Friday December 26, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Vowel Progression

17A: Kitchen items: FRYING PANS

26A: Spots for tots: PLAYPENS

37A: Certain hair clips: BOBBY PINS

52A: Legendary coloratura soprano: LILY PONS

61A: Some cartoons: VISUAL PUNS

This reminds of Sallie's "facetious"comment several days ago. It has all the vowels in it and all the vowels are in proper order.

OK, if LILY PONS made the Times' cover, she has to be a legend then. I wanted her name to be LILY POND. But it broke the P_NS theme pattern.

Nice to see VISUAL PUNS in a grid, after our discussion of "Pinkie" several weeks ago.

Was disappointed by the SASHA (54D: Skater Cohen ) clue. You would think "Obama's daughter" is now famous enough to appear in our puzzle. I bet our editor "can't handle the truth", otherwise, he would have clued MEN (8D) as "A Few Good __''. This "Game pieces" clue bores me to pieces now.

Across:

6A: Sgt. Preston's crew: RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). I did not know who Sgt. Preston is. That dog looks very loyal.

16A: Bonn mister: HERR. Frau's husband.

26A: 1996 British Open winner: LEHMAN (Tom). Gimme for me. Pride of Minnesota. He was unstoppable in 1996. Then Tiger burst into the scene and you know what happened after that.

29A: Flash flood: FRESHET. New word to me.

40A: Pear choice: BOSC. I love Hosui (Asian Pear) more. It's crisper and sweeter.

44A: Hops kilns: OASTS. Do you know why there is always a white cone atop those OASTS?

48A: Latin I word: AMO. "I love". How to say "I love you, honey" in Latin?

49A: Jolie movie: GIA. Know the movie, have never seen it.

50A: Irish lass: COLLEEN. Got it this time.

55A: Thin layer: LAMINA. Thought of veneer.

55A: Lake Titicaca location: ANDES. See this map. New lake to me.

65A: Ringlet: CURL

67A: Principal artery: AORTA

70A: Brittany port: BREST. The red dot on the left. I just learned this city name the other day when LAIT was clued as "Milk of BREST" in another puzzle. Kind of DF, isn't it?

Down:

1D: Spanky's pal: ALFALFA. No idea. Have never heard of Our Gang before. Strange name.

2D: Certain writing implements: MARKERS

3D: Subjects for analysts: PSYCHES

9D: On-base mil. stores: PXS (Post Exchange). New abbreviation to me.

13D: Karen of "Little House on the Prairie": GRASSLE. Would not have got her name without across fills.

22D: Dancer Charisse: CYD. Alien to me also. Wow, look at this picture. She looks stunning. She is in "Singin' in the Rain".

24D: "Morning Joe" airer: MSNBC. The only MSNBC program I watch every day is "Hardball". Joe Scarborough appears as a guest from time to time.

27D: City near Santa Barbara: LOMPOC. According to Wikipedia, the name of the city is derived from a Chumash word "Lum Poc" meaning "little lake" or "lagoon". Not a familiar name to me. Here is the map.

30D: Underground Railroad leader: TUBMAN (Harriet). Is there a movie made about her life?

35D: Pathetic start?: SYM. Sympathetic.

38D: Actor Scott: BAIO. He looks familiar. I must have seen him somewhere before. But his name meant nothing to me.

39D: Vincent Lopez theme song: NOLA. See this clip. I just keep forgetting this song title.

49D: Nav. by satellite: GPS (Global Positioning System). Or "Family MD".

58D: Crisp bread: RUSK. See here for more information. It's the same as zwieback (twice-baked bread).

C.C.

Thursday December 25, 2008 Willy A. Wiseman

Theme: A Red and Green Christmas

18A: Eco-vineyards' product?: GREEN WINES (Red Wines. Eco=Green)

20A: Overnight flight to Ireland?: GREEN-EYE (Red-Eye. The Emerald Isle = Green)

33A: Sitcom set in Georgia?: RED ACRES ("Green Acres". Georgia soil = Red)

43A: Rookie emmet?: GREEN ANT (Red Ant. Rookie = Green)

57A: Embarrassed bird?: RED HERON (Green Heron. Embarrased = Red)

61A: Song about a jacket?: RED SLEEVES ("Greensleeves". How is "jacket" connected to Red? Red Jacket? If so, shouldn't jacket be capitalized?)

3D: Big star in canned veggies?: RED GIANT (Green Giant. Big star = Red)

40D: Five-dollar pickerel?: GREENFIN (Redfin. Fin is slang for five-dollar bill. Color of money = Green)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Wow, I've never seen a weekday puzzle with eight theme answers, which are more commonly found in a Sunday 21*21 grid.

I muddled through this puzzle like a mad mouse. I got the theme quickly, but I was utterly confused by some of the theme clues, esp 61A & 40D. Have never heard of the song or the redfin fish. Did not know the meaning of "pickerel" either.

Great puzzle from our editor Wayne Williams (Willy A. Wiseman is an anagram of his real name). I liked the balance of four red colors and 4 green colors. Wish EVE (34D: Night before" were clued as "Night before Christmas, e.g.".

Across:

5A: Wrinkly fruits: UGLIS. Have never seen an UGLI in person.

14A: Royal role for Liz: CLEO. The "Advertising award" is CLIO.

15A: Pearl Harbor's island: OAHU. And UKES (56A: Hawaiian strings).

16A: Mystery story?: ALIBI. Nice clue.

23A: Abnormal wobbling: SHIMMY. Is this SHIMMY "abnormal"?

22A: Resembling: QUASI

32A: Game pieces: MEN. This clue has worn out its welcome.

36A: Comparative phrase: IS TO. I wrote down THAN first.

38A: Larger and deeper fiddle: VIOLA. "Larger and deeper"? Compared to what? Violin?

39A: Some NCOs: SGTS

47A: Cubic meter: STERE

55A: Serving dish: TUREEN. This one looks very fancy.

69A: Burst of energy: SPASM

Down:

2D: "Telephone Line" grp.: ELO. Here is the clip, not a familiar song to me. But when in doubt, fill in ELO.

4D: Battle cry: TO ARMS. Why? I don't get it. Do soldiers really cry "TO ARMS" on battlefield?

7D: Chop __ : SUEY. American Chinese food. I had never heard of it until I arrived in the US.

9D: Big letters in Detroit: UAW. Why are they so adamanet about not cutting the salaries? Sacrifice should be shared.

