Monday, March 21, 2011 David Levinson Wilk

Theme: NMI - Just the first and last, No Middle Initial, is used to link our theme men; each is an R. O. Man.

17A. *"Barry Lyndon" star : RYAN O'NEAL

59A. *Lead singer of The Cars : RIC OCASEK

10. *"Oh, Pretty Woman" singer : ROY ORBISON

30. *Henry Ford contemporary : RANSOM OLDS

40. Caesar, e.g. (or each of the answers to the starred clues?) : ROMAN

Argyle here. Mundane Monday. Many partials. If all four men were in the same field or all were in different fields, it would have been better. Also, entirely too many names.

Across:

1. King, queen or jack : CARD

5. URL starter : HTTP. I've posted before what words the letters stand for, but still have know idea what they really mean.

9. Van Gogh setting : ARLES. The visitor's center in Arles provides a walking tour map of ten reproductions on easels depicting actual places throughout Arles.

14. Alan of "M*A*S*H" : ALDA

15. Davenport's state : IOWA

16. Dracula's title : COUNT

19. Singer Lauper : CYNDI

20. Against : ANTI

21. Used to reach a high shelf : STOOD ON. Clue/answer doesn't feel right.

23. Sodom escapee : LOT. He didn't look back.

26. Armored vehicle : TANK

28. Being off target : ERRING

29. Genesis mountain : ARARAT. Another Biblical reference.

31. Brandy's music genre, briefly : R AND B. Perhaps all the girl singers are to offset the four man theme.

33. Under-the-chin helmet securer : STRAP

34. Saintly circle : HALO

35. Types : ILKS

39. Suffix with tele- : THON

41. It may be reserved : SEAT

42. Heavy drinkers : SOTS

43. Functions : USES

44. Second longest African river : CONGO

45. Deed holder : OWNER

47. Sea between Greece and Italy : IONIAN

48. Start of Juliet's balcony plea : "O ROMEO". Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

51. Male heirs : SONS

53. Opposite of SSW : NNE

54. Virgin Mary : MADONNA

56. Poet Silverstein : SHEL

58. Like the Leaning Tower : ATILT

64. Mazda rival : HONDA

65. Apple computer since 1998 : iMAC

66. Fairy tale beginning : ONCE

67. Dread : ANGST

68. Turkey meat choice : DARK

69. Fake coin : SLUG

Down

1. Elevator compartment : CAR

2. One of the Khans : ALY. A socialite, racehorse owner and jockey, he was the third husband of actress Rita Hayworth. He was passed over for succession as Aga Khan but served as Pakistan's representative to the United Nations.

3. Nutritional no. : RDA. Recommended Dietary Allowance.

4. "The X-Files" agent Scully : DANA. Partnered with fellow Special Agent Fox Mulder.

5. Suggest : HINT AT

6. Wheel alignment service : TOE IN

7. First coml. airline to show in-flight movies : TWA

8. Friends : PALS

9. Harmony : ACCORD

11. Day before mardi : LUNDI. (Monday) Lundi Gras is a relatively recently popularized name for a series of Shrove Monday events taking place during the New Orleans Mardi Gras.

12. __ a happy note : END ON

13. Attack, bee-style : STING

18. Ready to serve, as beer : ON TAP

22. Mortise insert : TENON. Image.

23. Doesn't fade : LASTS

24. Big name in garden care : ORTHO

25. Medium's card : TAROT

27. Adversaries in a Hoffman/Streep film : KRAMERS. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).

32. "Woe is me!" : "ALAS"

34. Siphoning aid : HOSE

36. Russian Revolution leader : LENIN

37. Elena of the Supreme Court : KAGAN

38. Weapon for David : STONE

40. Sentence that should be two sentences : RUN-ON

44. Trig function : COSEC

46. Charged angrily : WENT AT

47. Like pawned items : IN HOCK

48. Nebraska city : OMAHA

49. Boca __ : RATON

50. Taking too much : ODing

52. Sesame Street grouch : OSCAR

55. Parched : ARID

57. Thailand neighbor : LAOS

60. Britney Spears's "__ Slave 4 U" : I'M A

61. NBC weekend revue : SNL

62. Old French coin : ECU

63. Oktoberfest need : KEG

Answer grid.

Congratulations to Dan Feyer, who won ACPT again this year.

Argyle

Sunday July 12, 2009 David Levinson Wilk

Theme: Take a Letter - Theme answers are literal descriptions of the clue letter positions.

23A: S: HEAD OF STATE - Letter S is the first letter (head) of the word STATE.

29A: A: END OF AN ERA - A is at the end of ERA.

34A: C: MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE - C is in the middle of MALCOLM.

