Sunday, 7/26

NYT 99:59

LAT 99:59

PI 99:59

[updated to include:]

CS 99:59

BG 99:59

by guest blogger Dean Olsher

Amy always has something to teach me, and therefore I’m sure it’s no coincidence that I’m making my debut in her chair on a Sunday. She is no doubt teaching me a lesson for writing, in FROM SQUARE ONE, that I haven’t done a Sunday crossword in years, because it feels more like work than fun. (Of course I made an exception when Amy made her debut as a constructor three Sundays ago, with Tony Orbach, and I’m not brown-nosing when I say that it was a fun puzzle.)

In any event, this was a good excuse to reacquaint myself with other editing styles and challenge my belief that the New York Times puzzle really is superior. (It’s like my preference in dogs. I would like to identify with something edgy and unusual, but the sad truth is that I love Golden Retrievers, the most vanilla of breeds. I wish I could claim something more obscure, but there you have it.)

Kevin G. Der’s New York Times Sunday crossword, “Story Circle”

There’s a moment that occurs when solving a rebus puzzle that satisfies in its own way. You think to yourself, “Wait a minute, something is not right.... Saaaaay! I know what’s going on here.” The rebus in question is SIR, which goes in five circled squares slightly north of center. The theme is rounded out with the titles of six films and one book inspired by the story of King Arthur and his Round Table. There are circles for five knights here, leading to left-right symmetry rather than the usual 90-degree sort. I’m not sure of the thinking behind five circles. According to various tellings of the legend, there were at least twenty-five knights, if not more. I feel I must be missing something, and if I am, I’m sure someone will point it out.

Among the theme answers, the 1889 Twain novel that makes up both 4D and and its symmetrically located 12D is A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT. Wow, that was exhilarating! Wow!

Another twofer takes place at both 14D and 76D: 1953 Ava Gardner film ... as depicted elsewhere in this puzzle? The answer is KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. Also wow! Something about taking up a whole line, interrupted, seems virtuosic.

Less wow among the theme clues:

• The 1981 film in which Helen Mirren plays a sorcress is EXCALIBUR (2D).
• Seventeen years later, you get the 1998 animated film featuring the voice of Pierce Brosnan, QUEST FOR CAMELOT (143A).
• 71D, MISTS OF AVALON is clued as 2001 Anjelica Huston miniseries, with “The.” I don’t love the The (or the missing hyphen in miniseries; spelled this way, as the writer Sarah Thyre has rightly pointed out, you’re left with “such small sad little things”).
• 137A, SWORD IN THE STONE is clued as a 1963 animated film with the song “Higitus Figitus,” with “The.” Again with the The! Not a lovely clue.

Lots to love:

• 10D, Subtlety = NUANCE, which is just a good word, plain and simple.
• SYNOD (39D, Bishop’s group) is a great word, especially when it’s so close to 62A, Blissful: BEATIFIC.
• 62D, Winnie ____ Pu yields ILLE. That’s the title of A.A. Milne’s beloved children’s tale translated into Living Latin, which is exactly the kind of quixotic endeavor that wins my undying admiration.
• 103A, Prefix with sphere for IONO was not meant as a shout-out to radio, but I’ll take it as one anyway.
• 81D, Soap box? TVSET. Nice.
• Drilling grp. appears twice. At 44D, I thought it was going to be OPEC, but it turned out to be ROTC. Then at 86D, it’s ADA. (My father was a dentist in the army when I was born. He didn’t go through ROTC but he did undergo basic training. On the day they made everyone crawl under live machine-gun fire, he lost his lunch, which consisted of chili. He has never eaten it since.)

Et alii, so as not to gush too much.

• Boo on them: 19D, Red alert. FIRE SIREN? Nah.
• Boo on me: I got impatient (see above, “more work than fun”) and tried to look up 78D, Supreme Egyptian deity (spelled here as AMEN RA) by typing in crosswordfiend.blogspot.com. Oops.

I think of myself as post-ideological, but there are a couple of areas in which I maintain a hard line. For example, I hope to remain forever closed-minded in my opposition to puppy mills. And although people tell me they can still appreciate a crossword’s literary qualities while solving it as fast as they can, Lord, I do not want to be in that number. As Will Shortz wrote in the most recent Talk to the Times (which, he says, received more questions than any previous installment of this feature), “Rushing to solve a crossword is like stuffing a fine four-course meal down your throat as fast as you can.” I share all of this to explain my solving times, which are posted in solidarity with the yet-to-be-formed Crossword Fiends’ Auxiliary Chapter of the Slow Food movement.

Paula Gamache’s CrosSynergy “Sunday Challenge”

I am in solidarity with our usual host here: I always look forward to a Paula Gamache puzzle in the New York Times. Gamache is super smart and witty and I wish more puzzles were like hers. In fact, I wish this puzzle were more like hers. It lacked her special touch. Surely all the sparkle in her New York Times offerings can’t be due exclusively to Will Shortz’s editing of the clues. Did CrosSynergy dumb her down?

25D is a good ’un: They may stand for something is the clue for LATECOMERS. But 34A, Sheep shelter (COTE) is - meh.

44A, Auto service department offerings are LOANERS. I remember this as a common practice from childhood, but does anyone still do that?

Many of the folks I met while losing 15% of myself might quibble with 27D, Not a sore loser for DIETER. The people who went to my meetings complained bitterly.

