Old AMC Car / SUN 10-7--12 / Belgian river / Writer Ernie / Director Jean- Goddard / Salsa ingredient / Gold units / Shallow Jack Black Film / He-man's nickname / Sackcloth material / Jump on the ice / Basketball shooting game / Runner's unit / Actor Claude of Lobo / Moundsman Dave / 1992 Liv Ullmann film / Striped safari sight / Illustrator's shortcut / Rodeo rope / Actress Mazar

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Constructor: Zoe Wheeler

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium



THEME: Space Invasion — Familiar phrases with "ET" inserted to produce far less familiar phrases

Word of the Day: Hop-o' (__-my-thumb) —

"Hop-o'-My-Thumb", also known as "Little Thumbling" (French: Le Petit Poucet), was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697. It is Aarne-Thompson type 327B, the small boy defeats the ogre. This type of fairy tale, in the French oral tradition, is often combined with motifs from the type 327A, similar to Hansel and Gretel; one such tale is The Lost Children. (Wikipedia)

Errata: 15D: Good "Wheel" buy for WHERE'S THE BEEF (AN E) – After publishing today's post, the comments made it clear I wasn't the only one seeing weird characters in this clue. The above is what it should say. The punctuation didn't output correctly in the PUZ file, at least. (added 9:01am EDT)
• • •Only a few sticking points in this otherwise straightforward Sunday puzzle. I've never heard of Hop'-o-My-Thumb, so I put SUCK, not knowing if that was a phrase, like "Well, bless my soul!" Maybe if you're really frightened of something, you could say, "Well, suck my thumb!"? Even having now looked up the answer, HOPO just looks weird. I want it to be HOBO.

Speaking of hobos, I'm Tyler Clark, camping overnight here on the blog, filling in while the master is away for the weekend. I'm honored to fill in on a Sunday, as I'm assuming it's this blog's most visited day of the week. Rest assured, I will do my best to provide a post replete with fresh, witty banter and amusing YouTube videos to help you waste a Sunday morning you wish you were spending more productively.

One thing I look for in guest bloggers is an admission that they came up against the same challenges that crossword mortals such as myself faced, helping me feel better about my solving skills when I still can't seem to consistently solve a Monday in under 5:30 or a Sunday in less than 30 minutes. So I'll try to lay myself open for as much ridicule as possible.

The theme is "Space Invaders," which are Extra Terrestrials, abbreviated as E.T. and then inserted into familiar phrases, as follows.
Theme answers:

• 23A: Old AMC car that came fully loaded? (HORNET OF PLENTY) I wanted this to be Gremlin.
• 30A: Good locale for adoptions? (BIRTH MARKET) Got off to a rough start here when I put down TONSUL as in CONSUL rather than TONSIL (1D: Lump in the throat)
• 39A: Ammo that's still on the store shelf? (SITTING BULLET) I wanted Raging Bullet. I don't know why, I just did.
• 53A: Some bleating? (RACKET OF LAMB) I knew this was going to include LAMB when I first read the clue, but I didn't know the theme at that point, so I had to come back to it later.
• 63A: Excitement over some presidential elections? (CABINET FEVER) This was the first theme answer I got, probably because I watched the debate Wednesday night and have been working on a website for the local county Board of Elections.
• 74A: Avoid a scalping? (ESCAPE HATCHET) I wanted HAIR or BALD or something like that.
• 87A: ID for a certain band member? (TRUMPET CARD) I fell for the trap and looked for GUITAR or BASS. In fact, I think I actually had DRUMMER CARD filled in before I knew the theme.
• 95A: Earth, in "Independence Day"? (PLANET OF ATTACK) Combined with CABINET FEVER, seeing PLANET helped me figure out the puzzle's theme.

I was certain that BOOTEE (101A: Infant's shoe) was spelled BOOTIE. It appears, from some Googling, that BOOTEE is the preferred spelling (Wikipedia lists BOOTIE as an alternate spelling). I don't have to like it or take it lying down, you know like having a NAP (91A: Go out for a while?) on a HAMMOCK (77D: Good place to 91-Across).
(Not for the faint of heart or small children.)I'm also more used to seeing RIATA than REATA (88D: Rodeo rope), so TOE LOOP (93A: Jump on the ice) was one of the very last things I sorted out. Two other crosses didn't help: We've already discussed HOPO. SMOKES (81A: Lights up) should have been obvious, but SOLA (81A: Alone, as a female on stage) didn't want to go. Technically, having a B.A. in Musicology, I could have/should have sleuthed this one out. I know that SOLO is masculine, SOLI is plural, and therefore SOLA would be feminine, but have you ever seen this in print? I think I would have felt better about its inclusion if the clue had been as obscure as the word (see picture on right, and imagine if the clue had been "Japanese work originally conceived by Naoki Hisaya"). Annoying, yes, but at least you'd know it was going to be hard/esoteric.

