Monday, July 28, D. Scott Nichols and C.C. Burnikel

Theme: Hello 'Dere

In comedy circles the pairing of a handsome Italian singer and a clownish Jewish comedian is common practice, and while Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis may be the gold standard, Allen and Rossi worked together for many years with this catch phrase.

It seemed fitting to use this pairing as the theme for the reappearance of the team of Argyle and C.C.

I found the puzzle a great example of a Monday, with a very gettable theme with a good reveal and many easy fill.  But there are also many middling length words like DEPART, NESTLE,  SPARSE,  STALLS,  STEAKS, UNREST,  ALL THAT,  SITS PAT, PASSOVER,  BE MY GUEST,  SO IT SEEMS which like their earlier efforts in 2012 and 2013, make you work a little bit for your porridge. After Steve blogged the first one, and Argyle his own, Scott was looking for a pinch hitter, so here I am.

17A. Nautically themed boy's outfit : SAILOR SUIT. Hello Sailor is a classic line from a working girl. Speaking of girls and sailor suits. This was very popular when my boys were little. LINK. (1:32)

25A. "9 to 5" singer : DOLLY PARTON. Hello Dolly the very successful stage play and movie about the matchmaker. SONG. (7:57). My favorite version.

47A. Filler for Tabby's box : KITTY LITTER. The ridiculously successful FRANCHISE.

And the reveal,

58A. Friendly greeting, and a hint to the starts of 17-, 25- and 47-Across : HELLO THERE.

Across:

1. Electrical pioneer Nikola : TESLA. With Tesla Motors I am sure everyone knows something of this highly charged scientist.

6. __ and bolts : NUTS.

10. Take the chance : DARE. Of course this fill is what brought Marty Allen back to mind.

14. Not whispered : ALOUD.

15. Morales of "NYPD Blue" : ESAI. Classic beginner crosswordese for a minor character on a show off the air for a very long time.

16. Charles Lamb pseudonym : ELIA.

19. Repressed, with "up" : PENT.

20. Caesar's rebuke to Brutus : ET TU. Brute. And you Brutus?

21. JFK prediction : ETA. Estimated Time of Arrival.

22. Thinly distributed : SPARSE. Like the beards on many young men, which you can see clearly in...

24. Hi-__ image : RES. My write over, as I had hi-def. Any comments on HI in an Hello puzzle?

27. Beethoven's "Für __" : ELISE. Another very common fill in early week puzzles.

29. Direction after Near, Far or Middle : EAST.

30. Three-layer cookies : OREOS. A fresh clue for another old favorite.

32. Greasy spoon orders, briefly : BLTS. Bacon Lettuce Tomato(s).

33. Green __, Wisc. : BAY. Training camp has started. Interesting that there are two Bays in the NFL.

36. Overplay on stage : HAM UP. Would like an "IT" somewhere there.

37. Nil : ZIP. So many ways to say nothing.

38. More than chubby : OBESE. Based on height and weight, I am obese.

40. NBA tiebreakers : OTS. OverTimes.

41. Put down, as linoleum : LAID. Yeah, I had a girl friend like that once, but she was not one of those...

43. Femmes fatales : VAMPS.

44. Pretzel topping : SALT. At my Auntie Annes there is so much more.

45. Far from posh : SEEDY. Like many places with linoleum floors.

51. Space between things : GAP. Am I the only one who thought of Michael Strahan's teeth?

54. Pre-riot state : UNREST. Newspeak.

55. Dinghy propeller : OAR.

56. Aww-inspiring? : CUTE. Really cute clue.

57. March Madness org. : NCAA. National Collegiate Athletic Association.

61. Poster-hanging hardware : TACK. I bet you all nailed that one.

62. Jump on the ice : AXEL. Always a nice SO to dear Clear Ayes.

63. Eye surgery tool : LASER. Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Had mine in 2011, did not go well. Not related to 1D. Stun gun kin : TASER. The one used by the police according to wiki  was invented by a man who named it after his childhood favorite Thomas A. Swift and His Electric Rifle.

64. Picnic spoilers : ANTS. And cousins...

65. Wobbly walkers : TOTS. Alliteration and a cute mental picture.

66. Credits as a source : CITES.

Down:

2. Lift the spirits of : ELATE. Euphoria here I come.

3. "Evidently" : SO IT SEEMS. Multiple word fill can be tricky.But this one was not a...

4. Doozie : LULU. Causing no...

5. Commotion : ADO.  Allowing me to ...

6. Get snuggly : NESTLE. In my...

7. Bar regular's order, with "the" : USUAL. Place next to the lamp.

8. "__-Pan": Clavell novel : TAI. An interesting book about some Hong Kong BIG SHOTS.