10D: Superficial proficiency: GLIBNESS

12D: Spain's place: IBERIA. "Portugal's place" too.

23D: Area meas.: SQ MI. Lots of trouble in this area for me.

29D: Rhone tributary: SAONE. No idea. See this map. I am not sure if it's accurate. SAONE is supposed to join Rhone at Lyon.

37D: Female monsters: OGRESSES. Only knew OGRE.

44D: Notes of scales: RES. Sometimes RES is clued as "Legal thing".

48D: Drinks noisily: SLURPS. We Chinese/Japanese SLURP when we eat noodles too.

49D: Resume: TAKE UP. Really? They are not synonymous to me.

49D: Greek stone seat for several: EXEDRA. New word to me. Also spelled as EXHEDRA. Alright, EX is a prefix for "out of", and HEDRA is Greek for "seat".

52D: Golf events: PRO-AMS. Have not seen Mark McGwire for a long time. He used to be very active in those PRO-AMS.

54D: Uno e due: TRE. Italian for three. I think the best clue I've seen for TRE is "It's past due".

59D: Half of MXIV: DVII. Roman 507.

62D: Moon buggy: LEM

C.C.

Wednesday December 24, 2008 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: Play It Safe

20A: Way to lessen risk: HEDGE ONE'S BETS

41A: Ponder pros and cons: WEIGH THE OPTIONS

58A: Put out feelers, maybe: TEST THE WATERS

Did I catch the right theme? I seem to have trouble coming up with an apt title lately. Maybe too much pomegranate green tea?

I don't think the clue for HEDGE ONE'S BETS is accurate. The clue is asking for a noun phrase, while the answer turns out to be a verb phrase.

I had quite a few false starts this morning. Some of the clues are a bit unexpected. I like how NOSE (64A: Poke (around) intersects YENTA (55D: Meddlesome woman). It reminded me of the matchmaker YENTE in "Fiddler on the Roof".

Across:

9A: Felt, for one: CLOTH. Nice clue. "Linen, for one" would probably be too easy.

15A: Ex-QB Aikman: TROY. The guy on the right is Joe Buck, who has a rather distinctive voice.

15A: Scales sign: LIBRA. Interesting traits, Dennis.

19A: Love, French style: AMOUR. Ha, I wrote down AIMER carelessly, thinking "Love" is a verb.

23A: Words to live by: CREDO. ''I believe'' in Latin. "All Things Considered" (NPR) has a "This I Believe" statement segment every Monday.

37A: Spiny tree: ACACIA. Why is it called "Spiny tree"? Wikipedia says some of the most valuable ukuleles and acoustic guitars are made of ACACIA koa wood, like this one used by Taylor Swift. These flowers are so pretty.

44A: Decide with authority: DECREE. I am more familiar with the noun DECREE.

68A: German pistol: LUGER. New name to me. She is a LUGER too.

71A: Fencing equipment: EPEES. Better clue than "Fencing swords", which straightforwardly demands a plural answer. "Fencing gear" is a tricky clue too.

72A: Stat equivalent: ASAP. Probably a gimme for those doctors. But I was thinking of the sports figure "Stat", you know, ERA, RBI, etc.

Down:

3D: Bona fide: AUTHENTIC. I was only familiar with "in good faith" definition of "Bona fide".

4D: Mighty mount: STEED

9D: Paragon: CLASS ACT

21D: Sleepy's pal: DOC. Some of the rejected Seven Dwarfs names sound pretty good. I like Gloomy, Cranky and Silly.

22D: One on the run: ESCAPEE. I wonder why it's not ESCAPER. Oh, no, I don't like this alternate ending for ''The Shawshank Redemption'.

23D: Invade one's space: CROWD. I am not fond this clue.

29D: Revive a lost lesson: RETEACH. I wrote down RELEARN first.

38D: Matrimony prelude: COURTSHIP. Do you like short & intense COURTSHIP or long, gradual buildup one?

40D: Narnia's lion hero: ASLAN. Turkish/Persian word for "lion". I can never remember the name. Liam Neeson voices ASLAN in "The Chronicales of Narnia".

42D: Expectant beneficiaries: HERITORS. I was thinking of HEIR TO BE. At least, 4 letters fit perfectly.

53D: Missouri feeder: OSAGE. Also a type of orange.

59D: Old you: THEE. I was thinking of THOU. Still can't believe that I've never heard of THOU as a slang for "10 C-notes". Where have I been?

60D: Difficulties: WOES. I associate WOES with miseries rather than "Difficulties".

67D: Landscaping shrub: YEW. Now, which part of this YEW is poisonous?

C.C.

Tuesday December 23, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: Hollywood Actor Brothers

20A: Brothers Jeff and Beau: BRIDGES

22A: Brothers John and James: BELUSHI

39A: Brothers River and Joaquin: PHOENIX

56A: Brothers Ben and Casey: AFFLECK

59A: Brothers Alec, William et al.: BALDWIN

25D: Brothers Emilio and Carlos, a.k.a. Charles Sheen: ESTEVEZ

I am a bit confused by the clues. If it's "Brothers Ben and Casey", shouldn't the answer be plural form AFFLECKS?

I had absolutely zero familarity with the name PHOENIX. I watched and enjoyed Coen brother's "The Big Lebowski", but I did not know that Jeff BRIDGES was the guy who played "the Dude".

When you highlight all the six theme answers of this puzzle, the grid looks quite pretty, with ESTEVEZ crossing PHOENIX.

Why is the clue for "ONE L" (36D: S. Turow book) abbreviated? It's the original title of Scott Turow's book. If it were clued as "First year law student" related, then there should be an abbreviation hint.

Did you like the clue for AIMER (54D: Target sighter)? I would prefer a nice and romantic "To Love, in Paris" clue. It's so cold everywhere, hope this hot & sexy "Je t'aime... moi no plus" warm you up.

Across:

1A: Lead balloons: BOMBS

6A: NYC theatrical award: OBIE. No hesitation between TONY and OBIE this morning as I got the intersecting ODDS (6D: Track figures) immediately.

14A: To pieces: APART. Alright then, I love you APART. Hmm, it does not make sense. I guess I love you only "To pieces".

17A: Anatomical networks: RETIA. I only knew the singular form RETE.

24A: Birth-control pioneer: SANGER (Margaret). See here for more information. New name to me also.

28A: Writer Greene: GRAHAM. Knew his name. Have never read his books.