Lots of names; let's take a look. We've got ADIA (80A: 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit) - relatively common to frequent solvers; Jackie GLEASON (26A: Minnesota Fats's player in "The Hustler") - I only knew Newman was in this & I've only seen clips from The Honeymooners and wanted to spell his name GLEESON; PYLE (28A: Writer Ernie) - not to be confused with Private Gomer; SHERE (43A: __ Khan [villain in "The Jungle Book"]) - which I also forgot how to spell; LUC (49A: Director Jean-__ Godard) - which I was sure couldn't be right because wasn't I getting confused with Captain Jean-Luc Picard?; HAL (71A: "Shallow __" [Jack Black film]) - otherwise known as "2001" villian; Britney SPEARS (104A "... Baby One More Time" singer) - whom we will not speak of; ROGERS (2D: Dancer Ginger) - she beat out Humorist Will for this; AKINS (32D: Actor Claude of "Lobo") - whose name I can now only associate with Rep. Todd Akin of questionable biological learning; STIEB (36D: Moundsman Dave) - of the Toronto Blue Jays; IONA (40D: College in New Rochelle, N.Y.) - which I apparently still don't have memorized despite having solved roughly 1,000 puzzles a year for the last 3-4 years; SOFIE (45D: 1992 Liv Ullmann film) - I've got nothing for this one; CASCA (63D: Brutus abettor) - he struck the first blow in Caesar's assassination, which leads us to ET TU (57A: Dying words, in Shakespeare); BALE (65D: Christian of "The Dark Knight Rises") - also in Shakespeare, see Kenneth Branagh's excellent Henry V; and DEBI (92D: Actress Mazar) - not a name I know well, but I recognize her from the classic "So I Married An Axe Murderer." Wow, I'm exhausted.

Bullets:

• 69A: Many-banded displays? (PARADES)  — Love this clue. Of course, I was thinking of kinds of striped snakes, as opposed to marching bands.
• 72A: He-man's nickname (MUSCLES) — Here I had the "CLES" at the end and thought it might be some lesser known alternate to HERCULES. So, I started running through options, such as PERICLES, even though that (a) doesn't fit and (b) doesn't make sense.
• 79A: "Grease" singer (VALLI) — This led me to John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, but it didn't take too long to remember that the title song is sung by Frankie Valli, of The Four Seasons fame (not to be confused with Rudy Vallée of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" fame)
• 78A: Sackcloth material (HEMP) — I did not know this.
• 86A: Feds (G-MEN) – Know your G-MEN (FBI) from your T-MEN (IRS).
• 98A: __ hours (OFFICE) – If TELEPORT (73D: Use a futuristic mode of transit) had come sooner, this might have been easier.
• 5D: Sticking point? (QUAGMIRE) – TRANQ (1A: Downer, for short) helped me get the Q, but this didn't fall for quite a while.
• 20A: Big break (SCHISM) – This is a weird word to look at in the abstract.
• 39D: Shrew (SCOLD) – Apparently this works as both verb and noun, but I just don't use the word Shrew very often.
• 42D: Accepted as true (BOUGHT) – Stared at the B and tried to Believe that Belief must work.
• 47D: Be constructive? (ERECT) – Wanted BUILD here until EWERS (47A: Pitchers) and TEC (67A: Gumshoe) set me straight.
• 59D: Bathroom fixture (BIDET) – Also the victim of many erasures. Started with S from errant SASH which should have been BATH (59A: It may be drawn at night).
• 66D: Providing of questions for answers on "Jeopardy!," e.g. (FORMAT) – This is just a weirdly worded clue, and it took forever to fall into place.
• 96D: Eastern drama (NOH) – If you haven't seen this one before, tuck it away. You'll see it again.

Did it bother you that ET TU (again, 57 across) was included in a puzzle with ET as the theme add-in? Discuss...

Signed, Tyler Clark, Fan of CrossWorld

Wall Street Journal ___ / Gang woman / Naughty Goose and Moose Drool / The Allegheny and Monongahela join to form it / CBS series for 17 seasons / Something of interest to Miss Marple / Cy Young's was 2.63, in brief

To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: John Guzzetta

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging



THEME: A Twenty Dollar Bill — Four long answers describe... stuff about a $20 bill.

Word of the Day: CLEW (6-D: Something of interest to Miss Marple) —

noun 1. clue ( def. 1 ) . 2. Nautical . either lower corner of a square sail or the afterlower corner of a fore-and-aft sail.3. a ball or skein of thread, yarn, etc.4. Usually, clews. the rigging for a hammock.5. Theater . a metal device holding scenery lines controlled byone weighted line.

• • •Hello everyone! This is us:


The two supercool kids in that picture up there! You know Caleb Madison because he's had like a million amazing puzzles in so many publications He can't even remember them all. And you WILL know his BFF Alex Blum because he WILL have a million puzzles that'll be okay somewhere. Just kidding. He has already had a puzzle accepted to Ben Tausig's 20 Under 30 Contest. We are both in Yale's most crosswordy improv group, The Viola Question

But enough about us. On to the puzzle! We're young folk, so this puzzle was a bit of a struggle for us. We assume that our word of the day CLEW is referring to an archaic form of the word "clue"... but who knows? Perhaps Miss Marple is a closeted sailing enthusiast? Either way, Alex put it in not quite believing it was right. Caleb put it in because he knows there's no such thing as a DUNT... yet. Also, CONJ. (7-D: "And" or "or": Abbr.) isn't our favorite and CADENT (5d: Rhythmic), while accurate, isn't particularly familiar. A version of that section with more proper nouns and fewer unsavory entries would look something like this:



That said, it's really hard to construct a puzzle with four 13-letter entries, because you need to put those big ugly blocks around two of them. This leads to less-than-ideal grids that force solvers through the middle (in this case, the only connection between the top and bottom halves is that cross of EMPTY (29d: Evacuate) and HYPER (35a: Overexcited). Nevertheless, the fill had some bright spots.

SHAKES (9d: Drinks with straws), for instance, got us really excited because a Shake Shack just opened in New Haven and we've been there more often than we'd like to admit.





