Bonus Crossword: Barry Silk Presentation Puzzle

THEME: Barry Silk Presentation Puzzle

Crossword Grid Found here.

Just click on iPaper, then print it out. Barry Silk kindly provided us with this special puzzle he made for a presentation on Jan 17, 2009 at the Tysons-Pimmit Regional Library, a branch of the FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY. He spoke on the evolution of the crossword, its role as a daily showcase of wit and wordplay, and gave clues and tips for solving them. This venue is the theme of the puzzle appearing in the first part of the four long across answers.

19A: One of the most congested streets in Los Angeles: FAIRFAX AVENUE

26A: Dunmore caves site in Ireland: COUNTY KILKENNY

46A: National parks and forests, ex.: PUBLIC PROPERTY

54A: Reference storage: LIBRARY STACKS

Barry is a prolific crossword constructor with a wealth of experience. Check out C.C.'s interview with him here if you haven't already.

This puzzle was two letters shy of being a pangram-no J or Q, typical Barry Silk. For those of you not familiar with pangram crosswords they use every letter of the alphabet at least once. Here is an interesting crossword puzzle constructor story and an amazing triple pangram by Matt Gaffney.

Have you ever tried constructing a double or triple pangram Barry? Did they make a video of your presentation that we can view?

NYTAnonimo here subbing for C.C.. Bear with me as this is my first attempt at blogging.

I had to google 7D to complete this puzzle. Didn't know this Philadelphia university. Flew though it pretty fast except for that snag.

ACROSS:

1A: Living room centerpiece: SOFA

5A: Scoundrel: CAD. Besides referring to a rake (check out the tavern scene) it is also an acronym for Computer Aided Design.

8A: Hits a high point: PEAKS.

13A: Not this: THAT

14A: Former Iranian president: Bani___SADR. More familiar with Sadr City in Iraq.

15A: Kramden of "The Honeymooners": RALPH Can be found here with 51D. Nice touch Barry.

16A: Coastal city: PORT

17A: Ballet movement: PLIE. Always wanted to take ballet but never did. How many of you have?

18A: Steer clear of: EVADE. Don't evade helping C.C. blog these puzzles-it's not as hard as I thought it would be. I'm sure the first time is longer too until you get the hang of it.

19A: One of the most congested streets in Los Angeles: FAIRFAX AVENUE. Unknown to me. The X from DREXEL helped me to come up with FAIRFAX. That's one of the reasons I like the way Barry tries to include the more uncommon letters of the alphabet in his puzzles. They are often what helps me pull the word from memory.

22A: Steinbeck's birthplace: SALINAS

24A: Super Bowl XLII MVP: Manning-ELI. I'm not much for watching sports so this is a weak spot for me in puzzle solving. I learn these sports names primarily from crosswords. Love to swim and hike though. Any other swimmers and hikers out there?

25A: Baseball great Mel-OTT

26A: Dunmore Caves site in Ireland: COUNTY KILKENNY. There is a beautiful castle in Kilkenny too. Have any of you been to this area?

29A: "Barbara __"(Beach Boys classic): ANN. Time machine time!

30A: (As written): SIC

31A: Wonder: AWE

32A: Father: BEGET. Think I've only seen this in the Bible. I'm plodding my way through this tome-up to Maccabees. My eyes glaze over in certain areas (like the begets). I also get sidetracked reading Bible commentaries (or books like Who on Earth was Jesus?) along with my regular reading.

35A: Butterfly catcher: NET

37A: Drinks with straws: SODAS

41A: Gym goer's pride: BOD (body)

43A: Sounds of hesitation: UHS

45A: Que. Neighbor: ONT. (Ontario)

46A: National parks and forests, e.g.: PUBLIC PROPERTY. How many of our national parks have you been to? Which was your favorite? I've been to Yosemite in California, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Acadia in Maine and Buck Island in the US Virgin Islands (St. Croix). Have driven through the Smokies and Everglades but not stopped for a visit. My favorite was Yosemite. Saw it in August and would like to go back in the spring when there is actually a Yosemite Falls flowing!

51A: Prince Valiant's son: ARN. Wikipedia says the Legend of Prince Valiant is an animated television show based on the Prince Valiant comic strip by Hal Foster.

52A: Female deer: DOE

53A: It may fit all: ONE SIZE

54A: Reference storage: LIBRARY STACKS. Location of Barry's presentation.

57A: Model of perfection: IDEAL

58A: Riga resident: LETT. Wikipedia says this is an archaic word for Latvian.

59A: Object of worship: IDOL

62A: Prefix with grade: CENTI

63A: Southwestern earthenware pot: OLLA

64A: Neighbor of Senegal: MALI. The stamp collecting hobby my uncle introduced me to when I was a kid has proven useful in solving crosswords.

65A: Cosmetics maker Lauder: ESTEE

66A: Scottish negative: NAE

67A: Cry in court: OYEZ. Think they teach this in law school?

Down:

1D: "The racer's edge": STP (Scientifically Treated Petroleum)

2D: "Well, whaddya know!": OHO

3D: Extending over a wide area: FAR FLUNG

4D: Achieve: ATTAIN

5D: Kind of leather: CALFSKIN

6D: 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit: ADIA

7D: Philadelphia university: DREXEL. My Achilles heel. Did you have one?

8D: Sneak showings: PREVIEWS. Check out the upcoming movies here.

9D: Icicle site: EAVE

10D: Substance abuse support group: ALANON (Alcoholics Anonymous)

11D: Mil. assignment: KP DUTY (Kitchen Patrol)

12D: Ghost costume, basically: SHEET

14D: Uses a hose: SPRAYS (Guaranteed to make you smile.)

20D: Bank statement abbr.: INT. (Interest)

21D: __-Seltzer: ALKA

22D: Sign of healing: SCAB

23D: Top-notch: A ONE

27D: Freeze: ICE UP. Have you all thawed out yet?

28D: New beginning?: NEO (As in neocon, neolithic, neoimpressionism, neoplasm, etc.)

33D: Wane: EBB

34D: Perjured oneself: TOLD A LIE . How m a n y m o r e can you think of? I've found snopes.com and factcheck.org good places to check the veracity of dubious claims.

36D: Engine valve: THROTTLE. My knowledge of car parts is limited-VERY limited-I know how to use the dipstick to check the oil level, how to measure tire pressure and add air to the tire, and could probably change a tire if I absolutely had to. My first car was an old Chevy Nova I had my last year in college. The floor boards in front developed a hole that went all the way through. You could see the street below. My friends used to joke that I could stick my foot through to brake-kind of like driving your car Fred Flinstone style. It drove like a tank (or at least how I think a tank would drive). Memories! What was the first car you owned?

38D: Her last film was "With Six You Get Eggroll" (1968): DORIS DAY.

