1934 novel Maw'id / SUN 1-2-11 / German photographer Bing / 1968 hit song Nazad / 1985 hit song Neung Keun / 2003 film Érase una Vez

Constructor: David Levinson Wilk

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: "Works in Translation" — Easy to understand, but hard to describe. The theme answers are titles with the pattern "Something in Somewhere." The "Something" is translated into the language spoken in "Somewhere" to create the clues. Got it?

Word of the Day: AVEDA (79D: Skin care brand ) —

Aveda (pronounced ah-vay-da) was founded by Horst Rechelbacher in 1978. In 1970, Rechelbacher, on a trip to India, was introduced to the healing properties of Ayurveda (the Hindu science of longevity) and the vision for his company (and the name Aveda) was born. Horst had formulated the first product, a clove shampoo, in his kitchen sink. Today Aveda is part of Estée Lauder Companies, Inc. According to the company's website, "Aveda" is Sanskrit for "all knowledge," but in fact means "no knowledge." (Wikipedia)

• • •

Greetings, Rexites. This is Doug Peterson, in the house with PuzzleGirl, and ready to do some semi-serious crossword blogging. We're filling in for Rex today, but I can assure you that he is not drunk. However, there was a rumor going around that he's been hopped up on goofballs all weekend.

I'm very glad to be talking to you today. You wouldn't believe the hoops I had to jump through to become an official Rex Parker contributor. There was a background check, blood test, retinal scan, and … a couple other things I don't want to talk about right now. But it looks like I've been approved and am good to go. If the RP security goons drag me out of here before we're done, PuzzleGirl can finish up by herself.

The reason we're doing team blogging today is that we usually solve the Sunday puzzle together. Personally, I just got tired of Sunday puzzles several months ago. They're just too big! For some reason I really feel like I'm just slogging my way through a 21x21. So Doug suggested we solve together on the New York Times “Solve with a Friend!” applet and we've done it that way ever since. To make it interesting, one of us solves only the acrosses and the other does only the downs. We try to stay in the same general area as we're making our way around the grid, but sometimes that doesn't work too well. If you look at the grid we posted, you'll see that some of the letters are green (those are the ones I entered) and some are blue (those are Doug's). Sometimes when we're all done, the whole grid is pretty much Doug's color and that's embarrassing. When that happens, I usually come up with some lame excuse about how my kids were bugging me or the smoke alarm went off or something. I'm pretty sure Doug knows I'm lying when I do that, but he's too nice to say anything.

Theme answers:

• 27A: 1934 novel "Maw'id" (APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA).
• 38A: 1968 hit song "Nazad" (BACK IN THE USSR).
• 47A: 1985 hit song "Neung Keun" (ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK).
• 68A: 2003 film "Érase una Vez" (ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO).
• 90A: 1951 film "Une Personne des États-Unis" (AN AMERICAN IN PARIS).
• 99A: 1912 novella "Morte" (DEATH IN VENICE).
• 114A: 1943 novel "Whaddya Tink? A Sapling Stays a Sapling Fuhevah?" (A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN).

(Note: The bulleted list above contains English-alphabet versions of the clues for 27A, 38A, and 47A. The original clues are shown in the image underneath. Thanks to the NY Times and its Wordplay blog for providing the image. We tried to insert those funky foreign letters into our write-up, but it wasn't working at all. Apparently English is the official language of the Rex Parker blog.)

If you're wondering who came up with that wonderfully lame theme explanation up top, it was me, Doug. Some of you may still be confused, so let's look at an example, say, 99 Across. "Morte" is the Italian word for "death," so the word "Morte" is literally "Death in Italian" or specifically "Death in Venice." The rest of them follow the same pattern. "Maw'id" is Arabic for "appointment," "Nazad" is Russian for "back," etc. Very clever! And the last one, written in Brooklynese, is the most awesome of all. I love when the constructor saves a killer punchline for the last theme entry. Well done!

Bullets:

• 31A: Harold's car in "Harold and Maude" (HEARSE). Herman's car in "The Munsters" would have been an easier reference for me. [Claire's car on "Six Feet Under" for me.]
• 64A: Electrophorus electricus, for one (EEL). Really? This reminds me of the pseudo-Latin names they used at the beginnings of Road Runner cartoons. Road Runner would be classified as "Acceleratii incredibus" or "Velocitus delectiblus" and Wile E. Coyote as "Famishus vulgarus" or "Apetitus giganticus."

