Actress-turned-nun Hart / SAT 2-25-12 / Yarn identifier / One in stag's litter / Guideposts magazine founder / Of atoms spatial relationships / Hebrew Hammer of Cleveland Indians / Korean War weapon / JFK speechwriter Sorensen / 1950 sci-fi classic / Mini successor / Mark of successful gunfighter

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: DOLORES Hart (43D: Actress-turned-nun Hart) —

Rev. Mother Dolores Hart (born October 20, 1938, Chicago, Illinois) is an American Roman Catholic nun and former actress. She made 10 films in five years, playing opposite Stephen Boyd, Montgomery Clift, George Hamilton and Robert Wagner, having made her movie debut with Elvis Presley in Loving You (1957). (wikipedia)

• • •

This one's chronological epicenter was at least a decade before I was born, but I still finished in less time than it took to do yesterday's. There are a couple of junky bits (TNTS? over EELED?? over DYE LOT??? — to say nothing of STERIC) (9D: Of atoms' spatial relationships) but overall it's a solid grid. Familiar shape, mildly interesting fill. Saturday. There it is. Take it or leave it.



Every corner had some long, low-hanging fruit, which allowed me to work my way through even toughish parts. ON THE MONEY in the NW (I got that off the "NT"), KOSHER DELI in the NE (off the "K"), STOLEN BASE in the SE (off the nothing—too easy; 30D: One of Henderson's record 1,406), and REGISTERED in the SW (off the "D"). Not to say that there wasn't some flailing around. I really lucked into that first "N" in ON THE MONEY when I wrote in IN NO at 15A: Beginning of time? (ONE O'). I was half right. Oh, I also guessed SO NICE off just the "S" up there. But I couldn't get MOBS at all (1A: Crowds around noisily), and BEER BOTTLE took a good long while to come into view (3D: One in a stag's litter), and MOST WANTED was originally LIST MAKERS (1D: Like some top-10 people); that clue just made no sense to me at all. EELED I dropped in without blinking, but I couldn't get below it, so followed FAKES OUT up into the NE—by far the easiest portion of the grid. KOSHER DELI, then NED (really TED, but who cares?) IBEX NILE STIR, all in a row. The "LR" combo helped me think of AL ROSEN (he was once the A.L. MVP, and his last name appears in the grid from time to time). Then STOLEN BASE took me down the east coast, then I moved inland to fix some errors—had SHAH for SADR (45D: Abolhassan Bani-___ (first president of Iran)) and THE FOG for I, ROBOT (59A: 1950 sci-fi classic). SE looked quite hard, but REGISTERED proved a great guess, as did (a bit later) DOLORES, and those gave me enough traction to work my way up to the Nevada region of the grid, where I finished things off with the mysterious DYE LOT (47A: Yarn identifier).

Bullets:

• 5A: "In the Still of the Nite" doo-wop group, with "the" (FIVE SATINS) — this is what I meant when I mentioned the puzzle's chronological epicenter. That section alone has this answer, TED Sorensen, AL ROSEN, and the 1969 ILO.
• 19A: "___ the brinded cat hath mewed": Shak. (THRICE) — pretty dang easy, esp. given a cross or two.
• 22A: Reagan-era teen, e.g. (XER) — Reagan took office when I was 11 and left when I was 19, and yet somehow my initials (MDS) weren't the right answer here. 

• 63A: Mini successor (NANO) — My first thought was of the Mini Cooper. Then the skirt.
• 64A: Spy's query at the start of a meeting (ARE WE ALONE?) — even this seems like something out of the '60s. A '60s spy novel. Not to say that I don't like it, 'cause I do.
• 8D: Fifth element, per Aristotle (ETHER) — had the "TH," and from there it was an easy guess.
• 50D: Russian playwright Andreyev (LEONID) — Lots of "Names of the 20th Century" today. See also Norman Vincent PEALE (52D: Guideposts magazine founder).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Footloose hero McCormack / FRI 2-10-12 / Spartan toiler / Onetime pickling liquid / Tony's Taras Bulba co-star 1962 / Longtime Dodgers coach Manny / Only Englishman named Dr. of Church / Maker of fabrics with intricate designs

Constructor: Barry C. Silk and Brad Wilber

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

 THEME: none

Word of the Day: JACQUARD LOOM (54A: Maker of fabrics with intricate designs) —

The Jacquard loom is a mechanical loom, invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in 1801, that simplifies the process of manufacturing textiles with complex patterns such as brocade, damask and matelasse. The loom is controlled by punched cards with punched holes, each row of which corresponds to one row of the design. Multiple rows of holes are punched on each card and the many cards that compose the design of the textile are strung together in order. It is based on earlier inventions by the Frenchmen Basile Bouchon (1725), Jean Baptiste Falcon (1728) and Jacques Vaucanson (1740) (wikipedia)

• • •

Never heard of either of the long Acrosses, so ... yeah. Not much joy there. Fighting for every letter of an answer that ultimately means nothing to you—not the most pleasant experience. POLITICAL DNA (18A: Party makeup?) I've probably heard somewhere, once or twice, but it seems pretty weak, as in-the-language colloquial phrases go. My first page of google hits for the phrase gives me a Facebook page with that title and two different stories about Nancy Pelosi's daughter. Shrug. Rest of the grid was pretty nice, with lots of late-week trickiness in the clues. But looms just don't excite me, and there's not much else to get very excited about. It's a very serviceable, solid puzzle, for the most part. A good 10-minute workout for me today. That's about 2-3 minutes over my average, and all of that time was spent a. figuring out those two mystery Acrosses, and b. remembering how to spell DE RIGUEUR (6D: Proper). Man, that "UEU" combo just eluded me. I kept forgetting the first "U" and thinking "Why Won't It Fit?" 


