I hope it isn't considered taunting Lee, but would it have been a daunting task to include peripheral members? Is that unclear? I enjoyed the NYT, but will wait for further comments.

I am off to Brooklyn for business, so I will go by the Marriott and look at the competition room. See you soon.
PhillySolver | 02.26.08 - 9:39 pm | #

Rushing out, but you see I did refer to a few words that have aunt and uncle hidden in them. NUCLEAR has all the letters you need for uncle also, but not in order. NYS had me with several long answers I didn't get. Thanks Orange for the explanation.
PhillySolver | 02.27.08 - 5:57 am | #

I was helped in solving the Sun by noticing that the added vowels were in AEIOU order (top to bottom).
MM | 02.27.08 - 6:55 am | #

MM, it would've help if I'd noticed that touch of elegance!

PhillySolver, even if Lee could've found single words that contained AUNT (flaunted!) and UNCLE in their exact middle, the NUCLEAR FAMILY theme specifically excludes them and the grandparents. And it'd have to be UNC for consistency with BRO and SIS, and AUNT has no shortened form. The theme is better, more specific and more consistent, without other theme entries (which might've compromised the fill).
Orange | Homepage | 02.27.08 - 7:21 am | #

Orange - The CS puzl def for 60A is "The longest word containing only letters from THE LAST HALF OF THE ALPHABET". That means N-Z, not the right side of the keyboard. Still, I have the nagging feeling that there might be a longer word in this category.
LARRY | 02.27.08 - 10:42 am | #

Orange, a quick nit: SOUPSPOONS was clued as being longest from N-Z, rather than right-handed.

I'm curious what the dictionary of record is for that one. Not that I could come up with anything longer, except maybe SOUPSPOONOUS, meaning "having the properties of or serving as a soupspoon."

Russell
Russell G. Brown | Homepage | 02.27.08 - 10:42 am | #

Thanks, Larry and Russell. You answered the question I was about to ask.

SUBBOOKKEEPER is a word that has made a dictionary appearance (W2, but not W3). It has four consecutive pairs of double letters. (Not to mention, you could say that BOOKKEEPING is another word that has three pairs.)

In the Sun puzzle, the tricky part for me was thinking the "inmates" in the 33A clue referred to CAN GREATS instead of CON GREATS. Figured it out, but I wondered if "cang rats" was some kind of varmint I hadn't heard of. (Also learned that GARROTE has one T, preferred spelling anyway.)
JJF | 02.27.08 - 11:05 am | #

Russell and Larry, thanks. Me don't read too good sometimes. I've edited the post to reflect the actual clue.
Orange | Homepage | 02.27.08 - 1:27 pm | #

So Will Shortz had an NPR puzzle a while back that asked something like "What is interesting about the numbers 5000, -40, and " I forget what. And the answer was it was the biggest number and the smallest number that can be written without repeating letters. Does that bother anyone else here?

Oh, and for a trivia bonus: what is the smallest positive integer that is written (in English) using a "C"?
Alex | Homepage | 02.27.08 - 3:23 pm | #

In the trivia vain, only one state in the USA can be typed with the left hand only on a keyboard and one with the right hand. HINT: they are both holding important primaries next week.

Got it?
PhillySolver | 02.27.08 - 4:21 pm | #

(a - b) + c = 1
c = 1

One.
JJF | 02.27.08 - 4:24 pm | #

I somehow forgot to add a = b up above.

Anyway, while I'm here, a belated shout-out to Lee for a nifty puzzle in the Times, which I got to late today. I think five theme entries are plenty, so no other family members need to be invited to the reunion.

Btw, if the theme were NUCULAR FAMILY, I'd say the other answers would have to be MOM, DAD, SIS, and SIS...since neither of the twins are quite the BRO type.

I noticed the LEE at 8D, and wonder how many times that has happened before. Is there any constructor who gets his/her name in a puzzle as often as Lee?
JJF | 02.27.08 - 5:39 pm | #

I noticed the LEE at 8D, and wonder how many times that has happened before. Is there any constructor who gets his/her name in a puzzle as often as Lee?

According to Cruciverb, he's only put "Lee" in a crossword twice before. You would have suspected a lot more, for sure.
Alex | Homepage | 02.27.08 - 6:52 pm | #

Just did the Sun and can't quite figure out Her Honor at 7D. Stand-in for the mayor? Does that mean the terms stand in for each other - Her Honor = the mayor? Maybe I'm just being dense, but I'm kind of at sea.
Jenni | 02.27.08 - 8:30 pm | #

Forgot to mention that yes, it was a nifty puzzle except that I also didn't so much like CAPRIACORN, which sounds like something you'd eat at a movie theater or a state fair.
Jenni | 02.27.08 - 8:31 pm | #

Jenni, I think that's exactly it—stand-in for the term Mayor = HER HONOR (or HIS, as appropriate).
Orange | Homepage | 02.27.08 - 9:16 pm | #