Sunday February 22, 2009 Barry Silk

Theme: Star Tribune Crossword Corner (Blogged by Argle)

17A: It produces expanding bubbles of multimillion degree gas: STARBURST GALAXY

26A: Daily newspaper published in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with "The": TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT

45A: Professional cruciverbalist, perhaps: CROSSWORD EDITOR

59A: Gain a monopoly: CORNER THE MARKET

(Note from C.C.: Click here if you have not solved the puzzle. Please save your discussions on Barry's LA themeless (Feb 21. LA Times has a 30-day archive.) for next Sunday's blog post. Also, NT Times just published Barry and Doug Peterson's "The Cruciverbalist" puzzle this morning. Should appear in syndication paper next Sunday. I won't blog it since Rex and Orange have covered it pretty well.)

Back to Argyle.

Thank you, Barry Silk, for giving C.C. and us our own crossword. I hope my blog does it justice.

There are many acronyms and abbreviations to deal with and a few proper names, too, but none of the dreaded crossings of unknowns, IMHO.

All in all, an enjoyable puzzle.

Across:

1A: Engage in, as war: WAGE.

5A: Grazing grounds: LEAS. Cows at an al fresco café.

9A: Cuban currency: PESOS. Images.

14A: Mystique: AURA. Mystique: noun, an AURA of heightened value or interest or meaning surrounding a person or thing.

15A: Sea World performer: ORCA. SeaWorlds are in San Diego, CA, Orlando, FL, and San Antonio, TX. ORCA, also known as killer whale, is a black and white predatory whale.

16A: Sticker: DECAL. Here's a sticker for your SASE.

17A: It produces expanding bubbles of multimillion degree gas: STARBURST GALAXY. I picked the one that looked hottest, the Starburst Galaxy He2-10 .

20A: Miss America of 1971: ___ George: PHYLLIS. PHYLLIS George has worked as a television host and sportscaster. She was previously married to Robert Evans and to former Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, Jr., with whom she had two children. She is also the author of several books and a business woman.

21A: Return destination?: Abbr.: IRS. 1040 Tax return (no picture, we all know what it looks like.)

22A: Fannie ___ : MAE. The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie MAE, was founded in 1938 during the Great Depression. The corporation's purpose is to purchase and securitize mortgages in order to ensure that funds are consistently available to the institutions that lend money to home buyers.

On September 7, 2008, it was announced that Fannie MAE and Freddie Mac were being placed into conservatorship of the FHFA. The action is "one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in decades". As of 2008, Fannie MAE and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) owned or guaranteed about half of the U.S.'s $12 trillion mortgage market. (Not a pretty picture)

23A: Intl. assn. created in 1948: OAS. Organization of American States.

24A: Onassis nickname: ARI. ARIstotle Onassis, billionaire Greek shipping magnate, married Jackie Kennedy in 1968.

25A: Pouches: SACS. Pouchlike structures in a plant or an animal, sometimes filled with fluid.

26A: Daily newspaper published in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with "The": TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT. Front cover, Serving Grater Johnstown Since 1853.

31A: Intertwined: WOVE.

32A: U.S.N. clerk: Abbr.: YEO. United States Navy YEOman, a petty officer, having chiefly clerical duties.

33A: Pendulum partner: PIT. A short story written by Edgar Allan Poe, “The PIT and the Pendulum” (1843).

34A: Whatever: ANY. Adjective- whatever it may be: cheap at ANY price / cheap at whatever cost.

35A: Spies' quest: SECRETS. True Lies.

38A: Games grp.: IOC. International Olympic Committee.

41A: Director's cry: CUT. CUT, CUT, CUT!

43A: William F. Buckley was one: ELI. Nickname for a Yale University student, which Mr. Buckley was, Class of '50.

44A: Number near an APR: MSRP. New car sticker APR: annual percentage rate. MSRP: Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price.

45A: Professional cruciverbalist, perhaps: CROSSWORD EDITOR. Wayne Robert Williams, perhaps.

50A: Possess: HAVE

51A: Stat. for Ryan Howard: HRS. Home RunS: Howard is the 6'4" and 260 lb. first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. On June 27, 2007, Howard became the player to reach 100 HRS the quickest in Major League Baseball history.

52A: Pentagon fig.: GEN. High ranking milatary officer: GENeral

53A: The Beatles' "___ Mine": I ME. Beatles song, written and sung by George Harrison.

54A: Org. that maintains 35-Across: CIA. Central Intelligence Agency.

55A: Lese __: high crime: MAJESTE. (The crime) of injured majesty. French partial translation of Latin: (crīmen) laesae māiestātis, laesae, feminine genitive of laesus, past participle of laedere, to injure + māiestātis, genitive of māiestās, majesty.

59A: Gain a monopoly: CORNER THE MARKET. Monopoly! Now that would be a good theme for a crossword puzzle.

62A: Work with the hands: KNEAD. You need to KNEAD that dough.

63A: Concert wind: OBOE. But not "A Mighty Wind".

64A: Bee or Em: AUNT. Bee, from Mayberry, and Em, still in Kansas.

65A: Marsh plant: SEDGE. Also called swale grass; I can remember when I was a kid, the old farmers would talk about having to cut swale grass from the swamps to feed the livestock if they ran out of hay in the winter.

66A: Spreadsheet divisions: ROWS

67A: Running behind: LATE

Down:

1D: Member of a colony: WASP. Social insects living in a common nest. Usually, we think of ants.

2D: Bibliography abbr.: AUTH. AUTHor.

3D: Overcast: GRAY. Skies.

4D: Where to find a stud: EARLOBE. Oops, wrong kind of stud.

5D: Onetime regular on "Curb Your Enthusiam": LOUIS NYE. He was a regular on the old Steve Allen's "Man in the Street" bit. "Hi-ho, Steverino!"

6D: Goofs up: ERRS

7D: Coolers, for short: ACS. Air ConditionerS.

8D: Mad specialty: SATIRE. A can of worms for PromiseMeThis if he doesn't get this one.

9D: BlackBerry devices and iPhones,briefly: PDAS. Personal Digital AssistantS.

10D: Migratory fish: EEL. Unlike many fish, they migrate from fresh water to salt water to spawn.

11D: Phony: SCAM ARTIST. The Talented Mr. Bernard L. Madoff.

12D: State that borders Guerrero: OAXACA. Map. The historic home of the Zapotec and Mixtec peoples.

13D: Most foxlike: SLYEST. Or sliest.

18D: Berliner ___: dark pigment: BLAU. In English, Berlin blue. Another name for the color, Prussian blue, it was discovered accidentally in Berlin in 1704. One of the first synthetic pigments, it is a very dark blue, colorfast, non-toxic pigment.

19D: Harsh: GRIM

24D: Devoted fans: ADORERS. Such are the fans of Barry Silk puzzles.

25D: Phys., e.g.: SCI. The SCIence of PHYSics

26D: Old "Up, up and away" sloganeer: TWA. Trans World Airlines.

27D: Presidential nickname: RON. 40th President of the United States, RONald Wilson Reagan.