35A: Roman orator: CATO. "The Elder" ("The Censor") or "The Younger"? Wikipedia says The CATO Institute is named after CATO the Younger.

37A: Prince Valiant's wife: ALETA. See this list of all the characters. "Prince Valiant's son" is ARN. Both appeared in our puzzle before.

44A: Cinematographer Nykvist: SVEN. Unknown to me. I do like "The Unbearable Lightness of Being", but I've never paid attention to who the cinematographer is. Wikipedia says he "worked on over 120 films, but is known especially for his work with director Ingmar Bergman". He won 2 Oscars.

50A: Polish coin: GROSZ. No idea. GROSZ is 100th of a ZLOTY, which appeared in our puzzle a few days ago.

61A: Dublin's land: EIRE

63A: "Battlestar Galactica" role: ADAMA. Unknown to me. ADAMA is derived from ancient Greek "adamas" meaning "invincible".

64A: Rugged rock: CRAG. Looks too steep to climb.

Down:

2D: Puccini work: OPERA. "Tosca" doesn't fit. But it has 5-letter too.

3D: Metz morning: MATIN. Beautiful "Chanson de MATIN" clip.

4D: Female Fonda: BRIDGET. Is "Female" a wordplay on her movie "Single White Female"?

8D: Pitcher Hideki: IRABU. Former pitcher to be exact. His card is not worth much. Interesting, I did not know that Yankees fans called him "I rob you". That's a great play on his name I RAB U.

9D: Sportscaster Dick: ENBERG. "Oh My!". I do live under the rock. Have never heard of this guy before.

21D: Writer Segal: ERICH. I can never remember this author's name. How to pronounce ERICH? Like Eric? "Love Story" is so moving.

23D: Dr. Seuss book (with "The"): LORAX. No idea. What does "The LORAX" mean? Another whimisically made-up word?

32D: Newtons' filler: FIGS. Good clue.

39D: Chaplain: PADRE. It's "Military chaplain", isn't it?

43D: Angled fairways: DOGLEGS. OK, this hole doglegs to the left. I bet there are waters on the left so hookers will have trouble finding their balls. Most of my friends are slicers. I wish I knew how to fade/draw.

45D: Singer Mercury: FREDDIE. Foreign to me. I googled his name and found out that he wrote "We Are the Champions". I seem to remember that Josh Groban covered that song also, but I couldn't find it in the YouTube. Anyway, I love, love "You Raise Me Up", so good.

47D: Mammalian epoch: EOCENE. Would not have got it had I not cheated on the crossing GROSZ. Boy, my memory really sucks. We just had this word a week ago.

49D: Mercedes-Benz model: E-CLASS. E stands for "Einspritzung", German for "fuel injection", says Wikipedia. I've never heard of it before.

53D: Bob Hope film, "Call me__": BWANA. Learned this film from doing crossword. Swahili for "our father".

59D: __ noire: BETE. What, a kind of cake also? Doesn't sound appealing, does it? I would try it if it were called BELLA noire.

C.C.

Monday December 22, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Sleigh Ride

17A: New York prison: SING SING

28A: Drake's snack cake: RING DING

46A: Getting a one-base hit: SINGLING

62A: Circus owner Charles: RINGLING

11D: Crazy person: DING-A-LING

35D: Delaying departure: LINGERING

Did I catch the right theme? I was getting dizzy with those *ING words. For a moment, I thought DOING (29D: In the act of) might be the tie-in theme answer. It's located in the very center of the grid. But I could not make much sense of it.

I have never heard of RING DING snack cake before. Thought DING-A-LING refers to male organ when you guys brought "My DING-A-LING" A few days ago. Now it's "Crazy person"?

Was stumped by a few proper names. Had to google. I rather like today's clues: short, succinct and straightfoward. Only wish KENYA (40D: Mau Mau country) were clued as "Obama's ancestral home".

Across:

1A: Daiquiri need: RUM. "Tom and Jerry need" for us during this time of the year.

4A: Yves' evening: SOIR. No hesitation between SOIR (Bon) and NUIT (Bonne) this time due to the intersecting SES (4D: His: Fr.). Also EAU (66A: Agua, to Fifi) and ETRE (68A: French 101 verb).

6A: Painter Modigliani: AMEDEO. His name escaped me completely. I really like this "Girl in Pigtail" painting.

14A: Actress O'Connor: UNA. She is in "The Invisible Man". New to me. Our editor used to clue UNA as "Actress Merkel".

16A: Actress Mercouri: MELINA. I googled her name. Wikipedia says she was nominated for Oscar for the Greek film "Never on Sunday". She looks stunning.

20A: Loudness unit: SONE. 40 decibles. PHON is also "Loudness unit". I forgot the difference between the two.

21A: Willingly, old-style: LIEF. Another archaic "Willingly" is FAIN.

23A: Uneasy feeling: ANGST. A rare consonant-laden short word.

24A: Non-stop: ON AND ON. Did anyone fill in ON A ROLL first?

30A: Mormon ltrs: LDS. Do you think Mitt Romney will run for president again? I think our governor Tim Pawlenty will.

33A: Membrane of grasses: PALEA. See this diagram. I would not have got it without the neighboring fills. I was thinking of PALEO, you know, the paleolithic diet, hunter/gather style: no grain/legume, lots of meat, veggie and fruits.

37A: NYC subway line: IRT. Opened in 1904 already? That's amazing.

43A: Fall garden?: EDEN. This clue is getting stale.

44A: Specialized lingo: ARGOT. I've never used this word in daily conversation. Jargon, yes.

51A: Setting free: UNTYING. One more *ING word.

55A: Part of ROK: KOREA. The current UN Chief Ban Ki-moon is from ROK (South Korea).

57A: "__ Sanctorum": ACTA. Quotaton mark? It has to refer to these books then. ACTA is a plural form of Latin "actus", meaning "official records, as of acts, deeds, proceedings, transactions, or the like".

59A: Half of CXIV: LVII. Roman for 57. Do you know what CCLD is?

60A: Journalist Fallaci: ORIANA. Sigh, another google. I just can't remember this lady's name. She wrote "The Force of Reason".

64A: Presidential also-ran Alf: LANDON. He lost to FDR in 1936.

67A: Heavenly creatures: ANGELS. And MANNA (3D: Heavenly food).

Down:

5D: Lithographer Redon: ODILON. Here is "The Spider". Musée d'Orsay has a nice collecton of his drawings.

