Monday, February 13, 2012 Anna Gundlach

Theme: What Little Girls Are Made Of

17A. Baker's sweetener : GRANULATED SUGAR

26A. Cinnamon blend for a Thanksgiving recipe : PUMPKIN PIE SPICE

37A. Little ones who, they say, are made up of the ends of this puzzle's four longest entries : GIRLS

43A. "All finished!" : "THAT'S EVERYTHING"

57A. 1966 Beach Boys hit : "WOULDN'T IT BE NICE". Clip(2:24)

Argyle here. It has been awhile since Anna's last puzzle but if you are going to fit FOUR! grid spanners into a Monday .... A little crosswordese must be expected.

What's next? Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails?

Across:

1. Hitchhikes : THUMBS. Vanity Fair(2:59)

7. Hiker's snack mix : GORP

11. "Cocoon" director Howard : RON

14. "Très sexy!" : "OO LA LA!"

15. Chevy hatchback : AVEO

16. Tavern order : ALE

20. Columnist Landers : ANN

21. Swiss calculus pioneer : EULER, Leonhard.

22. Odds and ends : STUFF

23. "__ silly question, get . . ." : ASK A

24. "Twittering Machine" artist Paul : KLEE

33. "The Sheik of __": 1920s song : ARABY

34. "Poor me!" : "ALAS!"

35. Carpenter's cutter : SAW

36. Places for compost : BINS

39. Israel's Netanyahu, familiarly : BIBI

40. Took a load off : SAT

41. Writing implements : PENS

42. Elegant dress material : SATIN

47. Make less difficult : EASE

48. Ages upon ages : AEON

49. Heart or liver : ORGAN

52. The devil : SATAN

54. Tavern spigot : TAP

60. Sick : ILL

61. __ pro quo: substitute : QUID

62. Laundry employee : IRONER. Remember the time we had MANGLE?

63. Santa's little helper : ELF. They're all on vacation now.

64. Trig function : SINE

65. Equivalent of A flat : G SHARP. You get A FLAT if you run over somethinG SHARP?

Down:

1. Old Roman garment : TOGA

2. Sound of traffic frustration : HORN

3. __ Bator, Mongolia : ULAN

4. Fellow : MAN

5. Feature of a clear day : BLUE SKY

6. Dog also called a Persian Greyhound : SALUKI. Wikipedia link.

7. Garden entrance : GATE

8. Too much of a good thing : OVERKILL

9. Little wagon's color : RED

10. Have in one's hands : POSSESS

11. Classico competitor : RAGU

12. Norwegian royal name : OLAF

13. Indoor ball brand : NERF

18. Shepard who hit golf balls on the moon : ALAN

19. Lone Star State sch. : UTEP. University of Texas at El Paso.

23. LAPD alerts : APBs. All Points Bulletin.

25. Grazing lands : LEAs

26. Blue Ribbon beer : PABST

27. Dickens villain Heep : URIAH. Misty, how you doing on the book?

28. Underwater ray : MANTA

29. Examine grammatically : PARSE

30. Last Supper query : "IS IT I?"

31. Mountain quarters : CABIN

32. "Dallas" surname : EWING. Prime time soap opera.

37. Thousands, in a heist : GEEs. Slang One thousand dollars is a grand, G, gee or (1000) large.

38. Buy for the future, as gold : INVEST IN

39. German road : BAHN. (Autobahn)

41. Manners to be minded : P's AND Q's

42. Rock-throwing protesters : STONERS. Not the stoners I know, man.

44. Marsh duck : TEAL

45. Heavy metal band named for a rodent : RATT. I'll let Ant or Splynter link it.

46. "'Bout this large" : "YEA BIG". Needs accompanying hand gesture.

49. Boo-boo, to tots : OWIE

50. Turn at the casino : ROLL

51. __ of Mexico : GULF

53. Senate page, for one : AIDE

54. Rocking Turner : TINA

55. Expert server, in tennis : ACER

56. Whodunit quarry : PERP

58. Rapa __: Easter Island : NUI. Easter Island was given the name Rapa Nui (Great Rapa) by Tahitian sailors, in the 1860's, as it reminded them of Rapa - a small island in French Polynesia (now commonly referred to as Rapa Iti). Before 1863, the name was unknown on the island. -S. Fischer, "The Naming of Rapanui". Crosswordese candidate.

59. Japanese dramatic form : NOH. Drama that often uses masks. Crosswordese candidate.

Answer grid.

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

Here is a lovely picture of 9-year-old Hudson helping grandpa Husker Gary solve yesterday's LA Times puzzle "after he took a sip of coffee out of my NASA mug. He got UTTER and others too, some with prompting and some on his own! My wife is scared he is turning into Papa!".

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 Anna Gundlach

Theme: It's Your Move - Four twelve-letter entries that start with synonyms for your avatar on BOARD GAMES.

