Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Hey, we’ve gone a whole day without some random internet person shutting down our website and deleting all our posts.  I’d call that a victory.  We still haven’t figured out who did it or why on Earth they would do it but, unsurprisingly, we still haven’t seen number one suspect Philadelphia Phillie Centerfielder Shane Victorino since the last out of the World Series.  Show yourself Shane.  Don’t make me get out my Jump to Conclusions mat.

Today’s puzzle was constructed by Bob Klahn and solved by people other than me.  As soon as I saw Klahn’s byline I knew I was in for a rough time and he certainly didn’t disappoint.  I started solving approximately 9 hours ago and I currently have maybe 20% of the puzzle complete.  Frankly, I’m surprised I’ve figured out that much.

What I know (haven’t checked answers so all of this could be wrong):

30A. Well-armed predators (OCTOPI).  What else could this be?  Easiest clue in the puzzle by far.

27A. Local operation? (UNION SHOP).  This one didn’t give me too much trouble.  I figured “local” was referring to unions.

22A. West Coast N.F.L.’er (NINER).  I don’t think I like NFLer anymore than ALer or NLer but I know nothing about football so I won’t rant about it.  What football teams play on the West Coast?  According to my brain the answers are: Chargers, Raiders, Forty-niners and Seahawks.  Are there more?  Maybe.  But NINER fits.

19A. Like some friends (FAST).  Had __S_ and somehow thought of it.

10D. Selfish (ME FIRST). This one needed a lot of crosses.

11D. Not likely to go with the flow (AT ANCHOR).  Leave it to Klahn to sneak in a literal clue when you least expect it.

12D. Despair (LOSE HOPE).  I’m about to lose hope I’ll ever finish a puzzle again.

13D. Doughty (INTREPID).  Doughty is not a word I know.  Got this with crosses and have no idea if it’s right.

22D. “The Bungalow Mystery” solver (NANCY DREW).  So far, this was the big guess of the day.  I had N__C_____ and came up with it.  I’d like to see Ms. Drew try to solve this puzzle.

39A. The Who’s “Live at ___,” 1970 double-platinum album (LEEDS).  This is a guess but I think it’s right.

And I have the bottom right corner.  STORMY for Not at all fair was tricky as heck.  As was SALABLE for Ready to move.

Over on the left side I don’t have much.  I think the author of “Underboss” is Peter MAAS.  I’ve seen that in other puzzles.

Let’s see, what else:

37A. As different as night and day, e.g. Could this be SIMILE?  That seems too easy.

And the last answer I came up with was 29D. Partygoer (GUEST).  That was about 2 hours ago.

Good lord.  Here’s a picture of my unfinished grid.  I started solving on paper last night which is the elapsed time on the applet is less than 5 hours.

And how come I can’t figure out 31D. Hard-hit line drive?  Before I had SIMILE in there I thought it might be SCREAMER.

Well, I’m going to keep working on it.  Did anybody else have as much trouble as I’m having?

Next stop, Sunday.

For those who didn’t hear, we got hacked yesterday.  The site was down yesterday for a few hours and it looked for a little while like all of our posts were gone for good.  Luckily, everything had been backed up on October 22nd and we were able to restore our site to that point.  We have the posts after that date saved offline and we will be restoring them over the weekend.  Until we do, the commenting system may be a little screwy (well, screwier than normal).  All of our comments from the missing posts are still in the system and they appear to be latching on to random entries.  So if this post has a bunch of comments about last Thursday’s puzzle please do not be alarmed.

Why would somebody hack our site?  There’s certainly no money to be gained.  Is it possible that people sit around and write programs simply because they enjoy destroying other people’s work?  Really?  I do not like these people.  These people are bastard people.

Narrowing down a list of possible suspects I’ve come to the conclusion that the person who did this is none other than Philadelphia Phillie centerfielder Shane Victorino.  Mr. Victorino has done everything in his power to make my life miserable for the past 2 years and I find it very suspicious that on the first day he has some free time our site gets hacked.  Mr. Victorino, why do you hate me?

Today’s puzzle?  Ah yes, today’s puzzle was constructed by one of our all-time favorites, Doug Peterson, Crossword Gentleman and Man About Town.  This has got to be one of Doug’s best weeks.  First, his team wins the World Series and now his puzzle holds the coveted Friday slot.

