Champion cyclist Leipheimer / SAT 4-9-11 / Japanese folk music swing feel / Singer/songwriter Vienna / 1979 negotiation / Pied wader / TV angel Munroe

Constructor: Scott Atkinson

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: ONDO (64A: Japanese folk music with a swing feel) —

is a type of Japanese folk music genre. (wikipedia—rest of the write-up is terribly written, with no cited sources, and I can't find anything useful elsewhere on the internet. Most ONDO defs. give it as a place name in Nigeria... there appear to be two main types of ONDO, Goshu and Kawachi; do (non-Japanese) people really know this???)

• • •

I've had better times solving puzzles. This one felt very uneven—super-easy everywhere but the SW, which felt normal, and NE, which was nearly impossible for me. So many strange names I'd just never heard of. EDNA BEST is the one that killed me (26A: "The Man Who Knew Too Much" co-star); I stupidly had ALDERS instead of ALDENS at 10D: "The Courtship of Miles Standish" couple, and so figured I was dealing with ED somebody (not knowing anyone in "The Man Who Knew Too Much" besides Jimmy Stewart ... turns out EDNA BEST was in the earlier, 1934 version, with Peter Lorre ... ??? ... not the '56 Jimmy Stewart remake). ED RABEST? Yeesh. Some cyclist named LEVI? (18A: Champion cyclist Leipheimer) Somebody else named TENG? (40A: Singer/songwriter Vienna ___) And what's up with the clue for WORK? (11A: A bummer for bums) I see now which meaning of "bum" they were going for, but the clue really reads as if I'm supposed to see tramps or vagrants as people who are poor simply because they don't like to WORK. Anyway, that corner was awful. Much of the rest of the puzzle was lovely, though loopy stuff like ONDO and STANE (53D: ___ Street (road from London Bridge to Chichester)) and BONITO (1D: Mackerel family member) I could really have done without. Really unfortunate to have pretty stuff like MRS. ROBINSON (23D: "Here's to you" recipient) and WOLF BLITZER and NO MAN'S LAND (17A: Unclaimed stretch) offset by junky little names and obscurities.



Went BROTHS to THUMP to PEU and was off to the races. Slowed down somewhat by Yet Another actor's name—though luckily this was the most common actor in all of crossworld, so once I picked up enough crosses, he went down. Didn't know that meaning of SCAR (35A: Protruding rock). ONDO schmondo. But I got out of there and over to the SE, which went down like a Wednesday (STANE notwithstaneding). Then there was just the NE, where I spent well over half my solving time. Tried something-PULITZER (?) before realizing "Emmy" meant TV, and finally mentally rolodexing my way to WOLF BLITZER. Had OATH for 16A: Shakespeare's "temple-haunting martlet" is a good one (OMEN). Had OOH for AAH (27D: "That's nice"). If I hadn't serendipitously come up with SALT II (30A: 1979 negotiation), with just the S and L in place, I don't now what I would have done. Wish I'd remembered Madame Defarge, but I just drew a huge blank (decades since I read "A Tale of Two Cities") (14D: Madame Defarge's sinister craft=>KNITTING).


[5D: When "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" aired: Abbr. => MON.]
Bullets:

• 1A: Network since 1998 (BBC AMERICA) — looks pretty good in the grid. Easy to get once the second B and C were in there.
  
• 28A: Seattle sea hawks (OSPREYS) — clever, but not at all tricky.
  
• 38A: "War With the Newts" novelist, 1936 (CAPEK) — he of "R.U.R." fame.
  
• 58A: "___ Boys" (1886 sequel) ("JO'S") — nice fat gimme. Strangely, I wanted JOS. PULITZER where WOLF BLITZER ended up going.
  
• 48D: Highball with white rum (MOJITO) — popular drink. Never heard the word "highball" anywhere around it, but since a "highball" is just a drink with alcohol and a larger portion of non-alcoholic mixer, the label fits.
  
• 57D: Supermodel Benitez (ELSA) — nooo idea.
  
• 49D: Pied wader (AVOCET) — an important crossword bird.
  
• 52D: Apache topper (ROTOR) — the helicopter, not the native American.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Brand written about by Hawthorne / FRI 10-22-10 / Host of the 1974 Asian Games / “La Legende des Siecles” poet / “Avalon” band

Constructor: Scott Atkinson

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium


THEME: none

• • •

Hi! Andrea Carla Michaels here, sitting in for Rex as part of my week-long birthday celebration (and yes, I’m still accepting well wishes!) So, you know what that means, NO pulp fiction references, nor baseball (nor even college wrestling) (till tomorrow!) Can’t live without that? There is a train leaving for Hofstra in about 20 minutes and I’m sure Rex would appreciate front-row attendance!

