Wonder-working biblical prophet / SUN 11-24-19 / Hit 1997 film condemned by Chinese goverment / Name originally proposed for Utah / Peak in 1980 headlines / Partly sheltered area near land in which vessels ride at anchor / Nobleman above un conte / Founder of New York's Odditorium in 1939 / House minority leader before Pelosi / Campus abutting Drexel informally / 2004 sci-fi thriller inspired by classic 1950 book / Nanny in Nanjing / Mild light colored cigar / Longtime dairy aisle mascot / Spherical bacterium

Constructor: Frank Longo

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (11:29)

THEME: "Open Wide!" — it's just a wide open grid ... totally themeless ... :/

Word of the Day: "SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET" (60A: Hit 1997 film condemned by the Chinese government) —

Seven Years in Tibet is a 1997 American biographical war drama film based on the 1952 book of the same name written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer on his experiences in Tibetbetween 1944 and 1951 during World War II, the interim period, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army's invasion of Tibet in 1950. Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, the score was composed by John Williams and features cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

In the story, Austrians Heinrich Harrer (Pitt) and Peter Aufschnaiter (Thewlis) are mountaineering in British India in an area that is now Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. When World War II begins in 1939, their German citizenship results in their imprisonment by the British in a POW camp in Dehradun in the Himalayan foothills, in the present-day Indian state of Uttarakhand. In 1944, Harrer and Aufschnaiter escape the prison, and cross the border into Tibet, traversing the treacherous high plateau. While in Tibet, after initially being ordered to return to India, they are welcomed at the holy city of Lhasa, and become absorbed into an unfamiliar way of life. Harrer is introduced to the 14th Dalai Lama, who is still a boy, and becomes one of his tutors. During their time together, Heinrich becomes a close friend to the young spiritual leader. Harrer and Aufschnaiter stay in the country until the Chinese military campaign in 1950. (wikipedia)

• • •

LOL "hit 1997 film." I mean ... "hit?" Yeah, it made over $120M at the box office, but $90+M of that was overseas, and honestly, when was the last time anyone, anywhere, referred to "SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET"? I didn't even remember it existed. Wow. I was like "SEVEN ... YEARS ... A SLA...AVE?" Anyway, this puzzle, what to say? I think themeless Sundays are dumb. Just a slog with no point. Who needs a *longer* Friday? I've never thought, after solving a Friday, "I'd like something like this, but just ... bigger." And what is this even supposed to be? Besides open? It's not Fri/Sat hard, for the most part. It's just Big. With lots of open space, just 'cause. Seriously, for no reason except to kind of show off, I guess. It's fine for what it is, but what it is is not really interesting. I actually kind of liked solving it at times, but IDLY, casually, in between moments of ruing the weaker fill, particularly the following (which I have scrawled in the margins of my printed-out puzzle): DUCA, AMATIVE, COALERS, TROYES, ETCHIN. It's actually pretty smooth, otherwise, but it all just feels so pointless. I get that Sundays are hard to do well, but ... you pay like $2250 for them (for vets like Frank, anyway), why don't you have enough good ones to go around? It makes no sense. I think Sundays are probably just kind of a bummer to make. If your theme isn't slamming, then it's gotta be dreary to make, and certainly dreary to solve. I'm not mad at this puzzle. I just think of it as a kind of non-entity. Is it real? Who can say? I solved it, so, probably. Maybe it will be memorable for its ontological indeterminateness, if nothing else.


Usually with corners like these, I can run the Downs and then see the Acrosses pretty clearly, but the shorter Downs were actually harder than normal today. Only had a few in place after my first pass at the NW corner, but thankfully those were enough for me to see DANIEL CRAIG at 1A: Bondsman, of late? After that, the grid wasn't that hard to navigate (if you can get the front ends of those longer answers, whooooosh!). Had similar issues with the bottom R and L corners, but nothing ever caused a real standstill. SEIZER next to TRIODE stalled me a little in the SE, and RUHR for SAAR gunked up my SE briefly (as did NICEST ... does Michelin give stars for niceness????). Also, what are "old DAYS"? (70D: Word after old or dog). I hear "good old days" or "olden days," but "old DAYS" kinda clunks for me. I enjoyed TOOK TO THE SLOPES for sure, but a lot of the other longer ones, while solid, were just ... technical terms. Real things, but about as exciting as, well, someone touting that they sell BRAND-NAME PRODUCTS. Doesn't exactly inspire excitement. Sounds like dull commercialese. USED VEHICLE, same. IONIC BONDS ... very real, but they don't exactly set your arm hairs on end. OMG what is a ROADSTEAD? (102A: Partly sheltered area near land in which vessels ride at anchor). LOL, seriously? It's for ... boats? And has nothing to do with ... a road? OK then. Nice knowing you, puzzle. Bye now.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter and Facebook]