Given Doug’s bad taste in baseball teams the center of the grid sports an unsurprising entry.

31D. Baseball nickname that’s a portmanteau (AROD).  Yankee fans are finally happy with Arod.  Isn’t that just dandy.

The puzzle is great.  Full of fun fill and fun clues.

10A. Page with convictions (OPED).  I couldn’t wrap my head around this one.  I kept thinking it was a person’s name (like Ellen Page) or a verb (as in, call someone’s name over the PA system with convictions).

14A. Dull type (IGNORAMUS).  Ignoramus is great word.

15A. Campus V.I.P. (PREXY).  Doug is so full of beans because the Yankees won that he feels he can just make up words.

17A. Clearly riveted (AGAPE).  I put IN AWE here first.

36A. Subject of the 2005 biography “iCon” (STEVE JOBS).  Have I mentioned that we love our iPhones?

37A. Spotted (LENT).  Oh my, this was tough.  I was sure it was SEEN.  Then I had _ENT and I wrote down all the words it could possibly be.  And about 10 minutes later I figured it out.

56A. Best in shows (EDNA).  Never heard of her.

5D. A tall Roman column is named after him (TRAJAN).  Here I am lost in Rome.  If only I knew the name of that huge column behind me.

8D. “The English Patient” Oscar winner (JULIETTE BINOCHE).  I remember this because everyone thought Lauren Bacall would win.  Hey, remember how The English Patient was 15 hours long?

9D. Comment when following someone (I SEE).  This is my favorite clue in the puzzle.  Very clever.

10D. Source of ballpark pitches (ORGAN).  Well, I knew it wasn’t going to have anything to do with throwing a baseball.  I thought it might be referring to advertising so I had ___ AD for a while.  On a side note, the last two vestiges of the Dodgers’ time as the most stable franchise in baseball are Vin Scully behind the mic for 60 years and Nancy Bea Hefley on the Dodger Stadium organ for 22 years.

35D. Sight-seers at the Prado? (OJOS).  I got this one pretty quickly but really enjoyed it.

Great puzzle today.  Great week for Doug.  And, Shane Victorino, we’ve got our ojos on you.

Next stop, Saturday.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

I suppose by now you’ve all heard the big baseball news.  It’s huge news in my neck of the woods and I hear twitter went nuts after it was official.  And let me tell you, no one is more excited about it than me.  That’s right, Los Angeles Dodger Andre Ethier has been named the Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Year.  After a long season of ups and downs it’s wonderful to know that, as a Dodger fan, it was all worth it.  Congratulations Andre, I’ll be hiding under my bed until Spring.

Yesterday, I mentioned Patrick “Kangastavarat Laulu Merkille Vuoden Jalka” Blindauer on the blog and look who shows up today.  Patrick’s theme is, not surprisingly, a lot of fun.

36A. 1897 novel subtitled “A Grotesque Romance” (THE INVISIBLE MAN).  I think I may have seen Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man but that’s about the extent of my experience with this character.

There were further instructions on the Notepad: “When this puzzle is completed, one letter of the alphabet will appear 22 times. Shade in its square everywhere it appears. The result will be an image suggested by 36-Across.”

The letter that appeared 22 times was S and when you shaded all of them in they did indeed suggest a man who, up until that time, was invisible.

The spine of the man is made up of 7 S’s provided by the answer to 25A. 1973 horror flick about a doctor who turns his assistant into a cobra (SSSSSSS).  Has anybody seen this movie?  It looks wonderfully awful.  It stars Dirk Benedict (nee Dirk Niewoehner) who you may remember as Faceman on the A-Team.

Other highlights:

11A. Ryan of “Top Gun” (MEG).  Still haven’t seen this.

27A. Holds (CLASPS).  I had CLAMPS here which screwed me up for a while.

58A. Where the Samoyed dog comes from (SIBERIA).  Good gravy, these guys are cute!

64A. Panties, old-style (STEP INS).  Probably for the best they’re not called this anymore.  I just can’t see Victoria’s Secret models posing in step ins.

10D. Headwear banned by the N.F.L. in 2001 (DO RAG).  Don’t football players wear helmets a lot of the time?  Who would even see the do rag?  Next thing you know they’ll be banning step ins.

40D. Yank (AMERICAN).  I guess this clue is well-timed.

