CS 3:13
NYS 2:53
NYT 2:50
LAT 2:37
(post updated at 8:30 a.m. Monday)
First up, movie talk. Have you seen Akeelah and the Bee? Fantastic performances from the kids (particularly star Keke Palmer) and the adults (as you'd expect from Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett), plus a spelling-bee story line with a base of tragedy and middle-school angst. I found it far more moving than the documentary, Spellbound—heck, if I'd tried, I could have cried the whole way through it. And yet it didn't feel manipulative. If you were ever a brainy kid, see this movie. (Available on DVD.)
Donna Levin's NYT puzzle was fun to solve, and the Sun offering was an uncommonly easy crossword (easy by Sun standards) by Barry Silk, "Doubles Partners." The NYT puzzle had a timely theme, with three different [Holiday decoration] entries: CHRISTMAS WREATH, KWANZAA UNITY CUP, and HANUKKAH MENORAH. Between the crapload of consonants in the first and the Scrabbly letters in the latter two themers, plus the diversity inherent in the grouping, I liked the theme. The assorted long fill entries were spangly, too—GANGPLANK, GYPSY MOTH. Curiously, there are three quasi-duplications in the fill: OH NO/OH TO, NO-HIT/NO-WIN, and OPUS/OPERA.
Silk's Sun puzzle features five alliterative pairs like DRAG AND DROP. Three of those theme entries are connected by one of the more Scrabbly names from history, KARL MARX (and you know how I like Scrabbly fill). Plus there's a Q, and John UPDIKE. KAPOK doesn't see the inside of a crossword grid much—is that because of its letters or because it's obscure? (I know it because my grandma used to rehash the story about how my dad had to skip gym class in grade school because he was allergic to kapok in the mats or something. But I didn't encounter the word elsewhere for, oh, about 25 years.) Great clue for UMPED: [Worked at home?]. Constructor alert! I've seen ID TAG(S) about four times this month, and I've grown tired of it. Okay, so it's better than IDENT or RETAG, but still.
Updated:
Harvey Estes' CrosSynergy crossword's a tribute to Jack Palance and his movies/characters. Now, the only Palance movie I've ever seen is City Slickers, but another answer was handed to me by a post in the NYT forum yesterday. Serendipity!
Norma Steinberg's LA Times puzzle was light and easy, plus it's got OBAMA in the grid.
December 17, 2006
Monday, 12/18
December 16, 2006
Sunday, 12/17
NYT 15 minutes, half hour, whatever
BG 8:36
LAT 7:37
WaPo 7:35
CS 3:57
(post updated at 9:30 a.m. Sunday)
Hey, if you normally solve the Sunday NYT puzzle in the timed applet, you ought to switch to Across Lite (on screen or printed out) for Joe DiPietro's "Lay of the Land." I have it in the applet with a typo somewhere, but am now filling in a hard copy so its elegance can smack me in the face.
So, this puzzle. I had the applet all filled out, but with the rebus action, it was going to drive me nuts to scan the whole grid looking for it. Plus, I wanted to see clearly what was going on with the rebuses (I never do that + thing in the applet to enter more than one letter—hmm, maybe I should start), so I printed out the puzzle and grabbed my trusty EraserMate pen. Along the way, I found my error (I had GET SOFT crossing EMITS rather than GOT SOFT/OMITS), changed a letter in the applet, and submitted my solution. Then I turned back to the hard copy. There are no theme entries per se (at least I don't think there are), but the rebus squares contain two-letter postal abbreviations for 12 states, in their correct geographic locations. CA is on the far west coast, ME in the northeast, FL in the southeast, and KS smack-dab in the center. As a bonus, in symmetrical spots near the northern and southern borders, we've got CANADA and MEXICO. Impressive execution of a great idea!
This was definitely one of the hardest Sunday puzzles in months. Clues I found tough and/or clever included [Mountain top?] for SKI CAP, [Count with many titles] for LEO TOLSTOY, [It may be indicated by a stroke] for ONE A.M., [Eye openers?] for DI[LA]TORS, [Run for dear life?] for ELOPE, [Sound in the middle of Italy] for SCHWA, and [Supplier of candy and toys for kids] for PINATA (America's Funniest Home Videos showed what happens when kids bust open a piñata and only cut veggies tumble out—cauliflower delights no child). Answers I just plain didn't know included ABELARD (who I've heard of, but in terms of "Héloise and"), KAON, Hall-of-Fame pitcher ADDIE Joss, and French conductor RENE Leibowitz. No shortage of phrases in this grid, including a lot of phrasal verbs (YIELD TO, SENT TO, [FL]EW AT) but also OPEN SESAME, NOT FAR, NEON GAS, AM RADIO, BASS F[ID]DLE, and WEA[K S]POT.
