Sunday, February 24 - Nancy Nicholson Joline

I'll bet no one got 1-Across (Theme of this puzzle) today...unless they had started with the downs.

The envelope, please.

And the answer is...The Oscar.

Nancy Joline's Sunday puzzle was both timely and clever. Each theme answer contained two Academy Award winners...the first as the theme answer itself, and the second in the circled squares within that answer.

It took me longer to crack that than I'd like to admit. I totally skipped the six across theme answers...but managed to figure it out on the first down.

And the theme answers are:

23A: Film (1954), actress (2003) (ON THE WATERFRONT)...with my girl crush, Charlize Theron, in the circles for her chilling portrayal of murderer Aileen Wuornos in "Monster."

37A: Director (2003), actor (1962) (PETER JACKSON)...with Gregory Peck for his role in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

61A: Film (1992), actor (1958) (UNFORGIVEN). David Niven won for "Separate Tables"...unfamiliar to me.

71A: Actor (1934), actor (1995) (CLARK GABLE). As much as I love Nicolas Cage, "Leaving Las Vegas" is not a movie I'd watch again. We had a discussion about it on this blog in the last week or two.

94A: Actress (1986), director (1962) (MARLEE MATLIN)...she for "Children of a Lesser God" and Sir David Lean for "Lawrence of Arabia."

112A: Actress (1983), supporting actor (1999) (SHIRLEY MACLAINE). Talk about tearjerkers...she was excellent in "Terms of Endearment" and I loved Michael Caine as the doctor in "The Cider House Rules." Incidentally, that's when I fell in love with Charlize Theron.

17D: Film (1993), actress (1987) (SCHLINDLER 'S LIST)...a powerful film. Cher was at her best playing Loretta Castorini in "Moonstruck"...which is when I fell in love with Nicolas Cage. This is the theme answer that I was able to crack.

46D: Song (1942), supporting actress (1994) (WHITE CHRISTMAS)...with Dianne Wiest for "Bullets Over Broadway."

Favorites include 15A: Is afflicted with sigmatism (lisps), 25A: Nothing, to Nero (nihil), 42A: Low tie (one all), 49A: Places for runners (sleds), 53A: Granny, in Gelsenkirchen (Oma)...I haven't a clue how I knew that, 73A: Destination of the Bounty in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (Tahiti)...its third appearance in the last few weeks, 79A: Troll dolls, once (fad), 120A: Jerks (spasms)...oh, those jerks, 15D: Jay that chatters (Leno), 16D: At first (initially)...a gimme, 29D: One flying over Hawaii (nene), 33D: Villa in Mexico (Pancho), 74D: "Didn't we just have that?" (again), 77D: Make the beds, dust, etc. (keep house), 88D: Late news? (obit), and 93D: Mother of Paris (Hecuba)...just because I like her name.

I have never heard of 33A: Fish in fish and chips (plaice), but I confirmed it in my trusty dictionary.

Also didn't know Lum and Abner...or their radio show...appearing as connected clues at 109A and 113D.

I do love the way 47D: Capital known as the Venice of the East (Bangkok) looks in the grid...that GK combination.

I remembered 104A: Kwik-E-Mart owner on "The Simpsons" (Apu)...wouldn't have had a clue BNYT (before New York Times).

I thought of several answers for 20A [Emphatic refusal] before I could bring myself to write no no no no...but it sure made me laugh every time I looked at it later.

It was a busy day at home, and I'm beat...so it'll be early to bed for me.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

Friday, June 15 - Nancy Joline

I got a very late start tonight on the puzzle and actually dozed off in the middle of it. Nancy Joline gave us a fairly tough one, with six 10-letter words and/or phrases.

1A: Energy source (granola bar). I boldly entered wind power, a great wrong answer.

15A: Home of the National Automobile Museum (Reno, Nevada)

17A: First lady who was once a prominent radio actress (Evita Peron). Why in the world was I trying to think of a United States first lady? I saw the movie and listened to the soundtrack a hundred times!

61A: One who deals in futures (horoscoper). Not a great word on its own, but it works well in the grid, and the clue was a good one.

64A: Construction equipment (erector set). Don has such fond memories of his first (probably only) erector set. When he retires, I'm going to buy him another one. Don't tell.

66A: Angels (messengers). Okay, I guess that works.

There are also three vertical stacks in each corner of seven-letter answers. I'll pick a favorite from each corner.

3D: Brutes (animals) wins in the northwest.

14D: Gentleman of Verona (Signore) is the one I got, but I loved 13D: Drub (plaster). 12D: "Survivor" setting, 2004 (Vanuatu) was impossible for me. Never watched the show, and had to Google to confirm the answer that I got from the acrosses.

39D: Where drinks aren't on you (open bar)

44D: Tramp (traipse). I was thinking the other kind of tramp so entered trollop once I had the TR in place.

There were several other one-word clues like that, and I got trapped by a few.

25A: Swell (neato). Not the kind of swell I had in mind.

39A: Pops (old timer). I thought of pops, as in explodes.

54A: Spots (ads). Several other meanings for spots, but none that would fit in three squares.

65A: Break (rest). Oh, that kind of break. I could use one.

My favorite clue was 31A: X maker, at times (voter). My first thought was lover (X being kisses to O's hugs), then I was thinking about someone who couldn't write.

I'd better wrap this up. I need to make an appearance at the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast tomorrow morning. Every year they fund our organization through their generous grants, so all of our employees volunteer to do a two-hour shift at the breakfast. I was smart enough not to sign up for the 6:00 a.m. shift. Funny thing about getting older...I used to be a morning person, but I can barely drag myself out of bed before 7:30. And it's all I can do to stay awake past 10.

And here it is almost 11:00. Good night.

Linda G