THURSDAY, April 15, 2010 — Nancy Salomon

Theme: Tax Day — Theme answers are familiar phrases that end with a word associated with tax documents.


Theme answers:

• 17A: Doing what's just not done (IN BAD FORM).
• 29A: You can't go back from it (POINT OF NO RETURN).
• 49A: Early (AHEAD OF SCHEDULE).
• 65A: Subbing, and taxpayer's responsibility vis-à-vis the ends of 17-, 29- and 49-Across (FILLING IN).

I thought this puzzle was a lot of fun. It's funny though. The other day when I was thinking about the fact that I was going to blog the April 15 puzzle, I thought to myself "I hope it's not a Tax Day theme. I mean, how depressing is that?" But then when I was actually solving the puzzle, I didn't even catch onto the theme until I got to the reveal. There were a few answers that felt a lot like clunkers to me (PLUG UGLY? That doesn't even seem like the right part of speech to me (41D: Thug).) I don't believe I've ever heard of USIA, although now that I look it up, United States Information Agency seems like it should be back there in the cobwebs somewhere (69A: Former VOA overseer). I do, however, know what the NTSB is (National Transportation Safety Board (72A: Crash site investigator: Abbr.)), but I'm just not thrilled about having those two government agencies smooshed together down there in southern Texas.

But now that we've gotten that out of the way, I will say that I love the clue for HI MOM (9A: Greeting often requiring lip-reading). FOR FUN and DID NOT are fresh and appealing grid entries (52D: On a lark / 54D: Terse childish denial). And anything that brings to mind Carlos Santana is AOK in my book. (4D: Medicine man (SHAMAN)). Overall, I felt like this puzzle really flowed. There was a bit of crosswordese here and there, but it felt more helpful than overwhelming to me today for some reason. Good stuff.


Crosswordese 101: John Hersey won a Pulitzer prize in 1945 for his novel "A Bell for ADANO." The setting for the novel is ADANO, a fictional Italian town (or village) that was visited by Major Joppolo. If you can remember all that, you'll have no trouble recognizing a clue for ADANO the next time you see it.

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

• 57A: Dickens pen name (BOZ).
• 70A: Spicy Spanish stew (OLLA).
• 71A: "Awake and Sing!" playwright (ODETS).
• 53D: "The Time Machine" race (ELOI).

Everything Else — 1A: NYPD alerts (APBS); 5A: Disdainful upperclassman? (SNOB); 14A: Jacob's first wife (LEAH); 15A: Numerical prefix (OCTA)-; 16A: Hersey's bell town (ADANO); 19A: Sank in a cup (HOLED); 20A: Citi Field NLer (NY MET); 21A: Crunch targets (ABS); 23A: 26-Across supply (ICE); 24A: Cupid's master? (SANTA); 26A: Place where liquor flows freely? (OPEN BAR); 32A: Museum pieces (ART); 33A: Paid player (PRO); 34A: Elastic wood (YEW); 35A: Not for neatniks (MESSY); 38A: Sphere (ORB); 40A: March honoree, briefly (ST. PAT); 44A: Many a lap dog (TOY); 46A: Stereo jack letters (MIC); 48A: Fish story (LIE); 55A: Way back when (LONG AGO); 56A: Vincent's successor as baseball commissioner (SELIG); 58A: Tattoo site (ARM); 60A: Part of MO (MODUS); 62A: Tennyson work (IDYLL); 68A: Where Hercules slew a lion (NEMEA); 73A: Little shaver (TYKE); 1D: Three-time '60s-'70s heavyweight champ (ALI); 2D: Quakers of the Ivy League (PENN); 3D: Watches for money (BABYSITS); 5D: Convertible type (SOFT TOP); 6D: Cpl. or sgt. (NCO); 7D: __ vez: again, to Alonso (OTRA); 8D: Shoots in a forest? (BAMBOO); 9D: "Gotcha!" ("HAH!"); 10D: Marriage agreement (I DO); 11D: Pricey Southern California beachfront city (MALIBU); 12D: Like some garages (ONE-CAR); 13D: Contemporary (MODERN); 18D: Unwelcome impression (DENT); 22D: Agile (SPRY); 25D: High style (AFRO); 27D: Wide shoe markings (EEES); 28D: Cereal box abbr. (NT. WT.); 29D: Dawber who played Mindy (PAM); 30D: Miner's matter (ORE); 31D: Benchmarks (NORMS); 36D: Unaccompanied (STAG); 37D: "Ready are you? What know you of ready?" speaker (YODA); 39D: Popular pens (BICS); 42D: Affect adversely (AIL); 43D: Links launching point (TEE); 45D: Tranquil discipline (YOGA); 47D: Site of many a student experiment (CHEM LAB); 49D: Lacking pigment (ALBINO); 50D: Like some sweatshirts (HOODED); 51D: Digestion aid (ENZYME); 59D: Niagara Falls feature (MIST); 61D: Epitome of smoothness (SILK); 63D: Certain do-over (LET); 64D: Scale syllables (LAS); 66D: Fleur-de-__ (LIS); 67D: Scottish refusal (NAE).