Animal House beanie sporters / TUE 6-1-10 / Hobbyist's knife brand / North-of-the-border grid org / Movie pal of Stitch

Constructor: Sarah Keller

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: B[vowel]D — clues for five theme answers are, in order of appearance, BAD BED BID BOD BUD


Word of the Day: ALAN LADD (22D: "Shane" star) —

Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American film actor. [...] Ladd began by appearing in dozens of films in small roles, including Citizen Kane in which he played one of the "faceless" reporters who are always shown in silhouette. He first gained some recognition with a featured role in the wartime thriller Joan of Paris, 1942. For his next role, his manager, Sue Carol, found a vehicle which made Ladd's career, Graham Greene's This Gun for Hire in which he played "Raven," a hitman with a conscience. [...] In 1946, he starred in a trio of silver screen classics: the big screen adaptation of Richard Henry Dana's maritime classic, Two Years Before the Mast (for which he also received critical acclaim), the Raymond Chandler original mystery The Blue Dahlia (his third pairing with Lake), and the WWII espionage thriller, O.S.S.. [...] Ladd's played the title role in the 1953 western Shane. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture. (wikipedia)

• • •

Not much to this one. Familiar conceit — though often vowel progressions occur within the fill rather than the clues, and most repeated-clue-themed puzzles actually have the same clue for all theme answers, rather than slightly altered ones, as we see here. I'm trying to give the puzzle credit for being, perhaps, slightly innovative, but it's hard. There's just not much here to love. It's easy and it's adequate. Monday Monday. Oh, wait. It's Tuesday Tuesday. Memorial Day has me turned around. Didn't like BAD=MISCHIEVOUS, though I guess they're roughly parallel. BAD on its own seems more "evil" than MISCHIEVOUS. Liked FUTURE BLOOM best of all the theme answers — most interesting, and also hardest to get (for me). Had to work for the FUTURE part. Fill is mostly familiar stuff. No real interesting words or unusual combos or crosses or ... anything. OPHELIA (5D: Shakespeare character who goes insane) is the one answer that kind of dances. BLURT (49D: Say without thinking) is entertaining, as five-letter answers go. There's really no need to call GRETA (31A: Van Susteren of Fox News) a HOER (36A: Weed whacker), though. She's just doing her job.

Theme answers:

• 17A: BAD (MISCHIEVOUS)
  
• 23A: BED (PLACE TO SLEEP)
  
• 37A: BID (OFFER)
  
• 46A: BOD (PERSON'S BUILD)
  
• 56A: BUD (FUTURE BLOOM)
  

Weirdest moment of the solve was pausing for what felt like eons (probably just a second or so) at the crossing of ASIA (2D: Province of ancient Rome) and SAY (20A: Two cents' worth). Neither clue made *any* sense to me, especially the former. That is a crazy way to clue ASIA. Not incorrect, I don't think, just nuts. ASIA = "province" = Does Not Compute. Merlin OLSEN (6A: Late football star and FTD pitchman Merlin) played Jonathan Garvey on "Little House on the Prairie," a show that also featured a character named Nellie OLSEN, only I just found out that her name is actually spelled "Oleson." Still, that's an odd coincidence.

Just a few missteps today: the ASIA/SAY thing, FINK for SING (33D: Rat on the Mob), the trouble with FUTURE, and then CFA for CFL (32D: North-of-the-border grid org.).

Bullets:

• 15A: Sluggo's comics pal (NANCY) — I really love this strip. Bushmiller's cartooning is fantastic, with many "NANCY" strips featuring zany, almost surreal humor.
  
• 39A: Movie pal of Stitch (LILO) — Should add that to my list of "21st Century Crosswordese" if I haven't already.
• 44A: "Animal House" beanie sporters (PLEDGES) — just saw an ad for this DVD, right before re-re-rewatching "Sixteen Candles" on Saturday.

• 64A: Hobbyist's knife brand (XACTO) — many (if not most) X-words in puzzledom are brand names. XEROX, XBOX, XGAMES, XTERRA, exetera.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Raging Grannies... BP You Suck!

