Softly hit ball in tennis — MONDAY, Aug. 24 2009 — Medicine woman of 1990s TV / Pagoda instruments / Tilter at windmills

Constructor: Anthony J. Salvia

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: DQ — theme answers are 3 people (1 real, 2 fictional) and a fast food chain, all of whose initials are D.Q.

Word of the Day: DINK (55A: Softly hit ball in tennis) — n.

1. A two-career couple with no children.
2. A member of such a couple.

[D(ual) I(ncome) N(o) K(ids).]

OR

n. Sports.

A drop shot.

[From dink, sound of a weakly hit or dropped ball.]

OR

n. Offensive Slang.

Used as a disparaging term for a North Vietnamese soldier or guerrilla in the Vietnam War.

[Origin unknown.]

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A straightforward Monday puzzle. No bells and whistles, just a bunch of phrases with one feature in common. Actually, the four "Q"s are at least a bell, if not a whistle, and they lead to at least one nice word in the crosses: BAROQUE (40D: Like the works of Handel and Bach). Other than that, not much to laugh (or cry) about. I rated it "Medium" for difficulty, though honestly I have no idea how difficult it was. I filled some out, and then went downstairs or dinner, and then filled the rest of it out in front of the TV, so whether this would have taken me 3 minutes or 4 (and that's a chasm where difficulty level is concerned), I don't know. I fell into at least one trap — SHAPE for SOLID (44D: Sphere or cube) — and I needed a lot of help to get FLARED UP (36D: Came back, as allergies; wanted it to start RE-) — and I simply couldn't think of an answer for either 23A: Little article accompanying a bigger article (sidebar) or 45A: Plaza displays (parades) at first glance. I have never seen a PARADE in a "plaza." Just on streets. PARADES through plazas makes me think only of communist countries (U.S.S.R., N. Korea, with the precision military marching and tanks and what not).

Theme answers:

• 17A: Tilter at windmills (Don Quixote) — I feel like I'm tilting every time I try to read it. Furthest I've got is something like 500 pages. You'd think that if I got that far I could finish. But no.

• 11D: Star of "The Rookie," 2002 (Dennis Quaid) — not his most famous film (I don't think), thus an odd clue for a Monday.
• 25D: Medicine woman of 1990s TV (Doctor Quinn) — the show is called "DR. QUINN, Medicine Woman." This seems important.
• 49A: Place to order a Blizzard (Dairy Queen) — as soon as I got DOCTOR QUINN (which revealed the theme), I went looking for DAIRY QUEEN.

Bullets:

• 19A: City NNW of Oklahoma City (Enid) — In Crossworld, ENID is the OSLO of the U.S., with one exception — if I'd never done a crossword, I would still have heard of OSLO.
• 29A: Biblical objects of multiplication (loaves) — first thought: FISHES?
• 9D: Detest (execrate) — that's a great verb, even if it is a little too close to EXCRETE for my comfort.
• 10D: Think creatively (ideate) — one of my most hated crossword words.
• 27D: Pagoda instruments (gongs) — handy that I only recently learned that a "pagoda" was not a store in the barrio.
• 45D: Argentine dictator who was ousted in 1955 (Peron) — why am I reading words backwards today. PERON has NO REP. ENID wants to DINE. ENOLA is ALONE at the top of the list of famous planes in Crossworld. Etc.

Final dispatch from the Lollapuzzoola tournament this past weekend. I don't know of any other recaps out there — when I learn of them, I'll link to them. Here are the results from the tournament. I feel like I should mention some of my regular readers/commenters who were there, like mac and HudsonHawk and PhillySolver. I should also mention the amazingly delicious and enjoyable post-tournament dinner I had with Tony Orbach, Patrick Blindauer, and Patrick's girlfriend Rebecca Young. Patrick and Rebecca are now doing some co-constructing, and if the puzzles are anything like they are when they get together, then those puzzles will be ... I want to say "garrulous" or "sassy" or "filled with clues that are hilarious and perfect but so offensive they will never see print." Tony Orbach is the sweetest, friendliest guy you'll ever meet. I have no idea how I'm going to find the strength to go on undervaluing his puzzles, but I'll try. Anyway, that's all about that. For all those who have ever wanted to go to a tournament but thought they weren't good enough: Your Skill Level Is Virtually Irrelevant. If you really like xwords and you can hack your way through even a Wednesday puzzle, you should go. I hope more small, affordable regional tournaments like this start turning up across the country. They're a great way to add to the social dimension of this hobby.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

PS big thanks to treedweller for filling in for me on Saturday. I know lots of struggling solvers who appreciated the write-up immensely.

