ROGER EBERT, AWAKE IN THE DARK — We need to feel above comedy. ... Buddy Hackett told me he turned down big bucks in Vegas rather than play a room where the stage was higher than the audience. "They won't laugh unless they're looking down at you," he explained.
We need to feel above comedy. Drama needs to feel above us. Gates of Heaven was so finely balanced between comedy and drama that the altitude of the seats determined the reaction of the audience members. Was he serious? l couldn't tell. Years later, Buddy Hackett told me he turned down big bucks in Vegas rather than play a room where the stage was higher than the audience. "They won't laugh unless they're looking down at you," he explained.
| A. | Addiction for Dostoyevsky | ROULETTE |
| B. | Seasoned pro (2 wds.) | OLDHAND |
| C. | Caught sight of briefly | GLIMPSED |
| D. | Coordinated set of threads | ENSEMBLE |
| E. | Made crudely, without finesse (hyph.) | ROUGHHEWN |
| F. | Catchphrase for Steve Martin (2 wds.) | EXCUSEME |
| G. | Go from one watering hole to the next | BARHOP |
| H. | Grammy-winning parody of 1984 (2 wds.) | EATIT |
| I. | Actress who portrayed Jackie Robinson's wife in "The Jackie Robinson Story" (2 wds.) | RUBYDEE |
| J. | A little shaky | TENUOUS |
| K. | Fearsome aunt in stories by P. G. Wodehouse | AGATHA |
| L. | Protector of consumers | WATCHDOG |
| M. | "But on another subject ..." | ANYHOW |
| N. | Nixon's sparring partner in a 1959 "kitchen debate" | KHRUSHCHEV |
| O. | Wood so dense it will sink in water | EBONY |
| P. | Think of oneself, in a way | IDENTIFY |
| Q. | One of the two in "Tea for Two" | NANETTE |
| R. | Large tangle of greenery | THICKET |
| S. | Old variety show with a "joke fence" (2 wds.) | HEEHAW |
| T. | Raised, lofty; superior | ELEVATED |
| U. | Precious, cute, adorable | DARLING |
| V. | Work whose name means "collection of flowers" | ANTHOLOGY |
| W. | Mariposa Grove specimen | REDWOOD |
| X. | "We rappers is role models — we rap, we don't think" rapper (2 wds.) | KANYEWEST |