I did notice all that, though perhaps now I've moved past being average. I further noticed that, unusually, all the theme part of the puzzle is connected (i.e., if you colored in the theme entries none of them would be isolated), which is pretty rare, and which shows how tightly this puzzle is put together.

But I'm still not sure what the connection between the clue and answer for 9D is: PLU = [Phenomena or personae: Abbr.] Google gives "People Like Us" as an expansion of PLU, but that seems tenuous....

-Tom Mc
Tom McCormick | 08.30.06 - 11:48 pm | #

Wouldn't that be SEASNAKE, the singular rather than plural?

George
Picky Puzzler
George Graves | 08.31.06 - 12:05 am | #

PLU, here, is an abbreviation for plural.
Byron | 08.31.06 - 12:23 am | #

Sockless here. I thought it was a Thursday-level puzzle anyway, but fwiw I don't believe difficulty has much to do with quality. Maybe sparkle is the word. This one's got it. Though I didn't count theme squares, I did count 11 spots where two theme entries crossed. Not too shabby for a 15x grid. If not a record (anyone know?), impressive in any case.

Funny thing about the clues. I figured something was going on. Why the "Phu My Hung" reference? Why put "Play's" in the ENTR'acte clue? Why the "Preceder" clues? Well, it wasn't till I was done and took a good look that I got it. That may have been because I solved in AL, where you tend to look at one clue at a time. I printed a copy, handed it to my wife, and it took her two seconds to notice that all the clues start with P. Maybe paper solvers will be on to it quicker than the online folks.

Without looking at the name you could have bet it was a Patrick who made the puzzle, and Patrick Merrell would have been the logical guess. Quite a gem!
JJF | 08.31.06 - 1:04 am | #

I enjoyed the solving, and when I was done I spent a moment or two admiring the grid. But I admit I didn't notice the P clues. I'll gladly blame the online format for that.
mnemonica | 08.31.06 - 6:57 am | #

Yes, I think printing out the puzzle (as I do) makes it quickly apparent that the clues all begin with P. That led me to assume that the answers, too, would involve P's. As a result, I found this puzzle to be the easiest Thursday I could recall. Of course, I'm not in the same league as most folks here, but I did finish the puzzle before I went to bed last night, and I rarely if ever do that with a Thursday.

Thanks, Byron, for explaining PLU. I was mystified until I read your comment.
cyberdiva | 08.31.06 - 8:29 am | #

Well, here's someone who printed out the puzzle and even still did not notice that all the clues started with "P"...in retrospect, I remember thinking some of the clues were a little stilted, but I just chalked that up to Thursday misdirections...the one that stood out JJF mentioned was the MINH--I mean, why specify something more in the clue when the fill-in was enough?

So, kudos to [P]at and [P]uzzle Editor Will for a [P]erfect Ten!
Anonymous | 08.31.06 - 9:14 am | #

Sorry, I'm using another [P]C, which didn't know who I was...
Evad | 08.31.06 - 9:15 am | #

I guess I am the right age that BOOP came right to me and ABBE Lane did not require much thought. Both NYT and NYS came easy to me by Amy standards (only about twice as long as you).

The online format kept me from noticing the P clues as well. Maybe I should go back to paper.
Barry A Weprin | 08.31.06 - 11:22 am | #

Being an animation scholar, I knew that "Dizzy Dishes" (1930) was the very first Betty Boop cartoon. Ironically, in this first appearance, she's given long ears and a doggie nose. That's right! Betty Boop was originally a DOG, but was then humanized a few cartoons down the road. Her earliest cartoons were the best, before the Production Code took some of the bite out of her.
Dave | Homepage | 08.31.06 - 12:55 pm | #

NY Sun - 59-Across. Great clue (Drop down?), stumped me and had to practically pull it out of the crossings. The 'Aha!' moment came 2 seconds after, of course. Was otherwise on the wavelength. Job well done, Mr. Blindauer. Now I just need some aspirin and I'm ready for tomorrow's puzzles.
Howard B | 08.31.06 - 5:13 pm | #

Here's a sampler of the weekly cryptic crossword I devise for the Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainm...es/ cryptic.html

Be warned - you will need cryptic antennae, and a modicum of Oz culture, to fill the grid.

In fact, if you follow the links you can find the easier DA Quick - an English style vocab tester that - on the same site.)

G'luck.
DA | Homepage | 08.31.06 - 6:26 pm | #

DA, are you insane? Cross-referenced clues in a cryptic? That adds a whole extra layer of trouble, and I don't recall ever seeing cross references in a cryptic before. So far, I've only got 9-Across.
Orange | Homepage | 08.31.06 - 9:02 pm | #

Thanks, Howard, tho to be fair the MOLT clue was Peter's. My submitted clue was [Shed], fwiw. And while I'm blathering, my proposed TOMCRUISE clue was [Syracuse-born actor who was in the seminary for one year]. I thought maybe the NY reference would be good for a NY paper. Oh, well, it's better than [One known for couch-hopping]...a little.
pauer | 08.31.06 - 11:29 pm | #

Well, compliments were to the entire puzzle of course, and not just the one clue. So I still stand by that. Interesting behind-the-scenes clues too - that would have worked. You have today's LA Times puzzle as well (9/1/06)? Going to do my puzzling tonight, so can't comment on that yet.
Howard B | 09.01.06 - 7:34 am | #