                                                     [A window into our futures.]


Theme answers:

• 20a: On the front (ANDREW JACKSON) - yes, yes it is.
• 27a: On the back (THE WHITE HOUSE) - well spotted.
• 43a: On both sides (TWENTY DOLLARS) - true fact.
• 51a: 20-, 27- and 43-Across locale, slangily (DOUBLE SAWBUCK) - ...................................................................................................................

Not the slang we use. We just call it a twenty.

Bullets:

• 38d: Establishment that might sell 9-Down and 53-Downs (SNACK BAR) — We've never been to a snack bar, but it sounds fun! And we liked the cross-referencing and the consonant cluster (c.f. WIDTHS (14d: C, D and EEE)
• 23d: White dwarf, e.g. (STAR) — Alex is taking an Astronomy class called Life in the Universe so this was right up his alley. Shout out to Debra Fischer.
• 62a: The thought that counts? (IDEA) — We see where the clue is coming from, but it seems a tad forced. However the clue for EMPTY (29d: Evacuate) was super tricky. Total aha moment after staring at E ____ for a bit.
• 44d: Not stable (WOBBLY) — what a fun word! And a potentially misleading clue! We kept thinking INSANE, VOLATILE... or BARN. This song Caleb likes has WOBBLY in it [caution: NSFW]:

Thanks for letting us do this. We can't wait for our fearless harsh dictatorial despot to return.

Signed, Caleb Madison and Alex Blum, SLOBs (9a: Neatnik's opposite) of the CrossWorld

P.S. If any readers are in the New Haven area, they should come to the Viola Question's Parents' Weekend Show this Saturday, October 13th, in the Davenport Common Room at 8pm!

Soap actress Sofer / THU 10-11-12 / Verdi opera set in Aragon / Baal worshiper / Name shared by Broadway quintet / Toon with singing map / Massenet opera based on work of Goethe / Winston's biggest fear in 1984

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Constructor: Byron Walden

Relative difficulty: Easy



THEME: 3/2 — first three syllables are all the same string of letters; last two syllables are the same string of letters

CAN CAN CANTATA (19A: Bach work performed at the Moulin Rouge?)
CHI-CHI CHIHUAHUA (37A: One spotted at the Rodeo Drive Taco Bell?)
BERBER BERNINI (51A: North African counterpart to an Italian Baroque sculptor?)

Word of the Day: RENA Sofer (53D: Soap actress Sofer) —

Rena Sherel Sofer (born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, primarily known for her appearances in daytime television, episodic guest appearances, and made-for-television movies. In 1995, Sofer received a Daytime Emmy Award for her work in the soap opera General Hospital, for her portrayal of Lois Cerullo. (wikipedia)

• • •
This is an odd puzzle. Since it's Thursday, and since the potentially devilish Byron Walden is the constructor, I was expecting trouble. But even though I made the obvious JUNGLE misstep at 1A: Tarzan's realm (APEDOM), and even though I temporarily invented the word TRAMSIDE at 33A: Pickup point at an amusement park (TRAM STOP), I put this thing away like it was Wednesday. The theme feels both slight and tired, which is really, really unusual for a Walden puzzle. Cluing is first-rate, and the grid has many points of interest (most notably EXECUTRIX and BLOW POP and THIN MINTS), but in terms of overall quality it feel somewhat below expectations. Certainly no worse than an average puzzle, but lacking any magic to speak of.

Bullets:

• 25A: Winston's biggest fear in "1984" (RATS) — I don't remember much about the book, but I remember RATS.
• 27A: Massenet opera based on a work of Goethe (WERTHER) — clue actually helped, as I was able to infer the answer from the Goethe title "The Sorrows of Young WERTHER." WERTHER is also a candy eponym. These ads used to creep me out:

• 48A: Toon with a singing map (DORA) — is DORA still working, or did she finally self-deport after work dried up?
• 50A: Name shared by a Broadway quintet (MOE) — "Five Guys Named Moe"—I know this song because of Joe Jackson:

• 8D: ___ Croft, comic book herione (LARA) — "comic book"? I think the clue means "video game." No, these are not the same things.
• 12D: Just before the top of the hour (ONE TO) — the worst. Who in the world would ever say "it's ONE TO!?" You're ___ talk!
• 20D: Area of Chicago where Wrigley Field is located (NORTHSIDE) — got the NORTH pretty easily. Could've guessed the SIDE part, but waited for crossing confirmation.
• 44D: Verdi opera set in Aragon ("ERNANI") — wherever lizard brain meets crossword brain, that's where this answer came from. More reflex than thoughtful response.

Happy 10-11-12!
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Hoosier humorist George / FRI 10-12-12 / Cheery cashier in Progressive ads / Pulverized perfumery item / Huge snagger of salmon / Quaint worker doing hansom job / Imposing general liability legally / Frere's sibling / Part of CSA signature / 1969 Peace Prize grp

To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: Martin Ashwood-Smith

Relative difficulty: Medium



THEME: none

Word of the Day: AMOO 
• • •
Quadstack. Serviceable. Usual failings (weaker overall fill, some dull or odd 15s). Decent long Downs. The end. Well, not quite.

I've said all I have to say about quad stacks. Don't care how difficult they are to construct. Just not my thing. Starting to feel a bit like a shtick.

