Monday, September 30, 2013 David W. Cromer

Theme: After 'Three's a Crowd' - The four longest answers begin with a synonym for no more room.

20A. Exhortation to the engine room : FULL SPEED AHEAD

25A. Had some wallop : PACKED A PUNCH

49A. Self-important sort : STUFFED SHIRT

58A. Interviewer's booby trap : LOADED QUESTION

Argyle here. Our constructor has many LAT puzzles though none lately. The rather dated TV reference may mean this puzzle has been in the queue for some time. It shares several entries with some we've seen recently. A smooth start to the week.

Across:

1. Cpls.' superiors : SGTs

5. EMT's skill : CPR

8. "Cultured" gem : PEARL. (not, strictly speaking, a gemstone)

13. Spy novelist Ambler : ERIC. I haven't read him but he looks like a spy.

14. Bread buy : LOAF

16. Exhorts : URGES

17. __ IRA : ROTH

18. SeaWorld attraction : ORCA. The killer whale.

19. Fathered : SIRED

23. Prepare, as tea : STEEP

24. Down Under runner : EMU. The fugitives refuse to pull over.

33. Dreamer's acronym : REM. (rapid eye movement)

36. House division : ROOM

37. Loud cry : SHOUT

38. Inventor's starting point : IDEA

40. Princess's headgear : TIARA

43. Worry : FRET

44. Ford of the '70s : PINTO

46. Festive affair : GALA

48. Cause of Cleopatra's undoing : ASP

53. Brother in a monastery : FRA

54. Phi Beta __ : KAPPA

64. Kind of jacket named for an Indian leader : NEHRU. And made popular by these boys.

65. Ambiance : AURA

66. Way to get out : EXIT

67. Send payment : REMIT

68. Give some lip to : SASS

69. Shine partner : RISE. Rise and shine.

70. Test for purity, as gold : ASSAY

71. Doris who sang "Que Sera, Sera" : DAY

72. Burpee product : SEED

Down:

1. Feudal workers : SERFS

2. Tile installer's need : GROUT

3. Information on a book's spine : TITLE

4. Carry with effort : SCHLEP

5. Hoofbeat : CLOP

6. Minute skin opening : PORE

7. Event at a track : RACE

8. Exercises done in a prone position : PUSH-UPS. Somebody else can post a picture of the other push-ups.

9. Southernmost Great Lake : ERIE

10. Indian tourist city : AGRA. Home to the Taj Mahal.

11. Clarinetist's need : REED. Licorice stick need. (Remember licorice stick in a pit?)

12. Drug "dropped" in the '60s : LSD

15. Lost luster : FADED

21. Train in a ring : SPAR

22. Dr.'s group : AMA

26. Simple bed : COT

27. Colorful Japanese carp : KOI. Koi ponds were the rage for a while.

28. Some Kindle reading, briefly : eMAGs

29. TV dial letters : UHF. Back in the day. Very high frequency (VHF) and ultra-high frequency (UHF)

30. Romance writer Roberts : NORA. Guilty pleasure? BOOKS

31. Sticks by the pool table : CUEs

32. Web address letters : HTTP. (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

33. Tears : RIPS

34. Work on a column, say : EDIT

35. Restaurant host's handout : MENU

39. Justice Dept. enforcers : ATF. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)

41. Part of a cheerleader's chant : "RAH!"

42. Baba of folklore : ALI

45. Taxi's "I'm not working now" sign : [OFF DUTY]

47. Ships like Noah's : ARKS

50. Prior to, in poems : ERE

51. Mamas' mates : DADAs. (baby talk)

52. Spuds : TATERS

55. Impish fairy : PIXIE

56. Model's asset : POISE

57. Tossed a chip in the pot : ANTED

58. Popular jeans : LEE'S

59. Units of resistance : OHMs

60. Soprano's chance to shine : ARIA

61. Campus area : QUAD. The open quadrangle green often formed by the dormitories.

62. __ Minor: constellation : URSA. The Lesser Bear or the Little Dipper.

63. "No problem" : "EASY"

64. Second Amendment backer: Abbr. : NRA. (National Rifle Association)

Argyle

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.

Saturday, Sep 28th, 2013, C.C. Burnikel

Theme: C.C. Saturday~!

Words: 72 (missing Q,V,X,Z)

Blocks: 30

BAM~!!!  How's that for a Saturday Grand Slam~!  I get to blog a puzzle from our Northmost Host~!  ( OK, maybe our Montana is further up....) - a themeless from our very own C.C.  I was getting a little worried in the NE corner, but then things started to come to mind.  Two proper names crossing in the center form a mini-theme (both names start and end with the same letters):

36A. Youngest male tennis player to be No. 1 in the ATP Rankings : LLEYTON HEWITT -  Never heard of this "JOE"

21D. Duel personality? : AARON BURR -  Alexander Hamilton - the "JOE" on the $10 bill - was shot and mortally wounded by Burr; I knew of the duel, but not the history preceding the event - but I did remember this spot for milk;

And triple-7 corners - then there's the six 8-letter climbers; and, of course, one's of a baseball nature~!  Lots of two-word answers. 

