Saturday, July 5, 2008 Tom Pruce

Themeless

Have you seen Diane Lane's "Unfaithful" before? If not, you should immediately netflix it after solving this puzzle, which has quite a few answers evocative of the erotic thriller: TWO TIME (8A: Be unfaithful to), STAMINA (43D: Lasting power), STARE, ENDEARS, AGITATO (3D: Energetically, in music), ACT, ENTRE nous (51D: Just between us), TRYSTED (44D: Had a rendezvous), IMMORAL (12D: Iniquitous), TOUSLE (8D: Dishevel), ERRED, RUER, and of course our twisted LEIS.

Ali Farka Touré's "Ai du" is heard during the steamy foreplay and the bathtub scene. Last time Melissa linked Touré's son's version of "Ai du". So good. His "Diaraby' used to accompany me to sleep.

Nothing striking about this puzzle. Once again, too many affixes (S, ER, etc), which render the puzzle highly solvable but unappealing and unsatisfying. I think I crave some exotic themeless.

I did get stumped by letters M & F in two pockets of the grid today. MEGAERA (15A) was completely foreign to me, and I did not know anything about composers/operas, so I wobbled and wobbled and finally went with letter L (among H, L, M, N, P, T and W) for SMETANA, and it turned out to be an expensive mistake.

I also totally forgot about SKIFF ( 26D: Small rowboat), so I had trouble obtaining SFAX (38A: Tunisian port). That's a tough F, isn't it? I was totally screwed here. How can F follow S?

Some of the answers sound so made-up to me, so iffy:

33A: Worthy of confession: AVOWABLE

7D: In an impish manner: RASCALLY

38D: Most composed: SEDATEST

Are you OK with them?

ACROSS:

15A: One of Furies: MEGAERA. The other 2 are Alecto & Tisiphone, the "terrible winged goddesses with serpentine hair, who relentlessly pursue and punish doers of unavenged crimes". And they carried "torches and whips" to torment the bad evildoers. This is William-Adolphe Bouguereau's "The Remorse of Orestes"(or "Orestes Pursued by the Furies"). He stabbed his mother to death, no wonder those Furies were furious.

16A: Shell's crew member: OARSMAN. I would have penned in OILMAN if there were only 6 BLANKS (48D: Empty spaces). Bravi to those tenacious Irish who stood up against the Shell Crown.

17A: Medicinal concoctions: ELIXIRS

22A: Irregularly worn: EROSE. Would not have got ORNE (10D: Caen's river) without the E from EROSE.

27A: Ms. from Cadiz: SRTA. "Ms"? Why so vague today? "Miss" is too hot to handle? And another Spanish word is DIOS (42D: Deity in Madrid).

28A: Fertilizer ingredient: NITER

35A: Balbo and Calvino: ITALOS. Dimly remember Calvino. Not familiar with Balbo. Probably a gimme to those ITALOphiles.

37A: Deuterium discoverer: UREY (Harold C.). New to me. Got it from the down fills.

39A: Moisten: DAMPEN. Lots of "EN" combination in today's grid.

42A: Thaws out: DEFROSTS

52A: "Six O'Clock" painter John: SLOAN. No, no, the painting is titled "Six O'Clock, Winter".

57A: "The Maltese Falcon" co-star: ASTOR (Mary)

60A: Nuclear cease-fire: TEST BAN

64A: Following a course: ON TRACK. Straying with me! Do you dare?

65A: Feminist Gloria: STEINEM. I always associate her with the "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle" one-liner.

67A: Filaments: THREADS

DOWN:

1D: "The Bartered Bride" composer: SMETANA. Simply too ERUDITE (62A: Learned) a clue for me. Unattainable M intersection with 15A: MEGAERA.

2D: ___ Jaffa, Israel: TEL AVIV And 56A: Israeli statesman Abba: EBAN

3D: ___ Romana: PAX (Roman goddess of peace). The Greek equivalent is "Irene".

13D: Conductor's title: MAESTRO. Or Alan Greenspan's title given by Bob Woodward.

36D: Nerve parts: AXONS. The impulse transmitters.

40D: Eisenhower's boyhood home: ABILENE (KS). Not a familiar place to me. Wikipedia says that the Greyhound Hall of Fame is located there.

41D: Harasses: MOLESTS

63D: Buy the farm: DIE. Is "Buy the farm" a common phrase? I've never heard of it. Maybe it's just an Asian thing, but I really dislike seeing "DIE" clued in such a depressing way. I wouldn't mind if it's clued as the movie title "DIE another Day". There are hundreds of cheerful ways to clue this "Casino cube".

C.C.

Friday July 4, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: INDEPENDENCE DAY (17A: Today)

27A: Today's celebrant: THE UNITED STATES

46A: Today's colors: RED WHITE AND BLUE

61A: Today's song: GOD BLESS AMERICA

Were John Underwood a woman, I would shout "BRAVA" (16A) to him for this great puzzle. Wow, look at those 15-letter theme answers running through the grid, amazing!

Both OBSERVE (45D: Keep an eye on) and TGIF (52D: End-of-the-week cheer) are brilliant answers for today in my opinion. And Shish KEBAB (57A: Food on a stick) is an ideal grilled dish to be served on the 4th of July. Large shrimps, bell pepper cubes & chunks of fresh pineapple on a skewer, hmmm, delicious!

It's also nice to see both MOM (63D: May honoree) and DAD (23A: Father) appear in the same grid, but why DAD is not clued as "June honoree"? I like the way FREEMAN intersects INDEPENDENCE DAY, and BAD IDEA (7D: I wouldn't, if I were you) balances out WE'LL SEE (44D). Very nice.

I hate the clues for OATS (45A: Feedbag contents) due to FEEDS (67A: Flows into) and BIEN (58D: Well in France) because of WE'LL SEE (44D). "Très BIEN" would be parfait!

New words/names to me today: ELISA, ARPEL, BRAVA, ERI TU & RAYE.

ACROSS:

1A: Normandy town: ST. LO. Reagan's (or rather Peggy Noonan's) patriotic masterpiece D-Day "The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" speech popped into my mind earlier this morning: "...These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. These are the heroes who helped end a war..." Look, Pointe du Hoc is so close to ST. LO & Caen.

14A: Dnieper port: KIEV. I've never heard of the Dnieper River before. But KIEV is easily obtainable here.

15A: Gentleman caller: BEAU. I don't get this one. "Caller", what does that mean? (Update later: "Gentleman caller" is "an old-fashioned term for boyfriend").

16A: Soprano's accolade: BRAVA. New to me, I always thought the exclamation "Bravo" applies to both male and female.

