google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Sunday May 1, 2011 Chris A McGlothlin

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May 1, 2011

Sunday May 1, 2011 Chris A McGlothlin

Theme: Unfinished B Movies - B is changed P in all the 11 movie titles (Added later: Letter- wise, P is an unfinished B).

23A. Film about an embarrassing fig leaf situation? : ADAM'S RIP. "Adam's Rib". Tracy & Hepburn. Watched it long time ago.

25A. Film about winning the chicken breeder's trophy? : SILVER PULLET. No idea. "Silver Bullet". Stephen King horror film.

30A. Film about great cornbread? : THE LOVELY PONES. "The Lovely Bones". Stanley Tucci is a great actor.

51A. Film about where to put Melba sauce? : ON THE PEACH. "On the Beach". Unknown to me. Melba peach.

54A. Film about clashing egos? : PRIDE WARS. "Bride Wars". Starring Kate Hudson & Anne Hathaway.

66A. Film about swabbing drudgery? : MARRIED TO THE MOP. "Married to the Mob". Michelle Pfeiffer.

85A. Film about Milo's pal Otis? : A PUG'S LIFE. "A Bug's Life". Pixar animated film.

87A. Film about a tick at a kennel club event? : PEST IN SHOW. "Best in Show". Clear Ayes might know this movie.

102A. Film set in a sty? : PIG MOMMA'S HOUSE. "Big Momma's House". Another unknown to me.

114A Film about a celebrity golf tournament? : STARS AND PARS. "Stars and Bars". Starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Not on my radar.

116A. Film about V-chip users? : PORN FREE. "Born Free". Hello Elsa!

Very theme-heavy. We often see 7-9 theme entries in a Sunday grid. 11 are tough to maneuver around.

Great LA Times debut by Chris A McGlothlin, who had a NY Sunday puzzle earlier this year.

Across:

1. Words preceding a pronouncement : I DOs

5. 2010 Heisman Trophy winner Newton : CAM. First overall pick by the Panthers. Lots of sports talk about this guy.

8. Novel digits : ISBN

12. Trig function : ARCSINE. Hated math.

19. Guy : MALE

20. In the style of : ALA

21. Popeye's __' Pea : SWEE

22. Sentence alterations : PAROLES. Prison sentences.

27. Toast triangle topper : CAVIAR. Yummy!

28. Link letters : URL. You should definitely subscribe to Paul's free "Word of the day". Full of nuggets.

29. Most prone to brooding : MOPIEST

35. Buffy's love : ANGEL. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

38. Simpson judge : ITO. He must know that Simpson did it.

39. Tallow source : SUET

40. Scrub over : REWASH

45. Italian mine : MIO. "O Sole Mio". My sun.

46. Walk pompously : STRUT

48. Strip : PEEL

50. Bassoon relative : OBOE

57. Catholic college near Oakland : ST. MARYS. No idea. We've got a St Mary's here in MN too.

58. 45 players : HI-FIs.

61. Bridge supports : TRUSSES

62. "... the whites of __ eyes" : THEIR

63. TV intro opening : HERE'S

64. With 115-Down, wrinkly pooch : SHAR. 115. See 64-Across : PEI. Shar =Sand. Pei = Skin.

65. Computer add-on : ESE. Computerese. Great clue.

71. Some four-yr. degrees : BSS (Bachelor of Social Science).

74. Really could use : NEED

75. Afterward : LATER

76. Bribable : VENAL. Don't confuse it with Venial (Venial sin).

80. Moves back : RECEDES

82. "Kills 99.9% of bacteria" product : LYSOL

83. Lennon classic : IMAGINE. My brother loves this song.

89. Colorado River feeder : GILA

90. __ bene : NOTA

92. Am : EXIST

93. First name in despotism : IDI (Amin)

94. Run fast : GALLOP

97. Team-player liaisons: Abbr. : AGTs

99. Saucer contents? : ETS. Flying saucer.

100. Setting for "Starry Night Over the Rhone" : ARLES. Loved van Gogh's yellow and blue. 
 
106. Trapped : UP A TREE. Nice answer.

109. Opener's target : CAN

110. Prepared for baking, as flour : SIFTED

118. "The Kids Are All Right" Oscar nominee Bening : ANNETTE

119. Art Deco designer : ERTE

120. Clampett patriarch : JED

121. The Auld Sod : EIRE

122. Painters' plasters : GESSOES. Always a challenging word for me.

123. Pastoral poem : IDYL

124. Madrid Mrs. : SRA

125. Way out : DOOR

Down:

1. All-in-one Apple : iMAC

2. Word from a crib : DADA

3. Norwegian royal name : OLAV. Hi there, Lord Magnus Shadrack of 64th Street.

4. Hebrew, e.g. : SEMITE

5. Writer John le __ : CARRE

6. Rhyming fighter : ALI. Clued as "Poetic boxer" in Gareth Bain's March puzzle.

7. Tourist's aid : MAP

8. Disputed point : ISSUE

9. Ice cream lines : SWIRLS

10. Bankrupt : BELLY-UP

11. Harry Reid's st. : NEV. He always seems so gloomy.

12. Cook's protector : APRON

13. Fast-talking performer : RAPPER

14. Princess jaunt : CRUISE. Princess Cruises.

15. It's always underfoot : SOLE

16. Troubles : ILLs

17. Bygone Nair competitor : NEET

18. D.C. setting : EST

24. Satirist Mort : SAHL

26. Drama queen, e.g. : EMOTER

31. Some Millers : LITEs

32. Neither esta nor esa : OTRA (other). Neither this nor that.

33. One with backing : VOUCHEE

34. Friends, in slang : PEEPS

35. "__ Wanted Man": 2008 novel : A MOST

36. Amendment dealing with unenumerated rights : NINTH. I forgot all I learned during the Citizenship exam.

37. "You win" : GOT ME

41. Amazes : WOWS

42. Belittle : ABASE

43. Tender spots : SORES

44. "Steppenwolf" author : HESSE (Hermann)

46. Watch secretly : SPY

47. Lead-in following a second point : THIRDLY

49. Supple : LITHE

52. Corey of "The Lost Boys" : HAIM

53. Going concerns? : ERRANDS. Nice clue.

55. Apothecary's weight : DRAM

56. Old VW camper : EUROVAN

59. Greek cheeses : FETAs. I came to the US when I was 30, how about your Greek wife, Husker Gary? I'm guessing Barry G's wife (Tianjin, China) and Jayce's wife (Hongkong) arrived here at a slightly earlier age.

60. Carbon-14, e.g. : ISOTOPE

63. Buried : HID

64. NASDAQ unit : SHR (Share)

67. Projection booth item : REEL

68. Common conifer secretion : RESIN

69. Fax forerunners : TELEXES

70. Cribbage pieces : PEGS

71. Fayetteville fort : BRAGG. Fort Bragg.

72. Tone of the Kansas sequences in "The Wizard of Oz" : SEPIA

73. Oar : SCULL

77. It meant nothing to Nero : NIHIL

78. Battery current entry point : ANODE

79. Comedian Black : LEWIS

81. It's the same in Paris : EGAL. Literally "the same".

82. "Unhand me!" : LET GO

83. "__ Easy": Guns N' Roses song : IT'S SO. The constructor did not have much choices here, with ?T??O arrangement.

84. Charles River sch. : M.I.T.

86. Got all bubbly : FOAMED

88. Jedi adversary : SITH. "Star Wars".

91. Payment option : ATM CARD

95. Decides one will : OPTS TO

96. Somalian menace : PIRATE. Brutal!

98. Wisenheimer : SMARTY

100. Speller's clarification : AS IN. Q as in queen. People always want to add an U after my Q.

101. Made calls, in a way : REFFED. Ref can be a verb?

103. They're found in pools : GENES

104. Photographer Adams : ANSEL

105. Fed. nutritional no. : US RDA

106. __ Reader : UTNE

107. "Only the credits held my attention" et al. : PANS. I don't get this pan.