Updated:
Martin Ashwood-Smith's themeless CrosSynergy puzzle features two triple-stacks of 15-letter entries, one of which is an idiomatic phrase I've never heard.
Henry Hook's Boston Globe crossword, "Yule Be Sorry," is built around a Phyllis Diller quote.
Randall Hartman's LA Times syndicated puzzle, "C-Span," gathers phrases with a pair of C's in the middle, like ERIC CLAPTON (fun clue: [Cream component?]). You know how [Obi-Wan portrayer] can be either ALEC Guinness or EWAN McGregor? In this puzzle, they're both there, along with DARTH.
Diane Epperson's Washington Post crossword, "Anniversary Gifts," plays around with things on the list of traditional anniversary gifts. The "modern" gifts listed in the second column strain credulity—cars? Groceries? Improved real estate? Oy.
The NYT's Second Sunday puzzle is another of Will Shortz's 3-D Word Hunt games, in which the challenge is to form as many 5-letter words as possible from the 3-D Boggle-type grid. The instructions say his answer list includes 51 common words and five not-so-common words, all found in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. Who doesn't like to pick up a gauntlet that's been thrown down and run away with it? After batting words around with Myles Callum, Peter Gordon, and Martin Herbach, and eliminating words that aren't in that dictionary (which I don't own), I think we've still got 60+.
December 15, 2006
Saturday, 12/16
NYT 6:23
LAT 5:15
Newsday (untimed, but felt about as hard as the LAT)
CS 2:59
12/15 WSJ 7:57
(post updated at 9:40 a.m. Saturday)
Okay, the Wall Street Journal crossword was posted early Friday evening, but I haven't gotten to that yet. Saturday...definitely Saturday.
Also, you can buy some Wordplay merchandise here—mugs, autographed copies of the companion book, a gift set complete with Jon Stewartian glue stick and permanent marker, and hats. Oh, how I coveted the official Wordplay caps that Patrick Creadon and Will Shortz sported at Sundance! And now, my very own cap is en route to me.
The Saturday NYT by David Quarfoot felt a little easier than yesterday's puzzle, and I'll blame the pinot grigio for allowing me to persuade myself that one made-up answer was real: I started out with RESET crossing ESPNETS, even though the latter's clue specifically says "cable," and ESPNews (vexingly lacking its other N) is something I've heard of while ESPNETS is merely something I imagined espn.com might include. Strokes of brilliance: [Faux finish] for SILENT X, [Persian attraction] for CATNIP, MR APRIL, SAME-SEX couples, AT THE GYM, YES IT IS (which looks an awful lot like it could be a word for inflammation of the yes), HOKKAIDO (double K!), and all the X's (including PERPLEX, KIX, and X-GAMES). I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it seems like Will Shortz often rewards regular solvers by including some oddball factoid or word twice in a week—that Tahitian airline clue for NUI helped RAPA NUI come quickly to mind in this puzzle. The cross-referenced 3-letter entries, EFF and PEE, are the initials of Franklin Pierce, the 14th president. (Forgot all about him.) Didn't know the TRIOLET [French poetic form], either. And even though almost half of this grid is 7-letter entries, there's so much flavor to them—few of the tack-on-a-prefix-or-suffix, not-quite-a-word words, and plenty of lively and fun stuff that you don't see in many crosswords.
A friend who is visiting me was delighted to know that she'd have gotten at least one entry, the Will and Grace character ROSARIO (Yay, pop culture! See also RENT-A-COP and the A-TEAM.)—but she figures SKEGS (which is clued as [Back parts of keels]) is just a made-up word invented for crosswords. (Cynic!) So I Googled it, and look what's in the Wikipedia entry—more made-up words! "Gudgeons and pintles," my eye!
Updated:
The theme in "Pest Infestation," the Wall Street Journal crossword by Harvey Estes, came to me quickly—ANTs invading the pantry and/or picnic of the theme entries. What I liked best here, actually, were the NW and SE corners with their bundled 8-letter entries—APPLE PIE, BLEEPING, and BANDANNA, EINSTEIN and his friend ERIC IDLE.
Paula Gamache's CrosSynergy puzzle, "Tight Ends," has a very basic theme (phrases that end with words that may follow "tight"), but has a fun vibe to it.
