Potluck Dinner
by Randolph Ross
edited by Mike Shenk
January 8, 2010

Full answers available on WSJ's crossword puzzle page [note: this is a new link for 2010] or with the following week's puzzle on WSJ's online Leisure Weekend or Lifestyle Arts pages.

Theme: A dozen menu items of professional interest.
NAVAL ORANGES {25A What the admiral brought to the p.l.d.?}
BUNION SOUP {39A What the podiatrist brought to the p.l.d.?}
KARAT CAKE {49A What the goldsmith brought to the p.l.d.?}
FRENCH FLIES {60A What the entomologist brought to the p.l.d.?}
SEIZER SALAD {74A What the repo man brought to the p.l.d.?}
PI A LA MODE {84A What the mathematician brought ...?}
ENGLISH TEE {95A What the British Open winner brought ...?}
RITZ QUACKERS {115A What the duck hunter brought ...?}
TUNER CASSEROLE {3D What the piano repairman brought ...?}
WRY BREAD {5D What the satirist brought to the p.l.d.?}
BAGELS AND LOCKS {54D What the hair stylist brought ...?}
COALSLAW {87DA What the miner brought to the p.l.d.?}
An impressive number of theme answers, but some dishes only Andrew Zimmern would eat. That's the trouble with potlucks. You can't control what people bring.


It's a Small, Small Crossworld: 7, at least
IMUS {19A Morning man on the radio} & NYT Fri [1/8/10] {51D 1989 Radio Hall of Fame inductee} Another clue that's easier, make that inescapable, if you live in NYC.

RAE {51D Explorer of Canada's coast} & LAT Sat [1/9/10] {22A Northwest Passage explorer}

ETO {75D WWII sphere} & NYT Sun [1/10/10] {49A D.D.E's 1942 Command}

EON {98D Very long time} & LAT Wed [1/13/10] {59A Years and years}

Same letters, different usage
OAR {66D Galley item} & NYT Fri [1/8/10] {45A Put in one's ____ (interfere)}

Different letters, same usage
SACRA {45A Pelvis connectors} & SACRUM NYT Wed [1/13/10] {9D Pelvis part}

And while we're at it
APED {100A Made like} & APE NYT Tue [1/12/10] {5D Monkey's uncle?}

For commentary, see blogs listed on left. (That's too many links even for my Google addiction!)


Admissions of Defeat: 3
Got AVANTI {9D 1972 Billy Wilder film} because of the car rather than the movie.

Completely missed on MELANIE {58A “Brand New Key” singer}. I had bELAmIE with bFA and emS. Technically, I would argue that curating is competitive enough one would need a PHD. So while MFAs was the answer for {58D Curators' degs.}, neither would be correct. Once I had the initial b, I tried to fill the singer's name out with m, creating the bastard child of Belafonte and the Bellamy Brothers. Totally barked up the wrong tree with ANS {52D T or F, often}. Well, T and F are small, about the size of an em-dash, perhaps? Amazing the contortions the mind can generate. Got the second a in KARAT wrong but after all of the above, a minor matter.


Commentary: I'm going out on a limb and assuming that crossword puzzle people are word people. If you laugh, or at least smile, at the sight of the word impluvious (adj.) “Wet with rain”, check out Reading the OED: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages by Ammon Shea (Perigee 2008/2009 pb [p87]). For the rest of you, move along, nothing to see here, move along.

Katherine Walcott
Puzzle Fan