Monday, August 11, 2014 Kevin Christian and Andrea Carla Michaels

Theme: How are you? - “Everyone Is a House with Four Rooms, a Physical, a Mental, an Emotional, and a Spiritual.” Indian proverb

17A. What regular exercise helps maintain : PHYSICAL FITNESS

27A. Mindreader's claim : MENTAL TELEPATHY

44A. 1980 Rolling Stones hit : "EMOTIONAL RESCUE"

56A. Priest or lama, e.g. : SPIRITUAL LEADER

Argyle here, in the room with padded walls. Thank goodness Google was here to give me the theme. All four themes were grid spanners, too. The fill didn't suffer either. Our constructors should show some 38-Across for this offering.

Across:

1. Jiggly see-through dish : ASPIC

6. Character deficiency : FLAW

10. Cutting remark : BARB

14. Formal "will" : SHALL

15. 1970 Kinks hit : LOLA. Live(4:31)

16. Matty or Felipe of baseball : ALOU. Our usual baseball family.

20. Run __ of the law : A FOUL

21. Like very cheap merchandise : TRASHY

22. Part of CBS: Abbr. : SYStem

25. "__ voyage!" : BON

26. Solo who loved Leia : HAN

34. Delta rival, as it was formerly known : USAIR. US Airways now.

35. TiVo predecessors : VCRs

36. Actor Stephen : REA

37. Cocktail hour bowlfuls : DIPS

38. __ and joy : PRIDE. Often found in little bundles.

40. Corridor : HALL

41. Gun for a gangster : GAT

42. Completely closed : SHUT

43. Language of India : HINDI

48. Quaint lodging : INN

49. Author Fleming : IAN

50. Mini-albums, for short : EPs. An extended play (EP) is a musical recording that contains more music than a single, but is usually too short to qualify as a full studio album or LP.

51. Bob Marley's music : REGGAE

54. Signs on for another stint : RE-UPs

61. Start of Caesar's boast : VENI. "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came, I saw, I conquered")

62. Jason's ship : ARGO

63. Religious belief : CREED

64. Black-eyed veggies : PEAs

65. Eat, as ribs : GNAW

66. "The Metamorphosis" writer Franz : KAFKA

Down:

1. Egyptian slitherer : ASP

2. "Pipe down!" : "SHH!"

3. Foot the bill : PAY

4. "Casablanca" heroine : ILSA

5. Energy-boosting organic snack brand : CLIF BAR

6. Show off shamelessly : FLAUNT

7. Lounge about : LOLL

8. Furry TV E.T. : ALF. (Alien Life Form)

9. "Sit tight while I get help" : "WAIT HERE"

10. Fruit often sliced onto cereal : BANANA

11. Tavern orders : ALEs

12. __ Hashanah : ROSH

13. Like bees or beavers : BUSY

18. Chilly : COOL

19. Snares : TRAPS

22. Mark from an old eraser : SMUDGE

23. "No, you're not" retort : "YES, I AM"

24. Stand at attention : SNAP TO

28. "__ the season to be jolly ..." : 'TIS

29. Musical set in Argentina : EVITA

30. HDTV feature : LCD. (liquid crystal display)

31. Hypnotic state : TRANCE

32. Delayed : HELD UP

33. New Haven Ivy Leaguers : YALIES

38. Series of voice mail messages, say : PHONE TAG

39. Beat a retreat : RUN

40. Old what's-__-name : HIS

42. Mount for Moses : SINAI

43. Nag, nag, nag : HENPECK

45. Baghdad's river : TIGRIS

46. Hide out : LIE LOW

47. __ Julia of "The Addams Family" : RAUL

51. "Let me know," on invitations : RSVP

52. Fencing sword : EPEE

53. Actress Gershon : GINA

54. Music from India : RAGA

55. "Nobody doesn't like __ Lee" : SARA

57. Coffee hour server : URN

58. Phone letters on the "3" button : DEF

59. Cartoon scream : "EEK!"

60. No. formerly on vitamin labels : RDA. (Recommended Daily Allowance)

I left out a lot of musical options; feel free to link your favorites. I'll be in the music room.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

For those who missed the Andrea Carla Michaels interview I linked last time, here it is again.

