Reds great Roush / SAT 4-7-12 / Frobe who played Goldfinger / Traitors Gate locale / 1930s film dog / Affliction aka blue devils / Site of first British colony in Caribbean 1624 / Cherokee deemed it good training for war

Constructor: Robert H. Wolfe

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day: GERT Frobe (44D: Frobe who played Goldfinger) —

Karl Gerhart Fröbe, better known as Gert Fröbe (German pronunciation: [ˈɡɛɐt ˈfʁøːbə]) (25 February 1913 – 5 September 1988) was a German actor who starred in many films, including the James Bond film Goldfinger asAuric Goldfinger, The Threepenny Opera as Peachum, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang as Baron Bomburst, and in Der Räuber Hotzenplotz as Hotzenplotz. (wikipedia) (my version of the puzzle did Not have the umlaut in the clue)

• • •

Easy and mostly dull. CHANCE OF SUCCESS (34A: Nonstarter's lack) doesn't quite feel like a crossworthy answer. I get the "offing" part of [Reward in the offing?], but the ONE'S part of the answer (PRICE ON ONE'S HEAD) doesn't seem adequately cued by the clue. In my offing, maybe, but then that's not a phrase (whereas "in the offing" is). Trying too hard, that clue is. The range of letters in the grid is depressing. Feels like there are maybe 10 different letters, total. Hardly a Scrabble tile over 4. Look at the east coast—it's all Es and double-Ss. Fifteens were easy to pick up once you sliced through them with a few crosses; sadly, some of those crosses were pretty yuck. IMRE (2D: Hungary's ___ Nagy) and INRI (45D: Sign letters on the cross) (goth gimmes, both ugh) and GERT (!) and a whole lot else. I'll tell you, crossing INRI with -IEST (45A: Follower of blood and guts) is not (Not) the swellest way to end one's Saturday puzzling experience. It's a solid, adequate puzzle that feels like it's from thirty+ years ago and has nothing to distinguish it, though I will say that I liked the clue on CAGER (41D: One engaged in bucket-making), which is a word I've only ever seen in crossword *clues* before; and TOWER OF LONDON (16D: Traitors' Gate locale) running down the center was pretty nifty. Everything else was meh at best.


Bullets:

• 19A: Covent Garden area (WEST END) — nice that it crosses another London-based answer.

• 37A: The Cherokee deemed it good training for war (LACROSSE) — got this off "LA-" and probably would've got it off of nothing.
• 55A: Site of the first British colony in the Caribbean (ST. KITTS) — Not much else starts "STK-"
• 1D: Leap-the-___ (world's oldest operating roller coaster) (DIPS) — well, at least I get a mildly interesting trivia answer out of this thing.
• 4D: Huge-taloned menaces (ROCS) — put this in and then was unsure, given that ROCS are not, you know, real. Fast start on puzzle, and fast time overall, was due at least in part to throwing down IMRE, ONIT, ROCS and DIS in very quick succession. DIS was wrong, but as soon as I looked at what I had, I could see DIORAMA (1A: Many a museum dinosaur display) clearly, so I changed DIS, and off I went.
• 8D: Heroic son of Prince Anchises (AENEAS) — honestly, [Son of Anchises] is enough for a Saturday. I have no memory of anyone's calling Anchises "Prince," however accurate (I've read this poem a Lot)

• 14D: Reds great Roush (EDD) —Baseball! Watched entirety of Tigers' opening day game yesterday. Got invited by random reader on Twitter to come to Detroit for some games this summer. I said "yes" without doing a background check or nothin'. They have a nice park, and I have people I'd like to visit in Ann Arbor, so why not?
• 1930s film dog (TOTO) — it's that or ASTA, as I'm sure you know.
• 50D: Affliction a k a "blue devils" (DTS) — so Duke was founded by hardcore drunks, or ... what?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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Headgear for medieval soldiers / SAT 4-16-11 / Ben Jonson title woman / 1977 cult film Where your nightmares end / 1930s film star notable facial hair

Constructor: Robert H. Wolfe

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: ARMETS (19A: Headgear for medieval soldiers) —

n.
A medieval light helmet with a neck guard and movable visor.

[Old French, alteration (influenced by Old Italian elmetto, helmet) of arme, weapon; see arm².]

• • •

If memory serves, Robert H. Wolfe is not a guy on whose wavelength I often find myself, but if that's generally true, today was a major exception. Lit it on fire. I measure my times against this one particular guy who solves online at the NYT site—he's an A-level solver and generally just better than I am, but today I owned him, by a full half minute. I would have rated this "Easy," but had this strange feeling that I might have been riding a Good Luck Wave today, and so modified the rating slightly. When 1-Across is a gimme (confirmed by a near-gimme at 2-Down), that tends to bode well for puzzle doability. Now, coincidentally, that NW corner was also the site of the puzzle's toughest crossing (by far)—ACTA (1D: Exitus ___ probat (the end justifies the means)) / ARMETS is pushing close to Natick (lethal, unfair cross) territory. Now, given that the subject of 19-Across is ARMo(u)r, the "A" is really the only plausible guess there, so it's fair, but barely. Crossing not terribly common Latin word with a very uncommon word for obsolete headgear?—don't try that at home, kids. Or, if you do, please don't ask me to solve your puzzles.