20A: Wisdom unit?: PEARL. PEARL of Wisdom. Bernard-Henri Lévy had a very interesting take on "Who killed Daniel PEARL?". Lévy's "J'accuse" sometimes can be very overwhelming.

21A: Queen of Carthage: DIDO. Same clue on June 9 puzzle. Here is DIDO & Youssou N'Dour's Live 8 (2005) "Thank you".

22A: Slack off: EASE. The opposite of yesterday's "MAL dans sa peau" (Ill at EASE) is "BIEN (58D) dans sa peau".

37A: Permission doc.: LIC (License). I was misled into thinking of some doctor rather than document.

42A: Immunoassay diagnostic: ELISA ( Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay). Absolutely no idea. What an intimidating clue! If ELISA is an acronym, why there is no hint in the clue?

50A: Adrien of cosmetics: ARPEL. I am not familiar with this brand or the person at all. Pieced the answer together from down clues.

51A: Greek letters: XIS

69A: Tight positions?: ENDS. I like how this answer ENDS the grid.

DOWN:

3D: Swan's mate of myth: LEDA. Mother of Helen of Troy.

4D: Outstanding: OVERDUE

8D: Made to resemble nappy leather: SUEDED. Did not know that SUEDE can also be a verb.

10D: Actor Morgan: FREEMAN. My favorite FREEMAN movie is "The Shawshank Redemption". What's yours? Oh, I also like his "Million Dollar Baby" and "March of the Penguins".

13D: "Big Mouth" Martha: RAYE. I filled in ROYE as I got BRAVO for 16A. I sure have difficulty remembering her name. Why was she called "Big Mouth" Martha? I want a Big Bertha.

27D: 10th President: TYLER (John). I tend to confuse him with the 12th President Zachary Taylor.

28D: Selassie of Ethiopia: HAILE. Know him due to my love for Bob Marley.

29D: Spanish national hero: EL CID. I like how TYLER, HAILE and EL CID are stacked together.

32D: "Un Ballo in Maschera" aria: ERI TU. No idea. Strung the answer together from across clues. Here is Leo Nucci's ERI TU.

40D: Wildcat: LYNX. Obviously our Minnesota LYNX (WNBA) is not good enough to be clued.

43D: Used a Q-tip: SWABBED

47D: __dixt: IPSE. And another Latin phrase: 19D: Sine qua __(essential things): NONS

59D: LSD, to users: ACID. CNN had a very interesting news segment on the "Magic Mushroom LSD effect" the other day. Sounds very intriguing. Too bad, "Magic Mushroom" is banned in the US.

Happy 17A everyone!

C.C.

Thursday July 3, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Live and Learn (Evan Esar Quip)

17A: Start of a quip: IT'S NEVER TOO

24A: Part 2 of a quip: LATE TO LEARN

37A: Part 3 of quip: AND

46A: Part 4 of quip: IT'S NEVER TOO

57A: End of quip: EARLY EITHER

Sub-theme: Golf

1A: Monroe's successor: ADAMS. Nice looking ADAMS' golf bag. Is anyone playing with their Tom Watson wedge set?

20A: Heads, slangily: NOODLES. Maxfli NOODLE, Long & Soft.

36A: Best of the best: ELITE. Here is a box of Wilson Staff 's True Tour ELITE golf balls. Too much spin on Maxfli ELITE.

25D: Zero in golf: EVEN PAR. What??? Have you ever carded a "zero"? Ridiculous clue.

I did not know that every QUIP themed puzzle has its own specific title until I solved Alan P. Olschwang "Young Adults" QUIP last Sunday. Live and Learn, indeed.

Nothing scintillating about this puzzle. The clues/answers are way TOO (4 TOO's embedded in the grid) ordinary, there is no "extra", if any, flashes of brilliance to make it extraordinary. This constructor really needs to DEVIATE (41D: Go off course) from his annoying QUIP rut and create some quality puzzles for TMS solvers.

ACROSS:

6A: Timex rival: CASIO. And another watch brand is OMEGA (43A: Final Greek letter).

15A: Robbery: HEIST. Gene Hackman's HEIST is pretty good.

33A: Candler or Gray: ASA. And another palindromic word CIVIC (38A: Municipal).

53A: "Great" czar: PETER I (from 1682-1725).

54A: Jazz devotee: HIPSTER. Always thought HIPSTER refers someone who is hip. Had no idea that HIPSTER can also mean a jazz fan.

60A: Mexican Mrs.: SRA (Señora). And her top curve is TILDE (26D: Diacritical mark).

62A: French student: ELEVE. "Nice pupil"!

64A: Play tricks on: TEASE. "...The way you talk, the way you TEASE, right now I think you see, there Ain't Nothing 'Bout You that don't do something for me..."

DOWN:

1D: Nitrogen compound: AMINE. Learned this chemical compound word from doing Xword.

2D: Artoo's last name: DETOO. No idea. Got it from the perps. This is how R2-D2 looks like.

5D: Star-shaped: STELLATE. New word to me. Only know "Stellar".

7D: __ Lingus (Irish airline): AER. And another Irish reference is actor REA (58D: Stephen of "Fear Dot Com"). I've never seen "Fear Dot Com" (FeardotCom). Just saw his Prêt-à-Porter a few days ago.

9D: Some crustaceans: ISOPODS. Another new word to me. Dictionary defines ISOPODS as "Any of numerous crustaceans of the order Isopoda, characterized by a flattened body bearing seven pairs of legs and including the sow bugs and gribbles." How strange! Where can you find 7 in the word ISOPODS? Shouldn't it be HEPTAPOD, like "Four: prefix" TETRA (47D: Colorful tropical fish) in TETRAPOD?

10D: "The Stunt Man" star: O'TOOLE (Peter). I've never seen the movie, have you?

11D: Bara of the silents: THEDA. BARA was clued as Theda of the silents on a TMS puzzle before. Wikipedia says her name is an anagram of "Arab Death". She did not look wild to be Cleopatra, did she? So easy to confuse her with the IT girl CLARA Bow.

12A: Boring tool: AUGER. AUGER in action. I had no idea that this tool is called AUGER, which looks so similar to AUGUR.

13D: Irriatation: THORN

22D: Keanu in "The Matrix": NEO. I really like Keanu's role in "Something's Gotta Give", don't you? Which is your favorite Keanu movie?

32D: Measuring instrument: GAUGE

38D: Four-poster covers: CANOPIES

45D: Peau de __: SOIE (soft silk). Lime Peau de SOIE. SOIE is silk in French, peau is skin. "MAL (27A: __de Mer) dans sa peau" means "ILL as ease" (39D).

46D: "No bid": I PASS

49D: Soup herb: THYME. I never sprinkle THYME in my soup. I do like roasted asparagus with fresh THYME.

