Friday, December 11, 2015, Kristian House

Theme: Hats off to Mr. Kristian.

Mr. House returns after a five year absence from the LAT during which he  has 14 or so NYT publications. The theme is rather simple with the second word of each theme fill being a form of 'headgear' but resulting in a phrase that has a very different meaning. No reveal needed. Only 8 three letter fill and some sparkle with  CRATERS,  LESSONS,  ORINOCO,  REDOUBT, AD BLOCKER, NAME DROPS. Overall not as hard as I expected when I saw the byline.

17A. Headgear not for amateurs? : PRO BOWLER (9). A CSO to Boomer.

27A. Headgear for a certain batting champ? : TRIPLE CROWN (11). The man with the most three base hits and a term for someone who leads the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. Also a horse racing goal accomplished this year for the first time in 29 years.

47A. Headgear for some skaters? : ROLLER DERBY (11).

64A. Headgear for contract negotiations? : SALARY CAP (9).

Across:

1. Two of its members wrote the music for "Chess" : ABBA. Once again...this MUSICAL has not been a success in the US.

5. Angling trophy : BASS. Is the fish the trophy?

9. Not sour : ON KEY. Friday cluing.

14. Chillax : LOLL.

15. Horn accessory : MUTE. JzB?

16. Kitchen feature : RANGE.

19. Qualifying words : I MEAN. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

20. Bunk : HOKUM. Two made up words.

21. License-issuing org. : DMV. Department of Motor Vehicles. Driver's licenses.

22. They're not optional : NEEDS.

23. Weak : ANEMIC.

25. Career grand slam leader : AROD. His batting coach last year was Barry Bonds.

33. Princess friend of Dorothy : OZMA. In every book but the first one and in Baum's words, "Her eyes sparkled as two diamonds, and her lips were tinted like a tourmaline. All adown her back floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a slender jeweled circlet confining them at the brow."

37. Gibbon, for one : APE.

38. Dr. Howser of '80s-'90s TV : DOOGIE. I bet  most do not associate this series with others created by Bochco and Kelley 

39. Done __ : DEED. Deal seemed so right.

40. Sierra follower, in the NATO alphabet : TANGO.

42. Stiff : PRIM.

43. Facilitate : ENABLE.

45. Torque symbol, in mechanics : TAU. Please Fermat and Bill G, tell us more.

46. Utah state flower : SEGO.

50. Bologna bone : OSSO. Just the Italian word.

51. Work together : TEAM UP.

56. Spy plane acronym : AWACS. Airborne Warning and Control System,

59. Tolkien race member : ELF.

62. Poor treatment : ABUSE.

63. Breadcrumbs used in Asian cuisine : PANKO. Per wiki  Panko is made from bread baked by electrical current, which yields a bread without a crust, and then grinding the bread to create fine slivers of crumb. Come from Japan which learned about bread from Europeans.

66. A lot : OFTEN.

67. Camera that uses 70mm film : IMAX. Where I watched Avatar.

68. Junk, say : SHIP. Asian again, tricky. What you need to KNOW.

69. Shows signs of life : STIRS.

70. A mullet covers it : NAPE. Name the movie?

71. Xperia manufacturer : SONY. They make smart phones and tablets.

Down:

1. __-Bits : ALPHA. A crossword puzzle dream.

2. Element between beryllium and carbon on the periodic table : BORON.
Boring.

3. Chap : BLOKE. Nice Cuppa, Steve...

4. "Help!" is one : ALBUM. Beatles album and movie.

5. German import : BMW. Bayerische Motoren Werke AG  English: Bavarian Motor Works.

6. Word sung in early January : AULD.

7. Watch part : STEM.

8. Spotted wildcat : SERVAL. To me it looks like a leopard mated with a bunny  and then....

9. River under the Angostura Bridge : ORINOCO. Interesting. LINK.

10. Tries to impress, in a way : NAME DROPS. Like knowing someone famous makes you better; so silly. I remember saying that when I was in the elevator with John Lennon at the Continental Hyatt House...

11. Dummy's place : KNEE. So many come to mind

12. "Good heavens!" : EGAD.

