Thursday, June 7, 2018, Bruce Haight

13:11 (finished with three errors... oof)

This is a very amusing theme. I love the revealer (BUBBLESUP), and then the way it's imagined in the theme answers, where the letters O are removed from their normal position and sit at the top of the answer. Each theme answer is a "carbonated beverage", and each has exactly 2 Os in them, so props for consistency and careful selection.

I'm not convinced by OOLEMNSDA (lemon soda). I've seen limonada / limonata, a lovely carbonated lemon soda to be found in Europe. I've certainly seen lemon flavored seltzer. But I'm not sure I've experienced it as written. Maybe I shouldn't be so nitpicky - after all, OOCHAMPAGNECLER (champagne cooler) is not a brand name either. Only...

Huh. That doesn't google either. I mean, I believe it's a thing, only the only thing that comes up is the bucket you keep your ice in to cool your champagne.

Okay, anyways. We can all agree on OOCKEZER and OOJLTCLA. Note though, to add to the difficulty here, there are no Os anywhere else in the puzzle!

So my errors. Well, you see, I was convinced that 9A: Ancient Mexican (OLMEC) was OLtEC. That caused problems. And when I entered CrUnCH for 22A: Like a winning play in the final seconds of overtime (CLUTCH), I was in trouble. I figured it all out, but after the closing bell. I was not clutch, as it turns out. Sad tweet.

How about the FILL? (That's the first time I've ever been able to do that!)

I liked MALLRATS and SLYWINKS. CATTREAT I looked askance at, but it's been a long time since I've had a cat, and it turns out to be a real thing. EEEWIDTH on the other hand... Hmmm. You AMUSE me with your daring, Dr. Haight.

ANDSO to bed. Only it's just now 5:40, so that's hours off.

- Colum

Wednesday, June 6, 2018, Richard F. Mausser

6:57

Your average quip puzzle takes longer than a straightforward themer, I've found. This is a fun quotation, and I suppose whenever you find a one-liner that neatly fits into symmetric pieces (5-14-13-14-5 in this case), a constructor is semi-obligated to undertake said puzzle.

Ken Dodd, stand-up comic, the "last great music-hall entertainer," was born in 1927 and died this year in March, performing nearly up until he passed away. Does that make him a contemporary or a relic? Either way, the quip is strong enough to stand on its own.

I made two misguesses that slowed me down. The first was 55A: Potential Emmy nominee (TVSTAR). I tried TVShow. I like my answer better, especially nowadays when stars of television shows are so rarely TV only. The other came at 53D: John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter served in it (USNAVY). I had US___Y and put in USarmY. Wrong, and I knew it was wrong, but sometimes you can't help yourself.

The construction of the grid leaves us with few outstanding long answers. I very much enjoyed WHOVILLE as well as SUBURBIA. 39D: Kind of off-season baseball "league" (HOTSTOVE) leaves something to be desired as a partial.

Some cute clues:

37A: It's not free of charge (ION).
31D: Bank charge (FEE) - because of the comparison to the above.
8D: What's within your range? (OVEN). Although not in my case. My stovetop and my oven are separate.

And just to finish out, I thought it was a pod of whales, not a GAM. But when I Google it, I see both are acceptable.

- Colum

Tuesday, June 5, 2018, Peter Gordon

4:33

I don't want to come off as hamhanded, but this was a well-done theme. It was only after I finished the puzzle and tried to come up with other examples of the pattern [food-body part-ed] that I realized that 23D: Drunk (PIEEYED) was a theme answer as well. Very nicely done.

I'm also pleased at the lack of a revealer. A theme like this one stands on its own.

Can anybody come up with other examples of the pattern?

Meanwhile, what's not to like about SIBELIUS right off the bat? I also liked LORELEI and GONERIL as examples of unusual names.

There was minitheme around birthing, 14A: Person handing out chocolate cigars, maybe (PROUDPAPA) and 41D: Person whose inner child has been released? (MOTHER) - hah! Offsetting that (and likely offsetting to some people's sensitivities), we get LEERING and LECHEROUS.