50D: One Barrymore: ETHEL. Unknown to me. I only knew DREW Barrymore and LIONEL Barrymore, who was also a very talented painter. I am surprised that this Wikipedia bio did not mention any of his artwork.

C.C.

Wednesday July 2, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Vowel Movement

17A: Gung-ho guy: BALL OF FIRE

26A: Quasimodo, for one: BELL RINGER

36A: "I Spy" co-star: BILL COSBY

50A: Cotton-grower's bane: BOLL WEEVIL

60A: Wall Street upsurge: BULL MARKET

Haven't we done a similar vowel progression themed puzzle before? Let me check....OK, here it is. Hmm, it's not entirely the same. I don't think I like this double-consonant ending B?LL****** rolling. Besides, the answer for the theme entry 36A has only 9 letters while the others all have 10, though the symmetry is still perfectly fine. I think I like Wiseman's better, all of his theme entries have 15 letters running through whole grid.

"Lust" came to my mind immediately after I spot the them, LAST, LEST, LIST, LOST, LUST would make a similar themed puzzle, so would MASS, MESS, MISS, MOSS, MUSS & PACK, PECK, PICK, POCK, Puck. What else can you think of?

It's a very thorny puzzle for me today, too many unknown singers. Had to ask google for help.

ACROSS:

1A: Hawaiian island: LANA'I. Lovely pineapple field in LANA'I (The Pineapple Island).

2A:Minute amt. of time: NSEC (Nanosecond)

14A: Concorde, e.g.: AVION (Plane). And another French word: ECOLE (28A: Nice schools)

16A: Novelist Hoag: TAMI. Unknown to me. One of her novels is titled "The ALIBI (25D: Mystery excuse?) Man".

19A: "Outside the Lines" shower: ESPN. Very misleading show-er, esp if you are not familiar with "Outside the Lines". "Baseball Tonight" shower would be much easier to obtain.

24A: Bonet or Alther: LISA. I know neither of them. Are they very famous?

39A: "La Boheme" heroine: MIMI. Foreign to me. Is it a gimme to you? I only know this MIMI (Tom Cruise's ex). And basso EZIO (63A: Pinza of opera). Always confuse his name with poet EZRA Pound.

42A: Patron saint of Norway: OLAV

43A: "The Zoo Story" dramatist: ALBEE (Edward). He also wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

48A: Egg: pref.: OVI. And 64A: Bone: pref. OSTE

54A: Hair-removal brand name: NEET. It was clued as "Nair competitor" before. And another brand LYSOL (51D: Disinfectant brand).

55A: Violent killer: SLAYER

65A: NH city: KEENE. Unknown to me. I pieced it together from the down clues. The NH in the clue should not be abbreviated.

67A: Brewers' manager Ned: YOST. Hmm, Robin YOUNT yesterday, Ned YOST today, are we expecting Ben SHEETS tomorrow? What's behind this Brewers' promotion?

DOWN:

3D: "Everybody's talking" singer: NILSSON (Harry). I've never heard of his name nor the song. Wikipedia says "Without You" is one of his best-known songs. I always thought Maria Carey was the original singer. "Everybody's been a-talking" is the first line of Robert Plant & Alison Krauss's "Stick with me Baby".

6D: Type of checking: NO FEE

7D: Skiing mishap: SPILL. No idea. Is it Bode Miller style skiing mishap or what?

8D: Cochlea site: EAR. I had no idea what "Cochlea" is. Flyingears only mentioned the three bones last time: INCUS (the Anvil), Malleus (the hammer) and Stapes (Stirrup).

9D: Cereal brand: CHEERIOS. The company (General Mills) is based here in MN. It's one of the major corporate donors to the GOP convention (RNC) this year. We have a bunch of Fortune 500 companies (3M, Best Buy, Cargill, etc) here, so it's much much easier to raise money for the conventions in Mpls/St. Paul than in Denver (DNC).

10D: Hard-as-nail: STERN. I suspect the original clue is "Violinist Isaac" since this constructor seems to have a wide range of music interest.

11D: Layered pasta dish: LASAGNA. Want some? Go to epicurious.com for the recipe.

12D: Indistinct number: UMPTEEN

17D: Mosque tower: MINARET. Alien to me. This is a Mosque with a MINARET.

27D: State's number-2 job: LT. GOV. (Lieutenant Governor)

35D: Bridge support: PYLON. Another unknown. Look at this picture.

37D: "Working for the Weekend" outfit: LOVERBOY. No idea. I am not familiar with the song or the rock band. I thought "Working for the Weekend" was a movie, and the answer was some kind of special clothes.

39D: Tony Soprano, for one: MOBSTER

40D: Place on a pedestal: IDOLIZE

41D: "Brand New Key" singer: MELANIE. No idea. Here is "Brand New Key".

44D: More unpromising: BLEAKER. I kept reading the clue as "More uncompromising".

45D: Honda model: ELEMENT

49D: Supermodel Heidi: KLUM. OK, let's continue this SongFest. This is Heidi KLUM's "Wonderland". What are inside those Tiffany blue boxes?

C.C.

Tuesday July 1, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: AMOR (40A: ___ vincit omnia) (AMOR = LOVE (Tennis 0) = O)

17A: Mediocre distress signal: SO SO SOS

38A: Santa's startled greeting?: OHO HO HO HO

63A: "Rosanna" band's kid: TOTO TOT

10D: Yoko's prohibition: ONO NO NO

42D: Hugs and kisses: OXOXOXO

What an "O"dyssey for me this morning! Felt so stifled and out of breath by those exceeding amount of 3-letter words (24). The extra oxygen (O) did not help much at all.

ARO Rio? Who has heard of it? GYPSUM? No, I did not even understand the clue (34A: Selenite, e.g.). I've seen LASORDA's mug so many times, still could not nail him. Definitely needed "Tommy" in the clue to bring back his name. I do like the baseball references in the puzzle:

49A: Robin of baseball: YOUNT. Another HOFer. Here is his Topps Rookie Card. PSA 8? Looks like a 6 to me.

28A: MLB banned substance: HGH (human growth hormone)

7D: Reds or Rays: TEAM

25D: Noted Dodgers skipper: LASORDA. Remember this scene?

I am also very happy with the answer for 27A: Cork Populace: IRISH. It's so fitting with the O's, since so many Irish people have O in their name: O'Brien, O'Connor, O'Malley, etc. IRA ( 13A: Writer Levin) could be reworded as "Belfast grp" to bring more Irish flavor to the puzzle in my "O"pinion.

By the way, I am a type O, how about you?

ACROSS:

1A: Lively energy: VIM. My instinctive response was PEP.

7A: Hyson or Pekoe: TEA. I've never heard of Hyson TEA. I don't think I want to drink any TEA after so many cups of O (eau) this morning.