44D. The Rum Tug Tugger, e.g. (TOMCAT).  This sounded like a pirate ship to me.  Instead, it’s a character from Cats.  I have never seen Cats.  I will tell you this though.  Every video I’ve seen and every song I’ve heard makes me want to hurl myself out the window.  And, certainly, without doubt, the worst song of the bunch is Mr. Mistoffelees.  It might very well be the worst song in the history of musical theater.  And here it is.  Enjoy.

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47D. 1987 Suzanne Vega hit (LUKA).  Definitely the catchiest song ever written about domestic violence.

49D. Word of objection (IT ISNT).

Mr Vibrating: No you didn’t, you came here for an argument.
Man: Well, an argument’s not the same as contradiction.
Mr Vibrating: It can be.
Man: No it can’t. An argument is a connected series of statements to establish a definite proposition.
Mr Vibrating: No it isn’t.
Man: Yes it is. It isn’t just contradiction.
Mr Vibrating: Look, if I argue with you, I must take up a contrary position.
Man: But it isn’t just saying ‘No it isn’t’.
Mr Vibrating: Yes it is.
Man: No it isn’t, Argument is an intellectual process … contradiction is just the automatic gainsaying of anything the other person says.
Mr Vibrating: No it isn’t.
Man: Yes it is.
Mr Vibrating: Not at all.
Man: Now look!
Mr Vibrating: That’s it. Good morning.

Great puzzle.

Next stop, Friday.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

For those of you who don’t know, Patrick “El Blindito” Blindauer has reached his funding goal and his suite of holiday puzzles is a go.  I know we’re all very excited about this here at the Be More Smarter offices.  We’re big fans of Patrick and we’re big fans of interconnected puzzles so this could turn out to be the greatest thing ever.  If you want to get involved you can get all the information here.  It seems like the link to pledge money is inactive but that page tells you how you can get in contact with Patrick and I’m sure he’ll be able to hook you up.

Today’s puzzle was constructed by Ricky Ini Liu and features a Letter Substitution Theme.  This is also the NYT debut for Mr. Liu.  I enjoyed the theme but I did miss that meta entry that usually pulls the whole thing together.

In this theme the letter X is substituted for the letter O.

18A. Three ingredient breakfast serving? (TRIO CEREAL).  I really wanted this to be TRI OMELETS.

24A.  Afraid of wine? (OENOPHOBIC).  Anybody remember the Xenophobe video game?  I remember I thought that Xenophobe was the name of the alien race I was battling.

53A. Foreboding cartoons? (OMEN COMICS).  Here’s what seems to be a combo of Superman and The Omen.

60A. The way of the government? (FEDERAL TAO).  I enjoyed this one.

3D. Film that’s been speechified? (ORATED MOVIE).  I envision that this is an entry Mr. Liu really wanted in the puzzle but he had no idea how to clue it.  It’s a valiant try but doesn’t make much sense.

26D. Shout of disapproval exactly like another? (BOOING MATCH).  This clue is actually quite clever and makes perfect sense when you really think about it.

So, yeah, I enjoyed the theme but, as I said, was missing that final clue.  Something like:

67A. Italian wildebeest and a hint to this puzzle’s theme (OFORX).  You know, something like that.

Other highlights:

5A. Computer that once came in “flavors” (IMAC).  Holy crap, we love our iPhones.

32A. TV character who jumped the shark, with “the” (FONZ).  Well, I think the jump the shark website has jumped the shark.  Apparently, they sold the site to Gemstar publishing and now it redirects you to the TV Guide website with no mention of any shark jumping.  But your address bar still says jumptheshark.com.  I don’t understand.  Isn’t the whole “jump the shark” concept still popular?  Why would you just get rid of the website?  Oh well, you can still enjoy it via the web archive service.  I particularly enjoy the Ted McGinley page.

6D. Mime who created Bip (MARCEAU).  This clue also could have been “Name a mime”.  I mean, can you name another mime?  Are there any other mimes that even have names?

Great puzzle today.  Happy debut, Mr. Liu.

Next stop, Thursday.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

I had a very elaborate dream last night.  I was in a big musical production that was turning out to be a big disaster.  It was written by WP Mozart who in my dream seemed to be the famous Mozart but now I’m thinking maybe it was just some guy with the last name of Mozart.  The musical starred me and Alan Rickman.  The big set piece was a field of quicksand that we all got trapped in during some sort of French Revolution-style battle.  And the name of the show was Three Lamplights in the Fog.  If anybody wants to flesh the show out with some songs please let me know.