Myles Callum's LA Times themeless is a nice one, with stacks of 9- and 10-letter entries. Doug Peterson's Newsday Saturday Stumper also has stacks of 9-letter entries in the corners, bound together by two 15-letter entries crossing in the center. [Center of South Florida], 5 letters, is not EPCOT, which is in central Florida.
December 14, 2006
Friday, 12/15
NYT 7:06
NYS 6:18
LAT 5:09
12/1 CHE 4:07
CS 3:48
Reagle 7:55
WSJ tba
(post updated at 9:00 a.m. Friday)
Between a soporific state and one of those Vh1 clip shows ("Most Embarrassing Celebrity Moments"—ah, schadenfreude, my old friend!), this'll be a short(ish) post.
First up: Why on earth do you solve crosswords? What do you get out of it? And isn't it a bit like playing video games? Blogger Rich S makes a good case for the latter—and not in a bad way—in a thoughtful rumination on the crossword fixation.
The Friday NYT is by Levi Denham, and the puzzle's reminiscent of those by Sherry Blackard and Bob Klahn—just a lot of stuff packed into a grid and hiding behind tough clues. There were a few gimmes, like the A-ha song "Take ON ME" and DDT (both are toxic!). Plenty of 11-letter phrases—felt more like a Saturday than a Friday.
Alan Arbesfeld's Sun crossword, "Joint Administrations," sandwiches two presidential names together, monkeys with the word breaks, and reclues. For example, JOHNSON and GRANT become [Musical diatribe from the bathroom?]—a scary, scary clue with the non-scary JOHN SONG RANT answer. Nifty theme, I thought. No shortage of wicked clues elsewhere—[Bets follow them] is ALEPHS, not a gambling term; [Say "C-H-E-E-S-E"?] is SPELL, not SMILE; [Dutch astronomer Jan] is OORT, as in the Oort cloud; [Good fighter?] is EVIL.
Lemme go on record as saying I've grown mighty tired of all the hair-care-related clues for GEL/GELS lately. The Friday Sun, the Thursday NYT, and at least one or two other puzzles I've done this week. Can we get an aspic or an agar reference, or something other than salons and hairdressers? The verb form? Toothpaste?
Updated:
Michael Ashley's December 1 Chronicle of Higher Education crossword, "League of Nations," duped me at first. Given the title, I thought the Costa Rican and Mexican presidents were part of the theme. Quite cleverly, the theme entries are...well, I'll let you discover that for yourself. There's an entry toward the end that ties the theme entries together in a fancy bow (figuratively).
Merl Reagle's "Cliche Combos" features words that have become "married" in English idiom, such as "scantily clad"—how often do you see a different adverb for that sense? Merl gathers 11 other phrases like that. It'd be fun to mess with these idioms and call someone an abject amateur, but I'd probably get some odd looks if I did that.
Robert Wolfe's LA Times puzzle puns with five musical notes (as in KNEAD THE DO). The square that gave me the most trouble was the crossing of the woody fiber BAST with BORE, clued as [Was worthy of]. BAST?? If I were editing that corner, I might've opted for CAST/CORE, FAST/FORE, LAST/LORE, MAST/MORE, or PAST/PORE. Also, I love pop-culture clues, but only when they're recent enough to be in my ken; [Harry of old Westerns] didn't shout CAREY to me. [Mariah of "Glitter"], sure.
The Wall Street Journal's Across Lite version won't be available until later today, maybe Friday evening.
December 13, 2006
Thursday, 12/14
NYS 5:28
NYT 4:29
LAT 4:08
CS 3:30
(post updated at 9:30 a.m. Thursday)
Today's The Oprah Winfrey Show was a rerun (anyone whose bras don't fit perfectly, check out this link to info from the episode). But at Harpo Studios, they recorded an upcoming show featuring assorted "How'd They Do That?" topics, including how crosswords are made. Will Shortz and Merl Reagle were on the show, which, alas, I was not invited to attend. But Tyler Hinman was in the heavily estrogenic audience, and he lived to tell the tale. More important, my degree of separation from Oprah has dropped precipitously. "Oh, you live in Chicago? Have you ever gotten tickets to see Oprah?" "No, but I know a couple guys who were guests on the show." Woot!
This week, the Sun Themeless Thursday crossword's by Jeffrey Harris, and the NYT puzzle's by Ed Early.