I was Greeted, as a villain this week (49A, HISSED AT) when I gave the first performance of FROM SQUARE ONE: THE LIVE SHOW. I was asking for it. What prompted the hissing was this: “Brooklyn always felt like the Chicago of New York: parochial, boosterish, oddly proud to be the second city within the city.” It may have had something to do with the fact that I delivered this line steps from the epicenter of the Bobo universe. And of course this now has to get past a gatekeeper who loves living in Chicago. I hope the brown-nosing worked.

I couldn’t help but notice that Juicy fruit appears as a clue not only in this puzzle (56A, BERRY) but also Merl Reagle’s (35D, MELON). Now that's crossynergy.

Which brings us to:

Merl Reagle's Philadelphia Inquirer crossword, “A Tense-Sounding Situation”

I used to do Merl’s puzzle every week when I was a reader of the New York Observer, which I gave up because his crossword was the one good thing about it. Now that they’re under new management I should check them out again. In any event, I was glad for the reminder of what makes him so great.

Right away, with 1A, he initiates what appears to be an unintentional subtheme with “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” author LOOS. (Five years ago America passed up an opportunity to obsess over Rebecca Loos - no relation, as far as anyone has pointed out - who was alleged to have caused David Beckham to stray from Posh Spice.) He then proceeds to include a trio of Movie Stars I Have Had Crushes On: “In the Bedroom” actress (56D, SPACEK); Diana of “The Avengers” (80A, RIGG); and Nora, opposite Nick (15D, MYRNA). I wish to offer this list as Exhibit A to everyone who, when trying to fix me up on blind dates, has disbelieved me when I say I don’t have a “type.” (Although, considering how much I wish Claudette Colbert and Carole Lombard would make it into puzzles more often, maybe I do have a type. Colbert was said to be mean to Clark Gable, but he was madly in love with Lombard. And now that I think of how young she was when she was killed in a plane crash and made him a widower, I’m glad it didn’t work out with me after all.) Don’t need a Facebook quiz to know that the 1940s would have been my decade.

Sadly, I am a child of the seventies, which is why 73A, He leaked the Pentagon papers got me to ELLSBERG in no time. Maybe because I'm Generation Jones, this tickled my “Gee!” spot.

I am on record as saying there is no difference between a good pun and a bad pun. That doesn’t mean I can't give props to Merl Reagle for his mastery of paronomasia, which forms the basis of his intended theme. And in fact the puzzle does demonstrate that some puns are more equal than others. As an example of a tired pun, we have 81A, Redundant library sign? for NO TALKING ALOUD. We know that one. But then, by contrast, there’s 25A, New batch of chicks? for FRESH BROOD, which pushes us to hear the language anew. Even better than the AHA MOMENT (Gamache, 1A: Instant when the light goes on) is the Ah! moment, and Merl’s always good for a bunch of them.

The rest of his theme clues:

• 23A, Result of an Oreck-Bissell summit? = VACUUM PACT
• 25A, Vestal virgins? = CHASTE WOMEN
• 38A, Q: “What were you doing at the lumber yard, Tarzan?” A: “_____” = GETTING BOARD
• 50A, Customer-service reps for a certain condiment? = MUSTARD SUPPORT
• 65A, Soft and smooth on top? = BALD LIKE A BABY
• 93A, Get a little sloppy with the stickum? = PASTE ONESELF
• 103A, Beach-access route? = ROAD TO SHORE
• 109A, Headline about escaped lions? = PRIDE LOOSE
• 112A, Where the teetotaler walked? = PAST THE BAR

Merl’s puzzle did not change my mind about puns (for a lovely sorting-through of what I find so distasteful about them, read this op-ed piece). Still, solving it was a satisfying way to spend 99 minutes and 59 seconds.

Some obscurities are boring (89D, Butter dye = ANNATTO) while others (48D, Cross = ROOD) make me curious to find out more. And then there’s the nifty BEADLE (67D, English church official) which really doesn’t deserve to be in crosswords more than it is, but its appearance today made me smile for some reason.

I do quibble with 64A, Many mag pages for ADS. In fact lately there have been not so many, which is why at least one longtime mainstay of American culture may vanish in the weeks ahead. You heard it here first.

Our little daisy chain continues. BPOE appears both here (91D, Lodge letters) and also in the Los Angeles Times Sunday crossword (30A), clued as Fraternal org.

Allemande left and promenade!

Nora Pearlstone’s Los Angeles Times Sunday crossword, “Midafternoons”

[The blogger-in-chief suggests I point out that “Nora Pearlstone” is an anagram of not a real person and is the puzzle-making alter ego of editor Rich Norris.]

The theme is PM: two-word answers, the first word ending in P, the second word beginning with M. This yields the following theme clues:

• 23A, Temporary solution = STOPGAP MEASURE
• 54A, Controversial excavation method = STRIP MINING
• 94A, Key equivalent to B-flat = A-SHARP MAJOR
• 130A, It can help you organize windows and wallpaper = DESKTOP MANAGER
• 17D, Startling Stories, e.g. = PULP MAGAZINE
• 66D, Maker of Marlboro = PHILIP MORRIS

Ho hum. Time for a mid-afternoon nap.

It was interesting to see 25A, APOLLO, clued as Harlem theater. Maybe the editors were sick of all the 40th-anniversary hoo ha surrounding the moon landing. Or maybe it’s how they’re responding to pressure from newspapers to make the L.A. Times puzzle more national.

Regarding NACRES (Mollusk shell materials): plural? Really, right there at the top? If I were to be forced to include a tortured pluralization of an uncountable noun I’d want to hide it somewhere other than 1A.

