Sunday September 29, 2013 Julian Lim

Theme: "Particle Mechanics" - ION is transferred from one theme entry to its exact symmetrical partner in the grid. Here are the four pairs:

23A. Arsonist's pursuit? : BURNING QUEST(ION).  I'm copying Lemonade's strike-through.

122A. 17th-century anti-witch application? : SALEM'S LOT(ION). So the ION from 23A is moved to 122A.

30A. Amer. armed forces traitor? : US MILITARY RAT(ION). OK, you thought of Chelsea Manning, didn't you? Rat or whistleblower?

107A. Fighting unit in the barnyard wars? : CHICKEN LEG(ION). ION from above is moved here.

57A. Commuters per hour, e. g.? : RAILWAY STAT(ION)

 

81A. Tryout for a CPA? : IRS AUDIT(ION) - Audit and Audition have the same root, no?

16D. Failure in treaty talks? : PEACEKEEPING MISS(ION)

39D. Behind-the-scenes romance? : BACKSTAGE PASS(ION)

Reveal entry right in the middle of the grid:

69A. Chemical reaction phenomenon, and what occurs in four symmetrical pairs of long answers in this puzzle : ION TRANSFER

Fantastic theme & execution. Heavy themage, of course, it's Julian Lim. Total 115 theme squares. The minimum for LAT Sunday is 84.

The two black squares (to the right of  square 15 & left of square 129) might be added later. I think Julian was going for stacked 8's in the upper right and lower left. That's his signature. 

Was surprised to see SEN (105A. Cong. member) & SENATE (131A. Filibuster site) in one grid. Rich is normally very strict with word dupe, and rightly so. I know some of you will propose an easy SET change, but it dupes TEA SET in 75A.

Across:

1. Like some windows : ARCHED. Good start for me.

7. All-nighter cause : FINAL

12. Thousandth of a meg : ONE-K. Easy guess. 1024 KiloBytes = 1 MegaByte. TTP's domain.

16. Holy Communion receptacle : PYX. New word to me and it crosses the tough X at XLI (18D. First year of Claudius' reign).

19. In person : BODILY

20. When the plot thickens, often : ACT II. Did not come to me easily.

21. Ate : HAD A MEAL

25. TV spin-off set in Florida : CSI: MIAMI

26. "Whatever you say, honey" : YES DEAR. Husker Gary's wise philosophy. Congrats on your hole-in-one!

27. Legendary Dolphins coach : SHULA (Don). This is sweet.

29. Math subj. with integrals : CALC

34. For fear that : LEST

37. Caps Lock neighbor : TAB. You peeked!

40. Public pair : ITEM

41. High seas quaff : GROG

42. Actor, usually : FAKER. One letter too long for the LIAR I had in mind.

43. Company with a stork in its logo : VLASIC. Love this word.

46. AWOL hunters : MPs

48. Activist Bonner who married Sakharov : YELENA. Total stranger. Her husband too.

50. AQI monitor : EPA. Air Quality Index. 

51. Like he-men : MACHO

52. Church closings : AMENs

54. "The Office" network : NBC

55. Truncation abbr. : ETC. I felt stupid not nailing this one.

56. Invite across the threshold : ASK IN

61. Moshing site : PIT

62. Word on the street, maybe : SLANG. Great clue.

64. Ample, in verse : ENOW

65. Early Alaskan : ESKIMO

67. Part of IOC: Abbr. : INTL

74. Cabinet dept. formed under Carter : ENER. Boomer mentioned huge inflation under Carter, or maybe Ford. 

75. Dollhouse accessory : TEA SET

77. Jazzy improvisation : SCAT

78. Whitman's "__ the Body Electric" : I SING

80. Soak, in British dialect : SOG. Guilty of using this word myself.

86. Mell Lazarus comic strip : MOMMA. Stumped me last time.

89. Big heart : ACE

90. Hägar creator Browne : DIK

91. Shoreline changers : TIDES

92. "__ Irish Rose" : ABIE'S

93. Shear (off) : LOP

94. Green wheels : ECO-CAR

98. Cancels (out) : X'ES

99. Isn't fictional : EXISTS. Look, still hot from Paris Fashion Week. Trash bag style purse. PK  & Creature will be shaking their head. More here.

