Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Here’s something very important that you all should know before tackling today’s Manny Nosowsky puzzle.  PHILEAS Fogg is an imaginary character created by Jules Verne who circled the world in 80 days.  PHINEAS Fogg is an imaginary character  created by me who gives rise to other imaginary characters like the PINT DOWN MAN.  Turns out I’m not the only to make this mistake.  You can buy a poster titled “Le Tour du Monde En 80 Jours’ Phineas Fogg as He Leaves London Gives the 20 Pounds He Has Won” here.  The Metronauts created a Phineas Fogg contest to see who as the longest commute in Toronto.  And I found an article about ballooning in Kenya titled “On the Trail of Phineas Fogg”.  Looks like I have a lot of company.

I figured out the rest of the puzzle without too much trouble.  At least not too much trouble for a Friday.

16A. Cry upon reaching an impasse (NOW WHAT).  Manny must be listening in on my puzzle solving sessions.

19A. Bill sharer (COSTAR).  Ooh, good clue here.  I went with ROOMIE first.

37A. Celestial neighbor of Scorpius (NORMA).  Judging from Wikipedia’s description, NORMA may the most boring constellation in the universe: “Its name is Latin for normal, referring to a right angle, and is variously considered to represent a rule, a carpenter’s square, a set square or a level.”  Wow, a constellation in the shape of a ruler.  That is very, very exciting.

45A. Its sports teams are called the Phoenix (ELON).  Good gravy.  I don’t know the names of sports teams for colleges of which I’ve heard.  ELON looks like a nice school though.  How do I know?  A quick glance at their website immediately makes me feel depressed and old.

46A. Accolade for a great play (TONY).  This answer was staring me in the face and it took me forever to see it.  My first thought was something like a fist BUMP after a good sports play.

53A. Frequent flier’s credit (AIR MILE).  Hey, Pickles and are going to Italy later this year.  Who’s got suggestions?  Where should we go?  What should we see?

1D. Old swing digger (HEP CAT).  This is a really weird clue.  I’m not sure I understand what’s going on here.  Is it a swing digger who is old?  Or a digger of old swing?  I’d look up “swing digger” but I’m at work and it would most certainly result in porn.

3D. ___ bread (RAISIN).  What do we think about RAISIN bread?  Do we like it?

11D. Consistently defeat (OWN).  As in, The Dodgers OWN the Mets.

20D. Cardinal that looks the same when viewed upside down (SIXTY NINE).  Strangely, I figured this one out almost immediately.  And, no, I’m definitely not looking this one up at work.

And, now, let’s check in with part 4 of the Superman adventure “Crossword Puzzle Mystery”.

[audio:http://crosswords.ryanfacestheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/superman-part-4.mp3]

Great puzzle by Manny.

Next stop, Saturday.

It’s always lovely to see a friend’s name in a crossword byline, and today was no exception. Patrick “El Blindito” Blindauer has once again proven himself as one of today’s most clever wordsmiths and puzzle creators. I really marvel at his inventions, whether they are in the grid design, the theme distribution, or in the case of today’s puzzle, the clever re-creation of words to become other things. I will admit, a couple of spots here had me so confused that my addled head spun like a busted wheel in a muddy rut. I admit, it’s probably due to playing “The Maple Leaf Rag” about 10,000 times today, and has nothing to do with this puzzle.

I’ll start with the theme. Patrick has taken some common phrases and names and inverted the final two letters to make the clues clever.