This about says it all

Confused situations / MON 5-31-10 / It protects tympanic cavity / Perennial presidential candidate Ralph / Ordinary fellow

Constructor: Oliver Hill

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium [amended ... 3:08 appears to be somewhat on the fast side after all. Hard to tell when the margins are so small]

THEME: DEEJAYS (25D: Record spinners ... or a hint to 17-, 25-, 38-, 48- and 61-Across) — five theme answers are two-word phrases where first word starts with "D" and second word starts with "J"


Word of the Day: IMBROGLIOS (11D: Confused situations) —

n., pl., -glios.

1. 1. A difficult or intricate situation; an entanglement.
   2. A confused or complicated disagreement.
2. A confused heap; a tangle.

[Italian, from Old Italian, from imbrogliare, to tangle, confuse : in-, in (from Latin; see in-²) + brogliare, to mix, stir (probably from Old French brooiller, brouiller; see broil²).]

• • •

Pretty basic theme, but one that is executed in a visually interesting way. Theme square coverage is pretty sparse, despite the presence of SIX theme answers (five + the revealer). Actually, the issue isn't sparseness, it's shortness — specifically, the shortness of the central three theme answers (8, 7, 8). The shortness of these answers leaves TONS of room left over in the middle of the grid, which is filled by the Massive extension of the NE and SW corners, both of which contain two 10-letter Downs. These Downs are as long as the two longest theme answers and longer than the other three, and take up almost as much real estate in total as the theme answers combined (not including the revealer). Normally, you don't see non-theme answers longer than theme answers and you certainly don't see an Army of said giants. Makes for an unusual grid shape, and much more interesting fill, solving-wise than you tend to see in a more typical Monday grid (where shorter fill predominates). So, long story short, it's unconventional and a bit ungainly, but I liked it anyway.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Blue things that make some people turn red? (DIRTY JOKES) — this clue threw me, bec. normally you don't have "?" clues in theme answers unless they are ALL "?" clues (i.e. signifying wacky answers). So I went looking for wackines and got none. Other theme clues are straight. Which does not make this clue GAY. Necessarily.
  
• 25A: Nine-to-five gigs, often (DESK JOBS) — see also 18D: Ordinary fellow (JOE BLOW) and then titter when you realize that "BLOW" and "JOBS" are both in the grid.
  
• 38A: Womanizer (DON JUAN)
  
• 48A: Company with an industrial average (DOW JONES)
  
• 61A: Wrangler product (DENIM JEANS)

My wife thought the whole puzzle felt old-fashioned — "the whole thing seems like it was written in 1920." By an AGING person, perhaps (1A: Growing older). I think it was the phrase DENIM JEANS, which feels a bit like the phrase WORLD WIDE WEB, i.e. legit, but kind of dated. We call DENIM JEANS "jeans" now. I see the phrase is still in use in various commercial contexts, but ... I can't really imagine "jeans" that are *not* denim. There appears to be some support for "corduroy jeans," though I'd call those "pants." Or "cords." OFT, O'ER, CADS, ERST, IN RE, and GAYER (5D: More festive) also aged up the feel of the fill a bit. GAYER appears to be (chiefly British, chiefly derogatory) slang for a gay person. Non-sexual GAY is, like DENIM JEANS, correct, but quaint. Did I tell you the story about my little sister happily traipsing around our apartment complex telling everyone she met that "my mom and Agatha (her doll) and I are gay!" She meant "happy." Adorable. There's a better story about my sister's hilarious big mouth, but it involves the word "vagina," so I'll just hold onto that one.

Bullets:

• 35A: As one (EN BLOC) — interesting phrase. Wife hadn't heard it before. We mostly use EN MASSE, I think, but this phrase looks much cooler. GAYER, even.
  
• 35D: It protects the tympanic cavity (EAR DRUM) — Nice clue. I was writing in EAR DRUM before I ever looked at the clue (the magic of crosses), and it's a good thing, because, despite the tympani's being a familiar variety of "DRUM," I'm not sure I could have identified the location of the "tympanic cavity" before today.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. Happy birthday, Clint Eastwood, you 80-year-old badass.

War News for Monday, May 31, 2010

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF Marine in an IED attack in an unidentified location in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Sunday, May 30th.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier in a small arms fire attack in an unidentified location in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 30th.


