE.

61A: Stuttering speaker: STAMMERER. Alliteration, J'adore.

62A: Extended gaze: STARE.

63A: Stately court dances: SARABANDS. Have never heard of it before. It's "a slow, stately Spanish dance, esp. of the 17th and 18th centuries, in triple meter, derived from a vigorous castanet dance." SARABAND is also Ingmar Bergman's last movie (2003).

Down clues:

1D: Quality of a cheap toupee: RUGLIKE. Is it even a word?

2D: Caruso and Fermi: ENRICOS. Knew Caruso, not Fermi.

3D: Babblers: PRATERS

4D: Utter sharply: RAP

5D: Beyond: OVER. I put AFAR first.

6D: Angle maker: BEVEL. This small English word posed some problem for me. I kept asking myself "What's the English word for 斜边?"

8D: Mortise's partner: TENON. See this picture. It will show you which one is which.

10D: Dig more: DEEPEN

7D: Carroll's heroine: ALICE. Have never read Alice in Wonderland.

11D: Ushers after the interval: RESEATS. What's the matter with Florida? Every 4 years! Do you know that it's against Florida law to authenticate voters' signatures? The mail-in do-over primary will only invite more troubles. I would not SEAT, or RESEAT any of Florida/Michigan delegate.

12D: Host Hall: ARSENIO. Knew him only because Clinton played "Heartbreak Hotel" on the saxphone on his show in 1992. It's the coolest TV moment, for me. I used to love that man, Mr. Clinton.

13D: More violent: FIERCER

14D: Most on edge: TENSEST

25D: Dey of "The Partridge Family": SUSAN. Only knew her as the LA Law actress.

27D:_ - Margret: ANN. Unknown to me. I got it from across clues. I think I hated this clue. That "-" makes it look like a treaty's name. It should be clued as Swedish actress/singer _ -Margret.

28D: Countertenor: ALTO

31D: Eisenhower and others: IKES. Besides Ike the President and Ike Turner, who else is named Ike?

35D: _ Tome and Principe: SAO. Lots of oil in this small African country, shall we go?

36D: Lose one's _: MARBLES. Better not to go, need to have all our marbles together. Let Chevron and ExxonMobile spread our democracy and capitalism there.

37D: Stuff oneself: OVEREAT. It intersects with 60A: EATEN. But I am not fond of 2 EATs in one puzzle.

38D: Constellation near Aquila: SAGITTA. No idea.

39D: Brandy cocktail: STINGER. No idea, my husband probably knows.

42D: Perfectly: TO A TURN. Have never heard of this phrase. Only knew "to a tee".

44D: Wheedlers: COAXERS. Pas de problème here.

49D: Marine ray: MANTA. Got it. A reverse of yesterday's clue.

51D: Mrs. Fred Flintstone: WILMA. Unknown to me. I just guessed.

54D: Porgy's love: BESS. Funny, I read this clue as Porky's love, so I could not figure out why his girlfriend was not Petunia Pig any more. By the way, I have never heard of Porgy & Bess the opera.

55D: Search carefully: COMB

59D: Galilee or Marmara: SEA. Marmara sea is here. See Istanbul?

Have a great weekend.

C. C.

Newspaper Updates

We have a total of 56 different newspapers carrying the Tribune Media crossword: 1 in Thailand, 3 in Canada, all the other 52 are inside the US.

It seems that no newspaper in Alaska, Indiana and Wyoming has the TMS syndication.

To readers in Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont: Would you please let me know your paper name? Thank you.

A short message to S Scott. I accidentally deleted your email this morning, so I could not email you the blog entry today. Pls send me your email address again.

C. C.

Friday, March 14, 2008 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: To Get What You Want

20A: Use one's influence: Pull Some Strings

37A: Ask nicely: Say Pretty Please

48A: Influence under the table: Grease a Few Palms

I screwed up the upper left corner again. Purely self-inflicted wounds. I mis-read Humdinger as Harbinger, so I was adamant about my OMEN fill. The fact that I could not dislodge ORAL from my dense brain this morning for _Roberts U only exasperated me further. I remember the improper use of fund scandal by Richard Roberts last year, but I just could not summon up his father's/his university's name.

I filled in "pretty" for the theme entry 37A very early on, and I had "some" already penned in for 20A, so naturally I wanted it to be "handsome", briefly flirting with the idea that the theme might be handsome -pretty-ravishing or something like that.

After a great "O" (I counted 11 O) feast, I managed to piece everything together in 30 minutes (including google). And it looked like a good puzzle, esp the crossing of 47A: FLU and 47D: FEVER. I start to appreciate this kind of effort the constructor puts in.

Across entries:

1A: Viscous clump: GLOB. Not a good image to evoke the first thing in the morning.

3A: Evil spell: CURSE

14A: Ambiance: AURA. I still insist that, oratory skill aside, Obama has the RFK (not JFK) aura. Have to disagree with Ted Sorensen.

16A: In seventh heaven: ON AIR

17A: Take-out side order: SLAW. 4-letter word, what else could it be?

18A: Indonesian island: BALI. Or Java sometimes.

19A: Fetch: BRING

24A: Jazz piece: RAG. Have no knowledge of jazz, don't know what exactly is a rag.

25A: River swirls: EDDIES. Could never fill in this word without thinking of Eddie Guardado.

29A: Gay Nineties and the like: ERAS.

31A: Jiffy: SEC. Could not recall if JIFF as a brand was ever clued in a TMS puzzle.

