Saturday, October 31, 2015, Peter Wentz

0:16:31

I'm sure glad they got their "Halloweeny" puzzles out of the way earlier in the week, because that left today for this lovely themeless. Thick, open corners, a wide-channelled middle section, plenty of interesting fill, and very little junk. Let's get right to some of the good stuff.

Got started in a big way with FLAPJACKS (6A: Diner stack) which seemed almost a gimme on a Saturday morning. From that, FESSEDUP (6D: Came clean), LAWOMAN (7D: Classic 1971 album that closes with "Riders on the Storm"), PYREX (9D: Test tube material), JAM (10D: Get stuck), ASITWERE (11D: In a manner of speaking), and CANONS (12D: Some printers) were also immediately entered, and I thought for a minute or so that I would be approaching Amy Reynaldo-type solving times. Unfortunately for me, I thought that KidsrS (13D: Former chain store for kids) (KBTOYS) was also a gimme, and that held me up until the very end. What's odd about that is that I actually used to shop at KB Toy & Hobby when I was very young, and I've never been inside a KidsRUs. ...

Loved OBEISANCE (54: Deferential respect). This word immediately brings to mind "The Raven," and is therefore quite appropriate for Halloween, no?

    Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, 

In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore; 

    Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; 

    But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door— 

Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door— 

            Perched, and sat, and nothing more.

Below that, LOSTATSEA (56A: Like the explorer Henry Hudson) is a great clue/answer pair, and RAGEQUIT (32D: Suddenly and angrily stop playing a game, in modern lingo) always gets a chuckle. In that same quadrant, I was very happy that I could conjure up HARIBO (41D: Candy company that makes gummy bears) (I could see it in my mind's eye with its colored letters on the packaging... is that bad?) which led me to immediately take out "pimpS" at 40A: Gangsta rap characters (THUGS). I'm glad my guess was wrong. And speaking of being glad, I hope Frannie is happy to hear that it took me quite a while to move from games to relationships when considering 38D: Possible consequence of cheating (DIVORCE). :)

So this is getting long, but I liked this puzzle, and hey, it's my last review for a while! Colum takes over tomorrow. And speaking of Colum, I've kind of abandoned his "1A Assessments," but today's BERET (1A: Soft top) is one of the best of the month, so I'll give it an A. Pourquoi pas?

Finally, I took 31 Across to be a hidden political message. Bravo, Mr. Wentz, bravo.

- Horace

Friday, October 30, 2015, Patrick Berry

0:15:49

Solved this one while watching the Patriots beat up on the Dolphins. Got nothing going through the Acrosses until guessing at MOLTO. Checked the Downs crossing it and got ALLTHETIME (11D: Constantly) and TETEATETES (12D: Private exchanges), and with that the NE fell quickly. I wanted (and still want) "foolsgold" for 10D: Deluded prospector's find (IRONPYRITE) but, well, it didn't fit and it wasn't right. I've always heard it called just "pyrite," but the given answer Googles up pretty well as an alternate. I don't like it, but I guess I have to accept it. Anyway, the solve went clockwise after that, ending up in the difficult NW. ITSMAGIC (1A: Theme song of "The Doris Day Show") was an educated guess once the "GIC" at the end became clear, and BPICTURES (17A: Minor additions to the bill?) came only when I got every single cross. I got the "Congratulations!," and then thought hard to figure out why it made sense. OK, movies, but I still don't love it.

My favorite clue today might be the seemingly inconsequential 4D: Knight club (MACE). So elegant. But there's a lot to like in other areas too, ASPERUSUAL in a Patrick Berry puzzle. 2D: Stick with it (TAPE) is good, as are 40A: Driving storms? (ROADRAGE), RHETORICAL (27D: Like some unanswered questions), STUPEFIED (57A: Rendered speechless), and the excellent SPITTAKE (59A: Result of upsetting a cup holder?).

Just two threes today, and the rest of the grid is mostly wide open. Nothing terribly objectionable - except maybe the aforementioned IRONPYRITE, and I think the clue for BURG (43A: Dot on the map) is a little cheap, but still, thumbs up.

- Horace

Thursday, October 29, 2015, Sam Trabucco

0:14:15

Very odd theme today. LION(S)HARE (66A: Almost all ... and a hint to the five circled letters) indicates that the letters of the word "lions" will appear in the five circles, and they will be "shared" by the first and last words in the Across answers. That they are not also "shared" in the Down answers is a bit of a downer, but I guess those answers don't actually have two words, so there's nothing to share. OK. I guess I can accept the "Across only" aspect.

It's interesting to me that I actually tried entering SK(I)NSTRUCTOR (24A: One whose work is going downhill?) and CHICKE(N)OODLE (53A: Campbell's variety) with the double letters before figuring out the theme. I think I finally figured it out with the revealer, and then the others filled in pretty fast. And if I have one main complaint about this puzzle, it's that it played a bit too easy. For me, sub-15 on a Thursday seems a little quick.

Not everything was easy, though. It was a pretty tough clue for EBERT (8D: Friedrich ____, first president of the German Republic) for a change. And RAND (42D: South African money) took every cross. See also: ARIA (37D: Las Vegas casino opened in 2009) and ANSE (72A: Addie's husband in "As I Lay Dying") respectively. But IDIOTPROOF (11D: Easy-to-use) was a gimme, and SEEIFICARE (29D: "Do what you want") only took a cross or two.

Overall, though, as I look back at this, I like it. The fill is decent, and I enjoyed several of the clue/answer pairs, like 45D: Matter of interpretation (INKBLOT), 54D: "____ me" (HUMOR), and DRSEUSS (9D: Source of the line "There is no one alive who is you-er than you!") took way longer than it should have, because I was scared of the odd letter combinations for a while.