9. Refuses to make changes : SITS PAT. From poker?

10. Leave : DEPART.

11. Like a sentry : ALERT. We all hope....

12. Classic laundry detergent : RINSO. To me it was RINSO BLUE. Recognize the pitchman? (1:55).

13. All finished, as dinner : EATEN.

18. Antique autos : REOS. Mr. Olds old car.

23. Holiday with a Seder : PASSOVER. Or two....

25. Showroom exhibitions : DISPLAYS.

26. Website providing restaurant reviews : YELP.

28. Reed of The Velvet Underground : LOU. Lou who died this year, is the favorite of Melrose Plant.

30. "Now I get it!" : OHO. Meh.

31. Lab rodent : RAT. Dawn of the Planet of the Rats?

32. Bridge player's call : BID.

33. "Help yourself" : BE MY GUEST. I had the B and the rest came easily; of course my youngest performed in Beauty and the Beast. SONG. (3:30)

34. Snake on a pharaoh's crown : ASP.

35. Thumbs-up : YES. Tempted to link more music.

37. Pasta tubes : ZITI. I make a nice baked ziti.

39. Like stormy weather: BAD.

42. "It's __ and a bag of chips" : ALL THAT. My research suggests this 90's phrase which I learned from my kids originated in a Busta Rhymes (love that name) lyric. Anyone?

44. Outback specialties : STEAKS. The restaurant chain with the bloomin' onion and Paul Hogan who just divorced Linda after 17 years.

45. Delays on purpose : STALLS.

46. Designer Saarinen : EERO. On to the weird first name part of the fill, with this famous architect and...

47. Kinte of "Roots" : KUNTA. Alex Haley's great, great, great, great, grandfather is back.

48. Peruvian native : INCAN.

49. Parcel of land : TRACT.

50. Apartment vacancy sign : TO LET.

52. "... poem lovely as __": Kilmer : A TREE. I hope neither Owen or Chairman Moe are threatened but...LINK.

53. Social equals : PEERS. In Britain, the Lords and Ladies.

56. Indian spiced tea : CHAI. I like one now and then.

59. Prefix with thermal : EXO. I never saw it so it eliminated the GEO EXO conflict.

60. Compassionate handling, briefly : TLC. Tender Loving Care, which I tried to bring to this blog, sitting in for Argyle. It is my maiden Monday effort, and I now have all five days of the week done. Well, enjoy the last week in July, NFL training camps open (!) sun shining and the puzzles keep on flowing from the Corner and its friends. Thanks guys, a fun ride. See you all next time, Lemonade

 


Note from C.C.:

As Lemonade mentioned earlier,  D. Scott Nichols is Argyle, our Monday & Tuesday Sherpa.

Young Argyle & his dog Rags

Tuesday, October 1, 2013 C.C. Burnikel and D. Scott Nichols

Theme: hold the phone - A homophone begins each of the theme entries.

17A. Most populous city in South Dakota : SIOUX FALLS

19A. Second-in-command in the kitchen : SOUS CHEF

36A. Michigan or Ontario city on the same border river : SAULT STE. MARIE

57A. Canal passage connecting Lake Superior and the lower Great Lakes : SOO LOCKS

59A. "W is for Wasted" mystery author : SUE GRAFTON (Note from C.C.: Rich updated this clue. Our original is: Author of "V" Is for Vengeance. )

Rabbit, rabbit. Argyle here with one of the best puzzles of all year. (What bias?) There are other eight letter entries beside the two theme entries but they are in the vertical columns. Rich changed some clues but I'm unclear if it was to make it harder or easier. It may be so it fits better with following puzzles.

Across:

1. 2012 Ben Affleck political thriller : "ARGO"

