i only know the TROP as the rays' ballpark. but this puzzle took me quite a smidgen less than i was expecting--i dropped the four theme answers in immediately, and that really helped.

how about "able was i ERE i saw elba" as bonus french revolution content?
joon | Homepage | 07.13.09 - 11:02 pm | #

Excellent Bastille Day puzzle, though never using the word Bastille! I didn't notice the extra size here, and my only unknown was the Spice Girls clue for 4D MEL, easily found through crosses... Others may come up with a better clue? I'd have liked Mel Laird, but that's me -- I might even have thrown in a Karl clue for 54D ROVE too. Or not, since it's a Tuesday...

Epatant, bien fait!
ArtLvr | 07.13.09 - 11:03 pm | #

p.s. Agree with joon on the Napoleon/Elba bonus, and something along the lines of "de trop", French for "too much" would have been better than the very odd abbreviation TROP? That was rather bad, in an otherwise great romp.
ArtLvr | 07.13.09 - 11:09 pm | #

yeah, A FINE MESS would have been nicer. and RANDY MOSS, who's an NFL megastar (and also famous for his off-the-field antics, though not recently), is totally legit for a tuesday theme answer. of course, i'm sure those would be harder to stack with the existing theme answers.
joon | 07.14.09 - 11:59 am | #

Just a note about Bastille not being part of the Puzzle. In my European Calendar which has most holidays for Western Europe, July 14th is designated as Fête Nationale. Fair enough, I think.
Zulema | 07.14.09 - 2:19 pm | #

The Jonesin' puzzle I got was different from yours!
ArtLvr | 07.14.09 - 2:51 pm | #

Jonesin had two clues/fill that I had just seen The Legacy maker and "Mad Men' star Jon. Love the Pet Shop Boys clue, how typical...
*David* | 07.14.09 - 3:37 pm | #

What's the usual difficulty level for Jonesin' ? Tuesday NYT-ish ? First time I've attempted one. Anyway it was a fun, easy solve and I'll have to remember to try it again in the future.
Curious... | 07.14.09 - 4:53 pm | #

Curious, it averages more of a Thursday-Friday level, in my opinion. This one was a good bit easier than most Jonesin' puzzles.
OrangeXW | Homepage | 07.14.09 - 5:12 pm | #

The Jonesin' I got is "I'm getting dizzy" at

http://www.uclick.com/client/blm/jnz/

and the grid is a wonderful coil -- as into the heart of a maze. Great theme phrases with various venues leading to vertigo! Don't miss this one....
ArtLvr | 07.14.09 - 7:30 pm | #

Thanks Orange ! Then I will definitely bookmark it as I'm always looking for tougher puzzles to solve.
Curious... | 07.14.09 - 9:05 pm | #

ArtLvr, I do the Jonesin' puzzle the day after the Jonesin' Google Group sends out the Across Lite file. I blogged about the dizzy puzzle a week ago, and your uclick link should have this puzzle by Thursdayish.
OrangeXW | Homepage | 07.14.09 - 9:28 pm | #