Kurds kill Turkish soldiers in rocket attack:

Battalion among hardest hit in Afghan war:

B-17 to drop flowers for CIA killed in Afghanistan: (This is such an obscene joke...whisker)

In Afghan region, U.S. spreads the cash to fight the Taliban:


Reported security incidents

Baghdad:
#1: A prominent local leader of anti-insurgent Sunni forces was shot and killed by two gunmen Monday. The attackers were armed with silenced pistols and shot Nael al-Azami near a popular cafe in Baghdad's northern Azamiyah district.

Two roadside bombs planted under Ghadeer bridge went off simultaneously when a police patrol passed, killing a civilian and wounding eight people, including six policemen, in Ghadeer district in eastern Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb struck an Iraqi police patrol in the capital's Ghadir neighbourhood, killing one policeman and wounding 10 bystanders and officers nearby.

#3: A roadside bomb targeting a police troop went off and wounded six, including three policemen, in Zayouna District, eastern Baghdad, police said.

#4: A sticky bomb attached to a SUV went off and wounded a civilian in Palestine Street, north-eastern Baghdad, police said.


Kirkuk:
#1: In Kirkuk, a policeman has died after a roadside bomb hit his patrol Sunday evening. Four of his colleagues were seriously hurt in the blast.


Mosul:
#1: Police found the bodies of two unidentified females who had been suffocated to death in south-eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles ) north of Baghdad, police said


Northern Iraq:
#1: A 14-year-old Iraqi girl was killed Sunday and dozens of families fled their homes to escape Iranian artillery shells in northern Iraq, according to a Kurdish Regional Security Forces spokesman. The artillery shells rained down on villages Sunday where Kurdish rebels were thought to be operating, said Jabbar Yawer. The artillery targeted villages in the Balakiyaki border area, about 125 km (77 miles) northeast of Irbil province. The barrage began late Saturday and continued until Sunday morning, Yawer said. A number of farms in the villages were heavily damaged, Yawer said.




Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: NATO launched airstrikes Monday against Taliban insurgents who had forced government forces to abandon a district in eastern Afghanistan. Early Monday, NATO aircraft fired guided munitions on Taliban positions at Barg-e-Matal district in Nuristan, a province in the mountainous region on the Pakistani border. No casualty figures were given.

#2: Further south, NATO said a civilian contractor's helicopter crash-landed Sunday in Paktia province, killing one civilian on the ground and slightly injuring three crew members. NATO said the cause of the hard landing was being investigated, but there were no reports of insurgent involvement.

#3: In the north, insurgents detonated a remote-controlled bomb Sunday as a police convoy passed by, killing seven officers in a province previously considered to be relatively safe, said deputy provincial Gov. Shams-ul Rahman.

#4: In nearby Kunduz province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Ali Abad district, triggering a gunbattle that killed three insurgents and wounded seven others, the Interior Ministry said.

#5: Eight Afghan police were wounded Sunday by a suicide bomber who struck a checkpoint on the outskirts of Khost City southeast of Kabul, officials said.


DoD: Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht

Memoirs of a Goldfish... a Review for Memoir Monday!

A Solitary Life for a Clever little Fellow...

until One Day ...

Memoirs of a Goldfish is, simply said, Wonderful! Written by Devin Scillian and beautifully illustrated by Tim Bowers, we are introduced to a clever little goldfish that loves his simple solitary lifestyle. He recounts 14 days of his life that start out simply as,

Day One

I swam around my bowl

Day Two

I swam around my bowl. Twice.

But life even for a goldfish can get complicated and as the simple little bowl that serves as his home starts to fill up with other "fishbowl" items, such as Mr. Bubbles the scuba diver (he's creepy), Mervin the disgusting snail, and plants which he knows he's going to have to "water now!", the little goldfish laments for the simple solitary life he once had- until his wish comes true and he then realizes being alone isn't really as nice as all that.

Children will delight in the beautiful illustrations of the ever crowding fishbowl. They'll meet a crab named Fred, 2 guppies named Rhoda & Clark, a diva angelfish named Cha-Cha, along with Mr. Bubbles & Mervin the snail. It's a sweet story, with memorable characters, where children will learn the value of friendship and the importance of sharing their lives with others as our sweet hero suddenly,

" With a whoosh, and a splash, and a clank and a plunge,"

is transported to a new home, void of all objects crowding up his old bowl. He begins to worry and miss everyone! No need to fret though, there's a very happy ending that will have everyone, including our little goldfish, smile! A sweet choice for children, but the adults in my household loved the story too! You will laugh, and you will smile, as you read the cleverly written Memoirs of a Goldfish. And Memoirs of a Goldfish will be available at your local bookstore June 1st!

