Ryan and Brian Do Crosswords

Okay, the right-hand column of my Facebook page, the place where all the ads are and whatnot – the ads are now in German. What? The rest of my page is not in German, but the ads are. And if I change the language settings for the ads to another language, it just changes the “like” button to another language, but leaves the ads in German. Does anyone know why this has happened?

Today’s puzzle comes to us from Caleb Madison, Wunderkind. It’s a Friday, which leaves Caleb just two days shy of the cycle (Monday, Saturday). I expect to see it soon. This puzzle also marks the second year in a row that Caleb has had a puzzle on the eleventh day of this ninth month. Coincidence, most likely, but we’ll have to wait until 2010 to be sure.

I’d say this was a relatively easy Friday puzzle, especially considering my record of failing miserably on Fridays. The grid here was a rather eye-catching design, with bold black stripes (including some so-called “cheater” squares), and a few long entries. I’ll start with those:

• 21A. “I’ll Make Love To You” Grammy winners : BOYZ II MEN
• 27A. They may convince people to get rides : CAR COMMERCIALS
• 32A. One who has practiced his hitting skills : TRAINED ASSASSIN
• 41A. Highest-grossing black-and-white film of all time : SCHINDLER’S LIST. I’ve never seen this. How terrible am I?
• 49A. Two-time Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay : MARIO PUZO

I’m looking through these clues and wondering if maybe this puzzle sets a record for longest clues. Or maybe highest clue words/puzzle words ratio. Lots of long clues. Good clues, fun clues, but long clues.

Plenty of stuff I didn’t know, but it was still gettable.

• 9D. “La Cousine Bette” novelist : BALZAC. Like Sen-Sen, I first became aware of Balzac through lyrics from The Music Man.
• 10A. Parker of “Old Yeller” : FESS
• 13D. Group of “nine-and-fifty” in a Yeats poem : SWANS
• 17A. The lithograph “Mustache Hat” and others : ARPS
• 34D. Mediterranean isl. : SAR. Maybe. This might be wrong. It was next to another abbreviation (33D. Part of many Canadian place names, which I think is STE), but this is too much abridged geography for me.
• 41D. Domain of King Tyndareus : SPARTA. Was King Tyndareus in 300? My wife loved that movie. I fell asleep during the one part where all the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…
• 57D. “Per ardua ad astra” org. : RAF. Sure.

Weird coincidental clue du jour: 31A. Blizzard hazard (WHITEOUT). I saw a trailer for a movie with this title. Looks to be almost as bad as how I perceive “All About Steve” to be. Probably won’t see either of them.

No graphics today. It’s late, and I’m off to bed. I realize I haven’t written this to inspire much discussion. For those who like to discuss, please offer topics. Perhaps one of them can be how I can turn my Facebook ads back into English? Or make them disappear?

See you Saturday!

First of all, Caleb Madison is brilliant. Sunday puzzles, pure genius, and he’s about four years old. Amazing. I just want to say that part now. Because I’m about to talk about a handful of crossings in today’s puzzle that made me kinda cranky, but I want to make it clear that I think Caleb is a genius. And personable. We need to get him on the podcast one of these days. I so enjoyed meeting him at the ACPT. Right now, if I had to put money down on who I think could possibly be Will Shortz’s eventual replacement at the New York Times, I might put that money on Caleb Madison. But only if he gets a haircut and grows a mustache. Caleb, get to work on that.

Okay, let’s get the theme and cleverness covered. The puzzle is called “A Stately Garden,” and in the long entries, some letters are circled. The clues each end with a state name in brackets (I guess to make it clear that the states are not part of the clues?), and ultimately, what I think happens is that the circled letters spell out the state flowers. I don’t know anything about state flowers, so Caleb could be mixing up states and flowers and I’d never know the difference. Unless he cited Maine. The state flower for my home state of Maine is the pine cone. (Here, I lower my head in shame, sigh dejectedly, and mutter, “oh lord” under my breath. The pine cone? Don’t we already have it tough enough in Maine, with our one-syllable name and our lobster obsession? We need our flower to be a horrible lump of who-knows-what that serves no purpose except to clog up the lawn mower?)