Today’s puzzle is by Barry Boone and is a quote puzzle in honor of Election Day.  Today’s Election Day is not getting quite as much press as last year’s but, still, voting is good.

The quote was said by MARIO CUOMO.

YOU CAMPAIGN IN POETRY YOU GOVERN IN PROSE.

You know, quote puzzles just don’t do it for me so I’m not too excited about the theme but the puzzle is well done.

Other highlights:

26A. What Fred Ott did in the first movie to be copyrighted (SNEEZED).  Never heard of this before but here it is.

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41A. “Gimmie ___ ding!” (DAT).  Is this referring to the song?

Popout

51A. Win the World Series in four games, say (SWEEP).  Oy. [sigh]  When does Spring Training start?

59A. ___ McMuffin (EGG).  Big fan.  Very delicious.  I highly recommend adding ketchup.  Really pulls the whole thing together.

65A. Surgeon’s assistant (NURSE).  Very odd.  There was just a big thread about this on the Cruciverb list.  The major point of the thread was this type of cluing lessens the role of the NURSE.  We have a friend who is a nurse and I asked her if being clued as “doctor’s assistant” would offend her.  It might have been the first time I actually saw someone bristle.  In my opinion, I think this is a bad way to clue this word.  Nurses are nurses.  Doctors are doctors.  They play two different roles.  There are so many ways to clue the word NURSE that demeaning the job they do doesn’t make much sense to me.  I’m going to see if I can get our friend to chime in on this.

Good puzzle today.

Next stop, Wednesday.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

My wife and I watched three 80’s movies this weekend.  Breakin’, Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Stepfather.  Here’s our question.  Did any movie make sense in the 80’s?  They all seem to be ridiculous and full of gaping plot holes and big hair.  Maybe this triptych of movies is not the best sample of the era but it seems the equivalent movies made nowadays are, plotwise at least, built upon much firmer ground.  Breakin’ is totally awesome though.

Speaking of awesome, today’s puzzle is by Andrea Carla Michaels (Brian: Does she have a nickname?  Me: Not yet.) and Kent Clayton (making his NYT debut).  A very nice Monday puzzle.  So nice in fact that I finally broke the 4 minute mark on an NYT puzzle.  My time was 3:50 which means for possibly the first time I’m almost within two minutes of Dan Feyer, Winner of the C Division, Winner of the B Division’s time.  Not too shabby.

51A. Ripley catchphrase that’s apropos to 20-, 34- and 42-Across (BELIEVE IT OR NOT).

20A. Spring egg distributor (THE EASTER BUNNY).  I’m Jewish so my involvement with Easter begins and ends with the Cadbury Creme Egg.

34A. One who leaves money under a pillow (TOOTH FAIRY).  Somehow I missed out on this whole thing.

42A. Head of a major toy outfit (SANTA CLAUS).  Again with the Jewishness.  Santa Claus just wasn’t a big part of my childhood.  One time we did go to visit Santa at the North Pole setup at Knott’s Berry Farm.  I spent the entire time on line crying.  Finally the elves took me behind the big Santa chair and gave me a candy cane to shut me up.  I’m not even sure what I was doing there.  Maybe it wasn’t even me.  Although the crying sure sounds like me.

Certainly not a very difficult theme but I very much enjoyed the clues which added a little pizzazz to familiar entries.

Other highlights:

5A. Crack and Pop’s companion (SNAP).  I don’t think I’ve ever had a bowl of Rice Krispies.  I’ve certainly had my share of Rice Krispie Treats but as a cereal I find them uninteresting.

17A. Jeopardy (RISK).  I think the correct answer is WHAT IS RISK?

26D. Skater Harding (TONYA).  You think Nancy Kerrigan is pissed that she will be forever linked to Harding?

55D. Apple MP3 player (IPOD).  iPhones are cool.

Fun puzzle today.

Next stop, Tuesday.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

More technical difficulties.  Bleh.  This time it’s with the feed for our blog.  Is anybody experiencing a problem with that?  For instance, do you read us through google reader or other RSS reader?  Is it not updating?  Let us know if you’re experiencing any problems.