Like KODIAK BROWN BEAR (17A: Huge snagger of salmon), but PERSONAL HISTORY (57A: Caseworker's compilation) is a snoozer. Don't like ONE'S phrases in 15s. Don't like 15s (or any answers) that start with IS. Barely believe CARRIAGE PAINTER is a thing. Have seen SPIRAL STAIRCASE a jillion times (give or take). So that's one out of six 15s that I enjoyed.


LONG JOHNS good (52A: Winter warmer). ORRIS ROOT not (21A: Pulverized perfumery item). I've seen some DELIRIOUS APOLOGIAS in my time, so that pair's cool with me.

The painful stuff (AMOO, IN REM, OSES, ON ON, ILO, UNDAM, E LEE, RATA ...), well, at least it's pretty well spaced-out.


Prince - Delirious [Live 1983] by Vilosophe
Bullets:

• 14A: O'Neill whom J. D. Salinger wanted to marry (OONA) — I guess you gotta get into the Wayback Machine any time you want to clue OONA. I wrote in ESME at first. Maybe you can understand why, maybe you can't.
• 27A: Hoosier humorist George (ADE) — who can forget ... this guy? Am I right?
• 43A: D-day divider? (AS IN) — not great fill, but I do like the clue.

• 53D: Bart Simpson's middle name (JOJO) — this is slightly annoying because this "fact" is not widely known (at all), and sources for this info appear to be hearsay and books, not actual episodes of the show. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I doubt there's more than one or two episodes (in the over 500 that have been made) that refer to this alleged middle name. But I'm not certain there's even one. The fact that "Bart Simpson's Guide to Life" says JOJO is not enough for me. I need an episode number.
• 1D: Concave kitchenware (WOKS) — took me a while to figure out a plural was called for.
• 9D: Bird that lays a one-pound egg (KIWI) — It's true. And the birds aren't *that* big. 
• 46A: Slangy hello ('SUP) — was able to get this after I discarded "HEY" and "YO" wouldn't fit.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Samuel Johnson's only play / SAT 10-13-12 / 1950s American Bandstand dance / Early idol of Warhol / Harp's home key / Six women at Penn programmed it / Roll in ze hay enthusiast / New model of 1999 / Concept in Hinduism Buddhism / King Gorm Old

To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium



THEME: none

Word of the Day: THE STROLL (47A: 1950s "American Bandstand" dance) —

The Stroll was both a slow rock 'n' roll dance and a song that was popular in late 1950s. The dance called the Stroll began in black communities to the songs "C. C. Rider" and "Betty and Dupree" by Chuck Willis. Willis was known as "The King of the Stroll" prior to the release of the song of that name.Billboard first reported that "The Stroll" may herald a new dance craze similar to the "Big Apple" in December 1957. Based on a suggestion by Dick Clark, who felt that there was no specific song for the dance, "The Stroll" was written by Clyde Otis and Nancy Lee and was recorded by the Canadian group The Diamonds (Mercury 71242).The original version of the song reached number four on the Billboard pop charts, number five on the R&B charts, and number one on the Cashbox charts.In the dance, two lines of dancers, men on one side and women on the other, face each other, moving in place to the music. Each paired couple then steps out and does a more elabarate dance up and down between the rows of dancers. Dick Clark noted the similarity of the dance to the Virginia reel.It was first performed to "C. C. Rider" by Chuck Willis on American Bandstand. Link Wray's "Rumble" was also a popular tune for doing the Stroll. (wikipedia)

• • •

I solved this in 5:39. If I do a Saturday in the 7s, that is Fast for me, so 5:39 is what I'd call a super-outlier. Times being posted at the NYT site look pretty normal, so I have no idea what happened. I just Knew Everything. BUBBLE UP went straight in (1A: Come to the surface), as did four crosses, so inside of, say, 20 seconds, I had a good chunk of the NW done. I wrote in BUNT for [Certain squeeze], but I fixed that little hiccup pretty quickly. Then it's all kind of a blur. SNARE DRUM to FRIAR (10D: Romeo's adviser, for one) to ADMAN (which TTOP changed to ADREP) (14D: Datsun 280ZX option). SPERM DONOR (12D: One making a bank deposit?) to SECRET / SANTA (46A: With 34-Across, company's present occasion?), with SANTA opening up the middle very nicely. The two Beatles 15s followed very quickly and ... well ... everything just fell. Fell fell fell. DHARMA (44D: Concept in Hinduism and Buddhism)! PENALTY BOX (27D: Enforcer's place, often)! It was like I was freestyling the grid, writing down whatever came to mind, and it was all just right. Wish I'd had a lot more resistance, but I can't fault the grid—it's very nice-looking indeed. A sweet 70-worder with lots of cool fill. I'm gonna jump right to the Bullets so I can catch the end of the Cards/Nats game (which wasn't much of a game when I left it to come upstairs and solve, but maybe that's changed...). I'd love to hear where the tough spots were in this one, 'cause I just didn't see them. Sorry. Write-ups are always a lot more interesting when I fall on my face at least a few times.


I like how the pop music vibe of the 15s is complemented by the SNARE DRUM (23A: Backbeat keeper) and THE STROLL (47A: 1950s "American Bandstand" dance) and the HIFI (52A: 1950s living room feature). In my imagined version of this musical mash-up, BRYAN Adams is just watching (50A: Grammy winner Adams), and STARSHIP is just a STARSHIP (17A: Sci-fi vehicle). It's just easier on my imaginary ears that way.


