The webspace usage report has been showing a resurgence of interest in the column on French word favorites in crosswords, something of a surprise since that column was posted some time ago.  Do you suppose I've been missing a bet by not following through with some of the other romance languages?  A perusal of recently published puzzles (both newspaper and online) indicates that the cluemeisters also favor both Italian words and Spanish words, and I've found quite a few for both languages which I can honestly say are in frequent use.  As you can see, I'm proceding here with Italian words, saving Spanish for another column.

Talk about romance language, the clue writers seem to favor romance as much as anyone and I find that one of the most popular of Italian words in crosswords is...

AMORE... I ran across "love, Italian style" as the clue in several different puzzles, but then there were also such variations as "love in Livorno" and "Florence's love".  Just a few short years ago we were still seeing things like "Dino's 1953 hit, 'That's _ _ _ _ _'" and there was even a time when all the clue had to say was "song hit 'That's _ _ _ _ _'" to get the proper response.

From there we go to many things that evoke a loving response in Italy.  For example,
 OPERA...As we might expect, here we have an Italian word which has managed to find its way intact into practically every other language.  As such, it has become immensely popular with crossword clue writers the world over.  Over just a month's time in a large group of popular daily and weekly puzzles here in the United States I found the following: "Puccini production"; "'Carmen', e.g."; "Cherubini work"; "Puccini product"; "word with grand or soap"; "'Fidelio' or 'Orfeo'"; "'Norma', e.g."; "Met offering"; and "'Turandot' for one".  Like I said, this is a very popular word with the cluemeisters.  For practically anything you would like to know about operas, individually or collectively, just click on the logo above to take you to Mareo Milano's and Gianugo Rabellino's remarkable OperaWeb site from Italy.  English and Italian are spoken there with equal ease.

ARIA...Of nearly equal importance with puzzle composers is this "operatic solo" or "operatic highlight" which has also recently been called a "Met melody"; a "Pavorotti solo"; a "'Tosca' tune"; and "Mozart's 'Il mio tesoro', e.g.".  If you can't remember which of Mozart's operas that aria is from or even if you would like to learn the entire aria for your next singalong, click on the high-lighted word ARIA at the beginning of this paragraph or right HERE to check it all out with the Aria Database.

PASTA...The "Naples staple" turned out to be PASTA and I was thinking maybe PIZZA.  In all of the puzzles I checked there wasn't a pizza anywhere.  There was quite a bit of PASTA, though, with clues such as "spaghetti, ziti, fusilli, e.g." and "Roman meal" (I always thought Roman Meal was a bread brand).  The cluemeisters weren't satisfied with just PASTA either.  They also came up with Orzo, Penne and Ziti.  A click on any one of the pasta variety pictures below or the word Pasta above will take you to the "I Love Pasta" web pages for a vast amount of information on all things relating to pasta.
ORZO.....This is a "pasta variety" which is also the "grain-shaped pasta".

PENNE...This is a "quill-shaped pasta".

ZITI.........This was also a "pasta variety" and just as obviously "a tubular pasta".

What would the pasta be without a proper sauce?  The absolute favorite of our clue writers turned out to be

PESTO...When it comes to a "pasta topper" this "Genoese sauce" has the others all beat in crossword puzzle land.  Give a mouseclick to the high-lighted word PESTO to find the proper ingredient list for your very own home-made pesto sauce.

As far as sauces go, PESTO is it.  Paul Newman and a host of other brands and sauces just didn't make the cut.

LIRA and LIRE... Although LIRA is singular and LIRE is plural, they could both be the answer to clues I have recently seen..."Modena money", "Italian moola" and "change in Rome" are a few examples which I have run across.  After January of 2002, however, these clues will have to be modified to read "former Modena money", "former Italian moola" and "change of the past in Rome".  On that fast-approaching date the new darling of the cluemeisters, the EURO, will be replacing the LIRA and the LIRE.  You can click on the high-lighted word EURO just above to learn the whole story and find out just what we are talking about.  Click on the word LIRE high-lighted above to see what a 5000 lire note looks like.

For the touring crowd among the puzzle makers we also have a few popular locations.

ROME and ROMA... The two spellings for the "Eternal city" (one English, the other Italian) are almost used equally in crosswords.  Whether it is "city of seven hills" or "Italy's capital city" you might answer with either.  If you see something like "capital city of Italia", however, you're safest with ROMA, the Italian spelling.  A click on the picture above will take you to Excite's excellent pages on Rome.

PISA...  This "city on the Arno" (river, that is) is also the "home of the leaning tower".  Some time ago I saw a clue which said "Cole Porter gave a new meaning to the leaning tower of _ _ _ _", and that wasn't too easy to fit into a crossword puzzle.  Most often we are clued with a simple "leaning tower of _ _ _ _".  Click on the picture to visit an excellent Italian site for same.

ASTI....  This "sparkling wine city" is a "wine city near Turin" but it is most often clued as "_ _ _ _ spumante".  Click on the picture to see what this city has to say about itself.   And click on the words ASTI SPUMANTE to read about the wine.
 
 
 

Now a final and, under the circumstances, most appropriate final word for our Italian column ---

CIAO... We might be led by a clue such as "hello, Paolo" or we might just as easily run across something like "so long, Gino".  One of the more recent offerings was "cousin to 'adios'".  Perhaps  that was in anticipation of my upcoming column on Spanish Words in Crosswords.  At any rate, CIAO everyone.  I'll see you next time.
 
 

If you are into online crosswords, and have a Java-powered browser, you might like to try Timothy Parker's Universal Crossword.  Just click on the logo below.

Copyright 2000 C. Schnebel
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