34A: Bakery come-on: AROMA. I can smell it.

35A: Course culmination: EXAM. Not fond of this clue.

36A: Paparazzi prey: STAR. Depending on what the meaning of "IS" is. OK, isn't Meryl Streep a bigger star than fame-craved Lindsey Lohan? Paparazzi never preys on her (Streep).

42A: Gutter side: EAVES. I was thinking of bowling.

43A: Novelist Deighton: LEN

44A: Work the soil: TILL. Interesting information: "Till" is also a popular song recorded by quite a few artist. Unknown to me. By the way, "Till" can also mean "unstratified, unsorted, glacial drift of clay, sand, boulders and gravel".

45A: Bear witness: ATTEST. Oh, "Kristen". I still could not understand how Eliot Spitzer tossed away his career just like that.

47A: Respiratory malady: FLU. I tend to associate "flu" with fever, headache, can not think of any respiratory involvement. "Asthma" is a big respiratory problem.

57A: English aristocrats: LORDS

58A: Classic Chevy model: NOVA. Got it from down clue. Unknown to me. Not a car fan.

59A: Fossil fuel: COAL

60A: Au revoir!: ADIEU. I hear "à bientôt" or "salut" more often. But I never lived in Paris before. Could not tell for sure.

61A: Low card: TREY. Learned from doing crossword. Never play any card game.

63A: Slow-witted: DENSE. Slower than that, it will be imbecilic.

64A: Otologist's focus: EAR. I like the clue, first time I saw "Otologist", tired of of Ear-related OTO though.

Down entries:

2D: Humdinger: LULU. Doozy.

6D: Crockett's last stand: ALAMO (Davy). Where have you been, crockett1947?

7D: Man or Dogs: ISLE. Never heard of Isle of Dogs. But I like the clue.

8D: Clark's gal: LOIS. Superman girl.

9D: Hooded vipers: COBRAS. Anyone read Michael Gordon's Cobra II? By the way, COPRA is coconut meat, dried.

10D: Take down the sails: UNRIG. I wanted DE RIG.

12D: Tell at: SING. Never knew that "Sing" can mean "to rat".

13D: Work units: ERGS. Here is the definition I lifted from the dictionary: "The unit of energy or work in the centimeter-gram-second system, equal to the force of one dyne over a distance of one centimeter. This unit has been mostly replaced by the joule."

21D: Promise solemnly: SWEAR

22D: Vagabond: TRAMP. Hobo. Could not see any beauty in those hobo bags.

25D: Art supporter: EASEL. I was on the wrong track, thinking of those Broadway backer angels and Art Gallery patrons.

26D: Mallard mister: DRAKE. Mallard is wild duck. Drake is a male duck. What is a female duck then, a hen?

27D: Group's senior member: DOYEN. Unknown to me. Got it from across clues. "The senior member, as in age, rank, or experience, of a group, class, profession, etc." French origin.

30D: Mantas: RAYS. The fish. No idea. In fact, I mis-read it as "Mantra", so I was chanting in my head.

31D: Barrel piece: STAVE

33D: Wave top: CREST

35D: List end, sometimes: ET AL. Abbreviation of 'et alii' (masculine plural) or 'et aliae' (feminine plural) or 'et alia' (neuter plural).

36D: Pants part: SEAT. I put SEAM first. Did not know Seat-of-the-Pants slang until this morning.

38D: Cream of the crop: ELITE. I toyed with A LIST for a brief second, then quickly dismissed it after filling in LIT for 46A: Brightened up.

39D: Abate: LET UP

44D: Paper hankie: TISSUE. Bounty, only Bounty.

45D: Without fail: ALWAYS

46D: Fills the hold: LADES

47D: Temperature: FEVER. Don't like this clue either.

50D: Celtic land: ERIN. Ireland. What distinguishes Erin from Eire? So confusing for me.

52D: Open discussions: FORA. Never knew that the plural for Forum is Fora.

53D: One litmus test conclusion: ACID

54D: Word with star or ranger: LONE. Lone Star yes, but isn't it "the Lone Ranger"?

55D: Either one of a pair: MATE

56D: Swine's supper: SLOP. This puzzle starts with GLOB, ends with SLOP. Perfect!

C. C.

What's Your Crossword Strategy?

On yesterday's (March 12 Wednesday) Comment section, MH mentioned about taking a poll on different strategies we each employ in solving the crossword.

So, let's take a poll then. Here are 4 choices:

1) You fill in all the Across Entries first, then move on to all the Down Entries, in an orderly fashion.

2) You coordinate each across clue with each down clue, and systematically fill in entries from upper left corner to lower right corner.

3) You flit from section to section, filling in whatever know.

4) Or Else? Other secret weapons?

Please share with us.

Thank you.

C. C.

Thursday, March 13, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Quote

17A: Start of Will Durant quote: No man who's

40A: Part 2 of quote: In a hurry is quite

66A: End of quote: Civilized

Great haste makes great waste, take your time, "slow down, I just wanna get to know you...".

But it's a bit overkill to categorize people in a hurry as uncivilized. Who is not in a hurry these days? However, when you consider that Durant and his wife spent 40 years writing The Story of Civilization, it's not that a far-fetched concept. Their life is the greatest love story I've ever heard (a marriage that lasted 69 years). They died within 2 weeks of each other. NPR did a great piece on them 2 years ago I think.

A few thorny spots for me today, but I managed to get away relatively unscathed. Oh, I started from the upper left corner again, could not break my old habit.

