Tuesday August 25, 2009 Donna S. Levin

Theme: "The Wizard of Oz" (Blogged by Dr. Dad)

21A: Helpless: OVER A BARREL

26A: Something wonderful, in old slang: THE BEES KNEES. Never heard of this. Here is the definition. It is also a restaurant.

43A: '80's animated character assisted by the seven Color Kids: RAINBOW BRITE

50A: Character who, in a movie released nationally 70 years ago today, sang the ballad formed by the first words of 21-, 26-, and 43-Across: DOROTHY GALE. Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

C.C. asked me to guest blog the Tuesday Crossword. I hope I do it justice. But before I get started, congrats to T Frank and Jean. I saw where you were in Rhode Island which is where I currently reside.

I don't think we're in Kansas anymore Toto. All we're missing is the "Somewhere." Maybe a clue that involves the movie Somewhere in Time. Only because I like stories/films about time travel. In case anybody is curious, the title of the song has been both - "Over the Rainbow" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Depends on where you look.

I remember that stupid character in 43A. My daughter needed everything that went with her 20 years ago. Cost big bucks.

Across:

1A: Punch line's lead-in: SETUP

6A: Where many a T-shirt is tie-dyed: CAMP. I bet there were a lot of tie-dyed shirts here 40 years ago.

10A: Mil. truant: AWOL

14A: Bernardo's girl, in "West Side Story": ANITA. Never read the book or saw the movie. Rita Morena played her in the movie.

15A: “Rubáiyát” poet Khayyám: OMAR. Could also have been clued Epps or Sharif.

16A: Type of lily: SEGO

17A: Generous sort: GIVER

18A: Put the kibosh on: VETO

19A: Like most hoopsters: TALL. Now this is a tall hoopster - for C.C.

20A: Fuss: ADO

24A: Landed: ALIT

25A: London insurance market: LLOYDS

31A: "How much wood ___ a woodchuck chuck ...": WOULD

32A: Weapons: ARMS

33A: Curly and Larry's cohort: MOE. I never liked them. There is supposed to be a movie in 2010.

36A: Concerning, in memos: IN RE. (in regard)

37A: Rum-soaked cakes: BABAS. They look good.

39A: Cass or Michele, in the '60's: MAMA. Sigh!!! The Mamas and The Papas.

40A: Prefix with thermal: GEO

41A: First Bond movie: DR. NO. I still think Sean Connery was the best Bond.

42A: Protection: AEGIS. In the Iliad, it was the shield or buckler of Athena or Zeus and was fashioned by Hephaestus.

46A: Bring in from abroad: IMPORT

49A: Overconfident morality tale critter: HARE

53A: Past: AGO

56A: Take a gander: LOOK

57A: Exploitative type: USER

58A: Felt the effects of overexertion: ACHED

60A: Morlocks' "The Time Machine Prey": ELOI. I love time travel. Did I already say that? I think the Back to the Future films handled it the best.

61A: Physical lead-in: META

62A: Not save: SPEND. The government is sure doing a lot of that lately.

63A: Hotel repository: SAFE. Interesting how it comes on the heels of "Spend."

64A: Important times: ERAS

65A: Domesticates: TAMES

Down:

1D: Drawn-out story: SAGA

2D: Oklahoma city on the Chisholm Trail: ENID. This is usually a crossword staple.

3D: VCR successor: TIVO

4D: Sporty truck, briefly: UTE. For sports "ute" ility vehicle.

5D: Released with conditions: PAROLED

6D: Violates the Tenth Commandment: COVETS. Another great movie starring Charlton Heston, president of the NRA (see 30D).

7D: OAS part: AMER. OAS = Organization of American States.

8D: Espionage name: MATA. Goes hand in hand with James Bond and Dr. No ( 41A).

9D: Predicaments: PROBLEMS

10D: Houston team: ASTROS. Speaking of another Texas team - what's up with that jumbo tron in the new Cowboy's stadium?

11D: Exhausted: WEARY

12D: Leered at: OGLED

13D: Reclines lazily: LOLLS

22D: Compete: VIE

23D: Brewpub brews: ALES. Might need one after getting through with this guest blog. I don't care how early in the morning it is.

