06.23.07 -- Variations on a Theme

URSAMAJOR (15A It's pictured in Van Gogh''s"Starry Night Over the Rhone") and PORTRAYAL (13D Acting job) -- Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and Charles Pierce as Bette Davis as Jane Hudson as "Baby Jane"

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Saturday, June 23, 2007

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Puzzle by Patrick Berry, edited by Will Shortz

PORTRAYAL (13D Acting job) leads the way for art and artists as a theme for this standard Saturday crossword puzzle. TOPBANANA (17A Vaudeville bigwig), VOICEOVERS (29A Talking during movies?), TRAILER (9D It doesn't give you the full picture), and SPAREPART (1A Replacement) (I know, I know!) follow.

Along the way are sprinkled the luminaries URSAMAJOR (15A It's pictured in Van Gogh's "Starry Night Over the Rhone"), the supernumeraries ACHOO (16A Outburst from Sneezy) ("Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"), the orators with NOTES (47D Speaker's aids), a playwright RACINE (19A Wisconsin city originally named Port Gilbert), a tunesmith EROICA (53A Symphony originally dedicated to Napoleon) and a toon, DILBERT (20A Comic strip character with an upwardly curving necktie).

Gwyneth PALTROW (39D "Sliding Doors" star, 1998), David Ogden STIERS (43D He Played Winchester on "M*A*S*H"), LOU Costello (42A Bud's bud in comedy), and MAE (33A Busch of Laurel and Hardy films) share the marquee at the matinees on Saturday and WEDNESDAY (60A When "anything can happen" on "The Mickey Mouse Club").

TULSA (45A City whose name means "old town" in Creek) might well have been clued as 1949 Susan Hayward potboiler, HOTSPUR (27A Short-tempered sort) is a nice role in Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part I", RABBITRUN (55A Wood-and-chicken-wire enclosure) was a 1970 film with James Caan; and SPIKEHEELS (38A Bad shoes to run in) are the feature item on the poster for "The Devil Wears Prada".

OPIONEERS (58A First novel in Cather's "prairie trilogy") brings this INMOST (34A Hardest to get at) theme to a full RONDURE (8D Circle) -- so much to like about this wonderful little Saturday crossword puzzle beyond its theme that I'll just refer you to those that will call it "theme-less" -- hey, it's sunny, so it's "rain-less"; it's raining, so it's "sun-less" and so on and so on -- negative! So chatter and chew and hem and haw, cluck and claque and clap and claw!

So TIRED (48D Played out)!

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Late bulletin: Anonymous comment authored by "Hooboo" states: "I don't understand how inmost, thereto, Kia, Acura, spaniel, Rabin and hasps fit into the art theme. Can you explain it?"

Well, "Hooboo", where did you read that they did? -- but in any event, they do -- see links for INMOST, THERETO, KIA, ACURA, SPANIEL, RABIN and HASPS.

The New York Times Crossword Puzzle solution above is by the author of this blog and does not guarantee accuracy. If you find errors or omissions, you are more than welcome to make note of same in the Comments section of this post -- any corrections found necessary will be executed promptly upon verification.

Puzzle available on the internet at

THE NEW YORK TIMES -- Crossword Puzzles and Games

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