I just put HELOT in a puzzle I constructed. I wasn't proud, but I did it anyway. It's a solid, if somewhat arcane, word. It'll do. Beats ALEGAR, that's for sure (I remember learning that word years ago, from crosswords, of course; never seen it since, til now) (16A: Onetime pickling liquid). Had a back-and-forth about "Throw Momma From the Train" with some friends recently (I have a "Screening 1987" Facebook group that is watching one 1987 movie a week, all year long— "Throw Momma" is on the schedule). Momma's saying "OWEN" was one of the things I remembered best about that movie. I apparently have no idea what it means to be named a "Dr. of the Church." Which Church? Catholic? I have "Dr. Donne" in my head (a metaphorical rather than literal title, probably), so I was thinking Anglican Church, which of course made the whole "Only Englishman" thing completely bizarred. "But ... it's the Anglican Church ... so ... what?" (29A: Only Englishman named a Dr. of the Church = ST. BEDE). The phrase "'Footloose' hero" made me laugh, so even though that's a crazy clue for REN, I approve (12D: "Footloose" hero McCormack).


Bullets:

• 32A: Tony's "Taras Bulba" co-star, 1962 (YUL) — "Taras Bulba" may as well be a JACQUARD LOOM for all I know about it (saw it used in a puzzle once as a clue for "TARAS," I think). No idea who "Tony" is here (it's Curtis). 
• 59A: Running quarterly, for short? (COIN-OP) — yeah, that's a good "?" clue.
• 10D: Longtime Dodgers coach Manny (MOTA) — 32 consecutive years as a Dodgers coach. Keep in mind, that's not the same as *the* coach, i.e. the manager. Still, impressive.
• 13D: Ending for AriZona flavors (-ADE) — they make sugary drinks and "teas" and what not. -ADE was an educated guess.
• 51D: Like the Navajo language (TONAL) — I thought 63A: Reacted to a punch was WEAVED, so I had this answer ending in "V." Not a lot of options. YAKOV? PART V?

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

King Hussein Airport locale / SAT 1-28-12 / Silverwing flier / Aretha's Grammy-nominated sister / Incredibles family name / Sheila's welcome

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: SAND BARREL (56A: Many a crash cushion at a construction zone) —

[can't find a definition—[define "sand barrel"] yields very few hits. Looks like barrels filled with sand ??? never seen the term before]

• • •

Solve from NW to SE, and this is one puzzle (easy); solve it along the other diagonal, and it's something else (hard). Those NE and SW corners were light years harder than the other corners. Not sure why that should be, but that's how it worked out. This was a typical Barry Silk puzzle—solid but unflashy grid with clues designed to be as tough at every turn. Very few flat-out gimmes (mine were MEAL PLAN, BAG, RED, G'DAY (17A: Sheila's welcome), PEAR, and INDIE). Several places where I had all but one letter of an answer and still had no idea (first letter of -ICS for 27D: P.R. releases ... and my final letter, the "W" in BREW and BLEW, which I had to run the alphabet to get) (9D: Java, for one + 21A: Messed up). NE was hard mostly because all the shorter crosses for those 10-letter answers were fantastically vague. The one I was sure I had correct ended up being wrong (I had STOATS; answer was STOLES—14D: Some ermines). In the opposite corner, same problem. PARR and ERMA side by side? That's very rough play. (53D: "The Incredibles" family name + Aretha's Grammy-nominated sister)



Wrong answers: STOATS for STOLES, SHAD for HAKE (8D: Cod relative), ENL for LTR, ETON (?) for ELON (63A: School in the Piedmont region). I think that's it. Never heard of SAND BARREL or ROAD GRADER (62A: Civil engineering vehicle), which tells you how much time I've spent on construction sites. I don't think "'02" is enough of a signal that 5D: One of the subjects of the best-selling '02 books "The Conquerors" is an abbr. (HST). Also having trouble accepting the phrase NO TAIL as a "trait" (13D: Manx trait). It's not there, so it's not a trait—the "NO" part is what's bugging me. RED HAIR or GREEN EYES or adj. / noun of any kind, I'd buy as a "trait." I thought "coulee" was a racist term for a Chinese man ... but I was thinking "coolie" (see here). How is OMAN the toe of a boot? Italy is a boot. I have never, ever, ever heard the Arabian peninsula referred to as a "boot." Booooooooooo ... t.

Bullets:

• 1A: Concern for a dermatologist (LUMP) — this is what we call a "F&ck You" clue, in that it takes this form *only* to trick you into writing in a wrong answer, in this case ACNE. Maybe we should call it an asshole clue, but "F&ck You" clue just has too much poetry on its side.
• 22A: Roster curtailer: Abbr. (ET AL) — inventive, if weird, cluing
• 39A: Signs near a teller's window, maybe (ENDORSES) — there should be a term for this–where clue is written to suggest a word is one part of speech (here a noun) when it's really another (here, a verb)
• 47A: Silverwing flier (CESSNA) — I know nothing about planes, but I had the "C" and I also know that CESSNA is a reasonably grid-friendly plane.
• 24D: Her help was solicited in a hit (RHONDA) — I guess this was pretty close to a gimme too.  