In honor of the German Republic's first leader, I'll give it a thumbs up. Not way up, but up.

- Horace

Wednesday, October 28, 2015, Jay Kaskel and Daniel Kantor

0:20:50 (FWOE)

It took me forever to find my error today, but I won't keep you in suspense. It was NETS (51A: Catches). I had "gETS," and because I had an immediate "I can't be sure of that" reaction to 42D: Hebrew name for God (ADONAI), ADOgAI looked as good as anything else. I guess. Or I just never went back until I had to. Of course, in hindsight ADONAI looks much better.

My own problems aside, I thought the theme today was pretty good. FOODCOURT (34A: Legal setting for 17-, 25-, 45-, and 53-Across?) took me a while to get, but once I did, it helped me to get almost all of the theme entries, which were not coming to me at all without the revealer. CANNEDCORN (17A: 34-Across case involving ... wrongful termination?) is probably my favorite, because of the word "canned." The others are only mildly amusing, but overall, I like the set.

I thought this was, like yesterday, slightly harder than usual for the day. DART (9A: What tiny fish and eyes do), ACES (13A: Hunky-dory), and ENNUI (15A: What might lead you to say "Whatever") were tough to know right off the bat, and that made getting started a bit of a chore. And the Downs weren't a whole lot better. I couldn't remember JACKASS (1D: Onetime MTV reality stunt show) for the life of me, even though I knew exactly what they wanted. UNC and SNO were poor, but DAM (9D: Stop for water) was excellently clued.

The seven-stacks in the NW and SE are both pretty good, isolated though those corners are. MANIACS and DETESTS are both strong. And the pairs of sevens in the other two corners give this whole grid a somewhat chunky feel.

Not the greatest Wednesday, but certainly not the worst.

- Horace

Tuesday, October 27, 2015, Kurt Mueller

0:07:31

Another Halloween-y theme today, all about vampires and their banes. They don't like DIRECTSUNLIGHT, GARLICNECKLACEs, or a STAKE through the HEART. I'm less familiar with their aversion to SILVERBULLETs and THEHOLYBIBLE, but really, except maybe for the sunlight, these could be pretty much anyone's banes. Well, ok, some people probably like the bible...

And sort of like yesterday, with "CISCO" being in a grid that centered around San Francisco, today we get the clue "58D: Vampire ____" (BAT) in a clue about vampires. Odd.

Anyway, it's fine for a Tuesday, and it's timely, what with this being late October and all.

I liked the clue for NOTYET (6D: "Waiting ... still waiting ..."), and "5D: Leaning to the right?" (ITALIC) had me stumped for a while. And speaking of being stumped, I wanted "DOOhickey" for DOODAD (28D: Thingamajig), and so I needed almost all the crosses before I figured that one out. EARLYON (44D: Close to the start), too, took a while to come to me. And I was surprised when CRUX (10A: Central point) turned out to be right, but really, it's just what the clue says!

Really, I guess what I'm trying to say with that last paragraph is that it played a little harder than Tuesdays often do for me, but as we've often said here at Horace and Frances and Colum, we welcome early-week challenges. So while this doesn't really have any marquee answers (and it does contain the disgusting EGGSAC), I'm still going to give it a thumbs up. Not way up, 'cause y'know, it's got some tired stuff like UAR, ALII, LDL, INI, OLES, etc., but it's also got the crazy-looking KGBSPY, and the theme is decent.

- Horace

Monday, October 26, 2015, Bruce Haight

0:05:48

I don't think I've ever heard SANFRANCISCO called the "Paris of the West," but I certainly have heard it called the CITYBYTHEBAY. It's a fun Monday theme today, with the two just mentioned, as well as ALCATRAZ, CABLECAR, and spanning the whole puzzle is the GOLDENGATEBRIDGE. Sooo... fine theme.

And there's more to like. POLAR BEARS (30D: White hunters on a white landscape) (odd clue), and SUPERMODEL (12D: One charging high runway fees?) (nice clue) are good long downs. "22A: The yoke's on them" is cute for OXEN.

It's a little weird seeing STARIN (23D: Lead the cast of) and STALIN (70A: Lenin's successor) both in there, there's the usual smattering of ISEE, OBIES, UMA, etc... and I prefer my OOLALA with an "H," but overall, this was a decent Monday.

- Horace

Sunday, October 25, 2015, Bill Zais

HALLOWEEN COSTUMES

OYS! A scary puzzle for Halloween. TID, SWE, TOA, OHO, CMD, REN, HIN, THD, RMS, LIQ, LEV, TVPG ... it RANKLEs. Even the stuff that I might ordinarily like, like 100D: Like some Roman aphorisms (SENECAN) (Like how I got three likes in a row there?) is ruined by the adjectivizing.

The theme is a sort of "before & after" combining (supposed) Halloween costumes with people's names. As in EYEOFNEWTGINGRICH (58A: Halloween costume for ... a onetime House speaker?). I'm not sure which end of that one is more scary... and how many kids are going out as an "eye of newt" this year? TOMBSTONEPHILLIPS (39A: Halloween costume for ... a former "Dateline" host?) is another popular costume, right? A tombstone? Blah.

I just didn't like much of this. COZENER (12D: Con man), SCAPES (45D: Vistas), TRALA (120A: Insouciant syllables), SEEPY (33D: Like ooze), GUCK (87D: Slimy stuff)...

A DUD, in my opinion.

- Horace