google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Monday, April 7, 2008 John Underwood

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Apr 7, 2008

Monday, April 7, 2008 John Underwood

Theme: "Chess Mate"

17A: "Chess mate" dancer: IRENE CASTLE

27A: "Chess mate" dancer: TED KNIGHT

37A: "Chess mate" poet: ELIZABETH BISHOP

53A: "Chess mate" talk-show host: LARRY KING

61A: "Chess mate" mystery pseudonym: ELLERY QUEEN

To Monday-Friday solvers, please read this A Few Updates post first.

After yesterday's titanic struggle against Wiseman and his heinous IATRO puzzle, today's offer considerably salved my wounds and soothed my bruised confidence. A smooth sailing for me this morning.

I did get bogged down on 34A, 25D & 26D area for a long time. I simply forgot Sorvino's name (MIRA). And ANTZ escaped my mind. I've never read Agatha's Sparkling Cyanide. In fact, I misread the clue as "Christian's Sparking poison". So I was thinking of Chrisitan Dior's Poison Perfume. It's sparking, isn't it? I used the Green Poison for a long time, then I switched to Opium.

Grid: Total letters filled: 189. Total blank squares: 36

Ready to tee off? OK, Front Nine:

1A: Calls on the carpet: CHIDES. Learned this phrase from last Friday's puzzle.

11A: Peke's bark: YAP. I just found out that YAP is also "Group of Islands in the W Caroline Islands, W Pacific). Just in case this devilish constructor decides to waterboard us with this clue for pleasure.

14A: Repeat from memory: RECITE

20A: Hanoi holiday. TET. I like this kind of specific clue. Hate when it's clued as Asian holiday. Chinese has Spring Festival, and many Asian countries do celebrate this Lunar New Year, but only in Vietnam is it called TET.

24A: Suspension part: I BEAM

31A: Christies' "Sparkling" poison: CYANIDE

33A: Waist watching: ON A DIET. I start to really enjoy this kind of "preposition + article+ noun" combined answer. Very lively.

36A: No more seats: SRO. There should be some hint in the clue to indicate an abbreviated answer, don't you think so?

46A: Feeler: ANTENNA

49A: Scrutinize: EYEBALL. By the way, I cook terrible American food for my American husband by "EYEBALLING" the measurements all the time, thanks to Rachel Ray.

55A: Smooth transition: SEGUE

56A: Australian isl.: TASM (Tasmania). No idea. I pieced it together from down clues. This clue/answer appeared on March 2 puzzle also. I did not know then, and I will probably forget it again soon.

68A: Take offense at: RESENT

71A: Augments: ADDS TO. I am not falling into "Fill in S first" trap any more.

Back Nine:

1D: Picayune nitpicker perhaps: CRITIC. Did not know the meaning of "Picayune", but got the answer nevertheless. You talkin' to me, Mr. Underwood?

2D: As a result of this: HEREBY. I filled in HERETO first.

3D: Summer cooler, to some: ICE TEA. Incorrect, it's ICED TEA (thank you for pointing it out Dennis). Wonder why rappers name themselves as ICE T or ICE Cube.

4D: Clamor: DIN

7D: Periodical number: ISSUE

10D: Breastbones: STERNA. Sternum is the singular form.

11D: Immature-ish: YOUNGISH. Ugly clue. Why put "ish" there?

12D: Modern protagonist: ANTIHERO

18D: Uffizi display: ARTE. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Good clue.

25D: Bug movie: ANTZ

26D: Ms. Sorvino: MIRA. She spent sometime in Beijing, so her Mandarin Chinese is pretty good.

8D: Shakespearean verb: DOTH

29D: Like unsightly knees: KNOBBY

32D: Discredit: DEBUNK. I don't like the clue. Not fond of the double appearances of letter "D" both in the clue and the answer.

30D Semi -convertible: T TOP

37D: Latin & others: ET AL. WHAT??? Is this your original clue Mr. Underwood? Shouldn't it be " Latin: & others?"

38D: Crazies: LUNATICS

39D: Corporate web: INTRANET

42D: Kemo __: SABE

48D: NYC team: NY METS. Johan Santana is my favorite pitcher! (Update: from drdad: the clue should be reworded to avoid the repetition of letter "NY").

49D: Elbe tributary: EGER. Learned from doing crossword of course.

51D: Softly bright: LUCENT

52D: Shanty: LEAN TO

54D: 48D, e. g. : NLERS. National Leaguers.

58D: Gore Vidal's Breckinridge: MYRA. No, no idea. Here is some information.

