03.04 Fri

F R I D A Y
March 4, 2011
Matt Matera

Theme: Breakfast Puns — That's right, breakfast puns.

Theme answers:

• 20A: Halloween breakfast pastry? (CREEPY CRULLER).
• 33A: Lone breakfast pastry? (CRUMPET SOLO).
• 42A: Cherished breakfast pastry? (THE BUN I LOVE).
• 56A: Ones hooked on breakfast pastry? (THE SCONEHEADS).

Now this puzzle right here? This is what I'm talking about. I enjoyed this puzzle from start to finish. Part of that felt very personal to me — several entries brought to mind private jokes and nice or humorous memories — so I'll be interested to hear what you all think.

The puns are … puns. Nothing really notable there. They're not horrible and they're not fantastic (although, now that I think about it, "fantastic pun" might be an oxymoron). But the cluing is really, really good and the grid is full of sparkly entries like:

• 8A: Like some Disneyland passes (TWO-DAY).
• 11D: Gallantry (DERRING-DO).
• 35D: In one piece (UNSCATHED).
• 44D: Endangered great apes (BONOBOS).

Derring-do! How awesome is that?!

Oh, I also wanted to mention that I met Matt Matera at last year's awesome Lollapuzzoola tournament. The only problem is that I also met Matt Besse and I'm not sure which of them is which. So I asked our good friend Doug P. about it and it turns out he has the same problem. Our conversation went kinda like this.

Doug: He's a Ryan and Brian guy. I might have met him last year.
Me: Yeah, me too. I think I follow him on Twitter.
Doug: Red Sox cap, right?
Me: Yeah.
Doug: Wait, I think that's Matt Besse. Matt Matera is joon's friend, I'm almost positive.
Me: So Red Sox cap guy isn't Matera?
Doug: Well, he might be.

The problem was only compounded when I did a Google image search for Matt Matera and one of the images that popped up was … Matt Gaffney, a puzzle constructor extraordinaire who also works with Matt Jones. At that same moment, a message arrived in my inbox from the Cruciverb.com mailing list from … Matt Ginsberg. All these Matts around, of course, can only mean one thing: Big Ten Wrestling Championships this weekend! (HAha. Like you care.)

In conclusion, DERRING-DO!

Bullets:

• 1A: The word? (MUM). My first thought? GREASE.
• 15A: __ bene (NOTA). I had a little trouble here. It's the same trouble I always have, confusing "NOTA bene" with "nolo contendre." Two entirely different things, by the way.

• 16A: It may involve an exaggerated age (FAKE I.D.). This one was really hard for me because I've never really heard of FAKE I.D.s. Oh my gosh, I see they're used by underage kids to gain access to bars. Why, that's illegal and those kids must be awful. Glad I never did that. (Hi, Mom.)
• 39A: Igloos and yurts (ABODES). "Yurts" is fun to say.
• 60A: Type of sauce served with falafel (TAHINI). As if "falafel."
• 63A: Homework amount? (TON). Love this clue. Who hasn't said, "Oh my God, I have a TON of homework tonight"?
• 64A: Puck's king (OBERON). From Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
• 65A: "Dulce et Decorum est" poet Wilfred __ (OWEN). That O was the last letter I entered into the grid. The poem's title? The author's name? No brain cells firing at all on this one.

• 5D: Michael's nemesis on "The Office" (TOBY). Ha! I haven't watched "The Office" in a while due to DVR issues. I'm still mad that we got rid of TiVo and the new DVR makes me so irritated that I can't get it to work right. Anyway. I had to think through a few characters — JIM? ANDY? — before I got to TOBY.
• 9D: Half a city (WALLA). WALLA WALLA was a theme entry in the first puzzle I ever created and submitted to Will Shortz. With that rejection, as PuzzleMom reminded me, I joined a very big club.
• 26D: Prelate's title: Abbr. (RT. REV.). See, if you're gonna have an abbreviation in the grid, it should be an awesome abbreviation like this one.

• 30D: Actors Rogen and Green (SETHS). Hi, Seth!
• 34D: Clinton Treasury secretary (RUBIN). I confidently entered REICH here. Was he a Treasury secretary too? Nope, he was Clinton's Secretary of Labor. But he is an economist, so I think I'm forgiven for the mistsake.
• 47D: Baseball star who reportedly said, "I think there's a sexiness in infield hits" (ICHIRO). Personally, I think the 6-4-3 double play is the sexiest play in baseball.
• 55D: Rachel Maddow's station (MSNBC). Speaking of sexy. Love her! Here's a great clip from a recent show of hers. It's not political at all, so it shouldn't be offensive to anyone.

