Bisous from Milan

Petit post en direct de Milan où le soleil est au rendez-vous !

Ce n'était pourtant pas gagné, hier j'ai été gracieusement reçue sous la pluie...

C'est ma première fois à Milan, je n'ai pas eu le temps de voir la ville, si ce n'est à travers des vitres de voitures.

Ma mère qui connaît la ville, me rejoint tout à l'heure et je lui fais entièrement confiance pour les bons plans.

Je suis partie pour le lancement de la nouvelle collection d'une marque de lunettes (je reviendrai dessus), j'en profite donc pour passer le week-end entre filles.

Je peux d'ores et déjà avancer un fait, que la cuisine est excessivement bonne !

J'ai déjà pu goûter à de délicieuses pâtes, le tiramisu n'en parlons pas, mais j'ai failli tomber de ma chaise en trempant mes lèvres dans un verre de vin rouge sicilien : Nero d'Avola Sicilia.

C'est décidé, je vais ramener un stock à la maison et j'en connais un, qui pourtant n'aime pas le vin rouge, qui va me siffler toutes les bouteilles !

Photos - Sisley Roche

Jean - Levi's

Tee-shirt - Petit Bateau

Gilet - Zara

Chapeau - Asos

Shoes - Van's

Sac - Vintage

Wonder-working biblical figure / FRI 3-4-11 / Last of Nordhoff Hall's Bounty Trilogy / City on Niagara Escarpment / ColorQube maker

Constructor: Joe Krozel

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: none


Word of the Day: ENCEINTE (4D: Pregnant) —

adj.
Carrying an unborn child; pregnant.

[French, from Old French, ultimately from Latin inciēns, pregnant.]

also, FYI:

n.

1. An encircling fortification around a fort, castle, or town.
2. A structure or an area protected by an encircling fortification.

[French, from Late Latin incīncta, from feminine past participle of incingere, to surround closely : Latin in-, in; see in- + Latin cingere, to gird.]

• • •

This was very hard when I was trying to do it while watching the end of "American Idol." I had most of the middle but only the wispiest bits of correctness in the top and bottom. Once the show was over, I concentrated on the puzzle, and it got a lot easier (though it remained tough). Once I got a long answer to fall, the bottom (and later the top) went down in reasonable time, but getting that first one to fall was Rough. Even with AAHS and FLAT going straight in the grid (i.e. even with the first two letters of every long Across down south in place), I didn't go anywhere. AFRICAN-AMERICAN *never* occurred to me, as I just assumed that was some general term, not a Jacksonism (46A: Term popularized by Jesse Jackson). Wanted something like RAINBOW COALITION (one letter too long). I think the first long answer I got was A LOT ON ONE'S PLATE (seen that one before). Tried to make 56A: City on the Niagara Escarpment "something, OHIO." Then considered NOVA SCOTIA... (I forget why), then gave up and came back and got HAMILTON, ONTARIO after more of the crosses were in place. I've been to HAMILTON. Presented my first professional paper there, actually. Good times (well, OK times). Anyway, the double ONE'S down there is ugly, and MESNE is possibly the ugliest answer I've seen this year (45D: Intervening, in law), but whatever: I was just glad to get out alive.

Up top, I had ENCEINTE but had no faith it was right since I know it only as a French word. Why in the world would English need it? It's just as long (syllable-wise) as "pregnant" and it reeks of Frenchitude. Had -LION at 5D: Casanova and considered LOVE LION and STUD LION before eventually hitting on STALLION. Strangely, the first long answer I got up there was PITCAIRN'S ISLAND (17A: Last of Nordhoff and Hall's "Bounty Trilogy")—this despite having no idea where PITCAIRN'S ISLAND is, or who Nordhoff and Hall are (!?), or what the "Bounty Trilogy" is. PI-C ... -ND just gave it to me. All kinds of trouble in the NW, where I had WITCH'S HAT for WIZARD HAT (23A: What may be put on before spelling?), ATM for HEN (20A: Source of collectible deposits), ALSO for ELSE (9D: Further) and HURT for NEAT (13D: Smart). Never heard of ELISHA (10D: Wonder-working biblical figure)—the phrase "wonder-working" is something I've only ever heard George W. Bush say, and whoever was discussing the clip in which he said it was talking about the way Bush's speeches were loaded with a kind of coded language of particular significance to evangelicals. Odd that that phrase evokes that memory so clearly. No idea how I remembered 3/4 of GERI's name (7D: "The Facts of Life" actress Jewell). I wanted TERI. I think Jewell has cerebral palsy. Hey, I'm right. Again, strange what my brain will retain. Thought GERI DON'T FEEL LIKE IT was I DON'T WANT TO DO IT at first. I'm guessing LOTT succeeded DOLE as Senate Majority leader, because he sure wasn't a senator from Kansas.



