Wednesday, 12/17

Tausig 4:12
Onion 4:10
Sun 3:55
LAT 3:15
CS 3:08
NYT 3:02

(updated at 10:23 a.m. Wednesday)

John Farmer works a mnemonic into his New York Times crossword, but he does a good job of hiding it. There are five circled squares, the ones that begin the longest Across answers and the central Across answer. All of those letters—E, G, B, D, and F reading downwards—are NOTES, or [Staff members, and what the circled letters in this puzzle represent] at 65-Across. The five EGBDF answers start with words that are used in a common mnemonic for remembering the order of those notes: EVERY GOOD BOY DOES FINE. Now, the way I learned it, every good boy deserves fudge, and I'm feeling a little ripped off that Farmer didn't bring the fudge. (I kid!)

• EVERY SO OFTEN is [On occasion].
  
• GOOD OLD DAYS are [Yesteryear, nostalgically].
  
• BOY SCOUTS are, mystifyingly, [Order of the Arrow members]. Order of the Arrow? Never heard of it.
  
• DOES WONDERS is clued as [Makes something better in a big way]. As in "Shea butter does wonders for dry winter skin."
  
• FINE AND DANDY means [Ducky]. I miss fudge.
  

John Farmer likes to do it up fancy, so the first and last theme answers are accompanied by stacked pairs of 9-letter answers and crossed by triple-stacked 7's to boot. The fill is rather Scrabbly as well. My favorite parts:

• [Entrance] looks like the noun, a place of entry, but it's the verb meaning to MESMERIZE.
  
• Dental X-RAYS [may have a view of a bridge].
  
• I just read a sound bite in Entertainment Weekly this morning. Somebody (I forget who) hates MACADAMIA nuts because you think you're getting white chocolate in the cookie and...you're not.
  
• RAJIV is clued casually as [One of the Gandhis].
  
• Aimee MANN is cross-referenced with TIL Tuesday, her band.
  
• [Game show host Treadway and others] are TYS. (Another famous Ty: Pennington of that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition TV cryfest.) I wonder if Merv Griffin's Crosswords will resume production or not.
  
• [House Judiciary Committee chairman John] CONYERS sure doesn't get his name in many crosswords. I hope someone tells him.
  
• ALAN-A-DALE was the [Sherwood Forest minstrel] from Robin Hood.
  

Now, this puzzle's not all fudgy goodness. Abbreviations and quasi-crosswordese answers include RGS, or [Some football linemen: Abbr.]; EZIO, [Opera singer Pinza]; DSL, the [Alternative to dial-up] (I like this abbreviation, though); the FAA, or ["Black box" regulator: Abbr.]; OMY or "o' My," clued as ["Peg ___ Heart"]; DJ'S and BB'S and CD's; the [U.K. honor] known as the OBE; the [Onetime Mideast letters] UAR, or United Arab Republic; AOL and DNA; DAWS, or [Crow cousins] (as in jackdaws); and AZO [___ dye].

The Wednesday Sun crossword constructor is Stephen Kennedy, an unfamiliar name. Perhaps "Bawdy Parts" marks his debut, and it's a good puzzle. The theme entries end with words that sound like body parts.

• ["Spamalot" group that demands a shrubbery] is the KNIGHTS WHO SAY "NI." That entry is trés cool! NI sounds like "knee."
  
• The [1996 grammar book] WOE IS I ends with an "eye."
  
• The SKI TOW, a [Ride up the slope], has a "toe."
  
• MAD AS A MARCH HARE means [Crazy], and it's got "hair."
  
• NO ONE KNOWS sounds like it's got a "nose," and it's a [1958 Dion and the Belmonts hit].
  
• LORENZ HART ("heart") was the [Partner of Richard Rodgers].
  

Two corners of the grid are wide open. In one of those corners, ["Casablanca" director Michael] CURTIZ appears. Why is that name so unfamiliar? (No, it's not his original name.) This puzzle seems to have quite a bit in the way of X's, Z's, and K's. There's also Erik ESTRADA, who is on my TV screen right now. He's playing a cop (a California highway cop, as luck would have it) on the kid show, Drake and Josh. (He looks the same, but with a bit of a paunch.)