39D: 1998 animated bug film: ANTZ. Have we seen ANTZII in a puzzle yet? Looks like that would be a no for the NYT from Jim Horne's stats. Can't remember if it's been in a Trib puzzle-do you know C.C.?

40D: Eye trouble: STYE

42D: Stylish Christian: DIOR. Though he died in 1957 his name lives on.

44D: Beethoven's "Moonlight ___": SONATA

46D: Groups of lions: PRIDE

47D: Straight: UNBENT

48D: Sri Lanka, once: CEYLON. Also a type of tea.

49D: Chest muscle, for short: PEC (pectoralis major and pectoralis minor)

50D: Igloo dweller: ESKIMO

51D: Kramden of "The Honeymooners": ALICE

55D: Give a "G" or "PG," say: RATE

56D: Actress Ward: SELA. I actually saw a movie she was in-just didn't remember it-big surprise! (Well it was a minor role for her-but I don't watch many movies or much TV and have trouble remembering the plots, characters and titles of the ones I do see.)

60D: Bullfight cheer: OLE

61D: Taylor, familiarly: LIZ

Lot of familiar crossword words in here but still an enjoyable puzzle.

Phew-this first try at blogging took a while-gives you a new appreciation for what C.C. does (everyday) ! Thanks to C.C. for the blog and to Barry for all the fine puzzles!

Tuesday February 3, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: A Sacred Journey

17A: 1941 Bing Crosby movie: BIRTH OF THE BLUES

40A: 1937 Paul Muni move (with "The"): LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA

61A: One of Donne's sonnets: DEATH BE NOT PROUD

None of the above theme answers was familiar to me. I thought there would be an odyssey of struggle waiting ahead when I read the clues. Was surprised that most of them crumbled quickly.

Had trouble with HMO (62D: Ins. choice). "Insurance" did not come to my mind readily at all. I need an additional word "Medical" for the clue, either "Medical Ins. choice" or "Med. Insurance choice".

Besides "LIFE OF EMILE ZOLA" and "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL", what other movie titles include the word LIFE?

Across:

1A: Painter's base: GESSO. Wikipedia says GESSO was "traditionally mixed with animal glue, usually rabbit-skin glue". Does modern GESSO contain any animal product?

29A: Yellowish-green olivines: PERIDOTS. Nice rings. Peridot is the August birthstone. Don't know how it differs from emerald.

32A: University in Waco: BAYLOR. The largest Baptist university in the world.

37A: Seraglio: HAREM. I forgot the meaning of "Seraglio". Italian for "enclosure". I often wonder if men really are not allowed inside HAREM.

46A: Heroic in scope: EPIC. Watched "Gandhi" the other day. Couldn't fully understand his mindset. Overly idealistic.

49A: Supporter: ADHERENT. Supporter of a "cause", isn't it? Nehru was an ADHERENT of Gandhi's philosophy and legacy, but he is not an ADHERENT of Gandhi, right?

55A: Dope or skinny: INFO. And FACT (57D: Actual event).

58A: One of the Ionian Islands: CORFU. Here is the map. Upper left corner. Prince Philip was born there. Lots of decorative stuff on his uniform.

69A: Van Duyn and Washbourne: MONAS. Van Duyn was a Pulitzer-winning poet (1991). Washbourne played Higgins' housekeeper Mrs. Pearce in "My Fair Lady" (1964). Did not know the former, and forgot the latter.

72A: Some golf tournaments: OPENS. "Some tennis tournaments" too. Rafael Nadal just won Australia Open. Stunning. Another history in the making.

73A: Dutch painter: STEEN (Jan). Here is his painting offered at European Fine Art Affair last year. With the current global economic crisis, I don't expect any "shock and awe" in 2009, unless it's another Rembrandt.

Down:

2D: Samuel's mentor: ELI. I guessed. Bible is definitely my Achilles' heel. Holy smoke, is it really ELI Manning?

13D: Durante feature: NOSE. A prominent NOSE indeed.

22D: Cameos and pippins: APPLES. I've had enough APPLES this winter. I am craving fresh peaches & nectarines.

27D: Adam's second: ABEL. And ONAN (59D: Judah's son). No trouble with either of them.

28D: Tom, Dick or Harry, etc.: NAME. What's so special about those three names? They don't rhyme or anything. Or are they just random picks?

35D: Bounces back: REACTS. I suppose so.

41D: Big pot of stew: OLLA. Olio can be "Big pot of stew" too.

43D: Japanese fighter of WWII: ZERO. No idea. Strange number ZERO. Why not name their fighter EIGHT? 8 is a lucky number for both Chinese and Japanese.

C.C.

Monday February 2, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: Feeling Blue

20A: Without warning: OUT OF THE BLUE

60A: Jamaican peak: BLUE MOUNTAIN

10D: Something to scream: BLUE MURDER

30D: Miles Davis classic: KIND OF BLUE

I was only familiar with the phrase OUT OF THE BLUE. But the other three entries were very easy to suss out once I figured out the theme. Do you know where the BLUE MOUNTAIN got its name?

A perfect puzzle for Michael Phelps. He must be feeling very blue this morning. What a disappointment. Why did he need marijuana to get high? Kind of tarnished his ONCE IN A BLUE MOON eight gold medal Olympic record.

So jarring to see RED (15A: Scarlet, e.g.) and RED-HOT (6D: Fiery) intersects one another. Also, is the clue for NSA (59A: Govt. advisory grp.) correct? I wanted NSC (National Security Council). NSA is so damned secretive that I don't know to whom they give advice to.

Across:

8A: Greyhound pacer: RABBIT. I got the answer, but have no idea how RABBIT is connected with "Greyhound pacer".

14A: Gymnast Korbut: OLGA. This is incredible. She got four gold Olympics medals.

16A: Actress Dahl: ARLENE. Can never remember this actress, mother of Lorenzo Lamas. Wikipedia says she had a relationship with JFK as well.

24A: Spinoff of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show": RHODA. Learned from doing Xword. It's often clued as "Valerie Harper sitcom". Which kind of TV program do you watch now?

25A: Samms and Lazarus: EMMAS. Have never heard of EMMA Samms before. That's a very daring dress. Nice pair of ... earrings. She is a British TV actress.

29A: City on Baranof Island: SITKA. Nailed it this time. Still can't believe it's the largest city in the US by area.

34A: Driving nails obliquely: TOEING. Learned this carpentry term last time.

38A: Inter-campus sports grp.: NCAA. Can you believe NCAA was founded in 1906 and has an annual budget of $5.64 billion? By contract, NASA annual budget is $17.3 billion.

51A: Munch Museum city: OSLO. Have never heard of Munch Museum before. It's named after the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, best known for his angst-filled "Scream".

