W E D N E S D A Y September 29, 2010 Dan Naddor

Theme: An increase in the number of outstanding shares of a corporation without changing the shareholders' equity — Theme answers are two word phrases that split the word "stock", either as STO__ ___CK or as ST___ __OCK.


Theme answers:

• 18A: Hurricane Zone (STORM TRACK).
• 20A: Unflappable (STEADY AS A ROCK).
  
• 33A: "Time out!" (STOP THE CLOCK).
• 42A: Dismay at the dealer (STICKER SHOCK).
• 56A: Sprinter's device (STARTING BLOCK).
  
• 60A: Sign of corporate success, and a literal hint to the puzzle theme found in 18-, 20-, 33-, 42- and 56-Across (STOCK SPLIT).

PuzzleGirl has been called away again today. You remember that Women's Masters Wrestling Tournament all-star team she was on? Well, the tournament wasn't aired live. But the tape-delayed broadcast/highlights show will be on today, so she's got local news interviews all morning. (You might be able to find the tournament on cable, especially if you get a package with a lot of channels.) She asked me to fill in. I'm SethG.

We get Dan Naddor today, another of what must be a rapidly dwindling pile on Rich's desk. And it's typical Naddor with (mostly) solid fill and high theme density. Six entries is a lot, and not many constructors can get away with stacking them. Theme entries are all solid, though the STO---OCK form of STOP THE CLOCK is all that stands between me and a complaint that only one entry (STORM TRACK) did not end with OCK after the split...

Bullets:

• 5A: Floater with a ladder (RAFT). Yes, this is accurate.
  
• 17A: Ringing sound (DONG). DONG is a ringing sound when CHUB is a 44D: Thick-bodied fish.
  
• 24A: ___ in November (NAS). If PuzzleGirl were here, this would be a video fer sher.
• 40A: "M*A*S*H" role (RADAR). If PuzzleGirl were here, this would be a picture fer sher.
• 3D: Some Musée d'Orsay works (MANETS). M_NETS, wait for the cross.
  
• 11D: Writer Dinesen (ISAK). Of Out of Africa and Babette's Feast fame.
  
• 30D: Mardi Gras city's Amtrak code (NOL). That's a long way to go to avoid the former President of the Khmer Republic, Lon Nol.
• 33D: Wallop (SOCK). While the theme is STOCK SPLIT, it's also necessarily a SOCK split. Darn.
  
• 35D: "That's a riot—not" (HA-HA).
  
  
  
  
• 43D: Negotiated white water, perhaps (KAYAKED). Also [Negotiated calm waters, perhaps].
  
• 47D: One vis-à-vis two (SOONER). On a number line, or a clock which is not stopped. Compare with 58D: Prime-time time (NINE).
  
• 48D: Oregon State's conf. (PAC TEN) will become the PAC-12 when Utah and Colorado join soon. Constructors, start working it out of your systems now, because the cluing's generally awkward enough without a "Bygone" indicator.
  
• 57D: Freq. test giver (TCHR). Where to begin? This is awful, maybe the worst abbreviation I've seen. It's in a dictionary, so it's accurate, but that just makes me question the dictionary. If you Google TCHR you don't get the NEA, you get the Tamil Centre for Human Rights. The second entry? Is in Polish (though I'm proud I picked that up by just looking at the language). Next up? Texas Commission on Human Rights.
  
  In college I used a kind of shorthand, generally taking notes with no vowels. I'm glad I wasn't an Education major, because I think I would not have been able to bring myself to write this.
  

Crosswordese 101: Did they not get to TKO yet? It's not on the list. A TKO is when the ref stops the fight because one of the fighters can't go on. The clue will reference boxing, either a fight, some specific boxers, a three-letter-acronym with a B in the middle, or today's 32D: Bout stopper, for short.

PuzzleGirl's back tomorrow.
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