A rare sports clue pops up at 64A: apparently, an Old Boston Garden nickname is ESPO. I can’t be bothered to find out who or why.

Boston, come in, please!

Boston Globe Sunday crossword

Hello, Boston, you’re on the air!

[Dead air.]

While we’re waiting for the Globe puzzle to come online, I want to say that I’m no Alice Hoffman. I can take criticism. While poking around online for the endangered newspaper’s crossword I stumbled upon this review of my book by Amanda Heller, who seems to have to have neither liked it nor read it. To set the record straight, the crossword in FROM SQUARE ONE is not of my devising. Readers of the book, and now Ms. Heller, know that all credit goes to the multitalented Francis Heaney. I’m sure stuff like this has nothing to do with the fact that the paper is going under. [SNAP!]

[This just in: still no Boston Globe crossword. But Cox and Rathvon are quoted, as am I, in this article that appears today in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, which is bucking the trend by adding puzzles to the paper. Now the bad news: the puzzles they’re adding are sudoku and KenKen®.]

Stand by, please.

It’s confirmed. The Eagle has landed.

Henry Hook’s Boston Globe Sunday crossword, “Take My Word For It”

A nicely made puzzle, worth waiting for. His theme is truth, illustrated as follows:

• 22A, Oath opening = I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR
• 33A, Oddities column = BELIEVE IT OR NOT
• 63A and 71A, “It’s gotta be true” = YOU CANT MAKE THIS STUFF UP
• 95A, Rerun in the GSN lineup = TO TELL THE TRUTH
• 111A, Friday’s request = JUST THE FACTS MAAM
• 15D, George’s affirmation = I CANNOT TELL A LIE
• 43D, Old Coke slogan = ITS THE REAL THING

with a Lagniappe at 96D, the Lionel Richie hit TRULY.

Once again a secondary theme emerges. Hook is going to Lahaina in his mind with:

• 115A, 50th state bird = NENE (someday I hope to see their state fish in a crossword)
• 116a, Pacific greetings = ALOHAS
• 98D, Guitar’s kin = UKE

In case 47D, the Suzanne Vega hit LUKA turns out to be so catchy that you just can’t get it out of your head, we here at the Diary wish to offer this earworm replacement service. You may want to consider, instead, TROIKA (56A, Three-horse carriage) or maybe even MOOCHER (85D, Sponge).

More pleasure:

• 9A, Old war story? is ILIAD, and then, in the opposite corner (119A) you have Jason’s ship, the ARGO.
• 26A, My brothel’s keeper is MADAM. Nice!

Not so nice:

• 45A, Bleating sound is MAA?
• 58D, Illicit affair for AMOUR. Illicit? Always?
• 64D, Homesteads, in Hampshire appear to be TOFTS. Filing that one away.
• I had to look up 34D, Greg of “B.J. and the Bear,” which turns out to be EVIGAN. I didn’t feel too bad about it, since I got no help from 39A, Kin of (alt. sp.) for VAR. Huh? Still have no idea what that’s all about. Anyone? Anyone?

16D, Strands for MAROONS reminds me of a recent conversation with my NYU colleague, Adam Penenberg, who I admire very much (and not just because Steve Zahn played him in the movie Shattered Glass). Adam told me his all-time favorite Eugene Maleska clue was, “After a blue ship collides with a red ship. Answer: Marooned.” This gave me an idea as I develop FROM SQUARE ONE: THE LIVE SHOW. Send me your favorite clues, and tell me why they’re your favorites, and offer any interesting stories behind them, over at my blog. And when I say “interesting” I do not mean fabricated.

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Friday, 4/10

WSJ 7:40
NYT 6:09
LAT 5:03
BEQ 4:18
CS 3:28
CHE 3:14


we haven't seen manny's byline recently, have we? his friday NYT puzzle is a good one, though, as you'd have every right to expect. it's anchored by a central triple-stack of 15s, all of them good:

• to [Be doomed] is to NOT STAND A CHANCE.
  
• [Obtain service from] is GET MILEAGE OUT OF.
  
• and [Felt bitter anguish] is ATE ONE'S HEART OUT. i feel like this expression is used more often in the imperative than in the past tense. but still, it's a lively phrase.
  

to me, though, the marquee answer is the one i've highlighted in the screenshot: MINESWEEPER! it's clued as the [Popular computer logic/guessing game]. i won't divulge how many hours of my existence i wasted on this popular computer logic/guessing game back in high school. (was it that long ago? goodness.) my physics teacher aptly dubbed it "mindsweeper."

this wasn't exactly a smooth solve for me, but i got through it okay. fits and starts included TANG for MING, the [Chinese dynasty during which trade with Portugal began]. that was kind of a dumb guess, because the TANG was way too early (i think it ended in the 8th century), but then i had the G confirmed by INGEST for [Swallow]. of course, INGEST wasn't right either (ENGULF), although ironically, the G was.

other answers that caught my eye:

• LESS SALT is a [Food label for the health-conscious]. it's also got three consecutive Ss.
  
• i really like the stack in the SE consisting of LIMEADE, BRONZED, and JESTERS. the latter is clued as [Court figures], which is a clue recycled elsewhere in the grid for CENTERS.
  
• [Like the pop group the Pussycat Dolls] clues ALL-FEMALE. i have a feeling orange would like this answer.
  
