Saturday February 14, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: None

Total blocks: 34

Total words: 70

A much better puzzle today. Boy, I saw nothing positive in yesterday's grid, not even a single hit, only error after error.

I sure liked the five run-through 15-letter words in the Across. But I've also learned that 14-letter word is actually the the hardest to construct. After filling in TAILORS (62A: Suit makers", I wondered if Tom Pruce had considered a themed puzzle with FULL METAL JACKET as one entry. You know, he can add Jerry Seinfeld's PUFF SHIRT, Monica Lewinsky's Blue DRESS and Hillary Clinton's PANTSUITS. Voila, a great puzzle for President Clinton.

Very annoyed to see ELA (19A: Old-time high note) again. Why not "She, in 2D" (Sao PAULO, Brazil) as a tie-in? Also, "Cloth finish (41A)?" for IER again? Where is the imagination? How about "The back of hotel"? Hotelier, cashier, frontier, etc.

I guess there is no other better way to clue EPH (35D: New Testament bk.). But today will be a great day to clue ISA (25A: O.T. b ) as fill in the blank IN A, as in Gertrude Stein's "Rose IS A Rose ..." That's a very lonely rose struggling to blossom.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Across:

1A: Dulled by a narcotic: OPIATED. Did not know OPIATE can be a verb.

15A: Flourish of trumpets: FANFARE. Oh, is this how we got the extended "publicity" meaning?

16A: Otitis: EARACHE. Ot(a) is prefix for ear. Otalgia is EARACHE too. Gimme for Michael Phelps I am sure. He swims so often. Plus the current outcry over his marijuana use. Total overkill from Kellogg in my opinion. Backlash is coming.

17A: Kubrick's Vietnam War movie: FULL METAL JACKET. Here is the movie trailer. I was unaware of this movie. Oh, Ann Margret is sexy, no wonder that solider asked the question.

21A: Market dips: DOWNTURNS. The clue for RISE (51D: Shine's partner?) is fine. But I want "Ascend" to balance DOWNTURNS. I don't know what kind of detailed planning Wall Street was expecting from Timothy Geithner last Tuesday. But 400 point plunge is absurd.

29A: Slights: SCANTS. Scant is always a "Barely sufficient" adjective to me. Did not know it can be a verb meaning "To treat neglectfully".

32A: Acts against heirs: DISINHERITANCES

38A: Aleutian islands connection: ALASKA PENINSULA. Here is a map. It separates the Bering Sea from the Pacific. What is Becharof?

39A: Peter Sellers movie, with "The": MOUSE THAT ROARED. Looks funny. New to me. Wikipedia says the phrase "mouse that roared" proved a durable MEME over half a century, and is still current. What exactly is a MEME? Can you also give me some examples?

42A: Manuscript encl.: SAE (Stamped Addressed Envelope). Sometimes it's SASE (Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope). Can you believe Tom Vilsack (ex-Iowa governor, our current Secretary of Agriculture) folded his photo into my SASE when I asked for his autograph? But he was very nice and later mailed me a new one.

49A: One Hemingway: MARIEL. I liked her in "Manhattan". Ernest Hemingway was dead before she was born.

52A: Change in a car?: OIL. Good clue.

53A: Management by overseeing: SUPERINTENDENCE. Funny, but I really only knew "superintendent". The verb is "superintend".

59A: Acupressure massage: SHIATSU. No idea. Did recognize the Japanese kanji (指圧) when I googled. The first word 指 means "finger", the second 圧 "pressure", so literally, "finger pressure".

61A: Nagana carriers: TSETSES. Bugger, I thought "Nagana" is a city in Japan, and the clue is asking for a Japanese airline. More used to "African flies" clue.

Down:

5D: Scottish cap: TAM. Hmm, a TAM is not complete without a kilt.

9D: One who has been to Mecca: HAJI. Oh, nice to know. Meet MN Congressman Keith Ellison, the first HAJI of US Congress. He made his HAJ pilgrimage last year.

10D: Q.E.D. word: ERAT. Quod ERAT Demonstrandum. ERAT alone is "he/she/it was" in Latin.

14D: __ up (excited): HET. This phrase has negative connotationn, right? You can't get HET up over Valentine's Day, can you?

18D: Beattie or Blyth: ANN. Easy guess. I have never heard of writer ANNE Beatties or actress ANN Blyth. Is ANN a nicknam of Anne?

22D: Oder- ___ Line: NEISSE. Poland is Polen in German?

23D: Mr. Fixit: TINKER

24D: Knocks off a boater, e.g.: UNHATS. I did not know this kind of straw hat has a special name "boater". UNHAT sounds like a made-up word.

25D: Sustain: INCUR. As in "Sustain a financial loss"?

26D: Inscribed stone: STELE. Or STELA.

27D: Syrian strongman: ASSAD. The current Syrian president. This guy is unbelievably articulate.

30D: Went by dugout: CANOED. Of course I was thinking of baseball dugout, not the dugout boat.

31D: "Broken Arrow" co-star Michael: ANSARA. No idea. He was born in Syria. Was "Broken Arrow" a popular TV series?

33D: Entertainer Massey: ILONA. Another unknown. Wikipedia says she was born in Budapest and billed as "the new Dietrich". Her legs are so long.

43D: Skull cavity: SINUS

45D: Observant: ALERT

46D: Last movement of a sonata: RONDO. Learned this from doing Xword. Wikipedia says it could be also the last movement of a symphony or concerto.

47D: Crapshooter, for example: DICER. I only knew kitchen DICER.

48D: Huskies' burdens: SLEDS. Is Balto the most famous Husky sled dog?

55D: Bakery buy: PIE. Wrote down RYE first.

56D: Performance grants org.: NEA (National Endowment for the Arts). Interesting. I don't know its chairperson has to be appointed by the president.

57D: 601: DCI

C.C.

Friday February 13, 2009 Annabel Michaels

Theme: Chow Time

17A: Well-rounded repasts: SQUARE MEALS

60A: Purim: FEAST OF LOTS

11D: Summoner to supper: DINNER BELL

29D: Dinner for thirteen: LAST SUPPER

"With "The"" should be added to the last clue.

What a terrible editing job! I don't mind seeing SYRIA (68A: Aleppo's land) and BREAM (51D: Silvery European fish) for second day in a row, with the identical clues. But supper SUPPER, dinner DINNER duplications are outrageous. More felonies:

49A: Prov. follower: ECCLES. Have never seen Proverbs abbreviated as Prov before.

44D: Ecclesiastical residence: DEANERY. I was not aware of this ecclesiastical dean residence. But the clue definitely should be reworded to accommodate ECCLES.

47A: Unbroken stretch: STREAK. Why not "Unbroken run"?