6D: Six-out segment: INNING

9D: Hodgepodge: MELANGE

12D: Tolkien's trees: ENTS

13D: Hops kiln: OAST

22D: Michigan city: FLINT. A little trivia for you: FLINT is "the largest city in the United States with a one-syllable name". I did not know that. Also, GM was founded in FLINT in 1908.

25D: Dist. across: DIA (Diameter)

27D: Andes autocrat: INCA. Why "autocrat"?

31D: Bond picture: DR. NO. The first Bond movie.

32D: Let it stand: STET. Oppositeof DELE.

39D: Mine entrance: ADIT

41D: Former Scottish county: ARGYLL. See this map. Why did Scotland abolish all its counties in 1975?

47D: Old instrument plucker: LUTIST. "Old"? How so?

50D: Gettysburg victor: MEADE (George). I got his name after cheating on ORIANA. He looks very tall.

53D: Foch and Simone: NINAS. Here is NINA Simone's "My Baby Just Cares for Me". I was not familiar with actress NINA Foch.

54D: Lively dance: GIGUE. See this clip. I've never heard of this dance before. The GIGUE dance starts at 1:42 I suppose?

55D: Beverage nut: KOLA. Wow, lots of nuts in this pod. How many do you have to chew to get excited?

56D: Algerian port: ORAN. Camus was born here. So was designer Yves Saint-Laurent.

63D: Test for srs.: GRE. GMAT too, isn't it? For those who want to obtain MBA degree.

C.C.

Sunday December 21, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Black to Black

23A: Harry the magician: BLACKSTONE

25A: Drupe: STONE FRUIT

45A: Picnic staple: FRUIT SALAD

49A: Romaine, e.g.: SALAD GREEN

69A: Setting sun phenomenon: GREEN FLASH

72A: Portable torch: FLASHLIGHT

97A: Navigation beacon: LIGHTHOUSE

100A: Do domestic duty: HOUSECLEAN

121A: Tabula rasa: CLEAN SLATE

123A: Dark color: SLATE BLACK

I was not charmed by the theme itself. Felt bored actually. But my goodness, look at those theme entries: all of them are 10-letter long and are symmetrically placed in the grid. Very impressive.

What is your answer for 96D (Sound of hoofbeats)? Right now I have CLOP-CLOP. But shouldn't it be CLIP-CLOP? Am I wrong in the intersecting 105A: Greek letter (RHO)?

I would prefer a simple "Uncooked" for RAW (119A: Cold and wet") as WET is the answer for 28A: Soaked. I also disliked the clue for ANI (122D: Tropical blackbird) as BLACK is part of the theme answers. I wonder why our editor continues to eschew breaking ANI into AN I. "Wheel of Fortune" buy sounds like a perfect clue to me.

Across:

1A: Cornered: AT BAY

6A: Charlie Chan's comment: AH SO. Had no idea why Charlie Chan would utter such a Japanese style exclamation.

10A: __ - wip (dessert topping): REDDI. I've never used this topping. Is it similar to Cool Whip?

19A: Saclike cavity between joints: BURSA. Here is a diagram. It's "purse" or "pouch" in Latin. New word to me.

33A: Bear in Barcelona: OSO

34A: John and Tyne: DALYS. Knew golfer John DALY. He drinks and gambles more than he should. Tyne DALY is a new actress to me.

36A: Kathryn of "Law and Order: CI": ERBE. Sigh! I had to google her again. What a strange name! Why not HERBE?

42A: Noted chair designer: EAMES . Not familiar with Charles EAMES or his wife Ray EAMES. Wikipedia says that "Charles EAMES was greatly influenced by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen". And EERO (43D: Eliel Saarine's son), would later become "a partner and friend".

52A: Clearasil target: ZIT

54A: Japanese P.M. Fukuda: TAKEO. He was the P.M. from Dec 1976 to Dec 1978. His son Yasuo also served as P.M. for Japan in 2007. I knew neither of them.

57A: Begins, slangily: GETS IT ON. Really? Are these totally made-up?

63A: Canvas coating: GESSO. This answer enabled me to make an educated guess on the intersecting IT'S GONE (38D: Roger McGuinn song). I could not find the song on YouTube.

82A: Industrial pollutants: abbr.: PCBS. It's banned in 1975.

87A: Bullfighter: TOREADOR. I can only remember matador.

102A: Center of central Florida?: EPCOT

103A: Web surfers: NETIZENS. Oh dear, I was not aware of this at all. It's a portmanteau of Internet and citizen.

108A: Virgil's shepherdess: DELIA. I simply froze on this clue. Can never remember this girl's name. Anyway, Virgil only mentioned her name in passing in his "Eclogues".

111A: One of Henry VIII's six: PARR. Catherine PARR, Henry VIII's 6th wife.

127A: Chinese province: HONAN. This answer drives me nuts. See this map. There is no HONAN. We call it HENAN (east of my hometown Shaanxi Province). And there is another province called HUNAN where Chairman Mao came from. DENG (13D: __ Xiaoping) was born in Sichuan Province.

129A: French title: COMTE. French for "Count". I love Dumas's "The Count of Monte Cristo". Its French title is "Le COMTE de Monte-Cristo".

133A: Tracker's trail: SPOOR

Down:

1D: Brother's keeper?: ABBOT. Good clue.

2D: Very fine netting: TULLE. It's named after the French city TULLE.

4D: Fancy haberdashery item: ASCOT TIE. That's cranberry color, isn't it?

7D: Night bird: HOOT OWL. I wonder why it's called HOOT OWL. Don't all the owls hoot?

9D: Went too far: OVER DID IT

11D: What I'll do if I'am wrong: EAT MY HAT

12D: British mil. honor: DSO (Distinguished Service Medal). Wikipedia says "The DSO was instituted on 6 September 1886 by Queen Victoria".

14D: Grenoble's river: ISERE. See this map. It flows into the Rhone River.

24D: Actress Kurtz: SWOOSIE. One more new name to me. Great picture. Wikipedia says "She got her unique first name "Swoosie" (which rhymes with Lucy, rather than woozy) from her father. It is derived from the sole surviving example, at the National Museum of the USAF, of the B-17D Flying Fortress airplane, named "The Swoose" or simply "Swoose" - half swan, half goose - which her father piloted during WWII."

45D: Odin's wife: FRIGG. Friday is named after her.

47D: Czar's decree: UKASE. This is the first time I encounter UKASE. I bet not many English words starting with UK*. I can only think of ukulele and Ukraine.