• 23A: Five works of Mozart [Rhode Island] : VIOLIN CONCERTOS [VIOLET]
• 29A. Not completely settle an argument [New York] : AGREE TO DISAGREE [ROSE]. Unrelated to this puzzle, I hate this phrase. It’s in the language, so it’s totally great for a puzzle, but in real life, I hate it. Agree to disagree? Whoever says that is bascially saying, “You’re wrong, but I’m going to be the so-called bigger person here, and take the so-called high road where I get to be all superior over you for agreeing to something, whereas you still hate my opinions. However, since I’m the agreeing one, I’m the good guy, even though what I’m agreeing to is not seeing eye-to-eye — yes, I’m basically putting you in a horrible position of having to either continue to defend your cause (since I’ve abandoned the battle) or give in to my cunning little games. I win, you lose, everyone hates you and thinks I’m smart now. Ha ha ha.” Yes, that’s what the phrase means to me.
• 48A. “Revelation” choreographer [Utah] : ALVIN AILEY [LILY]. There are only two choreographers in crosswords. The other is Twyla Tharp. Go ahead, name a third one. Also, this was the entry during which I had my “aha!” moment. I think I may have even said it out loud.
• 58A. Trial hearing? [Indiana] : EXPERT TESTIMONY [PEONY]
• 68A. It’s never made with plastic [Ohio] : CASH TRANSACTION [CARNATION]. Somehow, I never looked at the circles here. I had, as circles were concerned, –RNUTION for the flower. Yes, a U. I thought this entry ended with SUCTION. Only when I angrily decided that 75A. Public squares in ancient Greece was AGORAE instead of AGORAS, and therefore saw 65D. Gets ready for a date, perhaps was PREENS, only then did I get TRANSACTIONS (and not TRANSUCTIONS, which isn’t anything). Can I ask now — AGORAE? Isn’t the A-to-AE pluralization a Latin thing? What were the Greeks doing with it?
• 82A. Country singer with the #1 album and single “Killin’ Time” [New Hampshire] : CLINT BLACK [LILAC].
• 95A. He played a Nazi in “Marathon Man” and a Nazi hunter in “The Boys from Brazil” [Connecticut] : LAURENCE OLIVIER [LAUREL].
• 108A. “Bye Bye Birdie” tune [California] : PUT ON A HAPPY FACE [POPPY]. No one ever rose to my challenge the other day about songs from Kismet. Let’s lower the bar a little — can anyone who isn’t Dan Feyer or Amanda Yesnowitz tell me another song title from “Bye Bye Birdie”?

Now I’d like to get to the damn Trivia Boxes that kept me from no-Googling this puzzle. All my Trivia Boxes today fail the same rule of crosswords (according to me). Never cross two proper names where at least one of them is unusual. Because if you do, you’re left with pure trivia. There’s no figuring out the answer if a) it’s a proper name (so it can be anything) and b) it’s unusal (which means even if we have the right idea, we’ll never have the fully right idea).

• 21A. Mario Puzo sequel and 16D. Classical wrap : OMERTA and STOLA. I had the T because I thought “classical” meant about 50 years ago, and the word was STOLE. But apparently, I was a few centuries off. Perhaps stolas were worn in the agorae? And Mario Puzo, what are you doing writing books that aren’t The Godfather? Oh, this was compounded further by 21D. Training acad. (OCS). What is that, OCS?
  