I met the wonderful people from Sleeping Bear Press at BEA this year, and want to thank them for sending home a copy of Memoirs of a Goldfish with me to review & share with my readers! You can learn more about the other fabulous childrens books Sleeping Bear Press publishes at their website, Sleeping Bear Press.

Cousteau Jr.: "This is a Nightmare...a Nightmare."

My God help us!

BP Slick and Life on Bayou Barataria

Mike Roberts and Tracy Kuhns of Louisiana BAYOUKEEPER© tell of life on Bayou Barataria in the shadow of Terrible Tony and the BP Slick!

"Mr. Obama, quit acting like you work for BP"
Mike Roberts

Terrible Tony says, BEND OVER AMERICA!

Terrible Tony!
His mouth is moving... he is lying!

Swimming Through the Spill ...

By SUSAN D. SHAW

Published: May 28, 2010

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Blue Hill, Me.

• Times Topic: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill (2010)

FOR the last few days, attention has understandably been directed at the shores of the Gulf Coast as oil has started to wash up on beaches and in marshes. But last week I had the chance to see the effects of the spill from another perspective — when I dived into the oil slick a few miles off the Pass a Loutre wetlands in southern Louisiana. What I witnessed was a surreal, sickening scene beyond anything I could have imagined.
As the boat entered the slick, I had to cover my nose to block the fumes. There were patches of oil on the gulf’s surface. In some places, the oil has mixed with an orange-brown pudding-like material, some of the 700,000 gallons of a chemical dispersant called Corexit 9500 that BP has sprayed on the spreading oil. Near Rig No. 313, technically a restricted zone, the boat stopped and I (wearing a wetsuit, with Vaseline covering exposed skin) jumped in.
Only a few meters down, the nutrient-rich water became murky, but it was possible to make out tiny wisps of phytoplankton, zooplankton and shrimp enveloped in dark oily droplets. These are essential food sources for fish like the herring I could see feeding with gaping mouths on the oil and dispersant. Dispersants break up the oil into smaller pieces that then sink in the water, forming poisonous droplets — which fish can easily mistake for food.
Though all dispersants are potentially dangerous when applied in such volumes, Corexit is particularly toxic. It contains petroleum solvents and a chemical that, when ingested, ruptures red blood cells and causes internal bleeding. It is also bioaccumulative, meaning its concentration intensifies as it moves up the food chain.
The timing for exposure to these chemicals could not be worse. Herring and other small fish hatch in the spring, and the larvae are especially vulnerable. As they die, disaster looms for the larger predator fish, as well as dolphins and whales.
As I swam back to the surface, some big fish came up to the boat — cobia, amberjacks weighing up to 60 pounds — looking for a handout. These are the fish that have made the Gulf a famously productive fishing area. But they rely on the forage fish that are now being devastated by the combined effects of oil and chemical dispersants. In a short time, the predator fish will either starve or sicken and die from eating highly contaminated forage fish.
Yes, the dispersants have made for cleaner beaches. But they’re not worth the destruction they cause at sea, far out of sight. It would be better to halt their use and just siphon and skim as much of the oil off the surface as we can. The Deepwater Horizon spill has done enough damage, without our adding to it.

Susan D. Shaw is a marine toxicologist and the director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, a nonprofit scientific research and educational organization.

News of the Day for Sunday, May 30, 2010

A U.S. soldier from A Co., 3rd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Ga., carries his belongings during a handover ceremony northeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, May 28, 2010. The next step in the security agreement is the withdrawal of the first major wave of troops and this would reduce the force level from 92,000 to 50,000 troops by Aug. 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)





Reported Security Incidents

Near Mosul

Bomb attack on convoy of an Iraqi army colonel injures 2 of his guards.

Qaim, near Ramadi

Gunmen kidnap 2 civilians and commandeer their vehicle.

Other News of the Day

As Iraq flounders without a government, basic government functions don't get done. McClatchy's Hannah Allam reports:

For hundreds of thousands of Iraqis . .., the delay in seating a new government, which already has lasted nearly three months, has complicated everyday errands and added bureaucratic frustration to lives that are hard enough thanks to persistent violence and the lack of basic utilities.

