Saturday, April 28, 2018, Andrew J. Ries

THEMELESS SATURDAY PUZZLE BY ANDREW J. RIES ON NATIONAL SUPERHERO DAY

Speaking of Superheroes, here are some of ours in a picture C.C. posted last June 7th. They include today's constructor and our own C.C. who is clearly the rose amid all the thorns! 😀

Left to right: George Barany, Jeffrey Wechsler,Victor Barocas, David Hanson, C.C., Andrew J. Ries, Chris Adams, Tom Pepper & David Liben-Nowell

Look, up in the paper, it's a grid, it's a game, it's Andrew the CROSSWORD GUY! Let's see what Kryptonite-free clues he has for us today.

I am going to start with the two clues that required all my powers to solve, twice. Not only did I finally get the fill but after a few minutes I FINALLY GOT WHAT THEY MEANT!

31. Athlete's best: A GAME - Turns out it's two words! Duh! That slap to my forehead might leave a mark!

61. Cuts in Hollywood?: TENTHS - You can bet that this Hollywood agency gets at least 10% (a TENTH) of their star's earnings

Now that I see the BAT SIGNAL (Okay it's just the glow of my laptop) let's journey on

Across:

1. Has a suggestion (of): SMACKS - Hiring of school personnel this time of year can SMACK of nepotism

7. Play period: RECESS- Much learning goes on at RECESS

13. Stop order: HOLD IT.

14. Echo follower?: FOXTROT - The blog today is by Hotel, Uniform, Sierra, Kite, Echo, Romeo 

15. Jar: RATTLE - JOSTLE rattled around there for a while

16. Construction equipment with a projecting arm: JIB CRANE- Here's a gaggle of them

17. Game with Skip cards: UNO.

18. Difficult to describe: NEBULOUS - Sometimes an explanation is intentionally NEBULOUS 

20. Reaction upon opening a jewelry gift, perhaps: GASP.

22. Goes back to zero: RESETS

23. Connection letters: DSL - Very rare computer connection to the web these days

26. Waits at a music festival?: TOM - I'll take tricky clues for $600 Alex

28. ORD tower gp.: ATC - Air Traffic Controllers at O'Hare (ORD) International. "It looks like I picked a lousy week to give up sniffing glue!"

29. Best of the best: ELITE

31. Site to get tight for a flight?: AIRPORT BAR - If you see your pilot in there...

35. Nervous system transmitter: AXON

36. Post-scoring routine: GOAL CELEBRATION.

38. "__ boy!": ATTA - I'd prefer the cash

39. Easy way to win: DECISIVELY - The National Champion Huskers did indeed rout favored Florida DECISIVELY in 1996

40. Dr. Isles on "Rizzoli & Isles": MAURA - Not a clue, no wait, not a chance

42. "Holy cow!": MAN! - This was the catch phrase of this man with the 43. It may be open at a club: MIC. If  you're a sports fan you absolutely know who this is. If you aren't you probably don't know/care

44. Two hairpin turns, say: ESS.

45. Haus wives: FRAUEN - Hausfrauen sind das Rückgrat des Landes. (Housewives are the backbone of the country)

48. "If I may interject ... ": AHEM.

51. Tony winner for his LBJ role in "All the Way": CRANSTON - He explains his approach to the role

53. Pack filler: ICE and 54. Buffalo sighting: LAKE ERIE - They seem to go together 

57. "You've Got Mail" genre: ROM COM - ROMantic COMedies aren't my favorite movies but have you looked at what's currently available at the local cinema?

59. Main: OPEN SEA - "Sailing, sailing over the bounding MAIN"

60. Cause to laugh: TICKLE - TICKLING can approach abuse


62. Rubs out: ERASES - I had to get one of these from the Home Ec. teacher last week to ERASE the coffee I decided to wear on my shirt 



Down:

1. [Meh]: SHRUG - The brackets indicate an action

2. 2016 Disney musical set in Polynesia: MOANA - A boatload of vowels!