• 17A. Name of Lord Rubble’s feudal estate? : BARNEY FIEF. I think I know that “fief” is a a word, but I sure don’t know what it is. I even know that “fiefdom” is a word. I probably learned it in high school. Maybe something to do with old feudal estate culture, but I can’t be sure.
• 26A. Air in a sooty shaft? : COAL MIEN. I was stuck up here in Quadrant B of this grid for quite a while. I had COAL in place, and then either MEIN or MIEN. But COAL MEIN is a disgusting Chinese food dish with sooty noodles, and that’s not what the clue called for. Like “fief,” I don’t know what a “mien” is, but I’m going out on a limb and assuming it’s some kind of air.
• 33A. Sly little dog? : SNEAK PEKE. Yeah, I think it ought to be “sneaky.” Except SNEAKY PEEK isn’t a phrase. But I don’t know that a SNEAK PEKE is a thing at all. To this, I balk (mildly).
• 46A. Celebration for a Disney dwarf? : HAPPY FETE. I watched the movie “Happy Feet” when I was last in Oklahoma visiting my in-laws. It was very popular with two of my nephews. Honestly, I must have tuned out, though, because I can’t remember one single thing about it. It had dancing in it, right?
• 51A. Bamboozle a “Fargo” director? : SNOW COEN. I was stuck here for a while, too, because I kept trying to make something out of Coen’s first name, Joel. Although now that I think of it, maybe Ethan is the director, and Joel is the writer. I don’t know. But they make great movies. I haven’t seen all of them, I will admit, but I like almost every one I see. Smart and interesting and different, and it seems that they aren’t concerned with making a popular movie, just one that does what they want it to do (like star Frances McDormand, most of the time). I’ve not seen this packaging material before, but “The Hudsucker Proxy” is one of my all-time favorite movies.
• 65A. Property claim along the Rio Grande? : BORDER LIEN. Someone tell me exactly what a “lien” is. I think it might have something to do with property.

I am going to try and get back into the routine I never got into last year, which is eating things mentioned in puzzles. I’m going to start making a list. Today’s puzzle featured CORNBREAD (3D. Hot dog coating at a county fair) and EDAM (59D. Cheese choice), both of which sound delicious. Also delicious would be most things cooked in a WOK (25D. Convex cooker). Can anyone give me an example of a concave cooker? And don’t say an upside-down wok.

Maybe it’s because I know Patrick has had an acting career (he starred in about four seconds of “A Beautiful Mind” — Ryan and I found the clip on the DVD when we did our interview with Patrick on Fill Me In), but I am never surprised to see theater and music references: ABBA (1D. “Money, Money, Money” band), GUYS (5D. “___ and Dolls”), ON MY (29D. “___ Own” [song from "Les Miz"] – question: why is the title abbreviated in this clue, and the answer is not?) and CAT (70A. Mungojerrie or Skimbleshanks, in a musical). Of course, ABBA was hot before “Mamma Mia,” “Cats” started out as a book of poetry, Damon Runyon was an awesome writer before he was turned into a musical, and Les Miz — well, I just saw the pilot for “Glee” (which my wife loved, and I was ho-hum), and too much musical theater now lives in the scary part of my brain that also houses the concept of show choir. It’s a section of my mental attic that I don’t go into very often. I’m afraid of what’s there, and I think it’s a lot safer to just leave it in the corner, aware of its existence, but never making it interactive if I can help it. Even in my line of work as a New York City theater pianist, I try to limit my knowledge of what I do as much as possible. It makes the work day more challenging, yes, but it keeps me sane.

On the subject of music, Ryan asked that I explain ARCS (19A. Slurs, in music). I’m guessing that Ryan thinks it’s the verb slur, whereas it’s actually the noun. A slur is a line drawn over a series of notes to indicate that they are all to be melodically connected as one phrase. At least, that’s what we use slurs for in piano music. String players use slurs to indicate bowing phrases. Singers and woodwind players use them to indicate breathing (everything under the line is in one breath). I will say this — they are not all true arcs. That is, many slurs have a lengthy plateau, if the phrase is long. And sometimes, in piano music, if the slur needs to connect material from one hand into the other, the line is S-shaped. The following two images are slurs. One is somewhat normal. The other is nonsense.

normal

nonsense

I like to list the things I didn’t know, so here’s that:

• 11D. Choisy-___ (Paris suburb) : LE ROI. In French, when in doubt, invoke the king.
• 12D. Pawnbroker, in slang : UNCLE. I was going to argue this, saying it’s nonsense, but then I realized I’d never been to a pawnbroker’s shop. I’ve only seen them in movies (where none of them is ever called “Uncle”), but I guess it might be standard.
• 13D. Ruhr industrial hub : ESSEN. I knew this one, actually. But really — what is there in Ruhr besides Essen? I don’t know what either of these things is, but it’s always ESSEN. It’s a fine crossword-y word, but it’s always ESSEN.
• 34D. Place to overnight in an R.V. : KOA. I don’t know what this is. I thought the place to overnight in an R.V. was in the R.V. What’s a KOA?
• 44A. Charles ___, “Brideshead Revisited” protagonist : RYDER. No “___ Cup” or “Moving van company” today. It’s Thursday, after all.
• 60D. ___ Dubos, Pulitzer winner for “So Human an Animal” : RENE. Enough with Descartes and Auberjonois, let’s get obscure. And by that, I mean people who have won a super-prestigious prize, but still have never before existed in my head.

And now, part 3 of the Superman adventure “Crossword Puzzle Mystery”.

[audio:http://crosswords.ryanfacestheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/superman-part-3.mp3]

By the way, I’ve been doing a bunch of old New York Sun puzzles lately, particularly Thursdays and Fridays. They are pretty awesome. If you never did them, you should. You can buy them from Barnes & Noble. Or you can listen to our podcast, and enter our contests (we sometimes give away Sun collections as prizes).

Thanks for a great puzzle, Patrick. And to the rest of you, see you Friday!

Before I get into today’s Ashish Vengsarkar puzzle I want to address an issue one of our readers had with a clue from yesterday.

5D. Calf-length dress (MAXI).  Teri says that MIDI and MAXI are not interchangeable.  And Pat “Not a Guy” Manzo says, “Midiskirts’ hemlines are at mid-calf, while maxiskirts’ are ankle-length.”  So, is this clue incorrect?  Should it read “Ankle-length dress”?

Ok, onto today’s puzzle.

36A. Texas city…and a hint to the starts of 21-, 27-, 45- and 56-Across (COLLEGE STATION).  I’m sure I’ve mentioned this at least 50 times already but I love going to Texas.  I start eating as soon as I get off the plane and I simply don’t stop.  I don’t think I’ve ever been to COLLEGE STATION but a little research tells me it is home to one location of Los Cucos Mexican Cafe.  There is one in Houston and it rocks the Casbah.  If I was sitting in the Los Cucos in COLLEGE STATION right now this is what I would order:

1. Appetizer — Queso con fajita: Melted Monterey Jack cheese with grilled beef fajita, served with pico de gallo, onions and tortillas
2. Entree — Enchiladas Mexico: Corn tortillas stuffed with chicken cooked in mole sauce covered with mole, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream, Mexican cheese and fresh avocados
3. Dessert — Sopapillas: Delicious home made pastry topped with white powdered sugar and cinnamon

Now I’ve gone and made myself hungry.

21A. Barack Obama, 2005-08, e.g. (FRESHMAN SENATOR).  Wow, only three years in the senate.  Somebody needs to do a “Where are they now?” segment on this guy.

27A. Rookie’s superstition (SOPHOMORE JINX).  I’ll tell you what sucked the second time around.  Heroes.  Pickles and I were way into it during the first season.  We lasted about 4 episodes into the second season and we had to stop watching because it suuuuucked.  I don’t know if that’s really a SOPHOMORE JINX though.  It wasn’t bad luck that it sucked.  It just sucked.

45A. Subsidiary member of a firm (JUNIOR PARTNER).

56A. Some restaurant and pharmacy lures (SENIOR DISCOUNTS).

Morty is fastening a jacket as he enters.

MORTY: Alright, are you ready to eat?

