Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Happy Monday everybody! What does Monday mean at the BeMoreSmarter offices? Why, it means Brian and I will be in the studio recording another sparkling episode of Fill Me In: A Crossword Podcast for all to enjoy. Look for it to be released Tuesday morning.

Today’s puzzle is by Fred Piscop, a relative newbie to the puzzling world. This marks only his 96th NYT puzzle.

The theme is SI/C/SEE/SEA.

17A. Emphatic south-of-the-border assent (SI SI SENOR). Speaking of south-of-the-border, Pickles and I are toying with the idea of going on a Mexican Riveria cruise in January. Anybody ever been?

26A. Beginning piano student’s exercise (C MAJOR CHORD [ed. note: SCALE]). Love this chord [ed. note: SCALE]. It’s one of my favorite chords [ed. note: SCALES] to play.

45A. Parting words (SEE YOU LATER). At first I thought this was going to be about hair. But I won’t be seeing my hair later, will I? Will I? I’ve recently thought about making myself taller so less people will see my thinning hair but I’ve just put the kibosh on it the plan. We were at a party this weekend and there was a really tall, balding guy there and his height didn’t matter. You could see everything. I guess it’s back to my “hair sewed onto a yarmulke” plan.

62A. Wind that cools a beach (SEA BREEZE). For the second year in a row, Pickles and I will be heading to Martha’s Vineyard for the July 4th weekend. Last year it was a little cold and rainy. But this year it promises to be a little cold and rainy. Sweet.

Other highlights:

68A. Woody or Gracie (ALLEN). Woody’s new movie has received the requisite middling to bad reviews but it stars Larry David. This may be overload for some but I think I may have to go see it. Of all the characters in the history of TV, Larry’s character on Curb Your Enthusiasm comes closest to sharing my exact world view. And, well, Woody’s movie, as bad as some of them may be, are always good for at least a few laughs. Plus, look at those shorts!

12D. Miniature golf shot (PUTT). and 13D. Gadgets not needed in miniature golf (TEES). I love mini golf but I have yet to find a quality course in the Northeast. Growing up in Anaheim, we had a bunch of really elaborate courses with great arcades and bad nachos. Here, the courses are more of an afterthought. Anybody know of any good ones around here?

28D. Roberts of “Erin Brockovich” (JULIA). Could there be a better place to put attention-whore Roberts than smack dab in the middle of the grid?

Nice Monday puzzle today.

Next stop, Tuesday.

Lollapuzzoola 2: The Son of Puzzoola update.  Ok, not so much of an update.  More like a survey.  What snacks would you like to have at the tournament?  We promise there will be no Capri Sun this year.

Today’s FAMOUS LAST WORDS puzzle by Matt Ginsberg and Pete Muller had a fun, difficult and morbid theme.  The clues gave you the famous last words and you had to figure out who said them.  Figuring out the theme wasn’t much help in figuring out the answers which made it more difficult than the usual Sunday theme.

1A. & 13A. “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death.  One or the other of us has to go” (OSCAR WILDE).

Cerebral meningitis — November 30, 1900

27A. “Die, my dear?  Why, that’s the last thing I’ll do!” (GROUCHO MARX).

Pneumonia – August 19, 1977.  Three days after Elvis Presley.

32A. “That was the best ice cream soda I ever tasted” (LOU COSTELLO).

Heart attack — March 3, 1959.  Famous? Yes.  Accurate? Maybe not.  His private nurse claims his actual last words were, “I think I’ll be more comfortable.”  The ice cream soda story may have been made up as a dig against his weight.  Which just seems awfully rude to me.

53A. “Where is my clock?” (SALVADOR DALI).

Heart failure — January 23, 1989.

71A. “Leave the shower curtain on the inside of the tub” (CONRAD HILTON).

Natural causes — January 3, 1979.

87A. “I’ve had 87 straight whiskies.  I think that’s the record.” (DYLAN THOMAS).

Pneumonia (possibly) — November 9, 1953.

94A. “Don’t let it end like this.  Tell them I said something.” (PANCHO VILLA).

Gunshot — July 20, 1923.

110A. & 113A. “I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.” (ERROL FLYNN).

Heart attack — October 14, 1959.

20D. “I have not told half of what I saw.” (MARCO POLO).

Natural causes (possibly) — January 1324.

46D. “I live!” (CALIGULA).

Stabbed 30 times — January 24, 41

48D. “Eva is leaving” (EVA PERON).