Today’s puzzle was constructed by Matt Ginsberg and Pete Muller and featured the theme, COMPOUND FRACTURES.  Lots and lots of fun.  One of the more enjoyable themes I’ve seen in a while.

22A. Eyewear providing hindsight? (RETROSPECTACLES).  I supposed this doesn’t need an explanation but I’m going to give one anyway.  RETROSPECT = hindsight, SPECTACLES = eyewear.  Awesome.

29A. Peanut-loving ghost (ELEPHANTOM).  Do elephants really like peanuts?  Or is that just in the cartoons?

43A. Rare mushroom? (PSYCHEDELICACY).  Ok, I have to admit, the most mind-altering drug I’ve ever taken is Nyquil.  So, are mushrooms really mushrooms?  Or are they just called that?  Does everyone think I’m a total square now?

56A. Gives up smuggled goods? (CONTRABANDON).  This clue made me think of Han Solo.

71A. High school athletic star at a casino? (ROULETTERMAN).

81A. Noble Les Paul? (GUITARISTOCRAT).  I got through about 15 minutes of that Aristocrats movie.  Nothing less enjoyable then watching people sit around and talk about how funny they think they are.

99A. “Maybe” music? (PERHAPSODY).

101A. Dreams that don’t die? (FOREVERIES).

108A. Bug that never takes a ride? (CENTIPEDESTRIAN).

21D. Like online medical advice for kids? (WIKIPEDIATRIC).

44D. Vegetable that gives you an emotional release? (CATHARTICHOKE).

11 really great theme entries.  Nice job.

Other highlights:

17A. Some extra books (APOCRYPHA).  Can someone explain this clue to me?

20A. Post a modern status update (TWEET).  I can’t seem to maintain any kind of twitter stamina.  I’ll post a bunch of updates for 2 days or so then not log in for a month.

27A. Repeated a Benjamin Franklin electrical equipment (FLEW A KITE).  Did Benny really do this?  I thought it was just a legend.

34A. “___ Can Cook” (onetime PBS show) (YAN).  More WOK puns per minute than any other cooking show in history.

62A. Guards against chapping (LIPBALMS).  One of my favorite scenes ever:

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79A. Barack Obama, for one (ORATOR).  So nice to have a well-spoken president again.

93A. Boombox button (REC).  So, yesterday was Halloween.  Brian and I, the wives and our Friend Adam Who Most Definitely Does Not Work At NPR watched some scary movies last night.  We saw [REC] which was the original version of Quarantine.  Pretty scary and had moment that had most of us screaming in fright.  We also watched the original Nightmare on Elm Street which is completely ridiculous.  Although, there is a funeral scene and the minister is the spitting image of Mike Nothnagel, Penpal Extraordinaire and Constructor of the Friday Puzzle and the Oracle.  We need to figure out how to get a screen capture of it on the blog.  The resemblance is uncanny.

6D. iPhone download (APP).  Yup, we caved.  Pickles and I have been proud iPhone owners for almost 20 hours.  They’re awesome.  Anybody have any APP recommendations?

18D. “The Human Stain” novelist (ROTH).  Great book, ridiculous movie.

28D. Had as a base (WAS ON).  Hmmm, gotta say, that’s a little awkward.

61D. Mad man? (NEUMAN).  Ohhhhhhh, Alfred E. Neuman.  Jeez, I really didn’t understand that.

80D. “Happy Days” role (RALPH).  Always nice to see a Ralph Malph reference.  He’s still got it.

Really great puzzle today.

Next stop, Monday.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

Anyone who knows me on Facebook might have seen my latest status – no, it’s not about shoelaces, like Ryan’s. Mine is about being in a crappy mood. And guess what – this puzzle did nothing to alleviate that mood. So here goes.

Foreign:

• ET ALIA (22A. Plus other things)
• APRES (35A. French following)
• ERES TU (45A. 1974 pop hit with Spanish lyrics)
• SENTA (14D. Wagnerian heroine)
• GEISHA (15D. Companion abroad)
• DANSEUSES (6D. Frequent Degas subjects)
• SAENS (41D. Saint-___ [Faure contemporary])

Obscurity:

• RECTO (24A. One side of a leaf)
• GANTRIES (15A. Spanning frameworks)
• HUSSARS (23A. Brilliantly dressed cavalrymen)
• STERNA (41A. Axial skeleton parts)
• TERRENE (50A. Earthly)
• INDORSED (7D. Supported: Var.). By “var.”, they mean “misspelled.”
• ARCANA (9D. Secrets) – also, perhaps the theme to this puzzle.

