THURSDAY, July 22, 2010Pete Muller

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Theme: Paper or Plastic — Theme answers are familiar phrases with the letters of the word PLASTIC hidden in them consecutively.


Theme answers:

• 17A: State of the Union, say (POLITICAL SPEECH).
• 25A: Military tradition (HOSPITAL CORNERS).
• 46A: Looney Tunes genre (SLAPSTICK COMEDY).
• 60A: Useful waste, what's literally hidden in 17-, 25- and 46-Across (RECYCLED PLASTIC).

Wow. This puzzle took me a good bit of time. The reveal answer was the last thing I was able to piece together, so the theme didn't help me a bit. Not sure if it would have anyway. I'll be interested to hear if the theme helped you guys at all. I had the most trouble in the Northern California area where the HUFFS / ORIEL / SIDRA collision took a while to sort out (25D: Blows / 26D: Cantilevered window / 27D: Libya's Gulf of __). I couldn't come up with ORIEL to save my life. I knew it was crosswordese but all I could think of was oxeye. And that's not a cantilevered window, in case you didn't know. Also it made the middle letter of the 33A: Sch. with a Narragansett Bay campus an X and I was pretty sure that wasn't right.

As I mentioned, the southeast corner also gave me some trouble. I had the RECYCLED part, but took a while to get PLASTIC. I had the poor Scots vacationing on the brae instead of the LOCH (64A: Scot's vacation site). Do Scots really vacation on LOCHs? Wade? You out there? I also had trouble with LIAISE which is just a horrible, horrible word (56A: Make a connection (with)). I don't have any problem with it showing up in the puzzle because it's a word that people actually use but honestly … they just shouldn't. Because did I mention it's horrible?

I had the opportunity to meet Pete Muller at the Crosswords L.A. tournament a couple months ago. He constructed one of the tournament puzzles and it was really fun. Also, his wife was super pregnant, so I'm guessing they have a bigger family at this point. So congratulations to the Mullers and thanks, Pete, for a tough puzzle today!

Other:

• 10A: '60s-'70s pitcher nicknamed Blue Moon (ODOM). Learned about him from crosswords.
• 34A: Odin's group (AESIR). This too.
• 36A: Word with mala or bona (FIDE). Not sure I've ever heard of mala FIDE before, but it means pretty much what you would think it means.
• 51A: Japanese golfer in the World Golf Hall of Fame (ISAO AOKI). He's crosswordese, but it's fun to see his whole name in the grid for a change.

• 67A: Sean's mom (YOKO). Me: "Should I know Sean Penn's mom?"
• 2D: Info (POOP). Heh heh. You said POOP.
• 4D: Alpine wear (SKI CAP). Tried ski hat at first.
• 7D: Jobs creation? (IMAC). I like this clue. "Jobs creation" is a phrase we're hearing a lot these days so the misdirection works well. (In this clue, Jobs refers to Steve Jobs.)
• 9D: Easy-Bake Oven maker (HASBRO). I remember my Easy-Bake Oven. I'm pretty sure I got it for my birthday the same year I got a Mrs. Beasley doll.
• 13D: Mineralogist Friedrich (MOHS). I was a little distressed that I needed to know a mineralogist, but I've actually heard of this guy. Or, at least I've heard of his scale.
• 19D: Standard partner (POORS). Something to do with the financial industry. Do they rate bonds? Something like that.
• 30D: Bivouac (ETAPE). As far as I'm concerned there's no excuse for this word to show up without it being clued in relation to the Tour de France. And I mean that in general, not just today. But especially today!

• 37D: Strike target (EMPLOYER). Again, with all the war talk we hear these days the misdirection on this clue totally worked on me.
• 48D: Like five per cent, to a server (MEASLY). I can't say as I've ever left a 5% tip, but I would if the service was measly.

Crosswordese 101: TALIA Shire (18D: Two-time Oscar nominee Shire) is an actress who played Connie in the "Godfather" movies and Adrian in the "Rocky" movies. Clues for TALIA will always include one of the following words: actress, co-star, Shire, Sylvester, Sly, Rocky, or Godfather.

Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:

• 5A: Silly (APISH).
• 33A: Sch. with a Narragansett Bay campus (URI).
• 51A: Japanese golfer in the World Golf Hall of Fame (ISAO AOKI).
• 26D: Cantilevered window (ORIEL).

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Everything Else — 1A: NASDAQ debuts (IPO'S); 14A: Attic-dweller of '70s-'80s TV (MORK); 15A: Home of a mythical lion (NEMEA); 16A: Admonition to Nanette? (NO NO); 20A: Miniature surveillance gadget (SPY CAM); 21A: Rear ends of a sort (CABOOSES); 22A: What there oughta be (A LAW); 24A: Skirmish (ROW); 35A: Tuned to (SET AT); 38A: Works in a Catalonian museum (DALIS); 40A: Classico competitor (RAGU); 41A: Element 100 eponym (FERMI); 43A: Betty Crocker salad topping (BACOS); 45A: Crosswalk sign word (PED); 49A: Eastern tongue (LAO); 50A: It might be a close call (SAFE); 62A: Leafy veggie (KALE); 63A: Merge (UNITE); 65A: Insult (SLUR); 66A: Try to persuade, with "with" (PLEAD); 1D: Troublemakers (IMPS); 3D: French touchdown site (ORLY); 5D: Like many short films (ANIMATED); 6D: Workout target (PEC); 8D: "The Fugitive" actress Ward (SELA); 10D: Used car selling point (ONE OWNER); 11D: Performs (DOES); 12D: Singly (ONCE); 23D: Horseradish relative (WASABI); 28D: Not a deep purple (LILAC); 29D: Pains in the neck (CRICKS); 31D: Wreaked havoc, as a battle (RAGED); 32D: Prepare, in a way (STUDY); 39D: Of questionable repute (SO-CALLED); 42D: First name in sci-fi (ISAAC); 44D: Balkan capital (SOFIA); 47D: Install needed equipment (TOOL UP); 51D: Nettles (IRKS); 52D: Sea World clapper (SEAL); 53D: First Amendment advocacy gp. (ACLU); 54D: __ Ration (KEN-L); 55D: Romeo's last words (I DIE); 57D: "Am __ late?" (I TOO); 58D: Twisted (SICK); 59D: Comeback (ECHO); 61D: Harper Valley org. (PTA).