In the NYT crossword, the theme consists of a riddle presented in four 15-letter entries, with a 3-letter answer in the bottom corner of the grid: A FISH WITH NO EYES turns out to be FSH, which...I guess...is FISH minus the letter I? I know FSH better as follicle-stimulating hormone (I know some women who've had their FSH levels checked) and a type of muscular dystrophy (my brother-in-law's buddy has this—it affects the arm, shoulder, and face muscles). So the punchline seemed bizarre to me. Plus, FISH only has one I to begin with, so oughtn't the fish lose one eyeball in the riddle? Hey, old-school solvers: Remember when ELATER was always clued as "click beetle"? And raise your hand if [Better suited] induced you to enter APTER until the crossings eventually made you change it to ABLER, though the clue aptly clues APTER. Props for the inclusion of four X's in the grid.
Moving along to Jeffrey's Sun puzzle, raise your hand if you wanted 1-Down to be TATARS rather than NOMADS. I know someone whose last name is Tatar, so I always want Mongol Horde–related entries to be that. Always nice to see ORANGE in the grid, and the SW corner's combo of JAM BAND, AQUARIUS, and YUMMIEST is, well, yummiest. Not being a New York baseball fan, I'd never heard of Manny ACTA, who turns out to have been born two months after Sammy Sosa in the same Dominican town. I did know that [Annie Oakleys] are PASSES—one of those oddball factoids I learned from a crossword. I hope someone can explain in 25 words or less why PEDRO is [The five of trumps]; heck, a one-word answer would be good. Yes, EARRINGS are usually sold in pairs, but you can pay a little more than half to get just one (as I did when purchasing an engagement earring for my man lo these many years ago). Wonderfullest clue in this puzzle: [Pole position?] for EUROPE.
Updated:
Randolph Ross's CrosSynergy theme in "Get Yer Ya-Yas Out," with two 14's, two 10's and two 6's, is more fun than a Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
December 12, 2006
Wednesday, 12/13
NYS 4:42
NYT 4:12
LAT 3:29
CS 3:11
(post updated at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday)
Both Dave Sullivan's NYT crossword and the Sun puzzle by Donna Levin are highlighted by some nifty fill, particularly in the 8- to 10-letter length. The themes are divergent—in Dave's puzzle, he españolizes the theme entries by adding an O, as in POLLO QUESTION, clued as ["Why did the chicken cross the road?," e.g., in Tijuana?] (but oy, who put the comma between the question mark and quotation mark?). I especially liked ACE VENTURA, YEAH YOU (which happens to be a memorable line from Sixteen Candles), CRITIQUE, and PEDICURE. I didn't know what BEE BALM was, but learned via Wikipedia that it's related to fragrant bergamot (but not the self-same bergamot that's in Earl Grey tea). I learned a new celeb name—ESSIE Davis, an Aussie actress who played Maggie in the Matrix sequels that I didn't see.
The other day, I was pondering why AT THE COPACABANA hadn't been used as a 15. Probably because the song doesn't much use those exact words in that sequence, eh? But the next best thing (or really, a better thing) is to pay homage to that with Donna Levin's COBRA CABANA, [Changing room for a snake?], in her "In Cold Blood" crossword. No Capote, but a COBRA, NEWT, IGUANA, and BOA. My favorite fill entry was LOU RAWLS, mainly because I don't know chess notation and figured it was LAURA somebody until that second L finally filled itself in and made me reparse the word break. CASHMERE is soft, but a DUNCE CAPmakes you want to skulk off and be CURLED UP somewhere. A Gordon-friendly clue for PALAU is the trivially educational [Pacific Ocean nation whose largest island is Babelthuap]—I do like those little learning opportunities that pop up in crosswords.
Updated:
If you like old comic books (or new stories continuing old comic books, don't miss Paula Gamache's LA Times puzzle today. And if you enjoy anagram-based themes, try Thomas Schier's CrosSynergy crossword, "Teams' Mates."
Sidebar
Quick question: I know that not a single one of you has bought any of the books via the Amazon links in the sidebar (and darn it, I was hoping to earn cents on each copy), but have any of you sought out one of those books elsewhere because you saw it here?
December 11, 2006
Tuesday, 12/12
Onion 4:36
Tausig 4:06
NYS 3:46
LAT 3:30
NYT 3:14
CS 2:59
(post updated at 12:40 p.m. Tuesday)
The Tuesday NYT, a joint effort with Vic Fleming, marks Stephen Manion's constructing debut. Congratulations, Steve!
The Sun crossword, "Enter Laughing," is credited to Randall Ha-Hartman, which can clue you in on the theme—a HA tacked onto the beginning of each of the five theme entries. My favorite of the batch was HAREM SLEEP, a play on R.E.M. sleep. Once again, my inattention to the NYC theater world rears its head in a crossword—who knew AS IS was the name of a play? Not I.
