Tuesday, May 22 - Roger Wolff

I'm not familiar with Roger Wolff, but I don't think he's big or bad, and there's no compelling reason to be afraid of him. I ran into a couple of tough spots, but nothing that couldn't be worked out eventually.

The puzzle had three theme answers, all clued from that song we all know from The Sound of Music.

17A: Doe, in song (deer a female deer)

36A: Ray, in song (drop of golden sun)

55A: Me, in song (name I call myself)

DoReMi appears at 43A, although it's clued as Money, slangily. To complete the Sound of Music theme, there's 11D: Alpine flower (edelweiss).

I guess it really can't be called a mini-theme, but 54A: Boxing combo (one two) goes nicely with 56D: "The Greatest" (Ali).

A couple of instances of similarity in the grid. Three 3-letter answers, all beginning with LE...

• 12D: Entertainer Pinky or Peggy (Lee)
• 57D: Meadow (lea)
• 58D: Author Deighton (Len)

...and 54D: Prefix with potent (omni) shared its I with 62A: Muscat-eer? (Omani).

4D: N.B.A. first name that's Arabic for "noble" or "exalted" (Kareem) appears for the second consecutive day. It's a sports-related clue, and I got it--again!

I think it was a rotten idea (15A: Plan that stinks) to use the word anion (48A: Charged particle) in this puzzle. I had axion, which made 44D (clued as Real) ixesse, instead of the correct in esse. I stared at it for the longest time, willing it to become a word. Didn't happen.

I only know maybe six cities in Illinois, but fortunately Moline (39A: One of the Quad cities, in Illinois) is one of them. Others include Chicago (d'oh!), Springfield (because I know all of the capitals), Oak Park (because that's where my husband was born), and Lake Zurich (because that's where he grew up).

Some clever cluing:

• 7D: Bill provider, for short (ATM)
• 8D: Red star? (Stalin). It can be clever, even if it's a distasteful answer.
• 51D: Lacking a charge (no fee)
• 19A: Art supporters? (easels)

And with that, I'll say good night.

Linda G