3. Cloud at heights of about one to five miles: ALTO STRATUS - Pretty easy to suss out

4. K.C. summer setting: CDT - Here in Huskerland as well

5. Ceramics oven: KILN

6. Herd member: STEER - S _ E E _ was not SHEEP as it turns out. Oh yeah, that's a flock, Gary! 😜

7. Subject of an Asimov collection: ROBOT

8. Permit to leave: EXCUSE - I've said before that giving an 18-yr-old, 6'5", 250 lb. student permission to go the bathroom seems odd to me as a sub

9. Large med. facilities: CTRS - The Univ. Of Neb. Med. CTR.

10. Diamond fig.: ERA - Earned Run Average

11. One in a family photo: SON

12. Notre-Dame honoree: Abbr.: STE - Today, April 28, is a feast day for STE. Valerie

14. Record holder: FILE CABINET - My SIL and one of his FILE CABINETS that hold his over half-million sports cards

16. "No reason": JUST BECAUSE - A great reason to bring flowers

19. Worship of John, Paul, etc.?: BEATLE MANIA - Yeah, yeah, yeah...

21. Aspen relative: POPLAR

23. "Wide Open Spaces" country trio: DIXIE CHICKS - They apologized for a foray they took into political commentary in 2003

24. Informant, informally: STOOL - A less elegant clue lept to mind

25. Bruce posthumously pardoned by New York state in 2003: LENNY - Some of what was called obscenity in the 60's seems quaint today but...

27. Comfy footwear: MOCasin 

30. Belarus neighbor: LATVIA - Their common border is only about 107 miles

32. Teensy amounts: IOTAS

33. __-faced: RED

34. Monopoly foursome: Abbr.: RRS - So that's how they got SHORT Lines

37. Biathlon asset: AIM.

41. Over: AFRESH - Wouldn't it be great if North and South Korea could start AFRESH?

46. Collector's prized pursuits: RARES - Seems like an awkward use here. YR?

47. Up from Mexico?: NORTE - If  you go NORTE from Mexico, you wind up in Estados Unidos

49. Paris' __ des Beaux-Arts: ECOLE - Paris' SCHOOL of fine arts

50. Fast-spreading online phenomena: MEMES - Cats seem to be a big part of this internet phenomenon 

51. Till coin: CENT - This messy till makes OCD me squirm just posting it

52. Raymond Chandler specialty: NOIR - His novel, The Big Sleep, is a prime example of the genre 

54. Slew: LOT.

55. Clumsy sort: APE - I like this use as a noun better than as a verb

56. Physician-turned-actor Jeong: KEN - His list of credits is very impressive!   

58. Longtime Elton John label: MCA.

Before you venture into commenting and telling us your favorite super hero, please enjoy a sample of 1950's "high tech" special effects featuring my favorite Super Hero - George Reeves as "The Man Of Steel"

DA GRID

Wednesday, June 18, 2014 Andrew J. Ries

Theme: O's Only. Each name has no vowels other than "O".

17A. Rolling Stones guitarist : RON WOOD. Prior to the Stones, he was Rod Stewart's sideman with "The Faces". Tearing it up in 1972 in London.

25A. Harpers Ferry raider : JOHN BROWN. His soul goes marching on.

50A. Legendary Manhattan restaurateur : TOOTS SHOR. When Charlie Chaplin complained about having to stand in line, Toots told him to entertain the others while they were waiting.

61A. "The Joy of Painting" artist : BOB ROSS. Ron Wood may have started with one of Bob's kits, he's an accomplished water-colorist.

20D. Regular on Bob Newhart sitcoms : TOM POSTON. He played the bumbling George Utley.

and the reveal

39A. 1976 horror classic ... and, read another way, group that appears at 17-, 25-, 50- and 61-Across and 20-Down : THE OMEN. Alternatively, THE O-MEN. Flashback nightmares for me; after watching The Exorcist and this terror-fest at an early age, I swore off horror movies for ever.

Good morning all! Steve here with Andrew's Wednesday Workout, and I confess this was a real tester for me. Bob Ross and Tom Poston were both unknowns, and there was some real crunch in the fill. I thought this was a tremendous puzzle. Six theme entries, some sparkly non-themers and not much wince-worthy made for a really fun test. One of the highlights in the fill that I loved was the OMEGA/OMICRON pair - not only a shout-out to the main theme, but I'd never made the "Mega" and "Micron" connection before. A great learning moment.