28D: Like some of University of Pennsylvania's buildings: IVY-COVERED. A land-grant university and a member of the Ivy League. "Leges sine Moribus vanae".

29D: Overseas trade org.: EEC. European Economic Community, official name of the Common Market.

30D: Photo finish?: OPS. PHOTOgraphic OPportunitieS, Occasions that lend themself to (or are deliberately arranged for) taking photographs that provide favorable publicity.

35D: Urban intersectors: Abbr.: STS. STreetS

36D: Former days, in former days: ELD. noun: Archaic. antiquity.

37D: Draws: TIES. When neither side is winning a contest.

39D: Colombian gold: ORO. Spanish is spoken in Columbia and ORO is Spanish for gold.

40D: EMT's specialty: CPR. Emergency Medical Technician performs CardioPulmonary Resuscitation.

42D: Capitalize on: USE.

44D: Kind of deposit: MINERAL. Too much MINERAL deposits will give you "hard" water and then you will need a water softener.

45D: Dixie ___ : CHICKS. Three female singing group. Picture and Song (I'll tell you up front, the song is Not Ready to Make Nice for those of you who do not want to listen to the Dixie CHICKS.) Lyrics.

46D: Assumed family name in punk rock: RAMONES. American rock band often regarded as the first punk rock group. Formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, in 1974. Picture and Song (I'll tell you up front, the song is I wanna be Sedated for those of you who do not want to listen to The RAMONES.)

47D: Fan's production: WHIR. Imitative of the sound the fan blades make when spinning.

48D: Speaker: ORATOR.

49D: ___ vu: DEJA. The feeling that what is happening now, has happened before.

54D: Relinquish: CEDE.

55D: Speak Persian?: MEOW. Persian is a type of cat.

56D: Antarctic flier: SKUA. Any of several Arctic and Boreal predatory sea birds that harass smaller birds and snatch the food they drop. They sound like bullies.

57D: Temporary shelter: TENT

58D: Suffix with kitchen: ETTE

60D: Complain constantly: NAG

61D: "Curb Your Enthusiam" channel: HBO. Home Box Office.

Argyle

Saturday February 21, 2009 Matthew Higgins

Theme: None

Total blocks: 28

Total words: 70

Now I am feeling like "A RAISIN in the Sun (42D), completely dried up. Some of the clues/ANSWERS are relentlessly obscure to me. I definitely need the theme as my Sherpa. Themeless is too much of a Sisyphean challenge to me.

I would prefer "Abused verbally" rather than "Assailed abusively" for REVILED because ASSAILANTS is the answer for 17A: Violent attackers.

To those who did not read my Wednesday's post, Argyle will blog Barry Silk's Bonus Puzzle tomorrow morning. Also, LA Times just published Barry's themeless today. The blog will be published here on March 1 (Sunday). I have never solved a Saturday LA Times before. Very curious to see how it differs from our TMS themeless.

Across:

1A: Navigation aid: CHART. Would be easier if the clue is "Navigation map". All I could think of is COMPASS.

14A: Financial aid form: PAPER CHASE. New term to me. Chinese government paid all my college education, so I did not need any financial aid.

16A: Hokey rural humor: CORN. Did not know it's a "rural" humor.

19A: Remove from active use: SHELVE

20A: Lesser Antilles republic: DOMINICA. Here is a map.

25A: Judicial: ARBITRAL. They are not synonymous to me. "Judicial" is pertaining to the judge/justice, while ARBITRAL has something to do with arbiter or arbitration.

31A: Entrench oneself: DIG IN. Did not come to me readily.

35A: African fox: ASSE. Simply forgot. Also called Cape Fox. It "inhabits dry areas of southern Africa and has large pointed ears, silvery gray coat, and a bushy tail with a black tip".

36A: Type of boom: SONIC. SONIC boom. Like the boom from Concorde?

37A: Matador's adversary: TORO

38A: Cool or groovy: HIP. "Hep" in old times.

43A: Sound units: DECIBELS. SONE is often clued as "Loudness unit". It's 40 DECIBELS.

45A: Impedes: RETARDS. I wanted HINDERS. But it did not fit.

47A: Fillet fish: SOLE. I've never had SOLE fish. It's also called flatfish. I misread "Fillet" as a verb, so SKIN & DEBONE popped into my mind.

48A: Named: ENTITLED

50A: Belgrade's republic: SERBIA. Fully landlocked. It gained full independence in 2006. Not an EU memeber yet. SERBIA (esp Kosovo) and the whole Balkan area baffle the hell of me, very confusing civil/ethnic/religious fights.

54A: Suit toppers: ACES

55A: Fading away gradually: EVANESCING. New word to me. I only knew convalesce.

58A: Form into a network: RETICULATE. Another new word. RETIA is often clued as "Networks".

Down:

2D: Corned-beef dish: HASH

3D: Area in a basilica: APSE. Sometimes the answer is NAVE.

4D: Chronologically unbroken: REAL TIME. The clue does not feel natural to me.

5D: Hot-dish stands: TRIVETS. Was clued as "Hot-platter platform" last time.

8D: John Jacob and Mary: ASTOR

9D: Hypnotic: MESMERIC. I am used to the word "mesmerizing".

10D: Formulaic stylistically: ICONIC. This clue is too fancy for me. Why not "Like Jackie's sunglasses"?

11D: House trailer: MOBILE HOME. And RESIDENCE ((26D: Abodes)

12D: Of the rules: PROCEDURAL. Would not have got this word without the across fills. Have heard of PROCEDURAL vote many times. Never understand what it means.

13D: Slammin' Sammy: SNEAD. Hogan and SNEAD, Jack and Arnie, Tiger and Phil.

21D: Reitman or Pavlov: IVAN. Did not know the Canadian film producer/director IVAN Reitman. His lower lip is very thick.

23D: Hazardous gas: RADON

25D: Old-time actress Menken: ADAH. No idea. She died when she was only 33. Wikipedia said she was romanced by Dumas when she performed in Paris. Dumas looks so content and happy.

27D: Splashes with mud: BESPATTERS. Knew SPATTER only.

28D: Like some tablets: LINED. Here is a somewhat LINED but MESMERIC face. Lots of milliadonis in my book.

32D: Lytton Strachey's first name: GILES. Bloody blue murder! Have never heard of this British writer/critic. He died in 1932. Wrote a biography of Queen Victoria.

36D: Blacksmiths' cohorts: SADDLERS. Oh, I had no idea that there are people specializing in saddle making/repairing.

37D: Protuberance on a bone: TUBERCLE. Only knew TUBER.

44D: Trig. function: COSEC. Mine was COSIN.

45D: Ranch in the movie "Giant": REATA. Carol probably still wants RIATA.

46D: "The __ Samurai": SEVEN. Probably the most famous Japanese movie ever made. The Tom Cruise movie is titled "The Last Samurai".

56D: Quick drink: NIP

C.C.

Friday February 20, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Nidget's Pal

17A: Gidget: SURFING FILM

49A: Widget: DESKTOP TOOL

11D: Fidget: SQUIRM ABOUT

25D: Midget: MINI VERSION

All the above theme answers feel like normal clues, don't you think so? "Squirm about": FIDGET. I hope this is an aberrant rather than a pattern. I don't like this reverse pattern. Hate when the clues rather than the answers are the theme. We just had "Snow, Show, Slow & Stow" the day before yesterday.