Thursday, November 7, 2013 Andrea Carla Michaels and Gregory Cameron

Theme: "Red Wine Makes Me Awesome..."

I feel like I hit the jackpot with this theme!

17-Across. Wine enthusiast's list of killer reds? : SEVEN DEADLY ZINS. (Seven deadly sins.) Zin is the short term for Zinfandel, one of California's leading grapes.

I cracked up when I figured this one out, because there actually is a wine called by that name. In fact, I think I have some in my cellar...

36-Across. Wine enthusiast's "That's how it goes"? : QUE SYRAH SYRAH. (Que sera, sera.) Syrah grapes originated in SE France, in the Rhone wine region.

57-Across. Wine enthusiast's philosophy? : LIFE IS A CABERNET. (Life is a caberet.) Cabernet is one of the most ubiquitous grapes in the world.

There were a couple of other gratuitous wine-related entries:

48-Across. Effervesce, as some wine : SPARKLE.

61-Across. Champagne choice : BRUT. A term meaning "dry" in the oenophile world.

A theme near and dear to my heart! And I do believe it is Gregory's debut. Congratulations!

Across:

1. Hollywood special effects, briefly : CGI. I'm pretty sure it means Computer  Generated Imagery, but I'm open to suggestions.

4. Did, but doesn't now : USED TO.

10. 1970s-'80s sketch comedy show : SCTV. Second City Television.

14. "Prince Valiant" prince : ARN.

15. Brian McKnight/Vanessa Williams duet with the line "It conquers all" : LOVE IS. Here's the video, if you care to listen.

16. Chain with stacks : IHOP. International House of Pancakes.

20. "I __ Symphony": Supremes hit : HEAR A. Sorry: I'm already at my self-imposed one-link-limit!

21. Hoover underlings : FBI MEN.

22. Stands the test of time : ENDURES.

25. Out to lunch, so to speak : IN A DAZE. (...another gratuitous wine reference??)

28. Shed tears : WEEP. (Unlike milk, it is OK to weep over spilled wine...)

29. Kaput : SHOT.

31. Mineo of film : SAL.

32. Barcelona bar bites : TAPAS. (With a nice Rioja wine, of course!)

34. Dust particle : SPECK.

40. Bankrolls : FUNDS.

41. Man-to-boy address : KIDDO.

42. Feel ill : AIL.

43. It's saved in bits : DATA.

44. Stinging insect : WASP.

52. Helter-__ : SKELTER.

54. "Uh-oh" : WHOOPS. ("I just spilled wine all over the rug!")

56. Sierra __: Freetown's country : LEONE.

62. First novel in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle : ERAGON.

63. Take steps : ACT.

64. Eggs sprinkling : SALT.

65. Levels of society : STRATA.

66. __ down the law : LAY.

Down:

1. Nut used in Asian cooking : CASHEW.

2. Novelist Graham : GREENE.  He wrote "The Third Man."

3. Overrun : INVADE.

4. Arm bone-related : ULNAR.

5. Lawn maker : SOD.

6. Celebration time : EVE. (Time to break out the champagne!)

7. Fall on __ ears : DEAF.

8. Choice piece : TIDBIT.

9. Singer K.T. : OSLIN.

10. Judged, with "up" : SIZED.

11. Waters off Taiwan : CHINA SEA. Nailed it, C.C. !!

12. Cargo unit : TON.

13. Cheney and Biden: Abbr. : VPS.

18. Lost one's temper : ERUPTED.

19. Sumac of Peru : YMA. She lives on in crossword puzzles.

23. Glimpse : ESPY.

24. __-Pei : SHAR. Who could resist a face like this?

26. Golfer Johnson : ZACH.

27. Antlered animal : ELK.

30. Neighbor of Kobe and Kyoto : OSAKA.

33. Mule parent : ASS.

34. "Sammy the Seal" author Hoff : SYD. From the "I Can Read" children's series.

35. Cat burglar : PROWLER.

36. Bon mot : QUIP.

37. Illicit : UNLAWFUL.

38. Google goals : HITS.

39. Minn. neighbor : S. DAK.ota.

40. Scale notes : FAs.

43. Hit the road : DEPART.

45. Like many a John Cage composition : ATONAL. Avant garde composer, perhaps best known for his 4'33" (four minutes, thirty-three seconds) piece, in which the musicians on the stage sit and do not play.  The "music" is actually the environmental sounds the audience hears during that time.

