Saturday January 24, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: None

Total blocks: 31

Total words: 70

Do you know the shortcut to calculate the total words? You add the number of upper-left corners (the numbered squares that form the starts of two entries), and then add that to the grid's highest number. So, in today's grid, the number of those upper-left corners is 7: BRIGADES/BLACKLIST, RIBALD/RESPECTERS, WEBER/WOODSHED, RSO/RATIONALES, SAUK/SOLAN, CGI/CEDER and CMDR/COOGAN. And the grid's highest number is 63 (Across). Therefore, the total word count is 70. Learned this trick from Patrick Berry.

I struggled with this puzzle. Felt like a snowflake falling into Hades. So many abbreviations. I would prefer "Gesture of obeisance" over "Gesture of respect" for CURTSY (19A), as RESPECTERS (9D: Those showing deferential esteem) is an answer in the grid. But is RESPECTER even a word?

I think I've had enough Josiah Breward/Willy A Wiseman (aka Wayne Williams, our editor) puzzles.

Across:

1A: Military units: BRIGADES. So their commanders are called Brigadier Generals, I presume?

17A: Suffered anguish: AGONIZED. And ATE CROW (33A: Suffered humiliation). One painful puzzle.

23A: Beer buys: KEGS. I wrote down ALES, which are not really beer, right? I've never had ale before.

24A: Unit of magnetic flux: WEBER. Named after German physicist Wilhelm Eduard WEBER, a total stranger to me. I was thinking of TESLA, which is surprisingly related to WEBER. It equals to one WEBER per square meter.

25A: Sides of a cube: SIX. OK, a cube does have SIX sides. Why did I think it should have eight sides?

27A: Brit. quartermaster: RSO. Regimental Signals Officer? Not sure of this answer. (Addendum: RSO stands for Regimental Supply Officer).

29A: B.C. fuzz: RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police). I did not know that "fuzz" is slang for cop.

32A: Letters on a GI's letter: APO

37A: Like peekaboo fashions: SLITTED. Like this ?

39A: Source of hyoscyamine: HENBANE. No idea. Maybe hens know. Dictionary says HENBANE is of the nightshade family, having sticky, hairy fetid foliage and greenish-yellow flowers, and possessing narcotic and poisonous properties esp. destructive to domestic fowls." This word 'hyoscyamine" does sound very toxic.

40A: Computer mavens: TECHIES. I was shocked to see Microsoft/Intel laying off such a high percentage of their employees, very spooky.

43A: Hebrew letter: YODH. No idea. It's the 10th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. I only know the first letter Aleph. The first letter of Arabic alphabet is Alif.

44A: Pub. submissions: MSS (Manuscripts)

45A: Karachi's nat.: PAK. Have never seen Pakistan abbreviated this way before. She is my favorite PAK, a young LPGA Hall of Famer. Her name is acturally (Se Ri) PARK, a very common Korean surname meaning "simple". Baseball fans probably know Chan Ho PARK, a new Philly.

46A: PC pic: CGI. Computer-Generated Imagery? I got this from the down fills.

53A: Singer Gibb: ANDY. Here is his "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything". Not a familiar ANDY to me. I like him.

54A: "The Kid" star Jackie: COOGAN. I googled this kid. He looks intelligent.

58A: Canonical hour: COMPLINE. Stumper. It's "the last of the seven canonical hours, or the service for it, originally occurring after the evening meal but now usually following immediately upon vespers."

Down:

1D: Exclude: BLACKLIST. Ostracize has 9-letter as well.

2D: Household novel: ROGUE MALE. Here is the book cover. I've never heard of the book or the author. I thought "Household" is just a "household", and ROMANCE does not fit.

3D: Like noncarbon-based compounds: INORGANIC. I found the best organic whole cashew (raw) in a SuperTarget store a couple of months ago. So sweet and fresh. Much better than the Trader Joe's ones.

7D: Suffix in linguistics: EME. As in morpheme. I misread the clue as "Suffix in language", so my answer was ESE.

8D: Grasslike plant: SEDGE. I can never commit this swamp SEDGE into my memory. I think my brain is full.

13D: The king of France: LE ROI. Louis XIV is called LE ROI Soleil. Why would he want to dress that way?

14D: Start of a rehab program: DETOX. "Start"? I thought the whole process is called DETOX.

27D: Fundamental grounds: RATIONALES. I was thinking of PRINCIPALS (I always confuse principal with principle), which also has 10 letters.

28D: Haste: SPEEDINESS. They are not the same to me. Haste has a negative understone.

30D:Dangerous insulation mtl.: PCB. Learned from doing Xword. I don't know why they are "Dangerous".

34D: Out of control: RAMPAGING. Reminds me of those RAMPAGING looters in Baghdad after the invasion. I wonder how many valuable piceces are missing from their National Museum.

35D: All in all: ON BALANCE

36D: About to swoon: WEAK-KNEED. When? When you see this?

47D: Gannet goose: SOLAN. SOLAN goose, yes, but not "Gannet goose".

50D: Spandex brand: LYCRA. I wonder why DuPont named it LYCRA. It's not a Greek/Roman/Egyptian goddess or anything, right?

54D: Letters for Spock or Riker: CMDR (Commander). Not a familiar abbreviation to me.

55D: Eye defect: suff.: OPIA. As in myopia. New suffix to me also.

C.C.

Friday January 23, 2009 Willy A. Wiseman

Theme: Heady Stuff

20A: Calming look?: TRANQUIL EYES (Tranquilize)

39A: Organs purchased on the sly?: BLACKMARKET EARS (Blackmarketeers)

55A: Kenny Loggins' rhinoplasty?: SOMEBODY NOSE (Somebody Knows)

"Blackmarketeer" is a new verb to me. I also have never heard of the song "Somebody Knows", so the PUN (63D: Play on words") for SOMEBODY NOSE did not come to me readily.

I was going to complain that EYES and EARS are plural while NOSE is singular, then it dawned on me that I only have one NOSE on my face.

Very bad clue for LUG (61D: Earlike part), as EARS are part of the theme entries. A simple "Pull/Drag" would be just fine. Is the brown colored section LUG? I have never heard of it before.

Across:

15A: Samoan port: APIA

19A: Toss about, as ideas: BANDY. Learned this word a couple of months ago.

23A: Taiwan currency: YUAN. I thought it's called 台幣 (Taiwan dollar) there. YUAN is the currency in Mainland China. Literally, "round".

24A: Florida raptor: OSPREY. Ah, the fish hawk.

28A: Boxer's stats: KOS (Knockouts)

38A: Small barracuda: SPET. New fish to me. I did not know the meaning of "barracuda" either. Looks menacing.

