Jazz trombonist Kid / TUE 3-22-11 / English theologian Watts / Emu's extinct cousin / Greg's sitcom mate / Considered good by Moody's

Constructor: Albert R. Picallo

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: TWIST OF FATE (35A: Unexpected development ... or what the answer to each starred clue contains?) — eight different arrangements of the letters F, E, A, and T appear in symmetrical answers in the grid.


Word of the Day: Kid ORY (42A: Jazz trombonist Kid ___) —

Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was a jazz trombonist and bandleader.[...] Ory was a banjo player during his youth and it is said that his ability to play the banjo helped him develop "tailgate," a particular style of playing the trombone. In "tailgate" style the trombone plays a rhythmic line underneath the trumpets and cornets. // He had one of the best-known bands in New Orleans in the 1910s, hiring many of the great jazz musicians of the city, including, cornetists Joe "King" Oliver, Mutt Carey, and Louis Armstrong; and clarinetists Johnny Dodds and Jimmie Noone. [...] The Ory band was an important force in reviving interest in New Orleans jazz, making popular radio broadcasts—among them a number of slots on the Orson Welles Almanac broadcast and a jazz history series sponsored by Standard Oil—as well as by making recordings. Ory retired from music in 1966 and spent his last years in Hawaii ... (wikipedia)

• • •

First reaction: FEAT? Just ... different letter arrangements? Why? Then I went to type in all the standard info (above), such as Constructor, Difficulty Level, and Theme. What should I call it? I know: TWIST OF FATE ... wait. That really, really should have been this puzzle's title. WAIT! It's the answer smack in the middle of the grid! Wow, way to not pay attention, Rex. Anyway, TWIST OF FATE makes all the damned circles and random letter arrangements somewhat more tolerable. Annoyed at the doubling up of theme clues about musicals, as it detracts / distracts from the actual theme (also, musicals schmusicals). Also annoyed at ORY, a terrible bit of crosswordese, as well as ITRY, which is somewhat less terrible, but somehow still irksome to me (32D: Modest response to praise). Rest of the grid seems pretty solid—impressive for a puzzle with such theme density. Hmmm, on second look, there is a little more not-so-nice stuff than I like to see in an easy puzzle: OST, OID, EXEL, MVI, ORY, EEC, EFOR = none of it great. Nice modern clue on SLIDER (47D: Small burger) (at least I assume it's modern, as I'd never heard of a SLIDER in my life until I started seeing them appear on menus about 3-5 years ago).


[One of the 80s-est videos / songs you'll ever see]
Theme answers:

• 4D: *Song from "No, No, Nanette" ("TEA FOR TWO")

• 18A: *Dining area (CAFETERIA)
  
• 21A: *Result of collapsed arches (FLAT FEET)
  
• 21D: *Daredevils' doings (FEATS)
  
• 36D: *Kind of position (FETAL)
  
• 34D: *"It Might as Well Be Spring" musical ("STATE FAIR")
  
• 53A: *Nevertheless (AFTER ALL)
  
• 56A: *Didn't disturb (LEFT ALONE)
  

NW and SE corners went down Very fast — except for the musicals clues, which required some crosses — and the rest felt like an ordinary Tuesday, with the ORY-ish middle being probably the most trying part of the grid.

Bullets:

• 27A: Greg's sitcom mate (DHARMA) — Mmm, bygone sitcom characters. I guess a literal (or Kerouac) clue for DHARMA wouldn't be as Tuesdayey.
  
• 31A: Period following homework completion, perhaps (TV TIME) — sounds original, though originality credit belongs to a 2003 Liz Gorski puzzle (the only other puzzle to use this answer)
  
• 40A: Considered good by Moody's (RATED A) — they rate bonds. Speaking of which, the trial of Barry Bonds began today. No idea what Moody's would rate him.
  
• 7D: English theologian Watts (ISAAC) — weird. Don't think I've even heard of this guy. Wikipedia say he was "recognized as the "Father of English Hymnody"" ... yep, sounds like something I wouldn't know.
  
• 51D: Bob Cratchit, for one (CLERK) — ugh, slowed way down here because I was thinking Scrooge, not Cratchit.
  
• 48A: Dee Dee, Tommy, Joey or Johnny of punk (RAMONE) — now there's an answer I can get behind.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

P.S. here are a handful of photos from this past weekend's ACPT ...