Across entries:

5A: New entrant into society: DEB (Debutante). Do you know that the columnist who named Jackie Kennedy (then Jacqueline Bouvier) Deb of the Year in 1947 is Oleg Cassini's brother? Oleg of course later became Jackie's favorite couturier.

9A: Of the Vatican: PAPAL. I blushed when I read excerpts of Pope Benedict's first encyclical - Deus Caritas Est. It's just a bit overwhelming to hear a Pope's reflection on Eros.

14A: Ecole attendee: ELEVE. French word for student.

16A: European river: RHONE

20A: Muffled crash: THUD

21A: Sighting: ESPIAL. Tiger Woods has won an amazing 18 ESPY Awards.

23A: Cool dude: CAT. How I miss Ed Bradley! He is a real cool cat. Scott Pelley starts to grate on my nerve now.

24A: Islamic women's quarters: HAREMS. Often see Oda clued as Harem room. Seraglio carries the same meaning - a sequestered area for wives. Hijab is the headscarf Muslim women wear. Houri is the beautiful virgin promised to those faithfuls in their Koranic paradise.

30A: Dozen: TWELVE

33A: Studio letters: MGM

44A: Zhivago's love: LARA. Dr. Zhivago is Omar Sharif's best movie in my view. Juliet Christie's performance was also impeccable. This movie made living in cold freezing Minnesota very romantic. By the way, this movie is also the favorite of our Chief Justice John Roberts.

45A: "Olympia" painter: MANET. OK, MANET painted beautiful women, MONET painted beautiful scenery.

46A: Bert's twin: NAN. Bobbsey twins. I had no idea. Only knew Nan (or sometimes Naan) as Indian bread.

47A: Kept looking: STARED

50A: Make booties, e. g. : KNIT. I always thought baby's shoes are Bootees, different spelling, no?

52A: Choir section: TENORS

55A: Scant: SPARSE

59A: Last of a log: ASH. I groaned at this clue.

61A: Actress Sobieski: LEELEE. This girl does look like Helen Hunt.

63A: Frozen fail: HAIL

64A: Tea of "Spanglish": LEONI. She is in A League of Their Own too.

70A: Heating apparatus: STOVE

73A: Even more calamitous: DIRER. That's what I feel about Bernanke's rather innovative rescue package. I mean, the plan allows the banks to use their risky home-loan securities as collateral. It does not make much sense to me, but what do I know? At least, the market did not retreat much yesterday.

Down entires:

3D: Madagascar primate: LEMUR. It looks like this. Indri is a short-tailed Lemur.

4D: Ducks and dodges: EVADES. Is duck and dodge (together) a phrase? Only knew Mitt Romney ducks, and he dodges.

6D: Morse dashes: DAHS. Unknown, dots and dits are familiar to me, though I have no idea what distinguishes "dot" from "dit".

9D: Undergraduate courses: PRE-LAW

11D: China: PORCELAIN

12D: Actress Paquin: ANNA. She won an Oscar for Piano, when she was only 11 years old. Interesting: Shirley Temple is not the youngest Oscar winner. She was only given an honary Oscar for achievemetns when she was 6. Taturn O'Neal was the youngest, age 10, for Paper Moon. Never seen it.

18D: Certain strong wind: WESTER. Wind or storm coming from the west.

27D: Andean country: PERU. It's due south of Florida, not California. Learned something from the uppish Alex Trebeck yesterday.

31D: "La dolce ___": VITA. Never saw the movie (The Sweet Life)

33D: Wire measures: MILS

34D: Biting insect: GNAT

35D: Long runs: MARATHONS

37D: Hand-woven rug: RYA. It's "a handwoven Scandinavian rug with a thick pile and usually a strong, colorful design."

42D: Judo teacher: SENSEI. "Sen" means first, "sei" means giving birth. Together, Sensei means teacher. It might sound too much of a stretch to you, but it's a gimmie for me. Cultural thing I think.

43D: Trademark swab: Q TIP

48D: Sign up: ENLIST

51D: Pacific destination: TAHITI. Look at this Gauguin's Tahitian Women on the Beach.

54D: Shift out of place: SLIDE

56D: Stubble cutter: RAZOR

57D: Sifting utensil: SIEVE

59D: Ray of "Battle Cry": ALDO. Repeat offender.

67D: Leary's drug: LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide). The Acid.

I am very interested in the time you spent on today's puzzle, so please chime in on the Comment section. Also congratulations to Dennis for his "a bit over 5 minutes" record today.

C. C.

What Other Crossword Poll Result

Poll Question: what other crossword does your local newspaper carry besides the Tribune Media crosswords?

Poll result:

Total votes: 132.

New York Times: 68 (51%)

LA Times: 9 (6%)

None: 34 (25%)

Others: 21 (15%)

I am a bit surprised by the high percentage of Others. Is there any other syndication crossword that I am not aware of?

Please, those of you who voted for Others, would you shed some light on what other puzzles are in your paper?

Thank you.

C.C.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Philip J. Anderson

Theme: Salon Terms (Play on Words)

20A: Salon discounts?: Red Dye Specials (Red Eye Special)

41A: Adversarial salon treatment: Hostile Makeover (Hostile Takeover)

60A: Long-lasting lock at the salon: Permanent Tress (Permanent Press)

Tomorrow I am going to start the puzzle from the upper middle section. I have formed this upper-left-corner phobia. Stumped immediately by TITO. That put me in a very negative frame of mind.