56A: P: LEADER OF THE PACK - P leads PACK.

66A: V: CENTER OF GRAVITY - V is at the center of GRAVITY.

85A: E: FOREGONE CONCLUSION - E concludes FOREGONE.

94A: F: FALSE START. F starts FALSE

104A: D: GRAND FINALE. D ends GRAND.

I figured out what those clue letters stand for after I got FALSE START. Such an innovative theme.

MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE is an odd choice, all the other theme answers are familiar phrases.

I had trouble all over the place, despite my perfect start with BRATZ (1A: Popular fashion doll series). Very seldom is 1A a gimme to me. All those BRATZ dolls have Angelina Jolie style lips.

My favorite clue today is SEN (81D: Boxer, e.g.: Abbr.). The "Abbr." clue did not prevent me from thinking of dog. Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) can sure bark and bite. Very acid tongue sometimes. Her daughter was married to Hillary Clinton's brother.

Across:

6A: Helps (out): BAIL. Paul Krugman wants more stimulus package.

11A: Immunity agent: T CELL

16A: Use a wet napkin on, perhaps: DAB

20A: "Aunt __ Cope Book": ERMA'S. Here is the book cover. Unknown to me. It's written by Erma Bombeck.

21A: Braga of "Moon Over Parador": SONIA. She looks familiar. I must have googled her before.

22A: Have a balance: OWE

25A: Opposite of full: UNFED. Wrote down EMPTY.

26A: Turn abruptly: ZAG

28A: "I'll do whatever you need": USE ME. Not a familiar utterance to me.

31A: Eponymous 1902 physics Nobelist Pieter: ZEEMAN. Stranger to me. I've never heard of ZEEMAN Effect either.

32A: Heavy hammer: MAUL. Wow, I really have no idea that MAUL is a heavy hammer. It's used to drive stakes or wedges.

33A: Third-day creation: EDEN. Got D quickly, then I decided it's ADAM.

41A: Lures, Pied Piper style: TWEEDLES

42A: Not out of running: IN IT. I am used to INIT clue, you know, initial.

43A: Large sea ducks: EIDERS

47A: More farinaceous: MEALIER. Knew farina, not farinaceous. Insane amount of vowels.

48A: Time, metaphorically: SANDS. The SANDS of time.

50A: Delta follower: EPSILON. Before zeta.

52A: Empire State, e.g.: Abbr.: BLDG

53A: Like LAX: INTL (International). Lots of abbreviations in this grid.

54A: "Characters welcome" network: USA. Have never heard of this tagline. Don't watch USA.

55A: Crazed: MANIC

62A: "The Information" author Martin: AMIS. Son of Kingsley AMIS.

63A: New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival city: KEENE. Our fellow LAT solver Hatoolah mentioned this trivia last time when we had KEENE (clued as New Hampshire city). But I forgot.

65A: Nebraska City's county: OTOE. Did not know OTOE is a county name as well.

69A: Belief system: CREED. Mine was TENET.

70A: Terrific service: ACE. Tennis.

73A: Work on antimacassar, perhaps: TAT. I did not know the meaning of antimacassar.

74A: Last line of some riddles: WHAT AM I

78A: Organ parts with cones: RETINAS. Cones are cone-shaped cells in the retina of the eye, sensitive to color and intensity of light, according to dictionary. New to me also.

82A: Israeli, e.g.: SEMITE. "Arab, e.g." as well.

83A: Gross income source?: PORN. Intersects PG RATED (83D: Like many family film). Huge stumper for me. CORN yes. PORN, too much for me. Is PORN really gross?

84A: Dash indicator: OIL GAUGE

92A: They may be graphic: ARTS. Nice clue.

93A: Orioles' gp.: AL EAST (American League East)

97A: Golden, in Guanajuato: DE ORO. I only know ORO means gold.

98A: Turkey toucher: IRAQ. D'oh, IRAQ touches (borders) Turkey.

102A: The Wildcats of the Big 12 Conf.: KSU (Kansas State University). I got the answer from Down fills.

103A: Try: TASTE. Do any of you have persimmon tree in your yard?

106A: Uncle to Jeanna and Barbara: JEB. JEB Bush.

107A: Energetic risk-taking type, so it's said: ARIES. Oh, I was unaware of this fact.

108A: Altercation: SET-TO

109A: Conductor whose name is spelled with two musical syllables: SOLTI (Georg). Interesting observation. He was a long time music director for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1969-1991).

111A: Godiva rival: LINDT. The Swiss chocolate maker.

113A: Zhou__: EN LAI. Our first premier.