• 42A. Chief city of Moravia and 42D. Karen ___, real name of author Isak Dinesen : BRNO and BLIXEN. I had -RNO, and never considered a consonant. This left me wondering if the down was somehow going to become something like ALEXEI, which is a name I’ve heard of, and somewhat more likely than -RNO starting with a consonant. Of course, I know a girl whose last name is BRNA, which is close and since I know her, the idea of a B starter should have entered my mind. But it didn’t. And you know why? Because you don’t cross two proper names where at least one of them is unusual. As for Blixen — you know, there was a time when the eighth reindeer was named Blixen. Someone changed it to Blitzen along the way. I like them both. What do you think? And in other news, am I the only person who thought Isak Denisen was a man?
• 79A. ___ Little, “The Wire” gangster and 79D. ___ Anderson, Hemingway character : OMAR and OLE. My suspicion was correct — one of these entries is not actually a name. This fact made it quite difficult for the uneducated to discern the answer. If I went with OMAR (which was a thought), I was left with OLE, which while crosswordese, is not someone in a novel, it’s the words the crowd screams at bullfights. If I went with the more logical choice for the down — well, there wasn’t one. So I went with this. (Incidentally, I also didn’t quite know PACA, which crossed the A in OMAR, and kept me further from completing this section smoothly.) But what have we learned? OMAR and OLE cross two proper names, one of which is unusual.
  
• 85A. “Carnaval sur la plage” artist and 86D. Biblical interjection : ENSOR and SELAH. I think this painting is the one in the clue, although a Google search gave me two results that weren’t statues of someone. Google must not be up to speed on Ensor either. As for SELAH, Wiklqpedia actually makes me feel a little better by explaining that the word is difficult to translate into English. I had the same problem in reverse, so Wiklqpedia and I are on the same page, even if we’re on different sides of it. Here, we’re crossing one rare proper name that probably isn’t American with another word that is a transliteration of a word that can’t be translated into English. Huzzah.

So Caleb, I give you an A- for a terrific puzzle, and I give myself a D+ for the inability to reconcile several Trivia Boxes.

Ryan and I are working feverishly on Episode #52 of Fill Me In, which should be out at its regular time of 12:01am on Tuesday. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend (mine started by getting a sunburn at Yankee Stadium), and we’ll see you Monday!

I have the week off from my mind-numbing, soul-sucking job so it’s been feeling like a weekend around here at the RBX offices.  To add to the weekend-like atmosphere Caleb Madison, Raconteur, High School Student and Generally Cool Guy provided me with a puzzle that took me over two hours to solve incorrectly.  Thank you, Caleb.  What a nice way to treat your Crossword Clued Family Feud teammate.  (By the way, I still haven’t received my prize.)

The theme was fun and came together quickly.  I don’t believe Caleb is old enough to drink but that didn’t stop him from making his theme all about booze.

58D. Judging by their names, where the answers to the four starred clues might be found? (BAR).

20A. *Bush cabinet member who resigned in 2006 (DONALD RUMSFELD).  I don’t have anything positive to say about Rummy so I’ll keep my mouth shut.

26A. *Her “Rehab” won a Grammy for Song of the Year (AMY WINEHOUSE).  I’m not exactly sure who Amy Winehouse is.  I have seen pictures of her though.  And those pictures have chilled me to my bones.

45A. *Best Actor winner for “The Champ,” 1931 (WALLACE BEERY).  Can someone please explain to me why the comma goes inside the quotation marks.  I know it’s grammatically correct but it makes no sense to me.  The comma is not part of the title should go after the quotes.

54A. *”Star Wars” actress who’s a Harvard Grad (NATALIE PORTMAN).  NATALIE PORTMAN is a very good actress who was very, very, very bad in the Star Wars movies.  She was not as bad as Hayden Christensen who had all the screen presence of a busted lightsaber.  She was also not as bad as the actual movies which, along with Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, are striking evidence that George Lucas despises his fans.  She was bad though and although I’d like to blame the movies somehow Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson managed to be good so I have to lay some responsibility at her door.  I’m sure she feels bad about it and as penance she now lives with Chewbacca.

Ok, so the theme was fine.  Here’s where I had my problems.

