Thursday August 27, 2009 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Money Talks - Common phrases ending with currency denominations.

23A: Lofty bills?: HIGH FIVES. HIGH FIVE is a celebratory slap.

38A: Superior bills?: TOP TENS. OK, here is a David Letterman's TOP TEN George Bush moments. What's the fun with #5 "I like to fish"?

50A: Adored bills?: LOVED ONES. Your spouse & kids & friends & pets are your LOVED ONES.

8D: Hated bills (that appropriately spoil this puzzle's symmetry)?: TERRIBLE TWOS. Toddlers start to get defiant at age two, hence the name.

For the grid to be symmetrical, TERRIBLE TWOS would have to be placed in column #8 rather than #9. (Updated later: My mistake. According to Orange, for a symmetrical grid pattern, the L in TERRIBLE TWO should have been black.)

I was very surprised to hear that two-dollar bills are very rare in the US when I first arrived in Minnesota. We use them a lot in China.

Lively theme clues, esp 8D. So creative to grid the odd-ball TERRIBLE TWOS Down and intersect all the other three cheerful Across theme entries.

Maybe I am paying more attention to the "tapestry weaving" after reading Bob Klahn's interview, but I did notice quite a few echo clues.

Was XI'AN (12D: Ancient Chinese capital) a gimme to you today? Did you think of me when you filled in it? I've mentioned so many times before, XI'AN was the capital city for Zhou, Qin, Han & Tang, four major dynasties in China, I was born and grew up there, hence my Chinese name Zhouqin. Chairman Mao & the Chinese Communist Party picked Beijing over XI'AN as China's capital in 1949.

Do read my interview with Don "Hard G" Gagliardo regarding his thought process on this puzzle.

Across:

1A: Type of large TV: PLASMA

7A: Erwin of '50s TV: STU. Not familiar with STU Erwin or any of his shows. He died in 1967. Nice consecutive "TV" clues.

10A: With 13-Down, opportunity for better luck?: NEXT. And TIME (13D: See 10-Across). Great cross-reference & intersection.

14A: Swinger in a box: HITTER. Penned in BATTER immediately.

15A: "__ making a list ...": Christmas music: HE'S. "Santa Clause is Coming to Town".

16A: Et __: ALII. Latin masculine plural. Et alia is neutral plural. Et aliae is feminine plural.

17A: Looking to be helped out: IN A JAM

18A: Cardinal point suffix: ERN

19A: Go-go go-between? TEAM. Why? I got the answer from Down fills. (Note: Go, TEAM, go)

20A: Strung along: LED ON

21A: Irene of "Fame": CARA. Also Italian (feminine) for "beloved". Cara Mia = My beloved.

26A: Shore shoe style: OPEN TOE

29A: "Incidentally ...": BY THE BY

33D: Excavated areas: PITS. Like the XI'AN Terracotta Warriors PITS.

34A: Author Godwin: GAIL. No idea. She looks like an author who writes something serious, like "Away From Her".

40A: Razor-billed bird: AUK. The Arctic black-and-white diving bird.

41A: Curly- tailed dog: AKITA. Originated from the AKITA Prefecture, Japan.

43A: Oklahoma native: OTO. Or OTOE.

44A: To __: A TEE

45A: "Jeepers!": HOLY COW! And YIKES (32D: "Jeepers!")

48A: Ancient septet: WONDERS. Seven WONDERS of the World.

52A: Julie Kotter's spouse, in a '70s sitcom: GABE. Again, got the answer from Down fills. It's from the TV sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter". He is the teacher with a ruler.

55A: Erotic deity: EROS. Erotic is rooted in EROS.

56A: Gushes: SPEWS. Crossed WELL (58D: Gusher source). Another great intersection. The clues are very Bob Klahn-ish.

61A: Toon Chihuahua: REN. Wrote down RIN, thinking of RIN Tin Tin. I am used to see REN clued as "Stimpy's pal".

62A: Author Allende: ISABEL. Sigh! Her name escaped me. Just heard her interview on Minnesota Public Radio a few weeks ago. Chilean-American author. Very imaginative. Hard to tell whether her stories are real or not.

63A: __ Accords, 1993 Isreal-PLO pact: OSLO. Rabin was assassinated because he signed the OSLO Accords.

64A: Word spoken with a head slap: D'OH. Carol calls it her V8 moment.

65A: Swiss cough drop: RICOLA. Stumper, though this clip sounds very familiar. RICOLA is abbreviation of the company's German name Richterich & Compagnie Laufen.

66A: Occupant of a tiny house: DOLL. Some of those 1950's Madam Alexander hard plastic dolls cost hundreds of dollars.

67A: Tokyo-born artist: ONO. Oh, I had the misconception that she was born in NY, then moved to Tokyo as a kid.

68A: One way to be aware: KEENLY. Good clue. KEENLY aware.

Down:

1D: "Dr. __": PHIL. Nicely placed above OPRAH (26D: Chicago-based daytime host), who launched Dr. PHIL's career. Both yawner, yawner though. Give me Ellen any day.

2D: Ticket window sight: LINE

4D: The Red Storm of the Big East Conference: ST JOHN'S. No idea. Wikipedia says Governor Mario Cuomo graduated from this university.

5D: Be dead serious: MEAN IT

6D: Equip, as a posse: ARM. Brought to mind Gary Cooper's "High NOON" (39D: High time?")

7D: Bundle: SHEAF

9D: SEALs' gp.: US NAVY. Our ex-governor Jesse Ventura was a Navy SEAL.

10D: Tony winner Richardson: NATASHA. Sad to see her name. She died of that skiing accident. Wife of Liam Neeson (Oskar in "Schindler's List").

11D: It's usually pd. monthly: ELEC

21D: Tight: CHEAP. Did not know "Tight" can mean stingy as well.

24D: Disco adjective: GO-GO. Unfortunately "Go-go" is also part of the clue for 19A.

25D: Approximate leaving hrs.: ETDS. ETD = Estimated Time of Departure.

27D: Liberal, to Archie Bunker: PINKO. Refers to the communists, right?

28D: Amazon business, say: E-TAIL

30D: Eddie who founded a clothing chain: BAUER. Again, obtained the answer with crosses. Have never heard of the chain.

35D: "Was __ blame?": I TO

38D: Folded fare: TACO. Alliteration.

42D: Acetaminophen brand: TYLENOL. Easy guess. I did not know the meaning of acetaminophen.

44D: Much of a Sunday paper: ADS SPACE. Or of all those gossip magazines.

46D: Exert to excess: OVERDO. Another alliteration.

47D: "It's our turn to perform!": WE'RE ON. Oh well, mine was WERION, since I had RIN instead of REN for the crossing 61A. So I had huge trouble parsing my answer.

49D: Monster nickname: NESSIE. The Lock Ness monster, legend of Scotland.

51D: "Tiny Bubbles" singer: DON HO. Another cross help.

53D: Kid's assertive retort: AM SO

54D: Ringer: BELL

57D: "Heaven's __ vault, studded with stars...": Shelley: EBON. Struggled with this answer. EBON is poetic "black". I wanted A BIG, Heaven's A BIG vault. Makes sense to me.

59D: Elicit guffaws from: SLAY. So many words/phrases for "crack up".

62D: Vex: IRK. IRE can be a verb too.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is beautiful photo of the Bee's family. From left to right: Melissa Bee's daughter (tank patrol member for the San Jose Sharks), the conjunction Barb B (Melissa's Mom), and our blog "It" girl Melissa.

C.C.

Wednesday August 26, 2009 Dan Naddor

Theme: COURT BUSINESS (33A: What chambers of commerce do, and this puzzle's title - common phrases ending with words used in court.

17A: Exterior attractiveness, to a Realtor: CURB APPEAL. You file an APPEAL to the appellate court when you are not happy with the lower court decision.

20A: Beethoven's affliction: LOSS OF HEARING. The purpose of a preliminary HEARING is to decide whether the case against you should be dismissed or go on trial.

50A: Drug safety test: CLINICAL TRIAL. You are tried by a jury or by a judge (bench trial).

55A: Replay feature: SLOW MOTION. You can file a A MOTION before, during or after the trial. The judge either approves or denies your MOTION.

Chambers of Commerce, esp American Chamber of Commerce in China, play an essential role in courting business. Great wordplay on "court".

I hope my understanding of the above legal terms are correct. LAW (49A: Bar code?) is a lovely bonus fill. Sounds so hard to pass a bar exam. Remember the JFK Jr. "The Hunk Flunks" headline? He failed twice.

Look at the first and last pair of the theme answers. Dan Naddor is really into overlapping them now. I also counted 22 entries with 6 or more letters. I am going to call it as Dan Naddor index from now on.

Definitely a tougher puzzle than yesterday's, but the theme answers all came rather easily.

Across:

1A: Paul of "American Graffiti": LE MAT. I've actually seen "American Graffiti". Don't remember this guy at all. Ron Howard, yes.

6A: Big Apple sch.: CCNY (the City College of NY). Based in Manhattan.

10A: One often looking down?: SNOB. Great clue. I was picturing someone who always looks depressed.

14A: Part of Caesar's boast: I CAME. Well, Caesar did not really speak English. "Veni, vidi, vici": I CAME, I saw, I conquered.

