Thursday, February 10, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Shaken, not stirred, the reveal is found in 57 Across: Its components are hidden at the ends of 17-, 20-, 35- and 53-Across: DRY MARTINI.

17A. Delta location: RIVER MOUTH. An "aromatized" wine, flavored with herbs and spices, such as cinnamon, chamomile, marjoram, cardamom.  The inventor was inspired by a wine which in German was called Wermuth (flavored with wormwood, a component of absinthe).

20A. Source of showroom shock?: STICKER PRICE.

35A. Standing by for an on-air appearance: ABOUT TO GO LIVE. The word "oil" in several languages is derived from words for olive and olive tree.  Originally, oil only meant "olive oil".

53A. Risk calculation: SAFETY MARGIN. Shortening of geneva, altered by influence of the similarity of the name of the Swiss city, with which it has no other connection. from Dutch genever "juniper" because the alcohol was flavored with its berries.

Hi all, Al here again on a Thursday.  Today's theme answers were both helpful and yet not helpful for me. Recognizable phrases, so they filled in missing letters, but the endings were disguised as part or parts of words, so that had me scratching my head how the full words could be related. See Don's note at the bottom of the write-up.

ACROSS:

1. Get used to it: ADAPT.

6. PBS moderator Ifill: GWEN. A new name for me..

10. Go for: COST. A yooper scooper for handling large amounts of snow?  How much does that go for?

14. Martinez with three Cy Young Awards: PEDRO. Baseball pitching award.

15. By __: from memory: ROTE.  Bi rote "by heart," of uncertain origin.  I thought for sure this would have a Latin root, but I guess not...

16. Sale modifier: ONLY. And you can have it for ONLY 19.95 per month, and your first born child.

19. Actor Sitka who appeared in numerous Three Stooges films: EMIL. Apparently called "the fourth stooge". Another unknown name for me.

22. Healthy routine: HYGIENE. From Hygiea, daughter of the god of medicine, Asclepius.  His other daughters were Iaso ("Medicine"), Aceso ("Healing"), Aglæa/Ægle ("Healthy Glow"), and Panacea ("Universal Remedy")

25. "Catcher in the Wry" author: UECKER. Bob. Named "Mr. Baseball" by Johnny Carson.

26. Make __ dash for: A MAD.

27. Hershiser with a Cy Young Award: OREL. And some more baseball pitching excellence.

30. Wind instrument vibrator: REED.

31. Send: THRILL. Sam Cooke: You send me.

33. Battle gp.: REGT. Armed Forces group, Regiment.

40. Bauble: GAUD. A large ornamental bead in a Rosary.

41. Citi Field org.: NY METS.  And baseball again.  I'm catching on to this sub-theme, you don't have to hit me over the head with a bat...

43. Central Chinese city: XIAN. Today's geography lesson.

46. Jazzman Stan: GETZ. I get misty.

48. Some are named for music genres: ERAS.

49. Carrying limit: ARMFUL.

51. Fit for consumption: EATABLE. This seems odd, I hear "edible" more often, but it's been around since the 15th century.

56. Beard-preventing brand: ATRA.

61. Forest denizens: DEER.

62. Capri, e.g.: ISLE.

63. Quilt filler: EIDER. Duck down harvested from nests after the young leave.

64. Used too much: OD'ED.

65. USNA part: Abbr.: ACAD. United States Naval Academy.

66. Puts in a hold: STOWS. Sometimes you have to wrestle it down the stairs...

DOWN:

1. Mortgage no.: APR. Annual Percentage Rate.

2. "De Civitate __": "The City of God," St. Augustine work: DEI.

3. -ly word, usually: Abbr.: ADV. Get your Adverbs here.

4. Spanish fort: PRESIDIO. From Latin præsidium, from præsidere "to sit before, protect". Related word, preside.

5. Rich dessert: TORTE.

6. Food merchant: GROCER. One who buys and sells in gross quantities.

7. "The Caine Mutiny" novelist: WOUK. Herman.

8. Cigar tip?: ETTE. A suffix clue: cigarette.

9. Early Indian leader: NEHRU. Jawaharlal. Prime minister having the longest time of service to date, 1947-64

10. Strong-arm: COERCE.

11. Wired for sound: ON MIKE.

12. Did a deli job: SLICED.

13. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" singer Bonnie: TYLER. Obligatory link.

18. Camera company that merged with Konica: MINOLTA. I hope they didn't mind.

21. With some sauce: PERTLY. Saucy, variant: sassy, giving off a little heat, using spicy language.

22. One of many jobs, in metaphor: HAT.

23. Jewish social org.: YMHA. Young Men's Hebrew Association.

24. Things to wear: GARB. "Elegance, stylishness," from M.Fr. garbe "graceful outline", from It. garbo "grace, elegance,"

28. Wear away: ERODE. Originally a gnawing-away at, as of rodents.

29. Relay runner's assignment: LEG.

32. Wheel securer: LUG NUT.

34. Spokane university: GONZAGA. The bulldogs.  It all started on Thanksgiving Day, 1892. A new sport – then often referred to as American rugby – was played for the first time on the Gonzaga campus in front of 500 fans. The sport soon became known as football and Gonzaga was able to compete until 1942, when there were not enough male students to field a team due to their service in World War II.

36. Play with a dog toy, maybe: TUG.

37. Response to "You were kidding, right?": I MEANT IT.

38. Word of action: VERB.

39. And friends, facetiously: ET AL.

42. Capt.'s heading: SSE.

43. Like DVDs in a restricted room: X-RATED.

44. "We can talk now": I'M FREE.

45. Terrified, to the bard: AFEARD.

47. Designated: TERMED.

49. South American grilled meat dish: ASADO. A barbecue.

50. Croesus' kingdom: LYDIA. Now Anatolia (Asia Minor)

52. Exhausts: TIRES.

54. "Happy Days" mom, to the Fonz: MRS. C. Marion Cunningham, played by Marion Ross.

55. Auel heroine: AYLA. Jean Auel, The Clan of the Cave Bear. Played by Daryl Hanna.

58. Altar promise: I DO.

59. Fresh: NEW.

60. Letters seen in many forms: IRS. Sigh.Yes, it's that time of year again.

Answer Grid.

-Al

P.S., Thanks to C.C. for getting me the puz file last night after Cruciverb made some changes again.

A note from Don about today's theme:

"As a solver, I really like puzzles where words just pop out of nowhere to form new words.  I wanted to hide something at the end of phrases where, when all was solved, one could take those items and put them together to make something.  A mixed drink sounded like a good possibility.  ICE and GIN came to mind, and I thought this would be easy.  OLIVE?  The phrase “About to go live” popped out of my head as something that I have heard a million times on TV.  But how do you clue it?  Rich and I struggled with that one.  I don’t know yet how it ended up.  I was afraid VERMOUTH from RIVER MOUTH was going to be too obvious and tip the whole puzzle theme from the getgo.  We’ll see!"

Friday, January 28, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Get the UGH out of here! The letters UGH are removed from the first word of a common phrase to reveal a different and rib-tickling, knee-slapping, new amusing phrase. As usual, constructor Don G's note is attached at the end of this write-up.

17A. Where to sleep off a bender?: SOT SHELTER. SOughT shelter. SOT being a very common crosswordese for a drunkard.

24A. Anxious campus society?: FRAT WITH TENSION. FRAughT with...FRAT being the accepted abbreviation of fraternity, lots of tension with those sorority girls around.

38A. Hair styling prodigy?: DO BOY. DOughBOY. Okay, I get it, a Hairdo creating young man; better than the poor fool who runs around for a girl, doing what she wants, while she dates his best friend.

46A. Talented jazzman?: CAT WITH THE GOODS. CAughT with...CAT being a cool jazz name forever. How about HERBIE HANCOCK . I did not think you were supposed to use a four word fill?

57A. "Airport music so early?": ENO ALREADY. ENOugh already. Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno is a pioneer in AMBIENT MUSIC . Airport, the same as elevator?

Lemonade here.

A very nice tight theme, two grid spanning theme answers, with no unifier, and a good Friday mix of unknowns, little knowns, with lots of long fill like BOILS DOWN TO, TREADS WATER and CAR FERRY. Let's dig into this G masterpiece.

Across:

1. Plain type?: JANE. Poor Jane, she gets to be both plain, and anonymous as JANE DOE. At least she did not end up as a nickname for a toilet.

5. Company whose name is quacked in ads: AFLAC. Along with the GEICO Gekko, the superstars of advertising; and you question our education system.