Across:

1. Part of a Genesis-inspired costume : FIG LEAF

8. Tom in an alley : MALE CAT. Hanna-Barbera's version. I can still remember the theme song pretty much word-for-word.

15. Good-natured : AMIABLE. I had to leave this alone and go back to it - I couldn't understand why AMICABLE wouldn't work when I had the "AM" and the "LE"

16. Vivid language : IMAGERY

18. Fuddy-duddies : CODGERS

19. "__ said it!" : YOU

20. Cross at a frat : TAU

21. Bloke's bathroom : LOO. I tried "LAV" first against all common sense.

22. "RUR" playwright : CAPEK. This was about as tough pulling this from the inner recesses of my brain as pushing a strand of wet spaghetti uphill.

28. Trash emanation : ODOR. Not PONG, which was my first thought. I seemed to have my English head screwed on today, it might be a side-effect of watching the World Cup and calling "soccer" "football" again.

29. Sponge, as a smoke : BUM

30. TNT part : TRI. Nitrotoluene is the rest. Makes a big bang when it's all put together.

31. Chain including the Matterhorn : SWISS ALPS. I've skied the Matterhorn. Well, the ski-able bits at the bottom. It looks mightily impressive from the Swiss side, but from the Italian side it just looks like a craggy lump.

Matterhorn, Italian-style

34. Cancel, NASA-style : ABORT

38. "Oh, wow!" : MAN

41. "Hunh?" : WHA'?

42. Weed control giant : ORTHO

44. George Orwell or George Eliot : PSEUDONYM. Eric Blair and Mary Evans. Evans used a man's name to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Orwell is famously known for Animal Farm and 1984, his other books are also worth exploring, he was a wonderful writer.

46. Hoppy brew, for short : I.P.A. India Pale Ale. Beer shipped to the British troops in India in the 1800's would often arrive spoiled due to the long sea journey and the heat. Faced with a lot of sulky faces in the ranks, the IPA recipe was developed - it increased the hops and alcohol content to act as natural preservatives.

48. Road surface : TAR

49. Re-re-re-re-shared link on Facebook, e.g. : MEME

54. Fall beverage : CIDER

55. Roadie's unit : AMP. Jackson Browne's homage to the roadies and the fans.

56. Dawson in the first Super Bowl : LEN

57. Soft slip-on : MOC. I'm not sure if I knew this or WAG'd it. The latter, I think.

58. More prepared : READIER

65. Suitable for tweens, usually : PG-RATED. The more common usage is "Rated PG" but this variant is perfectly OK.

66. Weaken from disuse : ATROPHY

67. Ancient provincial governors : SATRAPS. Dear Perps. Thank You. Kind Regards, Steve.

68. Suffragist Elizabeth Cady __ : STANTON. You'd better be up on your suffragists today. There's a potential Natick with 57D if you're not careful.

Down:

1. Not within walking distance : FAR. Kind of an odd clue here - something can be far, but still walkable, just a long walk. No? The Proclaimers didn't think 500 miles was too far.

2. "I'd say," in texts : IMO. In My Opinion. Usually seen with an embedded H for 'Humble".

3. Rickey ingredient : GIN. Perps all the way. I'd never heard of a Rickey. I discover it is gin (originally bourbon), lime juice and soda. Cover your ears, Tinman - it's got one cube of ice in it.

4. Ones doing case studies : LAWYERS

5. Tablet download : EBOOK. Tortuous brain-path from apps, through painkiller pill scripts to the final result.

6. Baseball's Moises : ALOU. I knew the name, but little about the man. I looked him up, and discovered he had a rather novel way of toughening his hands as he didn't wear batting gloves. I'll let you read it for yourselves if you're interested. Not over breakfast, probably. C.C. surely knows all about him.

7. Gave lunch to : FED

8. Old Testament prophet : MICAH

9. PayPal figure : AMOUNT

10. Young chap : LAD

11. Quiche base : EGG. Food! And is this a misdirection or - shhhhhh - a mistake? The base of the quiche filling is egg, but the base of the quiche itself is pastry. What say all y'all?