100. "... bombs bursting __" : IN AIR

102. Yemen's capital : SANA

103. __ opportune moment : AT AN

106. Gas brand born in 1926 : ESSO. Nice trivia.

112. Big draw : STAR

114. Words students fear : SEE ME

115. Some arm candy : ESCORTS. The plural form of "Arm candy" is still "Arm candy"?

119. Plant animals? : CHIA PETS. & 125. "The Tempest" sorcerer : PROSPERO. I floundered in this area.

126. White house? : IGLOO. Nailed it.

127. Expatriate : EMIGRE

128. "You eediot!" speaker of cartoons : REN

129. Body suit? : SKIN. Ha ha.

130. '90s-'00s heartthrob band : 'N SYNC. Loved "It's Gonna Be Me".

Down:

1. "Dear __" : ABBY. No JOHN or SIRS dilemma today. 26A too easy.

2. Man without morals : ROUE

3. Writable storage media, for short : CD-Rs. Compact Disc-Recordable.

4. Veda devotee : HINDU

5. Nobelist Wiesel et al. : ELIEs

6. Peppy : DYNAMIC

7. Web help source : FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

8. Hosp. area : ICU

9. Desert trial : N TEST

10. Tyler of "The Talk" : AISHA. I remember a girl named Aisha with the Food Network or some other food channel.

11. Arrangement of church services : LITURGY

12. Neil Sedaka hit : OH CAROL. For Carole King. Here is a song for LaLaLinda & our other Linda. You'll hear Linda at 1 minute mark. That singer is Jacky Cheung, an extremely popular singer in Hong Kong.

13. "If I Ruled the World" rapper : NAS

14. King's order : EDICT

15. __ Sutra : KAMA

17. Holiday veggie : YAM

22. Jovovich of "Resident Evil" films : MILLA. She was born in Russia, I think. The kind Splynter loves. How can their skin be so flawless?

24. Sand in food, say : GRIT

28. Deceptive-sounding instrument? : LYRE. Liar.

31. Logic proposition : LEMMA. Another new word to me.

32. JFK Library architect : I.M. PEI. Gimme!

33. Sales rep : AGENT

35. Seventh fencing position : SEPTIME. Another new word. Looks like "Ninth fencing position" to me.

36. Field vehicle : TRACTOR

37. "True Blood" rating : TV MA

38. "Sorry to say ..." : ALAS

42. Judge's concerns : FACTS

44. Con game decoys : SHILLS

45. Inner Hebrides isle : IONA

47. NBC comedy staple : SNL

49. Celts, e.g. : NBAers

52. Cornstarch brand : ARGO

53. Fail to chill : SWEAT IT. Thanks for the crossings.

58. "Run" author Patchett : ANN. We've seen her before.

59. Rocky greetings : YOs

60. Personal ad abbr. : SWF (Single White Female). Did you see the movie also?

63. Kind of acid used in fertilizers : NITRIC

66. "Star Wars" mentor Obi-Wan __ : KENOBI

67. "No way that's true!" : IT'S A LIE

68. Recent rightists : NEO-CONS

70. Fed. hush-hush group : NSA

71. Ft. Worth school : TCU

72. "Sweet!" : RAD

73. One, in Oldenburg : EINS

76. Down source : EIDER

79. Big name in theaters? : IMAX

82. Tiny bit : SKOSH. Rooted in Japanese word "sukoshi", meaning "a tiny bit".

83. B.O. purchases : TIX

84. Paragon : IDEAL

85. Left on Spanish maps? : OESTE. West.

87. Pass (out) : METE

88. Professional gp. : ASSN

95. "Rolling along" item in an Army song : CAISSON. "... As the caissons go rolling along..". I faintly recall Spitzboov explained this to me before. He should be back to us as soon as his wife Betty leaves the hospital, next Tuesday the earliest.