Too many Roman numerals:

21A: 7 on a sundial: VII

46A: CCLXIII x IV: MLII

63D: CXII halved: LVI

I did not enjoy this puzzle at all. I've seen much better puzzles from Annabel Michaels.

Across:

1A: Fonda film: JULIA. Obtained the film title with the down fill help. Has anyone seen Annette Bening's "Being JULIA"?

15A: Gods' images: IDOLS. I wrote down ICONS first.

16A: Adjective-forming suffix: IAL. Presidential?

19A: Govt. advisory grp.: NSA (National Security Agency). Will Smith's "Enemy of the State" is about those NSA agents and their wire-tapping activities.

20A: Old California fort: ORD. What's so special about this fort? I faintly remember we had this answer before.

22A: Part of LBJ: BAINES. All his family members, including his dog, share the LBJ initials. I don't think any US president knows more about the congressional maneuvers than LBJ did. Stunning record of legislative achievements.

25A: Protesting workers: STRIKERS

27A: Native American language: SALISH. New word to me. Wikipedia says "All SALISH (or Salishan) languages are endangered - some extremely so with only three or four speakers left".

30A: Obedient dog?: HEELER

31A: Active volcano near Manila: TAAL. No idea. See this map. I wonder what TAAL means in local language.

37A: African fever: LASSA. I forgot. The disease was first discovered in a town called LASSA in Nigeria. Can't find a map.

39A: Score of zero: NIL. Soccer, I think.

51A: Sunday prohibitions: BLUE LAWS

53A: Bygone bird: MOA. The extinct New Zealand flightless bird. See Australia's coat of arms. It has a kangaroo and emu. Incapable of stepping backward, they can only move forward, signifying Australia's forward progression. "Forward with Pride", the Aussi spirit.

54A: Lasso: ROPE IN

55A: Cure or gram preceder: EPI

56A: Marsh or West: MAE. Have never heard of MAE Marsh before. She looks like a dangerous lorelei who delights in breaking others' heart. Men might need some of this magic nepenthe to relieve their sorrows.

59A: Key-punch bus.: EDP (Electronic Data Processing). Got it with the surrounds.

67A: Sea to Debussy: MER. Here is Debussy's "La MER."

Down:

2D: Roman acronym: SPQR. Holy mackerel Roman Empire! I really don't know this acronym. It stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus (the Senate and the people of Rome). OK, Maria said SPQR is most commonly known among Italians as "Sono Porci Questi Romani", loosely translated as " These Romans are Pigs".

3D: King Ibn -- of Saudi Arabia: SAUD. I am confused here. Wikipedia says this guy is the first monarch of Saudi Arabia. I thought Saudi has a long kingdom history.

7D: Ulan-_, Russ.: UDE. See this map. Located on the Siberian Uda River. Quite close to Mongolian capital Ulan Bator. Ulan is "red" in Mongolian. Ulan Bator means "Red Hero". Ulan Ude is simply "Red Ude". A bit of communism vestiage.

10D: Beset: ASSAIL

12D: Loom bar: EASER. Uh-uh, no, no. No idea. What is it?

23D: Eisenhower: IKE. Strictly speaking, this is not allowed in crossword construction. An abbreviated answer (even if it's a nickname) needs an abbreviation hint.

25D: Frantic cries: SHRIEKS

38D: Flying rescue missions: AIRLIFTS

58D: Book after Neh.: ESTH. Before Job. Often see NEH clued as "Bk before Esth".

C.C.

Thursday February 12, 2009 Adele Mann

Theme: What is Love?

1A: Start of a quip: LOVE IS

21A: Part 2 of quip: A CROCODILE

41A: Part 3 of quip: ALONG

60A: Part 4 of quip: THE RIVER OF

73A: End of quip: DESIRE

Does it mean that love is dangerous?

I have never solved a puzzle where the quip starts with 1A. Was worried that this puzzle might be a “Shock and Awe”. It turns out to be just a “shock and uh”.

Mike WEIR (26A: Masters champion from Canada) might be a bit obscure to non-golf fans. But it’s easily gettable. He is probably the best known left-handed golfer in PGA, after Phil Mickelson. I've forgotten most of the 2003 Masters. Do remember the intimate embrace he gave to his wife after he sank the final putt.

Too many “Be…” clues for my taste:

71A: Be without: NEED. Why not "Can't live without"?

45D: Be worthy of: MERIT. "Worth" alone is enough, isn't it?

13D: Be vanquished: LOSE. Dennis probably wants "Take the booby prize" or "Mislay".

Across:

17A: Grasping part: PINCER. Have never seen a singular PINCER before.

18A: Shaded walkways: ALAMEDAS. New word to me. Like this? Dictionary explains that ALAMEDA is rooted in Spanish word "alamo", a poplar tree in the Southwest.

25A: Temper: ANNEAL. Temper metal.

23A: Enticed: LED ON. I often confuse inveigle with inveigh.

28A: Archie’s command to Edith: STIFLE. Easy guess. I watched one or two episodes of "All in the Family". Don't remember this rude command.

44A: Silvery European fish: BREAM. No idea. Scary eyes. It does not look "Silvery" to me. Remember last time we had SCUP (clued as "Porgy")? Now that's "Silvery".

46A: Aleppo’s country: SYRIA. Last time ALEPPO was clued as "Syria city". Wikipedia says 70% of Aleppo's inhabitants are Sunni Muslims.

49A: Flower part: STAMEN. It bears pollen. The white stuff on top is the anther.

51A: 500-mile event, briefly: INDY. I know it runs over the Memorial weekend. And Daytona 500 will be held this weekend. Other than that, I know nothing about racing. Are those two like Baseball's American League Champion Series & National League Champion Series?

69A: Singer Peerce: JAN. Not a familiar name to me. Jan, he must be of Dutch root.

Down:

3D: Having blades, as a windmill: VANED. New adjective form to me.

4D: Mortgage condition: ESCROW. What exactly is ESCROW?

5D: Tina Turner’s ex: IKE. Nice change from the stale "Presidential nickname" clue. Not sure if they were really married though.

6D: F.D.R.’s mother: SARA. Learned her name from doing Xword. F.D.R.’s dog is FALA.

8D: Manmade fiber: ORLON. Wanted NYLON. Both are synthetic fiber, right?

10D: Young plant: SEEDLING. “Ling” is a suffix for small. Duckling, underling, yearling, etc.

27D: “Sliver” author Levin: IRA. Thrillingly scary movie. I did not know Ira Levin wrote it though.

37D: First name in tenors: ENRICO. For opera fans, 20th century started with ENRICO Caruso and ended with Pavarotti.

40D: Asian evergreen: TAMARIND. Interesting, Wikipedia says TAMARIND is Arabic for "Indian date" due to its date-like fruit shape. Palm dates I suppose. Our Chinese dates are round. Some people like TAMARIND in their chutney.