10. Finishing nail: BRAD. The little guys with the big heads: hey watch the comments.

14. Work: OPUS, classic Latin, or part of a mini-theme of funny ANIMALS .

15. Sporty Mazda: MIATA. I am afraid they are no longer considered anything.

16. Slick: OILY. We survived the BP oil spill, that was slick in so many ways.

19. Atl. republic since 1944: ICEL. We all love Don G., and this was easy, as ICELAND is one of the few republics in the Atlantic Ocean, and he told us it was an abbr., but I cannot find ICEL used this way anywhere.

20. Aurora's counterpart: EOS. Thanks Al for telling everybody an answer in this puzzle.

21. Smart guy?: ALEC. The expression comes from actual, though dubious PERSON.

22. Pivoting points: FULCRA. "Give me a lever and place to stand, and I can move the world." Archimedes' famous quote on the use of a fulcrum. Personally, it is the place to stand part I find a little silly.

27. La __ Tar Pits: BREA. We have lots of this one, which makes me wonder what you think of Uncle Remus and the Tar Baby ?

28. Yankee nickname: A ROD. The Steinbrenners are upset.

29. Worked with horses, in a way: SHOED. Yes they can be SHOD or SHOED, just do not let them run barehooved in the fields.

31. 2008 Libertarian presidential candidate: BARR. I liked the Newsweek tagline, "Time to Belly up to the Barr," for this CANDIDATE .

33. Like some rugs: OVAL, as are some offices, but rugs are also wool, or blue or...well, it slowed me down.

37. Pool shade: AQUA. Appropriate for a pool to be water colored.

39. Off the mark: WIDE.

40. Abbr. followed by a year: ESTD. The words put in the cornerstone of building for example.

41. Part of the dog days of Dijon: AOUT. Time for the Lemonade lesson on French, Août means simply August (my birth month) and as Kazie discussed, is one of the words where the accent becomes an "s" in Anglais. Dijon being a town as well as a mustard, not to be confused with Col. Mustard in the library with Miss Scarlett.

42. Fund: ENDOW. Lots of rich people endow their Colleges and Universities, and as someone who attended UConn for graduate and undergraduate school, I am not sure if I am embarrassed by the booster who wants his money back because the school hired a loser coach to replace the guy who brought the team to a BCS bowl. Thoughts?

43. Friend of Dalí: SERT. I was not familiar with this ARTIST . I wonder if any of his work hangs at 45. Atterbury Street gallery: TATE?

53. Dag Hammarskjöld's successor: U THANT. As a young person, I was impressed by this man, and recall his saying, "Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves." very timely in the early 60s and still true.

54. Cramming method: ROTE. Drat, I used up all my Kyle Rote material last time.

55. Disturb, as the balance: TIP. I would link O.Neill, but why get political.

56. Frost, say: POET, another easy one I tried to talk myself out of with RIME and HOAR. As a New Englander, I am ashamed. CA, you have one for us?

60. Regarding: IN RE, finally, a tiny law phrase.

61. Dino's love: AMORE, ah, a generic Dino, not the Flintstones' pet.

62. Lhasa __: APSO. Woof woof.

63. Headlights starer: DEER, there are those among us who have notches painted on the side of his or her vehicle marking the unfortunate end of wild life on the highway, but I will not name names.

64. Mearth's mother, in a '70s-'80s sitcom: MINDY. The baby, played by Jonathan Winters, I like the name so much, I called my mother Mearth for years. She perhaps did not enjoy it as much as I.

65. Flunky: PEON. Maybe we can introduce him to our do boy.

Okay, it is all down hill from here.

Down:

1. Pianist Hofmann: JOSEF. I loves me a good CHOPIN both music and vodka, but did not know this fella.

2. "I'm just __ wayfaring stranger": song lyric: A POOR. More JOHNNY CASH ?

3. More than just into: NUTS ABOUT. Now in trying to teach anyone English, imagine explaining the many uses of the word NUTS, which can be so good, so mean, so yummy and so confusing. And the accompanying, 42D. More than ready: EAGER.

4. Indirect route: ESS. Our old friend the ess curve, wound its way back.

5. Earhart of the air: AMELIA. Well, we blessed bloggers of CC's domain, seem to always have at least one clue that fits the writer, and if you examine my latest avatar, you will see my brand new grand niece, AMELIA, born on Tuesday. How does Rich do that? I thought Amy Adams was a cute one, btw.

6. Sole order: FILET. Yes, please, no bones about it.

7. Door fastener: LATCH. I will always think of the controversy about the KIDS . We never locked the house, so it was not meaningful for us.

8. Scarfed up: ATE. makes it sound so yummy.

9. Frequent Martha's Vineyard arrival: CAR FERRY. If only Teddy had taken the ferry. There are bad jokes about the other ferries on cape cod, but they are only meant to amuse.

10. Is, when simplified: BOILS DOWN TO. Does the word convoluted come to mind? I really like this clue, but it took some serious unwinding to figure where he was headed.

11. "Sleepy Hollow" actress: RICCI. Little Wednesday from the Addams Family all GROWED UP .

12. Olds that replaced the Achieva: ALERO, if they sold as many as we see in puzzles, they might still be in business.

13. Singer/songwriter born Robert Zimmerman: DYLAN. A shout out from Hibbings, Minnesota to all our frozen friends.

18. Spoke uncertainly: HAWED. In case you forgot so quickly, it's back.

23. Card game with a pre-victory warning: UNO. I am sorry, but my family played SKIP-BO more.

25. Stays afloat, in a way: TREADS WATER. I really like this one.

26. Fateful card: TAROT. My youngest started reading them when he was 10, influenced by another boys mother, but that is another story.

29. MS. enclosure: SAE, I guess they ran out of stamps.

30. Operations ctrs.: HQS, headquarters, very military.

31. Diner option: BOOTH, would you like a table or a clean spoon?

32. __ Dhabi: ABU. The capital of the UAE, and one of the richest cities in the world, but the name means father of gazelles. If you have that much oil money, don't you think you could pick a better name?

34. Incriminating record, maybe: VIDEO TAPE. CSI has taught us to look out for all those cameras watching s everywhere.

35. Foofaraw: ADO. Wow, never heard of this really sweet word, I wish it were the fill, not the clue.

36. Kareem, at UCLA: LEW, Abdul-Jabbar back when he was an Alcindor.

38. Competitive missile hurlers: DART TEAM. In the Nero Wolfe series, the notoriously sedentary and fat, main character took up throwing darts as part of his exercise routine to prepare for world war two. That was the first time I heard darts called missiles; some funny scenes with Archie. And our near clecho, 46D. Missile-shooting god: CUPID.

44. German article: EIN. One.

45. Big name in tea: TETLEY. Were you LIPTON or TETLEY as a kid?

47. Make restitution: ATONE. A good clue for a nice Jewish boy like me.

48. "Ta-da!": THERE. I wish he had saved this for last and I could use to set up my exit line.

49. Town on the Firth of Clyde: TROON. Well, for GAH and the many golf addicts, this was a gimme, because this town is site of Royal Troon, one of the courses used to host the Open Championship, and where Arnold Palmer won his second Open title in 1962. revitalizing european golf, just as he had american golf.

50. Emulate Scrooge: HOARD. Why do I think of Scrooge McDuck, not the Dickens character?

51. Playground retort: DID SO. DID NOT!

52. Watch from the trees, say: SPY ON, a favorite of stalkers of all ages.

58. Feature of a two-ltr. monogram: NMI, no middle initial; just lazy parents.

59. "The Gold-Bug" monogram: EAP. Baltimore's own Edgar Allen Poe; I guess the flowers will be no more, like Marilyn, the vigil is over.

Answer grid.

Well that was fun; sadly after getting half finished I sneezed and erased all of my work, so it was an Emily Litella time for me. Thanks Don and have a fine week end all.

Lemonade

Note from Don G:

"No Ugh

I could have called this DONUT HOLE, because at some point in history someone got lazy and left out the UGH in DOUGHNUT, thus the hole.  That thought started me on this theme, although DONUT HOLE as a theme answer got lost in the process.  I remember having difficulty at one point in the construction process and mistakenly used the word TOUGH or ROUGH going down.  That is a nono, because strictly speaking it breaks the rule of the theme.  After all, we don’t want to confuse the solver.  Lastly, since there is no UGH, I suppose the puzzle doesn’t stink!  I knew someone of you would have thought of that angle."

