2.06.2010

SATURDAY, February 6, 2010—Barry C. Silk



THEME: No theme today—It's a themeless/freestyle puzzle

It's late Friday night and I'm sleepy, so let's get right down to it.

No, 29A: ["Sands of Iwo Jima" director Allan] DWAN is not all that famous. If you did not know this name, you aren't alone.

Highlights:
  • 8A: [Milky Way cousin] (MARS BAR). Our Milky Way bar is called a Mars bar in other countries, and what used to be our Mars bar became the Snickers Almond. One of my most favoritest candy bars!
  • 36A: [Phase in which the moon's right half is mostly visible in the Northern Hemisphere] (WAXING GIBBOUS). This is by far the grooviest of all moon-related terms.
  • 38A: ["Franny and Zooey" author] (SALINGER). Oh, how timely, as J.D. Salinger just passed away.
  • 47A: [Genre of the 1963 hit "Wipe Out"] (SURF). The Surfaris!



  • 8D: [Luxury car with a trident emblem] (MASERATI). Anyone in my generation thinks of Joe Walsh when they hear the word "Maserati."


  • 12D: [Leader played by Rod Steiger in the 1981 Libyan film "Lion of the Desert"] (BENITO MUSSOLINI). Wow, who knew there could be an '80s movie clue for BENITO MUSSOLINI?
  • 37D: [2008 Steve Carell film based on a '60s sitcom] (GET SMART). My kid enjoyed the movie.
Crosswordese 101: Ah, long-form crosswordese! Today we have the classic crossword answer IMARETS, or 17A: Turkish travel shelters. Typical clues for the IMARET start with Turkish or Istanbul and end with hostel, inn, or hospice. Halfway rhymes with minaret.

See you Wednesday.

Everything Else — 1A: Where some colonies are studied (ANT FARM); 8A: Milky Way cousin (MARS BAR); 15A: "Ditto" ("SO HAVE I"); 16A: Eisenhower library site (ABILENE); 17A: Turkish travel shelters (IMARETS); 18A: Año's 52 (SEMANAS); 19A: Final touch on a letter? (DOT); 20A: Stretched (CRANED); 22A: Weaken (WILT); 23A: While beginning (ERST); 25A: River to the Baltic (ODER); 26A: TV host Pennington et al. (TYS); 27A: Mail-order pioneer (SEARS); 29A: "Sands of Iwo Jima" director Allan (DWAN); 31A: Creep (BOZO); 32A: Word with bar or god (TIKI); 34A: Carnegie associates (STEELMEN); 36A: Phase in which the moon's right half is mostly visible in the Northern Hemisphere (WAXING GIBBOUS); 38A: "Franny and Zooey" author (SALINGER); 39A: Scraps (ROWS); 40A: Energy company founder Halliburton (ERLE); 41A: Initial step, metaphorically (A TO B); 43A: Passover month (NISAN); 46A: Old Eastern capital (EDO); 47A: Genre of the 1963 hit "Wipe Out" (SURF); 49A: Extent of damage (TOLL); 50A: Hair line? (PART); 52A: Auto debut of 1958 (IMPALA); 54A: Practiced profession (LAW); 55A: Pyrenees republic (ANDORRA); 57A: Cold War link (HOTLINE); 59A: Emblem of power (SCEPTER); 60A: "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" star (MORANIS); 61A: Most clipped (TERSEST); 62A: T.E. Lawrence, for one (ARABIST); 1D: Spoken thoughts, in a way (ASIDES); 2D: "Enough!" ("NO MORE!"); 3D: "You may be asking too much" ("THAT'S A TALL ORDER"); 4D: Successful way to go? (FAR); 5D: Paris preposition (AVEC); 6D: In again (RETRO); 7D: Get a wrong number (MISADD); 8D: Luxury car with a trident emblem (MASERATI); 9D: Retired (ABED); 10D: Volcano part (RIM); 11D: Potluck dish (SLAW); 12D: Leader played by Rod Steiger in the 1981 Libyan film "Lion of the Desert" (BENITO MUSSOLINI); 13D: Breaks down (ANALYZES); 14D: Leans against, perhaps (RESTS ON); 21D: Usenet message repository (NEWS GROUP); 24D: "The Honeymooners" role (TRIXIE); 28D: Pelt (SKIN); 30D: First st. to join the Union after the end of the Civil War (NEBR.); 31D: Mess up (BLOW IT); 33D: Co-worker of Igor and Frau Bl¸cher in "Young Frankenstein" (INGA); 35D: Dark, in verse (EBON); 36D: Pre-combat ritual (WAR DANCE); 37D: 2008 Steve Carell film based on a '60s sitcom (GET SMART); 38D: Overlook, as a fault (SEE PAST); 42D: Hindu god of creation (BRAHMA); 44D: Self-titled 1991 debut album (ALANIS); 45D: Padres' div. (NL WEST); 48D: Stun (FLOOR); 51D: Lids (TOPS); 52D: Gets hot (IRES); 53D: Popular blade (ATRA); 56D: U.S. 101, for one (RTE.); 58D: Research facility (LAB).