108. Greek war god : ARES

111. Crosby, Stills & Nash, e.g. : TRIO

112. Architect Saarinen : EERO

113. A few bucks? : DEER. Cute clue.

114. Lose support : SAG

116. Short sleepers? : PJs

117. Anthem contraction : O'ER. 

Answer grid.

C.C.

30 comments:

Barry G. said...

Morning, all!

A fairly straightforward puzzle today. I figured out the "B to P" theme early on, but never did figure out what that had to do with the title of the puzzle. I mean, I get the "B Movie" part, but why "Unfinished"?

Anyway, there were a few hiccoughs here and there, especially down south in the BSS/BRAGG/SCULL/EGAL section, but nothing too bad. And, like C.C., I was hampered a bit by not knowing some of the theme films such as "Stars and Bars" and "Bride Wars." Again, though, no major snags.

Overall, the clues and answers were very smooth, although I did literally wince at VOUCHEE. I'm sure it's a real word, but it just made me twitch...

Anonymous said...

"107. Only the credits held my attention" et al. : PANS. I don't get this pan."

C.C.: To "pan" a movie is to give it a bad review.

Hahtoolah said...

Good Morning, C.C. and friends. This was a fun puzzle. I hadn't seen all the movies, but had heard of all but Stars and Bars.

Interesting to see John le Carre (5D) and his novel, A Most Wanted Man (35D). I have read a few of his books, but not this one.

I wanted Pitch for the Conifer Secretion.

Sister-in-law didn't fit into the spaces provided for Drama Queen.

My favorite clue was It's Always Underfoot = SOLE.

Clear Ayes: Polly was a tabby cat.

QOD: Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish. ~ Anne Bradstreet

Splynter said...

Hi There ~!

Yes, it was quite a puzzle with all the theme answers, and it took me a while to get one to work with - got it with MARRIED/MOP(B), which is a movie I had heard of, and I was able to go from there.

It was just as I filled in ON THE PEACH that I grokked the "unfinished" B, like we were taught to make in elementary school - the last lower curve being left off.

"BEST IN SHOW" is a great movie, half the cast of SPINAL TAP is in there, and it has a similar tongue-in-cheek humor.

I didn't get the PAN clue, either, but that's the right explanation - and my dad REFFED soccer twenty years ago.

Funny how the first and last themes are ADAM'S RIP and PORN FREE....um, not quite, if you think about it....Eve was probably OK with it ~!

Lois~?

Splynter

Lemonade714 said...

I really enjoyed this Sunday offering, which went fairly quickly but had wit and lots of theme. It also had some special meaning for our traveling KAZIE, On the Beach was the first of the post-nuclear holocaust movies CLIP which many still consider the best. The movie is set primarily in Australia. PEACH MELBA was created by perhaps the greatest chef of all time, Escoffier, for the opera singer Nellie Melba. It was first served when she was performing in Australia. I am sure they served caviar that night.
BEST IN SHOW is one of the Mockumentaries created by CHRISTOPHER GUEST which began with THIS IS SPINAL TAP . Guest is an actual Baron, and the longtime husband of Jamie Lee Curtis. BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE was the first of Martin Lawrence’s cross-dressing comedies.

Many fun movies, and the idea that the letter P is an unfinished B, is both accurate and ingenious for a theme. Nice catch C.C.

.

Barry G. said...

Ah. The letter P is an unfinished B. Now I get it...

Husker Gary said...

C.C., et al, what a lovely way to start a Sunday. I haven’t played that much hopscotch since I was 10 but I got ‘er done!

Musings
-C.C. my wife was a twin daughter of a first generation Greek man and first generation Bohemian woman in central Nebraska and hates FETA cheese! Your waxing nostalgic yesterday made me wonder for which culture you were feeling wistful. Any Chinese TV shows that were part of your childhood?
-Millers are also MOTHS around here
-Cam Newton has more question marks than the LSAT
-Oh, that Simpson, not Homer. Of course he did it!
-TRESTLE? Nope, TRUSSES. SOIL was under my feet first
-Hello old friends ERTE and EERO
-My iMac has gone for 4 years w/o a hiccup
-I’ve never seen the movies but SITH and BIG MOMMAS… came easily. Ain’t that pathetic?
-Congress has forgotten that amendment too!
-I thought SCULL was the boat
-People have been “panning” Julia Roberts this week. Panning = Criticizing

Grumpy 1 said...

