Friday, April 11 - Manny Nosowsky

I'm not feeling up to par tonight and need to get myself to bed early. Pair that with a killer puzzle by Manny Nosowsky and that means...

I'm not even going to attempt to solve it.

I just checked, and Harris has posted the grid at Water and Waves. Holy cow! Not only did he have no trouble with this one...he posted one of his best times. I guess he and Manny are on the same wavelength.

When I made the decision to return from my short sabbatical, the deal I made with myself was simple...if I couldn't have the puzzle solved and the blog written by 10:00 (assuming I was working the next day), there would be no blog for that night.

I wondered if I'd be able to live with that...and the answer is yes. I'll bet the rest of you will be, too.

I do want to point out one (the only?) gimme for me...37A: 1954 title role for Ava Gardner (Contessa). I guess that makes 28D: Coca-Cola brand (Fanta)...which probably makes 28A: Three-time Masters winner Nick (Faldo).

Okay, no more stabbing at it...off to bed.

This cartoon sums up how I feel tonight...puzzlewise.

See you tomorrow.

Linda G

Tuesday, April 1 - Manny Nosowsky

History was made right here at Madness today...I finished the New York Times puzzle twenty seconds faster than Orange.

April Fool! The truth is, Manny Nosowsky made me FOOL like a FEEL with this one.

The theme...and I didn't even see it coming...was revealed at 33A: Regret some stupidity...with a hint to this puzzle's theme (feel like a fool). The four theme answers are all in-the-language phrases, but FEEL is replaced with FOOL, and vice versa.

16A: Nitwit's swoon? (fool faint).

54A: Spring in the air? (April feel)...this is when I realized that the puzzle date was April 1.

8D: Vibes not being picked up by anyone? (nobody's feel).

23D: Doing credible work as a magician? (fooling okay).

I was moving along quite nicely...except for that damned southwest corner. For some reason that will never be clear, I knew 40D: Bad atmosphere (miasma). I also had 40A: Univ. where "Good Will Hunting" is set (MIT) and 59A: Analyze the composition of (assay)...but the rest of the corner was blank. It didn't help that I was misinterpreting the clue for 41A ["]...thinking it was a repetition of the previous clue. Wrong! The answer was inches...which is, of course, abbreviated that way. When I finally gave up on 56A: News groups (media) ending in an S, I was on my way.

I knew 5A: Four times a day, on an Rx (qid), but that didn't help me get 5D: Paper quantity (quire). It looked wrong, but 20A: New York tribe defeated by the Iroquois (Erie) pretty much sealed that one.

By far, the funniest clue in the puzzle...51A: Pre-remote channel changer (knob). I wonder how many out there have never seen such an animal. Other answers that will come more easily to those of us of a certain age include 25A: Kind of eyes (goo-goo), 10D: "Uncle" of early television (Miltie) and 26D: Verdon of "Damn Yankees" (Gwen).

I always love seeing Hawaii in the puzzle...31D: Hawaiian instrument, for short (uke) and 34D: Gifts at Honolulu Airport (leis).

The connected clues tonight...39D: Belly part (navel), tied in with 6D: Type of 39-Down (innie).

Leslie and Candy just arrived...hours later than they were due...so I'll wrap this up and go spend some quality time with them.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow. No fooling!

Linda G

Friday, December 14 - Manny Nosowsky

I'll be curious to see if the rest of you had the same struggles with this one. I managed to get the bottom half of Manny Nosowsky's puzzle without too much trouble, but the top half just didn't want to give. A couple of wrong answers up there didn't help matters. Neither did the nap I took when I couldn't get past the 1A: Deadlock (impasse).

The three 15-letter stacks in the middle were tough to crack, especially the first...35A: Snap out of it (return to reality). The other two were brilliant...38A: Much work to get done (a lot on one's plate) and 39A: Place for good deals (clearance center).

It's snowing again tonight, and Leslie has to be at work at 7:30...that means another early morning so I can get her there on time. It took me 40 minutes to make a 10-minute trip on Tuesday. It's amazing that a 3-inch snow can wreak so much havoc...but the roads were so slick. That said, I'd better wrap this up so I can get six or so hours of sleep.

The gimmes and guesses that worked...8A: Watches in astonishment (gapes at), 24A: Work an aisle, slangily (ush)...that appears fairly often, 47A: Hand tool (awl), 50A Unclear (hazy), 52A: Spill the beans (tattle), 57A: Cook first, as pie crust (prebake), 5D: Bite-the-bullet type (stoic), 9D: Something to bid (adieu), 23D: Singer John and others (Eltons), 34D: Wayne W. __, author of "Your Erroneous Zones" (Dyer), 46D: It's seen on the back of a U.S. quarter (eagle), and 49D: Actor __ Cobb (Lee J)...whose full name appeared in Wednesday's puzzle.

Those answers helped me fill out the rest of the bottom half, including 59A: Cardiff Giant or Piltdown Man (big hoax), 60A: Went through (pierced), 61A: Away (on leave), 62A: University with campuses in New York and Rome (St. John's), and 63A: Zealots have them (agendas).

...which led me to the connected cluing at 36D: With 14-Down, something that can have you seeing things (Rorschach / test). That had me flummoxed for some time, but once I had the HACH at the end, it didn't take long to see the right answer.

I did have to resort to Google for a couple of things, including 22A: French city where William the Conqueror is buried (Caen), 43A: "Baudolino" novelist (Eco)...how many times do I have to see that one before I remember it?, 3D: Guam's __ Bay (Pago), and 26D: Renaissance artist Piero __ Francesca (della).

Even Google couldn't help with 16A: Luxembourg grand duke in whose name an annual art prize is awarded (Adolphe), 6D: Leader of the Alamo siege (Santa Anna), or 20D: Neighbor of Hoboken, N.J. (Union City).

That's it for tonight...I'm off to bed. Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

Tuesday, September 4 - Manny Nosowsky

Maybe I was just tired from the long weekend and a house full of company, but this seemed difficult for a Tuesday puzzle. I was able to finish it, but I drew complete blanks several times and had to keep coming back to the same clues. Finally, I got a letter here...which led to a letter there...and so on.

The theme was revealed at 7D: One, two and three...or this puzzle's title (a lot on one's plate). And on the plate...

17A: One... (tenderloin steak).

41A: Two...(eggs sunny side up). Yick...I don't like runny whites.

65A: Three...(peaches and cream).

I frequently have a lot on my plate, literally and figuratively, but I'm pretty certain I've never had that combination.

I had a lot on my plate this weekend...both of the girls (and Mike) home for the weekend, as well as my sister and her husband. The girls (including Mom and Auntie Mary) spent a few hours this morning at a bridal shop that's going out of business (50% off a wedding dress...we weren't passing that up). Elaine found the most gorgeous gown. If you haven't married off a daughter, you absolutely cannot believe what it's like to see your little girl in a wedding gown. I think we're all still in shock. Elaine had a meltdown later in the afternoon. I reserve the right to have one tomorrow...I'm just too busy tonight.

So...back to the puzzle, starting with the things I didn't know.

22A: Brenner Pass locale (Alps). 10D: It has eyes that can't see (potato) gave me the A when I wasn't sure of the answer. It was an easy guess after that, but confirmed by 12D: Bring in the sheaves (reap).

36A: Noted polonaise composer (Chopin). Again, the crosses made it possible. I'd have preferred a clue in relation to Kate. I just loved The Awakening, The Story of an Hour, The Storm, Desiree's Baby...I think I just liked Kate Chopin's writing.

45A: W.W. I German admiral (Spee). I'm not a big history buff.

71A: Athenian lawgiver who introduced trial by jury (Solon). Never heard of the guy. When I have some time, I'll check out this link.

37D: Immigrant from Japan (Issei). Ah...they weren't looking for the name of a person. This is what they meant.

63D: Thomas who wrote "The Magic Mountain" (Mann). Sorry, not familiar with him or it. Herbie...I would have gotten that one.

Clues I liked:

14A: Twist-apart treat (Oreo)...although it seems more a Wednesday or Thursday clue. Anyone else think that?

25A: "i" completer (dot). I like when I get those.

46A: Rafael's wrap (serape). I thought poncho first.

49A: Big atlas section (Asia). Yeah, it's big.

56A: Iolani Palace locale (Oahu). I can't remember if we saw the palace when we were there or if we just read about it. We won't be on Oahu at all this trip, since we're able to fly direct to Kauai.

6D: Start limping (go lame).

24D: Confess (to) (own up).

34D: Brownish gray (taupe). Brownish gray sounds ugly...taupe sounds much more elegant.

48D: Wall plaster (stucco). Stucco is just huge here. All the houses being built have stucco exteriors. Anyone who wants to have it done to an existing house has a wait time of eight months or more. We'll just stick with wood, I guess, and keep painting it every ten or fifteen years.

55D: Mom's skill, briefly (TLC). Boy, I did more than my share this weekend. I'm ready for someone to take care of me for a couple of days.