63A: Low tracts: SWALES. The ditch on the right I presume? This word always gives me trouble.

70A: Swan genus: OLOR. No idea. Latin for swan. Too exotic a name for me to remember.

72A: French some: DES. And FRANC (21D: Old French bread?), which is also the currency for Switzerland.

Down:

2D: Chilean-born pianist Arrau: CLAUDIO. Got his name from across fills. Here is a clip. I wonder why the clue is "Chilean-born" rather than "Chilean". He must have changed his nationality later on then.

4D: Tropical root: TARO. I miss those Cantonese fried TARO cakes.

7D: Made sense: ADDED UP

26D: Med. procedure: MRI. How does MRI differ from X-ray?

27D: Gone by: AGO. "A long long time AGO... the day the music died...". It's been 50 years.

43D: NASA partner: ESA. Very tiresome clue. ESA is "That" in Spanish, right?

48D: Acquire by trickery: FINAGLE. Made me think of Merrill Lynch's John Thain and his outrageous way of using government bailout money to pay his employees bonus. I am glad he is gone.

49D: Greek letter: UPSILON. EPSILON and OMICRON also have 7 letters.

50D: Some thrown horseshoes: LEANERS. Struggled with this one. Last time I was also stumped when LEANER is clued as "Almost a ringer". It's "a thrown horseshoe that leans against the stake."

63D: Sellout theaters: SRO. No abbreviation hint in the clue. I would prefer "Sellout letters".

64D: Sebaceous cyst: WEN. This clue is getting stale too. Not sure if everyone knows, but the current Chinese Premier is named WEN Jiabao.

C.C.

Sunday February 1, 2009 Robert H. Wolfe

Theme: Eat My Words

23A: Junk carrying fruit?: SLOE (Slow) BOAT TO CHINA

37A: Freeing a pungent plant? SPRINGING A LEEK (Leak)

49A: Force exerted by a fruit?: PEAR (Peer) PRESSURE

66A: Herb's organic processes?: BASIL (Basal) METABOLISM

88A: Mushroom stem?: MOREL (Moral) SUPPORT

98A: Veggies' contemporaries?: BEET (Beat) GENERATION

118A: Herb from the distant past?: THYME (Time) IMMEMORIAL

PEAR PRESSURE seems to be strained. PEAR and Peer sound very different to me. MOREL SUPPORT made me laugh, given our wild MOREL discussion last summer.

I wonder if any constructor thought of building a "Moral" rebus puzzle. Moral Ground, Moral Standard, Moral Code, Moral Principle, Moral Philosophy, Moral Decline, Moral Lesson, Moral Victory, Moral Obligation, Moral Conduct, Moral Fiber, etc. Lots of "Moral Issue" words to grid.

Very nice puzzle. Excellent theme. Quite challenging for me though. Had to seek Google for help. Definitely more rewarding than last week's simple "Face It". The only minor quibble I have is the clue for HIT (53A: SRO indication). SRO indicates an abbreviated answer, but HIT is not.

Across:

8A: Character on "The A-Team": MR. T. This guy often wears too much gold.

14A: Brother of Rebecca: LABAN. I forgot his name completely. He is the father of Leah and Rachel, Jacob's father-in-law. Who is his wife then?

19A: Do little or nothing: LIE DOWN

22A: Beatles song from "The White Album": I WILL. Here is the clip.

25A: Paroxysm: THROE. I did not know the meaning of "Paroxysm". "oxy" meaning sharp, as in oxymoron.

26A: "Lohengrin" heroine": ELSA. I can never remember this Wagner opera. The girl looks scared. What is the story about?

27A: Joyce Kilmer classic: TREES. "I think I shall never see /A poem lovely as a tree..."

33A: Fatality faker: POSSUM

48A: Light starter?: TWI. Twilight.

52A: French possessive: A MOI. How do you say "Wish you were mine" in French? I suppose French has real and unreal conditional sentences too.

56A: Barry Levinson movie: DINER. No idea. Have never heard of this movie.

64A: AEC word: ENERGY. AEC was replaced by NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission).

75A: Under the most negative circumstances: AT WORST. I hope we've hit the bottom and the worst is now behind us. So depressing and chilling to read those massive layoff announcements.

80A: Winged: ALATE. Like Pegaus. Sometimes the answer is ALAR. Ala is "wing".

87A: Few: pref: OLIG. As in oligarchy. Here are some examples. I suppose you can call Putin's Russia oligarchy too.

94A: Erect, temporarily: RIG UP. Why "temporarily"?

97A: Brain box: NOODLE. "Brain box" is a new slang to me. I think my "Brain box" is full. I can't seem to absorb and digest the new information I get from reading others' comments.

101A: Incursions: FORAYS

111A: Rutger of "Blade Runner": HAUER. Googled his name. Three consecutive vowels. Perfect for crossword.

123A: Cyst: VESICLE. New to me. What causes these VESICLES? Looks like cigarette burns.

124A: Shoelace tip: AGLET. Derived from French word "aiguille" meaning "needle'".

Down:

4D: Old music halls: ODEA. Singular is odeum. Is there any modern music halls/theaters called odeum?

14D: Well-read elite: LITERATI. Digerati is a portmanteau of "digital" and "LITERATI".

18D: Dodger, in MLB jargon: NLER (National Leaguer). Both ALER and NLER exist in crossword world only.

32D: Put that out of your mind: IGNORE IT

34D: Last of Socrates?: OMEGA. The last letter of Greek alphabet.

35D: Pitcher Warren: SPAHN. Ah,"Spahn and Sain and Pray for Rain", Hall of Famer. The winningest southpaw in Major-League history.

57D: Incoming, as a train (abbr.): INB. Inbound?

62D: Trellis: ESPALIER. Another new word to me. Very pretty. Is that an apple tree? Some of the fruits look like pomegranates.

70D: "I remember Mama" character: LARS. Got it from across clues. Have never heard of this movie before.

81D: Wood: pref.: LIGN. First encounter with this prefix. Dictionary gives an example of "lignite", dark brown coal with a woodlike texture.

82D: Three from Berlin: DREI. Eins, zwei, DREI.

84D: Corundum relative: ALUNDUM. No idea. The clue means nothing to me. Both end in "undum". I suppose you can call them relatives.

90D: Lacking in development: UNFORMED. This clue does not feel natural to me.

92D: Panama preposition: POR. Good alliteration.

100D: Wind: pref.: ANEMO. As in anemometer, the instrument to measure the speed of wind. Saw this clue somewhere before.

106D: Hindu deity: SIVA. I don't know which one is more common, SIVA or Shiva. Here is a statue. How does Hinduism differ from Buddhism? Some of the meditating statues look quite similar.

119D: NASA partner: ESA (European Space Agency)

C.C.

