TUESDAY, Jan. 29, 2008 - C.W. Stewart and J.K. Hummel (SHOWMAN HUROK)

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: "They Can Be Rolled" - 39A: What 17-, 26-, 50- and 60-Across have in common

I am convinced that the hardest puzzle to do right is the Tuesday puzzle. It's the forgotten middle child, or the one-horse foothill town on the way from the sunny coast of Monday to the snowy alpine heights of Friday and Saturday. Or, if you are going from L.A. to Las Vegas, Tuesday is Barstow. What I'm saying is, it's not easy being Tuesday. Tuesday has an identity crisis - "Who are you, Tuesday? Well ... you're easy, but not the easiest ... no, you can't be tricky; Wednesday and Thursday are already sharing that role," etc. If there is one day of the week that I am most consistently dissatisfied with, it's Tuesday. It's rarely calibrated right. Ooh, here's another metaphor. It's like the awkward years as one moves from cute child to vibrant adolescent. In short, Tuesday is a gangly 'tween. Thinking of Tuesday in this way makes me a bit more sympathetic to its particular challenges, and inhibits my instinct to tear it a new one on a routine basis.

For a change of pace, I read the Across clues to my wife last night and we filled in as much as we could that way. Surprisingly, we filled in all but six answers, and three of those were long theme answers. We had a few answers wrong, but still, the whole thing was pretty easy. Too easy. Kind of dull. The theme - well, my wife's first statement on discovering it was, "wow ... that's bad." I defended QUAKER OATS for a few seconds - they're "rolled" oats, right? - but then she pointed out the phrasing of the theme - "they CAN be rolled." If they've already been rolled, then ... isn't that inaccurate? And while a MOVIE CAMERA can certainly be rolled, so can a ladder or a cat if you put wheels on it. Oh, wait, did you mean "rolled" like "roll it!" - as in, "roll the film!?" Wow, I think I like that less.

Theme answers:

• 17A: It may end up in the gutter (bowling ball) - got it with no crosses
• 26A: Sweater style (turtle neck) - took some brainstorming, but got it with no crosses
• 50A: Classic breakfast fare (Quaker Oats)
• 60A: Item on a set (movie camera)

In a different, darker world, LITTLE OLD LADIES WITH LOTS OF CASH and JOINTS would be in this puzzle.

Here's what we had wrong on the first run through the Acrosses:

• 6A: Reunion group (class) - we had ALUMS
• 23A: Spy's device (tap) - we had BUG, and flirted with CAM
• 33A: Exploding stars (novae) - we had NOVAS; can you blame us?
• 46A: One on a pedestal (idol) - we had BUST

And here's what we had blank:

• 29A: Runs out (elapses)
• 68A: Sees red (fumes)
• 70A: Center of power (locus)

Answers worth mentioning:

• 9D: Showman Hurok (Sol) - sometimes not seeing the Down clues is a good thing. NO idea who this guy is. The other showman - 11A: Showman Ziegfeld (Flo) - was a gimme. Learned his name from crosswords (by now, you are thinking this is true of half my vocabulary).
• 6D: Stellar swan (Cygnus) - actual (young) swan is a CYGNET, not to be confused with SIGNET, a seal used to mark official documents (or a paperback imprint).
• 30D: Common union demand (pay hike) - my favorite answer of the day. Vibrant.
• 54A: Butyl ending (-ene) - we guessed this right. Hurrah. I answer all chemistry clues by prayer and intuition.
• 13D: Country/rock's _____ Mountain Daredevils (Ozark) - we had a "country/rock" clue just yesterday (Steve EARLE). You gotta love words with both "Z" and "K" in them.
• 37D: Mullally of "Will & Grace" (Megan) - loved her character, but the show eventually began to grate on my nerves, and I stopped watching.
• 44A: Tony Soprano and cohorts, with "the" (Mob) - obvious. This is another show I used to watch in its first seasons, and stopped watching. Boredom. Over-familiarity? Over-exposure? I don't know. "The Sopranos"'s EDIE Falco was in the puzzle yesterday.

Your crossword vocabulary for the day:

• 38D: Fred Astaire's sister (Adele) - would be forgotten by Everyone were it not for her being just about the only grid-worthy ADELE in existence. Keep an eye out for American journalist ADELA Rogers St. John.
• 61D: "_____ y plata" ("oro") - my wife groaned at this clue and then when I told her it was "ORO," she said "oh, that's like the state motto of ... Montana?" I was so proud. It's true. I think it's also the only state motto in Spanish.
• 32A: Slave girl of opera (Aida) - after ARIA, this is the second-most important piece of opera vocabulary.
• 67A: Disney mermaid (Ariel) - gimme gimme gimme. Mermaid competes for attention with Shakespeare's sprite from "The Tempest."