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 12D: River island (AIT).
• 36D: Award with a Sustained Achievement category (OBIE).

[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter.]

Everything Else — 4A: You might need to watch yours (STEP); 14A: Downed (ATE); 17A: With 19-Across, serious warnings (RED); 18A: Not much (A BIT); 19A: See 17-Across (ALERTS); 23A: 1938 "The War of the Worlds" broadcast, for one (HOAX); 24A: Keystone enforcer (KOP); 25A: Blazing (AFIRE); 28A: Go-aheads (ASSENTS); 32A: __'acte (ENTR); 37A: Garden product word (GRO); 38A: Attacks (RUNS AT); 41A: Sch. attendance notation (ABS.); 46A: End of a boast (VICI); 48A: Got for nothing (SPONGED); 49A: Make official (ENACT); 51A: Newspaper supply (INK); 52A: Islamic leader (IMAM); 62A: Gaucho's weapon (BOLA); 66A: Flow out (EBB); 67A: Henry VIII et al. (TUDORS); 68A: Hitch (SNAG); 69A: Wall St. monitor (SEC); 1D: Orderly movement (MARCH); 2D: Nirvana #1 album "In __" (UTERO); 3D: Scorned lover of Jason (MEDEA); 4D: Lose it (SNAP); 6D: Boarding pass generator (E-TICKET); 7D: Sponsors (PATRONS); 8D: Brand of nonstick cookware (T-FAL); 10D: Michael of "Caddyshack" (O'KEEFE); 13D: NFL stat (YDS.); 21D: Show-what-you-know chances (EXAMS); 22D: Machinating (UP TO); 27D: Unevenly worn (EROSE); 29D: Cross words (SPAT); 31D: Big gun or big cheese (SLANG); 33D: Desire and then some (CRAVE); 40D: "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," for one (OLDIE); 43D: Broad (EPIC); 45D: x, at times (UNKNOWN); 50D: Caruso, for one (TENOR); 53D: A couple (MATES); 54D: Acrobat developer (ADOBE); 57D: Serious lapses (SINS); 58D: Zeno's home (ELEA); 59D: Dangle (HANG); 60D: Tater __ (TOT); 61D: __ Simbel, site of Ramses II temples (ABU).

T H U R S D A Y October 14, 2010 Matt Matera

Theme: YES!— Each theme answer starts with the word yes in a different language.


Theme answers:

• 1A: *Hip-hopper who married Beyoncé (German) (JAY-Z).
• 20A: *Old stories (English) (YESTERDAY'S NEWS).
• 28A: *Inferred cosmic substance (Russian) (DARK MATTER).
• 44A: *Séance device (French) (OUIJA BOARD).
• 51A: *Fatal problem in Genesis (Spanish) (SIBLING RIVALRY).
• 66A: Parliamentary votes, or what appears at the starts of the answers to starred clues (YEAS).

Before we get started I just wanted to let you all know about a crossword app that's been around for a while but has a pretty cool deal going right now where you can get a bundle of 20 Onion puzzles for just $1.99. For those of you who haven't tried the Onion puzzles, I would say they're high-quality, they're generally not super tough, and they tend to be a little on the "edgy" side. I've never tried the app, but I've heard it's awesome on the iPad. I think I'll download the free version to check it out on my iPhone and I'll report back. With the paid version, I've been told you get "all the best puzzles in the known universe." And I got that from a very reliable source. In the meantime, though, please check out the deal and let us know if you try it.

Did any of you have the same reaction I did when you first started this puzzle? "What the heck is German about JAY-Z?!" That was enough to send me looking for the theme (I don't always do that) and it turned out to be a big help.