• 38D: Universidad de las Américas site (SANTIAGO) — pfft, no idea. But I had the -GO, which was enough.
• 40D: "Children of the Albatross" novelist (NIN) — she's a crossword double threat. First and last names, very useful. 
• 51D: Daughter of Zeus and Themis (IRENE) — guessed off the "I"; seemed reasonable, though the possibility of IRENA crossed my mind. Then I decided that sounded more like a Russian tennis player than a mythological character.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Volcano south of Quito / FRI 12-16-11 / Taiwan strait city / Loser at Salamis and Plataea / Early Appalachian crossers / Longa ancient city founded by son of Aeneas

Constructor: Doug Peterson and Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: COTOPAXI (31D: Volcano south of Quito) —

Cotopaxi is a stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located about 28 km (17 mi) south of Quito, Ecuador, South America. It is the second highest summit in the country, reaching a height of 5,897 m (19,347 ft) // Cotopaxi has an almost symmetrical cone that rises from a highland plain of about 3,800 metres (12,500 ft), with a width at its base of about 23 kilometres (14 mi). It has one of the few equatorial glaciers in the world, which starts at the height of 5,000 metres (16,400 ft). The mountain is clearly visible on the skyline from Quito. It is part of the chain of volcanoes around the Pacific plate known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. // The volcano is the subject of 1855 and 1862 paintings by Frederic Edwin Church. (wikipedia)

• • •

Not a very scintillating grid today. Maybe STELLAR PARALLAX is good (45A: Effect used to measure astronomical distances). Don't know. Never heard of it. Just figured it out from crosses. Other stuff I've seen before. Shorter stuff doesn't really pop. I would love to love COTOPAXI, but I've never seen it before (that I recall), and don't generally like proper nouns that are pretty obscure and look like a random set of consonants and vowels. Puzzle played very easy for me—a series of sprints, interrupted by slight pauses—until I tried to finish off the top of COTOPAXI. I'd gotten all the lower part of it from crosses, but my luck ran out up there, north of PATIO, as it did west of CORVETTE. I spent as much time on that blank patch of land (even removing the -ETTE part of CORVETTE at one point) as I did on the Entire Rest Of The Puzzle. In retrospect, this shouldn't have happened. I wanted PAULO for 26D: "The Alchemist" novelist Coelho from the get-go, but something kept me from writing it in. When I said it to myself, it sounded preposterous. "That can't actually be someone's name, can it? Why would you give your kid a sing-songy, rhyming name?" Also, Tony Coehlo, who I think was a California politician when I was a kid, was running interference. If COTOPAXI was the main bad guy on one side of the Great White Hole in my grid, PETIT was the other. I don't know if I really know what a PETIT four is (26A: Four front?). I am imagining a CANAPE ... crossed with a pinafore (whatever that is). I see it's a dessert thing. O well. JESTS was ridiculous, as I had JOKES and JAPES beforehand. Clues on COALS and CHUTES and CHAIN were all terribly ambiguous, so I just floundered stupidly for a while until I went back to square one and thought "What if I just plug PAULO in here after all...?" So I rate this puzzle Easy-Challenging. Thus, Medium.



I started with WON OUT (2D: Carried the day). Lucky guess? Maybe. Whatever, it worked. Shortly thereafter (once I turned SMIRCH to SCORCH), I threw the 15s across and took HOKKAIDO down. Took care of the NE corner and then got stuck (see above). Went back to W and SW, and polished that off with no problem (except SAN MATEO / AMOY, yipes — the former took a while to come into view, and good thing it did, as AMOY means nothing to me) (39A: Taiwan Strait city). Once AEROBIC EXERCISE went in, the SE was a cinch, and then it was just a matter of climbing COTOPAXI, which I did, cross by cross, until ... (again, see above).


Bullets:

• 21A: Striking things about rec rooms (CUES) — first significant pause. Even with CU-S in place, I had no idea what was up with this. I found the cluing a little overly clever / precious today. 
• 8D: Triptych trio (PANELS) — I somehow thought MAGI at first. Then crosses made it all clear.
• 22D: Orange half of a TV duo (ERNIE) — much easier to get than I thought it would be. Ruled out any possible tanning-bed casualties that might be on TV, then went for Muppets.
• 36D: Simpson who was Time's first Woman of the Year (WALLIS) — didn't know her a few months back. Still don't. American socialite who married the Duke of Windsor? No wonder I don't care.
• 43D: ___ Longa, ancient city founded by the son of Aeneas (ALBA) — I have some familiarity with this material, so this was a cinch. See also XERXES (38D: Loser at Salamis and Plataea).

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Record producer Talmy / SAT 11-12-11 / Musical great grave unmarked 150 years / Player of evil Blofeld / All-Star Dark of 1950s Giants / Relatives of arroyos / North Platte feeder

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: ANTA (26D: Broadway acronym) —

The American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA) is a non-profit theatre producer and training organization that was established in 1935 to be the official United States national theatre that would be an alternative to the for-profit Broadway houses of the day. // The ANTA, which by law was to be self-sustaining, sponsored touring companies of numerous shows to foreign counties in the post-World War II in the 1940s and 1950s, owned the ANTA Theatre on Broadway, played an important role in the establishment of the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Lincoln Center, was the main membership organization for regional theatre in the U.S. before ultimately having a greatly diminished role in the 1980s. Today as an entity its main focus is the National Theatre Conservatory at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. (wikipedia)

• • •

I've been constructing for a few hours, so I don't really know which way is up, and I'm not sure what to say about this (fine) puzzle. It's kind of blurring together with the puzzle I'm working on. I even had ANTA in my grid, before getting rid of it (it's pretty bad fill ... though I've got something at least as bad still in my grid at the moment, and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere, so I can't judge too harshly—it's legitimate, and when there's not a lot of other clunkers, sometimes that's good enough). I know that my solving experience was really uneven, timewise. That is, I was lightning-fast in some patches, and turtle-slow in others. The whole bottom of the puzzle was something close to a cakewalk, but it took me a while to work my way down there, as (with some patchy exceptions) I crapped out in the NW and NE and the center to begin the experience.




