NYT 8:12
PI 7:53
LAT 7:30
BG 7:09
CS 3:55
Head over to Roy Leban's Puzzazz.com for this month's crossword, "High-Tech Mergers." (You can solve online, in Across Lite, or on a PDF printout.) As the title suggests, it's got a tech theme, but you need not be an IT professional to crack this puzzle. Roy calls it Monday-Tuesday difficulty, but it took me 4:52 to finish and that's beyond Tuesday level for me. Could just be that it was late and I was tired when I tackled it...
Caleb Madison's New York Times crossword, "A Stately Garden"
A few weeks back, I killed some time at the illustrated Wikipedia article depicting the various state flowers. So that helped me as I ventured through the theme entries in Caleb's puzzle, and I entered some of the flowers in the circled squares before I had the complete answer.
- 23A: [Five works of Mozart (Rhode Island)] are VIOLIN CONCERTOS, enclosing a VIOLET. The violet is also the state flower of Illinois (represent!) and New Jersey.
- 29A: The ROSE is in AGREE TO DISAGREE, or [Not completely settle an argument (New York)].
- 48A: ALVIN AILEY is the ["Revelations" choreographer (Utah)]. His name contains a LILY, but technically, it's the sego lily in particular. SEGO is a bit of crosswordese in its own right.
- 58A: The PEONY is Indiana's flower. [Trial hearing? (Indiana)] clues EXPERT TESTIMONY.
- 68A: [It's never made with plastic (Ohio)] clues a CASH TRANSACTION. The CARNATION hides here.
- 82A: [Country singer with the #1 album and single "Killin' Time" (New Hampshire)] is CLINT BLACK, enclosing a LILAC. The lilac bush in my back yard has begun to bud, so in a couple weeks I'll be swooning over lilac fragrance. (My heart belongs to the crabapple blossom, however.)
- 95A: LAURENCE OLIVIER contains LAUREL. [He played a Nazi in "Marathon Man" and a Nazi hunter in "The Boys From Brazil" (Connecticut)].
- 108A: ["Bye Bye Birdie" tune (California)] clues PUT ON A HAPPY FACE. California's flower is the POPPY—specifically the California poppy.
All right, what else is in this puzzle that I want to talk about?
- 1A: The SCALP is the [Source of some bangs], as in hair. This clue is just weird. Doesn't quite do it for me. Not a good way to kick off the puzzle.
- 19A/34A: [Onetime Robert De Niro role] clues both AL CAPONE and a DON. Speaking of fictional mobsters, there's that [Mario Puzo sequel] OMERTA in the same general area of the puzzle.
- BRNO is a [Chief city of Moravia], in the Czech Republic. Prague is in Bohemia, if I recall correctly.
- HSIA is the [Chinese dynasty before the Shang].
- To BOX in the boxing ring is to [Produce some combinations, say]—as in a one-two punch combo.
- [Duodecim] is Latin for twelve, and the Roman numeral 12 is XII.
- GRAEME [___ Park, colonial Pennsylvania site near Philadelphia], is not a place I've heard of.
- Belgian artist James ENSOR is the ["Carnaval sur la plage" artist]. There's also a David ENSOR in TV news.
- The OCARINA is a [Harmonica-like instrument]. That Zelda video game, about the Ocarina of Time—does that have anything to do with the musical instrument?
- The British spelling of plow is PLOUGH—[Accompanier of a harrow, in Harrow].
- [Lineman?] clues ACTOR, as in a performer with lines. Eh.
- [Prefix with noir] is NEO. Can't say I've encountered any references to neo-noir before.
- The song AMERICAN PIE is a great entry. It's the [1972 #3 hit that starts "A long, long time ago"]. Hey! Now you've got one answer in this Sporcle.com quiz about opening lyrics.
- ARTES [may be patronized by senors and senoras]. As in "patron of the arts," but in Spanish.
- STOLA is a [Classical wrap. Don't worry—you won't be seeing this answer too often.
- [Italian sculptor Nicola or Giovanni] is PISANO. I don't know about you, but throwing in the extra guy didn't make this clue any easier for me.
- [It's read from right to left] means the TORAH. Hebrew is read from right to left.
- Cars! SAAB and VOLVO are the [9-3 and 9-5 car manufacturer] and [Car with a name that's Latin for "I roll"], respectively. Hey, I didn't know that about Volvo.
- [Bar since 1879] is IVORY SOAP. They make a mean Old Fashioned there.
- SAMI is a [Northern Scandinavian]. I think the Sami used to be called Lapps.
- [Their, in Munich] is the German word IHRE. You'd think this would be crosswordese by now with those letters, but no.
- The PACA is a [Cousin of a guinea pig].
- GATOR is the [Nickname for Ron Guidry] of baseball.