Gimmes were few, though, in retrospect, more than I'd imagined: ADIA (2D: #3 hit from 1997 album "Surfacing"), LOEW, TINE, STDS, A TIE, AAHS, FLAT, AVA, IVIES, WANDA, APSOS, NEOS, DOE, ANNO

Bullets:

• 36A: Philanthropist/art collector Broad (ELI) — Nope. No idea. But surrounding answers were easy so no problem. Broad (rhymes with "road") is a big figure in L.A., apparently.
  
• 37A: "Fabien ___ Franchi" (Oscar Wilde poem) ("DEI") — more obscurity. All crosses. Between this and the MESNE / MEA cross ... a little much, Latin-wise.
  
• 38A: ColorQube maker (XEROX) — had "FEAR Factor" at first instead of "THE X Factor," but once I fixed that, XEROX was easy. No idea what a ColorQube is. That is some gratuitous Q-action right there.
  
• 12D: Bond girl player in "The Girl With the Golden Gun" (EKLAND) — Britt. Heard of her, but can't picture her. Keep getting picture of Brett Somers from "Match Game" stuck in my head.
  
• 21D: They're straddled in pits (CELLI) — This reminds me: I did not like the clue on CAN I? There is nothing in "Please?" to suggest ungrammaticality or child-talk. If you're asking permission, it's MAY I?
  
• 51D: "Turnin ___" (2009 Keri Hilson hit) ("ME ON") — Now seems as good a time as any to remind you to remember the name Keri Hilson, because that KERI will come back to bite you, eventually.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Kenza Doll

Connaissez-vous Plasterdoll ?

Ca fait déjà quelques temps que j'ai découvert ce site sur lequel règne d'adorable illustrations représentant la mode dans tous ces états :

http://www.plasterdoll.blogspot.com/

A l'époque j'avais découvert ces dessins sur d'autres blogs (Karla's Closet, Style Bubble...).

J'avais inséré le lien de celui-ci à ma blogroll, et il y a quelques jours j'ai reçu un mail de l'artiste qui me remerciait de l'avoir placé et proposait de dessiner ma petite poupée gratuitement.

Je n'ai eu qu'à choisir la tenue, lui envoyer et en une semaine, j'ai perdu quelques années, mes cheveux ont poussé, mes yeux sont devenus bleus, et je me suis blessée au front !

Si vous désirez votre petite figurine sur papier, envoyez un mail à plasterdoll@gmail.com, avec comme sujet "J'aime Plasterdoll Kenza".

Bien sûr, envoyez vos photos, portraits, looks... Et au lieu de vous faire payer 45 euros, vous payerez 35 euros.

Je trouve que c'est une bonne idée de cadeau ! A encadrer et à conserver !

Je vous balance les photos originales de la tenue à mon retour de Milan, ou même avant... Yep je pars quelques jours, retour dimanche soir !

Starpeace recorder 1985 / THU 3-3-11 / Language gjuho shqipe / Quested Passage to India woman / Subject of sailor's weather maxim

Constructor: David J. Kahn

Relative difficulty: Challenging

THEME: ANDREW JACKSON/JOHNSON (39A: Either of the two presidents who also served as a 17-Across (U.S. SENATOR) from 62-Across (TENNESSEE)) — central answer in the puzzle works whether you choose JOHNSON or JACKSON


Word of the Day: Gilbert ADAIR (60A: Gilbert ___, author of "A Void," a 290-page novel without the letter E) —

Gilbert Adair (born 29 December 1944 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish author, film critic and journalist. He won the Author's Club First Novel Award in 1988 for his novel The Holy Innocents. In 1995 he won the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize for his book A Void, which is a translation of the French book La Disparition by Georges Perec. The original book contains no instances of the letter e; Adair translated it with the same limitation. His works are compared to those of Julian Barnes, A. S. Byatt and Patrick Gale. [so ... more "translator" than "author" ... not that knowing that would've helped me one whit] (wikipedia)