40A: Slick: OILY. I though of WILY first.

44A: Chemical suffix: INE. Could be ANE and ENE too. Williams likes to clue INE as "Serpent ending".

45A: Beethoven dedicatee: ELISE. "Fur ELISE".

46A: PAT value: ONE. No idea. Why? What is PAT?

47A: Perk up: ANIMATE. Intransitive?

50A: Silver or Leibman: RON. Learned RON Silver's name from doing Xword. Have never heard of RON Leibman. He looks familiar. I must have seen him somewhere before.

51A: Noble Italian family: MEDICI. Absolutely no idea. I only know ESTE (of Ferrara). Wikipedia says the MEDICI family were "a powerful and influential Florentine family from the 13th to 17th century. The family produced three popes (Leo X, Clement VII and Leo XI)."

53A: Chinese secret society: TONG. Not true. "Chinatown's secret society", yes.

64A: Actress Washbourne: MONA. Alien to me. The only MONA I know is her (or she?). Wikipedia says MONA Washbourne played Higgins' housekeeper Mrs. Pearce in "My Fair Lady" (1964). Oh, I forgot. I also know MONA Charen, the Neocon columnist.

67A: Any part of EAP: INIT. It took me a while to realize EAP is Edgar Allen Poe.

69A: Tierney and Tunney: GENES. Is GENE Tunney very famous? I've never heard of him.

Down:

2D: Professional golfers' circuit: TOUR. Meet Ryo Ishikawa, the sensational Japanese golfer, the youngest ever (born in 1991) to reach the top 100 of the Official World Golf Rankings. He was invited to play at 2009 Masters.

4D: Wet out: RAINY. "Wet out"? Isn't it a verbal phrase? "Wet" is enough for me.

5D: New Guinea language: PAPUAN

6D: Man-Lion figure: SPHINX. How an Egyptian figure became part of Greek mythology is beyond me.

7D: Continental crust: SIAL. Obtained the answer from across fills. Do not know what SIAL is.

8D: Grain-field weed: TARE. The Biblical weed? I am more familiar with the "Truck weight allowance" clue.

9D: Convent head: ABBESS. I only know ABBOT, the "Monastery head".

22D: "__ Got Mail": YOU'VE. Very romantic. Meg Ryan's "Courage Under Fire" is very confusing to me though. I still don't know who is telling the truth and who is lying.

27D: China's Sun__: YAT-SEN. "Father of Modern China". He was Chiang Kai Shek brother-in-law. His name is spelled as Sun Zhong-Shan in Mandarin Chinese.

32D: Legal phrase: IN REM. Latin for "In a thing". Here is the explanation. Unknown to me. But isn't "thing" RES in Latin?

33D: __ Ridge Boys: OAK. No idea. Easy guess though. Here is a clip.

38D: Poivre companion: SEL. French for "salt". Poivre is "pepper".

40D: Small portion: MINIM. Another new word to me. Dictionary says MINIM is roughly one drop of liquid. "Small portion" indeed then.

41D: Colonial blackbird: ANI. Here is the picture again. Why "Colonial"?

48D: Not accented: ATONIC. Was this a gimme to you? This is my first meeting with ATONIC.

52D: Val d'___, Fr.: ISERE. The ski resort in France. Our editor clued ISERE as "Grenoble's river" last time.

58D: Hautboy: OBOE. "Hautboy"/hautbois is French for OBOE.

59D: Very dry: SERE. Probably the same word origin as the verb SEAR.

C.C.

Thursday January 22, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: RUN ON (50D: Talk and talk)

20A: Start of a quip: A MAN IS NEVER

33A: Part 2 of quip: TOO BUSY TO

41A: Part 3 of quip: TALK ABOUT

52A: End of quip: HOW BUSY HE IS

I don't believe "Talk and Talk" is Olschwang's original clue for RUN ON. He is too professional and experienced to make this kind of clue/answer duplication mistake. His original might be "Gab and gab".

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

I hope you enjoy this Inauguration Tribute ("Air and Simple Gifts"). I really love the clarinet solo part. What a stellar quartet: a Jewish violinist, an Asian cellist, a Black-American clarinetist and a female Latino pianist. Isn't America beautiful? In fact, Chinese characters for America "Beautiful Country".

Across:

14A: Numskull: IDIOT. "Numskull" is a new word to me. The adjective is "Numskulled". Does the stupid "ding-a-ling" have an adjective form?

17A: "West Side Story" heroine: MARIA. Also the heroine of "The Sound of Music". Very nice clip. I have not heard/seen "Raindrops on roses..." for almost 3 months.

43A: Manitoba tribe: CREE. The answer is invariably CREE for any "Canadian tribe" clue.

44A: Gray and Moran: ERINS. Memorized this name from doing crossword. I know either of them. I suppose both of them are of Irish ancestry?

50A: Long, narrow inlets: RIAS. See this photo.

59A: Publishing grp.: ABA (American Booksellers Association). New abbreviation to me. I am used to seeing ABA clued as "Lawyers' org.".

6!A: City on Baranof Island: SITKA. I guessed. Had no idea where Baranof Island is. Wikipedia says SITKA is the largest city in the US by area.

64A: Range of the Rockies: TETON. Hmm, The Grand TETON. I think TETON (French), TITTEN (German) and TIT (English) might all derive from one word. What word is it then?

67A: Borneo ape, briefly: ORANG. I got the answer. Did not know where "Borneo" is. Dictionary says it's "an island in the Malay Archipelago, politically divided among Indonesia, Malaysia, and the British-protected sultanate of Brunei".

Down:

2D: First grandfather: ADAM. "First father", "First husband", "First" of all. "Second offender" though. Look at how happy this future "First grandma" (Marian Robinson) looks.

10D: Honorable retirement title: EMERITUS. It's a title for those retired professors, right?

12D: Eagle's nest: AERIE

25D: Draft org.: SSS. Here is the SSS classification. ONE A appears in our puzzle almost every week. I don't know where I got the idea that SSS does not exist any more.

27D: Queen of Olympus: HERA. Wife/sister of Zeus. This lady is constantly jealous of and extremely vindictive of her husband's lovers.

28D: Justice Warren: EARL. Surprised to see Chief Justice John Roberts stumbled at Obama's swearing-in. Obama did vote NO at Robert's confirmation though.

33: Disney sci-fi flick: TRON. I just can't remember this film name.

34D: Mongol's tent: YURT. The Great Wall of China was built during Qin Dynasty (Xi'An is its capital city) to prevent the Mongol intrusion.

36D: Persons: ONES. I have never seen plural ONES referred to as "Persons". Only familiar with the singular ONE. Can you make a sentence with ONES for me?

