0108-10 New York Times Crossword Answers 8 Jan 10

This is my solution to the crossword published in the New York Times today. If you are doing the New York Times crossword in any other publication, you are working on the syndicated puzzle.

Here is a link to my answers to today's SYNDICATED New York Times crossword.

Completion Time: N/A (watching "Mad Men" on TV!)

Theme: None

Answers I  missed: 4 ... EDDA (ELLA); RID (BUD); PIERRE DE RONSARD (PIERRE LE BONSARD!); ADRIAN (ALRUAN!)

TODAY'S GOOGLIES ...

Across

1 CADS: A cad is offensive, repeatedly!

21 THREE: An example of a "weak" opening bid in bridge is a "3 hearts".

24 ERASER: That's what I used to call an eraser growing up in Ireland, a rubber.

36 EDDA: The "Poetic Edda" and "Prose Edda" were written down in the 13th century in Iceland, and are the sources of much of Norse mythology in Iceland.

37 BULL'S-EYE LANTERN: A bull's-eye lantern is that oil lantern carried by police constables (and Sherlock Holmes) in Victorian London, with a lit wick inside a tin case with a piece of refractive glass in the front.

41 ATTILA: The Roman general Flavius Aetilus, in league with the Visigoths, defeated Attila the Hun at the Battle of Chalons in the year 451.

42 RID: To disembarrass is to free something from embarrassment, to relieve or to rid.

43 TEST: Not all cricket matches are test matches, just the internationals.

46 STREET: Della Street was Perry Mason's very capable secretary in the Erle Stanley Gardner novels.

48 KENNY: Kenny McCormick was always dying in each episode of "South Park".

50 MINEO: Sal Mineo earned the nickname the "Switchblade Kid" from playing the bad guy in the movie "Crime in the Streets" from 1956

62 TRAP: A deadfall trap is a simple animal trap in which a heavy log or rock falls on the victim once the trap is triggered.

Down

1 CIA: Valerie Plame Wilson discusses her outing as a CIA officer in her book "Fair Game".

7 RAISE THE TITANIC: Clive Cussler's novel was made into a movie starring Jason Robards in 1980.

8 ORC: Sauron led the Orcs in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".

11 PIERRE DE RONSARD: Pierre de Ronsard was known as the "prince of poets", and was a favorite in the court of King Charles IX of France.

13 YULE: The Yule Ball is held on Christmas Eve every year there is a Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts (of Harry Potter fame).

19 THE NET: If you haven't seen "The Net" starring Sandra Bullock, I'd recommend you take a peek. Good fun!

32 ADRIAN: Adrian Monk is played by Tony Shalhoub on the TV series "Monk" (which I've never seen!).

38 LETTER: Thorn was a letter in Old English, with a sound like "th".

50 MAJA: Goya painted two versions of the "maja", "La maja desnuda" (nude) and "La maja vestida" (clothed).

51 IMUS: Don Imus's syndicated radio show "Imus in the Morning" broadcasts from New York City.

53 NINO: Giovanni "Nino" Benvenuti is widely considered to have been Italy's greatest ever boxer.