New York Times, Dec. 26

Here in Philly, we say “Yo!” to get someone’s attention (or so the stereotype goes). This puzzle by constructor Darin McDaniel translates a more formal attention-getter — “Hey, Mister!” — into another slangy term: MAN. Specifically, the word MAN is inserted into common phrases to create funny new ones.

To wit: I NEED MY SPACEMAN (“Loving comment from an astronaut’s wife?” 23 Across); BATMAN’S IN THE BELFRY (“The Dark Knight rooms with Quasimodo?” 37 Across); OPEN DOORMAN POLICY (“Hotel’s ask-your-greeter-anything approach?” 47 Across); CARTMAN BEFORE THE HORSE (“‘South Park’ character leading a walk around a paddock?” 66 Across); TAKE A “RAINMAN” CHECK (“What Dustin Hoffman gets to do often, thanks to royalties?” 80 Across); JACKMAN OF ALL TRADES (“Actor Hugh involved in every swap shop deal?” 92 Across); and GOODMAN AS NEWMAN (“Actor John playing Wayne Knight’s role on ‘Seinfeld’?” 111 Across).

Hate to say it but, overall, this wasn’t a terribly big or challenging grid; perhaps Will Shortz was going easy on those of us in a post-Christmas, pre-blizzard haze.

But there were some clues of note:

Who Knew It Had A Name? Dept.: Remember the crazy aliens in that cantina scene in “Star Wars”? Turns out the cantina’s town has a name: MOS Eisley (7 Down). Nickname: “Armpit of the Galaxy.”

Great Minds Think Alike Dept.: “Ann or Andy” is a RAG DOLL (86 Down), as in Raggedy Ann or Andy. Funny thing, but Merl Reagle’s puzzle today in the Philadelphia Inquirer (and other papers across the country) makes reference to that answer in his editor’s note: “In this puzzle, instead of gifts being inside boxes, boxes are inside the gifts. In other words, each gift ‘straddles’ a single black square, like so: RAG♦DOLL. Can you find all eight hidden presents? Answers next week.”

More Philly-Area Trivia Dept.: One word — BlobFest. It’s true. “The BLOB” (“Steve McQueen’s first major movie, with ‘The’,” 90 Across) was filmed in nearby Phoenixville. The cult classic horror/sci-fi movie celebrated its 50th anniversary two years ago and my AP colleague Ted Anthony wrote a great story after attending the annual BlobFest weekend, which is hosted by the Colonial Theatre (from which patrons run screaming in “The Blob”). Visitors even got a map of local shooting locations.

Never Heard Of Them Dept.: Apparently the “Difference in days between the lunar and solar year” is EPACT (56 Across), which I only figured out through crossing letters (and then looked up to confirm). Same goes for UKASE, which turns out to be a “Decree” (102 Down).

Guilty As Charged Dept.: I first heard the term MENS REA (“Literally, ‘guilty mind’,” 43 Down) in the Reese Witherspoon comedy “Legally Blonde.”

Name That Tune Dept.: I am mortified to admit that I mentally sang Barry Manilow lyrics to figure out the name of RICO (“‘He wore a diamond’ in ‘Copacabana,’” 44 Across). Lola, of course, was the showgirl. How much of my brain has been wasted remembering that song?

Questions or comments? Leave them here, tweet me @crosswordkathy or visit my Facebook page!

Merl Reagle, Dec. 19

Yesterday was the 97th anniversary of the day the first crossword puzzle was published. It appeared in the New York World, though it looked much different than today’s puzzles.

Last Sunday, Merl Reagle constructed an homage to the puzzle — a birthday present to solvers, if you will. I thought it was pretty clever and something fun to share. (Though I apologize for being a day late!) It started with a pretty lengthy editor’s note:

“NOTE: December 21 marks the crossword puzzle’s 97th birthday, so in keeping with my perennial idea that a certain item should be the Official Snack of Crosswords — because of its black and white look, its common occurrence in crosswords, and its popularity as a bribe — I mean, as a treat — for a certain overnight visitor, here’s a puzzle devoted exclusively to it (sort of). There are 11 in all (but eat just one).”

The treat? An OREO. To wit:

FOR EONS (“Since time immemorial,” 17 Across); THE LORE OF THE WEST (“Subject for Louis L’Amour,” 23 Across); RESTORE ORDER (“A militia might do it,” 28 Across); WORE OXFORDS (“Sported certain shoes,” 37 Across); MORE OF THE SAME (“Kin of ‘ditto’,” 54 Across); PORE OVER (“Study closely,” 57 Across); TORE OPEN (“Attacked, as an envelope,” 85 Across); CHOREOGRAPHER (“Gene Kelly was one,” 88 Across); OFFSHORE OIL (“Focus of a ‘drill, baby, drill,’” 105 Across); FOREORDAINED (“Predestined,” 114 Across); BORE ONE SENSELESS (“What endless hours of data entry may do,” 124 Across).