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1960s sitcom set at camp — THURSDAY, Dec. 31 2009 — Parris Isl outfit / Hoops coach Kruger / Pachacuti's people / DC diamond squad

Constructor: Frank Longo

Relative difficulty: Medium (leaning toward Medium-Challenging)

THEME: THREE LITTLE PIGS (60A: Storybook group) — rebus in which three pig types (BOAR, SOW, HOG) are each made "little" and squeezed into a single square

Word of the Day: UGSOME (15A: Dreadful, old-style) — adj.

Disgusting; loathsome.

[Middle English : uggen, to fear (from Old Norse ugga , from uggr, fear) + -some, characterized by; see -some.]

-----

As rebuses go, this one felt awfully straightforward. Just three squares involved, and then a theme-revealer that (assuming you've cracked the rebus) is instantly gettable. That's what was weirdest about my solving experience — I sailed with relative ease through the north but was getting destroyed by the south when I realized, after much floundering, that I hadn't even bothered to look at that last theme answer (the revealer). THREE LITTLE PIGS went right in and then, magically, the south went down just as easily as the north had. Because there was some serious stuck time sandwiched in the middle of the easiness, and because rebuses generally take people longer than straight puzzles, I thought this merited at least a "Medium" difficulty rating.

UGSOME is not a word you really want in your puzzle (15A: Dreadful, old-style). Especially in the top-center. Too easy for critics to use it as a descriptor for the puzzle as a whole.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Person making firm decisions (Chairman of the [BOAR]d)
• 12D: Detroit venue for sporting evengts and concerts (Co [BOAR] ena) — this is where I first realized something was up, rebus-wise. "This should be COBO ... or JOE LOUIS ... why won't they fit?"

• 22A: "Different strokes for different folks" ("To each hi [SOW] n")
• 25D: "Big deal" ("[SOW] hat?")

• 55A: 1960s sitcom set at a camp ("[HOG] an's Heroes")
• 37D: Thick-shelled seafood selection (qua [HOG]) — real trouble with that (I thought) 4-letter "Q" word...

Again I had name problems today. Though the pirate was RENÉ (it was JEAN, 47A: Pirate Lafitte); don't know the Marilyn MONROE movie in question (67A: "Niagara" star, 1953); never heard of SARA Ramirez (38D: Tony-winning "Spamalot" actress Ramirez); never heard of this LEN person (44D: "Live Free or Die Hard" director Wiseman). Weirdly, I knew LON without knowing how/why (61D: Hoops coach Kruger), and I knew SASHA Vujacic despite his not being even among the top four names on the Lakers roster (29A: Vujacic of the Los Angeles Lakers, who's nicknamed "The Machine"). ASHTON was a gimme (51D: "Punk'd" host Kutcher). I learned his name via "That 70's Show." Now he's famous for being famous.

Bullets:

• 5A: Vice president after Breckinridge (Hamlin) — more name trouble. Couldn't remember good ol' Hannibal here. Meanwhile, "Breckinridge" makes the clues for the second day in a row.
• 35A: Salute in stanzas (ode) — I'm trying imagine Keats saluting the urn. Not really working.
• 54A: Parris Isl. outfit (USMC) — no idea what "Parris Isl." is. I assume it's an island. Like Paradise Island or Fantasy Island. Only with Marines.
• 70A: Pachacuti's people (Incans) — hmm, what's the difference between an INCAN and an INCA? Or INCANS and INCA, for that matter? Looking at prior clues, the answer appears to be "nothing."
• 4D: Green crops cultivated for fodder (soilage) — I thought this was SILAGE. Answers.com tells me that SILAGE means "Fodder prepared by storing and fermenting green forage plants in a silo." One letter off and both relate to "fodder?" Come on, farmers. I call "Unnecessary wordage" on you.
• 5D: Snorts of disdain (humphs) — often heard in response to things UGSOME.
• 26D: D.C. diamond squad (Nats) — this team is a boon to the world of crosswords, if not to the sport of baseball.