10A: Seller's $ equivocation: OBO (Or Best Offer)

19A: Take flight: ABSCOND

22A: Skin pigment: MELANIN. MELAN/MELANO is a prefix meaning "black". "IN" is a noun forming suffix in chemical term. MELANO is clued as "Very dark" on an earlier puzzle.

23A: Anderson of "WKRP": LONI. Learned her name from doing Xword. Not familiar with the TV show.

29A: Venezuelan river: ARO. I've never heard of RIO ARO. ORINOCO was clued "River of Venezuela" on a Feb TMS puzzle.

33A: NRC, once: AEC (Atomic Energy Commission)

34A: Selenite: GYPSUM. So abstract mineralogical terms. GYPSUM is explained as "a widespread colorless, white, or yellowish mineral used in the manufacture of plaster of Paris, various plaster products, and fertilizers." Selenite is "a variety of GYPSUM, found in transparent crystals and foliated masses."

40A: ___ vincit omnia: AMOR. Great intersection with OXOXOXO. Here is Caravaggio's "AMOR Vincit Omnia".

43A: Peter of Peter, Paul and Mary: YARROW. Love their songs. Speaking of Peter, O'Toole (Irish) has got three O's in his name.

48A: California fort: ORD. It escaped my brain. SEA SIDE was clued as "City near Fort Ord" on an April puzzle.

57A: Lack of strictness: LAXNESS. I dislike this monster's loch "NESS" appearing in both the clue and the answer. Ugly.

60A: Induct formally into office: INSTALL

62A: Artificial caves: GROTTOS. Here is a sculpture set in a GROTTO.

64A: Provence city: AIX. Cézanne's "The Card Players" looks stunning in person. He was born in AIX-en-Provence.

DOWN:

1D: City southeast of Fresco: VISALIA. Unfamiliar to me. What is it famous for?

2D: Mesabi Range output: IRON ORE

3D: Of a certain fraternal order: MASONIC

4D: Bind with cord: LASH. Why "Bind with cord"? I thought LASH was just a whip.

6D: Port of Iraq: BASRA. Oil, oil, oil!

8D: Dresden's river: ELBE. An educated guess. I am not familiar with this city Dresden.

11D: Skipjacks: BONITOS. I love miso soup, which has BONITOS as its base. I had no idea that BONITOS are all called "Skipjacks".

30D: German river: RUHR

31D: Melvielle's "Typee" sequel: OMOO

35D: Cellist Ma: YO-YO. This is a wonderful YO-YO Ma interview clip. Both IKE and JFK looked so enchanted and delighted.

36D: Rx place: PHAR (Pharmacy)

40D: Combination: AMALGAM

41D: Blackwater fever: MALARIA

44D: Mexican peninsula: YUCATÁN. Has anyone visited this Chichen Itza Mayan ruins?

45D: Completely surround: ENCLOSE. "Cocoon" would be a more O-y clue.

46D: Awkwardly written: STILTED. New word to me.

61D: Editorial directive: STET

"O Canada..." Happy birthday!

C.C.

Monday June 30, 2008 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Cut the Painter? (If you have a better theme title, please let me know)

20A: Cost of some French art?: DEGAS PRICES (The GAS PRICES)

39A: Dutch/Mexican portraitist?: HALS OF MONTEZUMA (HALLS of MONTEZUMA)

53A: Surrealist in the White House?: DALI MADISON (DOLLY MADISON)

I cannot say I DIG (3D: Beatnik's "Gotcha"!) this puzzle. The INSECT (30D: Bug) is screaming for an "Extreme Makeover" on the clue for FLYPAPER (40D: Hanging insect trap). And I wish AVEC (8D: Opposite of sans) were clued as Picasso's famous "Colombe AVEC Fleurs". We would have got an impressionist (DEGAS), a portraitist (HALS), a surrealist (DALI) and a Cubist's work in the grid.

Otherwise, an OK Monday puzzle, no stumper or obscure word. Some of the clues are pretty refreshing.

ACROSS:

1A: Conspicuous jewelry: BLING. Gimme for those BLING-BLING obsessed rappers I am sure. Their music is just so difficult for me to understand, lots of slangs. What's so amusing about "Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)" anyway? I like how BLING intersects I DIG.

15A: Rod in a hot rod: AXLE. And 18A: Figure-skater's leap: AXEL

17A: Online periodical: EZINE. Slate.com is probably my favorite. Together with NPR, they produce "Day to Day" (a radio newsmagzine).

24A: Majority of V: III. Very creative clue.

33A: ___ you the clever one!: AREN'T

43A: Kissing equipment: LIPS. I have forgotten "What LIPS my LIPS Have Kissed, and where, and why..."

45A: Glasgow's river: CLYDE. Not familiar with this Scotland river. Only know Bonnie's CLYDE.

62A: Felon, to a cop: PERP (Perpetrator). Or "Crossing reference" (Perpendicular cousin) here in this twisted blog.

66A: Wallet fins: FIVES. For those fellow solvers outside US, "fin" is a American slang for a five-dollar bill.

DOWN:

4D: Santa Maria's sister? NINA. And Pinta. Look at this ridiculous NINA Ricci shoe!

5D: Divides evenly by: GOES INTO. I don't understand this one, why?

6D: Puppeteer Lewis: SHARI. I don't know her. Got her name from the perps.

11D: Put forth effort: EXERT. I like how it parallel with FLAIL (12D: Thrash about).

13D: Trustbuster Roosevelt: TEDDY. I had no idea that Trust Buster is also TR's nickname. Which one is correct, "Trust Buster" or "Trustbuster"?

28D: Bedouin, e.g.: ARAB. I did not know who/what was Bedouin. Would have never got it without the crossing references. According to Wikipedia, the Bedouin are a group of nomadic Arabs who live in the desert.

37D: Writer Oz: AMOS. He knows "How to Cure a Fanatic".

38D: Fuzzy rests?: NAPS. Good clue.

57D: Hindu deity: SIVA. Or SHIVA, "The Destroyer"of the Hindu Trinity. I simply forgot. Pieced it together from the across fills. Brahma is "The Creator" and Vishnu is "The Preserver".

C.C.

Sunday June 29, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: YOUNG ADULTS

24A: Start of Cleveland Amory quip: THERE ARE

36A: Part 2 of quip: THREE TERRIBLE AGES

62A: Part 3 of quip: OF CHILDHOOD

68A: Part 4 of quip: ONE TO TEN, TEN

92A: Part 5 of quip: TO TWENTY, AND TWENTY

111A: End of quip: TO THIRTY

Oh dear, 22 QUIP/QUOTE puzzles later, only now do I realize that they all have distinctive theme titles.