To be fair, he even included the cookie’s competitor in 72 Across, “Part of NaOH (just to give The Snack’s old rival a smidgen of equal time): HYDROXIDE. I first learned about Hydrox cookies as a kid; our Jewish neighbors kept Kosher and they would only stock Hydrox, not Oreos, because Hydrox were made with vegetable shortening (as opposed to animal shortening.) At least I think that was the reason.

And to wash it all down? 132 Across is an “Apt query for the of this puzzle”: GOT MILK?

Postscript Dept.: When I first launched this blog a couple of years ago, I rushed to solve both the NYT and Merl Reagle puzzles each Sunday so I could blog both of them. Then I realized I was getting zero feedback on the Reagle puzzles (which appear in my local Philadelphia Inquirer), so I decided to save them for my own enjoyment later in the week. If any of you feel differently, let me know and I can put Merl back into my repertoire.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy or visit my Facebook page.

New York Times, Dec. 19

Boy, I hope everyone figures out this grid before tomorrow: The moon is going to be putting on quite a show late Monday night/early Tuesday morning, depending on where you live in the U.S. So, as the puzzle’s title suggests, “hope for clear skies.”

This “Event on Dec. 21, 2010, viewable in North and South America, depicted visually in this puzzle” is a TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE (125 Across). “Many an avid observer of 125-Across” will be an AMATEUR ASTRONOMER (94 Across), who might see other “Objects of interest in a 125-Across”: CELESTIAL BODIES (66 Across).

The moon phases are in blue; the earth in green; the sun in orange.

But constructor Kevin G. Der took the theme further, visually depicting the eclipse by squeezing entire words into single boxes. You’ll find the SUN at the bottom in box 143: “Folds” is GOE(S UN)DER (140 Across) and “Dawn” is (SUN) UP (143 Down). The EARTH is in the middle: “1914 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel set in an underground land” is AT THE (EARTH)’S CORE (81 Across), crossing with RARE (EARTH), “Terbium or thulium” (59 Down). You can find the phases of the moon fanned along the upper quadrants — BRIGHT, DIM, DARK — and the heavenly body itself at the top: MANY (MOON)S AGO (“A long time past,” 26 Across).

BRIGHT is squeezed into the 63 box to give you (BRIGHT)EN (“Remove drapes from, as a room,” 63 Across) and (BRIGHT) IDEA (“Promising proposal,” 63 Down), and also into the 71 box to give you AL(BRIGHT) (“First female U.S. secretary of state,” 69 Across) and (BRIGHT) SIDE (“Optimist’s focus,” 71 Down). DIM is in the 41 box, giving you ON A (DIM)E (“One way to stop, 40 Across) and (DIM)AG (“Yankee great Joe, colloquially,” 41 Down), and also in the 48 box, yielding C(D IM)AGE (“Clone of an optical medium’s contents,” 47 Across, one of the clunkiest clues I’ve read in a long time) and (DIM)LY (“How things may be lit or remembered,” 48 Down). DARK is in the 30 box, giving you AFTER (DARK) (“At night,” 29 Across) and (DARK)MAN (“Superhero played by Liam Neeson in a 1990 film,” 30 Down), and also in the 32 box, giving you (DARK) HORSE (“Long-shot candidate,” 32 Across) and (DARK) AGE (“Era of ignorance,” 32 Down).

Mainstream Media Dept.: The MSM gets dissed a lot these days, but 18 Down (“Paper for which Murray Kempton and Jim Dwyer won Pulitzers”) is a nice reminder of the important work that papers like NEWSDAY have done, and continue to do. Kempton won for commentary in 1985 for “witty and insightful reflection on public issues” while Dwyer won 10 years later in the same category for “his compelling and compassionate columns about New York City.”

Fly, Eagles, Fly Dept.: “Football’s Sanders” is DEION (31 Across), who I really don’t care that much about, except that the NFL reference gives me an excuse to gloat: OMG did you see the end of the Eagles-Giants game today? Holy crap.

Half An Answer Dept.: I happened to flip past last week’s NYT puzzle (“The Wish”) in today’s Philly Inquirer, which runs the puzzle in syndication (read: a week late). With that came the answer to the previous week’s puzzle (“On A Roll”), which was the ingenious grid that turned itself into a die.

This doesn't help people figure out the final answer to the puzzle.

But you would never know that from the published puzzle solution, which just shades the area you have to cut out to make the die. (It doesn’t even color in the pips!) This was the same solution published in the NYT Magazine, which I think falls woefully short for those solvers who may not have been able to follow all of the clues to the finished product. I’ll be interested to see what the solved grid for today’s visual puzzle will look like in print next week.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy or visit me on Facebook.