Words that are total crap and not actually words:

• FISHIER (1D. Comparatively shady). You tell me the last time you compared shady situations.
• STILES (8D. Subway station sights). They are called turnstiles. I have the album.
• SERENER (21A. Less agitated)
• SNEERERS (48A. Disdainful bunch). Almost an anagram of 21A.
• MARRER (38D. Graffitist, e.g.). The clue also satisfies this category heading.
• DENATURE (32D. Change the essence of)

Gaping Chasms of Ignorance:

• DANSEUSES/HUSSARS. The U.
• ERES TU/ORRIS OIL (31D. Perfume ingredient). The S.

Facts I don’t understand:

• SUPERIOR (5D. Like the 2 in “x squared”). Superscript, maybe. Superior? I don’t see how.
• IN PORT (20A. Harbored). This seems like a made up word that should be a phrase, like “in a port.”
• IGNORE (40D. Slight). I don’t know… Something doesn’t match in my mind about this. I’m torn, and I want to get to the bottom of it… Oh, never mind. I’ll just slight it.
• MARINATE (44A. Imbue with flavor, in a way). Why “in a way”? Isn’t everything “in a way”? And if this entry, which is totally straightforward, needs an “in a way,” then why not DISARMS (6A. Makes less offensive), which is decidedly punny?

Clues I actually liked:

• TRAVOLTA (4D. He played a governor in “Primary Colors”)
• SHOE STORE (25. Establishment with many horns)

Overall, this puzzle had way too many nonsense words, way too many assorted S/E/R combinations scattered about, and was yet another clever-to-create, intriguing-to-look-at and lousy-to-solve puzzle.

I told you I was in a bad mood.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

Those  of you who follow my facebook status updates know that my shoelaces are driving me nuts.  For some reason they are getting longer and longer.  I’ve double and triple-knotted them but they continue to flop on the ground, picking up dirt and getting caught in various contraptions.  Lately, they been wrapping themselves around the wheels of my office chair at work which makes for a lot of fun when I stand up.  I just don’t know what to do.

Today’s puzzle is by David Levinson Wilk and features a Plinko-style layout.

I have to say, while I enjoyed the layout of the puzzle I wasn’t so keen on most of the fill.  The layout necessitated a lot of 3-letter entries which, in turn, necessitated many foreign words and abbreviations.  That being said, the construction is impressive in that David fit 12 fifteen-letter answers in the grid.

I solved the entire puzzle except for one letter.  Looking back, I can’t believe I didn’t get this one letter.  As a matter of fact, I find it astounding that I didn’t get this one letter.

24A. 1974 Rolling Stones hit (DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO).

1D. Mil. base until 1994 (FT ORD).

I put VOODOO DOO DOO DOO which seemed like a reasonable title for a rock and roll song.  It gave me FT ORV but, hey, why not?  Once I had the rest of the puzzle filled in and realized I still had a mistake I went back to this entry.  And I put ROO DOO DOO DOO DOO which seemed less reasonable but still possible.  It gave me FT ORR which sounded like a great name for a military base.  When the applet still wouldn’t accept my answer, that was it.  My brain shut down.  For some reason, I never tried another letter for that box.  Not once did it occur to me that it could be DOO DOO DOO DOO DOO.  I mean, the answer was right in front of me.  It was right in front of me FOUR TIMES!!!  But, nope, couldn’t get it.  I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell my mother about this.

Other highlights:

17A. Whitney Houston hit recorded for the 1988 Summer Olympics (ONE MOMENT IN TIME).  This one I just knew.  I was pretty keyed into sports during the summer of 1988.  And I actually had this album.  I remember the day I received my SAT scores and realized I’d never have to take that stupid test again, I ran into my room, blasted this song and ripped up all my test prep books.  At the time, I had no idea that I had reached the absolute peak of my academic career and that everything would be downhill from there.  Well, I guess the song was fitting.