Our editor clued SANDRA DEE as "Gidget star"a few weeks ago. But the movie escaped me completely this morning. Difficult solving. The intersection of AL OERTER & ERDE is hard.

I disagree with the clue for OILER (47A: Crude workman?). OILER refers to the crude oil carrier rather than worker on the oil field, right?

Across:

5A: Acquire canines: TEETHE. "Acquire molars" too.

15A: Batman's butler: ALFRED. New to me. Not a fan of Batman or Superman. Heroic figures should not have a butler anyway.

19A: Sturm __ Drang: UND. "And" in German. "Storm AND Stress". I always think of Munch's "The Scream" whenever I see this term.

28A: Forest dweller: WOODSMAN. Did not come to me readily. Just realized that this hot-tempered Welsh golfer is called Ian Woosnam, not Ian Woodsman.

32A: Lacy houseplants: FERNS. Seedless and Flowerless. Oh, by the way, Chinese word for fig is "fruit without flowers". Do you think the flower is inside the fig fruit?

33A: Sleeve card?: ACE. Good clue.

35A: Clamps: VISES. With the ?idget theme, "Carpenter's gadget" might be a better clue.

38A: Threescore: SIXTY. Learned the meaning of "score" from Lincoln's "Fourscore and seven years ago...". I like his barebone, economical yet powerful writing. You could find some of his style in JFK's speeches.

44A: Fell as ice: SLEETED. Did not know SLEET can be a verb.

48A: Pressure meas.: PSI (Pounds per Square Inch). Also a Greek letter of course.

56A: "Das Lied von der __": ERDE. I googled. Mahler's composition. "Lied" is a German art song for solo voice and piano. ERDE means "earth". So this work is literally titled "The Song of the Earth".

58A: V-shaped fortifications: REDANS. No idea. This one is indeed V-shaped. I can't see how it serves its fortification purpose. Wikipedia says Russians used REDANS against Napoleon during one battle.

59A: Eurasian deer: ROES. Where is his tail? I learned a few days ago that antlers are deciduous. So I presume the deer shed their antlers every season? Last time our editor clued SIKA as "Japanese deer", brutal clue.

Down:

2D: Old French coin: SOU. 1/20 of the old franc. Sometimes the answer is ECU, a silver five-franc piece.

3D: Swiss river: AAR. Hmmm, Williams is not in the mood for "Swiss flow-er".

6D: "Enigma Variations" composer: ELGAR (Edward). British composer, stranger to me. What does "Nimrod" mean?

7D: Studio apts: EFFS. Saw this clue before. Not clear what exactly is an efficiency apartment.

8D: Angle or pod lead-in: TRI. "Cycle lead-in" as well.

9D: Mischievous children: HELLIONS. New word to me.

10D: O'Brien and Rostand: EDMONDS. EDMOND O'Brien was an actor who won Oscar for "The Barefoot Contessa" (Best Supporting Actor). EDMOND Rostand was a French poet and dramatist best known for his play " Cyrano de Bergerac". He said: It is at night that faith in light is admirable. What does that mean?

24D: Type of magnetism?: ANIMAL. Excellent clue.

26D: Comic Amsterdam: MOREY. Another unknown. He is best known for his role in "Dick Van Dyke Show", the guy on the most left.

28D: Adam and Benjamin: WESTS. Adam WEST played the Batman on the TV series. Benjamin WEST was an American painter of large scale historical scene during the time of American revolution. I feel sad for myself, the only WEST I know is Mae WEST.

35D: Waltz type: VIENNESE. I have no idea there are so many styles of Waltz.

36D: Olympic discus legend: AL OERTER. I don't know this legend. He won a gold medal in four consecutive Olympics, steroid-free, A-Rod.

44D: Suppress, as info: SIT ON

46D: Turkey label letters: USDA. Hey, I have the autograph of the current USDA chief.

50D: Advanced deg.: SCD (Scientiae Doctor, Latin). Doctor of Science. Same clue/ANSWER appeared our puzzle before.

53D: "__ Girls": LES. Have never heard of this comedy film. It's also known as "Cole Porter's LES Girls".

C.C.

Thursday February 19, 2009 Adele Mann

Theme: "What, Me Worry?"

17A: Start of a quip: WORRY IS A ROCKING

34A: Part 2 of quip: CHAIR THAT

45A: Part 3 of quip: WILL NEVER

66A: End of quip: TAKE YOU ANYWHERE

The original Glenn Turner quote is: Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.

Most of the worries are unfounded. Some people are trapped and paralyzed by their gloomy imaginations. Worries can easily morph into fears or phobias. Don't worry. Be happy.

This is a better puzzle than Alele Mann's last quip. It held my interest. But why "Chic" for (4D) though? To me, "Chic" is stylish, but PERT is "lively". Katie Couric used to be PERT.

Across:

1A: Short distance: STEP. This STEP is definitely not a "Short distance".

5A: Hullabaloo: FUROR

16A: Present starter?: OMNI. Omnipresent. Actually, "Present opener?" is a better clue.

21A: "Havana" star: LENA OLIN. Easy guess. I've never seen "Havana". Nice to see her full name in a grid.

25A: His in Hyeres: SES. Hyeres is on the French Riviera. I did not know that.

30A: "Barney Miller" co-star: SOO (Jack). Learned from doing Xword. I wonder why he changed his name into SOO. Japanese nickname for Suzuki?

42A: Explorer Johnson: OSA. No idea. Here is a safari photo of OSA and her husband Martin Johnson. If she is OSA, her husband should be OSO. A bear couple.

44A: Star in Cygnus: DENEB. "Cygnus" is Latin for "swan", cygnets are young swans. See this diagram again.

54A: SASA, e.g.: ENC. Wrote down ENV first.

58A: Deviant: ABNORMAL

68A: Mythical Hun king: ATLI. I don't know why the answer is ATLI when it's clued as Norse god related, but ATTILA when the clue was "The Scourge of God".

69A: Founder of the Ottoman dynasty: OSMAN. Oh, I did not know this either. More familiar with Ottoman Empire, not dynasty. China had over 20 dynasties. Qing was the last, overthrown by Sun Yat-Sen in 1911.

72A: Renaissance fiddle: REBEC. Absolutely no idea. See here for more information. It's pear-shaped and was replaced by viol after the Renaissance period.

Down:

1D: Disseminates: SOWS. Remind me of my theme title yesterday: Go, Sow Your Wild Oats.

3D: Stone or Pound: EZRA. Know poet EZRA Pound. Forgot who EZRA Stone is.

5D: Like Snow White: FAIREST. Good clue. Better than "Most ..."

7D: Qum coin: RIAL. Qum is in Iran. See it? It's to the south/southwest of Tehran.

11D: Ludwig and Jannings: EMILS. Jannings is the first winner of Oscar for Best Actor ("The Way of All Flesh"). Ludwig is a German author known for his biographies of Goethe, Napoléon, etc.