12. Hip-hop star Green : CEE-LO. I sat next to Mr. Green on a flight from New York to London. Bizarrely, I was listening to "Crazy" on my iPod when he boarded and sat next to me.

13. "This way" symbol : ARROW

14. "The Pluto Files" author Neil deGrasse __ : TYSON.

22. Fruity cocktail, familiarly : COSMO. It's a cocktail-fest in the downs today!

23. Pitching duel? : AD WAR. Loved it.

24. Writing end : POINT

25. Minty Derby cocktail : JULEP. That makes three cocktails in five minutes, I'd better slow down *hiccup*

26. Product name : BRAND

27. Baby-back goodie : RIB. Perfect, ribs and quiche to go with the cocktails.

29. "Dang it!" : BAH

32. Local stations : STOPS. Yeah, I guess so. Local stops could also be stations.

33. Makeup mishap : SMEAR

35. Didn't lease : OWNED

36. Sample, for example : RHYME. Lovely clue.

37. Worker with show tigers : TAMER

40. 31-Across locale: Abbr. : EUR

43. Bomb opposite : HIT

45. Greek for "little O" : OMICRON. As I mentioned at the top, I loved this pairing with 51D and the cunning tie-in to the theme. When I realized O-micron and O-mega indicated the size of the letter I was thoroughly entertained and educated. Bravo, Andrew!

47. Dreaming, say : ASLEEP

50. Canvas covers : TARPS

51. Greek for "big O" : OMEGA

52. Mesmerizing designs : OP-ART. This was a gimme for CrossEyedDave!

53. Steers the steers : HERDS. Another nice clue.

54. Deadly snake : COBRA

57. Suffragist Lucretia : MOTT. I'm up on my British suffragettes, not so much the US suffragists. Crosses took care of most of Mott, and I think I knew Ms. Stanton, so potential Natick nastiness avoided.

59. Patriotic women's org. : D.A.R. I'm blindly going to call this one: "Daughters of the American Revolution" and not fact-check to see if I really have learned this one from crosswords. How did I do?

60. Feminizing Spanish suffix : ITA

61. English lit degrees : BAs Bachelor of Arts-es (way to make an ugly-looking plural!)

62. Choose : OPT

63. "Homeland" airer, briefly : SHO. Showtime, usually part of a premium cable package.

64. Specimen, for example: Abbr. : SYN. I got the answer through crosses, but I stared at this for ages trying to understand it before the penny FINALLY dropped. SYN is an abbreviation for "synonym", and "specimen" & "example" are synonyms. Devious!

 Well, that's it from me. I'm in sports junkie heaven. World Cup soccer! GO USA!

Steve

Note from C.C.:

1) Today's constructor Andrew J. Ries is from St. Cloud, Minnesota. Andrew also made a puzzle for the the third Minnesota Crossword Tournament which will be held on June 22, 2014  at The Landmark Center in Saint Paul. Please click here for more information.

2) In case some of you skipped the comments yesterday, Steve linked a fantastic picture of him at the bike leg of the 1989 Winchester Triathlon.

 

Sunday March 31, 2013 Andrew J. Ries

Theme: "Support Group" -  12 AA meets in the middle of each theme entry.

23A. Tibetan breed : LHASA APSO. In Tibetan, Apso means "bearded".

24A. Cinematographer's concern : CAMERA ANGLE

30A. First Bond girl : URSULA ANDRESS. Looking for shells?

45A. Orange County seat : SANTA ANA

47A. Max Ernst, for one : DADA ARTIST

55A. Crimson Tide's home : TUSCALOOSA ALABAMA. Marti's husband's alma mater.

 

80A. "The Voice" coach : CHRISTINA AGUILERA. She is taking a break now. Shakira is in.

 

87A. Interactive website plug-in : JAVA APPLET

91A. Unusual thing : RARA AVIS

106A. Its largest hub is in Atlanta : DELTA AIRLINES

113A. First Japanese car to be produced in the U.S. : HONDA ACCORD

116A. Mozart highlight : OPERA ARIA. Is there any non-opera ARIA?

