Joy of Cooking author Rombauer / TUE 11-16-10 / Native of land known by natives as Eesti / Basketballer nicknamed Big Aristotle / Woodlands mate

Constructor: Ian Livengood

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: TURNED THE TABLES (37A: Regained one's winning status ... or a hint to this puzzle's circled letters) — six sets of circles, each arranged to form 90-degree angles, spell out types of tables

Tables: ROUND, COFFEE, POOL, PRIZE, DINNER, GAME


Word of the Day: IRMA Rombauer (1D: "Joy of Cooking" author Rombauer) —

Irma Starkloff Rombauer (30 October 1877 – 14 October 1962) was the author of The Joy of Cooking. It is one of the world's most-published cookbooks, having been in print continuously since 1936. She graduated from the all-girls preparatory school Mary Institute in 1901 and later attended Washington University in St. Louis. Rombauer privately published The Joy of Cooking in 1931 in St. Louis, Missouri. It was illustrated by her daughter Marion Rombauer Becker, also a graduate of Mary Institute (1931) and at the time an art teacher at local private school John Burroughs School. The Rombauers self-published early editions of the book; it was picked up by a commercial printing house, the Bobbs-Merrill Company, in 1936. (wikipedia)

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After a poor start (GUESS for INFER at 1A: Surmise, and then a total blank on 4D: Native of the land known by natives as Eesti=>ESTONIAN), I hit my stride and tore through the puzzle in slightly better than average time. No theme answers to deal with, so it was like doing a very easy themeless puzzle — this is why I didn't think the puzzle was very exciting: never even noticed the "tables." Didn't have to. I can appreciate the cute idea and nice construction after the fact, but the theme was oddly detached from the whole solving experience. Irrelevant to it, even (unless, for some reason, you were stumped by a circle-containing word ... then I guess the theme might have helped; I just can't imagine where the stumping might have occurred). ROUND is kind of the odd man out here. All the others are types of tables, whereas there is only one ROUND Table (I'm teaching a course on Arthurian literature right now, and yet my first thought on seeing "ROUND" was "Seriously!? 'ROUND' is a type of table!? That's pretty weak. Why not 'RECTANGULAR?'").



Not much to say about this one. Didn't like the clue on 6A: Say "Oh, that was nothing," say, first because of the two "say"s, and second because it sounds more like an expression of modesty than someone SCOFFing. On the other hand, I really liked the somewhat tricky clue on MOVIE (15A: "M," W." or "Z"). Got it almost completely from crosses, and then had a nice aha moment. BEEF STEW (40D: Hearty entree that may be cooked in a Dutch oven) made me laugh because it made me think of Tracy Morgan calling John Stewart "STEW BEEF!"

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Tracy Morgan
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Honestly, I think that's all. I gotta go check on Monday Night Football. Last I checked, it was a crazy blowout (Eagles over Redskins). This matters to me because I picked the Eagles and Ian (today's constructor) picked the Redskins and I am still Way behind him in my football pool. He's in first. I'm in last. Though, to my credit, I've made up a lot of ground the past few weeks, and even in last place I'm only 8 games back for the season.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

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