[From right, commenters Bob Kerfuffle, Mac, and imsdave]

[Me, gazing intently at ... I have no idea]

[Me, Andrea Michaels, and Patrick Blindauer]

[Sandy—patiently explaining to me how a "camera" works]

[Constructors Caleb Madison, Tony Orbach, and Brendan Emmett Quigley, solving Tony's CrosSynergy "Sunday Challenge" puzzle—I think Brendan has just spotted ITUNE (singular) ...]

[Me, Caleb, and, a trophy that, as my sister put it, makes me look like I "took 5th at a regional speech & debate tournament."]

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

Winter autobahn hazard / MON 3-21-11 / Joint woe afflicted Benjamin Franklin / Underground vegetable edible greens / Bottle-throwing occasion

Constructor: Patrick Blindauer & Steve Salitan

Relative difficulty: Medium


THEME: "Absolutely!" => the clue for six theme answers

• "YOU BETCHA!"
• "BY ALL MEANS!"
• "RIGHT ON, BROTHER!"
• "AIN'T IT THE TRUTH!"
• "DARN TOOTIN'!"
• "SURE THING!"

Word of the Day: John TESH (32D: John who once co-hosted "Entertainment Tonight") —

John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music, as well as a radio host and television presenter. His 10-year-old 'Intelligence for Your Life Radio Show' reaches 14.2M listeners/week, and is syndicated by Teshmedia on 400 stations in USA, Canada, and the UK. 'Intelligence for Your Health' (with Connie Sellecca) was launched in 2010. Tesh has won 6 music Emmys, has 4 gold albums, 2 Grammy nominations, and an Associated Press award for investigative journalism. Tesh has sold over 8 million records. His live concerts have raised more than $20 million for PBS. In 1995 Tesh sold 50% of his record company, GTS, to Polygram for $8 million. Tesh then created Garden City Records, which he still owns today. He is also known as the longtime host of the television program Entertainment Tonight. He has previously worked as a sportscaster for the Olympic Games, a news anchor and, a reporter. [his main genre of music: NEW AGE (50A: Enya's kind of music)] (wikipedia)

• • •

A fine Monday puzzle, with nice theme density. I wanted a "YER" at the beginning of "DARN TOOTIN'," but other than that, all the theme answers felt very natural. Non-theme fill is no great shakes, but given the structure of the grid (very high on 3- and 4-letter words), that's pretty much to be expected. If you want to accommodate that many theme answers *and* make the puzzle an easy early-weeker, then there's no real way around the preponderance of short stuff. Don't have much else to say about this one, which is probably just as well, as I am dead tired after two days in Brooklyn and a bus station / bus ride experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone—hours standing in Port Authority with hundreds of other people waiting for buses that never came, with no official information to be had except by a few people who ventured out and back ... all of whom got conflicting information (no buses upstate at all until tomorrow? all the buses are actually here, they just can't get inside because a half-marathon is obstructing their path? Etc.). Very nice but overworked man at Port Authority nearly got into several altercations trying to keep people from jumping the line. All in all, an adventure I'd just as soon not have had—unlike my American Crossword Puzzle Tournament adventure, which was fabulous. About which, more later (when I wake up and have more energy). The short version: I am the 31st Greatest Crossword Solver in the Universe. Also, I am the 2nd Greatest Crossword Solver in New York State (outside NYC), and I have the *hardware* to prove it. Here's a picture of me shaking Will's hand after hearing my name called by Roz Chast:


I had no expectation of winning anything, so I was laughing out loud as I walked up to get my trophy. Best part was walking up to Will, shaking his hand, and having him ask, "Now ... what did you win?" I then panicked and thought I had walked up there mistakenly (that trophy he's holding was Not for me), but it turns out Ms. Chast had just been reading names faster than the trophy wranglers could set them up, and so ... confusion. My trophy is a bit smaller than the one in the picture, but no less trophyish. Overall, the ACPT was super good fun. Got to see lots of top constructors and lots of blog readers and other really friendly people. Had dinner last night with half of today's constructing team, in fact (the Blindauer half). Ate too much. Drank too much. Played iPhone-APP "Celebrity" too much. But again ... more later, when my wits are more about me.

See final results from the tournament here.



Bullets:

• 1A: The Stones' "Sticky Fingers" and "Tattoo You," e.g. (LPS) — Neither this nor PROBE (2D: Exploratory spacecraft) (nor LOYAL, for that matter) came immediately. Had to pull out and back my way back into that corner.
  