• FAT LOT is a fun answer, clued as [Not much, with "a"]. that's kind of ironic, isn't it?
  
• there were a few words i wasn't thrilled with in the grid: WANS, REGLAZE, and APISHLY would all rank pretty high on my "awkward inflected forms" list. and there were three plural names, which i never particularly enjoy seeing. INGAS was clued as ["Young Frankenstein" woman and others]. LIONELS was redeemed by a non-person-specific clue, [Toy trains]. and TEDS ... well, TEDS is clued as [Dries, as hay]. really? i wish i could claim that was an interesting word, but in fact it's about as interesting as watching hay dry.
  

clues that caught my eye:

• [Occasion to drop one's arms] is a CEASE-FIRE. terrific misdirection here.
  
• [Burrow : rabbit :: holt : ___] clues OTTER. i did not know that, but once i got the OT___ it really wasn't going to be anything else.
  
• [Like rivals, often] clues COMPARED. a perfect clue.
  
• [___ gin fizz] has to be SLOE, right? 100% has to, always, no exceptions? but this time, it's 5 letters, and the answer turns out to be RAMOS. what the? can somebody explain this?
  

clue i did not like: [Electric device with terminals] is an ELEMENT, i guess like the heating ELEMENT in an electric kettle. guess what, though: every electric device has terminals. am i missing something clever, or was this clue just indescribably lame?

john lampkin's chronicle of higher education crossword, "Geometric Progression"

fun math theme in the CHE puzzle today:

• [Look at a zero-dimensional entity?] is VIEW POINT.
  
• [Map out a one-dimensional entity?] is PLOT LINE.
  
• [Catch sight of a two-dimensional entity?] is SPY PLANE.
  
• [Exert influence on a three-dimensional entity?] is WORK SPACE.
  
• and capping it off, [Ancient Greek mathematician whose work inspired this puzzle] is EUCLID, whose work the elements became the basis for all geometry until the 19th century.
  

the grid has stacks of 8-letter fill abutting the 9-letter theme answers in the NE and SW, and several other fill words of 7 or more letters. there seem to be matched pairs of interesting answers:

• two painters: henri toulouse-LAUTREC and jan van EYCK
  
• two long geographic answers: the TRANSVAAL region of south africa and the DEAD SEA, [The world's lowest lake]
  
• two names from greek mythology: ARES, whom [Aeschylus called the "gold-changer of bodies"], and OCEANID, [A daughter of Tethys, in myth]. i don't know what the ARES clue means. elsewhere, there's also THOR, but he's clued as ["Kon-Tiki" author Heyerdahl].
  
• two biblical references: HOSEA, the [First of the minor prophets], and SERAPH, a [Celestial being in Isaiah's vision]. today is good friday; if you wander into a catholic liturgy today, you'll hear the "suffering servant" reading from isaiah. (no SERAPHs today.)
  
• two actors, which is pretty rare for the CHE puzzle: james SPADER and sean ASTIN.
  
• two place names from military history: the [Range crossed by Hannibal] is the ALPS, of course, and the [Site of Burgoyne's surrender] is SARATOGA. (i suppose you could sort the TRANSVAAL into this category, too.)
  

clever clue: [Something you get on your birthday?] is OLDER. true dat.

brendan emmett quigley's blog crossword, "Ze Puzzle"

brendan has a light, fun theme today, which involves changing an S-spelled Z sound into a Z-spelled Z sound:

• an [Icebox?] is a FREEZE-UP SPACE, playing on "frees up space."
  
• [What a flesh wound may do?] is GRAZE ANATOMY (grey's anatomy). this one was my favorite.
  
• [XXL tag on Depends?] is SIZE OF RELIEF (sighs of relief). eww.
  
• [Drug-soaked raver's autobiography?] is DAZE AND NIGHTS (days and nights). another clue you won't see in the gray lady.
  

the fill skews much more literate/cultural than i normally associate with a BEQ puzzle:

• the marquee fill answer is the JAZZ SINGER, [The first talkie]. historically relevant, and extra-scrabbly to boot.
  
• the seer TIRESIAS is the [Blind prophet who underwent a seven-year sex change in Greek mythology]. okay, so brendan puts his own unique spin on even the high-culture answers.
  
• E.B. WHITE gets his full (sorta) name into the grid. he's the ["Charlotte's Web" author].
  
• [Cassio's inamorata in "Othello"] is BIANCA.
  
• edward ALBEE is in a puzzle not for the first time. i didn't recognize the play in the clue, though (the goat). does anybody else know this work? in other literary crosswordese, faulkner's EULA varner puts in an appearance. i'm waiting for EULA to be clued as the end-user license agreement, that little box with all the fine print that nobody ever reads before installing software.
  
• the NE corner is especially high-class, with fin-de-SIÈCLE, the venerable ST. BEDE, and an answer i did not know: [1818 Lord Byron poem subtitled "A Venetian Story"], which i guess is BEPPO. if you're curious, the full text is available online.
  

of course, it wouldn't be a BEQ puzzle without its share of pop culture names and modern fill. these include the GZA, the [Wu-Tang Clan member who released the classic album "Liquid Swords," 1995], OMAR little from the wire, and IRISH rockers U2 (or in the grid, U-TWO), plus the ridiculous acronym ROTFLMAO and the wonderful verb SNARK, or [Make catty remarks]. and scrabble enthusiasts everywhere (a group which does not include brendan himself) will rejoice to see ZAS ([Brick oven pies, for short]) in the grid.

favorite clue: [Rules of music?] for STAFF LINES.

nora pearlstone's LA times crossword

nora pearlstone (anagram of "not a real person") is one of rich norris's crossword aliases. as is often the case with the friday LA times, there's a tricky wordplay theme, and as is often the case with rich's puzzles, the clues are pretty tricky as well. let's look at the theme first, which involves insertion of a K after an R:

• [Sightseeing at The Steppes?] is STARK GAZING. i don't know what this means. what's The Steppes? is it like borodin's in the steppes of central asia?
  