I really liked the majority of the grid-spanners today. Very colloquial, very snappy. My favorite was probably the least colloquial: MOBILE LIBRARIES (11D: Novel ideas for rural areas?). One of the young ladies in the "Up" series of documentaries works in a MOBILE LIBRARY (at least for a time—we're only through "28 Up") and that is the image I have when I see that phrase. She was providing service to decidedly non-rural places, but I still knew what the clue was getting at. Besides the ACTA / ARMETS cross, the other cross that gave me trouble was FARR / FAA (47A: Org. concerned with the correct approach). I had (misspelled) PARR, but knew that PAA was not ... a thing. But I was sure that the olde-timey TV clue must be looking for (misspelled) PARR, so it took some convincing (of myself) to do away with the "P"; but once I did, and began running the alphabet, FARR showed up pretty quickly (47D: "The Red Skelton Show" regular).



Enjoyed the poetry answers—Foot massager? is a stretch for POET, but I guess that's the point. Honestly, I never saw the clue. I just remarked, in passing, "Hmmm, POET. Interesting. And with CELIA already in the grid. Nice" (32A: Ben Jonson title woman). Other things I like: Michigan WOLVERINES (I was one for a few years there in the '90s) (12D: 51-Down hoops champs of 1989); BAIRNS (reminds me of studying in Edinburgh, the same year the WOLVERINES were basketball champs) (50A: Kids in Kilmarnock); "ERASERHEAD" (unforgettable, with an iconic poster that I saw a million times before I ever saw the film) (57A: 1977 cult film with the tagline "Where your nightmares end..."); and Buster Keaton (though I didn't know that what he was wearing was a PORK PIE HAT—25D: Buster Keaton trademark). Don't think I've ever had a PEPPERMINT CREAM cupcake, and don't think I want to, despite liking PEPPERMINT and CREAM and cupcakes, individually (7D: Zingy cupcake filling).



After my quick start came to a quick stop, I rebooted with DVR and (misspelled) JAMIE (30A: The Bionic Woman's first name=>JAIME), the latter of which proved hard to fix given that I confirmed it with ESTEE right away (31D: Name on Intuition perfume boxes). Couldn't quite bring myself to believe that DAU. was a thing (abbrev. for "daughter," I assume) until I had no choice (26D: Family tree abbr.). Rode JOSEPH'S to HOER and the whole bottom half opened up. Today, the grid-spanners really allowed me to travel easily from one section to the next. Very chutes-and-laddersy feeling, the way I could shoot from one end of the grid straight to the other, where the long answer allowed me a toehold in a new block of short answers.

So, despite the occasional minor clunker, and the relative lack of a challenge, I really enjoyed this one.

Bullets:

• 5A: Slave-making ants steal them (PUPAE) — no idea. Had to wait for crosses.
  
• 25A: Inits. associated with the old theme park Heritage USA (PTL) — Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Good times.
  
• 4D: Where Yiddish was once spoken (SHTETL) — the "once" part was throwing me, as I was trying to imagine a city or other place name that no longer existed (or no longer had Jews, I guess). Learned SHTETL from (you guessed it) crosswords.
  
• 23D: 1954 A.L. batting champ (AVILA) — tend to be pretty good with the baseball clues, but not with this one. Tony OLIVA I know. Bobby ÁVILA, not so much. A Cleveland Indian, he hit .341 that year, edging out Ted Williams for the batting title.
  
• 44D: "Torchwood" was spun off from in ("DR. WHO") — almost makes me wish I knew what "Torchwood" was. As it was, the "--WH-" was enough to tip the answer to me.
• 15D: 1930s film star with notable facial hair (ASTA) — knew this would be a non-human actor, and *still* didn't get it straight off. Oof.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Trading center during Klondike gold rush / SAT 6-26-10 / Colliery access / 1960s-'70s Citroën / Baltimore neighborhood that includes Marble Hill

Constructor: Robert H. Wolfe

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none


Word of the Day: NERI (39D: St. Philip of Rome) —

Saint Philip Romolo Neri (Italian: Filippo de Neri) (July 22, 1515 – May 25, 1595), also known as Apostle of Rome, was an Italian priest, noted for founding a society of secular priests called the "Congregation of the Oratory". (wikipedia)

