Capital Gains
by Dan Fisher
edited by Mike Shenk
October 23, 2009

Full answers available on WSJ's crossword puzzle page or with the following week's puzzle on WSJ's online Lifestyle page.

Theme: Word or phrases + DC = clued phrases
ARMY BAR-D C-RACKS
{22A Poet of the platoon can't take the pressure?}
SEMICOL-D C-ON {27A One who's chilling in the big house?}
FAMILY FE-D C-UD {36A Thanksgiving guests treated like cattle?}
PRIVATE BE-D C-ACHES
{62A Stockpiles of money kept under the mattress?}
TEN-D C-EMENT HOUSES
{71A Do upkeep on dwellings made of concrete?}
RE-D C-AR WINDOW
{95A Product that offers drivers a rosy outlook on things?}
HOME A-D C-LONE {106A Duplicated real estate listing?}
SWEET CHAR-D C-ITY
{115A Municipality famed for its sugary leafy vegetables?}
In a reverse of last week, this week I got a majority of the fill & the theme words before I got a sniff of the theme itself. Army Brat? Semi Cold Con? I was up to the 6th theme answer when I finally I got a look thru RE__AR WINDOW.

One quibble. Cud is “is a portion of food that returns from a ruminant's stomach in the mouth to be chewed for the second time.” It is by definition regurgitated. Being 'fed' implies an external source for an item. A combination of the two is not something I wish to contemplate.



Nomination for Word of the Week: DIA
A European Union of foreign words this week.
Spanish words: DIA {25A Box on un calendario}
& ARRIBA {1D Exuberant Spanish exclamation}
Spanish descent: PUENTE {93D Latin jazz legend Tito}
Italian places: RIALTO {24A Heart of Venice}
& MILANO {30D Second-largest city of Italia}
Italian people: MORO {12D Two-time Italian prime
minister Aldo}. Crossing RIALTO no less.
French word: AMI {85A Picardy pal}
French derivation: GRIFFE
{19D Ornament at the base of a column}. Also French for claw.
German word: Kriegsmarine as the clue for U-BOAT
{38D Kriegsmarine vessel}


Admissions of Defeat: 4
C
The first was a defeat but not an error. I ended with my standard collection of single-letter holes with the option to look up or guess. I successfully pulled off the F in GRIFFE from FINS {32A Bass parts}. However the HUL_E/I_E hole refused to budge. No letter made more sense than any other. A few made less sense but didn't thin the pool enough. For the first time, I just had a big, old unfillable hole. I could have looked up HULCE {74D “Amadeus” star} but that would have have unjustly covered my total inability to come up with ICE {89A Clinch}. I expected a head smacking “duh” moment when I looked at the solution but can't say that I get it even now. Anyone out there have a clue about the clue?

A-L
I was so caught up in the ICE block that I missed my other errors, two of which should have been obvious. For LIT ON {52D Discovered by chance}, I came up with the very reasonable hIT ON and therefore ethANS across. The t went down in flames with LYNNE {51D Dick Cheney's wife} and left the smoldering wreck _LhANS for ALLANS {50A Detective Pinkerton and others}. Never saw the hole until I went to confirm that the above was my only defeat. Deuce ADOUT {50D Deuce follower, maybe?}??? Neither Google nor I understand. A word split I can't see? A foreign language? Help?

N
One of the joys of getting older is discovering large print. I have a helpful program to convert one-page PDF files into two-page posters. Voila, I can read the puzzle. The trade-off is one row of clues disappears into the printer. Having written I.D. as a short hand for the missing clue {111A Identify}, I then proceeded to read it as Identity. Instead of NAME, sAME (as in sameness) makes some sense here. For CAsCER instead of CANCER {96D Summer sign}, I have no explanation.

Not my best day.


Commentary: This is your brain on puzzles.
Puzzles are supposed to help us use our brains. Too bad they don't help us understand them.

Fixation – Getting so focused on an incorrect word that you cannot think of other answers. I achieved brainlock on STANards for S_AN_ _ _ {41D Attitudes [STANCES]} to the point that I could not see around it. Didn't matter that it didn't fit.

Momentum - The pace at which a person solves puzzles, be it fast or slow. You can tell when it's missing. You get stuck. You pick DRE {72D “Forgot About ___” (Grammy-winning song)} out of the atmosphere. You find another word. Your momentum picks back up. However, as soon as I stop to recall which clue was the trigger, I stop cold. You'd think I'd learn not to look back.

Momentum II – You are stuck. (I get stuck a lot.) You put the puzzle down and step away. When you come back, a previously impenetrable clue seems obvious. In From Square One, Olsher refers to this as the “crossword puzzle effect” [p32]. I mentioned this last last week but it's a standard feature of the WSJ puzzles for me. For Those Other daily Puzzles, I either whiz thru or get no traction at all. Similarly, single-letter holes are my usual endgame for WSJ. For That Other Puzzle, either filled squares or large, gaping voids.

Memory – How can I remember things I don't know? Even after writing out AMANDA {114A Heather's “Melrose Place” role} I could not tell you where from I dredged up the name nor the last name of the character. It wasn't just that the name fit. I knew it was the right one.

Why?

Katherine Walcott
Puzzle Fan