8. Show known for its slow-motion shots : BAYWATCH - this is funny - but I gotta tell ya, I never got into this show; not a huge fan of bathing suits - I prefer the smartly dressed type.  For the rest of the male population, I offer this

38. Where most hits wind up : OUTFIELD - I played baseball for one season when I was about 14 - our record was 1-11, but in our only win, I had a blooper single that scored the winning run - HA~!  BTW, I was hit by more pitches than the number of times I made contact with the bat....now I jump in the way of the ball intentionally - a hockey ball, that is.

Should have saved for today~!

 ONWARD~!

ACROSS:

1. Piece of fruit? : SILENT I - knew we were looking for some trickery; "früt"

8. Time capsule ceremonies : BURIALS - I recommend the movie "Knowing" with Nicolas Cage; the story begins with the opening of a time capsule, and the movie has some chillingly realistic CGI scenes

15. Barhopping : ON A TOOT - Yep, Fridays were usually the 'official' bar-hopping night; as many as you could get to; Thurdays were typically Ladies Night

16. Awkward at gatherings, say : ASOCIAL - and I was pretty much this "JOE" at every one of those bars....

17. Big oaf : PALOOKA - my favorite scene involving this word; *warning!* language

18. "I need an answer now!" : YES OR NO - who else thought of this song?

19. __-Locka, Florida : OPA

20. Shortens again, as a board : RESAWS - measure once, cut twice - oh, wait - that only works if you need it shorter

22. Medieval fight club? : MACE

23. Move, briefly : RE-LOcate

25. Frozen Four org. : NCAA - the hockey version of the college tournament

26. Pequod co-owner : PELEG - Moby Dick

27. Give up a seat : STAND

29. Pianist Schnabel : ARTUR

31. Ivy League nickname : ELI

32. Wild West : MAE - nice mis-direction

34. Prefix with -syllabic : OCTO - poetry in eight lines - Yellowrocks?

35. NBAer Artest who changed his name to Metta World Peace : RON

40. Guy : JOE - G.I. Joe or Joe the Plumber?

41. Short remnant : STUB

42. Cagy : SLY

43. Battle of Shiloh monogram : U.S.G. - Ulysses S Grant - the "JOE" on the $50 bill; born Hiram Ulysses Grant, the "S" stands for nothing

44. Erect : PUT UP - yeah, what were you thinking....?

46. Bollywood garments : SARIs - Indian garb

50. Bedroom label : SERTA - mine now says "Sleep Number", and I have settled on "45"

52. Some brothers : FRAs - Italian monks, from the Latin 'frater', brother; my brother just celebrated his 40th B-day on Thursday - same day as Dennis

54. Having a single channel : MONO - in audio equipment

55. NYC train, familiarly : THE "A"

56. Historic events : FIRSTS

58. 16th-century date : MDL - 1550 A.D.

59. Certain tie : NO SCORE

61. "Now, listen ..." : SEE HERE

63. As good as it gets : OPTIMAL

64. All-purpose : GENERAL

65. Covent Garden locale : WEST END - another musical link

66. Fuddy-duddy : OLD FOGY

DOWN:

1. Deep sleeps : SOPORS

2. Hot under the collar : IN A PET

3. Syllables sometimes said with one's fingers in one's ears : LA-LA-LA - I can't hear you, Linda~!

4. 1940s arena: Abbr. : ETO - popular this week

5. Queen who is also a humanitarian activist : NOOR of Jordan - beautiful

6. Keepsake : TOKEN

7. Mississippi source : ITASCA - oh, so this is in Minnesota, too~!

9. Capitalizes on : USES

10. Sigur __: ethereal Icelandic band : RÓS - I gave it a listen; it's a bit wandering for me

11. "Where __ from ..." : I COME

12. Wartime signal : AIR ALERT - and another music link

13. Loyal friend of Gawain : LANCELOT - "We're knights of the round table..."

14. Alabama Slammer ingredient : SLOE GIN - amaretto, Southern Comfort, OJ, and sweet & sour - never over ICE~!

24. Words someone 15-Across loves to hear : ON ME - loved these two words

26. Hunts : PROWLS

28. Mani-pedi spot : DAY SPA - there's a Day Spa on my new training route - I have not seen any cuties in there yet

30. Rugged vehicles : UTES

33. Incredulous accusation : ET TU, Brute?

36. Stop looking for a rescue plane : LOSE HOPE

37. Recliner features : LEG RESTS

39. Start of Popeye's credo : I YAM what I yam, and tha's all what I yam

40. Seconds ago : JUST NOW

45. Turn a corner, in a game : PASS GO - Monopoly

47. The Joker portrayer : ROMERO

48. Like comic Eddie Izzard, at times : IN DRAG

49. Alone : SOLELY

51. Unspoken : TACIT

53. Symbol of strength : STEEL

56. "Happily Divorced" actress Drescher : FRAN - Drescher, also starred in This Is Spinal Tap - one of my all-time favorites

57. Cellphone button : SEND

60. Cockney abode : 'OME

62. Mag mogul : HEF - ahh, to finish up with the Playboy himself, Hugh Hefner

 

Splynter