• 76A: Constellation next to Ursa Major and Ursa Minor (DRACO).
• 85A: Brilliant display (RIOT). Tricky clue. I've heard the phrase a "riot of color," so it works.
• 113A: 90% off? (SENILE). My least favorite clue of the day. I don't need to see a "funny" clue for SENILE. People affected by senility are 90% off? That's just cruel.
• 123A: German photographer ___ Bing (ILSE). Ah, the great Ilse Bing! If you look at the grid, you'll see that this answer, even though it's an Across, is all in green. That means that PuzzleGirl filled in every letter for me.
• 127A: Classic brand of hair remover (NEET). I learned recently (from Orange's blog) that Neet is now known as Veet. Remember the ads for the hair removal product called Nads? Seriously, Nads? If I weren't so mature, I'd find that name hilarious. I could find out more, but there's no way I'm typing www.nads.com into my browser.
• 1D: Bike brand (YAMAHA). I wanted SCHWINN. Totally different kind of bike.
• 4D: It's often visited during a trip (MOTOR INN). Oh yeah ….
• 5D: Failure to communicate? (PHONE TAG). This is an awesome clue. PHONE TAG is one of those terms that used to be totally hilarious and now it's just like a normal thing to say. Isn't that funny how that happens?

• 8D: Daily or weekly (ADVERB). This one stumped me for quite a while. I thought it would have something to do with magazines or newspapers or some other type of publication.
• 11D: Author Steinhauer with the 2009 best seller "The Tourist" (OLEN). No idea. [We already have Robert Olen Butler for our OLEN clues, and that should be sufficient. Now we need to remember another author no one's ever heard of?]

• 41D: "And who ___?" (ISN'T). One of two relatively snippy colloquial phrases in this puzzle. See also, 81D: "Any day now" ("I'M WAITING").
• 52D: Area crossed by Marco Polo (GOBI). Wait, Marco Polo didn't travel across a body of water calling out to his crew members to guide him because he was, I don't know, blind-folded or something? I've really had that wrong all these years.
• 94D: Comic who said "A short summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat" (ALAN KING). Okay, that's funny.

• 101D: Gourd (NOGGIN). Here in the PuzzleHouse we prefer "melon," as in "Can you get this shirt over your big melon or is it time to send it to Goodwill?" (That's me talking to PuzzleSon. The first thing I said when he was born — and I'm not making this up — was "Oh my God, it's huge." The boy has a big head, is what I'm saying.)
• 104D: The Supreme Court, e.g. (ENNEAD). "ENNEA-" means "nine." There are nine Supreme Court justices. Quick — name them! No cheating!

When I found out I was going to be teaming up with PuzzleGirl on today's blog, I told her, "I hope we get a good one!" And today's puzzle was great, so no worries. I thought the theme was fun, clever, and consistent. You can't ask for much more. But I would like to make a request of Will Shortz and future Sunday constructors. Could you please try to make sure you have theme answers running in both the Across and the Down directions? It makes it more fun for those of us who only get to see half the clues every week. I don't have my own cool sign-off yet, so I'll borrow one from Ryan Seacrest: Peterson out!

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter] [or PuzzleGirl] [or DougP]

"Pret-a-Porter" actress / SAT 1-1-11 / Where the biblical lost tribes were held captive / Area where blood vessels enter an organ / Drawn-out chemical

Constructor: Mark Diehl

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: None

Word of the Day: SALADIN (41D: Sultan who captured Jerusalem in 1187) —

Saladin was a Kurdish Muslim who became the first Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt and Syria and led Islamic opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant. At the height of his power, he ruled over Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Hejaz, and Yemen. He led the Muslims against the Crusaders and eventually recaptured Palestine from the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem after his victory in the Battle of Hattin. His chivalrous behavior was noted by Christian chroniclers, and despite being the nemesis of the Crusaders he won the respect of many of them, including Richard the Lionheart. Rather than becoming a hated figure in Europe, he became a celebrated example of the principles of chivalry. (Wikipedia)

• • •

Well hi there! And Happy New Year! Bet you didn't think you'd be seeing PuzzleGirl again so soon, did you? Neither did I. It's a long story and it's not very interesting so I won't bore you with it. I'll just say that it involves Rex becoming unsure about which day it was yesterday. It actually sounded a little like some kind of alcohol-induced confusion but I don't really have anything to base that on. Total speculation. Absolutely no facts. Nothing at all to indicate that Rex was actually drunk yesterday when he forgot what day it was. I mean I'm sure there are many other reasons a person would be confused about what day it is. Even a person who's drinking! I mean, just because a person is drinking doesn't mean that's the reason they can't remember stuff. Ya know what? Again, this is a completely unfounded rumor — the one about how Rex was drunk and couldn't blog today — so we really shouldn't even be talking about it. Just forget I said anything.