I was also mad at myself for not remembering the Eastern German police STASI. The movie "The Lives of Others"made such a big splash in 2007. (update: It won Oscar for Best Foreign Film last year)and I remember I was so intrigued by those Eastern German spies (STASI) and the stunning amount of files they kept. I remember I looked into the dictionary several times for the meaning of STASI. My memory is failing me, all the time now.

There are quite a few foreign words in this puzzle: Latin, German, French, Greek.

Here are the across entires:

1A: Mambo king Puente: TITO. I am sure he was big, otherwise he wouldn't be called Mambo king. But still, he is unknown to me. The only Titos I knew are Yugoslavia's Tito and the Jackson 5 Tito. I just could not get the tune of Mambo #5 out of my mind now.

5A: Low tract of land: SWALE. It's a "low place in a tract of land, usually moister and often having ranker vegetation than the adjacent higher land."

10A: Swedish car: SAAB. What do you call Volvo? A Swedish car or an American car (as it's now owned by Ford)?

14A: Tan shade: ECRU

16A: Jason's vessel: ARGO. Jason and the Argonauts. Greek mythology. Never read it. Not sure if they found the Golden Fleece in the end. Jason's wife is Medea.

17A: Nair competitor: NEET. Depilatory cream. Another name is Veet.

23A: _ polloi: HOI. The many (Greek). Hoi is "the", interesting to see people still write "the hoi polli", so redundant.

25A: Bowler's button: RESET. Tired of this clue.

26A: Juarez gold: ORO. Spanish for gold.

28A: 2 on the phone: ABC

30A: Vitamin fig.: RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance)

34A: Coach Parseghian: ARA. You've worn out your welcome too.

36A: Another name for ethylene: ETHENE

44A: Oban daggers: SKEANS. Did not know. I only knew "SNEE" and "Dirk". Oban is in Scotland.

46A: Biblical miracle site: CANA. Jesus changed water into wine, his first miracle.

47A: "___ Kapital": DAS. Karl Marx's work. Das means "the" in German. I wonder why the English title for it is "Capital", rather than "the Capital."

52A: East German secret police: STASI. German abbreviation of Staatssicherheit (State Security). Secret police of Eastern German.

68A: Seed cover: ARIL. Another repeat offender.

70A: Auberjonois of "Boston Legal": RENÉ. Got it from down clue. Never heard of him.

71A: Movie critic Pauline: KAEL. Unknown. She was the film critic for The New Yorker from from 1968 to 1991. Our local Star Tribune has a brilliant film critic named Colin Covert.

73A: Belgian river: YSER. It flows into North Sea.

Down entries:

2D: Champagne bucket: ICER. Has anyone read French Women Don't Get Fat? Well, according to the author, you should drink wine or champagne with your meals.

3D: Bird's nest?: TREEHOUSE

4D: Best: OUTDO. Good job, Hillary, when No. 1 guy outdoes you, you offer him the No. 2 spot.

6D: Smart aleck: WISEACRE. I wish Alex Trebeck would shut up more so that all the Jeopardy questions can be answered.

7D: Preferred invitees: A LIST. Not any more, Eliot Spitzer.

8D: Bounder: LEAPER. Technically yes, but I hated it. Oh, by the way, bounder also means "An ill-bred, unscrupulous man".

9D: Medieval serf: ESNE. Learned from doing crossword.

10D: "Gymnopedies" composer: SATIE (Erik). I am so happy that I got him this time.

11D: Tapestry in "Hamlet": ARRAS. Wall hanging. Saw it clued as Gertrude's tapestry before.

13D: Upward push: BOOST. That's what the Bernanke's rescue package did to the stock market yesterday. It just needs to be sustained.

21D: Meas. across: DIA (Diameter). Last time I made a mistake saying it's diagonal, luckily some reader pointed it out. See, I learned.

26D: Phil of folk: OCHS. He was clued as Protest-singer Phil on Sunday's puzzle. Ex-owner of NY Times is named Ochs.

29D: Aromatic fir: BALSA. Is BALSA the same as Balsam?

31D: Fake-out moves: DEKES. Never heard of this word. Only knew decoy. For a moment, I thought maybe decoy's plural form is still decoy, but the letter e from the across APE forced me to dismiss the idea.

35D: Docs' group: AMA. Or HMO sometimes.

37D: Ad _ committee: HOC. I suppose "ad" means "to" in Latin? US Senate seems to have quite a few Ad Hoc committee. I never knew what they are doing.

38D: Dissipates: EVANESCES. Latin origin ( évānéscere), meaning "fade away".

40D: Part of Q. E. D.: ERAT. Another Latin, Quod Erat Demonstrandum, which was to be demonstrated. I gather ERAT is a past tense for "is"?

43D: Natural talent: APTITUDE. That's what Tyler Hinman has for crossword. Incredible.

53D: __ incognita: TERRA. Unknown Land. Latin. Terra Firma, Terra Cotta.

54D: Palmer, casually: ARNIE. He has an "Army". I respect Jack Nicklaus (the Bear), but I love Arnold Palmer. I respect Tiger Woods, but I love Phil Mickelson. Somehow Tiger and Jack have put some distances between themselves and us.

57D: Broadway backer: ANGEL. I did not connect "Angle" with money until Dennis mentioned it in the Comments. Here is more explanation I lifted from an article on Angel Investment: "The term "angel" has a long history, originating in the entertainment industry. An "angel" was the financial backer of a Broadway show. For instance, the owner of the Boston Red Sox who traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees to raise money to back a Broadway show was an angel, although not to generations of Red Sox fans."