• [Dog's communication systems?] are BARK CODES. this was the first one i got, and it led me to think that perhaps the K was going to come before a K sound anyway, so that it wouldn't change the pronunciation (much). nope, this was the only one like that.
  
• [Creative executive compensation techniques?] are PERK-FORMING ARTS. a highly topical theme answer, to be sure, but i didn't like it because this is the only one where the K goes into the middle of a word instead of the end. that made it very hard to figure out the base phrase.
  
• [Price of the village green?] is PARK VALUE. my only quibble with this one is that "price" and VALUE aren't really the same thing.
  
• [Ones who never know what to use for their salad?] are FORK DUMMIES, playing on the "for dummies" series of books. (gratuitous plug here: patrick berry's >crossword puzzle challenges for dummies is nothing at all like what the title suggests. it's got 70 great PB puzzles and a terrific explanation of all the details of constructing puzzles from arguably the best in the business. oh, and patrick's new book is pretty spectacular as well.) this was my favorite theme answer—fun base phrase, and an amusing transformation.
  

the fill contains some good stuff, including GRAND PRIX (recently seen as a crossword answer on "jeopardy!") next to CRIKEY, SKULK crossing two theme answers (both at the K), and a composer i'm not familiar with named MOZART. is he as famous as thomas ARNE or erik SATIE? or maybe a lesser light, like camille saint-SAENS?

there were also several names i didn't know. [Swing era bandleader Cates] is a new clue for OPIE. two swedish names, ["La Dolce Vita" actress] EKBERG and actress ESSY persson, were totally unfamiliar. ["L.A. Law" co-creator] BOCHCO... well, i might have seen it before, but there's no letter in it that i could guess if i had the other five. well, maybe the H.

for more on this puzzle, which featured some knotty clever clues, check out LA crossword confidential.

raymond hamel's crossynergy crossword, "Sleepy Heads"

the theme here is phrases whose first word starts with a place to sleep:

• ["You and me against the world" attitude] is a BUNKER MENTALITY.
  
• [Where the Statue of Liberty was erected] is, apparently, BEDLOES ISLAND. that's new to me. nowadays, they call it liberty island.
  
• one [Card game accessory] is a CRIBBAGE BOARD.
  
• and a [Home-based business] is a COTTAGE INDUSTRY. this was a theme answer in the puzzle that al sanders solved in 2:02 in wordplay. the theme in that one was kinds of cheese.
  

the clues were kind of knotty in places (it took me a full minute longer than most CS weekdays), but not really much fun. [Rose by any other name?] for ALIAS is kind of cute, i guess. [Uses a straw] isn't how i'd clue SUCKS, but i guess that's how you have to clue it in mainstream newspaper puzzles.

myles callum's wall street journal crossword, "Tax Breaks"

myles's puzzle has 8 answers of varying lengths which include the letters T, A, and X in order. the most entertaining one has got to be GRODY TO THE MAX, and i like the unusual consonant clustering in FRENCH CHATEAUX, but the others left me a little cold. and i'm sure i'm a little grumpy because when i finished, i had some mistakes, which were a combination of words i didn't know ([Character actor J. Carrol] NAISH; [Salad bar tidbits] = BACOS), clues i don't get ([Took a position] = HIRED ON? [Dodger base] = CORN?), stuff i know i've seen but can never remember ([Papuan port in which Amelia Earhart was last seen] = LAE; [Icelandic post-rock band Sigur] ROS) and careless errors (RATIES? why would i think that could be an answer?).

lest i be all negative, let me add that i enjoyed much of the fill in this puzzle, including the place where LIESL crossed KVASS (KVASS! again!) and the EXTRA EXTRA-scrabbly NW. but i am just about blogged out. luckily, there's only one more puzzle i have to do today, and i don't have to blog it until tuesday.

see you tomorrow.

last updated: 11:50 am eastern

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Sunday, 2/8

PI 8:35
LAT 7:35
BG 7:22
NYT 6:59
CS 3:36

Alan Arbesfeld's New York Times Sunday puzzle, "Pajama Party," includes nine theme answers with P.J. initials:

• The theme launches with an icky-looking PETROLEUM JELLY at 23-Across, clued as [ChapStick alternative].
  
• PARACHUTE JUMP is a [Bygone Coney Island attraction]. I am really not up on my Coney Island facts.
  
• PRACTICAL JOKE is a kind of [Trick].
  
• The PICKLE JAR is a [Deli receptacle].
  
• The late PETER JENNINGS was [One of the former Big Three in news]. (He was my favorite of the three.) Say what you will about Katie Couric—it sure is nice to have the Big Three network news shows no longer The White Male News Half Hour.
  
• POETIC JUSTICE is a great phrase and it means [Comeuppance].
  
• My kid loves PINEAPPLE JUICE, a [Dole offering]. It's his standard bar order.
  
• PAPA JOHN'S is a [Pizza Hut competitor].
  