• 27D: Joint woe that afflicted Benjamin Franklin (GOUT) — a little trivia for you on this Monday morning (Sunday evening for me). Clue could just as easily have stopped at [Joint woe], but no—you get a little edification with your GOUT.
  
• 37D: Underground vegetable with edible greens (BEET) — I could've sworn I had some this weekend, but I think I just *talked* about the fact that I had an "heirloom BEET salad" (delicious) the *last* time I was in Brooklyn for ACPT.
  
• 44D: They're worth twice as much as fins (TENNERS) — wanted TEN SPOTS. Wouldn't fit. TENNERS was my next guess—one of two Down answers in this puzzle that run through three different theme answers.
  

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

P.S. a huuuuuuge thank-you to treedweller for covering for me on Saturday and Sunday. I had stupidly forgotten to arrange for a substitute, so his last-minute offer to step in and cover for me was an invaluable gift. I love writing the blog, but at ACPT, I want to spend time with people, not my computer.

P.P.S. biggest Fail of ACPT awards ceremony was the non-announcement of D and E division winners.

D Champion was Jeff Stacey (overall finish: 115) (Caleb Madison was 2nd!)
E Champion was Joseph Longa (overall finish: 159) (Marion Strauss, who comments here as @mac, was 11th!).

Spring fix

Oh yeah c'est le printemps !

Qu'est-ce qu'on l'a attendu celui-là. Il s'est fait salement désirer. Maintenant qu'on le tient, liguons nous pour le retenir !

Petit look -on ne peut plus basique- Vous savez ? Celui de la flemmarde qui n'a pas envie de se prendre la tête.

Le géant suédois (c'est comme ça qu'on le nomme dans la blogosphère, non ?) nous a pondu une série de jeans de couleurs différentes (noir, bleu marine, rose pâle, corail...) qui coûtent une vingtaine d'euros je crois, peut-être même moins.

Le jean parfait pour l'été. A porter en toutes circonstances. En ce moment, je suis dans la phase "retroussage" (ça se dit ?).

Hop, je retrousse tous mes jeans, pour laisser apercevoir un bout de cheville, je trouve que ça rend la silhouette plus dynamique.

Ah et mon amie Bouchra, a fait un joli post dans lequel elle propose quelques belles photos et ma playlist. Cliquez ici !

Photos : Sarah D

Jean - H&M

Débardeur - Zara

Veste - H&M

Mocassins - Vintage

Folk guitarist Leo / SUN 3-20-11 / Chick lit book / Conifer with durable wood / Ulster Norfolk / Locale for many a gondola

Constructor: Brendan Emmett Quigley

Relative difficulty: medium

THEME: Chick Lit — Book titles that include a type of bird. I find it interesting that all of these books have also been made into movies, though I don't suppose that's relevant here.

Word of the Day: Leo KOTTKE (15D: Folk guitarist Leo) —

Leo Kottke (born 11 September 1945, Athens, Georgia, U.S.) is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies. Kottke has overcome a series of personal obstacles including partial loss of hearing and a nearly career-ending bout with tendon damage in his right hand to emerge as a widely-recognized master of his instrument. (wikipedia)

• • •

treedweller here again. By now, scores are probably posted for all of today's puzzles from the ACPT, where Rex Parker appears to be in 36th place. There is one more puzzle today before the finals. I assume he will be back to his regular duties tomorrow.

After glibly expressing confidence about finishing this puzzle at the end of yesterday's post, I printed it out today and saw BEQ in the byline. I panicked a little because he always seems to find my weak spots, especially in music and pop culture stuff (including sports). I dove in and found myself leaving a lot of blank spaces. A Lot. My confidence level on the first several answers I entered was low. As usual, he stumped me on several empirical facts that I just didn't know, such as GINO (37A ____ Franco (watch brand), KOTTKE, OWEN (44a: ___ D. Young (Time's Man of the Year in 1929), ODOM (71D: Lakers star Lamar), OIUDA (74A: "A Dog of Flanders" writer), and I would not be disappointed if I never again had to guess the name of a race horse (11D: First horse to compete in all three Triple Crown races --- WAR CLOUD). I got lucky on a few more; for example, the little sports I know comes largely from watching the hometown teams, like the Mavericks, for whom NASH played a few years (48A: Two-time N.B.A. M.V.P. Steve).