38D: Western lawmen: MARSHALS

46D: Stops in open water: LAYS TO. New nautical term to me. Dictionary defines LAY TO as "To put (a ship) in a dock or other place of safety".

47D: Above it all: BLASE. I got the answer, but I did not quite understand "Above it all". Is it a slang?

48D: Picture puzzle: REBUS. Here is a NY Times' Valentine's Day REBUS puzzle. A big heart will emerge once you connect all those embedded small "heart". Very creative, isn't it? Our editor has never offered us a REBUS puzzle. I think we are smart enough to handle one.

C.C.

Wednesday January 21, 2009 Willy A. Wiseman

Theme: NN-ending Famous Names

17A: "Songcatcher" co-star: AIDAN QUINN

36A: Former Georgia Senator: SAM NUNN

56A: "Little Big Man" director: ARTHUR PENN

11D: "Death in Venice" author: THOMAS MANN

27D: Star of "Captain Blood": ERROL FLYNN

*ANN, *ENN, *INN, *UNN, *YNN, the only one missing is *ONN. I bet Wiseman searched hard for an *ONN ending famous name but came up with nothing. He did compensate this with BONN (6A: Beethoven's birthplace).

I've never heard of "Songcatcher", "Litttle Big Man" or "Captain Blood", but the theme answers were not difficult to obtain, given the easy crossings and self-evident theme.

I dislike the clue for SOWED (60A): Scattered (seeds) since SEED POD is the answer for 42D: Vanilla bean. Also, why "Vanilla bean" for SEED POD? I don't get it.

Across:

15A: Half of CXIV: LVII. Roman 57. I am so happy that I am not a Roman. I don't think I can calculate without first converting those Roman numerals into Arabic numbers first.

16A: Auto-racing org.: NHRA (National Hot Rod Association)

21A: Kern and Robbins: JEROMES. JEROME Kern composed "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". JEROME Robbins won an Oscar for directing "West Side Story". I knew neither of them.

24A: Argentine port: PARANA. See this map. I've never heard of PARANA River/port. My wrong guess was MARANA.

33A: Municipal grp.: DPW (Department of Public Works)

38A: Islands of Indonesia: ARU. Here is ARU Islands again (lower right corner).

39A: NHL coach Bowman: SCOTTY. Wow, 11 Stanley Cups, very impressive. Too bad, his name means nothing to me.

45A: Some changes: CENTS

49A: Peace pipe: CALUMET. No idea. Dictionary says CALUMET is "a long-stemmed sacred or ceremonial tobacco pipe used by certain Native American peoples." Native Indians seem to love feathers for decorations.

51A: Bay of Alaska: PRUDHOE. Have never heard of PRUDHOE Bay. Easy inference though.

Down:

8D: Martial arts masters: NINJAS. It's rooted in Chinese 忍者. Nin is "endure". Ja is "person". I know the name, did not know that they are "Martial arts masters".

9D: SF gridder: NINER. Wikipedia says San Francisco 49ers have won 5 Super Bowls, and they "share the Super Bowl win record with the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers". For another 10 days?

12D: Art Deco artist: ERTE. "Symphony in Black" is probably ERTE's most famous image.

24D: Platte River valley people: PAWNEES. New word to me. Does PAWNEE have any special meaning in their own language? Can't be PAWN related.

25D: Canton folk: SWISS. Good clue. I was thinking of those folks I left behind in Canton (Guangzhou), China. Did anyone think of those football Hall-of-Famers in Canton, OH?

26D: Stupor: pref.: NARCO

37D: Ref's cohort: UMP. Look at this guy's impressive bobblehead collection. I wonder if he has a 1960' UMP nodder.

40D: Screes: TALUSES. I did not know the meaning of "Scree". Checked the dictionary and it explains "scree" as TALUS, broken rock debris at the base of a cliff.

44D: Gas in Glasgow: PETROL. Good alliteration.

52D: Shaped with an ax: HEWN

50D: First-class: A ONE. And ONE A (53D: SSS class)

C.C.

Tuesday January 20, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: The Fab Four

17A: Hard hat's potty: PORT-A-JOHN

35A: "A Way in the World" writer: V. S. NAIPAUL

41A: Singer O'Dowd, to fans: BOY GEORGE

57A: 1989 Jane Fonder movie: OLD GRINGO

Last time when we had "The Fab Four" puzzle, the theme answers are: JOHNNYCAKE (clued as "Cornpone"), RINGO LEVIO ("NYC street game"), PAULOWNIAS ("Asian figwort trees", ouch!) and GEORGETOWN ("D. C. neighborhood").

I had never heard of the book "A Way in the World", nor was I familiar with the author V. S. NAIPAUL. I also had zero familiarity with the movie OLD GRINGO. But I figured out the theme quickly. Otherwise, it would be a very hard puzzle for me.

This puzzle is quite scrabby, 3 Vs, 2 Xs, 1 Z, 1 J and 1K, probably my favorite Tom Pruce puzzle. I was expecting an Obama inauguration themed grid though.

I was planning to blog Barry Silk's "2008 Championship Tribute puzzle" today. But due to Barry's business trip this week, I will postpone it to next Tuesday or Wednesday. I've also uploaded the puzzle to Scribd. You can just click on iPaper, then print it out.

Across:

1A: Sleeping child: ANGEL. Stumped me. Is it somehow related to the Guardian ANGEL?

5A: Epitome of messiness: STY. Nice clue.

19A: Thick: MIDST

21A: Winter apple: RUSSET. Kind of Idaho potato. It bakes well. I like Yukon Gold for potato salad. (Addendum: RUSSET is a kind of apple. Unknown to me. I confused "Winter apple" with French pomme de terre earlier.)

28A: Maria __ of Austria: THERESA. No idea. All I could think of is Maria Antoinette, THERESA's daughter. Maria THERESA looks intimidating.

30A: Old-time high note: ELA. The sixth and highest note in Guido's musical scale. This word only exists in Xword world.

34A: Ponselle and Parks: ROSAS

38A: Town on the Firth of Lorn: OBAN. See this map. It's in west Scotland. Unknown to me.

39A: Women's sweethearts: BEAUX. Plural of beau.

44A: Curve type: ESS

48A: Blackthorns: SLOES. I can't believe these SLOES are tart, they look sweet. Have never seen them in person.

50A: Bean and Welles: ORSONS

51A: One-time French royal house: VALOIS. The House of VALOIS ruled France from 1328 to 1589. Completely unknown to me. Our fellow solver LOIS is from VA.

56A: Be jubilant: EXULT

64A: Milo of "The Verdict": O'SHEA. I always confuse Milo O'SHEA with Sal Mineo.

67A: Never existed: WASN'T

Down:

10D: Burglary: HEIST. Also the title of a Gene Hackman movie.