Wishing you a delightful and safe New Year's Eve,

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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SATURDAY, Feb. 28, 2009 - Frank Longo (Butcherbird or woodchat / Cousin of an Alewife / Toy with tassels)

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

Word of the Day: ECCE - Behold. Ecce Homo are the Latin words used by Pontius Pilate in John 19:5, when he presented a scourged Jesus Christ, bound and crowned with thorns, to a hostile crowd shortly before his Crucifixion. The King James Version translates the phrase into English as Behold the Man. (answers.com)

Hey, everybody. SethG today, filling in while Rex and the other cool kids compete in Brooklyn. And today we have a fairly straightforward Saturday. Not much trickery, no words from Pluto that no one's ever heard of, but really not any junk, either. I didn't solve this completely smoothly, but I blame mostly me--several times I knew what the answer was, I just couldn't think of the word. And they were not hard words. Like GAS RANGE (33D: Burner locale), or APACE (8D: With celerity). But I got through it fairly quickly anyway.

Famous people
I assume the puzzle would have been much harder for some of you if you didn't have as many entertainment gimmes as I did.

• Kelly RIPA (16A: Gifford's talk-show replacement) replaced Kathy Gifford on that morning show with Regis Philbin.
• Roger REES (23A: Roger of "Cheers") was that British guy (sorry, Welsh-American) who Rebecca liked on Cheers. More importantly, he's won a Tony. Yet more importantly, he was Lord John Marbury on the West Wing, in which he appeared with...
• ROB LOWE (4D: 2001 Emmy nominee for "The West Wing"). I wanted this to be Aaron Sorkin, but I couldn't remember his name (sorry, PuzzleGirl!) and it was wrong anyway.
• ALEC GUINNESS was an (38A: Oscar winner for "The Bridge on the River Kwai"), one of my all-time favorite movies.
• And Omar EPPS was (60A: Dr. Foreman's portrayer on "House").

Fun after the puzzle moment
I knew the song "Georgy Girl" (40A: Group with the 1967 #2 hit "Georgy Girl," with "the"), but I couldn't remember the name of The SEEKERS. I didn't know they also sing this:

Some other stuff

• 7D: It might be kicked after getting picked up (habit) - cute, and my first answer.
  
• 6A: Cousin of an alewife (shad). An alewife is a woman who keeps an alehouse, but it's also a herring.
  

• 15A: Heads of Italy (capi) - more than one capo, sure. See also 20A: Summer cooler (Italian ice). So my dad's dream is to retire to Key West and sell water ice on the beach. Apparently they strictly limit the number of vendors they allow on the beaches, and no one ever gives theirs up. Still, if anyone wants to buy a law firm, let me know.
• 27A: Hue similar to cyan (electric blue). Cyan is the C in the CMYK color model, though I assume that anyone that knows what that means knows colors, too.
• 57A: Toe trouble (gout). How's breakfast?
• 18D: Cheerful, in Châlons (gai). I have a friend named Jai, but he's hippy, not French. Otherwise, he'd be mon ami. I love French!

I had two main problem areas, both well within reason for a Saturday.

First, I don't know that Latin thing. And I also didn't know what a TRUE RIB (10D: Sternum attachment) was. (Turns out, it's a rib that attaches to the sternum.) And I wasn't sure about AIR CELLS (11D: Alveoli, e.g.), either. So I stared at xxCE for a bit before filling in ECCE. Hey, at least I knew my ILIUM (49D: Part of the body next to the sacrum).

Second, I tried Based for (62A: Plant ____), which led me to Steves instead of STEVIE (43D: English poet Smith). When I finally figured out TRIKE (59A: Toy with tassels) I changed it to Stevis. (Hey, my knowledge of English poetry is only slightly better than my knowledge of Mongolian poetry.) Anyway, I finally remembered BAFTA (52D: U.K. equivalent to an Oscar), and stared for a long time at "Plant Assed" before changing it to A SEED.

Finally, speaking of poetry, I'm not sure whether I hate or I love (51D: Catullus's "Odi et ___"). It's certainly a Saturday level clue for AMO, but I figured I'd let you be the judge. Enjoy!