96. Clear conclusion? : ANCE. Clearance.

97. Collects lots of : RAKES IN

99. Exiles, perhaps : ENISLES. Only in crosswords.

101. Tiny bits : IOTAs

104. Quite a while : AGES

107. Small stream : CREEK

108. Browser's reading, briefly : EMAGs. Does the "Browser" here refer to Firefox/ Internet Explore the browser or me? I browse, hence I'm a browser too.

109. Poet Sachs : NELLY.  Poet from her today, Yellowrocks?

110. Carol opening : O COME

111. Running an errand, say : NOT IN

113. iPhone programs : APPS. Android too. The genius D-Otto solved a big problem for us last week.

116. Baltic capital : RIGA

117. Lawsuit basis : TORT

118. Old-time knife : SNEE

119. Response to an arrest, initially : CPR. Of course I was thinking of cop arrests.

120. Charles V's domain: Abbr. : HRE

121. Prefix with -pod : TRI

123. Millions of lifetimes : EON

124. Casual shoe : MOC

C.C.

Sunday September 22, 2013 Julian Lim

Theme: "Hurry!" -RACE can follow the last word of each them entry.

 23A. *Similarly troubled : IN THE SAME BOAT. Boat race.

 38. *Mythological trick : TROJAN HORSE. Horse race.

 63A. *Design on a shield : COAT OF ARMS. Arms race.

 78A. *Most people can't stand to work in one : CRAWLSPACE. Space race.

 100A. *Fire : GIVE THE SACK. Sack race.

 17D. *"Bor-r-r-ring!" : WHAT A DRAG. Drag race.

 82D. *Bad thing to get off on : WRONG FOOT. Footrace.

 119. Embarking on something exciting, and a hint regarding what this puzzle's starred answers' endings have in common : OFF TO THE RACES

Notice each key word has a non-RACE meaning in the theme entry? Nice!

Notice the 48 6+ letter non-theme entries in this grid?  26 of them are 7-letter answers. Julian Lim constantly amazes me with his stacked corners. He's just amazing.

Julian Lim, XWordinfo

Across:

1. Clerics in un monastère : ABBES. French, just for Abejo.

6. Scanner reading : BAR CODE

13. Directory of notables : WHO'S WHO. Do you guys follow this Bo Xilai episode at all?

20. Jeweler's aid : LOUPE

21. "Umbrella" singer : RIHANNA

22. Collaborative instructional website : WIKIHOW. My favorite non-theme entry today.

25. Muslim domain : IMAMATE. I only know IMAM.

26. Like an emcee who's overdoing it : SMARMY

27. Home to millions : SEA. Millions of fish, right?

28. High-tech film effects, for short : CGI (Computer-generated imagery)

30. Worst : PITS

31. Till the cows come home : TO NO END

33. Part of TNT : NITRO

36. Colorado River feeder : GILA

37. Acronymous 13-Down gun : STEN. From Wiki: STEN is an acronym, from the names of the weapon's chief designers, Major Reginald V. Shepherd and Harold Turpin, and EN for Enfield.  And 13D. Global conflict, briefly : WWII

42. Rapids phenomenon : EDDY

45. "That's so sweet!" : OH YOU

46. Where Rome is : NEW YORK. Gimme for Irish Miss & Argyle.

48. "In Dreams" actor : REA (Stephen). Know him, but not the movie.

49. Coral element : POLYP

53. Donne's "Death Be Not Proud," e.g. : SONNET

55. 1996 Summer Olympics star : MIA HAMM. Bill G met her a few times.

57. Good way to find a relic : IN SITU

59. It might involve a bouncing ball : KARAOKE

62. "Crowd Goes Wild" host, familiarly : REGIS. The new Fox Sports 1 program.

66. Secret observer's opening : SPYHOLE. Same as Peephole?

68. 1998 insect-world animated film : ANTZ

69. Draft status : ONE A

70. Psyche's beloved : EROS

71. Some OR workers : LPNs. What Splynter wanted yesterday.

75. Snaps : HAS A FIT

80. Ames native : IOWAN

83. Coal-rich region of central Europe : SILESIA. Learning moment for me. I bet dear Spitzboov knows. Hopefully he'll be back to the blog soon. His wife Betty had an operation last Thursday.