Bullets:

• 15A: Light work on a stage (OPERETTA) — as I was working out the BUNT/BEAU kink, I was fairly sure this answer would have to do with actual lighting. Like, you know, KLIEG lights or whatever.

• 33A: Former big player in trading cards (FLEER) — I collected as a kid. Right up my alley. God I loved the wax paper and the rock hard panes of bubble gum and the thrill of seeing what players you got. 
• 40A: One of Ptolemy's 48 constellations (ARA) — may as well just write [One of them there constellations] because at three letters, there aren't many to choose from.
• 31D: Samuel Johnson's only play ("IRENE") — OK, this was hard, but the crosses were not, and since IRENE is the most common five-letter woman's name in all of crosswords, my instincts took me there pretty readily.
• 7D: The Pioneers of the N.C.A.A. (UTICA) — tricky, both because no one outside UTICA knows what the UTICA team is called, and because getting that first U makes you think U ... CONN? PITT? TENN? But once I got UTI-, the jig was up.
• 25D: Harp's home key (C FLAT) — FLAT, not hard. C, harder. But there aren't many potential Warhol idols ending in -OTE, so, again, even though I encountered a stumper, it just didn't do any damage, time-wise (25A: Early idol of Warhol = CAPOTE).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Sliwinska of "Dancing With the Stars" / FRI 10-5-12 / One of Heinrich Schliemann's excavations / "Weekend Update" anchor between Miller and Macdonald / Symbol of Lutheranism / Beau Brummell's accessory / ___ Rebellion (1676 Jamestown uprising) / Stipend paid by a cathedral to a clergyman / Longest-living member of the Rat Pack / Merkel of German politics

To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: Patrick Berry

Relative difficulty: Medium



THEME: None

Word of the Day: EDYTA (18A: Sliwinska of "Dancing With the Stars") —

Edyta Śliwińska (Polish pronunciation: [ɛˈdɨta ɕliˈviɲska]; born May 6, 1981 in Warsaw, Poland) is a professional ballroom dancer who is currently starring in a stage show DANCE TEMPTATION (www.dancetemptation.com). She is best known for her appearances on the American version of the reality television series Dancing with the Stars, where she appeared on all of the first ten seasons of the show. (Wikipedia)

• • •
Hello, CrossWorld. It's Evan Birnholz, the self-anointed Earl filling in for the King while he's away from the throne. Since today's Friday, here's a quick note of encouragement for any up-and-coming solver out there who likes crosswords but thinks the late-week puzzles are too intimidating: Only a short while ago, I wouldn't dare touch the Friday or Saturday New York Times puzzles for the same reason. Now, I blog about it for Rex Parker -- and treat myself like royalty every time I do it. So keep practicing!

This puzzle had all of the features of a splendidly-constructed gem for which Patrick Berry is well-renowned.....with one big exception, and no, it's not ENHALOING (49A: Surrounding with a glow). I'll get to that problem later, but first, the good-to-great stuff: Behold a cornucopia of lively, fresh, in-the-language phrases such as CLOSE CALL, TOE RINGS, JUNK DNA, MING VASE, MISTER BIG, ORANGE BOWL, ANY OLD WAY, ROOT CANAL, and WING IT. The clues for LSD (29D: Hits from the 1960s?) and GET WELL (37A: What invalid card readers might read) are wickedly clever.

I had an erratic, STOP-AND-GO (51A: Not flowing freely) solving rhythm -- I started very slowly, but once I cracked one or two answers in each corner, the rest of the corners generally fell shortly afterwards. I got some crucial, early help from these trivia gimmes: NEALON (22A: "Weekend Update" anchor between Miller and Macdonald), ANGELA (36D: Merkel of German politics), and BACON'S (5D: ___ Rebellion (1676 Jamestown uprising)), the latter of which I now know a lot more about than I did one month ago (thanks, Graduate School!). I did not know JOEY BISHOP (24D: Longest-living member of the Rat Pack) -- my knowledge of the Rat Pack doesn't extend far beyond Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin -- but with patience, his name emerged. Overall, I'd say that a slew of exciting phrases and tough-but-fun clues throughout the grid made 97% of this puzzle a real pleasure to solve.



But that 3% presents a rather glaring problem, an ultimate deathtrap in the northeast corner: EDYTA (?!) crossing PREBEND (9D: Stipend paid by a cathedral to a clergyman) (?!?!). That's just brutal. Let's start with the obscure name. Maybe I'm mistaken, but Edyta Śliwińska was never the "star" of the dancing pair, was she? I've seen only one or two episodes of "Dancing With the Stars" in my life, but isn't the whole point of it to match an A- or B-list celebrity (someone you would know outside of the show) with a professional-but-unknown ballroom dancer (someone you wouldn't)? Unless you're a hardcore "Dancing With the Stars" fan, I highly doubt you'd have the slightest idea who she is. In fact, her best finish on the show after ten seasons was second place, which she achieved only once, in 2008. All of her other finishes were usually no better than fifth place, so if you're more apt to remember the dancers who won the competition over the years, you don't get much help there either.

Plus, while EDYTA is a fairly popular girl's name in Poland, it's just not very common here in the United States. According to the Social Security Administration, that name has never been anywhere close to the 15,000 most common baby names in the past 75 years. It's not out of the ordinary to see five-letter female names like IRENE or ILENE or IRENA or RENEE (16D: "Walk Away ___" (1966 #5 hit)) in crossword puzzles, and it's expected that you'll get tough clues for common crossword answers in a Friday NYT grid (again, RENEE).....but when the answer itself is rare, like EDYTA? Yuck. That name is hard enough to spell, let alone remember it from a TV show you may or may not even watch. Obscure Dancer + Polish Name That's Rare in the U.S. and Hard to Spell = Very, very difficult to get without all of the crosses.