More than 100,000 new state jobs are on hold, and mundane tasks such as obtaining licenses and registering for pensions are backlogged until a new government is seated, Iraqi officials and Baghdad residents said this week.

Each day the political infighting drags on, more Iraqis begin to question their participation in the March 7 parliamentary elections, which the Obama administration had counted on to pave the way for an unimpeded withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of next year.

Government-owned carrier Iraqi Airways is liquidated due to debts owed to Kuwait over stolen aircraft.

Scholars Douglas L. Kriner and Francis X. Shen analyze the sources of America's cannon fodder. Excerpt:

We demonstrate unambiguously that, beginning with the Korean War, disadvantaged communities have suffered a disproportionate share of the nation’s wartime casualties, while richer communities have been more insulated from the costs of war. Furthermore, the data suggest that this “casualty gap” between rich and poor communities has reached its widest proportions in the ongoing conflict in Iraq.

snip

What would happen if the nation openly acknowledged the casualty gap? Would citizens rethink questions of war and peace? To find out, we conducted a series of original public opinion survey experiments with nationally representative samples of Americans.

We found that citizens informed about the existence of a casualty gap were significantly more likely to oppose ongoing military operations and less willing to support future ones than were their peers who were not informed about casualty inequalities.

As U.S. troops prepare to leave Iraq, they struggle to preserve impromptu in-country memorials to the dead and wounded. AP's Rebecca Santana tells the tale:

In words etched in stone, painted on concrete barriers, scribbled on hospital walls with magic markers, American troops in Iraq have followed a tradition as old as war itself: honoring their dead.

Now, as the United States prepares to dramatically decrease its military presence in Iraq this summer, American commanders are trying to decide what to do with the vast collection of plaques, street signs and painted concrete barriers dedicated to the men and women who shed their blood in this desert country.

In the Vietnam War, units brought home their memorabilia and memorials when they rotated out of the country. When the U.S. closed down bases around Germany at the end of the Cold War, the memorabilia also was preserved. Now, it's Iraq's turn. But preserving some of the memorials could prove difficult.

Afghanistan Update

Roadside bomb attack on a police patrol in the northeastern province of Badakhshan kills 7 officers.

Taliban torch 6 fuel trucks in Ghazni, destined for NATO forces in Kandahar. Separately, 4 Afghan civilians are killed in explosions in Khost, Nangarhar and Paktika and Ghor.

Gen. McChrystal claims that Taliban fighters are receiving training and arms from Iran. He offers no evidence for this assertion. From DPA: "The Iranian regime, which has built up a favorable relationship with President Hamid Karzai's government, has in the past repeatedly denied that it supports the Taliban and in turn accused the US of playing a 'double game' in the war-torn country. Afghan officials have also said they have no evidence that Iran is helping the Taliban."

As the peace Jirga looms, many are concerned about the possible outcome for women's rights. Al Arabiya compiles the story:

As Afghanistan's most powerful men arrive in Kabul for a major conference aimed at starting a peace process with the Taliban, many women are worried the event could lead to a compromise of their hard-won rights.

In an effort to end the nine-year conflict, Afghanistan is holding a peace jirga -- or an assembly -- of powerful leaders, tribal elders and representatives of civil society to consider President Hamid Karzai’s plans to open talks with Taliban. But even the remote possibility of a Taliban return has touched off concern about the fate of women who were banned from schools, the work place and public life during the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001.

snip

Concerned activists also point to the fact that women are not adequately represented at peace jirga, in which they represent a very small number of the 1,400 seats. And although between 30 and 50 women are expected to attend, none is involved in its planning. Some believe that women were only given a “symbolic” role to lure Taliban to sit at the negotiations table.

U.S. military investigation uncharacteristically admits culpability for a missile attack that killed 23 civilians in February. "U.S. military investigators found that "inaccurate and unprofessional" reporting by U.S. operators of a Predator drone was responsible."

Canada's senior commander in Afghanistan, Brigadier General Daniel Menard, is relieved of his command, for unspecified reasons but apparently involving fraternization.

Due to threats, some tribal elders from Ghazni will not attend the Jirga.

Taliban have captured a district in Nooristan, Afghan forces have withdrawn from the district center to avoid civilian casualties.

