I am not a jogger. Never have been, never will be. Which is why, when I saw the title of today’s puzzle, physical exercise never entered my mind — but mental exercise did.

At first, “Going for a Run” made me think the theme answers would contain alphabetic runs of letters, like DEF or NOP. Then I inadvertently solved the last theme answer first — YEAR ZERO (“Beginning of time?” 120 Across) — and it was hard not to notice the Y-Z symmetry of the two words.

I got suspicious and looked at the immediately preceding theme clue, 117 Across: “Annual sports event since 1997.” Hmmmm. The ESPN X-Games are about that old. A few more moments and I had it: WINTER X-GAMES. Bingo. Each theme answer would have an alphabetical pairing: W-X, Y-Z.

The italicized clues spoke to the subtlety of the theme. And I can’t imagine how long it might have taken constructor Derek Bowman to come up with all the pairings. (What would he have done if the Winter X-Games hadn’t been invented?)

So, starting alphabetically (and numerically, in the upper left corner), the theme answers are: ARMY BRAT (“Kid constantly switching schools, maybe,” 22 Across); CARBON DATING (“Age-revealing method,” 23 Across); EXHAUST FANS (“Stale air removers,” 29 Across); GRAY HAIRS (“Supposed results of stress,” 33 Across); INSIDE JOB (“Embezzlement, e.g.,” 58 Across); and KITTY LITTER (“Pet shop purchase,” 60 Across).

Also: MIXED NUTS (“Party bowlful,” 68 Across); OUTER PLANET (“Pluto, e.g., before it was plutoed,” 78 Across); QUICK READ (“Harlequin romance, e.g.,” 81 Across); SPEED TRAP (“Leadfoot’s downfall,” 101 Across); USED VEHICLE (“It’s got some miles on it,” 106 Across); and the aforementioned WINTER X-GAMES and YEAR ZERO.

Unwitting Theme Answer Dept.: “Newer, as a car” (42 Across) is a LATE MODEL, which follows the “Going for a Run” idea though it’s not an actual theme answer.

Project Runway Dept.: Can you tell I’ve never seen this show? I couldn’t figure out how “Diane” was going to fit into the four squares of 111 Down (“Von Furstenberg of fashion”). It’s EGON.

Noshable Clue Dept.: SESAME (122 Across) is not “_____ Street” or “Open _____,” but a “Bagel request.”

Great Trivia Dept.: “Where the limbo dance originated?” (57 Down) is TRINIDAD. I had no idea. I would have guessed “The Love Boat.”

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.

This puzzle’s clever title, a play on “Film Noir,” is a literal reference to the theme answers: Each is a movie title missing an “R.” So a “Film about a corrida participant put to pasture?” is AGING BULL (19 Across).

Other films are about … “a small-minded lady” — PETTY WOMAN (28 Across); “an embarrassingly one-sided tennis match?” — A THOUSAND ACES (44 Across); “decorative furniture elements being blown off with dynamite?” — BEDKNOBS AND BOOMSTICKS (67 Across); “a demonic horse” — MY FIEND FLICKA (93 Across); “drink garnishes” — OLIVE TWIST (112 Across); “a seedy Hollywood bar?” — MULHOLLAND DIVE (121 Across); and “skinned knuckles” — FIST BLOOD (126 Across).

And, finally, a film about “a candy-sharing confederate?” is THE GUMBALL ALLY (23 Across), though I didn’t get the reference. My brother-in-law said it was a Burt Reynolds movie with a car race. Well, that narrows it down. Update: It doesn’t actually star Burt Reynolds, though you can get a 2-for-1 DVD with “The Gumball Rally” and “Cannonball Run 2,” which does star Burt.

Home of the Saints Dept.: St. Francis gets all the press, but “St. Clare’s home” (64 Down) is also ASSISI, which I happened to visit a few months ago while in Italy. I wanted to post my photo of the basilica (multimedia blogging!) but alas the picture is on my laptop, not my phone. Update: Photo posted!

Basilica of St. Francis (San Francesco), Assisi, Italy

Awesome Pun Dept.: “Bomb detector?” is a DRAMA CRITIC (16 Down).

Only Time You’ll See Profanity In The Puzzle Dept.: “Beasts of Burden” are ASSES (50 Down).

I Thought It Was A Car Dept.: A “Sailor’s sword” is a CUTLASS (97 Down). Did Oldsmobile know that?