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Knight Moves - There are three consecutive L's in each long them answer and one more L in the adjacent entry. The four L's form a letter-formation of a L-bar, which is then graphically represented by black squares in the same direction. Please read constructor Don G's notes at the bottom.

18A. Passé keyboard key: SCROLL LOCK. What is scroll lock and why is it passé?

9D. Cowardly : YELLOW. These four L's form one set of L-bar.

62A. "I'm afraid this will sound funny": "YOU'LL LAUGH".

47D. Have as a customer : SELL TO. Another set.

3D. Video game difficulty setting: SKILL LEVEL

27A. Was beaten by : FELL TO. Shouldn't be used to describe a squeaker like the Auburn/Oregon game last night! The third set.

31D. Names on it are off-limits to telemarketers: NO CALL LIST

48A. Like some quaint lamps : OIL-LIT. One of the earliest types. Image. Final set.

Unifier:

39A. Angle irons graphically represented by four sets of black squares in this grid, and by letter formations starting in the four longest answers: L-BARs (I have highlighted the 'L' in the appropriate cross word.)

And more:

64D. Ernie of the PGA, to whom this puzzle could be dedicated: ELS

Argyle here.

A puzzle for the books, with the strong visual and layers of meanings.

Across:

1. 17-Across in the neck : PEST. 17. See 1-Across : PAIN.

5. Adventurous : RISKY

10. Domesticated : TAME

14. Chase on stage : ILKA

15. Cat-__-tails : O'NINE

16. Wicked : EVIL

20. Bigger photo: Abbr. : ENL.

21. Extremely, in Essex : BEASTLY. Alliteration, I say, old chap.

22. Horror maven Craven : WES

23. Follower of Mary : LAMB. From the nursery rhyme.

25. Sphere : ORB

29. Midday energizer : POWER NAP

34. K-6 : ELEM.

35. Stroll : WALK

37. Vowel before omicron : IOTA. Omicron is just the Greek O.

38. Bounty rival : VIVA

41. Picket line crosser : SCAB

42. Garden site : EDEN

43. Actor Neeson : LIAM. In many movies.

44. Finishes the road : TARs

45. Got sick again : RELAPSED

50. Fair grade : CEE

51. German GM subsidiary : OPEL. Since 1929.

52. Workshop sprite : ELF. I hope their new-found fame won't go to their heads. That's all I need. Ho, ho, ho.

55A. Crete-born "View of Toledo" painter : EL GRECO. His view.

59. Texas ranch initials : LBJ. President Lyndon Baines Johnson's ranch and now the LBJ National Historical Park.

64. Dublin's land : EIRE

65. Red Muppet : ELMO

66. Trace : TINGE

67. Future atty.'s hurdle : LSAT. The Law School Admission Test (LSAT).

68. Boatload : SLEW. Do we need to say more today?

69. Preminger et al. : OTTOs. He was a famous film director.

70. Eyelid problem : STYE

Down:

1. Lounging jacket wearer's smoke, maybe : PIPE

2. Verve : ELAN

4. Bronze relative : TAN. I was a bit medal mental and had TIN at first.

5. Pasadena arena : ROSE BOWL

6. Andean ancient : INCA. Ancient can mean a person who lived in ancient times.

7. Letter addressees : SIRS

8. Masseuse's challenge : KNOT

10. Business card abbr. : TEL.

11. Speak bluntly : AVOW

12. Cats' quarry : MICE. Plural cat, plural mouse.

13. Benevolent lodgeful : ELKS. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order and social club.

19. Ancient strings : LYRE

21. NYC subway line named for two boroughs : BMT. Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit.

24. Farmers' publication? : ALMANAC

26. Brush component : BRISTLE

27. Hyped-up feeling : FEVER

28. Say "bo's'n," say : ELIDE

29. Scottish pattern : PLAID

30. Gumbo pod : OKRA

32. Big name in video games : ATARI

33. Big name in beer : PABST

36. Up to the task : ABLE

40. Wet ones, so to speak : SMOOCHES

46. Banana discard : PEEL

49. Stock mkt. debut : IPO. Initial Public Offering.

52. Makeup accentuates them : EYES. Painted eyes.

53. Recline lazily : LOLL

54. Do a slow burn : FUME

56. Trot or canter : GAIT

57. Litter's littlest : RUNT

58. Kellogg's toaster brand : EGGO. The Lego Eggo.

60. Donkey's protest : BRAY

61. Ballet leap : JETÉ

63. Sad : LOW

Answer grid.

Constructor's notes:

This puzzle is an example of how a simple idea kept getting more complex. I noticed a phrase where three L’s ran together and thought that was fun. Then I realized that if it ran vertically and another L was added to the side, the four L grouping could look like an L. So I started tinkering with all vertical phrases. It did not work out very well. I don’t know how I made the logical leap, but it seemed that I could have patterns of shaded squares that also look like L’s. When I started arranging them, I saw that they could be displayed symmetrically in a wheel-like configuration. I decided at that point that the L’s in the phrases should mimic the configuration of L’s. So you will notice that the four L pattern always has the same orientation with respect to the shaded square L pattern. I owe many thanks to Rich who came up with the final theme answer (SKILL LEVEL) to keep the pattern intact. As a final observation, I noticed there were appearing a number of EL patterns in the fill. I decided to play with that extra element to see how many I could get into the grid, and have a little bonus secondary theme answer at the southeast corner. I also owe more thanks to Rich who rejected a corner that had a lackluster fill. His suggested correction helped put an exquisite finishing touch on a most enjoyable puzzle constructing experience.

Argyle

Sunday December 19, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Product Placement - Part of each common phrase is replaced by a familiar product name (with homophonic sound).

22A. Fruity beer? : MULBERRY BUSCH. Mulberry Bush. We also have ANHEUSER (11D. Big name in brewing).

34A. Aftershave impact? : BRUT FORCE. Brute Force. Brut aftershave.

37A. Ponderings from behind a plow? : DEERE DIARY. Dear Diary. John Deere.

52A. Half a cereal swap? : TRIX OF THE TRADE. Tricks of the Trade.

79A. Popular vodka-drinking locale? : BIG SKYY COUNTRY. Big Sky Country (Montana). Skyy vodka. Blue bottle.

98A. Camera in need of screw-tightening? : LOOSE CANON. Loose Cannon. Canon camera.

101A. Habitual depilatory cream user? : NEET FREAK. Neat Freak. Neet/Nair, our crossword stalwarts.

113A. Breakfast for the road? : TRAVELER'S CHEX. Traveler's Check.

Fun theme. For a change, I purposely avoided the theme title when I downloaded the puzzle., Grokked the gimmick after filling in BRUT FORCE.

Also three baseball references in the grid:

67A. Ex-Blue Jays manager Gaston : CITO. Might be tough non-baseball fans. Don't think this guy is a well-known figure.

1D. Pitcher Galarraga who lost a perfect game on an umpire's bad call : ARMANDO. Here is the bad call clip. The umpire is Jim Joyce. Classy guy. Armando pitched the day Boomer and I attended the Twins game for my birthday.

83D. Baseball's Garciaparra : NOMAR. Married to Mia Hamm.

You can read Don "Hard G"'s notes at the end of my write-up for his inspirations.

Across:

1. Muscle memory? : ACHE. Terrific clue. Original too.

5. Puccini's "La __" : BOHEME

11. Picks up : ABSORBS

18. Campus quarters : ROOMS. We often see QUADS in a grid.

20. Instrument for Charlie Parker : ALTO SAX. Bird.

21. "People might be listening" : NOT HERE

24. Addressee of the 4/14/1970 message "we've had a problem" : HOUSTON. "Houston, we've had a problem".

25. Second ending? : ARY. Secondary.

26. Extinct "great" bird : AUK. I have no idea the Great Auk is extinct. Since mid 19th Century.

27. Some health club exchanges : RECIPES

29. Addition word : AND

30. Like Jack : NIMBLE. Jack Sprat, right? He could eat no fat. What a boring life. (Corrections: Santa just told me it's from the "Jack be Nimble" nursery rhyme.)