Saturday January 31, 2009 Tom Pruce

Theme: None

Total blocks: 30

Total words: 70

This grid looks pretty to me. So open at four different corners, with those stacks of 7-letter words. I wonder what is the first word the constructor filled in for his grid. My guess is HEM AND HAW (21D: Procrastinate). But are they really interchangable?

I don't like the clue for LIT (10D: Lang. course). I think abbreviation should only be used when no other options are available. So many ways to clue LIT. "Set afire" is boring but works nicely in this grid. I just learned the other day that LIT is also a slang for "Intoxicated". Maybe you can tell me how you would clue LIT. I really enjoyed the non-tea LIPTON discussion the other day.

Had to google. Without a theme as my sherpa, I was daunted and lost. Did not know any of the two poets' name which intersects each other. Wanted Jennifer (Lopez) for 39D: One of Mark Antony's wives (OCTAVIA), confusing Marc Anthony with Mark Anthony. Anyway, Mark Anthony has five wives: Fadia, Antonia, Fulvia, OCTAVIA and Cleopatra. Looks like he liked women with a-ending names.

Across:

1A: Silent signal: GESTURE. Most of the people talk when they GESTURE.

8A: Mayflower passenger: PILGRIM. Vaguely remember there was a baby born EN ROUTE (2D: Along the way) to Plymouth.

15A: Brightest star in Scorpius: ANTARES. Literally rival of ARES (Mars for the Romans) due to the "similarity of its reddish hue to the appearance of the planet Mars". Interesting root. I have never heard of this red supergiant star before.

17A: Vaccaro and Lee: BRENDAS. BRENDA Vaccaro is an actress. BRENDA LEE is a singer. Neither was a familiar name to me.

20A: Ogden resident: UTAHAN. I used to imagine Poet Ogden Nash was born in Ogden, Utah. He was actually born in Rye, New York.

22A: Ancient ointment: NARD. Ah, I did remember this story. Just forgot who was the girl who washed Jesus' feet with NARD. Another Mary.

26A: Latvian chess master: TAL. The 1960-61 world chess champ. Wikipedia says Mikhail TAL is also called "The Magician from Riga".

32A: Group of seven: SEPTET. Sometimes the answer is HEPTAD.

36A: City near San Diego: OCEANSIDE. Here is the map. Easy guess. I did not know there is a city named OCEANSIDE, not to mention its exact location.

38A: Social Security pioneer: TOWNSEND (Francis). Another guess. Here is a picture of him giving a speech about his plan during 1939 New York World's Fair. I wonder what inspired him to think of this grand idea. What a mess we are facing today.

55A: "Animal Farm" author: ORWELL. See the book cover. We get the phrase "Big Brother" and "Orwellian" from his book "Nineteen Eighty-Four".

63A: Period of peace: DETENTE. I was thinking of Pax Romana. To me, DETENTE implies a "relaxing of tension" during JFK's cold war era.

64A: Poet Siegfried: SASSOON. This is Clear Ayes's summary of him: "SASSOON was an early 20th century poet, who was a decorated officer in WWI. He was nicknamed "Mad Jack" by his men for his near-suicidal exploits. He eventually became a vocal anti-war activist. He is memorialized in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner. The inscription reads, "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity." I completely forgot his name. Had to google. SASSOON is "joy" in Hebrew.

65A: Loud speaker: STENTOR. He was a herald of the Greek forces during the Trojan War. And his voice was "as powerful as fifty voices of other men", according to Homer. I have never hear of this guy before. My answer was STENTER, as I wrongly guessed ERNESTE instead of ERNESTO for 43D: Che Guevara's first name.

Down:

1D: Jabbers: GABBLES. A gaggle of Geese GABBLE.

5D: Pakistani tongue: URDU. Dictionary says URDU is "essentially identical to Hindi in its spoken form but in its literary form heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic and written in an Arabic alphabet". It's one of the official languages in India too.

6D: "Giant" ranch: REATA. Learned from doing crossword. Have never seen "Giant".

8D: Umbrella cousins: PARASOLS. Here is Monet's Lady with a Parasol (facing right) once again.

12D: Drumming sound: RAT-A-TAT. Like the drum-banging at Oakland A's ballpark? So annoying!

24D: Climber's spikes: PITONS. This guy is pounding on a PITON. Rock climbing looks very dangerous.

37D: Ancient Greek poet: ANACREON. I forgot. It appeared in our puzzle last Nov. Here is what I wrote last time: "Wikipedia says he is a "lyrical poet" and notable for his "drinking songs and hymns". And his songs often celebrated "women, wine, and entertaining, and today can be considered eroticism". Very interesting information: Francis Scott Key modified Stafford Smith's melody of "To ANACREON in Heaven" for "The Star-Spangled Banner".

38D: Parts of rocker arms: TAPPETS. Here is a diagram. Does not look like "Parts of rocker arms". Whatever. Too technical for me to understand.

54D: "Boola Boola" singers: ELIS. Oh, I did not know "Boola Boola" is Yale's fight song. What's Harvard's then?

56D: Past due: LATE. I really liked "Past Due?" clue for TRE. Very clever. Uno, due, TRE.

61D: X: TEN. The wild receiver for Arizona Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald is from Minnesota. I guess we will all root for the Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII.

C.C.

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Chances are something someone says in a comment or post is going to irk you. Still, personal attacks are unacceptable, useless and can quickly degrade a discussion to a third grade "Yo Mama" flamefest. Resist the urge, and be respectful and objective at all times.

Don't post when you're angry, upset, drunk or emotional.

There's no taking back a published blog comment - once you post, it's there for everyone to see and for Google to cache. Remember, you're not going to show your best face in the heat of an emotional moment. If you find yourself angrily typing a message into someone's blog comment box - STOP. Get up. Take a breath. Walk around. Give it a day. Revisit the thread when your head is clear. This goes doubly for public blog comments as it does for private e-mail messages.

Do not feed or tease the trolls.

No matter how many articles like this get written, there will always be people who surf around the Internet and inject pointless vindictiveness into any available textarea. Don't let the terrorists win. Do NOT acknowledge these people with refutations, disagreements or even a mention of their screen name."

Source: Geek to Live: Lifehacker's guide to weblog comments.

Friday January 30, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: Change of Location

17A: Pretend to be confident: PUT UP A GOOD FRONT

37A: Empty-nester's weight problem: MIDDLE-AGE SPREAD

54A: Australia's Never-never: THE BACK OF BEYOND

A couple of things first:

1) From now on, I will only comment on answers that I feel deserve attention. As I've been blogging TMS puzzles for over a year, some of answers are not fresh to me any more, though they might stump certain new solvers. If you need immediate answers for the missing entries and the rationale behind the cluing, just visit the Comments section and ask.

