Sun., 9/28 Dana Olsen

[magus]

THEME:   common phrases clued partially with "me"
   
GOOD ONES:    
Title: Ah, Me!   
Is for you?   ARE [oldie but goodie]   
   
BTW:   
Condiment for pommes frites   SEL [I guess in French restaurants we see SEL, but I'd go with the Mercedes model]   
   
Bad news from home   YER OUT [would've been good, but it's "at home" in baseball]   
   
Beth preceder   ALEPH [don't know why letters in Hebrew are in the dictionary, but it's fittingly crossed by EL AL]   
   
Enjoyed a friend's mom's cooking   ATE OVER [this is substandard English]   
   
Former Disney exec   EISNER ["and virtual destroyer of the brand" should have been added]     
   
RATING:   
Three grins = Loved it; Two grins = Enjoyed it; One grin = A bit bland for my taste; One teardrop = Not much fun   

[Thomps2525]

"September Story" is the title of Merl Reagle's puzzle in today's Los Angeles Times/ He explains that September was the seventh month (sept- = seven) of the old Roman calendar which had ten months. When two months were added, September became the ninth month. The puzzle includes several phrases containing SEVEN or NINE. Examples: CANINETEETH, THISEVENING and GETSEVENWITH. Two answers share a clue: "What 'September' has." The answers are NINELETTERS and SEVENDIFFERENTLETTERS. Reagle really put some effort into this one!

"What, Steve? No criticisms?" Well.....the puzzle does include an overabundance of foreign words: ACH, CASA, COSA, ELEVE, HERR, OLE, SEIS, SRTA, the Roman numerals III and the Greek letter PSI. On the other hand, Reagle used five very uncommon words: BANZAI, NATTINESS, PAGINATE, RIPARIAN and TRANQUILIZE. Overall, a very impressive puzzle!

[Thomps2525]

In the September 13 Los Angeles Times puzzle, SST was clued with "Former Mach 2 flier, briefly." SST appeared again in the September 16 puzzle, clued with "Bygone boomer." Today's New York Times crossword includes SST and the clue is "Orly bird, once." The reference is to the Paris airport, Aéroport de Paris-Orly. I wonder how many different clues for SST the puzzle makers can come up with. Or for IRE. Or ALE. Or SPA. Or LEI. Or ALOHA. Or.....