So today we have a lovely offering from constructor Scott Atkinson, all Scrabbly, just the way I like my Fridays…Not only a complete pangram with the requisite X, J and Q, but he gives us two Zs and three Ks! (Why do all the great double ZZ words start with P? PALAZZI, PIZZAZZ, PUZZLE, PIZZARELLI?)

Usually I like to start at 1A. “What a wink often means”. Hmmmm. I toyed with a sharp stick in your eye (I wear contacts and that’s what makes me wink), complicity…even lasciviousness (which I have no idea how to spell…and still don’t). So I looked to 1D: “ ___ Sharp, founder of Four Seasons Hotel”, zero help there…TO my shock, it turns out 1D is a shout out to our very own Rex Parker, aka Professor Michael Sharp, as ISADORE is his father! (IMKIDDING)

2D “Let go” (MANUMIT) was even harder, even tho it appeared recently by one of the young boy constructors, I think. But it means to “set free, as slaves” which sounds more serious to me, than a simple “let go”.

So the NW remained initially blank. Thank goodness for 10A “Words that prevent firing” (the peppy “IQUIT!”) and I was off and running. That Q led easily to QUIRKY, which helped me realize that MIKADO refers to a person
(25A “Old Asian title”) not a place, and the IV then gave me IVANHOE (26D “Literary classic featuring the jester Wamba”).

Actually, the puzzle took my usual time (less than half an episode of “The Office”) but I have to admit, I got all the literary references without having read or seen any of them, I’m semi-embarrassed to say. That includes the aforementioned MIKADO, ETHAN (31A “Brand written about by Hawthorne), IVANHOE, and any work by JKROWLING, or the novelist Dominick DUNNE. I should have my library card revoked…or, I guess, better yet, reissued.

Here’s what I do know about, however: Anything potentially involving a gratuitous mention of italiani ragazzi. Ecce, 39D “Grand Canal sights” (PALAZZI). I’m guessing some of you debated whether the plural of GONDOLA was GONDOLAS or GONDOLE or GONDOLI. My initial musings on “Grand Canal sights” included Arcangelo, Alessandro and Valerio!

Ah, Venice! This, of course, leads me to 41A “Hot partner?” I had the H from IVANHOE, so I tried HEAVY, but HEAVYSET was already in the grid (29A “Thick”), so in went HUNKY, which I will count as a mini-malapop for DORY (54D “Small fishing vessel”).

Monday gal that I am, I am always looking for a theme, and this one seemed political:

Begin and SADAT, LeninGRAD, Bella ABZUG, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da SILVA, and GORE. Poor Al GORE… being ignominiously clued as 32D “Stick” (with an extra dig of WAXEN right below!) (I mean, how many masseuses does the man have to chase around Portland hotel rooms before he loses his image of being a WAXEN “stick”???!!!)

Even the musical references were a bit political; from “folkies” RICHIE HAVEN, and retro-hipsters’ ROXYMUSIC to John Lennon fans’ IMAGINE.

Even tho I consider myself a major Beatles’ fan, 43D “1970s peace anthem” was my biggest bugaboo. I went from the terribly wrong KUMBAYA to getting so far as to have IM- - INE, and then confidently writing in “I, ME, MINE”!

Perhaps it was because “__ Mine” had just been in an earlier week puzzle (by the way, those of you who skip early week puzzles and only do Thursday thru Sunday are missing some fabulous crosswords these past few weeks! Especially the Thursday puzzles that are being passed off as Wednesdays and the Friday ones that mysteriously appear on Tuesdays!).

Another of my more egregious first stabs involved 28D “Once-in-a-lifetime trip, for some” (HAJ). I dropped in LSD. (Then I turned on and tuned in…)

And finally, I had DEteCTS for 44D “Concentrates, in a way.” (DECOCTS). DECOCTS?! Seriously? That reminds me… I have a bris this Sunday.

Oh! Is it too late to mention the sort of cool SIN crossing SINKSIN? I mean look at it: SIN, SINkSIN! Triple SINS! That’s a lot of 24A“Letting one’s god down?” How many “Hail Marys” for that, my non-Jewish pals?

Drat, time to stop writing and I haven’t even gotten to my “I am the real ANASTASIA” stories!
Till next time! With love (and lots of technical assistance from SethG), -ACME

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]