2) Please respect the etiquette in blogging comments. Read others' posts before you post yours. No need to reply to questions that have already been addressed by others, unless you have something new to add.

Back to the puzzle. I've never heard of "Never-never land" or THE BACK OF BEYOND before. Thought the answer might be OUTBACK OF BEYOND. I don't think I fully understand the constructor's logic in putting FRONT in the back, MIDDLE in the front and BACK in the middle. Am I missing something here?

Across:

1A: "Seascape" playwright: ALBEE (Edward). Besides "Seascape", he also wrote "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". Another frequent crossword playwright is James AGEE, who wrote "A Death in the Family" and the screenplay for "The African Queen". Both were Pulitzer winners.

6A: Arthur Marx's stage name: HARPO. I wonder why those Marx Brothers all have a letter O at the end of their names. Why not ER? You know, Harper, Groucher, etc.

22A: Hit with a blackjack: SAPPED. This is a new meaning of SAP to me. Dictionary says it's also a noun, meaning a "leather-covered hand weapon or a blackjack."

28A: Brownish grays: TAUPES. Like the color of her gown.

32A: Florence flooder: ARNO. I would prefer "Florence flower?" (flow-er) rather than "flooder". Is flooder a well-accepted word?

33A: Defoe character: CRUSOE. He and Man Friday, that's all I know about this Defoe novel.

45A: Denim buys: LEVIS. My instinctive response was JEANS.

50A: Make certain: ASSURE. Thought of ENSURE first. Besides the "Gurantee against loss" definition, INSURE also has "Make certain" meaning.

61A: Van Dine's Vance: PHILO. Have never heard of this fictional detective PHILO Vance. Not familiar with the author Van Dine either.

Down:

3D: Flying mammal: BAT. How bats sleep upside down is beyond me. But again, I did not know that turkeys fly.

4D: Second-largest bird: EMU. Oh, I did not know this trivia. The largest bird is ostrich.

5D: Descried: ESPIED. I confused "Descried" with "Decried".

8D: Botanical anchor: ROOT. These sweet potato chips look delicious.

9D: Schools of whales: PODS. "Schools of seals, dolphines" too. Learned this meaning several months ago.

22D: Transparent fakes: SHAMS. Why "Transparent"?

29D: Indicate by signs: AUGUR. So close to the hole making tool AUGER in spelling.

44D: Hogs the mirror: PREENS. I liked this clue. Reminded me of my college years. One of my roommates (we had 7 girls living in a tiny room) hogged the mirror all the time. She was very pretty.

45D: Gracefully slender: LITHE. Sam Snead could still kick the top of a 8-foot ceiling in his late 70s. Very LITHE. And he loved steak, potatoes and ice creams all his life. Exercise probably plays more roles than diet in terms of enhancing human longevity.

46D: Mrs. Fred Mertz: ETHEL. Cute barbie set. From the Chocolate Factory episode I suppose.

51D: Coating: SKIN. How come? Coating of what?

57D: "The __ and the Pussycat": OWL. I guessed. I've never heard of this poem before.

C.C.

Thursday January 29, 2009 Alan P. Olschwang

Theme: Practice Makes Perfect

17A: Start of Joe Paterno quote: THE WILL

18A: Part 2 of quote: TO WIN IS

39A: Part 3 of quote: IMPORTANT

42A: Part 4 of quote: BUT

44A: Part 5 of quote: THE WILL TO

61A: Part 6 of quote: PREPARE

65A: End of quote: IS VITAL

What next? A Bobby Bowden quote? Has he said anything interesting that may catch Mr. Olschwang's attention?

Joe Paterno might be inspired by Paul "Bear" Bryant, who once said: "It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters".

I was surprised that HOPER (53D: One with aspiration) is a real word. I googled HOPER, then I was asked "Did you mean Hopper"?

Some of the clues are very annoying today. I don't believe they are Olschwang's originals:

27D: Tea brand: LIPTON: TEA is already the answer for 36A: Oolong, for one. "Unilever brand" might be too vague. If you can come up with a great clue for LIPTON without mentioning the word "tea", please post in the Comments section.

31D: Took seats: SAT. Unnecessary letter duplication. "Took a chair" would be just fine.

61D: Prefix's prefix: PRE. Just awful. So many creative ways to clue PRE. Lois would probably love "Vent opening?" clue (PREvent). I would go with "Season opener?". Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two weeks.

I don't understand the clue for STREETS (73A: D and C, in D.C.). Why?

Also, I would like someone to guest blog Barry Silk's Fairfax County Public Library crossword. If you are interested, please email me at crosswordc@gmail.com. I want it published here next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Across:

1A: Surveying instrument: ALIDADE. Unknown instrument to me. Looks like an antique item. Is it still in use today?

8A: Token amount: MODICUM. Also, IOTA (43A: Bit), NIBLET (34D: Canned corn morsel), and DRIB (35D: Small amount of liquid), which is a new word to me. I've only heard of driblet though.

16A: Ground hugging stems: STOLONS. Oh, so there is a special name for this part of the plant. Good to know. Same pronunciation as stolen. My strawberry STOLONS were stolen by squirrels last year.

22A: Scarcity: DEARTH. Took me a while to get this word as I had CLASS rather than A LIST for 5D: Social category.

33A: On the front burner: IN MIND

55A: Online newsgroup system: USENET. Got the answer, but I forgot what USENET really is. Wikipedia says it's a "precursor to the various web forums".

Down:

6D: Oracle site: DELPHI. The site for Temple of Apollo. Those are Doric columns. How is the Delphic Sibyl different from Pythia?

12D: Implied idea: CONNOTATION. Easy long word. Not like yesterday's SALMAGUNDI. Learned that the spicy Jamaica Solomon Grundy is a corrupted form of SALMAGUNDI. I guess both has pickled herrings.

20D: Reverse direction of an electric current: COMMUTATE. New word to me. Related to mutate, I suppose?

22D: Texas airport letters: DFW (Dallas/Fort Worth). What does X stand for in LAX?

24D: Mark above a vowel: ACUTE ACCENT. Like été.

50D: Day's end: SUNSET. Fishing? What a waste of the beautiful SUNSET.

64D: Writer LeShan: EDA. I wonder why her mom named her EDA instead of Ida, or Ada. Just to be different?

C.C.

Wednesday January 28, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Dee-lightful

17A: Small gray-and-black songbird: CHICKADEE

31A: "The Four Seasons" composer: VIVALDI

49A: Restaurant employee: MAITRE D'

66A: "Gidget" star: SANDRA DEE

11D: Miscellany: SALMAGUNDI

30D: One of two rivals: TWEEDLE DEE

I have never heard of SALMAGUNDI before. Thought it would be the same as the Swedish smörgåsbord. But Dictionary says it's a kind of "salad of chopped meat, anchovies, eggs, and onions, often arranged in rows on lettuce and served with vinegar and oil." Doesn't sound good to me. Right now, I am hankering for some French toast drizzled with maple syrup and slices of fresh strawberries.