I was at least ten minutes into the thing before I caught on to the theme at LONESOME DOVE and started feeling hope again. Once I knew I was looking for titles, I started dropping in long answers and finished in about 30 minutes. On Sundays, I tend to get bored before finishing, but I think a good Sunday time for me is about 20, so I called this medium. I hasten to add this was not a Sunday that I was inclined to put down. Once I gained a little momentum, I steadily plowed through and was a little surprised to realize I was done. And this time, I really did finish with no mistakes.

Theme answers:

• 23A: Chick lit book #1 (1992) THE PELICAN BRIEF --- John Grisham thriller--seen it, haven't read it.
• 33A: Chik lit book #2, with "The" (1843) UGLY DUCKLING --- Probably most of us heard this story as children. I'm still looking forward to the day I turn into a swan.
• 39A: Chick lit book #3 (1965) THE STERILE CUCKOO --- The title was reasonably familiar. I had to google to find out if it was a movie or not. I can't tell you anything else about it.
• 59A: Chick lit book #4 (1974) SIX DAYS OF THE CONDOR --- The movie is just Three Days. You always have to edit them quite a bit to get the film under two hours, it seems.
  
• 69A: Chick lit book #5 (1960) TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD --- One of my favorites, book and movie. It made me wish someone would leave secret gifts for me in a tree somewhere.
  
• 87A: Chick lit book #6 (1930) THE MALTESE FALCON ---- After seeing the movie several times, I finally read the book recently. The movie is good. The book is better.
  
• 95A: Chick lit book #7 (1985) LONESOME DOVE --- Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer winner, though I like some of his others at least as much. It was so long it had to be made into a miniseries.
  
• 109A: Chick lit book #8 (1967) WHERE EAGLES DARE --- See 33A above.
  

I'm not really one to count black squares and white squares and theme squares, but this was an impressive array to me, even in a large grid. I was a little sad to see just one title had to get clued "with 'The'" but I am happily cutting major slack for that.

By far the ugliest part of the grid had to be GINO / GNC / UIES / PAWER. GNC slowed me down because I was thinking CVS for a long time, but it was more or less familiar when I finally got it. GINO is a mystery. Though I have come to accept that I must wait for a cross or two to decide if it's TSAR (86A: Opponent of Napoleon), "tzar" or "czar", it still really bothers me to have to choose between UIES and "Ueys", since neither really seems right. PAWER isn't really in the same section, but I had to include it here on principle.

But, again, I'm cutting major slack. That's not much iffy fill and a lot of pretty nice stuff in addition to the theme answers.

Bullets:

• 116A: Spread, as rumors (BRUITED) --- This is one of those words I think I know but could never define without a dictionary. Throw in the deceptive past tense in the clue and you've got a real winner.
• 83D: Classic sandwich (HAM ON RYE) --- Three letters means BLT. Eight letters means WTF. And then it is just so plain and obvious when you get it.
  
• 15A: ____ Works (KRUPP)— The 'K' was my last letter. Once I finally got that corner done, I was fairly sure it was right, but I stared at _OTTKE for a lo-o-ong time wondering what I had missed.
• 88D: Shift's end / 92A: Start to production? (HEM / PRE) — Proudly caught the letteral clues here for PEE and TEE. Had a small internal debate about whether I liked the two of them crossing that way. Realized I had a problem and that the shift was a dress. Finally got to use the trick for real at
• 24D: Chess Opening? (CEE). Similarly, I wanted "glued" for 13D: Stuck (TREED), then found GLUES TO at 68A: Affixes on.
• 115A: Christmas or Yom Kippur (HOLY DAY) — I can't be the only one who started with "holiday".
• 30A: A nut might go on one (RAMPAGE) — After a little queasiness over yesterday's TREMOR, I find myself delighted by this RAMPAGE. Timing is everything.

I hope you've all enjoyed my guest stints as much as I have. Now I look forward to letting Rex do all the work again.

Signed, treedweller,
on behalf of
Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]

I like your smile, I like your vibe, I like your style ; but that's not why I love you.

Avril Lavigne - I love you.

Ma semaine de Bac blanc est finie ! OVER :D.

Bon, j'ai toujours l'épreuve d'oral des TPE que je passe Mercredi après-midi, mais ça c'est une autre histoire.