This is going to be a quick write-up because, well, you know, it's New Year's Eve and all. Plus I figure you all are hungover today and probably can't solve the puzzle, much less read some crazy lady running her mouth about it. This New Year's Eve is actually kind of interesting. PuzzleSon, our 6th grader, is at a New Year's Eve party put on by the county at a community rec center. PuzzleHusband dropped him off there at 8:00 and will pick him up at 1:00. That's right. 1:00 A.M. My baby is out there doing God only knows what and we won't see him until practically the middle of the night. It's a little unnerving. Sure, the people running the party were all wearing bright green "STAFF" shirts, and there were two cops at the door, and parents will be required to show I.D. to pick up their kids, but just because the people putting on the party have done every single thing they can do to calm the fears of the overprotective high-strung North Arlington parents doesn't mean that something TERRIBLE WON'T HAPPEN TO MY BABY! I mean they CAN'T ANTICIPATE EVERY POSSIBLE PROBLEM! ::deep cleansing breaths:: Oh man, teenage years are gonna be rough on the Mommy in this house. ::in with the good air, out with the bad air:: Tell ya what — let's talk about the puzzle.

I really enjoyed this one. I plunked in MR. ROBOTO with no crosses whatsoever and felt like I was off to the races. That southwest corner fell pretty easily and that's probably why I have an overall positive feeling about the puzzle. It was so nice and Scrabbly down there! I did run into a little trouble when I plopped in BALE OF HAY where BANJO PICK was supposed to go (55A: Barn dance accessory), but that didn't take long to straighten out. I knew LOKI was right for 59A: Mythological trickster who was punished by being held to a rock, so even though I wasn't entirely sure what 52D would be, I was pretty sure it wouldn't be *FL**. Obviously, you can never be too sure, especially on a Saturday, but it felt like a wrong-wrong start, not just a not-really-wrong-but-tricky start. So I erased BALE OF HAY, caught on to JOEY right away from its clue (56D: Bouncing baby) and was excited to add that J to the U, Y, Z, X, and V already in that part of the grid. Love it!

The rest of the grid was a little tougher. I'm sure I've seen the name ANOUK AIMÉE before (16A: "Prêt-à-Porter" actress), but I have no idea who she is and it took me a lot of crosses before her name actually came into view. Once I got her in there, I thought 7D: Dingbats looked like it should be LOONEYS (which I think is actually a better answer than the correct GOONEYS), so that made LIGHT SHOWS (5A: Concert spectacles) hard to see.

Let's do a few bullets and then you can all get back to nursing your hangovers. My suggestion? Peanut butter toast and 7-Up. Or next time maybe don't drink so much.

Bullets:

• 1A: Star of India, once (SABU). I do not know what this means.

• 30A: N.Y.P.D. descriptor (FINEST).
• 32A: Cry to get 40-Across (SEND HELP). I tried NEED HELP first, which is a crappy answer. Especially cuz it's, ya know, wrong.
• 42A: "Rock Me ___" (1984 hit) (TONITE). I don't remember this song. At first I was thinking "Rock Me Amadeus," and actually the year isn't that far off (1986). "Rock Me TONITE," though, is a Billy Squier song and its Wikipedia page explains that "The video for the track …, which shows Squier dancing around a room in a pink tank top, frequently appears on 'worst music video ever' lists." Well that's something, I guess.
• 45A: Simon & Schuster's parent (CBS). I did not know that.
• 51A: Leaving lines (TA-TAS). Heh heh. You said TATAS.

• 57A: Onetime Chevy Blazer competitor (ISUZU RODEO). Have any of your ever heard Rosie Pérez say "Isuzu Trooper"? It's the funniest thing. I'm pretty sure it was on Letterman when I saw it, and it was like a real thing. Like Letterman said, "Okay, I've heard you do this before, so now, if you would, please say 'Isuzu Trooper' for this audience." And then she said it and everybody cracked up laughing. I wish I could find a clip of it. (SethG?)
• 8D: Dug in, with "down" (HUNKERED). This is an awesome, awesome word and we all should use it more often.
• 11D: Area where blood vessels enter an organ (HILUM). This was my WTF answer of the day. I'm not real good at the science-y stuff.
• 38D: Hit from the 1983 platinum album "Kilroy Was Here" (MR. ROBOTO). Don't try to act like you didn't know this was coming.




• 47D: Yanks' foes (BOSOX). I started a new job a couple weeks ago and the guy I work for is a huge baseball fan. He has season tickets to the Nats and that's his main team (he grew up in this area, so he was a Senators fan back in the day). So I cornered him one day and said, "Okay, I know you're a Nats fan, but if you had to pick: Yankees or Red Sox?" He was all, "Ohhhhh, this is a trick question. I really don't want to screw this up." Don't worry, I let him off the hook.