12D: "Tomorrow" singer: ANNIE. Nice clip.

19D: Actress Jones: CAROLYN. I guessed. Not familiar with this actress at all. Is CAROLYN and Caroline the same?

23D: Not by any means: NO HOW. Mine was NEVER.

29D: Itchy skin problem: TINEA. New word to me. It's also called ringworm.

31D: Mirage, maybe: OASIS. OK, maybe.

38D: Fiji's capital: SUVA. PGA golfer Vijay Singh attended high school here, according to Wikipedia. He is very cold in person, very arrogant.

48D: Cast off: UNMOOR. I wanted UNSHED. Silly, since SHED is the correct word.

51D: Mongolian invader: TATAR. I think China had the largest territory when it's ruled by Genghis Khan.

53D: Braided linen tape: INKLE. Oh, I did not know there is a special term for braided linen.

57D: Everygreen tree: YEW. Are these berries poisonous?

59D: Eye in Aix: OEIL. Trompe l'OEIL. Surreal, isn't it? Julian Beever never ceases to amaze me. Pavement Picasso indeed.

64D: Ireland: ERIN. The poetic name for Ireland is EIRE. Hibernophile is a term to describe one who love all things Irish, esp the Corrs & Bono. Hibernia is Latin for Ireland. Sounds cold, doesn't it?

C.C.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 Josiah Breward

Theme: Go, Sow Your Wild Oats

17A: Show: FINISH THIRD

60A: Slow: REDUCE SPEED

11D: Snow: WINTER WHITE

24D: Stow: PACK TIGHTLY

If you have a better theme title, please come to the Comments section. I first wrote down "Go with the Flow" as all the theme clues rhyme with "Flow", but they are quite strict, all starting with letter S and ending with OW.

WINTER WHITE sounds strained to me. Besides, it's clued as a noun while the other three are all verb phrases. I dispute the clue for YEASTY (49D: Like bad bread). It's simply not true. Or should I say "a lie" given the lively blog discussions on TRUER yesterday.

This puzzle is a Hydra monster to me. I struggled hard.

Barry Silk has constructed a special puzzle for us. Click on iPaper and then print it out. Argyle will blog this puzzle on Sunday Feb 22. I hope you save it and solve it only on Saturday evening or Sunday morning.

Across:

6A: Jazz pianist Jankowski: HORST. Stumper immediately. Have never heard of this German pianist.

15A: City southeast of Rome: UTICA. No idea. Here is a map. I can't find UTICA. (Addendum: This is the correct map. It's in NY State. I was thinking of Italy.)

19A: Born in Boulogne: NEE. Another alliteration, the same with "Born in Bordeaux".

20A: Bishop's district: DIOCESE. ARCHDIOCESE is the district of Archbishop, who reports directly to the cardinal, right?

22A: Angel dust, abbr.: PCP. I forgot. It's still an illegal drug, isn't it?

25A: Willie Wonka's creator: DAHL(Roald). His name simply escaped me. Have you watched the Johnny Depp movie?

30A: Hope/Crosby co-star: LAMOUR (Dorothy). Here they are, "Road to Bali". I have never seen any of their "Road to ... " film.

32A: Athletic org.: YMCA. Penned in NCAA first. Can't seem to associate YMCA with "Athletic org.". My friend Linda goes to Y for workout sometimes.

40A: Game bird: WOODHEN. New bird to me. It's a flightless bird of the rail family. They look very dumb. So, the male of WOODHEN should be woodcock then. Oh, no, woodcock is a different bird of wading species. WOW (11A: Holy cow!), What do you call female woodcock then?

48A: __ Beach, S.C.: MYRTLE. I love the golf courses there. And the seafood.

50A: Cartwright or Down: ANGELA. Easy guess. I know neither of them. Who is ANGELA Down?

56A: Jellyfish: MEDUSAS. Nope. Here is a red MEDUSA. Named after the ugly Gorgon MEDUSA I suppose. Don't look at her too long, you don't want to be turned into a stone.

59A: U.S. dance grp.: ABT (American Ballet Theatre). First encounter with this abbreviation.

64A: __ Paese cheese: BEL. This cheese appeared on a Sunday TMS puzzle before. I like the package. So green. Poor dairy cows. So many of them have been turned into hamburgers.

65A: Pipe material: BRIAR. Thought that's how we got BRIAR Pipe. It turns out that I was wrong.

66A: Roofing material: TERNE. No idea. This roofing is TERNE metal coated.

68A: Cordage fibers: ISTLE. This word just looks so wrong. I tried to associate it with thISTLE and whISTLE when it appeared in our puzzle last time. But obviously it did not work. I forgot the damned word completely.

69A: Streisand movie: YENTL

Down:

2D: Fauna starter?: AVI. Prefix for bird.

5D: Football kick: ONSIDE. Not familiar with this football term. Only know PAT value is ONE.

6D: Rabbit residence: HUTCH. Good to know. Could only think of the briar patch.

7D: The Moor of Venice: OTHELLO. IAGO was clued as "Othello conniver" yesterday.

8D: Journalist Jacob August: RIIS. Googled this journalist. Very strange surname. He wrote a biography on TR, the 4th greatest American president, according to the latest C-span survey.

10D: Abe Lioncoln's boy: TAD. Nice trivia.

21A: Quito's country: ECUADOR. Their monetary unit is SUCRE, which was clued as "One of Bolivia's capitals" yesterday.

22D: "The Silver Streak" co-star: PRYOR. Got the answer from intersecting clues.

23D: Comet heads: COMAE. Plural of COMA. Brutal clue. I've never heard of Comet COMA before.

31D: Element fig: AT WT. Always want AT NO.

34D: __ majesty: LESE. High treason. Learned from doing Xword. What is the French root word for LESE?

41D: Pass through a membrane: OSMOSE

44D: Occurring in small stages: GRADUAL. I don't get this one.

47D: Dubbers: NAMERS. Annoy ERS repetition.

53D: Ill-gotten profit: LUCRES. I wanted LOOTS. Definitely need a "filthy" hint for LUCRES.

63D: Dolores __ Rio: DEL. Oh dear, I thought it's river. Have never heard of this Mexican actress. She looks so beautiful. I would say 999 millihelens, enough to launch 999 ships.

C.C.

Interview with Verna Suit

This interview was conducted in early January. I was hoping to publish it when we have a Verna Suit puzzle. Now I doubt it will ever happen. Our editor Mr. Wayne R. Williams has stopped communicating with our regular constructors since last November when Tribune declared bankruptcy.

The quality of our puzzles has deteriorated significantly every since. I think we should write to Mr. Williams (PuzzlesWRW@aol.com) and ask for more quality puzzles from old constructors like Verna Suit, Barry Silk, Doug Peterson, John Underwood, Allan E. Parrish, Norma Steinberg etc. I would love to have more of Alan P. Olschwang's non-quips (Great USA Today puzzles) and Stan B. Whitten's simple & enjoyable grids.