• • •

Another tricky DJK tour de force. This one was tough all over for me, and it was not until the bitter end that I figured out what was supposed to be happening in the central answer ("'Either of the two...?' But ... no two presidents had the same names ... except ADAMS ... JOHN ADAMS ... well that's not right"). My version went with ANDREW JOHNSON because I came at the last name from 33D: It's rich in sugar (CANE/CAKE), and I wanted CANE from the second I got the "C." HOOK came easily too (41D: Captain James of the high seas). Only problem was BOLLS, which looked so wrong (37D: Cotton ___) ... and yet I knew that "boll weevils" were a thing ... a bug ... that gets after cotton? Seemed OK. Turned out to be right (though, curiously, my software recognized only JACKSON as "correct").



I had to struggle at least a little in nearly every part of the grid. The worst part was the NW, where TURKEY for IGUANA (1D: Creature with a dewlap) started things badly, and then, later, INCHES for LOSSES (2D: The "5" in "6-5," e.g.) really put me in a hole. Wanted GO IT ALONE early on (14A: Act independently) but INCHES said nay. Finally figured out the theme answer must be U.S. SENATOR, dumped INCHES, and it all fell into place quickly. Wanted YALE at 9D: School whose 1910 football team went undefeated and unscored upon (NAVY). Never heard of either of the literary characters (ADELA or ABBIE) (16A: ___ Quested, "A Passage to India" woman / 42A: Wife in "O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms") or the so-called "author" of "A Void" (ADAIR). But I nailed IMO with no crosses (61D: Start of many a blog comment), even though no one ever starts comments on my blog that way, and that little answer helped make the SW the easiest quadrant by far. SE was also doable (learned "jipijapa" from an earlier puzzle, which helped). Really the NW and the eastern middle that held me up the most. I enjoyed figuring this one out, and had a genuine aha moment at the end. This is very much in the mold of the famous CLINTON / BOBDOLE puzzle of election day 1996 (wherein either answer worked and the clue was something like [Winner of today's election]). That puzzle spooked people. I doubt this one will have the same effect. But it's still pretty dang good.

Bullets:

• 24A: Food sometimes eaten with a small fork (OYSTER) — Had the "O," wanted OMELET (?)
  
• 32A: Year the first Tour de France was held (MCMIII) — if you gotta have a giant Roman numeral, it should at least have an interesting clue like this (one that was actually semi-helpful in getting at least the first three letters)
  
• 52A: Subject of a sailor's weather maxim (RED SKY) — at night, sailor's delight. This confirmed COOK for me. I mean HOOK. I think.

• 7D: "Starpeace" recorder, 1985 (ONO) — knew it, somehow—possibly from the three letters, possibly from having seen it in xwords before, and possibly for the vaguely ONOish-sounding quality of "Starpeace"; give starpeace a chance, man.
  
• 11D: Real-life character in the 1950 western "Broken Arrow" (GERONIMO) — strangely, I think the first answer that popped into my head was RED ADAIR. He was real, and there was at least one movie based on his exploits...
  
• 12D: Language known to native speakers as "gjuho shqipe" (ALBANIAN) — Whoa. Whoa. That is possibly the weirdest-looking language I've ever seen. Needed many crosses, the most helpful of which was the "B" from VERBS (18A: Come and go, e.g.)
  
• 27D: 1940 Henry Fonda role (TOM JOAD) — I prefer the 1968 Henry Fonda role of "Frank" in "Once Upon a Time in the West"

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Swiss who pioneered in graph theory / WED 3-2-11 / Only patron on "Cheers" to appear in all 275 episodes / Bxe5 or 0-0-0 in chess

Constructor: David Poole

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: Movie "taglines" — plays on words make for alleged movie taglines ... [honestly, I don't get it]


Word of the Day: AARON Rodgers (21A: Super Bowl XLV M.V.P. Rodgers) —

Aaron Charles Rodgers (born December 2, 1983) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Rodgers was selected in the first round (24th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Packers. Rodgers played college football while attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he set several California Golden Bears records, including lowest interception rate at 1.43%. // Professionally, Rodgers is the NFL's all-time career leader in passer rating during both the regular season (98.4), and in the post-season (112.6) – among passers with at least 1,500 and 150 pass attempts respectively. He also owns the league's lowest career pass interception percentage for quarterbacks during the regular season (1.99%) (wikipedia)