Bullets:

• 10A: Delhi wrap (SARI). I always get tricked by this clue. I always think they're talking about the sandwich-type wrap, which is weird because I've always thought the whole "wrap" thing sounded pretentious so I don't know why I think about it so much.
• 16A: Green Zone site (IRAQ). I misread this clue as "Green Zone SIGHT" and thought IRAQ was a really bad answer. (It is, however, a prefectly fine answer for the actual clue.)
• 19A: Things you saw while out? (LOGS). I got it right away that "out" was referring to sleep, but I thought the answer would be "dreams," which obviously didn't fit. It didn't occur to me that there might be two tricky words in the clue!
• 33A: Mythological ride (CARPET).



• 35A: Derisive cry (YAH). Not sure in what context this "cry" would be used derisively. Making fun of the accents in "Fargo"?
• 42A: Body art, in slang (TAT). I'm glad we're able to clue TAT as TATtoos now, instead of relying on the old "making lace" definition.

• 49A: "Dagnabit!" ("RATS!"). Excellent exclamations.
• 58A: Colombia neighbor (PERU). And you know what country is also a neighbor of PERU? That's right ... CHI-CHI-CHI! LE-LE-LE!
• 61A: Animal shelter (LAIR). When I see the word LAIR I always picture a cave in my mind. And I don't think there's any way I'll ever picture a cave again without thinking about those miners. I have a feeling we're going to be seeing a lot of those guys over the next several days and weeks. (As Andy Borowitz tweeted yesterday morning: "Post-traumatic experts say it could be days before the Chilean miners appear on Dancing with the Stars.")
• 7D: Org. with rovers (NASA). I wanted this to be about dogs.
• 9D: Handel bars? (MESSIAH). Cute clue.

• 10D: '20s White House nickname (SILENT CAL). Calvin Coolidge. Not real wordy as far as presidents go.
• 31D: Actress Durance who plays Lois on "Smallville" (ERICA). This seems obscure to me. Has she been in anything else?
• 37D: TV princess (XENA). Hi, Doug.

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 14A: Movie apiarist (ULEE).
• 18A: Brewers' kilns (OASTS).
• 56D: Flightless bird (RHEA).

[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter.]

Everything Else — 5A: Sturdy fabric (DENIM); 15A: Like sandalwood leaves (OVATE); 17A: Gets into (DONS); 23A: "Paris, je t'__": 2006 film (AIME); 24A: Charged particle (ION); 25A: Nashville awards gp. (CMA); 36A: Pivotal part (CRUX); 38A: Bug, perhaps (ERROR); 39A: Hottie (FOX); 40A: Easternmost state (MAINE); 41A: "Don't touch that __!" (DIAL); 43A: High-speed raptor (FALCON); 47A: Former World No. 1 tennis player Ivanovic (ANA); 48A: With 6-Down, one in fear of an audit (TAX); 59A: Funnel-shaped (CONED); 60A: Architect Mies van der __ (ROHE); 62A: Gather (AMASS); 63A: Intuited (KNEW); 64A: About (OR SO); 65A: Greet respectfully (BOW TO); 1D: Kids' author Blume (JUDY); 2D: Succulent plant (ALOE); 3D: Dieters may fight them (YENS); 4D: Keebler cracker (ZESTA); 5D: Pushover (DOORMAT); 6D: See 48-Across (EVADER); 8D: __-bitty (ITTY); 11D: ... ducks in __ (A ROW); 12D: Poverty, in metaphor (RAGS); 13D: Brightness nos. (IQ'S); 21D: Down source (EIDER); 22D: "Kidding!" ("NOT!"); 25D: Included in the e-mail chain (CC'ED); 26D: Video game plumber (MARIO); 27D: Pianist Claudio (ARRAU); 29D: Honshu city (KYOTO); 30D: Top limit (MAX); 32D: Bad sentence (RUN-ON); 34D: Former Kremlin policymaker (POLITBURO); 39D: Terrif (FAB); 40D: Former sketch comedy that used Don Martin cartoons (MAD TV); 42D: Hailed ride (TAXICAB); 43D: "I wish 'twere otherwise" ("'FRAID SO"); 45D: Airline to 29-Down (JAL); 46D: Slap the cuffs on (ARREST); 50D: Like a biting remark, in British slang (SARKY); 51D: Burn slightly (SEAR); 52D: Novelist Murdoch (IRIS); 53D: Pitcher Hideo (NOMO); 54D: Chew (GNAW); 55D: Unaccompanied (LONE); 56D: Flightless bird (RHEA); 57D: Trees used to make longbows (YEWS); 58D: Abbas's gp. (PLO).