Weird Science Dept.: A “Hybrid farm animal” is a CATTALO (31 Down), which I’m guessing is a cross between cattle and buffalo. Speaking of which, did you hear about the zedonk? Half zebra, half donkey. Seriously. I’d link to it except I cant figure out how to do that on this WordPress app. Update: Here’s the link to the zedonk.

Need A Clue? Dept.: Anyone who had trouble with this puzzle should have consulted the “Web site for cinephiles” (111 Down) — IMDB.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.

This puzzle was not exactly hard, and even fun for a little while. Then it threw me for a loop with a handful of cultural references that completely, embarrassingly baffled me — including two theme answers that I solved without understanding what they meant.

This week’s theme tweaks common phrases by doubling the final word (echo!) to create a clever homophone. So a ”Reservation at a Johannesburg restaurant?” isn’t a table for two but a TABLE FOR TUTU, as in Archbishop Desmond (16 Down); “Landlord’s ultimatum?” is RENT OR BYE BYE (60 Down); “Majorcan affirmation?” is the MEDITERRANEAN SI SI (43 Across); “Registering a poodle?” is LICENSING FIFI (67 Across); “Guy holding a Hostess snack cake?” is THE MAN WITH THE HOHO (92 Across); “Words of caution from Rodolfo?” are DON’T TREAD ON MIMI (113 Across); and an “Underachiever’s motto” is MAY IT EVER BE SO-SO (23 Across).

Those last three mystified me. I solved the HoHo one (even though I was a Ding Dong fan myself) but had no idea what it referenced; after looking it up, I now know “The Man with the Hoe” is a poem based on a painting by Jean-Francois Millet. The same thing happened with Rodolfo and Mimi. I solved it because I knew the “Don’t Tread on Me” reference, but the names made sense to me only because they both sounded European. Turns out they’re from “La Boheme.” (I’ve been to one opera in my life, and it wasn’t that one. I think it was “The Marriage of Figaro.”)

But MAY IT EVER BE SO-SO stopped me cold. I didn’t recognize the original phrase (“May it ever be so”), so getting to _ _ Y _ _ EVER BE SO-SO didn’t help. The crossing clues were equally baffling: “Writer of the short story ‘The Overcoat’” (1 Across); “Vladimir Nabokov novel” (27 Across); and “Hersey novel setting” (19 Across). Geez, I thought I was well read. (And since when is a “Group of whales” a GAM (1 Down)? I wrongly put down POD.)

So I caved and looked them up. I suppose if I had read past the introduction of “The Namesake” I might have gotten GOGOL, “The Overcoat” author. (I did read far enough to know the main character is named for Gogol.) The only Hersey novel I know is set in Hiroshima, which didn’t exactly fit. The answer was ADANO, as in “A Bell for Adano.” Similarly, the only Nabokov novel I know is “Lolita,” which didn’t fit the P_ _ N that I had entered. Though it was tempting to enter PORN, turns out the title is PNIN. That seems like something I should have come across in a puzzle by now, and yet it was completely unfamiliar.

Blast from the Past Dept.: “V.J.’s employer” is MTV (6 Down). It stands for video jockey, because when I was in junior high school, they actually played music videos. Not so much today.

Hawkeye and Asterisks Dept.: “Sitcom with three stars” (6 Across) was the extremely clever MASH, as in M*A*S*H.

Just Double-Checking Dept.: I thought someone erred on 58 Down (“Where the driver is driving Miss Daisy”) when the answer turned out to be MOBILE; I was positive Miss Daisy lived in Atlanta. Turns out we were both right. Hoke drives her to Mobile for a party, which I had forgotten about.

Movie of the Week Dept.: The Times got major props for including an “Avatar” clue in the puzzle last winter. This week, they shun baseball Hall of Famer Ty for “Inception” hero Dom (101 Across) to get the answer COBB.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.

Meh. A perfectly serviceable puzzle, with some clever answers, and yet … sigh. It just left me feeling a bit wanting.

The “3×8″ in the title refers to eight answers that each had three letters circled. The letters turned out to spell common abbreviations, like FBI or CIA; the theme answers were witty definitions of the abbreviations. For instance, 48 Down (“Cross of ‘Desperate Housewives’”) is MARCIA, with the CIA circled (sorry, my fonts aren’t that fancy); then 50 Down (“See circled letters in 48-Down”) is ESPIONAGE GROUP.