Spitzboov & Betty

85. How stock may be bought : ON A TIP

86. __ Faso : BURKINA. Meaning "Land of Honest People". Formerly Republic of Upper Volta.

88. Loire Valley city : NANTES. Birthplace of Jules Verne.

91. Latin clarifier : ID EST

92. Nitrogen-based dye : AZO. And 76D. Indigo dye : ANIL

93. Skinks and geckos : LIZARDS

96. Straight up : ERECT

98. Novelist Jaffe : RONA

102. Sponsor of PSAs on DUI : MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving)

106. Flow forcefully : GUSH

108. Response to "Clean your room," perhaps : GROAN

109. One adding things up : TOTALER. No one uses this word.

111. Old Spice rival : AFTA

112. Seeking, in ads : ISO. No idea. In Search Of.

113. Some ER cases : ODs

116. "Keep dreaming!" : NO DICE

117. Bread with salad? : CROUTON. Nice clue.

123. Mist-ify? : ATOMIZE

124. Psyched : FIRED UP

125. Church responses : AMENs

126. Post-soak condition : WETNESS

127. "Friends" had 10 of them : SEASONS. I watched the first few in Cantonese.

128. Impetuous : HASTY

Down:

1. Glitterati groups : A-LISTS

2. Bit of wit : BON MOT

3. Lighter liquid : BUTANE

4. "Heartburn" screenwriter : EPHRON (Nora)