24D: Competent: ABLE. I hope everyone thinks I was able to do this okay.

26D: Piece of kindling: TWIG

27D: Sharpen: HONE

28D: Mark's successor: EURO. Wasn't thinking Deutschmark here at first.

29D: "Shish" dish: KABOB. Sheesh!!! Still, there is nothing like them for a cookout on the barbie.

30D: Second amendment advocacy gp.: NRA

33D: Biblical gift bearers: MAGI

34D: Leave out: OMIT

35D: Alleviate: EASE

37D: "Fox News Sunday" panelist: BRIT HUME

38D: Michigan's ___ Arbor: ANN

39D: No more than: MERE

41D: Dressmaker's seam: DART. For some reason, I wanted darn and finally remembered dart.

42D: Side by side: ABREAST. This one probably got Dennis and the DF's (as we used to call them) going for a bit.

43D: First-year player: ROOKIE. Not that I keep up on it, but I wonder who's rookie card is worth the most these days.

44D: Tara family: O'HARAS. Tara is the fictional plantation in this movie.

45D: ___-Mart: WAL

46D: Doesn't do a thing: IDLES

47D: Gelt: MOOLA. With the government "spending" instead of "saving", how can we have any of this?

48D: Smoking gun, e.g.: PROOF

51D: River through France and Belgium: YSER. Another staple for crosswords. During the Battle of the Yser in the First World War the river was deliberately flooded from Nieuwpoort up to Diksmuide in order to provide an obstacle to the advancing German Army.

52D: "I ___ Kick Out of You": GET A

53D: Polite interruption: AHEM

54D: Trait source: GENE

55D: Bookie's concern: ODDS

59D: Numbers pro, briefly: CPA

Well, that's it for today's puzzle. I hope everyone appreciates my comments. Thank you, C.C. for letting me do this. I haven't been to the site in a long, long time because of the "work police" but was on vacation this week. Starting next week, it will probably go back to infrequent visits. It was nice to know (from yesterday's comments) that I was missed.

Answer grid.

Picture of the Day: Here is another great photo of our fellow solver Jeanne and her husband at her son's wedding. She said: "The saying around here for the mother of the groom is to “sit down, shut up, and wear beige.” I was good on 2 out of 3!!!".

Take care.

Dr. Dad

Interview with Bob Klahn

Have you wondered how a puzzle goes from the constructor's hands to your local paper?

Every puzzle goes through a make-over process. On average, Rich Norris (our LA Times Crossword Editor) changes 1/3 to 1/2 of the clues, adjusting the difficulty level, avoiding the repeat, injecting freshness and playfulness to the clues, and improving the accuracy. Then every puzzle is test-solved before publishing to ensure the ultimate accuracy of each clue and answer. Bob Klahn is Rich's final clue-checker.

Bob has had 57 puzzles published by NYT since 1994. His byline also appears regularly in Washington Post/CrosSynergy (twice a month). His book "The Wrath of Klahn Crosswords" will come out in Jan 2010.

Bob is known for the wickedness of his clues, and is regarded as "The Universe's Toughest Clue Writer". But oh my God, how evocative, original, imaginative, sweet and musical those clues are.

Jerome mentioned in his interview that his idea of a perfect puzzle would have clues written by Bob Klahn. Several other LAT constructors I've interviewed (and the amazing speed solver Dan Feyer) all listed Bob as one of their favorite constructors.

I asked Bob a few questions, and was so pleased that he took time answering them. Hope you enjoy the interview.

Can you tell us a bit about your background? How did you get into crossword constructing?

See my ancient, untouched-in-years Web site for that answer: http://bobklahn.hom.comcast.net/DelToday.

What is your job responsibility as a fact-checker for Rich Norris? What kind of reference tools do you use?

I check everything I have the slightest doubt about, and I comment on everything. E.g., I'll always let Rich know when I think a clue could be worded more smoothly. He need not agree, of course.

I make heavy use of the Web, but I never rely on any single source. I also rely on my computerized base of over 35,000 published puzzles, all of which I've solved and annotated. E.g., if I'm checking a clue about an event, but the clue doesn't specify when the event occurred, I'll throw that in as an annotation.