For some reason, a reporter from a national publication is flying (that's right, Flying!) out here to interview me today. No, he's not from the National Enquirer. Don't be a jerk. You really want to know? OK, two words: Cat. Fancy.


In other news, today is the first day of the new semester. Ugh. I mean, Hurray! (actually, it will be good for me to leave the house once in a while).

Take care,
Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Mon Apr 9, 2007 -- J.K. Hummel

The King of CrossWorld is on vacation, and I'm excited to be Queen for a Day. Actually, for two days, since I'll also be here Tuesday. I found this blog while Googling for answers several months ago and have been a faithful fan ever since. You've probably seen my comments, appearing as Linda G, along with my photo. A lot of people think I look like Ava Gardner : )

One of the easiest puzzles ever. The 2:18 time shown above the puzzle is how long it took me to type the answers in, though. It actually took me longer to do on paper--my preferred method of solving.

Today's puzzle theme was shades of green. The six theme answers all begin with a word that describes a different shade. The clue that revealed it (GREEN) appears at 39A--right smack in the middle of the puzzle. Theme answers are:

• 18A Park ranger's worry (forestfire). Only you can prevent one...


• 23A Conifer exudation (pinesap)


• 51A Metaphor for dense fog (peasoup). I'll just skip the grade school joke that reminds me of.


• 61A Large seed of the alligator pear (avocadopit). Am I the only one who didn't know it was called that? I'll remember that because I love avocados.


• 4D Peace offering (olivebranch). By far, the worst shade for me to wear, since that's the color of my skin.


• 27D Crunchy item at a salad bar (celerystalk)

I especially like that celery stalk intersected pea soup. I always put celery in my pea soup. But I don't put pine sap on my olive branches.

I would be remiss in my blogging duties if I didn't include a photo of the King of Things Green, even if he wasn't in the puzzle, and even if there isn't a shade of green named after him. There probably should be. Hail, Kermit.

15A Distress signal (flare) reminded me of flame (or flaming?) and flame war from a couple of days ago. Kind of like shortspeak, where you combine the letters of different words. Maybe you had to be in my head when I thought of that...

I don't know how names that have been in memory for years can suddenly surface (seriously, no pun intended) when I need them. Andrea (31A: __Doria, ill-fated ship) came right to mind.

A couple of often-repeated clue/answer pairings. 59D Church recess (apse), 37D Explosive inits. (TNT), and our good friend 31D Dadaist Jean (Arp). Here's a piece called Before my Birth. Interesting...

38A Gossip queen Barrett (Rona) is back, as is 29D Gen. Meade's foe at Gettysburg (Lee).

Not too much in the way of exciting fill, but it's always nice to see a blast from the past. 46A Mama __ of the Mamas and the Papas (Cass) and 66A: 1970s music fad (disco). Which would you rather see a picture of? Me, too. I just loved John Travolta back then. Not too many men would look that good in a white suit, but he pulled it off nicely.

42A Lively horses seemed an odd way to clue prancers, but I guess they could have done worse.

29A Come in last (lose). Next year at this time they can clue it "Guest blogger Linda G at ACPT." I just got my packet of tournament puzzles yesterday. I got through the first one under the time limit, but I had a total brain freeze on the second, and I wasn't in a room full of competitors.

Here's another regular. 30D Rococo (ornate) appears quite often. I've often wondered exactly how ornate it was. I'll never have to wonder again--and neither will you.

What I didn't know: 7D Caleb who wrote "The Alienist" (Carr). Come to think of it, that's the only word I didn't know. That's why I signed up for Monday.

43D was one of those clues I didn't even see. Words before spell, shadow or wide net (casta). I like that kind of cluing. It's great for random thinkers.

69A Shuteye (sleep). What I need to get tonight. It's tough being back in the workforce, but I'm lovin' my new job. What's really the best is that they approached me two days after quitting my job in November. I wasn't supposed to start until June, but they asked me to come on board earlier. Woo-hoo!

This little guy is a Lhasa Apso (1A). He kind of looks like my Barnabas, who is sleeping on the floor by my feet. Buzzie, as we affectionately call him, and his brother, Dooley, wandered up to our house several years ago. They've been our loyal companions ever since.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter and ate a sufficient amount of chocolate and jelly beans.

Linda G

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