02.09 Wed

W E D N E S D A Y February 9, 2011
Samuel A. Donaldson

Theme: All this for just $19.95!!! — Theme answers are familiar phrases heard on infomercials.

Theme answers:

• 22A/24A: Infomercial appeal (BUT WAIT / THERE'S MORE).
• 38A/49A: Infomercial appeal (OUR OPERATORS ARE / STANDING BY).
• 54A: Infomercial appeal (CALL NOW).

Fun theme. Brings to mind Dan Aykroyd and the "Bass-o-Matic." Yuck. (Yet hilarious nonetheless.) Good stuff in this grid. Love the long downs with their preponderance of Zs: HAZARD PAY and GRIZZLIES. Other highlights for me include:

• 8D: "Mean" señor (HOMBRE).
• 46D: Knucklehead (NITWIT).
• 26D: South Pacific island region (OCEANIA).

We've also got a little bit of that "paired cluing" we've been talking about lately with:

• 18A: "The Lion King" king (SIMBA).
• 30D: Lyon king (ROI).

That seems particularly clever to me for some reason. Also:

• 42A: Yves or Yvette, e.g. (NOM). More French!
• 57A: "Yes, Yvette" ("OUI"). Still more French!

The most trouble I had in this grid — and I can't believe I'm telling you this — is where I entered KIMONO for KOMODO (35D: __ dragon: largest living lizard). That's one of the more ridiculous missteps I've had in quite a while. One time last year I was working a puzzle where the clue was "Southern morsel" and I already had CRA**** in the grid. The answer, of course, is CRAWDAD, but I entered CRAISIN. HAha!

Bullets:

• 6A: Home censorship aid (V-CHIP). I just realized that I don't know exactly what this is. Is it hardware? Like an actual part of a television set? Or is it software that you set up through your cable company? I'm not the most diligent parent, is what I'm saying.

• 11A: Journalist's last question? (HOW). The first questions, of course, are WHAT, WHERE, WHY, and COOKIES?
• 14A: "Au contraire!" ("NOT SO!"). I tried NO WAY first.
• 15A: "You think I'm to blame?" ("WHO ME?").
• 16A: "If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize" boaster (ALI). Okay, that's just awesome.
• 28A: Likely loser in war (DEUCE). "War" in this case refers to the card game.
• 58A: Nook download (E-BOOK). No love for the Kindle, huh?

• 64A: "Do ___ to eat a peach?": Eliot (I DARE). This is from Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," which I've never read. But now that I've admitted that publicly, I'll probably go do it. Wikipedia tells me it's "one of the most recognized voices in 20th-century literature, and is the quintessential urban zeitgeist of the 20th century," so, yeah, it seems like something worth reading. We'll see.
• 65A: MI and LA (STS.). MI and LA are postal codes for the states (STS.) of Michigan and Louisiana.
• 67A: "So Much in Love" singers, with "The" (TYMES). The song sounds familiar, but I'm quite sure I've never heard of the TYMES. Here's some guys you probably know covering the song:
  


• 2D: Actor Lundgren of "Rocky IV" (DOLPH). It's almost embarrassing how quickly this answer came to mind.

• 11D: Incentive for dangerous work (HAZARD PAY).
• 13D: Volume component (WIDTH). I was stuck on the audio type of volume. Took me quite a few crosses before I remembered volume = length x WIDTH x height.

Have a great day, everybody. See you back here tomorrow.[Follow PuzzleGirl on Twitter.]

Everything Else — 1A: Utopian (IDEAL); 17A: Spanish silver (PLATA); 19A: Londoner's last letter (ZED); 20A: Raising (UPPING); 27A: St. Louis landmark (ARCH); 29A: Like stale jokes (OLD); 30A: Riches' opposite (RAGS); 34A: Struggle (VIE); 35A: "The change is yours" ("KEEP IT"); 41A: Conditional promise (IF I CAN); 43A: Some votes (AYES); 44A: Clearasil target (ZIT); 45A: "__ the G String": Bach work (AIR ON); 47A: Chichén __: Mayan ruins (ITZA); 56A: Verdi opera with a Shakespearean plot (OTELLO); 61A: Inflict, as havoc (WREAK); 62A: Las Vegas-to-Salt Lake City dir. (NNE); 63A: Sparkle (VERVE); 66A: Alan of "Little Miss Sunshine" (ARKIN); 1D: Feedback (INPUT); 3D: Troops encampment (ÉTAPE); 4D: Buzzing with activity (ASTIR); 5D: Advanced (LOANED); 6D: Rd. Rabbits (VW'S); 7D: X, to Greeks (CHI); 9D: Permeate (IMBUE); 10D: Gardening moss (PEAT); 12D: Acid used in soap (OLEIC); 21D: International finance coalition (G-SEVEN); 23D: Polish Solidarity leader (WALESA); 25D: Sierra Club founder (MUIR); 29D: "__ the ramparts ..." (O'ER); 31D: "__ Wiedersehen" (AUF); 32D: University of Montana athletes (GRIZZLIES); 33D: Gregarious (SOCIAL); 36D: Wrath (IRE); 37D: French possessive (TES); 39D: Back stroke? (PAT); 40D: Conflicted (TORN); 45D: On the job (AT WORK); 47D: Desktop images (ICONS); 48D: Needle (TAUNT); 49D: Neither stewed nor pickled? (SOBER); 50D: Hardly cool (NERDY); 51D: Twinkle (GLEAM); 52D: Trumpet sound (BLARE); 53D: Joins, as oxen (YOKES); 55D: Lake Tahoe's aptly named Cal __ Casino (NEVA); 59D: Egg: Pref. (OVI-); 60D: Baseball's Griffey (Jr., too) (KEN).