48D: Opposite of an elementary particle: ANTILEPTON. No idea. I don't know what LEPTON is either. I wonder how many solvers can fill in this answer without the adjacent help.

58D: Reggae's cousin: SKA

59D: Letters on a rubber check: NSF. Most of today's 3-letter words are easily obtainable today.

66D: Attached with stickum: GLUED ON

68D: Early TV series, "The __ Family": ALDRICH. Read here for more information. Completely unknown to me.

75D: Old Testament prophet: HOSEA. I wanted MOSES.

76D: Wooden tableware: TREEN. My goodness. How come I've never heard this simple word before?

92D: Come by: ATTAIN

93D: One-time jazz center Greg: OSTERTAG. Another google. This is so strange. I thought #0 or #00 is reserved for mascot.

99D: Brennan and Heckart: EILEENS. Both are actresses. EILEEN Brennan was Paul Newman's lover in "The Sting". EILEEN Heckart won the "Oscar for Best Supporting Actress" for the movie "Butterflies Are Free". I had to rely on the crossing fills. (Note: Sorry about the spelling mistakes earlier.)

101D: R.E.Lee opponent: U.S. Grant

104D: Pakistan ruler (1977-88): ZIA. Absolutely no idea. He doesn't look like a Pakistani. He got the job after overthrowing Ali Bhutto, father of Benazar Bhutto, who was assassinated last December.

107D: City in northwestern Iran: RESHT. Or RASHT. Here is the map. Once again, I got it from across fills. Wikipedia explains that the city is called "Gate of Europe" because RASHT connects Iran to European countries.

113D: Right-hand page: RECTO. Opposite of VERSO (even-numbered page).

125D: NCAA acronym: BCS (Bowl Championship Series).

C.C.

Saturday December 20, 2008 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 70

Noticed how this puzzle differs from the ones offered by Allan E. Parrish and Barry Silk? It has no letter X, Z or Q. There are also no Matthew Higgins style obscure librarian words.

Just a simple, straightforward, pop culture-free puzzle, with no twisted gimmicks. I've seen ELEVEN (2D: Side-by-side ones?) clued as "One by one?" before, so there was no "Aha" for me today either.

After seeing those suffixes like ER, EST, ED and S, I kind of missed the old "Sea Eagle" clue for ERN (5D: Directional suffix). Also, "Serpent tail?" for INE (60D) lost its appeal to me several months ago. Don't you think "Carol ending?" is more fitting for the Christmas season?

I also disliked the clue for DENIABLE (37D: Possible to contradict). Can you come up with a better one?

Across:

1A: Hijiki or sargassum: SEAWEED. Here is the photo. Unknown to me. Easy guess though. I only cook with kelp and wakame. And nori for my rice ball wrapping.

2A: Greek letters: LAMBDAS. Got it from the down clues. This letter and OMICRON often give me trouble. So do those rivers in Europe.

16A: Iridescent: OPALINE. I think "opalescent" is more commonly used. Does anyone collect Fenton milk glass?

22A: Backs of neck: NAPES. I want to see SCRUFFS clued as "Backs of neck" in our puzzle some day. Lots of consonants in that word, not as many as STRENGTHS though.

28A: "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" co-star Garr: TERI. Where is TERI Hatcher's agent? Or he might think Tribune Media puzzle is too small for his client to make an appearance.

31A: Switch attachment?: EROO. Switcheroo. Smackeroo. Are you familiar with the slang Sockeroo?

33A: Insists upon the observance of: STANDS ON. I was only familiar with STANDS ON as in "STANDS ON the shoulders of giants".

38A: Gilded: AUREATE. Five vowels in this word. This is interesting. Have you ever used "Euouae" when playing Scrabble?

45A: French wines: VINS. Kind of boring clue, isn't it?

46A: Iris in heraldry: FLEUR-DE-LIS. Great to see its full name in a puzzle.

51A: Egyptian goddess of fertility: ISIS. OK, here is ISIS feeding her son Horus again. AMON/AMEN/AMUN is the "Egyptian fertility god". I wonder if President Clinton knows the meaning of IS IS.

54A: Open horse-drawn carriages: SHAYS. Here is an old one horse SHAY. Unknown to me.

62A: Country on the Adriatic: ALBANIA. See this map. Tirana is its capital. Lek is its currency. Wikipedia says that ALBANIA means "Land of the Eagle" in native language, hence the double-headed eagles on its flag. They sure don't look like eagles though.

67A: Stable seat: SADDLES

Down:

1D: Deli hangar: SALAMI. These are Cantonese style sausages, which are made of pork and sweet in taste.

2D: Side-by-side ones?: ELEVEN. 11.

3D: Victoria's consort: ALBERT. Easy guess. I did not know who was Queen Victoria's husband. Is that a real photo?

4D: Runs out of energy: WEARIES. I was thinking of WEAR OUT.

7D: Hereditary monarch: DYNAST. I only knew DYNASTY.

8D: Cut off: LOP. And 49D: Cut into: INCISE. Made me think of the Lorena Bobbitt story you guys talked about several days ago. I had never heard of it before.

12D: Spread far and wide: DISPERSE

13D: Foyer: ANTEROOM

24D: Certain musical chord: TRIAD

42D: Ancient empire on the Tigris: ASSYRIA. Wow, Its territory is bigger than I thought.

47D: Arctic boats: UMIAKS. I completely forgot this boat. Those guys look very cold.

48D: Minature train name: LIONEL. Forget about the train, I love "We Are the World". I only recognized LIONEL Richie, Michael Jackson, Kenny Rogers, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springteen. Who is the singer at 2:29?

50D: Summer ermines: STOATS. He is adorable.

C.C.

Friday December 19, 2008 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: Have an AX to Grind

17A: Kenny G, e.g.: SAX PLAYER

24A: Modern message-sender: FAX MACHINE

37A: Like most charitable contributions: TAX DEDUCTIBLE

50A: Corporal of the 4077th: MAX KLINGER

61A: Rhapsodize: WAX POETIC

Hammer fell for me! So many unfamiliar proper names.

Got the theme rather quickly and filled in all the AX'es. But ZLOTYS (45D: Polish cash) intersects ELEAZAR? Impossible for me. Also, the clue for 50A meant nothing to me. I've never watched M*A*S*H.

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

Across:

1A: Garfield for one: CAT. Garfield's pal is ODIE.