The cross of UNU (49A. First P.M. of Burma) with ANA (46D. Tennis’s Ivanovic).  UNU and ANA?  Who does Caleb think he is?  David Letterman hosting the Oscars?  I had the 2 U’s and the 2 A’s but had no idea what the consonant could be.  I’ve never heard of either of these people.  I did a google image search to see if I could recognize either of them.  The UNU search came up with one grainy black and white picture from 1954.  The ANA search made me doubly glad I’m not at work as 90% of the pictures that showed up were very much not appropriate for the office.  Caleb, are you trying to get me fired?

I don’t know what they’re teaching Caleb in that high school of his but clearly the curriculum has a heavy emphasis on imaginary words.  Imaginary words such as YLEM (50A. Proto-matter from which the universe was made).  Now, to be fair, I did do a google search of YLEM and did come across something that was very possibly the source from which the universe sprung.

It’s hard to be sure though.  It was so very long ago.

I was also not familiar with the works, or indeed the very existence, of James ENSOR (53D. Artist James).  Now that I have seen some of his creative output I feel sure that I won’t sleep for at least a week.

So, to sum up, Caleb Madison, Raconteur, High School Student and Generally Cool Guy constructs very good puzzles but also takes great pleasure in pointing out what I don’t know.  He also wants to get me fired and keep me up all night.  Why does Caleb have it in for me?  Discuss.

Next stop, Thursday.

I really enjoyed the theme in today’s Caleb Madison puzzle.  Let me see if I can somehow explain it in a way that makes sense.  Two word phrases with both words containing the same letters in the same order except the vowels switch positions in the second word.  Hmm.  I guess that makes enough sense.  If you’re reading this you’ve probably already figured it out anyway.

17A. Trial jury? (PENAL PANEL).

23A. Wine telemarketer? (CELLAR CALLER).

30A. Lone Star State duties? (TEXAS TAXES).

40A. Late night talk show host’s principles? (CONAN CANON).

49A. Slyly popping a breath mint, e.g.? (TICTAC TACTIC).  This is my favorite one.  I like the way it sounds and I’ll probably think of it everytime I have a Tictac now.  (That actually won’t be too often since Tictacs are pretty lousy mints.)

61A. Sammy’s backup singers? (DAVIS DIVAS).

Other highlights:

19A. “Young Frankenstein” hunchback (IGOR).  ”Hump?  What hump?”  And my other favorite, “Put the candle back!”  Great stuff.  The broadway musical is closing.  I never saw it but I heard it blew.  Broadway shows are just too expensive to go to when everybody says they blow.

25A. Detective played by Peter Lorre (MR MOTO).  These movies featuring the Jewish Peter Lorre as the Japanese Mr. Moto were released on DVD in 2006.  And here’s a comment on that by an “angry Asian American woman”.

46A. ___ Flanders, neighbor of Homer Simpson (NED).  I really need to go back and check but it seems like there’s been a Simpsons clue every day since the Will/Merl episode.

8D. Old maker of baseball cards and bubble gum (FLEER).  I know this is going to sound like grumpy old man stuff but when I was a kid you could buy a pack of 10-20 baseball cards for a quarter.  Nowadays you get a pack of about 6 for $4.  Four dollars!  Are you nuts?  I know the cards are all special now with 3-D crap and lasers and whatnot but good gravy.  All I want is a piece of cardboard with the picture on the front and the stats on the back.

10D. Not quite in the majors (TRIPLE A).  This clue doesn’t quite make sense to me.  If a player is in Triple A you say, “He’s in Triple A” not “He’s Triple A”.  The whole thing just seems a little off to me.

34D. Gamecube competitor (XBOX).  I don’t have much to say here.  I just love the Xbox.  If anybody out there is on Xbox live, my gamertag is Ryan the Badaaz.  Friend me, baby.  Let’s play some Rock Band 2.

41D. Myrmecologist’s box (ANT FARM).  Someday I think I’m going to have to get one of these.  I think I’ve always been afraid it’ll get knocked over, break, and fill our apartment with deadly, flesh-eating ants.  Here’s where you can buy them.  Does anybody have any ant farm stories they’d like to share?