5. Words below a bad grade, perhaps : SEE ME

6. Cup holder? : BRA. Ha ha.

7. Strives : AIMS

8. South Korean president, 1948-1960 : RHEE.  Syngman Rhee. Rhee = Lee = Li. Same character.

9. Pool room : CABANA

10. John __ Lennon : ONO

11. Some court evidence : DNA

12. Face up to an embarrassing mistake : EAT CROW

14. "Forget __": 1964 hit : HIM

15. Striped rainforest critter : OKAPI. Hello!

16. Quiet as a mouse, e.g. : SIMILE

18. Have the __ for : HOTS

19. Have a mortgage : OWE

24. Elec. instrument : SYNTH

29. Like the "Saw" films : GORY

32. Prohibition proponents : DRYS

34. __ peace : INNER

35. Angle symbols : THETAS. No idea. I don't even remmeber what's the Chinese for this term.

36. Singer Halliwell : GERI. "Ginger Spice".

39. Love letter symbols : OOO. Marti's hugs.


40. Letters for occupants? : JUNK MAIL. I don't get this clue.


41. By hook or by crook : SOMEHOW

43. Co-star of Tom in "A Few Good Men" : DEMI. Loved the movie. Loved the Kevin Bacon character in it also.

44. Holiday tubers : YAMS

45. Vision: Pref. : OPTO

47. Marx not seen in films : KARL. Funny clue.

49. Type type : PICA

50. "__, you noblest English": "Henry V" : ON ON

51. Future D.A.'s exam : LSAT

52. First name of two Israeli prime ministers : YITZHAK (Rabin). I just don't know how to spell it.

54. __ in November : N AS

56. Shoe insert : HEEL PAD

58. Some sky lights, to some : UFOs

60. Runs : OPERATES

61. Sedgwick of "The Closer" : KYRA. Her Bacon number is 1.

64. Ancient Indians of the Four Corners region : ANASAZI. New word to me also.

65. Int.-lowering option : RE-FI

67. 1952 Winter Olympics site : OSLO

72. Baguette spread : PATE. Must be ages since LaLaLinda tasted baguette. Gluten-free bread just does not taste great.

73. "JAG" spin-off : NCIS

74. 9, perhaps: Abbr. : SEPT

77. Watch over : TEND TO

78. Reds, on scoreboards : CIN. Where is our Seen? He was quite active on the blog for sometime. The eddyB days.

79. Pique : SNIT

80. Support beam : I-BAR

81. Greek spirits : OUZO

84. Ice skater Cohen : SASHA

87. Close at hand : NIGH

89. Notable age : ERA

90. Religious offshoot : SECT

94. MLB nos. : AVGs

95. Puts a new top on : RE-ROOFS. Thought of PK's trouble with her roofers.

97. Designer cologne : CK ONE

99. Fall : AUTUMN

101. Cybermemos : E-NOTES

102. Puccini's "__ Butterfly" : MADAMA

103. Eatery where "you can get anything you want" : ALICE'S . Arlo Guthrie's " Alice's Restaurant".

104. Respectable : DECENT

105. Not casual : DRESSY

107. "Socrate" composer : SATIE. Erik! My favorite! Cool and hard-working.

110. Rabbi's study : TORAH

111. Galleria display : ARTE

112. Model Sastre : INES. Do you like Trésor? She was their spokesmodel.

114. Dimwit : DODO. Here is our Dodo, in red. Anon-T, look at the second picture clearly, you'll see Garlic Gal's spiky hair. Very cool.

L-R back row: Chickie, Clear Ayes, Garlic Gal
   Front: JD, Lucina, Dodo
June 23, 2011

L to R: JD, Garlic Gal, Chickie & Jill

115. Knock for a loop : STUN

117. Harsh bird call : CAW

118. Cologne meas. : OZs

120. Old-style "Tsk!" : FIE

121. Monk's address : FRA

122. Officejet Pro printers : HPs

C.C.

Saturday, Aug10th, 2013, Julian Lim

Theme: None

Words: 64 (missing J,Q,Y,Z)

Blocks: 32

  I loved the look of this big-blocks-in-the-corners grid, but after getting started, realized that the 6X6 mini-grids would be impossible unless you could get some traction. Ouch. Ultimately, I finished, but I needed red-letters to "8D" the two words I had wrong.  Oh, and the crossing of TWO utter unknown proper names left me with one 'vowel WAG' to close it out.  Low word count today, and one grid climber:

7. "That's a touchy subject" : DON'T EVEN GO THERE - I had enough crossings to fill this in; however, when I hear or use this phrase, it's usually more than just a 'touchy' subject; more like a DF one if you ask me....

O-ring(*)N-test(*)W-beam(*)A-line(*)R-value(*)D-day~!

ACROSS:

1. Froth makers : WHISKS - Whip me up one of those pizza crusts~!(um, no whisk required, actually)

7. Mil. honor : DSM - Distinguished Service Medal - from doing crosswords

10. River that rises in the Vogesen Mountains : SAAR - tried AARE first; ooh, so close with the double "AA"

14. Alert on the road : HONK AT - I like to give a quick double-tap to the person in the car ahead of me that is on the phone while sitting at a green light - a double tap of the HORN; mind you, some days....

15. "Well, it sure beats me" : "OH I DUNNO" - Ugh, tough one; I thought it was I'VE NO IDEA, but it didn't fit; the last "A" came from 13D, and that bugger messed me up

17. Anatolian metropolis : ANKARA - Turkey; map

18. Propose for an office : NOMINATE - I must have read this clue out loud 4 times, and just couldn't get the meaning; then I realized we're talking about running for an office, not the people that work in an  office....

19. "The Joys of Yiddish" author Leo : ROSTEN - WAGged the "O" as "E" first - BZZZZZZT~!

20. Lures with music : TWEEDLES - Got stuck with 'T---S IN' to start - TEASES IN~? Nope. Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee, now those two, I know

21. One may be imaginary : FRIEND - I got lots of these - and I'm NOT on Facebook~!

22. Joy, for one : EMOTION

23. Touchy, as a subject : SENSITIVE

25. "Sons of Anarchy" co-star Katey : SAGAL - I thought it was sEgal, so that slowed me up

27. Bump on a log : NODE - ah, not knot

28. Brand with Ultra Leakguards : LUVS - diapers; we get econo-boxes of these at UPS, and the fragrance they are made with stinks worse than what they're supposed to 'catch'

29. Woman's name derived from an Old Norse word for "holy" : HELGA

33. Moreover : AND

35. "I cast to earth __ ...": Tennyson : A SEED - OK, so an A word; did I just hear you use the F-word?

