Wall Street Journal, 6/4/10

“Minding the Store” by Gabriel Stone – 13:59

Happy Friday puzzle fans. Jeffrey is back again with the Wall Street Journal weekly crossword review.

Today’s puzzle is for fans of the Federal Trade Commission, as 100D. [Commerce minder found in eight of this puzzle’s longest answers] – FTC is hidden in the theme answers, with the FT being the end of the first word and C starting the second word in each answer.

From the FTC website:

As a consumer or business person, you may be more familiar with the work of the Federal Trade Commission than you think.

The FTC deals with issues that touch the economic life of every American. It is the only federal agency with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy. The FTC pursues vigorous and effective law enforcement; advances consumers’ interests by sharing its expertise with federal and state legislatures and U.S. and international government agencies; develops policy and research tools through hearings, workshops, and conferences; and creates practical and plain-language educational programs for consumers and businesses in a global marketplace with constantly changing technologies.

Theme answers:

22A. [Mouse action] – LEFT CLICK
24A. [Component of some player trades] – DRAFT CHOICE
37A. [Present alternative] – GIFT CERTIFICATE. Aren’t these obsolete, replaced by gift cards?
58A. [Wing-designing calculation] – LIFT COEFFICIENT
65A. [Redmond fixture] – MICROSOFT CAMPUS. Near Seattle (Hi, Jim Horne!)
86A. [Catapult setting] – AIRCRAFT CARRIER
99A. [It’s available in “Singles”] – KRAFT CHEESE
103A. [Ben Affleck feature] – CLEFT CHIN

While most of these phrases seems new to puzzles, they don’t exactly leave me laughing in the aisles. There do seem to be a lot of “B”’s in the clues and answers for some reason. A BBB (Better Business Bureau) reference?

Other stuff:

9A. [Bob Dylan’s musician son] – JAKOB (2 Bs)
18A. [“O Isis und Osiris,” e.g.] – ARIA
19A. [Anderson of “WKRP in Cincinnati“] – LONI. Funniest show ever.
30A. [Brioni buy] – TIE. Brioni is an Italian fashion house founded in 1945. It specialises in the sale of hand-made suits. [Wikipedia]. What about ties? (2 Bs)
43A. [Stop on Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited] – ERIE. It goes from Chicago to New York/Boston, splitting in two at Albany. It also stops in my mother’s home town of Toledo, Ohio.
47A. [Cameron and Harper: Abbr.] – PMS
48A. [Eastern takeout meal] – BENTO. Bento (弁当, bentō) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container.
49A. [Blackboard eraser material] – FELT (2 Bs)
75A. [Brian of “Private Practice”] – BENBEN/76A. [“Bye Bye Birdie” song] – KIDS/54D. [It’s caused by thiamine deficiency] – BERIBERI. Brian Benben sang in Bye Bye Birdie and got beri beri.
82A. [Widespread loathing] – ODIUM. Some people loath Celine Dion for some reason.
25D. [Latin jazz legend Tjader] – CAL
34D. [Soprano Renata] – SCOTTO
68D. [Toyota model for 35 years] – CELICA. I almost put Celine here.
77D. [Not ___ eye in the house] – A DRY. Like when Celine sings at the end of “Titanic”.

Be brave! Bye-bye!