Friday, November 9, 2018, Bonnie L. Gentry and Victor Fleming

Title: Where did he hide my LEGO?

You have to go back more than 9 years to see the first puzzle by this team reviewed here at the CORNER. Then you have to travel 9,811 miles to watch me prepare this write-up from Thung Saliam, Sukhothai Province, Thailand. I am no world traveler like Steve, but we are here as Oo's son honors her by being ordained a monk for 7 days.
Back to the write-up; I remarked in their offering back in 2009 about coincidence in puzzles, and here we are again. Just after commented on Mark McClain's use of the black space in his Sunday effort, this team goes one better and has the black space represent the word BLOCK, which is of course is what a black space is. Wonderful.  And for the icing on the cake the symmetry of the break 9/5 to 5/9 3/11 to 11/3 extraordinary.
We also find ALL HOURS REHEATED AIR LEAK APPENDS ATONING EAT AWAY and PARIAHS as long fill to thrill

17A. Impediment: STUMBLING (9) (BLOCK) and 19A. Neighborhood gathering: (BLOCK) PARTY.(5).  Once a again, a grid -spanning set.

25A. Beach application: SUN (3) (BLOCK) and 28A. Billion-dollar pharmaceuticals: (BLOCK) BUSTER DRUGS.(11). This slowed me down as I did not know this PHRASE.

46A. One with a lot to learn, perhaps: NEW KID ON THE (11) and 49A. Obstruction: (BLOCK) AGE.(3).

61A. Local anesthesia effect: NERVE.(5) (BLOCK) and 62A . Device with pulleys: (BLOCK) AND TACKLE (9).
The reveal:

67A. Word aptly represented by four black squares in this puzzle: BLOCK.

Across:

1. Bad cut: GASH. A gruesone way to begin.

5. And: ALSO.

9. __ Ababa: ADDIS. This is a regular fill on Friday.

14. Natural skin soother: ALOE.

15. Good earth: LOAM. There is a Department of Agriculture official definition on recotd.

16. Datum in a forensic database: PRINT. Fingerprint. NCIS is not the same especially with Abby gone.

20. Outcasts: PARIAHS.

21. Boiling point?: KETTLE. My favorite cute clue because it is the lo action of the boling.

22. "No seats" sign: SRO. Standing Room Only.

23. Score after deuce: AD IN.  A tenns term appears after the Andre Agassi comments yesterday.

34. More than suspect: KNOW.

36. Early 20th-century touring cars: REOS. Ransom E. Olds liked naming things after himself.

37. Part of a joke: SETUP.

38. Lingering effect: ECHO. Another cute clue/fill.

39. Not as dotty: SANER. Does anyone use the term "dotty" anymore?

41. Colorado tributary: GILA.

42. Massey of old films: ILONA.  She was a star. LINK.

44. Thoroughbred's dad: SIRE.

45. "Git!": SCAT.

50. Pushed the doorbell: RANG.

51. Night school subj.: ESL. Oo going to learn English cemented our relationship.

53. Scandinavian bar exchange: SKOALS. L' Chaim, A votre sante! Slainte!

57. Corrode: EAT AWAY.

64. Words in some English resort town names: ON SEA.

65. Major fit: RAGE. Rageaholics are all too common.

66. First name in homespun humor: ERMA.

68. Watched carefully: EYED.

69. Exchange jabs: SPAR. Boxing or


Down:

1. [You can't mean that!]: GASP.

2. Wasatch Mountains resort: ALTA. This is the LINK. I am much more familiar with Park City.

3. __ grapes: SOUR. Aesop anyone?

4. Some Chrysler engines: HEMIS.

5. Around-the-clock: ALL HOURS.

6. Half a Daily Planet byline: LOIS. Lane of Superman fame.

7. __ Antonio: SAN.

8. Texting interjection: OMG.

9. Tacks on: APPENDS.

10. "Phooey!": DRAT.

11. __-cheap: DIRT.