63D: Countenance: LET

64D: Math proof letters: QED (Quod Erat DeMONSTRANDUM). I would never got this one if not for the across clues.

65D: Coyote State sch.: USD (University of South Dakota)

(Note to crockett1947, I hope you have a new record today. This puzzle is tailor-made for you!)

C. C.

50 comments:

NYTAnonimo said...

They still have Saturday's puzzle online-wonder what time they post the Monday one?

BTW c.c. you would like the theme of today's NYT puzzle.

Dennis said...

Good morning, C.C. and all, from gray/rainy NJ. So wonderful to be back.
Couple things:
I always thought it was called "Iced Tea".
You're right, it's National Leaguers.
I agree that "youngish" is pretty weak for "immature-ish".
Hope it's an outstanding day for everyone.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Good morning nytanonimo,
Thank you for letting me know the Chicago Tribune online problem. I've sent an email to Patris King to complain. Will let you know once it's fixed.

Are you talking about the 6-week lag syndication or the online NY Times?

Dennis,
Good point on ICE TEA/ICED TEA. I did not even pay attention to it. I've updated the blog to reflect your input.

Dr. Dad said...

6 minutes!!! Doll and Underwood are in cahoots with "chides" Did not like Mira and Myra in the same puzzle. NYC team answer then begins with NY??? Welcome back home Dennis. I thought it was "iced tea" also. I googled ice tea and the only hits are for iced tea. Didn't like youngish at all. TASM brings back the cartoon Tasmanian Devil (one of my favorites).

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

drdad,
Great!! You are on my thinking direction now! I decided not to whine about Mira/Myra after Orange's instruction, though I still hate them!

NYC & NY METS, damn it! I missed my griping opportunity. Can you think of a better clue?

NYTAnonimo said...

The puzzle you would enjoy c.c. is in the actual NYT paper today and online both.

Dr. Dad said...

C.C. - Even something dumb like "Nine at Shea" would be better but then the answer would be a given. I was surprised you missed that one.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

nytanonimo,

What we have here in our newspaper is a 6-week lag NY Times syndication. Today's puzzle was authored by Randall J. Hartman. So it's definitely different from what you are doing on line.

I was actually predicting Hartman to be our TMS Friday puzzle author last Thursday. But Williams spoiled my perfect call records and threw us a Robert A Doll.

drdad,
I object to your "Nine at Shea". Since the answer NY METS is shortened form, you clue should be a shortened form also, don't you think so?

I am a RUER now. I actually groaned at the clue when I penned in NY METS, but completely forgot about it when I typed in the blog entry.

Dick said...

Good morning all. Today's puzzle was a breeze. I also did not like youngish and for some reason 12D gave me fits for awhile but then it worked in with the across clues. Picayune is the name of the newspaper in New Orleans and I became familiar with it while working there. Thus, newspaper nitpicker would be critic. The theme of todays crossword became apparent quickly and that helped with the rest of the puzzle. Welcome back Dennis and you all have a great day. This looks like another nice golf day in the Berg.

Superfrey said...

When I first looked at this one and saw all of the " Chessmate" clues I thought I would be in trouble, but it turned out to be fairly easy. I had no clue on 1D Picayune critic... but solved it going the other way. I too thought "Ice Tea" should have been "Iced Tea".. I wonder why such an error is not caught by the Crossword Editor. I thought the repetition of NY in the Mets clue was not necessary as well. Have a great day everyone.

Anonymous said...

Good morning!

A little late today, and I see that pretty much all that I was going to gripe about has been done already. Oh well.

As for 58D, I had absolutely no clue.

Have a great day, all!

Dr. Dad said...

C.C. - I was just throwing something out there to point out the absurdity of a double "NY". It does need a shortened clue but I don't have a clue as to what the clue should be.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

No complains about 37D: Latin & others? (ET AL)??? Does it sound right to you guys? Why?

superfrey,

That's why I am so IRED that William never bothers to respond to my emails! How can you make improvement if you completely ignore your readers! Insane!

drdad,
I doubt "Calls on the carpet" is Underwood's original clue. This might be William's edited work.

Re NY METS: How about Big Apple MLB team?

Dr. Dad said...

Or Shea MLB team. I thought Latin & others was kind of a "sly" clue because it could throw one off into thinking of an abbreviation for languages or something as opposed to et. al. Sort of like that "Couples pedestal" clue awhile back.

Dick said...

cc for 37D I liked it and it just jumped off the page when I saw it. I use the term regularly when I write to my attorney as I do not like to type in all the partners names.

Dennis said...