For those who have been missing Barry Silk, he has two puzzles coming our next weekend. A Saturday LA Times themeless and a Sunday NY Times co-authored with Doug Peterson. I will link the LA Times when it's published and plan to blog it on a Sunday when most of you do not have our regular TMS puzzle.

OK, now back to the interview:

What's your background and how did you develop a passion for crossword construction?

I've always worked crosswords. I spent my federal government career playing around with language and words, and in my retirement, constructing crosswords is a way of continuing to do that. I got interested in making them around 1990 when I briefly shared a desk with noted constructor Bill Lutwiniak. I asked him what qualities a constructor needed, and he said a good vocabulary and to be a good speller. He advised that if I was interested in constructing, I should start small (13x13). That seemed a waste of time, so my first construction effort was a 21x21, on which I immediately got stuck. So I went back to baby steps and made a couple of 13x's. I moved up to 15x and over the next few years played around with grids when I had time. This was all manual, of course, in those early days. Then in 1998 I had the good fortune to meet another constructor, Carole Anne Nelson. She critiqued the puzzles I'd made so far, told me about rules I didn't know existed, and introduced me to important resources. Both Mr. Lutwiniak and Carole Anne are gone now but I'm deeply indebted to each for sending me along the right path. In February 1999 I submitted my first puzzle and it appeared in the LA Times on May 27th. Since then I've been published also by the NYT, USA Today, TMS, Games Magazine, the NY Sun, Newsday, Sterling, Adams, Dell, Penny Press, and other odds and ends of places. About a year ago I started making a crossword for the Montgomery County (MD) Friends-of-the-Library quarterly newsletter, where I get to play with my own choice of bookish themes (fun for an old English major) and be my own editor.

How would you describe your style? I notice that you like "Three Things" puzzle. How are they different from a normal themed puzzle?

Eclectic? And not very prolific. I prefer 15x over 21x, which are just longer. 15x is a nice size to solve and to make. I also prefer puzzles with themes. I first came across the "Three Things" theme in a TMS puzzle years ago and really enjoyed the challenge of working it. You know something about the individual words but not where each one starts or stops, and must rely on your intuition. I discovered they're also fun to make. I enjoy coming up with strings of the best words I can. Note: I have to apologize to solvers for the last one I did, "Three Lines", that appeared 12/3/08. I had an abundance of good "line" words and was able to fit in 6 theme strings instead of the usual 4. I sensed it was going to be a tough puzzle to solve, with all those discontinuous strings, so I wrote easy clues. But the editor apparently decided the clues should be harder and changed a lot of them. It ended up being a lot tougher puzzle than I planned.

Where do you normally get your theme inspirations?

From whatever is on my mind at the time, or from an interesting word or phrase I come across.

What kind of puzzles do you solve every day? How do you normally tackle a puzzle?

I usually start the day with a Sudoku to wake up, and work a few more of them during the day to relax. I get the Washington Post which has the Crossynergy crossword puzzle and the TMS, and often work both of them, plus Merl Reagle's on Sunday. I usually skip quotation-theme puzzles, which I've gotten bored with. I start working at 1-across and keep filling in whatever I know, wherever it is in the grid. It's a rare puzzle I can't finish these days (except for a bunch of them at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. I've attended five times and am solidly in the top 70% ;-/) I do enjoy tough crosswords, though. My favorite constructors are Bob Klahn and Frank Longo.

Any tips for our TMS solvers on how to improve our solving skills?

Read a lot, work a lot of puzzles.

Thank you, Ms. Suit.

Tuesday February 17, 2009 Annabel Michaels

Theme: Weather Unit(s)

17A: Weather unit: SNOWFLAKE

59A: Weather units: RAINDROPS

10D: Weather unit: ICE CRYSTAL

29D: Weather units: HAILSTONES

I doubt the above theme clues are the constructor's originals. Remember what our editor did with John Underwood's Jan 12, 2009 puzzle? He changed all of Underwood's colorful and evocative clues into boring "Someone's opera".

I like the clue for LIED (21D: Manufactured facts). Quite tricky, with the plural "facts", the answer could also be LIES. Would have preferred "More factual" for TRUER (12D: Less of a lie?) due to the duplication of "lie".

As ART is the answer for 66A: Fleming or Garfunkel, it shouldn't appear as clue for INTAGLIO (6D: Glyptic art).

Across:

1A: African river: CONGO. The second longest river in Africa after Nile.

14A: Lend beauty to: ADORN. And the measurement for beauty is millihelen, after Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ship. How many millihelens here?

15A: Lon __ of Cambodia: NOL. I thought U Thant was from Cambodia also. Turns out he was a Burmese. U simply means "sir".

22A: Pile of rocks: SCREE. I forgot. This word needs an additional letter N or D at the tail to make sense to me.

26A: Fancy schmancy: POSH. "Fancy Schmancy" indeed. They've decided to leave the US. David Beckham has probably made enough money for LA Galaxy.

33A: Raines of old film: ELLA. No idea. Her eyes are so piercing. I was actually picturing O-Lan, the "Good Earth" actress Luise Rainer. Raines & Rainer, quite close.

39A: Clan pattern: PLAID. I mindlessly wrote down TOTEM. Always associate "Clan" with those Native Indian tribes rather than the Scottish highlanders and their tartan kilt.

48A: Water of Guadalajara: AGUA. It's Shui (水) in Chinese. Feng (风) is wind. So "Feng Shui" is literally "Wind-water".

51A: "Stay (I Missed You)" singer Lisa: LOEB. Here is the song. She wears glasses all the time.

52A: Field event: SHOTPUT. Look at his left arm.

67A: Ancient region of Asia Minor: IONIA. Still remember last week's answer AEOLIS? I wanted IONIA then. How long did the Greek colonize Turkey?

70A: Subject to random chance: FLUKY. New adjective to me.

Down:

9D: Wynton or Branford: MARSALIS. No idea. I am very ignorant on jazz musicians. Wynton MARSALIS is a trumpeter. Brandford MARSALIS is a saxophone player.

11D: One of Bolivia's capitals: SUCRE. I wonder why it's named SUCRE, so sweet. Barry Silk probably would have gone LA PAZ, given his affinity with scrabbly letters.

26D: First name in cartoon skunks: PEPE. I linked this clip last Sunday. "Bon what?" I could not understand his first sentence.

28D: Smeltery waste: SLAG. Sometimes the answer is DROSS. Scum is "Pond dross".

36D: "Othello" conniver: IAGO. I used to confuse him with Prince IGOR.

37D: New Zealand island territory: NIUE. Unknown to me. See this map, between Tonga and Cook Islands. It's discovered by Captain Cook in 1774. This might be a tough fill if you don't know the intersecting singer Lisa LOEB.

53D: Craft starter?: HOVER. Also called ACV (Air-Cushion Vehicle). I have never heard of it before.

57D: Enlighten: EDIFY. Same root with edifice?

63D: Explorer Zebulon: PIKE. Did not know this guy or his exploration. Wikipedia says PIKES Peak in CO is named after him.

C.C.