Cancer — July 26, 1952

68D. “I’m going to heaven!” (BO DIDDLEY).

Heart failure — June 2, 2008.

I’m not sure if the puzzle or this post would pass the Sunday morning breakfast test but it was a great puzzle.

Next stop, Monday.

Big news on the Lollapuzzoola front.  We have been given permission to use the ACPT grease boards.  So, we will be having ACPT style finals.  Woohoo!  We’re still not exactly sure how everything will work in terms of divisions and scoring but the whole thing is shaping up to be a lot of fun.  Have I mentioned that we’d really appreciate it if you’d sign up as early as possible?

On to today’s Brad Wilber puzzle.  Man, I totally gave up when I had a no-google in my grasp.  I’m a little frustrated with myself.

I had everything filled in except for 1D. Certain hauling fee which turned out to be DRAYAGE.  I had DRA____ and didn’t know any of the crossings.

19A. “___ Blues” (track on the Beatles’ “White Album”) (YER).  I had _ER and thought it might be HER Blues.  I’m sorry, I just don’t know much about the Beatles.  That should all change once Beatles Rock Band comes out.  The game has an awesome opening cinematic.

22A. “Dilbert” character who was reincarnated as his own clone (ASOK).  I had _SOK.  I used to be a big Dilbert fan.  Apparently, that was in the pre-ASOK era.

26A. Indicator of high-level clef (G CLEF).  Here’s where I just blew it.  On the podcast we’ve been so focused on the F Clef and the C Clef that I never considered the possibility of other clefs.  After being thoroughly frustrated I went to xwordinfo with a “?CLEF” search and G CLEF came right up.  After I put the G in the grid, DRAYAGE immediately popped into the grid.  But there went the no-google.

31A. Prehistoric stone tool (EOLITH).  I had _OLITH and it really could have been anything.  Turns out it was an E as in EOLITH.

So, oh well, my no-google streak is over.  It was coming up on just about 2 weeks but it has now been flushed into the Hudson.

The rest of the puzzle was full of great stuff.

14A. Writer on pictures (ROGER EBERT).  I used to agree with EBERT a lot more than I do now but I still enjoy reading him.  At the very least you know he’s seen a ton of movies, is a great writer and will have some interesting things to say.  Also, he like The Hangover which is the funniest movie I’ve seen since the 40-Year-Old Virgin.

17A. Going bonkers for the British? (ANGLOMANIA).  I’m not sure I understand this one.  Does ANGLOMANIA have some other meaning?

20A. Response to being elbowed, maybe (WAS I SNORING).  Awesome.  My favorite clue/answer in the puzzle.

55A. Clown (MERRY ANDREW).  Well, that is news to me.  On a side note, a google image search for “creepy clown” brings up some of the most disturbing images I’ve seen on the web.  Here’s one that’s relatively tame.

58A. General in the Taiping Rebellion (TSO).  I present to you the General Tso’s Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich.

3D. It’s stuffed in a restaurant (EGG ROLL).  Good one.

13D. Outcome disallowed by the N.H.L. in 2005 (TIE GAME).  I didn’t know this but that’s a good rule change.  I’ve been to exactly one hockey game in my life and it ended in a tie.  Very unsatisfying.

15D. Victim of terrible teasing (TANTALUS).  This was a total guess.  My first thought was that the clue had something to do with hair.

23D. Country star Urban (KEITH).  Tuesday clue hanging out in my Saturday puzzle.

29D. Old Fenway nickname (YAZ).  Is there another 3-letter possibility?

43D. Body art? (EROTICA).  Now here’s a clue where I understand the question mark.  Body art would normally lead a person to think TATTOOS.

45D. “Drop City” novelist, 2003) (TC BOYLE).  You know, I tried to read the Road to Welville but just couldn’t get through it.

51D. Before making the cut? (PREOP).  Another great one.

61D. Interrogator’s red-flag raiser (LIE).  This one seems a little odd to me.  I would think that a LIE is the conclusion an interrogator would make after a red-flag had been raised.  Not the red-flag itself.

Great Saturday puzzle.

Next stop, Sunday.

First, the big news. A poutine restaurant is opening up in New York. It’s called TPoutine. Brian and I will go there, we will eat fries with gravy and cheese curds and that is the way it will be. Any and all buggerheads, Canadian or otherwise, are more than welcome to join us.

And now, the Friday puzzle by David Levinson Wilk (pictured at right ). I’m actually quite familiar with David’s puzzles as I’m currently working my way through his Really Clever Crosswords. Great puzzles and all are about a Wed-Thu level.