Besides CHILDHOOD, there is also a BOYHOOD (87D: Green years). ELDEST (14A: Superlatively senior) is related to the theme as well, though tangentially.

Nothing exciting about this puzzle, or any of Olschwang's QUIP puzzles. Blah, blah, BLAHS (47D: Doldrums). Quite a few entertainment names, some of them are very obscure to me:

84A: Brown with a big band: LES

120A: Old-time actress Ada: REHAN. She died long long time ago (1916), who the heck has heard of her?

1D: Garr of "Tootsie": TERI. Know her. Had no idea that she was nominated for Oscar (Best Supporting Actress, 1982) for her role in "Tootsie" (Jessica Lange won it eventually).

19D: Actress Daly: TYNE. She is in "Judging Amy".

93D: "Bewitched" witch: ENDORA. I forgot. It's clued as "Tabitha's TV grandmother" on a TMS puzzle before. Played by Agnes Moorhead, an unfamiliar name to me also.

95D: Dan of "Peyton Place": DURYEA. Foreign to me. He appeared in many movies, so prolific a career.

97D: Actress Phoebe: CATES. Another new name to me. I've actually watched "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" before, but I can only remember Sean Penn & Jennifer Jason Leigh from the movie. Wikipedia says CATES is also known for her role in "Gremlins". Have you seen it?

109D: Singer Dee: KIKI. No, nope. Here is KIKI Dee's duet with Elton John “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. Just learned this morning that there is a KIKI Cuyler in baseball's HOF.

I hope you enjoyed solving this puzzle. I did not. I did not have a good attitude to begin with. What a yawn-inducing QUIP! With this Wimbledon madness, you would think the editor could clue DEUCE (98A: Low card) as "Tennis tie".

ACROSS:

1A: Ancient Roman garb: TOGAS. The plural form can also be TOGAE.

21A: Windflowers: ANEMONES. Various colors. Dictionary explains the root of ANEMONES as Greek word anemos (wind), "perhaps because the petals are lost easily in wind".

22A: Capital of Niger: NIAMEY. They must have real good pearl millet couscous in the region.

25A: Viennese tongue: GERMAN. Wikipedia says Viennese GERMAN is "the city dialect spoken in Vienna" and "rather different from the Austrian form of Standard German as well as other dialects spoken in Austria". I suppose it's kind of like our Xi'An dialect, which is quite different from Mandarin Chinese.

28A: Salinger title character: ESME. Heroine from Salinger's "For ESME with Love and Squalor".

29A: Big wheel: MAGNATE

30A: Valletta's island: MALTA. I always confuse MALTA with YALTA. Didn't the big Three meet in both places?

47A: Like Mother Hubbard's cupboard: BARE. Or "like Lady Godiva".

54A: "St. ___ Fire": ELMOS . I am not familiar with this film, are you?

55A: November electees: INS. And 74D: Put in office: ELECT. A simple "Officeholders" clue should be just fine for INS.

57A: Converse competition: AVIA. Know AVIA (To fly, in Latin), not familiar with the Converse shoe brand.

58A: Shape up: SNAP TO. New phrase to me. Can you give me an example?

67A: Slayer of the Minotaur: THESEUS. Would not have got it without the perps. You can see this THESEUS Slaying the Minotaur bronze at Louvre. Minotaur is the "half-man, half-bull monster that lived in the Labyrinth".

73A: Type of theater comp. REP (Repertory). I am not familiar with theater stuff at all.

81A: Affix firmly: RIVET. Here is Rosie the RIVETer.

88A: K-12, in education: ELHI (Elementary & High school). I think this is a special American education term, isn't it?

97A: Chili pepper: CAYENNE. Hot!

99A: Atmospheric inhalations: BREATHS. Beautiful Baby's BREATHS.

105A: Eliminate: RULE OUT. And 110A: Was vanquished by: LOST TO. I like prepositions in answers.

115A: Birthplace of Elvis Presley: TUPELO (MS). New to me. I only know he was not born in Memphis.

116A: Loss/damage word: BREAKAGE

119A: Neighbor of Corsica: SARDINIA. I simply forgot. Here is the map again.

DOWN:

2D: Span of a cart: OXEN. Span or Brace is "a pair, usually used in reference to yoked animals pulling something." Learned this from Dennis long time ago.

5D: Hot under the collar: STEAMED And 90D: Suffer in the summer: SWELTER.

7D: Granite State sch.: UNH (University of New Hampshire). The Wildcats. And 96D: Fort Worth sch.: TCU (Texas Christian University). The Horned Frogs.

9D: Nary of Hungary: IMRE. I forgot. It appeared on TMS May 23 puzzle.

15D: Feudal lords: LIEGES

27D: Styron's Turner: NAT. Learned NAT Turner's name from doing Xword, but this is the first time I heard of William Styron, who wrote and won 1967 Pulitzer for "The Confessions of NAT Turner".

29D: Wizardry: MAGIC. Here is MAGIC.

31D: Used a car as a down payment: TRADED IN

41D: Field in Italian: CAMPO. Dictionary shows that it's also "field" in Spanish and Portuguese.

42D: First: pref.: PROTO. As in PROTOTYPE. And a PROTOTYPE TV tryouts (54D): PILOTS.

53D: Manly in Madrid: MACHO. In Madrid only? I thought MACHO is a well accepted English word now.

56D: Pantomime: ACT OUT

63D: Newspaper screamer: HEADLINE

69D: Nicker: NEIGH. I did not know that "nicker" also means "To NEIGH softly". Whinny. And 87A: Ewe's call: BAA

71D: Composition for nine: NONET. Raphael's Apollo and the Muses (9).

73D: Synthetic fabric: RAYON

82D: "Bellefleur" writer: OATES. Is "Bellefleur" the only book Joyce Carol OATES has written? Why keep cluing the same book again and again?

100D: Profligate: ROUE. It's him, Casanova, "the World's Greatest Lover".

106A: Sea bird: ERNE. And 109A: Sea bird: TERN. OK, this is a ERNE (the white-tailed sea eagle). This is a TERN (gull's cousin). Is she suffering from hangover?

108D: Eye part: UVEA. Would not have got the crossing TRAVE (114A: Crossbeam) without UVEA. Here are some crossbeams.

113A: Friday's lead-in?: TGI. The restaurant is part of the Carlson, a privately held company based here in MN. Lots of troubles are going on inside that Carlson house.

C.C.

Saturday June 28, 2008 John Underwood

Themeless:

Voilà, my first Saturday TMS puzzle sans Googling! I absolutely TORE (54D: Drove like crazy) through it. It's so weird, since AS A RULE (62A: Most of the time), I always have difficulty closing the deal on John Underwood's puzzle. Have to thank those wonderful 4-letter Down fills (total 24), which render the long Across words easily obtainable.