12. Like some JFK flights: INTL. 15 hours and 32 minutes later we  landed in GUANGZHOU!   Guangzhou is a sprawling port city northwest of Hong Kong on the Pearl River. The city features avant-garde architecture such as Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House (known as the “double pebble”); the carved box-shaped Guangdong Museum; and the iconic Canton TV Tower skyscraper, resembling a thin hourglass

13. Lid issue: STYE. This ailment appears also very often.

18. Verbal jab: BARB. See 69A.

21. Cassis apéritif: KIR. LINK.

23. Penitent: ATONING. Many ways to do this.

24. Mirage site: DESERT. Where it is -site, not what it is -sight.

25. Knitter's coil: SKEIN.

26. Family reunion attendee: UNCLE.

27. At all: NO HOW.

29. A pass may cover one: SEASON. Tickets for the Opera?

30. Brief rules?: REGS.

31. City in New York's Mohawk Valley: UTICA.

32. Stalin-era prison: GULAG. Not to be confued with the German Stalag.

33. Dramatic outpouring: SPATE.

35. Policy __: WONK. An unknown for me but in terms dictionary as a person who takes an excessive interest in political policy.

40. Readied, as leftovers: REHEATED.

43. Puncture consequence: AIR LEAK. I guess, but it sounds forced.

47. Court figures, for short: DAS.

48. Ensenada pronoun: ESTA. A Spanish word.

52. Velcro alternative: LACES. Pretty funny that laces are not the alterntive.

53. Nose-in-the-air sort: SNOB.

54. __ Ration: KEN-L.

55. Guesstimate phrase: OR SO.

56. With, on le menu: AVEC. Our French word of the day.

57. Do landscaping work: EDGE.

58. Dr. Johnny Fever's fictional station: WKRP. In Cincinnati...

59. Soprano Gluck: ALMA. Our only musical interlude and I cannot get YouTube to load. There is a beautiful video of Alma and her husband, violinist Efrem Zimbalist, singing to their child Efrem Zimbalist Jr., who would become famous in his own right  from TV shows 77 Sunset Strip and FBI and as the father of Stephanie who was Remington Steele.

60. Sommelier's concern: YEAR. The vintage of the wine.

62. "__ you out of your mind?": ARE.

63. "All opposed" reply: NAY. And the votes are in and i loved this puzzle.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of another creative puzzle. Welcome back Bonnie and Victor and Sawa dee ko from Thailand. Lemonade out.

Monday, April 23, 2012 Bonnie L. Gentry and Victor Fleming

Theme: Rhodes Scholar - Yes, that's what you'll be when you get these four homonyms of ROHD.

20A. Providence native, for one : RHODE ISLANDER

34A. Skipped the saddle : RODE BAREBACK

41A. Steered the skiff beachward : ROWED TO SHORE

56A. Crosby/Hope film : "ROAD TO MOROCCO"

Argyle here. The theme is tight and the lengths are long. Many opportunities for musical links. On the Road Again(2:35) Willie Nelson - Michael(Row the boat ashore)(2:46) The Highwaymen.

Bonnie and Victor's last LAT duet was on Sept. 20, 2009, a Sunday. Link.

Across:

1. Get really high : SOAR. Honestly, what was your first thought?

5. Overhaul : REDO

9. Archipelago unit : ISLE

13. Six-sided shape : CUBE

14. Captain's "Hold it!" : "AVAST!"

16. Corrosive liquid : ACID

17. Gillette razor brand : ATRA

18. Do a two-step, say : DANCE

19. Broadway award : TONY. Neat clecho, 33D. Off-Broadway award : OBIE

23. Spectacular failure : FIASCO

24. Nutritional fig. : RDA. (Recommended Daily Allowance)

25. Writer LeShan : EDA

28. Part of PST: Abbr. : STD. (Pacific Standard Time)

29. Saintly glow : HALO

32. Marries in secret : ELOPES

36. Cathedral niche : APSE

39. Hot brew : TEA

40. Wedding vows : I DOs. Or perhaps, "Never again!".

46. Tentacle : FEELER

47. Petrol station name : ESSO. Get it? In other countries, gas is petrol and Exxon is still Esso.

48. Juan Carlos, to his subjects : REY. King of Spain.

51. RR terminus : STA.

52. Prime rib au __ : JUS

54. "From the halls of Montezuma" soldier : MARINE. (2:24) Performed by The President's Own United States Marine Band.