Good luck Rex, and all else in Brooklyn,
Signed, SethG, Royal Vizier of CrossWorld

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SATURDAY, Dec. 13, 2008 - Frank Longo (Thimblerig thing / Killer of Greedo sci-fi film / Alternative to Best Buy Circuit City / 1961 hit song Angels)

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

This is a lovely puzzle that was marred for me by my own stupidity or "slow brain" or whatever you call it when you should have seen something very early on but instead you puzzled and turned and twisted and took out letters and put in letters and ran through the alphabet, etc. Ugh. The embarrassing fact of my experience with this puzzle was that I ran completely aground for what felt like several minutes in the SW. The entire corner was missing. Everything west of EDENS (45D: They're pristine). I was nearly certain about GRETA (43D: Anna player in "Anna Karenina," 1935), fairly certain about I'LL PASS (61A: "No thanks"), and 50/50 on RAMOS (44D: 1990s president of the Philippines). Good start - and yet over the next few minutes, I would manage to tear out each of these, at some point, in order to see what new possibilities I could come up with, all because I couldn't imagine what could be the first word in _____ OF FACT. I had ----EMENT OF FACT, and still didn't see it. Problem: I was giving that first "E" syllabic value, as in the second "E" in "TENEMENT." Didn't imagine it was silent, and so kept trying to think of words that ended -EMENT, and kept failing. The only familiar phrase I could hear in my head was MATTER OF FACT.

Then there were those three-letter downs, which whipped me around. Had ALL (57D: Each, in scores), but the original clue was [Tied], and though "15 ALL" means that the score is "Tied," you can't swap out "Tied" for "ALL" very effectively, if at all, so I kept putting it in, taking it out, putting it in, etc. Had the -TON in KILOTON, but kept hearing the -TON as if it were pronounced like the -TON in PHOTON, PROTON, NEUTRON, etc. Not the short "u" sound in the unit of weight "ton." SKI (55D: Boot attachment) wouldn't come to save my life - was looking for a suffix, obviously (SKI-DOO?). "TIL" could have been "TIS" for all I knew. "TIM?" Tried thinking of girls' names in three letters starting with "T" - and failed. "TIA?" Ugh. Wanted TOP for 58D: Eclipse, which is right, but again, not sooooo right that I wouldn't happily remove it and try other things. Now, all this struggle took maybe five minutes. Maybe. I don't know. I haven't been timing myself for a while now. But it's rare that a puzzle brings me to a Deader than Dead stop. And it's superrare to be brought to a stop by an area where I actually know every answer (well, not "TIL," but everything else). Longo!



The rest of the puzzle seemed very doable, as puzzles with many 15s often are - crack a fifteen with only a few letters in place, and it's a bonanza! A windfall! Keys to all the crosses. All of today's were very basic phrases. Almost bland in their basicness. I mean, STATEMENT OF FACT? Who doesn't love one of those!? Then there's ACCRUED INTERESZZZZZZZ... (17A: Payback factor). Anyway, I was grateful for the ordinariness of the fill, as it made the puzzle very tractable. Had most trouble in the corners. Problem Corner #1, you've seen. Problem Corner #2 was the NW, where ROYAL WE (15A: What I may become) seemed overly obscurely clued. More regal specificity, please. Again, the blandness problem. Blandness is not always your friend. Sometimes you need oomph. Then there was the deliberate deke of 1A: Like icing (illegal). Ugh, more hockey. Clever clue, but most unwelcome after yesterday's puzzle. I think 3D: Biker's wear (lycra) should have been [Cyclist's wear]. When you try to be clever, that's fine, but when you try so hard that you stretch the plausibility of the clue, then I start to get annoyed. Mildly, in this case.

Problem Corner #3 was the NE, where COMP USA (8A: Alternative to Best Buy or Circuit City) was practically if not completely unknown to me. I got an email late last night from another crossword blogger complaining about this clue - apparently COMP USA has very few stores (23). Astonishingly few in comparison to the other stores mentioned in that clue (700 Circuit City, 1500 Best Buy). Thrilled to guess OCTAD right off (though I may have had OCTET at first - 9D: The planets, e.g.). Never heard of either of the CONORs, so that was hard. But gettable, ultimately. All in all, a fine Saturday effort. Solid. Memorable only for my massive, inexplicable failings in the SW.