• • •

Not that exciting, especially after yesterday's whimsical affair. This one was just a slog—typical Saturday difficulty, but no Saturday joy. As far as I can tell, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" (56A: "Seriously?") is the only reason for this puzzle to exist. Maybe I'd extend that compliment to "SOMETHING'S FISHY" (17A: Rat smeller's words). The rest was either plain or overly commonplace, and the cluing was obscure rather than playful (despite the onslaught of "?" clues). In a 70-worder, why is there so much weaksauce? NERI? ALOW (27D: On a deck beneath)? ANISES (31D: Members of the carrot family)? ASI/ASA? OCTA (5D: Prefix with -valent)?! ERY (14D: Green attachment)?! And what is with the out-of-left nonsense cluing on DAHL (6D: Gary who invented the Pet Rock), AMI (7D: 1960s-'70s Citroën), ELK (47D: Pennsylvania's ___ Mountain (skiing area)), NOSE (12D: A hook might give it a hook), TATA (28A: Heathrow takeoff sound?), etc.? I get it, it's Saturday, things are tough all over. But the AHA in this grid (38D: Brainstorm outburst) is a cruel reminder that I didn't exclaim that word once while solving this (well, not in joy, anyway; maybe IN ANGER — 44A: Way to look back?). I did like the grid shape—unusual, though it increased the amount of short fill, which inevitably increases the amount of crap fill, sadly.


[NOT TODAY]
Lots of trouble getting started today. I've been doing late-week puzzles on paper (instead of on-screen) lately, and it's really a major change. Feels like wading through mud, and my eyes don't seem to know where to go. On-screen solving has conditioned my brain, eyes, fingers—going off-grid (as it were) is putting me a little off balance at the moment. Anyway, I started in the middle of the grid (almost never happens when I'm solving on-screen), with "EAT IT" (massive gimme—34D: 1984 hit with the lyric "Have a banana, have a whole bunch"). Got IN AGNER, AHA, and STEN (35D: 9-mm. weapon) from there, but didn't get much further—that east coast, with its ANISES and NERI, was opaque to me for a while. Poked around in the NW, but didn't get much. Ended up getting first real toehold in the far SW, with ABA (56D: Grp. concerned with precedents) and ARAB (50D: Many a dinar spender) leading to BARREL (60A: Crude container) and then up out of there to my first grid-crosser, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Grid construction thwarted easy movement from section to section. Fragile, narrow, one-square connections everywhere you look.

Plunked ADIT down as soon as I saw the clue (11D: Colliery access). Ditto DYNE (42A: Unit in an erg's definition). Those are some olde-timey Maleska-era repeaters.

Don't have much more to say about this one. It was a Saturday. I struggled, then I finished. The end.

Bullets:

• 19A: Roll (PEAL) — Total guess on the "-AL." I assume this has something to do with thunder? Can't tell you how Wrong OCTA- looks—that's why I balked at PEAL.
  
• 41A: Trading center during the Klondike gold rush (WHITE HORSE) — Entertaining the possibility of ORLON (where ARGON ended up — 29D: Composition of some plasmas — ????), put the "O" after the "H," which made WHITE HORSE jump forth, despite the fact that I don't know anything about it and couldn't have told you where it was located before I started this puzzle. To me, WHITE HORSE = heroin.

• 62A: "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" singer in "The Sound of Music" (ABBESS) — noooo idea. Don't think I've ever seen the whole movie, actually. Pretty inferrable, though. I knew there were nuns involved. Nuns and Nazis.
  
• 25D: Baltimore neighborhood that includes Marble Hill (UPTON) — a Baltimore neighborhood? And I thought having to know Minneapolis suburbs was bad. Appearance of Baltimore in puzzle gives me an opportunity to plug the new John Waters' memoir, "Role Models," once again. Read it in about a day and a half, which is *fast* for me. The essays are fascinating and funny and — best of all — I never had any idea what was coming next. Zigs and zags. Johnny Mathis to the Manson Family to Tennessee Williams to "Outsider Porn" to the joys of book-reading. Truly outrageous in parts. He's fantastic.
  
• 51D: Dinar spender (SERB) — One of those quirks of currency naming: DINAR is the name of currency in nine countries across three continents. So ARABs and SERBs both spend them.
  
• 57D: Semana segment (DIA) — one of the grid's half-dozen or so gimmes.
  
• 58D: Chain-sporting star (MR. T) — in looking for the episode of "The Simpsons" on which MR. T appeared, I found this choice bit of Krustyiana, which reminded me why I love the show so much:

[Krusty is infuriated, because he doesn´t have a star on the Jewish walk of fame.]

Krusty: Why don´t I have a star?! I´m much better than... (squints) Chaim Potok?! What is he,a Klingon?!