4A: Dazzling display: ECLAT. Very close to ECLAIR in spelling.

9A: Egg-shaped: OVATE. And OVA (35A: Eggs).

14A: Mary of "Where Eagles Dare": URE. Another "My Pet Goat" freezing moment for me. I can never remember the name of this actress.

16A: Brett of the gridiron: FAVRE. A rare gimme for me. Lots of Green Bay Packers flags & signs in our neighborhood. Weird to see him in Jets jersey.

19A: Thematic musical piece: FUGUE. This kid probably knows more about Bach's Prelude and FUGUE than I ever could.

23A: Crisp or Chanel: COCO. I think this is the first time that COCO Crisp appears in any nationally syndicated puzzle. He was just traded to the Royals.

29A: Small hill: KNOLL. It reminded me of the Grassy KNOLL & Dealey Plaza. Personally, I think Caroline Kennedy is trying to fulfill her brother's dream when she announced her interest in Hillary's seat. JFK Jr. was seriously contemplating running for the Senate before he died.

31A: Overturned: UPENDED

32A: Begin, for example: ISRAELI. Good clue. Menachem BEGIN. He won Nobel Peace in 1979, together with Anwar Sadat.

41A: Eclipse or Stride: GUM

42A: Tenon holder: MORTISE. Here is the diagram again.

43A: Dartmouth founder Wheelock: ELEAZAR. I googled his name.

46A: T. Garr movie: MR. MOM. I had zero familiarity with this movie.

56A: Fifth of CCCV: LXI. Roman 61. That will be the Super Bowl of 2027.

57A: QB stats: INTS. Interceptions I suppose. All I know about football is TDS.

66A: Salad bar item: BAC~OS. New to me. Is it tasty?

67A: Medicinal plant: SENNA. The "Tuscany city" is SIENA. And the "Earth pigment" is SIENNA. And of course, there is also the actress SIENNA Miller. Also HENNA, "Reddish Dye".

Down:

1D: "Serendipity" star John: CUSACK. I saw the movie. Very silly.

2D: Region of Spain: ARAGON. It's the region where Catherine of ARAGON came from I presume.

3D: Chevron's 2001 merger partner: TEXACO

4D: Emigrant's subject: ESL (English as a Second Language)

5D: Grain husks: CHAFF

6D: Clapton classic: LAYLA. Here is the clip. What does "Unplugged" mean?

8D: Tuesday god: TYR. Norse god of strife. Wikipedia says he is often portrayed as a "one-handed man". New to me.

10D: Slugger Mo: VAUGHN. Gimme for me. His baseball card is not worth anything.

12D: Play about Capote: TRU

18D: Long-winded: PROLIX. New word to me.

22D: American elk: WAPITI

25D: Penalize by fining: MULCT. This word just looks so wrong.

26D: Billy of Rock: IDOL. Wow, I am glad I've never heard of him before.

27D: Actress Campbell: NEVE. I liked her in "Party of Five".

28D: Writer LeShan: EDA. Would not have got her name without the across fills.

30D: Hippie drug: LSD. Did anyone actually try this drug in the 1960's?

37D: City south of Moscow: TULA. Foreign to me. See this map.

38D: NYSE rival: AMEX. Can you believe that Barnard Madoff was once the NASDAQ Chairman?

40D: Wodehouse's Wooster: BERTIE. No idea. See here for more information.

44D: Quite alike: AKIN TO

47D: Lola or Maria: MONTEZ. Lola MONTEZ was a dancer, and Maria MONTEZ was an actress. I knew neither of them.

52D: Gas giant: EXXON. It's merged with Mobil in 1999

53D: Wisconsin college: RIPON. Another new name to me. RIP ON, why would they pick up this name?

58D: Dubya's Florida brother: JEB. Molly Ivins coined "Dubya". Boy, she sure had a biting tongue.

60D: Vert. bars on goods: UPC

61D: London loos: WCS. Needs "briefly" in the clue.

62D: Volga tributary: OKA. I got this river from the across fills. Too many vowel-laden rivers in Europe.

C.C.

Thursday December 18, 2008 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: The More The Merrier

20A: Start of a Mae West witticism: TOO MUCH OF

37A: Part 2 of witticism: A GOOD THING CAN BE

52A: End of the witticism: WONDERFUL

Is "witticism" the same as "quip" or more sophisticated?

Not an inspired or inspiring puzzle to me. Quite boring in fact. With ADEPT crossing ADOPT, and STOOP (34D: Small porch) & SNOOP, ASSN & ASST all in one grid, the puzzle felt very hastily constructed and perfunctorily edited.

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

I am hoping for an interesting puzzle tomorrow. I don't want a hammer though.

Across:

1A: Easy dupes: SAPS. Why "Easy"? Is there any dupe that is hard to deceive? "Dupes" alone is sufficient.

16A: First name in jeans: LEVI. And DENIM (49A: Jeans material). Good pair. I am glad LEVI is not clued biblically ("Son of Jacob/Leah"). However, I wish THOU (35D: 10 c-notes) were clued as "Bible pronoun" or "__ shalt not...". Why? Because I have been living under the rock. Have never heard of a grand being called THOU before.

19A: "The Sea, the Sea" author Murdoch: IRIS. Knew "Author Murdoch". Not familiar with the book, Booker prize winner in 1978.

25A: Outpouring: SPATE

28A: Wall coatings: PLASTERS

33A: Whimper like a child: PULE. New word to me. Dictionary gives an example: "It becometh not such a gallant to whine and PULE. --- Barrow". Who is Barrow?

34A: Moe, Larry or Curly: STOOGE

40A: Bk. after Ezra: NEH. The answer always seems to be NEH when there are 3 blanks.

43A: Surveillance: STAKEOUT

45A: Steps over a fence: STILE. I don't know what's so special about this word. It keeps popping up in our puzzle.

58A: Myopic cartoon character: MAGOO. Have you seen this film?

59A: Hercules' captive: IOLE. New myth figure to me. What a sad read. Jealousy can be so poisonous. I was actually thinking of an animal, you know, those Twelve Labours of Hercules.

60A: Painter Magritte: RENE. The Belgian surrealist famous for "This is Not a Pipe".

61A: Ship's lowest deck: ORLOP. Would not have got this word without the neighboring fills. I have difficulty remembering this deck.

Down:

4D: City near Oakland: SAN MATEO. Quite a few famous people are from this city. I wonder what Barry Bonds is doing now. His #756 ball definitely deserves an ASTERISK (39D: Star-shaped figure").