Great Tuesday puzzle.  Lots of fun fill.

Next stop, Wednesday.

Puzzle four in the New York Time’s Teen Week series.  Today’s puzzle is by Caleb Madison.  Will Shortz met Caleb at the ACPT in Brooklyn.  He constructs puzzles for his high school newspaper and is one of Will’s Summer interns.  Mr. Madison comes from a very interesting family.  His father is a producer for the Food Network, his mother is a casting director for One Life to Live and his uncle is a film producer.  Here’s what the Notepad had to say about him:

Today’s crossword is by Caleb Madison, 15, of New York City. He is a sophomore at Bard High School in Manhattan. This is his fourth puzzle for The Times.

This puzzle was a lot of fun and had a Hollywood Walk of Fame Theme.  The theme came at the solvers in several different ways.

First off, there were the traditional theme clues and answers:

4D. Theme of this puzzle (WALKOFFAME)

32D. With 12-Down, locale of the 4-Down (HOLLYWOOD)

12D. See 32-Down (BOULEVARD)

30D. City where 32- and 12-Down is found (LOSANGELES)

Interesting that all the theme answers were down answers.  Secondly, there was a rebus with the word STAR hidden in three places throughout the grid:

15A. Request at a laundry (NOSTARCH)

7D. Ancient Semitic fertility goddess (ASTARTE)

39A. Illumination of manuscripts, and others (LOSTARTS)

27D. Place for picnicking and dog-walking (RESTAREA)

64A. Options during computer woes (RESTARTS)

57D. Yellow squirt? (MUSTARD)

This was the most difficult part of the puzzle for me as it usually takes me quite a while to spot a rebus.  This was made more challenging by not expecting the theme to have so many layers.

The third part of the theme was the actual grid which resembled the cement tiles of a sidewalk with the rebus STARs going in a line up the middle.  Much like the actual Walk of Fame in Hollywood.

The last part of the theme involved circled letters and was detailed in the notepad.  And to my surprise these instructions also appeared directly below the applet.  Is that the first time that’s happened?  Or have I just never noticed before?

When this puzzle is done, connect the circled letters in alphabetical order, and then back to the start, to reveal something seen on the 32-Down 4-Down.

And connecting the circles produced a STAR shape.  Whew, that is quite a theme.  That’s enough theme for almost a full week of puzzles.  On a side note, apparently the Walk honors just about anybody with a pulse.  Case in point:

Other highlights:

1A. Waxed (GREW).  Not sure I totally understand this one.  Never heard waxed used like this.  Can someone use it in a sentence?

20A. Makes people offers they can’t refuse? (RACKETEERS).  Why does this have a question mark?  I don’t get it.  By the way, I am reading a great book.  Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster by T.J. English.  Great book.  Takes you from the Five Points era all the way until the present day.

30A. Actress Tyler (LIV).  Second straight puzzle with a Lord of the Rings reference.  Well, sort of.  “If you want him, come and claim him!”

31A. Child, for one (CHEF).  Great clue.

43A. Tony nominee for “Glengarry Glen Ross” (ALDA).  You know what?  I love Glengarry and I love Alan Alda but I didn’t really like his portrayal of Shelley “The Machine” Levene.  I was actually somewhat disappointed by the entire production although Liev Schreiber was fantastic.  But I think any performance of Levene will be skewed by Jack Lemmon’s amazing turn in the movie version.  If you’re ever just sitting around and you all of a sudden want to know how to act, watch that movie.  Lemmon will take you to school.

53A. ___ pop, music genre since the 1980s (TWEE).  I have zero idea what this could be.  Is it artists with lisps singing about oaks and elms?

60A. Tony Musante TV series (TOMA).  This is the 6th time TOMA has appeared in the puzzle but I’ve never heard of this early 70s show that lasted 22 episodes.  Apparently, this is the show that became Baretta.  Another show I’ve never seen.