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Dapper Dan's doodad — SATURDAY, Jan. 2 2010 — Spinachlike potherb / Oxide used television tubes / Sigmoid architectural feature

Constructor: Robert H. Wolfe

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: YTTRIA (43A: Oxide used in television tubes) — Yttrium oxide is Y₂O₃. It is an air-stable, white solid substance. Yttrium oxide is used as a common starting material for both materials science as well as inorganic compounds

-----

I'll take the beating I got yesterday over this dull slab of mostly 1-pt Scrabble tiles any day. Any Day. There were some great / tough clues here and there, but the fill!? Has no one learned the lesson of word count. Unless you are Patrick Berry, do NOT go under 60 words. Best to not even go close. You're just going to end up with a horde of -ER words (9 today, including a whopping FIVE in the SW alone) and a bunch of plurals (look at virtually every bottom-right square — where two answers terminat — to see what I mean). Found this one remarkably easy at first, and then suitably Saturdayish later on. RAISA (1A: Early 1990s first lady's first name)/ RESTAFF (1D: Fill positions differently) went in instantly, and the only thing that kept the NW interesting after that was a. the fact that I had FARADS where FERMIS was supposed to go (22A: Units in nuclear physics), and b. the fact that the STIPES (16A: Mushroom supporters) / SEPTIMES (4D: Defensive fencing positions in which the top of the blade is pointed at the opponent's knee) crossing was harrowing. Had no idea what went there, until I ran the alphabet and vaguely remembered STIPES. Why the long clue on SEPTIMES when none of that extra info helps with inferring the answer at all?

Followed YES MAN (26A: Rubber stamp) out of Puzzle 1 and down into Puzzle 2 (the SW). Threw down ATTAINER (27D: Goal getter) off just the initial "A" and ON RUNNERS (25D: How most sleds are mounted) off just the first "N." Slowed down in this section only by PROSED (39D: Wrote an essay, say) (!? ugsome word). I had PENNED, duh. Clue on ACER (44D: One not allowing a volley) is one of the worst I've ever seen. You never, ever, ever volley a serve, and an ACE is, by definition, a serve. So ... Clue Fail, to the extreme. ASSESS is the most dreadful of all crossword crutch words — typically lined up, as it is here, to provide the final letter for a large bank of words. Yuck.

OGEE (25A: Sigmoid architectural feature), a gimme, got me GASBAG (15D: One full of hot air), which helped me begin to get traction in the NE. This quadrant was by far the toughest for me. GAS BAG and GONE INTO (15A: Chosen as a career) were the only things up there for a bit. Many false starts until I locked in TEMPLE (8D: Congregation location) and things started to come together. Had INDUCTEE for ENLISTEE (7D: New face on base). Also had STAGES for STARES (11D: They're often drawn on the street). Not sure I get STARES. Why "the street?" What are you wearing that you are drawing STARES? Oh, best mistake of the NE — thought Dapper Dan was wearing a DICKEY (it's actually a TIE PIN, so I was in the correct general sartorial area at least — 9D: Dapper Dan's doodad).

Couldn't get REEFER at first (28A: One getting hit on?), off just the RE-, so had to jump into the utterly blank SE to try to finish off the puzzle. Wrote in SONES with a kind of crossword reflex that god knows I didn't have a few years ago (35A: Acoustic measures). From there, I went SEATERS (36D: Those who put you in your place?) -> SITTER (49A: Parents' hiree) (side note: really? You're gonna cross these?). Wanted ORACH at 47A: Spinachlike potherb, but it didn't fit. Only today is apparently "add-an-E" day, so ... ORACHE! Why not? Last letter in the grid was the "Y" in TYROS (41D: Pros' opposites) / YTTRIA. I've seen TYROS spelled TIROS before, so ... I had to think about it. Ended up going with the more customary spelling. Good move, that.

Bullets:

• 21A: A conductor may have it memorized (bus line) — really good clue. I could think only of a music conductor. "Doesn't (s)he *always* have the score 'memorized?'" Thought there might be something in music called the BAS LINE. It's French!
• 33A: Skipping syllables (tras) — That's the problem with skipping: So many TRAS (?). Do people skip any more, and if so, do they actually say "TRA la la?" Just checking.
• 42A: Kings Henry I and Stephen (Normans) — I'm a medievalist and this somehow wasn't a gimme. Stupid PROSED!
• 5D: Arterial problem: Var. (aneurism) — could've used a "Var." at ORACHE, though dictionary tells me that "ORACH/E" is an either / or situation. My crossword experience has been all ORACH.
• 14D: Eleanor who wrote "The Hundred Dresses" (Estes) — don't know you, but ESTES is the surname equivalent of ASSESS, fill-wise.
• 31D: Dramatic break (entr'acte) — like this. Hardly ever see the full thing in crosswords. Usually just the horrid ENTR
• 38D: Swank's co-star in "The Next Karate Kid" (Morita) — a gimme, but one whose spelling I question because (once again) I had PENNED instead of PROSED. PROSED!!!! (shakes fist at sky)

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Wagnerian heroine — SATURDAY, Oct. 31 2009 — Escapee who fell to his death in sea / Brilliantly dressed cavalrymen / Pneumatic power producer

Constructor: Robert H. Wolfe

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: er, none

Word of the Day: GANTRIES (15A: Spanning frameworks) — n., pl., -tries.