• PLAIN JANE is [Hardly a beauty queen]. Man, it would be great if we had as much insulting and objectifying language aimed at men as we do for women—ideally, very little for either sex. Plain Wayne, anyone?
  

This theme is fine, though it lacks any sort of humor component. Let's see if the question-marked clues can stir things up:

• [Red states?: Abbr.] are SSRS from the ol' Soviet era.
  
• [Printerr's misteaks?] are TYPOS. I came up with a good clue for TYPO the other day and gave it to Byron Walden; here's hoping it shows up in one of his puzzles soon because I sure amn't constructing anything these days.
  
• [Foreign correspondents?] may be PENPALS.
  
• [You can dig it] doesn't have a question mark but the clue isn't strictly factual. The answer is RELIC. Technically, you would dig up a relic, no?
  
• [Land at Orly?] is TERRE, French for "land."
  
• [Dermal opening?] is the prefix EPI. I'm not sure this clue merits the question mark.
  
• [Dallas center?] clues ELS, as in the two letter L's in the middle. Not a center for the Dallas Mavericks.
  

I like the clue [German city whose name means "to eat"] for ESSEN—my favorite ESSEN clue of all time. It's an easy German I word (LATIN I is [Where "amo, amas, amat" is learned]), and the clue has more flavor than a strictly geographical one. I feel there's a noun missing from the beginning of [Who wrote "The only abnormality is the incapacity to love"]—ANAIS NIN is the answer. [Hand-picked thing] is a BANJO. [At home, abroad] clues the French phrase EN FAMILLE.

Updated:

Hmm, I guess I wasn't in the mood for Star Wars puns when I did Merl Reagle's Philadelphia Inquirer crossword, "One Fine Day at the 'Star Wars' Mall." It is possible that I might never be in the mood for a 10-pack of Star Wars puns. Here are some of the theme answers:

• ["Star Wars" superstore with low, low prices?] is LANDO BARGAINS. Lando Calrissian (who wasn't in Star Wars, I don't think, just one or both of the first two sequels), land o'.
  
• [The "Star Wars" Big and Hairy Men's Shop?] is WOOKIEE HERE, playing on "looky here."
  
• ["Star Wars" stationery store?] is THE HANVELOPE. I thought Han rhymed with "man." This answer is perhaps stretching too far and too implausibly. The V crosses SOV., an [Old Brit. gold coin]—my, that's a hard clue. [Pt. of SSR] would have been much easier. The coin must be a sovereign, but I've never seen it abbreviated thus.
  
• The answer to ["Star Wars" store that sells short, furry, and very lifelike action figures?] took a while to parse properly. EWOKS ETOKS sounds rather like "he walks, he talks."
  

A couple other short answers (in addition to SOV) gave me pause. [Abbr. after Charles Robb's name when he was a sen.] is DVA, or D-VA. [Superior and Municipal, for ex.] clues CTS, an abbreviation for courts. Never heard of [Actor Rossano], or BRAZZI, and he doesn't have the sort of name that shows up in a lot of crosswords.

In Nora Pearlstone's Sunday Los Angeles Times syndicated crossword, 18-Down is [False names], or ANONYMS. "Nora Pearlstone" is one of editor/constructor Rich Norris's anonyms (it's an anagram of "not a real person"). In the "E.E. Comings" theme, each long theme answer is a two-word phrase with E.E. initials. ECONOMIC EXPANSION is a [Monetary policy goal], for example, and [Computers and such] are ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT. The corners of the puzzle have a lot of 7-letter answers interlocking, which gives them the feel of a themeless crossword framing the themed one. Highlights in the fill:

• KRAKATOA is a [Volcanic island near Java]. Wait, is it still there, or did it blast itself to smithereens?
  
• MUESLIX is [Kellogg's whole grain cereal]. I started out with CRISPIX despite its lack of whole-graininess.
  
• [Scanned bars] are a UPC CODE. You'd think the word "bars" in the clue would've stopped me from writing BAR CODE first.
  
• CLOSE-KNIT means [Tightly connected], like answers in an American crossword.
  
• [Player on a team that lost all 16 of its 2008 NFL games] is a Detroit LION. Ordinary answer, hilarious clue.
  
• [Sum preceder?] is ERGO, as in Descartes' Cogito ergo sum, or "I think, therefore I am."
  
• SEA BREEZE is indeed a [Refreshingly named vodka cocktail].
  
• Your KEISTER is your [Duff].
  
• [Two-piece shooter, often] is a tricky clue for POOL CUE. Many pool cues unscrew to become two more portable pieces.
  
• Trigonometry echoes in [Go off on a tangent] for DIGRESS, which is more fun than the [Trig function] COSEC.
  
• [Small creatures] clues an archaic word, ATOMIES, the plural of atomy. It also means a mote or tiny particle as well as a tiny being.
  

Patrick Jordan's themeless CrosSynergy "Sunday Challenge" is none too challenging. Did you know that Sidney Poitier directed STIR CRAZY? It's true. I had no idea. [Nineties, to Einstein] is IQ RANGE. No, just kidding—it's an ANAGRAM. [Turkey or tyrannosaurus, say] is a BIPED like you and me. Two successive answers, 8- and 15-Across, have the same 5 letters in the middle. [Emulates Don Juan] clues SEDUCES while [One on a diet] is a REDUCER. (Alas, TEDUCET cannot continue the series because it's not a word.) I have never heard HEADMAN used to mean a [Leader], but you may sign me up for the headwoman clan. CUTES is clued as [Case of the ___ (affected coyness)]. The European geography here is a little snoozy—the MARNE is [The Seine's largest branch] and BADEN is a [German region]. Answers like EARLIKE ([Resembling an auditory organ]) and ENOLS ([Compounds with double-bond carbons]) are also on the snoozy side.