Les cours vont sérieusement reprendre Lundi, & je suis déjà fatiguée rien que d'y penser. Mais heuerusement, demain étant le premier jour du Printemps, le soleil revient peu à peu & rien de mieux pour être de bonne humeur n'est-ce pas ?

En attendant, ça fait 4 jours que je suis en train de regarder toute la saison 2 de Glee que j'avais un peu laissé tomber à cause des cours. Impossible d'être plus accro' que moi en ce moment ! ( Pour ceux qui ne connaissent pas Glee, non de Dieu, allez regarder cette super série, définitivement une de mes préférées *-* ).

My week of exams is over ! OVER :D.

Well, I still have another exam on Wednesday but that's another story, lol.

Btw, I'm already tired of school, lessons restart on Monday. But fortunately, tomorrow's the first day of Spring, & sun's coming back little by little. Nothing better to be cheerful, right ?

Anyways. I've been watching the second season of Glee since 4 days, I had abandoned the serie because of school but it's currently impossible to be more addicted to that serie than me ! ( For the ones who don't know Glee, damn, go watch that amazing serie ! 

Definitely one of my favourite, ever *-* ).

Aujourd'hui, du look donc.

Une jupe que vous n'aviez pas encore vue, achetée il y a quelques mois déjà chez H&M. J'adore sa couleur, & après quelques hésitations, je trouve qu'elle se marie bien avec le bleu pâle de ma chemise. Comme la jupe est, genre, SUPER près du corps, impossible de rentrer la chemise sans qu'on voit les traces ( & je trouve ça teeeeeellement moche ! ) du coup je l'ai noué sur le devant. Vous connaissez déjà le sac & les chaussures ;'D.

Today, an outfit.

A skirt that you haven't seen yet, bought a couple a months at H&M. I love it colour & after some hesitations, I think that it fits well with the pale blue of my shirt n_n. 

You've already seen my bag & my shoes ;'D.

Shirt : Yves Saint-Laurent, skirt & bag : H&M, shoes : André, earings : Mim.

Gui Gui nailpolishes.

LOVELOVELOVE ♥.

 

Au coeur de Saint-Germain

Samedi dernier, après avoir traîné des heures à la maison, Martin me fait part de son envie de manger un gros burger au Coffee Parisien.

Tiens, je reçois deux textos, d'India d'un côté et de Diego de l'autre.

Sans même les lire, je chope mon téléphone et appelle India pour lui proposer que l'on se retrouve tous au Coffee Parisien, pour un déjeuner-goûter tardif.

Elle me répond "Mais tu as lu mon texto ?" "Ben non, dis moi." "Je te proposais exactement la même chose, c'est fou !".

Je raccroche et lis mes textos.

-Diego "Coffee Parisien ?"

-India "Coffee Parisien ?

Les gars, la télépathie, ça marche.

Quinze minutes, nous voilà arrivés !

En sortant, nous en profitons pour rendre visite à Patricia, une amie de la famille, qui vient d'ouvrir son magasin : Divine Parisienne, au 19 rue Guisarde 75006.

Un joli boudoir dans lequel on peut tout acheter, des accessoires vintages aux pièces de créateurs en passant par la déco (la cage à oiseaux par exemple).

Je vous laisse découvrir les lieux en photos !

(Le papier peint, je suis fan, j'ai toujours rêvé d'en avoir un comme ça chez moi mais je pense que je peux attendre longtemps... Hein Monsieur ?!)

Ps : Excusez-moi la qualité pourrie des photos, petit soucis avec mon objectif, réglé cette semaine !

Carmine's cousin / SAT 3-19-11 / Pitch setter / Rockling, e.g. / Basilica di San Nicola locale

Constructor: Joe DiPietro

Relative difficulty: easy-medium

THEME: none

Word of the Day: MASTIC (Resin used in varnishes) —

(Greek: Μαστίχα) is a resin obtained from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus). In pharmacies and Nature shops it is called "arabic gum" (not to be confused with gum arabic) and "Yemen gum". . . Mastic is used as a raw material in the production of some varnishes. Mastic varnish was used to protect and preserve photographic negatives. (wikipedia)

• • •

Hello, treedweller here. For those who may not be aware, this weekend is the ACPT in Brooklyn, so our regular host is occupied and he has given me another opportunity to sit in the driver's seat. Some of you may recall my previous outing was also on a Saturday and I got slaughtered. My saving grace that weekend was to give a little solace to all the other clueless (answer-less?) puzzlers who are routinely demoralized by Rex's comments in the vein of "I dropped in [something you never imagined was even a word] immediately with no crosses and was done in four minutes."