13. Hankerings : YENS.

18. Insult in an Oscar acceptance speech, perhaps : OMIT. Don't forget the make up girl.

24. Significant depressions : CRATERS. Not mood swings.

26. Defensive fortification : REDOUBT. This was NEW to me, the perps brought it home.

28. Bar brew, briefly : IPA. India Pale Ale.

29. Board game using stones : PENTE. Sounds like a derivative GAME.

30. Fiend : OGRE.

31. "SNL" alum with Hader and Samberg : WIIG. Does she pass the Splynter test?

32. Fictional captain : NEMO. 20,000 reasons to remember.

33. River through Frankfurt : ODER. On my list of 4 letter European rivers to remember.

34. Philosopher known for his "Achilles and the Tortoise" paradox : ZENO. It is mostly speculation but he did influence Plato and Aristotle. LINK.

35. Ground grain : MEAL.

36. Pop-up prevention : AD BLOCKER. Nice new fill.

41. Sharp-toothed fish : GAR.

44. Course components : LESSONS. Sorry HG and BE, not a golf course.

48. Rubs out : DOES IN.

49. Oenophile's concern : YEAR.

52. Deep space : ABYSS.

53. Oodles of, in slang : MUCHO. Usually with dinero.

54. Bolt like lightning? : USAIN.

55. Raring to go : PEPPY.

56. Mil. mail drops : APOS. Army Post Office

57. Drift, as smoke : WAFT.

58. Fighting : ANTI.

60. Dharma teacher : LAMA.

61. Door in the woods : FLAP.

65. Tin Man's tool : AXE. An ending toast to our own de-icer and my favorite unknown band. LISTEN.

On that musical note, lemonade out. I hope you all have a great party weekend, our office starts today with the ugly sweater contest, problem, nobody owns sweaters here.

ah well.

Note from C.C.: 

I'm sad to let you know that Lemonade's brother passed away yesterday. Lemonade was very close to his two brothers, now both have left this world. Here is a "Hard to Believe" childhood photo Lemonade shared with our blog regulars in 2011. Lemonade is the one in the middle.

Friday, December 4, 2015, Craig Stowe

Theme: How do I get paid here? Wait in the FEE LINE in the corner.

It appears I get another debut puzzle, and a very ambitious one at that. In each of the four corners we have intersecting names of famous fictional felines. They are all part of the family FELIDAE. We get the reveal in middle, which oddly has nothing to do with CATS. To add to the challenge, we have triple stacks of nine in the NW and SE and triple sixes in SW and NE. To get all that into a single grid, there are some compromises and 8 cheater squares, but I still found it one of the hardest of the year. I have not seen that many puzzles where the themers are all proper names.  A CSO to the Corner, so let us  get to it.

1A. "The Jungle Book" villain : SHERE KHAN (9) the bad guy is paired with 1D. Half of a cartoon duo : STIMPY (6) the silly one.

10A. Character in the comic "Mutts" : MOOCH  (5) who I do not know is paired with 14D. Friend of Calvin : HOBBES (6) a wonderful stuffed animal.

63A. C.S. Lewis hero : ASLAN (5) from the other side of the wardrobe is paired with 41D. Scar's brother from Lion King : MUFASA (6).

64A. "Looney Tunes" lisper : SYLVESTER (9) also silly is paired with 47D. Pooh pal : TIGGER (6) another stuffed tiger.

The reveal: 35A. Diagonally ... or what each of four pairs of puzzle answers form? : KITTY CORNER (11).

       

Okey dokey, lets see how he befuddled me...

15. Stubborn : TENACIOUS. A musical name? LINK. (4:53).

16. Howe'er : ALTHO. Both silly abbreviations.

17. Mutton dish : IRISH STEW. This RECIPE?

18. Title from the Arabic for "master" : SAHIB.

19. Litter call : MEW.

20. Orchestra sect. : STRings.

21. Electric guitar effect : REVERB.

22. Christmas __ : PIE. Is this really a thing? Isn't it just mince pie?

23. Mate's affirmative : AYE. Ship mate.

24. 2013 Spike Jonze film : HER. Really weird movie.

25. Arctic coast explorer : RAE. Here we go into the Friday ABYSS.  An unsung HERO?

26. "Revolutionary Road" author Richard : YATES. Have you read the BOOK?