HELEN: (glancing at her watch) Oh, right, let’s go. Jerry, let’s go, it’s time
to eat. We’re going to dinner.

Jerry wanders into the room. He’s in a t-shirt and sweatpants, and holding a comic book he’s been reading.

JERRY: (confused) Dinner? W..What time is it?

HELEN: (pulling on a coat) It’s four-thirty.

JERRY: (bewildered) Four-thirty? Who eats dinner at four-thirty?

MORTY: By the time we sit down, it’ll be quarter to five.

JERRY: I don’t understand why we have to eat now.

HELEN: We gotta catch the early-bird. It’s only between four-thirty and six.

MORTY: Yeah. They give you a tenderloin, a salad and a baked potato, for four-ninety-five. You know what that cost you after six?

JERRY: Can’t we eat at a decent hour? I’ll treat, okay?

HELEN: You’re not buying us dinner.

JERRY: (emphatic) I’m not force-feeding myself a steak at four-thirty to save a coupla bucks, I’ll tell you that!

HELEN: Alright, (sitting on the couch) we’ll wait. (pointedly) But it’s unheard of.

Jerry shakes his head, incredulous, and wanders away with his comic book.

Fun theme.

Other highlights:

15A. Oregonian (BEAVER).  What does this mean?  Are people from Oregon called beavers?

24A. ___ Enterprise (USS).  Anybody seen the new Star Trek movie?

8D. Subway Series participant (METS).  Well, so far the Dodgers still have only been mentioned once during the 2009 season.  Here are the Mets though and, as it happens, the Dodgers are playing the Mets this week.  The Boys in Blue have won the first two games and are going for the sweep tonight.  In the first game, Ryan Church of the Mets didn’t step on third before coming home and was called out on an appeal play.  How do you not touch third?  It seems like that should be one of the first three things they teach you in baseball school.  The Mets also committed five clangers in that game.

59D.  Sup (DINE).  I had the D and E and I was convinced this was DUDE.  I was reading “Sup” as a greeting.  Here’s a small playlet to illustrate my confusion:

FRANK: Sup.

BELMORE THE CHIROPODIST: Dude.

And here is installment of 2 of 13 of the Superman adventure “Crossword Puzzle Mystery”.

[audio:http://crosswords.ryanfacestheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/superman-part-2.mp3]

And while we’re on the subject of comic books here’s one of the all time great unintentionally funny comic book panels.

Great puzzle, Ashish.

Next stop, Thursday.

Today’s Damon J. Gulczynski puzzle features a theme type that I’m sure has a name but I’ve either forgotten it or never known it. It’s not a word ladder. A phrase ladder? A word snake? No idea.

COCKTAIL

TAILPIPE There are no interesting pictures of tailpipes on the web. (At least none appropriate for this blog.) So, this is kind of a stretch.

PIPE DREAM Here’s one for you theater buffs.

DREAM TEAM Here’s one for you fans of bad 80’s movies.

TEAM GAME

GAME COCK

Fun theme.

Going back to a discussion from yesterday’s post, our loyal readers have determined the crossword editor for the Daily Bugle in Metropolis may currently be Len Lars who took over the job from Lill Leng.

Crosscan, Winner of the Contest has found an old Superman radio show episode from 1948 entitled “Crossword Puzzle Mystery”. I thought I might post the audio of that show here in classic serial-style installments. Here is part 1 of 13.

[audio:http://crosswords.ryanfacestheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/superman-part-1.mp3]

Crosscan also found the synopsis of the joke played on Lois Lane by Superman and Batman from Superman’s Girlfriend, Lois Lane #59.

And here is yet another wonderful cover from that title.

Damn you, Pat Boone!

Thanks to Crosscan and Doug and Tmcay for doing all the research.

Next stop, Wednesday.