Today’s puzzle started out slowly for me. I didn’t know a durn thing in the top left. I thought the south-of-the-border sign-off was going to start with BUENOS, I had no idea who wrote Babette’s Feast, and I thought “carry on” had to do with luggage.

The first answer I actually knew was over on the right:

12D. Jewish parchment scrolls put on doorposts (MEZUZAHS). I didn’t know how to spell it though. I was pretty sure there was a double Z in there somewhere.

Right next to it I learned something new:

13D. She has a personal trainer (PROTEGEE). I didn’t know there was a special word for a female protégé. Can a protégé be male or female? Or only male? If it can be both is there a special word for a male protégé. If not, might I suggest the term Dude of All He Beholds.

I finished up that corner and headed to the bottom right where the big breakthrough for me was remembering that Applause is based on ALL ABOUT EVE. Oddly, the first thing that comes up in a Google image search for ALL ABOUT EVE is a Korean TV series. I can’t tell if it’s based on the movie or not.

62A. Setting of many New Yorker cartoons (PEARLY GATES). I have to say, I find most New Yorker cartoons to be decidedly unfunny. Not unfunny in a lazy newspaper comic way like this:

Just unfunny in an, “ok, I see they’re trying and I get the joke but I don’t find myself laughing” kind of way like this:

Ok, well that one I actually don’t get.

On a side note, the miracle of miracles has come to pass. I have happened across a Beetle Bailey strip that I think is funny. Maybe not laugh out loud funny but it actually seems like some thought went into it. Ready for it?

64A. Something to pass in (EXPRESS LANE). Here I made a mistake that added about 10 minutes to my solving time. I put EXPRESS LINE which, when you really think about it, makes absolutely no sense. The crossing gave me MINETI which looked exactly as correct as MINETA.

Crossing all three of those big acrosses is 44D. Strange woman player in “The Strange Woman,” 1946 (LAMARR). Here’s my favorite Hedy LAMARR scene.

Moving over to the bottom left:

37D. Saint of acting (EVA MARIE). This took me way, way, way too long.

36D. Crimes on the high seas (PIRACIES). I think I’ve found the worst pirate pun ever.

Anybody care to top me?

Then it was back up to the top left. I think it’s the mark of really well constructed puzzle when a solver can start with a completely blank corner with no idea what any of the answers are and, through a little trial and error, is able to eventually solve the whole thing. ISAK DINESEN I never would have known all by itself. But it’s sandwiched between two very common phrases: HASTA MANANA and RANT AND RAVE which, even though they didn’t have easy clues, were very figure-out-able.

I thought this was a great Friday puzzle.

Great job, David.

Next stop, Saturday.

Brian and I will be making a trip to Jollibee in Queens for tuna pie and purple ice cream.  Let us know if you’d like to come.

Today’s fun puzzle was constructed by one of our favorites, Patrick “El Blindito” Blindauer (pictured at right).  The theme today involves replacing the final silent E in four phrase with an audible A to create four new phrases.

17A. Hospital employee’s role as an opera girl? (NURSES AIDA).

26A. What Starkist decided to do for “Charlie”? (NAME THAT TUNA).  This mascot never made much sense to me.  It seems his only goal in life is to be caught by the Starkist company so he can be killed, cooked, canned and eaten.  Clearly, he is extremely disturbed.  I wonder what his upbringing was like.  Did he come from a broken home?  Did he not get enough positive reinforcement from his parents?  It’s hard to say but from the bottom of my heart I am indeed sorry, Charlie.

43A. A girl, born 8:48 a.m., weighing 6 pounds 13 ounces, e.g.? (DELIVERY DATA).

58A. Where a Hungarian toy inventor vacations in the Caribbean? (RUBIKS CUBA).  Here is art made out of Rubik’s Cubes.  Proving, yet again, that for whatever thing out there that you didn’t know existed 10 seconds ago there’s somebody who is really good at it.

And not surprisingly, since this is a Blindauer puzzle, there are many fun clues and answers throughout the grid.

14A. Maker of Gauntlet and Area 51 (ATARI).  Gauntlet was a stroke of genius by Atari.  It absolutely devoured quarters.  Four people playing at once.  Maybe there’s one of the four who is actually good at the game.  The other three die every 15 seconds and keep feeding in quarter after quarter.  Did anybody actually finish this in the arcade?  Is there a finish?

19A. Lord, e.g. (PEER).  I don’t understand this one.