Monday February 16, 2009 Jo Vita

Theme: It's Scintilla-ting

20A: Musical featuring "Maniac": FLASHDANCE

62A: Navigation beacon: LIGHTHOUSE

10D: Igniter: SPARKPLUG

33D: Luminous larvae: GLOWWORMS

I wonder why GLOWWORMS glow. Aren't they afraid of being eaten by bats or those night owls?

I rather like the theme answers today, very consistent. Those gleaming words brought to mind William Manchester's "One Brief Shining Moment" about JFK and his Camelot years. Truly beautiful things, like cherry blossoms, only last a very short time.

I don't think the clue for WHIT (34A: Smallest amount) is accurate. "Small amount", yes.

I don't understand why "Failing on purpose" for TANKING (24A). The stock market has been TANKING since last September, is it "Failing on purpose"? Who manipulated this scandal then? "The Talented Mr. Madoff"?

Also, why "Alternative beau" for RIVAL (55D)? RIVAL to whom?

Across:

1A: Thief's haul: SWAG. New slang to me. I could only think of LOOT.

5A: Stowaway, e.g.: HIDER. And NEWER (18A: More recent). And SCOWLER (52A: Sour looker). Special deal for ER today, buy one, get two free.

15A: Dig deeply?: ADORE. Good clue.

16A: Carson's predecessor: PAAR. I often confuse Jack PAAR with Catherine PARR, Henry VIII's wife.

40A: Eye: pref.: OCULO. I am more familiar with ocular. Easily gettable though. Oculus is Latin for "eye".

42A: "__ You Experienced?": ARE. Have never heard of this Jimi Hendrix song.

43A: Pianist Blake: EUBIE. Obtained his name with down fill help. Wikipedia says he smoked all his life and he died five days after his 100th birthday.

44A: Domingo, eg.: TENOR. The Three Tenors. Domingo is in the left.

45A: Cartoonist Drucker: MORT. Googled his name, cartoonist for the "Mad Magazine". Egads, I did not know that "Mad Magazine" is still in circulation.

64A: Drunkard: WINO. Thought of LUSH immediately, after our "A lush lushed lush in a lush lush" discussion last week.

65A: Asseverate: AVER. Did not know the meaning of "Asseverate". I parsed the word as "Make less severe", but EASE did not fit.

67A: Ready and willing partner: ABLE. I am ready, willing and ABLE to let Vikings go. Los Angeles Vikings does have a nice ring on it.

68A: Writer O'Flaherty: LIAM. Irish writer. Unknown to me. Is LIAM an unique Irish name? LIAM Neeson (Oskar in "Schindler's List") is from Ireland. He is going to play ABE (37D: Presidential nickname) in a Steven Spielberg biopic.

69A: Moon lander: EAGLE. Was not aware of this Apollo 11’s module name. Spider (Apollo 9) sounds quite apt.

71A: Bracket shapes: ELLS. Holy moley. I was really uneducated on this term.

Down:

2D: Writer Cather: WILLA. Her "O Pineers" appeared in our puzzle before. Unfortunately I don't remember her name.

3D: Mr. T's outfit: A-TEAM. I was thinking of the enormous amount of bling blings he is wearing, not the TV series. "The" is missing from the clue.

4D: Painter's base: GESSO. Eat a worm if you missed this one.

8D: Standing: ERECT. Made me think of the "Like member of congress clue" again. I bet John Boehner/Eric Cantor would go nuts if this clue appeared in a newspaper.

11D: Hawaiian island: KAUAI. What's so special about this island? I've never been to Hawaii. Must be very difficult to live with only 12 letters. I can understand 5 vowels, but only 7 consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w)?

25D: French Riviera resort: NICE."To Catch a Thief" is set in French Riviera. Nice movie. There is a picnic scene when Grace Kelly offered Cary Grant some chicken, and she asked "Do you want a leg or a breast?" Don't google, give me your guess on Grant's response.

27D: Put-up job: SHAM. Like FEMA's fake "News Conference".

28D: Russian city on the Vyatka: KIROV. See this map. Vyatka is a river. It has appeared in our puzzle several times. But I would not have got it without the Across fills. Chris mentioned the KIROV Ballet last time.

31D: Service winner: ACE. Tennis.

46D: Dreaded flies: TSETSES. I am surprised that our editor did not bring back "Nagana carriers" this time. He seems to be in an incurable repeating mood right now.

52D: Low tract: SWALE. This has become a gimme. Swamp anyone?

58D: Minsk money: RUBLE. Only knew RUBLE is Putin's bread. Was unaware that it's used in Belarus as well.

59D: Country singer K.T.: OSLIN. See, whatever Jimbo wants, Jimbo gets.

63D: Caron role: GIGI. Colette's most famous novel. Once again, her great quote: "I love

my past, I love my present. I am not ashamed of what I have had, and I am not sad because I no longer have it".

64D: 1965 Beatles movie: HELP. This promo looks great. Here is the list of movies the Beatles made.

C.C.

Sunday February 15, 2009 Ed Voile

Theme: Dig Dug

23A: Rug: OBVIOUS TOUPEE

37A: Tug: HARBOR VESSEL

63A: Shrug: SHOULDER HEAVE

86A: Plug: WAD OF TOBACCO

101A: Fug: BAD ATMOSPHERE

17D: Bug: LISTENING DEVICE

42D: Slug: COUNTERFEIT COIN

I blanked on "Plug", though I've seen QUID or CHAW clued as "Tobacco plug" before. Did not know "Slug" can be COUNTERFEIT COIN. I do visit this hugely popular website from time to time, but I've never bothered to check what's the meaning of "Fug", always thought it's the substitute of the bad F word.

Too bad "Hug" and "Mug" are missing, they should be fun to define. And "Jug": "A Jug of Wine / A Loaf of Bread / - And Thou ... "so crudely romantic.

I don't know what's happened to our editor, this puzzle is screaming for more editing. The word "devices" should not make the appearance in the clue for ADDABLE (82D: Like auxiliary devices) due to 17D. Interesting to see ARON (8D: "East of Eden" twin) and TWIN (27A: Womb-mate) intersects one another, but the duplication of "twin" spoils the fun tremendously . "East of Eden" brother/son should be sufficient. Or just a simple "Elvis' middle name".

Too many "*est" words:

83A: At the earliest: SOONEST

51D: Most merciless: CRUELEST

109A: Most compact: DENSEST

86D: Superlatively sage: WISEST

Right now I have SEP for 10D (Calendar-watch abbr.). Does it stand for September? If so, why? Is it because NFL kicks off that month?

Click here for Argyle's Valentine Dream blog post.

Across:

1A: Soaked up rays: BASKED. Wrote down TANNED immediately and messed up my 1D: Leg-up: BOOST. I wonder if anyone tried SUNNED.

7A: Movie collie: LASSIE. Wow, this is a very old movie trailer.

13A: Pitchman: SPIELER

25A: "The Bald Soprano" playwright: IONESCO (Eugène). Got his name from the down fills. Romania-born French dramatist, a leading exponent of "Theater of the Absurd." Reminds me of Chris' research on Camus last time.

28A: "Peanuts" regular: LINUS. I don't quite get this one. Election night conservative sentiment?

33A: Conceived: IDEATED. I CREATED again, of course.