Others: 1 Across (“One-named teen idol of the late ’50s/early ’60s”) is FABIAN;  111 Across, referencing FBI, is CRIME FIGHTERS. 13 Down (“They can always be counted on”) is ABACI; 61 Across, referencing ABC, is LOST NETWORK (which I hope means “Lost” the TV show and not an abysmal place in the Nielsen ratings). 96 Down (“Prevent”) is ESTOP; 22 Across, referencing ESP, is TELEPATH’S GIFT. 79 Down (“Laze”) is LOLL; 39 Across, referencing LOL, is WEB GIGGLE. 62 Down (“Rash remedies”) is TALCS; 70 Across, referencing TLC, is R.N. SPECIALTY (for nurses). 89 Down (“Wee”) is the understatement-of-the-year ATOMIC; 88 Across, referencing ATM, is the very clever CASH CACHE. And 65 Across (“Very reverent”) is PIOUS; 16 Down, referencing IOU, is PROMISSARY NOTE.

Hard to explain, but somehow my normal aha! moment was more like an oh-yeah moment with this puzzle. I think I would have been slightly more impressed if each word containing the abbreviation had the letters all in a row, as was the case in PIOUS and LOLL, but not ABACI or ATOMIC.

Formalities Dept.: 54 Down (“Candy giant, informally”) is NESTLE’S, which I thought was its full, formal name. Turns out the official name is simply NESTLE. (See also: Tiffany & Co.)

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.

Today’s entertaining puzzle wasn’t so much about bargaining as it was about swapping. The theme answers require you to swap out the long “ee” sound of common two-word phrases for an “ay” sound — much like the title swaps out the “ee” sound in the common phrase “Plea Bargaining” for the “ay” sound to make “Play Bargaining.” (Oh say, can you say?)

The puzzle had an impressive 10 theme answers, including these four across: WEIGH THREE KINGS (“Put a few monarchs on the scale,” 21 Across); SHARPEI PEN (“Wrinkly-dog holder?” 29 Across); GENERAL LEI (“Floral garland for whoever?” 105 Across); and TO BAY OR NOT TO BAY (“Indecisive wolf’s question?” 114 Across).

The six down answers were SHOPPING SPRAY (“Mist from a mall?” 15 Down); VALET GIRL (“Miss who parks cars?” 27 Down); CHEZ DEVIL (“In hell?” 33 Down); THE GIVING TRAY (“Generous carhop’s prop?” 56 Down); FANCY FRAY (“Brawl at a ball?” 58 Down); and JAY STRING (“Leno’s necklace?” 62 Down).

Had to Think About It For a Minute Dept.: The “Only thing between you and an open window?” (32 Down) is an ICON, but it took me a minute to understand he meant a computer desktop window.

Moving On From Nuclear Catastrophes Dept.: “‘I didn’t need to know that,’ in modern lingo” (119 Down) is TMI — Too Much Information. Glad we’re moving on from Three Mile Island.

Aural Tricks Dept.: “Blew by a drummer, maybe” (57 Across) is not about marching faster than the percussion section, but about a flute-like instrument and colonial pageantry: FIFED. (And that’s probably as close as this puzzle gets to a Philly shout-out.)

Is There Really a Past Tense of this Verb? Dept.: “Played the tourist” (59 Across) is SIGHTSAW. Of course it makes sense as the past tense of “sightsee,” but have you actually ever heard someone say it?

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.

“Up Starts” is a clever way of saying: We changed the first letter of several common phrases, shifting it up one letter in the alphabet. So an “Ultimatum from a spouse who wants nicer digs?” (98 Across) is MOVE ME OR LEAVE ME (‘sted of “Love me or leave me”).

Others: “Cause for Adam to refuse the apple?” (23 Across) is FAST OF EDEN (‘sted “East of Eden”); “Precamping preparation?” (28 Across) is TENT PACKING (‘sted “Sent packing”); “Christmas, for Christians?” (35 Across) is SEASON TO BELIEVE; “Bountiful harvest?” (51 Across) is DREAM OF THE CROP; “Independence Day barbecue serving?” (67 Across) is CORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY; “Unnecessary part of a jacket?” (86 Across) is HOOD FOR NOTHING; “Refusing to watch football on New Year’s Day?” (106 Across) is NIXING BOWLS; and “Nathan’s annual hot-dog contest, e.g.?” (119 Across) is EATING GAME.

The theme seemed a little too simple to me; I kept thinking both major words in the phrases would have “up starts.” But there were nine theme answers, which is pretty impressive. Not many other clues caught my eye, with the exception of 77 Down, “Does, say” — SHES, as in more than one female deer. Took me a while.

Funny Coincidence Dept.: “PC key” (104 Across) is ESC, which also happens to be the button pictured on the cover of the NYT Magazine (scroll down after clicking link).

Never Thought of That Dept.: I’ve heard the word “pratfall” a million times, usually in the same sentence as “Chevy Chase” or “Jerry Lewis.” Never realized the word could be separated into its components, namely PRAT (“Rear end,” 2 Down).

Definition of Grounding Dept.: Not sure what kind of upbringing anyone else had, but NO TV (“Alternative to grounding,” 82 Down) pretty much meant you were grounded in my house.

Questions or comments? I’m on Twitter @crosswordkathy.

The key to today’s puzzle is punctuation – the critical period, as it were. The theme answers are simple two-word phrases that, when punctuated properly, can be read an entirely different way.

So the answer to “234, as of July 4, 2010?” (23 Across) looks like ACCEPTED USAGE, but is read ACCEPTED U.S. AGE (our country turned 234 years old this year). Others: “Workers in a global peace organization?” (32 Across) is not THE UNEMPLOYED but THE U.N. EMPLOYED; ”What gumshoes charge in the City of Bridges?” (47 Across) is not PITTSBURGH PIRATE but the PITTSBURGH P.I. RATE; “Symmetrical power conductor for appliances?” (62 Across) is not a BILATERAL ACCORD but a BILATERAL A.C. CORD; “Too much guitar work by a professor’s helper?” (83 Across) is not EXCESSIVE TARIFFS but EXCESSIVE T.A. RIFFS; “‘Pay in cash and your second surgery is half-price’?” (94 Across) is not a STRANGE ORDEAL but a STRANGE O.R. DEAL (is it ever!); and a “Typical termite in a California city?” (108 Across) is not a COMMON LABORER but a COMMON L.A. BORER.

I have to admit struggling with the STRANGE ORDEAL answer, even after I had it down on the page. Where did the damn periods go? Did I screw up a crossing letter? Then I wondered if there was a hospital named ST. RANGE … but that only used one period. “O.R.” just didn’t initally strike me as me as an abbreviation the way the others did.

Not much else to shout out about. The only would-be Philly reference was 77 Across — EAGLE — a member of our loved and loathed NFL team. In this case, it referred to members of the band that sang “Hotel California.” And from the other end of our state, I had no idea that PITTSBURGH is known as the City of Bridges (47 Across).

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy

Where is that wascally wabbit?

This puzzle either harkens back to your childhood or to that Geico commercial featuring the “r”-challenged hunter of Bugs Bunny. The theme answers take common phrases and twist them by turning a key “r” sound into a “w” — just as Elmer Fudd would do. So 23 Across, “Part of a biblical warning against growing onions?” is SO SHALL YE WEEP (instead of REAP).

Other Fuddisms: “Some locker room tomfoolery?” is TOWEL WHACKS (30 Across); “Bio for a Looney Tunes coyote?” is THE LIFE OF WILE E. (40 Across; remember all those Acme boxes addressed to “Wile E. Coyote”?); “Pretty fat, actually?” is THIN AS A WHALE (68 Across); “React to a bitter mouthwash?” is GARGLE AND WINCE (80 Across); “Sloven in the coven?” is a FILTHY WITCH (94 Across); and “Advice to someone going to the Egg-Beaters’ Convention?” is TAKE A BIG WHISK (102 Across).

The only one I didn’t understand is NADER’S WADERS (56 Across, “Politico Ralph’s fishing gear?”). Logic told me the plain English phrase would be “Nader’s Raiders,” but it wasn’t anything I’d ever heard. Wikipedia says that’s what Nader’s young lawyer-assistants were called. Huh.

Another Childhood Reference Dept.: I thought I was the only one on the planet who knew that “Snoopy’s hip alter ego” is JOE COOL (16 Down), not the WWII Flying Ace. But I’m going to take issue with its crossing answer, JOB JAR (“Container holding slips of papers with tasks written on them,” 13 Across). What? What planet is that used on? Ever heard of a to-do list?

Coming Home Dept.: 57 Down (“‘Prove it!’”) made me smile: SHOW ME. The Show-Me State is Missouri, where my husband has spent the past year teaching journalism at the flagship state university campus in Columbia. He is coming home, for good, next weekend. Hooray!!!!!

Philly Shout-Out Dept: 64 Down (“So called ‘Giant Brain’ of 1946″) is ENIAC, the computer invented here at the University of Pennsylvania. (That’s Penn, not Penn State.)

I Think, Therefore I Err Dept.: I first entered SUM as the answer to “Cartesian conclusion” (49 Across), as in Rene Descartes famous phrase, “Cogito Ergo Sum” (“I think, therefore I am”). I was one-third right: the answer was I AM. Truth be told, I’m not that much of a Latin or philosophy geek, but I recently wrote a story on a stolen Descartes letter that gave me more of a background on the Frenchman than I ever had before.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.

Happy Phourth from Philly!

I’ll start off by saying I’m a little surprised that Independence Day didn’t factor into the theme at all (not even a single clue, actually). If Flag Day merits a doozy of a puzzle, you’d think the Fourth would at least score a mention in the grid. Oh well. Maybe I should make that my goal for next year: Get an Independence Day-themed puzzle published. I’ll get right on that. After today’s phestivities.

The theme clues in today’s grid were italicized, a font I hope is replicated in the syndicated versions next week. The answers were all common two-word phrases in which the last two letters of the first word also were the first two letters of the second word _ but they were only written once. So “Technical trouble” is a COMPUTERROR (23 Across); “Helper in herding” is an ENGLISHEEPDOG (32 Across); “Collectible book” is a LIMITEDITION (42 Across);  and a “Line in London” is the PRIMERIDIAN (57 Across).

Others: “Like man an online password” is CASENSITIVE (66 Across); “It might have a theater and planetarium” is a SCIENCENTER (76 Across); “Singer who played Cyrano in ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’” is PLACIDOMINGO (87 Across); “Introvert or extrovert” is a PERSONALITYPE (100 Across); and a “Protector” is a GUARDIANGEL (111 Across).

Republicans Probably Aren’t Laughing Dept.: “Herd of elephants?” is GOP (111 Down).

Wha-wha-what? Dept.: “‘Just a ___!’ (‘Hold on!’)” is A MO (2 Down). Really? Just a sec, just a min(ute) … and now “just a mo”? Eek.

Nice Parallel Clues Dept.: “Not e’en once” (38 Across) and “Not even once, in Nuremberg” (67 Down). Answers are NE’ER and NIE, respectively.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy

As the title indicates, this was certainly an egotistical puzzle. Either that or a subtle homage to everything Apple, including the new iPad and iPhone 4.

The theme here was camouflaged in several clues beginning with the word “I” – the trick was to separate the “I” from the rest of the word, instead of reading it intact. So “Irate” (23 Across” is really “I rate,” yielding the answer FILM CRITIC. And “Isled” (28 Across) is read as “I sled,” yielding OLYMPIC LUGER.

Others: “Islander” (52 Across) is TABLOID WRITER (although I’m sure a slew of New York Post and Daily News reporters would take issue with that); “Iran”  (88 Across) is ELECTION LOSER; the aforementioned “iPhone” (109 Across) is TELEMARKETER; “Ibid.” (117 Across) is EBAY PATRON; “Icon” (33 Down) is PONZI SCHEMER; and “Ideal” (42 Down) is CASINO WORKER.

We Have That in Philadelphia Too Dept.: “____ Lane, home of London’s Theatre Royal” (21 Across) is DRURY. Here in Philly, we have an equally historic Drury Lane that is home to McGillin’s Olde Ale House, the city’s oldest continuously operating tavern. It’s celebrating 150 years this year, and I wrote about the milestone last summer.

They Have That in North Carolina and Ohio Too Dept.: “Long Island town where the Wright Brothers experimented” (94 Down) is MINEOLA. Lots of cities like to claim the Wright Brothers, foremost among them Kitty Hawk, N.C., and Dayton, Ohio; I’d never heard of the Mineola connection. Reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe, who also has multiple cities claiming him (Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York and Richmond, Va.). A Poe scholar in Philly has suggested Poe’s body should be stolen from Baltimore and repatriated here, since he wrote a slew of stories in the City of Brotherly Love. And in related exhumation news, my AP colleague broke the story last week that a lawsuit has been filed in Pennsylvania over the body of athlete Jim Thorpe.

Questions or comments? Tweet me @crosswordkathy.