Speaking of which, meet EDYTA's partner in crime, PREBEND. Preb-huh?! I like to think that I Know Things and that I'm Generally Smart, but I've never, ever heard of a prebend before (and when I type it, I get the squiggly red line beneath it as though it were misspelled, so even my computer is like, "what the hell?"). You know that an answer is going to be really tough when its clue on a Friday is basically copied from the dictionary, because there's no choice but to give you the most straightforward definition possible. I made it harder on myself when I started to doubt PRAMS (9A: London carriages) where I thought TRAMS could work equally well. So now, the situation is Obscure Dancer + Polish Name That's Rare in the U.S. and Hard to Spell + Obscure English Word That Crosses It = "Screw it, just guess." I avoided ODYTA/PROBEND and IDYTA/TRIBEND, even though they both seemed reasonable enough, and went with my gut feeling. I guessed right. I have a sneaking suspicion that many, many others were not so lucky.

I really wonder if one's opinion on this puzzle will depend on whether that person feels that a plethora of great, sparkling entries as described above outweighs the frustration of solving a horrible crossing like that. Oh, and if you had any lingering doubts about their crossword-related obscurity, neither EDYTA nor PREBEND has ever appeared as an answer in the New York Times puzzle until today, not even as part of the clues either. Yet they had to cross one another. That's a real shame because, as I said, the rest of the puzzle is quite nice.



Bullets:

• 17A: Impetus to review safety procedures (CLOSE CALL) — With -----CA-- in place, I confidently dropped in BOMB SCARE. Obviously that was from the sick, deranged department of my brain. Getting LEGION (15D: Army division) helped fix that.
• 19A: Like many gazebos (OCTAGONAL) — Also like many Ultimate Fighting Championship rings. Has our blog host mastered Rex Kwon Do yet?
  
• 22D: They're in a particular order (NUNS) — With N-NS in place, I dropped in NONS. That was not from the sick, deranged part of my brain, but the careless, what-was-I-thinking part of my brain.
• 26D: Resident of the largest Spanish-speaking nation (ARGENTINE) — Me: "Isn't it Argentinian?" The Internet: "It's both."
• 28A: Lightheaded? (BLOND) — I was going to grouse about the lack of a terminal E, but The Intertubes just taught me a second thing that I didn't previously know: BLONDE is the preferred spelling for a female's hair, whereas BLOND is the preferred spelling for a male's hair. [Insert one of those "The More You Know" public service announcements from NBC here.]
• 35A: Hard to control (ROWDY) — "Hard to control" is a rather appropriate characterization of former WWE superstar Rowdy Roddy Piper. There are no words that can do justice to describing his interviews, like this one from 1992:

   

(Sorry for the ad. Just wait it out. It's worth it. Trust me.)

• 39A: Small concession (BONE) — As in, "throw me a frickin' bone here." The clue feels like its missing something like "say" or "in a saying" since we're dealing with an idiom.
• 41A: San Fernando Valley city (ENCINO) — Home of that poignant, heartwarming, critically-acclaimed film "Encino Man," starring Brendan Fraser, Pauly Shore, and the guy who played Mikey in "The Goonies," a movie which has the distinct advantage of not being "Encino Man."

Have a great weekend, all y'all.

Signed, Evan Birnholz, Earl of CrossWorld

p.s. If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly urge you to check out an astounding crossword constructed by Rex himself. It has a record-breaking count of just 13 black squares. Try imagining some clues too, if you dare.

Old AMC Car / SUN 10-7--12 / Belgian river / Writer Ernie / Director Jean- Goddard / Salsa ingredient / Gold units / Shallow Jack Black Film / He-man's nickname / Sackcloth material / Jump on the ice / Basketball shooting game / Runner's unit / Actor Claude of Lobo / Moundsman Dave / 1992 Liv Ullmann film / Striped safari sight / Illustrator's shortcut / Rodeo rope / Actress Mazar

To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: Zoe Wheeler

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium



THEME: Space Invasion — Familiar phrases with "ET" inserted to produce far less familiar phrases

Word of the Day: Hop-o' (__-my-thumb) —

"Hop-o'-My-Thumb", also known as "Little Thumbling" (French: Le Petit Poucet), was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697. It is Aarne-Thompson type 327B, the small boy defeats the ogre. This type of fairy tale, in the French oral tradition, is often combined with motifs from the type 327A, similar to Hansel and Gretel; one such tale is The Lost Children. (Wikipedia)

Errata: 15D: Good "Wheel" buy for WHERE'S THE BEEF (AN E) – After publishing today's post, the comments made it clear I wasn't the only one seeing weird characters in this clue. The above is what it should say. The punctuation didn't output correctly in the PUZ file, at least. (added 9:01am EDT)
• • •Only a few sticking points in this otherwise straightforward Sunday puzzle. I've never heard of Hop'-o-My-Thumb, so I put SUCK, not knowing if that was a phrase, like "Well, bless my soul!" Maybe if you're really frightened of something, you could say, "Well, suck my thumb!"? Even having now looked up the answer, HOPO just looks weird. I want it to be HOBO.