13D: Shot on the green: PUTT. Great PUTT.

18D: Iotas: JOTS

22D: Disco light: STROBE

23D: Satellite of Mars: PHOBOS. New to me. PHOBOS is also the God of fear" in Greek mythology. Son of Aphrodite and Ares (Mars in Roman). Phobia is rooted in PHOBOS. Also, "panic" derives from Pan, "God of shepherds and flocks". Pan inspired sudden fears in lonely places, according to Wikipedia.

25D: Large ape, briefly: ORANG

31D: Spanish quarter: BARRIO. Got it from across fills. I could only think of bodega.

39D: Clowns: BOZOS

42D: Stone tools: EOLITHS. Eo is a prefix for "early", Lith means "stone". It appeared in our puzzle before.

48D: Gannet goose: SOLAN. New goose to me. I did not know the meaning of "Gannet" either.

51D: Hindu sacred books: VEDA. Literally, "knowledge" in Sanskrit. Another new word to me, but shouldn't the clue be singular?

52D: Leafstalk angle: AXIL. See this picture. It's the angle between a leaf and its branch. Just learned this word a few days ago.

58D: O.T. book: ISA. And GEN (60D: O.T. book).

C.C.

Monday January 19, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: Meal Time

20A: Residence inn: BED AND BREAKFAST

40A: British bread-and-cheese meal: PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH

55A: Sweet following eating: AFTER DINNER MINT

I have never heard of PLOUGHMAN'S LUNCH before. Ploughman probably will not eat those bitter endives in the middle. What is the stuff on that front white cup? Looks deliciously chunky.

Not a well-thought theme. If BREAKFAST and LUNCH are located at the end of the phrase, so should be DINNER. You know, like CHRISTMAS DINNER, 15 letters, perfect. What other *DINNER ending phrases can you think of? BUSINESS DINNER is one letter short.

Easy sailing this morning. Very doable puzzle. I got SEE (23A: Match a raise) from down clues, but I don't understand the cluing. How so?

Across:

1A: Calgary team: FLAMES. Here is a hockey puck with FLAMES logo. That's a very hot name. We have Wild in Minnesota. Edmonton Oilers is also based in Alberta.

10A: Novelist Oz: AMOS. "A Tale of Love and Darkness" sounds intriguing.

14A: City on the Rio Grande: LAREDO. Is this city somehow related to "The Streets of LAREDO"? The title of the sad baseball movie "Bang the Drum Slowly" comes from that song.

18A: USN big shot: ADM. What's the equivalent Marines/Army/Air Force big shot? GEN?

24A: Singer Moffo: ANNA. The answer revealed itself after I filled in the down clues. Have never heard of this opera singer.

25A: CCCII tripled: CMVI. Roman 906.

29A: Grp. of D.C. advisors: NSC (National Security Council). Here is a list of those who attend the NSC meeting. General James Jones will coordinate those meetings for Obama.

31A: Chicago singer Peter: CETERA. No idea. I do love Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry/Get Away". "Chicago" here refers to the band name.

37A: Bay window: ORIEL

44A: "Les Preludes" composer: LISZT. Here is a clip.

45A: Old-time roofing material: SLATE. "Old-time"? Does it mean that SLATE is not used as roofing material any more?

64A: Harem area: ODA. Turkish for "room". Derived from odalik, meaning "a chamber girl" or "a concubine", according to Wikipedia.

67A: Eskimo knife: ULU. Have never heard of ULU knife.

68A: Potential looter: RIOTER

69A: Medieval slave: ESNE. Sometimes is SERF. I don't know how those two are different from each other.

Down:

4D: Physical opening?: META. Metaphysical. Will Rogers probably would want this clue to be "I have never MET A man I didn't like". Our editor dislikes partial fills though.

9D: Love affairs: ROMANCES. They are not the same, are they? To me, "Love affair" implies a sexual and illicit relationship.

10D: Former PLA leader: ARAFAT. Hard to associate ARAFAT with Nobel Peace prize winner.

21D: Simple brooms: BESOMS. New brooms to me. Very twiggy.

27D: "Twelfth Night" role: VIOLA. I guessed. Have never read "Twelfth Night".

30D: Patsy Cline classic: CRAZY. Here is the song. Can't find Willie Nelson's CRAZY on YouTube. It's pretty good too.

33D: Belly muscles: RECTI. Singular is rectus. Another new word to me. I am convinced that I don't know my own body.

41D: Worked freelance: HIRED OUT

42D: End of a spat?: ULA. Spatula. Also "End of a form" (Formula).

47D: "__ Fideles": ADESTE. Semper is also 6-letter.

49D: Rugged range: SIERRA. "Rugged ridge" would be ARETE.

52D: Move sideways: SIDLE. There is no difference in my pronunciation of SIDLE and SADDLE.

55D: Winglike structures: ALAE. The adjective is ALAR, though often clued as "Banned spray".

59D: Synthesizer maker: MOOG. I have never heard of Bob MOOG or MOOG Synthesizer.

62D: British wheel: TYRE. British TYRE hits kerb.

C.C.

Sunday January 18, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Fishy Business

23A: Fishy multi-talented celebrity?: OPAH WINFREY (Oprah Winfrey)

25A: Fishy musician?: PIANO TUNA (Piano Tuner)

39A: Fishy age recognition?: BIRTHDAY COD (Birthday Card)

57A: Fishy Brinks vehicle?: ARMORED CARP (Armored Car)

81A: Fishy Florida ballot?: HANGING SHAD (Hanging Chad)

93A: Fishy weakness?: ACHILLES' EEL (Achilles' Heel)

114A: Fishy warship?: MINNOW WAR (Man O' War)

116A: Fishy amplifiers?: HERRING AIDS (Hearing Aids)

I did not know that Man O' War is a kind of warship. Always thought it's a racing horse and is connected to Seabiscuit somehow. I actually think "Fishy thoroughbred?" is a better clue than "Fishy warship?" because of the annoying War/WAR duplication.

I liked this puzzle a lot. Caught all of the fish very early on and sailed through most of the puzzle storm-free.

I don't quite understand the clue for NO-HIT (4D: Pitch near perfection). I am confused by the grammar structure. NO-HIT is an adjective, right? A NO-HIT game. "Pitch near perfection" is a noun phrase, isn't it? No-hitter is a noun. Nolan Ryan threw seven no-hitters in his career, a major league record. None of them is a perfect game though.

Across:

11A: Heckler's partner in firearms: KOCH. Have never held a gun in my life. Not familiar with Heckler & KOCH at all.

28A: Protected one's king, in a way: CASTLED

33A: Stimpy's pal: REN. Learned this dog name from doing Xword. Stimpy is a cat.