All in all, a very enjoyable puzzle.  And here’s an email I received from Brian last night (published with his permission):

I was totally baffled.

I got everything except the crossings of NOSCH/ASTE, RESEA/LOSTS and RESTS/MUSD. Couldn’t for the life of me understand what the hell anything was. So I looked it up (waterandwaves.blogspot.com does the puzzle very prompty, and posts a graphic of the solved grid — good for checking errors and empty squares). I gave myself a pass, and filled in my random words, without even noticing that my mystery spots were all the letter S.

I stared at the NOSCH, having never heard of it. I stared at MUSD wondering what the hell that was. I stared at RESTS thinking that resting has never solved a computer woe of mine. I stared at LOSTS thinking well, maybe it’s something I’ve never heard of. I glanced at ASTE and figured I just don’t know the names of old deities.

I went to m-w.com to look up RESEA, which seemed like an awfully random word for something as basic as a place to walk your dog. m-w.com had nothing to offer.

Mystified, I went to Orange’s blog, where she cheerfully made me feel like a moron by explaining that the theme wasn’t just the answers (WALK OF FAME, HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, LOS ANGELES) combined with the fact that A-B-C-D-E makes a star shape, but there were also three secret stars in the grid — my mystery S blocks.

Seriously? There are people in the world that can not only figure this out, but can do it in about 12 seconds? You and I had better start making some money from this blog/podcast thing, because my ability to actually solve the damn puzzles is useless.

- Brian

Hey all, Ryan here. It’s Sunday morning and after a crazy night of watching Clue (”flames, on the side of my face…”) and eating chicken-fried steak, I’m off to the beach and Brian is heading to the Yankee game. Henceforth and therefore, neither of us have time this morning to blog about Caleb Madison’s fun, movie-themed puzzle. A full write up by one or both of us will be arriving at some point in the evening.

I enjoyed the clever Fade-Outs theme. I figured it out with 71A. Movie about one of Dumbo’s parents? (THEELEPHANTMA) and the rest came fairly easily. Alas, I did not no-google the puzzle. (This just wasn’t my week. I only no-googled 3 of 7.) I did not know 19A. Sugar in tea, e.g. (SOLUTE) or 40D. Writer Buchanan and others (EDNAS) among a couple of others.

Okay, stay tuned tonight for a full write-up. Have a great Sunday.

…And we’re back. And I’m sunburned. Lousy spray-on suntan lotion.

So, the Fade-Outs theme. Very clever. A movie titled was faded-out, leaving off the last letters, creating a new title for a non-existent movie. In addition to the one about Dumbo’s parents there was also:

24A. Movie about a “Sopranos”-like actress from the Mediterranean? (THEMALTESEFALCO). I watch The Maltese Falcon every few years. It’s just a great, great movie.

30A. Movie adaptation of “L.A. Law”? (CALIFORNIASUIT). I’m not sure if I’ve ever watched California Suite all the way through. Is there anybody funnier than Walter Matthau?

39A. Movie about a time-share? (THREEDAYSOFTHECONDO).  Just saw this. It’s not a fantastic movie and is actually kind of ridiculous at times but it’s such a 70s movie. The tight pants, the chest hair, Faye Dunaway. Great fun.

59A. Movie about the coming of difficult times? (AHARDDAYSNIGH). I’ve never seen A Hard Day’s Night. I’m just not a big Beatles guy.

88A. Movie about a narco’s worst dream? (NIGHTOFTHELIVINGDEA). I can still remember watching Night of the Living Dead for the first time. I think I was 11 or 12 and it kept me up for a week.  I just went to find a picture to post and seeing the stills brought all the memories back so I’m skipping it. 

102A. Movie about a bus. on Rodeo Drive? (BEVERLYHILLSCO). I detailed my love for Beverly Hills Cop earlier this week. It was made before Eddie decided to play all the roles in his movies.  You know, when his movies were funny.

113A. Movie about the zoo’s most punctual simian? (ACLOCKWORKORANG). Never seen A Clockwork Orange. It seems too depressing to me.

