Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Wednesday, March 5 - Steven Ginzburg

This is the first New York Times puzzle by Steven Ginzburg in more than six months. Maybe it's because I'm beginning to feel better, but I whipped through it.

The five theme answers are names or phrases that begin with two initials:

18A: Common computer feature (CD-ROM drive).

23A: German auto debut of 1974 (VW Scirocco).

37A: First person to win a Smarties Prize, for children's books, three years in a row (J. K. Rowling). That seems like an odd name for a prize...you might think they were giving her a bunch of those little candies wrapped in rolls. Okay, maybe I'm not feeling better.

53A: Universal recipient type (AB Positive).

61A: Cause of some burns (UV exposure). That was looking mighty strange when I was working the downs...how many words can you think that begin with UVEXP?

I enjoyed this puzzle, but this will be a brief post. I've been running nonstop since 5:00 this morning and I'm beat.

There were some good multiword nontheme answers...among them 50A: "Eat!" (dig in), 11D: Show friendliness (smile at), 40D: An overdose of (too much), 41D: Pro (in favor) and 45D: "You win" (I give up).

Favorite answers include:

15A: Meteor in a meteor shower (Leonid).

28A: Big name in stationery (Eaton).

33A: Frankie with the 1959 #1 hit "Why" (Avalon).

43A: Ohio city named for a mathematician (Euclid).

1D: Turn from a grape into a raisin, e.g. (shrivel).

3D: Automaker Maserati (Ernesto).

7D: Kind of column (Doric).

26D: Egg-shaped (ovoid).

Favorite clues include 48A: 1969 "bed-in" participant, (Ono), 67A: Melpomene, e.g. (Muse)...she's the Muse of tragedy, despite her joyous singing, 10D: Drainage indicator (eddy), 35D: Spiked punch? (awl) and 58D: It may be caught in a filter (spam).

They tripped me up momentarily with 25D: They're part of the string section...there's no S at the end of celli. I think I've fallen for that one before and may yet again.

There were a couple of other areas of slight hesitation, including 27A: Departed. I originally had died, then changed it to left, before finally settling on the correct went. The other was 4D: One eye in ;-) My first thought was dot...which was correct...but I thought they were going in another direction that I couldn't see.

That's it for today. Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Linda -- Also, the two initials in each theme answer are consecutive alphabetically. I must have slept through the Leonid era, better do some homework. Shared your experience on UVEXP.

Linda G said...

Thanks...I didn't even notice that they were alphabetical.

And I shouldn't have said I was feeling better. I have no voice this morning and the congestion has returned with a vengeance.

DONALD said...

CDROM kinda breaks up the set -- but I guess we're supposed to ignore the ROM, along with SST, NBA, HMS, and DIY.