New York Times, March 28

What makes “it” itch? Well, “ch” of course.

The theme answers in this puzzle are common phrases tweaked by the addition of a CH — like 16 Down’s “Hit below the belt?”: MAKE A BAD PUNCH.

Others: A “Problem for a crane operator?” is a NO WINCH SITUATION (23 Across); an “Exceptional soldier on his only tour?” is a ONE HITCH WONDER (38 Across); “What kind, decent people wear?” is MENSCH FASHION (68 Across, on the eve of Passover, no less!); “Hidden help for one who’s trying to quit smoking?” is a PATCH ON THE BACK (98 Across); “Instruction #1 for roofers?” is GET A LOAD OF THATCH (117 Across); and a “Really angry group?” is a HOT CROSS BUNCH (56 Down).

Not a whole lot else stood out for me in this grid, to tell the truth. Michael Douglas might want to frame a finished puzzle, seeing as how wife (Catherine) ZETA JONES is the answer to 9 Down (“Academy Award winner for ‘Chicago,’ 2002″) — a fun entry. Had never heard of an AGIO, a “Currency exchange premium” (8 Down), despite the fact I’ve apparently paid one more times than I can count. I just thought it was called a sucker’s fee.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, March 21

Looking for a break? This puzzle was filled with them — nine, in fact — if you knew how to find them.

These “breaks” recalibrate common words or phrases by separating them at different points to create new phrases. Thus someone who “Illuminates a Halloween display?” LIGHTS WITCHES (100 Across), a play on ”light switches.” Someone who “Puts hats on display?” SHOWS TOPPERS (122 Across); someone who “Prepares to play Scrabble?” TURNS TILES (16 Down); someone who “Makes drugs easier to swallow?” OILS PILLS (57 Down); and, my favorite, someone who “Monitors food orders to go?” POLICES TAKEOUTS (69 Across).

Others: DOUBLES PACES (23 Across, “Goes from walk to trot, and trot to gallop?”; TRAINS POTTERS (38 Across, “Teaches a ceramics class?”; TAILS PINS (38 Down, “Closely follows secret banking information,” as in PINs for ATM cards); and LANDS CAPES (74 Down, “Manages to grab some bullfight attire?”

Cool Words Department: Fitting WYSIWYG (51 Across, “Word-processing acronym,” for What You See Is What You Get) in the grid was simply awesome — so creative that I will forgive the ancient answer AYLA that crosses with it (45 Down, “‘The Clan of the Cave Bear’ heroine”). That book was a best-seller when I was in junior high — maybe even elementary school — but hasn’t resurfaced since. (And it was turned into a remarkably bad movie with Daryl Hannah, if memory serves.)

“Who Knew?” Department: JAPAN WAX (119 Across, “Ingredient in furniture polishes”) had me running for my can of Pledge to double-check if I had it right; I’ve never heard of the stuff, but what a great crossword entry. And it turns out OPEC (117 Down) is headquartered in Austria, even though Austria isn’t a member.

That Was Cheap Department: 108 Across, “Group defeated in ’65″ is CSA, for Confederate States of America, which was defeated in 1865.

How Serendipitous Department: On the day of the health care reform vote, the last clue in the puzzle (129 Across) was amazingly appropriate: “Insurance holder’s burden,” for COPAY.

I’m hoping my next blog entry will be an applet with my first puzzle as a constructor.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, March 14

Welcome to the Book Bazaar — or should I say Book Bizarre? — where today’s theme answers literally bind one book to another to create punny new titles. While clever, I found the original titles to be either too dated and/or too literary; that’s not bad, per se, but throwing in a “Twilight” or a John Grisham or Stephen King title might have broadened the puzzle’s appeal. Still, I have to say the rest of the grid was filled withcool, fun, modern words — when have you ever seen SALT N PEPA (19 Across, “‘Let’s Talk About Sex’ hip-hop group”) in a NYT puzzle? Awesome!

