1965 Yardbirds hit / SAT 7-19-14 / Cap'n 1904 novel / Company with the King David Club

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Saturdayish

THEME: No theme

Word of the Day: ERI [54D - "Cap'n ___"(1904 novel)] —

The Golden Boys is a romantic comedy, set on Cape Cod in 1905, about three 70-year-old retired sea captains who try to lure an attractive middle-aged woman into marriage. Developed under the working title Chatham, the film is an adaptation of the Joseph Lincoln novel Cap’n Eri. It stars David Carradine, Rip Torn, Bruce Dern, and Mariel Hemingway. It only made $43,600 at the box office. Ouch! (Wikipedia)

• • •

Hey, crossword fans. Doug here again. Wow, I lucked out this weekend. I got a Livengood yesterday and a Silk today. Score! Today's puzzle is a classic Barry C. Silk production. Some sports stuff, some oldies music, and a nice wide-open grid pattern. All in all, a spot-on Saturday puzzle for your solving enjoyment.

Were any of you bothered by GO ALL OUT (15A: Pour it on) crossing GO TO YOUR ROOM (8D: Call for a timeout)? I didn't notice the GO duplication while solving, and it doesn't bother me much. I've found that editors tend to be pretty forgiving about minor duplications. And both entries are fun, so really the only reason I mentioned it was to fill up a little space. We substitute bloggers have to meet our quotas.

Bullets:

• PRETZEL LOOP (27A: Roller coaster feature with a food name) — Now that's a fun answer. Other roller coaster elements I found on Wikipedia: batwing, butterfly inversion, cobra roll, demonic knot, hammerhead turn, Norwegian loop, and the dreaded wraparound Immelman.
• WILD CARD TEAM (20D: Underdog playoffs participant) — Great entry. Reminds me of the time the Yankees declined the Wild Card.
• ESAU (25D: Biblical venison preparer) — I thought I'd solved all the ESAU clues, but whaddya know, here's a new one.
• FOR YOUR LOVE (1965 Yardbirds hit) — OK, I admit I didn't know this song. I dig the lead singer's bongo playing.




• ODESSAN (47A: Dweller near the Potemkin Stairs) —Somehow this was the first entry I filled in today. I've had a lot of Odessa facts drilled into my head over the years by crosswords.

• YOUNGER (24A: Like Princess Leia vis-à-vis Luke Skywalker) — They're twins, and I guess Luke was born first. I'm not going to check Wookieepedia to verify. And as you can see, they're quite close. 
• VAINER (43D: Like Cinderella's stepsisters vis-à-vis Cinderella) — We all tried UGLIER first, right?
• C SHARP (1D: D preceder) — This is embarrassing, but I didn't know if it was C SHARP or E SHARP until I got the crossing letter from COSMOS. I can never figure out the musical note clues. In my world, they're all just letters randomly followed by SHARP, FLAT, MAJOR, or MINOR.

While I've got your attention, I might as well plug my two new books: Brain-Straining Crosswords and Lickety-Split Crosswords. They both hit shelves on August 5th. Buy the hard one for yourself and the easy one for a friend. Or buy ten copies of each and hand them out as party favors. That's even better! Thanks for hanging with me the past couple of days. Peterson out.

Signed, Doug Peterson, Warrior Prince of CrossWorld

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Blue-flowered Mediterranean herb / FRI 7-18-14 / 1994 memoir with chapter on New Robot Novels / Campus spot for Bluto Otter and Boon

Constructor: Ian Livengood

Relative difficulty: Fridayish

THEME: No theme 

Word of the Day: BORAGE (49A: Blue-flowered Mediterranean herb) —

Borage /ˈbɒr.ɪdʒ/ (Borago officinalis), also known as a starflower, is an annual herb. It is native to the Mediterranean region and has naturalized in many other locales. It grows satisfactorily in gardens in the UK climate, remaining in the garden from year to year by self-seeding. The leaves are edible and the plant is grown in gardens for that purpose in some parts of Europe. The plant is also commercially cultivated for borage seed oil extracted from its seeds. (Wikipedia)

• • •

Howdy, crossword fans. Doug here. Rex is still off on his much-deserved vacation in New Zealand. Let me check his itinerary ... Oh, today he's planning to tour the boyhood home of The Bushwhackers. It's a National Monument.

I was chatting with Ryan Hecht (owner of the Clover Theater and co-founder of Lollapuzzoola) last week, and we decided that the Friday puzzle is usually the best puzzle of the NY Times week, especially when it's constructed by one of the classic Friday constructors: Berry, Quigley, Silk, Nothnagel. Ryan remembers the first time he was able to correctly finish an entire Friday NY Times puzzle. What a thrill! And that thrill gave birth to a crossword blog & hooking up with some dude named Brian to put together a weekly podcast and an amazing crossword tournament which, by the way, is the only crossword tournament currently held in New York City. (Register now!) But what if Ryan had run into an impossible crossing? Or if he'd been interrupted and never come back to that pivotal Friday puzzle? The course of human history would have been changed forever, and I'd have nothing to do on a Saturday in August.

An Ian Livengood byline is a welcome sight on a Friday, so let's get to the puzzle. Typically smooth Livengoodian grid. A bit on the easy side for a Friday, but I'm usually on Ian's wavelength. I'm going to give him a demerit for OON at 52-Across. There's a reason it spells "Noo!" backwards. However OON is a small price to pay for YA HEARD, 'FRAID SO, RUSSIAN MOB, RODEO DRIVE, SLEAZEBALL, THE REBELS, RAP GROUPS, etc. There's plenty to like here.

Bullets:

• DELTA HOUSE (12D: Campus spot for Bluto, Otter and Boon) — Double secret probation! Super entry. All the long entries are fun today, though I'm not 100% sold on ...
• I GET IT OKAY (28D: "All right already!") — Whaddya think? I wanted it to be I GET IT, I GET IT. This works, but it feels a tad arbitrary to me.
• COSTAS (22A: Bob of play-by-play) — I initially entered UECKER, because who doesn't love Bob Uecker? Juuust a bit outside.




• BED HOP (35A: Sleep around) — I was looking for something cutesy here, so the straightforward answer surprised me. This one and HELL (3D: Something to catch from scolding parents) give the puzzle a mildly saucy vibe.
• I, ASIMOV (1994 memoir with a chapter on "New Robot Novels") — Ooh, I should read this. Asimov is great, and he wrote a bajillion books. 

Signed, Doug Peterson, Drafter of CrossWorld Codicils

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