36A: First name in cartoon skunks: PEPE. Bon what?

40A: Old Portuguese currency: ESCUDOS. No idea. Here is a banknote.

44A: Planet-finding grp.: SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). I wanted NASA, as I always do.

45A: Electronic navigational system system: SHORAN (Short-Range Navigation). Forgot.

47A: 17th-century opener: MDCI. The year 1601. I like this clue.

54A: God of the east wind: EURUS. No idea. He was supposed to "bring warmth and rain, and his symbol was an inverted vase, spilling water." I can't find a good picture of him. But he is winged, as is every wind god. See this painting of Zephyrus ("God of west wind") and his lover Chloris, goddess of flower (Flora in Roman). "God of the north" wind is Boreas, and "God of south wind" is Notus. They all reported to Aeolus, right? Funny every wind god ends their name with letters "us" except Boreas.

55A: Fish like a stick?: GAR. Because it's very long? I am accustomed to seeing GAR clued as "Long-nosed needlefish".

58A: Modifiers: ADAPTERS. Why?

67A: Well-known wheel-spinner: PAT SAJAK. Really?

71A: People conquered by the Iroquois: ERIES. Easy answer. But I was not educated on this history.

73A: Fannie of vaudeville: BRICE. The funny Fannie in Barbara Streisand's "Funny Girl". What exactly is a vaudeville? See this word often in the biographies of those old movie stars.

82A: Spirit of "The Tempest": ARIEL. This ARIEL does look very airy. Hebrew for "Lion of the Lord". Shouldn't it be "Lioness of God" then?

90A: Botches: MISDOES

95A: U.S. transp. reg. agc.: ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission). From 1887-1996. I don't like the clue. No need to abbreviate all the 4 words, one is enough.

96A: Former Turkish official: PASHA. I think AGA is still in use.

99A: Anchoring place: MOORAGE

106A: Demonstrates: EVINCES

107A: Rough shelter: LEAN-TO. I thought of shanty.

110A: Going astray: ERRANT. Off-course, of course.

111A: Uses a divining rod: DOWSES. No idea. I did not know the meaning of "divining rod" either. Only know douse.

Down:

3D: Region of France: SAVOY. Unknown to me. I do love SAVOY cabbage though. Are those two related? SAVOY is in southeast France, adjacent to the Swiss-Italian border.

5D: I problem?: EGO. Good clue. EGO is Latin for "I", right?

6D: Bombarding particle used in accelerators: DEUTERON. Another unknown. Dictionary defines it as "a positively charged particle consisting of a proton and a neutron, equivalent to the nucleus of an atom of deuterium", whatever deuterium means.

12D: Bit of facial hair: EYELASH. I suppose so.

13D: Red gem: SPINEL. New gem to me. I wanted garnet.

16D: First of a gender: EVE

32D: Assassinated Egyptian leader: SADAT. He was assassinated in 1981. Wait till Mubarak die, there should be an investigation on who on earth killed SADAT.

33D: Welsh actor Novello: IVOR. Composer as well. I can never remember his name. The annual British songwriters' IVOR Award is named after him.

34D: Graphic opening?: DEMO. Demographic. Good clue.

37D: Sentimental novelist Fannie: HURST. No, nope. Does Fannie HURST write sentimental novels or was she a very sentimental woman?

44D: Ascorbic acid deficiency: SCURVY. "Ascorbic" means nothing to me.

53D: B-complex vitamin: BIOTIN. No idea. It's also called Vitamin H. How is it different from thiamin then?

54D: N.T. book: EPH (Ephesian). It appeared in our puzzle yesterday. So hard to remember these books of the Bible.

57D: Seven Wonders lighthouse: PHAROS. Is Pharaoh somehow related to this word?

79D: Converging to a point (var.): FOCUSSED. Did not know this before.

88D: Witticism: BON MOT. I thought MOT alone is BON enough.

87D: Baseball bat wood: ASH. And THREE (93D: Final strike). Babe Ruth's uniform is THREE as well.

103D: __-es-Salaam: DAR. Forgot again. It's the largest city in Tanzania. Arabic for "Abode of Peace". I am just so used to our editor's "Patriotic women's org." for DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution).

104D: Literary bits: ANA. Anecdotal olio.

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: Valentine Dream

23A: Timely verse, pt. 1: I DEARLY LOVE A VALENTINE.

46A: Timely verse, pt. 2: I AM A SENTIMENTAL FEMALE.

79A: Timely verse, pt. 3: IT NEEDN'T BE SO BIG OR FINE.

107A: End of verse: I HOPE I GET ONE IN MY EMAIL.

Be My Valentine. I'll give you a piece of my HEART.

The verse may be timely but the tempo seems a little ragged but fitting it into the constraint of a crossword grid, I'd have to say, it is very good. Thank you, anonymous constructor.

Across:

21A: Tenor Franco ___: CORELLI. Franco CORELLI, Prince of Tenors, (1921 – 2003) was an Italian tenor active in opera from 1951 to 1976. Associated in particular with the big spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated internationally for his handsome stage presence and thrilling upper register. Sound Clips.

22A: Operating: IN USE. I do not care for this clue. 'Occupied' would have worked.

26A: Greens, in a French menu: SALADES.

27A: Sink scourer Bon: AMI. "Hasn't Scratched Yet".

28A: Egypt's president, 1956-58: NASSER. Gamal Abdel-NASSER, 1918 - 1970. Strange clue because, while it is true he was president during 1956-58, he stay in the presidency untill his death in 1970 and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. Syria and Egypt united under his presidency, forming the United Arab Republic in 1958, but the union broke up in 1961.

31A: E-I connection: FGH. Alphabetically.

36A: George and Eric's muse Pattie: BOYD. George Harrison's wife, Eric Clapton's Layla Pic / Song.

37A: Insignifiant amount: SOU. "not worth a SOU marquee", a colloquialism meaning of little value. The term is derived from the French sou, an old copper coin.

38A: WWII landing ships: LSTS. I have been confused by this clue. The LST is a big ship. What I have been thinking of is the much smaller LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle/People), the ones you see hitting the beach in the movies.

43A: Hearty soup: PEA. A nice simple bowl of soup.

45A: eat ___: relish: IT UP. To enjoy something completely. Relish used as a verb (with object) to take pleasure in; like; enjoy.

53A: "___ was saying...": AS I.

54A: Choices at a 19 Across: ALES.

55A: Brings up: REARS. Child REARing

56A: Travis or Oberon: MERLE. I have a cousin MERLE.

57A: Playing marble: STEELIE. Players should first decide if they want to play with 'STEELIEs', which will usually damage the target marbles.

59A: Bargain in a petty way: HAGGLE.

61A: Showed mercy toward: SPARED.

62A: Took the lead: STARRED. Theatrically

64A: Peppered, as with buckshot: RIDDLED. Did you think of Dick Cheney? I did.

66A: Potatoes au ___: GRATIN. A nice simple bowl of cheesy potatoes.

69A: Nova Soctia,(sic) formerly: ACADIA. Map with the French names.