Welcome back to everyone’s favorite online demonstration of how two complete morons practice speaking. Also, discussions of crossword puzzles, ongoing stories, contests (at least one with a winner and at least one other with technical difficulties) and more. Included herein:

• Viewer mail
• Questions asked to someone other than Mike Nothnagel
• Did you win Peter “Triple Threat” Gordon’s contest?
• Will you enter Tyler Hinman [insert kickass nickname here]’s contest?
• Ryan gets annoyed at pre-recorded music

Help keep us the #1 crossword podcast in the world by tuning in to Episode 54! Zambezi! Oat! And… scene.

 

 Fill Me In #054: Take your lederhosen and get out of here! [37:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s Billie Truitt puzzle featured a classic-style Monday theme.  Two word phrases in which both words start with CR.

17A. Graham cracker pie shell (CRUMB CRUST).  Yesterday was Pickles’s birthday.  I baked her a cake.  Said cake did not have a CRUMB CRUST but it did have crumbs in it.  Question: when do crumbs become crumbs?  Do they have to be detached from the rest of the bread/cake/cracker in order to become crumbs?

26A. Spider or worm (CREEPY CRAWLY).  On Saturday night, Pickles and I watched The Ruins which featured CREEPY CRAWLY vines that feasted on the flesh of humans.  Completely ridiculous and totally gross.  Good times.

44A. Lending crisis (CREDIT CRUNCH).  Don’t get me started.

58A. Cajun seafood dish (CRAB CREOLE).  Here’s a recipe from Mr. Bam himself, Emeril Lagasse.  It looks good although it has ten thousand ingredients.

Other highlights:

5A. Winger or Messing (DEBRA).  DEBRA Winger was Wonder Girl on the old Wonder Woman TV show.  Now, you may be thinking that I mention this only for the opportunity to post a picture of Lynda Carter.  Well, you’re right.

But, it also gives me the opportunity to post a great interview with DEBRA from Letterman circa 1993.

40A. Lois of the Daily Planet (LANE).  I wonder who edits the crossword for the Daily Planet?  On another note, a quick search of google for Lois Lane brings up a number of covers of the old comic book Superman’s Girlfriend Lois Lane.  Lois gets herself into all kinds of trouble.  In one she’s transformed into a centaur.  In another, Lois from the future travels at super speed, doesn’t know how to slow down and needs Superman to help her before before she reaches the end of space.  And then, there’s this doozy:

And, remember, that is REAL, not imaginary.

Fun puzzle today.

Next stop, Tuesday.

Ryan’s wife’s birthday is today. And she’s not feeling well. You should all leave comments expressing your sympathy for her. Ryan is probably not solving the puzzle and instead taking care of Pickles, which is the right thing to do.

Meanwhile — I have solved this puzzle. Hooray for me. It’s punny, which isn’t my favorite, but it’s all quite clever, and was designed by the youngest puzzle-creator in the history of the world — Oliver Hill, who is currently two hours old. Yay, Oliver.

Anyway, the theme here is that some people have names that sound sort of like words, and if they were words, they might suggest a vocation of sorts. It’s called “Perfect Job.” So it’s punny, but it’s also a bit of a stretch. Here we go.

• 23A. Perfect job for Dustin? : HOUSEKEEPER. Before solving, I figured this was about Dustin Hoffman.
• 25A. Perfect job for Warren? : MERCENARY. Still, nothing filled in yet, and I assume Warren Beatty. Then I assume Ned Beatty. Then I realize that doesn’t make sense.
• 44A. Perfect job for Rowan? : OLYMPIC CANOER. Atkinson? Okay, I have an issue. Being an Olympic athlete is not a job. It’s a full-time commitment, but aren’t you supposed to be amateur? Or at least not get paid for being in the Olympics? Amanda (UPVEASLTUA), you know all about the Olympics. And Mike Nothnagel, you know all the answers. Someone tell me.
• 65A. Perfect job for Robin? : MASTER THEIF. Williams? The Boy Wonder? You see, before solving, I read the theme clues, and I was thinking famous people.
• 71A. Perfect job for Darren? : STUNT DOUBLE. Darren? I don’t know any Darrens. From “Bewitched,” I guess.
• 93A. Perfect job for Landon? : AIRPLANE PILOT. At this point, I am lost and confused. There are no famous Landons. Michael Landon. Lando(n) Calrissian. I don’t know. I give up guessing the theme, and start solving the puzzle.
• 118A. Perfect job for Brandon? : COW HERDER. This is the first theme entry I complete, and I’m still baffled. I’m still focusing on celebrities. It will be a while before I abandon that plan.
• 121A. Perfect job for Holden? : POKER PLAYER. I waited for a long time to try to fit CAULFIELD in there somewhere.

So, okay. Cute theme. And in addition, a handful of stuff that I don’t know at all, some of which crosses other things I don’t know. Love those Trivia Boxes. Answer words that stumped me: USGA (golf?), APSIS, LEILA (not the Eric Clapton song), MARENGO (not MERENGUE, also in the puzzle), TORII (not Hunter, of the Anaheim Angels of the non-Manny half of Los Angeles), EGAL (78D. The same to vous? – I don’t get this; is it both French and clever?), SAGO (79D. Steamed pudding ingredient – is this different from sage?), FREESOILER (I was a freesoiler until the age of 2, I think), SCAG (Oliver! Shame on you, knowing this!).

Other things to point out, or ask: 100D. Fix, as a skirt is REHEM. Why as a skirt? Why not pants, or a dress, or cuffs, or any number of things that get hemmed? “As a skirt” makes it seem awfully specific when it is not. Also, no one ever says ASH CAN (101A). Ever. Stop it. And I think I complained once before about DETERGE. That is ridiculous. This puzzle is in English, for crying out loud. No one says “deterge.” Explain 102D. In concord (with) – is it AT ONE (two words), or ATONE? I don’t get it. Concord is a city in New Hampshire. So if I go there (with) someone else, am I atoning for a sin? Is going to New Hampshire sinful in the first place? 123A. Half of a longtime comedy duo is ANNE MEARA, which Ryan tried unsuccessfully to put into a previous puzzle. GISMO, which needs to be excised from the world. The word is “gizmo.” 128A and 129A are both 98, e.g., with the answers SEDAN and OLDS. I don’t get either of these. I assume it’s a car? Is the Olds the sedan? Or are these two different cars?

And finally, 82D. One could go up to 11 in “This is Spinal Tap.” The answer is AMP. Brilliant movie, and now I need to watch it again.

See you Monday!

Oy vey.  I’m sure everybody else thinks this puzzle is a Wednesday but I’m having much trouble with it.  Constructed by Tyler Hinman [insert kickass nickname here] and Byron “Mike Nothnagel knows my middle name” Walden, it’s tying my brain into knots.

I got two great answers right away.

1A. Exuberant gesture with splayed fingers (JAZZ HANDS).  This is just awesome.  I have no other words.

20A. Sideshow Bob’s last name on “The Simpsons” (TERWILLIGER).  This is something I just know.  I’ve always enjoyed that his last name is TERWILLIGER.  (I don’t have all the crosses for this yet so it’s very possible I’m spelling it incorrectly.)  I have to admit, the only episode of the Simpsons I’ve seen in the past couple of seasons is the Shortz/Reagle show.  It’s such a shadow of what it used to be that it’s difficult to watch now.

It’s taken me a while to get crosses for those two answers.  So far I have:

1D. Traditional March birthstone (JASPER).  Is this right?  Or do I just have The Simpsons on the brain?

2D. Sharp (ASTUTE).  This is exactly how I don’t feel right now.

3D. Antiallergy brand (ZYRTEC).  I had ZANTAC for a while.  Pickles assures me it’s ZYRTEC.  Allergy suffering  is one affliction I have not been saddled with…yet.