Good morning C.C. and Sunday solvers all. Splynter, great catch on the 'unfinished' 'B'. I hadn't spotted that link between B and P, but did figure out the substitution with ON THE PEACH. I thought the 'unfinished' migh mean the movie as named in the puzzle hadn't been made yet, but I get it now.

GESSOES is one of those words that just doesn't look right for some reason, but I knew it had to be.

I bounced around the grid quite a bit, but it all came together in the end.

creature said...

Good Morning C.C. and all,

Thanks, C.C. for your smooth write-up. I see Anon has answered your PAN question.

Barry's comments describe my experience 'to a t'; including VOUCHEE.

It's fun to learn the 'unfinished
B' is a 'P'.

Enjoyed it Chris; thanks.

Have a nice day everyone.

Hahtoolah said...

Nevil Shute, in addition to writing On the Beach, wrote A Town Like Alice, both of which were required reading in my high school.

Clear Ayes said...

Good Morning All, I had a lot of fun with this one. After ADAMS RIP and SILVER PULLET, I got the Unfinished B theme. Over the years, I've seen seven of the real movies, but I'd heard of the rest.

I'm not one to cry during movies, but ON THE BEACH (the 1959 version) makes me reach for a tissue every time I see it.

You're right C.C. I really got a kick out of the dog show mockumentary BEST IN SHOW. It wasn't so far off of what really goes on. Lemonade mentioned Christopher Guest, who played the part of Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap, which was a very funny movie. He was Harlan Pepper in BEST IN SHOW....very different, but also really funny.

ARCSINE was the toughest fill for me, but the NE perps got me through it.

Itn't it odd that we find men acting as women in drag amusing? "Big Momma", "Medea", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Tootsie", "Hairspray". It's ridiculous, but it is usually funny.

creature said...

I'm on the Frenchie,Dodo team: I've always liked Julia Roberts as an actress and that she knits and she says she doesn't wash her hair every day.

That last part came out on an Oprah show years ago and it rendered her 'unaffected' and real
to me.

Dick said...

Good morning CC and all, a bit of a slog for me today as I am not a big movie fan. However, with the help of the perps and remembering some move names I managed to survive. Getting the theme early on with Adams rip and silver pullet I knew what to look for and that was a major help.

I thought there were an abundance of difficult clues, but fair and with some effort definable. My favorite clue was it’s always underfoot/ sole, but wanted soil first. First pass at 39A I wanted lard so there were several hiccups to deal with.

Nice write up CC, as usual.

Have a great day

creature said...

Lady Mae Polly of Gilbert,

Is your Avatar your home? Its so elegant- my heart leans to historic houses; Very Nola- right?

Love to know its history.

eddyB said...

Hello.

Copied the right one last night.
Loved the theme. Puzzle was pretty
straight forward.

Turned the Sao Paulo race off. It should never have been started. Raining so hard, drivers couldn't see where they were going. Three cars out on Lap 1. Finally brought out the red flag.

Waiting for the Sharks at noon.

Take care.

Lucina said...

Hello, Sunday Solvers.

C.C., thanks for clearing the unfinished "B" as I didn't even think about it. St. Mary's is a popular name for churches and schools as Mary is highly esteemed in the RC church.

I did grasp the movie puns and though have seen only three, I've heard of the OTRAS.

This started as a slog, but gradually filled in with a hop, skip and jump. IDYL is also unfinished as it lacks an "l", IDYLL and GESSOES is often misspelled gessos.

I recently saw The Kids Are All Right and loved Annette; she is a very good actress and really becomes the character unlike JR.

There is much clever cluing in this puzzle, especially:

short sleepers, PJS
they're found in pools, GENES
ice cream lines, SWIRLS
a few bucks, DEER

Nice one, Chris.