36. Little redhead on vintage TV : OPIE - Ron Howard's role on "The Andy Griffith Show" - here's a guitar rendition of "The Fishin' Hole"

37. Maven : GURU - Maven is on the Yiddish list, too

39. Occasional presentations? : GIFTS - present(ations)

41. Largely factual entertainment genre : DOCU-DRAMA

46. Have a go at : TEST OUT - meh, not what I mean by "have a go at"

48. __ fever: tween "malady" : BIEBER - Puh-leeze

49. One who can hold her own : NO SLOUCH - Nope, no slouching here

50. Hurly-burly : BEDLAM

51. Rude : IMPOLITE

52. Utterly senseless : INSANE - aw, not WHACKO?

53. Coastal resident : SEASIDER

54. Ball game official : SCORER - ugh, not UMPIRE

55. "Tepper __ Going Out": Calvin Trillin novel : ISN'T

56. End of the block? : ADE - BlockADE

57. Charming people? : HEXERS - Cute

DOWN:

1. Moors at a dock : WHARFS - not this WORF's

2. French cartoonist Daumier : HONORE - and the other name that did me in

3. Finishes, as a cartoon : INKS IN - nailed it

4. Penguins' footwear : SKATES - Pittsburgh Penguins, of the NHL....maybe could have used a "?" at the end; I nailed it, but then again, I am a monster hockey fan

5. Tolstoy heroine : KARENINA - Done with Russians; any single women out there that are "no slouch"? (see above)

6. Assume battle stations : STAND TO

8. "Where?" : SHOW ME - Gimme, HuskerG; famous movie quote?

9. Passé copier : MIMEO - mimeograph, the Wiki

10. Old timers? : SUNDIALS - excellent clue/answer

11. Parkay, to butter : ANALOGUE - by definition, this means 'similar to', from the Greek analogos meaning "proportionate"; I grew up with analog(ue) meaning "NOT digital"

12. Church porch : ANTENAVE - I just could not find an image with this word on it; this was a cool pic with cathedral terminology; you can imagine where the antenave would be

13. Small deer : ROES - This ruined my whole NE; I live on FAWN lane, so that's what I filled in straight away, and it messed me up until I turned red, and then "Dah~!"

16. Fare reductions? : DIETS - HAR-HAR~!

24. The Bitterroot Range runs along its E. border : IDAho, map

26. '60s counterculture substance : LSD - not sold over the counter....

29. Road animal? : HOG - "Road Hog~!"

30. Paragons : EPITOMES - nailed it

31. 100 years or more, for a giant tortoise : LIFESPAN

32. Makes too many wrong turns, maybe : GETS LOST - Two wrongs don't make a right; three lefts do....

34. Parisian peer : DUC - Frawnch for duke, that kind of peer; I actually read this as 'deer', so it's a good thing the perps took care of it

35. Theater group : AUDIENCE - ah, not TROUPE, and ACTORS GUILD didn't fit, either

38. Refuse : RUBBISH - which way to read it?  REH-fuse, or ree-FUSE? Needed perps

40. __ Razberi: flavored vodka : STOLI - A WAG, but then again vodka, so....

41. Conveyed by pipes, as heat : DUCTED - Can you see me gritting my teeth? heat conveyed in pipes is a FORCED hot-water heating system; DUCTED is an AIR system that, well, uses ducts....just sayin'

42. Yankees rival : RED SOX - I can't stand the Yankees, so by default a Red Sox fan; I grew up with the Mets here on Lawn Guyland

43. Like klaxons in action : ABLARE - Klaxon is a brand name of electrically operated horn, and another A-word

44. Not as nice : MEANER

45. Weapons suppliers : ARMERS - Dah~!  Not ArmOrY

47. One-named writer of "Under Two Flags" : OUIDA - her WIki

49. Not finalized, in law : NISI - the Latin word for "useless"; Our resident legal eagles can go into more detail

Splynter