46. Largest of New York's Finger Lakes : SENECA.

47. Comely : PRETTY.

49. Butler of fiction : RHETT.

50. Ornamental pond fish : KOI.

51. Draws the short straw, say : LOSES. (It's OK, I never drink wine with a straw, anyway!)

53. Justice Kagan : ELENA.

55. Lasting mark : SCAR.

57. Lots of ozs. : LBs.

58. Keogh plan kin : IRA. Individual Retirement Account.

59. Ottoman dignitary : AGA.

60. Sci-fi sidekick, often : BOT.tle of wine?  (Oh, I think they mean RO-bot...)

It has to be 5:00 somewhere: Cheers!  (^0^)

Marti

Note from C.C.:

1) Do you still remember Andrea Carla Michaels from this picture I showed on the blog in June? She is very witty, warm, bubbly and encouraging. She's one of the constructors for Crossword LA. She's also teaming up with Tom Pepper for our MN Crossword Tournament next year. I googled her co-constructor Gregory Cameron, but found a bishop?

Left to right: Tom Pepper; Marcia J. Brott; George Barany; David Hanson; DK, C.C.; Andrea; Boomer & Victor Barocas

2) For those of you who don't have a blue profile in the Comments section, please can you click on the Name/URL button, see below. Then put your name there. Alias is fine. It's just hard for others to respond to you if you choose the Anonymous option.

Interview with Andrea Carla Michaels

Andrea Carla Michaels is a specialist in early-week puzzle. In fact, out of 32 puzzles she constructed for the New York Times, 16 are Mondays and 5 are Tuesdays.

I've mentioned before that it's hard to make early week puzzles. The themes have to be simple but fresh. The fill have to be familiar words/phrases. It's not uncommon for constructors to re-do a section or two just to remove a word editors consider a bit too hard for Monday/Tuesday grids.

Andrea is so good at producing smooth grids with fun entries. It's obvious that she always has her fans and solvers in mind when creating crosswords. She is also one of the most bubbling, encouraging and caring constructors I've never met.

Many solvers (myself included) missed the increase in size in your "Body of Water" puzzle last Monday. Has this happened before, where solvers failed to fully grasp the subtlety or extra layer of your theme?

Um, I would say that happens in every puzzle I create! But that's ok, I throw in lots of stuff to please myself (pangrams, increase in size of water in order, putting SHMEAR over the word BAGEL). I make them for others, but thank god for the blogs, before them, I'd never have known if anyone did them, much less notice the subtle touches. I tell myself folks are appreciating them on a subconscious level ;)

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into crossword construction?

Been doing crosswords all my life. Started making them by putting in friend's names and making birthday puzzles. Started with making them for TV Guide and Disney Adventures, inching my way up to the NY Times about 10 years ago...and the LA Times! I try and teach others how to make them as well. Only in the past few years have I started collaborating (and now have collaborated as often as solo efforts past 5 years!) so I had to learn how to use a computer in order to share info.

What mistakes did you make when you first started constructing and what advice would you give to budding constructors?

I was unaware there were rules as to how many black squares, how many words were allowed. I would save old grids from Monday-Wed and then fit my themes into them, adding a black square here, subtracting one there...so I actually had one in the LA Times with 80 words, a total

no-no...but who knew?

How would you describe your puzzle style? What kind of theme and entries fascinate you the most?

Well, I'm definitely a Monday gal! No matter WHAT day of the week I make (I have had a few Sundays, all with partners who carried me, gridwise) they get published Mondays. So I guess my style is easy. I've been told they are smooth, light, breezy (yay blogs!) but usually they are something fun I've noticed about film titles, or taking usual clichees and finding a threesome (now foursome, as four is the new three) that work together.

Which part do you normally spend the most time on in the construction process: theme brainstorming, gridding or cluing?