60D: "You wish" (as if). For some reason, I like this expression. It may sound ridiculous when I use it, but I use it anyway.

Well, tomorrow I start working full time, going in at 8:00 or 8:30. I'm shooting for 8:00, so I'd better head off to bed.

Here's the grid.



See you tomorrow.

Linda G

Saturday, July 28 - Manny Nosowsky

The only way to come up with a blog entry of any length or depth would be to list all of the wrong answers I had in this puzzle.

I'm sure Manny Nosowsky doesn't hate me...he doesn't even know me! It's probably more likely that I just wasn't on his wavelength tonight. Every time I turned around, I was messing up another one. There are more erasures on this grid than I've ever had in the history of my puzzling solving.

It didn't help that I'm grumpy. Current madness (it's actually been an ongoing madness) is daughter related, and she called mid-puzzle...and just irritated the pure hell out of me.

I did manage to get the upper right quadrant of the puzzle, thanks in large part to 16A: Draft pick (pale ale) and its cross with 12D: Pantries (larders). That had me sitting pretty enough to guess my way through the rest of that section. Did get tripped up initially by 11D: Races (peoples), since I was thinking of foot races, boat races, car races, and the like.

Ordinarily I love multiple word answers, but when I can't get them, it's pretty frustrating...

And there was one right off the bat...1A: Claimed as one's own (had dibs). I thought it should be adopted. I had no clue about 2D: Former home of the N.F.L.'s Rams (Anaheim). For all I knew, it was Detroit, which fit quite nicely. I'm counting on reader/commenter Profphil to be as clueless about that as I was. He frequently admits that sports trivia isn't his strong suit.

23A: "Go jump in the lake!" (sit on it). I don't believe I've ever used either expression, so I couldn't really say that one means the same as the other.

25A: Begin, as an enterprise (enter on). Doesn't sound right...I need to process that one a bit.

41A: Running wild (on a tear). Okay, we've had that before. It tripped me up then, and it did it again tonight. Again, not an expression I use.

43A: "It's true!" (not a lie). Well, duh. Maybe that was too obvious, but I couldn't see it.

54A: Others (the rest). Actually, I like that one. I couldn't get it without crosses, but I like it.

55A: Expose and destroy (root out). That conjures up some wickedly delightful fantasies of mine.

And those are just the across multiple words. There were also at least seven in the downs:

4D: Spoils (dotes on). Since I thought it began with a P, I was at a loss to come up with a word, but I was thinking goes bad, or something along those lines.

5D: Immobile in winter (iced in). We've seen that enough times that it caused me to question adopted.

6D: Not wait for an invitation (barge in). Well, my mother taught me better manners...I'd never do that.

And continuing with 31D: "Again?!" (now what), 32D: With no time to lose (in a rush), 37D: Comes through successfully (makes it), and 44D: Links with (ties to).

After last week's fiasco with stepfather (clued...offensively, to some...as faux pa?), we have stepdad at 20A, but with a much better clue (Mike Brady of "The Brady Bunch," e.g.). Did Will take note of the comments made? Or is it just coincidence?

My favorite answer in the grid took me forever to see, even after the grid was finished. 39D: Guide feature? (silent u). Those kinds of clues just slay me, but when I get them, I love them.

34D: Scoundrel (stinker) was another answer I liked. I probably would have clued it differently, though. In my mind, stinker has an affectionate connotation, and I don't think kindly of scoundrels.

Here's the grid. I made it smaller so you can't see the mess I made of it.



I think I'll go sit with a glass of wine and forget about this puzzle...and hope that Sunday brings a fun one. Enjoy your Saturday.

Linda G

Friday, July 13 - Manny Nosowsky

It's Friday the 13th, but nothing scary from Manny Nosowsky. This was the best puzzle I've seen in a long time.

There are so many superb clues and answers in this grid that I hardly know where to begin. And if you didn't take the time to look at the blank grid, print it out and just gaze at it. The symmetry is remarkable.

In case you haven't guessed, I liked it big time (37D: Very much).

It was such a treat to guess correctly right off the bat. 1A: "On the other hand..." (but then). It was also such a good laugh to see it again and again as BUTT HEN!

It took me a little longer to get 8A: Quaint cry from a caught crook, with "The" (jig is up). I was able to get 8D: What to do if you can't beat the suckers (join 'em), but the J didn't get me anywhere until I had a few more downs.

Manny was on a roll (16A: Hot) with this one. Check out some of these clues and answers:

15A: Between here and there (en route).