60. Visibly wowed : AGOG

62. "Vacation" band, with "The" : GO-GO'S

63. Baseball stitching : SEAM

64. Kate, to Petruchio, eventually : WIFE. From The Taming of the Shrew, a comedy by William Shakespeare.

65. China's Zhou __ : ENLAI

66. "__ la Douce" : IRMA. IMBd.

67. Well-protected : SAFE

68. Desires : YENs

69. Armchair quarterback's channel : ESPN

Another musical interlude: On the Road Again(4:57) by Canned heat. (A tie-in with 1-Across?)

Down:

1. Eats, with "up" or "down" : SCARFS

2. Bat for a higher average than : OUT HIT

3. Overseas : ABROAD

4. Curls up with a book : READS

5. Commercial on AM or FM : RADIO AD

6. Actresses Gabor and Longoria : EVAs. And another three-letter actress. 61D. Italian actress Scala : GIA

7. Frontiersman Boone, familiarly : DAN'L

8. Hollywood award : OSCAR

9. "Musta been something __" : I ATE

10. Scrabble sheet : SCORE PAD

11. Surprise 2012 New York Knick standout Jeremy __ : LIN. Is Linsanity Over? - Businessweek.

12. Joseph of ice cream fame : EDY

15. Painfully sensitive : TENDER

21. Off-the-wall effect : ECHO

22. Chip's partner : DALE. The cute little chipmunks, not the dancers. Sorry, Lois.

26. Geometric art style : DECO

27. Raises a question : ASKS

30. "Panic Room" actor Jared : LETO. Busy boy; actor, director, producer, musician, and occasional model.

31. More than chubby : OBESE

34. Fishing line holder : REEL

35. Sighs of relief : AAHs. What you do when the stupid dog next door stops its...

36. Barking sounds : ARFs

37. One writing verse : POET

38. Quit cold turkey : SWEAR OFF

42. __ vu: familiar feeling : DÉJÀ

43. Plod : TRUDGE

44. Diffusion of fluids, as through a membrane : OSMOSIS

45. Thunderous noise : ROAR

48. Potato presses : RICERS

49. Pitch a tent : ENCAMP

50. Naval petty officer : YEOMAN

53. Full of rocks : STONY

55. Riveter painted by Rockwell : ROSIE

57. Architectural S-curve : OGEE

58. Eye lasciviously : OGLE

59. Sound of suffering : MOAN

60. "How cute!" sounds : "AW!"s

Answer grid.

Argyle

Sunday, September 20, 2009 Bonnie L. Gentry and Victor Fleming

Theme: Signs of Burnout - ASH (80A: Sign of burnout hidden in eight puzzle answers)

23A: Dramatic device about which Hamlet says "The play's the thing...": SHOW WITHIN A SHOW. Hamlet exclaimed: "the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King." He tried to prove that his uncle the new King murdered his father by staging a play which mimiced the way he imagined his father was killed.

37A: Kindness simile: SWEET AS HONEY. Hmm, as SWEET AS HONEY, as powerful as love.

53A: Rare key in which a section of Chopin's "Polonaise Fantasie" is written: A-SHARP MINOR. Got the answer with Down fill help. Wikipedia says the scale for "Polonaise Fantasie" is A-flat major.

72A: World Series of Poker Main Event game: TEXAS HOLD'EM. The most popular card game in America.

87A: California's first lady: MARIA SHRIVER. She sure has the Kennedy look.

105A: Open one's law office, say: HANG OUT A SHINGLE. The constructor Vic Fleming is a judge in Little Rock, Arkansas. Bonnie L. Gentry is a Merril Lynch financial adviser based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

17D: Easily become angered: HAVE A SHORT FUSE. Like Donald Rumsfeld.

