April 14, 2020 Debbie Ellerin

Men, Can't Live with Them, Can't Live without Them.  A type of Man is right smack dab in the Middle of each theme answer.  Most of the Men found in each clue are not Men you would want to be associate with.

17-Across. *   Longtime Nabisco cookie: FIG NEWTON.  As in a New Man, or as seen below, Newman.

21-Across. *   Badgers' school: WISCONSIN.  As in the Con Man, short for Confidence Man.  Here is a list of 20 infamous con men, some of which you may recognize, most probably will be unknown.

33-Across. *   Outback choice named for a bone: RIBEYE STEAK.  As in the Yes-Man.  A Yes Man is a subordinate who always agrees with his boss or political leader.

41-Across. *   One on a "Most Wanted" list: PUBLIC ENEMY.  Ice Man.  In days of old, before people had refrigerators, the Ice Man delivered ice to homes.  The Iceman Cometh, was a play be Eugene O'Neill, in which a man  *** Spoiler Alert*** murdered his wife.

51-Across. *  Pour on the criticism: DISH IT OUT.  As in the HitMan, which is a contract killer.  Here are some Infamous Hitmen, most of whom you probably never heard of.

And the Unifier:

60. Go-between ... and a hint to each set of circles: MIDDLE MAN.  Notice that the "man" in the middle of each theme answer is exactly in the middle of the word or phrase.

This puzzle was in interesting combination of the Asterik-clued puzzle, which is my favorite type of puzzle, and the dreaded Circle-clued puzzle, which I am not so keen on.

Across:

1. Do sum work: ADD.  Simple math.

4. What Santa's making and double-checking, in song: LIST.

8. Little nails: BRADS.

Or:

13. "__ out below!": LOOK.

15. Up the __: raise the stakes: ANTE.

16. Minty Derby drink: JULEP.  Just the drink for summer.

19. Wafer named for its flavor: 'NILLA.  Yummers!  I haven't had a 'Nilla wafer in years.

20. Totally lost: AT SEA.

23. MD you don't need an appointment to see: ER DOC.  As in the Emergency Doctor.

25. NYC's Park, e.g.: AVE.  As in Park Avenue.

26. Verdi opera based on a Shakespearean play: OTELLO.

29. Like pre-revolution Russia: TSARIST.

36. California's Big __: SUR.  The section along the California coast from Carmel to San Simeon.

37. Angry, with "off": TEED.  Where did the expression originate?

38. Anthem contraction: O'ER.

39. "Twittering Machine" artist Paul: KLEE.  Paul Klee (Dec. 18, 1879 ~ June 29, 1940) was a Swiss artist.

Twittering Machine

40. "Ben-__": HUR.  Before it was an epic 1959 movie, starring Charlton Heston, it was a novel written by Lew Wallace (Apr. 10, 1827- Feb. 15, 1905).  The book and the movie both follow the life of Ben-Hur was Judah Ben-Her, a Jewish prince who was enslaved by the Romans at the beginning of the first century.  He later became a charioteer and converted to Christianity.

45. New car's bells and whistles, say: OPTIONS.

47. Overacts: EMOTES.

48. Hit the slopes: SKI.

49. Note above F: G FLAT.  Musical reference.

55. Pisa place: ITALY.

59. Speechify: ORATE.

62. Roman robes: TOGAS.

63. Britney Spears' "Oops!...__ It Again": I DID.

64. Flood barrier: DIKE.

65. Bullish sound?: SNORT.

66. Many a phone message nowadays: TEXT.

67. "__ who?": SEZ.

Down:

1. __ Romeo: sports car: ALFA.

2. "Stop stalling!": DO IT!

3. Boxers and pugs: DOGS.

4. Practice in USA's "Suits": LAW.  I never saw the show, but I understand that Meghan Markel (b. Aug. 4, 1981) was one of its stars.

5. Halved: IN TWO.

6. Unflappable: STOIC.

7. Bills with Hamilton: TENS.  His face on the $10 was saved by a Broadway musical.

8. Ryan Howard portrayer on "The Office": B.J. NOVAK.  B. J. Novak (né Benjamin Joseph Novak; b. July 31, 1979) is an American actor.  He was also one of the writers for the American version of The Office.

9. Spoiler: RUINER.

10. Start of a Shakespearean title: ALLS.  All's Well that Ends Well.

11. Knish seller: DELI.  How to make a Knish.

12. Bridge: SPAN.  The Lake Ponchartrain Causeway in Louisiana was, for many years, the longest bridge in the world.  It spans just under 24 miles and links New Orleans (technically Metairie, a NO suburb) to the northshore of Lake Ponchartrain.  According to Construction Review, it has now dropped to #7 in length.