59D: Fatigued: WEARY. The Iraq War, the Fatigue Syndrome.

61D: Fragrant ointment: NARD. I put SARD put, I don't know why.

62D: "___ of the d'Urbervilles": TESS. The only Hardy book that I acturally read.

63D: Trig. function: SINE

67D: German article: DER. According to Dennis, this is the masculine form of 'the" in German, "Das" is the neuter form, and "die" is the feminine form.

I hope you guys will read the Comments section (and add your voice too). There are gems of information and pearls of wisdom to be gleaned there.

C. C.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Jim Page

Theme: WOW!

17A: Wow!: Sakes Alive!

39A: Wow!: Holy Cow!

59A: Wow!: Great Scott!

11D: Wow! Lo and Behold!

25D: Wow!: What on Earth?!

Never read Superman or any comic book, never heard anyone gasp "Great Scott".

But WOW, what a proper and fitting theme for thousands of solvers this morning. I am just so stunned and stupefied by Governor Spitzer's "private matter". Down a hero (49D: EAT)!

I was so enamored of his Eliot Ness - style aggressive & relentless pursuits of those criminal dealings in Wall Street. I could not tell you in words how impressed I was of him when he forced Richard Grasso (NYSE) to pay back part of his scandalous compensation package. I learned the word "fiduciary duty" from him. The thing that bothers me is: Who leaked it to the press?

I had another tough uphill battle today. I put IRAN for 6A: Persian's contemporary (MEDE), and I ended up with ALTO for 8D: TOP vocalist (DIVA). I did not know Runner Zatopek's (EMIL), then I could not fill in anything sensible for 21A: NATO, for one (ACRONYM).

Here are the across entries.

1A: Kind of flu: ASIAN. I penned in AVIAN.

6A: Persian's contemporary: MEDE. They lived in ancient Media.

10A: Pig vittles: SLOP

15A: Runner Zatopek: EMIL. Never heard of him. If it's clued as Chef Lagasse, I would've got it. (Update: I blundered again. Lagasse's name is Emeril)

20A: Elmer or Jerry: RICE

21A: NATO, for one: ACRONYM. Of course! General Patraeus will be an awesome NATO Commander.

23A: Certain metal craftsman: PEWTERER. Never knew that a pewter maker is called a pewterer.

28A: Exist as a characteristic: INHERE

29A: Harrow's rival: ETON. Both Prince William and Harry attended ETON. James Bond too. Churchill and Nehru are Harrow graduates.

36A: Kind of trooper or line: STATE

37A: Skinny twins?: ENS. There are 2 letters "n" in the word "skinny". Last time many people were confounded by the clue: Minnesota twins?.

38A: Meow Mix eater: CAT

43A: Stand by: AWAIT

44A: Fleshy fruit: POME. I never heard of the word "Pome", so I was marshaling all the 4-letter fruits in my mind: Pear, Plum, Kiwi, Date.

47A: Camelot magician: MERLIN. No idea. But I read almost every book about JFK and his Camelot legacy.

51A: Explosives with pins: GRENADES

53A: Erupt: FLARE UP

57A: Lena of "The Ninth Gate": OLIN. She had a role in Chocolat (Juliette Binoche).

58A: Cooking fat: LARD. Stop larding the spending bill with your stupid pork-barrel earmarks, you bigwig in D. C. (SEN).

65A: "A Girl Like I" author: LOOS (Anita). She is back, 2 days in a row. I found out that besides Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, she also wrote But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes.

66A: Temporary contract: LEASE

67A: Actress Madeline: KAHN. So sorry. I really did not know you.

69A: Ill-fated Ford: EDSEL

Down entries:

2D: Place for fish and ships: SEA. Misread it as Place for fish and chips.

3D: Sort: ILK

5D: More snoopy: NOSIER

6D: Free-for-all: MELEE. Donnybrook.

7D: Radio static, in brief: EMI (Electromagnetic Interference). Sometimes it's clued as British record company.

9D: Power, in brief.: ELEC

10D: Keep under wraps: SIT ON. To suppress the release of certain news I suppose.

12D: Like Woodsy?: OWLY. I made a guess. I had no idea that Woodsy Owl is the owl icon for the US Forest service. I only knew Smokey Bear.

22D: Give a face-lift to: RENEW. I groaned after the answer emerged.

23D: Zodiac sign: PISCES

24D: Coop up: ENCAGE

26D: Knotting again: RETYING. Very gnarly clue.

30D: Diplomatic asset: TACT. Bill Richardson seems to be very well respected outside US for his diplomatic tact.

33D: Personal instability: ANOMIE. Unknown to me. According to the dictionary.com, it's "a state or condition of individuals or society characterized by a breakdown or absence of social norms and values, as in the case of uprooted people."

36D: Shredded side: SLAW. Add some raisins, it will be tastier.

39D: Undue speed: HASTE

40D: Be light chips: OWE. (Update later: According to drdad, "In poker, if you are "light chips" that means you "owe" the pot/kitty.")

44D: Strutted about: PRANCED

47D: Run in the heat: MELT. Good clue.

48D: Isolate: ENISLE. Saw it clued this way before, so no problem this time.

50D: Dale of "Flash Gordon": ARDEN. No idea.

52D: Prepare peanuts: ROAST.

53D: Excessive criticism: FLAK. Both the Clinton & Obama campaigns have brought FLAK into an elevated art form.

54D: Actress Turner: LANA

55D: Wrinkly fruit: UGLI. Never had it. I don't think our Rainbow Foods even carries it.