1. A mount for a traveling crane consisting of a large archlike or bridgelike frame designed to move along a set of tracks.
2. A similar spanning frame supporting a group of railway signals over several tracks.
3. Aerospace. A massive vertical frame structure used in assembling or servicing a rocket, especially at a launch site.
4. A support for a barrel lying on its side.

[Middle English ganter, gauntre, wooden stand for barrels, from Old North French gantier, wooden frame, from Latincanthērius, from Greek kanthēlios, pack ass, from kanthēlia, panniers at the side of a pack-saddle.]

-----

I appreciated the workout, I did. And I learned something about myself today, which is that TERRENE is a gimme (50A: Earthly). Scary. But all in all there was just too much -ER action for me to enjoy this much. Actually, the problem was bigger than the SERENER MARRER (21A: Less agitated + 38D: Graffitist, e.g.) and the SNEERERS with their ESTERS (48A: Disdainful bunch + 34D: Ingredients in essences). The problem was the DEARTH (26A: Opposite of a surplus) of letters with a Scrabble value higher than one. It's all -ER, -ERS, -IER, -TES, -EST, over and over and over. The NW is my favorite corner by a mile, if only because nothing up there feels made-up, and there are Cs and Ps and even a V! God bless the V! CARAPACE is a lovely word (3D: Shell). But once you get out of the NW, eek.

Started in the NW with the -ER in what turned out to be FISHIER (1D: Comparatively shady), and then the ET ALIA off of that (22A: Plus other things). The -TED ending of what turned out to be ACCENTED (2D: Spotlit, say) helped me get RECTO (24A: One side of a leaf) and DEARTH, and I built up from there via TRAVOLTA (4D: He played a governor in "Primary Colors"). Never heard of SENTA (14D: Wagnerian heroine), which means I probably have heard of it, in some puzzle, somewhere. Wagner heroines are very big in puzzles. SW came next, and that quadrant took me longer by far than any other, even with SNEERERS and TERRENE going across really early. Wanted POST for MAST (44D: Yard supporter), and wouldn't have gotten MARRER in a trillion years without considerable crosses. Had PERMEATE where MARINATE belonged (44A: Imbue with flavor, in a way). Couldn't think of anything related to "enamel" except teeth, so PRIMER took a while (39D: It may be under enamel). Should be grateful to the Es and Rs down here, since I had most of them. It's the As and Ms that kept hiding.

["Just Like HEAVEN" (18A: Good resting place?)]

Hurray for French class and odd bouts of art appreciation — DANSEUSES (6D: Frequent Degas subjects) let me into the NE, which might have been impenetrable otherwise. ENDICOTT!!? I was stunned to see this in the grid. It's as close as I'll ever come to seeing my place of residence in the puzzle (probably). ENDICOTT (17A: Upstate New York town whre I.B.M. was founded) is literally down the street. Wife and daughter take karate there. David Sedaris lived there for a while as a child. So I lucked out there as well. That corner went down in about a minute, despite my not really knowing HUSSARS (23A: Brilliantly dressed cavalrymen).The SE was my last stand, and like the SW, it took a while. "ED WOOD" was easy (28A: Johnny Depp title role), but I couldn't drop a damn thing down off of it. Tried WISTERIA where WATER OAK (!? 29D: Tree of Southeastern swamplands) was supposed to go. Was eventually saved by the unlikeliest of heroes: "ERES TU" (45A: 1974 pop hit with Spanish lyrics)! That, and OPERETTA (30D: Johann Strauss), a form I didn't know J. Strauss ever wrote. I just ran through the alphabet for that second letter (OA, OB, OC...) and when I hit "P" I knew OPERETTA was right. Wanted SAENS (41D: Saint-_____ (Fauré contemporary)) and SATIRE (49A: Biting writing) pretty early on, but took a while to get good confirmation. Last letter was the "R" at STERNA (41A: Axial skeleton parts) / ORRISOIL (31D: Perfume ingredient) — which I parsed ORRI SOIL. Done and done. Googled ORRI SOIL to see what it is. Got nothing. Wondered how it could possibly be wrong. Then moved the "S" onto the first word, giving me ORRIS OIL. Googled that — bingo!