42D: Southwest people: NAVAJO. The largest tribal group in the US. I really adore some of the NAVAJO turquoise silver bracelets. Very pretty.

57D: Belafonte or Lewis: SHARI. Another easy guess. SHARI Belafonte is an actress. SHARI Lewis is the original puppeteer for "Lamb Chop".

58D: Lush: TOPER. Is this a real word?

59D: Edberg or Sorenstam: SWEDE. I've got several autographs from Annika Sorenstam. Have never heard of Stefan Edberg the tennis player.

C.C.

Wednesday February 11, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: The Scarlet Letters

17A: John Cougar Mellencamp hit: CHERRY BOMB

26A: Hit by the Psychedelic Furs: PRETTY IN PINK

43A: Hit by Chris DeBurgh: THE LADY IN RED

58A: Hit by Sting: DESERT ROSE

Why not "Hit by John Cougar Mellencamp" for 17A? It would be more consistent with the other three clues.

An odyssey for me this morning. The center grid where NUBIA/OMBRE/PRAIA intersects one another is very hard. As for the theme entries, I've heard of LADY IN RED and DESERT ROSE. Have forgotten all about CHERRY BOMB, I think someone linked that song before. PRETTY IN PINK is new to me. What a weird band name: The Psychedelic Furs.

There should be a "var." mark with the clue for TABU (9D:Prohibited). I have zero familiarity with SENSORIA (39D: Human CPUs), but "CPUs" should not be part of the clue, as it indicates an abbreviated answer.

Across:

1A: Collier's access: ADIT. Often clued as "Mine entrance". Coal + ier = Collier (coal miner)

15A: Snorer's peril: APNEA. What caused this sleep order?

19A: U.S. weather grp.: NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). New to me.

20A: Diarist Pepys: SAMUEL. Pepys has the same pronunciation as "peeps". His diary recorded the Great Fire of London (1666). Funny how that year is called "Annus Mirablis". It's a perfect "Annus Horribilis". Why do all those Latin words end in letter s?

34A: Women's Lib opponent, perhaps: MCP (Male Chauvinist Pig). Know the phrase, but the abbreviation did not come to me readily.

38A: Three-player card game: OMBRE. Or OMBER. From Spanish hombre (man). It's "a card game popular in the 17th and 18th centuries and played, usually by three persons, with 40 cards." Completely unknown to me.

41A: Cape Verde capital: PRAIA. No idea. See this map. Does it belong to Africa then? Wikipedia says Cape Verde was a Portuguese colony until 1975. About 71% of the population is Creole of mixed black African and Portuguese descent. And more than 85 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. Most of the Africans are Muslims, right?

53A: Ancient region in Asia Minor: AEOLIS. Or Aeolia. Another unknown to me. All I could think of is Ionia. Well, look at here, I was not that far off. I don't understand this part. How is Odysseus' Aeolus island connect with AEOLIS? Are they the same?

60A: Artist Mondrian: PIET. The Dutch painter famous for his "Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red". Also see this PIET Mondrian inspired Nike shoe.

61A: Anaheim player: ANGEL. Awkward Los Angels Angels of Anaheim. Yesterday's Rod Carew (7-time A.L batting champ) finished his career with the Angels.

Down:

4D: Maneuvering rocket: THRUSTER. I don't know. Like this?

10D: "Where the Wild Things Are" writer: SENDAK. I googled this author. Not familiar with the book.

11D: To have: Fr.: AVOIR. Santa, Je veux AVOIR this for Christmas.

18D: Right-hand page: RECTO. Reminds me of Barry G's outburst over RECTI (clued as "Belly muscles"). The singular form is rectus. RECTI is the same as abs, aren't they?

27D: Apple choice: ROME. Here is a clip for those who love the real ROMA.

29D: Nile region: NUBIA. No idea. Here is a map. Wikipedia says "most of NUBIA is situated in Sudan with a quarter of its terriory in Egypt. And in ancient times it was an independent kingdom." Why does this word sound so DF to me?

36D: Cowboy's chum: PARD. Short for Parter. Is it a common slang? I've never heard of it before.

46D: Sun: pref: HELIO

56D: Meeting: abbr.: SESS. This S-laden word is often found either at the bottom or the rightmost edge of the grid.

C.C.

Tuesday February 10, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: Moo, Moo, Good!

20A: Dairy exercise?: CHEESE CURLS

51A: Dairy pests?: BUTTER FLIES

11D: Dairy winds?: CREAM PUFFS

29D: Dairy DTS?: MILK SHAKES

A couple of things first:

1) I missed two important theme answers in John Underwood's Feb 6 "KNOT" puzzle. I failed to pick up BOW OUT and SLIP UP. Both are so short that I just did not think they are part of the theme. In his original submission, he has * marked in front of all the theme clues, and his clue for KNOT is "Theme clue, when added to the first word of * entries". The obscure "Interferometer instrument" for AERI is our editor's creation. Underwood's clue is simply "Atmosheric prefix". As for ATH, his original submission is "Olympic VIP". The clue we were given is "NCAA word", which is erroneous since ATH is not a word.

2) For those who don't get the TMS Daily Sunday puzzle, here is a special "Valentine Dream" from a different TMS syndication. Argyle plans to blog it next Sunday. Post-Star only keeps a one-week archive. So, please get it printed immediately.

Back to the puzzle. I really liked those theme answers, so vivid and evocative. I might have done too many puzzles. Now whenever I see BUTTER, I see ram (butt-er). "Hard butter?" for RAM is one of the cleverest clue I've ever seen.

Without the "Dairy..?" clues, I might have had difficulty finding the theme, as the fills for 33A, 40A, 4D and 26D are all very long and deceptively theme-answer looking.

Across:

5A: Payt. option: C.O.D

8A: Violinist Elman: MISCHA. First encounter with this Kiev-born violinist. MISCHA is just a Russian nickname for either Mikhail (dancer MISHA Baryshnikov) or Michelle (actress MISCHA Barton).

14A: Colombian city: CALI. Great nightlife in CALI I suppose, given its title as "Salsa Capital of the World".

16A: Egyptian judge of the dead: OSIRIS. I only knew him as the husband/brother of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of fertility. Wikipedia says OSIRIS is usually depicted as a green-skinned because green was the color of rebirth. I was thinking he might be a very jealous husband. What's his Greek counterpart then? Hades?

17A: 1/4 of MXX: CCLV. Roman numeral 255. It intersects 1D: L x XVI: DCCC. Roman 800. Not a great corner there.

27A: Lincoln and Zumwalt: ELMOS. No idea. ELMO Lincoln was the first Tarzan. ELMO Zumwalt modernized the US Navy. And he was the youngest man to serve as Chief of Navy Operations. Interesting quote from him: "There is no black Navy, no white Navy -- just one Navy -- the United States Navy.'' Reminded me of Obama's keynote speech at 2004 Democratic National Convention: ".... there's not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America".

