I totally missed Ray Romano hidden in the Sun. I thought it was Man Ray.
MM | 11.26.08 - 6:25 am | #

Your attention to both the details and nuances of crossword construction is entertaining and enlightening. Thanks for the insight. I knew having a PRM fill on the bottom was a sign of an error and I had a second of doubt on IMH and NKH.

Was the last fill in the Onion puzzle the OMEGA Ray?
PhillySolver | 11.26.08 - 7:42 am | #

I got the Rays, and patted myself on the back.

Then I tried the Onion and yikes, all the pop culture stuff. Holding my nose, as it were, I worked my way all around those with crosses, arriving at all the theme answers though the last two meant nothing to me.

Amazingly, the only thing I had wrong by first and last letters was a guess at the chef in 14D NOBU, which which made 1D and 4D off by a letter each. Note that my first try at 42D was Cheddar, which has not one letter in common with STILTON, but that righted itself quickly. Overall, the puzzle had much good fill -- and the combo of STAGEFRIGHT and NOTFUNNY was exceptionally apt!
ArtLvr | 11.26.08 - 7:46 am | #

p.s. Since you are so fast and such a fiend, I'm surprised you don't include the Star Trib puzzle too! Today's is a neat one by Barry Silk... get the grid by clicking on the top right link here:

http://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/
ArtLvr | 11.26.08 - 8:04 am | #

In today's NYTimes puzzle, how is "one in a mess" (A45) "eater"? Thanks!
Ellen | 11.26.08 - 8:17 am | #

Ellen, GIs eat in the mess hall or mess tent.
Orange | Homepage | 11.26.08 - 8:32 am | #

Fun puzzle and theme. I suppose a bagman could double as an enforcer, but I think of a bagman as a collector and a goon as an enforcer.

Steve
Steve Manion | 11.26.08 - 8:41 am | #

Yep, the answer came to me as soon as I posted the question! Thanks.
Ellen | 11.26.08 - 9:39 am | #

Steve, the clue was "Mob's money collector." Glad I found this site. Of course, I found it by "cheating" i.e. googling clues. Is that cheating? What's legit when it comes to the crossword? I'm a new puzzle-doer so please weigh in with puzzle etiquette.
Thanks!
Ellen | 11.26.08 - 9:43 am | #

Ellen -- you set your own rules! If you can do a puzzle without a google en route, bravo! If you want to check something afterward, fine. If you can't quite finish by yourself, that's up to you -- give up or look it up so you'll know it next time. The main thing is to enjoy yourself...
ArtLvr | 11.26.08 - 10:35 am | #

Ellen, it's cheating if you use resources in the middle of a crossword tournament (unless the rules specify that they're allowed). But crosswords are there for your enjoyment. Anything that enhances your enjoyment is encouraged.
Dan C | 11.26.08 - 10:59 am | #

Thanks, Ellen. I have added yet another dimension to CRS syndrome--remembering a clue to suit my own need to nit.

Steve
Steve Manion | 11.26.08 - 11:04 am | #

wow, thanks for that diner lingo link, that's surely a puzzle waiting to happen...
(and probably already has? Joon?)
andrea carla michaels | Homepage | 11.26.08 - 1:47 pm | #

andrea: yes, so it would seem. hey, that puzzle ran on my birthday. HEY, i celebrated my birthday in a diner at 1 am that day! odd.

orange: there are indeed three types of radiation from nuclear decays. ALPHA rays are helium-4 nuclei (two protons and two neutrons); beta rays are just high-energy electrons; and gamma rays are just high-energy photons.
joon | 11.26.08 - 2:17 pm | #

The crosswords at the Chicago Tribune aren't bad but, that flash of theirs applet stinks (to me at least.) It's far too busy and generally clunky. Sadly Universal's crosswords also only come like that. Oh well.
Gareth Bain | 11.26.08 - 4:32 pm | #

LAT caused me more trouble then it should've, especially the section with wining and wag. Oh well, it shouldn't always be smooth.
David | 11.26.08 - 10:33 pm | #

Andrea, I'm not sure if you're familiar with a mail-order subscription puzzle called Crosswords Club (edited by Norris), but I seem to recall a theme of diner slang in one of those puzzles a few years back. Honestly don't remember who wrote it, though.
Jim | 11.26.08 - 11:55 pm | #

Orange, you've inspired me to pay more attention to the themes, but that doesn't always get me anywhere. After finishing the AV Club, all I saw for a theme was "stuff added to known phrases, yielding jokey phrases, which are then clued." Brilliant. How did I miss ANA, ENE, INI, ONO, UNU??!

In Ben Tausig, it's not clear how ASS (1a) is a "Gas or grass alternative." Did Patrick Henry say: "Give me grass or give me ass"?!

(The cutesy nicknames of half-known celebrities (a/k/a nonentities except for their particular circle of admirers) is not a strong point either.)
Clueless | 11.27.08 - 12:00 am | #

Sorry, "Clueless" is Jim Finder, NYC.
Jim Finder | 11.27.08 - 12:04 am | #

really did not like the tausig ink well/reader puzzle. thought the theme was weird and just lame.
jordan | 11.27.08 - 1:34 am | #

Its your top third on the NYT that is wrong:

Damps:
Develop
Alist
Mist
Pooh
Stretchy
Elizabeth | 11.29.08 - 11:17 pm | #

Jim Finder/Clueless,

A couple of days late, I know, but...

I was surprised to ASS clued as [Gas or grass alternative]. I might expect to see it in one the Onion's racier puzzles. But, Tausig?

There's an old bumper sticker from the '70s that read: "Gas, grass or ass. Nobody rides for free." It means that if the driver picks you up as a hitchhiker you'd better repay him with gasoline (or some gas money), marijuana or something a little more -- shall we say -- intimate.
Tuning Spork | Homepage | 11.30.08 - 11:26 am | #

Spork, thanks for the ... insight. (I hope you weren't one of those macho grassholes!)

I believe that puzzle runs in The Voice, so I guess the intended audience might know that phrase.
Jim Finder | 11.30.08 - 6:16 pm | #

In the NYTimes, I do Monday easily, Tuesday no sweat, Wednesday takes effort, Thursday I start googling madly, and after that not even the Internet helps. I know the puzzles get harder as the week goes along, but somewhere between Wednesday and Thursday there seems to be a shift into mach drive. I've been here before -- doing Mon-Wed and giving up. Somehow doing the beginning of the week has never prepared me for the jump to the end. Any suggestions?
Ellen | 12.01.08 - 7:27 am | #

Okay, Tuesday some sweat. I've ended up with a Classic British Jaguar (A66) ETYGE. Huh? Where did I go wrong?
Ellen | 12.02.08 - 8:24 am | #

Ellen, 53D is not the French word you think it is. The word is in Random House Unabridged but not all dictionaries. A few people commented in the NYT Wordplay blog about the trouble they had with it. If you go through the alphabet to find a replacement 4th letter, you may be able to guess the Jaguar model.
===Dan | 12.03.08 - 6:04 am | #

Ellen, hang in there. Just keep doing the puzzle and you'll get used to the trickier forms of clues.

Read Orange's book on how to solve the NYT puzzle, for sale here! Study the blogs, too, not just for the answers, but look at the reasoning too. See the links on this site.

Of course sometimes you're just not going to know the name of some rapper or a 1930's actress from Czechoslovakia. If the rapper's name crosses the actress's name you're going to have to google. Can't be avoided.
Jim in NYC | 12.03.08 - 10:53 am | #