Started the puzzle with OJO, which let me get the MAJESTY part of HER MAJESTY (6D: Lead-in to some royal names). Names in the NE were tough to crack, but I got LOIS LANE right away (16A: One whose crush was caped), which allowed me to deduce FLYWEIGHT with little effort (11D: Boxing class). Got the eastern ends of the long middle answers, but couldn't crack either (remembering that Barry is from the D.C. area *might* have helped me with CAPITAL BELTWAY (39A: 495), but also might not have). Finally got to HAY / IAN / APRON and then just shredded the bottom of the puzzle from there. Felt like a Tuesday puzzle there for a bit. Worked my way back up and finally pieced together the NE and ended up in the NW, where I'd begun. Last letter in was the "G" in ALEGRE / AGNES (a tough proper noun crossing) (15A: Pôrto ___, Brazil + 4D: Georgia's ___ Scott College).

Interesting to see LARAMIE as a river (41D: North Platte feeder) and JABBAR as a non-Kareem Abdul (32D: Al-___ (one of the names of God in Islam). Love the clue on CUPHOLDER (30D: Place for some car fluid). Had no idea Ray LIOTTA was ever on "ER" (20D: 2005 Emmy winner for "ER"). Nice trivia on the J.S. BACH (1A: Musical great whose grave went unmarked for nearly 150 years), though I feel somehow like the initials should have been signified in the clue somehow. I know Max VON SYDOW (18A: Player of the evil Blofeld in "Never Say Never Again") only from some 80s art house movie ... "My Life as a Dog?" ... no ... "Pelle the Conqueror?" Yes! Never heard of IRA Berkow (24A: Pulitzer-winning sports reporter Berkow), but IRA is a man's name in three letters, so no problem. More of a problem was SHEL Talmy (51A: Record producer Talmy). Yee-ikes. Wow he arranged and produced some pretty great songs, such as ...




Another mystery name—ALVIN Dark (great name!) (7D: All-Star Dark of the 1950s Giants). I didn't realize the Nazi-hunting group in "Inglourious Basterds" was the O.S.S. (10D: "Inglourious Basterds" org.) I think I was too distracted by the suspense and massive bloodshed to notice details. I learned about WADIS from crosswords, but wanted other less exotic words there at first like DALES and GLENS (which aren't really cousins of arroyos at all). Wish I'd gotten a chance to appreciate the clue on "DUKE OF EARL" (28D: The "me"in "nothing can stop me now," in a 1962 #1 hit). I had OF EARL before I knew what was happening, and just glanced at the clue, noticed "hit," confirmed what I assumed had to be the case.




The younger, still-living ASSAD is in the news a lot now, and not for his benevolence (45D: Name of father-and-son world leaders). Lastly, this ADANA place (50D: Turkish city or province), I'm seeing it more and more in puzzles. Or maybe I'm seeing it the same amount and I'm just noticing it more and more. At any rate, it's a city of over 1.5 million people in south Turkey, just inland from the Mediterranean, and is a major commercial and agricultural center, so it seems eminently crossworthy and is hereby officially filed in my memory banks.

Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Cousin of kvass / SAT 10-29-11 / Part of Buchanan High faculty / Wang Lung's wife / Attachable bulletin / Mottke Thief novelist 1935 / Title character is Manrico / Mushroom supporter

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: xerostomia (20A: Aid in relieving xerostomia => GUM) —

Xerostomia [..] is the medical term for the subjective complaint of dry mouth due to a lack of saliva. Xerostomia is sometimes colloquially called pasties, cottonmouth, drooth, or doughmouth. Several diseases, treatments, and medications can cause xerostomia. It can also be exacerbated by smoking or drinking alcohol. (wikipedia)

• • •

Sometimes a guy just has to sleep (he says, as he begins typing his write-up at a much-later-than-usual 8:15 a.m.).

In terms of both quality of grid and cleverness of cluing, this is one of my favorite Barry Silk puzzles. I especially love the opening and closing Acrosses — thematically related and symmetrical. It's easy to love a puzzle when you get 1A: Coffee shop, often (WIFI HOT SPOT) instantly, and with no crosses in place. All those Downs (11 of 'em!) had their first letters in place right from the very beginning, which is like being jet-propelled into the grid (always helpful on a Saturday). And OK, so there were absurd obscure pop culture things like TEENA (11D: Mrs. Mulder on "The X-Files") and HONG (5D: "Wayne's World 2" actor James) and The NEW BEATS (24D: Pop trio with the 1964 hit "Bread and Butter," with "the") (none of which I'd heard of). In my mind, they were all made up for by MR. KOTTER, who is mainstream pop culture of the highest order and looks fantastic in the grid (36A: Part of the Buchanan High faculty). Also, he is culturally significant for popularizing the JEWFRO (a word that was in the NYT crossword puzzle once, so please, no offended letters).