Quote of the Day

We too, we too, descending once again
The hills of our own land, we too have heard
Far off -- Ah, que ce cor a longue haleine --
The horn of Roland in the passages of Spain,
the first, the second blast, the failing third,
And with the third turned back and climbed once more
The steep road southward, and heard faint the sound
Of swords, of horses, the disastrous war,
And crossed the dark defile at last, and found
At Roncevaux upon the darkening plain
The dead against the dead and on the silent ground
The silent slain.

Archibald MacLeish

The Sunday Salon... Exciting New Books from Authors I Just Discovered! The Week in Review & a Sneak Peek at The Week Ahead!

It's Sunday Morning... time to sit back, relax and enjoy a nice steaming cup of Joe. Book Bloggers are getting together in that virtual library's reading room today, as they do every sunday, to chat about all things bookish... The Sunday Salon is books, authors, and the sharing of what's happened this week in that ever changing world of publishing. This week we book bloggers didn't just meet virtually, we were able to connect at the largest publishing event in North America, the BEA or BookExpo America! AND The Book Blogger Convention! It was an exciting week in New York! I was able to get a day in at BEA and was thrilled! Meeting favorite authors, discovering new authors, meeting the great people at the publishing houses, meeting bloggers & people who just love books all under one roof! And today's Sunday Salon is about 2 of those authors I "discovered" while at BEA! I am so excited about sitting down and opening the pages of these authors! And ladies, if you love being swept back in time, you are going to love the books I'm going to talk about today!

Jennifer Donnelly was signing copies of her newest book Revolution! She was so nice as we chatted briefly about the book and Chick with Books! The YA book, Revolution, is about 2 girls centuries apart and the diary that brings them together. As part of promoting the book, each book was given with a beautiful lanyard of red silk with a key attached inserted into the book as a bookmark, a reference I'm sure to the diary. And she signed the book, "Turn the Key"! What I discovered was that Jennifer Donnelly wrote 4 books previous to Revolution (one is a children's picture book)! Her previous book, A Northern Light, is the Winner of the Carnegie Medal, the UK’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature! A Northern Light is also a Young Adult (YA) book. Her other 2 novels The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose are part of a historical fiction trilogy that starts in East London in 1888. Now about Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly... Here's how Jennifer Donnelly describes her book, Revolution, on her website...

"As you might expect from the title, the book is about a revolution. On one level, it’s about the French Revolution and one of its smallest victims. On another level, it’s about the revolution inside, about the changes we as human beings go through as we struggle to make sense of our world and its tragedies. Here's how we described the story on the book jacket:

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break.

PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape. Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present."

I am so excited to be able to read this! I love stories that deal with the conflicts of growing up, but the added dimension of being transported to another time centuries before and learning about Alexandrine through her diary and then possibly a shift in time is enticing! Revolution will be officially released in the U.S. October 12th, 2010 by Random House/Delacorte. I'll be reviewing this ASAP here too! Thank you to both Jennifer Donnelly and Random House/Delacorte for receiving the advanced copy of Revolution at BEA!

One of the other authors I met at BEA that I'd like to share today with you was Deanna Raybourn. She was signing her book, The Dead Travel Fast, at the Mystery Writers of America table on thursday. She was also nice and funny, especially when her signing line was held up because Alan Orloff, who was sitting next to her, ran out of books and everyone was waiting for him to try and find more books from his publisher to sign before proceeding to her.

Deanna Raybourn writes mysteries with romance in a time period that is historical rather than contemporary. Her books have been called "British historical thrillers" by Publisher's Weekly. Her newest novel, The Dead Travel Fast, is "the story of Theodora Lestrange, a young Scottish novelist, and her adventures in 1858 Transylvania". Castles, Counts, a decaying castle, superstitions and passions are what we are promised in The Dead Travel Fast! Prior to her newest novel, Deanna Raybourn has written a series called The Lady Julia Grey Mystery Series, in which the first book in the series, Silent in The Grave won a RITA in 2008 for best novel with "strong romantic elements" from the Romance Writers of America! This is the series of books Publishers Weekly referred to as "British historical thrillers". I always love a strong female character, and that is precisely what Lady Julia Grey is! And Kindle lovers... right now you can get The Lady Julia Grey Bundle in the Kindle store at a bargain price of $9.99! That's all 3 of the books in the Lady Julia Grey Mystery Series! The next book in the Lady Julia Grey Mystery series, Dark Road to Darjeeling, will be coming out in October and Lady Julia Grey will be traveling to India. Now getting back to The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn, this is what the Back of the Book has to say...