6D: East on a map: RIGHT. Boy, I felt like an idiot. This answer did not come to me readily at all.

11D: Queen of the gods: HERA. Ah, the jealous wife of Zeus. I guess all women are jealous to some degree, but no one is as vindicative as HERA.

12D: "We try harder" company: AVIS. Nice change from the "Rara AVIS" clue.

13D: __ and shine!: RISE. Which DF meaning is true, #1 or #3?

22D: Trig. function: COSEC. I've never understood this sine & COSEC stuff.

26D: Sound of Washington: PUGET. Is PUGET Sound the most famous sound in America?

32D: Sorenstam or Garbo, e.g.: SWEDE. Ingrid/Ingmar Bergman too, so is Tiger Woods' wife. She is very pretty.

51D: Lowest pinochle card: NINE. No idea. I have "My Pet Goat" moment every time I see a card clue, totally freezing up.

58D: Bygone bird: MOA. It's too huge to be called a bird.

C.C.

Wednesday December 17, 2008 Diane C. Baldwin

Theme: Choice Words

20A: Poker player's alternative: GET IN OR GET OUT

39A: Negotiator's option: TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

53A: A call for action: FISH OR CUT BAIT

This constructor seems to favor three theme answers, with the middle one running through the grid.

Lots of vowels in this puzzle. And quite a few 5-letter words with 3 vowels alone. Felt like I just had a few OREO cookies for breakfast. I think I need more than that to sustain me through the morning.

The clue for ODDS (54D: Track stats) needs to be changed into "Track figures", as "stats" suggests an abbreviation. I would prefer a "Track fence" clue for RAIL (55D: Balustrade), since ODDS parallels RAIL in the grid.

Across:

1A: Plunk down: PLOP. I dislike the letter duplications. "Set down heavily" is fine. Or simply clue PLOP as a noun, like "Stone dropping into water sound", or something like that.

9A: Power for Fulton: STEAM

14A: Tibetan monk: LAMA. Literally "superior one" in Tibetan language. Wikipedia has a different definition, claiming it's similar to Sankrit "Guru", meaning "teacher".

19A: Bow lubricant: ROSIN. Baseball pitchers also use ROSIN for better grip, when their hands are wet or cold.

30A: Removal from office: OUSTING. I did not expect an *ING ending noun.

35A: Render harmless: UNARM. Same clue applies to DISARM I suppose.

38A: Debate side: ANTI. And ANTE (8D: Feed the kitty). They are of different root, so it's acceptable to place the two words in one grid.

44A: Captain Nemo's creator: VERNE (Jules). "Father of Science Fiction". Interesting, Wikipedia says Verne is "the second most translated author of all time, only behind Agatha Christie". I wonder where Shakepeare is placed.

46A: Snappy comeback: RIPOSTE. It's the same as repartee, isn't it?

49A: Yule quaff: EGGNOG. Very seasonable answer. Seasoned too of course, with nutmeg.

67A: Abrasive cloth: EMERY. This lower left corner is very boring, with NICER crossing RARER.

69A: Wild plum: SLOE. "Wild plum"? New to me. I thought SLOE only looks like a plum. I am more used to the "Blackthorn" clue.

69A: Big jerk: YANK. "Big jerk"? Is this about Yankees' Steinbrenner?

Down:

4D: Place for a barbecue: PATIO. Another 3-vowel word.

5D: Number puzzle: SUDOKU. Numbers give me headache.

7D: Percussion instrument: GONG. I wonder if our editor is aware of GONG Li, who has been the most influential Chinese actress in the past two decades.

10D: Rainbow in the water: TROUT

11D: New Yorkers, for instance: EASTERNERS

12D: Rope-a-dope poet: ALI. I was not aware of the origin.

21D: Model Campbell: NAOMI. Hebrew for “pleasant”, not a word to describe NAOMI Campbell though. NAOMI Watts, yes.

25D: Eyeball membrane: RETINA

26D: Treated with malice: SPITED

28D: Digital alternative: ANALOG

29D: Machine gun assault, perhaps: RAKING FIRE. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the across fills. Have never heard of this term before.

36D: Gen. Powell's status: RET. I wonder if Gen. Powell knows that RET is "Soak flax" in our Xword world. His wife is an avid crossword solver.

38D: Hail to Caesar: AVE. Probably not many St. for Caesar to cross during his life time.

40D: Dark meat serving: THIGH. Can you imagine what Dennis would say if the clue were "Breast alternative"?

52D: Dark, heavy wood: EBONY. I just saw "The Piano" last night. Are black piano keys still made of EBONY?

60D: Bard's before: ERE

C.C.

Tuesday December 16, 2008 Doug Peterson

Theme: Pardonable Robberies

20A: Asleep for a while: GRABBING SOME Z'S

38A: Upstaging a star: STEALING THE SHOW

56A: Humbling: TAKING DOWN A PEG

Bernard Madoff and his staggering Ponzi scheme are certainly unpardonable and unforgivable. What this mad, mad, Madoff did was gravity-defying daylight robbery. Amazing, $50 billion, even HSBC was victimized.

Easy solving today. Simple theme, simple fills. I really like the RAMBO clue (25A: Sly character?), very cleverly misleading. But "USA foe" for USSR (32A)? No. Definitely needs "Former" or "Once".

Across:

5A: Biathlon equipment: SKIS. Every time I see this answer, I picture Bode Miller skiing while intoxicated. He is wild, living on edge all the time.

14A: Chanteuse Horne: LENA. Why "Chanteuse"? Edith Piaf is a chanteuse.

17A: Big golf tournament: OPEN. And IRWIN (40D: Golfer Hale): Hale IRWIN is a three - time US OPEN champion. He designed the Jewel Golf Course here in MN.

19A: WWII landing site: ANZIO. See it? It's to the south of Rome. So many Italian names end in letter A, O or I.

28A: Vacation option: RESORT

44A: NASA affirmatives: A-OKS. What is "NASA negatives then"? NO GOES?

47A: "Mack the Knife" singer: DARIN. Here is the clip. I've never understood what the song is about.

52A: "Bewitched" role: ENDORA. One again, I had to rely on the surrounds to get her name. I know, I should eat worms. But worms are frozen here. Too cold.

60A: Like candles: WAXEN. Madame Tussauds' figures are WAXEN too.

61A: Quattro maker: AUDI. Very clever name change. AUDI sure sounds catchier than Horch.