56D: Masters players: PROS. Those PGA golfers. Tiger Woods probably will win Masters again this year. But I am rooting for K. G. Choi (South Korean). He is such a workhorse, well, not as crazy as Vijay Singh.

60D: PAU's successor: OAS (Organization of American States, US is a member). Gimme for anyone who paid attention to the tense situation in Columbia last week. Oh, PAU stands for Pan American Union.

62D: Mao _ -Tung: TSE. Could also be clued as Literary monogram (T. S. Eliot).

I forgot to mention yesterday that NPR's On the Media Sunday had a very good segment on crossword and ACTP 2008. In case you missed, you can hear it here.

C. C.

Comments & Emails

I've noticed that quite a few comments were misplaced in the past several days. I've copied and pasted them in their proper puzzle date. But I am afraid that it was a bit too late. Some complaints/gripes/glees could only be understood and enjoyed on that particular day.

In order to share with us your experiences in solving a certain puzzle, you have to publish your comments at the Comments section at the end of that particular day's blog entry. It's a bit confusing in the beginning, but you will get used to it.

I also hope that you will pick up a name for yourself when you comment: Brett, Favre, or anything you want to be, and you can still remain anonymous. It will just be easier for me and other readers to identify you.

To those who wrote to me privately in the past several weeks: I've answered every email that was asking for certain information or clues, but I have not got back to those who had nice things to say about my little blog. I simply do not have enough time. I hope you understand. I've read all your emails and appreciate your kindness. Thank you.

C. C.

Monday, March 10, 2008 Verna Suit

Theme: Flower Girls

A17: Ernestine's creator: LILY TOMLIN

59A: Porky's girlfriend: PETUNIA PIG

10D: Henry James title character: DAISY MILLER

24D: Puzzle theme: FLOWER GIRLS

OK, do you still stubbornly believe our puzzle mirrors the NY Times' difficulty patten? If so, this is not a Monday puzzle, it belongs to Friday/Saturday. Granted, it's a new constructor, so it takes time for us to get into her wavelength. But the editor could easily reworded several clues if he wanted Monday to be the easiest. The conclusion: TMS crossword is random.

I slogged like a blind man this morning. Could not find my way out. Struggled hard at every corner. The fact that SCOOTER (Libby) & KARL (Rove) appeared in the same puzzle was very disconcerting.

Here are some of the across entries.

1A: Cut ruthlessly: HACK. That's how I solved your puzzle Ms. Suit!

5A: Get lost!: SCRAM

10A: Cowgirl Evans: DALE

15A: Colorado brewery: COORS

16A: Sale caveat: AS IS

A17: Ernestine's creator: LILY TOMLIN. I had no idea who/what Ernestine was. For all I knew, she could be another Mona Lisa, or another Scarlett O'Hara, or another Rubik's Cube, so I was wracking my brain for a painter/composer/author/creator's name. Never watched Laugh-in. Tomline played the wisecracking Ernestine in it. Hated the clue.

20A: Sault __ Marie: STE.

23A: Has aspirations: HOPES. You aspire, you strive, you pursue, you seek, and you hope? Are they the same?

22A: Hit single's companion: B SIDE. Sounds so clunky to me.

23A: Crisp fabric: TAFFETA. This word is of Persian origin, meaning "Twisted woven", considered to be high-end fabric according to Wikipedia.

25A: Brit's indignant comment: I SAY. Bloody.

27A: Property claim: LIEN

28A: Upscale department store, briefly: NEIMANS. Neiman Marcus. Needlessly Marked up. Kohl's is all I can afford.

32A: My bad!: I'M SORRY

35A: Sea of Israel: GALILEE. Is it a gimme for you?

37A: "Gentlemen prefer Blondes": LOOS (Anita). Never heard of her. The movie (Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, 1953) was OK.

38A: Francis and Dahl: ARLENES. Complete strangers to me.

42A: Greek: HELLENE. No idea.

45A: Proximal: NEAREST

46A: _fixe (obsession): IDEE. My current idee fixe: Hillary the fish slimer. Can you believe they will stoop that low to curry favor with the voters? Well, at least, I learned that there was a difference between gutting a fish and sliming a fish.

48A: Dawdled: TARRIED

52A: Unspoken: TACIT

55A: "Midnight Cowboy" role: RATSO. Never watched this movie. Had no knowledge of Ratso. It sounds like a stoolie to me.

57A: 1011: MXI. Yep. Our editor is having a Roman Numerals Fest lately. 2 in yesterday's puzzle also.

58A: Cracked open: AJAR

59A: Porky's girlfriend: PETUNIA PIG. Walt Disney cartoon characters. I simply did not know. (update: I was wrong. It's Warner Brother's Looney Tunes).

61A: "Communist Manifesto" author Marx: KARL. Marx, Engles, Lennin and Chairman Mao. That's the stuff I grew up with, not Porky Pig or Mickey Mouse.

62A: Michaels of "SNL": LORNE. It was clued as Actor Greene in yesterday's puzzle.

63A: Pastrami purveyor: DELI

64A: Former mates: EXES. God, I hated this word "Mates".

65A: Basketry willow: OSIER. What a weird looking word. I am sure I will forget it next time.

66A: Menu plan: DIET. Why? I was thinking of Steak & Potato, Fish & Rice, Clam noodles, you know, a real meal menu.

Down entries:

1D: Composer of "The Planets": HOLST. My brain simply refused to take in certain names. This guy was on Friday's puzzle.