Speaking of hobos, I'm Tyler Clark, camping overnight here on the blog, filling in while the master is away for the weekend. I'm honored to fill in on a Sunday, as I'm assuming it's this blog's most visited day of the week. Rest assured, I will do my best to provide a post replete with fresh, witty banter and amusing YouTube videos to help you waste a Sunday morning you wish you were spending more productively.

One thing I look for in guest bloggers is an admission that they came up against the same challenges that crossword mortals such as myself faced, helping me feel better about my solving skills when I still can't seem to consistently solve a Monday in under 5:30 or a Sunday in less than 30 minutes. So I'll try to lay myself open for as much ridicule as possible.

The theme is "Space Invaders," which are Extra Terrestrials, abbreviated as E.T. and then inserted into familiar phrases, as follows.
Theme answers:

• 23A: Old AMC car that came fully loaded? (HORNET OF PLENTY) I wanted this to be Gremlin.
• 30A: Good locale for adoptions? (BIRTH MARKET) Got off to a rough start here when I put down TONSUL as in CONSUL rather than TONSIL (1D: Lump in the throat)
• 39A: Ammo that's still on the store shelf? (SITTING BULLET) I wanted Raging Bullet. I don't know why, I just did.
• 53A: Some bleating? (RACKET OF LAMB) I knew this was going to include LAMB when I first read the clue, but I didn't know the theme at that point, so I had to come back to it later.
• 63A: Excitement over some presidential elections? (CABINET FEVER) This was the first theme answer I got, probably because I watched the debate Wednesday night and have been working on a website for the local county Board of Elections.
• 74A: Avoid a scalping? (ESCAPE HATCHET) I wanted HAIR or BALD or something like that.
• 87A: ID for a certain band member? (TRUMPET CARD) I fell for the trap and looked for GUITAR or BASS. In fact, I think I actually had DRUMMER CARD filled in before I knew the theme.
• 95A: Earth, in "Independence Day"? (PLANET OF ATTACK) Combined with CABINET FEVER, seeing PLANET helped me figure out the puzzle's theme.

I was certain that BOOTEE (101A: Infant's shoe) was spelled BOOTIE. It appears, from some Googling, that BOOTEE is the preferred spelling (Wikipedia lists BOOTIE as an alternate spelling). I don't have to like it or take it lying down, you know like having a NAP (91A: Go out for a while?) on a HAMMOCK (77D: Good place to 91-Across).
(Not for the faint of heart or small children.)I'm also more used to seeing RIATA than REATA (88D: Rodeo rope), so TOE LOOP (93A: Jump on the ice) was one of the very last things I sorted out. Two other crosses didn't help: We've already discussed HOPO. SMOKES (81A: Lights up) should have been obvious, but SOLA (81A: Alone, as a female on stage) didn't want to go. Technically, having a B.A. in Musicology, I could have/should have sleuthed this one out. I know that SOLO is masculine, SOLI is plural, and therefore SOLA would be feminine, but have you ever seen this in print? I think I would have felt better about its inclusion if the clue had been as obscure as the word (see picture on right, and imagine if the clue had been "Japanese work originally conceived by Naoki Hisaya"). Annoying, yes, but at least you'd know it was going to be hard/esoteric.

Lots of names; let's take a look. We've got ADIA (80A: 1998 Sarah McLachlan hit) - relatively common to frequent solvers; Jackie GLEASON (26A: Minnesota Fats's player in "The Hustler") - I only knew Newman was in this & I've only seen clips from The Honeymooners and wanted to spell his name GLEESON; PYLE (28A: Writer Ernie) - not to be confused with Private Gomer; SHERE (43A: __ Khan [villain in "The Jungle Book"]) - which I also forgot how to spell; LUC (49A: Director Jean-__ Godard) - which I was sure couldn't be right because wasn't I getting confused with Captain Jean-Luc Picard?; HAL (71A: "Shallow __" [Jack Black film]) - otherwise known as "2001" villian; Britney SPEARS (104A "... Baby One More Time" singer) - whom we will not speak of; ROGERS (2D: Dancer Ginger) - she beat out Humorist Will for this; AKINS (32D: Actor Claude of "Lobo") - whose name I can now only associate with Rep. Todd Akin of questionable biological learning; STIEB (36D: Moundsman Dave) - of the Toronto Blue Jays; IONA (40D: College in New Rochelle, N.Y.) - which I apparently still don't have memorized despite having solved roughly 1,000 puzzles a year for the last 3-4 years; SOFIE (45D: 1992 Liv Ullmann film) - I've got nothing for this one; CASCA (63D: Brutus abettor) - he struck the first blow in Caesar's assassination, which leads us to ET TU (57A: Dying words, in Shakespeare); BALE (65D: Christian of "The Dark Knight Rises") - also in Shakespeare, see Kenneth Branagh's excellent Henry V; and DEBI (92D: Actress Mazar) - not a name I know well, but I recognize her from the classic "So I Married An Axe Murderer." Wow, I'm exhausted.