"A husband, a family, a comfortable life: Theodora Lestrange lives in terror of it all. With a modest inheritance and the three gowns that comprise her entire wardrobe, Theodora leaves Edinburgh — and a disappointed suitor — far behind. She is bound for Roumania, where tales of vampires are still whispered, to visit an old friend and write the book that will bring her true independence.

She arrives at a magnificent, decaying castle in the Carpathians replete with eccentric inhabitants: the ailing dowager; the troubled steward; her own fearful friend, Cosmina. But all are outstripped in dark glamour by the castle's master, Count Andrei Dragulescu. Bewildering and bewitching in equal measure, the brooding nobleman ignites Theodora's imagination and awakens passions in her that she can neither deny nor conceal. His allure is superlative, his dominion over the superstitious town, absolute — Theodora may simply be one more person under his sway. Before her sojourn is ended — or her novel completed — Theodora will have encountered things as strange and terrible as they are seductive. For obsession can prove fatal...and she is in danger of falling prey to more than desire."

I love novels set in that gothic time frame. And I can't wait to travel with Theodora in Deanna Raybourn's newest novel! And that's what is wonderful about going to event like BEA, a whole new world is opened up as a result of meeting just one new author! The Dead Travel Fast by Deanna Raybourn is available now at your local bookstore! I want to thank Deanna Raybourn and her publisher MIRA Books for my copy of The Dead Travel Fast I received at BEA!

I'll be talking more about some of the great authors and books from BEA in the coming weeks, but in the meantime you can check out my post, BEA was HOT, from this past week! Also this week I reviewed Sounds Like Crazy by Shana Mahaffey, and wrote about Shana chatting about her book with my Reading Group! It was great getting the authors perspective on her own book and being to interact about how we as a group & individually reacted to her story. Thanks again Shana! And a quick note here, there's still time to enter the GIVEAWAY for The Secret Speech by Tom Rob Smith, that historical thriller taking place in the brutal Soviet Union in 1956.

A sneak peek ahead... Memoir Monday features an adorable guy from Sleeping Bear Press that you won't want to miss! Mother's in particular will want to make sure they stop by! But I really enjoyed his tale too! Jennifer McMahon is touring the blogosphere and making a stop here on thursday, June 3rd, and I will be reviewing her fabulous book Dismantled. (And it really is FABULOUS!) This weeks audiobook on my iPod is WAR by Sebastian Junger, and what book do I have my nose in? Ape House by Sara Gruen!

How was your week?! And what books have you found this week!? Did you go to BEA?! Share it all here! I'd love to hear about it! In the meantime... Happy Reading! Suzanne

Small-time tyrants / SUN 5-30-10 / Opponent of Pericles / Cumberland Gap explorer / Supermax resident / Latte topper

Constructor: Eric Berlin

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: FULL CIRCLE — Theme clues apply both to the theme answer in question and the subsequent theme answer, creating a kind of cluing chain, with the last theme clue applying back to the first theme answer.


Word of the Day: TOCCATA (64D: Improvisatory piece of classical music) —

Toccata (from Italian toccare, "to touch") is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments (the opening of Claudio Monteverdi's opera Orfeo being a notable example). (wikipedia)

• • •

I really liked the theme, though the interlinkedness helped me not at all. I just liked (loved) that, with so many clues that start [With X-Across...], I never ever ran into the typical cross-referenced clue at X-Across: [See The Clue That Sent You Here]. Instead, each theme clue just passed the buck down the line, which never required me to look back at other clues to remember what the hell was going on. Because of this, the theme answers were Super easy to get. The puzzle seems to have known this would be the case, and made the rest of the grid more difficult than usual in order to make up for it. Nothing particularly brutal, but a lot of stuff designed to slow you down. I got ANAPESTS fine (51A: Some poetic feet), but everything between there and, let's say, MURALIST, was a fight. Never heard of TIN GODS (53D: Small-time tyrants), and the "small" part of that clue had me really wanting TINY in the answer. I over thought MT ETNA (63A: Sicilian tourist attraction) and tried MT ENNA (ENNA being a city in Sicily that occasionally shows up in the grid). Cluing on OLEG is wholly new to me (71A: ___ Kalugin, former K.G.B. general with the 1994 book "Spymaster"). TOCCATA is a word I've heard of ... it must be on some recording of someone I have somewhere ... but I wasn't sure of it for a while. And then CLEON — I had CREON in my head (76A: Opponent of Pericles). That's somebody, right? CREON? Yes, he is the non-small-time tyrant in Antigone. Throw in NITRATE (83D: Fertilizer ingredient), which I was none too sure about, and that whole section ended up being a battle. There were other hang-ups along the way too, but none where my ignorance was so concentrated.