46A: Unbeatable opponents: NEMESES. Singular is NEMESIS.

53A: River of Hades: LETHE. River of forgetfulness. Styx is the River of Hate, forming "the boundary between the upper and lower worlds". Has anyone read "The Divine Comedy" or "Inferno"?

69A: German automaker: OPEL

61A: Pastry cement: MASTIC. No idea. I found some MASTIC sealant though. Is this cement somehow related to the MASTIC tree?

64A: Airhead: DITSY. New word to me. Can also be spelled as DITZY.

68A: Vulture's repast: CARRION. Does vulture eat live animal at all?

75A: Lighter fuel: BUTANE. How is it different from propane?

84A: Seed producers of certain trees: PINECONES

102A: Bob Dylan's "__ Lady of the Lowlands": SAD EYED. Here is the song. New to me. It's about his wife Sara Lownds.

105A: Shop talk: ARGOT. Lingo is another 5-letter word that might fit in another time for "Shop talk".

108A: English philosopher of Herbert: SPENCER. I googled his name. Wikipedia says he coined the phrase "Survival of the Fittest". I thought it's Darwin original quote.

110A: Siren: LORELEI. The Rhine Siren, to be exact. Chinese lore does not have similar siren who lures those restless sailors.

124A: Some chasers: POSSE

Down:

2D: Kal Kan rival: ALPO. Know ALPO. Have never heard of Kal Kan brand. Don't own any pet.

5D: Reacting to Sinatra: ASWOON. Very interesting clue. Why Sinatra instead of Clooney?

8D: Stupor: pref: NARCO. As in narcosis. New to me. I only know NARC as "DEA agent".

11D: Astronomer Johannes: KEPLER. Another google. He was a German astronomer. That's an excellent portrait.

24D: "Newsboy" painter: INMAN (Henry). I forgot all of him. Wikipedia says nearly a dozen of his 30 Native American portraits are in the collection of the White House. Here is "Newsboy" once again.

26D: Infamous cow owner: O'LEARY (Catherine)

29D: Speaker of diamonds: TRIS. Ah, baseball. TRIS Speaker is in HOF of course.

32D: Pre-Mayan civilization: OLMEC. OLMEC, Maya & Aztec. Just learned this word a few days ago.

35D: Indian state: ASSAM. The tea state. South of Himalaya Mountains.

36D: Sanskrit aphorism: SUTRA. Hmm, "Kama SUTRA". Kama is god of erotic desire/love in Sanskrit.

41D: Persuade: COOPT. "Persuade"? Not a familiar definition to me.

43D: Humdinger: DILLY. I often mix "Humdinger" with "harbinger".

45D: Reference citation: FOOTNOTE

47D: Whatnot shelves: ETAGERES

55D: Structural beam: I-BAR. Have only heard of I-BEAM. It's the same, I suppose.

56D: Emphasizes: POINTS UP. New phrase to me.

58D: Letters for shock treatment: ECT (ElectroConvulsive Therapy). So hard to remember this abbreviation.

64D: Henning and McClure: DOUGS. DOUG Henning was a Canadian magician. DOUG McClure was an actor. I knew neither of them.

51D: Early computer: ENIAC

95D: Calyx parts: SEPALS

98D: Twilled fibrics: SERGES. Be prepared. Everytime SERGE appears in our puzzle, I will link SERGE Gainsbourg. I think Jane Birkin's moaning is sexier than Brigitte Bardot's.

107D: Growl: GNAR. Knar is a knot on the tree. Both exist only in crossword world in my opinion.

111D: City near Brussels: LIER. See this map. It's in Antwerp. Too obscure a clue.

115D: Assn. for boxers: WBA (World Boxing Association)

117D: "Kidnapped" author: RLS (Robert Louis Stevenson). Here is the bookcover. I doubt I will ever read it.

C.C.

Saturday January 17, 2009 Matthew Higgins

Theme: None

Total blocks: 26

Total words: 68

Now I start to admire Higgins' tenacity in coming up with themeless after themeless on Saturdays. He is obviously undaunted by the challenges of constructing a low word /block count grid.

He also seems to like 27 black square grids. I am so curious to know how he started this puzzle and which was the first word he filled in.

As usual, most of his clues are impeccably correct, straight from the dictionary. But certain liveliness is missing. And too many S and ED suffixes for my taste. LACKER (13D: One in want) sounds like a made-up word. So does BASSNESS (36D: Low quality of music?), which is nowhere to be found when I googled earlier.

Across:

1A: Louisiana county: PARISH. Is Louisiana the only state where county is called PARISH?

7A: Microscopic layer: THIN FILM. Science lab term?

15A: Hardy shrub of the honeysuckle family: ABELIA. See this photo. It's named after the British botanist Clarke Abel. Not a familiar shrub to me. Honeysuckle is too fragrant.

16A: Source of agar: RED ALGAE. Good to know. Is RED ALGAE edible?

23A: Squash pigment: CAROTENE. Also "Carrot/Sweet potato pigment". Source for Vitamin A. Good for your eyes.

26A: Wins by charms: ENDEARS. This reminds me a clue for END: Kind of ear? Very tough clue, isn't it? It took me a long time to figure out why the answer is ENDEAR.

31A: But, to Brutus: SED. Nope. My first encounter with this Latin "But". I am sure I won't remember it tomorrow morning when I wake up.

37A: Skulls: CRANIA

39A: Redhead duck: POCHARD. No idea. This POCHARD looks angry.

42A: Museum guides: DOCENTS

46A: Plants with funnel-shaped flowers: PETUNIAS. Nice picture. Do you know that PETUNIAS belong to the nightshade family?

47A: In the rigging: ALOFT. Opposite of alow. New nautical term to me. I always associate ALOFT with "High in the sky".

50A: Have a ball: LIVE IT UP. Reminded me of yesterday's NATURAL GAS (Teetotalers' bash). I could not find "It's a GAS" being referred as "Have a blast" anywhere on line. If you find the source, please let me know.

54A: Sap of energy: ENERVATE

55A: Moves in and out: WEAVES. What is moved "in and out"? Shuttle?

56A: Final courses: DESSERTS. What is this dessert? Looks like corn flour.

57A: "Gunsmoke" star: ARNESS (James). Uh-uh, nope. Strange name. Feels like letter H is missing from ARNESS. This girl looks very pretty.

Down:

1D: Cure-alls: PANACEAS. Sad to hear about Steve Jobs' health problem. Maybe he should have continued his vegan lifestyle rather than eating meat again. Who knows.

2D: Act of enduring without yielding: ABIDANCE. Such an exact definition.