44A: Celtic Neptune: LER Or Lir. Celtic god of sea. The Greek counterpart is Poseidon, brother of Zeus/Hades/Hera.

46A: Old English letters: EDHS. Sometimes the answer is ETHS. I don't know the difference between the two.

56A: Tarsal bangle: ANKLET. This one is pretty. This one is too much.

58A: Presidential nickname: IKE. I wrote down ABE first.

60A: Conceive: IDEATE. Mine was CREATE.

61A: "The Daughter of Time" author: TEY. Not familiar with this Scottish mystery writer. Oh, the book cover looks quite interesting. Wikipedia says the title of the novel is taken from Bertolt Brecht's play "Life of Galileo", in which the eponymous hero observes: "Truth is the Daughter of Time, not of authority."

62A: German coal region: SAAR. Lower left. New to me. I kept thinking Ruhr, which is a coal region too, isn't it?

63A: Antiseptic surgery founder: LISTER (Joseph). Listerine is named after him.

Down:

5D: 7-time A.L. batting champ: CAREW (Rod). Gimme for any Twins fan. HOFer of course. Shocking to hear A-Rod took steroids. Time for Roger Clemens to come clean has passed. Have to admire Jason Giambi for his honesty.

7D: Remove sweetness: DESUGAR. Not a word to me.

8D: Shed feathers, in England: MOULT. Only knew MOLT.

12D: U. S. Grant's first name: HIRAM. I forgot. Hebrew for "Noble".

30D: Tidal area: MUDFLAT. New word to me. Looks very muddy.

31D: Easy as __: ABC. I wrote down PIE first.

34D: Swiss river: AAR. Or AARE. Here is the map. It flows into to the Rhine at the Swiss/German borner.

38D: Brit. quartermaster: RSO. Steve said this last time: "A quartermaster is a supply sergeant or officer in the American military. So RSO must mean Regimental Supply Officer."

41D: Meteorite remains: TEKTITE. Completely alien to me. Dictionary explains TEKTITE as "any of numerous generally small, rounded, dark brown to green glassy objects that are composed of silicate glass and are thought to have been formed by the impact of a meteorite with the earth's surface".

47D: Old comic-strip boy: DONDI. Another unknown. Wikipedia explains that "DONDI's original backstory describes him as a five year old, World War II war orphan of Italian descent. A soldier who was to be his future adoptive father (and who knew no Italian) found the child wandering in a war-torn village repeating the word "Donde" ("where") as he was looking for his slain parents."

49D: Two toppers: TREYS. I wanted THREE. This word stumps me way too often. Shouldn't the clue be "Deuce toppers"?

52D: Lived day to day: EKED. Needs an additional "with "out" I think.

54D: The same: Fr.: EGAL. The noun is egalité. As in the French motto: Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité. The last three lines are Italian, right? What do they mean, Maria?

55D: Carolina rail: SORA. See this picture. Why is it called "Carolina rail"?

C.C.

Monday February 9, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Location, Location, Location

17A: Past it: OVER THE HILL

36A: Focuses: CENTERS

56A: Pressurized: UNDER THE GUN

11D: Precedence: RIGHT OF WAY

27D: Like a southpaw: LEFT-HANDED

Nice puzzle. Simple theme. Perfectly executed. Every theme answer is gridded in its proper position. I would prefer a singular CENTER, but the grid rule dictates an odd-number word in the middle, so CENTERS has to be in plural form.

Disliked the clues for YENS (63A: Yearnings) and OCTET (12D: Octopus arms, e.g.) due to letter duplication. The stale "Group of eight" is just fine for OCTET. As for YENS, I would use a simple "Desires".

Liked the fresh clue for ENTS (54D: Adjective-forming suffixes, as in different). "Tolkien's trees" clue bores me. Happy to see our editor dumped "Poet's dusk" for EEN (37D: Ending for car or cant). But the clue was rather bland. Why not "Car tail?"

Across:

5A: Edouard's paintings: MANETS. Here is "Olympia" again. My favorite MANET. I love those daring eyes, so confronting.

14A: Porto-__, Benin: NOVO. See the bottom. Literally "New port" in Portuguese. I strung the answer together from down clues.

15A: Painter Modigliani: AMEDEO. The Italian painter. Like van Gogh, he died penniless.

21A: Slide, like a snake: SLITHER

24A: Market protests: BOYCOTTS. Named after Charles BOYCOTT, a British land agent who refused to lower rent for his tenant farmers in Ireland.

28A: $5 bill: FIN. Half a sawbuck.

29A: U.N. agcy.: ILO. Nobel Peace winner 1969. I did not know they belong to the UN.

31A: Eur. carrier: SAS. Sometimes the answer is KLM.

35A: One-time female mil. grp.: WAF. Women in the Air Force (1948-1976). New abbreviation to me.

38A: Female GI, once: WAC. Women's Army Corps (1943-1978). Saw this clue before.

39A: Compromise: SETTLE. Litigation-wise?

41A: Stephen or Chris: REA. Know Stephen REA ("Michael Collins" & "The Crying Game"). Have never heard of the British singer Chris REA.

42A: Polanki's Sharon: TATE. Was aware of the murder story, did not know her name. I am accustomed to the TATE Museum clue.

45A: Point NW of San Francisco: REYES. See the map. REYES is the plural form of REY, Spanish for king. Vs the Spanish Queen REINA.

50A: Made to join a mortise: TENONED. Did not know TENON can be a verb.

59A: Carolina river: PEE DEE. New river to me. Named after a Native American tribe.

62A: Lost sheep: STRAYS. Kept reading the clue as "Lost sleep".

Down:

5D: Olympic skier Phil: MAHRE. Foreign to me. British spelling to Maher (Bill Maher)? He does not look as cool as Bode Miller.

7D: Bk. after Ezra: NEH. Before Esth.

9D: Actor Savalas: TELLY. Have never heard of this actor. Wikipedia says he is the godfather to Jennifer Aniston, who is also of Greek root. I thought he has British blood, with this name TELLY.

10D: Importunes: SOLICITS

18D: Sales rep's domain: TERR

22D: Enameled metalware: TOLE. French for "Sheet metal". Most of the TOLE trays seem to have flowers painted on.

24D: Small bars: BISTROS. Some of the BISTROS are quite big.

26D: Winglike parts: ALAE. ALA is singular for Latin "wing". I wonder why the plural is not ALAS.

32D: Monterrey Mrs.: SRA. Alliteration again.

33D: Lot: FATE. The answer did not come to me easily. I was not in the "destiny" direction.

40D: Ex-Yankee Martinez: TINO. Yankees' ex-first base. Was replaced by Jason Giambi in 2001.