I adore the lower right corner. I was just leafing through "Gertrude and Alice" the other day and marveling at Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas' STAMINA (19A: Endurance) during wars (esp. WWI).

Gertrude Stein and her brother Leo invested in paintings from MATISSE (64A: French artist Henri), Picasso, Gauguin, Cézanne and other ELITE (48A: A-list group) painters very earlier on, and they profited nicely after the wars. The execution of her ESTATE (46D: Landed property), however, was a total disaster. Toklas had to shoulder the majority of the BLAME (51A: Hold responsible) I suppose.

Alright, let's go:

ACROSS:

1A: Hold down: OPPRESS

8A: From the top: AFRESH

14A: Trattoria selection: POLENTA. RARELY (10D: Not often) do you find Chinese (esp those who grew up during Chinese Cultural Revolution) enjoy POLENTA or any corn related food.

15A: Like insulated wires: COAXIAL. Do you know that the 1936 Summer Olympics already used COAXIAL cable to transmit TV pictures?

18A: Gangland hitman: TORPEDO. I had no idea that "TORPEDO" is a slang for a hitman. I love TORPEDO sandwiches, don't you?

20A: More strict: STERNER

28A: Dental records: X-RAYS. I like how X-RAYS intersect EXAMINE (22D: Check out).

32A: Larger part of Iberia: SPAIN. "Well, I Never been to SPAIN, but I kinda like the music. Say the ladies are insane there..."

34A: Do the breast stroke: SWIM. Wonderful clue. Here is a great Emerson message for you: "Live in the sunshine, SWIM the sea, drink the wild air."

39A: Be inviting: TEMPT. And 6D: Lure: ENTICE

43A: Hot box: OVEN. And Another hot place is HADES (13D: Netherworld).

47A: Madagascar primate: LEMUR. This LEMUR must be very good at tail-lashing.

53A: Cry like a mourner: ULULATE. Most of the Irish mourning music really have a haunting mystique in them.

56A: Pass to the side: LATERAL. I did not know that "LATERAL" can also be a verb.

61A: Fire opal: GIRASOL. Unknown to me. Got it from the down clues. Italian for "Sunflower". Dictionary says it came from "girare" (to turn), "sol". That's how GIRASOL was morphed into "an opal that reflects light in a bright luminous glow".

63A: Impolite observers: STARERS. And 60D: Lascivious gander: LEER. Both remind me of those OGLING crowd following Natalie Gulbis at US Open. I did not see Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers' QB) though. He used to follow Natalie around.

65A: Paris palace: ÉlYSÉE. I bet Carla Bruni will leave Sarkozy before he leaves Palais de ÉlYSÉE.

DOWN:

2D: Opposite of starboard: PORT (left-handed side of the vessel). Hmm, have some Apple Crisp to go with your PORT wine.

7D: Assassinated Egyptian statesman: SADAT. Who on earth killed SADAT? Only Mubarak knows.

11D: Look on one's face: EXPRESSION

12D: Commune in Tuscany: SIENA. OK, the medicinal herb is SENNA, the reddish-brown is SIENNA, or actress SIENNA Miller (a bit of bikini malfunction there), and Tuscany city is SIENA. So confusing.

30D: "A Bug's Life" cast members: ANTS. Have not seen ANTZ for a while.

49D: Painting on a wall: MURAL. Here is Diego Rivera's infamous "Man at the Crossroads" MURAL.

52D: ___ metabolism: BASAL. One word: EXERCISE, if you want to increase your BASAL Metabolic Rate.

C.C.

Friday June 27, 2008 Michael T. Williams

Theme: Three Doctors

17A: Three doctors: SEUSS CRANE QUINN

41A: Three doctors: ZHIVAGO X DETROIT

65A: Three doctors: DOLITTLE WHO KATZ

3D: Three doctors: HOUSE ZAIUS WELBY

10D: Three doctors: QUINCY NO KILDARE

One letter (J) away from a pangram puzzle.

A hard hammer! I only know SEUSS, ZHIVAGO, DOLITTLE & NO out of those 15 Doctors, so it's definitely an epic battle for me this morning. Lots of wild guesses.

The ARU fill is probably the toughest. I simply have never heard of this Indonesian island group, nor do I know the Muslim woman's gown IZAR or the intersecting Dr. ZAIUS. The CURTIZ & ZOEA crossing Z is another stubbornly unyielding letter to fall.

After filling in GAZES (58A: Fixed looks), I felt very intense and flirtatious, so I succumbed to Google quickly.

ACROSS:

1A: TV screening device: V-CHIP

6A: Luck of the Irish: CESS. "Leprechaun" popped into my mind immediately. I am not familiar with this CESS or the "Bad CESS to somebody" curse. How ironic, since CESS stands for "Success".

10A: Area meas.: SQMI (Square mile)

16A: Part of FAQ: QUES. FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions. The QUES I receive often via emails are: What are "DFs"? What are "Perps"? Both were concocted by Dennis.

20A: Expel: CAST OUT

21A: Goober: PEANUT. Mi Hyun Kim (LPGA's PEANUT) shot 72 at US Open (Edina, MN) yesterday. What a stunning quintuple-bogey WOE (52A: Misfortune) for Michelle Wie on hole #9 (par 4)! Lorena Ochoa definitely lived up to the HYPE (32A: Flamboyant promotion). And Natalie Gulbis, the sexy LPGA calendar girl, HELD (25D: Maintained) her sweet smile so well when facing the shouts and whistlings from those huge male following.

27A: Sharp turn: ZIG

30A: Crustacean's larval stage: ZOEA. It came from Greek zōē ( life).

35A: Routinized: IN A RUT

38A: Part of MLB post-season: ALCS (American League Championship Series). Another baseball reference is HOFer MIKE Schmidt (45A: Ditka or Schmidt).

44A: Indonesian island group: ARU. Wikipedia says ARU Islands are located in the Arafura Sea southwest of New Guinea and north of Australia. Look at this map of Indonesia island.

46A: Quenches: SLAKES

51A: Mil. infor grp.: ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence)

59A: Black Sea port: ODESSA

62A: Desert plant: EPHEDRA. I only knew the Chinese word (麻黃) for the EPHEDRA supplement. Had no idea that the plant grows on desert.

68A: River of Hamburg: ELBE. Our editor likes to clue EGER as "ELBE tributary".

70A: Ancient city on the Nile: MEROE. I simply forgot. This constructor used the same clue for his Feb 19 TMS puzzle. MEROE is "a ruined city in Sudan and the Capital of ancient Ethiopia".

72A: ___ Oreille Lake: PEND. I've never heard of this lake. Wikepedia says it's Lake PEND Oreille, located in the northern Idaho panhandle. The lake drains via the PEND Oreille River.