10D: Prattled: NATTERED. And GAB (34A: Shoot the breeze)

11D: Batted one's eyes, for example: FLIRTED. I was thinking of the idiom "Not bat an eye".

12D: Start burning: IGNITE. Very rigid clue.

24D: Massive ref. work: OED (Oxford English Dictionary). Massive indeed, 20 volumes.

32D: Serving to pull: TRACTIVE. I thought the answer would end in *ING.

34D: Possessive case: GENITIVE

35D: Fred and Adele: ASTAIRES. Probably the most famous dancing siblings.

37D: Large slow moving beetles: CHAFERS. Here is a CHAFER. Unknown to me. Too small to move slowly.

38D: Generic game pieces: MEN. This clue is getting stale. Oscar Wilde once said "MEN marry because they are tired; women because they are curious; both are disappointed."

44D: Loser at Little Bighorn: CUSTER. If the clue is "Winner at Little Bighorn", whom would you think of? Sitting Bull or Crazy Horse?

53D: Author of "Saving Fish from Drowning": TAN (Amy). I've not read this book yet. "The Joy Luck Club" is fascinating read.

C.C.

Friday January 16, 2009 Allan E. Parrish

Theme: STATION (41D: Word after 17A, 29A, 50A and 64A)

17A: Teacher a boxer where to go?: PAPER TRAIN

29A: Parallel universe?: DOUBLE SPACE

37A: Bluepoint hangout?: OYSTER BAR

50A: Abridge a drama?: SQUEEZE PLAY

64A: Teetolers' bash?: NATURAL GAS

Well, find me a SQUEEZE PLAY STATION then. I just can't stand this kind of inacuracy in cluing. STATION is after the word PLAY, not after the whole phrase SQUEEZE PLAY. The clue for STATION should be "It follows the last word of 17A, 29A, 50A and 64A).

Is GAS a slang for party? I don't understand the rationale in the last clue.

I've never seen five letter Z's in a TMS puzzle before. Mr. Parrish obviously has an affinity for Z, just like Barry Silk has for his Q.

Our local newspaper Star Tribune filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy yesterday. Very disconcerting.

Across:

6A: Woodstock performer Joan: BAEZ. They were lovers during this period, right?

14A: Pulitzer or Pritzker: PRIZE. Pritzker is "the Nobel PRIZE of Architecture". I was unaware of that. It's created in 1979.

21A: TV role for P. Silvers: SGT. BILKO. Stumper, though I did recognize the answer when it finally emerged. Was there an accompanying comic book for the TV show?

23A: Latin 101 verb: AMO. Now this "Latin" refers to Latin America Latin, not the old Caesar's Latin, right?

31A: 1,000 bucks: GEE. And ABES (61A: 5-dollar bills), which is an unfamiliar slang to me.

33A: 2002 A.L. Cy Young winner: ZITO. Gimme. Barry ZITO is very funny. He bought his own autographed baseball cards from Ebay because "They are authenticated". Authentication and grading are big deal in baseball card collection. ZITO played for the Oakland A's from 2000 to 2006, and now he is with the Giants.

44A: Intl. radio: VOA. They broadcast both in Chinese & Cantonese.

45A: Kodak rival: AGFA. Fuji does not fit. AGFA is based in Belgium. Annika Sorenstam's true rookie card has a AGFA logo on it, but I could not find it on the internet this morning.

71A: Boss Tweed's lampooner: NAST (Thomas). NAST is the "Father of American cartoon". See "The Brains", his caricature of Boss Tweed. Last time BOSSDOM is clued as "Scope of Tweed's influence?" which stumped me completely.

Down:

1D: Very softly, in music: PPP (Pianississimo). No idea. Why 3 P's when there is only one P in the word Pianississimo?

3D: Surfboard mishap: WIPEOUT. Fall from surfboard. New term to me.

4D: Weizman of Israel: EZER. President of Israel 1993-2000. I can never remember his name. Does it have any biblical meaning?

6D: Prickly husk: BUR. See this chestnut BUR. My brain just keeps BURping this word.

8D: Puzzling state: ENIGMA. This is so sensual. Do you like ENIGMA?

9D: Stomach acid inhibitor brand: ZANTAC. Do you know why most of the pills have scrabbly letter Z & X in their names?

10D: Spore sacs: ASCI. This is another word that I keep remembering and then keep forgetting. The singular is ascus.

12D: Follower of Jeremiah: EZEKIEL. Literally "God strengthens" in Hebrew language. Jeremiah is "God is high". I've never heard of these 2 Bible books. I was thinking of Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright.

22D: Netherlands city: BREDA. See BREDA? It's in southern Netherlands. Completely foreign to me. I wonder if it's on the road from Brussels to Amsterdam.

23D: Finishing tool: ADZ. And AXE (57A: Logger's tool). Tool is also a slang for male organ, right?

24D: Yves, to Yves: MOI. I like this clue.

39D: "Performance" director Nicolas: ROEG. Have never heard of "Performance". The poster does not look appealing to me.

40D: Street market: BAZAAR. I always confuse this word with bizarre.

47D: Elec. duplicate: FAX. Why "duplicate"?

62D: "The Time Machine" people: ELOI. Aramaic for "My god". They serve as the food for Morlocks. How awful.

65D: Amer. letters: USS. The navy carrier USS America. Can you come up with a better clue for USS? I understand his logic abbreviating "Amer.", but somehow it annoys me.

C.C.

Barry Silk Puzzles

I mentioned yesterday that there should be an abbreviation hint for ATF (21A: Booze, butts and bullets bureau) in Barry Silk's "Score" puzzle. It turned out that his original clue is "Justice Dept. agency".

Here are some more of his originals:

36A: California Congresswoman Lofgren: ZOE. Unknown to me. See this picture. The lady on ZOE Lofgren's left is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Arnold's tie has strange combination of colors.

37A: Took sides?: ATE. Great clue.

60A: Philadelphia had the first one in the United States: ZOO. Nice trivia.

44A: Jimmy Rollins in 2007: MVP. Barry is a Philly fan.

69A: Yamaha competitor: SONY. See? I was right in saying that "Vaio maker" is not his original clue.

1D: Dizzy Gillespie's jazz: BEBOP. Clear Ayes mentioned that "Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were early bebop musicians" yesterday.

10D: B sharp equivalents: C-FLATS. Any comment, Barry G, KittyB and all your music experts? Our editor changed the clue to "Some major scales".

42D: NASA acceleration unit: ONE G. Yesterday's clues is "NASA unit".

Barry has submitted over 20 puzzles to TMS, but has not heard from our editor since Nov 1 when Tribune announced the bankruptcy. He is not optimistic that his puzzles will be published. Everything seems so uncertain with Tribune right now.

