I believe the NY Times Sunday puzzle's 11 across is damps. I too at first had numbs but finally got "a-list" going down and therefore changed numbs to damps. I found it really tough too but I managed to complete it after much work without Googling. Too much work and some really good guesses e.g. "Menhaden."

Profphil
profphil | 11.29.08 - 10:21 pm | #

11 across is DAMPS I believe... giving you alist for celebs. You got some I didn't so thanks for posting early!
jim hale | 11.29.08 - 10:30 pm | #

I am always looking for a quality "snake" for my racquetball racquet that acts as a damper on the vibration that would otherwise occur, so DAMPS was a gimme. I found the NW and SE corners to be exceptionally difficult and overall, the entire puzzle was as tough as any Sunday puzzle in memory. I had CRAVE instead of COVET, leading to DECREES and that was very tough to unravel.

I frankly did not know Amelia, but just recently rented Tom Jones, which holds up after all these years, a rarity for films I fondly remember.

Steve
Steve Manion | 11.29.08 - 10:39 pm | #

Re: LOAM AND ABNER

Lum and Abner was a comedy show from 1932 to 1954 according to Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lum...i/ Lum_and_Abner

But, yeah. Not something that I would have known, given that it ended a year before I was born. "Loam" is the "dirty" part, of course.

I did fill it in without recourse to Google, because it seemed like the only possible fit.
Spencer | 11.29.08 - 11:34 pm | #

Amen to all the comments! Probably the toughest I've finished without a google and I forgot to turn the timer back on after a snack and then a nap break, so who knows how long it took? I only persevered because the puns were original and the unraveling always seemed just around the next KNT move!

Thanks for info on Lum and Abner -- It hovered on the edge of recognition, as did economist ELIOT Janeway and some of the others. Looked up RAMIS afterward and enjoyed the movie review of "Stripes"... Didn't research DEODATO.

My favorite theme answers: PERSIAN ROGUE and FRIAR TOKE. What imagination, Mr. Silvestri -- mind-blowing! Thank you.
ArtLvr | 11.30.08 - 6:10 am | #

p.s. Merl's PI puzzle was a relief, in a way.. easy compared with the NYT, but cute -- and I learned a new phrase: THE ABC NETWORK. I'd like to know where ONEIRA came from, Greek?

Many thanks, PG, for filling in here!
ArtLvr | 11.30.08 - 7:13 am | #

Thanks for pointing out the DAMPS/NUMBS mix-up. I solved the puzzle on paper and then entered the answers into AcrossLite, so I didn't notice the mistake. Sorry about that! Carry on!
PuzzleGirl | 11.30.08 - 10:38 am | #

Regarding the Boston Globe puzzle, I posted this comment on Amy's Cru Forum on Wed, and I'll copy it here:

For those of you who are looking for this week's Boston Globe puzzle, I'm afraid that there won't be one. I have received word from an editor of the Philadelphia Weekly Magazine, that the print edition of the magazine has dropped the puzzle and therefore the online edition won't have it. I've just written to Emily and Henry to see if something else can be arranged, but for now, I have no source for the puzzle.

I should add that even if I had the puzzle, it would have to be either already in Across Lite or in a form that will allow me to use my semi-automatic converter. I have been using a pdf file (that "file" isn't redundant!), which means that I don't have to type out the clues. I do type out the solution, which is why there is an occasional mistake (Thanks Martin for keeping me honest!).
Nancy Shack | 11.30.08 - 11:05 am | #

Yeah today's NYT was a toughie as far as Sundays go. I went through AW JEEZ before I changed it to NO JOKE, finally landing on NO JIVE. D'oh!
joecab | 11.30.08 - 2:16 pm | #

YES! I know my em and en dashes. I hate the straight quote marks. (Those are for feet and inches, people!!!) I used to be able to convert from inches to picas and points in a flash. Oh, to be a copy editor again.
jeff in chicago | 11.30.08 - 4:54 pm | #

PuzzleGirl --

It's not a huge deal, but you might want to add a "Rich Norris" tag to this post. He's the man behind "Nora Pearlstone." (Anagram of "Not a real person")
Alex | Homepage | 11.30.08 - 6:04 pm | #

johnny carson used eliot janeway in a carnac sketch.

"t.s. eliot."

"what did the bank teller say to eliot janeway when his account was overdrawn?"
jordan | 11.30.08 - 8:19 pm | #

Puzzle Girl! Yes! Before I read your post, while we were driving home from Wisconsin, I pointed out a sign (a permanent, backlighted plastic sign) in a Walgreens store to my husband. "Open 'til midnight," it said, with an single open quotation mark in lieu of an apostrophe.

I also took a picture with my phone last summer at the movie theater. On the floor, they had famous movie quotes inset into the flooring. Really a nice touch—except for where a quote in a nice serif font was enclosed by ugly, clashing straight quote marks. I finally deleted the picture, and now I'm sorry I did that.
Orange | Homepage | 11.30.08 - 10:37 pm | #

Meant to answer ArtLvr long before know. ONEIRO (pronounced ONIRO) is a dream in Greek, and there are many derivatives in Greek and English both.
Zulema | 12.01.08 - 10:04 pm | #

Definitely not yer usual Sunday NYT, given awkward stuff like MENHADEN/DEODATO, DECEM and Polonius-behind-the-ARRAS. I finished, but in longer than the usual Sunday time.

I don't see why PEACH FOES is [Fruit flies?] at 47A.
Jim Finder | 12.04.08 - 8:15 am | #

Oh, wait -- the fruit flies eat the peaches. Never mind.
Jim in NYC | 12.04.08 - 11:07 am | #

Belated Merl Reagle puzzle. Help! Why is "The ABC Network" a "Puzzle for beginners" (85A)?

I have to disagree with TATA for "Adieu" at 26A. Adieu is a solemn and indefinite farewell, like "We will meet again when the war is over" or "We'll always have Paris." "Ta-ta," however, means CUL.
Jim Finder | 12.04.08 - 8:55 pm | #