15A: Former manager Felipe: ALOU (Felipe). Father of Moisés.

16A: Bishop of Rome: POPE. POPE Benedict is way too conservative.

19A: Wilson of "Wedding Crashers": OWEN. He used to date Kate Hudson, who is currently seeing A-Rod.

22A: Hunk: GOB. In what sense are they synonymous?

24A: Drei minus zwei: EINS. 3-2=1. Shouldn't "zwei" (German for "two") be capitalized? All German nouns are.

25A: Flummoxed: AT SEA

26A: Embraces, as a philosophy: ADOPTS

28A: Site for sapling: NURSERY

30A: Old Italian bread: LIRA. "Bread/capital" often refers to the currency.

31A: Lined up: IN A ROW

38A: Like a banquet: LAVISH. Chinese banquet can be really opulent.

41A: Thorny shrubs commonly with yellow flowers: ACACIAS. I vaguely remember Kazie said these flowers are called wattles in Australia.

44A: Livestock food: FORAGE

46A: Billiards bounce: CAROM. Often confuse CAROM with MASSE.

47A: James of "The Godfather": CAAN. The hot-tempered, reckless Sonny Corleone.

58A: Soap actress Sofer: RENA. Forgot. I linked this picture before. I remember those flowers on her shirt.

59A: Isle where Macbeth is buried: IONA. Pure guess. Scottish Isle, 4 letter, what else could it be?

61A: Scott in a landmark civil rights case: DRED. Tangentially related to the theme too.

63A: Kind of pressure that can cause headache: SINUS

Down:

1D: Driver's documents: Abbr.: LIC. What's your eye color?

2D: Old French coin: ECU. Sometimes it's SOU.

3D: Vermont music festival town: MARLBORO. No idea. See this map. Is it named after the MARLBORO man?

4D: Early Christian pulpit: AMBO. It escaped me. I linked this AMBO before. It's "a raised desk, or either of two such desks, from which the Gospels or Epistles were read or chanted".

5D: Afternoon service: TEA SET

6D: Menu fowl: CAPON. Is it often stuffed?

7D: Staff symbols: CLEFS. Musical staff.

8D: Wordsmith Webster: NOAH. I am using a Webster's College Dictionary.

10D: Golf pro shop array: SPORTS WEAR. Of course, I was thinking of those drivers/irons/putters.

11D: Not in any way: NOWISE. New word to me.

12D: Feature of some corkscrews: OPENER

13D: Popular analgesic cream: BENGAY. My husband uses Cryogel for his bowling elbow pain.

18D: Pitchfork-shaped letter: PSIS. And NUS (32D: Frat letters).

21D: Hitter of 755 homers: AARON (Hank). The real home run king. Dennis probably has his rookie card.

22D: Hoedown dancer: GAL. Does GAL here carry a country girl connotation?

23D: Lyrical: ODIC. Of an ode.

27D: Three-time Editorial Cartooning Pulitzer winner: PAUL CONRAD. Unknown to me. Wikipedia says he was the chief editorial cartoonist for the LA Times from 1964 to 1993. And he was named in Nixon's enemy list in 1973.

28D: "Parsley is gharsley" poet: NASH. Ah yeah, I don't like parsley at all.

29D: Ocean State sch.: URI (University of Rhode Island). I blanked. Did get OSU (56D: The Buckeyes, initially).

31D: Bird venerated by ancient Egyptians: IBIS. Yep, the ancient Egyptians consider the bird sacred. Thoth, the god of wisdom, has a head of an IBIS.

34D: "Spider-Man" director: RAIMI (Sam). Was it a gimme to you? I've never heard of this guy.

35D: New Deal prog.: TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority)

36D: Breeding horse: STALLION

43D: French satellite-launching rocket: ARIANE. Pronounced like ar-ee-AN. Completely stranger to me. Wikipedia says it comes from the French spelling of the mythological character Ariadne, daughter of Minos. She helped Theseus escape the labyrinth, but later was cruelly deserted.

44D: Old MacDonald's place: FARM. "Old MaDonald had a FARM, E-I-E-I-O...".

45D: Whopper toppers: ONIONS. Would have been a perfect rhyming clue if the answer were singular.

47D: Duplicate: CLONE

48D: Fighting big-time: AT WAR

51D: Members of Gil Grissom's team, briefly: CSIS. Crime Scene Investigators? I got the answer from Across fills. Have never watched CSI or any of its spin-off.

53D: Yours, in Tours: A TOI. Je suis tout A TOI, chéri.

57D: Super __: game console: NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is great photo of our farmer/philosopher Windhover. The picture was taken on his 61st Birthday (12/7/2006) by his beautiful wife "Irish". I also liked this quiet view off his back porch.

C.C.