New York Times, Dec. 12

You can stop looking for Aladdin. There are no genies or lamps or, for that matter, actual wishes to be granted in this puzzle. But those who wish to solve the puzzle can take a literal hint from the title: The W is H.

Yes, this is a letter substitution puzzle in which the letter W is swapped for an H, turning common phrases into cute plays on words: “Tempo for a stringed instrument?” is HARP SPEED (23 Across).

Others: THIN SISTERS (“Nine Muses after dieting?” 25 Across); GLOBAL HARMING (“Alien attackers’ goal?” 34 Across); HASTE MANAGEMENT (“Rush hour control?” 68 Across); HINGED VICTORY (“Choice of the right door on ‘Let’s Make a Deal’?” 99 Across); READY TO HEAR (“Like tuned-in listeners?” 116 Across); MAGIC HAND (“Orlando team water boy, e.g.?’” 118 Across); CLEAN SHEEP (“Flock after a rainstorm?” 16 Down); and SILVER HARE (“Tortoise’s opponent after finishing second?” 73 Down).

I liked that there were a lot of theme answers (nine!) but have to say the puzzle was a bit of a letdown after last week’s blockbuster.

Bolt of Lightning Dept.: Never knew that Thursday was named for THOR (“God with a day of the week named after him,” 112 Down).

POTUS vs FLOTUS Dept.: Sure, Barack has the fancier title, but it’s MICHELLE OBAMA with the full-name shout-out in this week’s puzzle (“With 32-Down, first lady who graduated from Harvard Law,” 50 Down).

Don’t Stop Believin’ Dept.: “‘The Sopranos’ roles” are HITMEN (115 Across).

If Only Will Had Known Dept.: The NYT Travel section today was the 2011 Ski Guide, which would have dovetailed nicely with ALTA (1 Across) if the clue was related to the resort in Utah. It wasn’t, so now I know that Alta is also “Lady Bird Johnson’s middle name.”

Who’s That Girl? Dept.: Until today, the only “Evangeline” I knew was the song by Matthew Sweet. Thus I had to get most of the crossing letters to figure out that “Evangeline, for one” is ACADIAN (36 Down). (Now I also know about Evangeline Lilly, whose name came up first while I was Googling a link to the Longfellow poem to which the clue referred.)

Memories of Eighth Grade History Dept.: I remember the Sumerians, or at least I remember their name. Could have sworn that meant they came from Sumeria — but not so much. Turns out they came from SUMER (“Birthplace of cuneiform writing,” 51 Across).

Punny Stuff Dept.: I know I’ve seen this clue before and yet it still tripped me up: “Layers” is HENS (12 Down). In the same vein, “Photo finish” is MATTE (15 Down).

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy or check out my Facebook page.

New York Times, Dec. 5

Holy crap(s)! Will Shortz really took a gamble on this one — asking us to cut up the puzzle?! To turn it into a die? Awesome. I loved it. Best grid since “Flag Day” back in June.

The empty grid was a little intimidating, with bold and dotted lines that you knew were going to end up at least being folded. (That they happened to be in the shape of a cross reminded me of this week’s Yuletide fracas in Philly.) But the solving was fairly easy, including the four theme clues that told you what the puzzle was about: CUT ON BOLD LINES (23 Across); SHADE THE CIRCLES (56 Across); FOLD ALONG DASHES (77 Across); and USE TAPE ON EDGES (115 Across).

“Shade the circles” was the only iffy part for me; I assumed they meant all the letter Os but wasn’t really sure until about the fifth one — that’s when I realized I was “on a roll” and creating a die. As you can see from the pictures, this was quite the arts-and-crafts project, made a little more difficult by the flimsy magazine paper. But, quibbles aside, it was sheer genius. Kudos to constructor Ben Pall, who gave me one of those rare how-the-hell-did-they-do-that? moments.

I might add that Will Shortz and Ben Pall were lucky they didn’t have to add a fifth instruction — READ THE ARTICLE ON THE BACK OF THIS PAGE BEFORE YOU CUT IT UP. Turns out there was a full page ad on the reverse side of the puzzle. I wonder if they knew that ahead of time? Or made a special request?

Random Philly Reference Dept.: Veterans Stadium, a concrete donut of a park affectionately known as the VET (“Old Philadelphia stadium, informally, with ‘the,’” 65 Across), was imploded several years ago to make way for two new homes for the Phillies and Eagles (Citizens Bank Park and Lincoln Financial Field, respectively). It so happens that the Spectrum arena — the Vet’s basketball/hockey counterpart, where the 76ers and Flyers played for decades — met the wrecking ball last week. Here’s a video.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy or visit my Facebook page!