This time, I find myself discussing another Saturday puzzle. I've improved over the last year or two and no longer consider it a miracle when I finish a Fri/Sat puzzle, but I still fail as often as I succeed (yesterday, for example). Today, I actually finished without cheating in just over half an hour, which is not quite good enough for the ACPT but faster than most of the Saturdays I've completed. It's probably Rex-Easy, but I threw in the hyphen-medium to make myself feel a little better about my success*. Those of you who still can't even get a toehold on Saturday have my permission to rate it Beyond Challenging. Go ahead, have fun, it's just us kids today.

This struck me as a light offering for the weekend. It was definitely a tough puzzle, but seemed a little mundane. Saturdays, I expect to be quizzed on the moons of Jupiter or the operatic works of [someone opera people would know but I don't because the only opera I know came from puzzles]. This was all pretty in-the-language stuff clued Saturday Hard. As with most of my successful Saturdays, I got a smattering of answers, some of which proved wrong, and I was sure I'd never finish, but then I slowly picked up an AAVERAGE (57A: It's between 90 and 100) here and an AIR IRAN (47A / 48D: it stopped flying to New York in 1979) there, and before I realized it I was closing in on the final squares (*correcting my error at 28D: Pitch setter -- CLEF, as it turns out--more on that later). The most obscure trivia I see is BARI (52A: Basilica di San Nicola locale) and my word of the day, MASTIC (27A: Resin used in varnishes). Unfortunately for me, the latter tripped me up and I finished with an error.

Actually, the problem started with DEFIANT (40A: Unwilling to stay in line), where I got the 'D' and the ANT and confidently threw down "deviant". So when I came to 28D: Pitch setter (which, I must say, had me mystified for most of the time I was solving), I suddenly realized it had to be "elev", never mind there's no indication of an abbreviation in the clue. And so I spent a few minutes post-solve trying to figure out what "mastie" was. Some of you are probably saying, "How long has he been at this that he doesn't know MASTIC?" but it's a new one on me, or at least one I figured out once and promptly forgot.

Bullets:

• 29D: Spirit of the Caribbean (JAMAICARUM)— I totally fell for the "spirit" misdirection, which contributed to the struggle I had in the SE until almost the end, and then realization dawned. And then I spent several seconds trying to figure out how to fit JAMAICANRUM in there. I'm still a little bitter about that, truth be told.
• 38A: Strategy game with disks (REVERSI) — Started with Othello (and wondered why the play wasn't referenced in the clue), then briefly tried PACHISI, though I was grumbling to myself that there's precious little strategy in that game. Maybe this should have been W-O-T-D, since I am a game fiend and yet I have never seen, much less played, REVERSI. Oh, wait, a little googling reveals that it's just an alternate name for Othello. Which is, of course, just a simplified version of Go. Which will make it into precious few puzzles since it's only two letters. God forbid we ever see "gos" or "goes" (clued in this context). I might welcome an outlaw puzzle with two-letter entries, but it had better be pretty damn good.
• 59A: To a very great degree (INSPADES) — This was one of those Saturday clues that revealed a very colloquial phrase. I like those.
• 37A: Borderline fare? (TEXMEX) — This was an obvious ploy to me, in that I was immediately looking for food, but I still took awhile getting the right answer. I kept trying "tacos" and "enchiladas" and other yummy-sounding stuff that didn't fit. Being as I'm in / from Texas, this may be an example of the specialist struggling where the amateur has no problems.
• 15A: Item removed before showering (TOUPEE) — FTW!
• 56D: "Knots Landing" actress ___ Park Lincoln (LAR) — sounds like a car dealership to me--which reminds me--
• 7A: They make vehicles very volatile (CARBOMBS) — I was quite pleased to quickly fill in "gas tanks" here, and a little disturbed to finally reveal the correct answer. Given the recent news from Japan, I had a similar reaction at 60A: Shake (TREMOR). I usually frown when the PC crowd starts trying to arbitrarily limit options based on personal concerns, and I am not lobbying to take these words out of the mix for future puzzles, but, nevertheless.

I'm back again on Sunday. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get it done without cheating. Good luck to all the competitors.

Signed, treedweller,
on behalf of
Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on Twitter]