71A: Krypton. e.g.: RARE GAS. An inert, nontoxic gas used in insulating windows to reduce heat transfer.

75A: 1953 AL MVP Al ___: ROSEN. Cleveland Indians third baseman and right-handed slugger.

76A: Harden: INURE.

77A: Peacock constellation: PAVO. I guess we have to start learning the constellations of the Southern Hemisphere.

78A: Genetic letters: RNA.

84A: Eliot effort: POEM. Thomas Stearns (TS) Eliot, 1888 – 1965, was a poet, dramatist, and literary critic.

85A: Old Greek theaters: ODEA. Thanks to Dick for pointing out ODEA root in Nickelodeon. Singular is odeum.

86A: Tyrannosaurus ___: REX. Every kid knows this one.

87A: Infamous Idi: AMIN.

89A: Valentine hue: RED.

90A: Tolled: RANG. Hark, hear the bells.

92A: Looks well on: BECOMES. Some other colored sash would be more BECOMING.

95A: ___ appeal: SEX.

96A: Short letter: MEMO.

98A: Quick picker-upper: VACUMM. Not Vivarin?!

102A: News sorce letters: UPI. United Press International.

103A: Mischief-makers: RASCALS. Flatts.

116A: Extremely silly: LOONY.

117A: Alpine country: AUSTRIA. They DO have some mountains!

118A: Noted Chinese family: SOONGS. The famous SOONG Sisters. One of them married to Chiang Kai-Shek, one of them married Sun Yat-sen.

We are headed down now; hold on.

Down:

1D: Baseball stat: RBI.

2D: "CSI" hunk George: EADS. Fort Worth native George EADS plays Nick Stokes, a specialist in hair and fiber analysis in the Las Vegas crime lab.

3D: La ___ tar pits, Los Angeles: BREA. I don't think the Los Angeles is necessary; can there be another La ___ tar pits?

4D: Russia's ___ Mountains: URAL. The dividing line between Europe and Asia are the URAL Mountains.

5D: Synagogue scrolls: TORAHS. The parchment scrolls on which the Jewish laws or instructions are written and the laws or instructions themselves are collectively called the Torah.

6D: Were bought for: SOLD AT. The other side of a transaction?

7D: Author Umberto: ECO. An Italian medievalist, semiotician, philosopher, literary critic and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose. It was made into a movie, a murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327 starring Sean Connery.

8D: Turkey mo.: NOV.. Thanksgiving month

9D: Kyoto Protocol: TREATY. An international agreement that aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the presence of greenhouse gases.

10D: Cleaned, as a pipe: REAMED

11D: "Love Me Tender" crooner: ELVIS.

12D: ___ carte: A LA.

13D: "Wait ___ the Sun Shines, Nellie": 'TIL. Bing Crosby and Mary Martin sing. Look for the Buddy Holly version while you're there.

14D: "Blues Queen" Washington: DINAH. DINAH Washington, 1924 – 1963, was a blues, R&B and jazz singer whose hits included, Mad About the Boy, Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby, and September in the Rain.

15D: Small colonists: ANTS. They live in colonies.

16D: Baseball Hall of Famer Aparicio: LUIS. Shortstop for the Chicago White Sox, the Baltimore Orioles, and Boston Red Sox, "Little Looey" won nine Gold Gloves and was the most feared base stealer in the American League during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

17D: Feudal fieldhand: ESNE.

18D: Crystal gazer: SEER.

20D: Shrek's voice: MYERS. Mike MYERS also portrayed Austin Powers Yeah, Baby!

31D: Stable newborns: FOALS.

33D: Swelter: ROAST.

34D: Fiber-yielding plant: RAMIE. This jacket appears to have stylized RAMIE leaves on it.

35D: Bambi's aunt: ENA.

36D: Chinese poet Dao: BEI. BEI Dao is the pseudonym of Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai. Bei Dao is the most notable representative of the Misty Poets, a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution.

37D: Intimidated, with down: STARED.

38D: Citrus drink: LIMEADE.

39D: Ringo of rock: STARR.

40D: Tutu material: TULLE. A lightweight, very fine netting, which is often starched. It can be made of various fibers, including silk, nylon, and rayon. Tulle is most commonly used for veils, gowns (particularly wedding gowns), and ballet tutus.

41D: Hastiness: SPEED.

43D: Liquid Meas.: PTS..

44D: Livorno locale: ITALIA. Map.

48D: Cuban newsmaker Gonzalez: ELIÁN. If you don't remember, he was the young boy who lost his mother when they tried to get to America in a small aluminum boat. His great-uncle was given custody of him but his father, who was still in Cuba and hadn't known what his wife was going to do, demanded that his son be returned to him. Attorney General Janet Reno enforced a judge's order that Elián be returned to his father. It was in all the papers.

51D: Vamp Pola: NEGRI. Pola NEGRI, 1897 - 1987, was a Polish film actress who achieved notoriety as a femme fatale in silent films between 1910s and 1930s.

59D: Wife of Priam: HECUBA. She was the wife of Priam, King of Troy therefore she was the queen in Greek Mythology. Priam and Hecuba had nineteen children. Nadya Suleman hasn't caught up with her...yet.

60D: On ___ : if challenged: A DARE.

61D: Of serbs and Croats: prefix: SLAVO.

65D: Schlep: DRAG.

66D: Beef: GRIPE.

73D: Sharpshooter Oakley: ANNIE. A short bio. She was the real deal.

74D: Composer Saint-___: SAËNS. Charles-Camille Saint-SAËNS, 1835 – 1921, was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist, known especially for The Carnival of the Animals and Danse Macabre.

80D: Song from "The Sound of Music": DO RE MI.

83D: ___ Schwarz: FAO. Upscale specialty toy retailer headquartered in New York City.

91D: Key of Mahler's Symphony No. 6: A MINOR.

94D: Roman orator-philosopher: CICERO. He was widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators but he stll met with an unfortunate demise.

95: Like some bird food: SUETY. But not just for birds!

97D: Prince Valiant's son: ARN. Prince Valiant began as a comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story for its entire history. He has also been in movies, TV series, and comic books. (In the TV series, Arn is a different character, not Prince Valiant's son.) Arn was born in North America.

98D: Glass container: VIAL.

99D: I see, facetiously: AH SO.

100D: Chanel of fashion: COCO. For me? Why, thank you.

101D: At the time of: UPON.

104D: "But I ___ more I": Lorca: AM NO. “But I AM NO more I, nor is my home now my home.” from Somnambule Ballad by Fredrico Garcia Lorca. Lorca, 1898 – 1936, was a Spanish poet, dramatist and theatre director. Somnambulism is sleepwalking so a somnambule is someone walking in their sleep or they feel like they are sleepwalking.

105D: Placed: LAIN.

108D: Scholastic meas.: GPA.

109D: Water at Perigueux: EAU. Perigueux, Aquitaine, France

110D: Inventor Whitney: ELI. Cotton gin inventor.

111D: This ___ test: IS A.

112D: Grid positions: LGS. Grid is short for gridiron. Gridiron = football field. LGS is short for left guards. If you have a better idea, let us know.

Argyle