32. CXVI x X : MCLX. 116x10=1,160

39. Fades, with "down" : DIES

40. Fervor : ARDOR

41. "... __ TV!": end of a parental threat : OR NO

42. B'way sellout sign : SRO (Standing Room Only)

43. How hot-button issues are contested : BITTERLY. Needed crossing help.

45. Padre's boys : NINOS

48. Rodent on a bank : RIVER RAT. Was just checking on the slang meaning of the phrase the other day.

49. Coffee ord. : REG. Ord. is order?

56. One facing Venus? : SERENA. Oh, the Williams sisters.

58. Scrawny toon dog : REN. Stimpy's pal.

59. Warning to drivers : SLO

60. Outlaw Kelly : NED. Has anyone seen the movie?

61. Go-ahead : APPROVAL

63. Gray : ASHY

65. Moving van supplies : PADS

69. NYC gallery : MoMA

70. Pacific mammal that uses rocks as tools : SEA OTTER. Interesting trivia.

73. Casual affection? : LUV. I Luv U.

74. "Car Talk" airer : NPR

77. Salmon on a bagel : LOX

78. Palindromic Daryl : HANNAH. She dated JFK Jr.

84. Until now, in a CPA's report : YTD

85. Follow a new job : RELOCATE

87. "Don't try to be __" : A HERO

88. Taj Mahal spires : MINARETS. With an onion-shaped crown.

89. "The Big C" network : SHO. Not familiar with this TV series.

90. Actress Rogers : MIMI. Married to Tom Cruise once.

94. Sun Tzu's "The __ War" : ART OF

97. Durbeyfield daughter : TESS. "Tess of the D'Urbervilles".

103. Tenacious Roman senator : CATO. Cato the Censor.

104. English poet __ Manley Hopkins : GERARD. The guy who wrote "The Windhover".

105. "V" visitors, e.g. : ETS. Don't get the clue. Why "V"?

106. Close to a delivery : IN LABOR

108. Mauna __ : KEA. Always have to consider LOA.

109. Chicago-to-Knoxville dir. : SSE

110. Property tax rate : MILLAGE. New word to me. Dictionary says a mill is one tenth of a cent.

117. Frenzied : IN A STEW

118. Corrode : EAT AWAY

119. French school : ECOLE. Its student is ELEVE.

120. Clothing category : CASUALS

121. Steps over fences : STILES

122. Pianist Myra : HESS. A dame.

Down:

2. FedEx, e.g. : COURIER. Our Splynter works for UPS. I adore that picture.

3. Flock leaders : HOLY MEN. "Flock" seldom refers to birds in Xword.

4. Diplomatic H.Q. : EMB

5. Women's rights activist Nellie : BLY

6. Wagering venue, in brief : OTB. Offtrack betting.

7. Like most pay rates : HOURLY

8. Devereux's earldom : ESSEX

9. Either of two bks. of the Apocrypha : MACC. No idea. It stands for Maccabees.

10. Showed : EXHIBITED

12. Help up : BOOST

13. RV filler? : STU. Alphabetically. R S T U V.

14. Understanding cries : OHs

15. Use foam on, as a fire : RETARD

16. Rodeo ride : BRONCO

17. E-mailer : SENDER

19. Black Panthers co-founder : SEALE (Bobby)

20. One was lost in a film about Indiana : ARK. Indiana Jones.

23. Wished one could take back : RUED

28. Use Shout on, say : PRE -TREAT. Shout is capitalized.

31. __ Zoo : BRONX

32. Cattail site : MARSH

33. __-Magnon : CRO

35. Stumble : FALTER

36. Jazz musician Kid __ : ORY. Trombonist. Ron would link something special here.

38. Elemental variant : ISOTOPE

39. Prima donna : DIVA

43. Phoenix, in myth : BIRD. We have a similar mythical bird called Fenghuang, known as Chinese phoenix.

44. Coarse file : RASP

46. Aegean island : IOS. Got it via crossings.

47. Giants' org. : NFL. NY Giants.

48. Bus sched. info : RTES

49. Disgust : REVOLT

50. Captivate : ENAMOR

51. Component of the Perseus cluster : GALAXY. And 102D. Star in Orion : RIGEL. Two fill for Spitzboov & Bill G.

52. Like many tabloids : TRASHY. I've got to stop reading them.

53. Find a new table for : RESEAT

54. Under control : IN HAND

55. It may be in sight : END. No end in sight.

57. Storage acronym : ROM

62. Stadium rainwear : PONCHOS. Rain ponchos.

64. Quaint pointing word : YON

66. Like lemurs : ARBOREAL

67. Salad veggie : CUKE

68. Campus creeper : IVY

71. Levy at the dock : TARIFF. Awesome clue. I actually read it as "Levee".

72. At the time specified : THEN

73. Versatile WWII ships : LSTS. LST = Landing Ship Tank.

75. Author who influenced Conan Doyle : POE

76. Sci-fi play written in Czech : R.U. R. The Capek play where the word "robot' was first used.'

80. Hans Brinker's pair : ICE SKATES. Just had this talk on the blog Comments section.

81. Hoods' rods : GATS

82. Search engine name : YAHOO

86. Post-prime time fare : LATE NEWS

88. Witticism : MOT

89. Serious elbow-bender : SOT. So many slang for drunk.

91. Where children were given "broth without any bread" : IN A SHOE. "There Was An Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe".

92. Tasty mouthfuls : MORSELS

93. Page locators : INDEXES

94. Listless : ANEMIC

95. Eye's image receiver : RETINA

96. Magnetic measures : TESLAS. Named after Nikola Tesla.

98. Like a metamorphic stage : LARVAL

99. Hungarian spa city : EGER. I forgot. We had this clue earlier this year.

100. Word that stops fire? : CEASE. What fire?

103. Raccoon cousin : COATI

107. Playground problem : BRAT

108. Something to play in : KEY. Got me.

111. Sch. where "Geaux Tigers" signs are seen : LSU

112. Loss leader? : AT A. At a loss.

114. Farm lady : EWE. Lady, how dignified!

115. "Deck the Halls" syllables : LAs.

116. Pounder of "Avatar" : C.C.H. Total stranger to me.

Answer grid.

Notes from Don:

"Product Insertions":

That may not be the title of this puzzle. Whatever the title of this puzzle ended being, it came about with some difficulty. Many Sunday puzzles are title driven, but this one was commercially driven. Probably at least two years ago, I noticed how fun it might be to take a commercial product name that has been altered from a word, and substitute it in a phrase to come up with a wacky alternate version. This is even harder than I just made that sound. I consulted the guru, John Lampkin, because he had experience with Sunday puzzles, I had none, and I thought that this could make a Sunday puzzle. We hashed over many possibilities, and this was about a year and a half ago. The subject was dropped for a while, but I picked it up on my own early in this year. I guess I wanted to further punish myself. I struggled greatly with this puzzle, but received encouragement and help from Rich, and we finally came up with a set of theme answers where we think most people will be familiar with the products. I would like to acknowledge and thank John Lampkin’s assistance on this puzzle because he did put some time into it. I cannot remember and I don’t have time to go over correspondences, but I am fairly certain that John has at least a couple contributions in this puzzle. This puzzle proves that it is very helpful to have a least another set of eyes looking at a puzzle theme."

Friday December 10, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: STOCK OPTIONS (56A. Some employee benefits, and this puzzle's title) - meaning if you take a common phrase from the world of finance with the word “stock” in the phrase and you mix it up a little, you can create a new and humorous phrase, while still preserving the sound. STOCK OPTIONS allow an employee to buy shares in a company at a future date at a reduced price. And of course OPTION means having a choice to replace the word STOCK, with a sound alike: man is that a convoluted explanation to a fun theme. Anyway, please read the note from Don G. at the end.

20A. Shrink for a noted Vulcan?: SPOCK ANALYST. When STOCK ANALYST, someone who puts out reports on companies, becomes a shrink (psychoanalyst) for the Vulcan in "Star Trek", we have…

29A. Reason for a laundry odor?: SOCK ISSUE. STOCK ISSUE, an offering of shares in a company, when faced with stinky feet. I was told, if you scrub between your toes, you will lessen foot odor dramatically, any volunteers?

37A. Neighborhood garage sales?: SCHLOCK MARKET. The STOCK MARKET itself, can become the home for cheap items, from the Yiddish .

45A. Collection for an artist's garment?: SMOCK FUND. STOCK FUND, a mutual fund, where people can get buy an interest in many companies, and we all know painters and sculptors wear smocks to protect their clothes.

Can you think of one for SHOCK?

I just love Don Hard G’s work, and this was a pleasure, though I cannot put my finger any one aspect, as the cluing was creative, but all over the place, with deception, history, some esoteric information and lots of work to finish.