Alright, that’s it for this one.  I’ve haven’t given this clever puzzle the time it deserves but I need to soak myself in aloe.

Next stop, Monday.

Fun theme in this Caleb Madison puzzle.

46A. Word that’s missing from 20-, 26-, 48- and 59-Across and 9- and 39-Down (KID).

20A. 1972 Charles Grodin film, with “The” (HEARTBREAK)

26A. 1984 Ralph Macchio film, with “The” (KARATE). The Karate Kid is one of those movies. I see it on cable and I have to watch until the end. Wax on wax off, Willie Zabka, the Crane Technique. So great. Do these high school-level karate tournaments actually exist? I can’t imagine any parent letting their 15 year old get the crap beaten out of them. Here’s a bizarre video called Sweep the Leg directed by Willie Zabka.

48A. Willie Mays’s sobriquet (SAYHEY). This doesn’t seem to fit. The rest reference movies. And isn’t it “Willie Mays’ sobriquet”?

59A. 1965 Steve McQueen title role (CINCINNATI)

9D. 1984 Matt Dillon title role (FLAMINGO). Another great movie. Sometimes Gary Marshall makes great films and sometimes he makes the worst films ever. Exit to Eden anyone?

39D. Nickname for Harry Longabaugh (SUNDANCE). Ok, techinically this doesn’t reference a film. But it’s close.

Other clues that caught my eye:

9A. Recommended reading for www newbies (FAQS). A little confusing here. Does it mean a newbie to a particular site or a newbie to the web in general? Does the Internet have FAQ page? And how would a newbie be able to find it?

13A. Religious leader in a turban (IMAM). Why can’t I remember this? Why do I always want to put EMIR here?

36A. General whose name is associated with chicken (TSO). He lived to be 73 years old even though his diet consisted almost entirely of deep fried chicken in a sweet and sticky sauce. Well, that and Steak-umms. My god, the General loved his Steak-umms. I can almost see him now, sitting on the porch, regaling us with stories of the Taiping Rebellion, his strong yet supple fingers gripping the last few bites of his steak hoagie. We all knew it couldn’t last forever but we wanted it to last just a little bit longer.

37A. San ___, Tex. (ANGELO). Did you know the main newspaper for San Angelo is the San Angelo Standard-Times?

42A. Dos cubed (OCHO). Yes, I put SEIS here first. Apparently, I wouldn’t be good at math in Mexico either.

66A. Setting of many a Monet painting (PARC). Is that French for park? Or is Parc a region of the country where Monet may or may not have been from? Would these artsy questions make me look erudite at a cocktail party? Or would they just point out that I have spinach in my teeth?

3D. ___ chart (NATAL). I don’t know what this is.

25D. Homer’s outcome (RUN). I just now figured out this has to do with baseball. I was thinking either Homer Simpson or the other Homer. You know, the poet guy.

33D. River of Irkutsk (LENA). What have a learned from crosswords? First and foremest rivers have only 4 letters in their name. Second, you’re not supposed to write in the black squares.

62D. “Got it” (ISEE). This is what you’ll be saying when you’re on the corner of 81st Street and 35th Avenue in Jackson Heights on August 23rd at 12pm. “I SEE the church that I am about to enter so I can participate in Lollapuzzoola 2008.”

Next stop, Thursday.

I liked this puzzle by Caleb Madison (great name, by the way).  The theme was 39A. Classic film company … or a description of 17-, 32-, 46- and 65-Across? (UNITEDARTISTS) and the theme answers joined the last names of 2 singers to create a compound word.

17A. Singers Clint + Patti (BLACKSMITH). The only Patti I could think for a while was Patti LuPone.  But I don’t think BLACKLUPONE is actually a word.

32A. Singers Tom + Johnny (PETTYCASH).  As much as I love Tom Petty (there aren’t many better songs than Free Falling) I couldn’t get Tom Jones out of my head.