2D: Novelist Brookner: ANITA. What's wrong with Anita Hill? Has anyone ever heard of Anita Brookner?

3D: Staff symbol: C CLEF

4D: E or G, e.g.: KEY. I like how 3D and 4 D are stacked together.

5D: Motorcycle's little brother: SCOOTER

6D: Guests: COMPANY. I filled in letter "S" all too eagerly.

9D: Certain ISP: MSN.

10D: Henry James title character: DAISY MILLER. The only James' book I read is The Portrait of a Lady, and I could not dislodge the main character's name from my dense brain at this moment.

11D: __ Spumante: ASTI. The wine.

13D: Salinger girl: ESMÉ. For Esmé with Love and Squalor. Never read it.

18D: "A League of __ own": THEIR. Tom Hanks, Madonna, Geena Davis were all in it. I don't know why I dislike this movie.

22D: Cash for Security: BAIL. I put Bond first.

24D: Puzzle theme: FLOWER GIRLS. The clue should be "This puzzle's theme", don't you think so?

25D: Black or White: SEA. Good clue. Here is the map for White Sea.

29D: Medicinal plant: ALOE. Sometimes it's SENNA.

31D: Mobutu _ Seko: SESE. Nope, never heard of him. The Zaire President. The only African evil men I knew were Idi Amin and Charles Taylor (the Liberia dictator).

32D: Reitman or Pavlov: IVAN. Ivan Pavlov, yes, Reitman No.

33D: Soggy ground: MIRE

34D: Actress Ward: SELA. Our crossword editor's favorite actress.

42D: Top-forty song: HIT TUNE. I suppose so.

43D: "Lou Grant" star: ED ASNER

44D: Writer Jones: LEROI. Completely, utterly, totally unknown to me. (Update: I got this information from a reader. Jones is also known as Amiri Baraka. Poet, Black activist, author of many excellent books like "Blues People" and "Black Music".)

49D: Mile High Center architect: I. M. PEI. He also designed the Louvre Pyramid and JFK Library.

50D: Napoleon's punishment: EXILE

52D: Make off with: TAKE. Steal.

53D: Trojan War hero: AJAX. Also a cleanser brand, "Stronger than dirt".

54D: Give a hoot: CARE

56D: Italian bell town: ATRI. The Bell of Atri. Did not know this tale, never read Longfellow's poem either.

59D: Middle East grp.: PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization). Abbas is their current leader. What a mess Arafat left behind! Or rather, what a mess Arafat created!

Have a good week.

C. C.

Sunday, March 9, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Going Off Half-cocked (Acting Prematurely)

23A: Revealing intentions: Tipping One's Hand

39A: Bridge tactic: Preemptive Bid

62A & 74A: Getting ahead of oneself: Putting the Cart before the Horse

99A: Beginning too soon: Jumping the Gun

17D: Scaring folk for nothing: Crying Wolf

72D: Do-over's cause: False Start

Another miserable Sunday for me. I had 3 breakfasts while solving this puzzle, my record.

I had a very shaky start, and never really gained any momentum. The only bright spot was the upper right corner. I was proud of myself for filling in NERVA for 16D: Emperor before Trajan. I also conquered the lower middle part without encountering much resistance.

But everywhere else was rife with knobby problems. So many intimidating unknowns: actress, actor, singer, athlete, author, & liquid measure. I had no idea what "Quinine" means in 41D. I filled in "Preempting Bid" instead of "Preemptive Bid" for 39A, misguided by the "ing"pattern I spotted from the other theme entries. Had no idea that foxtail was a kind of brush. Misread 36A "Battering equipment" as "Batting Equipment". Without Richard's help, I would never have solved this puzzle today.

Here are the across entries:

1A: Landing strip surface: TARMAC

7A: Lines for the theatre: DIALOGUE. I like the clue, esp the British spelling of "theater".

15A: Remove a lid: UNCAP

20A: Ring around the pupil: AREOLA. Got it from the down clues. It also means "colored circle around a nipple".

21A: In the file: ON RECORD

22A: Impudent boldness: NERVE

25A: "The Silver Streak" co-start: PRYOR (Richard). Never heard of Pryor, nor saw the movie. Don't want to be bored.

26A: Moses or Felipe of baseball: ALOU

29A: Experts: MAVINS. Or MAVEN.

30A: Spanish rice entree: PAELLA. The main ingredients are rice, olive oil & saffron, in case you want to make it yourself.

33A: French-American dialect: ACADIAN. Same as Cajun I suppose?

36A: Battering equipment: RAM. Why? I don't get it. (UPDATE: Pls read Comments Section for explanation).

43A: Test for coll. seniors: GRE (Graduate Record Exam)

46A: Newspaper honcho: EDITOR

48A: College organization: SORORITY

49A: "The Virginian" writer Wister: OWEN. Here is more information about him.

50A: Small taxi: MINICAB. I put in Minicar first.

52A: Sailor's grp: ONI (Office of National Intelligene)

56A: Seemingly forever? AEON. Why the question mark? Aeon means seemingly forever, no?

57A: Gradient: INCLINE

61A: Brand name on cakes: SARA LEE

66A: Trumped: RUFFED. New word to me.

67A: Sheriff's band of the Old West: POSSE

68A: Unrestrained breaks of violence: RIOTS

70A: Full-length tunic: CAFTAN. I had CAF_ _ forever. Had big problems with the down clues.

82A: Stritch and Boosler: ELAINES. Nailed this one today.