[Dear lord, his voice ... I thought this was sung by a woman]

I have very little time left before this needs to be posted, so I'm going straight to Bullets—

Bullets:

• 16A: Pianist Stein (IRA) — I'm surprised by how many things in this puzzle I just didn't know, given that I was able to finish it quickly, happily, with little struggle, in better-than-average time. Probably helps that my crossword literature muscle is pretty strong. ASCH and OLAN didn't even slow me down (53A: "Mottke the Thief" novelist, 1935 + 57D: Wang Lung's wife, in literature).
• 60A: British big shot (NOB) — is this short of NABOB? They seem to mean the same thing.
• 62A: Its title character is Manrico ("IL TROVATORE") — speaking of crossword muscle—I know very little about opera, but somehow this Verdi opera has come before my eyes enough times that I was able to piece it together from crosses without much trouble at all. 

• 3D: Base in Anne Arundel County: Abbr. (FT. MEADE) — "FT" part was easy. After that, I just used crosses. Considered MEYER ... MEIER? ... MYERS?
• 8D: Subj. of the Privacy Act of 1974 (SSN) — No idea, but SSN shows up in puzzles a lot, so why not?
• 26D: Aircraft propellers without moving parts (RAMJETS) — yet another word I learned from crosswords.
• 30D: Cake makeup for a feeder (SUET) — if it's in cake form or part of a feeder, it's probably SUET, a common crossword word.
• 52D: Mushroom supporter (STIPE) — I weirdly struggle to come up with this. "It's not STEM but it kinda sounds like STEM ... STINT ... STAVE ...."
• 63D: Italian TV channel (TRE) — a recycled clue, and a bad one. It's Italian for "three"—just clue it that way. Very few people in the U.S. watch *$&%ing Italian TV.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Cicero's servant secretary / FRI 8-5-11 / Move Your Mind sloganeer / What girl lead-in Eddie Cantor / King surnamed Tryggvason

Constructor: Barry Silk

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging

THEME: none


Word of the Day: TIRO (33A: Cicero's servant and secretary) —

Marcus Tullius Tiro (d. ca. 4 BC?) was first a slave, then a freedman of Cicero. [...] He is believed to have collected and published Cicero's work after his death, and, it seems, was a writer himself: several ancient writers refer to works of Tiro, now lost. Aulus Gellius says, " [he] wrote several books on the usage and theory of the Latin language and on miscellaneous questions of various kinds," and quotes him on the difference between Greek and Latin names for certain stars. Asconius Pedianus, in his commentaries on Cicero's speeches, refers to a biography of Cicero by Tiro in at least four books, and Plutarch refers to him as a source for two incidents in Cicero's life. He is credited with inventing the shorthand system of Tironian notes later used by monks among others. There is no clear evidence that he did, although Plutarch credits Cicero's clerks as the first Romans to record speeches in shorthand. (wikipedia)

• • •

Today through Sunday, write-ups will be quite a bit shorter than usual because of my trip to NYC to attend Lollapuzzoola 4: Crosswords Take Manhattan. (You can just show up and register at the door, or you can solve the puzzles at home; click through for info) As I've said many times, it's a really entertaining crossword tournament for all kinds of solvers (certainly if you are reading this write-up, you are skilled enough to participate), and you should go if you're in the area on Saturday. At any rate, I haven't even packed and I leave the house in, oh, 8 hours, which sounds like a long time, but I have to pack and sleep and eat breakfast in that window. Pretty tight. And I've already wasted several hundred words telling you this. Good thing I type quickly.

This was pretty damned hard, partly because of insane answers like TIRO and SENARY (!?), but mostly because of typical Silk clues, i.e. deliberately tricky stuff that really requires you to think through multiple possibilities. Took me about as long as a typical Saturday takes me. Worst part was in the vicinity of YARD (30D: Half a fathom), mostly because I'd committed to WAISTBAND at 38A: Hospital gown go-with, and so ended up with YAAD. Whole SW corner took me a while to get into. Trouble started right away with THE PENTAGON instead of FORT MCHENRY (1A: Historic U.S. place in the shape of a five-pointed star). Can't believe I walked into that trap so easily, though, to my credit, I could tell right away that something was wrong. Real trouble with -STAN, for some reason (39D: Persian for "place of"). Had an "oh, of course, you idiot!" moment when I got that one. "OH OH OH" sounds like Horshack from "Welcome Back, Kotter." No idea who Eddie Cantor is, let alone what "hit" he had — turns out, it's "If You Knew Susie." Alrighty, then (48D: "What a girl" lead-in, in an Eddie Cantor hit).


Best answer in the grid, by a mile, is NO-TELL MOTEL (17A: Tryst spot). Absolutely love it. Seems somehow appropriate that it crosses RAT FINK, if only because of the colloquialness (3D: Canary). The rest is quite solid, with only SENARY really making me groan.

Bullets:

• 23A: Newbery Medal-winning author Lowry (LOIS) — Not familiar. My favorite LOIS is Peter's wife on "Family Guy." And Lane, I guess.
  
• 36A: First #1 Billboard hit by an Australian artist (1972) ("I AM WOMAN") — really thought the answer would be something by Olivia Newton-John, but no. It's Helen Reddy's signature song. My mom certainly listened to this. A lot.

• 56A: Eponymous Greek island (LESBOS) — "Eponymous" doesn't tell you much. This took some effort.
  
• 11D: Whites' counterparts (YOLKS) — aargh. OK, yes, I guess that works. "Counterparts" is a stretch, but a valid one.
  