• • •

I'm waiting on an email from a friend, hoping she'll be able to explain this theme to me. So ... theme answers are alleged movie taglines, which are actually puns made out of ... let's see, a movie title, a Shakespeare play, an actual tagline, and a play/movie title. How is this coherent? On an individual basis, any one of the theme answers might be deemed cute (ICY DEAD PEOPLE is particularly nice), but I'm just missing how this one holds together conceptually. Also, the non-theme fill is dry as a bone. Monday-easy, with just about zero answers of interest. Just didn't work for me, Dawg (sorry, just finished watching "American Idol," the first night of which was pretty damn terrible—with a couple of notable exceptions).

Theme answers:

• 17A: "Taxi Driver" tagline? (A FARE TO REMEMBER)
  
• 25A: "Back to the Future" tagline? (A COMEDY OF ERAS) [wince]
  
• 42A: "Titanic" tagline? (ICY DEAD PEOPLE) — morbid, but great
  
• 56A: "Return of the Jedi" tagline? (LUKE BACK IN ANGER)
  

I learned a couple of interesting bits of trivia today: that NORM was in every episode of "Cheers" (1A: Only patron on "Cheers" to appear in all 275 episodes) and that the HUMMER was discontinued (10D: G.M. brand discontinued in 2010). Beyond that, honestly, I don't have anything to say. Oh, I didn't see the clue til just now, but I'd never heard of the Aramco oil company (in clue for SAUDI). Maybe I'll remember that. Probably not. Oh, last thing: the clue on EULER is the most incoherent-sounding clue I've ever seen. [Swiss who pioneered in graph theory]??? First of all, though correct, "Swiss" for a Swiss person always sounds horribly wrong to me. Second, can you pioneer "in" something? Or is it "in graph" theory? I tripped on EULER once years ago, and I've had him in my back pocket ever since. Today was no different—brain saw "Swiss" and "[something math]" and I had the "EU-" so ... bam.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

What is your wish ?

Dans la série good news pour moi (oh et pour vous aussi !), je peux enfin vous révéler un petit secret !

Je viens de m'associer à une team de jeunes nanas qui montent leur site de vide-dressing en ligne.

Le concept ?

Chacune se crée un profil et balance les photos de fringues dont elles veulent se débarrasser. Je dis ça un peu grossièrement, mais vous comprenez l'esprit. Bien sûr, nous jetterons un oeil aux vêtements que vous posterez de façon à ce que les pièces soient toujours belles, en bon état et à un prix très raisonnable.

En plus, vous trouverez sur le site, un corner de jeunes créateurs, beaucoup d'accessoires surtout.

Si j'ai accepté de me lancer dans l'aventure avec elles, c'est déjà parce-que l'univers du site me plaît, il est frais, bien foutu et aussi parce-que beaucoup d'entre vous m'ont régulièrement réclamé de brader mes vêtements sur mon blog.

Jusqu'à présent, je le faisais chez moi, le week-end, et malheureusement les jeunes filles qui habitaient en Province ou à l'étranger ne pouvaient pas y accéder. Je me suis donc sentie bien concernée.

Régulièrement je m'occuperai de proposer des opérations un peu spéciales, bien girly, qui j'espère vous plairont !

Et pour inaugurer le lancement du site en beauté, j'ai eu l'idée d'un concours, qui n'engage à rien et qui peut-être l'occasion de passer un bon moment.

Le site s'appelle donc U GOT A WISH.

(Pour ceux qui ne comprennent pas, cela signifie : Vous avez un voeu).

Le lancement aura lieu le 8 mars, je vous en dirai plus d'ici là, je ne peux pas vous inviter à aller visiter le site, car celui-ci n'est pas encore prêt à vous accueillir !

Je vous propose de méditer sur la phrase "U Got A Wish"...

Je vous laisse imaginer la citation, l'idée, le mot le plus improbable et qui vous correspond le plus... En bref, que vous évoque cette phrase ?

A vos mails mes poulettes !

J'attends vos retours sur kenzasmg@gmail.com

La team se réunira et délibérera un peu avant le lancemement du site, aux environs du 7 mars.

La gagnante remportera le statut de l'Egerie du mois de U Got A Wish.

Euh, ok mais encore ?