I agree with drdad; thought "latin & others" was good, simply because you could take it two ways.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Drdad, Dick and Dennis,
I like the SHEA MLB team clue. Good one!

I actually penned in LANS (Languages) first for 37D, but had to discard it as it messed up the whole TUN corner there.

Now I see your point on Latin & others (ET AL). Hmmm, so so. I am not overly excited about this clue as I was over Couples' pedestal. Maybe I am just dense this morning.

It's a great THEME today though. His last SLIP puzzle theme is good too. Can you tell Mr. Underwood's age by working on his puzzles?

MH said...

I completed the puzzle unaided in about 20 minutes. Got bogged down on the upper right and upper middle. Two clues bothered me: immature-ish and NYC team (both had repeated letter sequences in the answer). Also I did not like Myra and Mira as answers in the same puzzle. I got the theme very quickly and was able to fill in castle, knight bishop, king, and queen quickly. It was the first names that slowed me down. For me this was a good balance of challenge and doability.

MH said...

oops, I meant upper LEFT and left-middle area. I'm left-handed and maybe slightly dyslexic so I often do this swap (I reverse numbers, too).

johnnymonk said...

I thought ice tea was fine because (at least in my paper) the clue said "Summer cooler, to some". I've heard many people make the mistake of saying "ice tea" instead of "iced tea".

jimhllrn said...

I had no idea of what the clue was until I read the blog. If the Phila. Inqirer had printer the theme, it would have been a breeze.
I would like to have seen single quotes ( ' ' around '& others' in the clue.
All in all, I stank on this one.

Anonymous said...

Ms. Sorvino was an incorrect clue since she's married, no? Shouldn't it be Mrs?

NYTAnonimo said...

Picked up a newspaper when I was out and of course by that time it was online! Not an Agatha Christie reader so I even though I got the answer to 31A didn't dawn on me what Christies they were referring to. Is there any significance to the chess mate-is this a play on checkmate? I also thought NYC team for NY Mets was poor cluing. Didn't know about the Picayune paper, just knew it meant petty or mean. Did you ever wonder what Kemo Sabe meant? Here is an explanation. I knew it was what Tonto was called in The Lone Ranger but wasn't sure of the definition. Hope you're having the nice weather we are here.

Dennis said...

Jennifer - "Ms." came into vogue many years ago, I believe as part of the whole women's lib movement, to blur the distinction between married and unmarried women. "Ms." means either.
Hope this helps.

jimhllrn said...

Oh Jennifer - - how long have you been away??

Anonymous said...

I think the "iced tea" issue is handled with the ",to some" in the clue. Some people do call it "ice tea".

"Countenance" to me is a much stronger, or maybe more formal, word than "Let". "Let" usually means to passively allow something to occur.

Or maybe I'm too picky again.

Dennis said...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I've never seen it written as "ice tea", and when someone says it, it's impossible to distinguish between "ice" and "iced" unless there's a distinct pause between the words. Try saying it both ways and you'll see what I mean.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Picky Johnboy,

"To some", a summer cooler could cold beer, "to some", it's lemonade, "to some", it's iced tea. I think that's the meaning of "To some" in this puzzle.

You can find ICE TEA, however, in many Chinese website. See This One Here.

Agree 63D is a bit overkill.

Jim,
What's the difference between a single quote '' and a double ""?

You won't find theme printed in any newspaper from Monday to Saturday.

Don't like your response to Jennifer. In this blog, no question is regarded as silly. Anyone can raise any question here, it just needs to be crossword related!

Anonymous said...

This web-site:
http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/History/IcedTeaHistory.htm

seems to bounce back and forth between "iced tea" and "ice tea".

Anonymous said...

I think the comma in ", to some" is meaningful. "Summer cooler to some" could mean a cold beverage, a swimming pool, or an air conditioner.

By including the comma, it means "not how I would spell it (or call it, or say it), but this is how some people spell it."

Crockett1947 said...

Good morning, C.C. et. al.,

Thank you for the "shout out." This was definitely up my alley, but I need to quibble about IRENE CASTLE. Although many people call the piece a "Castle" because it usually looks like one, the actual name for the piece is "ROOK." I bungled up a bit in the upper right (YIP) and fell into an "-ing" trap on 33A, but was able to sort it out. Put EVEN for 67A and had to re-do the bottom center. QED was a gimmee for this retired math teacher. Drdad, I also didn't care for the NY repeat in the clue and answer for 48D. MIRA and MYRA in the same puzzle was a bit disconcerting. I always thought that a feeler was spelled ANTENNAE, but that's probably the plural. I keep getting my UMA, UTA, YMA, UNA mixed up. Will just have to pay more attention, I guess. C.C., were you familiar with 42D or did you get it from infills? I would imagine that The Lone Ranger is too old of a TV show to be in your memory. How about 48D Big Apple nine? Drdad -- that time is incredible!! I want to do TAZ instead of TASM whenever that clue comes up (56A).

texmature said...