14. Prepared to propose: KNEELED.

18. Ahead of schedule: EARLY.

22. Hombre's house: CASA.  Today's Spanish lesson.

24. Forest female: DOE.

26. Big name in garden products: ORTHO.

27. Bottleneck consequence: TIE UP.

28. Roger who wrote "Your Movie Sucks": EBERT.  Robert Joseph Ebert (June 18, 1942 ~ Apr. 4, 2013) was the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.  He and Gene Siskel (né Eugene Kal Siskel; Jan. 26, 1946 ~ Feb. 20, 1999), who was the film critic for the rival newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, got together and co-hosted Sneak Previews on PBS.  Sadly, both men are gone now.

29. Actress Hatcher: TERI.  Teri Lynn Hatcher (b. Dec. 8, 1964) appeared in several Seinfeld episodes.

30. Archipelago part: ISLET.  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (Dec. 11, 1918 ~ Aug. 2, 2008) wrote The Gulag Archipelago about live in a Communist Soviet labor camp.  It had nothing to do with islands.

31. "So I was wrong!": SUE ME!

32. Long shots, in hoops lingo: TREYS.  As in 3-pointers, I suppose.

34. Sheds many tears: SOBS.

35. __ Aviv: TEL.  Tel Aviv was founded in 1909.  It is a city filled with wonderful buildings and architecture as well as beaches.  It is a fun city to visit.

39. Secured with a bowline, say: KNOTTED.

41. Least speedy: POKIEST.  The Pokie Little Puppy was one of my favorite books when I was a kid.  I recently sent a copy of the book to my 1-year old niece.

42. Textbook section: UNIT.

43. Animation frame: CEL.

44. Phishing line?: E-MAIL.

46. Beatty/Hoffman flop: ISHTAR.

49. Museum escort: GUIDE.

50. N.J. army base: FT. DIX.  The Base has an interesting history.

51. Trio in Fiji?: DOTS.  Look at the dots over the letters "i" and "j".

52. Monopoly token replaced by a cat: IRON.  I rather liked the Iron.

53. Palm starch: SAGO.

54. Cut out: OMIT.

56. French friends: AMIS.  Today's French lesson.

57. Erie or Huron: LAKE.

58. Santa __ Valley: Cal. wine region: YNEZ.

61. Banned pesticide: DDT.

Here's the Grid:

QOD:  One thing a person cannot do, no matter how rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination, is to draw up a list of things that would never occur to him.  ~  Thomas Schelling (né Thomas Crombie Schelling; Apr. 14, 1921 ~ Dec. 13, 2016), American economist and recipient of the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science

Saturday, April 11, 2020, Debbie Ellerin

Themeless Saturday by Debbie Ellerin

This fun puzzle is authored by our frequent Saturday constructor Debbie Ellerin. You may recall she is a retired computer programmer who lived in Boston for 30 years and now lives in Los Angeles. Her reply to me about this puzzle:

Hi Gary,

The weather has been nice here, but other than going for walks in my neighborhood, we are staying at home. 

My clue for APRIL was Month for pranksters. I wrote this puzzle in May of 2019, so it's been a while!  MINIMOON was one of my seed entries for the puzzle, inspired by my daughter and her husband who went on one after their wedding. Some entries I like are BOOTCAMP and ZIPLINES, as well as the area down south with TELENOVELA  and ENCHILADAS. I see that TANEHISI might be tough, but hope people will be up for the challenge.

I have heard interviews with Ta-Nehisi Coates, and I'm in a book group where his name and books have come up, but I haven't read any of his books. It is an unusual name though, and it must have stuck in my head.

ESTES - I don't know how Rich ended up cluing it. I had it clued as ___ Park, Colorado , which maybe Rich thought was too easy?  If the clue is about an opera singer - I have no idea! Never heard of him. 

STERIC,  I clued as Spatial, in chemistry. This is outside of my wheelhouse, for sure, and I tried to clue it in a straightforward way. As a solver, I would need most of the crosses to get it. 

Stay well,

Debbie

Off we go: 

Across:

1. It's happening now: APRIL - Since only Rich knows when puzzles are going to be published, he did change Debbie's initial cluing as you read in her note

6. Controversial reading: PALM - Not OP-ED but the lines of your hand

10. Circumstance partner: POMP - Not going to be heard this spring

14. Brain center associated with speech: BROCA'S AREA - Frontal lobe usually on the left side

16. '60s pop singer Sands: EVIE - Johnny Cash loved her voice and marveled at how she played her guitar upside down with her left hand 

17. Borders of old, e.g.: BOOKSELLER - The flagship store in Ann Arbor, MI founded by brothers Tom and Louis Borders in 1971

18. First name in jazz: LENA - LENA Horn gets the job and Ella and Etta do not today

19. Abbr. on an invoice: AMT.

20. Tech boss: CIO - Tech in the clue hints at Chief Information Officer 

21. Relating to the arrangement of atoms in space: STERIC - Space taken up by molecules 

23. Mealtime alert: SOUP'S ON Is it 43. Soup sometimes served with banh mi: PHO  (banh mi is Vietnamese for bread)

26. Magic competition?: NBA GAME - The Orlando Magic are one of four NBA teams with a singular name. The others play in Oklahoma City, Miami and Utah.