I'll be here tomorrow with a special guest, so come on back and check us out. It's sure to be entertaining. Oh and here's a tip for tomorrow. At the very bottom of the New York Times crossword blog, there's a note: "The Sunday crossword will be available on the Premium Crosswords page in both Across Lite and PDF format …. Three clues in the PDF and print version use foreign alphabets; the Across Lite version uses English-letter transliterations." So make sure you don't let that trip you up. See you tomorrow.

Love, PuzzleGirl

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter] [or PuzzleGirl]

Foster girl / FRI 12-31-10 / Serbian city Constantine Great / Gentille one of song / Humbugs of world author 1865 / Boxer who wrote Reach

Constructor: Caleb Madison

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: None

Hi, everybody. PuzzleGirl here with your very last puzzle of the year. What an honor! And it's only because Rex is off drunk somewhere. Allegedly. I mean, that's what I heard, but there really hasn't been any confirmation, so I probably shouldn't say anything. You know what? Let's just forget I said anything. I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason that Rex isn't here today and I'm relatively certain it has nothing to do with alcohol. So let's just move on. Sorry about that.

Hey, look everybody! It's Caleb! Remember how yesterday Andrea was talking about how everybody has a crush on Caleb? Well that's the truth. And if you met him, you'd know why. He's completely adorable. Now, he's got a filthy mouth on him, that's for sure. But other than that? Completely. Adorable. Oh and then there was that one time he used RECARVE in a puzzle. Boy, that was ghastly! But did I mention he's completely adorable? Would you like to see a picture? I know you would.

So here's the thing about this puzzle. There is some awesome, awesome stuff in here. Then there's some stuff that really stinks. So let's just really quickly get this out of the way: NIS is the 25A: Serbian city where Constantine the Great was born. Huh. Interesting? Memorable? Fun? No. ACTA is clued as 32D: Court proceedings. Whatever. S-STARS? IPSA? (Don't try to act like you didn't try "ipso" first.) QUA? ORRS? AITCH? I could definitely do without any of that stuff. Actually QUA wasn't that bad for me because it tricked me: I tried both "per" and "ala" before it finally clicked into place. But that's all I'm going to say about the bad stuff because there's a lot more good stuff to talk about. Like …

STICK IT TO THE MAN (35A: Be revolting). Is that awesome or what? And BROMANCE? Will let's the young kids get away with all that hip slang. And that's a good thing! Plus, how crazy does LAILA ALI look in the grid with all her Ls and As and whatnot (3D: Boxer who wrote "Reach!")? I also like the dueling melt downs of WIGS (10D: Freaks (out)) and LOSE IT (34D: Freak). Everybody chill! Let's just run some bullets and get out of here.

Bullets:

• 1A: One likely to die on the road? (JALOPY). I know Rex was just talking about the Archie comics here the other day. Did someone in the Archie Gang drive a JALOPY? Because I always associate the word JALOPY with Archie. Or I bet it was Jughead. He seems like he would drive a JALOPY, right?

• 7A: What something may go down to (THE WIRE). I've heard so many great things about this show. (Yes, I know it's not clued as the show, but I'm just going off on a tangent, try to keep up.) But I've never seen it! Then all of a sudden one day, I'm looking at something on the Internet machine about it and I realize that the brother of a friend of mine was actually on the show. Now I definitely need to see it. Good thing we finally signed up for Netflix last week. What year is it again?
• 14A: Foster girl (JEANIE). This is a reference to Stephen Foster's famous song "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair." But you knew that.

• 15A: Poster girl (TEEN IDOL). The most popular poster girl here at the PuzzleHouse is Taylor Swift. In fact, when I got home from work today, PuzzleDaughter and her friend immediately started explaining to me about how they had just been discussing how cool it would be if Taylor Swift came to PuzzleDaughter's birthday party because then maybe they could cut off a little piece of her hair and keep it as a souvenir. Also if she went to sleep, they could take a video of her sleeping. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.
• 41A: San Francisco's Museo ___ Americano (ITALO). Thought we were looking for Spanish here, but I couldn't get Latino, Chicano, OR Mexicano to fit.
• 47A: Big hit (POW).



• 57A: "The Humbugs of the World" author, 1865 (P. T. BARNUM). Oh yeah, I liked the two guys with the two initials. J. J. ABRAMS (1D: Creator of TV's "Alias") looks especially cool in the grid with that J collision that seems like it should be totally wrong until you realize what's going on.
• 63A: 1974 hit with Spanish lyrics (ERES TU). I really wanted this to be "Oye Como Va" for some reason. Oh right, because it's a kick-ass song.