The Rest:

• 21A: Bloomingdale's rival (Nordrstrom) - we used to Love to go to big malls in the 80s (my family, esp my sister and me). Bellevue Square was an annual destination, as we have relatives who live there. I think that's where I encountered my first NORDSTROM.
• 20A: Tony's portrayer on "NYPD" blue (Esai) - gimme gimme gimme. Learn this clue, as it appears to be the most common way to clue this fine actor these days. "Portrayer" also appears to be the noun of choice, ugly as it is (OK, not CRAFTER ugly, but ugly - 60A: Tradesman).
• 38A: Bathroom buzzers (electric shavers) - cute. I had to sit there and imagine possibilities. It didn't take long, honestly.
• 30A: Desert storm defenses (patriot missiles) - these and SCUDS were all over the news in '91.
• 40A: Fort Worth's _____ Carter Museum (Amon) - who what where? Here. I was wondering what Jimmy Carter was doing with a museum in Fort Worth...
• 41A: Thimblerig thing (pea) - no idea. None. Ah, "thimblerig" is a shell game. Three shells and a PEA. OK.
• 62A: Killer of Greedo in a sci-fi film (Han Solo) - that's Saturday for you - no indication of *which* sci-fi film. GREEDO would be a gooooood puzzle answer.
• 12D: "_____ Grosse Legume" (Orson Welles novel) ("Une") - a comedically grotesquely gargantuan clue for so basic an answer. A gimme that I've never heard of. Weird.
• 18D: Nigerian native (Ibo) - old skool. Learned this from fellow blogger Orange, I think. Not sure in what context. I just associate her with native Nigerians.
• 27D: Tenor Schipa (Tito) - again, no idea. "Tenor" anybody is going to throw me most of the time. Not into OPERA (24D: Work with choruses).
• 32D: Sitting Bull's tongue (Teton) - another I didn't know exactly. Lots of inferrable stuff today.
• 34D: Year in which Middle English began, by tradition (MCL) - I have a Ph.D. in This Specific Subject, and I didn't know this, exactly. "Tradition!" There's very little extant Middle English writing until the 13th century, and the real boom is the 14th, particularly the late 14th (Chaucer, Gower, Langland). Periods of English obviously don't have definitive start/stop dates. "Hey, Bob, what's that language you're speaking? Sounds different from how you was talking yesterday."
• 46D: German magazine article (ein) - wanted "DER." See, "magazine" is here only to try to confuse you as to the meaning of "article" (unless there is a famous German magazine with "EIN" in the title, I guess). Don't like that kind of cluing. Confusion is good. Adding superfluous word for the sole reason of creating confusion. No. [German article] is the clue you want here.
• 49D: Calliope relative (Erato) - an xword staple.
• 50D: Gradually quickening, in mus. (accel.) - more inferring on my part. Mus. clues are the ones that usually get the most persnickety commenters. Classical musicians and hockey fans. Not to be riled. The mail I got yesterday, ugh. "How could you ... You should know ... Everyone knows ... Mon Dieu! ... Zut Alors!"
• 53D: Marsh bird (sora) - I know I have talked about not knowing this before, and yet here I am, not knowing it again.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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SATURDAY, Nov. 22,2008 - Frank Longo (Italian port with ruins of an imposing Aragonese castle / Anne Nichols title protagonist / Bog youngster)

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: none

I have a 9:00am appt. this morning (on a Saturday!?) so this will be brief.

Love the grid shape. Honestly, I thought it was an Obama puzzle when I first saw it. That, or an Oprah puzzle. I rated the puzzle "Challenging" even though it's actually been made slightly easier since I test-solved it a couple weeks ago. Still, I think it's tough. Tough but good. I really enjoyed the struggle, despite running into several words I'd never heard of. Started off so happy and strong when I laid AMERICAN TABLOID in the grid right away. First thing. No crosses. That is one of my favorite books of the last century, which is weird, because the first time I picked it up, I thought "this is annoying as hell - I'm not reading this." Then I persisted. The brain-pounding tabloid style of writing never relents - for 500+ pages - and yet I think the book is Beautiful. Oh, I should add that it is essentially historical fiction (with actual historical figures imagined as characters throughout), which is a genre I typically avoid like beets.