The winner of the day for most out there clue comes at 46A: Expert in calculus: Abbr. (DDS). See, calculus is another term for dental plaque. That was a tough one.

In the end, though, the one thing that I know I like to be is BLTS-mouthed.

- Colum

Monday, June 4, 2018, Zhouqin Burnikel

3:34

Today, I am reminded of Bunthorne:

A sentimental passion
Of a vegetable fashion
Must excite your languid spleen...

Not only do we get the thematic DOUBLETREE in each long answer, Ms. Burnikel seeds the grid with multiple other flora: there are ARBORS, GLADS, an IRIS, perhaps on a SILL. A BEE buzzes around (and manages to AVOID the DEET), and I prefer my ODOR to be of the verdant rather than dumpster variety.

Clearly BALDERDASH is the winner of the theme answers. It's a great word, and all but two letters are used in the two trees (alder and ash). STEALTHFIGHTER uses only six of its letters for its two trees (tea and fig), so the least satisfying.

Coming soon to a theater near you?

I have to acknowledge some lovely crossings as well. We get ADULT crossing LEWD, and KENNEL crossing DROOLS. Nicely done! I will also give PROPs for the two colloquial sayings that are the long down answers.

Well done, as usual, Ms. Burnikel.

AMENTOTHAT!

- Colum

Sunday, June 3, 2018, David J. Kahn

PROVING THEM WRONG

Wow, it feels like forever since I last did one of these. After another great week of reviews by Frannie, it looks like I've got to step up my game.

I enjoyed the theme today. Mr. Kahn has found five examples of major league baseball teams whose names and whose home cities each have only one I in them. Then he crosses them at that I, and the revealer is the excellent THERESNOIINTEAM. I give him points for keeping to one sport. I take points away for the fact that the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, and San Francisco Giants all fit the same pattern. 

I also feel like I should take further points away for the fact that the STLOUIS / CARDINALS really should have another I in the first word, only we apparently only abbreviate that first word and never spell it out.

I'm sure that the devils of symmetry prevented Mr. Kahn from putting a sixth example in the SE corner. To make up for it, he put in HOMESTANDS, from which I take a small amount of SOLACE. MAJORS rounds out the theme.

There is a lot of very nice fill. I'm particularly fond of 16D: Only African-American to win an Oscar, Tony and Emmy for acting (VIOLADAVIS) because it acknowledges a fine actor, and made me do a little self-checking when the only people I thought of were male. There have been 22 white actors to accomplish the feat. The first? That was Helen Hayes.

Anyhoo, I think that's all for now. ERRATA quit, as Frannie might say (IOTA was actually in the grid also!)

- Colum

Frannie here, on the late side. We were out all day celebrating Horace Senior's birthday and are just getting back to business. Thank you, Colum, for seizing the day and getting the review out. It's great that you covered all the bases on the theme today because my plan was to give it OVERAGE to you anyway since my KEN of baseball is so minor.

I did want to INSERTS some of the clues and answers I enjoyed, including
1A: Overawe (COW) - apt!
58A: Dress down (CHIDE) - well done.
97A: Liability of note? (TINEAR) - a bit of a stretch, but I liked it
11D: Heavy winds (TUBAS) - ha!

I didn't know Pie-eyed meant OILED (30A). I am looking forward to their future USAGES.

Is there really a Muppet named SAL Minella (102A)? That's a HOOT.

I didn't understand the clue at 5A: Mover, but not a shaker (one hopes). The answer was VAN. I get the mover part, shaker? AESOP with that? I also wondered about the clue at 105A: having an O. for Ohio, but the answer having PA for Pennsylvania (ERIEPA). Weirt.

That's mASWAN song for you. LATER!

~Frannie.