84A: Gathered: RAKED IN

85D: Duck feathers: DOWN

86A: Sequence verifier: COLLATOR. Never used this word before.

88A: Army rcts: GIS

89A: Was contrary to: OPPOSED

92A: MIT part: INST (Institute).

93A: Masculinity: MALENESS. Is this even a word? He is so male?

97A: City on the Rio Grande: LAREDO. Never heard of it.

98A: T-shirt size: LGE

103A: Small upright pianos: SPINETS

105A: Glossy type of paint: ENAMEL

107A: Senility: DOTAGE

109A: T or F, eg: ANS: True or False, Answers.

112A: NYC gambling center: OTB (Off-Track Betting)

113A: Spheres: ORBS

117A: Diet guru Jenny: CRAIG. They just sacked Kristie Alley.

118A: Edgar Allan Poe story, with "The": PREMATURE BURIAL. Never read it.

123A: Judy of "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in": CARNE. She was married to Burt Reynolds for a short time.

124A: Wakayama farewell: SAYONARA. Japanese for good-bye. Also a Marlon Brando movie (1957).

125A: Cantankerous: ORNERY. It crumbled easily for me.

126A: Action or change starter: INTER

127A: Repeats: ITERATES

128A: Combine together: BLENDS

Down entries:

2D: Seed coat: ARIL. Learned it from doing crossword.

3D: Collection biz: REPO. Also a 2008 movie.

4D: Tidy loose ends: MOP UP. I put Sew Up, but quickly corrected myself.

6A: Australia capital: CANBERRA

7D: Casual drawings: DOODLES

8D: Quaint quarters: INN. I've seen this clue several times. Why is Inn quaint? Holiday Inn, Baymont Inn are all very modern.

11D: Protest-singer Phil: OCHS. Never heard of him. The only Ochs I knew is Adolph Ochs, the former owner of NY Times.

12D: Tibetan gazelle: GOA. I put Yak, which is actually an ox.

13D: Large vase: URN

14D: Actor Byrnes: EDD. Nope, did not ring a bell.

15D: Still owing: UNPAID

16D: Emperor before Trajan: NERVA. It appeared on Friday March 7 's puzzle.

18D: English river: AVON

19D: Individual: abbr: PERS (Personal).

29D: 1501: MDI. I cannot help you if you cannot commit Roman numerals to your memory.

31D: Bk. of Revelation: APOC (Apocalypse)

32D: Latin lesson word: AMO

33D: Fauna starter: AVI. Have to thank Richard for the help. I put ANI there initially thinking it means Animal.

34D: Govt. training leg.: CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.)

35D: Vast chasm: ABYSS

36D: Revise charts: REMAP

38D: North Dakota city: MINOT. Known as the Magic City. Never been there.

40D: Worker: PROLE. Unknown to me. It stems from "proletarian".

41D: Quinine water: TONIC. I did not know the meaning of Quinine.

42D: Privalova or Vorobyeva: IRINA. Never heard of them.

44D: Taylor or Adoree: RENEE

47D: Trace of color: TINT

49D: Norwegian saint: OLAF

51D: Major Leagues, casually: BIGS

54D: Writer Bret: HARTE. I got him today!

55D: Rah!: CHEER

58D: Plain crush grp.: NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board)

63D: Toothpaste brand: IPANA. What? All the 5 letter toothpaste brands I can think of are Crest, Oral B, Reach and Gleem. Never heard of Ipana.

64D: Song for nine: NONET

65D: S. Amer. monkey: TITI. Hated the clue. It should not be abbreviated. Misleading.

69D: Cry of distress: OH NO

70D: De Mille of movies: CECIL. A prolific director.

71D: As company: ALONG

73D: Pinball goof: TILT

75D: Steely Dan Singer: FAGEN (Donald). Here is more information on this band.

76D: Giving the nod to: OKING

77D: Bowler's button: RESET

78D: Nose alert: ODOR

79D: Fragrant beds: ROSES

80D: Stockholm native: SWEDE. Some people also call "rutabaga" as "swede".

81D: Provide with property: ENDOW

83D: Amiens river: SOMME. In France. It flows into the English Channel.

87D: Spellbound: RAPT

90D: Vertical line: PLUMB BOB. I only knew plummet.

91D: Fleur-de_: LIS. French for Flower of Lily.

95D: "__ Loves you": SHE. Beatles' song.

96D: Ladies of Seville: SENORAS

99D: Liquor measure: JIGGER. My dictionary says it's a small cup/glass to measure liquor, containing usually 1 1/2 ounces.

100D: One of the French: UNE

101D: Entryway: GATE

106D: Actor GREENE: LORNE. He was in Bonanza.

107D: Fifth of MMMDV: DCCI (1/5 of 3505=701)

108D: Algerian city: ORAN. Gulf of Oran city.

109D: God of love: AMOR. or Cupid, the Greek equivalent is EROS.

111D: Wendy's dog: NANA. Who is Wendy? I thought Nana is Peter Pan's dog.

111D: RBI or ERA: STAT (Statistics)

114D: Nice nothing? RIEN. French word for nothing.

115D: Exalted poet: BARD. Robert Bly has just become MN's first Poet Laureate.

116D: Stone and Stallone: SLYS. Knew Stallone, never heard of Sly Stone though.

119D: Stoolie: RAT

120D: Scope out: EYE. I misread the clue as "Scoop out" and wasted my time in vain.

121D: End of post: URE. Posture

122D: Internet add.: URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

Finally I am done!

C. C.