Steve and Vic's puzzle in the Times has a BITTER END theme, in which the other five theme entries end with a word that can follow BITTER—e.g., [BITTER]SWEET, [BITTER] TRUTH. (Whaddaya call that kind of theme, anyway? Is there a name for that?) Not that I like to be reminded of the [BITTER] COLD concept, having just escaped from a wicked cold snap. And I know it's a temporary reprieve, what with January and February lurking in ambush. Having IBO clued as [Nigerian native] reminds me—several days back, when the afternoon high was about 17 degrees, I saw a Nigerian-native neighbor emerge from an airport taxi, laden with giant suitcases, wearing a light track jacket. Yeah, it hadn't been 17 degrees in Nigeria. BAY AREA was a highlight in the fill—surprisingly, it's got a mere two appearances in the Cruciverb database.
Updated:
Francis Heaney's Onion A.V. Club puzzle, "Arrested Development," honors series that, like Arrested Development, got cancelled despite the avid enthusiasm of cleverer TV viewers. I missed FREAKS AND GEEKS, watched a little of MY SO-CALLED LIFE in reruns (MTV, right?), watched all of SPORTS NIGHT (but just can't get into Sorkin's latest show, that one with 60 in the title that has a premise similar to that of 30 Rock), and watched quirky WONDERFALLS for the few weeks it aired. I hear it's being shown somewhere on cable now. Anyway, this puzzle was chock full of stuff I had to guess at (hey, anyone know what the S in SWAG stands for? I know the rest is "wild-ass guess.") CLARA Rockmore? (Hey, that was my grandma's first name.) KOMBU seaweed? (Don't eat sushi.) FIT TO DROP? Don't know anyone who uses the idiom. And I thought I had no idea why [Follower of Jimmy] would be RONALD, but just remembered Carter and Reagan. TATU was only vaguely familiar to me, and I didn't know MOFO was part of a Chili Peppers album title or that TICO was part of a Brazilian song title. Loved [___ pad] for MAXI, ANGKOR WAT, and the mention of NICK NOLTE's mug shot—and any reference to Hammer pants is always welcome.
The theme in Ben Tausig's Ink Well/Chicago Reader puzzle is the most common BOAT NAMES in recent years, every one of 'em a truly lame pun. This theme, it left my sensibilities bruised, and I actually have a reasonably high tolerance for puns. Favorite entry was MUUMUU, with the clue tied to The Simpsons episode when Homer deliberately gained weight to be heavy enough to qualify for disability and thereby work from home, clad in his "fat-man muumuu" and a hat, which, if I recall correctly, had a nautical slant to it.
(As a reminder, both of these indie puzzles can be downloaded here.)
December 10, 2006
Monday, 12/11
CS 3:02
NYS 2:59
LAT 2:52
NYT 2:50
(updated at 8:20 a.m. Monday)
Two impressive Monday offerings in the Sun and the Times—by Francis Heaney and David Kahn, respectively. The Kahn puzzle pays tribute to RITA MORENO, who turns 75 (!) (damn, she looks good) on Monday, with a 75-square theme. Hey, double 75's—coincidence or mind-blowing intentionality? The theme includes her name, birthplace, job, and four shows for which she won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony. And, as a hidden shout-out to her work on HBO's Oz, there's TOTO from The Wizard of Oz.
Francis's Sun puzzle is called "Broadway Closings," and it's got six hidden MUSICALS at the end of symmetrically placed entries. The public radio show FRESH AIR contains HAIR, for instance. I'm not a Broadway buff, but I think the six shows are HAIR, NINE, CHESS (?), RENT, MAME, and AIDA, and they're embedded in an assortment of top-notch fill (MEZZANINE, EDAMAME, AL QAIDA, Yves ST LAURENT finally expanding past his crosswordese initials). There are plenty of 7- and 8-letter entries that aren't part of the theme (SCRAWNY, LEADFOOT, SPINOZA), which is a nice touch. DECIDER looks like one of those iffy tack-on-an-ending words, except that Bush's "I'm the decider" has given this one legs. Favorite clue: [List of good things that comes from those who wait?] for MENU. Runner-up: [High crime?] for DUI.
