W E D N E S D A Y October 27, 2010 Dan Naddor

Theme: Tools of the Trade--Each theme entry begins with a tool. Cool.

Theme answers:

• 17A: Track and field event (HAMMER THROW).
• 23A: Agreed (SAW EYE TO EYE).
• 39A: Lou Gossett Jr. played one in "An Officer and a Gentleman" (DRILL INSTRUCTOR).
• 49A: Air traveler's need (PLANE TICKET).
• 61A: Folder holder (FILE CABINET).

Howdy, folks. PuzzleGirl asked me (Doug) to fill in again today. I think she needed a little extra time to finish her Halloween costume. It's a combination of a crossword puzzle grid and the state of Iowa. I hope she posts some pictures!

I was pretty excited to see that we were getting a Dan Naddor puzzle today, and he didn't disappoint. Solid theme and plenty of cool words throughout the grid. I always pay attention to the long Down answers, and they don't get much cooler than PAT BENATAR and ADIOS, AMIGO. I thought this one was fun from top to bottom. One thing I've noticed after doing a few of these blogs is that I tend to look at the puzzle as a whole rather than a bunch of separate words and clues. If I'm enjoying solving the puzzle, I barely notice clunky entries like CDE and LTR. Every grid's going to have a few clunkers, but a skilled constructor will make sure that the good stuff drowns out the bad stuff.

Bullets:

• 1A One of a "Sesame Street" duo (BERT). When we were kids, my sister had an Ernie puppet and I had a Bert puppet. Sorry, that's the only Bert story I have, but I really wanted to post this freaky picture.
• 19A Double standard? (TWO). Hmmm, not sure I buy this one. Yeah, two is the "standard" number for a double. It's a stretch. 
• 32A Baby Arp's first word? (DADA). OK, I bagged on the TWO clue, but I love this one. It refers to Jean Arp, one of the originators of the Dada art movement. We usually get a "Father of Dada" or "Dada pioneer" clue, so this was a nice change of pace. If you want to brush up on your Arp, read this excellent Crosswordese 101 entry: ARP. (I hope I don't get fired for linking to old CW101 entries and never creating any new ones!)
• 42A Ketel One alternative, familiarly (STOLI). Ketel One and Stolichnaya ("Stoli") are brands of vodka. Do people actually call it "Stoli" or is that just a crossword thing? The other crossword vodka you need to know is Skyy. That one shows up in grids every now and then. I'm going to try to use Pyatizvyozdnaya in my next themeless puzzle.
• 6D Miró on the wall (ART). I love this clue too. Joan Miró, Spanish artist who, according to Wikipedia, was influenced by Dada.
• 11D "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" singer (PAT BENATAR). Fire away! Back in my high school days, my friend and I got the idea to create a "Weird" Al Yankovic-style parody of the Pat Benatar hit "Love is a Battlefield." Ours was going to be "Love is a Cattle Field." We never got around to writing any lyrics, but I know it would have been awesome.

• 57D How some NFL games are resolved (IN OT). Short for "in overtime." Pretty ugly. I wanted to mention this one for the non-sports folks, but let's not dwell on it.
• 59D Prince William's school (ETON). If the clue mentions an English guy and his school, it's going to be Eton. Or maybe Hogwarts.

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