Gail Grabowski's syndicated Los Angeles Times crossword, "Torn Fabric"
My full write-up is at L.A. Crossword Confidential. The theme is hidden fabrics "torn" across two words in assorted phrases:- 23A: As it was formerly known, channel with the slogan "play every day" (GAME SHOW NETWORK). I feel as though different fabrics can be made into MESH, but that mesh per se is not a fabric. Can any textile-savvy folks confirm or deny?
- 32A: "Enough!" (THAT WILL DO). Hidden TWILL. I want to elide the phrase into Farmer Hoggett's "That'll do, pig" from Babe.
- 43A: Waldo of kids' books, e.g. (HIDDEN IMAGE). Hidden DENIM, wily hidden Waldo. If he were stepping out on Mrs. Waldo, it would take an eagle-eyed P.I. to track his movements. Here's a cartoon envisioning the birth of Waldo's baby.
- 60A: Couldn't rush at rush hour (SAT IN TRAFFIC). Smooth SATIN.
- 82A: "That used to be the case" (NOT ANY LONGER). Hidden NYLON. Phrase feels mildly iffy as crossword fill goes.
- 96A: It can be seen from the Seine (EIFFEL TOWER). FELT is used pretty much just for hats and kids' crafts projects, isn't it?
- 103A: Safe bronzing product (SPRAY-ON TAN). Hidden RAYON.
- 123A: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, e.g. (ONLINE NEWSPAPER). Hidden LINEN. Ooh! An au courant clue, as the Post-Intelligencer ceased its dead-tree version and went online-only just a few weeks ago. This isn't an answer that could have existed a few years ago.
This "do the math" theme is a lot of fun: Take two familiar numbers and perform an arithmetic operation to end up with 40. Like so:- 19A: [___ + ___ = 40] clues FLAVORS PLUS CAT LIVES. 31 flavors at Baskin Robbins ice cream + 9 lives for a cat. "CAT'S LIVES" would read a little smoother.
- 27A: [___ – ___ = 40] is CARDS MINUS THE ZODIAC. 52 playing cards, 12 signs of the zodiac. Technically, zodiac ≠ 12 but the signs thereof are 12 in number.
- 48A: [___ x ___ = 40] is SENSES TIMES AN OCTOPUS. That's 5 senses, 8 arms on an octopus. An octopus ≠ 8, but we get the idea. It's more a game of the number suggested by a word or phrase rather than an actual count.
- 68A: [___ – ___ = 40] clues ROUTE MINUS THE ALPHABET. Route 66 minus 26 letters in the alphabet.
- 84A: [___ + ___ = 40] is CATCH PLUS A GOLF COURSE. Catch 22, 18 holes.
- 106A: [___ x ___ = 40] is SEASONS TIMES BO DEREK. Bo Derek starred as the "10" in 10, and there are 4 seasons.
- 116A: [___ + ___ = 40] clues JACK BENNY PLUS A PENNY. Jack Benny was famously 39 years old, year after year, and a penny = 1¢.
Henry Hook's 6(ish)-week-old Boston Globe crossword, "Triple Sixes"
The theme entries are six three-word phrases in which all the words are 6 letters long. PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND was a [1534 Cartier discovery]. HELENA BONHAM CARTER was a ["Howards End" cast member]. [The Simpsons' dog] is named SANTA'S LITTLE HELPER. [1993 movie sequel] is ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES. "LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!" is the [Director's call]. JACKIE JOYNER KERSEE is an Olympic [Heptathlon great]. Another famous 666er, Ronald Wilson Reagan, sat this one out.Favorite clue: [Stocking-up device?] is a GARTER.
Least favorite: [Physics Nobelist Emilio] SEGRE is unfamiliar to me. In Merl's puzzle, SERGE appears in almost the exact same place in the grid, and is much more solver-friendly. There's also [Old Roman coins], or DENARII. I've seen this one a couple times and have not been wild about it.
Martin Ashwood-Smith's themeless CrosSynergy "Sunday Challenge"
The master of the triple-stack provides top and bottom triple-stacked 15's:- 1A: STATE DEPARTMENT is clued with [It's headquartered in the Harry S Truman Building]. I did not know that.
- 16A: ["The Ron Reagan Show" network] is not on TV. It's AIR AMERICA RADIO.
- 17A: PRINT JOURNALISM is [Part of the press].
- 58A: [An angry speaker might make it] clues an ANIMATED GESTURE.
- 62A: [It's not a total knockout] refers to LOCAL ANESTHESIA. I had a brief foray into wrongness with ANESTHETIC instead of ANESTHESIA.
- 63A: [People mover] is TRANSPORT SYSTEM. "Transportation system" feels more natural to me.
- 18A: [Politician's goal] is a SEAT.
- 33A: Abe BEAME was a [1970s Big Apple mayor].
- 35A: Chairman MAO is a [Former Red head].
- 37A: One sort of [Early anti-Communist] was a TSARIST.
- 34D: JANET RENO was [Clinton's Attorney General]. Good first/last name entry.