35A. Boom preceder (SIS).  A little classic Carson.  It doesn’t actually have the sis boom bah joke in it though.  I thought it did but it doesn’t but I’m posting it anyway.

63A. Orphan of literature (EYRE).  I’m still reading Jane Eyre, the ending of which was completely given away by a clue last week.  At least this orphan business was revealed at the beginning.  I’ve got about 50 pages to go and I, once again, highly recommend it to everyone.

2D. Exercise performed on a bench (ETUDE).  Good one.

8D. Dagobah, his planet of exile is (YODA).  I think that’s the way the clue should read.

11D. Cobbler bottoms (PIE CRUSTS).  Brian, eat a cobbler.

22D. Burmese and others (CATS).  I really have to learn my cat breeds.

33D. Villain from DC (LEX LUTHOR).  All the money and evil powers in the world and even he couldn’t keep from going bald.  What chance do I have?

39A. Train in a ring (SPAR).  Another good one.

Great puzzle, Patrick.

Next stop, Friday.

I’ll keep the plug short today: Lollapuzzoola 2, our Crossword Puzzle Tournament, Saturday, August 22nd, $20.  Sign up early.  It’s going to be a blast.

Another fun puzzle by Peter A. Collins and Joe Krozel, Rhymes With Puzzle (pictured at right, back row).  Their last offering had a bunch of circles and was about Pete Rose.  Today’s puzzle has a bunch of circles and is about an elephant…no, wait…it’s about a tree.  I sure thought it was about an elephant though.

The circled squares are in the shape of a tree and spell out the word TRUNK once, LIMB 5 times and ROOT 3 times.  And the rest of the grid is full of the clever clues and answers we’ve come to expect from this pair.

22A. April 1 cigar sound (BAM).  Thank you, guys, for not making this anther Emeril clue.  It’s enough already with Emeril.

9D. Poli ___ (SCI).  Here’s some insight into how my brain works.  Or maybe how it doesn’t work.  I put HOI here.  As in HOI POLLOI.  This is wrong for a number of different yet very obvious reasons.  The fact that the “I” worked did not help my brain make the long trip back to reality.  It was only when I convinced myself that HIEGE could not possibly be a campaign against Troy that I decided to rethink my answer.

10D. Philippine seaport (ILOILO).  A Philippino fast food restaurant called Jollibee opened near us in Queens.  The thing is, though, it’s an American-style fast food place with things like Yum Burgers and Chickenjoy.  I don’t understand this.  It makes sense that they would have them in the Philippines so people could get an American food experience but why would you open one in America.  There are already a number of fast food restaurants in America that provide an American fast food experience.  To be fair, I’ve never been there.  The Yum Burgers may be amazing.  They may be the best Yum Burgers in the world but why would I get an American burger via the Philippines when I can, much more easily, get an American burger via America?  On the other hand, they do have few Philippino-style dishes that look quite good.  I’ll have to give those a try.  They also do have some pretty good promotions:

For the whole month of June, Transformers enthusiasts can start quenching their thirst for some hard-core robot action while enjoying their favorite langhap-sarap Jollibee Burger Value Meals.

I wasn’t sure at first but upon further inspection that quote does indeed contain the phrase “hard-core robot action”.

Speaking of world traveling or, more accurately, not world traveling, Crosscan, Winner of the Contest has brought to our attention that there is an American Adventure Pavilion in Disney’s Epcot Theme Park.  I kind of have the same argument for this.  Why would you pay to go to a theme park to experience America when you can just walk outside the park and experience it for free?  Oddly, the American Adventure Pavilion has a restaurant called The Liberty Inn that serves authentic Philippino food.  What a strange choice.

11D. Bothers no end (EATS AT).  Along the same vein, you know what EATS AT me?  When a tourist comes to New York and feels like Italian food and EATS AT The Olive Garden.  That drives me crazy.  Why even bother leaving the house?  Hundreds of great Italian restaurants in this city but Olive Garden still packs them in.  I don’t understand it.

35D. Daisy Mae’s guy (ABNER).  Can someone please explain to me why Lil Abner shows up so often in crosswords.  Do the characters’ names contain a special sequence of letters?

62D. Docs who might treat sinusitis (ENTS).  Hey, Peter and Joe, I’m curious.  Do you think about cluing this to reference the tree people in LOTR to stick with the tree theme?  Or was this always going to be about doctors?

Great puzzle, guys.

And, if you haven’t heard, Sammy Sosa has tested positive for steroids.  In other breaking news, rain has tested positive for moisture.