• 65A: The Allman Brothers Band, e.g. (SEXTET). Okay, one more video, but that's it.



• 38D: "Gentille" one of song (ALOUETTE). Does this song make anyone else think of Ginger on Gilligan's Island? Just me? Fair enough.

That's it for me for now. I might be back in a couple days. You just really never know who's gonna show up when Rex is … indisposed.

Love, PuzzleGirl

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter] [or PuzzleGirl]

Pacific sultanate / MON 9-6-10 / Jesus of 1960s Giants / Chinese province where Mao was born / Out-of-studio TV broadcast / Portrayer Austin Powers

Constructor: Randall J. Hartman

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: S-A , T-U-R, D-A-Y … NIGHT! — First words of theme answers can come after "Saturday Night" in familiar phrases.

Word of the Day: BRUNEI (43D: Pacific sultanate) —

Brunei …, officially the State of Brunei Darussalam or the Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace …, is a sovereign state located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia. Apart from its coastline with the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the state of Sarawak, Malaysia, and in fact it is separated into two parts by Limbang, which is part of Sarawak. It is the only sovereign state completely on the island of Borneo, with the remainder of the island belonging to Malaysia and Indonesia. …

Under Brunei's 1959 constitution, His Majesty Paduka Seri Baginda Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah is the head of state with full executive authority, including emergency powers, since 1962. ...

The official language of the nation is Malay …, although an important minority speak Chinese. The local variety of Malay (Kedayan or Bukit Malay), spoken natively by two thirds of the population, is quite divergent from and unintelligible to Standard Malay. The most important aboriginal languages are Iban, and two languages called Tutong, each with about 20,000 speakers.

English is also widely spoken and there is a relatively large expatriate community with significant numbers of British and Australian citizens.

[Wikipedia]

• • •

Hi, everyone. PuzzleGirl here with you for the last day of your long weekend. Rex's internet went out earlier this afternoon and he texted me to ask if I could fill in for him if necessary. I checked in with him again later and he said he had his internet back, but I noticed from his Facebook status that he had been working on perfecting the whisky sour, so I offered to give him the night off. You know what I always say: Don't Drink and Blog! (Actually, I never say that, but whatever.)

Cute little theme today. I finished the puzzle in a little under four minutes, which is right about average for me, so I rated it a medium. Let me run down the theme answers for you real quick and then I'll get to the part I'm dying to tell you.

Theme answers:

• 20A: Green Berets (SPECIAL FORCES)
• 33A: Frenzied state (FEVER PITCH)
• 40A: Out-of-studio TV broadcast (LIVE REMOTE)
• 47A: Popular date time … or a phrase that can precede the starts of 20-, 33- and 40-Across (SATURDAY NIGHT)

Okay, here's the thing. Some of you might know that I'm a huge University of Iowa wrestling fan. (Go Hawks!) In fact, I think it's fair to say that my two passions are crossword puzzles and college wrestling. I was pretty sure I was the only one in the world with that particular combination of interests. And then I find out that today's constructor, Randy Hartman, is an NCAA wrestling referee! The NYT blog posted a picture of him and I totally recognize him! I'm blown away. I guess I'm going to have to make a little room for him in the middle of my Venn diagram.

So how about this puzzle? SPECIAL FORCES and FEVER PITCH have a little zip to them. On the other hand, LIVE REMOTE just kinda sits there. I would describe the rest of the puzzle as solid and non-flashy as well. I did think PINKO (16A: Commie) was an awesome/interesting/unexpected entry. Raise your hand if it brought Archie Bunker to mind for you. I'm one of those solvers who likes people in her puzzles and today I enjoyed the thought of MIKE MYERS, JET LI, and CORA Dithers hanging out together (4D: Portrayer of Austin Powers, "international man of mystery" / 38D: Martial arts champion-turned-film star / 35A: Mrs. Dithers in "Blondie"). Yes, I know there are other people in the grid, but those are the ones I thought would make an interesting get-together. I just don't see 60A: "Project Runway" host HEIDI Klum and 58A: Jesus ALOU of the 1960s Giants adding much to the general atmosphere. If you want to invite them, you can go ahead and have your own little party. Remember: This is all make-believe anyway!