Bullets:

• 13A: Escapee who fell to his death in the sea (Icarus) — first thing I thought of, despite not remembering what in the world he "escaped" from (turns out he was trying to escape Crete, where he was imprisoned, along with his father, by King Minos).
• 46A: Pneumatic power producer (air motor) — one big key to solving SW was figuring that -TOR could be the ending of MOTOR. Before that, I was assuming the answer would be one word.

That's it.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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The Charioteer constellation — SUNDAY, Sep. 6 2009 — Fictional village visited by Major Joppolo / Superman villainess / Word signed for deaf toreador

Constructor: Robert H. Wolfe

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: "The Argonne" — pronounced American-style, the word (I guess) sounds like "R GONE"; turns out that in the theme answers, phrases with a last word starting with "R" lose that "R" to become wacky phrases, clued "?"-style


Word of the Day: BRACTS (122A: Leaves at the base of a flower) — n.

A leaflike or scalelike plant part, usually small, sometimes showy or brightly colored, and located just below a flower, a flower stalk, or an inflorescence.

[From Latin bractea, gold leaf, perhaps from Greek brakhein, to rattle.]

-----

A mess. A mess with some fascinating, entertaining elements (MAGOG, HOUDINI, k.d. lang), but a mess nonetheless. Allow me to offer some TUTORAGE (whatever that is). We have Yet Another "drop-a-letter" theme. This one is "drop-an-r," only not all Rs, just the ones that begin the final word of the phrase. So the title, right away, is kind of a lie, although it does suggest R-gone and not Rs-gone, so maybe it's still on solid ground. Crappy ground, but solid ground. Several of the theme answers are from outer space, only less interesting. RIGHT FULL (R)UDDER? Had to look up afterward to see that it was real (unlike SCOTTISH (R)EEL, which I knew was (r)eal). BECOMING THE (R)AGE??? It's a phrase one might say, I guess, but so is CLIMBING THE TREE, which would not hold up as a theme answer. Further, like my "THE RAGE" to be preceded by "ALL." I was a big General Public fan as a 14-yr-old.





CAROLINA (R)ICE ... is a thing? I see it's a brand. Ne-eh-ehver heard of it. I'm not going to be alone here: at least two theme answers that are marginal at best, and another (BECOMING ...) that's forced. Then there's the ickiness in the non-theme fill. The ICTUSness (13D: Metrical accent). Never seen the word, despite its apparent poetic meaning. TUTORAGE barely qualifies as a word. BRACTS is brand new to me, though it seems quite legit so I'll leave it be (122A: Leaves at the base of a flower). ICEL is a much detested (by me) abbrev. A SOB is a very unpleasant partial (27A: Tell _____ story). Maybe if you could have swung "A S.O.B.," but that would probably have required "AN" not "A." "My opponent keeps ASPERSING me ..." No. IN A COMA has a clever but kind of inappropriate clue (38A: Far out?). "Whoa, your husband's in a coma? Far out ... get it, 'far out,' as in he's 'out of it' ... you know, unconscious ... 'cause he's IN A COMA ... heh heh ... why aren't you laughing? OK, uh, I gotta go. PEACE, man." Ugh. There's just a lot of FAIL today.



Theme answers:

• 24A: Some skiing stars? (cross-country r aces)
• 114A: Departure call from a Spanish vessel? (ship-to-shore r adios)
• 3D: Word signed for a deaf toreador? (non-speaking r ole) — yet another Spanish word as the punchline. And this one is super-weak, as the "word" that is "signed" is presumably "OLE." Clue asks for "word." Word=OLE.
• 7D: Fish in a firth? (Scottish r eel)
• 28D: Reaching 21? (becoming the r age) — "the age"? Is that a phrase meaning "21" now. "The drinking age," yes.
• 40D: Camouflage? (commando r aid)
• 51D: Mythical twin's bird tale? (Romulus and r emus) — far and away my favorite theme answer.
• 71D: What the N.H.L.'s Hurricanes skate on? (Carolina r ice)

I love that the grid is tough, and clued in a tougher-than-usual fashion. Easy Sundays often don't feel worth finishing. My wife often abandons Sunday's half-way through. Just can't be bothered to go on if the theme is bland and the difficulty level is just moderate. So thumbs up for the roughness. I got plowed under by AURIGA in the olden days, so I was happy to handle it with relative ease today (97A: The Charioteer constellation). Liked the twin "Wagon Train" pillars up top in 5D: "Wagon Train" network, 1957-62 (NBC) and 10D: "Wagon Train" network, 1962-65 (ABC). CABAL had a nice misleading clue, with its apparent plural: 63D: Power seekers, maybe. So the puzzle had its moments. But there just weren't enough of them.