Next stop, Thursday.

In this rambly episode of Fill Me In, we cover a variety of pressing issues, not limited to these:

• Installment #4 of How to Pronounce Xan Vongsathorn’s Name
• Submit your puzzles to Lollapuzzoola 2
• Viewer Mail from at least six people
• A brand new contest, much better than the last one

There’s not a lot else to say. If you know Christina Applegate, please ask her nicely if she’d like to be a guest on our show. And if you know other people who aren’t Christina Applegate, please ask them nicely to listen to our show.

Thank you (in general). And also, thank you (in specific — you know who you are).

 

 Fill Me In #058: Hey people who don't listen to us -- why aren't you listening?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Zambezi and oat.

Our Lollapuzzoola 2 page is now up. Right there at the top and a little to the right. It has all the information you need including a map and the all important “pay now” button. The page will be updated as the event takes shape. Once again, we encourage everybody to sign up as early as they can.

Today’s puzzle is by Paula Gamache. I’m definitely of the opinion that if you don’t have something nice to say it’s probably better not to say anything at all but today’s puzzle just didn’t do it for me. I’m normally a big fan of Paula’s work but this one left me feeling a bit cold.

I was surprised that as early as 1-Down there was the ultra-generic clue of Q-U Connection (RST). There were a lot of incomplete answers and abbreviations like IEST, PAH, OPPS, IMS, ESE, SPF, RIO. There were two entries that began with UN. And there was the completely bizarre entry of NAME TAPE.

The theme was fine but doesn’t seem nearly clever enough to justify the unevenness of the rest of the grid.

47D. Those “walking” through the answers to the starred clues (PERPS). I don’t really get this clue. I understand that PERPS shows up in all the entries but why “walking”? To me that implies the PERP will be moving. Maybe from the left side of the puzzle in the first entry to the right side of the puzzle in the last entry. But it doesn’t do that.

17A. *Impervious to picking, as a lock (TAMPER PROOF).

25A. *Engraver’s surface (COPPER PLATE).

36A. *Motto of the U.S. Coast Guard (SEMPER PARATUS).

47A. *Routine-bound bureaucrat (PAPER PUSHER).

57A. *Countries with big militaries (SUPER POWERS).

It’s highly likely I’ve missed the “walking” aspect of this theme. If so, I’d appreciate if someone would point it out to me.

What did everybody else think of this puzzle? Do you have the same reaction I did? Or did I just not get it? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

And, Paula, if you happen to read this please rest assured that we are big fans of yours here as evidenced by these past posts.

Next stop, Wednesday.

It has come to our attention that some people are seeing spoilers from our blog when it gets rebroadcast through my Facebook status update.  So, we’ve been making sure the first sentence or two doesn’t have anything to do with the puzzle.  I plan on keeping that policy going today.  I just hope I remember.

Today’s John Dunn puzzle was a nice, easy Monday offering with the theme of PR MEN.  All of the men in the theme answers have the initials P.R.

17A. “Portnoy’s Complaint” author (PHILIP ROTH).  My favorite novelist.  I have a triptych of Jewish author heroes.  Woody Allen, Neil Simon and Philip Roth.  As they’ve gotten older the quality of both Woody and Neil’s output has gone downhill.  Woody still has moments of genius but Neil seems completely out of touch with what’s funny and entertaining.  They’re still my heroes and it’s sad to see their powers dwindling.  Philip, meanwhile, seems to be getting better and better.  I think my favorite might be American Pastoral.  Do yourself a favor and Read Roth.  (Hey, that might make a good t-shirt.)

23A. Founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network (PAT ROBERTSON).  Ugh.  I really don’t think this guy passes the Sunday Breakfast Test.

46A. “Le Déjeuner des Canotiers” painter (PIERRE RENOIR).  Without a doubt, I don’t know nearly enough about to art to even begin talking about this painting.  Here it is.

I would love to hear our readers’ thoughts on the painting.

57A. He didn’t really cry “The British are coming!” (PAUL REVERE).  Revere actually exclaimed, “Beam me up, Scotty!” at any sign of trouble.

Other highlights:

62A. Three wishes granter (GENIE).  How come you can’t wish for unlimited wishes?  That’s bogus.

4D. Be a wizard or an elf, say, in Dungeons & Dragons (ROLE PLAY).  This is the second D&D clue in less than a week.  Finally, those adolescent hours of not going outside, eating pizza, pretending to be someone else and hiding from any and all females is starting to pay off.