62A: Goneril's royal pop: LEAR. King LEAR's other two daughters are Cordelia and Regan.

65A: First name in whodunits: ERLE. And his contemporary NGAIO (51D: Marsh of mysteries), whose name I forgot completely. Last time our editor clued MARSH as "Ngaio of mysteries".

Down:

1D: Laceless shoes: CLOGS. No "Drain problem" today.

4D: Down under capital: CANBERRA. If Roger Elbert is correct, why the movie "Austrialia" then?

6D: Zen riddle: KOAN. This is another difficult word for me to remember.

9D: Annual Calgary event: STAMPEDE. New event to me. STAMPEDE always brings to mind those dangerous Hajj scenes.

11D: Heckle: RAZZ. Remember the "Bronx cheer" we discussed a while ago?

12D: Goddess of discord: ERIS. Discordia in Roman. She and her golden apple indirectly sparked the Trojan War.

22D: Woman with a book club: OPRAH

27D: 1977 George Burns film: OH, GOD. Easy guess. Have never heard of this movie. Looks interesting.

29D: Cuatro doubled: OCHO. Italian eight is OTTO.

33D: Town near Caen: ST. LO

36D: Sicilian rumbler: ETNA. When did it last rumble?

41D: Shod for the beach: SANDALED

48D: Spool back: REWIND

59D: Comic strip canine: ODIE. The "Garfield's dog. O?IE seems to be a very popular crossword pattern, with three vowels. I can think of OBIE (Theater Award), OPIE (Mayberry kid) and OKIE (Dust Bowl migrant). What else?

C.C.

Monday December 15, 2008 Josiah Breward

Theme: Put Pen to Paper

17A: Guarantee against failure: UNDERWRITE

41A: Lacking detail: SKETCHY

62A: Epistolary afterthought: POSTSCRIPT

11D: Pulp paper: NEWSPRINT

36D: Self-propelled railroad car: DOODLEBUG

I've never heard of DOODLEBUG. What a strange name. Good theme, all of above highlighted green-letter words are in verb form.

And a feminine sub-theme:

19A: Org. founded in 1855: YWCA. YMCA is founded in 1844.

69A: Org. of Ochoa and Creamer: LPGA. It's founded in 1950. Great clue. Both Ochoa and Creamer are the backbones of LPGA now. Annika Sorenstam officially called it a quit yesterday in Dubai.

52A: Feminist grp: NOW (National Organization for Women). It's founded in 1966.

Also a Jewish sub-theme:

48A: Passover meals: SEDERS. Funny "20 Things to do with Matzoh".

66A: Hebrew month: ELUL. Last month of Jewish calendar. Did you write down ADAR first?

67A: Jehovah: ELOHIM. No idea. Dictionary defines ELOHIM as "a name for God in the Hebrew Scriptures".

47D: Mystical teachings: var.: KABALA. Madonna, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher all practice CABALA. I think Britney Spears was into it for sometime too.

I wish LEIA (16A: Han Solo's love) were clued as "Han's love" or "Luke's sister" as SOLO was the answer to 59D: Recital piece.

Very choppy solving today. Was stumped by a few proper names. Had to cheat.

Across:

1A: 911 respondent: EMS. EMT is "911 respondent" too.

4A: Ancient Syrian city: ALEPPO. I forgot. It appeared on a TMS Sunday puzzle before. Here is the map. I really don't like the clue "Ancient", even though ALEPPO has been in existence since 1100 B.C. "Ancient" always makes me think that city does not exist any more.

10A: Sicilian resort: ENNA. The "Sicilian volcano" is ETNA.

20A: Baja beach: PLAYA. Spanish for "beach".

21A: Antarctic body: ROSS SEA. Unknown to me. See the map. Strange to look at the world from another angle, isn't it?

37A: Flockhard of "Ally McBeal": CALISTA. They are a great couple.

40A: "The Bronx __": ZOO. Is this the short-lived TV series or the book about Yankees? Both are obscure to me. There are so many other ways to clue ZOO.

44A: Agony: TORTURE. I like Proust's quote "Love is reciprocal TORTURE". He also said "We become moral when we are unhappy". True?

46A: Part of a screwdriver: VODKA. Ah, I love, love this clue. Bloody Mary has VODKA as ingredient too. Virgin Mary does not.

50A: Stick it out: LAST. I misinterpreted the clue as "Stick out", so I had trouble getting LAST. I kept thinking JUT.

53A: Equestrian game: POLO

70A: Mammalian epoch: EOCENE. Would not have got this word without the down entries. EO is a prefix meaning "“primeval' or "early".

Down:

1D: Break out: ERUPT

4D: Gillette blade: ATRA. I wonder why the brand is named ATRA instead of ASTRA. ATRA does not make any sense to me.

5D: Hoad of tennis: LEW. Did not know this Australian tennis player.

7D: Air pressure meas.: PSI (Pounds per Square Inch). I was more familiar with the "Tire pressure meas." See, our editor does not like partial fill, otherwise, he could have also clued PSI as "P.S. I Love You". Such a sweet movie.

8D: Czech physicist Beckmann: PETR. I googled his name. He wrote "The History of PI".

10D: Palais du president: ELYSEE. They live in the Palais de l'Élysée.

22D: Off-course wanderer: STRAYER. STRAY can also be "Off-course wanderer", right?

24D: Military hat: SHAKO. Why is this hat so hard for me to commit to memory?

25D: Well workers: OILERS. Hockey fans probably prefer the the Edmonton OILERS clue.

26D: Composer Benjamin: BRITTEN. Another google. He is a British composer. Is BRITTEN pronounced like Briton?

29D: Rapture: ECSTASY. I wish ECSTASY intersects the clue "Agony" rather than the answer TORTURE.

30D: Former Lisbon coin: ESCUDO. No idea. Wikipedia says it was also a money unit in Spain and its colonies before Euro was ushered in.

34D: Black Sea arm: AZOV. Here is the map. I've never heard of it before.

38D: Hurled: THREW

54D: Small antelope: ORIBI. Her face looks so thin. New antelope to me. I could only think of ELAND, which is huge. I can't believe those horns are hollow.

56D: Scheduled next: ON TAP. ON DECK is "Scheduled next" too.

57D: Belgian singer/songwriter: BREL. This reminds me of a friend. He loves Jacques BREL.

58D: Cry out in pain: YELP. Dogs YELP. Do people YELP also?

C.C.