Thursday, April 24 - Michael Langwald

Michael Langwald's New York Times debut was just last month...and here he is with a late-week puzzle his second time around.

Four good theme answers which make up a rebus...minus the pictures.

18A: Summer arctic phenomenon (midnight SUN).

24A: 1890 battle site that's now a memorial (Wounded KNEE).

37A: Grandmother of Jesus (Saint ANNE).

56A: Measure of a company's dominance (market SHARE).

The theme is revealed at 62A: 1965 hit by the performers suggested phonetically by the ends of 18-, 24-, 37- and 56-Across (I Got You Babe).

In addition to a cleverly executed theme, there's the added treat of some really good fill.

4A: Former New York governor (Cuomo). I only know three of them, and the other two wouldn't fit.

15A: Big name in pest control (Orkin). The older I get, the more I freak out over bugs. Orkin (or someone like them) came and sprayed at work...now things are coming out to die. At least once a day, some large thing crawls into my office, causing me to shriek (quietly) and find someone to dispatch it. I honestly don't understand why they bother me...I'm still okay with spiders. Go figure.

16A: __ Bowl (Aloha). My favorite of all. Guess why?

28A: Mayo can be found in it (año). How very clever is that? My first answer was BLT, although I skip the mayo on them.

41A: Hamilton who wrote "Mythology" (Edith). Never heard of it...or her. It was a good guess once I had the TH in place.

53A: "Ghostbusters" director Ivan (Reitman). Well, at least I've heard of the movie. I probably even saw it twice.

4D: Field for Fields (comedy). Totie Fields has been in the puzzle at least once since I've been blogging...maybe twice. This is one of her quotes. She was a class act...and one very funny lady.

11D: Proportionately (to scale).

12D: Condiment made with a mortar and pestle (chutney).

13D: Two-wheeled carriages (hansoms). I know we've had that before, but it continues to trip me up.

36D: Mother of Charlemagne (Bertha). What...it's not enough that we have to know the grandmother of Jesus.

43D: Tied up (in knots). Have you noticed that many of the two-word answers can be parsed incorrectly and still make two words...ink nots, in this case. 54D: "Honest!" (I swear) is another one...is wear. They don't make any sense, but that's how I saw them when I looked back over the grid. Toscale (see above) could be the name of a city in Italy.

46D: Hobbyist (amateur).

48D: Israeli parliament (Knesset).

51D: War preceder (man o')...Raise your hand if you tripped over that one.

52D: Actress Andress (Ursula). She was a Bond girl...and absolutely gorgeous.

It's been a busy night. I came home and baked a big batch of my now-famous layered mint brownies for our volunteer appreciation dinner which is tomorrow night. Things have come together nicely for the event. We have about 400 volunteers, so this is a pretty big deal. I also baked a birthday cake for our director. She bakes a birthday cake for every employee...in addition to what we have at work on our birthday. Before I came along, no one attempted to bake one for her...they all said they were a bit intimidated. I was up for the challenge...and last year I made a German chocolate cake. This year I made a yellow butter cake, frosted with French Silk.

So I was late getting to the puzzle, and now it's 10:15...past my bedtime.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

Wednesday, March 26 - Michael Langwald

In a post last month, Orange mentioned Michael Langwald's crossword debut with a puzzle featured in the LA Times. Today marks his debut with the New York Times. Congratulations, Michael.

You might not want to solve this one on an empty stomach, though. The theme answers are punned specials of three well-known celebrities, all of whom have last names that are homonyms of cooking methods.

20A: Breakfast specialty of a rock singer? (Glenn Frey's eggs).

39A: Lunch specialty of an Emmy-winning actor? (Peter Boyle's stew).

57A: Dinner specialty of an R&B singer? (Sam Cooke's steak)

The theme answers should have been easier to figure out. I'm not sure where I can place the blame. I had a busy day...yeah, that's it.

The theme wasn't bad. It wasn't great, either, although many of the nontheme answers were. Some of my favorites:

9A: Off the wall (daffy). That brings this guy to mind.

29A: Constant complainers (cranks).

46A: Topple (depose).

6D: Purim's month (Adir). [Update: Read SethG's comment...this should be Adar. I Googled for confirmation after completing the grid, and came up with this...but Seth's answer is correct.]

9D: Makeshift bookmark (dogear). This is never acceptable to a serious lover of books. Isn't there something called Dogear that allows one to bookmark favorite blogs and the like?

10D: Angered and enraged, e.g. (anagrams). I absolutely love anagrams...but tonight I absolutely could not see it until I had most of the letters in place.

34D: Le Pew of cartoons (Pepé). He was a favorite character in my childhood...and he still is. What a lover boy.

40D: More than big (enormous).

54D: Director Sergio (Leone).

56D: Rubber hub (Akron). Fellow blogger Wendy will no doubt be proud that this was a gimme. I especially like the geographical cross at 53A: Arkansas River city (Tulsa).

Favorite clues include 14A: Word before luck or cluck (dumb), 24A: King of the stage (Lear) and 47D: It may be under your hat (secret).

I haven't seen Saturday Night Live in forever, so I wasn't sure about 51A: Clinton cabinet member satirized by Will Ferrell...although Reno was my first guess. This picture is just too funny.

I just noticed the cross between Reno and crossword staple Eno at 48D, clued as [Brian of ambient music].

Our book club read Pride and Prejudice this month, and we're meeting tomorrow night to discuss it. If it's a late night, you'll likely see the grid and an abbreviated post...with the possibility of more written on Thursday morning.

That will be one of my new blogging rules...no more staying up until midnight to solve and blog if I've had something going on that night. That should help me stay rested...and sane.

That's it for tonight. Here's the grid... [Update: Since Adir was incorrect, so are its crosses. I misspelled vise, which gave me rich (rather than the correct rash) for 18A: Ill-considered. My wrong answer seems to fit the definition, though...Wasn't that rich?].



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G