Sunday November 16, 2008 Michael T. Wiliams

Theme: Watch the Finish

23A: Thrilla in Manila, e.g.: BOXING MATCH

34A: Fielding feat: DIVING CATCH

46A: Extra door security: SAFETY LATCH

67A: Magician's secret: ESCAPE HATCH

81A: Blooming plot: FLOWER PATCH

109A: How the best cakes are made: FROM SCRATCH

114A: Chocolate chip collective: COOKIE BATCH

FLOWER, COOKIE and "How the best cakes are made", so sweet!

The constructor used up every *ATCH phrase for his theme entries. *Watch does not rhyme, and he put it in his theme title. Very clever. It would be perfect if he squeezed in NATCH somewhere.

I think I mentioned this before: When there is an odd number of theme entries, the middle one must be structured in the very heart of the puzzle, and it must have an odd number of letters. See today's ESCAPE HATCH. The symmetry of the grid demands so.

I had a very smooth solving today. Caught the theme very early on and was able to fill in all the finishing letters of the theme answers.

I love the FISH clue (81D: Catch some rays?). I was thinking of BASK since TAN & SUN did not fit. It finally dawned on me that "rays" are fish, not sunshine.

Across:

1A: Melonlike tropical fruit: PAPAYA. Yes, PAPAYA does look like melon, the taste is totally different though.

11A: Rhythmic swing: LILT. And YODELS (47D: Alpine songs).

20A: Lomond or Ness, for example: LOCH. I would not have got CCCP (9D: Cyrillic USSR) without LOCH. Somehow I can never remember CCCP. Someone mentioned "Charlie's Cold Chicken Pie" as a mnemonic last time.

21A: Member of a stand: TREE. I don't understand this one, why?

26A: S. American nation: ECUA. Its capital is Quito.

27A: Work-shoe protection: TOECAP. New to me. So TOECAP protects the shoe, not your toe?

30A: Sally Field movie: NORMA RAE. Good to see its full name.

40A: Ophelia's brother: LAERTES. I googled his name. He killed Hamlet with a poisoned blade.

43A: Layer beneath membrane: ECTOPLASM. Opps: ENDOPLASM. New to me.

57A: U.K. ref. set: OED. It has 20 volumes. Amazing. But who reads it?

58A: Dundee of boxing: ANGELO. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says he worked with ALI (112A: The Greatest) for many years. What is "a bucket guy"?

63A: Japanese vegetables: UDOS. Have you had UDOS before? I might have had it in some miso soup before. Could not remember their flavor.

78A: Membrane of grasses: PALEA. Plural is PALEAE. See this diagram. New word to me.

79A: Hale-Bopp or Kohoutek: COMET. I guessed.

90A: Doofus: SCHMO

91A: Deejay's gimmick: AUTOCUE. I don't understand this one. Why does Deejay needs AUTOCUE?

103A: Guide to Valhalla: VALKYRIE. No idea. It's "any of the beautiful maidens attendant upon Odin who bring the souls of slain warriors chosen by Odin or Tyr to Valhalla and there wait upon them". Kind of like Muslim Houri, isn't it?

105A: Travel channel?: LANE

106A: Unaspirated, like B or D: LENIS. This is also a new word to me.

107A: "___ Howser, M. D.": DOOGIE. I googled, then I realized that I had searched for this TV series before.

109A: Indigo dye: ANIL. What exactly is ANIL?

117A: Jewish month: ADAR. I bet this has become a gimme for all the TMS puzzle solvers. It's always ADAR if the clue is "Jewish month" (4 letters).

119A: Dar es__ Tanzania: SALAAM. Ha, I forgot this city again. Searched this name before. Literally, "abode of Peace". The largest city in Tanzania.

123A: Govt. issued securities: T-BILLS

Down:

1D: Dangerous insulation mtl.: PCB. I obtained this word from across fills.

2D: Orinoco tributary: ARO. It's clued as "Venezuelan river" last time. If you find a map, please share with us. This Rio Orinoco is the only thing I got.

14D: Riot queller: TEAR GAS

15D: Roman autocrat: CEASAR. He said "Veni, vidi, vici" & "Et tu, Brute?".

18D: Moors: HEATHS

28D: Flintonstones' pet: DINO

44D: :S: in music: PRESA. No idea. I don't understand the clue neither, waiting for Kittyb's explanation.

49D: Aussie rockers: AC/DC. OK, here is their "You Shook Me All Night Long".

52D: Well-plumed bird: EGRET

60D: "__ Cane": MONDO. I saw it before, very strange film.

