Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Our petition to save the Second Sunday Puzzle has absolutely taken the Internet by storm. After only one full day online we already have 5 signatures. And only 2 of those signatures are ours. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next New York Times Magazine is printed entirely in acrostic format.

Today’s puzzle is by Corey Rubin and features a clever TAKE OUT AN AD theme.

16A. Talking like a junkie? (DRUG DICTION).

23A. Agnostic’s display? (SHOW OF DOUBT).

30A. Sunbathing at Ipanema, e.g.? (RIO ACTIVITY).

41A. Rink jewelry? (ROLLER BLING).

47A. Letter carrier’s uniform? (MAILING DRESS).

I thought this was very well done. Corey, if you’re out there, tell us how you came up with the theme. Did you start with TAKE OUT AN AD and try to find phrases that would fit? Or did you happen across an appropriate phrase and work from there?

21A. “The Hot Zone” virus (EBOLA). I enjoyed that Outbreak movie. I’ll watch pretty much anything with Dustin Hoffman in it. Plus it had Rene Russo during those 4 and a half days when she was a big movie star, Cuba Gooding Jr. in of his few performances that doesn’t want to make you rip your face off and Patrick Dempsey during his awkward post-nerd, pre-hunk years.

26A. Vanessa Williams/Brian McKnight duet (LOVE IS). Man, this one took me a while. I had L__EIS and I tried LIFE IS and LIVE IS and LATE IS before I chanced upon the correct answer. Vanessa Williams starred in the absolute worst production of Into The Woods ever. Only time I’ve walked out of a Broadway show.

46A. E-mails from Nigerian princes, e.g. (HOAXES). Seriously, are people still falling for these? I mean, I’m sure we’ve all sent our bank account and social security numbers a few times but, c’mon.

54A. Targets of a Moe Howard poke (EYES). So there’s this Three Stooges movie in pre-production. Sounds very interesting although it’s a little worrisome that the Farrelly Brothers are directing it. Their movies tend to either be good and hilarious or life-shorteningly horrible. At this point Benicio Del Toro is cast as Moe and Jim Carrey is Curly. Is Carrey going to gain weight for the role? Sean Penn was cast as Larry but has recently dropped out which is too bad because he would have been awesome. Paul Giamatti (who I think would make a better Curly) has distanced himself from the role. So who should it be? Who would make the best Larry Fine?

7D. Mayo is part of it (ANO). I was just about to write that I have no idea what this means but I just figured it out. All those years of Spanish have finally paid off. By the way, I put BLT here first.

24D. Blazin’ Blueberry drink brand (HI C). First off, Hi-C is terrible. Secondly, the Coca-Cola Company (which puts out a much tastier beverage called Coca-Cola) refers to the containers that Hi-C comes in as “youth preferred plastic bottles“. What the hell does that mean? Do youths actually have preferences when it comes to bottles? And should someone who actually likes Hi-C be allowed to have a say in anything?

26D. Scientology’s ___ Hubbard (L RON). I read the first two books of his Mission Earth series when I was in high school. I remember enjoying them although I suppose not enough to entice me to read the remaining 8 volumes. Has anybody read these? Are they all about Scientology or are they just science fiction books? I don’t recall being converted to any religion after reading them. Although I may have been. The 11th grade is pretty hazy.

34D. Fare for “kids” (TRIX). Wikipedia has a run down of some recent Trix commercials. See if you can make heads or tails out of it.

In September 1989, Silly Rabbit is Upside Down. In October 1989, Silly Rabbit turned into the real bunny. In November 27, 1994, Trix looks like the chawkboard. In December 1995, Got Milk? advent is fun; first time Silly Rabbit takes the man off. In November 1997, Silly Rabbit loves cops in the commercial. In November 24, 1999, Silly Rabbit puts on the Super Rabbit. In June 2009, Trix has been swirlin’.

56D. Lollapalooza (ONER). Clearly Corey meant Lollapuzzoola as it will be the oneriest thing ever.

And, lastly, Ed McMahon passed away yesterday. I spent much of my youth watching him on either the Tonight Show, TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes or on the envelopes of sweepstake entries. (The only thing we ever won was a set of pot holders. On the upside we used those pot holders for at least 15 years.) He was much more talented than people thought. Here’s Conan’s tribute.

Next stop, Thursday.