5. Organizes by date, say : SORTS

10. Is able to : CAN

13. Former Defense secretary Panetta : LEON

14. Came into play : AROSE

15. "Mission: Impossible" theme composer Schifrin : LALO

16. Novelist Tyler : ANNE. Bio LINK (born in Minnesota)

21. Demean : ABASE

22. Baby goat : KID

23. Legged it : RAN

24. Mercedes rival : BMW

26. Bus. get-together : MTG. Business meeting.

27. Sharp ridge : ARÊTE

29. Adman's connection : TIE IN. Like McDonald toys and the latest kid's movie.

31. Digital camera battery, often : AAA

32. Legal thing : RES

34. Hoops gp. : NBA. (National Basketball Association)

35. Superficially cultured : ARTY

40. Unit of cotton : BALE

41. Carry a balance : OWE

42. Yeats' land: Abbr. : IRE. William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet.

43. Land parcel : LOT

44. Continental border range : URALS

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

50. Unbarred, to a bard : OPE

51. Fall mo. : SEP.

52. Marlins' div. : NL-E. 25D. Home of baseball's Marlins : MIAMI

54. ISP option : MSN. Internet service provider / The Microsoft Network; stylized as MSN

55. Indian dresses : SARIs

62. Margin jotting : NOTE

63. Gymnast Korbut : OLGA

64. Part of BYOB : BOOZE. (or bottle or beverage or ???)

65. Price : COST

66. Low in the lea : [MOO!]. Verb low.

67. Betsy Ross, famously : SEWER. This clue was changed from 'Waste water pipe' to change the 'su' sound to 'so'.

68. Lodge group : ELKS

Down:

1. "North to the Future" state : ALASKA. State motto adopted in 1967.

2. Pierre-Auguste of impressionism : RENOIR

'Claude Monet Painting in his Garden at Argenteuil' by Renoir

3. Take it all off : GO NUDE. The way Pierre-Auguste liked many of his models.

4. Small bills : ONEs

5. Barack's younger daughter : SASHA

6. "Murder on the __ Express" : ORIENT

7. Ski rack site : ROOF

8. Lone Star State sch. : TSU. (Texas Southern University)( How many jumped on TCU?)

9. Gender : SEX

10. Ristorante squid : CALAMARI

11. "Good Hands" company : ALLSTATE

12. Bouquet of flowers : NOSEGAY

15. Chem class requirement : LAB

18. Baby deer : FAWN

20. Fishing basket : CREEL

24. Neuwirth of "Cheers" : BEBE

28. "You're right" : "TRUE"

30. Very big maker of very little chips : INTEL

33. Mall unit : STORE

35. "Iliad" war god : ARES

36. Home to millions of Brazilians : SAO PAULO

37. Half a superhero's identity : ALTER EGO

38. Switch : SWAP

39. Animated mermaid : ARIEL. Spawned a plethora of "tie-ins".

40. Open, as a bud : BLOSSOM

44. KGB country : USSR

45. Take a nap : SNOOZE

47. "No worries, man" : "I'M COOL"

48. "Shame, shame!" : "TSK! TSK!"

49. Detailed map windows : INSETs

53. Recluse : LONER

56. Franchised supermarket brand : IGA. (Independent Grocers Alliance)

57. Put away : STOW

58. Almost never : ONCE

60. Sit-up targets : ABs

61. Opponent : FOE

Argyle

Note from C.C.:

D. Scott Nichols is Argyle's real name. I got the theme idea from reading Argyle's 48-Across comment here. We had fun making this puzzle and hope you enjoyed our work.

Argyle the Great Scott, 2011

Monday, Nov 26th 2012 C .C. Burnikel and D. Scott Nichols

(Note from C.C.: D. Scott Nichols is Argyle, who guides us through all Monday & Tuesday puzzles.)

Theme: There U go again! The letter "U" is repeated in the second word of each of the theme entries:

17A. Mischievous girl in classic comics : LITTLE LULU. Lulu Moppet's nickname. Of course I knew that.

31A. Jack LaLanne, for one : FITNESS GURU. The predecessor to such luminaries as Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda in legwarmers. I'm not at all sure that's a good thing!

47A. 1984 South African Peace Nobelist : DESMOND TUTU. I had to think for a while about Desmond - I'd always thought of this activist as Archbishop Tutu.

64A. "Star Trek" role for George Takei : HIKARU SULU. I needed all the crosses here - I'd only heard "Mr. Sulu" from Captain Kirk.

Steve here, Happy Monday everyone, and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I'm just back from a week in the UK and happy to be home in sunny California after a week of typically British November weather.

I'm not sure if it's because I just got off the plane, or if C.C. and her new (?) collaborator D. Scott Nichols have served up a tougher than usual Monday. It certainly wasn't a speed run for me, I needed a lot of crosses and a couple of laps around the track before I completed this one. I enjoyed the theme and some nice long downs in the fill. Let's check out the highlights:

Across:

1. Ed of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" : ASNER

6. "Mystery solved!" : AHA! Usually followed by "Mr. Clancy! It was you all along!" and "Grrr - I'd have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you pesky kids".

9. Spear : STAB

13. Picked : CHOSE

14. Artist's studio site : LOFT

16. "Arsenic and Old __" : LACE. A wonderful old Cary Grant movie - check it out if you've never seen it. "Madness doesn't just run in my family, it practically gallops".