46D: One Barrymore: ETHEL. Dennis quoted her last Monday: "You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more things you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about, the more you have left when anything happens."

47D: Jerry Stiller's Anne: MEARA. Ben Stiller's mother. I obtained her name from across fills.

52D: "The Night of the Hunters" screenwriter: AGEE. Also the screenwriter of "The African Queen". He drank a lot a lot.

53D: Actor Moses: GUNN. Completely unknown to me. Wikipedia says Moses GUNN was in "Roots". I don't remember seeing him though.

C.C.

Sunday February 8, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Triple Letter Score

23A: Most probably: IN ALL LIKELIHOOD

35A: Particle that's not bonded: FREE ELECTRON

108A: Hilo's location: HAWAII ISLAND

128A: City near Kitchener: WATERLOO ONTARIO

16D: Rustproof metal: STAINLESS STEEL

34D: "Burden of Proof" author: SCOTT TUROW

51D: Worker's parties: STAFF FUNCTIONS

53D: Small rudimentary timers: EGG GLASSES

With a little bit Jazz creativity, ZZZ could be structured in a grid I suppose. Would be very hard if not impossible to put in the expensive QQQ, XXX or YYY though.

My favorite theme entry is SCOTT TUROW. I think this is the first time his full name appears in our TMS puzzle. Often see his book "One L"as an answer.

A bit jarring to see END (114A: Denouement) and ON END (98A: In an upright position) so close by. Love the clue for EXIST (37D: Take up space?). Was confused by 45A: Socal airport: LAX. Letter c should be capitalized, SoCal.

What's your answer for 29D: Digital display letters? Right now I have LED, which does not make sense. Should be LCD. But I am certain of the intersecting ASTERN (33A: To the rear). (Addendum: LED is a sold answer. It stands for Light Emitting Diodes.)

Please scroll down for Argyle's blog about TMS Sunday "Anatomy" puzzle.

Across:

1A: Splits: SCHISMS. I was thinking of a verb answer.

15A: Pretentious individual: PSEUD. Mine was PHONY.

22A: Declaration of truth: IT'S SO

32A: Carbohydrate ending: OSE. Often clued as "Sugar suffix". Carb is complex sugar I think.

41A: Marks under some C's: CEDILLAS. As in garçon, indicating a soft C.

49A: Victor at Gettysburg: MEADE (George). Forgot his name. Could only think of the crossword stalwart R. E. Lee, whose name also has 5 letters.

64A: Pasolini picture: SALO. Got the answer. Clueless about Pasolini or the film. Wikipedia mentions that the movie is based on Marquis de Sade's "The 120 Days of Sodom". Sounds sadistic.

71A: St. with keys: FLA. "Street" always jumps into my brain whenever I see the abbreviation St.

76A: Narcissus: DAFFODIL. My instinctive thought was a self-absorbed Blago style Nascissus rather than the flower.

86A: First Arabic letter: ALIF. The second Arabic letter is Ba. The first Hebrew letter is Aleph, followed by Beth.

92A: Japanese ship name: MARU. No idea. But I recognize the kanji 丸, literally "ball". Testicles would be 睾丸 in Japanese. Wikpidia says MARU is a suffix, often "applied to words representing something that is beloved, and sailors applied this suffix to their ships."

97A: Latvian coins: LATI. Had zero familiarity with the coin. The singular form is strangely LATS.

116A: Leafstalk: PETIOLE. New word to me. I simply call the stalk stalk or stem.

127A: Blood of gods: ICHOR. Blood of "Greek gods" to be exact. And they drink nectar and eat ambroisa.

131A: Sch. in the Nutmeg State: UCONN. Did not know Connecticut is known as "the Nutmeg State". Their sports teams are called the Huskies.

132A: Act of avoiding capture: ELUSION. Thought of evasion.

134A: Children's doctor?: SEUSS. I like his "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch".

Down:

1D: Ado: STIR

12D: "Shrek" princess: FIONA. Unknown to me. She is ugly.

17D: First family of Ferrara: ESTE

40D: Never in Berlin: NIE. Interesting all the negative responses seem to start with letter N: NAE for the Scots, NYET for the Russians and NON for those who have "tete" above their shoulders.

42D: Oahu porch: LANAI. Oh, let me be in this LANAI with a man I love, I will ask for no other heaven.

44D: Certain lilies: SEGOS. Why do I always think of carla lilies? They are definitely prettier. SEGO lily is Utah's state flower.

48D: In medias __: RES. Latin for "Into the middle of things". "Ab ovo" is "From the beginning". Both derived from Horace's "Ars Poetic".

54D: 1982 Disney flick: TRON

62D: Hebrew month: ELUL. The 12th month in Jewish calendar. Have not seen ADAR for a long time.

76D: Friend of Pythias: DAMON. I was totally unaware of this Greek myth. And I mixed Pythias with Porthos, so I was thinking of Athos/Aramis, The Three Musketeers.

79D: Tiriac of tennis: ION. Haver never heard of this guy before. He looks like a mafia don. I wonder why ION is not clued as "Charged particle" to match ANIONS (109D: Negative particles".

90D: Lapland native: SAMI. Also known as Lapps. Got it from the across fills. Totally forgot about these nomad natives.

99D: Disarms, as a bull: DEHORNS. Mine was UNHORN.

106D: Bubkes: NIL. "Bubkes" means nothing to me. I've never heard of this Yiddish word before.

107D: Embroidery yarn: CREWEL. Another new word for me. Interesting, it has the same pronunciation as "cruel".

110D: Logical beginning?: IDEO. Ideological.

111D: "Gil Blas" writer: LESAGE. I googled this French writer. Wonderful name, LE SAGE. Wikipedia had 2 quotes from him: "Pride and conceit were the original sins of man" and "Facts are stubborn things".

113D: Book before Philemon: TITUS. Would not have obtained this answer without crossing fills.

116D: Name of 12 popes: PIUS. That's a lot. How many LEO's then?

120D: Base meal?: MESS. Military base.

130D: Where the Phillies play, briefly: NLE. National League East. Of course I was thinking of the ballpark Phillies are playing (Citizens Bank Park). Was misguided many times during today's solving.

C.C.

Sunday, February 8, 2009 Linda and Charles Preston

Note: This post is blogged by Argyle. It's a TMS Sunday syndication, different from our normal TMS Daily puzzle Sunday edition.

Theme: ANATOMY

28A: Seeming worth: FACE value

56A: Sensitive firearm part: HAIR trigger

87A: Revelation: EYE opener

91A: Hard work: ELBOW grease

29D: USNA grad.: KNUCKLEhead

35D: Trunk: FOOTlocker

42D: Football defenseman: NOSE tackle

Across:

6A: Harris' ___ Rabbit: BR'ER. Brother Rabbit.