He has decided to make one of the puzzles available to readers of this blog. It has a great sports theme. If you want to solve the puzzle, please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com. And don't throw away the puzzle once you are done. I will blog about it next Tuesday or Wednesday and I want to hear your views about his grid.

I sure hope we will see more Barry Silk puzzle in the near future. What a classy guy he is.

C.C.

Thursday January 15, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: A Restless Mind

17A: Start of a quip: UNEASY LIES

27A: Part 2 of quip: THE HEAD WHICH

45A: Part 3 of quip: EATS CRACKERS

60A: End of quip: WHILE IN BED

Is this a play on "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown"?

I am completely stumped by this quip. After our Florida cracker discussion a few days ago, now I am at a loss at what CRACKERS refer to here. Ritz Cracker CRACKERS or is it another slang for drug?

I would have clued CLUES (1D: Aids for Sherlock) as "You are reading them" or anything crossword related. By the way, there are 78 clues/fills in today's grid, the maximum count allowed for a weekday 15*15 themed puzzle (72 for Saturday themeless).

Across:

1A: "Lara __: Tomb Raider": CROFT. Guinness Book of World Records 2009 named Angelina Jolie the Most Powerful Actress. Brad Pitt took the title of the Most Powerful Actor.

6A: Iron pumper's pride: LATS. Short for Latissimus Dorsi, literally the broadest (muscle) of the back. I can never remember this word. What specific exercise is needed to build up that "pride"?

14A: Palmer of "The Gentle Sex": LILLI. Completely unknown to me. She was a German actress and was married to Rex Harrison for over a decade. If you find a poster of "The Gentle Sex" on the internet, please share with us.

15A: Japanese box: INRO. See this picture. The toggle at the top of that picture is called netsuke, highly collectible. These netsukes are so erotic. Japanese traditional clothes have no pockets, thus the need for a small case attached to the kimono.

23A: Mack of Keystone films: SENNETT. Look at these SENNETT Bathing Beautifies. Was the picture taken in 1920's? I've never heard of this guy before. Wikipedia says he is called "The King of Comedy”.

41A: Wine region of Italy: ASTI. ASTI Spumante.

49A: Ilie of tennis: NASTASE. Often see ILIE clued as "Nastase of tennis".

53A: Abrasive cloth: EMERY

58A: Award for a sitcom: EMMY. Do you know why this award is called EMMY?

64A: Orchestral instruments: CELLI. Had no idea that the plural form of cello is CELLI.

67A: Minotaur's home: CRETE. So, what's the lesson drawn from Icarus' flight from CRETE? Hubris?

Down:

3D: City on the Allegheny: OLEAN. I've never heard of Allegheny River. Is it an Indian name?

6D: Frasier's ex: LILITH. Played by Bebe Neuwirth. Unknown to me.

7D: Blue dye: ANIL. I forgot the difference between ANIL and Indigo.

8D: Cross the line?: TRESPASS. Why question mark?

10D: Anti-war: DOVISH. Opposite hawish.

18D: "The Dresser" director Peter: YATES. He just appeared in our puzzle last Sunday.

26D: Writer LeShan: EDA. Crossword construstors seem to be very fond of three letter A- ending words: EDA, IDA, ADA, AVA, EVA, UMA, ABA, AGA, A LA, BOA, ERA, PEA, PTA and of course BRA. She is so pretty.

38D: Stiffened, in a way: STARCHED

41D: Sore: ACHY. I wrote down ACHE first.

43D: Quiet partner?: PEACE

51D: Small silvery fish: SMELT. What's your favorite fish? I really like walleye.

52D: Vocalist Gorme: EYDIE. What's the title of this song? Sounds so familiar. I've never heard of EYDIE Gorme though.

61D: Former trucking regulating agcy.: ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission). From 1887 to 1995. New to me also. Wikipedia says "the agency's remaining functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board.

C.C.

Wednesday January 14, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: SETTLED THE SCORE (61A: Took revenge)

17A: Manassas conflict: BATTLE OF BULL RUN (Baseball)

23A: Meal container: PICNIC BASKET (Basketball)

38A: Calculus calculation: INFLECTION POINT (Football)

51A: Future target: LONG-TERM GOAL (Hockey)

What is INFLECTION POINT? Sounds like an abstract term to me.

Considering the basketball theme today, I wonder why MVP (44A: Letters for baseball's best) is not clued as "Letters for basketball's best". NBA does have MVP award, right? (Addendum: My bad. I misunderstood the theme this morning.)

The clue for ATF (21A: Booze, butts and bullets bureau) definitely needs an abbreviation hint. It should be "Org." rather than "bureau". I love the clue for ATTIC (3D: Top story?). Very clever.

Barry Silk mentioned last time that he is going to hold a presentation on crossword in D.C. (Tysons-Pimmet Regional Branch of the Fairfax County Library) on Jan 17 Saturday. Has anyone registered yet? I hope you can take pictures of Barry and share with us next week.

Across:

1A: Wild hogs: BOARS. Do you think "Hogs wild?" will be a good clue for BOARS?

6A: "Pygmalion" dramatist: SHAW. I wonder why the musical/film was renamed "My Fair Lady" later on. I rather like the mythological aura of the original title.

10A: Spiced tea beverage: CHAI. Rooted in Chinese Cha, meaning "Tea". Strange to see people put sugar, or milk, or spice in tea. Loose leaves and hot water, that's all you need for a perfect tea.

14A: John of the keys: ELTON. I like his "Can You Feel the Love Tonight".

16A: Sources of online help: FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions)

22A: Bother greatly: EAT AT

29A: The Sweetest Place on Earth: HERSHEY. Ha, this is new to me. I did not know that HERSHEY is actually a town in PA. Thought it's only the brand name of the chocolate. I like M & M anyway. Look at this cute dispenser.

46A: Computer model: DESKTOP

56A: Do-it-yourself mover: U-HAUL

69A: Vaio maker: SONY. I don't think this is Barry's original clue. I am not familiar with Vaio notebook.

Down:

1D: Jazz style: BEBOP. What on earth is BEBOP style? Fast? Slow? Broody? Romantic?

2D: Norwegian king (995-1000): OLAV I. I guessed. It could only be OLAV I, OLAV V or OLAV X. Oh, I checked, there is no OLAV X.

6D: Passed quickly: SHOT BY

7D: Vanished union boss: HOFFA (Jimmy). Read stories about this guy in various JFK/RFK books. Very intriguing case. His son James HOFFA is currently the president of Teamsters.

9D: Sch. in Pullman: WSU (Washington State University). I guessed. Have never heard of Pullman. Is it named after the railroad sleeping car guy Pullman?