My cluing has to be straightforward, as I'm a Monday gal, as I've said. So I owe a huge debt now to Crossfire that Michael Blake forced me to learn. I now scroll down and find the clue I WOULD have written and click on that. So what used to take me days to type up, I can now do in 20 minutes! So the longest time is probably spent on brainstorming, finding a perfect third phrase to go with one or two I've stumbled across. Most of it is serendipitous...so when folks ask me how long it takes me to make a puzzle, I usually say "50 years!" bec I'm drawing on things that have slowly accumulated throughout the entire time of my existence on earth!

What is the most memorable puzzle you've made and why is it so special to you?

One of my first puzzles for the NY Times, maybe it was my first puzzle? was one on Earthquakes. I had SANANDREASFAULT going across the middle with EARTHQUAKE above and AFTERSHOCK below. I asked Will (Shortz) if he could make it look like a tear ran thru

it, to have it look like an earthquake had happened. He shifted the middle squares up a tiny bit and the next ones down a little. But folks thought something was wrong with their paper and didn't do it (bec you had to solve to get it that it was supposed to look all funky) and in the electronic version, they couldn't shift the squares so it looked super straightforward and lost the zing. Also it was a dream come true to have a Sunday puzzle, and Patrick Blindauer, whom I've collaborated on many larger puzzles which have been in the NYT and the WSJ, made that happen a few times over. My favorite was to have one where there were dozens of words with the letters ANT in them. I suggested to Patrick that the black squares look like paths thru an ant farm...within hours he sent a grid with the note "Do you mean like THIS?" The man is a genius! I also love a puzzle I got all the names of the cast of GILLIGANSISLAND (running across themiddle) Will said they all had to be the real names OR the character names but couldn't mix both. As miracles would happen, GILLIGANSISLAND was 15 letters across, and six of the cast members had parallel number of letters in their names!!! There are all sorts of puzzles I've loved but that's what comes to mind.

What puzzles do you solve every day and which constructors do you find most inspiring?

I usually only do one puzzle a day, I'm sorry to say. I do the NYT. But I do the LA Times at least once a week when a friend has made it, plus it appears in my local San Francisco Chronicle. It's not a snobby thing, it's a time thing.

Besides crosswords, what are your other interests?

I'm an avid film goer (mostly foreign films and documentaries. I play a ton of Scrabble semi-professionally, sometimes I teach a class in it.

My heart is in volunteer work, I work at various soup kitchens and visit with the elderly. Many friends died young from AIDS and that is close to my heart...they are not forgotten. I try and volunteer for every day I work for $. Professionally I name companies and products, so my life is mostly words words words and trying to make the world a slightly less hungry and sad place. Not to end on such a serious note, but it's the truth! Crosswords are my true passion tho, and I'm a solver first, constructor second, tho the balance has tipped the other way of late!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 Andrea Carla Michaels

Theme: You can be a comic book artist - If you can draw these simple shapes found at the end of the four longest answers, you may have a future as a comic book artist!

17A. Ships' drop-off location? : BERMUDA TRIANGLE. Not only ships but planes also have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

26A. TV witch series based on L.J. Smith novels : THE SECRET CIRCLE. It premiered on September 15, 2011, on the CW Television Network. On May 11, 2012, the CW cancelled the series so you are forgiven if you missed it. It wasn't on my radar, or television, for that matter.

45A. 1989 Beijing protest site : TIANANMEN SQUARE. While most just remember the picture below, it was much more violent than that. A square is a special case of a equilateral rhombus with right angles.

59A. "Field of Dreams" field : BASEBALL DIAMOND. "Field of Dreams" is a film(1989) about Kevin Costner building a field(baseball) in a field(corn). A diamond is a square with its diagonals vertical and horizontal.

Argyle here. Four grid spanners; how neat is that?

Across:

1. "Star Trek" milieu : SPACE

6. Kermit, for one : FROG. (Muppet)

10. Droop : WILT

14. "Dear me!" : "OH, GOD!"

15. Pinocchio, at times : LIAR

16. "__ out?": choice offered a pet : IN OR. A dog always wants to be on the other side of a door; a cat just wants to sit in the middle of the open door.

20. Quid pro quo : SWAP

21. "If __ told you once ..." : I'VE

22. In silence : MUTELY

23. "I see," facetiously : "AH, SO!"

