patriots day is april 19, to commemorate the battles of lexington & concord. and yes, that's the day of the boston marathon (as well as a 10 am red sox home game), and it's a state holiday here in mass. little known fact: march 17 is "evacuation day" (when the british army was expelled from the city of boston for good), and it's a holiday in boston--but not cambridge or anywhere else in the state. it's mostly an excuse for people to take st patricks' day off and get totally hammered, i think.

two excellent puzzles. i really loved the sun theme once i figured it out. it was very enjoyable trying to figure out each theme answer with minimal crosses.

i just looked at THERATPACK in my completed grid and misread it as THREATPACK. dibs on that theme.
joon | 11.11.08 - 10:47 pm | #

gah--make that patrick's, not patricks'.
joon | 11.11.08 - 10:48 pm | #

April 19 rang a bell with me, and I had to look it up. 'Twas the day of the OKC bombing in 2000. :(

Nancy Downer
Nancy B. | 11.12.08 - 2:30 am | #

Grrr. It happened in 1995, not 2000.
Nancy B. | 11.12.08 - 2:31 am | #

I'm close enough to a certain age that the rat pack and its members quickly came to mind, unlike Moira Kelly of One Tree Hill. I know the show exists but don't spend time to watch it.

Did anyone else find the clue to 31D (ore), "It may be picked", a bit odd? Cotton, scab, nose, horse, number, color, hand, ice block, banjo come to mind first.
Gnarbles | 11.12.08 - 5:16 am | #

April 19 was also the day that the Waco siege came to an end. I seem to remember that's why the Oklahoma City bombers chose that date.

Anyone else find the Times' puzzle harder than the Sun's?
Jean | 11.12.08 - 5:53 am | #

Gnarbles, I'm with you dude (or dudette?). That corner of the puzzle took me as long as all the other squares together. Ashamed to say that my days as a Catholic failed me in the "Miraculous Medal" reference; for some reason, I was thinking comic books.
Evad | 11.12.08 - 6:14 am | #

So we have Patriot Day and Patriots' Day?!
MM | 11.12.08 - 6:40 am | #

No mention of AMY TEASES right in the middle of the grid?
Crosscan | 11.12.08 - 7:44 am | #

After ICE, the next guess for PICK was ONE.
I was surprised to find Chris NOTH and Stephen REA hidden in the long down answers. I hadn't realized they were part of the rat pack.
Dan C | 11.12.08 - 8:12 am | #

Can someone explain the LA Times clue of "Dealing boxes" for SHOES?? I don't get it.
Margaret | 11.12.08 - 9:29 am | #

I found the NYT puzzle extremely simple today, and having solved (I guess) the SUN a few days ago, I found the number game totally obscure. Not concerned enough to go into deep thought about it, I waa happy to wait and find out here what the numbers meant. Thank you for explaining it. I would like to know how one would go about connecting those numbers with their rhyming pairs, or even realizing that one is supposed to. It's easy to do it backwards, of course.
Zulema | 11.12.08 - 11:00 am | #

A shoe is used in games like blackjack. It holds 6-8 decks of cards at one time so the dealer doesn't have to shuffle as often. It looks like a narrow shoe box and you deal out of the front of it.
Gnarbles | 11.12.08 - 11:22 am | #

zulema, the title of the puzzle tipped me off. it would be quite hard to figure it out without the title.
joon | 11.12.08 - 11:47 am | #

had the same experience as joon with the sun, so found it uncharacteristically easy for a wednesday. (was a bit surprised to see IMAC and IPOD in the same puzzle.)

and but for the MOIRA, ARMY, MARY cross in the nyt woulda said the same about that one. however... ;-)

enjoyed paula's "diversion," too. well-made and a nice, tight play on words in the theme.

;-)

janie
jlsnyc | 11.12.08 - 1:50 pm | #

Quite a trick working the name "SINATRA" into a phrase. Congrats, Mr. Collins
larry | 11.12.08 - 2:19 pm | #

Joon,

Thank you for reminding me to read the titles (when they exist). I seldom do.
Zulema | 11.12.08 - 4:15 pm | #

NYT - I'M NOT HOME sprang to mind instead of I'M NOT HERE for the telephone evasion. I think both are used, so here's a longer version of the Mauna Loa/Kea dilemma.
Jan (danjan) | 11.12.08 - 4:37 pm | #

XYZ came easily to me - my husband had never heard of it.
Jan (danjan) | 11.12.08 - 8:17 pm | #

For the LAT that is Isere as the Grenoble River answer. I didn't get the STA-Agnew reference. I liked the geography clues.
David | 11.12.08 - 9:30 pm | #