I did have some trouble down in the southwest corner. I entered BAH for HAH goes (53D: "When pigs fly!") and didn't even question that B. So when it looked like the 53A: Chinese province where Mao was born was BUNA* crossing 43D: Pacific sultanate BRU*EI, I guessed N and called it good. If I had thought for a moment about BUNAN, I probably would have realized it should be HUNAN and then I wouldn't have been stressing about that N, which was a total guess as I don't recall ever hearing of BRUNEI. I think the reason I didn't question that B, though, was because I was so busy stressing about the N. It was a Catch-22 is what I'm saying. On to the …

Bullets:

• 23A: Pest attracted to light (MOTH). — Is there a bug that's not attracted to light? I'm sitting at a big picture window with no blinds right now and the constant thunking of the bugs on the glass is amusing to me. Is that wrong?

• 25A: Words before serious, ready or listening (ARE YOU) — I see the makings of another theme here ….
• 38A: Revolutionary War hero John Paul ____ (JONES) — I actually think Quincy JONES would make a better addition to my fictional party.
• 46A: ____ monster (GILA) — If you have kids and you're moving to a different part of the country, I highly recommend the book Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport. Good stuff.
• 25D: Hairstyles of Sly and the Family Stone (AFROS) — When people are mentioned in the clues for AFROS it's almost always Jimi Hendrix, Jesse Jackson, or the Jackson Five. I like that this clue mixed it up a little. You know who else has awesome afros? The Sylvers.



• 29D: Pinnacle (ACME) — Hi, Andrea!

Love, PuzzleGirl

[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter]

Stuffed sole stuffing / 8-9-10 / Actress Mimieux of "The Time Machine" / "Delta of Venus" author

Constructor: David Poole

Relative difficulty: I don't know


THEME: I'm glad there are only four theme answers — Theme answers are familiar phrases that describe actions beginning with a word that can be related to eating (but isn't in this particular phrase).

Hi, everybody. PuzzleGirl here with you today while Rex is traveling back home. Sorry this post is a little late going up. I didn't realize I was on for today and I was out kinda late last night listening to ghost stories at the Stanley Hotel (the big, creepy hotel where they filmed "The Shining"). It's in Estes Park, Colorado, where the PuzzleFamily is on vacation this week. We heard about the ghost story thing and thought the PuzzleKids would really enjoy it. Unfortunately, the Hour And A Half (!) long program could have been boiled down to roughly 20 minutes without losing any of its entertainment value. Oh well. The hotel is pretty cool. We'll try to go back during the day sometime this week to get some pictures. So far we just have pictures of the glorious outdoors (and I mean that sincerely — this place is heaven).


Theme answers:

• 20A: Accept an inevitable hardship (BITE THE BULLET)
• 27A: Ham it up (CHEW THE SCENERY)
• 43A: Fall for a flimflam (SWALLOW THE BAIT)
• 51A: Understand what's happening (DIGEST THE NEWS)

As is typical with a Monday puzzle, I was rolling through this one fast enough that I didn't fully grasp the theme. I recognized that the phrases were "[x]ing the [x]," but that was as far as my brain could take it while I was busy with the rest of the fill. It was only afterwards that I realized the "[x]ing" words were related. In any case, cute Monday theme idea with solid, colorful phrases. Well, except for DIGEST THE NEWS. I had to think about that one for a minute to understand its common usage, which I believe is "It took me a minute to DIGEST THE NEWS — the elderly couple on the landing were actually Mr. and Mrs. Stanley!"

Bullets:

• 5A: "Hannah Montana" star Miley (CYRUS) — My daughter is nine so, yeah, this one was no problem.

• 10A: Height: Prefix (ACRO-) — I actually started with ALTI- so that northeast corner was the last to fall.
• 48D: Site of many Chicago touchdowns (O'HARE) — I have to admit this one fooled me for a quick second. I'm going to say it's only because I have a friend who writes for NBC Sports in Chicago and she's been tweeting a lot about Da Bears lately.
• 56A: "How could ___" (I NOT) — Ooh. Clunky.
• 65A: Alternative to a convertible (SEDAN) — Raise your hand if you started writing in T-TOP but ran out of letters before you ran out of spaces.
• 3D: Stuffed sole stuffing (CRABMEAT) — This was a total mystery to me. I don't eat seafood so a dish made of seafood stuffed with other seafood isn't exactly on my radar.

• 44D: Conestogas, e.g. (WAGONS) — Nailed this one. It's been in the LA Times puzzle twice in the past couple of weeks and the first time I ever even Heard the word was at last year's Lollapuzzoola tournament, in what I refer to as the "Conestoga Incident." By the way, I hope you all are coming to Lollapuzzoola next week. It's not too late to register.
• 55D: Cry made while cracking a whip, maybe (WORK) — Whoa. I'm only coming up with some pretty horrifying circumstances where this clue actually makes sense. I think I might have gone in a different direction here.