25. Marquis de __ : SADE

33. Like Dylan Thomas, by birth : WELSH. Or Richard Burton.

34. Caustic drain unclogger : LYE

35. Fly in the clouds : SOAR. Sure beats clouds of flies.

36. Fury : IRE

37. Helped with the dishes : DRIED

39. Calypso cousin : SKA

40. TV warrior princess : XENA

42. Cyclades island : IOS. If you go to this site, click on "View Ios on Greece map" to see where exactly where this little island is. The Cyclades are so called because they encircle the sacred island of Delos.

43. Can't stomach : HATES

49. Roller coaster feature : DROP

50. Brewer's kiln : OAST. It's hard to believe now that there was a time we didn't know what an oast was.

51. "Gone With the Wind" family : O'HARAs

54. Just fine, at NASA : A-OK

55. One of Chekhov's "Three Sisters" : OLGA. (Olga, Masha and Irina)

62. Ingrid's "Casablanca" role : ILSA

63. Unsuccessful '80s gridiron org. : USFL. (United States Football League)

64. Caesar or Waldorf follower : SALAD

65. Small fry : TOTS

66. Flimflam : RUSE

67. Box score numbers : STATS

Down:

1. Blubbers : SOBS

2. "That was a close one!" : [PHEW!]

3. Home of the Taj Mahal : AGRA

4. It can point you in the right direction : COMPASS. Certainly.

5. Student's Web address ending : .EDU

6. One of Baskin-Robbins' 31 : FLAVOR. (ice cream)

7. Bat mitzvah, e.g. : RITE

8. Blade on a boat : OAR

9. Made a pained face : GRIMACED

10. Bundle-up times : WINTERS

11. "Picnic" Pulitzer winner : INGE. William but there is a baseball player named Brandon Inge. C.C.? (From C.C.: Yep! He was with Jazzbumpa's Tigers for a long time. We had hoped Twins would pick him up.)

12. Recline lazily : LOLL

13. There's only one card it can beat : TREY. Beats the deuce.

18. Tiddlywink, e.g. : DISC. It seems to be interchangeable with DISK these days.

19. Autobahn car : AUDI

24. Devious laugh : HEH. Huh? It meant "Clever" on Sunday.

25. Eyelid irritation : STYE

26. Between, in poetry : TWIXT

27. "Ready or not, __ come!" : HERE I

28. Justice Kagan : ELENA

29. Beethoven's "Für __" : ELISE. For a different take on it. Link

30. Land by the sea, in Saragossa : COSTA. (Spanish) Zaragoza is on the Ebro River, many miles from the coast, however.

31. Staples Center player : LAKER. (Los Angeles)

32. Prepare to change, as a wrong answer : ERASE

37. Jurassic beast : DINOSAUR

38. Easy win : ROMP

41. San __ Fault : ANDREAS

43. Mil. command bases : HQ's. (headquarters)

44. Coin-operated cafeteria : AUTOMAT. Are there any left? Interesting answers. Link.

46. Bedouin, e.g. : ARAB

47. Pasta piece : NOODLE

48. Notable pen name in storywriting : SAKI. With an "I". (H. H. Munro)

51. Passing remarks? : OBIT. (obituary)

52. Saintly symbol : HALO

53. D.A.'s underling : ASST.

54. Politico Landon and an extraterrestrial : ALF's. Alfred and Alien Life Form

56. "Damn Yankees" seductress : LOLA

57. Pesky flier : GNAT

58. Extends, with "to" : ADDS

60. The NCAA's Fighting Tigers : LSU. Louisiana State University

61. Beast of burden : ASS

Answer grid.

Argyle

Monday, September 5, 2011 Andrea Carla Michaels

Theme: The Wet Ones - The four movie titles have bodies of water in them. Send them to Texas where they could use them.

20A. 1981 Fonda/Hepburn classic : "ON GOLDEN POND". Image.

27A. 2006 Bullock/Reeves romance : "THE LAKE HOUSE". Image.

48A. 1994 Streep/Bacon thriller : "THE RIVER WILD". Image.

56A. 2004 Kevin Spacey tribute (to Bobby Darin) : "BEYOND THE SEA". Image.

Argyle here.

