FRIDAY, Oct. 19, 2007 - Frederick J. Healy

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Blogger is being SUPER slow this morning - I type a sentence and the letters take forever to appear on the screen - so I'm going to wrap this up quickly to keep from punching my computer. Liked the puzzle, though thought it was really inconsistent, difficulty-wise, from one quadrant to the next. My time was avg-to-slow (just over 10), primarily because I lost a ton of time during a free fall in the NE. If I had to rate the puzzle's difficulty by quadrants (and I don't, but I will), I'd say they broke down like this:

NE: 8 (out of 10)
NW: 5
SE: 2
SW: 2

Primary problem of the day for me was 10A: "Unbelievable!" ("Oh, wow!"). I had written in "NO WAY!" (a much, much better answer, btw) and then had the "W" confirmed by WAIT A SEC (12D: "Hang on!"), so NO WAY hung around for a while. Too long. Started to realize my problem when I couldn't think of any Chinese place name in five letters that began with "O" (11D: Changsha is its capital - HUNAN). I was helped by a clue that was one of my most favorite gimmes of all time: 21A: 1984 hit parody of a 1983 song ("Eat It"). I am the perfect age to know that answer, as I was a teenager enthralled by MTV when both the original (Michael Jackson's "Beat It") and the parody came out. But DUANE was unknown to me, and ON TIPTOE (13D) is not an expression I've ever heard used to mean "Eager." [Like someone getting a box down from a high shelf, perhaps] would have been a more suitable clue. My daughter's favorite comic strip is "Garfield," and yet I completely zoned on ODIE (10D: One of Jon Arbuckle's pets), forgetting that Garfield's owner-man is Jon Arbuckle. The only Arbuckle that was registering was of course Fatty. Loved the tricky clue 14D: Things that may be shot in stages? (westerns). Not as fond of the trickness involved in 25A: Area below the hairline (nape), even if it is quite literal. I wanted PATE at one point. Only a NOB (54A: Fat cat, in England) would say PATE in the 21st century, I think.

Rest of the puzzle went much more smoothly. Had trouble getting traction in the NW, but nailing SQUEEGEES (1A: Windshield wipers) right off the bat helped, even if it did take me a while to confirm the "Q" (2D: Like successful orators - QUOTED). . .

I am in a time crunch this morning - which is happening more and more, ugh - so I'm going to throw down the clues that I found most difficult, and then I'll add more commentary later in the day if I have time.

• 15A: Darwin's home (Australia) - had wrong Darwin on the brain
• 16A: Superrealist sculptor Hanson (Duane) - New to me
• 23A: Four-time Vardon Trophy winner (Snead) - got it off the "SN-" - a wild guess
• 31A: Narrows: Abbr. (str.) - mistakenly went looking for a plural
• 34A: Clam (simoleon) - got easily, but couldn't spell ("-EAN?" "-IAN?")
• 59A: "Eight is Enough" wife (Abby) - the nice, vaguely hot stepmother
• 66A: Garb symbolizing youth (knee pants) - wanted SHORT PANTS, as that's the phrase I've heard
• 3D: James Forrestal was its last cabinet secy. (U.S. Navy)
• 6D: Slalom targets (gates) - easy enough, but "targets" feels weird to me here; maybe it's supposed to
• 8D: Astronaut Collins and others (Eileens) - no clue
• 9D: Toasted triangle topper (salsa dip) - TTH (Trying Too Hard)! Alliteration taken to unpleasant, confusing lengths
• 24D: "La Reine Margot" novelist (Dumas) - unsure - it was gonna be him or DURAS
• 48D: Natural (inborn) - had INNATE a first
• 51D: 10 kilogauss (Tesla) - good example of the "nutso-looking-clue / familiar-answer" trick
• 59D: Mar makeup (agua) - Love that "Mar" is also an English word. Love also that I got this instantly despite having very shaky Spanish skills

All for now,

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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THURSDAY, Oct. 18, 2007 - Lucy Gardner Anderson

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: SIDE SPLITTING (38A: Hilarious ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme) - four different two-word "side" orders are "split," with the first word appearing in one part of the grid and the second appearing in another.

