Why my time sucked on that puzzle: the central theme entry, MRINBETWEEN, had a wrong clue. I don't know of any song that has the lyrics "call me Mr. In Between". What I do know is a song called "Ac-cent-chu-ate the Positive" (by two great songwriters who rightly show up a lot in crosswords, Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen), which includes the lyric "Don't mess with Mr. In Between". I'm wondering where the snafu occurred.
Dave | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 6:03 am | #

No no no no no, the clue is fine. It's a Burl Ives hit from (googling) 1962.

Well, I'm too old for girls and I'm too young for women
I've looked all around and my hopes are a-dimmin'
I feel like a fish not allowed any swimmin'
And it makes a fella mean

To feel he's a part of the Lost Generation
I feel like a choo-choo that can't find the station
I work like a dog with no recreation
They call me Mr. In-Between
mnemonica | 10.29.06 - 6:32 am | #

I think this is the song in question:

http://www.singulartists.com/ art...een_lyrics.html

And didn't we see an NYT daily with MRINBETWEEN in the center last fall? I think Nancy S. was a co-constructor on it.
pauer | 10.29.06 - 6:39 am | #

A fairly straight-ahead one for me-- I had WATERCAN for 77D 'Pitcher' for a while, but eventually saw the error of my ways.
Matt | 10.29.06 - 8:45 am | #

I thought this was easy except for the NE in which I got bogged down. Ironically, HOUSING BUBBLE, which was in my estimation the cleverest of the themed entries, was the toughest for me to see.

I also get ORIEL and OSIER confused. ISTLE and INGLE aren't as tough because INGLE sounds enough like ANVIL and ISTLE enough like BRISTLE that I usually remember them.

By the way AMY, I was unable to access your second Saturday post.

Steve
Steve manion | 10.29.06 - 8:49 am | #

pauer (is that Patrick?), I too had a slight sense of familiarity with this theme. Not so much a "hey, I've seen this before" but more a "hey, I recognize this phrase from a song even though the song is not something I've ever heard", and that's gotta be from previous puzzles where it's appeared. So here's where I've found I've seen it before, going backwards in time:

MISTERINBETWEEN was the central theme entry in the NYT Wed Nov 30, 2005 puzzle by Seth A. Abel. The other theme entries all have MR "in the middle", but unlike today's puzzle they were naturally occurring: GRIMREAPER, STEAMROLLER, FIRMRESOLVE, and WORMRIDDEN. The clue referenced a "1944 Johnny Mercer song".

MISTERINBETWEEN was also one of four theme entries in the Wed May 14, 2003 puzzle by Harvey Estes and Nancy Salomon, clued "Don't mess with him!". The other theme entries were all clued "Don't [something]!", e.g. "Don't say this!" for ANOTHERWORD.

Finally the NYT Thu Feb 18, 2003 puzzle by Holden Baker had MRINBETWEEN as the fourth theme entry clued "Whom not to mess with". The theme entries that led up to this were THEPOSITIVE, THENEGATIVE, and AFFIRMATIVE, clued "What to accentuate, to Bing Crosby", "What to eliminate...", and "What to latch onto, with 'the'...".

My (fallacious) beef with the puzzle was that one theme answer -- 73A, "COVERMRT" -- was based on sticking MR into a plain old word instead of a multi-word phrase. Plus the area near the front of that answer was impossible to get. Uh, yeah, because that's not the right answer.... Oops.

I don't have a problem keeping ISTLE/INGLE and ORIEL/OSIER straight. Other things that you (Amy) can come up with in seconds? Minutes for me to puzzle out, if I can get them at all.
kmtracey | 10.29.06 - 9:29 am | #

Steve, it looks like the updated original Saturday post finally loaded itself, so I deleted the second one that duplicated the update info. But Blogger's so crazy, I don't know what anyone else is seeing. Maybe tomorrow it'll be back to normal...
Orange | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 9:39 am | #

I'm jealous of you, Amy. Blogger won't load my Sunday entry at all this morning. Maddening. Anyway, This was a reasonably easy puzzle, and I got slowed down only in the Due North portion (thinking the grammatical case was ABL(ative), not OBJ(ective)) and screwing up a bunch of stuff from there. Oh, I also (reasonably) had STOP IT at [81A: "Enough!"] for a bit, which froze me out of the "New Mexico" region of the puzzle for a while.

Enjoyed the Mr. parade, and liked NETZERO and HDTV as answers a lot, for some reason.

Conisdering moving away from Blogger...

Michael
Michael | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 10:15 am | #

Enjoyed the Liz. Got me thinking about clues for HOTMRCOFFEE and OUTMRRIGHT.
Lee | 10.29.06 - 10:35 am | #

I can always get INGLE because I spent enough time wandering around Arts and Crafts bungalows to know what an INGLENOOK actually is. ISTLE gets me every time, though, as does AWN.