I believe this is Andrea's first solo LAT puzzle since our TMS Daily to LA Times switch in March 2009, but she has had many NYT puzzles. All four movies are twelve letters. The fill ranges from 'Monday easy' to 'Monday hard'. The worst cross I thought was 54D and 69A. Your results might vary.

Across:

1. E.T. carriers, theoretically : UFOS

5. Fetch : BRING

10. Last letters in London : ZEDS. That would be ZEEs over here.

14. Calamine mineral : ZINC. White stuff on your nose.

15. Where one's name might go, on a form : LINE A

16. "Out of Africa" author Dinesen : ISAK. The film, "Out of Africa" (Redford/Streep) is a 1985 adventure drama film directed and produced by Sydney Pollack. The story is based loosely on the autobiographical book Out of Africa written by Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of the author Karen Blixen), which was published in 1937. (from Wikipedia)

17. Composer Stravinsky : IGOR. Viola solo.(5:28)

18. Eight is enough for one : OCTET

19. Spitting sound : PTUI

23. Mac maker : APPLE

26. "I Ching" readers : TAOISTS

31. Back talk : LIP

32. "Hi-__, Hi-Lo" : LILI. The song was published in 1952, then featured in the movie, "Lili" in 1953. Clip.(1:56)(not by who'd you expect.)

33. Annual sports awards : ESPYs. ESPN awards.

37. In re : AS TO

39. Designer Karan : DONNA. DKNY, Donna Karan New York.

42. Donkey's need, in a party game : TAIL. Has anyone actually played this game?

43. Low on funds : SHORT

45. Winged peace symbol : DOVE

47. Director Ang or Spike : LEE

52. Sleeve opening : ARM HOLE

55. Puts in the mail : SENDS

60. Yankees superstar, familiarly : A-ROD

61. "Old MacDonald" refrain : E I, E I, O

62. New Zealander : KIWI. Kiwis are unique to New Zealand.

66. Mafia boss : CAPO

67. Dog's warning : SNARL

68. Michener novel, typically : EPIC

69. Tinkertoy alternative : K'NEX. Image. Closer to an erector set?

70. Playable on a VCR : TAPED

71. Do, re or mi : NOTE

Down

1. Israeli submachine gun : UZI

2. Source of Eve's leaves : FIG

3. Yoko from Tokyo : ONO

4. Dead Sea find : SCROLL

5. Web opinion piece : BLOG

6. Puerto __ : RICO

7. Part of IMF: Abbr. : INTL. International Monetary Fund.

8. Must : NEED TO

9. French sponge cake : GÂTEAU. Google images.

10. Having the most pizazz : ZIPPIEST

11. These, in Tijuana : ÉSTOS

12. Intimidate : DAUNT

13. Loses control on the ice : SKIDS

21. Host Conan of NPR's "Talk of the Nation" : NEAL. At a crossword tournament. Pic.

22. Rudolph's is red : NOSE. And I know why.

23. Book of maps : ATLAS

24. Engage in an online scam : PHISH. As in, phishing for identities.

25. __-Bismol : PEPTO. Get back in the pink.

28. Tease : KID

29. "Evil Woman" gp. : ELO. Electric Light Orchestra.

30. Delhi tongue : HINDI

34. "Going Rogue" author Sarah : PALIN

35. Give way : YIELD

36. Mushers' vehicles : SLEDS

38. Greek __ Church : ORTHODOX

40. Oct. follower : NOV.

41. D.C.'s Pennsylvania, e.g. : AVE.

44. Suffix with tele- or Dance-A- : THON

46. Celtic language : ERSE

49. Firstborn : ELDEST

50. Light-sensitive eye part : RETINA

51. Debilitate : WEAKEN

52. Taken __: surprised : ABACK

53. Showed again : RERAN

54. Mr. Magoo, e.g. : MYOPE. myope - any person afflicted with myopia(nearsightedness).

57. Jalopy : HEAP

58. Galway's land : EIRE. The Ould Sod.

59. Word after "going twice ..." : "SOLD!"

63. NASDAQ debut : IPO. Initial Public Offering.

64. Dorothy Parker forte : WIT. "I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true." More.

65. Arctic pier material : ICE. Image of the USNS Southern Cross at the ice pier in 1983.

Answer grid.

Argyle