A few related clues like, SCIENCE FICTION: 14A "Rendezvous With __": Hugo-winning Arthur C. Clarke novel: RAMA. A wonderful book by the 2001: A Space Odyssey author and contemporary of, 40D. Many an Asimov character: ROBOT. Now here is a conundrum, is a Robot a character, or merely a thing? Asimov was amazing, and everyone should read the Foundation series, and if you like mysteries his Black Widower stories. They both were influenced by H.G. Wells, and The Time Machine which gave us 16A. Morlock fare: ELOI. Finally, 30D. Orson, e.g., in a '70s-'80s sitcom: ORKAN. We are over our Mork and Mindy quota aren’t we?

Or, GAMBLING: 24A What serious players play for: KEEPS. I really like this clue, especially followed by, 28A. Act that gets you a hand: DEAL. And our 67A. Roulette bet: NOIR, just French for Black.

And a bunch of law related stuff, so I could be the blogger, like: 6D. Speaks one's mind: OPINES. Like eschews, a favorite of lawyers, who do not like to ever just say something, they want to aver, or opine. 8D. First-year law student: ONE L. Ick, but real, sounds pompous to me. Then, 13D. Artificial locks: WIG. Which is like, 34D. Hairdo: COIF. This is an accepted variant of COIFFURE. Also, a legal honor society, derived from the barristers in England who all wore WIGS.

On with the rest.

Across:

1. Smart: CHIC. Smart, stylish, not intelligent.

5. Use a user ID: LOG ON. Use a user, nice phrase.

10. Look at: VIEW. This is why you should not stay up all night drinking before you go on TV . You will be one of the 70A. Lushes: SOTS.

15. "Brusha, brusha, brusha" toothpaste: IPANA. Man, we see a lot of Bucky these days.

17. Gp. dissolved 12/26/1991: USSR. I never thought of them as a group, was trying to think of rock and roll groups, which reminded me of 64A. It precedes di or da, in a Beatles song: OBLA. Time to LISTEN .

18. Hybrid big cat: LIGER. Have you all seen HERCULES who weights 900 pounds? Not to be confused with 36A. TV production co. whose mascot was Mimsie the Cat: MTM. No idea, though I remember Mary Tyler Moore and her husband Grant Tinker’s production company and the play on the MGM lion, with MTM and a kitty cat.

19. Half an ice grabber: TONG. Well, I think of the secret society they like to write about in mysteries, any truth C.C.?

23. Feature of Incan farms: TERRACE. I never knew about TERRACE FARMING but I guess schools teach more about native society than in my day.

33. Dry, as wine: SEC. There are also demi-sec (sweeter) and Brut (dryer) wines.

35. Untrained: RAW. I always think of raw recruits.

42. Point: AIM. My kind of pistol.

43. "This American Life" radio host Glass: IRA. Do not know this show. Anyone?

44. Fin. neighbor: NOR. Seems I always get a chance to shout out to our Norwegian friends.

49. "Tiny Toon Adventures" bunny: BABS. I never cared for the Tiny Toons, but with my kids I saw many episodes.

52. Mount also known as Horeb: SINAI. This is a very hot topic for biblical scholars but I will leave that to our own expert Hahtool and WIKIPEDIA .

53. Exterminate: ROOT OUT. More bible, as we root out all evil.

60. Slung food: HASH. My mental picture is MEL’S .

63. Initial strategy: PLAN A. How many of us ever have a plan B?

65. Sommer of "A Shot in the Dark": ELKE. Clouseau is back with a Pretty Woman.

66. Many a surfer: AOLER. Does that sound like a swear word to you too?

68. Diamond spoiler: FLAW.

69. 1954 event coded as "Castle Bravo": H TEST. This was 1,200 times more powerful than the bombs dropped in Japan, making many people who lived in the 50’s quite reasonably afraid of the impending end of the world, causing them to build underground shelters. My kids do not believe it.

Down:

1. Pie maker's pride: CRUST. Well, since we have so many wonderful cooks on our board directors, is it really the crust?

2. Locked, in a way: HASPED. It is a good thing I had the crosses because this would not have been in my head.

3. Marathoner's lament: I'M SORE. How about, I am an idiot for running 26 miles without being chased. I did however, teach Frank Shorter legal writing.

4. Traffic blocker: CAR CRASH. Been there too often.

5. Bath salt fragrance: LILAC. We had such pretty lilacs in pour yard when I was growing up.

7. Infatuated: GAGA. Is this SONG your cup of tea?

9. Not even one, with "a": NARY. A nice word from old western, “Nope nary an Injun around these parts.”

10. Chevy sportsters: VETTES. I always thought of Corvettes as a woman’s car, but maybe because my ex owned many of them.

11. UN workers' agcy.: ILO. International Labour Organization; notice the “u”, which tells you it is not an American group.

12. Two or more eras, in geologic time: EON. See, it is specific, sort of.

21. Infant who escaped Krypton: KAL EL. His father was JOR EL, but he became better known as Clark Kent and Superman.

22. Jet __: SKI.

25. Salinger title girl: ESME. With love and Squalor, another repeat performance.

26. Green stroke: PUTT.

27. Where to study for a Th.D.: SEM. Doctor of Theology, rather than Philosophy.

31. Word with nanny or web: CAM. Spying on your nanny? Which of course reminded of, 61D. __-American: ALL. So, who are we voting for the Heisman trophy, CAM Newton? He was at one time in Gainesville with Tebow.

32. Nine-time U.S. skating champ: KWAN. It seems almost every puzzle I blog contains a shout out to our figure skating females, who I am sure looked just like THIS .

37. Ventura County's __ Valley: SIMI. Most famous now I guess as the resting place of the corporeal remain of Ronald reagen.

38. "Let's go!": C'MON.

39. French wine term: CRU. This describes where a wine’s grapes were grown, without the specificity of a specific vineyard, though with Premier and Grand, it classifies the regions as to their reputations.

41. Three-course military supplies: K RATIONS. This was a hastily put together food package to feed a soldier, initially a paratrooper, three meals for a day. It replaced existing A B and C rations, and was not very nutritious, but did include some Chesterfields.

42. Symbol of stubbornness: ASS. No comment.

46. Some kind of nut: CASHEW. So simple, it was tricky.

47. Tool holder: KIT. I could not get LOIS to fit.

48. Goes on monotonously: DRONES. My real estate professor in law school, D.T. Smith, man could he talk and say nothing.

50. Playground mishap: BOOBOO. You sure about this career move JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE ?

51. Bright, as a porch: SUN LIT. Did you all have a sun porch growing up, like I did. Of course the sun only came out for a few weeks a year….

54. Dizzying genre: OP ART.? It can be disturbing, but it can also let your mind wander, what do YOU see in this PICTURE ? Hint, I was trying to keep a topic from the week going.

55. Nicholas I and II, e.g.: TSARS. Never the see the old CZAR any more, do we.

57. Hawaiian food fish: OPAH. Where have all of our Hawaiin posters gone? Anywya, I did not know this FISH .

58. Lump: CLOT. This was part of the most difficult section, as I think of clots only in terms of blood.

59. Broccoli relative: KALE. Broccoli is actually related to cabbage, kale, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. It gets its name from the Italian, BROCCO, which means arm or branch (the Latin stem being Bracchium). Some people love this edible flower, while some children have been know to sit for hours at the table refusing to take even a bite, even foregoing a yummy dessert. You know who you are Brent and Kimberly. Anyway, if you like broccoli, you may also like to try broccoflower, a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. Broccolini, also called baby broccoli, is another new trademarked cross between broccoli and kale. According to nutritionists, raw or steamed broccoli is a superfood with anti-oxidant and ant-cancer ingredients.

60. Mag mogul with a mansion: HEF. Nice alliterative clue for the old Playboy Hugh Hefner.

62. Reggae precursor: SKA. An easy one, as almost every puzzle I blog does overlap my life; Devin, my youngest is going into the studio to record a couple of songs, and SKA was one of his musical influences.

Answer grid.

Thanks for inviting me into your homes, and I hope you enjoyed the show, until next time

Lemonade

Note from Don:

'This theme came to me in an instant. I heard the phrase “Stock Options”, and realized that I could come up with phrases where “stock” is normally used, and substitute a similar word to create wacky phrases. That is about all I can remember, except the first draft had to be revised, and Rich suggested an alternative. I thought the theme was also a little unusual, so it might have appeal from that perspective".

Here are a few beautiful pictures JD took from her recent Oahu trip. She also provided great captions. Click each one for clearer definition.

Thursday November 25, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: It's electrifying. 7D. What the perimeter answers in this puzzle literally create: ELECTRIC CIRCUIT. All the edge answers can be preceded by the word "ELECTRIC" and they make a complete CIRCUIT around the puzzle.