Down:

1D: __ Men: "Who let the Dogs Out" band: BAHA. Here is the clip. They are from Bahamas.

2D: Sorry type: RUER

3D: Economist Smith: ADAM. The laissez-faire economics guy.

6D: Man of steel?: BESSEMER. Wanted Superman. I've never heard of Henry BESSEMER.

7D: Apollo's sister: ARTEMIS. Apollo's twin sister. Goddess of moon.

8D: "Today __": bar mitzvah boy's announcement: I'M A MAN. I thought he would say "Today I'am thirteen".

9D: Hidden: LATENT

10D: Milwaukee-to-Gary di.: SSE

11D: Scary waves: TSUNAMIS. Japanese origin. TSU = Harbor. NAMI = "wave".

12D: Passage: CONDUIT

13D: Hug: ENFOLD. I could only think of embrace.

14D: Willingly: LIEF. Learned from doing Xword.

15D: Russian auto: LADA. Absolutely no idea. LADA sounds like a lady's name.

16D: Dropped off: DOZED

18D: Got the ball rolling: BEGAN

17D: Hip: AWARE. I was thinking of the "cool" hip.

24D: Gassed up the Jaguar, say: FUELLED

29D: Make change to, as copy: EMEND

30D: "___ go on?": NEED I

31D: Collection of signs: ZODIAC. I was picturing these signs. I can never tell whether they are original or remake.

34D: "Lou Grant" production co.: MTM. Oh, I did not know MTM stands for Mary Tyler Moore.

36D: Broadway actress Salonga: LEA. Unknown to me. LEA Salonga is from the Philippines, best known for originating the role of Kim in Miss Saigon, according to Wikipedia.

37D: Orchestra member whose instrument rests on the floor: CELLIST. Yo-Yo Ma. He was born in Paris.

38D: Depend (on): HINGE

39D: Low points: DEPTHS. They are not synonymous to me. I wanted NADIRS.

40D: Hosiery thread: LISLE. Named after LISLE (now Lille), France.

44D: Solution created by dissolving: ELUATE. The verb is elute. Both new to me.

45D: "Black Like Me" actor __ Lee Browne: ROSCOE. Nope. He looks like a church minister. Dictionary says ROSCOE is an old slang a revolver or pistol.

46D: Twisted and turned: SNAKED

48D: Bonk or conk, e.g.: SLANG. I like the rhyming clue.

48D: Dangerous snake: ADDER. Wrote down COBRA.

50D: Diary bit: ENTRY

52D: Gripes: BEEFS

55D: Showy parrots: MACAWS

56D: Don of "Cocoon": AMECHE. Not familiar with the movie "Cocoon". It's directed by Ron Howard.

57D: When many a "Closed" sign is flipped: NINE AM

58D: Actress Téa: LEONI. David Duchovyn's wife. I wonder why her parents named her Téa,

59D: Cut loose: REVEL. New definition of "cut loose" to me.

61D: "The quality of mercy" is not strain'ed" speaker: PORTIAS. From Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice".

63D: "Seinfeld" klutz: KRAMER. Not fun to watch him after the racist rants.

67D: Versifier's Muse: ERATO. The Muse of Poetry.

69D: It can make a racket: CATGUT. Strange name considering the racket is not really made of cat's intestines.

73D: Describes: TELLS OF

75D: Spats: TIFFS

76D: Where sleeping dog lie?: FOOTREST. Dogs is slang for feet. I was misled again. Fool me twice, shame on you me.

77D: Young's accounting partner: ERNST

78D: Mertz neighbors of '50 TV: RICARDOS. "I Love Lucy".

79D: Rapa __: NUI. The Easter Island. Literally "Big Rapa".

80D: Word after long: AGO. Long AGO.

84D: SUNY college town: ONEONTA. How can I remember this name? Strange spelling.

86D: Has leftovers, say: EATS IN

87D: Military training groups: CADRES

88D: Soap ester: OLEATE. Last time it's clued as "Olive oil component".

89D: '60 White House resident, familiarly: JFK JR. John-John. Nice scrabbly fill.

91D: Errors: FLUBS

95D: "too many to list" abbr.: ET AL

96D: It's a wrap: SARI. It's a good clue. I don't mind seeing the repetition again.

96D: A party to: IN ON

99D: Political cartoonist Ted: RALL. Alien to me also. Our Star Tribune has its own editorial cartoonist.

100D: Utah ski resort: ALTA

101D: Cunard flagship for 35 yrs.: QEII (Queen Elizabeth II). Strange to see QE 2 as QEII.

104D: Atlanta sch.: GSU (Georgia State University)

105D: British verb ending: ISE. I like our ize.

Answer grid.

C.C.