I have my granddaughters here as their parents are running in a race today.

I hope your Sunday is terrific.

Anonymous said...

Re: "81. It's the same in Paris : EGAL. Literally 'the same'."

Actually, this isn't quite accurate, mes amis. "The same" literally translates in French to "la même", while "égal" translates to equal.

Lucina said...

Hahtool:
That is a gorgeous house. Had you told us about it?

Bill G. said...

Happy Sunday! This was a very creative and fun puzzle; a good example of why I enjoy themed puzzles. Once I sussed out the theme, it was amusing and helped with many of the clues.

Speaking of 113D re. deer/bucks, here's a little joke from Prairie Home Companion. A doe walks out of the woods looking a bit flustered and bedraggled. "That's the last time I'll do that for two bucks."

C.C., I was sad to read that you hated math. I wonder if better teachers would have made a difference or if it was in your genes? Also, re. SILVER PULLET, a pullet is a young hen, less than one year old. Also, ref is often used as a verb as in "I helped REF the soccer game."

Here's a NY Times op-ed essay about teachers. I enjoyed it and I figure many of the teachers and retired teachers here would too.

Lucina said...

Bill G:
That is an extraordinary essay. Thank you for posting it. If only the people in power would also read it.

Jayce said...

Hello everybody. Fun puzzle today. My experiences with it are much the same as most of you had.

Bill G, that NY Times article is very well written and makes a lot of sense. I agree with you, Lucina, that people in power should read it and heed it.

My wife came over to the US from Hong Kong when she was 19. I met her when I was 24 and she was 22, in Montana, of all unlikely places.

Lemonade, very interesting.

Best wishes to you all.

Anonymous said...

UTNE? I ended up with that but what the heck is it? ---- Reader,
106 D

JD said...

anon, I had no clue either, so looked it up. It is a bimonthly magazine founded in 1984 by Eric Utne. It collects and reprints articles on politics, culture and environmental issues.

It was a very slow-go for me today...did a little at a time, and because of that I never got into it.Even though I have seen most of those movies, the clues were so clever that they didn't jump out at me.

a gorgeous Sunday here..too nice to stay in, but had to watch SHARKS, who are doing well.

Bill, great article-thanks

Barry G. said...

Oh, and C.C. -- My wife came to the U.S. just before her 31st birthday, so I guess you were the same age!

Anonymous said...

Good evening everyone.

Great write up, C.C. Thanks. But I wonder if 71Across is meant to be BSs, as in bachelor of science- plural. My bachelor degree is a BS for reasons that escape me in that I don't get much of science, even though I was married to one for 35 years!

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Thanks, J.D.

Annette said...

This puzzle was a fun hopscotch for me. I enjoyed the process of completing the fill. The clues were so creative - just tricky enough to make you think, but doable with perp help.

Best of all was seeing my own name as fill, AND my last name being within one of the other clues!

Abejo said...

Good Evening, folks:

Had a busy day today. Therefore, I am late. Thank you Chris and C.C. for all your hard work.

This puzzle was not easy. It was tough. I bounced around all over and finally got it. My last corner was the SW. Had SPRINT instead of GALLOP for a while. Had RETURNS instead of RECEDES for a while. Had STEER instead of SCULL. Had SOAPED instead of FOAMED for a while. Finally straightened them out.

Struggled with 77D NIHIL for a while. Kept trying to think of the Latin word for Fire. Finally it hit me NIHIL means nothing.

The theme came easily and helped me throughout the puzzle.

As I am writing to this blog, President Obama is announcing the demise of Osama bin Laden. Finally!

See you tomorrow.

Abejo

Dudley said...

Hello Puzzlers - Long day, but any comments I have about that or the puzzle are as nothing compared to the the news the world is now absorbing. I wish we could now be at peace, but of course the doings of humankind are not structured that way.

Dennis said...

Not surprising to hear that it was Navy Seals who got him -- the best of the best when it comes to the black ops stuff.

I'm really glad that we killed him, and that he didn't get to just die of old age. The only downside is that there will almost certainly be some serious reprisals.