DOWN:

6D: "Casablanca" director: CURTIZ (Michael). He won Oscar for "Casablanca". Too bad, I've never paid attention to who directed this classic.

9D: Dog of song: SHEP. Which song?

10D: Press flat: SQUASH. This SQUASH soup looks delicious.

19D: Letters in a math proofs: QED

24D: Urgers: COAXERS. Urgers?

28D: Sportscaster Cross: IRV. I've never heard of him before. Is he very well-known?

33D: ___ - dieu: PRIE. Kneeler for praying. Literally"Pray to God" in French.

35D: Muslim woman's gown: IZAR. I thought their gown is called "Burka". Dictionary defines IZAR as "a long, usually white cotton dress that covers the body completely, worn by women of North Africa and the Middle East." OK, so IZAR does not cover the head then.

36D: Racing org. NHRA (National Hot Rod Association)

37D: Wage-slave's letters: TGIF

39D: Town near Caen: ST. LO

42D: Ma Joad, for one: OKIE. I really should read "The Grapes of Wrath".

48D: Nosegays: POSIES

57D: "Loot" dramatist: ORTON (Joe). Absolutely no idea. See here for more information about this satirical playwright.

60D: Toy person: DOLL. Beautiful 1950's hard plastic Ginny DOLL. She is probably worth several hundreds in that condition, with the original box.

C.C.

Thursday June 26, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Quip (Evan Esar)

17A: Start of a quip: GOSSIP

23A: Part 2 of quip: IS LIKE SPINACH IT

40A: Part 3 of quip: All

53A: Part 4 of quip: BOILS DOWN TO VERY

62A: End of quip: LITTLE

I definitely have a Pavlov's Dog reflex towards Olschwang's Quip themed puzzle, so unoriginal, unimaginative and uninspiring. I started yawning immediately after I spotted his name.

I did not complain about ILL (32D: Sickly) clue yesterday ("Feeling peaked") due to the subtle ILL, AIL, ITIS & REHAB sub-theme. But today I am absolutely a volcano ready to explode. There are so many ways to clue ILL: __ at ease; __ -advised; __-wishers; __ -timed; Or simply "___ be back"; "___ be there"; "____ bite"; "____ treat"; or get romantic with "I'LL Be Missing you".

LET SLIP (49D: Divulge accidentally) is actually a great fill for this theme. I only wish it were constructed to intersect GOSSIP somehow.

Can you hear birds chirping/screaming in today's puzzle?

50A: Type of hawk: RED-TAIL. I am not familiar with this hawk. RED-TAILED hawks showed up when I googled. Isn't it strange that birds have all the freedom they have, yet the majority of them stay monogamous?

66A: Whippoorwill's bill: NEB. Here is a sleepy Whippoorwill, a new bird to me.

26D: Marsh bird: SORA. Her yellow-bill is indeed very short.

ACROSS:

1A: Pester: HARASS. This is what MAO (21A: Chairman of China) said about guerrilla war fighting strategies: "The enemy advances, we retreat; The enemy camps, we HARASS; The enemy tires, we attack; The enemy retreats, we pursue.".

11A: Type of Tuna: AHI. Delicious AHI sashimi. AHI is Japanese for "yellowfin tuna".

19A: Word to describe Abner: LI'L. Yawner, yawner! Why not give Rapper "LIL' Kim" a chance to shine? Look at this outrageous outfit she wore during the 1999 MTV award.

22A: "Smooth Operator" singer: SADE. Here is SADE's "Smooth Operator". I am now listening to "Somebody Already Broke My Heart", my favorite from her "Lovers Rock" album.

68A: Turkish inn: IMARET. Absolutely no idea. It originates from the Arabic "imārah" (building).

70A: Probability ration: ODDS. I like "Against All ODDS" (Phil Collins).

71A: Full stop: PERIOD. "During the first PERIOD of a man's life the greatest danger is not to take the risk. When once the risk has really been taken, then the greatest danger is to risk too much." A great quote from Kahlil Gibran for you to twist, Mr. Olschwang.

DOWN:

3D: Notes of scales: RES. Or "thing" in Latin.

4D: Set upon violently: ASSAIL And 43A: Whipped: LASHED

6D: Groups of seven: SEPTETS

7D: Ring king: CHAMP. I don't quite understand this one. Does this refer to boxing?

8D: French channel port: CALAIS. Unfamiliar to me. Wikipedia says "It overlooks the Strait of Dover". Here is a map.

9D: Bing, for one: CROONER. The first thing that came to my mind was "Bing Cherry".

12D: Spyri heroin: HEIDI. I really like Shirley Temple's HEIDI, but I have never paid attention to who the author (Johanna Spyri) was.

24D: Medicinal herb: SENNA. I always confused this SENNA with SIENNA (Reddish-brown) until SIENNA Miller came along.

36D: Reckoning: TALLY. Would not have got it without the across clues. Always associated "Reckoning" with "Day of Reckoning".

41D: Bereft: LORN

51D: Serve a sentence: DO TIME

52D: Small screen idol: TV STAR. FYI, STAR TV, owned by Rupert Murdoch, has a huge presence in Asia.

55D: Metrical feet: IAMBS

C.C.

Wednesday June 25, 2008 Doug Peterson

Theme: Window Covering

17A: Reappearance on stage: CURTAIN CALL

28A: Amateur snapper: SHUTTERBUG

46A: Dead end: BLIND ALLEY

62A: Monitor guardian, of a sort: SCREEN SAVER

And I'LL (40D: Feeling peaked) say that IT IS (18D: Suffix for disease) rather depressing to see AIL (42A: Feel lousy ), REHAB (Post-op program), ILL and ITIS in one grid. The sky feels so GRAY (60D: Like a rainy day). I want "skies of blue... clouds of white...". I want music. Here are the instruments:

1A: Small flutes: FIFES

6A: "Twelfth Night" role: VIOLA. I wonder if the constructor's original clue was "4-stringed musical instrument". Frank VIOLA was the World Series MVP in 1987 (with the Twins of course). He also won Cy Young in 1988.

15A: Blacksmith's block: ANVIL. Percussion instrument.

27D: Rock band equipment: AMPLIFIERS

Very smooth sailing this morning. A few unknown names, but I was able to piece them together from the crossing clues. No real stumper or obscure words to frustrate me.

ACROSS:

14A: Pennsylvania sect: AMISH. They are the same as Mennonites, aren't they?

19A: Tasseled hat: FEZ. Always thought of FEZ as an Arabic word, just learned earlier that it's of Greek origin. "The Ottoman Turks adopted the FEZ from the Greeks".