Saturday, June 2, 2018, Trenton Charlson

47:18

I really enjoyed this puzzle. It wasn't easy for me, as you can see from my time, but solving the tough ones engendered a lot of "oooh, that's what they meant"s and felt like a triumph.

GODZILLA at 1A (Fictional character with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame) was a great start, followed, down below, by another fictional fabulosity QUEEQUEG (Friend of Ishmael). That section ended high on the hog with "What might come after a cow or a sheep? (EIEIO).

The entire bottom half of the puzzle went pretty smoothly. I even got ORDINAL for "Part of many a street name" even though you don't see that very often around these parts. The south east featured the excellent fill (and delicious) TZATZIKI  (Sauce made with yogurt and cucumbers) and 46A: Weather phenomenon portrayed by Chris Farley on "S.N.L." (ELNINO) made me laugh just reading the clue.

The south west had some great stuff, too:
51A: Good to go? (TRAVELSIZE) - apt!
34A: One involved in mass production? (ALTARBOY) - ha!
33D: eBay feature (CAPITALB) - duped again, as is often the case with these kinds of clues, but this time, only until I looked at 61A: Storage units (BYTES)
39D: Cold evidence (SNEEZES) - no question!

So, as you see, it was all rainbows and unicorns until I got to the north east. That section had some real LULUS. Things went wrong from the top, as they often do. I patted myself on the back for remembering "essie," clued in Wednesday's puzzle as "Big name in nail polish," and confidently dropped it in for today's 9A (Nail care brand). UHOH. 100% wrong. I didn't know MOHAVE from the clue, I was working the "crazy" angle for 17A: Disturbed, maybe (no surprise there, I suppose), and "Strobe stuff" had me staring at the grid like a deer in the head lights. Not to mention ODOR for "Repute," CRATE for "Junk heap," and TRANKS for "Zookeepers' rounds, informally" - all tricky turns of phrases and OED definitions that kept me DAIKON. In sum, a puzzle full of PITH and vigor, like EVERYONE likes. :)

~Frannie.

Friday, June 1, 2018, Andrew J. Ries

DNF

Not a great start to June for this solver, but after looking up the answers that stumped me, I don't feel too bad. When I saw that the "Satirical 1968 hit for the Turtles" was ELENORE and that historian Ferguson's other name was NIALL, it was clear to me that abandoning ship was the right choice, especially with NOM a few rows down. NOM for "Academy recognition" is not just informal, it's terrible. It is my fervent hope that no one has ever, or will ever say anything like, "Congratulations on your nom as Head Master." BOO. To make matters worse, at the bottom of that section I was duped, as intended, I'm sure, by the way the clue was worded, and I didn't realize the Booker in question was a person (my bad). So, yeah, no hoisting a TROPHY in celebration for this solver. 

The northeast also harbored a number of obscure-to-this-sovler personnages. Herb ADDERLEY was totally outside my wheelhouse - I haven't gotten as far as cornerbacks in my sports trivia book yet. So was General ORD, who had a former fort named for him apparently, and "Oklahoma!" aunt ELLER, which is a difficult name to guess, IMHO. I was a little luckier in that section, or the downs OFFERED more help. 

The big 15-letter TEACHABLEMOMENT runs down the middle of the puzzle, a phrase I hear way too often for my taste, but which did mean that I was able to put it in after just a few crosses.  CEREALBOXES (Life preservers? - ha!), YOUCALLEDIT, and SPIDEYSENSE made for a meaty midsection, which is a great feature of puzzles, but less good for its middle-aged solvers. :) 

I liked GOTIME, ABRUPT, and ROTTEN. "Be intriguing?" for CONNIVE and SCRUBS for 45A: Health care coverage providers? were both clever clues. Nice to see all of COUSINITT, for ONCE, too. 

On the other hand, I thought MART for Emporium was a bit of a stretch. Also, #MeToo ERA? Too soon. And by that I mean, I feel I have to explain, it hasn't been around long enough to be considered an era, not that it's too soon for the #MeToo movement, which it isn't. 

~Frannie.