46D: 2000 Martin Lawrence/Nia Long comedy: BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE. Unknown to me. This poster does not catch my fancy.

Strange to see the ASH in embedded in the beginning of A-SHARP MINOR while all the others are hidden in the middle of the theme entries. The spreads are quite consistent though, all spanning two words.

A bit of golf undercurrent:

95A: Ready to be driven: TEED UP. The golf ball is TEED UP and ready to be driven either by a driver or a long iron.

24D: Green targets: HOLES. Or PINS when you are far away from the greens.

101D: Annual major golf tournaments played in August, familiarly: PGA. The PGA Championship. The last of the four majors: Masters (Augusta, Georgia, April), US Open (June), the British Open (July) and the PGA Championship (August).

Smooth solving today. MARIA SHRIVER tipped me off the theme and I was then able to fill in all the ASH'es.

Across:

1A: Deferred payment at the bar: RAN A TAB

8A: Flies over Africa?: TSETSES. I like the question mark, it makes the clue interesting.

15A: Alternative to Twinkies: HOHOS. From Hostess.

22A: Pocatello's state: IDAHO. And UTAH (68D: Bonneville Flats state).

26A: Type sizes: PICAS

29A: Star responsible for eclipsing Venus?: SERENA. The Williams sister. I was not surprised by her outburst at U.S. Open at all.

30A: North Carolina university: ELON. And UTEP (68A: Sch. near the Rio Grande) - University of Texas, El Paso.

40A:".... so long __ both shall live?": AS YE. Is this a Bible quote? I guessed AS WE.

43A: Regal initials: HRH. His/Her Royal Highness.

44A: Ed who wrote "87th Precinct" novels: MCBAIN. No idea. Alias name for Evan Hunter. Lemonade or someone else mentioned this on the blog when we had EVAN last time. NOVEL is the answer for 25A: Work of fiction.

47A: Loving: Prefix: PHILO. As in philosophy. PHILE is suffix for "lover", as in Francophile.

57A: Grammar school basics, briefly: RRR. Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

58A: Kelly's co-host: REGIS (Philbin). He bores me.

59A: H-bomb trial, e.g.: N-TEST

62A: Broadway auntie: MAME. "Autie MAME".

63A: Concerning: ANENT

66A: Big name in nonstick cookware: T-FAL. Big indeed.

67A: It starts with enero: ANO. And DIAS (96A:"Buenos __").

71A: Suffix with real: ISM. Realism.

75A: Get licked: LOSES. Twins won again! Sorry, Fred/Jazzbumpa and all Detroit Tigers fans.

76A: Put down: DEMEAN

78A: Prefix meaning "spiral": HELIC. No idea. Helix is Greek for "spiral". Its adjective is helical.

79A: Fizzles (out): PETERS

81A: "__fired!": YOU'RE. Donald Trump's catchphrase.

83A: Vaughan of jazz: SARAH. Unknown to me. Here is a clip of her "The Sassy One".

85A: Siberian metropolis: OMSK. See this map. Quite close to Kazakhstan. I tend to confuse it with ORSK (on the Ural River), also bordering Kazakhstan.

90A: Letters before a trade name: DBA (Doing Business As)

94A: "The Mod Squad" role: LINC (Hayes). I forgot.

97A: Dangerous compound in Agent Orange: DIOXIN. New word to me. Sounds toxic.

99A: General Arnold of WWII: HAP

102A: PC key below shift: CTRL. Had to check my keyboard.

103A: Frenzied: MANIC. Our fellow solver Chip is from Maine, hence Mainaic. I saw some of you call him MANIC.

104A: Vertical: PLUMB. Perpendicular.

108A: Chorus platform: RISER

109A: Instrument shaker at the end of minstrel troupe: MR. TAMBO. No idea. Dictionary says it's "the end man in a minstrel troupe who plays the tambourine".

110A: Made of clay: EARTHEN

111A: Bridge bid, briefly: ONE NO. Does No. stand for north? I know nothing about bridge.

112A: Black Sea port dweller: ODESSAN. Ukrainians.