Bullets:

• 5A: Site of Daniel Webster College (Nashua) — New Hampshire. Did not know this.
• 29A: Bluesy James (Etta) — crossword equivalent of stock footage.
• 54A: William Tell's canton (Uri) — thanks to Joon Pahk for reminding me a few days ago that this is one of URI's meanings (in addition to Mr. Geller and the U. of Rhode Island).
• 67A: One of a pair of biblical nations (Magog) — also the title of a new comic from D.C.
• 96A: "Shadowland" singer, 1988 (k.d. lang) — she's got some kind of voice:

• 103A: Fictional village visited by Major Joppolo (Adano) — from (I'm guessing) Hersey's "A Bell for ADANO." That's a wicked clue.
• 123A: Long-tailed moth (luna) — like the LUNA / LANA crossing, if only for the joy of saying those words quickly in succession.
• 9D: Superman villainess (Ursa) — dang. I know it's familiar, but I always guess wrong. Today's guess: ILSA.
• 25D: River into which the Big Sandy flows (Ohio) — do not call my wife "the Big Sandy." She would probably not like that.
• 36D: Dentiform : tooth :: pyriform : _____ (pear) — why are teeth being compared to PEARs? I'm confused.
• 53A: Goodman of "Splash" and "Grease" (Dody) — was she "Beauty School Dropout" in "Grease?" Oh, no, she was the ditzier of the two secretaries. She also, apparently, sang this:

• 61D: One of the Cyclades (Ios) — see also NAXOS, maybe, some day.
• 81D: Year the mathematician Pierre de Fermat was born (MDCI) — :(
• 117A: Onetime boom maker (SST) — wanted CHARO. Wait, she said "Cuchi Cuchi"; why did I think she said or did something BOOM BOOM. Maybe it's her hip-shaking. Who cares — watch this. It's pure late 70s TV gold:

And now time for your Puzzle Tweets of the Week — chatter on Twitter about "crosswords"

• vegan_ryan Why does every one i know get to do crossword puzzles at work.
• Vixoen My pussy is doing the NY Times crossword puzzle. Bitch is smarter than I am.
• whereislena Do not deprive me of my Saturday crossword puzzle. I'm working on 3 hours of sleep and no morning coffee here. Don't. Push. Me.
• TylishaSierra Tryna keep my mind off of this certain subject.... I done did like 10 crossword puzzles...
• Barbara36 Imagine replacing common words in conversation with crossword clues - "look! there's a conical abode" (5 letters down)
• sarahrosehurt @benmcallister I cheat with Rex Parker when I can't get it. This one made no sense to me.
• benmcallister @sarahrosehurt Rex Parker is a nerd hero!
• ericaricardo Me: "29 Across... 'Endorse on a Web site, maybe...'" @danvdk: "It's 'ERATE'. You know it's 'ERATE'. Write it down. Write. it. down."

I got tweeted by actress Téa Leoni this week, only it turns out it was not Téa Leoni but a Téa Leoni impostor — her Twitter page was unverified and she had only 25 followers and when I went back to retrieve the tweet, I was told the account didn't exist any more. What kind of celebrity impostor tweets about a crossword blogger? Further, what kind of crossword fan (which you'd have to be to know who I am) decides "you know what? Today, I'm going to pretend to be Téa Leoni on Twitter. That'll add some spice to my Saturday." So weird ...

Anyway, if you are on Twitter, and see anything good and crossword-related, pass it on @rexparker.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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SATURDAY Mar.21 2009- R.H. Wolfe (She gave Odysseus magic veil / Minotaur was fed seven of these annually / Blood flow measurers)

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: ELYSIUM - "a place or condition of ideal happiness" (answers.com)

ELYSIUM is the Ancient Greek paradise reserved for heroes to whom the gods had granted immortality. Homer described it as a land of perfect happiness at the end of the earth, on the banks of the Oceanus River. From the time of Pindar (c. 500 BC) on, Elysium was imagined as a dwelling place for those who had lived a righteous life. (Britannica Concise Encyclopedia)

puzzle felt decidedly average - and I mean that in a good way. This is what an average Saturday puzzle should feel like. Difficulty-wise, maybe it was very slightly to the easy side, but I still had all the experiences I require of a late-week puzzle. The starts and stops and Ohos and Ahas, the feelings of triumph, followed by despair, the moments of panic and free-fall, missteps, rewrites, face-wrinkling ... and then, finally, a major breakthrough, a metaphorical left cross that absolutely leveled the puzzle. A solid 10+-minute workout that ended with me victorious. That's what I like. If that puzzle can do that on Saturday, I am happy.