27. Give rise to: SPAWN - A pair of bettas SPAWNING by releasing sperm and eggs into the water

28. Rap's "Puffy" Combs: SEAN - Can't quote

29. Head of Parliament?: LOO - A naval toilet to clue a toilet in the British home of Government 


30. '40s-'50s paranoia: RED SCARE - This also gave HUAC the center stage

32. Bud's bud: LOU - Bud Abbott's pal LOU Costello

33. Judge in stripes: ZEBRA - Slang for a referee wearing stripes

36. Anago or unagi: EEL - Names we see here for this fish

37. "__ that been done?": HASN'T - What Rich has to ask before he okays a daily puzzle gimmick

39. 2019 Uber landmark, briefly: IPO - Uber and Lyft's stock price after Initial Public Offering. Two days ago Uber was selling for $27.99

40. Brought under control: REINED IN - The goal for COVID-19

44. Eastern brew: SAKE - Wines such as Riesling, Grüner Veltliner and Sauvignon Blanc are suggested to drink with PHO. SAKE is not.

45. Bass-baritone Simon: ESTES - A very interesting man who was a grandson of a slave and born in Centerville, Iowa. Here he is being honored at Iowa State University. As you read, Debbie originally had ____ Park in Colorado

48. "Time to move on": LET IT GO - Live life through the windshield not the rearview mirror

50. Co-star of Cox and Kudrow: ANISTON.

52. "No worries": I'M COOL.

53. Behave: ACT.

54. Co-star of Ethan in "Gattaca": UMA - Trailer

55. Without rocks: NEAT - A shoutout to our "iceless" Tinman

56. Mexican fare: ENCHILADAS.

60. "Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died" writer Bombeck: ERMA.

61. Latin American fare: TELENOVELA - A portmanteau of TELE (television) and NOVLEA (novel) produced primarily in Latin America

62. Enervates: SAPS.

63. Certain farm, or one of its residents: STUD - Brian Paquin's puzzle last Saturday talked of being PUT OUT TO PASTURE. Now Debbie, on the other hand... 

64. Pesto ingredient: BASIL.


Down:

1. Arafat's successor: ABBAS - Mahmoud, head of the PLO

2. Ads, e.g.: PROMOS - $500M worth of them did him no good

3. Pull from the ground, in Plymouth: ROOT UP - On this side of the Atlantic we might UPROOT 

4. Disgusted remark: ICK.

5. Much of "Deck the Halls": LAS - Paired with FAS

6. "The Python Years" diarist: PALIN - Michael tells of his time with Monty Python

7. Janis' comics mate: ARLO.

8. Casual brand: LEE.

9. Milky Way cousin: MARS BAR.

10. Crony of Captain Bildad, in "Moby-Dick": PELEG - The principal owners of the Pequod who hired Ishmael 

From the Moby Dick Card Game

11. Construction sight: OVERALLS.

12. Quick getaway for newlyweds: MINIMOON - A seed entry for Debbie as she explained in her note

13. Hipster's "Later": PEACE OUT.

15. Vote to support: SECOND.

22. "Between the World and Me" National Book Award winner Coates: TA-NEHISI - Info on TAH-nuh-HAH-see

24. Henry VIII's sixth: PARR - Catherine kept her head and outlived him

25. Affirms: SWEARS TO.

26. Author Zora __ Hurston: NEALE - Another author unknown to me. Her writings of blacks in the 1700's of America

28. Director's unit: SCENE.

31. Quartz watch innovator: SEIKO.

33. Rainforest explorers' aids: ZIP LINES - I'd love to make this trip in Costa Rico

34. Transient things: EPHEMERA.

35. Military training site: BOOT CAMP - Sir! Yes, Sir!

38. Red stingers: ANTS.

41. Bald babies?: EAGLETS - Last week, cute Akitas. This week...

42. Most of a tooth: DENTIN.

46. Liszt's "Paganini __": ETUDES - This is #6. You gotta have some real chops to play this exercise!

47. Mogadishu native: SOMALI.

49. Little bits: IOTAS.

50. Needed a massage: ACHED.

51. Like "m" or "n," phonetically: NASAL - A lowered velum (soft palate) gives a NASAL sound

53. Org. co-founded by Helen Keller: ACLU - I'll take Amazing Women for $1,000, Alex

57. Surfer's setting: NET - I know Debbie lives in LA and so I thought a surfer's setting might be PDT. Nope, it's the interNET

58. Alley-oop pass: LOB.

59. Actress Gardner: AVA - Also Mrs. Frank Sinatra, Mrs. Artie Shaw and Mrs. Mickey Rooney