I solved this puzzle the way John Roberts administered Obama's swearing-in. It looked quite simple yet I still botched a few spots. Interesting theme concept, but I felt the constructor overdid the theme entries. Six is a lot for a weekday puzzle.

I would have picked up one DEE ending, one DI ending, and add a DY ending and worked out a puzzle with four theme answers (together with MAITRE D'), or simply a puzzle with all DEE ending theme entries. I don't know, let me have your opinion.

Across:

14A: Anthracite, e.g.: COAL. I forgot the meaning of "Anthracite", thinking of the dreadful anthrax.

20A: Shinto temple gateway: TORII. Like this one. TORI means "bird", the last I is from Iru meaning "To dwell". Japanese kanji 鳥居 literally means "Bird's Dwelling". Wikipedia says it's originally designed as a large bird perch. In Shintoism, "birds are considered messengers of the gods". I wonder how Angels' TORRI Hunter got his name. People often misspell his name as Tori.

25A: Verbena plant: LANTANA. Very pretty. Wikipedia says "LANTANA berries are edible when ripe though though like many fruit are mildly poisonous if eaten while still green." I stopped picking up and sampling exotic wild berries after watching the movie "Into the Wild".

35A: Ayres and Wallace: LEWS. Both were unknown to me. My answer was ELIS.

38A: Phony: PSEUDO. Adjective here?

41A: Game similar to keno: BEANO. Have never played BEANO or bingo.

43A: Nabokov novel: PNIN. I suppose letter P is silent? "Nabokov novel" answer is always "Ada", "PNIN" or "Lolita".

44A: Audience loudmouth: JEERER. Sounds like a made-up word.

46A: D.C. old-timer: POL. This "old-timer" confuses me. Now, if Minnesota recount mess clears up and Al Franken becomes our senator, he will be a POL, but he won't be a "D.C. old-timer", right? He will simply be a "D.C. newcomer".

47A: Rehan and Huxtable: ADAS. ADA Rehan was an actress. ADA Huxtable won Pulitzer in 1970, and is currently the architecture critic for "The Wall Street Journal". Both were unknown to me.

53A: Henry VIII's court painter: HOLBEIN. No idea. Strange necklace. Is S a special symbol for something? (Addendum: The painting is Thomas More. Here is HOLBEIN's self-portrait).

57A: Profit makers: EARNERS. What do you think of the clue/answer?

64A: Arboreal lemur: INDRI. You should eat worms if you miss this answer again.

Down:

1D: $ in the bank: ACCT. I was thinking of amount.

6D: Focal point: NODE. Is this a math term? I am not familiar with this definition.

9D: Pairs of twins: GEMINIS

22D: Polliwogs: TADPOLES. Last time TADPOLE is clued as "Frog of the future".

24D: Cerebrum's neighbor: MIDBRAIN. I guessed. I don't know anything about my brain structure.

27D: King in "The Tempest": ALONSO. I only knew King Lear.

28D: Biblical prophet: ELIJAH. "According to the Bible, he did not die but was carried skyward in a chariot of fire." Does it mean that other "Biblical prophets" all died?

29D: Moon: pref.: SELENO. New prefix for me, though I do know the Greek goddess of moon is Selene.

36D: Former Sov. unit: SSR

39D: Reg. agcy.: EPA. Luckily I got the crossing PNIN, otherwise, this would be an impossible for me. The clue is so vague.

50D: Having actual existence: Lat.: IN ESSE. Opposite IN POSSE.

54D: Actor Bostwick: BARRY. I googled his name, then I realized who he is. "Bostwick" sounds Scottish.

56D: Praise: EXALT. Extol also has 5 letters.

63D: Broadcast: SENT. I often forget that the past tense of "Broadcast" is still "Broadcast".

C.C.

2008 Championship Tribute Barry Silk

Theme: 2008 Championship Tribute

18A: With 29-Across, sports organization: MAJOR LEAGUE

29A: See 18-across: BASEBALL

40A: 2007 MVP for the 47-Across, shortstop Jimmy: ROLLINS

47A: 2008 winners of 62-Across: PHILLIES

62A: The "Fall classic": WORLD SERIES

1D: 2008 All-Star of 47-Across, second baseman Chase: UTLEY

4D: MVP of the 2008 62-across, ace pitcher Cole __: HAMELS

For those who have not solved this puzzle, I've uploaded the grid to Scribd. Just click on iPaper, then print it out. Barry also kindly provided us the special puzzle he made for Fairfax County Libray presentation on Jan 17, 2009. Very clever theme entries.

As for this Tribute puzzle, the last two answers I listed above are not symmetrically placed, so technically they are not part of the theme. But I think they fit in perfectly. TUES (51A: When the All-Star Game is played) and GMS (71A: 29-Across VIPs) are great baseball related fills too.

Lots of cross-references in this puzzle. Might be a bit tough for non-baseball fans. I thoroughly enjoyed the solving. It made me feel so smart. I think Barry should have sold this puzzle to Phillies. They can do a special Crossword Solving Day, you know, like Bobblehead Giveaway Day.

Across:

4A: Islamic militant group: HAMAS. It has become a "terrorist group". Fatah is not.

9A: Chipmunk of pop music: ALVIN. This music just sounds so jarring to me.

24A: Swiss stereotype: YODELER. I was thinking of watchmaker.

28A: Nittany Lions' sch.: PSU (Penn State). Why do they call themselves Nittany Lions? Reminds me of ninny.

52A: Horizon arc measurement: AZIMUTH. See this diagram. Too complicated for me to understand.

56A: Cell: suff.: CYTE. No idea. Dictionary gives an example of leukocyte (white blood cell). Also, the prefix for cell is CYTO, as in cytoplasm.

65A: Govt. investigation: INQ. Inquiry? Why "Govt. investigation"?

67A: Young salmon: SMOLT. I wonder how long it takes for this SMOLT to mature into this big salmon.

68A: "All Things Considered" network: NPR. "Fresh Air" network too. Terry Gross is sharp.

Down:

2D: Brigham Young University site: PROVO. Ken Jennings, the all-time champion of "Jeopardy", attended this university, so is our Barry G, Johnny Miller, Mitt Romney etc. See this alumini list.

3D: Ecclesiastical assembly: SYNOD. This word always escapes me.

6D: Woman of La Mancha: MUJER. No idea. I was thinking of señora.

7D: Old Testament prophet: AMOS. A minor one. I am more accustomed to the " "Famous cookie maker" clue.