The titles: STORY OF O PIONEERS (24 Across, “Plot of a Willa Cather novel?”) binds Cather’s “O Pioneers” to “Story of O” by Pauline Reage; THE LONG GOODBYE COLUMBUS (41 Across, “Unabridged version of a Philip Roth novella?”) binds Roth’s “Goodbye Columbus” to “The Long Goodbye” by Raymond Chandler; LITTLE WOMEN IN LOVE (61 Across, “Pocket edition of a D.H. Lawrence novel?”) binds Louisa May Alcott’s classic “Little Women” to Lawrence’s “Women in Love”; HOWARD’S END OF THE AFFAIR (77 Across, “‘Frost/Nixon’ director’s copy of a Graham Greene novel?”) binds E.M. Forster’s “Howard’s End” to Greeen’s “End of the Affair”; THE LAST DON QUIXOTE (99 Across, “Final copy of a Cervantes novel?”) binds Mario Puzo’s “The Last Don” to Cervantes’ “Don Quixote”; A WRINKLE IN TIME AND AGAIN (114 Across, “Creased copy of a Jack Finney novel?”) binds Madeleine L’Engle children’s classic “A Wrinkle in Time” to Jack Finney’s “Time and Again”; and ART OF WAR AND PEACE (137 Across, “Illustrations in a Leo Tolstoy novel?”) binds Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” to Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.”

Again, not a bad theme, but the book variety left a little to be desired. I’ve never even heard of Jack Finney or “Time and Again.”

Other fun words: JORJA (14 Across, “Actress Fox of ‘CSI’”), which crossed with JAZZ GUITAR (17 Down, “Duke Ellington band instrument”), and CATGUT (2 Down, “String once used for cello” — with apologies to my feline, Phoebe), which crossed with YUCCAS (32 Across, “Desert bloomers”). In 73 Down, it’s all about the clue: “Film with line ‘Oh, we have 12 vacancies. 12 cabins, 12 vacancies’” — PSYCHO. Wow; I think the only line I remember from that film is, “Mother!”; the rest is all silhouette, shower and screeching music. And in 133 Across (“Community hangout, informally”), it’s all about the space: THE ‘Y’ (as in YMCA) — I’ll never look at “THEY” the same way again.

On a side note, I just ventured into the world of crossword construction this weekend. I created an 11×11 puzzle — too small, I know, for any normal daily puzzle in the NYT, but I had to start somewhere. I’m hoping to work up to a 15×15 by the end of the month! Maybe then I’ll start posting some.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

New York Times, March 7

Order in the court! Or, rather, order in the grid!

That’s the command for this week’s puzzle, in which common phrases are tweaked by anagramming one word — and the letters in the anagram are in alphabetical order, from A TO Z (120 Down, “The works … or how each set of circled letters in this puzzle is arranged”).

So “Alex Trebek?” (69 Across) is THE HINT MAN, instead of “The Thin Man,” although surely he is the latter as well; a “Slogan encouraging binge drinking?” (26 Across) is HOPS TIL YOU DROP, sted SHOP; “What spectators high up in Ashe Stadium see?” (42 Across) is TENNIS BELOW, sted ELBOW; a “Tutorial on becoming a resident manager?” (45 Across) is SUPER DEMO, sted DOME; “Eco-friendly computers from Taiwan?” (73 Across) are GREEN ACERS, sted ACRES; “Nashville neurosis?” (98 Across) is OPRY MANIA, sted PYRO; a “Teakettle’s sound?” (101 Across) is a FLOW WHISTLE, sted WOLF; and a “Clueless emcee?” (117 Across) is A HOST IN THE DARK, sted SHOT.

Clues of note: After the devastation in Haiti and Chile, it took me way too long to figure out that 5 Down, “Like some plates,” had nothing to do with dinnerware but everything to do with earthquakes — TECTONIC; and Will Shortz & Co. continue an impressive string of 21st-century hints by using a modern TV show to clue 125 Across (“Daniel’s mother on ‘Lost‘”) instead of a particularly bratty (but terribly dated) resident of The Plaza — ELOISE.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy