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

Blame Canada!

Hard to focus on crosswords after that hockey game, but I’ll give it a shot.

Today’s title was pretty much a giveaway, implying that the theme answers would be common phrases with an extra “E” in them. It ended up being a slight twist on that — instead of adding an E, they substituted it: A “Buck’s candid conversation opener?” is FRANKLY MY DEER (15 Down); a “Bit of advice when packing anglers’ lunches?” is REEL MEN DON’T EAT QUICHE (103 Down); a “Dating service in a northern German city?” is HAMBURGER MEET; to “Summer next door to the nudist camp?” is — ewww! — PEEK SEASON (55 Across); “The point when Fido’s master starts walking?” is A TIME TO HEEL (90 Across); “What a pursued perp might do?” is FLEE COLLAR (71 Across); and, in what I thought a rather weak one, an “Item at a golf boutique” is an AROMATIC TEE (36 Across).

Lastly, I just got back from a honeymoon two months ago and yet that clue — 22 Across, “Inappropriate on a honeymoon?” — stumped me the longest. Not for the faint of heart? Meek of heart? Oh, geez. NOT FOR THE WEEK OF HEART. (I was even gone a week, too!)

Of note: 96 Across, “City near Bethlehem” — EASTON — is a Pennsylvania reference, not a Biblical one. Easton, a couple hours north of Philadelphia on the Delaware River, is the home of champion boxer Larry Holmes (and the site of major flooding a few summers ago, which I was sent to cover). CAMELEERS (87 Across “Desert drivers”) is not a word I’ve ever come across, while SCALERS (56 Down, “Dental hygienists, at times”) is not something I’ve ever associated with dental hygienists. Is it because I’ve never had a cavity?

A few more: 100 Down, “Prefix with mom” — OCTO — gets major points for currency. I’ve never thought of a “Scoundrel” as a SO AND SO (44 Down), but I guess in mixed company that would work. And rare is the day that it’s Pia’s last name, not her first, that makes a grid — ZADORA (61 Across, “‘Butterfly’ actress, 1981″)

Finally, what a great quote: “Imitation is the sincerest form of television” (40 Across). The speaker? FRED ALLEN.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

Hear ye, hear ye! This week’s puzzle is an audible salute to U.S. presidents, ostensibly because tomorrow is someone’s birthday … Washington? Lincoln? Not really sure. All I know is that the holiday was last Monday, and that last Sunday’s grid was dedicated to Valentine’s Day — love apparently trumps politics in puzzledom.

The key this week was to solve a string of four or five clues within a clue, and then say the combined answer out loud until you can hear the name of a UNITED STATES PRESIDENT (9 Down, “What you’ll get if you read aloud 23-, 44-, 67-, 86- or 113-Across).

So 23 Across,”Anatomical pouch / Run on TV / Consume / Feel sick / Oral history,” is Zachary Taylor (SAC AIR EAT AIL LORE); 44 Across, “Christmas season / Greet a villain / Speak aloud / Query / Monthly payment,” is Ulysses S. Grant (YULE HISS SAY ASK RENT); 67 Across, “Least smart / Kitchen worker / Towel word / ___ Fein,” is Thomas Jefferson (DUMBEST CHEF HERS SINN); 86 Across, “Trash / Victories / “Get it?” / Do some math / Runs smoothly,” is John Quincy Adams (JUNK WINS SEE ADD HUMS); and 113 Across, “Most shaggy / Hotel offering / Actress Goldie,” is Harry S. Truman (HAIRIEST ROOM HAWN).

I’m not sure how Jefferson would feel about DUMBEST as a homonym for “Thomas”; in that same answer, I’m pretty sure the SINN — which is ostensibly the “son” sound in Jefferson — is actually pronounced “shin” in Ireland. But Jefferson has been immortalized in so many other ways — he’s already got his face on the NICKEL (30 Down) — I don’t think he’d quibble.

There were several other presidential clues: 6 Down, “‘I cannot tell a ___’” — LIE; 54 Across, “‘___ and Prosperity’ (Eisenhower slogan) — PEACE; 120 Across, “‘My ___’ (Clinton autobiography)” — LIFE; 86 Down, “Birth mo. for Coolidge, Ford and G.W. Bush” — JUL; and 103 Down, “The ‘A’ of James A. Garfield” — ABRAM.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

Sorry for the late post; I’m on CST today. That’s actually relevant to the love-themed puzzle since, well, I’m visiting my husband at our lovely Midwest pied-a-terre. He is teaching this semester at the University of Missouri, and let me tell you there is no place like Columbia in February. That’s amore for you.

At least it has less snow than Philadelphia.

Anyway … I guess the crossword theme is to be expected, seeing as how it’s Valentine’s Day: WHAT IS LOVE? (23 Across, “1993 dance hit, and a question answered seven times in this puzzle.”)

Though I deduced the answer almost immediately, with the help of some crossing words, I’m embarrassed to say that I couldn’t hear the song in my head. I know the bopping Howard Jones song “What Is Love?” circa 1984-ish, but had to look up the 1993 version … and found a YouTube video by Haddaway. Huh? Haddaway? Never. Heard. Of. Him. Then I hit “play” on the video and instantly recognized the opening verse — wasn’t that the song Chris Kattan and Kevin Nealon mocked on SNL and in “A Night at the Roxbury”? My only excuse, I guess, is that 1993 was in the middle of my alternative radio days (WFNX in Boston). But still — Haddaway? Really? Wow. Did anyone else know who sang that? Or is he the one-hit wonder question that stumps everyone?

So what is love? The answers are BLIND (10 Across, Shakespeare); FRIENDSHIP SET TO MUSIC (32 Across, Joseph Campbell); THE BEAUTY OF THE SOUL (52 Across, St. Augustine); SHARING YOUR POPCORN (78 Across, Charles Schulz); A MANY-SPLENDORED THING (102 Across, Frank Sinatra); ALL YOU NEED (114 Across, the Beatles); and A ROSE (123 Across, Neil Young). I solved them all, but had to look up a bio on Joseph Campbell — apparently he was an American mythologist. The Charles Schulz reference made me smile; Snoopy making popcorn for Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving is one of those priceless “Peanuts” moments that is nothing short of poignant.

As for the layout, I’m a little surprised the black squares aren’t in the shape of a heart or something similarly Cupidesque. Even the central words in the grid have nothing to do with the love-y theme: 68 Across, “Lynn Fontanne and her husband,” is LUNTS, while 55 Down, “Kind of sax,” is TENOR.

Other clues that caught my eye: 5 Down, “Hall of ‘Coming to America’” — if this is how ARSENIO is best known, well, geez; 15 Down, “Assignations, slangily” — now I know a fancy word for HOOKUPS; and, just as I was stunned by the “Avatar” reference in a puzzle a couple of weeks ago, I’m again surprised at the uber-current reference to another Oscar-nominated movie in 106 Down, “Carl’s lifelong companion in ‘Up’ — ELLIE. Maybe I should see it.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

What better prep for tonight’s Saints-Colts championship than a pigskin-themed themed crossword?

This puzzle kicks off (one of the few terms NOT found in the grid) with a FIRST DOWN in the upper left quadrant (23 Across, “The football fan is fingering the buttons of the remote … he pushes the _____ and the game is on!”) and finishes with a TOUCH DOWN in the lower right (141 Across, “His posterior goes all the way back into the chair — ______!”)

In between, this fictional fan makes a SUPER BOWL of snack food (28 Across, “He’s prepared a _____ of popcorn for himself …”), orders a pizza with money he found IN THE POCKET (48 Across, “Now he remembers setting $10 aside for pizza — he searches his jacket and finds it ____”) and then has to find a SUBSTITUTION for one of his toppings (73 Across, “The pizzeria’s out of mushrooms, though, so he’ll need to make a _____”). He’ll be enjoying it with some DRAFT PICKS (31 Across, “… and he’s got Budweiser and Michelob on tap — excellent _____!”)

He tries to watch TV despite his wife’s BLOCKING the view (96 Across, “He’s looking for an opening, but she’s doing a tremendous job of ____.”) And, at long last, the pizza arrives; I do hope the poor delivery guy got a tip, because that’s not what 115 Across implies: “The pizza is $9.75 … he hands the $10 off to the boy and waits for the ______” — QUARTER BACK.

Other terms include LATE CALL (50 Across), COVERAGE (67 Across), SCREEN PASSES (89 Across), YARD LINE (113 Across), ONSIDE KICK (132 Across) and RECEPTION (137 Across).

And while Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will get all the air time tonight, it’s his brother ELI (54 Across, “N.F.L.’er Manning) who gets the nod in this grid(iron).

Kudos to constructor Patrick Berry for a massive puzzle — nearly 300 clues! I’ll end this (goal)post with one non-football entry that gives a shout-out to us beleaguered Eagles fans: 4 Across, “World capital once called Philadelphia” — AMMAN. Huh. Wonder if Billy Penn knew that.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

The title kind of gave away the theme for me here, but the answers were so clever that I didn’t care.

As “Keep an eye on it!” implies, theme answers took common phrases and put an “I” on them. So the “Sorcerer behind Amin’s rise to power?” is THE WIZARD OF IDI (23 Across); “Dodging midtown traffic?” is TAXI EVASION (33 Across); a “1964 Cassius Clay announcement?” is YOU CAN CALL ME ALI (41 Across); an “Average karate instructor?” is a COMMON SENSEI (57 Across); and “‘Yummy! Here comes your tuna sashimi!’?” is another way of saying OPEN WIDE AND SAY AHI (66 Across), which conveniently crosses with SUSHI at 47 Down (“Offering at some bars”).

Others: A “Lightsaber-wielding hillbilly of TV?” is JEDI CLAMPETT (76 Across); a “Cranky question on the Himalayan trail?” is ARE WE THERE YETI (118 Across); a “Rotisserie on a Hawaiian porch?” is a LANAI TURNER (100n Across) and an “Invitation to cocktails with pianist Ramsey?” is MARTINI AND LEWIS (91 Across). That last one was the only clunker for me — never heard of Ramsey Lewis. Apparently he’s a jazz legend, according to his website, but I would have been more familiar with comedian Lewis Black or even explorer Meriwether Lewis.

The puzzle had some musical fun, too, starting with SINATRA (1 Across, “Ol’ Blue Eyes”), then doing a 180 with BAD GIRLS (8 Down, “Donna Summer #1 hit) and LALA (40 Across, “‘___ Means I Love You’[1968 Delfonics hit]) — Philly’s own Delfonics, I might add. And then there was 61 Across, “The Jackson 5 had five,” which I first thought was ALTOS. It was not. It was AFROS. Touche.

I’m going to take issue with PLAITS (121 Across, “Pigtails, etc.”) because my understanding is that plaits are braids. As any 5-year-old girl can tell you, braids are NOT the same as pigtails. But I loved the “Star Wars” reference in 95 Across (“Film character known for her buns”): LEIA.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy.

Wow. I am almost speechless with admiration for the constructors of today’s crossword — not only an ingenious fold-in puzzle a la “Mad” magazine, but a 23-by-23 grid on top of that! Holy crap.

I have to say that I had an inkling about it all as soon as I saw the shaded rows, the parallel dotted lines and “Abridged” in the title; I knew for sure as soon as I got MAD MAGAZINE (83 Across, “Publication founded in 1952 featuring artwork that does the same thing as this puzzle”). It did make me wonder, though, how many other crossword buffs were also “Mad” fans as kids. Not sure those demographics cross over that much.

Anyway, “Mad” has this feature where you look at a seemingly benign drawing, only to fold it along the given lines to reveal something much snarkier. This grid does the same thing, per the instructions in 7 Down (“With 14-Down, what to do on the dotted lines to reveal six hidden things that have something in common with this puzzle”): FOLD PAGE SO A AND B ARE LINED / UP IN THE TOP AND BOTTOM ROWS.

Honestly, I couldn’t find the “A” and “B” to save my life — was I the only one who missed them? (I even checked page 2 of the main paper, where they run the corrections, but all I found was a reference to how they forgot to put in the page numbers for last week’s KenKen answers.) But the Mad reference certainly helped, and before long I had folded it to reveal a 9-by-23 rectangle with six hidden words: LAWN CHAIR, ORIGAMI, BED SHEETS, POKER HAND, LAUNDRY and NEWSPAPER — all things that, like the puzzle, are folded.

Not many individual clues caught my eye this time around. I’m pretty sure that ALOE was in the grid twice, at 67 Across (“Botanical balm”) and 135 Across (“Salve ingredient”). But with nearly 300 clues in this puzzle, I’m going to let it slide.

UPDATE: The Times crossword blog Wordplay address the double ALOE entry here.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

Before we get to this week’s theme, this puzzle has left me wondering how far ahead of publication these grids are constructed. Was anyone else stunned to find a reference to “Avatar” in the clues? There it was, 49 Down, “___ of Souls, Na’vi temple in ‘Avatar.’” Holy crap. The movie only opened, what, three weeks ago? One of its stars, Sigourney Weaver, was just on “Saturday Night Live” last night. I haven’t seen it yet, so I hope Will Shortz didn’t spoil it for me — I used crossing words to figure out that it’s the TREE of Souls.

Anyway … on to the theme. “Subtleties” was a subtle way of saying these answers are audibly slurred; they’re what’s heard when you fail to enunciate. So “Dr. Westheimer telling it like it is?” (23 Across) is the GOD’S HONEST RUTH, where the second T is dropped and/or elided over. Among other answers: “Advice to Tin Man costume designers?” (112 Across) is DON’T RUST ANYONE; a “Debugger’s mission?” (19 Down) is a WAR AGAINST ERROR; the “Result of a plumbing disaster in the apartment above?” (49 Across) is TOILET RAINING; and “Damage to a paperback edition?” (40 Down) is a SOFT ISSUE INJURY.

A few other good ones:

_ 91 Across, “Julio to julio,” refers to the months, not the Iglesias father-son team (ANO).

_ 96 Across, “‘The Office’ city” (SCRANTON). Wow — first Scranton gets “The Office,” then it gets a shout-out in the NYT crossword puzzle. Is there no end to The Electric City’s celebrity? (Note: I have had bylines from Scranton, and even had lunch at the Steamtown mall, so I can say these things.)

_ 67 Down, “___ cloud (solar system outlier)” is an OORT. Can’t believe I’ve never seen that word before; seems like it would come in handy a lot.

_ 28- and 77 Across ask for the fourth, eighth and ninth words from the original “Star Wars” opening crawl. Awesome. (“A long time AGO, in a galaxy FAR FAR away …”)

_108 Across, “Married mujer: Abbr.” Having just returned from a honeymoon that included a trip to Isla Mujeres (“Island of Women”), I can say with authority that the answer is SRA, short for “senora.”

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

Hola! I just returned from a most excellent vacation (OK, it was a honeymoon!) in Mexico. The weather was colder than it should have been, and the only newspaper available at the resort was USA Today … so that’s why I missed last week’s puzzle. But lucky for me — and for you, dear reader! — the Philadelphia Inquirer gets the syndicated (read: one week late) Sunday NYT puzzles, so I have a copy of “Antique Finish” and will finish and post my thoughts ASAP.

But first let’s take a look at today’s puzzle which, honestly, didn’t really float my boat. “Cross Words” is literally what the theme answers are: two-word phrases that share a middle letter so they can cross each other in the grid, like PLANNED ECONOMY (26 Across, “With 4-Down, alternative to free enterprise”) in the upper left corner:

"Cross words" in the Sunday NYT puzzle

There were several others, including: PARTIAL DENTURE (28 Across, “With 16-Down, certain plate”); PRAIRIE PROVINCES (67 Across, “With 47-Down, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta”); CALCIUM BLOCKER (110 Across, “With 91-Down, hypertension control option”); WEATHER STATION (114 Across, “With 95-Down, meteorological post”); and LUNAR MONTH (55 Across, “With 45-Down, about 29.5 days).

Not a bad concept, but the execution was deadly boring. Partial denture? Really? And weather station? Geez, at least have some fun with it. Puns, maybe, or even rhyming words — something. (One “cross word” did rhyme — LEGAL EAGLE [83 Across/70 Down] — but that was it.)

Other answers that caught my eye: AHORA (56 Down, “Nogales ‘now’”), mostly because of my trip to Mexico and my pitiful command of Spanish; and ALTOONA (23 Across, “Penn State campus site”), one of those beat-up former industrial towns in western Pennsylvania that rarely sees celebrity in The New York Times.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy

Sorry again for the late post, but I have a really good excuse — and it even fits the theme of this puzzle: I’m getting married on New Year’s Eve.

So, on the one hand, it was perfectly awesome to see this puzzle and its unwitting nod to my upcoming nuptials. On the other hand, I had not enough time nor energy to both solve it and post to my blog yesterday.

The grid was kind of shaped more like a martini glass than a champagne flute, but that’s a quibble. If you couldn’t put that shape together with the title (“Toasting the New Year”), the circled squares spelled it out for you in pictogram fashion: CHAMPAGNE BUBBLES. (I will take issue with the AGN answer (61 Across, “Once more: Abbr.) that’s part of CHAMPAGNE — who abbreviates “again” as AGN? Who abbreviates “again,” period?)

But what I really loved about this puzzle was the “Who knew?” moment when I learned that DOM PIERRE PERIGNON (100 Across) was a BENEDICTINE MONK (34 Down) who discovered champagne. His “Purported cry” (25 Across) upon its discovery is pure poetry: I AM DRINKING THE STARS.

I’ve drunk Dom Perignon. I’ve even sold Dom Perignon, way back in my glamorous college days as a cashier at a liquor/wine store in Boston. And all this time, I never knew he had a first name, nor that he was a monk, nor that he discovered champagne.

Well, BOTTOMS UP (75 Across) and CHEERS (1 Across) to you, Dom Perignon. I, too, will be drinking the stars on New Year’s Eve.

Questions or comments? Twitter me @crosswordkathy