• 24D: Frequent catch on TV's "Deadliest Catch" (SNOW CRAB) — stupidly, had the SNOW and couldn't think of any fish that fit. And now I know why.
  
• 45D: Old-fashioned film editor (SPLICER) — So ... a film editor. Is film not spliced anymore. I know digital movies aren't edited that way, but film is still that stuff on reels, right?
  
• 54D: King surnamed Tryggvason (OLAF I) — figured out OLA- part, then there was the F/V question, then there was the Roman numeral question.
  
• 32A: Old pulp fiction hero (G-MAN) — really thought it would be a specific name, like The Shadow or The Phantom.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

Telecom giant headquartered Denver / SAT 6-25-11 / Practice with Wheel of Year / Chief Sassacus led one side / Where to get citation while surfing

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Mediumish

THEME: none



Word of the Day: PIELS (22A: Pabst brand) —

Piels Beer, aka Piel Bros. Beer and Piel's Beer, is a regional lager beer, originally brewed in Brooklyn, New York. Located in the East New York section of Brooklyn at 315 Liberty Avenue, it was founded in 1883 by the Piel brothers: Gottfried, Michael and Wilhelm Piel. The soft water from Long Island was preferred by German brewers and Breweries in Brooklyn proliferated at this time. Piels union employees are reputed to have been guaranteed ice cold beer on tap 24 hours a day in their union contract. Piels, in its present incarnation, is generally regarded as an inexpensive beer. (wikipedia)

• • •

Wow, that's a lot of Qs. Impressive. A flamboyant grid with lots to love, chock full o' original, contemporary entries. Hard, but not brutally so. A little heavy on the proper nouns, but I've never been one to complain much about that. The one proper noun that really held me down was one I knew, but sadly couldn't spell correctly: GAUGUIN (7D: Van Gogh threatened him with a a razor blade). I plunked down GAUGHIN, which even now looks strangely right to me. But that "H," lord! Really kept both EMBANK and UNPEGGED (24A: Like some exchange rates) from coming into view. Thank god I'd heard of the PEQUOT WAR (from earlier puzzle experience) (22D: Chief Sassacus led one side in it), or that NE could've been Brutal. That's the answer that forced me to change WIKIPEDIA (which seemed certain) to WIKIQUOTE (27A: Where to get a citation while surfing). PIELS!? (22A: Pabst brand) I accepted that only because it looked vaguely like PILSNER. QUANTA looks like a Latin word I made up (30A: Portions). Still, I think that corner is rough in a wacky, and not a terrible way. There's a difference. Weird, unfamiliar stuff vs. ugly / forced / abbreviated / archaic stuff.

Clue that threw me the most was 43A: Practice with the Wheel of the Year (WICCA). "Wheel of the Year" sounds like an award. Maybe a racing award or something? And "Practice" could be virtually anything. But CLAUDE Rains was a gimme, and the rest of the answers in that section were easy, so WICCA showed up eventually. Significant errors included TUNDRA for AURORA (2D: Polar region phenomenon). Bafflement occurred at CHI SQUARE (which I've heard of but couldn't tell you anything about) (41A: Kind of test associated with the null hypothesis), but *not* at ISOMERS, which I threw down off just the "I" (38D: Atomically related compounds). Two UN-words, you say? A DUE and a DUO, you complain? Don't be such a CALLOW EEL. This grid is nice.

The proper nouns are nicely spread out amongst a broad range of topics, from film to music to literature to commerce. These proper nouns have it all!:

• 16A: Queen with a degree from Princeton (NOOR)—higher education!
• 50A: City where "Smokey and the Bandit" begins (TEXARKANA)—cinema vérité!
• 54A: Pap's son, in literature (HUCK)—rafting!
• 58A: Brand that has Dibs (EDY'S)—dairy products!
• 59A: Telecom giant headquartered in Denver (QWEST)—toothpaste!
• 10D: St. John's is its capital (ANTIGUA)—travel!
• 29D: Pianist Schnabel (ARTUR)—music!
• 35D: Producer for 50 Cent, familiarly (DRE)—doctors!

And then there's CLAUDE!


Plus, the return of AFTA! (10A: English Leather alternative). "AFTA II: The AFTA-party."

Bullets:

• 20A: "Gnarly waves, dude!" ("COWABUNGA!") — fantastic. Reminds me simultaneously of Bart Simpsons and Spicoli from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High":

• 26A: Less like nuts? (SANER) — first answer in the grid. It got me TUNDRA, which, while being wrong, got me DUHS (14A: Interjections from the obtuse).
  
• 34A: Watt-hour fraction (ERG) — Physics question in three letters? ERG's a good bet.
  
• 40D: Part of morning dress (SILK HAT) — Nice vanity answer, Barry.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. And you though *my* critiques of crosswords were sometimes extreme ... I mean, I've said a lot of things, but I don't think I've ever called for the NYT to be shut down: "Kazakh Newspaper in Hot Water over Crossword Clue" (6/25/11)

Angel of south wind / SAT 5-21-11 / Online multiplayer gaming service / Two-time Hugo Award winner Gaiman / 19 season NHLer Robitaille / Half sechzehn

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: None

Word of the Day: SQUIRREL BAFFLE (48A: Bird Feeder Protector) —I'm sure Rex would go to Wiki and post the actual definition of a SQUIRREL BAFFLE, but I prefer to make up my own. Yes, you got jesser in charge of blogging today. And yes, the world may, in fact, end. But not because of the religious loon, but because Rex left me in charge of the blog for a night/day. Crazy man. I'm gonna buy an Eminem album as penance. Anyway, SQUIRREL BAFFLE: A mostly failed invention crafted by men to keep very smart rodents out of expensive yard decorations. Real nature lovers let nature take its course and watch the squirrels baffle the birds -- and ants, and hornets, and everyone else who wants into the bird feeder. Go SQUIRRELS!