13A: Stalks: STEMS. Good clue.

18A: Kate's TV partner: ALLIE. CBS sitcom '84 to '89, somewhat like a female version of 'The Odd Couple'.

19A: Self-assuredness: POISE. Weak clue.

20A: "___Gotta Be Me": I'VE. This clue is getting over-used.

22A: Sierra ___ - LEONE. There are quite a few 'Sierra __' out there. Sierra Leone and its neighbor down the coast, 80A Niger neighbor - Benin.

23A: Martini's partner: ROSSI. You can put this vermouth in your martini.

26A: Fool: KNUCKLEHEAD

28A: Seeming worth: FACE VALUE. I had 'fair value' for awhile, just close enough to mess me up.

31A: Writer Cleveland: AMORY. Cleveland Amory, 1917 - 1998, prominent humorist and humanitarian, founded The Fund for Animals in 1967 and served without pay as its president until his death. He wrote The Cat and the Curmudgeon.

32A: Hydrocarbon derived from resins: RETENE. I see no reason to know this word!

33A: Goodbye to some: ADIOS: Weak clue.

34A: Commotions: FURORS

35A: Notability: FAME

39A: Decorative glitter: SPANGLES. on the Red Carpet.

45A: Inquest official : CORONER

46A: Like a pine tree: CONED. Weak clue.

47A: Certain winner: SHOO-IN. Certain is used to indicate a 'sure thing' in this case.

49A: Desperados: THUGS

52A: "Deutschland űber ___" - ALLES. "Germany above All" originally meant the whole country is more important than the individual states.

54A: "Anna Christie" writer: O'NEILL. Eugene O'Neill, 1888 – 1953, was an American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature. Wrote "Anna Christie" in 1920.

56A: Sensitive firearm part: HAIR TRIGGER. Good clue.

62A: Without principles: AMORAL. No comment.

65A: Reporter's quest : SCOOP

66A: Shone like a lighthouse: BEACONED

70A: Hindu monks: FAKIRS. A Hindu ascetic or religious mendicant, especially one who performs feats of magic or endurance.

71A: Irritate: RANKLE. A good word; sounds like its meaning.

73A: Turn around: REVERSE. Weak clue, would prefer "change direction".

75A: ___ pig: GUINEA

77A: Goldenyears' folk : RETIREES

78A: Event take: GATE

79A: Italian poet and namesakes: DANTES

81A: Medicinal plants: SENNAS. Senna Alexandrina used for herbal laxative tea.

82A: Spellbinding group: COVEN. Group of witches and warlocks.

87A: Revelation: EYE OPENER

91A: Hard work: ELBOW GREASE. "Elbow grease has been a term of 'hard manual labor' since before 1639, 'B.E.'s Dictionary of Canting Crew' (ca. 1698) calling it 'A derisory term for Sweat.' The old joke that 'elbow grease' is the best brand of furniture polish was probably common centuries ago, too, in some form. The phrase was known in France from early times as well (buile de bras)." From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

93A: Hood, of "Our Gang": DARLA: Darla Hood.

94A: "___tu": Verdi aria: ERI. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings a beautifully melancholy rendition of Renato's aria, Eri tu from Un Ballo.

95A: Rum cake: BABKA. Yum!

97A: Former Laker great Baylor: ELGIN. Elgin Baylor, basketball forward, led Minneapolis/LA Lakers to 8 NBA Finals; 10-time All-NBA 1st team (1959-65,67-69) Topps Card.

98A: First were black and white: TVS. And five are in Dick's basement.

99A: Staggering: AREEL

100A: Hopeless case: GONER. Cute clue.

More cute clues in the Down set:

Down:

1D: Mound miscues: BALKS

2D: Malkovich/Nelligan film: ELENI. Kate Nelligan and John Malkovich star in a 1985 film that stands as a monument to a loving mother and heroic woman, Eleni Gatzoyiannis.

4D: Chop: MINCE

6D: Blubbers: BOO-HOOS

9D: Nevada's politico Harry: REID. Harry Reid, Democrat, the senior United States Senator from Nevada, as well as the U.S. Senate Majority Leader.

10D: Varied - DIFFERED. Weak clue.

11D: Barnstormer, maybe: AVIATOR. Or aviatrix, maybe.

12D: British textile dealers: MERCERS. Noun [F. mercier, fr. L. merx, mercis, wares, merchandise]. Originally, a dealer in any kind of goods or wares; now restricted to a dealer in textile fabrics, as silks or woolens. [Eng.]

13D: Tonsorial treatment: SHAVE

14D: Italian semi-hard cheese: TOMA. Toma is a type of cow's milk cheese whose taste is fairly salty becoming 'piccante' as the months pass.

15D: Immorality: EVIL

16D: Carte before the course: MENU. Cute clue.

27D: Served soup:- LADLED

32D: Artful dodges: RUSES

33D: Actress Moorehead: AGNES

34D: Seneca, Cayuga, et al.: FINGER LAKES. Lakes formed by glaciers on New York's Southern Tier.

35D: Trunk: FOOT LOCKER

36D: Baseball family name: ALOU

39D: Skiddoo!: SCRAM

40D: Ernest ___:1918 Pulitzer winner: POOLE. Ernest Poole, 1880 - 1950, was a U.S. novelist. His portrait of a New York family titled His Family made him the first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918. His novel The Harbor has remained the work for which he is best known. It presents a strong socialist message, set in the industrial Brooklyn waterfront. It is considered one of the first fictional works to offer a positive view of unions.

42D: Football defenseman: NOSE TACKLE

46D: Surly sort: CHURL

47D: Child's direction?: STIR: Cute clue, French chef Julia Child's direction.

50D: Guiding light: ANGEL

51D: Sediment: LEES. As in a bottle of wine.

54D: Shrek and family: OGRES

56D: Give an edge to?: HONE. Cute clue

57D: Ancient area of Asia Minor: IONIA

59D: Tours' river: LOIRE. France.

60D: Wasteland shrub: GORSE. Now that is rough.

63D: Hood's honey: MOLL. Cute clue, the female companion of an American gangster.

65D: Perfumery oil: SAVIN. Savin oil, used in perfumery, comes from the leaves and tops of a low, spreading Eurasian juniper (Juniperus sabina) of E North America and Europe.

66D: Crow : BRAG

67D: "Do I dare to ___ peach": EAT A. Discussed before.

68D: Structural sci.: ANAT. New clue to me.

69D: Post office purchase units: PANES

70D: Honoring, in a way: FETING. Fete can be noun or verb.

72D: Ravi Shankar, e.g.: SITARIST

73D: Resumption: RENEWAL

75D: Fish-eating birds: GANNETS. You won't see any geese do this.