10D: Some major scales: C-FLAT

11D: Poet Crane: HART. New poet to me. Interesting name. How did his friend address him when they wrote him letters then? Deer HART?

12D: Lung opener?: AQUA. Is AQUA-lung a familiar diving equipment to you? I've never heard of it before. Hmmm, interesting, Dennis might like this one: "Marine opener?"

13D: Ain't correct?: ISN'T

33D: Multicolored: PIED. It's clued as "__ -a-terre" in Barry's last puzzle.

34D: Gender-biased suffix: ENNE. Like trix.

35D: Old-time postal rtes.: RFDS (Rural Free Deliveries)

42D: NASA unit: ONE G. There is no G in outer space, right?

47D: Like an oaf: KLUTZY

49D: Female peasant: PEAHEN. Funny how PEAHEN looks so different from peacock.

50D: English composer: ARNE (Thomas). Often clued as "Rule, Britannia" composer. I look forward to a "Secretary of Education Duncan" clue for ARNE after Jan 20.

53D: Threatened layer: OZONE. I don't understand the clue. Why "Threatened"?

55D: Loamy soil: LOESS. I can never remember this word.

58D: Egyptian god: ATEN. Or ATON. The Egyptian sun god. There is no vowel in Egyptian hieroglyphs, hence various variations in Egyptian God/Goddess names later on, including ATEN and ATON.

64D: The Racer's Edge: STP. Very strange brand name: Son of a Gun!.

65D: Disney collectible: CEL. Remember these three Disney "Snow White" CELS on Antiques Roadshow? Amazing price.

C.C.

Tuesday January 13, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: Double Talk

17A: The true state of things: WHAT'S WHAT

26A: Regular guy: MAN'S MAN

36A: Biographical reference book: WHO'S WHO

48A: Up-and-comer: HOTSHOT

55A: Another chore done!: THAT'S THAT

How does HOTSHOT fit in here? Because it has a letter S in the middle? Too flimsy as a theme answer. Besides, HOTSHOT is an ace, and "Up-and-comer" is a rising star, they are not synonymous to me.

MAN'S MAN is a "Regular guy"? Really? Not a rugged macho type he-man?

I did not enjoy this puzzle at all. Yawned all the way through the solving.

I don't know what the heck is happening inside Tribune, but it's not a good sign when we've been offered so many puzzles from Josiah Breward (our editor himself) in the past 2 months. He seems to have stopped accepting new puzzles from our regular constructors. And I expect more Breward puzzles in the future, if there is actually a future with Tribune.

Enough's enough! Hmm, I wonder why he did not use this phrase as his theme answer.

Across:

9A: Climb: SCALE. SCALE a mountain? I've never heard of this usage. SCALE a fish, yes.

15A: Romaine: COS. The Greek island where Romaine lettuce was first introduced is actually KOS.

19A: Inventer Howe: ELIAS. Why "Inventer" instead of "Inventor"? I used to think that Singer invented the sewing machine.

22A: Spaces between leaf veins: AREOLES. The plural can also be AREOLAS, AREOLAE. The singular form is AREOLA. Just had this clue last Sunday.

30A: Hobo's sack: BINDLE. Bundle does not fit. This BINDLE is so small.

31A: Gelling agent: GELATINE. I simply can't stand this 3 letter repetition.

35A: Celtic god of sea: LER. Or Lir. New to me. Only know Roman sea god Neptune. The Greek counterpart is Poseidon, the brother of Zeus/Hades/Hera.

39A: Iranian desert, Dasht-e __: LUT. See this map. Foreign to me. "Dasht" means "desert" in Persian I presume?. Oh by the way, why Iran is not considered an Arab country? What's the difference between an Arab country and an Muslim country?

43A: See through fabric: VOILE. French for "veil".

47A: Apollo 10 astronaut: CERNAN (Eugene). Not a familiar figure to me. Wikipedia says CERNAN is the last man on the moon. Both he and the Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, graduated from Purdue University.

49A: Some postal workers: SORTERS. Does this refer to the people or the machines?

50A: Pugilist's stat: KOS (Knockouts). See TKO more often.

51A: __ En-lai: CHOU. It's Zhou En-Lai to us. Cantonese spelling can be so different. CHOU (Zhou) is also a powerful dynasty in China, with its capital in Xi'An.

62A: Satellite of Jupiter: ELARA. No idea. Easily obtainable though. Wikipedia says it's named after the mother by Zeus of the giant Tityus. Look at this list, Zeus is such a womanizer. And he married his sister Hera. So DF.

64A: Ho or Pardo: DON. Have never heard of the singer DON Ho or TV announcer DON Pardo.

Down:

1D: Partner of hem: HAW. Is teamster here a verb?

2D: Old English letter: EDH. Sometimes the answer is ETH.

9D: "Morning Train" singer Easton: SHEENA. I googled her name. Here is the clip. Also the singer for Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only".

21D: Guitarist Joe: WALSH. Here is his "All Night Long". Saw this clue somewhere before.

27D: Body axis: MIDLINE. Holy moley. I did know know I have a MIDLINE in my body.

28D: Ring-shaped: ANNULAR

41D: Writer Caldwell: ERSKINE. Another google. He is the author of "Tobacco Road".

46D: Certain sandals: THONGS. Or "Certain beachwear". What a perfect body shape!

49D: Snowboarder White: SHAUN. No idea. See this photo cover. Wikipedia says he is known for his shock of red har, for which he has become known as "The Flying Tomato".

53D: Stevedores' grp.: ILA (International Longshoremen's Association)

C.C.

Notes from Constructor John Underwood

Opera has always been one of my passions, ever since my sophomore year at UNC when I took an opera appreciation course. Then living in New York at various times gave me the opportunity to see so many of the great singers at the Met: Birgit Nilsson, Joan Sutherland, Pavorotti, Domingo, Tebaldi, Price - though I never saw Callas, just missed her! It truly was a golden age of singing. So I was delighted to see that the OPERA was published today.

Thankfully the editor wasn't so ruthless with his changes this time, except I have to agree with one of your readers who said the theme clues were bland. I didn't like just clueing them according to the composer. Here are my original definitions:

10A: LULU: Streetwalker is murdered by Jack the Ripper (Alban Berg)

20A: FAUST: Scholar makes pact with the devil (Gounod)

25A: CARMEN: Gypsy is stabbed by rejected lover (Bizet)

41A: MADAMA BUTTERFLY: Japanese girl marries US Navy officer (Puccini)

63A: NORMA: Druid priestess loves Roman solder (Bellini)

71A: AIDA: Ethiopian slave betrays Egyptian lover (Verdi)

Though perhaps a little awkward and probably too long.

Also, for 52D OPERA, I had: Subject of this puzzle.

John Underwood