That's enough outta me for today. The great outdoors awaits. You all have a great Monday and, with any luck, Rex will be back tomorrow.

Love, PuzzleGirl

[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter]

Base found in DNA and RNA / FRI 8-6-10 / "That greeny flower" in a William Carlos Williams poem / Bruce Springsteen ballad

Constructor: Patrick Berry

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: None

Word of the Day: Asphodel (7A: "That greeny flower" in a William Carlos Williams poem) —

any of several flowering plants belonging to the family Asphodelaceae. It is a variously applied and thus much misunderstood common name. The asphodel of the poets is often a narcissus; that of the ancients is either of two genera, Asphodeline or Asphodelus, containing numerous species in the Mediterranean region.

They are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white, pink, or yellow flowers. Asphodelus albus and A. fistulosus have white-to-pink flowers and grow from 45 to 60 cm (1 1/2 to 2 feet) high.

(Encyclopedia Britannica)

• • •

Hi, everybody. PuzzleGirl here coming off the bench for the day and wondering how in the hell I got so lucky. Patrick Berry! I squealed when I saw his name! And then I got scared. Sometimes the really, really good constructors come up with stuff that I am totally not smart enough for. I had a lot of fun with this puzzle though. I actually got off to a great start in the northwest corner and really really had to try hard not to get cocky (knowing it would undoubtedly backfire on me). I sometimes tend to jump around a lot in late-week puzzles because I just can't get a foothold, but the way I tackled the NW felt, well, it just felt right. (Yes, I'm getting all mushy over my crossword solving experience. And yes, I have been called a nerd, why do you ask?) I was wary of 1A because I thought STUFFS for 1A: Prepares for the trophy room, say was just too easy. Then I entered SKI off the S (6D: Word with pole or jump) and, again, assumed I was totally missing something. I made an educated guess that 3D: Weak and craven started with UN, which allowed to make the totally wild-ass guess that 15A: Husband of Denmark's Queen Margrethe was HENRIK.

I was pretty lucky with several of my guesses, but I also had a number of false starts.

• 21A: Cheap roofing material (TIN). Wanted "tar."
• 22A: Wartime bridge builder (SEABEE). Tried SEA DOG which I believe is a thing, it's just not the right thing.
• 24A: Prevailing character (TONE). Wanted "ethos" which, obviously, didn't fit.
• 30A: A belligerent arguer may grab them (LAPELS). I tried "straws" first. But I realized at some point that straws are more "grasped" than grabbed.

• 50A: What phorid flies are imported to prey on (FIRE ANTS). I had the "ants" part and tried "army" first. I erased it when I tried "insults" for RETORTS (35D: "So's your old man!" and others) which was the right thing to do even if it was the wrong reason to do it.
• 36A: Walks aimlessly (TRAIPSES). Wow is TRAIPSES a great word! I had "meanders" at first, which was confirmed by LEANN (30D: Singer Rimes) but made me think I had SALIERI mixed up with someone else (37D: Composer who tutored Mozart's son).

Overall, though, this was an enjoyable, challenging romp…. Except for that one letter I got wrong. Argh! ASPHODEL crossing SIMNEL (8D: ___ cake (marzipan-covered dessert)? Patrick Berry, you are the devil! I ran the alphabet there and decided my choices were L, M, N, R, and S. I went with L. And today L = DNF for PuzzleGirl. Woe is me.

Happier things:

• 18A: Dr. Eric Foreman's portrayer on "House" (OMAR EPPS). I always like it when people get both their first and last names in the grid.
• 20A: Carol king (WENCESLAS). Awesome clue.



• 46A: Item first marketed under the name Snurfer (SNOWBOARD). The things you learn.
• 48A: She won three Grammys for her 1989 album "Nick of Time" (RAITT). Two words: Bad. Ass.



• 7D: They reproduce via mitosis (AMOEBAS). I don't know when they ("they"!) decided to start spelling AMOEBA without the O, but it's always bothered me. So this made me happy.

• 13D: Catalán relative (ESPAÑOL). I have a hard time figuring out down answers sometimes when I only have some of the letters, so I write them out horizontally and it often becomes clear that way. That's what happened on this one.
• 29D: It sometimes covers first-time performers (FLOP SWEAT). Ew.

Thanks for hanging out with me today. I'm not sure who will be here tomorrow. It won't be me, but I'm sure it'll be someone who will take good care of you!