46A. Singers Neil + Courtney (YOUNGLOVE).  Neil Diamond was my first thought here.

65A. Singers James + Sly (BROWNSTONE).  And here my brain went straight for Sly Stallone.  I don’t think Sylvester is much of a singer.  I must have had him confused with his more famous brother, Frank.

My time on this puzzle was  9:35.  Dan Feyer, Winner of the C Division has given me some good tips on how to get my times down.  I think I have to learn how to type with just my left hand and reserve my right hand for arrow and tab keys.

10D. 1960s sitcom with the catchphrase “Sorry about that, Chief” (GETSMART).  Another Get Smart reference, Will Shortz must be looking forward to that movie.

Things I know because I do crossword puzzles:

62D. Ancient Greek walkway (STOA)

13A. Wispy clouds (CIRRI)

19A. Couple in the news (ITEM)

27D. Mother goddess in Egyptian mythology (ISIS)

55. Yale student (ELI)

Things I don’t know even though I do crossword puzzles:

35A. Where Kofi Annan earned his master’s deg. (MIT)

7D. Uris hero (ARI)

29A. Pulitzer-winning biographer Leon (EDEL)

Next stop, Wednesday.

Away most of the weekend… Found a few minutes to do Podcast Episode #10 (best one yet, I think). It caused The Dentist (TM) to spit mouthwash all over himself. Awesome.

I think I’m done (for a while) doing the non-New York Times puzzles. At least for the blog. I’m getting lazy about blogging, and I’m getting more focused on my New York Times times, as awkward as that sounds. So I’m limiting myself for a bit. Tonight, I was going to blog Monday and Tuesday, but Monday is so far from my mind, and I’m tired… So Tuesday it is.

New York Times
constructed by Caleb Madison; edited by Will Shortz

How does Dan Feyer (winner of the C division) type so fast? I was clocked once at over 100 words per minute, and even when I feel like I’m typing in answers as fast as I’m reading clues, my Tuesday times are still over five minutes. Dan Feyer, how do you do it? You are amazing.

This puzzle had sort of a double-theme going on. Long answers took last names of two famous singers to make one long word or term. And then the fact that the last names were merging proved to be the clue at 39A. Classic film company… or a description of 17-, 32-, 46- and 65-Across? (UNITED ARTISTS).

Rather than list the theme clues, I’m going to list the clues I liked:

• 48D. Q-tip target : EAR WAX
• 68A. ___ Lee cakes : SARA — I love these snacks. I hate the song that was written about Sara Lee snacks. John Kander and Fred Ebb (who wrote Cabaret and Chicago) wrote a song called “Sara Lee,” and I have had to play the damn thing so many times for so many people over the years. The gimmick of the song is that the guy (the singer) is in love with… someone. And that someone provides him so much joy and pleasure and whatnot, and we eventually learn that the object of his affection is none other than Sara Lee, the maker of his favorite pastry treats. My biggest problem with the song now is that there is no reveal. I already know he’s going to sing about pastries. I already know that the song has these slick little double entendres where food operates in lieu of something personal. And furthermore, most of the guys who are singing it are so obviously more into the cakes than the girl (for whichever reason comes quickly to mind), there’s no humor anymore. To any musical theater guys who think they should sing this song at an audition — DON’T.
• 13A. Wispy clouds : CIRRI — I’ve seen this in several puzzles I’ve done recently, and it might have made its way into my “I know this” memory (like ETO, from sometime ago). I still don’t know four-lettered geography terms, but what can I do.

Clues and answers I didn’t like:

• 34D. Bag with handles : TOTE — I’m seeing too much of this clue lately. It’s mostly old puzzles I’m doing, but I’m sick of tote bags.
• 9D. Vinegary : ACIDIC – I was so pleased when I entered ACETIC in this space, thinking I had finally remembered the root to that word about vinegar (ACETO often finds its way into grids). I was incorrect.

Yeah, that was it. Simple. Quick. I’m starting to feel confident with Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays still kick my ass. See you tomorrow.