Ranch in 1956 film Giant / FRI 7-23-10 / Onetime teen idol who later hosted Pyramid / Frank Zappa's rock opera * Garage / One of 14,500 in Manhattan

Constructor: John Farmer

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: none


Word of the Day: EVA Air (53D: ___ Air (carrier to Taiwan))

EVA Airways Corporation (pronounced "E-V-A Air(ways)"; Chinese: 長榮航空; pinyin: Chángróng Hángkōng) is an airline based at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei, Taiwan operating passenger and dedicated cargo services to over 40 international destinations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. EVA Air is largely privately owned and flies a fully international route network. It is the second largest Taiwanese airline, next in size to its main rival, China Airlines. EVA Air is headquartered in Lujhu, Taoyuan County. [...] In October 2005, EVA Air launched a campaign with Japanese company Sanrio to create the "Hello Kitty Jet," featuring the popular Japanese character. Using the airline's A330-200, the exterior adopted a livery of Hello Kitty characters. A year later, the airline launched a second Hello Kitty Jet. The aircraft featured a Hello Kitty motif on exterior and interior fittings and features. Both planes were used to serve Japanese destinations, and from mid–July 2007, also Taipei-Hong Kong routes. The Hello Kitty livery was retired in 2009. (wikipedia)

• • •

Remarkably easy Friday puzzle. All the names in the NW (and there are a Lot of names in this puzzle—at least 15, by my count) were very familiar to me, including 1A: Fearsome Foursome teammate of Jones, Olsen and Lundy (GRIER). "The Prime of Miss Jean BRODIE" is near my bedside waiting to be read, so that was easy (11A: Jean ___, 1969 Oscar-winning title role for Maggie Smith). DIAMOND JIM BRADY has been in the puzzle before, and the clue was pretty detailed (14A: Gilded Age tycoon with a legendary appetite). RENÉ Auberjonois is a gimme. BIERCE's "Devil's Dictionary" is legendary (11D: Writer of "Happiness, n. An agreeable sensation arising from contemplating the misery of another"). And so on. First puzzler was 5D: Ted Kluszewski's team when he won the 1954 N.L. home run title (RED LEGS). First thought: "Ted who?" Second thought: that the clue said "teammate" (wrong). Third thought: "No team fits." I finally got RED LEGS and stopped the clock so I could look it up, so dubious was I—and thus I learned something:

The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the Central Division of the National League. The franchise originated in 1882 as the Cincinnati Red Stockings, using a name that dates back to baseball's first professional team in 1869. They settled on their current name by 1890, though they used the name "Redlegs" for part of the 1950s to avoid any perceived association with Communism during the McCarthy era. (wikipedia)

Freedom Fries! How pathetic.

Didn't know GRAND INQUISITOR, but when your answer starts GRANDI-, it's a good guess (1D: Christ's visitor in a tale from "The Brothers Karamozov"). I know sporcle bec. of Facebook friends who take their quizzes relentlessly, so QUIZ, easy (33A: Sporcle.com feature). I meandered through this puzzle, knocking off answer after answer with no real effort—the poet is YEATS, the running mate is SPIRO, etc. The BLACK SOX SCANDAL was a Monday-level-easy gimme (10D: Subject of "Eight Men Out"). Could've got it with no crosses. Only two crosses held me up for even a little bit—LEAPERS (46A: People born on February 29, colloquially) / SPAZ (before I had the "Z") (43D: "I'm such a ___!" (klutz's comment)), and DO OVER (57A: Mulligan, e.g.) / EVA (the very last letter I put in—this took me several seconds of contemplation, which, with this puzzle, felt like serious work). I thought LEAPERS were LEANERS (i.e. LEANING toward March???). And I thought Mulligan was stew, and then I thought it was a tap-in or gimme in golf (I don't play). Then I thought maybe there was an alternate spelling of DUFFER (DOOFER!?) that went here. Finally ran the alphabet (I think) and realized the answer was two words. EVA is the least Taiwanese-looking airline name I can imagine. Well, maybe SCHWARZ Airlines would be less Taiwanese-looking, but really, of all the EVAs ...



Bullets:

• 19A: One of about 14,500 in Manhattan (ACRE) — me: "JEWS? No, wait, clue says "one"; no, WAIT, there are probably a million JEWS in Manhattan, you idiot!"
  
• 20A: Fort named for a Civil War major general (ORD) — ORD and DIX are my go-to three-letter forts.
  
• 31A: Whom the Romans defeated at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae, 102 B.C. (TEUTONS) — The Battle of Sexy Waters, decided, ultimately, by wet T-shirt contest.
  
• 59A: Ranch in the 1956 film "Giant" (REATA) — crossword trivia. Learned it the first time I became aware that there was a non-RIATA spelling of RIATA.
  
• 9D: First capital of Japan (NARA) — I know I've seen this before, but it's just not the kind of name that sticks for me.
  
• 13D: N.F.L. rushing star Peterson (ADRIAN) — he is good. Very good. "Rushing star" somehow sounds weird to me, though it's accurate enough. ADRIAN Peterson is currently a Minnesota Viking.
  
• 7D: Actor Herbert of the "Pink Panther" films (LOM) — quintessential crosswordese, in that he'd be long forgotten were it not for crosswords. All other possible LOMs (there are mess of them in Bulgaria) are too obscure for American crosswords, apparently, so this guy lives on and on and on.
  
• 15D: Frank Zappa rock opera "___ Garage" ("JOE'S") — the only thing in the grid that was a Total mystery to me.
  
• 36D: Onetime teen idol who later hosted "Pyramid" (OSMOND) — Donny!

