Saturday, May 31 - Robert H. Wolfe

If you weren't afraid of the big bad Wolfe before, you may be now. Robert H. Wolfe delivers another killer Saturday puzzle. Here's the first blog I did on one of his previous puzzles.

I finished the bottom half last night but couldn't keep my eyes open another minute...and I'd already spent a good half hour on it. I tackled it again this morning (with coffee in hand) and some answers just jumped out at me. I filled in a few across, a few in down, a few more across...and it was finished. I wasn't sure my grid was correct, but I just checked with JimH...and our answers agree.

I had a few parts of answers (shown in red)...it was just trial and error to fill in the rest...12D: Tool for sewing canvas (sail needle), 26D: Between seating sections (in the aisle) and 27D: Attic, often (third floor). I also had a couple of good guesses that turned out to be right...10A: Socs. (assns), 17A: Where habits are picked up? (nunneries), 61A: "Sure looks that way" (so it seems), and 39D: Cot spot (tents). The only gimmes I had were 37A: Tennis star Petrova (Nadia)...we had a cat with the same name, 58A: Jenny Craig testimonial starter (I Lost), 23D: "Amarantine" Grammy winner (Enya)...I have the CD, and 51D: "The washday miracle" sloganeer, once (Tide)...because I'm old enough to remember that one.

Not much to go on. I Googled to get 16A: "The Wreck of the Mary __" (1959 film) (Deare), 25A: First Earl of Chatham (Pitt) and 3D: 1956 Olympic skiing sensation __ Sailer (Toni)...that opened things up a bit.

Favorite multiword answers include 15A: "Whatever" (I don't care), 20A: "That's good enough" (It'll do), 29A: Proceeding (going ahead), 38A: Like some adult hippos (three ton), 59A: Read the riot act (bawled out) and 22D: Day when courts are not in session (dies non)..read about it here.

There were some answers that were so hard to suss out...once I got them, though, they made perfect sense...19A: Seat (keister), 21A: Get down (sadden), 34A: Exchange for something very valuable (eye teeth), 40A: Product with a rotating ball (roll-on), 56A: Not too much of a stretch (plausible), 5D: Retaining instructions (stets), 7D: Top arrangement? (hairdo), 11D: Bears do it (sell), and 14D: Tick source (second hand)...the best.

Other noteworthy answers...45A: Lyric stand-in, perhaps (na-na-na), 60A: Heavenly discovery of 1801 (Ceres), 13D: Certain atomic X-ray emission (N-radiation), 25D: After the Pentateuchal period (post-Mosaic), 40D: One of three French auto-making brothers (Renault) and 42D: Chichewa and English are its two official languages (Malawi).

That's it for this one. Don and the birds are waiting. Earlier this morning, there were two baby birds on the patio table. Mama (or Papa) Bird was getting seed from the feeder, then flying to the babies to put the seed in their waiting mouths. It was too cute.

Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G

Saturday, December 1 - Robert H. Wolfe

Well, I know who's going to be afraid of this big bad Wolfe the next time his byline shows up!

This puzzle was a killer! Not a single gimme, so I resorted to Google just to start. That gave me a couple of answers, such as:

18A: Baseball Hall-of-Famer Orlando __ (Cepeda).

33A: "The Daughters of Joshua __" (1972 Buddy Ebsen film) (Cabe).

41A: He declined a Nobel Prize in Literature (Sartre).

50A: Limestone regions with deep fissures and sinkholes (karsts).

7D: Wolf __, captain in Jack London's "The Sea-Wolf" (Larsen).

36D: "The Prophecy of the __" (Eddic poem) (Seeress).

41D: __ Gamp, nurse in "Martin Chuzzlewith" (Sarah).

Seeress and Sarah gave me enough letters that I was able to finish the southeast corner, but I still had way too many blanks. I started putting in an S whenever there was a plural answer, then -er when it looked as though a word would end that way. 5D [Maximally mangy] got an -est at the end...and before long seediest emerged.

Then I came to a complete and utter standstill. I took a peek at Diary of a Crossword Fiend...she hadn't posted yet, so that was a dead-end. I then turned to Water and Waves...Harris usually solves early, and I was relieved to see that he had already posted the grid. He's a very experienced solver, and he had trouble with this one as well...so I didn't beat myself up. I did, however, take a peek at the first two across answers...1A: Choirs' neighbors (apses) and 6A: Lung covering (pleura). With those letters in place, I managed to finish the rest of the puzzle.

This isn't my preferred way to solve, but I'm all about being honest here.

I wonder how many others tripped up on 46A: Where much info can be found these days. Raise your hand if you had internet...instead of the correct on the net. That sure made for some confusion in the southwest.

Some of my favorite answers:

14A: Phrase of interest (per annum). Actually, it's the clue that I like.

19A: Grapevine exhortation (pass it on). I kept thinking of the dancing raisins...actually considered I heard it as a possible answer.

4D: Prince William, e.g. (elder son).

10D: Products of some "mills" (rumors).

14D: Works with everyday objects (pop art).

29D: Cookout item usually eaten with two hands (spare rib). That always reminds me of a line from a vegetarian cookbook I had. It asked what pig ever said he didn't want all of his? Or something like that...maybe you had to be there.

Most disgusting word in the puzzle...1D: Sore spot (abscess). No visual on that one...I like having readers.

That's it for this one. Here's the grid...



...and I'll see you tomorrow.

Linda G