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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FRIDAY, Mar. 20, 2009 - D. L. Wilk (Royal from the planet Alderaan / Faline's mother in "Bambi" / " - Warning" ("Das Rheingold" aria))

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none

Word of the Day: CESTA (63A: Basket on a court) - A scoop-shaped wicker basket that is worn over the hand and used to catch and throw the ball in jai alai. (answers.com)

Despite some insane-looking fill - ERDA'S (5A: "_____ Warning" ("Das Rheingold" aria))!? KOL?!, this puzzle was very easy to take down. Puzzle with lots of 15s are usually not that hard compared to ones with lots of 6s and 7s. Today, if you are an answer between 6 and 14 letters long, you are out of luck. No room at the inn. Aside from the 15s, everything is 5 and shorter. And 15s only look tough - the truth is, you often need no more than a few crosses to take the whole damn answer down. For instance, I got DRESS TO THE NINES (7D: Get all dapper) off of the two letters provided by the TORCH (15A: It goes a long way before the Olympics) and TSO (21A: Name on a Chinese menu) crosses, respectively. -R-S- = DRESS = DRESS TO THE NINES, which fits, then check that terminal "S" to see if you're right, yep, there's CESTA (63A: Basket on a court) - and we're on our way.

This puzzle has a zillion kinds of symmetry, but no Scrabbliness. A smattering of Ks in the middle, and that is all. Speaking of which, KOL!? (33D: _____ Nidre (Yom Kippur prayer)). That would have been brutal had the 15s not been unimpeachable.

If you ATE (23A: Took a course?) your way through the NW corner, you could make yourself very sick. Actually, a PO' BOY (20A: Hero, to some) and a COLA (14A: Cherry _____) sounds like a decent lunch, and I guess I could handle a HOHO (2D: Chocolaty treat) for dessert. It's the ALABAMA SLAMMERS afterward that would get me (3D: They include amaretto and sloe gin). Oh, I just got that last clue. I was thinking that amaretto and sloe gin were supposed to be examples of ALABAMA SLAMMERS - two terms in the larger category. But that made no sense. Now I see they're just ingredients. Well that should have been obvious.

The 15s are all multiple-word phrases, many of which have a preposition+"the" phrase somewhere in their innards:

• SOAKED TO THE SKIN (32A: Not merely having wet clothes) - I malapopped this one, writing in BONE for SKIN, only to have BONES show up in a later 15 - FEEL IN ONE'S BONES (56A: Just know).
• FILL IN THE BLANKS (40A: Provide what's missing)
• ROTTEN TO THE CORE (6D: As bad as bad can be)
• DRESS TO THE NINES
• ACROSS THE STREET (8D: Very close, in a way)

In addition to TSO and TORCH, today's straight-up gimmes include:

• "ERL" (37D: Schubert's "The _____ King")
• HEB. (36D: Likud lang.)
• TAROT (4D: The Emperor, The Empress or The High Priest)
  
• OLMOS (50A: Oscar nominee for "Stand and Deliver," 1988)
• "STOP MAKING SENSE" (11D: 1984 Talking Heads concert film and hit album)

• ENA (41A: Faline's mother in "Bambi")
• "A NEST" (31D: "_____ of traitors": Shak.)

What else?:

• 28A: Some Windows systems (NTs) - I have No Idea what this means. I see that it is an operating system from the 90s. OK.
• 48A: One of a pair of mice in "Cinderella" (Gus) - I think the "G" in this guy's name was the last thing I filled in, GOB (48D: Lot) not being a word I use a lot. It's like WAD, in that it sounds gross to me.
• 61A: Dreaded letters for a procrastinator? (ASAP) - as an inveterate procrastinator, I would like to dispute this. I LOVE when something is urgent, because then I feel compelled to do it. It's when something needs to be done ... soon. Next week. Eventually. Then I'm in big, big trouble.
• 1D: Letters on old Russian maps (CCCP) - learned these letters from old Russian Olympics uniforms.
• 13D: Utter guilt, with "up" (fess) - cute verbal use of "utter"
• 26D: "_____ Place," 1971 Orson Welles movie ("A Safe") - Neeeeever heard of it. "A SAFE" makes a nice book end with "A NEST"
• 27D: Gun-_____ (like Yosemite Sam) (Totin') - by far, by very far, my favorite thing about this puzzle.

• 45D: Crop-damaging animals (voles) - when I take my dogs to the woods, I get them all riled up by promising them that they're going to get to chase the "stoats and VOLES and weasels and slerriuqs." I do it in my dog-talk voice, which is more-than-vaguely cartoonish and only heard when dogs are about.
• 51D: Royal from the planet Alderaan (Leia) - went from "?????" to "Oh, of course" pretty quickly.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

SYNDICATED SOLVERS: PLEASE READ: If you are doing the puzzle in syndication (yes, you), listen up. It's actually April 24, now, and I have two announcements you might be interested in now. Like, today. One for L.A., one for NY.

• L.A. - the Crosswords L.A. Tournament is tomorrow. It's a charity tournament. It's cheap. You will have fun. Go.
• N.Y. - artist Emily Cureton, whose NYT crossword drawings are legendary, would like you to know that the Morgan Fine Arts Building is having a Spring Studio Open House tomorrow, 5-10pm. She writes, "My studio will be open to the public and decked out in my most recent work, plus a trashcan full of ice cold beer. Hope you can make it." You should go.

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