I liked this puzzle. Had a little difficuly seeing HOUSINGMRBUBBLE but that's because I kept want to make the first word BLOWING....(I know, I know)

Jenni
Jenni | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 10:41 am | #

How do we get ADULTMRED into this discussion?
Lee | 10.29.06 - 11:19 am | #

KM, yes it's Patrick, and thanks for the digging. It must have been that Abel puz that I remembered, as I was visiting my sister's house at the time (strange, the things we remember [or half-remember in my case]).
pauer | 10.29.06 - 11:25 am | #

Does anyone know why thw NYT forums are down?
dan | 10.29.06 - 11:27 am | #

HORNY MR. TOAD is what I want to see.

Blogger is being more compliant now, finally.

Michael
Michael | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 11:28 am | #

Lee, you've outdone yourself with ADULTMRED!

Michael, I'm not trusting Blogger until the weekend's over. I posted at 1 in the morning, but it was goofy later on.

I wonder if the NYT forums will remain down until somebody comes back to the office Monday morning?
Orange | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 11:38 am | #

Maybe the Forum is down while the Survey Monkey does a recount in peace. I'm fascinated by this voting process. With 140+ votes in, this means most voters are lurkers. Or maybe there's been ballot box stuffing. What if the vote is 75-65 to continue the spoiler convention? WIJ didn't say that it was a majority rule kind of vote. But if a change is not voted in, this could be a case where negative campaigning lost the election.
Lee | 10.29.06 - 11:54 am | #

It's not just the crossword forum, but apparently the whole Reader's Opinions area that's down over at NYT. I'm sure there's a conspiracy theory in there somewhere

Jenni
Jenni | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 12:02 pm | #

Clue for Lee's ADULT MR ED entry: [Classic sitcom featuring hot-to-trot equines?]
Orange | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 12:51 pm | #

Excellent clue, Amy! Now, how about clues for HOT MR. COFFEE and OUT MR. RIGHT?
Lee | 10.29.06 - 1:03 pm | #

[Roastmaster's Reserve] HOTMRCOFFEE.
[Intense, Powerful, Pungent] HOTMRCOFFEE.
[Batdorf & Bronson]HOTMRCOFFEE.
dan | 10.29.06 - 1:44 pm | #

[Good match for Lance Bass]OUTMRRIGHT

Jenni, fresh from a battle with Patrick Blindauer's WashPo puzzle. Phew. Hardest of the day for me.
Jenni | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 2:02 pm | #

In Sunday's puzzle, can anyone tell me what 79D SNL has to do with 87 Across???
claire scafa | 10.29.06 - 2:19 pm | #

SNL stands for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, which aired (or still does?) MR BILL.

Jenni
Jenni | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 2:26 pm | #

Mr. Bill was an animated clay man in short films shown during the early years of SNL. Dreadful violence routinely befell him—you can see for yourself by clicking here.
Orange | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 2:26 pm | #

Claire, Mr. Bill is an animated Saturday Night Live character from a ways back.
Eric Helmuth | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 2:30 pm | #

I'm thinking something along the lines of [Give away the groom's secret?] for OUTMRRIGHT.

And how can we bring Marilyn Monroe into a clue for HOTMRCOFFEE?
Lee | 10.29.06 - 3:12 pm | #

[The only man who could keep up with Marilyn?]
Orange | Homepage | 10.29.06 - 6:29 pm | #

Hmmm. I *really* thought the NYT forum being down was a grand conspiracy, because I ran headlong into the opaque NW; couldn't get a toehold; gave up; came here; no help on the NW; went to the NYT forum after noon and it was closed down; tried again several times over ten hours; finally called the clue line, only to get answers for another puzzle day, not this one (the clueless line's answer for 2D was WHATADRAG, e.g.). So I came here again, thought to look at the comments, and *finally* found what I needed, HDTV. I don't feel bad, because that's one of those vanishingly obscure clues that I would never have gotten in a million years. Likewise 19A, "Place," AREA. Please. I didn't think this one was up to Liz Gorski's standard, not even close.
BlueStater | 10.29.06 - 9:59 pm | #

To not leave this thread on a negative note, IMO "Place" for AREA is absolutely fine; "Modern wall hanging" is a wonderfully apt clue for HDTV; and this one was up to Liz Gorski's standards.
Lee | 10.29.06 - 11:50 pm | #

to Jenni, Orange and Eric,
thanks for the explanation of Mr. Bill on SNL.
claire scafa | 10.30.06 - 5:28 am | #