THURSDAY, May 13, 2010 — Gareth Bain

Theme: Anagrams! — The first words of the theme answers are all anagrams of one another.


Theme answers:

• 17A: Demonstrates sincere intentions (ACTS IN GOOD FAITH).
• 28A: Wonderful thing, in old slang (CAT'S PAJAMAS).
• 46A: Jazzy vocal style (SCAT SINGING).
• 57A: Stereotypical movie epic feature (CAST OF THOUSANDS).

I really enjoyed this puzzle. Nothing spectacular about the theme, but we're kind of getting used to that, right? But the theme answers themselves (with the exception of SCAT SINGING) are interesting and some of the fill is downright excellent. I don't remember ever seeing CRUD (14A: Filthy deposit) in a puzzle before. Now that's a great word. Kinda gross but not gross enough to disqualify it from the puzzle. It also gives me an idea. PuzzleDaughter has reported that PuzzleSon has recently started saying the word "crap," which she believes is inappropriate. I think I'll suggest CRUD as an alternative. Parenting at its finest, people.

I had a little trouble getting started up in the NW corner. For [1A: Be in a funk] I plopped in pout and, a nano-second later, thought "Oh cr…ud, I bet it's sulk." So I checked the crosses, got the M, the O, and the E relatively easy and thought moue? I know that a moue (which I keep mistyping as mouse) is a sulky expression so I thought okay, that's close enough. Then I misspelled TAI as tae (20A: __ chi), so 3D: "Shake!" looked like this:


I often have a lot of trouble reading the down answers (especially if they're more than one word) and have to write them out on paper horizontally so I can make sense of them. Sometimes when I do that, I see that I was right all along, I just hadn't parsed it correctly in its vertical position. Today? Not so much. It all worked itself out in the end though, so I've got that going for me.

Highlights:

• 10A: Capital south of Quito (LIMA). I just saw Cali in a puzzle recently, so I entered that without really thinking. Crosses set me straight.
• 22A: Like much junkyard metal (RUSTY). Also, certain tin rooves.



• 25A: Capital replaced by Abuja (LAGOS). It's a good day to know your world capitals!
• 35A: Work with notes (OPUS). Work in this case is a noun.

• 37A: Cosby often wore one on his show (SWEATER). Now that's an awesome clue if I've ever seen one.
• 48A: Long __ (JOHNS). So often plural answers are less than ideal because they're words that are actually said in the plural so infrequently. And then there's Long JOHNS. Nicely done!
• 64A: Capital of Oman (RIAL). Tricky! In this case, we're not looking for the capital city, but rather the currency.
• 65A: Ricky portrayer (DESI). I just now noticed that there are an awful lot of names in this puzzle. I don't usually notice because I love names in my puzzle. But those of you who don't are probably a little miffed.
• 4D: Paper heads, briefly (EDS.). Short for editors, who "head" newspapers.
• 28D: Jai alai basket (CESTA). We covered this in CW101 waaay back in February.

• 32D: Last-ditch bet (ALL IN). I don't love this clue. For terrible poker payers such as myself, yes, ALL IN is a last-ditch bet. For actual competent poker players, it's a bet with a specific purpose.
• 33D: Old-time comic Arnold (STANG). Ouch! Never heard of this guy!
• 48D: Martial artist co-star of "The Forbidden Kingdom" (JET LI). I get a kick out of it when a person's whole name is in the grid. I'm trying to think of who else we've seen that way: Amy Tan, Al Gore, who else?
• 58D: __ end: cloth remnant (FAG). Ne-Ever heard this phrase. If this were my puzzle, I probably would have clued it as the slang term for cigarette somehow (with any luck, more cleverly than "Slang term for cigarette.")

Crosswordese 101: I'm going to do something a little unorthodox in CW101 today. I want to talk about 9D: Composer Rorem (NED), but I actually want to focus on ROREM instead of Ned. There are an awful lot of Neds out there, but the only reason I know this particular Ned is because ROREM shows up as an answer occasionally. Ned ROREM is an American composer who won a Pulitzer Prize for "Air Music" in 1976. And that's pretty much what you need to remember about him for crossword puzzles.

Everything Else — 5A: 1979 sci-fi blockbuster (ALIEN); 15A: Gentle prod (NUDGE); 16A: "Trinity" novelist (URIS); 21A: At no time, to Bernhard (NIE); 23A: Assignment (TASK); 31A: Humanities degs. (MAS); 34A: Prefix with musicology (ETHNO-); 36A: Sea dog (SALT); 39A: Egg-cooking aid (SPATULA); 41A: Waterproof cover (TARP); 42A: "Zip-__-Doo-Dah" (A-DEE); 44A: Comic Cheech (MARIN); 45A: "Who __ You": 1978 album by The Who (ARE); 49A: Cause of reduced visibility (MIST); 50A: Draws back (SHIES); 53A: "In Treatment" network (HBO); 54A: Bustle (ADO); 62A: Either of a Monopoly pair: Abbr. (UTIL.); 63A: Informed (AWARE); 66A: Lose one's mind (GO MAD); 67A: Put on the canvas (KAYO); 1D: Aspiring MD's hurdle (MCAT); 2D: Black-and-white swimmer (ORCA); 3D: "Shake!" ("PUT IT THERE!"); 5D: Eight-time LPGA Player of the Year Sorenstam (ANNIKA); 6D: Downhill racer (LUGE); 7D: Words sealed with a kiss (I DO); 8D: Psyche part (EGO); 10D: Island bashes (LUAUS); 11D: It regulates the size of the pupil (IRIS); 12D: Specialized glove (MITT); 13D: Washed-out (ASHY); 18D: Joint that's jumping (IN SPOT); 19D: Bushy styles, for short (FROS); 24D: "I can do it with my eyes closed!" (A SNAP); 25D: Yorkie's perch (LAP); 26D: Tickles pink (AMUSES); 27D: [Horrors!] (GASP); 29D: Like Russia and Japan, for most of 1904-'05 (AT WAR); 30D: River crossed in Joshua (JORDAN); 31D: Senegal neighbor (MAURITANIA); 36D: Harts (STAGS); 38D: A pop (EACH); 40D: Prenatal tests, for short (AMNIOS); 43D: They're out of this world (ETS); 46D: Passable (SO-SO); 47D: Permeated (IMBUED); 50D: Gulf War missile (SCUD); 51D: Odium (HATE); 52D: Sister of Osiris (ISIS); 53D: "Hava Nagila" dance (HORA); 55D: Decisive '40s event (D-DAY); 56D: Nobel Institute site (OSLO); 59D: Thematic number on 61-Down (TWO); 60D: Scene stealer (HAM); 61D: Early craft (ARK).