65D: School for Sartre: ECOLE. "School for Simone" too of course. What a beautiful relationship between Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre! True love does not mean that you have to own each other physically.

68D: Hammerin' Hank: AARON. He has 755 home runs, the true home run king!

80D: Battery brand: EVEREADY. I've never heard of EVEREADY before. It does not exist any more, right?

84D: God of thunder: THOR. He always carries a hammer. Thursday is named after him.

85D: 951: CMLI

88D: Part of NRC: NUCLEAR. NRC is Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

89D: Fictional sleuths: TECS. Our editor likes to clue it as "Gumshoes".

92D: Muse of astrology: URANIA. Here is a picture. She usually holds a globe on her left hand.

93D: Pick-me-ups: TONICS

94D: Denver concoction: OMELET. Denver OMELET, looks delicious!

101D: Handlelike parts: ANSAE. Singular form is ANSA, often clued as "Latin handle".

115D: "__ Pinafore": H.M.S. Not familiar with this comic opera.

C.C.

Saturday November 15, 2008 Matthew Higgins

Theme: None

Total block: 27

Ah, only if I had a hammer! I wound pound SORRIEST (16A: Superlatively wretched), REDDEST (40D: Most embarrassed), SNAPPINESS (25A: Brisk quality) and MADNESS (37D: Lunacy) out of this grid.

Did you count the ER's are in this puzzle? Dizzying! Not to mention RE, ED, S'es.

I cannot even find one sparkling clue, can you? I know I keep complaining about Alan P. Olschwang's Quip/Quote puzzles, but there have never been an excess of annoying affixes in any of his work.

Across:

1A: Puget Sound port: TACOMA. Bing Crosby was born here. TACOMA is from "Tocobet", Indian name for Mount Rainier.

18A: Psychosomatic crucifixion wounds: STIGMATA. I had no idea that the plural form of stigma is STIGMATA.

19A: Founds: CONSTITUTES. New definition to me.

23A: Lesser Sundas island: TIMOR. See this map. I only know East TIMOR. I also forgot where "Lesser Sundas island" is.

28A: Highland dance: REEL. Or "Virginia dance".

29A: Orthodox Jewish schools: YESHIVAS. Was this a gimme to you? It's a new word to me.

32A: Distinct mus. tones: STAC (Staccato). Is this a common abbrevation? How do you shorten "Legato" then? "Leg"?

37A: Pillager: MARAUDER. I just learned "maraud" a few days ago.

42A: Chemical sedimentary rock: TRAVERTINE. Another new word. Dictionary says these rocks exist extensivly in Italian city Tivoli, hence the name TRAVERTINE, which is "a form of limestone deposited by springs, esp. hot springs, used in Italy for building."

45A: Land of the dead: HADES. Or the underworld god himself. Brother of Zeus and Poseidon. Husband of Persephone.

46A: Part of PST: STD. PST is Pacific Standard Time.

47A: Cyclades island: KEA. See this map. I don't know how Mr. Higgins found this obscure island. Why not Mauna ____?

48A: Examined again: REINSPECTED

51A: Barbeau of "The Fog": ADRIENNE. Wow, gorgeous photo. Are those real?

53A: No difference: ALL ONE. You would not believe it, but I really did not know that ALL ONE is the same as "No difference". "All the same", yes. Also ONE (22A: Undivided). I don't like seeing two ONE's in one grid.

55A: Misses narrowly: SKIRTS. Are you OK with "Misses" in the clue?

57A: Group of seven: SEPTET. Or HEPTAD.

Down:

1D: Pot cover: TEA COSY. Nice strawberry TEA COSY.

2D: WWI battle site: ARGONNE. See ARGONNE Forest? Not a familiar name to me.

3D: Parts of eyes: CORNEAS

6D: Extra something: ADDITIVE

7D: Takes on: ASSUMES

8D: Nocturnal arboreal African primates: POTTOS. No idea. His eyes look like glasses.

9D: People who snoop: PRIERS

12D: More sordid: SEAMIER. Mine was SEEDIER.

26DL Seven Wonders lighthouse: PHAROS. See this drawing of 1909.

33D: Infringement: TRESPASS

36D: Ancient fertility goddess: ASTARTE. I forgot. It appeared in our puzzle before. "God of fertility" is BAAL.

42D: From that location: THENCE. I only knew whence.

43D: Fassbinder or Rilke: RAINER. A gimme for Melissa I am sure. She mentioned Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" sometimes ago. I've never heard of RAINER Fassbinder. He was a German film director.

49D: Actress Sommer: ELKE. I googled her name. Great picture.

50D: Football infraction: CLIP. Not a football fan. What is a CLIP?

C.C.