19 comments:

shrub5 said...

This puzzle was difficult for me so had to google a few times (NISAN, DWAN, NEWSGROUP) to get out of an impasse.

I made a silly error by entering WAXING GIBBONS instead of GIBBOUS. Hey, maybe there's a future for that in a puzzle with an N for U letter substitution theme: primates removing unwanted hair? Anyway, the U in MUSSOLINI showed me my mistake.

Creep is not the same as BOZO, IMHO.

Had a lot of fun with this challenging Barry Silk puzzle.

Anonymous said...

Cincinnati is snowed in but not as bad as in the eastern part of the US. No newspaper delivery this morning and how can one start their day without the LAT cw - thankful for the internet. Stay warm all you folks snowed in.

sjok said...

Actually, the theme could be "bad and virtually unknown books and movies". I agree that "creep" and bozo are not synonymous.

"All languages tend to clear themselves of synonyms as intellectual culture advances, the superfluous words being taken up and appropriated by new shades and combinations of thought evolved in the progress of society." --De Quincey.

Also "Tiki" is a polynesian word for a God or statue of a God. So "Tiki God" is equivalent to "God God" - not great language.

Sfingi said...

@Shrub5 - I hope you didn't wax the gibbons with the hair remover stuff!
You could spell out a team name.

@Anon803 - No snow here, except the old stuff. We're way undersnowed. It's a balmy 22. I expect my Baltimore sister is snowed in.

This puzzle was beyond difficult. My problem areas:
1. Movies I've never seen or never want to see - Honey I Blew Up the Kid, Get Smart remake, Sands of Iwo Jima
2. Movies or shows I hope never to see again - The Honeymooners, Young Frankenstein
3. Things I've never heard of - Ty Pennington, Halliburton's first name, the Spanish word for week, NEWSGROUP,
4. Things I should finally learn - Hebrew months, rivers that dump into the Baltic, symbols of cars, where presidential libraries are, tiny countries
5. Things I couldn't even find Googling - The first state to be readmitted to the Union
6. Clues that I still don't get- initial step = ATOB

There were some cute ones - WARDANCE, ANTFARM
And groaners - IRE

CrazyCat said...

Quite a struggle for me. Well now I know Lawrence of Arabia's first name - or at least his initials. Took me forever to get A TO B. I think I hate those A TO Z and A TO B answers. Wanted Pelt to have something to do with pelting someone, never thought of SKIN until I accidentally got it through the crosses. Never heard of DWAN or IMARET.
ERLE, SEMANAS, NISAN and ANDORRA led to Googles galore. I did know IMPALA - my dad had a red IMPALA convertible. Also knew ABILENE since I remembered that Ike was from TX and had the A in place.
@Shub 5 - The visual of WAXING GIBBONS had me LMAO. OK I'm ready for a MARS BAR.

Tinbeni said...

Pot-of-Coffee, a doobie would have been nice.

Yesterday it was Farm Dweller (ant), which got me ANT FARM today.
I knew the MASERATI has a trident emblem.
Being a former accountant the MIS ADD and ANALYZES were almost gimmies.
ANDORRA, ALANIS, MORANIS, a few others, then I hit a wall. No traction as I struggled bit by bit.

@Crazycatlady - I believe the ABILENE library site is in Kansas.

I agree with @Sfingi, this was not a fun solve.

RES and ATRA, always welcomed answers.
OK, maybe that is a little sarcastic.
Somehow my favorite critique word OBTUSE should be in here somewhere, but I doubt it would matter. JMHO

Mr.Silk: Intelligent doesn't mean educated, and Creative doesn't mean talented.

@Orange - Thank you for the two wonderful clips.
The CW101 IMARETS will not defeat me next time.

Tinbeni said...

oops, I meant the wonderful answer: IRES
Yup, IT IS my all time favorite.

BOZO may be a clown.
But not all creeps are bozo's.
A lousy clue.

And my Word Verification:
"Tesions" may be 'A Long Essay Test?'

lit.doc said...

Good thing I did the NYT puzzle first. Low expectations, but. "WTF" does not equal "fun". I'm with @Sfingi re beyond difficult. "Gibbous"? C'mon. I mean, really.

CrazyCat said...

@Tinbeni - Toto I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.
You are right. I guess then it was a lucky guess on my part. If the clue had mentioned Kansas I would have never written in ABILENE. Thanks!

chefbea said...

Tough puzzle today. Googled a lot and then came here to finish. (think I said the same thing for the NYT)

Sorry I missed yesterday's puzzle - I saw that i was in it!!

Going to meet some of the bloggers for dinner in Westport in a few hours. Had too much to do today to take part in the tournament.

Anonymous said...

What is waxing gibbous? At least not shoveling snow here got to a high of 74, but has dropped to a cool 60. Really feel sorry for you mid-atlantic staters. Don't hurt your back shoveling. Golfballman.

gespenst said...

Phases of the moon:
New Moon (nothing to see)
Waxing Crescent (less than half, getting bigger)
First Quarter (half moon-"right side")
Waxing Gibbous (more than half, getting bigger)
Full Moon
Waning Gibbous (more than half, getting smaller)
Last Quarter (half moon-"left side")
Waning Crescent (less than half getting smaller)
New Moon

I learned that a LLLOOOOOONNNNNGGGG time ago, and it comes in handy every so often.

NOT a fun puzzle ... I finally managed to get most of it, but it was painful. Still missing the NW corner until I googled. I should have gotten RETRO but didn't, ditto MISADD. And later realized I goofed on ATOB (A-to-B) and had "ATOE" like putting your first toe in the water. Of course ERAHMA makes a heck of a lot less sense than BRAHMA, lmbo.

But, at least it was a Saturday puzzle, and I used to make *no* headway on Saturdays (well, until the Great Dumbing Down of 2009, that is). So I don't feel so bad.

Used to seeing ERLE as the detective writer ;) so Halliburton was an interesting switch up.

*David* said...

This puzzle deserves a lot more love. This was a well crafted piece of work. Great mix of general knowledge and words. I had one hang up in the NW where I put in ANT HILL and erased it and didn't know what else to put in for a while. If it wasn't for MISADD this one would be a 10!

Anonymous said...

David, this was a piece of crap.
You missed the ant farm and misadd, oh, I bet you had benito right off the cuff.
Arabist is general knowledge? BTW I know who TE Lawerance is, but the term used is stupid.
Of course your an Americanist?

Crap all over the place.

B. Silk said...

Ahhhhh, General Knowledge.
Imarets
Waxing Gibbous, weatherman uses it
Semanas
Nisan
Nebr (an everyday abbr.?)
Brahma (Hindu Gods are well known?)
Erle, everybody knows Halliburton's first name.
Maserati, we all have one
Avec, I speak french
Benito Mussolini, Avatar just passed it in Box Office
Tersest, use it everyday
Andorra, my favorite vacation destination
Inga, the real star of the movie
Oder, mightier than the Mississippi

And the best general knowledge clue:

DWAN, is there anyone who doesn't know this director's last name?

Sfingi said...

@Gespenst - Thanx for the moon phase explanation. All I remember is the New England branch plant their veggies based on moon phases.

Your point about making no headway previously on the Saturdays is well taken. I've been on almost a year and have indeed learned a lot, and want to kick myself when I forget an old clue reused.

I learned today much about Halliburton, when I Googled him. Before, I thought it was just a creation of the monster, (and, unfortunately for me, cousin) Cheney. Erle seems like he was a poor and clever fellow who deserved his success.
I learned where Ike's library is and saw a picture of it.

So, Mr. Silk, the stars didn't come out today, for you or for me, but the puzzle was well built, but just too hard for me at this point. Feel free to return in a few weeks.

*David* said...

@BSilk

Let's look at your list:

IMARETS-I didn't know it got it through crosses

GIBBOUS is one of the moon cycles along with Crescent, Half and Full it either waxes or wanes

SEMANAS-spanish most of us took two years of it in high school

BRAHMA-Had a couple of crosses and remembered BRAHMINS from the Indian caste system

MASERATI-I had the I what car company ends with I?

AVEC-Crossword 101

BENITO MUSSOLINI-Had NI SSOL NI, not too difficult to fill in the rest

TERSEST-anything which is most is EST a couple of crosses and...

ANDORRA is the only country fully in the Pyranees a gimme

INGA-heck who hasn't watched Young Frankenstein and seen INGA as a teenager and oogled at her

ODER-Crossword 101 easy fill

DWAN-who the hell is that?

Independently answers may look difficult but that's what the crosses are there for. Sorry this was a great puzzle, you need to step up your game.

gespenst said...

@David - must be nice being better than the rest of us ;)

Do you think that the rest of us don't realize that crosses can help you? Problem w/ relying on crosses is when you get two words you don't know crossing each other ... so crosses don't *always* help.

But thanks for playing ;)

@Sfingi - glad I wasn't the only one :) - interesting cousin you have, too ;)

Ruth said...

I went out of my way to find this crossword today because Barry Silks are always challenging and fun. This was no exception. Thanks! I did look at the Turkish Hostel thing and think "Damn! That word again! When will I ever learn it!" But it emerged. Maybe I've got it down now.