10D: Pay no mind: LEAVE BE. New to me. Can you make a sentence with this phrase for me? I only know "Let it be".

11D: Carrot or Onion: VEGETABLE. I love the symmetrical placement of VEGETABLE and FRUIT TREE (35D: Orchard entity).

29D: Gaucho's weapons: BOLAS. Spanish for balls. What kind of material are those?

40D: It sounds real bad: RALE. Williams likes to clue RALE as "Death rattle".

41D: Todd Rundgren's rock band of the 1960's: NAZZ. I googled this band name. What's their most famous song?

44D: Puritanical ban: BLUE LAW. Now this ban is still valid in some states, right?

55D: Langley, for the CIA: HDQRS. I see HQS more often.

56D: 100-lb. units: CWTS (Hundredweights). New abbreviation to me.

63D: License to drill?: DDS. Great clue.

64D: "Strange Magic" rock band: ELO. Here is the song. I guessed. Three letter band name has to be ELO or REM.

C.C.

Tuesday January 27, 2009 Adele Mann

Theme: SCHOOLS (36A: Educates)

17A: Winged Foot or Sawgrass: GOLF COURSE

53A: Sentence: PRISON TERM

11D: Big time for batters: MAJOR LEAGUE

25D: Kind of suit: CLASS ACTION

"School Subject" is probably a better theme title.

I can't believe I've never heard of Sawgrass GOLF COURSE before. It's PGA Tour's headquarters. But "Winged Foot" clue alone is enough for me. I remember Phil Mickelson's nightmarish collapse there in 2006 US Open. I would never understand why he decided to go with the driver on the last hole.

My favorite US Open is 2002 Bethpage Black. Brutal weather, brutal rough, brutally entertaining, esp with Sergio Garcia's endless whining. Lots of fans cheered for Phil, but Tiger never relented his lead. I hope the drama repeats this year.

I just don't feel "Sentence" is synonymous with PRISON TERM, do you? I wonder if the constructor thought of CREDIT CRUNCH for the theme answer. Fannie Mae is asking for another $16 billion aid from the government now, Freddie Mac wants an additional $35 billion. Plus the $700 billion for the Wall Street bailout, and the $825 billion stimulus package Obama is asking. We are talking about real money, right?

Across:

1A: Org. of Wie and Webb: LPGA. Followed both Michelle Wie and Karrie Webb for a few holes at the US Open last year. Karrie Webb is in Golf HOF. Very nice person. She seldom smiles though.

10A: City on the Irtysh River: OMSK. Here is the map again. This has become a gimme for me. The city on the URAL River (14A: Caspian feeder) is called ORSK. I can't find a map. But it's there.

16A: Okinawa city: NAHA. Got it from down fills. Can never remember this city name. Okinawa belongs to those Blue Zones, where you will find lots of centenarians living a happy & healthy life. Loma Linda, CA is also in the Blue Zones, so is Sardinia, Italy. See their secret. Nuts, ah, nuts, I love nuts.

33A: Singer Janis: IAN. Here is her "At Seventeen". I googled her name.

34A: Sherwood or Epping: FOREST. Know Robin Hood's Sherwood FOREST. Have never heard of Epping FOREST. What is it famous for?

38A: One-time link: AT A. One AT A time.

45A: Coach Rockne: KNUTE. Of Notre Dame. I bought a Sports Illustrated for Kids once (simply because Babe Ruth is on the cover) and read a brief bio of KNUTE Rockne. He died in a plane crash. So did golfer Payne Stewart and Baseball HOFer Roberto Clemente. Very sad. Flying can be so risky.

49A: Of plants: BOTANIC. What is "Of animals" then? I am drawing a blank here.

58A: Stop up: CLOG. Have never heard of "Stop up" before. Strange "up" phrase.

60A: Abbr. on folk music: TRAD. Traditional?

Down:

4D: Nobel and Noyes: ALFREDS. ALFRED Noyes is the guy who wrote "The Highwayman". No-yes is pronounced the same as "Noise". I wonder if anyone is named Yes-no.

9D: Trademark refrigerant: FREON. I can never remember this product. Can I find it in our refrigerator?

10D: Streaking: ON A TEAR. I like this clue and the answer.

13D: Economist Marx: KARL. Weird to see him clued as an "Economist", though he really was one. These are the pictures that used to adorn our school walls: Chairman Mao, Lenin, Starlin, Engels and Marx, the so called "Fathers of Communism".

22D: Preminger and Graham: OTTOS. Know Preminger, not Graham.

26D: Second brightest star: CANOPUS. No idea. It's indeed brighter than the other stars. The brightest is Sirius. Both ending in letters "us", have to be rooted in Greek then, masculine form.

33D: Lemieux milieu: ICE. I suppose "Lemieux milieu" sounds better than "Crosby milieu".

36D: Lazy lady?: SUSAN. Good clue. The "Smart guy?" would be ALEC.

42D: Orange-red food dye: ANNATTO. New word to me. Dictionary says ANNATTO is "a yellowish-red dyestuff obtained from the seed aril of ANNATTO shrub (also called lipstick tree), used especially to dye fabric and to color food products such as margarine and cheese."

44D: Court decision: DECREE. Paul McCartney can now marry his girlfriend, who has just received her divorce DECREE.

45D: "Show Boat" composer: KERN (Jerome). Got him this time.

49D: Beer choice: BOCK. Absolutely no idea. Feel so full just looking at the picture. So dark. I don't drink beer.

50D: Stew pot: OLLA. I've never seen a "Stew pot" OLLA before. To me, OLLA is this kind of Indian pottery. Very beautiful!

C.C.

Monday January 26, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: Animal in Action

17A: Marine gliders: FLYING FISH

63A: Sport utility canine: HUNTING DOG

11D: Avian mimic: MOCKINGBIRD

26D: North Atlantic flier: HERRING GULL

Happy Spring Festival! 春节快乐!

I have never heard of HERRING GULL before. Are they fond of herrings? I wish there were a HEARING GULL instead. HERRING does not really fit the theme pattern here.

I think "Clique" alone is enough for IN-GROUP (53A: Elite clique), since ELITIST is the answer for 28A: Snob.

I believe this is Joe Vita's first TMS puzzle. If so, congratulations.

Across:

1A: Food for Silver: OATS. "Hi-yo, Silver". That's all I know about "The Lone Ranger".

2A: Michelangelo masterpiece: PIETA. The only work Michelangelo ever signed. I thought of DAVID first.

16A: Layer: COAT. Paint?

27A: Musical time unit: BAR. Not familiar with this exact definition. Music was regarded as a corrupt Western capitalist product and was not taught when I grew up. The loudspeaker blasted "The East is Red" every morning to wake us up.

32A: Mil. probe: RECON. I was thinking of the "A Few Good Men" style military probe.