After my AMERICAN TABLOID epiphany, it was slow from there on. Well, the bottom of the puzzle ended up being very tractable, but I was not able to move into the middle easily - you think 35A: A firefighter at work may be in it (immediate danger) is tough, try the original clue: [Peril that's upon one]. Ugh. Eventually I rebooted in the top section, starting with the gimme PTL (27A: Old TV ministry), guessing CATSUPS off of that (1D: Fast-food restaurant packets), and then working W to E from there. But the Center was where I made my Last Stand. Huge open space in the middle was tough to get ahold of, even with STAEL being a gimme for me (though I spelled her name STAHL to begin with - 46A: Author Madame de _____). The real toughies were SPRITES and BOTNETS. Despite currently teaching Shakespeare, I completely repressed the identity of Robin Goodfellow (Puck), as I (unlike many) can't stand that play and don't teach it if I don't have to (42A: Robin Goodfellow and others). And BOTNETS - just unknown to me. I know what BOTS are, I know what NETS are ... but this hybrid, no. I'm pretty sure cracking STRUDEL (25D: Cobbler alternative) was the primary key to finishing this puzzle off.

The 15s:

• 1A: Vis-à-vis (compared against)
• 16A: Age-old retaliation (a tooth for a tooth)
• 17A: Having no inaccuracy whatsoever (true to the letter)

Of those three, only A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH feels very solid. The others feel like phrase where someone meant to say a better known phrase but got confused.

• 31A: Fix things (solve the problem) - straightforward
• 35A: A firefighter at work may be in it (immediate danger) - we covered this; it's good

• 51A: James Ellroy novel that Time magazine named best fiction book of 1995 ("American Tabloid")
• 57A: Suitable for all (General Audience) - Like the movie-oriented adjectival use of this phrase here
• 58A: Idolizes (sets on a pedestal) - well, I had PUTS, initially, of course, but that's OK

The real krusher in this puzzle, as far as I was concerned, came with the THREE CONSECUTIVE OPERA-RELATED DOWNS. All 7 letters, all completely new to me. OK, so MORDENT isn't specifically opera-related - still, it's in the ballpark. Obscurity is one thing, but tightly packed obscurity all from the same field of knowledge. That's a kind of violation I haven't invented a name for. Caused me to have to guess at CEO (41A: First suit?), because that "E" and "O" could have been anything from my perspective, and I didn't have the benefit of [First suit?]. I had [Suit of an outfit]. I was like "well ... it's CIA or SUIT, but either way, I don't get it." Oh, the opera crap in question:

• 36D: Writer whose novella "Carmen" is the basis of Bizet's opera (Merimee)
• 37D: Musical ornament using tow quickly alternating tones (mordent)
• 38D: "La Traviata" lover Alfredo _____ (Germont)

And the rest:

• 43A: "Blood hath been shed _____ now": Macbeth ("ere") - coincidence - this is the play I'm currently teaching in Shakespeare. Not that you need to know the play to get this. This answer should have been a gimme for most of you.
• 2D: Italian port with ruins of an imposing Aragonese castle (Otranto) - Know this place because friends of mine had to read the Gothic "Castle of Otranto" when I was in grad school. And I knew TORONTO wasn't Italian.
• 3D: Longtime Arizona congressman who ran for president in 1976 (Mo Udall) - I think two more UDALLs were just elected to the Senate. Yes, in New Mexico and Colorado.
• 4D: People who deal with stress successfully? (poets) - clever
• 5D: Quintillionth: Prefix (atto-) - mystery to me; don't use quintillionths very often.
• 6D: Pythagorean character (rho) - it's a Greek letter, and it fit
• 7D: Bog youngster (eft) - little newt
• 11D: Amenhotep IV's god (Aten) - having seen this in a recent puzzle Really helped
• 15D: Time for an emergency phone call? (three a.m.) - LOVE this answer.
• 33D: TV bear (Ben) - love this answer too. This goes out to Serena. Rest in peace, kitty:

• 50D: Anne Nichols title protagonist (Abie) - hard to recognize this piece of crosswordese without "Rose" or "Broadway" nearby.
• 55D: Shrovetide concluder: Abbr. (Tue.) - Ah, "concluder." That's the stuff.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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