(the above groaner is dedicated to Joon, just because I know how much he loves horrible jokes…or doesn't, as the case may be).

KMT makes some darn fine puzzles, IMHO.

i first learned both ARRAU and ARHAT from crosswords. both have shown up in the NYT in the last year or so, and i make it a point to learn names and words that show up that i've never seen before, especially ones with lots of vowels or common letters. XHOSA is a crazy word but one that i love. i mean… it starts with XH. also, the language contains clicks and grunts, i think. that's just cool.

i think you're just plain supposed to know that the capital of mongolia is ULAN bator. ULAN has been in the puzzle 5 times in the last 2 years, and BATOR once (ironically, by karen m. tracey, 3 months ago today). BAKU is the capital of azerbaijan and it also comes up… most recently, in the not-quite-themeless krozel/collins 4th of july puzzle. now, i admit that today's clues were somewhat less specific, which made it tougher. but in general, i think all world capitals are fair game for late-week puzzles. i had to learn them all in high school, and although there are many i've forgotten (not to mention, countries that have moved their capitals or even come into existence since i was in high school), i still remember most of them. it's probably a good idea to at least learn the ones that have crossword usefulness (either as a complete entry or a partial), like addis ababa, dar es salaam, doha, … heck, i remember BEQ put N'DJAMENA (capital of chad) in a puzzle.

ALAR is indeed the banned orchard spray, but apparently daminozide is the scientific name and ALAR is the trade name. another tough clue for a crosswordese repeater.

2D: Ulan Bator is the capital of Mongolia, so the clue is half the name of the capital.

11D: I interpreted this as a play on John Dunne's famous (but frequently misquoted) words "… therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." "Ding-dong" is the sound of a bell (not a big churchbell, typically, but a bell nonetheless), and asking for whom it rings was a frequent response at the time. I was stuck on it for a while, but eventually it came to me. The clue's a relatively good use of misdirection, I think (even if the answer is an odd construction compared to the more commonly used "Who is it").

I still think soberable is a fine answer.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tight

\”Do you knot think that line of thinking is pure genius?\” — too many negatives. I will rephrase: I do not think that line of thinking is pure genius. To be honest, I don't quite understand — is \”tight\” really another word for \”intoxicated\”?

It's very possible, even highly likely, that SOBERABLE is indeed not a word but do you at least follow my line of thinking? And do you not think that line of thinking is pure genius?

I think you might be alone in even thinking SOBERABLE is a word, let alone the right one.

I almost no-googled this puzzle. My downfall was "49A. Not too tight?" I entered in what I thought was brilliant answer and I couldn't give it up even though it clearly wasn't working. I put in SOBERABLE. Using this meaning for the word tight, "Intoxicated; drunk" it made sense that someone who isn't too drunk is SOBERABLE. Since all but 3 letters were correct I was convinced this was the correct answer. It still seems correct to me.

I didn't find the rest of the puzzle to be any more difficult than any other Saturday which is to say it still took me 3 or 4 hours to finish.

Did anybody else put SOBERABLE? Am I alone with this?

I also had CREAKS for way too long. And I had never heard of XHOSA — although I'd like to think I'll remember it now!

Frances — thanks for joining us here! Come back again!

A while back, I referred to crossings where I don't know either word as Trivia Boxes. In today's post, I rashly decided that \”Gaping Chasm of Ignorance\” was a more fun term for these crossings.

In today's puzzle, the R between ARRAU and ARHAT was, to me, a Gaping Chasm of Ignorance = GCI.