Bullets:

• 69A: Many-banded displays? (PARADES)  — Love this clue. Of course, I was thinking of kinds of striped snakes, as opposed to marching bands.
• 72A: He-man's nickname (MUSCLES) — Here I had the "CLES" at the end and thought it might be some lesser known alternate to HERCULES. So, I started running through options, such as PERICLES, even though that (a) doesn't fit and (b) doesn't make sense.
• 79A: "Grease" singer (VALLI) — This led me to John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, but it didn't take too long to remember that the title song is sung by Frankie Valli, of The Four Seasons fame (not to be confused with Rudy Vallée of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" fame)
• 78A: Sackcloth material (HEMP) — I did not know this.
• 86A: Feds (G-MEN) – Know your G-MEN (FBI) from your T-MEN (IRS).
• 98A: __ hours (OFFICE) – If TELEPORT (73D: Use a futuristic mode of transit) had come sooner, this might have been easier.
• 5D: Sticking point? (QUAGMIRE) – TRANQ (1A: Downer, for short) helped me get the Q, but this didn't fall for quite a while.
• 20A: Big break (SCHISM) – This is a weird word to look at in the abstract.
• 39D: Shrew (SCOLD) – Apparently this works as both verb and noun, but I just don't use the word Shrew very often.
• 42D: Accepted as true (BOUGHT) – Stared at the B and tried to Believe that Belief must work.
• 47D: Be constructive? (ERECT) – Wanted BUILD here until EWERS (47A: Pitchers) and TEC (67A: Gumshoe) set me straight.
• 59D: Bathroom fixture (BIDET) – Also the victim of many erasures. Started with S from errant SASH which should have been BATH (59A: It may be drawn at night).
• 66D: Providing of questions for answers on "Jeopardy!," e.g. (FORMAT) – This is just a weirdly worded clue, and it took forever to fall into place.
• 96D: Eastern drama (NOH) – If you haven't seen this one before, tuck it away. You'll see it again.

Did it bother you that ET TU (again, 57 across) was included in a puzzle with ET as the theme add-in? Discuss...

Signed, Tyler Clark, Fan of CrossWorld

Wall Street Journal ___ / Gang woman / Naughty Goose and Moose Drool / The Allegheny and Monongahela join to form it / CBS series for 17 seasons / Something of interest to Miss Marple / Cy Young's was 2.63, in brief

To contact us Click HERE
Constructor: John Guzzetta

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging



THEME: A Twenty Dollar Bill — Four long answers describe... stuff about a $20 bill.

Word of the Day: CLEW (6-D: Something of interest to Miss Marple) —

noun 1. clue ( def. 1 ) . 2. Nautical . either lower corner of a square sail or the afterlower corner of a fore-and-aft sail.3. a ball or skein of thread, yarn, etc.4. Usually, clews. the rigging for a hammock.5. Theater . a metal device holding scenery lines controlled byone weighted line.

• • •Hello everyone! This is us:


The two supercool kids in that picture up there! You know Caleb Madison because he's had like a million amazing puzzles in so many publications He can't even remember them all. And you WILL know his BFF Alex Blum because he WILL have a million puzzles that'll be okay somewhere. Just kidding. He has already had a puzzle accepted to Ben Tausig's 20 Under 30 Contest. We are both in Yale's most crosswordy improv group, The Viola Question

But enough about us. On to the puzzle! We're young folk, so this puzzle was a bit of a struggle for us. We assume that our word of the day CLEW is referring to an archaic form of the word "clue"... but who knows? Perhaps Miss Marple is a closeted sailing enthusiast? Either way, Alex put it in not quite believing it was right. Caleb put it in because he knows there's no such thing as a DUNT... yet. Also, CONJ. (7-D: "And" or "or": Abbr.) isn't our favorite and CADENT (5d: Rhythmic), while accurate, isn't particularly familiar. A version of that section with more proper nouns and fewer unsavory entries would look something like this:



That said, it's really hard to construct a puzzle with four 13-letter entries, because you need to put those big ugly blocks around two of them. This leads to less-than-ideal grids that force solvers through the middle (in this case, the only connection between the top and bottom halves is that cross of EMPTY (29d: Evacuate) and HYPER (35a: Overexcited). Nevertheless, the fill had some bright spots.

SHAKES (9d: Drinks with straws), for instance, got us really excited because a Shake Shack just opened in New Haven and we've been there more often than we'd like to admit.





                                                     [A window into our futures.]


Theme answers:

• 20a: On the front (ANDREW JACKSON) - yes, yes it is.
• 27a: On the back (THE WHITE HOUSE) - well spotted.
• 43a: On both sides (TWENTY DOLLARS) - true fact.
• 51a: 20-, 27- and 43-Across locale, slangily (DOUBLE SAWBUCK) - ...................................................................................................................

Not the slang we use. We just call it a twenty.

Bullets:

• 38d: Establishment that might sell 9-Down and 53-Downs (SNACK BAR) — We've never been to a snack bar, but it sounds fun! And we liked the cross-referencing and the consonant cluster (c.f. WIDTHS (14d: C, D and EEE)
• 23d: White dwarf, e.g. (STAR) — Alex is taking an Astronomy class called Life in the Universe so this was right up his alley. Shout out to Debra Fischer.
• 62a: The thought that counts? (IDEA) — We see where the clue is coming from, but it seems a tad forced. However the clue for EMPTY (29d: Evacuate) was super tricky. Total aha moment after staring at E ____ for a bit.
• 44d: Not stable (WOBBLY) — what a fun word! And a potentially misleading clue! We kept thinking INSANE, VOLATILE... or BARN. This song Caleb likes has WOBBLY in it [caution: NSFW]:

Thanks for letting us do this. We can't wait for our fearless harsh dictatorial despot to return.

Signed, Caleb Madison and Alex Blum, SLOBs (9a: Neatnik's opposite) of the CrossWorld

P.S. If any readers are in the New Haven area, they should come to the Viola Question's Parents' Weekend Show this Saturday, October 13th, in the Davenport Common Room at 8pm!