1A. With 73-Across, where you might find the starts of 20-, 33-, 43- and 59-Across: BOARD and 73A. See 1-Across: GAMES. Symmetrically placed pair.

20A. Guy in a spotlight: MAN OF THE HOUR

33A. Feature of much of Bach's music: COUNTERPOINT

43A. Coin for Long John Silver: PIECE OF EIGHT

59A. Symbolic but inconsequential act: TOKEN GESTURE

Argyle here.

I don't know about you but it gave me a start to see a unifier as the first entry. Then to find the last Across entry was also a unifier and together, they gave me no clue...well, I wasn't a happy camper. But the perps came through and the unifiers weren't really needed to solve the the themed entries. They did clarify the theme, so all is right in my Tuesday world.

This might be a debut puzzle. I would like to see more from this constructor.

Across:

6. Skips, as stones : DAPS. Did you remember?

10. "This doesn't look good" : "UH, OH!"

14. Sleep problem : APNEA. The temporary suspension of breathing, occurring in some newborns (infant apnea) and in some adults during sleep (sleep apnea).

15. Scat queen : ELLA. Ella Fitzgerald, also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella".

16. Best Musical award, say : TONY. For excellence on Broadway. Obie is for off-Broadway.

17. Almost fail : GET A 'D'. Tricky to parse.

18. "Parlez-__ français?" : VOUS. "Do you speak French?"

19. Slightly : A TAD

23. Country in which Tetris was created : RUSSIA. The puzzle video game was originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov.

26. Work hard : TOIL

27. Simpson judge : ITO. Lance Ito, the Los Angeles County Superior Court judge who presided during the O. J. Simpson murder case.

28. Droid download, say : APP. Application.

29. Portfolio asset: Abbr. : STK. Stock.

31. Antacid named for its elements : MAALOX. Just google it if you need to know what they are.

37. Prefix with plasm : ENDO. Inner prefix.

38. Scepter's partner : ORB. Symbols of power. Image.

39. Inning sextet : OUTS. Three per side.

48. Spelunking spot : CAVERN. Spelunking = Cave Exploring.

51. Notable period : ERA

52. Meadow : LEA

53. Bird: Prefix : AVI

54. Senate helper : AIDE

57. Activating, as a fuse : ARMING

62. Numbskull : TWIT

63. Euterpe, to musicians : MUSE. Euterpe is the Muse of music.

64. Often unattainable perfection : IDEAL

68. Pre-Easter period : LENT

69. Blackjack needs : ACES. That and a face card or ten gives you 21 and that is good.

70. Nabisco's __ Wafers : NILLA

71. Beat by a whisker : EDGE

72. E-mail outbox folder : SENT

Down:

1D. Help a market cashier : BAG

2D. Unlock, poetically : OPE

3D. Hill crawler : ANT

4D. Chews (out) : REAMS

5D. Marcel Duchamp, e.g. : DADAIST. This is art? "Objet d'art".

6D. Punk/New Wave band since the '70s : DEVO. This is music? short clip.

7D. Like dirigibles : ALOFT. They are ALOFT when they're flying.

8D. Demoted planet : PLUTO

9D. Japanese fish dish : SASHIMI. Raw fish. Sashi = Pierced. Mi = Meat. Needs wasabi of course.

10D. The Beehive State : UTAH

11D. Hushpuppies are often fried in it : HOT OIL

12D. Running by itself : ON AUTO

13D. Original Oreo competitor : HYDROX

21D. __ Dogg, Snoop's cousin : NATE. Both are "musicians".

22D. Vivacity : ELAN

23D. 10K, for one : RACE

24D. Second word of many fairy tales : UPON. Once upon a time...

25D. Tater : SPUD

30D. McDonald's founder Ray : KROC

32D. Yours, in Reims : A TOI. Reims, a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lying 129 km east-northeast of Paris.

34D. "Don't think so" : "NOPE!"

35D. Start to conceive? : PRE

36D. Clarinet cousin : OBOE

40D. Fruit that isn't pretti? : UGLI. Cutesi to end them in "i".

41D. After that : THEN

42D. Male deer : STAG

44D. Turkey neighbor : IRAN

45D. Conundrums : ENIGMAS

46D. Weimar wife : FRAU. So we get a tad of German to go with our French today.

47D. Hoop or stud : EARRING

48D. Drive drove : CATTLE. Drove means herd.

49D. Swore : AVOWED

50D. Minnesota footballer : VIKING. Favre finally got Moss to play with him.

55D. Common wild card : DEUCE

56D. German industrial city : ESSEN

58D. Oil, watercolor, etc. : MEDIA

60D. Suffix with major : ETTE

61D. Part of SAT : TEST

65D. Horror film street : ELM

66D. Top-fermented brew : ALE

67D. __ Cruces : LAS. New Mexico.

Answer grid.

Argyle