WOW!
I DIDN'T KNOW THIS EXISTED.
I googled Chess Mate from today's Phil. Inquirer crossword.
This is great.
But, will I find you tomorrow?
Thanks again
Texmature

Anonymous said...

Does anyone ever wish there could be some indication as to how many words an answer will be, e.g., 33A. I had dieting...wrong! 3 word answer. I get "ired" when that happens. Also when "ing" is in the clue it is often in the answer, right? not today. Maybe I'm being "nitpicky". This one was a good one regardless. Welcome back, Dennis. And thanks Dick for the Picayune explanation. Always learn something new from you all.

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Crockett1947,
I put YIP for 11A too. Too much golf in my mind! But for your information, I don't YIP! I am still young!

I nailed Kemo SABE thanks to Chris Matthews (HARDBALL). I knew you would get QED, even without looking at the across clue.

Re MYRA & MIRA, are you aware that they are of different pronunciations ?

You are a Chess guy, so I trust your judgment on CASTLE/ROOK.

OK, here is some information for you:

UMA Thurman ("Kill Bill" Actress)
UTA Hagen (Actress Hagen)
YMA Sumac (Singer Sumac)
UNA Merkel (Actress Merkel)

Taxmature,
Yes!

Lois,
I would be utterly disappointed if the answer turns out to be DIETING.
I'm averse to "ING", in any form.

Anonymous said...

My relatives in south Georgia would never say ICED tea --- it's pronounced as one word -- icetea -- and you have to specify unsweetened before it's made if you don't want sugary sweet icetea because it's sweetened while it's still hot. I've seen menus all across the South that list the beverage as ice tea -- and in many of those little cafes, you can't get a cup of hot tea -- only coffee.

Dennis said...

I'm sure different parts of the country refer to it differently; I've just never seen it myself in print, and I grew up in Atlanta.

Anonymous said...

Being in Virginia, and the southern part of that even, I thought that "ice tea" would be without a 'd', but checking local menus, they all have the 'd' for iced tea. And you're right, anonymous, you have to specify unsweetened here as well, otherwise you automatically get sweetened. Interesting.

Razz said...

Crockett1947

I agree that the "castle" is really the rook but it is the chess piece that the king uses to castle with in the castling move.

Anonymous said...

Holy smokes! With talk like that I have been remiss in not learning to play chess. That IS what you are talking about, right?

Dennis said...

Chess??? Well damn, no wonder nothing worked....

Razz said...

8x8 chess
15x15 this crossword
Its all a matter of getting the correct info (or move) in the right space.

Tomorrow I vote we all play checkers.

Anonymous said...

This must be an upbringing and life experience thing. I was stunned at the ease at which I cruised through Saturday's puzzle. Then sat staring at Monday's in horror. I had to cheat very early on...and on a Monday puzzle! I did not get the chess references. I kept thinking it was based on a TV show or movie.

Karen

Crockett1947 said...

Razzberry, good point. I never thought about that connection. Texmature, we'll be here -- just make us a Favorite and you'll never be lost (at least on this crossword!).

Anonymous said...

Dennis, you are hilarious! And Razzberry, you are absolutely right. It's ALWAYS about getting the right move in the right space! Checkers it is! I'll jump you, you jump me. I'll crown you, you crown me! and at the end we'll see who comes out on top! It's a win/win situation! What a game! I learn so much from you all!

Dennis said...

Now THIS is someone I wanna play checkers with...

Mayu_M said...

Since I found your site, I've been "referring" to your answers. I try not to, but it's hard when you are stuck!

How fast do you do these puzzles?

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

funny mana,
I am a very slow solver. I've never finished a puzzle under 20 minutes.

Some of the guys here are very good. As you saw earlier, drdad finished today puzzle in 6 minutes. Dennis just broke a 5-minute record the other day.

Anonymous said...

IS AN ARK A SHIP OR A BOAT

Anonymous said...

where are the puzzles from the end of april to may 3rd??? what happened???

Zhouqin (C.C.) Burnikel said...

Anonymous @9:21am,

Click on May, or April, the month, at the sidebar on the first page of the blog, you should be able to get the entry.

Or you can google "Crossword Corner May 1, or May 2", then the crossword will show up.