Updated:
Martin Ashwood-Smith's CrosSynergy crossword, "Bondsmen," doesn't have the 13-letter, single-film Timothy Dalton or George Lazenby, but everyone else in the category is in the grid. Wait, Wikipedia informs me that Dalton actually made two Bond movies. Who remembered? Quick question for those who care about such things: Are BEWARE and WARY considered duplicative if they appear in the same puzzle? (If so, then add the CrosSynergy team to the list of editors who may not adhere to a hard-and-fast rule against dupes.)
December 09, 2006
Sunday, 12/10
NYT 14:12 (about 9:30 plus 5 minutes of scrounging around for that one bad square)
LAT 9:00
WaPo 8:31
BG 8:29
CS 5:56
(post updated at 12:30 p.m. Sunday)
I greatly enjoyed how David Kahn worked the theme in his NYT crossword, "Putting on Heirs." My one least favorite entry looked so obviously right (despite one wrong letter) that I hadn't even checked the crossings, until finally hopscotching the down entries (tab, tab, tab, ad nauseam) took me to the Square of Pure Evil. And then I expunged the memory by heading to the kitchen to bake delectable oatmeal–chocolate chip–pecan–cranberry cookies (the Quaker oats recipe, minus raisins, plus goodness). I have et of the dough, I have et of the crispy cookies, and I am ready to blog.
So, what ailed me during my solving time earlier this evening? 'Twas SLATY, [Bluish gray]. Not SLATE, because, well, a [Yellow ball] could be a YOLK but not an EOLK. (In making cookies, you better believe I spanked those egg yolks hard.) Google has about 450,000 hits for slaty vs. 33,000,000 for slate. The former seems to like nature—the slaty-backed gull, the dragonflyish slaty skimmer, slaty cleavage of rocks. SLATY, you'll not vanquish me again! The theme adds a SON somewhere, to excellent effect; Virgin Mary becomes [Newly mortared bricks and stone], or VIRGIN MASONRY, the Hamletian WATCH YOUR STEPSON, and the [Old Roman's boast after a deer hunt?], VENISON VIDI VICI. I wonder which of the eight theme entries was the seed for this crossword. Another great touch is the 10-letter entries at 2- and 3-Down and their opposites across the grid—one of them is EARED SEALS, who've been promoted from being a clue for the crosswordese-ish OTARY. Some baseball stuff, including TWO ON ([Runners at the corners, say, in baseball]), but not [World Series game] (POKER). Other good clues: [Company on the move] for TROUPE, [Spoke in a poke?] for OINKED, and [Wedding band, maybe] for OCTET. Raise your hand if you knew that SAMOA is [Where "yes" is "ioe," pronounced in three syllables].
Updated:
I have a new game I play with the CrosSynergy puzzles—waiting to see if the byline reads "Bob Klahn" and I'm in for an extra shot of challenge that day. Today's themeless Sunday Challenge is indeed a Klahn puzzle, though a bit easier than many of his monsters. Absolute favorite clue: [Luster, e.g.] for SINNER. Runner-up: [Beethoven in 1992, e.g.] for DOG STAR.
In his LA Times syndicated puzzle, "Jailbreak," Patrick Blindauer busts the CONs out of the joint, so that reunion concerts become [Mints at a homecoming?], or REUNION CERTS. And campsite tipplers go the the ALCOHOL TENT, of course. Minor quasi-nit and/or question: Can [Old VHS option] be BETA, or was that strictly an alternative to VHS, and an old VCR option? My in-laws were still hanging onto their Betamax machine as late as 1988 or '89—but they've actually got an HD TV set and a DVD player now.
Henry Hook's Boston Globe puzzle, "Election Results," features a cynical quip that's not too hard to get because the title helps the solver fill in the blanks—more so than with most quip/quote crosswords. Where Patrick Bl. used Lucretia MOTT, Henry H. uses LUCRETIA Mott. Go read about her and her efforts fighting against slavery and for the rights of blacks and women to vote.
I did like the fill in Patrick Berry's Washington Post crossword, "Bird Watching," and I do like birds (though my husband finds them untrustworthy and a bit creepy), but the theme entries stretched the bounds of sound-alike puns pretty far. Lots of pop culture in the fill, newer (Howard Stern's sidekick ARTIE, TV's [Movie Macabre" host] ELVIRA) and older (Renée ADOREE; HELEN KANE, the inspiration for Betty Boop) and in between (theme entries based on All in the Family and Welcome Back, Kotter and...wait a minute! Ah, the true elegance of the theme dawns on me only now. "Bird Watching" plunks in bird puns to alter the names of TV series. The plunking still seems a bit off to me, but I'll give Patrick B. props for the thematic consistency of TV shows.)