Updated:

The first theme entry in Bill Ballard's LA Times crossword is COME AS YOU ARE, clued with ["It's a party! Informal, so ___..."].Great, a whole theme of Nirvana songs! I'm playing the song as I write this, but no, the rest of the theme entries were not Nirvana songs but party invitation phrases: NO GIFTS, PLEASE. KEEP IT A SECRET. And BRING YOUR OWN bottle. There are some pop culture references in the puzzle, though. FLIX is clued as [Net attachment?], as in Netflix. [Paul's "Exodus" role] was ARI (that's Paul Newman). Sam COOKE was the ["You Send Me" singer]. [Spike TV, formerly] was called TNN. SNL is the [TV show that had recurring "Killer Bees" sketches]. James ARNESS was the main ["Gunsmoke" star]. And Garfield's housemate ODIE is the [Slobbering comics dog] in question. There's one answer I've never seen before: ASSUROR is clued as an [Underwriter].

Tom Schier's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Who's Who," gathers a party of people with the initials W.W.:

• [Who said "Today's gossip is tomorrow's headline?"] It was WALTER WINCHELL.
  
• [Who was Orville's brother in flight?] WILBUR WRIGHT, of course.
  
• [Who directed "Mrs. Miniver"?] That was WILLIAM WYLER.
  
• [Who ran against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940?] WENDELL WILLKIE, whose last name looks like it has one L too many.
  

I didn't know the [Driver in the most favorable position at the start of the race] was called a POLE SITTER; I know about pole position and the old flagpole sitting craze, though. Favorite entry: WET BLANKET, or [Enthusiasm dampener]. Knit your own wet blanket with [Balls of yarn] called CLEWS. There are a few place names mapped out on the grid. ATTU is the [Farthest of the Near Islands]. [Fort ___ (U.S. gold storage facility)] is Ft. KNOX. LANAI is a [Neighbor of Maui], and the Pacific has many a [Coral island], or ATOLL. ALGIERS was a [Former Barbary State in Africa]; from the 16th to 19th centuries, Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, and Tripolitania (Tripoli) were the Barbary coast divisions. AKRON is the [Rubber hub in Ohio].

Brendan Emmett Quigley (who's got a new blog where he dispenses crosswords on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) constructed this week's Onion A.V. Club puzzle. It's a quote theme, but the quote is a famous Bushism, so it was easier than usual to fill in the quote without needing crossings. The quote begins with the clue, [Start of an ironic quote from a certain Yale graduate]: RARELY IS / THE QUESTION ASKED: IS / OUR CHILDREN / LEARNING? Two more answers relate to the theme: LEFT / BEHIND is clued [With 63-Across, how those among 54-Across who speak like their President might end up].

Favorite answers and clues:

• [Greek isle whose name might make kids giggle] is LESBOS.
  
• DR. ROMANO was [Paul Crane's late "ER" character].
  
• One kind of [Indian bread] is NAN (yum), and [Polish bread] you can spend are ZLOTYS.
  
• THE BBC is the [Original "Life on Mars" channel]. I don't know the show at all.
  
• [Summer residents of Italy's Castel Gandolfo] are POPES. Just a hunch but...I think there's only one of those summering there each year.
  
• GUESS SO runs three S's in a row, in the bottom row of the grid where such letters really come in handy. It's clued as ["Seems that way"].
  
• [Buck who was the first African-American coach in the MLB] spells his surname O'NEIL. Not to be confused with the O'Neal dynasty (Ryan, Tatum, Shaquille) or the O'Neills (all the other famous people with the last name, plus my grandma).
  
• HOWDAHS are those [Enclosed carriages atop elephants]. 
  
• [Convicted Scooter] is Lewis "Scooter" LIBBY.
  
• ["___ Declassified School Survival Guide" (former Nickelodeon sitcom)] was a gimme for me because my son liked the show. It's NED'S Declassified.
  

Ben Tausig's Ink Well/Chicago Reader crossword, ""Holding Water," holds some H₂O in each theme entry:

• [Time that might be spent at one's desk] is LUNCH HOUR, with two H's followed by an O.
  
• [Simchat Torah, e.g.] is a JEWISH HOLIDAY, and not one of the ones the goyim tend to know about. It's the culmination of Sukkot.
  
• Snow White's housemates' [Dwarf refrain] is HEIGH HO.
  