4D. Common field trip destination (ZOO).  Baby rhinoceros just born at the Bronx Zoo.

5D. Kind of club (HUNT).  Hey!  Stay away from that rhinoceros!

6D. “You shouldn’t have” (AW GEE).  As in, “Aw gee, Tyler Hinman [insert kickass nickname here] and Byron ‘Mike Nothnagel knows my middle name’ Walden, you shouldn’t have made this puzzle so hard.  There are other things I need to get done today.”

7D. Location of the 44-Down (NEBRASKA).  I believe the 44-Down is the PLATTE river but I’m not sure about either of these answers.

8D. Suffers through a boring meeting, maybe (DRAWS_S).  I must have something wrong here.  This makes no sense to me.  I get the R from AS YOU WERE (15A. Captain’s command) which I think is correct.  I get the A from STRONG BAR (17A. Safe) which is probably not correct but I have no idea what the answer could be.  The first S is from EASELS (24A. Studio props) which, even though I do tons and tons of crosswords, still took me over three hours to figure out.  Applied knowledge, where were you when I needed you?  The last S is from SOAKS (30A. Registers, with “in”).  So that leaves me with DRAWS_S which means nothing to me.  Great.

I have the whole bottom half which is populated with some great entries: COFFEE BREAK, BEEN THERE, HOBNOB, TAKE FIVE, CARRERE.

The top right is a complete mystery to me.

12D. Bars for a cell? (___G_O__).  Gaahh!  What is this?  I assume it’s referring to a cellphone but who the hell knows.

18A. Something gays and straights have in common? I have no crossing letters for this yet.  I bet the answer is pretty clever.  Wait…is it LONG A?  Possibly.

RINGTONE!!  Bars for a cell.  Very clever.  Yes, it was referring to cellphones but not in the way I thought.

…Ok, just no-googled.  Woohoo!  Safe is STRONG BOX.  Suffering through a meeting is DROWSES.  Closer to 10 is SEXIER.  Another great clue/answer.

Great puzzle guys.

Next stop, Sunday.

I had a lot of trouble with the center of this Xan Vongsathorn puzzle.  I finally did get it but my brain was sore at the end.

30D. Largish animals with black ear tufts (LYNXES).  I thought for sure this was LLAMAS.  Take a look at this llama.  Doesn’t he have black ear tufts?

40A. The annus in Dryden’s “Annus Mirabilis” (MDCLXVI).  After giggling for quite a while I realized “annus” wasn’t a typo and it meant “year”.  While I certainly didn’t know the year and, even if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to spell out all Roman-like, the nature of the answer helpfully limited the choice of letters that could go in the boxes.

37A. Ann of “Rebel Without a Cause” (DORAN).  So I went with MEARA here.  It worked much better last week.

28D. Image on a dime (TORCH).  Aagghh.  This was frustrating.  I had just gotten a handful of dimes as change when I bought my dinner.  It took a great deal of willpower not to pull them out of my pocket.  I got the CH first and figured it must be a tree.  Either BIRCH or BEECH.  How is possible I don’t know what the back of dime looks like?

32A. Pot cover (TEA COZY).  Great clue/great answer.  Drove me crazy.  I figured it had nothing to do with wacky weedus since ON POT was already an answer.  For me, that narrowed it down to either cooking or poker.  I had the T and figured it was TIN something.  I’m not sure I how I eventually came up with it but I’m sure we’re all glad I did.  I don’t really understand the point of the TEA COZY.  I also don’t understand the point of tea.  I’m not much of a hot beverage guy.  It’s just way too involved.  I enjoy the occasional mug of hot chocolate but that’s about it.  I think all Starbucks should be replaced with White Castles.

23D. Computer instructions heading (READ ME).  Oh, man.  I just didn’t understand where this one was going.  I thought maybe it had something to with a GPS.  You know, a computer instructing you to travel in a certain heading.  The D was the last letter I put in.  As soon as I did it made perfect sense.