19. Fairy tale menace : OGRE

20. Display for the first time, as a product : UNVEIL

21. Rajah's spouse : RANI

23. Until this time : YET

24. Grilled fish in Japanese unadon : EELS Food! I like that if you have more than one eel you have eels, but if you describe two kinds of eel, they're eel. Yet another example of why English is such a tough language to learn.

26. "Exodus" actor Sal : MINEO. I always associate him with his role in "Rebel Without a Cause", but he also received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Dov Landau in Exodus.

28. Florida NBA team, on scoreboards : ORL. The Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association.

35. Tries to make it alone : GOES SOLO A risky move when playing the card game Euchre, and when I declare that I'm going alone, it usually causes my partner to leave the table in disgust and come back when I've lost the four points.

37. Funereal stacks : PYRES

38. Unaccompanied : LONE

39. Baggage handler, e.g. : TOTER

42. Actress Amanda : PEET I always wait for crosses here, as I have a mental block over PEET, PETE or PEAT

43. Put the kibosh on : ENDED

45. Idle : INACTIVE

50. Williams with a .344 lifetime batting average : TED

51. High-altitude nest : AERIE

52. Lavish bash : FETE

54. Slap-on-the-forehead cry : D'OH Did this word exist before Homer Simpson?

56. The "height" part of a height phobia : ACRO

58. Dress to the nines : DOLL UP

62. __ hygiene : ORAL

66. Late-night Jay : LENO

67. Genesis garden site : EDEN

68. Scrabble pieces : TILES

69. Bustle : TO DO

70. Big name in ice cream: EDY'S - Quibble alert: Edy's is the name that pops into my mind, as borne out by the packaging.
 
71. Monica of tennis : SELES. Victim of a bizarre spectator-stabbing assault that put her career into a tailspin.

Down:

1. Rights protection gp. : A.C.L.U. and a nice logo to boot:

2. Knee-to-ankle bone : SHIN in English, or the Latin "Tibia" which is more commonly found in crosswords, if not in conversation.

3. Misbehaving child's punishment : NO TV. More likely to be No iPhone or No xBox today?

 

4. Makeup maven Lauder : ESTEE

5. Raised sculptures : RELIEFS

6. Musketeer motto word : ALL ".. for one, and one for all!"

7. Time of day : HOUR

8. On fire : AFLAME

9. __-mo replay : SLO. The slow-motion replay was captivating when it was first introduced in the 1950's with the advent of videotape rather than film.

10. Cry that starts a kid's game : TAG! YOU'RE IT!

11. Ranch division : ACRE

12. Borscht ingredient : BEET

15. North African capital for which its country is named : TUNIS, capital of Tunisia.

18. Mama Cass's surname : ELLIOT. She lived a short distance from me on Laurel Canyon where this was written.

22. Clouseau's title: Abbr. : INSP. I love Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.

25. D-Day city : ST LÔ As 34D shows the correct diacriticals I thought I'd better follow suit with the official spelling of this French cité.

27. Nile Valley country : EGYPT

28. Eyed lewdly : OGLED

29. TV sports pioneer Arledge : ROONE. Ground-breaking luminary in the development of both news and sports coverage for ABC.

30. Pitches in : LENDS A HAND

32. Cry that conflicts with 10-Down : NOT IT

33. Christopher of "Superman" : REEVE

34. "¿Cómo está __?" : USTED

36. Boss's "We need to talk" : SEE ME

40. Sufficient, in slang : ENUF. I like this! I want to campaign for the replacement of "enough" with all it's supernumerary vowels and consonants.

41. Too violent for a PG-13 : RATED "R"

44. Nickelodeon explorer : DORA

46. Figures made with scissors : CUTOUTS

48. Ornamental wall recess : NICHE

49. Put down : DERIDE

53. Cow on a carton : ELSIE Borden's trademark mascot. It's a little morbid that her "husband" Elmer was the mascot for Elmer's glue.

54. Birdbrain : DOLT

55. After-school cookie : OREO

57. Gave the green light : OK'ED

59. Quiet spell : LULL

60. Beekeeper played by Peter Fonda : ULEE. From the 1997 movie "Ulee's Gold".

61. Kisser : PUSS This was new to me and I needed the crosses. Some Googling reveals that "puss" is a Swedish word for "kiss".

63. Lav of London : LOO I saw one of these this very morning!

65. "__ questions?" : ANY

That's about it from me. See you next time!

Steve

Notes from C.C. & Argyle (Scott):

This theme came to me while reading one of Argyle's emails. He commented "Bad juju" to a question I had asked him earlier. It's not a familiar slang to me, but I thought a simple ?U?U will make a nice Monday puzzle. Argyle & I tried both key words in front and in the back approaches. We finally settled down on the current set both of us were happy with.