• • •

I nailed this puppy in about 32 minutes with a cadre of Friday night revelers gathered around being sometimes helpful. "1 Across (It may flow on a ranch) is shit!," shouted Bill the biologist. He was, of course, wrong. It was MANE, which I thought for a while would be Milk but it wasn't. Those dairy ranches! Genni came up with ALBINO (Colorless) crossing AMINO (Essential acid) at the 8A/D intersection. Then she pointed out that my wine tasted like what Bill thought 1A was gonna be. We got a new bottle out.

Friday nights at Casa Jesser are exercises in bringing the nieghborhood in to play 9 ball and drink and tell lies. We've been doing it for years, and this is the first Friday night I've had no liquor this late into the night. Rex is good for my liver. Anyway, I performed the marriage ceremony for the aforementioned Bill and his now-wife, Avis. I wrote a beautiful ceremony, and when it came time for her to recite her vows, as Bill had just done, she blurted out, "DITTO!" 44D (Put me down, too) had very special neighborhood significance on that account.

There was great confusion at 5D (She might try an agent), where I initially had DorA the Explorer, thinking travel agent. DIVA came into view only after we agreed that COQ AU VIN (French chef's specialty) had to be right, based on the good ol' X BOX LIVE (Online multiplayer gaming system).

I did the heavy lifting, despite all the committee's help, and marched through the grid pretty much from the east back toward the west, with the NW the last to fall.

Best clue/answers:

• 19A (Sharing of thoughts on a TV show) VULCAN MIND MELD. I am not good with posting the links and such, so imagine a picture of Spock getting all intimate with the hand on the face of some creature from a Douglas S. Adams novel. (Genni and I tried to make more links. It wasn't happening. PuzzleGirl helped us get the grid in there. We decided after that to go back to drinking. Well, SHE's going back; I'm STARTING! Yay!)
• 39A (It's not long in going down a mountain) MINI SKI. Really? Do they come in skirt lengths? Are MINI SKIS inherently sexier than midi SKIS, and do the fundamentalists ski in Maxis? The only time I tried to ski, at Taos Ski Valley in 1996, I crashed into a Volvo in the parking lot. While getting lessons. From off the bunny slope. I stopped skiing that day.

I feel I should write more. Rex is really good at this. I'm liking rap music more and more as I sit here.

Let's talk writeovers. In addition to the aforementioned Dora/DIVA mess, there was the deceptive SPIKEd hEel (Femme fatale wear) at 27D. That really mucked up the SE until the READ ONLY (Kind of file) pointed out that I really needed to revisit that area. And since I was clueless despite the clue for 47A (Half of sechzhen), I really needed those HEELS to put the CH together in ACHT, which allowed me to plop in the A, which then made AFROS at 47D (Big tops?) appear. I love when a plan comes together. Did Mr. T actually have an AFRO mohawk? I think he did. I digress. I also briefly had aRIEL at 45D (Angel of the South Wind) until the DUPLEX came through. I own a duplex. I rent one side to a flighty gay couple with two poodles and the other side to a woman with two greyhounds. It is an interesting yard when the greyhounds go into chase mode, because the poodles look remarkably like those things they make greyhounds chase at the actual dog track. Other than that, landlording is largely overrated.

I never knew Truman CAPOTE (22A) said "Beat literature isn't writing at all -- it's typing." Look at me. I'm a Beat literature typer! Thanks, Rex! And Happy Weekend Rexites! You'll get another guest write-up tomorrow, but not from me. Be prepared to be pleasantly surprised is all I'm saying. :-)

Signed, jesser, sitting in for Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Fritz the Cat's creator / TUE 4-12-11 / 1956 Fats Domino hit / Highest peak Northwest Territories / Seamen slangily / 1956 Fats Domino hit

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Idyllic places — theme answers end with words that describe a state of perfection


Word of the Day: MOUNT NIRVANA (42A: Highest peak in the Northwest Territories) —

Mount Nirvana, at 2,773 m (9,098 ft) is the unofficial name of the highest mountain in the Northwest Territories, Canada. [....] As of 2008, the Canadian Government continues to refer to the mountain as "unnamed peak", however, the name "Mount Nirvana" is commonly depicted in alpine literature. (wikipedia)

• • •

Seems like a theme that's been done before. And it has. Once very recently (Gail Grabowski, July of last year, LAT) — this puzzle was probably submitted before that puzzle ever saw print. But it was also done in '06 (Raymond Hamel, CrosSynergy). Always a good idea to check your theme answers against the cruciverb database—BARBARA EDEN comes up five times, always as a theme answer. Searching SAL PARADISE was what helped me find the Graboswki/LAT puzzle, which shares 3 of today's four theme answers. Like today's puzzle, that puzzle streeeeeeetched to get that fourth "sore thumb" answer. I mean, MOUNT NIRVANA? Really? What in the world. That thing doesn't even have an official name, and is Nowhere near as well known as the other three theme answers (early puzzle over-reached with a WWII aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. SHANGRI-LA). Best to do what the '06 CrosSynergy puzzle did: stick to three theme answers (in that case: BARBARA EDEN, FOOL'S PARADISE, SEVENTH HEAVEN).



