Amy,

Here is an outstanding article on the order of suits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui...ki/Suit_(cards)

Skat, five hundred and ninety-nine have different orders.

Lest someone embarrasses himself or herself, there is no order of suits in poker, although in determining who has the button at casinos, everyone is dealt a card and the bridge order is used so that the ace of spades is the highest card. However, urban myths notwithstanding, a royal flush in any suit ties a royal flush in any other suit. Some variations of Indian Poker in which you put your card on your forehead (like an Indian's feather?) so that everyone else can see it but you can't, differentiate between suits so that the ace of spades is higher than the ace of hearts. Such a rule would be strictly a house rule and not a formal rule of the game.

I suppose Conan Canon works, but somehow I wanted either Conan to be possessive or canon plural.

Brilliant idea but I think Monday and Tuesday were reversed this week.

Steve
Steve Manion | 11.25.08 - 2:24 am | #

I was a little surprised that 3 Sun theme answers had the DR word at the front, but only 1 was in the back. Guess that's because nothing starts with 'dipper,' but maybe another could be flipped to make it 2 and 2? GAMERESIGNED, maybe?

Also, the theme is tough to spot since RED and DEER look like they're backward. I spent a few seconds wondering what a 'dengiser suit' could possibly be.

Sweet puzzle from Caleb, too, tho TICTACTACTIC seems awfully familiar.

Best,
Patrick
pauer | 11.25.08 - 5:42 am | #

I think I should have had some coffee before tackling this puzzle, or somehow been more fully awake! I had three of the four theme answers, but still didn't quite get RESIGNED SUIT. Thought 36D might be a "buddy ride", and didn't know Jai ALAI was a court game.

A lot of tough clues, all in all. I figured out MARA and HARI, but ball players and Hoppy Potty show were beyond me. Ugh.

However, I did like the eastern two-thirds of the puz. And I guess I'm awake now!
ArtLvr | 11.25.08 - 9:00 am | #

I don't play bridge so I didn't know it off the top of my head but my mother plays bridge and was always trying to get us kids interested so we could make a foursome. So I wasn't familiar with suit order but I did know that certain suits were ranked higher than others and spade was the only one that fit in the slot.

Pretty simple theme, but it made me giggle as punny ones always do. Not bad for a Tuesday.
Brandy | 11.25.08 - 10:14 am | #

SPAZ is a totally uncool person? I'm sure it derives from SPASTIC, and is an offensive term. From the following, it appears that TODAY it has a different meaning than it did when I was a kid.

Wiki: "The word spastic is used differently depending on location which has led to some controversy and misunderstanding. The term generally originates from spasticity, a medical condition characterised by hypertonia, or a high degree of muscle tightness. Spasticity underlies spastic diplegia and many other forms of cerebral palsy. But the word in common speech can also be used in a pejorative context. The level of severity depends on whether one understands it as it is used in the United States or the United Kingdom [1]. In the UK it can be considered an offensive way to refer to the disabled[2], while in the US it is more closely associated with hyperactivity or clumsiness and carries few offensive connotations."
nynynyny | Homepage | 11.25.08 - 10:30 am | #

the bridge clue was not a problem for me. :) hey, the north american bridge championships are going on in boston right now. right this minute! come on up and we'll hang out. i'll be there all weekend (after thursday).

i was shocked--stunned, really--when the directional abbr in the LAT puzzle ended up being WSW. here are the # of cruciverb hits for each of the 8 directions (not all of the ESE and ENE hits are clued as directions, of course):

ENE 593
ESE 546
SSE 403
NNE 299
SSW 100
NNW 30
WSW 21
WNW 10

i guess what this really tells us is that E is much more common than W and somewhat more common than N or S, S is slightly more common than N, and both S and N are much more common than W. no real surprise. anyway, with WSW crossing WWW in the middle of that grid, will really had something unusual going on. plus, i loved ARMSAKIMBO and YOUDAMAN. great puzzle!

new word for me today: PROEM. i'm bummed that it's already a word that means something else, because i want it to be a portmanteau for prose poem.
joon | 11.25.08 - 10:48 am | #

I liked the CrosSynergy puzzle too, but it seemed a little cruel to cross ARMSAKIMBO with ATOB - never having heard the phrase, I had just that one square left and no way to determine which early letter of the alphabet might be meant
Chris | 11.25.08 - 1:41 pm | #

Going thru the week's collection, I realized I had never finished the Tues. SUN because of the four names crossing each other in the top left corner, ID 3D 1A 23A. None of them was Kafka either.
Zulema | 11.28.08 - 11:39 am | #