I did this puzzle in just over 6 minutes, which is insanely fast for me on a Thursday. Had a slow start, but once I got some traction, the whole thing went down fast. I think I was slow to get going because I over-thought the theme. Thought there might be some trickery afoot. No, just very familiar side dishes. Hmmm. Can't say I liked the puzzle much, though I do like being fast.

Theme answers:

• 5A: With 50-Down, steak go-with (baked / potato)
• 10A: With 68-Across, fish filet go-with (cole / slaw) - I am slowly realizing, now that I've typed it twice, that I hate the word "go-with"
• 1D: With 69-Across, burger go-with (french / fries)
• 33A: With 44-Across, hot sandwich go-with (onion rings) - "hot sandwich?" I ... guess.

Only a couple answers made me say 'yikes.' Yesterday, it was one space answer: GUION Bluford. Today, another space answer: 26D: One of a series of joint Soviet/U.S. space satellites (Bion). The other answer from outer space (figurative outer space now) was GET LOW (45D: 2003 #2 hit for Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz). Guess what I think is the funniest element of this clue / answer*:

a. "GET LOW"
b. "Boyz"
c. "#2 hit"
d. "Lil Jon"

No idea what "The Beeb" is, but TELLY was easy enough with a cross or two (40D: The Beeb is seen on it). Is that short for the BBC? Robert Zimmerman wrote a recent NYT puzzle, and today he returns as a clue: 64A: Bob Dylan's first wife and the title of a song about her (Sara). I know woefully little about Mr. Dylan's work, so this was lost on me. Had the final "A," or otherwise I would have guessed JOAN or BAEZ. Weren't they married? No, apparently not. Just involved, before Dylan married SARA.

I made frowny faces at several clues / answers today. First frowny face goes to 15A: Water, for one (oxide). Water is lots of things. And you know I suck at science. So this is totally fair, but unpleasant to me, personally. Next frowny face goes to 18A: Fix, as a hitch (retie). I dislike most RE-prefixed verbs. And "a hitch?" What is this, the Old West? Blah. Next frowny face: 34A: Like waves on a shoreline (erosive). True enough, I guess. Are all shoreline waves, by definition (or by the inherent properties of water) EROSIVE? No matter the composition of the shore? Just curious. I would have put yet another frowny face next to AVOWER (3D: One saying "I do") - icky Odd Job - but it crosses 14A: Wedding parties?: Abbr. (revs), creating a little wedding mini-theme, so I withhold the frown.

I botched and or tripped over a few answers. Very thrown by KITE (7D: Toy sometimes seen on a beach), perhaps because I don't see it "on a beach." I see it "in the sky" when *I* am "on a beach," maybe. I wanted PAIL or something like that. I was semi-miraculously able to guess CAFTAN (10D: Unisex dress) off of just the "AF" despite not being able to define the word or even picture it to save my life. I spelled it initially with a "K," but whatever. That's pretty good. I reforgot SILAS (32D: Albino in "The Da Vinci Code") today - can we ban "The Da Vinci Code" from the puzzle like we banned "Ally McBeal?" Please? Thanks. I wrote in the highly cool ATTAR instead of the far more pedantic and sciencey-sounding ESTER for 53D: Perfume ingredient.

Not sure why, as I've never seen him act in any way, shape, or form, but TATI was a gimme (56D: 1955 Oscar nominee for "Mr. Hulot's Holiday"). Another, more fun gimme was MEAL (60A: Airline rarity, nowadays). Got this instantly. I miss my airline meals, crappy as they were. Sometimes the stuff you can buy on planes is actually far superior to what you would have received for free in the olden days, but some part of me still resents having to pay for food on a plane. I'm nearly 6'4" and you've got me crammed into a seat intended for somebody 5'10", max; the least you could do is give me some gummy lasagna and super-pale green beans.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

*Answer: c

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