W E D N E S D A Y September 8, 2010 Mangesh Sakharam Ghogre

Theme: Now I know my ABCs …. — Theme answers are familiar phrases that begin with the letters A through G.


Theme answers:

• 20A: Elite socialite (A-LISTER).
• 22A: Place for a finance major (B-SCHOOL).
• 27A: Delivery method (C-SECTION).
• 37A: Planned attack times (D-DAYS).
• 48A: Online investing (E-TRADING).
• 54A: Camera lens ratio (F-NUMBER).
• 56A: Bare wear (G-STRING).

This is an awesome idea for a theme. It's too bad D-DAY is so short that it had to be arbitrarily pluralized. I also don't think I've ever heard the phrase F-NUMBER but I'm guessing it's familiar to real photographers (whatever that means). I also wish the outliers LSAT and UCAL (16A: Atty.-to-be's challenge / 63A: Sch. with Riverside and Irvine campuses) hadn't been included. It's much more elegant when none of the non-theme answers fit the theme. But, I want to repeat, I think this is a great idea for a theme and the way the theme answers are laid out in the grid is pretty cool.

The only places I got tripped up were on a couple of the names:

• 1D: Kate of "We Are Marshall" (MARA). Never heard of her.
• 43D: Hall of Fame NFL coach Ewbank (WEEB). Or him.
• 46D: Shakers founder (ANN LEE). This name was back in the cobwebs somewhere, but I needed almost all the crosses for it to emerge.

Crosswordese 101 Round-up:

• 17A: Indian princess (RANI).
• 18A: Flightless birds (RHEAS).
• 36A: Pound of poetry (EZRA).
• 50A: Bambi's aunt (ENA).
• 2D: Airline to Ben-Gurion (EL AL).
• 6D: German coal valley (RUHR).
• 7D: Riviera season (ÉTÉ).
• 13D: Inscribed slabs (STELES).
• 39D: Jackie's "O" (ARI).

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Everything Else — 1A: Bit of cat chat (MEOW); 5A: Phobia (DREAD); 10A: Cell signal strength indicators (BARS); 14A: __ mater (ALMA); 15A: Unconventional (OUTRE); 19A: Where some descents start (ACME); 24A: Dick and Harry's leader? (TOM); 25A: __ name: computer ID (USER); 26A: "__ size fits all" (ONE); 31A: Russian coins (RUBLES); 33A: Grinders (HEROS); 34A: 1960s Canadian prime minister Pearson (LESTER); 38A: Middle __ (EAST); 42A: Ironic tales' tails (TWISTS); 44A: Sharapova of tennis (MARIA); 45A: Low parts (BASSES); 51A: "Baseball Tonight" channel (ESPN); 53A: Like some stocks, for short (OTC); 60A: Wasatch Mountains ski resort (ALTA); 61A: Body-care brand named from the Latin for "snow-white" (NIVEA); 64A: Soup vegetable (LEEK); 65A: Stunning weapon (TASER); 66A: Tableland (MESA); 67A: __ majesty (LESE); 68A: Like some bars (SMOKY); 69A: Pitt in films (BRAD); 3D: Prefix with bus (OMNI); 4D: Oxford vests (WAISTCOATS); 5D: Moola (DO-RE-MI); 8D: Emirate natives, mostly (ARABS); 9D: Menu heading (DESSERTS); 10D: Not at all scintillating (BLAH); 11D: Comparable to a cucumber (AS COOL); 12D: Punk rock icon Joey (RAMONE); 21D: Young 'uns (TOTS); 23D: Rock's M*ouml;tley __ (CRÜE); 25D: Yet to be had (UNEATEN); 27D: Revolutionary Guevara (CHE); 28D: "Oh yeah? __ who?" (SEZ); 29D: Misjudge (ERR); 30D: Auto pioneer (OLDS); 32D: Bit of a fairy tale trail (BREAD CRUMB); 35D: Process: Abbr. (SYST.); 37D: Begs to differ (DISSENTS); 40D: Sloth, for one (SIN); 41D: Price indicator (TAG); 44D: Dillon of "There's Something About Mary" (MATT); 45D: Happen to (BEFALL); 47D: Pan-fries (SAUTES); 49D: Prayer beads (ROSARY); 52D: Trojan War king (PRIAM); 55D: Brand (MAKE); 56D: Computer nerd (GEEK); 57D: "Happy birthday" writer, perhaps (ICER); 58D: Org. that reaches for the stars? (NASA); 59D: "I'm __ it's over" (GLAD); 62D: Brandy letters (VSO).