Henry Hook's Boston Globe puzzle in Across Lite is called "Hot Stuff," and each of the 10 interlocking theme answers begins with a group of letters that also make up a "hot" word. I've circled the "hot" words so it's easier to see how the theme entries are physically connected—22- and 45-Across both cross 23-Down, as do the trio of answers in the opposite corner, and the northeast and southwest corners of the grid have stacked pairs of theme answers. The "hot" words aren't used as such in the theme phrases. For example, STEWIE GRIFFIN is the [Matricidal TV tyke] from Family Guy, the [Hawk] WARMONGER lacks true warmth, and the [Popular board game] PARCHEESI isn't about parched desert. It's a well-conceived and adeptly executed theme, but I suppose the stacking and interconnectivity of theme answers required a few obscurities that wouldn't ordinarily appear in an easyish Sunday crossword. [Bowling Hall-of-Famer Billy] WELU, for example, and CEDIS, or [Money of Ghana]. TELAR, or [Tissue-related], is a bit out there as well. But there's also junk food that's putting me in the mood for salty snacks—ONION DIP to go with potato chips or maybe some CHEETOS.

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Sunday, 11/30

CS 8:36
PI 27:00
LAT 22:12
NYT (gave up after 46:00)
BG (unavailable — if you know any different, please let me know in the comments!)

Hey, everybody, PuzzleGirl here with your post-turkey-coma puzzle commentary. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend and are ready to get back to the routine tomorrow. I am particularly looking forward to the part of my routine where I send my husband and kids off to the bus and enjoy some peace and quiet. But I'm sure that's just me. So. The puzzles!....

The theme in Merl Reagle's "Crossword Crossword" Philadelphia Inquirer puzzle is geared toward a fairly specific demographic that, I'm guessing, you belong to. That's right, it's all about people who know a little something about crossword puzzles. You'll find yourself in this puzzle whether you LOVE LETTERS and consider yourself a fan, or if you're a really slow solver who averages THREE SQUARES A DAY, or even if you're a BLACK ADDER (a puzzle artiste who uses way too many dark squares). (Frankly it's the black subtractors that cause me the most grief — you know who you are!) We've also got one answer that RUNS ACROSS and another that GOES DOWN. Other crossword-y theme answers:

• WORDS WERE EXCHANGED describes [How a puzzle was easily fixed].
• [Lots of words cross] at a BUSY INTERSECTION.
• [Part of a puzzle having no theme answers] is a NEUTRAL CORNER.
• The ABC NETWORK is a [puzzle for beginners].
• A [farfetched puzzle answer] is a FORCED ENTRY.
• [Only half created, as a puzzle] is, of course, CLUELESS.
  

Other stuff I liked:

• DO IT is [wasted advice to procrastinators] because, you know, they'll do it when they feel like it. I initially entered WAIT for this one, thinking that's even more wasted than DO IT because, you know, they're gonna wait whether you say anything or not.
• So so happy to see golfer ISAO Aoki in the grid since I have finally -- Finally -- memorized his first name. PuzzleHusband tells me Aoki placed 2nd in the 1980 U.S. Open losing by only two strokes to none other than Jack Nicklaus. So he's no slouch. Not that you said he was.
• Remember that angel that was on your shoulder in yesterday's puzzle? Today it's a California Angel, and it's touching you, and you're OUT.
• I really like Jay MOHR [of "SNL" fame]. I liked him in that movie with Jennifer Aniston. Wait, he was in a couple movies with her. This is the one I liked. Oh man. That's the only movie they were in together. I thought they were in "Friends With Money," but that was Scott Caan. Do you care about any of this? I'm guessing not. Let's move on.
• "Room enough to swing a CAT" is a colorful phrase!
• I originally had ANKA singing "Getting to Know You" instead of ANNA. Just in case you were wondering how much of an idiot I am.

I've also finally caught onto DRAY as a [sturdy cart]. I used to work with a guy whose last name was Dray. When he and his wife had their first child, they named him Ethan. Another co-worker of ours had a baby that year and named him Cole Reddington. At the time, I assumed that there had been some sort of law passed that all new parents were required to give their babies Soap Opera Names.

So, okay, just one more thing. I really can't say anything bad about a puzzle that includes ARTE Johnson, George JETSON, TANYA Tucker, and JETHRO from "The Beverly Hillbillies." But here's the one thing I want to say to all you constructors out there: Enough with the rivers already! I don't know them okay? I just don't! I have some sort of mental block when it comes to rivers and there's no way I will Ever get them except through crosses, so it's just not fair any more. I hope we don't have to have this conversation again.

Richard Silvestri's New York Times crossword, "Uh-Oh," beat me up and beat me up good. Some of the problems stemmed from my own reasonable mistakes, like no joke for NO JIVE. Some of it was stuff I once knew but forgot, like that ANENT means [With regard to]. But some of it was just unfair. MENHADEN crossing DEODATO? That seems unreasonably cruel. GNAR? Seriously? What is that? SHAVUOT next to LANARK? (I actually knew SHAVUOT but wasn't sure of the spelling, which I think is Totally Reasonable given the whole Chanukah/Hannukah/Hanukah thing. Although I'm not Jewish, I do know a little bit about Jewish holidays. The first two that came to my mind in this case were sukkot and pesach. I tell you this just to clarify that I'm not a complete DOLT, i.e., [dummkopf], just because I couldn't finish this puzzle.) Okay, you know what? I'm in Orange's house and she doesn't typically rant about the puzzles, so I'm going to stop now. Sorry about that. Judging by the posted scores on the applet, some of you didn't have Quite as much trouble as I did with this puzzle anyway. (Hi, Dan! Hi, Byron!)