1A. Racer's privilege: POLE. Pole position: at the start of a race, the leading car on the inside. Electric pole: (+) or (-) as on a battery.

5A. Group of contestants: FIELD. Electric field: a point in space with an electric charge that will exert a force on other electrically charged objects.

10A. Heart, basically: PUMP. Electrical pump, such as a sump pump instead of a mechanical hand pump.

71A. Spelunker's aid: LAMP. Electric lamp, as opposed to a gas or kerosene lamp.

72A. Rhythmic element: METER. Poetic or musical meter. An electrical device to measure volt, watts, amps, etc.

73A. Make it official: SIGN. Electric sign: neon, lit up, moving, or a combination.

1D. Brahms's instrument: PIANO. They have electric pianos now that look, feel, sound and have action just like a mechanical one. Why bother? Well, they never go out of tune, and you don't need gravity to play them.

13D. Kind of nap or tie: POWER. After you: 24A. Had too much of: OD'ED ON turkey, then comes the tryptophan loss of consciousness.

32D. Summer cooler: FAN. As opposed to a Japanese hand fan. Overly enthusiastic "fans" of Japanese manga and anime (from an earlier puzzle) are referred to as "otaku". It has the sense of geek or nerd or even worse.

39D. Common observer: EYE. Electric eyes are used to open doors, and for burglar alarms.

52D. Machine with bits: DRILL. Does anyone still use a hand drill? Back in high school shop class we had to learn all the hand tools before being allowed to use the power ones.

58D. Bach's instrument: ORGAN. Organs also can be steam powered, like 54D. Locomotive propeller: STEAM.

Hi all, Al here. Don't really expect to see much turnout today as everyone clusters around their families for the holiday. Thankfully, yesterday more than made up for it.

Quite the construction today, like the "buffalo gals" of square dancing (the theme goes 'round the outside). 12 theme answers plus the unifier, which vertically splits the puzzle. 12 "regular" answers were longer than all the theme answers. It didn't seem all that difficult for a Thursday, but the fun construction more than made up for it. I only remember one other puzzle theme pattern done similar to this, but can't seem to find it.

ACROSS:

14. Victor's claim: I WIN. Nobody likes "that" kind of winner.

15. China's Zhou __: EN LAI.

16. "Bug off!": SHOO. From an instinctive exclamation, German: schu, Italian: scioia.

17. Tiny colonists: ANTS. And 23D. Queen's offspring: BEES. Bees and ants in the same puzzle. Either answer could fit both clues.

18. "Camelot" composer: LOEWE, Frederick and Lerner, Jay.

19. "Camelot," e.g.: SHOW.

20. The Wallendas don't use one: NET. The Flying Wallendas, circus trapeze and high wire artists.

21. Prog. discontinued at some campuses during the Vietnam War: ROTC. Reserve Officers' Training Corps

22. Insensitive: OBTUSE. Latin obtusus, blunted, dull. ob "against" + tundere "to beat".

26. Adjust, as wheels: TRUE. An alignment allows tires to run true.

28. Sailor's pronoun: HER. Traditionally, ships are feminine rather than neuter. A whole load of political correctness on the subject.

29. Designer Gernreich: RUDI. Designer of the topless swimsuit. ;-)

30. Church observances: RITES.

32. Watch pockets: FOBS. Low German fobke "pocket"

34. "Hulk" star Bana: ERIC. Also played Nero, the antagonist Romulan in the recent Star Trek reboot movie.

36. Three-time U.S. Women's Open champ Berning: SUSIE. Unknown to me.

40. Lie alongside: ABUT.

41. Ali G portrayer __ Baron Cohen: SACHA. I don't understand why some movies ever get made.

43. Depend: RELY.

44. Bruce who played Dr. Watson: NIGEL. He's too famous to make me fall for the first name as last name trick.

46. Bakery curlicue maker: ICER.

47. Perry's creator: ERLE. Stanley Gardner, Perry Mason.

48. Martini's partner: ROSSI. Primarily known for the Martini brand of vermouth

50. Unlike Miss Manners: RUDE.

52. Baseball SS's stats: DPS. Short Stops, Double Plays.

55. Copycat: APER.

56. Former NBAer Mourning: ALONZO. "ZO" played mostly for the Miami Heat.

59. Sanction: RATIFY.

61. Red amount?: CENT. The original 1793 penny.

63. Like BMWs: Abbr.: GER. Bavarian Motor Works, headquartered in Munich, Germany.

64. March time: IDES. The 15th. Any musicians out there momentarily want to put FOUR in there, like 4/4 time for a march?

65. Connie of "Weekends With Maury and Connie": CHUNG. Married to Maury Povich.

67. Cold water hazard: BERG.

68. Party with ukes: LUAU.

69. Take for __: fool: A RIDE.

70. Agora portico: STOA. Greek columned corridor.

DOWN:

2. Finished paying off: OWNED.

3. Scofflaw of a sort: LITTERBUG. From scoff + law. The winning entry in a national contest during Prohibition to coin a word to characterize a person who drinks illegally, chosen from more than 25,000 entries.

4. Dinner duo?: ENS. Two letter "N"s in dinner.

5. Serious crimes: FELONIES.

6. Trying to settle a score, for short?: IN OT. Overtime, playing past the regulation time limit to break a tie game.

8. __ of averages: LAW.

9. Fade to nothing: DIE OUT.

10. Sound made with a cupped hand: PSST. Made along with, behind your hand.

11. Compliant sound: UH-HUH. Slangy yes.

12. Bullwinkle J. __: MOOSE. And Rocket (Rocky) J. Squirrel. The "J" in both names was for Jay Ward, the producer.

21. Fishing tool: ROD.

25. Sporty '70s Plymouth: DUSTER. A past friend of mine bought one with a 340 engine that was fully tricked out. That car used to scare the s*** out of me.

27. Nouveau __: RICHE. French for new rich. In these times, many unfortunate working stiffs are noveau pauvre.

31. "And how!": SURE DO. Idioms for "yes, I like it, or would like to, very much".

33. __-Wan Kenobi: OBI. Star Wars Jedi master, played by Ewan McGregor and Sir Alec Guinness

35. Bring up: RAISE. Rear, see to.

37. Tanzania wildlife reserve: SERENGETI. 12,000 sq. miles, only about the size of Maryland, a tiny fraction of Tanzania (362,340 sq. mi.), which in turn is dwarfed by the total size of Africa, which is over 11 billion sq. miles. You could fit the entire US, including Alaska, plus Europe and China into Africa.

38. Bad: ILL. Ill originally meant morally evil or malevolent in the 13th century. It later became associated with sickness in the sense of "it is bad to me" by the mid 15th century. It still retains the "bad" meaning in hyphenated words like ill-informed, or ill-willed.

42. Orchestrator, perhaps: ARRANGER. Rossini was the Lone Arranger of the William Tell Overture.

45. Rye buy: LOAF.

49. Cloak-and-dagger gadget: SPYCAM.

51. Nth: Abbr.: ULT. The nth degree is the utmost or ULTimate extreme.

53. "The Taming of the Shrew" setting: PADUA. Italy.

57. Cause of some floating, briefly: ZERO-G.ravity Weightlessness as in space, or free-fall.

60. "Your time __!": IS UP.

62. German fantasy author Michael: ENDE. Most famous, The Neverending Story, which was made into a movie.

66. Charlemagne's realm: Abbr.: HRE. Holy Roman Empire.

67. Undergrad degs.: BSS. Bachelors of Science.

Don sent along some constructor notes to C.C.:

"Earlier this year we needed to have some electrical work done. The electrician searched literally high and low for the offending circuit problem. Three hours later and about that many hundred dollars, the offensive connection was found. I figured I should get something out of that experience, and came up with this puzzle. ELECTRIC CIRCUIT fits nicely in the center, I reasoned, but the theme words that follow ELECTRIC had to be carefully arranged to meet at the corners and cross ELECTRIC CIRCUIT. I got lucky. Rich approved the idea, and at least I partially compensated my electric service call."

Answer grid.

Here are a few great photos & captions from ARI Tinbeni. Click each one for enlargement. The first four were taken 5 years ago, the last one was taken yesterday morning.

Al

Thursday November 11, 2010 Don Gagliardo

Theme: Childish Behavior - With a HINT (32A) from 56A. Admonition to one acting out the starts of 17-, 23-, 34- and 48-Across: MIND YOUR MANNERS.

