Saturday, May 3 - Patrick Berry

I don't recall many Saturday themes or gimmicks (admittedly, my memory for puzzles isn't the best)...but now I can say that they happen with certain-T! Patrick Berry's puzzle was clever...and a lot of fun to solve once you figured out what he was doing.

The theme answers:

16A: Nectar collectors (honey Bs).

17A: Soup vegetables (split Ps).

33A: Cunning in a practical way (streetYs)...my favorite theme answer.

38A: Recuperative drinks (herbal Ts). That one took me forever to see. I think of Pedialyte or Gatorade as recuperative. Herbal teas...relaxing...although I guess relaxing is recuperative.

58A: Two, in a way (snake Is). I love the clue.

60A: "Mutiny on the Bounty" locale (South Cs). This was the ahha moment...when I knew something was up.

After my initial run-through of clues, I had more than a few answers. Among them:

14A: Interestingly folded sheet (origami).

15A: Guru residences (ashrams). I'm currently reading "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert...an enjoyable read about her year of travel to Italy, India and Indochina. The very first sentence of the introduction has the word ashram in it.

28A: Film with the Oscar-nominated song "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" (Yentl).

42A: Right-leaning, you might say (italic). That's been used several times recently.

63A: Painter tutored by Titian (El Greco)...although only because I had 44D: "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?" author (Iacocca).

29D: Half-human "Star Trek: T.N.G." character (Troi). She must have been in the puzzle a few times...otherwise I wouldn't have known her.

39D: Henry II's wife (Eleanor)...of Aquitaine. Played so beautifully by Katharine Hepburn in "The Lion in Winter."

40D: "Fa la la la la la la la la," e.g. (refrain).

...along with old crossword standbys 35A: Some Ivy Leaguers (Elis), 52A: American __ (Southwest plant) (aloe), 54A: Virtuoso (ace), 4D: Arch type (ogee), 11D: Gatling gun sound (rat-a-tat), 34D: Conseil d' __ (etat), 53D: __ Gay (Enola) and 57D: First razor with a pivoting head (Atra).

At this point, I still had no clue about the theme, and my next step was to Google a couple of names...8A: Painter __ del Sarto (Andrea) 50A: Morgan __ (King Arthur's half-sister) (leFay). That opened things up enough to finish the puzzle...almost.

Favorites include 62A: Heads (toilets)...who cares about the breakfast test when it was so unexpected, 64A: Ill-tempered (ornery), 1D: Fashion world exclamation (ooh-la-la), 24D: Tips (alerts), 26D: __ Classical Library, 500+ volume series begun in 1911 (Loeb), 27D: Amount expressed in K (salary), 36D: "Wine, Women and Song" composer (Strauss), 45D: Where William (the Refrigerator) Perry played college football (Clemson), 48D: Cat burglars' no-nos (noises) and 56D: "__ makes suffering contagious": Nietzsche (Pity).

I also liked the similar answers in the northeast...13D: Maintains (asserts) and 15D: Knuckles under (assents).

When all was said and done, I still no answer for 23A: Storm...just *A*E...and nothing would come to me. I was clueless about 6D: Hinder, and absolutely nothing punny would come to me with 20D: Passes the time?. It was getting late...so I gave up and check with Harris at Water and Waves...and could have slapped myself! Storm = rage, hinder = embar, and passes the time? = ages. Good Lord! In my defense, my allergies have been wicked (despite the Kenalog) and I coughed like a two-pack-a-day smoker all day...so I was exhausted.

Date night was postponed...again...and I need to get ready for our morning date, so time to wrap it up.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G