33A: Razor choice: ATRA. Gillette should send free razors to our editor for this free publicity.

57A: Old Gray Mare, for one: NAG. Have never heard of "this folk song" before.

Down:

2D: To a man: ALL. First encounter with the phrase "To a man". Or maybe I saw it before and just did not pay attention to its usage. I tend to check the dictionary when the word is long and complicated.

5D: Braided danglers: PIGTAILS. Brought to mind the long "Braided danglers (queue)" hairstyle the Manchurians forced upon Han people till 1912, when Sun Yat-Sen and his followers finally overthrew the Machurians. That's why he is often referred to as the "Father of Modern China". About 92% of Chinese (almost 20% of the entire global population) are of Han ethnicity.

6D: Diabolical: INFERNAL

9D: For a short time: A WHILE. Often see people write AWHILE when A WHILE should be used.

12D: "Gigi" setting: PARIS. Here is the trailer. "Gigi" is probably Colette's most famous novel.

24D: Kazakhstan range: URALS. European/Asian border.

42D: Food poisoning: PTOMAINE. New word to me. Dictionary says this word derives from Greek "ptoma" meaning "corpse".

45D: Aphrodite's child: EROS. Greek equivalent of Cupid. This will be a great Valentine's Day gift. ARES, the bellicose Greek war god, is "Aphrodite's lover".

49D: Duke's location: DURHAM. The only thing I know about Duke is Coach K & the lacrosse scandal.

52D: Keenan or Ed: WYNN. Got the answer from across fills. Know either of them.

53D: Arboreal lemur: INDRI. Literally "there it is".

54D: Nostril: NARIS. Plural NARES.

64D: Org. of Capitals and Senators: NHL. Holy cow! I've never heard of Ottawa Senators or Washington Capitals. Great clue. I had no idea that there are so many teams in NHL.

C.C.

Sunday January 25, 2009 Norma Steinberg

Theme: Face It

23A: Flirtatious signal: EYE CONTACT

25A: Snoop-for-hire: PRIVATE EYE

54A: Reporter's talent: NOSE FOR NEWS

73A: Meager: HAND-TO-MOUTH

103A: Scarves and such: NECK PIECES

105D: Sweater style: TURTLE NECK

36D: Old hearing devices: EAR TRUMPETS

39D: Performed without a score: PLAYED BY EAR

My theme title would be "Funny Face" because it's twisted and browless. The EYES are facing each other, so are the EARS (symmetrically). The NOSE is sitting above the MOUTH, but not directly.

Interesting to have two NECKS gridded below the MOUTH. But what animal has two NECKS? Guess it's just a wordplay of "NECK and NECK" here.

Clues I disliked:

1D: Took straw: DREW. Bad letter duplication. Besides, why not "Sketched"? It fits today's "Face" theme nicely.

5D: Manuel's hands: MANOS. HAND is already an answer for the puzzle, though it would be tough to clue MANOS without mentioning "hands".

Clue I adored:

65A: Interest free? BORED. Just brilliant.

Easiest Sunday puzzle I've ever solved. No googling. Did get help from my husband on several entries.

Across:

21A: Classic Alan Ladd Western: SHANE. Wikipedia says Edith Head, who won eight Oscars (out of 35 Academy nominations), was the costume designer for SHANE.

32A: Fruits with hard rinds: GOURDS. Cubumbers also belong to the gourd family, they don't have hard rinds though.

43A: Reconnoiter: SCOUT. Garrison Keillor writes a weekly column for our Star Tribune every Sunday. I don't know why he calls himself "The Old SCOUT".

52A: Leafy veggie: KALE. How to cook KALE/mustard green properly? They taste terrible when stir-fried.

53A: River island: AIT. Is there any famous AIT in the US?

58A: Vestibule: FOYER. Here is Degas's "Le FOYER de la Danse" again.

61A: Theater sections: LOGES. Was President Lioncoln sitting inside a LOGE when he was assassinated?

76A: Bellicose deity: ARES. Greek God of War. The Roman equivalent is MARS. The Norse counterpart is THOR, right?

78A: Abominable snowman: YETI. Myth or legend?

83A: Author of "Siddhartha": HESSE (Hermann). See the book cover. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says Hermann won Nobel Literature in 1946. He also wrote Steppenwolf . This name sounds familiar to me somehow. Oh, "Born to be Wild".

85A: Small cooker: GAS RING. Oh, I did not know this is called GAS RING in English. But why "cooker" instead of "burner"?

87A: Georgia University: EMORY. Interesting, I just found out that this university does not have a football team. How strange!

91A: Jargon: PATOIS. The plural is still PATOIS. What is the difference between PATOIS and argot?

95A: Herschel's planet: URANUS. I guessed. Have never heard of this astronomer/composer. He discovered URANUS in 1781.

109A: Related on mother's side: ENATE. AGNATE is "Related on father's side".

110A: Ex-Spice Girl Halliwell: GERI. Ginger Spice, the girl with one knee on the ground.

111A: Pundit's newspaper pg.: OP-ED. Who is your favorite columnist? I like David Brooks.

Down:

15A: Humphrey Bogart film: "High __": SIERRA. Have never seen this movie. The only Bogart movie I've watched is "Casablanca".

16D: Iowa State city: AMES. The Cyclones.

35D: Anatomical networks: RETIA. Singular is RETE.

44D: Mudville batter: CASEY. Ah, baseball, "CASEY at Bat". "... But there is no joy in Mudville — mighty Casey has struck out."

55D: Man who portrayed Chan: OLAND (Warner). Got the answer from across fills. Charlie Chan often commented "Ah So", a Japanese expression actually.

56D: Mechanical man: ROBOT. I like the position of ROBOT in this grid.

57D: Marsh of mysteries: NGAIO. Last time MARSH is clued as "Ngaio of mysteries".

62D: Combat mission: SORTIE. Pilot's mission, to be exact.

65D: Fights: BOUTS. Boxing term. The answer did not come to me immediately.

69D: Rhyming verse: POESY. Dictionary says POSY is a variant of POESY, meaning "a brief verse or sentimental phrase, especially one inscribed on a trinket". Sounds romantic.

77D: Boxing proximity: RINGSIDE. New term to me. Boxing is too hard for me to watch.

79D: Awareness of one's position: BEARING. Are you OK with this clue?

81D: Cheesecake picture: PINUP. This is probably the most famous PINUP. Hugh Hefner told NPR that Betty Grable was "his inspiration for founding the Playboy empire".

92D: Designer Simpson: ADELE. Have never heard of this designer name before. I am used to seeing ADELE clued as "Fred's dancing sister".

95D: John Ruskin's "__ This Last": UNTO. No idea. Is this a very well-known essay?

C.C.