Reveal entry:

69A. Event where the number 12 is important, and a feature of 12 two-word answers in this puzzle : AA MEETING. Their 12-step progress.

I counted 145 theme squares. This is crazily brilliant. Normally we have around 100. Unlike the scrabbly KK's, AA's are easier to deal with, but it takes skill to make the grid so smooth.

Today's constructor Andrew Ries is from Minnesota. I glanced at his website before but never went to "About me". After looking at his picture this morning, I realized he's the host of the Minnesota Crossword Tournament. So I met you, Andrew!

Across:

1. Festive occasion : GALA

5. Stinging remark : BARB

9. Italian for "small rolls" : PANINI. I had an eggplant panini once. Pretty good. Hard to make eggplant tasty.

15. Epps of "House" : OMAR

19. One working on figures? : ICE SKATER. Not Weight watchers.

21. Knocked the socks off : AMAZED

22. Goody-goody's "headwear" : HALO

26. Patriotic org. : DAR. Daughters of the American Revolution.

27. Starts the haggling at : ASKS. Is the "at" needed in the end?

29. Powerful perch : THRONE

36. Let the tears go : SOB. Sad. "Nothing Compares 2 U"!

37. In the past : AGO

39. Rocker Young : NEIL

40. Real estate listing abbr. : RMs

41. Palm tree nut : ARECA. Did you want BETEL as well?

43. Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, e.g. : OWNER. Mark Cuban.

50. Bases-loaded walk stat : RBI

51. Well-stated : APT

54. Literally, "the tar" : LA BREA

61. Mao's successor : HUA. Gimme! Hua Guofeng. He ended Cultural Revolution in 1976. But ousted by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. I remember this poster vividly. The guy in the middle is Hua. Extremely loyal to Mao.

64. Jobs offering of 2007 : iPHONE

65. Former Bears coach : DITKA (Mike)

66. Full or half holds : NELSONs

68. Train-stopping spots: Abbr. : STAs

72. Once, archaically : ERST

73. Texas Hold 'em variety : NO LIMIT

76. Believing in the green-cheese moon, say : NAIVE

77. Smoothing tool : PLANER. Splynter probably uses it everyday.

79. Leveling initials : TNT

84. Rub with oil : ANOINT
 

85. Evelyn Waugh, but not George Eliot : MAN. George Eliot's real name is Mary Anne Evans.

86. Pujols blasts: Abbr. : HRS. Pujols is Boomer's favorite player.

96. Scare : ALARM

97. Reacted to a massage : AAHED

100. __-de-France : ILE

101. Wolfe who tracks crooks : NERO

102. "Licensed to __": Beastie Boys album : ILL. Doesn't make sense grammatically.

103. Sea-Tac posting : ARR

109. Turtledove : DEARIE

111. Hair disheveler : GUST. Oh, you need So Sexy serum. It smells amazing. 

112. Ambulance VIP : EMT

122. Ancient Andean : INCA

123. Just as prescribed : TO A TEE. We often see TO A T.

124. Save a date, say : MAKE PLANS

125. Consider : DEEM

126. Bugs : ANNOYS

127. Flower stalk : STEM

128. Wrist-directed reprimand : SLAP

Down:

1. "The Simpsons" real estate agent Gunderson : GIL. No idea. The only Gunderson I know is Jerome.

2. Hamburger beef? : ACH. Ha ha. Ham & pineapple for us today.

3. Shows the way (to) : LEADS IN. Is "to" necessary here?

4. Military attack : ASSAULT

5. Ovine bleat : BAA. MAA too.

6. Men's tennis org. : ATP. Association of Tennis Professionals. And 44D. 6-Down counterpart founded by Billie Jean King : WTA. Women's Tennis Association.

7. Thing in court : RES

8. Like some shoulders : BROAD

9. Lambeau Field pro : PACKER. Quite a few Packers' flags/signs in our neighborhood.

10. Saved up : AMASSED

11. Site of '60s action : NAM

12. Modern ending? : IZE. Modernize.  

13. "Darn it!" : NERTS.  In Chinese, it's "Ta Ma De", pronounced just like it's written. Urban dictionary has it wrong. It's not the F word. Just "Dammit!"