Theme answers:

• 18A: Portagonist in Kerouac's "On the Road" (SAL PARADISE)
  
• 27A: 1956 Fats Domino hit ("MY BLUE HEAVEN")
  
• 42A: Highest peak in the Northwest Territories (MOUNT NIRVANA)
  
• 54A: "I Dream of Jeannie" star (BARBARA EDEN)
  

Zero problems with this one outside of the NIRVANA part of MOUNT NIRVANA. I started writing in CRUMB before realizing I needed the initial R (4A: Fritz the Cat's creator). Wrote in RNS instead of DRS at 41D: O.R. personnel. Otherwise, no speed bumps, no troubles, nothing terribly memorable. I watched "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" for the first time yesterday, and as far as I know it's the only time I've seen BURL IVES act (he was good as the larger-than-life and terminally ill "Big Daddy") (9D: "A Holly Jolly Christmas" singer). I knew PLUTARCH wrote "Lives"; I did not know those Lives were "Parallel." Weird (36D: "Parallel Lives" author). There sure is a lot of slang out there for seamen. GOBS was not on my radar (sonar?), though I've certainly seen it before (10A: Seamen, slangily). After being smacked with it several times over the years, I seem finally to have made "MTA" stick in my brain somehow. Today is the first day I got it without hesitation (8D: Kingston Trio hit of 1959). Picked up a couple of cool old Ian Fleming paperbacks at the local library sale over the weekend, so JAMES BOND was on my mind (3D: Aston Martin-driving agent). Let's see, is that it? ... yes. Good day.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Baseballer turned spy Berg / WED 2-23-11 / 1945 flag-raising site / * button Facebook icon / 1974 title role Dustin Hoffman / Gonzalez affair 2000

Constructor: Barry C. Silk

Relative difficulty: Easy

THEME: OUTSIDE CHANCE (54A: Remote possibility ... or a hint to 20-, 29- and 44-Across) — word CHANCE can be spelled by combining the first and last sets of letters in each theme answer


Word of the Day: Yawl (58A: Yawl's pair=>MASTS) —

A yawl (from Dutch Jol) is a two-masted sailing craft similar to a sloop or cutter but with an additional mast (mizzenmast or mizzen mast) located well aft of the main mast, often right on the transom, specifically, aft of the rudderpost. (A vessel with the mizzenmast located forward of the rudderpost is called a ketch. See further discussion below.) A mizzen sail (smaller than the mainsail) is hoisted on the mizzen mast. (wikipedia)

• • •

Fell asleep very early last night, so only getting to the puzzle now (7:13am). Still, my streak of having a post up every day by 9am (4+ years, I think) continues unabated...

This puzzle is just fine, but felt more like a Tuesday (both in terms of concept and difficulty). I like puzzles that take a familiar phrase and then use it as a play on words to develop a puzzle theme. The reimagined phrase often leads to some of the most interesting and inventive puzzles / answers. I've seen this type many times before (the small word on the "outside" of long theme answers), and while CHURCH OF FRANCE (44A: Group overseeing Notre Dame Cathedral) does nothing for me, the other theme answers are interesting. Clue on CHAINLINK FENCE is well phrased (29A: Barrier with a diamond pattern)—accurate without being obvious. Got "CHANTILLY LACE" instantly (20A: Big Bopper hit), despite its being well out of my pop culture sweet spot ... or maybe that's inaccurate. I always think of my pop culture sweet spot as 1976-91, but during a couple of those years (late high school), I listened to nothing but oldies, Motown, and classic rock (refusing to listen (much) to contemporary pop radio was as "rebellious" as I would ever be as a teen). Plus, I remember my dad occasionally doing a ridiculous imitation of the "Hello Baaaaaby" intro to this song.

[What is she Saying to him on the other end of that line!?]
Not much to slow me down today. Took me a few crosses to remember the late TONY SNOW (8D: Press secretary under George W. Bush). Full name! Very nice. Took me even longer (strangely) to get CANDLE (47D: Thing to snuff), as I discarded WICK as a possibility and moved on to snuff-as-tobacco. "I'M OFF" required some crosses (31D: "Bye for now!"), but virtually everything else fell right into place. Having dogs and a cat may have helped a little with both LEASH LAW (40D: Ordinance aimed at pet owners) and CAT SIT (45D: Watch a kitty) (the former a necessary nuisance, the latter an act performed by many different friends over the years). My favorite clue, by virtue of its being fresh and contemporary, is the one for LIKE (22D: __ button (Facebook icon)).

Bullets:

• 15A: 1945 flag-raising site, briefly (IWO) — easy enough. I've never heard it shortened to just IWO, but then I wasn't alive when people would have been discussing it a lot more often than they do today. See also ETO.
  
• 34A: Baseballer turned spy Berg (MOE) — yeah, he probably should have been my "Word of the Day"; if I've heard of him, it was in a crossword puzzle, and I promptly forgot him. Here's a tidbit from wikipedia:

A graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School, Berg spoke several languages and regularly read 10 newspapers a day. His reputation was fueled by his successful appearances as a contestant on the radio quiz show Information, Please! in which he answered questions about the derivation of words and names from Greek and Latin, historical events in Europe and the Far East, and ongoing international conferences.

• 53D: 1974 title role for Dustin Hoffman (LENNY) — in which he played Comedian LENNY Bruce. Never seen it. For future reference — perhaps — LENNY is also the constant companion of CARL on "The Simpsons"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]