20A: Indispensable: ESSENTIAL

21A: Slightly ahead: UP ONE. I don't get this one. Why? I am only familiar with ONE UP.

23A: Luau souvenirs: LEIS. And 57D: Hawaii bird: NENE

24A: Fulda tributary: EDER. I got it from the down clues. Had difficulty remembering this Fulda feEDER.

33A: Irish patriot Robert: EMMET. "I hero I lived, a hero I'll die...". Great Irish folksong Bold Robert EMMET.

35A: Hentoff and Hiken: NATS. Know Hentoff. Have no idea who Hiken is.

44A: Funny Jack of Hollywood: OAKIE. Unknown to me. Got it from the crossing clues. Wikepedia says he grew up in OK, hence the nickname. I wanted BENNY.

54A: Hold sway: REIGN. He who originated "Let freedom REIGN".

56A: Removing certain packaging: UNCRATING. And 31D: Release a catch: UNPIN. Is UNCRATING a familiar word to you? I've never used it before.

68A: Honkers: NOSES (68A: Honkers). It would be great if NOSES were clued as "Defeats by a narrow margin" to pair up with UP ONE.

DOWN:

4D: Actress Getty: ESTELLE. No idea. Pieced her name together from the across clues.

6D: Leave no trace: VANISH. "Want to VANISH inside your kiss... Every day I'm loving you more and more. Listen to my heart, can you hear it sings?...". Here is "Come What May" from "Moulin Rouge!".

9D: Dogpatch adjective: LI'L. LI'L Abner. I had no idea that he lived in Dogpatch.

10D: Hints at: ALLUDES TO

11D: Risk it all: GO FOR BROKE

30D: Spiritual way: TAO. Literally "Way" ( 道) in Cantonese. Lao-Tzu wrote "TAO Te Ching". In Mandarin Chinese, TAO is DAO, Lao-Tze is Lao Zi, and "TAO Te Ching" is "DAO De Jing".

34D: "Cheers" star: TED DANSON. Know him. Have never watched "Cheers" before.

45D: Refuse to vote: ABSTAIN. "When you doubt, ABSTAIN".

49D: Sweater-to-be, perhaps: YARN. Perhaps, yes!

58D: Wolfe of whodunits: NERO. Or the evil Roman Emperor (pervert Caligula's nephew). Very interesting, you get "Deplore again cruel Romans" when you anagram "Emperors NERO and Caligula".

C.C.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: It's Just a Fling

17A: Extremely dark: PITCH BLACK

59A: Billy Bob Thornton film: SLING BLADE

10D: Sleep restlessly: TOSS AND TURN

24D: Invite some friends over: THROW A PARTY

And a non-themed vigorous PELT (62A: Animal hide). Look at what centers the grid: PIVOT (38A: Turning point). It conjures up a VIVID (29D: Intense, as color) picture of someone hurling in motion, doesn't it?

I adore this puzzle. I love those scrabbly Z's & X'es. The intersections of PARTY & TRAY (65A: Cafeteria tote), and ADZE & BLADE are just brilliant.

Quite a few new words/names to me today, but I was able to fill in the unknown blanks with the crossing references. Had to google the dog food brand Bil-JAC (4D), as I could not get that expensive letter "J" from the across. MUTANT was clued as "Teenage __ NINJA Turtles" on the May 11 TMS puzzle, and I remember I checked the meaning of NINJA. But I did not fully digest it and assimilate into my brain.

A great Tuesday puzzle.

ACROSS:

1A: Japanese warrior: NINJA. All I could think of is "Samurai". NIN is "Endure", JA is "person". NINJA has a Chinese root. In fact, its Japanese Kanji writings (忍者) are identical to Chinese characters. There is a NBA/MLB player has 忍 tattooed on his arm. I cannot remember his name though.

14A: Trojan War story: ILIAD. And ILLID setting TROY (24A: Ex-QB Aikman). The clue for TROY is flawed here. QB should not be abbreviated. "Ex Cowboys QB" should be OK, or simply "1993 Super Bowl M.V.P.".

21A: __ May Clampett: ELLY. "The Beverly Hillbillies"

22A: Cash-register key: NO SALE

31A: Trademark DOS: UNIX. Developed by the Bell Labs.

43A: Fan mag.: ZINE

49A: Fastener attacher: STAPLER

53A: Union units: LOCALS. Does this refer to the Labor Union?

64A: Tenor Mario: LANZA. Unknown to me. I got his name from the down clues. He died so young (38 years old).

66A: Thwack: SWAT. Wish I were born earlier so I could see "The Sultan of SWAT" PITCH, TOSS, THROW, SLING, and have FLINGS in/off the ballpark.

67A: Surpass others: EXCEL

DOWN:

3D: Silents star Naldi: NITA. Learned her name from doing Xword. I've never seen any of her movies.

5D: Stick fast: ADHERE

9D: Kentucky loc.: FT. KNOX. I got this one easily due to the intersecting SERF (6A: By gone peasant). I dislike the clue though. Doe "loc." stand for location or what?

11D: WWII sub: U-BOAT

12D: Zora ___ Hurston: NEALE. Not familiar with her name. Have heard of "Their Eyes Were Watching God" though.

13D: Co-star in "Dr. Kildare" movies: AYRES. 60D: First name of 13D: LEW. No idea. Wikipedia said he was married to Ginger Rogers for six years. And Jane Wyman fell in love with him during the filming of "Johnny Belinda" and "left her husband Ronald Reagan for him, albeit unsuccessfully".

18D: Explode: BLOW UP. This brings to my mind the SCORIA (Volcanic rock ejecta) and the "Lava/Lois Bomb".

28D: Arcade game name: SEGA. Not familiar with this Nintendo rival. Would have not got it without the adjacent fills.

32D: "My life in Court" writer: NIZER (Louis). No idea. Easily gettable though. Wikepedia says "After the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he authored the foreword to the Warren Commission report that investigated JFK's murder and the conspiracy theories that still surround it." I've read the Warren Commission report, but I don't remember seeing his foreword.

39D: Sack of leaves: TEA BAG. Sack? Really? That coarse? Let me check.... OK, you are right. TEA BAG is explained as "a small porous sack holding enough tea leaves to make an individual serving of tea" by American Heritage Dictionary.

51D: Amtrak's bullet train: ACELA. Not familiar to me. Pieced it together from the across fills. Interesting "Acceleration" word though. China started running first bullet trains in April 2007. Eurostar seat is a bit tight.

54D: Monster of the Mojave: GILA. I only knew GILA River. Have never heard of this GILA Monster lizard.

55D: Judge's seat: BANC. No idea. Only knew BANC is French for "bench".

56D: Wood-shaping tool: ADZE. Gimme. My favorite Scrabble word. This ADZE needs to be sharpened.

C.C.