So the theme consists of familiar phrases in which an UH sound is changed to an OH sound:

• [Helpful comment to a judge?] = THERE'S THE ROBE (rub).
• [Fruit flies?] = PEACH FOES (fuzz).
• [Dirty radio sitcom?] = LOAM AND ABNER (is this right? I have No Idea what this means).
• [Jokey question to a Verizon technician?] = ARE WE HAVING PHONE (fun) YET? A tiny bit disappointed that this wasn't a riff on "Can you hear me now?," but it's still pretty funny.
• [Darius the Scamp?] = PERSIAN ROGUE (rug).
• [Pot-smoking cleric?] = FRIAR TOKE (Tuck). Love this one.
• [Result of excessive rowing?] = PAIN IN THE BOAT (butt). This one too.
  

I spent some time today watching the NCAA National Champion University of Iowa Hawkeyes RASSLE today, so I was all over that. (Go, Hawks!) I'm a big fan of LOST [The story of the aftermath of Oceanic Flight 815] and occasionally wonder why it's not in the puzzle more often. Oh, and I had two incorrect first guesses that I thought were pretty good. I had piano instead of ATOLL for [Set of keys?]. And I didn't think of beth as a LETTER in the Arabic alphabet. No, to me, "Beth" (especially in six letters!) is and always will be, a ballad.

Updated Sunday at 11:00am:

Nora Pearlstone's LA Times crossword, "Medical Group," starts out with EM DASH [Punctuation that makes one pause] at 1 Across. That's all it took for me to fall in love with this puzzle immediately. If you know the difference between hyphens, em dashes, and en dashes; cringe when you see straight quotes instead of curly quotes; and feel actual, honest-to-God anger when you see a single open quotation mark where an apostrophe is supposed to be — well, then, you know what I'm talking about. Why, yes, people do refer to me as a dork occasionally, why do you ask? When posting on the web, I usually just use two hyphens instead of taking the time to make an em dash, but in honor of this answer I'm going to spend an extra minute or so on this post and make it, well, more easily readable to be sure. But ultimately? More beautiful. You're welcome.

Theme answers in this puzzle are familiar phrases with the letters DR added to them to create new phrases:

• [Bar order for H.G. Wells's scientist Griffin?] = INVISIBLE DRINK
  
• [Sound from a Southern shoemaker?] = COBBLER'S DRAWL
  
• [Handyman's answer of "Boring" to the question "How's business?"?] DRILL HUMOR
  
• [Sagging area between buildings?] = ALLEY DROOP
  
• [Window treatment in old Morocco?] = BARBARY DRAPES
  
• [Misplace a channel-making machine?] = LOSE ONE'S DREDGE
  
• [Cattleman's asset?] = DROVER-CONFIDENCE
  
• [Illegally try to collect flood insurance?] = DROWN ONE'S OWN HOME

Too bad that last one needs a pronunciation change to make both phrases work. Also, is [Boomer who's actually a boomer] ESIASON showing up in puzzles a lot lately, or is it just me? I know you've all seen Palin and CLEESE's "dead parrot" sketch. Good stuff. I just had to find a picture of ANNA SUI's Secret Wish Magic Romance perfume and I was right — the bottle is hideous. I know someone has explained the difference between a [Tolkien menace] ORC and an ent, but I can't retain it. I'm guessing I'm the only one here who noticed this, but [Winnebago descendants] IOWAS is crossing [Big name in discount brokerage] SCHWAB, which could also be clued as National Champion University of Iowa assistant coach and Olympic wrestler Doug. Okay, I've been rambling too long about this puzzle, so I'll leave you with LYLE Lovett and be back in a little while with your CS write-up.

Updated Sunday at 11:30am:

Today's CrosSynergy crossword by Bruce Venzke and Stella Daily was a fun, quick romp for me. Exactly what I needed after the pressure of filling in for the irreplaceable Orange on a bunch of puzzles that took me a long time.

CAJOLE is a great word, isn't it? And I really didn't see it coming at all. Threw in the J for JET and thought, "Well, that can't be right!" For [Opera alternative?] I was thinking of the web browser and confidently entered Safari. I guess the question mark cued a misdirection on the word alternative instead of on the word opera. How is it possible that I knew SAILOR Moon off of just the S? I read [Porcine toon] as Porcine tooth and had no idea what was going on there with PETUNIA. NEPTUNE is now the [Furthest planet from the sun]. Poor Pluto. For [Arnold-esque?] I was thinking Tom? Roseanne? No, Benedict: TREASONOUS. Are TIE tacks fashionable now? I suppose I could ask PuzzleHusband who, inexplicably, went all Metrosexual on me sometime in the last few years. Not that I'm complaining. Okay, I'm complaining a little that his shoe collection is more impressive than mine, but other than that, it's all good.

Thanks for letting me hang with you guys. I think I'll be seeing you again at Christmastime, which is right around the corner. That's right, people — it's time to get out there and SHOP!

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