28. "... high hope for __ heaven": Shak. : A LOW. Love's Labour Lost, Act I, Scene 1

30. Mil. awards : DSCS. DISTINGUISHED SERVICE CROSS.

31. Part of many a date : MOVIE.

33. Cheapen : ABASE.

38. To date : AS YET.

39. Virtuous : MORAL. If you are too moral you may not...

41. Cry of discomfort : MOAN. which looks a lot like...

44. Romantic evening highlight, perhaps : MOON. After which you many moan.

46. Shore up, as an embankment : REVET. last and only time in the LAT June 2010. I did not recall.

48. Mil. branch : USN.

49. Present : NOW.

50. Munch on : EAT.

52. Former Abbey Road Studios owner : EMI. Electric and Musical Industries Ltd.

53. Gradual revelation : FADE IN. In movies?

55. Center : HUB.

56. Record : LOG. Captain's Log....

57. Ice cream thickeners : AGARS. Yes, seaweed is the SECRET.

58. Peggy Lee specialty : TORCH SONG.A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affected the relationship. Wiki.

61. Alabama River city : SELMA.

62. Chestnut : PLATITUDE.

Down:

2. "Yoo-hoo!" : HERE I AM.

3. 1944 Pacific battle site : ENIWETOK. The BATTLE  came not long after the battle for Kwajalein, a Marshall Island where an old girlfriend lived on when she was young.

4. Univ. peer leaders : RAS.  This bunch. LINK.

5. Command level: Abbr. : ECH. This is common fill in the NYT but meaningless to me.

6. __-face : KISSY.

7. Winter warmer : HOT TEA.

8. Violinist who taught Heifetz : AUER.

9. State north of Victoria: Abbr. : NSW. New South Wales. CSO to Kazie.

10. Electromagnetic wave generator : MASER. I remember when they won the Nobel  Prize for this DEVICE.

11. Norse royal name : OLAV.

12. Leftovers : OTHERS. I get it but I do not like it.

13. President before Sarkozy : CHIRAC. He recently turned 83. LINK.

21. Nuke : REWARM.

23. "A chain ... strong __ weakest link" : AS ITS.

24. Rail rider : HOBO.

27. French spa : EVIAN. A watered down clue?

29. Kind of vegetarian : LACTO. They eat milk products like cheese.

30. Caterpillar rival : DEERE.

32. Linguistic root : ETYMON. The root of etymology but not a word I know.

34. Derisive sound : SNORT. My memory of this is tied to Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, which is also the real Sandra. Wait until the end.

36. "Yikes!" : YEOW.

37. Disentangle : RAVEL OUT. Not unravel, but...

40. Paper with a Société section : LE MONDE. The 'world' in French and an"A" away.

42. Oklahoma natives : OSAGES.

43. Along with the rest : AND ALL.

45. __ network : NEURAL.

49. Seder month : NISAN. Hebrew Calendar.

51. "Modern Family" network : ABC TV. I have been doing lots of networking.

54. Aunt with a "Cope Book" : ERMA. The puzzle friendly Ms Bombeck.

55. Blessed : HOLY.

58. Pulls a Charmin shenanigan, briefly : TPS. Do people still toilet paper houses?

59. Skedaddle : HIE.

60. Some routes: Abbr. : STS.

I will say goodbye with an image of domestic cats and hope none of you are allergic to dander. Lemonade out.

1 S

2 H

3 E

4 R

5 E

6 K

7 H

8 A

9 N

10 M

11 O

12 O

13 C

14 H

15 T

E

N

A

C

I

O

U

S

16 A

L

T

H

O

17 I

R

I

S

H

S

T

E

W

18 S

A

H

I

B

19 M

E

W

20 S

T

R

21 R

E

V

E

R

B

22 P

I

E

23 A

Y

E

24 H

E

R

25 R

A

E

26 Y

A

T

27 E

S

28 A

29 L

O

W

30 D

S

C

S

31 M

O

V

I

32 E

33 A

B

A

34 S

E

35 K

I

T

T

36 Y

C

O

R

N

E

37 R

38 A

S

Y

E

T

39 M

O

R

A

40 L

41 M

42 O

43 A

N

44 M

O

O

45 N

46 R

E

V

E

47 T

48 U

S

N

49 N

O

W

50 E

51 A

T

52 E

M

I

53 F

A

D

54 E

I

N

55 H

U

B

56 L

O

G

57 A

G

A

R

S

58 T

O

R

C

59 H

60 S

O

N

G

61 S

E

L

M

A

62 P

L

A

T

I

T

U

D

E

63 A

S

L

A

N

64 S

Y

L

V

E

S

T

E

R