07.08.07 -- Blue

68A THENAUGHTYPROFESSOR (Remake about a lecherous instructor?) -- Illustration: Poster for "The Blue Angel" starring Emil Jannings as Professor Unrath and Marlene Dietrich as Lola Lola, directed by Josef von Sternberg, 1931

------------------

Sunday, July 8, 2007

"R-RATED FILM REMAKES" -- Puzzle by Elayne Cantor and Nancy Salomon, edited by Will Shortz

The seven wordplay entries relating to the title of this puzzle are:

LUSTINAMERICA (23A Remake about a red, white and blue libido?)

SINNININTHERAIN (32A Remake about impiety during a storm?)

RISQUEBUSINESS (51A Remake about a strip club?)

THENAUGHTYPROFESSOR (68A Remake about a lecherous instructor?)

BROADCASTNUDES (88A Remake about a TV station/F.C.C. controversy?)

SAINTMISBEHAVIN (106A Remake about a holy person's slip?)

THEBAWDYGUARD (119A Remake about a ribald watchman?)

The paronomasia here suffers a bit from paramnesia -- these punned movie titles confuse fact with fantasy. If memory serves me right, several of the original titles were R-rated, and the best of the seven, THE NAUGHTY PROFESSOR (think Jerry Lewis in "The Nutty Professor" or its remake with Eddie Murphy) could be taken as a remake of "The Blue Angel" with the naughty professor played by Emil Jannings, the central character of the film who lusts after and meets his downfall at the hands of Lola Lola played by Marlene Dietrich.

The other six punned titles "Lost in America", "Singin' in the Rain", "Risky Business", "Broadcast News", "Ain't Misbehavin'" (several films share this title) and "The Body Guard" had their own R-rated moments. That aside, I’m a pushover for a show-biz puzzle, so I ate this one up! This Sunday cinema septette achieves its punnery with minimum effort, one or two letters at most -- and the results are amusing in a Victorianesque way.

Jerry Lewis as "The Nutty Professor" , 1963

Other characters waiting in the wings for their remakes are THEASP (21A Daddy Warbucks’s henchman), ARF (44A Pound sound) (could that be Sandy?), ROCCO (30A Boxer Marciano’s given name), AHERNE (8D Actor Brian of “Juarez,” 1939), GODOT (79D Beckett’s no-show), SPOCK (106D Logical Mr.), and ALBEE (109D “Seascape” playwright). SHORELEAVE (59A Liberty) reminds one of “On the Town” (pun that!), ironically being crossed down with OBEYED (47D Observed), while the rest of the gang goes wild with emotions with IDONTCARE (85D “Whatever you want”), HALLUCINATE (69D Sense the unreal), CATERTO (124A Pamper), ORNERY (125A Difficult), LOSTCAUSE (3D It’s not worth pursuing), and other assorted states of being.

Taken a little back by the reference to the Order of the Garter, HONI soit qui mal y pense (45A) and Rodrigo DIAZ de Vivar (El Cid) (74A), and intrigued by GEIGER (104D Counter creator) who shares his name in homonym with H. R. Giger, the artist, who seems to be missing a few works of art at the present time. So he’s "counting" too!

It’s not every day one can use DOMOARIGATO (17D Japanese “thank you very much”) so I’ll use it here ATTHEEND (89D Where a whodunit is solved) of this faux equivoque of PUNS (112A Wits' bits) -- a very delightful Sunday puzzle!

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

If you subscribe to home delivery of The New York Times you are eligible to access the daily crossword via The New York Times - Times Reader, without additional charge, as part of your home delivery subscription.