17A. Battle of the Bulge air assault division: SCREAMING EAGLES. The Army 101st Airborne Division. Timely clue related to Veterans day, today.

23A. Doppelgänger: SPITTING IMAGE. In fiction and folklore, your evil double. Also considered bad luck, or even an omen of death, to see one.

34A. It's hard to get romantic with one: NAGGING HEADACHE. This is probably worse. One percent of the population, really?

48A. Reason to see a mechanic: WHINING ENGINE.

Al here.

Heavy 71 theme squares. Seven Down fill intersect 3 theme entries. An ambitious grid.

Not a pangram, missing six letters, no helper squares, better than average theme, and a few clever clues. Parts of the theme did help me for once, the "ing" letters filled in a few spots. So, on with the answers. Don included a note to C.C. about the puzzle, which is included at the end of the write-up.

ACROSS

1. U.S. dept. with a Race to the Top reform prog.: EDUC.ation.

5. Iconic rings: HALOS.

10. Lock style: COIF. Lock of hair. Coif from old French for a skull cap worn with headgear, as under a helmet.

14. JV team member, perhaps: SOPH. Junior Varsity, Sophomore. A second year student, literally an "arguer". From sophume, variant of sophism (specious, fallacious argument).

15. Warning: ALERT. From Italian all'erta "to the height," from erta "lookout, high tower".

16. Back in the day: ONCE.

20. Willows for weavers: OSIERS.

21. Cause to suffer: AIL. What ails you? What is causing you to suffer? Never having looked it up before, I never realized the word had this meaning, but just thought that it referred to a state of health not being good. Even knowing that, I still wouldn't ever say "A cold ails me".

22. Word with meal or cake: OAT. I've never heard of oatcakes (similar to pancakes but with a lot of fiber), most references I found seem to be from the UK. Must be more common there?

27. Name on an airport shuttle: AVIS. They try harder.

29. Incarnation of Vishnu: RAMA.

30. Alice's workplace: DINER. Mel's Diner in the TV series, with Alice played by Linda Lavin. There's also Alice's Restaurant, the spoken "song" by Arlo Guthrie, based on a true story and made into a movie.

31. Yang's partner: YIN. Male/female, day/night. The concept of balance in all things. You cannot have a back of your hand without there being a front.

32. Clue: HINT. From old English hentan "to seize", related to hunt.

33. Cul-de-__: SAC.

40. Important no. to most car buyers: MPG. Miles per gallon.

41. Coastal raptor: ERNE. The "sea eagle".

42. It starts with "http": URL. Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol, Uniform Resource Locator.

43. Sheer: STEEP.

46. Desertlike: ARID.

47. Teeny: ITSY. Could have been itty too.

51. Reservoir borders?: ARS. The letter "R" begins and ends the word reservoir.

52. Besides: TOO.

53. __ Tunes: LOONEY. Warner Bros animation.

60. Court entry: PLEA.

61. Shopping list entries: ITEMS.

62. "Woe __!": IS ME.

63. Some shooters, briefly: SLRS. Single Lens Reflex cameras.

64. Mythical animal kingdom ennead: LIVES. Ennead: "group of nine". A reference to cats.

65. Peter or Paul, but not Mary: TSAR. There were tsarinas named Maria, though. A diversion kind of clue to get you thinking MALE, or folk music instead of rulers.

DOWN

1. Gas acronym: ESSO. Standard Oil initials: SO (say it out loud)

2. Holliday and others: DOCS. The two "L"s were a giveaway to look deeper than calendar dates.

3. Revolting situation: UPRISING. Punny.

4. Nest chorus: CHEEPS.

5. Target of pre-race stretching: HAMSTRING.

6. "__ Baba Bunny": classic Bugs cartoon: ALI.

7. Hall of Fame quarterback Dawson: LEN.

8. Leia's last name: ORGANA. One of her last names... The Star Wars universe. Born Leia Amadala Skywalker, daughter of Darth Vader. Hidden and adopted by Bail Organa, a royal family on Alderan. Also Mrs. Solo after being married.

9. "Shrek!" author William: STEIG.

10. Minor player: COG. Just a nameless tooth on a gear that keeps the wheel turning.

11. Checked out, as a book: ON LOAN.

12. Cooling-off period?: ICE AGE.

13. Uncle at 0001 Cemetery Lane, in '60s TV: FESTER. The Addams Family.

18. First name in shipping: ARI. Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate.

19. Angular measurement device used in surveying: ALIDADE. Many different types.

24. Bite: TANG. "Serpent's tongue" (thought to be a stinging organ), later "sharp extension of a metal blade", then "sharp taste" followed later.

25. "Count me in!": I'M THERE.

26. Mineral with basal cleavage: MICA.

27. Writer Rand: AYN. Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead.

28. Routing word: VIA. Latin, by way of.

32. __ Hop: bouncing ball brand: HIPPITY.

33. Time-measuring device: SANDGLASS. During the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan around the globe, his vessels kept 18 hourglasses per ship. It was the job of a ship's page to turn the hourglasses and thus provide the times for the ship's log.

35. Feds: G-MEN.

36. "__ go bragh!": ERIN.

37. Kitten's quality: CUTENESS.

38. Retail posting: Abbr.: HRS. Open hours.

39. Callaway of golf equipment fame: ELY. The founder and also the stock ticker name.

43. Overwhelms: SWAMPS.

44. Rollercoaster ride, e.g.: THRILL.

45. Former Disney chief: EISNER. Michael.

46. Rainforest rodent: AGOUTI.

47. Part of a conspiracy: IN ON IT. From prefix com- (together) + spire (breathe), so, to breathe together.

49. Kind of salad dressing: NO OIL. I may have mentioned before that you need (the right) oil to properly absorb the phytochemicals from plants, like carotene, lutein, and various flavenoids.

50. Charged particle: ION. A Greek word meaning "go" adapted by Michael Faraday to label particles that move towards an electrode of opposite charge.

54. Columnist Bombeck: ERMA.

55. Nieuwpoort's river: YSER. Belgium.

57. Courtroom VIPs: DAS. District Attorneys.

58. Test, as an engine: REV.

59. Sra.'s neighboring counterpart: MME. Senorita, Mademoiselle. Spanish and French for miss.

Answer grid.

Note from Don about today's theme:

"I think secretly that everybody finds a bratty kid more interesting than a thoroughly well-behaved angel. I found some words that describe the bratty behavior, and put them into phrases, wondering when the solver would catch on. It is not the usual kind of puzzle theme, which might make it more of a surprise when the solver comes to the last theme answer. I felt fortunate to find a 15-letter phrase to tidy it up. Next time someone says, “Mind your manners”, you can say “That’s a 15-letter phrase that addresses bratty behavior!"

Al

Sunday October 31, 2010 Don Gagliardo

(Note: LA Times website does not support circled letters feature. Here is the pdf file of today's puzzle.)

Theme: No More Boos - A Halloween puzzle. The word "ghost" is "busted" in each familiar phrase and orderly circled in the grid. Please see Don "Hard G"'s notes at the end of my writeup for his construction inspiration.

23A. One with all the answers—or in one case, questions : GAME SHOW HOST. Alex Trebek (Jeopardy) has all the questions as answers.

32A. Global warming factor : GREENHOUSE EFFECT

41A. Boom box : GHETTO BLASTER. Not familiar with this term. Makes sense.

53A. Prepare for lean times : TIGHTEN ONE'S BELT

66A. Movie with the tagline "Sleep kills" : A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Nice grid spanner. Plus the scary factor. Good one.

76A. HDL, familiarly : GOOD CHOLESTEROL. LDL is bad.

89A. Haunted house creaker : FLIGHT OF STEPS

101A. Medical school affiliate : TEACHING HOSPITAL. Unique GHOS & T break.

112A. Movie good guys responsible for the circled squares in eight long puzzle answers : GHOSTBUSTERS. Great unifier.

Total 133 theme squares. Very dense. Don also tried a variety of different GHOST buster phrases. Additionally, he was able to sprinkle in more Halloween spookiness in more fill/clues:

25A. October porch swinger : SKELETON

118A. Like much Halloween candy : BITE-SIZE. Great answer.

1D. Working at night for Dr. Frankenstein? : DIGGING. Scary.

3D. Twilight Saga character : VAMPIRE.

103D. Graveyard divisions : PLOTS

113D. Half a scary fly : TSE. Our old editor Wayne R. Williams used this answer/clue all the time, sans "scary".