[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter]

Pugilists' org. / 7-10-10 / Artist's place / Looney Tunes animator Friz / London weekly, with "The"

Constructor: Joe DiPietro

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: None

Word of the Day: INFRA DIG (33D: Beneath one's self-respect) —

This derives from the Latin infra dignitatem, literally - 'beneath (one's) dignity'. It is first recorded by William Hazlitt in Table talk; or, original essays on men and manners, 1822 …. The first person to put the shortened infra dig. version into print was Sir Walter Scott. He uses it in his 1825 novel Redgauntlet …. It is now more commonly written without the full stop. Even most of those who realize it is an abbreviation now consider it to be well-enough established not to require it ….

[The Phrase Finder]

• • •

Hi, everyone. PuzzleGirl here with you for this week's Saturday puzzle. Rex is off, I don't know … doing something somewhere. Who cares? The important thing is that we're here and there's a puzzle to talk about.

As you might know, I'm always nervous when I cover for Rex late in the week, because it's not a sure thing that I'll even be able to finish the puzzle. And as much as I know it's nice once in a while to read someone who's, ya know, mortal when it comes to puzzle solving, it still feels like a big drag to me to have to admit my failure so publicly. Fortunately, I didn't have too much trouble today. Yay, me! I mean, I wasn't 100% sure FRELENG (30A: Looney Tunes animator Friz) and INFRA DIG were right (HAha! Just mistyped INFRA DOG), and I still don't get why OTC is 23A: Share letters?, but the crosses on all three of those words looked solid so I put my pencil down and called it good.

This was a typical late-week solving experience for me. First time through the clues, I only had a couple I was sure of: like ALE TAP (12D: Fixture in a pub), OVATION (24A: Big hand), and FIN (43A: 1950s car feature). I built from those few gimmes and plugged away long enough to put it all together. Sure, I mistakenly entered wise men for THE MAGI (49A: Storied gift givers), metals for STONES (14D: Precious ones, possibly), and WBA for IBF (33A: Pugilists' org.), but that all worked itself out eventually. (Just in case you're interested, I did not have that kind of luck with today's L.A. Times puzzle. The post on that puzzle — which, as of right now, I haven't written but I'm sure will be completely pathetic — will be over on my blog. Damn you, Doug Peterson!)

Favorite answers in the grid for me were SOUP BONE (1A: Stock maker's addition) and FAKE TAN (20A: You might have one after spraying yourself). I thought SOUP BONE was going to be some kind of barn or ranch … field or something. (Is there such a thing as a ranch field? It looks pretty dumb now that I've actually typed it out.) And when I got SOUP BONE I thought to myself, "Now there's an awesome 1 Across answer." You know what else that would be awesome as? A blues musician's nickname: Walter "Soup Bone" Hutchins. (I just made that up, but it sounds pretty good, right?) And FAKE TAN makes me think of The Ohio State University wrestling team, which I'm sure no one reading this blog understands or cares about at all. (Let's just say that there's not enough sun in Columbus, Ohio, in the dead of winter for those boys to be that toasty looking.)

Bullets:

• 9A: Field's pair (OSCARS). I assume this is Sally Field. I'm kind of surprised she only has two.

• 15A: Site of a college stadium that seats over 100,000 (ANN ARBOR). I thought this might be referring to the stadium at Penn State (which I've seen and is massive), but ANN ARBOR's is twice as massive. Wow! Oh wait, that's wrong. Beaver Stadium started out at under 50,000, but has been renovated since then and is now the third largest stadium in the world. Michigan Stadium has room for about 200 more people. So I was close! (Also: Hi, foodie!)
• 17A: Not taken in (YET TO SEE). I have YET TO SEE "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," and the second movie in the series is already out, so I believe I'll get my butt in gear and see it this weekend.
• 41A: Big pistol maker (BERETTA). I misspelled this at first as BaRETTA. Which reminds me: Sammy says "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

• 51A: Detective's question (WHO DID IT). For some reason, this really tickled me. I was thinking "Where were you …?" "Can you describe him …?" "Did you notice anything unusual …?" But WHO DID IT? That's a little on the nose, don't you think?
• 4D: "Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful" novelist, 1981 (PATON). This is an anti-Apartheid novel by South African Alan Paton. Sounds interesting.
• 6D: London weekly, with "The" (OBSERVER). Tried Guardian first.
• 10D: Upset (SHAKEN). Not stirred.

• 22D: Artist's place (ATELIER). I distinctly remember learning this word from Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.
• 42D: Extremely (EVER SO). Does Dorothy use this phrase in "The Wizard of Oz"? Because whenever I see it, in my head I hear it in her voice.

See you back here tomorrow!

Love, PuzzleGirl

[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter.]

P.S. If you live in the D.C. area or are close enough that you would consider attending a puzzle tournament here, please pop over to my blog and participate in the poll I've just added. It will only take a second — the poll is right at the top of my sidebar. Thanks!