Chère future gagnante, toi qui me lit, je te donne rendez-vous à Paris (on prend en charge l'aller -retour en train dans la journée si tu n'y habites pas), tu seras coiffée et maquillée par un professionnel, et je m'amuserai à te shooter dans ta plus jolie tenue !

On finira cette folle après-midi par un goûter entre filles, avec l'équipe, dans les locaux de U Got A Wish.

Ah et si tu tiens un blog, n'hésite pas à le mentionner dans ton mail !

Sympathique, non ?

Tu seras en suite en home page du site, et nous posterons les photos et le making-off.

A vos neurones, à vos claviers, on va bien se marrer !

Photos - Sisley Roche

Pantalon - Zara

Sweat - Vintage / découpé

Shoes - Converse

Bracelets - Nouvelle Sélection

Psss... Le nouveau clip de Lady Gaga !

Fred's dancing sister / TUE 3-1-11 / International writers org. appropriate initials / Old TV antenna / LEM maker

Constructor: C.W. Stewart

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium (3:23)

THEME: SPOT OF TEA (35D: 4 p.m. British refreshment ... or what can be found in 18-, 25-, 47- and 58-Across and 3-Down) — two-word phrases in which "TEA" is embedded


Word of the Day: PEN (36D: International writers' org. with appropriate initials) —

International PEN, the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. // PEN originally stood for "Poets, Essayists and Novelists", but now includes writers of any form of literature, such as journalists and historians. // Other goals included: to emphasise the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; to fight for freedom of expression; and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views. // It is the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. (wikipedia)

• • •

If this had run yesterday and yesterday's had run today, I don't think anyone would have blinked. As it was, yesterday came in as one of the more challenging Mondays ever and this one ... well, we'll see, but it's certainly no tougher than average, and felt a bit easy. Now, for me, we really are talking about matters of seconds when it comes to making difficulty distinctions. Yesterday's high-3s was way outside my normal Monday solving range, whereas today's was well within my normal Tuesday range, though somewhat on the low side, and a good half minute faster than yesterday's. But none of this has anything to do with how good the puzzle was, and it was good. Very good. C.W. Stewart is quickly becoming my favorite early-week puzzle constructor. Her grids are smooth and her themes are simple, clever, and coherent. She probably had a *bunch* of "TEA"-containing phrases on the table, but the ones she chose were all solid phrases, all with "TEA" touching each word of the theme phrase, and all the right length to allow for 4 Acrosses *and* 2 Downs, including the (great) revealer. This is a model early-week puzzle. Study it, aspiring constructors. You've got a stray bit of crosswordese here (AMAH), a slightly unappealing word there (IDEATE), but otherwise everything just hums. A+.

Theme answers:

• 18A: It measures less than 90° (ACUTE ANGLE)
  
• 25A: Say "nay" to (VOTE AGAINST)
  
• 47A: One who was detained, maybe (LATE ARRIVAL)
  
• 58A: Old TV antenna (RABBIT EARS)
  
• 3D: Shrivel to nothing (WASTE AWAY)
  

I realized that I get held up most (in easy puzzles) by long answers that my clue window can't contain (one of the perils of solving online and forgetting to expand your clue window to max width before starting). This gave me trouble toward the end, when I hit the clue for SPOT OF TEA and especially the clue for PEN (36D: International writers' org. with appropriate initials), which is a Thursday-type clue for PEN, frankly). Only other answers that slowed me down at all were NET SALES (8D: Income statement figure)—just didn't leap out at me for a while—and the PTS / QTS center, mainly because I held off on writing it in, deciding to wait for crosses, not realizing that one of the crosses was the identical clue ... so, not tough, just confusing at high speeds.

Bullets:

• 17A: LEM maker (NASA) — Lunar Excursion Module. I always forget what the "E" is supposed to stand for ("...Escape?")
  
• 28A: Fred's dancing sister (ADELE) — I really want this clue to die since this woman is already way more famous than Fred's dancing sister ever was (to most of America, if not to the bulk of constant crossword solvers):

• 66A: Garbage hauler (SCOW) — still having the "C" / "K" problem
  
• 11D: Most common inert gas in the atmosphere (ARGON) — is XENON inert? It's what I wanted, stupidly.
  
• 56A: Keepers of jewels (SAFES) — watched "Wait Until Dark" (1967) yesterday. Preposterous in many ways, but gripping nonetheless. Anyway, there's a safe that plays a minor role in the movie, even though it ends up being a bit of a red herring.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]