• [Substance used by some in baseball's Mitchell Report] is GROWTH HORMONE.
  
• [Gay pickup spot, in some cases] is a BATHHOUSE. My closest gay bathhouse is a mile from home. Do you know where yours is?
  

Among the more interesting clues and answers are these:

• [Something to notify one's partner abut: Abbr.] is an STD.
  
• GOA is not just an Indian state, it's also an [Electronic genre developed in India].
  
• [Amused Twitter term] is LOLZ. I do not use that one myself. That Z crosses SAWZALL, a [Multipurpose blade, commercially].
  
• AIOLI is indeed a [Vowel-laden French sauce]. Is it more concentrated in garlic flavor or vowels?
  
• KING JAMES is a [Sobriquet for Lebron] James.
  
• [Porn stars' specs] are GIRTHS.
  
• [1995 TV mega-event, repeated more quietly in 2008] clues OJ TRIAL.
  
• [Into anyone, potentially] is PANSEXUAL.
  
• [One may get laid on the farm] clues an EGG, of course.
  
• [Some coasters, before being scratched] are CDS. Do you have any old CDs you're using as coasters?
  

That's a lot of good stuff there. Tougher words: [Spinning round?] is a DJ SET. [Ottoman dynasty founder] is OSMAN. [Hip parts] are ILIA, plural of ilium. [2002 Literature Nobelist Kertesz] is IMRE Kertesz. [Belligerent Chinese dynasty until 1125] is LIAO.

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Monday, 9/10

NYS 3:23
NYT 2:53
CS 3:08
LAT 2:49


The Monday New York Times crossword by Edward Sessa includes circled letters to spotlight the theme: The NOTES OF THE SCALE appear, in pairs, in the four theme entries. DOG BREEDER contains DO and RE, MI and FA appear in the next Across theme entry, SOFT PALATE contains SO and LA in the Down entry that's higher up in the grid, and TI and DO appear in the other Down theme entry. (If you're about to interject that SO should be SOL, save your breath. SO has dictionary support as a variant and it's more widely used in American English. Plus, The Sound of Music didn't teach us "Sol/soul, offshoot of R and B," it was "So/sew, a needle pulling thread.") An affable theme, especially with [G.I. Joe, for one] being an ACTION DOLL. Yes, that's right—a doll. "Action figure" is merely a euphemism for man doll. Highlights in the fill: CHEESY (clued as [Shabby], which isn't exactly the sense I pick up from "cheesy") next to STEAMY, SARI crossing INDIA, and the prospect that one day, rapper EMINEM will be described as having DODDERED. "What's the etymology of dodder?" you ask. American Heritage defines it as "To shake or tremble, as from old age; totter.
To progress in a feeble, unsteady manner."—the root is [Alteration of Middle English daderen.] I'm so fond of words that have been in the English language for 500+ years.

The New York Sun puzzle is called "It's Your Move," and James Sajdak is the constructor. The theme...what is the theme? I finished without noticing any theme. Ah, games in which it's somebody's move: CHESS, CHECKERS, GO, and REVERSI, the latter serving as the beginning of REVERSIONIST and the other three doubling as the first word in a phrase. Delightfully Scrabbly fill, with XBOX and TAXIS and EXES and ESSEX (none of them intersecting at those Xs!) and QI GONG and KING-SIZE and WHEEZE (also standing apart). Not to mention longer fill like DASHIKIS and AS USUAL—overall, the fill is simply excellent.


Updated:

You'll need some Tums after devouring the LA Times puzzle. Constructor Bill Ballard dishes out THREE BEAN SALAD, FOUR CHEESE PIZZA, and FIVE-ALARM CHILI with some nonthematic sides of SLAW and RIGATONI. My favorite crossword-bound title appears here, the [Turkish title] PASHA. Don't we all aspire to be a pasha at times? I picture more of an old-time sultan or emperor, which may be factually incorrect, but that's how we use "pasha" around this house.

Harvey Estes' CrosSynergy puzzle, "Contemplate Your Naval Battle," has a few layers. The theme is a quote with two alternate endings, and the anatomy conjured by the title also pops up in the fill. The start and middle of the two quotes is WE HAVE MET / THE ENEMY. The first ending was uttered by Commander Perry at LAKE ERIE during the War of 1812: AND THEY ARE OURS. The alternate ending comes from Walt Kelly, creator of the "Pogo" comic strip: AND HE IS US. Kelly used the phrase on a poster for Earth Day in 1970. So that's a naval battle, a fillip of environmentalism, and then, for good measure, an INNIE to contemplate in the fill.