113A: Unemotional: DRY-EYED

Down:

1D: Spoke like Don Corleone: RASPED. I've read most of the books by Mario Puzo, "Godfather" is definitely the best.

2D: Not long, timewise: AWHILE

3D: Recent rightist: NEOCON. I actually like Bill Kristol (founder of "The Weekly Standard"). Can't stand Richard Perle.

4D: Nile dam site: ASWAN

8D: Hot-dish holder: TRIVET. Three-legged.

9D: Iroquois Confederacy member: SENECA

12D: Trendy London area: SOHO. I don't why it's a trendy area. London's main Gay Village is located there. SOHO is a NY area too.

15D: Jazzman known as "Fatha": HINES (Earl)

16D: Febreze target: ODOR. P&G brand.

18D: Short story writer known for irony: O HENRY

19D: Comforting words: SOLACE

31D: Ballet bird: SWAN. "SWAN Lake"

34D: 1862 Bull Run victor: LEE (Robert. E)

39D: Blue Moon of '60s-'70s baseball: ODOM. Holy moley. Have never heard of this pitcher. "Blue Moon" is a great nickname. I want to be called "Deep Throat".

40D: Subject of Indiana Jones's quest: ARK. Nice to see ARK and ARC (35A: Missile's path) in one grid.

41D: ""Gymnopédies" composer: SATIE (Erik). French composer.

44D: Disney's Ariel, e.g.: MERMAID

45D: Make pure: CLEANSE. Thought of the terrifying ethnic cleansing in some parts of Iraq.

48D: Dost possess: HAST. Archaic for "have". "Dost" = "do".

50D: One staying afloat in place: TREADER. Made-up word.

53D: Building addition: ANNEX

54D: First instruction: STEP A. I like fills like STEP A & EPISODE I. The I & One substitute does not bother me at all.

55D: Words before black or red: IN THE

56D: Book after Micah: NAHUM. Had to look at my Bible book list again.

63D: " .. two fives for __?": A TEN

64D: Island east of Java: BALI. TIMOR too.

65D: Elec. letters: AC/DC

66D: Marriage promise: TROTH. Oh, that's how we got betroth I presume.

69D: Harass: MOLEST

70D: Fair, in forecasts: CLEAR. Beautiful weather here in Minnesota. Summer's final fling.

73D: Feng __: SHUI. Literally "water". Feng is "wind".

74D: Wife of Zeus: HERA. Sister of Zeus as well.

77D: Alas. native: ESK (Eskimo). I forgot which one is un-PC, Inuit or Eskimo?

79D: Scrub up, say: PREP. In Operation Room.

81D: PBS chef Martin: YAN. "YAN Can Cook".

83D: Libya's Gulf of __: SIDRA (SID-rah). No idea. Here is the map. The Mediterranean gulf.

84D: Torn off forcibly: AVULSED. New word to me. I only know convulse.

85D: Veteran: OLD PRO. Newbie would be TYRO.

88D: Queen of Troy: HECUBA (HEK-yoo-buh). Hard to remember her name. She's the mother of Paris/Hector/Cassandra. Wife of Priam (PRAHY-uhm).

89D: Gymnast Mary Lou of Olympics fame: RETTON. No idea, though she looks very familiar.

90D: Lake fisherman's boat: DINGHY

91D: Receiver of property, in law: BAILEE. Wow, it's a real word.

92D: Climb: ASCEND

94D: Book, in Bologna: LIBRO. Unknown to me. It's Spanish for "book" also.

96D: Beatrice's admirer: DANTE. Got the answer from Across fills. Was his love unrequited?

98D: Mutant superhero group of comics: X-MEN. Marvel Comics.

106D: Mantric sounds: OMS. Om is also spelled as aum. Dictionary defines it as "The supreme and most sacred syllable, consisting in Sanskrit of the three sounds (a), (u), and (m), representing various fundamental triads and believed to be the spoken essence of the universe. It is uttered as a mantra and in affirmations and blessings."

107D: Guffaw syllable: HAR. Sarcastic guffaw, isn't it?

Answer grid.

C.C.