• 40D: Matchmaker for Tevye's daughters (YENTE) — YENTA, YENTE, YENTL—all of them might show up in your puzzle. I'm never quite sure which is which (though I do know the Streisand movie is "YENTL")
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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Unagi sources / THU 7-22-10 / Worshiping figure / Wooden-soled shoe / Positive thinking exponent / Nostalgists opening words

Constructor: Jeremy Horwitz

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: "3" — unnumbered center square has following Across/Down clues in puzzle note:

• Across: Shortest title of any #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 [Britney Spears, 2009]
• Down: Length of the eight runners-up to the Across answer, all of which are answers to starred clues in the this puzzle.

Puzzle contains eight 3-letter #1 Billboard Hot 100 hits


Word of the Day: KEDGES (15D: Small anchors) —

Nautical.
n.
A light anchor used for warping a vessel. (answers.com)

• • •

With apologies to Mr. Horowitz and his perfectly good puzzle, I can't expend much energy on this one — I am in no condition. You'd *think* the main reason for my bowing out would be the fact that my daughter was in a camp-related van accident earlier today and had to have a head wound stapled shut. But no. That ended up being ... eventful, but, luckily, not at all serious. No. I'm in no condition to write this thing up because *on top of* the aforementioned accident, I sat down to a puzzle that was half doable and then half ... incomprehensible. Top half filled, bottom half ... a wasteland. Nothing falling into place. Mostly empty. I couldn't do Anything with it. 15, 20 minutes go by (I normally do Thursdays in 6-8), I start looking up answers (which I *never* do) ... and they Don't Fit. I then look up the 1972 Michael Jackson song and sure enough, as I thought, it's "BEN." So Why Does My Puzzle Say It's FIVE LETTERS LONG!? Well, after a bit of sleuthing, I find out it's because Black Ink (my solving software) absolutely butchered the .puz file. Whatever special coding the NYT had to do to make this puzzle work did not take with Black Ink. Here are some funny moments from my nonsensical version of this puzzle—

• 40A: Unworthy of (BOWED TO)
• 52A: Succumb to mind control (CLEOPATRA)
• 39D: Greeted deferentially (HUBCAP)

And so on...

So then I went and solved directly on the NYT page (in the applet), and bam, everything numbered correctly, and all the answers I'd wanted So Bad (that wouldn't fit in my Bizarro puzzle) were right where they were supposed to be. Sigh. Anyway, I think (I *think*) the puzzle is kind of cute, but my analytical mojo is spent, so who knows?



Theme answers:

• 5A: *Jackson 5, 1970 ("ABC")
  
• 22A: *Usher feat. will.i.am, 2010 ("OMG")
  
• 45A: *Michael Jackson, 1972 ("BEN")
  
• 59A: *Frankie Avalon, 1959 ("WHY")
  
• 12D: *Michael Jackson, 1987 ("BAD")
  
• 32D: *Edwin Starr, 1970 ("WAR")
  
• 34D: *Flo Rida feat. T-Pain, 2008 ("LOW")
  
• 54D: *Rihanna, 2006 ("S.O.S.")

I guess I can do ...

Bullets:

• 19A: Capital whose name is Urdu for "place of peace" (ISLAMABAD) — ah, this was part of the grid where the clues and answers still matched. Good times ... started out very fast on this one, getting all the first Downs off of YIPS and filling in the long Downs almost immediately thereafter.
  
• 26A: "Harlequin's Carnival," for one (MIRÓ) — one of my favorite artists. Got this off the terminal "O."
  
• 28A: Nostalgist's opening words ("TIME WAS ...") — about the last answer I got before the wheels came off. After I threw IRENE CARA down (29D: "Fame" actress), it was all over. Nothing worked.
  
• 43D: Taft and Bush, collegiately (ELIS) — my puzzle had this in the 42D position and I confidently wrote in YALIES.
  
• 51A: Earliest million-dollar movie role (CLEOPATRA) — my puzzle had this clue in the 50A position. Me: "C... C... CUJO?"
  
• 55A: Gypsum variety used in carvings (ALABASTER) — Couldn't define "gypsum" or "alabaster" for you (though I know from poetry that the latter is white).
  
• 3D: "Positive thinking" exponent (PEALE) — Norman Vincent, who wrote "The Power of Positive Thinking." Infamously anti-Catholic.
  
• 5D: Longest book of the Book of Mormon (ALMA) — Longest? Who cares? At least give me a good reason for having to know this book. Longest. Pfft.
  
• 38D: Outer covering for some nuts (HUBCAP) — great clue.
  
• 30D: 1864 battle site that was the source of the quote "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" (MOBILE BAY) — not a place I'm familiar with. Got almost all of it from crosses.
  
• 11D: Subject of the 1997 best seller "Into Thin Air" (MT. EVEREST) — well, it's a mountain ... luckily, I had MTE- in place, so that mountain in question wasn't too hard to come up with.
• 49D: Word repeated before some relatives' names (GREAT) — another good clue. Sadly, in my screwed-up version, the answer was also five letters, and so I wrote in GREAT, which just kept me confused even longer. "Some of these answers fit ... What's Wrong With This Puzzle!?" Seriously, it was maddening. I wonder if anyone else out there actually solves in Black Ink, and if so ... what happened to you?
• 24D: Like the first of May of the end of June? (NASAL) — didn't like this trick only because of "first of May," which really should have been "beginning of May." "First" implies the letter "M" (not the NASAL consonant sound) and doesn't parallel "end of" well at all (esp. considering "June"'s last letter is "e," and asking us to imagine that a one-syllable word has a discrete "end" —here, the NASAL consonant sound of "N"— that is not letter-related is slightly irksome); there's such a thing as getting carried away with your trickiness. Elegance and consistency above everything else.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

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