The rest of the puzzle came at about the same pace for me as a typical Friday.  I enjoyed the two connected 15-letter answers of TEMPORARY TATTOO and DISAPPEARING INK.  There is one clue that I did not like.

55A. Hit the big leagues (GO PRO).  I suppose this clue could be talking about sports in general.  I don’t know much about the NBA but I don’t think they have a minor league system so if you GO PRO I guess you are in the NBA’s equivalent of the big leagues.  Buuuut, big leagues, to me, means baseball.  And in baseball, most players GO PRO long before they hit the big leagues.  When a player signs a professional contract they usually hit the rookie leagues, then single A, then double A, then triple A and then a very, very select few make it to the big leagues.  Getting to the major leagues is in no way equivalent to going pro.  Am I reading this clue correctly?  Please let me know if I’m not or if there’s some other explanation.  I realize we here at the Be More Smarter offices get very sensitive about incorrect baseball information but it’s one of the few things we know a lot about.

1D. Be content with where one is (SIT PAT).  Wait, I’m not sure I like this one either.  Isn’t it STAND PAT?

33D.  Biathlon need (SKI).  I think I want to get into some biathlon.  I’ve never skied nor have I ever shot a gun but it looks like good times.  So, there’s the biathlon, the triathlon and the pentathlon.  Is there some event where you do four things?  What would that be, a quadrathlon?  a tetrathlon?  And, looking it up, it seems like there’s one of each.  A quadrathlon is usually made up of swimming, kayaking, cycling and running.  A tetrathlon is made up of showjumping, swimming, running and pistol shooting.  I think I’d like to compete in the tetrathlon but only if I could do all four activities at the same time.

34D. Party dishful (SALSA DIP).  Ok, hate to be a Negative Nellie but I’m not crazy about this one either.  There’s salsa

and there’s dip.

They are two different things.  To me, a SALSA DIP is this:

Next stop, Saturday.

Very clever puzzle today by David J. Kahn.  Eight 7-letter words form the PERIMETER of the puzzle and those eight words are all anagrams or SCRAMBLES of each other.

PIRATES Yes, as hard as it is to believe, the PIRATES were once a great team.

PARTIES

EAR TIPS I like that these EAR TIPS are specific to The Two Towers.

SEATRIP

PASTIER

PIASTER

TRAIPSE

A PRIEST

Other highlights:

22A. Caste member (ANT).  I don’t understand this.  What do you mean, like the insect?…never mind, I just looked it up.  Yes, like the insect.

50A. Loy of old Hollywood (MYRNA).  If you’ve never seen The Thin Man and only know it because of the dog ASTA then I highly recommend you see it.  Hilarious.  I’m astounded someone hasn’t made a crappy remake with Jennifer Anniston and Freddie Prinze, Jr.  No Hollywood classic is complete until it’s been desecrated by sitcom stars.

68A. Cowardly (UNBRAVE).  I’m going to guess Brian hates this answer.  I’m sure it reminds him of the Kevin G. Der – “Hyphen” – Youkilis classic, UNSAFER.

7D. Comic book sound (SPLAT).  Not sure what exactly is going SPLAT in this panel.

39D. Slippery ___ (ELM).  I’ve taken a pill that contained Slippery ELM.  Let me assure you that it is no joke.

42D. Result of butting heads? (AMNESIA).  What is the science behind the head butt?  Why does it hurt the buttee so much more than the butter?

And, finally, yes, I was in Philadelphia yesterday to watch my Dodgers completely embarrass themselves and lose the game.  No offense to any Phillies fans who read this blog but many of them aren’t very nice.  I was yelled at, people chanted “Manny” at me and someone made fun of me in the subway station.  It was not a very welcoming place to be a fan of the road team.  And, of course, today with me in New York, the Dodgers beat up on the Phillies and won in a romp.  Maybe I should have called ahead and told them which day I was going to be there.

Next stop, Friday.