76D: Frighten: UNNERVE

77D: Annuls: REVOKES

79D: Disc jockey starter: DEE. Disc jockey starts with a "D".

80D: Went for apples, in a way: BOBBED. Cute clue, anybody have a good 'bobbing for apples' story?

81D: Durations: SPANS.

82D: Diplomat ___ Boothe Luce: CLARE. Clare Boothe Luce, 1903 – 1987, was an American playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and one of the first women ever in congress, representing the state of Connecticut.

84D: Singer Frankie: LAINE. Frankie Laine, 1913 - 2007, (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio), was a successful American musician, singer and songwriter whose career spanned 75 years. The Cry of the Wild Goose (not a gannet!)

88D: Bush school : YALE. Generations of the Bush family have been Yale alumni.

89D: Thus: ERGO

90D: Actors Ken and Lena: OLIN

91D: Israel's Abba: EBAN

92D: Storm: RAGE

Argyle

Saturday February 7, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: None

Total blocks: 34

Total words: 70

This is the first puzzle that I've solved with so few Down fills. Only 25 answers, compared with 45 Across words. And four of them have 15 letters:

3D: Flock and pride, e.g.: COLLECTIVE NOUNS

6D: Predatory insects: PRAYING MANTISES

7D: cousin of colitis: GASTROENTERITIS

11D: Digestive tract: ALIMENTARY CANAL

To steal a line from SEC whistle blower Harry Markopolos, this grid "roars like a lion and bites like a flea". Can't believe SEC took no action for 10 years when it took this guy only five minutes to figure out Bernie Madoff was a fraud.

I did have some trouble at the lower left quadrant. I did not know "No, no, NANETTE" and had trouble deciphering REDALGAE (37D: Source of agar). Has forgotten all the edible RED ALGAE dulse discussion we had a few weeks ago. I only use nori seaweed to wrap my rice balls.

Across:

4A: With it, once: HEP. I still see people use the word HEP occasionally. "With it, once"?

15A: Part of E.E.C.: EUR. Interesting intersection with EUROPA (5D: Icy satellite of Jupiter), which was named after the Greek goddess, from whom Europe derived.

16A: Spaces between leaf veins: AREOLAE. Last time the answer is a different plural form AREOLES. Can also be AREOLAS. Boring clue. I wanted "Nipple rings" .

25A: Elbe tributary: EGER. I can't find a map. Wikipedia says EGER is also a Hungarian city best known for its castle & thermal baths & wines. Nicknamed "Rome of Hungary". I wonder why most of those roofs are red.

26A: Capital on the Missouri River: PIERRE. Lingered here when we went to Billings a few years ago. A small charming city. Very quiet and clean. It's named after the fur trader PIERRE Chouteau.

27A: Old high note: ELA. The obscure Guido's high note.

33: Verizon, once: GTE. Only learned this morning that Verizon is a portmanteau of veritas and horizon. It's formed in 2000 when GTE merged with Bell Atlantic.

40A: Construct a retaining wall: REVET. No idea. Dictionary explains REVET as "to retain (an embankment, for example) with a layer of stone, concrete, or other supporting material; provide with a revetment." And it's rooted in French word "revetir", meaning "to clothes again". The noun is revetment. I did not know that there is a special term for those stony embankment.

38A: Adult males: MEN. And MAN (50A: Isle of __). Not sure if NY Times will allow this singular & plural form appear in one puzzle.

42A: Big place in California?: SUR. Big SUR.

44A: Invalidate: CANCEL. I thought of debunk.

51A: Prefix meaning different: HETERO. Heterosexual.

52A: __ homo (Behold the man!): ECCE. Last time ECCO is clued as "Behold, to Bellini". Italian for ECCE I suppose.

53A: Afrafat's org.: PLO. It's "Abbas's org." now.

54A: Of part of the eye: IRIDIC. New word to me. You would think the adjective for iris would be irisic.

61A: 'No, No,__": NANETTE. Have never heard of this musical before. Interesting trivia: Wikipedia says the producer of the show, a former owner of the Red Sox, financed the show by selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

64A: Artist's bases: GESSOES. Thought the plural form is just GESSOS.

66A: WWII landing craft: LST (Landing Ship Tank). The boat used in "Saving Private Ryan".

Down:

2D: Caspian sturgeon: BELUGA. I suppose those black stuff are BELUGA? Have never tasted it before.

9D: Clairvoyant women: SEERESSES. Cassandra was a SEERESS. She foresaw the fall of Troy. But because she did not return Apollo's love, he cursed her and nobody believed in her predictions.

12D: Certain Israeli: GALILEAN. Jesus is one.

23D: Given life, eg.: SENTENCED. I like this clue.

32D: Toss among: PITCH INTO

35D: Ducks and dodges: ELUDES

45D: hang out to freshen: AERATE

46D: John and Sondra: LOCKES. Knew John LOCKE, not Sondra LOCKE. Wikipedia says she is best known for frequently starring in films with Clint Eastwood.

57D: Presidential election loser of '50s: AES. Poor Adlai Stevenson. Always a "loser" in our editor's eye. How about "JFK's UN ambassor" or "DDE's opponent/challenger" rather than "Loser to DDE" all the time. He dated Lauren Bacall for some time, right?

C.C.

Friday February 6, 2009 John Underwood

Theme: KNOT (69A: Tie tie)

20A: Green apple: GRANNY SMITH

31A: Step down: BOW OUT

37A: British royal residence: WINDSOR CASTLE

43A: Get it wrong: SLIP UP

57A: Geometric choreography?: SQUARE DANCE

I was not familiar with either GRANNY KNOT or SQUARE KNOT. So I had difficulty tying, or rather untying, the constructor's knotty knots. Took me a long time to figure out what his theme is.

Always thought the "British royal residence" is Windsor Palace.

Nice, scrabbly puzzle, with expensive letters like X, Q and J. As NCAA is the answer for 35D: Final Four letters, so the clue for ATH (56A: NCAA word) should definitely be changed into "Sports fig." or something else. Come visit the Comments section and tell us how you would clue ATH.

Across:

1A: Cloth belt: SASH. Here is a SASH KNOT.

5A: Man with ladder: JACOB. Faintly remember JACOB's LADDER story. Do you know if Job's Tears have any Biblical reference? They are supposed to be good for your skin. Too insipid for my taste though.

10A: Rue the aerobics: ACHE. Nice change from the old "Sore spot" or "Masseuse's target".

15A: Sunshine State city: OCALA. Is it really the "Horse Capital of the World"? Not Lexington, KY?

19A: Director Gus Van __: SANT. Liked "Good Will Hunting", did not know Gus Van SANT was the director. His recent film is "Milk", which nabbed 8 Oscar nominatons this year, including Best Picture.

23A: Baseball scoreboard trio: RHE. Runs, Hits & Errors.