Across:

1. '90s sci-fi series "seaQuest __" : DSV. Immediate stumper. DSV stands for "Deep Submergence Vehicle"

4. Frost's foot : IAMB. Robert Frost.

8. Honest prez : ABE

11. Parks for rights : ROSA. Rosa Parks.

15. Imogene's partner : SID (Caesar)

18. "Isn't __ pity?" : IT A

19. Greek king tormented by fruit and water he could never quite reach : TANTALUS. From him we get "tantalize".

21. __ minérales : EAUX. Plural of eau.

22. "A long time __ in a galaxy ..." : AGO

27. Aquarium fish : GUPPY. No idea. Looks like a fish peacock.

28. __-jongg : MAH

29. Like "egad," oathwise : MILD

30. Ford whose debut album was "Out for Blood" : LITA. No. Don't recognize her name.

31. Vying : IN IT

37. ATM maker : NCR

38. When to get well? : SOON. Get well soon.

39. Friendship : AMITY

40. Limber : LITHE

45. Female "Mortal Kombat" agent __ Blade : SONYA. Complete unknown. Nice abs.

46. Two-legged zebra : REF. Fun clue.

47. Pitch path : ARC

48. Pooh __: pompous officials : BAHS. I know Grand Pooh-Bah.

50. Blemish : STAIN

61. 1962 Phantom portrayer Herbert : LOM. No idea. "Pink Panther" is so silly.

62. AFL affiliate : CIO

64. Good Witch of the North portrayer Burke : BILLIE. I had her Franklin Mint doll. Wicked Witch of the West was the most expensive in the series.

65. Eye's middle layer : UVEA

72. Ship with a tilde : NIÑA. The Niña, Pinta & Santa María.

73. Memory lane walk : STROLL

74. "So that's it!" : AHA

75. 8-track tape co. : RCA

81. They may be taken with a raised hand : OATHS

83. Quarterback Tony : ROMO. Hurt. Out for the season.

84. Milk, on an Rx : LAC

85. You can bet on it : TIP. Good clue.

86. Affect, as heartstrings : TUG AT

96. Maître d's stack : MENUS

97. Didn't miss __ : A BEAT

99. Oater actor Jack : ELAM. This image is ingrained in my brain.

100. Wine holder : VAT

105. __ monster : GILA

106. Diet suffix : ETIC. Dietetic. I only know dietitian.

107. Kind of crazy? : STIR. Stir crazy.

108. Matterhorn, e.g. : ALP

109. Student of Graham : AILEY (Alvin). Martha Graham. Faintly recalled the name.

110. Hitchcock genre : THRILLER

116. Born : NEE

117. Pulitzer winner Bellow : SAUL

119. Vote for : YEA

120. Put in : ADD

121. World Series sextet : UMPS. Very timely. Also 122. New Eng. sextet : STS (States). "Sextet" clechos.

123. Cast-of-thousands movie : EPIC

124. Ohio summer hrs. : EDT. Don lives there.

Down:

2. Steadfast : STAUNCH

4. __-bitsy : ITSY

5. Relaxed reaction : AAH

6. LP filler? : MNO. Alphabetic run. L M N O P.

7. Texter's "incidentally" : BTW

8. Float __ : A LOAN

9. Outback topper : BUSH HAT. Well, I am sure Kazie knows. It's like this.

10. Car repair fig. : EST

11. Make a stand : RESIST

12. Buffalo Bill associate : OAKLEY (Annie)

13. Glove material : SUEDE

14. Rose of Guns N' Roses : AXL

15. Fullness : SATIETY

16. "Tricked you!" : I GOTCHA

17. Campaign Web site option : DONATE. Another timely clue.

20. Words of woe : AH ME

24. Skillful, kiddingly : EPT. Opposite of "Inept".

26. Like Puck : ELFIN. Puck is capitalized, the trickester in "A Midsummer Night's Dream".

29. Conservationist John : MUIR

32. Blockhead : GOOF

33. Director Reiner : ROB. Loved his "A Few Good Men".

34. Zhou of China : ENLAI. Zhou is also the name of a dynasty, right before Qin. Both had capital in Xi'An. Hence my real name.

35. 'Abitation? : OME. Habitation/Home. Both Hs are dropped. Cockney accent.

36. Brush partner : FLOSS

38. Malodor : STENCH

42. Start to fold? : TRI. Start to the word trifold.

43. Uru. neighbor : ARG

44. SAT-taking venue : SCH

45. "Jeepers!" : SHEESH

48. Cotton capsule : BOLL. Have you picked fresh cotton? I have.

49. Wolfman, some nights : ANIMAL

50. "A poor man's poetry": Moore : SLANG. Unaware of this saying.

51. "Pagliacci" clown : TONIO. Can never remember this name.

52. __ acid : AMINO

53. Source of an oater long-distance call? : TOM TOM. Drum. I don't get this clue. Why "long-distance call?"

54. Hose clamp tightener : T-BOLT

55. German article : EIN. German "a".

56. Pirates' former div. : NLE (National League East). Now NL Central.

57. Rough case? : BUR. The prickly seed cover. Rough indeed.

58. Chris on the court : EVERT. Tennis court.

59. Parasite : LEECH

60. Brit's bye-byes : TATAS. Same here.

63. Sweater words? : IT'S HOT. Sweater = One who sweats.

67. Roam (about) : GAD

68. First name in protest singing : ARLO (Guthrie)

69. __ v. Wade : ROE

70. Local pair? : ELS. A pair of letter L in local.

71. Eastern philosophy : TAOISM. And 90. __-tzu, founder of 71-Down : LAO. Lao = Old.

77. Rubbernecking cause : CRASH

78. Taina of "Les Girls" : ELG. No idea. Which one?

79. By itself, not much of a cheer : RAH. Lovely clue.

80. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, say : OCTET. Septet + One.

82. Liable : APT

85. Nonstick cookware brand : T-FAL

86. Grew choppers : TEETHED. Sweet clue.

87. Like a repressed grievance : UNAIRED

88. Big name in leather goods : GUCCI

89. Baseball players' union chief before Weiner : FEHR (Donald). He looks familiar.

91. Sellout reaction, in headlines : IT'S A HIT

92. Plug extension? : OLA. Plugola.

93. Wicked looker : EVIL EYE. My friend Roberto wears an evil eye charm. He bought from Turkey.

94. Pink, e.g. : PALE RED. Not a phrase I use.

95. Patronizes, as a motel : STAYS AT

96. Ital. volcano : MT. ETNA. In Sicily.

97. Dealer's demand : ANTE UP

98. Nightclub circulators : B-GIRLS. B-B0ys too.

102. Koran religion : ISLAM

104. __ dixit : IPSE. Literally "He himself said it".

105. Yosemite Sam's "Scram!" : GIT

109. "Just __!" : A SEC

111. The NCAA's Fightin' Tigers : LSU. Shaq's alma mater.

112. "Pygmalion" monogram : GBS (George Bernard Shaw)

114. Marceau alter ego : BIP. Unknown to me.

115. Compact submachine gun : UZI. Israeli gun.

Answer grid.

Notes from Don G:

"I was inspired by John Lampkin’s Pumpkin puzzle last Halloween. I was reminded how fun this time of year is. My first idea was a dud. I tried to do something with the words TRICK and TREAT. It didn’t work very well.

I was solving a circle puzzle some time shortly thereafter, and it just clicked. Put GHOST in circles, find them “busted up” within other entries, and we got GHOSTBUSTERS. I realized early on that I did not want GHOSTBUSTERS to appear in the title. I like surprises in my puzzles. The title was decided after everything else was done, which is opposite to how it often happens. The title I came up with is “No More Boos”, and we’ll see if it sticks. Kind of a downer, though. We want our boos (and maybe booze) on Halloween.

John Lampkin had also taught me about using One Look Dictionary as a search engine. It came in handy here. I got a couple on my own, but I relied on computer generation to help me find the hidden GHOSTS. I went a little overboard, too. I think my theme letter count got up to 130, which is fairly high. Filling the grid becomes tough. To further challenge myself, I wanted to put in some Halloween-type entries to enliven the theme. It should be a lot of fun, and that’s what it’s all about on Halloween.

I've mentioned John twice. I have been fortunate to have learned a great deal about crossword puzzles from him, and he has been generous in explaining his approach to creating puzzles. He is a consummate artist when it comes to creating puzzles, which he pursues quite avidly as he does butterflies and music. The world is a much better place for John Lampkin! I am happy to call him a friend."

C.C.