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MONDAY, Oct. 13, 2008 - Anthony J. Salvia (Sherlock Holmes adventure, in brief / Beta preceder / Faux Chinese dish / Hurler Hideo)

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "MAIN" homonyms - four theme answers end with MAIN, MANE, MEIN, and MAINE, respectively

A "Medium" puzzle that was maybe even slightly more challenging than the ordinary Monday puzzle, primarily because "THE LION'S MANE" means nothing to me. I've read some Sherlock Holmes "adventures," but not this one, I guess. And how is "THE LION'S MANE" "brief" (29A: Sherlock Holmes adventure, in brief)? Oh, I see, you just removed "The Adventure of ..." from the beginning of the title. That feels Highly illegal and shifty to me. I also thought that there was a "The" at the beginning of "USA Today" (16A: _____ Today). As anyone who watches "The Colbert Report" knows, he regularly reads the "The USA Today." The double-"THE" thing is a joke. BUT ... when I look at the paper or the website, it just reads "USA Today," so ... now I don't know what he's going on about. I never read that paper anyway (unless I'm on vacation and the hotel foist it upon me), so maybe it doesn't matter.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Caribbean area where pirates plundered (Spanish Main) - again, I would say this is a little tougher than average for a Monday theme answer
• 29A: Sherlock Holmes adventure, in brief ("The Lion's Mane")
• 45A: Faux Chinese dish (beef chow mein)
• 59A: City on the Penobscot River (Bangor, Maine) - wasn't Margaret Houlihan's fiancé on "M*A*S*H" named Donald Penobscot? Yes! Now where the hell is that instant recall of arcana when I need it?!

Also had a lot of trouble with 33A: Truth _____ (interrogation injection) (serum) - I had no idea how to parse that clue, as I though "injection" was meant in the sense of "interjection," and so I was imagining a phrase beginning with "Truth" that a detective might say to a perp. Or something. Disaster, especially considering how easy the answer is. One other stumble: SHOE for SOLE (18D: The heel is attached to it).

In an act of shameful pandering to right-wing nutjobs (I'm kidding here, but feel free to get angry if you must), the puzzle has decided to put JOHN McCain into the puzzle (39D: Sen. McCain). What's next, an anagram of PALIN's name in the shape of a cross!? (In fact, that is what is next - see the NW corner of the puzzle.) The puzzle even threw in the JELLO (39A: Translucent dessert) that was McCain's metaphor for the Obama tax plan ("like nailing JELLO to the wall"). Speaking of crossword puzzles about the Republican ticket ... I demand that you all do my VP debate-themed puzzle and then mail it to five people, and then they tell their friends, and so on, and so on, and so on, like in the Vidal Sassoon ad. Aargh, I can't find the ad I'm referring to at YouTube, but I did find this - sorry Roy:


[Update - thanks to "Anonymous" for finding the ad I was looking for - Fabergé, not Sassoon]


Bullets:

• 6A: Alternative to buttons on a jacket (snaps) - why "on a jacket"? They could be an alternative on pants and shirts and other things too.
• 11A: Proof finale (Q.E.D.) - have you seen the movie "Proof" (1991)? It has a good finale. And beginning and middle, too. Russell Crowe has never been more watchable. The following vid has a cheesy song unrelated to the movie - couldn't find embeddable clips - but it's got enough memorable shots in it to make me remember why I Loved this movie.

• 14A: Stewpots (ollas) - here is a New Yorker cartoon someone sent me recently. It's cute, but not funny (like most New Yorker cartoons):

• 24A: Harrison Ford's "Star Wars" role (Han Solo) - Not sure why I'm so excited by this answer. I do tend to like any answer from my childhood.
• 7D: Hurler Hideo (Nomo) - "Hurler" is about the least appetizing baseball word there is. NOMO used to be on the Red Sox. And the Dodgers.
  
• 41A: Turner who sang "We Don't Need Another Hero" (Tina) - "Two men enter, one man leaves!"
  
  
  And the actual music video for the song in question:
  
  

• 49A: Jupiter's Io and Callisto (moons) - all names from classical mythology. All of them in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," I believe. I'm about to re-embark upon a reading of that poem. It's ... vital.
• 57A: _____ lane (commuters' aid) (HOV) - I had not heard of this until the 21st century. Seems a very very urban thing. Or maybe just a thing of places I've never lived. But I lived in Southern California...
• 69A: Hero's acclaim (glory) - aren't "acclaim" and "GLORY" synonyms? Synonymish?
• 1D: Painter of "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (Bosch) - second word in the grid (after BASIC, 1A). Here's the painting:
  
  
  And the XTC song (from an album I wore out in college):
  
  

• 2D: Beta preceder (alpha) - I just like the word "preceder."
• 11D: Kind of equation graphed as a parabola (quadratic) - fancy!
• 26D: Physicist Georg (Ohm) - good thing I knew about his law, because I could not remember that "Georg" was his first name.
• 30D: Postnuptial relative (in-law) - something about the phrasing here is odd-sounding. I think I just don't like the word "postnuptial" - sounds ... graphic.
• 48D: Kuwaiti pooh-bah (emir) - the NYT puzzle is the last place on earth where you can see the word "pooh-bah" at work. Not infrequently.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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