Wall Street Journal, 3/5/10

“And the Nominees Are…” by Pancho Harrison –  9:41

Hi everyone. It’s Jeffrey back for another week for crossword madness in Fiendland.  And the updated 2010 ACPT scores now place me at number 59. Isn’t that groovy? Slow down, you solve too fast… joon is still sixteen and Amy remains in orbit at 13. (Ok, you give me a 13 song. This is why I’m not a constructor; I can never come up with more than 2 theme answers).

This week’s Wall Street Journal crossword is all about past Oscar nominees in punny phrases. Every year, there are more puzzles about the Oscars than any other event. Anyone know why?

Theme answers:

23A. [Ellen’s sign-off? (1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 2000)] – BURSTYN OUT
25A. [Halle in a state of confusion? (2001)] – BERRY AT SEA
48A. [Irene’s business transaction? (1931, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1948)] – DUNNE DEAL
58A. [Contents of Julianne’s bio? (1997, 1999, 2002)] – MOORE INFO
87A. [Mouse catcher for Kathy? (1990, 1998, 2002)] – BATES TRAP. Is this a real phrase?
98A. [What Penelope has to memorize? (2006, 2008)] – CRUZ LINES
123A. [Laura on her horn? (1991)] – DERN TOOTIN’
126A. [Charlize’s bedchamber? (2003, 2005)] – THERON ROOM. I’m not getting the pun here.
34D. [Angela’s dog? (1993)] – BASSETT HOUND. Not a pun, just a dog.
39D. [Dishes from Naomi’s kitchen? (2003)] – WATTS’ COOKING. My favorite.

I believe all ten have been Best Actress Nominees, but some of the years listed are for Best Supporting Actress.

52A. [ZaSu of early films] – PITTS. Never nominated. Perhaps her best roles were pre-Oscar. So don’t look for PITTS BURG.

Other stuff:

1A. [Aretha’s gospel-singing sister] – ERMA
10A. [New Age musician John] – TESH
22A. [Mechanical man] – ROBOT
29A. [View from Sagarmatha National Park] – EVEREST. It is in Nepal.
33A. [Hypnotherapy target] – PHOBIA. I’m afraid to say more about this.
46A. [Colleague of Luciano] – PLACIDO / 47D. [“___ Mio”] – O SOLE
83A. [Vegas offering] – SHOW. I saw Cher in Vegas last year.  Good show.
97A. [Blue Note’s parent company] – EMI. Jazz record company featuring Norah Jones among others.
6D. [Some Motown music] – R AND B/8D. [Some Motown music] – SOUL
17D. [Anonymous John] – TESH. Oops. DOE
41D. [Singer Brickell] – EDIE
44D. [“Alice in Wonderland” star] – DEPP. This looks like it will be a good movie.
49D. [RIAA’s “Country Group of the Century”] – ALABAMA. 20th, I presume.
76D. [King’s domain] – HORROR. Stephen King. Tricky, tricky.
88D. [Pulitzer-winning biographer Leon] – EDEL. Who? checking… wrote about Henry James.  Wait! Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he grew up in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Edel attended McGill University and the Université de Paris. While at the former he co-founded the influential McGill Fortnightly Review. Edel taught English and American literature at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University, 1932–1934), New York University (1966–1972), and at University of Hawaii at Manoa (1972–1978).  [wikipedia]. I graduated from Concordia.
96D. [Bleeped out] – CENSORED. I hate when that %@#$ happens.

That’s enough. Enjoy Oscar weekend and we’ll see you next week.