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Wednesday, 5/30

Onion 4:34
Tausig 4:32
NYS 4:25
LAT 4:01
CS 3:14
NYT 2:42

(post updated at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday)

Ben Tausig sent out this week's Ink Well and Onion A.V. Club puzzles on Tuesday night (or whatever day and time it is in Phnom Penh), so I've moved them to the Wednesday post...not that I've done them yet, but I'll blog about them in the morning.

The NYT crossword is by Mike Nothnagel, whose most recent themeless appeared in the Times just this past Friday. The theme builds on the famous quote by TIMOTHY LEARY (53-Across), using "turn on, tune in, drop out" as the starts of three longer phrases. (My fave: Old-school TV staple TUNE IN TOMORROW. Nowadays, don't the voiceover folks just say, "Tomorrow on All My Children:" to introduce teaser scenes?) In the middle of the grid in Tuesday's puzzle, LEARY sat there waiting for his starring role in today's crossword. Today's center squares are occupied by "HEY, BABY," which seems like part of the theme until you piece it all together and see that 53-Across's clue ignores that entry. It heightens the '60s free love vibe, though, doesn't it? IT'S TRUE. Other appealing fill: SUMATRA (geography!), POPOVER (I have never eaten one), LILYPAD, PUNNY, and WHEW.

In the Sun crossword by Gary Steinmehl, "Beach Boys" are (semi-)famous men whose last names start with beachy words: SAND, SEA, TAN, and SHELL. (Too bad John Sununu's name has an infelicitous letter count.) Didn't know the Buzzcocks singer, PETE SHELLEY, have heard of tennis player ROSCOE TANNER, have not seen all the films in ADAM SANDLER's oeuvre, and have shunned most of STEVEN SEAGAL's movies (though my mother-in-law used to have a major crush on Seagal). A few entries perched on the tip of my mental tongue for too long—ZESTA crackers, an UPSWEEP hairdo. ESPIALS and RAGBAGS were also slow to dawn. Best clue: [Break check?] for X-RAY. Vocabulary-stretching clue: [Minatory statement] for THREAT. I confess I looked up the word.

Updated:

Brendan Emmett Quigley's Onion A.V. Club puzzle has a CLIMATE CHANGE theme in which four seasonal phrases advance one season, so that a "fall guy" becomes WINTER GUY. At the top and bottom of the grid, 13-letter theme entries are stacked (with a one-square offset); impressively, there are four longish (7 to 9 letters) answers crossing those stacks, with lively bits like the BUSHMEN of The Gods Must Be Crazy and BYE FOR NOW. While I commend the sentiment in the clue for TROJAN, [One-night stand necessity], sheesh, it's not like that's the only condom brand out there.

Typing the word answer in that paragraph made me wonder why there's a silent W in it. Because it comes from the Anglo-Saxon andswaru, that's why. I Googled andswaru, and was surprised to see that the first page of search results were for baby (and dog) names. Makes for an unusual girl's name, but for a dog? Shouting "Answer!" at a dog just seems like setting yourself up for disappointment.

Ben Tausig's Ink Well/Chicago Reader crossword, "Drug Combinations," pairs 10 slang terms for drugs to make five theme entries. I didn't quite recognize DANK, but the rest made sense to me. (This is not an admission of any kind.) I liked the druggy mislead of [PCP providers?] for HMOS; the proximity of SNORE to APNEA; the Scrabbliness of the fill (XBOX, XANAX, SKULK, REX, IRAQI, etc.); UTERO clued as [Nirvana's "In ___"]; JERRY clued in relation to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, not far in the grid from [So-called "Hippie Chocolate"].

Bill Ballard's LA Times puzzle has six terms clued as [No-sweat job]. I have never once referred to anything as DUCK SOUP, a TURKEY SHOOT, or a LEADPIPE CINCH, but English has a colorful idiom, no?

Thomas Schier's CrosSynergy crossword compiles four kinds of LOTs (65-Down) at the beginnings of the theme entries.

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