I was feeling cocky early on when OHIOAN went straight in the grid (1D: William Howard Taft, by birth), confirmed immediately by OIL (19A: Garage stock) and ANVIL (22A: Ear piece). The "LV" made EVOLVE easy to see (3D: Come about), and the NW went down in short order from there. For some reason I couldn't round the corner at RHEOMETERS (9D: Blood flow measurers). Had the RHEO and could think only of RHEOSTATS? Circulatory systems and electronic circuits both deal with flow (Gr. rheos = stream). Anyway, tried to escape from NW in the other direction and god bless that little corridor. Spiritually, I reside at the intersection of Bibliographic Latin and Reality TV, so IDEM into HAIM was an easy glide for me (23D: Latin word in a quotation book + 34A: Feldman's co-star on "The Two Coreys"). The best work Corey HAIM ever did was in "Lucas," in case you're curious. That was before he became (briefly) famous. Come to think of it, "Lucas" is probably among Charlie Sheen's best work, too. Here - spot the famous people:

[Cheesiest 80s Teen Movie Ending Ever]

So now I'm in the SW and once I put in ULT at 39A: Maximum: Abbr., the corner goes down pretty quickly. Well, it takes some pushing to finish it off. I watch some bad, stupid, useless, even celebrity-oriented TV, but nothing but nothing can make me watch one second of "Dancing With the Stars," so HOUGH (57A: Two-time "Dancing With the Stars" co-winner Julianne) was a mystery. I figured out her name by piecing together DEGUM (49D: Free of sticky stuff). But then I hit another wall at 40D: Turns red, maybe. I wrote in BLUSHES, but RANDALL took that option away (48A: Quarterback Cunningham), and all I could come up with then was FLASHES (like a siren?). So now I'm in trouble - 40% of the puzzle done, but no way into the vast open middle of the grid, and no footholds anywhere else. This is when I get a little panicky - when I'm desperately scouring the grid for Any kind of foothold, any kind of purchase that will allow me to get rolling again.

I went to ILKA (54D: Chase in films), which I felt sure was correct, and off of her I got INK and SEA ... but both long Acrosses stopped right there. Moving on - tried TRI and UNI at 41D: Prefix with lateral (iso-), but that got me nowhere. Moving on - hey, it's that goddess from the Odyssey that I didn't know the last time she appeared! EDA? IDA? UNA? UMA? EMO? O come on! While I was wrestling with my faulty memory, I happened to notice the (aptly clued) adjacent Across, 38A: Minimal progress. I tested STEP, and the "P" gave me the beautiful long REST STOP (14D: It's found between exits), and then ... then I did just that. STOP. Finally let myself imagine "IT" as the last part of 12D: "Don't even bother!" and "FORGET IT" sprang to mind, then ONE-ON-ONE (13D: Kind of defense), and then the floodgates opened. I went from INO (33A: She gave Odysseus a magic veil) in one big, unstoppable loop, up through the NE, crashing down through the middle, straight down the SHARI LEWIS expressway (28D: Kids' entertainer who won 12 Emmys) and then splashing up through SUCRE (44A: Ingredient in chocolat) to finish at the "I" in ISO. Keys: allowing myself to try METERS as the (obvious?) second part of 9D: Blood flow measurers, and 2. nailing the ESTHETES / ART connection with very little in place (31A: They appreciate 59-Down / 59D: It's appreciated by 31-Across).

Bullets:

• 1A: Washington is just above it ("One Dollar") - if only this clue had continued "... on the One Dollar bill." My only early guess was OREGON.
• 18A: Some bucks and does (hares) - well I knew these weren't going to be DEERS, but beyond that, I didn't know.
• 25A: The Minotaur was fed seven of these annually (maidens) - this is SO deceptive. The Minotaur is actually fed boys and girls, seven of each, which is one of the reasons MAIDENS never occurred to me. I wanted so badly to make ATHENIANS fit, because I knew it was right. Knowing too much about a topic can really hurt sometimes.
• 42A: "A Footnote to History" author's inits. (RLS) - in the realm of author's initials, the vast majority of the time you're going to be dealing with TSE or RLS. Sometimes EAP or even GBS.
• 43A: State in Elysium (bliss) - the third ancient Greek clue of the puzzle. I was thinking that maybe Elysium had subdivisions that Homer or someone else referred to as "states."
• 62A: Adjunct to some pens (ink eraser) - where I come from, that's called an "eraser."
• 2D: Chuck Berry title girl who's repeatedly asked "Is that you?" ("Nadine") - now is the part on Rex Parker when we dance!

• 4D: Plotters' place (den) - is this what the DEN of thieves is doing? Plotting? I tend to think of criminals having LAIRS.
• 8D: Bell town in a Longfellow poem (Atri) - Crosswordese 101. Maybe 102. Whatever. You should remember it now if you didn't know it already.
• 24D: City in Arthur C. Clarke's "The City and the Stars" (Lys) - I wouldn't know.
• 26D: Squaring-off site (arena) - kind of a cool clue. I was imagine someone making something square, as with a plane, perhaps in a garage. I'm not sure that makes sense, but that's what was happening.
• 55D: Last ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, informally (Cleo) - and here I thought this was going to be something fierce. Nope - it's just Her Aspiness.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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