58A. Big newsstand seller for some magazines (SWIMSUIT EDITION).  Hmm, ok, I’ll give this one a pass.  But, it really is SWIMSUIT ISSUE, isn’t it?  To me, EDITION means the next version of something.  Like, the 2009 EDITION of the SWIMSUIT ISSUE.  Am I right?  Am I wrong?  Why am I not posting a picture of swimsuit model here?

1A. It no longer circulates around the Seine (FRANC).  Clever.

6A. Skate part (FIN).  Also clever.  I had KEY here first.

9A. Must informally (GOTTA).  I put HASTA here first.  That really confused me for a while.

46A. Behind (CAN).  Hee hee.  Butt.

56A. Anthropomorphic film villain (HAL).  Not knowing what anthropomorphic meant made this clue tricky.  I know now it means “ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human”.  All I could think of were DVD ads.  Isn’t that word used in those?  Surround sound!  Dolby digital 5.0!  Anthropomorphic widescreen!  I may be wrong about that.

I won’t go into all the foreign words and abbreviations I didn’t care for but here are two crossing I could have lived without.

57A. Parisian pronoun (TOI) crossing 53D. German indefinite article (EINES).  Foreign word crossing foreign word.  Bleh.

34D. Austrian article (DER) crossing 39A. Celtic sea god (LER).  Foreign word crossing obscure god.  Double bleh.  Not to mention the fact the LER can also be spelled LIR and LYR.  Triple bleh.

In short, I felt the puzzle was a good try but I think this was a case of clever layout trumping enjoyable fill.

Next stop, Saturday.

[This is a reposting.  The original entry got lost when were hacked.  Some pictures may not be here and the comments might be screwy.]

In the comments for the last podcast there was some discussion as to the existence of a food product called bread & butter pickles.  I can verify that there is indeed such a thing.  I can also verify that they are one of my favorite types of pickles.  A comment on the site wisegeek gives a possible reason for the name:

I read that during the depression people said they were so good one could eat them as a sandwich between bread and butter.

So there you go.  Pickle mystery solved…or is it?

Today’s puzzle is by Joe Krozel, Rhymes with Puzzle and it kicked my ass.  I eventually got everything except for one letter.  That one letter highlighted my ignorance on the topics of tennis and classical music.

53A. Beethoven dedicatee (ELISE).

40D. 1991 and 1992 U.S. Open champ (SELES).

I put ELISA and SELAS.  I really should have known both of these.  I know I’ve entered them correctly in previous puzzles but today this crossing ended in disaster.  This puzzle was HARD and to figure everything else out and still not get the coveted “thank you for playing” message was pretty frustrating.

The theme, I think, is AIR.  All the theme answers started with that sound.

18A. Sinclair Lewis novel (ARROWSMITH).  My favorite chapter is the one where Steven Tyler and Run DMC get together.

26A. Series of sorties (AIR OFFENSIVE).

46A. Gateway Arch designer (EERO SAARINEN).  Well, now I know how to pronounce his first name.

57A. Bomb (AEROSOL CAN).  Huh?

Other highlights:

23A. Venetian feature (LAGOON).  I thought they had canals there.  Aren’t they famous for canals?

34A. Wind element (REED).  Hey, we were just talking about this on the podcast.  I didn’t know that woodwinds and reeds are the same thing.  Brian set me straight.  Although, we were both unsure why a flute is considered a woodwind/reed instrument since it doesn’t use a reed nor is it  made out of wood.

39A. Set on the court (ASSIST).  Oh, I get it.  Volleyball.

49A. Made a switch in a game (CASTLED).  Clever.  This drove me nuts.  I had ___TLED and for a while the best I could come up with was WHITLED which is a misspelling of a word that doesn’t make sense anyway.

52A. Carriers of arms (SLINGS).  Also very clever.

4D. Like some traffic (STOP GO).  Hmm, isn’t it stop AND go traffic?  My first thought when I saw this was it must be a rebus puzzle.  I figured the AND was hidden in there somewhere.

32D. What’s barely done in movies? (LOVE SCENE).  I guess I went a bit too far when I put in NUDE SCENE.

50D. Unalaska native, e.g. (ALEUT).  Since I didn’t know Unalaska is an actual city in Alaska, this clue took me forever.  I thought it might be a riddle of some kind, maybe natives who live in the opposite of Alaska which would be…Rio?  No idea.  Do states have opposites?

Good, very difficult puzzle today.

Next stop, Friday.