Theme answers:

• 22A: With 24-Across, two things that are stuffed (ROAST TURKEY)
  
• 24A: With 36-Across, two things on a farm (SCARECROW)
  
• 36A: With 38-Across, two things associated with needles (HAYSTACK)
  
• 38A: With 55-Across, two things that spin (RECORD PLAYER)
  
• 55A: With 82-Across, two things at an amusement park (FERRIS WHEEL)
  
• 82A: With 95-Across, two things that are sticky (COTTON CANDY)
  
• 95A: With 99-Across, two things with brushes (RUBBER CEMENT)
  
• 99A: With 115-Across, two things with ladders (MURALIST)
  
• 115A: With 117-Across, two things that are red (FIRE TRUCK)
  
• 117A: With 24-Across, two things associated with Thanksgiving (CRANBERRIES)
  

My wife pointed out to me that all the theme answers are two-word phrases except two: MURALIST and CRANBERRIES. Clearly, this didn't bother me at all. Wife also shared my understandable distaste for ISTS (58A: Believers), my strange affection for OLDISH (26A: Getting up there in years), and my surprise that the word GLADLY (2D: With a smile) had never appeared in a (post-mid-'90s) crossword puzzle. Not in the NYT, and not in any puzzle in the cruciverb.com database. Weeeeeird. It's not exactly obscure.

Bullets:

• 1A: City SE of Delhi (AGRA) — In India, four letters — gimme.
  
• 10A: Cumberland Gap explorer (BOONE) — I have no idea where the Cumberland Gap is, HA ha. I still got this easily (it's a passageway through the Appalachians, btw).
  
• 18A: Supermax resident (FELON) — I taught for a while in a (mere) maximum security prison in Elmira. The supermax is a couple of miles away from that, in Southport, NY.
  
• 44A: Balloonist's baskets (GONDOLAS) — I'd forgotten that's what those are called.
  
• 59A: "Hair" song with the lyric "Hello, carbon monoxide" ("AIR") — something unsettling about "Hair" cluing "AIR" — too close. And yet I really like the clue (despite never having seen "Hair").
  
• 90A: Second track on "Beatles '65" ("I'M A LOSER") — I think I've seen this title in crosswords (in whole or in part) more than I've actually heard the song.

• 106A: 1922 Physics Nobelist (BOHR) — wife very happy with the crossword muscle she's developing: gimme!
  
• 113A: Adjective for a bikini, in a 1960 song (TEENIE) — I think it's a compound adjective, "TEENIE-weenie."
  
• 120A: Drug company behind Valium (ROCHE) — not on my radar. Needed crosses.
  
• 121A: "Pearls Before Swine," e.g. (COMIC) — by which the puzzle means COMIC strip. Really not on my radar. Needed crosses.
  
• 1D: Region in ancient Asia Minor (AEOLIA) — know this term only from Coleridge and the AEOLIAN harp, which is some kind of contraption you put in your window (memory ... foggy ...) so it can be "played" by the wind. Yes, that's right. This is a toughish ancient Greek answer, as is IONIAN, potentially (100D: Sea between Italy and Greece).
  
• 18D: Latte topper (FROTH) — wanted FOAM. FROTH sounds sooo much less appetizing.
  
• 69D: "Southland" airer (TNT) — never heard of "Southland." Maybe because I don't watch any TNT.
  
• 77D: Scientist with multiple Emmys (NYE) — Bill NYE the Science Guy. Never really watched him, but still a gimme.
  
• 85D: Biochemical sugar (RIBOSE) — only very vaguely familiar. Looks like a word meaning "funny" — a hybrid of RIBALD and JOCOSE.
  

Will bring the "Tweets of the Week" feature back next week. Til then, enjoy your long weekend (if you've got one).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]