22D. They’re worn under blouses (BRAS).  The subject of much (uninformed) discussion around the D&D table.

33D. Official behind a catcher (UMP).  Well, speaking of baseball, I don’t know how many of you saw the end of the Mets-Yankees game last Friday but it ended in an absolutely excruciating way for the Mets.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  To set it up, the Mets are up by 1 run, it’s the bottom of the 9th and Yankees have 2 on with 2 out.  Basically, if the ball is caught the Mets win.

And here’s a view from the stands.

I’ve never seen a team go from victory to defeat that quickly.

Christina Applegate update.  Still no word.  But we have some scouts out there and we’re hoping to hear something soon.  We are still 1st when googling “Applegate crosswords” and still 3rd and 4th when googling “Christina Applegate crosswords”.  Again, if you see Christina, please ask her to google that.  And if you see Brian tell him I do the drop shadow through Live Writer.

Next stop, Tuesday.

Today is Xom’s birthday. If you see her, say happy birthday to her. It’s now 3:00 in the morning, and I’m up this late only because I have been constructing a puzzle for my mother as a birthday gift. It’s an odd-shape (23×15), and accommodates both her full maiden name and my father’s full name (both of which are conveniently the same length). It also has, scattered throughout, the names of all of her children, children-in-law and grandchildren. And on the second-to-last row, there is an obvious not-so-secret message.

Just for the hell of it, I’m offering it here as a PUZ and a PDF. Please be warned of the following:

• The 18-letter entries are full names, parts of which are only going to be gettable from crossings.
• The fill, as a whole, runs the awkward gamut from arcane to amateurish. I spent too long manufacturing a working grid, I didn’t have time to really spice up the fill.
• Many of the clues are stolen from clue databases. I prefer to write my own clues, but again, time was not my friend, and I had to cut a few corners. Since this isn’t aimed for publication, I figured it would be okay.

In other news, we are still on the hunt for any means of contacting Christina Applegate. My sister has joined the cause. Thank you, Alison. As of now, if you google Applegate crosswords, we are the first site that pops up. So if you see Christina, ask her to Google that. Also, if you see Ryan, ask him how he did the drop-shadow feature on the Christina photo on his post. I can’t figure it out.

As for the real world, the New York Times published a Brendan Emmett Quigley puzzle for our Sunday enjoyment. In typical BEQ fashion, the grid was full of clever theme entries, some knockout fill, and a spicy starter at 1-Across (1982 best seller subtitled “And Other Discoveries About Human Sexuality,” with “The” : G-SPOT).

The title of the puzzle is D-Plus, and the theme follows the form logically. Add a D sound to a common phrase, and get something new with a quirky clue.

• 23A. Make necklace baubles? : DO PENDANTS. Get it? It’s usually do penance. See, he added a D. Clever.
• 25A. Hip lineages? : COOL BREEDS
• 39 Tonto’s pep? : SIDEKICK ENERGY. This was amazing. PSYCHIC becomes SIDEKICK. I defy any of you to name a brain out there who can think the way BEQ thinks.
• 50A. Gave Grey Poupon to the head of the table? : PASSED MUSTARD. This troubled me. On the one hand, I thought the phrase had a “the” in the middle of it. On the other hand, I thought the phrase actually already was about mustard. It’s about muster. Don’t be stupid like me.
• 66A. Greediest person in a Long Island locality? : AMITYVILLE HOARDER. This one also troubled me, but it was because when I add a D to the word “horror,” it does not sound like “hoarder.” It sounds like “harder.” Maybe it’s regional, but I have more of an ah vowel in the first half of horror, so this one doesn’t sit in my mouth well. Also, I am on the borderline of refusing to believe that Amityville is a real place.
• 85A. Spotted feline’s home? : LEOPARD COLONY
• 94A. Like residential mail? : HOUSE ADDRESSED
• 114A. Certain Colorado headgear? : BOULDER HAT
• 116A. Bamboozle Eisenhower? : SNOW DWIGHT. I wish this was about the character played by Rainn Wilson on The Office instead of about Eisenhower. Rainn Wilson does not get enough accolades. He’s awesome.

I have to say, it’s way late now. I have a huge day tomorrow, and I have to go to bed. Ryan, I encourage you to continue this post tomorrow with more interesting stuff. And commenters, please jump in and talk about anything you want. Doesn’t have to be the puzzle. Just chatter mindlessly. It’ll be like you’re hosting Fill Me In.

See you Monday!