27A: C.I.A. forerunner: OSS. I mentioned yesterday about my confusion over Michael Hayden still being Obama's CIA Director. Had forgotten all about Leon Panetta until someone emailed me about his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday. Strange to have a guy without any intelligence background as CIA head. Tough guy though. Monica Lewinsky hated him.

31A: Step down: BOW OUT. Brought to mind Tom Daschle's sudden withdrawal of his nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Jaw-dropping amount of "consulting" income.

41A: Interferometer instrument: AERI. Got the answer from down fills. Have never heard of Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer. It measures "the absolute infrared spectral radiance (watts per square meter per steradian per wavenumber) of the sky directly above the instrument". Too abstract for me. I doubt this is Underwood's original clue.

46A: Part of R.S.A.: AFR. RSA is Republic of South Africa.

47A: Govt. bookkeepers: GAO. Oh, I always thought it stands for General Accounting Office. Turns out that the name was changed into Government Accountability Office in 2004.

65A: Pathogenic bacteria: ECOLI. The "Deadly African virus" is EBOLA. And Carlo Levi's book is titled "Christ Stopped at EBOLI".

Down:

2D: Oldsmobile models: ALERO. Why did they name the model ALERO? Is it a Greek/Roman god or something?

5D: Young kangaroo: JOEY. Have seen this clue too many times to be stumped.

8D: Acid in soap: OLEIC. Wikipedia says "OLEIC acid makes up 55-80% of olive oil".

11D: Shade of gray: CHARCOAL. Young girls probably like the frayed hem in this CHARCOAL mini-skirt.

38D: Dublin dudes: IRISHMEN. Nice alliteration. And EIRE (66A: Dublin's land). Now our blog needs a Scottish solver. We already have an Irish, a British and a Welsh.

40D: Valuable fiddle: STRAD. OK, here again is Joshua Bell's famous DC Metro rush hour incognito experiment. He and $3.5 million STRAD collected a total of $32 from over 1,000 passers-by.

48D: Famed jockey Eddie: ARCARO. The only guy to have won Triple Crown twice. Amazing. That's a strange photo. According to this list, he was not the jockey of Assault. He rode Whirlaway and Citation.

55D: "R.U.R."playwright: CAPEK (Karel). The inventor of the word "robot" (1921). Often see RUR clued as "Capek play".

C.C.

Thursday February 5, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Irrational Rationale

20A: Start of George Bernard Shaw quote: NOTHING IS EVER

38A: Part 2 of quote: ACCOMPLISHED BY A

56A: End of quote: REASONABLE MAN

Do you consider this as a REASONABLE quote? George Bernard Shaw was an activist, so this quote may be his excuse for any excesses he may commit. Here is a site with more of his quotes (and there are a lot of them).

The quote does encourage audacity and creativity, right? I wasted some valuable time at upper right corner this morning. Wrote down WENT instead of PART for 10A: Split, thinking the clue is a past tense. The down fills today seem to be a bit harder than across ones.

For those whose paper does not carry TMS Sunday puzzle, here is another TMS syndication puzzle. Hope you are interested. Argyle will blog this puzzle on Sunday.

Across:

14A: Kosher: LEGIT. "Not kosher" is TREF.

15A: Aces, sometimes: ONES: When playing Black Jack, ACES may count as one or eleven.

19A: Loan letters: MTGE (Mortgage). Someone mentioned the other day that HMO stands for "Homeowners Insurance" in real estate term. A rare bright spot on the housing market, the pending home sales index is up. The prices might be way down.

23A: Charlotte-to-Raleigh dir.: ENE. Got the answer from down fills. Had no idea of the exact direction.

24A: Nat. interest watchdog: CIA. Wasn't Obama supposed to nominate someone new for the CIA director post? How come the head is still Michael Hayden?

25A: Strauss opera: SALOME. I forgot. Faintly remembered "Dance of the Seven Veils" though. The opera was based on a play by Oscar Wilde. SALOME was the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas and it was she who asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Dictionary says SALOME is Hebrew for "peace". Is it related to "shalom" then?

28A: Painted ponies: PINTOS. I don't understand this clue? Why "Painted"? I adore Michael Learns to Rock's "Paint my Love", though I don't think my love will be "a picture of thousands sunsets".

35A: A.E.C. successor: NRC. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, created in 1975.

37A: Prince Valiant's son: ARN. He is getting old in the comic strip, too. NYTanonimo just blogged this enty at her Barry Silk post. She also mentioned that LETT is an archaic word for Latvian, yet our editor keeps using "Riga resident" for LETT. I don't know. Whatever, I will just LETT it be.

43A: Brit's raincoat: MAC

50A: "Seinfeld" gal: ELAINE

64A: Burnsian hillside: BRAE. I did not know "Burnsian" refers to Robert Burns. Thought it might be a Scottish town. Interesting origin: BRAE is rooted in Old Norse word "Bra" meaning eyebrow. I don't really know what a BRAE is. This picture came up when I googled the word.

66A: Fertilizer ingredient: NITER. "Gunpowder ingredient" as well.

67A: Comic Martin: MULL. Easy answer. But I've never heard of Martin MULL before.

Down:

2D: Detroit dud: LEMON. Poor Detroit, hit so hard by the recession, and the Lions, and an unfaithful mayor.

3D: Striped gem: AGATE. It's not a previous gem, isn't it? I only know marbles are made of AGATE.

5D: Impassivity: STOICISM. Stoic was founded by Zeno, Zeno of Citium. Not the paradox guy Zeno of ELEA, our crossword stalwart.

10D: __ Sue Martin: PAMELA. Not a familiar actress to me. What movie is she famous for?

11D: Old navigation instrument: ASTROLABE. No idea. Looks complicated. The word starts with ASTRO. Has to be related with stars then.

12D: Fix, in a way: RIG

22D: Anatomical duct: VAS. Latin for "vessel". Plural is vasa. Unknown to me. I've never heard of the sperm transporting tube "VAS deferens" either.

26D: Martin and Pickford: MARYS. MARY Martin was an Tony-winning actress. MARY Pickford was an Oscar-winning Canadian actress. Both were strangers to me.

28D: PGA member: PRO. Quite true.

34D: Of an insurance job: ACTUARIAL. Only knew actuary.

36D: Little angel: CHERUB. This is the famous Vanity Fair magazine cover when the author used CHERUB to describe Scarlett Johansson.

40D: Aubergine: EGGPLANT. Nightshade vegetable. I like the purple slim ones on the right.

49D: Irish playwright: O'CASEY (Seán). Another guess. He wrote "The Plough and the Stars".

54D: Actress Claire: DANES. She played Meryl Streep's daughter in "The Hours".

58D: Scottish headland: NESS. Or "Famous T-man Eliot". Kevin Costner is great in "The Untouchables".

C.C & Argyle