What is the most memorable puzzle you've created? Why is it so special?

It's one of Will's favorites, my February 2nd, 1995 NYT. On New Year's Day, with bowl games in the background, I wondered if it was too late to send Will a Groundhog Day puzzle, and decided to give it a shot. I figured I needed to create the puzzle then and there and send it off to Will that day for it to have any chance of making it into the paper in time. So I started with PUNXATAWNEYPHIL across the eighth row, balanced GROUNDHOG and WOODCHUCK on either side of it, and was well along with the grid when it hit me: "Oh no, Phil isn't the 15-letter PUNXATAWNEYPHIL, he's the sixteen-letter PUNXSUTAWNEYPHIL! One letter too long!" Oh well, so much for that idea. Back to the bowl games.

But then I realized, "Wait a minute! What if I flip the grid and stick the leading P out the top? It's the perfect letter, as it looks like a head and neck! And 2-Across, echoing the 2/2 date, would then be the first Across entry. Oh yeah, I gotta do this!" So I flipped the grid, added in SHADOW balancing MARMOT, plus SIXWEEK across the middle, and completed the fill.

Now just the clues were left. The PUNXSUTAWNEYPHIL clue just had to be special, and I deliberated over that one for well over an hour. Finally I came up with what I consider to be one of my best clues ever, the triple "For the outlook, look out for his look out."

Puzzle complete! I sent it off to Will, he loved it, and expedited its processing. He told me later that getting my grid typeset was no easy matter; it just didn't fit in the Times' then-set-in-stone 15x15 space.

Your clues are always so elegant, refreshing and entertaining. What's your secret? What kind of books/magazines do you read for inspiration?

Thank you, C.C.

In early 1992 I decided that I was going to begin constructing crosswords for publication. I already knew I was good at grid-building, as I had won a number of grid-building contest back in the early '70s. But I had no idea how to write good clues. So, before submitting a single puzzle to anyone, I spent several months solving and studying published puzzles, finding what clues really appealed to me, and trying to analyze why. Only then did I submit my first puzzle.

What had I learned? What's "my secret"? Simply refusing to accept the old clues, almost always feeling I can come up with something new, hating to use "repeaters," and always trying to be as entertaining as possible. Those are my standards. As a result, I'm sure I spend a lot more time writing clues than most constructors do. I've often spent over a half hour on a single clue; I'm willing to do that any time I feel I'm close to coming up with something that I'll really like.

E.g., when preparing a puzzle for Will's annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, I needed to clue DPS. Any clue I'd use was sure to be boring, right? So just throw one in and get on with the rest. But I just had a feeling that I could do something fresh with DPS, and twenty minutes later I had it: "Out-and-out successes, briefly." Well worth the time it took, imo.

A better answer for you: I can boil down "my secret" to a single phrase, and there's no question what that phrase must be: word association. That's the cornerstone. I strongly advise all who aspire to write great clues to work at building the richest tapestry of words they can. Doing so should be a never-ending endeavor. Think about it: THE BEST CLUES BRING MULTIPLE IDEAS TOGETHER. That's what word association does.

A natural extension of such "tapestry weaving" is to try tying consecutive clues together. Clue "echoes." I've been working at that for a while now, and people have noticed. I do this a lot with my CrosSynergy puzzles; a number of my attempts get shot down by my CS peers as too stretchy, but I keep trying. It's FUN. And I firmly believe that the more one works at something, the better one gets.

Some of the sources I use most: RH2 (the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition), multiple thesauruses and rhyming dictionaries, "The Master Crossword Dictionary" by Herbert Baus, Google defines, plus every Web site I can find that facilitates word association.

What do I read? More and more of what I read is right there on the Web. And a good bit of that is triggered by the fact-checking I do, either at fact-checking time, or later, using the notes I've taken while fact-checking.

Besides constructing crosswords, what else do you do for fun?

Reading (surprise!), recreational programming, and spending time with my dear wife. Right now I'm reading "Planet Google" by Randall Stross, the fellow who writes the NYT's Digital Domain column. Fascinating stuff.