Monday, December 31 - Lynn Lempel

We're all in for a treat today--a double shot of Lynn Lempel! Not only does she get the last New Yorks Times puzzle for 2007, she's also the author of today's syndicated puzzle (see link in sidebar).

The theme includes the main duties of a clerical position, with four theme answers.

17A: A magnet attracts it in a physics experiment (iron filing). Not a word you often hear used in the singular...definitely necessary for the theme, though.

57A: Star's marquee position (top billing).

10D: Pre-tranfusion procedure (blood typing). This young woman has attracted quite an audience. I don't recall that typing was that fascinating.

25D: Some verbal abuse (name calling).

Multiword answers (in addition to the theme answers) include 28A: Divorces (splits up), 32A: Locale for a New York diva (The Met), 43A: Zilch (not a whit)...all excellent...and a crossword standard at 62A: Have a meal at home (eat in).

Another crossword regular makes an appearance at 64A: "Born Free" lioness (Elsa). It's hard to believe that the original movie is from 1965...but I just saw that in print, so it must be.

Other crossword regulars taking a final bow in 2007 include 15A: Diva's song (aria), 21A: County seat NNW of Oklahoma City (Enid), 27A: Tire filler (air), 35A: What the number of birthday candles signifies (age), 36A: Olden times (yore), 56A: Java neighbor (Bali), 60A: Genesis garden (Eden), 63A: Orange-flavored powdered drink (Tang), 65A: Medicinal amounts (doses), 3D: Enticing smell (aroma), 30D: __ Mountains, Europe/Asia separator (Ural), 51D: Help illegally (abet), 52D: Zilch (nada) and 59D: Neighbor of a Vietnamese (Lao).

Not exactly a regular, but it appeared in the last couple of weeks. 2D: Deep pink (coral). I still think of coral as a shade of orange, rather than pink. Deep pink is fuchsia.

Other entries of note, for one reason or another:

1A: Oodles (scads)...both words are amusing for some reason.

14A: Seoul's land (Korea). I love seeing the letter K in the puzzle...almost as much as Z.

22A: Relieve (soothe).

24A: At a tilt (slanted).

26A: Praise (laud).

37A: Jinxes (hexes). I love that there's an X in both the clue and the answer.

39A: Tomato-hitting-the-floor sound (splat). The clue is too funny.

5D: Two-point plays in football (safeties). A sports clue and I knew it...woo-hoo!

9D: Event before moving (tag sale). We did that when we moved to Colorado from Kansas City...it wasn't worth all the work we had to do to get ready. If we move again, we'll just donate everything to charity. Much easier.

13D: Amusement park shout (whee). Reminds me of the girls on roller coasters...arms up in the air and shouting. I'm glad they didn't shy away from amusement park rides just because I wouldn't go on them.

39D: Shot up, as inflation (spiraled).

41D: Gleeful laugh (chortle).

42D: Hindu teacher (Swami).

49D: Old TV comic Kovacs (Ernie). I remember hearing the name growing up, but I didn't remember that he was a comedian.

53D: "Galveston" crooner Campbell (Glen).

And a final tribute to 54D: Inspectors of fin. books (CPA)...in honor of my sweetie. He'll take tomorrow off, but then he'll work every day until April 15. I'm hopeful that this will be his last tax season...last year took a toll on him.

I hope all of you will celebrate safely this evening. We lost a friend in an accident on New Year's Eve in 1971...one is one too many.

Here's today's grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G