14. State with a panhandle : IDAHO. Which state do you think is the most popular in Xword?

15. [Gasp!] : OH NO

16. Oscar winner Anna : MAGNANI. Alien to me. Wiki says she won Oscar for "her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo".

17. Asserts sans proof : ALLEGES

18. Fish eggs : ROE

20. Bush advisor Rove : KARL. Big fund raiser.

25. Like koalas : ARBOREAL

28. Mexican Mrs. : SRA

30. Young __ : UNS

31. "Bloom" star Stephen : REA. I've only seen his "The Crying Game" & "Michael Collin" & "Prêt-à-Porter".

32. Ideal for growing : ARABLE

33. OB/GYN test : AMNIO

34. Org. in the film "Sneakers" : NSA

35. Italy's La __ : SCALA

38. Morsel : ORT

42. Very little : A DAB

46. Ireland's __ Islands : ARAN. Stumped me last time.

48. Go out with __ : A BANG

49. Soldat's weapon : ARME. Soldat = Solider. French.

51. "__ sure you're aware …" : AS I'M

52. One of Edison's 1,000-plus : PATENT

53. Put in the crosshairs : TAKE AIM
 

55. Quaint "Not so" : 'TISN'T

56. B.J. or Justin of baseball : UPTON. They're brothers.

57. Commandment verb : SHALT

58. Mozart's "__ fan tutte" : COSI

59. Seraglio room : ODA

60. J.Lo, for one : LATINA

61. Mezzo Marilyn : HORNE

62. Racing great Bobby : UNSER. Brother of Al.

63. Stars at the Forum? : ASTRA. Latin.

67. Official emblem : SEAL

69. Aweigh : ATRIP. And APEAK. Real words in Spitzboov's world. Let's see if we can have a week sans A* words next week.

70. US Open champ between John and Mats : IVAN (Lendl). OK, John McEnroe. Mats Wilander is a stranger to me.

71. Grant-providing gp. : NEA

74. '60s defense secretary : McNAMARA (Robert). No escape from Vietnam.

75. Chain with stacks : IHOP. What's your favorite food at IHOP?

77. Coddled kitty, e.g. : PURRER

78. Crossword-solving Simpson : LISA. This is the episode with Merl Reagle & Will Shortz. Maybe someone can dig out the YouTube clip.

81. At a Lakers home game, e.g. : IN LA. Hi there, Bill, have you ever been to a Lakers' game?

82. Place : STEAD

83. '90s U.N. secretary-general Boutros-__ : GHALI. Boutros Boutros-Ghali. I just found out that Boutros is Arabic for "Peter". 

84. River past Berne : AAR
 

87. Start of a rhyming Basque game : JAI. Jai alai.

88. Finished : ALL DONE!

89. Element's combining power : VALENCE

90. 2011 Liam Neeson film involving a wolf pack : THE GREY. Never saw the movie. Gray wolves.

91. Fjord-like inlet : RIA

92. Pink Floyd album including "Dogs" and "Sheep" : ANIMALS. Very helpful clue.

93. Abdominal : VENTRAL. Also a new word to me.

94. Mad-as-all-get-out state : IRE

95. Tapped-out letters : SOS. D'oh!

98. Gets away from : ELUDES

99. Boozer's affliction : DTS. Delirium tremens. The shakes.

104. Stampede rope : RIATA

105. Casing outing, briefly : RECON. Reconnaissance.

107. Physics bits : ATOMS

108. Spring : LEAP

110. Pop singer Lambert : ADAM. Runner-up of "American Idol" 8th season. Noted for his use of eyeliner.

 

113. Kept under wraps : HID

114. Crushable container : CAN

115. Native Nebraskan : OTO

117. Search, with "down" : PAT

118. Scratch (out) : EKE

119. Sleep lab acronym : REM. Rapid Eye Movement.

120. TV chef Garten : INA. Love her "Barefoot Contessa".

Guess who this lady is? Don't raise your hand, D-Otto!
 

121. Cause of Cleo's demise : ASP

C.C.