17A: Go for, as a ball (swing at). I was thinking along the lines of going for a ball that had been hit, so I had IT...making it hard to figure out what the second letter should be. Once I got it, though, I had to admit it was good.

31A: Spandex and Lurex (textiles). I wanted something about the elasticity, or something like that. And I just loved the X-crossing. 3D: Certain multiscreen cinema (triplex), although I initially read it as Triple X and was sure it was wrong...so I erased the last two letters. 2D: Backtrack on, as a rug (unweave) was probably the only bad clue/answer in the puzzle, resulting in its being absolutely no help whatsoever. Now that I've written that, I see where they were going with it...okay, not as bad as I thought. If you're weaving a rug, and you backtrack, you unweave...sort of.

24D: What X + Y signifies (male sex). Without a doubt, the best clue and answer in the grid. I'll bet I wasn't alone in trying to get an answer that had something to do with algebra. The X crosses at 50A: Ohio city whose name means "hospitality" in Greek (Xenia). I did not know that.

42D: 1983 Randy Newman song (I love L.A.). I didn't know that one, either. Got it from the crosses. The only Randy Newman song I can remember is the Randy Newman song I hate...Short People. If you were/are 4' 11" you didn't/don't find much humor in that song.

It was very funny to see 40A: 1940s fashion (zoot suit). I remember my father talking about them, but I couldn't tell you what one looked like, so I'll have to look it up. Here's one for you. Its Z crossed at 40D: Greek philosopher who founded Stoicism (Zeno).

Women's names were needed for two of the answers...both related to novels. I wasn't sure about either and made educated guesses, which both turned out to be right. 39D: "__Daughter," 2003 Judi Hendricks novel (Isabel's) and 45A: 1938 Daphne du Maurier novel (Rebecca).

28D: Having learned a lesson (wiser) reminds me of another song from "The Music Man" -- yesterday we had It's You. Today...The Sadder But Wiser Girl For Me. I cheer, I rave for the virtue I'm too late to save. The sadder-but-wiser girl for me. Here are the rest of the lyrics, but you really need to hear Robert Preston sing it.

Don't know how I knew 25D: Cassava product (tapioca), but I got it with just the first A. I guess I'd heard it some time and managed to retain it.

I'm sure my fellow bloggers will have much to say about this one. If anyone didn't like it, though, I'd be surprised.

So, do you have friggatriskaidekaphobia -- a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th? Here's a test you can take to find out if you do. But just to be on the safe side, stay away from those black cats!

Linda G

Friday, May 4 - Manny Nosowsky

Oh, Man(ny)! My head is still spinning from this puzzle!

This is another one that had me stumped from the get-go. After reading all the clues I had only a handful of answers.

1D: Ones doing a balancing job? (CPA). I'm married to one, and I've seen it clued this way before.

5D: Curry and Rice (Tims). Amazed that I got this immediately. Probably the fact that Rice was capitalized.

9D: Cousins of bassoons (oboes). If a musical instrument in a puzzle isn't a viola, it's an oboe.

32D: Swedish flier (SAS). It wasn't long ago that Rex Parker said to remember this. The hell with E.F. Hutton--when Rex Parker talks, I listen.

58A: Grain fungi (ergots). We had this a few months ago, and I knew it would be back. Here's an interesting article on ergotism, which is not to be confused with eroticism. You can find your own article on that.

Yeah, I had to resort to Dogpile for a few of the obscurities, including:

16A: Dodger who threw the pitch Bobby Thomson hit for the "shot heard 'round the world" (Branca). What I know about baseball would fit on the head of a pin, but I know where to look for the answers.

13D: August Wilhelm von __, leader of German Romanticism (Schlegel). Never heard of him but he has a way cool name.

Some of the longer answers started jumping out at me at that point.

34A: Ancient (as old as the hills), followed by

37A: Treated fairly (did justice to). Then I got

7D: Remark introducer (let me just say) and

21D: Ones who can handle adversity (tough cookies).

The odd thing (36D) was the way that was clued with 52A: (it is an).

I stared at 8D: (Where no one has any business going?) and couldn't see residential area, even though I had most of the letters. What's up with that?

And speaking of the Sun puzzle (I'm sure someone was... somewhere), Friday's puzzle is by Francis Heaney, the third place winner at ACPT. If you haven't already checked out his blog, you should. I just love his Tie Project. In fact, I have three ties that I'd like to send him if I can figure out how to do it.

A Happy Friday to one and all.

Linda G